Zip

That's The Name

When I was younger I loved to run through the city. With my power of teleportation it was easy, I would think about where in the city and teleport there. I would have to walk it before I could teleport though. I needed to see the place in my head, but only from certain angles. I would have used pictures to get an image in my head but that didn't work well the first time I had tried because the angle of the camera was more tilted to he sky then the ground so when I teleported I was falling like ten feet. Of course I got better at it. I now know that teleporting in the middle of the street was a bad idea because everyone would see you. Instead I teleport in an alleyway or on a rooftop. 

I had many years to perfect my ability and now it's as easy as breathing. That was the hitch though. I couldn't breath while teleporting; my lungs wouldn't be able to work between jumps and if I teleport too much then I could pass out from lack of oxygen which I've done a few times. Other than that I'm a professional. 

Now after school I teleport to the top of buildings with some snacks to watch heroes fight villains. It's like watching a show. I have to be careful sometimes when Superman is fighting because he crashes into buildings like nobody's business. 

No one knows about my power except for my best friend/cousin. Poe wasn't going to tell a soul though. We lived in the same neighborhood and were the same age so we naturally hung out a lot. Poe was one of those hero geeks and has always known about my power. As a kid I was bad at keeping secrets. I tried telling my parents but they thought I was just using my imagination for a game. I also tried telling my older sister but at the time she had a boyfriend and couldn't be bothered that much for watching me teleport. So for as long as i can remember it's just been me and Poe. 

When we got old enough to understand that I should probably keep this a secret, he decided we should figure out the extent of my ability. Through many experiments we found out I can teleport objects with me no problem. Teleporting another person was a different story. It's easy when it's my own body but when I started I would bring Poe with me but he would slip out of my grasp. It's like we would be pulled apart and he would end up somewhere in the halfway mark. It took some practice to be able to teleport Poe with me and even then I need to have a really firm hold on him otherwise he would slip out of my grasp and end up in a pond or tree. 

We also found out that teleporting with liquids is also a struggle. I couldn't teleport with a glass or water because the water wouldn't come with me. One summer we went to this skate park that no one was at and I teleported with water just ten feet in front of me. We searched that entire park but couldn't find any spilled water on the cement. We never quite figured out where that water went but we suspect it either dried out or got caught up in the molecules of something. We did figure out I could travel with bottled water or soda but opening soda after a jump is not the best idea because it explodes when you open it. 

Aside from being able to bring people with me we found out I have better reflexes and strength than most people my age.  I'm also pretty flexible which I just get from my mom but it's useful anyway. 

After testing out all of those things we ran out of ideas until one afternoon while we were watching X-Men, we came up with the idea of seeing if I can get smoke to appear when I teleport. When I teleport I'm more of a disintegrating kind of thing but we found out that there was a way to get smoke to appear. After an entire summer of work we found out I can fast teleport and slow teleport. Slow teleporting I would disintegrate away but fast teleporting would heat the air around me and set it on fire for a millisecond before it would snuff itself out with smoke. Fast teleporting was flashy and fun but slow teleporting was cool to watch. 

Poe wanted me to become a superhero but I never wanted to. I don't like the idea of the world resting on my shoulders to save them. I hardly have my life together. It was fun to think about sometimes. Poe and I came up with a name I would use if I was ever to be a hero. Zip. We think Zip sounds hardcore but know for a fact people are going to say Zipper instead. That would be funny though! Just imagine your hero name being Zipper.