GraceFall [ONC 2024]

5

The next day ...

Compaktor raged to the skies, crushing the dumpster, as was his want, into a tiny ball. Other than wanting to crush things, Compaktor was a fairly harmless individual. He never hurt people and Psycona had never managed to learn from the monosyllabic beast of a man why he did it. Catching the tossed, compacted dumpster with a thought, Psycona placed it to the side before returning to face the foul-smelling monster.

Then, for some unknown reason, Psycona hit Compaktor with a punch that would have even rocked Principle. The transformed man, part-human, part-trash, smashed into the wall behind him and crumpled to the ground. Psycona hovered in the air, using his abilities to check the condition of the villain and learning that he had broken almost every bone in Compaktor's body. Several internal injuries would require immediate surgery and, all around, Psycona could hear whispers. Shocked whispers.

Whispers that soon turned into boos and jeers. Even in the minds of the watching crowd, he could hear their distaste at his actions. Hear the accusations of brutality. Of his lack of compassion. Compaktor had a following, of course. In this world, even the worst of humanity had their sycophants, but this was not that. The crowd had turned against Psycona not only for his brutal treatment of this pitiful creature beneath him, but for something else.

The Oakmont. That name came to the minds of dozens of observing people and, as the local law enforcement officers arrived, bearing enhanced cuffs to arrest Compaktor, he heard them, too, mention the hotel.

"Where was he when the place burned, huh?" One officer glanced Psycona's way. "Where was he?"

-+-

The bullpen of the Daily Bulletin ...

"Don't rest on your laurels, Burns!" The Editor-In-Chief, Brody Quint, thundered his voice across the entire room. "I want follow-ups! I want an exposé! 'Is Psycona really the hero of Faraday City?'. Nelson! I want fresh pictures! Psycona scowling! Psycona angry! Anything that corroborates our headlines! News never stops, people, and neither do we!"

Betty's story had hit the website before the morning edition had even dropped at the stands and the comments had come in thick and fast. She felt a little guilty at the vitriol her article had caused, but even a rudimentary search had shown that Psycona had simply not appeared at the Oakmont. He wasn't fighting any other villains. Wasn't putting out a raging fire. Not even getting a cat out of a tree.

He had not appeared at the Oakmont and someone had almost died. Someone that, yes, Betty wasn't 'close' to anymore, but who had meant a lot to her in the past. Maybe Psycona could not have saved Wade. Maybe he could. But, to not appear at all? For a super with his kind of powers and abilities? Well, it beggared belief.

Principle would have made it. In Arclight City, the white and gold costumed hero seemed to appear in a dozen places at once. Nothing seemed below him. He helped everyone and everything. If he slept, it was never for long. Hell, even in Bohemia City, Fear terrorised all the bad guys, all the time. A creeping shadow that brought hospital traction from above for anyone stupid enough to break the law.

And in New Hastings, that new hero, Blood Obsidian, appeared to take great delight in swinging and floating through the towering skyscrapers. Even if they couldn't reach every situation, like Principle, they at least tried. The social media feeds showed that hero pushing themselves to exhaustion to reach situations. And they never shied away from acknowledging those cameras. A glory hound, yes, but clearly trying.

Psycona always had a sense of contempt surrounding him, as though he had far better, far more important things on his mind than saving people, and Betty could only wonder why he even bothered trying to be a hero. Sure, he saved people, most of the time, but never stayed at the scene, never held interviews, like Principle. In fact, the two heroes couldn't be more different from each other.