Slow and Speedy Win the Fight

25. Meeting

Haresa

The meeting room hadn't changed much since I last came here.

The walls were covered in screens and there was a large oval-shaped table in the middle. Chairs surrounded it but there were also extra chairs against the walls in case there were extra heroes or sidekicks that decided to come and sit in. There wasn't much room for décor or bright colours in the room since the focus are the screens and whatever had to be shown for the meetings.

Lupina was lounging near the front of the room with her feet on the table. She had her arms crossed behind her head and her chair was leaning back. It was balanced dangerously on its hind legs and I opted to wait for someone else to tell her off.

"How's school going, squirt?" Lupina craned her neck to look at me. "Hey, why are you so far away? Come 'ere."

She waved her hand to the seat next to her and I reluctantly sat in it. She wore her standard hero outfit which consisted of a mix of fur and spandex. She had a furry cape that ended halfway drown her back and a mask that covered the top half of her face to look just like a wolf's.

"I've been doing okay, I guess. A villain enrolled in my school recently."

"That's interesting, are they giving you a hard time?" She adjusted her cape by shrugging her shoulder. "Need me to kick their ass?"

I shook my head. "No, he's been quiet... for now."

"Aw, that's too bad. I could've gone for a good ass-kicking."

We fell into an uncomfortable silence as more people started to fill out the room. There was an array of brightly coloured costumeswhich only made me feel more dread as we got closer to the start of the meeting.

"And this bitch said that she wouldn't go out with me! I saved her life, the most she could do is go out to dinner with me." I heard one guy complain loudly and I glanced at Lupina to see that she had a scowl on her face.

Being one of the only two people who were assigned female at birth never was fun at the hero meetings. Lupina was always on edge and I swear one of these days she'll lose it and kill everyone in the room.

"Quiet." A deep voice boomed.

The room instantly became silent.

"Fashionably late as always, Excellor." Lupina's voice was dry and humourless.

Excellor mirrored her feelings with a dry chuckle. "Lively as always, Lupina."

He stood above the other heroes with his large muscles and red, white, and blue outfit. He was one of the few people that didn't wear a mask but despite being the most famous hero in the city, I've never heard of paparazzi and fans swarming him. He was intimidating and even more stoic in comparison to Blanc. Probably because Blanc never got to the top spot to be so responsible and cocky.

"Anyways, it had brought to my attention that the hero app has been malfunctioning. I've already told the rest of the hero association and they're currently fixing the few bugs that our small-time hero has found." His chin was jutted out and his leer only irritated me.

You have to be kidding me. It wasn't just an app malfunction, if it was just that I wouldn't have made as big of a fuss. Also, small-time? Who does he think he's talking about?

My eye twitched in irritation and Lupina tapped a hand on my shoulder as a way of reassuring me. I took a deep breath and rubbed my temple in hopes that I calm down.

"In other more important news, crime has been going down specifically."

My eye twitched again. More important? The app was the most used tool of our jobs. Without it, we would have to be roaming the streets for hours looking for trouble.

"That's a good thing, right?" I spoke up but I could hear my annoyance had seeped into my words.

"No, it's terrible. If we don't have enough cases to divide amongst us, many of us will lose our significance. The promotion and accounting team have been panicking non-stop ever since Blanc left us."

"But we still have fighting events and merchandising," a different hero said.

"People remember you for the heroics, the deeds you do for the city. Before you know it, there won't be a need for heroes. Heroing relies on relevancy, we won't be able to rely on sales or even the Power Centre gyms themselves if we get overshadowed by another union of heroes."

Lupina frowned. "What about the villains? Aren't they supposed to wreak havoc for us?"

"Yes, they are but they're being hired by big companies lately, rendering their villain activities to go down. Since we have a common stakeholder, we haven't been able to interfere. Other hero associations are another story though."

"What do you want us to do, then?"

"I'm letting our heroes know that there might be cutbacks to certain people in the future so make sure you have backup plans just in case. That's all." He shrugged. "There's limited funding which means lesser heroes should brace themselves."

Silence enveloped the room again and I couldn't help but feel even more uncomfortable. I had no doubt that if he was able to get rid of all the lesser-known heroes in the room, he would've.

"Are there any other questions?" Excellor asked.

The silence was deafening as no one dared to speak up.

"Meeting adjourned. Until the next meeting, boys."

Lupina growled audibly and Excellor rolled his eyes.

"And others."

People began to file out of the room and I felt my head pound. This was why I hated coming here.

"Hey, squirt." My eyes drifted to Lupina and saw her hand was curled into a fist. "Feel like hanging back and sparring with me in the gym?"

"Sure," I said. "I could use the practice."