Mach: The Super Hero

1.1 Meeting of Powers

Being the best.

Overcoming overwhelmingly impossible odds. Proving oneself to be far greater than anyone’s expectations, thus earning respect and, even more importantly, admiration. Scoring perfect grades, being number one in whatever competition one can think of, or winning a gold medal. Being praised by the entire school.

These were all great sensations, always much better than our dreams expect, and yet, neither of them could compare to that first day Michael found out about his superpower.

His howling filled the streets.

That day, Michael was emitting sounds more easily associated with winning the lottery. On that day, yells of jubilation reached for the skies and took them over, all uttered by a particularly young teenager. All for the simple reason that he had managed to jump off from a rooftop onto another.

He had done so at the superhuman speed of roughly three hundred kilometers per hour.

Michael just could not believe it, and that only heightened the rush of happiness coursing through him.

That very morning of April, a day like any other, Michael had been late to catch the school bus. As he accelerated to make it in time, he found himself colliding with the wall of the building on the opposite side of the street.

Confused, he had done a little dash just to make sure he hadn’t simply passed out mid-run. Then, Michael had pinched himself. Then, he had stared at the ground with as much focus as he could. They were two tricks he normally used to make sure he wasn’t dreaming.

Then, Michael had smiled up at his classmates, enjoying the bemused look on their faces. The shock.

And then he had run.

If ever there was a day to skip school, that was it. Michael didn’t even bother going back and returning his backpack, he couldn’t think about anything other than running.

He could not believe it.

As he reached the speed of cars, he could not believe it. As he ran so fast that the wind made him cry and his bag’s straps pulled against his shoulders like they were about to rupture, Michael could not believe it. As he laughed and giggled sounds that were muffled by the Doppler Effect. And as he noticed his vision tunneling. And even as he tripped and crashed across the floor, tumbling over two trashcans and scraping all kinds of skin in manners that would never concern him, he just could not believe the happiness electrifying him from within.

Michael was still at it six hours later, even though he had moved up to rooftops. He wasn’t too foolish about it, making sure to spend enough time measuring the distances and the heights, aiding himself with some good old-fashioned Newtonian calculations to verify ahead of time that the jumps were viable.

Still, there were some risks to it, like purposely ignoring air resistance. However, since Michael calculated for a straight run when he was actually jumping, he figured that would safely compensate.

Michael was right enough about that.

On his last jump of the day, when he suffered a gash on his right knee, he landed so badly and roughly that he tumbled across the whole expanse of the rooftop. When Michael did come to a stop, it was at the very edge.

That finally made him pause.

Giggling, Michael stood up and, for the first time since he overshot the bus, stood still.

A strong and fresh breeze hit him across the face and all over the few cuts and bruises he had gathered during the play. He sighed, gazing down at his city while he filled his lungs with sky-high air and all the sweat of a day well lived.

“Amazing,” Michael whispered to the wind, but then the energy compounded. A warmth made of giddiness welled up inside him like nothing he had ever experienced. It was all enhanced by the fact his breathing was still heavy.

“THIS IS AMAZING!!!”

Bursting out laughter, Michael lied back on the ground to gaze at the clouds up high. He was just in time to catch the first few drops of rain.

Normally, he would find it annoying, but he was in such a good mood that he could only appreciate how fresh the water felt, hitting against his sweat.

Michael looked beyond the skies at a future full of magnificent things, none of which he could picture or imagine or name.

“I’m amazing.”

That was what mattered. Michael Chambers had super speed. He was the only other student in his school with a supernatural ability. He knew of no one else.

However, the really shocking thing about it all was how little his parents cared.

“And you think you can just skip school like that?!”

Michael rolled his eyes, ignoring the snickering of his little brothers. He had three of them, respectively Mathew, age six, Lucas, age seven and John, age ten. Michael himself was fourteen years old. They all had black hair, from shorter to his being long enough to narrowly scratch over his eyes, as well as his neck.

“Don’t you roll your eyes at me, young man,” his mother said.

Michael hopped, trying to contain his happiness, and could only glare at his mother with a huge grin, showing her the vivid green eyes she knew from her own. “But mooom, I have super speed!” Unlike the two of them, his brothers sported their father’s brown eyes. Yet, they all shared the tanned skin of both their parents, which they had inherited from their own parents, who had inherited it from another continent.

“Super speed, huh?” his mother asked, ironically. “Well then! I guess you won’t have any problems coming home straight after school for the rest of the week,” she said, unrelenting.

“What?! But I wanna run!” Michael whined, flustered, looking for a good argument. “I’ll go to school, don’t make me come right away…”

“Don’t be a baby, Michael,” his mother said dismissively. “You do the deed, you pay the price, you know how it goes.”

In desperation, Michael turned to the other superpower in the family. “Daaad!”

His father was serving up the dinner table with a smile on his lean and amiable face. He didn’t hesitate on his reaction, scarcely even glancing away from his task. “Responsibility is important, son,” he said, “your mother’s right.”

Sonia nodded her head, waving her brown curls lightly back and forth across her shoulders. They brushed against her chin, so she waved them back with a flick of the wrist and pointed at Michael. She leaned in to be closer to his height.

“Don’t think for a minute anything will change, Michael,” she warned him. “You’re still our son, we’re still your parents, and you’re going to continue being the good boy we know you are.”

“Things have changed! I have changed!” Michael complained wholeheartedly, waving his arms around in heartfelt protest.

But then he brought everything back. He hugged his hands in front of his belly and pouted to the side. “But I still can’t cook… so ok.”

His dad laughed so abruptly he almost dropped some cutlery on the floor. They fell onto the table instead.

“Glad you’ve got your priorities straight, son,” he said, amid a series of chuckles. He moved the knife and fork next to the plate they were assigned to. “Now come, one and all, for dinner is served!”

Michael didn’t think he was being treated unfairly, really. Oddly enough, he thought the opposite. After all, it had been a bit too much to just skip school altogether.

In truth, the week-long detention did not lessen in any way just how brightly fantastic the future looked to Michael, now that he had a superpower.

***

“No way, superspeed?!” Richie yelled, so very excited that he had to grab his cap and squeeze his frizzy yellow hair. He was hardly able to contain himself, “you lucky butthole!”

“I know, right?!” Michael agreed, enthusiastically slurping soup out of his spoon.

“Man, who would have thought there would be two supers in our school,” Richie said, glancing to the side.

Michael followed his gaze as if he had completely forgotten about Max. In truth, little else had been on his mind since the previous evening. To Michael’s confusion, though, Max glanced back at him with a cocky and friendly smirk on his face.

“Well, at least our friend ain’t an absolute dickhead,” Thomas pointed out, more to the plate on the table than anyone in particular.

“Oh yeah, this is awesome,” Richie said, nodding enthusiastically, “you totally don’t have to take any more crap from that guy.”

“That’s a good point,” Thomas said, his blue eyes looking up at Michael from behind his heavy brown bangs. Sarah and Tim, Michael’s other usual lunch friends, also looked up at him expectantly. They all waited to see what he would say.

“Well, yeah, I’ve been thinking about it,” is what Michael said.

“Thinking about it?” Thomas questioned, already sounding disappointed. “Man, that guy’s been an utter a*s ever since he got his super strength.”

“This is true,” Tim said, nodding twice for evidence. “He knows nobody will stand up to him, not since he lifted that freakin’ car.”

“Hey, I’ve been in this school too, guys, I know how what’s been going on,” Michael said, “but it’s super strength, ya know?”

It was then that they were interrupted as a commotion eased into the cafeteria. Looking over, they saw Max taking chairs from other people, to provide them to his friends. Michael watched as he walked over everyone using intimidation, all while carrying all the chairs in one hand. He showed no hardship at all in that feat. This was all because Max had more friends then there was room in his table.

Well, rather than friends, they were more people who wanted to be on his good side.

Michael mustered the belligerence within him, which was a very easy thing to do where Max was concerned. Like any other non-member of the Max worshipers, Michael had been bullied quite a lot during the past two months. It had been that long since Max had acquired his powers.

Michael no longer felt powerless, though. He felt on top of the world, and well capable of resisting his oppressor.

“Yo Mac, you’re sitting in my chair,” Max said, walking towards him.

Max stopped in front of Michael, hands in his jeans and half-slumped. He wasn't even trying to be intimidating.

He still was.

Max had broad shoulders, big legs, big muscles, big muscular chest, big muscular thighs, big muscular everything. He had short blonde hair, a clear Caucasian skin, which was usually a bit sunburnt, and blue eyes. He looked like a football player, or an action hero, or a soldier, but all he was was a bulky brute bully.

“No,” Michael told him, open with the hostility in his eyes, and in his tone. “I’m sitting in the school’s chair, which is temporarily mine by right of getting to it first.”

Max opened his eyes in surprise, smirked, and then glanced off in a sudden sigh of disbelief. After that little short show, he faced Michael again. “So it’s true, huh? You’re a super?”

“Well, look at that,” Michael said, sipping his drink, “you do have some brains.”

The entire cafeteria went dead silent, looking on in expectation. Everyone was wondering how that confrontation would unfold.