Villainous

Run and Hide

[MACK]

Look, I get Mr. Flowers wants to be careful but right now I feel ridiculous. I'm wearing my hair pulled under a baseball camp, running shoes, backpack, and a grey sweatsuit. Sweats!

He'd explicitly asked I come undercover and even though I hate my current outfit I understand. I recruited him to make the Switch, the one thing that might let us stop Levi and Pollux once and for all. If people find out he'd be in danger, that's why I haven't told anyone. Not the Detective. Not even Finn.

I push my way through the crowds towards Mr. Flowers hidden apartment. "Sorry sir," someone says as they bump into me and I resist the urge to yell at them that I'm very a girl. Finally, I make to his door and have to go through an unnecessary amount of secret knocks he finally lets me in and then quickly shuts the door right behind me.

"I'm glad you're here Mack," he tells me, "I've been watching the news and I've seen you trying to fight the Supers."

I flip the hoodie back and as we make our way through his kitchen. On the kitchen table is a small box and when I peek in it's filled with viles full of purple goo.

"That should be enough to take out Levi's team, although if General Hudson is still making more Supers then you'd need another batch," Mr. Flowers informs me, "It was hard recreating the formula, your Dad was always the mastermind you know, but this should work."

I take out one of the viles and play with it in between my fingers, watching the bright liquid swirl back and forth inside the container. "Hit a Super once and it turns their powers off. Sounds easy enough."

Mr. Flowers looks nervous, "Well if you can get close enough in the first place."

I smirk, "Trust me. I've already done it once or twice."

It is called the Switch though. Which means it can switch the powers on and off. So hit em' once, turn it off. Hit em' again and the powers are back on... In theory at least. I tired it on one of General Hudson's guards and that completely backfired. Now Hudson's using it to switch on weird powers in people that turns them into monsters.

"Your father would be proud," Mr. Flowers tells me, "Or worried sick. Probably both. I know you saw him as the bad guy for so long but he always had good intentions, just bad execution. The Super technology was supposed to bring world peace. We could have used it to stop wars. Or end all illnesses."

It's sounds like the same thing General Hudson had said. I know he's wrong but there is some tiny, nagging feeling that makes me wonder if maybe they were on the right track. World peace sounds pretty good but at what cost?

"It's too bad we'll never get to see his finished work. I actually some of his memos upstairs, would you like to see them?" Mr. Flowers says and I nod. Anything I can have of my father's I'll take.

Mr. Flowers goes up the stairs and I try to fight the hollow feeling in my chest. I've tried stay busy, to keep my mind off of things, but it never really goes away. At night I still dream about my dad and Pollux and Levi and the scene just replays over and over again.

All this time I've wanted to save Levi. I've felt like it's my fault he's so messed up to begin with and I know there's still good in him deep down. But maybe I should do this for my father too. If he wanted to save the world then maybe I can honor him by saving Vertigo City.

Maybe this is bigger than me. Bigger than Levi. Bigger than....

Crash!

There's a sound like glass breaking from upstairs and I instantly know something is wrong. Blame it on the Prime senses but I know it's a Super. Quickly, I wrap up the new copies of the Switch and put them in my backpack and swing it around my shoulders.