[first lines]
Cole MacGrath: Dropped out of college and got a job as a bike courier. Mostly just to piss off my parents. I was someone you'd never notice. Just a guy delivering packages to folks you'd never know. And then one day... a package found me.
[explosion]
Cole MacGrath: Thousands died. Five square blocks smashed into rubble... And at the centre... was me. Alive... but changed. But no one could have seen what was coming. Back then, Empire City was in quarantine. It had gone to hell. Other people with powers started showing up, and it was my job to sort through it all. Find out who had given me that package, and why. Hell, even my best friend turned his back on me to try to get powers of his own. But in the end I found the man responsible. Kessler. He explained everything through a vision of the future. A Beast is coming. A monster only I can defeat, provided that I am strong and ready to face him. A month later, I met Lucy Kuo. She somehow knew all about the Beast, in fact... she had come to help me prepare. Claimed a friend, Dr. Wolfe, had worked on the Ray Sphere prototype. And that he could amplify my powers. All I had to do was go with her down to New Marais. I need those powers. The Beast is coming. And I will be ready.