“I really can’t believe that this is happening,” John said as Jared poured himself a glass of water from the break room’s tap. He was nervous. “All these months of hard toil and work and it’s all finally paying off. Isn’t this wonderful?”

“Yes,” Jared said to his manager. John hadn’t been around until the second the news broke. They’d been unable to contact him in the slightest, no word about their paychecks, yet the simple fact that Jared had stopped a robbery was enough to have him taking a flight over there within the hour. If he would help with the elders as well, it would have been even better, yet there was only so much to expect from some people. “It’s fine.”

“It’s much more than just fine,” John said, perking up as if he’d forgotten something. Looking through his pockets until he looked at the left inside one, he pulled out a wad of bills, slapping it into Jared’s hands and making him grip them. “This is the last weeks’ paychecks. Sorry, we had trouble with the bank so nobody could get anything for a while. Split it between you and Clara, please. I haven’t been able to find her recently.”

“Neither have I,” Jared lied smoothly. He’d more than found her, having to take away her body during the night to make sure the garbage men didn’t find it under the trash bags. A certain shadowed Hero had taken too long to contact them for a superficial reward.

Sitting down with his third glass of water, the young helper tried to get his pulse under control. It was hard, a good decade of his life having led up to what he was going to do. Jared knew he couldn’t show too much lest John would just blow it all off. Or maybe he wouldn’t care at all. He certainly hadn’t cared until he had something to gain from it.

That manager… was disgusting to look at. Those pearly-white teeth on a head that could have been described as pretty ten years before. Jared wondered if the man lived with himself happily or if it was just a facade put up by minor cumulative insecurities. Maybe that was why he had the gall to threaten him.

“Now… I know that I haven’t been the best manager in recent times,” John began as he sat down beside Jared. That mild expression of conflict meant nothing to Jared but he didn’t say anything. “There have been a few times where I should have stepped in, maybe offered a few bonuses for all of your hard work, and maybe even tried to hire a few more faces. Yet, times have been tough and I do hope you won’t mention anything like it during the interviews.”

“Don’t worry,” Jared assured the man, a faint smile growing on his face. “I won’t say anything too bad.”

Actions spoke louder than any words, after all, and Jared had it all planned out. Sitting around and getting through the gush-filled manager for a few more minutes, Jared had to step out of the break room to check up on the elders. The camera crew were still around, interviewing the different ones who’d helped during the actual robbery. Even as he walked by idly, he could see Miss Floyd nearly swinging her arms around. She hadn’t been that energetic in the last three months.

He smiled at that. Even at their old age, they were still getting some fun out of life. He envied them.

Jared was quick to find the kitchen after that, the thin blinders separating the outside rooms from looking in. The food was still cooking slowly, the auto-mixer making sure the heat wasn’t just at one spot. After checking on it for a few seconds, making sure all ingredients had their right amounts poured in, the door to the kitchen opened up. Not having any co-workers that should’ve popped in at that time of the day, including John, Jared had to look over in surprise.

Even more surprising was the face that came around. That small swirling of shadows wasn’t something that anybody could mistake.

“Umbra?” Jared said through feigned awe. “You’re not meant to be here for another thirty minutes!”

“Yes, well, I thought I would stop by while things were still going slow,” the old man in the shadows said semi-confidently, looking around the kitchen with a pondering look. That slight twitch of the fingers and the dried lips made the situation clear. “Even off-duty Heroes have to make sure everything is safe, you know.”

“Of course,” Jared agreed, nearly bowing before stopping himself. That seemed to do the trick, the Branded Hero just as quick to hide that manic grin. Perhaps it wasn’t every day that people gave that reaction anymore. Or, who was he kidding? Only some of the similarly manic fans would even look that man in the eyes anymore. “Do you want anything to drink? We have just about everything in the fridge.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t impose… but I’ll have something non-alcoholic. Do you have something like a soda?” Umbra asked, quick to regain that confidence with feigned modesty. Even after decades of acting, the man was still unable to hide in plain sight. It made Jared wonder how he’d had a career for so many years.

Nevertheless, Jared was quick to follow through with the request. As the shadow-man entertained himself by looking through the kitchen and the food being prepared, the helper opened up a can of whatever off-brand drinks the fridge had to offer. It was about four weeks past the expiration date but the taste would likely be the same.

Making sure the Hero wasn’t paying too much attention, Jared slipped in a larger dose of some of the medicine that he already had to lie around. With the beverage, it would be about as fast acting as needed. Even the original plan had it cutting it close.

“Here you go,” Jared said, barely able to reach out with the drink before a tendril of shadow came from the palm of his hand, doing the last bit of distance to the Branded Hero. The feeling of something like it growing out from his arm was terrible yet Jared could do nothing but scratch the spot it had appeared. The Hero was too used to using his abilities like that, the helper guessed.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

“Thanks,” Umbra said with a small nod of his own. Sipping from the can, Jared couldn’t help but smile a small bit. “I’ll let you get back to preparing food for the people. Thank you for your service!”

“It was my… “ Jared began to respond but the Hero was already out of the door. “Pleasure.”

Sighing the slightest bit, Jared did go back to making sure everything was put out alright. It was likely one of the last times he’d be able to make sure all the dosings for the people were evenly done. Even now, he envied the position he’d had before. Clara had always been able to get through them without any issues. Sure, that lady had shown a few issues with making sure the food wasn’t burnt yet her ability to remember every face around was a gift that Jared just didn’t have.

He only remembered one and it was settled next to the name Lux. The time for revenge was getting closer by the day.

After just twenty more minutes, all the food had been served to the elderly, the kitchen turned off as Jared was pulled into a smaller room for the initial interview. It was a strange experience, a small make-up artist needing to make sure the bags under his eyes weren’t easily seen.

“Am I not fine just how I look now?” he asked, not understanding the need to change the shade of his skin by the slightest bit. It was barely noticeable as it was.

“Of course you are, but we need the viewers to love you even more,” the make-up artist said, saying words that just didn’t make sense to Jared. He hadn’t watched enough from that box to understand it. Make-up was just a requirement he had to accept, he supposed. Letting the woman do whatever she wanted to his face, he was promptly thrown into another room just as a few more questions were belted at him.

It was strange having to answer about his personal life. Jared had already prepared for most of the answers but some of them were out of his comfort range. No, he didn’t have any hobbies outside of work. No, he didn’t do much in the case of jumping bars. No, he didn’t have a favourite soda. Why would anybody even think about that? Food was food. Drinks were drinks. Both were just meant to be there so they could move the next day.

The answers were cut from that pre-filmed segment of the charity videos, the people in charge deciding to just focus on the live segment fully. Jared was fine with that, that being the only real part he cared about. He needed it to be public, to be seen by everybody without any chance of it being censored. And the live broadcast was the only thing that would allow that without error.

“Remember,” John said as it all began in full. Chairs had been put up in the main room to let various guests sit in front of a small stage. The camera crew were just about everywhere, doing the final sound checks before the broadcast would begin. “Don’t say anything too bad. Smiling and waving has never hurt anybody.”

“Of course,” Jared said, slapping John on the shoulder as he sent the manager into a brief period of ultimate grief with the help of Clara’s power. As suspected, he still had them without any chance of them going away by themselves. Watching the manager shrink back in fear was great as well, though neither would be able to call out the reasoning behind that reaction.

One of the people overseeing the filming ceremony was quick to inform Jared about the start of the segment, making him stand to the side as Umbra stood on the stage. With how many times such a thing had been repeated, the young helper knew nearly every word that came out of the man’s mouth.

“Ladies and gentlemen,” Umbra began in that deeper tone he pulled out for the audiences. It was deeper than anything he spoke with normally yet it sounded natural enough to fool most people. Jared idly wondered how long he had practised to get it that low. “Today we are going to meet a very special man by the name of Jared Anderson. You might already know his name since he did a very special thing just last week. With nothing but his hands and his will, he protected the home of the weak, making sure none were hurt in one of the most important moments in the country’s history. If you could all give a warm welcome, I would love to invite Jared up on the stage. Come on, Jared!”

The applause from the stage was heartfelt, many of the people around believed him to be some hero. Jared couldn’t describe at that moment how wrong it all felt as he walked up on the stage, smiling and waving at the fifty-man audience. His cheeks had never been so red, his eyes growing moist in the dry air. So much time had been spent preparing for this moment, to the point where he could almost cry.

“Quite the emotional entrance, my friend,” Umbra commented, eliciting a few laughs from the audience. It was meant in good fun, of course, but it was enough to bring Jared back into the game once more. “You, without any provisions, helped save the lives that we should all cherish. Do you have anything you want to say to the world?”

The mic was handed to him, Jared looking into the cameras. His voice felt tight but a deep breath had him looking confident.

“I just hope that more people will do what I do,” Jared said in confidence, the people loving it with their awes. “We need more people to stand up for what is right and that takes a mindset that we can all do with enough work.”

“I couldn’t agree more myself,” Umbra said with a big smile, taking away the microphone the second Jared stopped talking. The young helper hid his expression of annoyance, that piece of shadow briefly hitting his skin once more. It was a terrible feeling. “There is something we want to give to you, Jared, for the efforts that you achieved in this very room. While you might say that everybody can do it, you are one of the few who are aware of the wrong they see in the world. Shouldn't that be rewarded?”

It very much should. The Branded Hero went to the side of the stage, grabbing the small trophy prepared days before. A hundred more of them had been made on the last day. Maybe even a thousand, Jared knowing full well the mass-fabricated piece of plastic wouldn’t even have his name on it. Yet… it did shine in the light, putting up a good piece of television for the broadcast. The clapping from the audience was thunderous.

“Thank you,” Jared mouthed to the Branded Hero, though he doubted that Umbra could hear him.

With the main segment of the broadcast over, Umbra reached out his hand to shake Jared’s. Channelling his powers, however, Jared was quick to make the Hero a bit more relaxed as he went in for a hug instead. By the time his arms were wrapped around the older man, the Hero just seemed to shrug before mirroring the act right back. Feeling the shadows ignore his presence, Jared did the one thing he had been looking forward to all morning.

The camera crew were barely able to utter the slightest of shouts before the knife was in Jared’s hands, forcing itself through the back of the Hero’s neck and up into the brainstem. Using the power that he had been waiting to use that entire year, Jared took the shadows for himself as Umbra spasmed in his arms. A few people in the audience began to run, the others following along as well.

There was shouting, crying, and just about every other emotion in that room. Umbra certainly looked shocked, though that old Hero could barely even twitch. The shadows seemed to reach for the slightest of moments yet the dulled ability to use the power alongside with the forced relaxed state allowed Jared to take it all for himself. By the time Umbra was nothing more than a spasming vegetable on the ground, Jared had gained one of the strongest powers currently known.

Testing it out casually, Jared felt all the shadows close by move with his hand. It was easier than breathing, the powers not even needing direct commands. They were intelligent, able to put up most of the work without needing any specific wording. That’s how he was able to turn the former Hero’s body into mush, a few seconds of pummeling enough to leave the corpse unidentifiable.

The camera crew had run away but the broadcast was still being shown live. The people able to shut it off had run as well. Jared stood alone in the room. He was the only person who could be heard.

Making the microphone float to his hand, he looked into the camera with a smile.

“I want you to know that I am coming for you, Lux. Meet me at the place where we met for the first time. Meet me at the place where you made me do this.”

The elderly were in the other room. Sending a quick thought to all the ones he had to leave behind, Jared merely ripped out the wall with the shadows before taking flight. He had some time he needed to spend in the air before he could reach his place.

After so many years, he was going back to that damned farm.