Screaming Symbols: A MSCSI Fanfic

The symbol had appeared subtly at first; hidden under a myriad of old fly posters that adorned billboards. No one quite knew what it was meant to be.

Was it advertising a new band? A new film? Some kind of viral advertising campaign?

Cat had an idea though.

Cat always had an idea or several running through her mind.

The symbol itself was simple enough. A circle with a triangle in the top right hand corner.

The symbol for masculinity.

That had been easy enough for Cat to work out; studying Egyptology had meant she was well versed in understanding various signs and symbols.

Yet something bothered her.

It was such an overt sign for masculinity.

Crass.

Blunt.

Bold.

This was more than just some stunt pulled by an marketing agency or film company.

This was not an advertisement, it was an announcement.
Something or someone was coming.

Cat’s hypothesis was confirmed when over the next few weeks the symbol appeared more and more frequently. It slithered out from behind other ripped posers and stared to adorn the centres of the billboards, blocking out all the other fly posters.

She could barely walk five minutes down the street without coming across the symbol. It was starting to become seared into her brain. It was there if she opened her eyes and still there when she closed them.

The symbol had clearly established its place as a signifier.

But who was the signified?

Who or what was this symbol pointing to?

The answer to that came shortly after in the form of a single word: Urbanite.

The name itself was easy enough to work out. A superhero dwelling in a city, an urban area. Not to mention that age old connection between masculinity and culture/industrialisation.
Urbanite had announced himself and was here to stay.

The newspaper had run a full page spread heralding the arrival of a new superhero. Urbanite had arrived to declare war on the criminals that plagued Gloria City.

At first she had ignored the article. Gloria City was full of such heroes. Every so often one would pop up and announce the manifesto to rid the city of crime, only to fall into anonymity a few months later with their goals unfulfilled.

So for Cat another guy in a cape was hardly newsworthy enough to draw her away from her cornflakes as she scanned the morning paper.

But Urbanite was different. His arrival was more carefully orchestrated.

There were subtle symbols that appeared out of nowhere, then the sudden media appearances in newspapers and across numerous television channels.

It ran like a well thought out plan. He seemed more like a politician than a superhero when appearing on the screen announcing his plans.

But there was something more than that. It wasn’t just the content of his speech but the language that he used. He was declaring war and violent action. He dressed himself on black leather. Pictures of him working out and flexing his muscles adorned every magazine cover.

The hyper-masculine superhero had arrived in language, dress and actions.

Yet Cat wasn’t convinced. Somewhere at the back of her mind, there was a niggling feeling. Urbanite’s entire persona, the hyper-masculine image, was so exaggerated that it seemed to be a parody.

Superhero’s wore capes and masks to conceal their identity, but Urbanite took this one stage further. He seemed to be using an entire persona as his mask and cape.

That in itself was intriguing. The whole persona of Urbanite was carefully constructed and marketed to the mass public.

But why?

This was more than trying to hide an identity from villains. This almost seemed like Urbanite was trying to hide from himself.

Shoving her breakfast bowl to one side, Cat grabbed her coat and bag and left her flat. She had planned for a day of planning for her PHD at the library but her plans were about to take a detour.

This Urbanite figure had caught her attention but she wasn’t fooled for a moment by his appearance.

As she passed another Urbanite symbol, she frowned to herself, deep in thought. She was determined to find out who this Urbanite figure was.

She wanted to know why someone would go to such great pains to hide their identity from the world.

Gloria was full of pseudo- identities.

Whilst others were trying to project an image of themselves to convince people of what they were. Urbanite was projecting to distract people. He was hiding behind his identity in an attempt to conceal what he was not.

Urbanite had arrived in plain view. A screaming symbol of hyper-masculinity Yet within the over, was covert.

Peek behind the media circus and there was no more screaming, but silence.

Why?

Why?

Why?

Cat liked the question ‘why?’ and there times when she just couldn’t help herself.

After all, as the old saying went: Curiosity killed the Cat, but satisfaction brought it back.

...

Any thoughts? I know it’s not great. Creative writing isn’t really my forte. Sorry for any grammatical errors as well.