PRESENT DAY...
     I stepped into the dining, adjusting my bracelet on my right wrist and balancing my burlap sack. I spotted my mother and brother at the table having breakfast. Oscar's head was bent over his cereal bowl as he meticulously picked the bananas out of his cereal.
     "Hey, mum," I said, taking a seat at the table, and setting my burlap sack down.
     "Good morning," she said. Then she examined me, so I expected her to ask a question. "Where are you headed?"
     "Out," I said.
     "Are you going to the woods to blow up trees again?" she asked, raising an eyebrow. I sighed, quite agitated.
     "No, I'm going to the movies," I replied.
     "Alone?" Greta asked. Greta, my mother. Always asking questions. Wanting to know.
      Ask, and wisdom's door ajar. Silent, and ignorance's scar, she'd say.
     "Yes," I sighed.
     "Want some company?" Greta asked.
     "Urgh...," I groaned. "No, mother, I'm fine."
     "What high school are you applying to?" Oscar asked.
     "None of your business," I said.
     "Come on, tell us," Greta asked. "I wanna know, too." I finally gave in, tired of them pestering me...
     "Excelsior Academy," I said.
     "That the best hero course in the world, without a doubt," Oscar said, surprised.
     "Wow, Oscar, tell me more stuff you know that I don't, about the school that I applied to," I said, making sarcasm very evident in my voice.
He remained quiet.
     "See you later," I said, getting up and leaving the house. "I'm at the library."
     "Why?" Oscar said.
     "Because common entrances to hero courses also require written exams, dumbie," I teased and made to leave, but he spoke again...
     "But you're already so smart."
     "Better safe than sorry." Then I left.    You probably think I didn't go to the   library. I did.
     Just not to open a textbook. I stood outside the library, at the side, my burlap sack open at my feet as I took out cans of spray paint and made vivid designs on the wall.
     Yes. I'm a graffiti artist. I vandalize public property.
     Arrest me.
     "This is taking too long," I muttered, stepping back. "Chroma fluxus." I lifted an arm and paints of various colours flowed out of my fingertips, ebbing and floating as if there was no gravity. They flowed into the wall and I willed them to form the image in my head. Lines of paint formed intricate patterns that resulted in towering figures of mystical creatures.
     Dragons, gorgons, witches, goblins, elves, sphinxes, all forms of monstrosities.
     I didn't see them, but I felt them, and I expected them. I watched from the corner of my eye, some officers in blue and black coming closer, clearly not wanting to be noticed by me. My hood was on, and I refused to turn my head. A sly smile tugged on the edges of my lips and I said calmly, without turning around...
     "Echo fallax." Suddenly, small, but numerous resonant sounds were emitted from all around us, drawing the attention of the officers. However, one of them caught on to my trick faster than the others.
     I took off in the opposite direction and he followed, a few others trailing him.
     I stopped and turned around.
     "Pictura vivere," I cried and the dragons and ghouls in my artwork left the wall, assuming three-dimensional forms, swarming the cops. They armed themselves, attacking the creatures with laser guns, but dragon's scale's penetration was no job for puny lasers.

     I took off into an alley and saw on the wall beside me, a graffiti work of a boy on a skateboard, on the tongue sticking out of a skull.
     "Urgh...," I groaned in disgust. "Effluo tenebrae." Shadows reached out from beneath my feet and grew out, covering the work, blocking it from being seen. "Better."
     Then I kept on moving, but the cops didn't relent. Fortunately, I had a plan....
     "Speculum fallax," I whispered. An exact copy of myself materialized before me. "Bring all the cops to one spot." It nodded in understanding and ran off.
     "Good," I said.
     Now, I was jumping from rooftop to rooftop, nearly weightless as my spell went to work. I saw a dozen cops gathered around something.
     It was my duplicate. She was standing in the centre of the circle, grinning, hands in the air.
     "That's the end of all this nonsense, Miss," one of them said.
     "I have one thing to say," she said, then a deathly silence followed. "Wrong priority, bros."
     With that, I willed her to fade away.  A wave of confusion swept across all the officers present, and they began muttering amongst themselves.
     "Tela furtiva!" I intoned and an invisible force pulled all the cops into each other, binding them fast. Soon, they were all bundled into one tight heap by what seemed to be an invisible web. "I guess I'm done here. Ventus alatus." A gust of wind lifted me off the rooftop on which I stood and set me on the ground softly. I turned to leave when a hand held my shoulder. I looked over my shoulder and gasped.
     A tall woman with silvery hair and sparkling transparent eyes stood there, smiling. She was wearing a silver leotard with a soft glow.
     "Lena Harper, I believe you know who I am," she said calmly.
     "Spectral, a hero," I replied, smiling. "Invisus nod-," I began but she clamped a palm over my mouth so I couldn't speak.
     "That's enough, don't you think?" she asked. I wanted to cast the spell non-vocally, but feared intrusive thoughts.
     So, I sat in jail, my hands cuffed, waiting.
     "Hello," a robotic voice said from the all beside me. "I'm Juvie, your personal jail assistant. How can I help you?"
     "Break me out of here," I suggested.
     "Sorry, I'm afraid I can't do disrupt the security systems."
     "Well, I can," I said. "Why am I even still here? See you later, Juvie." I got up. Interruptio nexus." I focused on my cell's connection to the main system, and disabled the security.
     "I would advise th-," Juvie began, but went off at once. My cell door flew open. I was just about to leave when my mum was suddenly coming down the hall towards my cell, a cop beside her.
     "Just paid your bail, you little shit," she joked. She stopped walking once she got to the front of my cell. "Is this the library?"
     "Ha-ha," I said sarcastically.    "Hilarious, mum."
     "Let's go," she said.
     "I already planned on," I said, gesturing at the open cell door.
     "I don't get why I was arrested," I said on the drive home. "There was no more graffiti on the walls. I brought them all to life."
     "Didn't stop me from paying eight hundred dollars to bail you out," she said.
     "Oh please, I know where our money comes from," I said. "We live in a mansion for a house. A banking job doesn't get you all that. You once told me even a moderate, regular mage is capable of spontaneous creation, creation out of nothing. Not to talk of an arcanist, or a powerful eldritch like you."

MONDAY...
     I focused on the my notebook, trying to solve for geodesics, when our teacher interrupted my thoughts.
     "As we all know, entrance forms have been submitted to your desired high schools," he announced. "Many of you applied for Excelsior Academy. Even you, Lena."
     "Are you allowed into hero courses?" a brunette boy on the row beside me, one seat ahead of me, asked, turning to look at me. His orange eyes glared at me and I glared back. Then I faced the teacher.
     "I demand to know why you singled me out," I said coldly.
     "'Cause you're a delinquent," a girl said.
     "But the hero course believes in second chances," our teacher said.

     "Oh, this isn't her second," the brunette went on.
     "Vex, that's quite enough," our teacher said.
     "Mister Alexi, let's face it," he said. "Not everyone can or should succeed."
     "For matters like that, you have a counselor," Mister Alexi said. "I'm here to teach AP Physics, not judge people. Me talking about your high schools wasn't meant to happen. I now realize that was a mistake. I was being nice."
     Vex was the best student this school had to offer. And that was saying a lot as this was one of the best middle schools in the country. He was good, and he made sure we were all aware at all times.
     He would never say it directly, or even at all. He just had that aura, which made you aware he was no joke. At least, that's what people said, because I never felt his aura. He was good, but he didn't intimidate me.
     My mother said it was all part of a mage's natural makeup. We were such powerful forces, it took more than simple auras to induce feelings of intimidation on us.
     "I hope you all realize Excelsior Academy's entrance examinations are in a month," Mister Alexi said.
     "Yes," some people replied.

GRETA, Lena's mother...
     I walked out the elevator, into the ongoing symposium. I was nearly overwhelmed by the bustle of activity in the room, as some of our country's greatest heroes stood on the stage.
     "Before we begin," the master of ceremonies said into a microphone. "I would like us to take a moment of silence to appreciate our deceased hero, Star and Stripe who died fighting Tomura Shigaraki eight years ago."
     Behind the heroes on stage, was a coloured holographic projection of the dead heroine. Everyone at the meeting fell into a deep, solemn silence for several seconds.
     "Now, we may begin today's event," he said. "Ladies and gentlemen! Welcome, to the seventh annual Paragon Summit where we will have heroes in attendance, from all across the globe, from every country there is."
     The crowd roared with applause. I wished they'd get it over with. It was 9:30 P.M. and I had kids at home.
     "The Paragon Summit aims to unify the global community, allowing heroes to exchange knowledge, collaborate on international crises and showcase their Quirks," the master of ceremonies continued. "It serves as a platform for heroes to demonstrate their abilities in controlled environments, entertain the public with exhibitions, and engage in friendly competitions that will test their limits. Here, we have the top heroes from all nations present.
     "With all these heroes here, the Paragon Summit is sure be an event filled with awe-inspiring displays of power, strategic discussions on global security and a celebration of the heroes who protect this world from it's greatest threats."
     There was another round of applause and cheers.
     "Let us give the heroes some privacy to discuss pressing issues, and we will get back to you," the master of ceremonies said.

Third person...
     In the conference hall, around a long table, sat all the heroes present, from the luminaries of the West, to the saviours of the East.
     "I would like to present an issue," a green-haired hero, Deku said. The head of the conference gave him permission. "Even with how far technology has come in the past eight years, we are still struggling with climate change. How can we solve this?"
     A black man at the table opened his mouth to speak...
     "Aziza's divine insig-," but a heroine cut in...
     "I have an ingenious solution that doesn't require insight from the gods," she said throwing a side glance at the hero who was about to speak.
     "What, Cerebra?" the presiding hero asked calmly.
     "We still struggle with climate change, because some countries can not access the needed technology to leave behind the usage of chlorofluorocarbons, or CFCs," Cerebra continued.
     "What's your point?" Deku asked.
     "When you stated the problem, a solution immediately came to me," she continued. "These countries can't get CFC-free equipment because the can not afford them, and as all the supply of CFC-free technology goes to nations that can afford them, none is left for the underdeveloped country, widening the gap between developed and developing nations." All the heroes were now listening with rapt attention. "We could create, invent a new kid of job opportunity."
She held out a tab which generated a three-dimensional projection of two maps. One of Africa, one of Asia.
"Let's say, a country like Afghanistan, and they can't access CFC-free technology," she explained. "This job opportunity, involves individuals known as Bridges. Here's what they do. The Afghanistan government states the challenges it's facing to the South African government in respect to environmental pollution and CFC release, and requests Bridges to help. If South Africa has the right Bridges for the job, they inform the Afghanistan government, who then pays for the Bridges' services. Afghanistan is developed, the Bridges are paid, the South African government earns money. It's a win for everyone. And the Bridges can help in more than just the eradication of climate change and ozone layer depletion."
     There was muttering all around the room.
     "So, what do our presidents think?" Cerebra asked, looking at certain men and women in the room.
     "It's a tremendous idea!" one woman exclaimed. There were mutters of agreement from all around the room...
     "How do you intend to begin?" a man asked.
     "Well, Mister President, I am an American hero, so this country will be the centre of the first Bridge Programme," Cerebra said. "I have already prepared a database for it, where country governments can look up available Bridges and see what they can do about their issues."

There was more talking...
     "Cerebra, you may run with this idea," the American president said.
     "I still have a very pressing matter on my mind," a man suddenly spoke up.
     "What's on your mind, Shoto?" a woman, the Japanese president asked.
"What will we do about the rate of ostracization and discrimination against superhumans in society?" Shoto asked. "Ever since All for One was defeated, some superhumans have been treated like second-class citizens or even worse. Let's not even start with the US operation, Project Kyrexi."
     "Shoto," the American president said. "We made that operation known to the public because it's the right thing to do."
     "You mean engineering robots specifically to kill Quirk users?" Shoto demanded. "Is that the right thing to do?"
     "Shoto, as time passes Quirks are evolving," the American president said. "We have superhumans who can break the laws of reality, sitting at this very table. The people are scared. If one of them has an evil agenda right now, what would we do?" Everyone was silent. "You, Shoto control ice and fire, which is no longer considered a classy power. I know four year olds more powerful than you. My nephew is barely a year old and can conjure beings from alternate dimensions." Everyone was silent. "Only a few heroes here can fight some newborns of today. Project Kyrexi is working on robots that can try to stand up against these new borns. Cerebra's intellect Quirk has really aided the perfection of these machines."
     "Just how much power does one of these robots have?" Lemillion asked.
     "Oh, Togata, the robots are called Kyrexi and that information is classified," the American president said calmly, staring Shoto eyeball-to-eyeball.

Greta...
     I was waiting when the meeting finished and the heroes came back out. They began to move into the crowd, mingling and talking with regular people. There was so much activity here.
     "Hello," a voice suddenly said from beside me. I turned to see a tall man with dark blond hair and sapphire blue eyes. "What are you doing here by yourself?" He smiled at me, and I answered...
     "Attending the Paragon Summit," I said. "Waiting for something interesting to happen."
     "Do you know what hero I am?" he asked.
     "You're Dominus, America's number one hero," I said.
     "Your husband isn't here?" Dominus asked.
     "I've had two husbands, and I divorced the both of them," I said.
     "Whoa! How old are you?" he asked, chuckling.
     "I'm twenty eight. First gave birth when I was thirteen," I replied. I knew what that meant in this dimension, but back in my dimension, it was completely normal.
     "Oh shit," he smiled, his eyes widened.
     "I'm a bit disappointed," I said calmly.
     "Why?" Dominus asked, narrowing his eyes at me.
     "I understand the fact that some of the things you discuss in your meeting are held in confidence, but you don't give any feedback at all to us, the people," I said.
     He smiled and opened his mouth to speak, but I interrupted...
     "If you are so afraid that people will sabotage your efforts, then we shouldn't be holding this summit at all. The Paragon Summit screams to the world that you are working to improve it. Besides, no one is asking for the solutions you all have proferred, we ask that you tell us the things, the problems you want to eradicate. It builds our confidence in you." I smiled at him and he returned it.
     "Meet me at the Red Onion on Friday night, ten in the evening," he said.
     "Don't you have a city, to be protecting?" I asked.
     "There are other heroes. Besides, I want to make you an offer," he said.  With that, he walked away.
     "Now, we will be showcasing the Kyrexi prototypes, to test their efficiency," the master of ceremonies was saying.

          Dominus...
     Shoto stood beside me in a large glass cube, a few other heroes around us.
     "You do realize that what President Nightingale is doing is unethical?" Shoto whispered to me.
     "Yes, but he's the US present and assaulting him would be a terrible mistake for anyone, so we have to crush the prototype Kyrexi and prove that we're not obsolete," I replied.
     "Ready...?" the master of ceremonies called out. We prepared ourselves. I focused, and accumulated the energy within me. Suddenly, holes opened up in the walls, the ground, all around us, allowing eight foot tall robotic figures through. We were surrounded by a swarm of Kyrexi.  They were fairly humanoid, with glinting silver boobies and glowing blue eyes. At their feet, instead of rocket boosters spouting flames, were visual distortions like the kind generation in the presence of heat.
     Their presence filled the arena with a hum of electrical energy, and they exuded an air of power. Their arms morphed into energy weapons. Plasma swords and laser cannons.

     One came up to me, a cannon aimed  at me, but I activated my Quirk, and focused. I felt the world around me, felt the underlying structure of the universe.
     I took a deep breath and felt the power coil within me, a force waiting to be unleashed. It was like holding a storm in my palm - controlled, but with the potential to become something unstoppable. I could feel the air around me vibrate, charged with my energy.
     "Don't steal all the glory," Shoto whispered into my ear. "People have to know that you're not the only capable hero. My energy hummed in the air, and the other heroes