Author's Notes…

Thank you to everyone who sent in an OC for this story. I officially have reached my limit for Heroes and Loner Heroes / Vigilantes for my fic, but submissions will still be open for a short time for a couple Minor Villains. This will most likely be the last opportunity for you to have a character in this fic.

A big thank you to all of you viewers, reviewers out there, and everyone who has sent in an OC up to now. I am incredibly happy with all of the positive feedback. This also inspires me, which means more development for the chapters! Yes, yes, all good things today.

I've wasted enough time, enjoy chapter 3.

November 13th

An icy blue sedan pulled in to a concrete driveway. A woman in her mid-40s stepped out, Darren followed suit, exiting the passenger side. They were both laughing as they walked around to the trunk

"Oh – Hahaha! – Oh my! Please, no more!" His mother tried to talk between fits of giggles. Darren helped her take groceries from the trunk.

"I got more where that came from," He said with a grin, "Ever hear the one about Captain Cold taking a sick day?"

"Hehehe – oh, ahem – Not now, I won't get anything done if I keep laughing so much," She said with a motherly smile. Darren laughingly agreed with her. He jogged up at the stairs and opened the door for her. His mother stopped, "Oh, I almost forgot something."

Darren opened his mouth to say something, but out of the corner of his eye caught sight of a hooded figure walking down the street, "Mom…" He set his items inside the house off to the side, "I'll get it," His mother turned to him to say otherwise, he knew it was coming, but he stopped her, "It's okay. I can get it, you know where the stuff goes anyway. I'll get it."

"Oh, all right then, if you insist," Darren passed by his mother with a nod. He kept his eyes on the hooded person as they walked by. He let out a sigh of relief seeing that they didn't mean him or his mother harm. It was just a normal person passing by.

'Living in this city has me on edge…' He thought to himself, running a hand through his hair. He glanced up at the house he and his mother were living in while he got the last bit of the groceries, 'All because of me… Sorry mom… Dad…'

"Darren!"

He jumped lightly, "What's taking so long, slow poke? The quicker you're in, the quicker I can start dinner!" How long had he been standing out there? He looked down at his hands feeling a slight chill and he noticed frost.

"Sorry about that! I'll be in in a second!" He quickly rubbed his hands together, trying to rid himself of the frost. He jogged inside with the last of the groceries, giving the outside one last glance before he shut the front door behind him.

"Darren, the freezer is broken again," His mother said with a sheepish smile, "Would you mind, dear?"

He chuckled, "Not at all."

He stepped in front of their refrigerator and rubbed his hands together until white mist poured out from between his palms. He placed his hands inside. In an instant white mist was pouring from their freezer and the inside was covered from wall to wall with ice.

"I'll call someone to see what they can do to fix tomorrow," His mother said with a slight sigh. She kissed her son's cheek, "Thank you, that'll be all until dinner is ready."

"Are you sure you don't need any help, mom?" He asked her.

"No, now go on, shoo!" She said playfully, laughing as she shooed him away. He smiled and laughed along with her. His expression was a happy one, but his eyes did not convey the same feeling. He looked at the dark marks under his mother's eyes. Her body language said she was tired, he could hear it in her voice as well. He glanced around at his home. It was lackluster, not that he cared, but things could've been better.

'All because of me…' He walked away, shaking his head to himself, "Dammit…" He murmured.

He couldn't breathe, his throat felt as though it had closed up. He could feel his heart beating against his chest, and he wouldn't be surprised if they could hear it as well. Seth stood rooted to the ground with a knife against his throat, facing down three local thugs he had seen many times in the past, having a few run ins with them as well. He always went home with some new injury…

"Come on, dumbass," the leader goaded, "Wallet and everything else that's worth something and we won't hurt you to bad." Seth glanced down at the steel blade a hairsbreadth from his neck. He gulped, and he wanted to cringe feeling his adam's apple graze the blade. He glanced between his two lackeys, one holding a tire iron and the other a metal bat.

"Come on then, I got other people to rob today!" the leader snapped. Seth tensed up, and bit back a cry of pain feeling one of lackeys tap the tire iron against his arm. It wasn't a hard tap at all, but it still hurt with his arm like it was.

His heart was pounding in his ears.

He reached in to his pockets and handed the thug his wallet, ipod and the man snatched his sunglasses as well.

"Thanks," The lead thug snapped the blade shut. He nodded to his lackeys. The one wielding the back took a step forward and thrust the head of the bat in to Seth's stomach. His knees buckled. He doubled over coughing violently. The other lackey brought the bend of the tire iron down on his back.

"AH!" Seth cried out in pain. The leader chuckled, and his lackeys joined in. The leader pressed his foot against Seth's head and pushed him over on to his side.

They started on their way, turning away from the downed teenager.

Seth didn't clutch his arm, his head or his stomach. He clutched at his chest. He shakily rose up and was on his knees again with his forehead against the ground.

'I can't… I can't… breath…' He lifted his head and stared at the retreating forms of his attackers. He glanced at a rock near him, one that was a decent size. He picked it up…

"AAH!" The thug wielding the tire iron was sent to the ground, howling in pain while he clutched his right knee. He rolled around in his pain. They turned around to see Seth standing up and stalking towards them.

"Get'em!" the lead thug commanded. The one wielding the bat gripped it both hands and ran at Seth. He swung. Seth caught the bat, resounding with a loud smack as metal met skin. Seth tightened his grip on the bat, more and more until it started to bend underneath his fingers. The thug tried to wrench it away, but to no avail. He finally decided to punch Seth in the face.

The young man stumbled back, but kept a told hold on the bat. He raised it up for both of them to see. His grip tightened until he crumpled that portion of the metal bat. The lackey stumbled back; he fell on his but in fear. The leader on the other hand whipped out his switchblade and charged.

Seth kept an even expression. He lifted his left arm from its sling and swung back, striking the metal dumpster next to him, leaving a large dent.

The lackey hurriedly scurried back, turning around and scrambling to run away. The leader slid to a halt, his confused and afraid, he took several steps back. He was visibly shaking.

"What the… y – you… you're one of those super powered freaks! O – oh man, the town is gonna love this!" He said, still visibly frightened, his eyes glancing between Seth's expressionless face, those wide blood shot eyes, and the dent in the metal dumpster.

Seth held out his hand, "My stuff. Hand it over."

The thug threw them at Seth's feet, "Take it, freak!" And with that he ran off.

"B –boss!" They left a man behind; He reached out for his retreating leader, but received no help, not even a sparring glance. He heard movement. He slowly looked over his shoulder and Seth was looming over him. The thug tried to crawl away, but he saw Seth bend down, and it was then that he covered his face, thinking he would be attacked.

When nothing happened he hesitantly looked past his arm, and there was Seth, collecting his things. He stuffed his dirtied ipod in to his pocket, along with his wallet. He looked forlornly at the sunglasses, both of the lenses cracked.

Seth glanced at the thug on the ground. He flinched back. The teenager sighed, and placed his right hand over his heart. He walked away, swaying from side to side. He left a trail of red droplets that fell from his bloodied left hand.

"Just what the hell were you thinking?"

"Now it wasn't his fault! He had to for his own safety!"

"They walked away from him; those words came from his mouth! He could've let them be!"

"Oh! Are you saying that you wouldn't fight to get your belongings back? I've seen you do just that!"

Seth sat at his kitchen table, his head in his hand, his left arm back in its sling, his knuckles wrapped in fresh bandages stained with small spots of red. He sat there listening to his parents argue. He hadn't wanted it to happen. He said that many times over the course of the argument with his father. His mother tried to defend his actions, which led to now.

He had arrived home with blood, torn knuckles, barely able to move the fingers of both of his hands. He nearly collapsed walking in to his house. He had little choice but to tell them what had really happened.

"But now the entire town is going to know what he can do!" His father retorted, "You know exactly how Jump City feels about heroes now! Anyone with some strange ability is immediately labeled a pariah and an outcast! We'll we be lucky if they do not try to burn our home to the ground!"

Seth froze. Would people actually do that?

"Those bullies had no idea who Seth was, right, Seth?" His mother asked him.

He raised his head, keeping his eyes on their tiled kitchen floor. He couldn't bear to look either of his parents in the eyes, "Uhm…" His voice was rather soft, "They had my wallet for a couple minutes… I don't know if they looked in it though…"

"You see?" His father shouted. Seth flinched back, "And even if they don't, they know where our house is! We can't afford to move another new place! We can barely afford this now!"

"Calm down, " His mother pleaded, "Just calm down, please."

"How the hell can I be calm at a time like this?! Because of his recklessness, now his life, your life, all of our lives could be at stake! Because he couldn't control himself!" Seth scratched the back of his head, at a loss for words. He glanced up at his father who was leaning against their refrigerator, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Dad, I -"

"Please, don't talk," His father interrupted him, "Unless anything you have to say involves a way to get us out of the mess we could be in now, I don't want to hear another word from you for the rest of the night," And with that he walked away.

"Oh my…" His mother whispered. She turned to him, "Seth… he didn't -"

"I messed up again, didn't I?"

"N – no! Your father, he's just upset! He wants what's best for us, and -"

"And that can't happen…" Seth started to say as he stood up, "If I keep getting scared, denting dumpsters and showing off superhuman strength," He looked down at his mother with a sad smile. She was only a few inches shorter than him, "I really messed up. The only difference now is that no one went to the hospital…"

His mother gave him a sympathetic look. A motherly smile. She wrapped her arms around him in an attempt to comfort her son, "Just give your father time, he'll calm down. In the meantime though, try to keep a low profile."

"Why's that?" Seth asked.

"Heroes tend to make enemies easily, even if they don't mean to," His mother said, ruffling his shaggy brown hair.

There was that word again. 'Hero'

First it was that mechanic, Travis and now it was my mother. I don't think I'd ever get used to that word. I'm no superhero. Superhuman yeah, but a hero? A lazy guy like me? No way…

But then again, how many people had superpowers or super abilities that could help people in Jump City? Wonderful… I just gave myself something to think about, fan-freaking-tastic.

Darren closed the door to his room and plopped down on to his bed. He flipped on his television. He listened to the news of more violence in Jump City, the growing crime rate in the city, the police department's inability to do anything about it, and just how much the public was beginning to hate them. It wasn't even five minutes before he turned it off and resigned himself to his few comic books.

It was a select few, in no true particular order, "Mr. Freeze… Ice… Killer Frost… Polar Boy… Captain Cold… How come you never see any ice themed superheroes?" He asked himself, tossing them haphazardly in to a pile on to his nightstand.

"… No ice themed superheroes…" He dragged out those last few words, the gears of his mind beginning to turn.

Author's Notes…

I've decided to start replying to reviews via chapters…

MysteryAgain – Thank you :) I'm to hear that because there were parts I had my doubts about.

Lilysash97 – I'll take that as a compliment. And there are some good ones out there. Vastly better ones as well.

Reitzel – chan – Thanks for getting in to the spirit of puns!

MarluxiaSasakiDoom – Why thank you

ThePerfectReplica – I'm glad that you're happy with that chapter and the length of future chapters. And as for Seth, hopefully his mystery will unravel in time.

Vulkodlak – It is. I have seen quite often. I wanted to do something a bit different with Seth in terms of his power, and I'm happy that it's going over so well.

Captain Toma – Thanks, I'm happy the idea is going over well for now.

So, we got in to Seth and Darren's home lives a bit. We see just how what they can do affects their lives at home, and we also see how dangerous Jump city can be these days. Muggers and thieves around every twist and turn. It's been said more times than I remember that superpowers can be a curse as much as they are a blessing.

What will Seth do? Just what is Darren thinking? There really no ice-themed heroes (DC wise) these days.

Stay tuned for next chapter. And a couple new characters.