Hero Unit

by JC Bybee

  They had visits from the other members of Ace’s team while they rested. Ace held a barbecue for all of them the second day after she got back. Captain Angel was there along with Bones and his family. Even the old man made an appearance. Ace told everyone who didn’t know him that he was an old friend from the army. He called himself Tim Hicks.

  Again Ace found herself alone on her balcony, only this time it was because she was manning the grill. “Your sister is running interference, so I’ve got some questions for you, kid.” It was the old man.

  “You’re wondering about my fight with Janice,” Ace said as she relaxed in the pleasant twilight. It was getting to the time when Hellfire let the season shift to fall.

  “That’d be it. We have no idea how the hell she did that. No that’s not right, thanks to those hard drives we know, but it just doesn’t make a lick of sense,” he said.

  That was a surprise. “Can’t you just take it from her head? She shouldn’t be protected like some people are. Not with how much of a problem the HSO has been throughout the world.”

  The old man leaned against the railing and looked out over the city. “It’s just not there kid. She had a device in her head that killed the information. So I was hoping there was something else you could remember.”

  Ace thought it over as she checked the meat. She closed the lid of the grill and said, “Honestly it’s all in the report. I put in everything I can remember. She jabbed the needle into her leg, said she had power to rival mine and then set about proving it. I’ve never been hit that hard in my entire life.”

  The old man snorted. “Do you some good I imagine. Never been challenged before, have you?”

  “I’d rather not have it happen again. I don’t think the world can handle too many more like me and Angela,” Ace replied.

  “I have to say I agree with only part of that. The world doesn’t need more powers like you and your sister, but it could sure as hell use more people like you two. You are good people Ace, you and your sister. You do good work here; you’ve changed a lot of lives for the better. Don’t you forget that,” the old man replied.

  “Thanks old man, I appreciate that,” Ace said. She smiled, it was rare to get praise from him.

  “Good, now get back to that meat. I’m hungry.”

  “Yes sir,” Ace said still smiling.

  When Ace returned to work it was strange. In her absence both her sister and Emily had been assigned to a new squad, Ace’s. She’d been given charge of a Hero Unit comprised of herself, Maniac, Emily, Angela, Duck and Cover and rookie named Jolt. He was a Speed Class right out of the Academy.

  She found this out when she was called in to speak with Bones the very first thing. “You’ll be happy to know that the duties of the Aerial Patrol have been passed on to a different officer,” Ace heaved a sigh of relief. Bones chuckled and continued, “You did good work getting it organized now anyone should be able to run it thanks to the ground work you laid. I know it might not seem like much but we appreciate your efforts.”

  “Thank you sir,” Ace said. She tried not to let her relief show too much.

  “However we aren’t about to let your leadership qualities go to waste, so we are putting you in charge of a newly formed unit. It will be made up of these officers,” he put a data chip on the desk. “Good luck.”

  Ace took the chip and now was fighting frustration. She didn’t want to be in charge of a unit, but she wasn’t about to argue. It could be worse, her sister said.

  How? Ace replied.

  They could’ve given you Angel’s job, she replied and Ace suppressed a shudder at the thought. Her, in charge of a whole E.E.D office? That didn’t even bear thinking about.

  Back in her own office she put the data chip in her computer and pulled up the files. She was happy to see that the first one was Maniac. She was only mildly surprised to see the next two were her sister and Emily. Apparently the old man had pulled some strings and made Emily a full E.E.D officer without having to go through the Academy.

  It was the last file that drew her attention. It was for a Speed Class fresh from the academy. His Hero name was Jolt. What impressed her was his completely average file. As a general rule Speed Class had a tendency towards extremes. Some had OCD problems, others had discipline problems, like Left Hook.

  Everyone knew that Left Hook was going to mouth off and get in trouble, everyone knew that he was going to pick fights he couldn’t hope to win, that was his Quirk. On the other hand there were some Speed Class that organized everything in their lives to the last detail. Jolt didn’t seem to have either of those particular Quirks and that made him unique.

  He’ll be interesting to work with. He’s nervous as hell about being assigned to our Unit.

  Angela was right about it being their squad. She was going to be the one responsible for the mental health of the Heroes in their Unit.

  I don’t know if I’m ready for this, sis, Ace said.

  She could feel the smile in her sister’s response, Of course you are. Besides I’m here to help.

  Just then Ace got a call on her device. It was an unfamiliar number and when she answered the screen was black. “Hello?” she said.

  The voice that replied was distorted, and not even her heightened hearing could work past it. “Thank you for taking care of Ms. Rodriguez. She was a taint on our organization.”

  “I didn’t do it for you,” Ace growled.

  The caller laughed. “No most certainly not. But you did it nonetheless. You will be hearing from us again.”

  The call cut off. She checked her device’s tracker. It came up negative. She shook her head. The mysterious caller would have to wait until later. For now she had a new unit to break in. She called them all up and ordered them to the shooting range. That was as good a place as any to begin. With a smile she left her office. Maybe being in charge of a Hero Unit wouldn’t be all bad. At least she had friends with her. For now that was enough.

  The End

  Thank you for reading.

  About JC Bybee

  JC was born and raised in Oregon. His vivid imagination kept him entertained through his teen years. After serving a two year mission in Toronto Canada for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints he attended BYU. There he met his wife, who promptly graduated and moved them to the Midwest. JC speaks Spanish and is currently trying (with some success) to learn other languages. He is also a practitioner of Historical European Martial Arts.

  Connect with me at:

  www.facebook.com/authorjc.bybee

  or follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/authorjcbybee