June 15th, 2053

Lucien staggered, eyes staring wide from the concussive wave of force that emanated from the fight a hundred metres ahead of him. Standing with a crowd of people in one of the main thoroughfares of New Avalon, he exchanged an awed and giddy look with the well-built boy to his right. A pair of titans clashed in the street, their fists slamming together in impossible displays of power that shook the earth and caused mad screams of fear and delight from the massive group of daredevil civilians.

Both combatants were male, wearing clearly recognisable costumes that weathered the abuse of their conflict with remarkable durability. It was a sign of the society they now lived in that such a spectacle was met not with terror and suspicion, but with a kind of eclectic anticipation that always teetered towards all-out panic or uproarious euphoria. It all came down, as always, to the result of the fight.

“Kick his ass, Hyperion!”

Lucien joined in as his friend called out, his own voice faintly fracturing with pubescence. “You can do it, Hyperion!”

The Hero in question, Hyperion, had his back to the pair of them as he fought. His white skin-tight suit was largely hidden behind golden armour worn across his frame, designed in a Grecian style in keeping with the theme of his name. His faintly luminous blond hair and golden eyes added to the effect, completed by the bronzed skin-tone that made him look like a god — or in this case, Titan — straight out of Greek mythology.

“Dude, Atlas is so fucked.”

Lucien turned to his friend then, nodding his agreement. Tiberius, or Ty as he liked to be called, had been his closest friend since infancy. Their mothers had been together from the same age, first as kindergarten playmates and then as sorority sisters, and had stayed close even after getting married.

“I was a bit worried at first, but Hyperion totally has him on the ropes.” He responded loudly, shouting over the ferocious battle nearby. “Even with help from Lady Midnight and the rest of the Supremacy Corps, there’s no way they could take the League on their own turf.”

“Plus, everyone knows that Hyperion was the brains of the operation even before Atlas went AWOL. I don’t know how he thinks he can just—!”

Both boys staggered backwards mid-conversation as Atlas released a colossal roar and unleashed a blinding flurry of punches towards Hyperion, generating concussive waves of power that blew the crowd back. He shifted when Hyperion countered, and jump-slammed both fists into Hyperion from above. The Lord of Light, as Hyperion was styled, took the blow on one knee with his armoured arms raised above him to block.

Atlas, his own costume a reverse of Hyperion’s with a black bodysuit and silver armour, reared back a fist to throw another haymaker at his foe — only to stumble as he was suddenly blasted backwards. The crowd released a mad cheer as Hyperion demonstrated the reason for his title, unleashing a crackling beam of golden energy from his eyes that lit up the massive six-lane street of central New Avalon with its intensity.

“Fuck yeah!” Both boys exclaimed in excitement, watching Atlas slide along the concrete in a roar of pain, his feet tearing apart the asphalt as Hyperion pushed him back. Before the silver-armoured villain had a chance to recover, the Hero was on him: Surging forwards in a flash of white and gold to rain blows on his once-ally’s faltering frame.

The consequence of the new attack, however, meant that the fighting had become far too close for comfort and both boys beat a hasty retreat alongside the watching crowd. Lucien, jostled as he moved, staggered slightly at another concussive impact from the fight — until he felt one of Ty’s powerful hands steadying him, an act which earned his dark-skinned friend a grateful smile.

Where Lucien was a skinny, above average height of 5’10”, Tiberius stood at a solid 6’2” with a quarterback’s physique. Where Lucien’s hair was a boring, straight black that fell to just above his shoulders; Ty’s was cropped and styled, taking full advantage of his mix of African American and Greek heritage. Ty’s skin was a light shade of chocolate, like a perfectly brewed Mocha; whereas Lucien’s was a kind of washed out, bland white that left him looking like God had forgotten to give him his fair share of melanin.

A sudden sonic boom drew both boys’ and the crowd’s attention, and everyone — including Atlas and Hyperion — looked up at a new arrival, who promptly caused the crowd to roar with approval. Hovering in the air with a majestic blue cape flowing out behind her, was Hyperion’s famous partner Tempest; the Maiden of Might. Her black hair was loose and long, flowing down to her mid-back and over her chest.

“No way Atlas doesn’t run now.” Someone nearby said. “His sister’s going to kick his ass otherwise.”

The relationship between Tempest and Atlas became clearer at a glance, if anyone took the time to compare them. Tempest wore silver armour not unlike Atlas’ own, though her bodysuit beneath was a sky blue and hugged her figure; showing off an athletic feminine physique. Tempest perfectly embodied the Amazonian image, her beauty only serving to enhance her overall sense of lethality.

“Dude Tempest is so hot.” Ty said from beside Lucien staring up at the imperious Maiden wistfully, deep green eyes filled with awe. “Hyperion’s the luckiest man on the planet.”

“Yeah, just don’t forget she could throw your ass into orbit, Romeo, assuming she doesn’t just hit you with lightning first.” Lucien replied with a snort, lightly whacking the back of his hand against Ty’s solid chest. His own eyes were a dull brown, almost rusty in their colour. “Remember what she did to that idiot reporter from Heroes Weekly when he asked her whether she wears a thong under the suit?”

Both boys grinned at Lucien’s words, vividly recalling how literally shocking Tempest’s reaction was. No one had been unwise enough to ask about her underwear proclivities again afterwards, and the reporter had wisely chosen not to press charges in spite of the consistent spasms he reportedly endured for the next half a year straight.

“It’s over, Atlas!” Hyperion’s voice announced abruptly, his powerful baritone carrying easily, even over the noise of the crowd. “Surrender. Your allies are defeated, and you have no hope of victory.”

“Fuck you, Hyperion.” Atlas threw back, foregoing the formal manner of speech his old friend preferred, in favour of something far more direct. “You’re on the wrong side of this fight!”

Tempest’s eyes crackled with lightning at her brother’s words and she lifted her hands — only for Atlas to throw up his arms and create a massive wall of concrete and granite between himself and the heroes. The crowd released an ‘oooh’ sound before the Villain turned away, bending his legs to launch himself into the air and depart with a distant sonic boom, silver cape trailing behind him as he flew.

A moment of silence gripped the crowd, and then the entire thoroughfare erupted into wild cheers as Hyperion’s impossibly handsome face melted into a victorious smile. The crowd surged forwards even as the hero lifted into the air, joining Tempest in waving farewell to the adoring public. Thirty seconds of delay was given as photos were taken and smartphones recorded their hovering bodies, before the literal power couple rose upwards and abruptly blasted away; Hyperion leaving a faint trail of golden fire in his wake as he and Tempest vanished over the horizon with a matching pair of sonic booms.

“That was fucking awesome.” Ty said with a grin, turning to Lucien as the crowd started to disperse with animated chatter. “Too bad we didn’t get to see Tempest fighting Lady Midnight.”

“Yeah.” Lucien agreed with a nod, turning to join Ty as the pair made their way towards the transit centre a few blocks away. “Though I doubt that it was anything more than a one-sided smackdown. Lady Midnight is strong, but Tempest and Hyperion are in their own league.”

“Not that you’re biased or anything, Luc.” Ty replied with a sly smile.

“Yeah, okay, fair enough.” Lucien conceded as the pair of them crossed a smaller street towards the central transit centre, heading into the massive building. The buzz of people was even louder within, from laughing teenagers their own age to the sound of crying babies and excited adults on vacation or exploring New Avalon for the first time.

Ty tapped Lucien’s shoulder and nodded to one of the large gateways a few dozen metres ahead of them, with a holographic 05 projected on top of the entrance. Several different destinations were projected in the same manner, marching downwards in a row of ten from the top towards the middle of the entrance; which itself was nearly two storeys high. The boys turned towards the gateway without hesitation, joining the large crowd of people steadily flowing into the blue-lit tunnel.

“Your mom is going to freak when she finds out how close we were to a fight between Hyperion and Atlas.” Lucien said with a grin, idly glancing around them at the colossal transit hub as they approached the tunnel. “You know she hates us getting anywhere near them.”

“So we don’t tell her.” Ty said easily. “It’s not like she knew what we were doing today, besides seeing the new Maximum Super Force movie.”

“She’ll figure it out.” Lucien said with a certainty he felt in his bones, glancing at his taller companion. “She always does.”

“Play it cool, man. We’ll be fine.”

The main reason for Lucien’s concern was the fact that for the last three of his fifteen years, he’d been living with Tiberius and his family. His parents had died, his father when he was three and his mother when he was almost thirteen. The memory of the latter was more raw, more painful, even three years later — though he did his best not to dwell on it.

Vanessa and Leonidas Washington had been his godparents and stepped into the vacant spots left by his parents to become his legal guardians. He still called them Aunt Vanessa and Uncle Leo, but they were his parents in every legal sense of the word. It was an obligation they took very seriously.

He’d been grounded enough times to know that for a fact.

“How much of the fight did you record?” Lucien asked Ty as they approached the waiting hyper-rail, boarding one of the transparent cars of the mag-lev train waiting at the station within Gateway 05.

“Everything from just after Hyperion kicked Atlas into the street. I almost dropped my phone from shock, though.”

“Can’t blame you. I did not expect to see the leaders of the Golden League and Supremacy Corps brawling in the middle of central New Avalon.”

“What do you think Atlas was after?”

“The Vault in League Tower.” Lucien answered immediately, with no doubt in his mind. “Unlike most people, Atlas actually knows what sort of insane tech and arcane artefacts they have in that place. No way he was after anything else. He’s probably looking for some sort of superweapon.”

“Good thing Hyperion wasn’t the one who turned, then. Roles reversed, I don’t think Atlas could have defended against his former partner.”

"I can't believe how much stronger Hyperion is! I mean, they have practically the same powers, but the way he uses them is just..." He trailed off, at a loss for words.

Tiberius grinned. “No way you’d say that near Atlas’ earshot.”

“Uh, no shit. I don’t have a death wish.”

Both boys laughed as they settled into their seats and the mag-lev pulled out of the station, the ten-car train rising to surge out of the station and onto one of the many hover-rails criss-crossing the length of New Avalon.

Built in the late 2030s following a colossal 9.7 Earthquake engineered by one of the first Metas, Calamity; New Avalon was undertaken after the complete destruction of Los Angeles and San Francisco. The subsequent ejection of a massive chunk of the Californian coast led to even more chaos, until the decision was made to rebuild the entire newly-minted Island into the world’s first Mega City.

It had been pioneered by Eckhart Grant, a Meta-Human tech mogul whose fortune was in excess of six hundred billion dollars. Not satisfied with the federal restrictions, Grant had simply brute-forced his pocket politicians into allowing him to lease the Island for ten years until he could finish construction on what he called the world’s next step. Looking out at the brilliant skyline of New Avalon, rife with holographic billboards running on solar energy, and the countless interconnected hover-rails suspended across the city’s horizon-to-horizon size made it hard to disagree. Eckhart had done the impossible, and created a city like no other on the planet. When the lease for the Island had expired, the local government had petitioned for New Avalon to be recognised not as a state of America, but as a protectorate of the United States and granted partial independence from the federal government.

With New Avalon having become the largest haven for Meta-Humans and Practitioners — humans with superpowers and humans that used magic — on the planet, the resistance to the idea was railroaded by the rising power of mega corporations in the American status quo that saw New Avalon’s partial independence as a lucrative investment opportunity. The result was a situation of semi-sovereignty, with both an elected Governor representing the remaining ties to the United States, and a Consul that acted as the de facto political ruler for New Avalon.

“School’s gonna be nuts tomorrow.” Tiberius said, recapturing Lucien’s wandering attention. “People are going to lose their minds when they find out we got to see Hyperion, Tempest, and Atlas so close.”

Lucien’s mood dimmed at the mention of school, his eyes refocusing on the endless future-tech skyline sweeping past them at hundreds of miles an hour. New Avalon First High hosted children from both the middle class of New Avalon, and its most prominent and powerful corporate entities. Another of Eckhart Grant’s ideas, it had been written into the New Avalon Charter that all the schools of the Island would accept applicants based solely on their academic merit, using limited slots for each tier with highly advanced systems in place to throttle any attempt at bypassing the system.

The result was an eclectic mix of the rich and the average, with the schools equally attaining students from every background.

“At least we won’t have to listen to Jason boast about how Hyperion shook his hand once.” Lucien said half-heartedly.

“Shit, I can’t wait to see the look on that stupid bastard’s face when he hears what he got to witness. The teams are going to lose their minds dude.”

Tiberius had always been gifted with both athletics and intellect, and like Lucien had qualified for the highest tier of admittance into First High. Unlike Lucien, however, Ty’s athletic talents also made him extremely high-demand in the field of sports, and he doubled as both the starting Quarterback for the First High Titans, and the captain of the First High Swim Team.

Lucien, conversely, was a skinny asthmatic with a bad case of acne. He largely escaped being bullied or tormented thanks primarily to the fact that Tiberius regarded him as a brother, and had made it painfully clear what would happen to anyone that tussled with Lucien. That protection however had its own drawbacks, and while Lucien was grateful for his friend’s desire to keep him safe, the passive humiliation of having to rely on Tiberius’ protection in the first place was more than a little soul-crushing.

“By the way, what are we gonna do for your birthday next weekend?”

Lucien looked over at his friend with sudden alarm, before swallowing back panic. He had hoped, foolishly, that Tiberius had forgotten his upcoming sixteenth birthday. “It’s not a big deal.” He said quickly. “I’ll talk to your mom and we can just go out for steak or something.”

Tiberius snorted, rolling his green eyes. “Yeah right. I already talked to Dad, and he said we can throw a party. I pointed out you only turn sixteen once, and what better way to celebrate the end of Sophomore year than a massive bash? It’ll make us legends when we go in as Juniors.”

Lucien opened his mouth to object, but no words came out. Ty’s winning smile and pure excitement drove the wind out of his sails, and he instead offered a resigned smile, shoving away the terror he felt in order to make his god-brother happy. “Alright, alright. We can have the stupid party… but nothing too big!”

“Sure,” Ty said with a winning grin. “I know how you roll, brutha.”

In spite of Ty’s words, Lucien felt the opposite of reassured.