Out Of The Darkness

Victor Williams sits down for dinner with his family and before his father can ask about his test two large men burst into his house, “Villain!” They grab him and pull him from his house.

“No! My son!” He hears his mom's scream and his sister chases after them.

“You can’t take my brother away!” His little sister grabs his ankle and tries to stop them.

Victor breaks free from the men, and hugs his sister, “Lacy, you need to be brave without me okay?” She nods, “I'll find a way to see you, I promise.” He whispers before the gab at him again. “I’ll go willingly. There is no need to traumatize my sister.” As soon as he steps outside the world goes black. When he wakes up he’s on a charter bus with other seventeen year olds found to have super powers from the dark side no doubt.

“Vic you’re here? You’re like the golden boy, how on earth are you here?” Carson, the kid who had bullied him since grade school sits across the aisle from him.

“I…I don’t know.” He leans his head against the cold window but nothing looks familiar anymore. The cold window slows his racing thoughts. He is the son of the city's greatest hero, was he to be the city's greatest villain? Glancing around the bus, he’s suddenly very grateful for the secret identities.

Thinking about his Dad brought up that comfortable feeling of rage, his dad isn’t a good person, he’s incredibly rude, selfish and loaded his supper hero status over his mom and family, but because his powers came from a light source he was a hero? It never sat right with Victor, even more so now, sure some of these kids were jerks, but did sending them away to a villain school really seem like the best thing to do? Parents always tell you it’s what in your heart that matters most – until you're seventeen?

Soon they pull into what can only be described as a compound, Victor feels his heart sink, what is going to happen to them now? They are led through a maze of corridors until they arrive in the mess hall. Caption Racketeer stands in front of them, “Welcome Young Villains.” His voice echoes throughout the mess hall. “I know some of you are thinking, but I’m not that bad.” Then as if he locks eyes with Victor and it seems like he smirks, “Or even I’m a good person. But the city cares not! Your powers once developed will come out with a black glow and the people will fear you.” He walks down the table, “But you do have a choice, you can stay here and be trained into a villain, or you can go through the painful process of surrendering your power potential and return to your civilian life, your parents will be told you have been reformed.”

The kids start to whisper amongst themselves. Victor's mind races, can he go back, would his father be more disappointed if he gave up his powers then if he was a villain. But to be a villain meant never seeing Lacy again. He feels like he’s being torn in two. And if the city can remove your powers, why wait till kids are 17, why not learn to track the gene down when they are younger and have no heroes and villains like other cities. Suddenly it dawns on him, money. The city makes huge money on tourism.

“You have 48 hours to decide, until then you will be kept here in this part of the compound, we have to keep the identities of the villains safe.” With a snap of his hand Caption Racketeer makes everyone's favourite treat appear in front of them. Victor has no desire to eat cookies that were not made by his mom. A cold hand sets in on his shoulder, Caption Racketeer stands over him, “Come with me boy.”

Victor gulps and follows, “Yes, Sir.” Once in a side room Caption Racketeer lets his mask fall, “Cousin James?”

“Hey Vicky Boy! Long time no see eh! So you didn’t inherit Uncle Bill's hero traits, bet he’s disappointed.” That stung more than it should have.

“Guess not. Why are you showing me who you are? What about the whole identity thing?” He shifts uncomfortably.

“That’s just a thing we say, besides, you already know one of the greatest heroes in the city, clearly you can keep a secret. You're gonna stay here right? No way you can go home, Uncle Bill would kill you.” How can James say that and not see the irony?

“I’m gonna think about it.” He shrugs.

“Honestly, with how much of a good kid you are, I’m shocked you're here. Maybe I should recommend a retest, maybe it was a bad day.” James mutters.

“Why would a bad day change that?” Victor tilts his head.

“Don’t worry about it, just stay here with me. You can be my sidekick, we can be a dynamic duo!” James dawns his costume, “Think about it, alright?”

Victor nods and returns to his seat numb.

The 48 hours fly by, unable to think about going home, a failure he chooses to stay, maybe he can be a secret good guy or something.

Once training starts Victor learns his powers are the counterpart to his fathers, his father’s powers move like electericty, his move like waves. He also notices to use his powers he is told to think of the person who angers him the most, the angrier he gets the darker his powers get. The more he focuses on the darkness the harder his heart becomes, his hands start to cool too, this causes him to wonder…

“Hey Caption James.” He calls after his cousin once the session lets out, “Can you get a private practice slot? I wanna test out a few things.”

“But don’t wanna be embarrassed, I got you cuz.” He flips through the book, “Feel like getting up early? There is an open slot at dawn.”

“Yea I’ll take it.” It might hide what he’s up to.

“Perfect, I’ll make ya down. The key for the field will just appear on your way.” He turns to leave, “Hey, it’s name day next week, you think of one yet?”

“I have some ideas, yea.” Victor shugs, “We’ll see how the next few practices go.”

The next morning, alone on the practice field, he stands in the center and rather than thinking about his dad and the rage that had become so comfortable, he thinks of Lacy, her smile, her laughter, the way she always called him her hero. He feels his hand start to warm and the power that flows from his hands is the warm glow of a hero. He freezes. He lets his mind wander back to the feeling of failure, of rage and the power changes back to the black oil like flow.

It all made sense, his father may be horribly unkind, but he oozes confidence… “We aren’t villains – the powers reflect how you feel!” and if his father knew that then he set his son to become a villain. And even if his father didn’t know the city had to have figured it out by now, and still they turned kids into villains! For what? Tourism profits!

As his rage boils over from his hands flows streams of gold and black, he screams till his throat is raw, and collopes to the turf of the practice field. “I will be the difference I want to see, and the city won’t know what to do with me.”

A week later when it comes time to pick a name and a costume he stands before the small crowd of villains, “I will be the Transgressor!” He clapped his hand and his costume, a mix of black and gold with an unbalanced scale across his chest. The other villain cheered, as the applause rolled over him he muttered, “And I will balance the scales.”