It was night time.
The house was broken and damaged.
Stephen was gathering the remaining parts of his puppy with cloth, covering it with a white sheet, and burying it.
Stephen was very serious, and in that same serious mood, he spoke.
Stephen:
"I never gave you a name, but today I will give you one - Aegis.
Yes, Aegis, and its meaning is shield.
Tonight, you saved me and protected me.
You called me outside the house, and if you hadn't been there, that monster would never have died, and besides that, you, me, and Tank - all three of us - would have died together.
But you don't need to worry, because I will take your revenge.
Tank should be punished for what he did.
I wish all supes were not like this."
"Rest in peace, Aegis."
It was 7 in the morning.
A meeting of the Super Five was taking place at The Citadel.
Mr. Fantastic:
"Everyone's here, right?"
Supergirl:
"Yes, except our boss, who doesn't give a damn about meetings.
And last night, Tank killed a puppy."
Tank:
"Oh chill, man. It was just a puppy, not a human.
If its time to die had come, then it died.
That's what was written in its fate."
Supergirl:
"And what did the owner of that puppy say?"
Tank:
"The same bullshit.
Pointless ranting-saying that you supes take advantage of innocent people,
and that the truth about you supes should come out, especially yours."
Supergirl:
"You know what?
This is the first time someone has ever said something like this.
And what if it turns out to be true?"
Mr. Sonic:
"Not the first time. The second.
A boy once said the same thing to me when I chose to save myself instead of saving his girlfriend."
Supergirl:
"They were right.
If I had known the truth about what you people really are,
I would have never joined the Super Five."
Mr. Fantastic:
"By the way, where is our boss?"
Ashley:
"He went to Bloodhound City to stop crime.
Rape cases have increased a lot there."
Tank:
"Crime there is never going to end.
If one crime stops, another one starts.
And anyway, we really enjoy stopping crime."
Supergirl:
"You enjoy stopping crime by killing children?
Go fuck yourself, asshole."
Supergirl leaves the meeting.
Stephen and Henry are sitting at Henry's house, talking.
Henry:
"I don't understand this.
Tank was fighting a monster, then he saw your puppy, ripped it apart, pulled out its bone and stabbed it into that monster...
and after that, Tank was about to kill you?"
Stephen:
"Yes."
Henry:
"But how could Tank do something like that?
Supes are supposed to protect us, right?
He sacrificed your puppy so that you and the others could survive.
You're angry, that's why you're saying these pointless things-
that Tank tried to kill you."
Stephen says angrily-
Stephen:
"Does this feel like a joke to you?
Should one life be sacrificed to save another?
Was it right to kill that innocent creature?
Does doing something good now require using the wrong methods?
Is that what you mean?"
Henry:
"Hey man, don't get angry.
I mean, even if he did all this, we can't do anything about it.
The media will protect them, and no one will believe us anyway.
We can't do anything, Stephen.
We don't even have proof.
Listen to me-just move on.
Don't worry about the house or money.
I'll talk to someone and arrange a new house for you.
And if you need money or anything at all, just let me know."
Henry ends the conversation and leaves.
Stephen looks around, and his eyes fall on a camera in the room.
Only one thing echoes in his mind-Henry's words:
"We don't even have proof."
Stephen quickly leaves Henry's house and rushes to his broken, damaged home.
He suddenly remembers that there was a camera installed outside his house-right at the spot where Tank had lifted him.
When he reaches the house, he sees that the camera is still intact.
He opens his laptop and searches for the footage, and soon he finds it.
The footage clearly shows Tank lifting a human being and preparing to kill him.
Stephen:
"Now you're fucked, bastard."
Stephen records that footage and, using a fake ID, makes it go viral on all social media platforms.
Tank is playing games and drinking coffee at the Citadel Tower when suddenly notifications start popping up on his phone.
His fans are tagging him, hurling filthy abuses at him, calling him a killer and a liar.
Tank watches the recording and mutters-
Tank:
"Motherfucker."
At that moment, Ashley and Supergirl arrive.
Supergirl:
"Bastard, you tried to kill a human.
Your image is ruined now.
You were always fit for this."
Ashley:
"What the hell did you do, Tank?
Even I can't manage this now.
This is going to be very difficult."
Tank remains silent.
He is burning with rage.
His eyes turn red.
Without saying a word, he leaves the headquarters-The Citadel.
Supergirl:
"I hope he doesn't do something stupid now."
Stephen returns to his old hotel and keeps his belongings inside.
Just then, he hears a knock knock at his door.
Stephen says,
"Who is it?"
When he opens the door, he sees Tank standing right in front of him.
Tank:
"Aren't you going to invite me in?"
Stephen:
"Bastard, what the hell have you come here for now?
You've already taken everything from me-what's left now?"
Tank:
"Well, you've taken quite a lot from me too."
Stephen:
"You deserve it. Everyone should know your truth.
Now get your ass out of here."
Tank:
"Hey, cunt, stay in your fucking limits and don't piss me off,
or I'll rip you apart just like that dog.
Sit down. Let's talk calmly."
Stephen gets scared, and he has no choice but to let Tank inside.
Tank:
"So you live in this shithole?
Yeah... I really did take a lot from you."
Stephen:
"How did you find out I'm here?"
Tank:
"Because all the broke and broken people come here.
It's the cheapest hotel."
Stephen:
"What do you want?"
Tank:
"I just want you to delete that footage
and make a post saying the video was made using AI and editing,
that Tank could never do something like this,
that Tank is a very good superhero.
Otherwise, I'll rip apart everyone you know-
your friends, your girlfriend, their families... everyone."
Stephen is furious, but what can he do?
He has no choice but to delete the video, apologize,
and forcibly praise Tank.
Tank:
"Good.
Now make me some coffee-because I couldn't drink mine because of you."
Stephen makes coffee and brings it to him,
but Tank becomes suspicious.
Tank:
"You didn't put anything in this coffee to knock me out or kill me, did you?"
Stephen:
"I wish I had."
Tank:
"Drink a sip first."
Stephen takes a sip.
Tank waits for a while.
When nothing happens to Stephen, Tank drinks the entire coffee.
Then he says-
Tank:
"I was thinking...
now that we've become such good friends,
why don't we go out somewhere together?
I want to show you a nice place-
somewhere no one will disturb us.
We can discuss what to do next."
Stephen:
"What do you mean, what to do next?
What place?
I'm not going anywhere.
Get out of my house."
Tank:
"Didn't you understand my threat?"
Terrified, Stephen obeys him once again
and goes outside with Tank.
Stephen and Tank are sitting inside the car.
Tank stays completely silent, wearing a faint side-smile.
Terrified, Stephen asks-
"Where are you taking me? What kind of place is this?"
Tank:
"Oh kid, it's a very nice place.
There will be no people there-no children, no old folks.
No one for miles and miles.
Just the two of us.
And to be honest, I've helped a lot of people there."
Stephen:
"How?"
Tank smiles again-half funny, half serious-and says-
Tank:
"By putting their souls to rest."
Stephen becomes extremely frightened.
His body starts trembling, but he can't do anything.
He has no choice but to obey Tank.
Tank and Stephen reach that place.
It is a vast open ground.
Not even a single sound can be heard-absolute silence.
Tank:
"Come on, get out of the car."
Stephen:
"What are you going to do?"
Tank:
"Just do exactly what I tell you."
Stephen steps out of the car and walks forward.
Tank:
"Now stop... and turn around."
Stephen turns around.
At that moment, Tank gets out of the car, walks up to him, and says-
Tank:
"Bastard, picking a fight with me was your biggest mistake."
As soon as he says this, Tank begins transforming into his monster form.
Seeing this, Stephen completely loses it and starts screaming-
"No! Don't do this! I'm sorry-sorry!"
Tank comes extremely close to Stephen.
Then...
Tank suddenly feels something wrong.
He realizes he hasn't fully transformed.
Slowly, his body begins reverting back to human form.
Tank is shocked.
He looks at Stephen.
Seeing this, Stephen shoves Tank away.
Enraged, Tank grabs Stephen.
Stephen pulls out a small knife from his pocket
and stabs it straight into Tank's eyes.
Tank screams-
"My eyes!"
Stephen knocks Tank down
and slits his throat.
Then, in a rage, Stephen stabs Tank's chest again and again,
screaming-
"Ah! Die, you fucking bastard!
You deserved this!
If only everyone had known your true face!"
Stephen finally stops only after completely killing him.
It hits Stephen that he has done something terrible.
He feels pain-regret that he didn't want revenge like this.
But at the same time, he feels relief.
He has avenged Aegis.
There was a reason why Tank couldn't fully transform.
Actually, when Stephen uploaded the video, he already knew that Tank would definitely come for him-and there was a strong chance that Tank might even kill him.
Stephen calls Armin and says,
"You have a small lab at your house, right? I'm coming there. I just need that lab for four hours. I have to make a rabies vaccine."
Stephen goes to Armin's lab.
There, he starts reading everything related to superheroes' powers.
He comes across a page about monster transformation abilities.
He learns that this ability is not something you're born with.
To gain this ability, a person has to make steroids their three-times-a-day food.
But if they stop eating normal food, they die.
And taking too much steroid is useless too.
So scientists create a special serum that combines food and steroid into one.
However, this serum doesn't work on everyone.
It was Tank's luck that it worked on him.
Stephen thinks-
"If this ability can be created, then it can also be stopped."
He researches for four hours straight.
He fails to create a serum that can destroy the ability completely.
But after intense effort, he manages to create a serum that can suppress the ability for one hour.
Stephen also prepares the rabies vaccine so that he can show proof to Armin that he actually made a vaccine.
After that, he destroys all the evidence related to the serum-every trace.
Two hours later, when Tank comes to Stephen's room,
and when Tank asks for coffee,
Stephen carefully calculates the timing and pours the entire serum into the coffee.
At the same time, he slips a small knife into his pocket.
The serum has no effect on Stephen,
because Stephen never had that ability in the first place.
That is why Tank was unable to fully transform.
Supergirl: Guys, we have a serious problem.
At the same moment, Mighty Guy makes an entry, flying down from the sky.
He arrives at The Citadel's ground, carrying ten men tied with ropes, hanging upside down.
He throws them onto the ground and speaks in a cold, serious tone-
Mighty Guy: What happened, Supergirl?
Supergirl: Your friend Tank is dead.
We brought his body back.
There were knife marks all over his chest-it looked like someone stabbed him nearly a hundred times.
Hearing this, Mighty Guy's eyes turn completely red with rage.
He turns toward the ten men and says-
Mighty Guy: Why don't you all do one thing?
Stand in a line.
They nervously form a line.
Mighty Guy: You committed crimes using your own cock, didn't you?
These were serious crimes.
I can't just throw you into prison like that.
You deserve punishment.
What if I take away the very thing you used to commit those crimes?
And don't worry-I won't do it quickly.
I'll make sure it's slow, so you feel every bit of the pain.
The men panic and start begging for mercy, crying and pleading-
"Please kill us if you want, but don't give us a death like this. Please!"
One of the men screams-
"Mighty Guy, you're making a huge mistake by killing us!
The Vigilante won't spare you!
One day, you'll die the same way!"
Mighty Guy ignores him completely.
One by one, he brutally punishes them.
They scream and suffer unbearably.
One of them dies purely from fear and shock.
All of this is being watched by a squirrel.
Tears stream down from its eyes.
The squirrel starts digging into the ground, jumping and running nonstop, until it reaches Bloodhound City.
From there, it slips into the sewers.
Inside the sewers, there is a massive metal gate.
The squirrel squeezes through the small gap beneath the gate and enters.
Inside, there is a huge army-countless people standing together.
Among them are Supes, some still possessing powers.
Many of them are badly injured-
some have scarred, damaged faces,
some have missing arms or legs.
Everyone looks dangerous, broken, and mentally unstable-almost psychotic.
All of them are staring at a giant tube, nearly seven feet tall.
Inside the tube lies a man.
Thick veins and cables extend from every part of his body, running out of the tube and connecting to a generator-like machine.
Suddenly, the squirrel transforms into a young woman.
She falls to her knees, crying uncontrollably, and says-
Girl:
"Denver is dead, sir!"
A voice echoes from inside the tube-
Voice:
"It doesn't matter.
We will take revenge for this.
Our time will come too."
End......