Spectacular World

A Mission

"Don't tell me I'm the last to arrive again!" Cinder grumbled as she slowly walked up the stairs to their base.

Already sitting inside, hanging around the general area, were Whisper, Snowdawn, Battery, and Myth, all of them in full costume, though they all had their masks off. In Snowdawn's case, he was sitting in the simple outfit he usually wore under his snowy form. Both Battery and Snowdawn had several chunks of their outfit missing, with parts being half stitched together. It was clear neither of them had managed to get new outfits.

Their suits were still in better condition than hers, though. She wore her outfit but had also thrown on the jacket that was part of her old prototype suit. It clashed with her suit and didn't really look too good, but at least it covered most of her body up. Her helmet and mask, however, were still destroyed, so she had ripped off more cloth from that old Victorain costume and fashioned a new eye mask.

"Sorry. I think it's my fault you arrived late." Paragon stated, following her up the stairs. The girl's bird Destiny rested on the sleeve of Paragon's doctor's uniform. "We had to make a detour to get my costume and bird after all."

"Paragon?" Myth raised an eyebrow when he saw the Reservoir team member. "Why are you here?"

"I'd guess they're staying in Oleander." Battery spoke up. "After all, with Old Dog..." He trailed off quietly. "I ran into Ocean Empress at the very least, and if she's here, I'd bet her kids are here too."

"I meant, why is she at our base?"

She shrunk back a bit by the gaze everyone shot her. "Well, she was with me when I got the warning and offered to come. Figured it couldn't hurt."

"Also, let's be honest." Paragon folded her arms, and her bird scanned the room, eyeing all the members up. "You guys don't have a good track record of coming out of a mission perfectly healthy."

"Well, I can't fight that logic." Whisper cheered and made her way over, patting Paragon on the back. "Dibs on getting healed first. I haven't had it happen to me yet because, unlike all these scrubs, I'm good at what I do."

"You always hide in the back," Snowdawn grumbled. Whisper just poked her tongue out at the boy.

Myth shrugged after some time. "Very well. I will allow Paragon to stay. I doubt it will affect anything. I do expect you to follow orders if it does come to it and stick close to someone if we do fall into combat. From what I understand, you don't have much combat experience, so we'd do well to avoid getting on Ocean Empress's bad side and letting you get hurt. Why don't you begin, Laps?"

That was when she noticed there was someone else in the room. An older woman who was seated at a desk. She looked primarily bored but perked up once she was called on. Laps gave a faint smile as her eyes traced over all the members of Pantheon. "Now that all your members are here, Myth, I'd like to congratulate you."

"On what exactly?" Myth's eyes narrowed a bit. She was the reason he had called everyone together. Out of the blue, she had shown up to his base and demanded he get his team together. She apparently had some big news for him.

Laps brushed her hair back a bit and sighed. "I normally wouldn't come down here for this, but with everything going on with this team, I felt it best to say it in person. Every city, with the exception of Rose City, has two sponsored teams from the Hero Branch. There is the junior team, the Sub Enforcers, filled with young teen heroes, and then there is the senior team. In Oleander's case, it was the Watch Dogs. The senior team is always run by a member of the Enforcers and is tasked with going on special missions hand-picked by the Hero Branch; they may involve working alongside other Enforcers."

Battery was the first to pick up on it. His eyes closed, and he sighed. "We're about to become a lot busier, aren't we?"

Laps gave a nod, her grin growing. "Watch Dog's current commander, Bad Wolf, has requested they step down as the sponsored senior team. In its place, Pantheon will be taking over. You guys are officially the senior protectors of Oleander, now."