UK - Birth of a Hero: Part 1

Hyperion City. A place widely regarded as the biggest, grandest, most sprawling city in the entire U.S. of A. A place filled to the brim with magnificent skyscrapers, millions of lights and sounds, and plenty of would-be dreamers seeking only the chance to make their dreams a reality. Dreamers that spurned adversity, so they could drive forward the wheels of industry, economics, and science. However, the city of Hyperion wasn't just a city of dreamers.

No. It was also a city of heroes. A city that was once protected by the greatest team of superbeings ever assembled; the Honor Guard. A team that existed as far back as the Great Depression.

And with their infallible strength and unshakable determination, they fought Hyperion City's criminal underbelly for decades. And even though there would always be a new generation of villains and supercriminals to wreak havoc upon the city, there would always be a new generation of Honor Guard members to continue the fight. Third Generation members like Nightfox and Psiona Girl had an especially hard time against villains like Warmonger and Cheshire Grin; perhaps the two greatest supercriminals of all time.

With the way things were, it seemed like there would always be a never-ending battle between good and evil. But, as time marched on, Hyperion's criminal element slowly seemed to just disappear; and by the 1980's, Hyperion's crime-rate would reach an all time low. A low that was so low in fact, the Honor Guard was no longer deemed necessary and was thus disbanded. So, with all their battles seemingly won and all their enemies soundly defeated, the third and last generation of the Honor Guard went their separate ways; many of whom chose to renounce their superhero status altogether, choosing instead to live amongst the populace as normal, mild-mannered civilians.

The city of Hyperion has lived in relative peace for nearly thirty years now, without a single superbeing ever wreaking havoc on the city and without one ever being called to save the day. But with this being a superhero story and all, all that is about to change.

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Things weren't going well today. Lizy had shown up for work 40 minutes late (again), she forgot to bring any money for lunch (meaning she had to subsist on a pack of gum and water for most of the day), and to top it all off, she was required to have the entire facility cleaned by closing time (and all the spaces she needed to clean seemed to go on for miles). But, that was the typical life of a janitor at Briar Labs, and unfortunately for Elizabeth "Lizy" Toplin, she was that janitor.

Lizy was currently mopping the hallway of the physics lab, vigorously, so as to be absolutely sure that all the dirt and grime was off the floor. The fair but lanky feline was expected to work hard, what with her supervisors demanding perfection from her work. A task that was made all the more difficult, since the mop she was using was far older than her and could barely even clean a small room. But, somehow, she made it all work and after completely rendering her current surroundings spotless, she was now done.

Lizy let out a tired sigh as she placed the mop into its bucket.

"Finally, everything's clean," said Lizy as she looked out down the hall, adjusting her glasses.

Virtually every surface, every inch of linoleum, was glistening under the building's cheap florescent lighting. It was an accomplishment that Lizy was somewhat proud of, though she wasn't really sure why. It's not like she particularly enjoyed being a janitor or anything. It was just a means to an end; a way to pay rent and expand her ever-growing collection of graphic novels and highly-articulated custom models. A hobby that was born from her sheer nerdiness while growing up, and that had pervaded much of her adult life; even today.

"Time to go home," declared Lizy.

She was looking forward to finally leaving this tiring day behind her. She was also looking forward to finally reading her limited-edition, platinum copy of the Honor Guard comic book series, "Knights of Yore". An epic, 300 page story arc that tells how the Third Generation of the Honor Guard went back in time and aided the First Generation in repairing the timestream. It was a tome that was bound to be exploding with truth-inspired adventure! But, before she could even take two steps, a hand placed itself on Lizy's shoulder. She immediately tensed up, for fear that it might be Dr. Benson; her boss, the head scientist of Briar Labs and a man that seemed to despise Lizy with every fiber of his being. She slowly turned her head to see who was behind her; and after what seemed like an eternity, she was finally able to determine the hand that rested gently upon her shoulder.

"Hey, how's it going?" asked the figure.

Lizy let out another sigh, but this time, it was a sigh of relief.

"Oh thank goodness, it's just you," she said with a smile.

The man she was speaking to was Arthur Mason, another Briar Labs scientist who also happened to be Lizy's best friend. He was a fairly handsome young man, tall with a friendly smile, and he had been friends with Lizy for as long as either of them could remember. He was also rather lanky himself, and had a tendency to worry about things way too often, but on the whole, he was a good guy and always made for good company. In fact, just seeing him after having such a bad day made Lizy feel better already.

"Lizy," stated Arthur with a slightly worried look. "Is everything okay? You seem a little tense."

"Oh no! It's okay, I'm fine," stated Lizy in a flustered tone. "I-I'm just tired is all. It's been kind of a long day."

"Oh," replied Arthur as he began to blush, rubbing the back of his neck almost purely by instinct. "I'm sorry to hear that."

"It's okay," said Lizy with a grin. "Even though I've been working all day today, I was able to get all of my work done."

"So now," continued Lizy triumphantly. "I'll just go home and unwind with a good comic book. I'll see you tomorrow Artie!"

But before Lizy could leave, Arthur stopped her.

"Um...yeah, about that," stated Arthur uncomfortably, knowing full well that Lizy was not going to like what he had to say next. "Dr. Benson wants you to work the night shift tonight. For the entire night."

There was an uneasy silence as Lizy tried to register his statement. This silence, however, didn't last very long.

"WHAT!? WHY!?" exclaimed Lizy hurriedly, flustered and confused by the fact that her newest orders made absolutely no sense to her. "I already cleaned this entire facility! What more is there!?"

Arthur began to rub the back of his neck again.

"Well, he wants you to clear out all of the documents from the subterranean labs," said Arthur while avoiding direct eye contact. "You know, the ones under the chemistry department?"

Lizy's face suddenly went pale.

"The Dungeon? He wants me to clean the Dungeon!?" asked Lizy with a sudden twinge of fear. "No one's been down there in decades! It could take me months to clean that place. Assuming some monster doesn't decide to eat me first!"

Lizy knew what the Dungeon was; she had heard the ghost stories. It was a grouping of underground laboratories. A place where all of the old and/or failed experiments were left to metaphorically (and sometimes even literally) rot. There were also several rumors that they were home to a wide variety of creatures. Creatures that were never meant to be. Creatures that could originally only be seen in one's own worst nightmares. So needless to say, Lizy was rather hesitant to go into such a place.

"Lizy, relax," stated Arthur soothingly, in an attempt to calm his friend's nerves. "I guarantee you there are no monsters, mutations, or unnatural affronts to God, of any variety, in the sub level."

"You're going to be okay," Arthur continued. "They're just stories meant to scare the new guys. That's all. Plus, you won't actually have to clean or sort anything down there. You just have to move all the documents to the Archives. It'll be a piece of cake. Trust me."

Arthur's words did little to reassure her and after hearing his spiel, Lizy let out another sigh; a hefty one at that.

"Why me, Artie?" she asked solemnly. "What did I do to deserve this kind of punishment?"

"Well," responded Arthur. "You did set Dr. Benson's head on fire that one time."

"Oh come on," countered Lizy. "That was an accident! And it happened ages ago! I figured he'd have forgotten about it by now."

Arthur suddenly put on a very unamused expression.

"It happened last week," he stated succinctly. "I had to pull a lot of strings and make a plea bargain with him just so you wouldn't lose your job. Remember?"

Lizy began to blush again.

"Oh...yeah, that's right," Lizy laughed nervously. "Um...thanks again for helping me out like that. I really needed this job."

Arthur began to blush now himself.

"Don't...don't worry about it, its okay," replied Arthur. "We are friends after all, and that's what friends do, right?"

Lizy's face soon became an even deeper shade of crimson.

"Yeah," she replied. "They certainly do."

An awkward silence soon followed. It was obvious that the both of them had feelings for the other, and in a way that was far more tender than just a simple friendship. But the both of them were also far too timid to ever express their feelings openly; which typically led to uncomfortable silences, much like this one.

"I uh...I better be heading out," coughed Arthur nervously. "Dr. Benson wants me to babysit his grandchildren tonight."

"Really? Why?" questioned Lizy with a somewhat surprised expression.

"It's um...a part of the plea bargain," responded Arthur shyly. "I have to watch over them for the next few weeks while their parents are on vacation."

"Oh," replied a rather disappointed Lizy. "I'm...really sorry to hear that."

"Yeah, tell me about it," stated Arthur with a defeated air about him. "Dealing with those monsters for one night was bad enough. Now I have to take care of them for the next three weeks?"

"I tell you," continued Arthur. "I can see why their parents wanted to get away from them for so long."

Lizy giggled to herself softly. Having to clean up the Dungeon didn't seem so bad now, considering the kind of torment that Arthur had to deal with for the next month.

"Well, I guess I'll see you tomorrow." declared Arthur with a soft smile.

"Yeah," responded Lizy with a similar smirk. "See you tomorrow."

Shortly after he left her view, Lizy solemnly put away her mop and wash bucket and proceeded straight to the dreaded subterranean level. The grouping of underground labs known simply as, "the Dungeon".

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artwork and characters copyright SatsumaLord

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