[February 18th, 8:20am, Donvalley High School]

   Jonathan Tesla has just reached school, and he already hates it. Everywhere he goes everywhere he sees, he sees other students talking with each other and walking to their classrooms together. By contrast, he is alone. Once again. Despite the fact that he is currently in his 10th grade.

   ‘At least I’m not getting bullied.’ Jonathan thought in his mind.

   He had always heard of tales about quiet and unsociable children and even adults who was marked by bullies and/or worse for being easy targets. He definitely does not want to be one of the targets.

   His schedule during daytime is always the same. Waking up. Going to school. Listening to lectures. Having lunch all by himself at the cafeteria during lunch time. Not hanging out with any of his classmates.

   ‘Hey, did you heard? The boss of Becco Di Sangue was done in!’ a student sitting near him told his friends.

   ‘Seriously? Who did it?’

   ‘I heard it was Blitz!’

   ‘You mean the underground hero that can run as fast as lightning and able to discharge lightning from his body?’

   ‘Yup, him.’

   Jonathan can barely hear the chatter, as he is extremely sleep deprived. He even has difficulty in holding his spoon, much less follows a conversation. It was a mistake to stay up late on a weekday.

   The moment he finished his lunch, he went to a secluded area and took a quick nap. It did not help much, but hopefully the energy he regained from the nap will last him until school’s over. It did not, and Jonathan had to pinch himself at his thigh to stay awake several times.

   When school is finally over, Jonathan was one of the first ones to leave the school gate.

   ‘Hey, Becco Di Sangue are having a gunfight with the police at downtown!’ he hears a student somewhere behind him says.

   ‘Where did your hear that?’

   ‘It’s live in the news! Look!’

   ‘Oh man, my house is nearby! Guess I can’t go back for a while.’

   Jonathan does not live near there, so he went straight back the housing unit that he rents for eight hundred dollars per month. Since he was still very tired, he fell asleep the moment he crashed on his bed.

   He woke up three hours later, having checked the time on his watch. He felt much better than he is in the morning, although he might need another recharge soon. He wonders whether the shooting is still ongoing, so he got up and turned on his television.

   ‘... has been almost five hours since the remaining Becco Di Sangue gang members have started a shootout with the police. Reinforcements in the forms of heroes and even underground heroes have come for the police, but the situation is still not under control…’

   The screen shows a crossroad full of uniform-wearing police and suit-and-tie-wearing gangsters, some are firing their weapons, some are busy taking cover, and all of them are not budging one bit.

   ‘Five hours, huh? Just how bored can they be? Well, now that I’ve recharged a bit, I guess it’s time to head out.’

   Jonathan left his room and locked the door, then head for an alley that does not have a surveillance camera. After making sure one last time that he is not being watched, he pressed the watch on his right hand.

   Immediately, his clothes started to dissolve and transformed into a black tight suit, and all of a sudden he is also wearing a pair of black visor sunglasses, black gloves made of steel, and a pair of black boots.

   [6:17pm, downtown]

   When Blitz reached downtown, it was chaos everywhere. Bullets are flying all over the place, and both the police and the gangsters are either busy firing their weapons, taking cover or busy helping the injured.

   Suddenly, he saw a familiar figure taking cover behind a police car while holding a pistol.

   ‘Hello there, Chief Hendriks.’ Blitz called out to Hendriks.

‘You!’ the expression on Hendriks turned into one of rage the moment he saw Jonathan.

   ‘What’s wrong, Chief? You look pissed.’

   ‘“Pissed” is an understatement! All this mess here is partly your fault, Blitz!’

   ‘Me? What did I do?’

   ‘Don’t you act dumb! You’re the one that killed their boss Rosasco!’

   ‘Ah yes. As a matter of fact, I did.’

   ‘After you pulled that stunt of yours, his henchmen decided to avenge their leader by trying to take over this city!’

   ‘How noble of them.’

   ‘Look, it’s that freak Blitz!’

   ‘He’s the one that killed our boss!’

   ‘Kill him! KILL HIM!’

   The moment the gangsters saw Blitz, they got extremely riled up and started to fire their weapons at him, despite the fact that most of them are injured. As a countermeasure, Blitz created a force field made of electricity around him that fried any bullets that went his way.

   ‘Energetic fellows, aren’t they?’ Jonathan observed.

   ‘Like I said, you fault.’

   ‘Yes, yes. Well, I’m off to deal with them.’

   ‘Don’t kill them!’

   ‘If you insist.’

   It only took a moment for Blitz to knock all those gangsters out with his speed-enhanced punch, which is further enhanced by his steel gloves. Leaving the police to subdue the unconscious gangsters, Blitz bolted to another shootout site by following the noise of gunfire. There, he saw two other familiar figures.

   One was clad in a red leather jacket and black leather pants, while his face was covered with a mask that resembles a burning flame. Currently, he is busy disarming gangsters by melting their weapons with his fireballs. He is known as Ignition, an underground hero just like Blitz.

   Another one is a hulking figure who is almost three metre tall. He is mostly humanoid, with blazing horns on his head, has claws instead of fingers and hooves instead of feet. He wears nothing except for a mask that covers his entire face and a pair of tattered pair of gray shorts. He is Diablo, another underground hero. Unlike the other two, he does not have any powers that allows him to use projectiles, so he had to make do with going close his targets and beating them up.

   ‘Hey Blitz, what took you so long?’ Ignition asked.

   ‘I took an afternoon nap.’ Blitz replied while repelling bullets with his force field.

   ‘Nonchalant as usual, I see.’ Diablo knocked a gangster unconscious with his fist.

   ‘Hey, I was sleep deprived! ’

   ‘For killing Rosasco in the middle of the night.’

   ‘Can’t help it, I was busy during the day. So, Hendriks gave you guys no-kill order too?’

   ‘Yup.’

   ‘Uh-huh.’

   Similar to Blitz, Ignition and Diablo would not hesitate to resort to murder should the need arise. Hendriks’ injunction was the only thing that kept them in check, considering the fact that they are now assisting the police.

   ‘We have to leave soon, though. I mean, these guys are not the only criminals around here. ’ Diablo said.

   ‘Especially me.’ Blitz agreed.

   After the three of them and some of the police took care of the area, the sound of gunfire have considerably lessened.

   ‘So, you guys think that’s the cue for us to leave?’ Blitz asked.

   ‘I guess so, since other real heroes are here too, like Brightman.’ Diablo said.

  ‘What, he’s here too?’ Blitz grimaced.

   ‘Why wouldn’t he? He’s the sworn protector of Desordre, remember?’

   ‘Ugh, if we got caught while he’s around, getting thrown in jail is the least of our problem.’ Blitz don’t even want to think about it.

   ‘So, we bail now?’

   ‘Totally. See you guys at the usual place?’

   ‘Sure, it’s been ages since we hung out, after all.’

   ‘Sound good to me.’

   And so, while the police are rounding up the wounded and/or surrendered gangsters and arresting them, and the heroes are still fighting those who are still resisting, the three underground heroes disappeared from the site.

   [8:42pm, inside the Twisted Sip Bar]

   ‘So what will you boys have today?’ Evan Reid, owner of Twisted Sip asked the three of them.

    ‘You guys cool with having chilli cheese nachos again?’ Blitz asked.

   ‘Yup, and make it a huge bowl. And let’s see… some prawn cocktail would be nice.’ Ignition added after reading the menu.

   ‘Oh oh, barbecue wings for me! I haven’t had those in ages! ’ Diablo, who is in his normal human form, ordered.

   ‘Right away.’ Evan nodded and started to work on their orders.

   The nachos were served first, and the three of them began the attack even though they are still piping hot.

   ‘You guys want some drinks?’ Evan asked.

   ‘Draught beer for me.’ Ignition ordered between mouthful of nachos.

   ‘Me too.’ Diablo said.

   ‘Non-alcoholic root beer please. ’ Blitz requested.

   The other two looked at him disbelievingly.

   ‘What? I’m under-aged!’

   Evan served the drinks and continued to cook their orders. After a while, all the foods were served, and the underground heroes ate them ravenously.

   ‘So, you boys had been busy, huh? Blitz especially.’ Evan said.

   ‘It’s part of our job.’ Blitz shrugged.

   ‘Was it difficult? ’

   ‘Not really.’

   He told them how he first disabled all electronic devices by creating an electromagnetic field, then went in and dealt with the guards who, while having impressive numbers, were pretty much helpless when their weapons were turned against them by electromagnetic. He was planning to spare the accountants who were still working inside the building, but they dug their own grave by confessing that they took some of the money they laundered for Rosasco in a state of panic. He also found a huge safe that he cracked just for the heck of it,since it would contain nothing but money. Then, he head over to the lab where they make Felicità and obliterated the place. Just when Blitz was about to move on, Evan interrupted him.

   ‘Hold on, I need to thank you from the bottom of my heart for destroying that utterly disgusting place.’

   ‘You don’t have to make a big deal out of it.’

   ‘Oh, but I do. My nephew used some of those stuff and lost his life. He was only fourteen. Thank you. Thank you for doing it.’ Evan was almost in tears.

   ‘Yeah, anytime.’ Blitz got a bit embarrassed after being thanked like that.

   Evan poured a draught beer for himself, and they all had a toast.

   ‘For Blitz!’ Evan cheered while raising his beer mug.

   ‘For Blitz.’ Ignition and Diablo echoed.

   Blitz merely raised his glass and didn’t say anything.

   After the toast, he continued to told them about how he killed Rosasco.

  ‘... and that’s the end of the story.’ Blitz concluded.

  ‘He so should have hired someone like us.’ Diablo gave his opinion.

   ‘I know right? Things might have gone differently if he did. What an idiot.’

   ‘He probably doesn’t trust people like you three, people with unique powers. No offense, but a lot of people I know don’t either.’ Evan told them.

   ‘Which reminds me, I was meant to ask you about it for a while now: why do you trust us?’ Blitz couldn’t help but asks.

   ‘I wanted to know too. I mean, if you just refused to serve us, this place wouldn’t be known as a hang out spot for underground heroes and becomes so em…’ Diablo began.

   ‘Hey, you promised not to use that e-word while you’re here!’ Evan interrupted angrily.

   ‘How about “similar to the inside of a politician’s head”? ’ Blitz suggested.

   ‘“Like the stomach of a person who’s gone hungry for four days” works too.’ Ignition added.

   ‘No it won’t, he might have parasites in it.’

   ‘Oh, right. How about, um…’

   ‘AHEM! As for your question, Blitz, it’s part of my policy that I will not refuse any sort of customer, normal or otherwise.’

   ‘A policy that won’t earn you money.’

   Evan shrugged. ‘I didn’t start this business for the money. Besides, you guys are fun to talk to, so who cares? ’

   ‘Thanks for accepting us, Evan. I mean it.’ Ignition raised his mug.

   ‘Thank you.’

   ‘Thanks.’

   Blitz and Diablo followed suit.

   ‘Please stop, you guys are being gross.’

   After chatting for a little while, the underground heroes paid for their bills and left while being careful of not being seen. As Jonathan transformed back his costume to his regular clothes, he went back to his shack while dreading for the next day, as he had to go through another day of school.