[John, the Azure Traveler.]
For those who'd followed his career, he was considered one of the strongest Heroes on the entire planet, and probably the fastest. Of course, the fastest outside of the X-tier Hero, Kyung Hye Park, whose literal Hero Moniker was the Space Breaker.
But his speed was only a part of his charm—and it wasn't even his abilities that made him the youngest ever to become the country's Secretary of Defense, no.
It was his decisiveness and willingness to act without compromise. Even when he was just a Creep back in the Games, John practically made an army of the others and contributed to all of his Games and was a huge part of why they won, despite the Games mostly being decided by the Hero roster.
He climbed up the ranks like no one had before, even exposing corruption in both the government and the IBAA—normal people wouldn't have been able to do that due to internal threats. But, what sort of threat can someone actually impose on the Azure Traveler?
A lot of people knew exactly how strong he was, and those who were now present in his act of terrorism in Las Vegas were fully aware that he could more than enact the threat he had made to them.
And so, right now, with them being given a choice… there really was only one option.
"D-don't kill us! Just kill those two!"
"That's right! What's two lives against a thousand?! My… my son and I are here on vacation!"
"They're probably criminals anyway, right?! Is this a drill?! A stunt?!"
"F-fuck… I knew these Heroes were crazy."
"That's right! This… this can't be real!"
"Kill them… just kill them!"
Despite all the violent screams of the people around him, Adam wasn't focusing on them at all and was instead staring at the couple John was holding. The two were clearly confused and had no idea what was happening right now—and from their faces, they weren't even from the country at all.
"Do you see now, Lord Adam?" John was the only one who seemed satisfied with the situation, a hint of a smile even plastered on his face as he spoke to him. "How easily we would turn against each other? How easy it is to condemn our own kind?"
"You didn't really give any of them a choice," Adam said, sighing at the sheer… stupidity of the situation. "You're giving them the illusion of it. Of course, they would choose themselves."
"They could've chosen to die together."
"Huh…?" Adam raised an eyebrow, blinking several times at John's absurdity. "Why would anyone choose that? And also, I'm getting really tired of this."
Adam casually checked on his phone, shaking his head as he received an alert of a High-risk Leak. He saw that a group was already responding to it, but he still shrugged and pressed that he would join it.
"Look, I have somewhere I need to be. So, why don't we just wrap this up?" Adam said, slipping his phone back into his pocket. "And also, if you're trying to show me human nature and all of that, you're wasting your time. I've witnessed a good amount of it already. The bad… and the good."
"Then it's time for you to see it again." John breathed out before turning toward the nearest drone hovering above him. "You have all made a decision! The deaths of these two men are all in your ha—"
Before John could finish, he saw it. Everything around him stopped—the blades of the drones, the humming of the large screens, the collective tinkering of the casinos. Everything stopped, except one.
Adam, running toward him at a speed… faster than his?
John's eyes widened, and before he could put more pressure on the necks of his hostages, Adam was already standing in front of him. Adam grabbed both his wrists, and without even any sort of resistance… shattered his bones.
John gritted his teeth in pain, and he dropped to his knees along with his hostages at the same time.
Then, and only then, did the people around them finally react. It was followed by the sound of thunder and the violent burst of wind from Adam's sudden movement, which caused almost all of them to cover their ears and take a step back.
Even the Heroes amongst the crowd didn't see what happened at all—the next thing each of them saw was John kneeling on the ground, and the hostages safe.
Adam wasn't a speedster-type Hero, so he didn't have any of the abilities they had to make his movement smooth and seamless. Each of his steps contained his strength, and each of his steps caused the air around him to crack violently.
It was deafening, incredibly so.
"W-what the fuck was that?!"
"I… I can't hear anymore!"
"My ears are ringing, fuck!"
Half of the crowd was curled on the ground, their ears tightly clamped. Those who weren't, however, were completely frozen with what they were seeing.
John, the Azure Speedster… was caught by someone?
"Who is… that?"
"What do you mean, 'who's that'?! That's fucking Adam the Endless!"
"Who…?"
"What the fuck do you mean 'who'?!"
"I'm not from the US! How am I supposed to know every celebrity Hero?!"
"Does he look like a fucking celebrity Hero to you?!"
"Well… he is quite handsome, no?"
"You—that's… true."
"Wait… He's an X-tier Hero!"
"F-fuck… are we all gonna die?!"
The crowd started to panic when they realized they were in the presence of a human capable of leveling an entire city. They could run, but most of them were told that the disaster X-tier Heroes bring was like natural calamities—you could never truly outrun them.
And so, the only thing they could really do was be frozen in panic.
As for Adam, well, he was just staring down at John, and his eyes no longer held the same coldness they had before. He was just… tired.
"Any more points you'd like to prove?" Adam whispered, the exhaustion obvious from the tone of his voice.
John opened his mouth to speak, but paused for a moment. And when Adam thought he was done, a smile started to creep on his face.
"No," John whispered. "I've already made it. Now, they all know."
"What are you even—"
Adam squinted, then turned his attention to the nearest building that had a giant screen plastered on it… and it was showing him, holding John down.
"Try having your friends erase this, Lord Adam." John's smile grew wider. "You have just restrained me. One of the fastest beings on the planet, and your abilities don't even involve speed. Now, slowly, all of them would see how I see you—an actual god living among us. You can't hide anymore, Lord Adam! You can't—huh…?"
All of a sudden, the lively city of Las Vegas died down. The screen, the colorful lights, the noise… everything. The only noise whispering in the air was the drones dropping one by one from the sky.
"Huh… my glasses aren't working."
"What the… my ring isn't responding!"
The people all tapped their glasses and their smart rings, as they all also completely shut down along with the rest of Las Vegas. The screens that were showing Adam in full view are now gone.
John stared in bewilderment for a moment, but quickly shook his head and scoffed.
"I already expected this, Lord Adam." John breathed in. "I have my own team scattering all the video as we speak. It—"
"Yeah, yeah." Adam waved him off and then grabbed him by the face before suddenly leaping into the air. John was confused at first and thought Adam was going to throw him far away…
…but then they gently landed inside a helicopter that had been waiting in the air for quite some time now.
"You really made a mess this time. Huh, Boss?"
"The usual," Adam said, casually throwing John to the side. "Thanks for coming to get me, Chip."
"I'm the highest-paid helicopter operator in the world, Boss." Chip raised his thumb, glancing back at Adam before focusing on the horizon. His smile, causing his face to crease. "I'll do this job until I die… which is probably a few years from now."
"Don't say that." Adam patted his arm. "You'll probably even outlive me."
"Ha! That would be a sight to see. Anyway, you're in trouble with the billionaire sisters again, I assume?"
"...Ha." Adam covered his face, sighing loudly as he took a seat. He then turned his focus on John, who was just sitting there.
"You're a problem," Adam said, pointing at John. "You did all of this, and the people would just forget me after two or three weeks. You're underestimating people's ability to lose interest, General."
"I don't care about those people. Those who seek god will seek god." John straightened his back, lifting himself up to sit on the chair. "As for me, I will not seek your forgiveness, Lord Adam. I did what I had to do."
"You did nothing but waste both of our time, terrorize the poor people of Las Vegas, and also waste the people's taxes." Adam shook his head. "You're going to prison, by the way."
"I don't care what happens to me now," John said, looking straight into Adam's eyes. "Trust me, Lord Adam. After what is coming, they will remember and seek you. Because the only chance for the world to survive the coming threat… is for you to be our Shepherd."
"...What's coming?" Adam squinted.
"The Bellethers."
"The Bellethers? Have we learned to identify when and where the Leaks would come from?" Adam's eyes slightly widened.
"No." John shook his head before looking at the horizon. "They're coming from out there."
"Out… there?"
"The NASA, CNSA, Roscosmos, SpaceZ… they all detected an unidentified ship on one of Neptune's moons." A smile once again crept on John's face.
"Those motherfucking aliens are coming for us, directly… with a ship the size of Alaska."
"Why… didn't you just lead with that?"