Once the strand was free of his body, Nathan mentally shaped it into a tiny poodle on a leash, soundlessly barking sparks. Jak missed by an embarrassing margin.

“Did you know,” Jak said, trying to distract them with casual conversation, “that when you did that poodle thing, sparks started flickering up your eyelashes?”

“Really?” Nathan smiled in delight.

“Seriously. I wonder if we all do something, or if it’s just a side effect of your power.”

Nicole caught on to what Jak was doing, and saw that Nathan was taking the bait. She had to bring his attention back to the game.

Turning to him, she said “Hit me!”

“What?” Nathan replied, struck dumb.

“My power, man! Hit me as hard as you can, it’ll throw Natalie off!”

As Natalie wound up to throw, Nathan hurriedly sucked the energy dog back into his hands, pulled his right arm back, and swung a hay maker into Nicole’s jaw. Now, on a regular girl, Nathan’s punch would have been strong enough to lay that girl out, if not knock her out for the night. Nicole barely felt the pressure of his fist on her chin.

And it worked! Natalie overshot, and a penalty on a game shot means they lose!

The watching heroes cheered and waved their beers in the air, splashing about a little. Nathan and Nicole hugged. And Jak and Natalie, chagrined, drank theirs and the other teams’ last cup.

When the noise died down and new teams were being chosen, Nathan decided it was a perfect time for a cigarette break. As he was pulling on his dark grey jacket, Jak came up and offered congratulations on a good game, then asked if he could bum a smoke. Nathan readily agreed.

The two friends wandered downstairs, onto the front porch, and sat down on the stairs. Nathan pulled out his smokes and shook two free, handing one to Jak who, in turn, pulled out his trusty black lighter and lit them both up. They were soon smoking contentedly.

“So,” Jak said, “what do you really think about all this hero business? Think we’ll be able to do some good, fight crime and all that? Have a comic book based on our exploits?” He smiled wide at this last thought.

“I don’t know,” Nathan replied honestly. “I think it all depends on whether we have super villains to fight. There was that guy that Teeny and I told you about from Sun Valley, but who knows where he’s at, or what he can even do, besides absorbing my electricity that one time, and I’m still a little fuzzy on how that happened. I was pretty drunk at the time, you know.”

“Speaking of that guy,” Jak switched gears, “there are eight of us with powers that we know of, right? Don’t you think it’s a little coincidental that we all know each other, that our whole group of friends got powers, and at exactly the same time? I mean, what if there are eight super villains out there? Hell, they could be partying it up just like us, rejoicing in their powers before, I don’t know, planning bank heists or world domination or whatever villains talk about. What if that guy you met in Sun Valley is the start of some super conflict, the tip of the iceberg?”

Nathan shrugged. “Could be, I guess. Seems too coincidental, though. Like there was someone pulling the strings. Which is something I’ve actually considered over this last week since we all got our powers. And if there is someone higher up planning all this, then we should be looking for super villains to fight!”

“Well, yeah, I’m down for that. But shouldn’t we also look into stopping regular crime now that we’re so powerful? Think of all the good we could do!”

“Ok, I see what you’re saying, but then we would really just be super cops, not superheroes. And I hate cops.”

Jak mulled that over for a moment. “I don’t think we’d necessarily be “super cops”. There’s tons of superheroes that just fight regular crime. It’s all about keeping the streets safe, you know? Protecting the innocent. That’s what comics have taught me.”

“Yeah, I dig it,” Nathan said. “But if that’s the case, don’t you think we’re in the wrong city? I mean, we’re in Salt Lake for Christ sake! It’s like one of the most crime free cities in the country, not counting meth labs. If anything we should move to New York, or Chicago. Be in a place that needs what we have to offer! … And is willing to pay, of course.”

“You know, you may have something there,” Jak admitted. “There really isn’t a lot we could do here. Plus, we could get labeled as having a religious affiliation! Before you know it, some bible thumper is going to start babbling about how ‘God’ came down and ‘blessed’ us or whatever. So what’s to stop us from moving to a place full of crime and setting up shop? We could have our own Super Team or something!” Jak’s voice was slowly starting to rise, decibel by decibel, as he got more into the idea.

Nathan had to laugh at the earnest passion in Jak’s voice. “Yeah, we could. Maybe go bust gangs in Cali. Plus, we could surf, and save girls in bikinis, and stuff like that.”

“Hell yeah buddy! Cali won’t know what hit ‘em! Plus, I bet the government would pay us for being heroes once we get our name on the street.”

“Exactly,” Nathan took a last drag and flicked his cigarette butt over the railing and into the driveway. “C’mon, let’s go tell everyone our big plans! Isn’t that why we got together tonight anyway?”

Jak tossed the cigarette he had barely smoked, got up, and followed Nathan into the house with a big grin plastered on his face.