Spectacular World

Failure

"The villain known as Intake, after causing a massive scene, seemingly vanished after he was defeated in battle by an unknown Super. You can see the footage here as the newbie hero used her super strength to make a series of great jumps."

Hope groaned as her eyes began to open. Her head was killing her, and the lights above really didn't help. In fact, they made it all so much worse. She could hear what sounded like a TV—the newswoman that was always going on about heroes talking.

"Hope?" Her eyes fully snapped open at the sound of her mother's voice, and she sat up. "Oh, thank God you're awake!" She didn't have time to process anything, as she was suddenly pulled into a hug so tight that even with her enhanced durability, it caused her to wince and groan. "Don't you dare scare me like that ever again, young lady!"

"M- Mom?" She slowly pulled herself out of her mother's grip. Her eyes finally adjusted to the light, and she looked around.

"Hey, Hope." Her head turned when she heard Armin. Her best friend had a smile on his face. It wasn't a joking smile or the sly kind he always had. It was one of genuine relief. "You owe me big time for the years I just lost. You have no idea how much stress you caused me." It was his turn to pull her in for a hug.

"Sorry, I guess?" She was a little confused. Her mind raced back to everything that happened. She was in the hospital. A room very similar to her dad's. She was also dressed in a gown. The memories of the beating she took raced through her head. Despite it, she didn't feel that bad. In fact, she felt mostly fine. She ran her tongue through her mouth, confirming all her teeth were still there, despite having lost a few in her battle. "What happened?" She finally asked.

"We were sort of hoping you could tell us that." Her mother sighed. The room wasn't very big, just having a table, two chairs, a bed, and a TV on the wall. Her mom muted the TV, which had already stopped talking about the Intake story, and instead focused on a story about the Victorian stopping an asteroid the size of Texas from hitting planet Earth with the help of another hero named Boy Genius. "Do you remember what happened, Hope?" Her mother's words drew her attention back to the situation at hand.

She did, of course, remember what happened. Most of it, at least. Intake had nearly killed her, and then that red-haired man showed up out of nowhere. He was strong. Way stronger than she was at the moment. Then everything went black. Of course, she couldn't exactly say all of that. Her mom would kill her if she found out she had tried to fight a monster like Intake.

"I- I don't know." She finally said. "I left the house and was walking down the street. Then-" She trailed off. She didn't really have a good lie to say, but thankfully Armin saved her.

"Intake." Armin nodded. "I bet she got caught in the blast. That villain bombed an entire street. I heard a lot of people got hurt, but thanks to the quick work of the Pallet Boys, no one died. The entire floor below us is filled with a ton of people that were on the street when it happened, all needing help."

"Y- Yeah." She would seriously have to thank Armin later. He just gave her a golden excuse. "I was walking down the street, and I remember just a lot of pain. Then I blacked out. That must have been it."

Her mother nodded. "We were told someone dropped you off at the hospital. I'm guessing you don't remember, though, do you?"

"No. Sorry." She winced. She wondered if that strange man had been the one to drop her off. He was likely the one who knocked her out. The fact that there weren't any police here asking her questions meant no one knew that she had been the person that led Intake away. With all the injured people, they likely thought she was just a normal kid. After all, her suit could barely be called a hero costume.