Category: Action

You ever see someone that, no matter how much it goes against every basic instinct and every single thing you tell yourself, you know this person is gonna be special to you? Like they’re gonna leave one hell of a mark on your life, good or bad? That’s the feeling I got from her. “Oh hi!” She almost screamed, but it was all excitement and she wasn’t scared to let anyone see. “My names Felicity! You guys can call me Fe if you want, its nice to know I’m not alone” she smiled at us one by one but eyed me up a little. At the time I assumed she thought I was gonna be competition, but I didn’t see anything remarkable about her, save for how pretty she was. Her skin was tanned, not too dark, not too light. Her brown hair was short, and had blonde highlights. Its style was not too unlike mine but she had her fringe stuck up in a kind of horn, unlike mine which goes off to the right. Best I can do since my hair is usually a mess. Regardless, she seemed nice enough so when she sat next to me we started talking. The other guy though…
He sounded like he really, really did not wanna be here. Though I did catch his name. Johnny Yakuza. Weird but like I said, what’s really weird anymore.

About an our passed and from the looks of things, almost all the seating areas were full. “How long is this gonna take? Just make me awesome already!” Axel said, clearly very impatient. It took a further ten minutes for our instructor to find us, and when I saw who it was. Well, lets say I think my heart actually stopped.
“Hey you’re all here! Sorry for being late, there was an incident down Parkside but I got here as quick as I could”. I didn’t even have to look up to recognize who that was, but I did anyway. It was him. Tyler Brochen. My best friend since pre school and….the one who took me down. He noticed me. There was no way he didn’t but he didn’t say a word. He said hi to everyone in his usual cheerful way and took us to a small locker room. Even today I still think as advanced as this place is, why do they still have locker rooms from what 1996? I’ll never know. Anyway, he told us to get changed into our hero outfits (“I hope you remembered. You really should’ve if you wanted to be here”. I swear he was always like that) then told us to go to training ground 8 and he’d wait for us there. Seemed easy enough. The outfits for the others were pretty cool.

Axel had what I hoped at the time wasn’t stolen but of course, it was. Police riot armour. He’d somehow pulled out the SWAT sewn on and spray painted an backwards R in orange paint on his chest. “Its for Riot” he proclaimed proudly, before being reminded that the R was backwards. Felicity has what looked like a typical hero outfit. Though it had a weird pattern on it. She told us it was element proof and at the time I had no idea what they could’ve meant. As for Johnny….he didn’t change at all. “This is my outfit. Three thousand dollars, made for the best”. A little lower than what I thought but it’ll do I thought to myself, my respect growing somehow for this guy. As for me, well I’d be lying if I didn’t say on our way to training ground 8, people were staring at me. Couldn’t tell if it was because they were thinking what a dumb ass or they thought I looked cool. At the moment, I didn’t care. The way I saw it, they were looking at the best and they didn’t even know it!

Half way there however I got hit with something in hindsight, probably should’ve seen coming. As we made our way through a tunnel leading out to the training grounds, something grabbed me and pulled me into what looked like a small maintenance room. And that voice was all too familiar
“What in that name of fuck ARE YOU DOING HERE!?!”
Looks like ol’ Zap wanted answers…

Where was I again? Oh yeah! Also don’t ask about the chapter numbers, this wasn’t my idea and I’ve got not clue how to actually write this so bare with me. Anyway, back to the story. I had just bumped into one of the two people who honestly I consider some of my closest friends and allies. I wouldn’t even be alive right now if it weren’t for these two. But right now, one of them was screaming at me like a raptor on its period. This would have actually bothered me, had it not been for the fact that his forehead barely made it to my chin. Though his wild, flame-like orange hair added to his height. And I don’t mean ginger looking hair. I mean had I noticed this kid before I smacked into him, I would’ve assumed instantly that his scalp had caught fire.

“Hey!” He snapped, while snapping his fingers at me “you blind or somethin’?! Watch where yer goin’ next time ya big stonefaced goon!”. Honestly holding back laughter was the hardest thing a guy with super strength in that situation could hold, but hearing the guy who was with him caught me a little off guard. “Axel for Christ sake leave him alone, we’re going to be late!” Firehead gave me one last scowl, got on a bus and was away faster than I’d met him. I’ll admit I did stand there in the street for a while thinking that actually happened but today was my day, and nothing was gonna spoil it. Nothing dammit!
Though the bus he caught was for me too. And after realizing this fact did I decide to walk to whole way. Cardio always helps. What, you think just cause I have super strength I don’t need exercise? Well I’ll have you know that exercise increases my strength limit. How do I know that? Good question; I don’t. Not a single clue. But it makes sense right? (I know now that it does. What’s important is that I’m right). Anyway, the walk wasn’t too bad. I saw Starlight stop a bank robbery at breakneck speed and bought a coffee at my other favourite coffee place, other than my Aunt Patti’s. I walked for about an hour before the building I was looking for came into view. And god damn was that place HUGE. It took up a good section of the city all on its own, not counting recruitment living spaces and training ground. I looked all around and people from all over were making their way in and out. It was almost like watching a machine. Ever turning gears in an unbreakable system. And I was gonna be the strongest gear in that system. Also metaphors are pretty cool when you visualize em. Neat huh?

From the outside it was awesome but when I got inside, not only was way, WAYYYY more magnificent on the inside, I suddenly realized how nervous I actually was, not to mention being an introvert surrounded by what might as well have been a country’s worth of people. You know that tight feeling you get in your chest? When you’re trying really, really hard not to panic but are obviously panicking? Yeah, I had that the whole time I was there. It lessened though, once I found the recruitment desk. The woman sat behind seemed nice enough. She asked for my form so I handed it to her. She inspected it almost as if she’d though I’d poisoned it then proceeded to ask me a few questions. Nothing unusual, just general life questions and such. Almost like I was applying for a regular job which is actually what being a superhero is for us. It’s just a job. For some its fame and money and all that comes with. For me…well let’s just say I wasn’t doing it for me. I had my reasons which I won’t share right now but I will eventually. Once you’ve earned it.

After I got everything sorted out, the woman directed me to wait in a specified seating area to wait for my instructor. I nodded and proceeded to my little area and sat down. I let out a sigh and the excitement began to grow. I was actually here! I have my dream job! I ended up grinning yo myself, trying to contain my excitement until I noticed to other people coming this way. I didn’t recognize them at first, but I heard his voice and I’m pretty sure I silently cursed every one of the powers that be. “Hey! Its that goon who whacked me!” I looked up and fire head and that guy he was with were stood in front of me before sitting next to me. “Sorry about my brother back there. I hope he didn’t upset you or anything like that”. Now that I had got a good look at him, the other one looked freakishly like fire head. Except he wasn’t all wild. He was smartly dressed, dark brown hair that was neatly done and his demeanour was very calm. Literally the polar opposite. “Uhh no, not at all. I just didn’t expect to see you two here” I laughed to myself albeit awkwardly. “Well in any case, my names Kyle. Kyle Caldwell” he held out his hand for me to shake and I did so gladly, somewhat relieved that he wasn’t totally insane. The three of us talked for a while and honestly, it was a decent conversation. I found out they were twins (never would’ve guessed!) And that Kyle can turn invisible. Pretty standard but I also found out fire head, or Axel as I had got to know him by, could blow stuff up with explosions from his hand! How cool does that sound!?! After a while, two other people joined our little area. One was a japanese looking dude who wore a suit, which looked like if you asked him about it, it would probably be more than ten thousand dollars. He looked like he was straight outta the Triads or the Yakuzas which I later learned that he was. The other person though, a woman, was just…

She was one of the most beautiful girls I’d ever seen. Though at the time, I never even let myself think it. I was here for someone else. Not for her.

You ever wonder what its like to be a superhero? With the spandex (weird tights by the way; people forget that a lot) and the cool powers and catchphrases and all that jazz. Sounds pretty cool doesn’t it? Save the world, get the girl (or guy, I don’t judge!) alls well in super land and the like. Funnily enough, I happen to be a super hero. Not that web slinging kind nor the shield throwing patriot type like you guy’s have. My hero’s are pretty different. Maybe

Dammit, where are my manners? Names Jack Barrick. They call me Hammer Jack. And uhh, well I guess this is my story. The story of how I became the best of the best. Fighting the good fight for those who can’t! Hold on to your butts, this is gonna be a ride!

So. My story starts just like anyone elses, on a typical Tuesday morning. Though I assume your day doesn’t involve people with crazy ass superpowers and the smell of gorgeous baked goods. Well that’s what it was for me. I awoke in my pretty small but comfortable apartment. It sits above a sweet little cafe that my Aunt Patti owns. She’s a friend of my mom and she owes my mom a favour for saving her cafe when my mom was a hero. So I cashed in on it, now I got a place to live almost rent free. Almost. Anyway, I got up, slipped on my slippers because I’m blind and the irony is funny so it’s getting mentioned and stared at the ceiling for about a minute before getting back up. I happened to catch a glimpse of my calendar as I rose, realizing today was the day! I had recently applied for the Association, and I got accepted! Today was my tryout day you could say, and god damn I couldn’t be late. I made some toast and ate it so fast I’m pretty sure my tongue didn’t even touch the bread then got dressed making sure to pack my hero outfit in a sports bag. At that point, I didn’t really know how I wanted to look as a hero since….

Anyway, I chose a sick looking leather jacket my mom gave me one time. It still fit which I found kind of weird but didn’t think too much of it. The collar stuck up too, just to give me that extra jazz. Still does in fact. Never go out without it. Back on track, I packed the rest of my outfit into my bag and zipped it up. There wasn’t much else to my outfit; just some battered jeans and some work boots I got ages ago. Nothing you’d see a professional wear but it was good enough for me and the fact I’m still wearing it now proves it served the purpose I wanted it to serve. I stepped out onto the street and took in the sunshine and air of Sidestep City. Weird name I know, but honestly of all the things in this world, counting the people with superpowers too, its not really too weird. The city’s smell however; you get used to it.

It was almost as if the whole universe sensed my intentions that day. The sun was shining, the sky was clear and people of all kinds seemed to be enjoying their day. Hell, a few pros went by waving and saying hi to people as they rushed off to work. As for me, well I totally forgot I was actually walking in the middle of the street!  A street funnily enough packed with other human beings! And I smacked right into two that, looking back on it now, I’m grateful that I did. Partially anyway.