What You Ask For

Villain (pleased):

You chose correctly.

Marco (steady):

I chose inevitability.

⸻

You cut the cord when others prayed,

Watched faith shake and didn’t sway,

Betrayal’s ugly—

But it’s clean,

Gets results no hope has seen.

Isaiah bleeds belief and light,

You saw the math, you picked the night,

That takes spine, that takes nerve—

Loyalty’s earned by those who swerve.

Marco (spoken):

Don’t dress it up.

I crossed the line.

Villain (smiling):

And arrived on time.

⸻

Marco:

You promised order.

Villain:

I deliver outcomes.

Marco:

I gave you access.

Villain:

I give you ascension.

⸻

You broke the circle, cracked the trust,

Turned “we” to “me” because you must,

Heroes burn on moral flame,

You chose the tool that stays the same.

Applause is quiet, power’s loud—

Welcome to the other side of the crowd.

⸻

I watched him glow, watched crowds believe,

Watched symbols turn men naïve,

Every time the lights went up,

Someone else paid just to keep them up.

I don’t want speeches, don’t want praise,

I want leverage in darker days,

If power’s the language people heed—

Then give me fluency.

Marco (direct):

I want what he has.

Power.

⸻

Villain:

Power like Isaiah’s breaks men apart.

Marco:

Then break me—or make me sharp.

Villain (soft laugh):

Careful what you ask for.

Marco:

I am.

⸻

I don’t give gifts, I make exchanges,

Fuel for will, pain rearranges,

No city chorus, no guiding hand,

Just raw intent at my command.

You’ll feel it first where doubt lives deep,

A current that never sleeps,

Say it once—no turning back—

Do you accept the cost of that?

Marco:

I do.

⸻

⸻

Villain:

Then take it—feel the pressure rise.

Marco:

(voice strained)

It’s—moving—inside my spine.

Villain:

Fear into force, intent into flame.

Marco:

I hear the city say my name.

Both:

Not light, not hope, not borrowed grace—

Control takes shape in a willing face.

⸻

(Energy surges; lights flicker.)

Marco (breathing steady, changed):

I’m not like him.

Villain (satisfied):

Exactly.

Villain (final):

Welcome to power without permission.