Samuel Maverick's Story

Jack slowly sipped his coffee as he stared out the rain-splotched window, the liquid burning his tongue ever so slightly as he swallowed. Below him, the city was just starting to come to life as the morning broke. His gray eyes scanned the rooftops, almost subconsciously looking for signs of Renegade movement. With the city as it was, one could never be too careful.

It had been one month since he had been asked to come here, and little progress had been made restoring order to Nexus City. Partly, Jack believed, it was due to the Renegade groups active in Nexus, but the vast majority of the problem was General Harvis’ fault. After three months of lockdown, the United States government had control over very little of the city beyond the outer walls, and a few residential districts they were “protecting.”

Farming more like, Jack thought, snorting softly. The government was looking for people like him: those who had heard the Voice of the Storm, those who were continuing to manifest strange powers not unlike the fictional superheroes of old. Jack’s orders were simply to restore order to the city, capture and detain all Renegades, and most importantly, find the missing Shadowfox.

Jack didn’t expect that the last would happen until they were able to successfully bring the city out of the mess the Storm had made of it. He sighed, and swallowed more of his coffee.

The Storm – the day the earth went dark. All across the world, light had vanished. It was as if, in an instant, God’s first directive of “Let there be light” was revoked. Panic had struck, but there was nothing to be done. No fires could be lit, no generators could be powered. There was no star, no moon, no sun, to see by. For 24 hours the world had huddled in miserable blackness, before the sun had risen, the light restored. Ten years later, and the world was still recovering.

Jack didn’t like remembering. He’d lost his wife and children as they traveled, for in the sudden darkness, their car had swerved off the road. Unable to see, Jack had been thrown from the car, waking up to find that his family was already dead. In his despair, he had heard something, a voice of sorts. To this day, he couldn’t remember what it had said, but he remembered what it had given him. It had made him into a monster.

Jack smiled grimly, and swallowed the rest of his drink, setting the cup down and turning from the window. It was time to go to work.

***

“Time to go to work,” Maverick said, clapping his hands and rubbing them together in obvious excitement. “Got places to be, people to see, crime to beat!” He chuckled, then shook his head. “All right, pull it together, just gotta stay calm here.” He shifted, took a deep breath, and then jumped.

Down he plummeted, from the edge of the three-story building he’d leaped from, to the deserted lot below. He landed heavily, rolling forward to his feet, stumbling a few steps before turning and whooping.

“Oh yeah!” he yelled, pumping his fist in the air. “That was awesome!” Shaking from the adrenaline rush, Maverick began trotting away, grinning. He felt good. No, better than good. For the first time in years, Maverick felt like he was on top of the world.

He’d been twelve years old when the Storm had come. He didn’t really remember much, other than his family sitting at the dinner table, eating and laughing. When everything went dark, he remembered being scared. But something had called to him, comforted him.

It had never occurred to Maverick that no one else had heard this voice, that he might be different, that he might be special. He’d never had any ambition in life: his natural intelligence had allowed him to scrape by in school, and he’d only ever had dead end jobs. After his parents’ death especially, Maverick had ended up in a slump, the likes of which he had found impossible to escape.

The night he had the dream had changed all of that. It had only been a few days since then, but Maverick had quickly progressed. His powers were growing all the time, and Maverick, for the first time, had a sense of confidence.

A trickle of flame passed over his hand and Maverick shook it off as he jogged. His new abilities were hard to control, as Maverick had quickly discovered when he’d woken up one morning to his bedsheets on fire, but they granted him a huge buff in endurance and strength. Jumping off of buildings wasn’t the only thing he was now capable of, but Maverick didn’t want to push himself too far.

A whisper filled his ears and Maverick skidded to a stop, looking around quickly. It was so familiar, this voice… With a shock, he realized that it was the same voice he’d heard the day of the Storm. It was calling him, telling him…

Brow furrowing, Maverick began following the voice, wondering where it would lead him… and who it would lead him to.

"Miss Nae?" A middle aged man raised his brow at a Korean woman, who was staring in the blank. "Joung Nae!" He raised his voice at her.

"What?" Joung snapped out of her trance, squeezing her eyes.

"As a principal of this high school I should remind you that your class starts soon! Perhaps you as a teacher should be in the classroom in time, eh?"

Joung rubbed her eyes.

"I'm going, I'm going!" She moaned like she was woken up from her sleep.

The woman was walking in the hallway.

"Okay! Go back to your classrooms this instant!" She would yell at every student who was still in the halls.

"Go... back... to... your... classrooms..." The same trance took over her again. It was insisting on her to leave the school.

"But I have classes to give..." She mumbled, but in vain. She kept walking, leaving the school building.

Joung kept on walking, as she reached a young man, slightly taller then her, having brown hair and hazel eyes.
"Good morning..." She greeted him.

Maverick stopped as an older woman approached me. The whispers seemed to hesitate, then agree. She was one that was needed.

"I'm guessing you're getting some weird vibes too?" Maverick asked hesitantly, waving at the woman. "Name's Maverick. You wouldn't happen to be a channeler would you?"

He snapped his fingers, blowing a flame outwards in a small puff. He blew it out, grinning.

"Interesting, mr Maverick..." Joung observed the flame on his hand. "I guess I'm not the only one here."
The woman raised her arm.
"Wait for iit... waiit for iiiitt..." She was saying until both of them felt wind in their faces. Then Joung put her arm down, bringing the end of the wind.
"It's completely obvious that something's happening around here. Whatever it is, I hope I's worthed the risk to get fired from work. I'm Joung Nae. Do you happen to know more people in similar situations? Wait, no! What am I saying? I should go back to work!"

Joung changed her direction, but didn't go far, the vibes didn't let her. "I'll say that I got sick or something." The teacher came back. "Anyway, do you know what's this all about?"

Maverick frowned as he entered the center of town, a massive square with many streets and skyscrapers centered around the area. The voice leading him here was urging him, trying to warn him... Maverick shook his head. He just couldn't understand.

Spying a peddler on the side of the street, albeit a shady looking one, Maverick approached him. The man's customer seemed rather unhappy, waving some colored pieces of paper in the peddler's face angrily. Maverick shoved the man aside.

"Excuse me," he said. "Do you happen to have anything for a headache? I'm beginning to feel one coming on."

That's when the screaming began.

***

Jack pulled on his coat, fixing his tie, before turning to his team.

"Jones, Variel," he said. "Let's go. There's a disturbance in Sector A, the town square. We're picking up a lot of renegade movement."

Narissa looked up from where she was sitting and looked over at Jack as he pulled on his coat. Having just gotten to the place where her new team was staying the only thing she knew about the other two were their names and what they looked like. As Jack speaks Narissa brightens and jumps up, clapping her hands together excitedly. "Cool! Finally something to do!!! This place is SO boring!" The blue haired teen moves towards the door in a strange mix of dancing and skipping, humming happily. right as she grabbed the doorknob she tilted her head back a little so she could look at him and giggled. "Where is the town square again?"

---

At the sound of a scream Desiree almost dropped the glass she had been cleaning, catching it at the last second. Swearing under her breath she storms towards the front entrance of the bar, knowing the screams were pretty close for to have been startled by it. As she walked she took off the small black apron she was wearing around her hips and dropped it on one of the tables nearest the entrance before going out the door and walking across the street and through an alley, following the screams. Stopping at the end of the alley Desiree looked around the town square curiously for the source of the screams, knowing she was extremely near since they had grown louder.

Raphael turned around as he witnessed some poor excuse for a sap try and weasel some pain killers from him. "Woah, woah, no need to attack your fellow customers, compadre," Contraband chuckled. "All customers need to do is form a single file line, and they are guaranteed to get their turn. Now what is it, you needed, pain killers?" Contraband asked, before some tool suddenly began to scream like a lunatic. People were getting freaked out. This guy was scaring away potential customers. So he was all around bad for business.

"Oh, you want some painkillers?! Is that it?!" Raphael asked irritably, suddenly drawing out a tranquilizer pistol from his jacket pocket and pointing it directly at the screaming scrounger. "I gotcha yer pain killers, right here!"

"Hold it, don't you feel that?" Maverick asked, grabbing Contraband's wrist. "There's something..."

The man screaming suddenly stopped, as if he had violently had the air ripped out of him. More people suddenly began dropping to the ground, screaming as well. As they did, something began to take form, a shape above them. It was huge, easily the size of a small building. Tendrils of some ghostly substance were attaching themselves to the people in the square, and as the channelers watched, pulses of energy seemed to be flowing from the civilians to this creature.

"What is that?" Maverick asked, before realizing that the first man who had screamed had suddenly flopped forward, his body turning to dust. "Holy crap guys! That thing is killing people!"

***

"The center of town," Jack said, following Narissa to the door. Gently but firmly, he pushed her through the doorway. "We'll take the car. It will get us there faster."

As Jack climbed in, his phone beeped. Jack pulled it out and read the message, frowning.

"Double time," Jack said, snapping his phone shut and quickly starting the car. "The renegades are doing something, people are dying. Let's move!"

Desiree sighs and looks over at the tall, brown haired man with a raised eyebrow. "No, I'm going out for ice cream." She replied, sarcasm thick in her voice. Seeing the tendrils of ghostly substance flowing towards the creature Desiree frowns, her eyes narrowing, and turns, heading back towards the bar. "No way in hell am I getting involved in that. There are people for that." She mutters to herself as she walks through the alley.

---

Narissa jumped in the car, a bounce in her step though her playful smile had fallen away. After she was in the car she leaned forward and watched Jack with wide eyes. "Do you really know how to drive this thing?" As she did so she bounced in her seat a little, seemingly full of energy. As she spoke she glanced over at Henry for a moment, a quick, friendly smile lighting her face before she turns back to Jack, fully expecting an answer.

Jack stepped out of the vehicle, straightening his suit and tie as he did. "Renegade. Looks like shadow powers. Should be relatively easy to capture." He gestured for Narissa to step out of the vehicle. "However, I'll give you one chance, renegade. Surrender and you will be welcomed."

Just then, more screams reached Jack's ears and he turned. "Hmph... no time." He looked at Kelsier. "You're lucky, renegade. The next time we meet, I'll be taking you in."

He ran towards the square, pushing against the fleeing people. "Variel! Back me up!" he called over his shoulder.

***

More of the creature was becoming clear as it sucked the souls out of the living. Maverick backed away.

"What is that thing?" he gasped, his hands shaking.

Don't be afraid. The voice said, heard by every channeler in the vicinity. This is why you were given powers. This is your purpose. You must stop them. You must. The voice dissipated, but Maverick understood.

"We were all drawn here," Maverick said, nodding. "We're going to have to defeat this thing. We might be the only ones who can."

"Here goes nothing," he muttered. Maverick extended his hand, flame rushing around it, and collecting in his outstretched palm. "Fire Shot!" he called, blasting the fireball into the center of the creature's mass. The monster recoiled, but the mist that it was formed from quickly reformed.

"Not enough," Maverick muttered, then his eyes widened as more tendrils began sprouting, heading for him and the other channelers.

"Ay, ay, ay, what kind of a thing are we put into?" Joung shook her head in disbelief.

Even though nobody had the time to comprehend the direction of the events, Joung was from those who needed it. It's not a common experience when you live your daily life and suddenly you have to fight an enormous deadly creature. However the blacking out of the world ten years ago, the voices in the head back then and now and the supernatural abilities would be good hints that one day you'd witness something bizarre.

"How in the world are we supposed to defeat this thing?" Joung curled her eyebrows. Suddenly, she gasped, her eyes widened and she lifted her arm.

"Hey, Maverick!" She turned to the young man. "Do another flame! But don't throw it right away! I need to try out something with you!"

Having made his way into town Alexander's head felt like it ruptured when he heard a scream, enhanced hearing could be a killer at times.Launching himself into a sprint he sped down the street, sharply turning to make his way as swiftly as he could. Soon he spotted a creature in the sky, Sliding to a halt he raised an eye brow and chuckled "Okay now i am just seeing shit."

Soon he heard a voice, that haunting voice that once echoed within in his mind a decade ago. As quickly as the voice came it faded away back into oblivion again. Turning another corner he simply stared at the beast " Could of at least told how to stop it..Useless disembodied voice" Watching a fire ball hit the creature he blinked and looked down noticing everyone else now though he got an idea

Walking across he firmly placed both his hands on a street sign. Inhaling deeply he suddenly pulled upwards with all his might, Slowly the concrete gave and he managed to free the sign. Shifting his grip he held the sign with one hand and brought it level with his ear. Pulling back he launched the metal pole like a javelin towards the creature, it struck the creature. But seemed to do little.

Seeing tendrils now approach him, he rolled to the side and began scrambling to keep his footing as he managed to dodge the tendrils and somehow keep himself in a favourable position as he wondered what to do next.

Maverick summoned another fireball, this time using both hands to create a massive ball of fire.

"Your... chance!" he called, throwing the fire forward like a giant volleyball at the creature. A tendril raced out as the fireball closed, grasping onto Maverick. Maverick groaned as he felt his energy begin to be drained.

Julian paused as he spotted a man throw a fireball at the disgusting beast. "Jesus," He murmured, taken aback by the raw display of power from the strange, fire blasting man. He glanced up at the creature as it seemingly became more violent and began to back away. "I uh... I think I made enough profit here," He murmured to himself, packing his stolen goods in the bag before looking away to somewhere to teleport.

Narissa jumped out of the car and smiled at the young man who had fallen out of the wall's shadow. "Really? Shadow Powers? Cool!" She then turns to Kelsier, about to ask a question but Jack interrupts her with an order. Her face becoming serious, Narissa turned away and followed after Jack, keeping up despite her heeled shoes. "Yes Sir!"

"I told you not to throw it right away!" Joung snapped at him, while still holding her arm up. "Listen to me! Try to fire another one! It doesn't have to be enormous! More people are being hurt, so be quick!"

Astro watched as he saw flames shooting up from a guys hand down below at the huge monster. "what does the voice mean, theirs no way we can take this thing on!" "Damn!, all this time spent running, and the government as well as this bull shows up!"

Astro looks down at the civilians and the display of powers popping left and right. His thoughts began to become a fuzz overshadowed by the screams. "Gosh!, when did i sign up to play hero!" Astro takes out his feather and turns into a hawk flying full speed towards the guy with flame, and a now visible girl beside him, clawing at a tendril on the way down.

Reaching the ground beside them he grabbed the guy ripping a bit of his shirt. "Names Astro looks like you could use a hand." Astro turns into the guy and erupts in flames. After a minute of freaking out he was able to get the guys powers just under enough control to shape and throw it at the attacking tendrils."

"Right!" Narissa looks around and seeing a puddle on the ground she smiles. Looking around Narissa waves a hand at one group of civilians and a wall of water rises in front and above them, separating the civilians from the creature and it then freezes, making a solid barrier. Running over she spoke loudly to be heard by the quite large group. "Everyone go this way! We have the situation under control! Please return to your homes or go to a safe house!" As the group of people leaves she waves a hand at the wall of water and it changes back to water and moves towards the other group of civilians in the town square.

While retreating from the bluff, Quinn thought she saw a building move below, in Nexus. " Don't be insane, buildings don't move." Intrigued she took a second look....."no wait, that is not building!" Straining to see more......”whoa was that a fireball thrown at that octopus like monster?" Uncertain of what was going in Nexus. "I think I will wait it out up here.” Suddenly the voice spoke to her with such force that it knocked her off her feet. It was undeniable to her that she was supposed to be in Nexus now! Brushing off her pants, she scoured the area for the right size boulder. Pointing at the boulder, it levitated 6 inches above the ground. While she threw her arms towards the edge of the bluff she ran and jumped on the boulder. Off she went to whatever lay below.