Chapter 10

“Next!” Came the call of the older woman behind the counter.

“Hi, I’m here to…” I started before being cut off.

“Register a Team?” the impatient woman cut my words short.

“Exactly…” I stared intently at her nameplate on the counter, “Mrs. Linda Grafter. That is exactly why I’m here.”

“You’ll need to fill out this form, have at least five others sign it, return with the standard fifty-thousand thread registration fee, also make sure you designate the team leader on the form.”

The enthusiasm missing from her voice made my mood deflate as I realized I’d have to do a fair amount of paperwork. Not wanting to go through this grueling trial alone, I pulled out my phone and shot a message to William.

Ray: Hey I could use some help over at City Hall.

Mastermind: Is this a ‘suit up’ kind of help?

I should probably change his name, just in case anyone got access to my phone.

Ray: Yes and no. Yes, suit up, but no real danger other than carpal tunnel.

William: I’ll be there in fifteen minutes.

Ray: We’ll be here.

William “We’ll?”

Ray: Yeah me and this giant stack of paperwork.

I didn’t get a response back and could only hope that my bureaucratic hero would soon show. Sure enough at almost exactly fifteen minutes later William walked into the neutral zone dressed fully in his super-gear.

“Wow, you are punctual.” I had to give props, I’m fast but hardly on time.

Just as Mastermind went to say something, Mrs. Linda screamed at the top of her over-aged lungs.

“Help! It’s Mastermind!”

“Calm down Mrs. Grafter, I have changed my ways and will honor the Neutral Zone’s rules.”

She stopped panicking, but she didn’t go back to her rehearsed robotic normalcy.

“See, you still have some fans out there!” I said giving Mastermind a slap on the back.

“Right. Now what are we doing paperwork for?” The down-to-business attitude made me put on one of my most serious faces.

“This mountain of paperwork,” I said motioning to the greatly exaggerated stack of paperwork, “is needed to register our Team officially.”

“You are a hero, right?” He asked with a straight face.

“Um… Yeah… why?” I was completely lost.

“Then where did you get fifty-thousand thread?” Now that he had painted a neon sign pointing exactly where this was headed, I got what he was getting at.

“Well, if you really want to know. Back in our prime, I never really spent a whole lot of the money I made from my tier payouts. So, I put most of them in some kind of savings or stocks.” I started my explanation.

“How does that help with anything?” He had this puzzled look, and it made me feel better. Nothing like stumping a literal super-genius. Nothing in the world could have stopped the smugness I felt seeping into my smile.

“Oh, shut up and explain the rest.” Mastermind said impatiently. Mastermind is impatient, noted.

“As I was saying, since most of my money is tied up in assets, it’s nearly impossible to get it all liquidated quickly.”

“So why are we here then!” He was nearly yelling by the end of his sentence.

“What you aren’t thinking about is what day yesterday was.” I gave him a clue, let’s see if that superior….

“Ah, yesterday was Sunday, and due to the riot, you probably raised your tier to at least the fifth or sixth tier, possibly seventh. Meaning you now have the funds to register a Team.” He said. I hate super intelligence.

“Seventh tier. So yes, I have the funds to register a Team. Before you ask, the reason you are here is what I want to talk about.” He was about to ask a question but the seriousness in my voice seemed to have stopped him.

“Alright let’s sit and talk.” Was William’s only response as we both sat down at the semi-private booth.

“I wanted you here because we need to talk.” I told him.

“Yes, you said that. Now what about?” Mastermind sounded kind of worried.

“You received hero points the other day, didn’t you?” As I recalled it, he seemed shocked when he said he had.

“Yes, I did.” He still seemed conflicted over the points.

“How did it feel? To do something good?” I probed deeper into his issue.

“I am honestly not sure. It felt weird, like I was going against my nature.” He barely even whispered his last words.

We sat there for a few long silent moments. Right before I was about to speak, Mastermind looked me dead in the eyes.

“It also felt like I was doing something more. More than just causing chaos, stealing, or killing. It felt like I was doing something more. Contributing to more than myself. It felt…” It seemed he was at a loss for words.

“Good?” I offered

“For lack of a better word. Yes, it felt good.” I’m unsure about his thoughts, but his face looked less conflicted now.

“Now my second question. Are you wanting to continue to do good?” As the question left my mouth, he went pale.

“I…I...” He went silent before softly stating, “I don’t know. I’d like to, but I don’t know how.” A small smile flashed across my face, not one of smugness, but one of understanding with a pinch of hope.

“Then come on, we have some people to talk to.” I told the reforming villain.

We both stood and with the paperwork walked out into the mid-morning sun. We hopped into the car and I asked the driver to take us to the main branch of Heroic Financial.

As soon as the car started to pull away from the curb, I opened the door and ran towards the super-secret very hidden base in the loading zone of a restaurant laundromat combo. Ran into Mastermind’s private quarters and picked out a fancy suit for the man to wear.

As I got back to the car, they were just about to turn the corner at the light fifty feet from where I left them.

“Here you’ll need to wear this. They won’t let Mastermind in, but William they might.”

The man didn’t say anything just took off his gear and started his transformation from Mastermind into William. I stayed in my super gear as my account is in the name Celerity.

“Well this isn’t awkward at all is it.” I asked as he started to change his pants.

“It wasn’t.” he replied

“It’s only awkward because we haven’t even gone to dinner yet.” I said as if I cracked a serious case.

“Have you ever tried not talking?” William asked very seriously, “Besides you’ve never asked.” He gave a wink that was aimed at making things even more awkward.

“It doesn’t work like you’d think. Last time I didn’t talk the villain I fought turned himself in. I was just sick.” Reminiscing about the glory days always brings a smile to my face.

“We are here sir.” Came the voice of the driver.

We stepped out of the car looking at the imposing Heroic Financial building. The tall pale stone building rose to four towers that were constructed of dark glass. The stoop leading to the massive four front doors were nearly fifty steps tall.

“I always wanted to hit this place.” William said letting Mastermind slip out for a moment.

“Well on behalf of all the other heroes who bank here, just try it!” I taunted.

“I said I wanted to, not that I was going to.” He seemed slightly nervous.

“Don’t worry it’ll be fine!” I said waving away his nerves.

As we walked into the skyscraper, we passed through two layers of security. Something most people don’t know is the security guards are all withered retired heroes, or off duty heroes needing more thread.

I got a few nods from guards I knew from the old days and responded with my own nod of respect. The other patrons all started to whisper as I walked up to the lobby’s single receptionist. Another lesser-known fact, she is a mind reader and can tell if I am under duress or have ill intentions with a single glance. The best part is the fact that all receptionists must sign a non-disclosure about revealing secret identities and can be incarcerated for no less than a century for revealing them.

As I walked up to her she looked up and gave a nod in conformation, then looked to William and moved to hit a button.

“Wait!” I said louder than I wanted too, “Read my mind.”

As I said the words, I started thinking about all the things that have happened since my reintroduction with William. His words about changing, his actions that backed it up, and the fact he, once the most notorious super villain, earned hero points.

She slowly took her hand from the alert button.

“How can I help you today Mr. Celerity?” she asked after a few tense moments.

“I need to speak to Travis, if he’s still around.” I said letting out a sigh in relief.

“Oh yeah he’s still around, just moved to the top floor. How long has it been since you’ve been here?” She asked.

“I thought only owners got the top floor, and quite a while, maybe a decade.” I responded.

“He’s been very successful here. Also, he only has two accounts. Yours, and the Honor Guards. Both have been very successful.” She said matter-of-factly.

“So?” I questioned.

“So, he can see you right away.” She said pushing a button and the doors to the express elevator opened.

“Thank you!” I yelled back to her as we got on the elevator.

“The Honor Guard has an account here?” William asked.

“Yeah, I completely forgot I opened that.” I told him while scratching my head.

“Why?” He didn’t even hesitate before asking.

“As I said, we were planning on moving from a party to a team. I thought it’d be a nice surprise.” I started to remember more. Only a quarter of my tier payouts came directly to me, a quarter went into the team account, and the rest into my super account here.

“I did not think you’d have the foresight to do something like that.” Mastermind sounded very surprised.

“I know, I know. I’m pretty impressive.” I couldn’t help having some fun.

He didn’t respond, mainly due to the fact the elevator doors opened. We walked onto the lavish hardwood floor. Looking around the only decorations all involved the Honor Guard, a painting of the time we took down that giant terrorizing Axiscore, individual paintings of each one of us dotting the hall as we walked toward the mahogany desk with another receptionist behind it. Behind the receptionist was another painting, this one of the honor guard standing in the middle of a park on a rock formation jutting out of the grass with hundreds of portals opening around us.

“The Arrival by Donavan Marshal.” William stated. “Even I like this painting.”

“Do you? It’s the real one. Bought it myself.” A vaguely familiar voice hit my ears.

“Travis?” I asked.

“In the flesh Ray. How you doing?” Travis asked. He used to be this chubby new up and comer waiting for his big break. He was smart, determined, and a huge fan of ours. Now he seemed to have grown up. He was no longer bigger but well-built and as tall as, if not taller than, me.

“Wow! You sure did change a lot.” I said with surprise and delight.

“A decade will do that to a person, but you seem to have hardly aged a day!” He was trying to butter me up, and I appreciated it.

“As much as I’d like to catch up, I have a very busy day ahead of me and really need some information.” I said trying to get back on track.

“Right of course let’s go into my office.” Travis’ tone turned from a friendly one to one of business.

We walked into his office and I immediately went still. He had more memorabilia of the Honor Guard than we did! He even had our rare rookie cards! I don’t even have my own!

“Do you like what I’ve done with the place?” He asked a small smile on his face.

“How did you get my rookie card? There were only thirty made!” I was nearly yelling by the end.

“With the money you made me. That’s how.” Travis was sitting at his desk by this point.

“Where are my manners, this gentleman with me is William.” I said motioning to the man as he reached his hand out to shake Travis’s hand.

“Nice to know you’re reforming Mastermind.” He said before retaking his seat. “Now what can I do for you?”

“I want to check the status of my accounts.” I said mimicking his business tone.

“Very good, if I do say so myself. With the authority you gave me to invest the money, it has made us both very wealthy.” Travis had confidence in his voice.

“How wealthy is very wealthy?” I asked.

“You have exactly…” He started before I cut him off.

“Wait!” I yelled before calming down a little, “Can you write it on a piece of paper and slide it across the desk?”

“I mean, I can, but why?” he seemed like he didn’t know what was happening.

“I saw it in a movie. It makes it cooler.” I said as if it was common knowledge.

Travis chuckled, and William sighed.

“Sure thing.” Travis said as he grabbed a pen and a piece of paper scratching something on the paper, folding it in half, and sliding it dramatically to me.

Full on in the moment I took a sip of water provided to us and looked at the number he wrote down. Spewing all the water I had in my mouth at him, unintentionally.

“This can’t be right!” I said through a coughing fit.

“I am just that good.” Travis said, somehow managing not to sound cocky.

“What is it?” Mastermind asked.

“Celerity and his team are some of the wealthiest people in the world and didn’t even know it.” Travis filled William in.

“Seriously?” The gleam in Mastermind’s eyes made me question the words he told me at City Hall.

“Well I was coming to take half of it out, but I don’t have the stats to carry that.” I said plainly.

“May I ask why?” Travis sounded worried.

“Don’t worry I will continue banking here. We were just going to make the Honor Guard an actual team. I had planned on buying a building for our base of operations.” I laid out the outline of my plans.

“I can make some calls and see about getting a nice fortified building for you, I think that tech billionaire just moved out of the city.” Travis said thinking out loud.

“Definitely not there! That guy had to many robots. They freak me out.” I said getting quieter with each sentence said.

“Ok not that one.” He stopped thinking and mumbling under his breath, “There is one I can think of. It was just foreclosed on by the bank. Not a huge skyscraper like this, but a decent number of floors above ground.”

“And below?” Mastermind asked causing Travis to smile.

“That is a great question.” He grinned.