Chapter 21: Queens' New Hero

Leo Bright isn't exactly a classic "straight man of steel."

At just sixteen, his mind is filled with dreams of heroism and adventure.

He doesn't have an old soul trapped in his body, nor does he fuss over the intricacies of romance or relationships.

This purity and vitality make Leo who he is.

If one spends all day embroiled in conspiracy theories or paranoia, life becomes exhausting.

At eight o'clock in the evening, Leo woke a sleepy Skye.

"Wake up, I made stir-fried pork with green peppers and mapo tofu. If you don't get up, it'll be gone."

Leo gently pulled the reluctant Skye out of bed and nudged her to brush her teeth and wash up.

Tonight, he was heading out to fight crime again.

And test his new gear.

Of course.

This time Leo wasn't going solo; he planned to bring Skye into his small team. After all, having a super hacker at home was a resource not to be wasted.

Skye was initially grumpy from being woken up, but the promise of good food quickly dispelled her irritation.

After washing up and eating, the two fiddled with their communication equipment, switching to several encrypted channels.

"Are you sure about this? It's not a game—it's dangerous," Skye warned, concerned.

"Don't worry," Leo replied confidently.

"Besides, even if I get into trouble, I have you." Leo donned a black trench coat, crossing two steel-cutting knives on his back.

He looked cool.

However, this trench coat was only temporary; his custom S.H.I.E.L.D. agent attire hadn't arrived yet.

"I'm off."

"Everything's in your hands."

Leo put on his headset, waved to Skye, and leaped out of the already open window.

This was the third floor.

"Boom."

A glass platform materialized beneath him, cushioning his fall, allowing him to land safely.

Leo set off running, and after a few jumps, he was atop a bus, riding along with the traffic to Queens.

Back in the apartment,

Skye took a deep breath, watching the shifting surveillance feeds on her laptop and Leo's real-time location on another screen.

"This guy..."

"Extreme parkour must not be thrilling enough for him anymore."

"Video games can't satisfy him either."

"Looks like I'll have to create a game mod for him sometime. Can't let him get too bored!"

Skye watched the dual monitors, her brow furrowed with worry.

"Hey, Skye, I think our super team needs a catchy name. How about Super Leo?" Leo's voice crackled through the headset, sounding excited.

"Could you be any less creative?" Skye replied, exasperated.

Suddenly, her computer screen flickered, and a red signal appeared near Leo's location.

"Hey, about a mile ahead to your right, someone just called the police," Skye informed him quickly.

On the other end, having reached Queens, Leo leaped off the bus.

"Got it. Super Leo is on the move!"

A shadowy figure leaped from the bus roof, causing a stir, before disappearing into the alleyways with a few agile jumps.

Two minutes later, Leo landed on a building's balcony, using a hook and rope.

"I'm at the target location," Leo reported into the mic.

"Got it. According to police reports, the suspect is a masked white male in his 20s. He's armed with a knife and just robbed a black woman returning from work."

"I'm pulling up real-time surveillance for each street. Hold on," Skye replied.

"No need, I see him," Leo said with a smile. From his vantage point, he had a clear view and quickly identified the suspect.

Leo jumped down from the ten-meter-high building.

This time, he didn't use any hooks or locks.

Instead,

He didn't fall as expected.

He was running!

Running in the sky!

A transparent glass bridge formed beneath his feet, allowing Leo to sprint through the sky, rapidly closing in on his target.

"Awesome!"

"Looks like I'm going to play on a slide."

"What are you doing?" Skye asked, frowning.

Leo laughed into the headset as he suddenly veered downward.

Glass platforms appeared smoothly beneath him, creating a transparent slide.

Leo slid down, gracefully landing in front of the suspect.

"Who the hell are you? A COSPLAY freak? Get out of my way!" the robber shouted. From his vantage, he hadn't seen Leo slide down from the sky, assuming he'd come from somewhere else. He tightened his grip on the knife.

"Hey, Skye, was it a purple bag that was stolen?" Leo asked.

"That's right," Skye confirmed.

"Looks like I've got the right guy." Leo shrugged, pulling a pair of fiber ties from his coat.

"Hey, Mr. Criminal, you're under arrest. Don't resist," Leo said, approaching.

Ten seconds later, Leo had the unconscious young man hanging by the stairs, the purple bag dangling around his neck.

"I told you not to resist."

Leo shrugged, adjusting the robber's mask and kicking the fallen knife aside.

"All set? Need me to call the police?" Skye asked, listening to Leo's movements.

"No need, I'll guide them over."

Leo waved his hand, and several more glass platforms appeared in the sky, forming an arrow. They exploded, releasing smoke.

After some experimentation, Leo learned that no smoke was emitted when creating a door, only when dismantling it.

"Oh! God! Look in the sky! What is that?"

"What a huge cloud! No, that's an arrow!"

"Oh my God!"

"How can this be! Is it divine guidance? What's in that direction?"

The giant smoke arrow startled everyone.

The smoke expanded as it drifted, and the transparent path Leo had used became a massive smoky pointer.

"Looks like I need to get out of here, haha," Leo said, deploying his hook and cable, launching himself into the air and disappearing from sight.

The glass remained transparent, Leo's black outfit blending in, and few noticed him leaping through the sky.

The police arrived, albeit belatedly.

After spotting the smoke arrow, they were the first to respond.

"What the...?"

"Is that the robber...?"

Seeing the man hanging unconscious by the building's outer stairs, the police were stunned.

"Robber?"

Not only the police but also reporters and pedestrians drawn by the smoke gathered at the scene.

After hearing from the police and looking at the dispersing smoke in the sky, they seemed to grasp something.

"Did that smoke arrow point to a criminal?"

"This..."

"How was this done...?"

"Who did all this...?"