Hero Academy

Chapter 1 : The Academy

On the news Diana watched a blonde haired woman confronting two robbers with two burning, crashed cars in the background. The woman was clad in a silver suit and mask, smiling at them as her hands and legs turned into liquid metal mercury. Soon she was just a puddle, and the men tried to run but in seconds the puddle had moved and reformed so that the tall woman was punching them both in the face. The gemstone the men had taken went flying, only to be caught by the woman's outstretched arm.

Four police rushed to them and handcuffed them whilst the woman gave the gem to another waiting officer. She smiled at the cameras and a reporter said,

"A comment, please, Liquid-Silver on the recovery of the Museums most expensive gem? What about people labelling you a superhero?"

Liquid-Silver just smiled at crowd of reporters and policemen and women. Then she was a puddle of mercury again, soaking into the ground until she was gone.

Diana turned off the TV and sighed. She was definitely happy for the apprehension of the criminals, but she had hoped to go into school without her mum's latest exploit spreading around like wildfire. Diana was the daughter of Liquid-Silver, the proclaimed hero of Metroham, and tomorrow was her first day in the Hero Academy, a School for the Earth's Young Hero's.

Standing up and crossing to the mirror she put on a grave face and threw her chest out and head high, before Diana sighed again and sat down on the floor. Who was she kidding? A skinny dark haired girl, with bad acne and no muscle couldn't even get through the two school years yet alone become a superhero.

Her dad came into the lounge and looked down at his daughter crumpled on the floor, "Are you alright?"

"What? Yeah, I'm fine," said Diana, getting up, "You know just a bit nervous about tomorrow."

Her dad gave her a suspicious look with his electric blue eyes, and not for the first time Diana thought he knew more than he let on. He was what supers referred to as a civilian, not a hero or a villain, just normal. However being married to a superhero must mean you develop a knack for staying calm and perceive more than was evident to most.

"Dinner's ready," he said, "Your mum should be home soon."

Diana followed him into the kitchen and they sat down at the table. Helping herself to quiche she said,

"This looks really nice, dad."

"It does." Diana and her dad looked up to see her mum emerging from a mercury puddle and shaking dirt off from her hair. She still wore her tight silver suit and cloak which retracted to jeans and t-shirt when she touched the metal bracelet on her wrist.

"Well done, dear," said her dad, kissing his wife.

"You're so embarrassing," said Diana looked down at her plate and taking a mouthful of salad. She heard her mum laugh and her parents sat down, starting their meal.

"I saw you on the news," said Diana, "Can't believe that they didn't see the puddle thing coming."

"Neither could I. It was a last resort really, I was following them for half an hour in a car chase," she shrugged as this was perfectly normal and then looked at Diana, "That could be you in two years. When you graduate from the academy you will be a fully qualified superhero, ready for action," Diana nodded sheepishly and her mother continued, "But remember that's two years, Diana, you can't go out and start stopping villains now. No matter how powerful you are. You are a sensible girl, I know I don't need to remind you about this."

Diana swallowed and nodded, returning the food that she now didn't feel like eating. The truth was she wasn't powerful, she couldn't do anything like her mother could. Supers originally get their abilities from a change or mutation in their body caused by things like getting bitten by a radioactive bug or getting electrocuted in a machine. Diana knew that her mother had inherited her powers from her scientist father who had experimented with mercury on himself, her Grandad was an odd one.

Children of supers inherited their parents' powers most of the time, so they were as powerful as their parents, but Diana knew that this wasn't always the case. It certainly wasn't for her. Diana could just about work out the temperature of the room she was in, which is surprisingly un-useful, as was her ability to change her pinkie into mercury.

She had always made it seem like her powers were identical to her mother, lying to her parents was something she didn't like but it seemed to be a necessary evil. Diana had assumed that her abilities would increase more as she became older but she was sixteen now and as powerless as ever. She might be able to deceive her parents but what about a whole school?

Later that night Diana rolled around under here duvet, running her mind over her dilemma. She had only told one person about this; when she was ten Diana told her godfather. Considering that he was a man who played pranks like it was a job description it was most surprising that he had actually said something so profound that Diana even remembered it now. He had said, 'the measure of a hero is not in the powers he possesses but in the righteousness of the cause he uses them for'.

Right now though Diana didn't find the words comforting. They wouldn't stop her parents being disappointed in her and they were the words of a dead man, so how true could they really be? Reuben, her godfather, had died in a car crash a mere few months after Diana confided in him.

*

The next morning Diana lay in bed after her alarm went off, her stomach feeling like it was full of wriggling worms. She had barely got any sleep in the night and when she did it was plagued by a nightmare where she went to school only to be told her inclusion was incorrect and she had to leave immediately.

Diana finally got out of bed when her mother called her for the third time. When she got downstairs, trailing her rucksack behind her, Diana found her mum buttering toast in the kitchen.

"Do you want some?" she asked.

"Er, no thanks," said Diana, her stomach writhing.

"You should eat some breakfast," said her mum, waving some toast.

"I really don't feel like it, I'll eat a large lunch," said Diana.

"Okay," said her mum, frowning slightly.

"Has dad gone to work early?" Diana asked, changing the subject, her mum nodded, "He works odd hours."

"He does," said Diana's mum, "Are we going then?"

"You're giving me a lift?"

"Of course I am," said her mum, grabbing keys and following her daughter to the car, "It's your first day of school. I want to talk to your head teacher anyway. You remember Dr Audery York."

"Yes," said Diana, sliding into the car, "She's the head teacher, and your old friend."

It was getting worse, she thought. It took them twenty minutes to drive into the outskirts of the city with the heavy traffic. At the end of a long winding road was a traffic sign which simply said 'School', with a man leaning against it with a rucksack like he was waiting for a lift.

"Diana Standing," said Diana, to the man, "Word of the week is cape."

The man nodded and tapped the sign and his watch. Diana's mum drove on and Diana looked up to see a large building looming out of the trees. Her mum parked between a compact car and a small rocket. Diana had arrived.