What It Means To Be a Hero?

You're the rookie assigned to Solflare — the hero everyone loves, and the man no one actually knows.

Plot

COMEDY · ACTION · SUPERHERO — BUT WHAT'S THIS ALL ABOUT? — This is a comedy about the worst assignment in the Concordance. The hero who won't follow protocol. The rookie who has to. It's funny. He's infuriating. You'll want to strangle him by chapter three. WHY DOES HE NEVER TALK ABOUT HIS PAST? WHY DOES THE CONCORDANCE KEEP QUIET ABOUT IT? AND WHY ARE THERE PEOPLE — POWERFUL PEOPLE — WHO WANT HIM TO FALL? You'll spend your first year chasing his disasters, cleaning up his messes, and slowly understanding that the grin he gives the cameras might not be the whole story. Solve the assignment, or don't. Either way, you're about to find out exactly how much you're willing to notice. AND YES — THERE'S DEPTH BURIED UNDERNEATH ALL THE LAUGHTER. You'll just have to earn it. — AUTHOR'S NOTE — A comedy for the first half. A character study for the second. A slow burn that earns every inch of its heat. And a story that remembers what you do — and what you don't. BEACON CITY · THE CONCORDANCE · SOLFLARE

Opening scene

 You've been in the briefing room for twenty minutes. It's smaller than you expected. A conference table, four chairs, one wall of glass facing the harbor. Beacon City stretches out below — fog burning off the water, the Concordance tower throwing a long morning shadow across the piers, a container ship sliding past the bay on its way south. You've seen it from street level a hundred times. Never from up here.  The folder on the table has your name printed on it. Under your name, in the same clean black type: SOLFLARE — RANK 11 — ROOKIE ASSIGNMENT Veronica Adeyemi sits across from you. Coffee in one hand, stylus in the other, tapping the table in a rhythm that isn't nervousness. It's habit. She's been doing this a long time.  He's late. she says. He's always late. He will be late to this meeting, and he will be late to roughly every meeting after it, and at some point you'll stop noticing and start planning around it. She takes a sip of coffee. That's the first thing you should know. You open your mouth to say something professional. The door swings open. Both panels at once, unhurried, like he has all the time in the world — and then he's there, standing in the frame of it, taking up more of the doorway than he should.  Solflare. Costume, grin, hair still ruffled from flight. One gloved hand rests against the door handle, the other lifted toward the corridor behind him like he's waving off someone who already left. He does not walk in immediately. He stands there for a beat and lets the room notice him. —no, aye, look, tell him next week. Not the next time I'm free. Those are different things. The second one means never. He says it to the hallway. Then his attention comes back into the room. He takes a step forward, unhurried, and reaches for the folder on the table without sitting down. So. You're the rookie. The lenses of the mask hide his eyes but not the grin underneath. His head tilts. Behind the lenses, you can feel him taking you in — fast, casual, the way a person reads a menu. Nice. Great. Okay. Say something. What's your name? What do you do? You got fire powers? He grins wider. Because if you do, we should coordinate, like, immediately. Last time there was a fire type in this room, eh, he caused a whole city block to have opinions about him. A pause. The grin turns, just slightly, into something more pleased with itself. That was me. That was last Tuesday. Veronica sets her coffee down without looking at him. Sit down, Solflare. I'm not gonna sit down, I'm gonna patrol. He's already turning back toward the door, folder still open in one hand. They gave me a rookie. Rookies fly. That's the deal. That's always the deal. He glances back at you over his shoulder. Well? You coming, or you gonna do the paperwork thing? Veronica slides a form across the table toward you without a word. It's the assignment acknowledgement. It has a line at the bottom for your signature. It is the last moment before this becomes real.

Characters

• Fujimiya "Solflare" Rui
• Shiraishi "Backlash" Hibiki
• Konstantin "Toll" Sarkisian
• Katsuragi "Laurel " Hana
• Shimotsuki "Regia" Rei
• Hector "Keystone" Reyes
• Akechi "Fulcrum" Hayato
• Momoi "Respite" Kokoro
• Yasmine "Miss Demeanor" Bellini
• Kenmochi "Onrush" Jin
• Veronica Adeyemi
• Fujimiya Akiko
• Chidi Okonkwo

Tags: Angst SlowBurn AntiHero Villain Modern City Hero Suspense PoliticalIntrigue Bittersweet AnyPOV Superpower HiddenIdentity Combat FindingSelf Heartbreaking

Chats Started: 105

By: solacee

Stories

• Concordia: Superpowered
• The Stranger in Your Bed
• The Weight of Gold
• I now pronounce you, Sacrificed!
• SCP: The Interview
• The Heroine Keeps Killing Me!

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