I sat down in my usual spot at Corey Cafe, a nice, popular, relaxing coffee shop with my favorite blend. I really need this cup of coffee before I go to this address that Davon gave me. Their coffee is one of the few things that keeps me going.

"Deathhand was captured yesterday, along with his group as well." The words of the first news reporter on the television up and in front of me caught my attention. "Making this the second major villain caught in the last three months."

"Well, I can't say it's a surprise." The second news reporter stated. "After the incident of the hero Miracle's disappearance, the heroes are working harder to make sure that doesn't happen to them."

"I'm other news, there hasn't been any more evidence as to what happened to Miracle." The first reporter stated. "Many people are theorizing on if he was killed, captured, or simply retired."

"Jason!" A voice tore me away from the news report. I turned to the side, seeing one of the waitresses walking towards me with a smile.

"Hey there Hikari." I grinned, leaning on my hand. "Looking as cute as always."

Hikari Hana, a very cute waitress working here at Corey Cafe. With bright, soft blue eyes, a beautiful round face, and brown hair tied into a nice ponytail, she's quite the catch for whoever she'll eventually end up with.

"Aw, thank you." She lightly blushed, giving me a smile in return. "Happy to see my favorite customer again. The usual?"

"Please, as always." I smirked. "Surprised?"

"Not really." She smiled. "Been a short while though. How are you?"

"Not bad, not the best." I shrugged. "You know how it is."

"Mhm, freelance." She nodded. "Can't imagine it's an easy field."

"Not at all." I chuckled.

Yeah, she doesn't even know the half of it. Not like I'd tell her though. She's just a sweet girl my age to talk to and do a little bit of flirting with. Kinda gets hard to talk to someone when you tell them you rob banks and do other crap like that for a living.

"Well, I'll be back shortly with your order." She stated, turning around and walking off with a brilliant smile.

I turned back to the television, only to see that the current news had already passed. I sighed to myself, waiting for Hikari to come back with my usual coffee.

Mother Wasp, huh? I haven't heard of her at all, so she really must be a new villain. She'll probably go under soon, but I might as well get as much as I can while she's active.

After all, it can be difficult sometimes to find villains that need lackeys. Many villains just act on their lonesome, rather than having lackeys and such. And I'd rather not return to the Cromwell Mafia Family if possible, that's a slippery slope.

A hooded man entered the cafe, hands in pockets as he walked around for a moment before standing still in the middle of the cafe. And then, he seemed to turn straight towards me.

"Here's your usual, Jason." Hikari spoke, placing down a cup of coffee in front of me with her gloved hands. I grabbed it, lightly bringing it up to my lips and taking a sip as I narrowed my eyes.

Hikari was about to leave as the hooded man brought his hand out from his pocket, holding something shiny.

"Duck!" I screamed, grabbing Hikari by the hand and pulling her down. My back slammed into the seat as Hikari landed onto me, a dagger soaring above us and penetrating the wall.

"Ooh, good reflexes!" The man chuckled as people started to get up and panic. "But I would prefer a few casualties for my villain debut!"

He laughed, swiveling and throwing a dagger to nail someone in the back. He pulled out more daggers from his pockets, before slinging them at more people.

Is this seriously this guy's gimmick, just throwing knives?

Hikari quickly got up, grabbing my hand and starting to drag me. She pulled me into the back, out of the line of sight of the villain.

"That door over there is an exit." She pointed past the kitchen. "Go, I'm going to help boss!"

"Wait-" I tried to speak, only for her to quickly leave, running through the back to a different door that led back to the main cafe area.

Shit, why does this have to happen to Corey Cafe of all places?! The waitress is nice and I like their coffee, damn it!

I reached down, patting near my pocket and feeling the gun I had concealed in a holder underneath my clothes.

No, that's way too bold and opens up too many questions. I'd have to explain why I have a gun without a concealed license and-

Now's not the time. I just gotta make sure neither Hikari or the owner, Corey, die.

Cause my days are gonna suck so much more if I can't get some nice coffee to keep pushing me forwards.

I peeked through the door from the back to the main cafe, where the villain was laughing maniacally to himself. He tossed a knife in the air, walking over to a fallen person who had been stabbed in the back. I don't see Hikari...

"First victim, first victim~." He hummed to himself, raising the knife up to stab the person in the neck.

God I hate villains like these.

Like I'm any better.

Shut up inner demons.

Man, those guys are really annoying. Don't y'all agree?

"Stop." A new, feminine voice entered the fray.

Standing near the entrance appeared a person in a kitsune mask, a hoodie, and gloves, though the door to the cafe didn't open.

"A hero?" The hooded man stopped his stab, turning towards the new appearance as he stood up. "No, I don't recognize you. You aren't licensed by the government, are you? You're a vigilante."

The person in the kitsune mask didn't answer, instead cracking their neck and taking a step forwards.

"Ohoho, a vigilante death on my first appearance? How joyous!" The man cackled. "You can call me Death Dagger!"

Oh wow, that's lame. Was that seriously the best you could come up with?

Death Dagger-

Man, sorry, I can't take that name seriously. Hold on, give me a moment.

Death Dagger hurled multiple knives at the approaching vigilante, only for each one to be easily dodged. The vigilante pulled off one of their gloves as Death Dagger threw another weapon, only for the vigilante to catch it with the ungloved hand.

As soon as the vigilante caught it the dagger was suddenly ignited in blue fire.

"Oh." Death Dagger gasped.

The vigilante hurled the dagger back at its owner, only for the owner to dodge and simply get a scratch on his arm. He cursed, turning back to the vigilante to get a face full of fist.

The two exchanged a few short blows, before then the villain attempted to go for the vigilante's mask. Death Dagger grabbed onto the mask, causing the vigilante to use both hands to hold onto it to make sure their identity didn't get revealed.

And now, with his free hand, Death Dagger pulled out another damn dagger. Seriously how many does this guy have?

I picked up my coffee cup I was only partially done with and took a quick chug of it. Then, before Death Dagger could proceed to go stabby stabby, I threw the mug and hit him straight in the back.

"Oops, looks like my hand slipped." I smirked.

He paused, turning towards me with a glare. "Did you just-"

Before he could finish he was suddenly punched across the face, falling to the ground unconscious. The vigilante adjusted their mask, then turned to me.

"What, no thanks for saving your bacon?" I teased.

"You should've left by now." The person replied.

Why did that feel strangely personal?

"Are you injured?" The vigilante asked, taking a step forward.

"I'm fine." I replied.

The vigilante nodded, then proceeded to check on the injured people. After making sure that all of them were alive, they then proceeded to make sure that Death Dagger was out cold.

Police sirens sounded in the distance as they neared, along with the sound of an ambulance.

"I should go. I'll leave them to the professionals."The vigilante stated. "Stay safe. And...thank you."

The vigilante ran through the door to the back, leaving me alone with all the injured people. Well, Hikari and Corey are none of them and Hikari must've escaped either by herself or with others.

Welp, my job here is done! Time to slip out myself.

I quickly exited through the back to make sure I wasn't seen and got dragged back into the aftermath of this little incident. I mean, I got time constraints people!

The vigilante is already gone. Well, not my job. But next time they should be more cautious. And maybe actually become an official hero first.

Anyways, let's check the time and-

For the love of, now because of that little event I'm now running to make it to the address on time. I'm going to be late.

Run for it! Run for your life, you little grunt!

After finding myself in front of an abandoned warehouse, because of course that's where this kind of thing would be happening, I pulled on my trusty and cleaned ski mask and entered.

There's actually a decent number of people here. About fifty I'd say? All standing around, facing a specific direction where a lone woman stood.

Shit. I'm late.

"Oh my, seems like we have a late arrival." The woman spoke, her voice alluring and domineering.

She had long, curly blonde hair which cascaded past her shoulders. She wore a striped, sleeveless sweater and a leather jacket that was only on her shoulders. She wore black jeans along with black boots, with a yellow belt for a bit of color.

But the thing that drew the most attention was the eyepatch which covered one of her eyes. On the eyepatch was a black and white wasp.

She took a few steps towards me, crossing her arms as she looked at me with a smirk. "Not good manners to be late, you know?"

Obedient response time.

"Sorry, I was a little busy spilling coffee over this week's nobody villain." I shrugged.

Damn me and my quicker than thinking mouth.

"A spunky one, aren't you?" She replied. "Go join the others. I'm looking to get henchmen today, not prove to them why they shouldn't join. Just don't make this a regular occurrence, dearie."

She walked back to the front of the group while I joined the rest of the goons.

Huh, I survived that.

Definitely thought she was going to filet me like a fish. That's something Deathhand would've done, just in a less creative way.

"Now once again, my name is Mother Wasp." She stated. "And I'd like your help in pursuing my goals, for a reasonable sum of course."

"How do we know we won't end up like Deathhand's goons?" A brave person shouted form the crowd.

She snapped her fingers. A buzzing started to generate around us, causing all of us to start turning our heads to see where it was coming from.

And then, bees and wasps started to fly past. They floated above Mother Wasp, joining each other in a collection of swirling clouds of bugs.

And it grew, and grew, and continued to grow.

A thick cloud full of bees and wasps buzzed above all of our heads as we looked in shock. There were so many that you literally couldn't see through them.

"Is that enough, dearies?" She smirked. "So, who would like to join me?"

Not a single person left.

And, in hindsight, I had no idea that this would lead to a chain reaction of events that would completely change my fate.