(Leo's POV)
Crime and racism plagued Utopia City, a cesspool of fucked up and poor people, and I was one of its many unwilling residents.
The crime was normal, but here we have no glorified hero to worship like in Metropolis, or any vengeful vigilante in Gotham.
Our only law enforcement is the MCF—the Meta and Mutant Containment Force—, but they hardly protect anything.
Most people on the force were corrupt; the ones who weren't didn't last very long.
Luckily, it was not my problem. I didn't have a meta or mutant gene, and I thank god for that.
On one hand, you can have some cool power or end up looking like Killer Croc or Clayface.
On the other hand, you can be persecuted and discriminated against, even killed.
No thanks. I just want to pass high school, get a girlfriend, and maybe even go to college if I can pass 11th-grade Biology.
I sigh and sit up in my bed. I stand up, go to my closet, and put on the standard school uniform.
I walk out of my empty apartment and get on my bike. I couldn't even afford a test for a driving license, the bus was too dangerous, and I would never take Utopia's train.
I pedal on my bike as my life depended on it, cause it kinda did, you'd be surprised how much crackheads want a cheap ass bike I got from a junkyard.
On the shitty bike I own, I pass a few drug dealers, avoiding eye contact, then I suddenly brake as I see something ahead.
Shit, a Deviant fight.
Deviant fights are when a fight breaks out in Utopia city, it happened regularly, every day or two. It was when a Meta-Human or Mutant was fighting another Meta-Human or Mutant.
Looks like some big rock monster was fighting some poor chap who was trying to blast it away with fire.
"Hey, kid! Yea you! Want to bet?" I ignore the guy and pedal to a different street. "Hey-"
Fuck Fuck Fuck I am going to be late.
I finally reached the school with a sudden halt and hid my bike in an alley so no one would steal it.
I see the dull red lettering "Utopia Madison High School," one of the only schools that accepted open status mutants and Meta-humans in the entire country.
With the high population of Mutants and Meta-humans in this city, you'd expect this school to have some authority. Yeah, no.
As soon as I entered the school, I saw a person being shot back by yellow energy and getting back up while charging at the kid who shot it.
I sigh at the usual sight, the guy who shot the energy was a usual problem, though he had a valid reason.
Most people in this damn school hated Mutants too, using slurs such as "Mutie"; it was fucked, but that's life in Utopia City.
The day went on with the usual interruptions, a fight, and some jerk beating on some poor mutant. It made me stew with rage and clench my teeth, but I had no power to do anything.
If it were me, unlike the Justice Fakes, I would go and terminate the problem entirely.
I would be the cautionary tale, the one parents tell their kids to make sure they don't grow corrupt.
(Hours Later)
After school, I went to the alley to find my bike, only to not find it.
"God dammit!"
After school, I went to the alley to find my bike, only to not find it. 'That was my only safe mode of transportation! ok Leo think, think, you can't take the train, way to much crackheads and criminals there, the bus always takes so long, and you have a 50/50 chance of getting thrown in said bus by a deviant fight.'
'Walking? It would really depend on the route.' I sigh and begin the journey.
Along the journey, I was almost robbed at least 2 times. I go under a tunnel to find a shortcut to my apartment. I can admit, I've done dumb things in my life.
Try pineapple pizza, put a fork into a socket, ask out Jenny Hoppins to prom in middle school, try to stop a mugging, but this probably took the cake.
As I walked, I felt as if someone or something was watching me, from the shadows of the tunnel, it felt like this thing, or person, was older than me, way older. And suddenly, I realized I wasn't in the tunnel anymore.
The land I was in was pitch black, a void of infinite nothingness. I stumbled back and looked down, realizing I was not standing on anything.
I expected to start falling like a cartoon character, but I didn't.
I heard whispering in the shadows, and immediately tried to run and book it the hell out of there.
I've seen enough movies to know shadows plus whispering equals a bad sign.
"Calm down, my champion." A voice spoke out from the darkness, and I felt compelled to stop. "I would never hurt you, I chose you afterall"
I stumbled "Chose?" I spoke up with a quiver in my voice, "What do you mean chose? Choose me for what? Who are you?"
"I go by many names, the boogeyman, shadow, but you may call me The Living Embodiment, and you, Leo Castillo, are my chosen successor." The voice spoke calmly.
"Successor!? I don't even know you!"
"You don't need to, tell me, Leo, you've seen your city, filled with such trashy individuals it disgusts me, do you want power? Power to save it? To become the thing that stops it? The way your world's heroes don't?"
I was silent as I stared at the void, knowing it was staring right back at me in the eye.
"I will take that silence as a yes, I can grant you this power, of course not all at once, you will have to grow into the roll"
"And the catch?"
"None, this power of mine has been a burden for a long time..do you accept Leo Castillo?"
I was hesitant, making a deal with a stranger in which I didn't even know looked like..but then I remember all the people, innocent people in Utopia..and a resolve washed over me.
"Yes…I do"