Chapter Eleven: Being a Hero

Since school was about to start again, I decided to stop my crazy training and relax for the last few days of my summer holidays, trying to have some fun. Because of that, I jumped into a ninja-costume that I stole once and teleported over to New York.

It was late in the evening when I appeared in the middle of the Central Park, hidden between some bushes to avoid curious eyes.

"Okay, what should I do now?" I asked myself thoughtfully, letting my eyes scan the area around me on the lookout for some criminal activity.

What does that mean, that I want to be a hero?

No.

But I still liked to mess with people, to beat the bad boys up, and being a 'SuPaHErO' gave me the perfect excuse to do just that.

That said, I had no real idea how to navigate through New York, so I burst into a mad sprint and started racing in a random direction without a real purpose in mind. The enhancements of the perfected Extremis Virus allowed me to run like a freaking human cheetah. It felt damn good to use one of my body's physical abilities at near full capacity.

My crazy sprint attracted a lot of local attention.

"Damn punk!"

"What the hell wrong with this kid?!"

"Slow down, boy!"

But I didn't pay these people any attention and was simply grinning like a fool while I was traveling around with an unreasonably high amount of speed.

It didn't take long before I entered a darker part of the city. The light was dimmer around here, and people stayed inconspicuous to avoid attracting any unwanted attention. There were some guys that looked like your typical gang members, but they had a white vanilla boy as a part of their group, so I couldn't really be sure if they were the real deal.

But after ten minutes of disorderly conduct, I finally spotted a group of five thuggish guys standing in a circle around an old grandma. They certainly weren't her grandchildren, and one of them was even threatening her with a small fruit knife.

"Granny, you better-…" the speaker stopped his sentence midway when he noticed my arrival.

Due to my speed, I was forced to crash into one of the guys in order to slow down. That caused the other four to jump back and draw several bladed weapons at me.

"It's alright, old lady, you can go home now. I take care of these criminals for you. Have a pleasant night," I told the granny while patting her head. She nodded in hesitation before rushing away with surprising swiftness.

"What the hell ya think ya are doing?!" growled the obvious leader of the group.

He was a tall, beefy, and sickly-pale dude with oily skin and a balding head. His broad nose was bright red, and one of his eyes was constantly twitching. The rest of the crew didn't look better. Their teeth were rotten, their skin sickly-pale, and they were shivering as if freezing.

"Hey, are you guys drug-addicts?" I questioned curiously, tilting my head to the side.

That question made the leader leap at me with a snarling roar, stabbing his small fruit knife forward at my shoulder. I stopped his attack by grabbing his hand and squeezing it hard. That made the guy drop on his knees with a groan of pain.

"You son of a bitch!" he whined, almost sobbing. "Kill him! Kill him!"

The other four thugs jumped at me but utterly failed at catching me because I vanished in a burst of flames before reappearing behind them. They gasped in shock while their eyes bulged comically. Their grimy sweatshirts allowed me to see their chests vibrating with frantic heartbeats. The smell of fear and urine started to fill the air.

"Fuck, he is one of these freaks!" one of the thugs, a tall and gaunt guy, exclaimed in fright before attempting to sprint away.

"Yo, wait just a moment," I scoffed and then wandlessly assaulted him with one of my new prank-spells.

'Exurego!'

That word was a Latin term for 'squeeze' and would focus on the testicles of a victim. It wasn't a harmful spell but vicious enough. For good measure, I repeated the spell on the others as well. All five thugs were now on the floor, squirming in pain with their hands on their crotch area.

"What did you just say?" I asked the gaunt guy, approaching him before crouching down to look him deeply in the eye.

"Please…" the man gasped with tears running down his cheeks. "Don't kill me."

"Alright, here is the deal… you tell me about these 'freaks' and I promise that you will survive until the next time you fuck up," I explained in a threatening manner with my teenage boy's voice, assaulting him with my 'mind trick' through my eyes.

The guy nodded quickly. "Killgrave," he muttered fearfully. "He can make people do things, control their minds. My buddies and I escaped his freakish powers after taking some hard drugs. You can recognize that freak by his purple skin and expensive clothes."

"Is that Killgrave guy living around here?" I pressed.

The guy nodded. "I don't know where he hides, but he drives a purple Rolls Royce. He loves that car like a mother would her child."

"Hmm, your information pleases me," I said with a grin before standing up, gazing down on the five men. "Make sure you guys get some help for your drug addiction. And maybe you want to leave the city and start something fresh and honest somewhere else."

They all nodded wildly and then returned to whimper in pain again, squeezing their hands on their crotch-area to protect their family jewels from further harm.

I walked away and grinned. 'That Killgrave, I remember that guy. He is someone that controls the minds of people with his sweat or something.'

Such a guy sounded like easy prey to me since his powers shouldn't be able to affect me at all. And killing him was a must. He was a mass murderer, a sick serial rapist that would enslave women before turning them into whores. He generally used his powers only to humiliate people and destroy their lives, and to make himself rich, of course.

It would also be interesting to see if I can obtain his superpower by feeding him to my flames. But he and his ability weren't of a magical nature, so I wasn't really sure about it.

"Hmm, I guess I keep an eye out for a purple Rolls Royce from now on," I muttered while strolling down the sidewalk. "I grab that Killgrave guy, teleport him into the middle of nowhere, beat him up, and then feed him to my flames. Sounds like a nice plan."

Doing harm to sick fucks didn't make me feel bad at all. On the contrary, I felt excited and couldn't wait to have my first confrontation with one of the famous characters that roamed this world.

…

Running around like an Olympic sprinter on crack again, I was quickly becoming an annoyance to the local population. The police started to chase after me, and I was forced to use my teleportation powers a few times to escape them.

"Stupid cop!" I screamed, running away from an officer that was racing after me on a motorcycle. "Why are you guys chasing a bloody kid?!"

The officer grunted something and increased his speed. He lifted his baton and attempted to smack that thing on the back of my head. Seeing that he was willing to harm a child, I whirled around and jumped at him to brutally ram the cop from his ride.

Next, I moved to grab the police motorcycle that crashed into a nearby car and then threw it into a large iron trash container that stood in a side alley. The police guy was surprisingly unharmed, but he pissed his pants when he saw me returning for him.

"You fucking moron would use your fucking police baton against a kid?!" I roared at the guy, ignoring the mass of people that gathered around us. "Sadist piece of shit, I will teach you are lesson that you will never forget!"

I grabbed a small vial with pink liquid out of my mokeskin pouch and forced it down the throat of the distressed police officer. When the deed was done, his skin changed to match the color of the liquid I forced him to drink.

This was one of the potions I purchased from Zonko's Joke Shop for my little trip here. My visit to New York wasn't completely spontaneous. I wanted to play 'hero' for a bit and train my abilities with real action.

"From now on, you will be remembered as Captain Pink!" I scoffed at the police officer, who was about to faint from shock. He looked absolutely ridiculous. The small audience around me thought so as well and started laughing.

"No, you mutant shit can't do this to me!" the police officer snarled angrily. His hand moved after the gun attached to his bet.

Snorting, I stopped his movements with an overpowered wandless stinging hex that made him squeal in pain and his hand swell to twice of its size.

"You asked for it by trying to exercise police brutality on an innocent child," I spat back, kicked the guy in the guts, and then quickly raced away because I heard multiple police sirens approaching.

The potion I gave him was easy to counter with a simple Finite, but since the police guy couldn't do that, he would stay pink and ridiculous forever.

My heroic adventure continued, and I kept solving a few more crimes by bullying the thugs I encountered into submission, using prank spells on them. After stopping to ask a random pedestrian, I also realized that I was touring through Harlem.

…

The next day arrived quickly in New York, and I was still patrolling the streets and dodged several police officers and a bunch of men in black that tried to capture me. There wasn't much that they could do, however.

But the chase eventually became a bit more interesting when a group of people clad in blacks shirts with a large white cross appeared. They popped up from nowhere and behaved like religious fanatics and called themselves 'The Purifiers.'

After proclaiming how I was a child of Satan, they attacked me with pistols that fired tranquilizer darts. Not really dangerous to me, but it was a great exercise to increase my dodging abilities. Just like this, I ended up playing a cat-and-mouse game with these fools, sneakily attacking them with pranking spells all the while.

"How come you guys don't accuse Jesus of being evil!?" I shouted back, dodging another dart. "Everyone knows that he had the ability to turn water into wine. He might have abused that power to perform wild, hedonistic parties!"

"Your lies won't corrupt us!" screeched several members.

"How is that all lie when the bible itself admits it?!" I argued.

"Your heretic opinions won't work on us, Devil's Child!" argued a fanatic nobody.

That particular guy looked over to the young woman next to him to see if his retort against me impressed her. But she ignored him in favor of the leader of the group, an athletic guy that looked like an ex-military. Seeing, that he grew angry and started accusing me of corrupting the souls of innocent people.

Rolling my eyes, I pointed my finger at them and assaulted the bunch with a vicious bombardment of overpowered Flatuladfremo, causing them to fart loudly and shit their pants. But that didn't stop them from their Holy Crusade, and they continued to run after me with heavy breaths and loud panting.

"Reverend Stryker!" one of the pursuing fanatics hallowed with a loud, zealous tone. "Help us, Reverend Stryker! Bestow us your strength to vanquish all evil! Bless us, Reverend Stryker!"

Suddenly, the fanatics pulled at their necklaces and revealed that there was a small vial connected to it. They opened the vial and drowned the silvery liquid it contained down their throats.

What followed next was a significant boost in their physical abilities. I could see their muscles swell a bit, and an aura of potent and raw physical strength engulfed them. They were running a lot faster now, and I had to seriously swing my legs a bit faster if I wanted to stay ahead of them.

I stopped my trash-talking and assaulted them with my Paralyzing Bolts power that I got from Azazel skill-set – basically overpowered stunners. That took out the majority of my pursuers but the military guy proved to be a problem.

Okay, not really, but I wanted to limit myself on my non-magical powers.

"You must be Reverend Stryker's personal toyboy," I mocked and swiftly incapacitated two more pursuers, leaving the ex-military alone.

"Keep mocking me, but I will make sure that you will suffer for your sins," the military guy hissed through gritted teeth.

"Don't be so sure about that," I replied and summoned a kebab into my hand from a stand that I passed, using a wandless Accio. Seeing me casually eating a kebab made the fanatic scream in frustration. His bald head sprouted thick, root-like veins while his eyes became bloodshot with fury.

After finishing my snack, I decided to stop and confront the fanatic in hand-to-hand combat to measure my exact power.

I leaped high up into the air and landed on the roof of a car, causing the roof to bend inwards slightly. "Enough running, let us fight."

"Mutant scum!" the fanatic roared, mad with anger as he leaped after me.

He initiated the fight with a straight punch towards my face. My superior reflexes and enhanced sight allowed me to see it coming easily. I dodged everything he threw at me without punching back. Slowly but surely, curious people gathered around us because it appeared as if we were dancing or something.

'Huh?!'

I suddenly spotted a purple car in the distance.

The distraction almost allowed the fanatic to land a hit, but I was 'multitasking' in some way and paid attention to everything that happened around me. Occlumency was quite useful in that regard. It helped me to effectively split my focus and concentrate on multiple matters more easily.

I didn't just pay attention to the punches of the guy that was attacking me, but also observed the audience to spot any kind of hidden dagger waiting to ambush me. Just because I was fooling around, it doesn't have to mean that I was getting careless here. This was all part of my self-imposed special training.

The simultaneous execution of multiple tasks!

Having said that, the purple car that I just spotted appeared to be the one that I am looking for. Nobody but a psychopathic villain would drive a purple Rolls Royce.

Because of that, I started to fill my lungs with plasma...

That action made my eyes start to glow with an ominous light. The fanatic, who looked much older somehow with wrinkled skin and all that, noticed the dangerous glow of my eyes and jumped back with a wary expression.

"Dragon's Breath!" I roared, exhaling a torrent of golden flames at the deranged fanatic that wanted to beat a kid to death.

I didn't expect my first kill to be like that. The fanatic was eventually consumed by my fire in mere seconds, leaving nothing behind at all. People started screaming in panic and fear, calling me a monster.

*bampf*

Teleporting to where I saw the purple car, I turned my head to the direction it took and teleported to the next intersection before scanning the area. And to my great delight, my awesome eyes spotted the car to my left, waiting for green light.

"Hahaha… gotcha, motherfucker!" I laughed loudly and then teleported directly next to the car.

It was indeed a purple Rolls Royce, so I opened the backdoor and found a man with deep purple skin sitting inside it. He was tall, looked fairly strong, and was wearing an expensive suit. He also had a silver cane resign on his lap - your typical villain.

Across from him sat a young woman with pinkish hair, wearing a white bodysuit that was hugging her toned, athletic, and yet shapely body that bragged with seductive curves. She looked like a professional fitness model. Her face was fairly pretty, offering full lips that looked quite kissable.

"Oh-la-la, what a beauty," I said with a stupid grin, shooting the older girl a flirtatious wink. She just stared at me with barely any spirit in her eyes.

The purple-faced guy irritated my casual dismissal of his existence. His chiseled face twisted in anger.

"How dare you!" Mr. Purple-Face snarled with vivid fury. His voice was deep and very masculine. "Take off your mask and tell me who you are."

Grinning inwardly, I gave him a blank look. "Yes, master."

That seemed to have convinced him that I was under his control. He seemed annoyed but didn't stop me from stepping into his car next to the pink-haired woman.

But instead of taking off my ninja mask, I slammed my fist hard on Killgrave's knee, shattering it. My other hand coiled around the shoulder of the woman, and I instantly teleported us to the Sahara Desert before anyone could react to what was going on.

*bampf*

Killgrave started screaming like a little girl when we reappeared in the middle of a vast ocean of golden sand. The hot sun was glaring down from the sky as if she tried to set something on fire.

"Alright, this place is excellent for our private meeting," I said and dodged a punch from the pink-haired girl. She spun around and tried to kick me but collapsed on the sand after I hit her with a paralyzing bolt.

"You motherfucking little piece of shit, I will fucking kill you!" Killgrave snarled after screaming his throat hoarse, still hugging his shattered knee.

"No, I don't think so," I chuckled in amusement.

Pulling my wand out my mokeskin, I summoned Dremoria out of a violent river of fire. She quickly grew in size until she was towering next to me, staring down at Killgrave who paled drastically in response. He tried to crawl away, but the pain from his ruined knee made him spasm in pain when he tried to move too much.

"Do you still think that you can kill me?" I questioned the terrified man, grinning widely.

Killgrave tried to respond but choked on his fear when Dremoria hissed at him. The scent piss filled my nose a second later. What happened next was unexpected, but the face of my panic-stricken victim started to contort with pain. His eyes split wide open before he clutched his chest before dropping to the side.

'Huh?!'

"Dremoria, did we just scared him to death?" I asked my giant snake, my voice completely nonchalant and carefree.

She hissed something that sounded like 'weak prey dies easy' and then moved to swallow Killgrave whole. After that was done, I let her explore the sandy area and have some fun.

My attention switched over to the pink-haired girl behind me. "Don't do anything stupid."

I crouched down next to her and canceled the effect of my Paralyzing Bolt ability by drawing its energy out from her body. Her previously stiff body relaxed and I jumped back to dodge another punch.

"Ehm, are you maybe Jessica Jones?" I asked her, ignoring her assault.

She didn't respond but blinked at me in confusion. The light in her eyes changed to surprise and I recognized genuine happiness on her face.

Her lips curved into a smile. "Finally, fucking freedom..."

It took her some time to fully comprehend the situation. Her head snapped up to stare at me with a mix of panic and wariness. She also searched the area for Dremoria and gave the giant, fiery snake a frightful stare.

"Ah, you don't have to worry. I am a hero," I clarified with a smug grin. "Killgrave is history, and we can return back to New York in a moment. But first, I would like to know your name. You must be a superhuman too, right?"

"Jessica Jones," the pink-haired girl muttered. She then narrowed her eyes at me with her face forming a fierce expression. "My name is Jessica Jones, and I thank you for saving me, but I will kick your ass if you think that I will spread my legs for you! That asshole Killgrave…"

Jessica continued to rant about Killgrave, about how he wanted to turn her into his sex-slave and henchman. He just took control over her because he ambushed her while she was solving a robbery. But the robbery was staged by Killgrave who used it as a means to get close to Jessica in order to touch her, which made the influence of his ability a lot more potent.

It wasn't her first time she encountered him, but she always managed to keep herself at a distance and break the effect of his powers with the sheer strength of her will. But the physical contact was a lot stronger and she lost herself to his superpower before she could even fight against it.

"This means that I just saved you from a terrible future," I pointed out. "You don't have to spread your legs for me, but I would like some of your blood."

"You want my blood? What for?!" Jessica demanded rudely.

"For a vampire friend of mine," I lied without shame. "And freely given blood is more nourishing than forcefully taken. Just a small bottle, nothing serious."

"You know real vampire?" Jessica muttered in disbelief while I pulled a syringe with an oversized barrel out of my mokeskin pouch.

"Yeah, but most of them are poor sods," I replied with a nod. "Some are evil, but there vampires that just want to live in peace. But they face heavy discrimination because of the nature of their race."

Just to be sure, I cast a charm on the needle to make it unbreakable. Jessica gave me a nod when I approached her but allowed me to poke her forearm without complaint. She gave me an odd look while I was filling the syringe with her blood, but said nothing. I was quite surprised by her unconcerned nature. Freely donating your blood to a wizard or witch can be quite dangerous since it can be used in all kinds of nasty rituals.

"You have my thanks," I told her with a grin. "We are even now."

"Can you take me back now?" Jessica huffed while rubbing the spot where the needle poked her.

"You don't like the desert?" I joked, turning to look after Dremoria, who was slithering around on the hot sand.

"No, I just want to go home now," she muttered with a sigh. Her shoulders dropped with frustration clouding her features.

"Before I forget to ask," I started. "Are you actually are a hero too, or is that how you dress unusually?"

Jessica looked up in annoyance. "Says the boy with the ninja costume. You look like a little idiot."

I pulled off my mask and grinned at her. "Only to protect my identity. I don't want people to bother me when I am off-duty."

"At least you look better than I expected," Jessica pointed out bluntly.

"Well, most heroes are good-looking for some reason," I said with a shrug. "Just look at yourself. Your physique is a 10, your face is an 8, and your-…"

She interrupted me before I could rate her personality.

"Did you just say that my face is only an eight?!" Jessica exclaimed, nostrils flaring in anger. She jumped up and moved to stop right in front of me, looking down with vivid displeasure.

"What, do you want a little boy to tell you how beautiful you are?" I huffed with a snort and hugged her tightly before she could say anything, shocking her silly. "My hugging experience is only an eight. Hug me back if you want to get a ten."

She protested at first but eventually hugged me back. Hugs were medicine for the soul. My plan was to help her recover from her bad experience with that psycho Killgrave. She told me that nothing happened, but getting mind-controlled and told that you were about to be turned into a sex-slave would still leave marks.

"We can return to New York, or we can visit the Caribbean beach if you like," I proposed with a smirk after we broke our hug. "I think that we both deserve a little rest after getting rid of that purple-faced pervert. Don't you think?"

"So you can really teleport wherever you want?" Jessica inquired, her tone curious.

"Maybe," I replied with a wink. "But all I know is that we could use the rest of the day to enjoy the sunny beach of a little paradise island."

Her gaze turned thoughtful for a while before she eventually nodded, her lips curved upwards. "Good, but I still want to visit my apartment before that. I need a swimsuit and all that…"

"Yeah, and I get us some snacks and drinks," I added with a happy grin.

"Good thinking," Jessica muttered, grinning herself.

My pink-haired companion moved to hide behind me when I called Dremoria back to unsummon her. After that was done, I offered my hand to Jessica and we teleported back to New York.

We visited her apartment in Hell's Kitchen, a fairly humble place that didn't reflect her identity as a hero. Jessica told me that she didn't care about how her apartment looked like. She only cared about the comfort of her bed. And indeed, her bed was a rather comfortable piece, very bouncy.

While she was packing her stuff, I teleported to London and raced to a high-class grocery shop that sold expensive but really good stuff. Next, I teleported to Japan and got myself a big plate of sushi. My last stop was a luxury Hotel in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, where I stole some luxurious beach equipment.

The island that Jessica and I would visit wasn't populated yet. I visited it in my former life where it was turned into a holiday paradise, but right now, it was completely untouched and devoid of any human presence. I planned to claim it for myself in the future as soon as I had the power and knowledge to do that.

That said, I returned to Jessica's apartment with everything properly stored in my mokeskin pouch. She was already waiting for me, wearing sandals and a short white summer dress over her bikini.

"Ready to go?" I asked her with a grin, offering her my hand.

"Make sure you don't drop us into the sea," Jessica scoffed with a huff, barely able to hide her excitement.

She accepted my hand, and we both vanished in the same second, reappearing on a beautiful paradise island with a pristine beach, platinum sand, and azure water. Behind us was a small and pointy mountain covered in a lush jungle, populated by swarms of multicolored birds.

Jessica couldn't believe her eyes and kept examining every inch of the island while I was packing out two cushioned sun loungers. I used an animating charm to erect the sunshade before pulling out a table that I covered with all the snacks that I obtained.

"You know, I won't say no if you want to be my sidekick," Jessica mocked with a wide smile, approaching the table to pick up a piece of sushi.

"Nobody can make me, Johnny Vegaz… a dragon amongst men, the Supreme Awesome One… a mere sidekick!" I announced, filling my lungs with plasma before breathing fire like a dragon.

"All I see is a supreme annoyance," Jessica mumbled with a roll of her eyes, moving to make herself comfortable on her sun lounger.

I mimicked that and pulled some dragon meat out of my inventory, offering some of it to Jessica. She accepted and almost dropped into the sand from shock when I told her she was eating dragon meat.

What followed was a super-relaxing day at the beach until late in the evening.

…

After bringing Jessica back to her apartment, I reminded her to be more careful from now on and to not let herself get caught by perverted villains, and that I would come visiting from time to time so we can play hero.

Before she could say anything, I pulled her half-naked body that was only wearing a strapless bikini into a tight hug, wishing her nice dreams.

When I felt that she was about to explode, I leaped backward to put a safe distance between Jessica and me before disappearing with a flirty wink.

…