Abel Grayson, a powerful cosmic being, lived life by restraint. Their superhero parents, in an effort to make a place for them in the world, founded an Academy for super-powered kids like them. The start of junior year at Titans Academy comes at a h...
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01 The Age of Restraint EARTH-9 2034—FALL
Abel hovered within the exosphere. They glowed. Flickered like a star above the Earth. Cerulean plasma spilled out of them. Danced about their body, morphing into otherworldly aura.
Through glowing eyes, they watched the Earth. Swatches of white clouded the blue marble. It shimmered as it rotated. The planet was small compared to Thanagar, but powerful in its own right.
Every planet had a voice. An aura. It danced within the Earth's core. Pulsed with every fiber of life on Earth.
They could see everything. Every part of life happening all at once. Birth, all the firsts, all the lasts, and Death. Life, no matter the quality, thrived on Earth. The few would be nothing without the many.
If they focused hard enough, they could hear everything. Feel everything.
It overwhelmed Abel at first, the clairvoyance; but their suppressors helped. Along with their training. Martian Manhunter trained them to take in information piece by piece. Slowly but surely.
Vibrations pulsed against their wrist. They lifted their hand to see their flickering wristband. "Titans," They spoke into the void of space.
Abel shut their eyes. They exhaled slow, steadying the energy ricocheting through their chest.
It all began to fall away. Earth and the infinite simultaneous explosions that was life. Their mind narrowed to a singular thought. The alert.
It took less than a second for them to know.
Their plasma aura began to swarm. Gravity drew stars near and far into them. A nebulous flare sparked around them. In a flash, their super suit manifested onto their body.
Obsidian like the expanse of space. Lined with white and green stars. A vibrant N made of a supernova blazed in the center of their chest.
Abel no longer.
They blasted away. A fiery ion tail trailed off of them. Within seconds they pierced the thermosphere and picked up more energy. Then the mesosphere, and down until they flew across the troposphere.
In their haste, they shot toward a commercial flight. "Shit!" Cried the hero.
Without thinking, they phased through the plane. Though intangible, their power demanded to be felt. Lights flashed, the overhead bins rattled, and the emergency masks fell out as they flew through.
They emerged and returned solid. A shockwave clapped at their feet as they broke the sound barrier. They blasted out of the night sky.
A booming, high-tech, city grew nearer. They flew alongside a freight train heading into the city. They made a beeline toward the streets. The collective roar of public and private transportation almost drowned out the alert.
