The words this time were Vermouth, Elevate and Archetypal. For some reason, after some thought, the word archetypal brought to mind superheroes, at which point the drink reference suggested the following scene. Glass shattered as Captain Twilight came through the window of the tall tower and people started to flee the room. They weren’t relevant and the Captain ignored them – members of a criminal enterprise that the police around the base of the building could handle. He was here for the CEO himself – the man that hadn’t moved at all at the sound of his arrival.
Here sat Maximilian Carnage, one of the richest men in the world who kept an entire firm of lawyers on retainer so that he wouldn’t need to worry about the consequences of his actions. Watching calmly from his seat at the head of the conference table he sighed quietly, closed his papers and put his pen in his suit pocket. Captain Twilight approached the table and Carnage stood, moving to a drink cabinet. “Can I get you one?” he said as he picked up the bottle of vermouth. “No, thank you,” said Twilight. “You don’t mind if I have one?” “I don’t think you’ll have the time to finish, but sure – go ahead.” Carnage poured, speaking as he did so. “Captain – what can I do for you? I generally prefer guests to make an appointment but given you’re here and my previous engagement has finished early, I suppose I can squeeze you into my schedule.” “Give it up, Carnage,” Twilight replied. “We’ve got you this time – you can come quietly, or I can take you in the rougher way. I’m kind of hoping you choose the latter.” Carnage raised his glass towards the hero in a mock toast. “I’m sorry, Captain, but I’m confused. Have I done something wrong?” “You know you have, Carnage. You and your empire of toadies.” He pulled a document from somewhere in his costume and presented it to the CEO. “I have a warrant for your arrest.” “And so, like the archetypal paragon you are, you decided to bust through my window – I’ll have an invoice made out for that, by the way – and present it here, rather than coming through the front door?” Twilight smiled. “We both know that if I’d used the front door, you would have been halfway to China by the time we got to the top. I expect the elevators – all of them – would have been weirdly broken.” Carnage smiled as he sipped his drink. “We have been having some technical problems. I have to say though that this is fairly unexpected. I really did think that the District Attorney enjoyed my generous donations to her re-election campaign. Obviously, I wouldn’t suggest that they were payments to keep her out of my way, but she can hardly expect me to continue them after something like this.” Now it was the Captain’s turn to smile. “Haven’t you heard? The DA had to stand down – turned out she was corrupt. Her deputy has taken on her duties. Turns out that some of your lawyers have thought better of their previous actions, have confessed to their crimes and implicated the whole firm too, which has exposed you.” Carnage squeezed the glass. “When did this all happen?” “Oh, about twenty minutes ago.” The glass broke in Carnage’s hand, spilling the remains of the vermouth over the floor. “This isn’t true. You’re trying to trap me into incriminating myself. The DA wasn’t corrupt! And my lawyers hadn’t committed any crimes.” “It turns out they had – they just had to think a great deal about it. I was happy to sit with them whilst they considered their pasts.” Twilight took a step towards the CEO and, unconsciously, Carnage stepped back. “You intimidated them?” “Oh no – I’m a fine, upstanding member of the hero community. I was, of course, a perfect gentleman towards them all – we just had a frank conversation. I don’t think any of them would ever suggest that I did anything like intimidating them.” He grinned. “I’m the good guy here, remember.” Carnage held out his hands. “It seems you have me in check, Captain. Well done – you have elevated yourself in my expectations. We’ll see how the next round plays out.” “You’re coming quietly?” “Of course – you have a warrant. My best course of action at this point is to perform my civic duty and come in to be interviewed. You’ve made something clear today that I must remember for the future.” “And what’s that?” “You’re no Paragon.”
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Flash FictionSome shorter fiction, usually based on some kind of challenge. Archives
October 2021
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