Apocalyptic Rebirth: With a repairman system space, she rises again.-Chapter 412: The superhero.

The mutated gorilla’s were being dropped in random places and it had been going on for a while. Like Poncho’s small territory in Runfield, one had besieged the area and destroyed it a fortnight ago.

Those living there had been forced to flee. Poncho had moved to Redway Basin near Venus Lake. He found a small town there and slowly turned it into his business center, selling weapons that he knew all too well could barely scratch a mutant or mutated beast.

But still, his guns were in high demand because some form of protection was better than no protection at all. He and his men had been welcomed in Redway town because of their weapons.

But with guns came chaos, looting and a threat of humans against other humans. Outsiders that came to buy weapons often returned to steal supplies. The welcome had fizzled out.

Some people wanted him gone especially the Sheriff Oliver Wayne. He claimed that he could protect his town, but not all the townspeople agreed. Mutated beasts were running amok, without powerful weapons they were being slaughtered.

His men seemed to relish the fights against the beasts and they handed out food every once in a while. They had it in trucks that were always guarded.

Lately, Poncho had even more authority than Sheriff Oliver. The tension between the two men was so thick that when they met, even the police dog Vanna refused to bark, afraid of breaking the atmosphere.

Such and incident had just happened. The Sheriff was doing his regular patrol and Poncho and his men were on their own patrol. It had been so long since they last saw the sun, longer since he last saw his family. He planned to go back to Westbrook before the heat became too intense.

After restocking, he would return and continue conducting his business.

Plans aside, his right eyelid had been twitching since he opened his eyes in the morning. It made him weary, put him on more tension than the sheriff and his looks of suspicion.

It was a sign of bad luck. Nothing could convince him otherwise. Deep down, he had a feeling that an attack was coming. They were normal these days, but today something in the air was not right.

And he was not the only one that sensed it, the town folk felt the same way. They were hiding in fear, holding anything they could use as a weapon_ guns, knives, and even huge fish hooks.

"Smell that?" His left hand man Noah asked, nostrils flared as he sniffed the air.

Poncho sniffed twice. "Smells like shit, just like everything in the world now. Your nose must be having it rough today."

Noah shook his head. "Smells like fish."

Poncho stiffened. Noah had awakened only one part of his body: the nose. His smelling senses had saved them many times.

A twitching eyelid and uncomfortable nose made Poncho change his mind about continuing his own patrol. "Let’s head inside."

Noah whistled. All their men got the signal and headed to the house where they lived as a group. Not more than five minutes later, watchers flew above the town.

"Those birds bring trouble." Noah whispered.

A minute later, strange mutated creatures walked through the town. Their long sharp tongues sliced whatever they touched.

"What are those things?" Carlos, his right-hand man, whispered.

They were peeking out of windows and a tiny hole in the door.

"Some kind of fish," Poncho said, though he wasn’t sure.

The creatures had fish bodies, scales that had thickened into armor. Their fins worked like hands and their tails had formed short stubby like legs. Their faces looked like geckos, and their gills were hidden until they suddenly pushed out of their skin like petals. When the gills opened, the creatures could hear even the softest sound.

Their ears twitched as they searched for any sign of humans and animals.

Poncho and Carlos continued to whisper carefully, uncertain of what they were looking at.

But then disaster happened.

Three doors down from the house where they were hiding, a loud cry of a cat rocked the quiet air.

"Shit!" Poncho cursed softly.

Every fish creature outside froze.

Their gills stretched out wide. They all turned toward the house at the same time.

Carlos red, "Holy shit, we are going to die because of a damn cat? Why couldn’t that old woman keep it quiet."

The creatures escalated in their direction, smashing everything in their path. People screamed. Some crawled under beds or jumped out through windows.

The unlucky ones landed in the jaws of a fish and their flesh was ripped apart by rows of jagged teeth.

Poncho and his men opened fire, but their bullets simply grazed the impenetrable scales. It made the men panic.

"We are so dead. We are so dead. I don’t want to be fish food." Carlos screamed.

A blast of heat suddenly passed through the small town, engulfing the air.

"Here the comes the sun to kill us." Carlos collapsed, surrendering to death.

Poncho peeked outside again_ and his eyes widened. It was not the sun, it was a man in a red mask! He was standing in the middle of the street, facing the beasts head on.

He was a pyrokinetic.

But not like Carlos who was also a pyrokinetic and yet his flames could hardly ignite a fire.

This man was the real deal. His fire was huge, bright, and wild. It was like a storm of red summoned from the sky. Wherever it landed, the fish creatures burned instantly, turning into black ash not even a skeleton remained.

Poncho laughed. "Heat! Of course they can’t stand heat. They are creatures of the water."

One tried to escape, but the pyrokinetic spun his arm and sent a long wave of fire that cut across the road like a burning whip. It coiled around the burly neck of the creature, killing it instantly.

Carlos was finally off the ground, and peeking through the door with his mouth wide open. "How is he doing that? I can’t even do that on my best day!"

Poncho didn’t answer. He was shocked too. The man fought like fire obeyed him completely.

Within minutes, the entire group of mutated fish creatures was gone. Burned into ash. Smoke drifted in the air.

The man turned to leave, like a hero who sought no glory after saving an entire universe.

Poncho kicked the door open and rushed out. "Who are you?" he screamed, cradling the gun in his right hand.

The man smiled under his mask. "A superhero." He shouted in response.

He climbed into a black truck, and drove away like nothing unusual had happened.

Carlos came out, shaking his head in disbelief. "Superhero? Is he just going around saving people without asking for anything in return?"

People finally came out of their houses, scared but alive.

Someone asked, "What do we do now?"

Some had watery eyes, Some were just confused. The fire had saved their lives but destroyed many homes. They lived too close to the water to feel safe. Who knew how many more fish were under there?

Poncho looked around at the destroyed town.

He sighed. "We leave. I know a place in Westbrook where they might let you all in. Let’s go before more creatures come."

Sheriff Oliver did not talk back to Poncho for once.

The survivors quickly grabbed their belongings. Some complained about the cat, which now walked around proudly next to its owner like it had contributed to the fight.

It’s owner, an elderly woman named Mrs. Nibbles looked ready to fight anyone that dared to lay a hand on it.

Others whispered about the masked man with the fire powers, wondering who he really was and where he came from. They squeezed into the back of three of the five trucks Poncho owned. It was uncomfortable, they were crammed like chicken being transported to a market for sale.

But nobody complained.