Plot (of the novel)

## Summary

Thom Creed is a 17-year-old high school basketball star, who has a tendency to get into trouble. His mother abandoned the family several years ago, and his father Hal, a publicly disgraced ex-superhero, is now a lowly factory worker. Thom is filled with teen-aged angst because he is gay and knows that his father greatly disapproves of homosexuality. He becomes a tutor for children with reading and language disorders at the community center, and often reads to his students. After an incident during a reading session, he is moved to another class where he meets a young man named Goran. Thom mistakes Goran for a student because of his strong accent, accidentally offending him. It turns out that actually Goran is the person who started the reading program a few years before.

During a basketball game, Thom recognizes one of the players from the opposing team as Goran. Thom is thrown off his game and Goran ends up breaking one of his legs. Strangely, Thom heals Goran's injury by touching his leg over the compound fracture. He has healed others before, but does not fully understand his ability. Apparently no one notices what he has done for Goran, and when the game resumes, another player calls Thom, "*Faggot*," in front of everyone. Afterwards, Thom has a seizure, which is most likely related to stress created by absorbing Goran's injuries, and his fears about his father discovering his sexual orientation. While recuperating at the hospital, he is forced to give up his driver's license and must resort to using the bus to get around.

During the summer, Thom's coach kicks him off the team due to his medical issues, though Thom gets the coach to confess that it is actually because of the comment made during the game. When he gets home, he takes his father's laptop and decides to look at porn. Thom explains that he is afraid to come out not only because of his father, but due to living in a homophobic town. While masturbating to a picture of local superhero Uberman, Hal comes home to get ready for his real estate class. Thom quickly straightens things up, but doesn't have enough time to erase his history on the computer.

When his father does leave, Thom decides to run away from home. When he falls asleep on the bus, he becomes mixed up in a battle between some villains and The League. He also encounters a mysterious man known as Dark Hero, who works alone. Thom ends up using his powers yet again on a young mother, and gets an invitation to try out for one the minor leagues. When he gets home, he discovers that Hal's former mentor Captain Victory has died. He decides not to tell his father about the tryouts, because Hal harbors intense resentment for The League. Thom is accepted as a trainee, and assigned to work with a group of other probationary heroes. The group consists of Ruth, an aging psychic, Scarlett, who can control heat, and Larry, who has the ability to give others any disease. The stress of keeping so many secrets from his father exacts a painful toll.

Soon, however, the world's superheroes begin dying under mysterious circumstances. In order to solve the mystery, Thom must reunite with his fellow outcast trainees and deal as well with society's prejudices when his secrets are revealed.

-from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hero\_(novel)#Plot\_summary

## By Chapter

### Chapter 1

The game, the break-in, and the Student Life Center

### Chapter 2

At the hospital, life without a license, and no more basketball

### Chapter 9

After the try-outs at the bar & talking to his dad

### Chapter 16

Everyone's got a tremendous amount of pain - that's how life works.

### Chapter 28

Time to make some changes & Looking for the real killer

### Chapter 31

An honest conversation and then it begins...

### Chapter 34

Epilogue with Uberman, Scarlett, and Goran