Silicon City. 11 years ago.
It was a normal night, dark and cool. A dark-skin woman had just entered a house. Wearing a brown fur coat, dark skin, black heels, blue eyes with black eyeliner, and long jet-black hair that reached down to her waist.
She places her coat on the near stairs, dusting it off just the smudge of dirt on the shoulder. She moans loudly. "Dwain, I'm home. Did you put Dede to sleep? You know he has a playdate with Kelly tomorrow." 'He'd better not forgotten again.'
'Dammit, I forgot.' Dwain was a man of skinny build, his hair looked to be shaved clean off, and his eyes seem to be a shriveled grey. "Yeah, he's sleeping like there's no tomorrow. Like always." There was a huge hint of nervousness stemming from his tone. Dwain hoped that his son put himself to sleep before his wife decides to check up on him, his tone didn't help since it gave off a hint of guilt. "Had a hard day's work at the Big Belly Burger. Mr. Biff was a jerk as always. Might just quit tomorrow and go back to working at the mill. Should've done that years ago now that I think about it." He yawns loudly stretching his arms out. "So, how was your day at the department Linda? Better than mine's I bet. You should tell me all about it." 'That should distract her long enough for Dede to put himself to sleep. He must be out of energy by now. Considering the day he's had, I hope he is for his own sake.'
In the next room down the hall, just after Dwain's thought, there was a young preschooler sitting upon the edge of a made up bed reading Sorcerer's Stone(Original U.S Cover) wearing a blue onesie with a hood that only shows his mouth.
Dede gets some sort of feeling in his bones. "I feel like I ssshould be asssleep right now." The little bookworm just shrugged his shoulders. "Whatever. It'sss not like I care or anything." I seemed to be well invested in the book, or at least seems bothered as if he was holding something within as he clenches his teeth in major stress. 'I feel ssso regretful.'
'Why wasss I born like thisss? Isss thisss sssome kind of cruel joke?'
As Dede ponders his thoughts with the novel in his hand still, Linda starts going up the stairs very slowly as if she was going to fall. "Not better than yours. The evidence I tried to find is a bust. It didn't make any sense. No fingerprints, no footprints, no property damage, no security footage, no signs of a getaway vehicle like tire tracks. It's like there was no thief to begin with."
She makes it to the bedroom to find her husband half sleep(or at least pretending to).
Linda starts to take her clothes off, and switches into her yellow nightgown, crashing right down next to him, surprising the bald man with her exhausted expression.
Dwain yawns loudly, stretching his arms out as he looks away from her so she doesn't see his guilty face. "Must've been a ghost. Ooooooo." He joked as he waved his arms around pretending to scare her.
The blue-eyed woman looks at him trying to hold in her laughter. "You have a weird sense of humor."
"Isn't that why you love me? Or is it my baldness?" He wondered, though it might have been just a joke, I think.
Ignoring Dwain's question, the woman asked one of her own. Seems unfair but alright. "Why did you wax your hair off anyway?"
"You know, at the time I had a messed up hairline and thought to myself, 'they can't make fun of your hairline if you don't have one'." He does bring up a good point, though still unsure about it though. "After I waxed it I regret my decision when I realized it made me look like a walking-talking chestnut." Wow. "But now, I just don't care what anyone thinks of it, I'll wax it as many times as I want to."
"So you're telling me that there wasn't anyone else who was bald, not even the manager?"
The bald man turns over to face his wife, with a joyless face. "Yep."
"I feel so bad for you. I'd shave off all my hair, but I love it too much." She caresses her silky hair, causing jealousy to spike in her husband.
"Wow, thanks for sticking by me oh so fateful partner." Dwain says in a monotonous tone.
Linda proceeds to flick her hair in a teasing matter. "It's what I do best hon."
The waxed-head man playfully nudges her on the arm. "Hehehe, shut up." He laughs for a while, but then frowns deeply.
"Linda, I think Dede is getting bullied again." He spoke in a saddened tone. "I tried talking to him, but he keeps saying 'Oh, I'm fine Dad. It's alright, stop worrying'. Tried talking to the teacher she doesn't know what happened, and didn't even seem to care, pisses me off. I figured you could talk to him."
The blue-eyed woman throws the covers off, and quickly leaps out of the bed. Her face was astonished , disheartened as she was thinking about how miserable her son was.
"Wha-"
She grabbed a shocked Dwain's wrist and dragged him out the bed, making him fall to the ground hurting his arm.
'And there it is.'
Linda pulled her husband up on her feet, as he rubbed his now free arm to ease the pain. 'That's gonna leave a mark.' "Shit! Take it easy woman! He's not going anywhere!" He spoke in an agitated tone. "I said I think he's getting bullied. We can't just barge in his room and expect him to be willing to talk to us immediately. We could try to be subtle," He gently unlatches his partner's hand from his wrist. "and you can let go my arm, so it doesn't tear off from my body."
"I'm sorry, I just want my baby to be okay."
Dwain gets close to his saddened wife and hugs her, resting her head against his chest caressing her long hair gently.
"I understand you want him to live a happy life, but there's always going to be bad times, and sometimes we can't do anything about it. It's our job to help him through this. Also he didn't leave a good track record in Kanagawa if I remember correctly."
Linda states. "I know, he hasn't been too keen on making more friends."
Linda moans in what seems to be a tone of shame. 'When we tried to help him make friends, they either laughed at his condition, or wanted nothing to do with him.'
Dwain looks into Linda's shining eyes, his hand latched on her shoulders. "Hey, we're still pretty new to this whole parenting thing, we're going to make mistakes in the long run, it's best to learn from them."
Linda looked unsure about it, then thinks on her mate's words.
"Linda, you know he isn't keen on talking to me at the moment, I think maybe he needs a mother right now."
"Are you sure?" Linda asked softly as she was being escorted to the troubled tike's room, causing soft creaks on the wooden floors with her comfy slippers.
This somehow alerted Dede.
"Oh no." He panics flipping his cover up on instinct. He then throws his novel out the window breaking the glass into shards. 'Crabbasssket.'
The couple hears this before they even reach the door. Linda scratches her head.
She looks to Dwain. "Did Dede just break the window?"
"Shouldn't be able to, it's made of plexiglass."
"Okay, now I'm really worried." She panicked.
Without hesitation, Linda entered the room.
Seeing a seemingly sleeping figure in the bed, Linda was relieved to see the little tike okay, but was still suspicious about the window breaking. She investigates over to the window area and moves the curtains out of the way, not the least bit surprised as she sees the broken window, looking outside she sees the broken shards along with the novel on top of the bushes below.
Linda gained an exhausted expression. 'Okay, so he's strong enough to break plexiglass. But that's not important at the moment.'
She strolls over to the bed, staring at the peak of spiky hair from under the covers as she sits on the edge besides his head.
"You can stop faking, I know you're awake."
Knowing it was pointless to keep up the charade, the little tike turns over to face his mother.
The forensic scientist proceeded with a question. "Mind telling me what happened at school today?"
Dede sighs deeply. "Sssome girlsss were picking on Kelly, and I sstepped in. They sstarted calling me 'Demon Boy', for obviousss reasonsss, ssaying that I sshouldn't even breathe the sssame air ass them. Are they right Mom, am I really a Demon Boy?"
Linda pats him on the head, with a face of uncertainty. "Honestly sweetie, me and your father have no idea what you are. Would've gotten you tested but we didn't want you getting dissected in Area 51. Look, we don't care if you're some kind of creature that society frowns upon or doesn't understand. You're still our son. And we love you. Even though you aren't pleasant to look at." 'Though, by my deductions, you most likely have snake D.N.A given your speech. But it may also be a speech impediment.'
"Linda, you can't just call our son ugly like that." Dwain states entering the room.
"I'm not gonna lie to him and be like, 'Oh sweetie, you're the most handsome boy in world'. That's giving him false hope." She proclaimed. "And aren't you supposed to be leaving this to me?"
The realization struck him in the head. "Right. Sorry. I'll leave now."
"No no, stay, you're already here so you might as well stay."
"Alright." Dwain sits down next to his partner.
The couple hugs the little tike, hoping to make him feel better.
There was still a hint of misery in Dede however. "Thanksss Momma and Daddy. But I can't feel better knowing that my friend going to keep on getting bullied just by asssociation." He pulls the covers over himself. "Maybe I ssshould just ssstop being friendsss with Kelly, then ssshe can have normal friendss." He mumbled.
"And where will that leave you?" The scientist asked. "We're not gonna let you do that to yourself."
Dwain then speaks up. "I don't know, maybe he's right. Maybe he and Kelly need space this time till we settle this."
Linda seemed confused for a bit. "Um, aren't you supposed to be on my side? Because I'm pretty sure you're saying that my son should be lonely."
"No, I'm saying that they might need a little space, while we settle it."
"Well sorry hon, but that's not going to happen." She stated sounding a little peeved. "We are going to settle it tomorrow morning, right before his class starts."
Both Dede and Dwain could've sworn they saw a vein on her forehead. In response, Dede ducked under the covers quickly shivering.
The bald man put his hands out to calm her down. "Chill out Lin, you're scaring the boy." Just then, an idea sparked in Dwain's head. "We can have a meeting with the bullies parents, along with Natalie."
"Better include the teacher too. I still wanna have some words with him." She hissed, clenching her fist tightly.
Dwain quickly gets up heads for the door. "I'm just going to get you a glass water before you get any ideas on ripping someone's head off. Namely me or Dede." He exits the room closing the door behind him.
Dede peeked from the covers, still a little frightened. Looking into his eyes, Linda unclenched her fist and breathes calmly.
With Dwain, he stops halfway down the stairs coughing up blood. He quickly covers his mouth to hold it back, not noticing that some of it splashed on a hung up picture of him, Linda, and Dede, all wearing safari gear, in front of a Jeep, seeming to be taking place at some kind of savannah.
"Crap." He sighs deeply, wiping the blood from his mouth. "Come on Dwain, you can get through this. Just get wash out your mouth, it'll all be over soon. Hopefully." He continues on to the kitchen.
Back at Dede's room, Linda caresses the young lad's hair as if he was a pet cat. Dede didn't mind as he felt more at ease now, and he felt that his mother was less peeved than before.
"So, is there anything else you want to tell me about incident? I'm asking just to be nice, I know there's more."
"Okay, promissse you won't get mad." He pleads as he holds out his right hand with his pinky finger out. "Pinkie promissse."
Linda latches her pinky onto Dede's. "Pinkie promise."
"Ssso, one of the girlsss punched me in the face, my hood came off. That'sss when Kelly ssstarted beating her up, badly(like an African Buffalo), the other two girlsss tried to hold her back. But it wasss kinda too late, and Missstina wasss unconsssciousss."
"You know, I wouldn't expect less from Nat's girl. But you held her back too, right?"
The young lad twiddled his fingers. "Sssorry, I wass covering my eyess."
"It's okay. Tell you-" A loud crash was heard downstairs.
This put the raised suspicion in the scientist, while Dede didn't know what to make of it.
Linda gets up in a hurry. "I'm going to check on your father to see if he's alright. Stay here." She says before she leaves.
Dede stares at the door in concern. 'Gee, I hope Dad's okay.'
Just then Linda's screams were heard.
"OH MY GOD! DWAIN!"
This alerted the young lad, causing him to get out of his bed and rush downstairs.
As he runs abnormally fast down the stairs, he starts to hear this crackling noise, like electricity, along with his mother's screams.
When he made it to the source of his mom's scream of terror, what he saw next was impossible. A storm of black lightning was surrounding an unconscious Dwain, and messing up the entire living room, causing ruin.
"M-m-m-mama. What'sss going on?" He asks in shock.
"DEDE, GET TO SAFETY, CALL THE COPS!"
Then Linda gets knocked into the coffee table by the lightning, and becomes unconscious. "Momma?" Tears start forming from his eyes. "AHHHHHHHHH!"
A strange rift appears in the room, sucking Dwain into it. Dede tries to grab his dad but gets slammed into the wall by the black lightning before he could even touch him.
When he landed on the ground, his head made an impact on the surface.
"Oww." He felt his head throb.
'What the-'
He gets up to try again but it was too late, his dad was gone. He couldn't believe it, the man who took care of him for most of his life disappeared just before his eyes. He looked towards his mother and then the door.
'I have to get Momma out of here, before the lightning kills her.'
Dede dashes straight towards his mom in quick succession, but alas it proved to be pointless as the lightning strikes him, this time sends him hurtling straight to the window.
As this was going on, time appeared to slow down for Dede as he crashes through window with pieces of shattered glass falling in slow motion.
When his body finally hits the ground, he blacks out.
'Momma.'
After some time, Dede slowly wakes up to find himself on a hospital gurney, seeing bright red and blue lights flashing around the area, though his vision was still blurry.
As his sight was recovering, he sees what looks like hand coming straight for his hood.
"No!" He smacks the hand away.
"Ow!" The woman shakes the pain off her hand. "I see you're awake, now let me take off your hood so I can check your eyes for any damage."
"I'm fine lady," He looks over to see police cars all around the front of his house, along with a yellow police tape surrounding the area. There were a lot of cops guarding house. "oh no, Momma!"
Dede runs over to his house, getting past the police tape, and some officers.
"Hey kid," Yelled one of the cops. "you can't go in there, we're in the middle of an investigation!"
The young tike didn't listen to her, not even paying her any mind.
Looking at him run towards the house, the paramedic tilts her head, scratching her hair.
"There's no way a person could recover that fast, especially a small child like him."
"DON'T CALL ME SSSMALL!"
When he makes it to the house the room was still a disaster, as if a tornado struck the place. Dede then looks over to where his mother was standing, sobbing while covering her eyes
She was comforted by a curly brown haired woman with black streaks. The woman's eyes were lilac like the flower. She wore a brown suit with a grey business tie and brown shoes. She looked to be very concerned for Linda.
"It's going to be alright, we'll do everything in our power to find him. I pro-"
"I already told you Natalie," She furiously interrupted, "he's gone!"
"Linda a portal did not take away Dwain. Your mind was just playing tricks on you. You're probably in a state of denial from the fact that he left you and Dede without saying goodbye." Natalie states bluntly.
There was a slight pause in breaths from Linda as she heard her friend's statement. Steam was coming out of her ears as she gripped her hands tightly.
She pulls back her fist and throws it out aiming straight for Natalie's face.
Fortunately for Natalie, Dede tugs on his mother's gown getting her attention. Linda stops mid-punch to look down to him. Then she looks at her fist, and then Natalie, who just stands there as if she's ready to take the hit.
More tears runs down both the mom and son's face, as Linda embraces her son in her arms, holding his head to her chest.
"Momma," Dede sniffles, "will Daddy ever come back?"
"I don't know." She answered. "I just don't know."
While the two were hugging each other, Natalie gets a tap on the shoulder by one of the officers.
"Detective, the captain wants to know if you found anything yet."
"Just hold on for a sec will ya." She told him. "Are you two going to be okay?"
"Uh huh. We'll be fine." Linda replied wobbly.
"Alright, I'll ask the captain to give you a little break from the lab. Take care Lin." Natalie takes off with the officer.
As she walks with him, a thought came to Natalie's mind. 'Dwain Kolins, when I find you, you are going to return to your family and explain everything. After I kick your sorry ass back to Gotham.'
Dede's Room. Two weeks later. Morning
Dede was sitting in his desk chair wearing a Tigger onesie that concealed his eyes, still reading the same book. Each time he breathes, it was deep and heavy. He struggled to keep his eyes open, and he looked as if he wanted to put the book down and leave it.
The little tike sighs heavily once more. 'Screw this, I'll just speed read.' He looks the pages in a rush, getting down all the information page by page. However, his eyes start to surge with red electricity, and in literally one second, he finished the book, closing it straight after. 'Woah. What was that?' He looks his hands, vibrating like crazy. "What the heck is this?"
Soon after, his whole body vibrated and he phased through the floor into the sitting room, crashing into the new coffee table breaking it into pieces.
Linda runs into the room wobbling, her hair looking very disheveled, and stops in her tracks, almost falling, when she sees her child getting up from the broken furniture.
"Dede!" She shoves him aside and tries examines wreckage. "Why did you break the coffee table?" She slurs.
"I don't know, I wasss jussst-"
The scientist pinches her nose bridge and sighs deeply. "Look Dede, I know it's difficult getting over the loss of your dad, but you can't take it out on the furniture." She takes a pause. "You can always drink your problems away." She burps loudly after her sentence. "Forget that l-l-last part."
Linda walks up the stairs, struggling to to keep her balance.
Dede hears this buzzing sound coming from his hands. He looks at his hands vibrating once again.
'Hmm, Momma ssseemss too busssy to help right now, sso I guessss I'm on my own for now.' Blood drops from his face and onto the floor. 'Huh?' He touches his face with two fingers until he felt the blood coming from his nose. 'Weird, I've never had a bloody nossse before.'
He goes to the bathroom and grabs a washcloth, using a stool to reach the sink. When he takes the cloth off his face, he opens the cabinet to get some napkins to plug into his nose. His hand vibrates again as he touched the mirror, causing it to shatter into pieces.
'Oh come on!' He sighs as he just gets napkins and plugs them into his nose.
He goes straight to his room and grabs a book from his shelf, that now has rows of other books, a lot of game covers, and consoles such as the Xbox, PlayStation 2, and GameCube, etc., along with the controllers on top of said respective console.
'Okay, I'll just read Animal Farm.' His eyes surge with red electricity once again as he rapidly reads through the novel, finishing it in less than a second. "Wow, what a rush. And Napoleon is such a pit sniffer."
'But, these powers can't help bring Dad back. All I can do is read fast, fall through the floor, and vibrate my hands.'
He throws the book to side making a dent in the wall.
"Ssshould've known it wasss pointlesss." He says as he goes over to his desk. When he crawls under the desk, he grabs a small brass key hidden in the floor, and uses it to unlock a hidden compartment. "Alright, now onto real busssinessss."
He opens the cabinet and takes out a magazine. The magazine was a bit smooth and shiny making the little time proud to hold it. On the cover was a voluptuous peach-skin Caucasian woman, with long wavy brown hair, wearing a red and white one piece swimsuit that has purple stripes on the side. The woman was posing on her knees with her index finger on her puckered red lips.
Dede goes to his bed with the magazine in hand and lays on his back.
"Oh Rita, you're ssso pretty. I'd love touch your boobiesss, they look ssso sssoft." He hisses as he slowly traces his index finger on the image. 'I don't know if I'll ever sssave Dad, or if I can help Momma. Maybe it'll never happen.'
Sitting Room. The Next Day
The T.V screen was blank as Dede stares at it in boredom eating a bowl of steaming pizza rolls.
Linda stumbles into the room with an opened bottle of 'Captain Morgan' in her hand.
"W-w-what are y-y-you doing? Ugly d-demon." She slurs.
"Jussst watching T.V and eating pizza rollsss. That'sss all."
The scientist looks at the television and back at her son.
"I may or may not be d-d-drunk, but it l-l-looks like it's off." Linda stutters.
"I ssaid I wasss watching T.V, not an actual sshow." Dede states as he slumps on the couch.
A scowl appears on Linda's face as she takes the remote and turns on the T.V.
"No! You ain't going to b-be watching nothing! You're going to be watching something. Like D-Dr. Garland."
She stops at at a channel and takes Dede's bowl of pizza rolls.
"Hey!"
"They're m-m-mine now." She declares as she runs into the kitchen.
Dede just sighs as he faces towards the television and is very confused.
"What the?"
On the television were multiple buildings on fire and sounds of people screaming. It seemed to be a cartoon from the 60s as can be seen from it's cheap animation budget.
The little time scratches his head. "This isssn't Dr. Garland. What isss thisss?" Just then he spots a blue blur on the scene. "Huh?"
There, was a man wearing a blue mask with white lenses and a red domino mask-like cover, along with a white gem on the forehead part, that covers half his face, a long sleeve V-neck style white top(that shows a bit of his chest exposing his fair-skin tone) with a popped collar (sorta like Dracula), dark blue gauntlet gloves, and blue tights with dark blue knee high boots.
"Don't worry, I'm on it." The mystery man proclaims.
The crackling of the building fire seemed to slow down as time appeared to move slower than before.
The mystery man than runs into building, with a blue trail appearing behind him as he did, the heat of flames didn't seem to bother him as he kicked a door down and grabbed two of the residents, carrying them outside before the floors collapsed.
"Hmm." Dede payed even closer attention to screen as this happens.
The mystery man continues on his endeavor, mostly repeating what he did, with one person hanging off the handrails, and another one trapped on a ledge.
When the mystery man stopped outside, over fifty people were saved, some were still coughing from the smoke and we're confused.
"Has anyone seen my daughter? I think she's still inside that third building over there!" The woman cried.
"Keep calm madam, I'll save her."
The mystery man runs inside the building dodging the falling debris, one of them almost hitting him.
"That was a close one. Now, where's that girl?"
"Help! Help! Somebody save me!" Screamed a feminine tremulous voice.
"I'm coming!" The mystery man shouted as he headed towards the direction where the voice came from.
He kicks down the weakened door, seeing the little girl coughing on the other end of the burning room trying to stay away from the flames.
"Please, help me mystery man!" She shrieks.
Then, the ceiling started to collapse, about to crush the girl block the way to her.
Dede gasped as he saw the predicament unfold.
"Oh no, sssave her!" Dede pleaded.
'Hmm, looks like I should vibrate my hand molecules to break the falling debris.'
As he ran towards the girl, he did exactly as he thought and quickly destroys the incoming debris breaking them into smaller, albeit harmless, pieces.
Dede tilts his his head as he saw what happened.
"Hey, that'sss like what I did to the mirror." He remarks. "Weird."
'Now, I'll just phase me and this young lady through the floor and we'll be out of here.' He holds onto the girl and they phase through the floor right before the ceiling collapses entirely.
"It'ss like when I fell through the floor. I think I have the sssame powerss asss him."
It then cuts to outside, where the mystery man hands the girl over to her mother.
"Thank you masked man." The woman rejoiced. "But what about the roaring fires?"
"I used up a lot of my energy to rescue all the residents. I don't know if I can do it. But I'll be a fool if I don't even put forth the effort."
He speeds off and starts circling around the buildings, creating a wind vortex that snuffs out flames.
"Amazing, he usssed hisss ssspeed to sssuck out the oxygen, thereby making the flamess burn up the remaining oxygen. He'ss a geniusss." Dede praised. "Who isss thisss guy?"
When the flames disappears, the crowd cheers for the masked man. The woman from before comes up to him.
"I can't thank you enough for saving my daughter, but can you tell me your name mister."
"My name?" He questions her. "Well that's easy. It's Max Mercury." He smiles.
"Wow. Max Mercury isss the coolesst!" Dede declares. "I'm gonna watch more."
The young tike did as he said and kept watching more Max Mercury religiously. He saw episodes where Max where had to fight villains but tried to resolve it peacefully and only used violence when necessary. There was an episode where Max had gained a partner called Johnny Quick, who was a blue eyed, blonde wavy-haired, well muscled Caucasian, wearing a black mask that was open at the top to let his hair out, red leotard with black waist belt(that has a gold buckle), yellow tights, and red boots.
One episode has them trying to stop a bank robber named Wind Waker. A green-eyed, redhead, fair skin woman wearing an orange and green striped spandex suit.
"Holy cheesecake, Max Mercury!" Johnny exclaimed. "How are we going to stop that blustery vixen? She's both a wind manipulator and a speedster."
"No Johnny, I think she's just a wind manipulator. She only moves fast, but she didn't see you when you were vibrating, and she only flew upwards when we cornered her in that alley way when she would have clearly phased through the wall. She's probably using her powers to create the illusion of super speed. But how?"
"Maybe ssshe'sss using pressssurized wind to propel herssself." Dede theorized.
"Maybe she's decreasing the air resistance around her and using pressurized air to propel herself." Johnny also theorized.
"That'sss what I sssaid!" Dede shouts. "Okay, not entirely. But sstill."
In another episode, Max and Johnny save a lot of people from multiple burning buildings, and the firefighters put out the fires.
"Yay, Max Mercury and Johnny Quick saves the day again!" Dede shouted as he jumps on the couch.
The episode cuts to Max Mercury on a beach picking up trash and putting it into a waste bag.
He turns to face the direction of the screen as if he was facing a camera.
"You don't need to be a superhero to help others. You can be a police officer, a doctor, crossing guard, or clean garbage off beaches or streets like I'm doing. Strive to be the best person you can be and inspire others to do better. So remember kids, you too can be a hero!"
Slowly, Dede stops jumping on the couch.
"Wow. I'm gonna be just like him." He stands sparkling with hope. "Just you wait Dad, I'm gonna save you and be a hero."
McDuffie High School. Classroom. Present Day.
"Mr. Kolins." A feminine nasally voice called out. "MR. KOLINS!"
Snoring can be heard coming from the back of the class. The students looked to the back to see the source.
"Hey Cobra Commander, wake up." A one of the students demanded with the hint of a Southern accent. This student had purple wavy hair, black eyes, and rugged facial hair.
In the back was a sleeping Dede, who is now taller and has red highlights in his hair. He wore black shades that concealed his eyes. He also wore a black suit with green borders over a light green dress shirt, black dress pants with green stripes on the sides, and black sneakers.
Every other student in the class wore the same uniform, save for the shoes and the girls wearing mini skirts.
The teacher walks towards Dede's desk. She was a light skinned, purple-eyed woman of average height, little black marks under her eyes, had blonde hair with green highlights, wearing black horn-rimmed glasses, a long white lab coat, green shirt, black skirt, and black dress shoes.
She crouches down to get close to Dede's ear.
"Ahem." She coughs. "WAKE UP YOU HOOLIGAN!"
"BAJEBUSSS!" Dede screams as he jumps out of his chair. He looks up at the peeved teacher and sees the class laughing. "Really, you couldn't let me have my ressst, Professssor Faust?" His speech impediment was clearly the same but his voice was slightly deeper.
"You should've gotten plenty of sleep at home." Professor Faust states.
Dede gets up and sits right back in his chair scratching the back of his head while yawning.
"Oh, I did get plenty of sleep. It'sss jussst that all of thisss iss ssso boring." He says nonchalantly.
"Really? Then why don't you just graduate" She yells out furiously.
"Huh?" Dede notices a slight vein on her forehead and a slight dent on the ring on her finger. A tiny smirk appeared on his face. 'Interesssting.'
"SSSo, how isss Mr. SSSoule?" Dede asks. "I noticed you haven't even mention him once today."
Prof. Faust clenches her fists as she steps back at the young teen's statement.
"W-W-What? That doesn't mean anything."
"Oh contraire, Prof. Faussst. You just exposssed yourssself." The young teen states. "You ssee, all I assked you wass how Mr. SSSoule wasss doing and made an obviousss obsservation that you didn't mention him today. But, you resssponded that it doessn't mean anything when I never assssumed anything in the first place. You could've jusst resssponded by telling me about hiss wellbeing, or that hiss current sstatuss iss none of my buissiness. It would've benefited you more, but I sstill would've figured it out. Trusst me."
"Oh my God, he's doing it again." A brown skinned girl moaned grabbing onto her black hair(that has a bright green streak) as if she's about to tear it out.
"Excuse me, mind filling me in?" The girl next to her asked with a Asian accent. This one having yellow flowing hair and orange eyes.
"Oh right, you're new here. There are times when Dede over there goes full on detective." The girl explained. "Too many times."
The blonde girl perks up. "I think I remember now. I heard people in the hallways talk about a boy who possibly the smartest person in the entire school. They call him, Sherlock Jr."
Prof. Faust hands start shaking. "Mr. Kolins, what are you talking about?"
Dede tips his shades, but not to the point where it reveals his eyes. "I know that Mr. SSSoule left you."
Prof. Faust gasped in horror.
"It wassn't only your word choice and reaction that gave it away, it was alssso the fact that the picture of you and Mr. SSSoule at the front of the SSSiliplex hassss a ssslight tear mark around Mr. SSSoule. You were ssso upssset with the break-up that when you entered the room you inssstantly went for the possssessssion that would've reminded you of the connection the two of you once had. You tore Mr. SSSoule out of the picture and crumbled it, ass obviousssly ssshown by the creasssesss on SSSoule'sss part. The little black marksss on your eyesss sshowsss that you were crying, messssing up your massscara. You didn't want to ssseem pathetic in front of your colleaguesss and ssstudentsss becaussse you don't want any pity, your pride jussst wouldn't let you have it. SSSloppily, you wassshed away the messssed up massscara, unaware of the little black marksss. You then taped the piece of the picture back together, albeit ssslightly uneven asss the bottom isssn't fully ssstraight." He adjust his shades. "To be honessst, if I wasss Mr. SSSoule I would have broke-up with you too jusst ssso I won't have to deal with your petty attitude, and that irritating voice."
The other students looked at Prof. Faust with great concern.
Prof. Faust just stood there, barely blinking, her hand shaking rapidly.
The black haired girl gets up and walks over to the professor. "Prof. Faust, it's not your fault."
"No Ghuma, he's right. I drove away my wonderful Soule. I should've been more caring and more aware of his feelings." A tear dropped from her eye. "Oh God!"
The professor start crying on the floor, her knees on the ground, and her hands over her face.
Ghuma goes over to comfort crying professor. "Are you happy now Sherlock Jr.? You made our teacher cry?"
"Look, all I wanted to do wasss sssleep? None of thisss would've happened if ssshe jussst left me alone." He states nonchalantly.
"But sleeping still isn't aloud in class, Mr. Kolins." Countered a gruff voice.
Everyone except Dede stands at attention.
"GOOD AFTERNOON VICE PRINCIPAL ARMSTRONG, SIR!"
A bald, tall man enters the room, wearing a black suit with a green tie, and black dress shoes. "At ease, you all know who I'm here for."
Dede sighs in annoyance as he gets up from his seat. "Yeah yeah, I know the drill." He grabs his black backpack and carries it over his shoulder.
"Come along now Dede." Armstrong called. "Principal Ford is waiting for you."
Dede follows the tall man to the Principal's office.
Principal's Office
The office was very futuristic just like the classroom, but more of a standard boss office, having a very organized desk. There were also had lots of bookshelves with many encyclopedias in alphabetical order, biographies mainly about famous leaders and tyrants, and some binders. The were many pictures on the wall, most featuring checks being given to the school.
Sitting behind the desk was a grey eyed woman that had curly pink hair with grey highlights and freckles on her cheeks. She wore a grey business suit along with grey heels.
'Should be here right about now.' She ponders as she looks straight at the door.
The door slides open automatically as Armstrong and Dede enter the office.
"Please sit Dede." Dede sit down on the stool as he was told. "Vice Principal Armstrong, you know what to do."
"Right Principal Ford." Armstrong replied leaving the room.
The door closes, leaving silence in room as Dede stares at his Principal.
"You didn't call my mother." Dede guessed as he stretches his arms out.
The principal claps her hands together. "That's right Mr. Detective." She assured while smiling.
Dede took note of her smile and gasps. 'Oh no.'
"You're going to give me sssome sort of punissshment!" He jumped. Dede's entire body turned white as he shook.
"No silly. You're my friend Dede, and I just want to help you." She assured. "I noticed you haven't made any other friends here and aggravating your peers isn't going to help."
"I don't want to make friendsss here, I'm going to be graduating early." He assured.
He gets up from the stool heads towards the door. "It wasss nice knowing you Principal Ford. I'll sssee you never."
"Hold on!"
Dede freezes in his tracks upon command.
"You can't graduate just yet. Your behavior grade is really low, and here at Silicon Academy your intelligence, as well as your attitude, matters. Cause we don't want to let out a bunch of meanies in the city."
The spiky haired teen pinches his nose bridge as he sighs. 'I can't believe this grown Academy Principal said meanie.' He sits back onto the stool.
"So that's why starting tomorrow after school you're going to be interning at S.T.A.R Laboratories." She then blows into a pink party blower as she claps her hands rapidly, unaware of the young detective's cold stare. "Aren't you excited!?"
"Hell no!" Dede shouted.
Ford gasped at the rudeness. "Diana Usain Kolins, that was very rude."
Dede slowly breathes in and out, collecting himself before speaking again. "I apologize Principal Ford, but I'm not very interested in this."
"But why?" She asked. "I always see you studying in the physics section in school library."
Dede crosses his arms. "It doesn't mean that I like ssscience. SSSo I think I'll ssskip on thisss."
"Umm, I don't recall it being an offer." She points out.
The short teen started to pull on his hair, gritting his teeth with visible veins appearing on his forehead.
"Can't I do sssomething else? Like, form a myssstery club, clean off garbage on Valley Beach, join a neighborhood watch, help the Mayor with hisss paperwork, or assssist the ssstudent council. Anything!?" He pleaded on his knees. 'I'd rather eat vanilla ice cream than work in a lab.'
"Sorry, it's already been decided. It's either the internship, or you don't graduate. You're choice." She smiles.
Dede ponders on his decision, rapidly tapping his left foot at high speed. 'I have no choice, Mom's gonna find out I won't be able to graduate and be very pissed if I didn't choose the internship. But it's also going to take time out of my patrols and research. Okay, the research would be no problem with my mind, but my patrol time is still cut. I'll just have to see what the schedule is.' The detective looks up at his Principal as she looks to be frozen with her seemingly unblinking face. 'Sweet. I finished my thoughts before she could even blink… for the 69th time.'
Dede returned to normal speed.
"What time do I have to be there?" He asked begrudgingly.
"6: 30. Anything else?"
"No, that's it. Can I go now?"
"That'll be all."
Dede quickly gets up and leaves the room. Ford had a solom smiles as she watched him leave.
'He'll be just fine.'
Silicon City. Night.
In an alleyway, Dede runs behind a dumpster, opening up his backpack as he crouched. He takes out a red hoodie, a pair of torn black jeans(not to the point where it shows a lot of his skin) with a black belt attached to it, and a pair of red running shoes. He changed into the clothes in quick succession.
Dede's hoodie projected a shadow that hid his face completely, making it pointless for him to wear the shades, which made him look like a some sort of spectre.
"Wait!" He digs into his backpack and takes out a pair of black gloves. "Can't forget thessse." He reminds himself as he puts on the gloves.
Dede then runs up the wall, with a red lightning trail appearing behind him as he did, and continues to run on the rooftops doing some parkour.
After like two hours, Dede stops in his stops in his tracks on a rooftop as he spotted a store that had had a sign that read 'Luna's Jewelry'.
Dede hears a gunshot in the jewelry store.
"Alright you old fuck, hand over the loot!"
Dede sighs, putting his hand on his forehead.
'54.'
Inside the jewelry store, there were two people wearing ski mask and were armored with black football shoulder pads and white shin guards. One was pointing a pistol at the man behind the counter, while the other seemed to be waiting anxiously with a black sack in his hand.
"Hello!? You realize I'm pointing a Glock right at your skull, right!?" Shouted the crook with a feminine tone.
The man behind the counter was of average height, wearing a green apron with a brown short that has a white collar attached to it along with beige khakis. His hair was brown, with a yellow streak on the front, in a mop cut looking very frizzled.
"Oh I know. No need to point out the obvious. And also, it's very unnecessary to yell, I'm not that old." He states with a jaded tone.
"Listen old fuck, this is going to go down in one of two ways. 1) You unlock all the cases so we can collect all the goods and leave here with no trouble 2) I just blow your fucking out, unlock the cases ourselves, and bolt out of her." She growls. "Either way we still win."
"Yeah!" Shouted the crook with more masculine features.
"Shut it!" The gun wielding crook yelled. "Now, which path are we going on?"
The old man stands in silence looking at the two of them.
"There are three ways this'll end. And neither of them end with you leaving this store with any of my jewelry."
A smile appeared on the crook's face. "I was hoping you'd choose number 2." She pulls the trigger, but all that was heard was a click. "Huh? Hey, what gives!?"
"Ahem." Someone coughed in an echoey voice.
The two robbers look behind them and see Dede.
"Looking for thessse?" He opens up his hand, dropping the missing bullets to the ground.
The masked woman was taken aback by this, her hands were shaking very frantically. Her partner was just as surprised as she is.
"Before we continue on, I just wanna asssk. Why? Why are you robbing a jewelry store in a city ssso advanced that Egon SSSpengler and Emmett Brown would be proud? Don't you think the police would have the technology to track down criminalsss like you two dumbbuttsss?"
"Also, how did you not hear about this city having it's own superhero?" The owner asked in a confused tone.
"Again, not a sssuperhero Mr. Luna, just a citizen helping out the community." The hooded teen states.
The old man chuckles. "Whatever you say, fellow citizen." He laughed very loudly, holding his stomach in. "I could've handled Mugsy and Little Miss Period, no problem."
Scratching his head in confusion, the male robber speaks up. "Who's Mugsy? He sounds dumb."
The female robber speaks up. "And what do you mean by Little Miss Period? I'll have you know-"
"How'sss your wife doing?"
"Oh she's doing fantastic. The doctor says she'll be out in a week, and when she's discharged I'm going to give her this necklace." Mr. Luna takes out a small black box from under the counter and opens it, revealing a gold necklace with an shiny blue rainbow shaped crystal. "Hope she likes it, took me months to craft this gem."
"Dude, ssshe'sss gonna love it."
Mr. Luna laughs nervously as he puts the necklace back in the box. "You think so?"
"I know ssso." He assured. "Thanksss for telling me thisss, I really needed some good newsss."
The old store owner notices this. "I'm guessing something bad happened in your other life. Right?"
"Yeah, ssstressssful things. But nothing I can't handle."
"That's good to here. I don't want you being depressed."
"Hey, I'm just happy that SSSylvia gonna be alright. I know that Jaune must be really ecssstatic."
"Heh. You're damn right he is."
Growling can be heard from the female robber, as she stomps her foot multiple times screaming her head off.
"Stop ignoring us you fucking cunts!" She yells turning her attention to her accomplice, who looks very dumbfounded. "What are you waiting for you dumbass? Get that freak!" She commanded.
Dede looks up at the taller, more muscled brute crack his knuckles as he approaches him.
"Oh my," He pauses as he dodges a jab with a backflip. "you called me a freak. How original." He keeps dodging all of the brute's attack, all while having a nonchalant expression. "Look you two, just give up and walk away before copsss get here. Because you aren't going win. Maybe you can ssstart over, get good jobsss, and actually contribute to sssociety."
The female robber watches in disbelief as her partner's hits were being avoided.
'How? He's dodging my punches without trying. Is he some kind of physic?'
"You think we're doing this because we're struggling? We've robbed plenty of places in other cities, like we're filthy rich, I'm talking millions. We can buy ourselves a mansion. I'll be damned if we have to live in such a boring cookie-cutter life." She bragged. "Now just stay still and die!"
Dede flips over the brute and lands in front of his partner. "I never sssuggesssted that you were ssstruggling. However, that wouldn't excussse you for holding a gun at a perssson'sss head. SSSo-"
"AHHHHHHHHHHHH! STAY STILL YOU RUNT!" The brute yells as he charges straight at Dede.
"Grrr!" Dede puts his hand out and flicks the brute in the head before he could even hit him.
The large man falls to ground making a loud thud that can be heard from outside.
"NEVER CALL ME A RUNT!" Heavy breathes came out, as well as air blowing out of his nose.
Astonished by the defeat of her partner, the female robber staggers back.
"Wh-What are you!?"
As if he teleported, Dede appears right in front of her, staring her in the eyes. In response, the lady falls on her ass.
"A freak."
Dede proceeds to neck chop her, causing her to slip into unconsciousness landing on her back. He looks back Mr. Luna and sees the old man face.
"Really? A freak? That's what you're ending it on?" He questions as he reaches down for some rope and tosses it towards Dede. "I expected better from you."
The hooded teen catches the rope. "I promissse I'll do better next time." Within seconds, Dede tied the two crooks together. "How'sss the sssecurity? I'm only asssking sssince these two were ssstill unfortunately conssscious when I came around."
"Still working like a charm. Those two weren't very bright so I wanted to give them a chance to make the right decision and not do something they'll regret… Silly me for having a glimmer of hope."
"Well I knew from their behavior pattern that they wouldn't get the messssage, I wanted to sssee if I was wrong about the analysssisss." Sirens can be heard from outside, along with flashing red and blue lights alerting Dede. "I sssee the sssilent alarm worksss fine. Till next time you old fart."
The short vigilante leaves the store at high speed appearing as a red blur leaving behind a trail of red lightning.
Seconds later, a bunch of police officers, wearing highly armored black and blue uniforms, enter the store with their guns ready.
"Put down your weapons!"
A look of confusion form on their faces, as they see the crooks tied up, back to back, and Mr. Luna staring at them blankly.
"Can you just get these two failed abortions out of my store? I need to close up."
As the officers drag the duo out the store, Detective Natalie walks in and confronts Mr. Luna.
"So who was it this time?"
"I didn't have to press a button today." The jeweler replies. He notices the irritated look on her face. "You still on the hunt for it, aren't ya?"
"That thing is operating outside the law. As far as I'm concerned, it's a wanted criminal."
"By the police, or by you? Because I haven't heard anything about it being wanted by the law." He states. "Maybe you should try negotiating with it if you have such a problem." Luna suggested.
Immediately, Natalie headed towards the door. "I don't negotiate with criminals, Webster." She stated bluntly before leaving, slamming the door.
'At least the 'criminal' doesn't slam my door.' He states. 'When the time comes, they'll have no choice but to work together.'
Kolins' House
Dede takes his keys out and unlocks the door, slowly walking inside.
He head towards the bathroom, taking off his outfit, except his shades, once inside until he was butt naked, revealing his almost frail body build as he looks into the mirror.
'Amazing how I'm thisss ssskinny yet I'm able to easssily lift any vehicle with no effort. Guessssing it hasss to do with my unnatural physssiology. Maybe I'm an alien from a different planet that happensss to resemble humansss like Mom suggested years ago. Doesssn't matter. I'll figure it out when I sssave Dad.'
The nude boy walks into the living room and grabs the cellphone near him on the coffee table. He dials in and after a while the phone picks up.
"Hello?" A voice questioned in a posh accent.
"You know it'sss me Chuck." Dede spoke.
"Yeah, I know, I'm just joshing you." Chuck laughs. "I heard on the Comet Chronicles that Red Angel stopped a robbery today. Bet that's why you called in the first place."
"Not exactly."
Then Chuck asks suspiciously. "What did you do?"
Dede scratches his head nonchalantly. "I made another teacher cry again and now I have to intern at SSS.T.A.R Labs." He informed in an unenthusiastic tone.
"Aren't they making a particle accelerator or something? Are you helping them complete it?"
"No, Principal Ford thinksss it'll help me make friendsss and become a better person. If I don't do thisss I won't be able to graduate, no matter how godly my gradesss are."
"Well that sucks dick." Chuck implies. "And did you really have to call your grades godly?" The posh boy questioned.
"I'm only sssaying what'sss true." Dede answered bluntly. "I wisssh I could tell them about you, but your ssstatus makesss it impossssible, and Kelly'sss at Hill High." He stretches his arms and legs out as he yawns loudly. "Oh well, I ssstill have weekendsss, and with my abilitiesss it'll be no challenge."
"Yeah I bet." Chuck insisted. "And please tell me your not laying down on your couch naked again."
"Okay... I won't."
"Dude, gross. You are never allowed to walk around naked in the mansion."
"Duly noted." Dede affirms. "Anyway, I'll sssee you later Chuck."
"Alright. And please put on some clothes."
"Can't promissse that I will."
Dede hung up the phone. He then goes to get a battered red composition notebook from under the sofa.
'Time to look over my notes.' Dede sighs heavily as he reads the notes. 'Don't worry Dad, you'll be home soon enough. Then you, me, and Mom can be a complete family again.'
