"No One Signed Up to be a Hero"

Earth District 49

"Sir! Detective Mandarin!?"

"That would be me, did you barge your way in here?" Mandarin returned evenly.

"Hey kid you can't just-" a police officer interjected.

"Detective Mandarin! I request to speak specifically to you about Vince!" Samantha yelled.

Mandarin looked put upon.

"What did he do this time?" The man next to him sighed.

"He's in trouble! A virus is attacking! He led it to the abandoned factory ward at the district limits," Samantha panted heavily. She sat down in a chair even though it hadn't been offered.

He looked concerned and both him and the man next to him left abruptly.

"Wait here I'll see what I can do,"

Samantha exhaled in relief. 'Detective Mandarin said he would help. Maybe adults weren't completely unreliable.'

Then she heard a huge explosion. It sounded distant from her place in the city but it was very concerning.

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~Earth; District 3937 East Southern~

A girl walked down the trash cluttered streets. She was wearing an oversized knit long sleeved cardigan over a plaid blue skirt. Her skin tone is a light almost caramel brown and her eyes are her expression looked rather coy in comparison to the rest of her.

Her over the knee socks are brown, one of them had been partly pushed down. Her steps weren't loud, the camouflage clad guards holding machine guns ignored her presence.

However many of the people in shops and sitting on the sidewalk recognized her and greeted her with enthusiasm.

"Hey Nanthanaphon!" A old woman greeted wrapped up in scarves and pieces of fabric.

"I'll have your New Year's dress finished for you by the end of the month! Just you wait!" She assured.

"Hey Nanthanaphon! Think you can trade these ... Toys?" A little girl offered holding her hands up to display random Lego bricks.

"Aww Dot you're a sweet girl," Nanthanaphon commented looking at the Legos, despite not knowing what they were herself.

"Your momma must still be recovering from her illness. You keep your toys .." she smiled sweetly. Then pulled out a dull bronze token, the girl's eyes lit up.

"This can buy a bowl of pho at the Soup Kitchen. Make sure you request a full bowl so you two can share it," she grinned placing it in her hand.

The girl, Dot nodded and repocketed the Lego bricks.

"Thank you Miss Nanthanaphon!" She beamed.

"Miss isn't necessary! I'm not that old!" Nanthanaphon laughed nervously.

The little girl blushed and bolted into the doorway she stood in front of.

"Mama! Mama I got tonight's dinner!" She called. Nanthanaphon stood up and resumed walking.

"Hey Nana Baby!" One teenager catcalled. Here she stopped, frowned and looked at the teenage boy sternly. The boy flinched and glanced at his friends to back him up.

Instead one of them smacked his arm."You don't talk to women like that," the other boy hissed.

"My bad Miss Nanthanaphon," he apologized.

"Thank you for setting him straight," she responded and turned away. She passed a guard who subtly nodded at her.

A food truck passed by, stopping at a bread shop's dumpster. The driver stepped out and opened the back of the truck, revealing various breads and baked goods that looked slightly past a point of freshness.

"Sir! My associate has an interest in your waste," the military guard remarked.

Nanthanaphon was unusually silent, staring in awe at the unfamiliar dessert that looked like a sort of bun.

The guard lowered his gun so it didn't point at the driver.

"What associate?" The driver drawled sarcastically. "This better not be a way for you military folks to bully the less fortunate cause we don't risk our lives e' ryday," he said disgruntled.

The comment snapped Nanthanaphon out of her fascination at the food.

'Hah! Less fortunate.' She scowled. 'The less fortunate are the one who who trade tokens and random items for food. Not those who pay real physical money or use a fancy card to eat,' she thought.

"You must be new. Actually I'm the associate," she spoke up and stepped forward.

The driver grinned lewdly. "Ah so you can spend the night with me and-"

The military guard pointed the machine gun, specifically a FN P-90 at him.

"Sexual offense is a serious crime in the district and won't be tolerated," he snapped.

The driver's face went slack. Nanthanaphon looked relatively unbothered.

"Not to mention it is similar in behavior to the lesser Viruses that crop up from time to time." The guard added casually.

"Alright whaddya want?" He sneered, eyeing the gun warily.

Nanthanaphon smiled and let out a whistle, from several bushes appeared children.

"I request that the children be permitted to take the unwanted goods off of your hands,"

"The stuff up front is what needs to be tossed I'll show you where to stop," he grumbled as the children began grabbing boxes.

The children, all about middle school or elementary school age, looked gleeful about the food in front of them and set to work, practiced hands maneuvering two or three hand trucks that looked old and worn out.

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The next morning, Nanthanaphon was invited to a library before it opened to look at the items they initially planned to throw away.

"Ah Miss Nanthanaphon, pleasure to see you in person." A woman greeted cordially. "We have some things you might be interested in."

Nanthanaphon opened her bag and handed the two girls following behind her each a six inch sub sandwich. The lettuce looked slightly wilted and the condiments dripped messily on their hands, what slipped past the packaging. But to them it was food.

"This a library?" One girl asked, her skin lighter than Nanthanaphon's. Her brown semi wavy hair had been pulled into two low braids. Next to her was an identical girl whose hair in contrast was in a braided bun.

"Unfortunately most of us in the downtown half of the district can't read," her sister replied. In response Nanthanaphon shushed them.

Instead of actually getting to look at books, Nanthanaphon was offered to get things from a private room. Mostly junk and seemingly children's toys.

Nanthanaphon looked through the stuff among the five bags of items and dumped them on a table.

"Library guests come in and leave their things. Then don't appear to remember them when they come back," the lady smiled patiently.

"We don't have any interests in keeping these things needlessly. So we're turning it over to those who can't afford it. Perhaps you know somebody...?" She asked, tilting her head.

"Yannika," Nanthanaphon called gently.

Yannika, the girl with her hair in a braided bun wipes her hands on a napkin and began sitting through the stuff. Her sister kept eating what was left of her sandwich at the moment.

She picked several items that looked like broken combs and empty alcohol bottles.

Isaree, her identical twin sister, was pointing at the small pencil sharpeners and school supplies.

Nanthanaphon herself picked up a ring with a pale blue hexagonal gem and looked curiously at an old doll wearing a princess dress and a tiara.

Then a man who very much resembled a stereotypical old wizard abruptly halted them declaring that one of them was important.

"One moment, you three. I believe one of you has imperative value to the world.

The trio equally looked skeptical.

He had an old blue wizard hat with silver stars. His robes matched it though some of the stars began to turn to gold. He had a long white beard, low rectangular glasses and all three knew very well old men couldn't be completely trusted. His gaze seemed kind, almost if it weren't for the cunning expression similar to the same one Nanthanaphon often had. Though the cunning in his expression was different from Nanthanaphon's, an untrustworthy light in his eyes.

The twin girls laughed, commenting that he looked like a coloring book wizard while Nanthanaphon tried to get them to focus.

"Girls!" She remarked in a scolding tone. They stopped laughing.

"We need a hero," The old man said. As a red necklace amulet floated towards her and she, without thinking caught it.

"A hero?" Nanthanaphon parroted raising her eyebrow.

"I am Lord Malthanne," the old man introduced."I am from the world of Midgard. My purpose here is to recover humans with potential to save the world and introduce them to training and an environment to harness their full potential."

'Oh-- he picked me.....' her eyes widened in realization. The amulet dropped from her hand absently.

"G-Girls..! You know the protocol in case I have to leave right?"

The girls nodded and looked serious and saddened at the same time.

"Why me specifically? Surely anyone has the potential to save the world?" She questioned.

"You picked out magical artifacts." He remarked.

"Artifacts? I picked all that stuff cause I thought it would trade well in the Marketplace." Nanthanaphon corrected.

"If you save my world it'll have a butterfly effect and help yours," Malthanne remarked before pointing his wand at her and she disappeared in a shimmer of light.

She landed in Midgard, in a grassy field overgrown with various plants and colorful blooms. Lord Malthanne appeared shortly after. Though he stood a few feet away from her, closer to the person hiding among the shadows of trees, in golden robes holding a staff topped with a blue sphere.

"You are a priest, tell me if her magic circuits are suitable to what I have in mind," lord Malchaihathanne ordered.

The priest made a noise of indignation.

"Her? Why?" He questioned.

"This girl could be a good back up if Lotte's efforts prove futile. She was practically a well admired figure in the pitiful environment she was in," Lord Malthanne sounded eerily gleeful about going to such lengths- 'observing' a person to gain another sacrifice for his illusory cause.

"Is that right?" The priest deadpanned at the person who he should have respected. He frowned uninterestedly and looked at the girl, as requested. His heart almost stopped at what he saw.

"Tell me, what do you see in her core?" Lord Malchaihathanne asked.

".... Lord Malthanne... Is that... A goddess?" The golden clad priest asked, seemingly genuinely surprised.