Hypogeal

As I walked over Bastion stepped forward to meet me, a hand outstretched.

"Nice to meet you properly, I'm Greave," He said.

I took his hand in my own and gave it one short, sharp, shake.

"Call me Sparky, for now. Until I come up with something more impressive," I said, making sure to tack on the last bit as Crashcourse's smile pulled even wider.

He gave me a nod at that, understanding that I wasn't willing to tell him my full name during our first proper meeting. He was so civil that it almost made me feel bad that I was trying to get one over on him. Emphasis on the almost.

"Lauren," Crashcourse said, without offering her hand to shake. She didn't feel like the sort of person who would offer handshakes to anyone, and I felt like I'd have probably panicked if such a cute girl had offered me her hand anyway.

Mental note, I should probably stop referring to the evil villainess as cute.

"I'm Allen," Pulsewave finished off the introductions in a quiet, moody voice. "Wildthing is Becca."

"Beck's not showing up today though," Lauren cut in, "Suffice it to say, she didn't exactly agree with the point of this meeting."

I nodded slowly, so there was some ulterior motive at play here. They weren't just trying to pay me back for saving them, they did actually want something.

"A point that we should probably get to," I replied. "It's weird enough with you lot outing yourselves to me. Well, that or pretending to."

"Yeah," Greave said slowly, "That's on me, thought it would help build trust between us and you, considering you know who we are now. What we look like."

I raised an eyebrow at that, not that they could see it under my mask.

"And what would you need my trust for, Greave?" I asked, suspicion dripping from every word.

Lauren took off a backpack and reached inside. I tensed up for a moment, expecting some sort of weapon, but instead, all she did was bring out a small cardboard box.

"What's that, some sort of crafter trap?" I asked, knowing full well that probably wasn't the case as I took the box and felt its weight.

"Well, aren't you going to open it?" Lauren asked impatiently, going as far as to tap her right foot on the pavement.

I opened the box and almost dropped it on the floor. There were notes in the box. More notes than I'd ever seen in one place before. Three big stacks of £100 notes, tied together with rubber bands.

"You've got one and a half grand there," Lauren said, cutting through the fog that my brain had just sailed face-first into.

I swallowed hard, one and a half grand was more than what most reclamation yard workers made in an entire month. This much would be able to buy so much food for my mum and I. It'd solve so many short term problems.

It was also no doubt the product of villainy.

"I've got two choices for you here Sparky," Lauren began, "There's choice number one. Think of this as a thank you gift for dealing with Phet last night. Doesn't matter if you meant to do it or not, doesn't matter if it was for us or not, the fact of the matter is you saved us and helped what we were doing go off without a hitch. Ipso facto, you deserve a cut."

It was definitely the product of villainy, then.

"Also consider it a little something to help grease the wheels, so to speak. There aren't many Powered in the community, and all of them tend to attack us on sight, no idea why."

"And uh, option number two?" I asked, trying not to think about the insane sum of money that was sitting in my hands.

"Well, option number two is you consider that money in your hand there as the first instalment of a monthly allowance that you would be entitled to if you joined up with us as a full member of Hypogeal."

I couldn't help the sputtering cough that forced itself out of my throat. I wasn't expecting to be offered a place on a supervillain team, that was about as far from expected as it could possibly get.

But as I shifted my vision between each one of them, these members of Hypogeal, I could tell that this was no joke. This was serious. They actually wanted me to be a part of their team.

"A grand and a half, every month?" I asked, the number made my head spin.

"Not quite," Lauren replied. "Hypogeal is under contract to someone else, that's what the boss pays us to remain a team and to keep on pulling jobs. The amount we make is… well, slightly more than that, and when I say slightly I mean a lot."

My mind was spinning and it took all I had not to start hyperventilating on the spot. Somehow I could tell that Lauren knew how much trouble I was going through mentally though if that smirk on her face had anything to go by.

I centred my thoughts and filed the mention of a boss down to think about later.

"So Wildthing isn't here because she doesn't want me to join the team, I take it," I said, making my realization known out loud.

"We voted, she said no," Pulsewave said with a shrug.

"But hey, on the other hand, the rest of us said yes," Allen said snidely. Something about the boy made me instinctively distrustful of him.

"She'll come around," Greave stated, "Wildthing is innately distrustful of new people, but if you just show up she'll have to get used to you. Eventually."

"So, you really properly want me to join your team then?" I asked, "That's why you've shown up cash in hand with no costumes on, right?"

"Pretty much," Lauren said, "So, what do you say?"