The temporary hero operations center had been set up inside a half-finished municipal building overlooking the festival district.
Plastic tarps covered unfinished walls while portable floodlights cast harsh white light across the room. Folding tables overflowed with radios, laptops, maps and stacks of incident reports.
Outside, preparations for tomorrow's festivities continued despite the late hour.
Inside smelled faintly of wet concrete, disinfectant and overly sweet tea.
Nova sat slouched in a folding chair with a bandage pressed against her cheek while another wrap circled her upper leg.
Across from her, Chimzey leaned back focused on controlling the two metal tops spinning through the air.
CLINK.
CLANK.
SKRRRT.
The discs smashed together repeatedly like tiny Beyblades fighting for dominance.
The two blocked out the heroine who they ran into just standing directly in front of them.
(She looks like this)
Matatu's left eye twitched.
"Excuse me."
Nothing.
"EXCUSE ME!"
A transparent wall suddenly materialized between the tops.
CLANG!
Both discs bounced away.
Nova blinked.
Chimzey looked at her.
The Kenyan heroine placed both hands on her hips. ""I hope you two understand how much trouble you're in."
"But Ms, we already explained this wasn't our fault," Nova said while raising her hands defensively. "We got jumped and shot at."
"That explanation would hold a lot more weight," Matatu replied while aggressively tapping her tablet, "if half the district wasn't currently flooded with debris damage reports."
She turned the screen toward them.
Pictures flashed across it:
collapsed rooftops,
shattered balconies,
cratered streets,
and one completely demolished rooftop old café.
Nova winced slightly.
"Okay…" she admitted carefully. "That one might've been me."
"MIGHT'VE?!" Matatu stared at her in disbelief. "Child reconstruction plans had already been approved for some of these buildings!"
"In my defense," Nova continued while counting on her fingers, "we were being hunted by a fish sniper, attacked by a harpoon lady and chased by a crocodile-leopard supervillain. Plus the majority of those buildings were already on their last leg so…"
"Yeah they were already on their last leg before we got there." Chimzey added.
Matatu pointed dramatically at both of them.
"You children are lucky you're not in Kenya right now. Back home you would've already been detained and forced into mandatory quirk risk counseling."
"Good thing we aren't then." Chimzey muttered.
"Excuse me young man." She turned to him.
Chimzey shrugged casually. "I'm just saying we didn't start anything. They targeted Nova specifically. We defended ourselves, captured one suspect and even brought evidence."
"Wait hold up…" she narrowed her eyes. "You were recording while I was getting jumped?"
"Oh relax, I wouldn't call that a jumping." he replied. "I only started after you were flipping around the shark lady and stopped after the sniper clipped your leg."
"You could have helped sooner!"
"Hey, remember who captured the sniper so you're welcome."
She had dealt with reckless teenagers before. Plenty of young quirk users got arrogant once they discovered their abilities.
But these two?
These two talked about fighting wanted criminals the same way normal children talked about football matches.
A short figure suddenly ducked beneath the tent entrance.
"Drinks before Madam Matatu bursts a blood vessel."
The atmosphere instantly softened.
The man who entered was short and chubby-muscular with broad shoulders, heavy arms, and arm eyes.He wore a reinforced apron covering his torso while multiple flasks and pressure canisters lined thick utility straps across his chest. A red-and-black shuka cloth rested over one shoulder and steam softly hissed from the insulated tank mounted to his back.
The rich smell of spiced chai immediately filled the room.
In his massive hands rested two steaming metal cups alongside a plate of biscuits."Drinks before Madam Matatu starts yelling again." he sighed while offering the cups to the two. "Everything feels less stressful with chai and biscuits."
(He looks like this)
Nova instantly sat upright. "Oh thank God."
Chimzey accepted the cup carefully."Thanks Mr…"
"Chai-Time," the man answered proudly.
A brief silence followed and then Chimzey snorted.
Nova gave him a soft elbow to the gut.
"Really?"
"Don't laugh at his hero name, it's not cool!"
"I didn't really..."
"Yes you did!"
She turned to the hero.
"Ignore him Chai-Time my JUNIOR here…" Nova roughly rubbed his head earning an animal-like growl from him. "I love Chai tea."
Her statement made the room go quiet and both the adults held back a chuckle.
"What?"
"Chai is tea. You're basically saying tea tea Nova." Chimzey informed her make Nova a little embarrassed.
Cahi-Time chuckled a bit "Don't worry young lady, I don't mind. I know my naming scheme is not the best. Also don't be ashamed of that little mistake. A lot of people make that chai tea mistake. Just drink up and ease yourselves"
They both drank the drink leading their eyes to widen.
"DAMN!"
They both reacted with a little bit of electricity leaking off Chimzey's body with his ears cutely twitching.
While Nova's body glowed in her neon colour and her leg was also getting better.
"Right?" Chai-Time beamed proudly. "Good chai fixes most problems in life."
Nova immediately took another sip. "No seriously this tastes incredible."
"I put my entire being into every cup."
Chimzey slowly lowered the drink. "…Literally or figuratively?"
Chai-Time only smiled mysteriously so he immediately inspected the tea with suspicion knowing with quirks it could be the former..
"Relax," the stubby hero laughed. "Nothing weird. My quirk just helps put extra flavour and assist in recovery."
Nova looked noticeably more awake already while sensation slowly returned to her leg.
Matatu folded her arms. "You're being too lenient with them Chai-Time. Are you forgetting they're supposed to be in trouble?"
"Yes but they are also just children who got attacked by dangerous criminals." He defended them.
She raised an eyebrow at that statement. "Dangerous criminals?"
He nodded. "Kilifi Cord called and said Grey hippo wanted to have a word with them about the gentleman they captured. So it's out of our hands now."
"It must be really serious if one of the top heroes of the country is involved." Mutate turned to the children.
On cue Grey-Hippo had to slightly lower his head just to avoid hitting the frame. His grey tactical coat stretched tightly across his enormous frame while deep scars lined his thick arms. Despite his intimidating size however, his eyes looked strangely gentle.
"Ah fuck." Chimzey mumbled when he saw the pro.
Apex-Owl's eyes narrowed instantly. "I would advise you to watch your language around your elders, Caçar."
"Yeah you're right, Ah sshhiit." He put more emphasis on it. "Better?"
Chimzey nodded thoughtfully."…Yeah you're right."
A brief pause.
"Ahh son of a bitch mother fucker. Better?"
Nova snorted loudly "That was so cringe Chimzey. You're trying too hard to look like some rebellious bad boy?"
"Oh I know but… meh" He leaned back on his seat.
Apex-Owl's expression darkened. "Reballious punk."
The Kenyan heroes were a bit taken back by Chimzey language and general tone, Grey-Hippo however
"HAHAHAH! So this is the boy you were complaining about Owl"
Grey-Hippo suddenly burst into laughter.
"Unfortunately..." sighed Apex-Owl
Grey-Hippo wiped a tear from his eye before turning toward Nova. "And of course the superstar somehow ended up involved too."
Nova grinned sheepishly."…Hi Uncle Hippo."
"You've only been here for a day and already attracting some chaos I see."
"Would you believe me if I told you it wasn't my fault this time?"
"Well I would but I'm not sure your mother would be as easy on you as the rest of us her."
When he mentioned her mom the
"Why are you even here in Caçar? Weren't you supposed be with the other pillars getting ready to assist some locals in their show." asked Apex-Owl
"Well I already had plans so I had to take a rain-check on that. Plus I didn't want to go."
The owl headed hero just stared at him for a little bit. To him the child seems to lack structure and didn't get any proper discipline at his home, mixed with his strong quirk might have led to his behaviour problems.
'He thought that if this wasn't properly addressed his behaviour could lead to a problem for the pillars reputation in the future.
Grey-Hippo turned to the Kenyan heroes.
"Yes thank you for your assistance Matatu and Chai-Time. We will take things from here, and inform you on the necessary information."
"Good luck… You'll need it with those two." Matatu walked out after Chai-Time.
Apex-Owl crossed his arms. "Now, "we want every detail. Start from the beginning and leave nothing out." he said sharply.
Nova straightened slightly. "Well it started when me and Chimzey were heading toward Mtoni Palace…"
"And why." Apex-Owl interrupted immediately. "Were two minors heading toward a ruined district late at night alone?"
Nova blinked knowing where he was going. "Wow, hold up weren't doing anything illegal or weird."
"In a structurally unstable disaster zone."
"No it's not, Mtoni Palace is a free tourist site. Just because people don't really go there anymore doesn't mean it's illegal."
Apex-Owl pinched the bridge of his nose, thinking there were still no proper laws placed in those ruined zones. He heard a lot of dumb kids, especially during the festival, often go to those places.
Grey-Hippo meanwhile quietly dragged over a reinforced chair and sat down heavily.
"Please continue." he said calmly but his tone was a bit more tense.
Nova then proceeded to explain everything from the confrontation with the stalker lady, the sniper, bit of her fight with the Barra and finally their escape from Crocodile-leopard.
"Nova, did you happen to hear the name of the final person who attacked you." Grey-Hippo toned was a lot more hardened as his fists had been shaking since she started recapping their encounter.
Nova shock her head but was a bit taken back the anger Grey-Hippo was emitting,
"I heard the razor tooth woman call her Mawstrike." Chimzey answered.
"Those cowards!" The hero's anger surfaced causing Nova to flinch but Chimzey just raised an eyebrow. "Not only have they gone so low to go after children but they actually sent that monster!"
"Easy old friend" Apex-Owl places his hand on his friend's shoulder calming him down.
"If you don't mind me asking who exactly these guys are." Chimzey' question got everyone's attention.
"Well from looking back at it those guys gave me port smuggler vibes. Since they were after Nova that wouldn't make any sense since that kind of work needs you to be as low-key as possible, so kidnapping the number two's daughter seems like a big no no if you asked me. Well unless they have big score at the festival and Kuyakha is in the way of that."
Apex-Owl raised his eyebrow as Chimzey didn't strike him as the observant type.
"Nah my mom is just making a public appearance and not guarding anything so I doubt that. They said
"Your right Caçar they are." Grey-Hippo spoke up, getting his breathing under control. "The group which attacked you are known as the Watoto wa Kina. A dangerous group of pirates who have been active for over a decade now. Having been responsible for major crimes of smuggling, drug dealing, ship raids and murder.
To make it worse their quirks being complimented for water operations."
Nova decided to question. "Why are they even doing this? From what I've seen these guys have incredible quirks. I'm sure they could make it big as heroes if they tried."
"That's true but the world isn't that life in Nyasaland isn't that simple for some people taking the hero route is not an option especially when it comes to circumstances of their life situations."
"Is this one of those they had no choice but to go into violent crime type of things." asked Chimzey.
Apex-Owl shook his head "Circumstances don't excuse the choice. Once someone willingly steps into a life of crime, they've made their decision and they answer for it."
Grey-Hippo exhaled slowly. "Apex-Owl is right… especially in recent years. I once believed they could be rehabilitated. I was wrong to hold onto that hope and it cost me more than I can afford to forget."
He looked down for a moment, the weight of memory settling in his shoulders. "The group we're dealing with has gone past the point of return now. At this stage… they have to be brought to justice."
His voice lowered slightly. "I've studied them for years. I thought I understood where they came from… thought that meant I could predict where they'd go. That mistake made me careless."
A pause lingered.
"And it cost one of my sidekicks their life three years ago."
"So what can we do to help?" Nova changed the subject wrapping her arm around Chimzey's shoulder.
Chimzey gave her a look. "Wait what hell do you mean 'we'?"
"Nova…" Grey-Hippo was cut off by Apex-Owl.
Apex-Owl's gaze sharpened. "Didn't you hear what Grey-Hippo said, little girl? This is not a game, and it is not a chance for you to chase attention or prove something on social media."
He stepped forward slightly, voice steady but firm. "These are hardened criminals. They've taken lives, and they are deeply embedded in that world."
He pointed lightly toward them, expression hardening. "From your own account, the only reason you survived is because they chose not to kill you. That won't happen again. And if you meet them a second time, don't expect that same restraint."
"And that's why it is important we keep the both of you under protection." added Grey-Hippo
Nova looked offended by the mention of her needing protection.
"I know you're strong but we can't afford to take any chances putting children in danger anymore. If they were desperate enough to come after you once then they will try again and something tells me they will try harder next time. It will be best if we put you under protection just in case" Grey Hippo turned to Chimzey. "The same goes for you."
"Hm?"
"Like I said, I'm not taking any more chances when it comes to children. You've already had contact with the crew and took down two of their members, so there is a high chance they might come after you, for as you kids put it 'a get back'. Especially if they send Mawstrike again."
"Wow, chill with that. I would have taken him if I didn't have to worry about Nova with her numb leg" He pointed at Nova who playfully glared at him
"What do you mean by that huh?" She poked his cheek.
"And what about the other pillars?" Apex Owl asked him. "If they come after you while you are with the others I doubt it will end well for them."
Chimzey thought about it a little bit "Hmm… Okay fine so what happens now?"
"The answer came from the doorway.
"Now."
Everyone turned and Kuyakha stood there.
"Now the adults handle the dangerous part."
A reassuring smile crossed her face and her eye briefly landed on her daughter making her mouth twitch at the injuries.
"And the children get some rest."
Author Note
I just wanted to thank everyone who has still stuck with the story and wanted to let you all know I really appreciate it a lot. I just wanted to ask would you all be okay with rewrite of the story? Like fixing plotlines, improving on some parts etc?