The Anthem Force Chronicles

"If anything become the hero"

The crowd had only grown since my talk with Brian and it seemed like the whole plaza had erupted in celebrations. I tried to make my way through the swarms of people to find Jenna when I came face to face with Dynamo.

                The man was handcuffed to a bike rack, stripped of his explosives, and was currently unsupervised. The police who were supposed to watch must have gone off to enjoy the celebrations.

                 “Don’t ever become the villain kid. If anything become the hero, that’s where all the glory is,” Dynamo rambled as I walked by, a crazed look in his eyes.

                I gave a awkward smile back and hurried to get away from the villain.

                I couldn’t help but laugh to myself at the irony of the situation.  Here was some villain I had once fought preaching to me, as if directions by some lunatic would ever make someone become a hero.

                Luke’s words suddenly rung in my head.

                Don’t you remember why you became a hero in the first place…?            

                Although I had gotten angry, Luke did have a point, After the explosion in his parent’s lab, Luke made it his sole mission to avenge their deaths by saving as many people as he could.

                My story wasn’t to far off from his.

                It had been three years ago. My dad had been coming home from work when he was mugged, beaten, and left for dead.

                A women had found him in the alleyway and brought him to the hospital, but it was too late, the damage had been done. I remember my mom waking me up in the middle of the night in tears and driving me to the hospital.

                It had been hard for me to look, my dad was in such horrible condition, but somehow I had known it was time to say goodbye.

                My dad had told me he loved me and how proud he was of me, but the words that rung in my head were from when he told me about the robbery. He told me how he had been calling for help and no one had stopped for him.

                My dad died that night and I cried my fair share of tears, but his words stayed in my mind.

                I decided that it was up to me to make a difference. After months of conditioning, perfecting my martial arts techniques, and training with weapons I knew I was ready.

                I already knew who to turn to; the Anthem Force had been around since when my grandparents were kids. Generations of heroes would come and go but Anthem Force always remained.

                Brian had just been promoted to leader after the previous commander moved up to an adult super league. He was young and eager to prove himself to the public.

                At the time it was just Brian and Luke and they were in desperate need for backup, that’s were I came in.

                The mayor’s daughter had been kidnapped and it had been Brian’s first real job as leader. Imagine his surprise when he busted into the supposed hideout of the kidnappers and found the two grown men on the floor while a mere pre-teen girl stood next to them proudly.

                Despite my inexperience it had been an easy fight on my part. The two kidnappers had never imagined that the girl similar to the one they were kidnapping would put up much of a fight.

                Brian had soon gotten over his shock and offered me a spot right away. A few months later Ricky joined when his family moved to town, as the aftermath of a radiation accident his powers seemed to fit right in. The rest was history.

                Well it was history until I quit. I shook the thoughts out of my head as I continued to search for Jenna. I needed to stop feeling sorry for myself. Yet part of me wished I could’ve helped in the fight but I had made my choice and now I needed to stick with it.

                I finally found Jenna trying to push her way closer to Ricky, screaming her head off for him to look her way.

                “Come on, let’s go get food,” I said as I grabbed her by her shirt and began pulling her away.

                “Nooooo,” Jenna screamed dramatically, “I must talk to him.”

                I laughed. “You’re obsessed.”

                “Yes,” Jenna admitted bluntly before squirming out of my grasp and running back towards Ricky.

                I shook my head and smiled. At least she was happy.