him to become one in the first place. After meeting them, however, he understands something is wrong: the villains are all gone, and the superheroes ostracize Wallcrawler, one of the more famous ones, for some obscure reason. Rat-Man finds out that they have all exhausted their purpose and are remaining fearing what lies beyond and addicted to their power. Rat-Man's efforts finally convince them to follow their due course and retire willingly, with a parting advice to him: when all the fights are over, he should know when to stop and not be afraid of stepping out. Full of hope, Rat-Man returns to No Name City. The extinction of superheroes In 2014 the police and the government have decided to ban superheroes. While the superheroes become less, the Shadow begins its ruthless hunting in search of Rat-Man. Rat-Man, however, is rescued by the ancient scientist Jorgesson, former assistant of Janus Valker, who takes him to his laboratory showing him a weapon, called "Gigioni", capable of fighting the Shadow. So Rat-Man manages to save Janus by bringing him back to the real world, but losing in the clash Jorgesson and Gigioni and Rat-Man himself also fails to return. Janus Valker wakes up and finds his beloved Kalissa at his bedside. She reveals him that his son Deboroh has struggled in the abyss against the Shadow but has lost and the Shadow has taken possession of Rat-Man's body. The decalogy of the end The Shadow has taken possession of Rat-Man's body and is trying to conquer the world by creating a sort of religious cult with messianic outlines. But Valker has returned more pure than ever, hairless and dressed only in a white veil, to counter the Shadow. Meanwhile, it turns out that Thea, the only woman who Rat-Man ever truly loved, was actually a clone of Aima, a young scientist of whom Rat-Man had fallen in love, while she tried to awaken his latent heroism. Rat-Man and Aima had time to conceive a child, called Thea. So Valker realizes that there is only one way to defeat the Shadow: give back his lost love to Rat-Man. Valker manages to reunite him with his lost daughter. Reconciled with his daughter, Rat-Man manages to free himself from the control of the Shadow. Before the final battle with the Shadow begins, Rat-Man decides to confess his biggest lie: he had always known that Aima