drownedinlight

An idea I got today wondering about super powered people, and a what if the superman were a woman thing. I am probably going to re-write this, maybe as some form of script, but maybe as a different kind of prose (all in first, or part of it in first and part in third, limited), but for now, here's the premise and the start of it.

Title (working): Atalanta: Superhero
Premise: The second rising of superheroes happened almost fifteen years ago, and ever since, there have been the super powered guardians of the world, watching over us. But suddenly, they are not heard of when a crisis arrives, and after less than a month those they kept at bay run rampant all across the world. It is during this time for those who had hidden their abilities to step up and take their place. First and foremost, they need to keep the world safe, but they also need to find the missing heroes. In the thick of all of this is Charlotte Horn, or better known as Atalanta: the Superwoman.

First Rising of Superheroes: Late thirties to early forties
Included
• Perseus: the man with super strength
• Professor Brains
• Nereid: the water girl
• Anemoia: the flying girl
• Witch Doctor
• Coyote: shape shifter

Second Rising of Superheroes: Late nineties to now
Includes
• Alcaeus: The superman
• Freya: the warrior maiden
• …The batman character

Third Rising of Superheroes: Now
Includes
• Atalanta: the superwoman
• Strike: the second batman character
• Gabriel: the man with wings
• Ameretat: the immortal woman
o Becomes something of a mentor to Atalanta
o Skilled with a bow?
o Historian
• Medicine Woman: the healer and magic maker
• Samurai Knight: (f)
• Einherjar: Freya’s elder brother
• Wormhole: teleporter and pathfinder (m)
• Hexe: witch and magic-er (f)

The TV buzzed a little in the background of the apartment as Charlotte moved around the kitchen in her morning routine. She wore a long night shirt, pair of boy shorts, and rumpled hair, fresh from her bed, as she poured her morning cup of coffee. Mixing the creamer and sugar the cup, Charlotte looked up to the morning news report.

“Fire fighters have successfully put out this morning’s blaze at a National Research Facility, but suspects who started the fire and reported stole a number of the facility’s resources and projects still remain at large. Back to you, Bill, Nancy,” said the reporter standing in front of a still smoking building.

“You know Nancy; I think this brings us into our next topic of the morning, because it is a question we all have on our minds as disasters like these continue to happen: where have the superheroes gone?”

“You’re absolutely right, Bill. It has now been almost a month since the last reported sighting of Alcaeus, Freya and many of the other superheroes not just here in the United States, but all across the world. Some say that this League of Heroes was disbanded by social pressures and have chosen to ignore their call for duty. Many think this could be a positive aspect of normal life returning to us, however the rising numbers of those with super abilities who continue to do damage to communities around the globe seem to prove otherwise.”
Charlotte reached for the remote, turning Nancy off before she could say anything else. She drained her cup of its coffee and returned to the kitchen to scavenge for breakfast in the quiet of the apartment. She did not say anything to the quiet space about what she thought about the disappearance of superheroes, no matter what she thought on it. The fact of the matter was, there was nothing Charlotte could do to bring any of them back.

“That’s not true,” whispered the little voice in the back of her head. Charlotte began to pour her second cup of coffee as she examined the cereal boxes they kept on the kitchen counter, ignoring the voice in the back of her head. “You could do something, you could help people, you have—” The voice in her head cut off as she cracked the mug in her hand, hot coffee splashing all over the counter, the floor and her night shirt.

“Dammit,” she hissed. “This is why super strength is not all it’s cracked up to be.” Thankfully, her mug had split into many large pieces and was easy to pick up and dispose of in the trash, before she wiped up the coffee and any smaller pieces she had missed.

“Char? Is everything okay? I heard a crash.” her roommate Natalie asked, coming from their apartment hallway asked. Charlotte looked up to see Natalie rubbing her eyes. Of course, Natalie didn’t get home until three because of her job, so it would make sense that she was still tired at eight in the morning.

“Yeah, it’s okay though, I’m fine,” Charlotte said. “You can go back to sleep.”

“It’s fine, the coffee woke me up…did you spill hot coffee all over yourself?” Natalie asked getting a better look at her. “Jesus Char, are you sure you’re all right?”

“Positive, you know me, besides it was kind of cold coffee,” Charlotte lied. “Um, there should still be some in the pot if you’d like a cup. I think I’ll catch a shower before breakfast, and be careful, in case I missed any of the shards.”

“Sure,” Natalie said, more and more skeptically as she woke up. Charlotte privately swore to herself, as she leaned back on the bathroom door. The most important thing about having super strength, Charlotte knew, was that she always needed to be in control. Because, sometimes, it wasn’t just things that snapped in her hands, sometimes it could be people. She wondered if the super strong man, Alcaeus, had any of those problems ever. She wondered if he too was still a virgin, because he was unsure that if in those intense moments of orgasm he would not be able to stay in control. She wondered how he hid in his daily life, if he had a daily life that is, or if he was just a superhero full time.

Charlotte stripped off her shirt, and got a good look at her stomach and between her breasts where the coffee hit her. The skin looked a blotchy red at worst, and by the time she got out of the shower would be nothing but her normal olive flesh. She turned the shower tap on, stripped off the boxers and slipped under the hot spray.

She tried to focus on simple tasks, like just getting down into the roots over her hair with her finger nails, or scrubbing her body down with her loofa, but her mind kept going back to the missing superheroes. After all, there had been protests about them since they began saving the world, so something big would have had to happen for them to just quit and ignore the problems around them. But if something else had happened to them, what was it? After all, who could steal a superhero?

A wrapping on the door echoed through the bathroom.

“If you could not take all the hot water that would be great thanks!” Natalie called.

“Sure thing, Nat!” Charlotte yelled back, rinsing herself off, and turning off the tap. She shook herself off, and grabbed one of the towels hanging on the rack. As soon as she opened the door, a rush of steam gushed out into the cool air.

“I swear to God, Charlotte if that water is cold!” Natalie exclaimed at the sight.

“You don’t have to be to class until ten thirty,” Charlotte said. “You can wait another forty minutes to take a shower. Besides, I wasn’t in there that long.”

“How can you stand it that hot?” Natalie asked. “It’s no wonder why hot coffee doesn’t bother you when you spill it all over yourself.”

“I told you, the coffee had gotten cold when I dropped that cup,” Charlotte said, as she walked into her room

“Maybe if you weren’t so defensive I’d believe you,” Natalie retorted following her in. “You might as well admit it, Charlotte, I won’t tell anyone.”

“Tell anyone what?” Charlotte asked, rummaging through her drawers to pick out an outfit.

“You’re…different I guess. I’m not sure of exactly what, but I think you can’t get hurt, and there’s got to be something else to it, because things tend to get destroyed when you’re angry.” Charlotte only shook her wet hair, dropping her towel to pull up a pair of panties.

“Yes, you see, I become giant and green when you’re not around,” Charlotte retorted.

“I’m serious, what’s up with you?” Charlotte glanced at the clock, as she buckled on her bra. Grabbing a black blouse from her drawer, she pulled it over her head before deciding on a pair of jeans.

“I’ve been keeping a secret my whole life, and I don’t think I could let it go that easily,” Charlotte said. “Do you think we could talk about this later when I’m not worried about class?”

“You don’t have class until nine-thirty and it takes fifteen minutes to get to the University,” Natalie protested, flopping down on Charlotte’s unmade bed. “Look, would you at least say that I’m right, that there’s something different about you.” Charlotte looked at Natalie in the mirror as she began to pin up her hair.

“Yeah, okay, there’s something different, but I don’t want to say any more than that.”

“Ah ha! I knew it! Now I can ask a burning question I have longed to know since we became roommates: did you smash my Queen Vinyl?” Charlotte snorted, pining up the last piece of her hair.

“No, that got smashed during one of the parties you wanted to have,” Charlotte said. “How do I look?”

“I like you’re hair, but really, that shirt has almost to shape do it, wear a belt or something,” Natalie recommended.

“And what if I like being shapeless?” Charlotte asked. Natalie hugged her from behind and buried her chin in the crook of Charlotte’s neck.

“You like being androgynous?”

“Shapeless and androgynous are not nearly the same thing,” Charlotte retorted. “And I don’t know, maybe it help me in the long run.”

“When? Oh, maybe when you begin your career as a superhero!” Natalie suggested, letting go of Charlotte and snapping her fingers. “I mean you have a superpower right, and right now all of the superheroes are gone! I mean, what if they need to be saved and you are the only one to do. In the spirit of JFK and all that, ‘ask not what your fellow superheroes can do for you, but what you can do for your fellow superheroes.’”

“I don’t think I could be a superhero if I tried,” Charlotte said, taking her jacket and her bag off of her chair.

“Where are you going?” Natalie asked, as Charlotte left the room.

“I still have to eat breakfast,” Charlotte said walking back toward the kitchen. She selected a box of cheerios and a bowl from one of their cupboards.

“Okay, so explain it to me; you have super powers; you know martial arts, a couple of different kinds right? And you’re smart and courageous. Why the hell wouldn’t you make a good superhero?” Natalie asked, leaning on the counter.

“I’m just not made for that kind of thing, Nat,” Charlotte protested. “I mean, look at Alcaeus; the guy started fighting crime when he was probably still a teenager. I’ve been hiding my gift my entire life, just because I’m afraid of what will happen when I let it go for a single instant, even if it is to do some good. I could kill someone without even really trying.”

“…So you’re super strong?” Natalie asked. “Like Alcaeus? Oh! Does that mean you can fly?”

“No, I can’t fly, but yeah, I’m super strong,” Charlotte said, resisting the urge to bend her cereal spoon as she dung into the Cheerios. “Every moment in my life I have to be careful not to hurt someone or something though Natalie. That’s why he’s the superhero, and I’m probably not.”

“Well, hey, have you ever considered that maybe if you don’t try to fight it, actually embrace your super strength and all that, then maybe, just maybe, it might be easier to control?” Natalie asked. Charlotte chewed her cereal thinking about it for a moment. “I suppose you could maybe test it out, huh, and see if it would actually work?”

“Maybe,” Charlotte agreed. A silence branched out between them as Charlotte took another bite of cereal.

“Hey, does this mean you can’t have sex because in the throws of orgasm you might, I don’t know, crush him or something?” Charlotte dropped her spoon into the bowl, and grabbed her bag and jacket, walking for the door. “Hey, come on, it’s a valid question!”

“Bye, Nat, I’ll see you tonight!” Charlotte called as she walked out the front door.