Hmmm.. how about this Ranger...
The Center for Observation Research and Exploration in conjunction with JPL has designed a prototype 'Pin-hole' Jump Drive for their new FarStep TransAt Space Plane. A Top Secret FTL Transit drive... and as pilot's go Captain Jason Rollins is one of the best.
However, what they are not saying is they have lost three pilots of this experiment already... not the plane mind you, the pilots. The reason being the 'Pin-hole' drive is a practical application of the 'Pin Hole' effect they produced in their experiments... and are still trying to close... but a modification allows them to build a device that 'blinks' the hole allowing transit through what they believe is a strata subspace with dimensions far different than our native 3 dimensional space. It allows rapid cometerious travel on our universe by side-stepping through Subspace.
What they don't realize is that strata of subspace is inhabited by malevolent energy beings that have tried to invade our reality before by possessing 'the solids' to relish the sensations..both positive and frequently negative that being physical affords them cause sensation as we feel it is unknown to them. Problem is .. such possession slowly or rapidly kills such 'solid creatures'... how wonderful we have such a large supply!
Also the 'Pin-hole' has not gone undetected by other extraterrestrial sentiences. The meteor shower was not just a cover for one alien vessel landing but several, as well as a scattering of probes to locate the 'Pin-Hole'; as there is a race out there that has dealt with the Energy beings and knows them for the 'Cancer' in our universe that they truly are! One of their hunting fleets detected the 'Pin-Hole' the C.O.R.E. research team made and detached a flotilla to investigate and deal with the problem... depending upon how wide spread the 'Infestation' has spread.. they are authorized to use whatever means... up to continental-wide sterilization!
They have landed and been searching in several teams for the infestation... as it seems this time the Energy Beings are trying to be subtle. But they narrowed it down to the North Hemisphere of the Americas. So Jonesville is NOT the only small town in USA where people have gone mysteriously missing.. the Aliens are searching for the Energy Being infestation.
But there is another sinister aspect of the Alien's arrival, as you can bet its not all altruistic as they have made no 'official' contact with any government on the plant to stop this crisis. A faction of their scientific hierarchy has taken an interest in Humanity and has determined 'Humans' could potentially be a resource to them... and all the dark things THAT implies. Hence the recent deaths of young women in Empire City... they are being found naked and no signs of struggle.. all in good health. What's not being said is they are found with their skin turned transparent and their inner organs mishappen as if some bizarre transformation were being done to them... plus.. their ovaries are missing but there are no signs of surgical removal. Creepy?
Well BACK to the Important part.. RAMPART'S Powers... Captain Jason Rollins is called to test the new plane.. {after all the energy beings in control of the facility already want to be able to open pin holes other places why not see if this man who has survived a similar event can make that possible}.
But when Jason is performing the test flight ... the Aliens detect the spinning up pin-hole drive and the facility and attack. The Protectors are called in, who were graciously all invited as 'friends' of the good Captain Rollins and super heroes to help if something goes wrong~ {not really.. the energy beings in control of the C.O.R.E. facility want to see if meta-humans are just as easy to possess and what sensations their powers will provide}.
Well a battle royal breaks out and in the fighting Jason discovers the meticulously stored wreckage of his F-16 in the C.O.R.E. labs. They have been experimenting on that wreckage since he vanished trying to replicate the micro pin-hole that transported him through time. The micro-pin hole was nothing of the sort.. but the Energy Beings trying on their own to poke through to our world... places of great turmoil and conflict.. such emotions draw their attention.
The Korean war being only one of the times they tried to come through.
But something the Energy being don't know is sometimes when they try this .. try to possess a 'Solid' and ground themselves in our reality... the opposite happens. They infuse their energy essance upon an individual... assuming they survive to tidal and dimensional energies releasd in such a forceful crossing.. but the solid is in possession of the energy and the Energy being's consciousness is lost... such infused 'solids' often go mad, or are killed out-right.. but sometimes.. they become something more than either men or energy being.. they become Super Human.. Like Rollings did.
Jason finding his wreaked F-16 seeks out the Pin-Hole and in a battle royal where the Protectors fight the energy beings and the Aliens, Jason Rollins is exposed to the 'Pin-hole' again and it jump-starts his powers again. The cancer he was mildly experiencing is what happens eventually to any 'solids' that are possessed by the energy beings.
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The problem with my story is that it will take some time to complete a whole adventure about getting Jason his powers back. Plus it kinda pins down the origin of his powers .. which you might want to be different? I've read your Journal as Rollins and the way you portray it; it has to be some pretty detailed reason WHY his powers come back... or it just would seem too 'Deus Ex Machina'.. which is cheesy. For it to be worthy of superheoric drama it can't be something easily done in a afternoon.. or it would cheapen the whole story. At least that's how the comic reader in me sees it. Heroes loosing powers and regaining them should be epic! Plus my idea might be a bit too all inclusive and convoluted for your liking.
But this is just off the top of my head.. use it as an Idea Farm for whatever you decide. Or leave it to Dom, he says he has an idea or two!
But that really does beg for an answer to how the conflict with the aliens resolved itself out there Dom!
{no criticism.. just playful chiding!}