Everybody who is anybody knows who I am. My real name is Max Rider, but you probably know me as “that one kid” or “the guy that was on TV, again.” I had been on every news broadcaster in the country not once, not twice, but three times! Crazy, right?
You’re probably wondering how a kid could get that much TV time.
“What in the world did he do? He must have a super power of something!” you might be thinking. That’s just silly though; if everybody who had a super power was on the news, the news would be never-ending with all the names they would have to read off, and all of the stories they would have to tell. I don’t just have a super power; I have many superpowers.
This is the 25th century. Everybody knows someone who has a super power, or at the very least has seen or heard about someone with a superpower. Every couple of days, at least, you hear a story on the news of superheroes using their powers to do something…well…heroic. On the flip side of things, you also frequently hear of stories where the so called “superheroes” use their powers for bad purposes.
Like I said, I have four super powers. (Five if you count being devilishly handsome.) I found out when I was thirteen that I had super strength. I inherited that power from my dad. I had risen to fame after my second super power was discovered. Every news station asked for an interview after I had been granted the power of teleportation, which I had learned after accidentally teleporting from geometry class to history class. I thought I was used to the interviews by the time I had gained the ability to fly, but when I got my x-ray vision, I was flooded by news reporters daily.
Before I was a “national celebrity,” I was the son of a super couple. (The first born son of the Reinhardt and Symmetra.) My dad, Reinhardt, is a super nice guy. He can come off as a bad guy though. He’s tall, has brown eyes, black hair, a goatee, and just all around looks tough. Like I said earlier, every superhero (besides me of course) has one super power. My dad was lucky, and he was born with super strength. He can lift a car with a single finger, which I suppose doesn’t help his “tough guy” case either.
My mom and dad are very, very similar. My mom has brown eyes, brown hair, and she’s a super presumptuous person. The only physical difference is that she’s just over a foot and a half shorter than dad. I may be the only known person to have more than one power, but my mom is the next closest thing. For starters, she has a photographic memory. If I’m about to be late for the bus and I’m freaking out because I can’t find my social studies book, mom will give me the good ol’ “you’re so irresponsible” speech, and tell me exactly where it is, and finish off with telling me that I need to clean my room.
Pittsburg is a big city. Lots of lights, lots of buildings, lots of cars, lots of signs, lots of people, lots of villains, and most importantly, lots of heroes like my parents. My parents used to give all of the bad guys a run for their money, but after a terrible accident involving a robbery downtown, the couple had settled down and started a family. That’s when I came along.

          
Now that I am done telling my incredibly dull backstory, I can start the good part.
It was another long period at K. Clark high school. I had Mr. Reed second period, and he was the most boring period of the day. We started out every day the same way.
“Anybody see anybody missing?” Mr. Reed asked.
“Kirk is gone, again.” Says one of my classmates.
“That’s the third day in a row!” Russ exclaims.
“Thank you Russell.”
Russell was my best friend. He’s a know-it-all teacher pet, that also happens to be a video game wiz, and can crack a good joke every once in a while. We’ve been neighbors since I was in second grade, and best friends ever since school started that year. He found out his first year of high school that he had the power to control the movement of things with his mind, or “telekinesis” as Russ likes to say.
“Okay class, get your textbooks out.” Reed said in a mopey tone. Binders unzipped, books slammed against desks, and we started class.
“I hate social studies.” Cam whispered to me as if he was dying.
“Me too.” I mimicked Cam’s tone.
Cam was my other best friend. Our mothers had stayed really good friends after they graduated from high school, so Cam and I had spent a lot of time together since we were born. I don’t know what I’d do without his craziness. Cam is a class clown, and seeks any opportunity he can get to make someone laugh. He’s also super energetic, but part of that has to do with his super speed.
“Cameron,” Mr. Reed always picks on Cam. “do you remember what we talked about yesterday?”
“Of course, sir!”
“Then can you tell the class?”
“Oh man…I’m drawing a blank-” Classic Cam. “-may I phone a friend?”
“Russell, what did we talk about yesterday?”
Mr. Reed doesn’t usually call on Russell, he already knows he knows the answer, but when nobody else knows the answer, Mr. Reed, and every other one of Russ’s teachers, speeds up the process and calls on Russell.
“We talked about the Omnic Crisis!” exclaimed Russ.
“Right.” Mr. Reed said with a sigh. “What was the Omnic Crisis Russell?”
“The Omnic Crisis was the seven-year war towards the end of the twenty-third century when the robots had an outbreak and almost took over the northwestern states.”
“Couldn’t have explained it better, Russell.”
“Thank you, sir.”
“Someone turn off the lights, it’s time for student news.”
We watched our student news every day. Student news is a ten-minute video of a news reporter talking about something crazy that happened yesterday, then making puns about a funny internet video. It’s basically the news for high school.
“Hi, my name’s Carl Azuz, let’s get right into the news.”
That’s how he introduces himself every single time! It’s starting to get irritating.
“Our first story starts out in the town of Greensburg, Pennsylvania.”
“We’ve been there before!” Cam blurts out as he looks at me and Russ
Greensburg, Pennsylvania is just north of Pittsburg, and Cam, Russ, and I had gone there for Russ’s birthday at a trampoline park.
“Sixteen-year-old Kirk Cousins was found with two other children robbing numerous banks in the area.”
Everybody’s eyes widened as they heard the name. Kirk Cousins has been absent for several days, because he had been robbing banks. Everybody at school knew that Kirk wasn’t always the nicest kid, but nobody expected this.
“The two others with Kirk were not identified, but are suspected to be Kirk’s age.”
Nobody was even paying attention to the news after that, not even Mr. Reed. The class was filled with conversations that I’m sure people in the classrooms down the entire hallway could hear.
“I can’t believe this is happening!” Cam yelled so I could hear
“Me neither! I’ve known Kirk my whole life!”
Three periods later, and every table at lunch was talking about the crime too. I could hear the conversations.
“How haven’t the police caught him yet?” one table asked
“What if he comes back to Pittsburg and robs even more banks?” another table asked
I sat down next to Russell and Cam, who to no surprise were the only people at the table.
“What if we tried to stop them?” Cam asked. That is something I hadn’t heard yet. Trying to take down Kirk and whoever else might be with him.
“You’re insane!” Russ said in disgust. “How are three sixteen year-olds supposed to stop a group of-” I had stopped him before he finished his sentence.
“They’re the same age as us Russ! The three of us combined have double the amount of super powers they have! How could we not take them out?” I was almost surprised by Russell. For his intelligence level, I’m surprised how much he underestimates all of our abilities.
“I guess you have a point.” Russ says. Cam was just kind of listening as he chowed down on his favorite school lunch, cheeseburger with curly fries.