Will woke up in a fearful start. The image of a Goon finding him was gone as soon as he noticed Mav leaning down overtop of him. The old man was wearing his jeans, shirt, and green cloak. Will had almost forgotten about the cloak; the strange apparel had vanished from the old man as soon as they began training.

“What the hell?” Will rasped as he sat up.

“I should be saying that to you,” Mav said. His strong hand reached down. Will scowled but accepted it. The old man helped him up, and Will dusted off his clothes. Looking around, they appeared to be under the highway, near where he had been spying on the Goons. Loud vehicles overhead made the air vibrate with power.

Will sighed, staring at the old man. “How’d you catch me?”

“Your uncle is kind enough to let me know when Goons stop by,” Mav said. “I thought I’d check up on them, and low and behold, you were already there.” The old man looked Will up and down, then began to walk down the ramp that led to the street below. The highway was much busier, and the street below only had a few cars on it. William followed, and they began to walk down the sidewalk together.

“What were you doing?” Mav asked.

“I don’t know,” Will admitted with a shrug. He was silent as he gathered his thoughts, but as he replayed them, he wasn’t ashamed of his actions. “Why don’t you read my mind and find out?”

"I did," Mav replied, reinforcing the old man's ability to read him like a book. “You were really thinking of killing him?”

“Maybe,” Will said with a shrug, annoyed that he was confronted with the truth so easily. “I-I doubt I would have.”

“But you were thinking about it. Hell, if I hadn’t stepped in when I did, you would have been noticed,” Mav said.

“I would?”

“Yes,” Mav said. “Don’t let Rhinehold fool you. He had noticed you as soon as you stepped on the construction site.”

“Well…I was following them for a while before that,” Will said, feeling a little pride. “Guess I’m pretty good at tailing people.”

“A little,” Mav said. “But you could be better. A lot better.” Will was unable to respond to that statement. His mind was still swirling with the dark thoughts that he had been thinking about; he needed time to process. Mav gave him that time as they walked.

When he was ready, Will finally asked, “What’s it like to kill someone?”

Mav wasn’t surprised by the question. The man was quiet for a while, not looking his way, as they waited for a traffic light to change. “It’s not good,” Mav said. Will was about to push him, but the old man continued.

“Revenge is nothing like what they say on TV,” Mav said. Again, the old man got to the heart of the conversation. Answering Will's actual question. “They always say it wasn’t worth all the hate and anger you felt. Perhaps you achieved your retribution, yet it left you feeling hollow on the inside. No, revenge is freeing. People should be going through their lives with goals. If you are unlucky enough to have someone close to you taken away, revenge consumes you. Hate and anger become your friends. Once you get that revenge…you can get on with your life. Get back to living it and reaching those other goals you have.”

“So you’ve gotten your own revenge before?” William asked after a pause.

“I have,” Mav said. “Someone took a lot from me. I killed them with my bare hands. I felt that my actions were necessary, and they improved the world." Will nodded, feeling a sense of hope inside him. Faith that someday he won’t have the anger he held onto about the untimely death of his mother.

“But killing is like a drug,” Mav said. The statement caught Will off guard. He looked up into the ice-blue eyes of the old man who seemed to see everything about him and laid it bare for the world to see. “Once you do it the first time, the next becomes easier. Then the next, and the next. Killing is addictive.”

“Because you like it?” Will asked, a chill running up his spine.

“No, at least I hope not,” Mav said, calming Will down a little. “No, killing is the easiest answer. You have a problem with someone. Kill them. They get in your way. You end them. However, the line they have to cross between ending them and letting the insult pass quickly blurs. Suddenly, the thought of murder crosses your mind after a simple scuffle, as killing is your only effective response."

"What do you think happens after you finish killing?" Maven inquired. His voice was deep as they had their first solo conversation since he met the man.

“What do you mean?” Will asked, his voice dry, as he felt the man's eyes on him.

“I mean, those goals that all people should have. Does that include marriage? Kids? Friends?” Mav asked. “When you kill someone, something changes in you. And when you allow that change to grow, it seeps into every part of your being. If you're married and you’re lucky, your spouse will know you better than anyone. Good and bad. They will know what buttons to push to set you off. No one will make you angrier than they can.” Mav chuckled, shaking his head as if recalling something.

"And for all of us killers out there, the thought of killing them will cross your mind," Mav said. "There is a reason that your spouse is the person who usually kills you. If you've solved your problems in the past by killing, it's not a surprise that you can misdirect that rage to the person you cherish most in a misguided moment of fury."

Will gulped. He assumed the old man was talking from experience. Mav had spent every day with them for the last few months. He seriously doubted that the old man had a family to go home to, but based on how he spoke, maybe Mav had once upon a time.

“No, I didn’t kill any of my loved ones,” Mav said.

“I wasn’t-”

“It’s alright.” Mav cut him off. Will started to feel a little less scared. “But it crosses your mind. William, I’m not teaching you to become some flower-loving hippie. I’m teaching you to become capable. The world is changing. Arcs used to be more rare. I sort of had a nose for them, especially the bad ones. I firmly believe that putting some of them down is necessary. However, killing should always be considered a last resort. Always.”

Will wasn’t so sure, though. He still felt the rage at Rhinehold. The Goon may not have been the one who was guilty, but one of the Goons was. Yes, he had been tempted to join them. But that was back before there were options. Now, Will felt like he was capable. He was still practicing his ability. He was exploring numerous methods to manipulate and alter his ability. Evolve the power to do different tasks, as Mav had shown them. Maybe one day he could find out the answer. That was a goal worth striving for.

Mav let out a sigh. “Do you remember when I told you about super heroes?”

Will hesitated but nodded. "Do you mean the old comic books you mentioned?"

“Right, men and women who were born with special powers like you and me. Super men,” he said. “When I was a kid, I wanted to be like them.” He chuckled, shaking his head as they continued down the street. “I wanted to be selfless. Help those who are too weak to fight against tyranny. I wanted to be…a symbol.”

“What changed?” Will asked, trying to picture it. Super heroes were some impossible standard that he didn’t quite understand. Stopping planes from falling, throwing criminals in jail, righting wrongs, and doing it all for the greater good. There were comic book heroes like that currently, but they were all normal people. Rich orphans that used their money to build suits to help them fight crime. Or everyday citizens that stepped in at the right moment to stop some terrorist attack. The super heroes, the ones like Will, didn’t exist for him. There were only the Goons who used their powers for their own gain.

“I realized that super heroes were stupid,” Mav admitted. “There is no using your powers for the greater good in the real world. There is greed, envy, love, and hate—all these emotions that get in the way of doing the right thing every time. If you try to save someone, they can easily turn around and bite you. You might be too young to remember, but normal people tried to be heroes. Someone starts choking, and another person steps in to save them. Then the person who was choking turns around and sues them. The Goons repealed numerous laws that permitted such nonsense, yet it was a common occurrence in the past."

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Will vaguely remembered that happening. It had been a headache that his father talked about when he was still around. In addition to banning firearms, the Dragoons significantly overhauled the legal system. While individuals could still file lawsuits against each other, the Dragoons revised many legal loopholes. For instance, you had to sue someone in the same county where an incident occurred. Since states became more autonomous, the United States has been a lot more separated than it used to be.

“So what are you saying? Don’t save people?” Will asked. He had never truly considered the Arc Police Unit to be heroic. But he should have. Officers and firefighters were called heroes every day, and that was what he had signed up for. He wasn't quite sure how their conversation had evolved from murder to heroism, but it had.

“I’m saying, do what you want in life, Light,” Mav said. It wasn't the first time Mav called him by the nickname, but it still felt good. Maybe that nickname really was him. A light. “If you want to kill for revenge, go do it. If you want to step in when people are hurt, by all means. Put yourself out there. Be a stupid hero.”

“You’re not really selling me on this whole thing, you know,” Will admitted. Mav smiled at him, a genuine one.

“I want you to be whoever you want to be. I am not a hero. I have made some bad decisions in my past. I have seen the worst of society, and I know firsthand that saving people doesn’t go as planned. Most people don’t want to be saved.” Will nodded. He had seen the worst of society as well, but maybe the world would have been different if he had experience with his ability back then. Maybe he could have made a difference during the Anarchist War.

“But I warn you: I do kill. And if you turn out to be some mass murderer like some of the Goons, I would end you without a moment's hesitation,” Mav said. The words chilled the air, and Will's gaze fixed on Maven's icy blue eyes.

Will gulped, but said what he had been thinking for a while. “Then why didn’t you end the Goons?” The question gave Mav pause. “You say that you put an end to a lot of them. If you’re as strong as their strongest, then why didn’t you?”

Mav chewed his lip. Eventually, he averted his gaze and started to move forward, while Will inhaled sharply. His heart was beating as he felt some of the Killing Intent leak out of the old man, then disappear. Will felt like maybe he dodged a bullet and was happy he didn’t get an answer, but Mav began to speak again.

“The new government is just as evil as the old,” Mav said. “I doubt your school talks about it, but the American government did some very, very sick things to get to where they were. They killed men, women, and children who tried to unionize. In the United States, the wealthy and affluent regarded the national guard as their personal army. And across the world? We fought in wars. We bombed villages, raped, and tortured too many people to count. But they also did good. America was the land of the free. They were always willing to donate money to support various causes. At least on the news. Behind closed doors, the rich were making deals with the richer. Politicians lined their pockets with the people's money. They were not sinless—far from it. And their crimes against our people? The Arcs? No one knows about them.”

“What are you saying?” Will asked.

“I’m saying that I was at odds with the American government just as much as I was with other Arcs. There was a reason they pushed the narrative to make Arcs appear to be these freaks of nature. They were scared of what we could do. As you see now with the Goons. Do you have any idea how many Goons it took to destroy all the governments in the world in a single night?”

The chill was back on Will. Real information was being given to him. He felt that Mav had witnessed the information firsthand. “All of the Goons?” Will asked.

“3 or 4,” Mav said. "Back in the day, they were known as the Final Vanguard. They served as the American government's super-secret weapon. They could find and kill a terrorist leader in a matter of seconds. A fact that scared the old government, which is why they pushed hate on us. But no, I was there—I saw it. Three Goons destroyed Washington. One goon teleported there, another buried the city, and the final Goon blew it up. Then they jumped to a new city in an attempt to overthrow another government."

“Why didn’t you do anything?” Will asked. His throat constricting with more emotion than he expected.

“My own reasons,” Mav said coldly. “Like I said, the government did some bad things to our kind. Hell, they made the Goons who they were. Turned a blind eye to their power and hoped they would go away. But no, our numbers have only grown. The Dragoons did something terrible. They plunged the world into darkness. But since they came to power, have you ever gone hungry?”

Will wanted to say yes, but that was a lie. He had been fed as much as he wanted as soon as they were in charge. He had been given everything he needed just because he was under 18. He was enrolled in school, given a home, reunited with his uncle, and had a full belly within a week of them taking over.

"The rest of the world has collapsed, yet America remains intact. You witnessed this firsthand today at the construction site. The Goons are expanding their power to the rest of the country. Eventually, they will probably take over the world,” Mav said. "I certainly wouldn't want that job. If I ended them, who would be left in charge? Who would people fear enough to let them lead? Not me. I’m a simple old man. My time fighting those who mess up the world is long past. Let the Dragoons rule the world. They’ve done far better with it than the old government did.”

“But…they…” Will didn’t have an answer. They walked back towards the school, leaving him to stew in silence. Around them, traffic flowed. They waited dutifully at the lights. All the while, Will’s mind reeled.

It was as if his eyes had opened. His attitude toward all Arcs was one of fear. He acted as though he were an ordinary individual. The Dragoons had become this big and evil entity that he couldn’t hope to fight. He couldn’t hope to get the answers he so desperately wanted. The Dragoons had always been the bad guys for him. A part of him knew, but didn't want to admit all the good they'd done.

These streets had been filled with death. The Dragoons fixed it. Yes, they caused it…or did they? Will thought. They destroy a few cities, and somehow the world goes to crap. The true nature of people revealed itself, destroying everything Will had known. Was that the fault of the Goons? Or is it the fault of the average person who panicked when there was no one to guide them? Will didn’t know the answer, and for once, he was starting to question everything he thought he knew.

“Come on,” Mav said. “Try not to think about it.” Will frowned but nodded. “Let’s go back to the school. I’ve decided that you are all far enough along in your training. It’s time I stopped holding your hand so much, and you actually found out what it was like to be an Arc police unit.”

“But what about the Goons? Didn’t you hear them? They’re coming to the city,” Will said, pushing his other thoughts away as he recalled the conversation Rhinehold and the others were having.

“Eh, they won’t come until their headquarters are done. We have a while until that happens,” Mav said. “In the meantime, you can get more hands-on experience fighting Arcs. Refine your skills. Then when the Goons come, I’m sure the police could hire you as outside contractors or something.”

“You think?” Will inquired, content to shift his attention to another topic.

“Besides, maybe you all will start to like it,” Mav said cheerily. “If the Goons become a pain, you can still provide help with Arcs somewhere else. Maybe you could make your own mercenary group.”

“What?” Will asked, rolling his eyes. “Like the Goons?”

“What?” Mav replied with a smile. "You shouldn't do it just because they did it?"

"Well, duh,” Will said.

“So you’ll just go back to being normal people? Go to college and not use your powers anymore?”

“I don’t know about that,” Will said. “I doubt I can stop using my power now.”

“Good answer,” Mav said. “You would have to do something, though. I’d hate for you to be some penniless vigilante. Trust me, you want to get paid to help fight Arcs.”

“Yeah, but on TV everyone hates mercs.”

“True,” Mav said. He thought for a moment. “What if you called it something else?”

“Like what?”

“A guild?” Mav offered. “A group of individuals accepting jobs. Choosing where and when they act.”

“Sounds like a different name for a mercenary group.”

“It is,” Mav said. “But it’s got a nice ring to it, right?”

“Guild? Yeah, I guess. Kind of has a…fantasy feel to it,” Will mused.