How To (Not) Fall For A Villain

3. Get To Know Us

As I walked home down the street after the fight, I thought about what had happened. I had given him a fair chance in battle, a chance for me to finally catch him and make him undo his wrongs, but once again he'd managed to slip away.

He has done it before, too, when we met for the very first time. He'd just arrived to Razor City and took upon a habit of destroying our skyscrapers with his powers, shattering and bending them to whatever way he wanted, and I was called to the scene to urge him to stop. I did ask him to stop that, but I doubted he'd even listened to me at all. We talked about it- no, we argued about it, and he was, well... cocky. Arrogant. Sarcastic. Willing to get away from it no matter what and keep doing what he does best.

But then he had to flash the annoying, almost stupidly charming grin at me and get all sweet-talk and the whole plan backfired on that very moment.

He's arrogant. Attractive, but arrogant.

His origins are really mysterious, not going to lie. I don't know where he's from, where he lives, or even which city he's came from. All I know that he now resides here and is causing trouble for the hell of it. I'll propably never know where he came from, but I don't think I'd have to worry about it.

I came across a bus stop with some people waiting for the next bus, so I decided to stay there and wait for a ride home.

A little kid, about 9 or 10 years old, stared at me from his mothers' side, eyes wide. "Why do you have a bloody nose?" He asked, pointing to my face. Confused, I touched my nose and, indeed, it was bleeding. I wiped it away while cursing Morgan in my mind. "Oh, uh.. I got into a fight with someone."

"Oh. Did they get away?"

"Um.. yes, they did. But I'll find them again."

Luckily, the bus turned around the corner and arrived to the stop before the kid could ask any more questions. I paid my ticket and got on the bus, sitting on an empty seat next to the window.

As the bus left the stop and headed out of the city, I watched the skyscrapers change into apartment houses and flats, and then later into normal houses, while the roads got narrower and simpler, with more trees growing on the side of the road and between houses.

Oh, right. I almost forgot to introduce myself here.

My name is Liam Rady, and I'm a hero of Razor City. Yes, I know, your classic superhero with a cape, a suit and cool superpowers, who goes around the city fighting bad guys. But it's more than just that, y'know.

Each of us have a different set of powers assigned to us by our elements, which we are born with. I was born with the energy element, which gives me electric powers. Hence my alter ego, Shockwave.

I'm not quite sure what determines whether you're born with an element or not, to be honest. Could be genetics, could be some supernatural thing affecting us in this very place, or some kind of a goverment thing, you never know. But my parents don't have elements or powers, so I couldn't have gotten it from them.

The reason for it, however, could be my grandfather. He's an old hero who once became famous in Razor City for defeating some terrible villain who was plaquing the city, and he's still pretty proud of that, though he's staying humble most of the time. He's retired by now, and pays visits to my home from time to time, to either tell me his stories or to teach me new tricks.