Gladiolus was a normal city.
There really wasn't anything special about it for the most part. It had plenty of normal buildings and simple streets and looked very similar to Oleander or Lillian. In fact, it was rather plain in every definition of the word. Some would even go so far as to call it boring, as unlike Oleander and Lillian, it wasn't connected to any of the other cities and was just by itself.
And because it was such a boring and simple city, the crime that happened in it was often boring and simple.
A van quietly drove down the street. Behind the wheel, a young man drove in silence. "Are you sure this is a good idea?" He asked.
Next to him, in the passenger seat of the van, a young girl rested, staring out the window with a blank look. She had blonde hair that had been cut rather short and simple blue eyes that were filled with boredom. She was about seventeen and looking for a good high. Her finger tapped on the window, and she gave a sly grin. "You don't trust me?"
"You're a Super. Of course, I don't trust you." The man snorted. "Crime in Gladiolus isn't a normal thing, you know. It's because of the hero Max Lightning. He's able to see it before it happens and puts a stop to it before the villains can even do anything. Because of that, bad guys have basically given up ever doing anything in this place."
The girl gave a simple shrug. "It's possible. You just have to do the crime whenever he isn't in Gladiolus. See, Maxy is a very special hero. He feels a lot, and that emotion he feels is often sorrow. He likes to go out of Gladiolus every now and then and indulge a fetish he has."
"A fetish? You seem to know a lot about that man. What fetish does he have again?" The man asked as he parked the van.
The girl shrugged and chuckled. "Believe it or not, he likes to pretend that he's a nobody. It makes him happy pretending like he isn't anyone important who doesn't have powers that can shape the world at a whim. So every now and then, whenever his sorrow reaches its peak, he'll leave this city and go somewhere he can pretend to be a total nobody, and while he's busy doing that, it'll be possible to commit a crime."
"And you're saying he's out of the city right now?" The man asked as he and the girl stepped out of the van.
"That's what I said, isn't it? I'd have no reason to lie since I'd be in danger as well."
The man hummed and rubbed his chin. Something about the girl was rubbing him the wrong way, but he was already in way too deep to stop now. It was nighttime, and the streets of Gladiolus were empty except for them. They walked down a riding path, passing by dozens of different stores and family-owned businesses before they finally stopped at an old pawn shop.
"Just so you know, if you're wrong about this, I'm going to put a bullet in your skull." The man stated, reaching into his pocket. The girl just grinned back at him and also reached into her pocket. "Ready?"
"Ready." She nodded.
In an instant, they put on black-ski masks, pulled out guns, and kicked the door to the pawn shop down. "Get on the fucking ground!" The man screamed out. "Now!"
There was only a single person in the shop, some sweet-looking old man who let out a weak cry and tumbled backward. The man growled out and pointed his gun at the old man, and marched forward. He pistol-whipped the guy, causing the pawn shop owner to fall to the floor and cry out.
The girl's eyes went wide when she saw that. "You didn't need to do that-"
"Shut up." The man hissed back at her and smashed his pistol down into a glass case, shattering it. "Get the bag. We're going to take everything this guy has." The man stopped when he noticed she hadn't budged and an inch. He turned to her and growled. "I said get the hell over here!"
The girl remained standing and didn't pull out the bag to collect the jewelry in the destroyed case. Instead, she folded her arms and glared back at the man, casually taking her mask off. "You're so getting beaten up now."
The man growled and was about to say something, but then he heard it. In the distance a crackle of lightning. A mist began to softly seep past the shattered window and flow around the room they were in, causing the man's eyes to go wide with horror. "You bitch! You set me up." He let out a roar and raised his gun, firing it. The bullets soared toward the blonde girl who still didn't bother to move. Before they could reach her the mist rose up and blocked the bullets, the mist seemingly becoming a solid. The crack of lightning grew closer. "I- I thought Max Lightning wouldn't be here! You said so!"
"Well, I didn't lie." The girl giggled. "See, that stuff about him having a fetish and leaving our city was true. He does do that. Or actually, I guess you can say he will do that." She hummed and stepped forward slowly toward the man. "In the future. Right now his will hasn't been broken down enough yet, but it's close. I've seen it. Saw his Path. How he'll end up in the future. Pretending to be some homeless man who won't even bother to save his own city. So when I told you he wouldn't be here, I meant he wouldn't be here a few years from now."
"That doesn't even make any sense?" The man sputtered out. "Are you saying you can see the future or something?"
"Or something." The girl poked her tongue out and made a gun shape with her hand, pointing it at the man. "Bang." As if on cue, a small bolt of energy blasted through the window behind her and hit the man, throwing him to the ground. It wasn't a strong enough blow to kill him, being more or less a taser, which caused the man to drop to the ground and pee his pants as he began to shake. "Ha! Take that!" The girl announced triumphantly as she placed her boot on his head. "That's what you get-"
"Lois."
The girl jumped when she heard the voice, and slowly, she turned around. A man stood in the doorway. A hero, equal to the Victorian according to some. An older man who had blonde hair that was tied back into a pony tail and electric blue eyes. He wore a mostly white costume that had the symbol of a lightning bolt on it and he had a long red cape that flowed behind him. "Hi, Dad." The girl winced. "I can explain-" Her face recoiled to the side as Max Lightning reached her and slapped her.
Max Lightning stared down at his daughter in silence after hitting her. Normally, she was always with her mother, or at least she was in Rose City, where the Victorian was supposed to be. On occasions though she would sneak into his city and try to help him with his work. "Why did you do that." He spoke in a stern tone as he stared down at her. "You could have gotten hurt."
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
Lois reached up and rubbed her stinging face. "T- That guy was a bad guy, but he wasn't going to do any crime to get locked up since he knew you'd show up and stop him, so I- I wanted to help. How else was he going to get locked up?"
"He wasn't going to get locked up." Max Lightning glared down at his daughter. "That man has a tumor in his head that was going to pop any day now. He'd have been too scared to do any crime and then eventually die at the age of twenty-two, having never harmed a single soul. Because of you, though, not only is he still going to die, but he managed to take someone else out with him."
"W- What?" Lois suddenly felt her face go pale as the Paths shifted and changed. She swirled around and realized it too late. The shop owner was face down, not moving. His old heart hadn't been able to handle it all. He had died of a heart attack.
Max Lightning stalked past his daughter and looked down at the dead man, sorrow feeling his eyes. "I'm sorry. I didn't see the Paths change until it was too late. You should have had three more years. Three more years you could have spent with your family. I'm sorry it ended this way."
"B- But I didn't see him die." Lois felt her throat go dry, and she stumbled back.
Max Lightning looked at her, and his eyes flashed in anger. "Because you don't see things the way I do. You're not strong like your mom, and you can't save people the same way I can." Max Lightning stalked past his daughter and stopped when he reached the door. "Sometimes I wonder why you even exist." He sighed. "Head back to Rose. I'm sure your mom will be worried. Well... When she notices you're gone, that is." And with that, Max Lightning lifted off of the ground, carried by his wind as he began to float away.
Lois stood in the shop alone before she collapsed to her knees and cried.
Two years would pass before she saw her father again. She'd be nineteen and a hero going by the name of Whisper when she would suddenly run into her father in a mall once Zoo and the Bad Timers had attacked the city. She had been right after all. The future she saw for her father. Max Lightning had ended up on the streets of Oleander.
In fact, that was where he was now. After finishing his story to Hope Lauren, Max Lightning pressed his back against the wall of an alleyway and quietly stared up at the stars, watching as the many hundreds of Paths danced before him. It was strange sometimes, being able to see this story for what it really was. Stranger still, he had agreed to work with a man such as Jack Larison.
Max Lightning reached up and scratched at his beard. He was no longer a handsome man. No now, his blonde hair was filled with dozens of gray, from years of stress, and his eyes had heavy bags under them. A ragged beard clung to his face, and his hero costume was in tatters and coated in dozens of stains. He wore a green dirty trenchcoat on over it, and made an effort to get as much dirt and filth as he could onto his skin. He hadn't taken a bath in over fifteen months now, and he was very, very happy of that fact.
Being homeless was his choice. Even if Jack hadn't tasked him with keeping an eye on the newest Lord of the Sun, he'd have still done it, once everything in his life went to the shit hole that it was. As a random homeless man, he didn't need to worry about responsibility or keeping the world safe. It could all go to hell, and for him, nothing would change. At least not any time soon.
"It's getting closer." Max Lightning let out a small sigh. "The day of my death is stepping ever closer. How will your story end once I'm no longer a piece in your game, Jack? What will you do then." Max Lightning chuckled. "I have half a mind to fight you here and now and stop whatever your end goal is before it's too late. Of course, if I did that, then 'she' wouldn't get a happy ending, would she? And she deserves a happy ending. More than anyone else. It's all I can give her now."
Max Lightning quietly hummed to himself and watched as more of the Paths around him twisted and changed, and slowly, he stood up. Someone was coming to speak with him. Someone from his old team had finally managed to find him.
"Max Lightning!" At the end of the alleyway, a spark of blue and silver seeped out as a man appeared. He had slicked-back black hair, and he wore a blue and silver jumpsuit that had the symbol of several clouds and lightning bolts across it. His name was Bolt, a member of team Cloud, and he had come quite far to find his team leader. "I finally found you, sir!" The speedster stated, zipping forward and grabbing onto his boss. "You can't keep staying here."
"Yes, I can." Max Lightning snorted at his joke and ripped his arm out of Bolt's grasp. "But, I do suppose that this time you're right." He stalked past Bolt and headed for the other end of the alleyway. "After all. My story really doesn't need me to be anywhere in particular in quite some time." He ran his fingers through his beard and hummed. "Not until 'that Calamity' is ready to come."
"A Calamity?" Bolt's face paled. "Which one? And when?"
"Don't worry about it." Max Lightning twisted his hand forward, his energy surging out as he began to rip open a hole in space. In only a second, the Lord of the Sky and Weather created a glowing portal that led directly to his city. "Well, are you coming?"
Bolt stood there for a second, stunned, before nodding and following after the leader of team Cloud. The two of them stepped through the portal, and as soon as he was on the other side, Max Lightning remembered just why he truly hated his city.
Sirens wailed in the distance, and fire constantly spread out. Screams filled the air, and the sound of constant gun fire was ever present. Buildings were reduced to total rubble, and dozens of different heroes were always running around attempting to save anyone they could but always failing at the last moment. Bolt placed a hand on Max Lightning's shoulder. "Please, sir. We need you. Team Cloud is lost without you. Your orders. What are they, sir."
Max Lightning looked out at his city with tired eyes, already wanting nothing more than to return to Oleander, where he could pretend to be homeless. It didn't use to be this way. Gladiolus used to be a perfect city. One without crime because he would stop it before it ever happened. Then, shortly after his daughter's actions caused an older man to die, something happened in his city.
Lucifer had shown up two years ago and had turned the perfect city upside down. The villain's power was too strong for Max Lightning to use the Paths on, and he had been totally helpless as Lucifer rampaged through Gladiolus with his villainous group known as the Immortals. Half of Team Cloud had died, and every member of the Gladiolus Sub Enforcers was wiped out. In such overwhelming despair, the villains rose up, and now the city had been twisted and, even two years later, was totally on the verge of a collapse.
This is what happens when a hero loses.
This is what happens when a member of the Enforcers gives up on their city.
Gladiolus was basically no more.
"Sir?" Bolt stared back at Max Lightning with wide, pleading eyes. "Please. Your orders."
Max Lightning hummed and then pulled his phone out seconds before the call had arrived. "The Victorian is calling me." The hero stated. "She's calling all Enforcers to have a meeting at the Enforcer tower in Rose city, where she will discuss what comes next for the world."
Bolt felt his stomach drop and the hope he had built up came crumbling down. "I- I see. I suppose you're going to go to it then? Leave us all alone like you've been doing? Let us slowly be swallowed by the pit of despair that you created by not doing anything." Bolt turned away, not bothering to look at Max Lightning. "At one point, everyone used to look up to you, you know. You were considered to be the equal of the Victorian. The Lord of the Sky and Weather. The only Lord from the previous generation who managed to survive the disaster with the Emperor fifteen years ago. Now though, everyone is always wondering where you are. I'll tell them I couldn't find you. They'd understand that more then if I told them you left us once more-"
"I'm not going."
"Huh?" Bolt was about to run off, his energy charged up and ready to go, but he stopped and looked back at Max Lighting.
Max Lightning took off his coat and dropped it to the ground, revealing his old costume beneath. His cape floated out behind him, and the wind twisted as he began to get lifted off of it. "Bolt. Let's save as many as we can."
Bolt's eyes lit up, and a smile managed to form on his face as he nodded. "Yes, sir!"
Max Lightning did not go to the meeting with the other Enforcers. Instead, he remained in his city, and for the next three days, without sleep, he tried to save as many people as he could.
He knew, though, deep down, that no matter how many he saved, it didn't matter. The world was already walking down a bad path.
The world was following Jack Larison's story.