A Hero's Song (Darkest Secrets Volume 1)

Chapter 17 - What Makes a Leader?

Back in the lounge, the team chose to sit while Zero stood between them. He stood at attention, hands clasped behind his back, contorting his face into an expression of distaste.

"Today was meant to teach you teamwork. The original flag exercise I designed with Dr. Atomic was special in that it would allow me to place you into your respective Hero specializations. Do you understand the significance of that?"

His audience nodded slowly, knowing they hadn't actually performed the exercise. "Someone didn't want to be 'babied,' which in reality just means she didn't want to train." Lilith's head dropped in embarrassment.

"Nevertheless, I expect nothing but the best from you. That means that you have to learn from your mistakes. Getting immobilized before anything else happens in a fight is a big one." Lilith's hair covered her face, but her neck began to redden.

"Today, I gave you something which Heroes call a suicide mission. Had I been one of the more jaded mentors, I would have taken my time killing you all after I trapped you. I chose to go easy on you because your situation must have been obvious." He sighed and crossed his pitch-black arms over his chest.

"To be honest, fight itself was quite unlike anything I've ever experienced." The team perked up at the sudden praise. "I was sure it would be over quickly, and I sure as hell never expected you to actually hurt me."

Zero's gaze fell on Gabriel. "You seem to have worked out the kinks with your black energy. That hurt like nothing I've ever touched before. Without you, the team wouldn't have even lasted ten seconds."

Internally Gabriel beamed, but he was careful not to boast in front of his teammates. He wouldn't want to aggravate Lilith anymore.

"You organized the remainder of the team quickly - with simple orders even Quartz could follow. Falco and Quartz, you two proved yourselves worthy of being called teammates."

I feel that I have seen enough from each of you to assign you specializations - without the planned exercise."

Gabriel was excited to hear that. Zero opened his mouth to continue, but Lilith interrupted him loudly. "Wait, WHAT? How could you decide on my specialization if I didn't even get to do anything? That's unfair."

At this, Zero chuckled. "Lilith, I don't know what you mean. I immobilized you, but you tried to escape my shackles, did you not?"

Lilith paused, confused. "Y-yeah."

"That is doing something. The whole fight, right until the moment before I captured your teammates with my shadows, you were trying to destroy the bonds which held you in place. Your struggling forced me to apply power constantly to keep you in place. You stopped me from using more power to trap your team. The second you stopped struggling, I took the battle. I praised Gabriel already, but without you keeping me distracted, I doubt he would have been able to fire off the third construct."

Lilith looked proud but still confused. "I understand that, but how does it help you pick my specialization?"

"Easy, your power both disintegrates and regenerates, right?" Lilith nodded. "Then, considering your power, I have no choice but to elect you to be the team's Support specialist. Focusing on healing damage to your team and protecting hurt comrades over attacking the enemy."

Lilith paled. "Support? But no one in my family has ever been Support! They call it the tag-along spec!"

Zero's replied in a strangely protective tone. "That couldn't be further from the truth! Most - I venture to say - missions would fail horribly without a Hero performing the Support role.