If I had to say when my life as a supervillain started, it might have been the accident in the lab. The moment when everything changed came soon after I heard four words.

"I love Captain Maximum."

I had been so focused on scrubbing fingerprints off a pane of glass in the laboratory that I hadn't heard the conversation up to that point. I actually tried to ignore all the stuff the scientists said because it was usually stuff about neurontin and ion bursts and other stuff that went way over my head. The name of the man I hated more than anyone else in the world caught my attention, though.

Back then, I had worked as a janitor (sorry, custodial technician is what we're supposed to be called) at the Perspectiva Research Center for only six months and learned to hate it even more than I had expected. Still, it was steady and easy work that I needed so I did the best I could. The place had mostly offices and a few laboratories, and most of them were closed by the time I came through at night. Only one lab was an exception.

There were four other people in the laboratory with me, and I was the only one not wearing a lab coat and glasses. All the other eggheads looked exactly like what you would find on Wikipedia if you looked up "scientist," except for the fact that two of them were women. Lily-Ann, the one who had said the part about Captain Maximum, actually was kinda cute if you liked redheads with glasses. She always had the two male scientists hovering over her like flies on a fresh corpse.

All the scientists worked on consoles and computers with more buttons and switches than I had hair on my head, all of which controlled the bank of machines in the glassed-in room in front of them. Long tubes in every corner all aimed at a platform where they usually kept a rabbit so tight it could barely twitch. I felt bad for it and wanted to grab it and run off to set it free in the woods but I didn't.

I looked up from my rag as one of the other scientists (I'd heard the others call him Quentin) typed on a keyboard and said, "Please, let's not start that again."

The one they called Jared held up his hands. "I just asked if anyone saw the footage of Oracle Tower coming down last night."

Lily-Ann's eyes brightened. "Yeah, that was during the fight between Captain Maximum and Scarlet Scorpion. That was awesome, I watched it all live."

Quentin grunted as he flipped a switch and a motor hummed. "Yeah, right up to when Captain Maximum threw a bus into Oracle Tower and the building came down. The guy's a menace. He's smashed up half the city at one time or another."

The girl pouted. "Only when he's fighting bad guys. It's not like he tries to break stuff."

"Yeah," another male scientist whose name I had caught as Jerod said. "I mean, if your place catches on fire, can you blame the firefighters if their water ruins your couch?"

Hillary, the other female scientist in the lab, chimed in. "I agree with Quentin. Captain Maximum is reckless."

I couldn't stop myself from saying, "Yeah, I hate Captain Maximum."

Everyone stopped to look at me like I had dropped into the room from a trapdoor in the ceiling. I didn't blame them. Janitors are usually seen and not heard, invisible as they make their rounds. In fact, my boss Luis Glaumann had specifically told me not to talk to the workers. I couldn't help it.

The scientists all looked at each other like they didn't know what to say until Quentin asked, "Really? Why?"

I figured I was already in deep so I shrugged. "He killed my parents."

You could feel the tension fall over the room like a heavy blanket.

I kept going. "When I was eight, Captain Maximum and Bloodbath were fighting at the Curry International Airport and me and my family were in a plane on the runway. Captain Maximum threw Bloodbath right through the tail section, snapped the plane in half, and my parents were crushed to death. Would've killed me and my brother too if we had been just one row closer."

Right on cue, they all got the look I'd come to hate seeing whenever I told people about my brush with Captain Maximum. I wanted them to get angry like I was angry about what happened, agree with me that Captain Maximum was a monster who needed to be thrown in jail instead of given parades. That never happened. Instead, the look of pity came over them that I hate to see whenever I tell the story. I want people to get angry, hate Captain Maximum just like I do, but they always act like I'd told them my parents were killed by a tornado or a swarm of bees, some natural disaster instead of an irresponsible superhero.

"Sorry to hear that," Lily-Ann said while patting the console in front of her like it was my hand. Of course, it wasn't my hand. No woman would really touch me.

"Carter," a nasal voice snapped.

I didn't need to turn around to see Luis Glaumann charging up to me in the same stupid white overalls I wore. Luis had a big fake smile on his face.

"Hey, buddy. Sorry to interrupt but I'm sure these guys have important work to do. Don't want to keep them away from it."

On cue, the scientists all turned to work on their consoles again.

Luis leaned in close and whispered in a voice I could barely hear. "I know you don't want to get one of these people upset and lose this job. Not with your record."

There it was, the reminder that I needed this job as much as I hated it. I'd been in and out of juvenile detention from eight until I turned eighteen, mostly fights with other kids in the orphanage or foster homes. When I aged out of foster care, I ended up on the streets where I kept my winning streak up with assaults on assholes who wouldn't leave me alone or theft when I got so hungry I tried to steal food. It didn't add up to much but it was enough to give me a criminal record that made it hard to get a job. I remembered the three weeks after I last got out, wandering all over St. Newton until my parole officer pulled a few strings to get me into Perspectiva. I didn't want to go through that again.

They told me Luis likes to hire ex-cons because he's an ex-con himself. Now I think he might hire them because we're easier to threaten.

I swallowed my anger. "Yes, Mister Glaumann."

"Good. I'll be in my office. Keep up the good work." Luis patted me on the arm and walked out. "Go clean that one out."

I didn't normally go in the booths so that came out of nowhere. Luis usually handled this room. I went over to the corner, limping as I went, thanks to the plane accident. The plane crushed my leg so bad that when they set it, it ended up two inches shorter than the other, leaving me a permanent limp. I should use a cane but I didn't want to look like an invalid.

The scientists all went back to work, and Hilary shook her head.

"I'm telling you," she called back, "the security protocols need to be completely rewritten. We've got misfires in emitter four and six, every time."

Quentin leaned over. "It's not the protocols. The serum isn't reacting fast enough. We need to up the dosage."

Jared studied some sort of chart. "No, she's right. I'm showing a massive surge in the relays on quadrant seven. It almost went off on its own. That's the problem."

"Emitter number four was at fifty percent," Lily-Ann said.

The second female scientist squinted at a screen showing spinning circles. "I'm showing a spike in alpha waves on emitter number two."

Quentin snapped, "Picking up two percent growth in the amygdala."

Lily-Ann sighed. "I hope the next test works. If this keeps up, we're gonna need more rabbits".

I remembered the platform earlier had been covered with the rear half of a rabbit and the splattered remains of its skull. Fortunately, I hadn't needed to clean it up. Since we'd broken the ice, I felt bold enough to ask a question. "Is that what you guys have all this fancy equipment for? Blowing up rabbit heads?"

I was just making a joke but they actually seemed to take me seriously.

Jared raised his eyebrows. "Actually, no. We're working on the stimulation and regrowth of neurons through radiation treatment for the turnover of actin filaments. It would revolutionize brain care, especially for Alzheimer's patients. You see, lower organisms have the ability to regenerate nerve cells but--"

I know what he meant now but I didn't understand what he was talking about back then. My eyes started to glaze over and I guess he must have noticed because he stopped.

Quentin sneered. "Come on, don't waste time explaining it to him. He wouldn't understand it."

Lily-Ann snapped, "Hey, you don't know that."

I got mad, even though he was right, so I spoke up. "No, he's right. I wouldn't understand it. I'm such a dumbass, I can't even manage to wipe my ass most days without choking myself."

The scientists looked uncomfortable for a moment, which annoyed me since I'd been making a joke. People have no sense of humor these days.

Jared glanced at the clock. "All right, we'd better close up for the day. I'll do the shutdown protocol."

The others headed for the door, wishing each other goodnight.

Lily-Ann smiled at me on the way out, and I felt like she'd shone a golden light onto me.

Jared left last, flipping a lever that made the generators slow down to a faint hum. "G'night, sir."

I gave him a nod. "Night."

As they left me alone, I took a deep breath and let it out in a sigh. It felt good to be alone. I preferred my own company to others. I just grabbed my cleaners and went to work.

As I poured a cleaning solution into the bucket to mix it with water and start mopping, I heard a whine of engines spinning up.

I'd seen it do this a dozen times wen they firing up their doohickeys to blast rabbits with some weird energy. I never really paid attention because that wasn't my thing. This time, I couldn't help noticing I was right in front of the booth and the door wasn't closed.

Somebody must have left it running. I figured it was fine until I saw all those big tubes start glowing. When they ran their experiments, they usually all wore protective face masks, gloves, and aprons even with the booth closed so I knew enough to know I shouldn't be standing there with the door open.

"Hey," I started to yell as I turned to run out of the lab, "this thing--"

I never got to finish. Before I got another word out, I felt something like a blast of hot wind throw me back up against the wall, splashing me with the chemicals I had in my hand, and it felt like my whole body was set on fire. I screamed but it didn't make a difference. Everything went black.