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The Story:
He sat on his living room couch, watching the news. He had tried so hard to convince them that he could save millions of lives, but they wouldn’t listen. And without their support, any action would be considered a criminal offense, no matter how heroic. He was a civilian now.
There was always bad news. If he had to be honest with himself, he had become just as numb to the local horrors around him as anyone else. But the international news was telling a different story—thousands of innocent people being slaughtered, daily.
As images of men, women, and children being shot and tortured filled the screen, his rage forced him to grip his water glass so tightly that it burst into shards. He made his decision. He would rather be imprisoned or die than do nothing.
Stomping out to a locked bunker below his house, he kicked the lock off and flung the doors open. He pulled a tarp away from an object that was barely large enough for one person to occupy.
When he had told them he needed funding to build a prototype, he lied. The best pilot in the world had become an inventor, and he knew what his ship and he were capable of. After today everyone else would know, too. It was time for him to become a hero.
He hopped into the cockpit and prepared for his self-assigned mission. As soon as he finished blowing away his enemy, maybe he would visit the moon. They’d be hard pressed to follow him there. Or better yet, maybe he would just land at the Pentagon and have a chat with them again, once they saw how lethal he and his ship could be.
He never intended to do this alone. His ship was far more deadly when operated as a squadron of five, but since his proposal was denied, he would just have to prove his idea with the prototype and choose his team once he had secured the necessary funds.
This fight he was rushing off to would be his legacy, good or bad. The course of today would determine the rest of his life. But the pressure was worth it.
He knew it was the right thing to do, and that’s all he had ever really cared about.