Linda
It was relatively warm on a Sunday Morning and Alan was sitting on the beach in his antique clothes.

He looked at the sea, gaping far and wide. He wondered if there were other lands to explore beyond the sea. Something beyond what people were living. Maybe there were other native humans of this Earth who were like his kind. The answer may not be known for as long as a way to traverse the ocean does not exist.

Then, he relaxed his body, trying to get himself in the baking sunlight. He took a deep breath and looked around the beach.
Susan
If there was one thing Phoenix loved about her powers it was her ability to use it to fly. It not only made patrols easier but they were overall more enjoyable. There was just something about rocketing through the sky, it almost made it worth what she had to go through to get her powers. Almost.

Despite the enjoyable experience that was flying she still had to take a break occasionally and today she thought a stop on the beach would be a perfect place for that. Flying down low and slow she moved just above the water, holding her hand down she dipped it into the water. As a trail formed through the water she began to slow down before turning towards the beach and coming to a stop, landing on the sandy surface. Where she had put down she could only see one other person.

*"Enjoying the sun are you?"*
Linda
Alan noticed a Cape land onto the beach. Oddly enough, it kind of looked familiar from what he saw when he was wandering around New London, especially before becoming a cape himself.

It was a tall woman that was usually covered in fire and can fly around at her will. This was truly something Alan wished he would have gotten if he became a cape due to... Some obvious reasons.

Her just landing not faraway from him after what seemed to feel for her like a pretty nice joyride. When he hear her ask, he decided to approach her first so she could hear him then answered: *"Yeah, I am enjoying the sun. It is quite warm, innit? Also, that landing you did was really impressive."*

Obviously, the woman was much taller than him. Thus, he had to bend his neck up a bit to look at her eyes.
Susan
Phoenix couldn't help but laugh at the comment.

*"I'll have to be honest, I don't really feel the heat of the sun considering you know the fire and all. Still it has been nice weather. I hate it when it rains, I just make so much steam its actually unbearable."*

Everytime it had rained and she used her powers a small cloud of steam seemed to follow her around. It wouldn't be that bad if it weren't for the fact it hindered her visibility.

*"And thanks, I've put a lot of effort into flying and landing well. It's actually pretty hard to control the flames to be honest."*
Linda
Phoenix laughing in reaction to Alan's comment made him giggle a bit. He obviously knew that Phoenix being covered in fire all the time literally meant that she was resistant to it in a way and the quickest way for opponents to suppress her power would be prolonged exposure to water.

*"I think you look amazing in those flames covering your body. And I wish I could happily like fly around like you, without a care in the world."* He said as he sat down on the beach, thinking if it is worth befriending the woman or not.

*"Maybe you can sit down on the beach with me for a while or something, what do you think?"* He asked, with a pretty friendly tone.
Susan
*"Yeah flying is one of the best things I've managed to gain from my powers. You really should see the city from the air, it's beautiful. You could almost forget the fact it's filled with violence, poverty and suffering."*

She dropped to the ground and let herself sit as she look out to the horizon. Looking to the north she could see the black rocks of a an island in the distance. 

*"I can sit a while, but I will have to go soon. I'm on patrol and I'm only giving myself a short break."*
Linda
Alan smiled for a bit and answered: *"Like I said before, I wish I could fly. But obviously, I cannot do that."*

He then chuckled in amusement and saw Phoenix sitting down next to him. He continued: *"I usually go there to rest after work."*. He decided to just lie down for a bit.
Susan
*"Can't fault you for that. Especially in this city you need a break after working all day and nothing beats the beach for that."*

She reached down and allowed the sand to flow between her fingers. Clenching her fist she raised it in front of her, a sudden burst of flames appearing around her hand. Opening her fingers a misshapen lump of glassy rock fell to the sand below.

*"You know I went to the beach back on Earth Bet once, when I was young. It was so different to this, it was all rocks and mud. No sand to be seen. Probably the worse beach I could imagine to be honest."*
Linda
*When I was in Earth Bet, I never went to the beach. I mostly grew up in a landlocked city of Sheffield. I have never really been to a beach, until arriving in New London when my parents managed to find jobs that pay a bit better.* He responded to Phoenix ranting a bit about her past.

*I actually have a minor job. I just come here from time to time, pondering about the world and taking a while off.* He continued as he looked up to her, with more confidence.
Susan
*"Sheffield huh?"* 

She was only ten when Gold Morning happened, it was before she had a true sense of the geography of her home. Still she had heard of Sheffield, she had read all about its role in the industrial revolution when studying the history of Earth Bet. Not that it really mattered now. The fragments of history people knew and the few artefacts that were carried over to Earth Omega are all that remain of the past.

*"I didn't really grow up in one place, my family often moved between our different houses. Well, before gold morning at least. Our wealth didn't exactly transfer over. Anyway, enough about the past we should focus on the here and now. You said you had a job, what do you do?"*
Linda
*"Yeah, Sheffield. That was the only place I lived there. I have been barely outside of this town, or that is what my parents told me."* He responded.

His parents never really had enough money, from what he recalls and that is why they stayed and never really travelled anywhere, aside from Liverpool or London. He was barely ten years old when Gold Morning happened, so he did not know a lot about where his home was located, especially his history. Being raised in a village, while he was somewhat educated, but was vaguely taught about virtually everything, especially the history of Earth Bet.

When she asked him about his job, he continued: *"Well, I go to a car store to fix small car parts. Sometimes I go serve the customers. It is a somewhat popular job in my youth. The local mechanics usually teach us how to do their jobs."*

He thought about asking if she has a job or not, but changed his mind for... Obvious reasons and did not let the thought go through.
Susan
*"Ah that's not a bad job to be fair. Good work that will always be in demand. Not really my thing though if I'm being honest."*

She tried to think back to before her trigger event, when she had been planning her future in New London. What had she hoped to do with her life? It said a lot that she couldn't remember, her life had been entirely consumed by her life as a cape, in fact she was fairly certain she now spent more time in costume rather than out of it. How life had changed.

*"No, I think I'm gonna end up spending the rest of my life doing hero work. The moment you deal with one villain another pops up out of nowhere so I'll never be out of work."*
Linda
Alan heard the young woman more or less say that she basically does not have a job. He heard that not all of the capes had a job, probably because they were too busy doing their own things.

But anyways, the way she lived her life was probably rather questionable.

He decided to ask: *"If you are always patrolling the city, where do you get your money from? What do you do to... Like... At least get some food or anything of the sort? It seems that you get money from bounties, am I right?"*
Susan
Phoenix couldn't help but laugh at what was said.

*"I'm sorry, I'm not laughing at you but I hadn't even thought about it until you just brought it up. I actually haven't received a single penny from my Hero work if I'm honest. I was fortunate that when my parent's passed they left me with a rather hefty sum of money, well enough that I won't go hungry at night at least. It should last until I can get some bounties, or perhaps even a offer from Vanguard."*

Now Vanguard, if she could get an offer from then she would be pretty much set for the rest of her life. It wasn't even the amount it was the fact it was consistent. Well it was a government job after all.
Linda
*"Vanguard, huh?"* He responded with a bit of a stern expression. Being a cape himself, he thought about becoming a Vanguard member and the benefits it could bring.

He could definetely join if he made more effort and contribution to his part-time cape career. But, it may be rather difficult to join this group, unless it invited him for some interview.

Then, he thought about revealing his cape identity to Phoenix, but during the thought process, he felt like it was not worth doing so. But aside from that, he went ahead and asked: *"Phoenix, can I please tell you a very secret fact of mine?"*
Susan
Phoenix raised an eyebrow at Alan as he asked to share a secret. She wondered just what sort of secret he wanted to share with a random cape who happened to drop by on the same bit of beach as him. As the possibilities filtered to her mind she could only conclude this was some rando about to tell her something completely inconsequential or he was about to reveal something that would endanger her career and livelihood.

*"That depends entirely on what it is. I hope you will think very carefully on if you should tell me whatever it is you wanted to say. I would hate for you to regret it."*
Linda
Alan cleared his throat and whispered into her ear after about a few seconds of thinking through if it was worth doing so.
He whispered: *"I'm actually a... Cape as well. I was thinking about joining Vanguard at some point. Please, don't tell anyone about this fact without my permission."*

As soon as he finished, he got back starting to think if it was worth telling her or not. What would happen if she would actually get mad at this? Would she just get mad for revealing his identity? Time will see.
Susan
*"Ah.."*

She figured it might have been something like that. Thanks to this random stranger she was now in a bit of a tricky situation. The unwritten rules didn't exactly come with a guidebook but screwing them up would still lead to you being punished anyway. When it came to your own secret identity that was your to do with as you wish but for those who knew another's secret identity you couldn't use that to your advantage.

*"I hope you realise what you've done. You've gone a put me in a position where I have some sort of power over you, where in order to make it fair I need to bring myself down. Don't mind the heat, I just want to create enough light to make photography difficult."*

Her hand swung behind her, pointing inland as a large cone of bright flames formed. As the flames licked the sand the fire that covered Phoenix's face died down revealing her identity below. The entirety of the left side of her face was horrible scarred, the right side less so but still damaged. Her right eye a beautiful deep amber colour, her left a bloodshot mess almost pure crimson from damage.

*"I show you this so we remain on an even and fair playing field but I warn you, any action to levy this to your advantage and I'll assume you are just as bad as Darwin and his cronies. Now I should get back to work."*

Her face burst into flames yet again as she shifted the fire she had been shooting onto the beach into a much small but more powerful jet. Angling it down she launched into the air at a surprisingly swift speed.
Linda
Alan briefly regretted revealing the fact that he had a cape identity, especially when the cape just revealed herself to be a very scarred and mutilated woman. It seemed that she was burned up, tortured and mutilated by some goons, or whoever that was. Nevertheless, he was horrified by her looks.

To him, her warning meant that he should not share her identity with anybody else and keep it between her and him, unless she permits it, which may be unlikely. He heeded her warning and said: *"I swear to not reveal your identity to anyone."*

When she took off, Alan left the beach without saying anything else. When a few locals asked him what did he do, and what Phoenix looked like under her mask, he said that it was none of their damned business.