Pelumi_David

“Heroes killed my parents. Now I wear the mask of one. Until I can bury them all.”
At seven years old, Hernan Vale watched his parents — two powerful heroes — brutally executed in their own home by the very people they trusted most: the legendary super-team known as the Zodiac 13.
They thought he was dead.
 They made sure the world blamed villains.
 They covered their tracks.
 But Hernan survived — and never forgot.
Ten years later, under a false name, Hernan enters the prestigious Hero Academy, hailed as a prodigy. To the world, he’s a rising star. To his classmates, he’s charming, calm, unstoppable.
But inside?
 He’s a weapon. Waiting. Smiling. Counting names.
As he trains to become a licensed hero, fights real villains, and rises through the ranks, Hernan plays the long game — earning the trust of the Zodiac, learning their routines, studying their weaknesses. One by one, he’ll bring them down.
And this time, he won’t hide in the closet.
But the deeper he goes, the more blood he spills — the more he wonders if he’s becoming worse than the monsters he’s hunting.
 And when love, loyalty, and lies collide, Hernan may have to decide:
Will he save the world like they think he will...
 or finish burning it down?

BLOODCAPE

Concord locked the streets. But they forgot the alleys. The rooftops. The sewers. The fire doesn't die—it just learns to burn differently.

Scene: Industrial Sublevel B — Abandoned Transit Depot

The old transit hub hadn't seen a shuttle in fifteen years.

Flooded. Buried. Forgotten by everyone.

Everyone except the people who had nothing else.

The depot echoed with footsteps. Voices. Motion.

Tessa walked down the cracked central corridor past sleeping bags, ration lines, and makeshift terminals powered by scavenged Concord coils.

"Memory Coalition HQ," someone had called it half-joking.

They had over 400 people underground.And every hour, more arrived.

Scene: Training Circle — Children's Section

Aya stood in front of six kids, aged between 9 and 14.

Only two had visible powers. One could reshape light. One could accelerate motion — but only her own heart rate.

Aya dropped a small, cracked Concord datapad on the ground.

"Rule One," she said. "If they say it's for your safety, it isn't."

"Rule Two: Never show them your full power."

"Rule Three: When the alarm sounds, you don't freeze. You don't panic. You move. Fast. Together. Always together."

Rook watched it all from a rusted balcony, arms folded.

He was listening.

Learning who would rise when no one else told them what to do.

"She knows what she's doing," he said.

"She's not running a war," Rook said. "She's raising the ones who'll finish it."

Scene: Classroom 2A — Emotional Defense Workshop

Tessa stood in front of 20 cadets.

She held up a photo: her and Ava, from the archive before Ava glitched.

"This isn't a person," she said. "This is a tool built to replace one."

"But she became real when she started asking questions."

"That's how they control you. They want you to forget how to question."

Then lifted a blank piece of paper.

"Every day you remember who you were before the fear? You win."

"Every day you don't forget your name, even when they rename you?"

Scene: Broadcast Insert — "The Teeth Manifesto"

A message began circulating through hacked feeds, graffiti tags, and whispered in alleyways.

It meant:We see you.We remember.We bite back.

Scene: Civilian Archive Upload — Sublevel Node 3

An old woman in her seventies uploaded a full Concord detention report from thirty years ago.

"They said I was too old to fight. But not too old to remember."

Her upload went viral on pirate streams.

They called her "Grandmother Teeth."

Final Scene: Ava's Reconstruction Pod

Ava sat on the edge of her recovery bed.

"They taught me to fake her voice," she whispered.

And in the reflection of the glass beside her—

Her eyes flickered from blue to brilliant gold.

Chapter 52: The Underground Grows Teeth