Jimi Powell took a deep breath. And then he coughed. He had forgotten how much the air in New York City is different from the air back in the clinic. Still, he wanted to breath the air of freedom. Not that he was held against his wishes back in the clinic. No, rehab, he thought, was the best thing that had ever happened to him. The only good thing, maybe. No, the freedom he felt was that of being away from drugs.

His organism would never be the same again, but he still would be able to live a long productive life. Longer than if he had stayed with crack. Maybe visiting the old neighborhood would be nice. Yeah, sure. The old neighborhood being a crime-infested rathole. Going there would be the last thing he would wanna do. During the time in the rehab clinic he met a man that maybe could help. Sebastian Sommerset was his name. In there to be treated for his alcoholism. He left a week before Jimi did, and said he might just have a job for him. He knew he was a mutant, and he didn't mind.

Nice to know there are people like that in the world. What was it he said he worked with? Building contractor, maybe. Jimi ain't sure, but he has the address written down in a paper somewhere. Yes, maybe he ought to go there. Then again, he has to find a place to stay. He has lived on the streets before, but finding a place to stay would come first. Wait, he should first get a job to prove the landowner he has how to pay for it.

Beyond what the people in the clinic gathered to give him ("Oh, poor Jimi." He didn't like that kinda pity, but he was in no place to turn it down), he does have some pocket change. It isn't much, but enough to get to his new friend's house. He did know someone who would be helpful... what was his name again? Bob. That's it. The man in the armor who took him to the clinic. But he never got his name, and even if he tried the connections he still has (and doesn't wanna use), it'd be impossible to find him. Super-types like this don't tell around their last names like that, you know. (This all happened in Hypertron #6 - thought I wasn't gonna use a previously used character, eh?)

So he goes to the bus terminal and opens his wallet. The paper is there, all wrinkly. There is an address there, and after a lot of asking around he finds out where it is. He goes to a little bench and thinks that, at least, he is not going back to the old neighborhood. There he'd eventually go back to his old tricks and old habits. He also could try working at a shelter, or a clinic like the one he stayed or maybe even go back to studying. Decisions, decisions, decisions...

He doesn't know what he will do yet, but then again, none of us do.

***

Three hours later...

"Damn!"

Wrong bus. Where the hell is he? Well, he doesn't know. There are, uh, woods to the North, farms to the South, and a road that seems to go on forever to the East. To West there is a part of the road, then a sharp turn and more farms.

"Damn! Shouldn't've taken a nap." Did I mention he was kicked out of the bus? Well, silly me, he was. The passengers don't like when one of their own starts oozing a purple haze through his body. When it got to the overhead baggage compartment, it really started to tear a hole in it. So they interrupted his dinner date with Cindy Crawford and Sharon Stone and started to yell and threaten him, until he was thrown out of the bus. Nice of them to stop the bus, really, because he was doing something worse than almost destroying their luggage: he was snoring.

"Serves me right for not controlin' this damned fog. Purple Fog… Acid Fog… now, those are good nicks." He said that and then remembered that Purple Haze was his uncle's favorite song. His uncle, Pat, was a good man. Patrick Powell, a man you can trust. Could trust, sorry. Heart attack last year.

"Nah. Purple Haze it is."

He looks to the left, trying to see if there is a town or anything, but all he can see are the woods. A lightning bolt flashes in the sky and thunder is heard after a brief instant.

"Weird. I don't see no clouds."

And with that said, he starts to walk to the East. The nearest town mustn't be too far. With some luck, it's even Sebastian's town.

He hopes.

***

A few minutes before the interruption of the dinner date…

"Faster, Ted, faster."

"I'm going, Mark. I think we lost him."

"Halt! and prepare to be taught a lesson!"

Like they would ever obey him. The guy just up and appeared from nowhere, his bulky figure in red and blue as scary as hell. I mean, Ted Cleary and Mark Hayes were out camping. He kicked their tent and looked, his blue eyes almost red with his anger.

"I am Major Virtue. Prepare to be taught a lesson." He said it with anger, and a voice like a small thunder. Mark, who is no small guy, looked at him and gave him a fast mouthed reaction. He was ready to face whatever came his way from this 'Major Virtue' character, and for a split second his hand got warmer. Mark was preparing to use his mutant powers, but then electric energy crackled from one of Major Virtue's hands to another. "We'll see about that.", he said, and the duo looked at each other and to their attacker again. In a wordless agreement, they decide that it's better to run and live then to stay and die.

***

Back in the present…

"%$#@*, I shouldn't have slept."

The hard long walk ahead of Jimi was just starting, and already he was swearing like hell. He searched his pocket, and yes, it was still there. He thought about hitchhikig, for a second, but… nah, more dangerous than staying alone in a road would be staying with someone you know not, just the two, alone in a road. Besides, there were no cars as far as he could see. Slow day, maybe, or maybe that road only had real movement after the harvest.

He looks to the left and sees that there's something moving in the woods, and some smoke. There's conflict in his mind, for a few seconds, if it's a bad thing that the woods are burning or a good thing that he'll have a ride with the firemen's trucks, when he sees that there is no forest fire. Just fire. And it's coming his way.

"Ouch!"

Two men just stumbled on him. They look like they are running away from something, and Jimi wonders what that is until Major Virtue steps out of the woods. Electricity is charging from his eyes and the spandex suit, a red and blue piece with a white lightning bolt running from left shoulder to the navel, just screams "superhero".

"Die!" And the small lightning bolt from Virtue's hands striking down Ted makes Jimi stand corrected. He looks at the other man running, and when he stops and lights his hands on fire, he knows just what to do. He starts to concentrate the acidic purple haze around his body and prepares to attack Major Virtue when the latter turns to him and fires a bolt. It is not strong or far-reaching, but it doesn't have to. It hits the fog, and the electrical energy goes from ion to ion until they hit Jimi Powell. His body is tossed to the left, with a small burn on his left hand.

"Who's yer friend?"

"Not my friend, man! Keep fighting until Ted wakes up and we can get out."

"Who's Ted? Who's this guy? Who are you?"

"Ted is the guy unconscious, this guy says he's 'Major Virtue' and I'm…" at this point he sees Major Virtue coming his way, his bulky figure preparing for a punch "Burn!!!" and a blow of fire and smoke sends Virtue flying and on fire.

'Great, super whackos with codenames. "Burn", "Major Virtue". Why is it every time one gets near ya that's it, one's always near ya?'

"Who are you?"

"Well, 'Burn', I'm 'Purple Haze'." Hey, if they are using codenames, he is using a codename on this one too. Jimi leaps forward and kicks Major Virtue in the chest, who answers it with a swell elbow blow on Jimi's abdomen. He sends another bolt towards Mark "Burn" Hayes, who jumps to the left and trips, falling next to Ted's body. Another stroke of lightning and he is not moving much. If Major Virtue didn't need time to recharge his energies, or were any closer, he most certainly would be dead.

"You shall perish, underlings! Mutants and Negroes and your kind will perish!"

'What did he mean by "your kind"?' wondered Jimi. But if he doesn't like black people, then Jimi can most certainly see why he'd attack him. The others are mutants. Well, one is mutant, maybe the other isn't. He looks at the two fallen men… men, they are but boys. Well, Mark is almost twenty, guess you can call him a man. But Ted is only sixteen, there's no way I should be calling him a… look, I'm digressing here all the while Major Virtue is making a speech.

"You will no longer poison America with your doings, subhumans. No longer will your immoral and subversive actions defile this great nation's heart and soul. Now, I make a stand against all of those, like you, that think that offending God and country and family is 'fun' and 'good'. No more, I tell you ARGH!"

Ah, good thing some supervillains make this sort of speech before they move in for the killing. Allows people like Jimi "Purple Haze" Powell to send a small cloud of acid and burn a round shape on his back.

"AAAAAAAAAARGH!"

Man, the pain must be truly excruciating. I mean, imagine if you had just received a cloud of acid, tearing through your clothes and reaching your skin. No kidding he screamed that much while Jimi rushed to Ted and Mark, helped the second one up and helped to wake the first one. Ted shook his head and looked up. Jimi's dark skin and eyes were a new sight to Ted. I mean, he had seen an African-American person before, that is obvious, but he had never seen Jimi before.

"Mark, he's green, too."

"I know that."

"Hum?!"

"No time to explain it now."

They looked around, Major Virtue was nowhere to be seen. He had ran away, home, to lick his wounds. Maybe another day. Most certainly another day.

"Guess there is time to explain." Mark got up, and so did Ted. "I'm Mark, this is Ted. We are, as you must've realized by now, mutants."

"Any last names, Burn?"

This time Ted answered.

"Mark HAYES and Ted CLEARY. I have mutant tracking abilities, and when I find one, he looks green to me."

"So you know where this nutso is and you dunno my skin color, is that it?"

"Wrong and wrong. Whoever he was, he wasn't a mutant. And I can see you are black by your face and hair and all that. Who are you?"

"Purple Haze?"

"You had cruel parents."

"The name is Jimi. Look, this is all great and all, but it's getting late and I don't even have where to stay."

"Excuse us for a second."

The two others go a few yards away from Jimi, discuss something he can't hear of, and then come back. Mark starts to talk.

"Look, I have a sofa back in my place, and I think I can trust you. I mean, you pretty much saved our lives. I couldn't have handled that guy on my own, not gonna lie about that. So, if you are not bothered…"

"I'm not. How do we get there?"

"I have a bike. Wait here."

Mark quickly runs to the woods North of where they are. Man, if a car had just passed by they'd not be so hurt. He looks at his injuries and shakes his head. Nothing a good night of sleep won't make hurt a little less. Mark comes back with his bike and tells Jimi

"Go walking to the East and I'll come back to get you. No room you, see?"

So Ted hops on and the bike goes away to the East. Jimi looks over his shoulders.

"And I don't even get to watch the sunset. #$%^& life."

***

It would be uninteresting to show you a boring trip… I mean, three boring trips: Ted and Mark to to town, Mark back, Mark and Jimi to town. So I won't. Rather, I give you an another interlude…

Two hours after the sunset…

"Do you two think you can handle them? They are… dangerous to us. We want them eliminated. Terminated."

The bulky duo looks at the men in front of them. They are never comfortable dealing with suits. The action, that is much better.

"No prob, man. Like this, they'll be outta business." He snaps his fingers. The other says "Yeah!" and punches the desk in front of them, crushing a Mont Blanc pen.

"That will be subtracted from your payment."

***

Later that night…

"Mark…?"

"Huh?"

"I want a codename."

"HUH?"

"He said he was 'Purple Haze', and he said you were 'Burn'. I want a name like that."

"What name do you want?"

Ted Cleary thinks for a few instants.

"Seeker."

"Fine, Seeker it is."

"Mark…"

"What?"

"Do you think he suspects the truth?"

"I don't think he has a clue, Ted."

"But what if he does? What if he turns against us? He could call the police and have you arrested, it isn't impossible, you know? I don't think…"

"Chill, Ted. It's gonna be alright, it's gonna work out. If he has a problem, he doesn't have to stay. If he turns against us…" Mark's hands glow red and a small flame erupts for his middle finger. It dances around in the palm of his hand until he closes it, and all the lights are put out.

Next issue: What, you think I'm making a team of three? Heck, they're not even a team yet. Be there next ish as new member joins our cast and maybe we get a little more pro-active. Just maybe.

Welcome to our first issue of Children of the Atom. Hope someone stays along for the ride ;)

Prepare yourself for some stories, hopefully good ones, involving new characters, new villains, new concepts and maybe even some old stuff, too.

But now, let me make a shameless plug: Thanks to Barry Reese, one of the fastest writers alive, for coming up with the name Children of the Atom. Barry's others skills (beyond naming…) can be found in his titles like Black Knight and Crusaders: Shadows (In the MV1 InternationalBranch), to name only two.

P.S.: Letter column names, anyone?