The Reincarnated Hitman

The HA headquarters.

Rather than only being a single building standing in the middle of Sterling City, the HA headquarters was an entire island on the coast of Sterling City.

Lea silently looked outside the car’s window and towards the ocean as they moved through the bridge.

Since they were a lot closer to the HA than any other Pragma measurement facility, Liam decided to head there instead.

Though she could sense that her big brother had another intention of going to the HA.

Eli, meanwhile, was excited that he was getting the chance to go see all those heroes.

The HA, as much as it was a base for the heroes, also had a tourist attraction spot, which meant that Liam and the rest didn’t need any special documentation to get to the island.

"There it is!" Eli let out in excitement as he pointed forward.

After a couple of minutes on the almost endless bridge, they could finally see the island.

And the first thing that caught their attention wasn’t the headquarters itself.

Rather, it was the statue of a hero with a cape behind him, standing with both hands at his side.

Valor.

The symbol of justice itself and the strongest hero in the entire world.

Given how clearly they could see the statue, even from this distance, they guessed that it was easily over a hundred meters tall.

The car soon reached the gate, and after scanning Liam’s citizen ID, the security at the gate let them through.

"This place is huge," Eli muttered as they drove in....and even that was an understatement; after all, the Island was practically its own city.

There were training facilities, research centers, medical buildings, residential areas for heroes and even a massive stadium that appeared to be capable of holding tens of thousands of people.

"That’s the hero museum!" Eli let out as he practically climbed on Lea’s lap to get to the car’s window before pressing his face against it.

Passing by them was a large building that people were currently walking into. At the very top of the building was a sign that said:

Hero Museum.

It was a place that held statues, feats and stories of every hero in the United Republic of America, the country with the most heroes.

"We’ll stop by after we’re done with what we’re here for," Liam said as he focused on the road ahead.

"Really?" Eli let out as he sat back down, even more excited than previously.

Lea, on the other hand, was turning quieter as they got closer to the Pragma measurement facility.

She was still worried about awakening a weak Factor, despite what Liam had told her the previous day.

Lea stared down at her clenched fist before slowly loosening it.

What if her Factor really was weak?

She knew Liam had told her that even a weak Factor could become terrifying in the right hands, but that didn’t change the fact that she wanted something powerful.

Only then could she finally be able to relieve Liam of at least a bit of the burden he had shouldered since their parents passed away.

If she could awaken a powerful Factor, perhaps she could finally take some of that weight off his shoulders.

She could protect herself; she could protect Eli...and maybe one day, he’d let her protect him also.

So no matter what, she would awaken a powerful Factor.

Liam, meanwhile, glanced at her slightly before turning back to the road.

He, more or less, knew what she was thinking about, and although he could try reassuring her again, it was a lot better for her to face this herself.

And from the sudden look of determination on her face, her mood seemed to do a complete 180.

Liam simply smiled as he continued driving; the hitman wondered what his little sister’s Factor was going to be.

***

A few minutes later, Liam finally turned onto another road, and the Pragma Measurement Facility came into view.

It was considerably larger than the other awakening facilities outside the HA.

The building had several floors, with massive glass windows covering most of its exterior.

People were constantly entering and leaving through the automatic doors, while a few HA personnel stood nearby to direct visitors.

Liam stopped at the car park, walked out and moved to the passenger side before opening the door for his siblings.

"Let’s go," he said.

Lea looked at him for a while, let out a sigh and said, "Yeah."

The trio walked towards the building with Eli asking, "Do you think we’ll see a hero?"

So far, they hadn’t seen any because this was the outer parts of the HA, and heroes were using deeper inside the city.

Heroes in costumes anyway.

Liam had spotted multiple heroes casually dressed, calmly going about their day, and blending with the crowd.

"Probably," still, there was a chance that they would meet a hero in costume within the measurement facility.

"Do you think Valor will be there?" Eli asked again, sounding hopeful.

"Probably not," Liam answered, "after all, he’s a very busy hero."

"I see," the kid let out.

"But don’t worry," Liam ruffled his little brother’s hair with a smile, "maybe we’ll get lucky."

The three then walked into the building, and just as Liam had guessed, there were a couple of heroes in costume.

Unfortunately, Eli recognized none of them, so he wasn’t excited to approach.

Liam chuckled at this as they continued walking towards the reception area where a woman was behind a large desk.

"Good afternoon," she greeted them with a polite smile as they approached. "How may I help you?"

"We’re here for a Pragma measurement," Liam answered.

"Alright," She nodded as she typed something into her computer before looking up at them, "may I have the details of the one being measured?"

A couple of minutes after Lea’s details were given, the woman printed out what seemed like an ID, stood up and turned towards them,

"Right this way, please."