A Vigilante's Vengeance

It was past midnight when Athena finished writing the next day’s news feature about the superhero Pluton. She switched off her laptop and walked into her room, but before she knew it, someone grabbed her from the shadows and injected her with a tranquiliser.

Hours passed. Athena awakened only to find herself chained to a chair at the centre of a dimly lit room with her abductor standing before her. She could only see his silhouette, which was surrounded by the flickering light of the bulb fixed on the wall behind him. She looked around; the other parts of the room were barely visible, but she could see that there were no doors or windows on either side; the only visible exit was behind her abductor.

“Get comfortable. You’ll be here for a while,” the man said, his voice stern.

“Who are you? What do you want from me?”

“Pluton. Just how much do you know about him?”

Athena was confused. Was this man a fanatic? Was he planning something against Pluton? She didn’t know what to say.

“Speak!” he said.

“I-I don’t know what you want. I’ve written all I know in my articles.”

“Sure, but there’s still a chance that you may know his true identity.”

“I don’t, I swear.”

The man approached Athena. He was a towering figure up close, and his face was concealed with a black mask with blue diagonal spikes painted on its four corners. Athena instantly recognised who he was.

“Y-you’re Renegade. But why?”

Both Renegade and Pluton started off as vigilantes, but Pluton rose to fame among the community and came to be known as a ‘superhero’, while Renegade was often viewed as dangerous and retained the title of ‘vigilante’.

“Pluton isn’t the man everyone believes him to be. His popularity was paved with politics and corruption.”

Renegade’s voice distorted with growls towards the end, and Athena sensed a hint of disdain in his voice; there was more to this story than what he spoke of. Although both Renegade and Pluton began their crime-fighting journeys around the same time, the two of them were never a team, so why did it seem like this was a personal vendetta?

“He did something to you, didn’t he?”

Renegade said nothing.

“Look, I don’t know who Pluton is, but if there’s something illegal going on, I can help. I’m a reporter, after all.”

“Not yet. I don’t know if I can trust you.”

Renegade left the room. Athena called out to him, asking what he was planning, but he spoke not a word. Fifteen minutes later, he stepped back inside and walked up to Athena once again.

“Now, we’ll find out,” he said, turning her chair to face the other side of the room and turning on the television that was on the other end.

It was the news, and Athena’s face was on it. Renegade had made a call to the authorities and said that he had Athena, and that if they wanted her alive, Pluton himself would have to come for her.

Three days passed, but Pluton never came. Renegade’s doubts were finally cleared. He visited Athena, whom he had by then moved to a different room in the same building and cuffed one of her hands to a bedpost.

“Looks like you’re clean,” he said upon opening the door.

Renegade uncuffed Athena’s hand and led her to another room. It was similar to a living room, with a sofa and a television, but there were also several handguns, rifles, and swords on racks, and a large monitor on the wall with information regarding Pluton on display.

“Have a seat,” Renegade said, this time with a softer tone.

Athena sat down and looked at the monitor. “What happened between you two?”

Renegade stood by the sofa, his eyes unwavering from the image of Pluton in his crimson mask and dark blue outfit. “He killed my father.”

A deep silence fell upon the room for a moment that felt like an eternity. Athena finally spoke up. “What happened?”

“Pluton’s success was fostered by corrupt politicians. They would create catastrophes that allowed him to shine as a ‘superhero’ and for them to push their own political agendas. Covert acquisition of lands, assassinations under the guise of accidents, money laundering… Pluton was neck-deep in all of it.”

Athena’s eyes widened as she heard Renegade’s story. 

“My father…” Renegade paused for a moment. There was a faint sniffle behind his mask. “My father was a prosecutor who was taking on a money laundering case that Pluton was involved in. He didn’t know what he was getting into until it was too late. Pluton was asked to kill him, and he did.”

Athena agreed to help Renegade once she heard his story. Renegade freed Athena the following day, and for the next two weeks, the two of them launched their individual investigations into Pluton and the politicians backing him. The police interrogated Athena hoping to find Renegade’s whereabouts, but she pretended to know nothing.

By the end of the second week, Athena had uncovered information regarding Renegade’s father’s death that incriminated the Minister of Finance. She discussed the details with Renegade and devised a plan to ensnare both the minister and Pluton. Athena arranged for a meeting between her and Pluton, saying she had stumbled upon sensitive information that could rattle the government. They met in an abandoned part on the outskirts of the city, where Renegade stuck to the shadows and waited, rifle in hand, biding his time to wreak his vengeance.

When Athena showed Pluton her files, he sighed. “Oh, no…”

“What’s the matter?” Athena asked.

“You had a bright future ahead of you, but you barked up the wrong tree.”

Pluton was about to reach for his gun when Renegade fired the first round into his hand. Pluton wailed and dropped to his knees, gripping his hollowed palm and cursing at the top of his lungs.

“You bitch! You tricked me!”

“And what about the entire city you’ve tricked?” Renegade asked, finally stepping out of the shadows.

Pluton looked at him and chuckled while wincing. “Oh, so it was you pulling the strings. What is it? You envy my fame because I did the things you refused to do?”

Renegade kicked Pluton in his face and shot him in his knee, and then again in his foot. “You think I’m that simple-minded?” He shot him again and again, targeting his other knee and foot.

Pluton screamed in agony and crawled away, but Renegade hit him in the head with the butt of his rifle and turned him around to lay him on his back. He then pointed his rifle between Pluton’s eyes. “This is similar to what my father saw during his last moments when you killed him to save your own skin.”

Pluton began to shake. “N-no! Pl-please…”

Another shot echoed in the darkness.

Athena had not moved a muscle since the second it had all unfolded. She didn’t know what to say, and she could not move. Pluton’s face lay ruined upon the ground as Renegade pulled back his weapon and immediately fell to his knees, sobbing and sniffling under his mask, louder this time.

Athena approached Renegade and knelt beside him, wrapping one arm around his shoulder. “We should leave soon,” she said.

A brief moment of silence endured between them. “Yes,” Renegade said with resolve. “There’s more work to be done.”