"Billie Jean is not my lover, She's just a girl who claims that I am the one... But the kid is not my son, Hee Hee"
*Ping Ping Ping*
Jayden stopped singing as he noticed that his watch was pinging, he scanned his surroundings as he searched for surveillance and found none.
"Dick, I am currently in the library catching up with months of school because somehow
I am doing Physics, Advanced Mathematics II also Robotics and Engineering as my electives... it's a lot so you can't keep calling me during school hours"
Jayden rambled to Nightwings hologram with a tone of frustration, the changes were made without his consent and that pissed him off even more.
[ I see, you were supposed to leave school at 15:00 and it's currently 16:59. You missed training and briefing so I am sorry for being concerned and conducting a follow-up on your well being]
"My bad," Jayden replied with a wry smile. He leaned back slightly in his seat, voice softer now, but still edged with fatigue.
"You wouldn't call for something that simple we are not that close, so what is it"
The hologram flickered as Nightwing responded.
[Robbery in progress. East Harlem — 120th and 2nd Avenue.
NexMart superstore.]
Jayden raised an eyebrow.
"A superstore? Really? Can't the cops handle it?"
[Normally, yes. But the suspects are using stolen tech from LexCorp high-level energy weapons, jammers, reinforced shields.]
Jayden didn't respond immediately.
[We've been tracking that gear, and this is the first confirmed sighting.
And one more thing…There's a strong possibility the suspects are Metas]
Nightwing's voice turned clipped.
[There are hostages are inside,Civilians and the kids, we're tied up with Hive on the West End. No one's close enough to intercept.]
Jayden stared at the wall, exhaled slowly.
"...Give me a minute to pack my things and I will deal with it"
.....
"Kim Dokja, should I kill some of these hostages to keep them quite"
"I KEEP TELLING YOU!!! I am not this Kim Dokja, just because I am Korean it doesn't mean we all look the same and CALL ME GRID!!!"
"My bad....Kim Dokja"
Two people codenamed Grid and Bruiser argued scaring the Hostages even more.
The civilians were shivering as they heard the words of their oppressors, the children were separated from the adults and one of the kids was shot in the leg.
Grid was just a cyber security penetrator and Bruiser was the muscle who an exoskeleton suite and gloves that generated shockwaves.
"After this gig, I plan to retire... maybe go to Gotham city for a vacation"
They began to laugh uneasy, mocking laughter that echoed through the aisles of NexMart, bouncing off metal shelves and half-emptied crates.
The fluorescent lights above flickered once, then again longer this time until the store was drowned in momentary darkness.
Then click.
They snapped back on.
Grid turned instinctively, scanning the room. "Bruiser?" he called, voice suddenly tight.
But Bruiser was no longer at his side.
In his place, lying on the cold tile, were the remains of the exosuit still sparking from its power core and one of the shock gauntlets, crushed inwards like it had been folded by invisible hands.
Before Grid could react, the lights flickered again and this time, when they returned
Jayden was standing in front of him.
"Superman??"
The civilians gasped some cried out for help, others just stared, hope and confusion mixing in their expressions.
Even Grid took a hesitant step back.
They saw the sigil, the symbol of hope but there was no cape, no bright red, no blue.
Only a boy who wasn't the man of Tommorow, he was clearly younger, shorter, leaner stood in a black suit threaded with crimson trim.
"I am not Superman, I am Prime a.."
*Bang*
A short, whistling missile burst from the back of the store compact like a mini-bazooka round.
It slammed straight into Jayden's head.
The impact shook the aisle, Smoke burst outward, thick and black, swallowing everything from his neck up.
HAH!!!!
Gasps broke out.
The civilians stared as the smoke slowly cleared.
Jayden was still standing.
Unharmed.
But his face was different now his brow lowered, jaw tight,Then in a blur, he vanished.
And reappeared a heartbeat later, gripping a man by the collar, one hand wrapped around the still-smoking launcher.
"You little piece of shit, did you just try to kill me and everyone in here including the kids....that's fucked up"
If not for the fact that, within that split second, Jayden had inhaled deeply pulling in the flames, pressure, and combustion right into his lungs...
The entire store would've been reduced to rubble.
Everyone in the store would've died, everyone except him.
That thought alone made his jaw tighten, It pissed him off.
Without hesitation, his fist slammed into the man's jaw, one clean hit.
CRACK!!
The guy dropped instantly, unconscious before he hit the ground.
Jayden didn't even look down, His eyes were already back on Grid.
"Those who live without a moral compass, who see no worth in human life, are not men they are beasts wearing human skin"
After hearing Jayden's words, the civilians watched as Grid suddenly dropped to the floor.
At first, they thought he'd fainted, but the truth was far stranger.
Jayden had moved so fast the eye couldn't follow and struck a precise point just behind Grid's ear, where nerve clusters were most vulnerable.
It wasn't brute force, it was surgical.
A blow so clean and fast it short-circuited the brain for a moment and Grid was out cold before his body hit the ground.
Jayden just stood there, silent, eyes scanning the room again.
Jayden's gaze shifted.
His eyes glowed faintly as he activated his X-ray vision, scanning the entire store with calm precision.
In the back past the aisles, behind a sealed maintenance door he saw two figures moving.
One male.
One female.
They were crouched over a vault.
The woman's body lit up in his infrared spectrum, glowing white-hot.
Her entire form was burning at over 700 degrees Celsius, her palms melting through the reinforced steel like butter.
The man beside her wasn't just watching his hands were pressed against the sides of the vault, twisting the metal like it was warm clay.
' Two meta humans, a pyrokinetic and a Ferrokinetic.... doesn't matter'
Jayden took a single step forward and vanished.
By the time they noticed the shift in air pressure, he had already reappeared behind them.
One sharp breath escaped his lungs a concentrated blast of subzero air engulfed the woman instantly, freezing her solid before she could turn around.
She didn't even get to scream, and the man turned too slow.
Jayden's palm slapped across his face like a whip crack, and the meta dropped where he stood.
Then, another blur.
He was already back at the center of the store, moving through the civilians.
His arms moved with precision, binding each of the conscious suspects wrists, ankles, gagged using high-tensile wire from a shattered equipment rack nearby.
Everyone was tied down.
Everyone except the woman still frozen solid like a statue near the vault.
"Is everyone okay"
"NO MY DAUGHTER GOT SHOT AND SHE'S BLEEDING OUT"
Jayden heard the voice, turned his head, and saw a mother clutching her daughter.
The girl was barely conscious, her leg soaked in red.
Within a single heartbeat, he was beside them.
He knelt down, hand hovering just above the wound.
His expression shifted no longer cold, no longer angry just concerned.
His eyes lit up faintly as he activated his X-ray vision.
Jayden scanned the leg quickly and let out a quiet breath of relief.
The bullet had torn through muscle painful, but it missed the bone and didn't touch any major artery.
Still kneeling, he raised his right hand and It began to phase slightly, vibrating on a molecular level.
He pressed it gently into her leg and a second later, he pulled out the bullet.
He stood, blurred for a moment, and was already at the nearest shelf.
He grabbed a packet of alcohol wipes, a small bottle of disinfectant, and a sealed bandage roll from a first aid kit.
Back at her side, he worked fast.
He cleaned the wound, wiped away the blood, poured the alcohol without hesitation and wrapped the leg tight in layers of gauze and medical tape.
The girl whimpered softly, but she no longer looked like she was fading.
Her breath slowed.
And then she cried but this time, in relief.
Jayden glanced up at the mother, with his voice calm, low, but reassuring.
"Mam, I think your daughter will be fine."
....
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