Gearhead leads the pack as the smartest man alive and the one who conducted the White Room Trial. His costume is primarily a blue workman's smock made from the same echo metal molded into a flexible metallic alloy and heavy tech gloves with too many buttons and knobs to figure out at a glance. He removes his deep green spectrum goggles to reveal his blond hair and blue eyes under a layer of oil and dirt smudges.
Gearhead is the first to step forward and shake your hand, flashing his pearly whites. "I was scared for a sec there, but I read your file and knew the automaton didn't stand a chance once you got the green light. Stellar job." It's hard to tell whether he's ecstatic because you actually did a good job or if he's happy with the data his automaton no doubt collected on you.
You shake his hand thoroughly, waiting for introductions from the others.
Next
Gladiator steps forward with heavy stomps, wearing her lorica segmentata. That's a fancy name for red-and-gold Roman-style armor with a brightly colored mohawk headpiece.
She removes her feathered galea. "Well fought!" she says, patting you on the back. Her strength is much greater than yours, making you stumble forward, but you regain your footing quickly. The other wardens chuckle. This isn't the first time she's done that to someone.
She seems different from her comic book persona, with much bigger, shinier muscles and a strange, smiley demeanor. You're used to the grim face she's known for in the comics, especially The Glorious Gladiator, Issue No. 87, when she defeated Destroya the Demon. She was particularly brutal in that issue.
Next to approach is the Cloak, the shadowmancer and hero of Morgana City. She floats toward you, almost weightlessly, moving without a single sound. Her long black cloak covers her body, connecting to every shadow in the room but showing only her gray-skinned face with glowing white eyes under a hood made of shadows. A slender hand emerges and shakes yours. She nods before retreating to the back of the pack once more.
There is only one hero left to address you.
Next
Brilliant, widely known as the world's most powerful superhero. When he first appeared on the scene almost twenty years ago, he faced all the Wardens of Truth at the same time and won! Today, of course, he is their staunch ally. Brilliant wears his traditional red-white-and-blue costume, the one he donned after saving the United States for the seventh time. His look is completed by short, wavy, light brown hair, thick, hard-knuckled gloves, and a long red cape with a big, embroidered B inside a white star. This version is the eighth iteration of his costume over almost thirty years. You've tracked his entire career since you were a kid.
He reaches out and clasps your hand, but it feels different than the others. There's a strange energy between you. Brilliant looks straight into your eyes, daring you to look away, but you don't. You can't. He flashes a smile, but it isn't genuine either, hinting that he might be feeling the energy, too. "You've passed the White Room Trial, as predicted. The Wardens of Truth have given me the honor of asking you the final exam question."
You brace yourself for his question and maintain eye contact.
"Why do you want to be a hero?" he asks.