The city was on fire.

Glass rained down from shattered skyscrapers, jagged pieces glinting in the crimson light of a burning sun. The once-bustling streets of Avalon City were now rivers of chaos, filled with fleeing civilians, overturned cars, and billowing smoke.

Above it all, a lone figure hovered in the sky like a storm cloud ready to break.

Omega Man.

His jet-black suit clung to his imposing frame, the sharp, white Ω symbol emblazoned on his chest glowing with an eerie brilliance. The air rippled around him as he raised his hands, summoning arcs of energy that crackled like an angry symphony.

"This system is broken!" His voice boomed over the cacophony of destruction below. "Your leaders? Corrupt! Your laws? Shackles! Today, I am the reckoning!"

With a deafening roar, Omega Man launched another blast, obliterating a corporate tower that stood as a monument to greed and lies. Concrete and steel cascaded in slow motion as the edifice crumbled. The terrified crowd scattered, unsure if they feared the falling debris or the man who caused it more.

Then she appeared.

Through the smoke and chaos stepped a young woman, completely untouched by the destruction around her. Her delicate feet moved lightly over cracked asphalt and scorched earth. She wore a flowing white dress that shimmered faintly despite the grime in the air. Her long, silvery-white hair was tied in a simple ponytail, framing her alabaster skin. Her unseeing eyes stared ahead—or perhaps didn’t need to see at all.

"Could you keep it down?" Beatrice’s voice cut through the destruction, carrying neither urgency nor concern. She sounded more annoyed than alarmed, like a neighbor confronting loud partygoers. "I was napping."

Omega Man turned midair, his fiery gaze locking onto her. For a moment, the sheer audacity of her words made him falter.

"And who," he growled, descending slowly to the cracked ground, "do you think you are to interrupt my judgment?"

Beatrice stopped, glancing lazily around at the chaos—the burning towers, the fleeing crowds. She tilted her head as if considering whether this scene deserved her attention at all.

"Judgment?" she said, finally looking at him. "Call it whatever you want. It’s loud, messy, and frankly, ruining my day." She let out a small yawn. "Do you need something, or can we wrap this up?"

Omega Man’s fists clenched, energy sparking violently around them. "You don’t understand what I’m doing here! This city is a symbol of oppression, and I—"

"Save the speech." Beatrice waved him off, her tone dismissive. "I don’t care."

The words hit like a slap. Omega Man stared at her, his rage momentarily muted by confusion.

"You don’t... care?"

"Not really, no." Beatrice sighed, inspecting her nails. "Look, I don’t know what they did to you, and I don’t care. All this..." She gestured vaguely at the wreckage. "Not my problem. But you’re making it my problem by being loud, and that’s where we’ve got an issue."

"You insolent—"

"Yeah, yeah, wrath of a god, righteous fury, blah, blah." She pulled a sleek black pistol from the folds of her dress, its surface etched with glowing arcane runes. "Here’s the deal. Stop breaking stuff and go away. Or don’t, and I’ll make you. Either way, let’s skip the monologue."

Omega Man roared, unleashing a beam of energy that tore through the street toward her.

When the dust cleared, Beatrice was still standing, idly twirling the pistol on her finger. "Huh. That it?"

Enraged, Omega Man charged, fists crackling with raw power. Beatrice sidestepped lazily, firing a single shot into the ground at his feet. The blast sent him careening backward, his massive frame crashing into the rubble of a toppled skyscraper.

He staggered to his feet, snarling. "You’ll pay for that!"

Beatrice raised an eyebrow. "Sure. Add it to my tab."

Before he could recover, she raised the gun again and fired. The shot hit him square in the chest, sending him hurtling into the sky. His arc marked a series of distant explosions as he collided with building after building.

Beatrice holstered the gun with a flourish and stretched. "Well, that’s one less headache." Her eyes swept over the city’s ruins, the flames, the terrified masses.

For a moment, she stood still, as if considering something. Then she shrugged. "Not my circus, not my monkeys."

She turned and walked away, her white dress pristine despite the soot-filled air. "Now, where was I? Oh, right. Ice cream."

As she disappeared into the smoke, the city was left to grapple with a chilling truth: the one who had stopped Omega Man hadn’t done so for them.