The train finally pulled into my station, and I checked the time. We were eight minutes behind schedule.
Not ideal, but it could have been worse. When you were running late, every moment felt like an hour.
I still had ten minutes before I needed to be at work for my team's presentation.
But it was frustrating that supers always seemed to rush around, disturbing the city, even if it was in the name of saving it. Couldn't they be more efficient?
I couldn't help but roll my eyes and look down the main street at the herd of people moving through it. Everybody was trying to get to their offices before eight.
With the mess of people moving down the street, there was no way I was going to make it to work on time if I went that direction.
I turned, looking down the alley at a street that I knew would be a shortcut, but in the days of superpowers and monsters, it was often risky to be walking down dark alleys alone.
Luckily, I didn't consider myself at much risk.
I wasn't sure what grade of super I would be if I ever actually let myself be tested legitimately.
But from the few encounters that I'd had with supers, I had a feeling I'd be high enough in the hierarchy not to be worried about much in the world.
Decision made, I stepped off the main street and headed down the alley.
Today was the viewing of my team's big project, and we were showing it to Candice, who was my boss and the head executive of the marketing office.
The government and the Bureau of Superheroes had both pitched in for this ad, so it was a project with a massive budget, and we'd even gotten the opportunity to shoot with Katherine Hensway, aka Miss Point City.
She wasn't the most powerful hero, but she was the most popular, and she held a lot of influence.
I wasn't sure what made her the most popular, but something told me it had to do with her stunning good looks.
I'd hoped she would have been more fun to be around at the shoot, but she seemed to enjoy the limelight a bit too much and was clearly used to being treated like a princess.
Looking down, I dodged a puddle of unknown muck as I continued down the alley.
Shaking my head at the thought of supers and their constant need for attention, I moved on to re-running the presentation in my head.
The project was over and set to ship. All we needed to do was manage the budgets and roll it out.
That would be simple; I could coast awhile at work while the team kicked off a few smaller projects we'd do for the Bureau of Superheroes.
The BSH always needed some PR or general advertisement running for their heroes.
Nothing smooths over wrecking a building and hundreds of apartments like doing a photo op picking up trash by the river. I sighed.
Call me a cynic, but in my mind, I saw the world for how it was, not how others wanted me to see it.
Heroes were a burden on society as far as I was concerned. It was beyond me why the world idolized them.
"Hey, buddy. Looks like you're lost." An oversized form came out of the shadows and stepped into the dim light of the center of the alley.
"Yeah, looks lost to me," a second, peppy voice picked up.
"Mister, you should turn back," a third voice, this one scared and young, spoke behind them.
I couldn't see the kid, but I wondered if he was in trouble.
The monster before me was some sort of mutated shark-human. He was seven feet tall, and his tough-looking, gray skin bulged with muscle.
His head curved to a point like a shark's, with his mouth sporting rows of razor-sharp teeth.
Attached to his shoulder was a sort of squid-like super. It looked like they had some sort of symbiotic relationship.
Both of them had gotten the short end of the mutation that sometimes went along with the gene for superpowers.
"Look. I don't have time for this. Please step aside." I hooked a thumb over my shoulder and checked my phone.
I confirmed I most definitely did not have time for this. I was barely going to make the presentation as it was.
"Are you even listening to us?" The sharkman seemed mad at my lack of concern.
"Huh? You haven't moved out of the way yet?" I tilted my head in confusion. "Well, if you won't move, then let me do it for you."
I grabbed them without touching them. While many supers liked to get into brutish fights to show their strength, I didn't feel the same need. It was just too messy.
Instead, I grabbed them with my power over kinetic energy.
Lifting both of them up, I let their feet dangle.
"Boss!" the squid yelled.
"Hand over your wallet and you can walk out of here in one piece," the sharkman, currently dangling in the air, threatened me.
"Well, that's just poor manners." I shrugged. "Let's fix that."
There was no point in giving them time to redeem themselves. I was in a hurry.
Snapping my fingers, everything went red for a moment. With a wet crack, I put enough kinetic energy into their bodies to liquefy them.
Both the sharkman and the squid disappeared. Where they had been was replaced with a mist of blood that slowly settled, coating the alley like a fresh coat of paint.
I made sure to keep a shell of energy around me, protecting me from the blast. I didn't want to show up to the office covered in their atomized guts.
Wrapping my shoes in the same force, I splashed through the puddle of blood that used to be two thugs.
I wasn't sure they had quite earned the 'villain' title yet. Small fries had no business blocking my path.
Clearing the bloody puddle, I made sure to wipe my shoes off on the clean ground and check to make sure I was still clean.
I paused, remembering the kid. Casting my eyes about, he wasn't immediately apparent in the dark alley.
"Mister?" A kid popped out from behind a dumpster with wide eyes. He had blood dripping from his hair. He saved me the time of searching for him.
"Are you a superhero?" he asked, his eyes still wide.
"Ewww." I felt myself stiffen at the question. "I'm no hero. And superheroes don't deserve your idolizing. They don't care for anybody but themselves.
You'll do better in life looking out for yourself. Now, get out of the dark alley and go home. Your mom's probably terrified, give her a hug and don't go wandering in alleys."
The kid's jaw dropped, like I'd just told him Santa didn't exist.
I finished checking myself over, giving another glance back at the kid.
He'd scrambled off in the meantime. I wished him the best and hoped he'd be okay. Sadly, I didn't have time to look after every kid in the world.
Shaking my head, I exited the alley and headed towards the office.