Garglesmash (Zukunft)/Hero and Monster

A story about Antony Morse, a metahuman outcast who originates from an evil plot and has troubles taking sides.

© 2011 Michael Hoffmann

Time and Place

• Mid-January 2007, hidden base of the b'Jnarnagl somewhere in Rhode Island

Dramatis Personae

• Byotusk a.k.a. Antony Neil Morse, 17-year-old half-human half-b'Jnarnagl muscle boy
• The b'Jnarnagl, extraterrestrial aliens
• Copping Xtreme, eager young Paragon Hero

Hero and Monster

Chapter I: Champion

It was a dark and stormy night; the rain fell in torrents – Byotusk was glad to have a roof over his head.

"Sleep well. We are going to strike tomorrow", U'Dorussk said as he left the hut. At least, that's what Byotusk thought he said; he had only been learning the b'Jnarnagl's language for some months.

Prior to that, he had lived as a human for more than sixteen years. Of course, "Antony" had been ugly for human standards, even before hitting puberty. Eventually, his origin was revealed, and his family ceased to exist. Fortunately, the b'Jnarnagl discovered him and made him their "Ch'Vortag", a word that he translated as "Champion".

Byotusk did not know much about his new people yet, but he believed their home planet to be very different from Earth. They could survive over here, too, at least with the equipment they brought along, but their characteristics put them at a clear disadvantage. Still, they were humanoid enough to allow for a hybrid like him, and he had apparently inherited the best of both worlds.

After he had joined the b'Jnarnagl, they had been training him as a fighter. Antony – uh, Byotusk was already tougher than members of either race, and he had learned to somehow charge his fists with energy, thereby becoming much more powerful than the average human. It took a group of b'Jnarnagl to defeat him as well. He had heavily injured – perhaps even killed – several of them during his training, but the overseers assured him it was what they had been hoping for. He had survived "Tr'Phteran", too.

Byotusk was not sure what Tr'Phteran was, but as far as he could tell, it was an engineered plague fatal to humans. It would kill them, or at least weaken them to the point they would no longer be able to offer any resistance. And for the unlikely exception there was still the Ch'Vortag. Voidaic, the leader of this operation, had brought only a few dozen soldiers at most; still, they would have virtually conquered Earth within days … at most.

Byotusk did not really know why they intended to conquer Earth. They had not told him much, and he had not understood everything they told him. But it had sounded like they needed the planet as a secret base in a war against a third civilization. Or maybe their enemies were another faction of b'Jnarnagl. Maybe there was no war at all, and they were simply in need of more living space. He did not care. The b'Jnarnagl accepted him, and the humans had not.

They had considered him a monster, he was only playing along. Granted, not everybody had bullied him, but the majority had – it was society that had asked for this. Even his father had, when his mother admitted that aliens had performed experiments on her and Antony was obviously a result, only taken it as a welcome excuse to leave them. Sure, his mother had cared for him, and not deserved being exterminated or enslaved at all. But she had commited suicide, so Antony was actually about to avenge her.

Actually, the aliens did not treat him as a son, either, but they did respect him, apparently. Granted, his mother had not exactly liked being experimented on. They had not even expected her to remain alive for seventeen years. But when they had discovered him, they had welcomed him into their ranks.

They had tested him first, but that was not surprising at all. Infected him with Tr'Phteran, as he had realized by now … but didn't that mean they had taken the risk of him dying? At least they did have had a reason, unlike all those kids bullying him. Kids … Most adults had, well, been irritated by his appearance, too, but not been outright malicious. They understood he was just a boy who happened to be different for some reason. And kids eventually became adults …

Suddenly, Antony felt very stupid. That particular feeling did not really bother him, however, because he felt even much angrier. The cause of all his problems were his alien genes. So it was the b'Jnarnagl who were ultimately to blame. And here he was going to help them take over the world. They accepted him. But only because he happened to look like a useful tool.

Antony got up and looked out the window. The storm appeared to be over, and the rain had become a drizzle. The b'Jnarnagl had apparently finished their preparations, and were mostly resting. Antony tried to make up his mind. He felt he had more important things to do than sleep.

Then he went on a killing spree.

Chapter II: Hero

It was a beautiful sunny day, as far as a winter day without snow could be considered beautiful, when Antony arrived in Paragon City. People stared at him, but they always did; in fact, demihumans should be a common sight around here, people called this the "City of Heroes", after all. Granted, the presence of heroes required there to be some villains as well, but as long as he was behaving like an ordinary person he should not have anything to fear.

Probably for the first time in his life, Antony felt that his life had a purpose. Well, except for when the aliens were making him their champion, but that no longer counted, did it? He had saved the world all by himself; people were not aware of it yet, but he was about to tell them. The alien mutant had used his power to combat evil, and he was going to make it his profession. And this was the right place for it.

Antony had arrived in Atlas Park, the location of City Hall, where officials should get his hero career started, or at least point him in the right direction. He realized he had not decided on a moniker yet. Probably something self-ironic … Baron Bull, maybe?

Suddenly, Antony heard a female scream, accompanied by an evil-sounding male voice. The two people were fighting over a purse, and the man's clothing, most notably his demonic mask, made it obvious he was the bad guy.

The robber won the struggle and started running away from the woman, only to bump into somebody who happened to be even more muscular and taller than him. Antony used the opportunity to knock the surprised villain down. He secured the purse and grinned victoriously at the victim.

But the fight turned out not to be over yet, as the woman continued to scream: "Help! A monster!"

Antony swiveled and was delighted to see a hero rushing toward them. What could still go wrong now?

He realized too late that he was about to be knocked out.

Chapter III: Monster

Antony was at the Zig. Rhode Island's infamous prison for supervillains. He had not come voluntarily, and they had drugged him to make him harmless. Had he worn fur instead of clothes he might have been put to death.

But why? All he had done was try to be a hero. Maybe he had been supposed to register first. But that hardly allowed the woman and Copping Xtreme to consider him a monster. Now Copping Xtreme was considered the hero.

He had obviously been wrong about this city. Heroes were only human, too. Antony was not. Why would they treat him any better? They were not necessarily the good guys, they were just good at appearing heroic.

Antony had to remind himself that the b'Jnarnagl had not been better than the humans. But they had been right about him. He was monstrous, and it was his destiny to be a monster. So be it – it was the only way for him to be accepted, in some way.

Did that mean he had to be evil? Not directly, right? There were already villains, and some of them would probably have use for a monster. His inmates had claimed that people were breaking out all the time. That was most likely exaggerated, but it gave him hope. All he needed to do was convince an escaping supervillain to employ him. Not that he intended to sell his soul, or let anybody take advantage of him again.

Perhaps he would hunt Copping down and take revenge on him. That somehow didn't feel like justice, however. He should probably frame him for something, or do something else to him to make him an outcast, too.

He no longer looked like one, but he still was an inexperienced teenager. He did not realize that the court who would finally be hearing him a few days later would acquit him. Instead, Arachnos would attack the prison and he would accept their offer to take him to the Rogue Isles, the "City of Villains" where it was the "heroes" who were the outcasts. Where the government respected people like him, because it was villainous itself. Freedom Corps would now indeed consider him a villain, but he would actually distance himself from Arachnos as far as he could, instead positioning himself as a neutral mercenary. A monster-for-hire.