Operculus had robbed many banks before, but none of those robberies were as easy as this, especially with him by himself.
Usually, he'd make his entrance, scare the humans with his Atlantean features: a large, muscular frame measuring 7 feet tall with a long shark fin on his head, and a mouth covered head to toe in rows of sharp teeth.
Then they'd overreact, security would attack him, he'd massacre the whole bank, and make his escape, probably encountering a super or two.
Now, the humans were cooperative, too much in fact, that he blew up the bank anyway. Those humans probably threw a can or two into the oceans, so it was probably deserved.
Kobra had said "no casualties by any means," and Operculus wanted to stay in his good graces, but not now.
Now he wanted some fun, no matter what his master wanted. Operculus was an Atlantean, noble-born. He was above the likes of a human like him.
He is the man who gave him this life, unlike that bastard Captain Rocket who wanted to turn him into a slave of the government, but that didn't mean he'd just listen to him like some obedient dog.
Speaking of Captain Rocket...
Oh, if only he hadn't died! Then Operculus would have had the chance to kill him himself. Not much of a problem with his trusty spear by his side...
"The Spear of Selene."
Often mistaken for a trident for its forked edge, this weapon is one of the most powerful weapons in all of Commonwealth. Given to him by Kobra after obtaining it from a secret source, this weapon uses a power long forgotten by the humans: magic.
However, now was not the time to think about his weapon. He wanted to escape before the weaker supers caught up. Once he was gone, then he'd meet the stronger ones trying to impede his escape.
He took off with his super-jump, flying across the street filled with running human scum, and aimed for a nearby building, only to be stopped in his tracks by some sort of laser blast. It hit him hard and fast enough to immobilize him and make him fall to the ground.
He took a good look at his hand as it started to harden and turn to stone.
"W-what is this...?" he said in his deep, gurgling voice.
"Hold it right there!" a feminine voice commanded him.
He looked up to see two strange figures flying towards him. One was a woman in a green, scaly costume with a large frill on her head. The other was... something else. A black entity with blue lines across his head, horns, and torso. Whatever it was, it looked strong.
Strong enough to make things fun.
"Supers? With magic?" Operculus smiled. His body still slowly morphing into stone, so he aimed his spear towards himself and let out a lightning blast, crumbling all the stone parts of his body as quickly as they appeared. In just a few seconds, he was back to normal.
The woman landed before him, her eyes glowing bright red. "Shadow! Hurry up! I've got him in my sights. His spear seems to be able to negate my Medusa vision. I need you to get it off of him," she ordered just as he landed by her.
Operculus had none of that, however, and leaped in between her and Shadow, punching the black creature away faster than he could react and pinning the woman down just as she fired another laser from her eyes, only to miss at the last second.
"Before I kill you, I would like to know your name. It's not everyday you encounter a super that can use magic," he grinned at her.
"Magic? What the fuck are you babbling about?" she asked him rudely, her head caught between the fork of his spear.
"Oh? So is this some sort of muman power? How disappointing," Operculus said as he sunk the spear lower into the ground in an effort to decapitate her.
Viper struggled to break free from under the weapon but to no avail, as it began to pierce her neck. He smiled at her, licking his lip as he crept closer and whispered into her ear,
"Magic or not, you do look like a fine meal."
Immediately after hearing this, Viper's body was in panic mode, trying her best to slip her head out of the weapon's grip, but it was too late. It was already so far deep into the ground that her head couldn't slip through. So far deep, in fact, it started to make her bleed.
"Ja.. Sh-Shadow! Help!!" she screamed, trying to use the last of her strength to blast the monster with her Medusa vision, only for him to continuously dodge while still pinning her down.
Jake leaped back into the scene as quickly as he could and tackled the Atlantean, separating him from his spear.
"How dare you!" he yelled at the beast and, with his fists glowing bright blue, started punching him over and over and over again through the pavement.
The more he beat him, gazing into his eyes, the more he looked like...
Stacya.
Operculus could only smile at the monster beating him down. Although he was under immense pain, he could tell this was a strong one.
"What are you?" Jake asked, his hits slowing down.
"An enemy to all humans, but maybe this will fill you in..."
Operculus then kicked Shadow away and leaped at him afterwards. He wrapped his giant arms around the black creature and bit the left side of his neck with his gargantuan teeth, ripping a chunk of it off and spitting it away.
That would've killed a normal man. Hell, it would've killed most mumans. But the Blue Shadow was above those titles.
Shadow, trying to remove the beast, charged his neck with blue energy as he began to take another bite. Once he did, digging deeper into Shadow's flesh, the skin exploded, knocking Operculus back multiple meters and colliding with a streetlight.
Viper removed the spear from her neck and threw it to the side. She then ran to Shadow as quickly as she could. "Ja... Shadow... are you alright?"
"Hehe... you were about to slip back there with the codename. You... ugh... need to work on it," Shadow said to her, wheezing from the giant hole in his neck.
"Oh... oh God, this isn't the time for jokes. Your neck..."
"Is fine. Don't worry," Jake assured her, then placed a glowing blue hand on his neck. His injuries started to heal extremely quickly.
"Wait... where is that spear?"
"Spear?" she asked back and realized her mistake.
But it was already too late. They turned to see Operculus laughing like a drowning madman as he held the spear above his head in one hand and the money he stole from the bank in the other.
"You supers are impressive! I've killed quite a few, but none gave me this good a fight! I still have to go though, so here is a parting gift!" He then aimed the spear at an apartment behind him and let out a giant blast of lightning that lit the building on fire.
"Ta ta, as you humans say," he smirked and flew away with his spear and money in hand.
Viper wanted to chase the beast down but was held back by Jake. "Wh-what are you doing?" she screamed at him.
"There's a burning building right in front of us, and you still want to chase that psycho down? Is that the kind of super you want to be?"
"I..." Viper paused for a moment and removed Shadow's black, hardened hand.
"No," she said, looking down for a second and rushing to the scene.
Shadow glowed blue and ran into the building at max speed, getting as many civilians as he could out of the building in seconds. Viper was no slouch either, though. Using her insane agility, she dodged the fire and debris and rescued any civilians she came across.
Somehow, this felt... better than fighting crime. Although she tried to concentrate on the task at hand, she couldn't shake the feeling of optimism enveloping her as she and Jake saved the people.
Well, all but one. A little girl was trapped on the topmost floor and was stuck in a small corner of her bedroom. She was stuck in place, unable to move or even flinch out of fear.
Jake heard her heart beating skyrocketing through the intense noise of the fire and burst into her room. Using his speed, he dashed towards her and they locked eyes. If she was scared of the fire, she was more terrified of him. He could tell from the look in her eyes.
"St-stay away from me... monster," she screamed and crawled away from him.
"Don't worry. I'm here to help you!" Shadow said and slowly walked toward her to subside her panic.
However, just as he got a little closer, he noticed the ceiling above their heads collapsing and flaming debris crashing down on her. He was going to get to her, but he couldn't protect her from the fire in time. There was no way. But he still tried, because that's what he was meant to do.
Barely grabbing her by the hand, he pulled her to his torso and used his back as a shield from the debris. As the fire burnt his back, he looked at the girl and smiled.
"You... saved me?!" she asked him, confused.
"Of course. Why wouldn't I?" he said with a big grin on his face.
Just as she smiled back, she saw the remains of the roof crashing on top of them and screamed, alerting Jake. He tried to move out of the way, but had exhausted his remaining energy saving the girl.
He tried to get up.
To run.
To save her...
But he couldn't.
Then, a firm hand grabbed him by the back along with the girl and pulled them out of the room, forcing them through the nearest window.
It was Viper.
She pulled the two out of the room as quickly as she could, just when the building collapsed. As they fell towards the sidewalk, Jake grabbed the two with his remaining strength and pulled them even closer to his chest.
His back hit the road with a heavy thud, forming a small crater. It hurt. His legs hurt, he was out of energy to heal, and his shoulders were bleeding. But those two were safe, and that's all that matters.
Viper let go of Shadow and got up. The girl still held onto him, though.
"Hey... hey kid. You can let me go now," Jake assured her.
"Y-yeah. I just wanna... apologize for calling you a... well, that."
"A monster? Don't worry kid. That's what I am, but that isn't gonna stop me from helping you."
The people surrounding them still looked at the supers in silence.
"Uh..." Viper was speechless. She had never saved anyone before. As much as she loved the feeling it brought, she didn't know what to say to the people she saved. She always imagined being a super was about beating up bad guys; saving people didn't really cross her mind.
And the collateral damage that comes with it.
As well as how the people think of them. It also doesn't help that regular supers weren't known for saving people. Their homes were destroyed thanks to their little fight. This was their fault, and she could see it in their faces.
"What do we tell them?" Viper turned to Shadow.
"What are we supposed to? We saved their lives. That was enough. They don't need some speech; they're safe and that's all that matters," Shadow responded.
"Y-yeah," Viper responded. She then held Jake by the shoulder and carried him away as his powers were on halt for a while.
As the two walked away from the crowd, Viper heard them whispering:
"Those damn assholes. They destroyed our homes and don't have anything to say?"
"What do you expect from a bunch of human pigs?"
"I mean, look at that one? How is he even allowed?"
"What a fucking monster."
"The government must be really fucked for letting it in."
"J-Jake..." Ivy whispered.
"You hear the police sirens, Ivy? No need to fret, they'll be fine."
Ivy took one last look at the people, only to be greeted by a set of angry, scornful stares. How could they not stare? Their homes are gone thanks to them, and there was nothing they could do about it. The longer she looked, the more their faces pulled her down into a new feeling: one of regret, of responsibility.
It was overwhelming.
She seemed calm on the outside but was screaming internally. Those looks. They were hurting her. She just wanted a new life. One where she be loved again. Not by being a bully, but being a hero.
Maybe that was just a dream after all.
And then there was a smile. The last girl they saved. She was tugging at her mother, who was crying. Yet she didn't look at her mom. She looked into Ivy's eyes... and smiled.
All Ivy could do was smile back and wave.
To be continued...