I Am Nobody

An eerie, suffocating silence gripped the plaza.

In the distance, morning traffic raged on, completely oblivious to the bloody spectacle that had just unfolded outside Redstone Tower.

The crowd of corporate elites stood frozen.

Clatter!

A woman near the glass doors dropped her iPhone. The screen shattered against the stone floor. She didn't even look down.

"Did... did anyone record that?" a young executive in a tailored suit whispered, his voice trembling violently. "I was so terrified... I forgot to hit record!"

"Record it?!" a female analyst gasped, clutching her shaking coffee cup. "I didn't even see him move! Did a homeless guy just destroy three elite mercenaries with a bloody shopping cart?!"

"Look at the pillar! He buried that giant's face in solid granite!"

Dozens of smartphones flew into the air. Hands were shaking, screens were flashing.

High above, Redstone Tower's military-grade security cameras panned back and forth, capturing every frame. Footage that would, within hours, trigger panic in intelligence agencies across the world.

The corporate spectators stared at the homeless man like he was an urban legend come to life.

He didn't give them a second glance. He knelt beside the unconscious mercenary leader. His calloused fingers moved with terrifying, surgical precision.

He wasn't searching for cash. He was searching for intel. He pulled out a sleek, matte-black communication device from the attacker's vest. No branding. No serial numbers. An encrypted, military-grade burner.

He glanced at the glowing LED screen for less than a second.

Just as I suspected, he thought, his eyes narrowing slightly. Professional operatives. Contracted out of Western Europe. Someone spent a fortune to make Evelyn Carter disappear today.

"What...?" Evelyn Carter finally found her voice.

As the icy, legendary Group GM of the Redstone Global, her mind was usually three steps ahead of every boardroom enemy in the city. But right now? Her brain had just short-circuted.

She looked at the ground. Three elite attackers. Neutralized in under forty-five seconds. And only because he was toying with the last operative.

He'd chosen mercy rather than massacre, putting them to sleep in place of permanently silencing them.

He didn't use rage, she realized, a cold shiver running down her spine. He used absolute, calculated precision.

"Ms. Carter! Oh God, Ms. Carter!" her executive assistant, David, said hysterically, crawling backward on the floor, clinging frantically to her ankle. "Are you okay?! Stay back from him!"

Evelyn ignored him. She slowly raised her cold, sharp eyes toward the stranger. For the first time, she actually looked at him.

His stance was perfectly balanced. Low center of gravity. Breathing slow, deep, and rhythmic.

No adrenaline shake. No rapid pulse.

He looked like a predator who had just finished a casual morning stroll through a warzone.

Suddenly, heavy bootsteps were heard stumping through the frontdesk lobby. Four armed private guards rushed in, guns raised, panic written across their faces.

"Nobody move! Hands up where I can see 'em!" a booming voice filled the large vestibule.

"Ms. Carter!" the lead guard yelled, his voice cracking. "Are you hurt?!"

Evelyn smoothed her tailored blazer, her voice dropping into an icy calm. "I am unharmed."

The guard swiveled his gun, training the red laser sight directly onto the homeless man's chest. "You! Drop the weapon! Did you do this?!"

The homeless man stood up casually, letting the suppressed military pistol dangle at his side. He didn't even care about the gun pointed at his heart.

"They tripped," he said, his voice flat and deadpan.

The entire plaza went dead quiet.

"Tripped?!" the analyst by the coffee cart choked out, covering her mouth to muffle a disbelieving snort.

"They... what?" The guard blinked, staring at the giant unconscious man whose head was embedded in the marble pillar. "You're telling me three armed tacticians tripped?"

The homeless man shrugged, his expression utterly indifferent. "Gravity in this city is unforgiving. Very... unforgiving."

A strange, surreal tension washed over the crowd.

In the distance, sirens broke the silence. Police cruisers, SWAT vans, and medical units were converging on the plaza. High above, a news helicopter hovered, its high-power lens locked on the scene.

The livestream had already broken the internet.

The homeless man's eyes flickered. The cold, lethal focus faded, replaced by a quiet, exhausted annoyance.

Too much noise. Too many eyes, he thought.

He engaged the safety on the suppressed pistol with his thumb and tossed it onto the unconscious mercenary's chest like trash.

"Stop right there!" A police officer pushed through the crowd, hand on his holster. "We need a statement! What's your name?!"

The homeless man stopped, turning his dull, gray eyes toward the officer. "My name won't help you," he said softly. "Or you can call me Nobody."

"Nobody?" The officer frowned. "Everyone has a name!"

"I've already forgotten mine," the man replied, a faint, ghost-like smile touching his lips. "You can check your system. Someone in there might remember it."

Without waiting for a response, he turned back to his battered, rusted shopping cart.

He bent down and began picking up aluminum cans scattered across the concrete, tossing them back into the wire basket alongside a pile of heavy construction bricks.

The crowd watched in utter shock.

He just saved the most powerful woman in New Avalon... and he's collecting twenty-cent cans?!

Evelyn watched him. Her heart pounded against her ribs.

In the business world, she could read anyone. Politicians, billionaires, assassins: she knew their prices.

But this man? Wrapped in a dirty coat patched with duct tape, pushing a squeaking cart? He was an unreadable abyss.

"Wait," Evelyn called out.

The homeless man paused, his hand resting on the rusted handlebar. He didn't turn around. He just waited.

Evelyn stepped forward, her heels clicking sharply against the blood-stained stone.

"Who are you... really?" she asked.

He scoffed softly, his voice lost in the rising wind. "I told you. I am Nobody."

He tightened his grip on the cart and pushed.

Squeak... squeak...

The crowd parted instantly. Police officers, armed guards, corporate moguls: everyone stepped back, clearing a path of absolute reverence.

The ragged figure stepped off the curb, merging into the sea of morning commuters.

Within seconds, the crowd swallowed him whole.

Evelyn stood alone in the shadow of her tower, staring at the empty street, her heart beating wildly for the first time in years.

Nobody... she thought, her eyes narrowing. I will find out who you are.