Everyone needs a hero, right?

Mike was currently in his car driving to the bad part of town. He was heading to a specific building towards the southern part of the city. He hoped to find some kind of crime taking place there. He knew that he shouldn’t be showing off his magic too much, but he couldn’t sit by and do nothing if people were in danger. Besides, he had a feeling that his uncle's **** a few months ago could’ve been tied to the people working at this building. His uncle left behind some files about how this building was a Fire Lions base of some sort. He claimed that they were moving something to and from this building, but he didn’t know what.

Mike parked a few blocks away, so they couldn’t tie his car to whatever he was about to do. He was currently wearing an all-black outfit to keep himself off the radar with a black face mask for insurance. He would’ve made a joke that he was the Dark Magician except he’s not even half as cool as the real deal. He only knew three spells, after all. The size-changing spell, the memory-altering spell, and the time-freeze spell are the only spells he knew at the moment.

He wasn’t at the level to create any new memories, but he could erase memories easily enough. He had to be careful when using it though, because the more mana he poured into the spell, the more he would erase. He tested it on his neighbor, Jill, and she couldn’t even remember what she had done for the past few days as a result of his test. The time freeze spell is used easily enough with help of the time stone, but it took exponentially more mana to freeze time than to cast his other two spells. Also, unlike the other two spells, he didn’t need a chant to use it. He honestly would’ve thought twice about this mission if he didn’t have such a good card in his deck.

After walking a few blocks to the building, he snuck up to the building and peered inside the first floor using one of the windows. All of them were boarded up, but this one had a hole big enough for him to peer through. He only saw two guys inside the place. He wouldn’t have thought that was strange until he saw that they both had an **** rifle attached to their back. One of them was smoking a cigarette while the other seemed to pace back and forward across the room. Mike strained his eardrums to hear what they were saying.

The one with the cigarette said, “Stop pacing, it's getting on my nerves. Just chill until the shipment arrives.”

“Are you sure it’s going to be that easy? What if the police catch on?”

“Calm down, they’ve never come before so why would they start now? Besides, you already have everything you need to take care of them strapped to your back. Them or anyone else stupid enough to get in our way,” said the man blowing out a puff of smoke.

“I’m just a really unlucky man. Everything tends to go wrong whenever I’m involved. It’s so bad that I expect this building to be swarming with cops in the next hour.”

“Why did you agree to do this job, then?” asked the man with a frown on his face.

“I’ve up to my head in debt. It was either this or selling my kidney. I doubt that I would've survived the surgery,” said the man while he paced back and forth.

“I don’t really care, but sit down before I shoot you myself.”

Mike wondered what the shipment was about. He thought that it couldn’t be anything good if they sent two armed thugs to watch over them. He moved away from the building and hid in one of the alleys nearby. Mike sat and watched the building for any potential vehicles coming their way. After an hour of waiting, he finally saw a truck carrying a bunch of crates filled with stuff. He didn’t know what was inside, but it was time to find out.

“I call upon my mana and bend it to my will. There is only one target that I must choose. Be it large or small, it matters not. I change its shape without further ado.”

He enlarged the shape of the tire on the truck and watched the truck flip before it crashed into the street. The truck’s contents were flung all over the place from the crash as the two men inside rushed outside. Mike saw a bunch of different items spread across the street. Different articles of clothing, food, guns, jewelry, and **** littered the streets. Mike had exactly what he needed as he activated time to stop and ran as fast as he could away from the street. He used most of his mana to keep it up as long as he could before stopping it to call the police. He informed them about the truck and chugged the recently purchased burner phone that he got into the sewers.

He was tired and hungry. He might as well find something to eat nearby.

…

Jennifer was currently sitting at a table at Frank’s Fish. She had already ordered a hot sweet tea that had just arrived. She casually grabbed some of the honey on the table and poured some in. As she poured, she thought about the phone call she just received from her men. Someone flipped over the truck containing their latest shipment full of supplies for the gang before running away. Thankfully, all the police officers stationed to work in the area belonged to her. It would’ve been a problem if a good cop had managed to find out the location of one of their warehouses. Even if they did, she had ways of making sure they never told anyone about it and pushing their suggestions to raid the place down in priority. Nothing was taken from the incident, so it was either done out of **** or someone’s misguided sense of justice, possibly both.

What was more concerning about the matter is how it was described to her. The truck flipped over out of nowhere was nothing that an ordinary person could do. She only heard pieces of what magic was able of from her aunt, but it was enough for her to guess that magic was involved in some way. She stirred the honey into her tea as she thought of possible countermeasures for such a strong enemy. She didn’t have anyone capable of using magic in the Fire Lions that she was aware of. Even if they did have the potential, getting someone to teach them would be a tall order. She would have to ask a favor from her aunt, and she didn’t see her agreeing under any circumstances. She only did things that benefited herself and no one else.

She took a sip from her tea as she pondered what to do. She needed to tell her men that they need to be on the lookout for anyone using strange/supernatural abilities, and their top propriety when encountering them is getting a description of them over killing and capturing them. Magic users may be powerful, but they can’t protect themselves while they're asleep. Plus, if they find out who they are, then they might be able to **** them into doing what they want. She took out her phone and messaged her men their new orders before putting the phone away.

On a less irritating note, the corruption of the police officers is coming along nicely. Jennifer had been systematically firing people whom she had deemed too good to switch sides and promoting members of the **** that are getting results done in the field. Over 80% of the **** is filled with Fire Lion members, it’s only a matter of time before it's 100%. However, the results of firing the good people are mostly thanks to her cousin, Violet, since she has a better handle on who’s likely to switch sides or not. Violet is the most intelligent, wise, and charismatic person she knew. The organization wouldn’t be as powerful as it is without her. Ever since Violet took control, there hasn’t been a single person willing to go against her.

She took another sip of tea as she looked through the menu to see what she wanted. When she looked up, she saw a handsome man sitting in front of her. His brown eyes stared back at her as he asked her a question.

“Hey, my name is Mike. Mind if I join you?”