Light Beam and Dark Thunder were always meant to be on opposite sides. Enemies with a past and no possible future.
Superhero. Supervillain.
Righteous. Nefarious.
Popular. Infamous.
But there was only one little problem with that: they liked their...
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I had dragged his body onto a chair and tied his hands in front of him. I wanted to take in every movement he made. Every little twitch, even the tiniest shiver. Besides, it meant he wouldn't be able to free himself without me seeing him do it.
"I didn't want to hurt you, I promise." His eyes looked at me, hopefully.
"You work for them." I reminded him.
"A lot of people do."
"What's your job there?"
"As a kid you look at that big imposing building and all you can think about is how much you want to be a part of it. It's a majestic building, radiating hope and power and--and you know you'd do anything to be a part of it." I didn't care for it. His explanation wouldn't change anything. Not for the better at least.
"All I've ever felt for it is contempt and the occasional burst of respect for being so morally corrupt without even knowing it."
"Hey, you know what, it's not perfect but all everyone in there really wants, is to make the world a better place. And you know that."
"It's all a power thing." I glared at him. He was a part of it.
"Maybe it is. But then again, isn't that what life's all about? Power?" The more he talked about it, the more I realised how little I truly knew about him. It only made it harder to look him in the eye. To look at him and not see someone I had come to adore.
"It's meaningless." Holding my voice together became harder. Watching him turn into someone I didn't know, made everything harder.
I didn't know if he saw it.
"That's why not using yours drove you to villainy?" He did. He saw the turmoil, he saw the voices in my head, he saw the gears turn in my head, he saw how hard this was.
"That's different!" The defensiveness in my voice, disappointed me.
"How is it different? You were not allowed to access your powers and you didn't like being told what to do. I'm not saying you're wrong, I'm just pointing out that you can't hate the system for being the way it is because it's the way you are." No, no, no, how fucking dare he! He didn't know pain. He didn't see what was wrong with his analysis. Powers were hard to explain to someone who didn't have them. He just saw it as a means to an end. But for me, for anyone who really knew what it meant to have superpowers, it was an end.
"You wouldn't understand."
"No, I never will. I don't want to either. It's something personal for you and I can respect that. I still like you. Even if we don't agree on the part Super Tower plays in society. It doesn't matter to me. It scares me but I would never rat you out. I care about you. Maybe I can't date you because I'm scared but I still do care about you."
"So what's the point of working there? If you don't wanna help out. That just makes you an incompetent jerk." I didn't even know which part of me was pissed off.
