1 Hero's beginning
I was born John Baez in queens NYC. My father was Mike Baez a small or so I thought scientist. My mother was Jenny Platinum a martial artist, that's actually how they met. He was self funding a technology to use the movements from martial arts to develop a program that could study and preserve various martial arts. with her known to have studied many forms it was one of his first stops.
Eventually she joined him on his quest. For 6 years they traveled around the world studying martial arts and even school programs. before coming back to queens and settling down. they then gave birth to me the great John Baez. Five years later they had finished their second greatest achievement, the learning system. not only martial arts but also schooling up till college was included.
The learning system or L.S. for short was the masterpiece from his self funded project. it can teach various martial arts from parkour (according to mother is an escape based urban martial art) to varma adi that focuses on vital points and about 80 or so others. it can also form a training regimen for a person based off of DNA and daily scans. all designed to bring your body to absolute perfection. based on the martial arts you've learned and one's it recommends bringing you balance. with no permanent harm done no matter your age, sore muscles are still a thing tho. there's even a very basic AI hologram that interacts like a sensei making it more interactive for kids like me.
however the school side is not nearly as fun but it is effective. all I can access right now is till the eighth grade but I've been told it goes up till college. the L.S. supposedly wirelessly gathers information from colleges around the world. gathering training techniques and knowledge for languages, medicine, even sports exercise programs. after all it was originally supposed to help humanity reach the peak of their physical and mental abilities.
My parents were trying to make it smaller and more affordable for the general population before they died. but other than my personal one they made 2 years ago they haven't made much progress. my personal one can register 1 main user and 4 sub users, she had big plans for me. it has hidden holograms that activate on certain conditions, last time it was both of them singing happy birthday. I wish I knew the conditions I miss them and it's been a few months.
some goons broke in and tried to steal the L.S. I don't even know how they found out about it. mother managed to kill 8 thugs before one pulled a shotgun taking out my mother and father leaving me alone in the world. the robbers didn't even get the right stuff, just some failed basic the code in it was gibberish. the only working version was mine in a secret room in the basement I called the classroom.
Luckily I was at the neighbors house with my only friend Angie Spica. I was 7 years old and had been taking classes with the L.S. for two years. making me smart for my age not a genius like her, I mean she's seven and playing with circuit boards. she's the only one in the second grade smarter than me well outside of languages I knew Spanish and English well enough to get by. she has 6 older sisters her mom works at a launderette and her dad drives a bus.
Angie's parents took me in I was always over playing anyway and I think her dad liked actually having a boy in the house instead of 7 daughters and his wife. after a few weeks we were all having nightmares and her parents decided we should move. we heard about a few vigilantes their names weren't known but the crime rates had plummeted. there was the red blur of Central city. the red and blue blur of Metropolis. and finally the dark knight of Gotham. so we voted, yea we voted Angie raised holy hell till we all got a vote. 10 votes altogether and knowledge that 7 year old girls are scary of course I'll come to realize that actually applies to all women, I mean come on tears and puppy dog eyes it's just not right.
After Angie's dad explained how Gotham and Metropolis were so close together and 2 vigilantes were better than one. Central city lost with only one vote, Shelby Angie's eldest sister yep named after the car also loves to draw, stated she saw super hunky firefighters on the news there. the rest of us pretty much just flipped a quarter. And Metropolis got 4 votes, while Gotham got the rest winning with 5 votes.
we spent a few weeks making arrangements for the move. I pached up my things from my house including L.S. Angie's parents said the house would stay in my name and the taxes would come out of my inheritance automatically. luckily my small time (his words that I believed) left alot of money I could basically retire now. However while packing my friends comic book collection and seeing real life examples had me thinking. Maybe just maybe I could become a hero and make sure this doesn't happen to others.
I shared my plan with angie and BAM POW she was in. she even started telling me her plan for a superhero type. "what's a superhero type" with an exasperated look she got into tiny professor mode. " there are 32 main types there's also any combination of these types I guess it's possible to be all although very unlikely. in alphabetical order and without explanations they're acrobat, aerial, armored, aquatic, blaster, brick/tank, elementalist, Energizer, feral, gadgeteer, ghost, government agent, healer, mage, marksman, martial arts, mecha pilot, mentalist, molecular, paragon, possessed, rider, robotic, sentai team, shapeshifter, size changer, slasher, speedster, super genius/mastermind, teleporter, time manipulator, and finally yeller. if you want specifics read my notes. hold on that was alot I need a drink."
as she walked away I knew I needed to look through the notes alot of those were pretty self explanatory but a few weren't. when ang returned I asked "what are your plans for a type." with a cute little grin she stated "since a few are automatically out I'm starting techy. super genius is a must I'm already on my way. then since I have my brains I'll focus on gadgeteer, marksman, and some acrobat mixed with some martial arts. then once I'm smart enough robotics, paragon. that's the plan anyway but lots could happen." she started going on about how cool an over all tech type would be. then all the gadgets she'd make like her comics had but some more practical. then I tuned her out because I stop understanding the words coming out of her mouth. hey I'm smart for 7 but Angie's a genius.
finally she stopped and asked " so any ideas on your type it's important to figure it out early that way you can focus your training." with a confident smile I replied "if your gonna be my little engineer then a martial artist and acrobat to honor my mom and your gadgets and maybe some type enhancement potion to honor my father's science. oh didn't one of your comics have a few guys enhanced by a superpower potion." for some reason her cheeks went all pink. "hey I'm not your little engineer" then she almost when full mini professor again but held it back but it was definitely there in her bright green eyes. " yes there are a few different serums not potions. a bunch came from Trying to remake one original serum known as the super serum. but its formula was lost although some exceptional ones came about from that."
huh so she didn't like being called an engineer "ok I'll call you my little mad scientist because of the way you do that muahaha laugh when your finishing your experiments." NO! I'll be your little engineer." for some reason her face is now bright red. ang must have really not liked mad scientist. I thought it was accurate though. "so do you think we could make a serum like that or something similar." "I d-d-dont know but its possible in the future I need alot more knowledge." oh I just thought of something, if I add her as a user to the L.S. it would probably speed things up. "hey m.l.e. when we're done moving I wanna show you something." "ok and what's m.l.e." with a happy grin I responded "my little engineer of course the first nickname I've given." oh I think I broke her she's all locked up and I think I see steam coming off my friends red little Hispanic face. even her black hair is frozen not even moving in the breeze coming in her window. yep time to test my superhero vanishing act.
