“We have breaking news! An earthquake of a 7.2 magnitude has hit South Korea centering around Seoul and the police department have been reported to have trouble calming down the panicked citizens! Who will save the day? We still haven’t spotted any heroes yet.”

    “As you all know, we bring live-coverage of super-powered Heroes taking on crimes and natural disasters straight into your living room! The rescue entertainment show that rates heroes by their actions to pick the King of Heroes! This is Hero TV Live!”

._.

    “Sky High just got the points for arriving first,” a voice informs Irene over the small comms system installed inside her helmet.

    Irene groans. “Seulgi,” she wearily warns.

    “I’m just saying,” comes the wry response. “This wouldn’t have happened if we had just transferred to Seoul, but nooo, you had to stay in Incheon.”

    “Seulgi,” Irene warns for the second time. “That’s enough.”

    “Fine, I won’t say anything.” Seulgi sighs as Irene grits her teeth, pressing down on the gas pedal so hard it could probably break. Given that it’s Irene, it probably would break. “Press the accelerator,” Seulgi instructs. “I just finished fixing the thing this morning. I can’t believe you pulverized the nitrogen tank with your foot trying to find the kickstand,” she adds on as an afterthought.

    “It was an accident!” Irene replies defensively, but then gives a sigh of her own and nods slightly before pressing the glowing pink button placed right next to the ignition on her motorcycle. Nitrogen flows through the tubes lining the bike and burns a bright blue, pushing the bike to even greater speeds. The hero grips the handlebars tighter as she tries to maneuver her way through the stilled cars lying in the street.

    Out of the peripheral of her vision, she sees a heavy piece of machinery tipping off of the side of a five-story building. Probably something placed carelessly on the edge of the rooftop and usually wouldn’t be a huge problem if not for the fact that there was a family of four cowering into each other as the object made its descent. Irene lets out a small grunt as she sharply steers her motorcycle in that direction. Once she gets close enough, she slides her vehicle away, not paying attention to it as it skids against the asphalt (and Seulgi groaning at all of the damage she’s going to have to fix) and pushing the family lightly to the side with one arm while catching the piece of fallen machinery with the other. She lets out a small gasp when the sharp pain of the impact hits her and her bones brace as the shock tremors through them. She brings up her other arm- the arm that’s no longer pushing the panicked family back- to get a better hold on the device, the metal distorting under her desperate grip.

    She sets the object safely onto the ground, rolling her eyes as ‘+100 pt’ appears four times on her visor screen in digitized golden letters. “It’s not safe in the streets,” Irene informs the now-awed family, slightly out of breath. “Please evacuate to the nearest safety shelter and there will be officials waiting to take care of you.” The hero gives them a bow in farewell before rushing off.

._.

    “That save you made was pretty cool today,” Seulgi tells Irene over the comms. “Too bad it was overshadowed by Pitch. I still can’t believe she got 1200 points for that!”

    Irene shrugs as she pilots the slightly scratched motorcycle- now in heli-mode. “I still think she should’ve gotten more points, to be honest. I mean, she managed to cancel out an aftershock with her supersonic scream.”

    “Hey! She’s your rival! Don’t say that!” Seulgi reprimands.

    “No, she’s not,” Irene retorts. “She’s the top of the list, a shoe-in for King of Heroes and I’m just- I’m just me.” The hero shrugs as she reaches the abandoned  rooftop of her apartment building.

    “And that’s awesome!” Seulgi replies heatedly. Irene smiles softly as she can practically picture Seulgi leaning across the table, gripping her mic tightly as she argues with a person who’s not physically there. “You’re a superhero and you could totally be King of Heroes! Y’know, if you actually tried for once.”

    Irene sighs for the upteempth time that day, exhaustion slowly seeping into her bones. “I told you already. My job is to save the city- or country or whatever, not win some game show.” She drops down, softly landing onto the rooftop as Seulgi pilots Irene’s vehicle back to “Red Velvet HQ,” as the technician likes to call it (even though it’s really just the garage that her parents are letting her borrow until they can finally kick her out). “End of discussion. I’ll see you in school tomorrow.” Irene smiles at the tinny ‘bye unni’ coming from the other end before pressing the unmorph button. (Seulgi really needs to stop watching Power Rangers. It’s starting to become a bad influence on her.) Gears hiss and click and whir as Irene’s clunky suit slowly and miraculously morphs down into a sleek white phone with glowing pink lining.

    Her ears perk at a small gasp. Irene- no, Joohyun- looks to the side to see a girl in soft, green flannel pajama pants- a highschooler, it seems- standing in the doorway, the rusted doorknob held tight in her grip. “No way,” the girl breathes out, eyes widening. Joohyun groans.  

A/N: An AU based on the concept from the anime 'Tiger and Bunny'. If you haven't seen it yet, you should because it's totally awesome. The first two paragraphs are based off of the announcement in the first episode. Also somewhat inspired by sinisterkids on livejournal's joyrene drabble. This is my first time writing a fic, but I couldn't resist myself? Sorry.