“Hey Damien!” I shouted as I ran to catch up to my best friend. “Hey Johnny.” Said Damien as he turned around to look at me. “What are you doing now?” I asked. “I already have plans man.” Said Damien. “With who?” I asked. “My friends Roxanne and Adam.” Said Damien. “Oh, well I guess I’ll see you later then.” I said with disappointment. “Alright. See you later.” Said Damien as he ran off. “Man this sucks.” I said aloud. “These new friends of his are taking all of his time. Oh well. I guess I’ll just go home and play video games then.” I said as I started walking home. After school the next day I decided to go over to Damien’s house to see if he could come out and hang with me at the mall. (Knock, Knock) “Hello Johnny.” Said Damien’s mother as she opened the door to the house. “Hi Mrs. B.” I replied with a smile. “Is Damien home?” I asked. “No he isn’t actually. He just left with Roxanne and Adam not too long ago.” Said Damien’s mother. “Oh, well do you know where they went?” I asked. “Yeah, they told me that they were going to the woods to hang out.” Said Damien’s mother. “Thanks.” I said as I walked off. I wondered why they were in the woods as I started walking there. It was the middle of winter and freezing outside. I also wondered why they were in the woods because it was going to thunder and lightning in about half an hour. As I arrived near the woods, I could hear Damien’s voice. I decided to sneak up on my three friends and surprise them. After a few more minutes of walking, I arrived to the part of the woods they were in. I hid behind a huge tree so they wouldn’t see me. I started listening to their conversation and what I overheard put me into a state of shock. “Ok. So you both know the plan?” Said Damien to Roxanne and Adam. “Yeah.” They both replied in unison. “Good. With my fire, Roxanne’s mind powers, and Adam’s ice powers, we will make Dr. Roberts pay for making us like this.” Said Damien as he clenched his fist. I knew what Dr. Seymour Roberts did because I saw him on the news. He was a mad scientist who did numerous experiments on humans involving human mutation. They said on the news that he was rotting away in a federal prison. At first I didn’t understand, but I soon realized that these three teenagers were victims of Dr. Roberts’ horrible and sick experiments. I was in such shock that I passed out. But just as my body hit the floor, Damien noticed me and knew just what I had heard.

I awoke to find myself in an old abandoned nuclear power plant. It was dark outside and thundering and lightning. I saw this through the broken glass windows of the roof. As I got to my feet, I stepped into this glowing green goo. As I tried to get it off of me, I wound up covered in it. When I looked back up, I saw Damien, Roxanne, and Adam walking towards me. “So you heard what I said in the woods.” Damien asked as he looked into my eyes. “I did. You know you’re my best friend. It would’ve been nice to know my best friend could manipulate fire. I could’ve gotten that jerk Thomas off my back.” I said still trying to get the goo off of me. “I just didn’t want you running away like everyone else did.” Said Damien a little aggravated. “Well I just want you to know that I don’t care about…” (CRACK, BOOM) “Ahh! The lightning hit me!” I screamed in pain. But the last thing I remembered was Roxanne looking over me screaming. “Johnny! Are you all right?! Adam, call an ambulance!” I awoke inside a hospital bed with my three friends surrounding me. It was cold outside like yesterday so when I pulled my blanket over me my friends noticed I was awake. They kept on asking me if I was all right. And I kept telling them I was fine. Roxanne went to put her hand on my shoulder but the mere touch of my skin gave her a shock. She quickly pulled back her hand and looked at me with amazement. “Johnny! Your skin is electrically charged!” Said Roxanne with excitement. “Wow, your right.” I said as I looked at my hands. Just then I lifted my hand and a bolt of lightning came out of my fingertip.

After about two more days in the hospital, I was cleared to leave. I kept on noticing that Roxanne always wanted to spend more and more time with me. She always wanted to hang out with me and we spent a lot more time with each other than normal. Now Roxanne was a very beautiful girl. She had long black hair, gorgeous soft skin, and eyes that could paralyze even the strongest of men. I was beginning to fall for her. “Hey Johnny, you want to go to the mall with me and the gang?” Asked Roxanne in a playful tone. “Sure.” I replied with a smile. After we got settled into Adam’s car, we decided to listen to the radio. But what we heard when we turned it on put all four of us into a state of paralysis. What we heard would not only decide our fates, but the fates of every person on the planet. “Attention everyone. We interrupt your regularly scheduled programming to inform you with this breaking news bulletin. The mad scientist, known as Dr. Seymour Roberts, has escaped from federal prison today. He is wanted for kidnapping and human experimentation. He is at large and considered to be extremely dangerous. Please refrain from walking outside or walking alone. Thank you and have a good day.” At that moment we saw a minion of Dr. Roberts lighting a building on fire. So we decided to beat him up and interrogate him.

I tried to make a thunder bolt come out of my fingertip like at the hospital but I couldn’t concentrate. My thoughts were racing faster than bullets. So Adam shot a beam of ice out of his fingertip and froze Dr. Roberts’ minion except for his mouth so he can tell us where Dr. Roberts is. We stepped out of Adam’s car and walked over to the frozen victim. “Where is Dr. Roberts you piece of scum?! I yelled at the frozen victim. “I’m not telling you anything! Dr.Roberts would have my head if he knew I talked. He is the most powerful man I’ve ever seen. You guys have no chance against him.” Said the frozen minion. “We are going to take his life for his crimes against humanity!” I said clenching my fist. “Good luck with that.” Said Dr. Roberts’ minion as he started laughing. “Why you smug little rodent! Adam unfreeze his head. I want to beat some manners and then some sense into this poor excuse of a person.” I said as I started cracking my knuckles. “You got it Johnny, kick his ass!” Said Adam as he unfroze the minion’s head. “Ok. First I will break your jaw.” I said as I delivered a huge punch to his jaw cracking it instantly. (CRACK) “Ahh! My jaw! It’s broken!” Said the minion in tremendous pain. “Yeah, karate is good for interrogations.” I said with a smirk. “Now should I fracture your jaw entirely, or should I break your nose?” I asked in a smug tone. “No, no. Please. I’ll talk!” Said the minion with a tremendous amount of fear in his eyes. “Good, now where is Dr. Roberts hiding?” I said as I raised my hand to hit him. “His lair is located north of the pier under the water.” Said the minion. “Thank you. Now when you wake up, tell Dr. Roberts that we are coming for him.” I said as I started tying my shoes. “Wait when I wake up?” Asked the minion looking very puzzled. (BOOM) I delivered a punishing kick to the side of his head knocking him out instantly. “Now I think its time to get going. Come on guys, we have a lot of training to do.” I said as I started walking toward Adam’s car.

After I realized just how bad it really was that I didn’t know how to use my powers I decided to learn how to use them. I kept on imagining and focusing on the electricity, but nothing happened. Then I noticed that Roxanne was standing in the doorway to my room. She walked over to me and she took my hand in hers. “Johnny, I am so worried about this situation with Dr. Roberts being out of jail and at large. Johnny, there is something you should know about me. Dr. Roberts not only used me for his sick experiments, but my entire family as well. I had to finish off my own mother because she was brainwashed to kill me. What I’m trying to say is that I really need somebody to tell me that this is going to be all right.” Said Roxanne as she started to cry. I pulled her closer to me and gave her a huge hug. “Roxanne, I really care about you. There is nothing in this world that will hurt you ever again. Everything, and I mean everything will be alright. I love you.” I said as I looked into her eyes. She leaned over and kissed me on the lips. I kissed her back and then I realized an electric charge flowing through my body. “That’s it!” I cried as I looked back into Roxanne’s eyes. “You are the reason I have my powers. When I’m thinking about you and how much I love you I feel the surge of my electricity.” I said with a big smile. I raised my fingertips and with my thunder bolts I wrote: “I LOVE ROXANNE STORM” into my bedroom wall. Roxanne giggled in a playful tone. We stared into each other’s eyes again and this time, I leaned over and kissed her. She pulled away and whispered into my ear: “I love you too.” After that day, mine and Roxanne’s love blossomed. We did everything together. We ate, slept, trained, and hung out together. We were inseparable the two of us. And to my surprise Damien and Adam were both saying that it was about time I made a move.

We trained vigorously for months practicing different forms of martial arts, training with guns, knives, and swords, and honing our powers. Each of the four of us unlocked many secrets to our powers and learned how to use them better. Now instead of just being able to produce thunder bolts, I can stop bullets with shockwaves, make lightning come down from the sky, and even produce mini electric storms hitting more than one target. Roxanne can move much larger things with her mind like cars, trucks, and even tanks, she could control someone’s mind, and she can also blank out someone’s mind and erase memories. Damien learned how to create fire from his body heat, increase his flame throwing technique, and even create fire hot enough to melt steel. And Adam increased his ice beam technique, learned how to create snow storms and hail storms, and could now drop ice cubes the size of glaciers on people. These new techniques will be needed to face what was in store for us next. We learned that Dr. Roberts was kidnapping people and transforming them into mutated subjects. He created an army of test subjects that are attacking the city in different ways. One group is kidnapping more people, another group is used to steal precious things, and another group is designed to kill people. All four of us knew then what we had to do. We had to use the powers bestowed upon us to defeat Dr. Roberts and for doing good. So we stocked up on many different types of weapons and decided to take one section of the city to defend against these test subjects. After about two months of fighting, we noticed that Dr. Roberts had stopped sending test subjects to the city. We figured it was just because we had killed so many that he wanted to preserve his army. But he had something more devious in mind. He sent one of his elite hit men to take us out one by one. Unfortunately for Dr. Roberts, he sent this hit man to me first. “Well that’s the last of them. I’d better tell the gang to meet me at rendezvous point.” I said to myself. “Hey guys, I just finished off the last freak bag down here.” I said into my radio earpiece. “Let’s meet up at the rendezvous point in about twenty minutes.” I continued. “Alright, I’ll see you in twenty then baby.” Said Roxanne. “Alright.” Said Damien and Adam in unison. Just then I heard the whizzing of a blade behind me, so I turned around and caught the blade between my fingers. “Alright show yourself you piece of scum!” I said to the deserted street ahead of me. This once bustling city street now looked like a ghost town. Then I heard the clicking of a handgun behind me. But when I turned around, I was left in shock when I saw a ten year old boy with his hand on the trigger.

I was devastated to see that Dr. Roberts was using children for his experiments. I knew what I had to do, but I really didn’t want to. After about two minutes I finally spoke. “Little boy, why are you here?” I asked rhetorically. “I am here to kill you of course.” Replied the little boy. “Look little boy, do you know how many of Dr. Roberts’ minions I’ve killed? Are you sure you want to be the next dead body?” I asked in a smug tone. “Try it.” Said the little boy motioning his fingers towards him. “Alright, you asked for it!” I said as I made two swords out of lightning and dashed toward the little boy. But just as I was about to connect, he vanished. “Where are you little boy?” I screamed at the empty street. “Here I am!” Said the little boy as he put a huge cut on my shoulder blade. “Oops. I missed your neck. How about I try your achilles tendon?” Said the little boy as he put a slash in my leg. I fell onto my back due to the slash of my leg. “I see you’re a teleporter.” I said clutching my leg. “Of course. And this is the power that will send you to your grave!” Said the little boy. “Now you will die!” Said the little boy as he teleported onto my chest with his blade in hand. “Oh I got you know!” I said as I grabbed the little boy and sent an abundance of electrical charges through his body killing him instantly. I still felt bad that I had to do it, but I had no choice. He was brainwashed by Dr. Roberts. This little stunt made my blood boil, and made me want to kill Dr. Roberts that much more. After the fight I finally met up with the rest of the team at the rendezvous point. They took one look at me and immediately knew I was hurt. Damien and Adam were worried about my condition, but Roxanne was hysterical. “Oh my god! Baby what happened to you?!” Asked Roxanne worried out of her mind. “I had to fight one of Dr. Roberts’ very skilled minions. He was a hit man trying to take me out.” I replied. “He was a teleporter. And a damn good one at that.” I said as I wiped my shoulder with a wet towel. “You’ve fought many teleporters before, what happened this time?” Asked Roxanne in confusion. “I let my guard down.” I replied. “Why?” Asked Roxanne even more puzzled. “He was a child of ten years old. I didn’t want to end his life, but I had to. All his attacks were death blows if they would’ve connected. I’m just lucky to be alive.” I said as I put the wet towel on my leg. “Wow, Dr. Roberts is using kids now?” Asked Roxanne in a depressed tone. “This man is more crazy than we thought.” Continued Roxanne. “He’s just sickening. My stomach is turning just thinking about him and his actions.” Said Damien getting frusterated. “We must stop him. Theres no telling what that monster is capable of anymore.” Said Adam. “I agree. This is far from just us being mutated. He now has an entire army under his control.” Said Damien in a calmer voice. “Well we know where this guy is, why not put an end to this ourselves?” I said to Damien, Adam, and Roxanne. “You know what? He’s right! Lets put an end to this mad scientist’s reign of terror!” Said Damien as he got up to his feet. “Alright then we will leave after a good night’s sleep.” I said as I walked into my room and closed the door.

After about two hours of pondering an attack strategy, I heard a knock on my door. (KNOCK,KNOCK) “Hey Johnny, are you still awake?” Whispered Roxanne through my cracked door. “Yeah babe, I’m still awake.” I said as I motioned her to sit down on the bed. “Whats up?” I asked as I put my arm around her and gave her a kiss. “Nothing much, I just wanted to spend a little time with you before tomorrow’s fight.” Said Roxanne as she snuggled up against me. We fell asleep in each other’s arms. But I awoke to someone’s footsteps outside my door. I was always a very light sleeper after I awoke to my father in my room cleaning a bloody knife. I never did sleep right after that. But I noticed that the footsteps were loud like from a boot. I immediately got my electricity flowing because nobody in this house owned boots because they were too loud. As I heard those footsteps, my mind raced a million miles a minute. So I tried to wake up Roxanne to tell her of our unexpected visitor. “Baby, wake up. There’s someone in the house.” I said shaking Roxanne on her shoulder. Just then I saw the door to my room cover in ice. “Adam! What are you doing?!” I screamed. “Well you see I was only a spy. I got into your operations, learned what you all were capable of, and decided that taking you out is the only way Dr. Roberts and I will attain world domination.” Said Adam through the icy door. “Damn you! I trusted you! We trusted you! How could you do this to us?!” I screamed through the icy door as I tried to use my electricity on it. “I’m tired of your bickering. Your powers are useless against my ice. Sniper, take him out!” Adam said. Just then I heard the sound of a rifle shot through my window. I shot out a wave of static electricity stopping the bullet in midair. Then I shot a lightning bolt at the sniper killing him. Then I turned around to see Roxanne was missing. Only a note was left in the bed where she once laid. “Adam! Where did you take Roxanne! ADAM!” I screamed at the nothingness of my room as I burst into tears. I decided to read what the note said, and it read this: “If you ever want to see your precious little girlfriend, you will fight in my tournament. It will be you and Damien Blaze versus my most elite warriors. This will be a tournament to the death. I’ll be waiting…”

“Damn you Dr. Roberts. You just crossed the line!” I said as I picked up my radio headpiece. “Damien, where are you?” I said into the radio. “Ugh… What do you want? It’s three in the morning…” Said Damien in a sleepy voice. “Dude you just slept through an attack on our base.” I said getting a little aggravated. “What?! Hold on, I’ll be right there.” Said Damien. I watched the ice on my door melt and Damien walking through it. “What the hell happened in here?” Asked Damien. “Well first we were betrayed by Adam, second they kidnapped Roxanne, and this note should explain the rest.” I said as I handed Damien the note. “He wants us to fight?” Asked Damien as he read the note. “Well he’s going to pay for messing with us!” Said Damien as he crumbled up the note and threw it in the trash can. “Ok what are we going to do? We need a plan.” I said as I sat down on my bed. “Well the only way to get Roxanne back is to fight in this tournament and we have to take out that traitor Adam.” Said Damien. “Well you have to take Adam out. My electricity is useless against his ice powers.” I said in frustration. “Ok I’ll take out Adam. Let’s get our gear ready though. We have one hell of a melee ahead of us.” Said Damien as he put on his bullet-proof vest. “That’s for sure.” I said putting on my bullet-proof vest. “Don’t worry Roxanne, I’m coming for you.” I thought to myself.

After about an hour of preparation, we were ready to fight. We were armed with two swords, two sub-machine guns in holsters under our arms, two pistols in our belt holsters, and two combat knives, one attached to each leg in a sheath. We wanted to be able to take bullets or whatever came in our way. So we took the tank over to the pier. When we arrived at the pier, we were astonished to see that the pier had been built into a mini fortress. They had gun turrets on every wall, soldiers with guns patrolling the premises, and all sorts of test subjects from fire powers to psychic mind benders. We knew at that point that we were in for a way bigger fight than we thought. Me and Damien decided to smoke out as many people as we could before exiting the tank. We fired the cannon and took out the turrets first. Then with the heavy machine gun we eradicated all of the soldiers before the test subjects began to strike. When I realized the test subject were on to us, I ejected from the tank and created a huge electrical storm killing all of the mind benders. Then Damien ejected from the tank and barbecued the fire test subjects. We were proud of ourselves until we saw Adam walk through the gate of the fortress. “Can I take him out now?” Asked Damien rhetorically. “Go get him. He’s all yours.” I said gesturing him to go ahead. “Adam! Nobody crosses me and gets away with it!” Said Damien as his fists turned into fire. “So it comes down to this huh Damien?” Said Adam in a provocative tone. “You’d better believe it. All that’s going to be left of you is a puddle of water.” Said Damien as he shot a burst stream of fire. “You’re going to have to do better than that!” Said Adam as he side stepped the stream of fire. “Take this!” Said Adam as he shot a stream of ice. “Your ice will always melt when it comes into contact with my fire!” Said Damien as he shot a stream of fire that connected with Adam’s stream of ice. “You are never going to win this struggle!” Said Damien as he put more power into his stream of fire melting his ice stream even further. “No! You are not going to take my life!” Said Adam as he started charging up his ice in the form of a glacier. “Damien! Adam is attempting his glacier attack! Hit him now while he is charging!” I shouted to Damien. “Ok.” Said Damien as he sent a large stream of fire into Adam’s chest. “And here is a parting gift from me!” I said as I sent a huge bolt of electricity into Adam’s melting body. “Agh! You may have defeated me but you won’t end the reign of Dr. Roberts!” Said Adam as he withered away into nothing but a puddle. “Hah! I told him he would become a puddle.” Said Damien with a laugh. “Alright, let’s enter this fortress and take no prisoners! Take out anybody who stands in our way!” I said as I opened the gate to the fortress.

As I walked through the gate of the fortress, I noticed only one figure in the long hallway that stood before me and Damien. I got my electricity flowing but stopped when I saw who was walking toward us at the end of the hall. “Hey! That’s Roxanne!” I yelled as I ran up to reunite with the love of my life. “But when I finally got to her and put my arms around her, she threw me against the wall with her telekinesis. “Ouch, what was that for?” I said to Roxanne. “I have no choice but to kill you for what you did.” Said Roxanne in a creepy voice. “What are you talking about?” I asked dumbfounded. “You are the person responsible for killing my family!” Said Roxanne as she put a chokehold on me using her telekinesis. “Johnny, she has been brainwashed! You have to shock her to put her to sleep!” Yelled Damien. “Ok.” I said as I sent a bolt of mild electricity into Roxanne knocking her out. “That sick Dr. Roberts brainwashed Roxanne to kill me. I will end his life extra painfully.” I said to Damien holding my throat. “I believe you will find that to be quite impossible…” Said a mysterious voice. Just then a small man with a lab coat and long white hair appeared at the end of the hallway. “I am Dr. Roberts, the man who will take over the world with his mass army of super humans!” Said the little man as he raised his arm. We were surrounded by about fifty test subjects in a matter of seconds. “So you’re Dr. Roberts huh?” I said in a smug tone. “I was just here for that tournament you invited me and Damien to.” I said as I put my hands in my pockets. “Very well then. My loyal minions will escort you to the tournament grounds.” Said Dr. Roberts as he started walking away.

We were escorted to an arena that had several huge walls for borders and a large glass window on top. I also noticed that there was a large lightning rod on top of the ceiling. “Damien, you ready?” I asked. “As ready as I’ll ever be.” Replied Damien in a nervous tone. Now Damien had a right to be nervous because neither of us had any idea of what to expect at this tournament. Then on a huge balcony high above the arena Dr. Roberts appeared. “Now this tournament will consist of our two challengers and thirty of my best minions.” Said Dr. Roberts. Our two challengers will fight alongside each other while all thirty try and take them out all at once.” Said Dr. Roberts. “What?! This is madness!” Said Damien. “Damien calm down. I have a plan to take them all out at once.” I whispered to Damien. “What?” Replied Damien in a whisper. “When they all come out, you create a distraction and get them all to go into the middle of this arena.” I whispered. “What are you going to do then?” Asked Damien in a whisper. “You see that lightning rod up there?” I said gesturing toward the lightning rod on the roof. “Yeah I see it.” Replied Damien. “When I create my lightning storm, I will aim it at the lightning rod creating a mass electrical storm that will scatter everywhere. All you have to do is get to cover somehow.” I whispered. “Ok. Let’s do it.” Replied Damien. As the thirty test subjects came filing in I knew this plan would work. They had armor on making them very conductible. After the last test subject came out I yelled to Damien: “Now!” he then created a fiery ring around the test subjects in the middle of the arena. “Alright, you test subjects are going to taste a power that none of you will ever have! The power of electricity!” I yelled as I created my electrical storm. “Oh no! He is trying to take them all out in one shot!” Said Dr. Roberts frantically. “Ok. Now you will all die…” I yelled as the electrical storm hit the lightning rod dispersing on every one of the test subjects. After all of the test subject were fried to a black crisp, me and Damien noticed that Dr. Roberts had disappeared from his balcony. We ran out of the arena in pursuit of him.

After searching the base for Dr. Roberts, we stumbled upon a control room. “Hey Johnny, this is where Dr. Roberts sends his mind control signal from!” Said Damien as he ran toward the control panel. He unsheathed one of his swords and destroyed the control panel. Just then we heard a voice on our earpiece radios. “Hey baby, where are you?” Said Roxanne in a weak voice. “I’m coming for you right now.” I said to Roxanne over the radio. “Damien it worked! Roxanne is no longer under the mind control device!” I said to Damien with a happy expression. “Alright let’s go get her.” Said Damien as he sheathed his sword. After we arrived in the main hallway where we first walked in, I saw Roxanne sitting on the floor still dizzy from my shock. “Baby! You finally came for me!” Said Roxanne as she got to her feet. “I told you I would come get you.” I said to Roxanne as I gave her a big kiss on the lips. “Ok love birds, break it up. We still have to find Dr. Roberts and finish this thing.” Said Damien. Just then the ground started shaking. We ran outside to see a huge rocket preparing for takeoff. “Damn! We will never be able to shoot that thing down!” I said angrily. “Then allow us to help…” We turned around to find the army of test subjects behind us charging up their powers for a huge attack. “We need your energy too in order to make this blast powerful enough.” Said one of the test subjects. So me, Roxanne, and Damien charged up all of our energy into the vast pool of energy above our heads. The energy we stored above our heads shot out a huge beam of energy blowing the rocket up into smithereens. "Well, that’s the end of Dr. Roberts." I said to Roxanne and Damien. "Yeah. Our nightmare is finally over." Said Roxanne. “We must now live our lives knowing that we were a part of the greatest devastation this world has ever seen.” I said walking down the boardwalk of the pier hand in hand with Roxanne. After that day three years ago, I knew that my life had changed for the better. I had the love of my life, I had saved the world, and most of all, I had superpowers. Me, Damien and Roxanne continued using our powers in secret. Protecting the slowly rebuilding United States from terror. After that we continued our lives like “normal” people. We went to college and got great jobs. Me and Roxanne eventually got married and had two kids. Even Damien settled down after meeting his wife Mary a couple months after the incident. I think at times though that I got my powers for no specific purpose. Roxanne tells me that purpose was to rid the world of Dr. Roberts and I see that now. I also wonder what would have happened if I hadn’t met Damien three years ago. Oh well. All I know is that I continue to grow and live with my freaky best friends.

By: Jeffrey Boyer