Chapter 4 Yes, You Did


    January 4, 2025. Saturday. 12:22 pm.


    The house was quiet, eerily so. No one was home except for the occasional maid, and even they seemed scarce during lunchtime. Lucky me. The lack of chatter and footsteps made my job easier, though it also gave the silence an unsettling edge.


    The bedroom felt massive, too big for two people to need, but I ignored the gaudy furniture and went straight to business. My eyes caught a fold in the carpet near the far corner of the room. It was subtle, but something about it screamed suspicious.


    Kneeling down, I grabbed the edge of the carpet and peeled it back. Sure enough, a trapdoor stared back at me, its edges worn but sturdy. My brow furrowed. If it were just a safe, I could confidently phase my hands through and rummage around. But a trapdoor? That could mean anything.


    Cautiously, I pressed my face closer to the trapdoor and let my right arm become intangible. The transformation was seamless, almost instinctive now. My hand slipped through the wood as I felt around for something—anything—hidden beneath.


    The texture of my surroundings shifted in the void. Cold metal. Smooth surfaces. Something loose and... there. My fingers curled around a small object, and I carefully pulled it out.


    A shoebox emerged from the trapdoor, and my stomach sank the moment I opened it.


    "What in the world?"


    It wasn’t cash. It wasn’t jewelry. Hell, I would’ve been relieved if it were porn mags.


    No, what I found was far worse: human teeth.


    “Fuck…” The word slipped out as I stared in horror. Rows and rows of pristine, pearly whites lay inside, neatly arranged like some macabre dentist’s collection. Some had roots still attached, others were polished smooth. "Maybe he''s secretly a dentist or a tooth fairy?" I optimistically thought.


    My stomach churned. I slammed the lid back on the box and set it down, resisting the urge to gag. What the hell was this family into?


    I leaned back, running a hand through my hair as I tried to steady my breathing. This wasn’t the kind of discovery I wanted to make, especially not in a house with rumors of murder clinging to its name. No, this must be a misunderstanding.


    I glanced at the trapdoor again. If this was what they kept in a shoebox, what else could be hiding down there?


    Calm down, me. Breathe. You can handle this.


    I took another glance at the shoebox full of teeth before shoving it aside. There had to be better loot under this trapdoor, and I wasn’t about to leave empty-handed. Reaching back in, I rummaged around until my hand hit something solid and metallic.


    Clink.


    I pulled out a gold bar, its weight and gleam filling me with a kind of greedy satisfaction that drowned out the nausea from before. “Jackpot,” I whispered, my heart jumping in giddy excitement. Forget burgers. This was the real payday.


    But I wasn’t done. Oh, no. My hand dove back in.


    A ring with a peculiar "M" symbol came out next, small but likely valuable. I hid it in my hoodie without a second thought. Then came a katana. A goddamn katana. It was sleek, its hilt intricately designed, and it practically radiated do not touch. Naturally, I set it beside the gold bar.


    And then my hand brushed against something else.


    It was smooth and round. Too round. I hesitated, but my fingers had a mind of their own and yanked it up anyway. A human skull.


    I froze. “Nope.”


    I tossed it back like it was cursed, which it probably was. Maybe it was... a prop? Shit... My heart raced as I considered stopping, but my greedy little hands weren’t on the same wavelength. Against my better judgment, I felt around for more.


    That’s when my fingers hit something with more surface area, like fabric. I tugged, and the first thing I saw was yellow—a bright, almost blinding shade that practically screamed cape. I pulled harder, and the rest of the item emerged.


    It was spandex. Sleek, streamlined designs with black overlays and a familiar sun symbol emblazoned on the chest. My breath hitched.


    No way.


    I stared at it, my mind racing. This wasn’t just some random costume. This was Sunstrider’s. One of Vanguard’s elites. A Speedster-6 and Pyrokinetic-2, he was practically a celebrity in the cape world. The Vanguard was top-tier, an untouchable cape team feared for their roster.


    The metric system for powers flickered through my head. 9 was the highest recorded level for any ability. Sunstrider wasn’t far off.


    If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    And now his costume was in my hands.


    Why the hell does Hamilton have this?


    I didn’t have time to dwell on it. A low growl rumbled behind me, sending chills down my spine. I looked up.


    Mr. Hamilton stood in the doorway, his eyes blazing with fury. Literally blazing. Fire licked his skin, flickering along his arms and shoulders, making the air around him shimmer with heat. His suit was singed at the edges, his tie undone, but the murder in his expression was unmistakable.


    “I knew someone was snooping,” he snarled, his voice a low, menacing rumble.


    The fabric slipped from my grip as every survival instinct in my body screamed, Run.


    I was screwed.


    Okay, think fast.


    What did I have?


    If the Superhuman Regulation Committee (SRC) ratings were any indication, my powers weren’t bad, but they weren’t enough for this. Intangibility-4: I could phase through solid matter for as long as I could hold my breath and keep my focus. Enhanced-2: my body had better-than-average stamina and physical coordination, but nothing close to what top-tier capes could do.


    That put me at a serious disadvantage.


    Okay… I might have said something along the lines of nigh-infinite stamina, but I was still unsure of that part. It didn’t mean that because I didn’t need sleep meant I had a wellspring of unending stamina. I could still feel fatigued in the form of pain.


    I raised my arm to block instinctively as something flew at me, a shoe. The damned shoe actually landed with enough force to make me stumble back a step.


    Before I could process that humiliation, he was on me.


    Fast.


    Sunstrider’s one-two kick came faster than I could react. The first strike landed square on my chest, a burst of heat and force that knocked the wind out of me. The second came down hard on my foreleg, pinning me to the floor. Pain shot through my body, sharp and unforgiving, and I couldn’t concentrate enough to phase.


    It hurt like hell.


    “You shouldn’t have come here,” Sunstrider growled, standing over me. His voice was cold, a far cry from the charming public persona he put on for the world. "Who do you work for?"


    I gasped for air, trying to regain focus, but every breath sent sharp jolts of pain through my ribs. I wasn’t sure if they were cracked or just bruised, but it didn’t matter. This was bad.


    His boot pressed down on my pinned leg, making me cry out involuntarily. He leaned in, his voice low and venomous. “You’ve seen too much.”


    No kidding.


    I didn’t need a Ph.D. in criminal psychology to figure out what was going through his mind. I’d unmasked him. I’d discovered his dirty little secret from the human teeth, the skull, and the suspicious ring. This wasn’t a misunderstanding.


    He was going to kill me.


    Think, damn it!


    I clenched my teeth, the edges of my vision going dark with despair. If I couldn’t fight him directly, I’d have to outsmart him. My hand crept toward the katana I’d stolen earlier, lying just out of reach, my fingers brushing the edge of the shoebox of teeth.


    “I...” I coughed, wincing at the pain in my ribs as he landed a kick and then another. “I didn’t mean to... ugh... find out.”


    Sunstrider snorted. “Doesn’t matter.” And then he grabbed me by my collar, his hand an inch away from unmasking me.


    I had to distract him. I had to make him hesitate, just for a second.


    “You think this’ll keep it quiet?” I wheezed, clutching my chest like I was done for. “You kill me, someone’s going to notice. People know I’m here.”


    It was a bluff. A bad one. But it was all I had.


    He hesitated just for a second, but it was enough.


    I grabbed the katana’s hilt, powering through with a forceful lunge, and swung with all the strength my enhanced body could muster. I aimed for his leg, the nearest target the solid katana could reach. The blade wasn’t sharp, since it was more ceremonial than functional, but it connected, knocking him off balance.


    The pressure on my leg disappeared, and I didn’t waste a second. I activated my power, phasing through the floor beneath me. My body screamed in protest, the pain from the fight making it hard to focus, but I pushed through.


    Get out. Get out now.


    I dropped to the lower floor, tumbling into what looked like a study. My body solidified as I gasped for air, scrambling to my feet. My leg throbbed, but I could move. I didn’t wait for him to recover.


    I bolted for the nearest wall and phased through it, out into the open air.


    However, I was far from free…


    Sunstrider’s speed was unmatched. Even with my enhanced coordination, he was faster by a lot. His foot hooked around my ankle, and before I could react, I was falling. My roll to break the fall was sloppy, pain shooting through my already battered leg.


    I barely had time to catch my breath before he was on me again, his weight pressing down as he pinned my injured leg. I bit back a scream, but my vision blurred with tears. My katana clattered to the ground a few feet away, useless for the moment.


    Sunstrider stood over me, his chest rising and falling as he took a deep breath. His right hand began to glow, the air around it shimmering with heat as he superheated his palm into a knife-like blade.


    “Any last words?” he asked, his tone almost casual, like he was asking about the weather.


    I couldn’t think of a single clever retort. My mouth was dry, my thoughts scrambled. Instead, I raised my hand and began making the sign of the cross, deliberately slow, shaky from the pain.


    Sunstrider was a gentleman enough to let me finish...


    The gesture seemed to amuse him or annoy him. Either way, it gave me what I needed.


    He cocked his head, then brought his glowing knife-hand back, aiming to take my head clean off.


    Time seemed to slow as he swung.


    My mind flashed to Chadwick, his arrogant smirk, his cruel taunts. The resemblance was uncanny from the same blonde hair, the same smug expression, and the same sense of entitlement. It was infuriating.


    And it gave me just enough rage to fight through the pain.


    As his knife-hand descended, I activated my power, slipping out from under him at the last possible second as my pinned limb became intangible. His hand sliced through nothing but air, and I rolled toward the katana. My fingers closed around the hilt.


    I didn’t think. I couldn’t afford to.


    I swung the katana with both hands, its dull edge aimed at him. But instead of relying on the blade to cut through, I activated my power again, making the katana intangible.


    Sunstrider’s momentum carried him forward, straight into the blade’s path. It passed through him like a ghost, and then… I released the intangibility the moment it was halfway through his chest.


    The sudden solidity of the blade sliced through muscle and bone. His body jerked, blood spraying in a crimson arc as he stumbled forward.


    I rolled to the left, just out of reach, and let the katana go. He tumbled to the ground in a grotesque heap, his momentum carrying him into the floor with a sickening thud.


    The world fell silent except for his ragged, gurgling breaths. I stared at him, my chest heaving, my leg screaming in pain.


    Did I actually just kill Sunstrider?