He was only trying to help.

Jerome was starting to get sick and tired of being out of the loop.

All he knew was that Mitch was hiding something from him.

His suspicions started when he had come home from the grocery store (with the waffles that Mitch requested in hand, may he mention), only to be faced with a disgruntled and dazed Mitch who told him not to go in the backyard. When Jerome had asked him why, Mitch had only just shook his head with a strange look on his face, and said "I was just doing a challenge for the Benja channel, and the pool is kind of a mess. I'll clean it up, I promise!"

But when Jerome had gone to check out the damage after he thought Mitch was asleep, he found that the pool had literally been blown to smithereens. Jerome had stood slack mouthed as he stared at the destruction, at the tiles strewed across the soaked yard. The pool was charred, and there were two empty indents at the bottom of the pool as well, but Jerome didn't really pay attention to them, mainly trying to figure out WHAT THE HELL KIND OF CHALLENGE MITCH HAD BEEN DOING THAT COULD HAVE CAUSED THIS.

It had taken all of Jerome's willpower not to storm into Mitch's room there and then and demand an explanation. But, he somehow managed to go without doing so. Whatever had happened, he reasoned, Mitch had obviously been shaken by it, and Jerome didn't want to bother his best friend about it.

To further his suspicions, the next morning when Jerome had gone to freshen up in the bathroom, he found that there was a bloody towel sitting on the sink counter. That had set off red flags immediately.

However upon Jerome asking Mitch about it, he had just gotten super nervous and gave Jerome the same excuse as before. "It was just a Benja video. No need to worry about it."

But that did nothing to reassure Jerome at all. If anything, it just confirmed his thoughts that something was wrong with his friend.

Now, three weeks later, he was determined to find out what was going on with Mitch, no matter what it took.

_______________________________________

"Hey, Jerome, I'm going out for a bit!"

Jerome looked up from his phone from his spot on the couch when he heard Mitch behind him, and he saw that Mitch was twirling his car keys on his finger, a messenger bag slung over his shoulder.

"Okay, but, why the bag?" Jerome asked, eyeing it with a raised eyebrow.

Mitch shrugged, responding with "I'm just heading to pick up some stuff that I left at the office. Do you need anything while I'm there?"

Frowning, Jerome shook his head. It's almost nine o' clock already... Jerome thought to himself as Mitch left the house, Jerome watching the headlights of his car leave the driveway through the window. What does he need from the office so badly that it can't wait until the morning?

Jerome thought for a moment, before shutting off his phone and getting up from the couch, after checking the window again to make sure that Mitch was actually gone, he made his way upstairs and up to Mitch's room.

Now, on a scale from one to ten about how bad of an idea something could be, Jerome would say that snooping through Mitch's stuff was about an '8'. Sure, he had considered that maybe it was wrong, but after remembering the bloody towel from before, he quickly decided that he didn't give a damn.

Upon entering Mitch's room, nothing at first seemed wrong, and Jerome got to work searching the room. However, much to his disappointment, he wasn't able to find much. He was about to leave the room when he saw something strange in the corner of his eye, in Mitch's closet.

There was a soft light seeming to be flowing from Mitch's closet, glowing a soft orange color. Jerome blinked a few times, to ensure that he wasn't seeing things, and he approached the source of the light. The light was coming from something poorly hidden underneath a stack of clothes, and Jerome moved them out of the way. He was met with the sight of what seemed to be an asteroid, having been the source of the soft orange light. Lying next to the glowing asteroid was another one of a similar size, but it was not alive with light like the other.

Jerome's eyes widened as he cocked his head to the side, trying to figure out how the hell Mitch had come across these. It was obvious that they were no ordinary rocks, and he thought back to the pool, Jerome remembering the two craters that it had held. So at the very least, Jerome knew what had happened to the pool. But why, Jerome asked himself, would Mitch not tell me?

After thinking for a moment, Jerome gave up on trying to figure out his friend's motives and plopped down on Mitch's bed, whipping out his phone and sending Mitch a quick text asking him when he would be home. Mitch texted him back with a vague 'I'll be back soon.'

Frustrated, Jerome threw his phone onto the bed, putting his head in his hands as he looked back to the closet and the two asteroids half hidden under the clothes. I bet I could pick one of those up. He thought to himself, his curiosity making him want to inspect the rocks up close, but he decided against it. He didn't know what they might do to him, and he thought back to the blood he had found in the bathroom with a new sense of unease.

Shaking his head, as if to rid the thought from his head, Jerome grabbed his phone again and made himself comfortable in Mitch's bed, preparing himself for a long night until Mitch came home. He was going to wait as long as he had to. He was getting his answers. He was going to find out what's wrong with his best friend.

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Until he fell asleep that is. Jerome, who had dozed off while waiting for his friend, was startled out of his slumber by the sound of the window creaking open, and the sight of a shadowy figure climbing inside.

Unable to tell the identity of the figure in the dark room, Jerome was about to call out the intruder when the figure seemed to hit its head on the window, and Jerome recognized Mitch's voice as the figure swore profusely under his breath. Why is he climbing in through the window instead of just using the front door?

Suspicious and curious, Jerome stayed quiet, watching as his friend moved to the wall and flicked on the light. Still oblivious to his friend sitting on the bed, Mitch walked over back to the window and slid it shut, all while Jerome watched him with wide eyes.

Mitch was wearing a strange outfit, which was for sure not what he was wearing when he had left the house earlier.

He was shrouded in a crimson red cloak, connected around his neck and draping to his ankles, most of Mitch's face covered in the shadow of the connected hood pulled over his head. There was also a black quiver full of arrows slung around his shoulder, accompanied by a matching black bow in his hands, both of which he threw to the floor. He was wearing black jeans with matching black Converse, but Jerome's attention was drawn to Mitch's torso. Rather than wearing a shirt, his chest was wrapped entirely in white bandages. They covered his entire chest, as well as his left arm (his right arm was comepletely uncovered) continuing all the way up to his shoulders, where the bandages continued to be wrapped tightly around Mitch's neck, and as Mitch pulled his cloak off over his head, Jerome could see that the bandages covered most of his face as well. Most of his face was covered up, with the exception of his right eye, which was narrowed as Mitch reached up to his face and grabbed the loose end of the bandages tucked behind his ear. Once he pulled the bandages off of his face, he paused and took a deep breath. As he turned to place the bandages from around his face on his desk before moving on to the rest, Jerome could catch a glimpse of an uncovered spot of skin on his back, just below his left shoulder. In that space appeared to be a tattoo of the symbol 'XIII' in black ink.

Jerome was just more confused now. Why was Mitch dressed up like a character from a superhero movie or something? Jerome frowned. He shifted on the bed, and the bed made a quiet creak, one that Jerome himself could hardly hear. However, the noise was apparently heard loud and clear by Mitch, who jumped in surprise at the noise, whipping around to see Jerome sitting of his bed, Mitch taking a sharp breath as his eyes shot wide open.

"Oh, god, Jerome!" He shouted, obviously flustered, hastily dropping the bandages from his hands, having just finished his neck and about to start unraveling the bandages from his chest. "H-How long have you been sitting there?!"

At a loss for words, Jerome just stuttered incoherently until he finally took a deep breath and forced some words out of his mouth. "Ah, just for about... When did you leave the house?"

"What!? What for?!" Mitch yelled, his voice being both a mix of anger and disbelief.

Jerome, feeling angry now, jumped up from the bed, taking a step towards Mitch as he raised his voice. "What for...?! I've been worried sick about you!"

When Mitch gave him a confused look, Jerome continued. "You think that I haven't noticed anything weird going on with you?! Ever since the incident with the pool, you've been super distant, and whenever I try to ask you about it, you always brush me off! I found the blood in the bathroom, Mitch. And it's bullshit that you think I would believe that it was for the stupid Benja channel!"

Finally done with his small rant, Jerome took a deep breath, observing the hurt look on Mitch's face before adding, "Biggums, I'm just worried about you."

Mitch was silent for a moment, looking down at his shoes as he twirled a piece of bandage around his fingers. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

Rolling his eyes, Jerome shouldered his way past Mitch and flung open his closet, before gesturing to the two asteroids sitting on the floor. "Does it have to do with these?"

Mitch replied by shouting in surprise, "Yes! Don't touch them!"

Jerome raised an eyebrow. "So these are what's making you act so weird!"

"Yes, they are, please don't touch them!"

"Why not?" Jerome asked. Mitch tried to reply, but what came out of his mouth were a series of random words as he struggled to find the right words to say.

It was a few moments before Mitch was finally able to from a complete sentence. "Jerome, please, I'll explain everything, I promise, but do not touch the rocks."

Jerome waited a moment before he huffed. "Fine. Go ahead then."

"Well," Mitch said, with a nervous laugh. "what If I told you that the asteroid gave me... superpowers...?"

Surprised, Jerome was quiet. He wasn't expecting that response. "I think I would ask you if you were high? What are you talking about?"

Now visibly frustrated with the fact that Jerome didn't believe him, Mitch told Jerome about how the two asteroids had crashed into their pool, and how touching the asteroid painfully gave him superpowers, and how he had seen the world moving in slow-motion around him. He also told him how he had to use the pool-net to pick up both of the asteroids into the closet, afraid to touch either of them should they react again.

Jerome, still skeptical, said "So you're saying that you can...?"

"Control time."

"Right." Jerome scoffed. "Mitch, you seriously expect me to believe that?"

"Seriously?!" Mitch yelled angrily. "You still don't believe me?!"

"Come on, even you have to admit that what you just said sounds completely ridiculous." Jerome said, "You mean to tell me that if I were to touch that other asteroid, then I would have superpowers?"

Jerome leaned over towards the two asteroids, reaching for the one glowing with the orange light. He felt guilty as he saw the look of fear on Mitch's face, but Jerome needed to hear the truth, not soe bullshit excuse.

"Wait, Jerome, no!"

At Mitch's cry, Jerome felt his body become still, freezing in place. Confused, Jerome tried to move, but was unable to. The only thing that he was able to move was his eyes, which were flicking around nervously. Was he even breathing? He didn't know, since he couldn't do that either. What's going on? What happened?!

Jerome was snapped out of his thoughts by the sound of shuffling on the carpet, and Jerome could see Mitch approaching him, concern painted on his face as he knelt by Jerome. "Shit! Jerome, I'm so, so sorry! I didn't... I didn't mean to do this!"

Jerome was shocked to see Mitch's right eye was glowing a striking silver color, the pupil dilated much bigger than it probably should be, and not just because Mitch was panicking.

Mitch, apparently not affected by whatever Jerome was affected by, moved to pick up a stray piece of clothing from the floor, lifting it up before he let go of it. The shirt didn't move. It just hung in the air as if it were frozen. Mitch continued to curse under his breath.

What the hell?! Jerome thought to himself. It's almost like we're frozen in-

...

Oh shit.

There was a sudden hiss of pain from Mitch, and Jerome saw his hand fly up to his eye. A few moments passed before Mitch winced and pulled his hand away from his eye, his hand smeared with blood. There was blood seeming to be dripping from his eye like tears.

Mitch locked gazes with a thoroughly horrified Jerome, before giving him a weak smile.

"So... Do you believe me yet?"

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After profusely apologizing to Mitch for ever doubting him (and for being a total ass), Mitch apologized as well, telling Jerome that he shouldn't have lied to him before.

Mitch explained to him that he could do more than just freeze time. He could bend it pretty much as much as he wanted. He could slow it down, speed it up (though there wasn't much usefulness to that), and as he showed before, make it completely stop. This wasn't without its drawbacks, as he became physically fatigued the more he used it in a short period of time, and using it for a prolonged period would usually result in his eye starting to bleed as it had before.

He also found that his senses had become enhanced. His eyesight was as sharp as that of a hawk, his hearing rivaling that of a cat's, his reflexes unsurpassable. But, for better or for worse, his smelling was enhanced as well, and living with Jerome with that could be a big drawback.

He had equipped himself with a bow, as he could slow down or stop time in order to better aim at his target, ensuring that he rarely misses (though he is a good shot even without using his powers). However, he also did teach himself hand-to-hand combat, because he knew that his bow wouldn't always be able to support him.

Jerome had asked about the tattoo on his shoulder, and Mitch told him that he had gotten it as a symbol of his powers. The 'XIII' stood for the number 13, which to him stood for the thirteenth hour, which was an unnatural occurrence that bent the rules of time to add an extra hour to the clock, similarly to how his powers altered time to his bidding.

Mitch had decided that he would put his powers to good use, and became a superhero patrolling the streets of the city for criminals who deserve their fair share of justice.

The only problem was that he didn't have a superhero name picked out, and despite his protests, Jerome promised him that he would make him one later...

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It only took one week after Jerome found out about Mitch's superpowers for things to go wrong.

Jerome had been casually playing Bloons one late night while Mitch was out when he got a phone call from Mitch. Raising an eyebrow, Jerome answered the phone, figuring that maybe he needed Jerome to give him a lift or something.

What he wasn't expecting was to hear Mitch speaking in a hushed and panicked tone over the phone.

"Hello...?"

"Jerome! Thank god, you picked up! Listen dude, I'm kind of stuck in some deep sh-"

Mitch's voice was interrupted by the sound of men yelling angrily in the background, followed by what Jerome really hoped wasn't a gunshot.

"Mitch?! Are you okay?! Where are you?!"

"I'm at the big warehouse on the corner of..."

Mitch rattled off the details to Jerome, and Jerome told him that he was on his way.

"Please hurry, there's a hostage here and I need you to get her out of here!"

"I'll be there as fast as I can!"

"Hurry!"

But when Jerome hung up the phone, he could only stand there and clutch the phone to his chest, too panicked to even think. Mitch was in serious trouble, and apparently so was a hostage. Lovely.

He didn't know what to do. Just drive there and get shot at by probably a whole gang of criminals who want Mitch dead? Unlike Mitch, Jerome didn't exactly have any extraordinary powers that could help in the situation.

Unless...

Jerome had promised Mitch that he would never touch the other asteroid that was in his closet. And after Mitch told him about the pain that came with doing so, he wasn't exactly too keen on doing so.

But Mitch was in trouble, and if the asteroid could even possibly give him superpowers too... then he could help.

Gulping, Jerome ran to Mitch's room and went into his closet, looking down at the glowing orange asteroid with a look of anxiousness on his face.

Oh god, I'm really doing this...

But then Jerome remembered Mitch's panicked voice over the phone, and imagined the trouble he was in.

With a deep breath, and a new sense of courage, Jerome dropped to his knees and grabbed the asteroid in his hands.

Within seconds, Jerome felt a shock of pain down his back, his spine snapping straight as his head yanked upwards in a roar of pain.

He felt his body seize up, feeling pain surge through his bones as he clenched his teeth, the pain just as intense as he expected.

But even through the pain, one thought was clear in his head.

Mitch, I'm coming.

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Mitch's chest heaved in and out in deep breaths, trying to calm himself down as he leaned against the wall of the shipping crate, his body aching as he warily peeked back through a hole in the shipping container back to where he could see the leader of the gang he was evading, the smug bastard leaning against his expensive looking car as he barked orders to the rest of his cronies.

"Find him and that girl! I want those sons of bitches dead!"

Mitch looked away from the hole, looking to his side where the hostage he had mentioned before was leaning against him, quivering and trembling while she sobbed silently into his hood.

She was a blonde who looked no older than seventeen, and Mitch figured that she was probably just a kid that got herself into some trouble and shit because she had done something stupid. Understandable, really.

Her hands were clasped around Mitch's bandaged hand, and Mitch held her hands back, trying to calm the girl down.

He had been patrolling when he stumbled upon a gang cornering the girl in the warehouse, the gang leader holding a gun to her head. Of course, Mitch had to save her. Only there were more gang members than Mitch had expected, and though he was able to subdue a few of them, it was definitely harder to do so when you only shot at their legs because Mitch was not going to kill anyone. That was his one rule. No killing.

It was only a matter of time until Mitch ran out of most of his arrows, and he had used his time-bending powers to their full extent, and he was absolutely fatigued, not knowing how much more he could handle. The bandage around his right eye was already stained with blood, as well as a bit on his shoulder, where a crony managed to skim it with his gun. Mitch had to use his powers one last time to slow down time and pick up the girl and get them to safety hiding in one of the many storage containers scattered across the warehouse.

Mitch had been able to get him and the girl a decent distance away from the gang, but it was only a matter of time before they find them. It had been a half hour since he talked to Jerome, and his friend hadn't showed up yet.

Mitch frowned, before standing up and pulling his last arrow from his quiver, drawing his bow as he looked down at the girl, who was looking at him with wide eyes. "I'm going out there to try and draw their attention towards me, so be ready to run okay?"

Once the girl nodded back, Mitch stepped out of the container, picking up his pace into a run despite his fatigue. He kept his bow drawn, ready to shoot it whenever he needed to.

He was able to make it to the open area where the gang leader was sitting by his car, but the gang leader had apparently heard him running, and already had his gun pulled out and was aiming it towards him, Mitch aiming his bow as well.

Mitch skidded to a halt, both him and the gang leader ready to shoot each other when they both froze.

There was the sound of a fight coming from the other side of the warehouse, where the door was. There were gunshots and angry shouts as it appeared that other gang members engaged in some sort of enemy.

After that, there were a few moments where there was silence, before a shout filled the air.

"H-Hey! Let me go!"

This voice was followed by a loud scream, and there was suddenly a gang crony being thrown through the air, landing with a loud thud right between the gang leader and Mitch, who hadn't taken their eyes off of each other.

But they were both distracted by the sounds of someone else approaching them, their steps clanging against the metal floors.

They both looked at the newcomer, both of their jaws dropping open when they saw them. A look of angry disbelief came over the gang leader while Mitch couldn't help the surprised smirk growing on his face.

The newcomer wasn't armed with any weapons.

He was the weapon.

He was wearing blue jeans and black boots, with a plain white t-shirt, a black baseball cap backwards on his head. But Mitch's attention was towards his skin and his hair, which were a shiny silver color.

It was as if he were made of metal.

There was a pair of wicked looking ram horns on the sides of his head, tearing through his hat, while his eyes were glowing a vibrant orange color, the orange glow filling up the pupils, irises, and whites of his eyes.

"Hey," Jerome said with a growl, his voice echoing throughout the room. "I would suggest that you let my friend go."

It took the gang leader a moment to realize that Jerome had been talking to him. When he did realize it, he reacted by screaming in a frightened squeal, "Hey! I need some back-up over here!"

Jerome and Mitch both sighed. Of course this wasn't going to end that easily.

It was only seconds before the remaining dozen or so gang members arrived, and they all aimed they guns at Jerome and Mitch as the gang leader climbed into his car.

"Wild Time! Look out!" Jerome cried out, trying to catch Mitch's attention, not even aware that Jerome was talking about him until Jerome pulled Mitch close to him and turned them away from the cronies, who opened fire on them. Jerome was using his body to protect Mitch from the bullets. Most of the bullets however, bounced uselessly against Jerome's metal skin, Jerome not feeling any pain at all, which made him grin a bit as there were pained outcries from the cronies.

After the fire ceased, Jerome let go of Mitch, and the two of them turned around to see that all of the gang members had bullet holes in them somewhere or another, but none of them looked to be fatal or life-threatening.

"Huh." Jerome scoffed, cocking his head to the side. "Must have been the ricochet."

Mitch laughed as well. "Now the only one left to deal with is-"

Mitch was interrupted by the sound of a car revving up behind them, and he and Jerome turned around to see that the gang leader was driving right towards them at full speed.

"I got this!" Jerome shouted, pushing Mitch out of the way as he got into position.

Jerome crouched so that his head was angled towards the car, and he began to charge towards the car as if he were going to ram into it with his big horns.

Before Mitch could react, Jerome and the car collided. Jerome stood his ground, and rammed headfirst into the front of the car. He wasn't even fazed by the impact, but the whole front of the car crumpled into itself, and the curves of Jerome's horns caused the car to flip forward over his head, the car landing upside-down with a loud crash behind him.

An awed Mitch watched as the gang leader kicked his door open and crawled out of his overturned car, and only was able to make it a few feet before he fell forward onto the ground, knocked out.

Mitch ran forward and leapt on top of the car, looking around at all of the gang members that they had managed to take out. He whistled, impressed.

Jerome climbed up onto the car next to him, a satisfied grin on his face. "Well, looks like we took care of tha- OOF!"

Mitch had turned around and kicked Jerome in the stomach, and while Jerome wasn't hurt, he was surprised, and almost fell off of the car. "You idiot!" Mitch yelled. "I told you not to touch the asteroid!"

"What?!?! I just saved your freaking life!"

The two started to bicker with each other, not aware of the hostage girl walking up behind them and taking a picture of them standing together on top of the overturned car.

It was a few minutes until they stopped arguing. When they finished, Mitch asked, "So, what was with calling me 'Wild Time'?"

Jerome chuckled in response. "I finally thought of a good name for you!"

Mitch rolled his eyes, but responded with a fond, "Yeah, I guess it sounds like a pretty cool name. Hey, thanks for saving us Jerome. Looks like you do at least have a badass superpower."

"Yeah, metal skin? We're going to kick some serious ass as superheroes."

"So... If you can call me Wild Time, does that mean that I can call you Iron Ram?"

(A/N: This chapter was a total prick to write. But now the origin stories are over and our story can truly begin! Hope you guys are ready!

Also, here's a quick timeline for when everyone got their superpowers, just to clear up any confusion:

1) Vikk / Double Diamond (months before the others)

2) Mitch / Wild Time and Preston / Pyrobolt (the two got their powers literally a few days apart)

3) Jerome / Iron Ram

4) Rob / Blue Rose

5) Lachlan / The Prince

Also a quick thanks to Iamanewbiewriter13
for inspiring me to work on another chapter with their amazing fanart of Wild Time and Pyrobolt! You're the best!

...

I listened to the theme song of Spectacular Spider-Man on repeat for two hours while writing this.)