All I wanted was an Anarchical Aviary and to have a little fun. But fun’s just not cool anymore.

“We have a policy here. First meeting, you have to speak.”

“Right. Yeah. Okay.”

“Is now okay?”

“Sure. Um, well, I called myself the Unyielding –“

“Oh, no names. If you can.”

“Right. Well, anyway, my costume – I wore this black trench coat with a pentagram on the front. Wanted them to think I was magic, but, ah, obviously, I wasn’t.”

“What was your ability?”

“Hah.”

“What?”

“Just like that.”

“Come on. There’s no reason to hide now.”

“No. No, I guess not. Old habits though, you know? Mine was… hypnotism. My grandpa, he was this stage performer back in the day, “World’s Fastest Hypnotist” was what they billed him as. It’s not… it’s funny, it’s all just hand gestures, eye movements, voice modulation. Which is why I never wore an eye mask, just the scarf and the fedora, like the Shadow.”

“So your grandfather taught you this skill.”

“That, and a lot of other things too, how to mimic sounds, movements. Stage tricks, sleight of hand, throwing your voice. I know it sounds ridiculous, but it all works. Really well, actually. My whole “career,” I might of had to throw two punches.”

“So you felt that you were good at what you did?”

“I was. Yeah, I think so. I mean, sure, some were just burglars and purse snatchers, small time stuff. But I got a big write-up in all the papers after taking out this drug ring, and I did a lot of hostage situations, like negotiations. Those were just… walk in, the bad guys would hand me their guns, and we’d walk out. Easy. And I had a few real villains too, there was this bird nut I used to fight sometimes, and a blind guy, who had eyeballs tattooed on his hands, and fingers. And this guy, this cyber terrorist or social activist – “Don’t Blink” – he was one of mine. Gave me the slip once with a flash mob. So I guess I kind of knew him when.”

“And you’re proud of that?”

“Well, yeah. He’s big time now. And I was his first. I mean, I wasn’t bad at this. I was actually really good.”

“But then what happened?”

“What else? I was out all night. Patrol. I’d sleep through alarms, I’d miss work. Couldn’t keep a job at all. Had to lie to pretty much everyone, which with my powers wasn’t hard, but it’s not like my whammy was permanent. And after awhile, I couldn't keep what I told who straight, so I wouldn’t even bother. I guess it all caught up. That I wasn’t proud of.”

“I imagine it was hard.”

“Sure. And sad too. Because like I said, the costumes and stuff – I was great at all that. Real life though… never quite got it down.”