5 With Great Power Comes Loads Of Assholes

The Night Air was cold...

Too cold...

That's what Sir Mittens the third thought as he walked down the path letting out loud meows as he tried to recall the home of his owners, from which he had left so that he could mate with a fine feline.

The small white kitten looked around as the street lights casted down on them. It bobbed its head back and forth around it as its tail wagged going from left to right then right to left over and over.

"Sir Mittens!" A young and innocent child like voice called out making the kittens ears perk up when it heard the voice of its owner the young Rebeca girl that it took care of.

Sir Mittens followed her voice going over the road and taking care to not get hit by a car as he did. He was a smart cat indeed. His tail wagged back and forth the entire time as he followed the voice of the girl. He could see it. Up ahead a little further down the street. His home. He was almost back. It had been foolish of him to leave the first time. He wondered how his owner would be holding up. She was always a naive girl-

As soon as Sir Mittens passed by a sewer lid it exploded up as a long and twisted pale hand flew out of the sewers. The hand wasn't attached to anything and just seemed to be floating green flames pouring out of the wrist of the hand. Before the poor kitten could even react the hands fingers wrapped around its body and in a flash it dragged the animal into the sewers as the lid slowly closed...

"Sir Mittens?" A young eight year old girl with short blonde hair and light grey eyes walked down the roads passing by a loose sewer gate as she looked around. "...Sir... Sir Mittens." She asked as she began to sob. "Please don't leave me too."

***

The Next Day...

The Hospital...

"Knock, knock!"

"Oh God no..." James, Aka the retired Superhero Mister Magical set up in his hospital bed letting out a loud groan as the door to his room opened and he looked up finding Jack dressed in a Doctors outfit entering his room.

"Sup old dude. Heard you were in the same Hospital as my roommate Nick so I'd thought I'd drop in and chat."

"How the hell did you get in here? I told the nurses no visitors. Not even Shelly is allowed to see me."

"I knocked out a doctor and stole her clothing to get in."

"What!"

"Yeah. I'm now..." Jack looked down at his name tag. "...Diana Wayne. Maybe I should have knocked out a male doctor..."

"Oh my God." James said in stunned silence.

"Yeah I'm a horrible person. That's why... I've come to give this back." Jack said taking a seat next to the bed as he reached into his pockets and pulled out the ruby red ring. "You can have this. I don't want it. No... That isn't right... Rather. I shouldn't have this. This is... Well. I'm good enough to know that I'm to bad for something like this. So take it back. I don't want it."

"If you really don't want it. I'll take it back." The old man said holding his hand out.

"Seriously! I thought you were about to go into a speech about how I have to be the one to keep it and that it picked me and it's up to me to keep it safe-"

"Hell no. I agree with you. You are not a hero." The old man said shaking his head. "Even before your past... The current you is... Selfish, reckless, idiotic, dark, flat out dumb, bat shit stupid-"

"A lot of these feel like jabs at my intelligence..."

"-but... Despite all of that... I will say this... You're Brave. You could have left us all to die but you threw yourself at that man not knowing how those powers worked and you gave it your all. Even when he took the ring from you, you still stood back up and fought even as the odds got worse and worse and worse. You aren't a Hero. But that doesn't mean you can't become one." The old man said closing Jack's hand around the ring. "Keep it."

Jack stared down at the ring in his hand as he went silent. "Hey old man... I asked it before but... Do you know... Who I am I mean?"

"Of course I do. I used to be a Superhero after all. I could tell just by looking at you. Your voice, the way you hold yourself, and the way you refused to give up, and got right back up after being knocked down, you're the spitting image of him aren't you."

"So... Now that you know... Are you going to..."

"I'll keep it to myself as long as you behave." The elder man sighed as he rested back in his bed and looked up to the roof above him. "I'm not part of the hero business anymore. Not since my team was killed off by Homeless King several years ago. Only me and Vampirica were left alive... That was actually around the same time we got that ring that you got there."

"The ring?" Jack stared down at the small object that rested in the palm of his hand. "What exactly is it? It chose me right?"

James snorted softly. "Don't be an idiot."

"What?"

"The ring isn't alive. It can't choose people. No... This isn't some silly thing of you being worthy of its power or anything."

"But my roommate burned his fingers nearly off from just trying to touch it once? It doesn't burn me at all?"

"That has nothing to do with the ring being alive... See... It's magical in a sense but not really... It's also Alien. Not of this world. That ring is known as an Affinity Ring. It's a powerful Demonic Alien ring."

"Wait? So is it Demon or Alien?"

"Both. The demon was from another world, it was a demon of the moon people."

"Wait there are moon people?"

"Are you going to keep stopping my story every time I say something or can I please continue?" James asked staring at Jack who went silent. "Good. That Ring as I said is an Affinity-Ring. A piece of powerful magical tech not of this world. Both Alien and Magical in nature. It lets people of a certain power level wear it. Each ring is different but usually a normal human can't even pick one up without the ring attacking them. Most people can wear at least one though. Only Homeless King has ever been able to put on more then one..."

"So there are more then one?"

"From what I know there are ten but there could be even more, maybe even hundreds or thousands of them somewhere out there... At the very least only ten are on Earth and before you ask I don't know where any of the others are so don't bother asking. I was a member of a Hero Team called the Subs and several years ago we found a villain named Homeless King who was attempting to break into a Government base in the Earths Core. The man was mad, claiming God told him to kill people for a wish, we fought him but he proved to be too strong. One by one we fell... He wasn't even trying. More like swatting us away as he made for a glass case that had that ring... Right before he could reach it though... Boom! The wall exploded and the Enforcers, the number one Hero team arrived. Full Monarch made short work of him and they beat him. During the chaos he somehow managed to get away through a portal... I grabbed the ring as well as Vampirica and got them out of there. Afterwards Subs was disbanded and I locked that ring up hoping it would never see the light of day again."

"I see..." Jack nodded as he held the ring up. "So that Homeless f##ker is the one after this ring huh?"

"No."

"Huh?"

"Homeless King wouldn't send someone like Jaded Blue after that ring. Trust me. If he wanted it he would simply appear in front of you, rip your spine out of your anus and take the ring and leave."

"Holy shit."

"He's powerful. Only Full Monarch, the Number Two Hero, stands a chance."

"Then... Who was that Jaded Blue guy?"

"He's a villain as well. Though much lower on the totem pole. He's powerful but not Homeless King strong. He likely picked the ring up with his tech and wanted it to power something. Having that ring will bring you misfortune. People are bound to come for it. And it'll only be a matter of time before Homeless Kings eye is caught. That said... It can bring so much good..."

Jack looked down at the ring once more. "Old man... Tell me something. Even after knowing who I am, and after seeing that I robbed your store, do you really think that I can be a hero?"

"Honestly... Not at all. You're nowhere near being a hero. It's like opening Pandora's box. Now that you took that Ring out of the box there's no putting it back. I no longer have the magical power to seal it away. Old age and years of not training have rendered me a shell of my former self, and anyone with that ring will be put into grave danger, that said I can't just let it fall into the hands of anyone else. So... If anyone with it were to get hurt I'd be honored for it to be you."

"Wow... Thanks- Hey wait a second..."

"That said. If you truly don't want that ring I'll take it back. You don't have to be a hero. I just need to make sure that thing is safe." James said wincing slightly as he set up. "It's a power that needs to be kept in check... Being a hero isn't something you can just be kid."

"Kid... I'm twenty nine-"

"This isn't something simple like having powers makes you a hero, or anything like that. Rather you have powers or not it all comes down to one thing. If you can do good things and you go out of your way to do good things with or without power because that's what you want to do yourself. Because helping people is the best way you can help yourself. Because the greatest feeling in the world is seeing the smiling faces of the people you helped. And because the greatest reward you can receive is the good will of knowing your actions helped someone else. That's. That's what being a hero is. And... And if you can do even a fraction of that then. Then you can call yourself a hero."

"...Also... I was told that being a hero pays well is that true?"

James let out a sigh. "Yes."

"In that case..." Jack gave a smirk as he slid the ring onto his finger. "Let's be a God damn superhero-"

The door burst open as a man in a security uniform stepped in. "Sorry to bother you sir but a Doctor was just found knocked out and we're checking all the rooms for-" He went silent as he stared at Jack.

"...I'm keeping the lab coat."

And in a loud crash Jack threw himself out of the hospital window.

***

Later that night a large metal truck drove down the road...

"Hey pal. You're going away for a long time." A guard snorted.

In the back of the car several men all in large suits of body armor could be seen. Chained up from head to toe Jaded Blue could be seen his eyes glaring at the men. He was back in his human form and no longer a giant monster his drugs having worn off.

"You know where you're going?" One of the officers asked smirking. "Night Shade. Massive prison designed to hold people like you. Criminals with above level intelligence or super powers all go here. And once in you won't be getting out for a long time. Only Little Red Wolf has ever been able to escape from that place. Once you're in I doubt you'll be able too leave for a long time."

Jaded Blue gritted his teeth and tried to say something but couldn't fully speak due to the muzzle he was wearing.

"What's that? What's on your tongue boy-"

"What the hell!" The driver yelled out as everyone turned to see a bright orange flash of light and a portal opened in front of the car.

'Bam!'

There was a loud crash as the truck suddenly flipped over slamming down into the ground now outside of the city and slamming into a large sandy beach area. Before anyone could even move the side of the car was ripped clean off as it seemed to get crushed down.

A man with long black messy hair and a black bushy beard could be seen standing outside of the car. His teeth were a nasty yellow and he wore a dirty and filthy track suit with a kings cape and a kings crown. He wore two rings on his right hand one being an orange ring with the other being a black. Before the men with guns could raise their hands the man held his middle finger up which had the black ring on it flipping them all off as the black ring glowed and all the cops suddenly yelled out before they all exploded in a hail of blood being crushed by an unseen force.

Jaded Blue screamed in terror pissing his pants as the chains on him vanished.

"What the f##k!" Jaded blue cried slipping back in a puddle of his pee as his head hit the back of the vans wall.

"Hey..." The man said giving a grin. "Names Homeless King. Listen. You lost to a guy with an Affinity-Ring didn't ya?"

"W... What?"

"Tell me..." The man reached into his pocket and pulled out a dark purple ring. "How would you like to get revenge?"