It was autumn, at noon, and the sun was hanging in the sky, hovering over the city. Its intrinsic brilliance was absorbed by the world around it, the sky, the clouds, the people, they all fell under its light and kept it for themselves. On this beautiful day, the streets were filled with colorful leaves and a slight breeze in the air. Beside the beautiful trees stood a tall post, with a crisscross of wires, tangled and in a mess. The wire traveled up and down the street, with no end in sight. The trees tried to grow past the posts but were held back by the jumble of wires where the trees couldn’t grow. And below the trees were the people, who walked past the street, never looking up to see the war going on above. This day, one more person walked by, his name was Miko, and he wore a dirty, black hoodie with no brand names or eccentric statements. His hood was over his head as if to shield him from the world above. He wore generic jeans and generic shoes. He walked along, looking at nobody, and nobody looking at him. Then, he suddenly heard a noise, a scream for help from a young woman, but he didn’t flinch. He slowly walked towards the alleyway with the woman, who was being robbed by a large man. Miko walked at a slower and slower pace until he came to a complete stop. Then, the screaming stopped. He continued walking past as more screaming began, this time, a man’s.
There was a furniture store that he liked visiting, and an electronics store too. Today, he decided to relax at the furniture store, so he sat down on one of the couches for sale. The store workers were used to it by now but the newer customers were quite shocked at what they saw. Not because the workers said nothing to him but because the air in front of him began to twist and turn. The very fabric of the universe seemed to be bending, then revealing a small hole that became larger and larger. A faint picture began to show itself through the hole as the other side of the dimensional tear became clearer and clearer. Finally, the hole was large enough to make out the other side; it was a TV. The tear through worlds lead to the electronics store down the street, right in front of a TV playing Miko’s favourite news channel which he was watching intensely, but his expression didn’t show it. Most customers were bewildered, and others ran out of the store in complete shock, but some made it seem like nothing even happened. He liked to sit there more than anything else, but while sitting he had to eat something, so he made a sandwich. The bread, the meat, the lettuce, but no onions, he hated onions. He created food only for himself, giving none to anyone else. He never created a store to sell his endless supply of tasty sandwiches nor did he offer a teleportation service, instead he just sat there. Endlessly doing nothing. By the time the sandwich was finished, there was another sandwich, and then another, this time with some mayonnaise. But then he decided that he didn’t like mayonnaise so he added mustard instead. But mustard didn’t do it for him either. After making something like a billion sandwiches he should know the perfect sauce, but if he ever found it he wouldn’t remember. The sandwich was pointless to him, as was the news, but he watched it anyways, just as he ate the sandwich over and over again. While the furniture store workers learned to accept Miko’s “hobby,” the electronics store workers were not too fond of it. One worker got fed up, so he decided to turn off the TV. He picked up the remote, and then he realized that the remote was no longer in his hands. He looked down to see a pile of screws, a flat sheet of green and gray plastic, some rubber, and a small lump of metal. Upon seeing this, the worker gave up and let Miko’s wrongdoings slide. Nobody understood Miko, nobody understood how he was able to do what he did, all they did know is that he was a pain in the ass. Miko understood this too and felt the same way towards the workers. In fact, it was more like everyone he had ever met and ever will meet, except one guy. Then this guy walks into the furniture store, looking for Miko. He was dressed as a superhero, so everyone understood that he was one. Upon seeing him, the people felt at ease. They hoped he would take care of this delinquent, delivering a punch and then yelling a cheesy one-liner like “evil-doers always lose,” and then fly away looking for other people to gallantly save. But this hero, Reese, was friends with Miko, at least they were the closest possible thing to friends. So it surprised the people when he started talking to him, but at that point most people lost interest and the last few people started to look away. The brave hero started to chat, he said
“I’ve got a job for you, 10:00 tonight, you want in?”
Miko, not surprised that someone snuck up on him replied,
“Same amount?”
“Yup, I’m afraid you won’t like the dude paying though.”
“Doesn’t matter.”
Miko doesn’t use too many words in a sentence. Each syllable is a thought that is lost through the perception of man. Only words that have a specific meaning make any impact. Reese was accustomed to the small vocabulary Miko had. Miko wanted the money, so he didn’t need to ask again, Miko would be there. Reese walked away without looking back, as their understanding of each other was complete. Reese knew everything Miko was thinking at all times, that was the kind of relationship they had. Reese knew about the problems in Miko’s childhood and why he is who he is today. So he never had faith in Miko, no, it was more like faith in himself, faith that he was smart enough to understand the factors that affected him and his so-called friend. After all, if one person knew everything about the world, every particle’s position and velocity at any moment, they, in theory, could predict the future. Reese was that person, who knew all there was to know about Miko. So he kept walking down the street, dressed like a superhero. Kids on the street started pointing at him tugging at their parents, saying,
“Mommy, mommy, a real-life superhero!”
The collection of people walking in the streets slowly began to turn their heads and soon enough, everyone was looking at him. Instead of greeting his fans and signing autographs as if he were famous, all he did was stare straight up, looking at the sky. However, neither Miko nor Reese had ever stopped to notice the trees.
There was another, and he was cruel, but he did not care. The way he killed was pretty much the definition of evil. One time, he made a guy slip and fall onto a road, then get crushed to pieces by a truck. He gave off a villainous vibe, he made anyone who met him tremble in fear. And, of course, he was a gangster, the king of criminals. People called him the Butterfly, a vague description of what he’s capable of. He can summon a swarm of flesh-eating butterflies to devour his enemies. Actually, no, but he actually might be able to do that. Anyways, today, this mastermind was meeting with a meek little gangster from the south side of Highrise City. He started doing business on the Butterfly’s turf, which wasn’t very bright. So now he and his gang decided to meet to discuss their problems.
“You don’t really think you can get away with it right? Or are you really that stupid?”
“I’m sorry, we had no idea it was your turf, we’ll never do it again”
He cried as he said those words, looking down at the ground.
“I might forgive you this time, but as a warning, I’m going to show you what I can do, and what might end up happening to you.”
Then, he moved his left foot 21.974 degrees to the right and pointed his pinky finger straight up. Then, there was a cracking noise as the ceiling tile fell right on top of one of the gangster’s men in the room. The tile smashed right into the man’s head and blood splattered out onto everyone in the room. The man fell over, feeling very dead. The gangster shrieked and looked down again.
“I’m sorry it won’t happen again, I’m sorry it won’t happen again,”
He apologized over and over again, fearful for his life. But then he looked up, with a smile and said,
“I’m sorry… that you have to die.”
Reese finally arrived at the meeting spot, and, thinking he was late, apologized profusely to the hero who had hired him. That hero was a man named Springo, and he was skinny, with springs instead of limbs, and crazy hair. When he talked he bounced up and down; he appeared to be so full of energy.
“You better be sorry, but I’m more pissed that the guy you recommended to me hasn’t shown up yet. You have any idea where he is? He better show up soon, he better.”
He talked extremely fast and sporadically. It was almost as if he was the perfect impersonation of a spring.
“That’s just the way he is, let’s move on without him, he’ll show up when he wants.”
“What kind of screwed up logic is that, he sure as hell isn’t gonna get the full pay, no way I’m giving my earnings to a lazy ass like him. Anyways, we gotta head out, the targets on the move, let’s go.”
So all three of them head towards the building. The third guy was just dressed like a bird, Reese was confused but he didn’t say anything. Anyone would be confused in his situation, so he assumed that the dude liked birds and moved on. That's when the trio heard a giant explosion, a bomb maybe. Then, bursting through the wall came a huge armoured truck, with some guy shooting out the window. But he got knocked out from the debris after breaking the wall, dumbass. Another guy took his place, and when he popped his head through the window, he spotted the three heroes and aimed his gun at them instead. The driver seemed to be some sort of gangster, so he was probably involved in drugs or some sort of illegal business. All Reese knew for sure though was that someone wanted him dead, and he wasn’t going to ask for any more than that. Anyways, this gangster was driving away, so the three ran and caught up with the speeding car and popped one of the tires, causing it to spin out of control and crash. The guy who was shooting out of the window fell out of the car and was knocked out as well. You would have thought he’d have learned from the first guy. The driver, clearly hurt, stumbles out from the wreckage, limping towards the heroes. He inched forward while keeping an eye out for any more attacks. It was about that time when Miko showed up, walking towards them at his normal, slow pace. Then, the driver took his coat off and revealed a load of guns strapped to his chest. He picked a couple of them and started to spray like mad, shooting at all the heroes. That’s when the three heroes plus Miko had, well, no problem. The first guy, Springy, jumped up away from the barrage of bullets. Reese made a huge fire right in front of himself, melting the bullets as they whizzed toward him. That was just something he could do, make fires. And the bird guy, well he just started flying, who knew the guy who likes birds was able to fly, what an odd coincidence. The bullets also happened to make their way to Miko, which was a huge mistake. Miko, calmly noticing that he was being shot at, stopped the bullets, and then, with a swish of a hand, sent them straight back instantly. Without even breaking a sweat, the target was dead, and Miko was clueless the entire time. However, he did understand that he had killed a human. Then, while in the air, oblivious to the target’s fatality, the spring dude announced,
“Aha, you’ve done it now villain. Time to use my special move, spring punch!”
Then, he noticed that the target he was aiming for was already on the ground, covered in blood. He hits the ground and comes to an abrupt stop.
“Huh, what happened.”
Reese turns around and spots Miko walking away, and lets out a huge, obvious sigh. Springy notices too and starts to yell
“Hey, where are you going!? And what did you do?”
Miko turns around, stares at him for a second, then continues walking.
“Dude, what the hell is up with your friend?”
He asks Reese, who recommended Miko for his team.
“He’s always been like this, it’s just how he is.”
“Well, ‘how he is’ is not what I’m looking for on this team, but you were pretty good yourself. How about this, I’ll give you a full-time position, just without... him,”
he said, gesturing to Miko.
“Sorry, it's both of us or neither,”
Reese said abruptly, as he started to walk away too. It was the only thing they had in common. Walking away without paying attention to anyone or anything. They never cared about how other people viewed them. It was better like that, after all.
