Adrian didn't sleep.
He sat by the window, watching smoke columns thin over the Queens skyline. Three blocks from the nearest military checkpoint, something with a furnace for a heartbeat was still breathing under a manhole cover.
Sleeping monsters don't stay asleep, he thought.
They wake up right when the plot needs them to.
He looked down at his forearm. The scratch from yesterday was completely gone. No scar, no sting, no trace it had ever existed.
That bothered him more than the actual injury.
By the time Sophia shuffled into the kitchen in an oversized hoodie, Adrian had already brewed coffee and cooked eggs.
"You look like death," she said, squinting over her mug.
"Didn't sleep."
"Great start to the superhero career." She took a heavy sip. "So what's today's plan? Punching more garbage monsters? Finding the guy who turns into a giant vulture?"
Adrian nearly choked. "I never said—"
"You talk in your sleep, Hayes." She smirked into her mug. "Mumbling about Vultures, Ultrons, and someone named Thanos. Should I be worried, or is that just sorcerer Tourette's?"
Note to self: lock the door. And stop narrating the MCU out loud.
"It's nothing," Adrian lied. "I just want to check on the kid from yesterday. The one in the alley."
Sophia's smirk vanished. "The one who almost died?"
"The one who didn't die." He kept his voice steady. "I want to make sure he's fine. That's all."
Sophia studied him for a long moment. "Fine. But wear the hood and the sunglasses. You already look like a CW villain; we don't need people staring at your eyes."
The stadium refugee camp was starting to thin out. Cots were stacked, Red Cross volunteers were handing out bottled water, and National Guard Humvees idled at the perimeter.
Adrian walked through the crowd with his hood pulled low.
With Six Eyes, the world was a flood of raw data. A woman's racing pulse. A man hiding a hairline fracture in his leg. The microscopic dust hanging in the morning light over collapsed buildings.
Having Six Eyes during a crisis is torture, he thought. I can see everyone's health bars, but I can't do anything about it.
He found the boy near the aid tents. The kid was wrapped in a foil blanket next to an elderly woman who was holding his shoulder tightly.
When Adrian approached, the boy's eyes widened.
Don't make a scene.
Adrian crouched down, keeping his distance. "Hey. You okay?"
The boy nodded silently.
"He hasn't said much since yesterday," the woman said, watching Adrian carefully. "Were you there?"
"I was. Just wanted to make sure he made it."
The woman's gaze sharpened. "You're the one who pulled him out? The news said it was a gas explosion..."
Gas explosion. Right. Classic cover-up for a cursed spirit.
"I just heard a scream and pulled him back," Adrian said, putting on his best traumatized bystander act.
"I should get going."
He turned to leave.
"Your eyes were blue," the boy called out softly.
Adrian froze.
"Really, really blue," the boy added. "Like they were glowing."
Several people nearby turned to look.
Okay. Stay calm. Kids say weird things after trauma. Just walk.
"Kid's still in shock," the woman said quickly, pulling the boy closer.
"It's fine," Adrian said. "Take care of him."
He walked away at a steady pace. No running. Running made you look guilty.
He slipped into an empty alley before letting out a sharp breath.
Too close. Rule number one of surviving this world: don't let witnesses tell the government about your glowing eyes.
Just then, a black SUV rolled past the mouth of the alley.
Government plates. Two agents inside, scanning the area with practiced efficiency.
Stenciled discreetly on the door was a seal: DODC.
Department of Damage Control.
They were already investigating the site. Faster than he expected.
Adrian casually kept his head down, letting the shadow of his hood hide his face until the SUV turned the corner.
He didn't go home immediately. He walked the perimeter of the hazard zone instead, staying two blocks away from the underground spirit.
Suddenly, a blue translucent window snapped open in his field of vision.
[HOST HAS ACCUMULATED SUFFICIENT PROXIMITY DATA.]
[NOTICE: CURSED ENERGY MAY BE ABSORBED THROUGH DIRECT COMBAT OR PASSIVE ENVIRONMENTAL EXPOSURE.]
[CURRENT PROGRESS TO LEVEL 3: 62%]
Adrian stopped in his tracks.
I can level up just by standing near it?
If existing near high-density cursed energy gave him passive experience, then that monster underground wasn't just a threat.
It was an EXP farm.
[SYSTEM NOTICE: REACHING HIGHER GRADE THRESHOLDS WILL GRANT A RANDOM CARD.]
[HIGHER GRADES INCREASE THE PROBABILITY OF UNLOCKING TEMPLATE-EXCLUSIVE SKILLS.]
The good stuff is locked behind high-risk targets. Classic.
Still, Adrian didn't push his luck. Curiosity almost got a kid killed yesterday. He wasn't going to get himself killed testing a hunch.
Slow and steady, he reminded himself. I'm Grade 3, barely. One decent punch, one bronze card. Don't get arrogant.
He returned to the apartment as dusk settled over the city.
Sophia was on the couch, watching muted news coverage of the invasion.
"The kid's fine," Adrian said, sitting down beside her.
Sophia nodded, keeping her eyes on the screen.
"And you? Are you okay?"
Adrian thought about the DODC SUV, the kid's words, and the furnace-like heartbeat pulsing beneath the streets.
"Ask me again in a few years," he said.
Sophia huffed a quiet laugh and leaned her head against his shoulder.
For tonight, that was enough.