Melaton gestured to a building across the street, one that had a large billboard mounted to its side with an entire team of Heroes. Emily recognized Silver Fox and Melaton, of course. There were a few more besides: Wither, who had a rose in his mouth, White Knight in his knightly armor, and Peacemaker in her nurselike outfit. Emily didn’t recognize the half-dozen others.

“That kind of ad? That’s expensive as hell, but it sells your image, and then you can use that image to sell other crap. Only works if your powers are flashy or if you’ve got the personality for it,” Melaton said.

“Oh,” Emily said. “Then, um, maybe it’s not for me.”

“Yeah, you seem the sort to fold in front of a crowd. Not that there isn’t a place for that kind of personality. Some guys really get their jollies off to shy girls.”

Emily’s face flamed.

“But yeah, I figure you’d panic the first time you forget someone’s name at a conference or something,” Melaton said. She pointed to another alleyway and walked in without so much as pausing. “The other options aren’t all that great.” Her voice echoed through the tight little passage.

“O-oh?” Emily asked.

“You can become a freelancer. That’s like a corporate goon like me, but you do everything on your own. That’s kind of locking you into being a B-rater forever. Some manage to go big, anyway. Wi-Fire is a household name, and he does all his own advertising and all that.”

Emily nodded along. “Okay.”

Melaton arrived at the end of the alley and stepped onto another street without pause. “Then there’s the last option. The one we’re doing right now.”

“What’s that?” Teddy asked.

Melaton looked down at Teddy. At some point the woman had covered her lower face with her mask and Emily hadn’t noticed at all. “Vigilantism. Taking things into your own hands, government and laws be damned.”

Emily squeezed Teddy’s hand. Their walk turned quiet. They crossed another street, then slipped through another alleyway. The area changed. The buildings went from mostly commercial, to commercial with a sprinkling of normal apartment complexes mixed in.

Eauclaire was a nice city, with a decently large population. The college helped, as did the large Trans-Anadian highway crossing through the bottom half of the city keeping commercial traffic high.

It was meant to be a well-off city. That didn’t mean it didn’t have rougher sections.

The buildings they were passing took on an ugly look. Graffiti covered their walls, and more and more often there were homes with boarded-over windows and closed-down shops dotted along the street.

It was the kind of area Emily would have avoided normally. She didn’t expect it to only be a few blocks over from all the shops and malls.

“This is Homie’s area,” Melaton said. “Look sharp, all right?”