Cairo’s room arrangement was… something, that was for sure. The window facing across from the door flooded the room with blinding light that could only be blocked out by its pitch-black curtains. On either side of it were bunk beds, made with simple black sheets that were probably supposed to come off as aesthetic. Aaron, his roommate, had already claimed one and was lying somewhat dramatically down on it, his sidekick Ph0nk perched on the desk next to him and looking like she would rather be anywhere else.

Dumping his bags on the floor by his own desk, Cairo set to work trying to make the considerably plain space feel at least a little more like home. First was the blanket he’d brought with him, extremely soft and fuzzy and the same golden tone as desert sands. It was a little worn from being used around his family’s house, but it was his favorite blanket. He never would’ve moved out without it, much like the pictures of his family. His mom, dad, and little sister Afiya smiled up at him from a family photo they’d taken while camping for the first time a few years ago, moments before disaster where a squirrel made off with his father’s wallet. Good times.

Computer, statue of his however-many-greats grandfather, charger, some books, extra pillows of the fuzzy variety… check, check, and check! He rolled into his bed and turned himself into a pile of blankets and pillows, like an animal settling into its new den. Unfortunately, his rest was quickly shattered by the accent of his roommate, who was looking at something on his phone.

“Hey, Cairo, looks like we’re on the news. Like, a lot,” Aaron stated, quickly turning his phone so Cairo could see from across the room. It didn’t do very much. “Every single headline I’m getting is about the new recruits here, it’s honestly a little awesome.”

Cairo figured he’d never understand Aaron’s intense pride in this situation. Humility was something he was taught from a young age, something that kept him from falling into the trap of ‘I am a demigod, therefore I am superior’ mentality. It was a lesson taught rigorously over the generations, reportedly starting all the way back with the god who started it all; Anubis. Sure, he was happy he’d passed training and gotten the job, but he still had a long way to go. He’d gone from a highschool student attending after-school hero courses to a college student with a major in heroism, that was all. Still, he managed to put on a smile and let at least a little pride spark in him for half a second, “Yeah, pretty cool that suddenly we’re the hottest topic in the city.”

“Fame comes with a price,” Ph0nk chimed in for a heartbeat, voice deadpan and uninterested. “When you’re getting stalked and drowning in articles that speculate on every aspect of your life, you’ll know what I mean.”

“Ph0nk, do you have to ruin a good moment?” Aaron fired at her, lightly rolling his eyes when she replied with a simple “Yes.” Cairo tuned them out pretty quickly. He’d only met Aaron a couple days ago and sure, the guy seemed nice, but his dynamic with his sidekick was none of Cairo’s business. Not even a little bit.

He’d finally achieved some peace and quiet via his headphones and some lofi beats when the email dinged on his phone and nearly startled him off the bed. A message from one of the older heroes, Isabella, who Cairo suspected of being a little too old to fight anymore, despite what she insisted.

---

Hello Cadets,

We are proud to have you newly among our ranks and are eager to begin more in-depth training with all of you, however we understand that this a major change in your lives and your rooms may not feel quite like home yet. As such, the organization will be giving each of your room groups $2500 to spend at places to buy decor for your rooms.

That said, furnishing your rooms and helping you settle in is not the only reason why we are giving you this money. This is, in fact, your first mandatory team-building exercise, in which you will get to know your roommate more by compromising on furnishings that suit both of your tastes. Remember, teamwork and strong bonds are crucial in heroism.

A warm welcome to your new home,

Isabella Rivera

---

Well, Cairo had certainly never expected himself to be assigned to go shopping as part of his new job, but he wasn’t exactly complaining. It would be nice to go out and buy some things. Maybe a carpet for their tragically barren wood floor. He turned to Aaron. “Hey, did you know-”

“Yeah, I saw the email. You up for it?”

“Ready if you are, yeah.”

“I call shotgun!”

---

IKEA was nothing short of a treasure trove of things. Lamps? Yes. Fake plants? Yes. Plushies? Yes. Cinnamon rolls? You bet. Unpronounceable Swedish names for furniture? Well, it just wouldn’t be IKEA without it.

Without a doubt, Aaron was a fan of dark shades with neon accents, which fortunately wasn’t too different from what Cairo enjoyed. Dark shades with accents of purple and gold had always been a motif in his household, and that wasn’t about to change. Their choices quickly became a mixture of the two, plus some strings of color-changing lights to hang up around their room and two bean bag chairs – one blue and one purple. One obscenely fluffy rug and some desk lamps later, they were at checkout, waiting in line while Aaron scrolled through something on his phone.

“Cairo, check this out.”

Cairo, who had been busy debating whether or not they should get cinnamon rolls on the way out, tilted his snout towards Aaron’s phone, leaning in so he could read the text on the screen. An Etsy listing for vaporwave Mona Lisa prints, one left in shop.

“Get it.”

“Way ahead of you. I’m thinking we should hang it above the window, so the first thing anyone sees when they walk in is her watching them. Cool little Easter egg, y’know?”

The line moved, and there they were at checkout, paying the astonished cashier who clearly recognized them before carrying out everything they’d purchased and loading it into the back of Cairo’s Honda pilot, which belonged to his dad before it was his and had certainly seen better days. They hit the road home with the latest pop songs playing on the radio, Aaron singing the whole time and roping Cairo into the chorus at least once or twice.

Just like home.

---

Waking up had Cairo feeling like he was suddenly in boot camp. In his considerably more furnished dorm room with Aaron, he was snapped back into the waking world at 5:30 in the morning to the sound of someone banging pots and pans together and shouting in a mixture of Russian and English.

“GET UP, C’MON!” a feminine voice bellowed from the hall, causing a very disgruntled Aaron to put the half-asleep Ph0nk on his shoulder and slam open the door.

“Do you mind?! It’s not even 7:00 AM yet, woman!” The dark-skinned man called into the hall before squeaking and ducking back in when a pan swung dangerously close to the wall above his head.

“Listen, you can either get up and get your shit done, or you can stay in bed and get your pay docked,” a raven-haired girl remarked in a blunt monotone, poking her head through their doorway and glaring at the pair with bluish-gray eyes. Her freckled nose wrinkled up like the paper on the outside of a plastic straw. “I didn’t wake up at 5:30 AM just for me to bother you, trust me. Now get dressed and get in the hall. We’ve got work to do. You have ten minutes.”

Nobody had to tell Cairo twice. Fitting himself into some black pants and a basic white tee, he joined the other cadets in the hall, many of which still looked half-asleep. A redheaded girl with a salamander tail stood just off to his side, grumbling something under her breath about it being too early in a thick Irish accent. The only one who seemed fully alert was the woman who’d woken them up and an individual with ludicrously large fox ears, who wouldn’t stop bouncing around in place, tail nothing more than a sandy blur. Everyone else looked like their train of thought was still loading in.

“If they’d told me waking up at the crack of dawn was going to be part of this program, I might’ve just quit,” Aaron mumbled a little too loudly.

“If you’re too much of a pussy to handle the bare minimum of hero work, maybe you’re not fit for this kind of job,” the gray-eyed girl quipped in a sharp yet blunt manner. “This place has no room for sloths or stragglers.”

“Don’t you think it’s at least a little too early for that much noise?” yawned a fox-shaped person off to Cairo’s far left. A long, marbled gray tail flicked in mild irritation behind them as their mouth opened to showcase a pink tongue and pearly white fangs. The girl with the black hair narrowed her eyes.

“Your name is Sakura, right? The Cherry Prophet, or whatever it was you selected to be your moniker in the field? You have an innate ability to near-effortlessly open your third eye and see flashes of the future in almost perfect detail. If this was such a big issue, wouldn’t your vision have warned you about it?” she fired in obvious disdain, grimacing at the groggy shape that stood in front of her. The whole room went silent as she straightened up and crossed her arms. “My name is Jekyll Morosov. I have been part of this organization since I was a little girl, and I started learning to fight when I turned 12, following the exact schedule you’re all on right now. You are a bunch of 19-year-olds doing this because you are trying to qualify for a job. Either you suck it up and act like the adults you are, or you get fired before you even finish employee training since you’re clearly too damn fragile to be put on a battlefield and expected to survive. We are doing this so that when you inevitably get sent out to go fight some maniac throwing their powers around and breaking laws in the process, you can come back alive and successful.”

That just about dispelled any complaints that might’ve been preparing to break loose from the recruits’ mouths. A deafening silence fell over the room, at which Jekyll’s face broke into a somewhat smug smile as she turned and guided the group off down the hall.

As it turned out, the Aura Champions’ land was just a souped-up college campus. The training gym was massive and specially designed to simulate a variety of situations to truly put each hero’s abilities to the test. Upon stepping inside, Jekyll simply pulled a remote out of her pocket and allowed the massive building to morph into a glowing downtown setting streaked with neon signs and surrounded by buildings that towered above the crowd.

Cairo almost forgot that he was allowed to swear now that he was out from under his parents’ roof. His whisper of “Holy shit, that’s awesome,” swept along with the rest of the oohs and ahhs made by his fellow cadets.

“This, as some of you may have noticed,” Jekyll began, glaring the crowd into silence, “Is an exact replica of the downtown not far from base. It is busy, complex, and most importantly; full of crime.”

She paced carefully in front of the group, hands clasped behind her back. “Let me be clear, this is not an exercise to show off your powers. You are simply going to be exploring and familiarizing yourself with the layout. After that, I’m going to have you split yourselves into teams and practice battling in enclosed spaces through a game. When you’ve all mastered that, I’ll up the ante by adding in obstacles and crowds.”

“Is it all just gonna be fighting?” asked a short, birdlike individual with black feathers. They wore a simple red kimono that offset their sky blue eyes.

Jekyll paused in her steps, turning in the direction the question had come from. For a moment, Cairo expected her to bite back with some kind of snarky retort, but the young woman threw the whole training room for a loop almost instantly with her words. “That’s a good question,” she appraised casually, crossing her arms over her chest. “Put simply, it’s going to be all fighting for the first few days. When you’re all more confident in using your skillset in crowded places, we’ll move on to practicing rescue missions.”

“How long will that take?” asked the girl with the salamander tail. She was decidedly more unlucky than the avian, as Jekyll had a biting response this time.

“Depends on how quickly you learn. It’ll be a lot of training no matter what, so let’s hope you aren’t fucking stupid to boot.”

Yeesh.

From her jacket, Jekyll pulled what appeared to be a pistol, which she raised and fired towards the ceiling. The order that slipped from her mouth left no room for protest. “Begin.”

To his pride, Cairo was the first to heed her iron-clad command. He’d been downtown to shop once or twice and often went there for boba, so he felt fairly confident in navigating the alleys and streets. With nobody else around but the other recruits, he was able to slow down and really enjoy the dazzling beauty of it all. The realness of the simulation took his breath away. Everywhere he turned, he was mesmerized by beautiful lights and neon signs, really everything he could ever dream of. He couldn’t help but whirl around and angle his head in all sorts of directions to get a good look at everything. Frankly, he didn’t even care if he might’ve looked ridiculous doing it.

“Your tail is wagging,” Aaron pointed out playfully, sidling up next to him. Ph0nk, who was perched on his shoulder, looked significantly less amused. Upon making eye contact with Cairo, she simply offered him a pitying sigh and shook her head before tearing her gaze away to stare at the floor.

Cairo crossed his arms, perhaps subconsciously mimicking Jekyll’s sassy energy. “And? It’s perfectly natural canine behavior, you know.”

Aaron put his hands up in instant surrender, gesturing for Cairo to calm down. “Hey, hey, easy! I was just pointing it- ow!”

The slender young man rubbed his side where Cairo had gently elbowed him, rolling his eyes up at the jackal demigod. Cairo, deciding to be unhelpful, just chuckled in reply. “C’mon,” he began, taking a few steps forward and gesturing for his roommate to follow him. “Let’s get going so we don’t piss her off, okay?”

Though he grumbled, Aaron begrudgingly followed behind Cairo, eventually falling into place next to him while they trod along behind a pair of other trainees; the redhead with the salamander tail and the individual with desert-colored fox features. The salamander girl was happily in the lead of whatever their conversation was, yapping with an Irish accent while the dark-skinned fox mix next to her listened and nodded. Something about fire powers and how annoyed she was that she couldn’t show them off.

“It’d be pretty funny if we managed to team up with people with air and water powers,” the fox suggested after a few moments, pausing to look at a storefront. “Think about it! We could call ourselves the Four Pillars or something!”

Salamander girl nodded, smiling. “Y’know, solid idea. Someone here probably has ‘em, just gotta find out who,” she said, glancing with flame-blue eyes towards the approaching forms of Cairo and Aaron. “You!” she whirled around rather dramatically, startling Cairo, who had been very focused on a hyper realistic simulated tree. “Your Gifts! What are they? And who are you?”

It had been awhile since Cairo had heard powers called by that term. He didn’t really think about his much, and especially not using the official word for it.

“Bridget,” the fox-eared individual warned gently. “I’m excited too, but we probably shouldn’t go yelling at random people.”

Their point tragically failed to land, as Aaron seemingly instantly jumped at the opportunity to brag. “Aaron Johnson, at your service,” he spoke with a smooth, dramatic bow that made him even more British than he already was. “Cyberknight, equipped with sword skills, super speed, and reality warping. The dragon is Ph0nk. Don’t mind her.”

“Uhh…” Cairo felt exactly like a deer in the headlights. Shit, my Gifts?

How does someone confess to being the descendent of a well-known deity without sounding like a pompous asshole? Trained to be humble, Cairo seldom spoke of his heritage or his abilities if he could avoid it. Still, someone was expecting him to say something, so he forced it out. “I’m Cairo Anubis. I… uh… talk to ghosts and hit people with cool swords,” he said awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck. “Bad guys, I mean. Not civilians. With the swords.”

The fox-person, who Cairo had only just realized was probably some kind of fennec fox, darted forward and grabbed his hand to shake it, skin pressing against fur while their tail whipped behind them. “Nice to meet you! I’m Tex Edison, quarterstaff user and geokinesis haver. Anubis, like the Egyptian god?”

The jackal nodded rather stiffly, nervously tapping a paw on the floor while Tex shook his arm up and down like a dog with a chew toy. “Yeah, the embalming guy. My family’s from Egypt, but that was a long time ago.”

He was certain his very-many-greats grandfather was probably looking at him from the realm of the gods like he was some kind of clown as he spoke. Great job, Cairo. Very professional. Mhm.

The salamander girl – Bridget, according to context clues given by Tex – grinned like some kind of land shark. “So you’re tellin’ me I’m talkin’ to a demigod?” she asked, glancing over to Tex in a way that made Cairo want to sink into the floor never to be seen again. “Forget gettin’ all four elements together, this is way cooler!”

Ok, yeah, melting into a puddle on the ground sounded like a really good idea right now.

To her credit, however, Bridget switched subjects quickly. “Name’s Bridget O’Reilly. I swing an axe around and light shit on fire,” to accentuate her point, the redhead whipped her long, slimy tail back and forth, allowing it to briefly burst into flames before snuffing itself out again, much to the shock and surprise of the other three. Tex nearly fell over, and Bridget reached to stabilize them, muttering profuse apologies.

“You got insurance for that or…?” Ph0nk muttered, casually keeping her balance even as Aaron jolted back a little. Cairo got the feeling she was out of fucks to give, but decided it was best not to inquire.

“Pfft! Who needs insurance?”

---

Cairo may or may not have regretted selecting to explore with these three. As it turned out, other than Ph0nk and himself, nobody in the little group knew how to shut up. It was a constant back-and-forth between Aaron and Bridget with slightly sparser input from Tex that quickly faded into a sort of white noise for Cairo. While they chattered on and on about some kind of mystery topic, he found himself watching the buildings and working over the logistics in his mind.

Supervillain attacks in big cities were far from uncommon. Depending on the power of the individual and the scale of their attack, they could range from anything as simple as a grocery store robbery to an entire building being utterly destroyed. People tended to do what they could to ignore the devastation and terror left behind by maniacs with unregulated Gifts, but it hung heavy in the city no matter what. Cairo could still remember being just five years old and watching the news, seeing a supervillain battling an Aura Champions member… only for both to die in the fray.

Other people would’ve seen that and decided to stay away from the profession of heroism for the rest of their lives, but not Cairo.

It wasn’t fair that people lived in fear. It wasn’t fair that people used their special abilities to do evil things. It wasn’t fair that civilians – innocent people – were caught in the crossfire of a criminal’s goals. Good heroes had died to protect the populus from that kind of tragedy, and Cairo knew from the moment that he’d seen that news story unfold in real time on the TV that he was simply the next in line.

To his parents’ early dismay, at eighteen he’d picked up the dual khopeshes that had been in the family for generations and set out to harness the power of his ancestors. Eventually, his parents caved and started paying for classes so he could be qualified by age nineteen. The summer of his senior year, he’d applied to every hero organization in the county and got accepted by his dream; Aura Champions.

Maybe it was foolish, but Cairo wholeheartedly felt that if he played his cards just right, he might be part of the reason why this city could finally have some peace of mind. He just had to learn.

I’ll have to be careful in alleyways, he told himself as his group passed yet another space between simulated buildings. Khopeshes are good for hacking things apart, not so good for finesse in tight spaces. We don’t want another incident.

It is very, very hard to get a curved sword out of the nice drywall of your grandma’s house. Cairo swore up and down that he saw his life flash before his eyes when he realized what had happened. He couldn’t imagine the consequences getting one of the blades stuck during a battle would have.

He wished he had his blades in his hands right now. During training before he joined the Aura Champions, Cairo had spent hours getting used to the weight of those two precious swords in his grip. He knew how to use their curved edges to hook and pull things, how to slash at opponents with them in rapid succession, and especially how to handle them without accidentally hurting anyone. They’d become so commonplace in his life that he felt a little vulnerable without them, like one of those dreams where you walk into school with no pants. Plus, though he’d never actually admit it, he did kind of want to show off what he knew how to do.

No. Bad Cairo.

“What’s sword fighting like?” he heard Bridget ask Aaron up ahead, and promptly tuned into the conversation. It was eerily like the world around him could read his mind sometimes.

The dark-skinned man seemed to think for a second, slowing his stride just a bit. “Very stabby and slashy. Like a knife, but it’s bigger.”

To his own chagrin, Cairo couldn’t help but interject. “Depends on the sword,” he pointed out. “A rapier is only good for stabbing, and a claymore is really good for keeping opponents away from you, but, like, you wouldn’t use an executioner’s sword for stabbing, since it’s flat at the tip.”

“How do you know so much about swords?” asked Bridget in an almost accusatory tone. Tex elbowed her gently and shook their head.

Cairo just shrugged. “Swords are cool. Also, I did an eighth grade presentation about them.”

“Damn,” Tex marveled. “They were letting you talk about swords in eighth grade? At my school, we weren’t even allowed to bring forks. Ever tried eating pasta with a spoon?”

The group erupted into playful arguing and laughter. Though it hurt his ears, Cairo could feel himself starting to smile.

He had a feeling he was going to like it here.