Evan pressed himself flat against the alley wall and tried not to breathe too loudly.
It didn't help.
The sounds still came through.
Screams.
Metal tearing.
Bone snapping with a wet, awful finality.
Abomination was close.
Too close.
The alley stank of old garbage and rain-soaked concrete, but underneath it—beneath everything—was the copper tang of blood drifting through the air. The streetlights flickered as something heavy impacted nearby, and Evan felt the vibration shudder through the brick at his back.
A body hit the pavement at the mouth of the alley.
It didn't move again.
Evan swallowed hard and clenched his fists, forcing himself to stay quiet.
Think.
The Shop burst open in his mind, no longer a calm ledger but a frantic cascade of options, categories unfolding faster than he could process.
Weapons.
Too slow.
Summons.
Too risky. Loyalty clauses cost extra.
Defensive Artifacts.
Prices skyrocketed the moment Abomination registered as a threat.
His balance was healthy—very healthy—but not that healthy.
He skimmed faster.
Time manipulation?
Out of budget.
Reality overwrite?
Locked behind prerequisites.
Energy projection?
Collateral risk unacceptable.
Another scream cut off abruptly.
Evan's heart hammered.
Focus.
He filtered aggressively, dumping entire branches from consideration.
Durations mattered.
Activation mattered.
Control mattered.
Something flickered past his mental periphery.
He stopped.
Scrolled back.
Read it again.
Then scoffed.
"…You've got to be kidding me."
Super Star
Simple. Almost insultingly so.
Temporary invincibility.
Massive physical amplification.
Guaranteed survival.
Duration: Short
Cost: High, but flat-rate
Collateral Protection: Limited but active
It wasn't elegant.
It wasn't scalable.
It wasn't something you built an empire on.
It was something you used when you were about to die.
Evan exhaled shakily and leaned his head back against the wall.
"…I could just run," he muttered.
And it was true.
He could slip deeper into the alleys. Hide. Let the military deal with it. Let Hulk—because Hulk would come, obviously Hulk would come—handle the mess.
That was the rational option.
The smart one.
He pictured the family again.
No faces. Just impact.
He closed his eyes.
"…Fuck it."
The Shop froze.
Confirmation hovered at the edge of his thoughts.
Evan didn't hesitate.
> Purchase Confirmed
Item: Super Star
Status: Active
The world exploded into color.
Light surged out of him in a violent, prismatic burst, flooding the alley with impossible hues. His body burned—not painfully, but intensely, like every cell had been dipped into raw energy.
Weight vanished.
Fear evaporated.
The noise of the city dulled, as if wrapped in cotton.
Evan stepped forward—
—and the alley wall shattered behind him from the pressure alone.
Abomination was laughing.
He stood in the middle of the ruined street, shoulders slick with blood and rain, one massive hand crushing a soldier into the ground until the body stopped resisting.
Helicopters circled overhead, firing uselessly. Bullets sparked and flattened against his skin, doing nothing but irritate him.
"HAHAHAHA!" he roared. "IS THIS IT?! THIS YOUR ARMY?!"
He grabbed a car and hurled it aside just to hear it break.
Then his eyes caught something else.
Light.
A wrong kind of light.
Brilliant. Multicolored. Offensive in its cheerfulness.
Abomination turned.
At the far end of the street, a schoolgirl had frozen in place, her bag dropped at her feet, staring in mute horror as a car—already airborne—sailed directly toward her.
"Fucking waste!" Abomination snarled, throwing it harder.
The car crossed the distance in an instant.
And then—
It stopped.
Not slowed.
Not deflected.
Stopped.
A figure stood between the girl and the car, one hand raised casually, palm flat against twisted metal. Rainbow light wrapped around him like a living aura, refracting across shattered glass and wet pavement.
The car crumpled inward, metal screaming softly as it collapsed against an invisible limit.
The girl blinked.
Alive.
Abomination stared.
"What…?" he growled.
The figure turned.
A man. Young. Ordinary, if not for the impossible glow surrounding him.
Evan.
Abomination grinned, all teeth and malice.
"Good," he rumbled, charging forward. "I WAS GETTING BORED."
He swung.
A full-force punch, enough to pulp tanks.
Evan stepped into it.
He caught Abomination's fist mid-swing.
The impact thundered through the street, a shockwave blasting outward, shattering windows for a full block. The ground cracked beneath Evan's feet—
—but he didn't move.
Abomination's grin faltered.
Evan tightened his grip.
Bone crunched.
Not a fracture.
A collapse.
Abomination howled in shock and rage, his arm deforming grotesquely under Evan's fingers.
"What—WHAT ARE YOU—?!"
Evan didn't answer.
He pulled.
With a speed Abomination couldn't track, Evan yanked the massive creature forward, bringing their faces level.
For a brief, absurd second, they locked eyes.
Abomination saw it then.
Not fear.
Not hatred.
Calculation.
Evan raised his free hand and pressed two fingers lightly against Abomination's skull.
And popped it.
The sound was small.
Wet.
Final.
The massive body went limp instantly, collapsing like a puppet with its strings cut.
Silence crashed down on the street.
Evan released the corpse and staggered back as the light around him began to flicker.
He felt it immediately.
The timer.
His chest burned. His limbs felt suddenly heavy, gravity rushing back all at once.
The girl stared at him, trembling.
"R–Run," Evan said hoarsely.
She didn't hesitate.
Helicopters swooped lower now, searchlights converging.
Evan looked up, squinting as the rainbow aura dimmed to embers.
"…Right."
He turned and ran.
Down alleys. Over debris. Away from cameras and soldiers and questions he couldn't answer.
The light faded completely as he disappeared into the city.
Moments later, something else landed.
A massive green figure dropped into the street with a heavy thud, knees buckling slightly as it absorbed the impact.
Hulk.
He blinked slowly, swaying, eyes unfocused.
Hulk looked around.
Saw the destruction.
Saw the soldiers.
Saw the body.
Hulk frowned.
"…Huh."
He scratched his head, yawned loudly, and then—
—with no more interest in the scene—
leapt away into the darkness, leaving behind a dead monster, a saved girl, and a city that would never stop asking questions.