Leo

Step by step, the moment of the most hated event of the month is closer and closer. The gathering of the 100 heroes where each evening on the 21st day of each month all of the 100 heroes, which aren't too busy to participate, all partake in a huge social gathering where they try not to kill each other as well as, they have the possibility to make more proposals and requests. Lio was walking, not through the hallways of the gathering hall but through his labyrinthine constructions. His steps dampened by the red carpet underfoot, his breath echoing through the enormous, empty corridors, his actions observed by motionless statues which adore the ceiling of his construction. In his left hand he held a binder with hundreds of pages, all of which he read, all of which he memorised and all of which he has evaluated for approval. He instinctively places his right fingers over his tie to loosen it but it is not the time yet. As he walks the floor under his feet makes a deaf click and a mechanism activates to open the gates which lead to the entrance hall, 45 metres in height, 18 in width. The gates are so tall, if their manifestation wouldn't be limited by the volume of the room in which they stand, it would break through the roof and collapse the building. Leo alone passes through the gates and sits at a lonely desk in the middle of the room, ready to be devoured mentally by the thousands upon thousands of requests made by the 100. The room slightly below him, under a small platform which was a mere half a metre in height, was a giant semicircular ball room, this time furnished with elegant round tables, some which held more than one seat, some which were individual in nature. Some of the heroes were eating, some were violently asking for drinks, but none shall be served until midnight when the gathering ends and the decorum can degenerate as it always does. For the next four hours however everyone has to be sober.

"The gathering starts." Leo slams into the armrest of his chair and the room grows somewhat quieter.

"First order of the day. Number 52's request for 18,980 humans to be sacrificed yearly has been denied. Further requests will be automatically denied again." As those words were spoken a man rises from his seat and leaves. Unacceptable was engraved into the table.

"One down, 98 to go." Leo thinks as 52 leaves.

"Oy, cat, what's that about starting in the middle? Shouldn't the important people be first then the weaklings?" By the press of a button a light turns on above their heads, pointing directly at number 4 immediately starts complaining.

"Then you will wait until number 1, 2 and 3 make their requests first, then you may name your price for your services. As number 1 is not present at the moment, we can jump directly to number 2. Number 2 is on a mission, henceforth we shall receive number 3's request." Leo makes a long pause, dragging his speech as long as possible.

"As number 3 is not present, we shall receive the request from number 5."

"You cu*t!" Number 4 stands up and slams his table with so much strength not only the wood breaks but because of the air pressure so does the floor. Leo jumps on his feet as well and starts pointing at number 4.

"What, what do you want? I can't tie number 6 to a bed and let you have your way with her! For goodness sake you two imbeciles always ask for the same thing every single time and I have to say no every single time! No, you cannot kill 20000 people a year as human sacrifices for some Aztec god!" As Leo says that a piece of corn breaks through a window.

"No, you cannot have your way with Enma!"

"What's stopping me from sending you into the orbit right now worm?" Number 4 says appearing right in front of Leo, so close they breath into one another's faces.

"The same thing which always stops you from doing it, your pride." The challenger returns to his seat, his movements so fast only now the air flows in the room, first towards the platform then back to his seat. Number 4 grabs a table not caring who was sitting next to him and puts his feet on top of it, waiting. Leo too sits back in his chair and is ready to read the next requests.

"Number 5 through 13 are either not present or made no request. Thus we will take into consideration number 14's request. Permission to have street performers sing to the public, granted. We shall install musical instruments in key points of the city."

"My request was more specific Leo." It would be stupid to call number 14 young for most of the 100 heroes are young, yet he was one of the most juvenile of them all. He was older than Leo, 28 years of age yet his face was that of a child and his hair was that of an old man. His body was small yet his poise was that of an old man, his mind was young and cowardly yet his wisdom was old and wizened. Number 14 loved music and dreaded going on missions and most of his time was spent away from the tower and outside the inner city. To distract himself further from his burden he asked for street performers to have access to instruments so that, by chance as he walked those streets he knew so well, a new melody might take away the clouds from his mind and let him enjoy a moment of tranquillity before the burdens return.

"It has been granted. The musicians will not be present inside the inner city. When not performing the instruments will be available to the public if so they desire to use them."

"Thank you." He says with a placid tone.

"Next... next. We have number 18's request." Leo looks away not knowing what to do.

"It is only momentary." The king of Carpathia says looking at Leo.

"It is, but it is not up to me to grant you Simon's services for the next month."

"Oh, what is this?" Lazar presses a button on his phone and the lights point at his table. Next to him Simon was standing, taking one step back out of the light.

"I've made a formal request to have your servant assist me for the next moth."

"King of Carpathia, I am sure having your own nation, subjugated under your rule, is enough to provide you with servants who can fulfil your every wish. You would not take an old man's cane from him, would you?"

"I wish to create a new dynamic inside the tower old man. You see, after studying the events which lead to the humiliation of my son, I've reached the conclusion that heroes alone are not enough to keep their positions inside the tower any more. I want the presence of a second to sway their political power."

"Are you making such a blatant political move in front of all of us?"

"And I'm even going to explain you why and how. Lazar is number 89 yet his servant humiliated my son who is number 61! Admit it all of you! You've been talking about nothing else but the duel ever since it happened. It turned the last, important position in the tower into the main focus once again! I wish to experiment, I wish to see if servants are the new luxury good which will shake up the tower's internal politics."

"And why would servants influence our positions this much?" A new light turns on inside the room. This time it was number 38, Mr. Gold.

"If servants with powers are the new currency then I must be the richest man in the tower since Gold Dust already has hundreds of such individuals under its rule." Mr. Gold says flaunting his organisation.

"Yet, is one of those people personally involved with you? Does one of your mercenaries have anything to do with the tower's politics?"

"You know my wife has powers as well too, right?"

"I know, yet it doesn't matter since she is a force outside the tower, like Gold Dust is as well."

"I object to that." A third light turns on. This time it was a man wearing a full suit of renaissance armour.

"Oh, for fu*k's sake Edward!" Mr. Gold replies.

"He's mad, isn't he?" The armour itself asks and that was enough to explain what number 35 wanted to say. Number 35, Edward Thorne was quite the unique case inside the tower for he gained his position not through his powers alone. While Mr. Gold is the, owner would be a bad word to describe his position, he is more like the ruler of his private mercenary organisation called Gold Dust, the men which work under him didn't influenced his position inside the tower. His powers and strength alone lead him to becoming the 38th strongest. On the other hand, number 35 earned his position thanks to the fact someone else is working as his armour. Through a very complex sets of circumstances he was thrown back in time alongside a shard of the Saviour which just so happened to bring him to France during the 100 years war. Through even more of his adventures he met Jeanne d'Arc who used said fragment of the Saviour to forge her armour and eventually her body and soul got fused with it. Weird things happened and eventually the two got frozen in time only to reawaken in the modern day during the late stage of the alien wars. Technically Edward has his unique power which is quite strong by itself, but he is the only person alive who can wear Jeanne as an armour which makes him not only incredibly resistant to damage but also gives him the perception and mental power of two individuals in one body. Now the question is, if Edward deserves his place as the 35th hero or if his position should actually be higher taking Jeanne into consideration.

"Enough! All this bickering only proves me right!" Alexandru says standing up. "We need servants to truly influence the politics of the tower, to show who is more influent, more powerful, more worthy."

"Then I am not interested." Edward says.

"If you're not going to count Gold Dust then why bother." Mr. Gold says quieting down.

"I am not giving you my servant king. I fear too much you will mistreat the poor boy. And the tendrils of your family, while they might not influence you directly, are enough of a threat to doubt the Simon's safety. My answer is no."

"If that is your final answer Lazar, then I have another request."

"Can't you make it after we're done?" Leo says under breath looking at the floor.

"Lion, I ask of you to provide me with a servant!"

"I want one too!"

"Me too!"

"And me too!" And more and more voices raised and nearly half the people inside the room were now asking for servants with powers.

"It would have been easier to ask me to defeat the Oortians by myself. Why serve in hell when you can rule in heaven? How would I be able to find 50 or so people with powers willing to serve you on their hands and knees?" And that was quite the task as people truly were not interested in working inside the tower as servants since becoming a hero was such a lucrative deal.

"Fine then! Fine then!" Leo says lashing out. "I will do the impossible and find fifty heroes willing to serve in the tower.!" He says throwing the binder full of papers on the ground.

"Bring in the alcohol, the meeting is concluded." He says standing up and opening the gates to his labyrinth once more. It wasn't even 45 minutes since the meeting started yet, as always the 100 managed to ruin his perspective on a manageable schedule once again. He passes through the gates and quickly closes them behind him with a loud thum.

"What an ass." Number 4 says waiting for his drink to arrive. "I don't want a servant, I want number 6!"

As that was taking place, Leo was still holding onto some papers. As the room lit out with heroes requesting servants, he took notice of those who didn't made such a ridiculous request and didn't threw away their papers. He will eventually send out letters to inform the virtuous few about the outcome of their desires and if they are granted or not. That means more work. Oh, but that was that for the night and the meeting ended three hours earlier than anticipated, meaning he has some time on his hands and as to clean his mind, Leo decides to descend further into his labyrinth, into the deeper levels.

"If only heroes could call out to other heroes to save them." He says picking up from a shelf another model, this one incredibly detailed, made out not of wood and clay but gold and diamonds.

"I haven't been home in what feels like centuries, millennia yet it has been what, a few months and I hear from them every day. I wish to return, I wish to see them once more." He says putting the model back on its pedestal and leaving the room. He passes through a small wooden door and enters his old home. He takes a few steps then sits on a wooden chair with green padding. He allows himself to melt into the chair then looks at the wooden ceiling. The old beans have been dusted or perhaps dust doesn't exist in a place so pure? It was good to look at those beams, it was a familiar place which felt so welcoming. He lights his desk lamp and places his papers on the counter. Books, bookshelves, papers scattered on every surface besides the floor. Someone cleans that room every day but they never disturb the papers. Leo stands up and goes towards the window, opening it to the garden. The air was a bit chilly, into the distance the small town was still lit, a train was arriving into station, the last of the day. Leo looks through the curtains, he could look for some of his friends which are bound to be still out. He could go into the basement to meet that crazy scientist with her crazy experiments. Better not.

"Hm... I also have to buy them a present for their pregnancy. Oh, God, there are two, no there are three! Everyone is having children but me..." Leo sits down, dragging a chair near the window. A small door opens underneath the window and he grabs a bottle and two glasses from inside.

"Sebastian is still making alcohol I see. He never got over Laurie marrying his sweetheart." Leo laughs pouring himself a glass. "Maybe I should ask him to make me a box of these. 'Ideal time to serve, 16:00 in the afternoon'. I should check on him one of these days." Lio looks into the distance, towards the mountains which corner his house, towards the forests which he longs to visit once more. How long has it been since he hunted? A fine venison dish, maybe some boar or the elusive wild bison? How hard has it been to introduce the European bison into those lands and how long it took them to reach a stable population.

"Damn it, I'm drinking on an empty stomach!" He says realising the alcohol was hitting him hard but then he looks at the bottle. It was 65% alcohol, Sebastian made it even stronger.

"I should gift him vacation in the east when I get the chance." Leo lays his head on the window and looks at the moon. He hopes it would blow up, that the Kuiper and the Oortians would just disappear and that the world would return to normal. Not fully normal, he wouldn't give up his powers for nothing in the world, or nearly nothing. The door to his study opens.

"You're home?"

"The meeting was an absolute disaster. Everyone wants a servant now just like Simon."

"Doesn't he have friends which could fill in those roles?"

"I believe he does but I feel that would be just sacrificing them in a different way."

"Better than nothing." Leo's stomach growls and his head is a little light from the drink.

"Did you have any dinner yet?"

"Nope. I just arrived."

"Yet you had time to grab a drink?"

"Want to join me?"

"You know I can't get drunk, besides, drinking on an empty stomach is bad for you. Besides! Getting drunk and saying stupid things is bad for you."

"Is there anyone around? I wouldn't want to make myself look stupid."

"Unfortunately you just missed Andrew and Edwin. William was here as well but he left a little earlier. You can always have dinner with our resident doctor Frankenstein if you so desire."

"Keep her locked up in that basement! How did I ended up with such a lunatic on my hands again?"

"Speaking about hands... She..."

"Oh no."

"She replaced her left forearm with repurposed, resurrected 'Kuiper' biological material."

"Sacrilege!"

"Well, what did you expect after you caught her trying to cook a piece of the material a few months ago?"

"She didn't tried to cook it. She cooked and ate it, right in front of me. I shoved my hand down her throat literally!"

"Come on, let's get you something to eat. You've had a rough day." While about to stand up Leo's phone rings. There were the coordinates to an Oortian attack on the eastern shores of the Caspian sea.

"I hope the night won't get any rougher." Leo says letting his head rest backwards letting out a deep breath.