Tales Of The Universe Vol 1 Issue 1

The High School Hero
Inside one of the many beat down and crusty old houses of Los Angeles, California five teenage friends find themselves in a heated argument about something they had been doing for the past few months.

“Come on you guys! How can we even be debating this here!? We have been doing this for months and look at all the people we have helped!” Nathan yells out as he tries to convince his friends into going out on patrol.

It’s a Friday night and all the kids are ready to party; all but Nathan. See he is a seventeen year old kid in his junior year of high school. Hasn’t had a girlfriend in his entire life. His whole life revolves around his two favorite heroes, The Web Strider and The Red Dawn. No kid has wanted to be part of Heroes Inc. like this kid here. Currently he is wearing his own “Superhero” outfit.



He forged the suit himself. Using whatever allowance he could to buy himself the fabric to design his own “super suit.” He likes to tell people he is The Emerald Fighter. His suit is green and black, with a logo  he designed on the center of his chest. He has short spikey black hair and a mechanical green mask to keep his identity hidden from the gangs and cops of this city. Los Angeles and New California for that matter really don’t have heroes to call their own, so Nathan wants to fill that spot.

If you didn’t know him as the guy who dresses up in spandex on his free time, you would think he is a rather attractive young male. He is almost six feet tall and very muscular for his size. This is because he works out on the regular to try and give himself what he likes to call the superhero body. Nathan doesn’t have a father at home so the closest thing he has to male leadership is the characters from the comics he reads.

For the last few months, he and this group of friends has been dressing up and helping around the city of Los Angeles from small crimes like liquor store hold ups and people being jumped in alley ways. Everything seemed to be going great until they stopped a situation between two rival gangs. Here in Los Angeles, the Bloods and Crips have been running everything on the streets for many years. And with this group stopping one of the crips from getting jumped by a group of bloods, they have been receiving death threats on the walls throughout Los Angeles. Warnings in the form of graffiti that if they are seen, they will get put six feet down fill the streets.

One of his friends speaks up and says, “Look, Nate…We all had fun doing this. But it’s not worth dying over, man. These threats are serious!”

The others in the group slowly nod their heads in agreement. This had begun as something to be fun for them to do, maybe help the city a bit. But they never thought something like this would get to this level. They will be hunted like dogs in the street if they go out there tonight.

The fear had been obvious. Nathan has it too. He can feel it growing on the back of his neck. But then he thinks to himself.

“If this was Red Dawn…Or Web Strider…Would they give up!? NO!...They would push on…They would accept this challenge and win.”

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ki10zh3gNFc )



Nathan stands firmly in front of his friends, feeling the pressure of what he is about to say building up inside of him. Yes he is afraid and yes he is nervous, but there is one thing that he knows is certain. That a true hero who is dedicated to making life and the people around him better and safe. That there is always something bigger than him to fight for. Something will always push against him, but he is not the kind of person to lay back and let life roll over him.

His eyes stare up at his friends, a fire burning inside of him. “If you guys want to back out…then fine…I won’t quit. Kasaihana had its saviors and now Los Angeles needs theirs.” His hands curl up into fists as he speaks. “I won’t stop you…But you all won’t stop me either.”

His friends look at him with expressions of sadness, knowing that they won’t be able to put a stop to Nathan’s pipe dream. They hang their heads after a few seconds of silence. They begin to gather their belongings and make their way towards the door of his house. The friends all give their goodbyes and wish him luck, praying that he will be safe out there. If the threat risk wasn’t high already; going out alone only makes it seem near certain death.

<p class="MsoNormal">After all of his friends leave the house, Nathan is left with nothing but his own silence as he mentally prepares himself to go out into the night alone. For the first time since he put on the mask, he has no backup. Everything that happens from this point on is now up to him and only him. There is no one else to blame if something goes wrong.

<p class="MsoNormal">A small smile appears on his face as he thinks about everything that can happen. Because he also begins to think about what the success of tonight could lead to. It could lead to the dream he so desperately wishes to achieve. He can see it now. His name up in lights as the new hero of Los Angeles and even working alongside his heroes, Red Dawn and Web Strider.

<p class="MsoNormal">“Hell yes…It’s time to go to work…”

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The Hero That Los Angeles Needs
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:center">(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GFFFwJ_DNFA )

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<p class="MsoNormal">It doesn’t take long for Nathan to come out of his house and onto the streets of Los Angeles. The smell of weed fills the night air. The area that Nathan lives in isn’t exactly something nice and proud to be from. But Nathan takes it in stride and happily makes the best of his life situation.

<p class="MsoNormal">Walking down the street many people look at him like he is some crazy nut-job. Nathan skips to the beat of his own tune, keeping his eyes open and vigilante for anything out of the ordinary. He can hear some of the people commenting on his appearance and it only brings a smile to his face. Because whether they hate him or love him, he is on their minds right now. And it will surely be something they tweet about. But what he doesn’t see is what someone is doing on their phone. Taking a picture of him and sending it to some very bad people in this neighborhood.

<p class="MsoNormal">He continues to move through the streets, nothing really popping off. But then he passes an alleyway and hears the screams of a girl begging for help. He turns and sees three men trying to rip the clothes off of this girl. He recognizes these guys. Three guys who go to his high school, nothing but punks who can’t get any girls on their own.

<p class="MsoNormal">Knowing that these guys aren’t really about anything serious, Nathan begins to make his way over to them. His walk is confident and slow as if he already knows he has won this fight. As he comes closer, the screams become louder and even she catches a glimpse of him.

<p class="MsoNormal">She whispers, “Oh thank, God.” This alerts the three men that Nathan is behind them. The three men quickly react, two of them pulling away from the girl. Her shirt ripped off, only leaving her bra to cover her breasts. Her skirt is practically hanging on by a thread while the guy keeps her down on the ground.

<p class="MsoNormal">The two men charge at him and Nathan quickly runs full speed at the two of them. The attackers both swing widely and this allows Nathan to slide underneath their arms while extending his arms out to smash his fists into their kneecaps. Because of his use of learning about the human body and watching too many Bruce Lee movies, the two men topple over one another while falling to the ground. Nathan aimed to smash their knee caps in and render them immobile for the fight.

<p class="MsoNormal">As Nathan springs himself up, he swings his right leg around and cracks the third male right in the jaw. His head swings to the right and splatters blood all over the girl’s chest. Two of his teeth pop out and dribble down onto the ground as well. Nathan stands over the three of them as two writhe in pain and the other is out cold. The girl quickly stands up and even kicks the guy who is unconscious while yelling at them for what they tried to do.

<p class="MsoNormal">Nathan puts on the superhero expression and begins to say, “You are safe now, Miss. The Emer-MMF!”

<p class="MsoNormal">Before he could finish, the girl grabs him by the back of the neck and pulls him in for a very passionate kiss. Her arms wrap around his large frame while his hands clasp one another behind the small of her back.

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<p class="MsoNormal">The gang members all laugh to themselves before turning away and walking back out of the alleyway. Civilians who look at the scene that played out can only remain quiet, hoping to not get shot themselves. This unfortunately had become something this city is used to seeing. To live and to die in LA.

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The New Light Of Hope
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:center">(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=joQWMecJmDk )

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in">It had seemed that the local hero had met his end at the hands of a local gang. But something had been different about this. Nathan is still here. Nathan slowly opens his eyes once again and is caught in a world is had never seen before. A place in space that he could have never even began to imagine. Nothing but stars and the black void of space surround him. Out in the distance he sees a bright white cloud covered around what look like small stars surrounding it. Nathan looks at himself and sees no bullet holes, but rather his old super suit repaired. The green and black shine brightly as the cloud begins to come closer and closer to him.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in">His body is practically floating in this space, his mind flabbergasted at the sight all around him. Finally, the cloud begins to open up and reveal what is inside. It reveals that it is actually, a man! A man well over six feet three inches tall and very muscular appears from the cloud. He has long dark black hair with a black beard around him. But what stands out the most to Nathan is the fact that he is wearing a very similar suit design to his own Emerald Fighter outfit. It practically matched him equally, right down to the mask. The only difference being that his is all white.

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