[i]Staten Island, 8:00pm [/i]
Things happened as usual inside of the Golden Dove, a diner on Richmond Avenue; customers came and went, waitresses chatted and bustled about while serving their hungry customers, a couple of chefs could be heard scraping their spatulas along the grill and ringing the bell once orders were ready. No one paid attention to the young man sitting in the corner booth wearing a black hoodie, black jeans, sunglasses, and black Vans, staring out the window into the darkness. If anyone did, they never said anything or spared so much as a passing glance.

A waitress, about the same age as the young man, approached the table with a slightly uneasy smile. 

“Hi there, the name is Darla, can I get you anything? A coffee? A slice of pie?”

The young man didn’t even look at the woman. “Coke. Easy Ice. Side of fries.”

The waitress turned and quickly walked away. Things continued on as normal for a while, and the young man ate his food in peace.

A couple of minutes into his meal, a black SUV with no license plates pulled up into the parking lot, and two men in black business suits stepped out. The young man sat up a little and watched them from behind his glasses. The two men quickly closed their doors and walked into the diner. They walked over to the booth right behind the young man and sat down. Very slowly, the young man at the adjacent table leaned up, as if he was readjusting the way he was sitting.

“Damn unnaturals,” said one of the well-dressed men. “They’re like roaches. The more we take down, the more continue to pop up. We took down a safe house last week on Katan Avenue, just up the road. That’s the fourth one this month. Can you believe it?”

“I can’t, Roberts.” The other man said. He took a drink of his water and sighed. “I got a tip from an anonymous source that there is another safe haven for the roaches in Arden Heights Woods, right off of Arthur Kill Road. I think that we should get a task force and check it out tonight. They’ll never see it coming.”

“You think that Diego kid is gonna be there? I heard he’s around here somewhere. We got at least that much from someone on the Katan house. He said that he saw him hanging around the woods…”

“I doubt it, Roberts. I mean, even if we was there, there’s a small chance we could get him, anyway. None of the task forces that have faced the kid have been able to, and most of them get wiped out. If what that kid says is true, then we need to be careful. We just grab the roaches we can and leave. Hopefully it will scare them into another home, and we can go from there.”

The young man at the other table dropped a twenty dollar bill onto the tabletop, and quickly left the diner. He rounded the corner to the back of the restaurant, pulled the hood of his sweater down, then shot up into the sky and in the direction of Arden Heights Woods.

---

[i]Arden Heights Woods, Staten Island, 10:00pm[/i]
The young man watched as the last of the Empowered kids exited the small, poorly constructed, two-bedroom shack. The kid, no more than 17, extended his hand.

“Thank you Diego. For everything.”

“It’s no problem at all, Mike.” Diego took the Empowered’s hand and gave it a small shake. “Just be careful out there. You have to learn how to control that pyro power of yours. Remember what I showd you, okay? Now go.”

Once the boy had left, Diego got to work. He walked into the shack and poured bag after bag of charcoal onto the ground, followed by about two gallons of gasoline. He then flew to the top of the shack and continued to douse the roof in even more gasoline. After he was finished, he flew to the nearest tree and waited. 

Not long after, the sound of car doors being opened and closed could be heard, and moments later, at least ten different men, all dressed in SWAT gear appeared through the trees, guns drawn. Diego scanned the squad and spotted one of the men from the diner. He had his helmet off and took the lead. The man stopped at the door and took in a deep breath.

“It smells like gas. They must have planned to torch the place before leaving. Be careful in there.” With that, the men broke down the door and piled in. 

Diego floated down and stood in the doorway, a smug smile on his face. Roberts and his men turned to face him, and as soon as their eyes met, Diego shot a small flame into the shack. Within an instant, the whole place was ablaze. There was no way the men were able to react, let alone get out, in time. 

Diego turned and shot off into the now pouring rain, leaving the men to their agonizingly slow death.