Description from original post
(created 2012-03-29 07:48):
This is my contest entry for the "Original Heros vs Villains Skin Contest".
(Beware, long-ish backstory!)
Mexico, Tijuana, 1998
A much anticipated water treatment plant has been running for a full year now. The treatment's janitor, Juan Alberto Delgado, is making his regular rounds in the facility, like usual. In the middle of the day, he's called to a meeting with one of the supervisors of the facility. To get to the meeting, he has to pass through the treatment halls. He is walking on a catwalk suspended over a vat full of a prototype water cleaning chemical, "Prototype Water Cleaning Chemical #2". All of a sudden, a bolt snaps and one of the suspending cables gets loose, which tilts the whole catwalk. Juan panics and tries to gain his footing, but it's no use - he falls into the vat.
Rescue operations begin immediately. Unconscious Juan is lifted out of the vat 20 minutes later and rushed into the ambulance. On the way to the hospital, the ambulance crashes into an old lady, so they have to get two other ambulances. Finally, Juan reaches the hospital. Doctor's do their best, but Juan falls into a coma. Newspapers run several headlines of the accident, writing about the accident itself, the building process of the facility, faulty quality assurance of the bolt manufacturing factory, firing of several employees and part of the staff of the company, the company's money laundering operation to cover up international smuggling of jenkem etc. - but they had no idea how many more headlines they'd write afterwards about Juan.
Juan wakes up a year later. He has lost his hearing, but he has gained another skill: he can see individual dust particles. He can see their types, their movements, their composition, absolutely everything that can be seen from dust. After Juan is released from the hospital, he tries to make sense of everything and rebuild his life. He realizes, that his gift should be used for the greater good of everyone - after all, having a sizeable amount of money from the lawsuit against the bolt manufacturer, he has plenty of free time and resources to find his way. He practices his newfound skill, his body, and his mental abilities. He can see sounds affecting the floating dust particles, and he learns to observe a person talking from half a mile away and understand what that person is saying. He can see every single trace left by pretty much any living being, and track them.
Juan starts protecting the people of his own neighborhood, but soon becomes known all over Mexico. As he cleans the streets from crime, he becomes known as...
THE JANITOR
He goes on to solve several lost persons cases (and find multiple pets in the process), three drug smuggling operations, a series of military-level bank robberies, and, his most legendary case, investigates a feud between two neighbors about breaching limits of their property, which uncovers a presidential love affair, leads to the destruction of a vampire/zombie/fairy saloon in a desolate part of Mexico, and exposes a terrorist cell functioning within the boy scouts of Mexico.
But Juan's adventures are far from over! Who knows what kinds of dangers and villains await around the corner...
TL;DR The Janitor is a good guy, has an interesting history and can see the movement and composition of individual dust particles.
Oh yeah, having only a hero can get a little boring sometimes, right? Well, check out The Janitor's adversary too, HAP-Hazard. (And no, HAP-Hazard is not in the contest.)