Stringer was sitting at a bar when she approached him. Technically, Hero Factory heroes were considered to be always on duty, so they weren’t supposed to drink anything that messed with their systems, dulled their senses. Stringer knew some heroes did anyway. Not him, though; he just liked the ambiance of this place.
It wasn’t the first time he’d been approached here. Sometimes it was a fan asking for an autograph or a story (he had one he usually shared) or asked for his help with something (you know there’s a hotline, right?). This time, though, it was a reporter, red aluminium plates circled around her designed to look like a dress, floating camera bot at her side.
“Jimi Stringer?” She said. “Hero Factory, Alpha 1 team?”
Stringer nodded. “I know you, don’t I? Daniella Capricorn? You helped Stormer’s bunch during the Breakout.”
Daniella gave an exaggerated look of humble honour at being recognized. Then she glanced at her camera bot and realized she wasn’t even in frame – his gaze was fully focused on Stringer. “All right, listen here you–”
“So what did you want to ask me about?” Stringer said, cutting her off before she could verbally berate her camera like she did far too often. Stringer felt bad for the little guy.
“I wanted to ask you about DJ Mak Megahertz, of Hero Factory FM,” she said.
Stringer’s usual jovial expression darkened. “No you don’t.”
“He was the only radio host to work with Hero Factory directly,” she said. “Then he suddenly dissapeared, and his last episode was heavily censored and taken offline.”
“Mak left us due to work disagreements and went to do his own thing,” Stringer said. That was the official story, one she had probably already heard and – if she was worth her salt as a reporter – dismissed as false.
As he expected, she shook her head. “I spoke to several of his previous work associates. None of them have heard from him since he left Hero Factory. I’ve heard some discussion that he might be working with the Recon Team…?”
Stringer couldn’t help chuckling at the thought of that airhead DJ working for Recon Team. “Lady, I can tell you for sure he’s not with them.”
“Well, where is he?” Daniella pressed.
Stringer shook his head. He knew the answers she sought, but even if he did want to tell that story, Stormer would have his head if he shared the truth with a reporter. “That’s all I can tell you. Sorry.”
Daniella seemed tempered to try further convincing, maybe offer incentive, but finally decided it would be futile. “Thank you for your time,” she said, and turned to walk away.
Stringer watched her go. In his head, he was replaying the story he could have told her, the one he had shared with young rookie hero Daniel Rocka, who had asked the same questions…
“Mak Megahertz was part of the open factory initiative,” Stringer explained. “Some of the local governments said we needed more publicity, to be more open about what went on here. They insisted we hire a radio host to work with us and discuss all things Hero Factory.”
“So you did?” Rocka asked.
Stringer shrugged. “We coulda said no, but sometimes it’s easier to acquiesce with minimal effort. We hired a DJ, gave him a spot right in the lobby where he wouldn’t bother anyone else, and let him roll.”
“So how did it go?” Rocka asked.
“Well, it went okay at first. Mak spoke to some staff, a mission manager or two, a few heroes. A lot of people grew to like him. I even spoke to him once, with Stormer and Bulk.”
Rocka nodded. “That’s right, he called you Riff that one time.”
Stringer smiled. “I never did get to ask him why he did that. I mean, he just spoke to me, how did he get my name wrong? Anyway, he regularly spoke with our mission manager, Zib, who grew quite fond of him… at first.”
“What happened?” Rocka asked.
“Oh, Mak got a bunch of his fans to send in fake calls to the Hero Factory, as a joke on the mission manager. Zib didn’t find it funny.”
Rocka nodded. “So he was taken off air?”
“Not immediately, though we were gonna let him go when his contract expired. But then, something else happened.”
“The censored episode,” Rocka guessed.
“It was the first and only time Mak went beyond the lobby and into the rest of the Hero Factory, to give a tour of the facility. How he got the okay for it is beyond me. Unfortunately, partway through, an incident happened.”
Stringer sighed; this part was where things got dark. “Rumour has it his producer, Jason Wave, orchestrated it after Mak made fun of him on air in the prior episode. Jason denies it, says it was just coincidence. Mak took a transport chute that had just been damaged and got stuck. He had to have his announcer Trent do the rest of the tour.”
Stringer paused for a moment. “And…?” Rocka pressed.
“Jason was supposed to call maintenance to get Mak out. Instead, Gargantuan Smash accidentally routed the chute to the water system, and got swept away. Least, he says it was an accident; some people think Jason got him to do it. Jason of course denies this, but no one seems to know where he was after he left Mak.”
Stringer closed his eyes, remembering Mak’s last words being played on air. “By the time we realized it, it was too late. We found him in the water tunnels down below. The water had gotten into his systems and fried his circuits; we couldn’t bring him back.” Stringer shook his head. “It’s kinda funny, Stormer once ripped him apart for something he said on air, and he survived, but water did him in. Anyway, once we realized what had happened, the episode was pulled, meaning only a few people ever heard it.”
“Wow,” Rocka said. “I guess that explains why we don’t have a radio host any more.”
Stringer shook his head and went back to his drink. It would be a public relations nightmare if word got out that someone died at the factory, let alone that it might have been staged. Hero Factory had enough to deal with after the mass breakout, now that someone else had stolen the plans for the factory.
As if on cue, he felt his communicator buzz. Another mission from Stormer, something about a vacation planet going dark. Break time was over. Time to get back to work.