SUPER VILLAIN

SUPER VILLAIN

Genre: Action, Comedy

Description: A funny superhero story written from five different points-of-view.

First-Person

It had been a long struggle but at last I had him right where I wanted him.  That sinister super villain, Dark Matter, had picked the wrong bank to rob and I was there waiting for him.  He thought he could outsmart me with that cunning riddle about hitting the Union Memorial Bank but I knew he was going to hit the First National Bank instead.  How did I know?  Well, he had already hit the Union Memorial Bank last week and I had already fallen for that wrong clue trick once before.  As the old saying goes, “Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me.”  So I, the amazing Captain Shockwave, sat waiting for the fiend to arrive in my Shockwave-mobile, which I had cleverly parked in front of the bank building knowing full well that a cleaver villain like Dark Matter would never use the front entrance.

I saw a flash of light through the front windows as some kind of energy beam cut through the lobby floor.  Dark Matter then appeared through the hole like Bugs Bunny climbing out of his rabbit hole.  I had him now!  I got out of the car and proceeded towards the front door.  Dark Matter turned and saw me.  I could see the fear in his eyes even through that hideous metal mask.  The front glass door may have been locked down tight for the night but I’ve never seen a door my supersonic punch couldn’t handle.  I smashed my way in with one hit.

We struggled for sometime in the bank lobby as he used every kind of nasty super weapon he had on his person.  I’m talking: freeze ray, exploding disks, super-sticky-string, and even shock grenades.  It was a tough fight but at least I had him beaten.  The coward had no option but to run.   He took for the stairs and I followed quickly behind him to the roof.

As I advanced out the rooftop doorway a purple energy beam came straight for me.  I dodged to the right and rolled out of harm’s way.  Then, using my super speed, I closed the gap between us and gave him one last supersonic punch to that stupid metal helmet.  He went flying across the rooftop.  He was down for the count.  I stood over the villain as he cowed in fear. 

“You’ve lost Dark Matter,” I said to him, “Now you’ll pay for all your crimes against the city.”

“You’ll never take me alive!”  He said with that raspy tone of his.

I thought I had won but the fiend used a cunning mind control device on me.  I was powerless against this new weapon.  He got back to his feat and then pushed me over the ledge.  I helpless fell to the street below where my own Shockwave-mobile caught me fall.  I won’t lie; slamming into the roof of my car after plummeting from the top of the bank building did hurt, but it wasn’t enough to stop me from my pursuit of justice!  I pulled myself from the wreckage and looked to the top of the building.  Dark Matter had fled.  It was then that I swore that I wouldn’t rest until I saw that villain behind bars.

 

Second-Person

You just sat down in front of the television to a nice hot plate of mac-n-cheese when suddenly you hear the sound of thunder outside of your apartment window.  You think to yourself how there was not supposed to be any thunderstorms tonight.  You had checked the weather before leaving work and tonight were supposed to be clear with highs in the sixties.  You decide to look out the window to see what might be happening.  You place down the plate of mac-n-cheese on the coffee table next to the television remote and the latest issue of People Magazine.  You don’t really read People Magazine but an article about your favorite television show actors caught your eye in the Super Market checkout line so you decided to buy a copy along with tonight’s dinner and a gallon of milk.

You look through the glass pane of your apartment window towards the heavens.  It looks clear and there is no sign of any clouds.  You shrug it off as nothing and start to turn back to your dinner when suddenly you notice out of the corner of your eye two figures fighting on top of the roof of the next high-rise.  Why it is none other than the cities most popular super hero: Captain Shockwave!  It appears that another figure, the infamous criminal mastermind known as Dark Matter, is about to blast the city’s hero with one of his ray guns.  The purple wave beam misses as the blue spandex wearing superhero quickly roles to the side.  With a blinding charge Captain Shockwave closes the distance and with one supersonic punch the vile Dark Matter is sent hurtling across the rooftop.  But where did he land?  It was somewhere just on the other side of the split-level roof and your view is now obstructed by the limitations of your window.  You want to know what happens next so you rush to the front door.  It is then that you realize you’re not wearing any pants.  You think that it might be prudent to put some pants on before rushing to the street.  You run into your bedroom and grab a pair of jeans from the closet.  You put on your jeans and some old running shoes then race to the front door.

Seconds seem like minutes as you ride the elevator to the ground level.  It stops on the third floor to pick up Mrs. Tillman and her crying four-year-old daughter who really wants some candy and is letting her mother know how unfair it is that she won’t let her have a particular candy.  The little girl’s crying is quite annoying.  Finally the elevator comes to the ground floor and you race out the front door.  A crowd has gathered on the sidewalk outside of your building looking up at the high-rise across the street.  You join the crowd gazing at the sky.  You don’t see anything.  You look back to the street and see the Shockwave-Mobile, an overhauled blue Mustang with lighting strips painted on the side, setting idle in front of a fire hydrant.  Police cars with their flashing blue and red lights have blocked the street off and various police officers in their black jackets and caps keep pointing and staring at the top of the building.  All are poised on the scene that seems just out of your view.

Just then you see the image of Captain Shockwave teetering on the high-rise ledge of the bank building.  It looks like he is about to fall.  The crowd gasps.  The unthinkable happens and you watch in horror as the blond superhero tumbles over the edged and then falls like a rock.  You dare not look but you can’t turn away.  You watch the muscle frame plummet until at last he smashes into roof of his own vehicle with a crash.  The entire frame of the car is now bent like a hard shelled taco and the only thing you can see of Captain Shockwave is his white boots.  Could he really be dead?  The crowd around you looks on in silence.  Just then a gloved hand reaches forth from the wreckage.  It’s Captain Shockwave!  He’s okay!  You watch with glee as the superhero pulls himself from the remains of his shattered vehicle.  He shakes his blond head as if he had just been clocked by an expert boxer.  After stumbling around for a moment he looks up at the high-rise then back to the crowd.

“Don’t worry citizens,” Captain Shockwave announces, “I’m okay.  That vile Dark Matter had caught me in quite the cunning escape plan but he still is no match for me.  Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got to track down a super villain.  Now, where’s my car.”

The crowd cheered.  Captain Shockwave turned around to survey the street scene when you saw his gaze rest on the twisted frame of the Shockwave-Mobile.

“My car!”

 

Third-Person Limited Omniscient

With one supersonic punch the sinister black leather clad figure went hurtling across the rooftop like a ragdoll being tossed about in a dryer.  The shadow of a man landed near the concrete edge of the high-rise.  Dazed and hardly able to move he slowly picked himself up, propping himself on the small concrete ledge.  Blood was trickling down from underneath the neck guard of his helmet.  He grabbed the sides of his helmet and lifted off the hideous contraption to reveal the face of a gruff man with long stringy unkempt black hair and a stubble strewn face.  He said nothing but spat out a splotch of blood.

“You’ve lost Dark Matter.” Captain Shockwave said while strutting across the rooftop.  The light of the night’s full moon gleamed off of the giant shiny star-shaped-symbol carefully sown into his dark blue spandex.  “Now you’ll pay for all your crimes against the city.”

Dark Matter just sat there speechless against the concrete ledge.  His mind was still reeling from the atrocious pounding he had just received at the hands of this super powerful superhero.  He was a mad scientist and not made for fist fighting.  It reminded him of days long past back in high school when the jocks would pick on him after science class.

 “Not so tough without your gadgets, are you?”  Captain Shockwave said lording over him like a king standing over a prostrate peasant.

Dark Matter reached for his side but his holster was empty.  All his gadgets had already been used up in the fight.  Visions of school bullies blurred in Dark Matter’s mind as he stared at the proud Captain Shockwave pushing his gloved fists into his sides.  If only he had with him one of his super advanced weapons of mass destruction then this situation would be vastly different.  But Captain Shockwave was right.  He was powerless without his gadgets.

“Well,” Captain Shockwave said, “aren’t you going to say something.”

Quips and sayings flooded into the villain’s mind but none these quotes were adequate to the situation.  They were nothing more than clichés and odd television references from Saturday morning cartoon shows.  Moments became like long hours as Dark Matter tried to think of a good retort.  But it was no good.  Nothing interesting was coming to mind.

Captain Shockwave sighed, “This is kind of anticlimactic.”

“Well excuse me,” Dark Matter said spitting out some more blood.  “I’m trying my best here.”

“But you’re supposed to be saying something taunting now while I gloat over you with my apparent victory.”

“Sorry to disappoint you but I’m just running out of brain power here.  All I’m getting is the cliché stuff like, ‘foiled again’ and, ‘I would have gotten away with it…”

“You are not making a Scooby-Doo reference on my watch.”

“I know,” Dark Matter said with a sigh, “I feel so lame.”

“Come on, man,” Captain Shockwave said with a plea, “you built a freeze gun for goodness sake.  Don’t tell me you can’t come up with a better comeback than a Scooby-Doo reference.  I had been planning my victory dialogue for months!”

“Yeah, well, I hadn’t planned for a, ‘defeated,’ speech.”  Dark Matter said wiggling his fingers in the air to make quote symbols around the word, ‘defeated.’  “Call me crazy but I’m an optimist who believes its poor taste to plan for one’s own demise.”

“Then can’t you struggle just a little bit more?”

“Dude,” Dark Matter replied, “I’m done.”

“Fine…” Captain Shockwave said with a shrug.  “Then I guess it’s just off to jail with you. 

Just then Dark Matter had a burst of inspiration.  He shot up his right arm towards the midnight sky, pointed aimlessly into the night and shouted, “Look!  It’s Flame Woman!”

Captain Shockwave turned his back to Dark Matter and quickly ran his fingers through his short blond hair, “Where?  Does my hair look okay?”

With that Dark Matter grabbed Captain Shockwave’s ankle and jerked him towards the edge of the high-rise.  Captain Shockwave struggled to keep his balance on the edge for an instant but the force was too much and his frame quickly disappeared over the side.  The descending girlish scream was soon replaced with a crash of glass and the sound of a crushed metal.

Dark Matter chuckled to himself as he pulled himself to his feet.  He carefully leaned over the edge of the high-rise to see Captain Shockwave pulling himself out of the flattened frame of the once proud Shockwave-mobile.  The temptation to shout, “Drop by anytime!” popped into Dark Matter’s mind but the lameness of such a comment seemed too unbearable.  As he fled across the roof to the fire escape, Dark Matter thought to himself about how he really needed to work on his snappy-comeback-arsenal.

 

Third-Person Omniscient

Dark Matter, that scoundrel of a villain, had conceived a most cunning and vile plan regarding the robbery of the First National Bank.  Using the metro tunnel that ran underneath of the bank he would use a disintegrating ray to burrow into the bank’s lobby and steel all the money from the vaults.   Little did Dark Matter know but the brave Captain Shockwave was pouched outside of the bank’s very front doors waiting for the villain to arrive.  Dark Matter chuckled to himself as he blasted away the bank floor and climbed into the dark lobby.  He thought to himself how perfect his plan was and how that dumb superhero would be miles away haven fallen once again to his fake clue trick.  But as the fiend looked around he saw the heroic figure of Captain Shockwave standing outside of the bank’s front door.  With a sudden POW, the bank doors were blasted opened.  Captain Shockwave knew this was no time to gloat about finding Dark Matter because the action was about to begin.  There would be time for gloating after he thoroughly trounced the villain.  Dark Matter knew he was in trouble but he had a few tricks up his sleeve.  He first used a freeze riffle strapped to his left arm.  He hit Captain Shockwave in the legs and the superhero was stuck.  Would Captain Shockwave be able to escape this icy trap?  Had Dark Matter really beaten the city’s hero?  Find out… next paragraph!

With one quick punch he shattered the ice and freed his own leg.  Then two struggled for sometime but at last the match was over.  Dark Matter, knowing his time was up, ran for the roof hoping to find some means of escape.  Captain Shockwave knew he was cornered.  As Captain Shockwave proceeded out the rooftop doorway Dark Matter tried to blast him with a photonic resonator but the blast failed to make contact.  Captain Shockwave closed the distance and with one supersonic punch, which rang out in the night like a clasp of thunder, the villain went hurtling across the rooftop.  Dark Matter had been beaten.

Captain Shockwave stood over the dark leather-clad figure of the villain cowering on the rooftop ledge.  It was now time for superhero to gloat about his victory.  But what was this?  Dark Matter had nothing witty to say in reply?  Would kind of trickery was this?  This wasn’t trickery but just lame.  Dark Matter thought to himself hard about some witty reply but failed to produce any results.  Captain Shockwave was getting both agitated and disappointed.  Here was the moment of his victory and it seemed so hallow.  This wasn’t the victory he had imagined a worthy superhero, like himself, deserved.  There needed to be some witty retort by the villain like, “You’ll never take me alive.”

Secretly Captain Shockwave was hoping that Dark Matter would try something else so he would have an excuse to supersonic punch him again.  But Dark Matter did nothing.  The two just talked.

It was then that Dark Matter pointed to the sky and yelled out “Look!  It’s Flame Woman!”

Captain Shockwave turned from Dark Matter and quickly ran his fingers through his short blond hair trying to make sure he looked alright, “Where?  Does my hair look okay?”

It was then that Dark Matter grabbed Captain Shockwave’s ankle and jerked him towards the edge of the high-rise.  Captain Shockwave struggled to keep his balance on the edge but the force was too much and his frame disappeared over the side.  Captain Shockwave’s muscular frame smashed into the metal frame of his own Shockwave-mobile.  As he laid there in the crumpled up frame of his own car he felt like the world’s biggest sap.  Dark Matter simply chuckled to himself and thought about how he must be the luckiest man alive as he dashed off for the fire escape

 

Third-Person Objective

July 01, 2011

Captain Shockwave thwarts bank robbery

Dark Matter still at large

AP

METROPOLAM

The notorious Dark Matter struck the First National Bank last night but was thwarted by the courageous Captain Shockwave.  Captain Shockwave who had figured out the villain’s plan had set an elaborate trap to wait for the villain once he arrived at the scene.  Police records say that Dark Matter had committed a number of crimes across the city using a verity of high-tech gadgets designed to do everything from instantly freezing a victim to eating through harden concrete within a matter of seconds.  Captain Shockwave, who had been on Dark Matter’s trail for some time, had finally discovered the location of Dark Matter’s next target using a series of puzzling clues left by the villain himself.  Witnesses say that the fight between the two was intense but thankfully no one was hurt in the struggle.  Police took extra caution and had already cleared out the building and barricaded off the surrounding area outside.  According to one witness the fight between the two took to the roof of the bank.  Authorities are not sure what happened next but according to Captain Shockwave, Dark Matter used some kind of, “mind control device,” that paralyze the superhero before pushing him off of the building.  Captain Shockwave was unharmed from the fall but the one casualty of the night was Captain Shockwave’s own super-vehicle, which witnesses say, broke Captain Shockwave’s fall.  Captain Shockwave says he will be looking into getting a new Shockwave-mobile and this time perhaps one with roof-airbags.  Dark Matter escaped the scene of the crime and is considered to be at large.  Police commissioner Thompson released a statement this morning saying, “Dark Matter is a cunning twisted genius and citizens are asked to be on a lookout for the man but not to approach him as his inventions are quite dangerous and this new mind control device could be particularly hazardous.”  Flame Woman has been asked to help out on the case but there is no official word as to whether the diva of fire will join with Captain Shockwave on bringing down the sinister Dark Matter.