One hundred and sixty seven million views in twenty four hours. That was the number reached. The record breaking video that had randomly appeared early the previous morning. The traction it has gained was impressive, though it wasn’t something the hero community had thought was worth investigating until after the fourteen hour mark. When they did, they called a specialist to help with the research, who now was sitting alone in the dark watching internet videos and combat footage.

  As the information played again on the large monitor, a man in a cape watches quietly from his chair. He’d already tracked down this “Omniglue” person, though that was fairly easy as he announced his name to the world, and was ready to investigate any criminal activity that spawned in the aftermath.

  People don’t just reveal their secrets like that without a plan to take advantage of it.

  The hero sat in silence for the most part, gathering the criminal’s life story and going over the data. There had to be a larger scheme at work, and Omniglue was definitely a piece on the board, not the main player. D-List villains rarely, if ever, move up the ladder.

  The sound of a door opening drew the caped figure from his thoughts. He craned his neck as one of his agents entered the room. “My lord, we have finished our sweep for the night. The city continues to keep a tight lid on its criminal element.”

  The agent was tall, with a barrel chested build and a broad frame. A helmet was at their side, revealing stubble on their face as well as a pair of soft, green eyes. They’d been a member of the Sword-Breakers for a number of years now, and was a loyal organizer for their master.

  The hero nodded, turning his chair as he took his eyes off of the monitor. He needed a break from it anyway. “Thank you Harris, I’ll contact one of our colleagues within Commission’s hero network. I needed to talk to them anyway.” The city’s heroes that were “Under Commission” were potentially the most closely knit in the world, but Sword-Breakers’ leader suspected that was because of their patron’s ability to see through them and coordinate rather than being a normal team with bonds formed over time.

  The fact that their coordinator shared the same name as the city only made things more confusing.

  As his agent left the room, the hero looked back at the data across his displays. Omniglue had started operating a little over four and a half years before the present, and was captured twice in his career. Admittedly, that record wasn’t actually terrible for a villain of such low caliber. Most that make it out of prison get caught several times. In addition to that, Omniglue had applied to several jobs in the past six weeks, all of which turned him down. He was set for another interview in a day. It was possible he was becoming desperate.

  The analysis the computers were running on the formula Omniglue had released was still pending, but he’d soon have a complete chemical readout of its capabilities. So far, the combat recordings he’d watched suggested the substance had a surprising amount of strength. He’d need to call some other heroes to help him stress test the materials at play.

  Morpheon or Eld might be helpful to bring in on this, though they’re both very busy with international incidents recently. I’ll have to see if they’re available for a couple days.

  By the time the hero had finished his research for the day, the video had gained another twenty million views.

  Emerson was nervous. His last three interviews weren’t particularly successful, and he’d been practically shoved out of the door during the most recent one. Still, as he stepped into the building before him, he couldn’t help but feel optimistic. The construction company he’d applied to worked with reconstruction after superhuman battles, so they always needed more hands. He had a good feeling about his chances.

  That feeling immediately died in his stomach when three different people couldn’t stop staring at him as he walked to the desk, and when the young man siting behind it noticed him, his eyes nearly jumped out at him. Clearly, something was wrong.

  “Um...I’m here for the interview? Emerson Wood.” He tried to keep himself clear and concise, even if concern was rising again.

  The desk worker stared at him for just a little too long before responding. “Oh! Yes, let me call Mr. White and let him know you’ve arrived. Please, have a seat while you wait.” He gestured for a row of chairs along the wall, which Emerson took after a second’s hesitation.

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  Normally people don’t recognize me on sight unless they remember me from a crime I’ve committed, but it seems like Everyone here knows my face. I guess they did a background check after reading my application. Its not like I hid my record.

  “You’re spiraling, it looks bad to employers.” The voice of a child nearly scared him out of his skin as he looked up at the kid standing before him. She looked young, probably no older than eight or nine, but her eyes were far too focused as she pierced straight through him with her gaze. After a moment, boredom overtook her expression again and she frowned.

  Emerson barely realized there was a tangible pressure to the air until it lifted.

  “How did you get in here? Where are your parents?” He really didn’t like the idea of a kid randomly being alone in the middle of town.

  She stared at him before giving what was possibly the most unhelpful answer he’d ever heard. “Father is nearby. Your dodging my point though, you need to calm down if you’re going to land the job.” She begins to step away to find something else to entertain her, saying one last thing before leaving. “You should try to show Mr. White that you applied to this company to help people, and then show him you can be fun. As difficult as that probably is for you, it’ll help tremendously.”

  In an instant, the serious tone and analytical stare shifted to what Emerson could only describe as the scariest ‘I’m up to something’ smirk he’d ever seen. “Bye bye Mister Omniglue. Don’t get caught by another hero, that’d be boring.”

  Before he could respond, she ran off like a normal kid would, laughing as she nearly bumped into someone.

  It was another thirty minutes before Emerson was called back to Mr. White’s office, and he was prepared for the worst. He had been expecting sterile, gray walls and a depressing environment despite what the girl had suggested. This was a professional business and it needed to look the part. He was not prepared for what appeared to be a candy-store’s worth of color covering every wall, nor the man with frizzy red hair playing with a desk weight.

  The man took a solid twenty seconds to notice him. “Oh, hello! You must be Mr. Wood, pleasure! Have a seat on the dunce chair opposite me.” Sure enough, the most uncomfortable looking stool Emerson had ever seen was the only other chair in the room besides Mr. White’s. He continued to play with the desk weight, even when he was aware he had someone with him.

  Emerson sat down, looking nervous and very, very confused. Still, he waited to be asked a question rather than say something. He didn’t want to accidentally interrupt his possible employer from...whatever he was doing. Eventually, the interviewer stopped fiddling with his toy and gave his undivided attention.

  “You know, you’re not the first person to apply to this job with a criminal record, but you are the first who actually had a villain name and a costume.” It would appear that everyone really did know who he was, so he swallowed up his nerves and responded as honestly as possible.

  “I...yes, though admittedly my costume was just a slightly modified protective suit for working with my glue formula. The early batches were messy, and by the time I’d figured out how to keep them clean the suit was already made and stylized.” Emerson had no idea where the man was going with this, but its not like he was going to hide his past. That’s how you get in trouble all over again.

  The unprofessional man nodded. “It looks good though. It has a decent set of colors and the designs aren’t terrible for a first try. I’ve had plenty of heroes come through, and maybe a quarter of their suits looked as well crafted as yours.”

  His blatantly casual tone continued to baffle Emerson, like he didn’t care about who he was interviewing in the slightest despite seemingly knowing everything about him.

  Actually, that reminds me, I should warn him that some kid is just wandering around his building.

  “I appreciate the compliment sir, but those days are behind me. Not that most people would believe that…” He tried to keep the bitterness out of his tone. What he’d said in the video was true, people do rarely get legitimate work again after getting a criminal record.

  In an instant, the realization hit him like a ton of bricks. The video, that was how everybody recognized him, one of them must have found it during the background check. Emerson resisted the urge to facepalm, though his expression must have given him away based on the grin on Mr. White’s face.

  “Probably not! In fact I’m certain most people would have had you thrown out by security instead of talking to you.” He laughed loudly, oblivious to the horrendous lack subtlety he was giving a former supervillain. “And especially now! You’re quite popular at this point. At least Alec seems to think so.”

  Emerson felt his stomach drop. “Popular?” He didn’t like the way that sounded.

  On one hand, the video getting seen was great. More people might be able to hear about his message and make use of the formula. On the other hand...there were a lot of people who probably weren’t going to be pleased about it, and Emerson was only just starting to realize that. Maybe this wasn’t such a great idea...

  Mr. White’s unnerving smile brightened, before he gave a very knowing look. “You might want to check your phone, It might have passed two hundred by now.”

  Emerson at first thought he meant two hundred views, then he worried that he might mean two thousand and simply misspoke. He nearly had a heart attack when he saw the number his video currently had.

  Mr. White must have thought the look on his face was very fun indeed, because just as the kid had predicted, he agreed to meet with Emerson a second time.