The Hero's Fall

Questions Answered

It was only midnight when the alarms went off. Just like Pirate said, Stain had shown up looking for answers. Hacker's alarm for the north section of the yard was the one currently going off, letting us know that's where Stain was. Since I was the one to make first contact with Stain I went with Pirate and Banshee to go collect our guest. The rest were left to lounge until we returned.

He was standing at the entrance to the yard, just like we expected him to be. To his credit he didn't seem to be surprised as we jumped down from the roof of the nearest warehouse. We exchanged a quick greeting before telling him to follow us back. We scaled the building we came from and made our way across the rooftops. We were confident he wouldn't try to do anything because we knew Hacker was watching our every move; Stain knew it too. 

The four of us got back to find everyone exactly how we left them. Hacker was at her desk, the Dekusquad was playing with Eri and Luna on the floor by the couches, and the Bakusquad playing cards around the coffee table. The others were either in their rooms or somewhere out in the yard. 

The second the doors were closed again Pirate spoke. "Hacker, send out a summons to everyone. Meeting in the living area." 

She said nothing but sent out the summons anyway. The message was relayed to everyone and within five minutes the living area was full. Stain was sitting in on of the offered chairs looking mildly uncomfortable and slightly stiff. Although that might have had something to do with the fact that Loki and Hacker were both taking notes. The more violence inclined of the group were seemingly trying to light him on fire with only their eyes. 

"Enough glaring," Pirate said without looking up from the papers Hacker had given him after the summons was sent, "He's here to get questions answered, not to fight twenty teenagers."

With those words the glares settled into just stares, which might have been worse. Not being able to take the awkwardness in the room any longer, I started the talking. 

"So, you have questions and we have answers. Ask what you want."

That got Stain and the others to calm down a little. He looked at me and asked the first question. "Why fake your own deaths. Why not just disappear?"

Loki was the one to answer. "That would make it easier to connect us to the murders going around."

Here Stain looked confused, "But aside from your own there haven't been any murders."

This brought a sinister smile to everyone's face and Loki continued. "Not yet."

Stain paled slightly before regaining his composer. "What are your goals anyway. The videos stated that you wanted to rid the world of evil but how do you plan to do that?"

This was answered by Pirate, "We plane to expose the fakes by releasing their wrong doings to the public. We will give them one chance to completely change their ways and become better. If they fail to do so then we kill them."

Before Stain could say more I spoke. "You have been killing fake heroes for a while now. We know that and you know that. But the general public believes those heroes to be genuine. In their eyes you have been killing senselessly. They don't understand that they were fakes only after fame or money."

He thought over those words before nodding, showing he understood. He seemed to get lost in thought for a few minutes. Most likely thinking of more questions to ask. 

"What do you plan to do once you've killed or changed all of the fakes."

"If it does happen where we have successfully changed or killed every fake, we plan to change the Hero society as a whole. The corruption going on in the Hero world is too much. And if we can do that we plan to go back to society as Heroes again." Banshee explained.

Stain nodded his acceptance of our answers and stood. "Then I only have one last question. Is there room for another member on this team?"

The question shocked us all. Before anyone could accept or deny him, Pirate spoke. "We make decisions as a team. We will have a short meeting to see if you can become a part of the team. Would you wait in the kitchen for a few minutes?"

Stain waited in the kitchen as we discussed the pros and cons of him joining the team. There were some disagreements but no one had a strong enough argument against it. In the end everyone came to an agreement. We drew straws for who got to deliver the news and I drew the short end. I went into the kitchen to retrieve him and found him sitting on the floor sharpening his swords. 

"Welcome to the team Stain." I said extending my hand out to him. 

He stood and grabbed my hand. "I hope I may be helpful in your goals."

"I have no doubt that you will be. Shall we get back to the others?"

"Of course."

We got back to the group and Venom immediately suggested a party to celebrate. Of course no one had any objections to a small party. Gauntlet and I went to go get Luna and Eri who had been in their room during the meeting. We introduced them to Stain and explained that he was part of the team now. 

It was about ten minutes later when Zeus asked an important question. "So are you going to keep Stain as a code name or should we think of something else?"

He considered the question for a moment before replying. "I think I'll keep my codename. Imagine the chaos when people realize that the Hero Killer has teamed up the the Assassination Association."

That reminded me, "Speaking of names, I think we should introduce ourselves properly to our ally."

We went around the room introducing ourselves using our real names as well as our codenames. This included the two youngest members. Now that the questions had been answered we returned to the party. Music was playing from Mei's computer and most people were dancing throughout the room. The party lasted well into the night before Stain was shown to his room and we all went to sleep.