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.