Four years later –

The metal grinder was my only solace these days, the sound of metal grinding down on a belt sander brought me comfort, it wasn’t until I felt the telling tap on my right shoulder that I knew the workday was way over. I quickly turned off my machine pressing the big red power button far harder than I should have needed to and then slowly turned around to see my boss Robert standing behind me.

“What can I do for you Rob? Someone complained that I was hogging the belt sander again?” I asked, walking past him on my right side and headed over to the rusty beat-up lockers on the other side of the building. This wasn’t the first time that I missed the shit end alarm, and it probably wasn’t going to be the last, something about the grinder just got me in the zone, it was relaxing in its own unique way.

“Nothing bad Aster, just wanted to tell you how good you’re doing these days, if you keep up like this, we might even make quota for the first time in years,” Robert said following me over to the lockers and began taking off his hard hat and placed it in his locker, I quickly followed suit. There were some days that I completely forgot I had it on until I was halfway home, forcing me to turn back just to grab it again the next day.

“Does that mean I will get a bonus?” I asked not bothering to look back, I already knew the answer, it was the same answer everyone who asked that got. It wasn’t like I could blame him either, since Atlas had begun preparing his military and the demands on factories had just gone up and up. That and every time a factory failed to meet the demands; they sent them a fine along with their meager pay.

“If we manage to meet the quota this month, we will be giving out the fine as a bonus divided up by work efficiency,” my ears perked up when I heard this, I knew that they would have already planned for paying the fine but giving it out to the workers, I would have never expected it.

“Thanks Robert, I will make sure to work even harder now,” I said, smiling and turning around. I couldn’t help but feel like this day was suddenly going my way, for the last two years I have worked at this factory not once did I receive a bonus, hell I didn’t think they were even real in the first place. Just some story that the older workers told to get newbies' hopes up.

After a ten-minute elevator ride of trying to avoid all the workers coming into the factory for the night shift and avoiding all the workers leaving the factory with me to go home for the night, I was finally outside able to take a breath of fresh air. Twelve-hour shifts were really beginning to take a toll on my body. Silently I headed over to the outside locker and grabbed at the key on my neck to open the solid metal doors unlike the see through lockers in the factory. Inside was one rifle loaded with six shots and a pistol with six.

Up until now I had never needed to use them while on my walk home but after hearing so many horror stories of rouge supers killing people for fun, it was better to have it rather than leave things up to chance. With little effort I slung the rifle over my back and put the pistol in my right-side holster, leaving both in plain view of anyone who might even think of trying something.

The warm August air brushed past me as I walked home, the roads had taken a toll for the worse over the years, I could still remember when they looked safe enough for cars to drive on them. But now they had potholes every few feet and or a major chunk missing from some super deciding to go for a joyride. It's not that I cared but it would have been nice to see this place before Atlas had run it into the ground, it made sense why he wanted to create a super army to take over another city.

My thoughts were quickly stopped by the sound of glass breaking and screaming coming from slightly farther ahead. With a quick jog I picked up the pace so I could see what was going on. Just up the road was this little grocery store that had somehow survived Atlas taking over, I never understood how but was happy it did when I was able to afford something from the owner. The owner, Mr. Hanes was a nice enough man, had a black mustache but no hair on top, just outside his store was shattered glass covering the pavement and inside was some random person holding Mr. Hanes by his collar while holding a pistol in his other hand.

As I walked up slowly, my hand went to grab my pistol while the robber wasn’t looking but a glance and a small shake of his head made me stop. With a sigh I moved my hand away and began walking the other way, no one helped each other these days, nor did they want people to. Most of the time it just got more people hurt. As I turned around and began walking away a loud bang rang out from the store, I couldn’t stop myself anymore. I shot around mentally preparing myself to shoot the robber, but he wasn’t there anymore, replacing him was a man dressed in a large black leather jacket that had small cuts and tears covering it with a white undershirt, and baggy blue jeans that somehow looked almost new.

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

“No need to go thank me, I have subdued the robber,” the man in the leather jack said, turning around to face Mr. Hanes. Hanes on the other hand looked like he had gone from scared to being a tomato. His face was super red and looked like it might pop if he got any more pissed off. I couldn’t quite understand why until I looked slightly up and noticed a massive hole that was now in his ceiling. The material from the roof was under the super and it looked like he might have destroyed some food while he was at it.

“I will just need you to pay this bill,” he said while pulling out a notepad from an inside pocket inside his leather jacket. The notepad had a seal in the middle with a blank form on it, looked like he was an official super recognized by Atlas, which meant he was allowed to charge however much he deemed fit for the situation. The super quickly started filling out the page, most of it seemed standard and quite official, he muttered out loud the contents as he filled it out.

“Super name, location, time and date, person saved, … and finally the price, considering how long it took and that I put a hole in the ceiling I think twenty thousand Atlas Bucks should be a good price,” the super said tearing off the page and handing it to Mr. Hanes, a smile plastered on his face, a smile that said I know what I’m doing but what are you going to do about it.

“I can’t pay this! The damages you cost me are going to be that much, none the less I haven’t even received a single Atlas buck since I was promised a conversion by your department, how are you expecting me to pay you?” Mr. Hanes screamed at the super, clearly not afraid of what might happen to him. I could feel my blood pressure begin to rise at the scene folding out before me. If I didn’t leave soon, I would start screaming at him with Mr. Hanes. I put my hands in my pocket and slowly began to turn around.

“I don’t care how you pay me, I just expect that you do, if I wasn’t here you would most certainly be dead, I could always make that the case, and then I’ll just take the food here as payment,” the super said not batting an eyelash at the thought of killing an old man, the same old man who he went out of his way to save. My rage was boiling, something about what I was watching threw my mind into disarray.

“How heroic,” I muttered as I turned around. I didn’t think I said it loud enough for anyone to hear but instantly I could see the super stop smiling and slowly begin to lower Mr. Hanes. Mr. Hanes noticeably happier about this but still shooting a worried look my way. My heartbeat began to get louder and louder reaching a rate that I never knew it could, why did I say that it wasn’t worth the hassle, some supers refrained from killing but that was only some.

“What did you say?” The super said while lowering Mr. Hanes, clearly, he still thought that Mr. Hanes was going to pay that ridiculous bill. Quickly I finished turning and began walking as fast as I could without running. If I could get far enough, he might decide that I wasn’t worth it and leave me alone, otherwise I’ll have to hope that I can shoot him with my rifle before he can reach me. But before I can get too far away, I hear the sound of concrete snapping, I turn my head as fast as I can only to see the super in a low squat, his feet pressed about six inches into the concrete.

Then with a loud grunt that made me more worried for him than myself, he flew into the air soaring high above any of the trees and right over my head. Then within a few short seconds after he jumped, he landed with a massive crash right in front of me. Dust flew up into the air blocking my vision for a short while, the moment it cleared all I could see was a large mountain standing before me, his eyes glowing a dark red. The super had transformed into a hulking figure, his arms, legs and body had grown to over double their original size, yet his head stayed the same size. He sat about two feet into the ground, concrete conformed around him, like when someone gets into a pool and the water displaces.

Instinctively I reached for my weapon throwing my arm over my left shoulder trying to pull it over to shoot him, but as I reached for it my hand found nothing. Instantly I threw my head around looking for it on the ground, but it was nowhere to be found. It wasn’t until I heard a creepy chuckle coming from the super that I felt a sense of dread begin to fill my stomach.

“Is this what you’re looking for?” The mountain said holding up my rifle, in his newly sized hands it looked like a child’s pellet gun not a weapon used to take another’s life, instantly I realized how stupid I had been thinking that would protect me from a super. I turned around hoping to make a break for it, but before my feet could lead me to safety, I felt a massive brick wrap itself around under my armpits. Slowly I began to get lifted into the air and forcibly turned around. There like a monster in the night was the super, he had picked me up and forced me to look at him.

As the super brought me closer to him that sense of dread began to grow and grow only stopping once he had lifted me all the way to his face, I stared into his eyes and he visually prepared to crush me to death, then something came over me, his head was the same size as mine I might as well try everything before I die. My hand rocketed downward grasping the pistol still holstered lightly on my side, my hand barely reaching as I grabbed the weapon pulling it free and raising it to his chin. Then as fear instantly shot into his eyes, I pulled the trigger.