19 Years later
The sun beat down on the asphalt, casting a blinding light on the young man walking out of the prison gates. Glimmering in the sun were his golden locs, with his amber eyes squinted at the bright rays of light. He wore a plain white t-shirt and black jeans that hung loosely on his lean frame. His bronze skin was rough and weathered from years spent in prison.
His name? Leo Konza.
A sleek, black muscle car sat parked outside. A tall, suave young man with bushy blue locs sat on the hood, his piercing jet black eyes scanning the horizon as he waited for his younger brother.
This is Roy Walker.
As Leo approached, his eyes downcast and his clothes hanging off his thin frame, Roy leapt down from the car and engulfed him in a tight embrace. "Welcome home, little brother," he said warmly. As they pulled apart, Roy's katana gleamed in the sunlight, catching Leo's eye.
Leo stepped into the passenger seat of Roy's muscle car, feeling the worn leather beneath his fingertips. "I've been waiting six long years for this," he said with a smirk.
Roy chuckled, flickers of mischief in those eyes of his. "Six years too many, but at least now you get to ride shotgun in my sweet ride."
After getting comfortable, Leo waited a second, he rolled his eyes, but his lips quirked up in amusement. "Who gave you a katana? You know you're not fooling anyone with this whole ninja thing?"
Roy shrugged nonchalantly. "I'm a black man with a lil' samurai swag now. Just you wait, little brother."
Leo shook his head in amusement before his expression turned serious. "So, how's the family?"
"Everyone's good. My girlfriend and I just moved into an apartment, Mom and Dad just paid off their mortgage. To top it all off, you got out today, so yeah. Everyone's good." Roy steers out of the lot and revs up. "How was prison? I mean, if you're comfortable talking about it."
"What can I say? It was hell, food was ass and there were these big blue lights that shined from all the ceilings 24/7, I'm guessing to suppress our powers, but Lord was it a pain to be awake." Leo explained. "Sunglasses were a hot commodity in that bitch fasho."
The two laughed and rode through the city of NDC, bustling with people of all shapes and sizes. The roads were littered with cars and crowds while the skies were scattered with helicarriers and your common superhero. The two eventually arrive at a traffic jam, there seems to be a superhero related incident.
"It's my first day out, assholes! Move the fuck out of the way!" Leo shouts into the swarm of vehicles as he hangs out the window.
"Welp, so much for being a pedestrian. Come on." Roy says as he whips the car into an alleyway and gets out. "You still know your way home?"
"Like any good dog. Why? You don't wanna race me do you?" Leo says with a smirk and does a few lunges.
"Why not? Has my baby brother gotten slower from his time locked away?" Roy teases as he puts his sword on his back.
Leo stretches and yawns. "Even tho' my powers were weakened, you shoulda seen the laps I ran in the yard. It was some different shit each day in there, so respectfully I can say I've trained for this day. Honestly, I can't imagine how fast I am now."
"Well, let's find out, baby brother." Roy says as the ground beneath them begins to shudder as a pillar of rock shoots up and catapults Roy into the air.
"So, you're really just going to leave your car?!" Leo asks as he dashes up the building's walls vertically.
"It's a company car, little brother!" Roy shouts as he is carried through the air by a gust of wind.
"That didn't answer my question!" Leo said under his breath as he launched high in the sky over the city. He began to descend after he stretched his arms, taking in the beautiful sights of the city. Leo landed on the arm of a construction crane, leaving a small dent, his knees crack as he compressed and sprang forward like a bullet from a gun. Construction hardhats fly below and a size 13 impression is left on the side of a support beam. "Oops." He says. Leo had learned Silent Landing in prison which allows him to land relatively unscathed from most heights, but didn't get around to learning Silent Bound or any of the Silent Step series. Wasn't his style. "I'm on your ass now, Royyyyyyyy!" Leo's voice echoes through the sky, his arm extended to grab Roy's sword off of his back.
"Hilarious." Roy said before transforming into a maze of electricity that ensnares Leo and shocks him. Leo winces in pain and opens his eyes to see a thundercloud forming above him. The electric runs off of Leo's body and reforms as Roy above the thunder.
"Do better." Roy said before pointing his fingers like a gun and shooting lightning down onto his brother.
Leo screams as he plummets to the ground, his eyes are closed, he's spinning. Had Roy actually become a ninja? Had Leo done something wrong? Spinning faster. Is this really it?
Leo caught a glimpse of Roy just floating there. Weren't they supposed to be racing? Does he remember?
Black.
Still Spinning…
What? Oh!
He opened his eyes to see a wind vortex separating himself from becoming one with the pavement. The wind dissipates, he falls on his butt and looks up. Roy flew overhead with his middle finger directed at Leo and a wide smile.
"Asshole." Leo grumbled as he got up. "Ok. If this is how we're going to play it." As he talked to himself, multiple sirens began to flood the streets closest to him. "In broad-fucking-daylight too…well it probably has nothing to do with us."
Probably would be wrong.
After a quick look around, he dashed towards Union Park. "Pinball it is."
Leo dashed into the park's forest and bound to a tree's side. Birds fly away and squirrels hide as Leo darts throughout the trees, back and forth, here and there, leaving a size 13 footprint everywhere as he gains enough momentum to shoot up into the sky once again. After a quick tuck and roll, Leo is on the roof of a tower in the city and the race is back on. At this height, getting home is essentially a straight shot. All he would have to do is jump from this building to the next, run along the side of this building here, do a somersault to look cool…annnnnd he looks down to the Air Traffic Control Officer that is making eye contact with him.
"APC! Shit." Leo gasped.
Officer Neon, a young black hotshot, roughly a fews years older than Leo, perhaps Roy's age, smacks the siren built into the shoulder of his suit. "Got a Gifted brat jumping around town by Union Park. Have there been any disturbances nearby? I'm sure he doesn't have his flyers license." The officer speaks into his wrist.
"Nothing worth beating up a kid over. You know social media is the worst superpower out there." The receiver barks back at him.
"I'd say 5'8", black, gold-ish hair. Ringing any bells?" The officer questions.
"Jesus Christ, Neon. Powers in public are illegal but I'm not gonna arrest a guy for lighting a cig with his finger." The cop on the other line sympathized.
"Well, how else am I going to reach my quota?" Neon laughs. "I'm your friendly neighborhood Air Cop."
"You're truly despicable. Well I got nothing really on my end of substance. All I could come up with is…Leo…Konza? 19 years old. Just released from prison today. But it says he's a speedster, not a flier." The receiver explains.
"Murdoch or Salem?" Neon asks.
"Murdoch." The other line says.
"Over and out." Neon said before flying in pursuit. The Officer's skin turns into a bright green and emits a trail of the same color as he makes his way to Leo. "It's a shame that the storm is clearing now, I wanted a climatic chase." He laughed, flying in the direction Leo was running.
After he leaped over the eager Air cop, Leo landed on the glass ledge of a high-rise garden. He winced in silence over the pain in his fingers as he pulled himself up. Leo had been listening in this entire time, rather than adding a third to this race. Well, that seemed to be almost over at this rate. He'll know Roy is home once the rain hits Greenbelt. Leo was hiding in the bushes when Neon gave chase and emerged into the air surprising the cop. "Too bad you won't get one, loser!" Leo lands on Neon's back and they begin to spin around in the air. 'You got one shot at this.' He thought.
"Bullet!" Officer Neon's back crunches, "Jump!" And with that, Leo's knees compressed and he shot off of the Officer at unprecedented speed. A sonic boom echoed throughout the skies as the boy flew directly home. Officer Neon was writhing in pain and distraught that his newest catch got away so easily. Leo had realized he had no plan on stopping and wasn't sure if this would kill him or not. He had tears streaming out of his face as he struggled to close his eyes before…..splashing?
Leo opened his eyes and he was submerged in some water where pavement and certain death should be. A cloudy figure outside of the water waves a hand, and pop, Leo falls onto the ground to see Roy smiling above him.
"Looks like I won baby brother. And for good measure too it seems." Roy said after he helped Leo up. "Now let's get inside before your new friend crashes the party."
Leo shook the water out of his hair like a dog and cleaned his ears out before saying, "Yeah, let's get to it." He walked ahead of Roy and rang out his shirt, "Wait, party you say?"
"NOT SO FAST!" Comes from Neon who beams down in front of the two. Leo cowardly scurries behind Roy. "You have the right to remain silent. You are now getting arrested for evading arrest, assault, flying without a-"
The Officer looked at the ground to see Roy's katana sticking out of it. He didn't even see him take it out. Neon couldn't take his eyes off that shiny blue hilt. He began to sweat and power down. "A Blue-Bottomed Blade?"
"Great, you recognized it! So obviously you know that a recognized holder of a Double B has the authority to grant one provisional hero's license or deputize should I say any individual over the age of 18 as long as said holder is within a range of 50 Km at all times." Roy politely says.
"But.."
"Furthermore, any deputized individual is excluded from questioning, arrest, or withholding from police or local governments as stated in section six of the Gifted Security and Confidentiality Clause within the Enhanced Powers and Global Recognition Act of 1964." Roy said with a wide smile, Leo is utterly confused behind him. "I'd be happy to show you my ID as well."
"Save it. I must've made a mistake, I apologize for interrupting you." Neon said, not making eye contact with Roy.
"No worries, people make mistakes all the time. If that's all I can help you with I suppose we shall get going. We've been at the pool all day so I'm pretty tired. This fool behind me didn't even bring swim clothes, can you believe that?" Roy said as he pushed past Neon.
Leo walked behind and made funny faces at Neon. "What can I say? I'm just a forgetful guy!" He blows a raspberry.
"Wait." Neon said, spinning around to face them. "Who is your handler?"
Roy walked up the steps to their family home and uttered the name without an ounce of fear. "Ishikawa." Afterwards, Roy opened the door for Leo who entered first.
"SURPRISE!!!" Rang out from the house and flooded the street as the two entered the house.
Neon stared intently at Roy who returned the glare as he shut the door.
"A 19 year old kid who served a sentence at Murdoch and lived to tell the story and another with an Ishikawa's Killer License, this can't be good." Neon said before beaming up into the air.
The sight was almost unbelievable. The Great Thunder and Shokka, retired neighborhood heroes, but better known as Ma and Pop. Leo was expecting a bigger turnout, perhaps a parade or a float with his face on it, at the very least a block party. However, despite the small showing, there was a warmth in getting to hold the people that raised him.
Thunder picked up Leo and squeezed him in his boulders of arms. "There's my boy!" He said excitedly.
Leo feigned a smile to pretend that Pops wasn't currently breaking his spine with a mere hug. "Yup…here I am." He said with his eyes damn near popping out of his head.
"Marcy! You're going to kill him!" His mom said. Thunder drops Leo to the ground, struggling to breathe. "Oh come here, baby." Shokka says as she hugs Leo and kisses his cheeks. "We. Missed. You. So. Much." Little did she know that she was also excitedly electrocuting Leo.
"Ow, Ow, Ow, Ow, Ow!"
"Don't. You. Ever. Go. To Jail and leave us here alone again! You hear me?" Shokka lovingly commands.
"If I gotta deal with this then I hope next time they give me life." Leo sarcastically says.
Shokka smacks him, but they all laugh after.
"We'd just break you out, I'm a whooole lot stronger now." Roy says with a smirk.
"No. You. Won't." Shokka says as she hits Roy too.
A voice Leo didn't recognize entered the conversation. "I don't know about that, Mrs. Walker. Once Roy has his mind made up there's nothing that can get in his way. Trust me, I've seen it first hand." A striking woman made her way to Roy's side. Dark brown skin, silver locs, a prominent scar across her face.
"Aw don't give me too much credit now. I couldn't have done all those things without you." Roy says as he kisses the lady. A tailored suit matching Roy's hugged her frame.
Leo couldn't make sense of what he was seeing.
"Don't be rude now Roy, go ahead and introduce your lady-friend here." Shokka says.
"Well this is Skai. We met at AGGY and graduated together."
"Woah! So she's a ninja too? That's so cool! I'm still mad they only invited you. Had I gone too, I prolly wouldn't have been locked up in the fir" Leo says.
"Not quite a ninja. My academic coursework was more on the non-combat side. However, I do know where all of your pressure points and nerve endings are." Skai answered.
"Don't let her fool you, she'll still beat your ass." Roy added.
"Sheesh, remind me not to piss her off." Leo said with a face now full of potato salad. He had a plate nearly as tall as the ceiling. "Oh my God!" Leo said with a Hawaiian roll stuffed in his mouth. "I missed this. So much. So so much." He cleans off the bones of chicken legs followed by a set of excited groans. "By the way." He burps. "Any chance my father is around?"
The room grew silent. Thunder and Shokka threw uneasy glances at one another waiting for the other to speak up first. A sweaty Thunder steps forward.
"Last time I checked, he was headed to fight pirates in The Red Sea." Roy said, sitting across Leo with a light plate of greens, potatoes, and cabbage. "Had a chance encounter with him at the shipyard."
"Oh yeah? He say anything non-deadbeat-ish?" Leo said as he tore through a corn on the cob.
"We didn't have much time to catch up but he said he was excited about you coming home."
"Liar." Leo said with a wad of macaroni and cheese in his mouth.
"No shit. Even showed me this old photograph of you with barely any teeth." Roy chuckles, "Said it's the only thing he's looked at between missions."
"Pirates. Missions. What does that man even do?"
"Ehh. There were a few big wigs in the general vicinity. If it's anything like what I do, then I know that it doesn't matter as long as it puts food on the table. But speaking of what he does, what do you want to do now?"
"Well that's easy! I'm going to go kill the guy who put me in jail then take over the world!" Leo says before gulping all of his food down and dropping his plate on the table.
Shokka narrows her brow and folds her arms.
"Well that's quite ambitious." Roy says, Skai giggles beside him.
"As long as you're paying some bills around here and not getting into trouble you can do whatever you want." Shokka adds.
"Bills? Roy told me you guys paid the mortgage off!"
Roy squeezes the bridge in between his eyes and laughs. "There goes that prison education."
"Phone bill, electric, gas, credit card payments, car insurance, gas again, food." Shokka says as she folds her arms.
"But wha-ah? None of that has anything to do with me!"
"Look, we did a great, if not perfect job of raising you while your father did who knows what and what did you do to repay us? Throw all of that away by getting locked up!"
Thunder comforts Shokka and lets out a bellowing laugh. "No need to get all fired up. We never got the chance to punish you so here it is now six years later.
"I'm in debt now?!?"
"Think of it as a backlog for all of your chores, responsibilities, and… let's just call it an accountability tax.' Thunder continued, grinning.
"Accountability tax!!?!"
Shokka chimed in, "For every month you were gone, there's a percentage you owe. Six years of electric, phone, gas…you name it."
Roy added, "Kinda like an adulting bootcamp. We all have responsibilities, you missed out on some. Time to catch up!"
"But that's like…soooo muchhh!" Leo groaned.
Skai, trying to lighten the mood, said, "No worries! Taking over the world sounds pretty profitable to me! Should be a piece of cake for you."
They all laughed, Leo rolled his eyes. "Speaking of cake, I'm ready for dessert now! Let's Go!"