The cityscape wasn't as impressive of a sight at daytime compared to the night. Sure, I could still see all of the same things. The Neo Warden base, the school, the northern wall, and so on. But in broad daylight, it just looked normal. None of the artistic contrast of light and darkness. Though maybe I was biased because of my night vision.

Either way, I was out and about once again. Leaving my small room and going on a journey into the city of Neoarx. This time, in broad daylight and with a bit less creepy visage than last night. I wouldn't want to be called an eldritch horror or a reaper again.

Yes, I even had a proper code name this time. Ink. If I happened to run into that woman again, I would at least introduce myself. I probably wouldn't stay for more chitchatting, just drop my name, ask her to not call me awful names on the internet, and then skedaddle. Perfect plan.

Proper name, less creepy visage, and also, the most important upgrade of all. Proper protection of my newly acquired chest mounds. No more pain after the exercise. I was ready to take on the world.

But unfortunately, the streets were empty. I reminded myself it was just a day after the starstorm, and still morning. It was actually a miracle that the clothes shop and the grocery store were open, really. Most people were huddled up in their homes, letting the heroes clean up the lesser threats still present after the starstorm.

I passed by the slums where I saved the woman yesterday and kept going. Aside from a few people here and there, It was quiet. Almost eerily so. Except for yesterday, I had never visited this part of the city. Had no reason to. Why would a college student go to the slums, anyway? But now that I was exploring this area, it felt so bare, so broken, it made me a bit sad inside.

I traveled deeper and deeper into the slums, looking around the rotten, half-broken warehouses and old factories. Not a soul in sight. Just as I considered turning back and going to a different part of the city, I heard a muted crash. As if something big and made of metal slammed into a brick wall. I immediately changed my course for the direction of the said sound and perked my ears to listen for more. Incomprehensible voices reached my ears as I jumped from house to house.

As I got closer to the noise, I began to faintly make out what the voices were saying. Something along the lines of 'over there' and 'this too'. I spotted a bit taller building and decided to get on top of it to get a better vantage point. So, I jumped at it and clawed my way upwards. And as soon as my feet and hands hit the rooftop, my eyes met with someone else's.

A young man with short black hair, wearing a black suit and a black domino mask, standing with a perfectly straight posture, hands behind his back, a gentlemanly smile plastered on his face. He seemed familiar. Wearing a mask, I assumed he was a star hybrid with a secret identity. I must have seen him somewhere before.

I stood upright to look a bit more like a human and approached him. To his credit, neither his expression nor his posture changed upon seeing me. I mentally praised myself for succeeding in making myself appear less creepy.

"Hello, little kitty. Are you new around here?" He said.

"Hi. Yea. You are?" Once again, my speech patterns instantly devolved into short pseudo-sentences when talking to strangers. Being in my hybrid form apparently didn't change anything. I was reminded of the 'Shy Reaper' nickname.

"I'm here, enjoying the view." He smiled.

I gave a noncommittal grunt as a response. Something about him seemed off. I still couldn't put my finger on it.

"Tell me, little kitty. Is everything alright? Are the heroes causing you trouble?"

An odd question. Shouldn't the villains be the ones causing problems rather than the heroes? And why would he be asking anyway?

"No?"

"Ah. That's good then. You see, sometimes, heroes don't like it when you're being yourself. They hunt you. Chase you away from the light and into the darkness." He raised his hand as if to cup something invisible in it.

Some very cheesy lines from him. He could have been part of the drama club. However, thanks to that, something clicked in my head and I remembered what I was missing. He was Black Rose. A villain. Had an ability to curse an object, which then made people feel irrational emotions. I read he once cursed an entire building, making people scared just by being nearby. That building had to be blocked off since nobody wanted to even get close enough to demolish it.

"Black Rose." I muttered.

"Mhmm. That's the name I go by these days. Do you have a name yet?" He said nonchalantly.

"Ink." I responded automatically.

"Hmm. A good name. Artistic. I like it." He nodded in satisfaction. But I didn't let myself get flattered.

"You are a villain." I stared at him, already thinking of tactics to use against him for when the fight inevitably broke out.

Random unpowered crooks were one thing, but a supervillain was another. I knew the villains of this city. Seen a few with my own eyes even. They were dangerous. My mind wandered back to Eruption. A literal walking volcano. She could melt steel just by existing near it. Even though Black Rose's powers weren't as obviously destructive, I wasn't about to let my guard down around a known villain. Moreover, from what I knew, he and Eruption were part of the same group. I couldn't underestimate him.

"Indeed. The line between a hero and a villain is paper-thin. And sometimes, you have no other choice but to cross it. People push you in that direction because of who you are. Or because of an accident." His gaze dropped to the ground. His smile disappearing for a second.

"You didn't. Want to be a villain?" I frowned.

"Of course not. Almost nobody chooses to be one." He said with a wry smile. "Except for a select few psychopaths, that is." He grimaced.

His words loomed in the air. It felt odd. There wasn't even a hint of aggression coming from him. Was he trying to make me drop my guard so he could ambush me? It didn't seem like it. He was completely relaxed.

I felt at odds. Yesterday, a hero treated me like a rag doll, like a piece of trash. And then people on the internet badmouthed me after I saved someone. And now, here I was, having a civilized conversation with a villain. Everything was backward.

"Well, it's been nice meeting you, kitty, but I have to go now." He reached out into his pocket and pulled out a withered stem of a flower. Then, the stem glowed in pale blue light. I had to squint, it was a bit too bright for my extra sensitive eyes. I instinctively jumped back away and went into a fighting stance. My eyes perched onto the figure behind all that light, my brain going into overdrive. Thinking of all the different ways to ward off an attack from the villain.

But said attack never came. A moment later, the light faded and I saw Black Rose didn't even move from his spot. His posture still carefree. I noticed the stem was gone. A beautiful cyan rose took its place. My eyes stopped on it and my body relaxed. It was mesmerizing. Pure peace emanated from it. Something within me refused to take my eyes off of it. It was almost meditative, reminding me of the trance I entered during my transformation.

"Here." He tossed me the rose.

I would have dodged it. I should have dodged it. But my mind was elsewhere. My instincts dulled. I simply watched as it flew in an arc and I carelessly caught it in my hands. My sparkling eyes observed it with awe. It was beautiful, calming. Up close like that, it made me want to hug it to my chest, lie down, and then fall asleep. Ideally, on top of a fluffy cloud. While soothing music played into my ears. I wanted to lose myself in a happy dream, skipping through a blooming field. Smiling, as petals fell around me.

I opened my eyes I didn't realize I had closed, snapping out of the trance. For some reason, I was sitting down, the flower lying in my lap. As I lazily tore my eyes off of it and looked around, Black Rose was long gone. There was no more noise. No more crashes. He was a distraction, I realized.

Somehow, I failed to register the noise in the background as I peacefully chatted with Black Rose, and completely forgot about what I heard earlier as well. Now that he was gone though, I could clearly remember shouts and more crashes from somewhere nearby. Was that part of his powers? Making me ignore everything but him? Didn't he control feelings? What has he done to me? What did he make me feel? Apathy. Apathy towards what was going on around me except for him. It finally made sense.

I shuddered at the thought. How terrifying. Even before he made me relaxed with the flower, if he made me even more apathetic, he could have just walked up to me and shot me in the head or sliced my neck.

His speech about him being a misunderstood villain was cool and all, but after pulling a trick like this, he lost all his credibility in one fell swoop. I had some reservations before about how he acted, but now, I wouldn't mind punching him in the gut.

Honestly, where was he going with it anyway? Was he trying to recruit me into his gang? No way, if I could help it, I didn't want to become a villain.

I opened my eyes again. Again, I almost dozed off without even realizing it.

I didn't wait for it to happen again and tossed the rose away from me. I groggily stumbled onto my feet and shook my head to clear the brain fog. That's when I heard more trouble approaching me. Wingbeats.

They came from down below. I walked near the edge and peered down, rubbing my tired eyes. Two figures were flying upwards toward me, looking my way. I recognized both of them.

A girl with cyan hair and cyan wings. A mask with an intricate crystalline design covering her face. She wore a blue dress with snowflake ornaments.

Next to her, a woman with gigantic white wings. Clad in shining armor from head to toe with a full helmet covering her face. The armor was pure white with golden ornaments. Her long blond hair flailed behind her.

Frostfeather and Valkyrie.

Right. There was an incident not too far from here. The one I so spectacularly ignored. Probably caused by Black Rose's teammates while he kept me occupied. The heroes must have gotten here and investigated the aftermath while I was asleep. And now, they noticed a suspicious person parked on top of a nearby building. Me.

Valkyrie had already drawn her sword and shield, ready for battle. I couldn't see her expression behind the helmet, but Frostfeather was frowning. Did they assume I was an accomplice to whatever has happened down there?

That was bad. I didn't want to fight Valkyrie. Or Frostfeather. But running away might have seemed just as incriminating.

I decided to take the risk, took a few steps back to clear space for their landing, and waited. Surely, they wouldn't attack someone who wasn't showing any hostility? I knew Valkyrie was quite friendly from when I saw her on TV.

They landed at the edge of the building, still glaring at me. Their wings shrunk in size. Frostfeather's turned into the tiny cute variant, while Valkyrie's massive ones turned to what would be considered the enlarged form for Frostfeather.

"Identify yourself, villain!" Valkyrie bellowed, snapping her sword towards me.

Not friendly. I froze for a second. Crap. Was I going to get killed by a hero?

"Ink. Not. Not a villain." I stammered out a response at last.

"Valkyrie. The. Uwah. The rose." Frostfeather pointed at the flower off to the side, yawning in the middle of her sentence.

"I know. It's from Black Rose, isn't it?" She narrowed her eyes, the grip on her sword tightening.

The relaxing aura of the rose didn't seem to be having any effect on her. She was getting more and more riled up every second. I had to do something before I got diced by the vice-captain of the Neo Wardens herself.

"He threw it. At me. Then ran." I managed to say in my defense, forcing my mouth to talk.

It wasn't a lie. He excused himself while I was distracted by the flowers. I just didn't mention we had a nice friendly chat beforehand. If I did, Valkyrie might decide to try decorating the inside of my stomach with her sword.

"A relaxing effect. So he tried to put you to sleep and then escaped?"

"Uh. Yeah."

"Hmm. And you? Who are you? Why were you even here?" Her eyes narrowed behind the helmet.

"Was passing by. Heard noise. Came. To. To investigate."

Talking was hard. Part of me began to think fighting them might have been easier than talking. But that part of me was really stupid. I didn't want to fight them. For one, they were heroes, so attacking them would make me a villain. And also, I expected to have roughly zero chance of actually winning.

"Is that so?" She lowered her sword a bit. "You are new, aren't you?"

"Um, Yea." I said awkwardly.

"Even if I somehow didn't know about yesterday's starstorm, your naivety says it all. What if he intended to attack you instead of escaping? You could have gotten killed." The two heroes walked towards me as the older one gave a lecture.

My feline ears drooped and I made a step back in response to Valkyrie's intimidating presence. But despite the meek reaction, my eyes kept on observing the approaching hybrid. The back of my mind raced, trying to come up with the best strategy to use if it came down to a fight.

"Well, as you probably know, I'm Valkyrie and this is Frostfeather. Nice to meet you Ink." She gave me a smile, while finally sheathing her sword and putting the shield on her back just below her wings.

The smile seemed friendly on the surface, but my mind still couldn't forget the expression she wore just a second ago. I was still nervous, my brain already simulating a potential fight with her.

"Did anything else happen? Are you unharmed?" She asked as she stepped on the edge of my personal space.

"No. He just talked. Thought I am a villain too. Maybe. Then gave me the flower. And left."

"Is that so? What did he talk about then?" She narrowed her eyes.

I had a mini-panic attack. I just told myself I wouldn't tell her about the chatting, and here I was, running my mouth off. I needed to spin it in a way that wouldn't make her think I'm a friend of a villain. And then stab me.

"He. Um. Said he didn't want to be a villain?" Again, I made my statement into a question.

"And you believe him?"

"I. I don't know. Could be lying?"

"Indeed. He was probably trying to manipulate you. He gave you some kind of sob story, didn't he?"

"Uh. Yeah." Not really.

She nodded. "Just as a tip for the future. You really shouldn't talk to villains. Especially not someone like Black rose. They are manipulative."

"Okay." I automatically agreed.

She nodded towards Frostfeather and then the flower, signaling her to retrieve it. Then turned back to me.

"So, are you trying to be an independent hero, Ink?"

"I. Don't know yet."

She nodded, now standing right in front of me, towering over my tiny figure.

"Well, if you want to be a hero, it's better to join the Neo Wardens than to be independent." She gestured towards Frostfeather who was about to collapse into a deep sleep from holding the rose.

The blue-haired hero snapped to attention and opened her eyes wide, trying to resist the flower's effect. She then reached out into her pocket and fished out some sort of card, before holding it in front of me. I stared at it for a second before timidly reaching for it and taking it off of her.

It was a business card. The Neo Warden logo, a golden shield with a large blue 'N' in the middle protectively embraced by white wings, on the left. On the right, a phone number, a website link, and even an E-mail address. I pocketed it.

"If you decide to join, you can contact us." She smiled.

The smile reminded me of the Valkyrie I knew from the TV. But I couldn't feel at ease from that. Not after narrowly escaping being diced by her.

Suddenly, her hand shot up to her ear and the expression behind her helmet turned serious. After a few seconds, she nodded to her companion and then turned back at me for a second.

"Well, we need to be going now. Have a good day, Ink." She nodded, took the flower off of the younger hero, and together, they walked towards the edge again. Their wings expended before they jumped, flapped their extra appendages and disappeared off into the city.

As the two figures vanished on the horizon, I released my breath I didn't realize I was holding. I was shaking. I could have gotten attacked by them. Valkyrie is cool when you see her on the TV and in photos. But when she's pointing her sword at you in person? A completely different story.

My jelly legs finally gave away under me and I slumped to the ground. What a crazy day. Only one day after I got my powers and I already had an encounter with both a villain and some heroes. And somehow didn't have to fight either of them. That could have gone wrong in so many ways.

I put a hand over my eyes, breathing in and then exhaling.

I have gotten too confident. Like I already told myself, unpowered thugs were not a problem. But other hybrids were on a completely different level. I was only barely beginning to get used to my powers and all the hybrid traits. I stood no chance against those who have been in the game for months, or years.

And yet. I couldn't stop thinking about the three hybrids I met today. About how my powers would interact with theirs. About how to counter what they could do. About how I could beat them.

"I'm such a dumbass." I laughed at myself, still covering my eyes.

I was terrified, and yet I still couldn't stop myself from trying to find weak points in any potential opponents.

Eventually, I gathered myself up and heaved a deep sigh. I looked around and promptly decided to return home. Enough heart attack material for one night.

But naturally, my eyes just had to catch a sight of a certain warehouse with a hole in one of its walls. Right in the direction from where the two winged heroes emerged from if I remembered correctly. There was an eerie glow coming out of the hole and the sky windows. The two heroes rushed away, probably because of another crisis elsewhere, they didn't even secure the building. No police cars or other heroes around either.

With nothing between me and the crime scene, or at least I thought it was a crime scene, I couldn't resist poking my nose inside. After all, investigating the source of that noise was the initial plan before Black Rose distracted me. Sure, the heroes have probably already dealt with anything that needed dealing with in there before they came to me, but my curiosity had yet to be sated.

So I jumped down. Four stories. And barely even felt the impact as I landed. Really, I didn't even know what I did to make myself so durable. A normal human, and even some hybrids, would have shattered bones after doing this. My unconscious mind must have done a lot more than just giving me a girl's body.

As soon as I approached the building, I felt the heat. From the outside, it appeared to be an abandoned warehouse, but maybe it was a metal refinery or something?

I trotted over to the hole in the wall and peeked inside. The mystery immediately solved itself as I spotted patches of lava all over the interior. Light smoke mixed with an awful stench drifted through the air. The outer edges of the mini-lava ponds were already cooling off and solidifying into obsidian.

My stomach twisted. There was only one person who could produce lava in such quantity inside the city. Eruption.

As I thought, she and the rest of their group did something in here while their apathy-inducing comrade held me back. What though? What was their goal? Stealing some goods? Why did they need to toss lava around if that was the case? Did they get into a fight? No, that would be ridiculous. Using lava to attack someone would be plain overkill. They had so many other ways to fight. It must have been used to destroy things. Did a rival gang stash something in here and they aimed to destroy it?

I held my breath and carefully tiptoed around the lava inside the warehouse as I peeked around. The intense heat made me sweat all over, prompting me to wipe it off of my forehead. In that instant, I had an idea of making my skin more heat-resistant using my power somehow. I had no idea how, but I tried anyway. Letting the roots cover me in their entirety once again, I stepped away from the lava ponds into an area with less smoke and concentrated.

I felt my skin morphing and changing. The heat got slightly more bearable, but I still couldn't call myself fireproof. And definitely not lava proof. Too bad. My power was quite versatile but it wasn't omnipotent, I noted.

I advanced through the warehouse, noticing what probably used to be shelves with goods, half-melted, and sunken into one of the lava pools. One of them, however, hasn't dropped all of its cargo into the sizzling doom below. A plastic bag filled with white powder got caught on the corner of the said shelf, hanging on for its dear life.

Drugs, I realized. This was a drug storehouse. And that was why it stunk so badly around here. They came here and burned the drugs with lava.

I immediately sprinted out of the building, trying to get away from the noxious fumes. It was a bad idea to investigate after all. I just hoped I didn't breathe in too much of the drug-filled smoke.

Four blocks away, I finally stopped and breathed. Though I knew it wouldn't help if there were some drugs in my system already. The only way to clean that up completely would be to directly reach inside my body and remove it bit by bit.

And then it hit me. Of course. That's exactly what my power did. Tossing out the bits and pieces that I didn't want from my body and replacing them with something better. Surely it would work for toxic gas as well?

And so, once again, I let the roots permeate me, reaching into my airways, my lungs, and my bloodstream. Now, I had no idea how to differentiate between the noxious parts and clean oxygen, but I still had to try. My power was kind of like a sixth sense in a way. It wasn't quite like touch. Not really. Touch only worked on the surface. My power, however, could feel the insides as well. I could feel the precise composition of a body part once they grew into it.

And soon it became obvious. The new air that was now passing in through my nose and into my lungs versus what was being distributed to my veins. I quickly learned what was the bad stuff and what was oxygen. And then, I got rid of the drugs. Straight up changing it into clean oxygen. As I thought, that was totally possible.

I poked around my own body for a little longer, searching for any scattered bits, and eventually found that I was clean again.

I breathed out a sigh of relief just as the sound of police sirens reached my ears.

Not wanting to be mistaken for a villain again, I decided to book it for real this time. Clawing on top of the nearest building and dashing away, going back to my home. On my way, I passed by several police cars going in the opposite direction, presumably to the lava-ridden warehouse. A fire truck followed soon after them. I doubted whether water would do much against lava, but perhaps they had special anti-lava measures as well.

I reached back to the point where I beat up the thugs the previous day, noting the absence of any more damsels in distress, and continued on my way home. Luckily, no more incidents, no more explosions, shouts, or hybrids blocking my way appeared to delay me anymore. A few hops and jumps and I found myself back in a cozy little room once again.

As if on reflex, my hybrid form dissipated and my body collapsed on the floor.

Oh god. I did it again. Honestly, turning into the hybrid form was dangerous. It just made me go out on impulse without thinking about it. Not that I was against becoming a hero or a vigilante at this point. In fact, I loved the thrill of it. The satisfaction of having helped someone. Of correcting what was wrong.

But I barely knew what I was doing. I was extremely lucky I didn't get into any sort of fight. If Black Rose wanted to kill me? I would be dead. If Valkyrie wasn't convinced I wasn't a villain? I would get stabbed and arrested. If I didn't realize that was a drug house in time and breathed in too much of the toxins? That wouldn't end well either. Seriously, I would have liked to discover that I can cleanse poison from my system in other ways than literally getting poisoned first. And the lava. I could probably repair the burns, but I still wouldn't have liked to dip my feet into molten rock.

I let out a sigh.

I hated my anxiety. And I was glad my hybrid form made me feel so free. But sometimes, hesitation was healthy. The usual me would plan, strategize, and test the limits of what I could do before going out for real. And was that exactly what I needed to do before I went out again. Properly test my power. See what I could do with it. Brainstorm its applications. Think things through.

I picked myself off the ground and headed to the bathroom. On my way there, I was already fulfilling my promise to myself. Starting by going over today's events.

Complete removal of poison. That was very useful. In theory, unless a poison killed me instantly, I could also sort of become immune to it if I constantly filtered it before it had any negative impact on me. Though, of course, I wasn't going to intentionally chug bottles of poison just because I could cure it.

Next up, my durability. Thinking back, that fall should have at least hurt a bit. Even if my skin somehow turned into stainless steel, it would have left dents in the pavement as I landed. But it didn't. That left the option of something softening my fall.

Huh. When I fell into that trance, one of the things I wanted was softer skin. But that couldn't have been it, right? After all, if my skin was so soft, I would have just burst into a red puddle after hitting the street. No, I somehow must have made myself both softer and more durable, however that worked.

But even then, the sudden deceleration would have rattled my internal organs. And yet, I didn't feel anything. Did I do something to my organs as well?

I let out a sigh again as I hit the flush button on the toilet, washed my hands, and left towards the kitchen. The noon was approaching, as my stomach loudly reminded me. I shifted my thoughts away from today's adventure and my powers for a minute to think about what to make for lunch. Before I could have decided though, the bell rang.

I automatically yelled "Coming!" and headed to the front door while still deliberating whether making chicken with potatoes or fried fish would mock my new persona more.

I didn't think to look through the peephole, I just grabbed the door handle and heaved it open, saying "Yes?".

That was a mistake.

Behind the door stood a single person. A girl I knew so very well sporting an unfamiliar visage. Her ginger hair has turned fiery red. Her crimson eyes widening as they stared at me.

Flare.