Max rolled around in his bed trying to go back to sleep. The birds outside were singing to each other, loudly. The thought of opening the blinds and testing his newly discovered heat vision on the poor creatures came to mind. His eyes then shot wide open realizing everything he did last night wasn't a dream. Max could hear his mother cooking breakfast in the kitchen, "Max! Get up! I got breakfast almost ready and you have to see today's news!" He pulled the covers over his head groaning. Unable to go back to sleep he threw the blanket to the side. Feeling his stomach growl he finally got out of bed taking a few moments to stretch before heading to the kitchen.

Max didn't have to worry about work for another week. His boss gave him time off to get settled after the shootout on his street. Max felt the timing couldn't be better as it gave him the opportunity to train more with his new abilities. Entering the kitchen the smell of a full breakfast put a smile on his face. Greeted by his mother at the stove, "Glad to see you're up. You and Phil left a mess last night in the living room..." Max gave her a confused look before remembering they did indeed drink last night. "Oh… Oh yeah. I'm sorry about that. I'll clean it up before breakfast"

"I already did" She replied with a stern look at first. She then smiled at him taking a few plates off the counter with one hand and rolling her wheelchair with the other. "It's ok, I'm just glad you two were having fun. He's a great friend to you" Max rubbed the back of his neck laughing "had me going there for a second. And yeah really thankful he came by to cheer me up. How'd you do at the casino by the way?"

"Me? Oh I did alright, came back with $600 this time" She said nonchalantly while placing silverware on the table. Max helped set a few of the serving plates before sitting down "Wow only $600? What did you spend it on?" She smiled with a small giggle, "a very nice pampering at the spa nearby. One of the girls was really cute too, I told her if she was in town to call you" Max paid no mind to her comment at first but then realized the silence meant she was serious, "You didn't..."

"All you do is go to work and workout, I hardly see you have fun. So I gave her your number. Showed her a picture of you from that time you were doing yard work with your shirt off." Max felt his face turn red as he placed a few pieces of sausage and waffles on his plate. Taking a place at the table he did his best to forget his mother's last statement. "Hey! She looked interested" His mother said with a laugh. "Besides you're in your twenties. Your prime! I want you to bring home a few one night stands." Only a look of complete shock could express the sheer amount of awkwardness he was feeling.

She laughed even louder this time, "I'm kidding! You should have seen your face! But she was interested." She tried to recompose herself from laughing so she could enjoy her breakfast. Max hung his head low and tried to continue his meal without further incident. "Oh come on, I'm serious. What mother doesn't want her good looking boy to find a nice girl? Just one you know, that I would like too."

"Yeah... I've brought home some doozies a couple of times." He said with a chuckle. "Hey don't feel bad about that. Those girls did make you feel special. And I was so happy to see someone appreciate the wonderful person you are. It's just that those girls before were selfish and immature. I know it was hard, but you grew from that."

He looked up nodding in agreement "Kind of funny how I'm attracted to the same kind of girl all the time, really needy and insecure." She smiled "So a strong independent woman then? I know! We'll see if we can't get you dating Wonder Woman."

"Now that's funny"

She looked back at him with a surprised expression, "what? Why not? It's not like those girls weren't attracted to you too. A young strapping man with money..." Max felt his face burn even hotter, "ok stop, you're really embarrassing me." She shot him a disapproving frown crossing her arms, "oh just let me compliment my son." He let out a joyful laugh and smiled at her. They enjoyed their breakfast without any further conversation. Max's mother reached behind her grabbing the newspaper. "Oh! Almost forgot, you have to see this." Max took the newspaper from her and read the headline. "Four suspected gang members apprehended. Illegal guns and drugs involved." Max looked up at her doing his best not to tip off any of his involvement, "Wow that's great! The police are taking care of these guys"

"No! Read what happened"

Max began scanning through the article for anything that stood out. It mentioned that the police found the suspects tied up and with minor injuries. Max did best to contain his laughter thinking it was funny that a knife in the arm was considered a "minor injury". However the article made no mention of Max's heat vision attack on the car or building, "Interesting right? Sounds like we got our own Batman running around our city. What police you know uses knives and ties up their victims?" Max nodded slightly "y-yeah! That's great news!" Max considered that the police kept it under wraps as to not cause a panic. The gangs we're bad enough, but now possible super criminals we're getting involved in the takeover. Max chose to spread the rumor that his actions were at the command of new criminals in the city so that it wouldn't force an escalation with the police. Since it was likely the gang that was attempting to take control would soon hire Metas of their own. Then attack innocents to draw out the new hero. Max hoped they would only focus their attacks other gangs.

Max decided he had to find out more and stood up. He took his plate to the sink washing it quickly.
"Thank you mom, I'm just gonna relax today"

"Oh... Ok. Make sure you pick up your new glasses today"

"I will. Thank you" Making his way to his room he logged onto his computer. Navigating to the forum section on his favorite superhero site he began a new topic. The boards were always active so it wouldn't take long for a response.

"I live in San Gerardo, CA AMA/TMA"

Max clicked on the appropriate link to create the topic. As he waited for enough time to pass he looked outside his window. He noticed a wasp attempting to make its way past the window screen magnifying his vision so he could examine it closely. He began to easily track its movements while focusing harder. Still unsure of how to access his heat vision he at first let his mind think back to how angry he was in the garage. A flood of memories soon came with it and Max again had to remind himself that using emotion wasn't the way to go. Max stood up from his chair while still tracking the aggressive wasp. Opening the screen window he let it into his room. Max then let his mind wander on how to access his newest power. Closing his eyes he thought back to a lesson from his jiu-jitsu master about channeling his energy. Focusing it anywhere you needed it, being able to concentrate on manipulating your own energy mentally. In his younger days he thought it was just a metaphor for paying attention in training. But after years of hard training and sparring sessions he found that lesson had physical applications. Remembering the times he punched the guts out of numerous punching bags and numbing a sprained ankle during an amateur fight.

Max kept his eyes closed and attempted to focus his energy to his eyes not allowing the sound of the wasp distract him. Thinking back to the auto shop he remembered feeling the raw energy build up in his eyes when he saw the SUV and wanting nothing more than to see that car destroyed. His memory flashing back to his eyes focusing on the vehicle and letting his heat vision slice it in half.

He opened his eyes but held back the energy he was controlling, not letting it fully move to his eyes yet. Refocusing his vision on the aggressive wasp he could still feel the energy flowing inside his head. Tracking its movements once again he zoomed in on it. Concentrating on only letting a small amount of energy to his eyes he finally let it fire at the insect. A small tight stream of red light shot across the room impacting it. A small black smoke cloud replaced where the wasp had previously existed.

Letting himself relax he felt the energy dissipate from his eyes. He shook his head blinking a few times. Realizing what he had just achieved he couldn't help stop a huge smile come across his face. Max's imagination ran wild as to what his abilities were at full power. He decided for now to sit back down at the computer and refresh the webpage.

Looking at the first response he wasn't surprised.