Origin Story
…
Father: “For God’s sake, innocent people are dying!”
Antagonist: “People die everyday. People will continue to die even if I don’t do anything.”
Father: “Maybe, but these people wouldn’t have died if not for our technology. Do you have no principles?
Antagonist: “And this very same technology has saved the lives of hundreds more. This is a sacrifice we have to make.”
Father: “No, there must be another way. There always is!”
Antagonist: “And how many will die while you look for this ‘other way’? For all your talk of principles, you don’t seem to mind if deaths are caused by your inaction.”
Father: “And for all your talk of saving people you sure don’t seem to mind how many you damn to hell in the process!”
Antagonist: “This is for the greater–”
Father: “Fuck you and your greater good. I should have stood up to you way earlier. I’m taking this to the press and they’ll destroy this company and everything you’ve worked for! Not a single sane person would actually side with your holier-than-thou spiel. I’m done with your goddamn–”
A gunshot can be heard, followed by an object (presumable a body) falling to the floor
Antagonist: “As I was saying, this is for the greater good. I hope that eases your fussy conscience.”
The recording ends there. You couldn’t believe it. Sidekick was right. Antagonist really did kill your dad. And you continued to work for Antagonist. You respected him, you saw him as the father you never had. How could he do this to you? Was all of it fake? All just to keep making these weapons? Oh God… they were weapons for mass murder. You built weapons specifically for mass murder. How many did you kill? How many times did you watch the news, ignorantly denouncing the actions of warlords, while you directly contributed to their deeds. The images of unmoving bodies piled up on each other, left to rot because there wasn’t anyone left to even bury them. The children, staring at you through the screen. The burns. You can vividly remember those burns. Solid, charred flesh, more charcoal than anything else, mixed with the residues of liquefied flesh. It looked so horrid that you couldn’t help but feel like it couldn’t be real. Now, far from these horrors, in the safety of your lab, you feel like you can almost smell them. Smoke, rot and despair. You feel like you’re going to be sick.
Antagonist simply couldn’t understand where he went wrong. How did anyone find that recording? It all seemed far too coincidental. A camera he didn’t know about just happened to catch the incident, and the guards just happened to backup the system to a separate drive before Antagonist ordered the records to be deleted? Then a technician just happened to check through that very disk when clearing old drives, and just happened to be a veteran who had seen the implementation of this technology and had strong moral objections to it? And after that years pass as this technician, Sidekick, holds onto this information instead of publishing it to get him arrested. Even Protagonist's escape from him seemed so implausible. How does a janitor make it to a closed-off floor and through 3 security details at the exact right time to distract Antagonist as he's about to execute Protagonist!? How? The sheer multitude of pretty much impossible events that had to happen to bring about this situation is frankly staggering. Why did he even kill Protagonist's father in the first place? That wasn’t the first tantrum he had and their years of friendship would have stopped him from actually publishing the information. Probably. Wait, how did their friendship start in the first place? The war, probably the war… Why couldn’t he remember what that war was for? The memories of gunfire, the screams of fellow soldiers still ring clearly in Antagonist’s ears, but why can’t he remember who they were fighting? This didn’t make sense. His memory couldn’t be this bad. A rising embarrassment pushed Antagonist to turn to his computer for a quick search. Article after article was found speaking of the horrors and atrocities committed during the war… But not a single one mentioned its name. A new feeling blossomed in Antagonist, one he had never felt before. The feeling that something was inherently wrong. Antagonist began to dig through their files, their pictures, any historical documents they could find, even classified ones. Nothing. No name for ‘The War’. And worse, he couldn’t recognise the people in those pictures. The people that he supposedly fought alongside for… how long even was it? Was any of this real? Was he having a mental breakdown? Yes, that was the most logical conclusion Antagonist could come to. This explained everything that was happening - he must have had a psychotic break with all the stress recently. Perhaps he needed to take a break, maybe even retire. But first, he needed to book a therapy session, and preferably a psychiatric assessment. Yet as he reached for their phone this feeling of inherent wrongness kept gnawing at their mind. Something was still there, something he still hadn’t noticed. But it didn’t matter, it would all go away with a little help. Without any further hesitation, he dialled the number of the company therapist. Help was just a few questions away. With a certain nervous urgency Antagonist gave the reason for the appointment, a preferred time, their contact details and… Almost involuntarily he let go of the phone. His name. What was his name?
How did Antagonist capture you so easily!? You and Sidekick were completely disguised, the cameras had been deactivated and a distraction had been created. But the moment you walked through that door an entire armada of guards was waiting for you. How did Antagonist find out about your plan? Unfortunately, violently staring at them as they sat mere meters away from you wasn’t helping you figure it out. It did, however, reveal something strange. There was no gloating, prideful gaze, no disappointment, not even indifference in Antagonist’s eyes. Instead, he seemed tired. It had been no more than a month, yet before you was what seemed to be a poor imitation of the personage you once respected. Wrinkles and eyebags painted his face with exhaustion. His eyelids sagged downwards, leg bounced up and down. Like a tennis ball, his pupils bounced around, seemingly searching for something. What exactly happened while you were gone?
“Your story sucks!” - suddenly Antagonist proclaimed his first words to you since your escape. There were a hundred things that you wanted to tell him. How heartless he was, how he betrayed you, how the guilt of your part in this was killing you. None of these thoughts managed to make it out onto your lips as shock and incomprehension suspended all mental activity.
“Frankly, I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything so incredibly boring and predictable! Prodigy and super spy team up to take down a shady military organization that’s involved in some war overseas? You couldn’t have added an iota of creativity in? You could at least try to tap into real sociopolitical issues and fears instead of ripping off every basic action flick ever. At least give the Protagonist a personality that’s something more than ‘walking moral compass’! And the Sidekick! Oh the Sidekick! The daughter who’s a little broken, but immediately overcomes all her issues by connecting with the Protagonist. Have you ever met a human being before? Because this feels like the work of a child whose only life experience has been watching bad films and playing make-believe with no friends. Even the ending you planned leaves a bad taste in everyone’s mouth. Were you really going to have them do the ‘we’re superior because we exposed you instead of killing you’ routine? This story is flatter than a soda that’s been left out for 15 years!” - only a full monologue from Antagonist later did you manage to rediscover the capacity to think. Three thoughts emerged simultaneously. What the fuck just happened? Did Antagonist just have a psychotic break? Did he just call you a walking moral compass? No answers could be found.
“Now that’s a little harsh, don’t you think? I doubt you could do any better in my shoes” - a voice resounded from nowhere and everywhere. It wasn’t even a voice, more a thought that was written into your mind. Who was that? What was that? This was becoming too much for you. Yet despite this sudden inexplicable interference, you could see Antagonist’s face light up with desperate joy. You could see his tired eyes finally grow wide and his hands push into the thin metal armrests of their chair.
His next words practically spilled out of their mouth - “Hahah! Oh, I beg to differ. I believe that my critiques are sound, and I have many more to offer if you want to hear. Nonetheless, I do think there’s still a way to salvage this wet towel of a plot.”
“And what exactly do you propose?”
“Well, first of all, we need to change our main villain.”
“Now, do you understand the significance of what we have just done?” - Anton asked. You understood. As you gazed at the now-human, sedated form of that being, you understood. The three of you had just captured God.