Mary came out front, carrying a cake, and set it on the table.
’Our Hero,’ was written in frosting.
I was trying to be nice, but being recognized as a hero was driving me crazy.
Heroes were a problem.
Being associated with them was not something I enjoyed.
Although, I had to admit that the BSH wasn’t quite as bad as I was expecting.
Candice spoke up, for once making me grateful for her awful management practices.
"Alright, everyone. Grab a piece of cake and go back to work."
I was thankful for the distraction, as well as for dousing the hero talk.
Her statement sobered down the excitement like dumping a bucket of water on a single wick candle.
People quieted down and got in line for cake, but not even Candice could dampen Ben’s mood as he served cake with a goofy, lopsided grin plastered to his face.
I politely took my cake and gestured to my team to meet me in my office.
They filed out of the impromptu celebration and ducked into my office shortly after me.
I sat down, opening my laptop.
"Thanks for the cake, ladies."
In the end, I decided to focus on what this meant from them.
They were proud and happy for me, and I didn’t want to ruin it.
"Zayn, is everything okay?" Ben joined the meeting uninvited.
"You looked a little green when we talked about your girl."
"She’s not my girl," I reminded Ben.
He looked at Mary, and the two of them had a silent conversation.
"She dumped you, didn’t she?"
"That bitch!" Rachel was quick to pull out her phone and start texting.
"Wait. Rachel, are you texting her?" I asked, confused that Stella even had a phone.
Then again, even as a super that killed people around her, she must have had a phone or stolen one long ago.
"Yeah. We all traded numbers on Friday."
Several of the other girls had their phones out too, ready to give Stella a piece of their minds.
I facepalmed.
"Please stop. Just let it go. No texts." I was ready to send out a little pulse of electromagnetic energy and shut their phones down if necessary, but they stopped.
Ben grumbled.
"This sucks. I got us tickets to go see the hero tryouts today." He waved a stack of tickets that he pulled out of his pocket.
The rest of the girls turned to me with pleading eyes.
Damn it, Ben.
We had so much we needed to get done for the commercials.
But then I realized it could prove to be great motivation.
"If we can figure this project out and map out a timeline before lunch, we can ’take lunch’"—I air-quoted the words—"and go see the tryouts."
"Done! What do we need to do?" Kate had her laptop open on her lap, fingers ready to type.
I’d already thought about my plan.
"Sift through what data we have already. See if we can get enough intel that we can skip doing our own polling. We have six weeks to get the other commercials done, and I’d rather not spend it purely on strategy. We need time for execution."
"Candice really sold the other cities? Shit. Six weeks is barely enough time." Rachel was opening her own laptop while Mary was already busy at work.
Ben shook his head.
"This is a tough task, but I’ll chip in and help."
Mary came back in a moment later with her laptop and Ben’s.
"Thanks, hun." He gave her a side hug before plopping down against the wall with her.
The two of them looked like a cute couple as they got to work.
I almost reminded him about the workplace dating policy, but I didn’t want to mess up their happiness.
I just hoped it worked out and Candice didn’t find out.
---
"I can’t believe we pulled it off." Rachel walked out into the stadium carrying a massive tray of chips and dip.
Apparently, she could eat.
"Ben finding that repository from Agnes before she left was clutch. He really is a wiz with the systems." Mary smirked at her man.
The man in question was rubbing the back of his head like a goof with a big smile, clearly enjoying the compliments.
I swore he was so similar to a puppy.
Our group sat down on the bleachers a little over halfway up the stadium.
The setup below reminded me of a track and field event.
There was a main track covered in obstacles wrapped around the central area.
Several supers were currently blurring through a physical test on the main track.
It looked like there were piles of rubble placed on the track for them to weave around along with a few spring-loaded traps.
In another area of the stadium, there was a section with a fighting ring.
And finally, there was an area with a bunch of broken walls; it must be some sort of physical strength test.
"Oh, she’s pretty." Mary pointed to a woman stretching on the side, about ready to perform her physical aptitude test.
I squinted, recognizing her.
M... something.
Once again, I was stuck on her name, even after a great night together.
M...Mel... Melody!
I nearly punched the air as the name finally stuck.
I was glad she was at hero tryouts.
She must have taken my advice and given the hero business a shot at launching her modeling career.
"That’s Melody," I replied.
Ben looked around Mary at me.
"Next you are going to tell me you’ve been secretly dating prospective heroes behind my back."
I started to tell him that me living my life outside work wasn’t ’behind his back’ but then decided against trying to argue with him.
"We went on a date. I didn’t know she was going to try out, though." I turned my attention back to her as she became the focus on the big screen.
Melody grabbed a stone wall that had heavy chains running into the floor to some mechanism below it.
She did a heroic lift, pulling against the chain, and a digital board along the wall started dialing up, counting the weight she was lifting.
"Ooh, ten thousand pounds!" Rachel exclaimed with her mouth full of chips.
"That’s B Grade material for sure."
I remembered that much about her.
"She’s the bottom of A Grade."
"Great looking too," Ben tossed out, the girls all turning to look at him pointedly.
"What? Most supers are good looking. Makes for easy PR."
That didn’t earn him any additional points.
Melody finally dropped the bar.
Some mechanism below the floor thudded, and her score of just over eleven thousand pounds went up on the board before it flashed and showed an overall ranking.
As I looked at the rating board, the top name read ’Demoness’, and her score had blown all the others out of the water.
"Holy shit," Rachel blurted out.
"Stella has got to be fucking S Grade."
Even Ben let out a little appreciative whistle.
"Maybe it’s best you didn’t bring her back to your place, Zayn. I’m not sure it would have survived."
Mary hit him over the head.
"Is sex all you think about?"
I responded automatically, "Yes, and cute girls, but that’s just adjacent to sex."
Ben’s jaw hung open at me before he grabbed his stomach and started laughing.
As we chatted, Melody moved onto a new station where a big plate recorded her punching strength.
Kate was opening a pamphlet; I had no idea where she’d gotten it.
"It says here that around now they should transition to practical combat. They’ll be paired off against someone of the same power grade based on their results."
"I wonder who your girl will go up against," Ben wondered aloud.
I would have corrected him, but my attention got snagged by someone else.
Omnigirl was leaning against the wall in her pink and blue outfit, staring across the testing area at Demoness.
The veteran super looked like she had an ax to grind.
I wondered if she was upset that I had left her hanging after agreeing to the date.