The man gracefully raised himself from his superhero pose and lightly swiped the dust off his shoulders. He then looked up, locked eyes with me and gave an award-winning smile that contrasted perfectly with his blue supersuit.

"I know you are shocked to be before the greatest superhero alive, me, The magnificent Great Wide Wonder. However, that is no excuse to say such a rude comment," the supe said with a suave accent before sending a sickening wink my way. "I shall forgive you this time as I understand the awe you must be feeling. Worry not. I may be here on official business. However, for a fan, I'm happy first to sign my latest book, 'The Great and Wide World of Fame'. I'm sure you have a co.."

"Five"

"What....What are you doing?" The supe stammered due to me interfering with his monologue.

"Four"

"Why are you counting?" he said with a face twisted in confusion.

"Three"

"Stop it. Stop it now," the supe seethed with annoyance while approaching me.

"Two"

"Listen here, you fucking parasite!! I wouldn't even look at the likes of you if Vaught gave me actual missions!! So stop fucking counting!!!" He yelled in my face, spit flying everywhere as his nice guy act finally dropped, and his accent lost that polished tone.

"One"

"You think I'm scared of you? You stupid waste of space, I've been begging Vaught to get rid of you filthy animals for years!! Now, you know what. I think I'll say I couldn't find you," the supe said whilst looking at me with entitled rage in his eyes. He then turned his gaze towards Dawn and pervertedly licked his lips. "As for her, I don't care if this is a kidnapping or not. She is too cute not to play with. Don't worry. I have had much younger, so I know exactly how much pain she can handle and how to make it last."

~Are you alright, Master Ben? I sense that your emotions are heightened,~ Jamie questioned as he picked up the extreme disgust and rage that emanated from me. ~Do you require any assistance with dealing with this vermin?~

"No, this one is mine. You stay with Dawn." I said coldly as I placed Dawn on the ground at a safe distance without taking my eyes away from the supe in front of me, any doubt of his imminent death gone from my mind. "You shouldn't have told me that. Now, you die."

Seemingly further enraged at my words, the supe quickly closed the small distance between us with a primal scream, his right hand raised to strike me. It was self-evident that he intended to kill me brutally, as the power of his attack would have obliterated an ordinary man's head.

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'Unfortunately for him, I'm not an ordinary man.'

With ease, I grabbed his wrist and stopped his blow. Shock spread across his face. However, it was too late for him now.

"Wait, this was a mist.." he began explaining as the realisation that he was before a superior being set in.

I was in no mood to listen after his repulsive confession, and interrupted his justification by snapping his wrist like a twig, making the bone break through the skin and blood spurt out.

The pain of the attack forced the useless supe to his knees. However, before a scream could leave his mouth, I casually removed my Ray-Ban's and head-butted him with enough impact to deform his face and fragment his teeth, knocking him out in the process.

As his body slumped to the floor with a groan of pain, I put my glasses back on, gripped him by the hair and dragged him further into the alley's darkness. Once out of sight, I placed him in a corner between two dumpsters, ironically underneath a graffiti glorifying Homelander.

'A little privacy will be needed for the next part.'

Supes are resilient enough to survive what would have been a mortal wound for the average person, so I knew I could let loose on this perverted monster.

With various ways of torturing him on my mind, I slapped him awake and grabbed his throat, crushing his larynx in the process so not even a whimper could escape.

"I would have left you alive if you had kept your fucking mouth shut," I said to the man as he shivered in fear under my gaze. "You will die today. That is just a fact. However, whether you die a slow or quick death is up to you. I need some information, and if you tell me what I want, I'll be merciful. Nod if you understand, asshole."

Tears began to run down his swollen face before he nodded.

......

The following 15 minutes involved me interrogating the man in any way I could imagine. I broke every joint, shattered every bone and removed every limb one by one until he gave me all I needed to know about Vaught. He cooperated from the get-go, but his comments about Dawn made me take some personal liberties.

"That's all I needed. Don't worry. I'll end your suffering. I am a man of my word, and whether you believe it or not. This experience was the merciful one," I sneered to the whimpering quadriplegic worm before me.

After hearing of this man's deeds, I was sickened beyond belief. The lives he had ruined were too numerous for even him to remember. A large part of me wanted to torture him for years. Unfortunately, I did not have the luxury of time.

'All I can do is make his death as fucking painful as possible.'

Ignoring the despair in his eyes, I grabbed his snot-covered face, and with a disgusted expression, I began slowly crushing it as he pointlessly struggled against me.

His screams attempted to escape past my palm, but it was futile before my grip. It was a gruesome and painful way to die that would haunt most people for their entire lives. For me, however, it was justice. At first, his eyes bulged and popped, and then his skull fractured and disintegrated under the pressure. Lastly, as I closed my fist, his blood and brain exploded across my face and covered the graffiti of Homelander above him, almost symbolically. Very soon after, his erratic movements were replaced with postmortem twitches, and the world had one less monster.

"You should've begged when I gave you a fucking chance," I spat before opening my hand to see a paste made up of half his face. With a grimace, I flicked as much of him off as I could and wiped the rest on his suit.

Happy with the new information I had gained and relaxed from the stress relief of a good honest kill, I stood up covered in blood over the now utterly unrecognisable supe whose mangled head had more in common with a puckered asshole than a human.

From what he had told me, he was not on a Vaught-sanctioned mission and was only after me due to him passing by the girls I had knocked out. Thinking he could get some brownie points with Vaught, he approached the two girls, woke them up with a flick on the head, heard my description and promised 'justice'.

'He shouldn't have been able to wake them up so quickly. I'll make sure to use more force next time.'

The Great Wide Wonder then spent the last hour flying around at supersonic speed to find me. He was about to give up when he saw me, the Impala and Dawn in the alley.

After that, I asked him about Vaught and their dealings whilst once again fighting through an intense headache.

'This pain is becoming inconvenient.'

Listening to him, I was able to confirm that the events of this world closely followed those in the TV show. However, behind the scenes, everything was much more complicated than I had anticipated, making me already begin revising some of my plans.

'No one can be trusted.'