Mod Superhero

Chapter 1.1.1 - Coasting

A superhero leapt across the rooftops, and Emmett watched from the seven o' clock bus.

He turned in his seat to follow them, but they were gone as quickly as they appeared. It could've been Lux or Graynight. They were both active on this side of Adelphi, but Emmett couldn't see well enough from the street.

Emmett turned back around in his seat, smiling—no one else on the bus had noticed, but he had seen them.

Then again, he'd also been lucky enough to look up at the right time. He'd been reading an article on his phone about the Summit of Heroes and their recent battle with the Antichampions. Their battle had started in Fallworth, but the Summit forced them into the surrounding desert where the most powerful teams of supers and villains had fought for two days, turning miles of sand dunes into craters and glass.

Reliable eyewitness accounts of such battles were scarce, but Emmett read all he could find, anyway.

Instead of going back to his phone, Emmett savored the moment and watched the streets of Eastside pass. When he was younger and riding the school bus, Emmett used to imagine himself leaping across rooftops and running faster than a car. Few days went by that he didn't daydream about it.

But the older Emmett got, the fewer options he had: He wasn't the son of an old god, didn't fall into a vat of radioactive acid, know magic, or have any telekinetic powers... The closer he got to graduating college, the more absurd he felt even reading about superheroes.

He was almost an adult—a real adult. Now he only daydreamed about spontaneously getting powers every other day.

Still, no amount of growing up could wipe the smile off his face. This was the first super he'd seen in weeks, and he took it as a sign that it was going to be a good day.

Maybe even a good week.

~

The Eastside of Belport was made up of technology companies and their research buildings, as well as the satellite campus of Belport University.

It was also where Emmett spent most of his time.

He hopped off the bus on 34th Street, pushed back his dark, shaggy hair, and put in his earbuds and music. Then he pulled up his hood and started walking. He'd been on a synthwave kick the last few months, listening to artists like Starquake, Lime Profond, and Endure. It just fit—he was a tech major listening to new age music.

Pieces were falling into place for Emmett. He'd finally found a major he loved, was almost at the end of his degree, finally got an internship, and got out of the house. The music was a bonus.

Emmett walked down the street, ignoring the screens and advertisements that lined the buildings, while glancing to the rooftops in hopes of catching another glance of a super. Beauty cream from Gnosis, the latest phones from Aquarius, fusion powered cars by Masuel... Emmett ignored them all.

No more supers—not this morning, anyway.

Emmett sighed and followed the sidewalk onto campus.

Then again, it was a wonder why any supers were patrolling right now; what serious criminals got started this early in the morning?

~

The Eastside satellite campus consisted of half a dozen buildings, all devoted to engineering and health sciences. It was a self-contained mirror of the surrounding sector—its own little ecosystem. It even shared the love of glass that all tech companies seemed to have. Most graduates and promising students would get jobs and internships just a few blocks away, snatched up by the research and development wings of those companies.