Chapter Text
In the dead of the night, on the outskirts of Musutafu, there was a dark, gloomy alleyway.
There wasn’t anything remarkable about it.
It was just one of countless alleyways where a Villain could pop out and rob you of everything, or where you could get mugged by a passing gang for existing within their general vicinity.
For the first time since forever, save for the unceasing downpour and the occasional sounds of stray tin cans being knocked around by skittering rats, it was, by all standards of this world, quiet.
At that moment, it was one of those rare and few spots in “Hero Central”, Musutafu.
No random explosions, no screaming, no deafening clashes between Heroes and Villains, or all of the aforementioned all at once.
It was peaceful.
Then, a flash of iridescent blue pierced through the open space, bathing the entire alleyway in a vibrant cyan. Space itself twisted and warped, opening up to a glowing void.
Out of that punctured wound, a young man dropped down. More accurately, he floated down, feet-first, gracefully, with his hands casually resting in his pockets.
Vmmmp—
The hole imploded as quickly as it came, vanishing as though spacetime had never been disturbed at all, and leaving behind the young man alone in the damp alleyway.
He stood there – well, he floated there, silently. Under the faint ambience of hidden urban lights, his pale face stood starkly against the darkness, with navy eyes shining through the gloom.
His scarf, matching the color of his eyes, fluttered in the absence of wind.
The rain refilled the quiet. If you looked closely, none of the raindrops ever touched the man, leaving his vest and ash-brown hair completely dry.
“Ah.”
Visibly unbothered, he calmly observed his surroundings.
“Life never ceases to stop surprising me.”
.
.
.
In a parallel mirror world…
At her feet, a boy’s body lies bloodied and shattered on the ground.
Her violet gaze, sharp and remorseless, observes the boy — soon-to-be corpse laying on a piece of wired fencing.
The seemingly lifeless body would resuscitate itself in sporadic intervals of twitching and gasps of pain. A pitiful show of desperation to cling onto fading consciousness.
Don’t get the wrong idea. She just happened to end up in the wrong place (a couple billion mirror worlds off-course), at the wrong time.
This was a very, very much deliberate and calculated trip. Though a minor step in her grand scheme, it was an important step, nonetheless. Like she had any qualms about razing an orphanage to the ground.
It was clear that the boy had fallen from a high place. Not high enough to bring instant death — he’d already suffered for half an hour.
He doesn’t look older than 14. Maybe younger, judging by the baby fat.
Notably, he was still wearing his shoes.
What a shame.
“... No … …. kch …. help….. who….… ”
A weak voice could be heard, wheezing barely audible words between laboured gasps.
The woman smiled wryly in response.
Producing a vial filled with a bright green fluid from her hand, she stabs its needled end into the dying body. The boy jolts violently with a pained choke.
Then in a blink, a purple rift was torn through space.
She picks up the quivering limp sack of broken bones, and tosses it unceremoniously into the rift.
“So… rry…mom…” were his last discernible words before dissolving into the purple.
She had to admit, it was quite admirable.
Teetering near oblivion, that boy's final thoughts were of how he failed his loved ones. To carry such a will, she mused, it was much like a child she had tempered with her own hands, among several. The same child eventually shattered like the rest, though not before she had served her purpose.
She looked forward to seeing what a hands-off approach would yield. That selflessness would serve him well in the City.
“Good luck, kid,” the woman chuckles, before slashing another rift for herself and disappearing in a flash.
Both rifts sealed themselves soundlessly.
.
.
.
The alley was left eerily empty, with only an inconspicuously large pool of blood — to be discovered by an unsuspecting civilian — as evidence of the absurd encounter.