Beyond Good and Evil (Lams Superhero AU)

Prologue

There's an old saying that my mom used to tell me. She used to always say that "whatever is done for love occurs beyond good and evil."

I thought that that was always foolish, though. Coming from a family that used love as an excuse to treat me horribly, I figured that even love couldn't justify doing bad things.

So I always set out to do good. I wanted to help out the world in a way that the world couldn't help me. I've been this way for as long as I can remember, but I will admit it did get harder when my mom passed.

Out of my whole family, she was the only one who understood me. My siblings didn't care the way I did, and my father was downright awful. How a woman so good as my mom could love a monster like him, I have no idea.

Before she left, though, she reminded me that I couldn't let myself be impacted by the negative actions around me. I kept that shit with me. Not too long after, I made a discovery that you would think came straight out of a fairytale.

I had powers.

Now, I know, you're probably thinking I'm crazy, but it's true. I discovered that I was stronger than my peers at about age thirteen. But it didn't stop there. I could fly, and run faster than speeding cars. No, I didn't have laser beams for eyes or ice powers like the cool ones on TV, but I would say that super agility was super awesome.

I kept this a secret, though. From the public, from my family, from everyone. I wanted to help people, and in case some real threats popped up, I didn't want my family to be at risk. Sure, they didn't care about me, but they were still my family. And I know Ma would have wanted it that way.

So at the ripe age of twenty two, I was out there living a double life. For most of my days, I was John Laurens. Lovable, caring, overworked biochemistry major at King's College. But when needed (or when I felt like having fun), I was Hyperion. Crime-fighting, badass superhero, beloved by the public.

I won't lie, there wasn't really much need for a superhero. I mean, yeah, I helped stop robberies and look after local citizens and such, but there were no big villains to face. I suppose I never really met anyone else with powers like me, though, so that kind of makes sense.

While I've helped many people as Hyperion, I would have to say the only encounter that has ever made me truly happy was when I was ordinary John, walking to the grocery store.

It was raining out, and I was trying to make it into the store as fast as possible (without using powers, of course. Trying to control them is a pain in the ass) when I saw this man with greasy hair and a sopping wet paper bag full of groceries. Before I could rush over to help him, his bag ripped open, and his food spilled all over the New York ground.

He groaned and started to pick them up, so I went and helped him. I still remember that first look he gave me; he glared at me for touching his stuff. But then his expression had softened as he realized I was helping him.

"Oh, thank you." He mumbled, before looking up at the rainy sky. "Figures today out of all days I would forget my tote bag. This paper bag didn't stand a chance in this weather."

Completely stunned by this man's eyes, I grabbed out the tote bag I was going to use for my groceries and held it out for him. I remember blurting out, "Weather bad, use tote bag!"

He of course laughed at my stupidity, but took it from me, sticking his groceries into my tote bag. He slung it over his shoulder and stood up before asking, "And how will I get this back to you?"

"Oh, well, you can have it, don't worry about it."

"Trust me, I don't need any more tote bags, I have a collection of them." He had said to me.

"Well, then we could exchange numbers, and we could always meet up at another time so you could return it."

He pauses for a moment before replying, "That was pretty smooth." He smiled at me and my heart melted. "I'm Alexander."

"John."

And that's how something wonderful started. After a year of dating, the two of us were in our final years at college, and living together. Everything was great, I even gave up my superhero life for a little bit. After all, I couldn't share that secret with Alex, and there was no reason to keep doing it and lie about it to him.

Now, I get to live as a full-time, ordinary human being. With a few extra perks, of course. Alex and I were happy together, and that was all I could ask for.

Until the day that he showed up.