Author's Preface
Michael was sitting in an open café, sipping on some coffee. There was another man in front of him. “What do you mean you’re out of stock?” asked Michael. He was wearing a mask so that nobody could see his face. “Well, someone stole our assets a few days ago,” answered the man. He was dressed formally, with a black suit and tie. “We don’t know who it was, sir, but we suspect it might be a hero.” Michael put his mug down. “And how in the world could they have found the stash?” he asked. “We’re… still looking into that, sir,” said the man. Michael stood up from his chair. “Alright then. Get ready to flee, the crew should pass by soon,” he said. The man got up, shook hands with Michael, and walked away. The loudening echo of sirens could be heard.
“Right on damn time,” said Michael.
[…]
Michael was in the city of Washington, D.C, USA. Michael went closer to the road where his crew would be passing and got ready to jump. Sure enough, the truck could be seen. As he got ready, electricity coursed through his legs. Blue flashes of light formed near his feet. Michael exhaled as he jumped onto the moving vehicle. There was a man holding onto the cabin.
“Grab my hand, boss!” he shouted. Michael didn’t need to do that. He landed on the cabin like a cat.
“How much did you get?” asked Michael.
“ 'Round a hundred million,” said the driver.
“Acceptable,” said Michael, “Good job, both of you.”
Cops were called peacekeepers since they kept citizens safe. The ones who didn’t manage to get powers weren’t tasked to fight.
“Can we stop calling you boss now, Michael?” asked the driver.
“Just call me Powerhouse,” Michael answered.
“Alright,” said the driver, “can you shake these idiots off our tail?”
Michael nodded. “Sure."
[…]
Michael, better known as “Powerhouse,” was someone whose title was infamous around the globe. Nobody knew what his real name was, and if they did, his last name was simply scratched out to most. He was dressed in a casual outfit: jeans, a plain shirt, and a thin black coat. His power was electricity. What made him so powerful was that he was the best at controlling his power. A bolt of light could be seen right before a car flipped over. Marrow was the one driving. His ability was the ability to control bones, hence the name “Marrow”, derived from bone marrow.
“Firefly, can’t you help a little?” asked Michael, focused on blocking the road so that the cars couldn’t chase them.
“I’m helping you already, you nutjob. Whose damn idea was it to rob a fucking bank?” asked Firefly. He was flying over the truck with his power; a huge trail of flames was bursting out from under his feet.
“Just help us lose these guys, we’re supposed to minimise casualties today,” Michael ordered.
He had managed to stop the cars. Firefly flew back down to the top of the cabin.
“Hero drop-off incoming,” Firefly sounded annoyed, “Marrow, don’t run straight into the guy, the truck will cave in if you do.” Michael sat down, “These peacekeepers need to stick to getting cats down from trees, I tell you.”
Firefly laughed before relaying the joke to Marrow. A figure could be seen jumping down from a helicopter.
“I’ll handle this,” said Michael.
Marrow brought the truck to a halt a few metres before the hero.
“If you go ahead and surrender right here, you won’t get a beating, and I’ll get a promotion,” said the hero.
Michael thought that it was funny hearing that from him, not because he and his team were absurdly strong, but because he thought that the hero looked like he did paperwork all day.
“Yeah? How will you be able to stop us with that enormous damn stomach of yours?” Firefly contested the hero.
Michael held back a laugh--Firefly had the same thought as he did.
Firefly then turned to Michael, “You know, man, I think even Marrow will be enough for that boulder.”
[…]
It was a quick fight. Marrow stepped out of the truck, cracking his knuckles. The hero seemed to have gone into a stance. Marrow made bones grow out from his knuckles and made some that shielded his arms. The hero seemed surprised by this. “Marrow…?” he muttered. Marrow then dashed to the hero. He then stabbed the guy’s legs and kicked him in his nuts. Both Michael and Firefly flinched when he did that. The hero collapsed, probably from shock. Marrow then walked back to the truck, stretching. “I was getting sore from putting my hands on the wheel so much,” said Marrow. “Just drive us back to base,” said Michael. “On it,” said Marrow as he got into the driver’s seat.
Michael had gotten into the cabin.
“Mike, why’d we need to rob a bank anyway? Our cover already has enough funding,” asked Marrow.
Michael ran an organisation. It was criminal, but its identity was a charity organisation. The building was where people went to donate anonymously, and due to recent outbursts in crime, it’s been taking off quite well.
“The money’s for the charity thing. People think we work from donations, and we use that to our advantage,” said Michael. Marrow nodded in understanding.
“Weren’t we going to use it to get some leverage over the government?” asked Firefly.
“Yeah, some of it will be invested into the actual organisation, but we gotta keep our public face clean, don’t we?” said Michael. Firefly had gotten out of the truck and was flying side-by-side with it.
“Doesn’t plasma manipulation tire you out, Barry?” asked Marrow.
“Shut up, Andrew,” said Firefly.
“Stop fighting, we have to leave the cash over to the warehouse,” interrupted Michael. Marrow mumbled that they weren’t fighting and then pushed harder on the gas.
One highway later, the trio reached Kentucky. It was dusk, and the highway was dead. “A few more miles to the mountains. How you holding up, Mike?” asked Barry.
“Not too tired. You gonna go look around again?” said Michael.
Andrew was asleep, so Michael was driving. The gauge read one-hundred and ten.
“Nah, no use. Nobody lives in these areas anymore. Rogues threw the whole country upside down anyway,” said Barry, “Just wondering if I could take the wheel.”
Michael looked at him, “Thanks.”
They quickly switched places so that the truck wouldn’t swerve.
People started getting powers about fifty or sixty years ago. Michael was twenty-nine years old at present. “Kentucky…” he told himself, “Wasn’t this where the first guy got powers?”
Barry nodded, “Yeah, can’t imagine how bad the casualties were, especially when no one else had powers. Not only that, it was tremor.”
Tremor was an utterly destructive power. The user could make any building crumble with a touch and cause tremors across the state. Kentucky and its surrounding states were reduced to complete rubble. A few months later, the second ability user defeated the first.
“Apparently, the second’s power was muscle enhancement, but my dad said it looked like a lot more than that,” said Michael.
A few hours later, the truck stopped off-road near the foot of a mountain. There was a series of deserted warehouses and run-down vehicles. The trio got out of the truck, which was parked just outside an entrance. “We leave the thing here then?” asked Andrew, stretching.
“Yeah, it’ll stay here for about two days before the routing team comes here to fetch it,” said Firefly.
“Good job, this was a clean one,” praised Michael. “Barry, take Andrew and fly him over to HQ. I’ll come back after I finish taking a proper look round this place,” he said.
Barry nodded and took Andrew. “Be there in two hours,” said Barry, before channelling his power to the tubes on his legs.
[…]
Barry “Firefly” Connors was the second most powerful in Michael’s organisation. He had the ability to create plasma and use it to produce force. He could not control his ability properly and used tubes to narrow down the spread. Those tubes were on the back of his legs and elbows, letting him reach supersonic speeds, leaving a smoldering trail of flames.
Andrew “Marrow” Robins was the third most powerful in Michael’s organisation. Marrow had the ability to manipulate the bones in his body. He could grow his nails as claws. Marrow has slits on the back of each limb where the bones can extend from.
Michael “Powerhouse” Wattson is the strongest person in his organisation and the "number one villain" in America. He had the publicly-known ability of lightning manipulation, with a very high degree of control over it.