It correlates. When Yuri feels most secure in his idea of justice, that's when Legend appears, to taunt and torment him, to remind him of his own sins. Legend makes him shake and tremble, lie awake at night, relive his scars and horrors until he feels physically sick.
But before Yuri can reach his absolute worst, decide once and for all to abandon his quest, the visions abate. He sees less and less of the masked hero, though Yuri expects him to appear at every turn. The longer he stays on his guard, the fewer appearances Legend makes, until Yuri goes days, weeks, sometimes a month without seeing him.
And then, when Yuri starts to forget about him, he returns.
Legend isn't trying to break Yuri. He doesn't want to drag Yuri all the way into madness or despair. He'd rather keep Yuri teetering on the edge, unsure of what is real, what is true, what is justice. He doesn't want Yuri to have an answer to his question of sin, because the minute he absolves himself of guilt or surrenders to it, he'll stop feeling afraid.
So Legend holds Yuri captive. He pins Yuri in the gray area between right and wrong like an insect under his thumb.
It's torture.
He makes it out of graduate school, receives his law degree, and passes the bar. By this time, he's so entrenched in the Hero Department that they naturally take him on as a prosecutor, since it's far cheaper to hire an attorney they barely have to train. The spoils of such a victory are definitely lesser than his superiors, but he suddenly has an office. And cases. And clout.
The timing is just right that only after a few weeks of practicing law, he earns an invitation to one of the Hero TV galas. The corporations are careful to include the civil servants on whom their entire industry depends in their self-congratulatory parties. It's a token gesture: 'thank you for supporting the secrets, lies, conspiracies, cover-ups, and tricks of business. In exchange for selling out your souls, have some of our wine.'
Tasting that wine feels like sacrilege to Yuri. But not taking it would mark him as a renegade, and he needs to stay part of the fold. For now.
This celebration is all about the new hero, a fire-type NEXT like Yuri himself. He's glowing and grand as everyone surrounds and praises him, and Yuri offers his standard, mandatory good wishes, when he'd so much rather lay his hand on the hero's face and give him a scar, show him the true power of fire.
This man lives like he has no sin. Whatever horrors are hidden under that cowl, not a single one of them shows in his actions and words. All the heroes are like that: when they put on their masks and capes and suits, they cease to be people, and instead become dolls that all of Sternbild uses to play games of Cops and Robbers. The companies eradicate their pasts, their wishes, their wills, in the name of their entertainment and profit. With such a deep sin plaguing him, Yuri can't understand how these people fail to have their sins guide their every move, the way Yuri's are guided. Listening to this man talk and laugh without a care in the world, Yuri feels his power building just behind his eyes. He's going to cause an accident and murder the entire reception hall if he doesn't leave soon.
Yuri appears before the necessary people, greets them, but then quickly escapes. He drives not home, but to one of his old practice spots under a highway ramp. He ditches his car, stripping off tie, jacket, and shirt, twisting his hair back so tight it pulls on the burned flesh of his face, and once he's on the concrete, he falls to his knees and beats the concrete with flaming fists.
How dare they! How dare any of them represent truth! How dare they pretend they're right! How dare they think that justice is points in a game! How dare this new hero have a fire power that doesn't cause him constant torment! How dare they flaunt their accomplishments and assume the light has won the day! How dare they! How dare they! How dare they how dare they HOW DARE THEY HOW—
Yuri's right hand sinks into the concrete, up to his mid-forearm, and an intense rush of pins and needles shock his skin. Before Yuri can think, he pulls his arm back, and the fire vanishes. Kneeling there, Yuri cradles his hand and stares at the concrete, before he places his hands on the ground again and pushes. The ground resists him, but he pushes harder, harder, with fire he pushes, harder—there. His hands slip into the stone again, as if he were just digging through sand. The electrified pins and needles sensation returns, but Yuri clenches his teeth and continues sifting his hands inside the concrete itself, intangible fingers passing directly through solid matter.
When he pulls his hands from the concrete, he knows it's not enough. He just discovered the power to pass his hands through solid objects but before he can even think about it, Yuri stands, turns, and runs as fast as he possibly can, his power flowing through every vein, burning away all of his fear and doubt. He runs, directs his course toward a five-foot-thick concrete pillar, but he never stops running, a guttural roar building in his gut and escaping through his mouth in a raw shout.
Closer.
Closer.
Closer. Closer. Closer-closer-closer-closer!
His howl turns to a scream of pain as he meets the concrete, the pins and needles piercing him, stabbing straight through his insides and outsides, every inch of his flesh itching and burning. He sees nothing but neon blue and sickly, toxic green, and he falls to the ground.
On his front.
On the other side of the column.
He gasps, shudders, whole body shivering with the sudden changes in sensation, from open air, to the electric stabbing, to the open air again. Once on his hands and knees, all he can do is vomit up everything he ingested that evening, and try his hardest not to land in the sick when he crumples back to the ground.
There's a pair of crimson boots, just in the corner of his eye, but Yuri doesn't even have the strength to hallucinate properly. With any number of ailments causing him agony, from his overturned stomach to his bloody, punched-out knuckles, Yuri loses consciousness beneath the highway.
The breakthrough of intangibility is the single biggest advancement of Yuri's cause since psychic fire. He practices at home, pushing his hands through his desk, walking through furniture, passing through walls. It's a very painful and unpleasant application of Yuri's power, but the benefits of this new ability cannot be denied. This power will let him strike when least expected and escape where no escape exists. As types of NEXTs go, Yuri is realizing more and more that he possesses far more power than a vast majority of NEXTs, including the heroes themselves. It will remain to be seen if the other fire-type knows the secrets of phase-walking, or if he considers that ability too frightening for family-friendly TV.
Yuri doesn't care about frightening. It's in his best interest to be frightening.
Legend makes his return, asking those probing questions. Why is Yuri the one exempt from the death penalty? Would he believe in the death penalty at all if he hadn't killed his father? Isn't this all a self-serving, after-the-fact justification? Is what Yuri did to his father truly the right thing?
Yuri takes scant comfort in how the death penalty is never addressed in court. Even when facing the worst of the worst criminals, Yuri can never recommend that the judge order their deaths. He's almost able to play both sides: as he plans to create a justice where criminals are executed, he simultaneously secures what little justice he can from the current system. As Yuri skillfully obliterates the defense's pleas of innocence, for mercy, he appeases Legend's spirit, at least for now.
He returns to his 'list:' mask, fear-inspiring appearance, physical standards, weapons, and secondary skills. For years he's been training, both his body and his power. He can run far, climb swiftly, and take most physical blows safely. In addition, with his power, he can fly, phase through solid objects, and create both weak psychic fires and stronger, flaming projectiles.
He's done nothing to gain a weapon, and he's done nothing to create his appearance. With the tenth anniversary of his father's death approaching, such little progress feels… disheartening.
If Yuri were to honestly answer what scares him, what he fears most, it's his father's hand. That brutal hand that he used to cause so much pain to the ones he loved the most.
He knows it's not a commonly shared fear, but hands can and have been portrayed threateningly in media and folklore. A beast with claws, the twitching fingers of the undead, the scrape of fingernails on a chalkboard. Yes, hands—the wrong hands—are terrifying, no matter who you are.
As he draws out designs, he incorporates handprints wherever he can, long finger stripes, wide, crushing palms, bulky knuckles, talons. He goes through dozens of designs, just drafting clothes onto paper models, as he wonders, what else scares people?
Black.
And eyes.
And teeth.
His design begins to settle: a tight material for his torso and arms, flared shoulders so he can build some light shoulder armor into them—which, he learned, are called pauldrons—just enough to protect the complex and vulnerable joint without sacrificing mobility. He'll use geometric, five-finger designs, with a handprint on his chest and one on his eventual mask, which is still cycling through experimental designs. He's got an idea for a cape, too, which will include more fingers, but he's not quite sure how.
This also begins the first of many fights with his mother's old sewing machine. His experiments in cutting up and patching back together his old compression shirts are horrendous. The seams are uneven, his measurements are faulty, he can never properly account for the stretch, and the end result looks more like a sloppy patchwork quilt than a sleek, geometric suit.
Stupid contraption.
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Subject: Novice designer with questions about fabric.
Thread by: Hero1947
Hero1947: Hello. This is my first time posting to the site. I'm interested in designing a hero costume, but I'm having difficulty picking a material. I don't want a career in design, but I want the finished product to have quality comparable to professional hero suits. I tried sewing spandex and other sport fabrics with no success. I'd like suggestions for light, tight, breathable fabrics, as well as how to sew them in complex designs.
LaModaModerna: Hey Hero! ;) Welcome to the site! ^_^ Well, I'd recommend leotard/dance fabrics first. It's got more nylon and cotton in it than sport fabrics, and means that it's not going to stretch as much between when you sew it out and put it on. If you really need it to be clingy, you can use material used in swimsuits, which should be easier to sew than spandex, but you've got the same measurement problem about the fabric changing shape on your body. Have a friend help you take measurements, not just your 3 sizes, but around the arms, neck, and other points on your torso. Also, how complex are we talking for these designs? If this is your first suit, it's best to keep it simple.
xSparkleSaviorx: i ditto moda for leotard fabric. it can get expensive tho. you can look for sales but those are hard to trak.
Hero1947: Thank you. Cost is not a concern for me. I'll look into dance fabrics. As for the complexity, I know a simpler suit would be easier, but I have a vision to follow. The complexity comes from overlaying geometric designs on an uneven human form.
LaModaModerna: Okay, I got it. (btw, SO jelly that cost isn't a concern for you!) I found some tutorials about sewing stretchy fabrics. You're not the first person to try and make a bona-fide hero suit with a home sewing machine. ;) [LINK] If you posted your sketches, we could give you some more tips.
Hero1947: That won't be necessary. Thank you for your advice and the tutorial. It's very helpful.
As pathetic as the hero-crazed users of SuitSalle are, Yuri finds his most valuable information there in regards to his suit and mask. The cottony leotard fabric is indeed much easier to sew, and combined with the tutorial, his first suit takes shape. He can't stop staring at his errors, and the colors are all a shade off of what he wanted, but it's a serviceable proof-of-concept. He'll definitely need to make a few others before he makes his appearance. Namely, some of those seams could stand to be more cleverly disguised. Perhaps some sort of piping…
He also searches through existing posts for ideas about how to create his mask. There's a lot of discussion about reverse-engineering the masks and helmets currently used on Hero TV, but there's a bit of a consensus that, for fan masks, plaster is the most versatile, middle-road material. It's not fragile or flimsy like a mask, but it's not heavy or made with specialty equipment like a helmet.
Yuri thinks it complements his current designs very well, too. His mask, featuring three of his fear points—bared teeth, unblinking eyes, and a handprint—should appear as frozen and expressionless as possible, seeming both like a human face and an alien disguise. A delicate balance to strike indeed.
Besides, making the mask bases is relatively easy. It certainly requires skill and focus to create the perfectly smooth outer surface that Yuri wants, but he can cover a modeling head and and then go do something else while it dries. It's a welcome distraction many nights, to stir up some plaster and let a new face—a clean, blank face—take shape.
He's been recommended to become a judge.
He expresses surprise at first, but his old boss claps him on the shoulder and reminds him about a conversation they had years ago, about how Yuri wished for prosecution and defense to represent the spirit of laws and fairness. Even as Yuri had been forced to take sides, his legal record indicates that he tries his best to follow his idea of justice, and rather than rooting around for conviction-level charges, does his best to address the crime in question and find the appropriate course of action. He's not a soldier in the courtroom; he's a mediator, a negotiator. And that's the role of the judge, is it not?
Well, put that way, Yuri thanks everyone profusely, thanks them for the lessons they taught him, thanks them for their faith in him, thanks them for this chance to serve Sternbild even further. His future vigilante persona thanks them for this insider position, the ability to access high-level convicts, the clearance for secret records.
It takes a grueling gauntlet of evaluation to get there. Every single bit of Yuri's life on record, from his birth to his education to his medical records—NC 1962, admitted to the hospital for facial burns from a gasoline fire—are examined and cross-checked and questioned. Yuri spends sleepless nights wondering what he'll do if the truth is uncovered, if people realize he murdered his father, but the lies put into place to prevent Mr. Legend's power decline from becoming a public scandal insulate Yuri from discovery. Though he is questioned about the nature of his father's death, it is not a criminal investigation, and his testimony stands. They don't ask to talk to his mother. They don't ask to see his burn.
The rest of it is a question of rulings, if he agreed or disagreed with historic rulings and dissents, and why. The death penalty doesn't even come up, and after two weeks of evaluation, Yuri recites a binding oath to uphold the law of the City of Sternbild, and is dubbed the Honorable Justice Yuri Petrov.
For the next four nights, Legend will not let Yuri sleep—"Honorable Justice? That's the greatest lie of all."—but during the days at work, as lawyers, aides, associates, and peers call him 'Justice Petrov,' the swell of validation is enough to sustain him.
Now, it sounds a little bit like his first name is 'justice.' Justice Petrov.
Mr. Justice.