Author's note: I imagine his glass kinda looks like this. (The color is based off the Northern Lights-Aurora Borealis.)

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St Louis

On Somerset Ave, an indistinct house marks the rift to hellish terror.

The antagonist makes his lair here, dear reader.

At least at night, the supervillain known as Mystic Miser does.

During the day, his alter ego wears a more heroic veneer.

The Number 1 rated City Hero in America known as The Mesmerizer. (Fun fact: The United States is only of the countries with City Heroes along with New Zealand and France.)

Sixteen years ago, he watched his entire village be massacred by a loony nightmare dressed up as an Inuit child named Yutu.

After so many years, Denali now had purpose and drive to rid the world of supervillains, even if it meant turning into one himself.

Currently, he was sipping the last droplets from a thermos; harsh beams beat upon his tanned complexion.

It was a sunny day in fair St. Louis, and all was calm.

Until the cars started beeping...

Hero Time.

Arriving at the scene, he changed his outfit in a flash of light, and the crowd nearby went wild.

City Heroes, as unpopular as some lawmakers and non-Mystics would like them to be, were hailed as celebrities by the impressionable public.

The fights between the Supervillains and the City Heroes were viewed more than football matches on television; betting on the outcome became a common pastime for citizens-Mystic and non-Mystic alike.

"Could you sign my T-Shirt?", called out a preppy college student.

Drowning out the noise, he lasered in on his target. Focusing a beam of the sunlight's rays, he immediately got the villain's attention.

"Look who we got here...Mesmerizer, isn't it? Aren't you too big-league to go after a guy like me?", taunted Excavator.

Villain Moniker: Excavator

Mystic Level Scale: Upsilon

Ability: Digging through the earth (Being a general pain too)

"I didn't know serial killers could pick favorites," he responded back. The audience ate that up.

"Hey, there buddy. I give those dentists what they deserve-a taste of their own medicine!" Striking the dirt underneath him, the molerat hopped in and the crowd lost track of him.

"I hope he takes him out in a few moves!"

"Not all Heroes can take out villains so quick."

"He can though!"

Slowing down his heart rate, he brought out his backup glass tray, placed it on the ground, and slowly expanded the crystal to cover the park's surface area.

Yes, this tooth-puller had chosen the Gateway Arch National Park  to have his showdown. What a narcissist.

BOOM.

The shards exploded as the molerat leaped from the earth, panting from the effort it cost to cut through that crystalline surface.

Blood rolled down his eyebrow, he almost stumbled from the sudden vertigo.

Good. This fight would last shorter than expected.

"Aren't Canadians supposed to be nice?", he asked, hoping to get a rise out of him.

"Get traumatized at eight by an overeager dentist and who won't be out for blood?"

"One bad dentist does not define the profession of dentistry and orthodontics as a whole..."

"You're trying to lecture me grandpa? Dream on!"

"You're right." Mr. Mesmerizer sighed in defeat. "Teaching those who do not want to be taught is a grueling task. I do not envy public high school teachers in the slightest."

"Then what?", asked Excavator, confused on what the hero was going to do.

"Teaching unwilling students...it's less effective." A fog started coalescing around the pair, blocking the sunlight from their eyes until Mesmerizer slowly twirled his fingers one-by-one and trapped them in a glass prism.

"Old school, it is."

Screeching could barely be audible as all the light seem to concentrate on the unwilling participant.

Charred to a crisp, the sunburn left white peeling skin meshing with putrid bloody flesh.

"It's dark," Excavator choked out. Suddenly, the clouds broke, the prism disappeared, and the truth revealed itself.

"High noon actually."

Blinded by too much light.

"Awesome!"

"I can't believe it!"

"Seems like my bets paid off! Knew I was right to gamble on Mesmerizer!"

"He's one of the best, I tell you."

The shouts from the bystanders proved how society had regressed these past few decades.

They had become indifferent to suffering unless it was their own.

Back in his office located in downtown St Louis, his assistant strolled in late, barking, "What you did was risky back there..."

"It got the job done," answered his Master, the Mesmerizer.

"What if people put two and two together..."

"They won't because they've never seen the Miser...don't even know if he exists for crying out loud."

Ms. Gloss, his publicist came in with a black coffee in hand, quipping, "Seeing is believing."

"You got that right," Aquamarine said while unsubtly ogling her breasts that bulged out of the new arrival's button-down fitted blouse.

With a knock to the head, Mystic Miser, who by now had built himself to be the head of the supervillain underworld, educated his assistant, Aquamarine, on the importance of proper workplace conduct.

"Do that again, and sunburn will be the least of your worries."

Aquamarine, having only done that to have an excuse to get fired, admitted defeat. He was stuck, for the foreseeable future at least, paying off his life debt to Mystic Miser.

Shark Bait's death still rang in his ears, haunting his every waking moment.

Suddenly, Mr. Mesmerizer came to the window, noticing slightly yellowing under his eyes and unsuccessfully tried to crane his neck for a better view.

"Not that young anymore?", mocked Aquamarine. The deep enmity between these two would be overwhelming for anyone without thick skin. Thankfully, glass requires a tremendous amount of pressure to shatter.

"Crystal reveals imperfections. It's just...I've not looked at myself properly in... years." Self-care had never been at the top of his priority list, not when his objective seemed so clear in sight.

A world without villain worship.

For every City Hero cheered on, a bunch of supervillains were exalted when they won their fights against the heroes.

It was like if citizens cheered for the firefighter to lose against an untameable fire, ludicrous.

"Then why care now?", teased Ms. Gloss, then sipped her cold brew thru a straw so as not to stain her brilliant pearly teeth. Sometimes there was such an instance of too much self-care in the works.

Then again, Pizzazz, (Ms. Gloss's moniker), was known as a vain chaotic supervillain. What more could he expect from her?

In the looks department, Mesmerizer did not have much to complain about according to the common man. He sported a fit body that had its share of minor bumps and bruises, but still fans gawked at his ripped physique when in city hero duty. While the scar on his heart might have been a sore spot for someone of a narcissistic tendency, it was his neck that gave him the greatest number of problems.

Most humans can turn their heads 120 degrees compared to owls that could go a full 180. However, Mystic Miser struggled to orient his immovable neck even 45 degrees off from forward, looking back was not even a question. As of late, frequent tension headaches stemmed from the malfunctioning column, leaving a superhero little choice in trusting those around him to be the side and rear-view mirrors to his vessel.

Perhaps he fixated on the Plan even more than he would have otherwise. Alas, if there was one thing that propelled him despite the frustrations with other Mystics, or non-Mystics, it was the resolute determination that the outcome be achieved.

Disaster awaited a world overrun by tech-enhanced criminals and Mystic supervillains.

When doubt crept in, on a day such as today, he would recall the nightmare he lived in before.

A soft whisper crept in as he continued staring at his tired reflection. "They can never bully us again..."

Fear made an excellent motivator then.

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Character note: The guy from the flashback in the beginning is back...and wow, he has depth as a paragon hero using extreme methods and a complex villain...how's someone like that supposed to be defeated? This is also the same guy that ordered Aquamarine to slaughter Shark Bait and his family. (Also-he's a hypocrite, if y'all haven't noticed.)

Setting note: Carson City mentioned previously is a fictional city in this story. No offense given to people from Nevada. (Looked it up and it seems pretty neat though.)