With Great Power Comes Great Responsibilty

Chapter 60

Erik Cobra fought back the tears welling in his eyes as he stared down at the photo in his hand. It had been taken three years ago, on what felt like the last truly perfect day of his life.

He, his wife Kianna, and their two children had spent the afternoon at the park. They shared a picnic under the open sky, chased each other in a spirited game of tag, and later built a kite together—one his kids had spent hours flying until the sun began to set. As dusk painted the sky in soft golds and purples, they sat beneath a tree and took a family photo to remember the moment.

And remember it, Erik did—because that was the last time he would ever know real happiness.

Just a week later, his world shattered.

A teenage delinquent had stolen his car, using it as a mobile front to deal illegal drugs. Erik reported him immediately, but the court went easy on the boy. "He's just a child," they said, and let him off with parole. But Erik knew better. He felt the danger in that young man—the malice behind his eyes. No one believed him.

Until it was too late.

In a cruel act of revenge, the teenager ambushed Kianna as she picked up their children from school—and gunned all three of them down.

That moment broke Erik. Not just his heart—but his faith in the law, in justice, in everything he had once stood for. And in his grief and rage, he did what the system couldn't.

He found the boy.

And he killed him.

From that moment on, Erik abandoned the law and created his own. He became judge, jury, and executioner—hunting down criminals and ending them without mercy. He called it justice. Others called it madness. A vigilante gone rogue. A killer with a twisted code.

The media called him dangerous. The police called him a fugitive—wanted across several states for multiple murders.

But Erik didn't care.

All that mattered was revenge. For Kianna. For his children. For the life that had been torn from him.

The only person who ever understood him—truly stood with him—was his best friend from college, Macbeth Uchiyama. Like Erik, Macbeth had suffered deeply from the system's failure.

He had grown up in the home of a powerful foster father—one who abused him for years. But because the man was the town's mayor, no one dared speak out. No one brought evidence. No one helped.

College was Macbeth's escape. There, he poured himself into science and robotics, building a future with cold logic and steel precision. It made him the perfect partner for Erik—designing the weapons, tracking devices, and gadgets Erik used in his mission.

Unlike Erik, Macbeth was usually the more measured of the two. More rational. But the fire inside him burned just as fiercely.

Two broken men. One crusade.
And nothing left to lose.

Knock knock.

"Erik," Macbeth called from the other side of the door. "Can I come in?"

Erik quickly slipped the photo back into the drawer before answering. "Yeah. What is it?"

Macbeth stepped in, a concerned look on his face. "Have you watched the news lately?"

"No. Why?"

"Apparently there's a wild animal on the loose. It attacked two people—badly. Both are in the hospital."

"A wild animal? What, like something escaped from the zoo?"

"That's what the cops are saying. But some people think it's not an animal at all." Macbeth crossed his arms. "They think it's a person. Some psycho staging the attacks to make it look like an animal did it."