I carried a middle school boy, bridal style. He had sprained his leg, probably due to hitting something or falling after trying to evacuate the city. I had to fly slower than usual than my usual speed, I don’t want to rattle the poor guy after all. As we soar to the air, he looks a little dazed before he nods at me.

  “Arigatou gozaimasu, hontou ni… anata wa eiyuu desu.”

  I blinked behind my visor. “…Uh.”

  Ah, yes, the unfortunate flaw of communicating with people in a foreign country: Language barriers. I have no idea if he’s praising me or hurling insults. A beep chimed inside my SEE Goggles. Text popped up on my HUD.

  [Translation: Thank you very much… you are a hero.]

  I smiled, and my chest felt warm reading that. I wanted to respond, but I have no clue what to say back-oh nevermind. More text appeared.

  [Suggested reply: Douitashimashite (You’re welcome)]

  Oh, cool, I didn’t know the SEE Goggles have an auto translation and a way for me to respond. Though the problem is that I have no clue how to pronounce that properly. I might come across as rude or mocking. Still, I feel like it would be more butthole-ish if I didn’t respond. I gulped and cleared my throat at the same time.

  “Doita… shima… shite!”

  The goggles instantly flashed:

  [Pronunciation Accuracy: 42%]

  …Wow. Betrayed by my own tech. It's not my fault that I can’t speak Japanese very well! Still, despite my poor attempt at speaking, the middle school boy broke into a huge smile like I’d said it perfectly. He even looked impressed.

  "Kakkoii!" He said, giving me a small thumbs-up back.

  I have no clue what he just said, but I’ll take that potential compliment! I landed near a temporary triage area and knelt so the medics could take him. Many of the nurses and paramedics gave me strange looks as if unsure how to feel about me, but some of them did thank me. It wasn’t just the boy I rescued and brought here.

  There were several other people I brought here. All of them vary in ages, but it wasn’t just them; there were more than two hundred people who got injured from trying to evacuate the city. I brought them to the nearest hospitals close to them, and to make sure the nurses and doctors don’t get too overwhelmed by the number of people. I lift myself in the air, flashing all of them a peace sign before flying away.

  I was still flying so slowly, using my Mind’s Eye along with my SEE Goggles to find any other civilians that needed my help. Thankfully, I wasn’t the only one trying to help the people from below, as multiple helicopters were in the sky. Some of them were news people recording me still. Others were part of rescue teams. They weren't just in the sky; they were moving on the ground as well. I could see them working together perfectly to transport the hurt people inside the ambulances.

  I smiled as my heart calmed with relief. People were alive. Families still had each other. While Jimmy Bullard’s rescue is a work in progress, I consider saving millions of people from global destruction a day well done.

  Gavin’s voice crackled in my earpiece.

  “Nice work, hero. You saved a lot of people today, though the only thing that needs saving is your Japanese.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Hey, I’m not a weeb like you, give me a break.”

  “How are your energy levels? You burned a lot stopping that tsunami and the rescue operation. It's been nearly two hours since you got there.”

  I looked at the corner.

  [CE : 89%]

  “I ran out of food, but I have more than enough to burn to do another hour of rescue,” I said as I cracked my neck.

  I could hear Gavin sigh on the other line, “I think it's time to go, kid, you did more than enough.”

  I frowned. “But there are still-”

  “I’m aware, but it seems rescue teams have it handled and judging what the data is telling me, you already saved 92% of the civilians that got hurt. Let the rescue teams earn their paycheck.”

  “So what, people still need help, so until that number is a 100%, I’m going to keep going.”

  “Ben,” Gavin said with a more serious tone. “I understand that people need help. But you, too, need some rest, especially since you don’t have any food to fuel your Cosmic Energy. And if you burn out in the middle of saving everyone, boom. You’re stuck on the other side of the world.”

  Gavin explains. I was about to object, but Gavin continued.

  “Listen, it's nearing seven PM. You’re supposed to go home for dinner half an hour ago. I called your parents to tell them that I’m making dinner at my shop, your favourite Palabok.”

  My eyes widened as my stomach growled. “You have Palabok?”

  “No, I don't, it's just to make an excuse to your parents that you're coming home late. So, unless you want your parents to be suspicious of your after-school activities, you come back to the shop and go right home.”

  “But…”

  I stopped moving and looked down. The rescue teams seemed to have it handled. But I wanted to keep going until everyone was safe. Though Gavin has a point. I released a frustrated sigh.

  As I pushed myself to fly back home. I didn’t rush, though. I enjoyed about half a minute traversing the wide ocean. Soon, I reached Toronto, but as soon as I did, my SEE Goggles lit up. My SEE Goggles flashed. Which made me slow down as a faint crackle filled my ears.

  [—Unit 12 respond, possible bear attack at Ganaraska Forest—repeat—civilian injured—backup requested—]

  “…A bear?” I muttered.

  The HUD expanded, pulling the signal into clarity. A map of Toronto popped up in the corner of my vision, a red blinking dot near a forested area.

  [Caller reports large black bear, aggressive behaviour, one person trapped near a hiking trail shelter—]

  Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.

  “Gavin!”

  “Yeah, yeah, I know. Still, quick in, quick out. Minimal energy use. Scare it off, don’t try to wrestle Smokey the Bear.”

  With Gavin's permission, I angled forward and burst into motion, keeping my speed controlled this time. The city lights blurred beneath me as I followed the blinking marker. After a few seconds, I was there, where the supposed bear attack was happening. My brow furrowed, before I tried to focus my sensing ability, only to jump when Gavin shouted in alarm.

  “Get out of there, Red! I analyzed the frequency; it's a fake. It's an automated repeating broadcast! It's a trap-”

  “Urgh!” I grunted in pain as something hard slammed at my side.

  It made me crash to the floor. Groaning as I clutched my rib, whatever hit me, it was something powerful if it could hurt enough to stun me. I got up and then immediately had to dodge a powerful punch, which resulted in a shockwave. I backed up; it was a person. Not just anyone, though, they were tall, about roughly the same size as Gavin.

  They were wearing a bulky blue armour that covered their entire body. I was about to quip at the unknown dude. Only for me to duck again as someone snuck up on me and swung their baton aimed at my head. I countered, turning around to throw a punch, only for a blue metallic shield to stop it. Still, the guy behind it buckled.

  I was about to punch again, this time harder to break his guard, but once again I was forced to avoid an attack from the big guy. I growled in frustration.

  “Hey, what the heck, you guys didn’t even introduce yourselves! How rude-”

  I cut myself off as I grabbed an object that was thrown at me from behind. I looked at it before sighing. It was a grenade.

  “Oh for god-”

  It detonated. It didn’t hurt me too much, but damn was it annoying. I levitated a little to gain some distance. Three people. Two dudes, I think and one clearly a girl. They were wearing highly advanced armour with the same colour but different in design.

  Wait a second, are these people…

  “Squad Nova…” Gavin said in a stern tone, “I knew they were after you, but I didn’t expect that they would attack you this early on. Damn it!”

  A sweat dropped in my face as I looked at the corner of my screen.

  [CE : 80%]

  Crap, only 80%? This is bad, especially since I don't have any food supplies in my utility belt. Then, suddenly, to make things even worse for me, robots appeared out of the shadows, carrying high-tech weaponry all aimed at me. I gulped, but raised my fist. Wait, weren't four of them?

  Gavin reads my mind as he tells me that Ranger is probably far away, to snipe me while his teammates and robot pets jump me. That was what probably dropped me earlier. Still, what kind of freaking sniper could hit that hard!? Whatever, while I don’t like it, running away is my only option. I turned around and flew straight up, getting higher and higher.

  But suddenly, I hit something, and I crashed headfirst. I yelled as I rubbed my head. I wondered what hit me, only for my heart to drop as I looked around me. I was in some kind of giant forcefield preventing my escape.

  “Crap, looks like they aren’t planning to let you get away that easily. You could just break out, but I doubt they’ll let you do that, just like-yeah, like that.” Said Gavin just as the big guy, who I think is the Paladin of Squad Nova, grabbed a bunch of trees and started throwing at me like a javelin.

  Looks like there is no choice, I have to fight back. I grabbed the trees that were thrown mid-air and started to throw them back. The three super soldiers evaded easily, but the robots and drones weren’t so lucky. They fired back, to punch a drone and then another robot. It's best I take down the small fries before I take on the main dish.

  I managed to take down four of the robots, only for a blinding light to assault my eyes.

  A flashbang. I immediately had to use my Mind’s Eye while my eyes were compromised. The one with the baton, who is most likely Fighter, charged at me with Paladin on tow. With my Mind’s Eye, I was able to evade their strikes, though all of them were close calls. They aren’t very fast, especially Paladin, but their sharp strikes are giving me pressure.

  I’m evading, though I won’t be able to do that for very long, and so I stepped in, hitting Fighter with a right hook, which barely blocked his shield. Then I turned around and fired my optic beam at Paladin, which hit him square in the chest, knocking him to the floor. I use this chance to shove the shield out of the way and hit Fighter with a body blow.

  He loudly grunted.

  “Fighter!” Paladin shouted and rushed to me to help his ally.

  But I grabbed Fighter and shoved him hard into Paladin, who was forced to slow down and catch him. I was about to follow up with this momentary distraction with a strike, but once again. I was hit by a sniper bullet this time on the back of my head, which made me stumble. The woman, who is Mage, moved in and threw a barrage of punches at my chest.

  But it didn’t hurt at all. She jumped back as I raised a brow.

  “Well, that was pointless. Do you have pillows for hands or something?”

  I felt her smirk behind the helmet. “Check again, little boy.”

  I blinked before looking at my chest, and suddenly my eyes shot open. There were dozens of small, round discs that were beeping red. Before I could react, they exploded, making me take a few steps back. I was dazed, and before I could fully recover, that damned sniper once again hit me, this time on the shoulder.

  “I swear, whoever is doing that, I’m going to-!” Before I could finish my sentence, Fighter emerged from the smoke.

  Swinging his electric baton at my jaw. It didn’t feel pleasant, not one bit. He managed to land a barrage of strikes to my body. Finally, my brain rebooted and tried to swing at him, but he parried and smashed his shield on my face, stunning me once more. He jumped back as Paladin shouted as he threw a haymaker aimed at my face.

  I barely had time to block, and even then, the force sent me crashing into several trees. I groaned before having to force my body to roll out of the way just as Fighter tried to stab my chest.

  “They’re relentless!”

  It wasn’t just them. The surviving drones and robots were firing at me. Not hurting, but annoying and gradually draining my CE. Which right now dropped to 72%.

  “A direct fight with them is no good. Their teamwork and tactics are too strong. You have to deal with their machine pets before dealing with them.”

  I grinned. I just got the perfect counter. I outstretched my arms and began to spin rapidly. Quickly creating a miniature tornado.

  “Cyclone Breaker!”

  The fierce winds sucked up the drones and robots. The three though were hanging on. I stopped spinning and started vibrating to go invisible. Now that drones are dealt with, and their vision is obscured, they can no longer detect me. I ran away, running around the forest, while focusing my Mind’s Eye.

  After several seconds, I found him. Ranger. He was in a sniper position trying to find me, oh this is going to be a rude awakening. I took a deep breath and zoomed in front of him. His armour looked similar to Fighter’s, but more sleek and less armoured.

  I may not be able to see his face, but I could tell his eyes were wide as saucers.

  “Surprise, mother f-word!” I shout cocking back my fist as cosmic lightning wrapped around it.

  “N-Not the face, man-”

  I totally sock his face, punching him so hard that he crashed into several trees. I don’t know if I knocked him out or what, but all I know is that he is a hassle. So I grabbed his comically large sniper rifle before I bent it into a pretzel. He groaned as he got up. He gasped loudly.

  “Bro, what the heck!?” He shouts in a heartbroken voice. “That was my custom-made ultra sniper! What did you do that for!?”

  “Oh, because I don’t know you’re trying to kill me?” I said, placing a hand on my hip.

  Ranger froze before his shoulders dropped.

  “Fair point…”

  My eyes behind my visor softened. I almost felt bad for him, then I remembered that he and his buddies are trying to capture me.

  “Here, you can have this back!” I say throwing the pretzel sniper.

  Due to how hard I threw it, it created a sonic boom and was about to hit Ranger, who raised his arms to block, but at the last second, Paladin stepped in front to take the blow for him. The smoke cleared, and Paladin and Ranger were unharmed.

  “Thanks for the save Rica-I mean Paladin.”

  “Keep your guard up. He’s much more ferocious than we thought.”

  Fighter and Mage soon joined their comrades. Great, all four of them are together. At least Ranger won’t be taking potshots at me.

  “Are you all right, Ranger?” Fighter asked, though his head squarely remained facing me.

  “Could be better. The little dude just broke my sniper…” Ranger said dejectedly.

  “We’ll buy you one after this, dweeb. Just focus on the mission.” Mage says, grabbing a pair of black marbles off her utility belt.

  Squad Nova raised their weapons. Fighter’s Baton whch crackles with blue electricity, Paladin raising his fists, which also started generating electricity. Mage is preparing her weird black marbles to throw. While Ranger pulled out a baton, smaller than Fighter’s, though. As for me, I felt a cold sweat on my nape.

  No food to fall back on, mentally tired after the events of the day and outnumbered. I took a deep breath before flooding my body with red lightning.

  “All right, bozos, I have curfew, so let’s make this quick!”

  [CE : 66%]