by Sapphire

I’ve never really understood bad guys. I confess. To me, it was always obvious that everyone should want to be a superhero. Who wouldn’t want to save people? Who wouldn’t want that love and adoration? Of course, I felt the same way about being a rockstar. So maybe you could say I came into superheroing with a bias.

But this past weekend I had an experience that made me wonder. I don’t really know any bad guys. I’ve fought tons of them. But I wouldn’t say I knew them particularly well. I suppose there’s Foxbat, and while I do know him better than most bad guys, I still don’t know him all that well. And I have to confess, I think of him more as a lunatic than a bad guy.

This week, I ended up going out to dinner with Mind Slayer.

She’d attacked me at the nail salon during the week and slipped a note into my pocket, inviting me to meet her at my favorite restaurant, Boheme. I have to say, I was surprised.

I talked with the other Champions and our first concern was that it was a trap of some sort. Get me alone, get me somewhere I felt safe, and then take me out with her mental blades. After a bit, we decided that it was worth the risk. Mind Slayer, we know, is a part of a group of psionic criminals. But we don’t have anywhere near enough information about them. Ignorance is dangerous. So I went to meet her. Witchcraft dressed as a regular customer and hid out at another table, as my back up.

Mind Slayer… wasn’t what I expected. She always comes across as tough, and a punk. Angry. When she sat down across from me, she seemed more tightly wound than angry. Her eyes were constantly flicking from side to side as she kept checking out our surroundings. She clearly didn’t feel safe there.

“I hate joints like this,” she told me.

“I was surprised you picked it,” I answered.

“Wanted you to come, didn’t I? You like it here, with all the rich people.”

I blinked. I hadn’t ever thought about it like that. “Well, I like the food. And I like that people leave me alone here,” I said.

She sneered. “That’s ‘cause you like showing off. You could go any place, any place at all, and have people leave you alone if you didn’t wear those shorts cut up to here and those boots up to your thighs. Put your hair in a pony tail, don’t wear any makeup, normal t-shirt and jeans, no one would know who you are.”

“I don’t want to hide myself,” I told her.

“Some of us are always hiding. ‘Cause we have to.” She leaned back in her chair, gnawing on a breadstick. “You were lucky. Coming out in front of lots of people. Defending yourself, and everyone said, ‘Hey, great! That’s good stuff, that’s what that is. Super rockstar fighting the good fight.’ You know how I found out? Living on the street. Bunch of thugs grabbed me down an alley one night, wanting money and whatever else they could get. And bam! My blades slicing right through them. First time ever. Scared the spit out of me. Wasn’t no one there to say good job, kid. Or pat me on the back and say it’s all right. It was me and a bunch of dead idiots and an alley.” She dropped her half finished bread stick on her plate. “That’s the difference between me and you. A million people, and an alley.”

It was unsettling, but I had to wonder. Would my life have been that different if I’d been less lucky? If I’d ended up on the streets, like she did, would I have had a similar kind of break through with my energy powers? Would I have killed people the first time my superpowers manifested? That sort of thing has to scar you. And it starts you down a scary, scary path. I imagined her, a teenager, lost and alone. I could see why she’s become a villain, always looking out for herself first.

“Why did you want to talk to me?” I asked her after our food arrived.

She shrugged, and hunched in on herself. “It’s Psimon.”

For those who don’t know, Psimon is the leader of PSI, and a supervillain we’ve been trying to get our hands on for a long, long time. He was also, so far as anyone could tell, the love of Mind Slayer’s life. She was coming to me about Psimon?

“He’s planning something I don’t like. Something bad. Something bad for him.”

Just as she was about to tell me more, however, Foxbat interrupted us by leaping on top of our table, wearing a dress, and declaring his love for me. Again. Promising me he’d get more in touch with his feminine side, if that’s what I wanted. And then he pointed at Mind Slayer, declaring, “I will never lose you to such scum! Fight me, villainous wench, for love of yonder fair maiden!”

At which point Mind Slayer, quite wisely, said something I cannot repeat in polite company, and then fled. Once I was able to get rid of Foxbat (and thanks for your help with that, Witchcraft – that confusion spell did wonders) I was left thinking about everything Mind Slayer had said.

Meeting her for dinner wasn’t so bad. Talking to her had felt like talking to any prickly young woman. I could see why she was so outwardly tough. I could imagine myself in her place and feel bad for her. And then, Psimon. Whatever he’s up to really bothers her. Clearly, she believes whatever he’s doing is going to hurt him, and she wants to protect him. How different is that from Witchcraft wanting to protect Defender? Or me wanting to protect any of my fellow Champions?

It got me wondering. Do we always have to be the good guys or the bad guys? Do things never change?