ACCIDENTAL HERO


Its weird the way fate works sometimes.

The year is 2005 and I am a Military Police Officer on active duty in the Air Force, stationed at Langley Air Force Base.  Everything stays pretty quiet here normally but in a world were there is a Justice League that can change quickly.

One day earlier this year I was on my way home from the base when I got caught in the middle of a battle between the Justice League and Solomon Grundy.  I was driving down the road when my jeep was blasted off the road and flipped over in the ditch.  When I crawled out of my jeep I saw Superman and Grundy going toe to toe about ten feet away from me.  Grundy was trading punches with his right hand while clutching a large canister under his left arm.  I sat there next to my vehicle awestruck by the force of their punches.  Superman was able to wrestle the canister away from Grundy and then sent him flying into a power pole knocking it down.  At that point I decided to put some distance between the action and me.  It wasn't until I stood up that I felt a sharp pain in my ankle.  When I gasped out loud I pain Superman turned and looked at me and told me to leave the area.  I shouted back that I thought my ankle was broken.

At hearing that Superman flew to me and picked me up.  Once I was in his arms I saw Grundy looming behind us holding live power lines.  I almost got the chance to warn superman when my world exploded into pain.  Grundy jabbed Superman in the back electrocuting him and me causing the canister to explode bathing Superman and I in its contents and then my world went black.

I woke up in the intensive care ward feeling battered and bruised.

"Ah, good.  You're awake finally!"  A voice said.

I turned to the voice and it was Superman walking into my room!

Superman talked with me for a long time.  He apologized to me about getting hurt and then as he was leaving he told me he would be back for another visit.

The doctor came in then and gave me some medication through my IV and I drifted off to sleep.

When I woke up I was in a different room.  A room made of metal walls and everything in it looked very hi tech.  After noticing the room I also noticed that I felt refreshed and relaxed.  I was in no pain at all!  Just as I was getting ready to throw the covers off of me the door to the room slid open.

"Oh my...” I said in awe when I saw the Martian Manhunter and Batman walk in the door.

The Manhunter walked up to me and placed a hand on my shoulder and said, "Easy, Mr. Harris.  I would ask you to lay still until Batman and I examine your injuries."

They checked my vitals and examined me.  They explained to me that I had been in a coma for almost two months.  They also told me that the electrical burns I had were completely healed.  Then Batman told me about the canister Grundy had been carrying.  He said that it was some form of mutagen that had so far defied analysis.  The only thing Batman knew for sure was that I was incredibly lucky to survive.

I stayed at the watchtower for two more weeks while Batman and the Manhunter examined me daily for side effects to the mutagen.  Superman flew me home to my family and once again apologized to me and then told me that the Justice League had reimbursed me for my lost wages plus a little extra so I could do something special for my wife and kids.

A couple of months passed and life returned to normal for me.  I was still worked at the Air Base on and spending time with my family on my days off.

Normalcy started to fade one day in July.  I was getting undressed to take a shower I looked in the mirror and noticed that it looked like my muscles were looking more developed.  My arms, legs, chest and stomach all looked more toned and defined than they did just the day before.  I admired my reflection for a moment and then didn't think anything else of it for about a week when something else odd happened.  I was on duty at the air base and we were moving our portable guard shacks to the open storage area on base. We had gotten on the fork lift and I was driving it to storage when I hit a bump in the storage lot that made the shack fall on to its side on the ground.  I muttered a curse under my breath, shut off the forklift and got out to assess the damage.  The shack I was moving was big enough to squeeze two people inside.  It was made of 2 x 4's and plywood and probably weighed over 500 pounds.  Even though it was irrational, I walked over to the roof, planted myself and tried with all my might to lift it.  The shack went spinning though the air and I landed on my seat because I wasn't expecting to be able to lift it let alone send it flying through the air! I watched dumbstruck as it crashed to the ground behind the forklift and smashed to pieces.

I started to panic about how I would explain the broken shack when I decided to drive the forklift behind the shack so it would look like it had tipped off the forks like before.  I hopped in the forklift and as I reached for the ignition I stopped and wondered if the shack thing was a fluke.  I got out of the forklift and stared at it thoughtfully.  I then put a hand against it and started pushing.  I was able to tip it on to two wheels effortlessly.  I set it back down and then knelt beside it, put my left hand under the lift and grabbed a tie down point with my right and lifted it up without any effort!  I quickly walked over to where I wanted to put it and set it down gently.  I then checked out the data plate on the lift and saw it weighed over 3,000 pounds!

What the heck was happening to me?  Just as I had got my wits back one of the patrols screeched to a halt behind me and got out of their truck to see if I was all right.  I told them I was fine and then we cleared all the debris out of the road and put the forklift away.

Over the course of the next two weeks my body steadily got more muscular and I discovered that my sight and hearing got much sharper.  The mutagen had given me Superman's powers!  That had to be the only explanation!  I'll have to be extra careful about what I do from now on.  I don't want the government knowing what I can do.  They would probably force me into doing things I wouldn't want to do.

I decided that I needed to go someplace secluded and find out what exactly I could and couldn't do.  I drove out to an abandoned gravel pit I knew about and started experimenting.  I found out that my powers were exactly like Superman's...except not as powerful. I could lift about four tons. I could see down to the microscopic level, I could see objects in extreme detail that were far away and I could look though objects.  I had heat vision, could move at super speeds, hold my breath for minutes at a time and even fly.  I only hovered and flew a few feet from the ground because of my fear of heights.

I started going to the gym more and more to provide a reason for all the muscle mass I was still gaining.

I also leveled out on my muscle gain at 220 pounds.  I looked like the bowflex guy fortunately, instead of being massively muscled like Superman.

Life still proceeded like normal for a few more weeks until one day Bruce Wayne from Wayne Enterprises came to Base to show his support for a charity that the Air Force was participating with.  We spent the week before his arrival cleaning our building and vehicles so everything would look its best for Wayne's arrival.

When he arrived, Mr. Wayne was greeted by the base commander and his staff and was then whisked away for the briefing that had been prepared.  As Mr. Wayne was being led away he turned and looked directly at me for a moment and then looked back at who was talking to him.

Around an hour later one of my co-workers came out to the line and told me I was to report to the base commanders office.  When I got there the commander told me that Mr. Wayne had asked that I personally give him a tour of the base.  The commander explained that Mr. Wayne wanted talk to someone that was 'in the trenches' and had specifically asked for me.

Mr. Wayne had me take him all around the base and show him everything.  I was nervous around him at first but he had a certain charisma about him and I soon relaxed and we talked almost the whole tour.  The tour took about an hour and I drove Mr. Wayne back to the command post so the base commander could finish the tour.

I was walking out of the room after the commander entered because I figured I wasn't needed anymore when Mr. Wayne placed his hand on my shoulder and asked me to stay.

"Colonel, I was wondering if I could steal SSgt. Harris from you for a while?"  Wayne asked as my eyes widened in surprise.

"Well, Sgt. Harris can go on leave and we can work out some kind of arraignment."  The commander said.