Warning: Spoiler for the films Megamind, The Incredibles and Big Hero 6, all which are partially canonical in this universe. Slight Spoilers also for all films in the Rise of the Brave Tangled Frozen Dragons Universe. Other films that may appear include Princess and The Frog, Wreck-it Ralph, Monsters vs. Aliens, and assorted Disney and Dreamwork films.
Heroes. Supers. Freaks. Ameripan has plenty of those.
One of the very first was an Alien called Metro Man. Brought to earth via a spacepod from his dying planet, he had it all; super-strength, super-speed, ability of flight and heat vision. Metro City, which is present-day Metroville, was the centre of his glory and in a time where people were still new to whole concept of 'heroes', he was revered, worshipped, respected. People stood in awe of this charismatic, god-like figure, reaching their hands out, hoping to touch his cape just once.
And then he died, killed 'accidentally' by his archenemy, Megamind - another alien from another planet; blue-skinned, bulbous head, had a taste for dark-coloured clothes, maniacal laughter and rock n' roll. Though at one point of time he had held the Metro City in a state of anarchy, somehow or another, Megamubd turned over a new leaf after another villain popped up. This villain was a fellow with all the abilities of Metro Man, but the temper of a toddler and the spelling ability of one too. 'Tighten', as he called himself, (Megamind had explained that it was supposed to be 'Titan') was eventually outwitted and outclassed by the alien villain, who eventually took up his former rival's mantle and became Metro City's new protector.
Stories of these legends spread all over Ameripan, and inspiration to do the same did as well. It started out as scruffy vigilantes trying to make good, but soon, a new array of protectors rose up. Some called themselves 'mutants', other called themselves 'metahumans', other just called themselves 'Supers'. Origin stories came in all forms - chemical accidents, birth defects, asteroids. Some were freaky, like the monster gang led by Ginormica. Others were normal spandex clad individuals, like Gazerbeam and Frozone. It was the Golden Age of Superheroes, and it was glorious.
But with more heroes came more villains. Looking over the property damages, the injured people, the maniacs they had stick in padded cells, some began to question if having Supers was worth it. As more Supers started taking matters into their own hands without any say from authorities, pundits warned that it would cascade into a state where people truly battled with strength and brutality, rather than negotiation and reconciliation.
The public threshold for Supers was crossed after Mr. Incredible saved a man who was trying to commit suicide. The man was paralyzed for life, and he blamed the Supers.
Then suddenly everyone started blaming the Supers. Trashed roads? Supers. Crime rate soaring? Supers. Increased Divorce rates? Supers. The bill for the Anti-Hero act was passed. Supers were forced into an integration program to help them blend into the populace. Nobody wanted heroes anymore, so they disappeared. Crime didn't, but the police had no choice other than to pretend they were on top of it. There were no more capes. No more secret weapons. No more shining symbols into the sky. Five years down the road, no one even remembered that there was ever an alternative option to calling '911'.
Fifteen years after the Anti-Hero Act, however, everything changed. One huge unstoppable robot, one epic battle, one victory, and suddenly people wanted heroes again. The front-runners of this was Metroville. Home to the original Metro Man and Megamind years ago, and now home the red-black, spandex-clad superhero family called the Incredibles, it wasn't all that surprising that this city began pressuring for the reinstatement of all Supers and their rights.
The other states of Ameripan weren't so keen. They cited the havoc that seemed to come with Supers, and the subsequent taxes that had to be used for its repairs. Thus was drawn the divide between states. The issue created so much dissension that it ended taking up a spot just under green tax and healthcare in the Senate.
The public didn't sit idle. Groups of youngsters that began parading the streets, calling for 'Hero rights', and other teams marching for the opposite cause too. All for forms of social media was utilized for the intense discussion of freedom versus security, of legality versus morality. There were people at train stations who gave out flyers and flags for either causes, and even some stuck posters in toilets. 'Everyone needs a hero,' you could hear want party declare. 'But not everyone should have one,' the other would retort.
Over the next five years of the debate, heroes like the Incredibles became solidified part of the cities like Metroville. New smaller groups also emerged in other towns, like the teenaged team Big Hero 6 of San Fransokyo. If you lived in these regions, you would probably hear to no end of praise for these guys. They were established heroes. They worked with authorities. They were good people.
'Heroes' in other places ...not so much.
Some time after the Big Hero 6 turned up, new young 'hero-wannabes' started appearing too. A lot of them were just lanky kids, dressed in inappropriate clothes with delusions of grandeur. The police took these kids back home, let their parents give them a talking down and let them off with a warning.
But there was also the more dangerous breed. Actual teen Supers.
If you look at the highly-trained youngsters in the Incredibles, or the 'friendly-neighborhood' bunch of BH6, you'd think that teen supers can't be too bad. Kids are nicer than adults, right?
Not always.
The first independent teen hero to ever hit the newsstands was the Hero of Berkazaki - Knight. Snarky, sarcastic but good-hearted, he fought his foes with a metallic shield and occasionally a fiery sword. But the 'wow' factor was really his steed. A large black flying reptile, this dragon called a Night Fury had a scream that could shake your bones, and a blast that could melt them too. 'Knight and Fury' was what the press dubbed the collective duo. For all his good intentions, he was pursued for a good many weeks after his first appearance. Quite quickly, he became the cause of much headache for the Berkazaki Police Department and was even labelled 'Public Enemy No. 1'. He finally earned his reprieve when he successfully disbanded the crime-ring known as Helheim's Gate, turning over its psychotic leader, Red Death, to the cops. Overnight, he became a shining example to all the emerging young heroes and people had hoped that the supers of the future would prove to be better than their predecessors.
Well, until he killed. The victim was no innocent - a corrupted heir to an criminal empire - but it was not the place of heroes to pass judgement. Underaged or not, a warrant for his arrest was issued. Now the papers replaced 'hero' with 'vigilante'. Despite the bad press and the harrowing threats, the black rider and his dragon still watched the night skies of Berkazaki and guarded its people.
You'd think the troubles of being a vigilante would deter others. Nope.
Some time later, another brand of teen heroism emerged. The press had called him many names - the Shade, the Hood, the Hunter, the Blue Rouge - before they finally discovering six weeks down that this vigilante called himself 'Will-O-Wisp.' It took them three more weeks to realize that 'he' was a 'she'.
Always garbed in a hooded cloak that hid her face, the Wisp was an archer of ultimate precision, and a teleporter too. Unlike the good-humored Knight and Fury of Berk, her intentions were a lot more shady. She refused interviews and negotiations with police. Those that encountered her described her brusque and sometimes rude. She didn't kill, but she didn't hold back from violence either - as apparent by the number of puncture wounds unfortunate criminals earned from her arrows. Yet those who had been rescued by her also testified that she seemed well-meaning. The city of Dunbuoka was at a stalemate about what to do with their adolescent crime-fighter.
Not long after that, a brighter figure joined the dark cast. She was a new teen heroine from Korobe. Wielding photokinesis, her signature look and weapon came in the form of her long gleaming golden hair - seventy feet of it. She was bubbly and very enthusiastic about to her voluntary job, though she shunned the cameras the way Wisp did (still, she did apologize whenever she broke someone's nose.) Agile, sleet and sweet, they wanted to dub her 'Sunflower' but eventually after she did much haggling with the press, they changed her name to 'Solaris'.
They weren't evil, true. But that didn't mean that they were good either. You have to understand that when your faith in one of them had been shaken, your faith in all of them had been shaken. And I'm not talking about Knight's ambiguous manslaughter, Wisp's hard-handed ways or how Solaris blinded three cops during a run.
Let me tell you about 13.
This guy started it out like Knight and Fury - hunted, chased, but eventually gained sufficiently popularity that most denizens started accepting him. Sort of. He did kill quite a number of criminals, but you have to understand that he was the 'hero' in Burgeshima. It was a city neck-deep in gangs, drug-rings, and all other assorted disgusting activities you prefer not to know about. A vigilante here was just like every other gangster on the street, except that if you didn't do anything wrong, he probably won't kill you. To many there, he was probably the clearest figure of justice they'd ever known.
He was a young fellow - you could tell by his voice - and if you managed to sit him down and chatted with him, he'd answer you rather politely - and threaten you in same tone if you asked the wrong questions. But you couldn't doubt the fact that this guy, weird mask aside, was definitely a person, and he might actually be on your side.
But there are unspoken rules about certain behaviors in the world of vigilantism. It's one thing to kill a criminal in a city that seemed to have nothing but criminals. It's another thing to kill a criminal in another hero's city, especially if that city's San Fransokyo. It's even worse when the criminal was worth 65.9 billion USD and the CEO of one of the biggest companies in the world. You've pretty much painted a target on your head when you've killed 30 and injured over 59 innocent people in the process.
It won't be just Big Hero 6 coming after him. Oh, no. All of them will be after him, and with good reason too. It's hard enough being a young vigilante with other vigilantes ruining everything for you.
13. Bad luck indeed.
Ameripan had lots of Supers alright. It could do with much, much less.
HUNDREDS MOURNING IN SAN FRANSOKYO.
BIG HERO 6 AIDS IN RESCUE EFFORTS.
CONDOLENCES OFFERED BY MAYOR DUNBROCH OF DUNBUOKA TO THE GRIEIVING OF THE CITY OF THE FUTURE.
OVER $500,000 WORTH OF PROSTHETICS DONATED BY KREI TECH'S RIVALS FOR SURVIVORS.
"SUCH DESPICABLE ACTS MUST BE MET WITH FORCE. "
"WHERE ARE THE REAL HEROES, AND WHY DIDN'T THEY STOP THIS?"
"ANTI-HERO ACT MUST BE REINFORCED ONCE AGAIN TO PREVENT SUCH TERRORISM. IT'S TIME THAT JUSTICE BE ENACTED ACCORDING TO THE WILL OF THE PEOPLE, RATHER THAN JUDGEMENT OF THE DELUSIONAL FEW."
"This is it, Kristoff. I can feel it."
"And...feel what exactly?" His voice was uncertain, because at this point, he was increasingly sure that his assigned partner was insane.
Both of them were interns. That meant meagre pay, meagre recognition and lots and lots of hard work. The good thing was that in a reporting firm, they were required to contribute to the paper despite the rookie ranking, so the experience made up for the tough work. The bad news, though, was also that they were required to contribute to the paper at all, and they stuck their nose to the grindstone for it.
Her eyes were sparkling excitement, inspiration - which he quickly translated to mean trouble for him. "This will be our big break. We need to do this story. The whole Roxanne Ritchie Scholarship could be ours!"
Getting a journalism scholarship from an established reporting firm was insanely hard in Arenashi. Good grades and internships was just first of the requirements. The other stuff included sucking up to the editor, sucking up to your co-workers, and basically learning how to be all-rounded back-stabbing jerkface.
She was too nice. He was too anti-social.
So while all the other interns were scrambling off to San Fransokyo to cover the tragedy, both of them were still stuck at the bus station, arguing on the destination.
Then, he remembered. His partner was a rich kid - a mini-heiress to a humble, but prosperous company. "You don't need the scholarship, do you? You can afford the university course without it."
"But it's a Roxanne Ritchie Award," she threw back, emphasizing each word slowly. He understood, of course. In all the unwanted time that they had spent together, he had come to learn that Anna was a terrifyingly hardcore hero geek. She knew everything about heroes. From Metro Man to Frozone, she was a gold mine of absolutely useless hero facts. Given what how much she completely adored the Supers, it was starting to make sense that she wanted the scholarship for no other reason that it bearing the name of her number one hero - the first ever reporter to nail down the story of the first ever super, and also the first person to actually marry a Super.
Well, a girl could dream, couldn't she?
Anna clasped her hands together, sticking out her bottom lip like a child begging for candy after midnight, peering up at him with large eyes. "Please, Kristoff. Please."
He kept his gaze firmly on the screen above the ticket counter. The next bus to San Fransokyo was in fifteen minutes. Unwillingly, he also discovered that the next bus to Burgeshima was in ten.
"Please Kristoff," she begged again, tugging his shirt sleeve. "You can have the scholarship money. I just want the title."
He sighed, deciding not to correct her that it was quite impossible to scholarship shared between them like prize money. Either they both got the scholarship, or one of them did, or neither of them got it.
All the same, her hopes were not entirely false. If they could hit a killer story - one that would shake the entire public and have people grabbing papers of the stands, both of them would have pretty much nailed a scholarship. It was attractive to have something else pay off his bills for once. His family wasn't well off, and he had been working two other jobs to just to keep himself and Sven eating.
"Please. Please. Please. Please."
Besides, whether he liked or not, Anna did have a really adorable pout, and it was very hard to refuse.
With a growl, he gave in. "Fine."
"Yes!" She literally danced up to the ticket counter. When she had returned with the evidence of their purchase, they had 'Burgeshima' printed on both of them.
They had both boarded the bus - him with his duffel bag for his camera, and her with her small backpack for her notepad and recorder - when it occurred to him that he didn't quite know what her wonderful plan was. "Wait, why are we going to Burgeshima again?"
She huffed, just slightly annoyed at having to repeat herself. "Because everyone else would be going to San Fransokyo, so if we want a better story, we need to go to Burgeshima."
Kristoff scrunched his face. "I still don't get it."
Slightly impatiently, she explained, "Most people are going to cover the story about the tragedy. Some people will cover the criminal aspect. A lot of people are going to cover Supers-hate."
"So?" he probed, slightly disturbed by the seriousness that befell her.
"We're going to do another angle. Something no one's done before."
There was a curious edginess in her tone that made Kristoff sit up in alarm. He was seriously starting to wonder if he should have just gone to San Fransokyo after all.
He could swear there was a maniacal glint in her eyes at the next words. "We're going to interview 13."
S/N (Story Notes, where I put stuff related to the story):
Take the Hero films from each animation company - The Incredibles from Pixar, Megamind from Dreamworks, and Big Hero 6 from Disney, and smash it into one universe. This is hopefully what you get. Maybe.
All city names, like San Fransokyo, are based on combination of cities in Japan and the cities from the ROTBTFD films. Here are the cities' and their heroes if you didn't catch it in my very lengthy exposition:
Berkazaki (Berk and Okazaki)
Hero: Knight and Fury - Inspired by Spiderman and The Blue Beetle.
Dunbuoka (Dunbroch and Fukuoka)
Hero: Will-O-Wisp - Inspired by Batman, Nightcrawler and Blue Devil.
Korobe (Corona and Kobe)
Hero: Solaris - Inspired by Dr. Light (The Good One) , Green Lantern, Wonder Woman and Rapunzel herself. (This Solaris is not related to the DC comics one.)
Burgeshima (Burgess and Hiroshima)
'Hero': 13 - Inspired by Jason Todd and Two-Face Harvey. (Not related to Traci 13 of DC comics.)
Arenashi (Arendelle and Yamanashi)
Hero: None. Home to Anna and Kristoff.
Canonical Places:
Metroville: From 'The Incredibles'. This city is combined with Metro City from 'Megamind'. Think of it as the cities' old name was Metro City, then renamed as Metroville.
Heroes: Metro Man (deceased), Megamind (retired), The Incredibles and Frozone.
San Fransokyo: From Big Hero 6.
Heroes: Big Hero 6 Team.
The identities of all should be devisable except for 13, because 13 is... well, the mystery.
The films of Megamind, Incredibles and Big Hero 6 are all canonical in this universe - in that order.
Pairings would be strictly canonical unless for plot device. There would only be Jelsa if deemed necessary for plot/character development.
DISCLAIMER: I don't claim to have any knowledge of American or Japanese politics, reporting internship or actually workings in criminology.
Up Next: No idea. Clarification on powers and origin stories of heroes should come later. Note that Elsa and Jack are conspiciously absent from this list... or are they?
There are no OCs in my story, btw.
A/N: (Author's notes, where I talk more about me and administration like updates.)
This story idea stemmed from my love for superheroes and comics. I know that there many Superhero AUs out there, but hopefully this one sounds a bit different from the other superhero AUs you've ever seen. These guys aren't exactly heroes. They're just people. Weird people. Cool people. Young people struggling wih their identities.
I know I have three ongoing stories other than this, and I'm supposed to be studying, not writing. However, this story idea had been bugging so long that I just had to give it physical form. Whether I would continue or even plan for it is another matter entirely.
Reviews are appreciated. Criticism too. I just like knowing that people actually read this stuff.
27 April 2016 - Edited Grammar, Corrected Names and Timings.
