A raindrop falls directly onto a boy in an ebony black leather tunic with hems and seams of shiny silver. He wears a belt of silver with a belt buckle of an eagle with fists crossed into an X behind. On his chest is a Velcro patch of a red shield. His face was smooth and pretty, and his body so small and petite that the tunic he wears was a baggy on him. He wasn’t always that way, but due to recent events. His body is turning that way.

The man in front of him wears the same tunic and belt. Only on his chest is a silver shield with silver fists crossed X, and a star on the top.

After the man inspects him, he nods, “Alright, Austin. You’re looking good. Ready for the meeting?”

Austin smiles, “Yes sir!” He shouts in reply.

“That’s what I like to hear. Now let’s get going. Better not be late.” The officer says warmly.

“Yes, daddy.” The boy smiling as the two get into the car and drive off.

The meeting is crowded with people sporting the same ebony black leather tunics with the seams and hems silver, and the silver belts with silver eagles for buckles. Some of the Velcro patches on their chest were red, some silver. Some the same as Austin's dad's patch. Maybe fewer fists or stars, or more fist or stars.

The crowd is talking, laughing, and sharing stories about their encounter with Ghouls and some sharing their encounter with supers and mutants. The crowd was bustling as they wait for the meeting to begin.

An old frail dark man with gray hair and wrinkles everywhere came to the podium with a limp, a waddle, and a cane. The crowd silence floods the crowd. The frail dark man was wearing a silver tunic with ebony black hems and seams. Ebony black belt but no belt buckle. The patch on his chest was an ebony black eagle with fists crossed X.

The frail dark man clears his throat, “SEMPER IUSTO!” He roars.

“SEMPER IUSTO!” The uniformed crowd roars back.

“Good evening,” The man’s voice was crisp and clear like a summer’s morning. “Before we begin, I need to make a few announcements.” He holds out a hand and an assistant swiftly hand him a clipboard. “Alright, first, the cadet camp is still on despite the harsh weather. We’re going to push it forward to next week rather than two weeks from now.” The crowd of boys and girls shout 'yes', while Austin gives a fake smile. He doesn’t really like to be rough and last year was rough for him. “There is going to be a banquet this Saturday and a ranking up ceremony. I expect you to be in your ceremony gear then."

The crowd shouts an “OOO RAH!” and the crowd begins to converse again.

The old man holds a hand up signaling for silence, “Alright people, we don’t have all day. The biggest announcement I have to make is that the Super-Mutant Alliance moved into our city.” The tension in the crowd begins to rise. Austin smiles, this time more genuinely. Austin’s father puts a hand on his son’s shoulder and gave him a reassuring squeeze.

“GENESCUM!” someone bellows.

“MURDERERS!” bellows another.

“WE’LL KILL THEM ALL!” Shouts Austin’s best friend Gage, causing Austin to shudder.

The veteran bangs a gravel thunderously, quieting the crowd, “Now, if we attack them, then we’ll be no better than they are. Instead, we protest. Tomorrow, I’m expecting everyone to be at the Atrium at six a.m. sharp, full ceremony gear without WEAPONS.” The old soldier articulates and emphasizes weapons as if that’s the key. The crowd is silent again, “This meeting is being cut short. Go home and get ready for tomorrow, anyone with weapons will be thrown in the brig. DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR!”

“YES SIR!” The crowd roars.

“Good, see you all tomorrow. Have a nice evening. SEMPER IUSTO!”

The crowd did a salute with their arms crossed in an ‘X’ while roaring, “SEMPER IUSTO!” The old man waddles and limps off the stage.

The soldier walks down the small stairs and greets the people who come near him. Austin runs up to him and salutes, “Elder Martin?”

The veteran turns into an old man as he smiles warmly, “You can just call me Mr. Martin if you like, Austin. How are you today?”

“Fine sir, I just wish it was sunnier.” Mr. Martin leads the boy to a table.

“So, do I, the weather gives me the aches, I guess that what I get for being old.” He chuckles. “How’s your father?”

“Alright, probably talking to the others.”

“Good, so what do you want to talk to me today?”

The butterflies in Austin’s tummy flutter about as he mumbles something.

Mr. Martin didn’t hear it and says, “Sorry, didn’t catch that.”

The boy’s face flushes with embarrassment. The red was apparent with his fair skin. He softly says, louder this time, “What if one of the cadets turns super?” His heart beats the fastest he had ever felt. Even more so since he told his father.

Mr. Martin frowns, “Well, Austin, why are you asking me this?” Raising his right eyebrow, Martin gets closer and growls, “Are you a super.”

The boy flusters in reply, “N-no I um I’m not, it’s just,” He pauses in thought, “It’s just we always talk about supers and mutants being bad, but I don’t know why they’re bad.”

The old man’s smile returns, “Oh thank god, it would be bad if you were. While I do not mind supers and mutant, I do mind how haphazardly the government treats them. They are basically weapons of mass destruction waiting to occur. They should be tracked at all times to make sure that the safety of the people is assured.”

The boy gives Mr. Martin a pretty smile, “So they’re not bad.”

“No, they’re not, however power corrupts, and supers and mutants have the power.” Mr. Martin frowns and a sad expression forms on his face.

Austin sees this, “What’s wrong, Mr. Martin?”

“I’m just worried that this group would become radical. When I started the Silver Legion. Legion was a paramilitary group that was made after the ghoul invasion in case something like it happens again. I even lost my leg in that fight.” Mr. Martin pulls up his pants leg, showing a titanium replacement. “Now, now it’s becoming more like the Ku Klux Klan.”

The boy puts his dainty hand on the veteran’s wrinkle one, reassuring Mr. Martin. The old man smiles and ruffles the boy’s hair.

“You’ll need a haircut soon. It’s almost down to your shoulders.”

Austin smiles, “Yes sir.” Mr. Martin watches the boy as he trots off to his father.

The next day, at six a.m. sharp at the meeting hall, everyone was in their ranks at parade rest. Cadets on one side and officers in another, Austin was in front, middle for he’s a cadet Junior knight and leads the cadets.

Mr. Martin waddles in the center of these two perfectly uniformed groups and shouts, “Alright ladies and gentlemen let’s load up. SEMPER IUSTA!”

The whole two groups roar back, “SEMPER IUSTA!” and load up in the trucks. Each one was inspected. No one had weapons.

The trucks make it to the SMA office entrance and unload. Each man, woman, and cadet were given a sign read, ‘Down with the SMA!!!’ or something of the like on them.

The soldiers now protesters bellow uniformly, “We don’t want the Alliance here why not you get out of here.” Along with several other protest chants. Eventually, a group came out.

Ten of the most gorgeous men and women that Austin had ever seen came out. Austin is so enamored by the group that the petite boy forgot to chant with the rest.

Gage came up and whispers in his ear spitting, “Are you just as disgusted as I am with them?” Austin didn’t know how to reply, so he just nods. Gage puts a pistol in his hand, “Take this when I shoot you shoot.” Then falls back to in his rank.

Austin gulps, he doesn’t know what to do. He’s scared of people knowing that he’s super, but he definitely doesn’t want to kill people.

One of the group of ten flies to a height so everyone can see him. He bellows, “Brothers and sisters we are all human.” His voice like chocolate to the ear, “Why must we hate?”

Gage runs out of rank and roars, “SHUT THE FUCK UP GENESCUM!” Right then, Austin couldn’t think of anything. He uses his telekinesis to fling him in front of Gage’s barrel. BOOM! The shot hits Austin square in the chest as he falls to the ground.

Time seems to stop for Austin’s father, Peter, His mind racing of the memories of Austin, no Amber, his daughter. Amber first told Peter that she is a super a few months ago. They were planning to move and leave all of this behind them at the ending of the summer. Despite being in the Silver Legion, he loves his daughter with all his heart. And now, now she’s slid into the concrete. As time begins again Peter frantically runs to his daughter.

“Amber!” Peter cries as he holds his beautiful daughter in his arms. Scrapes and bruises all over her. A blood-soaked hole in the middle of her chest. Peter tears off her tunic to find a bruise with a crushed bullet embedded not pierced. Tears begin to roll from the Paladin’s face as a smile of relief appears, “Thank god!”

Peter looks around to see all eyes are on him. He looks to Mr. Martin who doesn’t seem shocked then over to his comrades. Their jaws so open that you could place baseballs in them. Finally, he looks to the group of supers. “You!” He points to a gorgeous woman, “Do you have a car?” She blinks twice and nods absently in reply. “Bring it around, we need to get her to the hospital.” Peter picks up his petite princess and carries her over to the supers. Looking at two supers in the group “Take care of her and bring her to the hospital.” The two look absently at him, so Peter reiterates, “NOW!” They caught on and take the princess off his arms. “Thank you, I’ll take care of things here.”

He turns to face his comrades who are still in shock. He marches over to Gage and rips the gun out of his hand before he even knew it. Then pistol whips the boy across the face. “How fucking dare you be a bigot.” The boy gets knock to the ground. Peter kicks him right in the stomach. “How fucking dare you bring a gun to a peaceful protest. He cocks the gun and points it at the boy, “How fucking DARE you shoot my princess.” A gunshot was fired and missed Gage, making the boy piss himself.

Peter hyperventilates angrily, more tears roll down his cheeks. All he has is Amber, his wife died of cancer when she was five. He takes a deep breath and stomps over to the super side. He turns and sees his comrades still in shock. While all the adults just stand there in awe.

Peter breaks their shock with his voice, "Yes, my kid is a super. Yes, he's also the leader of the cadets. Yes, he's also turning into my daughter, Amber. Yes, I'm leaving the Silver Legion. And yes, I don't hate mutants or supers. I think superpowers are pretty cool."

For a moment the crowd was silent, then the first words spoken were from Peter's good friend, Gerald, "Mutant lover."

Following was a bunch of insults, "Super fucker!"

"Mutant loving trash!"

More and more the crowd of adults began to insult Peter. Pelting him with words. Their voices began to rise and rise from simply saying to roar erratically the insults. Elder Martin just stands there and shakes his head in disappointment. The group of supers takes Peter inside and into a car to bring him to the hospital.

Peter watches his daughter's chest rise and fall. She looks so tranquil in her sleep. As if none of today's events happened. Peter caresses her cheek. Amber's eyes flutter open. She looks at her father and smiles the most beautiful smile Peter has ever seen. One like her mother used to bare.

Amber says in a raspy voice, "Hi daddy."

Tears form again in Peter's eyes, "Hi princess."

Amber sits up and winces at the pain, "What happen?"

"What do you remember?"

"I took a bullet for someone who probably would've survived it anyway."

Peter chuckles, "So you do know you screwed up."

She giggles back and sadly says, "Sorry daddy. I couldn't just let Gage do that to a stranger."

Peter kisses her head, "I know, Lovie. I just wish you tackle him and not jump in front of him." He gave her a thoughtful look, "How did you survive the bullet?"

Amber broadens a smile, "I used telekinesis at the last possible second, concentrating it onto one spot."

"Brilliant!" Amber's dad chuckles and ruffles his beautiful princess’s hair.

There was a knock on the door.

"Come in!" Amber calls.

Mr. Martin waddles in, he takes a seat in one of the chairs across from Amber. He looks up at the dumbstruck Amber and Peter to say, "Amber is it?" Amber nods. "I just came to pay my respects and say goodbye. I know that you're going to move soon. I just want to take a bit of your time and tell you the history of the Silver Legion and how it began before it'll be lost in time." He pauses and asks, "Will you listen to this old man's selfish request?"

"Of course!" The two exclaim synchronized, both knew the man for years even before all this super business. Both loved and admired Elder Martin and would do anything for him.

"Thank you," Elder Martin collects his thoughts, "It all began in the Ghoul invasion. I was on the team Gladius Quadrotum."

The father and daughter pair look at in shock. The Gladius Quadrotum are the most famous team of soldiers in all of the Ghoul invasion. Their respect for the elderly man grew.

The Gladius continues, “Many know of the Quadrotum as heroes of legend, but what many don’t know that the group was made of mostly mutants.”

“WHAT!” The two blurt.

“Impossible!” Amber exclaims, “My history teacher-”

“Your history teacher was wrong! They alternated the Gladiuses to keep people from panicking.” Martin interrupts. “Think about it, what would’ve happened if people knew of mutants then, hmmm?” Amber gives no answer and stays quiet. “You see, mutants at that time were made from the late staged ghoul virus. After they got the cure at that stage, they developed changed bodies similar to bio-metas and develop superpowers like supers. Even stronger than supers too.”

“Wow.” The two says softly unsynchronized this time.

“Wow indeed. When I saw the what mutants could do, I had to create the Silver Legion to prevent such a thing like mutant supremacy from happening.” Elder Martins sighs and his face forms into a sad smile, “My only regret is allowing them to become this radical. Especially since the Legion is all over the world. I might as well had created another ghoul invasion.” Amber jumps out of the bed and hugs the old man. Peter wanted to stop it, but there was no stopping stubborn Amber.

Amber coos, “Don’t worry, sir. We’ll keep a record of the Silver Legion and tell everyone it’s true reason and why it came to be so radical.”

The old man chuckles, “Thank you, Amber.” Amber backs away and sits on the bed.

“Daddy, we’re gonna need a piece of paper.” Peter nods and grabs the nearest thing that can be used as paper and hands it to Amber.

“Here it goes…” Elder Martin began by telling his exploits as a Gladius. What he saw and felt, he then moved on to H-day. The single most horrible day of his life. Then he explains after the war and how he began the Silver Legion. How the U.S. supported the Legion and how it became a mostly global force for good and how it became more radical as time went on. “That’s it, thank you for listening to my selfish request.” Finally ending the story.

The papers Amber wrote on stacks to a complete manuscript. A doctor came in. The doctor looks at Elder Martin, “You better get out of here. The Legion has come for blood.” Then looks at the father and daughter, “You both too.”

Elder Martin smiles sadly, “Thank you, Dr. Halsey. We’ll be on our way.” The doctor leaves and he looks back at the befuddled pair, “Dr. Halsey is a friend of mine. Without his healing powers, I would’ve never survived this long.” Chuckling at his memories. “Now, let’s get out of here.” The pair nod and follow Elder Martin out. Halfway down the hall when they heard stomps and screams from behind them. The pair halt with fear, Elder Martin screams, “Go I’ll hold them off.” Then he chuckles, “My codename isn’t Decoy for nothing.”

“No sir, let’s go together, we can still make it out together,” Peter begs.

The Elder just smiles sadly, “You have everything that’s important to me down in that manuscript.” He pauses and sighs, “Now go, you still have years left in you.” The two hesitated, the screams and stomps come closer, “GO NOW!” He barks, sending the pair on their way.

Watching them go, he heard the stomps park right behind him. He turns to see a blood batch of Legionnaires all in their combat gear and some even in power armor.

“Good evening, folk. What can I do for you today?” Elder Martin smiles.

Gage who was the most bloodied came in front, barking, “You know what we want, Old man. Now tell us where that super queer his super fucker father is!

“Well, I guess manners are not on the table today. Do you want to pick a fight with an old man like me? Even if he’s your Elder?”

The crowd of legionnaires look to each other and hesitate. Gage bellows back, “Shut it, old man. Prepare to be sent to hell!” Gage ran towards the old man with a sword.

BOOM! Gage drops to the floor dead, Elder Martin chuckles with a fierce look in his eyes, “Anyone wants to try that again. I’m willing to end what I started.” The crowd looks in awe but recovers charging at the old man with full force. Decoy feels alive again before succumbing to his own legion.

After the death of Elder Martin, the Silver Legion devolves into a hate group and other factions rise against its bigotry. Amber and Peter Homestead made it safely. Amber eventually fell in love and married a man. Giving two wonderful daughters and a handsome son. Peter spent as much time as he could with his grandchildren and forget about the ugly past.