“Xe’s hurting you!” snaps the hero “It’s not okay! You shouldn’t be working with [Villain]!”
“Haha,” says the vigilante tiredly “like you don’t? I’m everyone’s favourite chew-toy, friend. I’m the murky monster in the dark, and I’m good or bad depending on whats needed. Right now, the city needs a monster.”
The vigilante stretched lazily in the mouth of the alleyway, watching the rain catch the light from the storefronts. They heard someone land behind them, and didn’t bother turning. “Hello, Beacon.”
“Hey, Lancer.” Beacon put their hand on the vigilante’s shoulder.
Lancer winced, and shrugged it off. They went back to watching the rain.
Beacon hesitated. Lancer could hear the doubt in their voice. “You’re injured. Are you okay? No one’s seen you in a week, and we heard you were working with Dark Order.”
That was the real question. Not if they were okay, but if they’d switched sides. “You heard wrong,” Lancer said. “I’m working for Dark Order. And it’s a training injury, it’s fine.”
“They’re hurting you!” snapped the hero. “It’s not okay! You shouldn’t be working with them!”
The vigilante chuckled, then said tiredly, “Like you don’t? I’m everyone’s favorite chew toy, friend. I’m the murky monster in the dark, and I’m good or bad depending on what’s needed. Right now, the city needs a monster.”
“What do you mean, ‘Like we don’t?’ Lance, listen to yourself. You’re not a monster, and whatever Dark Order has done to you, we’ll figure it out. Come back to Headquarters. Before you do something you’ll regret.”
Lancer turned to face Dawn, and snarled, “No, you listen. Dark Order hasn’t done anything I haven’t agreed to. It’s no different than working for you, really – I go on patrol, make sure the local gangs toe the line. The only difference is that we get in more fights, we train harder, and that when I go too far, I’m more likely to catch a fist than a lecture.”
“That’s abuse-” Beacon said, reaching for Lancer again.
“But it hurts less,” Lancer spat, stepping back. “You have no idea how hard I tried to live up to your ideals. You make it look so easy – you have no idea what it was like to get chewed out for trying.” They sighed with frustration and said, “I am a monster, Beacon. A monster who saw the good you were doing, and decided that, maybe, if you were holding my leash, no one else would get hurt. If I was lucky, maybe I’d even do some good, too. But then you stood by when people needed you, and I knew I’d been lying to myself.”
For the first time in Lancer’s memory, Beacon was speechless.
“Dark Order isn’t a hero like you, but they don’t expect me to be, either. And they sure as hell don’t stand by while people die.” Lancer turned away, and stepped out of the alleyway. “Goodbye, Beacon.”
this is everything I’ve ever wanted from this prompt
Corvidprompts 