Gist of 'Hero'

Hero

The world Hero is based in is an alternate reality; changing directly in 1915, where martial law was called in the US, the UK and Russia, effectively winning the war then and there. However, as of 2010, this system has not yet been overthrown as there is no superpower in the world who can dislodge it, so therefore it is safe to say that one enormous military rules more or less the whole world; some directly, some only via influence. Also in this world are slightly faulty dormant genes, carrying with them the potential to unlock elemental power-harnessing abilities. These potential genes are named ‘Kinesii’ by scientists, after the suffix they hope to bring into reality as elemental abilities.

Sometime in the 1970’s, this global military organisation experimented with these genes, attempting to change the 100-or-so test subjects’ genes into these power-wielding super humans they envisioned. However, nothing outward changed, and the experiment changed course. Now called Project: Generations, shortened to P:G in classified texts, the initial test subjects were offered a hefty pension and early retirement if they were to pair up and try to have children. It was now that the scientists saw the results of gene-splicing and modification. Most of the children’s genes were lethal, resulting in several newly-made marriages’ sterilization. In fact, as a result of this first phase of Project: Generations, only six viable youngsters came from it. In order of birth, their names were Fintan Quirke, Hodei Aiza, Rangi Stanton, Tiamat Li, Avani Kartha and Lorikeet Desta.

Paid into silence by the military, their families kept quiet about their children’s genetic modifications. Through close surveillance disguised as medical check-ups, the military discovered that Project: Generations had succeeded. The six all had genes that would allow them to harness natural weapons that had before only been seen in comics and daydreams. Even at early ages, the six had vague, subconscious abilities; their initial elemental powers began showing at the onset of puberty, and final secondary, and potentially their primary weapon powers, revealed themselves a few years after that.

The military managed to force all six into the same American university, with them still oblivious as to their origins. Unfortunately they had overplayed they hand by now; they had expected the six to be eager to join the global forces, but they had all already decided that democracy was better. They had all met and befriended each other, and two – Rangi Stanton and Avani Kartha – had formed a relationship.

Noting grimly that the six were fixed in their opinions, the military decided to proceed to the next phase nevertheless. They ordered their parents to tell their children who they were. Avani was the only one told to her face; the others were via email and/or phone. When she returned to university, upon meeting with Rangi again, her parent’s tale came out, and in shock, he revealed that his parents had also told him the exact same thing. From this they were able to quickly deduce that their long-time friends were indeed the results of Project: Generations, the gene-splicing experiment that was, until now, only a myth.

Initially they enjoyed this. They made pains to keep it to their close friends only. The facts only strengthening bonds, the growing relationships between the six deepened. The three pairs held a quiet ceremony together to celebrate the trio of marriages: Avani and Rangi, Lorikeet and Fintan, and Tiamat and Hodei. Upon their collective graduations and exodus from university, they began making lives for themselves on the West Coast. Their marriages soon produced results; a child for each new family, two boys and a girl. Teaching themselves to further control their unlocked-gene abilities, benefiting from the generous grants set aside by their parents, integrating themselves seamlessly into society, and beginning the raise their children, the six thought they were set for life. But it was not to be.

The military were watching their every move. Even with the six out of their clutches, they had unwittingly done exactly what Project: Generations needed them to do: reproduce. They had not realized that the combined activated genes of both parents would make their children incredibly powerful. In one fateful night, the military swooped down upon the three houses in the same estate, arresting the six under pretences of terrorism and literally abducting the three children, the eldest of whom was not even two years old. Disorientated, totally staggered, powerless through neural inhibitors and in shock, despair, prison jumpsuits and handcuffs, the six were brought before the most powerful man in the world: the head of the military. He informed them all of the choice they should have taken; now they would never see the outside world ever again. Nor their children: now referred to only by number, the three babies were the next phase of Project: Generation and would remain in the testing facility in an undisclosed location for as long as the project continued. He had the six marked permanently with a number and the military insignia on their wrists, and locked them up.

However, the neural inhibitors were not as strong as everyone thought. In a way known only to them, they broke their bonds and escaped. Even so, the military were prepared for this; they had already had them all marked down as fugitives, dangerous criminals. But that is what they are not. Nor are they what one would expect from comic books. Instead of fighting for good, justice and peace, all these six are fighting for are their livelihoods, the trust of the people, and especially their children. They all don suits that allow them to use their individual abilities better, and they all wear matching armoured wristbands to hide the military brands and as a reminder of who they’re fighting for. But nearly a whole year on from the abduction of their children, they are no closer to rescuing them than they were when they blasted open the military facility…  

Characters:
Red and Orange – Fire = Fintan Quirke (Fire/Heart) Irish. Caucasian. Sagittarius.
Pink and Lilac – Mind = Lorikeet Desta (Bright bird/Joy) Kenyan. Black. Aquarius.
Yellow and Dark green – Earth = Rangi Stanton (Sky/Stony ground) Australian. Tanned. Gemini.
Lemon and Peach – Light = Avani Kartha (Earth/Warrior) Indian/English. Med skin. Leo.
Navy and Violet – Wind = Hodei Aiza (Cloud/Cliff) Basque. Brown. Cancer.
Turquoise and Lime green – Water = Tiamat Li (Sea/Plum tree) Asian. Med skin. Capricorn.