I had a request for the complete story in one post. Here you go, the entire Tiny Nova story as one single post.
Director Nova sat at the conference table in the heart of BADGE HQ. In front of him was a dozen tablets displaying various reports. He signed one with his finger and then set it on a larger stack in the seat next to him. Sliding the next over he began to read it.
Just then Gar walked in, “Director Nova, you have been here since I saw you this morning.”
“That’s because I have been under this pile of paperwork since this morning.” He snarled at the remaining tablets, “Correction, I have been under this pile of paperwork since the day after the heroes sent Krampus fleeing.”
“The usual. Every time we have any villain incident larger than a bank robbery, every government official wants to complain and get another report to file. There is a price to pay to get international government funding, and this is it. They all want their hands in the pot and it falls on me.”
Gar handed him the tablet, “One would imagine people would be satisfied with the vanquishing of bad things from this planet.”
“Sure, one would think. But, that is not what they do.” Nova tossed the tablet on the table, unwilling to read it just yet, “What did you need? Did you finish that project I sent you to do?”
Gar smiled, “Yes. I studied the video footage from drones and learned more about military maneuvers. Why did you ask me to learn of this?”
“You’re still learning, I want you to understand basic human defenses. Defending this planet isn’t just the job of superheroes. The military gets involved and we need to understand how they operate. Besides, you like to study and you need to relax after all that work with Krampus, so it seemed logical.”
Gar smiled, “I did like learning things. But, this is not why I am here. Dr. Henderson requested your presence.”
“He asked to see me,” Nova stated.
Nova got up, “Yeah, but you talk so formally. What’s the doctor need?”
Gar shrugged, his enormous wings expanding slightly, “I do not know. His work baffles me.”
“Me too. Why don’t you take that stack in the chair and download my responses to the transmitter and send them off? I will go see what he needs.” Nova left the room.
Gar picked up the stack, reading the top one. His eyes widened, and he smiled at the colorful way Nova told the French Government to stop bothering them.
***
Nova strolled into the laboratories of the BADGE HQ. These were the areas where one would find more humans working and not just the standard robots. He stopped and stretched his back, still stiff from sitting all morning and most of the afternoon.
“Doctor Henderson is in laboratory seven, this way.” The robot led him to the most advanced lab in this base, which was saying something.
A heavy-set man with long blonde hair and a white lab coat worked furiously at his station, checking data in a tablet and then returning to a myriad of vials of liquid in every state from frozen to bubbling.
“Doc?” Nova waited.
Dr. Henderson turned around, “Director! Great, glad to see you, good, I needed to show you something.”
“Obviously.” Nova respected this man's extreme intelligence but found his talkative nature a little bothersome.
Dr. Henderson got up and went to a wall with a huge monitor on it. He took a tablet and directed the information. Screens appeared all over the place. “You asked us to collect all the contaminated snow from the battle with Krampus.”
Nova tried to follow the images that blazed by, “Yes. He lost a lot of blood and I wanted it tested.”
“We tested his blood, well it really isn’t blood, but I don’t know what to call bodily fluids from a mythical being. It has an energy signature we recognize, morphon radiation.”
This grabbed Nova’s attention, “Morphon particles? The air is still permeated with that crap. So?”
“The particles in the atmosphere have leveled off and remain airborne, this is entirely different. It is a new type of morphonic radiation.” He scrolled the images by, showing all the detailed analysis. “The concentration is higher than any known source of morphon radiation. And, we also found the same morphon signature in the surrounding snow. I sent a team of drones to collect all the top layer of snow in the battle zone.”
Dr. Henderson turned with a curious look, “I sent the request to you yesterday. It was a basic tablet form, didn’t Gar get it to you?”
“Oh, he probably did. I have been signing so much crap I probably just signed it and now it’s being sent along with the other responses… hehe… that’ll confuse those bureaucrats.”
“What?”
Dr. Henderson smiled and walked him back over to the table of various liquids. “I got back the initial samples this morning. After some tests I was able to distill down most of the water, leaving me with a liquid form of this advanced morphon particle.”
“Yes.” Dr. Henderson picked up a small vial. “With this, we might craft morphonic abilities that can be given to a person able to handle them. Thus, we can create heroes.”
Nova was not excited about this, “I have already had five different governments attempting to force superpowers on their soldiers. It doesn’t work out there and I certainly don’t want to encourage creating them in here. We are not in the job of manufacturing heroes, we merely organize and guide them.”
Dr. Henderson said, “Oh, I understand that. It’s one of the main directives of the science labs of BADGE. However, we might craft powers for existing superheroes. Give someone a leg up in battle, so to speak.”
Dr. Henderson said, “Well, we are only at the theoretical stages now. What I’m trying to determine is what these powers would be. These particles don’t react like others we’ve studied. They are infused with some kind of energy that defies all analysis. In the past, we have seen that harvested morphonic particles from the blood of heroes demonstrate the powers of the hero. Thus, if a hero can fly, the particles show that. This energy is in the same area as those tests would show, but we can’t define the powers if any.”
Nova said, “If they came from Krampus, I didn’t notice any powers in him he didn’t already have before. We have him on record and the particles seemed to just enhance what he had.”
Dr. Henderson said, “We have never tested post infused particles from a specimen who did not exude extra abilities.”
Nova spent a moment untangling that sentence in his mind and then finally agreed, “Fine. Keep learning what you can, but don’t experiment with any power creation without my explicit approval and that means in person, no tablets sent over.”
Nova turned to leave just as one robot came walking by with a bucket. Both collided and Nova was soaked from the chest down by this cold water. “WHAT THE HELL IS THIS!”
“Oh, my. Get the director a towel at once!” Dr. Henderson ran over and picked up the bucket.
“What is all over me?” Nova growled.
“It’s just water. This is the liquid distilled from the process.”
Dr. Henderson quickly said, “I mean, it is not potable, I wouldn’t drink it, but it’s clean of any particles… as far as I can tell.”
The robot came back and was about to wipe off the director, but Nova snatched the towel from him and dried himself off, “Just get back to work. I have my own job to deal with.” He walked out, leaving a nervous doctor behind.
***
Director Nova left a nice trail of sloppy footprints behind him as he stormed back to the conference room. He continued to dry himself off while he muttered about this all being worth it.
“I could have stayed with the Guard Forces… but, no. I had to organize this nonsense. Seasonal villains, nut job scientists, heroes that act like teenagers… wasn’t this a hand towel?” He stopped in the hall, holding that towel over both hands. “It’s… getting bigger?”
He let go of the towel and held up his arm and his sleeve went past his fingers. “What the?” He checked his other sleeve and then noticed that his collar was touching his ears. “This water made my coat get… bigger? This is not right.”
Nova continued toward the conference room, confused and still mostly wet. Just when he saw the doors of the conference room, he tripped and fell over. He had stepped on his pant legs. Scrambling back up, he got to his feet just when his pants hit the ground. “Oh, crud.” He yanked his pants up and dashed for the conference room, but he didn’t make it before his pants were far too big for him to run and he had to ditch them. And, then went his underwear. His coat was dragging the ground and he could not keep it with him. All he had when he got into the room was his key card, which allowed the doors to open.
Once inside the room, a tiny, naked Director Nova held his key card with both arms and he yelled, “HELP!”
Chapter 2: Super Powers
Dr. Henderson ran another batch of tests on a sample of the water. Data flew by on a screen in front of him, numbers and chemical diagrams spelled out what hid inside the clear liquid.
“Interesting. Fascinating. Some of these are raw elements. Some have energy in them I’ve never seen before.” He scribbled on a tablet with a stylus.
“Doctor, the initial sample is ready.” One of his robots announced.
Dr. Henderson finished writing something down and then set his tablet on the table, “What did the simulations show?”
“Simulations were inconclusive. There is a seventy-four point nine percent chance of power installation.” The robot stated.
Dr. Henderson left his main lab for a chemical laboratory where the water samples were being put through a set of different tests. He hadn’t divulged this lab's work to the director just yet. He picked up the sample container which held what looked like clear water. “Is this it?”
“Yes, doctor.” The robot answered.
He ran it under a set of lights, “I don’t see any of the energy signatures.”
“The morphonic compounds are in this sample. Simulation demonstrated it could potentially grant powers to a non-powered individual.”
Dr. Henderson held that vial, mesmerized by it. “Truly?”
“Do you wish to see the analytic data?”
“What are the risks?”
“Risk assessment indicated limited to no risk to life. However, tests must be conducted on a living specimen for complete data.”
Dr. Henderson set the vial back in the holder and stood there, “He’ll never let me.”
“What is that, Doctor?”
“Nova. He won’t let me do this. I want to, I really do. But, he’s concerned about the potential of engineered super-soldiers. He would quote all those international agreements preventing scientists from trying to modify normal humans for the benefit of a military organization. But, I’m not trying to create soldiers, just give ordinary people extraordinary powers.”
“I do not understand, Doctor. What is the relevance of the current dialog?” The robot asked.
“Nothing. Just thinking aloud. Get the next round of tests started on the soil samples we collected.”
“Understood.” The robot left without question.
Dr. Henderson sat down on a stool near the table, still looking at that vial. “I’m the only person working here without superpowers. Well, other than Nova, but we don’t really know if he has them or not. He’s so strange. Me, I’m just your average multi-doctorate scientist. I can’t shoot lasers out of my fingers or control rocks with my mind. I can’t run fast, I get winded going up a flight of stairs. I can’t save the world, only study the aftermath of their battles. It’s not fair.” Talking aloud to himself he wrestled with his two sides. He wanted to follow the rules, but he also wanted to save the planet now and then.
Picking up that water again he looked at it. It was cold in his hand, just like any old water. Then, without another thought, he drank it fast. Gulping to the last drop he quickly set the vial back in the holder and stood up.
“What did I just do?” Guilt and excitement both warred in him. He stood still for a long time, waiting for something to happen. All he could hear was the buzzes and beeps of the equipment in the labs, nothing more. “What a letdown...” He muttered.
“Doctor...” The robot returned with a tray of prepared cultures.
Dr. Henderson inadvertently put his hand on the nearest computer and suddenly streaks of electricity crawled all over him. He couldn’t let go of the computer, his hand stuck. He shook and yelled. More electricity flew out of every working component in the room, even the robot was sapped of its power and hit the ground. A surge of energy threw him free of the computer and he crashed into another wall.
“Oh, my head.” He sat up and looked around the now-dead equipment. “What happened?” Holding his hand out to pick something up, he shot electricity at it and the computer components reassembled themselves. “What the...” With another wave of his hand, the metal table lifted off the ground, small sparks buzzing all over it. He let it down and then lifted it again. “COOL!” He began to realize what he could do. “I HAVE POWERS!”
Getting to his feet he pointed at the deactivated robot, shooting it with a bolt of lightning. He expected to reactivate it, instead, he just blew it apart. “Oh… uh… I guess I’ll need to learn how to use these powers. Which...” His joy faded quickly, “which means I’ll have to tell the Director. I hope he’s in a good mood when I tell him.”
Taking a few steps out of this smaller lab he stopped and found he couldn’t move his legs. He fought to take another step, but his feet wouldn’t lift off the ground. “Oh, crud. Side effects.”
“Not exactly.” A deep, gravelly voice stated.
“Who said that?” He looked around but found no one, not even one of the robot assistants.
A haunting laugh echoed around him, “Oh, foolish human, I think we will have a lot of fun here.”
“Who is this?”
“Oh, and here I thought you were the smart one. Let’s think for a moment. You just drank water filled with the powers from the battlefield. Now, who did those powers come from? Come on, you can work this out?”
Dr. Henderson grew pale, “Krampus.”
Chapter 3: A Little Problem
Nova, holding his key card in front of him to hide his nakedness, ran as hard as he could around the now enormous room. “HEY, COMPUTER, AREN’T YOU LISTENING TO ME!” He tried, again and again, to get the computer to respond to his voice, but it remained dormant. “STUPID COMPUTER!” Insulting it never helped, but he always tried at least once.
Suddenly he felt his grip on the card change. He grew bigger by a few inches.
“Okay, this is better.”
Another growth spurt he was around two feet tall.
“Computer!”
It beeped, “Access code please.”
“Wonderful.” He held out the card, “Scan my key card!”
“Unable to process information. State in a clear voice your request.”
Nova fumed, “SCAN THE CARD!” His little voice was too high pitched for the computer to recognize as him, and yelling only made it worse.
Just then the doors on the other side of the room opened and Gar came in, “Director Nova, I have sent… Director?” He turned around twice.
“Gar!” Director Nova ran over, holding one hand over himself, and the other waving.
Gar looked at the two-foot-tall director and frowned, “Hey! You get mad when I go without clothing!”
“I don’t want to be like this, you stone brained idiot! Have you noticed I’ve shrunk?”
Gar leaned over, “I thought you looked different.”
“Critical thinking is not exactly your strong suit,” Nova muttered. “I was in the lab with Dr. Henderson and some water spilled on me, it had morphons in it. I guess it is messing with me. We...” He looked up and saw that Gar was giving him a strange, worried look. “What?”
“Uh, you are vanishing?”
Nova held up his arm and could see right through it, “Oh, great.”
Gar now looked around, “Where did you go?” He walked around.
“HEY, WATCH IT, YOU’RE GONNA STEP ON ME!” Nova dodged the giant stone feet.
Gar stood still, “Where are you?”
“I’m right beside you. Here, look at this.” He held up his card, which was still visible.
“I can see card.”
“Good. Let’s get back to the lab and get this fixed. Now that I can’t be seen, I can walk there without embarrassing myself.”
Gar held out his arms, “I could carry...”
“You pick me up and it’ll be the last thing you do for a long time.” He growled this out and then headed for the door. All Gar could see was the card being swiped across the scanner and the door opening. They walked together back down the corridor toward the laboratories.
***
Gar waited while that floating security card swiped again and opened the laboratory sector. Both immediately headed for the special lab where Dr. Henderson worked with the water specimens.
“Dr. Henderson!” Nova called out.
“Oh, good, Director Nova...” a woman entered the lab and turned around, “Uh, Gar… I thought I heard the director's voice.”
Gar smiled, “He is invisible.”
She frowned at him, “Okay.” Her tone lacked any belief and perhaps a little concern for the stone man.
Director Nova spoke up, “He’s right, I’m invisible.”
She turned toward the voice, “You sound strange like you’ve been inhaling helium.” She paused and looked around, “Where… are you?”
“Over here.” He waved his card around.
“I see… OH MY!” She quickly turned back around and covered her eyes.
Director Nova became visible again, still only two feet tall. “Oh, drat.”
She cleared her throat, “Why… um… sir, you don’t have any clothes on.”
Gar seemed to sense Nova’s embarrassment and quickly pulled down his own shorts in an effort to help, “It is no clothing day here at BADGE.”
“Oh, goodness.” Now she had both hands up like blinders.
“Put your pants on Gar!” Nova barked. “Dr. Duleny, I shrunk and my clothes fell off. Dr. Henderson can help. Where is he?”
She had her eyes closed as she took off her lab coat and held it in Nova’s general direction. “I was just looking for him. The computers are acting up. I can’t get into anything. Something has locked down all the passwords.”
He accepted the coat and put it on, looking like a two-year-old in his father's clothing. “This will have to do.” he yanked up the arms, “I can unlock the computers with my password. I...”
Just then Dr. Henderson’s voice came over the comm, “Director Nova, come to the main lab right now.”
Nova sneered, “What gives him the balls to command me around? Dr. Duleny, go to the main computers and see if you can get something to work there. I’ll be there shortly.” Storming out he headed for the main labs, with Gar right behind him.
They found Dr. Henderson standing at a main terminal in the middle of the laboratories. His hands flew over the controls while he muttered at it angrily.
“Dr. Henderson.” Nova stood behind him, “I need your help.”
“Director, I...” He turned around, looking forward right at Gar and then down at the short man, “Oh, my goodness.” He couldn’t contain a humorous smile.
Nova’s one good eye twitched, “Glad you find this funny. Now fix it!”
Dr. Henderson leaned over and looked at Nova, “I see, how interesting. Truly a marvel. Right now, Sir, I need you to give me your all-access codes for the BADGE systems.”
“I know the computers are acting up. But, right now we need to get to your lab and fix this problem.”
“Sure, right away. Just, give me your codes first. I can’t do anything without your codes.”
“Yes, you can. Your personal lab isn’t entirely connected to the system. We can...”
“JUST GIVE ME THE DAMN CODES!” Henderson bellowed.
Gar took a threatening step toward Henderson while Nova stood back, “What was that… doctor?”
Dr. Henderson practically growled out, “I need your codes, give them to me!”
Nova began to answer, but shrank again, sinking into the lab coat. He came out of it, just as naked as before, “Great, just great. Look, Doctor, I don’t know what you’re up to, but you will...”
Dr. Henderson grabbed up Nova in both hands, squeezing him around the chest, “Give me the codes or shrinking will be the least of your concerns. I will...” A stone fist hit the doctor in the face and he crashed into the computer terminal, at the same time Gar retrieved the Director and set him back down.
“Are you well, director?” Gar asked.
“Other than being cold, I’m fine.”
Dr. Henderson laughed from his crashed position. He slowly rose into the air, electricity crackling around him with small bits of metal orbiting his body, “Nice one, stony, I didn’t see that coming. I guess I need to watch my temper. But, I have always had a bit of a volatile attitude. Now, director, you will give me those codes.”
Nova, attempting to look threatening at 18 inches tall and nude, said, “Not on your life. COMPUTER, INTRUDER ALERT!” Nothing happened.
Henderson laughed, “Oh, this is precious. It can’t understand you.”
Gar smiled, “Computer, intruder alert in laboratories.”
This set the system off and large metal panels sealed all the doorways while lights flashed overhead.
Henderson cocked his head at Gar, “Always getting in the way. Enough of that.” He thrust his hand out and a bolt of lightning shot at Gar.
Gar crossed his arms in front of him. The energy hit him but did nothing. He dashed right at Henderson and slammed him into one of those new defense doors. He punched with all his might, but Dr. Henderson dodged it and Gar’s fist made a sizable dent in the metal plating.
Suddenly an entire metal door ripped loose and slammed into Gar, pressing him against a wall. It encased him in this, a Gar shaped bulge where the man was now part of the décor.
“Disappointing.” Henderson mused at the defeated hero. “Now, where’s the pint-sized director?”
Chapter 4: Drained
“Stop!” Nova called out in that tiny voice, he held a gun in his hands.
Henderson snickered, “Now, now, wouldn’t want to harm poor doctor Henderson.”
“What?” Nova was caught off guard by this, “Who are you?”
“Oh, you can put it together. This foolish doctor was messing with water infused with power beyond anything a pitiful human can comprehend.” He walked around, tapping his chin, “Let me see, what creature has magical powers and can change his size to get into anywhere he desires?” Now he turned licking his lips, “Can… get to any child he hungers for.”
“Krampus,” Nova whispered.
“Congratulations, my dear Director. I’m not really him, but a shadow of him, a piece of him from his powers left in that snow. Still, even as just a shadow, I’m smarter and stronger than anything you have here.”
“Is that why I’m shrinking?”
“Oh, and here I thought you were as dumb as you looked. Bravo. Yes, you have a taste of my power. Alas, it is just on you, it will come off eventually. This fool, he ingested it. I have him now. But, enough of this. Give me those codes or die.” He took aim with his hand, power flickering on his fingers.
“Over my tiny dead body!” Nova shot.
Henderson dodged the blast and returned fire.
Nova dove behind the crumpled up lab coat, avoiding the blast.
“Seriously! Hiding behind that. Pathetic… where are you?” Henderson couldn’t find Nova. He took a gentle step back, “I see, so my invisibility was also blessed on you. Clever, very clever. But, there is nowhere you can go. Your overgrown garden gnome sealed the labs. You’ll become visible, eventually. Where are you!” His rage grew as he looked around in vain. “Blast these worthless human ears!”
Nova silently crept toward the one lab that was now open, since this Krampus/Henderson hybrid ripped the door off. He had to find something to stop it. This was a weapons testing lab, but it didn’t have any weapons in it. They only tested the weapons brought in from villains. Then he saw something promising, a set of cables hanging off of the main table. He grabbed the purple-colored cable and pulled on it. “Damn my tiny size, this shouldn’t be this...”
“GOTCHA!” Henderson lunged at where Nova was, his hand swiping across the ground. He still couldn’t see him, but it wouldn’t take long.
Nova pulled the cord down and when that hand went by, he stabbed the open end into the wrist. For a moment power surged out of Henderson and into the cable. He lurched back and flew across the room. “YAH!” Cradling his arm he said, “You infuriating little menace. I’m going to squash you flat!”
Nova reappeared and quickly scrambled to get that cable again, “Crap!” he was now a visible target.
Just then a hand punched through the metal casing in the wall and grabbed Henderson by the neck. Gar kicked, ripped, and punched his way out of the metal wrapping around him. “You will not hurt Director!” He flung the man across the room, against a wall.
Nova yelled, “GAR!”
Gar grabbed Henderson by the leg and swung him over, slamming him face-first into the ground right next to the director. Nova jammed that cable into him, “HOLD IT THERE!” Gar reached down and held Henderson down with the cable against him.
“YAAAAAAAAAH!” Power flooded out of Henderson into the cable.
Once the activity stopped and Dr. Henderson went limp, Nova held up his hand, “Remove it.”
Gar removed the cable, but still held the doctor down, “What happened?”
“That cable drains power from weapons. I gambled that it would take his power.”
“Is he dead?” Gar relaxed and slowly turned the doctor over so he was on his back.
Just then the answer came when Dr. Henderson opened his eyes, "What have you done to me!" Straining his eyes up toward Nova he yelled, "I'm not done with you!"
Nova stood over him, “No, I doubt we’re done with the real Krampus, but we’re certainly done with you.”
Weeks later:
Dr. Henderson sat at his desk in the lab, looking over the schematics he had drawn up. He had several large bruises on his face and a cast still on his foot where Gar had broken several bones.
The doors of the lab opened and both Gar and Director Nova walked in. Nova was now three feet tall and sporting a skin-tight super suit. “You wanted to see me?”
Dr. Henderson smiled, “Yes. Hey, they got that suit made for you. Does it work?”
“Yes. Dr. Duleny and the clothing department were able to design a suit that can instantly adapt to size changes in a hero. The first time they were able to create that. Might come in handy. As for me, I can’t wait to get back to normal.”
Henderson held up a different computer tablet, “I calculated that the effects will wear off in about a week. You’ll slowly return to normal size permanently over the next week.”
“Good, at least I stopped vanishing. I’m glad we could get Santa Claus to come down and help remove Krampus from your body.”
“You’re glad! I wanted powers, not to be turned into a villain.”
Nova looked up at Gar and gave him a look that was a request. Gar reached down and set Nova on a stool near Henderson. Nova said, “About that. You will have a note in your file about this whole incident. I understand that you didn’t want to summon a version of Krampus and try to take over BADGE, but you attempted to give yourself powers. That violates several laws. If we didn’t need your impressive mind here, you would be out on the next transport. As it stands, you’re going to have to earn our trust back.”
“I know.” Henderson let out a sigh, “I just feel… weak around here. I’m surrounded by heroes and I...”
“Doctor, it doesn’t take powers to be a hero. This will sound corny, but you are a hero. You help us do our job. It is all the little people doing their part that truly make something like BADGE work. We need you as a scientist.”
Dr. Henderson smiled, “Then you’ll be glad to know that the tests show that my powers were temporary. When you sapped my powers, you took them away. I’m as ordinary as I have ever been.”
“Good. Now, what did you need to see me about?”
“This!” Henderson held up his tablet with a weapon schematic on it.
“What’s this?”
“I was studying the shrinking ability we found in that water and how it reacted to you and I was able to develop this gun. It shrinks people down.”
Nova didn’t look too pleased at that notion, “Really? What good is this?”
“Think about it. A ten-ton monster rampaging through town reduced to the size of a chihuahua.”
Nova stroked his chin, “I can see the benefits. Good work. See about developing a prototype.”
“Great! I’ll get right on it.” Dr. Henderson got off his stool and limped over to the 3D printing work station.
“Gar, let’s get back to the conference room.”
Gar set Nova back on the floor and then waited while the small man left the lab. “Director, we have five leagues who want to come visit.”
“No. I will not be gawked at by these people, they have jobs to do.”
“Some want to help,” Gar said.
“Who?”
Gar added, “Quark wants to see if he can help you get back to normal.”
“Absolutely not, he knows nothing about normal. You tell the others I am not a side-show.”
Yes, sir.” Gar and Nova left the labs for the main rooms.
The universe is a mere equation to you. Time and distance are just concepts for the lesser intelligent. You see what has been and what may be. And, through all of this you face one insurmountable obstacle...finding a pair of three lens glasses for 20/20/30000 vision.
Mild Tangent: We humans are not white/black/red/yellow...those are base colors that are flat-out wrong and can even be called racist depending on the viewers idea. In fact we are all a base of brown. Melanin, the pigment of human skin, is brown. We all come in various shades of brown. However, melanin is accentuated by other colors under the skin, like blood, bone, and density. As an artist, this is a vital understanding. I start with a base of brown and work up from that, adding reds, whites, and other tones to enhance color. Where the skin stretches thinner on our bodies, the blood vessels will show more and thus are more red, just look at your knuckles. Where hair is thinner, sweat and other skin oils cause more sheen and thus light reflects more. It is a complicated matter for artist, but a simple one for humans. We aren't different entire colors, that is flat-out wrong.
“Attention, BADGE, the Canadian Government would like a follow-up briefing on the Krampus issue… blah blah blah...” He scrolled through the verbose letter that he had seen a dozen times by now, at the bottom he got to the meat of this, “We require five reports on the radiation studies, clean up processing, and identification of all heroes involved in Canadian territories.” He groaned and typed in his usual response and set that on the stack.
Dr. Henderson smiled, “Then you’ll be glad to know that the tests show that my powers were temporary. When you sapped my powers, you took them away. I’m as ordinary as I have ever been.”
