Upheaval

Ryan was working out at home. It had been a couple of days since the incident and schools had declared a holiday to calm the students. There had been a complete information blockade by the government. the news was censored and they simply had announced that a gas explosion took place in a cafe on Meel street.

When he received the mission details he frowned. His mission was a classified top secret and moreover, it was not sanctioned by the secret service at all. Ryan had been contracted to Rowan Riley, the patriarch. This meant that the mission was off the books.

Ryan had signed on hundreds of mission with the secret service over the past five years - from espionage to assassinations he had done all kinds of dirty deeds for them. None of them had been off the book. This mission was sending out red flags the more he thought about it.

"They hid some crucial information from me. Something really big must have happened."

However, he did not even have to wait too long. In a few hours rumors were floating all around the web no matter how much the government tried to shut it down. The screenshot of a 29chan post had gone viral.

[Masked Hero saves Meel District!]

[A Villain kept shooting lasers all over Meel District creating explosions from the sky and the panicking government did not do anything! They sent some elite tiers to restore order but the Villain laughed and killed them!

It was then a mysterious figure in dressed in blue flames appeared. He then fought against his opponent, the evil laser shooting villain. After a powerful battle, he heavily injured the villain who ran away. The hero then helped move the injured people to safety before disappearing.]

This singular post suddenly raised a surge of negativity against the government for suppressing information and calling heroes as truants. Several posts complained about how heroes always helped the low tiered suburbs from evil while the government just ignored them.

[The government can only shout order! Structure! When it comes to actually do things they achieve nothing.]

[These rich families get richer while the poor get poorer.]

[Government leeches]

[Look at Heroes like "Wilde Fire", he saves people regardless of their ability and does not ask for anything in return, unlike government leeches.]

Ryan was flabbergasted at the rumors.

'How true is this stuff? It appears as though these heroes have already been active in the low tiered suburbs. Just what is going on?'

Soon videos began going viral. Gruesome videos of a mysterious person in a bizarre purple costume indiscriminately shooting lasers from their hands. The lasers would create explosions on the ground. Then another video where five elite tier government security operatives surrounded the truant. However, they were immediately pierced through by the powerful lasers along with the mocking laughter of the purple costumed figure. But then a man who was covered in blue flames suddenly flew into the air from the top of a skyscraper and then a high-intensity aerial battle began.

"This...The government must have actually failed to track down these two individuals. The government can no longer suppress this information. A Hero? Really? What a load of bull.."

Ryan decided to call Candie.

[Candie, it is Ryan]

[It is you, kiddo. What do you need?]

[You need to ask? What the heck is going on?]

[*Yawn*, kid don't ask me about that crap. The government is facing a collective intelligence failure right now.]

[What is with this Blue 'hero' and purple 'villain'? Is this the government's play?]

[That's a wild theory kid. Do you think the government will risk its structure in such a bizarre manner for no reason? They are real. I got the upper echelons breathing down my neck to find their identity through the recorded evidence.]

[It seems these 'heroes' have been active for some time in low tier suburbs?]

[Uhuh. We have been turning a blind eye to them, we do not have the manpower to deal with low tier's issues anyway.]

[Okay, thanks for the info dump.]

*Beep*

"Well, I still get a day to rest anyway. A headache begins tomorrow with the reopening of class."

He decided to waste some time playing a MOBA game on his phone when he received a message from his chat app. So he began replying since he didn't have anything to do anyway.

[ Sarah: Hey ]

[ Ryan: Hey ]

[ Sarah: Thanks for helping me out in trouble. :) ]

[ Ryan: Sure, no problem. ]

[ Sarah: Did you see those rumors? ]

[ Ryan: Which rumors? ]

[ Sarah: You know... about the hero? ]

[ Ryan: I some posts on the internet. ]

[ Sarah: Is it real? ]

[ Ryan: To be honest, I know as much as you. It is best for us not to break our heads about it. ]

[ Sarah: True. By the way, I wanted to ask you a question. ]

[ Ryan: Sure, go ahead. ]

[ Sarah: When you protected me from that second explosion, you used your ability right? ]

[ Ryan: Ehh... No comment.]

[ Sarah: I know you are hiding your ability. :P ]

[ Ryan: Well, as long as you don't tell others. ]

[ Sarah: Alright I'll keep it a secret. ]

[ Ryan: Thanks 👍 ]

They continued chatting for some time before Ryan realized that it was time for dinner. He went to the kitchen to cook a steak.

"The hero, well I suppose they have a motive for their actions. but what was the purple dressed freak causing destruction all over Meel district for? Why did he do it, the way he was laughing, it was as if he did it simply because he could. If he had this power all this time, why wait till now?

Just what was his purpose? Perhaps he just awakened his ability? Or did he try fighting small time first? Explosions huh, perhaps he left a trail behind. Rampant behavior, perhaps a criminal? Perhaps I should investigate a little bit."

Ryan took his plate of steak and mashed potatoes and began to carefully eat while thinking out a plan of action.