Author's Note: I'm rewriting the first 3 chapters because I had changed some stuff in my story . So please enjoy the hopefully new and final version of this story.
Saturday Jan. 25th
Diamond District, Crystal Springs
11:30 PM
A boy sits outside on top of an office building. He was looking out at the Central District of Crystal Springs. As he watched over it, he couldn't help but think of the city's motto. The motto was 'A Place For Humans And Superhumans Alike'. The boy laughed as he looked over the city. He couldn't believe that they still kept that motto. Everyone knows what Crystal Springs is today. It may have been a glorious city back then, but now it was on the verge of total chaos. It seemed like anything could upset the entire city and cause an uproar for both humans and superhumans. But, somehow the city was able to manage to create a sort of balancing act. Even with it becoming a playground for violent groups that were filled with both humans and superhumans alike. And the fact that the mayor of the city was crooked, as he was taking bribes from one of the most powerful gangs, a gang called the Elite Stars, a group of superhumans and was using the city's budget for his own uses. Which caused the police to not have the updated inhibitor collars, and other planned city projects to be canceled. Not to mention that the schools had outdated curriculums. But, the mayor's days are numbered, as election day looms in the background. Many of the citizens are voting for a new mayor that isn't corrupt. The boy meanwhile was standing on the edge of the building, looking down at the street. As he did, he briefly wondered whether he would die if he jumped, but he shook the thought away as he remembered what he was here for.
Now the boy was no ordinary boy. In fact, he was a superhuman boy with the power of pyrokinesis. Now on to the boy's physical appearance. He was short for his age of 14. He had light black skin that glistened in the sunlight. His eyes were as blue as the ocean. But they were hidden by a pair of red glasses. His hair was short and spiky with red streaks in it. He wore a red hoodie and underneath it was a black shirt with a star that was shattered into tiny fragments. He wore a pair of dark blue denim jeans. He had a red and black converses. Now back to the task at hand, the boy was there because he was on patrol. He was on patrol because there was a surge in superhuman teenagers and kids being abducted. It was all over the news, as more and more of them disappeared. Some even were abducted in front of people. It got to be so much that the heroes had to call in the D-ranked teenage kids in training like the boy and his two teammates. The boy moved to sit on the edge of the building, when he stopped to look at his Star-com as he got a call. He hit the accept button and the angelic voice of one of his teammates came through.
"Hey Corey," the voice said. When he heard the voice, he felt a blush spread across his face. Corey then cleared his throat and spoke to his teammate.
"H..hey Rose. How's your patrol in the Ruby District going?," Corey asked. "Really! Did you just stutter in front of your crush? I mean honestly, how can she even like you much less be friends with you", Corey thought. It was silent for a while before Rose spoke. He briefly wondered if she had hung up on him, but his hope was restored when she spoke up.
"Sorry, Corey. I had stopped to ask someone a question," Rose said. Corey wanted to ask what was the question, but thought against it. He then turned his conversation with Rose. He couldn't help but smile, as thought about Rose. Corey started to daydream about him and Rose. Suddenly he heard Rose ask him a question, and he was snapped out of his daydream. He looked down at his Star-com, as Rose's voice rang through it again.
"Corey what did you mean when you said 'I love you'?," Rose asked. A pink tint spread across his face, as he started to blush. He was at a loss for words, as he stammered and stuttered for a response. He finally gave up, as he couldn't think of a response. He sighed in defeat as Rose spoke again. "Did you mean it as in you love me like a sister?," Rose asked. Corey's face lit up, as he saw a way out of this sticky situation.
"Yes. That's what I meant when I said 'I love you'," Corey said. As he did, he couldn't help but to let out a silent sigh.
"Oh. So that's what you meant then. Well ok, then. We're brother and sister," Rose said. Corey thought he had heard a hint of sadness in her voice, but thought that he was crazy for thinking like that.
"Tch. As if she's interested in you! You're probably the most repulsive thing to her. So it's no wonder why she doesn't like you. I mean you are a monster after all. And monsters don't deserve happiness in their lives. And unfortunately for you, that means your doomed to a life of tragedy," Corey thought. He let out another sigh, as he sunk deeper into his depression spell. Corey looked at his Star-com, face a mixture of happiness and sadness. On one hand, he was happy because he got to be around Rose and that always made him feel safe and happy. But on the other, sad because she didn't feel the same way about him. Not to mention that he felt an aching pain in his heart, every time she did something nice for him. It hurt because he knew that she didn't return his feelings. It hurts him so much that he had to remind himself that she only saw him as a brotherly figure and nothing else, which hurt him even more. A couple of minutes passed, as the silence grew thicker. Corey then cleared his throat and started to speak.
"H..hey, Rose. I'm...um..I'm gonna call you back later, ok?," Corey said. Rose's response was almost immediate, as she stuttered herself.
"O..oh..ok. I understand. I hope you make it back safely," Rose said. And again he thought he'd heard that hint of sadness in her voice. He sighed, as the line went dead. Corey then looked back at the city. It seemed peaceful, but he knew what that peacefulness really meant. It meant that something was going to go down and it was happening soon. But he couldn't stop himself from trying to hang on to the illusion of actual peace in the city. He then took out a small sketchbook and pencil out of his hoodie pocket. Corey looked up at the city skyline and took in all of the designs and sizes of all the buildings. After he was done, he looked back down at his small sketchbook and started to draw what he observed. As he sketched, he started to feel better about himself. He even started to smile, as he completed his sketch. Sketching always had that effect on Corey. It was always his outlet for him to voice his aggression and pain. Not to mention that when his family and friends saw his work, they'd always praise him and tell him that he was a great artist. But, Corey always felt that he could do better. That's why art was always his favorite subject in school and why he was such a good artist. He let out a breath, as he put the finishing touches on his artwork. Corey smiled a small smile, as he looked at the finished product. He then closed the book and put both it and the pencil back in his hoodie pocket. Corey then got up and started to stretch, when he heard a scream from a couple blocks over.
Corey walked to the edge of the building to see which block the scream came from. Then suddenly, he saw a huge explosion came from the Emerald District and got worried about his other teammate. He immediately got his Star-com and called his other teammate. The call almost went through, but Corey canceled it as he heard another scream. Only this time it was louder. He then took his shoes off and concentrated all his power to his feet. And in an instant, Corey was hovering above the ground with fire coming out of his feet. He then put more power into his feet and he flew off to where he had heard the scream came from. When he reached the alley the scream came from, he saw two boys. One boy was wearing a black cloak, making it hard to see his face. And the other boy looked kind of familiar to Corey. He was wearing a grey beanie on top of his black hair that framed his face and ocean blue eyes. Some tufts of hair stuck out from the hat and he could see that a red streak was visible in his hair. The boy was wearing a white shirt with a black long sleeve lumberjack shirt on top of it and on top of that he wore a heavy coat to protect him from the cold January night. He also wore black jeans with grey converses. The boy seemed to be frozen in shock, as he was pushed up against the brick wall of the building next to the alley, while the boy in the black cloak was moving closer to him. Corey then landed a couple of meters away from them. He put his converses back on and tiptoed over towards the garbage dump and hid behind it. Corey peeked out from his hiding spot and listened to the conversation.
"You look like a good specimen to me," the cloaked boy said. The other boy seemed to shake in fear, as he said those words. And now that Corey was closer to the two, he could see the scared boy's face more clearly. And when he did, Corey's blood started to boil. Because before him was his brother, who was about to be taken by some creep. But, he didn't act until the other boy tried to grab his brother's metallic arm. That sent Corey over the edge, as he ran from his hiding place and punched the other boy. The punch sent him flying out of the alleyway. He then turned to his brother and checked him to see if he was injured. When he saw that he wasn't, he breathed a sigh of relief. But that was replaced with anger, as he looked at his brother.
"AJ! What are you doing here? You know how dangerous patrol is, don't you?," Corey said. The other boy seemed to be scared by Corey's tone of voice. Corey saw this and sighed as he calmed himself down and tried again. " Why are you here? Please tell me!," he said. The other boy seemed to blush as he looked to the ground. He then cleared his throat and spoke up.
" I came here to give you your coat because it's cold out here and I don't want you to get sick," AJ said. Corey smiled as he saw the coat inside of his brother's coat.
"Thanks. But, AJ you forgot that my pyrokinesis keeps my body at a constant hot temperature and that's why I can't get cold in winter. Plus I don't think that the real reason why you're out here," Corey said. AJ just froze, as he tried to come up with an excuse. When he couldn't, he sighed and looked Corey in his eyes, as he told the truth.
"Fine. I really came out here because I wanted to see you in action and to maybe join in on the fun," AJ said. Corey rubbed his temple, as he looked at AJ. He couldn't believe that his brother thought that this was fun. This current situation wasn't fun. It was dangerous and life threatening. They could seriously die or be horribly injured. So, how his brother thought that this was fun was beyond him.
"AJ, this isn't fun. We could die or worse. Plus I don't want you here anyway. You could get hurt. And if you did…..I wouldn't know how to handle it or live with myself," Corey said. AJ looked at him and frowned. He thought that he was being babied and that his brother was being overprotective again. Corey always did that when it came to his little brother. He would always protect his brother from any and every thing. Even from the smallest of things. But to Corey, he was doing it to protect his little brother from harm. And as long as he was ok, Corey was content with himself.
"So, you don't think I can handle myself?," AJ asked as he grabbed his metallic right arm. Corey tried to walk closer, but AJ back away from him. Corey was shocked to say the least. It wasn't everyday that his brother got angry at him. Sure Corey saw his brother get angry at other people and that anger he showed scared Corey. It scared him because with a temper like that, AJ could become a villain. And what he could do with his power and temper was what scared him the most.
"No its just that…..I...I don't want to see you get hurt is all," Corey said as he looked at AJ's metallic arm. AJ followed his eyesight and looked down at his right arm. He frowned when he picked up on what he was insinuating. He growled, as he looked at his brother.
"Is that it? You don't want me here because of my metallic arm? Does it bother you that much that you're constantly worried about me getting hurt? Are...are you ashamed of it? Because I'm not," AJ said, as his voice rose up until he was yelling. After his barrage of questions, he was left panting and had to catch his breath. Corey meanwhile, was stunned by AJ's bluntness. He didn't know why AJ was acting like this. Corey just wanted his little brother to be safe from harm. That's all he wanted in life, to protect his brother.
"AJ, that's not what I mean. All I meant was that you can't even be here because your not officially a part of Star Force. And you don't even have your Star-com," Corey said. AJ looked away, as he frowned.
"So! I'll get that-," AJ said, but was interrupted by a shadow spear being thrown between them. They were lucky enough to avoid it grazing either of them. They then turned around to see that the cloaked kid had gotten up and was angry that he was stopped by Corey. Corey then looked at his brother and told him to hide.
"AJ! Go hide somewhere safe, while I handle this creep," Corey said. He then lunged at the cloaked kid and tackled him to the ground, as AJ ran past them to go hide somewhere. The kid then kicked Corey off of him, sending him flying into the street. As he landed in the street, a car stopped in front of Corey. The driver then got out of the car to go check him. But as soon as the cloaked kid came out, the driver ran away from the scene for fear of her life. The cloaked kid then walked over towards Corey and gripped him up by his hoodie. Corey coughed as the grip was tight around his neck.
"Who are you and what do you want with my brother?," Corey asked. The cloaked kid laughed, as he removed his hood. What Corey saw shocked him to his very core. What he saw was his one of his old bullies from grade 6 of elementary school. He wore a black cloak over his black long sleeved shirt. Under the black shirt was a white buttoned up shirt, dark blue jeans, and black shoes. He was as white as the snow, with a red tint to his white cheeks from the cold of the night. His hair was as yellow as the sun and cut short and somewhat unkempt, almost like he had just gotten out of bed. Corey couldn't say anything, as the boy he once knew stood before him.
"What? Aren't ya glad to see me?," the boy asked. Corey could only sit there and stare at him. Shock and fear written across his face. He hadn't seen this boy in over a year. He thought that he had been locked away in juvenile detention.
"C...Conner!? How'd you get here? I thought you were in juvenile detention for what you did to me?," Corey asked. Conner just laughed, as he threw Corey to the ground. Corey just looked up at Conner in fear. He didn't know if he would die or not.
"Am I going to die? Well I do deserve it. I am a monster, after all. But, I never thought that it would be by his hands," Corey thought. Corey tried to crawl away from him, but Conner had trapped him in a shadowy cell. He only laughed, as he disappeared from sight. Corey looked around to try to find Conner. With each second going by, he could feel his fear rising. Then he started to hear a laugh echoing around the street. Then the boy started to rise out of Corey's shadow that was cast by the moonlight. Before he could turn around, the boy punched him hard in the stomach, making him spit up blood. The punch sent him flying into the ground, creating an indent in it, while breaking the shadow cell.
Corey turned around to see the boy standing above him. A groan escaped his mouth, as he got up.
"Conner, we don't have to fight. We can go back to how everything was before this," Corey said. Conner looked down at him and growled low in his throat. He then raised his hand and created a shadow ball, throwing it at Corey. Corey couldn't avoid it, since it was a point blank shot. When the smoke settled, Corey was covered in dust, as he shielded half of the attack with his right arm. He had tried to get up, but was stopped by a sharp pain in his right arm. He looked down at his arm and saw that it was covered in cuts and bloodied in some places. He looked up as a shadow appeared above him. Conner had created a giant shadow ball, lowering his hand to throw it at Corey. He looked on as the ball came towards him, and started to think about how to avoid it. He then closed his eyes and started to concentrate on redirecting his power to his feet. In an instant, his shoes were burnt off as fire came out of his feet, propelling him into the air. As he flew up, he looked down to see that the giant ball had disappeared.
In an instant, both the boy and the ball were behind Corey. He turned around to see that Conner had appeared behind him.
"Have you forgotten that both myself and my attacks can travel through shadows?", Conner said, as he threw the ball at Corey. Said boy had put more thrust into his left leg to fly out of the way of the shadow ball. Which collided with the rooftops and destroyed half of them. Corey's face contorted in a shocked expression. He turned around to see Conner laughing at the destruction.
"Conner, why are you like this? Why are you doing this?", Corey asked. Conner growled again and created multiple shadow balls and shot shadow beams at Corey. He increased the thrust of his fire and flew around the beams, successfully avoiding them. He then changed courses to fly towards Conner, trying to get close to him. But changed directions, as he saw a giant shadow ball coming towards him. But he wasn't fast enough to avoid it and felt the full force of the attack, as he collided with it. He fell towards the ground with a thud, as his body was covered in cuts and bruises. The last thing he heard was Conner laughing. As he slipped into unconsciousness, Corey couldn't help but to let his mind wander.
Flashback
7th grade year
"Hey did you hear what that boy over there did last year?," one boy said, while pointing to a boy in the corner. He then looked over to a boy wearing a red hoodie and blue jeans with red and black shoes one and red glasses. He looked up when he felt eyes on him. When he did, he saw a group of boys staring at him. Their eyes held nothing but disgust. It only made the boy more self conscious, as they kept staring at him. He then turned to look at something else, while not trying to cry as his eyes started to water. Then he heard a group of girls giggling and laughing. He looked over at them and they laughed even harder. Then he felt something being thrown at him. He looked up, he felt food slide down his face. The boy's eyes started to water as he looked around the cafeteria. Everyone started to laugh and point at him. The boy got up to ask why.
"Why are you doing this?," the boy asked. Everyone stopped laughing, as the boy's question hung in the air. They all looked at the boy like he was crazy. Then one of the girls stood and stared at the boy with disgust in her eyes. She then walked closer to him and pushed him into the wall, causing him to fall back to the floor. He looked up, as she smiled sadistically down at him.
"Why, you ask. We do this because you're a monster and you deserve it," the girl said. She then kicked him in the stomach and left him groaning in pain as he fell towards the floor. When he was on the floor, she put her foot down on his back and then spit on him. The boy started to full on cry. His sobs were the only thing filling the cafeteria, as the girl kept torturing him while the rest of the cafeteria was shouting 'Monster'. When she was done, the boy was covered in bruises and cuts. He had a black eye, a broken arm, a dislocated leg, and a bloodied nose. He stood up, and looked around and saw that they all looked at him with loathing in their eyes. The boy then ran out of the cafeteria and straight into two people, but before he could look at who it was, he ran off towards the bathroom.
When he got to the bathroom, he ran into the nearest stall and locked it. Then sat on the toilet seat and cried his heart out. Suddenly, someone walked into the bathroom and the boy froze in fear. He thought it was one of the boy bullies. But when the person stopped in front of his stall, they just knocked on it before speaking. When they got no answer from him, they sighed and knocked again before speaking to him.
"Come on, Corey. I know that you're in there," the person said. Corey looked through the crack in the door to see his friend standing there. He got up and unlocked the door and opened it to let in his friend. He then sat back on the seat, while his friend stood in front of him.
"How did you find me, Damian?," Corey asked in a strained voice. Damian frowned as he looked at Corey's appearance. It made him angry whenever Corey turned up injured and bruised. It reminded him of home and that was a bad thing. His hands balled into fists, the longer he looked at him. But when he saw how Corey flinched, he calmed himself down and looked back at Corey.
"You ran into me and Rose when you ran out of the cafeteria," Damian said. Corey just looked away from him. Damian sighed and moved closer to Corey, but he moved backwards on the toilet seat out of fear. Damian then moved back towards the stall door.
"Why are you here?," Corey asked. Damian looked offended by Corey's question. He moved to answer him, but Corey beat him to it. "I mean why are you friends with a monster like me?," he said. Damian was angry that Corey saw himself as a monster. But, he was even angrier at his classmates for putting it in his head. He looked at Corey and saw the fresh tears that had started its track down his face. It was as if his ocean blue eyes were slowly becoming a waterfall. It hurt Damian's heart to see his best friend like this. Corey was always the cheerful sunshine in his life. He knew how to always cheer up anyone he came into contact with. When people saw his smile, they knew everything was going to be alright. But to see him like this, it was disheartening. It hurt them all to say the least. It seemed like every day he was slowly becoming less and less of himself. He hardly smiled anymore, not unless they really made him happy. But besides that, he was always depressed and thought badly of himself. To the point of it being bad for his mental health. But, Damian and everyone else in Corey's life tried their hardest to cheer him up day in and day out. Damian was brought back to reality, when he heard a sniffle and looked up at Corey who was still crying.
Damian finally had enough of this and walked over to him and gave him a big bear hug, or in Damian's case a wolf hug. Corey was shocked at first, but slowly warmed up to the hug and began to hug him back. After a while, they heard someone enter the bathroom and knock on the stall door. They quickly separated and opened the door to see Rose standing there.
"Rose? What are you doing in the boys bathroom?," Corey asked. Rose just walked into the stall and hugged Corey. Soon Damian joined the hug and they all stayed like that for a while. Until Rose pulled back and spoke to Corey.
"You seriously think that I won't go into the boys bathroom because I'm a girl? I will always come in here if it means making you feel better, if I have to," Rose said. Corey looked at Rose and saw the seriousness in her eyes. But, he also saw something else in there that he couldn't put his finger on. And it made him feel a little hope, but that was quickly dashed, when he thought about what had happened. He frowned and tried to speak up, but Rose silenced him. "And before you say you're a monster, I want you to know something. To me you're not a monster. To me you're a reliable friend. To me you're the sunshine of the team, heck your even the heart of the team. And don't you forget it. Because you were lucky enough to have a caring family and caring friends. And they're carrying enough to tell you that you're not a monster," she said. Rose's speech left the bathroom in silence. No one had anything to say. The only thing that was heard was Corey's cries. Both Rose and Damian looked at Corey and then to each other and smiled. They then gave Corey another hug and let him let it all out.
"You're not a monster!," they said in unison.
"You're not a monster!,"
End Flashback
Flames started to erupt from Corey's unconscious body. The red streak in his hair grew bigger, as his hair became entirely red. The flames grew wilder and wilder, until Corey's eyes opened up to reveal pure red eyes. Corey slowey rose to his feet, as the flames overtook his body. Once the flames covered his entire body, Corey let out a loud roar as everything around him exploded. The flames began to flare from his feet as he charged at Conner who was unprepared for Corey's sudden attack. Conner was sent flying into the wall, as Corey charged at him. He then threw fireballs at the boy, who couldn't dodge it in time as they exploded upon contact. Corey wasn't done though. He charged at the boy once more. This time Corey grabbed the boy and launched punch after punch at Conner. Once he was done with that, Corey then carried the boy into the air and spun him around. Sending him further up into the air. Corey than flew up to the boy and punched him so hard that it sent him flying back down to earth. Corey flew down at top speed with a fireball ready to be thrown at Conner. Not repeating the same mistake before, he threw the fireball at him, causing a huge explosion. When the dust settled, Conner crawled away from the crater that was created by the explosion. He leaned himself against the wall, sighing as he saw no sign of Corey. But this relief was short lived as Corey walked out of the still raging flames with his eyes glowing red.
Conner was scared to say the least. Corey wasn't always like this. He would always cower in fear and cry his eyes out. But, this Corey was different. He was angrier and more volatile then he remembered. It should be said that an angry AJ was bad, but an angry Corey was worse. Because it would take a lot to calm him down and an army to take him down. Now Conner was the one cowering in fear, as Corey walked closer to him. He had tried to get away from Corey, but it was too late, as he was picked up by said boy. Corey raised his right hand as a fireball started to form in it. He was getting ready to throw it at the boy, but a yell had stopped him. Corey turned around to see his brother, AJ, standing there watching him. Tears were clearly visible in his ocean blue eyes. Corey then threw Conner to the ground and turned fully to face AJ.
"Don't hurt him anymore!," AJ yelled. Corey frowned, as his brother said this. He was outraged that Conner had tried to take his brother away. Didn't AJ want him to kill Conner? Didn't he want him gone? Why didn't he want Corey to finish the job? Did he almost forget what had happened? Corey couldn't take anymore of this and he then turned around to Conner. He then walked towards him with a sinister smile on his face, but something stopped him. He looked down to see a pair of arms around his waist. It then dawned on him that AJ was hugging him to stop him from doing something he would regret. Once that realization dawned on him, his hair turned back to its normal red and black style and his eyes went back to their normal ocean blue color. Tears started to fall from his eyes, as he slowly fell to his knees. He was ashamed of himself to say the least. He was ashamed because he let his little brother stop him from doing something he knows what's wrong. But, he didn't listen. Didn't want to listen to reason. Only wanted to protect his brother from someone who tried to take him away. And what better way to do it, then to kill him. At least that's what Corey thought. But, he was wrong. So wrong. Just one bad choice and he could've been taken from his brother. Sent to prison for who knows how long. And that thought alone scared and shocked him the most. So what was he supposed to do. He just cried and cried, until he couldn't anymore. Just sat there and cried, as his brother hugged him. Even AJ had started to cry. And that's what they did they sat there and cried. "You know you really scared me there. I..th...thought ...that you'd...go through with it and. And kill him," he said.
"I was, but you stopped me from doing that and I'm grateful for that. I love you, little brother," Corey said. That just made AJ cry even harder.
"I love you too, CJ," AJ said. They would've stayed like that, but Corey got a call on his Star-com. Corey pulled out his Star-com, which was shaped like a Nokia 3310 model phone, except with a D-pad and two buttons located under the screen. A red grip was wrapped around the device itself. While the rest it was light blue with dark blue designs running through it. When he pulled it out of his pocket, he saw that it was a call from Rose. He immediately answered it and Rose's voice rang through it.
"Corey, go to the Emerald District. It's Damian. He's in trouble," Rose said. And as soon as she said that, she was gone. Corey then put his Star-com back into his pocket and got up, pulling his brother with him. AJ looked at him, concern written on his face. With no words exchanged, Corey picked his brother up bridal style and started to fly off. But, he stopped when he remembered that Conner was on the ground. He turned around and saw that he had escaped, while they were talking and flew off into the direction of the Emerald District. The only thought in his head was that Damian better be okay.