The air in Deika City's abandoned industrial sector was dense with the smell of rust and the oppression of solitude. Li Wei advanced, his Helldiver armor a silent echo in the labyrinth of empty warehouses and dead factories. Aegis's voice was a distant whisper in his mind, a constant reminder of his decision to face this mission alone, without the help of the Helldivers or the Fortress's support. It was his trial by fire, the fight against the Lin Jian who had manifested in another universe.
"Commander, confirming the presence of multiple Quirk signatures in Warehouse 7B," Aegis whispered. "One of them is of a significant power level. High probability of being 'The Watcher'."
Li Wei moved stealthily, his steps light despite the weight of his armor. His senses, sharpened by battles in broken worlds, caught the faint murmur of voices and the glint of an unnatural light through a broken window. This was not the apocalyptic chaos of Earth-199999; it was a more insidious threat, a rot hidden beneath the shining surface of heroic society.
He slipped to a rusted metal side door. The sound of mocking laughter and the clinking of metal chains made him tense. He opened the door just enough to see inside.
Warehouse 7B was a purgatory. A dozen figures, masked and in dark clothes, tortured a group of tied-up civilians. One of the thugs, a burly man with a Quirk that allowed him to lengthen and harden his limbs, brutally beat a prisoner, his laughter echoing in the vast space. Another figure, thin and with a Quirk that seemed to manipulate shadows, hovered over a woman, whispering horrors to her.
In the center of it all, with his back to Li Wei, was the imposing figure of "The Watcher." His armor was a distorted version of a hero's suit, darker and spiked. His Quirk emitted a subtle aura of coercion, making the prisoners tremble uncontrollably; even the thugs seemed nervous around him.
"The Watcher has been identified," Aegis confirmed. "Former Class A Professional Hero, 'Mind Weaver'. His Quirk, 'Mental Loom', allows him to weave complex illusions and mental suggestions. He has been responsible for the disappearance of dozens of individuals with 'uncontrollable' or 'dangerous' Quirks, delivering them to the Brotherhood's illegal experiments."
Aegis's description fit Lin Jian's facade perfectly: subtle control, manipulation, contempt for those deemed "dangerous" or "useless." Li Wei's heart burned with a cold rage.
The First Solitary Step
Li Wei entered the warehouse. The sound of his Helldiver boots resonated in the silence that suddenly descended upon the place. All heads turned toward him.
"Who are you?" growled the thug with the elongated limbs, his arm extending and hardening, ready to strike.
Li Wei did not respond. His Helldiver rifle rose, not to kill, but to disarm. He fired a precise burst that impacted the thug's Quirk, overloading it and causing him to recoil with a cry of pain.
The shadowy figure lunged, its shadows attempting to engulf Li Wei. But Li Wei had fought existential fear in the post-Thanos world. Shadows did not intimidate him. He fired again, the energy burst impacting the villain's shadow generator, dissipating it.
"Commander, your movements are precise. Thug threat level: low," Aegis noted.
"The Watcher," Li Wei said, his voice deep and fearless, projecting across the warehouse. "Your reign of hypocrisy ends here."
The Watcher turned slowly, his dark armor creaking. His eyes, visible through the slits of his helmet, glowed with an unsettling light. "An intruder. A lone vigilante? How pathetic! There are no heroes here, boy. Only power and control. And I am the one in control."
He activated his Quirk. An invisible wave of mental suggestion surged towards Li Wei. Suddenly, Li Wei saw the Lin mansion, his parents looking at him with contempt, Lin Jian smiling superiorly as he accused him. The echo of pain.
In first person: The illusion was potent, a direct hit to my old wounds. I felt the familiar pang of uselessness, the fear of being a mistake. My father screamed: "You're a disgrace, Li Wei!" But my mind, forged in the brutality of worlds on the brink of collapse, was stronger now. The rage of a commander who had faced Thanos, the Kree, and who had seen his own men die for an ideal, burned brighter. This was an illusion. A cheap trick. None of it was real. What was real was the despair of the innocent people chained before me.
"Your Quirk is a sham," Li Wei spat, his voice distorted by his helmet's modulator, but laden with contempt. The illusion shattered. "A mask for your own weakness. Like all masks. Like Lin Jian's."
The Watcher seemed genuinely surprised. "Impossible! No one resists my Quirk like that!"
"I've fought worse demons than you," Li Wei retorted. "And my scars are more real than your illusions."
With a roar, the Watcher lunged. He was not an agile hand-to-hand combatant, but his brute strength and the constant pressure of his mental Quirk were overwhelming. He tried to crush Li Wei, his blows laden with unexpected fury.
Li Wei dodged, blocked, and counterattacked with the lethal precision of a Helldiver. Without stratagems, without orbital support, he relied on his own abilities. His rifle, limited to its base configuration, became an extension of his arm, striking, unbalancing. Each time the Watcher tried to impose a mental suggestion, Li Wei clung to the image of Helldiver-74, to the faces of the survivors of Earth-199999, to the promise of Democracy. These were his mental shields.
The battle dragged on. The thugs, trying to regain composure, lunged again. Li Wei, in the midst of his duel with The Watcher, dispatched them with quick, precise blows, incapacitating their Quirks or knocking them out mercilessly. Each time he brought one down, Lin Jian's face flickered in his mind, an echo of his own liberation.
Finally, Li Wei saw an opening. The Watcher, frustrated and exhausted, left a small gap in his mental defense. Li Wei exploited it. With an explosive movement, he broke the Watcher's guard and delivered a precise karate chop to his neck, right where the armor didn't cover.
The Watcher fell, unconscious. His Quirk dissipated, and the air in the warehouse seemed to lighten. The prisoners, who had watched the battle with terrified eyes, now looked at Li Wei with awe and nascent hope.
"Commander, 'The Watcher' has been neutralized. Primary infiltration and neutralization of the leader threat objectives: Completed. The solitary test has been successfully passed. Overall mission success probability: increasing to 55%," Aegis reported, its voice cold but with a clear implication of victory.
Li Wei looked at the fallen hero, the broken mask revealing a human face, contorted by defeat. Hypocrisy. Lies. He had faced it. He had defeated it. Alone.
He freed the prisoners, their hands trembling as he removed their chains. "Super-Earth brings freedom," he said, his voice hoarse. He had spoken the truth. Not for Aegis, not for a puppet president, but for himself and for the oppressed. The solitude of battle had forged his own truth.