Northbridge

Northbridge is a the primary setting of the Hero and Wishful Thinking series. It is also a frequent secondary location in The Freshman and its sequels (The Sophomore, The Junior, and The Senior) due to its proximity to Hartfeld University.

The Freshman
For Kaitlyn's birthday, Your Character and your friends go into the city to go clubbing. In an effort to work up the courage to confess her feelings to you, Kaitlyn ends up drinking too much, resulting in her developing alcohol poisoning and spending the night in the hospital.

Later, George & Olivia Ashton visit from New York City. In a panic, James introduces you as his fiancée. You go along with his lie, either to help him or because Professor Vazquez insists. His parents take you out for a formal dinner in the city, during which you accidentally end up encouraging him to reveal his lie.

Kaitlyn's parents, Peter & Grace Liao, visit from Texas in Book 2. When they do, they invite Kaitlyn, Arjun, and you to go to a ballet in Northbridge. During intermission, Kaitlyn accidentally comes out to her parents. Distraught, she takes the next bus out of the city.

In Game of Love, if you and your love interest win the Cutest Couple competition, you two have dinner at La Trattoria in Northbridge.

When Gabriela has a date in Book 3, you agree to babysit Rico for her. You and your love interest spend the day in Northbridge with Rico. If you are dating James, he and Gabriela mention that they live in the same apartment building. Starting in Chapter 11, Kaitlyn and her band give a concert in Northbridge. Chris cannot make it to the concert despite his previous promise to be there which leads to an argument with Your Character. During the concert itself, a fight erupts with Zig's involvement which continues in Chapter 12. Kaitlyn gets mad at you, claiming that it's your fault since Zig is your friend. After Kaitlyn leaves, you and Zig argue. When you want to be alone for a while, you aimlessly wander the streets and end up in a bar where you meet Becca who tells you about her parents' divorce and offers to give you a lift since you missed the last train back to Hartfeld. In Chapter 17, Darren mentions having landed an internship in Northbridge for the summer.

The Sophomore
During The Sophomore, Kaitlyn competes in the Northbridge Battle of the Bands along with her bandmates. They participate in a number of performances, mostly at the Horse Cave.

After Becca moves in with you and your roommates, she finds herself struggling with living on a budget. You take her in to the city to pick up furniture at Uskea. Although initially reluctant to shop at a store known for its low prices, she ends up enjoying her time there and even decides to apply for a job. She continues working at the Northbridge Uskea throughout subsequent books.

When Frank Powell tries to rekindle his relationship with Chris and AJ Powell, one of the things they do together is go to the Northbridge Zoo. You have the option to come with them in a premium choice.

If you invite Sebastian to play Truth or Truth with your friends, you can choose to ask him who his first cartoon crush was. He answers Minuet, a character from Hero: The Animated Series. This confirms that the events of Hero exist in The Freshman continuity in fictional form, similar to the way that The Crown & the Flame is a fictionalized version of Cordonia's real history.

The Junior
During The Junior, Kaitlyn and her band are in the process of recording an album at a studio in Northbridge. As part of the Alphas' attempts to ruin your life by targeting your friends, Kassidy Marquez breaks into the studio and destroys their recordings. The Alphas also sabotage Becca's application to Northbridge University's law program, submitting a faked application with a gag letter and salacious photos.

The Senior
During The Senior, Becca invites you to participate in her mock trial for law school. Later, Samantha Winters offers the two of you her tickets to the Northbridge Barrister's Ball, which you can take as a premium scene.

Later, you and James compete in the Northbridge Fringe Festival, a theatre festival that Vazquez also competed in when he was younger. The two of you write and direct a play together, spending time in Northbridge to workshop your play with the actors.

James: Masquerade Ball
In one of the bonus stories, James invites you to a masquerade gala in Northbridge. The two of you attend the fancy fundraiser, where James is surprised to encounter Vanessa Kingsley, a childhood friend who once had a crush on him. Throughout the night, Vanessa continually seeks out James' attention, and you can respond with jealousy or trust. Eventually, she reveals that she is there on behalf of her father, an old friend of the Ashtons who has fallen on hard financial times. James promises to do what he can to help her father and the two of you return to his apartment for the night.

Kaitlyn: The Perfect Date
In one of the bonus stories, Kaitlyn invites you to stay overnight with her in Northbridge. You do a variety of fun activities together, including visiting the Arcade.

Hero, Vol. 1
In Hero, Your Character works at Prescott Industries, where you are the personal assistant of Grayson Prescott. As the story begins, the company is approaching a very important gala, where CEO Silas Prescott is planning to reveal an extremely secretive project he has been working on, later revealed to be the Prism Gate. Mercenaries attack and attempt to steal the prism crystal that powers the Prism Gate. During the attack, the Prism Gate overloads and explodes, dousing the city in primatic energy and causing the roof of the building to collapse.

As the ballroom collapses, you catch a falling beam, saving your friends Poppy and Dax and revealing your new powers. After waking up in the hospital, you start to experiment with your newfound abilities, finding out that you can fly as well. You also realize that you are not the only Northbridge resident who was affected by the Prism Gate explosion. A variety of superheroes (such as Talos, later revealed to be Kenji Katsaros) and supervillains (such as Shrapnel and Caleb) emerge after the explosion.

Having been given special abilities, you feel obligated to defend Northbridge. You face off against Shrapnel and his underlings in an attempt to stop them from stealing and distributing Prescott Industries' liquid prism, which you fear could be used to create an army of super-powered criminals. However, they escape. You also assist Minuet (later revealed to be Eva) in exposing the corruption of Russell Mayhew, a Northbridge businessman who knowingly allowed his employees to become poisoned as they worked with toxic chemicals in his factory.

After the Mayhew bust, he reveals that he was working alongside Silas Prescott, who you find out also hired Shrapnel to rob Prescott Industries and steal the liquid prism. You confront him only to realize that he has taken liquid prism and has developed super-strength even greater than yours. He captures you and locks you up in his private prison, but you escape alongside Caleb. During your escape, you hear strange voices and find your strength greatly increased, suggesting that you are missing important information about your powers.

During your escape, you realize that your mother, Rochelle, was previously involved with the prism gate experiments, something she never revealed despite the fact that you have worked at Prescott Industries for years. You confront her about her secret-keeping and she reveals that you actually came through the gate yourself from the prism dimension, making you arguably an alien being. This sends you briefly into a depression, leaving your friends to defend Northbridge without you. However, you ultimately recover and decide to return to help defend the city from Silas' plans.

You soon realize that Silas is planning to launch his final attack and seize total control of the city during a press release outside of Prescott Industries. You and your friends are not able to prevent him from beginning the Battle of Northbridge, leading to destruction of a significant portion of downtown Northbridge. However, you, Talos, Minuet, and potentially Caleb are able to hold off the supervillains while Grayson evacuates the civilians, saving many lives.

As you fight Silas, it becomes clear that he has taken too much liquid prism. The cataclysmic explosion caused by a liquid prism overdose has the potential to level all of Northbridge. To prevent the destruction of the city and the loss of countless lives, you grab Silas and fly him as high into the sky as you can. Before he detonates from the liquid prism, he begs you to join him. He also reveals that his true motivation was not to rule Northbridge but to harness the crystal's power to bring back his late wife. Silas' body is overwhelmed by the liquid prism and you lose consciousness.

You wake up soon after, either alone or accompanied by MARCI, your suit's new AI system. You realize that you have been transported to the prism dimension, having saved your friend and the city of Northbridge but also stranding yourself across dimensions with no idea of how to return home.

Wishful Thinking
In Wishful Thinking, Your Character grew up in Northbridge. At the start of the book, you work as a writer for Northbridge News, but your dream job is to become a reporter. After you are hit by lightning, you develop the ability to read minds.

As you become more familiar with your newfound powers, they begin to help your career. After Ellen Thompson flubs an important interview with Anna Koishi, you go after her. Your boss, Alec Burdock, is impressed enough with your work that he promotes you to junior writer. This lets you cover a variety of stories around Northbridge, including a woman who accidentally became part of an animal smuggling ring and a man who lets ostriches loose downtown.

You also end up covering multiple events with Charlie Carmichael, gubernatorial hopeful in the upcoming elections. As you learn more about the goings on in the city, you become increasingly suspicious. You end up teaming up with Ellen to expose Carmichael for his involvement in covering up a corporate conspiracy that has led to the poisoning of farm groundwater. The two of you succeed in exposing his crimes, leading to his arrest. You become a celebrity reporter, and Ellen suggests that the two of you start a news show together.

Rising Tides
In Chapter 1, it is mentioned that the former leader of the Fishermen's Association moved to Northbridge two years ago. It's also mentioned that Robin is a reporter from Northbridge.

The Haunting of Braidwood Manor
After his family's deaths, William Waverly fell into depression, ultimately drinking himself to death in Northbridge. His body was returned to Braidwood Manor after his death and he was interred on the property alongside his wife and children.

Trivia

 * In The Freshman, Book 2, Chapter 14, it was revealed that Northbridge also has an international airport.
 * Northbridge has a university as mentioned by Becca in Chapter 3 of The Junior, Book 1. She planned to enroll in Northbridge University to study law.
 * A fictionalized version of Northbridge is the main setting for Hero. It was founded in 1866.
 * In James: Masquerade Ball, it is revealed by James that Northbridge has a waterfront district to the east, a glass and metal building called Millennium Tower in the city center, and the Northridge Museum of Modern Art, which is a brick building with a sculpture on the roof.
 * One of its periodicals is The Northbridge Daily.