#4

Janet laid on a bed in the med-bay, still knocked out, as Zack and Doc watched her.

"She's been through a lot," Doc stated, "Whoever was holding her captive tortured her. Broken bones, bruises. Brain scans show that she is healing from psychological trauma."

"Doc," Zack asked "do you believe that hypnotism is possible."

"Possible, yes, but not able to do what you saw. Hypnotism has been unable to break the intuitive moral codes that the subject holds."

"So this has to be something else entirely."

"Either that, or Janet has been feigning her morals this whole year."

"I think mind control is a far more likely scenario, here."

*****

Zack was away on another covert operation. Doc sat in his lab, working on a project for a new synthetic superhuman: a formula which would turn ones skin and other organs into "organic gold", making him or her virtually both indestructible and immortal.

Janet woke up in the med-bay. She stepped out of the bed and slowly made her way to Doc's office. She dragged along, almost zombie-like. She then floated in the air so that Doc wouldn't hear the footsteps. Sneaking up behind him, she projected a force field around his head, holding it there until he passed out. She picked him up, and floated out to the loading bay. From there she disappeared in a flash of light, and reappeared in Philip Phoebus' executive office, at Solar Corp.

Janet's doppelganger appeared, took Doc from Janet's arms, and tied him to a chair. Janet finally came to, realizing what she had done. At this time her doppelganger employed the same trick of projecting the force field around Janet's head until she passed out. At this time Philip walked in, and sat down next to Doc. He spoke to Doc in a dull droning voice, telling Doc that he won't recognize him wakes up he wakes up.

*****

Doc opened his eyes, which began to focus themselves. Gravity compelled him to simply keep them closed, but his will-power and curiosity just barely won out. As the world around him came into focus, he noticed a figure standing right in front of him. His surrounding settings were clear, except for this figure, who seemed to be a blur to him. The figure gave a menacing smile. He could see Doc squinting to try and bring him into focus, but to no avail.

The figure began to speak, but Doc could not recognize it. "A decade ago, you worked with Project NOVUS to begin finding practical application for novus particles. Without you, the Project is scheduled to start rolling out their tech in another ten years. I want you to help me develop this technology ahead of them, so that I can sell it first. I can get you anything that you need."

"And if I don't?"

"It was easy for me to find you. It will also be easy for me to find the people that you love."

*****

Zack returned to the satellite. He could feel the quiet emptiness as he stepped foot in the loading bay. He walked down the metallic corridors using his super-vision to search ahead of him. Then he noticed that the lab was dark.. He approached, entered, to find a shadowy figure in a trench-coat, wearing a full-face mask over his head.

Zack tried to look through the mask with his super-vision, but found himself unable to see past it. The shadowy figure waived his finger. He spoke, using a voice distorter to disguise his vocals.

"Ah, ah, ah," he said with an electronic sound in his voice, "no peaking."

The figure pulled out an energy pistol, and aimed it at Zack.

"Quite an interesting collection of experiments the Doc has going on here. Infusing organic matter with metals, genetic splicing, a cyborg project. But you... you are leaps and bounds above everything that is here."

"Who are you? What do you want?" Zack demanded, not sure what to do or think.

"As for who I am, do you think I'd go to all this trouble of hiding my face and then tell you? As for what I want, I'm here for all the toys. You are just collateral damage."

The figure fired a concentrated energy blast at Zack, piercing the shoulder. A flash of light began to engulf the figure. Zack had to think fast. He rushed the glow that was engulfing the intruder and grabbed for him. In an instant, they were both on top of a roof, in the middle of Island City, in the middle of the night. Zack held his opponent by the collar. Then with one hand, he reached to take the mask off. The masked man grabbed the hand, broke it's fingers, and kicked Zack backwards.

"You'll pay for that."

"What have you done with Janet and Doc," Zack barked through his pain.

"They will return soon enough. For now, I will teach you a lesson."

The dark figure marched towards the hero, raising his fists. He stooped down and put his arm around Zack. He spoke in a quiet voice, and his threats were delivered calmly and coldly.

"You have all of these powers, and you become complacent, because they give you an edge. Well, I'm not impressed. In fact I am prepared for your powers, and I have all the special equipment that I need to make your powers moot. I know how to defeat you, break you, end you. If you ever think about crossing into my operation..."

His one glove began to glow. He punched Zack in the stomach. His glowing glove actually bent the force field around Zack. He punched Zack in the gut several more times. He let his rage loose, beating Zack relentlessly, then stopping suddenly.

"Next time," he whispered, "I won't stop."

Zack blacked out. When he woke up the figure was gone. He blacked out again, and woke up in the Super Corp infirmary. Doc and Janet were watching over him. Zack told Doc about the lab intruder, but after checking, Doc assured him that the security showed nothing. Doc explained that he had gone back to Earth on a much deserved personal leave, after spending so much time in the orbital laboratory. Janet had been away on her own assignment.

Zack wasn't sure what to believe, but his injuries were real. Someone had beaten him to a pulp and left him for dead. Someone who was not stopped by Zack's force field. Someone who was still at large, who could access their satellite base, and leave no trace of his visit. Zack's sense of security had greatly diminished. Philip had accomplished his goal.

#3

 Janet woke up in a haze, in a cave, in the middle of the Amazon. She couldn't move, she couldn't act, or even think clearly. She was only a passive observer in her own body. She was tied to a chair in the middle of the cave, facing the entrance. At the entrance to the cave stood an armed guard, to keep her from getting out, or anyone else from getting in.

Outside of the cave, Philip sat, holding his tablet-computer with a satellite antennae. He was in a video conference with Rebecca, the acting president of Redmond Enterprise. Philip worked with Redmond Enterprises as the director of their "Project NOVUS": a top-secret division dedicated to the research of "novus" particles and developing their application in the macro-realm.

"I noticed that you brought my particle re-constructor with you, on your little trip to the Amazon."

"All to your benefit," he said. "I have found a new energy signature here, which I am looking to reconstruct. It will be useful back at Project NOVUS."

"Listen Philip, we need you working here with us. You are spending too much time with your own company and these global excursions."

Philip chuckled, "You will never find a replacement for me. I run the Project from everywhere. I defy you to find me one person in the world who will be able to take my place. Is that all that you called me for? I'm busy."

"You've been taking a lot of our equipment lately. You've used our carbon-fiber material to make your indestructible trench coat. You have our energy field projectors, the energy pistol."

"All things that I've compensated you handsomely for, and this will be no different. I'm researching a new energy signature, which we can find application for back at the lab."

"We will discuss this, when you are back here tomorrow. And if you are not back here, we will find you."

Philip only smirked at Rebecca's empty threat. He turned off the tablet, and entered the cave. Standing in the entrance of the cave, his figure was masked in the shadows. Only his menacing grin could be seen.

In the center of the cave sat Janet. She was in a hypnotic trance, unable to move or use her powers. There was a spotlight-esque device pointed at her, the particle re-constructor, scanning her sub-atomic particles, to reconstruct a replica later.

He couldn't believe that Doc had succeeded in creating a synthetic superhuman. Philip had tried many times and failed. Finally, he could create his own synthetic superhuman, to sell on the black-market.

As the re-constructor powered down, he pulled up a chair next to Janet. He pulled in close, uncomfortably close. Right next to her ear. She would have killed him if she wasn't in a trance.

"When I leave, you won't remember any of this," he said.

Her face remained in a trance-like state.

"What is the thing that you want more than anything."

She, of course, didn't reply. He pulled out a bright light, and shined it towards her. Not enough to blind her, but enough to see her face.

"All right, let's begin the questioning."

He whispered in her ear, and watched her face for sub-conscious expressions. She never verbally responded, but he could read her face like a book. He asked a methodically selected set of questions, to find her own psychological pressure points.

*****

Zack landed in the middle of a small village, to find huts ablaze, and Janet standing in the middle of it all. Villagers ran in panic, but one stopped as he unfortunately ran right into Janet. Her eyes were dead, but couldn't be seen through the sunglasses. She pointed her hand at him, as it began to glow. Zack fired a concussive blast at Janet, sending her flying backwards. The poor villager ran away. Now Zack had Janet's attention.

She flew straight into Zack, who emitted a force field to protect himself from an impact that would have otherwise knocked the wind out of him. Zack expanded the force field to an orb surrounding him. Janet continued to barrage the orb with energy blasts. Zack could see that her eyes were dead inside. There wasn't the life in them that there usually was.

Her whole body started to glow. She was about to project a destructive blast that could level the whole Amazon. He projected his force field around her. The explosion was contained. However, the oxygen inside the orb was quickly used up. Janet passed out on the floor.

"Alright Doc," Zack said, "take us up."

Zack grabbed Janet and they disappeared in a flash of light.

Tales from the NOVUS Universe #2

 "I've spent months setting up a global teleportation system, but it would seem that someone has hacked into it," Doc explained to Zack and Janet.

"Who else knows about it?" Zack asked.

"Only my former colleagues at Project NOVUS. I stopped working on the teleportation system when I started working here full time."

"So all someone at Project NOVUS may have had access to the system?"

"Yes, I abandoned the project because it was too big of a risk to the user and to the environment. Whoever it was who you saw, they must have completed the system. Janet, you are saying that you don't remember how he looked at all?"

Janet shook her head. Her memory had been wiped clean, and the soldiers didn't get a good look at the man shrouded in shadows.

"So, how does the system work?" Zack asked.

"It's a network of satellites which can locate an object on the ground, and then rearrange those atoms, replacing them with atoms from the destination. One of the negative side-effects though, is the radiation."

"My quantum vision didn't pick up any traces of radiation at the site," Janet replied.

"That's fantastic," Doc exclaimed, "that means someone has found a way to overcome that problem. We've got to find out how they did this. I can re-purpose the system for our use."

"So, you can't give us any narrower fields as to who might have done this?" Zack asked.

"Unfortunately no," Doc replied. "Our best bet is to search for the satellites. We can start with the ones that I built. It's possible that our mystery man is using them."

*****

Janet floated through the vacuum of space in her energy bubble, towards the first satellite, which sported the label "Redmond Technology". She flew in circles around the machine, scanning it with her quantum vision. "It seems like it's been active all right," she said on her earpiece.

"Over here too," Zack chimed in from another satellite on the other side of the world.

"Fantastic!" Doc exclaimed. "Janet, can you attach the device to the satellite?"

Janet took out the flat tablet-device with the antennae, flew to the bottom of the satellite, and inserted the tablet into a port on the bottom. The tablet passed through Janet's energy field and connected right into the port.

"Ok," Doc said "now I can hack into the system."

Just then, a bright light came from the bottom of the satellite, which engulfed her.

*****

Janet found herself in the Amazon jungle, face to face again with Philip Phoebus. His appearance was once again shrouded in a trench coat, sunglasses and hat. He sported a goatee, surrounding his menacing grin.

"Remember me?" he asked.

"I found him guys," Janet said on the intercom.

"Is Doc listening? Tell him that I said hello."

At this moment, Doc began to look for a trace on Janet's earpiece, and Zack started flying towards her. Janet threw the first punch, which Philip blocked and countered, landing square on her jaw. While she was down, Philip reached for her ear and grabbed the earpiece. He threw it to the ground and crushed it with his steel-tread shoes.

Janet projected a dome energy-field and expanded rapidly, sending Philip flying backwards. He landed on he face, and rolled over to see Janet walking towards him. He reached into his trench coat a pulled out a throwing knife, which glowed wit a purple tinge. He threw it straight at her, and the blade pierced through her energy field. Shocked exuded from her face as she dodged the small knife. Her quantum vision acted like precognition (a temperamental function), which allowed her to see the knife beforehand.

Janet's face turned from shock to determination. She hovered two feet above the ground, then charged Philip in flight. She pushed him past the surrounding trees, and found herself flying over a cliff. She grabbed Philip and dangled him over the chasm. "What is your name?" she demanded. He didn't answer, so she dropped him. Philip only smiled as he plunged into the chasm.

Rocket thrusters came out of his shoes and hands, stabilizing his decent to the ground. Janet did a pin dive downward, landing with a thud behind him. She grabbed his arm and started to twist it, but he overpowered her and broke her arm. She fell to the ground, and Philip pulled the energy-pistol out of his trench-coat, aiming it at her. A helicopter could be heard from above.

*****

"The signal was coming from the Amazon, but that is still a large area to cover," Doc relayed to Zack who flew towards the South Western hemisphere. Janet was tough enough to handle any threat they had faced, but never before had either of them faced such an advanced threat alone.

"I am going to use my quantum vision to comb through the jungle then," he said while floating in the upper atmosphere. "Who is this guy, Doc? It sounded like he knew you."

"I couldn't tell. I didn't recognize his voice."

Doc was in denial. He knew the voice, but he didn't want to believe it was who it sounded like.

... To Be Continued

Tales from the NOVUS Universe #1

 Phillip Phoebus watched the live feed from the security cameras, as the US military rolled through the jungle up to his fortress compound. His crew had already begun moving valuable equipment and information to another lair. They carried crates and hard-drives into a large pipe, where they disappeared in a flash of light. Once they moved all the important equipment, they set mini-charges that destroyed the inner-workings of the "transport-tube", making it look like a regular large pipeline, then they took guns and set out into the jungle.

As Phillip studied the live footage, he recognized Zack and Janet among the US soldiers. He knew them better than they knew him. Phillip was a shadowy and mysterious looking figure. He always wore his custom trench coat, matching fedora dark sunglasses, and sported a full-trimmed beard. He rushed down the steps to the basement, where he found his own superhuman, in a resting position. Solaris laid out straight on the concrete slab, in hibernation mode. Phillip spoke in a dull tone. Solaris' eyes popped open. He whispered into the super-soldiers ear. Solaris' pupils constricted.

Outside the compound, the second-rate mercenaries were getting slaughtered by the US Army, on the false pretense that their families would be cared for by Phillip's "vast fortune". As the battalion moved forward, they heard a deafening boom as Solaris busted through the brick walls of the fortress, and flew into the sky. All Zack, Janet, and the soldiers could see was a burning man, flying through the sky.

"I've got him," Zack said, as he zoomed away into the air. The military focused their efforts on breaking down the wall of the concrete base with their explosives. Janet began to glow as she built up a reserve of energy, then channeled it forward in a destructive beam. The beam destroyed the wall, leaving a big opening.

Zack covered himself in a totally opaque energy force-field, as he flew towards his opponent. The opaque field protected him from the strong radiation that he could detect with his quantum vision, coming from the flying-burning man. Zack sped up until he ran into the opponent, knocking Solaris off balance. He then grabbed the burning man and chucked him into the upper atmosphere. Zack zoomed upwards again, intending to play "don't let the burning-man hit the floor". Solaris turned around and punched Zack square in the jaw. Zack "stumbled backwards" a bit. The punch had created an explosion of heat. Solaris rushed towards Zack, they grabbed each other and rolled around in the air.

Inside the fortress, Janet walked down the empty corridors, followed by a squadron. Suddenly, a beam of energy hurled towards her, knocking her backwards as a concussive blast. Phillip has appeared in the hallway, aiming a futuristic pistol. The soldiers instantly lit up the shadowy figure with all of their artillery. But the shower of bullets were simply deflected by a force-field dome around him.

Janet recognized the energy signature of the energy-shield. It matched that of her own force fields. Janet leaped to her feet. Phillip fired at her, but she dodged it and started to rush her mysterious opponent. Phillip continued to fire, and she continued to dodge. She projected a force field and used it to send him flying.

Her super vision (aka quantum vision) acted not only as X-Ray vision, but also a limited precognition. She saw Phillip reach into his trench coat for two throwing stars. She started to dodge them, but one lodged into her back as she turned around.

Janet fought through. She flew forward, and punched Phillip in the jaw. Phillip only laughed at the minor inconvenience. He head-butted the super-heroine, which surprised her. Then he swept her out at her feet. She fell to the ground, and he pinned her down. He whispered something in her ears and her eyes glazed over.

The soldiers rushed into the room, just in time to see Phillip disappear in a flash of light. They found Janet lying on the floor, in a trance. After shaking her to no avail, they said her name and she snapped out of it, with no memory of the last 5 minutes.

Back in the air, Zack zoomed towards his flying opponent, and released a succession of rapid-fire punches Although he was still covered in his energy-shield, Zack could feel the heat and the radiation. Solaris eventually lost consciousness from all the hits to the head. At that point, he stopped burning, to reveal a regular guy in a black jumpsuit. Solaris began to fall, until Zack reached out to catch him. Zack landed them both gently on the ground, where the medics came and took him away.

Janet came out of the base, accompanied by the soldiers. She held her head and possessed a look of bewildered confusion. Zack rushed up to her and asked "What happened?"

"She doesn't remember," the captain responded. "She went off to fight the leader. When we got in, he disappeared, and she was in a trance. When she woke up, she didn't even remember entering the base."

"What do you mean, he disappeared?"

"There was a flash of light, and he was gone."

Just as Zack and Janet were puzzling over this, they were able to witness a demonstration. Off in the distance, Solaris was laid out in a stretcher. His whole body began to glow brightly. Zack and Janet could see his sub-atomic particles unzipping, as he disappeared in a flash of light, possibly to reappear elsewhere. It was like Star Trek.

"Captain, We are going to need to consult someone about this."

Zack and Janet looked at each other, and started to rise into the atmosphere. Before the oxygen started thinning, they surrounded themselves in a force-field. The energy-bubble containing the two superheroes zoomed out into the exosphere. They approached a specific satellite orbiting Earth's atmosphere: the base of the Super Corp. This satellite was a perfect cube, one side was simply a membrane energy-field to keep the oxygen in. The bubble passed through the membrane and Zack and Janet landed in the loading bay.

They exited the loading bay into the empty corridors of the base, and took an elevator to the second floor, which was the laboratory. Inside "Doc" as he was only known, hid away from the rest of the world to unravel the mysteries of science. Doc had once been a protege of Arthur Redmond, and was one of the greatest pioneers in the science of neo-particles. He left Project NOVUS at Redmond Enterprises to become the resident scientist of the Super Corp.

Doc was working in one of the corners of his lab. As Zack approached him, he called out "Hey Doc."

"Yes Marty," Doc responded sarcastically.

"What?" Both Zack and Janet were confused, having never seen Back to the Future.

"Never mind, what is it?"

"Haven't you been working on a global teleportation system?"

Doc looked at Zack and Janet. His eyes suddenly got wide. Zack had never seen fear on Doc's face before.

... To Be Continued

Zack Powers

After a career of studying neo-humans, humans who had unlocked their dormant potential for superpowers, Doc spent a decade trying to create synthetic super-humans. When the Super Corp Project offered him an avenue for this pursuit, he left Redmond Enterprises and took the position of the Super Corp's head scientist.

Zack Powers was the prototype of the Synthetics. His super-powers did not originate from his dormant, natural ability, but from procedures that warped his subatomic structure. Zack's core power was the ability to shift his subatomic structure. This could manifest in a number of different super powers, but currently only manifested in flight, projection of force fields and energy blasts, and super vision.

Zack was joined by Janet and Dexter, two other subatomic anomalies, as they undertook covertassignments from the United States military. Janet's powers, at this juncture, were identical to Zack's, although she would later develop unique powers. Dexter could heal himself, and also transform into any energy on the electro-magnetic spectrum.

*****

Heavily armed looters ran through the African village (small city). The insurgents sprayed bullets freely, taking casualties. They gathered together a group of hostages, into a circle in the middle of the road. They would not let the hostages go until the demands were met. 

A unit of SEALS had begun to move in, positioning themselves to move into the village, but the President decided to use this opportunity to test the Super Corp first.

Zack projected a force field around the hostages, and he landed gracefully on the ground. The surprised gunmen opened fire, but the bullets bounced off the force field and hit some of the gunmen instead. The remaining gunmen changed their aim to the young man in a black jump suit, who eyes were hidden by dark black shades. At that moment, Janet entered and projected a force field in front of herself and Zack. The bullets bounced off of this one too.

A bolt of lightning came streaking through the village, hit one gunman, and bounced from that one to the next. The looters, in confusion, began to run. As the lightning bolt came out of victim number 2, it began to retake it's human form of Dexter. The Super Corp immediately split up. Janet went to the hostages, projected a orb-like force field around all of them, and flew with them to safety.

Zack projected a skin-tight force field around himself for protection against bullets. Zack and Dexter chased after the remaining four insurgents. They ran through the empty streets, trying to find a place to hide, or hostages to aid their escape. Zack decided it was time to use his super vision, which was also called "quantum vision". Quantum vision allowed him to see down to the subatomic level, to observe events happening in other locations, and to visually dissect macroscopic objects. Zack was even still testing the limits of this ability.

He used the quantum vision to follow two of the gunmen, far out ahead of him. They ducked into a shop and hid inside the building. Zack's quantum vision traveled through walls to follow them, as they traveled all the way to the back door exit, where Zack was waiting for them. They ran the other way, but Zack overtook them. He grabbed the one that had unfortunately fell behind in a sleeper hold. The other one turned around in amazement. Zack pulled out a small tranquilizer gun and fired a sleeping dart at him. Finally the one in the sleeper hold passed out, and Zack let him down easy.

On the other side of the town, Dexter chased two other gunmen, a little more closely. Desperate they grabbed a civilian and held him real close, gun to the temple. They yelled out in their native tongue at Dexter. Probably threatening him not to come any closer. In the blink of an eye, Dexter had unzipped every one of his atoms into a stream of electrons. Quicker than the speed of thought, the lightning bolt leaped at the two gunment. It went through the first one, with only enough juice to stun him, and then leaped to the second one who was holding the hostage. Same result. The gunmen dropped to the floor, civilian unharmed. At this juncture, the military had begun to move in. Zack landed next to Dexter, picked him up, and they flew away.

The Shadow

Ten men, in masks, considerably armed, all worked together to carry crates from the warehouse to the big-rig. None of them knew what was in the packages, only that a big pay day awaited them after the job. Two men carried one crate at a time, and they moved in and out of the warehouse like clockwork... until the lights went out. Everyone stopped. Nick started to back up, his partner (Jerry) followed, until Nick backed into something that wasn't there before. Nick dropped the crate onto his feet. Jerry was paralyzed in fear. Behind Nick stood a dark figure, wearing a dark cloak with a hood. The hood masked his face with a shadow. No one had ever seen the face of the Shadow, as he was called. The image was haunting. The Shadow covered Nick's mouth with his hand until he passed out.

Jerry finally came to and pulled out his gun and aimed for the figure. The Shadow opened up his cloak and a thick cloud began to envelop everyone. The doors of the warehouse closed trapping everyone inside momentarily.

Outside the building, the driver and four movers panicked. The engine was not starting up, and no one could see anything in the dark. As the all started to run, the Shadow showed up. He came out of nowhere, hitting the leader of the pack in the jaw. Instant knock out.

The next thug pulled out his semi-automatic and fired, but the bullet bounced off the mysterious cloak and hit another thug instead. The Shadow rushed the thug, enveloping him in the cloak then spitting him out. It all happened at lightning speed. Shadow then attacked the thug to the left as the thug began to draw his gun. Shadow turned to his two remaining opponents. He approached slowly, as they lowered their weapons and laid down on the ground.

Back inside the warehouse, all the thugs had their weapons drawn. All windows had been sealed off and no light came inside. Jerry's eyes were adjusting, as one of his comrades was thrown across the room into him. Jerry went to scream, but a hand covered his mouth, emitting an interesting smell that he wouldn't remember when he woke up.

The remaining four thugs waved their guns around. One saw something move. He fired. Missed. Fired again. Kept firing until he was out of bullets. One of the other thugs screamed. He had been hit by one of the bullets, and fell to the ground. The trigger happy thug didn't see Shadow behind him. Shadow covered the thug's face, until he too passed out. Outside, one could hear the police sirens. The remaining two thugs saw the wraith-like figure standing over their comrade's body. Just a simple, ghastly, dark cloak with a face engulfed in the shadow of the hood. The thugs watched the Shadow float upwards and away. Then floodlights came on in the warehouse, blinding them, and the doors opened up, letting the cops in.

Thirty minutes later, the cloaked figure landed on the roof of an apartment building. An identical figure was already there. They both removed their hoods to reveal... two regular guys. No names would be needed. They could have been anyone. Both were under 45 years of age. Both of them were upper-middle to upper class economically. Both in shape. Both males. Both happened to be Caucasian.

"What brings you to Island City," asked the shadowy figure whom our short story follows.

"Inspection," answered the other man, who was superior in rank to the first. You see, the Shadow was not one man, but a national association of vigilante crime-fighters, each under their own jurisdiction. Each of them was trained and groomed from a young age to be the people they are today. Each of them takes flexible and high-paying jobs. They then combine their wealth to fund their crime-fighting network.

"Well, you'll find I run a tight ship here, even in the absence of my local ally."

"Well, then I'll get right to it. We are concerned with your careless behavior. Two of your opponents were shot tonight."

"Not by me."

"No, but you could have avoided these things. This isn't the way we taught you. We don't kill."

"That was not my hand."

"But it was a product of your carelessness. It could have been avoided."

"I'm not sure that's necessary."

"Listen, if you can't comply to our code, we are going to need to enact disciplinary measures."

The superior stepped out onto the ledge of the building and then plunged over the edge.

Meta-Man

"Look! Up in the sky! It's a bird! It's a plane! It's Meta-Man! Symbol of hope and humanitarianism. Protector of all life forms. The Ultimate Champion of Justice and Equality. And he's quite an opponent for anyone who would stand opposed to those virtues. Those who perpetuate injustice and inequality beware. Meta-Man is on the move. With powers of flight and super speed. Skin indestructible to an Atom bomb. He has not only physical strength, but also moral strength to oppose all evil doers. A new day is dawning for justice, and Meta-Man is waking early to see this sun rise."

Click. Once the recording stopped, the announcer took a deep breath, got up and left for his coffee break. Behind him stood Meta-Man, clothed in full body armor and complete with a cape, next to his producer.

"I don't know about this," Meta-Man said, "It's all very cheesy."

"This cartoon is an excellent way for you to reach kids with your message of hope and equality for all. This is a way for you to expand your impact on the world."

"It's all so simplistic, with all that talk of good and evil. The world is far more complex than that. And for all my powers, I'm still a human who makes mistakes."

"I know that, but kids deal in black and white, so we need to simplify things for them. We need someone to represent good, and who better to do that?"

"Thanks for this, Rob."

Rob nodded and Meta-Man super-sped out of the room. Mystery surrounded the Champion of Mankind. His real power was telekinesis, from moving large objects, to manipulating matter. This power allowed him to make his skin indestructible, fly, and manipulate temperatures in the surrounding area.

Many believed that he was like Superman, a super-powered messiah from another planet. Meta-Man neither confirmed nor denied these rumors. The truth, however, was that Meta-Man was simply a human. Born and raised on a small farm in Iowa, he and his friend John developed superpowers in their early teens. John could communicate with others mentally, and Clark (Meta-Man to us) could lift things with his mind. Their powers continued to develop and expand, and when they turned 18, they went separate ways. John joined the military and Clark traveled across the country on a motorcycle. This was before the existence of superheroes was public knowledge. As he traveled the country, he used his powers in secret to help others. When superheroes emerged from the shadows, Meta-Man led the charge, becoming prominent in the hero community.

As Meta-Man flew through the sky, he received a call on his ear-piece about a six-story robot, that was terrorizing downtown Manhattan. Cheesy? Maybe. Generic? Yeah, but this sort of thing only happened about once a month. Mad scientist comes up with an experimental model for a giant robot and uses it to terrorize a major city. Luckily, Meta-Man was in New York City. He flew at top speed, to the scene of the attack and landed with a dramatic entrance, but the robot had already taken it's toll. Civilians were running away screaming, but some of them had not made it.

The robot sprayed bullets from a large machine gun mounted on it's "arms". Meta-Man ran in front of the bullets to protect citizens. He then rushed the robot and dismantled the guns. The robot punched him in mid-flight. The force knocked him to the ground. The robot cupped his hands over Meta-Man and began to crush him with extreme pressure. The weight actually started to become more than he could handle. He used his telekinesis to access the Kinetic Force, and it's vast resource of kinetic energy. He summoned as much energy as he could and redirected in towards the robot.

Next Meta-Man was on his feet, pushing back the hand of the robot. After failing to squish the hero in his mechanical palm, the robot grabbed him and tried to squeeze him with both hands. Once again the pressure became too much on his exoskeleton of "virtually impervious" skin. It was about to crack like the shell of a crab. So he started to warm up. Using his telekinesis, he warmed up the surrounding molecules, melting the robot's hands until he slipped through them.

Meta-Man put his hands out, and from them, blast of searing heat were projected at the robot, melting it's metal exterior. He rushed to the robot and picked it up by the ankle. With full control of the kinetic energy in the area, he kept the robot perfect balanced, lifting it up with only one hand.

Then he took to the sky. He shot straight up, holding the robot in front of him. Then he moved eastward, towards the Atlantic Ocean. He chucked the robot forward a bit, and then flew into it with a punch. With one touch, he disassembled the giant android. It shattered to pieces, and fell into the ocean, deep into Davy Jones Locker.

*****

Meta-Man returned to the scene where the attack had started. The carnage was great, and the scene was tragic. Meta-Man vowed that he would never let this type of attack happen again. Never again.