1 Strange Times

A bright flash brightened the night sky. It was way past midnight and everyone was fast asleep. The only witness to this strange sight was a homeless man who had just made himself comfortable on a bench in the park. He did not even bother to investigate. Strange occurrences were very common around this town, especially occurrences like this one which seemed to originate from the nearby junkyard. He had seen even more bizarre things than flashes in the sky. Everyone did.

Adjusting his extremely long beard, the old man turned to his left and pulled his worn-out fedora hat over his eyes, only to push it up again. He looked at the nearby trash can, brimming to its top with dry leaves. The night was certainly going to be cold. With a snap of his fingers, the leaves burst into flames, yet they never scorched the can. Perfect! He then slumped on the bench to begin his slumber. Yes, he definitely had seen a strange phenomenon that night.

The sound of foraging broke through the morning's quiet and misty air. Far away, two boys were seen rummaging through a nearby scrap heap. These lads scavenged the junkyard daily, always hoping to find something of value that might be of use to them or to make some quick pocket money off anyone who was willing to buy their recovered used merchandise. One man's trash is another man's treasure after all.

Suddenly, an unfamiliar sound pierced the sleepy dawn. The boys' ears picked it up. Could their ears be playing tricks? They tried to listen harder. Then, they looked at each another and nodded in agreement. No doubt about it. A faint cry could be heard.

They searched frantically for the source of that sound. Just in the nick of time, they found a baby laid covered under a heap of leftovers from yesterday, while a hungry looking dog sniffed intently nearby. Quickly, they chased the brute away.

The boys looked at one another and nodded in agreement. One of them stayed behind to guard the child while the other one ran off towards the park. Time was of essence here! In a split second, he was nothing but a speck at the other side of the junkyard, creating a huge gust of wind sending debris flying around in circles.

The fire in the trash can had already burnt out but the old man who had lit it was still fast asleep. He was in such a deep slumber that he was not aware of the little footsteps that came running towards him. The boy stopped in front of the bearded man and gave him a shake.

"Hey, old man Wrinkles!"

No response. The boy shrugged slightly and gave the chair a hard tilt, sending the man toppling to the ground. Rudely awoken and in a state of shock, the old man flailed his hands wildly sending out huge fireballs randomly into the air like an injured dragon snorting sparks of fire when trapped under a boulder. The boy dodged those fireballs amazingly with superhuman speed. Finally being fully awoken and after registering the situation, the old man's initial jolt was replaced with anger.

"You little runt! There better be a good reason for waking me up like that." The old man got up on his feet.

"We found a baby," the boy exclaimed excitedly.

Wrinkles's brow furrowed. The news did not surprise him.

"How old is the baby, Danny?"

He looked at the boy.

"Not sure," Danny replied. Eyes wide with excitement.

The old man sighed. To him this was not uncommon news. Yes, cruel but the usual. Here in the harden provinces of Quark City there were many irresponsible folks who abandoned their own children in the middle of nowhere. All those superpowers never did change society. When he was a boy, he loved comic books. There the superheroes used their powers responsibly but that was all in a make-believe world. This was reality.

Ever since the great Power Surge happened, everyone had superpowers but no one would give two winks to help anybody but themselves. Since everybody was special, it was everyone only for themselves. Wrinkles had to learn it the hard way. He tried to be a superhero once. All that did nothing but turned him into a man abandoned by his family, an outcast of society.

He chose to be homeless because he was disgusted with society.

Now, the only thing he could do with his superpowers was to collect a couple of abandoned babies. "Trash-can babies" was the crude term used here.

"All right lad, lead the way."

Wrinkles trudged along the path after Danny. The young boy was very excited with his find. In fact, he was so excited that he forgot about the elderly man who could barely keep up with him.

"Danny! Slow down a little."

The boy turned around, realizing he had unintentionally left his old companion behind.

"Sorry, old man Wrinkles. I forgot you are not an Accelerate," he zoomed back to Wrinkles.

Wrinkles frowned at the word Accelerate. If there was anything good that came out from the Great Power Surge, it was that people were not segregated by colour but abilities. Clans were formed by those with similar abilities. Accelerates were those who could run at superhuman speed. Wrinkles himself was a Flamer, one who could manipulate fire.

The segregation had been so severe that today in many countries and planets, marrying someone with a different ability is unheard of. This was to keep the clans pure. Apparently, when two different clan members married, the resulting child would either have a weaker version of the parents' power, or worse, turn out completely powerless.

Only in Quark City were there no such laws. It was called the City of the Free, long neglected by the rest of the world, so an aging Flamer could be very good friend to a young Accelerate without anyone batting an eyelid.

"Want me to carry you, old timer," Danny winked as he stopped just a hairbreadth away from Wrinkles.

"Only if you want to get a severely burned bottom, boy," the old man winked back.

The cries of the baby still pierced the air when Danny arrived. The other boy was fruitlessly trying to cheer the baby up.

"Aye, Scrubs! What did you do to the poor tyke? Scare him with your cheap water tricks did yah?," shouted Wrinkles.

"Well, I tried blowing some water bubbles to amuse the baby but it didn't work," Scrubs said dejectedly.

"Of course it didn't work. Who would want to play with those stinking bubbles you made with your own saliva," Wrinkles said half-jokingly.

"No, I did not. See, I used this puddle of water over here," Scrubs waved his hand over the puddle and droplets seemed to magically float about.

Wrinkles shook his head.

"That pool is even dirtier than your own spittle, you silly Sprite,"

That was exactly what Scrubs was, a water sprite. Besides giving everyone superpowers, the Great Surge brought visitors; extra-terrestrial, intergalactic and inter-dimensional visitors. Mythical folks out of story books suddenly appeared out of nowhere. As if that was not enough, a week after the Great Surge, ambassadors from other planets presented themselves.

Ironically, the little people or mythical folks and the extra-terrestrial beings had believed that neither one of the other had ever existed. They were as shocked as everyone else. The planet earth had just become the connector of worlds. It was a nightmare of sorts for its terrified people.

It was not easy at first, but the Great Surge happened eons ago. Now the only people who had nightmares about this stuff were the Interplanetary Trans-dimensional Immigration Officers.

"Hey Mr Wrinkles, what do you make of this?" Scrubs who was the shortest of the both of them asked. He fiddled with his brown snow cap uncomfortably.

Around the baby, the ground seemed singed, like there had been a small explosion of sorts. Yet, there were no signs of burns around the baby.

"Well, I'll be..." He curiously walked towards the baby. Circling around the baby, he inspected the burn marks and then bent down to sniff the soil around the little toddler.

"The infant probably is just like me. Might have had a first flare up," said Wrinkles. "A Flamer but the infant just doesn't know it yet". Wrinkles took out a match that he had been holding and struck it in front of the baby.

"Here little one, let me show you a trick". He waved his hand like a spider over the tiny flicker and immediately it became a huge flame. Then, he moved his hands, controlling the flame like a puppeteer with his puppets. They danced up and down and turned into an array of shapes - horses, birds, people and so on. Then the flame died down and became a tiny flicker on the match stick again.

The baby's huge eyes were transfixed.

"Alright, now you try it."

"Are you sure it's a good idea Mr Wrinkles?" Danny shifted uncomfortably at the idea of a baby playing with fire. Nevertheless, if a fire spreads, his superfast reflexes might just be ready to put it out immediately.

"Don't worry, Danny. Flamers like me are fireproof even from birth."

As the baby put out a hand towards the flame, Wrinkles suddenly pulled the match away from the baby.

Scrubs looked puzzled.

"No, this young one is definitely not a Flamer. I can sense it." Wrinkles explained.

"A Teleporter perhaps ? That would explain why the ground is like that." Scrubs suggested enthusiastically.

"No, I have been with a Teleporter lass before. They don't make that kind of a mess, mind you. Otherwise the relationship would have lasted even shorter."

"You were with a higher Clan!" Scrubs said in awe.

"But that is not the main problem, is it lad?" Wrinkles snapped back. He hated clan rankings.

Those with abilities to teleport were considered of a higher class or clan. They were the elite group as they could manipulate time and moved objects with their mind, just to name a few. But even the higher clans were still below the Big Four. The big four were the four most powerful Clans who held a balance among each other.

Those who played with elements or were just physically enhanced were from the lower clans. Wrinkles hated such classifications especially since his own daughter suffered after marrying into a higher clan. Quickly, he changed the subject.

"I reckon this poor tyke has been abandon by some irresponsible parents so we better help the poor thing. Let's bring her..." Wrinkles paused awhile. He lifted up the baby to check and continued "Yes her, to ...," his voice trailed off. Before Wrinkles could finish his sentence, he was cut off by a bright light similar to that he had brushed off that night.

"What on earth...? Everyone get down! Now!" he screamed before everything went pitch black.