Here it is, the debut of Cyber Sunset!

It's cool having another hero coming into the story, and one familiar with Honorburg which so far, only Dash can really say. Enjoy learning a bit about the hero.

 
Cyber Sunset crawled into the skylight of the Royal Kingdom Ordinance radio tower, one of the most recognizable structures in all of Honorburg. Despite its public fame and the attention given to it by architecture students, business executives and tourists, no one ever seemed to notice the fact that there were too many floors for the building when viewed from the outside. Or, if they had noticed, they had lacked the interest or knowhow to look into the curiosity on their own time. Cyber Sunset was grateful for the lengthy run of luck in that regard (and the silence offered by those few who were trusted with the knowledge of the lair), but knew that luck alone wouldn’t keep people away forever. Alex stopped in once every month or so to put some sort of ‘mystical ward’ on the base to make it less likely that someone would stumble onto it, but even then Cyber Sunset was paranoid. And, where Alex was concerned, the paranoia went even further than the base.

Alex (or “Demesne”) had experience in “The Business” just like most people in this town, whether they admitted it or not. Heroes stopping Villains, Villains plotting against Heroes, it was a constant show. It had the unfortunate side effect of bringing the wrong kinds of tourist, wanting to catch a glimpse of one of the heroes in action. Worse, the lax “registration” meant that anyone with a gaudy costume and a novel name could show up and start being entrusted with low-clearance security secrets (fortunately, the Heckions, laughable though they were when compared to the city’s other problems, served admirably in being able weed out the poseurs. Some heroes believed that they should receive a medal for that particular service.)

The issue with Alex was one of teamwork. It was a story heard many times in Honorburg: he wanted to team up, but she didn’t. It wasn’t that she didn’t trust his skills in combat, or that they were on different levels…she just wanted to keep the business of protecting the city and world separate from their…friendship.

Cyber Sunset considered this while looking over the scrap of paper that the 5th Column goon had been carrying. Arresting someone who would write down a passphrase like “Strawberry” without bothering to remember it was a mercy: if his superiors had discovered a passphrase written down, he would have been shot. Better for him to wake up in a cell than to wind up in his former employer’s hit list.
Acquiring a passphrase from the 5th Column was a weekly ritual that Cyber Sunset took ever since an overlooked machine was found in one of their bases. It was one of their legendary Zahlwerk devices, one of the pesky “Enigma Machines” that had been confounding authorities for the past decade with the level of complex coding that it could produce. The Zahlwerk was particularly effective at encoding and decoding any message, so naturally Cyber Sunset took pains to transfer it to the radio tower. Coded information was easy to find at 5th Column bases (they loved keeping records), and while they didn’t always have an easily discernible plot behind them, one of the 5th Column’s greatest skills was in keeping an eye on their “competition.” Their espionage network did more to keep tabs on the plans and schemes of the criminal masterminds in this city in a day than Cyber Sunset could personally do in a fortnight of intense footwork.

This latest brief of coded espionage was originally impossible for the Enigma Machine to crack, which had puzzled Cyber Sunset until the rumors of the “Solitaire Cipher” began circling through the bars. The cipher itself was incredibly easy to crack (albeit time consuming) requiring only a deck of cards and a passphrase. Without a passphrase, though, it would be next to impossible. Working on the assumption that the 5th Column was trying out the latest coding, the Enigma Machine had been easily (well, easy for a super technician) modified to allow for the encryption and decryption of Solitaire Cipher, as long as the passphrase was known. Confident that it would work, Cyber Sunset typed “Strawberry” into the machine’s awkward keyboard and went to brew some cocoa. It was going to be a quiet night.

The spinning of the wheels and clacking of the ticker-tape that emerged from the modified Enigma Machine stopped just a few moments before Cyber Sunset returned, sipping the hot chocolate. Looking over the message, it was the same kind of thing. Insane cultists, newly discovered factories for the clockwork automatons, the looming threat of alien invasion continuing to loom…not much out of the norm. At the end, however, was an odd note. Cyber Sunset read it twice, just to be certain.

“Kidnapped ‘princesses’ possibly being moved into or through town,” said the hero, glancing to the shipping schedules on the desk. “I think we’re due for two or three ships to come in from that region. Foreign dignitaries always spice things up a bit…”

Cyber Sunset put down the mug, walked to the ladder and climbed back up to the skylight. It wasn’t going to be a quiet night after all.

Fun read! Fumblies's only appearance this mission is up next, and we've got more of everyone, as well as the return of an AIL'er after several missions.. and of course, several fights to go, as well!