Out of the atmosphere, something akin to a shooting star suddenly reforges into a humanoid shape, crashing down on the outskirts of the floor of Eagledom. Trying to remember anything but to no avail, he walks into a street block with a massive street of parked cars in between a pack of large buildings.

He stared into a reflection of a well lit glass building. In place of his eyes were a domino mask with his mouth covered from a purple-black hood, his arms and waist in the style of a purple and black hood, with a small quill like ponytail from the back. He touched his face with blue gloves. For his arms wrapped in bandages, he saw three clocks: one with a 12 hour time limit, another that read 182 days, and a third with a pink meter that read 0% percent. Still confused with who exactly he was, he looked down at his purple vest with a large black S in the middle. Hearing commotion from what looked like an area that was recently burned down, he leaped up to get a better look, only to find himself upon the edge of a tree branch. Then he turned to a sign slightly above him.

Welcome to High Leap City. Take Off, With A Leap of Faith.

"I like the name of that."

He then took off a long scarf wrapped around his neck.

"Isn't this?"

Looking back at the sign, he grabbed the scarf and swung it at another branch, swinging it towards another tree. Suddenly, unspeakable pain from the inside of the head made him lose his balance as he smashed straight down into the pavement.

"Who...was.....that girl...? I, who am I"?

Trying to shake off the thought, he tried swinging with the scarf again, latching from nearby tree to tree until he reached a more populated area of the metropolis, landing onto the ground from the sight of many onlookers that quickly lost notice after he landed on the floor. Confused, he casually walked through the simple autumn sun before it began to shift into a swift silver nightfall. Witnessing someone blow a large bubble in front of a large crowd, he saw one fly to his hand, staying there before it evaporated in his hand. He overheard different people, some talking about something regarding arson, another conversation about teenagers, and words regarding a shady mayor. Unsure of whether to ask the few people that paid attention to his attire, the sound of a nearby explosion caught his attention.

He arrived on a rooftop, he saw a ton of firefighters, helicopters and police stationed in front of a burning building with cries, concerns, and screams from different people around. He noticed someone on an upper floor surrounded by flames breaking open a window despite the protests from below and jumped out much to his shock. Unsure of what to do, one of his clocks glowed, reading Hero Shift. He paid it no mind, accidentally grazing it, and jumped down to catch the man. He swung his scarf at the man, which wrapped around him. Not sure if the man would survive, he stretched his hands, summoning a large bubble around the two of them. Their descent halted until they reached the ground, popping as they reached the pavement. He removed the scarf off the man, planting him on his feet.

"You alright?"

"Thanks. Wait, who the heck are you? I thought you guys were goners. Don't tell me you're one of them?"

Before he could ask what the man was talking about, the man quickly ran towards a woman and a child, embracing them.

Guess I did something right. Wonder what he meant though? Then his eyes locked with a young woman in a police outfit next to the firefighters spraying down the building to little effect. She walked to him.

"Another superhero? Wait , who are you?"

He wasn't sure what to answer. Then again, he still had no idea who he was. Concerned, he looked down at his watch. It read 11:58hrs, Shift Hero: Bubble. At this point, he figured to call himself something.

"For now, just call me, hmm. How about Shifter?"

"Fine, it doesn't matter. The heat's too dangerous for some of the fighter fires but they're hearing a few more people in the building. Please tell me you can do something about that?!"

"I'm not sure, but I can try." He leaped up onto the building, jumping to the ledge the guy broke out of. As he was about to climb in, he was suddenly knocked back into the fire by an unknown source into the room, charred and burning to a cinder with every second. Before Shifter could get up, a huge wave of water splashed towards him, pushing it back slightly, yet not causing him too harm.

"Thank you." In front of him stood a guy of a similar height. His eyes were shaped like Shifter's own domino mask, except the rest of his head..rather helmet..was shaped more like a pumpkin. He wore a gray and dark green body armored attire with a cape, and had an oddly shaped weapon aimed at him.

"Another hero?"

"Don' play dumb, everyone knows me: Goblin Shark, Eagledom's number one her-"

Hey, they said there were more people in here. Let's hurry and get them out."

"Hey, don't ignore me! Besides, no one asked for your help! Get out of our way!"

Shifter just compiled and walked out, searching around the burning house. Hearing more people from below, he headed downstairs, finding a girl holding onto a dog behind debris blocking the two of them. Though he heads over to help, a crack from the floor opens up in front of him from a single step. From above he saw Goblin jump down the hallway with an odd shaped sword in his hands.

Shifter simply took a step back as Goblin landed in front of him with an attempted swing to his head, only for it to miss as the latter's footing crumbled beneath him and fell down into the flames below, hearing him cry to someone for help. Shifter casually put a large bubble around him, somewhat concerned for his safety, directing focus to the girl and her dog. He broke through the debris using his scarf as a makeshift whip. Just as the flames consumed the girl, he quickly raced through the burning sensation, caressing both of them into his arms and breaking the window out of the apartment, jumping out with the girl and her puppy in his arms before generating a bubble around them to keep them afloat.

Then his body tenses up. Struggling to move, he considered it may have had something to do with his powers. Then from the shadows, a sporadic, uncontrollable amount of water from the clouds appeared above him. He expected it to be someone attempting to cool off the building, but it landed squarely on him. He attempted to keep their bubble airborne, but it broke, trying to grab onto the girl and her pet. But the force of water surrounded him, rendering him immobile. The shadow of someone behind and above him appeared on the wall as someone yelled out for the girl's safety. He heard Goblin Shark's voice yell out a name: Aqua. And she was moving the liquids in his body.

Trying to focus on the little child, he mustered a bit of control of his hands to generate a human shaped bubble below the little child and her puppy's descent seconds before they could hit the ground. To his relief, they fell inside of the bubble and reached the bottom, spotting the officer catching the two. A gasp from Aqua and the water around him quickly dropped around him as he began plummeting to the ground. Shifter threw his scarf around Aqua's waist as a makeshift swing, using the momentum to push him towards the top floor of the building through the window. Minutes later, he and Goblin Shark exited the burning building, holding onto a group of civilians inside of a large bubble before his "ally" popped it rather aggressively.

"No one asked for your help."

Shifter was puzzled. "Wouldn't they have died? If your friend can control water, why didn't she just quench the flames in the building?"

Goblin was about to attack him when the girl dropped down, handing him his scarf back.

"I love your scarf, it's so warm and cozy. Where did you get it from?"

"I have no idea, I don't remember. Why did you attack me?"

"Goblin told me to, he said you could've been the arsonist. But I wanted to save that cute doggy first. I thought you were the bad guy. The puppy. Is she safe?"

Before they could watch her reach over to the child. A crowd behind the police started yelling, tossing food and other items at Aqua and Goblin by proximity, Shifter hearing complaints about them not showing up early, including the mother of the child blaming Aqua for interfering wit. Goblin jumps in front of her, whipping out a large fin shaped shield from gunfire of the officer who Shifter had talked too.

"Now you show up? You sad excuse of heroes almost killed someone."

"Hey, I didn't see you jump into the fray Sargent Shotgun."

"That is not my name! How long are you going to keep calling me that?" Angered, the officer shot at Goblin to Shifter's confusement. To Shifter's surprise, Goblin's shield expanded to render the gunfire harmless. Shifter saw the sadness in Aqua's eyes as someone in the crowd through a garbage can at her and Goblin. She conjured a large sphere of water surrounding her and Goblin, and the two began floating away from the conflict.

"Bye bye bubble boy! Let's talk again sometime." She seemed nice.

"Stay out of this, or you're going to regret this." He seemed not. They seemed to be heroes as well, but he questioned why they considered him responsible for the state of affairs, ignoring people taking pictures of people from above and below. Then a metal cuff wrapped around his hand, rearing attention to the officer holding the other end of the cuffs.

"I'm going to need you to come with me for questioning".

He was hesitant, but to avoid another confrontation, he ended up agreeing.

Hours later, he found himself in what was described to him as a police precinct.

"So you suddenly showed up outside the city with no recollection of your past, saw the burning building and decided to intervene?"

"Mh-hm." They had his brain scanned. He was told there were no accounts of his actions or existence until tonight. It left him with even more questions than answers.

"Your story mostly checks out. But you don't remember anything before you fell from the sky?"

He shook his head. "Maybe something involving a girl, and a fire. But what was with the guy with a weird shaped head and the water girl?"

"They're superheroes. And they suck at their job. My guess is that they thought you were the villain running around setting fires around here recently. I'm just annoyed they decided to start investigating now. But anyways, thank you for your help. Those people would've died tonight without you."

"Are they usually hostile? The girl seemed like she was trying to help."

"Well Mr. Entitled-Pumpkin-Headed-Prick's been like that since he first showed up and he brought them not too long ago. The girl on the other hand, she's apparently an alien from another world or something but like you, she lost her memory. I'd say they're needed but with the amount of havoc and destruction they've caused, I'd rather not have them around. The mayor puts up with them because—whatever, if they keep screwing up, they'll be gone in no time."

"Why?"

"Try two hundred million dollars in: property damage, multiple pipeline bursts, noise complaints, having fights that can end up with a neighborhood in shambles on a good day. If they reach one billion dollars, the government will stop funding them and they'll lose the licenses they didn't even bother to earn. And honestly, they deserve to lose it. Living above everyone in their tower and they barely do anything to help."

"How else do you think cities like these get repaired. These aren't cheap, people's homes are at risk."

"Why don't you help?"

"Our anti-metahuman weapons. aren't that efficient. The Failure Five got more money for whatever they want. At this point, I'm just doing what I can, even though its not important."

"That sounds heroic enough. I'm sure someone will appreciate your efforts."

"Thanks I guess. I just wanna find that arsonist before he reeks any more havoc."

"I could help. If I hear anything, I'll come back here and let you know."

"That'd help. If you're interested in getting a hero license, talk to the mayor when he gets back. He's out of town for reasons I can't discuss but if you're more helpful than the Failure Five, this town could use more help."

"Thanks again miss...um, what's your name?"

"It's not important, for now just call me Captain", sighing. As useless as that title feels lately."

"Hey, no hero is ever useless, including you." He wasn't expecting that to come out of his mouth, but for some reason, he felt an odd comadire with her. She almost cracked a smile, but quickly just let him out of the room. After spending some minutes trying to figure out how to get out of the precinct, he walked out, seeing if he could find anything on who started the fire last night, searching through different alleyways when asking people around what he learned to be called Station Square provided no results. He passed by someone in a strange outfit, coughing and choking while out of breath. Shifter called out to the person, but they retreated in the corridor. Finding it late, he walked into the Eagledom Public Library after someone he asked sarcastically told him to go there for answers.

---

The man Shifter encountered earlier in dashes into another alleyway, barely out of breath.

"Why can't any of them see I'm not the bad guy here".

"Because, you, Endolf Singe have failed to understand the grasp of what it takes to be a hero.

Endolf unleashes his flamethrowers at what he sees as a humanoid in a hood emoting a faint, yet fearsome blue light emitting from him.

"Now now, simmer down. Like you said, I'm not the bad guy here. In fact, I'd like to assist you with your heroics. How unfortunate, a man struck by tragedy forced upon secretly by his own employers victimizing the lives of others for his own financial gain. My condolences for your lost spouse and child."

Endolf takes off his wedging mask, the being exposing his middle aged, heartbroken and angered face, wrapped underneath by a locket around his neck, and agile bulletproof armor and clothing covering his twin flamethrowers.

"Don't patronize me, you couldn't fathom the pain I feel."

"Oh quite the contrary, I'm aware I can't. Yet you have the power of heroism on your side."

"I don't give a damn about who's the hero or villain anymore. All I want is for that man to suffer."

"Your governmental officials and broadcasting seem to think differently".

Endolf's anger, rising at the mere mention of the mayor, places a smile on the strangers face.

"Isn't it quaint. Those that forced you to take a heroic, noble war against their criminal actions run free to subjugate more helpless souls while plastering their name as heroes. The same heroes that condemn you and others as villainous threats to humanity while they roam around the city causing reckless havoc".

He shows him a screen of the other heroes Shifter had met earlier, attacking one another, destroying buildings and letting several villains escape.

"And when the truth is exposed, you, a valuable hero to society, are thrown out like an outcast as yourrot over the deaths of your loved ones in these alleyways".

"What the hell is—Look, what do you want from me? To remind me that my family's death was for nothing"?

"Quite the contrary again. You see".

He rips out a piece of his own body, attaching and reassembling it in the veins of a shining blue core.

"All heroes need a benefactor Endolf. No, Infersha seems like a more fitting name for you. And this is the key to your origin story."

---

Around 10pm, Shifter was alone in the library, just reading random books without results to address any of his concerns. A string of books about amnesiac protagonists, social customs, police, superheros, fire fighters, didn't answer his questions: who he was, how he could do what he did, how to find someone that was burning everything, and why Goblin and Aqua acted the way they did. Beyond that, he thought about seeing Aqua again after the officer's words about her being from another world. Maybe they had a connection or something. A poke on his shoulder broke him out of his thoughts, to the sight of a woman of old age.

"It's 2044, not too many people come here unless they need wifi or they're broke. How can I help?"

"I'm not sure you can."

"Try me."

He told her everything on his mind, including what had happened and how he arrived. She was relieved to hear that everyone in the building was safe as she had family that lived there. The only thing she could tell him about Goblin or Aqua was rumors about the former. That he used to work for someone under a different name, until about six or months ago where something major happened.

"Major?"

"A white light engulfed the world and the world lost a lot that day. More people like the guy tonight with even crazier powers started coming out of the woodworks and that pumpkin head someone got a team of kids to try and deal with them. The city seems fine of course, but its only a matter of time until we'll all be in the grave. Maybe this is Judgement after all?"

"Judgement? Like a Punishment. A trial?"

"Well yes, and no. Some skeptics claim that this is all some test by some God. A couple of years ago, Pluto and Neptune were destroyed by the same light that hit us. They say a planet's faith is judged by some crazy deity or savior, and if they are deemed failures, Earth will disappear. Though they're too late, this planet has been screwed over for centuries", laughing.

"That doesn't seem fair at all."

"Ahh don't worry about it. Its all just a dumb rumor by some nutcases on tv. And hey, you lost memories but you're still young and you have powers. Make the most out of it. I can't live forever, but I've been working here for too long."

"Hmm. What if I become a hero? I'll make sure nothing bad happens to this place if someone attacks!"

"You know what, sure? Life ain't great, the more people helping out there, the better. Alright, the library's closing, time to head out."

"Hey Granny, mind if I stay here for the night? There's a few more things I wanna learn about Earth and I don't have anywhere else to go."

"Sure. Just don't break anything over the night."

---

Goblin Shark and Aqua smash through a window into their tower, sharked shaped for the former's ego, forming a shape next to similar panels from before. Two other people were in the room. One was reading a comic book, turning his hand into a large snake to grab food from their dirty fridge and another with cybernetic enhancements around his hand and DJing rather loud, yet monotonous slow pop music that made their leader cringe.

"Repwrek, Patron, we finally agreed on going out to stop a supervillain, and you two lazy sacks didn't bother to help!"

"Why bother", Repwrek I was already drained from the skate park earlier anyways.", turning a page of his comic book, "you're the main character. You do the hard work the few times we go out, you don't even need us."

"Besides, Aqua went and she almost never goes out. But you never get on her case for it," Patron adds on.

Irked despite those claims being true and his crush on his teammate, Aqua's disappointment during their return dismayed him as she slumped on the couch with a large bottle he hooked off some rando in the street, like a cloud of rain washed away her usual enthusiasm when she resigned inside.

"More like someone's itching to get his trident we-"

Goblin chucked a trident towards Repwrek before the latter could finish his sentence. Repwrek barely dodged in time as the trident pierced through the reptilian boy's comic book, and a part of their new couch, supplanted into the wall behind him, much to his annoyance.

"Relax, the fire guy's a C ranked villain at best. You're just going to hog all the glory to yourself anyways."

Goblin stomps on the floor something fierce. "I took all of you in, made you heroes, and this is the thanks I get? We're down on a fifth of the money. I don't give a damn about anyone else in this city, buIf we keep making more mistakes, the mayor's going to kick us out! Do any of you idiots want to be homeless again?! Ugh, and now we have to deal with another hero out there."

The elevator pops open, a girl in a cloaked silver robe walks to Goblin, showing him an image.

"Hey. The guy that stole your hero save on the news. I saw him at the library earlier."

"Who the heck goes to the library after 2030?"

"Don't judge. It's one of the few book places that don't have me on a ban list. I have to get better at controlling my wings."

Goblin scoffs. "Look, the less damage we cause, the better. If we catch this guy before the cops and that new guy show up, we might get our reputation. Aqua, you wanna come? You don't have to if you don't want to."

She nods, clearly distraught. "I'll try."

"Wait, can't we just work with this new guy? He was asking about the Infersha psycho at the library." Peren asks. "My followers just said they don't care, till one of them almost died from an attack last week. "

Aqua perks up. "But I want to talk to him more. He may have stopped me from making a bigger mistake. Maybe we should consider-"

"No." Goblin's stance was firm on the issue.

"But Gobby-"

"You all know what to expect from heroes."

Aqua slumped back into her, agreeing hesitantly. Though Peren disagreed, she just took a selfie as Goblin headed to their weapons vault.

"Jet Blades, Harpoon Sword, harpoon Snout, Jaw Pinchers, Dorsal fins, Anal fins...nah I don't need that." He inserted and armored himself with all his items.

"Alright everyone, let's stop a bad guy."

All but him yawn much to his exasperation.

"Tomorrow?"

All of them agree before heading asleep. Goblin saw a blue flame from the outskirts of his window but paid no mind as his teammates started to fall asleep in their common room.