The old corrupt guard handed us a keycard and radio before leaving us on the gravelly sand in front of the prison. I loaded my gun as I looked at the structure. It wasn’t that big, not really, but to me it looked like the Empire State Building and Eiffel Tower stacked on top of one another.

I wasn’t used to putting myself in danger, but Rosita insisted that I need to come with as well. Not as a hologram, but in person. It was all about earning their respect and loyalty. And apparently the best way to earn it was to get my hands dirty and risk my life.

Of course, I was scared shitless but I couldn’t show it. I could only follow behind Rosita to the door. She swiped the card over the lock and it opened, revealing a narrow corridor. Rosita went first once more and, after taking a deep breath, I followed.

What followed would either be the first step to my greatest dreams or the first step to my doom.

I was willfully unprepared, had a rival that was much stronger and better than me, and I’d have to be careful or everything could come crashing down at any second. I was scared, nervous, and yet this was the most excited and happy I’d been in a long time.

As we ran into the first few guards and started fighting for our lives, narrowly avoiding death and murdering them brutally, I couldn’t help but laugh. I shot one guard in the shoulder while Rosita shot two golden laser beams from her eyes, killing the other two.

“You’re in a better mood,” said Rosita. I chuckled at the sarcasm in her voice.

“Of course I am,” I said while raiding the guards’ corpses. They only seemed to have batons and tasers with them, which was a bit of a disappointment. “Destroying your opponents, dominating them, doing whatever you have to–whatever you want to–to see your goals come true. That’s what villains do! How can I not revel in it?”

“You are a sick, sick bastard,” said Rosita with a small laugh. “Even more so than I thought before.”

“Don’t tell me you’re having second thoughts.”

“I’m probably the only person mad enough to stay by your side,” Rosita said a small chuckle. She grabbed a baton and threw it to me. “There’s a button on the side. Press it.”

I felt around the staff until I found it. Once I pressed it, the tip glowed yellow and crackled with electricity. There were a few doors throughout the walls and no cameras in sight. The whole place seemed like a maze, although I wasn’t too worried. Rosita had gotten out before so, as long as we got past the guards, we would be fine.

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“Don’t worry about cameras or anything like that,” said Rosita, apparently having noticed me looking around. “They don’t have them in this section. They wouldn’t be able to get away with what they do if they had.”

“Surely you can give me more than that.”

“There are some things that you aren’t meant to know. Understood?” she snapped back.

“Of course,”Ordinarily, I would push further, but I didn’t want to risk my relationship with her. Or my life. Partners or not, I didn’t want to face Rosita’s wrath.

“Good,” she said, rubbing her wrist. “Now come on, we have work to do.”

–

I always had an astute sense of smell.

Back when I was a hired gun, I relished in that, especially when the people I was sent to kill were in their homes. Each one smelled different. From the lonely bastards whose apartments smelled like take out and dirty laundry, to the home cooked meals and kid shampoo smell of the ones with families.

I pitied and envied them respectively. Yet, I never enjoyed what I did. I felt a rush of power, I felt pleasure, but never joy. Never happiness. Until now, that is.

I looked down at Paragon, kneeling and clutching the stump that used to be his left arm. I’d torn the actual appendage off with my power, covering us both in his blood, and defeating him.

A God.

“How does it feel?” I asked him. I was looking down at him.

We called him a God, and I was able to bring him to his knees with a mere touch.

“How does it feel to die?” I brought my hand to his face. I needed to finish the job after all. “To fall so unceremoniously after all your big talk?”

Before I knew it, he’d grabbed my jaw, nearly crushing it even in this state. He stood up, lifting me as high as he could. He looked up at me, his eyes glowing blue with energy. I tried to touch his arm, but he threw me away like a used ragdoll.

“You are an arrogant fool that will never survive in my new world,” he said, coughing and stumbling toward me. “I shall kill you and with you any chances your pitiful resistance has to win. I will bring true order to this wretched world.”

He was hurt. Not nearly as much as any other human being would be in his situation, but he was hurt enough. Enough for me to have a fighting chance. Or run away. To be honest, I didn’t give two shits about his ideologies or my bosses, and there were others that could finish the job.

But it was like he pulled me in like a magnet. The challenge, the sheer carnage that this fight would produce. I took a deep breath. The smell of fire, burned concrete and blood filled my nostrils.

“Order? You couldn’t bring order to an empty room,” I taunted as I crouched, ready to dodge whatever he would throw at me.

He spit out a bit of blood before laughing like a maniac.

“You got one lucky hit. And it’s not even the worst I’ve seen in the past sixty years.”

He clenched his fist, and he leapt forward. The fight had just begun.