Axel tried really hard not to stutter.
"Hi- hey!" he said, nervous.
Rhea only chuckled.
"I'm Rhea. Apparently, my name had already been announced," she said with a smile.
Axel was already in the galaxies now, intertwining through corners, feeling like he was in heaven.
"I'm Axel."
Rhea smiled. "Yes, I know. You look hot, by the way," she said. "And when I say hot, I mean literally."
Axel stuttered. He wasn't actually a stammerer, but here, the words wouldn't come out of his mouth.
"Th- th- thank you," he finally managed to say.
Rhea touched him by his shoulders.
"I would love to see your face, by the way."
Axel smiled. "I guess—"
She cut him short.
"Don't worry yourself. You just got yourself a fan."
Axel grinned and giggled in a manly manner.
"Fan? I'm honored," he said.
Rhea winked and was walking away now.
"Think of it more as a 'friend.'" With that, she walked away, Axel staring at how her averagely sized and really attractive bum twitched. He was even fascinated by it. But he quickly looked away not to arouse suspicion.
---
The HQ was large, actually, and as Axel walked to the cafeteria now, he could agree to it.
They had been summoned, actually, and led by a guard to the cafeteria.
They passed what looked like a lobby, the walls sleek and smooth, without a single morsel of stain on them.
The ceilings were adorned with light bulbs—ones that were made to be inside the ceiling. They looked high-tech, and Axel, staring at them as if invested, was really impressed.
The seemingly lobby they were in didn't go in a straight path. Instead, it went zigzag, not actually having a straight route.
Finally, they arrived at what was the cafeteria. It wasn't an ordinary cafeteria, all right. It was more of a tech hub or something more tech-ish, related to that area.
There were chairs, with tables in between them. The tables and chairs were made of steel—good stuff, at least good-looking.
They formed a line in front of a woman (a young woman, not so young, in her early thirties—nonetheless, she was young). She was the one serving the food. A guard stood beside the counter where she leaned, his face stern and his demeanor dour. Even with superpowers, the superheroes were afraid to look at him twice.
They served rice with a really good-looking sauce, vegetables, and a lap of chicken by the side.
The first thing that came to Axel's mind when seeing his plate of food was:
'Oh, Superpolis has chickens here too?'
He carried the tray containing his plate of food and found a seat, sitting calmly. The motion was cool on its own. On the tray was a bottle of water and a glass of milk.
He was stunned by what was in front of him. On Earth, he didn't eat this much at once. The last time he did was at his twelve-year-old birthday party when his dad had gotten some really good cash, and they had eaten very lavishly.
Axel and his father weren't poor. They were just average. They had enough to eat, but not TOO much as to eat lavishly. Anyways, Axel was content with what he had, though.
Axel started eating. Since he became an Inferno Hero, he hadn't actually eaten. It had been from fighting one superhero to another. He had even forgotten he hadn't eaten. It sounded ridiculous, but it was true—the feeling of hunger had left him.
And so he ate with the similarity of a madman, tearing the lap of chicken apart and wondering where they got them from.
'No chicken, please. I'm a vegetarian.'
It was Axel's powers—the 'hearing from far' one.
He looked backward and recognized it to be Nothing Nolan's (Frostvein).
'Vegetarian?' Axel wondered in his mind. 'Cool.'
He respected people's choices. If being a vegetarian was okay with Nolan, then he respected it.
While eating, Axel decided to check his stats. With all the fights he had participated in, he was sure something would have been added.
He closed his eyes and—
[Hero profile complete]
[Hero Profile]
Name: [Axel]
Rank: [Amateur] [F] →
Hero Points: 250/800
+250 added.
[Attributes]
Power: 40
Speed: 75
+5 added.
Endurance: 35
+10 added.
Intellect: 65
[Hero Skills]
1. [Active Skill] Power Punch (Rank F) – Throw powerful, tooth-aching punches. (Next Upgrade: 10 more uses required)
2. [Passive Skill] Battle Instinct (Rank F) – Slightly enhances reaction speed in combat. (Next Upgrade: Defeat 3 Elite Enemies)
3. [Unique Ability] ??? (Locked) – (Unlock at Rank C)
4. [The Pinch Swoop Loop] {RANK 1} [Takes your opponents on a swoop loop, which flings them to the sky.]
[UPGRADABLE]
[Inventory]
Golden Armor (Rank F) – Makes your flames golden and fierce. Can burn opponents easily.
Inferno Sword – Go through opponents with the similitude of flickering flames.
Basic Combat Suit – Offers minor protection. (Upgradeable at Rank E)
Energy Potion x2 – Restores stamina in battle.
Axel quickly opened his eyes. Meanwhile, to him, all this happened in just a second. That was one of the coolest things about the system—showing stats happened, to the user, in just a split second or a second.
Axel continued munching his food away. He had since eaten the chicken, and now he was done with the rice, full.
He didn't know why, but he was served quite a large amount. He could say his was the biggest.
Axel felt a bit lonely sitting all alone. Other superheroes had already made friends, but he seemed to have not. He wasn't a social person, and, well, Patrick, his former best friend? Well, he had been just eleven when they became friends.
Axel quickly thought about him—how he had chosen to go to the dark side. To become a villain. He was about to delve more into thinking when he heard footsteps.
Looking up, he saw Rhea, a tray of food in her hands. She was staring at him.
There was an empty chair facing Axel, and now, Rhea asked him:
"Can I sit?"