“Why did the chicken cross the road?”
Colonel Sanders* #quote
Today I went into space but the Sun was in my eyes so I came back.
Anyway onto the flash fiction!
When A Nobody Matters
The scene of the epic battle had been set and taken to a
finish. The superhero and supervillain evenly matched they both lay
on the ground with torn capes and costumes, both so exhausted that
neither could use their superpowers let alone move. The villain's
floating fortress bobbed up and down in the sky as the world
dominating device in the center of the platform both of them lay on
sent out massive pulses of electromagnetic energy. The control panel
on the device could either turn the device into full gear and finish
the plot to conquer humanity or deactivate it for good. But neither
the hero or villain could move.
But someone moved onto the platform. A plain minion of villain. John
Latterday. He wore a gray suit and a sinister mask of the evil
organization that hid his really plain figure and ordinary face. He
did the laundry and was in the lower quarters of the floating
fortress when the battle raged on which stood to be the reason the
hero hadn't throttled him like the rest of the minions. The hero
pummeled the janitor when he mopped the upper floors.
Most minions followed supervillains because usually they promised
both a seat of power if they somehow succeeded and plus supervillains
paid well because they had to attract employees despite the hazards
of the job. Really the succeeding of a supervillain wasn't much of
it, mostly a joke since it never happened. It was the pay. Most of
the minions were ordinary people looking for a easy to get into
higher paying job. John Latterday wanted to both put a kid through
college.
But here, this was the one chance a villain could actually succeed.
No other heroes were at this battle because no one could stand a
chance against his boss. And this machine would bring about a new
world order. He would probably wind up a duke of some region if he
made the machine work. His boss always said he would promote them to
seats of powers because, “They were already used to serving him and
being loyal.” John figured that also the boss thought that most of
his employees were too stupid to rebel.
The minion walked over to his crippled boss and the crippled hero.
Then over to the control panel. He lifted his hand over the control
panel. He could feel the waves of energy coming out of the device.
“Quickly! Activate the machine! Before he gets up!” His boss
yelled in a pained voice. Before now he only heard the villain speak
in an assertive tone.
“Don't listen to him! You can do the right thing! You can change!
You save the world! Turn the machine off!” The hero's tone also
carried a pained yelp in it. The hero battled the villain many times
before. The classic archnemesis relationship. He never heard the hero
beg or do anything but attack, yell, lecture and declare victory.
John's hand kept hesitating. He knew no matter how much he regretted
the decision, or didn't regret it. He could never go back on it.
“What if I don't want to conquer the world for you? Or on the other
hand, do the right thing?”
The supervillain yelled at him angrily, “Fool! I will give you
power beyond your wildest dreams! Riches! All of it will pay off! And
if you don't...never ending torture!” The villain tried to lift
himself but only got up half an inch before painfully collapsing.
The superhero then yelled, “Don't listen to him!”
“Quiet hero.” John then thought for a moment before saying to
villain, “Do you know my name? If you can tell me my name then I
will turn on the machine.”
His boss went quiet. “What does that have to do with anything? And
you're wearing a mask! How could I possibly tell?”
“And that tells me how much you value us and the emptiness of your
promises. And if I turn off this machine and use an escape pod to
leave this place you'll never find out who I am. After all there are
no records of pay, you're the one who does everything under the
table.” John remembered all those days of doing laundry and seeing
all those hundreds of matching masks and suits. That's what told him
that was the right question to ask.
The superhero smiled. “You've chosen to do the right thing.”
John responded, “I guess, but really, the wrong thing didn't do me
much good did it?”
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