A Hero Unmasked
When the giants of heaven
forsake the Earth
I shall destroy you
for all that you're worth!
With the bolt of Zeus
and my golden throat
I will destroy you
or send you afloat!
Whether you pillage the earth or the sea
I will destroy you
this I guarantee!
In this dark loneliness
one question creeps to my mind
could all the monsters that I slay
actually be monsters deep inside my heart?
"God Slayer (HQ)" -PersonaSama
"Some believe it is only great power that can hold evil in check. But that is not what I have found. I have found that it is the small everyday deeds of ordinary folk that keep the darkness at bay. Small acts of kindness and love."
Gandalf, The Hobbit
Chapter 1: Fangirl
GEMINI
Female Cosplay Man adjusted his skirt as he flew. The outfit made him look pretty and empowered, and he had done a decent job shaving before donning the costume, but this was his official debut, and the crosswinds kept threatening a Marilyn Monroe impression. He was glad he had worn stockings, and especially glad he had pinned his wig in place. These thoughts rushed through his head, as he briefly tucked his knees, then pushed his left boot down, propelling himself upward to catch the bus. Shadowy Evil Bad Guy had tossed it thousands of feet in the air, after all.
Female Cosplay Man had studied the laws of physics, as his secret identity was Butch Debutante, mild-mannered college student who happened to like cosplaying as a female. This particular one was based on Vampire Princess Miyu. These laws told him that just catching an object in midair would be a mistake. While catching something arrests its movement, the momentum is a little like that of falling when thrown at great speed. Suddenly stopping? Not so good. And in addition to super speed and flight, he had super strength (though less than most conventionally male superheroes) and the super ability to quickly change and to make himself look totally natural as a woman. This was great for disguise, as he managed to appear 5'8" with classic proportions for a woman, while being 5'11" and fairly athletic out of costume. But it also meant he was likely to be propositioned by men. Anyway, moving directly in front of the bus would flatten it in much the same way as a soda can, only it was not quite so empty. A teacher in a suit and skirt, a bus driver, and roughly thirty students were hurtling forward. Instead, he maneuvered his flight slightly below the bus, and allowed himself to be carried with it, but holding tight in an effort to slow it down. At first, it looked like they were going to keep moving toward Mt Shinoyama, but then it halted.
At the time though, I didn't know Female Cosplay Man's secret identity was, Butch Debutante, nor did most people outside the anime community know what cosplay was. The term was coined in around 1984 by a man named Nobuyuki Takahashi, at a time where anime was outside the scope of most of the West, as it was mostly available from old grainy VHS tapes that were passed around. And this was the 80s. Even though certain people had superhero powers since around 1936, the idea of a hero having multiple costumes was more that a bit of an anomaly. Female Cosplay Man would show up in a dizzying variety of wigs, dresses, or the occasional leotard. He might also have props such as a sword or wand. Despite this, people typically knew it was him because all of the other superheroes had consistent costumes, because his powers were always the same, and because there was an anime aesthetic that was absent from all other superheroes (except for Isekai, but he came later). But I was a six year old kid, and Female Cosplay Man was the coolest superhero ever. We knew he was a man, even though he was completely convincing as a woman, because occasionally he would mess up and his costume would rip or his wig would get knocked off. This was usually heavily censored on TV, but we understood that doing so ruined his powers, and he usually had to leave the scene and find a new costume. This was the weakness of most superheroes, in addition to some funny green stone, the color yellow, cold iron, or some other gimmick, they tended to lose at least partial power when their persona was destroyed. Female Cosplay Man, however, was more deeply invested in this than most, as he would lose about 80% of his powers, keeping only his strength and endurance. If he was in midair, substantially damaging his costume would cause him to bulk up with muscle, start looking masculine, and he would sink like a stone.
Which was happening now. You see, I was a six year old kid at this time, and I wasn't exactly watching him right now from the safe vantage of a television. I was on this bus, and he had just saved us. Shadowy Evil Bad Guy wasn't going to take this lying down though, so they used some mysterious power that will not be mentioned or explained to completely destroy Female Cosplay Man's costume. All of a sudden, staring from the bus window, I saw a pretty woman go to a musclebound guy with a wig, and the bus and the one holding it began to sink as what I was told at the time was gravity decided that Female Cosplay Man was heavier than air. Our teacher did some quick thinking, pulling off her heels, hosiery, panties, bra, skirt, and suit then tossing the pile out the window to Female Cosplay Man. With one hand, he grabbed it, still holding the bus while starting to fall with the other. In a fraction of a second, he did a sort of Wonder Woman spin thing, and was fully changed into costume. I watched this process carefully, seeking to learn how he did it. But unfortunately, I blinked at the worst possible second, and couldn't see most of it.
Anyway, Female Cosplay Man now looked like a convincing woman in a teacher's smart work outfit. It was hardly a cosplay outfit, but it would do. His body shrunk to fit into the outift, and he gently flew down to the ground, and set the bus on the roadside. But his job wasn't over yet. Shadowy Evil Bad Guy was still being threatening. In the background, he was creating hurricanes or volcanic eruptions using his unnamed power to disrupt the land. "Hey you!" Female Cosplay Man shouted to Shadowy Evil Bad Guy, "Don't make me come... over there." With that, he gave his best sexy pose and it seemed as though his body shimmered for a bit with a slight pink glow. Shadowy Evil Bad Guy screamed, "Wait nooooooo!!!" After this, he disappeared into a burst of light and was never seen again.
BUTCH
Maybe I should explain. That isn't one of my powers, you see. Don't get to thinking I can kill random people just by posing. Each superhero has a Persona, the source of their powers through identity, and an Aura, which is sort of an energy embodiment of what their superhero identity is supposed to represent. For example, there's a heroine named Tremor. Her secret identity is Lithos Verdant, and she's a little old lady living in the suburbs with twelve cats. She was my mentor when I was young. Now her hands shake all the time, and whenever they do, she can make small earthquakes. But her hobby is horticulture, and whenever she uses her powers to help things grow, she's at her best. Her Aura, predictably is a sort of brownish green. If you manage to hurt plants or animals while she's on duty, you get to see that glow... right before she turns you into vines or compost or something similar. As for me, my Aura only activates when I'm looking particularly cute, and it usually attracts people rather than killing them. That was a rare exception. And honestly, I don't know why that happened.
Having finished with the rescue and defeating the nemesis, I then found myself in front of several children asking probing questions. The teacher, a Miss Yuki Shiroi, had apparently pulled out a spare gym outfit from her bag. This outfit looked like it belonged to someone in the senior year of high school. Yuki couldn't have been more than eighteen from the looks of her. "Are you a student teacher?" I asked her. She blushed deeply, and pulled out her driver's license, "No, dammit! Look at it. I'm 33 this year! I got a special waiver that allows me to keep teaching until I look old." Sure enough, the license mentioned her birthdate as 1955. She explained that until puberty hit, she aged normally, but starting in about 1968, she only aged one year every leap year. "Youth & Beauty, they called it. I wasn't lucky enough to get a whole set of powers and fight crime, but until the day I die, I'll stay pretty. And I'll probably outlive any children or grandchildren. Well, if someone wants to give me some." She winked at me. The offer was tempting, but being a superhero had a busy schedule. "I'll consider it, if we meet again," I said.
Part of the reason the public could trust us was that our power came from our sincerity. Though I knew I couldn't be sure that I would meet her again, my word was a pledge that if I did see her, that would happen. Superheroes drew their power from honesty. Without it, they were powerless. This is why I lost my powers when my costume was broken, doing so exposed the one major lie to my Persona, that I was naturally female. Long ago, it was even worse. I had been a crimefighter known as the Copenhagen Capon. I had an outfit that was basically a white sleeved dress with reddish chicken feathers along the sleeves and back with feathered boots. I had medically transitioned into female, and needed no wig or the like to complete my superhero transformation. Unfortunately, the Canceler wiped out my entire transition and with it my powers. I hear today he has a son.
For years, I had to do soul-searching because my powers wouldn't return on their own. Eventually, I realized that the whole idea of being a woman was a lie. No amount of surgery could make me a woman. Oh yes, it could make me feminine, and it definitely could make me feel like a woman inside. It could even make me look so convincing that nobody would know that I had been born male. But the physical reality of being a woman meant whether or not I could have children. I realized that while I liked to dress and act as a woman, when I took my clothes off, I reverted back to male appearance. And this was fine! It was the 1980s, surely people would accept me for wanting to present myself as a crossdressing superhero. Maybe? But even this realization wasn't enough to restore my powers. I had lost my Persona, and needed a new one. I had officially blown eight years of my life saving up for a sex change operation that was largely the idea of my friends, and then I got de-morphed and realized I wasn't about to go through that again! Even so, I realized that while it was too expensive to surgically become a woman again, I wanted to feel feminine again. But I couldn't see a solution to all that anymore.
It was only after one night of visiting a video store and seeing Space Battleship Yamato that I became inspired. That night, I sewed the outfit for Yurisha Iscandar. When I put it on, I felt my powers return, stronger than ever before. It was enough for me to feel like a woman, it didn't matter what other people said I needed to do to be one.
In any case, I figured it was time to go. I checked my portable radio wristwatch, which all superheroes had since the days of Dick Tracy. "No crime to report anywhere. All clear," the police radio said. Hmmm, I guess it was okay to stay and talk a little more. But after looking at her again, I realized I was blushing far too much. I turned my attention to the students who were all asking me questions. "Female Cosplay Man, why do you go by 'he' and not 'she'?" asked one. "Female Cosplay Man, what's your secret identity?" asked another. "How did you get your power, Female Cosplay Man?" inquired still another. I answered the questions as efficiently as I could, explaining how my past as the Copenhagen Capon meant I used to insist on being called by female pronouns, but now I had accepted myself as a crossdresser, so it wasn't a big deal. They needed some explaining about the terms crossdresser, as this was the eighties. People knew about drag queens, but people who dressed as female for reasons other than performance weren't as well understood. On the matter of secret identities, I mumbled my real name softly enough that I think alot of them didn't hear it. The teacher wrote it down though.
Then one of them asked me point blank, "Female Cosplay Man, could you be my friend and teach me to also be a hero?" This was before people had to take classes on child harassment or neglect, stranger danger was in the forefront, and people worried about Catholic priests. The idea of a child having an older friend was just seen as a role model, and nobody automatically jumped to a creepy conclusion. So when I asked Miss Shiroi if this was okay, she shrugged, "Gemini needs to be back at his home before dinner. Today was a field trip, so I'm certain that nobody would notice a few students missing." I am now retired, and it occurs to me that nearly forty years later that by today's standards, she would be fired for neglect. But it was a different time. Most places mentioned doing this or that activity "at your own risk," and swimming pools still contained diving boards.
GEMINI
My name is Gemini Fisher, and this was the most important day of my childhood. This day formed me into the person I am today. At the time, I was a boy with a fascination to a superhero, with nothing special about me. Female Cosplay Man scooped me up, and told me to hold tight while he flew me to a secluded beach. I was perfectly sure I would be safe here. After he set me down, I asked him how superhero powers developed, and what being a superhero was like. Stuff like that.
"Alright, so give me ten laps. Then 250 squats, and then swim to that buoy and back eight times." I objected, but he explained, "Physical conditioning is an important first step for any superhero. People can develop their powers anywhere from their early teens to somewhere in adulthood. And it can happen biologically through puberty, due to some big event or choice (like a mid-life crisis), or because of some freak accident. Isekai got his powers from being hit by a truck. One of the people she brought through a portal apparently got hers by being given them from a cat with a scar on its forehead. But without at least some training, you'll wind up like Eye Beam." Everyone had heard of Eye Beam. He was a man gifted with a powerful eye beam, but he had no real Aura or sense of theme to his powers. He wound up out of shape, and while he had a great beam weapon, people could just flank him because he was too overweight to turn quickly. Eventually, he was caught by some mafia thugs, and they sold him to scientists for parts. They forced him to use his power until he was basically a husk. The lasers used in pointers and CD players are all derived from technology from studying his eyes. "I'll get started," I said. I ran the laps and did the squats, expending a great deal of energy to get these done in record time, as I didn't want to slack off and be like Eye Beam. It occurred to me that being a superhero was more like being an NBA player than winning the lottery, as I had originally assumed. It wasn't just a matter of developing the right powers through luck, it was practice and more practice. But I balked around the time that I was going to swim.
Well, to be fair, I was tired out and not confident I wouldn't cramp up and drown during my exhaustion. But there was another concern, "Why would I need to practice swimming? I don't get it. Aren't most of your missions on land or in the air?" He shook his head, "Look, I'll show you. This is the results of running practice." He ran fast enough to cause the sand below him to turn into glass. "And this is what I can do after doing thousands and thousands of squats." Without flying, he squatted and jumped hundreds of feet, landing stylistically on one knee with the other leg outstretched, with one hand hitting the ground and the other facing away from his body. "And this..." He ran in circles in the sand, cracking the glass and kicking up sanding in the air until it was a sort of smokescreen. I coughed, but I noticed he wasn't reacting. After it settled, he breathed in and said, "...this is what swimming practice gives you. Maneuverability, the ability to hold your breath, and of course the ability to swim for underwater rescues. They do happen occasionally."
And so, I trained in swimming too. I was thoroughly tired out, but as we had an hour left before I had to get home, he asked me if there was anything else I wanted to learn. A thought occurred to me. "Teach me to be pretty," I requested. He sighed, "I don't want to be accused of corrupting youth. I can't teach you makeup without permission from your mother. But... I suppose I could show you what it feels like, just once." He took me to a convenience store, and bought panties and a practice bra. Nobody noticed anything there since items are bought from packages for a dollar or less. Next he went to a real clothing store. After some browsing, he pulled out a blue linen dress, and some sensible heels and ushered me into the girl's changing room. "Uhhhh," said I, "won't the store clerk mind?" He shrugged, "Let me tell you a secret. I hope you'll remember this later on. Alot of people walk around with the idea that they have to force others to accept their lifestyle and walk around mad when they don't. But do you know when people actually object to you? It's when you don't love yourself. When you feel insecure, that's when people bully you. Or when you're angry, that's when people bully you. When you're calm and kind, typically people leave you alone." I tried to keep that in mind. I took a deep breath, and looked at myself in the mirror. It was the 1980s, so having a long hairstyle was still a bit unorthodox, though it had loosened up due to people emulating rock stars. My hair didn't look too short or silly with my dress on. Not having breasts was a bit of a downer, but it was to be expected as a kid. And my face hadn't developed any masculine traits. "You look fine," he said, "now go up to the clerk and tell him you're getting the dress and the shoes." I blanched, "I don't know that I can do this..." He tried to encourage me, "You can do it! Calm confidence is the difference between heroes and wrongdoers. Most of them never learned to ask for what they want. That's why they steal it or kill for it. You have a right to be here."
Gathering my nerve, I managed, "Uhhh Mister? I'd like to check out the dress and the shoes." He nodded, "Sure thing, young lady. Take off those shoes and..." for an awkward moment I was sure that he would ask me to take the dress off too, and then I would be exposed, never realizing that the clerk in fact saw me come in with him. "...and turn around so I can read the tag on the back of your dress," he finished. I quietly breathed a sigh of relief. Ignorance is bliss. Today, I know in retrospect that all of this was fine. He had been right, the clerk was fine as long as there wasn't trouble. I had been polite, and he decided to let go any objections that he might have had. He slid off the anti-theft device that would ink up the dress if I tried to remove it. And then we left the store and returned to the beach.
I felt great in this outfit, but eventually it had to end. I was going home to get dinner, and it was back to my old outfit. He helped me change out of those clothes on the beach, and flew me back home.
