A Superhero Story: Part 1

There are exactly 437 corporations in the world that deal with the occult, the paranormal, the metaphysical and the abnormally gifted. 161 of them are based out of Europe, 78 split between the Middle East and Africa, and 135 are located in Asia, with the majority of those being based out of the Pacific rim. Another 44 are located across the continent of North America, with the remaining 19 existing in South America under the control of the remainder of the Mayan and Incan empires respectively. Of these corporations, I have personally served in 3; the specific corporations of course aren't really that important, anyone who has ever had experience with these groups knows that any one is the same as any other.

My exact job description: superhero. When I tell people that however, most of them have deluded visions of helping the innocent, protecting the feeble and upholding the virtues of justice. That of course is really nothing more than a bunch of rotting bull shit; fantasies dreamt up by douche nozzles who spent too much time reflecting on the mirror images of good and evil. I read this book once by a guy named Erich Fromm called the Heart of Man; now there was a man who understood the pendulum of good and evil. In fact I have an original manuscript of the book that I keep in my own personal library; sometimes I refer to it when I need a professional non-corporate opinion on what I'm doing. I do digress however.

What I'm trying to say is that being a superhero isn't quite the paragon of virtue that the modern world has moulded it into. Don't misunderstand, I've thrown myself into the Sumida River to save drowning children, I have been the shadow guarding the hunted from the hunters, and I've foiled the plans of people who tried to control the world through pain and fear. I've also rained misery down upon the weak and helpless, I've ignored those to whom I was their only help, and I've served as the personal executioner to some of the people I've cared about most. In honesty, being a superhero is actually pretty soul-stealing work, suited only to the most heartless and unfeeling of human. I struggle with it most days, and the days that I don't, I generally worry about myself.

Superhero is somewhat of a misnomer however. While it's true that almost everyone who works for a corporation has the ability to do something in some way, the truth of the matter is that we're divided between several different classifications of action depending on what our abilities actually are. Artificers are those who can use arcane and occult tools, though they themselves have no ability intrinsic to themselves; you probably even know someone like this, they tend to be the ones who put street lights out as they walk by them. Ninja are absolute pinnacles of human conditioning, their abilities aren't fancy, but their training and their dedication to that training make them some of the most dangerous people I have ever met. There are Specialists, and this is the category that I fall into. When people think of superheroes, Specialists are the people they are usually thinking of since we're the ones who have personal abilities and powers; I myself am a psychometric. Then there are the Operatives, the ones whose job it is to recruit and conscribe others into corporate activity. People in this position generally come from all across the board, my own Operative, Lynn Lieb, was once a Ninja (which was awesome). Finally of course there is the executive Brass, but their actual function is still somewhat of a mystery to me; I know they make the decisions and control operations, but the actual mechanics of that level I must admit my ignorance to. All I know is that their orders are absolute.

Each of these classifications have their own specific functions; being a Specialist, I'm usually the one tasked with the actual grunt work of what we do. When there is a target that has to be taken care of, I take care of it. When there is an obstacle that needs to be cleared, I'm usually the one to clear it. Where there is something that needs to be recovered, I'm the one who generally does that too. I have a partner of course, Specialists seldom work alone. In my own partnership, I play the part of intelligence, where my partner, Opera Vector, is the muscle.

Why am I telling you this? There is a story that I would like to get off my chest, but the problem is that it's one that need just a modicum of reference. My corporate psychologist made the suggestion that I write the story out, but honestly? To tell this tale, I need to cover more then just the details of the events that transpired. I need to understand myself the meaning of all the misery that I've put myself through, and the only way to do that is to start at square one and work out from there. At least now when I mention Ninja, you won't immediately jump to the thought of the 15th century Japanese warrior caste from which the name comes. Also, when I talk about conversations held with objects and items, you know that I'm psychometric, that this is just par and parcel with what I do. Have I told you quite enough yet? To be honest, I could continue on how I'm somewhat of an outcast among my peers (not in a bad way, but I'll get to that), or I could tell you how all of this began on the roof of the Zozo Apartment, on what normal people call Valentine's Day. I'll refrain from all that for the moment however, I get the feeling that I've already given you enough to chew already without even mentioning the meat of the story I'm about to tell. Besides, we'll get into that next time.