The Shattered Mirror
#1 of The Chronicles of Atom City
Today is our anniversary.
He always felt alone at school and buried himself into his studies. He had no friends, and rarely spoke outside of class. He was mocked and ridiculed behind his back, but he cared for none of it. He was, for all purposes, a geek and a loner. But even all of that didn't stop her.
She had seen him studying alone in the library and watched him for a bit, as he was completely oblivious to his surroundings. She had seen him in class, always silent but always turning his work in. Finally, her curiousity got the better of her, and she stood up and headed towards him, giving the nerdy bat a smile.
"Hello, I'm Alice."
Today is our anniversary.
He always felt that she saved him from himself. He had been in a downward spiral, cutting himself off from the world and from all but his work, but she brought him back. He didn't like to talk much of his family, not being close to his relatives, and considered the black sheep of the family by them. Losing one parent was hard on him, and losing the second one to another accident had driven him to seclusion.
But Alice saved him. Just thinking of the beautiful raccoon would brighten a day filled with horrible luck. A smile would come to his face at the mere mention of her name. They started as friends, and with each passing day, their friendship grew and grew until they became much much more.
It was all unexpected for him. He was in love. With every fiber of his being, he loved her more than anything in the world. He was even overjoyed when she agreed to marry him. Alice was his angel and had lifted him out of the darkness of depression.
Today is our anniversary.
Radar Nocturn sat in a chair acrossed from a shattered mirror. A revolver was pressed against his forehead as he thought to himself, memories flashing though his head, some good, some bad, but mostly good. Behind him newspaper clippings cluttered the wall, all of them reading of basically the same story.
"Local inventor suspected of murdering wife on their anniversary."
"Bail denied, trial date set."
"Funeral held this Sunday, trial begins."
"Motive unclear, suspect in dillusionary state."
"Attempt on suspect's life made today, police decline comment."
"Jury finds suspect innocent, victim's family upset."
A gloved paw reaches out and grabs the photograph off the nightstand as the bat lets out a deep sigh. He stares at the image of his beloved wife as the lovely raccoon poses in a blue dress. She looks like Alice from Alice in Wonderland, even having the golden blond hair and name. Unheard words slip from Radar's mouth, but one can guess he's telling her of his love. Since her demise, he pooled his money into his work, building the suit of cybernetic battle armor, making his many weapons and devices, and devising an airship. Nothing else has mattered except revenge, and those are his tools for it.
Hunched over in the chair, he clutches the revolver that killed his wife. With sadness filling his insides, he looks to the shattered mirror, remembering how he tried to be a hero named Pavor Nocturnus, to try and leave his life behind. He wanted the justice he couldn't have as the media labeled him a vigilante, but the heartbroken bat didn't care. He was a shattered soul of a man, and he simply wished to right the wrongs he found, even if death was the punishment for his victims, for prison had a revolving door.
Memories of many restless nights filled with thoughts of his dead wife filled his head, and he could never get rid of the dissatisfaction that he could never harm that laughing bastard, Nicholas Cray. The hyena was too crafty, and always had his bodyguards, a fearsome group of five. Nicholas even couldn't be caught as the homocidal Golden Laugh who slaughtered those deemed worthless by society. Radar quickly learned that being a hero, or even a vigilante would never work. He'd have to become a villain.
That was the day Dr. Nefar was born. He started out using Nefar to find information, and using that information as Pavor Nocturnus to protect others. But he began to enjoy being a bad guy, maybe a little too much. Soon the Doctor started taking over, and he spent more time as him. Pavor quickly became the Doctor's muscle, dealing with all who threatened Dr. Nefar and his plans. Numerous villians and scum of the earth were dealt with, but many learned to associate Dr. Nefar with Pavor Nocturnus, none realizing that the two were one.
It soon came to be that many nations began to fear him, even though he never demanded anything from any of them, or threatened them in any way. He should have been proud, he should have been happy, but without Alice he was anything but that. Periodically, he'd wish for death, wish for Alice to return, and even attempt to kill Nicholas Cray again, only to fail miserably. But everything changed after he visited her grave on Halloween.
Today is our anniversary.
Her grave was still the same as it last was, except for an envelope that sat on the tombstone. The envelope had his name on it, and inside was a cd, which he pocketed to review later. He felt a shiver run down his spine as his body felt a slight chill. He laid the red and white roses down before the tombstone and pulled his coat tighter around his body. His wings snuggled closer to his back while he could have sworn he felt arms around him, but figured it was all in his head.
As he crouched before her grave, he also could have sworn he heard a voice and shook his head, ignoring it. He sighed and slowly reached out, running his fingers over the tombstone's etchings as tears started to rain down his face. He tried holding it back, and tore his glasses off his face before his right paw went over his face. He ran his claws downward and past his eye as he spoke.
"Why Alice? Why not me? It should be me here, I should be the one six feet under. I miss you Alice...I...I need you. Every moment without you drives me insane. I want to die, but the trigger..I..I can't. I need..he...he needs to suffer for this. Oh Alice!"
Tears streamed down the bat's face as he leaned against the tombstone, arms wrapped around it, feeling those ghostly arms around his body and thinking he was hearing a voice say, "I love you." Later he would deem it all a hallucination, but at the moment, he didn't know and didn't care.
He spent nearly an hour of hugging the tombstone, whispering and speaking to it, telling it of how badly he missed her and his desires, confessing to it like a sinner to a priest. After confessing everything from his desires to his feelings and his recent actions, he slowly got to his feet and his body lightly trembled as it was filled with emotion. He took one last glance down to the tombstone and put his glasses back on after wiping away his tears. Four little words exited his lips before he turned and left.
"I love you Alice."