A/N: This is something I wrote for a friend, the MC is a little more brutal than I usually like, but I think people can enjoy it.
The fic initially had only 3 chapters between 3 and 5k words each, but my friend asked for another 3, and he mentioned getting more later, but don't expect it to be updated that often, it's not something I work on without incentive.
In any case, I thought people could enjoy what little content it has, even if new chapters will be extremely slow, and that doesn't exactly get a lot of attention in this place.
Anyway, enjoy the read.
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Danny Hebert Jr. looked in the mirror, checking one last time to see if everything was in place. Staring back at him was a handsome black teen with defined muscles and dreadlocks that grew well below his shoulders. Hard to imagine he used to be a skinny nerd.
Not that he wasn't still a nerd, but being a kryptonian had some advantages, gaining muscles just by absorbing sunlight amongst them.
Touching the root of his hair, he curled a lock between his fingers, twisting it a little more until he was satisfied. Retwisting his dreadlocks every three or four months was hard, particularly with how resistant his hair was, so he had to make sure he did it right. Still, it was well worth it.
In his previous life, he had always wanted to have dreads, but his parents, racist assholes that they were, never let him, saying no son of theirs would be caught looking like one of 'them'... Ha, if only they saw him now.
Shaking his head, he dismissed any thoughts of his previous life and stepped away from the mirror, satisfied.
"Danny, come on, I have to use the bathroom too!" Taylor banged on the door, voice filled with annoyance.
He just snorted, yeah, he could have used super-speed to take care of his hair and morning routine, but this was payback to all the times she kept him waiting. His sister's hair may be beautiful and remind him of their mother's, but she definitely didn't need one and a half hours every single day to take care of it.
Having been adopted by Taylor Hebert's family as a baby had been a surprise —he had thought he was in the DC universe, not Worm— But Danny and Annete Hebert had been great parents, as good as he imagined the Kents would have been, so he wasn't disappointed.
In fact, despite being reincarnated, he had come to love them with all his heart.
Unlocking the door, he stepped away as Taylor barged inside, ignoring his shirtless state while pushing him out of the bathroom. "Out, now, I don't want to be late again."
When had she been late? They always arrived at school at the same time even if they had different classes. Then he realized what must have happened and sighed.
"The trio still giving you trouble?" he said, leaning against the doorframe and crossing his arms. "Want me to punch some sense into them?"
"You wouldn't!"
He wouldn't, not only because he wasn't sure he could hold back enough. —Emma was just that annoying— but their Father had taught him better.
Still, it was fun to bicker. "I'll have you know I'm an advocate of true gender equality, I'd definitely punch them if they deserve it."
"I don't want to give them the satisfaction," Taylor said while grabbing her toothbrush. "Plus I…"
"You still hope Emma will get over herself? You do know the only reason they don't do anything worse is that I'm there, right?"
Knowing what he did about Worm, Taylor's friendship with Emma had always been an endless source of annoyance, but he had given up separating the duo when he noticed it was making Taylor resent him.
Since he was reincarnated, Danny had been far more mature than Taylor as a kid so, while she had loved him, she had connected far more with Emma, seeing the bitch as a sister and disliking it every time he tried to separate them.
Still, he had hoped that perhaps his presence would have changed things.
No such luck, Taylor still chose to go to Winslow despite how much he told her not to and Emma still turned on Taylor the moment they got to high school, all Danny could do was follow her and do his best to protect his sister, cutting down on the bullying by a lot. The trio still did some petty things like spreading rumors or teasing her, but far less than in the original timeline.
Most importantly, with him there, Taylor hadn't been completely isolated, but losing Emma still hurt her and Danny hated it.
"Haaa… you're right, I won't punch them, but you'll have to stand up for yourself sis, don't just take it," Taylor made a conflicted face, but he wasn't backing down here. "Make a scene if you need to, you know both I and Dad will back you up."
"Alright, I guess I can record their next prank on the phone, even Mr. Gladly won't be able to dismiss it then. Now, out! I have to take a bath."
Satisfied, Danny closed the door and let Taylor start her morning routine. Even with him there, Winslow was still a gang filled shitshow, ABB, Empire, Merchants and a dozen other non-parahuman gangs recruited directly from the place, but it was far better than in canon.
After he had refused the first invitations to join a side, the Empire wannabe's had seen him as an easy target… which hadn't turned out well for them, or any of the other gangs that followed.
Beating some sense into the Winslow asshole population without revealing he had powers had been hard, Danny even had to pretend to lose a few fights when there were too many and they decided to 'pay him back'.
Fortunately, with his senses, it was easy to avoid most ambushes without revealing himself and Panacea being in the city was a great excuse for how he was always better the next day… Plus, he made a point of catching those involved alone, beating them twice as hard every time.
A few times, he feared the actual gangs or even one of the parahumans would get involved and he'd get in real trouble, but he just couldn't stand their racism or blatant actions.
No such thing happened, turns out even the gangs didn't care enough about Winslow to interfere, either that or nobody wanted to say they got beat up 4 against 1 by a random black kid, after all, it wouldn't earn them any respect —Now that he thought about it, it was probably a combination of the two.
Regardless, he had reached an uneasy understanding with the wannabe gang members, they didn't cross his line and he didn't bother with them. The school was much better now, no more blatant drug use in the hallways, no more forced recruitment and definitely no more sex crimes.
Although, the teachers were still terrible, and the gangs were still present, just not as annoying.
Putting on a shirt, Danny stepped into the kitchen and found breakfast was already waiting for him. Danny Senior had left to solve some problems at the Dockworkers Association, but he had left things ready for them.
Their Father was still suffering from depression like in canon Worm, but medication, time and regular meetings with a psychologist —at Danny's constant nagging— meant he was still quite involved with their lives and they loved him for it.
One and a half hours later, they left for school on foot, taking the chance to jog a little so Taylor would keep in shape. She had hated the exercise at first, but Danny refused to have a pudgy sister.
At school, Danny accompanied Taylor to her class, noticing Emma hadn't arrived yet… good.
Instead of going to his own classroom, he sat in the hallway and used his X-Ray vision to keep an eye at the entrance until he saw Alan dropping off his daughter at the gate and driving away, then he got up.
Enhanced reflexes and body control made him surprisingly sneaky when he wanted to be, so the girl's heart skipped a beat when he grabbed her from the back and dragged her into an empty classroom. "Hello, Emma. What did I say about bothering my sister?"
Emma swallowed hard, eyes flashing with fear for a moment before she managed to gather herself. "Take your hands off me, Hebert."
For a full second, he didn't move, just staring into her face and letting her uncertainty build, but then he stepped back, letting go of her shoulder. "Emma, do you remember how Winslow used to be?"
"What?"
Leaning against a chair in a relaxed manner, Danny smiled at her. "God, this place used to be such a shitshow until I started beating all those assholes. It's much better now isn't it? No drugs in the hallways, no senior dropping out cuz she was raped…"
Well, he didn't know of any girl that dropped out because of rape, but Emma probably didn't know either way… and it wouldn't surprise him if it had happened before he got into the school.
"Get to the point, Hebert, I don't have all day!" Emma growled, but he could hear her heart speeding up and see the drop of cold sweat running down her face.
"The point, Emma, is that while I won't be doing anything against you, entirely because Taylor doesn't want me to, I also won't be protecting you if you're gonna be a bitch to my sister.
"You see, all those Empire, ABB and Merchant recruits in Winslow are behaving because they know not to cross me, but what if I told them I don't care about what happens to you? And before you say it, Sophia can't be everywhere."
He wouldn't be doing it, telling people Emma was fair play would be the same as sending them after her and, as much as he despised her, he'd still feel guilty if something worse than a beating happened to the girl.
"Yo-you can't do that!" she almost yelled, her facade of strength breaking as she understood the threat.
"Leave. My sister. Alone. Emma," he glared at the shaking girl as hard as he could and pushed himself away from the chair. "You've already broken her heart, I won't let you do any more damage."
"What's going on here?" Mr. Gladly asked from the door. The young teacher took a second to analyze the situation, seeing Danny's threatening posture and Emma's fear. "Mr. Herbert, detention, now! And the next time I catch you threatening a student you'll be suspended!"
Danny didn't try to fight it, nor did he correct the man's mispronunciation of his name since he didn't actually care, it's not like he needed classes anyway. Instead, he just shrugged and waved at Emma as he left the room.
He ended up spending the day at the supervisor's office. The man did his best to ignore his presence while working on a computer, so he just used X-Ray vision to look through the walls and watch the Bay or check on Taylor.
Even just in the few hours he was there and the narrow focus he kept, he saw 12 muggings, two assaults and found one of Hookwolf's dog fighting rings the cape had moved closer to the edge of Empire territory.
God, he really hated this city, but he had promised not to act and he was going to keep it.
In truth, he should have been writing a paper for his detention, but everyone knew the teachers didn't care enough to check if he had done it, nor would they be willing to stay after class watching him in case he didn't finish.
No, as long as he wasn't creating more problems, they'd just pretend everything was alright, just like they ignored any fight he got into as long as none of the 'important' students were involved.
God, he hated this school.
After class, he walked Taylor home, his sister glaring at him all the way. She had gotten used to him being in detention, but that didn't mean she liked it.
"Huh, Dad still hasn't come back?" Taylor asked, poking her head at the kitchen. "You think there was an accident?"
"Nope," he dismissed her concerns, having briefly looked towards the docs and not seeing anything wrong. "Hopefully, he's negotiating a big job… or discussing suing someone."
It was rare, particularly now that there were so few jobs, but Danny Senior could be delayed for hours if he was trying to land a big job or someone just wouldn't 'get it'. Both workers and employers could be incredibly stubborn if they thought they were in the right.
Entering his room, he pulled a trunk from under the table and stared at it for a second. "Hey, I'm going for a walk, want to come with me?"
"No," Taylor yelled from her room. "I've to finish a project before sending my part to Charlotte."
"Alright, good luck, call me if you need anything."
"Will do, be careful."
"Always."
Turning back to the trunk, he unlocked it and grabbed the small, cheap mask from inside, putting it under his shirt.
Leaving the house, Danny locked the door behind himself and smiled, kinda glad Taylor had said no. Not that he was against taking a walk with her, but the day was cloudy, making it easy to remain unseen and he was actually hoping to go flying for a little bit.
Of course, he had to be incredibly careful if he didn't want someone to catch him, and he was pretty sure people at least suspected there was a flying cape in the city, but since he learned fly a little over two years ago, it had quickly became his favorite thing about being a kryptonian.
Everything else had drawbacks, from his improved senses to his increased strength and speed, but flying was just fun, feeling the wind on his face, the freedom… So, despite the risk, sometimes he just NEEDED to fly, to get a break from this damn city.
Finding a hidden corner, he made sure there was no one looking and put on the damn mask. Danny didn't really have a costume —Senior insisted he had to be 18 before debuting— but the mask was a token effort to fit into the unwritten rules in case he ever made a mistake and was seen.
He did not want to attract attention to the Heberts.
He made sure not to make any noise as he flew up, continuing through the clouds until they blocked the view of the ground before exploding into motion, only a second later and he was out in the bay, well beyond the PRT headquarters and anyone capable of tracking him.
It took him a few minutes to reach the middle of the ocean where he was confident nobody would notice him, then Danny slowed down, took off his mask and started to vent his frustration.
Fuck, he wanted to stop those muggings, to beat Hookwolf withing an inch of his life and drop him in the birdcage, to just… do something!
In truth, Danny didn't like hiding, and living in the same city as honest to god Nazis was extremely grating. He wanted nothing more than to debut as a hero, arrest them all and perhaps clean up the sunken ships, re-opening the bay.
However, even as a Kryptonian, he wasn't born as powerful as he was now. He didn't exactly remember being a baby, but as a 4 years old he was only slightly stronger than an adult, could still be hurt by bullets and didn't have any of the other powers a kryptonian was famous for.
His heat vision came when he was 7, then came super speed at 9, but not the ability to accelerate his thoughts, which made for some awkward situations.
Now, he had grown strong, probably the strongest cape on Earth, there was no way to be sure, but he thought he could probably defeat Leviathan, if not destroy it outright, but Behemoth and the Simurgh were more complicated.
As a dynakinetic, Behemoth may be able to counter most of Danny's abilities, even if it was unlikely to be able to hurt him, and Danny wanted nothing to do with mind controllers, the human ones he could probably neutralize before they did anything, but the Simurgh…
Also, Scion was still a thing and the information his birth family had sent with him to Earth indicated Krypton hadn't faced any Entities before, there was no way of knowing how the Entity would react to his existence, but he was 'The Warrior', so Danny's best guess was: Violently.
Finally, there were also the countless exotic powers an Entity had, time manipulation, probability control, projections like the Siberian, all things he'd have to be careful about despite his power.
Most importantly, he had a family, a very fragile family in a world where the 'unwritten rules' were only respected by the weak and he couldn't just put on some glasses and expect no-one to recognize him. Even a full-body costume wasn't certain.
He wanted to help, but he wasn't Superman, he wasn't a self-sacrificing hero hell-bent on protecting the world. Above all, he just wanted to protect the people he loved, doing as he pleased and helping the world would be great, but not if it cost him his family.
Finally, he just stopped thinking about things and relaxed, letting his frustrations fade as he enjoyed the wind on his face and the view under him for an hour.
Eventually, he flew back to the Bay, the sky had already started to go dark, a combination of the approaching rain and the arrival of night, which only made it easier to remain hidden.
Making sure there were no cameras, he landed where nobody could see and pulled off his mask, then he checked his phone and frowned. Charlotte had called him thrice.
Charlotte was one of Taylor's new friends after Emma turned on her, a shy brunette in the same class as her, but Danny didn't really interact with her, in fact, he thought the girl was afraid of him, she had no reason to call.
"Hello?" she answered after a while.
"Hi, this is Danny, Taylor's brother, you've been calling me?"
"Ah… right, hmmm," she said, voice failing from nervousness. "Can you tell Taylor to call me? She was supposed to send me her part so I could finish a project, but I can't seem to talk to her. We're supposed to turn it in tomorrow so…"
Danny frowned, starting to get a bad feeling. "I'm not home right now, but I'll tell her as soon as I see her."
"Right, hmm, thanks, it's just… we're already late."
"Don't worry, she told me she was gonna finish it as soon as we arrived from school, I'm sure she's already done. Bye."
Turning off the phone, Danny stared at it for a second before dialing home, but nobody answered. The bad feeling in his gut started growing stronger as he walked faster and dialed Taylor's cell phone then, when that also didn't work, he called his Father.
Nobody was picking up.
Now jogging, he dialed the Dockworkers' Association number. "Hi, this is Danny Hebert Jr. I need to talk with my father. Can you please pass him the phone?"
"Hmm, strange," the receptionist answered with a soft voice. "Danny didn't show up to work today."
"What?" Danny asked, but he didn't wait for an answer, turning off the phone and running into an alleyway.
It could be nothing, it could be that his Father had gotten into an accident and both he and Taylor were fine but in the hospital. He could be overreacting… he hoped he was overreacting and he'd have to pay for that latter, but he was afraid it wasn't.
Hastily putting on the mask, he burst into movement, flying up into the air fast enough to create a sonic boom. Instead of flying home, he just looked towards the house, using X-Ray vision to see there was really nobody home.
Next, he accelerated his thoughts as much as he could and looked around the neighborhood, then towards the nearest hospital, checking every room for any signs of his family, he didn't find them.
Cold fear filled him, a sense of inevitability… as well as a familiar rage. Not again.
Closing his eyes, Danny focused on hearing, parsing out the sounds of the city, using X-ray vision to check every time he heard something suspicious.
"Fuck you, you should have know better! Next time, we won't be so nice!" An ABB pimp said as he punched a client who hadn't paid for his whore.
"They're animals, they don't deserve it, but call the ambulance anyway, we can't have a death in this neighbor and it would be a pain to clean it up." an Empire thug shrugged as he ordered a minion, a beaten Merchant at their feet.
"Fuck, now we're gonna have to find someone else to do it, at least the girl can be useful, we can teach her how to behave." Said the Empire thug as he cleaned some blood from his face and kicked the man at his feet.
Danny's heart froze, the scene forever seared into his mind, he found his family.
Refusing to believe what he was seeing, he exploded into action, dropping any pretense of stealth and moving faster than he had ever done before. Like a meteor, he broke through the abandoned warehouse's ceiling, ignoring the metal support beams in the way and smashing into the floor, cracking it for several meters around his landing.
Mind still accelerated, he moved before the debris had even started to fall around him, gang members just now starting to turn towards his position. In less than a second, he kneeled beside Taylor, his Father's beaten body in his arms.
The smell of blood and burnt flesh filled Danny's nostrils, as well as sweat and sex, the rage making his eyes glow red with barely contained heat as he analyzed the situation.
Danny Hebert Senior had been tortured, his shirtless body was filled with cuts and bruises, his hair was wet from being waterboarded and there was blood still leaking from both his nose and mouth, his glazed eyes red from all the burst veins.
His hands only had a few nails left, the exposed raw flesh red and moist, swelling from the pieces of metal inserted into it, several of his fingers were broken and fourth degree burns covered his feet, starting from the soles and reaching his bones, the smell of cooked human flesh spreading through the room.
Despite all that, his father would still be alive, Panacea or even Othala could still have saved him, if it weren't from the bullet hole on the side of his head that destroyed half his skull and spilled his brain all over the floor.
Behind him there was a broken chair, covered with his Father's blood and sweat, the restraints broken when Danny Senior somehow managed to get free and attacked one of his kidnappers despite all the wounds on his body.
Even on the brink of death, he had tried to save Taylor.
Danny's sister was in a better situation, if not by much. They hadn't had time to fully torture her, but she was naked, her face was swollen from getting hit and there were finger marks around her neck where they had choked her.
Taylor's hands were tied in front of her, three of her fingers broken in a way that made clear it was on purpose, her back had been hit several times with a belt and there was a mixture of blood and semen leaking from between her legs, the only saving grace was that she was unconscious but still breathing.
"What the fuck? Another cape?" One of the gang members growled, starting to turn his gun towards them. "Who the hell are you?"
Danny ignored him, taking off his shirt and carefully wrapping it around Taylor's unconscious body as he lifted her into his arms.
"Fuck," Stormtiger cursed, looking at the girl before coming to a decision. "I think he's the damn adopted kid who couldn't be found in the house, did he trigger when he found out?"
Danny felt cold, despite the situation, he just couldn't believe what happened, why didn't he hear Father calling for help? The hero was supposed to…
No, he wasn't in a comic book, there was no arriving at just the right time, no saving the day at the last minute, no plot armor for his loved ones, he should have known that, he should have learned when their mom died.
Numb, he ignored the Empire members and just prepared to leave, taking Taylor to Panacea before she woke up like this, covered in this… filth, feeling all the pain they had inflicted.
A bullet hit the back of his head, the shell crumbling against his body before bouncing away, a second shot flew under his arm, almost hitting Taylor's foot, then a third and forth hit him in the back, bullets falling to the ground harmlessly. Danny froze.
They dared… When he was already giving them another day to live… While he was still holding his defiled sister in his arms… THEY DARED!
Heat vision, for all its simplicity, was a surprisingly versatile power, able to heat-up a weapon until the wielder was forced to drop it, weld metal together, carve words into wood, blast an enemy away or even heat tea, it only depended on how much control he had.
When he turned to glare at the shooter, he didn't exercise any control, barely caring enough to aim upward and avoid accidental deaths.
Twin beams of fire left his glowing red eyes, melting the makeshift mask around his face and heating up the air around them to an uncomfortable degree before burning their way through the thug's chest.
For a moment, less than a second, the man didn't feel anything, then the water in his body boiled, blood turning to steam inside his veins and expanding.
Like a balloon, the thug exploded in a shower of boiling flesh that covered everyone around him, the resulting pieces hot enough to cause second degree burns on all but Stormtiger, the experienced cape being the only one fast enough to dodge, using air currents to keep the blood away.
Then the screaming started, not from the man, he was already dead, and far too easily at that, but from everyone else as they realized just what they were facing.
Danny moved fast, laying Taylor safely behind a metal container and making sure his shirt was still covering her before whispering. "Don't worry, this will only take a minute."
In truth, he wanted to take his time, to teach them the error of their ways, but she was more important, so he'd do the next best thing.
Stormtiger started floating up, air swirling around him and lifting his body in the air as fast as he could but, for Danny, he looked like he was in slow motion.
There were still four gang members inside the warehouse, two of which were covered in blood and guts, still screaming from pain as the heated flesh burned their skin, and two that were already running, ignoring the pain.
As a kryptonian, one that was years past puberty, Danny did sometimes feel like he was in a world of cardboard, everything around him so fragile, but he did not stop holding back, there was no need and it would make things too easy on them, too quickly.
Instead, he caught the first one running, grabbing his wrist with one hand and shoulder with the other before starting to pull them apart, the man screamed and begged, but Danny had no mercy, ripping the arm out of its socket before ripping skin and muscles with a sickening squelsh, blood starting to spray everywhere, finally, he tore off the arm entirely, blood spraying out of the open wound with every beat of the gang member's heart.
Releasing his shoulder, Danny let the man fall on the floor before stepping on his chest and pressing down, collapsing his lungs and leaving him to either bleed out or drown in his own blood.
The second man had almost reached the door, so Danny flashed forward, dodging a blade of compressed wind from Stormtiger and using his newly acquired arm as a club, breaking the man's hips with a blow before grabbing the back of his head and using him to block another attack from Stormtiger, wind exploding against the Thug's face and shearing off his skin.
Stormtiger seemed to finally realize just how outmatched he was, using his aerokinesis to float up, trying to reach a window from which he could escape.
Danny threw his makeshift shield aside with enough power to break bone and flew up, simply ignoring one of the cape's blows and the wind barrier around his body and grabbing his head with both hands, starting to squeeze.
"The… rules…" the cape managed to say between gritted teeth, feet kicking uselessly against Danny's body and desperately trying to pry his hands away from his head.
"It may be hard to believe," Danny answered, barely contained rage in his voice despite the quiet tone. "But, like you, I no longer care about the rules."
"Kaiser… ugh, wont forgive… argh… you."
"Don't worry, Kaiser won't be a problem much longer, I've had enough of Nazis in my city," squeezing harder, Danny moved his thumbs until they were right above the cape's eyes and pulled him closer before whispering. "I've seen you villains ignore the rules, use them as you saw fit, laughing at the heroes as you escape prison again and again… I won't tolerate it anymore, and you're the perfect way to send a message."
"No, no, no, no, NO! AAAARGH!"
With a squelch, Danny pressed down with his thumbs, bursting both of the man's eyes and letting him scream out his pain for a few seconds, until blood started dripping from Stormtiger's face and his arms started loosing strength, then he finished squeezing, crushing the villain's head between his palms.
Letting the body drop uselessly to the floor, Danny turned towards the remaining two criminals, both of them smelled of sex, their belts out of place, which was why he had left the rapists for last.
Breaking their legs with a sweep of his feet, he pressed them both into the ground and released a blast of heat vision, this one fully controlled, burning through their pants and into their dicks, turning them into charcoal in the most painful manner he could think of.
The heat consumed their members, then spread through their legs and belly until it reached bone, turning the entire area black. He made sure they survived, but just long enough to fully experience the pain, the burns too severe for them to even reach Panacea.
They deserved it. No, they deserved far, far worse, but now that he was done, it still made him sick, hurting something deep inside his chest.
Danny had wanted to do good, and nothing that had happened here was good. Deserved? Without a shadow of a doubt, but not good… Still, he'd do it all again and worse if he had more time.
He flashed towards Taylor and released a breath of relief, seeing that she was still unconscious. Gathering her in his arms, he flew out, moving in a straight line towards where he could see Panacea.
His sister would be healed, she'd be restored fully, without any hint of what those bastards had done to her, then he'd act.
Like Superman, Danny had wanted to be a hero, to maintain his morals, arrest the villains and, when he was ready, even face Scion, he more than most stood a chance against the Entity.
But he was wrong, heroes never made things better, keeping the villains alive was always a handicap, they were evil and evil didn't understand kindness, they laughed at the rules and only thought morals made people weak.
No, to deal with villains, one had to speak their language, if they only understood violence, that's what he'd give them. People would call him a monster, perhaps even Taylor, but he didn't care, she was the only family he had left, he'd be a monster if that's what it took to make her safe.
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