It is! The main entrance is closed and barred at this time of night but there are two guards posted outside. They're wearing dark military-looking body armor and they have rifles.

They radio in an unfamiliar flying ?winged? parahuman approaching but this is not obvious from the outside, on account of the face-concealing helmets.

She'll walk towards them and call out a friendly, "Hello! Someone said I should come here to talk to the heroes."

"Please identify yourself. What do you want to talk about? And did you want to speak to a hero parahuman in particular, or any representative of the PRT?"

"I'm still not sure what people call themselves here. When I'm home I sometimes go by Akira but maybe people here use more descriptive names for superhero stuff. Like how I play the role of the Deviantt at home when I'm hosting. I'm trying to learn more about how people do things here and what this place is like, I guess it is nighttime so it makes sense if not many people are available."

"...where are you from?"

"Somewhere completely different! We usually call it Terraria." She continues in an undertone, "Hopefully that's not breaking the fourth wall too much," and then louder again. "I hopped through a portal and ended up here."

None of that sounds at all plausible and Console doesn't want the guards to question her about it until someone more senior gets on the line.

"If you tell us what you wanted to talk about we could tell you who you should speak with," he offers.

"That's the issue, I don't really know. I don't know very much about how this world operates beyond the small amount I found out from the person I saved from being beaten up by these people who called themselves part of the Empire and he was pretty shaken up from how much they had hurt him before I saved him. So he mostly suggested I come talk to you."

That's just what someone would say who was trying to get into the building under false pretenses! Unfortunately, PRT command is saddled with public relations and also community-building-ties-and-recruitment considerations, so regulations forbid them from arresting her on charges of being Very Suspicious In Public.

"Were Empire or other capes involved in this incident? Was anyone hurt other than the person you saved, and was it reported to the police?"

"I don't know how I would contact the police and the Empire mooks broke the man's phone. Maybe he had someone at the bus stop call them? None of the mooks had superpowers if that's what you mean by capes. They did yell Cape when they saw me."

"I see. It appears the issue is not urgent anymore? In that case, the PRT would appreciate the chance to interview you" because keeping tabs on parahumans is essential "and you would get the opportunity to ask questions of your own, but it sounds like it'd be better handled during ordinary hours" because the capes we want to have a look at you aren't on shift right now. "Please come back tomorrow; we can set an hour now or you can call in tomorrow to schedule one, the non-emergency line is open from 7am and I can give you its number."

"I don't have a phone either. I could just wait here for the next several hours but that sounds pretty boring. So unless there's a reason I shouldn't, I'll just fly around for the night and come back when you open at 7am. It might help me get a feeling for how this area is laid out."

Radio radio. "Very well, we'll schedule a meeting at 7am. What name would you like to give? It doesn't have to be your real name or your cape name of record going forward, just for the meeting."

"So people do use special names for being superheroes! You can call me Terrarian then."

Is she from overseas or something? Capes still wear masks in Asia, right?

"Parahumans use cape names while in their cape persona, and also wear masks and costumes. The original purpose of both is to maintain a secret civilian identity, so if your wings are permanent they wouldn't help with that, but you can still use them for public relation purposes and to signal when you are 'on the job'."

"...do you require assistance with keeping your identity secret? We can let you stay in the building during the night and not let anyone see your face who hasn't yet." (A marginally more helpful person is now on the radio.)

"Oh, so there's a double life thing. That's fun, I can hide my wings and if I need to I can change my face too. I do like the face I have though. What sorts of things does having a secret identity help with?"

"When people know you're a parahuman they often treat you differently than they used to. Not always worse, but many people don't want to risk it, or not right away."

"If you become famous in your cape persona, or if you have powers other people would find useful, you might not want them to bother you about it in your civilian persona. If you make enemies as a parahuman, you wouldn't want them to be able to find you at home or to target your family or property to get at you that way."

"Thanks for explaining. I think I'm okay for now. Like I said I can change my face so if I need to I can always start having a secret identity later."

He's confused. Is this face her civilian one or not? This doesn't matter though, because he's not really the one having this conversation.

"Alright. There will be someone waiting to meet you at seven tomorrow morning, please introduce yourself as Terrarian to a receptionist."

"Thank you, have a nice night."

And with that she'll turn around and take off again. She'll go a ways above the tallest building and fly a circle spiralling outward. How big is this city is there anything of note she can see from the air?

The city is about five by ten miles; it half-circles a shallow bay. There are hills on the side opposite the ocean. The tall buildings are clustered towards the southern end, where she is right now; north of her are residential areas and some kind of industrial zone on the far end. There is also something fairly large and well-lit in the bay itself.

That must be the other Protectorate place she heard about. They seemed big on formality so she won't go visit without an invitation. She'll do another pass a bit lower to see if she can see anywhere with a lot of people who look like they might be friendly.

Areas with a lot of people out late at night include:

- Homeless encampments

- Fancy rooftop restaurants

- Beach party

- This one street below her has a small noisy crowd and also there seems to be a man on fire? Who is just standing there and not, e.g., rolling on the ground or being wrapped in a blanket?

The beach party looks fun she'll circle back if she has time and it's still going but she'll prioritize investigating the fire guy. She'll ready a couple possible counters in case it comes to a fight. Is the guy already fighting someone or is he just standing around being on fire?

Normally 'being on fire' doesn't predict fighting someone (or, at most, predicts someone fighting you) but in this case she is absolutely right on the money!

His opponent appears to be... a lot of flying insects who keep converging on him out of the darkness and trying to sting him before they burn up? The fire mostly takes care of them but they just keep coming, like a crazy bug light zapper commercial.

The man shoots extra fire from his hands, whirling like a dervish, and when that's not enough he growls and explodes in a fireball, and the bugs die but still they keep coming.