I threw myself to the side as a wave of energy shot through where I'd been. Rolling twice before getting up, I focused on my attacker and pressed a palm against the earth. I jumped backward a moment later as a jagged stalagmite thrust out of the ground. "You know, this is getting very old, very fast."

"Shaddup!" the man attacking me answered. "You ain't got nothin' on the Pulverizer!"

"...Do you seriously call yourself that?"

"I said shaddup!" this pronouncement was followed by several waves of force that I had to practically dance by way through. "Feh... too girly of a Hero to actually fight, huh?" he said mockingly. Okay, so I wasn't exactly muscular, but that didn't necessarily mean I was girly. Did it? "Quit jumping around!"

"Getting mad because you can't hit me isn't going to do you any good." I informed him, quite serious about it. "I'm better than you are." A series of stalagmites thrust out of the ground, each set closer than the last. He was intending to blanket this area, huh? I sighed slightly and shifted from being in front of the man to being behind him. He glanced around frantically before realizing where I was and letting loose with a much larger energy pulse.

"Pulverize! Pulverize! PULVERIZE!"

"At least do me the favor of naming yourself something that isn't embarassing to quote later... I mean, 'Boy beats Pulvizer' as a newspaper headline? Lame." His energy attack cut across my cheek, drawing a fair bit of blood. "Tch. Fine." I teleported myself forward and slammed my right knee into his stomach. "I was trying to be nice. That's what the Good Guys are supposed to do, right? Give people a second chance and all that." I slammed my head into his nose, then grabbed him with Telekinesis and slammed his entire body into the ground. "I don't know why those idiots bother with being so nice to scum like you. If you attack me, you're going to pay for it in blood."

"Michael!" A sharp voice called. I turned around to find someone I knew standing there, dressed as usual in his lab coat. Doctor Frank N'stein, one of the people I worked with most often. I assumed it was a codename. Either that or he had interesting parents. How obvious could you be, anyway? "Let him go. He's not going to be causing any more trouble, not in that condition." I looked down at the older man who had attacked me, probably looking to steal a little cash with his powers. Well, he'd demanded cash while holding orbs of energy, so that's what I assumed he had meant. A quick pat on the injured man's shoulder told me that his right arm was broken in three places, as were six ribs and both his legs. "Geez. What did he do to deserve this?"

"He wanted to rob me." I said, shrugging slightly.

"That's no reason to go this far! You could have just teleported him to the Police Station and turned him in!" the man in the long white coat hurried forward and pressed a small device onto the injured man. A healing device, I knew, that would last until they got him to a hospital. "Haven't you ever heard of the term 'Over-kill'?"

"Over-kill. Noun. One. A destructive capacity greatly exceeding that required for a given target. Two. An excess of something, as a quantity or an action, beyond what is required or suitable for a particular purpose. Three. Killing in excess of what is intended or required."

"Would you care to explain why you used such a tactic, then?"

"He threatened me with a superhuman ability even after I warned him it was a bad idea. I was acting in self-defense to protect myself and my property. I cannot be held accountable for injuries sustained by an aggressor who ignores fair warning to leave me alone."

"Michael..." the Doctor sighed. "It's not that simple."

"Why not?"

"It's... we have an obligation to society, young man. You can't hurt someone this badly just because they threaten you. All that's necessary is to prevent him from attacking and turn him in to the proper authorities."

"His powers don't rely on verbal or physical activations. Besides, I didn't kill him."

"That's not the point! You aren't getting it, Michael! You don't have to go all-out on somebody as weak as this!"

"If I went all-out, this city would be a crater."

"You... urgh. This day just keeps getting worse. They sent up another trainee for supervision... Name's Ria something... I didn't read the document too closely..." he sighed. I did the same. "What?"

"Ria Sylphilia. Stupid last name. On the list of people I don't want to see, she's close to the top. Half the time she wants to have my child, the other half she wants to kill me and eat my brain."

"Seriously?"

"Close. She's a crazy stalker." I answered mildly. "I'm surprised they haven't found a way to shut down her powers and lock her up yet. She can make illusions and control both air and earth. She also sometimes sees a glimpse of the future, not something she can control but which I think is part of her fixation on me. Claims we'll eventually get married, and I think she keeps trying to kill me because her visions are always accurate and she knows that I won't die. She likes hurting people; it's her way of expressing affection."

"...If I didn't know you, I'd say you were joking."

"I wish."

"How do you plan to deal with her?"

"Avoid her. If she comes at me, I'll just beat her down. Try to keep in mind that she's nuts, okay? Bonkers. When she attacks me, she's actually trying to kill me. Only way to get her to stop is to beat her down, and I care about my own life enough to not care if I break things while protecting it. After she's been punished, she goes back to trying to seduce me for a few days. I'd much prefer she be sent out of the country." An ambulance pulled up, and the paramedics rushed towards the man who had attacked me. "Or at least somewhere very far away."

"The Government seems to believe you two will do well together once you settle down..."

"What's your point?"

"Try and get along with her, all right? It's an order from up top. This world is getting more and more dangerous, and we need more Heroes who can help return stability. Now-" he never got to finish what he was going to say. A windstorm whipped up around the area and a girl came flying out of the sky to tackle me in a hug at about two hundred miles an hour. I was carried straight across the park before I managed to put on the brakes.

"Hello to you, too, Ria." I said dryly to the slender blonde lying on my chest as I came to a halt against the ground in the beginnings of a forested section of the park.

"It's been so long, Michael!" the girl squealed, nuzzling me happily. "They finally put us together again! I only had to kill three of the supervisors to get them to do it!" I teleported out of the way as she slammed down a vortex of wind to where my head had been. Had I stayed where I was, she would have shredded my skull like a grater cutting cheese. "Aww..."

I smacked the back of her head. "Quit trying to kill me. It's annoying."

"It's all right!" the girl said eagerly. "We're going to be together someday, I know it!" I sidestepped a blade of air, then watched as it cut through the trees behind me. "Come on, please? I haven't gotten to... aah, you're injured!" she rushed forward and licked the blood seeping out of the cut on my cheek from the previous fight. "Who hurt you? I'll kill them!" A tornado of wind swirled into existence around her. "You're mine!"

"I already took care of it." I answered mildly. "You know I'll be fine, remember?"

"That's not the point!" Ria complained, letting the tornado collapse around her. "It's just... um... well, you know... I don't want anybody else hitting on you."

"I take it you mean that in the romantic way." I sighed out. "Trust me, he wasn't romantically interested. He just wanted my money. Now go back to the institute and apologize to anyone you hurt on the way out."

"It was their fault for standing on the other side of the wall!" Ria glomped onto my chest again, her breasts pressing against me. "It's so lonely without you... can't I just break one of your arms or something?" she begged. I smacked her on the head again. "Aww... No fun..."

"I don't care." I said sternly. "Home. Now." the girl hugged me tightly.

"See you tonight, then." she whispered. Letting go, she turned around and shot into the air, heading back towards the city's superhuman training facility. I sighed and scratched the back of my head as Doctor N'stein hurried over.

"So... that was my new charge?"

"Yeah." I answered. "This is gonna suck..." I began following the good Doctor back home.

I'm given to understand that this would be a good thing to explain things in a little more detail. Not that I care what you think, but it's the assignment, so I don't have much of a choice. My name is Michael Aether (also a stupid last name; Ria and I are cursed with them), and you may consider me a Psychic. Not a charlatan, or somebody who does silly things like working to summon ghosts. No, I mean Psychic as in the Extrasensory Perception sort of thing. In my case, I am currently capable of using Telekinesis, Teleportation, Psychometry, and Farsight. Comments from Ria suggest I'll eventually be able to use more. I'll assume you know what the first two are; you can look them up if you don't know. Psychometry is a bit less well-known, and is essentially the ability to 'read' the details and history of something through touch. In my case, it's enormously useful for knowing what an opponent is doing, and very helpful for dodging attacks. I still have to actually dodge, mind you, but it's much easier than doing it without this information. Farsight is the reason the glasses I now wear are fake; it lets me freely adjust the magnification of my vision to view things at perhaps 100x normal size when fully 'zoomed'. Not fun when you're looking at something nearby, but useful to see something very far away. No practical combat use except in unusual situations. I don't activate it very often.

Ria is my partner, best friend, and source of countless nightmares. A slender girl with long, pale blonde hair and a nice bust. Quite a looker, really. Problem is, she is completely nuts. When not supervised, she will kill people simply for being there. Solely on impulse. I know, because I've used Psychometry on her and I'm quite certain she's crazy. I don't know why they haven't locked her up, but I have to endure the constant attempts on my life. These regular attacks sort of get rid of any pleasure I might get from her affectionate side. Which is, truthfully, more like her obsessive stalker side. I've long since given up thinking that I'll have anything she won't examine at one point or another. If any of my possessions go missing, they usually turn up a week later. Bigger problem is, I like her. I just hate how she wants to kill me and feast on my organs. A very stress-inducing teammate. Why is it that I have to get stuck with the crazy one, anyway?

The program we belong to is organized by the United States Government under black funding; that is, officially speaking, we don't exist. Some programs have proven enormously effective, others have not. However, to counter the continued threats to the nation, a training program for new warriors has begun. We are not the nice ones. We are not the negotiators. We go in, we blow things up, we leave. Granted, in truth it's a little more complicated than that, but I'm sure you get the idea. If you don't, you shouldn't be reading this, you person of below-average intelligence.

I also have Aspergers' Syndrome, which is defined as a form of high-functioning Autism. Long explanation short, I'm human but I don't think the way you do. Like, biologically, you and I think differently. Unless you're like me, of course, in which case we probably have relatively simple thinking patterns. Confused? I don't care. Not confused? Congratulations. What do you want from me, a medal? Your achievement is nothing to be proud of. Get over it.

This is my record. This is my story. This is my life.

Have fun.