Revelation

"Vincent Cox," a guard says smugly. "What a pleasant surprise! You know, we were hoping you'd return to us." 

"You and I both, huh?" Vincent replies, his sarcasm knowing no bounds.

This response causes him and the guard to laugh for two completely different reasons. He is then led to his old cell, hoping that his cellmate will not have been moved.

"Prisoner 002, step back from the door!" the guard shouts, causing Vincent to stick a finger in his ear preventing him from going deaf.

"Yeah yeah... I heard ya" a voice came out from off the top bunk. Vincecnt eyes the figure buried under their covers, smirking before being let in.

"Ugh, finally." Vincent groaned out, plopping down into his sodden mattress, waiting for the day to come to an end, looking up at his cellmate's stained mattress above him. "Charlie?"

The cellmate then peaked his head over the bed's lack of a railing, realizing it was Vincent. "Vincent!!! You came back to visit an old friend?" Charlie asks fondly.

"Nah, old timer. I'm just here because I was bored." Vincent says nonchalantly, eyeing Charlie's power ankle restraints still intact; a sheepish, affectionate smile appears on his face. 

Charlie Jackson was a 63-year-old man currently serving life for 34 counts of unintentional manslaughter, leaving him a broken man since age 9. He tried to have his sentence overturned many times before, but at this point, he accepted it. His family and friends were gone, viewing him as a monster, reinforcing his belief it was his fault, yet Vincent is the only man who treats him as another human being.

"Sure thing, Vin," Charlie says, smirking, knowing the truth. "How'd ya get caught... and I can already tell who caught ya..." Charlie says, grimacing at his wounds.

"Bastards set me up..." Vincent sighed with aggression and boredom. "and yeah, you know how Lance is. I'm honestly surprised that I'm still alive!"

They both share a laugh before an alarm sounds off, signaling a roll call for the prison. "STAND BACK FROM THE DOORS!" a crackled voice shouts over the overhead speaker. Charlie rolls off the bed onto his feet in seconds while Vincent gets up tediously. Charlie sighs at Vince's nonchalant attitude, which makes Vincent smile as he takes in Charlie's sudden new change since last he was there.

"You shaved your head? What brought that on?" Vincent says as Charlie gets dressed in his dark prison scrubs, jabbing his elbow playfully into his side. "Finally shooting your shot with that one guard, eh?"

"Yeah... that's a long story, and turns out she's married." Charlie slides his shirt over his head, putting his arms through the holes. He looks at Vince, chuckling nervously. "The Warden's changed a few things since you last were here."

"Noted," Vince responds, taking in Charlie's unnerving expression, just now noticing his darker clothes. "Wait, isn't that a new color? How'd ya get that one?" Charlie suddenly nods toward the door behind him. A guard stands in the doorway with his baton out, staring at them with pure blue eyes, seemingly judging their very being.

"Out now!" the guard ordered his voice a mix of calm authority and unyielding resolve. Vincent trudged away, shoulders slumped in defeat. But just as Charlie stood to follow, a strong arm shot out, blocking his path. "Prisoner 002," he said with a sly smile, "you can stay." A chuckle escaped him, hinting at the playful tension hanging in the air. Charlie hesitated, curiosity piqued, sensing that this encounter was far from over.

"Wha—"

The guard then jabs his baton into Charlie's stomach causing him to fall, coughing and holding it. "Hmph, you are the so-called 'Demon Child?' Don't ya think it's time for a more... suiting nickname?"

"W-Why do you do this..." Charlie whimpers out, trying to stay quiet and not to alert Vincent. "I didn't do it on purpose—"

Another guard enters eyeing Charlie coldly as he enters as Charlie's eyes widen. He opens his mouth but the guard punches him before anything comes out. "Quiet murderer!" 

Vincent overhears the commotion but another two sets of guards block his path. "Care to move fellas?" He asks with his usual charismatic voice, only to be ignored and stared down by the guards. "Tsk, why the hell—"

"Make way prisoner 004," the guard says staring down Vincent with his cold blue eyes. "Or should I make you I wonder?" 

"V-Vin," Charlie stumbles out covered in bruises. "I'm fine."

"THE HELL YOU ARE—"

"Are you getting argumentative, prisoner 004?" the guard sneered, his voice dripping with mockery as he leaned in, his hand pressing heavily on the man's shoulder. A sly, menacing grin spread across his face, eyes glinting with a cruel thrill. "You wouldn't want to end up in the hole, now would ya? I hear it's quite... lonely down there—"

Vincent then sucker-punches the guard, laying him out in 2 seconds flat. The other guards look stunned seeing Vincent, known for his friendly nature act out in a fit of rage. "Seems my hands slipped, what was that thing about the hole? I think I'll need to be sent there." 

The guards look at their fallen coworker, snoring on the floor before returning their gaze to a smiling Vincent, seemingly proud of his actions. Vincent knew what that meant, but he couldn't care less. He was tired of the constant bullying of heroes, peacekeepers, hell anyone in power. All to him were scum in his eyes. Vincent then braces himself as one of the guards raises his baton and then bashes his head, knocking him out cold.

Vincent wakes finding himself in an underground cell, chained to the wall. The smell of iron mixed with ammonia overpowers his nostrils. Vincent chuckles to himself for allowing himself to let this happen but then remembers what happened. Just then he hears hurried footsteps approaching his cell, to his surprise it was no one he had seen before. A young female no older than 20 picks his cell door and approaches him, staring face to face with him, her features covered by a red cloak.

"Vincent 'Mirage' Cox," she says in an imperialistic voice. "You are needed in our perfect world." She then caresses his face in a gentle yet demanding way. "Please come with—"

Vincent bursts out in laughter causing the lady to jump back slightly. "This some sort of BDSM group y'all got going on down here? Wish I brought my GIMP suit too, but I guess you have extra huh?" Vincent says looking down at her, not taking her seriously at all.

"H-How aren't you affected? Any man should fall for me in a heartbeat—"

"Meh, not my type," Vincent replies with no real intention of paying attention to her presence. "I have nothing against real skinny ones but I like ones with fat—"

"Luna we don't have time for this!" A voice shouts from the corridor before entering the room too wearing the same cloak. "Is he in or not? It's almost time!"

"Oh? Is it almost time for what?" Vincent teased, a smirk playing on his lips, an eyebrow arched in playful mischief. "Din din time already? Or is there something more exciting on the horizon?" His tone was light, but the glint in his eye suggested he was ready for whatever surprises might unfold.

Just then he hears a familiar voice screaming. He freezes as he stares at the two figures before him. "Charlie?" Luna, the female cloaked figure started to free him but the male stopped her and pulled her away.

"If he doesn't want to help, let him burn!" he yelled, his voice echoing in the cell. He grabbed Luna's hand, pulling her toward the exit. The heat behind them intensified, a strange mix of fear and exhilaration fueled their stride as they raced away.

Vincent hears the screaming again and begins putting two and two together. "C-Charlie?" He lets out as he struggles with his chains. "CHARLIE!" Vincent then began sweating due to the heat realizing his power restraint was disabled. He snapped his fingers and his shackles and chains disappeared as he rushed to Charlie's pleas for help. The heat was unbearable, most cell doors were starting to glow red as he continued down the hallway, ignoring his feet burning on the hallway's scorching tiles. He finally turned to Charlie glowing bright orange, curled up in a ball.

"V-Vin... get... away..." Charlie whimpers out before he turns brighter causing the heat to get hotter. He was surrounded by skeletons all reaching out for him, seemingly trying to stop him from activating his power.

"C-Charlie... I'll... help... just close your eyes." Vincent reassures Charlie before snapping his fingers sending him to a secluded spot far away from civilization.

Charlie opens his eyes to see nothing but desert before finally getting overwhelmed and releasing a huge energy blast around him, causing Vincent to feel it even while he's on the other side of the world, lasting as long as 2 minutes. When it was all over Charlie lay on his back in a crater caused by his power closing his eyes, panting and wheezing. 

"Feeling better?" A concerned voice asks Charlie causing him to smile not needing to see to know it belonged to none other than Vincent. He reaches his hand out to help Charlie up. "Our restraints... why did they—"

"Don't know..." Charlie takes his hand and stands with minor difficulties. "All I know is there were 3 people in cloaks. Claimed I was a necessary sacrifice."

"I know who you're talking about... wait 3?" Vincent looks at Charlie to see if he was messing with him but Charlie nods as he dusted the sand from his pants. "I only met 2, are you sure that—"

"The third was with me Vin," Charlie cuts Vincent off with an impatient and frustrated tone. "He did something with our restraints. And he... tortured me, wanted me to kill for their message..."

"Message?" Vincent stares at Charlie in disbelief. "What message—"

Charlie didn't respond but lifted his shirt causing Vincent to grimace at the sight. There were words carved into his stomach reading, "Justice always prevails". 

"Charlie..." Vincent hugs him tightly causing Charlie to cry. "Shhh, I'll make sure they'll get what they deserve, I'll make sure of it," Vincent stares into his eyes before walking away turning to him again. "Nobody's going to hurt you again"

Hearing this, Charlie wipes his tears away and smiles, opening his mouth but a huge gust of wind comes out of nowhere sending sand in the surroundings. Vincent blocks his eyes but not before catching a glimpse of someone standing near Charlie. The sand settles leaving Charlie standing there still smiling but Vincent knew something was wrong.

"C-Charlie? You good there old timer?" Vincent cautiously approaches Charlie steeling his resolve. "You didn't have a heart attack on me now did ya?" Charlie still stands there smiling, seemingly ignoring his comments, making Vincent tap his shoulder with no reaction. He then shakes him and to his horror, Charlie's head falls off rolling on the ground as Vincent stares.

"Well well well, what have ya found huh Mirage?" A smug voice shouts from above the crater. Vincent stares up at them, "A hero huh? Shocking..." he thinks to himself as he struggles to contain his anger.

"Why... He didn't do anything—"

"He was going to kill everyone in a 2-mile radius including yourself." The hero shouts seemingly proud of himself. "Now just admit it, I saved them all—"

Vincent suddenly snapped his fingers making the hero disappear from view as he kneeled at his fallen friend. "I'm not a god-fearing man, but I guess he'd want something like this, right Charlie?" Vincent whispers a silent prayer before climbing out of the crater and looking over it one last time before turning away.

A faint screaming is then heard causing Vincent to let out a chuckle as he turned seeing the same hero covered in the chains he wore in the dungeon free fall from the sky, only to turn his head when he heard a sickening thud of the "Hero's Arrival."

"Never again... will this happen. I'll make sure of it." Vincent turns away from the mangled body of the hero with a smirk before snapping his finger and disappearing into nothingness.