Superhero Act I

All right, round one of Superhero! Here goes nothing...

Aaron Keener

You sit anxiously at your desk, glancing at the clock. Two twenty-eight. It's okay, two more minutes until school gets out. Normally, you wouldn't care so much, but you had just discovered something interesting that morning about your...

Special talent.

You glance out the window of the biology lab, to the sprawling Metropolis that lay in the distance. This month had certainly been full of odd incidents. First, an experimental military droid goes missing, then the explosion at the city's laboratory, and then, just a few days ago, you had discovered something about yourself that was "less than normal".

The teacher's going on about prokaryotic and eukaryotic cellular structures, but you can barely hear her. You watch as the minute hand slowly reaches two thirty...

The bell rings, and in seconds, the class has filed out of the room.

You scoop your stuff into your backpack and follow the crowd, quietly slipping into the stream of moving bodies. Your mind is absolutely buzzing with excitement. This morning, while you were drinking some juice, you realized your drink was lukewarm. Concentrating, you were able to cool the area around your drink without freezing the entire room! You've been wondering all day if it would be possible to do the same with hot temperatures, and what exactly you could affect.

You're so lost in your thoughts, that you accidentally bump into the girl ahead of you.

"Hey, watch where you're--Oh, Aaron! Hi!" the girl exclaims.

You look up, and suddenly blush, embarrassed. You had just bumped into Patricia Harper, perhaps the prettiest girl in school, who had just recently taken an interest in you, for whatever reason. Patricia was the stereotypical popular girl. She was pretty, and dated all the popular guys in school. You couldn't imagine why she was so interested in you now.

"Oh, hey, Patricia." you reply. You're at a loss for words, mostly because you were so focused on your abilities.

"What's up? How've you been?" she asks.

"Oh, you know... same old stuff." You say. "I've been good, but, I kinda have somewhere to be right now..." You wince as you finish your sentence. Did you just tell the prettiest girl in school off?

"Oh, yeah, of course!" she says. "Well, hey; if you have some free time, maybe you should call me up sometime?"

Your heart beats with a nervous excitement. "S-sure..." you say. You can feel the air around you getting a bit warmer.

"Aw, you're cute when you're nervous." she says with a girlish giggle. "Well, I'll let you go then. See you around, Aaron."

You wave and watch her walk by. You're one lucky son of a gun, you think to yourself.

Your mind drifts back to your power, and you quickly control yourself, cooling the air back to normal. You leave school and decide to walk home, testing your power on whatever you can find.

As you are walking home, you notice three much larger students standing over a smaller freshmen boy. Bullies, obviously picking on a smaller, more timid student.

"Hmm..." you say to yourself. This could prove an interesting test for your powers. You're not sure whether you should seriously harm the bullies, or just kinda freak them out a bit, but either way, if you don't intervene, they may beat that kid black and blue.

You glance around, noticing no one around. If you do confront them, you decide that you should be careful about how you show your power.

What will you do?

---

Justin Unsichtbar

You shut the hood of the car you were working on and wipe your brow.

"All fixed!" you say, wiping some of the grime off your hands.

"Really?" your boss, Greg asks. "That didn't take you too long."

You shrug. "Eh, it wasn't really serious. Just needed some replacement parts."

"Huh, well, good job, Justin." Greg says, patting you on the shoulder. "I'll call up the owner right away. Hey, you're due for a lunch break, right?"

"Well, yeah, but-" you try to say.

"Take a break, Justin." Greg says. "You need it. And, well, legally, I'm obligated to give you a lunch break if you're working a full shift."

You give a small laugh. "All right. Hey, you want anything?"

"Sure!" Greg says. "Just grab me a burger or something. Anything'll do."

You step out of the garage, and glance around. There were a few cars driving around, and some people walking along the street. You duck into the small alley behind your work, making sure no one can see you. Once you are satisfied, you concentrate, and suddenly feel your body being pulled and stretched. The sensation abruptly stops, and you find yourself behind the burger place downtown.

Several minutes later, you return to the garage.

Greg looks up, not so surprised. "That was quick." he says with a smirk.

"Well, you know me, Greg." you say. "I know how to get around."

Greg was one of the few people who knew about your secret; your ability to teleport. You'd kept your power a secret ever since you were little. Although your father always told you it wasn't your fault, you felt that the reason your parents split up was because of your unusual ability. Ever since then, you had refused to use your power publicly...until your father introduced you to Greg.

When Greg learned of your power, he told you to embrace it. He told you it was a part of who you are, and that you could do some serious good with it. Greg taught you a bit about fighting, and since then, you had become a vigilante, fighting crime whenever it arose. Most of the stuff you did was small time, but just a few weeks ago, you had been able to single handedly foil a bank heist. The newspapers had called you "The Vanishing Man", but the name didn't really stick with you.

As you and Greg are enjoying your burgers, you notice a speeding car slam to a halt just across from the shop. Three masked figures hop out, each with small handguns. The burglars burst into the small house they had parked in front of, and you can hear screams come from within.

You look to Greg, who just nods and says "I didn't see anything. Now go!"

What will you do?

---

Jackson Hunt

You awake with a start, and the illusion around your room simply dissolves into nothingness. You sigh and rub your eyes in an attempt to stay awake. Recently, it seemed that whenever you had vivid dreams, you would project them into the real world, creating an inviting (or sometimes terrifying) illusion.

You grab the television remote and flick on the news. The only thing that really seemed to dominate the news stories lately was the disappearance of a military android that was being tested near the Metropolis where you live. Not that you were really watching the news for news. You like the noise, and it gives you something to focus on so you dont let your mind wander.

As a child, you had created quite a stir in the orphanage where you were brought up. That was around the time you had first discovered your unique attribute. Your ability to manipulate the senses of others. After you had left the orphanage, you wandered the streets for a while, joining a gang and stealing to survive. You would supress your power in front of others, but it was a difficult thing to do.

Now, twenty three years old, you were living in a small apartment, simply trying to get your ability in check. Lately, your power had been growing out of hand, and you needed the privacy to try and control it.

As you watch the news, you can hear a car screech to a halt just outside your apartment complex. You get up and look out the window, just in time to see three armed and masked figures run into the building. You can hear screaming coming from the lower floors.

You quietly mull the dilemma around in your head. You did have the power to stop these criminals. But using your ability would likely mean revealing yourself. What shall you do?

---

Rosa Delphi

The shrieks and cries of terror from the girl's bathroom mean that your latest prank was a great success. You supress a laugh, and try to supress the smile forming on your lips. You quickly rush back to your dorm room, and hop silently back into bed before anyone realizes that you were missing. You can still hear the other girls in your dorm freaking out about the fabled Spirit that they saw.

You chuckle to yourself. It had only been a little over a year ago that you discovered your power, that you had the ability to phase through solid objects with just a thought. You normally didn't use your ability in public, but you had become somewhat of a legend because of it. A few months ago, you had been accidentally locked in the girls bathroom. You used your power to leave, but you had been seen, and had been dubbed "The Spirit" ever since. And since then, you had used your ability to pull off a number of minor pranks around the dorm.

You were just about to go to sleep, when you can hear a shriek from farther down the hallway, past the girl's bathroom. You get up and decide to investigate. You crack your door open just a bit, and you can see one of yor dorm mates pulling away from the grasp of her boyfriend.

"Hey, c'mon, don't be like that." you can hear him say.

You roll your eyes. It wasn't too uncommon that boys would sneak into the girls doems or girls would sneak into the boys dorms for a little late-night hookup, but this meeting seemed different to you.

"I've already told you, we are through!" the girl says. "I don't know why you're here, and I really don't care! Please, just leave!"

The expressionon the boy's face changes. He reaches out and slaps the girl across the face. You blink in shock. You knew that girl (not very well, but still).

"Well, far be it from me to stop a sadist." you whisper sarcastically to yourself. You know you should intervene, but the question is, how? Also, if they see your face, your cover as "The Spirit" will be blown. What will you do?

---

Adeline Seath

More to come soon

Forum Name: Arata
Character Name: Aaron Keener (Quiksilver)
Actions:

-I move behind the bullies as they begin to advance on the smaller kid, so they don't notice me.

-I concentrate on the beneath their feet, more specifically, the bottoms of their shoes and try to raise the temperature, hoping to melt their shoes to the ground.

-If it works, I tell the kid to run, if not, I'll run away.

Forum Name: ookaminami
Character Name: Rosa Delphi (the spirit)
Actions:

- I watch and listen for a few more moments to see if the guy leaves. (thought i highly doubt that he will)

- If he does not leave and continues to be violent I will use my powers to get close to and partially through the wall next to him make my hands phase through the wall and smack his head into the wall in an attempt to confuse/ knock him out.

- If the above strategy does not work I shall, without being seen, grab him from behind and drag him through the wall into a locked broom closet or something, and then leave him there. If the girl is smart she will hopefully run.