Lady Iris

Superhuman Nova Squadron~ 13

I stood in front of the magnificent Nova Tower, wondering if today was the day my story started. Either my legacy of triumph or my downfall of loss. It didn't matter, no matter what, I'd be a member of the team. I would no longer be alone.

Tomorrow, I would have my poster up on this wall, and I'd be known.

Well, it's not like I wasn't known. I mean, I was attracting a lot of attention from my extravagant costume. The whole press was crowded around Nova Tower, and Nova Workers were keeping them from tackling me. Inside I could see a TV in the lobby, and I saw myself on it. It was titled titled "Is this a new Nova hero?"

I disliked wearing my costume out, and it did attract a lot of attention, which I wasn't sure was good or not.

I walked in to be greeted by a bunch of cold air and Nova workers. The lobby was very spacious and modern-looking, and windows covered the whole entirety of the wall, just like the rest of the floors.

"Is this Lady Iris?"

The press followed inside, despite the workers efforts.

I nodded. "Yes."

I'm glad I had a voice changer in the mask to make me sound more mature than I am, or I would've sounded like I was a little kid being led to the principals office.

"Welcome to Nova Tower, Iris. Mr.Vanguard is waiting upstairs with the rest of the team to talk to you about the mission ahead. Floor 33. I'll be escorting you there. I'm Agent Zaya Clear."

She smiled at me, and sort of eased my tension. She had a slicked back brunette ponytail, and the typical Nova Worker outfit, which was a royal blue and white jumpsuit. She seemed nice enough.

Zaya lead me to the glass elevators, and the press crowded around it until we started going up, and we could no longer see them. This place seemed overly nice, but then again the whole city seemed to keep outdoing itself.

I got more nervous each floor we passed. I already met most of the heroes and they all liked me enough, but to them I am a completely new person.

Floor 31, 32, 33. Ding.

A sudden wave of anxiety rolled over me.

Stay calm. Breathe. Dean's old words rolled over me and soothed me.

I stepped out into a wide hallway painted royal blue, like the rest of the hallways. The lights somehow emitted a light not unlike sunlight. Across us was a room, and it had mahagony doors and silver tinted windows I couldn't see through. On the gold panel next to the door it said:

Superhuman Nova Squadron

It sounded like I was joining an alien team or something. Zaya flipped the gold panel over and entered a code into the pad, and I could hear the doors unlock.

"Are there secret code panels everywhere?" I asked.

"Well, not exactly. Only the important rooms. And this is one of them. Feel honored, very few see the inside of this room. Even the top agents here."

She opened up the door, to reveal a spacey modern apartment-looking room. The walls were all glass, and on the interior walls artwork and metalwork were seen. Straight in front of me, in front of the window was a mahagony dining table. In front of me, a little to my left was a couch and TV, and on my right looked like a workstation. Hallways extended from the right and left, and A chandelier was hung up ahead of me. The whole room was an elaborate display.

And then all eyes were on me.

I didn't realize there was people in the room at first. They were sitting at the dining table, seemingly talking about something important. Around the table was Queen Ivy, Inferno, Donovan, and at the front was a man I guessed to be Mr.Vanguard. They all seemed to be in casual clothes except for Mr.Vanguard who was in the suit. They didn't exactly look like what they did in their posters with their ravishing costumes. They still stuck to their color scheme, however.

The talking soon turned into heated arguing, and I then caught Mr.Vanguard's eye. He quickly quieted the table as I came closer.

They were playing Go Fish.

"Sorry about our disturbance. It was just... a heated game." He walked up to me and shook my hand. He had brown hair that stood up, with hints of gray in it. He seemed to be in his forties, but that didn't seem to matter to him- he still looked like a man that could tear through an army with a pistol. He had black eyes, and had a scar along his right check, starting from the top of his head, narrowly missing his eye, and then ending near his lip. Never mind him looking like he tore through an army with a pistol- I'm pretty sure he did.

"Uh, " I answered nervously. All eyes were on me. "I mean, it's okay."

"And I'm guessing you're Lady Iris? And you have no wish to expose your personal identity, correct?" Mr.Vanguard asked, leaning against the table. Ivy was politely looking at me, Donovan looked clueless, and Ayden was smirking. My blood chilled. Did he know I was Skylene?

No, he couldn't have. I searched his eyes and I saw amusement, but no recognition. Hopefully.

"Yeah, correct."

"Well then, Lady Iris, let's get right to it. Eclipse is a very tough enemy, and we need to use all the time we have to stop him before it gets too late."

I couldn't help it. "But if you're really on a time crunch, then why were you playing Go Fish?" I sat down next to Ivy across from the boys.

"Well, we were talking about strategies while playing Go Fish so we wouldn't get bored," Donovan said. "But the game kind of... escalated." He then glared at Ivy, who just offered a raised eyebrow in return.

Donovan seemed to have his right arm hanging and not touching anything, and I guessed that was the hand with the glove on it.

"Have you read the posters explaining who they are, or do I need to go over it?" Mr.Vanguard asked, standing up and stacking all the cards, to Donovan's dismay.

"Yes, I have. Queen Ivy, Inferno, and Donovan. Do I get a poster?"

Mr.Vanguard ignored my question and went to the door. "I'll leave you alone to meet each other, but I just want to say something first. We may seem very quick trusting, but we were watching and analyzing all of you from afar. You all have the right qualities, skills. Just right enough to be hero." And then he exited the room.