Just A Hero
The year is 2024, not a particularly bad year, some good things, some bad. The population had risen to five billion. The war in Iraq has been over for twelve years. The need for fossil fuels for energy has long since passed. However, in the year 2015 something happened. A man named Edgar Ville came on to the scene; he was a scientist for the corporation Vil Lains, a company named after the brilliant scientist said to have gone insane about some sort of superhero, which at the time, did not exist. Edgar, or as he liked to call himself, Dr. E. Ville, made a special mutagen that if it was injected into the human body, and the DNA was a match (a rare case which only about 2/5 of the population had) it would mutate your cells, giving you special abilities… or just mutating you. Unfortunately for Dr. E. Ville, there was an accident. The mutagen had been mass produced as a gas, for easy packaging and transport, but one day, during an unfortunate and extremely convenient explosion, the mutagen was spread into the Earth's atmosphere, causing at least two billion people and things (such as spiders or nuclear waste) to become mutated. Thus Heroes, and Villains, were born.
Chapter One: I Passed
"Brian, I have to congratulate you." A pudgy man said from across a desk. The man was seated so you could not tell how short he actually was (which was quite short) he was balding with grey hair and a thick handlebar moustache, he wore a blue plaid button-up shirt and khaki dress pants. This man was Mr. Sholts, Brian's Teacher.
"Your grades were unprecedented; I have never had a student who did as well as you." The fat man continued.
"Uh, thanks Mr. Sholts." Brian said quietly. Brian could see that his teacher was very excited because he started twitching and sweating, which is when Brian tried his best not to gag.
Brian was your average twenty-three year old college graduate nerd; he was an average height, with a little bit over average good looks. He was a blue-eyed smart kid type, not necessarily something you don't see everyday. He had short mahogany brown hair that wasn't too long or too short, and he wore blue jeans with a white t-shirt and a brown jacket. He was basically your average college graduate, with one exception.
"I think you have a great chance of being a very famous reporter around here, or wherever you're going." He continued. "There is one question I must ask however, there were times when you asked to be excused for no reason, and without warning, and you did not return for the rest of the day, might I ask where you were during those times?"
Brian's teacher furrowed his brow quizzically and leaned forward.
Brian had superpowers.
"Uh… I was… I'm not sure I can tell you Mr. Sholts, I really have to go." Brian said nervously, he then picked up his bag and began to walk out the door.
"Brian," his teacher shouted after him. "I'll see you around." He said with a smile.
Brian had already graduated and gone through the entire ceremony, but his teacher had called him and told him to come over to his office as soon as he could, reluctantly, he accepted.
Brian was merely seconds out the door when his phone rang.
"What the hell?" he muttered. He answered it.
"Yo dude!" a voice from the other side shouted. "Dude get over here, this shit is sick-nasty man!"
"Kyle, I can't, I have to pack, I leaving this weekend to find a job you know." Brian said, slightly aggravated.
"Alright dude, but if you change your mind we're at the nuclear power plant." Kyle said. He sounded drunk.
"Nuclear Power Plant!? Wait why-" Kyle hung up.
Brian let out a deep sigh and muttered an inappropriate word. Kyle and the gang had been his best friends since third grade, the fact that they made the same high school, and college was simply luck. But when they finally made it into college, the rest of the gang got caught up in all the partying and drinking and drugs. Then they started skipping classes, and ignoring him. Then it started getting worse, they turned into real assholes, they would show up at his doorstep, wasted beyond all recognition, and then they would punch him in the face, retch all over him, and then pass out. Nevertheless, they were still his friends.
Brian arrived at the power plant in a half hour, showing up to see Kyle go off a jump on his skateboard and wipe-out, landing on his face.
"Dude! You came!" Kyle shouted from the ground, wasted as hell.
"Dude! You're drunk!" Brian shouted sarcastically.
"Nah, I'm not drunk," Kyle began, getting up and walking over to Brian. He took his index finger and pushed it into Brian's chest. "You're drunk." He said slurringly.
"Whatever, what the hell are you guys doing?" He asked the gang.
"Try it, it's awesome!" One of his "friends" said to him, holding out a helmet and pointing to a ramp that they had set up in front of a vat of highly unstable nuclear toxic biochemical waste.
"Eh, what the hell. Life's too short." Brian said before he grabbed the helmet and a skateboard.
He prepared himself a few feet from the ramp, steadied himself on the board, and then pushed off. He sped towards the ramp at high speed, and gaining, and hit the ramp very fast. As soon as he went into the air, he knew he had made a mistake. He didn't have enough velocity, his mass was too big, and he was overall just going to fall short. He could see the faces of all his friends and family now, as they had come and gone over the years, all smiling at him, as if saying "We're proud of you."
As he neared the greenish liquid he closed his eyes and prayed, Dear God, don't let me die, I'm too young. He then slowly began to fade away.
Apparently God or someone up there must like Brian because he opened his eyes and he was standing on his skateboard on the other side of the ramp.
Kyle ran up to him and grabbed him. "Dude You Are Awesome!" he screamed in Brain's face.
Kyle then ran over and grabbed a helmet and board, and prepared himself for the jump. Off he went, soaring into the air, with much higher speed than Brian. Unfortunately, God must not like Kyle as he fell short of the jump and landed in the toxic waste.
"Oh My God Help Me!" he was screaming as his skin slowly melted away.
Several people tried to help him but when they did they burnt their hands on the waste until Brian boldly stepped up dramatically.
"Step back guys." He said.
Brian then pointed his hand at Kyle and concentrated intensely. His hand began to glow, and so did Kyle, and Kyle was slowly lifted up in the air, out of the waste bin. Brian lifted him over with his mind and gently set him on the ground.
"Someone call an ambulance!" Brian shouted.
Everyone scrambled in their pockets to grab their cell phones, but most of them were too drunk or high to get them, much less dial the numbers. Brian let out a deep disappointed sigh and grabbed his cell phone out of his pocket and dialed nine, one, one.
Luckily for Brian, everyone at the plant was too wasted to remember what they saw about his powers, but unluckily for Brian they were too wasted to remember what happened in general so when the police questioned them about the incident they would simply shrug their shoulders and ask if they could go home now, leaving the police to question the only sober man who was there… him.
"I told you, he was running and he tripped over his shoelace, and fell into the vat!" Brian shouted at the police officer.
"So his shoelace was untied then? Do you have any way to prove this?" The officer asked.
"No."
"Why not?"
"Because when he fell into the vat, his shoes, along with seventy-nine percent of his skin disintegrated!" Brian shouted, ending the conversation.
"Oh… well then, you can go now." The officer said, his ego insulted.
Brian walked out of the police station repeatedly mumbling inappropriate words and phrases about what he would do to the officers if they ever messed with him again. After walking towards home for a little while though Brian eventually dropped it and began to ponder what to do now.
The moment Brian walked in the door he knew exactly what to do. He grabbed his car keys from his table, grabbed his writing notebook, and a pencil, and headed out to his car.
"I need a job." He said to himself, pulling out of the driveway. "Bye Mrs. Schlowsky!" He shouted to his neighbor as he drove away.
A half a mile from Brian's house stood Paradise city; the city that never sleeps nor rests. Paradise city is the city of heroes, where heroes are born, and villains as well.
An angry man sat at his desk. He had a full head of black hair with grey streaks running through it, his eyes were green, but people who knew him would just think them to be red He wore a white dress shirt with rolled up sleeves and a pair of dress pants with suspenders. This man was Edward Valentine, the owner of the prized and well known paper company, The Good Deed.
"Where the hell is that damned reporter!?" He shouted angrily to no one in particular.
"Um, I believe he's dead sir." His secretary said, not even looking up from her computer, obviously used to his outbursts.
"DEAD! How the hell did that happen?" He screamed.
"There was an incident down by second street, galactic man and doctor galaxy had a little battle and he tried to get pictures of the fight." A passing worker said.
"Oh." Edward said as he calmed down. "Well then, we need a new reporter."
At that moment, Brian walked in.
"Hey you!" Edward called out to him. "Looking for a job?" he asked.
"Uh, yeah." Brian said.
"You're hired." Edward said immediately.
Brian stopped himself, looking confused. "Don't you need a resume or something." He said, holding out a clump of papers.
Edward grabbed the papers and briefly read the name. "Brian Caldwell. Looks good, you're hired. I expect a story on my desk once a week, and it better be good, or you might end up like the last reporter." Everyone looked up suddenly. A deadly silence… "He got fired." Edward said and then everyone continued their work. "You should get an apartment if you're new here." He finished.
"Uh, yeah, I just did that yesterday." Brian said before he began to walk out the door.
Thus, a confused, annoyed, and tired Brian Caldwell, got in his car, and went to his new apartment.
Superhero time! So yeah, this isn't necessarily City of Heroes but it has superheroes and super villains… in a city. Constructive criticism appreciated, flaming not. I don't want any reviews saying like: This story is and you're a you should just go . P.S. People who review are awesome you know. Sincerely, Kiba I.