Fate/Heroes - Chapter 32

The atmosphere of the west side of Gray’s penthouse was much more lively than the east side. The moment the three girls arrived, all eyes were moved from whatever they were doing to the three ridiculously beautiful girls in front of them.

That included Wally and Artemis who had snuck in by using Wally’s speed to run straight up the side of the building. Arriving on a balcony with no-one around, the former dressed in a nice suit and tie, and the latter in a dark green dress that hugged her figure quite nicely, not that Wally would say anything about without sounding creepy.

The protégé of the Flash had his jaw dropped by the presence of Kara, Cassie and Mareena, and the daughter of Sportsmaster widened her eyes greatly and then looked down at herself with a conflicted look in her eyes.

Wally however, with all his fifteen year old knowledge, couldn’t help but call out to the three newest members of the Team, all three of them instantly turning around and looking at their teammates.

“Wally? Artemis? What are you guys doing here?”.

Mareena and Kara walked over towards Kid Flash and Artemis with smiles on their faces, Cassie however frowned for a moment before noticing a group of teens walk into the party, two familiar faces with said group.

The speedster was lost for words at the sight of the slightly older teens in front of him, and only had the ability to gulp as Artemis’ rolled her eyes and smiled at the Atalantean and Kryptonian.

“We are here to…. follow up on a lead. The…. new hero in town, this Lancer has quite the similarities with Rider. We thought that they might be the same person so we followed him…. Isn’t that right Wally?”.

Kara smiled and pushed a few strands of loose hair behind her ear, before turning her head to look at Cassie, whose gaze was directed to another corner of the room.

“Cassie? What’s the matter? Did something happen to- Conner! M’gann!”.

Her beautiful sounding voice echoed throughout the room, and all the members of the Team present, Wally, Artemis, Cassie and Mareena turned to look at the group of teens that entered the room, specifically, the young handsome half- Kryptonian with glasses on and the redheaded beauty beside him.

Technically when his sort-of-aunt/cousin called out his name, Conner Kent turned with his fake glasses on to look at the pretty blonde coming towards him, before a familiar name came to mind.

“Kara? What are you doing here?”.

The clone of Superman as well as the niece of Martian Manhunter welcomed their fellow teammate with open arms, before noticing other members of the Team, Kid Flash, Artemis, Aquagirl and Wondergirl behind Supergirl, all with looks of confusion on their faces.

Same could be said for the other five members of the Team. All looking at Conner and M’gann with confused eyes, while they looked at them with an equally confused gaze.

Conner pointed to one of the blonde girls in the group behind him, adjusting his glasses slightly while speaking.

“We were invited. Our investigation was going nowhere so we decided to come here. Their were no traces of Rider in the Queens so we left. I didn’t think we’d meet you guys here though”.

He gave a small smile to his aunt/cousin who stood next to the clone of her actual cousin. Despite not getting along with his “father”, his relationship with Kara was a nice thing to have. Even though he was a little upset that he did not possess all the same powers as she had, having something like “real family” was a thing Conner had never had before.

There was a difference between the family he chose and the family he was given. The thought of the family he couldn’t chose accepting him was a calming thought to the half-Kryptonian.

Wally, who had managed to regather himself looked at Superboy and spoke,

“How did you three come to arrive at this party? You didn’t come through the door that everyone else came through either”.

“Well, actually we met the-“.

The sound of glass smashing into countless pieces silenced the conversation the members of the Team were having, and a pretty looking girl with black hair and blue eyes quickly picked up the pieces apologizing for to all the people around her.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to!”.

With a small curse under her breath against the boy wonder, Zatanna, with a face more red than anything than anyone had ever seen, felt the gazes of almost everybody in the room as she slowly picked up the countless shards of broken glass as she wiped the floor cleaning up the spilt alcohol.

Her and Robin had found evidence that the new hero in town, Lancer, had spent a large amount of time in this building. The east side had a large amount of magical defenses on it, restricting even her access, the west side however did not, and the two entered under the guise of waiters, although Dick was restricted to the kitchen.

Another hand started picking up glass beside her, and she almost wanted to push the person away out of embarrassment.

“Please, let me. It’s the least I can do considering I am the one paying you”.

The smooth, baritone voice escaped the lips of the man beside her, as he smiled at Zatanna while picking up the broken shards of glass in his hand.

The fourteen year old was speechless.

“I-I, uh, was just about to, um, go over-“.

She felt two hands rest on her shoulders and she let out a deep breath.

“Just relax. It’s admirable that someone as young as you wants to work, but sometimes you just have to relax and take a moment to gather yourself. Take a deep breath and clean yourself up. You helped set up my event, this couldn’t off been possible without you”.

Zatanna had to tilt her head upwards slightly to look up at the deep black eyes of the man in front of her. His face was familiar to her, but not unpleasant. He left her a lasting smile before turning around and heading to the front of the room.

The fourteen year old watched the older man leave before she felt a hand break her out of her daze. She turned around with a frown but her brow rose greatly at the sight of Artemis and the other members of the Team.

“Zatanna? What are you doing here? And where is Robin?”.

The blonde archer looked at the young magician in front of her whose eyes darted back to the figure that ȧssisted her when she dropped those glasses of champagne.

She shook her head ans blushed slightly but looked at the rest of the Team and spoke,

“Robin is in the kitchens. We found traces of magic at the scenes that Lancer intervened in and followed the traces here. We have reason to suspect that the person who lives here is in fact Lancer, and that he may have some connection towards Rider”.

All the present members of the Team raised an eyebrow with the exception of Cassie, Mareena and Kara. They already knew Lancer’s identity, and were about to speak up before the lights dimmed and a familiar sounding voice stood in the only beam of light in the room.

“Good evening ladies and gentlemen of New York. Their are many here tonight who do not know me, yet know of my actions and viewpoints in the short time that I’ve spent in this city. But I am here tonight to introduce myself, and ask for your help”.

Cassie, Mareena and Kara all looked at Gray’s figure at the front of the room, whose eyes lingered over their group for a second longer than it should of.

“It is no secret that in the wake of alien invasions and metahuman threats that the world has been left in shambles. Buildings reduced to rubble, homes burned down to the ground and our cities torn up in the wake of their battles. Even the new hero in this City, Lancer has shown that he is no stranger to destroying the roads with his spear, not that his efforts are unappreciated”.

The members of the Team saw a general round of nods from the audience. Gray continued.

“I, myself am an orphan. My parents are no longer with me, and while not a direct result of alien intervention, I still feel for those who have also lost their loved ones, especially those who do not have the capacity to look out for themselves.

“Children, as young as just a few months have lost parents and been dropped off on doorsteps of complete strangers, some with absolutely no dėsɨrė to look after a child…. which is where I come in. With your help, I want to build a place where said children have the chance to grow up with everything that every other child has. A place where they don’t have to worry about abuse, malnutrition, or education”.

Gray lifted up a a cloth on a nearby table revealing a diorama of a building. The name, “Akashic Academy for the Gifted” was written on the front entrance.

Gray smiled, although even with his many lifetimes of experience was a little nervous.

None of his Heroic Spirits where from the modern era. Although to them, it would’ve been easy to build both a school and orphanage in their era, to do so in this world, the modern era was much more difficult than it sounded.

But their was also one more thing Gray had to tell them, before they even thought about contributing to this.

“In addition, this school would accept all those who consider themselves as “Earthlings”. They would follow a new trend in social dynamic, where both humans, and other species could attend. Thanagarians, Daxamites, Martians, Atalanteans, Maaldorians, Dryads, Klaramarians. Any species that consider themselves as citizens of Earth would be allowed to attend this Academy, and treated equally without prejudice”.

The looks of shock on the faces of everybody in the room, including the members of the Team were astounding to Gray. And a couple faces in the crowd looked at Gray with a newfound perspective.

Including a certain member of the Team.