Ray Miller was engrossed in reading an old copy of the Empire State University Banner, the very paper for which he was a photographer. He had been caught up reading a story of super villainy of some sort or other, leaving behind the mundane quality of his life for the interest and intrigue of the superhuman community.
Absentmindedly he plucked his cell phone from his pocket to check the time and jumped with shock. It seemed that his time perusing the newspaper had been a lot longer than he had originally thought, and he was late for his first class of the day. With a flustered worry Ray gathered up his belongings and made a mad dash for the diner exit.
Clutching his camera and bag to his chest, Ray ran down the campus streets with a muffin shoved into his mouth. He simply couldn't believe that he managed to forget about his class, of course it wasn't unusual for him. Ray Miller was not exactly known for his punctuality, one might even say he was habitually and predictably late for just about everything.
As he bolted through the campus the young student managed to collide with a person heading in the opposite direction. Books and papers flew everywhere, as well as his prized camera. With a surprising feat of agility Ray leapt for the falling piece of equipment, managing to catch it in his cupped hands. With a relieved sigh, he turned to see just who it was that he managed to bowl over in his mad dash for class.
Dusting herself off was a girl, with a shock of shoulder length blond hair and a rather annoyed expression on her face. She adjusted herself and shook her head in Ray's general direction. The young man couldn't help but mutter out some unintelligible apology as he picked up his belongings. The girl seemed to take pity on him and began to help him gather his dropped possessions.
"What are you lost?" she asked, her annoyance replaced with an abrupt kind of pity.
"Yah, s-s-sorry about that," Ray stuttered. It was a horrible habit but when nervous or in exceptionally awkward situations Ray had a tendency to develop a stutter. "I was t-t-rying to g-get to class."
"Oh I couldn't tell by the books," the girl retorted sarcastically. "Don't sweat it, this campus seems a bit difficult to get around. I'm just here picking up something for my boyfriend and I feel lost."
"O-oh r-really?" Ray stuttered quietly. The girl brushed hair out of her face as she shoved books into his arms. He was more trying to avoid awkwardness by continuing the conversation but his general demeanor only seemed to increase it.
"Yup, some professor here has something that he wanted to take a look at. I don't know computer stuff and all," she explained with a shrug. "By the way my name's Cassie," she introduced herself, extending a hand. "Sorry if I'm not great with introductions but I'm still shaking off being run over after all."
"S-sor-sorry," Ray apologized again, now with all his belongings back in his hands. "I'm Ray," he introduced himself with a sheepish shrug.
"Like I said, don't worry about it, and it's very nice to meet you Ray. Now I've got to run, people to see and places to go, you know the deal," she explained with a wave. "Try not to barrel into anyone else on your way wherever."
Ray paused for a moment, watching her leave and recalled the class that he was supposed to be rushing to at that moment. Back on track Ray made his way down the campus and to the building housing his algebra class. Quietly and cautiously he made his way into the lecture hall and scanned the room for a place to sit.
There were about two hundred students crammed into the tight room and from the looks of it, seating was limited. Hurriedly Ray scanned the area, class was going to start soon and he wanted to avoid angering his professor within the first weeks of school. His eyes eventually fell on a person he had known from high school. They hadn't been friends but it was some familiarity. As Ray tried to make his way in that direction, people plopped down in the seats he was aiming for.
His old classmate saw him and gave him a shrug and smile, the universal sign for "sorry, better luck next time." Ray sighed, going back to scanning the room and cursing his whole inability to function in social situations.
"Sir, can you grab a seat so I can begin my lecture?" the gray professor muttered grumpily as he adjusted the projector. Besides the professor stood another, younger man; a brunette with an infectious grin and bright eyes. It took him a moment but Ray recognized him as Peter Parker, he had taught a section of Biology at his old high school. Ray began to wonder what he was doing here in a college algebra classroom at ESU. "Young man, did you hear me?" the professor growled slightly louder.
"Yes s-sir!" Ray nodded as he sat down in the closest vacant seat. It looked like he would have to endure whatever embarrassment that came with this new seat mate, it was either that or stand in the middle of the aisle the whole class. As he took out his notebook and a pen Ray continued to ponder the presence of Mr. Parker.
"You know him too?" a voice rang out beside him. Ray turned to see a girl sitting in the seat next to him. She was a pretty thing, with blond hair framing her face, a thin lipped smile, and bright green eyes. Ray turned, to ensure that she wasn't in fact talking to someone in the immediate vicinity of himself. "Mr. Parker, do you know him too?" she asked once again.
"Oh, y-yah. He was a b-biology teacher at m-m-my high school," Ray stuttered. Silently he was begging for his voice to level out so he wouldn't have to sound like an idiot.
"Midtown High right? I went there too, I actually had him for a teacher," she explained in a rather enthusiastic tone. "I wonder what he's doing here, I mean this is college algebra, not exactly bio." The girls whole demeanor just seemed bright and bubbly, a great contrast to Ray's more awkward self.
"I d-don't know, maybe he's l-looking for s-s-someone or something?" Ray suggested quietly, shoving his nose into his notebook.
"Hmm, maybe," the girl nodded. "I loved him as a teacher, he was actually really funny. I'm a bit of a joker myself," the girl smirked. Ray looked back up from his notebook; it seemed that just trying to bury himself wasn't going to free him up from conversation. He had to admit, she did seem rather engaging. She plucked an orange from her purse and held it up next to her face and grinned. "Orange you glad you decided to sit next me?"
Ray couldn't help but let out a laugh, trading his normally more reserved reactions for a simple laugh. The whole thing just seemed so absurd and this girl was just soaking it all up. He smirked, shaking his head.
"Thank you, thank you, I'm here all week," she laughed herself. "You don't talk much do you?"
"S-s-sorry, just not good around n-new people," Ray paused as if mulling over his statement. "Well I g-guess I'm just not good around p-people in general. Well anyways, my name is Ray." The young man figured the least he could do was make an effort at conversation, the girl didn't seem like a threat in any case and she had gone to Midtown as well.
"Pleasure to make your acquaintance Ray," she grinned. "Well I don't see why you would be bad around people, you seem to be a little ray of sunshine to me," she quipped with a wink. Ray grinned, shaking his head. "My names Alice; let's see I'm a biology major, love animals, and someday I want to work for Stark Industries as a researcher. Now you say some interesting things."
Ray raised his eyebrows, and thought for a moment. "I'm an el-electrical engineer, I should ac-actually probably be taking a higher level math class but t-trouble with Midtown and my test scores," Ray rambled. "I want to work for Stark Industries someday too," he told her with a shy smile. His eyes wandered back down to the podium where he saw Mr. Parker leaving the room.
"Young man, maybe you better find a seat where you would be less talkative," the professor shouted up at Ray. With surprise the young man stood, gathering his belongings and began searching out another seat. He turned around and offered an apologetic shrug to Alice, actually genuinely disappointed he had to move. She just twirled the orange around her fingers and shot him a smirk.
The rest of class passed without incident. Ray spent most of the time doodling on a piece of paper waiting for the professor to slowly and monotonously explain the difference between national and irrational numbers. Class came to an end and the students shuffled out, there was no sign of Alice.
Solitarily Ray made his way through the building, and was soon passing by a professor's office, the door slightly ajar. Normally Ray would have simply passed by the door without a second thought but from the office the words "lethal legion" caught his attention. Attempting to look as nonchalant as possible, Ray paused by the office and strained his ears to try and catch who was talking and about what.
As students passed by Ray made sure to drop his attention to the ground, and tried to look as if he had a reason to be standing in that specific spot. One of the voices streaming from the other was unrecognizable but the other he knew to belong to Mr. Parker. Only bits and pieces of their conversation were coming through and Ray found it odd that he was still standing there. Certainly people discussed the superhuman community without there being any secret agenda or thing of intrigue.
The student was about to leave when Mr. Parker walked out of the office and spotted him. Their eyes met and both men shared a look of surprise.
"Oh hey, there," Parker greeted as he looked about the bustling hallway. "Are you here to see Professor Gerrich?"
"Er-n-no," Ray muttered as he promptly turned around and began to walk down the hallway with the other students. He turned to see Parker just shrug his shoulders and leave in the opposite direction. It certainly wasn't the best way to end a conversation but it sure was effective. Ray figured a visit to his Mom may actually get his mind off everything, all these thoughts on superheroes and awkward social interaction were obviously getting to him.
Ray walked back to his dorm room and placed his things down, winding down after a rather mind numbing math lecture. He plopped down on his bed and flicked on the small television that he and Jason shared. Ray knew Jason was probably at class so he'd have the room to himself for at least a short while.
On the tv he made out the bright logo of the local news, which was promptly replaced by a video feed. On the screen was three costumed individuals apparently committing a bank robbery. Two of them Ray recognized immediately as the Grey Gargoyle and the Absorbing Man. There was a third who he wasn't familiar with, a sort of large blue hulking figure with a face that resembled a Japanese Oni.
Ray sat entranced as he watched the super villains do battle with New York's finest. Vaguely he began to wonder why a superhero wasn't showing up to deal with these wrong doers. It then occurred to him that this was the same Lethal Legion that he had read about earlier, the same non entity made up of washed up villains and apparently a new one to the game.
The scene switched to a pretty news anchor, grinning widely at the camera. Her face was caked in makeup; of course Ray just assumed that was normal in the media business. "That was the scene earlier today on the First National bank on 34th and 7th," she reported diligently. "The villains are still at large and thankfully he brave officers combating them did not sustain any casualties."
She turned to her co-anchor, a man with a grin that seemed large enough to scare off a dinosaur. "So Tom, what do you have to say about the fact there were no superheroes present to combat these dangerous individuals?" she asked, her voice both inquisitive and sickeningly saccharine. "Well Mary, I think we can attribute it to-"
Ray turned off the tv and dropped down to lie in his bed. He was absolutely tired of hearing the arguments about superheroes, super hero registration and the like. It was maddening that everyone in the country seemed to be caught in a constant state of bickering over the state of the world. Ray just longed for the old days of sueprheroics. He recalled all the stories his grandfather would tell him about Captain America and the Invaders during World War II. These were real heroes. All that was left of that Golden Age was bickering and politics.
Ray turned over on his pillow, mentally going through the list of things he had to do that day. His mind wandered, as he began to imagine himself as a superhero. He wouldn't be caught up in the politics of the current situation, he'd march right into the center of any conflict and fight the good fight as any superhero should.
With a small smile, he sat up and plucked a picture off the wall. It was a view of Giant-Man walking overhead. It really was an incredible picture, something which showed the sheer power of the Marvels that inhabited their world. The picture was caught by a famous photographer for his aptly named book Marvels. As Ray stared at the picture he found himself hoping that someday he would do something deserving of the title, marvel.
He jumped to his feet and headed back out the door. He couldn't just sit back and ponder possibilities all day, he had life to live and classes to attend.