Mr Miller had a hard life

Miller had a hard life .docx

It started when he was just 15. Emotional highs and lows, brought on by the throes of puberty, accompanied by the rapid disintegration of anything around him. He came from a poor family, his father a long gone alcoholic and his mother a ‘working woman’.

But now he had a power, he had a chance. He could make some money, win himself a better life. He could be on top of the world for once.  His first foray into super powered theft was a simple one, he distracted the clerk at shop down the street, sending them to the back room, while he melted the registers lock, stuffing handfuls of cash into his pocket and running, giggling madly to himself. Most of the money he lent to a college kid, swapped for booze and cigarettes.

He continued like that for a time, scraping together a small savings, without even knowing what to do with it, that is, until he met her.

Eileen Yill, a new girl in town, clearly just as poor as him, if her clothes were anything to go by, at lunch, he gathered his nerve and walked to the table she sat alone at, hands shaking, he tried to fight the glow out of them, as he sat down.

“Hi.” She greeted simply, morosely picking through her food. “Eileen.” She offered him a casual hand to shake across the table.

Taking a deep gulp and hoping against hope, he raised his hand and shook hers back, praying. “Ken. Nice to meet you.” He sighed inwardly as her hand remained unfazed by the contact, sitting a little more comfortably. “I like your....” His eyes ran up and down her, “Everything?” He blurted the word without thinking.

She just blushed a little at that, smiling coyly, as she swept her hair out of her eye. “Thanks. You’re alright too. Bit scruffy, but what’re ya gonna do?”

Within the month, he tried to ask her out, glowing hands tucked in his pockets, she still didn’t know what he could do, he was scared how she’d react, “Eileen, I-I- would you- I- that is, would you- l-like t-t-.... Never mind, actually.”  Head hung, he had turned to leave, only for her to slip her hand in his pocket, fingers intertwining with his.
“Sure Kenny.”




From this point on, he figured out what he was taking the money for. He loved this girl, and he would provide for her. He’d take as much money as was needed to get them a house, to make her comfortable. Forever.

He started melting his way into banks and company vaults, wearing cheap disguises and body armour, his hair tucked into his cheap mask. Super heroes and security forces alike started to show up to try and stop him. But he always ended up being the one to escape unfazed, any weapon or fist or beam phasing out of existence as it tried to hit him, leaving those who tried to harm him, the super heroes, wounded and crippled, clutching stumps of limbs and screaming on the floor, as he dashed away, stowing his hard won money in long unused suitcase.

His mother, Pauline, died in his final year of school, killed by a client coked up to his eyeballs. The coroner had told him that his mother had been a month pregnant at the time. Shocked beyond emotion, he flew into a rage, leaving the morgue a smoking pit, before staggering home, reeling into their kitchen and downing a bottle of whiskey, trying to forget.

Eileen ran to his house on foot as soon as she’d seen the story on the news, letting herself in to find Ken in a pool of his own vomit, unresponsive. She’d dragged him up to his bathroom, showering him, seeing him naked for the first time, skinny and exposed, covered in his own sick.

Eventually he moved, the first thing he did was grab her, pulling her close to him, holding her tight and sobbing into her shoulder for nearly an hour. He promised to protect her there, to love her forever, to do anything to keep her safe, to keep her happy.

He’d shown her the money, tens of thousands of dollars, stuffed into a now overflowing briefcase. She stooped, lifting wads of notes out, eyes wide. “This is what you’ve been doing to make money?” She asked, voice muted.

He nodded, “For you. And for us.”

She took a moment to process this. “You could have told me!” She snapped suddenly, “I’ve been doing the same thing for years, we could have teamed up!”
 His eyes widened at that, shocked into silence. She stood slowly, holding her palms out. “I can cancel out the powers in others, so I’ve been breaking into superhero bases and robbing them blind, they call me the Double Negative.”

Ken just stared at her. “That’s.. .this is why I never hurt you.” He stared at his hands in relief, he’d always been so scared that he might kill her with a kiss, or a held hand, always held back physically.... but now... He leaned into kiss her, promising that from now on, they’d have no more secrets, and she promised right back, tugging at his clothes in turn.

Their coupling had been frantic, yet tender, held in each other’s arms, they comforted each other in their presence.

The bank reclaimed Ken’s mother’s house after a few months, just after his 18th birthday, but combined, they had enough money to strike out on their own, away from her family as well, renting a fancy high rise apartment, their combined crime spree lasted for years on end, as they amassed a fortune.

And then the war came. A criminal he may be, but even Ken wouldn’t stand by and let his country be invaded, after a long discussion, he convinced his lover that he had to enlist. It was in the corps that the government discovered his abilities, registered him on a list, taking stock of super powered soldiers like they’d count ammunition.

He’d been assigned to a infiltration team for a year, tearing down walls and jungle alike, cutting a swathe directly to the enemy, melting their heads off their spines. Then he repurposed as a bunker buster, leading a squads into enemies fortifications, melting right through the reinforced walls and creating surprise attacks.

And, when he called home, he received news that made his heart flutter. Eileen was pregnant, with a daughter. He insisted on speaking to her belly then, cooing promises into his lovers’ stomach over the phone, ignoring the looks others gave him.

But despite his prowess, all his wins, his army lost. He knew it was going to happen. Everyone did, they were just pushing to far south, taking the Pacific, their mechs were too strong and numerous for any ground infantry or artillery to take, the war was lost.

So his captain had dismissed him from duty, forcing him home, put on a plane, days before the base he’d been deployed too was obliterated off the face of the earth. Part of him still wished he’d made a final stand, but he knew that he had to return, to see his baby girl, protect his family after the invasion to come.

He’d been greeted off the plane by her, belly swollen, but her skin glowing, the tension in her body falling away as he climbed off the plane, rushing to hug her tight, careful not to squeeze too tight.

“I missed you.” Each of them whispered.

The invasion came and went, installing a new government, yet it felt like nothing really changed, not really, new politicians were installed, taxes were paid and the police wore different uniforms, but ultimately, the super powered still had reign of the city.

He married Eileen, in small church, the invaders had even allowed old faiths to stand. It had been a small ceremony, quiet, mostly consisting of her family.

However, there was one change the new government brought with them, they knew the destructive potential supers had, his own powers were reported on, and they sunk trillions into research, finding alloys that could withstand a super powered onslaught, but they found it.

With this new alloy spread publicly now, surprisingly cheap to produce, vault makers started incorporating it, then construction companies mixed it into concrete.  Ken and Eileen were nearly out of jobs, forced to cut back to smaller crimes, they moved out of their suite and into a rental home, as Eileen grew further pregnant, than an apartment.

The birth was tough on her, but she pushed through it, screaming and crying and bleeding, she pushed their baby girl into the world. Ken promised again, to this new girl, that he would do anything to make her life better, overcome with love as soon as he held the child.

“What do you think of the name Claire, my love?” Eileen had asked.  He held the child to his chest rocking her gently, ignoring the crying.

“Sounds like an amazing name.” He responded. And that was that.




The next few months were stressful on the Millers, Ken and Eileen took alternating turns to watch after their child in the small apartment, while the other, haggard and tired, would go out and find somewhere viable to rob.

They managed for a few years like this, Ken taking out any police that showed up at the door to question them, the ashen remains quickly thrown out.  Claire was already growing into a boisterous child, laughing as she tugged on her parent’s hair, always jumping or kicking or shouting, just by twelve months.

Eventually however, someone more than a police officer tracked them down. After a botched robbery attempt, a ‘superhero’, who Ken never even learned the name of discovered their home, having followed Ken back. He liked to think of himself as an unrepentant champion of justice, he liked to see the wicked suffer.

He studied them, learning their abilities, taking notes, then he struck.

He hired a team of ex soldiers to storm the house while Ken was out, taking Eileen and Claire from the house. Her powers were useless against regular humans, she was pistol whipped unconscious, dragged from the house, with the screaming child carried under the hero’s arm.

Ken returned home to find a note embedded in his door, pinned to the wood with a knife.
‘I’ve reported you to the government, they know who you are, where you live, and who your family is. They’re on their way. Inside you’ll find a phone. Call the number on the phone.’

Hands glowing in panic, he rushed inside, breath shaky as he dialled.

Three tones rang before the call picked up. “Ahhh, the Mastermind.” Ken frowned, he’d never heard the name before, presumably the media had pinned it to him. “So glad you could make it. Now, evildoer, you will be punished.” The man on the other end of the line stops for a dramatic laugh. “You must choose, wicked one. Who will you save? Your wife is at the far end of town, surrounded by a team of gunmen, your child is here with me, just waiting to be incinerated. You have fifteen minutes.” Ken’s breath caught in his throat. “You’ll find the addresses and a number to reach your wife on in the phone, if you wish. But in fifteen minutes, her pretty brains will be all over the wall. Tick tock.” The line cuts, leaving Ken standing, shell shocked.

Then he ran for the stairs, calling the number for his wife. “EILEEN?!”

“Please hold.” Said a rough mans voice.

The phone rattled and muffled, as it moved about, Ken ran into the street, staring at nothing.

“KENNY!” She screamed in his ear. “Don’t come for me, promise me that!” Her voice was thick, he could hear the tears streaming down her face. “Save Claire. I don’t want a hair on her head hurt!”

Ken finally fought past the lump in his throat. “Ei- Eileen...”

He heard her growl on the other end of the line. “Don’t worry about me... I can take these cocksuckers no problem on my own.... You go save our little girl, okay?!” The lie was obvious in her voice, even over the phone.

“Eileen.... I can’t just-“

“You can and you will Kenny.” She takes a deep breath. “it’s... what I want. Kenny, I love you, more than you know. Now I’m going to smash this phone, and you’re going to go save our baby, got it?”

“Eileen..”

“GOT IT?! GOOOO!” there’s one final pause. “Goodbye, my love.”

“Goodbye.” Ken whispered back, tears rolling down his cheeks from behind his glasses.

 Then there’s a clattering sound, followed by breaking glass, and the line goes dead.

Ken sniffed, wiping his eyes, as he double checked the address for  finding Claire, before hailing a cab.

Climbing out in front of the abandoned factory, he started to let the anger flow through him, the taxi door melting as he slammed it. The rage in him was worse than ever, his entire body glowing with a red aura now, he walked directly through a wall, the steel melting about him, sloughing to the floor.

A tall man with a square jaw, wearing a spandex outfit with pouches haphazardly placed all over it, topped off with a cape, turned to him, bowing low. “Ahhhh, Mastermind Miller, my nemesis.” He greets, grandiosely. “So nice of you to arrive.”

Ken just kept walking towards him, silent in his fury.

“Do you see now, what a life of evil brings to a man? It destroys everything he knows and loves, corrupts who he was and could be, ruins the lives of those around hi-”

His words were cut off, as Ken shoved a fist through his chest, skin turning to ash around his hand, he grabbed the man’s heart in his grip, pulling it out the other side of his chest, watching the man’s face writhe in pain, relishing in it, before the heart disintegrated too. The man collapsed to his knees, which had the unfortunate effect of bringing more of his body in contact with Ken’s arm. Ken’s arm cut through his chest, neck and brain like a hot knife through butter, as the hero collapsed to the floor, a mixture of seared flesh and ash. With a screaming howl, Ken vented all his power into a final punch, slamming his fist into the hero’s corpse, plowing right through his body and the ground beneath, sinking into the concrete beneath, as the tears rolled fresh from his eyes.

“Da-Da.” Claire crooned from the crib she’d been left in, holding herself up against the side of it, drawing him back from the edge.

Fighting a losing battle against the wave of anguish rising in him, he stepped over to the crib, his power flaring down, as he lifted the child, hugging her to him tight, even as police streamed in, even the commissioner was here, handlebar moustache rustling and cyborg arms gleaming in the harsh light.

He went willingly with them, surrendering.

His trial was relatively fast, processed in under a week, the new government didn’t have his whole history of crimes, only the post war ones. However, the representatives assigned to decide his fate were lenient, or even more cruel, depending on your point of view.

He was to be set up in an area for housing retired villains, where he could raise his daughter, he had to try and find a job and become a productive member of society, raise his daughter to become a productive, law abiding citizen, and to never again bother the people of the city.

Only... who would hire an admitted former super villain?

This was a problem left to Ken, as he was moved into the Seh-Ting Villain Detainment Area, as he was pushed into a life of poverty with his baby girl, living week to week on welfare, he turned back to drinking and whores, trying to forget, to keep his emotions level enough that he could never hurt his child, praying that she’d be normal, that she wouldn’t have to live like he did for her whole life.

And so he lived on.

A father and a villain. A veteran and a survivor.