Paragon stands tall on the rooftop of a building, looking down at the city streets below. Suddenly, there's screaming as a panic starts around a bank.
" Evil will never cease... " the superhero says to himself as he jumps into action. He leaps from the rooftop and lands on the street below, making a mad dash towards the bank. Upon entering, he discovers the rent-a-cop knocked out, laying on the floor against the wall. He turns his attention to the villain to see that it's Paradox.
" So, my archnemesis is at it again, I see. " Paragon says. He takes a step forward, but is suddenly forced to stay back as Paradox takes a hostage at gunpoint. " I was wondering when you'd get off that damn rooftop. It's nice to know you still can't make out the one person in a black labcoat from a distance. " Paradox says back, though her tone is bland, uncaring and bored.
As the supervillain makes her way around to the door, a few police cars arrive on the scene, but the police are immediately rendered useless when Paradox's robot minions open fire to keep them pinned down. Once she reaches the door, she knocks her hostage out with a quick blow to the back of the head, slings him over her shoulder, and bolts out the door. Paragon gives chase.
After chasing her through the streets and barely able to keep pace with her, Paragon finally discovers the hidden door to Paradox's base of operations as she hastily activates it and vanishes inside. The superhero jumps in before it closes.
" The jig is up, Dr. Paradox. Now I've discovered your lair. You can't hide anymore. " he says, continuing his pursuit of the supervillain. " I'm not trying to hide from you, human. " Paradox says back as she makes her way to her office.
Paragon stops at the door before entering to confront his enemy. He anticipates a trap, and prepares for everything. He then opens the door, only to see Paradox sitting comfortably at her desk with the hostage on the floor in front of it.
" Give up now and I'll go easy on you. " the superhero says. " Why would I want to give up? I've already won. You're in my domain now. At any moment, I can destroy you without lifting a finger. " Paradox calmly says, then grabs a cup of coffee and takes a sip, before starting to work on various forms laying on her desk.
Paragon reaches for one of his various gadgets. Before he even touches his belt, he's interrupted as Paradox looks right at him. " I wouldn't do that if I were you. I'll kill this hostage if you attack me. "
Deciding he can beat her to the draw, Paragon continues his current course of action and pulls out a gun, then quickly aims and fires several rounds at Paradox. The mad scientist supervillain doesn't even try to avoid it. The rounds tear small holes in her labcoat, but otherwise don't appear to do any damage.
Paradox then stops what she's doing and stands up, and some small sparks of energy appear over the bulletholes and repair her labcoat to its former condition. Paragon merely looks on, puzzled. " Nanotech clothing. I got tired of idiots like you damaging my clothes so I decided to just have them loaded with nanites so they repair themselves. "
She then walks around her desk and pulls out a laser gun, shooting the hostage, who is disintegrated into a pile of sparkling ashes. Almost immediately, a small robot minion enters the office and cleans it up, then leaves. " What did I tell you I would do if you attacked me? " she says, her expression clearly showing irritation towards her opponent.
Paragon angrily opens fire again, pulling out all the stops. Paradox just stands there, letting him unload on her. Once the barrage is over, she merely sighs in annoyance, her labcoat once again repairing itself from the assault.
" You fool. " she says. " Not once have you ever stopped me. Every single one of my plans that you tried to foil succeeded. The most you've been to me is an annoying b*****d that wants to play hero. "
" I AM a hero, you vile thing. " Paragon says in reply. " No, you're not. " the supervillain says back. " Consider this. What I said is true. You have never once managed to stop me. You don't even hinder me in the least. I'm capable of doing the damage I intend to do, and all you can do is provide a small irritant I end up dealing with along the way. "
" I stopped your bank robbery. " " What robbery? I knocked out the guard and waited for you. Did you see any money bags? Was I threatening one of the tellers to give me the money? " " What about when I disarmed that puzzle bomb back in the- " " You already know the police later discovered it wasn't an explosive at all. It was a decoy. " " I saved that bus of people from your robot min- " " You saved MOST of the people on that bus. Your decision to force it to stop it by brute force in an instant caused a poor old woman's neck to snap when she smacked into the seat in front of her. " " YOU'RE the one killing these people, not me. I save- " " YOU FAILED TO SAVE! "
Paragon stops talking when Paradox's expression shows intense anger directed at him. " You failed to save the people that were in danger because you're a pathetic excuse for a hero. I didn't kill the hostage in here. You did. I told you what would happen if you attacked me. Rather than going to the him and trying to get him to safety, you decide to focus entirely on me. Your stupidity is ending people's lives, the same people you CLAIM to be protecting. "
Paradox walks closer to him, stopping mere inches from him, and looks him dead in the eyes. " The only reason you're a superhero is because you decided to call yourself one. The only reason you're my archnemesis is because you just assume you're actually worthy to be a true rival to me. You can't stop me. You can't hurt me. You can't even begin to stand against me. The only reason I haven't crushed you yet is because I decided you weren't worth what little effort it would take. "
The supervillain then turns back around and starts walking towards her desk. " Now get out of my lab before I change my mind. I'm done putting up with a miserable failure like you. "
" Even if you're right. I still found where your lair is. I'll be back, and I'll have an army with me, and our combined might will end your schemes. " Paragon says in a final gesture of pride and justice before turning to leave.
" You won't be back. " Paradox says. Paragon merely shrugs off her comment and exits. It struck him as odd that none of her robot minions did anything to stop him at any point during their confrontation. Was Paradox sure of herself to stand against him alone? Something wasn't quite right.
As Paragon made his way to the doorway leading out of the lair, and back into the city, it vanished behind him. " What the... " he said in surprise. It wasn't merely cloaked or concealed. It was gone. He quickly made his way around the building and discovered that the seemingly abandoned structure was just that, an abandoned structure. Her lair wasn't even physically there. The doorway was some kinda portal to somewhere else.
It suddenly hit him. Every time he seemed to make a difference in his battles against his enemy, it's only because she allowed it. She wasn't trying to escape him. She wanted him to chase her into her lab. Their confrontation was all part of her plan, and he played right into it. All this time, any clues she ever left behind were deliberate, and he only now realized she's been toying with him all along.
" It can't be... She's right... I'm a failure of a hero... " he says. Crushed inside, Paragon lowers his head and sighs, accepting the truth of his ultimate defeat. The superhero makes his way down an alley, never to be seen again.
Reply
