Chapter 11

Somewhere in the big city…

"This is reporter Miku with live coverage of a break-in at Tatsuhashi Bank! It seems a group of these newly dubbed 'superhumans' are orchestrating a mass robbery!"

Her helicopter hovered over the bank, and she peeked her head out, nearly about to fall. "Get us closer!"

"Get back in the helicopter!" her pilot demanded.

Inside the bank, a group of four masked men walked up to the counter, holding the bank teller hostage. Their leader slammed his hand on the counter.

"Give us the money," he demanded, holding up his hand, which began to glow red.

The terrified woman held her hands up in surrender. "Please, don't hurt me! Why are you doing this? Everyone gets the same amount of money put into their accounts weekly!"

"Well," the man said. "I've come to a realization. That isn't enough, and we shouldn't all have to be forced to be the same just because we bleed the same color."

She trembled. "But…but why aren't you like Justice? Why aren't you helping us?"

Another masked man came up to the counter, his eyes glowing green underneath the mask. "Why help you people? When we could just help ourselves and our families to whatever we please!"

And then his entire body began to glow, and she screamed as a violent green explosion released from his body, destroying the entire counter.

"AHHH!"

But to her and everyone else's surprise, she wasn't harmed. In fact, she was no longer behind the counter. Instead, she was at the door to the bank, and a caped crusader with a sword in his hand was holding her.

"It's…you!"

He turned around. "Yep, you know the name! Justice, in the flesh!"

As the masked men whirled around, Justice gripped his sword. "You should probably get out of here, sweetheart. It's about to get violent."

"O…okay!"

The masked men clenched their fists and stepped forward. Their leader scoffed at Justice.

"Why don't you go back home, kid?" he mocked. "You're not the talk of the town anymore, and you're definitely not as scary."

"Fine by me," Justice shrugged. "All that government attention was getting so…tiring. Glad you guys got them off my back! Where were we? Oh, right. Sending you guys to jail!"

All three men laughed, before their leader suddenly became dead serious.

"Dispose of him."

The one who caused the explosion ran up to Justice, his body glowing green, and Justice prepared his sword. "Alright, let's see how you do against a human target."

He swung it, and it hit the man hard, knocking him out. It glowed a soft blue, before returning to normal. "Awesome!"

The others watched in shock, and then the leader pointed at Justice once more. "Well, one of you, take him out!"

Another rushed at him, his arm shifting into a metal blade. Justice looked at it for a moment. "That's one pretty cool power. Wonder how it'll do!"

He swung his sword again, and his blade easily cut through the other man's and hit him in the face, knocking him clean out as well. It glowed a soft blue again.

"That's strange," Justice noted to himself. "Not that I'm complaining, but it doesn't seem to be causing any slashing damage to them. It's almost like a blunt object, but it has a sharp edge. Is it not actually a blade?"

As the leader pushed another man toward Justice, the hero once again knocked the guy clean out. Groaning, their leader finally held up his hands, ready to attack.

"I'll just kill you myself."

Without warning, a barrage of lasers fired from his hands, which Justice easily deflected. "A real fight against an actual foe! A dream come true! Now, to defeat you!"

He jumped into the air, preparing to strike down the leader, who couldn't react in time. "Take this!"

And with a slash, Justice struck him. But to his shock, the man wasn't knocked out.

"AHHHHHH!"

Instead, he lost an arm and an eye and was bleeding profusely on the ground. "Argh! What have you done to me? You monster! You…you'll pay for this!"

"Woah, crap, what the hell?" Justice blurted out. "Why didn't it knock him out? What's going on with this? Now it wants to be a sword? I didn't even hit him with enough force to sever a limb!"

The sword glowed a dark blue color this time, while the man groaned in pain again.

"Dark blue? What is that supposed to mean? Is it…did it intentionally deliver a harsher strike? No, impossible…"

"Call…an ambulance…" the man groaned.

"Right, right, got you!" Justice replied, pulling out his phone. "Hey, 911? I've got four criminals over here, one of which is bleeding a LOT. Okay, good."

Justice pointed at the guy. "Don't you move, they'll be here soon!"

"LOOK AT MY ARM!"

"Yeah…it's bad. But let it be a lesson, crime doesn't pay!"

And then he jumped away, leaving the leader alone with his unconscious crew members.

Later that day, In Mykhail's room…

"Four criminals have been arrested!" Miku reported on the news. "It appears they were stopped by our newfound 'superhero,' Justice! Reports state that one, 35-year-old Jin Katsuragi, was found seriously maimed, while the others were unconscious, but not seriously harmed. Is our only hope against these criminals becoming more violent, or is there more to the story than it seems?"

The feed then switched to protests against superhumans, after which Mykhail abruptly turned off his TV.

"Man, having to be a full-fledged superhero for an entire week is draining. Mr. Kenta was right, the entire world is depending on me now!"

He pulled up a list on his phone. "That's the 28th crime stopped this week," he remarked. "Bank robbery."

After adding it to his list, he picked up his sword and examined it. "As for you, what made you suddenly become more…deadly?"

He slashed at his wall, but the sword didn't make a scratch. He put a glass up on his counter and swung his sword at it, and it smashed it like a bat.

"There it is again, it's functioning like a blunt instrument rather than a blade. What made it maim that Jin guy?"

He went on his phone and searched up Jin's name. After a few moments, it showed a criminal record of his.

"Kidnapping kids, battery, violating women, drug trafficking? 36 other charges?" Mykhail gasped. "Ever since he's got his powers he's been an abusive, violent gangster!"

He looked back at his sword. "Could that be why it damaged him? Does it increase its attack strength based on the morality of a person? Did the others not have severe crimes?"

Just then, he heard a knock on his room door. "Mykhail, dear, someone is here to see you!"

"Who is it, Mom?"

The door swung open, revealing Kumiko, backpack on, smile on her face, and in a schoolgirl outfit. "Hey, there's my favorite hero! You missed school!"

He shut the door behind her. "Yeah, well, who cares about school? I'm a superhero now, school is irrelevant!"

"That's not gonna sit well with the teachers," Kumiko warned. "They're already worried about you!"

"Why? I only missed five days of school!"

"Exactly!"

He waved her off. "I'll probably go on Monday, or something. Saving the community from these criminals is like a full-time job!"

He rubbed his chin. "I'm thinking about calling them 'supervillains,' how's that sound?"

"Um…cool…?" Kumiko stated.

He walked up to her, grabbing her gently by her shoulders. "How have you been feeling by the way? That thing's been inside you for a week now, I don't like it."

She beamed. "I'm perfectly fine!"

Her hand shifted into a tendril, which playfully smacked Mykhail across the face. "See? I'm completely in control!"

She nudged him. "Besides, you'll need a sidekick, won't you?"

"Yeah, but if you devour someone on the job, that'll be a problem. I already sliced a dude's arm off and left him half-blind. Not very heroic."

She shrugged. "Who cares? If he's a criminal like they say, no one's gonna shed any tears for him."

Mykhail sighed. "We don't even have a hero name for you."

"Because I'm not a hero, duh!" she pointed out.

"A hero's sidekick is still a hero!"

"Nope."

"Yep!"

"Ugh, whatever," Mykhail obliged. "How about…Alien Queen?"

"Ew! Are you calling me an alien?"

"Venomous Viperess?"

"No," she pouted.

"Xenova?" he suggested.

She thought it over. "Actually, that's not bad! Xenova it is!"

"Great. You do know what 'Xeno' means, right?"

"Nope," she admitted.

"Okay, good."

She hopped onto his bed. "So, what's next? What dastardly crooks are we going to eliminate now?"

"I usually just look for it on the news," Mykhail said. "There's nothing, so I guess we just wait."

"In that case, let's go meet up with Kurumi and Takehiro!" Kumiko remarked. "I'm sure they'll be super eager to see you!"

"Oh, sure."

Rocky busted in the door, barking madly before biting Mykhail's ankles. "…Just let me feed Rocky first."

Meanwhile, in a hospital…

"Ugh…damn it…"

Jin woke up, his eyes shifting around. He noticed he was strapped into a hospital bed, with bandages covering his arms and his left eye.

"Damn it, damn it all! Damn hero, thinks he can get away with crippling me? I'll have his head!"

A nurse came in, eyeing Jin. "Jin Katsuragi. You're finally awake."

"Who are you?" Jin asked.

"I'm your nurse. I'll be giving you medical treatment for your injuries. After that, you'll be transferred to the county jail for robbery charges."

"Come on, sweetheart," Jin pleaded. "Can't you let me off the hook? I already lost an eye, and an arm."

She cringed and went over to check his IVs. After she was done doing that, she walked into another room. When she came back, two more nurses were with her.

"How are you feeling?" one asked.

"Terrible," Jin moaned. "Half-blind and only one working arm."

"I'm sorry to hear that. But it is deserved, since you attempted to rob a bank, and you've hurt many people throughout your life."

"Huh?"

"I've read your file," she confirmed. "In the week since you've got your abilities, you've been charged for over 40 felonies, including against poor women like myself. And that's not even mentioning all the children you've traumatized. It's honestly a pain we have to treat you, if I'm allowed to share my true opinion."

The first nurse nodded, while the one in the back simply kept to herself, almost as if she wasn't in the room nor paying attention.

"If I was to…accidentally inject the wrong drug, which would lead to you having a fatal heart attack, no one would really care, would they?" the nurse suggested.

"You bastard, I swear, if you—-!"

She ripped an IV out, causing him to feel excruciating pain. "Careful, now. I'm the one taking care of you."

The first nurse stepped forward, eyeing Jin directly. "They say to take you to the jail, but they didn't say in what condition."

He glared at them. "I swear, when I break free, I'll kill you all!"

She smirked. "It's good you won't be then."

She looked at her partner. "Sedate him."

The other nurse injected a drug into the remaining IV, which caused Jin to feel sluggish. "Ugh…"

The first nurse then addressed the one in the corner. "Give him a dose of potassium chloride he can't come back from."

The nurse in the corner, who appeared a bit younger than the other nurses, sighed and moved from the corner, preparing to grab a stash of drugs from the cabinet. The second nurse waved a hand in front of Jin's slowly closing eyes.

"I wouldn't go to sleep so fast if I were you," she teased. "You might never wake up again!"

"You corrupt bastards, you AND that hero will pay…!"

They both laughed in front of his face, and while the other nurse was approaching with the drugs, she suddenly stabbed the needle into the neck of the first nurse.

"ACK!"

She fell to the ground, convulsing, and the second nurse watched in horror. "Arisa! What have you done?"

"That's not my name," she replied, ripping the needle out of the other nurse. "It's Akane Amakusa."

"You…you…!"

In one fluid motion, she pulled out a knife and stabbed the nurse in the heart, and as the nurse died, she looked Akane right in the eyes.

"Sorry," Akane said. "It seems your time is up."

The nurse fell to the floor. Jin blinked a few times, confused. "What the hell?"

Akane threw the knife to the ground, turning her attention to Jin. "Jin Katsuragi."

"Who the hell are you?" he blurted out.

"Don't worry about it. You've got two options here. You can remain here and take the fall for these murdered nurses…"

"Or?" he asked.

"Or you can come with me. My master is putting together a powerful team of criminals. He'd love for you to be on it. That is, if you'll accept his offer."

"Criminal team?"

"Time is running out," she stated. "It'll be minutes before more nurses come here to check on the commotion. What will it be?"

"I'll join, I'll join! Just get me out of this bed!"

She smiled a devilish smile. "Good. Welcome to the Villain Syndicate."

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