HK Post: Heroes & Villains - Chapter Two

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Title: Heroes & Villains
Author: Harper Kingsley
Genre: m/m superhero romance, action
Summary: Vereint Georges is a superhero that discovers being a superhero isn't as great as he always thought it would be. Probably should be seen more an antihero... except he goes straight from goody-twoshoes to supervillain.



CHAPTER TWO

Two months of being a superhero had taught Vereint a few of the tricks of the trade. It wasn't getting any funner, but it was getting a bit easier to save the day.

He had had his first taste of a super battle, and it hadn't been exactly thrilling. With twenty superheroes beating the crap out of four supervillains--the League of Ultimate Evil--he couldn't help feeling that maybe it hadn't been exactly fair. Sure, the four guys had powers of their own, but they were no match for twenty men and women with superpowers too. Joining in had made Vereint feel a bit like a bully beating up on someone smaller and skinnier than him. It just hadn't been comfortable.

Signing autographs at the children's hospital had seemed to be more his speed. He had enjoyed seeing the smiles on those childish faces and wished that he could always bring them happiness. They deserved a bit of joy since life had been so unfair to them.

Being a superhero wasn't exactly the perfect wonder he had somehow thought it was going to be. He still had to work his every day job, so it wasn't like he was living the fairytale life.

Working eight a.m. to five p.m. Monday through Friday, then being a superhero when he got off work and on the weekends was slowly turning him into a complete burnout. If he could have, he might have quit his job and been a superhero full time, but saving the day didn't exactly bring in the big bucks he needed to pay his rent and buy food. He had to keep his job at the Sakura Corporation and be a superhero in his free time.

He wanted to ask some of the other superheroes what they did to make ends meet while they stopped meteors from smashing into the city and beat the crap out of the bad guys, but he knew he couldn't. He had a role to play, and that role's name was Starburst.

As a superhero, he always had to look like he knew what he was doing, even when he didn't have a clue. It was the classic Catch-22--he had to be a superhero to know what he was doing, but he had to know what he was doing to be a superhero. Which basically meant he had to figure everything out on his own, with the news cameras focused on him at all times. It was a painful learning process.

Sitting at his desk at work, he would daydream about how he could be out in the city saving the day, but when he was saving the day, all he could think about was the pleasantly boring safety of his desk. It was a strange way to live.

Busy juggling his double life, he didn't even notice the attention he got from people at work. He was good-looking and there were women and men that wanted to get to know him better, but he was always so distant. He completely ignored the tentative queries of his coworkers--he was so busy saving the day that he couldn't even save himself or know enough to try.

For most people, loneliness would have quickly set in, but he was in a place of mind where nothing like that could touch him. He was a hero, and heroes never gave in to the "weaker" emotions.

Vereint set himself the task of being the ultimate superhero. He spent his days at work, but his mind wandered through the city, dreaming about all of the wonderful things he was going to do when he punched his time card at the end of the day and walked out the wide double doors. His every particle of being was turned toward the wonders of "saving the day."

He passed up on several opportunities to make friends, not even noticing when people half-suggested a shared drink or a meal after work. He hurt a few feelings without realizing it, and soon garnered the reputation of being cold and unfriendly and was thereafter left pretty much to himself.

Starburst began to eat up all of Vereint's time. He was a metahuman--he didn't have time to merely be a human being.

It was hard trying to build up a superhero reputation while working weekdays. He may not have felt tired like a normal human would have, but not even he could add more hours to a twenty-four hour day.

He was sitting in his living room on one of his rare free Saturdays, watching cartoons as he carefully sewed shut a tear in the armpit of his black costume shirt. That always seemed to be where the holes started--at the seams under his arms and at the backs of his knees.

While he sewed, he tried to figure out how he was going to make this month's rent payment. Even working full time, he was facing a real money crisis. He had used up too many sick days while he battled to save the city and the world. He had almost even lost his job a couple of times. Things were starting to get a little ridiculous.

Vereint cursed when he pricked his finger with the needle. It didn't hurt and it didn't bleed, but that didn't matter. It was a metaphor for his life--it was the little things dragging him down, not the big ones.

"Dammit!" he suddenly yelled, throwing the shirt across the room. He slipped off the couch onto the floor and just sat there for a long time, not quite sure what he was supposed to be feeling.

He felt as if his life was slipping through his fingers.
He covered his face with his hands and hunched over his stomach. His eyes were itching and burning and he didn't know why.

What the hell's the matter with me? he thought.
"Help! Help!" His superhearing kicked into high gear, startling him a little with the nearness of the shout. He twitched and pulled himself to his feet.

There wasn't time now for deep thought, and a part of him could only be glad. He stripped off his clothes and put on his costume, tugging a little in disgust at the tear at his armpit. He had to hope no one would notice, since there wasn't time to fix it.

He huffed out an exasperated breath and leapt off his balcony to fly at light speed toward the sound of that scream. He moved so fast that no one could see him, which was good since he didn't have enough money for a secret superhero's lair. He was stuck using his apartment for his base of operations.

Megacity blurred beneath him as he zipped across the sky. Flying was a wonderful feeling, the one superpower he could never get enough of, though his speed was such that he never really got to enjoy a long flight. In times of leisure, he was regretful about it, but right now... speed was everything.

In the distance as he approached, he saw smoke reaching up toward the sky. Voices screamed in terror and pain and there was the sound of crushing metal and flesh hitting flesh.

Megacity National Bank was at the base of a four hundred story skyscraper. All gleaming metal and faux-marble facade, it still managed to pass itself off as a quiet building, never mind that most of the money in the city passed through its doors.

It was where the wealthy of Megacity stored their money, the "regular" people relegated to using smaller branches.

Right now there was a gaping hole in the wall and the people visible on the street were ducking behind cars and fire hydrants and whatever other cover they could find. The smell of terror was nearly overpowering, seeming more acrid even than the smoke pouring out of the hole in the wall.

Vereint landed half a block down the street and turned to one of the cops there trying to hold back the curious crowd. There was nothing like the entertainment of possible danger to make people want to risk their lives stupidly.

"What's going on?" he asked.

The cop barely glanced at him. "Bank robbery. A gang of metahumans are in there right now with a bunch of hostages. They're busy emptying the vault but are still managing to hurt as many people as possible."

"All right then," Vereint said in his deep "compassionate hero" voice. "I'll handle this."

"Phth! If you think you can do a better job than Megacity's finest, you're welcome to give it a try. But don't expect any sympathy from anyone if you die." The cop was disgusted with dealing with all the superpowered freaks that thought that because they had invulnerable bodies they were braver than the normal men and women that risked their lives everyday. He knew that the real heroes were the cops and firefighters that threw themselves into danger even knowing they could die at any minute, all to save the lives of everyday citizens--men and women that couldn't depend on "superheroes" to save them, only normal heroes.

Vereint didn't know what to say, so he didn't say anything. He just leaped in the air and flew toward the bank. He had a situation to handle here with his delicate, superhero precision.

"Hey, you losers better get out here and deal with me before I get mad and come in there myself!" he called, landing about ten feet from the hole in the wall.

"Who the hell do you think you are?" a booming voice asked.

"My name is Starburst!" Vereint called
There was a derisive chuckle. "What, the Candy Ass has decided to face down some real crime? Why don't you just go home, little boy, before you get yourself hurt?"

Vereint's hands clenched into fists at his sides. Angry sweat trickled down the sides of his face and his eyes narrowed into slits. "Get out here so I can kick your asses!" he yelled. His whole body trembled with barely suppressed rage.

Being mocked by the newspapers almost from the first had really driven the spike of a bad superhero name into his brain. He was at the limit of his being able to deal with all the mockery. He was ready to start kicking asses and taking names, and these guys seemed like the place to start.

His superhearing caught the whispers of their leader. "You go out there and stall him while we finish packing up the loot. He shouldn't be too hard to deal with, so you can do it alone. Go on."

Vereint felt his anger rising to new realms of fury. That they could really think he was that easy to deal with... he had the sudden desire to crush someone. He didn't plan on being merciful this time. They had earned his wrath.

Through the hole in the wall stepped a man-shaped blob of muscle and fat that had to be at least eight-feet tall and a thousand pounds. Wrapped in what looked like a blue and yellow striped unitard and wearing a black cone-shaped hat, the guy wasn't exactly the apex of all-consuming fears. He looked like a malformed balloon, the fat on his legs joggling as he moved.

Vereint felt his lip curl and he crossed his arms over his chest. "You already know my name, so who the hell are you?" He wasn't in the mood for superhero "good boy" chatter. He was pissed and in the mood to show it.

"I am Titan! I will crush you!" the blob yelled, thundering forward.

Vereint was surprised to feel the pavement shake beneath his feet as the fat man ran at him, but he stood his ground, waiting to see what was going to happen. He'd never faced anyone like this before and there was almost a thrill that he could maybe, possibly die.

There was a smack of flesh when Titan crashed into the superhero, but Starburst didn't even budge an inch. He felt the impact, but it was nothing to his superstrength. Titan stumbled backward, shaking his head and his face went red with anger.

"Is that all you've got?" Vereint asked conversationally. "You run at someone and throw your fat at them? If you don't have any superpowers, than that's just fucking pitiful."

Titan growled. "I will show you what I can do." He backpedaled, putting about five feet of space between them before he stuck his arm in through the neck-hole of his unitard, searching for something.

To Vereint it looked like Titan was digging into his crotch. His face twisted with disgust. "Dude, that's fucking gross. Get your hand out of your pants and fight me, loser."

"Ah ha, here it is... YOUR DOOM!" Titan pulled out a four-inch metal bar and pointed it at Vereint.

"You're joking, right? That is the lamest thing I've ever seen." Vereint couldn't help laughing a little--the guy was just so pissed, but his weapon was so stupid that it couldn't be helped. Then a green beam struck him right in the chest.

"What the fuck was that?!" he yelled, clapping a hand to the basketball-sized hole burned through his uniform. "Son of a bitch! Do you know how hard it is to keep my costume in shape as it is, and now you're burning holes in it? Are you nuts? I'm gonna have to hurt you now."

Something like fear flickered across Titan's face for a moment, but he was too dumb to hold onto it for long. He actually thought he was going to kick Starburst's ass. It was a real laugh.

Vereint threw himself forward at the guy. He was in a state of mind that left him ready to dish out some serious pain. There was no way he was letting Titan get away with just a limp.
* * *

He had been eating his lunch when the emergency call from the bank had come. He was at Diamond's with the rest of the Megacity Metropolitan Museum of Arts Grants Committee when Sperdro, his supercomputer, had sent the message to him. After making his excuses, he was almost glad of the chance to escape.

He didn't mind being thought of as a philanthropist, but sometimes he got tired of always having to be the one to care. Sometimes he just wished that other people would step up and take care of some of the problems of the world so he didn't have to.

Warrick flew across the city to the bank. He was already in a bit of a mood, so by the time he got there he was ready to cause some serious damage. Instead, he found that he was the second superhero on the scene, and the one waiting there...

"What the hell are you doing here?" he demanded, sounding angrier than he really thought he was.

Starburst barely glanced up at him. "Hey, glad you're here to help. I'm almost done here, but you can start on the others if you want."

"Why don't you let a real superhero handle this?" Warrick asked.

The newbie idiot just shrugged his shoulders and hit the fat blob again. It was obvious that the guy wasn't really being hurt--his fat cushioned him from any real damage--but he was wailing and waving his arms like he was in real pain, hamming it up for the avidly watching cameras. It was probably going to be a bad PR moment, the human-rights people probably going to play up the mental and physical abuse the monster was receiving at the hands of the superpowered meathead. It was going to be bad for everyone, and the asshole wasn't a member of the Superhero Union, so that was just going to make it worse.

What the hell are you doing being a superhero without any insurance? Do you have any idea how many people are out there just waiting for the chance to sue your dumb ass? Warrick thought. He couldn't help the pissy mood he was in. His whole day had been heading downhill from the minute he had poured his first cup of coffee in the morning. He just wasn't in a state of mind to deal with this kind of crap.

"I was handling this by myself," Starburst said, shooting him an unfriendly look. "I don't mind if you want to help, but I don't know why you're being such a fucking asshole. If you want to help, help, but otherwise... shut the fuck up and stop being an ass. I don't know what your problem with me is, but cut it out!"

Warrick didn't know why, but there was something almost warm in his guts when Starburst was being all pissy. He didn't like feeling like that, so he turned it into anger. "You're nothing but a poser. Why don't you go home and let someone real handle this? You're only good for cleanup. Why don't you sign on as some second-rate hero's sidekick? The spandex will probably fit you better."

The part of Starburst's face that showed flushed red and he slammed an angry fist into the fatty-baddy's stomach. His arm moved with a blur of motion and there was a flash of light followed by a loud BANG! as his fist impacted. The bad guy went flying through the air to land about twenty feet away with a shuddering impact, the ground vibrating and cracking beneath him.

"What the hell is your problem?!" Starburst turned on Warrick, glaring angrily.

Warrick shrugged nonchalantly. "I just don't think that wannabes should be allowed out to play at superheroing. Why don't you just go home? You're not needed here or anywhere else as a superhero. Why don't you use your metahuman abilities to work construction or something, really help the world?"

"God, you're such a fucking bastard!" Starburst threw his hands in the air. "I am completely handling this. Why don't you go back to wherever you came from, huh? I don't need your help here. I got this covered."

"Oh yeah, then why are those guys getting away with the goods?" Warrick asked, pointing.

Starburst spun around, his cape swirling around his legs. Warrick pretended that his pants didn't draw tight at the sight of that perfect ass being covered by a silky layer of cape like a curtain drawing closed on something wonderful.

"Dammit!" Starburst cursed, leaping into the air.

Seeing that the two superheroes were busy arguing with each other, the bad guys had taken the opportunity to try and sneak off unnoticed. They actually thought they were going to get away. Like they could really escape from someone with so many amazing superpowers.

Warrick watched as Starburst taught them otherwise.

The new superhero had some interesting moves, but Warrick still didn't feel that he had what it took to be a superhero. Just because he could fit into a pair of tights and had the power to throw bad guys around like rag-dolls didn't mean he had any right to be out in the world risking other peoples' lives, and Warrick didn't have any qualms about saying that to anyone that would listen and a few that wouldn't.

Warrick really wasn't liking the new guy. There was just something about him that put his teeth on edge.

"Remember not to kill any of them!" Warrick called out, trying to pretend that he really cared and wasn't just taunting the guy.

Starburst flipped him off over his shoulder with one hand while he began tying up the bad guys with a heavy chain with the other. Warrick allowed himself to wonder for a moment where the chain had come from. It wasn't like Starburst was wearing a utility belt or anything. Maybe the guy had run all the way home and back faster than the eye could see.

"I'm not going to kill anyone," Starburst growled angrily. "I don't need your fucking help."

"You may have all kinds of powers, but that doesn't mean you're a good superhero," Warrick said in what he knew was an annoyingly conversational tone of voice. For some reason, he got kind of an odd thrill out of poking at the guy, trying to make him squirm.

Starburst hadn't been a hero for long, just a couple of months, but from the first time Warrick had seen him on TV he just hadn't liked the guy. There was something about Starburst that was so damn fake, even more so than even the other heroes. He just seemed to be hiding himself even more than anyone else.

"Why don't you go back to your ivory tower and mind your own fucking business?" Starburst growled, giving Blue Ice a glare while pounding a recalcitrant villain with a fist. It was obvious he was being careful not to use his full strength, because the bad guy didn't end up as a smear on the ground. He was just knocked unconscious.

"I'm just here to watch and pick up the pieces when you screw up, like I know you're going to do," Warrick said, smirking.

He really didn't know what it was about the guy that put him off so much, but he really liked bringing him down. It made him feel good to make Starburst feel bad... maybe it was the fact that the guy was a complete candy ass. There was no way he was ever going to be a real hero, not in this or any other lifetime. Sure, he had the powers, but he didn't have the drive. He was a fucking wimp, and it showed to anyone who knew where to look.

"What the fuck is your problem?" Starburst demanded, glaring angrily. His color was rising high where his face showed around his mask. "I've never done anything to you, so why don't you chill the fuck up. I'm getting the job done here, and I don't need you sticking your nose in where it doesn't belong, so why don't you leave me alone?"

Warrick shrugged. "I'm one of the leading members of the League of Superheroes so I have a duty to keep an eye on any hero that might possibly be seeking membership with our organization. I know for a fact that you put in the paperwork to join us, so your behavior is going to be under close observation until the decision is made one way or another whether you will be joining the League or not. I have every right to be here."

Starburst's eyes burned with anger, but he didn't really have anything to say.

It amused Warrick to know that he had won without even trying. There was something so satisfying about knowing that one word from him could make or break the other man. It was a hungry kind of power and he wanted more.
* * *

Vereint didn't understand why Blue Ice was such an asshole toward him. He didn't even know the guy. Yet every time they saw each other, Blue Ice was trying to bring him down. It was a little disconcerting.

Hunching his shoulders, he tried to ignore the older hero. He didn't want to deal with him right now. He had bad guys to wrangle.

When he'd first decided that he was going to be a superhero, he'd thought it was going to be easy. In his head he'd imagined that it was going to be all flying down to save the day and receive the adulation of the masses. In reality, it was a lot more like work than he'd expected.

Saving lives was only a small part of his job. A lot of what he had to deal with was all PR related. If the media didn't like him, they painted him as an ass to the public, which meant he received no respect whatsoever. His saving of lives meant nothing because he was just some big joke.

He couldn't really understand why no one could take him seriously. He tried just as hard as every other hero, so why didn't he get any kind of respect?

If it was just Blue Ice treating him bad, he might have been able to ignore it, but it was everyone acting like it was a crime that he wanted to save them. They made fun of his name, his ideals, everything about him.

What do I feel about the way everyone treats me? he thought.

The answer came in a surprisingly cold voice: I'm angry.
Clenching his hands into fists at his side, he gritted his teeth and tried to bury his anger deep inside him. He almost had himself back under control and relaxed a little, sure he wasn't going to completely lose it.

"You know, you've got a hole in your shirt," Blue Ice said, pointing.

"THAT... IS... IT!" Starburst yelled. "I have had enough of all this crap."

Filled with rage, he could feel himself trembling uncontrollably. Violet color began rising around his body and he felt his hair shifting in an unfelt breeze. His eyes felt hot all of a sudden and he was afraid of what was going to happen, but he couldn't stop it. He was just so frustrated and angry.

Months of being treated like crap were finally catching up with him and he didn't really know what was going to happen, but he knew it was going to be bad for someone.

"What the hell are you doing?" Blue Ice demanded, stepping backward a little, a tendril of ice reaching out to pull the bad guys with him.

"I don't know," Vereint said, sounding almost normal for a second. "This is new to me too."

The violet light got brighter around him, pulsating with the sound of his heartbeat. He really didn't know what was going to happen, but he knew that he couldn't stop it. He was angry and not even a little fear was going to calm him down.

It took a lot to make him angry, but once he got mad, he stayed mad.

The light surrounding him began pulsing brighter and brighter and reaching further and further around him until he was covered in a blinding corona of light with rays bursting out in every direction.

"Holy shit!" Titan boomed, backpedaling away from the glowing hero.

Wherever the light touched, something burned. The asphalt melted and buckled beneath his feet, but he remained hovering a few inches off where the ground used to be. A nearby mailbox melted into a puddle of goo before getting so hot that not even the remnants of the metal remained behind. A light pole bent and shifted before seeming to be sucked into itself until nothing was left.

Seeing what his anger was doing, Vereint did his best to try and rein it back in. He really didn't want to kill anyone by accident.

It took all of his strength to hold the burning light of death close to himself and not let it go spreading out randomly, crisp-frying anyone it came into contact with. He didn't even want to kill Blue Ice, who was a complete asshole to the third degree.

"What am I supposed to do?" he asked out loud, barely able to keep the panic out of his voice.

"Stop, that's what," Blue Ice growled, trying to keep out of reach of the light.

"I'm trying, but I don't know how it started, so how the fuck am I supposed to stop it?" Vereint shrilled. He knew he sounded like a pansy, but he really couldn't help it. He was burning up with some new power, and he didn't know what he was supposed to do about it.
Especially since this was one power that he definitely didn't want to have. Searing death bursting out of his every pore... so not with the cool.

Trying to focus on his new ability and somehow pull it back into himself where it couldn't kill anyone, he felt extremely helpless. Nothing he did seemed to have any affect on the power overflowing out of him. It had taken control of him and that was that. It would just have to run its course and he would have to hope that no one died as a result.
* * *

Making the guy mad had been funny at first, but he wasn't laughing now. Things had gone horribly wrong really fast and now he didn't know what he was supposed to do to make it all better.

This is so not cool, he thought.

Warrick had known plenty of heroes with a more than generous helping of superpowers, but Starburst... the guy was just overflowing with the abilities. It was almost sickening how overpowered he was. And now he had just come across a new one, a very dangerous new one that Warrick had no idea how to stop and that Starburst himself seemed to have no control over.

Violet light eating away at everything it touched, melting asphalt and metal so completely that not even gooey waste was left behind. Starburst stood at the center of the light, glowing so bright a purple that it was blindingly impossible to look directly at him.

"Come on, man, stop it now," Warrick said.

"How?" the guy demanded. "I don't know how I'm doing this, so how the hell am I supposed to stop it?"
"I don't care, just stop!"

"Easy to tell someone what to do, but you've got no more clue how to stop me doing this than I do." Starburst put his hands on his hips, a rather odd looking thing from a violet glowing man. He shone radiant purple, his hair curling darker strands around his head.

Warrick didn't know when it had happened, but all of the anger he had felt toward Starburst had been transformed into lust. He didn't want to feel like that, but for a moment there he burned with desire.

Then he remembered how much of a dick Starburst was. The guy was almost nauseating in his goody-goody newbie way. And now the guy was burning everything around him with the light glowing from his skin.

"You better stop it right now," he commanded. "If you don't I'm going to have to do something to stop you."

"Like what? I don't remember any skill for stopping out of control superpowers in your repartee," Starburst said. "What are you going to threaten me with doing? I'm pretty much invulnerable and there's nothing you could do to hurt me, much less stop me from doing anything I really don't have any control over anyway."

"You really are an asshole, aren't you?"

Warrick knew that his dislike of Starburst was showing clearly, but there wasn't anything he could do about it. He really just didn't like the guy. There was just something about him that pissed him off.

Starburst glared at him. "I really don't know what your problem is, but you better fucking chill out before I get really mad." The violet light actually seemed to get brighter around him, the blinding intensity of it making Warrick blink and look away.

"All right, all right, just chill out. Your power is obviously responding to your mood, so you're going to have to get control of yourself before you destroy the city," Warrick said.

"Duh." Starburst rolled his eyes and crossed his arms over his chest. "You don't think that I haven't been trying to control myself? You don't think that I haven't been trying to get this to fucking stop? It really is out of my control, you know. This is definitely not something that I planned or anything."

"Whatever. Just rein in your temper, candy-boy, before you really end up hurting someone."

"What, like you?" Starburst asked sarcastically, his mouth twisting.

Warrick threw his hands up in the air. "I'm trying to help you here, asshole. I may not like you, but I really don't think that you have any grand master plan to kill a bunch of people and cause huge amounts of property damage."

"Some help," Starburst muttered.

Warrick sighed and scrubbed a hand over his masked face. "Look, why don't you close your eyes and try counting backward from a hundred?"

Starburst blew out a breath, but obediently closed his eyes. "One hundred, ninety-nine, ninety-eight, ninety-seven... sixty-three, sixty-two... forty-seven... thirteen... three, two, one. There, and oh look, still glowing like a freak."

Clenching his teeth tightly, Warrick tried to get control of himself before he just lost it completely and started screaming psychotically. It was just that Starburst was such an annoying guy. "Look, you're going to have to get control of yourself, and that's just it."

Starburst sat down in the middle of what used to be the street, his ass floating a few inches above the melted remnants. Grumbling under his breath, he folded his legs into the lotus position, closed his eyes, and with his hands settled palm up on his knees, he began to mumble/chant under his breath.

Warrick watched as the tension in Starburst's shoulders gradually eased and the anger slipped out of his voice. As Starburst relaxed, the light around him began to lighten until the edges disappeared and the wave of destruction began to ease back toward him.

Watching him, Warrick couldn't help but to admit that Starburst really was an attractive man. With the distracting vision of his eyes closed, Warrick was able to get his first clear view of him.

From the first time he'd seen him on TV, Warrick had known that Starburst was handsome, but in person... Phenomenal good looks must be one of his metahuman abilities, because there was no way that one person could ever look that good naturally. And the fact that he found himself being attracted to the superweenie made Warrick even more resentful of the guy. If he could have, he would have beaten the crap out of him just for being so damn pretty.

He couldn't really understand what it was about the guy that had made him dislike him on first sight, but whatever it was, the loathing just seemed to be growing within him. He just had this feeling that Starburst didn't belong in the Annals of Heroes.

The guy may have had more superpowers than any ten average superheroes, but that didn't mean anything. He just didn't have the heart to be a true hero, and it showed in the uncertainty and incompetence he seemed incapable of hiding. So no matter how hard he tried, he would always just be a wannabe.

Finally the last of the violet light was sucked into Starburst's skin and he opened his eyes.

Starburst looked around with wide, wondering eyes, then suddenly grinned. "There, I did it, no more light of death." Focusing on Warrick, he still had the happy look on his face. "Now that's a power I definitely won't be practicing where there's a lot of stuff to damage, and I highly doubt I'm going to be using it against anyone no matter how they deserve it. That one was just too scary." Then he caught sight of Warrick's expression and the smile faded until it disappeared and he looked sad for a second before his mouth tightened and he glared at Warrick. "What! It wasn't my fault."

Warrick snorted. "You better get better control of your powers before you hurt someone. Now, clean this mess up while I take these jokers to jail." He rose up in the air, using his powers to encase the bank robbers in a cage of ice and carrying them with him as he flew away.
* * *

Vereint felt sick to his stomach. There was just something about Blue Ice that made him feel so inadequate, as though he would never be good enough no matter how hard he tried. He would always be a second rate hero even if he saved a million lives.

He didn't know why he wanted Blue Ice's approval, but he couldn't help it. Maybe it was the fact that Blue Ice had been one of his personal heroes for years as a member of the League of Superheroes. The fact that Blue Ice had taken one look at him and found him wanting made him wonder if this whole superhero thing was going to work out after all or if it would be a good idea to just give it up and go back to his boring life as Vereint Georges.

From the minute he discovered he had superpowers, he had known that he was going to have to do something with them. Being a superhero had seemed like the obvious choice, and here he was now. Only it was nothing like he had expected it to be.

He was a joke to the media and other metahumans. They mocked everything about him from his name to his uniform to the way that he caught the bad guys. It made him feel like the pathetic wannabe that others had called him, and the fact that they didn't even bother doing it behind his back only made it worse, proving that to them he was nothing.

"I fucking hate this shit," he muttered. Being a superhero was nothing like he had thought it was going to be. In fact, every single bit of it had been a giant disappointment, even the saving of lives part because no one was ever grateful when they found out it was him. Everybody always wanted someone else to be their hero, and he hated it. He tried so hard, and all it got him was a big fat nothing.

He was on the rocks with his everyday job, his superhero hobby wasn't working out as expected, and just basically, his life wasn't really going anywhere. He just felt like such a failure.

So, of course, that was when the reporters with their cameras descended on him like vultures on dead meat. If he could have screamed and run away like a little girl, he would have, but he couldn't. He stood his ground and faced them as they attempted to eat him alive with their questions about the violet light, how Blue Ice had had to help him with the bad guys, everything. It only made him feel worse.

TBC...