THE MOMENT
"There's nothing to be nervous about...," Juan reminded himself. He was seated in the white, mostly empty lobby with one of his energy clones rubbing his shoulders and giving himself a peptalk. "...this is a whole new Earth," his clone added. "No one has to know you were a Supervillain on your previous Earth."
"Juan Million?" A clerk called. Juan hopped to his feet while the energy clone disappeared. He approached the window and sat down in front of it. There was a portly, bored-looking clerk on the other side of the safety glass.
"Welcome to the superhero registry," the clerk said. Juan briefly wondered if the clerk had a super power; he felt himself getting bored just from the clerk's introduction. He slid a clipboard under the glass to Juan. "Name, powers, and secret identity, please. Fill in everything with an 'X'," he said.
Juan did as he was told and filled in the information that he could. The lobby was empty enough that he did not feel guilty about filling the form out at the window. But, out of all the marked sections, there were two he did not have answers for.
"I don't have a nemesis yet; I'm new to this Earth," he pointed at the 'X' he left blank. The clerk nodded.
"One will be assigned to you," he said.
"Um...," Juan hesitated for a moment. But, he decided he wanted to start his new life right. He wanted to be honest from the very beginning. "...I was a supervillain on my old Earth...," he said. The clerk looked up at him and sighed.
"Did you want to be a supervillain here?" he asked. "That's a different form....,"
"No, no," Juan shook his head. "I want to be a good guy now; I want to be a hero." The clerk relaxed when he realized he wouldn't have to get a new form for Juan.
"Then, you're okay. Your past isn't important as long as you start doing good. There's a 90-day Hero probation; if you do any villainy, you'll get fined and your hero's license gets suspended."
"And.. I don't have a favorite number," Juan pointed to the other section he left blank. "I'm a Zero."
"Is that so?" the clerk reached for the clipboard and looked at it. "You make energy clones?" he asked.
"Yeah, that's right," two clones of Juan appeared on either side of him and nodded in agreement.
"We do offer an upgrade service if you're interested," the clerk said.
"What kind of upgrade?" Juan asked. The clerk reached into a drawer and pulled out a different clipboard; this one was translucent red. He slid it under the glass to Juan.
"Sharp Development has the means to turn you into a Unique Soul, if you're interested," the clerk said. "In exchange for signing your soul over to the company."