Chapter Text
Gods are not the all-powerful, blessed beings the people of X City believed them to be.
In reality, gods are cruel. Sadistic beings who played the inner workings of the world's strings to weave people's fates to their needs.
For entertainment? To guide the lost?
No.
To impose their selfish views of justice upon the world below.
Gods are simply tyrannical ordainers of absolute authority. Enforcers of predetermined destiny. Everyone’s fate is theirs to control. There is no motive, no reasoning. Just the nature of their existence to oppress and limit humanity, render them powerless and dependent upon their so-called “world order” that is Trust and Fear.
Zero was an egotistical human who believed he could ascend to that realm and stand side-by-side with the power of nature who had granted the blessing of Trust to humanity, believing his destiny to be the Chosen One who would guide those led astray from his absolute justice.
But he was even more foolish to assume Fate would consider him anything but a pawn in her worldly schemes.
Zero betrayed the people’s Trust. In turn, the people betrayed Zero, warping his Trust into Fear and turning him into an uncontrollable calamity that sought to destroy humanity for rejecting his “heroism”. He was felled by his former allies who had pledged to support his endeavors until Zero crossed a line they refused to follow him over. Zero fell from power in disgrace, becoming a warning to future generations of heroes.
Zero’s Downfall marked the creation of Fear. The opposing entity to Trust, created by Zero’s betrayal to the faith placed in him. It became a part of the new world order, hidden from the masses by humanity’s leaders until it could no longer be kept in the confines of Pandora’s Box.
…But what did Fate gain from Fear’s creation?
“The ability to control the other side of the coin, of course.”
REDACTED looks up at the woman across the table. She’s smiling faintly as she plays with her tarot cards in a rhythmic fashion, almost as if in a trance. The cards pass through her hands like liquid, holding slippery fortunes and untold truths that REDACTED wishes he didn’t need to hear.
“The more Trust and Fear takes control of our world, the stronger Fate’s grip on humanity becomes,” the woman explains nonchalantly. The sounds of the cards shuffling seemed almost foreboding. “The greater our dependence, the greater her control. Trust and Fear are chains disguised as blessings—they’re the strings with which Fate asserts her authority over humanity.”
“...Is everything predetermined, then?” he asks. “Our fates—my fate is set in stone?”
“I don’t know,” she answers. The cards swiftly come together with a sudden clap in her hands. Ready for a reading. The woman looks directly at him, determination in her eyes contradicting the impossible nature of the dark fortune she had just given him.
“But are you just going to sit there and find out? Or fight to take control of the cards?”
He frowns at her. The woman laughs.
“I thought so,” she chuckles. She spreads her deck of tarot cards across the table, her Trust-induced abilities creating a momentary glow across the cards as they heed her request. “You were always stubborn about choosing your own work hours, REDACTED.”
The man who somehow replaces Nice is an anomaly. Something that isn’t meant to happen.
X needs to investigate the cause.
“Did you hear about the God Eye fight?” X hears his coworker whisper behind him. The lady was known for her interest in hero gossip, and she is currently surrounded by their like-minded cohort. X taps away quietly at his laptop, doing his routine checks of FOMO’s network and server security before lunch as he listens. “The new guy—Lin Ling is his name. He’s going to become a hero!”
“I heard, my friend was watching the fight across the street. Who’d he sign with?”
“Word is FOMO is trying to win him over and steal him from Treeman.”
“That’s rough. They lost Nice, and now they’re about to lose the new rank 10.”
“I know, but imagine seeing Lin Ling around the offices!” The lady squeals in delight. “He’s such a romantic! It’s too bad his heart is set on Moon, I’d do anything to get his attention on me instead!”
“Screw all of that!” a new voice calls out, joining the conversation from across the table. “Is no one talking about how Nice apparently died without anyone knowing? What killed him?!”
“All I’ve heard are speculations,” the lady says, sighing sadly. “It’s such a shame. He had my favorite face out of all the heroes. Except X, of course.”
“Rest in peace, I guess.”
X’s timer on his watch beeps. Lunchtime. He clicks it off and stands up, walking through the tendrils of hero gossip circulating through FOMO’s IT department.
Temperance. The Magician. The Hermit.
REDACTED frowns at the three cards placed in front of him in a specific order. Temperance, the first card, had remained upright unlike the Magician and Hermit that followed. He considers the illustrations for a moment before looking up at the diviner sullenly.
“What am I supposed to glean from this?” he asks. She smiles.
“This is one of Fate’s pieces that she’ll try to play against you,” the diviner says. She taps the first card: Temperance. “First card indicates their past, or their origins in this case. This person had a clear vision of what they wanted to achieve and held a balance and patience in pursuit of such goals.”
The woman points to the center card. The Magician, reversed.
“At some point, they fall to trickery and illusions,” she explains. “Either they are being manipulated or being fooled. These readings assume a present a bit further from now, so they may not be entirely accurate, but you’ll get the gist of it.”
She points to the last card. The Hermit, reversed.
“In the future, they lose their way,” the woman says. “Isolation, either self-imposed or forced by the Magician, harms them.”
The diviner pulls back, lacing her fingers together.
“This is one of the heroes who Fate will try to pit against you in the future and cause your Downfall.”
Nice’s tarot readings are different.
X stares at the silent cards on the table. He’s currently sitting at home, having finished a hefty dinner from his favorite street stall. X is not a tarot reader by any means, but the power imbued in the diviner’s spare deck that he had been entrusted with years ago should still be plentiful until their next meeting.
X considers the Death card positioned at the top of the four cards. He thinks he probably did something wrong. Only three cards were meant to be drawn. But no matter how often he shuffles and tosses the cards back onto the table, the cards magically fall into the same perfect formation. Four cards instead of three, with Death looming above them.
X sighs. If he’s getting the same results every time, then he must’ve done it correctly.
Death stands upright above the three cards below. X pulls out his phone, logging into a well-traveled FOMO blog in his browser history. He sees the overly cutesy homepage pop up with a cut-out photo of the diviner who had gifted him the deck smiling widely in the corner.
Lady Fortuna knows all! the blog screams at him. Come tell her your worries, and she will tell you your fate!
“Get a better marketing team, sheesh,” X mutters. He clicks a popular shortcut in the blog’s sidebar labeled “Tarot Card Meanings! <3” and searches for the cards on the table.
Death (upright)
End of a cycle, beginnings and endings, change and transformation
“Death is often a misunderstood card. When upright, it signifies either the beginning or the end of something in your life! Change can be scary, but think of it as an opportunity to transform yourself into something new!” - Lady Fortuna
X stares at the words written on the screen in confusion.
“How can a dead man start anew?” X sighs, massaging the bridge of his nose. “Is Nice going to become a monk in the afterlife?”
Giving up, X looks down at the table to the first card in the trio positioned below Death. The High Priestess stares back at him from its upside-down position, her lidded eyes emotionless as she presides over an unseen congregation. X tabs through the cards on the website, pulling up the card’s explanation.
High Priestess (reversed)
Lack of center, lost inner voice, repressed feelings
“Knock, knock! That’s your intuition at the door! It’s been calling for your attention nonstop, but you may have been ignoring it to focus on the logical approach that just isn’t giving the results you want. Try listening to your gut for a change! You may be led back onto the path which you know is true to you as an individual, and reunite with your authentic inner self.” - Lady Fortuna
X narrows his eyes. The card deviated from Nice’s original readings. Time and time again, after Nine and Fortuna fled from Fate’s attack years prior, X had tried redoing all of the readings Fortuna had shown him before. Each hero consistently returned the same cards year after year, staying true to the readings as X slowly matched the heroes to the cards he had been shown.
This marked the first time the cards had changed. That someone’s fate had changed.
Wheel of Fortune (reversed)
Bad luck, lack of control, unwelcome changes
“External forces beyond your control have put you in a tough spot. Unfortunately, you’ve been dealt some bad luck and now misfortune plagues you. That sucks! But fret not—just as life continues to march onwards, so too will the wheel of fate turn towards brighter waters.” - Lady Fortuna
Did this mean it was good or bad that Nice’s fate changed?
“...Well, he’s dead,” X tells himself bluntly. He scratches his black hair, messy and unkempt due to all the confusion he’s been made to deal with after one of his foretold saboteurs was declared dead before his time. “Probably means it ended badly for him.”
But external forces? X thinks to himself. What external force could have changed Fate’s hand?
X looks at the final card. Unlike the other cards on the table, this card was spinning lazily in its place, quietly moved by an unseen force as its indecisiveness about the correct positioning continues. X quickly brings up its entry on the blog, sensing its importance.
The Lovers (upright)
Partnerships, duality, union
“Aww, you have the ideal relationship! The trust and confidence you have in each other grants you both great strength and power. If the reading wasn’t intended for romance and was instead for solely your fortune as an individual, then you will soon be confronted with a dilemma: two opposing choices that cannot exist at the same time as the other. Think long and hard to make the best decision for yourself.” - Lady Fortuna
The Lovers (reversed)
Loss of balance, one-sidedness, disharmony
“Uh-oh, looks like there’s some trouble under the mistletoe! There is a lack of harmony in your life or an imbalance in your relationships. The cause of this could be inner and outer conflicts you are dealing with. Be kind as you confront yourself, and make sure you’re truly aligned with your personal values and life goals. Other causes can be a lapse in communication or avoiding the responsibility of your actions. Your relationships may have been harmed, or will be, if you do not take the time to make amends and forgive one another for a better future.” - Lady Fortuna
X considers the readings, thinking back to what he knows about Nice. Nice was a rather popular hero, picture-perfect and pristine. However, the agency backing him was riddled with scandals and malpractice claims, building the reputation of a misleading, manipulative corporation. X suspects Nice wasn’t as squeaky clean as his marketing advertised him to be, and isn't convinced that his public (but fake) relationship with Moon would've had such a great impact on his fate.
X considers the cards. While the reading showed him that there had been an unexpected change in Fate’s plan for his Downfall, X could not fathom how the tarot readings of a dead man would help him defy her orchestrations. He reaches for the Death card, intending to gather the deck and turn into bed for the night.
His hand freezes above the Death card as a realization crosses his mind.
If Nice was truly dead, the cards should not have fallen into place so consistently. Lady Fortuna’s tarot cards should not have been able to read a dead man’s fate, because a dead man would have already met their end and thus have no fortune or future to foretell. The fact that X was able to get Lady Fortuna’s cards to give him a reading meant…
“Nice is alive,” X mutters the conclusion out loud to himself.
He quickly gathers the cards. If Nice is alive, then who is Lin Ling? What role does he play in Fate’s Loom? X envisions the beaten face of the brunette fanboy who got his ass kicked on a rooftop and had his unexpected victory broadcasted live to the entire city. X tosses the cards onto his coffee table again, feeling the hum of Fortuna's residual power in his hands.
The cards spark angrily against one another as they drop and spin uncontrollably on the tabletop.
X watches in amazement while the entire deck of cards spins, as if the cards themselves were confused and didn’t know how to read the subject of X’s thoughts. X crosses his arms and sits back against the couch, contemplating.
He’ll need to figure out what happened to Nice. And get a read on what role the new player in the game, Lin Ling, would take.
His first meeting with Nice and Dragon Boy was written into their destinies. Which meant Smile’s death was an immovable decree of Fate.
The Perfect Hero must survive. He will be one of the heroes who stands against X at Downfall.
That night, REDACTED had woken up with nausea so intense, he almost painted his hallway with vomit. The dizzying swoop of his rude awakening was due to the roiling energies inside him calling for his attention, Trust urgently calling for his heroic intervention.
The Perfect Hero is in danger. Save him, X.
<YoU WilL SaVE HiM. X.>
REDACTED wheezes over the toilet, almost suffocated by the intensity of Trust’s demand. The familiar grip of Fate’s power tightens on his throat, her omnipotent gaze burning his body from a place beyond his reach. REDACTED heaves the last of Smile’s late-night dinner treat into the toilet, struggling to breathe as his shaky fingers tremble and press together.
Snap!
He is transformed, donning his white-clad hero form. X’s nausea miraculously disappears as he stands up, taking a moment to reassess his surroundings as the disorientation from his civilian form’s nausea eases away.
Smile was no longer in his apartment.
X sighs in relief. At least he wouldn't have to fight off his mother-henning for whatever incident Fate was forcing his hand in.
X finds himself regretting his thoughts when he discovers Smile’s corpse under the retreating cloak of manufactured Fear. The Perfect Hero, Nice, wails in misery behind him, wracked with guilt and grief at the fall of his idol.
Temperance. The Magician, reversed. The Hermit, reversed.
X stares at the locket in his hand, at the picture of the daughter Smile wished he could make amends with. He grips the locket tightly, anger burning at Fate’s scheme ending in the cut thread of a regretful father whose chance to rebuild his family was taken from him without a choice.
The Perfect Hero mourns his fallen idol, the keystone of his origin story. Now, he is stringless, soon to become the Puppet who witnesses your fall.
X turns to look at Nice. The hero is inconsolable, heedless of the curious onlookers on the bridge as he breaks his perfect image to fall upon his knees and grieve. X watches him for a while, the cries and screams echoing in his ears, before turning away.
With a snap of his fingers, he's gone.
X’s fated role in this story is done. Now, Nice’s puppet story will march on by itself, protected by Fate’s intervention.
Lin Ling ends up signing with Treeman.
News outlets everywhere cover the story of Moon’s murder on a desolate island, having secretly retired to grieve the loss of her lover. Treeman is highlighted as an important party in the investigations, vowing to uncover the truth of her murder and bring the killer to justice along with Lin Ling.
Upon signing Lin Ling and registering him with the Commission as “The Commoner”, Treeman dives immediately into their hero marketing. New advertisements about the Commoner command billboards. A brand new sports line labeled “Lin Ling Sports” is announced on the web.
And a comic book detailing the Commoner's origin story is printed and published for public consumption.
X picks up a copy from the newsstand on the way back home. He flips through the pages on the walk back from work with interest, reading what was likely heavily edited material from the real events that had occurred to create this new hero.
Lin Ling was your average, everyday person on the street. He was a hero marketing consultant, a career that stemmed from his childhood love of heroes. Living a normal work life from 9-to-5, and wearing merchandise of his favorite hero, Moon, off the clock. Lin Ling lived a life just like any other person on the streets.
One day, Lin Ling crossed paths with Hero Nice, the hero he often created adverts for at work as well as Moon’s lover. Nice was being targeted by mystery creatures powered by Fear, overwhelming the Perfect Hero with their numbers. Lin Ling was an unfortunate bystander who almost perished when the villains took notice of him and tried to erase him as a witness. Nice managed to save Lin Ling, but unfortunately took a fatal hit in the process, critically wounded and unable to fight.
The villains corralled Nice into a corner, about to finish him. Lin Ling's quick-thinking intervention allowed him to save Nice—he changed his appearance to look like the hero and created a smokescreen over the group, then masqueraded as Nice fleeing the scene and sending the villains running after an illusion.
But Nice's life was in its final moments, and the hero laid in Lin Ling's arms as he took his last breaths. Nice’s last words to Lin Ling were this:
“Thank you for saving me. Perhaps if you were already a hero, this would have ended differently.
“I'd like to ask a favor…please, carry on my legacy. The people need a hero, and you've proven yourself against those villains.”
“But I'm just a regular person,” Lin Ling said in return. Nice smiled at him.
“Anyone can be a hero, and you certainly have the heart of one. I truly believe you can take on my mantle and protect the people of this city.”
As Nice took his final breaths, he held Lin Ling's hands tightly. “And one more thing…please, don't tell Moon. She'll be heartbroken, and I would like for her to live a happy life free from tragedy. You look to be a big fan of hers, so I hope you share the same sentiment as I do.”
Solemnly, Lin Ling nodded.
“I'll take care of her, I promise.”
With that, Nice died. Lin Ling fulfilled his promise to the fallen hero, training in secret to perfect his impression of him and replicate his power as he slowly inherited his Trust Value. Lin Ling eventually returned to the Hero Tower as “Nice”, meeting his idol Moon while wearing the image of her lover. But despite everything, he could not bear to pretend to be Moon’s lover, loving her too much himself to take advantage of the lies. Moon simply believed “Nice” was acting strangely because of what she suspected to be his imminent proposal.
Lin Ling found evidence of Nice’s plans to propose to Moon soon, with some elements already organized and scheduled. Unable to stop the preparations without seeming suspicious, Lin Ling went through with the engagement. However, Nice’s nemesis crashed their engagement event, attacking him and striking Moon with a fatal blow.
Moon miraculously survived after toeing the line between life and death during emergency cardiac surgery. But after failing his promise to Nice to protect Moon and witnessing the near-death of the love-of-his-life, Lin Ling decided to tell Moon the truth about Nice and hang up the mantle of the Perfect Hero. However, Moon stopped him:
“Nice chose you for a reason. And I believe he made the right choice. You did well in that battle for being an average person. He must have seen your potential. If Nice, the Perfect Hero, believed in your worth, then I do, too. He would have been proud of what you've managed to accomplish in this short time.”
After recovering, Moon decided to retire from hero work and seclude herself on an unregistered island, grieving her fallen lover. Lin Ling was entrusted with yet another secret, this time for Moon, announcing her “death” to the public and allowing Moon to grieve away from the plentiful reminders of Nice in the city. But evil still lurked in the shadows, and the perpetrator of Nice’s death finally entered the scene.
Enlightener's obsession with Nice wasn't quelled. He had sent the Fear Monsters after Nice in cooperation with the Spotlight Organization, only to be stumped by his supposed escape. He attempted to expose Nice through True Love’s recipe in cooperation with the Spotlight Organization again, but Lin Ling foiled his plans with his prior knowledge of Moon’s advertising and his own love for the hero.
However, Enlightener managed to discover the truth that Nice had actually died in his first attack. The Fear creatures who had attacked Nice later recognized Lin Ling's picture in the news article about his supposed “suicide”, claiming that he had been a bystander who mysteriously disappeared in the fight when Nice escaped. Digging deeper, Enlightener discovered Nice and Lin Ling's physical similarities, along with “Nice’s” different behaviors and patterns after the attack.
Enlightener managed to piece together the puzzle pieces and concluded that Nice had truly died the day of the first attack and Lin Ling had replaced him. His investigation into Wreck’s attack during Nice’s proposal also uncovered another secret—that Moon had survived and her death was staged to allow her to retire from hero work and live a life of secrecy.
Unable to confront Lin Ling as Enlightener due to his lost Trust Value, he took on a new mantle with the power of Fear—God Eye. God Eye pretended to kidnap Moon and threatened to kill her if Lin Ling didn't confess the truth of Nice's death at the hands of God Eye and validate his fantasies of Moon’s illusory relationship.
Backed into a corner and unable to save “Moon” as Nice due to the denial and faith of Nice’s fans, Lin Ling thought back to the encouragement Nice and Moon had given him. Despite being an average person, Lin Ling had taken the role of a hero well, and the two believed that Lin Ling had what it takes to be a true hero.
With their words in mind, Lin Ling gave up the power of Nice's Trust Value and bravely left Hero Tower to face God Eye as himself. He revealed the truth of Nice’s death, and introduced himself to the world as Lin Ling. As he fought vainly against God Eye on the roof, the fans and citizens watching the confrontation listened to his passionate monologue.
“I don't need anyone to cheer for me. Anyone can become a hero.
“The moment I truly felt like I wanted to become a hero wasn't when I became Nice. It wasn't when I reached the top 10.
“It was when I truly developed feelings for someone. Someone for whom I'm willing to give up everything to protect!”
“Why should you cheating assholes deserve to be respected and loved?!” God Eye shouted as he held down Lin Ling and attacked, furious. “It’s all because of this packaging! I'll tear it off—I’ll show everyone who really deserves to be revered as a hero!”
But as the two clashed on the rooftop, the watching audience asked themselves this question:
How could the person onscreen who gave up everything he had gained to save Moon, be anything but a hero?
Lin Ling had been willing to reveal the truth of his masquerade, risk his reputation, give up the power he had inherited from Nice, and fight God Eye as his powerless, average self to stand up to evil and save the love of his life.
What was that, if not heroism?
Through the people's cheers and support, Lin Ling regained the power of Trust, this time in himself as Lin Ling. Lin Ling heroically defeated God Eye and stood in front of the world as a newly welcomed hero—
The Commoner.
“Ha!” X chuckles as he steps through his front door. “Treeman sure knows how to spin a story.”
After finishing his dinner, X sits on his couch with the comic book open on the table in front of him. He flips to the first few pages—the scene of Nice’s death. Concentrating on the illustration, X snaps.
He's teleported onto a rooftop in his hero form.
X looks around. He spots Lin Ling standing on the edge of a roof—an eerily similar situation to Lin Ling's fight against God Eye. Behind Lin Ling was Nice, perched on the top of a billboard.
Nice looks…lost.
The advertisement on the display board was glitching, stuck on a still of Nice’s real-estate advertisement. Likely because of X’s presence disturbing the reality he was viewing.
X frowns. He resolves to move further away from future scenes he observes to prevent his presence from altering reality. Fate would instantly take control of him if he accidentally altered a hero’s path that he was not meant to interfere with. And X didn't want to figure out how long it would take for him to regain control again, or how much damage Fate could do with her puppetry.
Lin Ling suddenly turns and shouts profanities at the display board with a rude gesture pointed at the hero’s glitching face.
“Enough, Nice! No matter how perfect you are right now, one day, you, too, will become old and ugly and be replaced by someone else!”
Nice’s expression flickers as he hears the words and looks down at the civilian who had screamed at him.
X…covers his face in second-hand embarrassment.
Oh god, X thinks to himself. What a loser. That's just embarrassing. I might die watching this.
After a moment of contemplation—X frowns at the momentarily crazed, bittersweet grin that crosses Nice’s face—Nice floats down to the roof. Lin Ling spots him, surprised by his presence as the hero lands softly and walks toward him. A flock of birds flies through the duo, startling Lin Ling and distracting him as the hero gets closer.
The two meet eyes. Nice smiles at Lin Ling as he steps onto the same ledge Lin Ling stands on. He passes Lin Ling, the brunette's eyes tracking him belatedly in confusion.
Nice’s other foot hangs in the air, weight shifting slightly as he throws up playful finger guns at Lin Ling.
Good idea, they seem to say.
Lin Ling's arms instinctively reach out to Nice, starting to sense something was off.
X watches as Nice falls off the roof, Lin Ling's surprised and fearful shout following the hero down, down, down onto the concrete thirty stories down.
So…that's what happened.
X notes the gruesome splash of blood that quickly pours out of Nice's body on the ground. He hears a different shout. X watches as a blond woman in a blue dress and a team of security run up to Lin Ling and peer over the edge before the woman directs the guards to grab Lin Ling. X considers the departing group, contemplating.
Let's follow Lin Ling first…
X watches Lin Ling's journey. Lin Ling is forced into the role of Nice, taking over his Trust Value, and learns about the more unscrupulous side of the hero profession. X watches it all. His confrontation with his former boss and his resistance to Fear. Wreck’s attack and the villain actor discovering Nice's death. Moon’s staged death freeing her from Nice’s side. Lin Ling's ascension as “Nice” into the top ten with Firm Man and Wolf Girl’s help. Nice’s Trust Value chaining Lin Ling to the Hero Tower while Enlightener threatened a hologram of Moon.
And Lin Ling breaking away from Nice’s image to take on his own hero name.
After that, X watches Lin Ling consider FOMO’s contract, with Shang De interrupting with an offer for Treeman. A confrontation happens between the two, and Shang De storms away, leaving an annoyed Lin Ling with Zac. The negotiations go on for a while. Lin Ling's Trust Value is dependent on his transparency with the people, originates from it even, so he is careful as he scrutinizes FOMO’s media terms and discusses changes to them.
At some point, Lin Ling uses Moon’s abandoned teleport gun to visit her on her island and reveal his new hero self prior to finalizing his contract with FOMO. X watches silently through the portal, hiding in the Hero Tower’s kitchen on Lin Ling's floor as the two gaze at each other on the beach.
Then, E-Soul kills Moon.
“Fuck,” X swears to himself. He instinctively takes a step forward but restrains himself at the last second, gritting his teeth.
Fate was too quick. She had found Lin Ling’s weakness and struck fast, likely attempting to correct the imbalance the anomaly had brought.
The elevators swing open. X hides as Ghostblade bursts onto the floor. He sees the portal and runs in, attacking E-Soul. There's a fight between the three heroes, a furious Lin Ling supporting Ghostblade as they drive E-Soul into a retreat through the portal. E-Soul speeds away, crashing through the doors to escape via elevator shaft. Lin Ling is left alone with Ghostblade—confused, shocked, and furious.
In the midst of the media craze following Moon’s death, Lin Ling is approached by Shang De again. The sympathy and sorrow Shang De offers Lin Ling is hollow, fake and practiced. He weaves eloquent words that grab a hold of the rage in Lin Ling's heart, offering a promise to bring E-Soul to justice on the contract pages left on the table for Lin Ling to consider once more.
X can guess what really happened here. Hero agencies were truly on par with the Commission when it came to manipulation.
Despite some hesitation, Lin Ling signs Treeman’s contract—eyes dark with his determination to deliver Moon’s justice.
X snaps his fingers and returns to his living room to decompress from Lin Ling's story and ponder its relation to Nice’s changed destiny.
Lin Ling didn't seem like a bad person, though his words on the roof may have unwittingly pushed Nice to his death. E-Soul's entrance into his story was a surprise, but not unexpected given what X knew of his prior missions for Yan Mo.
(Though it was strange for E-Soul's mission to result in favorable odds for Shang De, given their relationship... X would have to consider that connection later.)
It was a shame that Lin Ling was brought into the cyclical cycles of vengeance and agendas among the agencies, too blinded by his grief to realize he was being taken advantage of.
X closes his eyes.
“But those words on the roof changed Nice’s fate and threw an anomaly into Fate's plan,” X says out loud. The hero lets out a deep sigh, resting a cheek on his hand as he considers the comic book on the table.
It was likely that Treeman would not publish any more comic books about Nice, not wanting to bring attention to his death outside of what was explained in Lin Ling's comic book. X presses his lips together and raises his fingers to snap.
He finds himself back at the start of Lin Ling's story.
This time, X follows Nice. He watches as a tinted van pulls up to Nice’s body. A couple bulky, cloaked figures quickly exit and drag Nice’s corpse into the back of the van, with one staying behind to clean up the blood. The car takes to the streets, X following it by manipulating his body into the car’s body paint with a snap.
They arrive at a desolate warehouse in the district E-Soul first lived in. X recognizes the warehouse, having seen Yang Cheng's story in a previous reading of his origin comic.
Shang De steps out of the warehouse, opening the doors. The cloaked figure takes Nice's body out of the van, the fresh blood still dripping slowly down the hero's body as he's dragged inside the warehouse. X snaps again, teleporting onto the neighboring roof to peer inside the shutters.
Concentrated liquid Fear bubbles in a large, glass chamber. After stripping the bloodied hero suit, Nice’s body is gently lowered into the Fear Chamber, the substance eagerly overtaking the dead hero’s body and corrupting his corpse.
X narrows his eyes at the scene.
Damn, he thinks. He looks at the bubbles that escape Nice’s mouth and nose. …I hope he passed on completely before this happened.
X watches Shang De’s experiments and cultivation of Nice's body with Fear. Fear stitches Nice's wounds together imperfectly. Nice eventually wakes, doll-like and blank as Shang De tries to restore his ability to move. It's a horrid sight to watch, and X is thankful his hero form isn't prone to nausea.
Months pass in stagnation. Until one day, Nice's Trust Value returns to him.
X watches in amazement as the Trust energies return to Nice’s wrist and break him out of the Fear Chamber. He assumes they're at the point in time where Lin Ling gives up the identity of Nice and introduces himself to the world. Nice moves slightly on the floor, catching X’s attention as he looks at the flickering Trust Value on his wrist before sitting up and staring blankly at a wall.
Fear revived Nice, and Trust completed him.
Shang De returns that night and takes Nice back to his office. Nice stays in Shang De's secret room, quietly sitting through check-ups and listening to Shang De's frustration with Lin Ling and FOMO. But eventually, Shang De returns triumphant with Lin Ling's signature on his contract.
Through it all, Nice sits in Shang De's office like a doll.
The comic book automatically kicks X out of the story, ending at Lin Ling's signing with Treeman. X sits heavily on his sofa, head reeling with the new information.
He can't process it for too long.
X has to go see Nice before Shang De relocates him somewhere X can't follow.
“Why can't I just…change their fate?”
Lady Fortuna stares at him. REDACTED gestures ambiguously, uncomfortable.
“You know…encourage them to move to a different path or stop their fated tragedies from happening. Stuff like that,” he explains. He gestures at the cards with a disgusted face. “All your readings sound terrible. Should I really sit on the sidelines and let their destinies happen, when I know what's coming and can stop them?”
“If you knowingly interfere with their fates, then you'd be taking on the role of a god,” Lady Fortuna tells him quietly with stern eyes. “You'd be no better than Zero. Who are you to decide what is just and right? You'll soon find that even the most violent and evil actors have their own justifications—some of which you cannot fault despite their methods.
“Besides, Fate would take control much faster if you walk that path of imposing your ‘justice’ upon her world order. Interfere with her Loom and she will make you obey by force. As X, you are unfortunately the one piece on the board she has almost complete control of, since you’ll have the highest Trust Value—gifted directly by her.”
REDACTED is silent.
“On the other hand,” she continues with a little more positivity in her voice. “If you stay on the sidelines and wait for an opening, Fate would have less control. And you could buy time.”
Lady Fortuna smiles helplessly.
“Besides, it's not as if I can predict what or when things will happen, or to who,” she tells him. “I only do tarot readings. My vision of the future is only made of the arcana.”
REDACTED presses his lips together.
“What would I be buying time for?” he asks. Lady Fortuna shrugs.
“An opening or opportunity.” She looks down at her cards with a sigh. “I don't know how it would manifest, or if it'd come at all.
“But I do know that Fate isn't infallible. She, too, needs to play by the rules she imposes upon the world. And if somehow there's a loophole or a way to turn the rules against her…”
Lady Fortuna looks up and smiles.
“Then there's hope for all of us.”
X arrives at the door to Treeman's offices near midnight, intending on infiltrating to check Nice’s status. However, a flicker of white in the sky catches his eye. X watches Nice fly unsteadily towards the Hero Tower and frowns.
Where is he going?
X follows. Eventually, he finds Nice on the roof of Hero Tower, standing close to the ledge once again as he looks out at the city lights.
<ThE PeRFeCT HeRO is AliVE. ThE PeRFeCT hERo is AliVE.>
<AliVE…>
Fate’s Echo, known to haunt and torment him after his numerous slights against her, seemed almost broken as X gazes upon the secretly resurrected hero. X notes the change with interest, curious as to why the confident “truths of the world” relayed for his torment were seemingly being questioned by Fate itself.
Nice is…different, in an uncanny way. The sway of his body, the heaviness of his limbs—they were nothing like Nice. X notes the cracks in Nice’s visage, a dull purple glow barely shining through.
Puppet story indeed, X thinks to himself as he watches Nice step onto the roof’s edge. Nice gazes out toward the city with a blank face, then towards the ground directly below. X’s instincts scream to drag the younger hero away from the edge, recognizing the imminent danger. But he stands put, ready to attempt withstanding Fate’s authority over him to further derail her strings.
If Nice manages to finish the job…then would Nice be free from his fated future? Free from the puppetry and control of Shang De, and no longer Fate’s chess piece in orchestrating X’s Downfall?
It seems Fate refuses to have the answer discovered. X watches as Nice’s body seizes and chokes on nothing, propelled backwards by an unseen authority and forced onto his knees to weather the consequences of attempting to defy Fate.
X faintly hears Fate’s Echo translate to the other, transmitted by the power pulsing brightly within the open cracks on Nice’s person and likely forcing the other hero into Fate’s submission.
Your story will not end here. Your arc has barely begun.
<ThE PeRFeCT hERo WiLL STaY AliVE. ALIVE.>
Nice wrestles for control of himself from the darker energies sustaining him. X considers him for a while before silently slipping away, hopping off the edge with a series of snaps to process the new discovery.
While Nice had succeeded in taking momentary control of his fate, Fate ended up obtaining a stronger hold on the hero through Shang De’s corrupted Fear experiments, bringing him back into her web.
Now that's just unfair, X grimly thinks to himself as he makes the trip back home. How can you succeed in controlling your destiny for a moment, only to return back to the start?
X eventually compartmentalizes the dread and hopelessness in his chest, resolving to treat himself to a soda as a pick-me-up on the way home.