It wasn't really a ceremony or anything when I became a hero, just Swift announcing to everyone that I was an official hero who went by the name Echo.

I was so happy, especially with the support of my best friends- Sam's quiet clapping, Foolish's enthusiastic cheering, and Eret's grin as he mouthed the words, "Well done, mouse,".

But the happiness wouldn't last for long.

It started with a phone call.

I drearily blinked open my eyes as my phone started ringing.

I reached over to my bedside table, sitting up and rubbing my eyes as I answered the phone.

"Hello...?"

"Y/N, it's Sam. You need to get to Cara's right now. And get your mask and armour and stuff on."

I glanced at the time. "Sam, it's 11 at night. Can this wait?" I muttered, reaching for my mask.

"No. It can't. Trust me when I say that." Then he ended the call.

——

I rushed around the corner, adjusting my mask. "Crepitus, what's so important that you had to call me at 11 at night-" I froze.

Where Cara's normally was, there was now a pile of smoking rubble with blue flames scattered here and there.

"What happened?" I said, trying to hide my panic.

"Villains, I'm guessing." Lucendi spat. Zaeim nodded, glancing around with a frown.

"But why?"

"My guess is that because there's always a bunch of heroes here, they thought it was a hero base or something." Zaeim muttered.

I paused as I remembered my conversation with Karl only months earlier.

"You know, so many heroes come here, people have started calling it the Hero Cafe, honestly." Karl laughed.

"Really?" I asked as I went behind the counter.

"Mhm. Lots more people have started coming, actually, hoping to get a glimpse of heroes. It's really good for business."

"Wouldn't that make it a target for villains?" I asked calmly.

"Yeah, probably. But it's also good for business, so..."

"Oh no... is your oh so precious cafe gone?" A voice sneered. "Get over yourselves. You heroes are pathetic."

Spectre.

"Why did you blow up the cafe?" Crepitus demanded.

"Why? Because I'm pretty good with explosives." Spectre paused with a grim smile. "That and I figured out that the owner of this cafe is secretly Captain Puffy."

"How did you-"

"I used my brain, Lucendi." Spectre said with a roll of his eyes. "And as soon as I get the word out to the other villains..."

Zaeim glared at Spectre, his eyes flashing green. "I wouldn't do that if I were you, Mr Wilbur Soot of 73 Ravenbright Way."

"What?! How did you- oh. Right. It's your power." Spectre frowned, looking slightly worried. "Is that all you know?"

"I know that your favourite colour is yellow, your favourite animal is a salmon, and if you ever had a daughter, you'd name her Tallulah. As well as your name and address, I also find out little fun facts about you. Breathe a word about Puffy's identity to anyone, and the whole city will know who Spectre really is."

"Okay, okay! I won't tell anyone. Any other questions?"

"No." I said quietly. Wilbur Soot. Soot, as in, Tommy's last name, which means he's related to Tommy. And he must have a nickname, which is probably Will, which means...

Will is Spectre? "Actually, just one question. What would Tommy think?"

Will- Spectre- froze. "How do you know Tommy?"

"I'm a regular customer at the cafe. Now, what would Tommy think if I told him his big brother is a villain?" I asked quietly. "He looks up to you so much."

"I know." Spectre closed his eyes briefly. Then he disappeared.

"Aargh, he got away!" Lucendi muttered, glancing around.

I took a step into the shadows, carefully taking off my mask and armour after making sure no-one was looking.

"What are you doing?" Crepitus asked, frowning.

"Well, someone has to tell Tommy and Karl what happened. Does Puffy even know?" I asked quietly, putting my mask in my pocket and carefully putting the armour to the side.

Crepitus sighed. "No, she doesn't."

"I'll call her, then." I said quietly, pulling out my phone.

My phone rang for a few moments before Cara answered.

"Hello? What is it, Y/N?" Her voice rang out from the phone.

"I have some not so great news. Meet me at the cafe in five."

"Why? I- okay, I'll be there, give me like ten minutes."

——

I stood quietly in the street as Cara turned the corner. Crepitus, Lucendi and Zaeim had left, probably to go out their civilian clothes on, and Crepitus had taken my armour back to Headquarters so I didn't have to, which was nice of him.

"What's so important that you had to call me this late, Y/N?" She stopped in her tracks as she spotted the remains of the cafe. "What... who... when?"

"I'm not sure. It was Spectre." I muttered.

"Why?" was all she could say.

"He um, figured out your identity. But Zaeim figured out his, so Spectre won't tell anyone as long as we don't tell anyone his."

"This is... I can't... I need to call Karl and Tommy, and then get to work on hiring someone for repairs, and then I need to-" Cara cut herself off, taking a deep breath.

"I'll call Karl and Tommy in the morning. You sort out whatever you need to, okay?" I said softly.

"I... yeah, you call Karl and Tommy and I'll... I don't know."

I walked away, leaving Cara pacing back and forth outside where the cafe used to be.

——

When I woke up, the first thing I did was call Tommy and Karl in the group chat we had.

"Y/N, it's 8am..." Karl complained. "Oh my god, it's 8am, I'm late for my shift-!"

"Ha, imagine having a shift this early in the morning." Tommy said proudly.

"About that..." I winced slightly. "You don't need to worry about being on time. I got a call from Cara. Villains attacked the cafe. It's gone."

Tommy let out a loud yell of, "WHAT?!", followed by Karl's slightly sleepy voice saying, "Wait, what?"

"Mhm. She's calling someone to do repairs, but my guess is that it'll take months."

"Oh no no no, this is NOT good." Karl muttered. "I can barely afford rent as it is!"

"Yikes. I'd offer you a place to stay, but I just moved into a flat, and it's really small..." I said regretfully.

There was a thoughtful silence. "I could ask my dad if you can stay with us while repairs are going on, Karl. And Cara didn't exactly say she'd stop paying us. Did she?"

"Well, considering that she'll need to pay for the cafe to be rebuilt, and we aren't working..." I paused. "I'm guessing that we won't exactly be getting paid. We'll be able to carry on working there after it's been rebuilt though."

"One second." Tommy muted himself, and a few minutes later, he unmuted. "Karl, my dad says you can stay with us as long as you need to because you're my friend and you seemed nice when he visited the cafe the other day."

"Really?" Karl asked quietly.

"Yeah! I remember when Will's friend stayed for like a year, and Phil didn't care."

"Okay. What's your address?" Karl queried.

"73 Ravenbright Way."