The night sky’s darkness battles against the lights of the bustling city below. Seattle may be far from the city that never sleeps, but even in the latest hours of the evening, the city is vibrant and full of life. As dozens of cars move like a colony of ants on the ground, and a few people are walking amongst the streets on their way home, up on the rooftops stands a young man. His short black hair moves with the wind, along with the bedsheet fastened to his shoulders in a cape-like fashion. He fixes his cheap spandex bodysuit, the sleeves and legs purple with a green torso and a crudely painted ‘P’ across his chest, complemented with green oven mitts for gloves and a slip of paper on his face in the form of a mask. The man jumps onto the edge of the building with an excited smile. “Okay, okay!” he exclaims. “This is it, Jaime, if I have any powers, they’ll all come out with this!”
A man about the same age shakes his head with a sigh, short dreads covering his pale face for just a moment. Unlike the aspiring superhero in front of him, he is dressed casually in a gray tank top, baggy black jeans and worn sneakers as blue as his eyes. “Y’know, you keep saying that.” Jaime says with a snarky tone. “And then you’re going to tell the hero that saved you ‘I thought for sure this was going to do it.’ Only this time, you’re jumping off of a twenty-five story building instead of jumping in front of moving cars.”
“That’s why it has to work!” The mock-up superhero turns to face Jaime. “I will face certain death, and come out one of the greatest supers to ever live! Besides, the car may have covered strength related powers, but I’ll find out if I can fly from this.”
“Well when you find out if you can die from this, I’m taking the bottom bunk. Now, Step one, Pete gets himself into danger.” Jaime smirks and leans against the wall.
Pete gives an exaggerated laugh. “Ye of little faith! Today… is the birth… of Super Pete!” He turns around and jumps without hesitation, plummeting down to the streets below. As he accelerates towards the ground, he begins doing various poses to try and spark his powers. “Okay… FLYING POWERS GO!” he shouts as nothing happens. “Um… WIND CONTROL, ACTIVATE… um… STRETCHY ARMS!” Pete continues to list off superpowers as he falls closer and closer to his demise. “Come on, Come on! SUPER POWERS, GO!” he screams, closing his sea-blue eyes, mere yards from hitting the ground. As soon as it looks like the end is near, it never seems to come. Confused, Pete opens his eyes to see he is now flying upwards, away from his potential last moments. “Oh my god… IT WORKED! I CAN FLY!”
Pete looks up to see where he’s flying to, only to see that he is being carried by the cape by a raven scaled to the size of a private jet. Before he can experience the feeling of disappointment and shame, the feeling of being dropped back onto the roof fills in its place. As the aspiring hero gets up and wipes the dust off his suit, the raven lands in front of him, slowly and horrifyingly changes into the form of an average sized man, fit with a black cloak with feathers, fur, and twigs woven into the delicate fabric. A purple glow emanates where the eyes should be on the silhouette-like figure, and they are crooked in a manner that signifies rage. “Pete…” the figure says, a similar purple glow acting as a mouth.
Pete sighs, looking down in shame. “Hi, Nightmare…”
Jaime snickers. “Step two, Pete is saved.”
After a few moments of silence, Pete goes to speak, but is swiftly interrupted. “Six.” Nightmare sounds like he’s gritting his teeth, however the dark purple glow where eyes and a mouth would be, mixed with the lack of any facial features, makes it difficult to see. “This is the sixth time I’ve had to save you from doing something stupid. The other supers are getting worried that one of us will be distracted and you’ll decide to fight a pack of wild dogs. Do you have anything to say for yourself?”
Pete speaks up, as well as Jaime and Nightmare mocking him in unison. “I thought for sure this was going to do it.”
Jaime cackles “There’s step 3. One more step to go”
Pete’s shoulders fall as the shame settles in. “I know I have powers. I have to. One day they’ll show up and I’ll be a category 1 super, just like Superion!” Nightmare takes a deep breath and puts his head in his palms. “Pete… you’re 20 now, you can’t keep breaking out for this fantasy. I know how much you like supers, and I know how much you want to help, but you can’t help people when you’re constantly trying to get yourself killed. Why can’t you volunteer to be a police officer, or a firefighter, or an SCA agent?”
“I have to have powers, Nightmare.” Pete grumbles “My mom and dad had powers, as did their parents and their parent’s parents!”
“You don’t even remember your parents yet you speak like they're still alive” says Jaime, walking past Pete to sit on the building’s edge. “Now, stop arguing and have him bring us back to the hospital. I actually want to get some sleep tonight.”
“I don’t want to go back to the hospital!” Pete argues. “Nightmare, you don’t have to bring us back there! Please!” he pleads, dropping to his knees.
Nightmare looks down at him. “It’s for your own protection, Pete. You’re safer there where people can watch you and make sure you’re not killing yourself. How do you even keep getting out?”
“Jaime helps me, right Jaime?”
“Don’t bring me into this.” Jaime says, biting at his nails.
Nightmare shakes his head “Pete… I shouldn’t have to tell you that Jaime cannot help you, especially being that he is another reason you're in there.”
“Oh yeah?” Pete crosses his arms, annoyed. “How did he put me in there? I’d LOVE to know!”
“Because he-” before Nightmare can finish his sentence, a loud alarm sounds from just a block away. Moments later, a pager in Nightmare’s cloak goes off.
“Pete, go back to the hospital. It’s safer there.”
“But-”
“NOW!” Nightmare commands as he shifts back into a raven and takes off in the direction of the noise. Pete rushes to the edge, seeing panicking citizens, cars stopping for their drivers to escape, and a yellow blur speeding through the city towards the source of the ruckus.
“This looks like a big one. Maybe Madam Shock is there, or maybe even The Wraith!” Jaime says before looking at Pete. “...Pete, you do realize you’ll die if you get in the middle of a super fight, right?”
“I have to try. This is my chance to prove to the world I can help!” He begins to climb over the edge, self preservation kicking in to convince him to kick off and head towards the stairs.
“Hey! At least wait up for me!” Jaime says, running after him.
Pete rushes down the stairs as fast as he can, trying to imitate superspeed, of which never comes. After a few minutes, he finally reaches the ground floor, pushing past scared citizens in the lobby trying to find shelter. After weaving through the crowd with as much grace as a bull in a china shop, he bends over and grabs his knees, trying to catch his breath.
“Pete!” Jaime yells weaving through the crowd elegantly. “You’re not going to make it in time! Lets just go home!”
Pete takes a deep breath and puts his hands on his hips. “Not if I have anything to say about it!” He begins to run again, determined to save the day, Jaime barely keeping up with him. He runs across the sidewalk, bumping into masses of panicked citizens as he makes his way through the poorly lit streets. The chaos of screaming, police sirens, and the sounds of animals screaming out of the windows from the noise is all too familiar to Pete, for super fights are a common occurrence for the city. Pete eventually finds himself near the source of the alarm: a small jewelry store tightly packed between two clothing stores. A young man in a yellow bodysuit, branded with a backwards orange ‘B’, and green aviator goggles is chucked out of the building and lands on the street with a thud, followed by a gorilla that morphs into Nightmare on impact. A deep laughter comes from the building as a hulking man, about twice the height and muscle mass of an average bodybuilder, and about as clothed, walks out of the store, the glass from the entrance crunching under his massive boots. A wide smile stretches his white mask as he brushes the rubble from his shoulders.
“Nightmare, don’t you think you’re getting too old to take me on, old friend?” the colossal man laughs with his booming voice. “And to bring poor, young Blitz into this mess too? How irresponsible! It’s just tens of thousands of dollars worth of precious jewelry, why not let me keep it, eh? You were a villain like me, doing the same schtick, you know this isn’t worth your time.”
“Hey!” Blitz says. “I’m in better shape than you, knuckledragger… well, endurance wise anyway.”
“You should have kept holding up the world, Atlas.” Nightmare stands up, brushing himself off. “Would have kept you out of trouble!”
“That’s what I’m here for!” Atlas mutters “You want to bring me to the Bunker? Lock me up and take your victory photos? Come at me, then!”
Nightmare morphs into an elephant, scaled down to the size of Atlas, and charges forward with great force, pounding the ground hard enough to echo the thuds throughout the block. Right before the impact, however, Atlas pivots his foot to just barely dodge the ram, punching Nightmare right in the sides with enough power to force Nightmare into the wall, tumbling through as if it was made of paper. Before Atlas gets his balance from pushing off of the elephant’s side, Blitz zips behind his foot, forcing him to tumble over and fall flat on his back, breaking what was left of the display case under him. As Nightmare jumps in as a panther to continue the scuffle, Pete’s excitement only grows. “Oh my god oh my god oh my god!” Pete exclaims, hands up to his mouth. “This is my chance to get him while he’s down, right Jaime?”
“Absolutely not,” Jaime pants as he catches his breath. “But I’m not in the position to stop you… gotta lay off the chips…”
“Then here comes... SUPER PETE!” he exclaims.
Atlas grabs Nightmare by the scruff of his neck and throws him off with ease, kicking at Blitz to scare him away. Taking the opportunity while Atlas is distracted, Pete runs into the scene, grabbing a shard of glass off of the ground and charging at Atlas, giving out a warcry as he rushes into the scene. As Atlas turns around to respond, Pete slams the glass into Atlas’s side, breaking the glass on impact and slicing the oven mits protecting his hand. “Oh… right… forgot about the impenetrable body…” Pete laughs nervously as he is lifted up by his crude cape.
Atlas shakes his head. “Pete, you’re lucky I pity you. I’d pop your head like a grape, and then I’d be upset because I’d have your gross brain juice all over my hands as I punch these two losers.” He lets Pete down gently. “Now get out of here, you’re dampening the big fight.”
A loud crunch is heard as Blitz hits Atlas in the shin with some rebar, only successfully making an impression of his shin into the rebar. “Aw man, you didn’t even flinch, Atla-...” Blitz's face drops as he stares at Pete. “Pete, what are you doing here? You know this is dangerous!”
“He has come to show how much of a hero he can be,” Atlas says calmly, “but he doesn’t know that even the real heroes can’t beat me. Now go away, I have money to… er... earn.” He flicks Pete with enough power to send him flying into the road, Blitz speeding over and catching him before he lands on the glass. “How did you get out of the hospital this time?” Blitz asks.
“Jaime helped me out.” Pete says, his voice low and defeated. He looks over to the jewelry store, seeing Atlas and a gorilla-shaped Nightmare wrestle each other.
“That’s cool, but maybe you should stop doing that, yeah?”
“How am I supposed to prove myself if I’m stuck in my room all the time?!”
“Sign up to be a volunteer firefighter! They’re heroes too… no wait, that doesn’t get by the room thing...”
“BLITZ, HELP ME OUT A LITTLE!” Nightmare shouts as he narrowly jumps out of the way of a downwards elbow from Atlas that smashes through the wooden floor.
“Sorry, had to take care of Pete!” Blitz responds before turning back to Pete. “Just get out of here before you get hurt!”
Blitz speeds back into the fray, pushing Nightmare out of the way of a strong left hook. As the two heroes go in for another clash, Pete turns away, walking away slowly as his paper mask falls off of his face and onto the ground in front of him. As he picks it up, a single tear drops from his eye onto the mask. You really screwed it up this time. Pete thinks, filled with sadness. A loud shout breaks him out of his small trance. He looks back to see a cheetah running right towards him, with Atlas holding Blitz in one hand and many full burlap sacks in the other, followed by a display case that was lobbed towards Pete just overhead. Pete doesn’t have time to flinch before Nightmare knocks him out of the way, saving him from being crushed, the display case smashing into the pavement in front of them. The case’s remains are finished off by Blitz, who was flung through the wood and into Nightmare and Pete, the impact knocking the wind out of them. As they get up and get their bearings, Atlas takes his free arm and punches straight through the pavement smashing, through the ground and escaping into the sewers below.
“NO!” screams Nightmare as he turns into an alligator to chase after Atlas, disappearing into the sewers.
“Ah hell, Pete!” Jaime says, rushing over from the sidewalk “He used you as a distraction… awesome!”
“Yeah… really cool…” Pete sighs. He looks in his hand to see his mask, crumpled and torn from being knocked over
The distant sirens are now much closer as unified squads arrive at the scene, consisting of police cruisers, fire engines, and armored transports, a globe branded with a large S.C.A. on their sides, the words Super Control Agency surrounding the globe. As the police, firefighters, and heavily armored soldiers get out of the vehicles to raid the scene and control the situation, Blitz hands grips Pete’s back and the back of his head. Before he has time to react, he is zipped through the city, stopping in front of a large hospital. Pete’s heart drops as he sees an old Korean nurse shuffle out from the front door. “You forgot Jaime…” Pete groans, his chest tightening up in despair.
“Oh… yes…” Blitz hesitates. “Well he’ll have to make his own way back, I have to talk to the SCA about what happened before they rip me a new asshole! Bye now!” He zips away right as the nurse approaches Pete.
“Welcome back, Pete.” The nurse says with a smile.
“Hi, Nurse Bonnie…” He greets her with a solemn, defeated voice as he looks at the crumpled paper mask in his hand.
“Oh dear!” Bonnie says sweetly “Don’t you worry, Pete, we can make you another one tomorrow, and maybe we can add more than just paint. How does that sound?”
“...I’d like that …” Pete says, holding back his tears so as to not show weakness. Supers are strong. Supers don’t cry…
“Good! Now let's go to your room so you can get a good night's rest. Did you take your medication?”
“Yes…” Pete lies. He walks into the building, accompanied by Bonnie, who’s comforting words fall upon deaf ears as he sulks through the halls, heading towards the psych ward. Finally, he reaches his room, deep into the ward, a camera always facing towards the door. He walks into his well furnished room, fit with a top-of-the-line bed, a nice leather couch, a few consoles, an antique desk, and a bookshelf full of books, video games, and memorabilia from famous super battles, all of which has been gifted to him by heroes he’s encountered over the years. He looks at the drawings he’s made covering the walls, depicting Pete as a hero saving the day, dating from childhood to the present day. His window shows the sidewalk, as his room is merely on the ground floor, for his own safety of course. He looks back with a weak smile. “I’ll see you tomorrow, right Bonnie?”
“Of course, honey.” Bonnie reassures. “Now rest up, Dr. Rauchmeier will want to see you tomorrow. Goodnight.” Bonnie leaves as the door slowly closes. Pete angrily throws the oven mitts across the room and drops his ruined mask in his small garbage can. His spurt of rage swiftly turns to sorrow, as he begins breaking down, falling to his knees in front of the garbage can and sobbing. For a few minutes, he lays on the ground, curled up and crying uncontrollably, until a gentle knock emanates from the door.
“Who-Who is it” Pete stutters, wiping his nose with his sleeves and sniffling.
“A friend.” says Nightmare, from the other side of the door.
Pete picks himself up to open the door. “Why did they let you-” he freezes when he sees Jaime standing there with a dumb, yellow smile.
“They didn't,” Nightmare says from behind him. Pete whips around, only to see a bedbug on his bed. The bedbug quickly takes the form of Nightmare, who is sitting on the end of the bed. “...I like the room… I see you kept some of the books I gave you… and the desk.” Nightmare says as he looks around.
Pete lets Jaime in, closes the door, then sits on the bed. Jaime sits next to him, rubbing his shoulder to comfort him. “We’ll get through step 4 together, bud.”
“Thank you Jaime.” Pete sniffles as he looks over at Nightmare. “...Did you catch Atlas?”
Nightmare shakes his head. “I was more worried about if you were hurt. Getting hit by a big cat and a grown man isn’t something people can take and brush off, kid.” He laughs a bit.
“I screwed it all up again, didn’t I?” Pete says, very clearly trying to hold back tears.
“Only a little. Don’t worry, we’ll get him next time. The SCA is fixing everything up right now, good as new. It’ll just make for an even better story when I get him!” Nightmare pokes at Pete's side, making him laugh. “...I just get worried about you, kid. The doctors think you’re suicidal, and I’m starting to believe it’s more than just your big heart getting you in this mess… talk to me, what keeps making you jump off of buildings and to try and stab category 3 villains?”
“...I have to have a super power…” Pete’s lip quivers as he speaks. “I have to… it’s impossible for me not to, right? Bonnie told me my parents were some of the most powerful supers to ever live… so I should be too…”
“That’s...not always how it works, dude...” Jaime says softly.
“Bonnie was right… They were amazing heroes, May-Hem and Tyrant. I worked with them and Superion a lot back in the day, along with the 11.” Nightmare pauses for a moment. “But… there are cases of the kid not getting powers. If you had powers, kid, you would have found them when you were much younger, and throwing yourself off of buildings won’t do any good. It’s just not something you unlock.”
Pete begins welling up again, a few tears dripping down his face. “...I have to…” he says, choking up. As he wipes the tears from his eyes, something drops onto his lap. He opens his eyes and sees a beautiful, red masquerade mask, red and black feathers decorating the rims, packed into a vacuum-sealed bag. “W-What’s this?”
“It belonged to your mother.” Nightmare’s glowing smile is creepy, yet comforting.
Jaime stares, fascinated. “That’s… that’s the real deal. It’s even got an SCA seal…”
“She worked at a soup kitchen for the poor before she realized she was a category 2 super.” Nightmare lectures. “She wanted to help people in any way she could, and her cooking was a blessing to us all. You definitely got her heart. If you try, maybe you could get her cooking as well…” Nightmare leans forward and looks at the desk. “It’s past ten! Past both of our bedtimes, and I’ve still gotta talk to the SCA.”
Pete reaches over and hugs Nightmare tight. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome, kid.” Nightmare says, hugging Pete back. They let eachother go as Nightmare turns into an aphid. “Now get some rest, and don’t show the SCA that mask, they’ll dock it from my pay!” He flies under the door and out of sight.
“Dock it from his 7 figure salary? What a burden!” Jaime jokes as he flops onto the couch.
Pete doesn’t answer, as his tears of sorrow turn to tears of joy. The spark in his heart ignites once more as he puts the mask right next to his bed on the desk and lays down. “...maybe I’ll be a super cook! The power to cook enough meals to feed the whole world in the blink of an eye! Or my cooking can subdue even Atlas as soon as it hits his tongue!” He smiles and laughs.
“I see nothing has changed, huh?” Jaime says, smiling. “Goodnight, Super Pete.” he says, flicking the light off with his foot.
“Night, Jaime” Pete says, taking one last look at his mother’s mask before drifting off to sleep.