The rain in New Heritage City tasted like copper and neon.
Seven-year-old Kai stood behind a dumpster, clutching a limited-edition action figure of Malice. Ten feet away, the "Greatest Hero on Earth" was leaning over a terrified man in a suit.
"Please," the man sobbed, holding a flash drive. "The public needs to know about the R-nex chemical spills. Children are dying in the sectors—"
Malice didn't use a flashy move. He didn't shout a catchphrase. He simply placed a hand on the man's head. The air hummed with a sickening, high-frequency vibration.
"You're blurring the brand, Leo," Malice whispered, his voice as smooth as a late-night talk show host. "And the brand is all there is."
In a flash of blinding white light, the man's head simply... vanished. Disintegrated into atoms. Malice stood up, wiped a speck of dust from his pristine white cape, and looked directly at the dumpster. His blue eyes, usually warm on camera, were as cold as a dead sun.
"I see you, kid," Malice said, a terrifying smile spreading across his face. "Make sure you grow up to be a hero. It's the only way to stay alive."