Their Origin Story

She was exhausted. She still hadn't had time to rest well after everything that happened Saturday. As for Sunday, you would be shocked how many cats get stuck in trees in the dead of night.

She was certain she set a new record for most saved. Now, it was Monday morning, and she was paying for her crimes with a killer headache.

"You doing okay?" Armin asked.

"Nope." They currently sat in the cafeteria of the school. Several people had shot her looks, and she did her best to ignore them, playing with her new glasses. She didn't need to wear them anymore, but she kept that detail secret from her mom. It'd be too weird to have fixed eyesight.

"And you're sure you ended up with that nose from tripping down the stairs?" Armin questioned. He didn't look as if he bought her excuse.

"Look, just don't worry about it." After the beating she took, all her wounds vanished with the arrival of her powers. All but her busted nose, which had healed at an obviously crooked angle.

"That new kid didn't do it, did he?" That caused her to sit up. Armin's voice had a bit of a dangerous edge to it now as he looked from her to the other side of the cafeteria. "Give the word and I'll take him out."

She followed his gaze and saw Kyle had a bit of a crowd around him, primarily girls. He still was pretty bruised up, unlike her, but whereas she had gotten odd looks, it seemed Kyle's popularity had skyrocketed in a day. Perks of being the hot new kid, she guessed, though he did look uncomfortable with the number of chicks that were flirting with him. "Armin, I'm pretty sure Kyle would fold you in half if you fought. And no, He wasn't the one who did this. I guess he fell down the stairs also."

"You suck at lying. You said you got into a fight on the phone the other day. Don't tell me you invited that Kyle boy to help you, but not your best friend!"

Kyle seemed to notice her looking and gave a half wave. The crowd that had formed turned, and she suddenly felt very self-conscious at the many eyes that were set on her. Then her eyes settled on Kevin. He was seated at a table and staring right at her. "I'll talk to you later, Armin. I'm going to scram before anyone else gets the wrong idea." She muttered, standing up.

Armin gave her a nod. "Mr. Thaddeus, my boss, asked me to come down to his office after school, so we'll have to hang out tomorrow. Did you manage to read some of the Snowdawn comics?"

Hope shrugged, "I did, it wasn't really for me. Seems kinda like it was more for kids. You know I prefer the darker comic like the ones with Lady Time, her being hot is a bonus also. Also, that Snowdawn guy made way too many puns."

"The puns weren't that bad. I liked 'em. Oh well, at least you checked out the new guy on the scene. Sorry to cut this short, but I've gotta go. Mrs. Mercury gave us a project, and if I don't do Hannah's part as well, my grades are gonna go negative."

"Right. I'll see you around bro." She stumbled out of the cafeteria and into the hallway, dodging the crowds of students. It took all her willpower to not just throw the crowds to the side with her super strength, but with the cameras and many kids walking around, she knew she'd be outed worse than she already was. She didn't know if Kevin would follow after her or not, but she wasn't going to risk it.

She took shelter in the bathroom and found her way into a stall, ready to hide out for the rest of the lunch break. She sighed and pulled her phone out. She had tried looking herself up on the internet. There were dozens of forums and posts dedicated to Supers. Luckily for her though any search of a brand-new Super in Oleander, didn't turn up any heroes or villains, nothing that could be linked to her.

The closest thing to a mention of a new Oleander hero was some kid who recently joined the Oleander Sub Enforcers Team that could control metal.

It would seem that she had managed to remain under the radar for the time being, an impressive feat, considering how much she had botched it up.

But good things aren't meant to last.

Especially for her.

The door to the restroom banged open, and on instinct, she froze. She did her best not to make a single sound. There were many giggles that filled the small room, echoing around. She could hear shuffling, and even without looking, she could tell they had stopped outside of the stall she was in. There was a knock on the door, making her jump.

"Umm, occupied." Hope called out hesitantly.

"Oh my god, she is in there! You were right." One of the girls on the outside exclaimed with glee. It wasn't Kevin. It was much worse than Kevin. Popular girls. More giggles. There must have been four or five out there. "Yeah, do it."

The liquid that splashed down into the stall burned her eyes. She could also tell it was sticky and felt it foaming on her skin. Grape soda. Lots of grape soda. The stall finally opened, causing her to come slipping out, a dripping wet mess of purple liquid.

It was no longer giggles but full-blown laughter that bounced around her. She had no idea how many of the girls had been in on it; even if her eyes weren't a burning mess, her brand-new pair of glasses were stained purple. The smell of the fruity drinks and sodas was sickly sweet.

She couldn't stop shivering from the cold and slowly climbed to her feet. Her backpack had taken the worst of it, and a sick feeling was in her gut. All that money on the textbooks down the drain. Same with her comic. It was already a soggy mess. Her appearance must have been the funniest thing in the world to them because it caused more laughter to echo.

She ignored them, though, in favor of looking at her phone. She knew it was almost at full charge a second ago, yet no matter how much she hit the button, it didn't power on. It was an old model, nothing fancy, and had been cheap, but it still sucked that a prank was all it took to break it.

The words of the girls went over her head as she pushed past them and made for the sink cleaning off her glasses. The world came back into view as she slipped them on. She stared at herself in the mirror. Her black hair was soaked, and almost dyed red and purple. Her T-shirt was sadly no longer white. She also saw the bullies' reflection, the sheer glee on their faces.

It had been eight girls in total, though three stood out to her. The ring leaders or the popular girls. Hannah and Paige were the types of girls that fit the 'prom queen' image. But even they were nothing compared to the Queen Bee Ashley. Guess the girl didn't care that she had saved her from Kevin the other day.

"Maybe that'll teach you to stop trying to flirt with the new kid." Ashley's voice caused her eye to twitch, and the girl even attempted to do a hair flip. "He's off limits, got that?"

"You did this because you were jealous a boy waved at me," Hope asked, her voice flat and without emotion. "All of this for a boy I don't even like. What are you, a dumbass?" Ashley took a step back, not having expected that answer.

"Dumbass? I'm one of the smartest girls in this school!"

Hope finished cleaning part of her hair with water and paper towels drying off her face. She winced a little, staring at her shirt. Finally, she turned to look at them, taking her backpack off.

"What's wrong? Got nothing to say." Ashley sneered.

Hope stared the girl in the eye. Then she swung the backpack as hard as she could.

***

"Why would you do that!"

"You don't have to yell. I'm sitting right next to you, Mom."

"I can't believe you." Jane hissed. She always did this when she acted up. She'd go into a state where she wanted to hit something but also didn't want to harm her daughter or scare her, so she would just fume and yell. A lot.

"I said I was sorry." Hope sighed. She had been sent home that day for violent tendencies. So, she sat in the car with her mother as the fighting began. The only good thing about this being that her mom was kind enough to bring a change of clothes, so she wasn't wearing a soaked outfit.

"You attacked a student in school!"

"She started it. I finished it. Besides, you didn't freak out like this last time."

"She dumped soda on you; you tried to smash her face in! This is hardly about you protecting yourself, and you know it."

"It was just a backpack, and I didn't even hit her!" She had missed the swing, Ashley having just enough time to duck down. The girls had run screaming out of the bathroom, and the story had been quickly twisted in their favor. Hope shrunk further in her seat. "Look! I get I went too far. I just... I just got mad." She knew her mom had a point. With her new super strength, what would have happened to Ashley if that blow had landed.

Her mother finally let out a heavy sigh, shaking her head. "Well, you seem to get mad a lot lately." Her eyes glanced down at her watch, moving her car into the fast lane. "I'm going to be late with meeting a friend. You're going to have to come with me." Hope winced at her mother's words. The look in her mother's eyes, though, made her a little nervous. It was the same look she had gotten that time her mother tried to build a new lawnmower. "I just got a great idea."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah, my friend was complaining about how he's short on workers."

"Oh no."

***

That's how she now found herself in an itchy jumpsuit, plugging her nose to prevent the stench of the very dead monster from hitting her. She had no idea how the others were seemingly fine with the conditions, but none of the other Cleanup Squad members batted an eye as they hacked into the beast.

"Isn't this a little too fast?" Hope asked through gritted teeth. Armin's dad, the friend her mother had been talking about, was nowhere to be found, back at the office where it was nice and safe. She was left in the ever so trusting hands of Jack.

As it also turned out, Jack's idea of a secretary was someone who did literally the same job as everyone.

"Nope," Jack said, letting out a pop sound. He handed her a very heavy looking metal rod, which she seemed to struggle with. "Look, while they're working on that Kaiju, we're gonna be working on some of these buildings. Go find some blocks and chop away at them. Have fun." He left her standing there while he reached into his pocket and lit up a cigarette. He made his way over to a group of workers that seemed to be playing poker on a flat piece of detached bone.

"Jerk." She muttered.

"What was that?"

"Nothing!"

He stared at her in silence for several seconds, then seemed as if he was satisfied; he turned and walked away once more.

"Been a while since we had a girl on the team." One of the men muttered unhappily. "She's too young, slowing us down."

"You're not even teaching her anything, Jack?" Another one asked.

"Teach her what? The rare skill of picking up bricks? It's not my job to babysit some brat."

"Don't you feel a little bad for her?"

"Nope."

"Not even a little?"

"Nope."

"Do you really have a heart?"

"Nope. Sold it."

One of the men chuckled, leaning back on what was left of a streetlamp. "How long y'all think she'll last before she goes whining to Mommy to take her out."

Jack ignored the man watching the girl work. Her arms shook as she tried to stab her tool into the stone blocks in order to move it out of the road. Today, they were at the site of a collapsed building that had been tossed over from the rampaging Kaiju. A super merch store, judging by the scattered replicas of various heroes' weapons.

"Looks like she's having trouble. Anyone wanna help?" One of the workers asked.

Only Jack knew just how wrong the others were. Hope looked like she was struggling. Key word being looked. Despite how heavy she made the stones look, she wasn't sweating, grunting, or even looking tired, and her awkward movements looked more like someone going out of their way to do things slowly to waste time rather than put effort into it. His eyes slowly narrowed as he watched her work.

Jack sighed and moved over to her. "You're gonna throw your back out." He stated when he reached her.

"How so?" Hope grunted as she managed to get the block up. It was a piece of stone from one of the supports that held the wall up. She placed it in a barrel and nearly collapsed to her knees, feeling a dull pain in her back. Super strength or not, the things still weighed more than most people could carry, and it while it wasn't hard, it was hurting a little.

The tools weren't easy to use. A thin needle, yet long like a spear. It was made to stab and then latch onto whatever it was in, allowing them to move it, similarly to a weight.

"Don't lift them like that." Jack sighed, walking up to one and raising it. "Watch me." He stabbed it down as hard as he could. It barely made a dent in the stone, but he pushed all his weight into it. "Once you get this in, you want to turn it as best you can." He grunted a little, slowly twisting the spear. It was slow, but it pushed further in. "Next, you need to turn it over and not lift with your back." He pushed his weight into it, letting gravity and his body tip the stone over. "Then you wanna lift it with your legs the best you can. You'll throw your back out if you use it too much." He placed the spear over his body, lifting it like a barbell, using his legs to push himself up.

He lifted the rock and dropped it down into the barrel. Despite how easy it seemed to look; Hope could tell that it was something most people would struggle with. Yet not Jack.

"See. It's easy." He was a little winded and couldn't stop clutching at his chest every now and then, but he wasn't nearly as tired as the other workers.

Hope stared for a second before moving to one and trying it the way he showed her. She took it slow and made it look like she was struggling. It was even easier to lift it, though, forcing the weight into her legs. "That is easier, I guess."

"Being physically strong is certainly the bare minimum requirement. Keep on practicing and stay hydrated out here." He tossed her a water, which she caught. "Don't go blacking out on us. That's an order."

"Right." They got to work once more, but Hope slowed down, staring at him. "It's not true that dreams can change, is it?"

Jack stopped and scratched his head, thinking for an answer. 'Well. Mine did. Yours might not. What's the plan for when you finish school?"

Hope winced and stopped for a second. "I haven't really thought about what I want to do." She admitted.

"Nothing wrong with that. I didn't bother doing anything grand, but I still got a roof over my head and living my days out." If he wanted to sound reassuring, then he should have gotten rid of the bored tone as he spoke. There was silence in the air as they worked. Broken by her stare once more. "What." He sighed in annoyance.

"What did it change to?"

"Huh?"

"You said your dream changed. Did it become something else?"

Jack sighed, scratching the back of his head. "My new dream? Look, I'm an adult. I don't really have things like that." He stopped when he saw her look, causing him to sigh again. "A toaster." He said, turning away.

This time, it was Hope's turn to look confused. "What?"

Jack grinned. 'I'd like to own a cool toaster. One that's really well built. The kind with a screen and ten different options just for sliced bread!"

"That's stupid!"

"It's an adult dream! It only goes downhill!"

The rest of their workday was mostly busy. They moved stones, picked up shards of glass, cleaned up debris, and managed to get the building stable. They had to clean the inside up as well.

Soon, their break came, and Jack took it as a chance to eat and drink his lunch. Hope had vanished by this time. Likely going to get fast food. She was a kid, after all. She had returned before the break ended with a bag, but he never got time to ask her about it.

It picked up after that, and they worked until the sun was nearly setting. The tower was moved with heavy cranes and trucks and placed back upright. The inside was still a mess, and the floor had been badly cracked.

Soon, though, with the setting sun turning a nasty red, it was time to pack up. "We're heading out, Jack." Some of the workers called.

"Go on ahead." Jack waved them off. "I parked my car at the end of the road, so I'll head back last. I'm gonna do some quick checkups. I wanna make sure the other crew didn't go and screw up my work on the giant monster. If they pull another rib out of a wall without checking how secure it is, I'm gonna flip."

"Sure thing!"

When everyone was gone, he began looking over their work through the city. It'd be back up in no time at the quick rate they were going, finally though he arrived at the center of the street where the massive corpse that had caused all of this rested. By now, it was loaded with hundreds of harnesses, and machines hummed around it, though no one else was present.

It was quiet. To quiet. Not a sound on the block. Everyone else had packed up. There'd likely be a midnight crew that would do more work, but none of them arrived. For now, it was simply peaceful.

So that was why when Jack heard the faintest sound, it caused his hair to stand up. The silence had been broken by a noise so quiet he thought he had imagined it. But just when he figured his mind had played a trick, he heard it again. A scratching sound. One directly in front of him. It was coming from the beast. They had gone through it nearly a dozen times, though; no way anything was in it.

Perhaps a worker who was trapped? Wouldn't be the first time it happened. The last time it did, the worker had gotten a crazy plague and started a mini-Zombie outbreak, and the entire city had been placed into Lockdown.

He missed Chrysanthemum city...

He placed his hand on the scales and tried to listen. He didn't feel anything, and the sound seemed to have suddenly halted. "Hello? Anyone there." He felt a little goofy asking it. He was glad no one was around. Silence had come back, the scratching gone. "Guess not. You're a dead animal; why did I think you'd respond?"

"Why are you talking to yourself."

"Ah!"

He jumped and spun when he heard the voice. Standing behind him, he found Hope. Her face turned into a frown as she stared at him with her arms folded.

"Kid! Why are you still here?"

"The boss told you to watch over me. I rode here with you and figured we were leaving."

"Oh yeah, I'm your ride."

"Yeah." Hope shook her head before tossing something to him. Jack caught it and stared at the plastic bag he now held. "For helping me out today." She explained.

He opened the bag and found a toaster inside. A very well made, expensive toaster. "Where did you..."

"I went and bought it on my break. I have plenty of money; Armin felt bad that I wasn't getting paid. This job is just a way for my mother to teach me a lesson." She explained. "And you said you wanted one."

"Thank you?" He honestly didn't know how to respond.

She turned away but stopped. "You said your new dream was getting a toaster right? Well, now that one's over, so you'll need a new one. I heard that Old Dog was still a hero in his nineties. It's never too late."

She began to walk away but was stopped by his words. "Hope!" She turned back as he stood there before he gave a grin. "Thanks. You're a smarter kid than I thought."

"What is that supposed to mean!" He chuckled as she shot a glare at him.

He stared down at the toaster in silence. "Still. Thanks. I mean that."

It wasn't a simple scratching sound that had echoed out suddenly that caused him to look around. No, it was something far louder. A grinding terrible noise, the sound that was made when stone began to shatter.

Before he could even move, Jack felt himself fall back as a giant fist broke through the scales of the beast, something inside of it wanting out. Larger than even his head, the two stared at it with wide eyes. They weren't able to say anything as cracks formed all along the hide. Like a chick being born from an egg, something pulled itself out of the stomach of the dead giant and dropped to the floor with a thud.

"What is that thing?" Hope's yell caused whatever it was to snap its head towards her. It was on its feet in an instant, jumping at her and roaring. The thing was massive, and it threw out a right hook so strong it'd easily kill a grown man.

"Move!" Hope felt a set of arms shove her down as Jack lunged towards her. One moment, she stared at him, and then the next, that fist hit him.

She could feel the wind ripple around her from the sheer force of the punch. The strike made Jack's eyes go wide in shock and pain as he was flung high into the air, smashing into the side of a building, breaking through the stone and causing it to shatter and topple over him.

"Mr. Larison." Her voice was filled with shock and broke. He would have been dead before he hit the building, and then it collapsed on him. He was likely...

The growl of the beast made her snap back to reality. She finally got a good look at it.

The thing stood at twelve feet in height, covered in a set of stone like skin, with muscles bigger than most reinforced doors. It looked humanoid to an extent, a bald-headed man with a freakish rock body, but its eyes were emotionless and simply stared at her unblinking. It didn't look as if it belonged in the stomach of the beast, yet here it was.

She felt her heart pounding, and she stared back towards that collapsed building. She wouldn't exactly say he had been a nice man, but he also wasn't bad. He didn't deserve to be crushed like that. She stumbled back to her feet, gritting her teeth, and she could feel her blood pumping through her veins.

The villain didn't even seem phased when she let out a yell and threw a punch. Her rage instantly faded and was replaced with pain when her fist barely left a crack in the creature's stomach. She did more damage to herself than the Monster, and it let out a low chuckle and simply backhanded her.

She cried out in pain, the force of it lifting her off of her feet and sending her crashing down the road several feet with a gasp.

She could feel blood dripping down her lip; the villain had busted it once more, and her face stung. It was the first time she had felt pain since she gained her powers. The first time she felt anything like this. He wasn't like the Gang members. He was a real threat.

She was utterly outclassed.

Its hand came down before she could stand back up, grabbing her by the top of her head. She tried to scream, but the pain caused her to gasp instead as the beast began to slowly squeeze. Her skull felt like it was about to pop, and no matter how much she tried to pull herself out of the monster's hands, she was unable to get it to budge.

The pain got worse, getting tighter and tighter, as tears began to roll down her face. Just when it was about to get too much, it suddenly stopped. The beast roared in pain as something smashed into its face from out of nowhere, hard enough to cause it to stumble back. Its grip loosened, and she felt herself slide down, landing on her knees. A set of arms wrapped around her, and someone carried her away from the monster.

"Are you okay?" The voice of Jack asked his arms around her.

She looked up at the man with wide eyes, shocked to see he was fine, wielding a stop sign he had ripped out of the ground to smack the beast. "You're alive?" She said, stunned.

"Yeah, I got lucky." He shook his head, dragging her as far away as he could. "That rock monster is a villain named Intake. Becomes whatever he eats. I've seen him on TV. Now that I think about it, he was attacking the city when the Kaiju appeared. I remember seeing strange things in the monster's stomach. I bet it swallowed him, and he hid, waiting for his chance to get out. Bet he didn't expect to see us." The older man almost joked, but the serious look in his eyes didn't ease Hope.

She bit her lip, staring at the monstrous creature. A real supervillain, the one she had seen heroes fight many times. This wasn't like the school bullies or even the gang members. This was a certain death for a normal person. "So, what do we do."

"You run as fast as you can, kid," Jack told her simply.

"But what about you?"

"I'm gonna stay here and make sure this thing doesn't hurt anyone." He raised his makeshift weapon up but couldn't help but look a little nervous.

"You'll die!"

The words caused Jack to stop. He stared at the creature as it began to stand back up, more pissed off than hurt. Jack slowly turned to Hope. "When it comes to death, I'm a lucky guy. I haven't been killed yet. I'll need you to save me. Run and get to safety and call for help. Get a powerful Hero. I'm counting on ya, kid."

"But-"

"I outrank you. I'm the adult. That means I make the shots." She was pushed by him in a direction away from the creature. "Please hurry. I don't want to die, so save me quickly, okay?" And like that, she felt her instincts kicked in as her legs began to run. She looked back, seeing his smile.

With a turn, she left him to his fate and ran faster than she had run in her life.

"You should be ashamed of yourself going after a child. It's villains like you I hate most in the world-" Jack was cut off mid-sentence when his focus turned back to the monster only to see its fist inches away from his face. With inhuman speed, the man twisted his body, the punch soaring past him and shattering the ground. With a roar, he swung up and smashed the sign into the head of the creature.

The villain let out a hiss, stumbling back, as the metal was torn across his rocky flesh. It rubbed at the spot and glared down at the man in front of him. With a sick grin, the beast swung its fist, connecting with Jack's face. A punch strong enough to rip through stone, it caused the red-haired man to stumble back, his eyes filling with shock and pain and then narrowing.

Jack was still alive. His head somehow staying attached to his neck. The monster glared at him, now shocked the man lived. "A Super." It growled out. "A freaking Super is hiding out in the Janitors team."

"Don't look at me like that. It was this or flipping burgers," Jack grunted. The creature roared in agony as he stabbed the tip of the broken pole through the stomach of the villain. Hissing from its wound, the beast lashed out his hand, grabbing Jack by the arm. Jack cursed, but it was too late.

With a simple twist, he was sent flying into the air as if he were as light as a feather. He yelled and tumbled down a few meters away, roughly crashing into the stone street, and before he could even get back on his feet, the creature rammed him at full speed. In an effort to stop it, he wrapped his arms around the monster, his feet digging into the floor. His shoes exploded and ripped, his clothes tearing, as he and the beast had a struggle for power, each holding the other one.

The street broke before he did, his body being pushed to a limit it hadn't used in years as they had a contest of Herculean strength. Jack could feel it, though. The power. He began to push the creature back, the villain's eyes wide with shock, and Jack even seemed to start to glow. He grunted, taking a step forward, then a second step, and a third, as the glowing got brighter.

He was winning.

He began to yell, cracks appearing on the monster's arms as he was breaking it. And then-

Blood started to gush from Jack's nose as he suddenly gasped and, on instinct, let go of the creature going for his chest. He was having a heart attack.

He was smashed into the ground with the force of a truck. This time, he yelled, the pain shooting through his body. It didn't end there, though. With another sick grin, the villain brought his fist up and then smashed it down into the body of Jack. Again and again, and again, blow after blow, it punched. That pain was nothing, though, compared to the hot blood that was gushing through his veins, his heart beating faster and wildly as if it was a bomb that was ready to go off.

Jack could feel his body crack, his muscles giving out as it finally stopped. Intake slowly bent down and picked him up as he gasped, its hand big enough to wrap around his entire chest. It began to squeeze, and his vision began blurring. It was hard to breathe, and he could hear a popping sound as his bones were about to explode!

Then something caught his eye.

Before the creature could crush him to death, one of the metal spears they used to carry bricks stabbed into the back of the villain' skull, making it roar and drop Jack. Hope gripped the spear tightly and pulled back with it as much as she could, using the method Jack showed her earlier. She forced the Villian off of the ground, and she twisted, letting go of the spear and hurling the rock man several meters down the road.

Jack felt a set of arms raising him up as he stared up at Hope, who dragged him back. "Are you okay, Mr. Larison!" She cried out.

"Why are you-" He broke into a coughing and wheezing fit, clutching his arm and shaking. It was settling down, though, the beating slowly resetting.

"I managed to find a pay phone, dial the cops, and tell them what was happening. They said they'd get a real strong hero to come save us." Despite the fact he weighed almost two hundred pounds, Hope didn't seem to struggle at all, confirming what he thought. She was a Super.

"That isn't what I meant! You idiot, why did you come back!"

Before she could answer, the creature was already standing back up, rubbing the back of its head and glaring at the two of them advancing slowly. "Why did I come back? That's obvious." She stepped forward, holding another of the metal spear like tools up. She had several of them all tied to her back, clearly ready for a last stand. "You told me to save you! Run while I hold him off!"

He stared at her for a moment before snorting. Slowly, he stood up and wobbled his way in front of her. "It's a cold day in hell that I force a child to save me." His heart had finally settled down, but he knew it was just the calm before the storm. If he fought for any longer, there was a good chance his heart would stop. And unlike the last 'incident,' he doubted Nick would be around to restart it. "Screw it. Guess I'll take him with me."

"What?" Hope asked.

Jack ignored her he held his arm out. She watched as he balled his hand into a fist and then stuck his thumb and pointer finger out like it was a gun. Then he was glowing. It was faint, but it was there. Just under his skin, as if light was pumping through his veins, it was golden, the same color as the Victorian's hair, and even his eyes seemed to go from a dull brown to the same sun like orbs she had.

He felt the pounding quicken, veins feeling like they were on fire. The creature roared and began to charge, and he grinned at it.

"Bang."

The glow suddenly went out, compressed to a single point at his fingertips. It wasn't fire, and it wasn't lightning. It was something else, like wild energy, the color of sunlight. It formed into a ball and blasted out, smashing into the gut of Intake and lifting the villain off the ground with enough force to send him smashing into the corpse of the dead giant.

"What just happened," Hope asked, stunned.

"Since you showed me your power, I thought I'd show you mine." Smoke came pouring out of his finger, but Jack didn't seem bothered, easily blowing it out. The glow in his veins was back, and he felt his bones popping as he grinned. "You use your power and do hit and run, I'll fight him head on and blast him sky high."

She stood there stunned for several seconds but then nodded. She gripped the tool so tight the metal began to dent. "Can we really win?"

"We're gonna try."

Intake was already letting out a loud roar, ripping his way out of the dead beast. The rocky armor where the light had hit him was melting off his body and smoldering, but he didn't seem hurt at all. "I'll kill you!" He roared. He leaped high into the air with inhuman strength and brought his arms up. Jack raised his hand up, the glowing getting even brighter as he got ready to blast the villain.

The lid to the sewer suddenly blasted up, and a wave of water rose out, moving on its own! The water bent and twisted, more and more pouring forth and taking shape into that of a giant fist, catching all three of them off guard. Intake tried to stop himself, but it was already too late.

Intake fell into the hand made out of water. It was big, bigger than even a house, and its fingers wrapped around the rock monster. The villain tried to fight back, but slowly, the hand grew still, and the water began to shift, getting colder and colder as it froze over into an ice sculpture, leaving only Intake's head free, the rest of his body stuck.

Hope looked at Jack with wide eyes. "You can control ice?"

Jack stood there in silence for several seconds before sighing. The glow around him went out as he shook his head. "Someone just stole our moment of glory."

"Someone called for a hero!" A voice that was almost as proud as the Victorian's announced. She stood on top of one of the ruined buildings, her hands on her hips. Her hair flowed out behind her like the ocean, and water clung to her body, taking shape into various forms, from liquid to ice, to mist. Hope recognized her instantly.

"Ocean Empress," Jack muttered, staring up at the woman. She was a member of the Enforcers and leader of her own hero team, the Reservoir. Basically, she was kind of a big deal.

"Oh my God, I need her autograph." Hope was cut off when Jack simply fell forward, his body finally giving out as he once again gripped his chest and began gasping. "Mr. Larison!"

Those were the last words he heard as he blacked out.

And that...

That was the start of their origin story.