CHAPTER ONE
The sound of a car
alarm rang out, waking Justice Man from his sleep. His eyes open,
adjusting to the darkness that filled the room. It had been another
long night patrolling the streets of Rusten City and he was having
trouble drifting off. Earlier that night, Justice had caught a
group of thugs hanging out around Muscle Man’s Auto body shop and
the things they said to him were now embedded in his mind. Justice
shook his head, he knew better than to think of such negative
things, it was rule number one in the Super Hero Handbook.
Rule 1: Always think
positively, villains can smell fear and they grow strong off
negative energy. Starve them of this power by never questioning
your abilities as a hero.
Justice pulled back
his sheets and got out of bed, his muscular legs flexing as he
stood. He stretched his chiseled arms above his head and yawned,
“Hey Freeze you up?” he called out to his roommate. Freeze was a
fellow Super and a damn good friend, they had known each other for
many years and trained under the same man. Hearing nothing but
silence, Justice assumed Freeze was still out patrolling, but he
wasn’t worried, he knew Freeze could take care of himself.
The cool hardwood
felt great on his feet as he walked towards his immaculate kitchen,
it was clear to him the maid had been earlier that day. Justice
opened the double doors of his fridge, the bright florescent light
stinging his eyes. Inside there was a pizza box with a note
scribbled on it in black marker.
Hey J, gone away on
assignment might be gone a while. Can’t say where I’m going, take
care of yourself. –F.
The note was short
and simple; much like the man who had written it. Justice wasn’t
surprised his friend had taken off without saying good-bye; he
frequently got called away on hero business. Justice on the other
hand, considered himself a free agent, working as a Defense
Attorney for the Rusten City Court was his primary job. He hadn’t
considered himself a full time hero in a long time, after all crime
was down by nearly thirty percent. There was no need for Super
Heroes’ anymore, not since the new mayor had taken over. Mayor
Masterson had taken over the city two years ago when it had been
revealed the previous mayor was in the pockets of multiple
gangs.
It had been a great
two years for J, putting away drug traffickers and mob bosses
alike. But now the city had cleaned up, it had lost some of that
edge. At first, he only noticed this at night when he roamed the
streets for evil only to find everyone had already been locked up.
But after all the trials and hearings passed, he began to notice he
was no longer necessary at work. This had Justice dreaming of
action and adventure, but with crime rates so low, it seemed such
times were far from possible.
CHAPTER TWO
It was already bright
out just as Justice had finally fallen asleep, the sounds of the
morning birds sending him to bed. His golden hair stuck up in all
directions, as though he had been electrocuted. Drool pooled on his
dark red pillow case and glistening on his tan, chiseled cheek.
Ghost Girl sat at the end of his bed waiting for him to wake up,
she never liked to startle people when it wasn’t necessary, but he
wasn’t showing signs of waking anytime soon. She walked into the
bathroom, grabbing the cup on his bedside table, and filled it with
cold water. If he wasn’t going to wake up on his own, she would
have to give him some…encouragement.
The water spread over
his face as J flung open his eyes, the cold chilling him down to
the bone. “WHAT THE HELL!” he called out, jumping up and laying his
wide eyes on Ghost Girls petite silhouette. “What the hell Genny,
what was that for!” his voice boomed, as he pulled a shirt over his
well defined chest. He saw her eyes follow, as if trying to look as
long as possible.
“ Sorry J, I waited as long as I could but we have a bit of a
problem. Freeze is away on assignment and”, she paused for a
moment.