Be Better

by TheBedGuy

Adam is not the smartest, strongest or toughest of guys around. But his heart was as big as they come, tenacious, courageous and unyielding. So, when he discovered that New York was on the brink of destruction, he decided to do something about it. One step at a time. LeechPowerOC! can steal muscle mass, body part size, health etc. MCU/MULTI. Lemons, Moral Ambiguity, Gray OC, Harem.

2. Chapter 2

Once again, consider going to Questionable Questing for more content.

Hey, I want to wish you guys a very merry Christmas, I worked really hard on this chapter and I hope you guys are happy with my Christmas present.

I kinda got carried away with this chapter…

Inspired by Dragon_jak's Here Comes Power CYOA.

Chapter Warnings: Language, Blood, Violence, Extreme Violence, Gore (?), Grammar Mistakes (?).

Arc 1: Humble Beginnings

Roughly 24k words (Not counting ANs)

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- Adam Grayson -

These past few days have left Adam nothing short of giddy. He was able to get much more out of his powers than he could before thanks to the newfound upgrade that he got.

It may not seem like much, but the small increase in absorption speed was a godsend for him.

While he still had trouble absorbing any significant amount of stuff to make himself better, with this new speed boost, he was able to leech off just a little bit more than he could, but it was enough to make a difference as he finally began to see real, visible improvements happening to him.

They may have been small scale, but they were improvements nonetheless.

Starting with his height.

He would like to say that he chose to focus on it because it was arguably the easiest and fastest thing that he could enhance.

But honestly, the main reason he chose it was because he's always felt a bit annoyed that he was the same height that Kate was - something that she never failed to remind him, by the way - so it was completely by impulse with an extremely well thought out plan that he decided to test his new upgrade by making himself tower over the heads of everyone.

Gone were the days where Kate made fun of him!

Or at least, that's what he'd like to say…

Initially, he thought about making himself as tall as possible in one fell swoop, going from 5'8 to 7' out of sheer spite.

However, a tiny voice in the back of his mind (that sounded suspiciously like Kate) told him that it would be extremely fishy to see that happen so fast.

So, after careful consideration and a bit of grumbling, he decided to do it slowly and instead gradually absorb more height to himself over time instead of all at once.

Truly, sometimes his genius… It was almost frightening.

And he had to say, that small power upgrade really did wonders because, in just a short few days, he grew from his previous 5'8 to a solid 5'10.

Now, to his infinite delight, he was officially taller than his best friend.

"Dude, how? You were smaller than me yesterday." she asked in shock, using her hand like a measuring tape as she lifted it up to his head "Aren't people supposed to stop growing at 16 or something you mutant?"

Kate was dressed simply and straightforwardly today, a purple ribbed top and a pair of light blue ripped jeans paired with her usual doc martens boots, her midnight-black hair set loose as opposed to her customary ponytail.

All in all, it was pretty much in line with her usual tomboy fashion.

Come to think of it, he couldn't actually remember the last time when he saw her wearing a skirt or a dress…

Not that Adam was complaining of course, she was beautiful in anything she wore, tomboy or not.

Chuckling at Kate's bewildered expression, he grabbed her hand out of the air as he corrected her "I was the same height as you." He then looked down (down!) at her with a fake-looking benevolent expression "But you don't have to worry. Since I'm a good guy, I won't make fun of you like you made fun of me"

She gave him her signature 'really?' look before her face cutely contorted into a concentrated expression as she tried to wriggle her hand out of his grip, ready to respond in kind to his teasing.

Before she could, however, Adam couldn't resist holding in anymore and let out a laugh. "Nope, I give up. I will definitely make fun of you…" Letting out one last jab at her, he continued "Oopa loompa"

Kate's eyes widened in scandal, finally being able to free her hand from his grip with a yank before she cutely stomped her foot. "Oompa loompa? I have been taller than you for years!"

Her outrage triggered a hearty laugh from him, thoroughly enjoying his long-awaited superiority. "Oh, come on! I endured years of you saying it," he retorted, pointing playfully at her. "The least you could do is lay there and take it from me."

A blush crept onto Kate's cheeks, catching the double meaning behind his words while Adam smirked.

Crossing her arms, Kate tried to regain her composure, but failed as a blush still painted her cheeks. "R-really, with how annoying you are, it's a wonder why people like you."

Adam grinned, unperturbed. "It's because of my huggable appearance and lovable nature, Katie. People think it's endearing. I'm like a human teddy bear."

She laughed, shaking her head in disbelief. Although he didn't hear when she muttered, 'Yeah, cuddly like a brick'

Before Kate could come up with an actual retort for him, her eyes caught sight of something from over his shoulder.

A mischievous plan hatched in her mind. "Oh yeah?" she challenged. "All right then, Mister Wonderful Personality, why don't you try your 'lovable nature' on her?" She pointed her chin to something behind him, indicating that he should look discretely.

So of course, he obliviously turned his whole body to see who Kate was talking about, not seeing his friend facepalming.

Ah, Madeline. Maddie the Ice Queen, known to strike fear into the hearts of mere mortals with her glare alone.

The first thing that stood out to him when he looked at her was her style, it was something hard not to notice after all. Her stark black clothing, black makeup, and overall dark aspect obviously screamed of the whole goth thing she had going on for her.

Her short black hair was styled in a neat bob cut that framed her serious, beautiful face perfectly. The long black hoodie she wore was acting more as a dress, reaching just past her hips as it hid the upper part of her stylish ripped black pants and the (extremely) noticeable curves of her butt, but it didn't manage to hide the thick thighs that the snug jeans couldn't help but reveal. The heavy combat boots she wore reached just below her knees.

Unlike the ridiculous, try hard goths that sometimes frequented the cafe however, her short hair, porcelain complexion and overall beauty really made the style work for her.

A 10/10 if he had to say so himself.

Which he did, many times.

But of course, the reason behind Kate's challenge was because Maddie had a widely known reputation in school for barely tolerating people's shit, with her almost-permanent annoyed expression generally giving way to withering glares that often made others question their self-worth from its sheer intensity alone.

Resting bitch face, Kate called it.

Adam thought it was kinda mean to call her a bitch. He, ever the optimist, preferred to believe she was just… reserved.

Yes, reserved.

Despite her harsh, icy attitude, however, Maddie had no shortage of fans - particularly among the male population of the school - for one, simple reason: she was hot. Really hot. Even the oversized hoodie that she almost always had on couldn't hide the killer body she generally hid underneath its folds.

Her curvy, stacked body (and her cold, harsh personality, in some people's cases) drove many people after her.

He couldn't blame them of course, even he's kind of had a thing for her.

What? He may have powers but he wasn't immune to hot big-titty goth girls.

He was under no illusion, though. Many had met their demise because they thought she was just "Acting hard to get". He was wise enough to respect her tenacity and sharp tongue.

And also her sharp, stabby scissors. He's already been stabbed enough for one lifetime, thank you very much.

Still, he never gave up trying to have an actual conversation with her.

While still respecting her boundaries of course, Aunt Cass didn't raise no creep.

He turned to look at Kate, who just shrugged her shoulders, wiggled her eyebrows, and flashed Adam a daring smile, silently urging him on.

This was a familiar dynamic the two of them had, always daring and/or goading each other to do dumb shit just to see who was the braver (or stupider, actually) between the two of them.

He was winning of course.

Come to think of it, that was probably the main reason why he ended up with that gardening spade stuck on his thigh that one time…

So of course he was going to accept it!

With a smirk, Adam bent slightly down to level his face with Kate's own. "Alright then, challenge accepted," he whispered to her.

As Maddie approached, Adam lifted his hands in the air with a theatrical flourish. "Maddie!" he exclaimed, lowering his hands and flashing her his best winning smile. "So good to see you. How was your weekend?"

Maddie came to a stop beside them, her thick lips forming a flat line as she stared at him with a dead look in her striking light green eyes. "..."

Not even remotely deterred, Adam continued with undying enthusiasm. "Did you see th-"

Madeline interrupted him before he could go any further, replying in a dull voice. "...No," She then swiftly moved past them and entered the classroom, not even giving them a second look.

Undeterred by Maddie's lackluster response, Adam nodded sagely, accepting his defeat with dignity.

Kate burst into laughter. "Oh man, that was too good," she said between fits of giggles, patting his arm as she laughed. "At least this time she actually answered you."

The sound of the bell ringing signaled the start of class and the end of their chat. Adam shuffled away to the classroom with groans of defeat at the thought of having to spend another day in school again, Kate rubbing his back in support.

As they entered the classroom, the familiar sight of neatly arranged seats greeted him while the hubbub of hushed conversation hit his ears. Silently making their way to his and Kate's seats, Adam briefly prayed for the gods of time to make time tick just a little faster and spare him from the hell that was Mr. Mills' sociology class.

He honestly tried to concentrate on the lesson, truly, he did, but his attention quickly waned when Mr. Mills' monotonous voice filled the room as he droned on and on, going through the lesson without a hint of enthusiasm.

It was as if the words were melting into a puddle of boredom right in front of his eyes, and not even his enhanced focus could make him concentrate enough to pay attention.

At least he wasn't the only one, as many of his classmates wore distant, vacant expressions, clearly showing that they were just as lost as he was. Some were even daring enough to doze off right in the middle of the lesson.

Thankfully, It seemed like his prayers were answered and the time did go faster. Well, either that or his mind just turned off as it usually did during lessons. Adam was only snapped back to reality when Mr. Mills' voice cut through his thoughts.

"All I am asking is that you do the minimal amount of work in this class to give yourself the illusion that you're actually learning something." He walked slowly from the back of the room towards the white board, his monotone voice resonating through the class. "And to give me a modicum of self-respect, like I am actually teaching a class."

With a tap on the board, he emphasized the subject of the lesson. "Sociology, the study of society. You know: people. Besides yourselves."

Pointing to the topics listed on the board with his pen, he continued, "You're going to choose one of these topics to be the subject of your ten-page research paper." He underlined some of them for emphasis.

"And," he added, "you should know that your paper is going to constitute 75% of your grade."

Groans filled the classroom as the students voiced their protests, and he couldn't help but sympathize. His days were always packed between helping Aunt Cass at the cafe, attending his MMA classes, going to the gym, juggling numerous other schools works and other responsibilities.

That's not even taking into account the elephant in the room that were his nightly outings.

Adding such a big project to his schedule was going to be a real pain. Doubly so when he took into consideration his clear lack of brain power.

Unfazed by the complaints, Mr. Mills continued, dismissing the students' protests with a wave of his hand. "Yes, yes. Very sad." He brushed it off effortlessly. "To make your lives easier, I am going to assign you a partner. So that you can broaden your horizons, and learn to share responsibility."

To that, he groaned even harder. Partner assignments were always a mixed bag. Choosing to work with a friend is one thing, but to be assigned a partner by the teacher? More often than not, it led to disaster.

Turning his gaze to the side, he caught Kate's eyes, noting that the expression she wore mirrored his feelings. The two of them exchanged a glance, communicating their displeasure through their eyes and expressions alone.

'This sucks' she mouthed to him; annoyance clear in her eyes.

He simply nodded in agreement before pointing to himself, then gesturing toward her, his expression hopeful as he silently communicated. 'Maybe we'll be paired together?'

He really wanted Kate to be his partner, she was one of the few people that was able to work around his weakness that was anything homework related and such after years and years of this same song and dance.

His expression was one of optimism, to which she just gave him a look. Her raised eyebrow seemed to ask, 'Really? It's us, what do you think?' The incredulous look she wore was enough to draw out a grin from him.

Yeah… he knew their crappy luck, so it likely wouldn't be possible. But still, being hopeful was his thing, so he just gave her an exaggerated shrug that said 'Who knows? Maybe we'll be lucky'.

Then Mr. Mills started pairing people up.

"Kate and Julia," he announced.

Adam's head dropped in resignation and disappointment. It seemed that he wouldn't get the chance to work with Kate after all. 'No luck' he mouthed to her.

The knowing look she gave him was an obvious 'I told you', before she rolled her eyes and gave him a smile, assuring him 'Don't worry, I'll help you.'

In response, he gave her an excited smile and a silly, exaggerated double thumbs up, getting a stifled laugh from her.

Mr. Mills continued, finally reaching his name. "Adam and…" Hopefully whoever he got as a pair would be easy to work with, and would also tolerate his bullcrap intelligence of course.

"Madeline,"

Now THAT ground his thoughts to a halt.

With a smirk on his face, he turned in his seat to look at Maddie.

He saw Madeline glare back at him with an annoyed expression on her pretty face, to which he responded with his best charming smile and a pair of finger guns.

She squinted her eyes as her black lips curled in disgust.

Maybe this project thing wouldn't be so bad after all.

- BB -

The night was ever so slowly giving way to morning, with the barest hints of light breaching the cloudy black sky above.

Despite the recent surge in warmth these past few days, an unrelenting mix of mist and smog still clung to the night like a parasite, bathing the city in a painfully biting chill that nipped at one's ears. The icy cold atmosphere brought an eerie air to the surroundings.

The feeble glow of the street lights tried to illuminate the darkened streets with their flickering warm shine, creating an ethereal ambiance as they lit the way for the people that were still walking about and populating the late night.

High above, perched on the rooftop of a small run-down shop, Adam sat like a spectre, peering down attentively and heatedly at the streets below from his vantage point.

His unwavering gaze was fixated on the scene unfolding beneath him across the street, his anger already simmering in his veins like liquid fire as he watched the revolting sight.

Eight men were congregated at the entrance of a rundown 7-eleven in Queen's Chinatown. The group appeared to be related, with all of them clad in fancy-looking suits or dress shirts of similar colors.

Their appearances were all unremarkable, save for the one that seemed to be their leader. The man stood tall and imposing, with a ugly, jagged scar running up vertically from the left side of his neck all the way up to his cheek.

But what made his fury burn was the fact that four of them - the leader and three others - were harassing a man, laughing at his loud, desperation-filled pleas that could be heard even where he was. Sometimes they hit him, or shoved him to the ground when they got sick of his begging.

Judging by his clothes, he was likely the owner of the store they were surrounding.

Shifting his sight behind the store owner, he could see three women inside the store, an older one and two younger ones. By their similar looks he would guess that they were a mother and her daughters, and that the store owner currently being harassed in the middle of the street was their father.

With teary eyes, the mother held back the youngest daughter as she tried to claw her way out of her mother's grip to try and save her father. The older one was standing paralyzed behind them, looking at what was happening with fear in her eyes.

If he had to guess, the mother was probably trying not to bring the men's attention to her daughters. As cold and heartless as it might seem to let her husband be the center of attention, it was probably the least bad option she had at the moment.

The other four men were standing a few feet away, casually smoking, laughing and talking around their car as if all that was happening was just another ordinary day for them.

His hands clenched into tight fists at the infuriating sight, the faux leather of his mma gloves groaning in protest at the strain.

The streets, though not bustling, still harbored a few people who consciously made every effort to be as far away from the unfolding events as they could. He understood them, really, he did, but their uncaring attitude still infuriated him as it dug up memories and emotions he thought that he had dealt with long ago…

From the way that the pedestrians quickly avoided their eyes and did everything they could to not be seen or noticed by the thugs, and the overall similar style of clothes and appearance, Adam deduced that these men were probably part of some sort of gang from the area. And based on the recognition and fear shown by the people, they were probably from a major one.

A sudden shift in the situation drew his attention. One of the four men threatening the owner uttered something to him in a low voice, too low for Adam to hear even as he strained his hearing to the max.

In response, the store owner hastily got himself off of the ground and instinctively positioned himself protectively in front of his wife and young daughters, who appeared to be around the same age as Adam, possibly younger.

Observing the fear etched onto the man's face and the way the women huddled behind him in fright, Adam's gaze narrowed and his breathing evened out. His focus sharpened even more when one of the harassers menacingly peeled back his suit, showing the metallic glint of a gun on his belt.

A curse escaped Adam's lips at the sight, and a fleeting moment of hesitation crossed his mind. Eight people were far, far more than what he had ever fought against before, it was certainly far more than he knew he could take on. And if he was a gambling man, he'd bet that most of them were also armed too.

If everything went right, he could possibly deal with one armed guy, but what about the other seven guys? What would he do about the weapons that they no doubt had? While he's fought against armed people before, it was against only one or two at once, and he generally had the element of surprise on his side.

He was tough, but he wasn't invincible. He wasn't bulletproof. Fighting against this many people at once would be too much.

What was the plan here? Should he just wait until the police arrived?

His attention snapped back in an instant when he saw the leader land a swift punch against the store owner's stomach, a malevolent glint dancing in his eyes as he watched the man drop to the ground painfully. The air was punctuated with pained grunts and the echoing screams and protests of the women nearby.

The leader turned to the three women, looking at them as he spoke calmly, his voice draped in a thick Brooklyn accent "Ah, family. So important" Slowly turning around, the leader looked downwards at the knocked down man "Don't you agree Brian?"

The father, apparently called Brian, stopped his efforts to gather himself up from the ground, promptly nodding his head at the man's question while he held his wounded stomach.

With an air of authority, the scarred man leaned in closer to the store owner, a volatile edge to his once calm voice as he confronted him, "Then why are putting them in danger like this!?"

Collecting his composure, the leader slowly regained his calm demeanor once again before lowering himself to the man's eye level. Gripping Brian's hair tightly and painfully, the criminal tilted the man's face up to ensure an unyielding gaze. "The boss won't be happy that you ain' payin' our due diligence," he murmured, the menace lingering in his words. "You know what happens when he's not happy don't you?"

Violently letting go of the man's hair, the thug then made his way towards the women behind him, voice full of cheer "But it's not the end of the world for you!" Ignoring the protests of the women, he roughly grabbed the frozen older daughter by the cheek, turning her head as he inspected her. "It just means that they will have to put on the work instead"

The mother's futile attempt to protect her daughters was met with a forceful slap from one of the accompanying thugs before they held her back, the youngest daughter and their father screaming in protest.

The leader let out a laugh letting go of the girl's cheeks roughly, as he stated. "Boy I wouldn't wanna be them."

The anger that was slowly cursing inside Adam suddenly erupted into a fiery, raging inferno. His vision blurred with red, adrenaline coursed through his veins and his heart pounded against his ear like a war drum as his veins bulged around his form.

And to think he wanted to sit around with his thumbs up his ass and wait for the goddamn police to come while those disgusting fucking lowlifes down there were free to do anything they fucking wanted to?

Just because he was afraid there were "too many of them"?

What sort of man was he? Turning a blind eye to what was happening like every other fucker that walked by and ignored the fucking problem until it went away.

After all, it didn't have anything to do with them, right?

What a fucking joke he was.

He knew the risks involved, the guns, the weapons, the numbers. The odds were heavily stacked against him, and there was a very real possibility of him dying.

But that wouldn't stop him, he wouldn't give up.

He was going to break every piece of shit down there in half with his bare fucking hands.

---

- A Daughter -

She couldn't do anything.

Her mother's words echoed in her mind, telling her that her father knew what he was doing, that he was doing this to protect them. For her to not get involved so things wouldn't get worse.

But how could she just stand by and watch as these people threatened her family? How could she watch them do whatever they wanted with them just because they could?

Growing up in a gang-infested area, she knew the harsh reality, she knew that no one here was really "free". Her father had to pay a so-called "protection fee" to the gang, so that they would take care and protect his business out of "the goodness of their hearts".

But she knew it was all a load of bullshit. If her parents couldn't pay them, they would pay with their lives - plain and simple. Around here the gangs here were kings, you do what they tell you to do and pay what they tell you to pay. People just couldn't go against them.

And if you did? Then they would use you as an example.

The goddamn police were useless of course, the gangs had every last one of them in their pocket. You paid them enough, and they didn't give a shit about what happened in the gang's little kingdom just as long as they were getting theirs.

Her family couldn't even move somewhere else because of how fucking poor they were, it was frustrating! There was a boot pressing down on their neck and they could do nothing but smile and accept it. Or face the consequences.

And that wasn't even the worst of it, with time their money began to dwindle, and her father's store wasn't even making enough to support the family, let alone be able to meet those asshole's demands. She had lost count of how many "warnings" her father got from them before it came to this.

Oh, her parents tried to hide those times when her father came home late at night, beaten and bloody, her mother having to amateurishly take care of his injuries for him because they couldn't afford a hospital, but she wasn't one to be easily fooled like her sister and little brother were.

One time she even saw those same guys skulking around her and her sister's school, though she didn't tell her parents about it.

For her family, paying them was simply impossible, the banks wouldn't loan to them anymore, and for some reason not even the goddamn loan sharks were willing to do it either.

It all culminated in this "negotiation" with her father today, which turned into this terrifying scenario.

She tried to help. By god she tried.

She had struggled against her mother's grasp, desperate to help her father in any way she could, but her mother's grip was too strong to let her go.

Her sister was paralyzed in fear, rooted in place like a useless fucking lamp post even after she asked her for help.

She remembers crying out, desperately asking help from anyone passing by who would listen to her mad screams.

But people just looked at them with those… pitying and sad looks, offering only muttered words of prayers as they passed by and ignored them, doing their best to not be noticed by the men surrounding her family.

She doesn't need their pity; she hated their fucking pity. What she truly needed was a way out of this fucking situation.

Now here they were, with she and her sister about to be taken who knows where and to be… used who knows how by these vermin that called themselves human.

She'd like to tell herself that she was not afraid, that she was strong.

But she'd be lying. She was terrified. Afraid of what awaited her, afraid of what would become of her and her family.

Fuck this city, fuck these people, fuck everyone. She wished nothing but eternal suffering upon these scum. For every second they spend living to be a moment that they wish they were dead.

She was so distracted by her thoughts that the sound of mocking laughter coming further away from the other group of thugs gathered over by the car didn't even snap her out of her state of mind.

However, the sound of a loud, sickening crunch reverberating in the air certainly did.

At first there was an overwhelming silence. Then, the screams began.

It was a loud, ear-piercing, guttural… thing that made the hairs in the back of her head immediately stand up. That was a raw and primal sound unlike anything she had ever heard before.

Her family and the thugs around her turned towards the source of the noise with surprised and confused expressions.

She could see that It came from a few feet away, where the other four thugs were once laughing and smoking near their car, waiting for their leader and comrades to finish harassing her family.

One of them was laid on the ground, writhing and howling like a madman in agony. It took her only a moment to find the cause of his pain, and when she looked down, an involuntary gasp of horror escaped her lips.

He was holding his mangled right arm, the limb twisted at an unnatural, jagged angle. A glimpse of bone peeking through the torn flesh as the once pristine khaki suit was now stained with a pool of blood.

The sight filled her with revulsion, she could feel the bile rising through her throat causing her to retch while those around her let out sounds of horror and confusion. She forced herself to swallow her disgust, looking up to see what had caused the man's pain.

Or rather, who. An imposing shape stood over the fallen man - a tall, bulky figure donning a bone-white skull mask with a hood pulled over his head. His blood-stained gloved hand was clenched in a tight fist, his eyes burning with seething rage and fury as he locked his gaze upon the rest of the gangsters.

The sight sent shivers down her spine, an eerie combination of fear, fascination and tentative hope mingling within her. 'Wait, I've seen him before. Is that…?'

The once amused expressions of the gang members were now twisted into looks of disbelief and terror as they shouted in confusion at what had just transpired. "What the fuck?!" "Vinny!"

In the blink of an eye, the masked man capitalized on the hesitation of the other three thugs as he lunged towards them, their screams of confusion rising.

Using his lunge's momentum, the masked man let out a quick and powerful superman punch on the closest man's nose, causing him to fall on his ass as he clutched his face in pain, his nose bleeding down on him like a river.

Not losing time, the vigilante then threw a strong side kick at the second man's stomach, connecting with a loud thump as it folded the man in half with its sheer strength.

However, the third thug wasn't idle as he quickly got beside the masked man, throwing a strong punch towards his liver. The vigilante stumbled, a growl of pain escaping his lips, but he remained standing.

He retaliated with a series of punches, but the thug evaded his attacks, countering with a right hook of his own. The masked man blocked the hit with his right arm and attempted a left uppercut, but the thug swiftly stepped back from the attack.

The thug then aimed a kick at the vigilante's side, and the kick connected with a thud. But the masked man quickly seized the opportunity when he grabbed the leg with his right hand, delivering a punishing left cross to the man's solar plexus before sweeping his remaining leg, brutally slamming him onto the ground.

The sound of a loud, crunching noise followed as the vigilante twisted the leg at an awkward angle, causing the thug to howl in pain and agony. She let out a wince at the sound.

Although strangely, she noticed that the masked man was still holding the leg with a surprised expression on his eyes as he observed it curiously. She couldn't fathom why he was taken aback, but his distraction came at the worst of times. And it cost him.

The man that he had folded with a kick earlier had gotten up a few seconds before, grabbing a crowbar that was standing near their car.

Taking advantage of the masked man's distraction, he came up behind him and threw a wild swing at his head.

The man grunted loudly as he stumbled forward before swiftly turning around, but he found himself subjected to a relentless assault as the thug continued to swing at him repeatedly.

Though he attempted to defend himself, the vigilante could only use his forearms to fend off the quick and wild barrage of blows, letting out a grunt every time a two-handed strike hit him.

She was so focused on the fight that she jumped in fright when she heard the loud shout of the gang's leader ring out beside her, the man quickly regaining his composure as he assumed command of his remaining men.

The veins on his scarred neck were jumping as he screamed, "What the fuck are you fuckers waitin' for?" He pointed towards the ongoing fight, urging his men to go "Get the fuckin' weapons and kill this asshole!"

The three gangsters that were uselessly watching and standing around the leader quickly retrieved their concealed weapons from their suits - one had a brass knuckle knife, while another got a… futuristic looking baton? She heard the crackle of electricity quickly running through the baton before it suddenly stopped.

But more worrying for her was the one with the gun. Although thankfully, he couldn't afford to shoot the masked man with so many of his friends in the way, so he had to make do with only his fists for now.

To make matters worse, the man who was earlier punched in the nose had recovered, joining the remaining gangsters in surrounding the masked man after he pulled two big knives from his suit.

Then the four advanced, joining the fight against her only hope of being saved.

A sudden grip from behind jolted her, causing her to stumble slightly as an unseen force pulled her backwards.

She swiftly turned, her gaze meeting her father's bruised face etched with concern as he scrutinized her for any injuries before pointing to the masked man. "Do you know this person? Did you call him?" he inquired, his voice tinged with urgency.

Arching an incredulous brow, she retorted, her disbelief evident, "No! How could I? You never let me help!"

His features remained grave as he nodded, a hint of solemnity in his demeanor. "And one day, you'll know why," he murmured, his words carrying a weight she didn't understand.

Before she could voice her thoughts, her mother's voice emerged from behind her father, a low and hurried tone as she tightly clutched her sister's hand. "We should get out of here while we can" she urged.

Her father's gaze shifted to the distracted leader, currently focused on shouting at his men, his back turned to them. A conflicted and pained expression marred her father's features before he met her mother's eyes. "You know what happens if we try it," he conceded, his tone heavy with resignation.

Her mother's face contorted with outrage as she hissed at him. "So we do nothing? Stay here and wait for this to finish so everything can go back to what it was?" She questioned fiercely.

Raising his voice, her father declared, "They'll use us as an example if we don't do what they say!" His tone then softened as he turned back towards the ongoing confrontation. "That man is going to die. Nowhere is safe from them, you know that…"

She saw her mother's features soften slightly when she heard that, still hard faced, but the older woman nodded nonetheless.

While the complete story eluded her, she knew that something bad had happened in her father's past. His family had suffered something similar to what was happening to them now a long time ago, when they tried to get away from the gang's grasp. That was why he was always paranoid when it came to this matter.

With no alternative course of action, she shifted her focus to the unfolding fight before her, a mixture of worry and intrigue knitting her brows.

She saw the masked man defend a few hits with his forearms, but she could see that the thug's stamina was flagging after swinging the crowbar for so long.

When the man eventually slowed down, the vigilante seized the opportunity and promptly grabbed the thug's arm with his left hand before delivering a series of thundering punches to the man's stomach and solar plexus, followed by a lightning fast uppercut that stunned the man enough for him to let go of his crowbar.

However, before he could capitalize on his advantage, the other gangsters finally joined the fray and descended upon him.

Taking advantage of his turned back, the man with the two knives quickly got behind the distracted vigilante, managing to stab one of the knives in his lower back all the way to the hilt.

Grunting loudly as he let go of the man he was holding, the masked man quickly delivered a brutal rear elbow strike to his offender, causing him to let go of the knife with a loud cry as he clutched his previously bruised nose once again. The masked man then turned around, knife still sticking out of his back, and saw the oncoming tide of men coming at him.

Thinking quickly, the vigilante gripped the arm and neck of the man he just elbowed, using him as a makeshift battering ram to knock down another assailant that managed to come close to him before he ruthlessly slammed the man in his grasp to the ground with a loud thump.

She had never seen someone so strong before in her life and despite being outnumbered and severely hurt, the man simply didn't give up.

But reality was cruel, and when faced with such large numbers, quantity quickly won against quality and the tide rapidly turned against the vigilante.

The masked man staggered in place, his movements hampered by the pain he no doubt felt after being stabbed.

All the while the other two gangsters were not idle as the one with the knuckle duster knife finally caught up with the vigilante and quickly capitalized on the man's distraction by charging at him with a quick overhead stab.

The masked man only saw the charge at the last second due to his state, only having time to raise his right arm as defense.

The knife pierced through his forearm completely, prompting the vigilante to let out a loud growl as his own blood sprayed on his mask and eyes. The second thug quickly came in towards his left, bringing down his baton on the masked man's unprotected side before shocking him with his weapon.

The strength of the volts of electricity coursing through the vigilante were so strong that it caused him to fall to one knee, screaming in agony and pain as he did.

She heard the thug let out a shout of surprise. "What the fuck is this freak made out of!" She saw him lift the baton and bring it down one more time, once again shocking the vigilante "How the fuck is he still standing!"

The thug with the knuckle duster knife turned his head towards him, letting out a shout of his own as he kept punching, slashing and stabbing the stunned man with his knuckle duster. "Shut the fuck up and keep shocking him!"

In the midst of the chaos, the two thugs who had previously been sprawled on the ground managed to rise, one of them wielding his remaining knife while the other reached inside his suit for his gun.

The gunman brought his weapon out, but he hesitated, still unable to risk shooting in such close proximity to his comrades. Instead, he stashed his gun and both men advanced upon the vigilante, ready to join their friends in beating him up.

Meanwhile, the thug with the crowbar, having recovered enough, brandished his weapon and also joined the fray once more.

The girl swallowed hard, her throat constricting with fear as the five men closed in on the vulnerable vigilante.

With him already on one knee and repeatedly being beaten up, it was inevitable for all of this to be over any moment now.

He valiantly tried to defend himself against the five assailants, but the odds were too heavy against him.

She watched in horror as the brutal beating ensued, her hand pressed against her mouth to stifle her cries at the shocking sight.

He was electrocuted, punched, stabbed, slashed, and beaten with a crowbar nonstop all at the same time. The sight of his blood splattering through the air, painting a macabre picture on the asphalt, made her stomach churn.

She couldn't bear to see it anymore, it was a slaughter. She felt helpless at the sight, but how could she help him?

But it would seem that her help would be unneeded when, right at the brink of defeat, the masked man let out a thunderous roar. It was a beastly sound that sent shivers down her spine and momentarily halted the five men surrounding him.

Her unending bewilderment towards him increased even more as she gaped at the sight. How did he keep going? Why was he even doing this?

Taking advantage of his brief respite, the vigilante unleashed a brutal punch in the groin of the man with the electric baton, the noise was so loud that she heard even from where she was as the man howled and let go of his baton.

The masked man swiftly caught the weapon with his right hand before it could fall to the ground, bringing it up and using it as a shield to defend against a crowbar blow. At the same time, he grabbed the feet of the man standing in front of him and yanked it forcefully, causing the man to fall on his back.

Before the remaining three could react, he swiftly rolled forward, evading their attacks.

Rising to his feet, the masked man quickly pivoted and stood face to face with the three standing gangsters - the man with the knuckle duster knife, the one with the gun, and the one with the crowbar.

He had no time to breathe as the man with the knuckle duster knife charged forward, aiming a wild stab. The vigilante quickly blocked the attack with his baton, but another man managed to sneak up and punch him in one of his stab wounds, eliciting a hiss of pain.

The masked man then retaliated with a brutal swing of his baton, striking the man with the trench knife in front of him and sending an electric shock that temporarily stunned him. At the same time, he swiftly elbowed the other assailant in the neck, causing him to stumble back, gasping for breath.

Taking advantage of the moment, the vigilante unleashed a powerful swing of his baton on the man with the knife's unprotected side. A resounding crack echoed through the air and the man screamed in agony as one of his ribs no doubt broke.

The vigilante then followed up with a savage stomp kick to the man's leg, causing it to bend backward in a sickening fashion.

Bone protruded from the gruesome injury, blood flowing like a waterfall as he fell forward and bent his legs even further.

However, the masked man was suddenly caught off guard when a crowbar brutally hit him in the back of the head. Shouting out a frustrated grunt, the vigilante turned around with a wild swing of his baton that his assailant easily dodged.

The thug closed in on him with renewed aggression, forcing the vigilante to use the electric baton as a shield as he deflected the man's wild strikes.

Amidst the chaos, the two thugs who were knocked over by the vigilante when he got out of his near-death predicament sluggishly advanced on the masked man, one of them holding his groin in pain.

Seeing this, the masked man sidestepped an overhead swing, delivering a punishing left uppercut to the gangster before he seized the opportunity and grabbed him by the neck.

With overwhelming strength, the vigilante violently slammed the dazed man onto the hard ground, mercilessly stomping on the man's head and knocking him out immediately.

She could see blood flowing from his nose and mouth, teeth clattering to the ground as the thug spasmed in place while letting out sickening gurgles.

Turning his attention to the two remaining men, the vigilante was faced with the charge of one of them, who attempted to tackle him to the ground.

Reacting with lightning speed, he delivered a thundering front kick to the man's face, almost caving in his head as blood sprayed around his feet. The gangster was immediately rendered unconscious as he fell forward.

With his attention now solely focused on the remaining thug, who held his bruised neck with one hand. The vigilante purposefully advanced towards the man, furious eyes locked on his last target as blood dripped from his hand and baton.

But suddenly, the thug pointed his gun towards the vigilante, his hand trembling with effort and fear. A malicious smirk crept across his face when the masked man halted his advance, stopping at the sight of the weapon.

He let out a tired laugh, his raspy, injured voice laced with arrogance, "That's right, you f-"

The vigilante didn't even let him finish speaking when he, without hesitation, swiftly charged towards the thug in one quick, determined charge.

A shriek escaped her lips when she heard the loud sound of a shot ring out, the gangster having pulled the trigger on reflex after being startled by the sudden advance. And her heart skipped a beat, fearing the worst when she saw a red mist coming out of the vigilante's back.

However, her fear turned to relief and then astonishment when she saw that even after the bullet apparently penetrated his right shoulder, the masked man still pressed on undeterred despite his wound and closed the distance between his enemy in an instant.

Grabbing the gun wielding arm, the vigilante then raised it above the man's head. A few shots echoed through the air, causing her and others to duck and cover their ears before the masked man used his baton to deliver brutal blows to the bound thug's side. The force of his blows reverberated through the surroundings.

With a powerful sweep kick, the vigilante knocked the man's feet out from under him, causing him to crash to the ground with a resounding thud, his gun clattering a few paces away as he gasped for breath.

Without relenting, the vigilante descended upon the fallen thug, his baton repeatedly striking the man's face. Each ruthless impact reverberated through the air, accompanied by the metallic clatter of the baton against the man's skull.

Eventually, the masked man paused, his chest heaving as he caught his breath, his baton dripping red with blood.

The thug's face was unrecognizable, a grotesque mask of blood and swelling. Gut-wrenching sounds of pain escaped the man's broken lips, intermingled with ragged breaths.

Before any further action could unfold, the loud voice of the gang's forgotten leader rang out as he bellowed, "Enough!"

The vigilante slowly rose from the ground and turned to face the leader, his burning blue eyes fixed on the man standing a few paces in front of her family. The once white mask he wore was now a bloody red mess, completely stained as drops of blood dripped to the ground.

The thug leader broke their stare, his accented voice filled with anger as he shouted at the masked man, "Do you fucking know who we are, you crazy asshole? Do you have any idea what you've just done?" He reached inside his jacket for something, a dangerous glint in his eyes.

She noticed the leader pulling a strange-looking glove from inside his jacket at the corner of her eye. It was bulky and adorned with an exoskeleton, a small black box on the backhand side with a few wires connecting to its armored knuckles and other unseen ports.

The vigilante stood there, heaving and catching his breath before he uttered with gritted teeth, "Don't care." His voice was deep and gravelly, resonating around his mask.

It was the first time she actually heard him speak since he began his crusade.

The thug leader appeared surprised, momentarily opening and closing his mouth as if trying to come to grips with what he had just heard. He pointed a finger at her and her family, his voice filled with venom, "So you'd rather die, for some piece of shit? That you don't even fucking know? What the fuck is wrong with you?"

That was probably the wrong thing to say, since as soon as the man finished his spiel, she felt the seething rage return with a vengeance, radiating off the vigilante as he locked eyes with the leader.

Slowly, he reached behind his back, taking out the knife that was still lodged on his back. He dropped it to the ground with a resounding clatter, all while maintaining his intense stare at the man.

His injuries bled through his dark clothing, blood dripping to the ground. It may have been a trick of the light, but she could have sworn she saw steam rising off the vigilante's body.

But his eyes… His bloodshot blue eyes were ablaze with wrath.

In that moment, she knew then and there that the leader had signed his own grave by asking that question.

The vigilante's gravelly voice rumbled, "And eight assholes, laying it in one guy while everybody else watches?" He waved his baton around.

'Everyone?' Confusion rose within her 'What is he talking about?'

As she turned to look, she saw a crowd of onlookers gawking, their phones pulled out, filming the chaos happening in front of them.

She was so distracted by the fight that she didn't even notice it.

Some even wore smiles on their faces, treating the nerve-racking situation as if it were some kind of sick circus.

The sight disgusted her.

The masked man continued, his voice dripping with contempt, "You wanna know what's wrong with me?" He growled with fiery intensity, his rage fueling his words. "I'd rather die than let scum like you do whatever you want"

She stared speechless at the man, her face twisted with bewilderment.

She heard a whirring noise coming out of the leader's strange-looking glove as he laughed a full, belly laugh, shaking his head in amusement before he spoke, "Suit yourself," he said while flexing his gloved hand.

Before she could puzzle what he meant, the leader punched in the masked man's direction.

Her eyes widened as a loud, deafening sound rang out, accompanied by a visible shockwave of energy that surged toward the vigilante.

The shockwave was so overwhelmingly strong and fast that the wounded vigilante had no time to react in any way, one moment he was there and the next he was suddenly hurtling backward as if he had been hit by a freight train.

Blood sprayed like an explosion as he flew back like a ragdoll, crashing into the thug's car with a shower of shattered glass and bending metal like a cannonball, his baton flying out of his grip and vanishing in the chaos.

Screams of surprise and shock came from the people surrounding them at the loud, gruesome and surprising development.

She covered her mouth, a cry escaping her at the sight of the vigilante's brutal impact. She tried to rush forward, but her father held her back with an iron grip. Despite her attempts to crawl free, he remained unyielding.

Confusion flooded her mind as she wondered what had just occurred 'What the hell was that?!'

Before she could process it further, a buzzing sound emerged from the leader's glove, followed by a loud pop as its electronic wiring caught fire.

The man quickly removed the gloves, chuckling all the while as if he had just heard a funny joke, though he cursed at the pain in his arm. "Fuck, that stung"

He muttered under his breath, but she caught fragments of his words, "Good thing I waited till he was half-dead, only had one shot... scary fucker."

He then looked around at the groaning and passed out bodies of his men, then at the chaos of the people filming the scene.

He cursed under his breath, and once again she was only capable of catching small bits of it due to the cacophony of voices and noises around her "... pain in the ass to clean this up… boss will be mad"

He then slowly turned toward her family, addressing her father with a menacing tone, "You really shouldn't have done this, Brian." Pointing at the chaotic scene surrounding them, he continued, "Look at the mess you caused because of it. Who do you think will have to clean this up?"

Her father placed her behind him, pleading with a shaky voice, "Please, we... we have nothing to do with this. I don't know who that is, I swear! I'd never go against the family, you know that."

The leader theatrically shook his head, wagging his finger at her father. "I don't believe you, Brian. It's in your blood after all," he taunted, steadily advancing toward them. "Now, I'll have to give you the same treatment we gave your old man."

Her father begged, "No! I can pay! Please! I'll pay double- no! Triple!"

The scarred suddenly stopped his relentless approach, and for a moment her hope dared to rise before it was brutally shattered when the man scoffed. "What do you think this is about? Money? Don't make me laugh." A sinister laugh escaped his lips.

"It's way past that now. This is about sending a message," here, he pointed to her father "to you," he then turned around with a flourish, pointing towards the people all around them as their cameras focused on him "and to every two bit idiot who will think they have a chance of going against the family after today!"

She could easily see why he was the leader of the bunch, probably being selected by this "boss" for his loyalty to the gang even with the threat of what would happen to him after today, when the cops inevitably managed to catch up to him.

And they would have to catch him, this little show became too public for them not to do anything about it now, bribes or no bribes.

Either that, or the gang really was that powerful.

Either way, she had to at least try and do something, anything. Thinking on her feet, she quickly interjected, pointing at the people filming around them, "Do you really want to do this with everyone watching?"

She knew that that wouldn't stop him, but she was trying to buy some time.

Time for what exactly, she didn't know.

The thug momentarily stopped, then chuckled, "Do you think that will stop us?" He then shrugged dismissively, "That changes nothing."

She cursed, head racing as she tried to find anything else that could help.

Her attention was diverted, however, when she heard a metallic groan.

Everyone froze at the sound, and the leader slowly turned around, bewilderment etched across his face. She could hear the people around them scream and shout after they quickly pointed their phones to the crashed car.

The vigilante was crawling out of the wreckage.

Her mouth hung open in shock as she processed the impossible sight before her.

'How? How is he still alive? How is he still standing? Why was he still fighting?' Her stunned thoughts raced.

She watched in disbelief as the vigilante crawled out of the car like a zombie, his movements unsteady yet determined.

'What is he made out of?'

He stumbled a bit, but still stood firm. She didn't even know how he was even standing at this point.

'Is he even human?'

Then, with an unwavering gaze, the masked man slowly hobbled towards them.

The leader's bravado wavered, disbelief and a little bit of fear creeping into his voice as he exclaimed, "What the fuck are you made of you freak?"

The vigilante continued his stoic advance, undeterred by the leader's words.

She saw the leader hastily reach inside his suit again, as if searching for something. He warned the vigilante in a shaky voice, "Don't come any closer! Or I'll kill each one of them!"

Now. This was the moment she was waiting for. She would not have to be saved again.

She was tired of being useless, she was not going to be a fucking damsel in distress anymore and she was not going to give him time to get whatever the fuck it was he wanted to grab this time.

To her family's shouts of surprise and protest, she pushed past her father and shoved the thug with all of the strength she could muster in her form. The man stumbled forward in unbalance, not expecting the surprise action coming from anyone behind him.

And the vigilante seized the opportunity.

He rushed forward with mighty steps, delivering a powerful gut punch as he closed in on the stunned man. Followed by a flurry of left and right hooks, he relentlessly battered the leader, each blow echoing with heavy thuds.

The vigilante then grabbed the back of the leader's head with his left hand, viciously elbowing him in the face with bone-crushing force with his right arm. The impact was so strong that it resounded through the surprisingly silent street.

He did it again.

And again, and again, and again.

Blow after blow, the vigilante's assault continued, blood spraying in all directions like a macabre rain.

He only stopped when the man's face was a bloody mess.

The leader fell to the ground in a heap, being released from the vigilante's grip on his hair. Still conscious, she observed absently, though in immense pain.

The girl took a moment to observe the masked man, a look of admiration crossing her face.

He was drenched in blood, both his own and that of his enemies. Holding his injured right shoulder with his left hand, he panted and heaved, visibly worn from the damage he had suffered.

After all he went through, she wondered how he wasn't dead.

He hobbled in place, momentarily losing his balance - and she reached over to catch him, but he managed to keep himself up and steady without help.

Looking up at the early morning sky, he took a deep breath, a visible cloud of steam then came out from the sides of his now blood-red mask as he let it out slowly. With his hood down, she saw that his once pristine white mask was more like a helmet, and - besides being drenched with blood - now had a few cracks running along its body, but still surprisingly holding strong.

Then, the vigilante sprang into action, making his way towards each of the passed-out thugs. He spent a few moments checking their conditions, ensuring they were alive and sometimes using their own belts to fashion makeshift tourniquets to stem their bleeding when necessary.

Hell, she was genuinely surprised that any of them were still alive yet, given the merciless beating they got. But she didn't know why he even bothered to save their lives, especially after what they've been doing to her family and no doubt countless others.

What made her curious and surprised, however, was that wounds began to suddenly appear on the gangsters after the vigilante was done with checking them, suddenly materializing on their flesh out of thin air as if by magic - stab wounds, bruises, slashes and more that she couldn't see.

A metallic clatter snapped her out of her thoughts and brought her attention back to the present. Turning toward the source of the sound, her gaze landed on a small object that had fallen to the ground near the vigilante.

She squinted her eyes to see better, 'Is that… a bullet? Where did that come from?'

After ensuring the unconscious men were still alive, the vigilante slowly rose from the ground. Though he appeared to be in a better state than before, she noticed that his steps still remained unsteady, and he still clutched his wounds with evident pain.

As she observed the vigilante, a nagging feeling at the back of her mind told her that something had changed about him. It might have been a trick of her mind, but she swore he appeared to be... taller? Bigger? There was something about him that seemed different from before.

Confusion clouded her mind as she struggled to comprehend all of the events unfolding before her. 'What the hell is happening?'

The masked man turned towards her, and his gaze softened briefly as he glanced at her before turning his attention to the downed and moaning leader, who clutched his face in pain.

Limping, the vigilante made his way toward the leader, grabbing him by the hair and dragging him closer to his previously fallen baton a few paces away.

Groaning in pain, the leader weakly clawed at the vigilante's hand, his voice strained as he gasped for breath.

After retrieving the baton from the ground, the vigilante got face to face with the leader, his voice gruff and terse with anger as he demanded, "Who sent you here? Where did you get this tech? Who's your boss?"

He responded with a weak laugh, uttering between breaths, "Fuck... you."

Silently, the vigilante activated the baton, sending electricity coursing through the thug's body as he screamed and writhed in agony. He repeated the process a few times, but the leader remained defiantly tight-lipped.

Frustrated, the vigilante let out a growl before he placed the baton near the thug's groin, eliciting a terrified scream from the man. "NO! Wa-Wait!" he weakly pleaded in fear. "Okay… I-I'll tell you man… Just… get that away from me." His words were periodically interrupted by his weak and ragged breathing, too weak to protest anymore.

The thug managed to utter a few words, though his words were too weak for her to hear clearly. "The ma…" His head lolled lethargically to the side, and she barely caught fragments of his muttered speech, "The ma... gave... after you next."

Then, the overwhelming pain brought on by the masked man's absolute beating was too much for the leader to continue on, making him pass out then and there.

The masked man released a frustrated roar and let go of the leader, reaching inside the leader's suit jacket for something before abruptly rising to his feet.

As he glared at the surrounding cameras, people instinctively backed away as he advanced towards them. "I don't care who you are, I don't care where you are," He came close to one of the guys holding his phone, the man trembling slightly in fear but still holding his phone up as the vigilante pointed a bloody finger towards his camera. "I'm gonna come for you next."

She then observed as he collected the leader's discarded broken glove and the knives cluttering the ground, swiftly stashing them inside his jacket together with his baton before his gaze shifted to her and her family.

In a deep, rough voice filled with concern, he asked, "Are you alright? Are you hurt?"

Her family was too afraid to answer the man, huddled together as her father shook his head shakily but said nothing.

But what she saw was a man that fought tooth and nail to save her family, almost at the cost of his own life and well-being. Even though he didn't know who they were.

She moved too fast for her father to catch her as she ran forward, coming close to the man before they could intervene.

The vigilante looked down at her with his piercing blue eyes. He didn't utter a word.

She stared at him for a moment before throwing her arms around him, tears streaming down her face as she thanked him profusely for saving her and her family. He gently patted her back and head, allowing her to cry until her sobs subsided.

Carefully, he disentangled himself from her embrace, "I promise," she heard him speak, low enough for her to hear "That you'll be safe."

She believed him.

With a slow, limping gait, he moved away.

Those who were still filming parted like the Red Sea, creating a path for him as he made his departure.

No one followed him.

Then, in the distance, the sound of sirens grew louder.

---

- Madeline -

Mistakes were made. Big ones.

It was why Madeline stood in front of a cafe, staring up at the big, blue building with a mix of incredulity and annoyance in her green eyes.

Fate really had a wicked sense of humor, it seemed, pairing her with the one person who was the shining example of everything that she despised. Out of all the people in class, she just had to be partnered up with Adam.

To her, the man in question was nothing more than just another one of the fake, pretty-faced, shallow individuals that had nothing else of actual substance to speak of, relying on his looks and popularity to course his way through life. A shallow, vapid and vacuous facade with a following of sycophantic brown nosers.

Madeline couldn't stand him and his crowd. Their fake smiles, their fake words, and their fake personalities. Everything about them felt manufactured, like a poorly written script performed by mediocre actors.

'Broaden your horizons', Mr. Mills said, and she audibly scoffed at this. This project was nothing more than his pathetic attempts to make himself feel like he was more than just another failed teacher that didn't give a shit about his job.

Doing this stupid assignment alone would have been infinitely less grating on her sanity and her patience.

That was why, in the hopes of making her suffering last as little as possible, she had reluctantly given Adam her phone number, just so they could complete the project faster.

At the time, she thought it was a stroke of genius on her part, by giving him her number she wouldn't need to be anywhere near his general vicinity, she wouldn't have to be in his presence, hell she wouldn't even have to talk with him at all! And that was on top of still getting the dumb project done.

That was her first mistake.

In just one day, one single damn day, he had bombarded her with more messages than she had ever received in her entire life.

He was one of those people who sent a million separate messages just to say one thing. God, she hated it, It was maddening.

In the hopes of getting him off her back, she answered him, telling him to fuck off and leave her alone.

That was her second mistake.

Because apparently, he took her answer as a sign of friendship or something, and the flood of messages reached new levels of absurdity.

Hi Maddie. How was your day Maddie? What did you do today Maddie? Hey Maddie check out this video of this rat dancing it's so good lol. Look at this cool rock that I found today Maddie. If real estate is a thing, is there also fake estate? How to do reverse math.

Apparently, that last one was because he confused her with google

What the hell even was reverse math?

She gingerly massaged her temples, trying to avoid a headache as she sighed deeply. God that man is a moron.

At least the memes he sent were funny. Sometimes. Occasionally.

The man was persistent, she'll give him that much.

So persistent, in fact, that he managed to convince her to come to his house so they could work on the project together.

Well, convince was the wrong word, annoy her into it was more like it.

But at least he wasn't the hospital-sending, wandering hands type of idiot, she mused darkly.

No, Adam was persistent in the way that no matter how much she told him to fuck off or how much she insulted him, he effortlessly shrugged off any of her efforts to get under his skin. It felt like he was immune to any and all of her attempts as he took it all in stride with a frustratingly infectious laugh.

He just wouldn't quit, it was like a dog with a bone or something, he just kept relentlessly pestering her until she gave up and just accepted.

If enduring a day together meant avoiding more of his maddening presence in the future, then she was willing to make the sacrifice.

That, she realized, was her third mistake. And this time she couldn't blame it on anyone but herself.

Curiously enough though, things had taken an unexpected turn recently. He was acting… strange for some reason, noticeably quieter, sending fewer messages, not going to school. It was strange, really, one day he was this irritating cloud hanging over her head and then the next day it was like he was barely there.

He was still annoying her, make no mistake. Just in a more restrained way.

For a fleeting moment, she entertained the thought that he might have moved on to pestering someone else, or that he had given up on trying to make her talk to him. But she couldn't kid herself, that guy had the determination of a druggie searching for their next hit.

Giving up was simply not in his vocabulary.

After all, here she was, standing in front of this big-ass building that he called his house.

Only after spending a few minutes being lost while she searched for said house in the first place, of course.

"Just go for the Lucky Cat Cafe; it's a big building with a Japanese design. You won't miss it," he said. Of course she would fucking miss it. The moron lived in Chinatown, ninety percent of the buildings fit that description.

Madeline could already feel her blood pressure rising, and she hadn't even met with the man yet…

"Who the hell lives in a cafe anyway?" she muttered to herself, fingers raking through her jet-black hair.

She took a deep breath, mentally preparing herself for the stress that would be dealing with that oaf for an entire day. Adjusting her long black jacket, she pushed open the cafe door, her expression a natural deadpan as she stepped inside.

The cafe exuded a warm and inviting atmosphere, with cozy lighting and comfortable seating. The air was filled with the mouthwatering scent of freshly baked sweets, bread, and of course coffee.

She glanced around, seeing that there were a few people mingling about, but thankfully, it wasn't too crowded yet. The place was beautiful and she couldn't deny its calming and inviting aura, though she wouldn't be caught dead admitting it out loud.

Despite its charms, it was a far cry from her usual hangouts - being a little too bright, colorful and cheery for her tastes.

All in all, she felt pretty out of place, half-expecting rainbows to come shooting out of the walls or something.

Before she could fully assess her surroundings, a bubbly voice immediately greeted her, "Hi! Welcome to the Lucky Cat Cafe, how can I help you today?"

Madeline turned, her expression unchanging as she faced a kind looking woman with short, disheveled brown hair smiling widely at her. The apron she wore clearly marked her as an employee.

Looking closely at the woman, Madeline assumed that she was probably Adam's aunt, since she pretty much fit with the description that he had provided her. He had mentioned that she was always working here, telling her that she could talk with the older woman for directions if he wasn't there to greet her.

Not that it would be that hard to imagine Adam giving her wrong information, so it wasn't far-fetched to consider that this woman could just as well be a random person.

In response to the woman's bubbly greeting, Madeline's own contrastingly dull voice answered hesitantly, "Hi, I'm... Madeline. Me and Adam are partners on a school project?"

The woman's expressive emerald eyes widened in apparent surprise. "Oh!" she exclaimed, inspecting Madeline with a hint of curiosity, seemingly taken aback by her appearance.

She didn't mind nor care, she was used to people looking at her strangely. What with her black clothing, makeup, ear piercings, and flesh tunnels. She was more than aware that she was attention grabbing, but she wasn't ashamed of her style or who she was, nor has she ever cared about conforming to societal norms or trying to impress others with pretense.

The woman quickly snapped out of her inspection with a small shake of her head, happily exclaiming, "So you're Maddie! Adam's told me a lot about you!"

'Of course he had.' She thought dryly.

With a wide smile, the woman continued "Oh it's so good to finally see you!"

Madeline then found herself unexpectedly pulled into a hug, leaving her unsure of how to react as the older woman introduced herself with a lively energy. "I'm Adam's aunt, you can call me Cass."

Caught off guard by the unexpected contact, she stood there uncomfortably. Not quite sure how to reciprocate, her hands hovered awkwardly in the air before settling on a hesitant pat on Cass' back before letting them dangle by her sides.

She was really… energetic. It made Madeline feel even more out of place.

Finally letting go of the hug, Cass continued with a more subdued voice, "I'm sorry Adam's not here to greet you too. Normally, he works at the cafe with me but…" She saw Cass' face lose its happy light as she spoke her next words, "He had an accident a week ago, and the doctor said that he had to rest until he was better."

'An accident?' she thought, her memory failing to find any mention of such a thing from the thousands of half-read and half-ignored messages that he sent her. Was this why he hadn't been coming to school?

Now that she came to think of it, this was probably the reason that his main crony/sidekick - that Bishop girl - was also acting all strange too. She was probably worried about this accident that he suffered or something.

Well, it was sad and all, but she couldn't muster any genuine concern. Taking his track record into account, it was probably something ridiculous like running with scissors, sneezing too hard, falling down wrong, or something equally idiotic like that.

Despite her uncaring and unlikable feelings towards Adam, the woman in front of her did nothing to antagonize her. So, she settled for an awkward reply of, "Oh, I... didn't know."

She briefly considered offering some empty well-wishing, but she knew she couldn't manage it with a straight face.

Cass clasped her emerald necklace in a tight fist as her eyes drifted into a distant, worried gaze. Madeline felt compelled to break her out of the silent reminiscing and asked, "What, uh, was the accident?"

The woman blinked, letting out a noise of recognition as she returned to the present "Hmm? Oh"

She wrung her hands in anxiety, voice carrying over in a mix of anger and frustration as she spoke, "He was mugged by a group of guys a few days ago on his morning run," Cass's tone carried palpable bitterness as she continued, "They weren't happy that Adam wasn't carrying anything of value with him and they… ended up beating him."

Madeline could see tears gathering in Cass' eyes as she recounted the traumatic ordeal. "They even stabbed him," Cass's voice quivered with raw emotion, "There was so much blood…"

Blinking away her tears, Cass' eyes burned with seething anger, her fists clenched in front of her. "Oh, If I could get my hands on those bastards…"

Realizing she was getting too heated, Cass took a steadying breath, "Five grown men against a teenage boy! Can you believe that? I hope the police catch those men before I do."

'Mugged? Stabbed?' she thought incredulously 'Out of all the nonsense he pesters me with, the one topic he actually should tell me about and he just goes and doesn't even mention it?'

For a moment, Madeline was taken aback, feeling a little bad for her previous harsh judgement about his accident.

She was wrong, it was something serious after all.

"Is he alright?" she asked, more out of curiosity.

Cass's demeanor shifted back to a semblance of cheerfulness, though it seemed forced. "He's much better now thank god! The doctor was extremely surprised and optimistic about his fast recovery" Cass explained, placing a hand on her cheek with a fond smile "He's always been tough."

Madeline's surprise was evident in her words. "He didn't bring it up. Actually, he never said a word," she admitted before motioning toward the entrance, "If he's not up to work today, I can come back later."

Cass waved her hand dismissively, her tone affectionate. "Oh, that boy! He's always been stubborn about making people worry about him. Don't worry, he's well enough to get back to studying now," Cass giggled. "Even if he grumbles about it."

Placing a comforting hand on Madeline's shoulder, Cass continued, "Come on, I'll take you up to his room." She waved her hand, signaling for Madeline to follow her to the back of the cafe, where a set of stairs led to the upper levels.

Madeline sighed inwardly, keeping any objections to herself. Even though she still wasn't a fan of Adam, she decided to give him the benefit of the doubt just for today, grudgingly accepting her fate after the surprising news she just got.

She really hoped she didn't regret it.

She trailed behind Cass, the heavy taps of her black combat boots resonating on the wooden steps.

Her eyes wandered as they went, noting that the house matched the comforting and homey atmosphere of the cafe with its well-lived spaces that brimmed with pictures of family and friends lining the walls. Plants and other decorations, many of which featured cat motifs, livened up the place even more.

Still wasn't a fan of the colorful surroundings though.

As they reached the third floor, Cass led her into Adam's room. Madeline's gaze swept over the aquamarine walls, adorned with trophies, medals and a collage of posters, ranging from action movies to bands - of which a few of them she was a fan of, she noticed - and skimpily dressed women. She noticed that a few weights were organized in one corner of the room, and a comfy-looking bean bag chair sat in another corner.

There were other things giving life to the place, but she had no care for any of them.

It was surprisingly neat and tidy, a far cry from what she had imagined, considering who it belonged to. Though she did wonder if this was due to Adam's doing or his Aunt's.

Her gaze settled on the man in question. Clad in a simple combo of a black shirt and red gym shorts, he was lounging in his bed, kicked back and relaxed as he attentively watched the news on his TV. Her annoyance with him momentarily shifted to a wince of sympathy as she observed his battered appearance.

His whole body was one big bruise. The exposed spots on his arms and legs were almost completely covered in splotches of slightly fading but still intense-looking purple-bluish bruises, with bandages and patches periodically concealing the occasional cuts and stab wounds.

She grudgingly admitted to herself that he still kept his looks despite the injuries he sported. A handsome face (that held surprisingly few injuries) with a strong jawline complimented by a hint of stubble, eye-catching blue eyes that usually exuded a cheerful demeanor now held a strangely out of place serious gaze as he watched TV. The shirt he wore clung to his muscular frame, and his shorts revealed equally toned (and also almost completely bruised) legs.

He looked like one of those adult "teenagers" from Netflix shows.

Madeline forced herself to stop staring athim, she didn't want him to get the wrong idea and think that she was one of his swooning, brain dead fangirls. Mindlessly obsessing over him just because of his looks.

Her observations were interrupted when she noticed a cute, chubby, tri-colored cat sitting on Adam's lap. The feline emitted a contented purr, basking in the absentminded strokes of his owner as he watched TV.

Cute.

The cat, that is.

Adam's peripheral vision finally alerted him to their presence, and he carefully reached for the TV remote, making sure not to agitate his injuries as he powered off the device. He greeted them with a smile.

Despite his aunt's protests, Adam rose gingerly from his seat. The cat reluctantly vacated his lap with a protesting meow, pausing to brush against Cass's legs before confidently sauntering down the stairs.

She resisted the urge to reach out and pet the cat, knowing better than to just intrude on its space without invitation. Her own cat, Barbatos, was equally finicky about strangers.

As he approached, he planted a peck on his aunt's cheek. She found the action strangely endearing, much to her chagrin, though she tried not to show it.

With him this close, she couldn't help but notice that he seemed taller than last time she had seen him, with his 6'0 frame towering over both his aunt and her own 5'3 stature.

She pushed the thought aside whenshe heard Adam's deep voice rumble out, sporting a crooked smile as he looked at them "How you doin'?"

Ugh.

"Ugh," was the immediate guttural response that escaped her, the disgust evident on her face as her thick lips raised to show an equally disgusted expression.

She knew exactly what he was trying to do, after all she saw him doing this same move at least a hundred times before on the girls at school. He leaned in, did that rumble thing with his voice and that stupid "How you doin" crap before using his whole… Adamness on them. The fact that the dumbasses just lapped it up like smitten puppies always left her incredulous.

This might work on the giggly bitches at school but she would be caught dead before she would fall for that garbage.

"Don't even try it," she shot back, annoyance in her tone as she threw him a harsh look.

Besides her, Cass let out a giggle, finding the sight of her nephew's failed attempts at flirting amusing despite herself.

Adam threw his hands up in mock surrender, unaffected by his failure and her glare as he laughingly said. "Okay, okay, my bad. Can't blame a guy for trying," His hands dropped, revealing that same patented roguish smile. "But you can blame him for using such a weak-ass line, I should've known you'd require better creativity from me Maddie," He shot her a wink, tapping his finger on his temple for good measure. "I'll try harder next time."

Madeline breathed deep, trying her best to keep her cool as she repeated a mantra in her mind 'He was stabbed, he was stabbed, he was stabbed…' In the end, she decided to summarize her feelings in one word, muttering under her breath, "Idiot,".

Deciding to move on, she brushed the moment off, her deadpan tone returning as she pointed at him. "You look like you went through a blender."

Adam chuckled, "Well, it felt like it too." he then winced a little at the movement.

Cass worriedly asked him, her head turning this way and that as she inspected him for any visible damage, "Are you okay, sweetie? Does anything hurt?"

Adam let out an exasperated laugh, smiling brightly, "Like the previous times you asked, Cass, just a little bit, but I'm okay." He then wiggled his eyebrows playfully, "But I would be better if you let me help you around the cafe."

Cass squinted her eyes threateningly, "No way, mister, you will rest for as long as I have a say in it." Pointing a hand at him, she continued "And if you try to sneak into the garage to workout again, Kate and I will tie you to that bed, do you understand?"

Adam lifted his hands non-threateningly, still smiling, "Okay, okay. No need to call the no-fun police" He then crossed his arms, "But you should really think about hiring someone to help you around, Aunt Cass."

Cass let out a dismissive noise, shaking her head before she spoke. "No way, you know it would take me ages to find someone with the right attitude for my clients"

Throughout the exchange, Madeline had remained quiet, comfortable in her own silence.

However, her moment of quiet was disrupted when the idiot pointed both his hands towards her, proclaiming. "Well, we have Maddie! She's a ray of sunshine! People will love her, I'm sure of it."

She turned her head mechanically, unable to keep her anger at him anymore as she slowly turned to face him, shooting her signature death glare at him as she made it clear she wasn't amused by his antics.

Annoyingly, he seemed undeterred, continuing to beam his dumb smile at her. "You know that there are people who pay to be looked at like that, right?" he said, playfully taunting her.

Madeline inwardly cringed at the reminder, she had met her fair share of strange and creepy people in her life and knew exactly what kind of people that he was talking about. Nevertheless, her glare subsided but a sneer still adorned her face as she refused to let his words get to her.

Cass intervened with a light giggle, scolding Adam, "Stop bothering the girl Adam." She then turned to her with an apologetic look, mouthing a 'sorry' to her before she continued. "Now, I have to go back to work, but I'm sure that Adam can show you around if you need anything Maddie."

Madeline turned her head to look at Adam and he gave her a cheeky thumbs-up and a smirk in response to the suggestion, earning an eye-roll from her.

She nodded in acknowledgment before Cass surprise-hugged her again, once more leaving her not knowing what to do with her hands.

"Oh, I'm so happy you're here!" Cass exclaimed, letting go of her as she said "Have fun, you two!" She hummed a tune as she skipped down the stairs.

Madeline heard Adam chuckle softly as she left.

As soon as his aunt was out of view, she noticed a subtle shift in Adam's usual hyper and cheerful nature, it was so subtle that she wouldn't have caught it if she wasn't already looking at him. Of course, being mugged and stabbed doesn't usually make people happy, but it was unusual seeing him somber.

She was… vaguely intrigued and somewhat curious to hear about it.

There was a nonchalant expression gracing her face as she tilted her chin towards him before asking, "So, why do you look like minced meat?"

She already knew the story, but hearing it from his own mouth might be entertaining.

He gave her a small smile, and even she could tell that it was different from his usual ones. "Ah, that. I… got mugged a few days ago. There were a few guys and I kinda got my ass beat."

He scratched the back of his head, "What's all those MMA lessons do if I couldn't even defend myself right?" He added with a self-deprecating chuckle, wincing a bit after the effort. "I feel like a truck ran me over."

Now, she still didn't like him, but maybe she could… humor him a little bit, maybe give him a bit of leeway given his near-death experience.

He should be glad, she wouldn't even be here still if it wasn't for that.

So, deciding to give him a bit of encouragement, Madeline replied to him dully, "I don't think you're supposed to react to a mugging, so… I think you probably did the right thing." Not knowing if that was enough support, she awkwardly continued, "Though they still beat you up anyway, so… what do I know?"

Fuck, she was pretty bad at this.

For some reason, however, she saw him perk up. A grin stretched across his face, one that was undoubtedly more genuine than the one he had mustered earlier. "Wow, thanks Maddie, that really means a lot."

Why did he get happy from her crappy comment? It wasn't like she had said anything special or anything.

Madeline raised an eyebrow and shrugged dismissively, "Sure, whatever," she mumbled.

Ugh, being nice is so exhausting.

The thought crossed her mind that maybe there was more to the tale than what he said. She didn't know him that well (or at all), but he was kind of a crap liar.

Well, she didn't care enough anyway.

With a casual hum, she prodded one of his wounds, unable to resist her morbid curiosity about the apparently grisly story. "So, how was being stabbed?"

Adam hissed at her touch, a mixture of pain and mock outrage crossing his features before a wry grin took its place as he said. "Well, it wasn't fun, I'll tell you that."

She gave him a deadpan stare, unimpressed by his antics.

He laughed at her reaction, "Are you sure you want to know? I mean it's pretty messed up"

Her only response was the lifting of a well-groomed eyebrow as she silently told him to go on.

"Okay then," he said, surrendering to her unspoken challenge. He then began his tale, sparing none of the gory details of the experience for her, animatedly using his hands to vividly illustrate the experience. Madeline's initial indifference gave way to an unexpected fascination, the way he described the blood flowing down his chest having a strangely captivating effect on her as she found herself leaning in, intrigued by his tale despite herself.

"And then each time I breathed, more and more blood shot out of the cuts you know, then the pain started to sink in and…"

Adam concluded his tale a short while later, her face morphing into fascination at it all. She couldn't help it, those types of things always had a way of capturing her attention, and this was no exception.

Her morbid curiosity prompted her to probe further. "And was there lots of blood?"

"Oh yeah, buckets," Adam confirmed with a devilish grin.

"That was quite the experience," she observed. "You just got the full New York treatment then." A touch of dark humor lining her voice.

Adam laughed heartily, shaking his head. "Exactly!" He seemed remarkably unbothered by the experience "But enough about me being turned into swiss cheese. I like gratuitous violence as much as the next New Yorker, but it's not as fun when I'm the target."

"On the bright side though, at least I'll get some cool scars out of it." He observed his bandaged arms before turning to her again, asking. "Chicks dig scars, right?"

Madeline couldn't help but roll her eyes. "You're not bothered about it?" She asked.

Maybe he was trying to pull some sort of macho thing in front of her? Trying not to be seen as weak in front of a girl or something equally stupid like that. He's always been a cheerful guy, but a life or death situation generally changed people's outlook on things.

Adam paused, a pensive expression crossing his face suggested that he was about to share some sort of profound wisdom.

Oh, she'd just have to hear this.

He lifted a finger, as if imparting a life lesson. "There is something that I go by in my life," he began, "When life gives you lemons, make lemonade."

Really? He was quoting the lemon thing?

Well, maybe she was reading him wrong and he really was that optimistic.

"I read that once on a can of lemonade, and I like to think that it applies to life." A look of satisfaction crept onto his face, clearly proud of his "wisdom."

Nope, never mind, he's just an idiot.

"Wow, and you thought of this all by yourself?" she deadpanned, her sarcasm hard to miss.

He chuckled, completely oblivious to her sarcasm. "Yep, impressive right?"

"Yes, you're a genius," she replied dryly, which only made him laugh more.

His laughter was hearty and filled the room, and Maddie found herself oddly comfortable with the sound.

When he simmered down enough, Adam told her to pick any seat she wanted so they could start working on their paper. Madeline knew there was no way she was going to sit on his bed, so she quickly opted to go for the cozy-looking bean bag that had caught her eye while Adam went to fetch his computer chair so they could sit close to each other while they worked on the project.

As she took out her laptop from her backpack, she heard a groan coming from Adam. Looking up, she noticed he was hunched over, stopping when he was about to sit on the computer chair.

He suddenly winced, feeling a stab of pain run through him as he held his side.

Curious, she asked, "You okay?"

Pulling his hand away, she saw it was covered in blood. "I think one of the cuts got busted," he explained.

She couldn't resist remarking, "I'm not a doctor, but I'm pretty sure that's not supposed to be bleeding." She pointed at the cut, "Shouldn't you go to the hospital or something?"

Adam waved off her worries, seemingly dismissive of the situation. "Nah, it's nothing serious," he replied, earning an exasperated eye-roll from Madeline.

His black shirt made it hard to see any visible signs of injury, so she couldn't diagnose anything beyond the obvious. "If it's bleeding, then it's serious. You idiot,"she commented with frustration.

Unbothered by her words, Adam said. "I gotta check this out,"

She was then taken by complete surprise when he decided to take off his shirt to inspect the damage, and her eyes widened slightly as she looked at him.

His torso was covered in blood-stained bandages, a few droplets trickling down and tracing a path across his well-defined, flexing abdomen. As her gaze followed the meandering drops down, she couldn't help but notice the light happy trail beneath his navel that led south, as well as the faintest dusting of chest hair. Nothing excessive, but enough for her to appreciate it notice it.

Despite her harsh exterior and her nonchalant attitude toward most things, she wouldn't lie and say that she didn't care about appearances, because she did (It just wasn't the sole factor that she focused on people). Admittingly, she had a preference for the rugged, manly man type - something she grudgingly admitted that Adam fit in.

Worse yet, the combination of his body and the traces of blood was doing things to her, leaving Madeline mildly irritated at her body's response to the situation.

She just couldn't help it, those types of things always made her hot and bothered. It wasn't that she had a thing for blood per se, but rather the whole situation behind it, the fights, the bruises, scars, those sorts of things.

She really had a type, hadn't she?

Madeline quickly tried to suppress any reaction, not wanting to let her thoughts wander down that path. The last person she wanted to be aroused by was him.

Adam's exasperation brought her back to reality. A noise of annoyance escaping his lips. "Crap, it's really busted," He turned his head to look at her.

She quickly averted her eyes to look at his face "Do you mind if I go to the bathroom to clean it?" he asked, oblivious to her internal turmoil.

Maddie could only shake her head in response, not trusting her voice at the moment.

Adam gave her a thumbs up. "Cool, make yourself at home." He waved at his room before turning to make his way to the bathroom.

As her gaze lowered, she couldn't help but notice the impressive contour of his butt, which only added to her irritation. 'Of course, he had to have that going for him too,' she mused sarcastically.

He then suddenly turned around, and she quickly averted her eyes to his face in chagrin again, feeling like she got caught staring.

"Darn, I forgot," he exclaimed, "We were about to choose the topic for our paper, right?"

"Yeah?" Her uncaring mask was still strong as responded absently.

He scratched his head, as if thinking about a puzzle. "It'll take me a while to clean up... But I don't want to make you wait."

Before she could say that she didn't care and that she could wait for him to be done - she came this far to just give up anyway, she could spare a few minutes - he snapped his fingers when an idea popped into his mind.

Pointing to his bathroom with his thumb, he told her. "I can leave the door open! If you talk a bit louder, I can hear you from there, and we could get the project going now instead of waiting for me."

'Leave the door open? Doesn't this man know the concept of tact?!' She thought in shock

For a moment, Madeline thought that this whole scene was some sort of act, that he was trying to pull off some sort of sleazy move with her. Another one of his stupid attempts at flirting, or trying to show off to her, probably thinking that she would be into it.

However, besides the obvious fact that he was actually bleeding, both her instincts and her gut feeling couldn't detect any sort of ulterior motives coming from him now. And she trusted her gut - it had served her well thus far.

He was just that tactless.

Besides, she was well-prepared. She always carried her pepper spray and a taser gun with her. And if things got really ugly, she could always rely on her trusty pair of scissors.

She closed her eyes briefly, taking a deep breath to regain her composure before she pointed at the still-bleeding cut, urging him to take it seriously as she said dully. "Bleeding, Adam."

He looked down in surprise, seeing the blood dripping down and staining his shorts before exclaiming, "Right!"

With him disappearing into the bathroom, Madeline slumped onto the bean bag, a deep exhalation letting her reclaim some semblance of focus. Now that he was out of sight, her thoughts began to revert to their typical tracks, allowing her to concentrate on the task that she actually came here to do.

You know, the project.

Since she had done her absolute best to speak with him as little as humanly possible before today, the two of them hadn't even selected which of the ten available themes they would make their paper on.

This project was already shaping up to be a disaster from the very beginning. "Let's just get this over with." She muttered to herself as she opened the project's document on her laptop.

"How much progress have you made on the project?" She began, projecting her voice enough for it to carry through the wall.

Her irritation surfaced again - she absolutely hated speaking loudly with every fiber of her being. She much preferred to maintain her usual low tone of voice over anything overtly obnoxious.

Also,If he was anything like he was at class, then she knew that it was going to be a nightmare to work with him.

The sound of running water reached her ears before Adam's voice boomed through the wall. "I've done absolutely nothing!" His words were accompanied by a laugh.

Madeline couldn't believe her ears.'For fucks sake, seriously?' She thought.

"Of course, you didn't," she grumbled under her breath.

A headache started to build, and she rubbed her temples, feeling exasperated. "Listen up, I won't do all the work by myself, and I won't even bother with this damn paper if I have to. I couldn't care less if we fail,"

She was lying of course, Madeline could and would do this alone if she had to. She wouldn't let herself be dragged down by his stupidity.

She heard him speak from his bathroom, his deep voice resonating through the walls and over the running water "Oh, you don't have to worry!"

Adam poked his head out of the bathroom, looking at her with expressive eyes. "Right, so here's the thing about me, I can be super helpful." He clasped his hands together and pointed them towards her, "But, when you ask me stuff, you have to be real specific."

Maddie closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and nodded, trying not to get annoyed again as she decided to just move on. "I've gone ahead and selected three of the ten topics for us to choose from,"

Adam's grin widened into a toothy expression, "Coolio," he chimed before popping back into the bathroom, raising his voice once again so she could hear him "What are them?"

Looking down at the first topic in the document, she stated matter-of-factly. "The first one I selected is: Spirituality, superstition, and legends,"

She noticed that his voice turned a bit rigid when he responded, "Oh, so we'd have to talk about ghosts and zombies and stuff? That's… easy."

She let out a huff, correcting him, "No, numbnuts, we'd have to discuss the impact of superstition, legends, and spirituality on the development of human society and how they influenced people's psyche along their evolution."

He seemed to struggle with grasping the concept as he stated/asked her. "So, we will have to talk about what... ghosts and zombies and stuff do to people?"

Her eyes rolled skyward, letting out a breath as she thought, 'Oh, for God's sake.'

Trying to keep her sanity intact, she decided to go along with him, "Yeah, sure."

"Cool!" Adam exclaimed, content to "understand" the subject.

Madeline carried on, listing the subtopics that she had noted for this topic, "I was thinking we could analyze how different societies evolved uniquely based on their individual belief systems."

There were a few shuffling noises before Adam answered her, "That seems nice," he replied, sounding like he was just nodding along without fully understanding things.

Ignoring his lackluster answer, she absent-mindedly mentioned to herself "Maybe we could use 'Cannibal Holocaust' as an example…"

Apparently, Adam had a good enough hearing to listen to her words from where he was. "Wait, what's that about cannibals?!" His voice trembled slightly as he asked her.

She took her eyes off her screen, asking surprised. "You don't know it?"

After his hurried 'No?', she drifted her gaze down to her notebook before she dryly elaborated, "It's a movie about a cannibal tribe that eats people." She very quickly summarized the movie as she typed her ideas onto the project as her dull voice explained to him. "We could draw connections between their cannibalistic behavior and their beliefs and superstitions."

She was brought back to reality when Adam's voice loudly exclaimed, "Eat people!?" Alarm evident in his voice.

Was… Was he scared?

Unable to resist a bit of teasing, she asked "Are you scared?" A hint of amusement in her tone.

"No?" He replied hesitantly. But he quickly followed it up with a more honest answer, "Yes..."

She let out a huff of amusement through her nose, oh that's precious.

Her earlier annoyance dissolved, giving way to a sense of delight at his evident unease

Adam clearly heard her amused reaction, and he hurried to explain "I don't like horror movies okay? They're scary and they make me feel bad!"

Sensing a chance to needle him further, she elaborated, "It's actually a long-lost film that was recently discovered during an Amazon forest expedition," her plump lips betrayed a barely noticeable hint of a smile, "so it's not a movie, and it's very much real."

It really wasn't. But she doubted he knew that.

A resounding metallic crash resonated from the bathroom, and his answer was even more pronounced. "That's even worse!" his exclamation reverberated.

Amused by his discomfort, Madeline pressed on, "You'll tell me that you're afraid of ghosts and demons too?"

"And you're not?," Adam asked her, his voice tinged with bewilderment.

Taking a step further, she flatly told him, "Why would I? I pray to Baphomet every night"

She didn't.

A scared noise emanated from him, and she shook her head in amusement.

Savoring the moment, she couldn't resist indulging a bit more. "Big tough guy like you, scared of all the spooky stuff," she teased.

"Can we stop talking about creepy stuff, please?" Adam pleaded.

A slight huff of amusement escaped Madeline at his unseen squirming, and she decided to relent, moving on to the next topic on her list. "Alright, the next one is: cults, clans, and communities."

She heard the noise of water stopping, followed by the shuffling of clothes.

A muttered "ow" from Adam before he asked her tentatively. "Cults like the scary sacrifice thingies?"

Even though he couldn't see her, she dismissively nodded in confirmation. "Yes, the scary sacrifice thingies"

She heard more shuffled noises of cloth before Adam spoke, "I don't know, Maddie, they give me the jimmy jams," He admitted nervously.

With a mischievous look in her eyes, she teased him further, "We could talk about the Manson Family…"

The cloth noises stopped momentarily "Please no," He pleaded, clearly uncomfortable.

Undeterred, she continued "... or about the church and how it alienates people." she suggested.

Adam responded, Interrupting her before she could continue. "I don't think people will be comfortable with that, Maddie."

A rare smile graced her lips, "I know, that's the good part," she said, enjoying imagining all the scandalized faces her classmates would no doubt make.

Chuckling nervously, the shuffling of cloth returned once more as he asked her. "What's the third one, then?"

Madeline knew that he was trying to change the subject, and she couldn't help but feel a sense of satisfaction at successfully rattling him.

Deciding to go easy on him, she revealed the last item on the list, "Mass media."

His previously scared demeanor was apparently completely gone as he enthusiastically exclaimed "Oh, that one seems nice!"

He probably thought that this topic was going to be less problematic and scary.

Little did he know.

Deciding to crush his hopes, she went on. "Sure, we can talk about how the media romanticizes criminals like serial killers and such, which often makes people worship them and sometimes even emulate them." Still not over, she added, her voice impish. "Oh, and look at that, we can even tie in the cult thing,"

Adam's voice was dejected, sounding as if someone had crushed his dreams, "Maddie, you're scaring me."

Ignoring his comment, she continued on undeterred "Then, as the grand finale, we can talk about how much of an attention whore the media is."

Growing more impassioned, she pressed on. "We can point out their obsession with views and numbers, like how they keep plastering that new vigilante everywhere despite saying that he's a savage criminal and a symbol of everything wrong with today's world or whatever."

Madeline's train of thought was interrupted when she heard Adam let out a strangled noise, followed by a loud, pained "ow! Fuck."

She gave a strange look at the wall of his bathroom before rolling her eyes, getting lost in her thoughts as her mind naturally wandered towards the latest craze going on in New York.

And it was a craze, there was no doubt about it.

Everywhere she went to, everyone she talked to, the topic would inevitably be circled back to him.

And it wasn't like she couldn't understand why.

After all, there was an actual, real life vigilante operating smack dab in the middle of Queens. The last time people saw something like that was either back in World War II with Captain America, or with the Hulk.

Seeing that one of them was a dead American hero and the other was a rampaging lunatic that could destroy whole towns in the blink of an eye, it was inevitable for people to pay close attention to the vigilante.

At first, he was nothing more than a conversation topic, some sort of urban legend that people told each other to pass the time.

But then proof began to appear.

Shaky pictures and videos taken from bystanders' phones, security camera videos and personal accounts of people that were saved by him began surging on underground internet forums, turning "Hood" from just a rumor into tangible reality.

The nickname stuck because of that ever-present hood that he always seemed to wear, becoming as much part of his costume as his mask was.

And then, around a week ago, those videos appeared. The ones of him single-handedly fighting against eight guys to protect a family of four from a gang.

That was the game-changer, the moment that elevated Hood from the underground internet forums all the way into the glaring spotlight of mainstream media, for better or worse.

But not everything was flowers.

The extremely brutal and graphic scenes of the videos were of course the first thing that the news used to condemn him. The first wave of media coverage painted Hood as a "savage, violent criminal", who was more dangerous to the public than the actual criminals he fought against.

Of course, no matter how much YouTube and other platforms tried to remove it, the videos were always reposted again and again. The more the government and big corporations tried to take it down, the more views it got.

All sorts of questions were being asked, especially about the gang's strange tech and where it came from. The main theory going on suggested that it was some sort of experimental tech or military weapon that the gang had somehow got their hands on.

Of course, there were wilder theories - as the internet was known for - but those were each more unbelievable than the next.

Aliens weren't real after all.

Either way, If Hood was becoming famous before, now he was more like an obsession.

People were absolutely frustrated with all the rampant drugs, violence, rapes and all the shit that went on in New York without police and politicians lifting a a finger to help.

So, when someone finally went up against all that? People took notice, he was something new, he was raw, and most of all: people rooted for him, they were finally feeling vindicated.

Because he was the embodiment of all that frustration, all that fear and all that anger that people felt.

He didn't stick to the moral niceties that most people pretended they had. He didn't use the law and the bureaucratic red tape bullshit to talk the problem until it went away. Oh no, he had the balls to do what many wanted to do.

Someone was finally bringing the fight to the gangs and criminals, and he was repaying them in kind.

Her musings were suddenly interrupted when she heard Adam's voice, bringing her back to the world and out of her opinionated thoughts as he loudly asked her "They put that stuff on TV? Don't they think about the children?"

Madeline rolled her eyes, "It's censored you fool." she retorted, before adding under her breath, "Reddit's all over this guy though."

He still heard her all the same, asking her "Who's ready?"

Her exhale carried a hint of resignation, her words almost a reluctant exhale themselves. "Never mind"

He fell silent after this, affording her the opportunity to refine the project in the meantime. The soft tapping of her laptop's keys was the only noise breaking the silence as she added more subtopics and other possible references they could add to the paper.

Time passed, and Madeline's concentration was only broken by the sound of Adam emerging from the bathroom.

Her gaze, against her better judgment, flickered to his shirtless form once again. Water drops traced his bruised body, illuminated by the soft light of the room's windows as they slipped down until they met the cloth of his haphazardly bandaged midsection.

To her infinite embarrassment, she heard him let out a sly "Heh", which quickly made her draw her attention back to his annoyingly smirking face, her own face gaining the slightest dusting of embarrassment as her annoyance surged.

He obviously caught the way that she was looking at him, giving her a teasing grin as he wiggled his eyebrows suggestively. "If I knew that all I had to do to get your attention was being stabbed, I would've flirted with you earlier." That infuriating grin was still in his face as he remarked "I mean, you always carry that pair of scissors right?"

A growl escaped her lips at his words, an irritated frown crossed her beautiful face as she answered "I do, and if you continue to be an ass I will use it to add a few more scars to your collection"

Despite the very real threat hanging over his head, Adam was not one to lose the joke "Wouldn't that make you even more excited though?"

She gave him her signature glare once more, reaching towards her backpack to grab her scissors before he let out one of his annoyingly fearless laughs, "Okay, okay! I'm sorry, I just couldn't resist. I promise I'm done now, no need go all stabby"

Madeline held her glare for a moment longer, her hand hovering over her scissors for a moment before she begrudgingly huffed out. Adam had a knack for pushing her buttons, both the good and the bad ones, but she couldn't deny that she was beginning to… not hate it that much anymore.

He approached her with a sheepish look, and she finally saw that he was holding two ends of the bandages in his hands as he did so. "Sorry to ask you this, but I can't reach back to tie this up without hurting and I don't want to give Cass a heart attack by asking her."

Madeline gave him a neutral stare, not portraying any sort of emotion in her eyes as she pondered her decision.

She probably should be shocked or astonished that he was asking this from her - especially after the threat of stabbing still hanging over his head - but at this point she really wasn't all that surprised by what came out of his mouth anymore.

To be honest, she was kinda impressed by this ballsy move, her respect for him actually rose a little bit.

Maybe she could give him this win.

For now.

Letting him squirm a little bit, Madeline raised a well-groomed eyebrow as she came to a decision, staring at him for a moment before asking, "You sure you're not afraid I'll accidentally kill you?"

Adam laughed, shaking his head in good-natured dismissal "I trust you with my life, Mads."

'You don't even know me, numbnuts'. She rolled her eyes at his overly cheerful demeanor and optimism. "Whatever," She muttered.

Assuming control, Madeline forcefully turned him around. With his back now facing her, her fingers deftly caught the ends of the bandages, a familiarity born from experience guiding her motions as she began to expertly weave them into place.

Not resisting one last joke, he turned his head back to look down on her, playfully telling her "Try to keep your hands to yourself"

Her only answer was to tug the bandages harder against his injuries, making him grunt in pain.

She decidedly ignored his 'Okay, I deserved that' as she continued to work.

Adam's reaction was one of genuine surprise as he observed her, his widened eyes showing astonishment. "Wow, you're really good at this!" he exclaimed, his voice holding an air of admiration.

Not betraying any feeling in her voice, Madeline's voice remained a poised monotone, "I did a crash course on first aid once."

Adam's excitement was evident as he blurted out, "A crash course?!"

Knowing this idiot, he likely thought that it was literally something to do with actual crashes.

Not even missing a beat, Madeline listlessly clarified to him, "Yeah, it's not the kind you're thinking." Ignoring his dejected 'oh' she continued "It was some time ago though, so I don't remember much."

Saying this, she intentionally poked one of his wounds, ignoring his hiss as she continued, "So stand still and quit moving around like a fool."

He got the message, staying put enough for her to finish her job in peace. Once she finished securing the bandages, she forcefully turned him around to face her again.

Adam carefully inspected her work and offered a genuine smile of gratitude. "Thanks, Maddie, you're the best," he said calmly.

A strange warmth filled Madeline as she observed his calm smile, but she quickly dismissed it with a nonchalant shrug. "I know. Don't get used to it."

He chuckled lightly at her words, shaking his head in amusement before he stated "I'll make sure to savor this rare moment then."

Their eyes locked as they exchanged a brief moment of eye contact.

She never noticed how striking his blue eyes were…

Adam's soft tone of voice pulled her from her thoughts. "So, where did we stop?"

A surge of realization hit her, and the inexplicable sensation of being caught off-guard by what she just thought and what she was doing brought the faintest of blushes to her cheeks. She quickly averted her gaze, regaining her composure.

Gathering her thoughts, Madeline stammered slightly, "R-right, we still need to choose a topic for our thesis."

There was a touch of confusion on Adam's face as he asked curiously, "What's a thesis?"

Feeling a mix of exasperation and annoyance, Madeline let out a groan as she realized the amount of work she had in front of her.

The afternoon came as they worked on the project, and it became increasingly clear the size of the task that she had ahead of her. As even Madeline, who considered herself a solid above average when it came to academics, was far better than him in every aspect of their project.

As such, most of the time she found herself getting annoyed with Adam's incessant questions, both about the project and about herself. Despite her irritation though, she still begrudgingly helped him step by step.

She convinced herself that It was for the good of her sanity and their project, of course.

By god that man was slow in the head, but at least In the end he managed to make enough progress without her having to practically hold his hand through everything.

When she had first arrived at his house, Madeline had steeled herself for an infuriating and unpleasant afternoon with a man that she hated.

However, as time went on, she couldn't help but realize that she was mistaken.

Madeline had wanted to hate him so much, to maintain her image of him as just another fake and stereotypical popular guy.

But, as they spent more time together, he seemed to be getting happier, becoming more like his normal self. And as he became more like himself, it became increasingly hard for her to stay annoyed with him.

She found herself actually entertained by his antics, jokes, and funny mistakes while she tried not to show her enjoyment on her face. The more they hung out, the more she was actually having fun, and it both frustrated and confused her.

She wanted to resist, to keep her guard up, but Adam had somehow found a crack in her armor.

Madeline had judged him wrong, and she was woman enough to admit her mistakes.

He wasn't the fake, superficial guy she thought he was, he wasn't putting on an act to impress anyone; he was just being himself.

And that, she realized, deserved her respect.

He was still annoying though.

Cass made an unexpected appearance a few hours into their project, bringing a freshly baked chocolate pie that filled the room with an irresistible aroma, and Madeline couldn't hold in the impressed sound of awe when she saw the dessert up close.

The pie had an all-black Oreo crust, with its center being an orange-hued pumpkin filling crowned with a rich dark chocolate ganache topping. There were a few drizzles of velvety milk chocolate adorning the top.

It was beautifully decorated with miniature pumpkin-shaped cheesecake truffles and milk chocolate bats strategically placed around a few small white chocolate skeletons. Completing the scene, intricately-shaped cookie spikes surged from the pie crust, mimicking the appearance of a wrought-iron fence encircling a graveyard.

Cass mentioned that it was one of her Halloween specials, but she made an exception for today and served it out of season especially for her.

The pie was extremely cute.

And extremely delicious.

She wasn't usually one of those annoying people that took photos of food, but she couldn't resist this one.

It was no wonder that this place was always filled to the brim if this was the sort of treatment and food that the customers received.

A few hours later, as the sky began to darken, Madeline knew it was time for her to head home for the day. They had spent almost the entire day together, but there still was barely any visible progress on the project. Even the outline of the paper was barely even done.

Once more, she realized that it was going to be a long, long road to finish this. The mere thought that she would have to spend more time than strictly necessary with that idiot should have made her want to wring his neck in annoyance.

But surprisingly enough, Madeline thought that maybe it wouldn't be so bad.

After all, she had to admit that there was more to him than she had initially assumed, and that intrigued her.

As Madeline watched her aunt's ridiculous and obnoxious blue and white van approaching in the distance, she couldn't help but cringe in shame. Her aunt's shitty driving skills were evident even from afar, as other cars honked in response.

Her goodbye was far more subdued than Adam's own cheery and over the top one.

Maybe, just maybe, mistakes were not made.

---

- Adam Grayson -

After watching Maddie go away in her aunt's blue and white van, Adam planted a quick peck on Cass's cheek and thanked her for the meal. With a smile still on his face, he sneakily made his way to the cafe's back alley, where the garage was.

Today was a great day. Maddie was a great person, even if she tried to hide it all underneath that black, spiky, bat-covered, fortress of doom and gloom that she called her personality.

But that's what he liked about her, she was honest, she always said what was on her mind and she didn't care what others thought of her. It was refreshing.

Well, she wasn't always honest, especially when she tried so hard to hide the fact that she was actually having a good time with him. Honestly, once he figured out her type of humor, she became easy pickings for his jokes.

He'd like to say that he had the same success with his attempts at flirting with her, but one can't win at everything.

To be honest, asking her help with the bandages was a very dangerous gamble on his part, but he felt that things between them were progressing really well and he decided to shoot his shot with her.

It didn't work of course, but it didn't not work either…?

Figuring out that she had a thing for injuries was a little strange, yes, but at least it wasn't anything too weird or unheard of for him.

At least not like that time with that girl that wanted him to treat her like furniture.

Either way, when he saw that what he was trying wasn't doing anything to her, he obviously stopped. There was a fine line between being a cheeky flirt and an annoying, creepy one, and that was not a line that he would cross.

In the end he just made sure she had a good time, and he thought he did a damn good job on it.

Not that he'd ever tell her that of course, or else she'd look at him with that death glare that she has. Again.

He'd been on the receiving end of that look enough for one decade today.

After all, academics had never been his strong suit. And doing research about a topic that might as well have been written in an alien language was like asking him to find where's Waldo, and poor Maddie had to deal with that the whole afternoon so he didn't fault her for being annoyed with him.

But in the end, with his persistence, a bit of elbow grease, and of course his enhanced focus, he managed to contribute to the project. Granted it was just a little bit, but it was still something nonetheless, even if his ideas weren't always as coherent as Maddie's.

He appreciated her patience with him and genuinely enjoyed spending time with her.

Seeing her beginning to warm up to him may have been just a small victory in the grand scheme of things, but it still made him feel good and forget a little bit of the… eventful week he just had.

But his mind was still buzzing with thoughts, and he couldn't shake the internal struggle that had beengoing on with last few days have been difficult, and the people around him definitely noticed the mood he had been in.

It's just that Adam's mind was constantly drifting back to that day, replaying that fight repeatedly as he thought about the implications of it all.

He realized something that day.

Everything he did, everyone he fought, it was all for nothing.

At least not in the big picture.

In the end he had just been playing around like an ignorant child, running after some low-level street thugs and thinking that he was making a real difference. All the while being blind to the real danger.

The leaders.

Everything had a hierarchy, and as long as the people on top were fine, the lowlife thugs and criminals under them would never stop, no matter how much Adam fought.

When he saw the broken bodies strewn around him after his rampage ended, and the pain he endured because of the advanced tech the men possessed left a lasting impression on him. It was a wakeup call, a realization that he had been underestimating the gravity of his actions, and a stark reminder that he was not invincible.

Thinking about the fight made him roll his stiff right shoulder. He had been lucky that the bullet didn't hit bone or anything important when he was shot, a few centimeters off and who knows what could've happened.

Luck, however, wasn't a reliable strategy. The only reason he was still alive now was because of his will to save those people, his grit and his powers.

And his anger.

It helped him, there was no denying it, but he didn't know what to feel about relying on it. It always transformed him into someone he didn't like - too violent, too ruthless.

He vividly remembers the sleepless nights Aunt Cass went through because of the things he did when he was younger. And it was because of her and Kate's sake that he made a conscious effort to try and control it, so he would not be controlled by it.

Yet, becoming a "hero" seemed to be the reason he had been seeking to loosen up the tight grip he had on it.

Something that the eight guys he fought found out the hard way when he broke them down one by one, practically crippling them when he could've just knocked them out cold, and spare them from that exaggerated violence. But he just couldn't help it.

He didn't… regret what he did to them exactly, not after what they did.

To Adam, they were the worst types of lowlives, the ones who preyed on the weak and the innocent, the ones who weren't strong enough to defend themselves or fight back. Who knows how many lives these pieces of shit ruined?

At the time, it was as if a dam had burst within him, and there was a part of him that even reveled in it. To finally let loose, to see the fear in their eyes, their screams of pain when he broke them down, and the defeat in their faces when they realized that their fate was sealed and that nothing they could do would ever change it.

They deserved what they got.

Right?

He questioned whether these thoughts were truly just his anger talking, or if this was a darker part of him that he hadn't come to terms with.

Although he never went so far as killing, he always made sure that the people he defeated were actually alive after whatever it was he did to them. He didn't know what he would feel if he killed someone, and he didn't want to find out.

Adam sighed, deciding to put these thoughts away and focus on another important thing that he found out during that fight.

Being angry made him stronger. Far stronger.

He couldn't think of any other possible explanation for what he managed to do. His strength, speed and reflexes became greater than ever, and he shrugged off enough damage to kill him three times over. A normal human just couldn't possibly do that, It was far beyond anything he had ever felt or did before.

Adam knew that he was naturally strong, he's always been praised for it, and the enhanced size and muscles that he got since gaining his powers made his natural strength even greater. But even still, what he did was something else entirely, superhuman.

Breaking bones felt effortless, like twisting little twigs instead of the tough materials they were. He wasn't the smartest when it came to biology, but he was pretty sure that this shouldn't be possible.

What utterly stunned him, however, was the fact that his powers became far, far faster than they ever were when he was angry. At the time, his absorption speed was able to leech things off in the span of only a few short minutes compared to before - not that he had the time to actually try it fully, he was still in the middle of a fight after all.

He got so surprised when he found this out that he got a crowbar to the head as a result of his distraction.

But even with all this new strength and upgrades, Adam was still beaten down by numbers and advanced gear in the end. He was still human.

The rage helped him ignore most of the injuries and soldier on throughout the fight, but he still felt the agonizing pain coursing through him all the same, and he fought hard to not let it distract him.

Every time he moved, he could feel the hot blood pouring from his wounds, pooling on his clothes and falling to the ground like red rain.

And then he was sent hurtling through the air by that powerful shockwave, and for a few seconds, his entire world was engulfed in pain.

Every bone in his body rattled and shook, just barely managing to hold themselves together and avoid shattering under the pressure. His organs felt like they were being squeezed, almost bursting from the internal strain. And the moment he slammed into the car, a searing agony washed on his back, as if it had been set on fire.

He felt like he went through a meat grinder, it was hard to draw even the slightest breath, and the taste of blood lingered in his mouth. Pain consumed him from head to toe, leaving no part of his body untouched.

Adam honestly thought that his life was about to end then and there.

And when he thought that he would die to save people that he didn't even know?

He didn't regret it. Not one bit.

But he refused to simply lay there and go down without a fight, his fury growing by the second.

If he were to go down, then he would make damn sure that he brought someone with him.

Then, just before he gathered enough strength to rise and make one last stand, something extraordinary occurred - his powers evolved.

It started as a subtle sensation, a warmth emanating from deep within his stomach and cascading through his entire body. With it, a newfound energy surged within him, a second wind that gave him just enough strength to help him rise from the wreckage and press forward again.

Thanks to this, he had enough power to defeat the leader and get some information out of him, and in the process discover that his evolved ability didn't just boil down to him getting a second wind. He could now leech off not just one, but a total of two attributes from people now.

He could only absorb these attributes one at a time though, and while this new upgrade didn't help him much at the time, he knew that it would make a huge difference down the line.

Adam immediately used his improved powers to make a few upgrades to himself - height, muscle and a smattering of others - while also healing himself from his wounds, taking care not to transfer all his injuries to the already wounded criminals around him seeing as it would no doubt prove fatal due to their state.

Nonetheless, even with this limitation, what should have been life-threatening injuries turned into mere bruises that would mend within a few days or weeks, even if they still hurt a little.

All of this left him to wonder if there was more to his powers than just… "leech". The amount of damage he had taken should've left him dead or at the very least crippled regardless of his enhancements, yet here he stood, pacing in his garage and still very much alive and relatively well.

That was not what Aunt Cass thought, however, when he came home early in the morning, battered, bruised, and drenched in blood after stashing his costume away. He still recalled the scream she let out and the distressed, desperate look in her eyes when she saw his sorry state.

He really didn't want her to see him like this. In the past, whenever he got hurt he almost always managed to heal himself to a pristine condition before he even returned home, or at least hide it well enough from prying eyes and heal later. But this time, he had no choice, the extreme extent of his injuries was impossible to hide.

Adam hated lying. Especially when it was to Aunt Cass and Kate, whom he deeply, deeply loved. But, he knew he had to do it.

So, sadly, he had no choice but to tell Cass that he looked like this because he had been mugged during his morning run.

Despite his protests that he was fine (truly, he was!) Aunt Cass didn't even wait for an ambulance, getting him in her old Ford F1 and driving him straight to the ER herself, where he went through a battery of exams that honestly left him worried about the medical bill.

The doctors were surprised by the extent of his injuries, and even more so when they saw that he was relatively well despite the severe wounds he had. The only reason that he did not need any emergency treatment was because of the brief, but apparently lifesaving, amount of health that he had leeched off of the thugs earlier.

That didn't mean that Adam was out of the woods, however, he was just past the immediate life-threatening danger seeing as his injuries weren't fully healed, requiring the proper care and attention to heal properly.

All in all, they gave him a few months at the very least for his complete recovery - though he knew it wouldn't really take that long, he just needed a few days and some healing powers and he'd be right as rain.

However, annoyingly enough, they told him to lay off from too many physically demanding activities. Aunt Cass practically banned him from everything, not letting him help her around the cafe, or go to the gym, or workout in the garage, or go to his MMA practice, or do his morning run…

Basically, he couldn't do anything that was even remotely fun.

He just wanted to workout dammit!

And then there was Kate.

If there was one person in the whole world who he didn't want to keep things from, it would be Kate, but he knew how his best friend was. If she got even the slightest whiff that there was something wrong, she would go to the ends of the earth to find out what was happening, and when she inevitably found out what was happening, she would want to join him.

He loved her for it, make no mistake, and he would do the same for her, perhaps even more, but Adam didn't want to pull her into this world, to what he was doing. It's not that she wasn't strong or capable of defending herself, no, she was strong, and more than capable of defending herself. But what he did was dangerous, to the extent that even someone with powers like him almost died.

The less she knew, the safer she would be. She and Cass.

Or at least, that's what he told his guilty conscience.

Eventually, he managed to convince her of his lie, though she did threaten to use Bishop Security's full resources to hunt down the men who did this to him. It was cute, but he managed to calm her down enough to let the police handle it.

But there was a nagging feeling in the back of his mind telling him that she wasn't entirely convinced with what he told her.

Kate always had the uncanny ability to know when he was lying.

So, after being denied the use of the full might of Bishop Security, she settled to spend a few weeks staying over at his house, hanging around him like a babysitter and making sure that he actually listened to the doctor's orders and didn't do anything too "dangerous" or "stupid" like accidentally setting himself on fire or something.

First of all, that only happened one time.

And second of all, their worry about him was endearing, really, but it made it infinitely harder for him to sneak out at night.

With Kate around, it left him with no opportunity to do any overt "hero stuff" like patching up his costume or making notes on his powers. To make matters even harder for him, she was sleeping on his room's spare bed, and that brought a whole new slew of problems.

It was sweet, and he loved both of them even more for their care and worry, feeling really bad for being a little frustrated from their care.

But he felt restless.

Adam had been stuck inside his house ever since the day of the big fight, and hadn't managed to sneak out even for one single night while he tried to make sure that his secret identity remained a secret from Cass and Kate.

This left him completely in the dark about what was happening in the streets. He didn't know if the gang was deciding to up the ante and get more violent, he didn't know if they were giving the people trouble for what he did, he didn't know if they were getting more active on their territory. He knew nothing.

Worst of all, with him not being able to go outside and use his powers to heal himself, he had been in constant pain from his injuries as he was forced to just tough them out until they healed naturally.

You know, months from now if he didn't manage to sneak out.

Adam tried to use this break to have a little breathing room, but he simply couldn't rest, that gang was still out there and if the situation was anything like he had seen in the movies, he knew they wouldn't take kindly to what he did to them.

They probably wanted to save face, salvage their pride and reestablish their dominance after their loss.

It was a dangerous combination - a wounded ego and an arsenal of advanced weaponry at their disposal.

Lives were at stake, and not just his own this time.

Adam knew he had unwittingly painted a target on the family he saved, their neighborhood, and possibly everyone under the gang's control.

He couldn't allow this, he had to redirect their focus somehow, make them see him as the threat instead of the public.

But it was going to be difficult to do this just by himself, especially if the information that he had taken out of the leader was correct. What the man told him hinted at something bigger than he had ever anticipated.

This wasn't a simple, common gang, this was a far larger and more dangerous mafia. And they were clearly meticulously organized and dangerously well-funded.

Adam didn't know if his newly enhanced powers would be enough to go against a whole criminal organization by himself, certainly not one this dangerous.

His thoughts were racing as he inspected the items he took from the criminals spread across the garage's workbench. He needed to find answers, and he needed them fast.

"Who the fuck is the Maggia, and how did they get this tech?" he muttered under his breath.

In front of him was the electric baton that had electrocuted and stunned him, the knuckle duster knife that stabbed his right forearm and many other places, and a mix of knives and knuckle dusters that he looted from the downed thugs.

But the most important piece was the pair of gloves that he got from the leader, one damaged and another one still in pristine condition.

Adam picked up the intact glove, examining the intricate design with a mix of awe and concern. He knew it was no coincidence that the leader had a backup. This meant that there could be more of these sorts of weapons out there, possibly in the hands of other criminals.

As he looked at the scattered weapons, he understood that things were changing. And If he was to take on the Maggia, he needed to be smarter, stronger, and better than ever before.

The clock was ticking, and the stakes couldn't be higher. Adam had to act quickly and intelligently. He needed a plan, allies he could trust, and resources to match the mafia's.

But where to start?

He didn't have any leads on the Maggia's whereabouts, and he had no idea how to track them down. Adam knew he couldn't handle them alone as he was right now, but involving others meant putting them in danger and he couldn't bear the thought of anyone else getting hurt because of him.

Adam grunted in frustration, he was never good at this sort of thing. Planning things was always Kate's job when the two of them were about to get into some trouble, more often than not he was there to be the muscle and distraction.

He really wished that she was here with him, and not just for guidance either, but because he really loved her company. Doing this alone was getting harder to do.

Kate would know what to do if she was in his situation…

Okay, maybe she wouldn't, but he knew that unlike him, she would at least have an idea where to actually fucking begin!

In a fit of irritation, he slammed his hand onto the table in front of him. The impact sent the neatly arranged items he looted scattering in disarray from the impact, and a sharp twinge of pain shot through his side because of the exertion.

He winced, not only from the pain but also from the surge of anger that accompanied it.

Every fiber of Adam's being seemed to scream in frustration. He felt lost, defenseless. He didn't know what to do.

He sighed deeply and hung his head, absently dropping the glove on the workbench. All these thoughts swirling in his head were the cause for his gloomy mood these past few days.

In the midst of his doubts, he tried to remind himself of why he began doing this in the first place - to protect people and bring justice to those who deserved it.

Adam might not have the experience or the resources that the Maggia had, but he had something else - his insurmountable will and his drive to protect those he cared for.

At any cost.

And he hoped to god that this would be enough…

The sudden loud ringing of his phone startled Adam out of his thoughts, causing him to jump in surprise. He quickly scrambled to get the machine out of his pocket, turning the phone around to see who was calling.

The caller ID showed an unknown number, but he didn't think much about it as he answered. "Hello?"

A deep, computer altered voice answered him. "Adam Grayson," Before Adam could even utter a greeting, the voice continued "the vigilante."

The words sent a chill down his spine.

---

Cliffhangers huh?

I'll be honest, I didn't like this last POV. I think it's crap, it goes on for too long and it reads too shitty and I don't think it was clear enough. It just kicked my ass so much as I was writing it.

I wanted to integrate Adam's talk about what happened after the fight, Cass and Kate's reactions, his power's level up, his anger issues and other things seamlessly and without being too edgy. I think I failed, but what is life without a bit of edge right?

In the end I just decided to leave it as it is because I just couldn't stand doing yet another fucking rewrite of it.

AN:

Yeah… I know that fight scene was a tad too long.

I kinda got a little carried away with it, I'll admit, but this needed to happen to Adam. Up until that point he was just fucking around with his powers, not seeing the big picture and not taking things seriously enough.

He was introduced to the wider world, and the wider world was definitely introduced to him.

So, how was the fight? Too much? Too easy? Too hard? Did I write it clearly enough? Were you guys confused? I know I certainly was.

Trying to describe an 8 vs 1 is not easy for my smooth brain, let me tell you. For one, there's only enough times I can use the words "man" "thug" "gangster" "masked man" and "vigilante". For another thing, have you tried to make a fight fun to read while also staying somewhat realistic?

Of course, I didn't make it

too real. If it was indeed realistic then all eight guys would obviously be carrying guns, and Adam would get the 50 cent treatment before he could even get to the third guy. So, I tried to apply some comic book logic to the world.

Anyway, I wanted to portray that Adam goes apeshit and lets out his other side every time he puts on the mask, even if he doesn't want it.

As Adam himself said, the only reason he was even alive by the end was because of his power. If it were anyone else, they would've definitely died. His anger saves him.

In the end I really liked writing the fight scene, it was just so fun. Tell me what you guys think.

I wonder where these random goons got high grade tech like that…

If you're on Questionable Questing, these were the fight scenes that I took for inspiration: Here, Here , Here (By the way, this is how I normally imagine Adam fighting regular enemies)

By the way, tell me if you guys wanted to see Cass and Kate's reaction to his wounds after the fight actually written, or if you preferred the way that I did (offscreen and briefly described through other POV's)

Also, please tell me if it is fun to read Adam.

What I had in mind when I created him and his overall personality was a mix of Andy Dwyer (Parks and Rec) and season 1 Joey Tribbiani (Friends). So, somewhat goofy and happy but social enough, dumb but not too cartoonishly dumb.

I didn't want to make him appear oblivious like some harem anime character, but I feel like I failed to show it in this chapter, re-reading Maddie's POV made me realize that I leaned too much on his "obliviousness" than I wanted to.

What I wanted to show was that Adam is not as oblivious as he seems to be. His overall personality may be happy-go-lucky and goofy but he knows how to flirt, he knows that he is a handsome motherfucker and knows how to use it to his advantage when he wants a girl.

I'll try to channel my inner Shiro and write him a little more forward and bolder from now on.

You might be wondering why the fuck I gave such a huge ass POV for an OC character that added seemingly nothing besides a little bit of world building. You might also be wondering why Adam is interacting so much with her.

Well, besides the fact that she is a big tiddy/booty goth girl, she is important to the plot.

Trust me bro.

But seriously, at first I just wanted to use her POV to more or less build the world and show what the "general population" thought of the vigilante, but it sort of grew from there as more and more ideas on how I could use and link her character into other plot points appeared in my mind. In the end, she grew from a background character to a really important one.

I wanted to portray Maddie as the typical goth teen that "hates" the world and the "fake people", but I wanted her to be likable too. Kinda bitchy but with an actual heart and a kind personality that she tries a little too hard to hide under her edgy layers.

So, please tell me if I made Maddie tolerate/like Adam too fast. I want to give her time to get acquainted with him instead of her instantly liking him and wanting to fuck him on the spot.

Btw, I imagine that Maddie's voice sounds a little bit like Raven (Teen Titans) does.

I gotta say that I am not happy with the dialogues in this chapter, especially Maddie's and Adam's on her POV. It felt too robotic to me and no matter how much re-did the scene I just couldn't get it right. I dearly wish that I could write dialogues like GraeFoxx and Shadow0Fire could but alas, I can't.

Also, as most of you realized, I don't know what is the correct procedure to do if a wound starts bleeding on the bandages. I know nothing about first aid and post stab wounds, just bear with me please.

Random fact: Dead skin cells are a main ingredient in household dust. According to researchers at Imperial College London, humans shed around 200 million skin cells each hour, and they have to go somewhere when we're indoors, so house dust it is.