When Charity Goes W̶r̶o̶n̶g̶ Right

                                    

                                          
"Clear!" Rubble flew high into the air, followed seconds later by chunks of giant squid, which rained upon the street.
Jack held an umbrella up, the monster bits flowing down it. "This stuff is always so gross," he muttered. The Cleanup Squad was at work once again, downtown in the Middle Zone of the city, cleaning up a giant squid that had come from space. The heroes known as the Pallet Boys had put a stop to it earlier that day.
"It's always these giant monster freaks." A worker kicked the side of the squid. Its corpse was draped over several destroyed buildings, the beast being the size of a city block and having to have charged blasts split it apart.
Jack never got a chance to respond back to the man, as a voice called out. "Larison!" Mr. Moore was an odd boss that reminded Jack a lot of his son, Armin. The man typically stayed put in the office but had come out today, waving the Squad's best worker over. "You said you needed to leave early today, right?" The man asked.
"Yeah. I have a thing planned." Jack nodded.
"Right. Well, we got some new people, and it looks like we're basically done here with the hard part. We got it from here."
"Thank you, sir." Jack went to walk past his boss but was stopped when the man put a hand on his shoulder. "Sir?"
"How's my son doing, by the way?"
"You know?"
"I know a lot of things I shouldn't." Mr Moore chuckled.
"Well, he's been doing fine. I'll keep an eye on him, though. I'm going to meet him and the others, in fact."
"Got it. Also, that girl on the team. She wouldn't happen to be- Nah, what am I saying? The Laurens would never. Sorry to keep you."
Jack finally left, heading down the street and past the tape that blocked it off from the public. There wasn't much traffic or civilians walking around due to the roadblock and destruction up ahead, so he ducked down an alleyway. He came to a sudden stop, though, when he saw someone already standing in it.
"Come on. Work already! Stupid space guts!" It was a young man, one dressed in very colorful armor, mainly focused around the color blue. It looked very knightly, but despite its old-fashioned look, it hummed with an electronic buzz. The man had the helmet off, revealing a young adult. The man was messing with the helmet, using some weird tool to get it to work.
Jack cleared his throat, and the man jumped. The hero went to cover his face with an arm, clearly in a panic. "Relax. I'm a hero, too."
"So!" The man yelled in panic. "That doesn't matter."
Jack grumbled, and for a moment, his body glowed with a golden light. Then, in a flash, he burst forward. The lid of a dumpster rose open, and suddenly Jack stood, dressed in his heroic costume. "Look, man, you're on my spot. I hide my costume in places like this for quick access." He went to fold his arms but stopped as he looked the hero up and down. "Wait a second. I know you. Ain't ya a Pallet Boy?"
The man eyed him up and down and placed the helmet back on. It seemed to lock in place, covering his face and causing his voice to gain a mechanical edge. "I am Pallet Boy Blue. You a new hero?"
"I guess." Battery shrugged. "I've only been a hero for a bit. Joined Myth's team."
"If you're working with Myth, you can't be that bad of a guy. Also, now that I think about it, I think I've seen you on the news before. Weren't you guys behind a dock being destroyed?"
"No. Uh, that was some other asshole group." Battery awkwardly stepped away. "So, what's up with your tech? You seem to be having some issues."
The young man grumbled a bit. "Yeah. My brother and I went to fight this monster that appeared, and ever since, our tech has been gunked up. The stupid thing was like a massive EMP or something. We're doing our best to get our stuff working again, so we can go back to patrolling the city for the big day."