"Hi, Dad."

Joseph Dunn stood with his hands at his sides as the rain pattered down from the heavens. The green rain poncho he wore kept him dry. His eyes were fixed on the headstone at his feet. "David Dunn" read the inscription, with an epitaph beneath in smaller lettering: "Loving husband and father. Forever watching."

Joseph wiped his cheek as tears mixed with the raindrops. David had been his father, but he had been so much more. He was Joseph's hero. If raised in the right home, it was common for children to imagine their fathers as heroic figures. But in Joseph's case, it had never been mere imagination.

David Dunn had been a real superhero. For most of his life, he hadn't even known what he was capable of. Then, nineteen years ago, the accident had happened. The Eastrail 177 train had derailed, killing all of its passengers. All, except for one. David had been the only survivor; not a single bone had been broken, not a single scratched had been on him. Soon after, he had learned why.

David's bones couldn't break. This wasn't the only extraordinary thing about him. He was much stronger than ordinary men, strong enough to tear a car door from its hinges. And the most incredible ability he possessed was what Joseph had come to call his "Surveillance Sense." When David touched someone, he could see into that person's recent past, and learn of some wrong committed by that person. It was this power that David had used to find who the bad guys were. It scared him at first, knowing just how many people chose to do bad things. But he had never backed down from the call. In the end, David had died doing what he had always done: the right thing.

Joseph clenched his fists in mournful anger. David hadn't died, he knew. David had been murdered, drowned in a puddle, helpless to defend himself. His weakness had been water. It was the only thing that could hurt him. And those men, the ones with the clover tattoos, they had murdered him with it. Ellie Staple had tried to tell him it was an accident. Joseph knew she was lying. It was all she had ever done.

Ellie Staple. Her name alone was enough to enrage Joseph. She had tried to convince David, to convince Joseph, that David's powers weren't real. According to her, they were just an illusion brought about by a mental disorder. She had said the same of the Beast, and of Elijah Price: they were just ordinary men suffering from delusions of grandeur. She was a liar. It had all been a ruse to keep the truth hidden, the truth about the superhumans. Ellie Staple had allowed Joseph's father to die to protect her precious secret. He hated her for it. He always would.

Joseph put his face in his hands. He wasn't here to seethe. He was here to bring his dad some good news.

"I. . . I'm sorry, I didn't mean to get angry," apologized Joseph to his father's headstone. "It's just. . . it's hard, Dad. It's been three months, and there's still nobody else."

The headstone remained silent, as headstones often did. Joseph couldn't help but be reminded of his father. Like the stone, his father had been a quiet man. He had gone through life in nearly constant reverie, always thinking deeply. But more than that, he had been a rock, something sturdy and certain in a world that was constantly in chaos. That's what heroes were supposed to be, after all.

"I'm scared, Dad," continued Joseph, gripping the sleeves of his father's old rain poncho tightly in his grasp. "What if. . . what if it was all for nothing?"

Again, the headstone remained inanimate. Joseph sighed, lowering his gaze to the ground. A little flower was pressing its way up from the grassy earth of David's grave, struggling to stay upright in the pelting rain. Joseph watched as the flower was beaten by the heavy drops. It looked so fragile, and yet it stayed upright. The rain couldn't break the tiny bud.

Joseph wiped his eyes and returned his gaze to the tombstone.

"I've got some good news, Dad. I'm going to be the guest star on The Big T's web show. He's an online commentator, and he talks about you all the time. I won't be showing my face, of course, and no one knows I'm your son. The world still only knows you as The Overseer."

Joseph smiled.

"Still beats The Tip-Toe Man. Maybe I can make people believe in you. Believe in all of you."

The rain began to beat down more furiously. Joseph knelt by the grave of his father, wiping the drops away from the name.

"I love you, Dad. See you again soon."

Joseph stood and walked back to his car, leaving the past behind him. His mind turned to the future. Tomorrow he would be discussing the Overseer on Truth Bomb, with hundreds of thousands of people tuning in.

This is someone's origin story, Joseph told himself for the hundredth time. Whoever you are, I hope you'll be one of those people tomorrow.

Joseph climbed into the driver's set of the Dunn Home Security van and pulled back his hood, wiping away the droplets that fell into his eyes. His phone beeped. He put a hand into his pocket to retrieve it. It was a text message from Mrs. Price. He was visiting her later, and thought that maybe she wanted him to pick something up for her on the way. He opened his phone and looked at the message. As he did, his heart skipped a beat.

Get here as fast as you can.