Underdog Heroes

"Damn it!" grumbled Clyde while running in a crowd.

Clyde is late. He should be with his team right now doing a mission. The mission is to take care of bank robbery. He is informed that a strong criminal joins the robbery. He is worried about the safety of his friends and people in the bank. He is also worried that he could not make it in time and that he might end up failing the mission.

Clyde keeps on running in a hurry. He almost bumps into some people in his way. The heat of sunlight makes him sweat and he is about to get pissed off by the situation right now.

"He is the Buff Hero, right?" A lady asks her friend while staring at Clyde.

"The Buff Hero is here? Where are the other members?" A young boy recognizes Clyde.

The crowd starts to recognize Clyde as one of the heroes in the city. Knowing that some people know about his identity, Clyde starts to control his temper and stays cool.

"Good luck, Buff Hero!" A middle-aged man shouted at Clyde.

Hearing that words of encouragement, Clyde starts to smile and his eyes are gleaming with enthusiasm. His steps are getting stronger and his body feels somehow refreshed.

Clyde responds to the man encouraging him by raising his right hand and then lifting his thumb. "I will do my best!"

Clyde is a young man who enjoys his life to the fullest working as a hero. Clyde can raise physical potentials like power, defense, and speed. He is well known as Buff Hero. Many people underestimate his passive ability but he always tries his best to make his ability useful for others and save people in danger.

Clyde starts to pick up his phone and he tries to pinpoint the location where the robbery is happening. It will be about one kilometer until he arrives at the designated location. He swiftly puts his phone back into his pocket and he starts to accelerate his running speed.

"Alright, I'm almost there." Clyde starts grinning and he tries not to panic.

The situation around him is getting quiet. Few people are spotted in his sight means that the citizens have been told to evacuate. Whenever there is a criminal case, sometimes a battle might occur. When a battle occurs, the area can be dangerous for the citizens.

As a hero, Clyde is responsible to keep people safe. He is also responsible to deal with criminals or villains. Being heroes can be a risky job because they risk their lives to save others' lives. However, if heroes are working together in a team, they will have a higher chance to accomplish missions. The payment for the hero job is also promising. That is why many people born with power in the city want to be heroes.

Some minutes later, Clyde finally arrives at the location.

The area around the bank looks messed up. The bank's door is broken. The walls are tattered. Broken glass is scattered on the road. Clyde sees one of his teammates, Lottie laying on the road. It seems like she is fainted. One big guy is protecting Lottie from a masked robber. The big guy is Ralph, one of his teammates too.

"I'm sorry to keep you waiting, guys. How is the situation, Leon?" Clyde quickly walks toward Leon, one of his teammates.

Leon is the leader of Clyde's team of heroes. Their team's name is Fiesty Five. Fiesty Five is well-known for its great power and contribution to dealing with various criminal cases. If people are talking about Fiesty Five, of course, they will always refer to Leon, who is the leader. Leon is famous for his ability to use his firepower. He can control and manifest his fiery power very well and combine it with his fighting abilities. Those things make him very good in battle. Leon's hero's name is Flamethrower.

"What takes you so long, Slackey Clyde!?" Leon shouted at Clyde.

"I said sorry!" Clyde answered Leon.

Clyde feels a bit angry because he had to deal with Leon's duty. As a leader of a team, Leon has to report to the cops regarding the recent missions and cases happening. However, when Leon was about to do reporting duty, he accidentally accepted a job dealing with robbery because it will give worthy cash and also he could get more points to rank up. So, Leon ended up asking Clyde to do a reporting job while Leon and the other three went for the mission first. Clyde had no idea what to do with the reporting duty and Leon did not give him some detailed instructions about the duty. That is why Clyde had a difficult time doing reporting duty and it made him come late to do his mission.

"You are not going near Lottie!" Ralph is angry. He growls and slowly his body is pumped up.

Ralph is a muscular man with a big body and can strengthen his power. The rise of power in his body can transform him into a monster with insane power. However, if he goes too far, he can lose his sanity which makes him a berserker. Ralph's hero's name is Cruncher. He can crush many objects with his big strong hands.

"Not so easy, big guy." The masked robber points his unique gun at Ralph.

PEW!

A strong electric laser is shot and it hits Ralph. Ralph's body is covered with electricity and it stuns his movement. Ralph is struggling and he tries to recover from the paralyze. After some seconds, Ralph stopped moving and he slowly goes down. Ralph still have a little consciousness but he could not move his body.

While Ralph is facing the masked robber, a woman quickly comes closer to pick up Lottie's body and move her to a safe place. That woman's name is Lucille.

Lucielle is the vice leader of Fiesty Five. She is quite intelligent and has a strong will. Lucielle's ability is shooting lasers from her fingers and hands. The laser power can be destructive and can pierce through some objects if she gives more focus while shooting. Her hero's name is Limelight.

Lottie is the youngest member of Fiesty Five. Her ability is acceleration. She can move and run very fast. Her movement is agile and she can create a hurricane with her speed. Her hero's name is Swift Feet. Even though she is agile, she has a low defense which makes her quite vulnerable.

"Any good strategy, Leon?" Lucille asks Leon. She is panicking because two of her teammates are down.

After some seconds, some robbers are coming out from the bank with bags full of money. They are heading toward the two big cars parked near the bank.

"I will stop them!" Lucielle lifts her two hands. She aims her fingers at those running robbers to stop them from escaping.

Pew! Pew! Pew!

Lucielle's lasers are shot consecutively. Some shots are hit and some are missed.

"Get lost already, you heroes!" The masked robber helps cover the escaping robbers. He tries to interrupt Lucielle from shooting her laser by shooting his paralyze gun.

"That masked robber has a paralyzing gun with him. We need to be careful with that. " Leon is mumbling and he is thinking hard.

Leon knows that going near the masked robber is hard because that gun is troublesome. Lottie who has high speed can also be taken down easily. It seems like that masked robber is an experienced wanted criminal. That masked robber can also avoid projectile attacks from Lucielle with ease. Even Ralph with high power could not get near him. And now he has Clyde on his side.

"Clyde, I want you to be the bait," Leon asks Clyde without hesitation.

"What! How? Why me!?" Clyde responded with confusion.

"It will be hard for me and Lucielle to stop that masked robber. We need to distract him and limit his movement." Leon tries to explain his strategy.

"I don't think that is a good idea. Isn't it better if I use my ability to strengthen your ability instead? As usual?"

"Come on! Make yourself useful! I know what is best for us. I am the leader! To be the bait! Distract that masked robber! I and Lucielle will finish him off!" Leon commanded.

"Are you trying to let me get hurt?" Clyde still refuses Leon's idea.

"You are a hero! Heroes sometimes risk their lives!"

" You are also a hero!"

"Enough!" Lucille shouted from a distance. "Save the debate for later! Look! They are escaping!"

The two cars are starting up the engine and both cars are ready to move. While continuously shooting his paralyzing gun, the masked robber moves closer to one car and he quickly gets into the car.

"Tch!" Lucielle feels irritated.

"Clyde! Speed up on us!" Leon commanded Clyde to use a speed-up speed-up buff.

"Alright!" Clyde focusing on himself. After some seconds, a dimmer light aura glows from their bodies. They feel lighter.

"After them!" Leon commanded them to chase the two cars.

The two cars start running. The first car has some robbers and bags of money. The second car has some robbers and the masked robber protecting their friends from behind.

Leon together with Lucielle and Clyde are running at high speed trying to stop the escaping cars. Their speed might not be as fast as Lottie's speed, but they might catch up with the cars.

"Let's focus our attacks to stop the car with that masked robber!" Leon commanded.

"Huh? Shouldn't we get that car with the money first?" Clyde suggested.

"No, if we beat the strong opponent first, it will be easy to beat the weaker ones. That masked robber is one of the wanted criminals. We can get more points capturing him." Leon with his great ambition tries to convince his teammates.

"Roger!" Lucielle responded. She follows Leon's command and she is now trying to aim her fingers toward the second car.

"Alright, then." Clyde disappointedly agrees with Leon's idea too.

Clyde picks up his gun and he is trying to aim for the car with the masked robber. Clyde might not be good in close-range combat but Clyde is quite skilled in using guns. But in this kind of situation, he might not be accurate in aiming.

Lucielle starts attacking. She shoots the laser from her fingers. Some lasers hit some good spots of the car and it manages to slow down the speed of the car.

Leon joins the attacks. He summons fire covering both of his hands. After some seconds his hands are covered in hot flames, and he shoots fireballs to the car. The car is hit by the fireballs and the car's movement starts to unbalanced.

The villains are counter-attacking. Some robbers are holding their guns and they begin to shoot. With the help of a speed buff from Clyde, the three heroes manage to avoid the bullets easily. Feeling itched, the masked robber shows up with his paralyzing gun.

"Here we go." Clyde tries to focus on himself. He tries to raise his accuracy. The accuracy buff is successful and now he tries to aim his gun at the masked robber.

Bang!

When the masked robber is about to shoot the paralyzing gun, Clyde managed to shoot precisely and hits at the paralyzing gun first. The paralyzing gun is dropped. The gun hits the surface of the road pretty hard and is broken afterward.

Bang! Bang!

Clyde continues to shoot. The two shots precisely hit the guns of other robbers and they drop the guns too on the road. Now they have no weapon to counter Leon's team attacks.

Leon starts to condense his fire. The ball of fire is created and it gets bigger and hotter every second. After that, Leon shoots the big fireball and it successfully hits the car. The car is pushed hard because of the fire explosion and it hit the edge of the road. The car then spins around for some seconds until it stops moving.

The three heroes stop running and they take a short break. They might be victorious because they can capture the wanted criminal and some robbers however, the other car with lots of money is managed to escape.

"Good job everyone. Let's capture them now." Leon praises his teammates with his winning face.

Leon and Lucielle slowly walk toward the car without any fear.

Clyde can only watch from afar while trying not to let his guard down. Clyde thinks that some robbers might be waiting to fight back. For Leon, the robbers might not be a big deal because Leon is a skillful combatant.

Some meters before Leon and Lucielle are getting closer to the car, the car's roof is opening. Slowly a big bazooka-like weapon shows up and it aims at Leon and

Lucielle. Both Leon and Lucielle are not aware of that bazooka. Clyde from afar knows that bazooka is dangerous.

"Leon!

Lucielle! Watch out!" Clyde quickly runs toward both of his teammates. He focuses lots of his energy and uses the defense buffs on both of them and also on himself.

Hearing the warning from Clyde, both Leon and Lucielle realize that in front of them, a bazooka is ready to shoot them.

Kaboom!

The bazooka shoots a very destructive fire. The fire unluckily hits Lucielle pretty hard and it throws her up far away from the car. The explosion cracks the road around it and also hits both Leon and Clyde until they are thrown. Thanks to Clyde's defense buff, Lucielle's body is taking quite severe damage. She is still alive but she lost her consciousness.

Leon directly moves his view toward the car. The car starts to turn on again. After some time, the car starts to move and escape. Leon cannot stand up because the explosion got him. He is very disappointed and upset at the same time. Not only he could not get the reward for capturing the wanted criminal, but the robbers also got all the money from the robbery.

Clyde tries to stand up after being pushed by the explosion. He is the only one who took less damage from the Bazooka attack. He is worried about both Leon and Lucielle's condition. Not only them. He is also worried about Lottie and Ralph in the bank area.

Clyde thinks that the mission this time got them. He is upset but feels relieved because his teammates are all safe and still alive.

It is rare to see Fiesty Five fail to accomplish the mission because they tend to accomplish the missions neatly and perfectly. What makes them fail?

Fiesty Five is beaten. The robbers managed to escape after giving Fiesty Five a hard time. As a leader of the team, Leon feels ashamed that he could not accomplish the mission this time. He is upset but he needs to bring the team back to the headquarter first for medical treatment.

Leon commands Clyde to go back to Ralph and Lottie. He asks Clyde to wake them up and return the headquarter soon for treatment. After Clyde goes away, Leon walks closer to unconscious Lucielle. He is glad that she is still breathing.

"Lucy, I'm sorry I could not protect you." Leon shows his sad face while looking at Lucielle's face.

Leon lifts Lucielle up and carries her carefully. With his energy left, Leon walks Lucielle to the headquarter.

Clyde arrives at the place where Ralph and Lottie were defeated. Clyde shakes Ralph's body hoping that Ralph could wake up soon. After some time, Ralph finally awakes and he growls pretty loud. Clyde is surprised and it makes him scared for a bit.

"Ralph! Calm down! It's alright! Calm down, OK?" Clyde tries to calm him down.

Ralph tries to calm down while figuring out what just happened around him. He starts to look around and sees the messed up area. He also sees the unconscious Lottie.

"Lottie!" Ralph tries to stand up while trying to come closer to Lottie but his body is still numb.

"Don't worry, Ralph! Lottie is alright. She is just unconscious," said Clyde while trying to help Ralph stand up.

"Get off! I can stand on my own!" Ralph is starting to get angry. He pushes Clyde.

Clyde is only trying to help Ralph but it seems like Ralph's temper is still bad after he is beaten by the masked robber. Clyde explains to Ralph that the robbers managed to escape. Then, Leon asked all of them to go back to headquarter soon for medical treatment.

Ralph is shocked. He thought that the team would clear the mission even though he is down. But at least, he feels relieved because none of them are having serious injuries. Slowly, Ralph tries to walk and he wants to carry Lottie then goes back to headquarter. But, his body is still shaking and weak so he asks Clyde instead to carry Lottie with care.

Clyde nodded. He carefully carries Lottie.

Then, Clyde and Ralph are walking together to their headquarter.

Some minutes has passed and now all the members are arrived at the headquarter. Leon asks the medical team to prioritize Lucielle first because she got the worst condition among the others. After that, Lottie got her treatment until she awakes while the boys are having light treatment.

When the condition is getting better, Leon summons his team to have a meeting. The situation is quiet because they think that the mission failure this time will get noticed by HELP. HELP is the organization that employs heroes. They have the authority to decide anything related to all heroes team's action. Fiesty Five might get scolded because of their failure this time. As a famous team that often accomplishes missions perfectly, their failure this time can be a humiliation.

After some times of silence, Leon decides to start the discussion.

"We failed our mission. This is really humiliating. Do you guys know why we failed?" Leon asks.

Silence happened for few seconds until one of them tries to speak up.

"Umm, is it because the enemies have powerful weapons?" Lottie tries to respond.

"We have fought many battles with various of strange weapons before. But we managed to handle it." Leon responded back.

"I don't really know because I was down. Is it because Clyde messed up?" Ralph tells his opinion.

"What? No! I didn't do something bad," said Clyde with uncomfortable voice.

"How many times did I need to protect you when you were surrounded by enemies?" Ralph explained.

"Well, I m a buffer. Indeed I cannot fight as good as you guys. We are a team right? We protect each others" Clyde responded. He feels like the atmosphere around him is getting bad.

"Tch! You have been with us until now and how come you haven't improved," said Lucielle curtly.

Hearing that sentence from Lucielle, Clyde begins to feel bad.

"Clyde! Our mission is failed because you were late! You were not cooperative! You did not do what I commanded and your buff power was not used in good timings!" Leon asserted his opinion.

"What!? It's my fault? I was late because you gave me your duty on me. You didn't even give me explanation about how to do the reporting job. Don't blame me if it took a long time for me to take care of it!" Clyde tries to defend and he starts to get angry.

"Haven't you learned? Even though I didn't teach you how, you should have known how to handle matters relating to heroes duties. We are a Competent-ranked Team!" Leon responded with assertive voice.

The tension of the conversation is going up. Other members are starting to think that Clyde always messed up.

"But still, I don't think it is all my fault. You are the leader. You should have known what is best for us!" Clyde debates. He wants everyone not to think bad about him.

"I did! That is why I asked you to be the bait. Why did you refuse my command?" Leon countered.

Knowing that, other members begin to believe in Leon's statement. Indeed at that time, Clyde refused the idea of being the bait and it led the robbers successful to escape.

"I am not that tough. I am not tanky or nimble. I will get hurt for sure if you ask me to do it. My ability is to support not to be a meat shield!" Clyde explains with desperation.

When they are having a debate, a woman comes in and pauses the debate.

"Good afternoon, FIesty FIve," greeted the woman.

Fiesty Five greets her back with full of respect.

That woman's name is Bethany Heinberg, a co-leader of HELP. She comes to Fiesty Five's headquarter because she got a report that Fiesty Five failed the mission to take care of bank robbery. She wants to scold them because they are not being professional.

"What a shame. Fiesty Five always handles missions with good results. But look, what happened now?" Bethany scolds them.

Her words make Fiesty Five goes silent in disappointment.

"Not only Fiesty FIve failed to capture the robbers, but the robbers got all the money from the bank. You get nothing! No results! This is really hilarious!" Bethany satires with her unpleasant sight.

No one dares to speak up. Fiesty Five is taking the scold without giving any advocacy.

"Leon of Fiesty Five! I want you to see me later after you have done discussing with your team." Bethany commanded.

"Alright, ma'am!" Leon responded.

"Good! Now take you time! I hope Fiesty Five will not repeat this shameful mistake again." Bethany closes her words. She turns around and slowly goes outside the meeting room.

After being scolded by Bethany, Fiesty Five continues the discussion. The team's reputation will be bad if the news about their failure is published in public. Leon starts to think of a way to clear their team's name so that the team will not be considered as a failure team. More than that, he wants his name to stay clean and good.

"We should have chase the car with the money." Clyde grumbles.

"No, it is just that we did not do it fast before they get in the cars. Because you were late and you didn't want to be the bait. You let them escape!" Leon debated.

"I agree with you, Leon. If only Clyde came earlier and did what Leon commanded, our mission would be a success." Lucielle agrees with Leon's statement.

Lucielle is actually Leon's girlfriend. They started dating some months ago. They support and cover each other very well if problems happen. However, their intimacy make them lack in solidarity with other members.

"Clyde, come on! Never mess up again! Just do what Leon says when we are in a mission." Ralph agrees with Leon statement too.

"Well, I don't know what's going on because I'm the first who got beaten. So, Clyde please do better next time, OK?" Lottie seems to agree with Leon's opinion.

Clyde begins to think that he is being cornered. He could not understand why their teammates can be this mean to him. Clyde is a buffer. Of course his ability will be very useful if he uses it to buff his allies.

"All right ... I m really sorry if you guys think I messed up a lot. I will try to improve and train my ability more." Clyde does not want to debate more. He decides to apologize to his teammates.

However, Leon does not think that accepting Clyde's apology will change the team reputation. He needs something to be blamed. He needs someone. He needs a scapegoat. After thinking so hard, Leon finally have an idea. An extreme idea that he thinks will save him from being notorious.

"I have a proposal. After we are done discussing, I want to talk with Mrs.Bethany about the future of our team." Leon starts his idea.

"What kind of proposal you want to do, Leon?" Lucielle is curious.

"It is related to Clyde," answered Leon briefly.

"Me?" Clyde surprised.

"Tell us what's on your mind, Leon!" Lucielle's curiosity is getting stronger.

"First, OK. I accept your apology, Clyde. But, I think your ability is not really helpful when it comes to teamwork." Leon tries to explain.

Listening to Leon's words Clyde begins to worry about himself.

"But, I did my best in using my buff skills. I used my speed buff on us to chase the cars. I used my accuracy buff on myself to shot the enemies guns. I saved Lucielle from the bazooka attack with my full defense buff. Don't you guys feel satisfied with my ability?" Clyde tries to convince.

"It might be true. But we are actually fine without your buff skills." Leon responded.

"Yes. We managed to handle some enemies easily even without your buff skills, Clyde," said Lucielle with confident.

Clyde begins to get confused. How come his teammates talk about his buff ability at this very moment. If they are not really satisfied with his skills, why they did not talk about it before. What is on Leon's mind?

"I don't understand. Why are you talking about it now? If you think that my ability is useless, why don't you say so before!" Clyde's emotion is getting bad.

"Ralph! What do you think? Do you think Clyde's ability is useful?" Leon suddenly asks Ralph. Leon glares at Ralph with his sharp eyes.

Ralph tries to stay calm. But, every time Leon gives him that glare, Ralph feels scared.

"I-I don't think Clyde's ability is useful. W-what do you mean? I am already strong. I don't need buffs." Ralph responded with his uneasy voice.

"You hear that, Clyde?" Leon turns his eyes to Clyde.

"I hear it. But why now!?" Clyde is still confused. He hopes that nothing bad happened to him.

"Let's listen from Lottie too, then," said Lucielle with her wicked tone.

"Yes! Me?" Lottie is surprised. She doesn't really good with giving her opinion. She is a shy girl.

"Lottie. Do you think Clyde's ability is useful?" Lucielle stares at Lottie with her sharp eyes.

"Well, in some cases ... I think Clyde's buff is useful ... " Lottie answered with her doubtful voice.

"Are you sure?" Lucielle tries to confirm while keep giving her scary stare.

"Uhh, I think ... sometimes I don't need Clyde's buff. I can still fight with my own ability. Sorry, Clyde." Lottie is afraid. She does not want to get in trouble with Lucielle.

"Clyde. Your teammates finally speak up. They think that your buff skill is rather useless. And you are a burden of the team." Leon spills it out clearly.

"No! I'm not!" Clyde is screaming in disbelief. He has been doing his best all this time for the sake of the team.

"Here is my proposal. Due to your incompatible skills with our teamwork and being a burden of the team. I want to kick you out from Fiesty Five." Leon finally said it.

A silence happened.

Everyone in the meeting room tries to digest what Leon is saying. They are very surprised.

"You are joking, right?" Clyde trembles.

"I'm not joking, Clyde!" Leon responded with his serious tone.

Clyde's mind suddenly feels like something big is exploding in his head. He could not say anything. He could not understand why this is so sudden. He thinks that everything will be fine because they have been a solid team until now. At least that is what in his mind. But sadly, that is not the same as what others are thinking. This is so ironic.

"I have prepared the petition to kick Clyde from Fiesty Five. I want you guys to give your sign soon. I want to give my proposal to Mrs.Bethany." Leon said it without thinking more about Clyde's feeling.

Clyde still keeps quiet. He doesn't speak any words. His breathing is starting to get irregular. He thinks that his efforts all of this time are useless. He did his best to always support his teammates in need. But what do he get now in return? He is completely lost in his mind.

"Leon! Please listen to me-"

Clyde keeps chasing after Leon that is on his way to meet Bethany to deliver his verdict regarding kicking Clyde out from the Fiesty Five.

"There is nothing you can say that can change my mind! I already have the petition in my hand that the majority of Fiesty Five AGREES that you are problematic and useless thus should be banished from Fiesty Five!" Shouts Leon.

His hasted steps shows that there is no doubt in Leon's mind. Clyde is desperately trying to change Leon's mind as they walked towards the H.E.L.P Building, the Headquarters of Super Hero Association where Bethany's Office is located.

"Please Leon, I will literally do anything! Just please don't kick me out from the group. Just give me one more chance to prove I am useful for the team!"

Plea Clyde while trying to slow Leon down, although it was futile.

Then suddenly, Leon does a full stop, but the anger on his face still holds up.

"You know, every time when we are on a mission, you always try to be the smart aleck and gives me command to do this and that when "I", the leader, holds the rights to order a command for the team." Leon comments on Clyde's behaviour.

"And when I issued an order, you had the audacity to question the order and wasting our time arguing with me when we could have done the mission easily!" Leon furiously speaks as he glares at Clyde's panicked face.

"Yea- I know, that was my bad, I apologize for such behaviour. You don't have to worry about it anymore, I won't argue with you again and will listen to your command just please keep me on the team." Clyde apologized profusely.

"Well, we don't have to worry about it anymore since you are out from the team, so good riddance!" Leon then continues his walk towards the building.

"Leon Wai-"

But something stops Clyde before he can even finish speaking.

As Clyde tries to get a grasp of Leon's shoulder, he was stopped by two security bodyguards of H.E.L.P Building.

"What is your business here at H.E.L.P?" Ask one of the security bodyguards. "I need to talk to Leon over there!" Explains Clyde.

"Leon has been summoned by Ms. Bethany in her office. You, however, have no other importance in H.E.L.P Building, so We cannot let you pass through."

Clyde can only struggle with the bodyguard as Leon's figure disappearing from his sight.

The horror paints his whole face white as he knows what will happen if a figure as important as Leon Willburn, the leader of Fiesty Five delivers a verdict to get rid of him, he would be gone instantly in the blink of an eye.

While he is trying to pull himself together, he walks toward a bench outside the building, and sits alone with a defeated expression.

With brisk steps, Leon finally arrived in front of Bethany's Office. After a light knock on the door, a sound of a woman can be heard. "Who is it?". Without missing a beat, Leon responds to the voice "It's Leon Willburn ma'am. I am here to answer your summons."

After a pause, the voice welcomed Leon "Come in."

As Leon opened the door, he can see a woman that sits in an extravagant looking chair, with a wide desk made of glass in front of her. On top of it, a heap of unorganized documents covers the desk from left to right.

Bethany, with angry expression, snarls at Leon as soon as he enters the room.

"You good for nothing! How can your group of "promising" super heroes can NOT even prevent a bank robbery from happening?! I've seen an overweight middle-aged normal cop do better job than you!" Bethany complains about Fiesty Five's performance on the most recent bank robbery case that failed, destroying the image of H.E.L.P super-hero groups.

"You do realize that not only "I" have to explain to the mass media, but also the higher-ups as why would a bunch of super heroes lost to normal people with guns?! Look at what mess did you drag us into?!"

For Bethany, there is never justice, nor there is righteousness, all she cares is that she can sit comfortably while ordering people around, giving her profit in the end. Now she is held responsible for the failure of capturing the bank robber and allowing a million of dollars lost.

Leon tries to find a chance to speak despite being bombarded by Bethany's bickering. When she stops for a breath, Leon finally spoke.

"Well, about that ma'am, I have concluded that the recent failure was caused by none other than one of our teammates, Clyde Aliston, The BuffHero."

Leon then proceeds to show the petition in his hand to Bethany. She stood and took the document from Leon. The petition reads that by the major vote of Fiesty Five, Leon, the leader of Fiesty Five now hereby declare that Clyde Aliston was responsible for the failure of bank robbery case and thereby will be banished from the group.

"Clyde? The guy that you always complained about?" Bethany reaffirms the document given by Leon.

"Yes. Not only on the recent case, his previous behaviour has caused our group a great disturbance that might jeopardize the mission's success. This has been happening for a while now." Explain Leon.

Bethany frowns as she read the document, she knew that this wasn't enough to clear her name of the recent case. Best this petition could do was to keep her seat, but not from punishment from the higher-ups and also mass media demanding explanation from her.

"Well, I understand the situation that you and your teammates had, but despite that I don't think that is enough reason for you guys to fail. We put a lot of trust because you guys are "Super Heroes" you see?" Bethany then continues.

"Fiesty Five was quite a renowned super hero group. In the past year, your group has garnered more points and reputation better than any group there is. Fiesty Five were 100 points away from being a Proficient level team. If you guys didn't manage to cooperate with each other, how can just this mission specifically that failed after all this time?" Bethany asks Leon.

Leon gulps, he knew that this failure was a heavy blow for Fiesty Five reputation for being a cut above other Rookie, Advanced, even Competent level super hero groups.

Now not only that they didn't get a promotion, they would also be responsible and will be penalized for the failure to prevent a bank robbery.

After a brief thought, Leon then answers Bethany's question.

"I have always had suspicion that Clyde has been attempting to overthrow me and took the position of Fiesty Five's Leader. My assumptions are Clyde has been cooperating together with the terrorist"

Leon turns Clyde as his scapegoat and frames him for cooperating with the villains thus giving the robber a chance to escape.

"You can check the bodycam from each of our suit to confirm. You can see that Clyde arrives late, argues about my order, and hindering our movement. Causing confusion in our party that allows the terrorist to escape." Leon continues.

Bethany looks up the recording of Leon's body cam. True enough, Clyde can be seen uncooperative towards the leader and giving a chance for the terrorist to recuperate and gives fatal blow towards the Fiesty Five, allowing them to escape from the chase with the loot.

Bethany realizes that not only this could keep her seat, but also divert media attention away from her or H.E.L.P Organization. Thus, giving her a safe from being punished. All she needs to do was to pin the whole case into Clyde.

"Fine. Let's just pin all of this troubles to him. It's just a single super hero after all, we have many other competent ones. You are now dismissed." Said Bethany while giving a gesture to excuse Leon out from the room.

"Thank you, Ma'am." Leon gives a slight bow and walked out from the room.

A sly smile stretches along Leon face. He finally fulfilled his mission to get rid of Clyde.

"Serves you right. I am now going to crush your entire career as a super hero. I can't wait to see the expression you will have after this." Leon whispers to himself as he walked out from the H.E.L.P Building.