Sidekick 3: The Truth - Part 1
What stands in the way of Utopia?
Chillin Kittens
The Mongoose and Jayne snuggled up on the love sack… and a heating pad. It isn’t on, they just like it. The Mongoose woke up and peeked an eye open just before I took the picture but they were snoozing just before this.
…Time for this week’s story…
Sidekick 3: The Truth - Part 1
After a short, failed career as a sidekick, the world cast Theo as a villain. After which, he employed his skills helping the villains who helped him when life dealt him a bad hand. Now, he gave a group of twenty-seven villains a presentation to pitch a dangerous plan.
“The truth is, you guys can help society if people stop treating you like criminals. After a year and a half, I have the metrics to prove it.”
“Yeah, but boss…” A short, athletic black man in a blue tracksuit and running shoes named Inverse was the first to speak, but Theo interrupted.
“Boss? I'm not anyone's boss, I'm here to support you guys. This is just a pitch.”
The room was quiet until LeFiels’s heavy French accent broke the silence. “A good leader supports their team.” He approached Theo, who tried to speak, but LeFiels continued. “Look Theo, all of this is fantastic. However, I believe your presentation will fall on deaf ears. Don’t forget, I've been to the top of that ivory tower. Don’t you remember what happened last time? They won't be interested in hearing any of this. It is more likely that we will have to rely on your contingency plans.”
“Those guys from last time were clearly corrupt. We’re talking about the Justice Guild. We could eliminate crime from society. Why wouldn't they want to do that?”
“What is a hero without a villain to catch?”
“Retired?”
“My friend, I will follow you to hell and back, but is it worth the risk? You said they didn't even answer your emails.”
“If their goal really is to make the world a better, safer place, they'll listen. If not, the teams of three we implemented have been working great, I think we can get out safely in a fight. Do you guys want to be criminals forever? We have to try, right?”
The room fell quiet again, and LeFiels took a silent vote. With a nod, everyone agreed to Theo’s plan. When Theo ran off to grab celebratory pies from the kitchen, the group chatted amongst themselves.
“Are we really going to raid Justice Tower?” Inverse asked.
“Imagine the talent that’s locked up in there,” said a British man named Slip. Key to Theo’s plan, he could slip through holes, slits, and pretty much anything.
When Theo returned, they ate pie and discussed the details of their contingencies, team-mixing and counters. They planned distractions to create a minimum of heroes waiting around the tower for an assignment. A villain named Playfight turned toys into weapons, LeFiels drew out the Tower's floor plan and everyone trained to stay sharp.
When the day came, they combined abilities to breach Justice Tower. Once teleported into the Hero stronghold overlooking the planet, the villains bushwhacked the teleportation room guard and executed their plan. Within seconds their digimancer, Digg, had disabled security and put the base on backup power. Their psychic, Aiza, connected everyone telepathically. A villain named Pencil Pete had brought a drawing of a giant red button labeled, emergency meeting. He pressed the button and everyone on the station was teleported into a giant room in the center of the base with fake windows displaying the real view over Earth.
“What's going on here?” Standing at the head of a crescent table atop an elevated platform was Paragon-Man, the most powerful hero in the world, in his signature white and black suit. He was flanked by the League of Heroes core leadership: Cyberikon, Red Warden, Queen Amazonia, Captain Freedom, Velocity, and Gargoyleman, the only one without powers. A dozen heroes of varying repute were gathered in a group at the foot of the platform. Villains lined the walls and Theo was in the middle of it all.
“Troubling… I've never planned for this scenario,” said Gargoyleman.
“Hi everyone. I'm Morpho. I've been trying to get in touch with someone at the tower, but–”
“But you couldn’t, so you and your villain friends broke in. Commendable work. We'll figure out how you did it later. I don't recognize most of these amateurs, but I see some familiar faces. LeFiels…” Paragon-Man side-eyed LeFiels, who responded by blowing a cloud of cigarette smoke.
“Well, I sent you guys like a dozen emails, but what we have could help the whole planet, so I thought we'd bring it to you,” Theo explained.
“Seeing as we're surrounded by amateurs with toys, this should be amusing.” Paragon-Man chuckled.
“Paragon-Man, these aren’t just amateurs. This guy killed The Bolt and ambushed Equa Libero’s group last year,” Red Warden said.
“Technically, The Bolt killed himself,” Slicer said from the crowd of villains, being the only other person that was there.
“Thanks, Red. I guess I’ll have to keep my guard up,” Paragon-Man sat down. “Let’s hear it, Morpho.”
Theo’s face lit up and he thanked them for the opportunity. He pulled out a hologram projector and began his presentation.
“Is he seriously pulling out the slides? I thought that was just a pretense.” Playfight whispered to LeFiels, who gestured for him to be quiet.
“He’s for real,” LeFiels said.
“Because I didn’t know how to use my power when I graduated, there was a really unfortunate and terrible accident that I feel really bad about with The Bolt, which led to his death. He gave me a chance, was really supportive, and I’m sad that he’s gone. What I have learned over the last two years is that’s not uncommon. People who don’t know how to use their powers have an accident, then they’re criminals. But, if we used everyone’s powers for the betterment of society, we could build a prosperous utopia.”
Theo explained how he had been working with various criminal reform organizations to use powers to help communities. He presented slides that showed sharp declines in crime, rising prosperity, drops in homelessness, an increasing economy and more. When he was done, Theo picked up his projector and asked the pivotal question.
“So, what do you think?”
…TO BE CONTINUED…
Next Time
Sidekick 3: The Truth - Part 2