Chapter 32: The Rebel Hero
The name was Ivory, and lately, people have started calling me the Rebel Hero. It wasn’t a title I asked for, but my actions had sparked anarchy across the globe: sacrifices were made, people were killed, and eventually, the World Order had no choice but to contact me.
Haman City, the most prosperous metropolis on Planet Mol, served as my base of operations. Its crowning jewel, the Twin Towers, had become my stronghold. Inside my office at the top of the towers, the city sprawled out below, unaware of the storm brewing within its highest floors.
“This is preposterous,” Jade said, her voice dripping with irritation. She stood across from me, arms crossed, her green skin catching the dim light of the room. An irregular-class superhuman, just like me, she was far more entrenched in the World Order than I ever was. Her reddish-brown hair framed a face full of frustration as she paced the floor in her snake-themed cheongsam. The black fabric clung to her frame, with green ivy patterns slithering along the waist and chest. Jade had been in the Order far longer. She knew its ways better than most, but she could never see things the way I did.
I met her eyes calmly. “The border control has to be lifted. The technology cap needs to go. The superhuman census? Revoked. And power education has to be enforced, not just for the likes of us, but for everyone. We can’t keep pretending that the side effects of superpowers will just go away. I demand a cure.”
“A cure?” Jade scoffed, her lip curling. “And now you’re making demands? You sound delusional. You’ve become self-righteous, Ivory, and you can’t even see it. Your so-called good intentions are bringing nothing but bedlam and ruin.” She gestured wildly at the window as if the whole world outside was a testament to my failures.
“I know what I’m doing,” I replied, my tone level. “The Order’s way of controlling us, of stifling progress, is suffocating. The world doesn’t need more restrictions, it needs change.”
“And at what cost?” Jade’s eyes narrowed, her anger simmering beneath the surface. “You think you’re saving people, but all you’re doing is bringing harm. Rebelling against the Order won’t bring the peace you’re after—it’ll only make things worse.”
Her words hung in the air, but I didn’t flinch. I knew the cost. I had seen the fallout firsthand, felt the weight of each sacrifice. But I couldn’t stop. Not now. Not when the future of this world hung in the balance.
“This isn't just rebellion,” I said, stepping closer to her. “This is survival.”
Out of nowhere came the impact.
Inside the Twin Towers, I barely had time to react as the world around me seemed to implode. One moment, Jade was droning on about my "self-righteousness," and the next, everything was chaos. The fortress I had built, my symbol of power, was under attack.
The force of the explosion sent me crashing to the floor, my ears ringing as the room shook violently. Windows shattered, and the air filled with the deafening sound of metal twisting and concrete groaning under the strain. For a split second, my mind was blank, struggling to grasp what had just happened. Then, clarity hit me.
A plane. Someone had crashed a plane into my tower.
Jade was already on her feet, bracing herself against the shaking walls, her green skin glowing faintly in the dim, flickering light. For once, her usual composure cracked, and her wide eyes betrayed her shock. “What the hell just happened?” she snapped, her voice tight with disbelief.
I didn’t respond immediately. My thoughts raced, trying to untangle the threads of the situation. This wasn’t random. It couldn’t be. The attack was too precise, too calculated to be a coincidence. Someone had planned this, and they knew exactly where to strike.
As the tower groaned and buckled, I forced myself to stand, gripping the edge of the desk to steady my balance. Debris littered the floor, papers scattered in the air like ash. The smell of smoke started creeping into the room, thick and suffocating.
Instinct told me to evacuate, to get out before the entire structure collapsed. But then, a cold realization washed over me. This wasn’t just about the tower. This was personal. Whoever did this wasn’t just trying to destroy the building—they were after me, my power, my legacy. They wanted me to flee, to panic. They wanted to see the Rebel Hero run.
I wasn’t going to give them that satisfaction.
With a deep breath, I focused my power, lifting myself telekinetically off the floor and pulling Jade along with me. The wreckage of the tower creaked and groaned beneath us as we ascended through the crumbling remains. Smoke and dust swirled around us, and the force of the blast still echoed in my ears. Everything had happened so fast, too fast, but there was no time to process it.
Jade floated beside me, casting a glance down at the destruction below. Her lips curled into a faint smirk, her voice dripping with sarcasm. “Rebel Hero, huh? Seems like you’ve lost control of your own domain.”
Her words hit harder than I wanted to admit, but I kept my expression neutral, focused on maintaining our flight. Someone had orchestrated this attack, someone with resources and the audacity to strike at me in my own stronghold. Only one person came to mind.
Nobody.
This had his fingerprints all over it—his style and his ruthlessness.
“You do know your lack of compliance with the Order will force them to label you as a Class 3 Warlord, don’t you?” Jade continued, her tone almost mocking. “They’ll overcompensate, of course, make it sound like you’ve taken over the entire planet.”
Class 3. The weight of that designation sank in. Warlords were superhumans who had carved out their own territories, defying the authority of the World Order. Class 1 ruled cities, Class 2 controlled nations, but Class 3? Class 3 Warlords were said to govern planets. I hadn’t gone that far—yet—but the Order clearly wanted an excuse to escalate.
“It’s not about control,” I shot back, my voice edged with conviction. “It’s about change. The Order is a relic, and it’s time for something new.”
Jade snorted, her disbelief clear. “Change? All I see is destruction. You’re not leading a revolution, Ivory. You’re leading hapless fools into oblivion. Someone twisted your mind. You’ve changed. Now, you’re just suppressing your bloodlust, and that’s only making you more dangerous. I pity you, poor little thing.”
Her words stung more than I cared to admit, but I pushed the bitterness aside. We broke through the thick cloud of smoke and debris, reaching the open sky. Below, the city was in chaos—sirens blaring, lights flashing, emergency teams swarming around the base of the tower. Panic rippled through Haman City, and I knew this attack would spark something far bigger.
Out of nowhere, a man in a dark fedora and purple tuxedo appeared next to us, leaning casually against a nearby skyscraper. His presence was unsettling, as if he had been there all along, unseen until now. The Magician—an irregular superhuman with a notorious reputation for mercenary work and his unpredictable nature. He looked to be in his early thirties, his dark hair slicked back beneath his hat, and a faint scar near his mouth gave him a slight air of menace beneath his otherwise refined appearance.
“Jade, done already?” he drawled, his tone laced with boredom. “Let’s go home. I’m bored.” His voice was smooth, almost lazy, as if the chaos below was just another passing amusement.
He turned his gaze toward me, a smirk playing on his lips. “Give Ivory a break, will ya?”
“Shut up,” Jade snapped, irritation clear in her voice. She had no patience for the Magician’s games, not now. She turned back to me, her eyes sharp and cold. “Until then, Ivory.”
Before I could respond, Jade abruptly severed the telekinetic hold I had on her. In a flash, translucent dragonfly-like wings sprouted from her back, humming softly as she hovered next to the Magician. They exchanged a glance, and before I could react, both of them vanished—disappearing in an instant without so much as a trace of power activation.
One moment they were there, the next, gone. Leaving me alone in the sky, hovering over the city I had once sworn to protect.
“How does it feel? You thought you had it all under control, but then one day—everything comes crashing down.”
The voice pierced the air, sharp and venomous, cutting through the chaos that surrounded me. I turned quickly, narrowing my eyes as I saw the figure standing where the Magician had vanished. It was Nobody—or so I thought. Nobody had been the one to clue me in about Project Dome, the one who incited my rebellion in full force, and now, it seemed, the backstabber I should have been wary of all along.
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But something felt off. I scrutinized the figure, my suspicion growing. “You aren’t him,” I said slowly, letting the realization sink in. The build was wrong—stockier, less agile. The stance was stiff, lacking Nobody’s unsettling confidence. The hoodie and mask were identical, but the voice—it was too raw, too full of uncontrolled emotion.
Behind him, the Twin Towers continued their slow descent into ruin, a backdrop of destruction that mirrored the turmoil swirling inside me.
“Who are you?” I pressed, my voice cold, laced with restrained fury. “You’ve got the look down, but you’re not Nobody. Are you one of his pawns? Do you even realize you’re being manipulated?”
The impostor’s reaction was immediate. Rage flared across his face, shattering any pretense of composure. “YOU DON’T KNOW THAT!” he spat, his voice cracking with emotion. “I WANTED THIS! I AM A FUCKING KANENITE, AND I WAS THERE! KANE CITY! THAT WAS YOUR FAULT! YOUR FUCKING REBELLION MEANT SHIT TO ME! YOU KILLED MY FAMILY! YOU ARE A FUCKING MONST—”
His tirade was cut short. The fury on his face dissipated, his breathing slowed. It was too abrupt, too unnatural, as if something had intervened. My eyes narrowed, and I focused, my senses heightened. A faint, barely perceptible electrical hum emanated from his ear.
An earpiece.
Someone was feeding him lines, manipulating his emotions, controlling him. The real Nobody was pulling the strings, and this poor soul was just another puppet in his twisted game. My anger surged at the realization—Nobody had orchestrated this. Again, I was being drawn into his web.
The impostor’s expression hardened once more, though his voice was calmer now, chillingly so. “I’m going to hurt you,” he declared, his words laced with a finality that sent a ripple of tension through the air. Then, without warning, he leaped from the skyscraper, his eyes ablaze with reckless determination.
If you were a real hero, you would save him, regardless… her subconscious spoke to her.
Instinctively, I dived after him, my telekinesis flaring to life as I caught him mid-descent. His body twisted and thrashed against the invisible force holding him aloft, but it was useless. I had him. Below, the city churned in chaos—flashing lights, blaring sirens, and the aftermath of the plane crash still reverberating through the streets.
But something pulled my attention to the left. Through the shattered glass windows of a nearby building, I spotted a crowd. They stood frozen, their faces painted with a mix of awe and fear. Cameras flashed, smartphones pointed directly at me, capturing the moment. The people saw me not just as a rebel, but as something more—something they didn’t fully understand. A hero, maybe. A savior amidst the carnage I’d caused.
And then, out of the corner of my eye, I caught sight of a figure moving behind the crowd. A man in a hoodie and mask, walking with deliberate calm through the chaos. His posture was relaxed, too casual, and when our eyes met for the briefest of moments, I knew instantly—this was the real Nobody.
My pulse quickened. But before I could make a move, the man I held suspended in my telekinetic grip suddenly exploded in a violent burst of flames. The sheer force of the blast knocked me backward, my mind reeling as fire and shrapnel filled the air. The shockwave shattered the remaining windows of the building, jagged shards of glass raining down on the crowd below.
Screams filled the air—raw, panicked. People ran, scattered, some catching fire instantly, others bleeding and broken by the glass. My heart twisted as my eyes landed on a woman, a large shard lodged deep in her throat. Her eyes were wide, filled with terror as she struggled to breathe. Blood poured down her neck, soaking her clothes.
I knew I couldn’t save her. I knew she wouldn’t survive. She collapsed before me, her life slipping away in a moment I could neither change nor forget.
The explosion was too precise, too calculated to be anything but advanced technology. For a moment, disbelief washed over me—hadn’t I seized control of all the advanced weaponry on Planet Mol? I had conquered the Masters of Steel and their tinker superhumans, monopolizing weapons of this caliber. Yet, here it was, used against me. The bitter irony twisted in my gut.
Sirens wailed in the distance, growing louder as the city’s emergency response closed in. But my focus remained on the figure in the hoodie. Nobody had vanished into the crowd, leaving me with a message, a clear statement: he was still out there, pulling the strings while I was left to deal with the chaos.
I glanced at the crowd again. Just moments ago, they had looked at me with awe—now, horror clouded their faces. The explosion, the deaths, and the destruction it wrought were all too real for them. Their perception of me was shifting, and I could feel the weight of their judgment. The line between hero and monster, blurred by blood and flames, was becoming impossible to ignore. Jade had warned me, and now her words echoed in my mind.
‘Change? All I see is destruction. You’re not leading a revolution, Ivory. You’re leading hapless fools into oblivion. Someone twisted your mind. You’ve changed. Now, you’re just suppressing your bloodlust, and that’s only making you more dangerous. I pity you, poor little thing.’
Without hesitation, I flew into the building, my eyes scanning every corner, every crevice, searching for the one who had set all of this in motion. The crowd inside was frantic, people pushing and shoving to escape the growing chaos, their faces a blur of panic. I pushed past them, frustration gnawing at me with every second that passed. Every corner I turned brought only disappointment, every glimpse of a figure in the distance another dead end.
The itch started then, that familiar clawing at the back of my mind. The curse of superpowers—the bloodlust that came with them—began to surge. It was always there, lurking, waiting for a moment of weakness. And in that moment, as I failed to find Nobody, as the chaos around me spiraled, it hit harder than ever.
The world around me turned red.
When I came to, the world had gone eerily silent. The screams, the chaos—all of it had faded, leaving behind only an oppressive, haunting stillness. I looked around, and the horror of what I had done sank in. Bodies lay strewn across the floor, lifeless, blood pooling beneath them like dark halos. My hands trembled as the realization hit—I had killed them. All of them.
Except one.
In the center of the carnage stood a young girl, no older than ten, clutching a white mask and a black hoodie in her small hands. Her wide eyes were locked on mine, filled with something that was a twisted blend of fear and recognition. The realization hit me like a punch to the gut. The Nobody I had chased, the one I thought had masterminded this, had been nothing more than a puppet. And now this child was the only witness to the massacre I had unleashed.
She took a small step forward, her voice soft, almost too quiet for the enormity of the moment. “Mr. Nobody was lying… right? He said you aren’t going to kill me, because you don’t kill children… But can you kill me?” Her words sent a jolt through my chest. “I… I don’t want to be sad anymore. Mr. Nobody lied to me. He said he would take away all my bad memories, but I always remember you. Can you take away my bad memories?”
Her request twisted the knife in my gut. I felt sick. This was a child, innocent and broken, trapped in a nightmare I had helped create. And she was asking me—the monster standing before her—to end her suffering. To erase the pain.
I didn’t know what to say. My voice caught in my throat, my mind reeling. Could I grant her wish? Would I?
Tears streamed down my face, hot and unrelenting.
"FUCK!" I screamed, the sound tearing from my throat. "FUCKING HELL! YOU WON! OKAY?" My voice cracked, desperate for an answer. "TALK TO ME!"
The girl suddenly blinked, her expression shifting to one of confusion. “Huh? Where am I? What am I doing here?”
I stared at her, my breath coming in ragged gasps. She wasn’t reacting to the blood-soaked carnage surrounding us, the scattered bodies, the destruction. It was like she couldn’t see any of it. She reached up and pulled something out of her ear. An earpiece.
“Lady, the mister wants to talk to you,” she said, holding it out.
I grabbed the earpiece and shoved it into my ear. My voice came out raw and broken. “What did you do? Using a child—”
“She’s David’s,” Nobody’s voice interrupted, calm, cold. “Swift Sword’s secret love child.”
I froze.
“Remember David?” he continued, his tone maddeningly casual. “KCU director. The man you murdered after you lost your memories. The same man whose position you stole. Funny how it all comes back, doesn’t it? Even when your bad and traumatic memories are stripped away, you’re still the villain in this story.”
My mind reeled. I remembered David. The life I had taken. The blood on my hands. “You manipulated me!” I spat, the words filled with rage.
Nobody chuckled darkly. “Did I? You killed him long before I ever whispered in your ear. You killed him when you were supposed to be clean. Go ahead, blame me. I’m the Loki in your tale, the devil you curse when the world goes wrong. It’s always easier to find someone else to blame, isn’t it? That’s how our society functions.”
I clenched my fists, my knuckles turning white as I stood in the wreckage of my own actions, my chest tightening with guilt and fury.
“But here’s the truth, Ivory,” Nobody continued, his voice dripping with a twisted satisfaction. “This was always predestined. Not everyone can be saved. I gave you an out, took away your memories of pain and trauma as my revenge: a twisted benevolent revenge. And yet, here we are. You’ve killed again, just like before. Maybe the fact that you didn’t kill the girl proves there’s still something human left in you. But let’s be clear—some things are beyond redemption.”
I stared at the girl standing in front of me, her innocent eyes clouded with confusion.
“I’ve distorted her perception,” Nobody said softly. “She doesn’t see the bloodshed, the horror you caused. She doesn’t see the monster you’ve become.”
I looked around at the carnage. Entrails, limbs, and blood—so much blood—splattered across the room, painting a grotesque picture of my failure.
Nobody’s voice dripped with an eerie calm, a predator relishing the final moments before the kill. “I’ll be honest with you, Ivory. I knew this would happen. But the thing is… I’m not done twisting the knife. You killed someone I loved, and for that, I’m going to kill you—twice. I’ve already killed you once by stripping away your memories. Now, do you want to stop more tragedies?”
My heart pounded as I listened, feeling the weight of his words settle over me like a shroud.
“This is what’s going to happen,” he continued, his tone matter-of-fact. “You will fight Heartstopper to the death. In the process, he’ll cure you, bringing back your missing memories, just to hurt you. If you survive—and that’s a big if—you’ll confess my ‘contribution’ to the World Order. That way, they won’t have to kill you. That way, they won’t have to wipe out this entire planet. And after all of that, when it’s over, I’ll come for you again, and I’ll kill you for the second time.”
I stood there, numb, the blood on the floor reflecting the shattered state of my mind. “This is madness,” I whispered, my voice hoarse. “You did all of this… just for revenge?”
“Initially, yeah,” Nobody admitted, his voice a little softer. “People have done worse for less. But things change. Why am I doing this now? Because, this way, fewer people will die. If things had followed their original course, this planet would’ve been erased. Everyone here would’ve been collateral damage.”
I blinked, trying to process his words. “Are you clairvoyant? Is that how you know all this? How you know so much about me?”
“You can think of it that way if it helps,” he replied, almost amused. “Just know that I know things. Enough to steer events in the direction I need them to go.”