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Ky took a deep breath and stared up at the Olympian doors before her. Depicted in bronze were heroes; beings of great power who took upon themselves the burden of protecting the citizens of the world from those who would do them harm. The doors towered at nearly one hundred feet tall, dwarfing the tiger girl. She stood just a hair over five feet, an ant at the feet of gods.

She breathed out and straightened the front of her cobalt skirt and jacket, and clutched her leather briefcase tighter. After straightening her short, black hair she huffed confidently. Now or never, she thought.

Ky deftly swiped her shiny new security badge, still warm from the laminating machine at the front desk, through the scanner. The terminal sounded a harsh beep and a light on the face blinked red. The doors didn't budge. She felt her brave face fade.

She swiped again. Beeeeep. Red light.

The tiger looked down at the badge.

ID#: 000399281G-FF

Name: Ky Aoris

Alias: Witchfire

Classification: Psionic 2

District: Aliana-9

Beneath those details sat her smiling face, her eyes vibrant wells of bright blue, as well as a complicated patch of some kind of barcode variant that contained biometric information about her. She flipped the badge over and immediately saw the problem. The black magnetic strip that was meant to be read by the scanner was creased. Ky groaned and turned to head back to the front desk. But a figure that had appeared behind her made Ky jump, a surprised squeak escaping her. She quickly clasped a hand over her mouth as though trying to jam the sound back in.

She recognised the figure immediately. A leopard, black furred and looming over the tiger. She went by the alias of Amazonian, and the name was aptly given. She was nearly seven feet tall and was built like a pro wrestler. The kind that wins the belt every time. Her face was framed by two long braids that ran down her front, stopping at her chest, while the rest of her hair was held in a single braid that travelled down her back to meet her long feline tail. The leopard dressed in her hero uniform, what looked like a black one-piece swimsuit with metal detail around the thighs and shoulders. This warrior relied on brute strength and speed to conquer her enemies, and was much better at masking her presence than her Hero Guild webpage had let on. Ky hadn't even detected her mental presence.

Amazonian stared down at the rapidly shrinking tiger, her arms crossed over her ample chest. The leopard said nothing, but looked as though she expected an answer.

Ky stammered as she held her security badge up meekly to the Amazonian. "My... My badge won't work."

The large woman continued to stare down at Ky, causing the small girl to fidget.

"I'll... I should just go get it fixed at the front desk. Excuse me." Ky's heart pounded in her chest. She felt as though she'd been caught trying to break into the Hero Guild. The way that the leopard stared down at her was making her feel more and more like she didn't belong. She started to step around the woman when the leopard's large hand pressed into Ky's front, preventing her from getting away.

The Amazonian couldn't maintain the charade any longer. A wide grin spread across the leopard's face, revealing a row of sharp white teeth, and a hearty laugh erupted from the woman. "I was just toying with you, rookie. Wanted to see how tough you were."

Relief must have washed over the small tiger's face, because the leopard burst into laughter. "Ah, you guys. You all give up so easily when I just give you the stinkeye these days."

Ky laughed nervously. She could still hear her heartbeat pounding in her ears. "Right... I should probably go get my badge fixed so that I can-"

"Nah, no need for that. We'll get it later. You've stood out here long enough." The leopard put a hand around the tiger's shoulders and spun her around towards the door. She called over her shoulder to the front desk. "Hey, Carmichael, open 'er up!" The doors rumbled and began to swing open, triggered by the clerk at the front desk.

Amazonian smiled sheepishly at the tiger. "Keep losing my badge. Easier for me to just yell the door open than to keep it on me."

Ky nodded dumbly as she stared at the doorway. She'd wanted to make this occasion more dramatic for herself, standing before the doors until they'd opened completely, welcoming her into a new exciting chapter of her life.

Amazonian had other ideas, and pushed the tiger through as soon as the opening was big enough for the two of them. Ky walked ahead of the large woman with her briefcase held close to her chest. The two emerged into something between a command centre and a boardroom. A large, round table with twenty chairs surrounding it sat before them, and behind it was a wall of monitors. Computer terminals were set beneath them, scrolling through information automatically.

Another person was sat at the table, looking bored and tapping through something on a tablet on the desk. He was another hero that Ky recognised. His official hero name was Salamander, but he and his fans had chosen the name Inferno. Ky thought the name was a bit silly, but he was almost straight out of the old cartoons, from before heroes became a reality. He was cocky and always tried to send a positive message to the youth about staying righteous. He also seemed to get in over his head more often than not.

Inferno was an armadillo lizard with vibrant red and black scales that shimmered like fire in the sunlight. His eyes were like rubies, glimmering and deep red. He was tall for his species at about 5'10", and wore a loose-fitting track suit. He looked up as the pair of women entered the room. Behind them, the door rumbled closed.

"Oh, hey, Iris." He smiled up at the big leopard. "Caught yourself some small fry, I see."

"Richard. This is Ky, the new recruit. She's going to be integrated into the hero roster in the coming days, and you are going to be nice to her." Iris, the Amazonian, levelled a finger at the lizard, who kept a smug smile plastered on his face. Ky was momentarily taken aback that they used their real names around each other. She'd always assumed that they'd stick to hero names like in the comics.

Ky snapped out of her thought bubble when she realised they were both staring at her. "Oh! Hello. It's a pleasure to meet you, Inferno. I'm a huge fan of yours." She paused for a moment and then realised that she hadn't greeted the leopard. She quickly turned to face the large woman. "And also of you, Amazonian! You're a big part of why I wanted to join the Hero Guild."

The leopard clapped a hand on the tiger's shoulders, causing the small girl to stagger. "I was gonna take a jab at you for the 'big' part of your statement, but I'll let it slide this time." The large woman chuckled. "And call me Iris while we're in the building. Unless we're in a meeting with folks, then we use aliases." She pointed toward the armadillo lizard. "That's Richard. Not Dick, or Rich, or Richy. Richard. He'll go nuts if you insist otherwise."

Ky swallowed and nodded. "It's nice to finally be here. Thank you, Iris. Richard." The names didn't quite feel right to her after knowing them by their hero names for so long.

The reptile cleared his throat. "Iris, you and I have a meeting we should probably get to."

"Right." The leopard looked down at the tiger again, her hand still on the girl's shoulder. "Just take a seat here, and someone will be here shortly to show you to your room."

Ky obeyed and sat down at the table, her briefcase set on the floor by her feet. Richard stood and tucked his tablet under his arm before walking down one of the hallways that branched away from the large meeting room. Iris followed him a moment later.

The meeting room seemed bigger without Iris' titanic presence, and felt a lot more sterile and corporate when a hero wasn't seated at the table.

Ky exhaled a breath she wasn't aware that she'd been holding. You are a hero now, she corrected herself. Her hands trembled with excitement as the gravity of the situation began to settle in her mind.

A smile spread across her lips and she allowed herself a moment to bask in the accomplishment of making it all the way to the Hero Guild.

_ Finally, my life can begin again_, Ky thought. And the world will know my name soon enough.