The door of Pomino’s Pizza closed behind me while the noise of the street hit my face along with the cold afternoon air.

I still had the taste of pizza in my mouth and a little grease on my fingers, but there was no time to worry about that because the smartwatch kept glowing on my wrist with the mission alert sent by Sarah.

Two superhumans were causing problems in the commercial area near Lily Jewelry and I was the closest hero. Not Vanessa. Not a full team from the agency. Me. For the first time since all of this started, the mission was not something that dragged me by accident nor something where someone else pushed me forward.

It was a clear opportunity to prove that I could move on my own.

I started running along the sidewalk dodging people walking with food bags, couples coming out of restaurants, and some bicycle delivery guys who passed too fast between the crowd.

While I advanced, I could hear sirens in the distance, but they still did not seem close to the area. There were also screams ahead and a metallic thud that echoed between the buildings as if someone had thrown a pole against a door.

That made several people stop in the middle of the street to look, and others simply took out their phones as if danger was a free show.

I could not think like before. If I stopped to wait for instructions, I would lose the advantage. If I ran without looking, I could end up hurting someone with my own powers.

That was the hard part of having fire. It was not just shooting flames and looking cool. Everything around me could become a problem if I did not measure well what I was doing.

There were shop windows, parked cars, plastic signs, food awnings, normal people’s clothes, and too many phones recording. But even so I did not feel fear. I felt pressure, which was different. The pressure kept me awake.

When I reached the area near Lily Jewelry, I saw exactly the mess the alert mentioned. One of the stores had broken glass and the alarm was sounding so loud it almost hurt my ears.

A huge man, wider than any normal person, was holding a trash container with both hands and shaking it like it was a toy.

He had arms that were too defined and bulging veins, so I assumed his power was increased strength or something similar.

The other one was thinner and moved from side to side leaving small gusts of air that pushed papers, bags, and even people who tried to get too close.

He was not invisible and it was not impossible speed, but it was enough to annoy and cause panic.

A street vendor was on the ground holding his leg, several people were hiding behind a car, and a woman was screaming because her little daughter was trapped on the other side of the street, near a broken shop window.

The big one seemed to be having fun with all of that, while the air one was spinning around as if he wanted everyone to know that no one could touch him.

For a second I understood the temptation to shoot fire directly and finish everything, but that was the stupidest way to do it. There were civilians too close.

I touched the smartwatch with two fingers to open the communication. “Sarah, I arrived at the area.”

Sarah’s voice answered almost instantly, with background noise as if she was moving inside the agency. “Oliver, wait for reinforcements. Evaluate first and do not do anything stupid.”

I looked at the huge man lift the container above his head and aim it toward the people hiding behind the car. There was no time to wait for anyone.

“I am evaluating” I answered while raising my right hand.

The fire came out of my palm, but I did not shoot it at him. I shot it at the ground in a curved line between the container and the civilians.

The flame rose enough to force him to stop, not enough to set the car on fire. The big guy stopped with the container still in the air and turned his head toward me with a confused expression, as if he did not expect someone to appear suddenly.

“Hey!” I shouted, although I did not need to because he was already looking at me. “If you want to break something, start with me.”

Several cameras turned toward me. I noticed the phones even without wanting to look. People were recording. That would have made me nervous before, but at that moment it helped me.

If they were watching, then they were also going to see that I did not need anyone to step in for me.

The air guy appeared on my left with a mocking smile. “And who is this? A new hero?”

I moved my fingers and let a small flame surround my hand without exploding toward anywhere. “The one who got here first.”

The guy laughed and ran toward me. It was not a speed so great that he disappeared, but he moved with air impulses that made him change direction quickly.

If I tried to hit him with direct fire I could miss and hit a store or a civilian, so I did not aim at his body. I aimed at the path.

When he made the second impulse toward my right, I lowered my hand and heated the metal edge of a manhole right in front of his foot. I did not make it red or melt it completely, I only heated it enough so that when he stepped on it he would feel the hit of heat and lose his rhythm.

It worked.

The air guy tripped and his gust went upward instead of forward, lifting papers, napkins, and street dust.

He did not fall completely, but for the first time he stopped moving as if he controlled everything.

The big guy took advantage of that moment to throw the container at me. I saw it coming too fast and my legs moved before my head finished thinking.

I stepped aside and shot a short flame at the base of the container to divert it, not to destroy it.

The metal hit the ground a few meters from me and made a horrible noise that made several people scream.

“That almost hit me” I said, feeling that my heart was going fast but my voice did not come out trembling.

The big guy smiled showing his teeth. “Then stay still.”

He started running toward me with his shoulders forward. It was obvious that he wanted to crush me against the wall of a store.

If I stayed there, he would probably break something. If I jumped back, I would let him advance toward the civilians. So I did something different. I put both hands in front and shot a low wall of fire, not directly at his face, but in front of his feet.

The heat forced him to lift one leg awkwardly and in that instant I shot another lateral flame at the ground to make him lose balance.

I did not burn him fully, but I did push him with the impact of the hot air and he ended up crashing against a traffic sign pole with a grunt.

People screamed, but this time it was not only out of fear. Some sounded surprised.

The air guy got up again and extended his hands as if he wanted to shoot me a stronger gust.

I saw how the bags on the ground started moving toward him and how the dust gathered around his feet.

I could not let him charge that attack because if he released it against me he could push anyone behind.

So I ran toward a metal railing that separated the sidewalk from the street and put my hand on it while concentrating the heat.

The railing started heating up fast. When the air guy passed close to go around me, I pushed the railing with my foot and the hot part stayed right in his path.

He tried to change direction, but it was already too late. His arm brushed the hot metal and he screamed, losing the gust before releasing it.

It was not a serious burn, but it was enough to break his concentration. I ran toward him and shot a short flame at the ground in front of his face to force him to step back until he was against a closed shop window. Then I aimed with my palm at his chest without shooting.

“Do not move.”

The big guy stood up again behind me. I heard him before I saw him because his steps made the ground shake a little.

The air guy smiled, thinking I had gotten distracted. But I did not. I kept one hand aimed at him and with the other I shot fire toward a fallen metal sign near the big guy.

The metal heated up and the big guy, who was running without looking, stepped right on it. It was not enough to stop him from pain, but it was enough to make him lose a fraction of a second.

That fraction was enough for me to turn, shoot a stronger flame at the height of his shoulder, and push him against an empty container.

The impact sounded dry.

The big guy fell sitting down, stunned.

The air guy tried to move again, but I raised my hand more and let the flame grow enough to light up his face. I did not need to touch him. I only needed him to understand.

“With me is enough” I said.

It was not a thought-out phrase. It came out on its own.

And for some reason it felt correct.

The air guy slowly lowered his hands. The big guy tried to get up, but I shot a ring of fire around him, leaving enough space so that he would not get burned if he stayed still.

When he saw the flames surrounding him, he stayed sitting breathing hard with an expression of hate.

The street vendor was still on the ground, but someone was already helping him move away.

The little girl who was trapped ran toward her mother when I opened a safe space between the flames and the sidewalk. Everything was under control.

I pressed the smartwatch again. “Sarah, situation controlled. Two superhumans reduced. There are scared civilians and an injured vendor, but I do not see any dead or extended fire.”

There was silence on the other side.

For a second I thought the communication had been cut.

Then I heard Sarah breathe as if she had just swallowed an entire scolding.

“Controlled?” she asked.

I looked at the big guy sitting inside the ring of fire and the air guy with his hands raised against the shop window. “Yes.”

Another silence.

“Reinforcements are on the way. Do not move from the area and keep distance from the civilians until the agents arrive. And Oliver…”

I waited for the scolding.

It did not come.

“Good job.”

I did not smile too much, but I felt something rise in my chest. It was not exaggerated pride. It was something better. It was the feeling that this time no one could say that they had carried me to the finish line.

This time I had arrived, I had seen the problem, and I had solved it before anyone else appeared.

The agents took a few minutes to arrive. By the time they arrived, the two superhumans were still reduced and people were already talking among themselves pointing at me.

Some were still recording. Others looked at me as if they were trying to decide if they had just seen a lucky rookie or someone who could become important.

I liked the second possibility more.

When they finally finished securing the two criminals, I heard steps approaching behind me. I did not have to turn immediately to know who it was.

Vanessa was there.

She had not intervened.

She had not appeared in the middle of the fight.

She was only at the end, looking at the street burned in some points, the bent pole, the agents taking the two superhumans away, and me standing with my hero jacket a little dirty but not lying on the ground.

Her expression was complicated.

Annoyed, worried, and something else that I could not identify completely.

“I guess you did not need help” she said.

I cleaned a little dust from my shoulder and looked at her.

“I told you.”

Vanessa did not answer right away. She only let out a small sigh and looked to the side, as if accepting that cost her more than turning invisible in front of everyone.

Before I could say anything else, my phone vibrated in my pocket.

It was not the smartwatch.

It was my phone.

I took it out thinking that maybe Sarah had sent another message or that the agency wanted some kind of confirmation, but the screen showed a different notification.

Bank transfer received.

I stayed looking at the screen without opening the application.

Vanessa also lowered her gaze toward my phone.

I did not know how much it was.

I did not know exactly who had sent it.

But after my first mission alone, that notification felt too important to ignore.