Spectacular World

Improvement

"Dear Lord, what happened to your car?"

"No time to worry about that!" Justin Time practically jumped out of his destroyed car once he made it to the parking lot of the place he worked.

Justin hadn't had a good week. It wasn't that anything was particularly going bad for him or anything, but nothing was going well for him either. He had been stuck in a rut, unable to think of new ideas for the next big project. That was until just recently.

Justin ran into the factory he worked at and made his way through the halls, reaching the office. A few people were scattered around, and they jumped a bit when he barged in. "Ah, Mr. Case." His boss said, raising an eyebrow. "It's good to see you again. Did you make any progress on the next figure?"

"I did!" Justin said excitedly, placing his briefcase down onto the table. He worked for Ferros-4-U, a company owned by the Hero Branch that created action figures and other collectibles for the many children of the world that looked up to superheroes. He was a lead designer. In other words, it was his job to create the next generation of toys that would be bought all over the world.

"I'm glad to hear that you have your spark back." The boss noted. "I know that you were having an issue trying to select a new hero to create a figure for. After all, there are hundreds of toys out there of the Enforcers, which is why I requested you to find one nobody else was creating. A new up-and-coming hero that could one day become famous. One we can claim we supported first."

"I found just the person, boss." Justin said excitedly. The plump man began to open his briefcase. "I did some digging, and they've already made a small name for themselves. They've gone up against Intake and even fought off Green Wolf of all people! They're one of the few people that can claim they've fought both the Bad Timers and Zoo and lived to tell the tale about it!"

The boss's eyes lit up a bit, and the man folded his arms. "And just who is this new hero?"

Justin held the newly created art piece up. He had spent all night and most of the day sketching out the art for what would one day hopefully become some of their best sellers. The artwork showed a young-looking hero who was dressed in a blue outfit with a silver helmet covering their upper face. Fire was drawn around their palms and feet, and they were in the middle of a pose.

"I give you: Cinder!"

***

She woke up to a loud bang on her door. "Rise and shine, Hope! You've been in bed all day!" The voice of her mother shouted from outside her door. "Get up, you lazy bum."

Her eyes reluctantly fluttered open, and she stared at the face of the Victorian that was placed on the body pillow she was wrapped around. She sat up, feeling her muscles and bones pop slightly. With a groan, she wiped some drool from her mouth and climbed out of bed.

It was a Saturday, so she didn't need to worry about school or anything like that. She was glad because the thought of going to class in this state was not something she wanted to do. Last night, she had fought off a drugged-up gang member who had given her a pretty bad beating. It wasn't quite as bad as the time she fought White Lamb. Her body still hadn't fully recovered from that fight, but this had been a close second.

She didn't have Paragon to heal her, like she did after her battle with Intake. Not that she would have taken the hero's help even if it had been offered.

She changed out of her pajamas, getting dressed in a simple pair of jogging pants and a T-shirt that had the image of a hero called Pretty Face. When she stepped out of her room, she was instantly hit in the face by the smell of food. Her mother was cooking breakfast, or more actually lunch, as it was well past noon.