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When you were first deployed to fight by the Organization, you had a very black and white view of the world. Good was good, bad was bad and there were no in-betweens or reason to question the way things were.
You had stepped onto the battlefield in a white leotard and a black capelet with matching boots. A simple uniform given to you by your instructors at the Academy, it still managed to make you feel confident in your strides as you approached your target with your head held high. They had prepared you for everything, from hostage situations, to natural disasters, to terrorist attacks and you had graduated the top of your class, so there was no reason to think you couldn't handle this.
But then you met Her.
Tall, lean, and beautiful in a horrifying way, she dressed herself in a charcoal colored catsuit and let her mane of wild, black hair flow free as her power tousled it about. You remembered thinking she looked so serious; so tired, but as swirls of shadows surrounded her and formed large, clawed hands to tear at the nearby buildings, you couldn't help but find her terrifying as well. The other heroes that tried to engage her in combat would be torn to shreds without her even sparing a glance their way and truthfully, it was a desperate move to send someone as new to the field as you.
She never claimed a name and the Organization simply called her "The Target", so that's what she was to you. A Target. You remembered calling her such as you approached her, your chorokinesis activating to raise a burning car into the air to hurl at her. She didn't flinch. She didn't even look your way as a shadowy hand caught the vehicle and threw it right back at you. You would have been insulted if you weren't busy catching it again and throwing it back along with as much debris you could reasonably lift at once.
"You are under arrest, Target," you had shouted at her. "Surrender now or I'll have to get serious!"
That had made her spare you the briefest of stares and it was only accompanied by her lifting her hand and snapping her fingers.
A shadowy hand grabbed you from behind and taught you the grim lesson of always being aware of your surroundings as it smashed you into the ground repeatedly. The Target had used it as a chance to slip into the building and collect what was apparently valuable data before leaving the scene entirely.
She didn't even bother to kill you like she had the others. Just left you bloody and broken in the rubble.
***
When you met Her next, you had more experience. You weren't as cocky. You knew how to be more efficient with your powers.
It should have been an easy win.
She was collecting materials for something . The Organization had debriefed you, warning you of the long, long list of potentially dangerous items she had stolen over the years. Nobody could make sense of what she was doing with them, but you all agreed that it couldn't be good and that she needed to be stopped.
So the moment you were deployed and located her in a lab, stealing documents, you didn't waste time with words, though you could remember the exhausted way she hunched over the computers. You rose your hands and crushed every metallic object in the room around her with your kinesis and focused on containing her until backup could arrive. Many heroes had died by being overconfident when dealing with her and you had been one of the rare few to survive, so there was no point in repeating past mistakes.
That's why you sidestepped when you heard a faintly familiar snap and barely dodged a hand made of her lethal shadows. What you didn't expect was for it to ignore you and rip away a section of the prison you had made: allowing the Target to slip free long enough for her to form a wave of inky blackness that slammed into you like a bag of bricks. It sent you flying through the wall and you remained prone and dazed in the hallway as she stepped over your body on her way out.
You groaned at her as her heels clicked against the dusty tiled floors. "Why?"
She paused, though she didn't turn back. Instead, she spoke in a voice like honeyed poison. "'Why'?"
As you talked, you slowly sat up and eyed the ceiling above her, debating how much weight you could bring down on her head. "Why do you do this? Do you just like the mindless destruction? Do you like hurting people? Killing heroes because you can? Why ?"
It was then that she faced you fully: her expression solemn. "Is that what the Organization tells you? Or is that what they teach fledgling heroes at the Academy?"
You didn't answer her and reached up to grab hold of the ceiling with the intent of bringing it down, but her shadows batted you further down the hallway the moment you started to use your power. The struggle you put up was brief as you attempted to stop them in their tracks by using your chorokinesis on them, but they only halted for mere seconds before you were thrown out the nearest window.
It was frustrating how easily she stopped you in your tracks and you couldn't help but despairingly think that if she was on the right side, she could do so much good for the world.
***
Being defeated by Her twice was enough to goad you into going into the archives to actually research the troublemaker. For some reason, she had left you alive not once, but twice , a feat that many were in shock of. Yes, she didn't actually strike often, but she was at the top of the lists for most dangerous criminals list for a very lethal reason and it was about time that you educated yourself on the full extent of her tactics so you could stop relying on sheer dumb luck. And maybe, just maybe, if you could understand her past, you could work on predicting where she would strike next.
The amount of material on her was, unsurprisingly, minimal, but you were baffled to find that she had a hero file when you searched up her abilities in the records.
Name: Amelia Lionheart
Hero Alias: The Crow
Abilities: Shadow Manipulation.
Uses: Condenses shadows into solid matter to use as blunt force attacks or shields. Travels between shadows in a crude form of teleportation.
Weaknesses: Overwhelming light sources weaken her ability to manipulate the shadows in the room. Further testing required.
Bio: [REDACTED]
It had the one thing you needed most, but something about the file was strange and left a bad taste in your mouth. Nobody had told you she had once been a hero and a good chunk of the records around her had been blacked out and stamped as redacted: hell, it even had her name . It would make sense if it didn't make it more difficult for you to do your job, but at least you knew she did have a weakness. You just needed to figure out a way to incorporate it in your next encounter.
Standing to leave, a photograph fell out of the manila folder and you bent over to pick it up.
The image was of a younger Amelia, presumably fresh out of the Academy and sporting a bright, optimistic smile. Her hair was pinned up in a cute ponytail and on either side of her, there were two additional heroes that you didn't recognize, but someone had marked over their faces with red ink. Looking at the back, you saw that their names were blacked out as well, leaving Amelia's as the only legible one.
You couldn't help but notice she wore a white leotard similar to your own in the photo.
***
The tech lab had built you a "Solar Globe".
Apparently, it would flood any room it was activated in with blinding light and they gave you a pair of special sunglasses to go with it to help you avoid getting caught in the effects as well. You felt giddy as you held the weapon in your hands and you couldn't wait for your next encounter with Her. This was exactly what you needed to get the upper hand once and for all.
It was painful to wait for her to attack and you were constantly on edge with anticipation. Each time you received an order, you eagerly read it over in hopes you could fight Her again, only to be disappointed when it was a standard case: another 'super' villain trying to claw their way to the top. You told yourself that it gave you a chance to improve on your skills for your next battle with the Target .
When the order came, she had broken into an Organization run facility and was tearing through it on the hunt for something . As much as you wanted to know what it was, your top priority was to stop her but... Looking over the order, you saw that it no longer said "capture", rather, it stated "terminate". Had it always said that and you just misread...?
Either way, you had little time to waste and you were en route to her location. From what you could gather, she was attempting to take down an important section of the supply chain that kept the Organization's heroes fed. It wouldn't be a total disaster if it was lost, but it would definitely hurt you for a few weeks until they managed to restock and replenish the food chain for the hungry heroes on site. You were disgusted by her attempt to hurt the heroes that protected the public from danger.
Locating her was not difficult task and the fact that she was standing in a relatively enclosed space was to your advantage. You put the sunglasses on and activated the Solar Globe before she fully noticed you: no point in wasting time exchanging words and giving her a chance to escape, after all. The scream she had let out sent chills up your spine and through the darkness of your glasses, you could see her shadows vanish as she collapsed to the ground, clutching her eyes and writhing from her temporary blindness.
You were on her in seconds: handcuffing her into a device that suppressed her power and when it clicked over her wrists, you felt a surge of victorious relief. It was short-lived when her leg snapped up and her knee caught you in the back of the head before her thighs somehow got around your torso enough that she could flip you over.
She wrapped her hands around your throat and sneered. "Why can't you idiots see that I'm trying to help ?! Do you hate your free will that much !?"
Her words didn't register until much later, but at the time, you were focused on trying to claw her off you. Hand to hand combat had never been your specialty and she had the muscle to easily overpower you in this situation, so you reached out with your power. Seizing her with your kinesis, you tore her off you and slammed her into the wall as hard as you could: her head smacking it with a sickening crack before she slumped unconscious.
Your backup arrived minutes later and she was finally taken into custody.
***
The Target was detained in a high-security prison meant for the most dangerous criminals in the world. Her room was designed to be fully lit at all times, preventing her from forming shadows to tear herself out. People were to stay six feet away from her at all times to avoid her attacking and obtaining an item that would assist in her escape. When she was fed, it was on paper plates with clear, plastic cups of water and the food was never something that required cutlery, so you were pretty confident that she was never getting out for as long as she lived.
You were allowed to visit her one time shortly after you had captured her: your superiors thought you had earned the right to question the villain since you were the one to finally bring her down, despite your failure to terminate her. And you did have many questions for her, but when you were standing outside of her cell, you couldn't help but feel sickened at the almost less than humane way she was being contained.
Thin clothes. A pure white cell that gave you a headache to look at. Lights that were so bright, you had to squint. It was no wonder that she looked at you with haggard eyes.
"Did you come to gloat?" She croaked at you. "Get it over with then, you wouldn't be the first military dog to come in here to grate my nerves."
Her words confused you. Military dog? And you weren't the first to visit? "Who visited you already?"
"Who hasn't visited me? Just get this over with."
The sharpness of her tongue made you pause and you had to lick your lips before continuing. "You were a hero once. The Crow."
She rolled her eyes. "What of it?"
"Why did you go rogue?"
"If I answered that, we'd be here all day," she laughed, but it was a hollow sound. "I was tired of being used as a weapon."
"So why didn't you just retire?"
"Even retired heroes still serve in active duty. Everybody knows that."
She wasn't wrong: there had been several times that heroes with unique abilities would be called back out into the field to help out, but they had always been happy to be there. Her point didn't make sense. She could have declined any missions once she retired.
"You said you were trying to help? And asked if I hated free will?"
She slowly tipped her head, regarding you through the bars. "When was the last time you stopped a thief? Helped find a lost child? Have you ever decided on your own who you can and cannot save?"
You thought about her question, and when you couldn't provide an answer, she smiled ruefully. You tried, "I can choose to accept or decline a mission, but the Organization supplies me with jobs that suit my abilities best and my job is to protect civilians."
"It is becoming less of a world of heroes and more of a military regime. You say you are helping civilians, but more often than not, you are used as soldiers. I was used as a murderer, yet they wonder why I went ' rogue '."
You wanted to protest. You wanted to tell her that you weren't used as soldiers. That you got to choose for yourself when you could go out and save someone - but that was a lie, wasn't it? Unauthorized use of powers would result in an arrest and you would be court-martialed for your efforts, but... Wasn't that how it should be? It kept heroes in line. It kept everything in order, it... Wasn't it the best option?
"And what will you do when they push it further?" She asked. "When you are sent overseas to attack innocent people? When you receive orders like I did? Will you still think that your Organization is good ?"
"What?"
She grabbed at the bars, startling you into backing away, but all she did was sneer. "The problem with your Organization is that they're humans with agendas . And those agendas are not to keep the innocent safe. We are- were heroes, yet why do we become frontline soldiers in wars and campaigns that are our fault to begin with ? Do you know how many times I was deployed to wipe out villages to secure a resource deposit? How many people I was forced to kill because they were defending their homes?"
You thought about her redacted files but couldn't find the words to speak.
"I went rogue because I wanted out," she hissed. "And I wanted to end this once and for all to keep people from going through what I did."
You started to back away and she laughed. She laughed at you as you turned and power walked away, your eyes wide and head confused. What she was saying couldn't be right. The Organization would never deploy a hero to kill innocent people. She- she had to be lying just to get in your head, right? You couldn't let yourself fall for it.
She was still laughing as you stepped onto the elevator to leave the containment area.
***
The Target was set to be executed the same day you were to be honored for your triumph. You didn't even know it was legal for the Organization to execute people.
In the days prior to the execution, her words echoed around in your head and the more you went about your daily life, the more it started to make a bit more sense. The orders you would received never really had anything to do with civilians and always emphasized on minimizing collateral damage in a way that felt like they didn't care if people died, just don't ruin a multi-million dollar building. You itched to stop just an average robbery, but you were always sent out to guard government officials or to stop a villain from stealing the military's stuff.
To reassure yourself that the Target was a villain , that she said those things just to mess with your head, you looked up the civilian death count under her name since she went rogue. It was never something that came up despite it being a big talking point with the other high profile villains, so you had just assumed it was just so high, nobody wanted to talk about it.
Three.
Her civilian death count was three and it was during a clash with another hero where a tanker explosion had accidentally been triggered. You knew heroes with higher counts than that and it shook you even further. Looking over the past case files, you realized that she never fully started her assaults until long after people had fled the scene. She gave them time to run when she could have slaughtered them all like lambs-
You abandoned the files and returned to your room to try to sleep this off. Yet you still heard her laughter and her exhausted eyes in your dreams.
***
The morning of your award ceremony was a time of internal struggle for you, it seemed.
On the one hand, you knew you had a job to do. You were a hero and you couldn't let the sob story of a villain affect your work. It was up to you to hold your head high and maintain the peace for the good of the nation: for the world , and letting this stop you would go against everything you had trained for. You were human and that's why the Organization limited what you could do and who you could save. Humans made mistakes. It wasn't difficult to understand.
... But this didn't feel right in your gut. The Target was still geared to be executed in a matter of hours and it didn't make sense to do so when you had villains that had killed far more than her that were still sitting happily alive in prison. What made her different? The fact that she targeted the Organization directly? What other reason was there than that?
Your hands shook as you readied yourself for the day and your eyes were glued to the TV that was broadcasting the lead up to her execution. They never mentioned her name. Never said who she was. Never said what her crimes were. They just paraded her around in all her haggard and worn down glory until they were strapping her in to be killed. Somehow, she still managed to look solemn and proud: holding her head in a way that showed she knew she was right and that she wasn't backing down.
Clipping your white capelet in place, you toyed with the thought of bursting in there and rescuing her. Of setting her free so maybe she could tell you more. Maybe you could help her if she could help you understand the puzzle pieces that you had that didn't quite fit together. It was a stupid thought, yes, but it was one that was taking hold in the back of your mind more and more.
As you turned on your heel, you caught a glimpse of yourself in the mirror: black leotard, white boots, white capelet. You left your hair down in silent honor of the once-hero, but now you wondered if you should have pinned it back if you were fancying the thought of rescuing her like a damsel in distress.
Shaking your head, you carried on out the door: undecided on if you were going to your ceremony or not, but prepared for a fight just in case.
You did know that you wanted to talk to Amelia one last time before you made your decision.
What harm could it do?