Finally arriving home, he was greeted by the heavenly aroma of stewed oxtail wafting from the kitchen. Devon's mouth watered.
"Ya back just in time. Come nyam before it get cold," Norissa said, filling a plate heaping with tender meat, carrots and gravy with buttered bread.
"Gimme a extra serving Mama, mi need to bulk up and grow strong like the heroes on TV," Devon joked. Norissa just clicked her tongue and smiled, ladling more food onto his plate. Bless his teenage appetite.
Later that night, lulled by a full stomach, Devon was drifting to sleep when faint sirens pierced the air from somewhere within the parish. His ears pricked. Trouble seemed to be brewing nearby.
Devon struggled internally for a moment before his curiosity won out. Pulling on dark clothes, he crept downstairs and slipped outside via the back door. The distant police wails provided a beacon.
Glancing around stealthily, Devon sprinted across the lawn and took a mighty breath. Time froze mid-motion. Grinning, Devon sped off towards the sirens in a blurring streak. Within seconds, he located the source - a jewellery store with a smashed front window.
Keeping to the shadows, Devon watched cops frisk a battered and dazed man in ski mask and dark clothes next to their cruiser. Another officer was questioning the frazzled shopkeeper who kept pointing accusingly at the detained man.
'Dem bag him already, nuttin' left fi spectate,' Devon thought with disappointment. He turned to rush back home before his mother realized he was gone, however....
Suddenly, the robber's eyes rolled back in his head and he snarled like a rabid dog as his muscles began swelling freakishly beneath his clothes. The cops shouted in alarm and drew their Coco-powered sidearms that fired dangerous bursts. But the shots only seemed to enrage the mutant felon further.
"AAAHH!" Roaring crazily, the criminal easily tore free from the officers' grasp and hurled one like a ragdoll into the windshield, shattering it. He then seized the other cop and whipped him hard against the pavement.
Frozen in a breath-holding rush, Devon could only watch helplessly as the monstrous perp proceeded to pulverize the police cruisers next, flipping one before turning his wrath on the jewellery shop once more.
By the time Devon was forced to gasp for air and release his rush ability fully, the scene had become utter chaos. The battered officers had called for powered backup against this rampaging villain. Preparing to sprint away unnoticed, three colourful shapes descended from the night sky.
Coco Heroes had arrived! Devon slipped into the darkness beside a dumpster and watched with awe as the champions confronted the destructive brute.
A powerfully built bald man covered in tattoos landed first. "Stand down, Gunz!" he ordered. When the crazed criminal roared and charged instead, the hero stomped the ground fiercely. A localized tremor shook the road, toppling his opponent off balance.
Seizing the opening, a female hero in sleek blue armour jetted in firing stun blasts from wrist gauntlets. "Eat volt, crook!" she taunted in a cocky voice.
But Gunz just shrugged off electrical arcs that would have dropped a normal man. He uprooted a parking meter to hurl at the flying heroine until a saw blade of crimson energy suddenly severed it mid-swing.
"Target the nerves, JuJu!" the deep voice of the final arrival commanded. This elder champion was adorned in flowing robes with dreadlocks swaying as he created a second psychic buzzsaw projected from his temples. Devon immediately recognized Jamaica's premier mystic warrior, the venerated Bushmaster.
Heeding Bushmaster's counsel, JuJu ceased her ineffective electrical barrage. Drawing intricate symbols in the air, she manifested a swarm of spectral serpents that coiled tightly around the struggling Gunz to bind his movements.
"Excellent," Bushmaster praised. With their foe immobilized, the tattooed hero helped the injured police officers to safety. But the mystic restraints could not contain such freakish strength forever.
"GUOOH!" Already Gunz was tearing partially free with veins bulging. Grunting from the exertion of maintaining control.
JuJu shouted, "Anytime Silverback!"
Nodding, the brute called Silverback launched a dumpster at the captive criminal like it weighed nothing. The massive metal box rocketed forward, seeming guaranteed to smash Gunz through the jewellery shop's brick facade.
"Huh…" Devon winced, conflicted about the harsh but likely necessary action.
At the last second however, Bushmaster splayed his fingers. The dumpster halted instantly, now surrounded by an eerie green aura and hovering inches from the intended target. With a gentle wave, Bushmaster guided the object to settle down without harm.
"Cease this physical destruction at once, wayward brother," Bushmaster addressed Gunz solemnly. The empowered criminal just thrashed and babbled incoherently in the constricting voodoo bindings, still trying to wrench his arms free.
Silverback looked to Bushmaster in confusion. "If we don't put this madman down hard, innocent lives be risked." He clearly didn't understand the Vodoo warrior's mercy.
But Bushmaster approached Gunz without fear or malice. Placing both palms on the felon's sweat-dampened head, Bushmaster intoned "Be purified now of these vile corruptions." Soft emerald light glowed around his hands.
Moments later, Gunz ceased struggling. His muscles and temperament rapidly normalized. When JuJu cautiously dismissed her waning serpent shackles, the former brute collapsed to knees, appearing traumatized and disoriented.
"His mind and body are restored to balance," Bushmaster told them. "This poor soul was possessed by some wicked mystic influence. But the true man lingers beneath."
Silverback still looked ready to pommel the criminal into pavement. But Bushmaster stayed his hand.
"There are always alternatives to violence, brother. Those who show compassion plant seeds of hope." The elder hero extended a hand to lift Gunz up gently. Then Bushmaster levitated the groaning man onto a conjured gurney for medical treatment and transportation. The wayward fellow would get a chance to choose redemption.
As the authorities took over the scene, Silverback remained unconvinced of Bushmaster's sympathy for the gun-toting perp who had hospitalized two cops.
"You Jedi types too soft for my liking," he scoffed before leaping away over the rooftops. Bushmaster watched him depart with a weary sadness in his eyes.
Throughout the confrontation, Devon remain hidden, scarcely believing the incredible clash he had just witnessed. He gained a whole new respect for the selflessness and restraint showed by Bushmaster. Clearly the champion lived by a higher code than sheer force. Devon wondered if he could exhibit such maturity once facing dangers for real someday.
As the heroes regrouped with police to assess damage, Devon peeled away into the shadows. His mind churned with all the insights and questions raised tonight. He had gotten a sobering taste of the grim realities behind dramatic powers. But what struck Devon most was Bushmaster extending mercy and seeking to redeem foes rather than conquering them. That took true wisdom and courage.
Stealthily rushing his way back home, he vowed to train his heart as intensely as his dreadlock abilities. Being a worthy hero meant upholding values as powerful as one's Coco skills. Devon still had much progress to make on both fronts. But this illuminating night fuelled his commitment to the path of a true guardian of the people.