The Hero — Hive

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It was utter chaos. The sky was blood red, and smoke was heavy in the air. I looked at the destruction all around him, people called him a monster and before I would have disagreed, but now? Now I look at my elder twin brother and wonder what the hell he's thinking.
I looked at the bodies on the ground, some groaning and some lying still. I looked at the crowd at my back, standing at a radius from him where his powers can't affect them.
I wondered how many hopes and wishes were riding on my shoulders as I entered his fold.

Immediately I felt the impact of his illusions, as strong as ever. For a normal person it's meant to be impossible to break out of but not for me. I broke out of it easily and as expected, he approached me.
"Hello brother. Typical of those cowardly heroes to send you instead of themselves."
I looked around at the bodies on the floor, He followed my gaze.
"Simple foot soldiers.." he said nonchalantly. "Anyone can beat them up. You're the first real hero that has entered here." He turned towards the direction of the crowd.
"You heard that Gordon? Keep your heroes coming!!" I noticed the rather sarcastic tone he added on the heroes.

I was just staring at him. Trying to answer the raging question in my mind, Why.
Why is he doing this? Why is he doing this now?
He looked at me and smiled, finally the maniacal face slipped off and I saw my brother again.
"Your probably thinking of why I did this?" he asked
"I just don't understand Jonah. Why this? Why now? You were meant to get your badge today and be a certified hero." I said, breaking down in tears.
He looked at me and smiled, he then made the illusion noiseless.
"I've made different versions of myself in different places, no one would come here. Now we'll have time to talk."

He made two chairs, sat down and offered me a seat. I hesitated at first and he laughed.
"Relax, we're not going to fight. As I told you, I just want to give you answers."
I relaxed and sat down, looking at him expectedly. He was just looking at the floor.
"Jonah?.." I asked unsurely.
"I think it started last week, when I went to the Hero's estate for my one week training."
Immediately we were in a different illusion, as I watched Jonah walk through the Hero's estate. Looking at different heroes and their different headquarters.
" As you already know, I went to Cool Roll's headquarters for my training. As I expected, it was hard."
The scene changed again, watching Jonah get beaten up, again and again. Trying to confuse Cool Roll in his illusions and building his strengths.

"One day, an emergency call came in. It was a bank robbery in the outskirts of the city. A low-key kind of job."
The scene changed again, I was watching Jonah tell Cool Roll about the call. Shockingly I watched Cool Roll shake his head, declining it.
Jonah's voice became cold.
"He didn't answer the call. Saying that, It's not part of my Jurisdiction and they should let the police handle it."
He spat on the floor in disgust, a villainous habit he seemed to have picked up.
"That day we lost the whole city. Apparently the bank robbers had bombs set up in different parts of the city. After the robbery, the police chased them and to set them off their tail they blew the city up."
I saw Jonah watching the news on the Television. I remember watching it too, it was labeled The Outskirts Boom. Over 12,000 dead, it was a sad day indeed.
"The following weekend, Cool Roll held a press conference and was asked what he thought about the The Outskirts Boom. He simply smiled and said it was a sad incident indeed. He then made a comment about how it's unfortunate he wasn't called on, instead it was given to the police who aren't well versed on how to handle the matter. Sent his condolences to families and gestured for the next question."
I watched it all happen in the illusion and I had to say that I was feeling hatred for this man I considered my hero.

I looked at Jonah and I saw him crying, his face scrunched up and snot dripping from his nose. It was a sight to behold, never before would I have believed my big strong brother could cry like that.
"I hate them, Raphael. I hate heroes so much." His voice was coarse and I had no choice but to feel pity for him.
"It's only Cool Roll that's bad Jonah-"
"They're all liars!!" He screamed, cutting me off.
"The whole lot of them are liars who just want cheers, applause and love from people they couldn't care less about." He said panting.
"Cool Roll didn't want to answer that call because he thought it was a small robbery that won't get any media attention. He said it himself after the conference that he would have gone after the call." I couldn't believe what I was hearing.
"Then you should tell other heroes." I said to him
"Tell them about Cool Roll and bring up the truth about The Outskirts Boom."
"I've told numerous heroes already, brother." He said calmly
"They're all too corrupted to think twice about it. They say it doesn't matter anymore since it's passed and others say it would be bad for their reputation and fanbase if they were labelled a whistleblower."
He rested his back and took a deep breath.
"So I decided to clear the heroes of today. Deny them of the cheers they're so hung up on and give all the cheers to one hero I'm so sure of."
"Who?" I asked
"You."
"Me? You can't be serious. What do you mean give the cheers to me. How're you going to do that anyway?" I asked confused
He smiled and said "By letting you kill me of course."
"What? How can you even joke about that?." I said standing up from the chair.
"I'm not joking Ralph, I'm going to die and you're going to be the one to kill me. At least that's what they'll think."
"I'm not killing you Jonah." I said it firmly. "How does killing you hurt them anyway?"
"A hero that's nowhere on the maps comes and ends a villain who has killed and injured countless heroes. Of course you'll be exponentially popular, and the cheers of people will then go to you."
"I'm not killing you either way." I said again.
" I'm sorry, Ralph. You don't have a choice."

Suddenly the scene faded and I saw Jonah on the floor with a gaping hole in his stomach. It dawned on me that I've been in his illusion the whole time.
He looked at me with glazed eyes and smiled. I noticed water droplets on the floor and then I realized that I was crying.
With a weak voice he said "It's a real hero who would cry for a villain. You're gonna do great."
With him gone the illusion broke for everyone. Everyone cheered at his death and cheered even louder at me.
I used my powers on me to cross-check and I saw that there was another Illusion. Those bodies on the floor weren't real. Hence no one was dead, I cried even harder then.

A year later and I had the most fanbase ever recorded for heroes. Immediately I step out, there are cheers from everybody, it's a bit overwhelming. I came towards his grave. It's hard to believe it's been a year since that happened. After cleaning the grave I went to my office, past the streets and past more cheers.

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_{This was meant to be my entry for both the Inkwell Prompt: Cheers and #Dreem-WOTW, guess I was late for both of them😂. Anyways just wanted to drop this here, cause why not🙃}