Looking up from the business card, Kyle confirmed he had arrived at the right location.

  A shack.

  Looked like it could barely hold a dozen people inside and there was a courtyard behind the building where he could hear voices. A broken-down moped sat out front, half of its exterior rusted. Kyle didn’t know what to expect from the Equality Unification Entity, but this seemed like a dump, at best. There were even a couple of stray chickens pecking about.

  One positive standout was the beautiful flower garden out front. It looked immaculate, with more variety than one might even see in a flower shop. The dandelions and tulips, planted on opposite sides of the building, looked especially beautiful.

  Flipping the business card around, he made sure the invitation to EUE was real. He was only half certain he wasn’t walking into a trap.

  Making his way to the entrance, he got a better view of the shack. Some corners were rotting away, moss overwhelming several different ends of the building. The frail, dark wood looked as if it had been built long before the Awakening. If Kyle was on the Indus side of Hammerton, he wouldn’t have even approached the building, but the decaying space was the best shot he had at a real job after his uncle’s jewel spot burned down.

  Hand gripped to the ashy door, he dragged it open slowly, surprised to find it unlocked. Though the door was nearly closed, the sharp, angry tones of a nearby argument sliced through the air, punctuated by the occasional thud of a fist on the table. He pulled out the door wider, not wanting to seem like he was eavesdropping and making himself known. The two at the table gave him a glance, a nod, then went back to focusing on one another, annoyance high between them.

  “This guy’s named Thugg. Notice anything about him?” one of the two men asked, slapping a picture on the table. The first man was standing at the table where the other was seated comfortably, leaning his cheek on a fist.

  “He’s big,” the other said plainly.

  “He’s wearing black goggles!”

  “So?”

  Another slap on the table. “Look at this one. Speedrunner. He just ran some sort of sabotage job at HUE. Hasn’t been heard from since. Notice anything about him?”

  “Is it the goggles?” the other man asked, bored.

  Slap after slap of pictures of people. “Every single member of the Underground wears black goggles, Predator! Why are we still wearing them? We look like we’re a bunch of criminals.”

  Predator slid the pictures away from him. “I know for a fact we had the goggles first. I don’t care if some scum incorporate our uniform, Nero. EUE is the organization with the black goggles.”

  “Maybe before, but not anymore! These guys get way more press than we do! We can’t approach a civilian anymore without them freaking out!” Nero waved his hands over his head like someone in hysterics.

  “We need to have a coherent uniform that protects our members’ identities.”

  “I’m not denying the idea that we should have an organizational uniform. I’m saying we look like a mess. And our name can use a changing too.”

  Predator placed a palm over his eyes. “This again?”

  “What even is ‘equality?’ We know we aren’t envisioning a world of pure equality, but equity! Equality doesn’t exist in the face of the Awakening. The Justice Unification Entity makes so much more sense. We strive for justice in a changing, unpredictable world. Plus, it sounds a lot better than EUE.” Nero enunciated like it sounded gross.

  “You’re worried about how it sounds? I can’t emphasize enough how significantly worse your idea would be than EUE,” Predator sighed. “The press would tear us apart.”

  “I don’t understand why.”

  “Because you’re either too innocent or too ignorant. Or worse. I frankly don’t want to know the answer.”

  Kyle cleared his throat approaching the table nervously. Predator turned toward him, looking pleased at the distraction while Nero threw his hands up and fidgeted with his black goggles.

  The first impression that Predator made to Kyle was that he was short. Perhaps a few inches over five feet, Kyle was certain he would look down at him if he stood up from the table. He looked like he took care of himself, black hair shining and rich, skin clean, and clothing pressed. Even his black goggles looked like they would glisten in the sunlight. They were slightly transparent, allowing Kyle to see his expression behind the faux-mask.

  “Is that a recruitment card?” Predator asked, smiling pleasantly at Kyle.

  “Yeah.” Kyle handed it over, shivering slightly in his nervousness.

  “Got a name?”

  “I’m Kyle.”

  Predator lowered a hand quickly ahead of his face, like Kyle should keep his voice down. Looking over his shoulders, Predator leaned in to Kyle, whispering.

  “A hero name. EUE doesn’t use real names. To protect our identities, even in our headquarters,” Predator said.

  Kyle’s eyes scanned around the shack that looked like a strong wind would blow it over. Some flowers poked through the cracks in the wood. “Headquarters” felt like a strong term for the location.

  “Ummm… Changer?”

  The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

  “We already have ‘Chanter.’ That might be confusing. Anything else you got?”

  Kyle frowned, not having put a lot of thought into a hero name.

  Scratching his head, he shrugged. “Shifter? Or Shapeshifter?”

  “Shifter! That’s a good one! Welcome to the team, Shifter. If I remember correctly, you can alter your appearance!” Predator said, holding out his hand for Kyle to shake.

  “Yeah, thanks,” Kyle said. “Brought my own goggles. I only had green, though. I hope that’s okay.”

  Predator reached his hand out, and Kyle placed the goggles on his palm. Eyeing the goggles, Predator squeezed, and the eyewear shined brightly, suddenly puffing into a pile of ash, falling to the floor.

  Kyle looked at the ash drifting. He had literally just bought those on the way to EUE, but he wasn’t about to mention that to the man who could disintegrate things.

  Snapping his fingers over his shoulder, Predator signaled Nero who rushed to a bucket in the back of the room filled with goggles and tossed a pair to Predator.

  Catching without looking, Predator glanced at Kyle’s eyes, then down at the eyewear. Offering them over, Kyle took them with trembling fingers, mind still on the pile of ash at their feet. Sliding his hands over the goggles, he was surprised by how nice the goggles were, like they were brand new. Carefully, he placed them on his head. They fit nicely.

  “Let’s ask Shifter!” Nero leaned on the table. “He’s got fresh ideas. And he’s objective, since he doesn’t know us.”

  “Nero, we’re not going to overwhelm him during his first hour here.”

  “It’s just a few questions! What do you think of the black goggles?”

  Predator sighed, but looked at Kyle silently, allowing the question to be answered. Scratching the back of his head, Kyle shrugged.

  “My uncle’s place was burned down by a guy in black goggles, so…”

  “And there it is! I told you he was objective. This kid knows exactly what he’s talking about.” Nero pointed.

  Smiling slightly, Predator raised an eyebrow toward Kyle. “What do you think of the name ‘Justice Unification Entity?’”

  “That might be the worst name ever,” Kyle said immediately.

  Nero threw dismissive hands at him. “Ah, this kid’s too invested now. Too subjective. He doesn’t know what he’s talking about.”

  “The goggles stay.” Predator tapped the lens of Nero’s goggles.

  “I don’t understand why! I get that there might be some confusion about renaming the org, but it’s a known fact that most crimes committed by Awakened are done by those wearing black goggles!”

  “Nero.”

  The single word of admonishment sent a shockwave through Kyle’s psyche and he stumbled back, falling to the floor. Nero lost his balance, but held a hand to the table. Staring up at Predator, he could feel the energy radiating off of him. Desperately, Kyle looked to Nero to drop the subject. Predator was clearly done talking about it, even if Kyle didn’t understand his staunch opposition to a new uniform.

  “Fine. But I’m going to keep printing out news articles about each crime committed in our name until I get a reasonable explanation. To deliver you a daily reminder of why this is a bad idea.”

  Predator nodded, both accepting the threat and dismissing him. Rolling his eyes, Nero walked to the back of the room. When he opened the door, dozens of voices of people chatting entered the shack before shutting behind him.

  “Sorry about him. Our goggles are the most important part of our uniform. Of course we won’t be changing anything about that,” Predator said casually.

  Kyle nodded nervously. “Of course.”

  “Well Shifter, we’re in a big recruiting phase at the moment. If you know of anyone with potential like you, we’d love to consider having them on board. Especially before HUE gets to them.”

  “Okay. I don’t really know anyone.”

  Feet pounded outside, followed by a group of three slamming through the door, goggles on. They sprinted through the building, one of them waving to Predator, before charging outside. Predator looked pleased, smiling as the flimsy door closed behind them.

  “We rely on police scanners to track ongoing incidents around Hammerton and then quickly form teams to go out and deal with events. You can remain on call by placing yourself out back there. If your goggles break in the field, don’t get your own. EUE will have replacements for you. You’ll be paid for as long as you stay out there on call, and we’ll take a management fee for any sponsorships.”

  Kyle’s eyes narrowed slightly at the last part. Tilting his head slightly, he looked around for any companies secretly operating in the building.

  “Sponsorships?”

  “Or brand deals. They tend to come when you’re out in the field. You get the majority of the payment, of course. We just want to keep people paid and keep the lights on.”

  As if to accent his point, the light behind Kyle popped and died, dimming the already darkened room further. Kyle nodded slightly, feeling like it made sense to have a stream of revenue to keep EUE working. Then, he suddenly scratched at the goggles on his head.

  “Do we keep the goggles because they’re a sponsor?”

  “Do ‘we’ keep!” Predator repeated, changing the subject with a wide smile. “Good, you’re already considering yourself one of us! Let me introduce you to the crowd outside!”

  Arm over Kyle’s shoulder, he led him to the back door and kicked it open excitedly. Dozens of heads rose to see Predator and Kyle. They waved to him, each of them wearing black goggles on their eyes or head. The display was so inviting, Kyle forgot whatever question he had just asked.

  “Sure.” Kyle said, allowing Predator to lead him to the small crowd listening to the police scanner behind the building.

  “Welcome, Shifter!” Predator said, holding up his arm like he won a race.

  “Welcome, Shifter!” The crowd said like they were part of group therapy.

  “Hi,” Kyle raised his other hand awkwardly, already feeling strange at having replaced his name.

  “Look out for a good job for him. He can transform the shape of his face and features.”

  “Units in southern Hammerton Central, possible disturbance,” the radio fuzzed, half the words overwhelmed by static.

  The circle of EUE members leaned in.

  “10-4 dispatch. Go ahead.”

  “Reports of a lost cat in the area south of Elm. Black and orange tabby cat. Answers to ‘Mr. Kitty.’”

  “Lost cats, huh? This one feels like there aren’t any Awakened involved, for once. We can keep an eye out. Anything else?”

  “Not for now. Enjoy the rest of your shift.”

  “Yeah, you too.”

  The radio went back to static.

  “Shifter, are you up for it?” a smiling girl with flower goggles asked.

  Kyle squinted. “The lost cat?”

  “No job should be too small for the Awakened,” Predator said.

  “I just don’t understand how my power helps here.”

  “Don’t worry, we’ll send Chanter with you,” Predator pointed to a man three times his size, more muscle than man.

  “We got this!” Chanter said encouragingly, but his voice carried like he was screaming as he raised a thumbs up.

  Kyle sighed slightly, grateful to have an easy job if they were paying. “All right, I guess.”

  Confused by the entirety of the organization, Kyle was applauded by his colleagues as he left the crumbling building and made his way to south Hammerton.

  Awkwardly balancing, Chanter sat on the front of the moped and patted the back for Kyle to get on. The moped already looked like it was collapsing under his weight, but Kyle didn’t want to argue during his first outing. The moped whined as he got on, like it was begging for death. It coughed on and sputtered away from the shack, five miles an hour.

  Resigning himself to another boring job like stocking inventory for his uncle, Kyle started the journey of many miles to search for a lost cat.