Arson

It looked like a jewelry box and it was wrapped with a black cloth that made it look very expensive.

Jason asked his mom what was inside, and his mom shook her head. She never opened it before, so she had no idea what was in there.

Jason carefully unwrapped the box and then opened it to reveal a necklace. He furrowed his brow in confusion as he brought it out and looked it over. He had no idea his dad was so… tacky.

The necklace itself was a fine purple pendant with silver vines wrapped around it. The pendant was attached to a black rope so it could be worn, and Mira asked him to put it on.

"I want to see how it looks on you."

Jason sighed at his mother's enthusiasm. He could never understand how she could act so happy whenever they spoke about his father. She was the one who was meant to be hurt the most. Jason's father left her when Maya was only two years old. Taking care of them had to have taken a lot out of her, but for some reason, she was always smiling when she spoke about him.

Jason released a resigned sigh again before he put the necklace on and brandished it for his mother to see.

"That looks very nice."

"You can have it if you like it that much."

Jason was already in the process of taking the necklace off, but Mira immediately stopped him. What in the world was he doing!?

"No, no, it's yours! You can do whatever you want with it, but I want you to take care of it properly. It's your father's last gift to you, so you should cherish it, okay?"

Jason fingered the necklace with a curious frown. His father left them for ten years, and this was the only thing he had to show for it. A tacky necklace.

"Alright, I'll take care of it. I've gotta go now, it's getting late and I wouldn't want Gina destroying my apartment because I wasted time. Bye, mom."

Jason quickly gave his mother a hug and a kiss on the cheek, and she smiled as he went to put on his shoes. As she watched him go, Mira spoke up in warning.

"Make sure you don't drink too much now. And don't get Gina pregnant."

"Mom... seriously?"

"Oh, please. Your dad and I were around your age when we had your sister and we were drunk that night too! I can tell you all about it if you want—"

"Nope, I'm not hearing this! Bye, mom!"

Jason quickly left the apartment, and Mira laughed at his embarrassment before she sighed. She fingered the wedding ring she had been wearing all this time, even after her husband left her, and she felt a melancholic feeling fill her heart as she gazed at the closed door.

"I wish you were here to see him, Richard. He's so strong. Our little boy has really grown so strong."

…

Jason walked through the dark night with his hands in his pockets. He still wore the necklace from his dad around his neck, and for some reason, he just didn't feel like taking it off. Maybe it was some foolish form of nostalgia, or maybe some part of him was trying to hold onto any part of his father that still existed, no matter how small.

But he decided that he would wear the necklace for now and take it off when he got back home.

The distance from Mira's apartment to the diner they owned was only a few kilometers, and it took Jason about fifteen minutes to get there. Once he got there, he went to the back where he parked his bike, and he was about to get on when he heard voices coming from around the corner.

"Come on, just throw it! You want the cops to come find us!?"

"What if someone's inside!?"

"It doesn't matter! Are you a chicken? Just throw it already!"

"Okay! Okay! Just hold on!"

The voices sounded familiar, and Jason immediately recognized them as the boys he had beaten up earlier today! They were the tiktok breakdancers! What the hell were they trying to do to their diner!?

Jason quickly ran around the corner to see what was going on, and he stopped in his tracks when he saw three boys wearing black facemasks and carrying flaming Molotovs in their hands! They were trying to burn their diner down!

"Hey! What the hell are you doing!?"

Jason shouted as he felt anger filling his body, and the boys cursed as they tossed the flaming bottles to the ground and bolted! Jason quickly ran forward and stomped on the bottles without caring for his own safety! The fire was near the diner, so there was a chance it would reach the building since the bottles were filled with flammable liquid!

Once he was sure that the bottles weren't going to burn down the diner, Jason turned in the direction the boys ran and bolted after them!

It was already dark, but the light of the moon gave him enough light to see where he was going, and he was able to pick out the silhouette of the three boys a few meters down the road as they tried their best to get away from him!

Jason wasn't going to let this go! These boys thought they could burn down an establishment for something so petty!? Did they think people's lives were a joke!? Something like this would've completely broken his mother's heart, and they would've laughed about it like there were no consequences!

He had to make sure these boys were thrown in jail!

Jason raced through the alleyways like a hound out of hell as he chased the boys! The boys were fast since they were young, but they were nowhere near the intense physical fitness that Jason had, so it wasn't long before Jason started to catch up to them! One of the boys risked looking back for a moment and cried out in fear when he saw Jason's mad face only a few meters away from him! Fuck!

Jason reached out and grabbed the boy by the shirt, tripping him and forcing him to crash into the ground hard!

Jason then grabbed the boy by the shirt and pulled him up before delivering a massive punch to his face that rattled his brain!

Slam!

The boy cried out in pain, and his friends who were running ahead realized that he had been caught! They immediately doubled back and came around to try and help their friend, but they stopped once they saw the look in Jason's eyes.

Jason was holding their friend by the shirt, and he was glaring at them with enough intensity to make their legs shake! He looked like a demon under the moonlight! Like a demon straight out of hell!

Jason tossed the moaning boy to the floor and started to take steps toward the others while cracking his knuckles. Jason had been in many street fights before. Mainly because of his stature and inability to allow people to walk over him. 

Ever since the emergence of Superhumans and Gates, there has been a vast divide between those with the ability to take care of themselves and those without the ability to care for their daily needs - especially with the rising cost of living and loss of jobs that came with the presence of Superhumans. So a lot of people resorted to robbery to cope with the hard times.

Jason was a prime target for robbery since he was always moving around at night, and this forced him to learn how to defend himself the only way he knew how. With his fists!

One of the two boys realized that they were in deep shit when they saw Jason taking off his jacket. Jason was built like a machine, so when they saw his muscles rippling beneath his t-shirt, they knew they were fucked!

The boy on the left immediately reached behind him and pulled out a knife he brought in case they needed to deal with any trouble. He brandished it towards Jason threateningly and yelled in a loud voice for him to stay back.

"I'll stab ya! I'm dead serious! I'll stab ya!"