Intro

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Most people think that a hero is someone that’s willing to risk everything for the greater good. Someone who would give their life for that of an innocent’s without a second thought to the ramifications. A person with no sense of selfishness; one that would always and forever hope of a better tomorrow and give every fiber of their being towards that dream. That’s what most people think about when they think of the word “hero”. Almost always a young man in their twenties, in love with a girl that has no idea of their alter identity, a woman who could never be with them without the risk of death. But it would never matter to the hero, so long as their unrequited love would be left unharmed.

It was all part of the hero persona. So long as the world was safe and the baddies were taken care of, nothing else mattered, no matter how much a hero tried to change it. The world always came before their own personal life and it would always remain so. It was the way of the trade and had been for years. The unspoken guidelines of being the worldly savior, you never got the girl for very long.

But, my brother never liked to listen to rules of any kind, unspoken or not. It just wasn’t really his thing. He was more of the rule breaking type.

When you think of the word hero, you would never think of William Harris. School slacker, video gamer, devil-may-care older brother that drank milk straight from the carton before leaving it on the counter to go bad. He had a knack for finding trouble and diving headfirst right into it. With a soft spot for the damsel in distress, it really was only a matter of time before Will ran off to save a girl that couldn’t be saved. Or rather, wasn’t worth the time to save.

But, like all teenage boys do, Will never really thought with his head when it came to girls. It was more of a ‘downstairs brain’ rather than ‘upstairs brain’ usage. Therefore, when Sally Maine took time to step off her high horse and acknowledged my idiot of a brother while asking for a pen in Pre Calc., I knew he was long gone.

In every hero story there’s always a sidekick who sometimes happens to be the voice of reason. I, of course, was that voice of reason for Will when he needed it most. Did he always listen to me? Hell no. In fact, I can’t remember the last time my older brother took anything I said to heart. Everything I said was in one ear, out the other. But let it be said now that I made an attempt at the very least.

My name is Alexandra Harris, and my brother is a Super.

And I’m just... normal.

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Realize now that being a Super in today’s world isn’t quite that abnormal as it was eighty years ago when Superman and The Incredible Hulk knocked us out of our seats. It seemed that once a few Supers came out of the mix, dozens started showing up all around the world. Normal people came out into the open with their astounding powers and soon, being normal was a thing of the past. In fact, being normal was becoming rare, only a few people in the world didn’t have powers. Suddenly, the ‘normal’ people were really the odd ones out.

Scientists had no answers as to the reasoning behind the sudden “Power Boom” that was worldwide. Some believed it was part of evolution while others argued that it could have been something with the ecosystem, something in the air that triggered our genes to react differently. Religious advocates said that it was God’s way of rewarding the world, while hard core conspiracy believers thought it was all part of a worldwide government experiment that was being kept under wraps. In all honesty, it was obvious that no one knew what the true reasoning behind the Power Boom was. It just happened.

Most Supers were born with their powers, which could range from control of fire all the way down the line to being able to transform into a bouncy ball. Powers could be anything or everything and some Supers were lucky enough to be born with more than one. A few of them didn’t fully develop their powers until into their late twenties, but I hadn’t heard of anyone older than that. Will was four when he almost blew the house up with a mega sneeze. I was three at the time.

Now, of course with great power comes great responsibility. Peter Parker’s uncle said it well, and he couldn’t have been more correct. It didn’t take long for politicians to realize that things needed to be dealt with before they became too large to handle. Leaders from all across the globe came together in 2013 to create the Heroic Acts. These eight Acts bound those with powers to certain guidelines restraining when they could and could not use their powers. But, like most always, there were those who strongly disagreed with the Heroic Acts and within days of its release, revolted.

That became the first Super War in World History. Imagine North Korea having the sudden power to use not only nuclear weapons against the rest of the world, but they had their own Supers willing to give their life for the cause, aka: World Domination. In less than four days, the world was in complete chaos as Supers and newly found Villains were seen fighting in the streets of every major city across the globe. The normal people were told to stay inside their homes or attempt to make it to a designated safe house, away from potential fight scenes.

It was the worst War on record, and it lasted only fifteen days.

Some of the greatest Supers were lost, including the infamous Johnny Storm, who was killed during a lockdown with, then up and coming Villain, Smack-Down. The newspapers reported nearly three million people showed for the Human Torch’s memorial service. It was a sad day for the world, and after the final count came in we had to bury twelve more of our best Supers.

Smack-Down was later persecuted and sentenced to life in Alcatraz, which has in past years been remodeled to provide for Supers while neutralizing their powers. It was rather genius, and took the world’s top scientists almost four years to construct and rebuild. Some of the world’s greatest Villains were currently locked away in Alcatraz for the rest of their lives; parole was out of the question after their attempts to overrule the world at one time or another.

Since the Great War of ’13, villain after villain has tried to take over the world with their evil schemes. In response heroes sprung up in every small town and city, ready to defend their homes against evil and whatnot. It was an everyday occurrence to turn on the evening news and see reports of a new battle between the latest hero and villain duo.

I was used to seeing all the Supers being the, well, superheroes that everyone knew they would be. I knew that one day, Will would be on the news, fighting crime and taking out the bad guys. I was his sister, and since that morning fourteen years ago, he promised that no one else would be little sidekick, because I was the ‘normal’ one in the family.

We had a plan to be the greatest Super slash sidekick duo to hit the news. We had big plans, and one day, they’d come true. I knew that, he knew that. Out there somewhere was a Villain waiting to be taken out by the soon-to-be-famous Cyclone. Someday, we’d be the ones in the headlines.

I just thought that I would have more of a warning before it actually happened.

Or, that we’d be on the same side.

Silly me.

This is pretty much just a random act of crazy that hit me the other day. I have three complete chapters ready to be uploaded once I get a few more written. I'm planning to write this one through to the end, but I assure you that reviews will only make me write faster. I take anything I can get, including constructive criticism. Flames get ignored for future reference. I truly hope you enjoyed this. :) More to come, R. Lewis