5 A man with a dream pt 4.5

A/n: I didn't actually intend to write this chapter, but I kinda just started typing and couldn't stop myself. So yeah enjoy.

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In a world of Aliens, Gods, and monsters, Carl was but a man.

And that fact only grew more evident as the years passed by, and times changed.

Though not known or readily acknowledged by the public, weapons of war were gradually being superseded by superhumans.

Having trouble laying siege to a building?

Why waste money on dozens of tanks and artillery when one guy with super strength and durability could do the same?

Want to blow up a city?

Don't bother with airstrikes or atom bombs, just throw a volatile alpha-level mutant at it.

Wanna assassinate an enemy leader?

Ring up one of the many super assassins in the world.

Need to start a war?

Why waste valuable resources in training men and women for conflict when a few guys in costumes can wipe the floor with any contemporary army?

No one knew who started such ideas, but in the end it didn't matter.

By time the majority of the less important offshoots of the army realized what was happening it was too late.

"The integrated Superpower act" was what they called it.

A official reform of the military and all government institutions to include and encourage the use of superpowers.

On the outside, this reform was a change for the better. 

It allowed for supers to publicly use their powers without fear of discrimination or Imprisonment.

In regards to the mutants, it pushed their formal integration into society up by decades.

Overall it was a favorable situation for those with powers.

Those without such abilities weren't so fortunate. 

Qualifications for countless jobs were raised, pay for ordinary people declined, and much more.

The largest impact was the army.

The new bare minimum one needed to enlist in the army was near peak human. A virtually impossible task for the average Joe looking to safeguard his country.

It was stupid, dumb, foolish, and the height of idiocy.

But it worked.

Mission success rates skyrocketed, military activities were getting less and less cost extensive, and the lives lost in the battlefield plummeted.

Eventually, despite losing one tenth of our military, the US stood once again as the leading military power.

The remaining soldiers were the best of the best and then some. An unstoppable legion no government on earth could match in quality.

However, that left everyone else to pick up the pieces.

Adjusting to civilian life is already problematic enough for veterans.

But to come back to a country so exceptionally different than when you left it caused many to be culture shocked.

Of course, they all tried to settle down with whatever family they had and find ways to become working members of society.

Carl was no exception to that rule.

Unfortunately, it was near impossible.

With the freedom granted to super-geniuses by the SuperPower act, nearly every store, market, and shop had a cheap affordable robot assistant.

Completely abolishing the need for more than a few employees.

Having no alternative, many turned towards mercenary jobs.

Only they were once again outdone by those with powers.

Desperate, an overwhelming quantity of veterans enveloped the world of crime.

Luckily because of the disposition of supervillains, the need for henchmen never ran dry.

Moving from one supervillain to the next and keeping his head down to deter the scrutiny of any heroes.

That was how Carl had lived his life since returning to "civilian life".  

Despite this Carl actually managed to settle down with a delightful woman, with a child on the way.

Nonetheless, all good things come to an end, doubly so when it comes to crime.

It was like any other day for Carl.

He had picked up a quick job working as scarecrow's henchman for the day. 

He had worked with the man previously on several occasions and wasn't too fearful about being killed in a fit of rage. A relatively common hazard in this line of work.

In a worst-case scenario, Carl was confident enough to run away if necessary. Scarecrow wasn't exactly one of the more physically skilled supervillains.

When he had ultimately reached his destination ( it being a subterranean base in the sewers) Carl was promptly put to work.

Moving crates with dangerous materials, assessing the quality of substances required for fear toxins, and hauling finished products to the desired location of his employer.

Menial assignments any henchman worth their salt could perform.

It was looking to be a straightforward job until the Caped crusader and his gang of underaged vigilantes turned up.

Dissimilar to how supervillains are inclined to take the beating given out by heroes personally, henchmen take it as merely another risk of the job.

So Carl wouldn't have been too alarmed at finding himself coming to in the tail end of a penitentiary transport. It wouldn't be the first time that happened.

Yet it didn't.

Instead, accident or not, one of Batman's underlings booted him into a vat of experimental fear toxins.

It went downhill from there.

This variant of toxins were slow-acting, having meant to drive the effected into a state of delirium over time.

Even if remedied, the chemical modifications to his brain was permanent.

At first, the symptoms were manageable.

A spike of anxiety, a low voice in his psyche,  and the rare apparition.

Over time, however, it grew worse.

Anxiety became fear, low voices started to wail, and fiction became reality.

None of that broke him though. Carl was a determined man and wouldn't be beaten so effortlessly.

It was only after snapping out a state of mind-boggling chaos that his mind began to pull apart

In a pool of blood laid his wife and newly born child, dead.

He had slaughtered them with his bare hands.

A myriad of disastrous decisions and a year later Carl found himself in a drug den wasting away.

His final few moments of any manner of clarity would be expended nestled in the corner of a room grieving the failure that is his existence 

At least until one Dealmaking demon would greet him.

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A/n: This chapter is a mixture of world-building and a back story for Carl since he's going to be a recurring character.

Fun fact: I wasn't originally going to make Carl anything more than cannon fodder. He didn't even have a name before the last chapter. But an idea popped in my head and, well, you'll see.

Alt title: Carl