The Veil Between

Chapter Seven | The Hero Shall Fall

Chapter Seven | The Hero Shall Fall

Now, Vano Tokár had never thought this would be how his life turned out. He had a good day job, but he had always known something was missing. Though, he did not know that it would end up with him being playing sidekick to a vigilante.

That was something he was genuinely conflicted about.

He knew that the good ones out there did their job, but he couldn't help but see all the ones that abused their power and generalized the whole profession.

Though Jason was... different, at least from what Vano could see.

This man, this vigilante, he was what his people had aspired to be when the movement started. At the start, they had been people who wanted to protect those who couldn't protect themselves, they were not in it for money, or for power, they were in it to do good, like Jason was, or at least seemed to be.

Nowadays most vigilantes just wanted a thrill, or they wanted power, they were doing it for all the wrong reasons, and as a result, Vano had little to no respect for the majority of them, or at least until he met this one.

Either Jason had fooled him good, or he was the real deal, and Vano was more inclined to believe the latter, as the goofy vigilante had already grown on him quite a bit.

He dropped down onto a lower roof then down the fire escape and onto the ground in an alley, glancing back up in time to see Jason simply launch himself off the rooftop and land on his knee like something out of an old hero movie. Vano gawked for a moment before shouting at him. "What the hell was that?! You're going to destroy your whole leg, you absolute fucking moron!"

"Vano, if you're being serious, and you're actually worried about me breaking my leg in this superhero landing; don't be. Because- well, I already did!" Jason laughed, not really at all nervous of getting reamed out by the other since he thought it was hilarious. "It was a couple of years ago, hurt like hell, but now I've got this prosthetic, it's a shock-absorbing one. It has bent before though, only one time though, I forgot to twist the springs up properly when doing maintenance and I landed on it and it just bent up. Oh man, the faces of the guys who I was trying to fight though, absolutely classic. They were freaking out when I stood up, my leg bent out in one direction, I think one of the guys threw up, and I was howling."

Vano just stared at the other for a long moment, letting the other finish laughing at his own antics before he promptly swatted him upside the head, making Jason yelp in surprise before laughing slightly. "Hey! What was that for?"

"You are an idiot, hero boy," He scoffed and shook his head, before turning and walking off, leaving Jason to laugh and follow after him with a smile.

The two were revisiting some crime scenes, walking around and questioning people in the area about whether or not they saw anything, and rechecking the areas for anything they might have missed. Most of the people in the areas seemed happy to talk to Jason, they knew him, he had likely saved their lives at some point, or the lives of someone they knew. He really was treated like a hero, and someone, he remained - for the most part - generally humble about it.

Vano didn't think that was very in character for him, but it seemed to be true, though in all honesty, mostly he would have pegged Jason to be a prideful egotist with a heart of gold.

After a while, that proved true, as whenever someone would compliment him, he remained modest with them, before, once they left, he turned and bragged about it to Vano, which genuinely made him laugh.

"Mister hero! Mister hero, over here! Hello, please!"

Jason turned at the sound of being called, and lit up happily, grinning when two small and identical boys ran up to him, looking delighted to see him. He smiled and knelt down to them, letting them jump at him to hug him, rambling off in another language.