May, 1991, New York City, Paranormal Capital of the World.

Ken Connell had moved from the disaster of Pittsburgh, commonly referred to as the Pitt to the Big Apple. A lot of the paranormals had moved from various parts of the continental United States to NYC. Maybe this was a place where he could hide out from the ills of his past.

For Ken, and many other people who would later become para, it began when the Old Man released some of his Star Brand energy over the earth in an astronomical phenenom called the White Event. One in every two million people became blessed or cursed with parabilities.

This didn’t affect Ken until the Old Man, tired of the Brand, gave him a removable tattoo called the Star Brand that allowed its user to do anything. The only limitation is the user’s imagination. Lucky for the world, Ken didn’t have a very active imagination. He mostly used it to get bodacious bettys. He juggled two girls, primarily; Barb, his dream girl, who also had a couple of kids, and Debbie ‘the Duck’ Fix, who was infatuated with Ken, and to whom Ken revealed his Star Brand powers. Another person he revealed his powers to was Myron Feldman, a Woody Allen-lookalike, who was his anchor to the real world.

Two years later, after Ken Connell tried to become a super hero called the Star Brand, he released his energies and created the Black Event. That event left what was left of Pittsburgh a crater in the earth. Barb, Myron, and the whole population of Pittsburgh were killed instantly.

The Duck, however, escaped the Pitt. She was pregnant with Ken’s baby. But Ken didn’t think the baby was his. The Duck was devastated. She fled Pittsburgh to be with friends of the family. When they found out about the Pitt, Debbie and her friends drove to the Pitt to be with Ken.

There, she went into labor, but the baby, the Star Baby, already existing since conception, broke through her stomach, wanting to be born already. This action, this birth, killed the Duck immediately. No more quacking girlfriend for Ken.

Meanwhile, Ken went in hiding, became a derelict, had a nervous breakdown, and had to get his life back together again. All this while he was haunted by images of Myron, the Duck, and the entire population of Pittsburgh. Guilt runs high.

The Star Baby had grown to be a teenager, calling himself the Star Child, and had tried to set right the problems caused by the Pitt. He had imparted his power to an old man named Jacob Burnley and Roger, the Duck’s family friend. They seemed to cause more problems.

Underneath New York.

Judge Justice was once John Tensen, police officer. But when the White Event occurred, he gained the ability of being able to track paranormals and one hand could hurl force fields while the other was his sword, able to turn anything it touches to ash.

Another side effect of the White Event was that Tensen became mentally ill. He was having delusions that he was a Justice Warrior, he had no recollection that he was once John Tensen.

His most formidable enemy while he was a Justice Warrior was Darquill, a powerful paranormal. Justice finally defeated him, now remembering that he was Tensen. The only casuality was that Becky Chambers, his friend and a fellow cop, was killed by Darquill.

His success at defeating Darquill did not heal his mental illness. After his battle with a paranormal named Seraph, after the disaster of the Pitt, he became further mentally unbalanced and attacked the city. Only a reunion with his daughter Angela Tensen seemed to help him.

Ken Connell walked down the streets of Manhattan, wondering what he should do now. He knew he needed a job, but the only skill he had was fixing cars. That was what he did in Pittsburgh, when there was a Pittsburgh to go home to. It’s called the Pitt, a huge crater in the place of the city.

It seems that ever since he donned the costume of Star Brand there was an over abundance of super heroes in Manhattan. He read reports of Captain Manhattan and Chrome fighting drug dealers in the seedier parts of the city. Then there was the brief career of Captain Brooklyn, who fought criminals, however after his initial public appearance, he was found dead.

Ken was wondering if he should don the costume again. He liked going public before because his ego craved the adulation. But first, he needed to know how to perfect his fighting skills. He thought of contacting Captain Manhattan. He was an established hero and perhaps he knew how to become a hero. He could impart his wisdom onto Ken.

Too bad the Duck is dead, Ken thought, or she could sew me another costume. It looked like Ken would have to do that himself or he could just wear his aerial jacket that was protected by the Brand.

The Brand told him that he was being followed from the streets to his apartment on the Upper West Side. He turned around and saw three people; Captain Brooklyn, Captain Bronx, and the Justice Killer.

“Look, guys, “ Ken said. “I’m glad you three are here because I really have to talk to you…” Ken looked at Brooklyn. “But I thought that you were dead. It was in all the papers.”

“That was my predecessor, citizen,” Captain Brooklyn said. “I was his protégé until he was killed. You will come with us, quietly, or dead.”

Ken started to panic. He felt his speech stutter but he held it back. He didn’t want to get into another fight. It seemed that his life was one misunderstanding after another that turned into a fight. The thoughts of his battles with the Old Man, who was fused within his body now, raced through his mind.

“Look, I just want to be a super hero like you guys but what is the Justice Killer doing here?” Ken asked.

Judge Justice stepped forward, while three other people joined him; Angela Tensen, Kleenex, and Miriam Morse. “I am not the Justice Killer. That was a time when I was not well. Now, I am Judge Justice. And you are going to be on trial for the misuse of your powers. We know that you are the super hero called Star Brand. I already went through this with Psi-Hawk and Rodstvow. The former was dead, killed by Rodstvow, and the latter was killed by myself and the Psi-force children. Please, don’t be difficult, Connell.”

Ken raised both arms. “I give up. I renege. I just want to get this over with so that I get on with my life.”

Later, Ken Connell found himself in a makeshift courtroom underneath New York City. Judge Justice sat on a stone throne, with Captain Brooklyn and Captain Bronx on either side of him, as double bailiffs. He was also accompanied by Miriam Morse, Kleenex, and Angela Tensen. Were they supposed to be lawyers for the prosecutions and defendants, respectively?

This was absurd. It was like something from those old Twilight Zone episodes. This was freakier than the Old Man trying to kill him and the Duck, too.

“Okay, guys,” Ken said, approaching Justice on his throne. “This is great and all. But what is it do you want?”

Judge Justice waited until he finally spoke. “We know that you destroyed Pittsburgh. You released your power and created the Pitt. That disaster led to a paranormal claiming responsibility, threatening the world with nuclear weapons. That led to the Draft and then the War. Luckily, America won the war. Not too many people died in the War. People returned to normalcy but it could have been averted if you hadn’t done what you did. You have always been careless. Your life was even more disastrous after the Pitt. You were a superhero and you failed at that. I read about your exploits. I am interested in you reclaiming your brief glory as Starbrand. Obviously, there is no more Old Man or Star Baby to harass you from achieving your goals as a success. I constructed a new costume for you. We have plans for you, Kenneth.”

Judge Justice threw an exact duplicate of the costume that the Duck sewed for him one day back in the eighties. Ken picked it up and put it on. It fit perfectly.

“What do you want me to do now?” Ken asked.

“I used to belong to the NSC in Washington, “Justice said. “It blew up due to an erratic paranormal being foolish. It has now been rebuilt. They are looking for new ways to deal with paranormals. You have an office. You have a costume. You do the math. You will learn responsibility, Ken Connell.”

Ken put on his mask and when he spoke through it, his voice was muffled. “What do I exactly do there?”

“They are looking to recruit paranormals. That will be your job.”

“What about your entourage here?” Starbrand asked.

“They will go with you to Washington to make sure you don’t mess up.”

“Why don’t you start by telling me about their parabilities? That could be useful if we are going to be working as a team.”

“Okay,” Angela Tensen said. “Guess I’ll start off. I can animate dead bodies. Just call me ‘Zombie Girl’. Only works if I’m near a graveyard. Or if someone near me dies recently.”

“I go by the name Playback,” Miriam Morse said. “I can replay events of the past so that I can find out about things that I don’t see personally. I worked with Justice on a lot of cases when he was with the NSC.”

“Kleenex,” Victor Pasko said. “I can smell paranormals. When I’m near a paranorm, I (AACHOO)… I sneeze, like that.”

“What about these guys?’ Starbrand asked of the two other super heroes.

“They just have super strength,” Justice spoke for them. “They will train you in the way to become a super hero.”

Washington, D.C. The next day.

There was a knock on Ken Connell’s door to his quarters in NSC’s HQ. Ken had dreams of Barb and the Duck. He missed those hot chicks. Even Ariane. They’re all dead now. The two formers were killed by the Starbrand. He wondered if Miriam was available.

“Comin’,” Ken said, grabbing his costume. “Who is it?’ he asked, looking through the keyhole.

“It’s Miriam.  It’s time for your workout with the Captains.”

Ken opened the door and greeted the exotic Miriam Morse. “Do I get any last requests?”

“I thought you wanted to be a hero. Anyway, you have to be trained to fight correctly. You can’t go into a fight half cocked.”   

“I guess. Even though I got the Brand years ago, I still feel kinda new to all this paranormal stuff.”

Miriam patted him on his big biceped arm. “Have a little faith. We got your back.”

“Been there, heard that.”

“God, you’re a cynic.”

Ken started to walk out the door, carrying his costume in one hand and was dressed still in his boxers. Miriam started to chuckle. ‘What’s so funny?’ Ken asked.

“Will ya look at yerself, Ken? You’re still in your underwear. I’d put on my costume first, if I were you.”

Ken looked down ashamedly at his bare feet and everything that wasn’t covered. “Yeh. Yer right. I may look good in this but I’d look better in my costume.”

Ken closed the door and changed into his costume. When he reopened the door, Miriam was still waiting for him. “Much better,” Miriam said, smiling.

Ken locked the door behind him and the two paranormals walked to the training room. “I was wondering about the Captains. Will they change their name to Captain Washington now that they are in the nation’s capital?”

“Hah. No, they won’t be doing that any time soon. They are only here on a temporary basis. They’ll return to New York when your training is over.” Miriam stopped at a iron door with a keypad to the side. She typed in a number, swiped her ID card, and the door opened. Ken walked inside. At the other end of the empty room were the two Captains.

“Wish me luck,” Ken said, putting on his mask again.

“All I have.”

Then, she left the room, closing the door, and Ken was in another world.

“So, guys, what do I do now?” Ken asked the two superheroes nervously. He didn’t know what he had to be nervous about but somehow that seemed to fit with his inexperience.

“You have to try to get to the other side, citizen,” Captain Brooklyn said.

“You will find us not as nice as Captain Manhattan,” Captain Bronx said, flexing his muscles. He cracked his knuckles and the sound could be heard echoing and reverberating across the walls of the sound proof room.

These would-be heroes must have taken a page from an actual comic book from long ago. That could not have been possible since Marvel went out of business years ago after the Pitt. They must have read them when they were younger. Ken didn’t read much comics when he was a kid. Too busy finding out about the inner workings of cars and garages. That was his true talent. He wondered if Judge Justice knew of any car garages here in D.C. Quit daydreamin’, Ken, Star Brand thought, as one of the captains swung his fist at his left temple and Star Brand somehow was quick enough to avoid it with ease.

“Give us a workout, Star Brand,” Captain Bronx said, as he tackled Star Brand against the wall he was facing. Bronx placed a meaty hand on Ken’s throat, squeezing it with each gesture.

“Cuh-can’t breathe—“ Star Brand managed to get out of his tired and dry mouth. It was in fact hard to generate any kind of thought like he had before with his windpipe feeling like it had been crushed. Great, Ken, Star Brand thought, so soon in the game an’ you lost. Good-bye, Barb, Duck, looks like I may join you now in the afterlife…

But in his heart of hearts, Ken Connell knew that only cowards give up so soon in the game. He had to fight back, he had to try at least that much. He raised an arm and fired the power of the Star Brand at Bronx’s chest, hurtling the super hero to the center of the room, seemingly unconscious for the nonce.

Bronx down, Brooklyn to go.

Ken was out of breath. But he couldn’t let Brooklyn know that he was tired, weak.

“Listen, citizen, I won’t hurt you. Much.” Captain Brooklyn, or at least this version of him, approached Star Brand but Ken learned this late in the game, ever since that talk with Myron, how to use his brains over his brawn.

Star Brand removed his right glove and his hand was positively aglow with blinding light. Brooklyn couldn’t see so much so that he didn’t notice when Ken grabbed his cape and tossed over his head, confusing the bugger.

“And for the coup de grace—“ Star Brand slugged Brooklyn and the super hero toppled on top of Bronx.

Ken was victorious. But this was a pyrrhic victory, at best, because the earth didn’t have any real super heroes, only grown men in long underwear. Ken would have to learn how to be a real hero.

And this was only the beginning.