by Kevin Rau
H.E.R.O. - Metamorphosis
by Kevin Gerald Rau
H.E.R.O. - Metamorphosis
Copyright © 2009 Kevin Gerald Rau
Revised and Edited in 2012 by Kevin Rau
Published By
Kevin Gerald Rau
Editors
Dan Henry
Kimi Johnson
All characters are original and fictional. Any likeness to real people is purely incidental.
Cover created by Kevin Rau.
The H.E.R.O. series includes:
H.E.R.O. - Metamorphosis (1)
H.E.R.O. - New Markets (2)
H.E.R.O. - Rise and Fall (3)
H.E.R.O. - Dark Research (4)
H.E.R.O. - Horde (5)
H.E.R.O. - Paragon (6)
H.E.R.O. - Illustrated Guide
H.E.R.O. Shorts – Gatecrasher (7)
H.E.R.O. Shorts – Silverlash (8)
H.E.R.O. - Gene Front (9)
H.E.R.O. - Incursion (10) Coming late August/early September 2012
Wondering what the characters look like in detail? https://www.kevinrau.com has images of many of the heroes.
Please "like" H.E.R.O. Superhero Novels on Facebook! You’ll get the latest news and character renders (pictures) as they are made:
https://www.facebook.com/herobooks
Thanks to Dan Henry, Christina Aspen, Bob Bintzler, Jody “Bud” Smet and my online friend Pach for being all too willing to club the seal sitting on my head as my fingers typed away with a mind of their own, in some cases putting down the strangest things....
Chapter 0 - Forward
Kev's (Author's) Viewpoint
Thank you for buying H.E.R.O. - Metamorphosis! This novel is the first in one of the most extensive superhero written novel series in existence!
This was my first novel, and the style is somewhat less refined than you'll find as the series progresses. It serves as an introduction to three of the most common characters in the series, how the "supers" work, etc. More superheroes are introduced as the series progresses.
I hope you enjoy it as much as I've enjoyed working on it!
By the way, my Facebook page has hundreds of pictures on the heroes (and some villains). H.E.R.O. isn't a comic book series, but I've worked hard to provide a lot of images of the characters to hopefully enhance the experience for you.
Here's the link: https://www.facebook.com/herobooks
Chapter 1 – Food Courts and Untimely Explosions
Stephanie's Viewpoint
Twenty, and my life is ending. I lay there in a pool of blood, and thought that this life was too short. My name was Stephanie Quinn, the only name I had at the time. I couldn't believe I might die without doing anything really cool with my life. It was just wrong.
It was late Saturday afternoon. A few minutes prior, we'd been sitting in the food court of the local mall. The place bustled with a crowd hitting up the fast food joints. Much of the crowd watched the big screens mounted up above us. Breaking news warned the public about a new meteor shower coming down over Metrocity's region. They expected it to cause a renewed outbreak of the gene “supervirus” today. That’s not a virus that spreads, by the way. We just called it that because it infected people and significantly changed their DNA, their connection to the universe, their life.
It was always an interesting topic to my friends and I, considering my dad was a super, though I wasn’t. In fact, my two best friends had a parent who was a super. One might think the fates conspired to push us together, in reality it was more of a plan by our parents.
I was enrolled as a junior at Metrocity University in the genetics degree program. We’d watched the media on this event as it approached, and hoped to study a super, or metahuman at some point.
My eyes were glued to the news report, so I asked Rael if he'd be a dear and get us all some nummy flavored coffee from Gloria Jeans. Lance would do it, but I just loved twisting Rael around my finger, even more so considering he was such a tough guy. He loved it in secret, and it gave him a chance to hover behind someone in a line and intimidate them. Like I said, tough guy. I grinned at him as he headed off.
Our watching of the news was interrupted by fireworks in the sky. The glass dome over the food court made it a good vantage point to sky watch, and some rather spectacular detonations occurred directly overhead as meteors exploded up in the sky. One made it very low over the city, perhaps even the mall, and we felt and heard the boom as it burst low overhead. The din from the crowd buzzed with awe and excitement. The lights dimmed momentarily in the mall; it appeared to affect every business visible to us. I was struck with a headache, perhaps from the flashes and booms.
I rubbed my temple as Lance and I returned to watching the live news coverage of the tiny meteors burn up and explode as they entered the atmosphere. The anchor on T.V. began a discussion with some scientist about radiation testing when I heard a scream behind me. Lance looked past me, and I turned my head to see some guy in a strange contorted position. He stood with his back arched, hands clenched in fists, his face a mask of great pain. The guy's body actually glowed. He's either a supervillain about to do something nasty to us all, or he's being affected by the meteor virus. For a moment I was jealous. I didn’t have much more than a moment.
The table and chairs nearby began sliding back toward the man, as though he were pulling everything to him. From off to the right Rael sprinted toward him, leaped over a few tables, and people too. I think almost every face in the entire food court turned toward either the screamer, or watched Rael move through the area. I wondered if he'd help the guy, or perhaps get him on the ground, but no, in typical Rael fashion, he threw some kind of flying ninjitsu punch at the guy's head. The guy exploded right where he stood when the punch landed.
I don't mean an explosion of blood or some such.
No, he literally blew up, like a grenade or dynamite. Chairs, tables, people, everything was thrown away from him. I flung my arm up to ward off a flying chair, and a huge man’s body slammed into me. The wave of concussive force followed a fraction of a second later, blasting me back. I felt energy pass right through my body, and I must have lost consciousness for a minute.
I came to and found myself lying on the ground. Something held down my lower body. I moved my head enough to see that it was some really fat guy. My vision was blurry. I felt blood dripping down my head, and my left arm bled from a massive gash along it.
Lance lay near me. He was a huge guy, probably 6'6” and 300 pounds of gorgeous muscles, brunette with medium wavy hair and steely gray eyes. He was a heavy weight lifter, rugby and football player. Lance's back arched, hands clawed at the air, and his face contorted in great pain. His skin split apart along muscle groups, new muscles bulged out, and the skin re-grew over the new muscle. Blood flowed from his body in dozens of locations. Some of the blood I lay in appeared to be his.
Wait a moment, why am I not feeling pain? That thought snapped me out of my fugue as I suddenly became acutely aware of a dozen wounds doing everything from causing stabbing sensations to a sensation similar to someone punching me repeatedly in the back. My head throbbed especially badly.
I lifted my head to look around better, and saw people lying scattered about the food court. Many lights were out, and furniture had been flung in a wave away from the blast guy. Cries of pain, screaming and moans seemed to be coming from everyone. It was like a war zone.
My forehead hurt, I put my palm against it, and accidentally exacerbated a wound there. Liquid ran down over my eyes and I realized my forehead was split open.
I tried to find my purse to get my phone out. I wanted to dial 911, p
eople needed help here. I saw the purse; it was just past Lance, out of my reach.
Great. I felt rather drowsy, but very warm, perhaps that was the pain. Aren't you supposed to feel cold as you lose blood? The sensation of heat grew, and I suddenly had the feeling of fire coursing through my blood. You ever really feel your blood pump through your system after inhaling a strong coffee? Yeah, similar to that, but on fire. My back arched, I lost control of my arms as they clawed at the floor, and heard exceptionally loud screaming. Wait, is that me?
As the pain roared through my system, all I could think of is fire, pain, and the sense of being burned at the stake. I felt great empathy for anyone caught in a fire at that moment. Dying would be fine right about now, just end the pain, please! I felt a wave, or pulse of something from my center. It pulsed through me, and I felt a little less pain. My skin tingled, and a wave of goose bumps went down my entire body. It was a strange combination of pain and pleasure I felt. My skin continued tingling for a while, but the pleasure receded, leaving only the pain again.
I wanted to hold Lance's hand, but I fought against the contorting of my own body. It probably didn't help that the fat guy kept me from moving half my body, and my left leg didn't appreciate all that weight on it.
We’re changing, I’m sure of that. Hard to think clearly though. I need to do something here….
I had just enough awareness to notice Lance's thrashing slow to a stop. A few moments later he sat up with a surprised look on his face. He saw me, and reached over to grab my shoulder. I heard, wait – no, I felt a crunching in my shoulder as he crushed the muscle and bone without effort where he grabbed me, and I screamed. I reached toward his arm with my left hand, but adding this new pain to the mix was just too much. I think I heard him say something, but everything went black....
Chapter 2 – Escape from Authority
Lance's Viewpoint