"...Great."
Eden let out a weary sigh when he spotted Eve standing at the corner. One problem after another.
"Todd, didn't you have something else to do?" he said, crouching down over the guy still sprawled on the floor. His tone made it clear: you'd better.
Todd caught the subtext loud and clear. He nodded frantically.
"Freak." His voice cracked with fear. The bravado was gone. He couldn't shake the image: Eden had lifted his 240-pound body with one arm like it was nothing. Like Superman.
Todd didn't stick around. He bolted.
Eden straightened and turned to the pink-haired girl. "Hey. Eve, right? As you can see, I was just bonding with my good buddy Todd."
"I know who you are, Eden Kent." Her eyes glinted with curiosity. "You've got a superpower, don't you?"
"Nope. Just… strong." Eden shrugged. "I hit the gym a lot. Even made the football team once, but I had to quit for health reasons."
The lifting part wasn't impossible, technically. Go ask someone juiced up on super-serum. But the real reason he quit? He was terrified he'd crush someone's skull by accident.
He could almost hear Clark Kent's voice in his head: You have no idea how hard it is, trying to live in a world made of cardboard.
Eve narrowed her eyes. "Uh-huh. You held up two-forty like it was nothing. Don't tell me that's just fitness."
Eden flashed a careless grin. "Think whatever you want." He checked his watch. "Class time. Catch you later."
"Wait, Eden." She hurried up beside him, books hugged to her chest. "Don't you think superpowers are a gift? If you really have them, you should use them for good. Not to intimidate classmates."
"Sure," Eden said with a lazy wave. "Next time, promise."
Then his smile dropped a notch. "But seriously, stop following me around. If people see us together, they might get the wrong idea. Reputation matters to me."
Her jaw locked. "...Are you saying my reputation sucks?"
She hadn't expected anyone to flat-out reject her.
"As for what you said about using powers the right way?" Eden smirked. "Flying around in a cheer skirt and pink spandex isn't what I'd call 'the path of justice.'"
Her eyes narrowed. "Who the hell are you talking about?"
"Atom Eve of the Teen Team. Ring a bell?" His grin widened. "Or are you just some random girl who happens to share the name?"
"..."
She froze. Furious but trapped. If she snapped, she'd be admitting it. If she stayed quiet, she'd choke on the humiliation.
"Anyway, I've got class." Eden waved her off and walked away before she could fire back.
[Ding! Outwitted the superhero Atom Eve. Daily Mission complete.]
"Well, look at that. Two birds with one stone." He grinned. "So the system counts pissing off superheroes as mission success. And if I annoy the big names, I get bonus credit. Mom and Dad already proved that."
He tapped his chin. "Meaning I should start with the mid-tier ones. Atom Eve, Teen Team. Easy targets."
Eve, I've got you dancing in my palm already.
Back in class, Eve sat stiffly at her desk, her face stormy.
"What's wrong, Eve?" her best friend asked, baffled.
"Nothing. Just ran into the most aggravating human alive."
Her friend blinked. "You? The school idol? What kind of guy could piss you off like that?"
Eve snapped back, "And how do you know it was a guy?"
Her friend laughed nervously. "Lucky guess."
That afternoon, Eden packed his bag with a yawn. If he wanted to keep Nolanne from suspecting he'd awakened superpowers, he'd need to stick to the straight-and-narrow. Home on time. Low profile.
"Whoosh!"
Right on cue, Atom Eve soared past the classroom windows in her pink cheer-spandex getup. Everyone else ignored it, minds nudged by her aura. Everyone but Eden.
He shook his head. "Seriously, Eve. Invest in some leggings."
"Yo, Eden!" William jogged up. "New parfait place opened across the street. Strawberry special. You down?"
Eden thought it over. Going home too early would just look suspicious. Normalizing late returns was safer. "Yeah. Let's go."
The parfait shop smelled like heaven. He was ready to dive into one of humanity's finest inventions—strawberry parfait—when the air ripped open.
A deafening buzz. A massive portal yawned open right in front of them.
"The hell is that?" William gaped.
Through the swirling gateway marched soldiers straight out of a Namekian fever dream: green skin, antennae, military uniforms, and high-tech rifles.
They raised their weapons and started mowing down civilians without hesitation.
Eden's eye twitched. Flaxans. Goddamn it. Not only early, but in the wrong damn place.
Or maybe… his Villain Aura was screwing with the timeline again.
Either way, he ducked for cover, muttering curses.
...
"Oh my God, Eden."
"Are we seriously in the middle of an alien invasion right now?"
"What the hell are we supposed to do?"
"We're not gonna die here, are we?"
William crouched under the café counter with Eden, peeking out in terror while whisper-shouting all at once.
"First, stay down. Second, wait for the superheroes to bail us out." Eden yanked him back—last thing he needed was William's head blown off by a Flaxan plasma rifle.
"They'll come save us, right?" William asked, eyes wide.
"Probably." Eden muttered as he pulled out his phone, scrolling the news. His frown deepened.
"Not good." His parents weren't even in the country.
"Shit!" William gasped, voice breaking. "Omni-Man and the Guardians of the Globe are in Australia fighting Doctor Seismic. Superman's in France fighting some alien beast. No one's coming for us!"
Eden groaned. "What, are my mom and dad the only superheroes on Earth now?"
"Don't worry, citizens! We've got this!"
A cocky voice boomed from above. An orange-red hovercraft swooped in, dropping the Teen Team onto the scene. Atom Eve among them. And the loudmouth? Rex Splode—walking definition of wasted potential. Talented, sure. But right now, just a cheating hothead with powers. Also Eve's current boyfriend.
Eden couldn't be bothered to care about either of them. Honestly, he just wanted these kids to wipe out the Flaxans and go so his peaceful life could resume.
"Eve! Save me!"
Eden's X-Ray Vision tracked the battlefield—and his heart sank.
One second Rex looked godlike, blasting Flaxans left and right. The next, he was diving behind rubble, lasers shredding everything around him.
Kate's duplicates? Reduced to bloody chunks across the pavement. Robot was holding out but badly outnumbered. And Eve—the strongest of the bunch—was stuck keeping a shield up, too pinned down to fight back.
"…Are you kidding me?" Eden stared. The Teen Team had come to save people and were now running for their lives.
That left Eden with two options.
One: step in, help the so-called heroes, and expose himself.
Two: sit back, let the Flaxans go wild, and rack up Villain Aura.
[Congratulations, Master, for witnessing a Flaxan invasion. Perfect villain behavior! Villain Aura +10.]
He could already hear the System's smug tone.
So Eden chose option three.
His eyes lit red. Two blazing beams of Heat Vision lanced out, slicing through thousands of Flaxans charging from the left, cutting them in half like paper dolls.
"What the hell was that?!" Rex shouted. "The aliens just—just dropped!"
"No idea," Robot said flatly, though his mind was already racing. "But we'd better capitalize. Kate, duplicate at max output. Overwhelm them. Eve, keep Rex covered. Rex, we need heavy firepower. Now."
"Got it!"
With half the army gone, the Teen Team finally caught their breath. Under Robot's orders, they pushed forward. But truthfully? The Flaxans were rattled less by the Teen Team and more by that mysterious red light.
Then the aliens started… aging. Rapidly. Their weapons clattered to the ground as they panicked and bolted for the Portal.
Eden glanced at the time. "An hour and a half before Mom and Dad wrap up their fights. More than enough."
If he let them retreat, they'd just come back. Stronger. Deadlier. Hiding would only get harder. This attack had already proved it: danger wasn't something you dodged on Earth. It found you.
And if it couldn't be avoided? Then it had to be eliminated.
With that thought, Eden moved. A blur, faster than human eyes could track, ghosting right through the Portal with the fleeing Flaxans.
"Holy crap, Eden!" William cheered, turning to share the good news. "The Teen Team beat them! We're saved—"
"Eden?!"
His friend was gone. All that remained was scorched rubble where he'd been.
"No! No!" William stumbled into the street, staring at the bloodstained ruins, clutching his head. "This isn't real. Eden, where are you?!"
Meanwhile, the Teen Team regrouped.
"Jesus Christ, I never wanna see those freaks again." Rex gagged, retching at the carnage.
"At least we beat them back," Kate muttered, arms crossed.
"Wrong. They retreated." Robot's tone was sharp.
"Same difference." Rex waved it off.
"No. What truly drove them off was that red beam. Some kind of advanced laser tech." Robot's gaze flicked toward the café.
"Eden! Eden!"
William stumbled up to the group, frantic. "Have you seen my friend Eden Kent?!"
"Eden?" Eve blinked. "Wait—he was here?"
"He was right next to me," William said, voice cracking. "And then—he was gone. Just gone." His hands clutched his hair. "I never should've dragged him here. This is all my fault."
Robot said nothing, just walked toward the half-destroyed parfait shop, eyes narrowing.
....
On the Flaxan Planet.
"Pathetic."
Eden floated above the insectoid army, arms loose at his sides.
The aliens panicked, unleashing a storm of plasma fire. Beams hammered his body, shredding his clothes but leaving his skin untouched.
"What?!" the Flaxans cried. Their weapons weren't even scratching him.
"You still don't get it?" Eden's lips curled into a cold smile. "Earth isn't yours to invade."
And then he moved.