It took some time after Alala left before the members of Kismet could come to. When they were all awake, Impactor explained everything he could to them.
"You convinced her to heal us? That's impressive."
Mikel said while checking his body. His uniform was now in pieces and barely covered him.
"You were pretty much charcoal before she healed you."
Impactor said.
"...Thanks for letting me know."
"My bad, guys."
Belinha wore an apologetic expression.
"It's my job to ensure you all survive and I lost control of myself and had to be saved by the enemy. I failed as a leader."
"Nah, you did well. Alala even praised you."
Impactor responded before anybody else.
"She did?"
He nodded.
"She said your Phoenix was something else, but you need to learn to control it."
"I see."
For reasons unknown to her, hearing Alala's praise bettered her mood.
"Besides, if there's anyone to blame, it's me."
Batu spoke up.
"I'm always the first to fall despite being the group's shield. If I can't fulfil my job, it will put a burden on everybody else."
Mira clapped her hands.
"Let's stop here. If we continue to blame ourselves, we won't reach anywhere."
She clenched her fists.
"We just need to get stronger, that's all there is to it."
Kira and Bojana nodded in agreement.
"Mira's right. We will continue to push forward as we've always done."
Belinha looked at them one by one.
"We're the Young Sovereigns and we will one day live up to that name."
Several days later, Belinha and Batu were called to the Global Hero's
Federation Main Branch in Germany.
"You want us to return to normal Hero activities?"
Belinha asked while facing the silhouettes that made up the Board of Heroes.
"We discussed it and decided that in order to grow, you need to experience different types of villains, not just the Calamities. More importantly, we believe the Rookies in your team would benefit from more experience to become better Heroes."
The Head Silhouette answered. Belinha lifted her hand.
"Do you mean we'll act as a team or go on individual missions?"
"As a team, Impactor would probably cause problems if he acted alone."
(As long as you're aware.)
Belinha thought.
"Then you're permitting us to leave the Cook Islands and return to our homes?"
"No, Kismet's base of operations remains unchanged. You will only leave when assigned a mission or to fight a Calamity."
"I see. I understand."
"Sir."
Batu spoke up.
"I request that you allow members of Kismet to meet their families at least once a week."
"Denied. Your families are under the protection of the Federation since as you grow more famous, more people will try to target them to get to you; as such, we need to be extra careful. Letting you meet them so frequently could lead to leaks on both your locations."
"Our location has already been leaked and I don't mean to the Calamities either."
"....We're aware of the Volcanic Emperor's actions, and I personally apologise and promise it won't happen again."
"However, it already has."
Batu relentlessly argued.
"The #3 ranked Hero came and caused a scene at our base; this tells us our location has already been compromised. As such, I request, we loosen the restrictions and grant us a meeting with our families."
"It's rare to see you push so hard against our decision."
"I believe this will be beneficial for Kismet. We're all young and immature, so we can't help but miss our loved ones, even if it's for their sake we're staying away. This can weigh down on our minds along with countless other stuff. As we're only human, this can negatively affect our abilities and possibly lead to our deaths."
"....So in other words, you need to be around your loved ones to destress."
Batu nodded.
"I miss my mommy and daddy, sir."
Belinha held in her laughter while standing beside him.
"Wish to add anything, Belinha?"
This didn't escape her mother's eyes.
"Yes. I get to meet with my parents regularly through meetings like this, even if it's a formal setting. However, the rest of Kismet are different and I believe that is unfair. I also back up Batu's request as Kismet's leader."
The Board became silent. After a while, the Head Silhouette spoke.
"Very well, we'll arrange for it to happen. However, don't blame us if the same people you miss become endangered because of your immaturity."
Batu bowed his head.
"I'm grateful."
After giving their report, Batu and Belinha left the Headquarters and sat inside an armoured limo.
"The others are going to be happy to hear that they can go back to their families."
Batu was all smiles as he sat across from Belinha.
"I'm curious, Batu. Why did you push for us to meet our families? You say you miss them, which I don't doubt, but the way you request it was uncharacteristic of you."
Belinha looked at him with a curious gaze. Batu kept his smile and showed two fingers.
"I have two reasons. My first reason is that I believe the weekly meetings with our families will serve as a reminder as to what we're fighting for."
"Our lives? That fact haunts us every day."
Batu laughed and shook his head.
"We're not just fighting for ourselves, but for our loved ones. We're fighting to protect them."
He leaned forward.
"I'm not talking specifically about the Calamities. Beings as powerful as them don't need to use our families to get to us. In fact, if they wanted to use them to torment us, they could've done so a long time ago and we wouldn't be able to stop them."
Belinha nodded.
"Such petty tactics are beneath them."
Batu nodded as well.
"I'm talking about other villains, those who aren't as powerful and won't hesitate to use petty tactics. Those are the people we need to protect our families from."
"I still don't get it. Wouldn't meeting your families put them in danger of those..."
Belinha's words trailed off as she slowly came to a realization. She looked at Batu again who sat there stone-faced.
"Batu, have you lost your mind?"
"If one is surrounded by insanity long enough, they too will be swallowed by madness."
"This isn't a joke, Batu!"
Belinha stood up in the limo.
"And I'm dead serious."
Batu remained stoic.
"Whether we want to admit it or not, we've started to develop a bond with Alala and Sinvula. It was unavoidable. The more we knew about them, the more curious we got. We started to ask questions a soldier should never ask if they want to make their jobs easier. The moment we learned their identities, we stepped out of the roles of Heroes and Villains, and we started to see each other as humans."
He pointed at Belinha.
"You realized this as well, right?"
She remembered feeling pride from being praised by Alala. She, a Hero was proud to be acknowledged by her greatest enemy. This was unacceptable.
"Don't feel bad, Belinha."
Batu wore a smile as he spoke with a soft tone.
"We're only human. We can't help but form connections with people, even if we shouldn't."
"Still....To go as far as risking your own families."
Batu's smile dropped.
"It's not like I want to do this, but I can already see the path we're walking on."
He sighed.
"Soon, Kismet and the Calamities will reach a stage where we fight each other for fun and not to defeat the other."
Belinha knew Batu's words held weight. Even though they all try their best to survive when fighting Alala and Sinvula, they subconsciously knew they won't truly die from fighting them. Their last fight was proof of that. Alala had all reason to kill them to protect her identity, but didn't. Instead, she pushed them to go beyond their limits, something she only needed to do because Kismet subconsciously became comfortable with their situation. They knew there was no risk.
"We'll deal with the strange relationship we're developing with the Calamities in the future, so there's no need to worry about that. The problem is there's a great chance our complacency will lead to stagnation in our growth some time down the line. This stagnation can cause the Calamities to lose interest in us and return to their old ways, off causing chaos around the world instead of focusing on us."
"It's true they haven't been active outside our battles which makes things easier on the GHF. However, that's only temporary."
Batu nodded.
"There will be an era of turmoil soon, one the Calamities are laying the foundations for behind the scenes. This is all the more reason we can't become stagnant."
He clenched his fists.
"We need to grow strong enough to rule over that upcoming era, but we can't do that if things stay as they are."
Belinha agreed with his words.
"So....We will expose our loved ones to danger in order to motivate ourselves to become stronger to protect them."
"Desperation and Drive are needed for one to grow. Humans fight with more desperation when it's for those dear to them, than for themselves."
"What you said is logical.... However, are you certain you want to do this? I'm not bragging, but my parents can take care of themselves.... But your parents are normal humans without powers, who are quite famous... The one who will be at the most risk of losing someone is you."
Batu showed a bright smile.
"That's why I had to be the one who makes it happen. It wouldn't be fair if I didn't have the most to lose."
Belinha frowned.
"Besides...."
Batu continued.
"Impactor also got a lot to lose. I need to apologise to him when we get back."
"For some reason, I don't think he'll mind since he gets to see his family. He's always nagging about wanting to eat his mother's cooking."
Batu nodded.
"I was thinking the same thing."
"So...What's the other reason? You said there were two?"
Batu grinned.
"I was homesick, that's all."
Belinha sighed while Batu laughed.
Once they returned to their base, they informed the rest of Kismet.
"We get vacations?!"
"Hell yeah!"
Impactor and Mira jumped for joy after hearing the news.
"I can finally meet my family again....."
Impactor was smiling from ear to ear before his smile started to fade.
"Shit, I might get killed."
"What's wrong?"
Bojana noticed his change and called out to him.
"I haven't met my parents since I fought Alala in Ethiopia."
"What?!"
The others overheard the conversation and came over.
"So, I kinda stole my father's car and sold it to fund my trip."
"Dude....That's fucked up."
Mira said while shaking her head.
"I mean, it turned out for the best right? I have a lot of money now and they're living a far better life."
Impactor plead his case, but all he got were disapproving looks. He looked towards Kira for support.
"I'll be honest, I would kill you too."
But he received none.
"You at least called them, right?"
Belinha asked. Impactor just looked away. He ignored the judgemental stares piercing his body and shouted with a huge smile.
"Come on, Sinvula! Injury me so much that they'll have to take pity on me when I see them!"
The next day, Sinvula came to visit.
"Yeah, I'm skipping this week so you guys can rest up."
"GODDAMMIT!!"
Impactor fell to his knees and shouted. Sinvula looked down at him with a frown.
"What's your problem?"