Only fools fought Captain Tombstone one on one. Even with half his powers, he was still a formidable opponent. I found out the hard way.

I crashed face-first against a cracked wall and fell on my sore back. I stared thoughtfully at the cloudless sky as it spun, waiting for it to stop before I stood again. Captain Tombstone's fierce face appeared above me. I had merely wounded him as blood flowed down his cheeks from the multiple cuts on his grinning face. His outlandish costume was torn in different places too, but I knew I looked worse. He had landed heavy punches and kicks on me.

The effects of not training and improving my power over the last ten years were showing. While I was drowning in drugs, Captain Tombstone was busy taking down high-caliber villains around the world. He was a seasoned veteran who would have given me a hard time, even without his powers. His skills exceeded mine tenfold.

But that didn't mean I was going to let him kill me.

He tried to stomp on me, but I rolled to the side. If that had caught me, I would have died. He had employed all his strength in that foot with how hard the ground shook.

Getting up, I stood with raised fists, electric energy sparkling around my hands. Captain Tombstone was panting with his brawny hands on his knees, but his fierce eyes focused on me. I naturally assumed he never worked on improving his stamina because of how he comfortably defeated his opponents. As a result, I was counting on that to defeat him.

"I'm surprised you've lasted this long, Trey. I underestimated you." He stood straight and gazed around at the carnage. Multiple buildings had collapsed. Corpses hung from shattered windows, while fallen walls trapped survivors beneath the rubble. They cried for help while the police officers tried their best to rescue them. A lot of dead bodies littered the ground, most of them were from the crowd that came to see my execution.

When I was trying to make Captain Tombstone run out of stamina, I had used them as a shield. At first, he didn't attack them. But as time passed, he became frustrated and started running through people like a bulldozer. The smile on his face while he did it showed he had enjoyed taking their lives. He would either slap someone out of his way and send them colliding against a wall or parked vehicle, or he would snap their neck just because.

His actions seemed to make the peculiar who was emotionally manipulating the crowd stop what he or she was doing. With the crowd members back to their senses, they ran for their lives. They had never seen their beloved superhero act in such a manner.

What had gotten into him?

For a hero so composed all the time, the tiniest of things seemed to irritate him. Surely, I wasn't the cause? There were a lot of things I didn't know or understand about peculiars, and Captain Tombstone's gradual change in attitude scared me.

"It's time I ended this." He spread his arms, faced the sky with closed eyes, and took a deep breath. Then his arms started shaking, blue energy flowing around his body, making his muscles grow three times in size.

This is it.

I had heard stories of this move. He called it Endgame. He would summon his body's energy into his fist, and when unleashed at an opponent, it would disintegrate them and the country or city, depending on how much energy he used.

Tombstone's in trouble.

I was in trouble too. If I didn't do something, I was going to die, along with countless innocent civilians. Who knew what Endgame would do to the dome. It could take it down and kill the people outside it too.

I can't let that happen.

When I had planned phase 3, I wanted to take down the establishments that controlled the city. Not the city itself. What was the point of going through all the pain and heartache of the last ten years if all I ended up doing was demolish Tombstone?

Think, Trey. What can you do to stop him?

I glanced around in panic. The energy surrounding Captain Tombstone grew with each passing second. Soon, he would end everything. I had designed the dome to suck the energy of the rare gene that gave us our abilities, thus leaving us powerless.

Without wasting time, I covered my body with electrical energy. Now at full power, I darted through the air, destroying the ground below me, and headed for Captain Tombstone. I hugged him and flew to the sky. When we arrived at the highest point of the dome, I pinned his body against it. He tried resisting, wiggling his body, but the dome started sucking the energy from him. It sucked some of mine too. If I stayed any longer, I wouldn't have the power to fly back down. But I couldn't leave until it got the last drop from Captain Tombstone. I would be dead either way, so I took my chances.

Captain Tombstone's body stopped glowing, and he fainted. My power faded slowly; I had to get down. Trying to fly to the ground as fast as I could proved unfruitful as I ran out of energy midway. I let go of Captain Tombstone and spread my arms as I descended to my death, staring at the dome, relief warming my chest.

I didn't believe what I saw at first; a bird flew by above me. Then more followed.

What is going on?

Glancing down, I spotted a few figures flying in the air. One of them produced fire from their mouth, while another controlled the air with their hands.

And that was when I realized it: The dome is gone.

I landed hard on a gable roof before rolling down its surface and falling to the ground. Pain tore through my body, making me wince and moan. I had surely broken every bone in my body. Not wanting to check, I lay there, taking in the fresh air. With the dome gone, I felt my body tingle with excitement.

When Caleb told me the devices he made would restore my powers to one hundred percent, I knew it wasn't true. No machine could do that. It was at ninety percent. But I didn't want to say it and look like a dick. It was better than not having any power.

But when I pressed Captain Tombstone against the dome, the device short-circuited inside me. The same for the one Captain Tombstone wore.

"Treeeeeeey!"

I sat up and turned to where the scream came from. And that was when I saw him. "Oh, no."

With the dome gone, Captain Tombstone's powers returned to full capacity. It seemed even though I had saved the city and everyone else from being disintegrated, I had given the maniac what he desperately needed.

I gulped and stood. He frowned as he walked towards me, his boots stomping the ground and leaving cracks. I stared at my shaking hands, while my lips also trembled. I was scared shitless. His powers not being at their highest level was all I had going for me. I regretted using the dome to stop him from unleashing Endgame.

I should have let him kill all of us.

He stopped midway and flashed a wicked smile.

Oh, no.

One second he was in front of me, the next he wasn't. I didn't see the punch coming, striking my face and breaking my nose. The force he had used hurled me through the air, making me smash into a building and strike the wall inside. I peeled off it and fell on the floor with a thud.

Everything hurts.

I wanted to lie there and sleep for a bit while my body healed, but I couldn't. Captain Tombstone would not leave me alone until I died. With my remaining energy, I pushed myself off the floor and got on my knees. I spared a couple of seconds to catch my breath before rising to my feet.

Looking around, I was back at the police station. All the officers had gone to look for survivors from the destruction. The desks and chairs were destroyed, wires and pipes hung from the torn ceiling, and dust roamed around the hole in the wall.

"Treeeeeeey!" Captain Tombstone screamed. I could see his glowing red eyes through the hole, heading my way. If I got hit with his laser eyes in the state I was in, I was as good as dead.

I remembered the cell I was in previously and ran towards it in hopes I would have enough time to come up with a plan on how to handle Captain Tombstone. It was an impossible task, but trying was better than giving up. I had done the latter for the last ten years, not anymore.

Entering the room, I found Diana inside. "What are you doing here?" I asked, staring at her sitting on a chair while holding a burger in one hand and a cup of coffee in the other. The latter had stained the collar of her white shirt. "You're eating at a time like this?"

"I get hungry when I'm nervous," she said. I remembered how nervous she was when she asked if it was too soon for her to propose to Mariah. She was so nervous Mariah would say no, she had bought three bags of Jolelo and ate them all.

"Captain Tombstone knows you're the one who injected me with the anti-power-inhibiting serum," I said.

"Wait, what?" Her mouth hung open. "You told him?"

"Yes. While he was punching me, I told him." I touched my face and pain shot through my nose. It had healed, but it would take time before it stopped hurting. I pointed a finger at her. "He told me you were the one who killed the shifter that pretended to be my mother." I lowered my hand. "Well, he implied—"

"I'm sorry," she said, taking me by surprise. After everything I had been through, the anger inside me was long gone. All that remained was sadness. I knew she couldn't refuse when Captain Tombstone came knocking at her door. She was a mundane and had a lot to lose. I would have done the same if I were in her position. That was why it hurt. "I wanted to tell you many times but—"

"Water under the bridge. You did me a favor, to be honest. I know who killed my real mother, and they'll pay." I peeked inside the bag of Jolelo and saw a paper cup with fries in it. Taking a few, I dipped them in a small plastic container with tomato sauce inside before taking a bite. "I came here to think."

"Treeeeeey!" Captain Tombstone shouted from outside. It was obvious he was in the front office from the distance of his voice and the smashing of furniture.

"With the dome gone, no one can beat him."

"That's not true." She placed her burger and drink inside the bag and stood. "Follow me." We walked out of the room and headed in the opposite direction from the front office. I breathed a sigh of relief. For a moment there, I thought she might take me to my death.

Arriving at the last room in the hallway, she opened the door and went in first. Countless boxes piled on each other on the floor. It was a mess, but Diana knew what she was looking for. She walked to the box at the far back, took it, and brought it to where I was.

"Is this the storage unit?" I asked.

"You could say that." She glanced around and then chuckled. "These boxes contain files relating to the strongest peculiars, their powers, and weaknesses." She opened the file she had in her hand. Captain Tombstone's picture was at the top right corner. Someone redacted the entire page. "When I was working with The Mighty, I started doing my research. I wanted to know how someone like me could kill them if they decided they were tired of us."

"You gathered all these boxes?"

"Yes. Throughout the years."

"Do the other officers know about this?"

"No one comes in here except me. This used to be my office. But because I spent most of my time in the field, I used it as a storage unit. Smart, right?" She looked at me, and I shrugged. She found the page she was looking for on the file and pointed at a paragraph. "Read this."

I took the file from her and checked what was written:

We have been injecting Judas with serum-J from the moment he came out of his mother's womb. With it mixing with his peculiar gene, he shows signs of one day becoming the most powerful weapon on the planet.

That's all? "What's serum-J?"

She reached inside the box and pulled out a syringe with purple liquid inside. "This is serum-J. It enhances a peculiar's power, and also works as an anti-power-inhibiting serum. That's all I know for now."

"Wait, that's what you injected into me earlier?"

"Yes. What did you think it was?" She looked baffled.

"Never mind. Are there more like it?"

"All these years I've been searching for more answers. But wherever I looked, it led me back to the laboratory where I found a scientist who had this. This is the last of serum-J, from what I gathered." She shook the syringe while she stared at it in fascination. "Can you believe Dr. Owl had this all along and didn't know what it was? He had inherited it from his father, who got it from his father. Dr. Owl wanted nothing to do with it, even though he didn't know what it was. All he said was that he knew it was something bad, and he didn't want anyone else to have it."

"Then why didn't he destroy it?"

"He said it was the last thing he had of his father after the man died in a mysterious fire. If you ask me, someone killed him for the serum. Too bad they didn't know he had a bastard son. Otherwise, Dr. Owl would have been killed too."

"If Dr. Owl didn't want anyone to have it, how did you—" She smiled at me. It all made sense now. So that was why Diana framed him. It made it easier for her to search his house and get ahold of the serum. "What now?"

"If you want to have a chance of beating Captain Tombstone, take the whole serum."

"Now?"

"Does it look like we have time to waste?"

It was true. I could hear Captain Tombstone heading our way. I assumed he must have already checked the cell. "Fine."

"For it to have maximum effect, it needs to be injected into your forehead." She smiled.

"Any side effects?"

She shrugged.

I groaned. "Do it."

She held my head in place and injected the serum. I hoped it wouldn't be painful, but I was wrong. Every fiber of my being cried out for help for the first couple of seconds. I couldn't move. But I sensed everything around me.

My mind began opening up to new possibilities, coming up with ways I could take control of the so-called Big Bang and use it to my advantage. Everything around me seemed big and small at the same time. Life was meaningless and important. With this new level of power, I could do whatever I wanted, and no one could stop me.

No one, unless...

"There you are," Captain Tombstone said from outside the room. The frozen effect wore off. I watched him stare at me with disgust. For the first time in my life, I saw him as nothing more than an insect.

He dashed at me with his super speed. But to me, he moved in slow motion. He was like a snail, and I was the foot that was going to stomp him repeatedly until he died. I avoided his punches and kicks with ease, leaning sideways and watching his arms move beside me. I grabbed his leg and punched his knee, breaking it. He screamed in pain as he limped away from me and out of sight.

"That was easy." I stared at my hands. "I hurt him without using my electric powers," I muttered before I started laughing like a maniac. "Finally, I'm unstoppable."

"Not quite," Diana said from behind me, ruining my moment. "Unlike Judas, who got injected with the serum as a child, your strength won't last. I don't know how long before you return to being... you, but I suggest you hurry and kill him."

"Noted." I dashed to the hallway and saw him leave the building through the hole in the wall. Following him outside, I caught him standing there with his usual wicked smile. It seemed his broken knee had healed. But he wasn't smiling because of that. No. He was doing so because he had me surrounded.

He lured me into a trap.

Every known hero in the city, whether they had jurisdiction to work in the area or not, was there. I recognized all of them, but I didn't see the other members of The Mighty. I guess they died with my teammates.

"What happened to you fighting me on your own?" I asked.

"What's the point when all these heroes want a piece of the man who locked them in a dome?" he replied. "You're going to die here, Trey. Alone, and soon to be forgotten."

"Who said he was alone," a voice said behind me. I turned, and I didn't see anyone at first. Then I looked at the sky and there they were: Parasite, Pyro Storm, Behemoth, Mind-Thorn and...

It can't be. I thought my eyes deceived me until he landed on the ground and came to hug me. "How?" I asked Caleb. He looked like he hadn't been torn in half. That shouldn't have been possible. He didn't have a healing ability. So how was it possible?

"I'll tell you everything later. But first, take this." He handed me a small remote with a red button at the center.

"Is this—"

"Yes."

I rubbed the tears from my face and took it with a smile. Finally, I had the destruction button. I raised the remote and smiled at Captain Tombstone and his new allies. He looked confused seeing me smiling, even though they outnumbered us. I pressed the button and explosions rocked the city from different places before black smoke slithered in the air.

"What did you do?" Captain Tombstone asked.

"What I had to." Many years ago, Nuhaila, Caleb, and I had planted bombs in the churches in Tombstone connected with pedophilia, human-and-sex trafficking, mass murders, and other illegal shit we had discovered when investigating them.

Captain Tombstone and other peculiars with flight abilities flew to the sky to check what had happened. Once they realized what I did, they came back down, glaring at me. None of them said a word. Instead, they unleashed their powers.

I summoned the electrical energy within me and allowed it to cover my body. I wanted to cover my face with an electric mask, but there was no point since they all knew what I looked like.

"Alright team," I said, and my comrades stood beside me. "Leave no survivor."