Some additions to the superhero au + a oneshot (some powers have been changed slightly) 

Phil's "superhero name" is now Crow, he's a hero who has wings and can talk to animals, and Wilbur is a lone villain named Dynamite who had mind control.

1. Dark/Light/Neutral Powers   
-Every power is linked to one of three types of magic, which are generally perceived as good, bad, and neutral. People with "dark" powers tend to be perceived as villains, and "light" powers are perceived as heroes. This, of course, leads to the inevitable discrimination of people who have dark powers.
-"Light" people are expected to be good, pure, kind, and heroes. "Dark" people are expected to be cruel, indifferent, evil, and villainous
-Stories in this AU could easily be about "dark" people not wanting to be evil, or learning that they're not inherently evil, or about "light" people feeling pressured to be perfect/not wanting to be good all the time/not being good enough

2. Power Levels
Every power has a level, 1-5. 1s have minor powers such as slightly enhanced strength or senses. 2s have powers like control of tech, emotion influences. 3s are the lowest level with direct control over things like fire, ice, shadow, teleportation, healing or shapeshifting. 4s are fairly powerful, with above-average magic like time powers, mind control, and direct magic. 5s tend to have the same general power set as 4s, but there are also unique powers like necromancy and/or other extremely OP powers i come up with. 5s are incredibly dangerous individuals and are regarded with extreme caution.

3. Elemental Divisions
    -The city is divided into four sectors by giant walls. There are also walls surrounding the city.
       -The sewers run underneath the walls, and there are spaces in the walls large enough to fit in.
    -Earth: Home to the cities' farms and factories, this is the poorest division
    -Water: Most citizens live here. Offices, general stores, and apartments are common
    -Fire: Home to the massive, famous Marketplace. Some merchants live near their shops.
    -Air: Home to the heroes' HQ, the government, and the mansions of the elite.

everybody say thank you bea for going with dark/light powers rather than earth/fire/air/water powers, which i still incorporated but i like this better.

anyway have part one of this series i guess 

Essempi was a city of extremes.

It was a place where heroes and villains roamed the streets and superpowers were common, and yet still the people of the town maintained a closed mindset.

They shunned those deemed to have dark or villainous gifts, ironically driving them into becoming villains even if they wouldn't otherwise have been, pushing them away from the others, creating their own nightmares.

They idolized heroes, holding them to an impossibly high standard, pushing them to an ideal they could never hope to achieve, and yet they tried, and when they inevitably broke under the pressure the town did not care.

The best one could hope for was to have a neutral power, one which allowed you to go about your life without being forced to either side, and still the people subtly pushed you, constantly judging based on powers alone and forcing any people with powers to choose a side.

Despite how it was clearly bad for the city to let this continue, any authorities did nothing to stop this. The only things they did for the city made the whole place even worse.

They numbered powers, categorizing people into six groups. Zeroes, those with no powers. Ones, those with weak powers, just enough to be useful. Twos, those with more power than Ones, yet not enough to categorize as a full "power." Threes, those with the most typically famed "superpowers." Fours, those with more extreme powers, who often spent their lives on the run from people wanting to imprison them for "the safety of the city." And Fives, the most famous and deadly, feared and revered for what they could do.

Zeroes lived in poverty. Ones were seen as failures. Twos were seen as too weak. Threes couldn't live a normal life. Fours were never safe. Fives were shunned.

It didn't help that the city was divided, which ended up separating the heroes and the citizens (never a good thing). The heroes were taken to live in the Air Division, where the government and rich elite lived and worked. The heroes became part of this elite by default, which only stirred up more resentment.

Merchants lived in the Marketplace in the Fire Division, while most civilians lived in the Water Division, which contained apartments, homes, and offices. The poorest citizens worked in the Earth Division, which was covered by farms and factories. Each division was separated by high walls, impassible save for guarded gates. The city was enclosed by the same kind of walls.

None of this was going to matter to Wilbur Soot.

You see, Wilbur was a Five, and a Dark one at that. He'd been shunned the minute his power revealed itself, and it certainly didn't help that his mind control was feared and hated.

They called him a monster. Wilbur had no other option but to become what they thought he was.

The walls were impassible, but that didn't matter to Wilbur. The walls were quite pointless, honestly, because of the fact that it was a city.

A connected city.

And that meant sewers.

They were unpleasant, sure, a twisting maze of disgusting, foul tunnels snaking beneath the city, but they went everywhere.

Wilbur was called Siren by some, for how he could wrap people around his finger with a single word or a strum of the guitar he carried in a case on his back, but that wasn't his real name.

Tonight was going to be Wilbur's debut, and they would all know his name after this. Every person in the city would know his power and they would call him what he wanted, not the name they'd forced upon him.

It was the one thing he might be able to choose. He wasn't giving that up.

His last name was Soot, after all, and you couldn't have soot without fire. Wilbur didn't have fire magic, so he'd get soot the best way he knew how.

Explosions.

Wilbur had planted explosives throughout every sewer in the city over the last three months, and tonight it would finally go off, finally his symphony would be heard throughout the city.

After all, why should he care for a city that never cared for him?

Wilbur placed the last bomb underneath the hatch that led to the heroes' headquarters (Wilbur couldn't be bothered to remember if they'd named it) and pushed the metal trapdoor open, pulling himself up onto the floor of the familiar room. It was an abandoned room in the basement of the building, one that no one used or cared about, which meant Wilbur was free to come and go as he pleased.

He might not have had invisibility or shadow manipulation, but Wilbur could pass unknown when he wanted simply by force of will, whispering "I wasn't here" over and over so no one remembered seeing him even if they did.

Wilbur headed as planned up to the president's office. The man's name was J Schlatt, not that it particularly mattered. He'd been the one to declare that Fours and Fives were to be hunted down and brought in for "recording-" yeah, right. Wilbur wasn't an idiot, he could figure out that they wanted to torture him.

Wilbur had chosen tonight for a reason. Schlatt was in his office, a horde of cameras pointed at him, broadcasting his image live over the whole city. Wilbur strode in and announced to the room to "Freeze, right where you are."

Everybody in the room obeyed, and Wilbur couldn't help but feel a small twinge of glee at that, followed by the whisper he always ignored, the one whining that this was wrong.

"Hello, Essempi," Wilbur smiled at the cameras. "My name is Dynamite, and you're never going to forget it."

He grabbed the detonator from his pocket and held it up. "I win!" He giggled slightly maniacally. "This city, this city. It's my symphony. This city was never meant to be!"

With a press of the detonator, the world exploded.

Wilbur's mind control released those in the room, but it hardly did them any good. He'd placed several bombs throughout this building on purpose, smartly forgetting to think about the fact that he'd probably kill himself too.

The floor surged upwards and Wilbur went flying, pain encompassing him as his body was battered against the walls. He didn't know how he survived, but somehow, he found himself thrust out a window, glass shattering all over him and slicing his exposed skin. He landed on the ground outside awkwardly, feeling a sharp pain erupt in his leg. Wilbur crumpled to the ground in pain, laying there for several seconds before pulling himself up to his feet to survey the damage he'd done.

He watched gleefully as the whole city went up in explosions, his greatest-

"Er... Dynamite?"

Wilbur turned, accidentally putting weight on his leg again and falling to the ground. He finally looked down at it, and nearly gagged at the angle it was at. He looked back up at the person who had spoken and gaped at the sight of them.

Massive black wings were spread intimidatingly behind them, making them seem far bigger than they were. The wings folded inwards as the man stepped forward, a dagger brandished in their hand. Wilbur stared up at him and winced as a new tremor of pain ran through him.

The man grabbed Wilbur's shirt and dragged him up, ignoring how Wilbur gasped at the shift in position. All Wilbur could choke out was a weak "Please don't kill me."

He could tell his power was weak, since he'd just been blown up. It was probably the magic that had saved him, actually, expending itself to ensure its host didn't die.

"You blew up the city!" the man exclaimed furiously. Wilbur didn't blame him. "Why should I not kill you!?"

Wilbur pushed the man's hand away and fell back down the ground grunting as he landed, sending a new wave of pain pulsing through him. He backed away and repeated. "I know- I- please," he begged, eyes fixed on the dagger, panting heavily.

After a long hesitation, the man tossed away the dagger. Wilbur let out a sigh of relief and watched the man warily. "I'm Crow."

"Thank- thank you, Crow, thank you," Wilbur told him, feeling blood trickling steadily out of several cuts on his arms and face to stain his yellow sweater. "Thank you."

Crow knelt down next to him and his eyes widened. "Holy- that's really bad, mate!"

"What's bad..?" Wilbur asked distantly. Everything seemed distant. Hazy.

"Dynamite- Dynamite?!" Crow's voice faded away as Wilbur drifted off away from the pain.