The four robbers shouted as they pointed their firearms at the gas station cashier. The poor guy shook; he looked young, perhaps even a young adult. His hands trembled as he dumped the money into a black bag. One of the impatient robbers, who ironically wore a plastic Superman mask, swiped the bag off the cashier and immediately rushed out of the gas station along with his three stooges. The other three wore black beanies.

  Clearly, they didn't go to school — as you do realize, just wearing a hat doesn't hide your face? In a world full of cameras, you don't bother to wear a mask when you commit a crime? Why don't you mail the police your address while you're at it! Then again, it's a lot better than those dumb thrill-seeking dummies who do illegal stuff while flexing it on a livestream.

  The robber with the Superman mask rushed out and they sprinted through an alleyway. Hidden in the corner was a black van. The four robbers scrambled inside, dumping the money in the back as they sat down. The Superman robber was the driver, starting the engine. It roared to life. I could sense the robber nod; even if I couldn't see it, I bet he was grinning ear to ear, along with his three other buddies.

  Too bad — their smiles were about to turn into huge frowns.

  The driver stepped on the wheel, expecting to move and get out of there, only to find themselves stationary. They could hear the wheels spinning and whining, but they weren't moving at all.

  "What the—!?" one of them cried out in alarm.

  The driver pressed the gas even harder, to the max. Even still, they didn't budge. One of them opened the window to take a peek at what was stopping the van. His confused expression transformed into a horrified one.

  "Hey folks! I think you have something that doesn't belong to you," I said, waving at them as my hand firmly pressed the van's trunk, preventing it from moving.

  The robbers screamed and started frantically telling the driver to go even faster. They did, trying to get away from me. I only shook my head, chuckling.

  "See, that's not gonna work," I said. "Physics is kind of a jerk like that."

  They ignored me, screaming about what to do now, and soon they started arguing like an old married couple. I rolled my eyes.

  "Look, you guys, it's five in the morning! Can you keep your teen drama to a whisper?" I said as I yawned.

  Still, they didn't budge, trying to get away even when I had a firm grip. I rolled my eyes behind my red SEE goggles. I let go, but before they could scurry away — in half a second, probably less — I wasn't paying attention. Their wheels were gone. Literally: I ripped them out. I tossed them into a garbage bin nearby, throwing them like basketballs.

  Unfortunately, I only made one shot. Looks like I won't be making it in for the Raptors this year. I could feel something lightly pinch the back of my head. I turned around with crossed arms and a raised brow. The Superman robber was holding a gun while breathing heavily.

  All of his boys were outside the van, pointing their guns at me.

  "Look, you know that's not—"

  They started firing anyway. I sighed as the bullets traveled at a snail's pace. I grabbed the bullets as they continued to fruitlessly try to kill me. Eventually they ran out, staring at me with fearful eyes. I yawned as I casually walked away and dumped their bullets in the garbage bin. Make sure to always put garbage in the trash; we don't need Toronto looking more like a dumpster.

  "Look, can you just give up already? I have things to do in a couple of hours. Just give back the money and turn yourselves in, and who knows? You'll probably get a lighter sentence. What do you say?"

  I got punched in the face by the Superman robber, who grunted in pain and held his knuckles.

  "Welp, I guess we'll do things the good old-fashioned way."

  "I'll kill—"

  Before he could finish the standard vanilla villain threat, I poked at his chest, which launched him back into his van. He was knocked out cold as he lay on a huge dent. Before any of his friends could react, I moved to poke them all in the stomach at super speed, causing them to drop to their knees, nursing their abdomens. While they regretted their life choices, I grabbed their guns and inspected them.

  "How are you guys getting this many guns? Did I accidentally fly to America or something?"

  I shrugged, tossing all the firearms in the air before narrowing my eyes. My visor split halfway, revealing my glowing red eyes. The intense illumination covering my face produced two red beams that shot out from my pupils and vaporized all of the firearms. I stretched my back.

  "Now that's how it's done..." I muttered before yawning again.

  "Kill you..."

  "Hm?"

  My eyes trailed back to the Superman robber, who had taken off his mask for some reason and was glaring at me hatefully.

  "You better be prepared, Red Justice, because—"

  He then blinked and found himself in a new area: inside the police station, instead of the alleyway from a millisecond ago. In fact, several officers were about to sip their coffee or take a huge bite of their donut. They all froze as four robbers suddenly appeared inside the station. The ex-Superman robber looked around with gaping mouth before trying to move, only to find himself bound along with his groaning friends by a dollar-store skip rope. They turned to me as I stretched my arms, plucked a donut from one stunned officer, and ate it.

  "Morning."

  Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

  Then I left before the police could pull out their guns and start shooting. They still hadn't trusted me yet after all. I watched Toronto from high in the air as I took another bite from the delicious donut. Once again, I yawned. That's what happens if you don't sleep at all. My birthday had just ended a few hours ago, and I immediately suited up and started doing hero work.

  I may not get super tired as long as I have Cosmic Energy flowing inside me, but I can't get to sleep entirely. I finished my donut as I crossed my arms, my cape majestically flapping behind me as I flexed my Mind's Eye, searching for any crimes going on. I flinched slightly when I heard Gavin's voice in my comms.

  "Ben?" I could hear the groggy tone in the voice that seemed to have just woken up. "What are you doing?"

  "Uh, I think it's pretty obvious."

  "Yeah, okay, but five in the morning? Like I shouldn't be conscious right now, the sun hasn't even shown up yet."

  "There is no rest for the wicked, that means I too must not have rest. For I am Red Justice, defender of—"

  "Yeah, yeah, cut the bit." I felt him rubbing his tired eyes. I felt bad. You are supposed to be sleeping. Or at least pretending to be a normal kid. If your parents find out, they're going to kick your little butt, then my tight muscular ones."

  I could hear him sipping on something, probably coffee. "Relax, I have it under control!" I tried to reassure him, but he only hummed sarcastically.

  "Did you forget it's a school day?"

  I froze. School. I blinked once. Twice. Thrice.

  "...Oh."

  "Yup."

  I stared at the tall building below. The gears in my mind churned.

  "...Right," I said. "Today's a school day."

  There was a beat. Then a very tired, very unimpressed sigh.

  "You forgot," Gavin said flatly.

  "Temporarily," I corrected. "Like... a tactical memory lapse."

  Gavin groaned. "Go home, kid. I'll talk to you later, preferably when my brain is online."

  Then he disconnected, probably to play his dumb video games or open up the store. I looked at the city with a complicated expression. I wanted to stay back, do more hero work — after all, things like what happened earlier were happening around the city. After going to Russia and beating the SV4, Red Justice hadn't been in Canada for a full week.

  Crime didn't rise too much; after all, it's only a week off, but it didn't change the fact that crime rose during my absence. I wanted to do more, but unfortunately, today was the first day of school where I start sixth grade at Harvest Hills School, in the year 2025. I sighed before flying back home.

  RED

  Some Time Later...

  JUSTICE

  I stood across the street from the school and stared at it. Not too small. Not too big. Just... there. It was a plain school.

  A brick building with wide windows and a flag out front that barely moved in the morning air. It looked exactly like it was supposed to — the kind of place where nothing cosmic ever happened, where the biggest disaster of the day was spilling milk at lunch. The Canadian flag stood tall. I stared at the flapping flag, thinking about my cape.

  I frowned as I tugged at the straps of my backpack and shifted my weight. I was wearing my black shirt and blue jeans, the usual attire I wear to school. Thank the Lord this place didn't have uniforms, otherwise I would freak out. Despite going to this school for years now, it felt... weird.

  All summer, I'd been flying around being a superhero. The wind slapped against my cheeks as I moved faster than even a bullet. It felt wonderful; being a superhero was wonderful. Well, minus the whole thing with Russia. I let out a shaky breath, remembering those discarded bodies of those soldiers. I forced down my fear and put on my blank expression.

  As I moved through the crowds of fellow kids entering the school, watching kids laughing, shoving, and complaining about waking up early or talking about how exciting summer had been, I couldn't help but feel a little depressed. Now that I'm here, that would mean less time as Red Justice.

  Fewer patrols. Fewer nights where I could just... be something more than a kid with homework. I leaned against the wall to avoid bigger students recklessly chasing each other because of some dumb meathead reason. I looked at my fingers, and a small crackle of red lightning danced between them before fading, like it was never there. I sighed as I moved forward.

  Then I stopped in the corner. I saw three guys looming over a kid who looked a year younger than me. I frowned as Jimmy Bullard's hard eyes pierced the frightened kid's soul while Jimmy's two cronies laughed.

  "C'mon," one of Jimmy's friends snickered, elbowing the other. "It's not like you need lunch money anyway. Look at him, he could skip a few."

  They laughed — loud, mean. Jimmy, as usual, didn't say much; he didn't have to. He just gave you a look, and suddenly you started giving him your lunch money. The kid swallowed.

  I could see his hand shaking as he reached into his pocket. I thought about last year. About how I would've kept walking. Head down. Don't get involved.

  Don't make it worse. Thankfully, I wasn't the same hollow person I was back then.

  "Hey." I didn't shout, but my voice was hard as I moved in front of the kid, crossing my arms and looking at Jimmy, whose blue eyes widened a little.

  "Cut it out, it's only the first day."

  Usually, I would have said some good old Red Justice insults and taunts, but I was here to keep my head down. Though I wasn't going to sit back and let these three jerks do what they wanted. Speaking of, one of them, the one with those ugly braces, sneered at me.

  "Well, look who it is," one of them said. "You lost, Armstrong?"

  "Or are you trying to be a hero?" the other added, laughing harder.

  My lip twitched, forcing a smirk from appearing on my face. They had no idea. Jimmy didn't laugh. He just stared at me. His eyes were hard, yet somehow soft at the same time.

  That's one thing I didn't like about Jimmy. He seemed unpredictable compared to the other stereotypical bullies I found in this school. I could never really tell what he was thinking. Jimmy's jaw tightened. Then he took a step back.

  "What—?" one of his friends started.

  Jimmy turned away, shoving his hands into his pockets before walking off.

  "Let's go," he said, flat and final.

  His friends stared at him. "Dude, what are you—?"

  He turned his head slightly and glared at the two of them. They straightened and started obediently following him. The kid moved into my line of sight, looking at me with a shocked yet grateful expression.

  "...Th-thanks," he said.

  Then the bell rang, and all of us scrambled to get to our classes. I sat in my seat with a sigh, putting my bag at my side. Front-left row. Not bad. Close enough to the window that I could see outside if things got boring.

  If Gavin were here, he would say it's a favorite seat for all protagonists, so they look out the window dramatically. I was just starting to relax when the chair next to me scraped loudly against the floor. I froze as a familiar silhouette sat at the desk and stared ahead. I turned my head.

  Jimmy Bullard.

  Of course. Mixed class. Because apparently the universe thought today wasn't awkward enough already. Jimmy didn't even look at me and stared ahead at the blackboard, his blonde curls shifting as he pushed them back. I shifted in my seat, suddenly very aware of how close he was. He was acting weird, even weirder than last year, especially earlier.

  Then I almost slapped myself. Duh, of course he's going to act differently. I helped him get away from the portal. The reason he didn't get sucked into that alien world was because of me. Huh — that's a weird thought: Jimmy having powers? Maybe I saved the world when I rescued Jimmy.

  The school bell rang again, and an adult man entered my classroom. He looked incredibly familiar. He seemed pretty young; he had brown hair, amber eyes, and circular glasses. He looked like he needed a cup of coffee because of how tired and dead his eyes were. Without a word to us, he started to write something on the board, then moved back to face us; his name was on the blackboard.

  My eyes widened; my jaw dropped to the floor. Now I knew why this guy seemed familiar. After all, he was accidentally responsible for why I have these powers. His portal failed and exploded and sucked me in, but now he was here.

  "My name is Richard Dracos. I'll be your homeroom teacher this year."