Henry Fusion dug into his drum kit for the big transition back from the bridge
to the main tune, never missing a beat. In these heady moments in the middle of
a song, he always had the time of his life. He and his friends called their
band Nuclear Synthesis, and playing this kind of jazz-rock fusion music with
them was the best decision he'd ever made.
It almost made him overlook how lousy the turnout was at this venue.
The main character in this story is based on a Champions™ character that
Michael Gersten created in the wake of Back to the Future in 1985.
Here is this character's character
sheet.
Stuff I intend to have happen in this story:
Back story. Henry Fusion was born to the rich and powerful Fusion family,
but until his teen years he didn't know what that really meant. Then, his
father told him about his family's power. He could join the family business
and become rich, or go off and have fun with his friends; he chose the
latter.
While playing with his band at the grand opening of a celebrity asian
fusion restaurant in New York City in 1986, gangsters bust in and gunshots ring
out. Henry and his band dive for cover behind tables/the bar. He still manages
to hold onto his drink, because hey, free drink. He sticks his head out to see
what's going on and a gunshot parts his hair.
In all the commotion, Henry doesn't notice a pill flying through the air
which lands in his drink. He drinks it without realizing it. As he and his
bandmates crawl their way to the rear exit, he starts to feel weird.
They make it outside, and Henry discovers he's hovering on a column of
nuclear fusion exhaust. One of the goons backs out of the rear exit, and in
a panic, Henry blasts him with a nuclear fusion blast from his hands, sending
the goon flying back in through the exit door. His bandmates are amazed at this
newfound power of his, but Henry decides he needs to keep it a secret from the
rest of the world.
The next day, Henry fashions a super-hero costume for himself and goes out
in disguise to fight for Truth, Justice, and the American Way or whatever.
Soon, a no-good New York City purse snatcher is caught and taken down by a new
nuclear-fusion-powered super-hero, who calls himself ... Mister Fusion!
Meanwhile, it turns out the raid on the restaurant was orchestrated by none
other than Henry's own father. He'd been keeping tabs on his son, so he knew
he'd be performing there, so he'd given instructions to his goons not to shoot
up the band. This was why it had been so easy for them to escape. The pill that
landed in Henry's drink was an experimental fusion capsule, which should have
blown anyone who ingested it to bits. His people figure that this new Mr.
Fusion character must have absconded with this fusion pill, which would mean he
was someone at the venue that night. They might not know precisely which
someone it was, but the list of people that were there that night isn't
large.
Mr. Fusion interacts with another super-hero from the Roger M. Wilcox and
Michael Gersten Super-Hero Universe™ — I haven't decided which one
yet — and the two of them do some detective work and discover that his
dad is planning some big no-good operation. The experimental fusion capsules
are part of it. The other super-hero suggests they might be part of a huge
behind-the-scenes organization called the Honeycomb. If the Illuminati are
pulling the strings from behind the scenes, the Honeycomb is pulling the
Illuminati's strings from even more behinder the scenes. No, really,
trust me. Honeycomb's big.
Big showdown happens between Henry's dad's operation and Mr. Fusion. (With
Mr. Fusion getting some help from the other super-hero, but Mr. Fusion is the
one in the spotlight.) Henry's dad's goons try to blow him up with fusion
capsules, but quickly discover that Mr. Fusion simply absorbs the energy to
recharge his power reserves. Then a Big Bad supervillain shows up on the side
of Henry's dad, and the two heroes must somehow take him down. Said taking
down ensues.
Defeated, Mr. Fusion looms over his dad (who has no idea that this new
costumed super-hero is his son) and says "How could you!" He answers that it's
how the game is played, how it's always been played — you strike, or you
get struck. Also, he's never heard of something called the Honeycomb; it's
just another harebrained conspiracy theory.
Mr. Fusion lays somewhat low over the next few years, which is why Wo-Man
didn't know about him in 1989 when fighting aliens that were vulnerable to
fusion energy.