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ABOUT

My Life as an American Hero is an action and science fiction graphic novel series dedicated to the families of the 9/11 attacks and every other terrorist attacks that occurred in the United States and around the world. The story is based on a teenage girl name Silvia Valentine, who's life changes forever after terrorists attack her new home. 

PLOT

The story begins in the year 2044-2045 with Silvia Valentine as she, Luna and their parents John and Evelyn her family move to Cocoa City, Florida to start a new life. John gets a new job as Bank President at the World National Bank while Evelyn gets a job as head of the Cocoa City Memorial Hospital. Silvia starts feeling uncomfortable about sharing a room with Luna because she thinks she holds too much space. The two argue and Silvia pushes Luna hard to floor, causing her to injure her wrist. Silvia then gets in trouble and sits outside wishing that Luna would disappear because she feels that she's always taking the fall for her actions. Later in the evening, Silvia realizes what she did was wrong and apologizes to Luna.

 

The next day, Silvia wakes hearing her parents talking about the Power Shakes and about telling them the truth. She begins to suspect that there was more about moving to Florida than just starting a new life. She asks her mom about it, but Evelyn denies it and leaves Silvia $20 for her to buy lunch. After her parents leave, Silvia reaches up to get cereal when she accidentally drops a box that says "Classified" to the floor. The box opens and reveals four energy drinks called Power Shakes. 

 

As she stares at them, she begins to feel suspicious not hearing about them from her parents or TV. Thinking that it was a gift from them, Silvia drinks all four Power Shakes; where she begins to feel dizzy and collapses on the floor. Luna wakes up from the noise and sees Silvia on the floor unconscious. She runs to check on her to see if she's okay. Silvia says yes as the two head out later in the afternoon for lunch.

While sitting outside enjoying the sun, Silvia begins to feel pain in her muscles and head and almost collapses. Later in the evening, Evelyn learns that Silvia drank the Power Shakes, which worries both her and John. According to them, the Power Shakes were supposed to be sent to Dr. Alice Ponce.

 

A few weeks passed and both Silvia and Luna begin school. Silvia begins her freshman year at Palm Ridge High School, where she meets Kyle Gittens and Cheryl Davenport; the three become best friends. Luna begins 7th grade at Palm Valley Middle School. During lunch, Silvia gets a lot of attention from almost every guy in school because of her looks, which gets Ashley, Dawn and Jessica jealous. The three decide to pull a trick on her. Ashley picks up a cup of piña colada and spills it onto Silvia. Silvia, with her anger awakens the Nutrient Eyes and asks for an apology. After school Cheryl asks Silvia if she has superpowers because of her eyes, but Silvia denies it by saying that they aren't real, but Cheryl's theory becomes correct when Silvia activates the vanilla ring (blue) in her eyes, which protected Luna from being slapped by Ashley. Ashley and Dawn get nervous and try to walk away, but Silvia grabs Ashley's wrist and nearly breaks it permanently. Ashley finally apologies and everyone heads home. 

 

One weekend, Silvia and Luna head out to A.C.U to see Rachel. who graduates in the fall. They're plan was to spend time together and talk about Silvia's newfound powers, but instead Rachel challenges Silvia to an MMA fight in the park to settle the score after her loss six years ago in the MMA All-Star Tournament at Madison Square Garden. Luna convinces Rachel to stop and calm down and finally the storm passes. 

MY LIFE AS AN AMERICAN HERO 

Written by:       Christopher Cancel

 

Cover artist

& Designer:     Christopher Cancel

 

Country:          United States

                        Malaysia

 

Language:       English

 

Series:             Graphic Novel 

                        My Life as an American Hero

 

Genre:             Superhero, Sci-Fi, Action

                       

Theme(s):        Patriotism

 

Date

Started:           September 24, 2013 (1st Draft)

       

Date

Completed:     December 31, 2017

 

Link: http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/My_Life_as_An_American_Hero/ 

Followed by: My Life as An American Hero 2

A few months passed and Spring Break of 2045 begins with Rachel getting her job as a police officer for the Cocoa City Police Department (C.C.P.D), Silvia gets part-time job at Seaport Cafe where Cheryl's Aunt works and Luna usually stays at the Cocoa City Memorial hospital because she's too young to stay by herself. Elsewhere, Joan Redshaw appears on top of a roof and detonates explosives that were somehow planted inside the World National Bank, thus causing the beginning of the big events of the Cocoa City Attacks.

Silvia hears about the attack on the news and races to the burning building, ignoring Rachel's orders to go to their mother's hospital. Rachel catches up with her while escorting the employees down the emergency stairways. The two make it to the 100th floor, where it's completely destroyed by the explosion. John was the only survivor as the rest of his employees were all dead. Seeing her dad in peril, Silvia enters Chocolate Mode, thus building enough strength to smash through the debris and make a path for him. With the floors collapsing, John tells both girls to leave him behind. Rachel sees the ceiling breaking apart and realizes the sacrifice she has to make. As Silvia prepares to smash through the debris but is stopped by Rachel. 

 

John says he final good bye to his daughters as the building begins to collapse. Everyone outside watches in horror except for Joan, who stands watching on the roof several blocks away. A few days later, John's body was recovered and the family were able to have a proper funeral. 

At the funeral Silvia and Rachel continue their feud, blaming one another when Evelyn comes and separates them. On the way, home Evelyn argues with Silvia about her actions and grounds her for two months, but Silvia argues telling her that she knows about why the moved to Florida. Evelyn tries to deny it by heading back to the kitchen but cries inside realizing that Silvia's a the verge of knowing the truth about the Power Shakes and their back story.

Soon after, Silvia starts to become more and more serious about why the attacks occurred and who was responsible. So she goes to see Rachel at the Cocoa City Police Department after school. Outside, Joan orders a pair of paramilitary troops to surround the department. She detonates the explosives that were hidden somewhere in the lobby. As the explosives go off, the troops storm in and a war breaks out between them and the C.C.P.D officers. Joan also ordered other troops to attack the North, South and West Divisions of the C.C.P.D, thus creating the second attack in Cocoa City. According to Joan, the plan was for her troops to attack Police Office, FBI agents and National Guard members (if need be) so Redshaw could reach the hospital to confront Evelyn about the Vitanium.

In the hospital, Evelyn hears the news and calls out a Code Green. She tells Diana and Darcy to sweep the entire lobby and upper floors while she goes to find Luna, who waiting for Silvia at the library. After the sweep Diana returns to the main lobby to see if she missed anyone, but was later confronted by Redshaw himself. He pulls out his gun and asks her where Evelyn is while pointing straight at her. Diana refuses to talk and Redshaw shoots her at point blank. As soon as Evelyn arrives, she finds Diana dead Redshaw reappears behind the wall, shocking Evelyn. The two stare at each other until Evelyn begins exploding, blaming him for John's death. Redshaw denies it and corrects Evelyn, saying that Joan was the one who planted the explosives the night before the attack and that she was the one who disabled the surveillance system in the building and knocked out the guards. Evelyn stays frozen in shock as Redshaw begins to ask about the location of the Vitanium. Evelyn refuses to answer; causing Redshaw to point the gun at her.

Luna finally arrives at the scene and sees Evelyn about to be shot. She cries out to her. Evelyn turns and tells Luna to run, but she refuses to leave her behind and tells her that she doesn't want to leave her die. Redshaw threatens Evelyn telling her that if she refuses to tell him the location of the Vitanium, He will kill her in front of Luna. Evelyn tells Luna to run, and she once again refuses. She then turns to Redshaw with a sinister look in her face and tells him that she will never tell him where it is. With no remorse, Redshaw points the gun and shoots her in the stomach right in front of Luna; leaving her extremely traumatized. Afterwards, he leaves a half hour before Rachel and Silvia arrive from their battle at the CCPD. After seeing Evelyn's corpse, a CIA Agent name Rockwell Smithers arrives and tells them to come with him to Washington because it's not safe for them to stay in Florida.

They arrive at the Biofare Facility a few miles from Washington DC and stay at a bunker at the very lower level. Afterwards, Luna opens the refrigerator and takes the bottle of Hydrogade and a can that's labeled Seafood while Rachel drinks the Enerjuice; not thinking that they too contain Vitanium. Soon after, they meet Dr. Allison Ponce; a close friend of their parents who tells them about how John and Evelyn were the ones who discovered and developed the Vitanium, which led to the development of the Power Shakes and how Redshaw's obsession with power led to him becoming a terrorist. After learning about the past, Rachel and Luna talk about what Ponce said while Silvia sits at the table absorbing all the details about their parents' past. Luna then walks up to her and asks if she wants water, but Silvia says no. As Luna stares at the glass cup she awakens the Hydrogan, as water appears out of nowhere. Silvia staggers seeing Luna awakening her power, but then she collapses for overusing it.

Just outside, Steven Phaganson is ordered by Joan to eliminate Ponce and take the data of the Vitanium she has, but also given the order to eliminate Rachel, Silvia and Luna as well. After he loads his gun, he drives down to the underground parking garage and then heads inside. Meanwhile, Silvia asks Luna to do it again. When she does, the water goes out of control and splashes her. Phaganson then arrives at the bunker and ambushes them. Rachel tells Silvia and Luna to head upstairs and find Ponce while she handles him. Silvia and Luna head upstairs where Ponce already know that security was breached. Silvia then learns that the terrorists arrived at the facility to kill Ponce. She then tells Luna to stay with Ponce while she backs down to assist Rachel only to see that she not only killed Phaganson, but also awaken Sniper Mode.

 

The next day, Ponce believes that Phaganson was sent by Redshaw to kill her and obtain the files that John and Evelyn had given her before moving to Florida. Just then, FBI Special Agent Janice Tomlinson, who's also Lisa's cousin, arrives and tells them that the group they're dealing with who was behind the Cocoa City Attacks is called the Black Brigade. While she explains more about the organization, Joan then prepares her unit outside with "Operation Swarm" a tactical move that allows her men to surround the entire perimeter and storm in to eliminate everyone inside. Under her order, her men throw grenades at the facility, causing a huge explosion and spooking everyone inside. Rachel, Silvia and Janice head out to face the B.B Soldiers while Luna tries to escort Ponce to safety. Joan then makes her appearance and explains that she's Redshaw's daughter and she was the one behind the Cocoa City Attacks and not her father.

After learning about how she coordinated them, Silvia bursted into Chocolate Mode, but before she launched her attack, Joan throws a grenade; which destroys a portion of the building and sends Silvia, Rachel and Janice flying all the way to Cleveland Boulevard Station. All three survive the fall thanks to Silvia's Calcium Defense. Joan then arrives at the station and decided to kill them and let her troops deal with Ponce. So the battle begins with Silvia instantly attacking her while Rachel and Janice shoot their way to the Station's Metro Terminal.

While Silvia gains the advantage over Joan, Rachel and Janice continue their shootout with the B.B. Troops at the terminal when she hears that they're planning to hijack a Gold Line Metro Train to escape. Rachel then unleashes her full static mode and kills them remaining B.B soldiers on the top level, but Janice then gets shot in her left shoulder by one of the terrorists; severely injuring her and tells Rachel to stop them from escaping. Soon after, FBI Special Agent Stevens and few FBI S.W.A.T members arrive to assist in the firefight and then take Janice to a nearby hospital while Rachel heads to the lower terminal. She sees the terrorists escaping and chases after them, soon to realizes that the train has already taken with her inside.

Meanwhile, Silvia and Joan continue to clash all the way to the Washington Mall. Where Joan confirms to her that she planted explosives at the Washington Monument. Silvia cries out to the tourist to get away from there, but the Monument explodes. She rushes with her speed and as soon Monument begins to collapse, she grabs on to it and unleashes her full power of her Chocolate Mode to push the Monument back and preventing another National Iconic Symbol from being destroyed. Joan gets angry and enters Yangire Mode and tries to attack Silvia only to be attacked back by her. As she prepares to finish her off, Joan tells her that the train Rachel is in has a small atomic bomb underneath the first car and once it reaches the next station, it'll go off taking the entire Nation's Capital with it. Silvia, with no other option, let's Joan go and heads out to find the hijacked train.

Rachel continues to fight her way to the front car in order to stop the train only to find out her gun was out of battery power and a soldier wearing an Electromagnetic (EM) suit, which protects him from her bullets. Not wanting to give up and keep on fighting, Rachel awakens her Static Mode, which gives her the advantage. She fries the soldier into a crisp and continues her way to the first car. Silvia then arrives and tells her that train is rigged with a small Atom Bomb and to stop the train before it reaches the station. Rachel asks her if the bomb has an electrical current that's making it active and she says yes. Rachel then unleashes her Static Mode's full power and disrupts the circuitry; thus deactivating the bomb and saving millions of lives. She then gets a call from Stevens that Luna and Ponce have been captured by Joan and her unit. Once they arrive at FBI Headquarters in Langley, they learn that Ponce and Luna are at the Black Brigade's facility in Kuala Lumpur.

At the facility, Luna wakes up only to know she's being held captive. She tries calling for help, but instead confronts two of Redshaw's soldiers who tell her to move while pointing their guns. Meanwhile, Redshaw stands outside the recovery room with Seymour Miller, his father-in-law and Joan's grandfather. After telling him to bring her to him, Seymour says that he's planning to expose Redshaw for all the crimes he's committed; including Karen's death and free Joan from his propaganda and radicalization, but turns out that Joan already knew that her grandfather all ready planned it all out with Karen in order to save her. As Seymour tries to explain to her about the situation, Joan refuses to listen kills Seymour with her machete; the same one Karen used to cook dinner with. She stabs him in the stomach and laughs maniacally; thus entering Yangire Mode stage 3. 

Meanwhile, Ponce waits in her cell wondering what Redshaw's plan is until he enters the room. He explains that's it's been a long time since they've seen each other and shows her a conspiracy called "Project Black," Joan's plot to contaminate the entire country with her nuclear satellite. Ponce then blames Redshaw for radicalizing Joan, but Redshaw replies that it was her mother's fault she ended up the way she did. He then points Ponce to Luna, who's getting beaten by two of his men. Ponce then tells him to leave her alone and she'll tell him the Vitanium's location after he returns from his meeting.

Elsewhere, Seymour walks down the hallway until he is confronted by Joan, who knew his entire plan the whole time. Seymour tries to tell her that she's been radicalized and explained that her mother was trying to protect her, but Joan, staying loyal to her father, kills Seymour with the same machete she killed her mother with; then laughs maniacally at his dead corpse and tells her men to dump his body in the forest. She heads over to Redshaw as he prepares to make his broadcast nationwide about the next attack and blames the US Government for betraying him and taken John, Evelyn and Ponce's side. Joan then taunts Silvia by saying she already lost the battle and the war. Afterwards, Silvia, without thinking decides to go to Kuala Lumpur, but Rachel stops and tells her to let the President handle the situation and that he'll talk with the Malaysian Government, but Silvia interrupts and tells her that her parents and Lisa gave their lives to protect everyone else so they can get stronger and protect themselves from domestic terrorist attacks. Rachel knows how much vengeance Silvia has deep inside her, but tries to calm her down by telling her that going to Kuala Lumpur without thinking is exactly what Redshaw wants them to do. Soon after, Silvia and Rachel get permission from the President; due to their heroism for saving Washington from becoming an apocalyptic city.

Once they arrive at Kuala Lumpur, Silvia tells Rachel that the U.S. Government is taking serious heat from the World Council because someone from within it has secretly been hacking Government Banks accounts and transferring Funds to the Black Brigade; which led to the millions of dollars of built-in technology they have. Suddenly, Joan calls her and tells her that she wants to stop to head over to the facility; only to later find out that she was step ahead of them. Meanwhile, Luna then waits hopelessly as two soldiers come inside pointing their guns as they prepare to eliminate her. Ponce begs them to stop but her voice is unable to go through the glass since its sound proof. Luna then burst into tears saying she doesn't want to die and then unleashes her Hydrogan's power; thus launching water straight the soldiers and breaking the door. As they escape, the facility goes on high alert; which doesn't surprise Joan and Redshaw as they prepare to leave to Seattle to launch the satellite because their plan is already underway. As Luna and Ponce try to find their way out they are immediately stopped several of B.B. Troops. Ponce tells Luna to use her powers, but she's too afraid because her pure conscious doesn't want to kill people, no matter how bad they are. Luna's conscious then hears Evelyn telepathically as she appears right in front her. She tells her that god is not going to punish her for trying to do the right thing and that she's not committing any sins. Luna continues to look at her as she tells her that God knows how much she's struggling inside and why she doesn't like killing, but he still loves her and will forgive her for her. With that, Luna was able to gain her confidence back and immediately save herself and Ponce by entering into Salmon Mode and creating a Salmon Shield. Outside, Rachel and Silvia find the entrance to the base. Rachel then activates her Night Vision only to see noticed that the front of the facility is not guarded, but don't realize that the base was already on alert. as they prepare to go inside, Luna uses her Hydrogan to turn the hallway into a deep river and prevent the soldiers from getting up since there's nothing for them to grab on. She then leaves leaving Ponce confused. Ponce then asks why she didn't kill and Luna replies that there's no need to because they already lost and they won't be able to get up. She turns around and tells them that she hope god punishes them for their sins as she and Ponce leave.

While Rachel deals with several other troops, Silvia begins her search for Luna and Ponce as well as Joan and Redshaw. She then finds an empty meeting room with a letter on the desk. She looks at the letter only to have discovered that Smithers was the mole behind the Black Brigade's financial banking and was the one who hacked into the Government Banks' and transferred the money to them. After, she finds Luna and Ponce and all three sisters reunite. Joan then appears on the monitor telling her that if they want to settle the score once and for all, to meet them at the warehouse district in Seattle. 

Silvia gives Ponce the Bank Records to show it to the FBI while she, Luna and Rachel head to Seattle. Once there, Joan tricks them again by having troops surround them. Luna tells Silvia and Rachel to stop Joan and Redshaw while she handles the troops. Rachel and Silvia find Redshaw who was expecting them. Redshaw explains why their parents had to die and that Joan is all ready at the Space Needle preparing the satellite launch. Rachel tells Silvia to head to Needle while she deals with Redshaw herself. Silvia then takes off as Redshaw tries to stop her, but his hand gets friend by Rachel's Taser Form Lightning.

At the Needle, Joan prepares to activate the launch codes, but is soon stopped by Karen. She tries to convince her to stop what she's doing before it's too late, but Joan was too radicalized with ambition to listen to her. She blames her for the way she's become. Joan then goes berserk and ignores Karen's warning as she activates the codes. Silvia then arrives at the Needle as she takes the elevator all the way to the 6th floor where she sees the satellite activated, but is then stopped by Karen who explains to her why and how Joan became a terrorist. She asks her to "put her out of her misery" even if it hurts her as a mother. Silvia understands her pain and tells her that she was a good mother because she relates her to Evelyn and why they made these sacrifices for the better future. Joan then calls out Silvia and tells her to come up to the roof; which she does.

Once there, Silvia confronts Joan and tells her she learned more about her from Karen; which angered her even more. Joan then explains why she had to kill her mother because she blames her for her betrayal on her Dad after she learned about his conspiracy by John, Evelyn and Ponce. So she ends up killing her. She doesn't reveal much about Teresa, but it is later revealed sometime throughout the time skip that Joan poisoned her. After their brief conversation, the two begin to battle. Joan activates her Combat Mode and gains the advantage over her. Meanwhile, Rachel gets up slowly after getting hit by a steel pole Redshaw used to swing at her. He continues to taunt her with how useless the C.C.P.D were during the attacks. Rachel replies that she will avenge their deaths because she represents their voices. Redshaw gets aggravated and grabs her by her throat as he prepares to finish her off. Soon Luna arrives and tells him to let her go. Redshaw gets upset and as he prepares to shoot her, Luna enters Piranha Mode and instantly attacks Redshaw; thus saving Rachel's life. She asks him why he's killing people. As she walks down to him, she tells him no more killing, but Rachel tells her that it's pointless showing mercy to him and to let her finish him. Just before she does, Redshaw's attack chopper appear and starts attacking them.

Back at the Needle, Joan prepares to finish Silvia off, but a white light surrounds her as four colored beams strike down at her while blinding Joan. After the light fades, Joan staggers and sees that Silvia transformed into Protein Form; which turns the tables around. Joan continues to taunt her that even in that transformation, she's still not strong enough to stop her and only has five minutes before the satellite launches. Silvia, in a deep voice, tells her that five minutes is more than enough time. and mocks her by saying "let's begin the second half" thinking that it's a game. Joan gets frustrated and tries to kill her with her machete, but Silvia blocks and breaks it and then strikes Joan with a powerful left hook. She then regains the advantage, but her Atomic Sky Force, grabs the attention of the news media and the Seattle Police Department. Breaking news are all over the country as everyone sees her battling Joan. Kyle and Cheryl that Silvia was the white haired girl on top of the Space Needle; but Cheryl knew from the beginning that she had super powers all this time. The impact from the Atomic Sky Force, destroyed the power source on Joan's suit and did caused any damage on Space Needle because Silvia used Calcium Defense to protect it before the impact occurred. Joan gets up, but still believes she's won because the satellite is about launch, but Silvia disagrees. Joan tries to attack Silvia in order to prevent her from reaching the satellite, but instead gets knocked out by Silvia's Dynamic Pulse. Silvia then teleports to space and faces the cannon head on. Once there, the cannon launches and Silvia launches her Protein Cannon. The two beams collide, but the Protein Cannon gains more power and destroys the satellite.

Joan then gets up, slowly and sees the explosion from the sky, thinking that Silvia was killed in the blast, but soon changes expression when Silvia reappears in front of her. Joan staggers when she sees pieces of her satellite falling into Elliot Bay. Joan then enters Yangire Mode stage 4 and tries finish Silvia, but Silvia's last words to her are "God Bless America" as she kicks Joan in the stomach hard enough for her plummet down to the ground; killing her instantly. Silvia tells Karen that she did her part and she's sorry that things had turn out this way. Then she takes off to help Rachel and Luna who are not only having trouble against Redshaw, but his attack chopper too.

At the pier, Rachel and Luna continue to struggle since Redshaw's chopper is bullet proof. Luna tries to use her Hydrogan to bring it down, but continues to struggle with it as it goes underneath the chopper; missing it completely. Redshaw, getting tired of Luna, turns to her and orders his pilot to take her out, but the chopper is soon hit by a small portion of Silvia's Protein Cannon. It crashes near the water; killing the pilot, but Redshaw survives. As he tries to escape; hoping that Joan completed the mission, he sees Karen's spirit who tells him that Joan is dead and he is to blame for her death Redshaw gets emotional and starts crying only to have all ready lose the battle. After Karen disappears, Rachel, Silvia and Luna approach him with Rachel pointing her gun. They give their final words and then Rachel finishes him off execution style; ending the Black Brigade's future conspiracies. 

The sisters are then honored with the Presidential Medal of Freedom at the White House and then having dinner with the President before heading back to Florida. Once they arrive, Rachel and Janice, who completely recovered from her gunshot wound, head to the cemetery to give their final farewell to Lisa. A few days later, the sisters along with Cheryl and Kyle head to the beach for some R&R. Rachel begins to grow suspicious over Kyle's behavior towards Luna, even though they're both just playing volleyball. However, thinking that the threat is over, a new enemy watches Silvia on the screen telling her that she has no idea what she's getting herself to; leaving a small suspense in the story.

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