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“We would like to sincerely apologize for our failure to handle the incident in the ruins,” the email read, “As we try to remain out of our employee’s personal lives, we had no idea that Ghostblade had a daughter, or that she had been neglected as a result of his schedule. While we sincerely apologize for this miscommunication, his decision to cut ties with the company is one we have received no reasoning for. In the wake, we have a rather large opening in need of a rather iconic heroine- and we believe you would be perfect. MG Heroes has remained strongly opposed to Mr. Shand’s actions since he left the company, particularly with his handling of Treeman. Exposing the sabotage of Glimmer Laboratory’s expedition is one of MG’s top priorities at the moment, and we…”
Blah, blah, blah. It was a bunch of pretty words- nothing more. Luo Li understood why the Commission had avoided causing a stir. She also understood what a sharp stab in the back it had been to leave the people of their expedition to rot. Luo Li doubted Ghostblade had been in on the plot- it really seemed like Nice had come from nowhere- but Luo Li couldn’t deny that E-Soul’s sudden appearance and fight against Ghostblade and Little Johnny was wicked suspicious. And MG wanted her? Ha! Luo Li turned off her phone and set it next to her, turning to her chauffeur.
“So, where am I meeting this FOMO guy?” she asked.
“Mr. Yang will meet you at 58࿀C on Shan St,” they informed her bluntly. Luo Li hummed, throwing her hands behind her head. Right… Mr. Yang. They’d included his qualifications in the email- something about degrees and experience in the field. What had interested Luo Li wasn’t the marketing degree, but the engineering one. She was almost insulted; they thought she needed someone to work on her suit for her, but it would be convenient to have someone who understood her technical jargon. She would just have to wait and see how she felt about Mr. Yang.
Luo Li waited for the car to pull up, slipped her phone in her pocket, and stepped out of the car. However she felt about Mr. Yang, she was going to beat Nice up. All this was determining was which company she would sell her soul to in order to do that. She stepped inside and glanced around- who was she even looking for? She latched onto someone looking at her, waving their arm. They- ooh, they looked bad. Not in an ugly way! Just… that was a lot of scars. Luo Li made eye contact and the stranger- probably Mr. Yang- smiled. She walked over to the table.
“So, you’re Mr. Yang?” she asked, taking the seat across from him.
“Please, I just prefer Yang,” the man stated, smiling still as he extended a hang out for her to shake. She accepted it, scanning Yang’s face for anything malicious. She found nothing, but his hand was remarkably cold. “It’s a pleasure to finally meet you, Loli.”
“Right…” She looked him up and down again, taking in the deformation of his right eye and the faint red marks around it. He was wearing long sleeves, too. “So, like, are you some retired hero or something? I don’t have a good track record with those.” Yang’s eyes widened, probably put off by her bluntness. Good.
“A retired-? Oh, no. Not… ha! No, these are from a… fight. With someone who really should’ve retired.” Yang explained sheepishly, his words halting as he moved his hand to scratch the back of his neck.
“A… hero?” Really? Luo Li knew the system was corrupt, but why had a hero manager gotten into such a bad fight with a hero?
“Er- yeah,” Yang admitted quietly. They, he quickly shook his hands in front of his face. “That’s all settled now, of course! It’s actually why I volunteered to take your case, though. I guess I… understand having a grudge against a hero and no one quite… believing you?”
“Ugh, that part is seriously annoying,” Luo Li groaned, “Like- I was there! I saw it! I get that the Commission is covering shit up to avoid Fear, or whatever, but I hate how everyone still fawns over him. Like- even my mom is a fan of his, and I can’t just tell her because of the NDA and even if I did I don’t even know if she would believe me. She’s still trying to pretend like I wasn’t even there- like it was something that just happened to Dad.”
“Oh, it’s definitely frustrating,” Yang agreed, “I trust your mother, then, has given you the customary ‘revenge is wrong’ talk?”
“Only a million times!” Each time was more annoying and overbearing than the last. Hopefully Luo Li would be able to move into the hero tower fairly quickly as a hero, because she was getting pretty sick and tired of her mother’s shit.
“Well then, I can tell you that for me it was highly satisfying and absolutely worth it. I hope that I can make it good for you, too.” Luo Li paused.
“So you really…” She took a deep breath and began again, “You really beat him? And all his future victims… are safe now?” Luo Li thought about how that would feel- to know that Nice was dead. She thought about all the people who would benefit from being free of that psychopath. She thought of a research trip gone right and Wang Nuonuo’s kiss on her cheek.
“Well, I beat my so-called hero,” Yang clarified, “I’m just here to help you defeat yours… Why don’t I order you something? We can discuss going about that over some food.”
“Sure.” Luo Li was suddenly very aware of the drink Yang had in front of him, a bubble tea. “What do you recommend?”
“Hm… savory or sweet?”
“Sweet.” Luo Li answered without hesitation.
“They’ve got a mean milk butter puff pastry,” Yang offered, “if you don’t mind almonds on the top.”
“Alright.” She was hoping for something more along the lines of chocolate, but she understood that it was a pretty weird food to want for lunch. “And a classic milk tea?”
“On it.” Yang smiled and stood up, heading towards the counter. Luo Li took the opportunity to scan their surroundings. The place was only half-full, and nobody seemed particularly interesting. It was literally just a bakery. A fairly fancy bakery, sure, but a bakery. Yang had gotten them a table near the window and Luo Li looked out at the cars speeding by. She caught sight of the car that had driven her there making circles around the bike rack outside only had a single blue bike that had clearly seen better days. By the time Luo Li turned back, Yang was returning to the table with a cup in one hand and a box in the other.
He handed the cup to Luo Li and followed it up with a straw from the box. She took a sip. Not bad, but not great, either. She must’ve made a face, because Yang laughed.
“That bad?” He dug around in the bag and pulled out a smaller box. After a quick peek, he handed it to her. “I usually don’t bother with milk teas- I worked at a boba place once and they’ve never quite tasted the same. Sorry I couldn’t warn you, though.”
“Eh,” Luo Li shrugged and glanced again at the drink Yang had gotten; it must’ve been a coffee, then. Luo Li fully opened her box, revealing a very puffy pastry indeed. Luo Li’s mouth watered just a little at the smell of it. Yang’s box hid a large potato croquette which looked similarly delicious. Luo Li knew then that she would probably forgive the bakery for their mediocre drinks if their pastries tasted half as good as they looked. She bit into her pastry, the warm layers melting on her tongue, and-
…she tried not to feel bad for enjoying good food while Nuonuo sat in the hospital and Nice walked free. She set the pastry down.
“So. I presume FOMO’s got some kind of contract drafted already?” Luo Li tried to casually push the pastry away, her appetite gone. Yang blinked and set down his own, having not even bitten into it. She didn’t allow herself to feel bad for a guy she barely even knew. Yang nodded.
“Yup. Like you said- just a draft.” Yang swung his backpack around to his side and took out a tablet, turning it on, “I can answer any questions you have. Do you want to read it through on your own?”
“Sure.” Luo Li took the tablet from him and noted how he began on the potato croquette. See, conscious? She could be considerate. When she wanted to be. Luo Li started going through the contract.
…wow, it was dense. Her eye twitched at the tiny text and the over-sized words. Alright. Whatever. She could read that. If she could understand technical jargon, surely she could understand legal jargon as well. Like the first paragraph! To summarize, she was ‘the hero candidate’ and FOMO was ‘the company’ and Yang Feng was ‘the representative’. It took a paragraph to say that. Luo Li tried not to groan.
Basically, Luo Li would only give her image rights to FOMO, and would be able to sign off on anything FOMO wanted to release about her. Yang would serve as the representative of FOMO’s interests to her and the representative of her interests to FOMO’s board. FOMO would allot her enough money to build a whole new suit every month, a certain amount of the metal obtained from the ruins wreckage, and a small royalty from her sales. In return, Luo Li would battle whoever FOMO told her to, post regular streams on a company-managed account, and, most worryingly, disengage whenever FOMO needed her to do so. When Luo Li looked up, the croquette was gone and Yang was wringing his hands. Luo Li tried not to laugh at how nervous he looked.
“So… this whole disengagement thing,” Luo Li began, scrolling to the section detailing the condition, “That’s questionable.”
“We have to ensure that you’re going about this the legal way,” Yang pointed out, “as well as the way that appeals to an audience. That means waiting until you’re behind closed doors for the torture.” Luo Li blinked.
“There’ll be torture?” she asked, excitement rising. Yang shrugged.
“If you can keep him alive long enough for us to take him in. I couldn’t.” The implication that Yang had killed the hero he’d gotten into a fight with? That he had gotten into a fight with a hero and won? Luo Li could feel her eyes filling with awe and quickly forced herself to act natural. He’d said that his hero should’ve been retired, right? Still, the implication that someone could face their enemy and win- and kill them, even if that enemy was a hero- gave her hope.
“You sure know how to win a girl over,” she complimented, “Alright, I don’t really see any other problems with this contract.” The termination rights were fairly inclusive, all things considering. She’d known that FOMO was fairly relaxed in regulating its heroes, but it was fairly nice to know that she wouldn’t be stuck for five years or whatever. If she or FOMO ever felt like the partnership wasn’t working out, it could be cancelled with ease and one month’s notice.
“Really?” Yang’s face lit up, pulling on the scars in weird ways. Luo Li tried not to stare. She tried harder not to be offended. “I’ll admit, I was prepared to make a few concessions. Er- not because there’s anything bad in there! I’ve just met some heroes who… don’t really like… some parts…” Yang trailed off, clearly trying not to mention the some parts out of fear that Luo Li would find issue with them. She shrugged.
“Well, I didn’t see anything obvious-” She leveled Yang with a glare- “did you?”
“...you could probably get more royalties,” Yang admitted, “It wouldn’t be hard to write-in. FOMO gave me authorization to increase the percentage up to one percent.”
“You realize you didn’t have to tell me that, right?” Luo Li asked, raising an eyebrow. Yang flushed.
“Well, yeah.” He rubbed the back of his neck again, “But I really am on your side for this. They’re eager to get another cute but strong mascot after losing the Johnnies to DOS. Besides, being on your side in the beginning will give you a good impression of me, right? Might make you less likely to sock me when I try to pull you off of Nice?”
“Ha!” Luo Li grinned. “Good luck with that. Just don’t leave me so early in the game because FOMO decides they don’t want to deal with your weak spine.”
“I’ll do my best.” Yang finished tapping the screen a few times, presumably adjusting the royalties information, and handed the tablet over to Luo Li. She briefly glanced over the changes before signing the bottom of the screen and handing the tablet back. Luo Li took a sip of her milk tea, which hadn’t miraculously gotten any better. She chased the drink down with a bite of her pastry, which was a little less satisfying when lukewarm. She would bear it.
“So, we should probably go over your first stream- an announcement that you’ve joined FOMO’s team of heroes,” Yang informed her, tapping over to a new file as Luo Li continued eating her pastry, “We’ve set up an office that will serve as the backdrop for your streams until you can officially move into the tower.” Yang handed the tablet to her again, showing off a picture of a streaming set-up with a pink background and a stand for her suit. He swiped the image, “Until you get into the labs to work on a real suit, the one in the backdrop will just be a prop. The merchandise department is working on some keychains and marketing has a few promotional emotes I’ll need you to initial-” Yang swiped again, showing a keychain, and then some chibi versions of her helmet making various facial expressions. Luo Li only gave them a quick glance before signing. “They’ve also got a Commission-approved version of your side of the Ruins Incident comic in the works they should be done with tonight. I’ll send that over to you as soon as I get it.” Yang took back the tablet and continued tapping furiously, assuring Luo Li that FOMO respected her enough to send a serious workaholic. Seriously, she’d only just agreed. “Can our drivers take you to the office today or tomorrow to stream? What does your school schedule look like?”
“Uh… yeah, today should work,” Luo Li said with a shrug, straightening out the words in her mind, “I’m on leave right now, and honestly I was hoping to test out? It was… that was the plan, then I first started interning at Glimmer.”
“We can do that,” Yang agreed, “it’ll be a while until testing season, but we can register you-” more tapping- “can we move you into an online system for now? How effective are you at self-study?”
“Oh please, I made my suit with self-study,” Luo Li scoffed, “joining an online program would be great.” Luo Li had wanted to join an online program forever, but her parents had said something about ‘socialization’ and somehow her desires were completely overridden. “This is all going to be easy, right? I’m not going to need my mom?”
“Of course not. The emancipation took care of that.” Right. The emancipation. When she’d been brought before the Commission and told that if she wanted to be properly represented in the Ruin’s Incident, she needed to be able to sign away her image rights. Her mother had refused. A Commission agent had handed Luo Li a slip of paper, which she signed. Her mother had lost all control over Luo Li’s legal decisions. That had been that.
“Of course,” Luo Li echoed. Yang looked up from his tablet sharply.
“I’ve got a team working on an outline for your welcome stream. FOMO doesn’t like putting words in their heroes’ mouths, so if it doesn’t suit you just go off book. Just try not to talk too much trash about the other heroes, yeah? However tempting it may be.” Yang began collecting the trash leftover from their lunch as he continued, “I’ll take the car with you to the office and we can talk more then.”
“All right.” Luo Li let him throw away the trash and followed him out to the car. Thankfully for his balls, he didn’t try to open the door for her, just got in on the other side. Luo Li slid into the- uh- forward-facing side? She wasn’t sure what the term was, and vowed to look it up. Honestly, to think that there were still things she didn’t know.
Yang made eye contact with her from across the car and smiled. Luo Li smiled back.
…alright, hopefully the FOMO thing would work out. He’d made a good impression.
Luo Li took in her new office, which would only be hers for as long as it took the Commission to rank her. They had told her up front that they would rank her within the hero tower if she chose to become a hero- probably their version of reparations for the Ruin’s Incident- and Yang had informed her that he expected her to make the top ten in time for the ranking tournament. More importantly, in time for her to kick Nice’s ass in the ranking tournament. The temporary space was nice, though- covered in plush cushions and merchandise from other FOMO heroes. They were clearly trying to make it feel lived in, or something, despite the fact that Luo Li had never set foot there in her life. She approved of the color scheme, though, and as she situated herself on a fluffy pink papasan she determined that she could get behind the office for as long as it belonged to her. Hopefully they would be moving everything into the hero tower with her, if only because changing the set so early into her career could be disorienting for her followers.
“Here you are.” Yang pulled up some online flashcards and stepped away from the computer. “Remember- I’ll be here every step of the way.” He slipped on a pair of headphones and gave her a thumbs up. She took a deep breath.
Casual costume on and air in her lungs, Luo Li put on her own head phones, glanced at the card on the screen, and turned on the stream. The chat, which had been gathering in anticipation since Luo Li got in the car and Yang opened the waiting room, went wild. She grinned.
“Hello, everyone! It’s great to meet you all!” She thought of Wang Nuonuo in the hospital, and of FOMO’s desire for a cutesy hero, and tried her best to make her smile seem sincere. “It’s only been a short while since I accidentally debuted at the Ruin’s Incident, but I’ve managed to sign on as a hero with everyone’s favorite social media platform! We’ll talk about what all that means a bit later but for now-” Luo Li glanced at the notes- “I just thought I’d introduce myself to you all! As you may have heard- I’m Loli!”
“Hey, Luo Li, I brought breakfast.” Two years after the Ruin’s Incident, Luo Li was comfortably in the top ten, ready to kick Nice’s ass now that he had finally made it to her level. “Bagels, your usual.” She reluctantly pulled herself out of bed for her weekly meeting with Yang Feng.
“...warm?” The floor was decidedly too cold for Luo Li to skip her slippers. She fished them out from under the bed and slipped the fluffy forms over her feet.
“Yup.” Yang Feng set the bag on the table and took a seat as Luo Li grabbed her medication from the end table and made her way to his side. Luo Li glanced at the energy drink in his hand and glued to his lips.
“That was what- forty hours? Gotta be a new record,” she laughed, taking a seat across from him and digging around in the bag. She pulled out a bagel and took a peek in the wrapper- eugh, strawberry. Luo Li wiped the shmear she’d accidentally gotten on her hand onto the wrapper and slid it over to Yang Feng.
“Thanks.” Yang Feng tipped the can back to finish it off and set it on the table. “And for your information, it was forty-two. Including a full eight hours of sleep on, like, four melatonin. I met Zero.”
“Yeesh.” Luo Li knew he had a problem, but that was scary. “Don’t go dying on me. Getting a new manager this close to the tournament would seriously suck.” She dug around in the bag again and removed the second bagel- a warm cinnamon bagel with nice, plain schmear.
“I don’t intend to, but the boss has me running sun-up to sun-down and sorting out logistics in my quote-on-quote ‘free time’,” Yan Mo complained, “all so he can hang out with that dog.”
“Ahu?” Luo Li asked around a mouthful of bagel.
“Yeah. He took the guy under his wing personally, since dogs don’t have rights and his owner’s in the hospital. Cute, weirdly professional, and indirectly a pain in my ass.” It had taken a while for Yang Feng to be comfortable complaining about… anything, really, but once he got started it was entertaining to watch him go. The caffeine thrumming in his veins probably helped. Sometimes, Luo Li wondered why he wasn’t a hero.
Then she remembered what he had confessed to her during one of their earliest takedowns, against a drug smuggling ring. FOMO had tried to keep her uninvolved, because subterfuge didn’t generally require a cute, flashy hero, but then the head had been taken out by some organizational in-fighting and she had been able to volunteer to wipe out the rest in the confusion. It had been convenient, but Luo Li hadn’t felt like celebrating the death, and Yang Feng had pat her on the head and told her that empathy was what made her a hero.
The unspoken part being, of course, that the death really was hella convenient and Yang Feng had spared not a single thought for the families the bust had torn apart and sent to their execution. Luo Li had only just managed to convince him to defend the low-rung, low-involvement seventeen-year-old that had been caught on the scene by reminding him of her own age. He was probably best suited for where he was at.
“So, how’re you feeling about the stream this afternoon?” Yang Feng asked, finishing his disgusting, disgusting bagel and pulling out his tablet.
“I mean- alright,” Luo Li huffed, “I’m hoping it doesn’t go as poorly as the eighteenth-birthday one.” Yang Feng had the audacity to laugh at her.
“The one on your eighteenth birthday didn’t go poorly, you just embarrassed yourself,” he corrected, “and that’s exactly what fans want to see from you before this tournament- the girl behind a suit being a normal human who happens to be a cuddly drunk.” Luo Li huffed and folded her arms.
“Doesn’t mean I have to like it,” she told him, “I almost wish that something big woul-”
“Dear citizens!” Luo Li’s head snapped towards the billboards outside her window, from which the sound had originated. There, she saw Moon, with a gag in her mouth, and… was that Enlighter? She blinked. What…? “To celebrate Nice’s new top 10 ranking, I’ve decided to reveal something about him!” Moon struggled against Enlighter’s grip. “As you can all see, Moon isn’t dead. Everyone about Nice was carefully planned and faked! And I… will tear apart his disguise, bit by bit!”
…
“He- he can’t do that!” Luo Li stood up, shouting, “I have to take Nice down, not this… who does he think he is?” It was infuriating. Just because he’d been humiliated on that True Love Recipe episode didn’t mean he was allowed to take down her nemesis!
“God Eye, apparently,” Yang Feng answered her rhetorical question, “he’s revealing the Nice-Moon fake relationship bullshit, but Treeman is calling for Nice to stay back… oh! They made a call to Blankster.”
“I need to go there and stop him,” Luo Li hissed.
“No need. Treeman won’t let Nice go no matter what, and they’re more than prepared to handle the problem. God Eye is just another villain of the week. We shouldn’t- you shouldn’t have to worry about this. Nice will still be in the tournament for you to beat up. God Eye hasn’t even mentioned the real estate scandals… FOMO doesn’t want you to get involved, Luo Li.”
“Fine.” Whatever. So what? “I intend to keep an eye on it, though. If God Eye starts beating Nice, I’ll ruin him.”
“You’ll ruin God Eye for an opportunity to fight Nice yourself?” Yang Feng asked.
“Of course!” That was why they were holding off until after the tournament to expose Nice’s exploitative real estate dealings. Luo Li turned back to Yang Feng. “You understand, right?”
“...all too well,” Yang Feng admitted, “Alright, we’ll keep an eye on it. Together.”
So they kept an eye on it. They watched as God Eye defeated the first challenger Treeman sent- Blankster- and they watched as an unknown brunette crashed through God Eye’s backdrop and slowly began walking towards the villain.
“Oh? The main character of the day finally arrives on stage.” God Eye announced. Main character? “It’s time to let everyone see who you really are! Now, please properly introduce yourself to the world.” Luo Li felt her stomach drop to her feed.
“The real Nice… is dead.”
Luo Li didn’t hear any more after that, static overtaking her ears as she dropped to her knees. Dead? No. No! He couldn’t be. Not yet, anyway. She hadn’t gotten revenge. She hadn’t asked him why. She hadn’t punched him in that stupid ‘perfect’ face one last time. She hadn’t- she hadn’t-
“Shh… shh… it’s okay.” She was only vaguely aware of a hand in her hair and a body pressed up against hers. “You can still get Treeman, it’ll be okay. It’ll be okay… I’ll make it okay.”
“So, how’s your pet project?” Uncle Rock asked Yang Cheng as they rode towards their destination. “I take it this was a bit of a shock.”
“She’ll be okay,” Yang Cheng assured him, “More likely to join our cause, now that her focus has been redirected to Treeman as a whole.”
“Well then, this certainly works in our favor… I’ll expect to sign her on by the time the tournament is through.”
“Of course, sir.” Unofficially, Loli was already one of MG’s heroes. Zac had let MG handle her management so long as he could keep her as an icon until he had a new beau and Ahu was shaping up to be FOMO’s new poster child. The only ones who didn’t know were Loli herself and the general public. “Perhaps a mission with one of our heroes would loosen her up to the idea. She still has generally poor opinions of the heroes MG puts out.”
“...perhaps…” Uncle Rock agreed. He smirked, “How do you think she would like working with E-Soul?”
Luo Li didn’t know how she felt about E-Soul. She knew how she felt about Moon, though, and that was ‘bad’. So, that the Commission had sent her out on a mission to ensure E-Soul’s hit on Moon went without a hitch, because it’d been leaked, was weird. The Commission didn’t tend to ask for her by name, even at her high rank, and FOMO certainly didn’t. She wasn’t involved in their less than legal dealings, though she knew they had them. Everyone had them. She just… didn’t look at them, most of the time. Except for right then, because the Commission had learned that if Moon’s fake death was really revealed, all of heroic society would collapse. Literally. That might have had something to do with Blankster’s defamation, but the way every hero’s trust value had plummeted during the God Eye scandal had frightened even Yang Feng.
So it made sense that the Commission wanted Moon dead for real. Luo Li didn’t even really mind; she hated Moon’s Nice-kissing ass. She didn’t even have to pull the trigger. The only trouble was sitting on a boat with E-Soul, who was… basically just a hunk of metal. Literally all the things she made fun of Da Xiong’s battle suit for being. She didn’t even get to bring Yang Feng, because he was ‘busy’, as always. She just… sat there, E-Soul across from her, and they stared at each other. Well, she stared at him, with no idea where he was looking.
“So… any idea who’s gonna show up? The recipient of the leak?” In all honesty, Luo Li didn’t know how she felt about E-Soul. He hadn’t been at the crash site to steal anything or cover it up, just to kill Ghostblade and Little Johnny, and MG was actively against Treeman’s… deal. E-Soul stared at her for a moment, and Luo Li was honestly considering following up before he replied.
“Ghostblade…” Oh, uck, there was a reason why E-Soul rarely made speeches. Luo Li knew that there was some reason why E-Soul’s voice was so messed up, but she didn’t care about him enough to know what it was. Wait- had he said Ghostblade? “That’s why you were brought on.”
“Oh, because I’m the Ghostblade expert?” She had been specifically brought on to handle Ghostblade? She explicitly avoided the guy whenever he happened to be visiting Nuonuo. By visiting, she meant leaving bouquets and never actually stepping into the room because he was a coward. E-Soul nodded. “I hardly know him!”
“Nobody knows him… besides his wife,” E-Soul pointed out. Luo Li frowned. Well, yeah, but she hardly knew his fighting style, either. It wasn’t like she watched Ghostblade’s fights before she met him, and she definitely hadn’t afterwards.
“Well, I hate his guts.” She folded her arms over her chest sharply and felt E-Soul staring at her pointedly. “...you know what I mean. I don’t watch him.”
“You’ll see him coming.”
Oh yeah. That was probably a good point. Luo Li huffed. Just for that, she was going to let Ghostblade get a good swing in.
“Don’t you have super perception too, though?” At least super fast perception, to match the super speed? If E-Soul could dodge Ghostblade and Luo Li could know where Ghostblade was then… “We’re just the anti-Ghostblade team, aren’t we?” Another pointed stare from E-Soul. Luo Li could practically hear the ‘uh duh’ that lingered. “What about- uh- li- uh- the Nice-lookalike? Won’t he be there?”
“Unlikely.”
“Well, yeah, but he seemed real serious about saving her from God Eye. He didn’t strike me as Treeman’s usual type, ya’know? They might not tell him where she is, but why wouldn’t he visit.”
“Unlikely.” Yeah, yeah. Whatever. A real conversationalist, E-Soul.
“Better safe than sorry. I don’t want to go up against a guy I know nothing about.” She didn’t want to hurt someone she knew nothing about, more like. She wasn’t like Nice.
“We may need to,” E-Soul declared, radiating supreme judgement. Luo Li knew he was right- if it came down to a Nice-lookalike or her, the fake would have to go. If he really was pissed about Moon’s death, chances were he’d be out for blood.
“Yeah, yeah,” Luo Li acknowledged, “besides, he took the identity of a dead guy, or whatever. We can hope he has the same powerset. Or something.” Luo Li let her statement hang for a moment before accepting that E-Soul probably wouldn’t answer her. What was with MG and strong, silent-type heroes? First Ghostblade, then E-Soul, and… well, Luo Li had never really met Dragon Boy but he seemed to break the mold. Not a pattern, then. Just a correlation. Didn’t mean Luo Li didn’t hate it, though. Some people just couldn’t keep a conversation going.
“...sorry about Nice.” Just when Luo Li had given up on filling their flight with conversation, E-Soul spoke. She looked up at his helmet and held his… gaze? He was probably meeting her eyes. Whatever. About Nice…
“Fucking sucks, that’s what.” Why’d he have to go and die before Luo Li could kill him? “There’s still Treeman, though.” At least, that’s what Yang Feng had said. E-Soul nodded.
“I’m sorry I…” His voice trailed off and Luo Li felt herself leaning in. Sorry for what? He wasn’t part of the scheme, was he? “Was distracted by my mission.”
“Oh.” He… was apologizing for not saving everyone? When he hadn’t even known what was going on outside of Ghostblade and Little Johnny? Sure he could have done something, but he hadn’t, because he’d been doing what he was supposed to do. And… Luo Li had learned well enough that blaming herself for not being in the right place at the right time was the path to madness. “Don’t worry about it. You were busy, yeah? I haven’t even thought about it.” Well, she thought about it not nearly as often as she really should have, but about E-Soul’s part in the affair? Never.
“...I’msupposedtopoachyou,” E-Soul spit out quickly, the static making it near-incomprehensible. Luo Li raised an eyebrow. “I’m supposed to poach you. From FOMO.” Luo Li blinked.
“I’m pretty attached.” She narrowed her eyes. MG hadn’t reached out since they tried to contact her after her father’s funeral. “Besides, you’re not just supposed to admit that.” Luo Li was certain that E-Soul was sheepish, and wished suddenly that he, too, had a mask with facial lighting. At the very least, he began playing with his hands in his lap.
“I… would like to be up front,” E-Soul said slowly, “so: what would it take to get you to sign?”
“Ha! Very forward of you, eh?” Luo Li brought her legs and arms to cross. “I’m not about to leave my manager.” E-Soul’s sat up impossibly straighter and Luo Li knew that she had made a mistake.
“Yang Feng, right?”
“...yeah.” Well, Yang Feng had complained that he felt one day a week wasn’t enough to manage a hero in the top ten. Maybe… he wouldn’t mind switching over. Maybe. Would Luo Li?
“We’ve- uh- he’s already on our payroll. For… something else.”
“Something else?” Luo Li asked, raising an eyebrow. Was this about Yang Feng’s super secret past that involved getting vengeance against the hero who hurt him? Color her interested.
“It would be easy to have him be your manager, as well,” E-Soul continued, dodging Luo Li’s question. Huh.
“I’ll have to talk with him about it, you know,” she pointed out. E-Soul nodded and Luo Li studied him for a moment. That stupidly bulky mask, the vibrant blue visor, the musculature highlighted by his skin-tight blue suit… if she was going to join MG, one of the first orders of business would be getting him a redesign. Probably several. Given how common those were, Luo Li was sure that MG wouldn’t mind. E-Soul certainly wasn’t. He was still just sitting there, waiting for her to elaborate or something. “You’re a fucking dumbass, aren’t you?” E-Soul stayed silent, probably out of self-preservation. “Like- all cool silent type, but a dumbass. Can’t believe I thought you were scary.”
“...Sorry?”
“Hm…” Luo Li uncrossed her legs. “Did you at least design part of that suit?”
“I made the lights?” E-Soul demonstrated by lighting up. Luo Li stared.
“Thank god I gave the world an actual tech hero.” Really! To think that E-Soul’s aesthetic had inspired copycats like Bug when he clearly knew nothing about technology. “Does your suit play movies?” E-Soul shook his head and Luo Li smirked. “Mine does. What’s your favorite?”
“Do you have Clash!?”
“The fucking musical?” Luo Li had seen advertisements in the city- and knew that Yang Feng had enjoyed it. That was a movie? Luo Li scrolled through the archives, ignoring E-Soul’s hesitant nod. “Wait- 24 or 40?” There were two Clash! movies?
“40. The… musical movie adaptation.” Luo Li stared at him, hand hovering over the button to remove her helmet. She pressed down and took it off, forcing him to face her eyes.
“Alright, be real with me. Are you a theatre nerd?” Luo Li asked, staring the hero down with her helmet in her hands. E-Soul, intimidated by her obvious charisma, glanced away.
“It’s a good soundtrack,” he claimed.
“I’m not judging you.” Well, she was. At least a little bit. Who would have thought that E-Soul was a theatre kid? “Honestly, I just need your advice. What the fuck should I get a theatre kid for his birthday?” E-Soul’s helmet snapped back to face her, and they stared each other down for a moment.
“Tickets?” Luo Li continued to stare him down a moment more, trying to determine if he was telling the truth. E-Soul shifted a little where he was sitting.
“Perfect, thank you!” She set her helmet down on the table, facing the two of them, and selected the Clash! (40) from her archives. When her helmet’s face was filled by the title screen, Luo Li sat back down. E-Soul’s gaze was rather humorously fixed on the screen. “Now that’s a real light show.” Luo Li would not point out how Yang Feng had been the one to lead her to the breakthrough which allowed her screen to be much more than just a facial tracking board.
They watched the movie together for the rest of the plane ride, and while Luo Li didn’t really see the appeal of the whole… singing thing, she did like the dances. The plot wasn’t too bad, either, but it was clearly half-assed in favor of those musical numbers. The timing was great though, since the credits were playing just as they touched down.
“Don’t…” Luo Li turned to E-Soul, who had stopped watching her helmet in favor of his lap, “don’t join MG, Loli.” Luo Li blinked.
“What?”
“Please, don’t join MG,” he repeated.
“Why the switch up?” Luo Li asked, “weren’t you just trying to convince me? Isn’t it your assignment or whatever?”
“Just don’t.”
“...alright, then.” Luo Li didn’t want to touch that with a five-foot pole. Maybe after Treeman she could go for MG, to handle… whatever E-Soul was talking about.
Surprise, surprise, the Commoner was on the island.
She couldn’t believe it. She couldn’t fucking believe it. Luo Li refreshed the news website. Twenty new comments. No edits. Her phone vibrated and ‘Gege :3’ flashed across the screen. She picked up.
“What the fuck.” The words flew out of her mouth before she could process them, probably interrupting whatever her manager had to say. “What the fuck.”
“I can’t clear today’s schedule, for obvious reasons, but I can get to you by eight pm,” Yang Feng hurriedly announced, “Do you think you’ll be okay until then? Can I trust you not to post about the situation for at least five hours?”
“Post about it,” Luo Li scoffed, raising her voice, “he’s going to be in the tournament! I’ve got to completely adjust my plans! I’ve got to rework the megamech! I’ve got to- I need to head to my lab,” Luo Li realized.
“You’ll keep yourself safe though, yeah?” Yang Feng asked, “safe and healthy? With fluids and snacks and sufficient-” Luo Li hung up on him, grabbed her lab coat, and headed straight for her lab, where her megamech lay unfinished. She’d been intending to give it more test time before the tournament, but then Nice had decided to- what- fake his death? So there it was, still unfinished and lacking any usage in battle. Luo Li would just have to fix that, wouldn’t she? She took up a wrench and launched into her project. Nice would die. For real.
She was only distracted when, a matter of time later, the door to the lab swung open. Luo Li didn’t need to look over to know that it was Yang Feng, probably with food, so she continued working on programming the right arm’s third transformation, into a blade.
“Leave it on the bench,” she instructed her manager, connecting a wire to the fourth motor. She tested power. Perfect. All she had to do was change the motor from running off of her test power source to running off of her main, and-
“Mandatory break, Luo Li,” Yang Feng announced, grabbing her shoulder. Luo Li yelped, dropped what she was working on, and immediately turned to glare at him. “You’ve been down here for four and a half hours; that means it’s time for your dinner break.”
“Clearly you have no idea how long I stay here when you’re not around,” Luo Li scoffed, trying to turn back to her work. She was stopped by Yang Feng’s strong grip.
“Do you want me to turn off the power to this floor?” he threatened. She growled. “Dinner,” he reiterated, “I got you a slice of chocolate cake for afterward.” Luo Li perked up and instantly regretted it. She wasn’t supposed to be showing enthusiasm! She was supposed to be staying strong about her opinion.
“I-”
“You can come down here later, Li,” Yang Feng continued, “but you need to be well-rested and healthy for the tournament. You can’t let Treeman get to you just by catching you off guard with this.”
“But what if catching me off guard means catching me without my megamech?” Luo Li asked, “they could’ve known that I would stop working on it if Nice was dead and killed him off just so I wouldn’t have my secret weapon when they brought him back!”
“Ma-aybe, but megamech or no, a sleep deprived Luo Li is not a very effective hero.” Luo Li scowled, but she knew that he was right. The last time she’d tried going out on just three hours of sleep, she’d hallucinated half of the battle and the villain got away.
“Fine. Whatever. Dinner, then more work, and I’ll go to bed right before the tournament once the megamech is done.” Yang Feng leveled her with his best disapproving stare, but Luo Li held firm.
“Alright,” Yang Feng accepted, “Shower first, though.” Luo Li huffed, rolled her eyes, and made a show of taking off her gloves before stomping off to the bathroom. Just who did he think he was? Just because he was her manager- maybe her friend, even (maybe family, if she thought about it too hard)- didn’t mean he could tell her what to do! She was an adult, goddamnit, and she expected to be treated like one. She stepped into the shower.
Nice was alive. He was alive. He was weird and cracked and Luo Li didn’t want to think too much about the purple lurking beneath the surface, but he was alive. Luo Li could get… she wondered if it hurt. She wondered if Nice had questioned Mr. Shand’s orders. She wondered how he felt knowing Moon was dead, if he had been conscious while he’d been replaced, how the Commoner got so good at fucking acting… she wondered as she washed her hair and her flesh and as she stepped out and dried herself off. She was still wondering as she slipped on her bathrobe and slippers and headed out to the dining table.
Yang Feng had laid out the food and was waiting at the table for her. Luo Li did her best to ignore him, less because she was actually mad and more because she was in the mood to mess with him. He always got awkward when he thought she disapproved of his choices. She also… wanted some silence. Thinking about her next move had proved more difficult than just a shower, and it was easy to ignore the implications of Nice being alive when she’d been trying to make him dead again. In the silence, everything was much messier. Luo Li took out her phone at the table and pulled up a picture of the ‘dead’ hero. It was truly a testament to how uncomfortable she’d made Yang Feng that he didn’t stop her.
Nice… she was reminded of the merchandise Treeman had released for Nice about a year prior. They had been little porcelain dolls in his likeness, and they faced some backlash when nearly a third were damaged on arrival. She’d laughed about the incident in her ‘not really allowed to criticize Nice’ way on stream and someone had sent her a picture of their doll repaired with kintsugi. For the actual person, it was not gold filling the cracks. Luo Li zoomed in to get a better view. Yes, purple. Purple. The color most associated with fear. It was easy to think that Nice had always been stuffed with fear- that he had been decommissioned once the cracks started showing and forced into the spotlight ahead of repair schedules in order to compete in the tournament. Why would he have a replacement, though? One who claimed he was dead? Luo Li didn’t know. Luo Li didn’t… know.
She turned off her phone and finished her bowl. Yang Feng pushed her a slice of chocolate cake, accompanied by a small smile. Luo Li tried to smile back. She ate the cake. Yang Feng got up and threw away the takeout containers, then moved towards the couch. He gestured for her to join him, not looking back at where she was still sitting at the table. She stared at his back a moment. Yang Feng had gotten revenge. He’d gotten it and he’d enjoyed it, right? It had been good? It had been worth it? Luo Li got up from the table once Yang Feng had already sat himself down on the couch. Once he caught sight of her joining him, he visibly exhaled- Luo Li tried not to laugh- and tapped the ground in front of him with a socked foot. Luo Li sat there and felt Yang Feng’s hands in her hair.
Oh, wow, she hadn’t realized how much tension she’d been carrying until Yang Feng dispelled it with a few strokes of his hand. Luo Li leaned back into the feeling, letting her thoughts of Nice, Treeman, and justice slip away. Sometimes, she wondered why Yang Feng’s hands felt like safety while her mother’s had only felt like expectations. She wondered why her father had banned her from being a hero while Yang Feng’s conditions had been that she tell him what she was doing and be smart about doing it. She loved her parents, she did, but even if her father was alive… Luo Li was frightened that she would love Yang Feng more than them.
Not romantically! She didn’t have time for that, not with Nuonuo still in the hospital. Yang Feng had sort-of just… forced himself into her life and became something so much more than just a manager. She didn’t like thinking about it, but after dinner, after showers, after her weekly streams, when she was sat in front of him like a child, she… something. Something.
She wondered if Nice had anyone in his life like that.
Yang Feng handed her a tissue. Luo Li hadn’t even noticed that she was crying. Somehow, that made her tears fall harder.
“I don’t think I can kill Nice,” she confessed quietly, once she felt Yang Feng tying off the first of the braids he’d put into her hair. His hands stilled, and she went on, “I don’t think- I don’t think I want to kill anyone. I didn’t want Moon to die! I didn’t- and Nuonuo deserves to be avenged, and he has it coming, but I don’t think I can- I don’t think I can actually hurt him. I wanted to, but I- I-” She blew her nose and Yang Feng pulled her close to his chest.
“Alright,” he muttered, “alright, Li.”
“And- and you said that my empathy was what made me a hero, but you did it. You avenged your friend, and I- what? I pity my father’s killers and- and replace him with you!” Yang Feng gripped her tighter and Luo Li knew she’d never confessed to such a thing before, but she had momentum and couldn’t stop herself, “but what if- what about the people who love him? What about the people who love- what about the people who loved Moon? Is anyone not a victim? But you-” Luo Li turned herself towards Yang Feng- “how do you do it? How do you tell their loved ones that they’re dead?” Yang Feng stilled.
“...Luo Li,” he began, after a moment that felt much too long, “look at me.” Luo Li opened her mouth, because she was looking at him, but Yang Feng went on, “Look at me. For real.”
So she did. She looked at his blue eyes and his long black hair. She looked at the vein-like scars spread over his face and, she knew, most of his body. She looked at the line which had clearly gotten close to taking out his left eye, and at the lines which moved and pulled every time he used his mouth. Those… she had enough scars to know that those were the kind that hurt. Yang Feng's eyes met hers once more.
“I got these trying to kill the man who ordered the hit on my best friend,” he admitted, “and I nearly killed myself in the attempt. And when my wounds failed to do me in after the fact, I tried to finish the job myself. This is what vengeance and hate did for me. My friends abandoned the man I had become and I… it took a lot of work to get me on the right path again.”
“Then why-” She stopped herself. Why had Yang Feng glorified it, then?
“I wasn't sure you would take a warning seriously. I certainly wouldn’t have. I was… I was so glad when you stayed true to your ideals and stopped me from doing stupid shit. I was so happy when Nice died and you could turn your attention to the people playing chess with the world, but you didn’t even have time to connect that “The Commoner”s dead body had been found at the bottom of a building-” Luo Li blanched- “and I’m so, so proud of you for being able to walk away from your work. I’m so sorry the Commission asked for you to work on the Moon operation. You aren’t abandoning your family in any way. From what you’ve told me, I think your father would be horrified that you’re a hero, and Da Xiong and Wang Nuonuo would be just as proud as I am of what an amazing hero you’ve become.”
“Oh-” Luo Li felt a fresh wave of tears welling up in her eyes and buried her face in Yang Feng’s black suit vest.
“You’re going to fight in that tournament,” Yang Feng told her, “and you’re going to beat Nice up on television, and you’re going to get second, because X is fucking invincible, and I’m going to be there every step of the way.” Luo Li looked up.
“I thought you weren’t going to be available for the tournament.” She couldn’t even bring herself to be disgusted by the excitement in her voice.
“They decided you needed extra supervision with the Nice situation. Sucks, but it’s good for me.”
“Thank you.” Luo Li smiled and buried herself into Yang Feng’s chest again. “Thank you.” She could deal with her conflicted feelings about Treeman, the Commission, and the Moon Incident… later.