Prologue: Awakening
? P.O.V.
Nighttime in Miami, Florida, was always a bit of a dangerous time. It was when criminals were the most active. The thieves, the dealers, the murderers… all of them tended to do the majority of their dirty work at night, when cops were a bit more tired, and overall, it was just more dangerous. It wasn't helped by the fact that some of the gangs had villainous Conduits on their side-people with powers.
Miami is currently in a war, and a very strange type of war at that. Initially, it was entirely a one-sided war. The gangs that had Conduits drove fear into the hearts of everyone else in the city. It didn't matter what power they had. It was still scary all the same. Miami's economy, people, and overall existence was suffering at the hands of these rogue Conduits. But then… she showed up.
Queen Raiden. Initially, everyone assumed she was just a really powerful Conduit with a good heart. Although it's been proven by now that she isn't a Conduit, she's still a blessing to this city, and its only real hope. She leads a group of Conduits that she's taken in under her wing-Queen Raiden's Knights. Together, they're taking Miami back from the gangs and the rogue Conduits. Every good person at least respects them. Me? Well, I almost idolized them.
I already had a reverence of sorts for them. Then, I had a personal encounter with one of them. One of Queen Raiden's Knights. A small group of thugs decided that I was a perfect mugging target. Then, from a neon sign nearby, she appeared. One of the Knights. I knew that she was one of them because of their trademark emblem on her right shoulder-a lightning bolt. Called herself "Neon Huntress". It was amazing; watching her take down the thugs with such ease, and the Neon trails that her powers generated only made it more incredible!
She then got me to a nearby hospital, and left in a flurry of Neon. I was so grateful that I began using my art talents to further their popularity. With many aerosol cans in hand, I painted walls all over the city. I never thought that I would really see them again. After all, I never thought I would be anything more than a graffiti artist.
I couldn't have been more wrong.
It happened so suddenly. I'll never forget it. Not as long as I live.
I was spraying up another wall with a newer design. Then, I was attacked by real gang. Not just some lowly thugs that no one really cared about. A real, legit gang. It was only a small section of that gang, but it was certainly more than enough. I struggled against them, running. Bullet after bullet struck my body. Then… My body snapped.
A bullet struck me in my arm, hard. That was the final strike for them. My Conduit gene-one I didn't know I had!-was triggered by the stress, and began coding itself. Driven and consumed by the need to survive, my powers saved me. I used my newfound Aerosol-based abilities in all sorts of ways-creating creatures to help me, creating weapons so I could arm myself and my other creations, turning myself into aerosol gas to move around better, blasting them with compressed gas, suffocating them with the gas and, of course, the trademark enhanced body state of all Conduits. The healing factor, the resiliency… it all happened so fast.
When I finally calmed down and regained my head, I looked around, and couldn't believe what I saw. Not a cop in sight, yet my attackers were down. I was surrounded by the things born of my power, and I was holding a sword I had made! The gas created a faint aura around my body, and the men were downed, trapped in chains that I had created! I didn't want to accept it at first, but I had no choice. I cried as the realization hit me.
I was a Conduit. One of them. One of the people with powers. I was so scared and so confused that I didn't know what to do. I didn't see the trail of color that my powers generated as I sat there, crying my eyes out. Sitting there in the middle of the street, consumed now by fear and confusion. In one of the few moments I had to stop to breathe, I heard footsteps. Fearing it was a bystander or a cop, I turned around, and, through tears, pointed my Aerosol sword in the direction of the source of the footsteps. My grip was shaky, so it really wouldn't have done me any good if I had to use it. But can anyone blame me? I was scared, confused, and crying my heart out. Luckily, I didn't need to use the sword.
"Impressive work you've done here, kid. Taking down all of these guys by yourself. Nice sword and creations, too."
My vision started to clear as I began to stop crying. Although my vision was certainly still blurry from all the tears and all the crying, what I saw clearly wasn't just some bystander, cop, or gangbanger. I could see a fuzzy symbol, and when the figure knelt down and wiped my tears, I realized what this person was.
The lightning bolt symbol. The trademark of Queen Raiden's Knights. Specifically, the one who had saved me so long ago. Neon Huntress.
They had been known to somehow be able to find any Conduit in Miami moments after their powers awakened. How they did it, no one knew. They just did. Right now, I didn't care how they found me. I just cared that they found me. Since practically every member of the Knights was a Conduit, I knew that I would have a safe place to call home. Words weren't needed. I threw my weakened self onto her, and she let me cry on her shoulder for what seemed like forever. She took me to what I figured was one of their home bases, and managed to do it at an incredible rate of speed, despite not using her powers.
It was then that my journey began. The journey of learning to control my powers, and help protect the people of Miami. But no one can see the future, and no one knew what was in store for any of us. Not even Queen Raiden herself…
