Rewriters [Completed]

Vindicate: Lament

For the longest time, I wondered what I had accomplished. Watching the children enjoy their game of tag, I wanted to believe that I brought the slightest glimmer of peace to this town. Yet, I knew for a fact that as long as Harbinger was out there, none of us would know peace.

Peace. That word seemed like a foreign concept to Vale. 13 years ago, the Lakeside District was annihilated by an unexpected earthquake, leaving its scars on history as the incident known as the Collapse. Just three years later, the town witnessed the supervillain Razen's attack on Mayor Rosenberg. Statue, the first superhero, appeared and took down the supervillain with one move, marking the start of the era of superheroes. Since then, the town barely went by a few years without a major incident which I myself was involved in.

All incidents started from a normal day, then in a blink of an eye, one would find themselves right in the chaos. When I saw how the superhero Freya dived to shield the civilians - myself included - from the supervillain Mephisto's attack, and the aftermath of the bitter battle, I came to a realisation. It was the realisation that the town was not the safe place we once thought it was.

Perhaps it was because of that realisation that I gained the drive to obtain a superpower of my own. Or perhaps it was the fact that the retirement of Vahagn and Freya left a gap which Statue failed to fill that I felt like I had to do something.

When I thought about the possibility of getting a superpower, I wanted something versatile and it ended up to be the power to control water. It was weak and hard to control, unlike what I saw in movies, not to mention the limitation that not all places have a convenient source of water to manipulate.

For a while, doubt clouded my mind. The other supers made it seem effortless to control their powers and were significantly stronger than I was. Statue could take out enemies in a blink of an eye; I could not even hope to reach that. Razen's explosions were capable of knocking out five people at once; mine could only tickle the wall with pathetic jets of water.

People always thought I was blessed with talent, but I wasn't. I did not belong under the talented like Mark, the top student who excelled at everything thrown at him.

Meanwhile, the only thing I could do was to work hard and hope that it would pay off in the end.

It did, in the form of a breakthrough in my superpower. I was able to form ice, albeit temporarily, from any source of water I could access.

From there, everything happened so fast. Without thinking, I saved a few students from a lab accident and became a superhero. Slowly, everyone in the school knew of my existence and I became the centre of attention and admiration.

It brought a warm feeling to my heart, like nothing I had ever felt before. As time went on, the doubts that plagued me went away. I thought I was strong, and to be honest, it went to my head. I failed to realise that the world was bigger than me.

When Nyx attacked Rosenberg High, I thought I could take her on. The moment she came, I was immediately incapacitated by the aura she gave off like everyone else. I could only watch in horror as the police officers, who tried to intercept her, were frozen as well.

A surge of fear erupted inside me, the same fear that overcame me when I saw Mephisto's attack heading straight for me, and all I could think of was my death. The supervillains I took down in the past were mere troublemakers who wanted attention. In the face of a true supervillain, I was just another civilian in the crowd.

I couldn't save anyone. My friend was hurt because of my fear that stopped me from moving.

If only I was stronger, I thought as I spent late nights training with regret and frustration in every move.