CHAPTER 149: HEROES GALA

This bonus Chapter is dedicated to Min_Luna_Appleman. Thank you for the 5 star review!

"Paragon, you have been as dazzling as the sun. But you’re still a man of mystery even now that you’ve reached the Top 10 ranking for this month, and have been on the cover of Hero’s Call magazine. Won’t you shine a light on your background?"

"Well, I was just a simple boy in a simple town in Virginia. My father was a farmer and my mother was a seamstress. I didn’t come from money, but I did grow up with values instilled in me since I was a child..."

Hermes grumbled as he listened to all this.

He was wearing a sleek and classic black and red suit. The theme of the gala was ’Masked Hero’, so he was wearing a black and red zanni mask, which was basically like a regular mask but with a beak like a plague doctor’s.

He whispered to Somner. "I thought this was a gala, not a press conference."

Somner was wearing a fancier turquoise suit with scales and seashells embroidery. He was wearing an emerald green and gold gatto barocco mask, which is basically just a fancy cat-shaped mask. He said he wants to be a ’literal catfish’ and laughed at his own joke for a whole hour.

"It’s a Heroes Gala, Master." Somner corrected him, shoving huge chunks of cheese appetizers in his mouth and trying all kinds of cocktails. "Have you ever seen a Hollywood event without any paparazzis?"

"I hate the press." Hermes crossed his arms. "Bunch of liars and conspiracists."

"Ditto to that." Ymir appeared.

He was wearing a regular white mask with blue feathers but made it spiky to look like his ice daggers— a columbina. His suit was also just plain and simple like Hermes, but it was pure white and he had a snow-covered blue rose on his breast pocket.

Magni was also here, dressed like a butler but with a pierrot mask crying tears made of fire. Which did not suit his jolly voice at all.

"Humans sure have strange customs for celebrations. Wasn’t the purpose of these events was to see each other? And yet here we are, with our faces hidden."

"And your bad breath." Ymir teased, though it wasn’t as mean as his other jibes before.

Aphrodite then took Hermes’ hand. He was wearing a dama mask, which was a feminine full-face mask with a hat. His was pink and gold, with flowers and filigree matching his corseted suit.

"Still, we have to maintain appearances and not tarnish your reputation further. Luckily this gala was a masquerade. But people might still recognize us. We can’t stick together for too long. We have to scatter."

Hermes sighed. "Alright..."

And so they scattered and mingled with other people from other hero guilds here at the cross-shaped roof of the Fiery Cross.

They could only see each other thanks to the flashing cameras and these flying little globes of light, no doubt the work of a hero from their rival guild.

"Awwww! So you guys are from the Gulliver guild, right? I’m a big fan! Keep being rockstars!" Somner crouched down to talk to the people.

He didn’t want to be rude but...

They were only a few inches tall after all.

Magni tagged along, interested in them. "What an incredible subset of humans! I did not know they can be like the ant people in the Void."

Somner chuckled. "Are you guys having a good time? Must be hard since all the food and drinks here are... jumbo size for you all."

Their leader suddenly gestured for him to come closer, as if he had something to say.

"What’s that?" He leaned down to listen to their leader’s request. "Oh, that’s a great idea!"

He whispered it to Magni too, whose eyes lit up and immediately nodded.

And so...

Drunk Somner and Magni spent most of the party creating a ’buffet palace’, building stacks of tacos and burritos to create a castle for the tiny people to enjoy the party in. Such would be the result when putting two lovable idiots together.

Ymir in the meantime was dealing with the paparazzi.

"Was it true that you have a relationship with Copy Cat?"

He just flashed a fake smile. "Copy Cat and I have a professional and platonic relationship. We’re in the same building so of course we have no choice but to get along. Personally, I think that what Ms. Freeman did in her show not only an invasion of privacy, but baseless and detrimental to society."

"What do you mean by that, Sir?"

"Well, what exactly do those pictures show about romantic relationships? Can’t men share vulnerability and intimacy without being misconstrued? Tsk, tsk. The media are killing male friendships."

He turned around and added over his shoulder. "But then again, you guys are just doing your jobs, right? Gotta strawman and stretch the narrative as much as you can to make live TV interesting. And that takes skill."

Victorina was listening to this with Vera. "Oh, he’s really good, girl!"

"He didn’t become a department head and a Top 10 hero out of nowhere." Vera shrugged.

"But dude! Do you think they’re really shagging???" Fiero suddenly piped in.

Cam sighed. "Of course they are. You have to be blind to not see how Mr. Ice Prince melts whenever Hermes asks him for anything."

Eris suddenly came up behind them. "Would you twats stop gossiping around and actually put in the work to clean up the Warmonger mess? We can’t be seen as second-rate losers forever!"

They immediately bowed their heads and scattered to do some socializing. "Yes, Ma’am..."

Meanwhile, Aphrodite did not even bother to party, reading a book under one of the floating lights beside the pianist.

He suddenly looked up and said to him, "Try it and I’ll tell your wife what you really do with your students during their piano lessons."

The pianist stuttered. "W-What!? I—"

He stood up and approached a journalist, who listened to everything he had to say about the most degenerate people in this party.

Everyone seemed to be having a pretty good time so far...

Except Hermes.

"Oh come on, I know it’s you! The Tom Cat...." The drunk, voluptous woman wrapped her arms around him during the gala dance. "Do you swing both ways?"

Hermes did his best to be polite, since his reputation was on the line.

"I don’t think that’s a proper question to ask someone you just met, Ma’am. And I think you should lay off the tequila."

"So I guess that’s a no, huh? No worries."

Her body suddenly shifted, turning into that similar to Aphrodite!

"I can fit your taste." ’He’ said, placing her hand on Hermes’ stomach. "I can be whoever you want, and even all of them at the same time."

That was enough for steam to rise from Hermes’ head as Magnarok ignited in his veins along with Cryoshift.

"Get off, you bi—"

"Excuse me. May I have a turn?"

Someone interrupted him, saving him at the last moment right when he was about to freeze and burn this person at the same time. Hermes snapped out of it, and felt relieved.

But as he turned to his savior...

He felt like bursting into flames and ice again.

"Oh, Paragon!" The shapeshifter turned back into a woman. "Of course! I was getting bored by this pussy cat anyway."

He was wearing a half-face golden and white mask, with a sun design by his one eye. He didn’t wear a suit, but instead an alternate version of his hero costume that still showed some skin but looked more like an actual Roman chiton with a cape.

Paragon just laughed, waving his hand. "Oh. I wasn’t asking you, Betsy. I’m asking our guest."

He offered his hand to Hermes.

"May I have the honor of dancing with you, my Lord?"