Hell's Heroes

It was the twenty seventh of December, and Carter “Kerosene” Kerry was in his back yard, buried up to his neck in snow. Carter was no normal nineteen year old, as he had already won several scholarships for his work in the field of science, and was in his third year of college at Columbia University, studying pyrotechnics and chemistry. His professors described him as an avid student, and one professor in particular, Professor Carbin of chemistry, said he was on his way to becoming a future nobel prize for science winner. Now Carter was no stranger to snow, in his hometown of Richmond, Vermont, he was the only child who hated the snow, and refused to play with the others in it. Instead of spending his time in the snow, during the winters Carter could be found in the living room, gazing into the fireplace, experimenting with various kinds of wood and kindling.
Several years later, there he was, engulfed in snow, but not to play with it. He was shaking from the cold, but held strong, determined to complete his goal. After a few minutes of fiddling under the snow, he jumped up and ran back several feet to a small spot near the building he had designated earlier that day as a safe spot from the following events. Not two seconds after he arrived at the amateur bunker, a small but bright light was seen under the three feet of snow, and after a few more seconds, the small light burst into a blazing sphere that engulfed nearly five feet of snow in all directions. Carter lowered his goggles just in time to witness the ball of what appeared to be fire destroy all the snow it touched until it dissipated nearly a minute later.
Carter left his spot and slowly approached the area to examine the results of his little experiment. Sure enough, there was a ten foot wide crater burned into the snow where his incendiary bomb went off, assuring him that his new fuel composition burned effectively. He lit up a cigarette in celebration, and started to head back to his dorm when, down the street, he hear a car screech. By the time he looked at the noise, there were already three cop cars behind the source of the screech, a blue camaro with white stripes and a man with a glock in the front seat. Not knowing what else to do, Carter quickly ran out in the street and put down one of his hand crafted snow-melters, and ran back to the sidewalk to watch what would happen.
This time he didn’t have time to put his goggles up before the melter burst into flame right under the camaro. The force of the explosion alone flipped the car on its side, and not a second later the car was overwhelmed with flames. Carter, after recoiling from the bright light of the explosion, quickly began to dash down the sidewalk towards his dorm. And thus, The Arsonist was born.