The skies of Knight City glittered faintly above the light-polluted backdrop of a city so tall its smallest tower was a full kilometer in height. Even kilometers outside the city, one could observe a strange violet light like a star swirling through the sky.
But it was not a star, at least, not in the literal sense.
It was me. Khalida Zaquot, pseudonym: The Engineer. Freedom fighter, anti-villain, eco-terrorist... All the things I really identified with swept under the oh-so-blood-soaked title of "Villainess." Point of fact, however, I only ever killed people who nearly succeeded in killing me. But hey, I can accept being a villainess to get what I want, which is a world free from control by petty assholes who wouldn't know good science if it vaporized their mansions... Which it did. A lot. Thanks to yours truly.
Two of those assholes are presently the reason I'm darting around the sky like a hoverboarder on crack, trying to dodge light beams coming out of the eye sockets of Crusader, while Destiny calls the shots with her fucking analytical trait - I refuse to call it "prescience" because that would imply it had something to do with proper science instead of someone's Talent. That's talent with a capital T. More accurately known as powers, if people hadn't decided to snub accuracy like they were out to offend common sense.
To be fair, superpowers defied common sense all the time. That's just the world we've lived in for the last hundred years.
A world where Talents have supplanted most practical applications of science. A world where even teleporting heroes "just can't be bothered" to go to the moon. I've been there, actually, thanks to my wormhole generator. Built a small backup lair there for some of my most dangerous toys. If the wifi didn't suck, I'd have probably made it my main lair instead of carving out the underside of Paragon Park. Excellent place for hotdogs at Dibbler's or West Asian food, by the way. Wouldn't recommend the pizza parlors; all the tourists go to those and the quality suffered as a result.
But I digress.
Normally at this point in the battle I'd be cackling and shouting about the futility of their strikes and all, but I've got a gash in my nanosuit that's seeping blood past my cauterized flesh and it fucking hurts!
"Surrender, Engineer, there's nowhere else to go." Crusader said with his smarmy, condescending grin as he tried to super-speed at me, only to get caught in my anti-inertial field.
"It's The Engineer. Respect the definite article." I shoot a taser bola at him but the only thing the lightning does is singe his suit.
A second later, I'm the one dodging as he breaks out of my field - thanks to Destiny throwing one of her stupid grenades at me. My distraction came from needing to operate my utility arm by sight since these two assholes started their night by destroying my lair and my dubiously loyal AI sidekick, Pi. My point defenses took out the grenade, but at that moment Crusader slammed bodily into my force shields, overwhelming them through sheer brute force and dropping my power supply into the red.
That left me only one way out.
Normally, I don't target regular civilians. Rich and political fucks, yeah, because they're just legal villains. I have an excellent track record of avoiding collateral damage, since my goal is to take over the world, not destroy it. Hell, I've even reaped through several villainous leagues in order to keep Knight City from going out like Los Angeles or Washington D.C. or New York. Too much damage attracts the wrong kind of attention after all, and no matter how good a villain- no, anti-villain -you are, dealing with team-ups is a big waste of resources.
Did I mention I don't normally target regular civilians?
My greatest low-power option at this point is the use of micro missiles attached to my kneepads. It takes a thought for me to set them to full spread, and auto-track on street lights - did I mention I don't normally target regular civilians? What comes next takes a few seconds more as I launch them.
I bluff.
"What's it going to be, heroes? Take me down or save the civvies?" I cackle- finally! -and begin to drop. My aim is to pulse my anti-gravity generator at the last moment and flee on foot - my hover boots perform better when they have something solid to push off from - when suddenly I feel a hand grab me by the utility arm, turning me about as it rips off the arm, sending a warning buzz into my skull from the haptic feedback chip installed in my brain.
One second later, I hear the pop of my exploding rockets and the screams of fleeing civilians as Crusader grabs me by the throat.
Destiny lands beside him a moment later, bleeding from her nose and eyes. She must have pushed her Talent to the limits, trying to anticipate my rockets course before siccing Crusader on me.
Being strangled sucks, by the way.
I barely manage to wheeze out, "I thought... the good guys don't kill...
"For your bounty, I'll make an exception," he shrugged, then looked down. I felt a searing pain unlike anything I'd ever felt as he sawed off my feet with his fucking laser vision. Maybe it was adrenaline that gave me the power to scream through it.
My nanites, loyal to the end, flowed down trying to repair my suit, only to vaporize as Crusader kept up the heat, leaving me in my form-fitting anti-friction suit.
"This how you want to take me in?" my voice quavered, and I realized it wasn't adrenaline that helped me scream, but Crusader loosening his grip.
My mind raced with the possibilities. I'd never gone to prison before, but I knew what rights I would have. I could turn even a shitty prosthetic into an escape device. Hot sauce would melt iron bars, after a time, and if I still had access to my secret bank accounts, I'd hire the best defense lawyer in the world.
Then I would make Crusader and Destiny pay...
"Chris, don't..." Destiny said. "She must stand trial."
My respect for Destiny shot up immensely.
"My takedown, my rules," Crusader said before reaching around my back and burning off my utility pack, suit battery, and backup weapons.
I caught one last look on Destiny's face as her disapproving eyes turned away, guilt and fear paling her face. My respect for her dove. Weren't they "equal partners" as they claimed in front of the camera? Where was that will to talk back to Crusader? Those thoughts were just a flash in the pan as, naturally, I screamed as Crusader flayed and burned me with his fucking eyes.
The lights on my suit flickered and died as their source of power clanged onto the concrete.
"Let's see how well you fly now," he smirked, then tossed me straight up.
With atmospheric drag and the number of Gs he'd subjected me to, my comm device ripped off my ear as I rose like a dark rocket.
Yet the pain of that was dull as my vision tunneled, my heartrate stuttering at the oppressive weight on my chest. I knew I could have forced myself awake - pilots did so by tensing their legs - but it seemed so pointless now.
As I approached the zenith of my parabolic demise, I exited a cloud and saw the full moon above me, the stars no longer washed out by the lights of the city.
At that moment, regret was the only thing I felt.
Why hadn't I just used my science to leave this rotten planet?
Why didn't I try to change things the "right" way, by forging a path to the top of the heroing world?
Why did I care so much that this was the end?
I knew the answers, but I didn't want to think about them...
Yet as soon as I tried not to, the answer to that third question rang out in my mind.
I wish I'd called her...
The last mercy I knew was blacking out before gravity took me down.