Jake sprung off the bed.
He looked to his left. Ivy was still asleep.
Thank God.
He needed to talk to someone.
Not her.
Max...
Meat...
Mr. E...
The Kobra Klan...
Dao D...
The Lost Light...
The Broker...
Galan...
All these were enemies he had faced since getting these powers. It was all getting to him. The pain, the trauma, he got nightmares every night now. Tonight was one such night.
He imagined it. A figure destroying Milten's base. Killing his friends, killing Ivy, and killing him...
He needed to talk to someone.
Not Zack. He was too used to this for his liking.
Paulina was emotionless if it didn't involve Zack. Even he could tell.
Stacy wouldn't understand.
Fuck Max.
Ivy... she was different. She had killed a defenseless man in cold blood. She wasn't the sweet girl he fell in love with. He couldn't tell her. Not yet, at least.
Who else? Milten?
A nervous chuckle escaped his lips.
But he needed to talk.
Then he turned to an old photo on a nearby counter.
One of the very few aspects of his old life he had managed to preserve.
It was a picture of him at Stella's high school graduation.
They looked so cute together.
Stella... his little sister. She always listened to his problems. Sympathized with him. He hadn't talked to her in a while.
Now was the time.
Consequences be damned.
Jake quickly got off the bed and grabbed his coat from the rack along with a sunhat to hide his horns.
As he stepped out of his room, he was met by Omniboy standing at the door.
"Omniboy?"
"H... hey Jake," he said, an unusual stammer in his voice.
"What's wrong?"
"I... this is gonna sound stupid, but I... had a nightmare," he said, looking away.
Jake frowned.
"Sorry to bother you, it's dumb. I'll just go..."
"No, no. It's nothing like that. I get it. You're scared. It's understandable. We live scary lives. No need to be ashamed of it."
"Then what do I do?"
"Go back to bed, okay? Just know that I'll always be there for you, watching over you. Protecting you."
"I... I see. Thanks, Jake. Are you heading somewhere?"
"Just gonna run some errands," Jake lied. "Go back to bed, kiddo."
Jake ruffled his long blue hair, and Omniboy laughed and went back to his room.
Jake smiled for a moment and left.
She had finally done it.
After all that waiting. All that digging, suffering, patience...
Everything.
She had finally done it.
She finally had all the info she needed to take down Milten.
She had acquired the security footage of the Danger Squad fight against the Broker. Not just one file, but many. As she inserted her flash drive into her laptop, she gave a small sigh of relief.
The news crew went through a lot of trouble to censor this fight as they saw it was bad press. Stella didn't care. Stella loved bad press. It was the perfect thing to bring Milten down.
As the files loaded, Stella brought her attention to the T.V. A talk show was on, and guess who was on stage.
"Welcome back to Tony Talks, everyone! I'm your host, Tony, and this is the show where I—well, you know what I do," the show host, Tony Tentalini, said with the flattest smile Stella had ever seen. Behind the camera was a roaring crowd and a small screen that told them what to do.
To his left was none other than the target of her investigation. Her life's goal. Her nemesis, the killer of her brother, her friends Zack and Paulina, and Ivy...
"And I'm here with Milten Morningstar, C.E.O. of Miltron Industries and benefactor to the private super-team, the Danger Squad. Did I forget to mention fellow superhero and slayer of the giant monster Galan, Warzone!"
The crowd gave a loud cheer, probably at the command of a small screen off-camera.
"Thanks, Tony. It's great to be here. And I must say, having all my feats laid out for me sure gives me goosebumps," Milten said with a smile more fake than Tony's.
If Stella got her hands on him...
"And to my right is the elusive All-Star Super, stopper of multiple Demonoid invasions across the country, including the recent one at Kingdom City, Amazo!"
Stella looked to her right and saw the Super in his red and black costume. He was a white blond covered head to toe in fake muscles. She was surprised she hadn't noticed him.
The more she thought about it, though, she understood. Milten's ego was so large he somehow managed to steal the show from an actual Super. An All-Star even!
She was sure not even the crowd noticed his presence.
The crowd cheered again, noticeably different from the first.
"Let's just get this over with. I've got places to be... cities to save," Amazo said with a smile, his white teeth glistening in the light of the cameras.
Stella scoffed and watched her files download.
Jake had always called these Supers fake. She didn't agree at first. She just thought her brother was being an idiot again. Then she met them, and he wasn't far off.
She knew Amazo. Interviewed him once or twice. He was the fakest of them all.
"Well then, let's start with our man Milten over here. You're the one that formed the juggernaut team of yours. How did you do it? Our audience is dying to know. What's the origin of this team of yours?"
Milten smiled. This one was genuine. Stella noticed. She looked away from the download and focused on his words.
"It all began when three mysterious vigilantes stopped a robbery. Some criminals tried to steal some important tech of mine. Luckily, those three put a stop to it. Blue Shadow, Green Guardian, and Sharkwoman."
"Yes, we remember that. We also remember Hawk Knight's jet being the one to deliver them there."
"Yes. But sadly, the boss of those criminals, the super-villain Mr. E..." Amazo tensed at that "...took offense to this, as he orchestrated the robbery. He captured the trio and tortured them all. Luckily, I felt gratitude for their service and saved them, freeing some of Mr. E's victims in the process."
"I see. So that's how Mr. E went down? I'm surprised you're telling us so casually. The government is pretty sketchy on the gruesome details."
"Ah, well, you know how they are. Anyway, that's how the team came to be. The rest is history. First, we tracked down the Kobra Klan as they were allying themselves with the Dragon Clan and took them out. Later on, we..."
"Did the impossible, taking on the Lost Light and defeating them! Not even the Super Society could do that."
Amazo scoffed.
"Something wrong, Amazo?"
"Killing a bunch of cockroaches isn't impressive. I've faced those emotional tricks before. They ain't that tough."
"Yes, they escaped you and your teams multiple times. For cockroaches, they are pretty resilient, no? Your Super Society should know that better than everyone."
Amazo slouched into his chair.
"And not only that, but just a day or two later, you face the Broker and defeat him!"
"Yeah, but we lost a team member in the battle. Along with his poor family. I truly wish Luthor was still alive to see the team now."
Stella remembered Luthor. He was so nice to her, despite how annoying she was to him in her pursuit of evidence against Milten. He didn't deserve to die, especially not in a gruesome way like that.
Or maybe it was staged...
Maybe Milten killed him because he associated with her...
Just like Zack and Paulina...
Just like Ivy...
Jake...
Stella brought herself back to reality. She checked the download. Almost done.
"Bless that man's soul. He made a worthy sacrifice. Broker was defeated in the end. However, being the spiteful evil he was, he called to the Galan. At that point, the city was hopeless!"
Milten smiled. This was clearly his favorite part.
"But we didn't need to fear, for you were there!" Amazo rolled his eyes. "You truly are the hero, Milten! Donning a newer version of the Warzone armor and slaying that monster before it could harm our fair city. Such a feat hadn't been seen since the likes of Canman, and even then, the city he was meant to protect didn't come out unscathed."
"Speaking of Zee City, how did that raid your Super Society carried out go, Amazo? I hope my distraction of the Broker wasn't in vain."
"It went fairly well. We..."
"Well? What about the multiple criminals that escaped? I thought you'd have captured them all since you sent more than five whole teams over there."
"Would you let me finish? The raid was successful. The Broker had an entire army of mumans occupying that city. His own small nation of them. Luckily, we took them down with no casualties on our end."
"Amazing. I heard news that Canman was a no-show. Seems too important to miss, don't you think?"
Amazo frowned.
"Canman was on a secret mission last I checked. You know how it is," Amazo said, doing his best not to puke in his mouth after defending Canman.
"Clearly I don't, but I'll humor you," Milten lied. "So that explains why some of those terrorists are hiding out in my city?"
"Although some stragglers managed to crawl away, we'll find them. It's only a matter of time."
"You better. I'm not in the mood to clean up your mess again. God knows I've done enough of that already. I already have my hands full getting rid of that accursed Dragon Clan," Milten said, drawing applause and laughter from the crowd.
Tony smiled. Milten paid well to keep the attention on him.
Every penny was worth it, it seems.
He didn't even need the screen this time.
Stella turned the T.V. off.
She didn't want to hear this. Just when she had doubted herself, just a little, shit like this happens. Shit like this that shows her how evil he is. Behind the charisma, the smile, everything, he's still just a monster.
A monster that killed her friends.
A monster that killed her brother.
The files were ready.
She wasted no time opening them.
She watched the feed, grabbing her notepad and taking notes.
The Danger Squad tries to negotiate with the Broker for their hostage.
He kills the hostage.
Blue Shadow attacks him. Chaos ensues.
It's clear the Danger Squad and Super Society operate very differently. Usually, the Super Society is more methodical, merciful, doing things by the book so the criminals get the justice they deserve.
These guys... they just kill them.
Viper... no... Black Mamba, that's what she goes by now, destroyed a defenseless criminal after already immobilizing him. Her colleague, Green Guardian, scolds her for it.
At least there's some good there.
Mamba leaves. Guardian fights another criminal. He fights like a Super, holding back and trying his best to detain him. Compared to the others, he's clearly the odd one out.
Obsidian kills two of them while that's happening.
Red Shadow...
"No way... that's not..." Stella vomited in her mouth.
"He ate one of them."
"I knew it! I knew they were scum! It's all so clear. They're mumans from Mr. E's base he kidnapped and used. That's it. These guys... they aren't human, they..."
She kept watching, her mind in a rush.
Blue Shadow faces the Broker with Mamba. They lose. Mamba is about to be killed by Broker. Red Shadow arrives, but he does fuck all.
What is wrong with him?!
Stella keeps watching.
Blue Shadow emerges in a pillar of blue energy, as I saw on T.V. during the live fight. He defeats the Broker. At least the studio censored his body; no one did this time.
Seeing him explode like that was so surreal...
She kept watching. She didn't want to anymore, but the worst part was on its way.
Galan appears...
The team tries to stop him. Guardian stops fighting the criminal to attack it but faints. Luckily, Sharkwoman appears and saves him.
Mamba... this was where her skin turned a pitch black and gained more snake-like features. She swats Sharkwoman and Guardian away like flies and attacks Galan.
She turns his leg to stone with a venomous bite. Its leg is turning to stone. Galan, enraged, throws her back into the mainland. She's sent crashing into a warehouse. Her stone power must've been crazy if it got the thing that mad.
It's not enough, though, as it's counteracting the effect and regaining its strength.
Then it happens. Milten appears.
Stella's concentration increased tenfold.
"He easily dispatches the creature. Just like the news feed showed days ago. At least it wasn't staged."
She put the pen down.
This was good. The edited version had only the Broker and Galan dying, but this?
All of them... except the guy Guardian fought.
So these were her heroes.
These were killers.
Stone-cold killers.
Monsters.
Just like Milten...
Now all she needed to do was release it. Something like this, it could be mistaken for AI. That was possible. The media would try to hide it, downplay it. It didn't matter as long as the seed of doubt was planted and as long as the lines were drawn.
She'd end Milten's nonsense before it fully began.
Just as she was closing the laptop she watched the video in, her eyes caught something.
Blue Shadow was holding something.
Someone.
Crying.
He was crying.
Seeing someone as monstrous as him shed a tear was truly a sight to behold.
But what drove him this far?
She looked at the person he held.
She closed the laptop immediately and put her palm on her lips.
It couldn't be.
She opened it again and saw her face front and center.
Ivy...
It was Ivy.
Ivy was Black Mamba...
But that meant...
Jake was Blue Shadow...
"No, that's not possible. It can't be. Milten killed them. He..." Stella stopped once the realization hit her.
Probably faked their deaths and erased their memories. No, this had to stop here. She would not let her brother become a weapon.
Stella headed to grab her cloak from the coat rack and grabbed the door handle.
Mr. Print needed to know this.
At this point, anyone needed to know this.
Turning her friends into these monsters? Her brother into a literal monster?
These killers? There were lines she didn't even know Milten crossed.
"And now he was going to pay," she said to herself as she opened the door.
"Who's going to pay?" he said to her from the other side.
It took everything in her power to keep from fainting.
"N...No way..."
"Yeah. It's me. In the flesh. Can I come in?" he said, his voice almost painful to listen to. His face almost too horrid to look at.
"Jake?"
"Hey, little sis. Miss me?"
Stella stepped aside and let him sit down.
"C... can I get you anything?" Stella asked, pinching herself lightly to check her sanity.
"You got any coffee?" Jake said, his voice still terrifying her beyond measure.
To be continued...