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Description
Only candidates allowed," A man stopped Stephanie at the entrance of the Plaza. The whole place was closed to visitors in order to be used for the gathering of the Patron Auditioners.

"Figures..." the woman said, shrugging, "James, you go ahead, I'll be waiting here. Make sure to observe the other candidates. See which ones may be the most challenging."

James went towards the center of the park, where a series of seats waited for the candidates. This was all conjecture, though, since James was apparently the first one to come.

When he thought about it well, it wasn't frequent for him to do... important stuff without his mother around, but at the end of the day being able to manage his own life was a part of why he was there, so it was probably for the best.

There was a total of sixteen chairs neatly ordered in four equal rows, in front of a small stage destined for an orator, so it certainly did look like this was the place where he should wait... He probably was a bit early, but he'd rather have that than miss the speech altogether.

The Garden of the Patron featured, of course, the famous statues of all the former Patrons, from Ephemera to Midnight Strike. His mother had made him know all of their names and years of activity by memory, but James felt a bit ashamed to not being able to tell apart the statues of Prismar and Corporal Valiant. There was also a lot of space for other statues.

He pulled the chair in the far right of the front row away and sat cross legged on the floor, taking real care to not push all of his weight at any given spot. Once again he looked at the invitation letter, still on his hand.

To the Patron Candidate Titan:

First of all, we want to thank you for auditioning for the position of Patron. It is an honor to have a candidate of such promise. And of course, congratulations on being one of the sixteen chosen candidates.

Second, and most importantly, we recommend you to go to the Garden of Patrons before the noon of October 14th.The rules for the first round will be explained by a Council representative.

Good luck on following rounds and may the best hero win.

Council of Diesel City

James had the suspicion that every single contestant had gotten the exact same note with different names, especially because of the lack of references to his gender, so either everyone was a promising candidate or the letter was just crap.

"Darling, the chair is there for you to seat on," said a female voice next to James, startling him. He looked at his left and felt immediately uncomfortable as he saw the way-too-suggestive black clothes of the woman. Looking at her more carefully, she also would have been very beautiful, was it not for the huge scar across her face. James felt uncomfortable all over again around her, but managed to give a reply.

"I... I don't do the sitting thing... In chairs, I mean," said James, mumbling the very incomplete answer to the why of his current position. She doesn't even care, James thought after wondering if it was cordial to explain that the chair would effortlessly fall apart under his weight.

The woman shrugged and she, herself, took the seat next to the teen, after a time of, James guessed, wondering whether she should sit on her cloak or let it fall behind the chair. She chose the first option. "However you want."

James felt bad for her during a moment. He had only been introduced to the concept of scars by book, since he didn't know a lot of people and his mother could regenerate instantly. James, himself, had never been physically hurt in any way as far as he knew...

He tried to stop thinking about it and looked around. Before he knew it, a lot of contestants had already gathered and started sitting on the chairs. His mother told him to take a look and see who seemed challenging...

To him, everyone looked more or less like everyday people. Not big heroes like his mother.

Although, there was this one woman. That one certainly had to be an experienced heroine: muscled, focused, good posture and full body armor. She was surely the strongest of the bunch... That or James himself, of course. He couldn't think of a way that she, or any of the other candidates, could hurt him. It shouldn't be so hard.

Soon enough, all of the seats were occupied. As the latest auditioner got settled, a loud engine started to roar from the direction of the stage.

"Ayy!" cried a voice behind James. The teen looked back and saw a brown, short haired girl with a small ponytail covering her ears. She apparently didn't like the sound. Well it was, indeed, annoying but it didn't deserve such a reaction.

James looked up front to check what the engine was doing, anyway. A huge sign measuring around eight meters tall was, little by little, being lifted. It featured several people, and amongst them, James was able to recognize a more muscular version of himself and a less scarred version of the woman to his left. Over the images, huge letters spelled "KNOW YOUR SAVIORS."

As the poster was getting more visible, a man in a suit climbed to the stand. Finally, when the image of all the candidates was completely visible, the man started talking.

"Greeting, heroes! And congratulations on being the sixteen winners of the Patron Auditions! My name is Marc, and I will tell you all you need to know about the rules of the tournament!" He sure seemed excited during his speech, moving a lot as he spoke, "By the time we are through, one amongst you will be the Patron of Diesel City, and earn a rightful place in the Garden of the Patrons." Marc made a pause to make a hand movement, indicating everyone to look at the statues. "However! It will not be an easy path," the host continued without warning, "as you will have to prove yourselves to be worthy heroes of Diesel City."

Yeah, swell. James just needed to be stronger than the rest. Whatever could they do against him?

"And your test, of course, will be being able to capture notorious villains of the city, for that is the duty of great Patrons!" In the matter of a second, James lost all of his confidence. He really didn't expect that. He looked back at the woman with the armor. She certainly looked far better at the criminal catching thing than he did.

"You must, of course, also help the civilians against the great threats of this wonderful city! Being a hero is not only about saving the day, but also protecting the citizens! The rules are simple: The heroes that catch the most threatening criminals, as judged by the Council, will be the victors of the round. Only eight will be able to pass the test, so be aware of your competition! If you have any questions, now is the time to ask them!"

Well, the rules were simple alright... Accomplishing them not so much. He had to find the most threatening criminals? What qualified as threatening? How do you find the criminals anyway? Wouldn't it become a contest for who is lucky enough to run into big criminals?

These were questions that James would not ask, since he thought that everyone else knew the answers and he would look stupid if he showed that he didn't. In fact, in the whole five seconds of time after that introduction, no one asked any questions.

"Very well, then!" continued yelling Mark, "you have forty eight hours from now to catch your criminals. May fortune be with you, heroes!"

So forty eight hours then? He'd better hurry up.

---------------------

James looked at the clock. Almost a day had passed since the Council gathering, and he was still there, doing really nothing to help his cause.

His mother had gone patrolling. She insisted that James would only slow her down, since he couldn't run too fast without risking a life underground.

But so far she hadn't found anything 'worthy of this tournament'. How was it so difficult, anyway? She had been a Patron before; finding problems needing solving should be easy for her at this point.

James' plate of uneaten chicken and rice remained on the table. He didn't feel calm enough for eating. There had to be something he could do!

It wasn't supposed to be like this, anyway. When he heard there was a tournament, he thought it was fairly obvious: fights against other people, winner goes on, loser... loses. Easy victory for him.

Finally James decided to take a bite from the chicken, but about the moment when he carefully picked the fork, his mother came through the door.

"Still found nothing," Stephanie said before giving her son time to ask. "I need to eat, will go back to that later."

"Well, it has been a very interesting run in the tournament, but here is where it ends. Before the first elimination," James said, resigned.

"You are being defeatist, James. There is still a lot of time left until the deadline. I bet some of the others haven't even started looking." Stephanie made a small pause. "Besides, and most importantly, there is another option we can take besides patrolling. I'd rather not do it, but it seems like the best choice if you are in such a hurry."

"What would it be?" Her son replied.

"Asking the police."

---------------------

Stephanie never liked the whole hero and police relationship. Lots of them considered heroes to be vigilantes that shouldn't be supported by the law. Others envied supers in general because of their powers. Others were just too protocolar to leave the force's assignments to a person that didn't follow their same rules.

All in all, it was rare to find anyone helpful in there, but since James was in a hurry, trying it couldn't hurt.

The Diesel City police station was... well, pretty unassuming really. Two floors, concrete grey walls, a huge front door, generally all that you expect from a police station.

That, and a set of three white marble stairs before the entrance. Stephanie looked at her son and could guess what he was thinking: Can I make it through these stairs? Is there a solid enough substance under them? James had already had bad experiences with stairs in the past, and rather liked to avoid them.

He approached the small staircase and studied it, as if that would give him any answers. His mother gave him time to make up his mind.

"I think it would be better if you entered alone, mom," James finally said.

"Are you sure you don't want to enter?" asked S14, "hese are not stairs that connect to a second floor, they must be solid. At least try to step slowly..."

"I might make a huge crack in them. I don't want to have problems with the police. And perhaps there is a basement, so I don't want to take that risk." There was clearly a long way to go before Diesel City could call Titan its Patron.

"Well, I will go," said the mother, "but you should be expected to do this yourself, James. You can't be afraid of entering random buildings. Find a way to fix that problem."

Stephanie didn't let her son give a reply before she entered the police building. She quickly found the department dealing with civilian reports. In there, she saw an obese, balding man with a dirtied t-shirt and jeans loudly attempting to do one. The heroine headed towards him. That should be her best shot, since there were surely lots of cases the police didn't want to deal with directly.

"Yes! That is exactly what I'm saying! A super is the culprit. Roberto doesn't lie!" Yelled the man at the officers.

"Mister Steinman, try to understand my position here," answered the policeman handling the counter, "You are asking me to trust the barely coherent story of a drunken, homeless Italian that blames a super for petty theft. I know that you are mad about your business-"

"It is not just my business! It's basically every business in the Inner Hub and you incompetent twits are not doing anything about it!" said the man, inflamed. Suddenly this looked more interesting than whatever the cops could tell Stephanie.

"I am truly sorry, but until you get a more reliable witness, we can do nothing to help you."

Although there was evidently a lot that the man wanted to tell the officer, he restrained himself and stalked away angrily. Halfway towards the exit Stephanie grabbed his shoulder.

"Hello, Mister Steinman. I heard your predicament, and I think I know just the person to help you. Please humour me for a second."

The man shrugged, confused, and finally said "Whatever help you can give me is better than what the cops will do for me."

"Excellent," S14 said, smiling, "Please accompany me outside. There is a person I want you to meet."

It seemed like the angry businessman had wasted all of his complaining energy on the policeman, because he just went with it. Sure enough, there was James was waiting at the entrance with his back hunched and looking at the floor.

"Let me introduce you to Titan, the future Patron of Diesel City." Stephanie proudly declared.

---------------------

James was fairly familiar with the Inner Hub's commercial area. Since he frequently went on walks, it was nice to check the areas with the most movement and sound, and most of the shop owners were cheerful people that were very happy to give a good conversation.

It was not the case right now. As most of the greengrocers had little more than empty boxes to show, customers were sparse. To top it off, the shop owners, even those that hadn't been robbed, seemed paranoid and gloomy.

"When did this start?" James asked Jeremiah, the angry grocer he met in the office.

"Last week. Six days, six stores, one per night. And it's not like the bastard takes the money, no. He goes ahead and steals every single fruit and vegetable he can find. Who even does that?" the grocer growled, "Ok, there is Roberto," Jeremiah pointed towards a dirty, bearded man lying in the street next to a pile of newspapers and several plastic bottles of wine, "He is a mess. But trust me, his heart is in the right place."

---------------------

Rebecca was not happy. More than a day walking around the streets and she still hadn't found any criminals, let alone 'challenging' ones. It was the worst way possible to lose the competition. She even had to go to the Inner Hub since apparently at the Town Center nothing was happening.

"It's not like you lost already," Ethan said, guessing her thoughts, "There is plenty of time to find something, and with your hearing, that should be easier..." Of course, the Patron candidate already knew she had that advantage.

"That is the problem, Ethan. With my hearing it has to be a piece of cake, but turns out that there is noise everywhere, so how can I focus on the important things?"

"Perhaps we should return to the Center," Ethan answered. "You should have-"

"Tell me what you saw, Roberto," a voice came for afar.

"-a better chance because-"

"Shut up, Ethan," Rebecca said. She knew that voice. It belonged to another candidate. The skinny guy who sat on the floor and talked to the girl that looked like a hooker, more specifically. He surely had found something out. She had to hear this.

"Why are you... Oh," Ethan said, stopping when he realized that his friend was hearing something.

"T' vas supper I tell ya," said a clearly drunken man in between a mess of noises. A street salesman a couple of blocks behind her was being loud about some toy robot, so getting closer would be better. "And he vas here infront o' da store an' 'whoosh!'" The words of a barely intelligible man didn't seem so reliable, but Rebecca was desperate. She made a sign to Ethan, leading him quietly to the source of the voice.

"...Can you please tell me what 'whoosh' means here?" asked the skinny guy. Good question, Rebecca told herself, wondering if the drunk guy even knew what he meant himself.

"Stava con il fuoco..." was that Italian? "Wait... 'E vas breedin fire! Whoosh!" He did have an Italian accent, Rebecca thought.

When she could see what she wanted, Rebecca stopped walking and signaled Ethan to stop as well. She took a look at the group: The other competitor, the really drunk Italian, an athletic woman in a tanktop and a fat guy with a really dirty white shirt.

"I think you mean breathing... Very different thing," said the woman. The drunk guy nodded, "and also, what was he burning anyway?"

"Ah, question complicated. Don' know. Goodnight."

The drunken dago fell flat over a pile of newspapers. The other three backed away slowly, and then started speaking in lower voices about less important things.

"What were they saying?" asked Ethan. For a second, Rebecca had forgotten about him.

"Just what I needed to hear," she answered, smiling.

---------------------

"Here," Jeremiah pointed at a grocery store which had full stock. Unlike most of other groceries, this one also had a number of customers. "The only place left to rob, so if you want to catch the guy, this is your best stop. Well, gotta run now, I guess I need to go back to my own store and see what I can do about it. Hope you catch the bastard!" That said, the man left.

James, on the other hand, kept staring at the not robbed grocery. The owner was going left and right from the counter to the cashier and everywhere in between.

"You seem to be pondering a lot, son," his mother told him. "What do you think of all of this?"

"Well we are facing either a really hungry man or someone trying to eliminate the competition," James pointed towards the grocer.

"That's my son. I noticed that you didn't say 'super' there. What do you think of Roberto's testimony?" asked the mother.

"I have no idea. He seemed honest but he could barely express himself." James said, shrugging.

"Wrong answer right there," answered the mother, "Not only was he telling the truth but after thinking about it, I actually think I realized how the fire breathing super was using his power: He had to burn the goods at the entrance of the groceries, otherwise there is no way he could discretely transport or hide so much in the span of a night. This is especially true if we consider that the boxes of the groceries are still there. The alternative is that we are dealing with a man that carries petrol with him, but I think that Roberto's testimony is more reliable than my second guess."

That actually made a lot of sense. James felt a bit angry at himself for not being able to realize it.

"Either way, should we interrogate the shopkeeper?" the son asked.

"You tell me! You are the Patron candidate!" answered S14.

"Ok, fine, we will interrogate the man," James said, irritated.

One by one, people started leaving. James hurried to the grocer before anyone else could come in. He was a relatively young man with short, brown hair that went up. He looked cleaner than Jeremiah anda lot happier.

"Hello! How may I help you?" the man asked.

"Hello, I am the Patron candidate Titan and this-" James paused, realizing that his mother, who he wanted to present, was not there, "-and I wanted to ask you a couple of questions."

"Oh, wow... go ahead, I guess," the grocer said, placing himself next to the counter. He started to stare at James analytically.

"Do you know about the robberies that have been happening to all of the groceries here?" James asked.

"Oh, dear God, I know... It is so hard to keep a happy face knowing that tonight I might get robbed. You want to help out with this?" the man went.

"No... Well yes, but not you... Well, you are a suspect," James said, hesitantly, "it certainly seems like you don't have any competition now."

"No! That is crazy!" the young grocer exclaimed, "If anything, lots of clients are avoiding this part of the city and shopping in the Town Center because they don't feel safe, or worry that I might not have what they are looking for!"

James stopped in place. He hadn't actually thought about that. Well, it was still a little weird, though. One or two robberies were understandable for someone at the Town Center to scare the clients away from the competition, but six? One would think that he would have moved to other areas like Germantown at that point. The man at this particular one was still suspicious, of course, but at the same time it was possible that the fire breathing super would rob this particular store... This was complicated. His mother would know exactly what to ask now, if she hadn't left him alone.

"I have sources that say the culprit was a super. Are there any unregistered supers you may know of?" James asked. It seemed like the best question, given the circumstances. If the man was unregistered and suspected that James knew about it, he would fear exposure and try to make a bargain, and if he was registered, they could ask in the city hall if his power was to breathe fire, and there he could find out if he was the culprit. Thinking over it again, it seemed like the best question to ask at the beginning of the interrogation.

"Of course not! If I knew any I would..." the man paused and started to think, "Well there is this guy, though. I don't really know if he is a super or not, but it may very well be the man you are looking for."

"What is his name?" James hurriedly asked. He could not hide the smile in his face. Finally it looked like he was into something.

"No, I don't know that... I only saw him once, really. He was kind of young and had red and blond hair... I don't know which was the natural one but it was kinda long, and also a goatee," the grocer answered.

"So you know who the culprit may be, but you don't know the name, you only saw him once and you only know the color and style of the hair and that he had a goatee?" James asked, "You do realize that it really sounds like you are lying to me, right?"

"No! I swear! I saw him when he was running away from a house on fire when I was on my way home like two weeks ago! And I think he made the fire because he didn't look scared at all!" the man said, "Look, I think he may be trying to frame me because I saw him..."

That didn't provide James with a lot of information, let alone anything trustworthy, but it seemed like he wouldn't get much more from the young grocer. Without remembering to say goodbye he walked away from the counter. Behind him was Stephanie.

"Well that could have gone better," S14 said, "but it certainly gives us a clue of what to do next."

"Does it now?" James answered, not understanding, "I don't even know if I should suspect this guy! And the only clue we had is that he thinks that the culprit may be some guy with a goatee and rainbow hair! And why didn't you help me?"

"I didn't help you because if I do all of the hard work you learn nothing," answered the mother, "and about the clues... That is not exactly right. Now we know that this man claims to thinks that someone wants to make a criminal out of him. I can see that, but I didn't know if he could. He is aware that robbing all of these places is dangerous for him, more so than for the other grocers."

"So he is not a suspect anymore?" James asked.

"Not out of the question either," said S14 "He could be really confident about not getting caught, or perhaps the fear of the moment gave him the perfect alibi. But regardless of that, we know of two points where the criminal, whoever it is, could strike tonight. Either this grocery, according to his most obvious pattern, or the Town Center: The next big point of competition."

"So it is a gamble?" Titan asked.

"Not exactly," Stephanie said, smiling "you are not trained in surveillance, so I will keep watch here. Meanwhile, you will be going to the Town Center, generally patrolling around the groceries. These robberies don't seem like something you can do fast, so you will eventually run into the criminal."

James took mental note. It made sense. No one would get in or out of this particular grocery with his mother watching it, and on the other hand, if James' theory was correct, next would come, effectively, the Town Center groceries, so regardless of the truth, the bases were covered.

...That or nothing could happen and he would effectively either lose the competition or frame a probably innocent man. He hoped that it would not be the case.

Description
Only candidates allowed," A man stopped Stephanie at the entrance of the Plaza. The whole place was closed to visitors in order to be used for the gathering of the Patron Auditioners.

"Figures..." the woman said, shrugging, "James, you go ahead, I'll be waiting here. Make sure to observe the other candidates. See which ones may be the most challenging."

James went towards the center of the park, where a series of seats waited for the candidates. This was all conjecture, though, since James was apparently the first one to come.

When he thought about it well, it wasn't frequent for him to do... important stuff without his mother around, but at the end of the day being able to manage his own life was a part of why he was there, so it was probably for the best.

There was a total of sixteen chairs neatly ordered in four equal rows, in front of a small stage destined for an orator, so it certainly did look like this was the place where he should wait... He probably was a bit early, but he'd rather have that than miss the speech altogether.

The Garden of the Patron featured, of course, the famous statues of all the former Patrons, from Ephemera to Midnight Strike. His mother had made him know all of their names and years of activity by memory, but James felt a bit ashamed to not being able to tell apart the statues of Prismar and Corporal Valiant. There was also a lot of space for other statues.

He pulled the chair in the far right of the front row away and sat cross legged on the floor, taking real care to not push all of his weight at any given spot. Once again he looked at the invitation letter, still on his hand.

To the Patron Candidate Titan:

First of all, we want to thank you for auditioning for the position of Patron. It is an honor to have a candidate of such promise. And of course, congratulations on being one of the sixteen chosen candidates.

Second, and most importantly, we recommend you to go to the Garden of Patrons before the noon of October 14th.The rules for the first round will be explained by a Council representative.

Good luck on following rounds and may the best hero win.

Council of Diesel City

James had the suspicion that every single contestant had gotten the exact same note with different names, especially because of the lack of references to his gender, so either everyone was a promising candidate or the letter was just crap.

"Darling, the chair is there for you to seat on," said a female voice next to James, startling him. He looked at his left and felt immediately uncomfortable as he saw the way-too-suggestive black clothes of the woman. Looking at her more carefully, she also would have been very beautiful, was it not for the huge scar across her face. James felt uncomfortable all over again around her, but managed to give a reply.

"I... I don't do the sitting thing... In chairs, I mean," said James, mumbling the very incomplete answer to the why of his current position. She doesn't even care, James thought after wondering if it was cordial to explain that the chair would effortlessly fall apart under his weight.

The woman shrugged and she, herself, took the seat next to the teen, after a time of, James guessed, wondering whether she should sit on her cloak or let it fall behind the chair. She chose the first option. "However you want."

James felt bad for her during a moment. He had only been introduced to the concept of scars by book, since he didn't know a lot of people and his mother could regenerate instantly. James, himself, had never been physically hurt in any way as far as he knew...

He tried to stop thinking about it and looked around. Before he knew it, a lot of contestants had already gathered and started sitting on the chairs. His mother told him to take a look and see who seemed challenging...

To him, everyone looked more or less like everyday people. Not big heroes like his mother.

Although, there was this one woman. That one certainly had to be an experienced heroine: muscled, focused, good posture and full body armor. She was surely the strongest of the bunch... That or James himself, of course. He couldn't think of a way that she, or any of the other candidates, could hurt him. It shouldn't be so hard.

Soon enough, all of the seats were occupied. As the latest auditioner got settled, a loud engine started to roar from the direction of the stage.

"Ayy!" cried a voice behind James. The teen looked back and saw a brown, short haired girl with a small ponytail covering her ears. She apparently didn't like the sound. Well it was, indeed, annoying but it didn't deserve such a reaction.

James looked up front to check what the engine was doing, anyway. A huge sign measuring around eight meters tall was, little by little, being lifted. It featured several people, and amongst them, James was able to recognize a more muscular version of himself and a less scarred version of the woman to his left. Over the images, huge letters spelled "KNOW YOUR SAVIORS."

As the poster was getting more visible, a man in a suit climbed to the stand. Finally, when the image of all the candidates was completely visible, the man started talking.

"Greeting, heroes! And congratulations on being the sixteen winners of the Patron Auditions! My name is Marc, and I will tell you all you need to know about the rules of the tournament!" He sure seemed excited during his speech, moving a lot as he spoke, "By the time we are through, one amongst you will be the Patron of Diesel City, and earn a rightful place in the Garden of the Patrons." Marc made a pause to make a hand movement, indicating everyone to look at the statues. "However! It will not be an easy path," the host continued without warning, "as you will have to prove yourselves to be worthy heroes of Diesel City."

Yeah, swell. James just needed to be stronger than the rest. Whatever could they do against him?

"And your test, of course, will be being able to capture notorious villains of the city, for that is the duty of great Patrons!" In the matter of a second, James lost all of his confidence. He really didn't expect that. He looked back at the woman with the armor. She certainly looked far better at the criminal catching thing than he did.

"You must, of course, also help the civilians against the great threats of this wonderful city! Being a hero is not only about saving the day, but also protecting the citizens! The rules are simple: The heroes that catch the most threatening criminals, as judged by the Council, will be the victors of the round. Only eight will be able to pass the test, so be aware of your competition! If you have any questions, now is the time to ask them!"

Well, the rules were simple alright... Accomplishing them not so much. He had to find the most threatening criminals? What qualified as threatening? How do you find the criminals anyway? Wouldn't it become a contest for who is lucky enough to run into big criminals?

These were questions that James would not ask, since he thought that everyone else knew the answers and he would look stupid if he showed that he didn't. In fact, in the whole five seconds of time after that introduction, no one asked any questions.

"Very well, then!" continued yelling Mark, "you have forty eight hours from now to catch your criminals. May fortune be with you, heroes!"

So forty eight hours then? He'd better hurry up.

---------------------

James looked at the clock. Almost a day had passed since the Council gathering, and he was still there, doing really nothing to help his cause.

His mother had gone patrolling. She insisted that James would only slow her down, since he couldn't run too fast without risking a life underground.

But so far she hadn't found anything 'worthy of this tournament'. How was it so difficult, anyway? She had been a Patron before; finding problems needing solving should be easy for her at this point.

James' plate of uneaten chicken and rice remained on the table. He didn't feel calm enough for eating. There had to be something he could do!

It wasn't supposed to be like this, anyway. When he heard there was a tournament, he thought it was fairly obvious: fights against other people, winner goes on, loser... loses. Easy victory for him.

Finally James decided to take a bite from the chicken, but about the moment when he carefully picked the fork, his mother came through the door.

"Still found nothing," Stephanie said before giving her son time to ask. "I need to eat, will go back to that later."

"Well, it has been a very interesting run in the tournament, but here is where it ends. Before the first elimination," James said, resigned.

"You are being defeatist, James. There is still a lot of time left until the deadline. I bet some of the others haven't even started looking." Stephanie made a small pause. "Besides, and most importantly, there is another option we can take besides patrolling. I'd rather not do it, but it seems like the best choice if you are in such a hurry."

"What would it be?" Her son replied.

"Asking the police."

---------------------

Stephanie never liked the whole hero and police relationship. Lots of them considered heroes to be vigilantes that shouldn't be supported by the law. Others envied supers in general because of their powers. Others were just too protocolar to leave the force's assignments to a person that didn't follow their same rules.

All in all, it was rare to find anyone helpful in there, but since James was in a hurry, trying it couldn't hurt.

The Diesel City police station was... well, pretty unassuming really. Two floors, concrete grey walls, a huge front door, generally all that you expect from a police station.

That, and a set of three white marble stairs before the entrance. Stephanie looked at her son and could guess what he was thinking: Can I make it through these stairs? Is there a solid enough substance under them? James had already had bad experiences with stairs in the past, and rather liked to avoid them.

He approached the small staircase and studied it, as if that would give him any answers. His mother gave him time to make up his mind.

"I think it would be better if you entered alone, mom," James finally said.

"Are you sure you don't want to enter?" asked S14, "hese are not stairs that connect to a second floor, they must be solid. At least try to step slowly..."

"I might make a huge crack in them. I don't want to have problems with the police. And perhaps there is a basement, so I don't want to take that risk." There was clearly a long way to go before Diesel City could call Titan its Patron.

"Well, I will go," said the mother, "but you should be expected to do this yourself, James. You can't be afraid of entering random buildings. Find a way to fix that problem."

Stephanie didn't let her son give a reply before she entered the police building. She quickly found the department dealing with civilian reports. In there, she saw an obese, balding man with a dirtied t-shirt and jeans loudly attempting to do one. The heroine headed towards him. That should be her best shot, since there were surely lots of cases the police didn't want to deal with directly.

"Yes! That is exactly what I'm saying! A super is the culprit. Roberto doesn't lie!" Yelled the man at the officers.

"Mister Steinman, try to understand my position here," answered the policeman handling the counter, "You are asking me to trust the barely coherent story of a drunken, homeless Italian that blames a super for petty theft. I know that you are mad about your business-"

"It is not just my business! It's basically every business in the Inner Hub and you incompetent twits are not doing anything about it!" said the man, inflamed. Suddenly this looked more interesting than whatever the cops could tell Stephanie.

"I am truly sorry, but until you get a more reliable witness, we can do nothing to help you."

Although there was evidently a lot that the man wanted to tell the officer, he restrained himself and stalked away angrily. Halfway towards the exit Stephanie grabbed his shoulder.

"Hello, Mister Steinman. I heard your predicament, and I think I know just the person to help you. Please humour me for a second."

The man shrugged, confused, and finally said "Whatever help you can give me is better than what the cops will do for me."

"Excellent," S14 said, smiling, "Please accompany me outside. There is a person I want you to meet."

It seemed like the angry businessman had wasted all of his complaining energy on the policeman, because he just went with it. Sure enough, there was James was waiting at the entrance with his back hunched and looking at the floor.

"Let me introduce you to Titan, the future Patron of Diesel City." Stephanie proudly declared.

---------------------

James was fairly familiar with the Inner Hub's commercial area. Since he frequently went on walks, it was nice to check the areas with the most movement and sound, and most of the shop owners were cheerful people that were very happy to give a good conversation.

It was not the case right now. As most of the greengrocers had little more than empty boxes to show, customers were sparse. To top it off, the shop owners, even those that hadn't been robbed, seemed paranoid and gloomy.

"When did this start?" James asked Jeremiah, the angry grocer he met in the office.

"Last week. Six days, six stores, one per night. And it's not like the bastard takes the money, no. He goes ahead and steals every single fruit and vegetable he can find. Who even does that?" the grocer growled, "Ok, there is Roberto," Jeremiah pointed towards a dirty, bearded man lying in the street next to a pile of newspapers and several plastic bottles of wine, "He is a mess. But trust me, his heart is in the right place."

---------------------

Rebecca was not happy. More than a day walking around the streets and she still hadn't found any criminals, let alone 'challenging' ones. It was the worst way possible to lose the competition. She even had to go to the Inner Hub since apparently at the Town Center nothing was happening.

"It's not like you lost already," Ethan said, guessing her thoughts, "There is plenty of time to find something, and with your hearing, that should be easier..." Of course, the Patron candidate already knew she had that advantage.

"That is the problem, Ethan. With my hearing it has to be a piece of cake, but turns out that there is noise everywhere, so how can I focus on the important things?"

"Perhaps we should return to the Center," Ethan answered. "You should have-"

"Tell me what you saw, Roberto," a voice came for afar.

"-a better chance because-"

"Shut up, Ethan," Rebecca said. She knew that voice. It belonged to another candidate. The skinny guy who sat on the floor and talked to the girl that looked like a hooker, more specifically. He surely had found something out. She had to hear this.

"Why are you... Oh," Ethan said, stopping when he realized that his friend was hearing something.

"T' vas supper I tell ya," said a clearly drunken man in between a mess of noises. A street salesman a couple of blocks behind her was being loud about some toy robot, so getting closer would be better. "And he vas here infront o' da store an' 'whoosh!'" The words of a barely intelligible man didn't seem so reliable, but Rebecca was desperate. She made a sign to Ethan, leading him quietly to the source of the voice.

"...Can you please tell me what 'whoosh' means here?" asked the skinny guy. Good question, Rebecca told herself, wondering if the drunk guy even knew what he meant himself.

"Stava con il fuoco..." was that Italian? "Wait... 'E vas breedin fire! Whoosh!" He did have an Italian accent, Rebecca thought.

When she could see what she wanted, Rebecca stopped walking and signaled Ethan to stop as well. She took a look at the group: The other competitor, the really drunk Italian, an athletic woman in a tanktop and a fat guy with a really dirty white shirt.

"I think you mean breathing... Very different thing," said the woman. The drunk guy nodded, "and also, what was he burning anyway?"

"Ah, question complicated. Don' know. Goodnight."

The drunken dago fell flat over a pile of newspapers. The other three backed away slowly, and then started speaking in lower voices about less important things.

"What were they saying?" asked Ethan. For a second, Rebecca had forgotten about him.

"Just what I needed to hear," she answered, smiling.

---------------------

"Here," Jeremiah pointed at a grocery store which had full stock. Unlike most of other groceries, this one also had a number of customers. "The only place left to rob, so if you want to catch the guy, this is your best stop. Well, gotta run now, I guess I need to go back to my own store and see what I can do about it. Hope you catch the bastard!" That said, the man left.

James, on the other hand, kept staring at the not robbed grocery. The owner was going left and right from the counter to the cashier and everywhere in between.

"You seem to be pondering a lot, son," his mother told him. "What do you think of all of this?"

"Well we are facing either a really hungry man or someone trying to eliminate the competition," James pointed towards the grocer.

"That's my son. I noticed that you didn't say 'super' there. What do you think of Roberto's testimony?" asked the mother.

"I have no idea. He seemed honest but he could barely express himself." James said, shrugging.

"Wrong answer right there," answered the mother, "Not only was he telling the truth but after thinking about it, I actually think I realized how the fire breathing super was using his power: He had to burn the goods at the entrance of the groceries, otherwise there is no way he could discretely transport or hide so much in the span of a night. This is especially true if we consider that the boxes of the groceries are still there. The alternative is that we are dealing with a man that carries petrol with him, but I think that Roberto's testimony is more reliable than my second guess."

That actually made a lot of sense. James felt a bit angry at himself for not being able to realize it.

"Either way, should we interrogate the shopkeeper?" the son asked.

"You tell me! You are the Patron candidate!" answered S14.

"Ok, fine, we will interrogate the man," James said, irritated.

One by one, people started leaving. James hurried to the grocer before anyone else could come in. He was a relatively young man with short, brown hair that went up. He looked cleaner than Jeremiah anda lot happier.

"Hello! How may I help you?" the man asked.

"Hello, I am the Patron candidate Titan and this-" James paused, realizing that his mother, who he wanted to present, was not there, "-and I wanted to ask you a couple of questions."

"Oh, wow... go ahead, I guess," the grocer said, placing himself next to the counter. He started to stare at James analytically.

"Do you know about the robberies that have been happening to all of the groceries here?" James asked.

"Oh, dear God, I know... It is so hard to keep a happy face knowing that tonight I might get robbed. You want to help out with this?" the man went.

"No... Well yes, but not you... Well, you are a suspect," James said, hesitantly, "it certainly seems like you don't have any competition now."

"No! That is crazy!" the young grocer exclaimed, "If anything, lots of clients are avoiding this part of the city and shopping in the Town Center because they don't feel safe, or worry that I might not have what they are looking for!"

James stopped in place. He hadn't actually thought about that. Well, it was still a little weird, though. One or two robberies were understandable for someone at the Town Center to scare the clients away from the competition, but six? One would think that he would have moved to other areas like Germantown at that point. The man at this particular one was still suspicious, of course, but at the same time it was possible that the fire breathing super would rob this particular store... This was complicated. His mother would know exactly what to ask now, if she hadn't left him alone.

"I have sources that say the culprit was a super. Are there any unregistered supers you may know of?" James asked. It seemed like the best question, given the circumstances. If the man was unregistered and suspected that James knew about it, he would fear exposure and try to make a bargain, and if he was registered, they could ask in the city hall if his power was to breathe fire, and there he could find out if he was the culprit. Thinking over it again, it seemed like the best question to ask at the beginning of the interrogation.

"Of course not! If I knew any I would..." the man paused and started to think, "Well there is this guy, though. I don't really know if he is a super or not, but it may very well be the man you are looking for."

"What is his name?" James hurriedly asked. He could not hide the smile in his face. Finally it looked like he was into something.

"No, I don't know that... I only saw him once, really. He was kind of young and had red and blond hair... I don't know which was the natural one but it was kinda long, and also a goatee," the grocer answered.

"So you know who the culprit may be, but you don't know the name, you only saw him once and you only know the color and style of the hair and that he had a goatee?" James asked, "You do realize that it really sounds like you are lying to me, right?"

"No! I swear! I saw him when he was running away from a house on fire when I was on my way home like two weeks ago! And I think he made the fire because he didn't look scared at all!" the man said, "Look, I think he may be trying to frame me because I saw him..."

That didn't provide James with a lot of information, let alone anything trustworthy, but it seemed like he wouldn't get much more from the young grocer. Without remembering to say goodbye he walked away from the counter. Behind him was Stephanie.

"Well that could have gone better," S14 said, "but it certainly gives us a clue of what to do next."

"Does it now?" James answered, not understanding, "I don't even know if I should suspect this guy! And the only clue we had is that he thinks that the culprit may be some guy with a goatee and rainbow hair! And why didn't you help me?"

"I didn't help you because if I do all of the hard work you learn nothing," answered the mother, "and about the clues... That is not exactly right. Now we know that this man claims to thinks that someone wants to make a criminal out of him. I can see that, but I didn't know if he could. He is aware that robbing all of these places is dangerous for him, more so than for the other grocers."

"So he is not a suspect anymore?" James asked.

"Not out of the question either," said S14 "He could be really confident about not getting caught, or perhaps the fear of the moment gave him the perfect alibi. But regardless of that, we know of two points where the criminal, whoever it is, could strike tonight. Either this grocery, according to his most obvious pattern, or the Town Center: The next big point of competition."

"So it is a gamble?" Titan asked.

"Not exactly," Stephanie said, smiling "you are not trained in surveillance, so I will keep watch here. Meanwhile, you will be going to the Town Center, generally patrolling around the groceries. These robberies don't seem like something you can do fast, so you will eventually run into the criminal."

James took mental note. It made sense. No one would get in or out of this particular grocery with his mother watching it, and on the other hand, if James' theory was correct, next would come, effectively, the Town Center groceries, so regardless of the truth, the bases were covered.

...That or nothing could happen and he would effectively either lose the competition or frame a probably innocent man. He hoped that it would not be the case.