How To Be a Super-Villain {an origin story}

"All these stories - they tell tales about how the heroes will have to choose between their lover and the safety of the world, and yet the happy endings always manage to make it into the final cut. They choose the lover - they always do - and then together, the hero and the lover saves the world. They always do. These stories teach us that love conquers all. It doesn't matter if the hero has just met his lover two weeks ago, or if the entire universe is at stake - love conquers all. There will always be a happy ending, as long as you choose love."

I take one more step towards her, pushing her farther back against the wall, and ignore the way she flinches instinctually. My voice steels as the adrenaline settles into a cold ball in my core.

"But that's the thing about stories - they're just that. Stories. In the real world, those heroes and heroines in such stories will never survive, and their loved ones will never survive, and guess what? The world they're supposed save will never survive. So trust me when I say that, when it comes down to this? When it comes down to choosing my lover or the world - you or the greater good? I will never choose you."