Superheroics

Elijah

Once upon a time was how these stories usually start, right? Well. Once upon a time there was a grand hero. A savior of mankind. Handsome, powerful, intelligent, and so on. He watched over the bustling metropolis of Lovington, a big city in the midwest with loads of people, cars, buildings, and so on. The people in this metropolis were happy because they had their hero to save them.

What a lot of people don't remember five years later, if you asked them, was a young man who worked side by side with their hero. He was the same age, maybe he appeared a bit younger, but still. He was handsome, in his own way. Maybe not quite as handsome, or charming. Maybe just not as special. He didn't have the amazing powers. He had nifty gadgets. He knew some karate and he could save people just as well. But it was Mr. Phrenex that they remembered. Not Head Games, his little play on words. They all thought he was just a boy playing dress up. As if that wasn't what Sebastian was doing too.

Elijah couldn't help but remember just how perfect he was. It burned in the back of his throat sometimes when he thought about it. The interviews, the newspaper articles, the stories on television. And he was just a blip in the program, or even better, never mentioned at all. Seb didn't seem to understand how much that hurt him. Elijah had tried to explain, but it always ended in fights.

So finally he left. Just gone. Packed up his things and walked out of Lovington for good. He just couldn't stand the thought of being there anymore. He moved into a small town, got a job working on nanotechnology. He threw himself into his work, tirelessly.

Five years later he would arrive back in Lovington quietly enough. A nice little apartment near the university. Right down the street from the veterinary clinic where it turned out Sebastian was still working after all that time.

He would walk into the building a few days after his arrival, dressed to the tee. He had matured since he was a 21 year old masked vigilante. Now he was 27, the long shaggy hair he had once had was cropped short, raven-black hair slicked away from his face. Whereas once he had had soft brown eyes, they were now a piercing electric blue, a little side effect of his recent physical alterations. Everything else was the same, his well defined jawline, his thin physique, wrapped in a black suit and a soft blue tie expertly tailored to his figure.

He leaned over the counter and smiled brightly at the receptionist. "Is Dr. Halliday in?" He purred, giving her the most charming smile he could manage.

"Do you have an appointment?" She looked up and blushed a bit.

"Oh, I don't actually have a pet, but if you could tell him Elijah Englewood is here to see him I would really, really appreciate it." He gave her a grin, tapping the counter. "I'm an old friend, he'll recognize the name, I swear it."

She hesitated, then nodded, and got up, heading into the back. Elijah turned and leaned on one elbow on the counter, waiting patiently.