Villain of Crime: Chapter 4 – Justice Served

Chapter 4 – Justice Served

It feels like it was just yesterday that Klinge, Lancetto, and Darcy agreed to celebrate the workers of Meridian, and the day is already here. A good twenty or so city blocks are reserved for today’s events, with every company, school, and partner of the four families being represented, along with companies foreign to them, such as the new and upcoming Coronamento Corporation, which is starting to expand in most cities of the country. There are activities for children and places for adults to relax, drink, or receive job offers, some of which include on-site job interviews for positions that don’t require prior experience or a college degree. The hero and vigilante associations are also recruiting while also doubling as security for the event, along with the police. Finally, there’s an area where the city’s history is being told, and pieces of its history are shown off.

Everything is going as planned without a single hitch or sign of trouble in sight. Maybe I’m overthinking it, but I feel something will happen. I’m just not sure when. To my surprise, I see Chief Raymond fight his way through his crowd to me and take a seat at the table I’m sitting at.

“Good morning, chief. How are you enjoying today’s festivities?” I ask.

“They’re nice, but migraine-inducing,” Raymond says while chewing on his gum.

“Are you here to join me for a drink? Have you ever tried wine with coffee? My brother, Lancetto, introduced me to it, and I can’t help but have at least one during special celebrations.”

“I prefer whiskey with coffee for my special occasions. I’m not here for that, well, I kind of am, but it’s not the main reason. Tell our mutual, shadowy friend L’Obscurité that he was right.”

“Right about what?”

“About most things. He’ll know what I mean.”

“I’ll let him know if I ever see him.”

“I know you and your friends see him. I’m pretty sure he’s even one of you or your other powerful friends who is around your age. Sooner or later, I’ll find out who he really is.”

“Then what?”

“Depends. If he’s a corrupt man, doing wrong in secret and only helping because of a guilty conscience or trying to get help from the inside just in case he eventually gets caught, I’ll arrest him. On the other hand, if he’s some prodigal son making up for his shady past or someone as clean as you, I’ll just trust him a bit more and won’t spill his identity to anyone.”

Considering what Raymond said, I say, “I’m sure he’ll just tell you his identity if you told him that.”

“If you think that, then you must know him better than I thought.”

“I do. He’s an honest man who wears his personality on his sleeves.”

“You’re right, but he can also be tricky.”

“Even so, I’m confident that he won’t hide anything from you and tell you who he is because he trusts you after working with you this month and seeing who you really are inside.”

“Yeah? I hope so.”

The time comes for my friends and I have to give our speeches. Instead of speaking formally to the people, we involve our employees, our family, and friends, speaking informally about their experiences, good times, and bad times at work, why they work, and to be honest in their feelings towards it and the state of the city. This honesty gathers a large crowd of people who are invested in watching it, who laugh, cheer, and clap for those who talk. By the time I have a chance to talk, there seems to be over a hundred people gathered around, with others watching from afar, watching what is happening on the TVs. I talk with my parents and how our faith is the reason why we continue our work in education, hospitals, and charities, and how the underlying message of our faith is that to love is to suffer pushes us to make sacrifices for those we serve and those who help us serve.

To conclude, my dad says. “Let this be our renewal of vows of our dedication to the people of Meridian. We, the Severe Family, promise you that we will be there whether you are poor or rich, healthy or sick.”

“We promise to do our best every day as if it were our last and will not stop until every needy person is served and every ill person is given proper care,” my mom says.

“And I promise that Meridian will no longer be looked down on by the rest of the country and world. Instead, we will be a shining example of how a people can rise above their flaws and be the leaders of a brighter future,” I say.

My family and I receive cheers and applause from the crowds, which quickly turns to screaming as something goes wrong. What happens isn’t obvious until we hear gunshots and see heroes and vigilantes fighting other masked and superhuman individuals. While the police, led by Chief Raymond, try to bring us to safety, I try to think of a way to get away so I can transform and not have to think of a silly or stupid excuse for doing so. An answer comes when criminals with guns attack us, and without thinking, I draw my pistol from inside my suit jacket, help the police by returning fire at the criminals, and throw myself in front of Raymond so I get shot instead of him.

“Timeo! What were you thinking, kid?!” Raymond asks as he pulls me back from the action.

I’ve been shot so much as L’Obscurité that the reality of getting shot in my normal form didn’t occur to me. Thankfully, it’s nothing lethal, or at least I don’t think it is.

“I thought you needed help, and I’m not going to let anyone die when I’m around,” I say, partially telling the truth.

To aid what I’m saying, my parents also have their pistols out, looking like they’re ready to shoot anyone who even looks like a masked criminal.

“We help others even if it costs us our lives. That’s what it means to be born in Meridian,” my dad says.

“We’ll help you get our son to safety, chief. You can count on us,” my mom adds.

“And you people are supposed to work in hospitals…okay. Let’s get him to the medical tent.”

Raymond and my parents bring me to a medical tent. There, my parents work on my wounds and patch me up. I’m glad that it wasn’t really anything lethal and even gladder that my parents say that they’re proud of me.

“Now, you gun-toting doctors, stay put while we take care of the chaos happening outside. Leave the heroics to us,” Raymond says before heading out into the chaos.

Great. I’m stuck in another situation that I have to think my way out of; however, this silent prayer is quickly answered as a flying superhuman blows away the tent and us along with it in a single blow, allowing me the chance to hide in the crowd, find my way to a dark ally, and transform into L’Obscurité and now it’s time for justice. Going into the action, I restrain every criminal I come across and take away the powers of the villains with superhuman abilities. As the tide turns against the criminals, I spot Derick, the Manager, trying to escape in the chaos by leaving his allies behind and hurting everyone who gets in his way. I push my way past those he leaves behind and stop him in his tracks.

“You won’t escape this time!” I say.

His powers are slowly drained from him as his legs and arms wither into dry sticks that come off at the slightest touch.

“You ruined everything! This was supposed to be my great revenge against the system! I was going to prove that my products, my heroes, guns, and people were better than anything the city could make,” Derick says.

“You’re just a shell of your former self, Derick. A pathetic man who could’ve been something great if you didn’t let the world corrupt you.”

“I won’t let you take me to your flawed justice system and even worse rehabilitation asylums! I won’t!”

Derick bites on something, and his head explodes into pieces. In the last moments of his life, I saw the flickers of a man who wanted to prove himself and make the city a better place, but that was overtaken by the evil he allowed to fester in his soul. As the chaos dies down and order is restored, I check on my parents, who are okay, and then tell Raymond what happened and what I saw in Derick.

“It’s a shame, but at least it’s over,” Raymond says.

“For him it is. We still have plenty of other criminals, villains, and cases to tackle,” I say.

“That’s just the nature of the job. Let’s rest easy for now and talk in private for a second.”

I follow Raymond to a building that has its superhuman barriers up. He tells his officers to guard the entrances and to make sure that no one hears our conversation.

Inside, I say, “I know what you want to tell me. Timeo-”

“Don’t give me that half-truth talk. I know who you are, kid,” Raymond says.

I reveal my true face, smile, and say, “What gave it away?”

“It’s funny. Over this past month, I kept getting the feeling that if you were in your normal form, you’d still throw yourself in front of me to protect me, since it’s been a habit of yours. Part of me thought you wouldn’t because you might be vulnerable and risk dying. I’m glad to have been proven wrong. In my many years of working with heroes and vigilantes, I have to say that you’re one of the more unique ones.”

“What makes you say that?”

“You’re a real hero. You don’t fight for honor, glory, and riches, and you don’t kiss up to those in power to get your way. You do it to make a difference, and it doesn’t matter whose feet you step on to do it; you do your best to make it happen. You remind me a lot of me in my younger years.”

“You’re a good man, chief. I believe that together, Meridian will be a fairer and better city to live in, so it doesn’t corrupt men like Derick and drive them into insanity.”

Raymond looks at me, laughs, and then says, “I have my doubts, but your example has convinced me that there’s a chance we’ll see the city change in our lifetime.”

There’s a knock at the door that Raymond answers. I put on my mask as he does and listen in on what’s happening.

“What is it?” Raymond asks.

“Trouble downtown. Crooks are using the chaos down here as a distraction to rob a bank,” a cop says.

“I’m on it!” I say as I slip past the cops.

Following the cop cars to the bank where the robbery is happening, I enter the bank with a laugh. The criminals are panicking and pointing their guns in all directions.

One of them says, “Who…who’s laughing?!”

“The dark agent of justice known as L’Obscurité,” I say. “Drop your weapons, and I may let you leave here alive.”

“We ain’t doing anything!”

I turn the weapons of the criminals into living snakes that bite them and slither away. They’re all huddled together now, scared out of their mind. As I hover above them, they notice my shadow and scream in fear as they fall to the ground.

“Don’t kill us! We surrender!” one of them says.

“Sin is suicide, death of the soul, and punishment in of itself, but justice is yet to be satisfied. You won’t be let off so easily,” I say before laughing and enacting justice on the cowering criminals.

 

The End