“Who are you supposed to be anyways,” I say as I clench my fist. Standing before me is some wanna-be hero, and he’s currently standing in front of a real threat.

You see, the heroine, Lazar, is probably the only hero here who could actually dish out some damage to the kaiju. Any of the other heroes present probably couldn’t do a thing… Iron Magnum not included.

This kid, however, can move through shadows. I still don’t remember his name though.

“I’m the eminence of living shadow, HunterBlack.” Ah, there it is, I still don’t really know who he is, and his title is a little overblown. Hope he didn’t give it to himself.

I should probably try to explain the whole title thing.

A while back, when heroes were starting to become a big thing, some news reporters started adding taglines to help identify who they were talking about. Eventually, they caught on, and it became some kind of sign of respect for a hero to announce their title before a fight should their opponent not know who they are.

From the perspective of a villain? It’s a sign of someone who's full of themselves, only an idiot would give that kind of information away…

“Ah,” I smile, “And I’m Carnival…” I take a bow, not taking my eyes off the dim kid. I put my hand out to my side while pushing my leg back, his posture remains a bit too relaxed.

I snap with the hand that’s out, striking a match. My back foot ‘catches’ fire as I lash out. The hero is caught off guard as the hit slams into his side, and he is sent flying.

I rush after him, trying to keep him close enough to not react. Only for the hero to suddenly disappear in a cloud of wispy shadows, the sound of shifting space and sand playing out. I turn around, expecting to have HunterBlack try and pop up behind me, but nada.

I hear the sound of whatever shifting ability the hero has a few yards away.

And Lazar is gone. In fact, all of the heroes I knocked out are gone.

I knew the org behind most heroes were good at getting them out of danger, but this is ridiculous.

A loud, dog-like whimper drew my attention. The centipede-like kaiju was looking directly at me with the biggest puppy dog eyes I’ve ever seen, literally. Why the hells wasn’t it still moving? I’m pretty sure the main goal is still further in the city and not around the random building it wrapped itself around.

Holding my hand out in a claw (heh) I twisted my hand with a bit of mana, creating a small ball of condensed space. A little bit of show and it looked like I was holding a fireball.

From there I grabbed my phone out of my pocket, “Hey doc, call Requiem!”

Yes, I did have my phone hacked to rename the AI to doc. It’s fun to command it around.

“It’s Requiem.” her voice sounded annoyed. So I rushed my question.

“What in the thirteen hells is going on with the monster? Isn’t the goal further in the city?”

“Yes, it is.” Requiem paused for a few moments, “I’m on my way down, catch me.”

“What? I don’t know how to do that!” I shouted, but the line was already dead. What am I saying, she knows that.

The only reason I could catch myself was because it was a side effect of what I was doing to condense the space. I’ve never tried to catch something out of the air before, let alone a person.

To make things worse I was a few hundred yards from the building she was on top of, so I had to run to get even close enough to do… well, anything.

I could try and make a net? It would be on theme… No, too complicated. Can I just catch her? Or will her velocity be too much by the time I can? My best bet would be a ramp, and none of this is taking Requiem’s own magic into this…

There she is!

And there’s a hero between us. A muscle-bound one. An extremely dangerous one to my health, MuscleHead.

At the moment the hero of strength isn’t doing anything other than standing there menacingly.

Requiem was still falling, now with only four stories left till she hit the ground.

Pooling as much mana as I could into my arms I reached out with both palms facing towards the falling villain in a swinging motion. Anchoring one end of a blanket of hardened space to the ground, I forced the other end to curve up to just behind Requiem.

However, some kind of passive show magic decided to set the edges of the space on fire. Sometimes I just don’t understand the school of magic at all.

Fortunately for me, Requiem took the sudden ramp in stride. Gracefully landing feet first and sliding down with a ballet or figure skating-like flare.

Right over MucleHead’s head of course.

By the time Requiem hit the bottom of the makeshift ramp I was struggling, and I was all too ready to dismiss the thing. Then just as she went to step off the thing it shattered.

My vision was gone. I stumbled about as if my balance was gone, and I could feel my hands against my face as a reaction as a deep growl escaped my throat. Then it was gone as quick as it came, and my vision set on the ever-affable Requiem.

“ARE YOU AN IDIOT!” I only barely registered the look of shock that overtook the other villain, “I’VE NEVER DONE ANYTHING LIKE THAT BEFORE! YOU COULD'VE ACTUALLY DIED!”

Suddenly, my world shifted, and my breath hitched as my shirt tightened around me. Then I registered the shiniest head on earth right in front of me… or below me…

Does the last one count if I’m being lifted up?

My already frazzled brain didn’t have much time to think about that as MuscleHead used whatever momentum he had to launch me away.

Pain bloomed in the back of my left shoulder as I hit something while going tail over teakettle. Eventually, I slid to a stop, but it still took me a moment until I could stand up again. At this point, I was just glad that I put some basic padding in my suit.

I pulled up the same kind of stupid “fireball” that I had earlier and ran back at the hero. Who in turn was doing his best to occupy Requiem. Or it could be the other way around, considering how she was the one jumping over his head and dodging every one of his hits.

Once I was ten or so yards away I slid to a stop and pitched a fastball, then in the follow up I reached out to the space around MuscleHead’s feet. In a repeat of what I did with the BlueBlur, the hero of strength couldn’t move out of the way of what is essentially a super condensed projectile to the head.

While yes, the hero did have the amount of durability one would expect from a man his size, the spatial lock arrested any balance he had.

MuscleHead hit the ground, and Requiem rushed in. She held her hand up with the palm to the sky and a bunch of tiny circles appeared. Which she then crushed and sprinkled over the hero’s head.

My mood lightened a bit the second I heard the baldest hero ever begin to snore.

“And that’s taken care of.” The villain of mind rubbed her hands together, she then held her wrist up to her face. “Hey doc, call the doctor.”

I couldn’t help but ogle the gold lace artifact that Requiem had. For all intents and purposes, it's literally just a phone in a bracelet. But the way is subtly glimmers to show how it is ringing out, or how well it blends in with her outfit. It makes me kind of jealous.

If I don’t keep them concealed, my bracelet and pocket stand out like a sore thumb. And no, I am not coordinating with the neon green from my pocket… Just, no.

“What do you want?” A disgruntled alchemist finally dinned to answer.

“The kaiju is refusing to move from its current location,” Requiem responds without missing a beat. “It’s still at least twenty city blocks from the final target.”

“Alright, alright, sheesh…” Even through the bracelet, the sound of doc and his constant typing was still awkward to listen to. “Okay, looks like it just needs a reboot, just tap it on the head and you're good.”

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

“Wait! How?” I shouted, but the doc had already cut the line, leaving only the sound of a heroic snore in the background.

The head of the dragon is at least six or seven stories up at any given time, and as of right now the only person who could even reach it is… me…

“Oh come on.” I complained, “Even if I go with the rabbit, there’s no way-”

“I’ll power you up.” Requiem cut me off with something she knew I couldn’t say no to. I’ve been wanting to do… something, hells, anything, under her power up for a while now.

“Fine.” I reached into my pocket and felt around for the rabbit mask, and once I found it I snapped with my other hand. Then a small fire was set into my palm that slowly began to consume my hand, then my arm, then onto the rest of my body.

All show magic, but the concept is in the name.

The next step of the process was just swapping out the masks, so when the fire petered out, a whole different beast was standing there.

I personally believe that I just broke the whole science world with just one simple act. And it’s already on thin ice with supers being somewhat common now.

I looked back to Requiem, who was doing her best to not show just how uncomfortable she was with my whole… thing. I don’t know why she thinks it's such a sensitive topic, but she isn’t the only one like this in the Theater.

“I guess I’m ready.” I punch my hands together and crack my neck, making an even bigger show out of this.

It takes Requiem a moment, but she eventually holds her hands out in a cup. A whirl of light swiftly forms within as she begins her chant.

“Let power flow from heavens wrought,

Let destiny become broken, well fought,

I decide my own fate, for the better

I take my bonds unfettered!”

Once her poem was done, Requiem thrust her hands out toward me and bathed the world in light.

I was expecting a boost to my mana reserves, that’s not what I got. Instead, I could suddenly feel every possible pathway my powers could take. My connection with my mask seemed to strengthen to a point where no amount of interference could take it off, and every nerve in my body was yelling out how it could reach out and grab the space around me. It even got to a point where the amount of power present forced my show magic to passively flicker off of my body.

The overwhelming energy in my body egged me on to run toward the giant monster. Instinct leads me to reach out to the space in front of me and move it out of the way, leading to even more speed. Then I grab more and begin building blocks to make a staircase…

No, I can do better. The whole show needs to be better.

I took the space I already got and began to compress it together, and once that was done I brought in even more. Once something in the back of my head said it was enough I set it on the ground in front of me and stepped on it.

I was now in the air, flying. Embers of magic trailing behind me. All I could hear was the wind rushing past my ears, and all I could see was the giant face of the kaiju. The arc of my jump somehow just ends level with it, perfect to tap it on the nose.

“BOOP!” I yell out at the top of my lungs. The eyes of the monster narrowed into slits, its body now slowly undulating and loosening from the half-destroyed building it was wrapped around.

I started to fall again, and as much as I wanted to watch the monster, I should probably land first.

With a twist, I lamented the fact that the rabbit couldn’t come with a tail and that I never took my mom up on those diving lessons. But, I still managed.

No, I did not do the superhero pose upon landing. It would have made me look too much like a superhero, ew. Instead, I landed on my two feet, and with a bend of my knees, I did a nice little bow.

Suddenly, my world dimmed a bit, as the light that infused me earlier flowed out from me back to Requiem's waiting hands.

“Aww,” I complained, “what did you do that for?”

“The power-up was only for rebooting the kaiju. There’s no point in frying every nerve in your body even if I know you’ll recover from the strain.” A small smirk almost appeared on her face, but both of our attentions were now directed at the monster bouncing down the street. “Oh, that and the fact that I already had to recharge you. Both you and Firework are gonna be completely fried by tomorrow.”

I immediately grimaced at the thought. That’s going to be annoying.

“How do you do it anyway? Avoid the backlash so well?”

“A girl has her secrets.” She somehow didn’t smile at that one.

“Yah, no secrets please, I would like to not lose almost all of my senses when your fat butt breaks my walls while falling from a height that could kill you. OW!” I had to bring my leg up to clench my shin, I always forget that the ballerina getup wasn’t only for the look. Her kicks heckin hurt!

“I didn’t break your wall, the hero did you dingus.” Oh. “Speaking of heroes, where are they?”

That got me to stop hopping around and take in the scene surrounding us. Yeah… after the stupid shadow pulled Lazar and the others out, the only hero left in sight was the still-sleeping MuscleHead. Weird that he hasn’t been pulled out yet either.

Then a giant boom sounded out from overhead and a block away, reminding me of the other problem.

“They’re still fighting?” I say, quite shocked, “That’s impressive.”

Then silence… Too much silence, even for a city. Requiem didn’t even bother responding to my question.

Then a look of horror crossed her face and she started to run. “Archer, get us up there NOW!”

The slip-up was what caught my attention first, then the implications. And I was soon whipping up the same spell that got me up to the monster earlier.

When I was powered up, all I had to do was condense the space around the point I wanted to launch from. Now, I had to hastily toss together a real spell for a cast that I have no real frame of reference for.

So of course I started to panic a bit.

Four lines of pure space magic and mana started to stream behind me, two from my hands and two from my feet. I then began to just… grab the space from around me as I ran to the building we started at.

Soon enough I had a very heavy mass of loosely bound space floating right in front of me, and after I saved myself from running into a ruined cop car, I pressed the mass into the ground.

The effect was almost instantaneous, the sudden rush of wind past my ears only strengthening the sense of dread. The moment I and Requiem landed on the roof felt like it couldn’t be a moment too soon.

Iron Magnum and another hero I only barely recognized were standing over Firework’s unconscious form. I instantly took a battle stance as Requiem took a pointe stance, her hands held out in front of her in a circle.

“I believe it’s about time we called it quits now.” She finally intoned, her voice flat, as if this wasn’t affecting her.

“Yes you are correct,” The other hero responded in an equally robotic tone… No, he was a robot. The voice finally ticked me off as to who he was, the machine who became man, Deus Ex. “It’s time you called off your monster.”

“You know that’s not how that works,” Requiem said with a small smile and a tip of her head. “It will continue on to its destination and do what it has been ordered to do.”

“And what exactly are its orders?” Iron Magnum was suddenly floating just a few feet away from Requiem now, obviously agitated.

“Dunno,” I cut in and relaxed my posture, sticking one of my hands into the pocket. Both of the heroes seemed to be caught off guard by my presence. “All we’re told is to keep the lot of you from stopping it, and that’s that ey.”

A roar echoed from the direction of the monster, seeming to only drive home the evilness of the situation to the heroes.

“Now, I believe that Firework will be needing quite a bit of time to recuperate from his idiocy. So we will be taking our leave.” Requiem started to move forwards past Iron Magnum, only for his arm to shoot up and block her way.

“And why would I let a bunch of criminals get away?” The look on the hero’s face went even more stern than normal. I just started to laugh, only to get hit with a “What’s so funny?”

“Sorry, sorry, I can’t take you seriously when you use super kid’s line from the other day.” I continued to chuckle, and Iron Magnum's face went blank with anger. But, the major risk to my health was just enough for Requiem to continue on to Firework unimpeded. Deus Ex did nothing to stop her.

She reached down and activated a small and passive spell form hidden on Firework’s body, causing him to suddenly turn into motes of light and… disappear. Requiem soon followed suit…

Wait a second. I’ve never used the retreat system before…

I can’t follow Requiem home.

“You were just left behind, weren't you?” Deus Ex suddenly spoke up. “The sudden spike in stressor hormones and the way your ears fell are dead giveaways.”

My mind began to race, I really didn’t like the metal man, and Iron Magnum was still floating a few feet away from me.

“Not exactly.” I lied through my teeth, sorta. I did have a way out, but it was gonna take some finessing. First I stepped up to the edge of the roof and reached around for the tiger mask. I needed the best chance I could get to survive the fall. “I just kinda wanna watch the fun. After all, the only hero left that can deal with the baby monster is this guy.”

I pointed at the man who looked way too tired to do anything at the moment. After all, he did just duke it out with the most powerful member of the theater. “But you can’t manage that… Can you?”

With a snap of my finger, I lit myself on fire and swapped out the masks, both heroes jumping at the action. Then in a large motion, I swung my hand drawing a large circle, then in two more brash movements I filled it with an ‘X’.

Deus Ex seemed to catch on quicker than Iron Magnum, but they were both too late to stop what I was doing.

Ignoring any limits, full well knowing I was going to suffer for this later, I pumped almost everything I could into the spell. The space surrounding the two heroes was now completely locked down.

I had… absolutely no idea how long it was going to last, but the oncoming exhaustion forced my legs to give out from under me. It was something I was expecting, but the feeling still caught me off guard.

As I fell, I took the last dregs of mana and energy I had and focused it through my bracelet. I really struggled to get the thing to fully activate, the rune work demanding just a bit more out of me. Once I finally got it to work, actually getting the portal open was another endeavor altogether. The thing refused to grow just big enough to let me through.

I only finally made it with a story of height to spare. And the feeling of crashing through my sanctum was both an unwelcome and fulfilling feeling. Albeit I did have to spend a good moment just on the floor recovering from the impact.

From there I just barely managed to rip the mask off of my face and make sure all three of the masks were properly hung up. The costume found itself in the middle of the floor, and by the way I was stumbling about. I'm still surprised I made it to the bed before blacking out.