It’d been a full month since Death Head’s public retirement. Conner had spent much of that time pulled in five directions. Fighting crime, researching magic, the nature of his powers, school, and working with Death Head’s media agent to get his brand off the ground.

Death Head’s agent was a woman named Gertrude Bengal. She’d worked with Death Head for years, but they only contacted each other when necessary. Gertrude respected Death Head’s secrecy as a part of his brand. Her work ethic was, ‘If she didn’t need to know it to make bank, then she didn’t care.’ This was the same attitude she took while working for Shining Darkness.

Without Death Head as the boss, Conner received a much larger cut of the profits from his Incognus merchandise. However, with Death Head gone, the overall revenue would dry up in a month or two. To solve these financial woes, Conner resolved he’d prove the Shining Darkness was a suitable replacement as Miracle City’s defender.

Unfortunately, Miracle City’s criminal element seemed faithless in Shining Darkness’ abilities. Without Death Head, Miracle City’s crime rates increased by over three hundred percent in a week. It seemed, despite deposing Penspot and the public display of his powers, few people believed what Shining Darkness was capable of.

Jumping and running throughout the city, Conner was frustrated by the number of crimes he had to stop in his first-week working solo. In one night, he’d stopped three armed robberies, five muggings, and eight purse snatchers.

He’d just caught his ninth purse-snatcher. The teen had swiped a middle-aged woman’s handbag in broad daylight but only got twenty feet down the sidewalk when Shine grabbed him and tied his arms behind a utility pole so fast he couldn’t follow what’d happened.

Putting a second zip tie on while onlookers took pictures and shouted questions, Shine grumbled internally. What the Hell is going on? Was everyone really just too scared by Death Head to go crazy?

Trying and failing to break free, the teen shouted, “What the Hell? How’d ya do that? You drug me or somethin’?”

Finishing his work, Shine responded dryly, “I have super speed. If you’d watched the news, you would’ve known that.”

As Shine stepped around the pole to look the boy in his face, the kid quivered at him and said, “I… I thought that was some special effects or crap…”

Grimacing slightly as he got a good look at the boy, Shine thought, This is the youngest one yet… He’s not much younger than me… And very thin. He must not get much food… I wonder how close I could’ve been to this without my parents and Death Head…

Knowing he was being filmed by the crowd, Shine composed himself and replied with his otherworldly voice, “They weren’t. I hope you understand that going forward.”

His legs almost giving out, the boy wept, “Pu-Please… L-Let me go.”

“Fat chance, you punk,” a woman called out. Pushing her way through the crowd, the woman the boy robbed made her way to the utility pole.

Extending his hand, Shine offered the purse back and said, “Here you are, Mam. I hope you weren’t hurt.”

Startled initially, the woman quickly shifted to joy and said, “Oh, no. Not at all. He just pulled my arm a little. I’m just so lucky you were here to help… Honestly, I thought you were a hoax until now.”

Bowing his head slightly, Shine ignored the last remark and replied, “It’s what I’m here for.” He then gestured to the restrained, cowering boy and asked, “Now, would you like to press charges or let this boy go?” At once, the kid’s eyes lit up, the woman was shocked, and the onlookers murmured in confusion.

“Let him go? He tried to steal from me?!”

Nodding, Shine answered, “I understand, and you have every right to be upset and press charges if you’d like. But understand that this boy could face as many as three years in juvenile detention. If you think he deserves it, then that’s that.”

After Shine broke down the situation, the woman looked at this malnourished kid about to pee himself with a conflicted expression.

Frowning with hesitant sympathy, the woman said, “Well… Ugh. Alright, fine. Let the dumb brat go. He’d better have learned his lesson.”

“Very well,” Shine replied. He then reached around the pole, broke the ties with his fingers, and told the teen, “Count yourself lucky to be on the receiving end of mercy, boy.”

Looking at his freed hands, the teen smiled awkwardly and said to the woman, “Ye-Yeah, uh… Thanks, lady.” He then ran off as fast as he could.

“That was very kind of you,” Shine told the woman. But before she could respond, he took off with a leap to keep patrolling.

Those remarks of doubt were quite common throughout the week. Every criminal he encountered thought he wasn’t real or his powers were all special effects.

However, with each encounter Shining Darkness had with criminals and civilians, the number of believers slowly grew. From crooks breaking their fists, knives, bats, and bullets against him; and civilians spotting him soaring through the air and racing like a black-and-white streak across rooftops.

It was thanks to this superhuman movement, Shine patrolled at least a third of Miracle City every night. With relative ease, Shine brought down unorganized crime to its prior levels by the week’s end.

Regrettably, even with Penspot gone, it didn’t mean there weren’t up-in-comers looking to take her place. This forced the Super Mask to take things slightly slower, using Death Head’s detective training to track down the sites of the new crime bosses.

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During his initial encounters with the organized pockets, Shining Darkness still had to knock out every crook he encountered. However, once the Super Mask’s reputation spread, the would-be crime lords’ goons went from opening fire on sight, to trying to run, to laying down in surrender whenever he burst through a hideout wall.

As such, by the end of the second week, Shine had brought crime back down to its prior levels. By the month’s end, criminal activity in Miracle City was at a third of its all-time lowest records. Simply put, with an invulnerable juggernaut destroying all illegal contraband and capturing and terrifying all but the most desperate criminals off the streets, crime truly stopped paying in Miracle City.

With his growing success came the popularity Shining Darkness needed to make his brand profitable. Unfortunately, he would still need to wait for his merchandise to make it to the public before he could expect to see any revenue come in. But Gertrude assured him it would be handled in a week, and he’d see the first round of profits by month’s end.

Conner faced few problems after gaining his powers regarding his school life. By now, it was his Senior year. During his Sophomore and Junior years working as Incognus, Conner barely scraped through school as a C and D student.

Aside from the amount of time his work consumed, the young man’s sleep schedule was completely thrown out of whack. But now, Conner found his schoolwork so easy that he could finish his homework on the bus and still ace every assignment. Additionally, since he spends all his time working in his powered form, he accumulates nearly no fatigue.

By now, Conner realized his powers granted him a photographic memory. Aside from perfectly remembering all of Death Head’s plans, he would only need to glance at his teachers’ lessons to fully grasp a lesson. By now, the only ones in school who surpassed him academically were John, the robotics club president, and this one eleven-year-old girl who’d skipped grades to her Senior year.

Because of his best friend’s rapid scholarly improvements, John hypothesized Conner didn’t just gain a photographic memory but also an increased intellect. As things stood, it was a theory Conner couldn’t discredit.

Even with crime, school, and his finances mostly handled, Conner’s other issues still needed managing. At John’s insistence, Conner looked into magic to see if his powers were connected to them. Unfortunately, Conner would find far less success in this venture.

After storming the factory of Jim Shoushur, a mid-tier drug king, Shining Darkness left a trail of unconscious guards in his wake until he found the reinforced steel door of Jim’s office. Breaking down the wall, Shine found Shoushur typing on his laptop like lightning with one hand and holding a handgun in the other.

Sweating buckets, the crime boss screamed once Shining Darkness burst into his office. Reflexively, Shoushur fired his weapon at the Super Mask. He only had enough time to fire once, which Shine dodged before he rushed the man and pulled the gun from his hand.

Crushing the weapon, Shining Darkness lifted Jim by his collar and demanded, “Tell me everything you know about magic!”

Smiling despite himself as he gripped Shining Darkness’ huge arm, Jim replied, “What…?! You mean… You mean like pulling a rabbit out of a hat?”

Shining Darkness then cracked the cement floor with a stomp before stating, “Don’t screw with me. I know you worked for Penspot. Tell me everything she ever told you, or that will be your skull.”

His demeanor shattering like the floor, terrified tears rolled down Jim’s face as he exclaimed, “I don’t know! I don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about, you psycho freak!”

Shine’s glowing eyes looked into Shoushur’s bloodshot ones for a moment, examining him for any sign of dishonesty.

“Oh… Oh shit! I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to call you that, sir. I was just- I mean, I’m fucking terrified!” Jim whimpered.

“Hey. Does he have a PC or anything? If he does, grab it when you’re done. I could probably get some useful info that way,” Hardwire’s voice told Shining Darkness.

To Shoushur’s shock, the Super Mask dropped him on his butt, stating, “Fine. The police will be here in ten minutes. If you make any attempt to escape, I will catch you and cripple you from the neck down. I promise I’m much faster than any car you could hop in.”

While the Shining Darkness closed and picked up his laptop, Jim replied obediently, “Right… Of course, Mr. Darkness.”

Regrettably, Conner’s encounter with Shoushur had been the norm. No matter who he pressed for information, he got nowhere. Conner also made a point to check every library in the city for any old books that might have some hidden arcane truths. But still, Conner couldn’t find any clues on magic that weren’t parlor tricks or dead-ends.

When it came to searching for leads on his powers’ origins, there wasn’t a single hint to be found. No sources he read, be it cultural mythologies or historic figures and events, at all matched up to what he was capable of.

John proposed the idea the powers might be divine in nature, but Conner doubted that. After his brush with death, Conner definitely believed there was some sort of higher power or afterlife, but he doubted he was the sort any God would want to bless.

After telling his loved ones about his encounter with Penspot, both Lana and Leslie thought his powers must be tied to the magic she’d used. Conner found this theory more believable but left him at a dead end until he could learn more about how magic worked.

The Shining Darkness resolved he’d need to interrogate Penspot further to get any more useful information. Unfortunately, Jericho told him Penspot was in the hands of the warden of Dissasster Prison, Miracle City’s largest prison. If Shine wanted another interrogation session, Jericho would need to convince the warden to give him that chance. So, while Conner waited for Jericho’s request to get through, all he could do was keep working as normal.

Near the month’s end, while Conner and John were working out at their headquarters, John put down his dumbbells and said, “So… Phew… So, bro… Last night, I finished working on a program that’ll scan the internet for any info that could help us figure out where your powers came from.”

Setting the bar on the squat rack, toweled his forehead and said, “Oh- huff. That sounds good. Huff- Faster than- huff- all the reading I’ve been doing.”

With some hesitant contemplation, John nudged the weights he set down and suggested, “You know… I know he just retired, but we could ask Death Head to help with the research.”

“No, I don’t wanna bother him. He just retired,” Conner said as he sat on the workout bench.

With a confused raise of his hands, John replied, “I’m sure he’s got a lotta free time now… And it’s not like he helped much with the research beforehand… Or you either.”

“It was more important to make sure I can use these powers safely.”

“Okay, but I’m sure he’d be happy to help now. We have his secret number. He could-.”

“Hardwire!” Conner snapped, resting his hands on his knees and startling John. “Listen, man… I just want us to be able to do this on our own. If you wanna get his advice on finding the people Penspot worked for, go ahead. But this is more… We’re gonna be adults soon, ya know? We gotta make sure we can solve our own problems.”

Cocking a brow, John replied, “Shine, that’s… Eh, I don’t like it, but you control my paychecks now, so I guess I don’t got a choice.”

Briefly horrified, Conner said, “Hardwire, I’d never-.”

Walking to the workout bench, John chuckled and said, “I know, man. I’m just messing with you. C’mon, you need me to spot you?”

“Oh… yeah. Thanks, man,” Conner answered with relief as he laid down and got under the 400-pound barbell.