The night had arrived quickly, and with it came the lights that heralded his own birth. His own defiance of odds. Buster had left his dojo some time after sunset, riding his bike home to catch some well needed sleep before his early morning began the next day. But as he rode in the dark, the coastal horizon leapt into color. Lights danced across the night sky and without a thought Buster's bicycle came to a sudden halt. [i]That's weird... I didn't press the brakes. I didn't hit anything, I'm still on the seat. What the hell?[/i] As Buster sat and contemplated this strange cessation of motion when all of a sudden he detected a bright light from his right periphery. His eyes dashed toward them, two bright lights. Growing quickly. [i]Those are headlights! This is the road. Jump Buster, goddamnit jump and you might live.[/i] And jump he did, signals fired through his brain and the command to jump raced through his muscles and as they tensed to move he found himself not frightened into immobility, but in a sea of molasses. His body moved sluggishly, like he was on a sunday stroll rather than diving for his life. [i]Damnit I'm dead.[/i] His final thoughts, simple as they might have been, rattled in his head as the truck turned him into a fine paste on the asphalt. Or tried to at least. [i]Wait. Shit. I'm not. Why is my arm suddenly cold?[/i] Buster's sudden chill was in fact the cold windblown steel of the truck's front end set lightly along his right forearm. Halfway off of his bike, mid leap, buster paused and fell right onto his head. [i]Ow- wu...wu..wait that's supposed to hurt.[/i] In fact buster landed like a feather on the ground. His fall imparting no harm upon him. As he sluggishly regained his footing the driver of the car, Alphonso, who delivered for the local specialty shop rushed to look at the corpse he had just made and instead found an undamaged bicycle and more surprisingly an undamaged eighteen year old man. “Are you okay? I guess I owe it to myself for horanging Mr. Gutierrez to change those brake pads. I almost sent you flying didn't I?” Buster honestly wasn't sure if he was okay. “I... I think so. I mean I'm not dead. It's okay Al, you stopped in time. Keep an eye out though, now that it's summer lots of kids are out at night. I'm real tired, so I gotta get home. I won't rat on you.” “Oh shit kid. I will. Fuck I don't think either of us are gonna be that lucky for a while. Used up a whole lotta karma on that one huh? Fuck g'night kid and thanks I don't need Manny riding me any more than he does.” “It's no problem Al, I ain't mad. Drive safe. Maybe call out sick and get some shut eye, you musta been tired” “Okay I will.” And as Alphonso reentered his truck, Buster, with perhaps a little too much effort, trudged his bike and body to the curb. [i]What the hell was that? Al was going 35 in that 25 zone easy, there's no way he had enough time to stop. The newest brakes in the world couldn't stop that thing that quick. And why did my bike stop all of a sudden? Why didn't my fall hurt. AND WHY THE HELL WON'T MY BODY MOVE RIGHT?[/i] Buster was struck with a million questions. As Alphonso drove away into the night and he was left alone on the sidewalk with only his thoughts. Yet in all of that confusion, he was struck with a spell of complete madness. With some strain buster moved his arms behind his back, stood on his toes and fell. Fell forward right onto his six times broken nose just to see. Willing to risk a seventh just to know. Buster watched the world swim past him, as the shrubs glistening with that afternoon's shower passed him by, as the sidewalk grew into a gray horizon that stretch out to meet him he found himself ever so comfortably balancing on the sidewalk by his nose. [i]What in the FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK.[/i] Buster slowly stood, terrified of his new reality. Terrified of what it could mean. In a panic Buster grasped for the large concrete stepping stone in Mr. and Mrs. Calhoun's flower garden, held it above his head and dropped it. Easily 40 pounds of stone, right on to his, comparatively fragile noggin. And it just sat there, balancing perfectly before slowly succumbing to its imperfect center of balance and fell onto his toe. Balancing precariously once more before falling to the ground with a loud slam. This woke Buster from his dazed confusion and astonishment at his newfound invulnerability. As quickly as he could he collected his bike and walked it home, not trusting it to carry him away from suspicion. He managed to skulk away before front doors began opening. Making his way home without further event, his only companion a myriad of questions to which he was not sure would ever find answers. As he quietly entered his house, unmet by his parents who remained sleeping, Buster's intense thought carried him all the way to his bed, slumping into it without changing. When all of a sudden he was struck by the sudden realization. For all his apparent difficulty moving swiftly he wasn't actually all that tired. His muscles seemed to be perfectly fine considering that he had essentially been resistance training since the lights had appeared. It was not as if his power made him work any harder, or make his body any tougher. Something else was at play here and he was going to get to the bottom of it. [i]BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP. Huh. Wuh. Why are you saying that Scarlet? Beep beep? And we were getting to know each other so well? BEEP BEEP BEEP. Ms. Johanssen that's not a very ladylike thing to sa-[/i] BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP “Beep beep, yeah I fucking get it.” he said to the ceiling. Buster awoke fresh to his four a.m. alarm. Eager to begin his day of experimentation with his friends Cody and Terence. “Well let's see what the hell this was all about.”