The Creature: Chapter One

(I know this is AI-generated, but look at the POTENTIAL!!!)

My dear Gel Pen,

It is officially time to finish my 2026 Summer Heart List by doing something mildly terrifying: posting a chapter of my writing.

EEK.

If you hate it, please do not let me know. If you like it, however, I am absolutely not going to stop you from leaving a comment. Hehe.

The chapter I’m letting you read is from a book I’ve been working on called The Creature. Think Lois Lane meets Spider-Man meets a massive government bill that could change the lives of every powered person in America.

And yes, I know what you’re thinking. This somehow includes basically all of my main interests besides music. Journalism? Check. Politics? Check. Superheroes? Unfortunately, also check.

But hey, write what you know.

Anyway, here’s the synopsis. If it intrigues you, keep scrolling for Chapter One.

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THE CREATURE - SYNOPSIS

America is running out of patience with superheroes.

After years of powered vigilantes turning city streets and national landmarks into battlegrounds, leaving billions of dollars in damage behind them, Congress is pushing a sweeping new law that would force powered Americans into government testing, registration, and oversight.

And Ruth Ryan might be the only reporter in Washington willing to publicly question it.

Ruth has built her career covering powered humans, interviewing vigilantes, and defending people the rest of the country is beginning to fear. But when a mysterious masked figure known only as the Creature appears in Chicago, everything changes.

He doesn’t give interviews. He doesn’t leave evidence. And unlike every vigilante Ruth has covered before, nobody seems to know who—or what—he is.

So when Ruth is sent to Chicago to find him, she expects the biggest story of her career.

She does not expect the Creature to become the one person who could change the future of powered humans in America.

And she definitely doesn’t expect the truth about him to be living much closer than she thinks.

Keep reading for Chapter One.

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CHAPTER ONE

“You hear me, Ruth?”

Kins’ voice crackles in and out, so I press the IFB deeper into my ear until she sharpens.

“I hear ya, Kins. How are we looking on the live shot?”

“Danny, move the camera a little to the right.”

My photographer grabs the tripod and drags it through the dirt.

“A little more.”

He moves it again.

“No. Too much. Back left.”

Danny slowly looks at me.

“I’m not doing this.”

I laugh. “Don’t look at me. She’s in your ear too.”

“Perfect, more light!” Kins says.

Danny mutters something under his breath and reaches for the top light.

White light floods my face. I immediately squint at the monitor.

“Is that really necessary?”

Danny peeks around the camera.

“In case you haven’t noticed, it’s pitch black outside. It’s either this or your silhouette.”

“I think America can survive not seeing my pores.”

Danny glares at me, before turning it brighter.

Dots float across my vision. I blink until my face comes back into focus on the monitor.

Besides my retinas being burned, The shot looks great.

Over my left shoulder sits what remains of the United States Capitol.

The dome has collapsed inward, leaving a jagged hole where the top used to be. Chunks of marble litter the lawn, and one of the columns lies so far from the building that I can't figure out how it got there….Then there’s the car.

A black sedan is lodged halfway through the western wall, its back tires hanging several feet above the ground.

Danny looks over his shoulder at it.

“I still can’t believe Hank threw that.”

I stare at it picturing the image of Hank hauling it over his head.

“Yeah.. It's startling all right. ”

“Startling, Ruth? More like terrifying.”
He looks back at me.

Three days ago, Hank Alaric, better known to the rest of America as Vanguard, fought another powered man right here on the west lawn.

Hank killed his enemy, and the Capitol.

Behind the barricades, someone starts shouting.

“NO MORE VIGILANTES!”

A chorus answers.

“NO MORE VIGILANTES!”

Danny glances toward the noise.

“I thought they cleared them out.”

“They did.”

Another chant rises from farther down the lawn.

“REGISTER THEM NOW!”

Dozens of protesters crowd against the barricades lining Constitution Avenue.

Some hold American flags, others carry homemade signs.

POWERS NEED RULES.

WHO PAYS FOR THIS?

KEEP OUR CHILDREN SAFE.

One man has taped a blown-up photograph of the destroyed Capitol onto a poster board beneath the words:

THIS ISN’T HEROISM. IT’S TERRORISM.

Across the street, a much smaller group has gathered beneath signs reading POWERS AREN’T CRIMES and NO GOVERNMENT REGISTRY.

Police officers stand between them. Danny watches the two groups scream at each other.

“Think they’ll fight?”

“I sincerely hope not… But it would make for an incredible live shot.”

One of the anti-powered protesters points toward the smaller group.

“Kins?” I say.

Nothing.

“Kins?”

Her voice snaps back into my ear.

“I have six reporters in six locations, Ruth. Sometimes you’re going to have to emotionally survive without me.”

She disappears again.

My phone vibrates in my pocket.

I pull it out. I look at a text from Mom; still no sign of Hank. 

I lock it again before Danny can see the screen.

His hand goes up.

Five.

I tuck my hair behind my ear.

Four.

Kins returns.

“Coming to you after the package. Mark’s going to start with registration, then Andersons, then Hank. Keep it tight. We’re heavy.”

“Got it.”

Three.

The shouting protesters begin to fade behind the buzz in my ear.

Two.

I look straight into the camera.

One.

The red light turns on. Mark’s voice fills my ear.

“Joining us now from Capitol Hill is News Now correspondent Ruth Ryan. Ruth, you’ve covered powered Americans and vigilantes for nearly two years. After what happened behind you, where does this bill stand tonight?”

“Closer to passing than it’s ever been, Mark.”

I gesture toward the Capitol.

“Three days ago, a powered fight left part of this building in ruins. Tonight, protesters are back outside demanding Congress do something about it.”

“REGISTER THEM NOW!”

The chant rises behind me.

“And yesterday gave supporters of the bill something they’ve never had before. Andersons Pharmaceuticals announced researchers can now identify biological markers associated with powers….potentially before those abilities ever develop.”

Mark’s eyebrows rise. “How early are we talking?”

“Ten years old.”

I hear Danny shift behind the camera.

“Andersons also says that same research could eventually be used to suppress certain abilities.”

“So if Andersons succeeds, we could eventually be talking about taking powers away from vigilantes who break the law?” Mark asks.

“Potentially.”

I glance toward the protesters.

“And that’s why this announcement changes the debate, Mark. We’re no longer just talking about registering people like Vanguard. We’re talking about identifying powers in children before they develop, and potentially having the ability to take those powers away.”

Kins cuts into my ear.

“Ninety seconds.”

Mark nods. “Speaking of Vanguard, any sign of Hank Alaric?”

“None.”

My smile stays put.

“He hasn’t been seen publicly since the fight, and he hasn’t responded to repeated requests for comment.”

That sounds considerably less concerning on television. Hank always answers reporters.

Especially me. The man once called during a tornado warning because he wanted to clarify that his suit was navy, not black. Three days of silence isn't normal.

Mark glances down at his notes.

“So for now, Congress is debating this bill without hearing from the man at the center of all this?” Mark asks 

“ Yes. Although I’d argue Hank isn’t the only powered person Congress should be looking at.”

Kins cuts into my ear immediately.

“Don’t. you. dare.”

 “The Creature.” I say. 

“Wrap!” Kins shouts. I push on. 

“The Creature has been operating for almost a year and—”

“WRAP. Now.” Kins barks.

Mark looks into the camera.

“Well, unfortunately, I’m being told we have to leave it there. Ruth Ryan live for us tonight on Capitol Hill. Ruth, thank you.”

I grit my teeth into a smile.

“Thanks, Mark.”

The red light clicks off.

I hold my smile.

Two seconds.

One.

Then I turn to Danny.

“You have got to be kidding me.”

He lowers the camera.

“What?”

“She wrapped me.”

“That is how live television works.”

“I finally get to talk about the Creature, and suddenly nobody has twenty seconds?”

Kins immediately appears in my ear.

“Ruth, I can still hear you.”

I freeze.

Danny starts laughing.

I stare into the middle distance.

“You couldn’t find fifteen seconds?”

“No.”

“Ten?”

“Goodnight, Ruth.”

“Kins—”

The line goes dead.

I yank the IFB out of my ear.

“She did that on purpose.”

Danny starts collapsing the tripod, laughing.

“Whose side are you even on?” I throw my  hands up in the air at him

“The side that writes my paycheck.”

Another round of chanting breaks out behind us.

“NO MORE POWERS!”

A few reporters nearby turn their cameras toward the crowd.

One of the counter-protesters screams something back, and a police officer immediately steps between the barricades.

Danny watches.

“This place is getting weird.”

“Getting? It's been like this for years.”

“It's too bad. I used to like D.C.”

He starts packing cables.I reach into my coat for my phone…Still nothing. Hank’s name sits near the top of my messages.

RUTH: Hank, call me when you see this.

Delivered, with no answer. Danny catches me looking.

“He still ghosting you?”

“No....He’s probably just busy.”

“Doing what?”

My eyes drift toward the car sticking out of the Capitol.

“Laying low?”

“Hank doesn't really do low.” Danny counters.

That’s the problem. America knows that Hank likes cameras and crowds. America knows that he likes shaking hands with cops afterward and posing for pictures with kids. The man treats attention like oxygen.

Three days without it should have killed him. Danny throws the camera bag over his shoulder.

“You coming?”

“In a second.”

He starts toward the van. I unlock my phone again. Not looking for Hank this time, but photos. 

I scroll past screenshots of the bill until I see the album named CREATURE.

Forty-seven pictures; I click it open.

A dark figure standing on the edge of a Chicago apartment building.

Swipe.

A black shape disappearing around a corner.

Swipe.

Something clinging to a fire escape.

Swipe.

Nothing but motion blur and what might be a hand. Or a claw….Or garbage.

I swipe again. Until I find my favorite, the one that always makes me stop. The photograph was taken during a storm eight months ago.Rain cuts across the image, and whoever took it moved just enough to turn everything into smears of black and gray.

But something is there.

A figure clings to the side of a brick building several stories above the street.

Too dark to make out a face.

Behind it stretches something long and curved. A wing, according to one witness. A tail, according to another.

The internet thinks it's everything from a government experiment to an alien. Nobody even agrees whether he is the correct word.

Almost a year in a city filled with cameras, phones and people desperate to be the first person to solve the mystery.

And somehow, the Creature remains a blur.

“You better not be looking at those AI photos.”

Danny’s voice makes me jump.

He’s standing by the van.

“They are not AI! They are real!”

“Ruth, one of them is literally a shadow.”

“A shadow with wings!”

“That's helping your case less than you think.”

Danny blinks and opens the passenger door.

“ I can't believe you almost talked about an AI-made superhero on live television.”

He disappears into the van. I look down at the photograph one more time.

The Creature hangs against the brick, frozen forever as a black smear in the rain.

Congress wants every powered person to have a name.

I stare at the black smear on my screen.

Someone had to find out his.

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(If you actually read that whole chapter, I love you.

This book is still very much a work in progress, which is probably why posting this feels mildly horrifying. But publishing a piece of my fiction was on my 2026 Summer Heart List, so here we are.

Ruth Ryan and the Creature officially belong to the internet now. EEK.

If you liked it, you’re more than welcome to tell me. If you didn’t, remember our agreement at the beginning of this post.

And if you want to keep reading, I’ll be putting more of The Creature on Wattpad.)