[ WP ] A loved and respected hero discovers something that leads him to become a morally questionable antihero .

`` Oh, hello Captain.'' 
 
 *No, this ca n't be real... * 
 
 `` I did n't expect you to get here so quickly. You do n't normally leave the trainees behind.'' 
 
 *Oh god -* 
 
 `` Well now this is an interesting situation.'' 
 
 The girl was terrifyingly calm. Her left arm was transfigured into a large bony claw, and was holding onto a limp body. Covered in wounds with bones jutting from the skin where they had been broken, Eagle should have been dead. Despite that, the body wheezed in and out, whispering the constant refrain: `` kill me.'' 
 
 I did n't know what else to do, so I wept. Between my broken gasps for air I apologized to Eagle. He had been a terrible villain, but looking at his broken body I could not help but feel that I had failed. 
 
 The girl, Steel, stood their passively for a while before finally crushing Eagle against the wall. She was one of my teammates, and a hero in her own right. Or at least that's what I had thought. Looking at her now I did n't know who she really was. As an ally she was a quiet but dedicated hero. She could turn her body to steel, thus the name, and was an irreplacable enemy of evil. 
 
 Here and now I saw something else. She did n't look like a hero - she looked like a bored child. Her arm was n't steel either, but instead was a writhing mass of flesh and bone. I almost would have thought that this was someone else. I wanted to believe that this was not Steel. But at the same time, I knew she was the same person. I recognized the expression in her eyes, and her voice, and I had already known there was something unsettling about her. Now I wish I had acted on that instinct beforehand. 
 
 `` How many have you killed like this?'' I spoke through clenched teeth. I knew I would n't like the answer, but I felt an obligation to ask. I could n't look away now, not after looking away for so long. 
 
 She smiled. There was no evil or malice in her expression. There had n't been any while she was mutilating Eagle either. That, more than anything else, is what terrified me. `` What do you plan to do now?'' She let go of Eagle's body and her arm contorted back into a human shape. `` You have a few moments to decide before the trainees get here. I would recommend hiding the body as well - you do n't want them to see that.'' 
 
 She started to walk away, so I repeated my question. `` How many?'' 
 
 `` Hmmm?'' She spoke playfully, like someone playing a game. `` Are you sure you want to know? You could leave here believing this is the only one if you want.'' 
 
 `` How many?'' 
 
 She stopped walking away and turned back to face me. `` Thirty-five, I think.'' 
 
 I looked down for a moment. *Thirty-five? She's done this thirty-five times? * I wanted to lunge at her, to tear her apart, to stop her from ever being able to do this again. I wanted to attack her even if it meant my death. 
 
 But I knew I could n't do that. I stood no chance against her. None of us did. She was already the strongest of us, and that was apparently without even using her real power. 
 
 She asked her question again: `` What do you plan to do now?'' 
 
 What was I going to do? I ca n't fight her. Even if I got every hero to come together, I do n't think we'd win. She could always hide, and probably change her face, so I do n't think we could stop her. If anything, we'd create an even worse monster. Up until now she has n't killed any heroes. 
 
 I came up with a plan. `` You only kill villains, right?'' 
 
 She looked at me quizzically for a moment, and then smiled from ear to ear. `` Of course. It's more interesting that way.'' She reached back, her arm stretching unnaturally, then grabbed and tossed Eagle's body to me. `` I'll leave this to you then.'' 
 
 I nodded back. `` And I'll leave the trainees to you.'' 
 
 She knew what I was going to do. If she were a normal villain this would n't work. However, Steel is n't really a villain, at least not in the traditional sense. She is n't interested in power, wealth, or even hurting people. She is n't a hero either though. Instead, she's much more like a bored child. She's not looking for anything in particular - she just wants to be entertained. 
 
 So that's what I'll do. If she's going to hunt down and torture these villains, I'll race her. As long as I find them first, they wo n't have to suffer. She'll have to lead the other heroes after I leave, and that will slow her down. I wo n't have to abide by the code either. In the worst case scenario, I can at least kill them quickly and painlessly. 
 
 I looked down at Eagle's mangled body once more. *If I'm going to start hunting down villains, I might as well start by making a name for myself. * After thinking for a moment, I decided on a name. *I'm hunting down villains so that someone else plans on killing. I'm like a vulture circling a corpse. That's a fitting name for me then - `` Vulture''. * 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

