Nathan – Burnout

Saturday, a week later, October 11th. Seven of the eight “heroes” gathered at Nathan and Tyler’s spacious two-bedroom apartment, on the upper floor of a duplex. It was a great place and they felt lucky to have gotten it. It had been a hot commodity due to its proximity to the University of Utah campus, but Tyler was friends with the landlord’s son and had gotten them a deal.

Aaron was the last to arrive. He walked in through the ground floor front door, went up a winding flight of stairs on the left, and knocked on the door that had a large 2 on it. Someone inside shouted “COME IN!”. Aaron twisted the knob and stepped inside, laughing to himself at the thought of the world’s first superheroes meeting in someone’s apartment as opposed to a super secret government facility or something.

The instant the door was open wide enough, two cats made a bid for freedom. Against Aaron with his new powers, they didn’t stand a chance. Aaron twisted fluidly on his left leg, stuck out his right and gently caught the first cat, a long thin grey one named Elliot, with his foot. As Elliot went spinning back into the apartment with a yowl of outrage, a little ball of multi-colored fur called Wyeth rocketed under Aaron’s outstretched foot. Still balancing on his left leg, Aaron bent horizontally and scooped up Wyeth a split second before the cat reached the stairs. Moments later he walked through the white tiled kitchen and into the big square living room with a scowling Wyeth curled up in his arms.

The other heroes were gathered around the hand-made coffee table at the far end of the room, settled on two couches and a couple of rickety white wooden chairs, discussing what had happened to them. The coffee table had been covered end to end with illustrations that had been added by various friends over the years, the centerpiece being a big prism, Pink Floyd style. They were all just about drunk, having cracked open numerous bottles of wine and champagne in celebration.

“…think about costumes and names,” Jak was saying. He looked up from the group briefly to shoot Aaron a big grin in welcome.

“Costumes are easy,” said Crystal, an actress extra. “I’ll just steal form fitting stuff from the set when nobody is looking and we’ll mix and match into sweet outfits.”

“Nice!” Nathan exclaimed, pumping his fist into the air. “I call the tightest fitting outfit!”

“Fight you for it,” Teeny replied, eyes narrowing. They glared at each other for a moment before bursting into sloppy giggles.

“So how about names then?” Jak asked, not to be diverted from what was in his mind the most important decision every new hero faced. “I’ve decided on…GRAVITRON!”

Everybody laughed.

“Dude, you sound like a transformer,” Aaron said. “Can we just call you Gravo or something? Or how about Lazy Gravy!”

Jak frowned, but it only lasted the second it took for him to come up with something else. “Spaceman! Cuz I could be weightless and stuff!” He nodded, content. “Anyone else come up with a name for themselves?”

By the shy grins around the circle, apparently everyone else had had it on their minds. One by one they stood up, put hands on hips in the classic hero pose, and boldly announced their new names. There was a small round of clapping after each name was said.

Nathan; “Burnout!”

Teeny; “Lady Shadows!”

Natalie; “Scales!”

Aaron; “Mr. Fluid!”

Crystal; “Catscratch!”

Tyler; “Head Case!” That earned some laughs.

Nicole; “Um, Battery?” Everyone agreed that sounded good.

They put their hands in the middle like a pre-game football huddle and cheered, before they all collapsed laughing.

“Ok,” Nathan said, wiping a tear from one eye, “now that business is done, who wants to be on my team for beer pong?”

“Right here!” Nicole shouted, jumping to her feet with barely a wobble.

“Nice! So who’s gonna take us on?”

Natalie and Jak got up before anyone else could volunteer.

“We’ll take you out…I mean take you on,” Jak said gravely.

Nathan laughed loudly. “That’s a funny joke. Set up your cups, bitches!”