Yellowjacket 1: Hyperion Saga
Chapter One
Still donning the Yellowjacket suit, I jumped from rooftop to rooftop home. I had only just got to an armed bank robbery in time to save some hostages from being murdered in cold blood. As I jumped off, I heard the teeming crowd of people watching chant my name; well, the name of my other persona.
I landed on the roof of my home: my mom's condominium. After landing, I slid off the mask and looked at it.
It had been a year since I began defending New York as the Yellowjacket. It was a selfless job, expecting something in return was the start of becoming a villain. It was a stressful ….job. The luxuries of one side had an expensive cost on the other. As Yellowjacket, I had more freedom than the birds. But Adam Avery wrote checks he couldn't pay. The physical strains were dealing with gunshot wounds and bruises. The mental strains were even worse. Knowing you can't save everyone is one thing. Having to watch people get hurt and even die because you make one mistake is a whole different. When I first started out, I didn't know how to fight. All I had was my powers. But when I saved some old guy, he taught to create my own fighting style, which we called Kip Xyu, and it focused on defensive maneuvers and my agility and speed. That helped a lot, but it got even easier when I developed my Stings, which I could release through my hands as bio-electric energy that paralyzed or put to sleep anyone temporarily.
I slipped the bookbag off my shoulder and pulled out my street clothes. I put them on over the Yellowjacket costume and looked at my watch.
Wow, I thought to myself. I must be getting better at this. That only took me ten minutes. Plenty of time for me to go the garlic mom wanted. It was a twenty minute walk to the store.
I jumped the mile to the store and landed in the alley. As I patted myself down, I looked around to make sure no one saw me. Some people think it's weird for a seventeen year old too jump a mile.
A girl turned the corner of the alley mouth. Following close behind was a trio of men. I jumped on the wall and crawled up quickly, getting on the roof. I stripped down my clothes and slipped on the Yellowjacket mask. I looked over the roof. The men were beginning to hassle the girl. I jumped down.
"Well, well fellas," I called. "What I have I just found?"
"This ain't your business," one man said. "Go away."
I shook my finger at him. "See, you're in my city. So it is my business."
The first man lunged at me. I dodged his punch and flipped by his legs. The second one came and I grabbed his hand and put it behind his back, then kicked the other on into a wall. I let go of the last guy and he ran off. I turned to the girl. I couldn't believe my eyes. It was Aislyn Marks, the girl who had protected me through high school before I got my powers. A surge of accomplishment flowed through; I had finally started to pay her back.
I started to get uncomfortable with the way she was eyeballing me. Her chestnut hair was in a ponytail and matted with dirt. Her blue eyes just looked at me.
"Uh," I started. "You might wanna go, because it looks dangerous and those guys are still here."
She looked at the two guys like she just remembered they were there. "Oh, yeah. Well, thank you." She walked to the alley mouth and stopped, turning to look at me. She then turned the corner.
Still in the Yellowjacket costume, I walked in the store. As I walked down the aisles, I could feel eyes staring at me. I didn't care. Even superheroes need spices. I grabbed the garlic off the shelf and went to wait in line. There were two people ahead of me. I whistled to myself. When it was my turn, I gave the garlic to the lady.
"Take it," she told me. "You've done so much."
"No," i disagreed. "I couldn't do that." I took a ten out of my bookbag and handed it to the lady. "Keep the change."
I ran out the store and jumped to the roof of the store. Then I jumped from building to building until I got back to my home. I once again changed back into my regular clothes and jumped down in front of the door. made sure my clothes were intact and that the Yellowjacket suit was completely hidden before I went in.
My mom was the first to greet me. "Just in time, honey," she said grabbing the garlic from me. "Took you awhile. What were doing, saving people?" She chuckled and I laughed falsely to cover up the fact that she predicted exactly what I was doing.
When I was with dinner, I cleaned the dishes. As I was washing the last dish, a news report came on the TV. A anchorman appeared on the screen.
"We have reports that an unidentified mass of dog-like creatures attacked and successfully destroyed the lab of Darren Patt and robbed the Infinity Bank in Central Park West Historic Division. Several eyewitnesses are pinning these creatures to 'werewolves' but police immediately disagree. We will have more for you live tomorrow."
I sighed and looked at my watch. It was 10:01. "I deal with it tomorrow."