Fire and Deception

As the cars whizz by me, I’m sitting on the bench near the Klipton Theater where Broadway takes the stage, with art supplies scattered around me.

For my art project, I have to find something in the city- a building, a landmark, statue, etc- that is meaningful to me.

I have to either draw, or paint our meaningful choice. I decided to draw the theater. This is important to me because my dad is a stage director. He travels around the world to perform his plays. A couple times he’s performed his special broadways here in this theater.

He’s currently traveling with his team.

Seeing this makes me upset that he’s not here, but somewhere else in the world. I’m not interested in Broadway but I make an exception when his plays are performing here, or in a nearby city.

I have my earbuds in listening to music as I finish drawing the outline. I then take out my expensive pastels and begin to color. I’ve been sitting on this bench for the past couple hours just for the drawing. This coloring is going to take awhile. Luckily I have my coffee from Bayne’s Cafe to keep me hydrated.

As I looked carefully at the colors and the blending, I noticed a couple people running on the sidewalk and a couple running on the road. I don’t think much of it.

I continue on my work when screams are overpowering my music that’s blasting in my ears. I rip one of my earbuds out seeing people getting out of their cars gazing at something. More screams are heard as a herd of people are running in the opposite direction from something, some crashing into cars and others tripping and falling.

“Villains!” One screams. I rip my other earbud out, I rush to clean my things and run to the other road to see the West Tron Movie Theater in flames. People are piling out of the doors running for their lives.

“Oh my god,” I mutter, covering my mouth. The flames cracked and erupted. Sweat forms when the heat spreads off the burning building. In the top corner, two people in costumes are on top of the building walking through a portal. Once that portal vanishes in thin air the heroes swoop in to save the day. A few villains stay behind to battle with the heroes. In the distance, Drone is carrying Lacuna as they fly around the burning building. Lacuna shoots water to stop the roaring flames from traveling any further.

The crowd erupts in cheers as they fight the villains. It’s hard to see from where I’m standing since everyone is standing in front of me. I push my way through until I’m in the front watching the battle.

Rayo, Superion, Trenton, Lacuna and Dron-who just landed- surrounds Merlain. He must have teleported back after transporting somewhere else.

I couldn’t hear what they were saying but I could tell they were talking based on their masks moving.

The scene before us is the usual. “You won’t get away with this,” or, “Give up now and we won’t hurt you,” or, “You’ll never win.” It’s the same shit as usual. It gets boring.

Trenton is kicked in the back of the knees and ripples over, but no one is behind him. Except for Invisly.

She strikes Drone next but he catches himself by shooting upwards. Thanks to her invisibility, she can go undetected which makes fighting her difficult.

Lacuna sprays water around them soaking everyone in close proximity. I step aside to check my drawing. Luckily the cover and the first couple pages are wet. My drawing is halfway through my drawing book.

I’ve done a lot of drawing throughout my years but I’m very grateful my project is untouched. I’d hate to have to restart.

I turn to watch the action, having to shove my way through. The heroes are throwing punches, kicks, and even holding down the villains.

Superion takes Merlain in his grasp, throwing him down to the ground. The ground rumbles underneath us. We stand our ground.

In the distance firetrucks, cops and ambulances are racing down the roads.

“We have you now!” Superion says, holding onto Merlain. He thinks he’s got Merlain but in reality, he’ll just disappear.

When the cops arrived, they pushed us back to secure the area. The heroes hand over the villains but Merlain and Voldrin each headbutt the heroes who are holding them captive.

Voldrin sprints away within seconds. It’s surprising how he’s been caught since his superpowers are speed. Top of a portal appears where I’m standing, then disappears in a second.

I’m assuming Invisly escaped during the chaos since her presence is absent.

I decided to leave as nothing interesting will happen. I stopped on the side to plug in my earphones and walked back to my house. It was a long and peaceful walk back home.

By the time I got back home, the sun started setting in the distance making the beautiful neighborhood I live in even better.

Walking into the house, music is blaring somewhere in the house. I check my parents bedroom but it’s empty. The music blares from my older sister’s room. Dakota enjoys bringing her boyfriend over when no one’s home.

Her screams echo through the house as he screws her. I close my door to block out the sound. I then hook up my phone to my bluetooth speaker and blast my music to overpower her country music and screaming.

I take out my painting that I’ve been working on for another art project in school. My drawing is due Friday and this painting is due next week. This painting is about a hero or villain of our choosing and having to tweak it to make it look interesting, and represents their powers as well.

My choice is Blaze, the villain. I decided to keep the general idea of his costume, a hoodie with a ski mask, but change the colors and add accessories. The color of his suit would be a fiery red with patches of orange and yellow. The ski mask would be a maroon red color. At the tips of his extremely dark brown bangs- that could be mistaken for black- would be dyed a bright red. In pictures on the internet and the news, he keeps his bangs out in the open instead of tucking them in. In the deep of his eyes, I painted small flames that were ignited by his rage to destroy the city.

“Val!” I pause my music and swivel in my chair to Dakota holding the door knob.

“Hey.”

“When did you get home?”

“While you and your boyfriend were partying in your room. You should’ve invited me so I could go drinking with you.”

She rolls her eyes. “Not a chance. Get your own man.”

“What do you want?”

“Danny and I are heading out to eat.”

“So?”

She shrugs her shoulders. “Thought you’d like to know. There’s leftovers in the fridge if you’re hungry.”

“Okay, bye.”

She leaves, leaving the door open. I scoff and shout to her to close the door but the front door slammed shut. Having to get up and close the door myself is irritating. I continue working on my project at my desk with the music blasting.

Mom walks in with me microwaving leftovers. “Hey, honey, how was your day?”

“It was good.”

“I heard about the West Tron Theater. It’s terrible isn’t it. Numerous patients came in injured. Someone’s going to get killed.”

“Yeah . . . I was there when it happened.”

She stops stares at me. “Are you okay? What were you doing there?”

“I was drawing the Klipton Theater for art. People were screaming and running. I was far enough.”

She breathes out a sigh, holding her heart. “These villains are becoming more dangerous by the day.”

“I know, mom.” She shakes her head.

“Okay, then.”

I take my food over to the living room where I continue watching my show that I started a while ago.

“Where’s your sister?”

“Dinner with Danny.”

“Okay.”

She leaves to her bedroom. I couldn’t concentrate on my show as my mind’s busy with the incident earlier. She’s right, though. I’m surprised no one has died yet. Although I do wonder how they choose their location to attack.

I hate what they do but I’m also curious about their origins. How did they become villains? I’m fascinated by them and always cheered for them internally. No one praises them like they do for heroes. Villains are always misunderstood, that’s why they’re villains.

There’s a reason why I chose to do a villain instead of a hero for my art project.

I wonder who they really are under the masks?