“C’mon guys! If we combine our powers together, we can beat the supervillian, Monkey Madness!” the starry eyed protagonist yelled triumphantly in a voice pitched too high to be natural. The protagonist in question was animated with massive sparkling eyes and a red bob cut that seemed to glitter in the light and matched her freckles which looked like stars.

Similarly dressed animated women with different haircuts slowly lined up next to her and held hands. Standing together they made the spectrum of a rainbow; red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple.

“Hah, hah, hah.” A gigantic gorilla stood amongst the burning wreckage of a bank with a comically large knapsack of gold in hand.

“You really think you can beat me?! I’ve perfected my monkey serum. With this gold, I can turn the whole WORLD into my monkey minions” the crazed ape cackled with madness and ambition.

“Not if we can help it, evil-doer! Time to give this monkey a makeover.” The ringleader of the women announced before shooting a red beam of light from the tiara on top of her head.

Similarly, the other girls’ coloured beams blended into a rainbow spectrum that-

The screen faded to black as I pressed the red button on the remote.

They were playing ‘Star Guardians: Terrors from Monkey Madnesses Lab’ all night. I don't think I'll ever be able to get that main character's voice out of my head.

Walking over to the window, I tried to look at the rising sun, but I could only see half of it. The other half was blocked by a billboard advertising a lawyer named Freddy Goodman. Looking down, I saw the streets that wouldn't see sunset ‘till noon and tiredly watched the people go about their business.

I noticed I didn't feel as tired as I normally did when I pulled all-nighters studying. Another reminder that I was now superpowered, never to be the same again.

Three metallic clangs resounded throughout the room, a sign that someone was knocking at the door. I took one final glance at the sun. I estimated it to be around 7am by now and it wouldn't be until 12 that the light finally reached the street below.

“Come in,” I said blankly.

“Guess who it is again!” The same nurse from yesterday walked in with that same gusto.

“Can you give me the rundown for today? I need to see my parents and...” I took a sniff of my gown, “definitely a shower too”.

Pulling out the tablet I saw yesterday, her fingers neatly moved across the surface.

“Hmm, it looks like your parents were notified of your admittal yesterday. You’ll be allocated a chauffeur to take you home, which should take ‘til now to 9am and then straight to the superpower bureau which should take until 10am” the nurse said in a professional voice while reading from the device.

“Chop chop now, we all have a schedule to adhere to” she said with a wink and a smile.

I awkwardly stammered out, “have you got a name? I-I haven't thanked you for yesterday and it was definitely out of pocket-”

“It's Stephany, and don't worry at all. It's my job to help people” Stephanie said with an infectious smile. She then turned and started to lead the way for me.

The hospital had staff milling around like ants, though it looked like there was some order to the chaos. Looking up, I saw a sign that said “Superpowered Related Care”. It made sense for every room to be made up of such thick metal. Hospitals are among the highest risk areas in all of modern civilization. Everything was painted white, except for a blue line that went across the midsection of the walls.

Evading speedwalking nurses and doctors, we eventually made it to the elevator in which Stephanie selected ‘B1’.

“Wooh, that's the hard part out of the way” she muttered while pretending to wipe some sweat off her brow.

“Is it always that busy?” I asked, not really caring, but to make conversation.

“Mmm, pretty much. Congratulations though, you were our 12th powered individual this month, if we reach 15 that's a new record!”

“What did I look like when it happened?” I asked with morbid curiosity.

“I didn't see it myself but Casey said your skin started bubbling and ejecting pieces of metal. Then your bones and tendons started elongating in order to regenerate, kinda like one of those time lapse plant growing videos. Real gnarly stuff. Don't feel bad though, you should see a level 10 transformation. A patient 13 days ago mutated and melted half of wing A-2!” the nurse said with eerie enthusiasm.

“Wow, that's pretty amazing, isn't it? I can do that?” I stared down upon my hands in wonder.

Stephany nodded.

A ding echoed throughout the elevator as it slid to a halt and the doors slowly opened.

The underground parking lot spread endlessly in each direction. Nearby, I could see a squat black car that quietly hummed inside of one of many employee parking spaces.

“I guess this is goodbye. If you decide to become a hero, I'll be rooting for you on TV” Stephanie said with one of her signature smiles.

“Goodbye. Look after Ryan for me” I responded with melancholy. I had only known Stephanie for a couple of days, only learning her name on the second, but leaving her made me sadder than I would have expected.

I walked up, put my hand on the black car and took one final look at Stephanie, who was already walking away. I hope I can see Ryan again soon.

The chauffeur was an ageing woman who looked like she’d been doing this for a long time, judging by how she deftly wove through the roads and utilised backstreets in the concrete maze that was this city.

Uneasy once again with the silence and my lack of information, I started to probe the driver.

“Anything you can tell me about the Bureau of Superheros?” I quizzed. Government websites tended to be dry reads, so I knew little about it.

She looked into the mirror, clearly unhappy with the interrupted silence. “Didn't they give you a pamphlet? I bloody hate these fresh supes right before the next batch is sent. They don't know nothing” the chauffeur ranted, leaning over to spit but seeming to restrain herself.

“Batch?” I inquired.

She loudly sighed before continuing “all supes need a licence to prove they have their abilities under control and can be functioning members of society. It also functions as a way to catalogue powers for scientific understanding and to be able to apprehend them if they go rogue. The secondary function of the department is to train supes into proper heroes. All bollocks, though. Half of the kids I drive through here are narcissistic pricks obsessed with fame. As for the “batch”, a new group of supers are brought to camps outside of the walls every month for training.”

I guess this was the superpower training course that was at the end of the year. Damn, hard to think I was out for so long and that I’d be doing my end of year exams by now. Brainstorming other questions to ask I finally came up with another.

“What kind of training is common over there?” I inquired.

I could see her white eyebrows perk up in the mirror. “Eh good question. They ask you to group up in teams which will be used for most of the training. Trading team members midway through is allowed and team exercises will be used to gauge ability for most of the training.”

Shit. Looks like people who came earlier already have an advantage.

The car abruptly came to a stop, jolting me out of my thoughts.

My family’s all-too-familiar apartment complex. We lived on the third floor of the building. Dad managed to keep us fed and housed with his demolition business, which is lucky, considering that in most households, both spouses have to work in order to afford to live outside of the outer northern district.

I’ve never been outside of the outer east district myself and usually, most people would never venture outside of their born district. But through rumours and the internet, apparently the case is that the north had it the worst economically. It was considered the slums of the metropolis, where all the waste, crime and poor congregated, which left me with a lot of pressure to take the safe route of taking over the family business.

“Come on, say your goodbyes and take a shower. You're stinking up my car” the driver barked, clearly not one to appreciate sentimentalism.

“I won't take more than 30 minutes.” I gestured by making a 3 with my hands, although she wasn’t looking at me anymore. More entranced in lighting a cigarette and blowing the smoke outside of the window. I hopped out of the car and the wind reminded me that I was still wearing that stupid hospital gown. Pushing the large, heavy doors open produced a considerable creaking noise. I had heard that noise almost every day for most of my life and I couldn’t help but wonder if I’d ever hear it again.

Jogging up the stairs, my stomach swelled with a concoction of anxiety and anticipation. My parents had humoured me as a kid about being a hero, but they had recently started trying hard to squash my “pipe dream”. I wondered if this revelation would change their mind much, or if their position would shift towards concern for my safety, which I honestly didn’t have much of a counterargument for other than that I was willing to take the risk.

Eventually, my feet landed in front of my doorstep. Room 92-B, floor 3. I took a deep breath before pressing on the doorbell. The door immediately swung open, nearly slugging me in the face.

“Elijah! I'm so glad you're okay!” a short mass that smelled of cinnamon took me in the chest. Nearly taking me to the ground.

“I’m fine, I’m fine!” Tears blurred my eyes, as my irrational fears melted away.

“The hospital said...” my mum sobbed “...they said you had been in a superpowered-related incident...” more tears streamed down her face “...that information on the case was classified, and then silence until they said you were being discharged today!”

“Mum, let me make you some tea,” I wiped her tears to the side with my hand. “I have something to tell you and dad,” I added with a touch of guilt. My mum's eyes sparked with curiosity as she opened her mouth, only to close it again. The creases in her skin seemed to deepen in the time I had been away.

Leading her to the dining table, I sat her down before going into the connected kitchen and started boiling the kettle. Our house was exactly the same as I remembered it. It felt like an eternity since I'd been back and regretted how brief this exchange was destined to be.

Looking around, my eyes drifted to the modest living room, the dining table at the back of it and then the kitchen I was currently standing in. While I was putting the teabags into the two cups, my Dad walked out of the study before unexpectedly hugging me just as warmly as my mother did. He was always the tougher parent and as father and son we rarely shared emotions.

Patting my back clumsily, he said in his rough voice “glad to have you back, son”.

I basked in the silence as I poured the boiling water in with a touch of milk; finishing up both teas and sat down at the table with them, handing them both an Earl Grey.

“Are you alright? Di-did you develop... y’know...” my mum trailed off as she looked at my pristine skin and then pretended like the bookcase in the background was mighty interesting.

“Yeah. I'm going to become a hero too. I've decided” I bit the bullet and confessed quickly with mock confidence.

“Superheroes have a 60% mortality rate! Don't even get me started on how many more are crippled for life! Please Eli, just get the licence and come home!” my mother pleaded.

There had been a moment in the hospital that I had reconsidered my dreams, but the more I thought about it, the more empowered and resolved I felt. I had been granted an opportunity to save people and to be better than other heroes.

“Enough, honey. Can't you see the kid’s made up his mind? Son, just promise us you'll be safe. If you leave your mother behind, I won't forgive you.” His words surprised and shook me to my core.

“I promise,” I squeaked before clearing my throat.

“I promise,” I repeated, louder.

Standing up, I hugged the two of them strongly. “I love you both. I need to have a shower and leave.”

“You're leaving already? But I was going to make lunch,” my mum exclaimed, annoyed.

“Don't worry, you won't even notice I'm gone.” Quickly, I rushed to the shower and started to clean myself up. Am I supposed to return this hospital gown or keep it as a souvenir? I mused.