"Mom! Dad!"
Mason's eyes flew open as his back arched off the bed, sweat streaming down his face. His body shook uncontrollably, gripped by a strange, searing pain that made it feel as though every bone inside him had shattered.
[Nano Regeneration has been completed.]
[All irregularities has been resolved.]
"Huh, what happened..."
As his mind slowly cleared, the memories came rushing back, the chaos, the fear, the moment he nearly lost his life against the hijackers he fought off at the docks.
"Fuck... I'm never doing that ever again. But still.... My memory is fuzzy, I don't exactly remember how I got home, well I guess it doesn't mat-"
"Mason." A soft knock at the door pulled his attention toward the entrance, snapping him out of his thoughts. "I know you're awake, open the door."
"Shit! It's aunt Sonia!" He sprang out of bed, quickly straightened the sheets, gathered the damp tissues littered around the bed, and flushed them down the toilet before hurrying to open the door.
"Morning Aunt Sonia, how was your sleep?" As he opened the door, he forced a smile, though his lips twitched from the numbness caused by the NanoForge's tooth regeneration.
And there she was, the personification of beauty herself.
His Aunt, Sonia.
She stood at the door wearing a tight apron that hugged her body closely. Her large breasts pressed against the fabric, her waist slim, and her thick thighs stood firm beneath her.
"We need to talk about last night." She frowned, crossing her arms beneath her chest, making her large breasts lift slightly as she fixated her sight him with a sharp glare, clearly upset and displeased.
"What about last night?" He chuckled nervously, having absolutely no knowledge about what happened.
"I've told you so many times Mason, no drinking till you're 19! And asides that, no late night drinking! You came back looking like a mess!"
"Huh? Drinking?"
[Anesthetics were registered to you during the Nano regeneration process, however some side effects like nauseousness and slight drunkness was an unexpected outcome.]
"Oh, I'm sorry Aunt Sonia, I didn't mean to scare you like that."
"What am I going to do with you." She sighed and placed a hand on her forehead, clearly frustrated. "I get that you miss your father and mother, me too, but that doesn't mean that there aren't others who cares about you. If you ever need anyone, I'm always here for you."
"Thanks Aunt Sonia."
"Come on, go get ready, you're going to be late for school." She spoke with a radiant smile that could light up the heavens, then quietly closed the door behind her.
"That was close, definitely not doing that ever again."
He picked up his phone and scrolled through it, with a brief glimmer of hope flickering in his eyes.
"She didn't call back huh."
..
As Mason arrived at school, the front yard was even more crowded and noisier than usual. Groups of students huddled together, eyes glued to their screens, laughing and chatting with infectious excitement.
"Mason! Mason you've got to see this!" Spotting Mason again, Luke and Conner called out to him, waving him over with urgency to come see what they had to show him.
"I'm seriously not in the mood to hear you squeal over how awesome Lady Impulse is."
"This is not about Lady Impulse or any other heroes for that matter! Just come and see!"
Letting out a heavy sigh, he walked over as they restarted the video.
________________________________________
"BREAKING NEWS: Robbery foiled by a hooded Masked Man?"
"Late last night, an attempted robbery took place at the East Docks. According to police reports, a group of armed men broke into a restricted shipping yard, targeting a valuable cargo tech only to be stopped by a hooded man with a black mask."
Mason's eyes widened. The news about yesterday's operation was already out, how? There were no eyewitnesses, no police at the scene. Or… did it all happen while he wasn't himself?
The reporter cleared his throat as an image of the masked man popped up. The picture showed the hooded man in mid-air, arms stretched out as a wave of energy shot from his hands. It collided with a bright proton blast, the impact lighting up the scene in a flash of power.
"The entire scene was captured by a police drone moments before it was destroyed in an explosion. Hero factions and agencies all over the city denies having any ties with this masked figure and neither is he registered under any of the Heroes association which leaves the question, who is this masked man? And is he a friend of foe?"
________________________________________
"Dude! This picture is so sick!" The student, not just Luke and Conner, were all baffled by the appearance of the masked vigilante. According to the news, he had no powers. From the picture, it was clear he was using some kind of glove-based technology.
"He stopped that proton blast at point blank range with nothing but his athletism in mid air!"
"That's so cool, but I doubt that he got out of it unscathed, I mean the end results of that led to the drones destruction. I hope he's alright."
"I'm sure he's doing just fine, besides, after being blasted out of the sky like that, I'm sure he isn't stupid enough to comeback." Mason sighed tightening his grip on his school bag before leaving.
Mason sighed, tightening his grip on his school bag before turning to leave.
"Give the guy a break man, he's trying to do some good any way he can."
"Yeah I'm definitely sure that's not why he did what he did, anyways, have you guys seen Vanessa around lately?"
"Not really, we haven't seen her since yesterday when she borrowed you before classes."
"Oh... I see."
________________________________________
"The entire scene was captured by a police drone moments before it was destroyed in an explosion. Hero factions and agencies all over the city denies having any ties with this masked vigilante and neither is he registered under any of Heroes association which leaves the question, who is this masked vigilante? And is he a friend of foe?"
Inside an isolated warehouse, three men stood near a worn sofa where a man in a black suit sat calmly, watching the morning news. The one in the center—the leader of the hijackers—dropped to one knee, head lowered in silence before the suited man.
"My deepest apologies, we have failed to retrieve the V-Core."
"You stupid insolent hoodlums! Do you have any idea what you have done!" A voice shouted from behind the sofa, where two individuals stood—a man and a woman with a tablet in hand, both dressed in spotless lab coats.
"Calm down Mr Simon, there's no need to lash out just yet." The man in the black suit spoke calmly as he rose to his feet, stepping toward the leader of the hijackers.
"It was a simple job, all I want to know is how you got stopped, not by the police, not by a hero, but by a clown in a $5 mask." The man's voice dropped, deeper and colder. The hijackers instantly felt the weight of his presence pressing down on them. He wasn't just annoyed, he was furious.
"My deepest apologies s-"
POW!
In the blink of an eye, the man in the suit drove his shin into the leader's chest. The impact sent him flying backward, blood spraying from his mouth as he crashed into the wall with a force that seemed almost superhuman.
"I don't pay millions for you to be sorry." The man turned to the remaining two hijackers, his eyes burning with murderous intent. He looked ready to end their lives without a second thought.
"Ahem, as much as I'd like to savor this moment, we don't have much time." The woman in the lab coat stepped in, cutting his beatdown short.
"What is it Dr Helen?"
"We required your men to capture both the van and the core because the van is the reactor of the core. Now that the core has been separated from it's reactor, it's become highly unstable."
"You're telling me that a power source powerful enough to destroy this entire country has gone unstable? You stupid idiots!" With a swift strike to the jaw, he dropped the remaining hijackers, leaving them sprawled beside their leader.
"Not exactly, Upon contact with H₂O, the core undergoes a rapid thermal exchange, effectively reducing its temperature and stabilizing its critical state. So while it's submerged, the core isn't critical, but if it's not reunited with it's reactor, there's no telling what will happen."
"I see." The man sank back into the sofa, crossing one leg over the other as his expression settled into its usual calm. "How long before it goes critical?"
"By my estimates, 40 hours from now."
"That's good news, alright then, you three imbeciles still have a chance to redeem yourself, find that core and bring it to me before the night ends, or I'll end you, am I understood?"
"Understood sir." The leader coughed out his response as he rose to his feet, his men following suit before they turned and left the warehouse.
"Wouldn't it be more effective to send your men to retrieve the reactor and it's core?" Dr. Helen asked, her tone heavy with disappointment over the failed robbery.
"With the arrest of the Borian Crime Syndicate and the boss still in Japan, we cannot operate carelessly, forcing me to hire the likes of common hijackers. Besides it's not the style of the Purple Nova Syndicate, we have... Much bigger agendas than stealing cars."
"Hmph." Dr. Helen scoffed and walked out of the warehouse with her associate following closely behind her.
The man turned his attention back to the television, eyes fixed on the paused image of the hooded, masked figure, captured just seconds before the drone's destruction. "So now we have to deal with a Masked Vigilante huh?"