31. Light Reading (Patreon)

Levi closed the packet, setting it on the park bench beside him. He pulled up the blog, checking it over, then set his phone down, too, and sat forward, putting his fingertips together. Aloud, he muttered to himself, “Stoneheart. A ten-pointer, technically, but his skill stack is nuts, and he’s a borderline fifty-pointer, with a good spread of twenty or so in almost every stat. A ten-pointer who can easily stand alongside hundred-pointers. A ten-pointer, but high tens.”

He sat back, sighing. “He’s not quite a fifty-pointer, but it’s better to consider him as a fifty-pointer than a ten-pointer. Damn. Wish I had that kind of stat spread. And the skills! A full kit for stone manipulation. Fantastic. Absolutely fantastic. Way better than ice. Doesn’t melt, for one.”

Picking up the papers again, he leafed through them, scrolling the blog at the same time. “Wonder what kind of limits his power has. At only twenty-ish PWR, he shouldn’t be able to freely manipulate stone forever.”

Words blurred by. After a moment, Levi sighed and tossed the papers aside. “No luck, huh. Oh well. Guess I’ll have to figure it out the old-fashioned way: with my body.”

He stood, brushing off his clothes, and stuffed the papers into his backpack. “Stone’s a bad bet, but…I’ve escaped worse before. There’s no skill that isn’t at least a little exploitable. Though, ideally, I don’t see his skills at all.”

Levi glanced over his shoulder. “Should take a while before Fira catches Jack. He’s out on the edge of town. I’ll take care of the price on my head real quick, and be back before she finishes.”

Sliding his backpack on, he glanced through his phone. Blog post after blog post about Stoneheart filled the page, most of them pictures of a dapper, well-dressed man without a mask. Levi tutted under his breath. “Honestly. At least make it hard.”

He scrolled down again, and an image of the well-dressed man unlocking the door to a townhouse appeared. He glanced at the caption. I’m not telling you where! That would violate privacy. But let’s just say it’s a very nice part of town!

“Yeah, I know where that is. Thanks for the tip.” Levi tossed his phone in his pocket and grinned, turning his feet toward Central Square. “Thank you, crazy stalkers! Keep living your stupid paparazzi lives and make my job that much easier.”

He hummed as he walked, putting his hands behind his head. Strange. I have to kill a man because I killed a woman…is this the so-called cycle of revenge? Kill one person, and the other idiots keep coming.

He shrugged. As long as you kill everyone who comes for revenge, it isn’t a problem. It’s like the murder problem. Kill one murderer, same number of murderers in the world. Kill lots of murderers, net positive.

“These people need to come up with better moral conundrums,” Levi muttered, shaking his head.

Today, the crowds in Central Square remained thin. Shattered glass and dark red stains on the sidewalks hinted at the battle yesterday. One building sagged, burned out. Deep craters dug into the road, and the few taxis willing to risk it dodged left and right around the fresh potholes.

Already, vans worth of workers replaced glass. Cranes and heavy machinery attended to the crumbling building, tearing down the broken walls. In the corner, a group of faceless people in biohazard suits drove a street sweeper, driving the bodies that remained into a neat pile near the broken building. None of the characters decorated the central median, and only a few business people hurried by.

“Still using those sweepers, huh? Those things are brutal. Chew you right up,” Levi muttered, half to himself. He gave the bodies a quick salute as he passed by. “I’ll see you in the sky tonight. Big greasy industrial-strength smoke plume. Hope it was worth it.”

“Watch out!”

Levi looked up. A chunk of concrete hurtled toward him. He licked his lips. Don’t wanna reveal my SPD. Guess I’m tanking this.

A body smashed into his. Levi flew and thumped to the floor, thrown by the other person’s weight. He skidded over the sidewalk, the slightly-ridged surface tearing his skin open as he slid, the other person weighing him to the ground.

“Are you okay?”

A friendly face smiled down at him. Climbing off of Levi, a handsome man offered him a hand up, dyed-platinum hair shining in the sun. He tilted his head, fluffy hair floating on the wind. “Thank goodness I was here!”

Levi pushed himself slowly to his feet, ignoring the hand. He looked the man up and down. “Who are you?”

“Oh, I’m sorry. I guess I’m still new to the business, huh? I’m Arc! Electric Arc. Er, thinking of cutting the ‘Electric’ part.”

“You should do that,” Levi agreed.

Arc gave an embarrassed smile and scratched the back of his head. “I’m just on construction overwatch for now, but I’m hoping I can hit a higher rank in the Hero’s Association and get some real street patrols soon.”

“Ah, right. Alpha’s do…association,” Levi said, nodding. He gave Arc a look, taking in his ordinary t-shirt and sweatpants. “You should get yourself a real outfit. Something to build your brand.”

He looked down at his loose shirt and skinny joggers, paired with a pair of electric blue and black sneakers. “Isn’t it the style to do hero work in normal clothes, nowadays? I always wear electric blue and black pants, so…”

Levi shook his head firmly. “Nope. Not enough. You’re just a dweeb in an ugly outfit right now. You need a real suit. Something with a lightning bolt on the chest and, I don’t know, a zigzag mask. You want to succeed, you’ve got to have something that screams super, you know? Or at least some armor. Something a self-respecting hunter wouldn’t laugh at.”

Arc put a hand on his chin. “You think that’s why I’m getting passed by?”

“Isn’t helping. Oh, the kicks are rad, though,” Levi said, giving him a thumbs-up.

Looking down, Arc grinned, lifting his foot to show off all angles of the shoes. “I know, right? I paid way too much to get them custom. Look, there’s electric arcs in silver…”

Arc looked around. He frowned. “Hello?”

Around the corner, Levi hurried off with all his SPD. Yep, enough of that. I’ve got a job to do. I can play fashion police later. Today, I’m Levi, psycho killer.

And I’ve got a man to kill.