Jalen ascended the staircase to the second level. There, most of the men on security detail argued at the top of their lungs about where things were to go and what post to handle. The common theme was their preference to get as far away from Metal Shadow as possible. They barely noticed him until he reached the man barricading the access point into the stairway.

“Let me through,” he said.

The man gaped like a deer dazzled by approaching headlights. “Are you insane? Metal Shadow’s coming.”

“I’m well aware. Whose idea was it to give up the first level? Do you think packing up like sardines will do you any good? Never mind, just open the door.”

Past the man, he climbed another level, his echoing footsteps breaking the silence. The door above swung open, and a man bolted past him to bash his hands against the locked door below.

“Open up, man. It’s Leo.” The man desperately pounded on the door.

The room Jalen stepped into was similar to the second floor as men argued about details. The only difference was just three men stood before him, willing to face the deadly superhero that hunted them down to near extinction.

“Fucking pussies,” the man with the ski mask who let Jalen into the hideout said. “That’s what they all are. We’ll die either way. I’d rather do it on my feet than with my back to the ground and legs spread.”

The ski mask man lay on the ground behind a high-powered rifle that was pointed at the only access point into the expansive round room furnished with many cushioned chairs. The two other men, one wielding a rocket launcher, stood on the flanks, all eyes on the barricaded door before them. Many light sources dotted the room, each directed in a manner that reduced shadows.

“You are all dismissed.” He dropped his bags by the side and strode into the room proper. “So join the men below.”

“And who the fuck are you?” the man with the rocket launcher asked.

“That hardly matters. Now, I will not force you to leave. If you wish to witness my battle with Metal Shadow, be my guest. Though, I assure you all, you will die inside a minute as collateral.”

The ski mask man, observing him with a sidelong gaze, spoke into his radio. “Boss, your guest just ordered us to vacate the meeting room. Orders?”

A split second later, Declan’s voice came on, slightly muffled. “Then what are you waiting for? Leave!”

As the men exited, he changed, his skin turning coal black and growing rough. His eyes lit ablaze with his chaotic life force, his feet levitating off the ground. An explosion of new information alluded him to the faint thuds of footsteps beyond the barricade. It seemed Metal Shadow had another accomplice.

When both intruders reached the locked door, Metal Shadow’s heat signature vanished, indicating that the superhero slipped into a shadow. The other intruder withdrew down the corridor, his apparent speed noted by Jalen.

Above, in the ceiling, Metal Shadow appeared and disappeared at different points, never spending more than a few seconds at each location. This came as no surprise to Jalen. After all, the superhero’s memo was to spread fear and terror amongst his adversaries. And considering how terrified everyone in the hideout was, Metal Shadow’s tactics worked to great effect.

Small explosives rang out across the round ceiling, raining debris as most light sources failed and cast the room in harsh shadows—Metal Shadows preferred hunting environment. The armored superhero barely made a sound while descending into the room.

Through the dust cloud from the charge detonations, six micro missiles pierced the air and hurtled toward him. The only countermeasure Jalen employed was to raise his arm and absorb the impact of explosions that snaked along his skin. As expected, only smoke trails laid credence to the missile’s effectiveness.

“Felt like a light shower,” he said. “Now I know who to come to if I fancy a massage.”

The dust finally settled, allowing him to observe Metal Shadow visually. The armored superhero wore a bulky suit, much larger than he had ever seen Metal Shadow don. His shoulders were massive and housed an arsenal of missiles evidenced by some open compartments that leveled the ordinance at him. The only thing resembling the superhero’s past suits was the distinctive six-eyed helm that stayed locked on him.

“Jalen Nkanga.” Metal Shadow’s modified voice sounded. “We meet again. I would’ve cut you down before, had I known what I know now.”

“I see,” he said. “So enlighten me then? What do you really know about me? Because I assure you, if you had the full picture, you wouldn’t be on this suicide mission.”

Metal Shadow strode menacingly around him like an apex predator on the prowl, each step accompanied by the low hum of servos and the hiss of hydraulics. “I know enough to diagnose you as a bloated cancer that must be exterminated so that society can function.”

“That means your intention is to kill. Then I hope you are prepared in the event it backfires on you horribly.”

In the middle of his statement, Metal Shadow launched a handful of missiles at him. Rather than striking against him, the missiles exploded mid-air and dispersed a thick cloud of smoke. Undeterred, Jalen lunged to the right and threw an air-cracking punch.

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“Shit!” Just in the nick of time, Lightflare evaded the pinpoint strike and created a gap between them. “He saw me coming, dude.”

With his momentum intact, he swatted away oncoming projectiles, then swiftly maneuvered through the smoke to grasp the arm of the armored superhero before Metal Shadow could escape into a shadow.

A large cannon emerging from his foreman, Metal Shadow desperately leveled the weapon in his direction and fired a red superheated beam that only scorched the surface of his skin.

He ginned. “Now tell me, Metal Shadow, how did you plan to cut me down? How did you envision surviving this?”

He tossed the superhero up and plunged his arm into Metal Shadow’s midsection. A shockwave erupted and the wall ahead blew outward, a cloud of debris obscuring the aftermath. Metal Shadow sat unmoving in his cocoon of concrete and steel.

So he turned his attention to the speedster. “Now, do you also have intentions of killing me? You are welcome to take your best shot.”

“Fuck.” Lightflare nervously adjusted his goggles while glancing between him and his fallen team member. “Look, dude. This isn’t what you think it—”

“Strike him down, Lightflare!” Metal Shadow gripped the edge of the broken wall and pulled himself out, only to drop to his knees from excruciating pain. “Never cower in the face of evil. You disgust me. We must strike him down. Finger by finger if we have to.”

The darkness under Metal Shadow swallowed him whole. Seconds later, the high-pitched roar of an accelerating missile graced his ears. Like every other missile before, it had a negligible effect on him. However, the armored superhero’s persistence was starting to grate on his nerves. Lightflare blurred into a light streak that circled around him, clearly waiting for an opening. Many missiles continued to pour in from all directions as Metal Shadow popped up just to release his ordinance before retreating into the safety of his shadows.

“Your stuff isn’t having any effect on him,” Lightflare said.

“I know,” Metal Shadow said. “Wait for my signal. You’ll know it.”

The number of airborne missiles multiplied. Then, in that harmless salvo, one dispersed blue smoke that burned his lungs. As he backed away, the speedster descended on him, pummeling every inch of his body with strikes that expelled sonic booms from their immense speed. The effects of the blue smoke were already subsiding, yet he feigned weakness while locking his gaze on Metal Shadow, who charged a chest cannon that glowed blue.

Both members of The Radiant Assembly nearly overwhelmed him with their practiced teamwork. However, it was about time for he fought for real. His cosmic beams struck first, scoring deep into Metal Shadow’s chest and ripping the cannon apart. In trying to discern the extent of the damage to his suit, Metal Shadow failed to perceive him approaching like a torpedo.

Jalen punched clean through the concrete wall into a dining room, having missed his target. A split second before he turned Metal Shadow into red paste sloshing in a metal coffin, a blur of white light whisked the unaware superhero to safety. It seemed he would have to deal with Lightflare first.

He heard them talking through the walls in quick, nervous voices. Then a second later, he was plunging through that wall, after them. Metal Shadow barely had the time to register his increased attack speed. But it was Lightflare who saved the armored superhero again.

“Shit!” Lighflare narrowly avoided his swinging arm. “This is not gonna work, Shadow. We’ll die. Your plan failed. Admit it!”

“I know.” That was all Metal Shadow uttered in a defeated tone, while clearly suffering from whiplash from Lightflare’s super speed.

“Then—“

Given the chance of finishing his statement or surviving a punch that would pulverize him, Lightflare chose the former.

The wall behind the speedster exploded as his arm plunged into it, a web of cracks spreading into the hideout’s foundation. Again, he turned and dove after the terrified superheroes. Like every other time, Lightflare evaded him, but Jalen had been studying the speedster’s movement patterns and assimilating himself to the speed.

His cosmic beams spilled forth after the speedster, each beam veering in different directions. Lightflare clearly possessed a mastery of his speed, managing to survive this long, but one of the two flanking beams tripped him up by turning the ground ahead into an obstacle of flying debris while the other forced him into the trap.

Lightflare fell to the ground and slid away, dropping Metal Shadow in the process. Jalen shot past the armored superhero and caught the elusive speedster by the neck.

Terror spread across Lightflare’s face as his predicament dawned on him. “Fuck you, Shadow.” The speedster broke into tears, the last thing Jalen expected. “Fuck you. I should’ve hightailed my arse out of here the second I had doubts. But no! You had to rope me into your suicidal mission. Fuck!”

Metal Shadow crawled on his stomach toward them, having toppled over when he tried to stand. “Must… kill him. No other option.”

Witness to all this, Jalen scrunched his face in disgust. “Pathetic. These are the country’s mightiest heroes? Absolutely pathetic.” He let his gaze fall on Lightflare. “Who knew the world’s fastest man would break at the first sign of adversity? You call yourself a superhero?”

“First sign of adversity?” Lightflare chuckled. “Do you have the slightest idea how fucking overpowered you are? I landed more than 50,000 punches on you. And yet, you never even acknowledged my existence. I might as well be a housefly to you. Eventually, the only thing I could do was run away.

“And no, I don’t call myself a superhero. The public does that. HAVEN too. But I’m just a man trying to provide for my family. I’m just trying to get through this shitty job daily so I can make my little girls happier and ensure they never have to go through what I did to get here.”

“Hm.” Jalen went quiet to parse through the words, pitting them against the fate he intended for Lightflare. In the end, he snapped the speedster’s leg by the shin and released him.

Lightflare screamed and cried and rolled on the ground, clutching his broken leg.

“Consider this as my mercy,” Jalen said. “The next time you oppose me, I will not be as lenient.”

Sometime during their exchange, Metal Shadow had passed out, lying strewn on the floor. He picked up the armored superhero and observed his weak vitals. It turned out Metal Shadow had been losing blood for a while from brunt force lacerations on his chest and stomach. Multiple broken ribs, one of which punctured his lung, also added to the man’s loss of consciousness. And these were just the injuries Jalen could discern from sound alone. Who knew what else the man suffered from?

Regardless, like a skilled surgeon, Jalen used thin strands of his beams to carefully cut away the six-eyed helm. A bruised face emerged into the light. With sandy brown hair, hazy blue eyes, and a strong jawline, the man’s injured state did little to diminish his handsome visage.

“Mark Alterman,” Jalen remarked with a surprised smile. “Heir to the Alterman Industries empire. Who would have thought?”