The story Amber is writing off Kiet’s idea(TSAIWOKI) Chap 1

Chapter 1

It wasn’t a bad day really, just a normal one as far as days were concerned. In actuality the day was rather boring, not that Blake would ever admit it. He would just keep moving along, grading paper after paper with a precision honed by years of experience. Blake paused the recording device hooked up to his computer and scrolled through his web documents until he found the right essay. It was a rather efficient set up for a public speaking class. The student would speak and Blake would grade their mannerisms, confidence, effectiveness, and talent. Meanwhile, the computer would compare the audio recording with a digital copy of the paper to see how well a student had actually memorized their paper. It was unfortunate how many times he caught people who had barely memorized their work and he regretted having to do so.

His eyes skimmed the heading of the essay, quickly glancing over the topic and a few lines of the first paragraph. He had to resist rolling his eyes at the generic topic of the essay. He had at least one of these a year and most of them sounded the same. Even the postal service would have been a more interesting topic then the trite and overdone Superhero Registry. Despite having heard variations of the same paper dozens of times, Blake actually tried to pay attention. It wouldn’t be fair to his students if he didn’t fully listen to their speech.

“...requires that every civilian who is born with a power is registered to the Registry. The Registry also requires civilians who recently gained powers to register or risk facing legal troubles. The Registry was formed in 1956 to provide legal council and aid to superheroes who were facing the repercussions of their actions. The Registry has a hospital with a no questions asked policy and lower rate for registered members. These hospitals are recognized as the experts in how to treat people whose powers either excaberate a problem or make treatment difficult. The foundation of the Superhero Registry also decreased the amount of unsanctioned vigilante actions performed by people who have powers. Registered members are given the right to some vigilante action within set guidelines and regulations. Members are also informed that they can be called by the police or fire department at anytime if their powers can greatly aid the situation. The Registry...”

Blake tuned the student out, focusing on reading ahead on her essay. She clearly had the assignment memorized but a glance at her writing proved that she was too repetitive with ‘The Registry’ and that her paper wasn’t organized in a fully coherent pattern. He continued reading and with every word a sense of unease grew within him. Something was wrong. Something was most definitely wrong.

He rushes through her essay a second time and then a third. She was a model student in the class, an attentive listener, and an honorable person with a clean academic record. There was no way she would ever plagiarize an easily found online source, right? And there was certainly no way that she had convinced another student to write the essay for her, right? Perhaps she had just changed her writing style abruptly. He’s rather not call one of his students a cheater. Resigned, but clinging to that small shred of hope, Blake flagged the paper for review and tried to drown out his thoughts with her speech. Unfortunately the speech was in its last lines.

“... and that is the purpose of the Superhero Registry in everyday life, along with its stated goals and purpose.” The student sat back down and another stood to take her place.

Blake couldn’t help but roll his eyes at the girl’s ending. She had taken the stock standard ending and simply altered it slightly rather then come up with something new and innovating. Admittedly, it was rather hard to be innovating these days, but that didn’t mean students could simply stop trying. Too many students were focused on just barely passing with a minimal amount of effort. The current student speaking, Samuel Baker, was one of those students. He barely paid any attention in class and didn’t try to hide it, often doodling in his notebook or being on his phone without a care in the world. He couldn’t lie and say that it didn’t hurt him to see a student be so obvious about their lack of attention, but Samuel was different in a way. Despite his laziness, he usually had a perfect score on any given assignment. His work ethic was terrible, but if he felt properly motivated he produce an excellent essay with minimal effort. Getting himself to actually work was the hard part. Blake couldn’t help but wonder occasionally if the boy possessed a genetic superpower like heightened intelligence or the like. Those students were always the most annoying to handle because they found themselves flying through easier courses instead of being in the upper level courses that their talent lent itself to. It was a true academic disservice.

Samuel’s speech delved into how superheroes have advanced and aided modern life to new heights. His speech also broke away slightly with an explanation of why people became either a hero or villain, which reasonable motivations why. Heroes typically became one for the fame, the desire to personally end crime, or simply being a strong moral compass. Many soldiers find themselves in this category. Many villains have motivations such as greed, power, revenge, or simply deluding themselves to think they are doing good. It was just a cursory summary, but Samuel’s statement of ‘absolute power corrupts absolutely’ hit a toll within Blake. It was a sadly accurate truth many people with powers encountered and unfortunately not many survived that encounter.

Blake has to admit that even though Samuel was lazy, his paper and speech was typically flawless. He couldn’t find anything wrong with his latest essay and, quite honestly, Blake didn’t want to. His paper outshined others by a decent margin.

Quietly, Blake settled back into his pattern of listening to speeches and grading papers. It was a mind-numbingly boring activity to do, but Blake put stride in the fact that in a way he was deciding part of these kids futures. The rest of the class went by in a dizzying blur and before long the bell had rung. Kids poured out of the classroom, eager to be free for a brief time before their next class.

Blake shuffled his papers, organizing them alphabetically and preparing to file them away into a folder for later grading. A single blank notecard fell out of the pile of papers as the teacher shuffled and straightened them. He ignored it for a moment, putting the essays in a holder before picking up the blank notecard. It seems some student accidentally left it on their paper. They were probably doing last minute preparations. With a shrug, Blake tossed it in the trash can. It missed, flipping through the air like paper is wont to do when it is thrown. It landed on its opposite side, revealing it wasn’t blank like originally expected. Curious, he grabbed it and read it. On it was a single question.

“If you could become a superhero, would you?”

Blake drops it in the trash with a quiet laugh. The question could only be theoretical, he thought as he readied his classroom for the next class. There were only three ways to be considered a superhero. The first was to be born with powers. The second was to be gifted with powers through science. The last was simply to have absurd combat abilities. Blake knew he never would, not would he ever try, to get powers like that. He didn’t need powers to teach kids public speaking, and he didn’t have any motive like revenge. There was simply no reason for him to have superpowers. He has put thought into the idea long ago as an idle daydream. The daydream consisted of him having water powers and abusing the fact that water was so plentiful. It was a hypothetical what-if and nothing more.

He searched a glance out towards the desks, looking to see if he would have to move a backpack or two that someone left behind. This was the class that had the wheelchair-bound student, so the aisles had to be clear. For the most part, they were except for a singular textbook laying on the ground. It was a simple textbook, fully unremarkable except that it looked posed. It was perfectly centered between two desks in the middle of the aisle and perfectly straight. It looked deliberately placed rather then forgotten.

Shaking off his suspicious thoughts, Blake grabbed the book and moved it out of the way. He opened the cover, looking for a name or anyway to identify an owner. As he opened it a crisp white envelope fell to the ground. Curiosity piqued, Blake bent to pick it up. His hand stopped in midair as he read who it was addressed to. It was addressed to Blake Ward. In other words, it was addressed to himself. The letters were meticulously neat and evenly spaced, leaving now mistake that he was the intended recipient.

The first few students walked into class and Blake jumped with surprise, grabbing both the book and envelope and hiding them on his desk. Hastily he finished setting up for class. The mystery can be finished later, he resolved. But first, he had the rest of his classes to get through.