A lightning flashes. At this time of year, the streets of New York are grimy, wet and dark, especially during heavy rainstorms like this. No one would dare to go out in this weather… unless you have an objective.

Two hooded figures, a man and a woman, are running in the rain, away from something or someone. The two are out of breath, but still running as fast as they can. After all, they have someone to protect: the woman is carrying their four-year-old son with them.

The couple, Oscar and Faith, are in Brooklyn, heading towards a certain destination…

“I think we lost them for now.” Faith declares as she’s looking around carefully.

Despite foster homes being the place where orphans are put into nowadays, Fortuna Orphanage in Brooklyn still operates as a place that never turns down a child in need. The reason why Oscar and Faith have come to this place at this hour, in this weather, can only mean one thing.

“Alright…” Oscar looks to his wife knowingly. She then gently drops her son on the doorstep of the orphanage.

“Are you okay, honey?” Faith asks her son, Kaden, who nods in response.

Oscar, who’s been looking around again, walks towards Kaden and kneels before him.

“Listen, Kaden... Mom and Dad have to... go somewhere far away... for a long time.” Oscar says in a melancholy tone.

“I wanna come with you!” Kaden shouts.

“No. It’s too dangerous.” Oscar stands his ground firmly. “Look, I can’t tell you everything yet, but…”

Oscar then shows Kaden his sun powers: he forms a yellow-orange ball of energy around his fist. Kaden has seen his powers before, so he isn’t surprised.

“It’s because of this.” Oscar states while the sunbolt in his hand sparkles.

“But I’m gonna get those powers too!” Kaden tells his father. “That’s what you said, right?”

“Maybe, maybe not. It’s likely though.” Oscar says while lowering his hand.

Oscar and Faith look behind them again. The rain is getting louder.

“Oscar…” Faith says worriedly. Oscar grabs his son gently by the shoulders.

“We don’t have much time.” Oscar whispers as he looks down. “Here’s the thing, Kaden. I... I know the people running this place. They’re nice people. They... agreed to take you in.”

“Are you abandoning me?” Kaden asks worriedly.

“No... No, this... this is temporary.” Oscar tries to convince his son. “But... you might want to get adopted. Find a foster family to take care of you. They can keep you safe, unlike us.”

“So you are abandoning me!” Kaden exclaims in an almost crying tone.

“No, no, no... Kaden.” Faith tries to calm Kaden down.

“No. It’s... it’s not like that.” Oscar swears. “In fact…”

Oscar digs his pockets. He then takes out a silver-colored pendant with a red jewel and gives it to Kaden. “Here.”

“What's this?” Kaden asks, staring at the jewel in the pendant.

“It’s something to remember us by... and more importantly, something to recognize us by.” Oscar explains. “If we... don’t remember you anymore or you look somehow different or... something... show us this pendant. We have matching ones with us. It’s proof that you’re our child.”

Kaden has the pendant in his hand. Oscar closes Kaden’s hand.

“O-Okay.” Kaden comments, still worrying about his parents’ true intentions.

“Alright then. Now... promise mom and dad something.” Oscar asks, placing his hand on Kaden’s shoulder again. “Please promise us... that you’ll never give up. No matter what comes to halt you in the future, you mustn’t give up. Because we will meet again. I don’t know when, I don’t know where... but we’ll meet again.”

“O-Okay. I promise.” Kaden says with a somewhat confused look on his face. Oscar smiles somewhat sadly.

“Atta boy.” Oscar then hugs his son. “I love you.”

Faith puts her hand on her husband’s shoulder. Oscar stands up and steps aside to let Faith hug her son as well.

“I love you.” Faith whispers affectionately, but with a tinge of sadness as she hugs him.

Faith stands up and looks at Oscar, then Kaden. She puts her hand on her mouth as teardrops form on the edges of her eyes. Oscar also looks at Kaden sadly. Then suddenly, they can hear shouting and dogs barking.

“They’re coming! Faith!” Oscar calls to his wife firmly, knowing they have to leave now.

“Kaden...!” Faith lets out through tears. Oscar turns to Faith and shakes his head. He then looks at Kaden one last time.

“Goodbye, Kaden.”

“Wait! Dad!” Kaden shouts after his parents, but for nothing; Oscar and Faith start flying using their hands as thrusters with their sun powers. They fly away as fast as they can, disappearing into the night and leaving Kaden alone on the doorstep.

Kaden looks confused and afraid. He can hear obscured shouting and loud bang sounds in the distance. We leave on Kaden standing at the doorstep in the rain. The lightning flashes once again…

NEW YORK CITY, 2035, 13 YEARS LATER

It’s morning in the Queens district of New York City. The Big Apple is busy as always. So busy that, you wouldn’t notice a certain boy walking in a hood into the dark alleyways of the city…

This boy, Kaden, now 17 years old, turns to the back alley from a street, looking for trouble.

Kaden walks forward with his hood up and hands in his pockets. The back alley has garbage bags and containers around as well as puddles from the rain last night. Kaden can hear noises of stray cats and dogs moving around. He’s looking down, the hood obscuring his eyes.

Suddenly, a loud thud interrupts everything. Kaden looks ahead. He can see two muggers pushing a man against a wall. One of the muggers, who is slim and tall, has a shit-eating smile on his face, while the other, who is short and big in stature, is shouting something to the poor man while he seems afraid.

“Bingo.” Kaden thinks to himself, having found the trouble he was looking for.

Kaden runs closer and hides behind a nearby trash container, wanting to hear what the muggers are saying.

“Alright, man. Fork over everything you have.” The big and short mugger tells the man.

“B-But I don’t have anything! I used all I had on me on a vending machine!” The man defends himself.

“Sounds like you’re making excuses. Hand over the money!” The tall and slim mugger demands.

“I’m serious, I don’t have anything–” The man tries to explain, but…

…the big mugger takes the man in a chokehold. The man makes a rather unpleasant choking sound.

“We can do this the hard way if you want.” The big mugger states, crushing the man’s throat.

The man is terrified. Kaden is observing the situation and decides he has seen enough. He stands up and steps off the trash container’s shadow.

“Hey! Leave him alone!” Kaden exclaims firmly.

“Hm?” The big mugger roars and turns to look Kaden. In fact, so do the other mugger and the mugged man.

“Hmph, some kid.” The big mugger comments, after which he raises his voice. “Listen, this isn’t the place to play hero. So run along now, unless you want to hand over your valuables too.”

“Who says I’m playing?” Kaden declares smugly, after which forms yellow-orange balls of energy in his hands.

Kaden then smirks at the muggers. He has gained sun powers, just like his parents.

“Dude, he’s a–” The slim mugger gasps. “You’re one of those freaks!” The big mugger then finishes his sentence.

“I guess you could say that.” Kaden remarks. “But you’re going to let that man go now. Or else...!”

“Or else what? Look, your little energy balls don’t scare us.” The big mugger states confidently.

“Oh, so you wanna find out what they do?” Kaden snarks. “Here you go.”

It all happens in a blink of an eye. Kaden shoots a sunblast at the mugger holding the man. He makes an “oof” sound and flies a distance away. This makes Kaden a bit concerned.

“Whoa, these sure pack a punch. That wasn’t quite what I intended, but okay…” Kaden ponders to himself, looking at his hand for a moment.

The man who was being mugged is now free. He gets his bearings and runs away past Kaden, screaming.

“Now you’ve gone and done it!” The tall mugger shouts. “Our bounty is running away.”

The other mugger stands up, holding his chest. “Let's get him!” He yells with a grimace on his face.

Both muggers now rush at Kaden. Kaden takes a fighting stance and shoots a sunbeam this time, with his both hands. It’s extremely powerful, enough to overwhelm both muggers. The two fly further from the impact.

“Now that definitely wasn’t what I intended.” Kaden thinks to himself, looking at his hands. “I just wanted to stun them…”

The muggers stand up again, exhausted, both holding their chests. They’re still not running away though, as they want recompense for the lost bounty. In other words, they’re stupid. “You... freaking…” The big mugger growls.

“Let’s try to catch him by surprise!” The tall mugger thinks up. “But how, you idiot?” The big mugger asks, bonking the tall one on the head. However, this seems to give the tall mugger an idea.

“I know, let's try…” The tall mugger starts whispering something into the other mugger’s ear. Kaden raises his eyebrow.

The muggers then come at him from both right and left as fast as they can. “Give up, boy! There’s two of us and only one of you!” The tall mugger threatens Kaden.

One of the muggers jumps on the trash container and leaps at Kaden. While he’s concentrated on the one on the container, the other mugger moves behind him. However, it’s all for naught, as Kaden manages to blast both of them with a sunbeam. The muggers are now knocked on the ground, motionless. Kaden is shocked in terror.

“Oh no... at this rate, I’ll kill them!” Kaden realizes, looking at his hand again. “Why isn’t this working the way I want?”

The muggers stand up again, despite knowing full well that the kid with them is using lethal force (by accident). The two have angry looks on their faces. Kaden hesitates to attack them again.

“Look, I don’t want to hurt you guys.” Kaden pleads, holding his hand up.

“Well, too bad, kid. We want to hurt you.” The big mugger growls back with a sinister tone.

The muggers gather the last of their strength and attack Kaden head-on. Kaden doesn’t want to use his powers anymore, knowing they might be lethal to them. The big mugger tries to punch him and Kaden dodges just fine. However, the tall mugger manages to latch onto him.

“What’s wrong, kid? Out of juice already?” The tall mugger boasts. Kaden struggles to get free from the mugger’s clutch. He manages to get free, but his hood flies off of his head, revealing his brown hair.

The big mugger attacks again. Kaden dodges just barely. He then tries to punch him, but he’s stopped by the tall mugger. The tall mugger then twists Kaden’s arm, and Kaden groans in pain. The big mugger then leaps on top of Kaden and he loses his balance.

“Get off of me!” Kaden yells, forced to use his powers. He blasts the big mugger point blank and he flies upward until collapsing to the ground. The tall mugger attacks Kaden, but he blasts him too. He then realizes what he’s done.

Kaden runs up to the big mugger. The mugger is bleeding from the middle of his chest, barely conscious. “Oh no... is he dying?” Kaden worries.

Kaden then checks the other mugger. He’s unconscious, but Kaden can hear him breathing. “At least he isn’t dead.” Kaden thinks to himself.

Then, suddenly, the big mugger rises up behind Kaden. He chokeslams him into a wall. “Gah!” Kaden lets out.

“You little shit. You’ve really ruined our plans now.” The mugger roars, annoyed. “But maybe you can still compensate.”

The mugger takes out a knife. Kaden flinches from the sight. “Ngh!” Kaden can only struggle to say.

“Y’know... it isn’t often we get to meet freaks like you. Let’s see if you bleed any different! Then I’ll loot your corpse!” The mugger yells at Kaden, lifting the knife in his hand. At that moment, Kaden’s pupils get smaller as he stares at raised knife.

“Dammit... I’m dead. And only because I held back.” Kaden thinks, facing his apparent doom.

He thinks back to his childhood. Kaden has admired superheroes not just because his blood parents had powers, but also because of the feats they were capable of. He remembers when he was 10, he was watching a battle between a superhero with fire powers and a science experiment gone wrong at Madison Square Garden from a safe distance away.

The young Kaden is in awe. The fire-powered hero unleashes flames upon the experiment, making the thing growl. “I’ve always admired superheroes.” Kaden narrates. “They have the power to do what’s right. I’ve wanted that power the moment my real parents left me on that doorstep…”

Then, this morning, Kaden awakened to his powers. He thinks back on the moment he was awake on his bed, staring at the yellow-orange energy balls surrounding his hands. “Whoa…” Kaden can only utter out…

“Kaden? Are you awake? What was that noise?” Kaden’s adoptive mother’s voice can be heard from outside his room.

“I-I just fell from my bed…” Kaden lies, and goes back to staring his hands.

“Now I, too, have the power. The power to protect, the power to help others! That’s what I thought, anyway.” The present Kaden narrates once again.

Kaden then tries to remember the faces of his blood parents. He can make out a blurry, black-and-white image of them in his mind…

“I’m sorry, Mom, Dad... I’ve already failed as a hero.” Kaden laments. “I failed your promise…”

The image of his parents slowly burns away…

Back in the alley, and Kaden is still in big trouble. The mugger has his knife up, ready to stab Kaden. “I’m sorry…” It’s the only thing Kaden can think of as he still stares at the knife.

“Grraaagh!” The mugger growls, and motions his arm. Kaden closes his eyes tightly. This seems to be the end…

“Glglgllglgllglglgl!” The mugger suddenly makes a weird noise. Kaden opens his eyes. He finds that the mugger is no longer holding him down and is being electrocuted. Kaden is understandably surprised. The mugger falls to the ground, unconscious.

“What the--?” Kaden wonders, but is soon interrupted. “Don't move.”

Kaden looks to his left. He sees a man dressed in a dark blue suit and sunglasses. The agent-looking fellow takes off his sunglasses, puts them in his chest pocket and crouches in front of the mugger.

“Huh... maybe a bit too many volts.” The agent ponders. “A smaller dose would’ve probably done the trick too.”

“I-I’m sorry, but... who are you?” Kaden asks the agent. “You don’t seem to be a cop…” He then turns to look at Kaden.

“You’re the reason I’m here.” The agent digs the pocket of his pants. He flashes his badge at Kaden, which says: 

SCOUT AGENT FOR THE ACADEMY OF HEROES

NEW YORK CITY DEPARTMENT

“Wait... You’re from the...!” Kaden excitedly comments, but–

“You’re under arrest, kid.” The scout agent asserts firmly. “Wh-Wha–” Kaden can only utter those words before being taken in.