Of Heroes and Villains

Epilogue

Diana was late.

Not good.

It was her first day on the job, and she was already running late.

Swinging her arms, she made the wind picked her up and carry her. The people around her stared in surprise, a few of them cheering as she rushed to get to the meeting.

She'd been waiting for this chance ever since she'd heard of the founding of the HEO - The Heroic Espers Organization. It had been founded using the money Unbound had left behind, as was his final request in his will. The man who'd killed him - Father Omen - was killed soon after by the first group of the world's official esper heroes.

Initially lead by Sean Serious, prior to his retirement, the group of four were what all young espers aspired to be. Lan Li, the team's psychic, was Diana's personal favorite. She loved how snarky the woman was during interviews. Dean, officially known as the most desirable bachelor alive, was the group's public voice. The people loved him, and it wasn't hard to see why. The final member, Don Dellinger, was somewhat of a mystery. He'd preferred to stay in the shadows since day one, and returned soon after the organization's starting days.

The group was originally going to have a fifth member, but the woman had died in the battle against Omen. The one time the group had publicly spoken of her, they'd described her as the bravest person they'd ever known. The anniversary of her death was officially recognized as the International Esper Day, which had been poorly received at first, but grew in time. These days, it was second only to Christmas in terms of holiday popularity.

As she got to Lan, the current leader, who was to be her boss, Diana bowed her head slightly. "So sorry I'm late, ma'am."

Turning her head over her shoulder, the woman yelled, "Remind you of anyone, Dean?"

She heard laughter from the back of the office. "If she's anything like him, we're in a world of trouble. We should go visit sometime."

Fixing Diana with a firm look, Lan said, "I'm not as nice as my boss was. Better expect to be put through hell, rookie."

Diana saluted her. "Yes, ma'am."

On the other side of Nova City was the first esper prison, where three inmates chatted amongst themselves as they ate lunch.

"Your brother gonna be visiting again?" asked John, cringing at the fish on his plate.

Dimitri ate it without a problem. "Yeah."

"That's every day so far, right?"

"Yeah."

"How long have we been here again?"

Inadu leaned her head on Dimitri's shoulder. "Six years."

"And how long have we got?"

"Four more if we play nice."

Sighing, John looked around the room. Not many of the inmates were violent, since most of them had only been criminals out of necessity. Now that that necessity was gone for most espers, they no longer got many newcomers. "I can't wait to go swimming again."

Inadu pointed her spoon at him. "Your leg is gone."

"I'll make it work! I'm awesome like that."

Both she and Dimitri rolled their eyes, then looked up at Shen as he bumped John's head with his tray. "Yeah, right. I saw you fall on your ass while peeing yesterday."

"I did it so you wouldn't feel inferior!"

The group, including Dimitri, burst out laughing at that, anticipating the day of their release.

In the town of Lavia, which was right next to Nova City, Sean got home from work. He'd suffered a lot of damage from his battle with Omen, but it was all healed up thanks to his vapor. "Are you cooking again? You know I don't eat."

Don poked his head out form the kitchen. "Just screwin' with ya. Love the new suit, by the way."

Dean took the jacket off as he sat down at the table. "Yeah?"

"I'd prefer it to be fully off, though."

Eyeing him suspiciously, Sean spoke, "You seem awfully happy. Anything I should know?"

Wiping his hands on his apron, Don sat on Sean's lap. "They said yes."

"Hmm?"

"The Campbells - they said yes. We're getting a baby, Sean."

Unable to help himself, Sean lifted Don up and spun him around. Neither could remember the last time they'd been so happy.

In one of Erin's abandoned labs, the single remaining Destroyer ate his ramen. "Can't believe they didn't wake me up for any of it." He was activated after the battle had ended, so he'd never successfully fulfilled his duty of aiding Omen, making him feel empty. Hearing something behind him, he turned around and caught a glimpse of a cloud of darkness flying out of the lab. "Weird."