So I was at City Hall and I’d finally gotten an actual license to fight crime. I was pumped! I thought I’d be directed straight to SERAPH, but they had something else for me first. There was an outbreak of some sort, the City Representative asked me to go and help the police contain it. It was show time.

I went downstairs and a SERAPH tech gave me some cool gadgets to get me started. A multi-band communicator that’s no bigger than a hearing aid but seems to be almost infinitely configurable as to what communications you want to be able to hear. I think it’s going to take some time before I get this thing figured out. A Medicom patch, some sort of heart monitor or something that lets the central system track when you go into medical arrest and teleports you to the nearest hospital. So theoretically I won’t die on the street. Not sure I want to experience that particular treat. Because to need that means that I’ve done had my ass kicked. A PDA-sized GPS/map/compass to help me get around. No more going to the wrong train station. A ‘Jump Pack’, which is like a back-pack sized jet pack that only lasts 30 seconds, but recharges on its own in 30-minutes. If you ever wanted to fly, this thing is the closest thing I’ve ever tried. A bunch of Tranq Darts. They don’t do much real damage, but they’ll put the sleep on the biggest of the baddies. Which is always handy. And lastly a Pocket D Gold Membership Card. Not sure what the hell this thing is, but it fits nicely in my wallet. I stuffed all the goodies into my utility belt, thanked the tech, and stepped up and into a giant mechanical gazebo.

There was a pop, a brief feeling like I’d had my guts turned inside out, and I was standing somewhere in the city I’d never been before. A cop stood 20 or 30 feet ahead of me like he’d been waiting for me. I choked back the contents of my stomach and approached him unsteadily. I didn’t tell him it was my first teleport, but I don’t think I needed to. It was pretty obvious.

He introduced himself, but I think I forgot his name immediately. I’m not good with names. Then he explained quickly that some thugs had taken an experimental drug thinking it was something else, and started trashing the area. I was ready to go put a stop to it, but no, that’s not what he wanted from me. He wanted me to take a blood sample to the Rivera Medical Center. WTF?! I’m a hero and I’m running errands for the cops?! I did it. But I wasn’t happy about it and I think it showed.

It worked out though, I was talking to one of the doctors, Miller I think his name was. He was telling me all about how the Medicom system works and his theory’s on the contaminated mutagen when the call came back in that the cops needed me. I wished the doc luck at finding a cure for the mutagen and I was off. Hoping I’d get a chance to do some real hero work.

I was directed deeper into the neighborhood to help fight off some rioting thugs. The police presence in this neighborhood was impressive. Seemed like there was an officer or a police drone on every corner. Making my comment from yesterday seem undeserved. These guys had their hands full and it was rapidly getting out of control. I think I saw three other hero’s fighting to get the contaminated thugs under control, but I only talked to one. And that was just a quick exchange of greetings.

Mostly I worked with a Sergeant Hicks. Apparently the guy is a former hero that lost his powers before the Rikti Invasion. Tough break. He seemed like a good guy, but we didn’t have much time to chat and he didn’t seem overly impressed with me. He did give me some enhancements and inspirations to use, but I didn’t have time to figure them out in all the chaos.

I must have taken down over a hundred doped up thugs. They were everywhere. Burning things. Breaking things. Trashing things. Causing chaos however they could. They were easy to spot, just look for the hyper-violent dudes with the pallid complexion and glowing green eyes. Most of them had baseball bats or improvised clubs, throwing stones, or just bare fists and brass knuckles. All stuff I’ve run into in the past. I can handle that, my accident left me a little tougher than the average joe. But a few had guns. Today was the first time I’ve ever been shot. And shot multiple times I might add. Twice in the leg, once in the shoulder, and once in the side. If I had any question about my new suit being bulletproof, it was put to rest today. It is. But I’ve got bruises on top of bruises. It could have been worse, but I think the dope screwed with their perceptions. Or maybe they were just really bad shots.

We were getting the streets under control when Sgt. Hicks told me that another hero, Coyote, had a lead on the drug’s origin and told me to go talk to him and see what I could do to help him out. Coyote I’ve heard of. He’s the earthly avatar of an old Indian god or some such. He’s one of those heroes that other heroes are always crediting with showing them the ropes or putting them on the right path. So I hot footed it over to where he was.

That’ll have to do it for now. I’m getting something on the police radio that needs my attention. Later.

I filled out most of the Hero Registration forms on the bus. I still needed a name, a handle, an alias, whatever they call them. My thoughts were buzzing. Excitement. Anticipation. And now that I was on the way, just a touch of uncertainty. Sure, I’d been dreaming of this all my life. It was what I wanted. The propaganda sounded good. “An entire city and its beleaguered citizens are in desperate need of heroes.” I had the power. I had the talent. I had the heart. I was a hero. And like the paper said, “Paragon City was calling for me.” But I couldn’t help but wonder, could I measure up to the standards set by the great heroes of Paragon City’s golden age? Did I have the right stuff? SERAPH thought I did and they were the professionals, right. Things would be great. I could do this.

I got off the bus and went straight to the Icon store. I’d been doing my hero thing in jeans, a hoodie, and a simple black plastic mask back in AA. That wasn’t going to cut it here in the big time. I had to look the part when I showed up at SERAPH. I’d been thinking something bold. Primary colors. Something that shouted ‘HERO’ to the world and made the villains cower. But after looking at costume ideas and speaking with one of the image specialists, Serge, I realized there is a lot of that here in the city and not all of it is well done. Apparently, not all of the heroes here are willing to listen to the advice of the professionals. I didn’t want to be one of those.

I didn’t have a symbol or a logo or even a decent alias, so there wasn’t much to start with. I knew I wanted traditional, and traditional means tights. You’ve got to be a real man to wear tights. So that’s where we started. And I’d always hated that mask, just makes it hard to see. So the mask was out. I liked the vandal design and Serge convinced me that earth-tones could be heroic. When I walked out of there I had a costume and a name, Vandal Blast.

The costume is the latest in technology and materials. Some sort of polymer microfiber or some such. They tell me it can take just about any kind of abuse without ripping, tearing, or wearing through. It won’t burn or freeze. It’s some pretty impressive stuff.

The name, well, I hope it’ll be known city wide soon enough.

Here’s a peek at the new threads.I couldn’t have put it together without Serge, so I want to send out a shout to him and all the good people over at Icon.

Um… Hello. I’m Vandal Blast. I mean, that’s not really my name, or rather I wasn’t born Vandal Blast, but rather chose the name as my alias for fighting crime and heroing. My birth name isn’t important for the purposes of this project. I need to maintain a degree of anonymity to protect my family, my friends, and my privacy. Otherwise, I’ll never be able to go grab a burger without being swamped by folks with cats caught in trees, people needing help opening jars, and the insane criminal-types that wait in your apartment to kill you. Not that I live in an apartment… or do I? Anyway, this is my blog.

I’ve recently moved to Paragon City to start my career in the city that is synonymous with super-powered heroes. Birthplace of Statesman. The center of the super-powered hero universe. I’m what they call a ‘blaster’ basically what that means is that I generate and propel from my body bolts of energy. But I’m getting ahead of myself. Let’s back up a bit and start at the beginning.

I don’t want to go into how I got my power. Suffice to say that it was an accident, it was painful (but not hospitalization worthy), and it got me thrown out of the University of Michigan. I’ve been reading stories about the world’s great heroes since I was, well, as long as I can remember. Watching them on TV. Hearing about them on the radio. So when I realized that I had super-powers I wasn’t shocked, or scared, or confused. I was ecstatic. This was something I’d dreamt about all my life. I knew what I needed to do. I needed to become a superhero. Look out Ann Arbor.

I had the talent. I had the heart. I was a hero. And my off campus activities soon garnered the appreciation of local law enforcement and then attracted the attention of S.E.R.A.P.H. (the Scientific Experimentation Research and Application to Paranormal Humans organization). So when the call came from S.E.R.A.P.H. offering to sponsor me, I heard my future calling.

The package came in the mail three days later: one bus ticket, one Icon Tailor coupon, and one Paragon City Hero Registration form. And I was off.