FFF Heroes

June 17, 2008, 1:39 AM

FFF Heroes

In recent days, a seemingly random group of individuals has emerged with what can only be described as “special” abilities.

Although unaware of it now, these individuals will not only save the world, but change it forever. This transformation from ordinary to extraordinary will not occur overnight. Every story has a beginning.

Volume One of their epic tale begins here …

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So here is my latest story. Due to the success of FFF Crisis, I'm doing the same again, although this is a Heroes story with the characters of FFF Crisis. Most of them will be from there, but there will also be new characters. There are, however, going to be a few rare Heroes characters here, too. Please enjoy and comment!

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Chapter One

Genesis

“Where does it come from? This quest … this need to solve life’s mysteries, for the simplest of questions can never be answered. Why are we here? What is the soul? Why do we dream? Perhaps we would be better off not looking at all. Not delving, not yearning. That’s not human nature, not the human heart. That is not why we are here.”

Riku Walker looked nervous.

He stood on the top of a building glancing out at his surroundings. He didn’t move, he didn’t seem to be afraid. He just stood there feeling the air all around him. It was almost as if he was here for a very important reason. Whatever the reason was, it was unknown, perhaps even to Riku himself.

Outstretching his arms, he slowly dived from the building falling down as if he was flying.

And then he was flying.

He, Riku Walker, was actually flying! He was soaring past the buildings of New York at such a fast pace.

Was this even real?

“Riku?”

Apparently not …

The woman’s voice caught him off guard. Riku stumbled back to reality and realised that he wasn’t flying at all. He was, in fact, at the Deveaux Building for one of his patients. The old man was dying. Charles Deveaux was a wealthy man – even Riku himself knew that he didn’t deserve to die. The woman that had snapped him back to reality, her name was Simone Deveaux and his daughter.

“I’m sorry,” she apologised immediately, as she walked to her father’s bedside. “I didn’t realise you could look so peaceful.”

“It’s fine, you didn’t scare me,” replied Riku in his usual Scottish accent. Even though he was Scottish himself, he had lived in New York for the time being as a nurse. “It’s really amazing every time that I close my eyes. I have the most incredible dreams …” He rubbed the back of his head and got to work. “It doesn’t matter.”

“How is he doing?” asked Simone, looking worried as usual. “Is he unconscious?”

“It’s been a while now. He’s pretty close … I’d give it a few more days until he could be truly gone.” He glanced at her pretty crestfallen face. “I’m really sorry.”

But she was battling to put on a brave face. “It’s fine, I can cope. You know, I don’t know what I’d do without you.” She then smiled. “You have a knack for helping people, it’s what I’d call a gift.”

However, Riku shrugged his shoulders and adjusted the bed covers. “I’m just doing my job, there’s nothing more to it than that.”

“No, don’t say that,” Simone offered her support. “You’re like a son to him. If it weren’t for you, then he wouldn’t be here now. You’re so dedicated to your cause, Riku.”

He grinned.

“Besides … if you put it that way of me being like a son, that’d make us like brother and sister.” He laughed nervously. “And that’d be bad, especially if I ever asked you out on a date.” Simone looked taken aback, but Riku apologised almost immediately. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said that.”

“No, that’s fine,” said Simone, smiling sheepishly at that point. “That’s kind of sweet. I’d take you up on the offer, but unfortunately, I have a boyfriend at the moment.”

“That’s ok,” nodded Riku, still smiling politely. “I’ll need to change his –”

“Oh, I’m sorry,” interrupted Simone. “Please, go right ahead.”

*

“Man is an narcissistic species by nature. But who are we to say what happens with evolution itself? That decision belongs to the cockroach. People have been living without food for months. Radiation … God has indeed created himself in his own image. Even I submit to you that God is a cockroach.”

Elsewhere in the world, Professor Angelus Mortis was in the middle of a lecture. Here she stood as an American professor. At the moment, she was currently teaching in India, where she had remained for the past two years. She glanced around the classroom and noticed that many students were staring at her as if she was crazy.

“They say only a man uses a tenth of his brainpower,” she continued to say, amid all the strange looks she was receiving. “If we were to use more, then perhaps we would be perceived to be worthy in God’s image.” She paused for a moment walking to the other end of the room glancing at her students carefully. “And I suppose that moment has already arrived. The human genome project has discovered that tiny variations in man’s genetic code are taking place in increasingly rapid rates.”

She stopped at one young man, who looked like he was going to challenge her.

“Teleportation, levitation, tissue regeneration – is this outside the realm of possibility? Or is man entering a new gateway to evolution? Is he finally standing at the fresh hold to true human potential?”

This caused quite a stir in the classroom. There was a man in a suit at the back that she knew waiting for her. Students started whispering to each other. At that point, Angelus had to concede defeat … for now.

“I’m sorry,” she said, glancing at the man carefully. “We’re out of time.”

The students left quietly and slowly, although they were happy to get out of there. Angelus looked frustrated for some reason, as she approached the man.

“Sandi, I know that I sound like my mom,” she said. “But what can they do? Are they going to fire me just like they did with her? Because they need to start looking into her theories. There is something to it!”

But Sandi said nothing. He stared blankly into Angelus’s eyes.

“What is it, Sandi?”

“It’s … your mother. She’s dead.”

Horror struck Angelus.

Barely minutes later, they were both walking down the street. It was raining, but they had their umbrellas to cover them.

“This is dangerous, Angelus,” warned Sandi. “For someone like you, this is putting yourself in danger. If they went after your mother, they may as well target you if you continue her work. Driving a taxi in New York isn’t the right thing! You may never find anything out.”

“But I only spoke to her two days ago!” exclaimed Angelus. “And she told me that she was convinced someone was following her. I have to find who it is before they strike again. I have to find out who killed my mom. She must have been killed because of her research!”

“Nonsense, Angelus! This is crazy!”

“Do you really think that?”

“Your mother kept on leaving your family to chase her theories! It was nothing to do with those theories! This may have well been an accident! It may have happened to someone! Anyone!”

Angelus was having none of it. She carried on walking until she came to her mother’s apartment.

“I have to find her papers, try to make sense of this nonsense you claim it to be,” she said, glaring coldly at Sandi. “There has to be more to this world, Sandi! My mom wouldn’t be killed by accident! This was murder in cold blood!”

“Don’t get me wrong, I worked with your mother in the States,” Sandi said suddenly. “She was a brilliant geneticist, colleague and professor … but she lost touch with reality when she had these theories. Please, I beg of you, do not let the same happen to you!”

“You want me to forget about her death?”

“Yes, I am telling you to let go!”

“Well, I can’t! I need to know why he died, I need to make sense of all this!”

There was silence between the two at this point, except for the loud rain and the people walking by.

“I have to know what is behind this research,” Angelus said calmly. “I have to finish off what she started. I know I could be getting too deeply involved, but this is the only way. I need to know how she was murdered and why …”

When she stepped inside her mother’s apartment, Angelus found it very difficult. She had only twenty minutes to even know that her mother was dead. Being here didn’t make things any better, but she had to start somewhere. She was killed – and Angelus would find out that reason. She put her bag on the floor and began to look around.

The first thing she noticed was the case file entitled “Genesis”. Inside were files about each anomalistic ability that Jacqueline Mortis had ever researched. Some of them were ones that Angelus had mentioned at her lecture today.

Other things that she found were a picture of her graduating from high school back in California and then … the map. But as soon as she began to look at the map, a phone started ringing. It wasn’t her phone at all. However, barely a second later, someone picked it up.

“Hello?” came a male voice. “Yeah … yeah, I’m at her place now.”

Angelus’s face turned into horror.

“No … no, he left everything behind, but his computer. Research, the map … a team here will bag it.”

Suddenly, the man halted in speaking.

“I’ll have to call you back,” he said in an alarming voice.

Angelus bolted. She ran out of the house taking off the pin on the map that had been on New York. When she was gone, the man came out of the other room and then glanced down to see his glasses had been moved. He lifted them up and placed them on the rim of his nose. Who he was right now was unknown …

*

Life would be pretty risky at times, especially when you were Mandi Sanders.

In Las Vegas, her life was more than complicated. She would have to do anything to make sure that her little boy, Logan, was kept safe. Even if that meant playing for the camera just to earn herself some money …

Then she felt it was time to stop. She grabbed her robe and then walked over to her laptop that had been filming everything she had been doing. Mandi typed in, “Time’s up” and sent it to the client.

Not long after, the client replied back with a simple: “A little more time, please?”

Mandi rolled her eyes.

Great, she thought. I hate it when they do this …

Her client would have most definitely been shocked to receive the reply, “It’ll cost you another 39 bucks.” It did obviously and the one worded reply of, “BITCH!” just made Mandi sigh and roll her eyes.

“Pervert,” she mumbled under her breath.

She shut her laptop down and then walked off to go freshen up in the bathroom. But before she could do that, Mandi froze on the spot. She glanced at herself in the mirror again and then looked around the room. She knew something wasn’t right in the room. She could hear strange sounds …

Ignoring them, Mandi went to go and find her only son.

“Logan!” she called. “Logan, it’s time to get up!”

She hurried to the bedroom and then gasped by what she saw.

The window was open – and Logan wasn’t in bed! What was going on?

Scared and freaking out, Mandi looked all over the house calling his name … until she found him.

“Logan!” she said, feeling relieved, but a bit angry at the same time.

“What?” he asked.

“Please don’t do that to me again!” whispered Mandi, hugging him. “We need to be careful, remember?” Logan nodded and smiled a little. “So what you doing, little man?”

“I’m fixing the computer hard drive,” he said. “It’s broken.”

Mandi broke into a warm smile and continued to hug him.

“Did I ever mention that you were the smartest little man I have ever met?” she said.

“You did,” he replied. “You do say it all the time …”

Mandi looked at his latest creation and looked impressed. “So what’s this?”

“For the eclipse,” answered Logan. “I’m going to see it with this camera.”

“Really? Speaking of which, you need to get ready for school,” cut in Mandi, as she started to clear some of the mess. “We need to get you dressed, get you there –”

“It’s ok, Mom,” he cut in. “I’m already dressed and I did my own lunch. That’s what I’ve been doing this morning. What have you been doing?”

“Don’t be so smart,” teased Mandi. “I’ve been working to pay off the bills.”

“Is that why the water was turned off again?” Logan looked sad.

And then the doorbell went. Mandi knew who it was, but decided to remain calm.

“You go grab your stuff and wait for me by the back door, Logan.”

“But why?”

“Just do it.”

As Logan went to grab his stuff, Mandi took a quick peek out of the window to see who it was just to confirm it was who she thought it was. Two men stood out of the door. Well, she didn’t want to get friendly with them at all. She quickly slipped into some clothes and joined her son at the back door.

“Mom, what’s going on?” asked Logan, his voice now sounding scared.

“It’s ok, baby,” she whispered and grabbed his hand, as they ran. “Just stick with me.”

They jumped over the fence and dived right into the car when the men knocked on the door. They smashed the door open and then Mandi put her foot down on the pedal to get the hell out of there leaving two very pissed off guys wondering where she could have ran off to this time.

*

There were other troubles happening elsewhere, but not as serious. In Odessa, Texas, there was one particular cheerleader that stood out from the others. Ok, so she wasn’t blonde or a complete ass, but she had guts. Guts to run all the way up the stairs on a construction site with her friend filming everything that she was doing. But of course, as of recently, that was just a day in the life of Faith Bennet.

“Is the camera ready?” she called down to her friend.

“Yeah, almost! Hold on!” nodded Zach Fuller, as he was the one holding the camera himself. He then spoke quietly to himself trying to get over what was about to happen. “This is like seventy or eighty feet … this is so unreal …”

“All right, I’m ready!” cried Faith.

And then before Zach could reply, she had already flung herself down from the site. She screamed right until she hit the floor. Zach was shaking so much that the camera was shaky itself.

“Oh my God … oh my God … Faith!”

He ran to her as quickly as his legs could take him and then he looked down at her filming the entire process.

“Faith!” he shouted.

She looked upwards at the camera groaning at the right arm that was disfigured. She snapped it back into place and then breathed heavily, now looking right into the camera.

“This is Faith Bennet,” she said calmly, whilst still trying to get her breath back, “and that was attempt number nine.” Very shortly after, the gash on her cheek had completely healed up.

*

Riku dreamt he was flying again.

He had lost count how many times this had happened now, but he actually liked to dream that he could fly. It felt so real. It felt so real flying over New York City and getting a view that was only viewable by helicopter, maybe not even that. The view was outstanding. He couldn’t compare any other experience to this right now. Nothing could compare to it.

But then he was still falling. Where was he falling to, though?

And as soon as he was nearing the ground, the face of Koloth Petrelli appeared smiling at him.

Then Riku was awake again. He remembered that he was still in the taxi listening to his iPod. A bus stopped next to the taxi and his long time friend, Koloth Petrelli, appeared on a banner advertising to vote for him in the upcoming local elections.

“You get out here, yes?” asked the taxi driver.

And then moments later, Riku was walking into the building where his friend worked.

“Mr Linderman, I’ll have to call you back,” said Koloth, as he put the phone down and saw Riku walking through. “Hey, Riku. How you been? Look, I got someone –”

“I dreamt it three more times, Koloth,” he interrupted rudely, not caring what his friend had to say about yet another fundraiser. “Sometimes, I’m falling. Sometimes, I’m flying. To be quite honest, it doesn’t make any sense.” He clicked his fingers. “And even sometimes, you’re there!”

Koloth didn’t look remotely interested. “I don’t have time for this.” He grabbed his briefcase and walked off with Riku following in his wake.

“They’re not just dreams, Koloth!” argued Riku, although it was done quietly. “It felt like I was floating for a split second …” But Koloth was passing by each worker talking to them and pretending to ignore his friend. “I’m telling you … I think I can fly.”

But he didn’t look very pleased.

“Here’s a thought. If you can fly, go jump off a rooftop! See what happens.”

“Koloth, this isn’t funny. I’m being serious!”

“Riku, take some pills. Go see a doctor. You don’t look well. I’m behind in the election as it is already –”

“Why does everything have to be about you? Why can’t someone else have the spotlight once in a while? You’re the only one who can understand!”

“And tell me why I would understand your pointless dreams!”

“Because you’re my best friend!”

Then the sound of his cell phone interrupted yet again. Koloth didn’t reply back, but picked up instead. “Hey, Mom!” he said in a serious tone. “What’s up?” His serious look went to the pissed off look. “I’ll be there in ten minutes.”

“What did she say?” asked Riku, looking sceptical of him. “What’s happened?”

Koloth rolled his eyes. “She got arrested … for shoplifting … socks.”

“You have got to be kidding,” Riku rolled his eyes as well.

*

“I’m so depressed. As a matter of fact … I don’t know how I feel.”

“What? Why?”

Faith and Zach were walking home. It had been a mere ten minutes since she had thrown herself off the construction site for the ninth time already. She was still alive somehow and she hated it. She hated every single goddamn moment of not being able to feel the pain for a while and getting over it quickly! Oh, how she hated it!

“This is the coolest thing that’s happened in town for centuries!” exclaimed Zach, as he was watching the footage again on his video camera.

“No one can find out,” said Faith darkly. They both knew the consequences.

“So if you don’t want anyone to know, then why do you want me to record you doing it if you find it so gross and revolting?” he asked curiously.

Faith sighed and looked around them. “Well, I have my own reasons for doing it.”

“Faith, it’s not going to affect your social status,” Zach shrugged his shoulders. “You’re not going to be unpopular. C’mon, it’s not like people will hate you …”

“What? This is about being popular?” Faith was outraged. “I have exams in October, the game next week and homecoming in three weeks to worry about! Being even more popular isn’t on my mind right now! And if it’s not on my mind, then maybe it shouldn’t be on yours either! My life is over as I know it already!”

Zach didn’t say anything, as he continued to get the chains off his bike.

“I have busted every bone in my body! I should have died weeks ago! I have probably died a hundred times already! I’ve slashed my chest, cut open my skin and I’m still alive! You really think it’s cool to be like that?”

“I don’t think it’s cool that your ribs are sticking out.”

She was even more frustrated, but was grateful he pointed that out because then she’d have some serious explaining about the blood on her cheerleading outfit. Luckily for her, that had faded away soon after she adjusted her ribs back into her skin. Zach looked for a moment. He was still finding the whole thing a little bit revolting.

“Give me the tape,” said Faith, as she held out her hand for it.

As soon as he gave her the tape, Zach saw she was leaving.

“I can give you a lift home on my bike if you want,” he said. “I don’t want to see you walk home alone like that.”

“Thanks,” she offered him an apologetic smile, “but I’ll be fine. I’ll talk to you tomorrow at school, ok?”

He nodded his head and smiled. He understood that she needed sometime alone right now to think and gather her thoughts together about what she was going to do with the tape and the other tapes she had stashed in her room.

*

Mitsuki Nakamura was bored as per usual.

The clock was ticking, but she wasn’t getting any work done at all. She hated this, she really did! Her father placed her down at the cubicles to make her way up in the company and this was what she got. At any moment, she was ready to fall asleep. But then the clock got her to thinking. What if she could pretend to freeze the time?

That would certainly pass sometime, or at least, give her sometime to do something.

So she faced it with a hard expression on her face. She tensed her eyes as if she was trying to do something. Her entire body started shaking. Her eyes were focused on the clock now. She felt something deep inside wanting to break free. She had to let it out!

And then something happened.

As soon as the clock hit twenty-five past, it stopped. Mitsuki felt amazed. She was even more excited when it went backwards by a second. She jumped for joy.

“I did it!” she cried in Japanese, causing the entire staff around to stare at her.

Mitsuki ran like a maniac to find her only friend, Ando Masahashi, who tried not to notice at first. However, it was too late when she found him.

“What now?” he moaned.

“I’ve broken the time/space continuum!” she whispered excitedly, jumping up and down.

Ando didn’t sound pleased. “Good for you …”

“My clock! It was my clock!” Mitsuki clapped her hands. “I made it go back by one second and I did it by using only my mind! I used my thoughts to do it, Ando!”

Still, Ando looked annoyed.

“It’s too bad you’re not paid by the hour,” he said, sighing.

“But I’m serious!” argued Mitsuki. “This explains the subway this morning, it has to be the only reason! It was fourteen seconds late!”

“Big deal, the subway was fourteen seconds late!”

“But the subway is never late, Ando!”

“Ha, ha … until you made it late, Mitsuki with your mind.”

“Yes,” nodded Mitsuki, looking noble. “I have discovered powers beyond any mere mortal that lives!”

“Aha, like you and Spock …” Ando was bursting to laugh.

“Yes. Like Spock! Exactly.”

Suddenly, a man behind Mitsuki grabbed her by the hair and dragged her down back to her cubicle. Ando could only laugh.

“Use your ‘death grip’, Spock! The ‘death grip’!”

As soon as they were away, Ando typed on his computer and then raised an eyebrow when Mandi came on the screen. Now THIS was his way of relaxing and kicking back without an insane Mitsuki …

*

Mandi found herself in this situation again. As Logan sat outside reading his comic book, she was inside the principal’s office negotiating keeping her son in education. It was proving to be a task very difficult …

“He’s a bright boy, but he misses his father terribly,” she was saying to the principal. “I work nights, but I do try hard to make sure that he’s receiving all the love that he can get –”

“Miss Sanders, it’s not about him,” cut in the principal. “I just don’t know if this school is right for him.”

“But he’s made friends –”

“I’m sorry.”

“He’s on the soccer team –”

“I’m sorry.”

“I wrote a cheque of twenty-five thousand dollars to get him into this snob fest. I was told that was what it took! That’s on top of the tuition.”

“Your last three checks have bounced.”

“So what about the twenty-five grand then?”

“That was a donation. We appreciate it.”

“I want my money back.”

The principal just kept on grinning.

“I want my money back now,” said a stern-looking Mandi.

“That has already been spent,” he said, not looking to help her at all.

“Then un-spend it.”

“I’m sorry.”

“We can discuss an extension of the money you owe and –”

But Mandi had already grabbed the principal by his tie.

“I. Want. My. Money. Back.”

“That’s. Not. Possible.”

Mandi walked out feeling outraged and she grabbed her son’s hand.

“Come on, Logan,” she said. “You’re too good for this lousy school.”

And then it happened again. Mandi heard the sounds and looked at her reflection through the fish tank. Her own reflection had a mind of its own!

“Mom?” said a frightened Logan.

“Leave me alone!” said Mandi to her reflection, as they walked out.

*

A pissed off Koloth Petrelli walked into the room that the police were holding his mother, Angela Petrelli, and slammed the door behind him when Riku was inside.

“What were you thinking?” cried Koloth.

“Are you ok, Angela?” asked Riku, as he kissed her on the forehead. She was like a mother to him at times.

“I’m fine, darling,” nodded Angela and smiled pleasantly. “They’re dropping the charges. It’s no big deal.”

“No big deal? Pfft,” growled Koloth. “Ma, I’m running for congress here! You’re ruining my chances by threatening to expose your uncontrollable desire to shoplift socks. Please tell me how that’s no big deal.” He crossed his arms. “What could possess you to do that? Why did you do it?” But then he changed his mind. “You know what? Forget it.”

Riku held her hand throughout his rant.

“One ridiculous stunt after another, isn’t it?” he stared at Angela. “You have to accept that Dad is gone!”

“Hey, there’s no need to say that!” Riku said, rising to his feet. “What matters is her safety. She’s fine and it doesn’t matter about the charges or anything else …”

“I hope the press doesn’t find out about this,” Koloth said, looking angry.

“Fine, go deal with it!” exclaimed Riku. “I’ll make sure she gets home then?”

Koloth left immediately leaving Riku with Angela.

“What were you thinking?” he smiled, rolling his eyes.

“I just wanted to feel alive again,” she stated simply, as Riku embraced her. They walked outside of the room. “You know that Koloth only cares about himself. Don’t let him get to you.”

Riku shrugged.

“He is just like his father,” Angela said. “And then there’s you with your selflessness and sitting around waiting for dying people to pass away …” This was only met with a blank stare. “What?”

“At least I don’t have to shoplift for socks,” assumed Riku.

“Riku, you’ve always been a good boy. When your parents died, we willingly took you in because you were Koloth’s long time best friend. The two of you used to be inseparable … now look at you both. Whilst Koloth is concerned with his election, it’s always you that everyone puts last. You care too much about others to even think about yourself.” She gave him a stern look. “Koloth takes up more space than you.”

“We’re like brothers, we’re close, I get it,” he nodded his head, feeling that he had been through this talk a thousand times already. As they now walked down the stairs, something else occurred on his mind. “I’ve never told you this, but do you remember when Koloth had his accident? He was three hundred miles away from the city and when I woke up, I knew he was in danger.”

Angela sighed. “Brotherly love.” She patted him on the shoulder.

*

“Mom, I don’t like this,” said Logan in a frightened voice. “Dad could help us.”

“Your father really isn’t in a position to do anything right now,” said Mandi, as they stepped out of the car and walked to the house. She pressed the doorbell and turned to face her son. “Don’t worry, I have to sort a few things out and I’ll be back in a couple of hours …”

“What did you do?”

Within each moment, Mandi felt afraid. She was so afraid that now that her fears seemed to be being passed on to Logan. She bent down to him and hugged him. “I would never let anyone hurt you, Logan. But this is something that I have to do.”

“But why did you look like that when you saw yourself in the fish tank?”

Mandi was about to answer, but her friend, Tina, opened the door with an angry look upon her face.

“How long?” said Tina harshly.

“Just a couple of hours,” murmured Mandi, being unable to look at her face without shaking.

Tina’s expression changed to smiley, as she turned to face Logan. “Hey, why don’t you go see if we got some ice cream, huh?” She ruffled his hair, as he hurried inside. Adele then turned back to Mandi. “Ok … what happened?”

“I went to see Linderman,” replied Mandi too quickly.

“How much?”

“Thirty.”

“You gambling again?”

“No, it’s just bills. I used it to get Logan into a private school.”

She walked inside feeling like she was going to crack and cry at any moment. Tina closed the door behind her, as she heard Mandi mention that sending Logan to a public school would only make things worse for her since there was a mob that had been chasing her down for God knows how long.

“I can’t deal with this anymore,” said Mandi in an emotional voice. “I keep hearing things and I don’t know what it could be …”

“Hearing things? Like what?”

“Like someone’s watching me.”

“Yeah! Linderman wants his money back and –”

“It’s not Linderman. It’s someone else. S – Someone I can’t see. Does this make any sense to you?”

Tina thought about it for a moment, but then shook her head. “No, it doesn’t.”

“Forget what I said,” said Mandi, wiping away her tears. “I shouldn’t be saying any of this. I must sound crazy.”

“No, you’re not,” Tina said, grabbing Mandi by her shoulders, “and you know what will make sense? You need to get your hands on thirty grand or else Linderman’s only going to keep sending his mob after you.” Mandi looked unconvinced that it was the only way. “Think about Logan, Mandi! How could he ever live without his mother?” She paused for a moment. “You’re going to have to run.”

*

Back in Odessa, there was a fire spreading at a crash site.

And who better to arrive other than Faith and Zach?

“Whoa,” said Zach, as his jaw literally dropped. Nothing like this really happened in Odessa.

“How hot do you think it is in there?” Faith blurted out, causing him to stare at her. She wasn’t even looking at him when she was saying that. A rush of determination swept her away. “Turn on the camera.”

As Zach readied the camera, Faith snuck past the cops and then ran for it. Zach was shaking his head in slight disbelief that she was sprinting off to find whoever was trapped inside the crashed, burning train. She avoided the blasts that kept on occurring. She didn’t look back. She had to save whoever was still trapped inside the train. Heck, she was putting her life on the line here!

Ha, as if she was going to die, anyway …

When she got inside the train, it was so hot. Faith felt her forehead sweat almost immediately. She wiped it away, as she searched far and wide for someone who was still alive while trying to ignore the heat all around her. And then she did find a man, almost unconscious.

She ran towards him and helped him stand on his feet. They were going to make it out of there and she was going to be seen as a hero. Or would she even want recognition at all?

Faith and the man made it out of the train amid all the blasts that kept on coming back and looking stronger. A fireman stopped trying to put the fire out with his hose and hurried to Faith and the man.

One of them grabbed the man who had slowly slipped into unconsciousness.

The other grabbed Faith and wrapped his coat all around her.

“Take it easy!” he said, as she tried getting away.

“I’m fine! I’m fine, I’m telling you!” she shouted.

And then he ripped open the sleeve of her cheerleading outfit. Ouch, there was another outfit down the drain and ready to be taken to the trash.

“There’s no burns,” he said, looking shockingly at Faith.

She just stared back pretending to be shocked as well. Barely moments later, he dashed over to the unconscious man and this allowed Faith to make her quick escape from the scene. She didn’t want to be recognised after all, it would be too much to explain getting away from the fire without being burned. This was too much for her.

There was only one thing to do.

And that was to run.

*

“I’m sorry to hear about your mother.”

Angelus walked into the apartment looking shocked at the mess of the place. The guy with her snorted.

“And I thought I was a slob …” He watched her look around the place. “I can always get a guy to fix the place up for a hundred bucks –”

“No, I can do it myself,” she cut him off. She clearly wasn’t in a good mood.

“But I have to know that you can pay the rent,” he said, crossing his arms. “Do you even have a job yet?”

“Yes, I do as a matter of fact,” nodded Angelus. “I’m a taxi driver.”

The landlord smiled. “Then I’ll get the forms to do the deal …”

As he left, Angelus was alone to ponder about her mother’s research. She was so frustrated with what had been left behind for her – a difficult task. She took one glance at the map and then at the “Genesis” case file. One particular file caught her attention, the radiation one. And with that, she began to look through each case pinning where each one of these people was in the world on the map.

One more thing that she found was a tape entitled … “Saix”?

*

“It wasn’t easy, Koloth, but consider it done.”

Koloth grinned, as he stood over the phone, which was on loudspeaker.

“I know,” he said. “I owe you big time on this one, Tom. I won’t forget it.”

“I won’t let you forget it!”

“Thanks!”

As soon as Koloth hung up, Riku was standing there again. He sat down at the conference table.

“Mom’s rap sheet is now officially buried,” he said. “Only took half of my political capital to pull it off.” He sighed and looked annoyed. “Why can’t she go and get herself a hobby like a normal person would?”

Once again, Riku found himself as the voice of reason.

“Koloth, your mom and dad were married for forty-one years,” Riku pleaded to his inner goodness. “It’s a plea for attention! She’s lonely! Why can’t you give her sometime?”

But as usual, Koloth was being busy and in a bad way. “I don’t have the time right now! I only have eight days to make up ten points. I need all the help I can get, which only means one thing.” He turned to face his friend, who was almost like a brother to him. “I want to talk to you, Riku, about something. I wanna offer you a job.”

“A job,” Riku said simply as if the word didn’t phase him.

“Yes, a job,” Koloth confirmed. “I trust you. You’re good with people and that’s what I like about you.” He sat down next to him. “I need a coordinator that can help organise the volunteers and you got those nice guy instincts. Me on the other hand can’t do that and I’m a shark! It’s starting to show up in the polls. If you took this job, then maybe it’d reflect on me. So what do you think?”

Again, Riku rolled his eyes as if this wasn’t going anywhere. “Yeah, that’s the way it goes, isn’t it? I work for you, so that I make you look good. Now that’s a new one.”

“It makes me look I put my family first. This is for you as well! You have to think about your future, Riku. You don’t want to be stuck sitting by dying people all the time, do you?”

But he got more than what he bargained for when Riku got up to his feet angrily.

“Why do you that?” he hissed.

“Do what?” stared Koloth.

“Even try to make it look like this has something to do with me. You just don’t get it, Koloth! And speaking of which, you never listened to what I was saying today, was you?”

“Ohhh, about you flying? Yeah, I heard THAT part. Let’s just play a pretend game. A game where we pretend that didn’t happen. I’m the one trying to live in reality and give you a job.”

“But I already have a job! There’s nothing wrong with helping people, Koloth! It’s what I’m good at and I’m not walking away from it, just so that I can make you look good when it’s clearly all about you.”

Koloth was about to say something, but Riku stepped away.

“Leave me alone,” he glared coldly. “I don’t want any of your goddamn pity.”

He walked out of the building. He saw Simone across the street getting a taxi and then he got the next one that he got. He put on his dark shades and stepped inside the taxi. As he shut the door, Riku sighed and tried to relax.

“I’d like to go to the corner of Centre and Canal, please?” he asked.

Angelus, the driver, nodding quietly and began to drive. What was coming next was something unexpected. Riku tilted his head backwards to notice that the start of a total eclipse was about to begin.

“Wow,” was all he could say. He hadn’t seen one of these since he was a kid.

“Solar eclipse,” observed Angelus, as she observed it from the rear view mirror.

“Yeah, I wonder if it’ll be total,” nodded Riku and then took his sunglasses off.

Angelus shook her head. “Not here, no. In some other part of the world, yes perhaps. It’s a global event and it makes one appreciate just how small our planet really is. We’re all quite small really, aren’t we?”

Riku nodded again. He seemed quite interested in this driver. “What’s your name?”

“Angelus,” she replied promptly.

“I’m Riku,” he said, returning the favour. “So let me ask you something, Angelus. Do you ever … get the feeling like you were meant to do something extraordinary?”

“I’m driving a cab as you may have noticed,” smiled Angelus, as she said it wryly.

“No, I’m not talking about what you do. I’m talking about whom you are. I’m talking about … being special.”

Angelus thought for a moment. He sounded like someone interested in her mother’s work. But of course, it couldn’t have been a mere coincidence, right?

“Yes, we are all special,” she said, agreeing with what he said.

Riku felt a bit annoyed and sighed. “No … that’s not what I meant …”

But then before he knew it, Angelus had delved into a full explanation.

“Some individuals, it is true, are more special. This is natural selection. It begins as a single individual born or hatched like every other member of his or her species. Anonymous. Seemingly ordinary, except they’re not. They carry inside them the genetic code that will take their species to the next evolutionary rung. It’s destiny.”

At that point, Riku really did begin to question what his purpose was in life …

*

Faith was walking along the train tracks. She couldn’t believe what she had done. Saving that guy’s life had been something she hadn’t done before. She had never done anything like that before! Not ever! And then she could hear Zach tagging along behind her walking with his bike.

“Hey!” he said. “Hey, I can’t believe you just left like that.”

“Yes, I know,” Faith rolled her eyes. “I was there, remember?”

But Zach was awestruck. He was amazed by her heroic actions.

“You saved that guy’s life,” he said calmly. “There was nothing wrong with that.”

*

Back in Tokyo, Mitsuki was bored. Everyone was doing their daily exercise. She hated being dressed in her smart clothes for this. She was with a group of people dressed exactly the same and everyone was doing the same exercise moves. And then suddenly, Mitsuki stopped exercising. Ando looked furiously at her.

There must be more to life than this, she thought.

“Mitsuki!” hissed Ando. “You need to carry on!”

But she couldn’t. She couldn’t carry on exercising. Something else had grabbed her attention. She glanced up at the sky and was the only one looking up. Something big was about to happen.

*

Those special enough to realise that they were more than normal were now looking into the sky at the eclipse.

In Las Vegas, Mandi Sanders glanced around her house feeling upset because her house was a mess and it was beginning to become dark.

Riku Walker continued to gaze up at the eclipse from the window in New York, whilst Angelus Mortis continued to drive the taxi.

Faith stopped walking in Odessa. She looked up at the sky and noticed the eclipse as well.

Mitsuki continued to glance at the sky from Tokyo. Everyone else was still exercising. The shadow of the total eclipse than cast them all into a temporary darkness.

Back in Las Vegas, Mandi looked in the living room. She found the pinhole camera that Logan had made. She picked it up from the coffee table and then looked through it to notice the eclipse. It reflected in her eye. But she was completely unaware that there was danger just lurking around the corner.

As soon as she heard the sound of plastic tearing, she bolted for the door.

However, one of the thugs there grabbed her and held a knife to her throat.

“Welcome home, sweetie,” he hissed.

He pushed her out of the room into her bedroom and then on to the bed.

“Get over there!” the thug ordered his accomplice, as he watched him go over to the door and close it. Then he turned to face Mandi again. “Fifty grand is a lot of money, Mandi.”

But Mandi looked astounded. “Fifty? It was thirty! Even with interest –”

“Mr Linderman wants to be nice about this. You should’ve read the fine print.” He sat down leaving Mandi to feel worried.

“I have a son, ok? He’s all I got,” she pleaded.

“Aww,” the first thug rolled his eyes. “Like I give a crap.”

“Please, I can get you the money!”

However, there were other ideas in store. The thug looked towards her.

“I’ll tell you what I’m gonna do, Mandi. I’m going to make you a little business proposition. You make what – forty bucks for every twenty minutes you take off your clothes? Well, I’m going to give you a chance to lower your debt a little. We’ll see where it goes from there …”

Whilst he settled back down in his chair, the other thug picked up the video web cam.

“Come on!” he shouted. “Mandi, show me what you got.”

Mandi felt nervous. She had never felt so scared in her life either. She began to take her outer shirt off slowly, but surely causing the first thug to laugh his head off. But that was when she decided. Enough was enough. She threw her shirt at him and looked at him angrily.

“Is this what you really want?” she asked.

“Oh yes, it is …”

And then she saw it again. Mandi saw her reflection as if it had a mind of its own.

“C’mon! What’s the matter, baby? Just got it getting good here. What’s the problem now?”

He stood up when she didn’t reply.

“I said! What’s the matter?”

Mandi rose to her feet. “Screw you! I’d rather do anything, but this.”

“Screw me, eh?” he shouted, also arising to the situation. And then he punched her, thus, knocking her out cold.

*

Nightclubs were what Mitsuki and Ando would go to after a hard day of work. But ever since they started to leave work, Mitsuki hadn’t stopped talking about her power she had discovered.

“The Yogis in India and Aborigines in Australia can both bend time and space,” pointed out Mitsuki, as their debate on whether she had superpowers carried on.

“Fine! Let’s make this interesting,” said Ando. “Let’s say that you really do have this power. What would you do with it? Would you join the circus? No one ever got laid by stopping the second hand of a clock.”

And so the two friends headed up the escalator.

“As I develop my powers, I’ll learn to bend space as well,” nodded Mitsuki. “Then I’ll be able to teleport anywhere on the planet! I’ll be special.” She looked around feeling bored. “But of course, we know that every hero must learn his purpose. They will be tested and called to greatness.”

Ando rubbed his head due to the amount of brainpower he had to use just to argue.

“I think I need a stiff drink,” he mumbled.

And that was where they headed off. When they got to the bar, it was karaoke night to everyone’s sarcastic joy. There were some guys on the stage lip-syncing to Backstreet Boys, I Want It That Way.

Mitsuki and Ando sat at a table in the far corner. Whilst he kept on drinking his beer, she kept on messing around with her glass of red wine.

“People think of time as a straight line,” Mitsuki was saying, “but time is actually like a circle that binds everything together.”

“Where did you learn all this?” Ando wondered out loud.

“X-Men No. 143, where Kitty Pryde time travels …”

“What, a comic book?”

“This is more than destiny, Ando! Pay attention!” said Mitsuki, now speaking a little bit louder. “Just think about it. I was always last in my class, last on the sports field, last in everything. Wow, I’m not a loser anymore.”

“Here, do something useful with your power then,” groaned Ando, as he sat up. “I’ll go and buy you a glass of red wine if you go and teleport into the guys’ bathroom.” He pointed at the long line of men queuing up for the bathroom that stretched out into the main room. “Do that and I might just believe you after all.”

“Ok, but watch out! I’m going to teleport!” she shouted.

As Ando left the table to go to the bar, Mitsuki looked over at the guys’ bathroom. She closed her eyes and concentrated hard on what she wanted. And then suddenly, her eyes opened to what exactly it was that she did want.

*

Mandi felt the comfy warmth of the bed when she felt herself waking up. The phone started ringing, but she couldn’t quite muster the strength to get up and reach for it. So instead, it went straight through to the answer machine.

“Hi, this is Mandi,” came her voice. “Leave me a message.”

And then it beeped.

“Mom? Are you there?” said Logan.

As soon as she heard her son’s voice, Mandi woke up properly.

“When are you coming to get me? I hate it here. You said you’d be back for me soon. Just come pick me up, ok? I don’t like it when you disappear for a few hours or a few days.”

The next thing Mandi saw shocked her.

As her body shook in fear, she saw blood all over the room. The thugs that had been with her last night were dead. But how? The one that had been playing around with her head and knocked her out had his throat been slashed. A huge piece of glass was sticking out of it, too. The other thug had bled to death.

She hurried to the camera and took it off the tripod. But she only stopped panicking for a moment when she yet again saw her reflection staring back at her in the mirror. Instead, her reflection’s shirt was bloodied instead of hers. Her reflection put a finger to her lips as if she was trying to quieten her down. Mandi just didn’t know what the hell was going on. She was completely freaked out by what had occurred.

*

Back in New York, Riku was still in the taxi. His phone started ringing and he picked it up.

“Hello?”

“Riku, it’s m-me,” came the stuttering voice of Simone.

“Hey, Simone. What’s up?”

“Are you busy right now?”

“No, not really. I was only just heading home.”

“Could you possibly meet me at my dad’s?”

“Yeah, I can be there in ten minutes.”

“Ok, can you please hurry?”

“Absolutely! I’ll see you there soon. Bye!”

He hung up on the phone and then turned to Angelus.

“You know … I’ll hop out here, please,” he said.

“Sure, no problem,” Angelus offered a warm smile. She pulled over allowing Riku to get out and he paid her. “Take care now.”

As Riku disappeared out of sight, another customer was waiting. He hopped into the back seat and closed the door.

“Where to then, my friend?” asked Angelus.

The customer was wearing horned-rimmed glasses. “JFK, please.”

Angelus pulled out into the traffic and then started driving.

“I’m going home to my family,” said the man. “These business trips are wearing me out. I seriously need to take a vacation, but of course, my job’s demanding as it is.” He glanced at the license and raised an eyebrow. “Mortis, huh?”

“I’m sorry?” said Angelus.

“I couldn’t help noticing your name on the license there,” he observed the license more closer now. “That’s your surname, correct?”

Angelus didn’t reply, she only nodded.

“There used to be a Professor Mortis at the University of Madras. She was a geneticist and had such interesting theories. I don’t think she’s teaching anymore. Do you know anything about that? You could be related to that particular Professor Mortis for all I know.”

And all of a sudden, Angelus swerved the taxi into an alley. She ran out of there as fast as she could suspect that this was somebody that had murdered her mother.

*

Faith rolled her eyes. Her mom, Sandra Bennet, was talking about dog breeding again. It was all she ever talked about nowadays. But it didn’t seem to bother her sometimes regarding that she never suspected anything about her ability. It was also the same with Lyle, her brother, though he was just a pest most of the time.

“So what did everyone do today, huh?” asked Sandra, as Faith joined them at the dining table. “We know what Mr Muggles did. Let’s hear from everyone else.”

“Nothing much,” Lyle shrugged his shoulders. “Our math teacher is forcing us to work harder than ever … it’s just the usual with me …”

But Faith wasn’t listening. She was too preoccupied and was playing with her food.

“Did you do anything special today, Faith?” Sandra snapped her out of daydreaming.

Faith was still quiet. She took a breath and decided to tell her. “I walked through fire and I didn’t get burned.” There was a horrible split moment that she thought Sandra would actually take it on literally. As soon as Sandra stared at her for a moment, Faith went back to playing with her food.

“Wow, you really say something so extraordinary,” smiled Sandra, looking pleased with what she had come out with. “We have to come up against all kinds of fires in our lives. And when we test ourselves and face our fears, we usually don’t get burned. Whatever you did, I’m sure you did the right thing. We’re so proud of you.” Lyle could only mutter under his breath and roll his eyes at this point. “And Mr Muggles will always be proud of you, Faith! We think you’re the best.”

She was still too quiet to say anything …

*

After finally getting through to the bar and ordering their drinks, Ando went back to their table to notice that Mitsuki was gone. But where she was? Surely, she couldn’t have defied what he had said before. She couldn’t have defied the laws of physics! He could only shake his head when a bouncer had a hold of Mitsuki and threw her out.

“I’m not a pervert!” Mitsuki shouted in Japanese. “It was an accident!” But when she saw Ando, she cheered. “Yahoo! I told you! I did it, Ando! I went into the bathroom.”

“Great and now you won’t be allowed back because you’re the insane female pervert,” said Ando sarcastically, leaving their drinks behind and joining her at the back of the bar. When Mitsuki went to say that she had teleported, he still wasn’t having any of it. “Enough! Don’t you understand that you cannot break the space/time continuum? There are twelve million people in Tokyo alone. None of them could ever do this. Why is it that you want to be different?”

“Why do you want to be the same?” she shouted. “I know that I am meant for something much bigger than this, Ando! You don’t understand … I want to be special. I don’t want to be locked in a cubicle for the rest of my life.”

“It wouldn’t be so bad if you kept on resisting doing the work,” groaned Ando.

“Fine! If you want to stay here, then so be it!” yelled Mitsuki. “I will go somewhere no one has ever before.”

“Yes! You’re going to be ‘Super Mitsuki’!” sang Ando.

*

Riku walked into the Deveaux Residence just as Simone was opening and closing drawers frantically as if she was having a panic attack.

“What’s wrong? Is something up?” he asked.

“I need you to get me some morphine!” she said loudly, her voice panicky.

“What for? Why would you need it? Your father –”

“It’s not about my father. I need you to come with me.”

“Where? And why do you need the morphine?”

She continued to look through the drawers pretending that she wasn’t listening.

“Simone, there’s something I need to tell you,” said Riku.

“I’m sorry, but that’s going to have to wait,” she replied, almost in tears.

Riku interrupted her at this point. “No! I have to tell you about this. I need to stop living for other people. My whole life, I’ve had no idea what I’ve supposed to do or or what I’m supposed to be. I don’t know if I even have a destiny of my own!”

Simone found what she was looking for and stuffed it in her bag. “Riku, I promise that we can talk about this later. But right now, there is somewhere you need to come with me. I’ll explain everything once we get there.” She took out the morphine from her bag and gave it to him. “You should handle this. You’re a nurse. You can give out shots. You’re the only who can help him.”

But Riku felt more confused than ever.

“Help who?” he asked, as he raced after her when she left.

*

Faith was doing the dishes. It had been half an hour since they finished dinner and now Sandra was clearing the table. She spoke about how they could go to the movies on Saturday or even the mall for some new shoes in the sale. In the meantime, Faith kept on replying with, “sure” and, “yeah, we can do that” so far. Although she had been distancing herself away from Sandra lately, Faith wanted not to lose that motherly contact. Ever since finding out about her ability, she didn’t spend as much time with her family anymore. And of course, she viewed family time as important.

“I don’t want to push you away,” Sandra was saying. “I want to be your mom.”

And whilst she was caught up in the moment, Faith’s class ring fell into the garbage disposal. Ensuring her mom wasn’t looking, she stuffed her hand into it and groaned when her bones were being crushed. She muttered, “ouch” under her breath, but it didn’t help at all because she was trying so hard to get her ring out. And then she had her mom trying to have a normal conversation with her.

“You shouldn’t have to worry about fitting in,” continued Sandra. “You’ll fit in anywhere you go because I know what you’re like. You have a good heart, Faith.”

Fitting in anywhere? Yeah right, thought Faith, as she glanced at her tangled up and bloodied hand. The ring was in her other hand now. Barely moments later, her hand started to regenerate and straighten right before her eyes. “I know, but I’m not worried about that, Mom. Seriously, I’m fine in my life right now …”

“Are you sure? You can always come to me whenever you’re worried about anything,” replied her mom. “Besides, I wanted to be someone more interesting than I am.”

“But you are interesting,” Faith tried cheering her up, “and you breed show dogs. Whose mom would do that, huh?” The blood from her had was now dripping on the floor. Sandra didn’t seem to notice. “You’re not like other moms, you’re not as strict and you’re easygoing.”

Sandra could only chuckle at the last line. “Well, that’s because I let your father do most of the work. He’s wonderful, of course. You should know who you are, Faith, and know that it’s enough. Knowing who you are is what makes you special.”

Faith nodded promptly. “But there’s something I want to talk to you about and it’s about knowing who I am,” she admitted. “I always thought that talking about this would upset you and Dad.” Sandra nodded, waiting for what she’d say. “I think I’m old enough now for you to tell me who my real parents are.”

And at that point, Sandra pulled her into a heartfelt hug.

“I know you are,” she whispered into her ear.

Faith looked at her hand and smiled seeing it was completely healed. The front door opened and shut. The sound of Mr Bennet’s voice came from the living area. Sandra released Faith and looked at her.

“That must be your father then,” she smiled. She left to go and greet her husband. “Hey, honey. How was your business trip?”

“Such a headache,” groaned Mr Bennet. “I hope I can keep my feet on the ground for at least a little while.” He rubbed his head. “I might have slammed my head getting out of a taxicab.” He readjusted his horn-rimmed glasses and then looked at Faith, who hugged him. “Hey, Faithy. It’s good to see you, honey.”

*

Mitsuki was fed up. Ando wouldn’t believe her. What was it going to take for her to make him believe her? She stood on the subway glancing at the large digital clock. Right now, it was almost quarter to twelve at night. At least tomorrow was Saturday and she could get off scott free from work, anyway. She stood on the aisle hoping she could get home soon and sleep on this.

But the large poster of “Visit New York” caught her attention. She had always wanted to travel the world. Going to New York wouldn’t seem like a bad idea now, would it? She stared at the poster, remembered what it looked like and closed her eyes concentrating. The digital clock immediately sped up behind him. It went slow at first to eventually speeding up. The numbers advanced quite quickly. But her eyes were still closed all the while. No one else was noticing this.

“Taxi!” called a man.

Mitsuki opened her eyes and they widened by what she saw. This was New York City! She did it! She had managed to teleport through time and space to where she had been imagining! It was New York! There were cars passing him by and people bustling about. She couldn’t believe it. And then a smile emerged on her face. She threw arms out wide with glee.

“YATTA!” she shouted and then spoke in English. “HELLO, NEW YORK!”

*

Simone led Riku to her boyfriend’s loft. He was called Isaac and had some kind of drug addiction. But that had been all she had told him so far. She had promised to explain the rest when they were here. Also, he forgot to mention the fact that Isaac could paint the future. Or so Simone had said to him. But he considered that a long shot.

“It’s impossible, isn’t it? No one can predict the future,” he pointed out.

“But, Riku, I saw it with my own e-eyes,” stuttered Simone. She entered the room with Riku. “I brought someone here to help you, Isaac. He’s a nurse and he can help you.” She tried the light switch, but it wasn’t working. “Isaac, please listen to me. Can you hear me?” But he wasn’t answering. “Isaac, are you even here?”

Riku had a flashlight. He carried it around with him just in case this kind of thing would happen. He flicked it on and stepped around the apartment cautiously. He looked down and then saw a syringe on the floor. “Oh my God …” was all he could say.

“Isaac!” cried Simone, as she ran forward to hold him. Riku checked for a heartbeat and nodded. “Isaac, we’re going to get you to a hospital! Hang in there!”

As Riku looked around the apartment, Simone rang an ambulance. Something immediately caught his attention. His eyes widened when he saw a painting. This particular painting had a man flying off a rooftop, the man looked like him. He was a dark-haired man flying, his coat flapping behind him like a pair of wings. He shook his head. So perhaps maybe this was more than what he bargained for …

Isaac started to stir, as he was sweating. He glanced at the painting of the explosion and pointed at it. “We … have to … stop it …” he said through breathing heavily. “We have to stop it.”

*

Riku stood on top of that building he had dreamt of so many times. He had his arms stretched out wide as he lifted his face up towards the sky. His long coat that he was wearing flapped in the wind.

He put his arms down and looked around at the city in front of him.

Below, a taxi pulled up in the alley. Koloth got out, paid the cab driver and the taxi left. He was currently on his phone.

“All right, I’m here then,” he said. “Now what do you want?”

The next thing he knew, a cell phone smashed into the ground from above.

“Riku?” he muttered.

Koloth looked up and saw Riku stood at the edge of the rooftop.

“I’ve been here all night, Koloth! I’ve been thinking about what my destiny is!” shouted Riku. “I’m gonna be someone, Koloth!”

“What the hell are you doing, Riku?” yelled Koloth.

“It’s my turn to be someone now,” said Riku, calling down to him.

But it seemed Koloth saw it all as a joke. “Come on, stop fooling around and get down before you get hurt.”

However, Riku wasn’t listening. He looked up and took a deep breath preparing himself. Like in his dream, he raised his arms wide. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He stepped off the edge … and fell. Koloth looked up as his best friend was falling.

And then suddenly …

Koloth flew out of nowhere and grabbed Riku. They were both grunt from the impact.

“Riku!” he shouted.

Riku looked up at him with an astonished expression upon his face.

“You’re flying, Koloth,” he said. “You’re flying. How?”

“I don’t know!” shouted Koloth.

He tried his best to keep his grip on Riku, but in the end, his hand slipped out of his grasp.

“No …” muttered Koloth. Riku began to fall. “NO!”

“This quest … this need to solve life’s mysteries. In the end, what does it matter when the human heart can only find meaning in the smallest of moments? They’re here … among us … in the shadows, in the light, everywhere. Do they even know yet?”

________________________

There was the first chapter for you all. Just a small recap for characters:

Riku is the Peter Petrelli. He has a brotherly bond with Koloth, but they are not actual blood brothers. He was adopted into the Petrelli family when he was young when his own parents died under mysterious circumstances. He can absorb abilities around him.
Koloth is the Nathan Petrelli. He has a brotherly bond with Riku, but they are not actual blood brothers. He is Angela's only son. He can fly.
Faith is the Claire Bennet. She was adopted into the Bennet family and is best friends with Zach. She can recover from any wound almost instantly.
Mitsuki is the Hiro Nakamura. She is best friends with Ando and can teleport through time and space.
Angelus is the Mohinder Suresh. She is a geneticist and is taking over her mother's previous work, but also to find her murderer at the same time.
Mandi is the Niki Sanders. She is mother to Logan, the Micah Sanders and has the deadly reflection of Jessica. She possesses superhuman strength.

But those aren't the only heroes in the story. No, there are still many more to come. I hope that explains who is who so far. Please comment and tell me what you think!

June 17, 2008, 3:21 AM

Nice, I'm a female pervert! (Psst, how did you know?) And I do recall going in the men's restroom by accident at one point in my life...and I do want to learn how to speak in Japanese. o.o

Teleportation ftw!

But anyway, this is interesting. I'm not familiar with Heroes at all...so is this Ando guy an actual character from Heroes?

June 17, 2008, 3:22 AM

OH! we can comment?

I just wanted to say that, while it is a good story, it's like...word for word from Heroes except with different names. It kinda makes it a bit....uninteresting.