If Damon King had a superpower, it would be invisibility.
Not the cool kind. Not the "cloak and vanish" kind that elite assassins and rogue heroes had.
Nope—
Damon's brand of invisibility was sad and socially devastating.
He was the kind of guy who could walk into a room, sit next to someone, and they'd get up a minute later without even noticing he was there.
The type professors skipped when taking attendance. Average height, lanky build, hunched posture. Dusky brown skin. Shaggy black hair that always looked like he just woke up, even when he hadn't slept.
Thin wireframe glasses that never stayed straight on his nose. No jawline, no muscle tone, no charisma.
Damon wasn't ugly.
He was just incredibly forgettable. And that hurt worse.
He sat alone in his dorm on the fifth floor of Griffin West College's residential block, watching the latest HeroNet stream on his cracked tablet.
Posters of heroes lined his walls—
From Iron Soul to Photon Witch, and of course, Thunderman. Damon's absolute favorite.
The man was a walking thunderstorm.
Golden armor etched with lightning bolt sigils. A flowing white cape with electric blue trim. Glowing gauntlets that cracked and burst with voltage every time he clenched his fists. Chiseled jaw. Blonde hair tied back in a perfect warrior's ponytail.
He even had glowing eyes—one white, one yellow. Like destiny couldn't make up its mind about how awesome he should be.
Damon used to fall asleep imagining himself shaking the guy's hand.
But today was different.
Today, Thunderman wasn't on a stream.
He was outside Damon's dorm. In real life.
An ear-shattering boom cracked the air like the world had just stubbed its toe. The sky flickered between electric blue and violet as clouds twisted and churned in unnatural patterns. Alarms blared from the Emergency Broadcast drones overhead.
Students screamed in the halls.
Damon's tablet slipped from his hands. He ran to the window and pushed aside the blinds.
A massive, heavily built red figure stood in the center of the street, surrounded by overturned buses and shattered storefronts.
The villain was reptilian and scaled like a nightmare with a long tail tipped in a serrated bone blade. Crimson spikes jutted from his back like spears. His mouth stretched into a curvy grin that looked carved by a chainsaw.
> "TITAN RAZORSTRIKE," the news drone reported from the sky.
"Level 7 threat. Civilian evacuation advised. Repeat—evacuation advised!"
Damon chest tightened with awe and fear as he struggled to breathe.
Suddenly, a bolt of lightning descended from the sky, splitting the clouds apart.
It crashed into the street with a blinding flash, and when it faded… he stood there.
Thunderman.
Hovering mid-air with a cape flowing like it had its own soundtrack. Electricity crackled from his gauntlets and ran across his chest like veins of pure light.
- "This ends now, Razorstrike!" His voice echoed through the city like a demigod delivering judgment. "You've trespassed into District 12. And I don't tolerate such actions."
Razorstrike roared before charging forward with a violent sweep of his tail. Thunderman dodged effortlessly by soaring above the villain's head.
He raised a single fist—
BOOM!
Lightning rained down like divine punishment, striking Razorstrike dead-on.
The impact sent shockwaves rippling through the concrete, shattering windows, flattening cars, and cracking the pavement like glass.
People screamed...
Civilians stampeded across the sidewalks as they fled in every direction. Emergency responders were nowhere in sight yet.
Damon spotted an elderly man crawling with a broken leg as well as a small girl, no older than eight, clutching a backpack and sobbing near a collapsed bus stop.
He didn't even think.
Damon shoved open the stairwell door and sprinted down. His legs trembled and his heart pounded with both fear and excitement.
Every instinct told him to run the other way but he didn't.
He helped the old man up and dragged him toward the alley. He carried the girl in his arms to safety behind a parked car and gave her his hoodie. He shouted at a group of students frozen in fear, guiding them toward the emergency shelter beneath the dorm.
He wasn't fast. He wasn't strong. But he was trying.
Then all of a sudden... something happened.
A stray blast from Razorstrike's tail slammed into a nearby building.
The structure groaned... The Masonry cracked... and almost instantaneously, the air was filled with the thunderous grind of collapsing stone.
Damon turned his head. He was standing in the wrong place at the worst time.
The building began to fall. A massive slab of concrete, at least the size of a truck, dropped from the fifth floor balcony right above him.
His feet moved but he wasn't fast enough.
CRASH!
Damon screamed as the debris fell right ontop of him.
"Arrghhhh!!"
His body was crushed beneath the weight and he found himself instantly trapped. Something in his chest popped. His ribs snapped like twigs. His leg twisted the wrong way. His lungs wheezed in desperate need for air but only blood came out.
He could hear people fleeing. Their footsteps and screams rang out even more louder than before now that he was buried underneath debris.
"Help…" he croaked. "Someone… please… help…"
~No answer~
He raised his right hand which was trembling and bloodied. He screamed again but still no response.
Through a small space in the fallen debris, his eyes locked onto something above.
Hovering in mid air was Thunderman.
He had just defeated Razorstrike and now he was floating very close to Damon's position.
The hero looked down.
Damon could see his glowing eyes flick in his direction causing them to briefly lock eyes.
'He saw me... I'm going to be saved!' Damon screamed internally in relief.
However, Thunderman whispered something unexpected then turned and flew away.
Just like that.
The crowd cheered.
> "Thunderman saves the day again!" the news drone crackled overhead.
Damon's vision dimmed. His heart slowed. He had saved people. He had done the right thing.
And no one—not even his hero—had done the same for him.
What broke his heart the most was what Thunderman said before flying off... what no one had heard except him...
~"A battle without casualties is less revered... the more death, the better the victory."
His final thought before the darkness took him wasn't anger.
It was bitter realization.
> "The heroes are not who I thought they were."
---
Damon woke up screaming.
He sat upright in his dorm bed, gasping for air. His heart thundered in his chest. Sweat soaked his sheets.
He looked around.
The room was clean and sunlight streamed in through the blinds like nothing happened.
He looked at his arms. No injury... No blood... No bruises.
"What the hell…?"
All of a sudden, a glowing red notification appeared in his line of sight.
> [Ding!] Aura System Initializing…
Welcome, Villain Candidate #000001.
All crimes now generate Aura Points.
Let the villain arc begin…
Damon's mouth dropped open.
Then another notification popped up.
<[ Tutorial Task: Steal one Civilian's wallet ]>
Reward: +50 Aura Points
Bonus: +25 if it's livestreamed.
Difficulty: Petty Crime.
Risk: Low.
Fun: High.
Damon eyes widened. "What the actual fu—"
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