Deacon of Mercy: Chapter 3 – Unwanted Conflict

Chapter 3 – Unwanted Conflict

Since I’m so excited to get back to work today, I get up before my alarm rings and head downstairs to make breakfast for everyone. I finish my breakfast faster than they do, frantically pace around as I wait for them, and say our family rosary faster than I usually do. Then, I head out to the hero association office for my assignment and go to my assigned location before Idelle and Deborah can catch up to me. While on the job, I accept requests as soon as they appear and finish them just as quickly. Today, I’m assigned to Solis, where people know me and are thankful that I’m back. Nothing major happened while I was gone, but the heroes that took my place weren’t as effective or nice as I was.

“I’m glad to be back as well, more than you know,” I say with a big smile.

That uneasy itch in my arms is finally gone, and I feel satisfied as if my soul hungered to work like a normal hero again. I’m about to answer and go to another request, but I am stopped by a group of heroes and vigilantes who surround me. I recognize the symbols on their outfits as ones from the other hero associations I faced in the competition.

“Hello, friends. Is there something I can help you with?” I say, while still being jittery to fulfill requests.

“How’s the fame and fortune you’ve earned treating you? I’m surprised you’re back on the job after winning so much,” one of the heroes says.

“I don’t care for the fame. As for the fortune, I just give more in my Sunday offerings, more to charity, and plan to buy more for others. Also, my vocation is being a hero, and since I’m not tired at all from the competition, I’m back at work, where I belong.”

“You’re always being a saint, aren’t you? Why don’t you let others have a chance to do your job? Give yourself a well-deserved break for once.”

Seeing what these people are trying to do, I say, “Then go out and do it and stop preventing me from doing my God-given job.”

“We can’t because you keep taking all the glory.”

“Accept work in other places and don’t be so focused on glory. This job is about helping and protecting people. Glory and riches are a secondary component to it.”

“That may be the way it is for you, but the rest of us can’t live like that and don’t see it the way you do. You’ve embarrassed us, and people don’t take us as seriously because of you.”

“Then maybe this is a wake-up call from God to change your mindset. I’ll pray for you that it happens. Now, if you’ll excuse me.”

I try to get to the next requests, especially since they’re starting to build up, but I’m stopped again by the same people.

“Don’t you want to let others have a chance to fulfill dreams and goals of their own?” one of them asks.

“Not at the cost of doing what I know to be right, now, get out of my way,” I say.

The group keeps stopping me from moving, and more show up to get in my way. I try to tell them to stop because people need help and lives are in danger, but they don’t listen. They start to get on my nerves so much that I start pushing my way past them to get to where I need to go. Once I reach the location of one of the requests, I find that it’s already been completed. That’s relieving to see, but when I go to another location, I find injured and dead people on the street. Now, more than before, I feel anxious not just to fulfill the requests, but for justice. I’m about to fight the group that’s been growing to stop me, but I instead rush to request to request to fulfill them so that no one else is hurt or killed. Still, even in the midst of fighting villains and criminals, the group tries to stop me so they or other law enforcers can fulfill the request themselves.

“Stop it! People’s lives are at stake!” I say.

“You should stop. We can handle this without you,” one of them says.

“We can protect people better if we work together instead of getting in each other’s way!”

“You’re the one who is a detriment to the people you protect and other people’s livelihoods.”

During our quarreling, damage to people’s homes and businesses is done, and people are hurt and killed. Stopped in my tracks because of the tragedy of it all, I struggle to control my anger until I pray, and only find myself getting angrier. If God won’t satiate my anger and seems to be further inflaming it, then that can only mean one thing. Before the group that’s been stopping me can say anything else, I grab one of them by the face and slam them into the floor. They then start dog piling me and try to restrain me. This was probably part of their plan, but I don’t care.

One of them says, “You’ll lose your status with your association now. I hope it was worth it.”

I punch the one who was talking in the face so hard that I send them flying into the sky.

“You think I care about that?! I only care about fulfilling God’s will for me. This isn’t the first time I’ve fought against selfish heroes like you, and I don’t care if it’s not the last,” I say.

The others start talking about their own beliefs and sense of right and wrong, none of which I care about. They discuss how our country, the Columbian Union, is a place where multiple beliefs coexist, and that the one with the greatest influence and numbers prevails.

Countering this, I say, “I care for real truth, God’s truth. Not your definition of it or what your false gods believe in. The Columbian Union is indeed a place of freedom where all beliefs should be able to live in peace, but that doesn’t mean that falsehoods should be allowed to exist or overtake the real truth. It only means that we shouldn’t violently suppress one another like you are doing, without a just cause.”

“We believe we’re doing so with a just cause, and we’ll make sure it’s written into law,” another of the selfish heroes says.

Idelle and Deborah arrive and help me fight off the selfish heroes, telling me how they expected this to happen. The secretive agency we’re allies with, Seventy-Three, informed them about the plans of multiple allied groups who wanted to ruin my reputation or make me take a break from being a hero, and that Idelle and Deborah have only just arrived because members of these groups have been slowing them down. The fact that they’ve gone after my family makes me even angrier and drives me to defeat our enemies faster and more brutally, smashing them into the ground, embedding them into walls, and sending them flying through the air. By the time everyone who got in my way is either down or out of the area, I see I’m surrounded by law enforcement officers, heroes, and vigilantes. They tell me I’ve broken the law by attacking members of another group.

Approaching them, I say, “They were getting in the way of me saving lives, and people got hurt and died because of them. I fought them because their stupid games cost people their livelihoods and lives.”

“You should’ve just let others handle it instead of starting a fight with your fellow heroes. Now, we’ll have to-”

“Have to what?” I say as I get in their faces, scaring some of them back. “I’m no stranger to being against the law if it stops me from doing what’s right. These people tried to manipulate the law to suit their ends and ensure my downfall, but I won’t stand for it, and if you want to take me on, you’re more than welcome to try. Otherwise, if you have any sense of honor or morality, then you should get out of my way, and if you try to go after my wife and sister for helping me, then you’ll get triple the punishment from me. I have no patience or mercy for cheaters and people who refuse to do the right thing.”

Seeing my resolve and knowing my history scares away the law enforcers and makes others back off. I go back to the offices of my hero association fully expecting to get fired, but they don’t, despite being required by law to do so.

“Because of the influence you gained for us, we’re able to spin the story in the media that you were set up by people who wanted to manipulate the law to suit themselves and we have enough lawyers and influencers in the government to help you keep your job, and not have to be a freelance hero like you did before,” one of my superiors, a priest, says.

“I see. That’s relieving to hear,” I say.

“Situations such as the one you were in are why we constantly ask you to build our influence. Without it, we can’t defend ourselves against others who want to use the law against us. It’s the duty of us Catholics to fix the laws of the world so that they match the ones in Heaven, the ones that the Church teaches us and holds us accountable to follow.”

“Are you saying that you’re trying to make the beliefs of others illegal?”

“I doubt we can completely do that even within three generations, but we’re doing what we can. It’s what the other hero associations and allies are doing. Ideologies changing the laws and beliefs of others in the places they live is something that’s been happening since the start of civilization. Why shouldn’t we do the same?”

“We’re heroes. Our purpose is to help and protect, not engage in politics and influence other than indirectly by the example we set.”

“Indirect or direct, you influence the lawmakers of the land. Back in the day, I used to be one of the people who made the new weapons and armor that the police are currently using. I helped make our law enforcement into modern knights, thinking that I did my part in God’s plan, but I was accomplishing nothing.”

“You helped our officers have better protection to deal with modern superhuman threats. It wasn’t for nothing!”

“You know what? You’re right. It was for less than nothing since the same officers wearing the weapons and armor I made suppressed fellow Catholics who had the law turned on them, like in your situation, and because of the rise of similar recent events and tensions between us and other hero associations, our sponsors have arranged a formal battle between us all.”

“A formal battle?”

“Think of it like the competition you were just in, but with higher stakes. The winner gets to continue operating like usual, but the losers won’t be able to accept as many requests, not attend events, and have to pay tribute to the winner for half a year.”

“Won’t that mean fewer heroes are operating where they’re needed?”

“We can pick up their slack thanks to you and the new recruits we’ve gotten thanks to you. The results should be good for us, don’t you think? We can outlaw what happened to you to start with and further turn the Columbian Union into a Catholic nation.”

“Are you sure this is necessary to take so many heroes off duty for this scuffle? The nation and world are leaning more towards tradition than godless liberalism.”

“Just because it’s leaning that way doesn’t mean it’ll stay that way. This trend might just be a flash in the pan, a fleeting phenomenon that rises as quickly as it falls. We need to maintain the momentum so that the changes become lasting and more people are brought to God and the Church. A fire needs to be kindled so that it doesn’t go out.”

Despite agreeing with my superior, this still doesn’t feel right. The competition feels like a glorified way to make sure the other associations are suppressed. I wonder if the previous hero association I used to work with will be there. I miss being there. My life was so much simpler. All I did was help and protect people day in and day out, and now, I’m working to influence the country to become more Catholic more directly. If this is why God wanted me to join this association, then I suppose I have no choice but to accept it and hope that I’m still doing the right thing, and continue to do so. If not, I hope that I get put on the correct path soon.

When I talk to Idelle and Deborah about it outside of the office, they ask me what I expected, and that these are how things are with ideologically driven hero associations. They’re right, but it feels like I’ve been taken by surprise despite expecting it. For now, all I can do is go along with it, and again, pray that God is leading me on the right path.