Meeting a stranger after only just speaking to them on an online chat room was perhaps the number one thing a person should NEVER do when it comes to online safety. It was the kind of stupid thing that got kids landed on the sides of milk cartons.

  But I was no normal kid and CH3SH, presumably, wasn’t just some pervert.

  I agreed to a meeting on Saturday, giving me a few days to build a few extra army men and to finish work on my multi-purpose yo-yo. Just so that I was armed. And, for some extra security, I agreed to meet at the Superburger on Charleston Street.

  A well lit area with ample witnesses, only a short jaunt from a Heroes Guild outpost. Just in case CH3SH wasn’t entirely above board.

  That morning, after narrowly disentangling myself from Todd and distracting him with reruns of Dauntless: The Animated Series, I ventured across the city to Charleston Street. It was a breezy and grey morning and the streets were packed. More than once I had to take a detour due to roadblocks, ANVIL agents either cleaning up the aftermath of a superhero battle or keeping folks away from one in progress.

  At one point I saw Trailblazer and Visionary taking on the Skull Pirate, cornering him after he’d tried and failed to flee a jewellery store. There was never a dull moment in Argent, no matter the day of the week. Yet people went about their business as best they could.

  Superheroes had been a fact of life for over half a century at this point, after all.

  And I, for my part, made the trip while trying to act nonchalant. A redhead girl in a jeans and hoodie, spinning a yo-yo on every step. Nobody present would guess that, with a thought, I could get a series of serrated edges to sprout from the red yo-yo to turn it into little buzzsaw.

  And, of course, I had Lassie in my backpack. Just in case. Though she did make the bag markedly heavier.

  Superburger was one of those types of chain restaurants. I’m sure you know the type, the walls painted with colourful murals and decked out with all manner of memorabilia on display. Every Superburger I’d ever been to had pieces of debris from superhero battles on display, cases with replica costumes of retired heroes, framed posters for hero-related movies and TV shows.

  If a mask existed anywhere in the States, Superburger had some junk related to them on display.

  I scanned around from the entryway, ignoring the screaming kids and the alcoholics enjoying a greasy burger to round out an all night bender. Then in one corner, I saw my mark. CH3SH said they’d be wearing a purple shirt and a baseball hat for the Argent City Argonauts. And, sure enough, only one person present was rocking that particular combo.

  I saw that CH3SH, as I drew closer, was a woman. A damn tall one, strongly built, with deeply tanned skin and a short crop of raven hair. But her face was youthful. She had to have been a teenager herself.

  She glanced at me as I drew closer, then to my yo-yo. “Shit. Didn’t think you’d actually bring a toy along,” she said in a faintly accented voice.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  I shrugged, sliding into the seat opposite her. “A little bit of a security measure. I’m sure you understand,” I said, wheeling the yo-yo into my palm and catching it.

  CH3SH snorted. “Whatevs. Make yourself comfy,” she said, motioning across the booth. “Call me Cassie.”

  “You can call me Jay.” No sense in giving her my name right out of the bat. “Bonfire Night,” I said, keeping my voice low, “what’s your interest in it?”

  She leaned back, draping her arms over the back of her booth. “Same as you, I reckon. Lost someone in the middle of that fuckin’ mess, and the whole thing didn’t seem right to me. Had nothing to go on except for my gut, but it rarely steers me wrong. Speaking of which...”

  A waitress, dressed in a tacky silver breastplate and crown designed to resemble Snow Queen’s costume, slid a plate with a dripping pulled pork sandwich in front of Cassie. A small briar of fried onions poked out from under the bun.

  “Got hungry waiting,” she said.

  I sighed, ordering a basket of fries for myself from the waitress. I didn’t plan on starving myself and that sandwich smelled frustratingly good. “You were saying?”

  I waited until Cassie finished her first mouthful, which took a damn long time. She swallowed, leaned in, and looked me dead in the eye. “My dad was Red Hot,” she murmured. As she said this she fished her phone from her pocket and showed me the lock screen: A little girl, a miniature Cassie, riding on the broad shoulders of a bearded man. I’d seen that pointed beard before. Red Hot, no doubt about it.

  My mouth hung slightly ajar.

  “And that means that your dad was-”

  I held a hand up, exhaling through my nose. “Yeah, okay. Got it in one.”

  Cassie smirked, helping herself to another dripping mouthful. I hadn’t known Red Hot, Dad didn’t exactly invite supervillains to the house, but it was a surprise to know he’d had a daughter.

  “My old man, and your old man, both of them got wiped out. But Sidewinder didn’t, by the look of things.” I furrowed my brow, frowning deeply. “But what the fuck does it mean? I mean... it could be a clone, or a guy from another dimension. I checked the costume in the photo, it’s not an exact match for Sidewinder’s old costume.”

  I fell silent as my fries arrived, and I busied myself with eating a few. Crispy and well-salted. Superburger might have had the most gaudy dogshit aesthetics imaginable, but their food almost made it worth it.

  “Only one person I can think of who can give us some answers. And from the look of things, he’s in fuckin’ Canada. Or was.” Cass plucked a fried onion from her plate and pointed it at me. “Only way to learn anything is to get the man himself.”

  “Oh.” I have her a flat look. “Is that all?” I already had the impression Cassie might not have been the sharpest tool in the shed, but then again I thought that about everyone I met. The world, to me, was like a tool shed packed full of dull hoes.

  “Never said it would be easy. But if you’re up for some danger, then we can get our hands on him.” She grinned at me. “You like danger, right?”

  “I’m not against it.” I gave her a smile of my own. I leaned forward, the red leather of the booth creaking beneath me. “Since you’re also an Apex, are you also... you know.” I motioned to a picture near our booth, a framed photo of the Reptile Ravagers.

  Cassie’s grin, to my surprise, widened. “A budding one. Haven’t done that much in the way of crime, but... gotta start somewhere, yeah? I ain’t above getting my hands dirty.”

  I nodded along in understanding. “The way I see it, the whole world views Bonfire Night as a closed case. Nobody will believe us if we say something is fishy, even if we show that photo around, especially when the learn who our dads are. We want anything done about Bonfire Night, we’ve got to get hard evidence. And if we want to have a chance at tracking Sidewinder then I think it’s safe to say Masquerade can only do so much for us. We’d need to become proper villains and get access to better resources. The kind of things only card carrying members of the Society can get access to.”

  The Society, being the biggest network of supervillains and criminals around, would not open the gates to random nobodies. One needed an actual reputation for that.

  “Oh, I like the way you think, Jay,” she replied, eyes alight with a sense of mischief. She took another bite of her sandwich and I pointedly said nothing on the sauce oozing down her chin. “I had something similar in mind. See... my crew needs an Artisan.”

  “You have a whole crew?”

  “Only a few likeminded chums.” Cassie shrugged. “Running solo isn’t always the best idea. Care to meet them?”

  What the hell, I thought. It couldn’t hurt to at least check them out.