Air Hero

Discovering superpower

 The next day, Max goes to school just like any other day. He didn't have too many friends, but he isn't exactly a loner either. He is just doing enough not to stand out and maintain his façade. Usually, when school ends, he will be going to a bakery near the school to helps out. He isn't considered a part-time worker yet since he is underage, so he couldn't really get paid, but the bakery owner is good enough to give him some leftover bread that couldn't be sold that day.

Initially, Max is learning some skills from the bakery so he could make a living once he is out of the orphanage. As sweet as it sounds, an orphanage will only take children until they are 17 years old, which is the legal age. After that, they will have to get out of the orphanage and survive on their own.

Of course, for unusual cases like Max, there will be insurance money from the accident. Max doesn't want to count on it as he doesn't even know how much money he will get, so there's nothing wrong with learning skills to survive, such as a baking skill that can be used to sell products.

He was planning to live his life quietly; however, after knowing that there are some people behind the accident and he got a lead to them, he feels the urge to get an act of revenge. If Max is only a powerless teenager, the right thing to do is leave it in the police's hands, but Max clearly has a superpower. Something that nobody else apart from him is aware of this fact.

Max has been ignoring his superpower previously, but he thinks it is the right time for him to practice using his power. All this time, he has been neglecting it as every time he used it, he will be resenting himself. It was as if his parents are trading their life for Max to have his superpower.

However, he once again wanted to make sure that nobody will find out about it. After all, he will be an unlicensed superpower user. He is basically a villain as only villains are using their power without a license.

He is also thinking of getting himself a mask or costume to make sure that nobody will realize that he is using his superpower. Once again, he realizes that he doesn't have any money at all. To get himself a costume, Max will need to find an alternative on how to acquire it. He thinks that he could get some of his old clothes and create a self-made one, but he doesn't know to tailor or how to use needles and threads.

He put the problem about his costume aside for now and trying his best to train his superpower first. During ten years after the bombing incident, Max slowly discovered his power. It is pretty hard for him to realize that he has this power.

Going back to the day when Max first realizes his power, he was seven years old back then. The small little boy is looking at the ground from the top of the orphanage. The orphanage is a three-story building, and it was 33 feet tall. If an adult falls from this height, there is almost a 70% chance to die. If a child like Max is mentioned, the probability of dying will increase to 99%, with 1% left for a miracle.

One year, Max managed to live in the orphanage without any difficulties. He, however, felt as if he was in a dream. He just eats, sleeps, and doing everyday things like a robot without any changes, even for a bit. When the second year is ongoing, Max finally feels that the sadness is overwhelming.

"Why am I alive? For whose sake am I living?"

Thinking that there's no more point in living, Max decided that it is for the best to end his life. He decides to jump from the top of the orphanage for a quick and sure way to die.

However, when he arrived at the roof, he hesitated a bit. After all, it was in human nature that they are afraid to die. Even if someone decides to die, they will try to survive in front of death's door as it is something that makes a human, human.

Max gritted his teeth, and he walked forward from the edge of the roof. His body is heading straight to the ground. His head is falling first, and he saw the ground is fast approaching.

At the last moment, before his face makes contact with the concrete, Max closed his eye and screamed inside his heart.

"No!"

Seeing the grim reaper in front of him, Max is afraid, just like any other average person would react. When he was only millimeters away from touching the hard ground, there's a gust of air coming from below and stopped his fall for a second and reducing all the velocity behind the sure death trajectory.

"What happened?"

Although Max is relieved that he didn't die from the fall just now, he is still confused about what is happening.

He tried to examine his surroundings to see whether it was the works of someone who saw his jump, but even after looking around, there's not a single soul in the vicinity as the people of the orphanage are busy with their own things inside.

Max recalled what happened just now, and he feels that his body is losing all of its strength as he lay down on the ground. Somehow, he understands that the phenomenon of where the gust of air created below him as a cushion isn't made by somebody else but by his own power.

"Don’t tell me, did I have a superpower?”

Max looked at his hands that are not showing any difference than usual, but he believed that the gust of air earlier comes from the palm of his hand. That is the reason that his body is powerless right now to the point that he couldn’t get up.

“Is it really my power?”

Max was elated for a bit since it was really his dream to have a superpower. It was short-lived happiness since the next moment he wanted to share the good news; he remembers that his mother and father are no more in this world. Max can only silently cried and covered his face with his hands.

“Mom…Dad… I have a superpower now.*hic*…*hic*…”

As much as Max wanted to be happy right now, remembering his deceased parents, he couldn’t do so.

“If the price that I have to pay to have this power is losing you both, I don’t want this. God, please take back this superpower and return my parents to me!”