Chapter 2

Arc 1

1 Year Later - Sunstone City

"It's been a full year since he died. In that year everything changed. The once-great Sunstone City that we all knew and loved had perished in only a year's time. Last year, we all lived in happiness. I had my bestfriend. Life was good. And then once again everything changed. The number of homeless people had reached an all-time high with nearly 14% of the population being in poverty while the rich, 1-percenters ruled over all and lived way beyond their means taking the resources in place to help the homeless. Not to mention, him. Miles Maverick. Since my best friend's death, he's done everything to sweep my friend and the others he hurt under the rug. He's shut down the Fusion Reactor and everything associated with it got destroyed. That bastard doesn't care who he's hurt to get to the top. I just want the older Sunstone City back. But most importantly I want my friend back."

Kala closed her journal and put her pen down on the coffee table as she grabbed her white cup filled with the creamy french roasted coffee that she loved to drink. Since last year, rather than actually getting therapy to deal with her problems like normal people, she resulted in dating and writing in her journal. Luckily she had found a boyfriend that treated her right and genuinely had feelings for her. Still, it didn't replace the void that her best friend had left and she feared that it may never be filled.

"Hey babe have you seen my badge?" asked her boyfriend, Joey Adams, a leading homicide detective from the SCPD. Joey was a 6 '0, caucasian male with a dirty blonde fauxhawk with blue eyes and dirty blonde facial hair.

"Uh-yeah, it's over there on the table." Kala pointed as he turned his head and looked down at the table to see his badge.

"Okay, thanks. Listen I gotta go but I'll see you later tonight." Joey said as he put on his v-neck shirt and grabbed his badge. He leaned down and gave Kala a goodbye kiss before grabbing his navy blue blazer and walking out of the front door.

"Bye." She said as he closed the door. She sighed as she then grabbed her phone from the coffee table and looked down at the screen to see a text from her Editor, Mr. Leonard Sigman. She cursed as she then got up from her spot on the couch and sprinted her way into her bedroom to get ready for work.

(!)-(!)-(!)-(!)

Joey walked into the SCPD precinct with a serious expression on his face as he made a beeline to his desk. He sat his coffee down as he looked around with a look of confusion looking for his partner. Just as he opened his mouth, Detective Kimberly Harvey walked into the precinct with her own glass of coffee looking down at the manilla folder for their new case. Kimberly was a short African American woman with long black hair that reached to her shoulders. She was the mother of Cedric Harvey.

"New case?" Joey asked.

"Yeah, we got another one of those Monarchy murders. That's like the 3rd one this month." She replied.

"Wow, they're going for their record. What is it? 5 or 6?"

"Actually, it's 7. And get this, the victim's birthday is today, he turns 23. And they found his body just 4 hours ago."

"Wow, killed on his birthday. That's cruel."

"Well, it's the Monarchy, so it's expected."

"One of these days, we're gonna get close to the Monarch, I can feel it."

"But in the meantime, let's take a look at this body. I hope you had a light breakfast."

"Just my luck, I didn't eat." Joey said as he followed Kimberly on their way out of the precinct.

(!)-(!)-(!)-(!)

Kala walked into the Suncity City Herald with her cup of coffee. Her hair was up in a ponytail as she walked in dressed in her brown loafers with skinny blue jeans and a burgundy blouse with a match brown jacket. Being a reporter was something that Kala had wanted for a long time in her life. The truth was always something that she wanted to share with the world and it just so happened, she could get paid to do it. Not well, but still a paycheck nonetheless. She took a seat at her desk sighing as she set her cup down on her coaster and then pulled out her laptop out of its case.

She looked up as her editor, Mr. Leonard Sigman walked out of his office with a folder in hand. Leonard Signman was the editor-in-chief of the Sunstone City Herald. He was an older man in his early 50s with salt-and-pepper hair with dark brown eyes.

"I'm sorry Rose, I know it's your off-day bit I got some interesting news that I think you might be interested in. Are you familiar with the mysterious blur?"

She took the folder from him with a confused frown on her face. She opened the folder to see a bunch of documents. She flipped through the pages but stopped once she saw an image. She took the picture out to see what looked like a blurry picture taken of the sky with a black blur in it. She took the photo out and grabbed another one with a much clearer image of what looked like a man or a ghost, whatever it was. It was a blur that could not be seen properly.

"Blur? Is this real?"

"Supposedly, it was taken on an early morning. Everything in that folder is what I have on him or it. I'm gonna be putting you on this story for a while. Don't worry about your other article just focus on this and see if it's real. If it is and you write the first piece on it. Expect a Pulitzer in your future." He said as he walked away leaving her there to look down at the folder.

"If Cedric was here. He would love this." Kala said to herself as then started to read the information in the file.

(!)-(!)-(!)-(!)

Joey walked through the yellow tape as a bunch of cop cars were surrounded around the murdered body. He looked up to see a crown spray painted on the wall. He looked down to see a body of a young caucasian male whose eyes were left open as a huge slash was on the chest of the victim.

"By the depth of this cut, it looks personal. They're switching their usual M.O." Joey said.

"Usually, it's a bullet wound but this looks like a knife or a sword of some sort." Kimberly said as she grabbed a pair of gloves from her jacket pocket and kneeled down to take a closer look herself.

"There are no blade marks on the bones. It's almost like pure-" Kimberly was speaking until someone cut her off and finished her statement.

"Energy. I noticed that myself." said a 6 '2, caucasian male with sandy brown hair in a pompadour with faded sides. He had piercing blue eyes that could stare right into your soul with a brown 5 o'clock shadow.

"James Knight, SCPD Detective." James said as he held a hand out for both men. Joey walked over to him and shook his hand while Kimberly gave James a head nod.

"So what brings you guys to this case."

"We were the head detectives assigned to the case." Joey said.

"I don't think that's right. I'm the head detective on this case. I got word from the Lieutenant." James said as he handed Joey the note from the Lieutenant. Joey read it before he exhaled and handed the letter back to James.

"Now you two can stay here and help me find some evidence and maybe find some other links to other cases." James said as he offered Joey and Kimberly a chance to help him before he walked away to talk with the officers who were first at the scene. Joey turned his head to Kimberly who was shaking her head in disbelief.

(!)-(!)-(!)-(!)

"When were you gonna tell me?!" Joey said as he bolted into the office of the SCPD's Lieutenant Rodney Harrison. Some would say that Joey was committing career suicide by waltzing into the office of the Lieutenant and talking to him the way that he did.

The middle aged officer lifted his head from the work on his desk to deal with Joey. The tension in the air told the story between the two.

"I wasn't."

"It's just like you to pull something like this. First you-" Joey was saying but Rodney took off his glasses and set them off to the side to look at Joey.

"Watch your tone. Because I can have you taken off all cases. I'm doing this for your career."

"By doing what? Taking away the past year of my life. I have spent countless hours day and night going through the evidence, chasing leads just for you to take me off the goddamn case!"

"You watch your damn mouth! You don't talk to me like that! I am saving your career! Do you wanna be known as the guy who spent his career chasing air?! Do you?!"

"I can't believe you!" Joey said as he turned around and walked out of the office making sure to slam the door after himself. Rodney sighed as he ran his hand over his face before slamming his fist down on the table. He looked to the side and grabbed his phone off the desk and to text a message to an unknown number.

"It is done." It read as he put his phone down and sighed while he looked off into space.

(!)-(!)-(!)-(!)

The man who disappeared from Sunstone City because of the Fusion Reactor stood outside of a wooden cabin in the middle of the woods with an ax in hand as he stood outside of a stub chopping wood. It was the one thing that made him feel normal. Ever since the explosion, his body had changed forever. Most men would have been dead from a building collapsing on them but somehow Cedric was still alive.

"I don't know why you're still chopping wood." said the 6 '4 African American male that had helped rescue Cedric from the rubble when he needed the help. Apparently, he was his father but Cedric didn't believe it. A father is a man who's supposed to raise and protect their kin and help support them but this man did none of that.

"And I don't know why you believe that you're my father but you do." For the past year, Cedric had been training to learn how to use the abilities he had gained from the Fusion Reactor. His so-called "Father" had been training him.

"Genetically speaking, I am. I'm the reason you got those powers."

"I know the story. You've told me for the past year, on repeat, We're not from here. You're not from here."

"But you are. You don't know this yet but you are the greatest gift that our race will ever have. Because of your hybrid DNA, you have the potential to be more powerful than any member of the Ryonian race." Once Cedric heard that he threw the ax down into the ground and turned to face his paternal maker.

"Explain." He said as he folded his arms.

"You already come from a royal lineage. On our planet, I am the King. Or was the king, I was exiled from the Kingdom by your brother."

"I have a brother?"

"And a sister, long story. On our planet, there was a prophecy, a human and a Ryonian heir would be born with powers stronger than the average. You see your abilities are connected."

"Connected to what?"

"Emotions. Your emotions to be exact. The angrier you get, the more powerful you get but if you get too angry, you can lose control. And it's not just anger, it could be happiness and more. And the fact that you've been here longer, absorbing more energy from the sun, it makes you more powerful."

"But how could I absorb energy from the sun without my powers?"

"Your body has always had the capability to absorb energy and your cells have always been equipped for your abilities, your cells just needed a jumpstart. And they got it from the Fusion Reactor."

"Let me ask you a question?"

"Shoot."

"Why did you disappear growing up?"

"I did it to protect you and your mother. You two were my world. Are my world. If someone would've hurt you two, trying to get to me, I don't want to think of what I would have to do in my quest for revenge."

"Sounds like you love her? My mother."

"I do. She's the only woman that I truly love. She's the only woman that I've been with that I could have ever imagined a life with

"You should go back with me."

"I don't think that's a good idea."

"Why not?"

"Can we really continue on with life as if nothing happened? Think about it, I've been absent for years, your mom will question it and everyone else is gonna question it."

"Forget them, it's not about everyone else. It's about us. If I can forgive you then she can , I can't keep coming out here to your cabin when I need advice. Our powers are nonexistent out here and don't forget it took us at least an hour to walk through this forest and find your cabin."

"True but where is this coming from? You said it yourself I'm no father. I have been absent from your life, your mother's life."

"In the year that I've gotten to know you, I have earned more respect for you than I have had for you my entire life. You taught me a lot about our people. And about you and mom. Everyone deserves a chance at redemption and a chance to have a happy life. And you and mom, that's happiness at it's finest."

"Will she even take me back in after all this time?"

"Maybe. You'll never know until you ask her yourself."

"I'm gonna have to think about it. But what do you want for dinner?

"I don't know. Surprise me."

Cedric turned back around and picked up his ax and started to work on chopping wood like he did before his "Father" interrupted him.

(!)-(!)-(!)-(!)

Kala walked out of the Sunstone City Herald building with her things. She still had the file that her boss had given her earlier still looking to cipher through it and find the truth. She unlocked her car and placed the file on the dashboard before cranking up her car. And before she could start driving, she heard a knocking on her door making her quickly snap her head and see her boyfriend Joey standing there. She unlocked the door looking at him with a confused look.

"What the hell are you doing?"

"Don't worry about it." He responded. She frowned looking him up and down smelling the alcohol on him. She decided not to push it and drove off in silence.

10 minutes into the ride, she decided to break the silence and try to get more out of him.

"So we really just aren't gonna talk about it?"

"Don't push it, Kala."

"Don't push what? I'm just asking you a question."

"Kala Don't -" Joey was saying but before anyone one of them could respond their car had crashed into something big and strong making both of them hit their heads on the dashboard. Joey was knocked instantly out of concussion while Kala had looked out of the window on her side to see a big, tall metallic robot standing looking around at the destruction it was causing as it walked down the street while she heard what sounded like several cop cars wailing off to the scene. Her sight faded to black as she fell out of consciousness.

(!)-(!)-(!)-(!)

Cedric sat at the table in the cabin with his father eating their dinner as they watched the TV looking on. Their show was interrupted as an Emergency News broadcast was brought onto the TV.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, I'm sorry to interrupt this broadcast but clearly in Sunstone City, we have a situation. A freak accident caused by this freak of nature. Currently, we have several police officers on the scene but it looks like that's not gonna be enough. The national guard is quickly on their way to the scene. We'll get more info as the situation diffuses but to everyone watching this, I suggest you evacuate if all else fails." The news reporter said.

"That was so unprofessional."

"He was scared. Professionalism goes out of the window during fear. You gotta get me back." Cedric said as he stood up.

"You haven't finished your training. You might hurt someone or worse hurt yourself."

"And that thing is hurting my city. And I damn ain't about to let it kill my city. So find a way to get me back now!"

"Fine, I wanted to wait but here goes nothing." Koya said as he walked into his bedroom and when he returned, he had a wooden box in his hands with their family insignia branded on it. Cedric took the box and opened it looking down to see something that his father had been bragging about for years.

"Is this what I think it is?"

"Yes, I wanted to wait till after your training to give it to you but I have no choice. This suit has been in our family for generations and it's what we have gone to battle in for years and it represents truth, justice and hope for our people. It's used to represent heroes and that's what I know you will become." Koya said with a proud smile. Cedric looked up at Koya and then back down into the box at the suit that had been in his family for generations.

"Be their Hero."

Castings:

Koya/ Damien McCollum - Sterling K. Brown

Leonard Sigman - Jeff Bridges

Joey Adams - Jensen Ackles

James Knight/Enigma - Matthew McConaughey

Lieutenant Rodney Harrison - Bradley Cooper