The Mall of Justice
Andy and Ace were walking down the corridor, eating hot dogs and drinking soda.
"Yeah, the Mayor takes real good of us," Ace told the boy. "Keeps us out of the papers and junk. He even helps keep our parents off our backs. You know, the whole hero thing's not exactly something our parents want us to do."
"How did you guys get your powers?" Andy asked as he looked up at Ace. "And why you do call yourselves the Guardians?"
"No one knows where our powers come from," Ace told him. "They just... appeared one day. All of us got our powers at different times. We're not the only ones with powers, we're just the only ones who are willing to use them for good. Some people decided to use their powers to commit crimes. Some people decide to ignore them. We had a game of Battleship to decide the name. Walker won. I wanted to call us the Avenging Justice League, but Jesse said we wouldn't have been able to use it. Not legally, anyway."
"How many of... you are there?" Andy asked.
"No one knows," Ace replied as they walked along. "To date there's only a handful of us, but we're sure there's more. The funny part is, everyone who has powers... they were born in this city. Andy, why were you- Andy?"
The boy was gone, having wandered down another corridor to use the bathroom. When he stepped out, he saw a large bolted door with several locks and security devices. There was a small slit on the door to open and look through. Andy cautiously approached, wondering what was inside. He put his hand to the slit to slide it open when a hand grabbed his.
"Don't even think about it," Ace told him as he pulled Andy away from the door.
"What's in there?" Andy asked as he looked up at Ace.
"Open the door and I guarantee you won't live long enough to find out," Ace replied coldly. "Let's just leave it at that. Now come on, the other Guardians should be back soon."
The two walked away as Andy looked back at the door as the sound of someone humming was heard from behind the door.
Meanwhile, in another part of town, the Guardians were restrained with energy bands, attached to the wall at the power plant as the creatures floated around.
"Those are the things that me and Ace were fighting when we rescued Andy," Jesse said as he looked at Sam.
"They're obviously monsters of some sort," Sam replied. "But it's not like we haven't had experience in dealing with those."
"Yeah, well, these things seem different," Jesse told him. "They're stronger than what we're used to. It's like they were feeding off our energy."
"They were," A voice said as a portal opened. The man in the black and purple robe came through. He lowered his hood, revealing a man with a sinister black goatee, holding a long staff with a red ruby on the end of it. "My shadow demons are designed to drain the energy of their victims, weakening them. On normal humans they'd be too weak to fight back, but you... you're special."
Jesse struggled with his restraints. "Who are you?"
"Oh, how rude of me," The man said. "My name is Kartheiser. Prince of the Dark Dimension. A place you'll get to know quite well when you're exiled there."
"The Dark Dimension?" Walker asked. "I don't like the sound of that. I don't think that's a place I want to visit."
"You won't have to," Kartheiser said as he held his staff to Walker's throat. "That is, unless you decline the offer I'm going to give you. You and friends are going to be given the opportunity of a lifetime.You will be honor guards to the future ruler of this world."
"And who would that be?" Jesse asked.
"Me," Dark Heart said as he appeared in a cloud of purple smoke, his cloak still hiding his face. His voice was dark and echoing. "Greetings. I am Dark Heart. And I created all of you for the very purpose of serving me."
The Mall of Justice
"They should have been back by now," Ace said as he paced around. "If they'd have taken me along, we'd be back by now. But then I wouldn't be here for me to come back to, so maybe it's good they didn't take me."
Andy had gotten dressed in a black and green polo shirt, black shorts, and green sneakers from one of the stores. He watched Ace pace around as he played a gameboy. Ace hadn't noticed that there were no batteries in the game.
"Why don't we go find them?" Andy asked as he looked up from the game.
"Because I was told to watch you," Ace replied. "Of course, I could take you with me, but you don't have any powers."
Andy remained silent as Ace thought about it. "But then again, the others might be in trouble... but then again, we might get into trouble, too. But then again..."
Andy sighed as he stood up. "Let's just go help them before it's too late."
"What do you mean, you created us?" Jesse asked, sounding confused. "You didn't create us, we were born."
Darkheart laughed at the boy. "Where do you think you got your powers? Where do you think everyone like you in this town got their powers?"
Darkheart held up his hand and waved it, creating a portal into the past.
"It was 17 years ago, the beginning of my deeply laid plans for this world. I wanted to create a master race of superbeings. Beings that would serve me when the time came.
Humans, being the lowest, unpurest form of life in all the known dimensions, were the perfect test subjects. So I chose the town of Underwood as my breeding ground, and went about creating my perfect species. All it took was the tainting of the town's water supply with a special pollutant.
A pollutant that would supercharge the eggs of the expectant mothers, giving their children abilities far beyond those of any mere mortal. Everyone who was born in the year 1990 and after whose mothers drank from the town's water would carry superhuman abilities, whether those powers were ever tapped or not.
Now, you, your team of do gooders, and every other child in this town harbors the ability to be a part of my superarmy, which I will use to take over this world!"
"Yeah, just one problem," Jesse told him. "We're not joining up with you. You underestimate human's ability to do good with these powers. We choose to use our powers for good, and you can't take that away from us."
"Soon, that choice won't matter," Dark Heart said to the boy. "I will have every super powered being in this town under my control. As this city's greatest heroes, I offer you the choice of serving me as my honor guards. With the seven of you at my side, I will be invincible. If not, I'll simply banish you and force you to watch me take over your world."
"Seven?" Walker asked as he counted. "There's only six of us."
"I think he means-" Carol started to say as Jesse cut her off.
"He couldn't--," Jesse interrupted. "How would he know about--?"
Ace and Andy arrived at the power plant, and peeked through the wall, seeing their friends trapped, with Darkheart and Kartheiser standing with their backs to the two.
"Alright, this is bad," Ace said as he looked at Andy. "Maybe you should stay back. I'll go in and-"
"Get captured?" Andy asked. "You're going to need help."
They didn't realize the shadow demons were sneaking up on them from behind.
Ace sighed. "Fine. You distract them, and I'll-"
A screeching was heard as the two boys turned and saw the shadow demons behind them. The creatures flew forward as Ace created an ice wall, which the creatures rammed right into.
Dark Heart turned his attention toward them. "It looks like the next two have arrived. Capture them!"
The shadow demons burst through the ice wall as Ace held out his hands to try to hold them off. He looked down at Andy.
"Looks like this is it, kid," Ace said as he prepared to fight.
Andy curled his fist into a ball as he stepped in front of Ace. "No, it's not."
Andy shoved Ace back as the shadow demons grabbed him, but the boy let loose with a huge surge of electricity, causing the shadow demons to screech in pain before vaporizing into ash. Andy fell to his knees, then onto his side as Ace ran up to him.
"Wow, the kid's got powers," Ace said as Dark Heart and Kartheiser prepared to attack. He put up another ice wall to hold them back as he rushed toward Victoria, and put his hands on her restraints to freeze them over and shatter them. "Let's get the others free."
Victoria broke free and pulled Jesse out of his restraints as Ace helped Carol. By the time the ice wall exploded, the six Guardians stood side by side, ready to fight. Andy opened his eyes and sat up, right in the middle of the two groups. He looked over at Dark Heart, then up at Kartheiser.
"Dad?" Andy asked as the Guardian's jaws dropped.
