Saturday, September 3

5 am

It was dark. So dark that I didn't think I would ever see again. Okay, I know that I, Alex Collins never talk like this. I'm a high school student who just doesn't seem to talk anything like that. But last night…last night changed my view on things.

Anyway, it was so dark that I never thought I would see anything again, the kind of dark that fills you with a deep foreboding coldness. The night started off perfectly fine. I was walking home from my art lessons when it happened. I was walking through the warehouse district, one of the most dangerous places in the city and then…this goo started dripping on me from one of the fire escapes. It burned where it touched, but the sounds from inside of the building kept me from running home to wash the offensive goo off. It was coughing, like someone was choking on smoke. It was then that I saw the smoke billowing through the window, thick purple smoke, the same shade as the goo that was burning through my shirt and shoulder.

I climbed up the fire escape and into the window, ignoring that my shoes where smoldering where they touched the goo. I jumped down and saw a man was captured under a metal table, the vat that held the goo was burning and had already created vast flames on the farthest side of the room.

"Help!"

The mask…I remembered the mask from the many news segments about the city's protectors. The man was Rightwing, one of the weaker superheroes, though his wings could whip up quite a nasty whirlwind.

I jumped down without thinking and burned my hands on the hot metal as I pushed it off of the masked hero. Unfortunately…not a second later the vat exploded. Rightwing covered me from most of the blast, but a large amount of the goo covered my skin, and the thick purple smoke filled my lungs.

That's what made everything go black, that dark chilling black that made you fear that you would never see anything again. The kind of black that made you fear that you where no longer even alive. It had been at six pm that I entered the building. It wasn't until midnight that I found myself waking up on a silver table.

I was dressed only in a pair of pajama pants but much of my body was covered in bandages, there was an oxygen mask resting over my nose and mouth, supplying my aching lungs with oxygen.

God I don't talk like this. Hell, I've never even used the journal before, but this experience is just too much to ignore, just too leave unspoken.

Other than my lungs I felt no pain, and as I sat up, an alarm went off. It was then that I noticed that something had come unplugged as I moved. I pulled the mask off and looked around, ignoring the alarm that was more than likely meant to alert whoever had brought me here that I had woken up. It wasn't long before Mother Nature entered the room with a glass of water for me. She was followed by a bandaged up and singed Rightwing as well as Commander Steel, the leader of the League of Protectors.

"Do you remember what happened?"

Mother Nature wanted to know if I could remember. With the burning in my lungs, it was impossible to not remember.

"I…" I starter coughing and she quickly handed over the water which I downed greedily. The water soothed the last of the pain in my throat and lungs. When I spoke again it was with my normal voice. "I remember everything."

"And what is that?"

I turned to Commander Steel and tilted my head to the side as I spoke.

"I was on my way home from art class when this purple stuff dripped on me. It started burning so I looked up and heard the coughing. I followed the smoke and found Rightwing was stuck under a metal table. I pried it off and then…the tank exploded. That's the last thing I remember." I looked down at my hand and noticed that they where healed.

"Why aren't my hands burned. I burned them on the table."

The three looked at each other and I knew. I knew something was about to change my life forever.

"We did some tests while you were unconscious. Not just on the purple substance, but on your blood as well. The substance was a chemical agent designed by Doctor Devious to create super powered minions. Between the amount you had on your skin and the amount of the fumes that you breathed in…you where heavily dosed with it. Your DNA now resembles our own more than a normal human."

Well…shit. Can you believe that? They just up and said that I was no longer normal, that I had fallen to one of Doctor Devious' plots and that I was now like them. So far the only think that I've shown is advanced healing, but…they are speaking with my parents right now, explaining the situation. My mom is in hysterics and my dad is just in shock. I can hear the confusion and fear in their voices from where I sit in my room now.

Mother Nature wants to take me back to team headquarters and run more tests but mom is totally freaked out over the idea of them shoving needles into me and having me hooked up to monitors. But I have to agree with Mother Nature on this one…not just because I'm afraid of her attacking me with rose vines if I deny her wishes but because powers usually come in pairs with a SMALL dose of such chemicals like Chemical Z (what they are calling that stuff that I got coated in). I on the other hand got a mega dose, what would be an overdose if the healing powers hadn't come in almost immediately.

I'm feeling totally trashed at the moment though and I'm going to crash for a while. I guess I'll write more when I'm no longer suffering from Chemical Z Sickness. At least I'm alive though, and at least that overwhelming darkness was only unconsciousness.

Saturday, September 3

Noon

My mother woke me up about five minutes ago. My body aches all over and I'm running a high fever. Mother Nature, Rightwing and Commander Steel say that this is because my body as changing and that my powers are slowly going to start coming in. They had finally convinced my parents that it was best that I stay at Headquarters during my…transition period. I'll spend the rest of the year being schooled at Headquarters by Rightwing…I never knew it before but…get this…Rightwing is actually Mr. O'Conner, my bio teacher, and apparently he is certified to teach every subject except for gym. My gym will come during training with my powers.

I can't believe this. I've been in Mr. O'Conner's classes for my three years of high school. I had him for earth science when I was a freshman, chemistry when I was a sophomore, and now I have him not only as my bio teacher, but as my private trainer. Rightwing! Rightwing is Mr. O'Conner.

HOLY CRAP!

I also found out who Mother Nature and Commander Steel are, though I had never met them before. Mother Nature is a florist named Lucy Emmerson and owns Emmerson Flowers. Commander Steel is Mark Crest and he is…get this…he's an accountant!

Monday, September 5

Noon

I spent all of yesterday asleep…it wasn't restful sleep though. HELL NO. I was shaking. Hot. Cold. Hot. Cold. The ache through my body was immense. When I sneezed, get this…I actually singed Rightwing's eyebrows. Sometime around five this morning I was in so much pain…all radiating from my back. I had to turn to lay on my stomach…A few minutes later two large black wings ripped out of my back. I lost a lot of blood and lost consciousness until just about ten minutes ago. I have to go now though. Rightwing made food, and I know from his chemistry class (he was trying to show us how chemistry was much like cooking. The right amount of this, the right amount of that, and the proper amount of heat and you could have a perfect meal…or chemical compound) that he was a great cook, at least when it came to cooking corn chowder. This time he had made really thick beef stew and bread bowls. I can't wait to try it, I can smell it all the way in my room and my room is pretty far from the kitchen!

Monday, September 5

11PM

Rightwing's Famous Beef Stew is great. I haven't been able to get back to my room until just now because of Mother Nature's need to test my wings and any of the other powers that I had developed. So far we know that I can fly and create powerful gust of wing (a lot like Rightwing, though his wings are brown and mine are pitch black. Luckily he taught me how to pull my wings into my back and call them back out when I needed them. Pulling them in and back out doesn't hurt like growing them out did.) I can create extreme heat, and after practice I was able to hold a flame. I accidently set one of Mother Nature's plants on fire and my shock sent a wave of water at it, putting it out before it could do much damage. She looked furious but luckily Rightwing came to my defense.

I also met a new member of the League. Ace. The strange part is…he's Commander Steel's son. That means that his last name is Crest. He was in full costume when he arrived at the headquarters. Anyway, Ace is my age and a junior in high school. My high school. And he had MY homework with him.

As I looked at him I couldn't help but blush. Why? Because there was only one boy at school with the last name of Crest. Cain Crest is the most desirable boy at school. I sit next to him in bio, he's my lab partner…or he was. Ok, I know I said Cain/Ace is the most desirable boy in school. Let me explain. I'm gay. I'm not obvious though, I've 'dated' a girl. I say I 'dated' her because she knew I was gay and was helping me stay in the closet.

I've been fawning over Cain since freshman year when I first met him.

Even worse, Rightwing cornered me later and told me that he knew I liked Cain. He said that it was obvious to him because of how often I looked over at Cain during his class. I begged him not to tell Cain, or anyone else but he simply laughed and hugged me.

"Don't worry Alex. I'm still your teacher and there is a certain code. I would never tell something like that. It's not my secret to tell after all."

Rightwing rocks! He told me I could come and talk to him whenever I felt that I needed to get it off my chest.

Anyway, I'm having a hard time keeping my eyes open at the moment and everyone around here is asleep.

I'm calling it a night.

Friday, September 9

8:45 PM

Things have been so hectic this week. If it hadn't been for the fact that I already had good stamina…I would be passed out right now because of all of the training. I can now surround my body in flame, fly very easily (I'm actually going out with Rightwing, Commander Steel and Ace around midnight for my first real flight), I can manipulate water and pull it out of the air, and I can…believe it or not…actually turn it into ice. And here is something I never thought I could do…Today, Ace came to me saying that he had to stop by Emmerson Flowers to get flowers for his mother's grave (turns out that she was Volcano, which is why he has his ability over fire, he gets it from his mom while he got the flight and strength from his dad), unfortunately he didn't have much money and he doubted that he could get her anything nice. We where outside at the time, sitting down in the grass and watching as Rightwing sparred with Mother Nature when it happened. My hand started to glow and a few inches away a field of flowers appeared. When Mother Nature saw this she whisked me into the corner and told me to do it again.

So, here's the final count. I'm an elemental they say. Power over fire, water, nature, ice and wind if you count my wings as being a source of wind.

Got to go now though, there is a knock on the door. It's Ace…no, make that Cain. He's not wearing his costume. He just came in and is speaking as I write this. He just got back from his mother's grave and he seems a bit out of it. Perhaps this is my chance to comfort him because I'll never be able to do it as anything more than a friend.

Saturday, September 10

2AM

I just got back from the flight. Mr. O'Conner and I where racing. Cain and his father where laughing at us the entire time as they watched. Anyway…Cain actually used my shoulder to cry on earlier. It felt so nice to be able to rub his back and not have him take it as something gay.

Then we spent a few hours just talking about things. He got his powers in when he was five. He was looking for a toy and lifted the couch, a few weeks later he was falling out of a tree and never hit the ground. And a week after that he started a fire in the fire pit behind his grandparent's house. He and I sat there, making random shapes out of fire until midnight when his father came to get us for the flight.

We few for two hours and I'm exhausted.