Chapter 1: The path to avoiding dinner.
I rewrote my Following the path.
Inspired by Sir Lucifer Morningstar DC Rebirth.

One would think that having an I win button for a superpower and having the best physical condition a human could achieve without being a brute would be amazing, and to be fair, it is. But having this physical condition as a toddler, on the other hand, isn't as efficient, at all. It takes a while to get around, so when I finally made it to the warehouse district my lungs were burning for air, my shirt was drenched in sweat, and I felt like my heart was going to burst from my chest. The only thing keeping me up was that I arrived at my destination; An abandoned scrapyard, sitting on the edge of the city.
This pigsty filled with metric tons of scrap was the base to Chicago's most violent cape group.
The Kings an unoriginal, cannibalistic group of super-powered psychopaths that recruits teenagers under threat of having their family being fed to them, before being eaten themselves.
Once you were recruited you are then put through initiation. You are beaten down with an inch of your life by all five members to see if you trigger. If you don't trigger, you would have your injuries treated given a week to recover, only to be eaten alive. If you did trigger, you would have to fight for your life by killing the king. And here I am, sneaking into enemy territory alone, in the middle of the night, to take all the jewelry they take from they're dinner guests.
I could join the wards, but with my home life that would get me sent to a group home faster than I could even blink.

The same thing would have happened if I tried winning a lottery ticket. This was, by far, the most efficient way to my goal. I walk up to a wall of scrap metal and gently pull at the edge of a shutter. Surprisingly, that was enough to make the shutter fall.

I quietly made my way through the piles of scrap metal until I made it to where the Kings prepped their "meals."

I walked towards the door as I picked up an antenna, and used it to reach the keypad and type in the code.

8-5-7-6

The door buzzed open. I walked into their prep room, the only reason I didn't lose my dinner was that I've already seen the horrors they've committed.
This room was where the Kings would prepare their meals. The room was full of dried blood, along with other questionable stains.

The only clean thing in the room was a chrome table in the center of the room with six chrome orbs surrounding it. "What are you?" I received a vision of the last person on the table. It was a young man, no older than twenty, with cobalt blue eyes and brown hair. The shirt he was wearing was stretched from where it was grabbed.

"Please let me go! I won't tell anyone, please! I don't want to die! Please let me go"

The young man's head turned when he heard the door open, and his face became ghastly pale when he saw who entered the room.

"Well, it seems tour hunt went well, Lord Berserker."

"I am glad you think so, Lord Creator. It has enough muscle to be a proper meal, and enough fat to not be dry. I can't wait for supper." The young man kept pleading for his life.

The look on the king's eyes shifted from absent to enraged.

"You fucking animal! How dare you interrupt our king, you have been given an honor of being sustenance to royalty and you dare throw it at our faces?! I ought t-"

"It is quite alright my dear friend. Not many can understand the significance of this. Why don't you relax, dear friend? I'll set everything for dinner."

The tinker dressed in plain chrome armor with a set of jaws in the center of his armor as the only distinguishing feature in his armor.

"Of course. Thank you, lord you truly are too kind to us." The brute, dressed in faded robes full of what could only be dried blood and grease, walked out of the room not even giving the young man they would be killing another look.

"Truly I have no idea how such a savage ever managed to function in society. Hello, young man, I am one of the five kings and the tinker of our little group. I would tell you this will be painless, but that would be a lie, this will be an excruciating death."

"W-why are you doing this, please just let me go." The young man begged the crazed tinker with a glimmer of hope that he could survive tonight.

"I'm afraid I can't do that young man, While I am no cannibal, I am a tinker, a bio-tinker if we want to get technical. What this means is I can make all sorts of fun Inventions based around biology. It's why I joined the kings, I get to test out my creations and the others eat the evidence, it helps that their thinker at the time was as simple-minded as they came, enhanced senses pft how is that even a useful power. Anywho I think it's time for my tools to get some use today, oh, and please feel free to scream as much as you want. I would like to hear your screams."

The mad tinker walked by the table ignoring the now sobbing young man as he grabbed an orb and typed in a code.

"Carpaccio" The tinker spoke to the sphere and the orb rippled with 6 thin arms emerging two of them ended with very thin blades

"Sveglia" When the tinker spoke to the sphere it had six short, spiked legs and it walked over to the young man and sprayed a liquid on his face only for it to disappear.

"Pfft. What was that!? What did it put on me?!" he screamed at the tinker.

"Just a concoction of my design, it's meant to keep you awake. I normally don't do this but our resident shaker has been feeling a little antsy lately so I use that to keep them from attacking me."

"I hope you die screaming!" the young man hissed at the tinker with eyes full of rage.

The mad tinker rolled his eyes at the comment. "You couldn't say anything original? Well, no matter. It's time to begin."

The young man suffered, having small blades slowly peel away his skin a square centimeter at a time, for thirty minutes, only to then have his muscles slowly torn off, this lasted two hours. The young man was finally killed when both his lungs were punctured, and his heart removed.

The vision ended, and I was doing everything in my power not to puke all over the floor.

I'm starting to regret this now. I grab the two spheres and walk through the door the Berserker went through; a corridor passing through the dining room, the meeting room, and the tinker's lab before I enter I grab a small rock off the floor and threw it underneath the table.

I heard a popping noise and the room started shivering. Why is it- oh dear- he made a living defense for his lab out of the skin, nerves, and stomachs of his victims.

As the laboratory's defense shriveled up and died I walked towards the safe and typed in the password. Grabbing a glass vial full of the tinker's chloroform, and a revolver I placed the chrome spheres in the locker.

I closed the locker and typed in the wrong password twice and as I walked out of the tinkers lab I remain perfectly calm, but on the inside, my fear has turned to disgust, and that has festered into a rage. All this death, and suffering but the PRT haven't done anything?

It doesn't matter. Once I get what I came here for I'll kill them. No one will lose someone to the kings again.

As I continued to go through the base I passed an old door. I fired the gun I took from the tinker and watched as it fired an energy projectile through the door like it wasn't even there. As I passed the door I heard a thump, I kept on moving.

One down, seven more to go. I walked by a green door. Another dead king.

I started running towards the archway leading to the dining hall along with the other six kings were gathered around an old table.

I stood by an archway that was hidden by poor lighting and short stature, I got close and listened in on their conversation.

"My dear friends, I believe it is time for us to expand our territory. What say you?" the mad tinker asked his puppets.

"Already? Do you not think it is too soon? We only just welcomed lord Pendragon into our ranks. Why do you wish to expand so soon lord creator?

The Brute seemed to be wearing armor made of worn-down scraps of metal, Which was fitting. He was scratching his unruly beard to drive bugs out of the said beard.

"My simple friends, to spread our influence. The people in our kingdom seem to forget who rules this land, think of it berserker, you'll never have to go hunting again, none of you will have to hunt again unless you wish to for sport. The people of this city require a reminder as to who rules this kingdom."

The tinker looked at the faces of his kings and each one had a look of anticipation on there faces at the thought of it.

"Yes, I agree with lord creator. Tomorrow we will claim the red lights district. I haven't had a good fuck in a whi-"

The two remaining kings look in terror as the brute and the king in front of him were both missing the top half of their heads.

The shaker spontaneously created a twister using all the trash and the bodies of his dead friends as a defense to keep himself and the tinker safe from getting shot.

"Creator! What just happened!" The shaker screamed out in panic as he moved himself and the tinker to the center of the room.

"Someone's been sent to kill us you fool! What I want to know is how they got past all my defenses!"

The Tinker, now shivering in fear- pfft- he pissed himself, the saw wannabe pissed himself.

I waited in the archway until the twister started spinning faster until enough speed was picked up that the air started getting pulled towards the twister. I grabbed the glass vial from my pocket and let it fall before the twister pulled it in.

The tinker saw the vial and quickly warned the shaker, but it was too late the vial struck one of the crates and broke inches away from the two remaining members of the kings, causing a green smoke to fill the air. The twister funneled all the gas into the twister, and it was kept there until the gas was dispersed, leaving only two unconscious Kings.
When the shaker lost consciousness, all the objects that made up the twister were sent flying around the room. The table was thrown into the wall, one of the corners landed on the shakers temple killing the man.
I stood there in shock, At how I, a toddler, eliminated one of the worst cape groups in Chicago.
I shook off the shock when I started moving towards the exit of the refinery that led into the scrapyard. Walking towards the compacted pile of cars I held my breath.

I walked behind the pile of cars to find where they dumped the remains of there victims: clothes, earrings, suite cases, jewelry, skeletons, rotten remains of flesh festering in maggots. This is where they threw everything that they didn't, or couldn't eat. Fucking animals, may they rot. I carefully walked to the left side of the pile where there weren't as many remains and I grabbed a fanny pack. When I opened it I found a Canadian passport, rancid jerky, an ID, and ten quarters.

How the hell is this supposed to be three mill- Oh shit! They were 1893 S Morgan Silver Dollars!

Quickly stuffing the coins in my pockets. I can't get excited yet. I still have to deal with the Tinker.

"hmm." The tinker starts stirring, after a few seconds, he tries standing only to fall back down on his legs.

"AHHHH!" the crazed tinker screams out in pain. He looked down only to see he was naked as the day he was born, and the source of his pain was his melted knee caps have been burnt off.

"Doesn't feel good does it?" I asked the tinker, He looked up at me with bloodshot eyes snot coming out his nose, and tears running down his pudgy cheeks. I walked closer to him, my face left expressionless. I stood by his laying form, and I gave him a soft smile.

"How did a kid get into our base? How did you avoid all my defenses? How did you-"

I cut him off by stomped my foot where his knee was supposed to be.

"—!" He let out a silent scream as his eyes opened wide for several seconds before he passed out. Using the bottom of my shoe I lightly tapped his injury.

"AHHH! AHHH! Please stop, stop why are you doing this?!" The mad tinker begged me to stop hurting him.

My gaze was unchanging not showing any signs of emotion. " How did I avoid your security systems? Well, that's simple. They're all crap, just like the rest of your equipment, and just. Like. You. How did A toddler get inside your base? Again it wasn't difficult. It was quite easy to guess your passwords, avoid your traps, even that disgusting abomination of a venus fly trap. It all boils down to you being an incompetent tinker."

He was gathering air to scream about how he was the greatest tinker, how he'll make me beg for death, but I Stepped on his melted knee cap again.

"—AHHHH! Stop-doing-that!" He begged me as he tried getting more oxygen in his lungs.

I leaned towards his ear. " I believe the twenty-year-old you killed a few days ago said you would die screaming."

His face shifted from anger to sheer terror when he recognized the words I spoke to him.

"Please. Please don't kill me, I'm sorry! I'll turn myself in! I'll be good!

I gave him a disappointed look and I shook my head. "You couldn't say anything original? Well, no matter it's time to begin."

"I-"

"Shh, I know everything you're about to say, and I don't want to hear you speak, now than." I walked over to the locker and pulled out the two chrome spheres.

"No! no! you can't do this to me!" I typed in the incorrect code into the locker and tossed the spheres at him.

"Carpaccio" The arms and blades extended from the orb. "Sveglia" The second orb grew legs.

I turned around and headed out the scrap yard walking by a post box I picked up a quarter and walked up to a payphone and typed in the PRT hotline.

"Hello, Protectorate response Team hotline. What is your emergency?" The woman spoke the PRT's message in a bored tone.

"… The kings are dead."

"I'm sorry young man but please don't waste the hotlines time with a prank call, you are taking time away from other emergencies —."

*BOOM*

An explosion came from the scrapyard, erasing it from the earth.

"AHHH! What was that! Sound the Alarm it came from the scrapyard deploy the response team!."

The woman was giving out orders, which was impressive considering all the screaming over the phone.

"Hello young man We are sending a team to get you, we have questions for you-"

"Don't bother. I just wanted to let you know that I did your job for you. Have a good night."

It took half an hour of walking to get home I opened a door, put the keys on the table, and put the coins on the floor.

I stripped down and walked into the bathroom to shower. Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck! What the fuck was that this is the last time I leave the path so open to interpretation. Well at least the kings are dead that's a positive note.

Getting out of the shower, I put my clothes in the hamper and walked into mom's room got dressed, and crawled into bed. I felt my mom's arm's wrap pull me in a warm embrace and I closed my eyes'. "Time to get up Gabriel, rise, and shine."

Shit.

Amanda's POV

Amanda liked working at the PRT hotline. She didn't have to do much, just answer calls, say a few words by memory, and send a team to the location.

Today's shift was supposed to be simple, yet it turned into the biggest mess of the year.

"Amanda. We need you to tell us what happened." I spoke the leader of the Chicago Protectorate Myrddin.

"Sir I already told you and the Chicago PRT leader what happened. Several times already." Myrddin looked at me before he placed a hand on my shoulder.

"I know, we all do. We just need to get all the details for the director, so he can send a request for Cape intervention.

I looked down at the polished wooden desk that was made from a type of wood I could never pronounce, and probably cost more than my apartment. Why did I answer that call, I had three other calls on wait, but sadly only one was a few miles of the scrapyard, it could have been someone calling for help, or escaped their grasp, no matter how unlikely that is.

When I selected that call I was expecting to hear someone who had either managed to escape or was currently being hunted. I did not expect to hear a young voice on the phone, very young.

When he said the kings were dead, a weight was lifted off my chest, the relief that someone, especially a young boy wasn't being hunted down to be eaten by those monsters was too great for words.

I decided to just tell the boy why he shouldn't be prank calling a government organization, then there was a thunderous explosion. The emergency lights went off. In a panic, I deployed teams too where they were needed. After I had completed the essentials, I remembered the call. I prepped a team to go secure the child, but he said he wouldn't be there by the time we got there and he hung up.

After the alerts ended, I just wanted my shift to end so that I could go home and sleep the day away, but as I was getting ready to leave two PRT guards asked me to come with them.

They escorted me up to Director Hearthrow's office. That was already worrying considering mostly everyone that works the call center never went to any of the upper floors.

When we arrived the two guards knocked on the door and when the director told us to come in. They opened the doors and guided me inside before closing the doors behind me. I was starting to freak out. Inside the room was Director Hearthown, Myriddn, and on the video call was chief-director Bartholomew.

Then the director pressed a button on his computer and A message was played.

"The kings are Dead."

I already told you, when I picked up the call a young male voice said that the kings were dead. I assumed it was a prank call." I told my boss, the leader of Chicago's Protectorate, and all our bosses.

"This is concerning. While I'm glad those animals will never harm another living being again, there is the question, who managed to kill them." The director spoke with frustration in his voice.

"I'm more concerned about the young boy. If he was the one who killed them that means we now have a child who has the power to kill a group who's ratings where solid five's." Myridden put his two cents in.

The director sat in his chair and sighed.
"This is going to be a long day. I'll go report this to the chief director. Amanda, thank you for your time, you helped us make the situation a bit clearer. Have a good night."
I rose from the seat and headed to the door. "Good night director, and good luck."

A/N: so I wanted to let you guys know something about the power, it's path to victory on crack, it's just not shard based, you'll find out why.