Chapter 5: Nox

What was he doing?

James stood uncertainly in front of Ana’s door.

There was no reason to be acting this way; there was no reason to be hesitating.

Except for the fact that he knew that Ana was, in fact, Aegis.

Aegis the foremost superhero in Devil’s Rest. Even Knight Walker or the Grim Pack wasn’t comparable in terms of sheer notoriety.

She might even be one of the top superheroes in the world.

And he had uncovered her identity. Scrubbed it from the mind of someone else.

Where did he even begin?

They were friendly, he supposed, but nothing really beyond that. He was a risk to her identity now. More than that, he wasn’t exactly on the right side of the law, all things considered.

If Ana found out about his pastime, he could only imagine how quickly he would be arrested.

“James? What are you doing here?”

James spun to see Ana standing to the side of him, looking at him with her head cocked adorably to the side, her blonde hair draping to the side, a quizzical expression on her face.

“Ana!” James yelped, wincing the second the words left his mouth, “Sorry, I didn’t expect to see you there.” he chuckled halfheartedly, not feeling the laugh.

“Is something wrong?” Ana asked him cocking her head to the side in confusion. There was something else in her gaze, but it was too difficult to parse right now.

“Nothing, absolutely nothing,” James responded without thinking, before his brow furrowed as he looked at Ana, “I was actually checking on you. I can’t believe someone almost shot you.”

Which was a terrible way to say it, but he didn’t know what else to say.

Ana blinked before her clear blue eyes widened and her cheeks gained a small flush, “Oh yeah! That was super scary!” she said, the words sounding almost believable, but not quite to James’s ears, “I actually wanted to thank you,” Ana continued and her eyes firmed as she looked at James with a serious look.

“Uh,” James said smartly, looking at the girl nonplussed, “For what?” he asked.

Ana’s brow furrowed as well, “For saving my life?”

Oh yeah, that.

She continued, “You literally tackled me and put yourself between a bullet and me! I mean, I can’t think of many people who’d be willing to do that.” She exclaimed, seemingly winding herself up as she spoke.

“It’s,” James hesitated, attempting to workshop the words in his head, “I mean,” he began again, “I couldn’t let you get shot by some deranged lunatic, could I?” he asked with a half-hearted smile on his face.

“Yeah, but you could have died, James. I mean, I’m grateful, but,” she hesitated a moment before she continued, “What were you thinking?” Ana said her words softer than usual as her blue eyes bored holes into James’s hazel.

James attempted to maintain eye contact, but Ana’s own blue eyes were far too earnest and sincere, and he found himself looking away slightly. “It wasn’t any reason in particular, Ana, I just saw the guy with the gun pointed at you and I just moved, ya know.” He emphasized the word moved because he could think of no better explanation for what had happened.

Ana looked at him for a long moment; it was a considering look, yet also seemed like the look a cat gave to the small prey animal in front of it.

“Is that so?” Ana murmured her lips pursed together before she shook her head, blonde curls swaying about her face, “Thank you, I mean it,” she said, and this time the words felt entirely earnest, though James got the impression she wasn’t really thanking him for saving her life, “but please don’t do that again.”

She looked at him firmly, straightening in a way that James had not seen before.

“I mean, just don’t have a lunatic shoot at you again, right? Pretty simple solution.” James gave Ana a half smile that didn’t reach his eyes.

Ana frowned, her brow furrowing, seemingly not happy with his answer, but also not seeming to know how to respond.

“That’s not-“ she mumbled out softly.

James could guess at the problem. As far as Ana knew, a regular bullet wasn’t going to do anything to her, but it would very much puncture him, but it wasn’t as if she could say anything without revealing her secret identity.

The thanks itself felt genuine, which was strange. Ana should have no idea that the bullet would have pierced through her seeming invulnerability.

An awkward silence stretched between them before James’s phone buzzed, and he glanced down at the screen.

Information Search Begun on topic ‘Aegis.’

“I, uh, I’ll see you around,” James grinned at Ana, “Next time, no lunatics, yeah?” he remarked, attempting humor, yet he couldn’t bring himself to act entirely normally.

The situation wasn’t normal. How did you even talk to someone who had just been shot at?

“Yeah,” Ana said softly. “No lunatics,” she mumbled, though she looked a little downcast.

James grinned at her, forcing a full smile on his face, and turned back around, heading for his own dorm room.

The instant he entered, he slumped to the floor against the closed door. “No lunatics? Jamie, you suck,” he sighed to himself.

-

James sat in front of his computer monitors, fiddling away with a line of code as he half paid attention to a short news clip to his right, the faint sound of crickets in the night came from his partially open window, letting in a cool if humid summer breeze.

He had barely interacted with the world outside these screens for the last two days, and he admitted the silence was slowly getting to him.

He had singled out this news clip for only one reason, specifically, emblazoned across the screen, Aegis floated her hands gripping onto the metal of a massive ship. It had been from the news report of her preventing a tanker traveling across the ocean from sinking.

James couldn’t help but note that even as he looked at Aegis, he couldn’t place her as Ana.

How exactly did that work?

It was almost enough to make him doubt the information he had discovered from Centurion.

Not to mention, now too much lined up regarding Ana that he couldn’t help but see that she almost had to be Aegis.

James stopped typing as he saw Aegis strain upwards, lifting the entire ship out of the sea.

“How the hell…” James sighed and shook his head before he looked back at his code.

He felt incredibly stuck right now; he had no idea how to handle this, quite frankly, it was significantly beyond his level.

“Why do I care?” James said out loud, she was a hero, probably someone who would put him behind bars for his thefts if given his chance. Just because he had made it a habit to steal from criminals didn’t necessarily absolve him.

Was he just attracted to her? Some kind of strange puppy dog love?

James snorted, shaking his head. That was honestly one of the farthest things from his mind. Ana was cute, pretty actually, but he didn’t think he was the kind of guy to get drawn in by that.

Unfortunately, he was starting to think it was something far worse.

Ana was nice, stupidly, naively, kind. She was earnest and attempted to reach out to him again and again, seemingly just because she was trying to help him.

It wasn’t puppy dog love, or a crush, it was the fact that the girl had been the first person he had talked to in some months that had shown him some human kindness.

And the thing that made it the most special was that it wasn’t because she wanted something for him or anything logical; the girl just saw a new freshman in her college dorm and took it upon herself to attempt to give him friendship.

“This is so stupid,” James groaned, pressing his palms to his face in aggravation.

But he couldn’t deny his own understanding of his feelings, it wasn’t so different than Franky. When Franky had died, he had sworn vengeance; of course, his emotions would screw him regarding Ana.

His emotions.

James hesitated in his typing on the keyboard.

There was a solution here.

He had done it before.

James sat back in his chair and concentrated, letting himself fall into his mind, harder to do while he was conscious, but possible.

The world swirled, and he was in his facsimile of Devil’s Rest, sitting in his dorm room.

James stood up and walked down the hallway to Ana’s dorm room and lightly pressed the door open, stepping into the room, which was currently empty.

James concentrated, letting his feelings and emotions swirl up inside him; everything there was about Ana rounded up swirling in front of him, becoming a bright light outline of her shape.

He could do what he had done for his feelings about Franky. Wrap it all up tightly and never have to touch it again.

It would be so easy.

James stood there staring at the light outline of Ana. Right now, the emotions were only partially separated, but he could already feel the dulling of these stupid, annoying feelings.

And a slight feeling of emptiness.

He could do this.

But as he stood in front of the light, a small thought nudged insistently at his mind.

What would he have left once he did so?

James had spent months by himself, in his apartment, in school, where he had no one.

He was going to throw away these thoughts and feelings for what? Because they hurt? Because they were complicated?

A small, sickening feeling swept through James as he truly realized what he had been about to do, what a part of him still wanted to do.

“You fuckin’ coward,” James swore, and he was unsure in that moment if he was calling himself a coward for refusing to imprison these thoughts and emotions or if he was calling himself a coward for not being willing to face them

This, of course, made the impulse to reach out right now and end these complicated feelings and emotions even stronger.

But what would he have left?

James took a deep breath and then left his mind, returning to his small dorm room, staring at his computer screens. his hands reached out again to type on the keyboard, but they hesitated and retreated again.

-

Left, right, left, right, hook, jab, kick.

James moved about the boxing bag located within the University Gym, his mind just as focused as his body, as he consciously titrated the power and speed of his own movements down to a human level by consciously acting against his own limbs with his mind in a form of resistance training.

Stripped of his shirt and only in a pair of exercise shorts and shoes, there was nothing to contain the sweat dripping down his body.

He had left his computer close to midnight, and he figured if he looked at a clock, it would be closer to 4:00 am.

He didn’t like working out. He didn’t even really need to with his abilities, but right now, doing this gave him the feeling he was doing something.

He had been so sure he was fine on his own. Sure, he had managed to create a literally impregnable wall around his feelings and emotions, better than any normal human could do.

“Fuck,” James punched the bag harder, attempting to shut the thoughts down before they became overwhelming again.

How the hell was he supposed to do this? When he was too cowardly to shut down his feelings for Ana. Someone who would definitely put him in prison if she figured out his hobbies.

She wouldn’t even break a sweat doing so. Aegis was powerful. She could lift entire ships. She had fought literal intergalactic invaders, and that was just stuff that was public knowledge.

She didn’t need him to protect her.

Except apparently there was stuff that could harm her, and if he hadn’t moved, then she could have died.

How a singular bullet could do so regardless of the materials it was made of was another question entirely.

Suddenly, a loud chime sounded through the gym, coming from the bench that James had laid his phone on, along with his water bottle, taking advantage of the empty space.

James frowned and walked over to his phone, picking it up to look at the notification.

Alert: Topic ‘Aegis’ has finished compiling background.

James frowned and unlocked his phone, opening the alert fully.

Aegis

Time of Operation: 2 Years, Seven Months, Six days since first news report

Fight reports reveal minimal casualties and damage

Abilities: Subject has demonstrated Super Strength, Durability, Speed, and Flight, along with Energy Projection

Weaknesses: Unknown. Aegis is seemingly invulnerable to conventional forms of damage and has not been seen injured before.

Origin: Unknown, Subject presents with human characteristics

“Useless,” James sighed, dismissing the notification into the ether with a gesture.

With the notification dismissed, James saw he actually had a text message, well, he actually had several, starting from the morning two days ago, leading to today.

‘U okay?’ read the final message from Ana, and James blinked as he realized that the message had been sent only a couple of minutes ago.

Why was she awake?

‘Fine, still just a little shaken,’ he typed back quickly before he sent the message with only the slightest hesitation.

Almost immediately, a reply popped up.

‘Want 2 talk?’

James sighed, shaking his head. What was he supposed to say to something like that?

He almost tossed the phone back down before he sighed and then sent a message back, ‘At University Gym, I can be back in ten.’

He didn’t really want to, but he also couldn’t ignore Ana forever, despite the uncomfortable emotions she evoked.

James slammed back into the bag with a fury, attempting to finish releasing the stress that had permeated his body.

Right left, right, hook, jab, kick-

James froze as an uncomfortable prickling sensation trailed over the back of his neck.

It had only been five minutes, he was sure of it.

“Ana,” he said quietly, his voice echoing throughout the gym as he heard an uncomfortable shifting across the padding of the floor.

James sighed and turned around to see Ana, blue eyes, staring at the floor.

“Ana,” he said again, though a part of him would have preferred ‘Aegis,’ to remove the final veil.

Yet Ana didn’t know yet, and he couldn’t let her know.

“I- I was just checking in on you, you seemed off after what happened, I haven’t seen you for a bit, I just-“

Words were beginning to tumble out of her mouth, her eyes still refused to meet his, staring at the floor with intensity enough to burn through it.

“It’s fine,” James shrugged his shoulders for lack of better options to stem the tide.

“It’s not!” Ana exclaimed back loudly, her voice echoing in the gym, “You could have died, James!”

So they were back on this topic.

James stared at her, the raw emotion in her voice cutting through his carefully constructed numbness with an ease he didn’t think possible.

That shouldn’t be possible.

There was genuine fear in her wide blue eyes, not the feigned concern she had shown earlier. This wasn't Aegis speaking right now; this was Ana, the girl who had offered him friendship without asking for anything in return.

The realization hit him with the force of a physical blow, bypassing his mental defenses. She wasn't worried about her own secret identity like he had wondered; she was worried about him.

"Ana," he said, his voice softer than he intended, a strange warmth spreading through his chest. He wanted to reach out, to reassure her, but his hands felt heavy, rooted to his sides. He was still shirtless, sweat glistening on his muscles that were slowly reaching definition, but it wasn’t why he was feeling exposed right now.

He was the thief, a villain. She was a hero.

The irony was a bitter taste in his mouth.

"I know," he finally managed, shrugging, trying to project an air of nonchalance he didn't feel. "But I didn't. You're fine, I'm fine. We’re all fine."

Ana shook her head, a small, frustrated sound escaping her lips. "That's not the point, James! You threw yourself in front of a bullet! What if it had actually hit you? What if…” Her voice dropped to a near whisper on the last word, and he saw a flicker of something profoundly sad in her eyes. There was a shadow in her eyes that he knew wasn't, couldn’t be just about him.

He looked away, unable to meet her gaze. The weight of his own secrets pressed down on him. He knew she was Aegis. He knew she was practically invulnerable to conventional attacks. He knew that an alien bullet was an anomaly that she might not even be aware of.

And he knew he had erased a man's memory to protect her identity. He had done that because, well, he didn’t really know.

"Look, Ana," he said, forcing himself to look back at her, a strained smile on his face. "It's over. The police are involved, and they’ll figure things out.”

Like they had with Franky.

James ignored the bitter taste in his mouth, “You're safe now. I just... I needed to work off some steam. It was a lot, you know? I’m just a guy." He gestured vaguely around the empty gym, not really pointing at anything in particular but hoping she'd buy the excuse of post-traumatic stress or whatever the hell this could be called.

She studied him for a long moment, her gaze piercing, as if trying to see past his carefully constructed facade. He felt a fleeting urge to use his ability, to nudge her thoughts away, but he resisted.

He walked over to the punching bag, his knuckles still aching slightly from the earlier blows. Ana was Aegis. The foremost superhero in Devil's Rest she was a superhero on a global scale. And she was worried about him. The thought was absurd.

“I’m finished up for tonight, well, this morning I guess, I don’t know why you’re up so late, but I don’t know…” James shrugged his shoulders, “Want to do something?”

The words were weak, unpracticed, but they were what he had, and he didn’t want to leave this conversation on an argument.

The room was quiet for several moments, and James resisted the urge to look back at Ana, letting her decide without his input.

“Okay,” Ana said softly, her voice drained of the previous fire.

-

It had taken him only a couple of minutes to shower, and so they exited the gym into the slightly cool air of an early summer morning.

“What are you even doing up this early, anyway?” James couldn’t help but ask.

Ana shrugged her shoulders awkwardly, “Couldn’t sleep, I guess, I think I’m still a little shaken.”

Coming from the superhero that James knew her to be, James found himself disbelieving, to put it mildly, but he let the words pass without comment.

“Got a preference for Breakfast?” James asked.

Ana shrugged, seemingly uncaring, though James noticed her shift slightly; there was something there.

“Uh, I’m good with, like anything?” Ana said uncertainly.

“Right,” James sighed at the unhelpful answer, “Anything it is.”

-

“Jamie?” Ana said.

“Yes?” James asked.

“When I said anything…” Ana said slowly.

“Yeah?” James asked again.

“I guess, I didn’t think that meant, well, does Astro Burger even qualify as food?” Ana asked, and James could almost hear the plaintive tone in her voice as if trying to gently guide him away from the worst mistake of his life.

“I believe from a legal perspective, they do have the permission to use that descriptor. Is something wrong?” James asked, his face still entirely neutral.

They were standing in front of a glass storefront, the words of Astro Burger proudly painted in red with a small star by their side in front of them.

James had stopped in front of the store, and now Ana was sending him the widest eyes imaginable as if she couldn’t quite believe what he was asking from her.

James remained standing there for several moments before a small grin flicked across his face and he gestured to the side of the store, “We’re going to the Saven’s Taco, relax.”

James saw the tension release from Ana’s body, and he couldn’t blame her.

Astro Burger had a well-maintained reputation of being utterly terrible. Its existence was seemingly an indictment of the people of Devil’s Rest.

It wasn’t just that the food was bad; the food there could literally make you sick, violently ill, in fact.

Yet it looked nice, and an influx of tourists kept the restaurant open against all odds.

They entered Saven’s Taco and walked to the front, where they input their orders into a kiosk at the cashier.

With some expertise from having been there before, James picked out a burrito loaded with eggs, potatoes, cheese, along with a medium chili, with a large drink.

He took his ticket and waited for Ana to finish her order, and they went to sit down together on a pair of plastic chairs to wait.

The interior of Saven’s Taco was a cheerful explosion of bright yellows and oranges, a stark contrast to the still slightly dark morning outside. The aroma and sound of sizzling chorizo and cooking flour tortillas filled the air, and they found a booth by the window, falling into the plastic seats.

"So, Saven's Taco, huh?" Ana said, a playful lilt in her voice as she slid into the booth opposite him. "You're full of surprises, James King."

James chuckled, a genuine, relaxed sound, "You said 'anything.' And I figured after the Astro Burger scare, you'd appreciate a place that won't give you food poisoning."

Ana giggled, a light, airy sound. "You're not wrong there. I once dared Sam to eat a burger from Astro, and she was sick for a whole two days." She shuddered dramatically.

"Sam seems like the type to take a dare," James mused.

"Oh, she totally is," Ana confirmed, her eyes sparkling. "She's... a lot, but she's nice. You two should hang out more. She actually likes you, you know."

Those words could be misinterpreted very badly, but judging from Ana’s expression, he didn’t think she meant it that way.

James raised an eyebrow at Ana. "She does?"

"Yeah!" Ana nodded emphatically. "She thinks you're, like, mysterious and quiet, but in a good way. And she said you have 'surprisingly good snark'." Ana mimicked Sam's voice, complete with a slight drawl from her lazy attitude.

"I'll take that as a compliment," he said, shaking his head. "Though I'm not sure I'm all that mysterious."

"Oh, you definitely are," Ana insisted, leaning forward slightly, her expression earnest. "You're like... a puzzle, but like in a good way," she waved her hands for emphasis.

The sincerity in her words, the genuine curiosity in her gaze, made a strange warmth bloom in his chest

Their food arrived, a cheerful clatter of plates and the rich scent of breakfast and its accouterments. Ana's eyes widened at her plate, a mountain of scrambled eggs, bacon, and hashbrowns. She attacked it with a gusto that belied her petite frame. James watched, amused, as she devoured her meal at an almost alarming speed, yet with a surprising neatness.

"You really do eat fast," he commented, taking a bite of his own burrito. The eggs and potatoes were nice to fill the gaping hole that had emerged in his stomach from working out.

Ana swallowed, a faint blush on her cheeks. "I don’t really,” she mumbled.

James didn’t reply to that, not wanting to make her feel awkward. The idea of her lifting ships and fighting intergalactic invaders after a breakfast of bacon and eggs was both absurd and strangely endearing.

They talked for a bit about other topics. Their summer classes, about campus life, and about the quirks of Devil's Rest. Her enthusiasm was a bright, steady flame that seemed to chase away the lingering shadows of his own thoughts.

Just as James was finishing his chili, a soft, almost imperceptible ping sounded from Ana's pocket.

She frowned, pulling out her phone. Her eyes scanned the screen, and her cheerful demeanor instantly evaporated, replaced by a tense, almost rigid stillness. Her jaw tightened, and her gaze became distant, focused on something only she could see.

"Everything okay?" James asked, a small knot forming in his stomach. The sudden shift in her was alarming.

Ana looked up, her blue eyes wide and a flicker of something urgent, almost desperate, in their depths. "I... I gotta go," she said, her voice tight, already pushing herself out of the booth. "Something's come up." She fumbled for her wallet, but James waved her off.

"Don't worry about it," he said, already reaching for his own cash. "Go."

"Thanks, James," she said, the words a hurried whisper, before she turned and practically sprinted out of Saven's Taco, a blur of blonde hair and a rapidly fading presence.

James looked after her, unable to shake the small pit in his gut. What was that about?

What exactly could freak Ana out if a bullet couldn’t?

-

James sat in front of his monitors, scanning news feeds; his walk back to his dorm had been more of a sprint than anything else, trying to look casual yet he absolutely wanted to know what the hell was going on.

He didn’t have much to go on, but he figured anything that freaked Ana out could be on the news very quickly.

He didn’t have to search hard; a breaking news report popped up, burning buildings, people screaming, and all.

Aegis slugs it out with Helltaker as Upper East Devil’s Rest burns!

James blinked, then blinked again.

“What the hell?” he mumbled, opening the camera feed, which was from a helicopter and was centered on Aegis and Helltaker blurring through the air, the helicopters camera could barely handle the motions, barely keeping track of the action.

It was clear, though, that Aegis was on the defensive, as building after building went up in flames around them. Aegis would flicker back and forth, revoking people from the buildings at speeds that couldn’t be tracked, seemingly flickering in and out of existence.

A bright, fiery figure flew through the skies on another feed, massive blasts of fire ripping through the air, blasting out building windows and setting them alight. Helltaker didn’t stop a moment, roaring through the sky in a searing light, setting everything ablaze.

Aegis flickered to another building to evacuate people, but it was clear as she moved that there was no time to get ahead of Helltaker and stop him entirely, as focused as she was on saving lives. Anytime she got close to finishing the rescue, another building would go up in flames, and she would have to veer off to evacuate the building in a blur.

But this didn’t make sense. Helltaker was a hero, wasn’t he?

Billowing massive flames and clouds of black smoke into the air on the cameras and James’s gut clenched.

James frowned at the screen. Where was the rest of the Grim Pack?

Hell, where were Knight Walker or Falcon, for that matter?

James's frown deepened, and idly his mouse traced up the path on the screen as he hovered over exiting out of the window.

It wasn’t his business.

It really wasn’t his business.

Another building went up in flames, and in the same instant, James had vanished from the chair, leaving it to spin a couple of revolutions uselessly.

-

James reached the apex of his second leap, cloaked in his typical dark accoutrements, blurring through the air as he bounced between buildings, massive leaps rapidly carrying him across the city.

He didn’t need any guidance to figure out where he was going; the dark smoke coming up from the far portion of the city was guidance enough.

Hit a roof, jump, bounce off the side of a building, sprint across an office building’s flattop.

Every second was time wasted, lives lost, and damage occurred.

James picked up the pace, blurring forward as he pumped his limbs to the max.

Theft was one thing, arson… Just burning people's livelihoods and bodies away, it was sickening.

James soared through the air, the heat of summer becoming an altogether different, sweltering heat as he entered the smoke-filled air drifting from this section of the city.

James landed on the roof of a building and finally stopped the fight himself, the fiery figure soaring through the air like a rocket shooting between buildings as more and more of them went up in flames.

James took several rapid breaths, bracing himself against the building as he calculated his next leap.

He had to be precise because he was only going to get one shot at being accurate here before Helltaker realized there was someone else involved.

Brace.

James locked his eyes onto the burning figure as flames streamed out from them, making their form less humanoid and more of a comet. Punching through the mass of flame was going to be another thing entirely but he had to do it.

Helltaker cornered around a building dropping the smallest amount of speed and giving James his opportunity.

James’s feet bit into the concrete, and then he pushed, air ripped past him as his body shot like a missile at Helltaker, completely invisible to the naked eye.

James’s fist met something hot, almost burning, but his skin remained fine as he plowed straight into Helltaker, spearing him toward the ground as a massive plume of flames erupted around them, the barrier around James managing to fight off the energy for the most part, though he smelled some of his clothes getting singed.

They cratered into the ground, going several meters deep, the heat around James swelled again, and he realized instinctively that this wasn’t a heat he was going to be able to withstand.

James leaped backwards, landing on the street lightly as another pillar of flames erupted from the hole he had dug.

The flames retreated slightly, and then a flaming hand emerged from the hole as Helltaker pulled himself up, his fiery head oriented towards James.

James pushed slightly as he looked at Helltaker, trying to get a read on the hero's thoughts, only to be met with a massive blankness. There was a mind there, but over that felt like a massive stretch of nothing, no thoughts, no feelings.

“There a reason you’re torching the city?” James called out.

Fire waves rippled out from Helltaker, trailing across the ground like mist, and James leaped up and then pulled himself in the direction of Helltaker, falling like a missile down toward the fiery man.

His foot was positioned perfectly to land on the man’s head, only for him at the last moment to rocket to the side in a burst of flames searing the street up into bubbling tar.

James landed foot first, blowing a small crater into the ground in an explosion of smoking pavement.

Helltaker sent waves of fire rippling out from his body, massive glowing arcs that seared through the street, forcing James to leap into the air and pull himself back to gain distance.

In a burst of flames, Helltaker rocketed forward, searing across the street now seemingly focused entirely on James, which, in a way, James realized was a win.

Helltaker landed a short distance away, a fiery inferno in the shape of a man.

 He raised what looked like his hands, and two massive fireballs formed in his palms, glowing with an intense, searing heat swelling up in size to five meters apiece.

The balls erupted, blasting forward, searing toward James, who realized instantly he didn’t have enough time to dodge, fear stretched in his gut, but he squashed that emotion ruthlessly.

He needed to focus entirely on his defenses. He focused his energy into a field around him and the air shimmered around James. In the next second, the twin fireballs hit with a roar and then exploded, ripping the ground asunder, but James held, gritting his teeth even though it felt like he had just run a marathon.

The heat was still immense, and James felt his outfit began to smolder around him his normal field of energy around his skin saving him from burning

Helltaker said nothing, standing there like a statue,

Then he gestured again, a minute thing barely a shift of his hands, and the world became flame and little else. A relentless barrage of fire blasts, each one pounding against James’s forcefield. James felt the strain with every hit, a low headache that grew with each successive blow.

James growled, refusing to let himself be pounded into the dirt and dug into the melting pavement beneath him as he launched forward towards Helltaker.

The flaming figure vanished in a blur of flames and screech of burning air as he flew to the right, continuing the blasts of flame.

James panted the heat and strain of keeping his forcefield going, getting to him. He was weakening, his energy straining to hold back the constant assault of heat and flame.

The air around him was a shimmering, superheated blur, and he was struggling to breathe.

With a tremendous roar echoing outward, Helltaker unleashed a colossal wave of fire, a torrent of pure energy that dwarfed his previous attacks. James's forcefield shuddered,. and James realized it was about to break entirely.

He leaped upward, drawing himself to the side to land on a ledge. The wave of fire slammed into the ground, melting a massive pit in the asphalt

James tried to breathe, but the air was searing in his lungs, his body screaming from the heat.

Helltaker soared back up into the sky, meeting James at eye level. His face had solidified to human features, and right now, it was only his eyes that were glowing.

Helltaker looked more slid now, only his hands and feet trailing flame, and James wondered if the other teen was also getting worn down.

Not that such a thing would help at this point, James was minutes away from passing out in exhaustion, either from energy expenditure or the simple fact that his body couldn’t cool down.

Helltaker raised an arm, and his palm glowed molten red.

James grimaced, trying to ready any part of his body that still could to leap to the side.

Helltaker vanished, and the air cracked as a blue blur shot by.

James blinked, then looked wildly about, only to see Helltaker suddenly completely extinguished, lying on the ground below in the street, the familiar figure of Aegis hovering above him.

James would have swallowed heavily if his throat wasn’t already completely parched.

He hadn’t even seen what happened.

James looked about, taking in the still-smoking area, and noted that the buildings were indeed still mostly standing, and besides the damage from the burns, there was no more trace of the fire that had been consuming the city.

Still…

James grimaced and settled down on the ledge, relaxing against the side gingerly as he tried to regain his breath.

That had been way too much.

His head leaned back against the side of the building, his eyes closed, he still sensed the sudden appearance of a floating object in front of him.

With his typical distortion field going, he didn’t react overly much, only opening a single eye to look tiredly at the floating figure of Aegis.

He still couldn’t tell it was Ana.

Blonde hair, bright blue eyes, yes, incredibly pretty with a soft but confident smile on her face, but his mind refused to make the connection.

“Nice hit,” James remarked.

Aegis didn’t so much as shift as she examined him seemingly thoughtfully, “You managed to slow him down; without that, I wouldn’t have had the opportunity.”

James shrugged, coughing slightly as his lungs tried to adjust from the recent extensive exertion and heat.

“Just did what I could,” he mumbled, looking away.

“You’re a new hero then?” Aegis asked.

“Uh,” James hesitated, “Let’s go with that,” he lied, “Couldn’t do much besides get my but handed to me though, could I?”

“You’re first scuffle is often like that,” Aegis remarked gently, “You did well though, especially for a new hero.”

“Mmmm,” James hummed, looking down at the Helltaker thoughtfully, “Sure.”

Things were mostly wrapped up here, it looked like, so now was the time to go when he still could. James pushed himself to his feet slowly.

“The rest of the Grim Pack will be here soon,” Aegis said, “They can patch you up.”

“No need,” James shook his head, “I’m fine, just a little tired.”

“Don’t you want to introduce yourself?” Aegis questioned her voice firm but seemingly surprised, “The city is in short enough supply of Heroes as it is.”

“Not interested,” James replied, simply shaking out his limbs a bit.

Aegis suddenly appeared in front of him, and James had to take a step back in surprise.

“I don’t understand,” Aegis said, “You helped.”

“I’m not interested in teams,” James said shortly.

Aegis seemingly froze before then she gave a soft understanding nod, “I guess I can understand that,” she mumbled.

“Well then…” James said, “I should be going,” he said leadingly.

Aegis nodded, seemingly struggling with something, her brow furrowed and biting her lip, a very unusual expression for the hero that James had seen on television. “What’s your name?” she finally asked.

Strangely enough, that was something James had given some thought to, and it was a good thing to because after this, it was necessary to not get stuck with something stupid by the media.

“Nox,” he said simply, most of his work was done at night, and the name was simple enough and non-descriptive enough for his desires.

Nox braced his feet and then leaped away, landing on another building before leaping once again to another, slamming into the concrete before leaping away again.

At some point, Nox reflected that he was going to have to figure out better transportation than just jumping.

Nox rubbed his burnt clothing ruefully; he was also going to have to figure out a better outfit.

-

Climbing into his dorm room hours later through the window, invisible and having made sure that he was not followed, James released a sigh of relief as he pulled off his outfit, and made his way to his chair, falling into it in a heap.

He dialed up several of the local news channels with a few presses of the keyboard, looking on with interest to see if there was any discussion about what exactly had happened, because honestly, he was entirely confused.

Somewhat expectedly, the news reports were focused on the destruction caused by Helltaker, with various interviews from the residents of the city describing their experience.

James scrolled through them, looking to see if anything of substance was actually being reported about the incident.

Why had Helltaker gone on a rampage?

Yet not a single report seemed to be willing or able to answer that question.

There were theories.

He had actually always been a Villain.

A bad day pushed him over the edge.

Mind Control.

James hesitated as he looked at that particular article, for some reason that reason stuck out to him more than anything else he had read. There wasn’t a particular reason for that, not really, but…

Helltaker’s mind had been strangely blank, hadn’t it?

The thought poked at James in a way he could not ignore.

James had tried to read it, but it was almost as if nothing was there. It wasn’t like Centurion’s strictly regimented mind. It was almost as if, when he was looking at Helltaker, the other boy wasn’t there at all.

Thinking about it, it didn’t really make sense.

It was like Helltaker wasn’t even in control of his actions, or at least not consciously thinking about them.

Pandora had been able to control minds.

James frowned as the name came to mind, just as it had when he had first discovered his power. Reluctantly, he keyed her name into his computer.

The blitz of articles was expected, his search algorithm running through them rapidly picking out choice information. Immediately, Jame began parsing through them, attempting to get a basic rundown of her abilities.

It had been around two decades since Pandora had last shown up, but the world had not forgotten her. The memorial park in the center of Devil’s Rest made sure of that.

Scenes of devastation played across the screen as James’s algorithm found article after article hypothesizing just what Pandora was capable of.

It hadn’t been her telekinetic abilities that had made Pandora the most terrifying villain to appear in history; sure, she could lift skyscrapers, but there were Heroes who could manage that.

It was her ability to control minds that terrified the world, completely dominating people's minds, achieving a near-perfect control, and subjecting them to her own whims. Politicians, generals, and CEO, her control had spread like a spider web through the upper echelons of power.

Breaking her control had been the work of heroes worldwide, and taking her down had decimated an entire city, not to mention cost thousands of lives.

It was her abilities in part that made James so concerned with his own ability to hear and manipulate minds in the first people

Telepathy and mind control rightfully made people uncomfortable.

James could even acknowledge to himself that he was worried about his own abilities and their effect on him, and what he had been tempted to do so far.

But he hadn’t; he had to hold onto that. There were lines he was unwilling to cross and he needed to focus on those.

James shook his head, shaking the thoughts away; he wasn’t going to mope about that, but he was now concerned.

If Helltaker had been mind controlled…

James sighed and shook his head. There was no use worrying about it, the heroes had handled it, he had helped, but he was sure it was only a matter of time before Aegis would have managed to take down Helltaker.

James hesitated on an article about what had happened today.

Helltaker in custody, what now?

The article was advocating for the Hero to be sent to one of the supermax prisons for villains instantly. Not really surprised, but it was indicative of how quickly things had changed for the hero.

Before today, the hero had a literal fan club, and now they wanted to imprison the guy and lock him up for the rest of his life. Admittedly, he had been in the midst of burning down the city, but James was a little surprised no one was questioning what exactly had happened.

Heroes didn’t really just snap and go on crime sprees like this, so publicly and for so little reason.

Of course, maybe the reason he was thinking this in the first place was his own discomfort with how Helltaker's mind had been.

James sighed to himself, shaking his head. This wasn’t important. Helltaker going full pyromaniac had nothing to do with the Boss; the Boss was what he had to focus on.

Whatever this was, it wasn’t his business.