1.03

The blaring alarm clock melted Hunter’s dream; it was something about being rich.

Hunter dragged himself into a sitting position and his body ached all over. His head pounded from the back and his hands tingled.

He and his mother had argued all the way home, ignoring the fact that Silas had been in the car with them. The only moment of peace was when Silas’s parents had arrived to pick him up. As the front door shut behind him, the screaming match started all over again.

Hunter’s room was filled with posters of his favourite bands and superheroes. Hunter had always wanted to become a superhero and he had wished all his life that he would develop powers.

Among all the superheroes around his room, the one featured the most was the hero Blockade. Blockade had a suit with reds and yellows as his colours. His jaw was chiselled from marble and not a single hair was out of place.

Hunter’s favourite poster was of the now disbanded team, The Victories. Blockade had led this team through its toughest times and greatest moments. It fell apart after Blockade’s murder.

Looking over the posters brought on a warm feeling within Hunter. Times of happiness and love.

“I miss you dad. Mum’s losing it.” Hunter pulled on jeans and a flannelette shirt. He grabbed his Mite suit and shoved it down deep into the bottom of his backpack. He grabbed the latest issue of his favourite fantasy comic; Goblins and Dwarves and carefully placed that into his bag. He had promised to lend it to Silas.

Hunter flicked on the television and it mentioned Rampage destroying the police station. It was mentioned two unknown heroes helped subdue the villain. Hunter cracked a smile, feeling proud of last night’s accomplishments.

Ready for school, Hunter tiptoed downstairs and was unsurprised to see his mother passed out on the couch in front of a movie that had been muted. Three empty liquor bottles were scattered across the floor and she was snoring her head off.

Hunter walked over to her with a plastic bucket and put it on the floor near her head. He grabbed two bottles of water and sat them on the floor as well and picked up the glass bottles.

Hunter left his house and was greeted by an eager looking Silas.

“Did you see the news? We were mentioned, how cool is that?” Hunter walked on and Silas dropped into pace by his side.

“Yeah, it was kinda cool. What did your parents think?”

“They thought it was awesome. They’re heaps proud of me. Did things settle down at all with your mom?”

“Nah. But that’s okay. I’m still gonna try.”

“Maybe we should try and get sanctioned? It would make things a lot easier for us. The police would be more likely to like us too.”

“I never ended up asking dad how that happens. But that’s something I really want. It would set me on the right path to follow in his footsteps.” There was a twinge of pain as Hunter thought of his father. It had been four years since his murder, and the killer still hadn’t been brought to justice.

“That means a lot to you, hey?”

“Yeah. He was one of the greats.”

The two missed the bus to school and so arrived late. The halls were empty and there was nowhere to run when Jake and his cronies patrolled through the building.

Jake was the resident hothead in Hunter’s grade, and even though they were friends as kids, they had drifted apart in middle school.

“Well, well. Look who we have here. You two are late again. Principal Payton wouldn’t like that very much. I wouldn’t even bother going to class if I were you.” He grabbed Hunter’s shirt as his buddies opened one of the locker doors. He shoved him inside and they slammed the door. They did the same to Silas and walked off, laughing down the hall.

“Remind me why we can’t just use our powers on them?” asked Silas.

“Well, for starters. We wouldn’t really have secret identities anymore.”

“And?”

“Not really fair using our powers on some jock. It wouldn’t be a fair fight.”

“They were five against two. That wasn’t really fair.”

“You know what I mean.”

“Hey Hunter, is there anyone around?”

“How should I know?” a harsh hiss in his voice.

“Gimme a sec, I can get us outta here.” Hunter heard a few deep breaths and then a clang followed by a loud thud. Within a few moments, the locker door opened, and Hunter stepped out of the cramped, smelly prison.

“Man, I’m so sick of him. If I could ever get the chance,” Silas was burning.

“Yeah well, maybe if he’s breaking a law or something,” Hunter fixed his messy hair.

“Whoa, how did you do that?” the pair snapped to the voice and saw the elderly school janitor. His fuzzy grey hair circled the bald top of his head and joined into a moustache. Most of the kids made fun of him and thought he was crazy.

“Do what?” Hunter asked.

“That kid blasted the locker door off.” He pointed to Silas.

“Um, no I didn’t.” The two took off for class and were handed detention upon entering. Silas tried arguing but was threatened with another detention.

When it came to lunch, Silas and Hunter sat alone in the corner with their meals. Silas flicked through his phone.

“How do we get sanctioned? Is there just some form online?” Silas crammed the sloppy joe into his mouth.

“I don’t know. Can’t exactly just ask online.” Hunter looked around the room and was relieved to see nobody was listening in.

“Just did.” Silas was beaming.

“Wait, what?”

“Balloon Boy has a Chatter account. With some cool hashtags, I should get an answer pretty quickly.”

“Seriously? Can’t anyone just figure out who you are?”

“Nah, I’m pretty cluey with all that stuff. Pretty certain nobody will be able to figure it out.”

“Hey. Were you two looking at becoming sanctioned?” the voice made them both jump. It was the janitor from before.

“How did yo-” Hunter started to ask.

“I have an eye for superpowers. I’ve been around long enough.” The janitor gave a smile.

“Yeah. But we don’t know how to do it.” Hunter admitted. He flicked around the room again but still nobody else was paying attention.

“I can help you out there.” A booming crash came from the other side of the lunch hall. The doors had been smashed off the hinges and smoke obscured the shadow that walked into the room.

“Looks like trouble old man, you might need to leave.” Hunter turned to the janitor, but he was already gone.

A shiny silver, robotic suit walked into the room.