Microstory 754: Pedro

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Pedro Gomes was born with a quite unusual medical condition; one that made his daily life extremely unpleasant. He suffered from completely uncontrollable internal vibrations during all waking hours. Lying down to rest seemed to lessen his symptoms enough to allow him to fall asleep, but anyone who placed their hand upon his skin while he was in bed would still feel the vibrations. This came with other problems, including numbness and weakness, dizziness and vertigo, and difficult visual focus. Basically nothing around him would stand still well enough for him to get a clear picture of it. At times, these vibrations would rise to the surface, and he would demonstrate external tremors, but often these would be done on purpose. Sometimes the best way to relieve the pain from his vibration was to keep moving around, be that jumping, swinging, or even rolling on the floor. His family gave him the nickname of Holy Roller, partly out of affection, partly out of insensitivity. As he grew up, though, he decide to adopt this moniker, but he would not maintain its attachment to his true identity. He ended up joining a group of supervillains who were purporting themselves to be superheroes. Upon leveling through the ranks enough to learn the truth behind this organization, Pedro started secretly fighting back, aligning himself with a small group of rebels who too knew what they had really signed up for. He worked under the leadership of Stuntwoman, who was highly trained in not only stunt work, but also martial arts. She wore a flame resistant suit that burned to the touch, but only to her opponents. She kept with her sidegliders, a parachute, and landing padding that softened her falls. Stuntwoman’s cousin, Bolster wore special boots that could spring her high into the air. Her cousin taught her some hand-to-hand combat, as did her mentor, whose intentions were not so honorable. As for Pedro, a.k.a. Holy Roller, he learned to focus his body’s vibrations to use them against others. Though he couldn’t be rid of them entirely, he could draw the vibrations to a single point, say his fist, and expel the force against enemy combatants. Of course, he wore hybrid roller skating boots, with wheels that could descend, or retract, as needed. An associate of theirs later built for him a poison dart gun that resembled a snake to cement his flare identity. Pedro never had an easy life, even after discovering his calling as a champion of justice, but he owned his weaknesses, transformed them into strengths, and became a feared name in the criminal underworld.

Microstory 106: Colton Underwood

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Though exceptional, anomalies were generally indistinguishable from regular humans. There was this thing where they all had green eyes, but that was certainly not a useful character specification. There were a few, however, who exhibited extremely noticeable physical mutations. These were, as far as we can tell, the result of gene splicing experiments; mixing human DNA with that of some kind of animal. Their motives were lost to history, and hard to estimate seeing as that none of the presumed animals would be deeply helpful when trying to enhance a human’s abilities. One might think that giving a human gills so that they could breathe underwater, or even traits of a flea so that they could jump farther, would be the best use of such technology. Perhaps they did try such experiments, but the subjects perished, or their descendants never evolved later on. One descendant who did manage to survive evolution was named Colton Underwood. He was born extremely small; barely weighing in at two pounds. The doctors believed that he would not survive the night, but he grew stronger and healthier as his mother fed him. In fact, he did not leave his mother’s bosom even for a second for nearly a month. His appearance was very different. He did not develop opposable thumbs, and he sported an epidermal membrane that spread from his shoulders to his hips and outward along his limbs. These were referred to as his gliders, and superficially resembled wings. They allowed him to potentially glide through the air for miles, depending on the height of his origin. The government stepped in almost immediately. They provided his family with a mountainous and heavily forested small island of their own, so that he could feel free, but still technically be trapped. The hospital staff signed nondisclosure agreements, and the family lived in the peace of a simple life for many years. They were unavoidably cut off from the world, and they all accepted this, seeing no other solution. It occurred to no one to have his gliders surgically removed so that he could assimilate into society. Eventually, this island became a home for other people with inexplicable mutations. A high-ranking officer in the military was all but the only thing standing between the mutants and anyone who intended to study the subjects for any sort of gain, be it benevolent or not. It wasn’t until Bellevue made contact with the government that the mutants suddenly had a choice in their lives; a group to truly belong to. They were finally given the opportunity to leave their snowglobe, and show themselves to the world.