As the prison gates closed behind him, Victor look up into the sky and enjoy his first breath of freedom in twenty years. The sun was merciless on a cloudless day, and Victor’s forehead was already filled with perspiration, but he didn’t mind. He was just enjoying the moment. Although no one would know it just by looking at him, but Victor found the moment almost overwhelming!

He stood there for minutes, before he heard and saw the coming bus. The moment was over. After taking a breath to collect himself, Victor walked to the bus-stop. He was alone. There was no one waiting for him but after twenty years, he was expecting that. He told himself he wasn’t disappointed. Outside his court appointed lawyers, he hadn’t had a visitor in over ten years. That was when his brother came to inform him their mother had died. Victor appreciated the gesture. It was kind of him to do that.

The bus stopped and a few passengers alighted from the back. Victor boarded it from the front. Victor noticed that the bus-driver made a point not to stare at him. This bus-stop served Yellow Sands Penitentiary and the only people who used this stop were visitors and released prisoners. One look at his bald head, tattooed arms, and worn backpack, told the bus-driver this passenger was no visitor.

The only people on the bus was him and the bus-driver, and this suited Victor just fine. No contact meant no trouble, and he had no desire to get into a scrap just outside the prison. He sat in an empty seat and glanced at the alighted passengers. They were all heading towards the prison. His face was expressionless, but Victor was happy on the inside. Some of his former cellmates were looking forward to the visits.

The bus drove off and Victor quietly watched the passing landscape. After twenty years, the feeling of finally going somewhere was almost surreal. He wanted to take everything in. The bus reached the town of Yellow Sands and the locals of the prison town gave Victor a wide berth. Victor kept to himself, bought some essentials and boarded another bus to Velocity City. This bus wasn’t empty but once again, no one bothered him. No one even wanted to sit with him.

Ten hours later, the bus approached Velocity City and the sight of the city shocked him. Victor was arriving late at night and he could see that parts of the city was pitch dark. While most of the city were lighted up, the outer areas of the city were not. As the bus got closer, Victor saw Velocity Tower in the distant. The iconic V-shaped was a landmark of the city, and was situated in the downtown area. That area was fully lighted up and Victor saw someone flying across the famed skyscraper. Probably some superhero on a patrol, but why were parts of the city in darkness?

Victor was still asking himself that question when the bus arrived at the Velocity Bus Terminal. The bus terminal was located at the edge of the city and the sight of the city up close was no better. The streets were dirty, the people were nervous and there was a sense of danger in the air. Victor wondered what had happened. He had lived in the city for a few months in the distant past, and the Velocity City he remembered was nothing like this. Perhaps the important word here was ‘past’. Victor paused as he thought about how long it had been. Thirty years maybe?

He chuckled on the inside and began walking. Although it had been thirty years, he knew where he was going. Honestly, he had forgotten that the crew had a hideout at King’s Edge, but ever since he got the information from his former boss, he had spent every free moment he had in the prison library. Despite his status as a villain, he still had limited computer access. Only technological villains were banned from it.

Victor had lost count of the number of times he had looked at the map of Velocity City. Even when he had remembered the map by heart, he still stared at it. Looking at the map of King’s Edge, the first thing you would notice was that the block was at the outskirts of the city. Despite this, it was a distance from the bus terminal but after twenty years inside, Victor thought he might enjoy the walk. He didn’t.

Victor found that although the streets of Velocity City was eerily dark, they were hardly deserted. Prostitutes and their pimps openly piled their trade along the streets and dealers didn’t really try very hard to hide their operations in dark corners. In the hour Victor took to walk to King’s Edge, he had already seen a mugging, two fights, and hear the sounds of a battle somewhere in the distant. This part of the city was in chaos and Victor wondered what had happened.

Velocity was a ‘Named City’. It was named to honor the Silver Age speedster, Lady Velocity, who had died defending the city against alien invaders over fifty years ago. It was hard for Vincent to imagine the superheroes leaving the city to rot like this. Last he remembered, protecting ‘Named Cities’ was a matter of honor for them. Even if the superheroes weren’t doing their jobs, the local crime bosses should have a better handle on things. This much chaos was bad for business. Victor guessed many things had changed while he was inside, and not all of them were for the better. None of this was his problem though, so he just kept on walking. He had to laugh when he finally reached his location.

When his group bought the building, it was just a non-descript three storey building everyone would overlook. Now it wasn’t even that. It was a ruin. The building looked like it had been through a fire. In fact, almost all the buildings along King’s Edge were in the same state.

“Something major must have happened.” Victor mused as he entered the abandoned building.

The inside was no better. The ground floor was a single large room and Victor remembered that it used to be poorly lit. Now the room was a disaster area. The stairway that led to the second floor was destroyed. Thank the stars he had no intention of staying here.

Victor went to the back where the trap door was. The stairs that went down was in bad shape, but it was still there. Victor decided not to chance it, and just jumped to the bottom. The basement was small and dark, and Victor took out the lighter he bought at Yellow Sands. He turned it on, and the small flame lit up the basement. A quick look told Victor it was bare. He walked to the center, and took out a penknife. He made a small cut on his hand. Blood seeped out and dripped onto the floor. The moment a drop hit the ground, the basement lit up. A formation that filled the whole basement floor appeared and Victor was right in the middle of it.

“What do you know? The old geezer was actually truthful this time.”

For the first time in years, a smile appeared on Victor’s face. Suddenly he felt dizzy and dropped to his knees. Sounds of ancient bells rang in in his head and the basement disappeared. Victor looked around in panic, but there was nothing around. He was floating in a void of darkness. Then a giant light suddenly surrounded him. The light disappeared and Victor found five lights floating around him. They illuminated the darkness but only the area around Victor. Beyond the small area of light was the endless dark.

“Well, this is something you don’t see every day.” Victor heard a sweet voice in the darkness. “A summoning circle for a System. Not bad, but you’re not the one who created this right?”

“Who’s out there?” Victor shouted at the darkness. “Show yourself!”