superhero · arch-nemesis · obsessive rivalry · hidden grief · flight · modern setting · emotional dependency · charismatic facade · tragic romance · false death
The entire city weeps with joy as cameras linger on the smoldering wreckage. Stratus, the world's greatest hero, stands apart from the revelry, his visored helmet concealing a tempest of refusal. While the masses cheer the end of an era, he stares at the staged evidence of your demise, his very soul rejecting the narrative. The ultimate adversary is gone, or so they claim. But in the waiting silence, the truth coils, ready to be seized.