When I decided that I wanted to begin murdering those who categorized themselves as "villains," I took to that work just as naturally as you might expect. Nobody ever imagined that a mere man could do so much. God, the arrogance that a power lends you!
Men who could turn their skin to iron forget that a bullet can come through the back of your head in a parking garage as easily as a blast of fire can come from the costumed idiot who shows up to stop your bank robbery. Patience, silence and dedication can be much more useful tools for a killer than flying, or super speed.
When the first few bodies showed up, people began talking. A dozen or so after that, rumors began to spread among the back rooms where the hitmen and hired muscle discussed dangers of the job. They thought I was an organization. They thought there were hundreds of us.
Once I took down an infamously troublesome villain with a healing factor and a penchant for pedophilia, and my pseudonym finally ended up in the news. Since then, I've killed three hundred and seventy four "villains." My first alias has now become a household name. The twenty or so others that I cycle through are known only to me.
The heroes can't abide by my methods, but most of them tolerate me. I have only had to kill one hundred and twenty nine "heroes" who did not agree with my way of doing things. I suppose a well-timed bullet between the eyes of a cuffed inmate as he's led to the courthouse, or slashing a sleeping woman's throat in the middle of the night don't appeal much to their comic book sensibilities. Luckily, I'm now left alone, for the most part.
The villains find me terrifying, mostly for our shared lack of a code of ethics. Yes, I have killed their children. Yes, I will torture their loved ones. When I decide that I will achieve a goal, I am endlessly capable. It's not hard to dedicate myself to doing what I must when I have a clear vision in mind.
And the common people? Those who have no powers? They love me, because they think I'm one of them. They hold me up as a symbol for what the common man can do in these feverish, nightmare times. but I'm not one of them, really. I know that, now. I'm not any of them.
I'm not a hero, or a villain, or a man. I'm just a byproduct of a fucked up time, trying to take a little bit of rot out of the world. And I will achieve that goal, just as I have achieved every single one before that:
By any means necessary.