Four bodies clamored to the cold tile floor. Blood started to pool around the bottoms man’s head. Not a lot, but it was noticeable. The final man was squirming in Alex’s grip trying, in vain, to escape his fate.

An overweight police officer got up from his desk, already red in the face.

“What do you think you’re doing? You can’t just waltz in here and throw some bodies on the floor. And what’s with this guy?” he asked gesturing to the man Alex was still holding.

“Oh him? He was getting mugged by all these guys,” Alex said nudging the squirming pile with his foot. The top man started to lift his head, but one look from Alex and the man pretended to be knocked out again.

“So why does it look like he doesn’t want to be here? Why are you holding him against his will?”

Everyone in the lobby was looking their way and more cops started to pile into the room, each of them had a hand firmly planted on their firearms.

Alex glanced around. He wasn’t exactly nervous about the weapons, but he didn’t love how this was going either.

“Well, I asked him if he would come with me to give you guys a statement and then I would take him to the hospital to get him checked out. I figured that was the least I could do. But when I asked him that, he looked like I had just asked him to fall on a knife or something. So I figured, he probably doesn’t want to be in a place filled with cops. The only people I know of who don’t want that, are people who have something to hide. Isn’t that right?” he asked the man.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about. I was just trying to get home. I didn’t want to bother anybody. I just tripped and fell, these guys were just trying to help me out. I swear,” the nervous man answered.

“You can’t be serious. You’re not buying this right?” Alex asked the cop.

“All I know is that you walked in here with four unconscious men and one man you were holding against his will. If this is what he’s saying happened, it looks like it’s his word against yours. And right now, I don’t think you are very credible,” the officer said, his eyes narrowed at Alex.

He tried to stand up straighter which only made his bulging gut stick out further. Alex was glad that his eyes were essentially invisible behind the mask, otherwise the policeman might not have like his quick glance down at the sudden movement. He could tell the cop already didn’t like him, he didn’t want to give him yet another reason.

“Alright. So sorry. Look I’m new. I don’t really know what the process is. I thought that if I saw something, I would just intervene and then bring the bad guys here. I thought that bringing the victim would be helpful too as then you would be able to get a statement or something. Did I do something wrong?”

“Yeah! Don’t bring a bunch of bloody men into the lobby and just dump them on the floor. All you supes just think you own the place. There is a process, otherwise, we can’t get anything to stick in court. Go outside of that, and we’re screwed.”

“Look, I’m sorry Officer…,” Alex looked down at his name tag quickly. “Reynolds. I really don’t know what I’m doing. I don’t want to mess this up. Is there anything that will fix this?” said Alex.

“Basically, we would need a statement from the victim, otherwise there ain’t much we can do.”

Alex turned to the ‘victim’ hopefully. Those hopes were immediately dashed when the man made a zipping motion across his mouth. Alex turned back to the police officer.

“Would a witness statement count for anything? I saw, well not the whole thing, but I saw him getting beat up.”

“Are you willing to give your full name and other information?” the cop asked, already knowing the answer to his question.

When Alex didn’t say anything, he continued.

“Thought not. Besides, if he isn’t wanting to press charges, then we couldn’t really charge them with anything anyway. Unless they were breaking another law,” he said turning to the man once more.

“Would you like to press any charges today? Against these men on the ground or this man?” he asked pointing his finger at Alex.

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

Alex was appalled. He was about to say something when the man spoke up.

“No I’m good. Am I free to go?”

“Yes. Sorry for any inconvenience.”

The man casually walked out the door. He turned back to flip Alex off before the door closed behind him. Alex started toward the door when a meaty hand grabbed his shoulder.

“Listen here tough guy. You may think you’re all powerful, but you ain’t. There’s rules in place for everybody’s protection. Everybody’s. Even the criminals. It keeps people like you from overstepping. Keep that in mind next time you do something like this. You just let four, possibly five criminals walk free today. That’s on you.”

“Hardly. I caught them. I stopped them. Was I supposed to let them beat that guy up?”

“No. Just do things in the right way so that we can put a stop to it.”

Alex stood silently for a few moments before asking, “So then what should I do in the future? Should I just detain them until you get there and then figure it out? What if there’s another emergency? What then?”

“Look kid. I don’t got all the answers. What would you do if you weren’t a superhero?”

Alex thought for a second.

“I’d probably try to stop them, or just call the police and let them do it.”

“Ok. So just do that. You have power. Don’t let it get to your head.”

“Ok. Well I guess I should carry these guys to the hospital then.”

“Just call them an ambulance. What the f..”

Alex tuned out his cursing. After the ambulance showed up, Alex was free to go.

“That was so dumb,” Alex huffed.

“I do not understand what just happened. Why did you let the portly doorman talk to you that way?” Nagaar asked.

“He wasn’t a doorman. He’s a cop. He enforces the law.”

“I see. But why did you allow him to speak to you in that manner? You are much more powerful than he is. Why not just put him in his place? He should know where he stands.”

“I can’t go around just beating people up. Especially not cops. I need to work with them. If we are enemies, nothing I do will really matter. I won’t be able to stop any bad guys if the police are fighting me every step of the way.”

“Why not just remove them from the process? You could have simply killed the men you had captured.”

“Woah! Geez dude,” Alex said aloud which garnered a few looks his way.

“We can’t just kill everyone when they break the law. Is that how you guys did it?”

“I just did as I pleased. If I saw it was a befitting punishment, I did not hesitate.”

“So if someone stole something, you wouldn’t hesitate to kill them? Even if it was just a little food?”

“I actually have executed a street urchin once for stealing food from a party. Funny you should use that as an example.”

“That’s messed up. Look I don’t feel like every crime should have the capital punishment. And luckily, neither do most people. That’s why we have laws in place, each with their own punishments already set out. There’s even a max sentence or fine for most types of crimes.”

“That seems idiotic.”

“I really don’t get you. Just understand this, I am not going to be killing anybody unless they really deserve it.”

“And when will you know if they deserve it?” the king asked.

“I’m a pretty good judge. I killed a few people already in my tutorial and lots on Saxar IV. The people in the tutorial deserved it and I was in a war on Saxar IV so I couldn’t really avoid it there. So I guess what I’m trying to say is that I’ll know.”

“If you say so.”

“I do say so. And I would appreciate if in the future you wouldn’t recommend that as an option.”

“I will make no promises.”

“Whatever,” Alex said annoyed.

Alex: “Guys? Does it suck to work with the police?”

Cameron: “Sometimes. But it’s the right thing to do. It is just a little annoying with all the hoops you have to jump through. It’s the only way to get the bad guys to stop though. It’s what gets them in jail.”

Sophia: “Of course the Boy Scout would say that. I don’t even work with them anymore. I just beat the bad guys up and let them go. If they keep being naughty, then I just give them a refresher course.”

Lila: “Guys this is super distracting. I’m taking a test. Can we talk about this later?”

Alex: “I get what you’re saying Sophia. I just brought in a bunch of dudes and they were getting so mad at me. And I don’t want to hang around until they decide to come pick up the bad guys. I got stuff to do.”

Cameron: “I don’t get why I’m a goody two shoes for doing what’s expected of us. We are supposed to be the good guys. We should do the right thing, even if it isn’t convenient.”

Sophia: “You literally sound so corny. Like what real person actually talks like that?”

Cameron: “I do. It’s just the way I talk. Sorry if that offends you.”

Alex: “Have you guys hooked up? I feel like you guys fight like an old married couple.”

There was silence on the chat for a little bit. He could see that both Cameron and Sophia were typing. Lila was also typing and she responded first.

Lila: “Seriously guys! This is a big test. Talk about this later or just make another chat without me.”

Nobody responded after that and neither did they make another chat.

It looks like that ended that. I guess I didn’t really need to talk about it, I was just venting.

Alex continued wandering through the streets. He saw heroes occasionally stopping petty crimes or just patrolling, but the rest of the day passed by uneventfully. There was an itch in the back of his mind and he wasn’t sure what the cause of it was. He hoped it was just boredom and that once things picked up, he would be fine.

I really hope there’s some crazy crime going on tomorrow. Not that I hope that people get hurt, but just to give me something to do. That sounds bad. I shouldn’t hope for bad things to happen.

I hope that people try to do bad things, but that I get there in time to stop them. That’s better. Now I don’t sound like a douche.

Alex found a nice bush to nestle next to and drifted off to sleep. He dreamt of fights involving him and multiple dragons. The dragons didn’t stand a chance and he effortlessly molly whopped them into submission.