Prologue

Long ago, far away, in the fair country of Germany, in a universe much like our own, there was an incredibly powerful and strong bloodline—the pyrokinetic super-hero family: The Battles.

They were among the best heroes in the world, and each generation was trained from an early age, and they were taught to know well their place in history, society, and the hero community. The Battle motto was an ancient German phrase that the first Lord Geoff had tattooed onto his arms as a sign that their family would rise: Loyalty, Honour and Strength.

Some records in the Battle Family History say it all the trouble began when Filedus Battle married Katya Sergeiovitch. She was the first non-Pyrokinetic in the family in over three hundred years. The Battle family had always prided themselves on their pure German, and pure Pyrokinetic blood. Now, they had a complete newcomer: a Russian telepath. Everyone had been appalled when Filedus had made the announcement that he and Katya were to be married. But still, he was the eldest son of Harrold and Katherine Battle who had to wed, and the girl seemed nice enough. Katya bore him one child, and died giving the boy life. It just proved to the family that Russian women weren't as strong as Germans.

Filedus named the boy Barron, and the child inherited both his parent's powers, though fire was the stronger trait. The boy grew to be a man, and fell in love—with an American tourist visiting Germany. She loved him too, and returned several times to Germany to see him. He never told her, though, how his entire family—apart from his father—expected him to marry German. He left the tiny detail of being pyrokinetic out as well, and, after knowing her for two years, resolved to finally end it. The day she was to leave, he drove her to the airport, but as he said his good-byes, disaster struck.

A revenge-hungry mutant, left from the Second World War, cursed with long life and the ability to control air currents attacked the airport, attempting to kill and wound as many as he could. Barron, in that moment, feared not only that something would happen to his love, Amelia, but that she would find out what he really was, and would be repulsed. So he watched from her side, as his own family of heroes swooped down, and using their powers, and hidden behind their masks, saved the day. He saw as the crazed villain created a wall of fire, using his wind and the fire already made by the pyrokinetic heroes.

Barron blinked in surprise when the docile woman next to him let go of his hand, and pulled an eye-mask out of her back pocket. There's no time to change fully, hon. I'm sorry you had to find out this way, she explained in a rush, even as she ran off to aid the heroes. Barron almost laughed at his own stupidity at not realizing who she was—and then snapped into motion himself. The day was saved, thanks to the help of Amelia 'Psy-Saver' Peace, and Barron 'Firebird' Battle.

Amelia was accepted into the family a lot more easily than Katya had been. Perhaps it had been her unusual entry and rescuing that swayed the older generations of Battles, or even her obvious control and her perfect execution of her powers when she used them. So, three years after they met, Barron and Amelia married. Neither expressed a desire to stay in Barron's homeland, and so they left, promising to come for summer and winter holidays and promising that they would always bring their children—when they had any. Filedus found it hard to say good-bye to his only child—his brothers had three, or four, or even six children—and none of them were leaving. Barron suggested the old man come with them America. So the two Battles and the one Peace left Germany, but not for the last time.

Amelia had two children—twins—and didn't die during childbirth, thus scoring even more points in the rest of the Battle family's eyes. She named the boy Warren, after her own father, and Barron named the girl Norah, after his favourite singer. ("There are worse names," he reasoned.) Their very first Christmas was spent in the Battle mansion, with its large, extensive grounds, as was every Christmas and summer vacation after that.

So far, little has been said of the Battle, or even the Battle-Peace domestic life. When the children were five years old, and could walk, run, ride horses, and swim rather efficiently for their ages, they found out what it really meant to be a hero when your last name was Battle—or even when half your last name was Battle.

In the mornings in their summer vacations, they were woken at sunrise, and dragged out by Darren Battle—Filedus' younger brother. Warren and Norah were subject to the exact same treatment as the rest of the young Battles. There was Harrold, five years older than them, Lisa, eight years older, and further in her training, (who lorded it over them as much as possible) and there was Michael and Shawn, Dar's own twins, born in the same year as Warren and Norah. These six children were trained to fight without their powers. ("Not like we have them yet, anyway," complained Shawn.) They were trained to use almost any kind of weapon in the arsenal that was situated below the mansion ("Oh, God, he's teaching Warren and Norah to use guns? Machine guns?" "Don't worry, Amelia, I went through the same training, and look how fine I turned out. It's for the best, in case they don't get a power, you see?")

On their tenth birthday, Warren was given a box that to him, looked like a big dictionary. He was mistaken—it was a set of twin revolvers from the entire Battle family—engraved and made especially for him. His sister got a box about a meter long, and two hands-breadths wide. It contained two Samurai swords. Their mother realized, a little sadly that the family had given the children something...they were good with.

None of the Battle children were allowed innocence for very long. They were trained mercilessly, and when they grew up and registered with the International Superhero Agency, they would become some of the best heroes around. Warren and Norah were to be no exception—ninth generation heroes—and they were to act like it.

How different the Peace's were, the twins thought, whenever they went to visit their aging grandparents and three cousins. How different and how small this other family was. Where the Battles had what seemed like a million cousins running around the mansion, the Peace's owned a small ranch, and had only had two children—their mother, and her brother, William, who was more often called Bill. They were allowed to call their grandparents 'Nan' and 'Pa', as was insisted by all around. When the two highly trained ten year olds received a Lego set, and a beach Barbie respectively from this side of the family. They said their thanks, and were grateful, even though Warren had never even tried to play Lego, and Norah had stopped playing Barbies when she started playing with guns. They returned to their home in New York, both retreated to their separate rooms, and the Lego box was placed next to his wardrobe, and the Barbie set on top of a shelf, along with the few girly items she owned. Neither could wait for the winter break to come.