It was a fight between two superhumans. Both appeared to be teenagers.
The first was a Black girl with dyed blue hair wearing a black leather jacket. She seemed to have the power to create and control fire.
The second was a masked teenage boy in a bulletproof vest. He was heavily armed and appeared to possess some form of combat precognition.
Allstar recognized the boy as Assault, a teenage superhero who worked for the American government. If Allstar had agreed to lead a team of teenage superheroes, as the government had requested, Assault might have been on that team.
Allstar had no idea what the two were fighting about, but they were in the middle of a densely populated city, and civilians were in danger. A fire had already broken out, and people were screaming, yet neither Assault nor the girl seemed particularly interested in helping them.
"What are you doing?" Allstar asked calmly, stepping between the two superhumans to stop their fight. He hoped to resolve the situation peacefully but was prepared to use force if necessary.
"Allstar." Assault gave a nod of recognition. "I could use your help taking her down."
"And who is she?" Allstar turned to the girl, who looked slightly offended that he did not recognize her.
"Do you really not know me, or are you playing dumb?" she asked, gritting her teeth. "I am literally the sixth most followed super on Instagram."
"No idea what that is. I do not care either." Allstar pointed at the burning building and the terrified civilians fleeing the area. "Take the fight elsewhere. You are hurting people."
"You really have no idea what Instagram is?" the blue-haired girl snorted. "Just how much of a fucking boomer are you?"
"Allstar isn't a boomer. He is from the greatest generation," Assault said with more respect in his tone. "He fought in World War II."
"On which side though?" the girl muttered, rolling her eyes. "The guy looks like Hitler's wet dream. Wouldn't be surprised if he was really a Nazi."
"That is… literally the worst thing anyone has ever said to me," Allstar replied, giving her a disappointed stare. Not even the Nazis he had fought called him anything so insulting.
"They prop you up as some Great White Hope," she said, holding his gaze. "The blond, blue-eyed, white farm boy who saved everyone from the Nazis. Well, I don't buy it. It wouldn't be the first time the government turned some racist piece of shit into a squeaky clean war hero."
"I can assure you, I am not a Nazi." Allstar remembered the horrors of war. The bodies piled in concentration camps, the mass graves, the children. The accusation stung, but he remained calm. This was not the time for pettiness.
He gave the teenager one last warning, then turned his attention to putting out the fires and helping civilians get to safety. He sighed in relief when the last civilian made it out of harm's way.
By the time he returned, Assault and the girl had resumed fighting. Assault fired at her, but she created a wall of fire that melted the bullets mid-air.
She was strong. Allstar still hoped to resolve the conflict without violence, but it was clear the girl had the upper hand. She was stronger than Assault and would win unless Allstar intervened.
"What are you two even fighting about?" he asked, still trying to de-escalate the situation through conversation.
"She is a supervillain," Assault replied, breathing heavily. "I am trying to bring her to justice."
"Asshat is a fascist bootlicker who thinks every independent hero is a villain," the girl shot back with a snort.
"You are a superhero?" Allstar asked, clearly skeptical.
"Yes, I am a superhero," she replied, clenching her teeth. "I went viral on TikTok hundreds of times while saving people."
"I have no idea what TikTok is," Allstar interrupted.
"OnlyFans?" she asked.
"Nope." He shook his head.
"Club Penguin? I was pretty popular there too, before it got killed."
"I was in a coma until a month ago. I missed out on a lot of things," he said, gesturing to the half-burnt building. "But I have to ask: is this really what you think being a hero is?"
"Not my fault." She shrugged. "Asshat shot first. It is on him, not me."
"Why did you start a fight on a busy street?" Allstar asked Assault. Though the boy's face was hidden behind a mask, he seemed more composed than the girl.
"I thought I could take her out before she used her powers," Assault answered calmly. "She is lying about being a hero. She only saves people because it gets her views and followers. She is reckless and will get someone killed eventually."
"And attacking someone on a crowded street will not?" Allstar asked. "You will get someone killed if you act like this, Assault. If you both think of yourselves as heroes, then you should resolve your disagreements in a way that does not put innocent people at risk. Either talk it out or at least move the fight somewhere else."
"You are right. I should have been more careful," Assault replied with a nod. "I made a mistake attacking her where civilians were present."
"He is lying through his teeth." The girl rolled her eyes. "He knew exactly what he was doing. He came after me on a busy street because he knew I couldn't go all out with people around."
Assault said nothing. There was something about him that made Allstar uneasy. He seemed professional, but not in the way soldiers were. His face was hidden behind a mask, his expression unreadable.
"Asshat was right about one thing though." The girl locked eyes with Allstar. "I could always use a few more followers. And what better way to get cred than knocking out America's golden boy?"
"Trust me. That is not a good idea," Allstar replied, his voice calm and steady.
"There is absolutely no way you are as strong or as clean as the government wants us to believe," she muttered, surrounded once again by her eerie blue flames. "As I said, I don't buy into the propaganda. The Legend of Allstar is just another lie. A hope that never existed."
Allstar had fought Nazis. Lost good men. Lost almost a lifetime. And now he was being compared to them. The anger simmered beneath his skin, but he refused to let it surface.
A part of him pitied her. A teenager so disillusioned she could no longer believe in the idea of a hero. He wondered what had made her like this, what had made her lose hope.
"They say you destroyed half the German Air Force in an hour," she muttered with a roll of her eyes. "Even for boomer-era propaganda, that was too much."
"Actually, it took about a minute," Allstar did not brag, he simply stated facts. "And it was closer to ninety percent."
He was considerably weaker than he had been seventy-eight years ago, but his powers were slowly returning. Even at a fraction of his strength, he was well above either of the teens.
The girl raised her wall of blue flame, but it was useless. Allstar had heat resistance and superhuman durability.
It was over in less than a second. He made sure not to harm her too badly. Just a push. That was all it took. She was knocked out instantly, the flames vanishing with her consciousness.
She had called him a Nazi and mocked everything he stood for, yet Allstar could not help but feel pity. She was trying to provoke him, but her words likely had more to do with her own insecurities than any genuine hatred toward him.
He was silently debating whether to take her to the hospital or the police station when he heard the click of a gun.
"What are you doing?" he demanded.
Assault had his gun pointed at the unconscious girl's head.
"Sooner or later, she will end up killing a lot of people," Assault said calmly. "We can say it was self-defense."
"You have done this before, haven't you?" Allstar asked, realizing what Assault reminded him of. Not a soldier. A killer. "You have pulled the trigger on supervillains after they were knocked out?"
"Self-defense," Assault replied. "You, of all people, should understand. If we let a villain live, and they kill someone, that blood is on our hands."
"I killed Nazis, yes. But not after they surrendered. Not after they were unconscious," Allstar said. He had even let Hermann Strauss live, not because he believed Strauss deserved to live, but because even a monster deserved a fair trial. "Heroes are not above the law. We are not gods. Our responsibility is to remain humble and not abuse the power and trust we have been given. I will not let you execute someone in cold blood. If I do, her blood will be on my hands."
"All right." Assault lowered his weapon. He knew better than to test Allstar. "I understand your point. I will not try anything like that again."
He was lying through his teeth. Allstar could tell. The girl had said the same thing. And now he believed her.
A suspicion crept into Allstar's mind. Perhaps Assault had started this fight in the middle of the city because he had expected Allstar to show up. Maybe he had hoped Allstar would help him finish the girl off.
There was no way to be sure.
Allstar looked at the unconscious girl and then at the boy still hiding behind his mask.
He wondered if all the new heroes were like this, or if there were still some who believed in something better. Some who still believed in hope.