Hero Muscle Lantern had been active on duty for more than two decades now. Starting his career as a child prodigy that saved people on multiple occasions, he had been on a constant rise to fame.
Unfortunately, he quickly hit his limit in terms of growth, unable to go beyond that. His ability worked on strengthening the muscles of any body, whether human, animal, bird, fish or even an insect.
But, there was a structural limit beyond which he couldn't strengthen someone. Even if he did, the brain of the target was simply unable to withstand the rapid change, causing a breakdown of brain cells which turned the person more and more stupid over time.
Even for him, during the peak of his career, he had to face terrifying Villains, having no other choice but to push his body beyond the limit. As a result, his brain took damage, causing him to become stupid over time as compared to his smart peak.
Every time he did this, he became more and more stupid. He was still smart in comparison to the average human, but not by much, a display of how smart he was in his youth.
But, this also meant that his efficiency in solving issues plummeted, causing his Hero Approval Ratings to engage in a steady decline. As a result, his remuneration also took a hit.
In a world centered around Heroes and Villains, your popularity was a direct declaration of the wealth you were remunerated with. And for Muscle Lantern, starting from being a Hero that protected the entire City State of Nampur to now only being in charge of a minor district, he had fallen a lot.
It was to such an extent that if he didn't do anything, he would be on the streets, unable to afford his lifestyle.
That was when he schemed with his wife, Pink Jail to amass a lot of money.
Pink Jail had been a vigilante throughout her life, pursuing the villain that had killed her father. Eventually, she managed to kill her enemy and retired from a vigilante life.
And hence, there were no records about her, which worked in their favour as she could now play the role of a villain.
Pink Jail would rob a bank using her powers while Muscle Lantern would try to stop her but fail in doing so. And in this manner, they planned to amass enough money required for the rest of their lives.
After all, they had two children to feed. Education was damn expensive these days.
"How much did we obtain until now?" Muscle Lantern asked after a sigh, switching off the television.
"Twelve million," Pink Jail replied, "It's enough to last us a decade even if we were to maintain our current lifestyle. Besides, I know a good investor. Through him, we can convert this into white money and gain long-term profits."
"Twelve million…three million short of our goal." Muscle Lantern muttered as he opened a document and looked into its details, "In two days, there would be a replenishment of money to the Central Bank of Commerce. We'll target that."
"And once I fail to catch you, I'll use the incident to resign." Muscle Lantern said, "Also, none of the other Heroes will be in the vicinity at that time."
"That's a nice plan you got going there."
"Who's there?" Muscle Lantern shouted in alarm as his muscles convulsed, growing stronger rapidly as his senses were stretched to the limit, allowing him to sense any living being in his vicinity.
It was at this moment his senses captured a doll, of a cat, placed on the bed as his daughter cuddled with it. The cat was a mere doll, nothing alarming about it.
But for some reason, Muscle Lantern felt that something was amiss, hitting his beam of light on the cat to see its body wriggling slightly, causing him to shout, "Throw it away!"
"Eh? What happened, dad…?" His daughter looked in puzzlement, staring at the cat doll sporting a smile, confusing her for it only sported a poker face until now. She never knew of a doll that could change its facial expression.
Bang!
A gust of air slammed into the head of the cat doll and sent it flying. Pink Jail had taken action first, hurriedly pulling her daughter into her embrace, "Are you alright?"
Even though she was asking her daughter, she only stared at her husband, relying on his senses to sign in relief when he nodded, expressing that their daughter was unharmed.
Her gaze fell on the cat doll that lacked a head now, its body lay beside the bed while its head was spewed across the mattress in cotton pieces.
Suddenly, the cotton pieces dissolved into a liquid before flowing into the cat doll, regrowing its head. The cat doll was just about to say something when the fist of Muscle Lantern kissed its face, sending it slamming into the wall, this time splattering its body everywhere.
"What the heck is this?" Muscle Lantern cursed in alarm upon seeing the splattered fragments re-joining to form the cat doll once again. Grunting in anger, he punched it once again, "Let me see how long you can reform your body."
Bang! Bang! Bang!
"D-Dad…?" His daughter trembled in fear while Muscle Lantern continued to pummel the cat doll.
"It seems you have a limit." Muscle Lantern muttered upon seeing the cat doll reform itself slower this time, unleashing one more punch to splatter its body, this time seeing the fragments vaporise into starlight before vanishing.
But suddenly, a starlight stream flashed past them, heading deeper into the house as Muscle Lantern shouted in alarm, "This bastard isn't dead yet?"
"Not there!" Pink Jail shouted as she hurried across the room, entering a sealed room to see the cat doll standing there, now as a humanoid figure, many times bigger than before, and resembling a living being more than a doll.
And held in its hand were two suits, belonging to the Muscle Lantern and Pink Jail respectively.
"Don't you dare!" Muscle Lantern shouted as his figure flickered, punching at the humanoid cat figure, his eyes widening in shock to see the humanoid figure vanish along with the two suits, and in its place appeared a broken cat doll.
The cat doll defended using its hands, pushing itself away from Muscle Lantern's fists. Even though its body splattered from the impact, the humanoid form reappeared, hurriedly transforming into a starlight stream to vanish from view.
Bam!
"Our suits!" Muscle Lantern grunted in anger before turning around to stare at Pink Jail, "Take the children and head to a nearby shelter until I return. I'll capture the thief."
"Be careful, dear." Pink Jail said in worry before exiting the house with her children.
Muscle Lantern had already leaped out of the window to pursue the thief, recalling the direction taken by the starlight stream. "How dare you steal my suit."
