The Earth has reached a crossroad. Destruction could be immanent. Can a Rookie band of newly created heroes stave off Doomsday? Chapter 1 of a collaborative effort by several Top Shelf writers will begin to explore this dilemma. Introduction of the heroes and their powers will be the first couple of chapters. Writers are: Catherine Linda Michel, Grover, Ariel Strickland, Erin Halfelven, Maggie Finson and Scotty, "Voice Of Reason" Bishop.

Beginning from the scene in the prequel. A meeting room in the White House.

RECKONING
Chapter 1

CHAPTER, THE FIRST. From Cathy.

The Office Of The President of The United States, immediately after the visitation of the Observer.

“What the flying fuck was THAT?” The President yelled to his hastily gathered staff. “I'm waiting people! Give me something... ANYTHING! I want answers and I want them now!”

The room buzzed for a few moments, then quieted as his Chief of Staff, nervously spoke up.

“Sir. Mr President, we haven't had time to even begin to form any kind of opinion or a plan of action. It's only been an hour since the call to gather here reached some of us. We need time to try to reach any kind of conclusions or form any kind of plan to deal with this announcement. In truth Sir, we don't even know whether to believe this “Observer” or ignore his so-called warning and message.”

“This thing has the people of the world up in arms and ready to riot!” The President said, still at the top of his lungs. “I mean, where the hell did this being come from? How does he, or it, know so much about us? Who is it going to choose to 'gift' these so-called powers to, and how do we get some control of them? I mean, do we trust this Observer to be telling us the truth, or do we believe that it's even friendly?”

The hubbub around the table reached a crescendo, then died out as The President scowled.

“Damnit people! I want answers and I want them yesterday! Is that understood?”

A chorus of 'yes sirs' and 'you bets' answered his demands and several of the staff members got on their phones and began making frenzied calls to subordinates.

The President turned and stalked out of the room, surrounded by his Secret Service detachment, and the room grew silent for a few minutes. Then, the Secretary of Defense spoke up.

“I think we need to institute an immediate threat level 2, with plans to upgrade it as we go. God only knows what this Observer person really wants, but we can't afford to drop our guard for even a second! We also need to establish an agency to find, study, and use, if we can, any individuals who might be contacted by this being and get gifted with unknown powers. They could be a threat to our National Security! Gentlemen? Let's get cracking on this! Use any and all resources that exist to get us some damned answers!” and with that pronouncement, he left the room.

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1A: A small city somewhere in the eastern United States: First Gifted.

My name is Keith Prichard, and I'm one of the 'lucky' ones who got visited by the Observer. He told me of the threat, the possibilities, and what I might be able to do to prevent it. I can't say I was thrilled to be chosen to 'save the world' though. I mean, who the hell WANTS that kind of responsibility? I got enough trouble trying to keep my own life in some kind of order, to try to be the world's savior!. Nevertheless, he came to me and made the offer. He said I had a week to consider if I'd accept, and if I did accept, what powers did I think would help me accomplish this monumental task.

I'll freely admit that I did have visions of myself as some kind of Superman, with “powers and abilities far beyond mortal men', but that aside, I felt a kind of panic. If I accepted, would I be able to live up to what would be expected of me? Would I be corrupted by such powers? Those thoughts and many more haunted my waking and sleeping hours for the whole week, but when The Observer next came to me, he wanted an answer. I wasn't sure I had one.

My whole life had been pretty much a comedy of errors, bouncing from job to job with no real plan for my life other than paying the bills and hoping for a lottery win, and always there was the “secret” that I couldn't allow anyone to know about. That was, that I had never felt I was supposed to be a man. In that deep dark place where dreams and nightmares live, there was always the belief that I should have been a woman. Shocking, I know, but there it is. I'd visited countless chatrooms and sites dedicated to 'Trans” people and read hundreds of stories, mostly wish fulfillment, and talked via I.M or Skype to many, many people who felt the way I did. Always hoping, always dreaming, but knowing that there was no way for me to realize what my soul wanted, needed.

Financially there was no way I could ever afford all the surgeries and counseling and shrinks required to even begin such a quest, and even if I could, I was convinced that I'd make one ugly woman. I wasn't attractive as a man, and I didn't waste much time trying to make myself attractive. No, I never tried 'dressing' either. If I couldn't be a 'real' woman, I didn't want to depress myself further by confronting a make believe one in any mirror. So I lived a boring, pointless, to me, life. No ambition, no hope, no future.

When the Observer appeared to me the first time, I mumbled and fumphered and didn't make much sense at all. He just stood there and looked at me expectantly. Finally he said;

“I know your secrets, Keith. I know what is in your mind and soul. I can do many things besides granting you powers. I can change your form any way you want or need. The one thing I cannot do is force you to choose to try to be one of the ones to save your world. This has to be your decision and, if you choose it, your responsibility. I know that there is great good in you and I believe that you are, indeed, one of the ones to be gifted with the abilities I can bestow. One of your so-called fictional superheroes has a saying. “With great power, comes great responsibility.” That is more true than you know, because on your shoulders, and those who follow you, will rest the most awesome and heavy responsibility anyone has ever known. You must choose now though. I have much to do and very little time in which to do it.”

“Can you tell me anything about what I'm supposed to do, or how to do it?” I asked him.

“No Keith. It is not permitted. However, I can tell you this. Examine the supposed end of the world scenarios, particularly the one that has the end coming in your December of this year. That is all I am permitted to impart to you at this time. I might be able to tell others more, but you will have to learn those things from them. I also cannot tell you who will also be gifted by me. You will have to find them on your own.” Then he simply wasn't there any more.

I did a hell of a lot of thinking in the following week. Did I really want this? Could I really do this? What about my life right now is so good that I wouldn't chuck it all to just once, be somebody... do something incredible. More than that even, my dream was being offered to me on a silver platter. I could really be a woman...and a damned powerful one at that! I... I had to believe in what Observer was predicting, and he said he believed that I was one of the ones who could stop the end of the world.

Well, I got to work on figuring out what I'd need to be able to do... abilities I thought might help in finding the others he'd said there'd be, as well as prevent the coming world wide catastrophe. When Observer came back, I was damned well gonna be prepared in case this was all real!

True to his word, The Observer re-appeared in my dinky, cluttered living room a week later.

“Have you made your decision, Keith?” He intoned.

“Okay!” I spat out. “Screw it! I don't believe any of this shit, but what the fuck. I'm in! In less than the time it takes to write this, he nodded, waved his hand, and I was... different! I felt powerful, odd, and looking into a mirror I saw what Observer had done to me.

The entity didn't even blink. He just nodded and, the next thing I knew, I was a her! I searched my mind and found all the know how to be who and what I appeared to be, and how to use my abilities. I discovered a bank account with a lot of money in it, and evidence of regular deposits in the 5 figure category! I sat there for a minute, trying to come to grips with my new self, and was interrupted by the Observer.

“You have all you asked for, Karen. I believe you've made wise choices, but time will tell if I am correct. Take a few days to grow accustomed to your new self, but bear in mind, it is only 10 months until the prophesied end. You must find the others very quickly and form the team that might make the difference between life or death for your race.” and with that, he was gone!

“Holy Crap!” I screamed, in a much different voice then my usual one. “He freakin' did it!” I turned fully toward the mirror, overbalanced, and fell on my new, strangely cushioned ass!

“Oh my God!” was my first thought, followed very quickly by checking my identification to see if that had been covered as well. I looked around and found a purse. A purse! Checking it quickly I found that the entity had thought of everything. I was Janet Mitchell, 25 years old with the same birthday I'd had as Keith. I was 5' 9” tall and 150 pounds with a very curvy body! Yes, I checked and I was complete as a female, at least as far as I could determine from an quick examination externally!

Perhaps the oddest thing I found out though, was that I felt completely comfortable with my new form and looks. There was none of the strangeness I'd expected at finding breasts on my chest and no external structures in my groin area. I found that all it took to access my abilities was a thought, and I knew everything about them, and how to use them! It was as if I'd been born just the way I was and had come into my powers by experimentation and use of them!

When I went to bed that night, I thought hard about the one thing the Observer had said. “With great power, comes great responsibility.” and I realized that I had placed myself in between the impending doom of my home planet, and being one if it's only hopes! Scary? Nah... not much. I shivered my way to sleep, knowing that the next few weeks and months were going to be the scariest, most trying times of my life, and you know what? I looked forward to them!

Chapter The Second: Pentagon, USA From Grover.

“All right gentlemen,” The General announced. “We've been placed at Threat Level Two. The National Command Authority is demanding answers and wants it now. What do you have?” His steely eyes cut a swath around the table of assembled Colonels.

There was silence as no one said a word.

“Nothing,” Colonel Maugham admitted. “We have nothing.”

“What does that mean?” The General demanded. He'd just had his own chewing out by the Secretary of Defense himself.

“Exactly what I said,” Colonel Maugham replied. “We don't even have a damn recording of this Observer. The camera's, recorders, and even phones didn't pick up a damn thing. I had to have my people write down what they remembered just to get a transcript of what he said. Fortunately, I got a Tech Sergeant with an eidetic memory so I'm pretty sure we know exactly what was said.”

Sighing heavily, The General asked, “Anyone else?”

“My imagery interpretation shop is the same way,” admitted another Colonel. “We can look all we want, but until we get some idea what we're looking for we're blind. When we have that, we might be able to do something, but until then this is just burning up our resources without any return.”

Across the table the signal intelligence chief cleared his throat. “I've talked with the NSA and we're trying to work out key words to have the communication systems scanned for. However at this moment this all everyone on the planet seems to be talking about this. Until it settles down, any clues that are out-there are getting lost in the chaff.”

“So we're down to waiting for this Observer to do whatever he's going to do?” The General summarized.

“Yes sir, that's correct.” Answered Col. Maugham.

“Gawd help us.” The General replied.

“That too sir. That too.” The Col. Agreed.
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2B: Second Gifted.

I wasn't sure if I'd just been blessed, or cursed. My name is Yarnell Earl Groves. Not a big surprise, but I went by my middle name, Earl. I won't say my parents hated me, but considering other names I'd heard of, I didn't get off that bad. At least I had a decent middle name to tide me over.

My curse, or blessing, had nothing to do with my name this time. It didn't even have anything to do with my peculiarity. Lord knows I'd been though enough hell because of it, but somehow I'd survived to see a bit more than a half century. I can tell you, that amazed the hell out of me sometimes. Probably the worst part about it all was I was my own worst enemy.

The hell of it is, I still don't see where I had a choice. You see I'm one of those poor unfortunates that is today called Transgendered or Gender Variant. Back when I was a kid, trust me it was called much worse. Somehow, I avoided being experimented upon or thrown in the nut house. It wasn't until years later I realized just how close I'd come, but my intuition and common sense had saved me. Mind you, most of my relatives still think I'm gay, but honestly I'd given up caring what they think. I'd spent too many years of trying to be something I'm not, and failing miserably to really give a shit.

I guess I'm just slow, but I'd decided if I'm not happy it was a waste of time to try and make anyone else happy. So I cross-dressed in the privacy of my small apartment, and did my best to come to terms with being a male who was way to damn feminine for my own good. However living hand to mouth made all of those resolutions harder.

Going back to that own worst enemy thing, I'd racked up an employment record that had the state job service folks wincing every time they saw me. Pretending to be someone I wasn't, I'd made just about every mistake you could make. Add a little depression and low self-esteem into the mixture and you have my resume. Trust me, it wasn't pretty.

In this economy, working minimum wage, I spent far more time at work during over-time than at home dressed more ... comfortably.

Okay I'm procrastinating. I'll just say it. I'm one of the ones the Observer made the offer I couldn't refuse. My first thought was, he wants me to help save the world? I had to ask to make sure he had the right gal or guy, if you know what I mean.

I couldn't even keep a decent job and he wanted me to do something this important? Hey, I wasn't stupid or dumb. I'd quickly figured out the Observer was talking about the whole end of the word thing in 2012, probably around the solstice. Personally it wasn't good news to have independent confirmation if you know what I mean. My life may suck, but I didn't want to die.

Sometimes I simply cared too much. All the meanness and hate in the world were just too damn overwhelming for me. My only escape was gaming, or burying my head into a book, preferably SF or Fantasy. For that matter there were more than a few comics and graphic novels laying around my place too, so when the whole granting of powers thing came up, my imagination ran wild.

My two extremes had me on the fence whether to accept the Observer's offer or not. At my age I had few illusions remaining about myself. There was more than one 'special' person I would mind at all getting a little payback on for the hell they'd put me though. On the other hand, I cared too much and couldn't stand aside if I could help. Knowing I could very easily misuse this power didn't make me feel good about myself. Let me tell you it sucked to realize just how much I was human, to my intense dismay.

The Observer had given me a week to make up my mind, but by the second day I'd decided to go for it. To try and get by my petty side I would go the other route to achieve my retaliation. Instead of 'A Dish Served Cold,' I wanted to give “the best revenge is living well” thing a shot.

By the third day, I had pages of notes on just how to best do that. Being a gamer, I used gaming rules to help define what I wanted. On the fourth, I threw up my hands and started picking out only the important, absolutely had to have, stuff. Okay, it wasn't all selfish. I googled the hell out of the whole 2012 end of the world thing trying to get a clue as to what powers would be most useful in saving the world. After all if I'm dead, I would be failing to live well.

The problem was you could take your pick how the world was going to bite the big one. Class X solar Coronal mass ejections cleansing the planet with radiation; Earth colliding with a black hole, or having a little fender bender with an asteroid, or a rogue planet named Nibiru. Bearing in mind that, before the Observer showed up, the big brains had labeled all of this as pseudoscience, and that the 2012 solstice would be the same as Y2K. A lot of talk, but everything would be fine.

That left me with a hell of a problem. Even Superman would be stymied by a black hole, although he probably could handle that rogue planet. However, I remembered that the Observer had also said a team would have to be formed to handle the threat. Additionally, we would have to find each other.

As you can tell, I don't have a lot of faith in my fellow human beings. We would almost have to reveal ourselves at some point just to try and find each other. My imagination had a whole lot of fun thinking of how Homeland Security would handle that particular premiere.

After being stepped on for nearly my entire life, I wasn't about to put any part of my new and improved future in the hands of petty paranoid bureaucrats with delusions of grandeur. Let me tell you it made me feel better about my 'Living Well' plan or at least less guilty.

By the end of Day Five, I had everything typed up, and felt a little proud at what I'd come up with. Unfortunately on Day Six, I had red pen marks all over it and was sweating having it done on time.

Finally, on Day Seven, I had it cleaned up and I hoped right. I felt so like Agent Mulder in that X-files episode with the genie, trying to cover every loophole. You've also have got to remember that I was working so much overtime I might as well have had two jobs. And no, I couldn't afford to quit, because with my luck the Observer would show up and say, “sorry I was just kidding. I've picked someone else.”

Sighing I picked up up my wish list from the printer.

There he was, standing behind me.

Numbly I held out what I'd put so much work and thought into, to him.

“No Earl,” he said. “First you must tell me. Do you accept?”

Even after all the work I did thinking about it, and nearly driving myself nuts, I hesitated.

“Can I really do this?” I asked him. “Can I prevent the end of the world?”

“Yes,” the Observer replied. “I believe you, and others like you, can save your planet.”

“Can you tell me any more as to what kind of disaster is coming, or what kind of powers and abilities would help the team?” I inquired. Selfish maybe, but not stupid. Stay alive first, then live well!

“No,” he replied. “It is not permitted.”

“Okay,” I breathed out. Looks like I'm sticking with plan C after all. “Like I said, all the details are in here.” I held out my papers.

They went up like flash-paper causing me to jump back which caused my breasts to bounce.

I froze. Breasts?

From the writers. More to come as more heroes gain their abilities! Can our intrepid heroes find one another in time to stop doomsday? Can they co-operate to form an effective team?

Tune in next time for RECKONING... More Awakenings!

A note from Cathy. You'll notice that I didn't allude to the powers that have been gifted. I thought it might be giving away too much at this time and, it might influence the other authors to try to compliment what now exists, abilities wise. When all members of the team have been gifted, then I will outline their abilities. Let's hope for the best, shall we?