Bill reluctantly opened his eyes to the sound of his alarm clock, the image of Grand Hand proudly proclaiming the new day. Getting up from bed he began his morning rituals, got out of bed, regretted getting out of bed, got dressed, and brushed his teeth, all before slowly walking to the bus stop. Arriving at the stop was Arnold, a longtime friend of his who bordered somewhere between passion and obsession, which might have been useful if the center of his not-quite obsession wasn’t the latest parahuman newsreel.
“Hey, did you hear about Blackout’s fight last night, which was so fucking sick!”
He also had a bit of a mouth, which hardly did any favors for him in school. That being said, Bill had heard of it, everyone would have heard when it was Blackout.
“I skimmed the report but yeah, why?”
“Dude, how could you not know? Blackout just took down the last of the Lamplighters, their boss is heading to Baker’s as we speak!”
Oh, well Bill supposed that would have been important to learn, the Lamplighters are, were, the biggest drug and trafficking ring in North America. That was of course until the number two hero in the world, Blackout Fist, gained authorization from the IPR to pursue them, if their boss was going to jail then it was only a matter of time before the parades and so-called ‘Blackout parties’ began.
But that didn’t really interest Bill, not because he didn’t care about public safety or stuff, it was simply so far out of his area that he couldn’t help but feel a bit detached from it all. As they boarded the bus, Bill considered how this would affect his life and all that. 50 years ago, parahumans began popping up all across the globe, from major cities to rural hamlets, everyone was seeing the awakening of their powers or the birth of someone who had them.
Initially, it was met with reluctance, even hostility in some places, anti-parahuman groups formed and international councils were formed. But most early actions halted when it came out that everyone or their children could develop powers. From there, despite still only taking up about 30% of the population, parahumans became deeply ingrained in modern society, with some taking up the questionable job of ‘superhero’.
As they rode on the bus, occasionally picking up a few more kids along the way, another of Bill’s friends got on, a girl by the name of Sally.
“Heya dork, other dork, still nerding out over last night's fight?”
She was a bit rough around the edges.
“Hell, yeah we were, I was just telling Billy about how Blackout tore open that freighter to get the hostages out. It was so fucking sick!”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah, Blackout’s cool and all, but did you see Glaive, that’s a real hero at work.”
She wasn’t as passionate about supers, but like most his age, she had her favorite, one of the more prominent female heroes, who supposedly comes from Canada, but no one knows. For the rest of the trip they, meaning Sall and Arnold, talked and argued over how the fight went, debating whose was better.
(line break)
With the powering down of the bus’s grav-wheels, they filed out of the bus and into school, Morrison High School, one of the better public schools with a high focus on getting people to join the various hero agencies or even IPR. First things first, chemist-
Getting shoved as he passed through the gate, Bill lost his balance and fell to the ground, the chuckles and jeering of his attackers audible to him.
“Seems the powerless dorks are back, didn’t we tell you this was our school.”
Eh, crap, Edison, the son of the vice-principal, oh, and he had powers. He was a vicious little thing, with black hair, brown eyes, and the attitude of a rabid chihuahua, he was prime material for juvie. The only thing that kept him from it was his father’s influence and the fact that once he graduated he was going to get fast-tracked into an agency. His father being some big shot at an electric company didn’t help either. Hmm, did he lose weight?
“Just leave him alone Eddy, just go bother some juniors or seniors.”
“Oh, the little powerless girl is talking back to me then huh? Why don’t I remind you why I’m the hero of this school.”
He had a sadistic smile, and his fist started to crackle with energy, it wasn’t the amazing lighting fist he likely felt it was, but it was at least a taser’s worth of electricity. Rather than hit Arnold like it seemed he might, he instead beat Bill, causing him to spasm in pain on the dirt. The punches themselves were slow and light for an attack, but the crackling power that was jolting his body hurt like hell. After a few minutes he stopped, Bill could vaguely tell that a teacher was weakly trying to get him to stop, it was kinda hard when that kid had superpowers, and his dad could fire you in an instant.
“Seems like you’ve been corrected enough, try not to be so nauseating next time.”
Edison and his goons walked off, probably to harass another innocent bystander. It was always bad the first days back from break.
“Come on Billy, let's get you to the nurse before class starts up.”
Still out of it, Bill followed his friends, not really sure of where he was.
“Oh dear another one, well, just lay him down over there dears, I’ll help him when I can.”
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His vision cleared up a bit and around the office, he could see more victims of Edison, mostly just other sophomores but a few freshmen were there.
“Why do they keep him around, he’s like a wild animal, I mean LOOK at how many people he’s hurt already, the semesters only just started!”
Despite that, the trio knew exactly why he was given free rein, and even if he was not the most powerful in the school, he was probably the only one who could ruin the other’s chances of winning a spot at a college or agency.
“Look it’s fine guys, I’ll be fine once the nurse helps me, some pills and water should be all I need. I’m fine, really.”
“Hmph, still, we’ll see you in class later.”
“Yeah man, we can keep talking about last night later, see ya! “
The two of them left then, leaving Bill with only his thoughts and the background chatter of other victims. Despite the nurse's powers, it wasn’t for another hour that he was helped, her ability to numb the pain and help fix minor injuries only kept him from passing out, but the deeper damage was still very much there. Limping on his way to advanced chemistry, a two-hour class split between lecture and lab, he sat beside Nancy, an almost acquaintance of his.
“Ah, good to see you’re only an hour late Mr. Bones, have any fun adventures while class started?”
“No Mr. Macevy, just the nurse’s office.”
“I, ah, see. You’re excused then. Try not to make it a habit then. Now, let us continue with the lab. You can follow along with the explanation I wrote on the board.”
Bill started on his work, something that had to do with pure oxygen or something else, but he couldn’t put much spirit into his thoughts or actions after that beat down.
“If you aren’t feeling up to it I can just do it for you?”
“No thanks Nancy, I’m not that bad.”
“You sure, you look like you’re a light breeze away from passing out?”
“Nancy, I’m fine, you don’t have to worry.”
“… all right then, pass me the tubing then would you?”
From there we finished our lab, preparing our oxygen experiment, and idly listening to the news.
“And in live news the prison transfer of infamous parahuman gang, ‘The Lamplighters’, Walton Brock is currently being transported from Baker’s Island to an undisclosed maximum location, currently we can see the helicopter flying near the local high school.”
As if on cue the sound of a helicopter blades spinning became audible, and as the class gathered by the windows they could see a swarm of helicopters. What were likely new stations and journalists' helicopters keeping a fair distance, but in the distance, Bill could see someone leaning out of a copter, holding a tube?
And as it turned out, one of his classmates saw the same thing.
“Hey Mr. Mac, is that guy over-”
Broken glass showered those that had gathered around the window, in the distance, the lead helicopter was spinning out of control, burning in the daylight.
Cough, cough
It was Mr. Macevy who acted first, ordering everyone to get away from the windows and out of the room, he had always been Bill’s favorite teacher. But with everyone stunned or only just recovering, it was slow going.
“Mr. M, the doors are stuck, I think the auto-lock is damaged!”
Shit
“Shit, uh, kids get away from the windows and into that corner, I’ll try to get the door working again!”
But as we scrambled to the corner strange men started to flood the field just outside of the school.
“Thank God, it’s the cops!”
Bill was about to shout for help when he felt something splash in his face, the blood of the classmate who announced their presence, his name was James. Panic rushed into the students, and more shots hit other classmates.
Why, why were the police doing this?!
Wait, they wouldn’t, couldn’t even, cops were banned from having lethal weaponry in 2040, the guys must have been with the Lamplighters!
Shit, shit, shit, an electric beating, and now this, on the first day of school, what the hell kind of luck is that!?
But after a few more people were hit, some friends, others acquaintances, all people he knew, they heard a voice coming from outside.
“Well, hello children, I’d say it’s a pleasure to see the youth of today working for a higher education, but I’d much rather see all of you and this building buried but do try to not take offense, I am in sore need of a reminder to the world, to, not, fuck, with, the, LAMPLIGHTERS!”
“Holy shit that’s Walton Brock!”
But before the now-known super terrorist’s men opened fire again, the man himself intervened.
“But, before that, I am willing to offer some mercy, come join me and join my people, otherwise, I’ll paint your friend’s face red with you.”
What? He was offering to spare us, but if we did that here then… oh god, he wasn’t just offering a way out, he was trying to get us to paint a target on ourselves. As the offer settled into everyone, few knew what to do, despite being shot Mr. Macevy was begging us not to move, but already a couple were inching themselves up, uncertain if it was a trick or not. But as they got closer they found themselves unhurt, Walton gave each of them a handshake or a pat on the back, even as some of the men in the back started to execute the surviving actual cops of the attack.
Bill was frozen in fear and indecision, if he joined them then either they or the cops would shoot him, or he would just die here and now. Where were the heroes, where was the IPR, they were supposed to save people!
But Bill thinks he knows actually, aside from the lead helicopter that was transporting Walton, all the other police and national guard turned out to be lamplighters, it was likely that they somehow had the heroes and IPR response teams occupied or unaware.
Until Bill saw his lab project next to him, a sizeable canister of pure oxygen, and a lab lighter.
Looking up, as people shuffled to the villain, his goons weren’t checking the students, a few of them even kept their backpacks with them.
And with that, a thought entered Bill’s head, a very stupid and bad plan.
So, he gathered his things, some tape, and a good piece of wire, and started walking to the terrorist, offering himself to join. As he approached, one of the henchmen had a cam-bot ready, the kind field reporters used at events and such.
“Good, good, we will have great use for young men and women such as yourselves, now, smile for the camera, and let the world know your name.”
The cam-bot went one by one, each student fearfully proclaiming their new allegiance to the Lamplighter group until they got to Bill.
“And last but not least is this young man, tell me, does the rush of joining such a valued and famous organization fill your tiny brain? I know I’d be ecstatic if it was me., but this is your time, give the world your name and some details, you know, icebreakers.”
I nervously looped my finger around a piece of string going into the pack, and quietly whispered to the jackass.
“Well, it seems this young man is a little shy, let me just give him some encouragement.”
Bill wasn’t sure if the maniac actually thought being so close to him and putting an arm over his shoulder would help, but Bill wasn’t complaining, it did make this next part easier.
“Uh hey, I’m Billards Stone, and I like superhero movies.”
“Well, I guess we’ll just have to beat that little idea out of your head then, but tell me why do you like those movies so much?”
The stage was set, and the trigger ready, Bill never thought of himself as being dramatic, lord knows he gets enough of it from his cousins, but just this once, he’d like to indulge.
“Hmm, I’d say I like them, 'cause they always end with a bang.”
Bill pulled the string as hard as he could.
“Hah, I like the guts on this one, but whatever you did failed, so just-”
BANG