Noah stared down at the scene below without emotion written on his face, behind the mask his gaze bore into the man down below. In the dark alley, his target, a man who ran with vigor, desperate to escape.
He had already taken care of the man's accomplices. He was the last loose end he was about to round up. The one who pulled the trigger, killing a security guard in the process. The guard, a man in his thirties, had been doing his work diligently, planning to wrap up his shift, then return home to his daughter.
Unfortunately, life, merciless and cold, happened. He succumbed to his injuries in a few short seconds, his daughter in her teenage years would not see her father return tonight but instead news of his death.
Noah leapt to the next building before him. His thoughts split and yet unbothered. The usual thrill of leaping building to building coursed through his body as always. No matter how long he did it, the thrill was always there.
At first, the prospect of taking up the role of a hero repulsed him, in fact, he saw it as a hindrance. However, the growing need to earn ability points superseded his repulsion and in the end practically won. Acts of heroism triggered missions, and missions gave ability points, the answer was obvious.
At first, his main goal was to earn ability points, but over time his perspective slowly began to deviate. Now acts of heroism brought him a sense of accomplishment that he still struggled to accept.
Noah shrugged off the thoughts, no longer wishing to delve deeper. He focused his entire attention on the man below. It was clear the man had grown tired, his movements growing sluggish each passing second.
He decided it was time to end this farce. Now taking things seriously, his speed sharpened, increasing. Using his increasing momentum, he leapt a building in a single bound, his telekinesis boosting his jump.
In a few breaths he caught up in no time and with a single leap, he crashed down with immense force, landing in between the alley with a thundering thud. The man, tired and breathing heavily, staggered and froze, fear coloring his face as the figure he dreaded stood before him, radiating a menacing aura that made him gulp instinctively.
Noah, standing from his crouched position, walked towards the man with clinical calmness. The robber, tired and exhausted, likely wouldn't think of running anymore. And once a rat is pushed into a corner, it bears its fangs.
The man whipped out a pistol from behind him and without hesitation unloaded the entire magazine at the Dark Knight. Noah, having anticipated his move, didn't flinch for a second. In response, he only tilted his body sideways, left, right, right, left.
Despite the rapid fire, the bullets met only air. Noah had dodged them all. Before the man could even articulate what had happened, Noah had already closed in. A brutal, body-breaking scene followed.
In a swift flurry of movement, the man's ribs were left shattered, his arms broken beyond use, and his leg utterly shattered. With the damage done, the man would need months to recover.
But he didn't stop there. Before the man could crumble to the floor in agony, a palm strike hit him in the center of the chest. This blow was different; not only was more force behind it, but it felt like his soul had been knocked out of his body.
To the man's shock, his spiritual body floated out of his body. He watched as his body collapsed before his very eyes, and he couldn't help but panic, his expression shifting to one of utter horror. One horrifying question ran through his mind. Was he dead?
Noah watched the scene with brief amusement. His nightly escapades granted him lots of scapegoats to try and practice his abilities on. What he did now was a clear application of astral projection. He could use it himself and apply it on others as well.
This was a punishment he cooked up by accident. By knocking the astral body from the physical, the target would suffer a backlash after returning to the body.
The astral and physical body would be momentarily out of sync, but they would remain conscious. In turn, they would feel the physical body's pain without being able to pass out or move their body.
This effect could last for several hours, allowing his targets to feel the constant pain he inflicted on them and likely the pain of the surgery they went through even after taking anesthesia.
He walked off the scene without batting an eye. As he made his way around a corner, the armor he wore shimmered for a split second before disappearing from sight. With his suit's anti-detection on, he made his way to his hideout, another one of his warehouses that had been modified just for his hero activities.
After taking an elevator down, he walked out to his own private crime-fighting setup. Paper-thin monitors lined the walls, holographic displays hung in the air displaying ongoing threats in the city and important information from across the world.
He walked over to his suit case, stepped inside, and with a simple command, the suit opened up, letting him out. Noah stretched as he stepped out, making his way to the interface before him.
It displayed a timer. The timer that would mark the completion of the lizard serum. The serum was close to completion; in just under twenty-five days, the serum would be completed. His progress rate had spiked considerably, and the completion rate shortened as he expected. His anticipation only continued to grow every day.
And concerning the system, his abilities to be more specific, he made a lot of progress. Not only did his telekinesis reach level four, many of his abilities now reached level three, on the cusp of leveling up. The newer ones, while lower leveled, were quickly catching up.
A lot of his abilities had reached unprecedented heights. Using his telekinesis, he could now exert force close to three tons. His telekinetic barrier and senses concept were coming together smoothly.
On the other hand, his hypermotility now pushed his speed, reaction, and even strength to superhuman limits. At level two, his reaction speed crushed human standards, now at a proper superhuman level, and just as he expected, the ability also provided enhancement to his speed to keep up with his reaction speed. This also indirectly affected his strength.
Now at level three, he could lift close to two tons with much effort, and his movement speed could clock at one hundred and fifty kilometers per hour, faster than a cheetah. His reaction speed sat at twenty-five milliseconds.
Bioluminescence had made much improvement, but to realize his concept, he still required a high healing factor.
Then his extrasensory perception ability, a synthesis of multiple sensory abilities he gained. The fusion consisted of macroscopic vision, thermal vision, auditory sense, spatial visualization, scent detection, and heightened taste.
All together, the abilities formed extrasensory perception, the ability having all the advantages whilst granting new ones. Now he had microscopic sight and a budding sixth sense that was slowly starting to form.
The parallel processing ability too was a synthesis of two abilities, namely mind split and thought acceleration. The fusion combined the two; now they functioned as one.
Astral projection was straightforward, simple, and practical; its various possible applications made him keep it despite its simplicity.
Then there was frequency manipulation. This ability in particular, if used right, could become a trump card against Viltrumites. It was a clear counter that he made sure to practice regularly.
After a whole month, Noah could now confidently say he wasn't a weakling. With the lineup of abilities in his arsenal, he could hold his own against crises of this world even if he wasn't yet ready for Viltrumites.
Having rounded up things for the night, he locked down the place, security protocols active, energy shield up, and all defenses in place. After making sure he wasn't being tailed or worse, Noah made his way home.
When he arrived, everyone was at the dinner table already having breakfast. He walked up to his seat.