Early in the morning, the office of the Daily Saturn fell into chaos. The reporters were racing against time to ready the papers for sale. The men and women of the office had no choice but to redo their front-page story. Mere hours before daybreak, two incidents implicating numerous names in criminal activities came to light. It was the day after Daniel’s first crusade. Innumerable law enforcement agents descended upon the city with the destruction of the Edge Bread Factory and the battle at the docks.

  They unearthed millions, perhaps billions of dollars of illegal goods.

  In the heart of the chaos was the editor and chief, directing the staff, barking orders, Terry Grey. He was a dark-skinned man in his early sixties with a flabby body and a beard he kept shaved enough to leave a slight shadow. For years, since starting from the bottom and working his way through the ranks, he was dedicated to giving people the truth as best he could. He was a man who had been there long enough to remember the days when his most trusted reporters were trainees, teenagers fresh from school. He was the only man who could be so authoritative to them and never have them complain or quit, a strange union between a boss and a father figure.

  “Triple time it, people. We need to get the story out to the printers yesterday,” Terry commanded.

  A reporter, Aiguio, an Asian man in his early thirties, ran over to Terry, sweating bullets as he struggled to carry a stack of papers.

  “Boss man, with everything going on we forgot about the princess story.” The reporter coughed violently. “She’s still coming to America, but there’s no more space in the morning addition.”

  “We’ll just save the story about Princess Abigail for tomorrow’s paper.”

  “Are you sure? We’ll have to juggle a lot of things to make it work.”

  “Of course I’m sure. Just get to work.” Terry pointed off into the distance.

  “Y-yes, sir.” Aiguio ran off.

  Another one of Terry’s reporters soon ran to him. Monica was a slender, curvaceous, Caucasian woman of twenty-four with long blood-red hair.

  “Good to finally see you, kid,” Terry said, shooting her a raised eyebrow.

  “I came as soon as I could, Chief. Traffic has been a killer since the incidents.”

  Terry took a deep breath. ”Please take your station. We have to beat the clock here, Monica.”

  “Chief, one thing.”

  “What?”

  “Delia. Is she okay? You assigned her to the Russian mobster case.”

  “Monica—“

  A crashing sound traveled through the air, and Terry and Monica followed it to see someone collapse over the office water cooler, scrambling to get to her feet. It was a slim, curvy, dark-skinned woman of twenty-four with short brunette hair. The two’s eyes widened with shock as they saw their old friend Delia. Running to her aid, they witnessed bandages wrapped around her forehead and body as she struggled to stand. Each took one of her arms, carrying her to a chair, and gently sitting her down.

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  ”My friend.” Monica hugged Delia tightly.

  Delia screamed in pain and Monica quickly released her.

  “I’m so sorry. Please forgive me.”

  “Don’t worry about it.” Delia laughed weakly. “It was an honest mistake.”

  “You had us worried there for a little bit, girl,” Terry said with a laugh.

  “Sorry, chief, but the mobsters nabbed us when I was working the case.”

  “Us?”

  “I was talking with my informant when they got us and someone else.”

  “How did you ever get away?” Monica asked.

  “You mean you don’t know?” Delia hastily stood up. “Oh, thank god. When I sneaked out of the hospital, I thought I might be too late. There’s still time to beat the competition to the story.”

  Terry forced Delia to sit. ”What story?”

  “The report about who saved us.”

  “Who saved you?”

  “He was like a knight from one of the stories my mom and pop would tell me as a kid.” Delia panted heavily, vigorously running her hands through her hair. “Guys, I saw him bust through a wall, tank bullets, lift what I assume was at least two tons of concrete.”

  “Delia.” Terry shot her a raised eyebrow.

  “I’m telling the truth, boss.”

  Monica gently touched Delia’s forehead with a smile. ”Are you sure you’re head isn’t acting up?”

  Delia slapped her hand away. ”I have evidence.”

  “Produce this evidence.” Terry extended his hand to Delia.

  Delia took a tape recorder from her pocket, handing it to Terry.”I was able to get some reactions from the people who were there.”

  Terry pressed play on the recorder, and the group listened intently. Hearing the voice of a man speaking in Russian.

  “He was some white demon clad in armor. One clap of his hands shook the building like a thunderstorm.” The man said over the tape recorder.

  “See,” Delia shouted.

  “Chief, I still don’t think it’s enough.”

  Delia hastily stood up. “Boss, you’ll learn how right I am when the other papers in town scoop us.”

  Terry walked away from his reporters, pondering what to do with the information. But his answer came as he banged his fist on a wall.

  “It’s too late for the morning edition. We’ll have to put out something for the afternoon.”

  “Thank you so much.” Delia released a triumphant laugh.

  “So what, we proclaim this knight as a hero?” Monica asked.

  “No. We print the facts here. For now, we just let the public know he exists.”

  “I can’t wait to get cracking on this story. Just think about it, guys. What will a man with such power do next? Will he prove himself a blessing or a curse?” Delia asked.

  ***

  The sun shone brightly over the city on the first day of March. The citizens moved like the wind in the noisy hustle and bustle of metropolitan life as the sounds of various horns and shouting voices danced throughout the area. Each person was like the mechanisms in a giant machine that desperately needed them to maintain their corner of the world, even if they didn’t know it. But they were soon thrown into disarray as several buildings exploded into green blazes. Sending them running away in a mad panic from the destruction.

  A building collapsed in the path of some of the citizens. It fell faster than the citizens could evade. Still, inches from their doom, the valiant knight caught it. His screams of effort filled the air as he ached from the strain of holding the massive over two thousand feet tall building.

  The citizens looked at Daniel in disbelief as they saw him hold up the building. But as he witnessed them, Daniel cracked the pavement with an angry stomp.

  "Get somewhere safe, you idiots," Daniel shouted.

  The citizens heeded Daniel's order and booked out of harm's way. As he saw them far away, he breathed a sigh of relief. However, a sharp pain in his back told him he was nearing his limit. And as another building exploded, it sent colossal debris flying toward him, landing on the first building. He soon dropped to the ground from exhaustion, carrying their combined weight. It came down with a thunderous boom, kicking up a monstrous dust cloud.