(January 6th, 2030)

  A blur of black and white raced across the roofs of Miracle City at supersonic speeds. To his loved ones, this blur was called Conner McClain, a recently turned eighteen-year-old man who spent most of his free time working as the world’s first Super Mask. As this other persona, the world had come to know Conner as The Shining Darkness.

  Adorned in his monstrous crime-fighting costume while transformed into his powered state, Conner was heading to Disaster Prison to interrogate Sally Penspot, the former crime boss of his home city. However, Conner had been trying to get in to question Penspot for months, ever since he captured her. But every step of the way, Disaster Prison’s warden had stonewalled his requests. But now, Conner had no choice but to force the issue.

  To ensure extreme measures were necessary, Shine contacted his police liaison, a powerful woman named Commander Jericho.

  “The warden still hasn’t gotten back to you. Right, Jericho?” Shine spoke into his earpiece with a deep voice that sounded like spewed flames.

  “Sorry, Shine. She’s still insisting there’s more paperwork. It’s complete bull, I say. That woman’s as crooked as any Wart,” Jericho answered with calm annoyance. She was ignorant of Shine’s intentions tonight. Jericho knew he’d wanted to confront the warden, but wanted to stay ignorant of the actual plans so she could maintain plausible deniability for her career’s sake.

  “Thanks anyway, Jericho. I-. Oh, wait. How are things going with Mr. Franklin’s son?”

  Jericho paused on her end momentarily before she responded with exhaustion, “Oh, right. Him… Erm, well…”

  “Something went wrong?” Shine questioned with a touch of anxiety.

  Conner heard Jericho gulp coffee before she answered, “Well, I had a couple of my people look into what we can do. We can’t touch his criminal record, but we can try to reach out to some governmental and independent groups. They give jobs to former convicts, but they fill up fast, and they rely on the prison’s willingness to work with them. And… Miracle City’s prisons are more interested in keeping the inmates locked up than helping them out.”

  “Er-! Why? That’s… It seems counterproductive.” Conner’s tone, despite his enhanced mind and traumas beyond his years, showed his youth.

  “Honestly, I hadn’t thought about this until you asked me to work on this case… I won’t sugar-coat it. The ticks running our prisons make more money the more folks they have locked up, and it looks like there’s better odds that the people who get let out go back in if they’ve got a criminal record.” There was a frustrated pause before Jericho finished, “Look, I’ll keep looking into what I can do. But I don’t think I’ll have enough weight to throw around unless I make Commissioner in the next appointment cycle. And th-.”

  “And that’s not until the end of the year… Okay. Thanks anyway, Jericho. I’ll let you get back to your desk work.”

  “Joy… Good luck with whatever you’re up to tonight.”

  “Thanks,” Conner replied before he heard Jericho hang up.

  As he leaped off a coffee shop, a few people nearly noticed him. It had gotten harder to go unnoticed in Miracle City ever since waves of tourists started flocking to the city in hopes of spotting the Shining Darkness. Great for Miracle City’s economy, in fact, there were even talks of making a yearly festival around the Super Mask, but it made Conner’s job just that little bit harder.

  With that last jump, Conner let the momentum carry him high through the air as his cape billowed, and he thought. I hope Jericho’s right. I don’t want her getting hit by this. But… If King Chaos and the Shadow Council are gonna frame me, I can’t sit around and do nothing. Even if I have to force my way into the prison, Penspot’ll give me the answers I-!

  “Agh!” Absentmindedly, Conner went through a cloud and got his costume soaked. “Damn it! I can’t believe… I haven’t screwed that up in months.”

  As he pseudo-soared and watched water fleck from his uniform, Conner grumbled, “How am I gonna-? Oh, wait.” Conner then focused on the water soaking his clothes before igniting himself. With his newest power, Conner could engulf himself in white flames that would only burn what he actively targeted. With that party trick, he turned the water in his clothes to steam.

  Once dry, Conner started to descend and realized that his bright flames must have made him look like a shooting star to tourists on the ground. Not wanting the attention, Conner doused his fire.

  As gentle as a cotton ball, he landed on a condemned parking lot. He still didn’t understand how it worked, but whenever he landed from his Jump Travel, his kinetic force never damaged the area he landed.

  While Conner took a breath and made sure he was oriented toward Disaster Prison, he was lightly startled when his earpiece alerted him to an incoming call.

  “Hardwire?” he asked as he activated the communicator.

  “Hey, Shining Darkness,” Conner’s best friend and tech support, John Fable, otherwise known as Hardwire, replied. “I figured out something I think’ll be important for tonight’s mission.”

  “Oh? Okay, don’t keep me in suspense, man.”

  “You remember the video we watched last night?” John asked sarcastically.

  “The one where that Chaos scumbag framed me? Just like everything else, I remember it,” Conner deadpanned. “I know there has to be a point to this, right?”

  “Sorry, sorry. Just got excited and tried to be dramatic,” John replied as Conner heard keyboard tapping. “So, me and Lana were looking at the video again. She said something about how Chaos’ eyes looked less crazy than when he was fighting you. So I got curious and broke down the footage. And guess what? The video’s fake!”

  Conner paused at that intel before he asked, “Fake? Elaborate, Hardwire.” His tone had been harsher than he intended, but his emotions were in a swirl of hope and dread.

  “Oh, er, oookay,” John answered hesitantly before his voice recomposed. “So, I broke down the coding of the video, and everything but that reporter is deep faked. Even the voices are fake.”

  “So… The Big Bads faked that to make me look bad, you think?”

  “If I had to guess… Sssounds about right,” John answered tensely. “But what I’m more worried about is the fact they even have the tech to do that. I couldn’t tell it was a sham just by looking at it. I’m lucky Lana made me think to check it. I thought that kinda tech was still pure sci-fi.”

  “Oh. I see what you’re getting at,” Shine grumbled. “You… You focus on this A.I. problem until I get back to Headquarters. I need to shake Penspot down first, but I’ll help you with this once I’m back.”

  “Huh?! What am I ‘sposed to-…? Okay, okay. Iiii’ll try and think up something,” John agreed tentatively. “Good luck on your end.”

  “You too.”

  Once John hung up, Conner took a sharp breath to calm his nerves. He couldn’t be the least bit anxious when he got to Disaster.

  As he reached under his hood and the clasps holding it in place, and rubbed the scalp of his mask, Conner muttered, “They can fake whole videos now…. Okay. Let’s get on with this. The prison’s… that way.”

  With an inhuman leap, Shine sent dust and debris flying off the parking garage roof. Yet still, the structure itself was unharmed.

  |X|

  Arriving on the outskirts of Miracle City, Conner stood in a grassy field about a mile away from Disaster Prison. The sun still shone brightly in the sky as his cloak billowed with the blades of grass. As he took stock of the large structure, he rubbed his chin and worked his memory. John had hacked a copy of the prison’s interior and exterior layout for Conner to examine before he left.

  “Okay, if I’m facing the front of the prison, then Penspot should be… there,” Conner muttered as he watched the prison walls. “I wish I had super sight, too… Ah, that’s a dumb complaint. What? You don’t have enough powers, Shine?”

  Disregarding his self-criticism, Shine asked himself, “Alright. I could sneak in, be loud and bombastic, or the calm approach…? How about a mix of 2 and 3?”

  In a little over a second, the Shining Darkness bolted for and reached the front gate of the prison. Once there, he came to an instant stop that sent a large wave of wind and dust, and dirt through the chain link gate.

  Once the sudden dust storm ended, a pair of middle-aged men in uniforms tumbled out from the guard station. They were shocked and frantically searching for the source of the sandstorm, which prevented them from noticing the six-foot-six ox of a man with glowing eyes who was dressed like a monster.

  “The hell was that?”

  “I dunno. I didn’t think we got tornadoes in Michigan.”

  “Eh, they ain’t common, but keep an eye on the sky. It might turn green.”

  Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

  Shine quickly realized that these bufoons weren’t going to notice him anytime soon, so, with a firm cough, he addressed them as they stared almost slack-jawed at the sky, “Excuse me, gentlemen.”

  Lazily, one guard looked at the Shining Darkness. As if he couldn’t believe what he was seeing, the guard seemed mildly confused before full-blown shock overtook him.

  “I have business inside. A prisoner to visit. Could you let me in?” Shine asked calmly.

  Flummoxed, the first guard was struck silent while the other managed to ask, “Huh?! Wha- What?! You- You- You’re the Shining Darkness… Uh, but visiting uh- hours are-.”

  “Are right now. I made sure to check.”

  “But- But I dunno if you can-.”

  Shine nodded patiently as he cut the guard off again and replied stoically, “I’m well aware of the stipulations around Masks' visiting prisoners. However, I cannot afford to wait any longer than I already have. It is a matter of life and death.”

  “Erm… I’m sorry to hear that, Mr. Darkness,” the guard replied, a bit more composed. “But the rules are rules.”

  Shine then put a hand on the gate, squeezed, and stated, “Let me reiterate that. I need to get inside the prison. Will you let me in peacefully?” Pulling his hand back, Shine took a fist-sized clump of the chain link fence with him as if it were tissue paper. To Shine’s relief, the men quickly got his implication. Wordlessly, they shrugged nervously at each other, and then one went to open the front gate.

  Once he was over the threshold, the remaining guard gestured forward and said weakly, “Pu-Please follow me, sir.”

  “Of course,” Shine answered as pleasantly as his monstrous voice would allow.

  After Shine entered the visitor area of the prison, he noticed how many odd turns the guard was taking on the way to the visitor center. This gave Shine a chance to look at the dreary atmosphere of the place, with many of the interior guards looking as nervous to see him as the organized crime gangs he’d dismantled. However, Shine also suspected that his escort was trying to stall him.

  When he finally arrived at one of the visitor rooms, Shine found his suspicions were well-founded. Waiting for the Super Mask, a mousy woman in a business dress and rectangular glasses stood sternly. From the air of authority she was trying to exude, Shine had a decent idea of who this woman was.

  “Welcome to Disaster Prison, Shining Darkness,” the small woman greeted as the guard stepped back through the door. “Your arrival certainly took all my staff by surprise.”

  As she stepped up to Shine, just under his chest, he looked down at her prideful aggression and replied, “Thank you for having me, Warden Benna.” Evidently, Shine’s voice had been enough to crack the warden’s shell of strength, as she flinched and stepped back, obviously startled. “Unfortunately, your baseless refusal to let me interrogate Penspot again warranted my actions this evening.”

  With a semi-dignified cough, Benna tried to recompose herself as she folded her arms behind her back and replied, “I- I haven’t been refusing. There’s just… There’s just a lot of red tape to get through to let a Mask speak with a prisoner they caught.”

  “I’ve familiarized myself with the laws you're referencing. This should have taken a month at most, yet it’s been several, and neither my partner nor I has heard any progress from you.”

  With frightened defiance, Benna tried to rebut, “Uh, well, you’re a Super Mask. Th-there’s a lot more, er, red tape to-.”

  “People will die if I don’t see Penspot tonight. And I intend to do so with your permission or not. Is that a sharp enough blade to cut through your red tape?” Shining Darkness stated with barely contained rage.

  Recoiling from Shine’s words and attitude, Benna tried to maintain the last shard of her authoritative tone. “You can’t- I mean, I can’t-... I have to, um, I have to be careful about letting a known terrorist collaborator into my prison…! Yeah, that’s it.”

  It had only been a day, yet people were already leveraging the fake Chaos’ video against him as if it were fact. “Since when has the testimony of a murderous terrorist been enough to convict a public servant with a spotless record?” Shine asked with earnest bewilderment.

  “Spotless? You killed a man,” Benna shot back defiantly.

  “I assume you don’t keep up with the news,” Shine replied, his tone more disappointed than upset. “One, he was a child serial killer. Two, I wasn’t the one who killed him. The Big Bads are the most likely candidates. You have no reason to delay me further.”

  I really need a better placeholder for them. That name’s silly. Conner thought as Benna mulled over his words. Looks like she’s not used to being challenged… At least not from someone she can’t throw in a cell at a whim.

  As Benna began to sweat and bite her nails, she replied desperately, “Well, um… F-Fine. I’ll let you see Penspot. I’ll bring her here. Just wait a second.”

  “Don’t keep me waiting long,” Shine warned as he folded his arms behind his back and beneath his cape.

  Anxiously, Benna left the room, and Conner’s enhanced ears let him hear her yell at the guards through the walls. Clearly, she was used to using her subordinates to vent her frustrations.

  “Well, she’s pathetic,” Conner muttered as he stood and waited.

  A few minutes later, Shine heard Benna returning and speaking with someone who sounded like Penspot. “Just remember how to talk to him. Be vague."

  “Alright, I got it. You can count on me,” Penspot’s voice replied in a far too submissive tone for the former crime boss.

  Did prison break Penspot that easily? I wonder what kind of tricks she’s supposed to pull. Conner pondered.

  Stepping in with Penspot, Benna led the convict by the arm and stated, “Okay. Take as long as you need, Mr. Darkness.” Benna then slammed the door behind her, clearly eager to get away.

  Once the door was locked, the handcuffed Penspot glared at Shine as he stared back with belittling contempt. As Shine looked at her, he saw how her long silver hair was a total mess now, and the icy blue eyes that released identical colored smoke when she had cast ice magic at him. He also took note of the slight scar on her forehead he’d made when he knocked her out. However, something didn’t sit right with Shine, aside from the inherent disgust.

  With an annoyed sigh, Penspot sat at the table before she asked, “What do you want, dog? Do you need to take another shot at me? I heard you like roughing up your victims now.”

  Right then, as Shine saw Penspot’s face move, it hit him what was wrong.

  Sternly, the Shining Darkness ignored this woman’s remarks and asked, “Who are you?”

  She seemed nervous at first before she glared at Shine and asked, “The hell are you talking about, you oversized idiot? Did you forget why you came here? I’m Sally Penspot.”

  Pointing at her, Shine explained, “Your cheekbones are a millimeter too high. Same for your ears in the opposite way. Once again, who are you?”

  Dumbfounded, this woman with a nearly perfect copy of Sally Penspot’s face choked on her own tongue as she stared and gasped at Shining Darkness. Eventually, she was able to find some words, “H-Help! He saw through me! Help!”

  Suddenly, two prison guards burst through the door and pointed handguns at Shine. “Put your hands up!” Impatiently hostile, one of them fired at Shine twice, only for him to catch the bullets one-handed before dropping the flattened lead on the table. Simultaneously, false Sally fell from her chair in terror.

  Unimpressed and confused, Shine asked, “Are you serious?”

  As reality struck them upside the head, the guards quivered at Shine’s voice. The one who fired even dropped his gun reflexively.

  “S-Sorry, sir,” he whimpered. “We were just… working on reflex.”

  “So, your reflex was to try to kill me?” Now, Shine’s tone had changed from moral disappointment to genuine anger.

  As his buddy dropped his gun in fear, the first guard replied with stuttering whimpers of terror.

  With a bitter sigh, Shine walked around the table, grabbed Fake by her shirt collar, and asked the guards, “Which way did Benna go?”

  “D-D-D-Down th-the h-h-hall. That way,” the guard answered shiveringly as he pointed left.

  Uncertain of the man’s sincerity, Shine growled, narrowed his eyes, and emitted flickering flames with a supernatural glare.

  To his credit, this guard was quicker on the uptake than the ones at the front gate. Pointing right this time, he exclaimed, “I’m sorry! She went that way!”

  Shine grunted authoritatively before he left the room, dragging Fake with him as she squealed in terror. In the prison hall, Shine didn’t see Benna anywhere, and Fake’s cries messed with his hearing.

  Annoyed, Shine put Fake in a headlock as he told her, “I don’t intend to hurt you, ma’am. But you have ten seconds to stop screaming.”

  Fake realized how Shine had put her safety in her own hands, so she covered her mouth and replaced her screams with sharp inhales.

  “Thank you.”

  Without any distractions, Conner listened for Benna and thought. Alright. Now where’s that rat?

  Like a snaking probe, his hearing traveled through Disaster Prison. Quickly, Shine’s ears found the short strides and high-pitched gasps of a fleeing small woman. He then shot off just slow enough to not hurt Fake. As they dashed through the prison, Shine found it a bit annoying how run-down the place was. He hadn’t thought the prisoners would live in luxury, but he had at least expected beds with mattresses and functioning toilets for the cells. And based on how thin many of them looked, Shine deduced they were unwillingly skipping meals.

  In about thirty seconds, the super-fast Mask had appeared in front of Benna with the Fake Sally in hand. Based on their location, Conner could tell Benna had been running for the basement. Most likely for a private escape tunnel.

  Unable to adjust to Shine’s sudden appearance from a black and white blur, Benna crashed right into him. From the noise of a slight cartilage crunch, Shine could tell Benna had nearly broken her nose on impact with his chest.

  “You really are a rat. An escape tunnel rather than a helicopter seems your speed,” Shine reprimanded as he glared at Benna while she cupped her bruised nose.

  “How the Hell did you-?”

  Impatient, Shine cut Benna off and stated, “You’re going to explain why there’s an imposter Penspot in your prison and everything connected to her.” He then lifted Fake one-handed and waved her in front of Benna like an oversized doll. To Fake’s credit, she kept herself from screaming the whole time.

  “Why would-?”

  “Let me explain something,” Shine interjected again. “I just found out I have a healing power. It can even regrow nerves and remove scars. Meaning, whatever I do to you, I can fix and do it again until you talk. As such, the next words to leave your mouth should be answers to my questions.” As a final emphasis, Shine shot his free hand at the nearest wall, crushing a hole through a foot of cement.

  As if signalled by his action, a few guards appeared down the hall and bore witness as Shine ripped his hand from the wall in a cloud of freshly powdered concrete and showering pebbles. A few instinctively reached for their pistols. However, Shine took notice.

  “If you wish for your legs to still function by the time I leave here, keep your guns holstered and stay out of my way.”

  The guards, utterly horrified, did as they were told. However, they couldn’t stop gawking at the superhuman.

  Slightly annoyed, Shine grabbed Benna, threw her to her feet, and told her, “We’re taking this to your office. Lead the way, rat.”