[Short Story] - Superhero

“The death toll of the explosion that hit one of the National Bank’s office buildings this morning continues to rise, with more than two hundred people now confirmed to have been killed, and hundreds more seriously injured. The authorities believe that the name behind the attack is no other than Fynn Bannagas, the man responsible for over twenty terrorist attacks in this year alone. If you have any information about his whereabouts, or anything else that could be of help to the authorities, please don’t hesitate to call 911.”

I slammed my glass of beer down on the counter. “Can you believe this?” I was furious they didn’t even mention what I had done. “They didn’t even mention White Wing!” I could feel my heart going crazy the same moment I finished that sentence–I had said too much.

“What do you mean?” A stranger from the other side of the bar spoke up. “It’s not like he did anything. You heard the lady. At least two hundred people died this morning and White Wing didn’t do anything.”

“Yeah!” Another voice from the crowd spoke up. “We’re all relying too much on White Wing to take care of things and then when he doesn’t show up, we can all just hide in our little corners and cry. Even the police has become completely useless ever since White Wing showed up, and all he ever does is chase down Fynn, while the streets are flooded with more drugs than ever!”

“Fuck White Wing!” The first stranger shouted and soon the entire pub began shouting that very sentence.

What none of them knew, however, was that I was in fact White Wing and that the media failed to broadcast how I disarmed a second bomb right underneath where everyone sought cover when the first explosion went off. A reporter filmed me but apparently they didn’t find it important enough–switching to commercials and making an extra couple hundred dollars was more important to them than saving human lives.

I knew had I stayed at that pub any longer I would have gone mad and jeopardize revealing my identity, so I left. I went home and started working on my next plan–eradicating drugs from the streets. Apparently that was what the common folk of Haross wanted and a good super hero always listens to his people’s needs.

In the following month I fully focused on wiping out local drug dealers and other scum. While I was dealing with the drug problem, however, Fynn took advantage of my absence and made the town suffer badly. There were seven bombings, each with over 150 casualties, several bank robberies with dozens of executed hostages, one fully-loaded cargo ship sunken, and he managed to cut-off the electricity of half the down for over a week.

Needless to say, both the media and the authorities wanted White Wing to return as a servant of justice.

The extent to which I have gone to hear them plea for my help was unethical but it was what I needed. I was sick and tired of them treating me as if I were easily expendable. Sick and tired of them pretending they didn’t need me–it provoked a feeling I was much too familiar with from my childhood.

My father had always treated me with zero respect–he didn’t even acknowledge me as his own son. To say my mother was any better would have also been a lie. They only spoke to me when something needed be done–when the grass needed be mown, when the clothes needed be ironed, when the dishes needed be cleaned. Other than work they never even acknowledged my existence nor wanted me to be around–I even had to eat in the attic.

When I turned seventeen and gained several superhuman traits such as flying and increased strength, they plotted to kill me in my sleep because they thought of me as an abomination. To them my powers weren’t a blessing. They were a curse they had to get rid of.

Killing them wasn’t my proudest moment but if I hadn’t done it, they would have tried killing me.

I have since vowed to make a name for myself as a superhero and help the people of Haross. I would get the love I craved, and deserved, and they would get the protection they needed.

There was only one problem, however.

There was no real criminal in Haross I could fight.

The people loved the idea of a flying superhero chasing down little thieves and burglars at first but quickly grew tired of it. The initial euphoria of seeing a man fly had worn off and the crime rate was far too low for anyone to care about an occasional prevented robbery that the police could have handled on their own anyway.

After having experienced love and appreciation for the first time in my life, I was back to square one, feeling depressed and unimportant.

I thought long and hard about my possibilities, until one day, as I was chasing down a robber, it hit me.

I didn’t need for a new villain to emerge out of thin air. The villain I was looking for was right in front of me the entire time.

It was me.

I had the brains and the power to be the greatest villain ever or the greatest superhero ever but since neither can ever exist without the other, I decided to become both.

Having heard the town plea for White Wing’s return to fight Fynn I made sure to set up many remote controlled attacks and timed explosive charges as Fynn, only to then emerge victorious as White Wing and have the masses applaud to me once again.