Chapter 10
The Overlooking View (Part 4)
-The Hollowed Shrine – Touko's Office-
Right after I woke up, I walked hastily to Touko's office. Last night, I ended my debut in victory as a superhero after a long time of absence. I couldn't help but feel joyous at what I had done.
I stopped a bad guy that could manipulate shadows, and with that, I brought justice to the innocent girls that he had been killed. Right now, I wanted to relish in the deeds that I had done with a cup of instant coffee and sit on a couch in front of the television.
"At 4:40 am, a man with a deranged-like behavior walked into a police station in downtown L.A." Here it is, I sat motionless as the news flashed on the television. "The man was later identified as Johnny Handy, who began to confess how he pushed those girls to their deaths at the Sunnyshade Apartment Building."
"Nice work you got there, Marky." I glanced to see Touko in her usual spot. The woman was sitting inclined on her swivel chair, a cigar between her right fingers and a proud smirk on her face.
Of course, she would be proud of what I have done. After all, she promised me that she would help me recover from my trauma. And it seemed her treatment was paying off.
"You really did a number on him. I knew you could pull this one off." She commented again and her remarks made me remember what had transpired last night.
I defeated Johnny Handy and his shadows. What's more, I disabled his mystic eyes by gauging both of my fingers in the sockets. He suffered from what I had done to him…and I relished it.
I never relished such actions before. I thought as I recalled the emotion that swirled inside of me when I punished the man.
I was happy and glad that I had done it to him. Sure, what Johnny had done was completely unforgivable, but nevertheless, I should not have returned the same pain to him.
That would make me look like I stooped to his level of macabre amusement.
"Say, Touko, is it right that I punished him like that? It seems that I went too far."
"Nope. It's right that you made him blind forever. The Karma of his crime got to him through you."
"Well…it seems unfair to me. The reason he became like that was because he lost everything. I should be encouraging him to take a better path in life, not blind him forever." I reasoned as I rewound the memory of when I captured Johnny Handy – the way that I hung him over the edge, just so he would reveal the name of the man who gave him mystic eyes, the time that I gauged his eyes out. I felt nothing but extreme happiness and gladness at that time as I inflicted pain on him.
And that was very out of character of me.
Touko inhaled her smoke before she blew a large cloud to the ceiling. Her eyes were stuck on me, contemplating my words. "Marky, normal humans, when they are desperate, always find a way to escape their predicament. It is part of our nature to survive. However, there are those who think that murdering people, or blaming their misfortune on someone, is the correct way to survive. And those people…are the incorrigible ones."
The puppeteer mage walked away from her table and stood by the window. I watched her look outside and shift her focus on the blue sky above. "Johnny Handy was one of those incorrigible people. He thought his life was in ruins just because his business closed and that he had lost against a competitor, a random immigrant, who had more riches and privilege than him. So, in his desperation, he thought that by killing people, especially the immigrant ones, was the correct way for him to live again."
I looked down as I remembered my last conversation with the criminal. Johnny Handy had killed those girls out of his amusement. And now that I remembered it, I noticed something strange. "Johnny's victims were either white or fair skinned. Could it be that…he's specifically targeting people with white or fair complexion?"
"Yes. Johnny is racist against white or fair-skinned people." Touko explained as she blew columns of smoke again to the air before she continued. "Marky, do you know Critical Genes Theory?"
"Isn't that about how the United States's government system is racist itself? That lesson is from the early 21st century. It's obsolete." I think. I have not done much research about my world's current events yet.
"Yes, something along that line." The woman smiled before she shifted her foot and leaned her back on the window glass more. "There was indeed racism before, during the early centuries. As mankind progressed, it began to disappear. Humans, although they are inherently chaotic, are also capable of doing good to one another. It is the reason our species is not extinct yet. We are social creatures and we cannot truly live alone."
She paused and took a whiff of her cigarette as she cast her red eyes at me. "However, in the early 21st century, mankind's social culture began to change. What was once gone is now slowly returning and creeping in. Racism is finally back…but this time, the tables have turned. It is now the whites who are in the minority. And those who have heteronormative lifestyle are now the ones ostracized by the LGBTQ people, which now composes most of today's society."
My eyes went wide after I heard what Touko had said. Critical Genes Theory, I heard about it before, but I was sure that it was obsolete after it was found that it could potentially cause racism to go back.
I never thought that it was back.
"What happened? Touko—that's impossible-!"
"It happened thirty years ago, while you're asleep, Marky. At that time, the US just elected its first female transgender president. The president was very famous to the people, especially to people of color and the LGBTQ community. But she's actually a dictator. She was the head of the 'New Founding People of America,' an independent group that opposed both the Republican and Democratic Parties. During her reign, she brought Critical Genes Theory. And through her party, she began to spread propaganda about how the black people were enslaved by the white before and how it was still 'prevalent' in today's time."
"But that is not true! Racism is almost gone." I reasoned out to her ridiculous history lesson, but the woman did not heed it.
"You cannot get rid of racism, Marky, because it's a by-product of the emotion called fear. And fear, together with love, are emotions that are primordial because they exist even without living species interacting with it. In any case, Critical Genes Theory, by itself, is not dangerous. It's basically a history lesson about how the black people were enslaved before, and why other minorities were treated harshly in the past. There is nothing dangerous about it." Touko nodded and shifted her eyes to the television.
"What's dangerous is the incorrigible people who use it to justify their cruel acts against the white or fair-skinned people, acting under the pretense of what they think is achieving justice."
Holy shit…racism is back, through Critical Genes Theory. What the hell. "I—I thought those things were gone. Why is it back? Why did the people let it come back?" I asked, completely lost and utterly shattered by the state of the world.
Before I went into a coma, the world was at peace. Wars were almost obsolete, and most countries were allies to one another through economic deals. I could dare say that societies were reaching full nirvana at that time. But now, after hearing what had transpired during my coma, I was completely devastated.
"It didn't actually spread immediately, Marky." Touko said before she put down a glass of milk in front of me. "This new type of racism had started after the attempted invasion of the Kingdom of Wolvesbane. Due to the alien attack, many people were scared shitless, and the 'New Founding Peoples' Party used the confusion to spread their agenda further…and now, we are here."
Touko finished her answer to my question. As for me, my shock turned into sadness as I shifted my gaze to my glass of milk. The surface faintly reflected my frown, filled with wondering misery.
What has the world turned into? Things like racism should be gone by now, and yet here it is, thriving and still prevalent. "So…it's due to racism that Johnny Handy killed those girls?" I asked with a lost look on my face.
"Partially yes, Marky."
I hung my head back and stared at the steel ceiling above. My mind began to wander as I desperately tried to find the answer and reason as to why mankind had to cling to such old and offensive practices from before.
"Why did this happen, Touko?"
"It's because mankind has reached the zenith of its own existence," Touko explained after she made a very disappointed sigh. "We had achieved an almost perfect peace, but that's our limit as humans. And since we had reached the top, there's nowhere for us to go but down." I glanced at her and didn't reply, I only let her talk more. "But rest assured, Marky. Even if our world is turning into a cesspool, there are still humans who are worth saving." She paused and made a charming smile at me. "Now that's my answer…What about yours?"
"My…what?"
"Your answer, Marky, to the question that you want to ask to yourself." The mage put her cigarette on her ash tray before she faced me again and asked me a question. "Marky, from your own perspective, do you still want to save the humans of this world, despite their incorrigible attitude?"
The words hung heavily inside of me and I could feel its weight slowly pressing my insides.
Now that I know what is happening in this world…do humans still deserve to be saved? My old self would certainly answer with a resounding yes. And yet, my mind was in turmoil.
There were other humans who were innocent and in need of saving. A lot of them still wanted to look up to superheroes, searching for inspiration so that they could feel safe and live with their everyday lives. But I also couldn't ignore that those humans could also fall from their graces and commit heinous crimes.
I always thought that humanity would always move forward, improving everyday and creating new things that could improve their lives.
I never thought that humanity would eventually reach its limit and revert to degeneracy. And I was witnessing it right now.
"I…" I should say yes. Humans still need saving; they can still be good. I tried to reason, and yet my mind was holding me back. My subconscious was telling me otherwise and it was causing a conflict inside of me that I had never felt before.
"Touko—I—I don't know." Fuck…Didn't I want to come back as a superhero? What about Molly's sacrifice? Am I to going to betray her by making her death pointless? SAY SOMETHING, MARKUS! "Fuck…I should say yes to you. I really should say yes to your question!" I thundered. I grabbed the glass milk and drank it in one go. My feeling of being lost had completely crushed me down and won. "I don't fucking know…Touko. I don't."
I looked up to Touko and saw the woman's straight, expressionless face. I could see that she was analyzing my reaction with her stern eyes. And then the puppeteer mage let out a forlorn sigh. "You don't need to answer me immediately. Take your time." Touko said to me with a beaming smile. The question put me off and she was trying to quell it by making me happy.
But alas, it was not effective.
I continued sitting in silence as Touko's question resonated strongly inside of me.
I do want to become a superhero…but the world that I'm in has become topsy turvy. Earth from before was beautiful, but now, so much had changed. What was right before had become wrong…and what was wrong had become right. And because of that, a new question had formed in my mind.
I am superhero, but this world is already wrong. Do I still need to save it? Is it even worth saving?
I clenched my lips and only stared at the television, with emptiness evident in my eyes.
Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of Kara no Kyoukai and Invincible. Names, Places and Events are all 'purely fictional'. If one exist in real life then its purely coincidental.
Special thanks to Pure Red Crane for Beta-reading.
Hello guys! Sorry for the long update. Just found time to write this one. This chapter is extremely short because it was all about the end of the first arc. I am still preparing the second arc but not for long though. I want to thank everyone who read my story, I do hope that you are all entertained.
