Eclipse
Story By Darin Dragon
Stellar Squeak created by Nuki

The hyena woman was exceedingly nervous.  She was sitting in a waiting room in SUIT, headquarters to a massive number of super heroes.  But in her case, her situation was something... different.  While she indeed have super powers herself, she happened to inherit them from a previous villain.  And so, when she had previously attempted to stop a robbery from occurring, she was mistaken  for her progenitor and promptly arrested.  Procedural scanning was able to conclude that she was not the second generation villainess, but a third-generation wielder of the same power.  She was desperate to make up for her mother's past transgressions, and to honor her grandmother's legacy.

Sitting before her on the other end of the emptied room was a strange individual, to say the least.  They were a goat, unique in the sense that the atypical horizontal pupils were instead shaped like vertical keyholes, matching the large padlock adorning her neck.  her horns shimmered gold and her hooves glowed a sparkling purple, like they were made with transparent purple plastic infused with glitter.  Beyond that were two further unusual aspects of her form.  The first was the flashy business suit she was dressed in. It was something straight out of the 80s.  And the second... was that she was less than two-and-a-half feet tall.

"Miss Rena, you have nothing to fear.  The misunderstanding was resolved, and they are more than wiling to allow you to register, so long as you proceed with the training as requested."

"B-b-but Yagikoooo...."  The hyena woman sputtered as her silver furred fingers laced through her hair.  "What if I mess up again?!  The last time I transformed, y-y-you made me act so mean!"

The goat, Yagiko, sighed and took a sip from a mug of coffee labeled, oddly enough, "Best Familiar Award, 2028."  As she let go of the mug, it floated freeform in the air.  "As I've explained multiple times before, that's your fault, not mine.  My power 'unlocks your potential,'" she said, motioning to the neck lock before continuing, "By means of magically powering you with your strongest desires come true.  In your case, that's threefold, in order:  to repair the reputation of the Black Swan, to be a glamorous dancer, and to be far less introverted than you are at present."  She took another sip as she continued.  "I'd say you act more 'haughty' than 'mean,' honestly.  And by the by, you DO still have the strength to control how you act, you know."

The hyena woman continued to ruffle her hair as her cheeks turned pink.  As her hands dropped, she softly hugged her brown-furred arms to her side, fingers gently brushing against golden blonde stripes  that matched the coloration of her muzzle.  "Y-yeah, I guess... b-but--"

"No more buts, Flan."  The small goat woman stepped down from the chair she was sitting in, and she walked toward the hyena.  "And don't you dare think about whining about not being worthy or some such nonsense, either!  You were fully compatible with my power even before your egg cracked, so don't go using THAT as an excuse either.  It's an insult to me as your familiar, and to you yourself after being brave enough to come out as you truly are."  She hopped up and stood aside the hyena.  "Even if this doesn't work out, I swear to always be by your side."

The hyena sniffled and nodded, slowly pulling out a tiny key from under her shirt.  Just as she did, a loud buzzing rang out and a nearby deactivated monitor glowed to life.

"Good afternoon, participants.  I am the Chief, head of SUIT, and I will be overseeing your training session today.  The goal is straightforward: each of you have been given an envelope with your Title and general mission guidelines.  Each mission is non-specific, and will be kept hidden until you complete it.  However, that mission will always match up with your Title, so keep that in mind.

"Next, a brief description of the situation you will all be in: a series of back-alleys that may hold various criminals and machinery that will be programmed to assault you.  So long as you aren't knocked out, you will pass.  However, successfully fulfilling your assigned mission will also assist in your evaluation.  At this point, each participant will have a specialized notice unique to each of you before you begin your training session."  There was a brief level of static before the recording continued.

"Of note, at least one third of the participants today are in SUIT's recently developed VERP System: the Villain re-Education and Rehabilitation Program.  In your case, passing this test will allow you to formally join SUIT without needing to complete the VERP System to be eligible for entry.  Good luck.  You may now change into your hero form if needed and proceed to the test site."

The door opened, and Flan took a deep breath.  The key in her hand glowed, and floated to the padlock on Yagiko's neck.  As it slowly turned, Flan invoked her transformation spell:

"Unlock the me, that I can be,
From now unto eternity,
Grace and might, dark as night,
May the Black Swan now take flight!"

Within moments, a grand cylinder of shadow enveloped the hyena, shifting into an egg.  As the egg fluttered away into black feathers, they surrounded her and absorbed into her body.  Piece by piece, articles of a new fashion found themselves on her body as her striped fur changed color.  Finally, she took a glamorous pose and chuckled softly to herself before entering the doorway.

----------

There was a brief level of static before the recording continued.  "Of note, at least one third of the participants are on disciplinary leave for nearly revealing their identity to an unauthorized individual.  Doing so is not only a risk to yourself, but to your family, your co-workers, and even to the innocent and uninvolved.  In your case, your enthusiasm to apologize for that mistake and better yourself showed promise.  And as such, you will be the only one to know your assigned mission: either defeat the heroes or learn their secret identities.  Your reward for passing the training session's at least one of those missions will be a pardon for that transgression and an early return to active duty.  Good luck.  You may now change into your hero form if needed and proceed to the test site."

The doorway opened, and a green clad individual quickly jogged into the opening...

----------

There was a brief level of static before the recording continued.  "Of note, at least one third of the participants are new recruits that will be using this training exercise as a final examination of your skills and adaptability, hence the reason why assigned missions are not known until after completion.  After all, there are times when an unknown innocent may be in trouble, as an example.  Good luck.  You may now change into your hero form if needed and proceed to the test site."

The young squirrel woman entered the training area nervously, but kept the facade of experience and composure.  Meanwhile, a tiny pair of hands and a little head popped out from her front bow pocket.  It was the tiny little squirrel pet she's always kept with her.  And unbeknownst to all others, this little creature was an otherworldly visitor, the source of her power, and most importantly, a very good friend.  The creature chittered loudly, waving a tiny curled fist at her.

"I know Squeaky, I should think of the test as just another training session, so I don't get too nervous, right?"  The little squirrel nodded quickly and nuzzled close to her chest with a contented smile.  As the squirrel woman walked further into the darkened area, she realized why it seemed so unpleasant: it was a perfect replica of the spaces between high rise buildings, right down to dingy dumpsters, rusty trash cans, and windows so filthy that you couldn't see through them.  Under normal circumstances, this would not be the sort of place a young woman should go and expect to leave in one piece.

But this was no ordinary young woman.  This was very evident from her attire: a brilliantly hot pink, skin-tight costume adorn her form.  A pancake-tutu-like skirt wrapped around her waist by a ribbon-like belt with a bright yellow star in place of a buckle.  This was placed over a hot pink leotard with puffed shoulders, and a tasteful ribbon (also adorn with a bright yellow star)  over where a more salacious costume would have put open cleavage.  Her tights matched her gloves, in the sense that they both has a tasteful pattern adorning their respective necklines.  Her forearm gloves were tastefully wrapped with ribbon around her wrists.  Those ribbons matched the ribbons that wrapped around her legs and affixed her shoes to her feet.  Along with those, she additionally had a ribbon keeping her long hair up, which also appeared to wrap around her upper face in a simple pink mask.

Meanwhile, her little friend wore a similar, but simplified costume: a pink unitard adorn with a simple yellow star on the chest, with white gloves and boots, and a pink domino mask covering the entire top half of their head, with little divots for their ears.

Finally, she could find herself in a clearing between the buildings, akin to a backlot.  She was surrounded by all sides with brick walls and windows, but thankfully, what few trash cans remained were not easily able to conceal a hidden person.  For some reason, there were multiple signs of a struggle, and various broken parts of some kind of machine littered the area.  A stray black crow appeared from one of the larger machine parts, and flew away past her.  The sudden noise of the clattering metal almost made her drop her Star Tact.  To put it in simpler terms: if a magic staff or cane would be the magical equivalent of a sword, then a tact could be considered the magical equivalent of a dagger.  While used in a reasonably shorter range, it was no less effective at its intended use.  Her Star Tact also held a yellow star motif in its center, with a smaller inverted pink star in the center of that.  It gave the visual impression of a yellow flower with five petals.  As the Tact's business end glowed, it left a soft trail of glowing pink light as she continued to walk forward.

"S-Sure is creepy, though...  M-maybe it's supposed to simulate a real-world setting, but this is kind of going overboard with the spook factor.  I really wish I could know if there were any other folks here by now...!"

"Oh, but my dear, you already passed one~"

Within moments, the young woman heard the sound of whistling, and dodged out of the way just in time.  The source of the noise: sharp black needles adorn to look like feathers.  Black feathers.

"No way.... the crow?!"

"Ohhhh-hohohohohoooo~!  Not a crow per se, but..."  The squirrel looked up to see an astonishing sight: a black-garbed hyena woman, holding the back of her hand against her chin and laughing haughtily at her.  For a wildly inexplicable and illogical reason, she was standing on not just the building's fire escape, not just the railing of the fire escape, but the corner of the fire escape.  Even further, she was standing en pointe, her tiptoes perfectly keeping her held aloft.

"Who are you?!"

As the hyena leapt down in an elegant manner, her legs lifted in a daring aerial split. She gently floated down before touching down, once more en pointe.  Now closer, the squirrel could see the hyena's attire more clearly.  Similarly to her own costume, the theme of being a ballet dancer was present.  Yet the black color scheme made it feel somehow more sinister.  This was not helped by the hyena's face.  Whether it was a mask or makeup, the squirrel woman couldn't tell.  But the hyena's face was pure white, unlike her chocolate brown fur with golden stripes.  In addition, her eyes had streaks of black going vertically downward, like some kind of vile harlequin mask.  In the dim light she couldn't quite tell, but she appeared to wear similar bicep-long black gloves and tights, adorn with black ballet slippers.

"My, my, a bit rude to be demanding names without offering your own, is it?  But I supposed it would be a bit much to expect one such as yourself to be more cordial."  The hyena woman gently held a hand to her cheek briefly before making a decision and lower it down again.  "Very well.  Then allow me to grace you with my glorious nomenclature, darling."  The hyena woman grasped the hem of her skirt and curtseyed as her free hand covered her chest.

"I... am the Black Swan."

The name immediately struck a chord with the squirrel, for two very different reasons.  Specifically, two very different women used that name in the past.  The first one to use the name was a rights activist, active after the stock market crash.  She specialized in using her powers to defend women from being abused by men in  power.  At the time, she was considered one of the first super-villainesses ever historically recorded.  However, historians agreed that this should be later redacted.  From then on, she would end up being considered an anti-heroine, instead.

The second generation Black Swan, however, absolutely relished in her mystical power as a villainess.  Destroying the buildings of those that slighted her, stealing anything (and any ONE) that caught her fancy, there was no end to her rampage... until she seemingly vanished without a trace.  The name shared by the two of them eventually became synonymous with toxic feminism and misandry, albeit a partially incorrect association.

But of note, this Black Swan looked like neither the first or second generation.  The squirrel woman huffed and readied her tact, tightening her grip as she slowly  inched to the side. Her little friend chittered again and lifted himself out, floating aside her in a grand pose.  The squirrel woman nodded, and took a pose before declaring,

"If the future's looking bleak,"
"Come forth the light of Stellar Squeak!"

"Stellar Squeak, is it... Fancy yourself a star, do we?  I must concede, you do look the part.  And I must applaud your lovely footwork, as well.  In that case, dear..."  The hand over the Black Swan's chest moved aside to reveal that she pulled from it a long black whip, covered in spikes... no, thorns.  The whip was a long, black, and had a black rose at the end of the handle.  "Shall we begin our little pas de deux?"

Without any movement of her body, she somehow leapt forward and brandished her whip, lashing out.  In response, Stellar Squeak's Star Tact floated before her and the pink light surrounding it grew in size.  The light seemed to grow solid, blocking the whip's assault easily.  However, the Black Swan was not done.  Standing on one leg she continued to spin, each rotation lending centrifugal force to each consecutive attack to the shield.  It creaked from the assault, but held strong.

"Oh, dear me, I seemed to have underestimated you a tad.  But, I shall not be undone."  From underneath the lining of her skirt came forth another dozen black feathers which looked dangerously familiar.  As they flew with a high-pitched whistle, the smaller shield expanded into a dome, covering the super heroine as she kneeled down with her little friend. One by one, the feathers clinked off of the barrier.

"Oh come now, what are you a squirrel or a turtle--!"  Before her jibe could complete, a thin pink line shot out from the crack in the concrete along her leg, keeping her in place.  As she turned to look to the glowing ribbon holding her in place, Stellar Squeak had undone the shield and leapt toward her.  The business end of the tact began to glow with a pink bubble of energy.  The bubble sprouted spikes and revealed the heroine's intent: it was now ready to use as a mace to clobber her target.

But the hyena was not to be undone.  Within moments, she snapped her whip and it suddenly became straight and solid, easily able to block the mace from making purchase on her head.  "Come now, princess.  I know I deserve a crown, but not that kind."  The Black Swan's upper arms pulsed, and her free foot took one step forward, pushing Stellar Squeak back with raw power.

"What?!"

"Ohhh-hohohohooo, yes.  Beauty, magic, strength, I am indeed the full package, dear.  More than enough to handle any nasty little ne'er-do-well that comes my way."

Stellar Squeak blinked, shaking her head.  "Wait wait... 'ne'er-do-well?'  As in, villains?"

The Black Swan blinked in response and raised an eyebrow.  "Um.. yes?  I mean, this IS a training session for heroes, so obviously that means the hero is the one who is fighting the villain."

"Yeah, the heroes should definitely be fighting the villains."  Stellar Squeak growled, not in anger, but exasperation.

"Yes, thank you.  I WAS a bit thrown off, to be honest.  You're wearing a bit too much pink for a proper villain aesthetic, but I suppose this is one of those "appearances can be deceiving" life lessons and all that."

"No no, this is--LOOK OUT, SQUEAKY!"  Stellar Squeak quickly yanked her little friend from his floating perch in the air as she leapt toward the Black Swan.  And within moments, a brilliant light green light.

It was a pyramid of transparent green energy, which had dropped onto them from nowhere.  In the center, directly beneath it, was a familiar dome of pink light, but the inside of the dome was covered in black.  As the outer pink dome grew and popped like a bubble, the pyramid crumbled away from the force.  Meanwhile, underneath, the inner black dome fell away to reveal it was made of condensed feathers.  Just then, not one, but two people emerged.

"Ooh, now I see.  This is ACTUALLY one of those 'tricked into fighting one whom should be an ally' kind of scenarios, isn't it.  How positively gouache."

"Yeah.  But I guess if they told us everything that would happen, it wouldn't be training as a real-world situation."

"Indeed, my dear.  Perhaps now, our little pas de deux could be a bit more cooperative?"  The Black Swan stepped up and gave an elegant curtsey once more to her savior.  She, in turn, also gave a curtsey.

"Certainly, Black Swan. Now, as for our little party-crasher... you can come out now."

With a loud sigh, a reasonably familiar raccoon man floated down from a rooftop with a sigh.  A raccoon with a skin-tight body suit patterned in black, white and green, with bright green diamond squares on his chest and the palms of his gloves.  "Oh, right, just a sec."  He tapped at the headband around his forehead and the transparent green lens completing the circlet changed shape to extend vertical points upward.  "Um... I am the... Emerald... Evil?  G-grrr."  He lifted his arms and wiggled his fingers in a childishly vain attempt to look scary.  It was exactly as effective as one would expect.

"Okay, then.  Process of elimination, dear?"

"Oh yeah.  It would also explain that weird pyramid being green."

"Y-yes!  It was to lure you into, uh... a false sense of... security? So I can... getcha.  Grr.  Grr..."

The Black Swan slowly sighed and placed a hand to her cheek, while the hand holding her whip/blade rested on her waist.  "Honestly dear, you can't play the part of a villain to save your life."

"Ha ha... I guess not... but maybe I can END YOUR HEROIC CAREER!"  Suddenly from between them, a green light shone brightly.  Before she could know what was happening, the hyena woman felt pressure moving her away before a small cage surrounded Stellar Squeak.  "It worked?  I mean, uh, IT WORKED!  Ha-HA!"

As the Black Swan peered over to her compatriot, it seemed odd to her.  The pink glow around her weapon started to dim, and she was breathing heavily.  Along with that, the little creature that was always next to her was clamoring in an attempt to try to rouse her from her drowsy demeanor.  That was when the hyena woman realized.  In a similar fashion to her own ability, her new ally's powers must be connected to her own stamina and it must be running out.  And that meant, her transformation could come undone at any moment.

"Oh, dear... Sorry, darling, but I feel as though you'll thank me for this later."  Suddenly, dozens of feathers swirled around the cage, entering the bars and covering the squirrel with a much smaller done of black.  "I understand it now.  Seeing as you're the 'villain' in this exercise, I'd wager that you actually know your mission already.  Cheating isn't above a villain, after all.  And I bet that mission is to 'incapacitate the heroes,' or something to that extent."

The Jade Ranger--err, the "Emerald Evil" that is, froze in place.  His eyes darted to the left as he crossed his arms and whistled innocently.  "Maaaybe?  Maybe noooot... there could be other things, too, you don't knooooow--GOTCHA!"  And a massive green crane game claw appeared from his hands to grasp at her.  But before they could close in, The Black Swan leaped into the air...

And stayed there.  "Wait, what?!"

"Ah, right, you mentioned 'ending our heroic careers' earlier, so maybe revealing our secret identities is another one.  Still..."  She chuckled and gently tiptoed in midair, humming softly to herself.  That was when the Jade Ranger noticed: she wasn't simply floating in the air, she was stepping onto floating black feathers.  It was hard to notice because of the dim light and her black costume, but they were still there.  Despite that, he could still see her, and deftly began to throw dozens of green orbs at her.  Small in size, he was still able to enhance their speed more than enough.  If the way they embedded into the brick walls and cracked them was any indication, a single one hitting the mark would devastate a normal person.  A few also managed to hit the black dome from within the previously made green cage, but they bounced off harmlessly.

"Oh, no.  I'm afraid I can't let you do that to me, OR my new friend.  Furthermore, I still need to restore my progenitor's name to its rightful level of glory."  As more of the orbs appeared and flew toward her, they started to arc and try to strike her from other angles.  Each time, a stray feather redirected it away, until they eventually curled to catch them and hold them in place.  But as easily as they were stopped, they vanished and new ones took their place.

"Battle of attrition, is it?  I'm afraid  that won't do."  And with the deftness of a baseball player, she struck one of the balls of light, causing it to hurtle down toward the 'Emerald Evil.'

"Wait, nonono--OOF!"  The impact hurled him back against a wall, and it buckled and cracked from the force.  He was still on his feet, but his knees wavered immensely.  Meanwhile, The Black Swan began to pant heavily.  "Wait... really?  Oh man, I'm almost done!"  He stepped forward, body aching but he still persevered.  "One more... time..."

"STELLAR SHOT!"  A brilliant yellow star appeared from the dome, shattering it from within before it jettisoned out toward the target.  Stellar Squeak, brilliant pink as before, with no signs of fatigue, posed triumphantly as the star hit its mark... right in the Jade Ranger's shield.  And as it did, the suit began glowing red.

"...aw, maaaan."  Within seconds, parts of the wall opened up and mechanical arms telescoped out to spray him down with a thick foam.

"The training is over, head to the results room for your grades and recuperation, everyone."  That brief message from the Chief was the last thing they heard before the environment around the trio digitally deconstructed, leaving a simple cube of a room with a wire-frame motif and various environmental detritus, presumably added for effect.  A single door on each side of the room was present, and only one of those doors was open.

"So that's what the message meant, huh Black Swan?  ..Hello?"  Stellar Squeak shook her head before turning toward her ally in the exercise.  She turned over to Squeaky for advice, but they shrugged and floated over to nestle in her chest bow.  It seemed that her new friend was nowhere to be found, only a few trash cans.  "Oh, maybe she went ahead... aw, I wanted to chat with her a little bit longer."  As she pouted she walked toward the door.

"H-hey, wait for me--OW... wow, that Stellar Shot packs a punch!" She was soon followed by a foam-covered 'Emerald Evil.'

Meanwhile, a certain little goat walked out from behind a trash can, sighing.  "So close... but, not much for it, I'm afraid, miss Rena."  She turned to a closed up can on its side, where the sound of soft crying could be heard.  "You did your best, there's no reason to be so down."

She whimpered and crawled out of the can, rubbing her still-dripping eyes.  "I-I just wanted... t-to help people and make grandma happy.  B-but now... I have to be in the VERP thing, so everyone in SUIT is *sniff* is gonna know about grandma, a-and she's gonna get bothered by a bunch of people, a-and--"

"Shh, shh.  Hush, now, dear."  A small hoof pressed against Flan's lips as she looked down at Yagiko, tears still falling from her eyes.  "It will be all right.  Trust me, okay?  You will be fine.  Remember: I will always be there for you, no matter wha--OOF!"  Her kind words became interrupted as Flan rushed to cling tightly to her and sob softly.  All she could do was curl her arms around the young woman's waist and let her air out her feelings.

----------

"I see you are all here now."  The Chief paced in front of the trip looking over to each of them and finally stopped in front of the Jade Ranger.  "Firstly, Jade Ranger.  For the sake of being brief, your showing was... better than expected."

"Wait, better?  I got my butt handed to me!"  He pouted and muttered to himself, "By a pair of girls, for Pete's sake--ow!" and he was interrupted as his boss flicked his forehead.

"You know better than to say things like that.  These young ladies scored incredibly well on their physical exams, and their metaphysical readings were also above average.   If you had fought them when you first registered, you would have been easily trounced within seconds."

"Right... sorry Chief.  And ladies."  He nodded in apology before the Chief continued.

"That said, you managed to succeed in passing one of your objectives: revealing the identities of both heroes."

"Wait, I did?  When'd that happen?"

Silver Squeak chuckled nervously.  "I, uh... may have lost my transformation just before that dome covered me.  I guess the sensors in the exam room could tell, huh?"

But the Chief shook his head.  "For this exercise, it wasn't the sensors that confirmed it, it was the cameras."  A monitor on the wall played back the scenario as the Chief narrated, moving frame by frame.  Incidentally, the moment in question was mosaic-ed to maintain her anonymity.  "It was a fraction of a micro second, but your full face was exposed just before the entire dome concealed you.  Jade Ranger managed to have access to a few hard-light constructs he made to function as CCTV cameras that interconnected with his neural link's storage.  This was used to confirm your identity has been revealed."

"Oh, wow...  I guess it's not easy to keep your secret identity a secret."

"Indeed.  Especially if you're flippant enough to expose your full face during an interview," the Chief growled, leering at the Jade Ranger.  "You're lucky one of your constructs was able to erase the camera data.  AND that the reporter had partial face-blindness."

"Y-yes, sir."  The Jade Ranger slumped over in embarrassment.

"Speaking of, you're next.  Stellar Squeak."

The young woman stood up straight and saluted, in complete opposition to her delicate attire.  And more so to the floating squirrel who was chattering nearby and having a fit.

"Ah, apologies... this is your partner, Squeaky, yes?"

The little squirrel floated in the air, but still managed to puff out their chest and 'stand proudly' in response to the recognition before the Chief continued.  "Let's start with what went wrong...  You overexerted yourself too early on an unknown individual... one who would turn out to be an ally.  Aside from that, you were quick to course correct and focus on what needed to be done.  Good job.."

Stellar Squeak beamed and held her Start Tact close to her chest with a happy little hops.  "Thank you sir, eee!"

"As for you..."

"Yes, sir."  The Black Swan, contrary to her previous bravado, was suddenly quieter and more reserved, holding onto her upper arm with her other hand.  "I mistook an ally for an enemy, failed to properly protect her, and couldn't  defend myself after nearly being hit by an opponent finishing's blow when I thought he was defeated."  She took a deep breath, lowered her arm, and then raised both wrists in the air.  "I suppose this means I'm going to be sent into confinement for transfer into the VERP Program, yes?"

"That is to be decided upon the formal results of your training session.  Now..."  The Chief sat down at his desk and pulled out a clipboard.  He stepped toward the Jade Ranger first.  "Jade Ranger."

"Yes, sir!"

"Minor issues aside with your 'character motivation,'  I believe you have fully demonstrated, by being on the opposite end, the inherent value of a superhero's anonymity.  As such, you have passed and are authorized to return to active duty.  Congratulations."  The Chief slid out a small card from the clipboard and a sheet of paper detailing the results of the training session, handing it to the raccoon.  "You may go."

"Yes, sir, thank you sir!"  He bowed, turned, and slowly walked away.  His stiff movement exposed his excitement at returning to active duty, however.  "Wow.. those girls were tough, I'm exhausted.  Maybe taking dance lessons could help my stamina a bit?"  And the door closed.

"Next: Stellar Squeak.  ...And her little friend, Squeaky."

The squirrel woman gave another salute, mimicked by Squeaky while they floated in midair.  The chief gave a hand motion to allow her to be at ease as he continued.

"For the sake of reminding you both: each of you were given an unknown task to perform as your goal during training.  Miss Stellar, your unknown goal was..."  The Chief let a pregnant pause fill the room before continuing.

"To 'protect a third party from danger.'  Despite having to fight the Black Swan before due to a misunderstanding, you were flawlessly able to change gears and assist in defending her.  Not once, but twice.  As such."  He pulled out a red envelope emblazoned with the SUIT insignia.  "You are now officially recognized as a hero under SUIT.  Congratulations."

Stellar Squeak slowly took the envelope and opened it.  Inside was an official SUIT card... sleeve?

"Um... what is this?"

"Ah, that's your SUIT card.  It has an RFID chip inside of it with 8192-bit encryption.  This will allow you access to various covert services supported by SUIT, all throughout Taiyou.  This includes (but are not limited to), government-supported financial compensation, access to various safe houses, and a daily free meal at the local cafeteria."

"Um... what?"

"Don't be fooled: not only are they a talented hero in their own right, the chef also has a Michelin rating of three stars."

"Ooh... Thank you, sir!"

"Certainly.  You may go."

As she turned to walk out, she stopped and turned around again.

"Yes, is there a problem?"

"Actually... can I say a bit longer?"  She looked over to the Black Swan, who seemed to be despondent.  "I want to support my new friend!"

"Me?  A... friend?"  Before tears could fall from her cheeks she sharply breathed in, maintained her composure and nodded sharply.  "Thank you, but I'd rather not have you console me when I find out I failed.  The gesture is appreciated, though."

"Very well, you may stay, Stellar Squeak."  The Chief turned over to the Black Swan.  "As you already stated, you did misunderstand the situation and fought against an intended ally.  Along with that, your follow-through in your last moments of the exercise were insufficient to land a finishing blow."

"Yes, sir."

"That said..."  And the Chief tapped the clipboard before continuing.  "You managed to destroy the dozen battle androids that were placed in within five minutes of the start of the exercise is certainly nothing to sneeze at.  In fact, you only needed to incapacitate three of them for your mission."

"OH, the metal junk in the alcove!  I thought some of that looked familiar!"  Stellar Squeak beamed bright at the hyena woman.  "Those things took forever to take down when I first started!  You're amazing!"

The Black Swan's pale cheeks turned beet red and she turned away from both of them, muttering, "I-I just thought to target the joints, is all."

"Taking that into consideration, we have concluded you indeed have potential as a hero....  That said."  the glare of the setting sun reflected off of the Chief's visor, giving an imposing expression.

"We do ALSO need to take the history of chosen your name into consideration.  The Black Swan has had a significantly negative impact on the populous since the 1980s.  With that in mind, I'm afraid we have no choice but to decline providing a formal recognition of The Back Swan as an officially sanctioned hero of SUIT.  We are also unable to place you within the VERP System for that same reason."

Within seconds, she fell to her knees, arms limp, eyes lifted to the ceiling.  There were no tears, if only because this was the exact result she expected.

"Chief, wait, please!"  Stellar Squeal spoke up as the Black Swan turned up to look at her.  "If her hero name is the issue, then why can't she just pick a different one?"

"That is a good question."  The Chief turned to the hyena woman.  "Am I correct in understanding that the main reason you have kept the same name is to restore the reputation of the first generation Black Swan; the rights' activist anti-hero?"

She slowly stood up and wiped her eyes before nodding.  "Yes, sir.  I have it on personal authority that she took responsibility for the actions of the second generation Black Swan herself.  That was when she allowed me to inherit the mantle of the Black Swan."  There was a deep pain in her eyes, but her gaze was strong and unwavering.  "But...

"If I can't do that, I understand.  I will take on a new name if need be.  The world's safety should come before the pride of my legacy."

The Chief grinned and handed her a similar red envelope.  "That is the answer I wanted to hear.  Welcome to SUIT... Onyx Cygnet."