I want to applaud
@Cherico on Sufficient Velocity. I just read his work "On A Pale Horse". I did not know that there were other Greg-centered works out there. I had seen the one about the mirror universe but that was mostly Emma and Taylor interactions. He inspired me to put Sparky in this chapter. I had actually forgotten about Sparky. I had assumed he was a Merchant but Cherico's characterization made more sense to me.
Complications 2.1
"Okay, class. It's time for all of you to break off into groups," Mr. Gladly began, a playful grin on his face. "I told you all to be ready with your lists of parahumans and how they've affected the world. I'll give you a little bit of time to get together and prepare. Remember, best group gets prizes from the vending machine."
The class made a few vaguely excited sounds and the majority began to get up and move their desks over to their friends. Almost immediately, people started talking about topics that had absolutely nothing to do with the assignment but then again, Mr. Gladly didn't care. Greg sat in his desk for a few moments, adjusting his rather large hoodie and making sure his face was somewhat hidden. It had been just a little over a month since Greg had made the leap from human to metahuman. Over a month of running, jumping, lifting, blasting, and spontaneous sessions of extremely high speed dodgeball had turned Greg into a physically fit superhuman specimen.
Before Greg had met Evron, he was as healthy and physically fit as your average skinny white male nerd. Pasty, acne-ridden, and with muscle tone that could kindly be described as flaccid, Greg was no male model. After just one month of being an Evolved, everything was different even without the superpowers. His acne was gone, his skin had gone from pasty vampire to porcelain movie star. He had muscles. They weren't big but they were visible and rather well defined, if he did say so himself. They were visible enough that he had woken up early and spent almost an hour in his bathroom admiring his new physique in the mirror. Visible enough that he had to hide them with a baggy hoodie if he didn't want questions that he couldn't answer. Greg didn't mind, though. Evron had promised him that, come summertime, he could let his guns out. Greg couldn't help but be giddy. After all, he had ABS!!!
After he gathered his things together, Greg stood up and dragged his chair over to the one person he knew wouldn't have partnered up with anyone else.
"Hey, Sparky."
Sparky looked up, a dazed look on his face, and brushed the hair out of his eyes. "Hey, brah. I'm not gonna be much help. I didn't do the work." His red bandana, which normally kept his long black hair out of his eyes, was loose.
Greg leaned back in his chair. "No prob, Sparky. I got you covered. I did everything. My list is probably the best."
"Thanks, man. So, what's up?" Sparky said as he rested his chin on his palm.
"You remember that guy I told you I met a while ago?"
Sparky closed one eye and made a face that let Greg know he was thinking. "Yeah. I think so...maybe. Some weird vato with weird hair...yeah. You told me, brah."
"Me and him have been meeting up. He's been helping me work out and stuff. He's a pretty cool guy. He thinks I have potential."
Sparky paused for a few seconds as he yawned widely and then gave Greg a sleepy grin. "So, brah, you're into guys now? I though you still liked that girl with the long hair...um, what's her name...Tara."
Rolling his eyes, Greg snorted in an attempt to hold back his laughter. "Sparky, you're barely funny. Seriously, you know her name is Taylor." Greg had had a crush on Taylor Hebert since the first time he had seen her. Something about her had caught his eye the second he spotted her. He wasn't blind, though. He knew that Taylor's friends were hot and plenty of other girls at school were pretty enough but Taylor was different. She was just so composed and stoic. To Greg, she was almost like royalty in the way she behaved. It was a subtle attraction but his infatuation was no less powerful. Her long hair and legs didn't hurt either.
Sparky turned his head slightly. " I guess. I don't really care. She's kinda rude, no joke."
Greg winced. He couldn't lie to himself that Taylor did have a habit of ignoring people sometimes. "No, no, she's not. She's just...busy with her own stuff."
The blank look he received in return told him exactly what Sparky thought of his reply.
Sparky sat up and yawned again. "Seriously, brah. You've tried to talk to her like a hundred times already and she just, like, straight ignores you. She acts like you're not even there sometimes. That's just not cool, brah. If it was me, I'd me majorly butthurt."
"Look, look, look, Sparky. It's not like that. I fuck up when I get around her. I act stupid and say real dumb things. Besides, she's busy with her friends and stuff and she doesn't really talk to people, yeah, but she's got a lot to deal with, you know...Like, you know the thing with the locker. People are seriously jealous of her and they're so messed up that they shoved her in a locker full of that nasty shit, man, and she still comes back to school like a fucking boss. Like it doesn't even bother her. She's like fucking royalty, dude. She's way better than them and they know it. That's why they're so jealous." Greg's eyes were almost sparkling as he spoke, his raw emotions bleeding through his words.
Sparky whistled softly. "Wow, brah..."
Greg nodded. "See, you get it now. She's pretty awesome."
Sparky snorted. "...You're so fucking whipped," he said, shaking his head. "And by a girl who only notices you when we're in a group together. " Sparky craned his neck upward and stared out at the class. "Where is your queen anyway, brah?
Greg let out a huff as his eyes passed over the room. "She went to the nurse. She had a pretty bad headache or something."
"What's wrong with you?" Sparky asked, an expression of shock on his normally dazed face.
Greg quirked an eyebrow. "I don't know what you're talking about."
"Your queen is sick and you're not there to take care of her. She could, like, be dying without you there to make it all better. Not cool, brah, not cool," Sparky replied, shaking his head sadly.
Greg rolled his eyes again. "Again, you're just so funny, Sparky. Either way, look, I like her, yeah, but that's kinda it. She doesn't like me back. I'm pretty sure, at least."
"Yeah...that's heavy, brah."
"So I have to chill. I can't just like talk to her when all that that comes out is stuff she thinks is stupid. So, I have to – Oh...great."
Greg groaned softly as one of the popular girls who occasionally hung around Taylor walked in to class, late.
Sparky smirked at Greg's annoyance.
"Can I be in Madison's group?" Julia asked Mr. Gladly.
"That wouldn't be fair. Greg's group only has him and...uh...uh...one other person. Help them," Mr. Gladly said.
Julia walked over to where the two boys were sitting and made a face. Just loud enough for Sparky and Greg, with his enhanced condition, to hear, she muttered a disgusted, "Ew."
'Well, fuck you too,' Greg thought with a blank expression on her face.
"Gladly says I have to work with you two," the girl said with a sneer.
"Of course he did," Greg mumbled with a roll of his eyes. "Okay...what do you have for your list of parahumans.?"
She scoffed. "I didn't do the project, idiot. God, didn't you do it? You better have done it. I'm not getting an F 'cause you weirdos didn't do anything."
'And the bitching begins.'
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Greg sighed as he left his last class for the day. Mr. Gladly's class had really taken a turn for the worse as soon as Julia had shown up. Madison and her other friends had moved their desks right next to Greg's group so they could talk to Julia and annoy the shit out of Greg. 'Why does Taylor even hang with those bitches? All they did was bitch and insult other people. Fucking ridiculous!' Madison and her group had spent almost the entire time sniping at both him and Sparky. 'Stupid bitches.'
Despite all that, Greg was happy. Things were really looking up for him. Sure, there were assholes at school, but he had friends now. Well, a friend. Sparky had been Greg's friend since last school year and he was a cool guy. He worked hard at his dad's restaurant so he was usually too tired to seriously hang out but he was still Greg's only friend. He liked video games, Aleph anime imports, capes and occasionally, he liked to relax with some weed. Greg had even lit up with him a couple times. Smoking really wasn't his thing but he didn't mind it if it was just him and Sparky relaxing.
Then he met Evron and things had gotten even better.
He had become a parahuman, or was it a metahuman, or maybe Evolved. One of those was the right term for whatever he was now. Ev was the best thing that had ever happened to him. He was strong and fast. He could lift a car and outrun one too. He couldn't imagine how much better he would get in the future. 'I have to work on my attacks, though. Ev did mention that he's going to let me go fight gangsters on my own soon. Maybe some anime will give me some ideas.'
Lost in daydreams of Buster Beams, Final Flashes and Spirit Guns, Greg made his way towards the school's main double doors.
"Veder, you think you can walk out on me again? Where's my fucking money, Veder?!"a deep voice roared.
'Fuck me!'
Greg hunched down in his oversized hoodie, ignored the voice and continued walking down the hallway. Students that were previously in a hurry to get out of school slowed down, hoping to see a fight break out. He noticed some of them sending him knowing smirks. 'Assholes. You just want to see me get beat up.'
"Veder? Veder! Turn the fuck around!!!"
Greg sped up his pace, keeping his eyes firmly on the double doors ahead of him. 'Just get to the doors, Greg. Just get to the doors.'
"VEDER!!!"
With a quick movement, Greg sidestepped the large arm that had attempted to grab his shoulder and whipped around to face his would-be assailant and his group of friends. 'Fucking Mal...,' he mentally growled as he looked up at the towering beast in front of him.
At a height of six feet and seven inches, Malcolm "Mal" Steiger, was the biggest guy in school and a sworn E88 since the day he showed up. Malcolm had been a football star, a quarterback who had been kicked off the team at his old school in New York for using steroids. After that, his family had moved to Brockton Bay and Malcolm had found solace with one of The Bay's lovable group of racists. Being blonde, blue-eyed, massively muscular and extremely angry, Mal was exactly what the E88 was looking for.
"Veder, you fucking playing with me? Huh?!", Mal barked, his large neck veins bulging, "It's been weeks and my boys told me you haven't been bringing them what you owe me. I'm the only thing keeping these chinks from killing your skinny ass and you can't even show me respect. I called your fucking name and you don't even turn around! Where's my fucking money?!" he roared, spittle flying from his mouth. Greg saw a male teacher standing down the hall look like he was about to say something but a glance at Mal's normal group of E88 recruits as they attempted to look threatening had him shake his head and walk back into his class.
'Fucking help you are. Fucking Winslow.'
Greg grit his teeth and took a deep breath, ignoring the voice inside his head that said to crush Mal's head like a grape. He knew he could do it. The Boss had shown him that he was strong enough. It would be so easy too. Just slap his head faster than he could react and Mal's brains, the little that he had, would go splattering against the wall. Greg wasn't scared of any of the bullies anymore. It was hard to be scared of a roided up seventeen year old when you've taken a brick wall to the face. He knew hurting them would be meaningless even though it would make him feel so much better. It would prove that these powers were usable for much more than just training...but it wouldn't be worth it at all. Mal was just one of many bullies in Winslow and compared to others, he wasn't that bad. Sure, he demanded money from him but he never actually beat him up.
No, Greg being blond and blue eyed earned him a pass in Mal's eyes. In fact, all the E88 bullies never seriously messed with Greg. Vague physical threats were made, yeah, but they were pretty much required to do that. Greg was a huge geek. They were huge bullies. They would never get along. Every time Greg passed by them, he could literally see them restraining themselves from kicking his ass. It was in their nature so they had to do something somewhat threatening otherwise they'd just be scenery.
The Merchants never bullied him but honestly the Merchants rarely messed with anybody in school other than the ABB and E88. They were too busy skipping school or sleeping during class. No, the main efforts of Greg's bullying came from the students that were ABB. Apparently, they had all held a meeting and come to the amazing decision that since Greg was the biggest example of whiteness that they could find at Winslow that wasn't part of the E88, they would do their utmost to make him an E88 member by making him hate all Asians. They had beaten him up, taken his backpack, broken into his locker, and mugged him for his money. At least Mal and the other E88 guys had the decency of asking him for his money, albeit somewhat forcefully.
'Calm down, Greg. What did Evron say? If I want to keep a secret identity, I have to act the same as I always did.'Greg took a deep breath and fixed his face into the biggest nervous smile he could muster before looking up at Mal. 'And that means acting like I'm still scared of this shitty meathead.' "I-I'm sorry, Mal. I didn't hear you. I-I wasn't paying attention. I'm r-r-really sorry," stuttered Greg.
'Fuck my life. Was I really this sad before?'
Mal's expression changed from an angry snarl to a slight grimace of disgust. "Fine, whatever. Where's the money, Veder?"
Greg attempted to make himself look smaller, all the while hating the fact that he had to degrade himself in front of some Nazi asshole. "I only have a five on me, Mal. I'm really sorry," he lied through his teeth. Greg began to seethe even more as he realized a lot of students had gathered, making a circle surrounding Mal and himself and blocking all his escape paths. For some odd reason, Sophia, Emma, Madison all stood in front. Taylor stood right next to Sophia, holding hands with her and looking incredibly uncomfortable, almost like she was in pain. 'She looks like she wants to do something. Maybe she can't get past all the people in the crowd. Nobody else is even trying to get any help. I can't use my powers to get out of this! Where the fuck are all the teachers?'
Mal lunged forward and Greg watched him approach, his movement painfully slow to Greg's enhanced reflexes. He grabbed the front of Greg's hoodie and yanked him forward until Greg was right in his face.
"You really are stupid, aren't you? You think 'cause I go easy on you that I like you or something? WRONG! You're a weak piece of shit whose only friend is a fucking spic. Give me my money, Greg," he growled.
Greg swallowed what little was left of the pride that Evron had instilled in him over the past month. Reaching into his back pocket, he pulled out twenty-five dollars and held it up to Mal.
The twenty and five were quickly snatched from his hands by a Mal who somehow looked even angrier.
"...I thought you only had five dollars, Greg."
'No...no...don't tell me...'
"You don't know respect, Greg. I keep your undeserving ass safe and this is how you repay me. Lying to ME! And trying to keep my money from me?!!!"
'Fucking Mal...' Greg knew what was coming next. Mal was too far gone and from the rage in his eyes, Greg knew that there was no turning back now. Evron had taught him how to deal with situations like this. All he had to do was keep himself loose and limp and his body would handle the rest.
The punch was slow to his eyes and it didn't hurt at all when it connected with his jaw. He hoped he was good enough to pull this off. He needed to make it look real. He couldn't expose himself after only one month. The second one hit him on the side of his face and he moved with the strike, doing his best not to give Mal a broken hand. The third hit was almost a surprise. Almost. Greg had been expecting punches from Mal so he was caught a bit off guard when Mal lifted a boot and caught him in the chest.
Greg slammed into the locker, denting the metal as he slid to the floor, groaning as if he was in pain. He glanced around at all the expectant faces cheering at the bloodbath they were expecting. Sophia, for some reason, looked a bit conflicted, like she wanted to enjoy what was going on but couldn't for some reason. She seemed to alternate between a hungry smile and an angry growl. It was like she had just gotten a great gift but the person who gave it to her was a child-murderer. Taylor stood a few feet away from her, an odd look of pain on her face.
Mal grabbed Greg by his hood and yanked him to his feet.
A mad grin was on his face and he slammed his fist into Greg's stomach several times. "You're lucky your little border nigger of a friend already left. I'd be teaching his bean-eating ass a lesson too."
'This was a stupid idea,' Greg thought as he was held aloft by Malcolm's meaty hand. 'He could punch me for an hour and a half and I still wouldn't bleed. I'm not even feeling this.' Greg glanced over at Taylor, who still looked as if she was in pain. 'She must really not like seeing people get hurt.' Mal roared and threw Greg back into the lockers, knocking Greg out of his thoughts.
'Fuck this! I'm getting knocked around by this Nazi piece of shit and for what? I'm better than this!' Greg growled out loud, nearly surprising himself with the guttural sound coming from his throat. 'Fuck this. If I'm going to get outed as a cape, I'm at least going to look good in front of Taylor.'
Greg got up quickly. Mal looked at him, surprise evident on his face.
'What the fuck? Why isn't this fucking fucker bleeding? This skinny little shit should be crying. What the fuck?' Mal's inner thoughts did not match the guttural scream that came from his throat as he ran towards Greg. He threw a punch right at Greg only for it to be stopped. Everyone in the hallway had gone completely silent as Greg held Mal's fist with his open palm.
"What..." Malcolm stepped back a few feet and the crowd moved around him, to give him space.
Malcolm Steiger was never the smartest guy. His grades were barely hovering over the line. He always said something stupid or odd that always made conversations awkward. When he had discovered that he could play football, he had enjoyed how people finally praised him. He wasn't the slow big guy anymore. He was a star. He had friends. Girls wanted to go out with him. He was popular. When he heard steroids could make him better at the only good thing in his life, he had jumped on it. He won his team several championships before someone figured it out. They kicked him off the team. Nobody wanted to be his friend anymore. Malcolm didn't think it was fair. He didn't know it was illegal. His family was even more embarrassed by him, so embarrassed that they left New York. He was glad that they had moved to Brockton Bay. He met new people who wanted to be his friend. People who told him the people who caused all his problems. He loved the E88 and everything it stood for. Malcolm had made a lot of bad mistakes in just a few short years. Picking on Greg Veder was just the most recent.
The strike was quick. Mal probably never even saw it coming. The other students certainly didn't.
In less than an instant, Greg had crossed about eight feet and planted his fist into Mal's stomach. Before Mal could even vocalize the pain from Greg's first strike, Greg hit him again in the jaw, sending him sprawling to the ground, unconscious. As he fell, the crowd rushed out of the way as if terrified, leaving Mal to fall on the cold linoleum.
The entire crowd of students stared at Greg as if they had just seen a ghost. Greg glanced toward Taylor and noticed her staring at him as if really seeing him for the first time. He glanced around and noticed Madison with a look of stark fear on her on her face, Sophia simply tilted her head and stared at Greg in a curious manner as if he was something to be studied while Emma seemed to be looking at him with something oddly similar to...lust.
Greg shrugged nervously as he felt the weight of all their shocked stares on him. "He's not dead, you know. You can check his pulse and stuff."
No one said anything and they all continued to stare.
"I wouldn't kill him anyway."
More Silence.
"I wouldn't kill anyone, really. It was his fault. I mean, he was hitting me and I mean, it didn't hurt but he was...you know, he wouldn't stop. I just...I was angry. He's fine, really. Guys, it's me. I wouldn't hurt anybody," Greg rambled on, unsure if his verbal stream was working at calming anyone down.
Still more silence.
Greg huffed. "Fine...If that's how...you know...Just...MOVE!"
Greg walked forward and the students hurriedly began to part as they seemed somewhat frightened by his outburst, giving him plenty of space to walk until he was once again walking down an empty hallway toward the double doors. As he opened the door, Greg looked over his shoulder, and sure enough, they were all still standing there, silently watching his back as he exited the building.
Greg mumbled to himself as he walked out, one last muttered sentence spilling from his lips. "I just wanted to watch some anime."
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Greg sighed as he jumped from roof to roof, wearing only a white T-shirt and jeans. He had discarded the baggy gray hoodie shortly after he left Winslow and he was no taking his time to practice his free-running skills as he went home. There was no point in hiding his new physique anymore.
Greg sighed once more as he vaulted a chimney, body nearly perpendicular from the rooftop. This wasn't how today was supposed to go. Today was supposed to be a normal day.
'The only thing normal about today is the fact that I got messed with. With my luck, the PRT might already be at my house. I should really have told Mom about this. Fuck! This is all that stupid meathead's fault. Mal's lucky I didn't break anything. If I wasn't so nice...'
Greg was right. He had been very careful with how he struck Mal. Both strikes, while rather fast, were thrown using the minimum of his strength in order to keep from hurting the Nazi too badly. Instead of hitting Mal like a sledgehammer, Greg had struck him with all the force of a professional heavyweight boxer. His fingers twitched as he thought back to the incident that had taken place just a few months ago.
'Fucking Winslow! What kind of shit was that? Someone's getting beat up and a teacher just walks away like it's none of his business,' fumed Greg. 'If I was a normal guy, he'd probably have killed me. Shitty school, shitty teachers, shitty students and no fucking security! I mean..."
Greg paused his angry train of thought as he realized that he wasn't too far from home. Making sure no one was around to see him, he dropped from the roof of the brownstone he was currently on to an alleyway below.
After keeping on the lookout for roughly five minutes and not seeing any vans that seemed similar to the ones the PRT used, Greg made his way towards his modest two-story dwelling. He unlocked the door and entered his house hurriedly, shutting the door behind him. After dropping his backpack at the foot of the stairs, he headed up to his room where a surprise was waiting for him. On his bed lay a pure white jumpsuit.
'Oh my god. He did....he made it!. He told me he would but I didn't really think he could make one!'
He quickly rushed to his bed and picked it up, admiring it. It was a solid white jumpsuit made of some thick, ultra fine, mesh-like fabric that somehow managed to feel rigid and flexible all at once. Around it's forearms were two long golden manacles, almost the same as the ones Evron usually wore without his limiters on. It had a collar made of the same golden material. Surrounding the waist was a thin golden belt. As Greg put his hand on one manacle, the thing beeped and a full-size color hologram of Evron popped out.
Greg yelped and jumped back, dropping the suit on the floor. The hologram did not dissipate however.
"...Boss?"
"Hello, Greg. This is a pre-recorded message. I left earlier today because I needed to test if some of my abilities were still viable in your universe and I can't afford to level a city. I should be back by tomorrow. I made this outfit as a gift for you. I know, I'm kind. It's what I do. You've been doing pretty good this past month. You've been responsive to training, haven't been whining that much, and you haven't exposed your secret identity."
Greg winced. 'Shit....'
"So, good signs all around that you're ready to step up into the big leagues. From here on out, you're not just my student. Now you have an even bigger job."
"I do?"
"You do. This job comes with a lot of responsibilities and duties that could mean life or death. You'll have to make hard choices and tough decisions that could make or break your career. You'll get to fight beside people with more power than you could ever even hope to dream of and learn from them. Are you ready, Greg?"
"Yeah. I'm ready. I'm so ready. I was born ready. What is it?", he nearly screamed, excitement making him giddy.
The hologram crossed it's arms. Starting from today, you, Greg Veder, are not just my student. Effective immediately, you are..." the hologram paused.
"Yes?"
"...now my...." Another pause.
"Come on already."
"Minion."
"Yes! Yes! I'm a...I'm a...minion? the hell? Minion?!" Greg recoiled angrily. "I'm no minion! Why do you even need a minion? You're a hero. Villains have minions! Seriously, boss. Me, a minion?!!!!"
"Yes, Greg. A minion. This comes with several important duties and responsibilities. Including but not limited to; getting me food when I'm too lazy to do it myself, sparring with me whenever I feel like it, fluffing my pillow, listening to me me talk and last and most important of all, never dying your hair white."
'Dying my hair white? Why would that even be a thing that- Not the point, Greg!' "A minion though? I thought I'd be a sidekick at least. I was hoping for partner," whined Greg unashamedly.
The hologram shook his head. "Greg, Greg, Greg, Greg, Greg, Greg, Greg...Greg...Greg. Look, you can eventually become my sidekick or teammate, even. You can get promotions. The stronger and the most experienced you get, the higher you rank up. There is a pecking order in place. It goes errand boy, minion, lackey, henchman, underling, sidekick, protege, and superhero. You skipped right over Errand Boy, Greg. You should be proud. That never happens. If you get good enough, you might just skip right to Underling."
Greg opened his mouth for a few seconds but quickly closed it when he realized he had nothing to say in response to the craziness that was just spoken.
"Anyway, I made the suit out of some nanomachines from my suit and some scrap from the Ship Graveyard. It's bulletproof, self-repairing and has a tracker, in case you get lost or something, I don't know. Those armbands contain your Virtual Assistant. I call her Nia. It'll take a bit before she actually becomes fully functional. She has to adapt to you, after all. She comes with a GPS and an ability to access private networks and devices. I also loaded all your music on to the device in case you need some background music while kicking ass. You also have a program that tracks where large groups of criminals are likely to gather. Don't get into a fight you can't win, Greg. Or, you know, go ahead. Getting the shit kicked out of you early is good practice for when you get the shit kicked out of you later."
Greg marveled over the suit and raised it up to his neck. "It's kind of loose, isn't-WHOA!" The suit suddenly became semi-solid and wrapped itself around Greg's body. "What the hell? This shit's alive!"
The hologram yawned. "Relax, dude. It's just molding itself to your dimensions. It's mostly made up of nanomachines. Didn't I mention this? I think I did. Pay attention, Greg."
The slick, slimy feeling disappeared as soon as it began and Greg marveled at the suit he was wearing. "Wow, I look like I could be part of New Wave." His newly defined muscles were highly visible through the odd material and the outfit looked so skintight that Greg doubted it could stop a bullet. Despite that, Greg trusted Evron's words. If it was bulletproof, it was bulletproof. "Thanks, Ev. This is an awesome gift."
"No problem at all, man. Now go kick some ass."
Greg's eyes widened slightly. "You're letting me go out on my own?"
The image of Evron suddenly stood stock still. "This is a prerecorded interactive holographic message. No response was programmed for this question. Please ask a different question," he responded in a monotone.
Greg stepped back. "What? You-bu-whe-how-hu...W-We were just talking!!!"
"This is a prerecorded interactive holographic message. Responses were pre-recorded for a wide range of questions or statements. Including that one."
Greg grabbed his blonde locks with both hands. "How the fuck does that make sense?!!"
"It's technology from three hundred years from now, dummy. Figure it out."
An eye twitch was the only response Greg gave.
"Pre-recorded Hologram has exhausted all responses," and in a flash of blue light, the hologram disappeared.
Greg stared at the spot where the hologram was for a few more seconds before he shook his head and turned to the mirror. "Crazy-ass."
"Okay. This is it. The big time. I'm going out...to fight crime. This city needs a hero and that hero's name is...,"Greg paused. "What is my name? Name, name, name, name, name....name. Okay, let's think, let's think...let's think about names. It's got to be cool. It's got to be heroic. It definitely has to sound awesome. Paragon...no. There's already a Paragon. No. Captain Awesome...no...Huh...Okay, let's be serious. I'm blonde. My suit is white and gold and I shoot gold blasts. I can get a name easy."
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1 Hour Later...
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"Golden Guy...taken. Gold Shooter...taken. Booster Gold...copyrighted."
Greg sat on his computer going through PHO's list of confirmed parahumans hoping to finally find a name that he could make his own after he found out that all the ones he made up had been used before. It had not been fun.
"Bright...taken. Bright Star...taken and a villain. Gold Star...taken. Superior...Villain/Deceased."
Greg stood up, mulling over the name in his head. "Superior....Superior...Titan and Superior...Superior and Titan. I'm good with this."
Greg walked over to his window and opened it wide, placing a foot up on the windowsill.
"Criminals of the Bay, watch out! Superior is here and..." Greg paused as he felt the wind blowing gently across his face, "and he doesn't have a mask. SHIT! I can't go out without a mask!"
"Really?"
Greg whipped around to stare at the hologram of Evron that appeared before. "Wha..."
"Because you didn't seem to worry about that when you showed off your powers in front of half of Winslow's students. I thought you'd be out by now, Greg."
"You knew about that and you still gave me the suit? You're just messing with me!"
Holo Ev gave Greg a huge shit-eating grin."Who're you talking to, Greg? I'm just a hologram." And with that, he vanished.
"...Pre-recorded interactive hologram, my ass. You're just watching me all the time, you creep!"
'Whatever. Jerk's right anyway. I don't really have a secret anymore at this point. I'm like New Wave. Oh, I should join New Wave. That'd be so awesome. I'd be so awesome!'
Greg jumped out of his window and landed on the soft grass of his backyard with a thud. "Let's do this. Any gang scum better run, because they can't hide from Superior!...I really like that name. I could get used to that."
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Four Hours Later
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Jump....
Jump...
Flip...
Jump...
Greg...ahem...Superior made his way across the rooftops of the Docks, feeling pretty pleased with himself. He had been out for almost a good four hours and had managed to find a few E88 and Merchants members in the midst of a crime. Most of the Merchants were trying to mug or beat someone up. Most of the E88 just happened to be hanging around, looking suspicious. When Superior had showed up and announced himself, they had attacked him. Really. All he did was defend himself. It wasn't even hard to jump down and beat them up. Fighting Mal had given him a rush of power but beating up a whole group of armed bad guys by himself....was like a drug in how good it felt. But it wasn't enough. They were okay for a little bit of fun but the fights were pathetic. 'I wish I could have fought a cape. The gang members were just so...weak. I mean, I knew what I was getting into...they're just normal humans. I can't expect too much from them.'
He had left the gang members on the ground and had called the police to pick them up using the Virtual Assistant, Nia, that Evron had installed on the suit. He had felt so good saying his name, Superior, to the person on the phone that he may have repeated it a bit too much. No problem, anyway. Just have to work on talking to people. After all, a hero has to sound heroic.
Superior jumped across one more building and ended up scrambling to prevent his fall when his enhanced hearing caught a deep voice roaring a
block or two away.
"...those mother fucking kids. Shoot them in their fucking heads. Hold them down if you can and make them suffer. Bring the little bitch to me. I'm going to teach her a lesson myself."
'Kids?! They're going to kill kids!!! These guys are crazy!!' Greg spun around on the rooftop, trying to find which direction the voice was coming from. "Where is that-THERE!!!!"
Superior had already begun running, moving towards the direction of the voice. He reached the edge of the roof in less than a second and leaped, landing with a crash a few feet away from a large group of men, all of them huddled around one large masked tattooed figure.
"What do you think you're trying to do? Who the fuck kills kids? What kind of psychoa would do...something...like...,"Superior trailed off as he realized that the men surrounding him were all of Asian descent and the large masked man had silvery scales going up and down his body and he was walking towards him.
'AsianguysredcolorstallbuffguytattoossilvermaskscalesohfuckitsLungitsLungitsLungitsLungITSFUCKINGLUNG!!'
Greg felt all his confidence dissappear instantly. The fearless hero, Superior, had vanished and left only scrawny Greg Veder behind. Greg stood frozen, like a deer in headlights watching as his impending death walked closer and closer, taking his sweet time.
When asked why he said what he did next, he would blame it on Evron and never go into serious detail.
"Hello, Mr. Lung, sir. Can I get your autograph? I really admire the way you revitalized the Asian community in Brockton Bay by giving them a cause to rally behind and an organization to fight for. Charity work like that is really awesome. Also, I'm a huge fan of the way you get angry and turn into a gigantic firebreathing rage monster. It's just so cool."
Lung froze at Greg's ramblings and Greg gulped as the large Asian man continued to stare at him. Then he laughed, a deep, powerful belly laugh that carried because of his strong lungs.
The gang members surrounding him were unsure of what to do for a few seconds as their boss enjoyed his mirth. They soon joined in, figuring that if their boss was laughing, they should too.
Greg stood there nervously until he decided to join in as well.
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!" Greg cackled maniacally.
Lung stopped laughing and his men followed his lead, leaving Greg alone cackling like a supervillain.
"ENOUGH!!!", roared Lung.
Greg immediately shut up.
Lung sighed deeply, a small tongue of flame appearing from his mouth when he exhaled.
"Boy..."
"Yes, Mr.Lung, sir?"
Lung placed a large hand on his shoulder and Greg had no choice but to look up at the silver mask of the Asian gang lord. "I have no problem with you. In fact, you have made me laugh. I appreciate that. If you leave now, I will forget you ever attempted to cross me. Are we clear, boy?"
'YESYESYESYESYESYES!!! I'm not gonna die!!!'
"Yes, sir. I'll just be..." Greg trailed off yet again as he found another reason to be terrified.
Lung was somewhat confused by his sudden terror. "What? Speak!"
Greg didn't say a word. Instead, he leapt several dozen feet away and began to scramble up a warehouse building.
And not a second too late.
Lung whipped around and his eyes widened behind his mask as he and his gang members were
drowned under a wave of several thousand insects, both flying and crawling, working in sync as a giant blob of creepy-crawlies.
Greg gasped and retched on top of the warehouse as he heard the muffled screams of all of Lung's men as the insects completely washed over them. 'Ewwwwwww. What the hell is this? That's just...sick.' Greg may have been terrified of Lung but this living mass of bugs was just...disturbing in a way that made his primal lizard brain go "NOPE!" They were synchronized, too synchronized. A cape had to be doing this.
Suddenly, there was a crackling noise from beneath the bugs reminiscent of cooking popcorn and a massive gout of flame burst through the insects, scorching a lot of the bugs and a few of the men still struggling beneath them.
Some...thing leapt out from the burning pile of bugs and landed on the ground, cracking the asphalt under it's bulk. It was a monstrous beast. A ten foot tall creature with a rather long neck, red scales, tall black horns and massive black spikes going down it's spine and ending in a spiked tail that was at least as long as it was tall. The air rippled and the asphalt melted where it's long black claws touched the ground.
Greg gasped. "Lung?"
The aforementioned dragon beast whipped around to stare at the freaked out rookie hero and Greg noted that Lung's eyes were now just pits of flame.
'Fuck me....'
With a roar, the dragon leaped at Greg.