Relic-Verse: Champions of Hope

Chapter 4

-- Part 1 --

Faron lounged back in his seat in the penthouse of the Neo World Defenders HQ. Abraham had summoned the entire team, and Faron ended up being the first to show up, and now deeply regretted it as the only noise he could hear was Grey typing up documents.

"Can't you type quieter?" Faron opened his eyes and looked up at the skylight above their meeting table, before sitting up and looking through the holographic projection coming from the center of their table that Grey was setting up.

"I could but it's not my top priority. Instead, you should learn to get reasonable hours of sleep."

"Not cool, Abraham. I've been doing my best over here gathering info on Gizmo."

"I understand, and I really do appreciate it, but you should still find some time to get some actual rest. Otherwise you're no help."

Faron let out an exhausted sigh and spun in his chair, blowing his hair out of his face. "When are all the others getting here?"

"Soon. I promise. Though Virius and Junior will be out for... Obvious reasons."

"Understood. Is he alright?"

"He tanked an entire car crash this morning, if he is alright, it's a small miracle."

The detective groaned. "I swear being the symbol of invincibility makes him forget what his actual power is..."

The two fell back into their silence and just waited until a crimson scarf floated in from the window and spun around, creating a portal and letting Scarlet Ribbon step through. Her scarf wrapped around her, fitting in nicely with her crimson red outfit. "Good morning Grey, Burr." Her eyes were bloodshot as she collapsed into her chair.

"You alive over there?" Faron leaned forward and tilted his head.

"I've been better. Way better."

Soon enough the elevator dinged, and out stepped Anarchist and Koinet. The former was in a purple neon punk getup, and it was torn, cut, and burnt in nearly every spot, and the latter was in a set of yellow and white armor, with multiple dents and scratches covering it.

Anarchist hobbled over to his chair and fell face first onto it, while Koinet immediately ran up and hugged Faron, gently petting the detective's hair down. "Ah! It's been too long since we've been able to do this!"

Grey snapped his fingers at the affection, "Hey! Stay serious! Save it all for tonight." Koinet sighed and sat down in the chair next to Faron.

Three sets of feet landed on the patio outside and came through the door. In a similar fashion to Koinet, Firefly lunged at Faron but was stopped by Scarlet Ribbon's scarf. "Calm down, Ridae. Take a seat."

Firefly frowned and sat in the other seat next to Faron, her brown hair slightly burnt and her armored exoskeleton cracked in several places, with the usually yellow glowing section on her stomach being dimmed out like a burnt out lightbulb.

Next came Veil and Frost, the two heroes quietly taking their seats between Grey and Ribbon. Veil's thin purple outfit was torn, and the chains around her wrists and ankles had snapped and fallen off somewhere. Frost's light blue and silver armor was in the best condition of anyone present, bar Faron. His cryoblaster looked like it had been hit with a hammer, but aside from that and some dust his outfit was whole.

After everyone was seated, only three chairs remained empty.

"Why haven't we recruited more again?" Veil asked, looking over at Grey with a hint of anger in her voice.