With his good grades, his athletic prowess and his hobby of role playing games, Joe was a well-rounded student.  In fact, one of his favorite characters was a superhero he'd created, called `Fireball', who was an alien from another world with energy manipulating powers.  In fact, as he explained to his regular gaming buddy, Noah `The Weasel' Hunt, it seemed fitting that, now with the novas on the scene, he should play a superhero in the game.

As graduation drew near, Joe started to get migraine headaches so severe that he would take four times the recommended dosage of headache medicine just to dull the pain.  Joe was feeling the pressures of final exams, for sure, but even with the migraines, he was able to ace the exams.  To Joe, however, the completion of the degree meant that he was going to have to face some possible unpleasantness from his dad.  In addition to his other extra-curricular activities, Joe was making money on the weekends as the lead singer for a local band called `Careen!' and he wanted to focus his energy towards making the band a success.

During the graduation ceremony, he started to daydream about some of his gaming exploits as `Fireball'.  As the ceremony droned on, he could hear himself say, "I... am... FIREBALL!" over and over in his mind.  When the ceremony was over, his head was hurting so bad that he had to skip the dinner his parents had planned to celebrate.  When Joe made it to his apartment, he took the pain pills and also took a swig of Yukon Jack so that he could go to sleep; over the previous couple of weeks, Joe had found that the pain pills with alcohol let him sleep.  Joe's dreams featured Fireball quite prominently, where Fireball showed off his powers quite often.

Joe woke up in the middle of the night with a terrible throbbing in his head.  When he opened his eyes, he discovered that he could see in the dark, just like Fireball.  "This is weird," he muttered to himself, still half asleep.  Then, he came fully awake thinking about all the stories about other novas and how they erupted.  "The migraines that no amount of pain pills could do away with was usually the first indication; damn, I must be a nova!"  Then, thinking of the abilities possessed by his favorite RPG character, he floated towards the ceiling and flew to the kitchen, where he promptly hefted the refrigerator off the floor with ease, where before he had to strain a bit to lift it.  "This is unreal," he said to himself.

Then, Joe went into his living room and looked at his old, broken-down chair.  "I never did like that chair," he said, and, as he pointed at it, an orange shimmering effect enveloped his hand and a shimmering orange ball of energy flew towards the chair.  After the energy ball hit it, the chair looked like it had been hit with a sledgehammer and was definitely ready for the trash receptacle.  Joe then started to laugh, alternating laughter with the occasional "Ow", as his head was still hurting.  "God, this is fucking incredible."  Then, struck with the irony of it all, he shouted, "I... AM... FIREBALL!"

Over the next few weeks, Joe practiced his newfound powers in secret.  During rehearsals with `Careen!' he found that his voice sounded much better than before, and that the songs he wrote were much better than before.  Once, during a conversation with the owner of a bar that the band hung out in, Joe came up with a financial plan that would double the bar's profits within a year and was able to convince the bar's owner to follow the plan.

During this period, Joe confided in his gaming buddy about his newfound powers, swearing him to secrecy.  "I mean, it's obvious I'm a nova, anyone can see that.  I mean, tell me, when have I ever looked this good?  And you know, a nova without powers is gonna look kind of odd.  I always said that I'd use any powers I ever got to help people, but my character Fireball could never sing, while I can, and I could actually make a living doing it."  A smile crossed his face, as he said, "It's perfect.  By day, `Joe Burns, novox star', and by night `Fireball, protector of the defenseless and defender of freedom'.  By God, I think I could pull it off."  To which Weasel replied, "Well, if anybody can pull it off, you can."  Weasel later proved his worth as an ally by purchasing a costume for Joe to wear as Fireball.

Joe then had to tell his dad that he wasn't going to work for ViaSoft after all.  He demonstrated his newfound singing talents and convinced his dad that he had a future as a musician.  His dad then gave him access to the trust fund he'd set up for him and told Joe to use it well, and that if Joe ever changed his mind, he would pull some strings to get Joe the job at ViaSoft.  "If you ever need anything, just give me a call, OK?"

With that, Joe struck out on his own.