Prologue

How They Got Their Powers

The sun was shining brightly over the town of Lima, Ohio on the Saturday afternoon in April that our story begins. 12 young friends, some spending time together, others not, were all outside when the storm struck. Another thing these teens shared in common was a lightning strike that wold forever change the courses of their futures.

We start with one of the 12, Noah Puckerman, known simply as "Puck" to most he knew, was working on the pool of one Ms. Littleton when the storm affected him. The middle-aged blonde woman he was working for had just popped into the house for some tea when the sky crackled above Puck. He glanced up, squinting as rain plopped onto his upturned cheeks. A deep rumble and some darkness later, large balls of ice were plummeting at high-speeds towards him.

"Oh shi-" he exclaimed as one exploded at his feet, causing him to throw his arms over his head in fear. He ducked and dodged, making a beeline for the house, where he could barely hear Ms. Littleton's high-pitched screams over the din. As soon as his hand grasped the metal railing of her deck however, he was rocketed backwards with a shocking force, landing hard on the grass behind him.

When Puck awoke, the sky was clearing, and the sounds of thunder had all but gone. Ms. Littleton was crouched over him, her fake-tanned bosom hanging out. Puck winced, rubbing his forehead as he tried to sit up.

"Oh, dear, are you all right?" Ms. Littleton cooed.

"Never been better," he grunted in response. Ms. Littleton backed off, giving him room to rise. He patted his palms down over him body. "Yep, everything's still in place," he finished, with a generous grab to his crotch. Ms. Littleton giggled, and swatted at his shoulder playfully, as Puck curled his lips flirtatiously in that Puck way of his, and nodded his chin at the woman before him, as he followed her into her home.

At the same time as the events in Ms. Littleton's backyard occurred, two boys were tossing a football back and forth across town, on the field belonging to William McKinley High School. The taller of the two, named Finn, currently held the ball.

"Hey, go long," he called to his partner. The blonde boy across from him began running, his head thrown over his shoulder to keep an eye on the ball as it approached him in the sky. As he looked up however, the boy, named Sam, slowed his run and eventually stopped completely, the ball landing untouched some 10 yards ahead of his resting place.

"Hey, man, what gives?" Finn called. "That was a good throw!"

Sam, without taking his eyes off the sky, silently pointed upwards. Finn didn't react at first, then, realizing he was meant to direct his gaze upward, obliged. His mouth hung open as he squinted at the storm gathering above him.

"I think we should head inside," Sam said.

"Scared of a little rain?" Finn teased playfully.

"No," Sam replied, making eye contact.

A split-second after he did so, the sky opened up with a bang, hard-packed balls of ice hurtling towards Earth. One shattered directly in front of Finn. He jumped and squealed away from the offending object as another landed hard right behind him. He entered into a sort of frenzied dance as the monstrous hail attacked him from all sides. He felt a warm hand grip his forearm hard and he was yanked away, running alongside Sam towards cover beneath the bleachers. The Earth felt so loud as the two sprinted down the field, dodging ice ball after ice ball that was flung toward them.

As soon as the two passed under the goal posts, both were thrown onto their backs with a painful velocity that caused both boys to black out.

Finn's first awareness was a pounding in his head and an ache in his backside. He sat up slowly and glanced to his right; Sam was sprawled some 5 feet away, still unconscious but breathing steadily. Finn crawled to his friend's side and shook him awake.

"Dude, are you okay?"

Sam glanced around, disoriented. "What happened?"

"I-I have no idea," Finn stammered. "There was a storm, do you remember?"

Finn watched the realization dawn on Sam's face. "We were hit by lightning."

"What?"

"What if we get superpowers," Sam whispered excitedly.

"Dude, you're not making any sense."

Sam glanced at Finn, his expression guarded. "N-nevermind. We should probably go home."

Finn paused, watching his friend, concern written all over his features. "Okay," he nodded.

5 of the friends were out together at a nearby strip mall, sipping smoothies and idly chatting about TV shows, celebrities, and other things that typical show choir teens talk about.

Mercedes and her friends Tina and Kurt were trying on sunglasses at a small cart under a tree, while Mike and Artie sat nearby at a fountain, chatting amiably.

"Oh my God, you have got to get those ones," Mercedes giggled as Tina slipped on a pair of hot pink sunglasses with gold glitter on the sides.

Kurt gasped in horror as he saw what the girl beside him was wearing, "Lord, no. You will remove those this instant."

"I'm just trying them on for fun!" Tina protested, a smile on her face.

"Mm-mm, no." Kurt shook his head, his lips pursed as he plucked them from her face, placing them back on the empty space on the rack.

The girls were about to protest but were cut off by a loud clap of thunder that rattled the plastic frames of the glasses around them. The entire mall seemed to freeze and turn their collective attention skyward, deciding if it was time to cut their shopping trip short.

"Should we go inside?" Tina asked.

"I'm sure it'll be fine for a little bit lon-" But Mercedes didn't get to finish her sentence, as another loud thunderclap rumbled through the sky, this time sending an immediate spray of large hail towards the mall.

"Run!" Kurt shouted, his eyes wide.

"Wait! Where are Mike and Artie?" Tina cried frantically, shielding her head with her arms as her neck whipped back and forth searching for the two boys.

"They probably went inside! Like we should!" Mercedes shouted at her, tugging at her lifted elbow.

"No!" Tina wrenched her arm free and darted towards the fountain, where she'd last known them to be.

"Tina!" Mercedes and Kurt shouted simultaneously, bolting after her.

Meanwhile, Mike and Artie were 30 yards down the strip, where they'd gone to discard their empty Jamba Juice cups when the storm hit. The boys were racing back to the sunglass cart where they'd left their friends, Artie's arms above his head, Mike running full speed pushing his companion's chair in front of him.

The two groups continued running full out towards each other, neither knowing where the other could be. Reaching another tree just past the fountain, they almost connected, just as they were thrown backwards with a force only something very strong could produce. Upon landing on the pavement, all 5 were knocked unconscious.

Mercedes awoke with the frantic realization that she couldn't breathe. Panicked, she clawed at her face, connecting with something heavy and warm. She grabbed and pulled with all her might, the object groaning and sliding off. With breathing also came the knowledge that it was still daytime, the area illuminated around her. She looked down to the offending blockade, a just-now-regaining-consciousness Kurt, curled up on the ground where she'd shoved him.

She sat up and glanced around. The mall appeared deserted. With an exasperated sigh she came to the conclusion that everyone else had been smart enough to take cover.

"Wha- happen'?" Kurt mumbled, cross-eyed and completely dazed. Mercedes couldn't help but smile at her friend.

Tina, Mike and Artie were stirring now too, and Mercedes hastened over to help lift Artie and his chair back upright again.

"You guys okay?" she asked. She noticed a slight tremor to her voice.

Mike patted his chest with his palms, surveying for damage. "I'm good."

"All clear," Artie replied.

Kurt straightened his clothes and glanced around, as if he was personally offended someone might have seen him looking rumpled. "I suppose I'm alright."

"I'm okay," Tina answered quietly, scooting towards Mike.

The group remained silent for a moment, staring up at the sky.

"Well, that was weird," Mercedes whispered.

Rachel Berry knew flowers. Their meanings, proper care techniques...when Rachel did something, she did it perfectly with 110% effort, or not at all. So when her dads bought her some seeds for her ninth birthday (Hiram and Leroy Berry thought it might be good to teach their over-ambitious daughter a lesson in patience) Rachel Berry researched any and every flower to an extreme.

The day of the storm found Rachel sitting peacefully in her little backyard garden, singing to her flowers. Almost everything she found on growing healthy plants said singing to them was beneficial. It was almost too perfect.

Rachel was kneeling in the soil, a soft melody falling gracefully from her mouth, when she heard the first bang of thunder.

"Oh no," she exclaimed quietly. Frantically, she searched for anything to protect her precious garden from the impending storm. She ran out of time however, as the mutant hail began to fall like bombs to the Earth. Desperation seized her and she threw her tiny body out onto all fours to attempt to protect her precious garden at all costs. She squeezed her eyes shut and willed the hail to land anywhere but her vulnerable back and her flowers.

She was granted her wish, however, the sky found a loophole in her request. A bolt of lightning shot down just then, launching her forward into a flip where she landed with a dull thwump on the grass adjacent to her garden. Rachel's eyelids fluttered, catching a final glimpse at the almost apocalypse above her before she slipped into unconsciousness.

Upon waking, Rachel shot up immediately and crawled to her garden. A defeated sob escaped her throat as she saw the damage that had been done. The portion she'd been able to shield fared pretty well, considering. However, the rest of her hard work had been decimated.

Heartbroken, she rushed back into her house, not even really processing that she'd just survived being hit by lightning.

"Santana! Watch me!" Brittany called from the top of the slide, waving her arm wildly at the girl below on the bench.

"I see you, Britt!" Santana called back amiably. She continued her conversation with the girl beside her without taking her eyes off the blonde going down the slide.

"Whee!" Brittany squealed before landing on her backside at the end of the slide, cutting her off. She sat dazed for a moment before standing and rubbing her sore tailbone.

"You gotta put her feet out, Britt, remember?" Santana yelled patiently, while Quinn giggled beside her. "Don't laugh," she snapped at Quinn, who shook her head and sighed.

"She's not hurt," Quinn commented.

Santana simply glared.

Brittany had already recovered and clambered back up to the top of the slide. She began talking to a small child who was up there also.

"You're so patient with her," Quinn smiled knowingly.

Santana just pouted, not meeting her eye. "Yeah, so?"

"Nothing," she replied, her smile only growing.

Thunder rumbled above and both girls looked up.

"We should probably get going soon, that looks pretty nasty," Quinn said.

"Yeah," Santana nodded, then, "Britt! Time to go, come on!"

"No, I don't wanna go home yet," Brittany answered.

"There's a storm coming, we need to leave!"

Brittany turned around, ignoring her friend and began to spin a plastic toy that was a part of the play structure. "Brittany!" Santana shouted again.

Brittany turned to respond but her answer was drowned out by a second clap of thunder, this one bringing large balls of ice with it.

"Hey!" She shouted angrily. "Who threw this snowball at me?"

"No one! Brittany, it's April, that's not snow, it's hail!" Quinn yelled.

"Let's see how you like it, Q!" Brittany shouted back, a devious smile on her face. She gathered the slush from the exploded hail beside her and launched it at the girls below.

Quinn screamed as the makeshift snowball connected, hitting her hard in the thigh. "I'm finding cover, you deal with her!" She shouted to Santana over the din as she bolted for the trees, 30 yards away.

Santana stomped her foot exasperatedly as she watched Quinn's retreating form dash towards the tree line. "Brittany! You need to get down, now!"

"Your turn, San!" Brittany shouted gleefully as she launched another hail-ball at her friend below her. Santana jumped out of the way, her patience finally broken.

"That's it!" She shouted, running for the ladder to the play structure. Brittany squealed happily as she gathered more slush to assail her friend with.

Just as Santana breached the top of the slide, she was shot backward with a heavy force, landing in the bark chips below.

The lightning blew Brittany down the slide and into the bark chips, reinforcing her previous tailbone bruise.

Quinn hadn't quite reached the trees and was catapulted directly into the trunk of the one closest to her- a good 10 yards away.

Brittany was the first of the trio to wake, having had the softest fall. She sat up, dazed. She glanced around until she saw Santana, still unconscious on the other side of the play structure. "Santana?" she ventured quietly.

No response.

Brittany began to panic. She glanced around, panicked, searching for any sign of her other friend. "Quinn?" she tried.

No response.

She crawled swiftly to Santana's side and gently shook her shoulder. "Wake up. Wake up! I'm sorry I attacked you. I wanna go home now," she whispered.

At the stimulus, Santana stirred. Brittany's face lit up, as she lifted the girl's upper body into her arms. "You're not dead! I thought my ice-balls killed you!"

Santana coughed. "You never hit me, Britt."

"We gotta find Quinn."

Underneath a tree, Quinn opened her eyes. She squinted at the foliage above her, confused. She attempted to sit up but fell back with a cry of pain as her head throbbed so powerfully she was temporarily blinded. She reached a hand up to gingerly feel the egg-shaped lump that was quickly forming on her crown. "Ow," she whispered.

"Quinn!" Santana cried. Soon both girls entered Quinn's line of vision. They hovered over her, worry across their faces. "You okay?"

"I'm sorry my ice-ball skills are so deadly," Brittany deadpanned.

Quinn winced as she tried to sit up again, this time with her friends aid. "I think I hit my head."

"Yeah, you got a nasty lump up there," Santana jeered good-naturedly.

"We should probably try to get home. I might have a concussion," Quinn observed as the two girls helped her to her feet.

As the trio departed the park, they all looked skyward once more. All traces of the freak storm had vanished. Save for the lump on Quinn's head and the throbbing in the other girls' backsides, it was almost like nothing had happened at all.

Or was it?

A/N: Hey all! This is just the prologue to something I'm hoping to continue. I've already planned out what everyone's powers

will be. Also, this is obviously AU, so some things will be different besides the obvious having powers thing. Depending on how

much response this gets, I'll decide whether or not to pursue it. Also, if there's anyone who hasn't seen the show Misfits, I highly

recommend it! You can find it on hulu.

Reviews and any comments are extremely welcome, and always read. Thanks for reading!