Blessings of the Devil- An NDF One Piece Fanfic

[BoxHead]

Blessings of the Devil

DISCUSSION THREAD

Manifestation Arc
Chapters:

Spoiler:

Chapter 1: Revelation
Chapter 2: Thoughts
Chapter 3: Reyes
Chapter 4: Realization
Chapter 5: Realization Part II
Chapter 6: Seven Days Later
Chapter 7: Into the Rabbit Hole
Chapter 8: Into the Rabbit Hole II
Chapter 9: Loose Ends

Epsilon Arc
Chapters:

Spoiler:

Chapter 10: Rewind
Chapter 11: Forward

[BoxHead]

Note: THIS IS A RIPOFF OF HEROES, WHICH IS A RIPOFF OF X-MEN. ALL RIGHTS TO DEVIL FRUITS ARE RESERVED TO EIICHIRO ODA.

Chapter 1: Revelation

Spoiler:

November 22, 7:00 AM,

Glistenwood, Maryland

Brandon Imamura, 14 years old.

BEEP. BEEP. BEEP.

“Shut up.” I slam my finger on the off button. My whole body feels tired. I don’t know why. Last night… I had a sandwich for dinner, finished my homework, took a shower, and I went to bed, nothing too strenuous or anything. Finally, I decided that I had to get myself out of bed. One leg slid off the edge. Let’s go, Brandon, you can do this. The next leg slides off. One problem. I’m still lying down on the bed. Now, any NORMAL person would just lean up and stand up, but you obviously haven’t met me. I have to support myself with my arms. Why? Because I’d rather be lazy as hell instead of using my abs. That aside, I push myself off with one palm. And that’s where it all went wrong.

I suddenly felt a reflex action in my body, as I lurched forward a few feet, into my bedroom wall. I looked at my hand. The middle of my right palm was read, and the undersides of my knuckles were a bit swollen. Now, THAT was a bit strange. However, I just discarded it as my body flinching from a swollen hand. Was it from the basketball I played yesterday? Probably. I went on to prepare for my day at high school. The same boring freshman routine I’ve done for months.

7:30 AM

Hayley Reyes, 16 years old.

I stared at my cereal for God knows how long. I sniffled a bit, but I ignored it. I might’ve been coming down with the chills, but it couldn’t be anything worse than that. My mom told me that it’d get better at school. If there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s not to argue with her. My little brother Leo didn’t really catch one yet. Sure, he’s 13, but most 13 year olds aren’t that oblivious. But the more I thought of it, she could be assertive, but not really THAT annoying.

“Hayley! What are you doing? Finish your breakfast; the bus is going to be here any minute now! You and Leo are just like your dad! You need to...”

…Maybe not, but that’s how moms are, right? While I was thinking about I family, I noticed that my cereal was getting really sloshy. I look down and see the oddest thing. The milk is a lot colder than it was when I poured it, and some ice crystals formed in it. The milk on the edges of the spoon froze solid. This was starting to freak me out.

I called my mom over to look at this. She looked at me like I was crazy, and then she realized that she might’ve left it in the freezer. However, I didn’t have time to explain the partially frozen spoon, as the bus would come soon. As I walked out the door, waiting until the day I could finally get myself a car, I saw that my fingertips were a bit blue, but it disappeared. I ignored it and got into the bus, but the weird thing was, I had taken the milk out of the fridge, not the freezer. And I was sure of it.

7:35 AM

Devroux Alter, 16 years old

I had just got onto the bus and sat next to Hayley, one of my best friends. She and I had known each other since we were 4, so we were like siblings, almost. She had an odd look on her face, like she was puzzled about something, but she smiled when she saw me. Even with someone as close to me as her, I couldn’t muster up the courage to tell her what happened this morning. Sure, she had stuck up with my stupid antics and stuff, but making jokes and saying something downright crazy were two different things. But I still have that image in my mind: the image of me burning glass with my finger.

I hope that wasn’t as stupid as it sounds. It probably was. But ANYWAYS, I waved to her and said hi. We started a normal conversation. I talked about some stupid stuff on TV last night and cracked jokes, while she casually laughed along and talked about how dumb Snooki looked. It was the same old stuff, but our conversations were always fun. As we the ride went on, she was a bit quieter today. Her face still had that puzzled look, and she looked out the window for a bit. She placed her hand on it, like she was trying to reach through or something. Suddenly, she turned around and said, “Dev, this might sound crazy, but…”

I raised an eyebrow and asked what happened. She looked like she was about to say something, but she laughed and said, “Never mind, it’s nothing,” We then continued our conversation earlier like nothing had happened. As we neared the school, everyone got ready to get off. It wasn’t then until I noticed a slightly odd shaped bit of condensation on the window glass. At closer inspection, I saw that it was ice. A thought popped into the back of my head. As everyone was getting off the bus, I quickly placed my finger on the window, where the handprint was. As I exited the bus, I saw a small burn mark, and I saw the ice melting. Whatever was happening, it wasn’t natural.

[BoxHead]

This one is a little slow, but I promise next one will be better.

Chapter 2: Thoughts

Spoiler:

3:30 PM

Devroux Alter

So, my day went pretty good. I got a B on a test, did some work, and I got some good lunch. Only problem, I could burn stuff with my finger. It’s not something cool or badass like fire. If I could turn into fire, then I’d be like the Human Torch or whatever. I’d be really freaking awesome. But no. All I got is a dinky portable lighter. I think after a few hours our testing on scratch paper or whatever, I’ve decided that, yes I do have superpowers. But this has got to be the LAMEST power ever. I mean, why can’t I be all like Thor or Hulk or even Batman, who doesn’t have a real superpower?

The most I can do at this point it slightly burn any object I come into physical contact with. I can do it with 3 fingers, sure, but that’s all. Having 3 glowing mini-microwaves on my fingers isn’t all that cool. I might show it off at parties or something. But I can only do it with lots of concentration, and it kind of wears me out. As last period was ending, I thought about the other idea in my head. Could Hayley have ability? Of course, the chances are little to nothing, as she does MUCH better than me when it comes to brainy stuff. As far as I can tell, these glow stick fingers are powered by will, and even when I try really hard sometimes, they don’t light up. I’m sure she would have mastered it by now and would fight crime or something.

But now I’m just rambling. I mean, we’re in high school, and this world isn’t a X-Men comic. As time went by, the bell finally rang, and I got my bag ready for home. As I started walking to get on the bus, I passed by some freshman kid. He was staring at his hands in horror. I looked to see what it was, and I saw that they were swollen. Was it an allergic reaction? I looked at the time on my phone and I had enough time to spare to show this kid where the nurse’s office was. I walked up to him.

“Hey, man, do you need to go to the nurse or something?” He looked up and awkwardly stood up and shook his head.

“No, I’m fine, it’s just some ant bites. I’ve got some medicine for it back at home.” He walked away, this time, more awkward than ever. I don’t know whom he thought he was fooling when he was talking about ant bites because no ants cause giant puffs on your palms.

3:45 PM

Brandon Imamura

That was weird. I think I looked like some mental Asian freshman to him. I shouldn’t have been displaying those… puffs in public like that. They haven’t been this bad. I mean, randomly today, my hands would swell up, and I would push stuff away really hard. I was failing at basketball because when I hit the ball out of the air, it went flying off the court. I didn’t even attempt dribbling after that, as I made some excuse to sit out and look like a complete loser. Figures.

I have no idea what’s happening to me. All I know is that I have these giant swollen lumps on my palm. I have one big one straight in the center and three smaller ones on the flipside of my knuckles. Looking at it, it almost resembled paws, you know, if they looked like giant hives. They eventually calmed down, but after trying to open my locker and accidentally slamming my backpack straight into it, right after I pulled it out, I knew that I couldn’t hold them back for good.

From what I can decipher, these paws pads are basically like mini trampolines, if the trampolines were bouncier than a goddamn rubber ball. I didn’t have much chances to test, but I think I pushes back whatever it touches, but I couldn’t test the speed or the distance while in class, which I’m grateful for, as I would rather not know statistics than have an aerodynamic pencil sail at some poor kid’s eye. I had to do SOMETHING. I couldn’t just ignore them and hope they go away; otherwise they could reappear at a horrible time. Knowing my luck, they’d come back just as I’d give someone a high five.

But I didn’t know what this whole thing was. Was it a superpower? Could it be a skin disease? How about it being some sort of alien technology? At this point I could believe anything. Should I show it to my mom or not? What will doctors do? If this is a power, then could I help people with it? Sure I’m no Superman, but I can get the job done. Imagine all the wreckage I could blow away, and all the people I could save. Should I join the military? Would these hands reflect bullets?

I shook my head. What am I doing? I got on my bike, and held the handlebars with my fingers, only. I was thinking of how horrible this mutation was. Suddenly, I thought about how it would be being in the Justice League in a matter of seconds. I couldn’t keep this attitude up. I had to report this to someone. Doctors had to check this out. For all I know, this could be some kind of skin cancer.

As I continued down the road, I started peddling faster, and I turned a corner. There was a kid right there, in front of me, also on a bike. We crashed, as I went flying towards the pavement. However, at the last second, I pressed my right hand on my thigh as I flew into a patch of grass. However, the other kid wasn’t so lucky. He hit the corner of the sidewalk. I ran to help him, but he got up, looking unharmed except for a small bruise.

“Dude, I’m sorry,” I tried saying.

“Nah, it’s cool. Don’t worry. I’m fine,” The other kid replied as he got back on his bike. He seemed to be a bit younger than me, but not by much. He rode off in the other direction as I suddenly came to a realization. I had used my ability to save me. When I pushed myself, I went at blinding speeds, but I landed unscathed, almost as if I was cushioned. The idea of me being a superhero crept back into my head, but I tried to focus on thinking of how to test this out. With this ability, I could, theoretically push myself down the street and cut travel time to school down. Hell, I could theoretically travel to school automatically. I stopped and looked at my palms. The pads turned red as they receded back. They also seemed to have a cool down time. So, what did I learn today? I learned that I just needed to learn how to control a possible mutation/superpower, which has the capabilities of teleportation. No biggie.

[BoxHead]

Chapter 3: Reyes

Spoiler:

3:53 PM

Leo Reyes

Crashing into some Japanese kid was probably the least weird thing that happened today. That’d have to go to cutting my face on the edge of a sidewalk corner and not bleeding. It’s not like I’m Superman. All I got was a small bruise, but the weird thing was HOW I survived. The edge of the corner was sharp, and it went straight through my nose. Like my face split and reformed like a balloon right as I picked my head off the ground. I stood up and saw the weird kid. He looked around my age, but I haven’t seen him at my school, so he was probably a freshman.

He walked up to me looking worried, “Dude, I’m sorry,”

“Nah, it’s cool. Don’t worry. I’m fine,” I replied. I smirked at him and got on my bike and rode away. He didn’t see how he didn’t notice my face NOT being split in half, but okay. I’m not too freaked out by this right now because I remember cutting myself with a knife while eating eggs this morning, and no blood coming out. Yeah, today was weird. Really, really weird. I don’t know. Everything’s been weird today, not just my magical un-cuttable skin. But I’ll just set that aside as luck. I still had that bruise, right? Maybe I landed on a dull end. I don’t remember any cutting pain.

In other news, I’m pretty happy, though. I finally got to ask out someone for the first time. I can’t go on a date until the end of the week, but I’m still pretty psyched. My sister Hayley hasn’t really hooked up with anyone, and the only guy I see her hanging around with is that weird guy. What was his name? Devin? Dave? I don’t remember. As I almost reached home, I saw her bus drop off that guy. They rode the bus because the high school was farther away. I was getting a little curious. I had to ask him if they were dating, since Hayley can be secretive or whatever, and would hide something like that.

As I peddled to his side of the street, a cold wind blew and I saw him wave his hand around his body, like it was a heater or something. When he noticed that I was approaching him, he stopped and turned around again, looking weird. He smiled awkwardly and said, “Hey, you’re Hayley’s brother… Your name is Leo, right?”

“You got it,” I replied to him.

“I don’t want to be rude or anything, but why are you talking to me? Is there something about Hayley?” he answered back.

Wait, what was he talking about? Was there something about her? He said it in a way like he was asking if she had liver cancer or something. At that point, I took the thought of them dating out of my head for a minute. “No…” I responded. “Why? Is she acting weirdly?”

He had a look on his face that showed that he shouldn’t have said that. “Oh, uh… no. That might’ve come out wrong. She’s been just a little tired-like recently, so I thought you approached me to tell me something like that,”

I laughed, “Oh, okay,” I awkwardly said bye and rode off. I never got to ask the big question, but I learned something from that. Look, I’m not the smartest cookie. And he isn’t the best at lying. Even I can tell that Hayley wasn’t just “tired.” I knew something was up. I had to figure it out.

4:00 PM

Hayley Reyes

Well, today wasn’t much better than this morning. After freezing the breakfast and bus window, I learned how to freeze my drink at lunch. Apparently I’m like Mr. Freeze, except I can do it through touch and I’m not the old governor of California. Of course, I haven’t told this to anyone, obviously. I’m not scared of “looking like a freak” or whatever. I don’t really care what people think of me at this point. I’m scared of this going viral and government agents swooping me up and turning me into a lab rat. And it’s not like a useful superpower. When in life are you ever going to urgently need to freeze something? Sure, I can make popsicles instantly, but that’d be stupid.

I sighed. I’ve been so bad at hiding it, though. What if someone saw the blatantly obvious hand-shaped ice print on the window of a PUBLIC bus? They’d at least draw SOME suspicion. Plus, I think I’ve been acting really odd today, also. I’ve been so stressed out at this mutation thing that I wasn’t able to focus on stuff and ended up getting a bad grade on a quiz. I think I might have pissed off Dev by acting all quiet, or at least annoyed him. The most fun we’ve had all day was talk about how bad Snooki’s baby would look.

The power wasn’t too hard to use, but it was strenuous. I mean activating it was easy. All I had to do was concentrate on freezing something. The power was natural, almost like moving your limbs. The only difference is, it’s like moving a broken arm. It was also fueled by emotion, as it would randomly go off when I’m feeling nervous or whatever, which was a lot, today. I sat down at the table and stared at the homework while Leo came in. I saw he had a bruise on his face. It was probably a biking accident. Stupid kid. He walked over to me and excitedly said, “Guess what, Hayley?”

I said, “What now? You finally learned how to NOT be stupid in public?”

“Wait, what?” His face turned sour. “Anyways, I got a girlfriend,”

“Doubt it.” I replied. “Even if you did, I’d like to see how long she’d survive knowing you,”

“Well, you’ve survived 13 years,” he replied. I rolled my eyes. “Anyways, I haven’t seen you with any guys except that one Dave-“

“Devroux,” I corrected.

“Whatever, anyways, why don’t you ever go out? I mean, you’re ugly but not THAT ugly,” he replied with a smirk on his face.

Yeah, that was basically my brother in a nutshell. He didn’t know about me being lesbian yet, although my parents do, and they seemed pretty cool about it, although they advised me not to go spouting it around everywhere around town. I ignored him and went on with my homework. He went towards the stairs, but at the last moment, he turned around and said, “Hey Hayley, have you been feeling well today?”

That was… weird. Sure, I was acting distant at school, but I’m not too weird now, right? I looked up at him. At this point, I didn’t know what to do. I know that its only day 1, but I have a power. I know that I can’t keep it cooped up forever. But would now be the best time to reveal it, and would he be the right person to reveal it to? Sure, he’s my brother, but… Finally, I just looked at him weird and said, “Yeah… why wouldn’t I be?” He shrugged his shoulders and ran to his room. I went back to work, but I noticed that my hand was resting on my pencil, and I had frozen it solid. Figures.

I knew I couldn’t keep myself cooped up like this. My parents would freak out, and I didn’t know if I could fully trust Leo with this kind of stuff. I looked at my phone. I searched through the contacts and found him, the kid with the weird name. It was my best friend, Dev.

[BoxHead]

Chapter 4: Realization

Spoiler:

4:06 PM

Hayley Reyes

Devroux was the only one I could trust. I told him to meet me at the park at around 6. The park was a place where lots of people hung out to play sports or whatever, so showing him my power there wouldn’t be the smartest thing, but it was in walking distance and the best excuse to get out of the house, as I went there occasionally to play volleyball.

I had to show him what I could do. The thing was, I don’t know how he would react to something of this caliber. I didn’t care at that point. I had to get this off my chest before it haunts me in my sleep, and I end up accidentally killing someone. I continued on my homework (with a new pencil, of course) and rush straight through it. The anxiety is killing me. I keep writing and writing until the clock strikes 5:30. I get ready to head out as I try to plan what to say to him. I run up to tell Leo where I go as I contemplate how to speak to him about it.

Sure, Dev is like my older brother, but it’s still awkward. How will it go down? Would I be all like, “Hey Dev, I have to show you something,” and freeze a stick? No, that’d be really forced and seem more awkward than it would already be. Or would it be all like, “Dev! Look what I can do!” and freeze a rock? I couldn’t wrap my mind around one definitive plan as I kept walking to the park.

I waited under a tree, not around many people at that point. I finally saw him crossing the street and wave. As he approached me, I was thinking of 20,000 ways of telling him. However, oddly enough, it went down with him speaking first.

“Hey, Hayley, you’ve been acting weird all lately and-“

“Dev, I’m here to explain that,” I interrupted.

“Hayley, I-“

“Dev, trust me, you don’t know what you’re dealing with right now,” I expected him to stay silent after than, but instead he said something else.

“I know EXACTLY what’s happening, and-“

“Stop it. You don’t-“ I was cut off by him pointing behind me. I looked back. I saw that I had left a sheet of ice on the side of the tree, exactly where my back was. Right when I turned around, I saw him hold up his index finger. There was a glowing yellow light at the end of it. He walked up to the tree and placed his finger on the ice and it melted a part of it. I looked at him in a way that combined surprise, horror, and relief that I wasn’t alone.

I asked him, “How long have you…”

“Not too long. I saw you freeze the bus window.”
I kicked myself for that one. “I guess holding it in for any longer wouldn’t have changed anything, huh? Anyways, what can you do, control light?”

Dev shrugged his shoulders. “Sort of. I can’t really do much with it. The most I’ve done is use it as a heater when a cold wind blows or something,” he laughed. He looked at his fingers again, and tried to concentrate. I saw the light get brighter and I turned away, but it just disappeared right as did so. “Have you really tested what you can do with these things?” he asked me.

I shook my head. “No, I’m too scared to test it out. I can’t be a hero or whatever. I have to keep this stuff a secret. Do you know what this is like? I can’t even control when this activates or not. At least your power isn’t THAT bad.”

Dev sighed. “Actually, the thing is, I can burn glass with a touch. My power might be a bit more powerful. I’ve actually wanted to test mine out.”

“Do you know what could happen? This is really dangerous, man. I don’t know if you should,” I warned.

“Yeah, but the thing is, I’m not you. I know the risks. I know what I might be able to do. I just haven’t felt comfortable unless I could do it with someone else like me.” Dev pointed his finger at a bush. I sighed and stepped back. Sometimes I wonder how other girls can put up with men like this. He holds his forearm like he has to steady himself or something, and he looks stupid.

But Dev concentrated. The light on his fingertip shined brighter. I turned my head a bit, and I swear I saw his whole fingertip get covered in light. It was much brighter than before, and suddenly, right when I was about to turn my head even more, I saw the light shoot out, like a beam, into the bush, at really fast speeds. The bush combusted and blew apart. We didn’t get hurt, but we were blown back by what had happened. After stomping out any flames that lingered, we sat down and kind of freaked out.

I first said, “That was…” I gulped. “I can’t even…”

“Me neither. I mean it felt so… different. The feeling I had when having the light at my fingertip was a bit tiring, almost a strain, sort of like when you’re stretching for a long time. When I shot that beam of light, it’s like I ending the stretch and you feel relieved. Do you get what I’m saying?” Dev replied.

“Yeah, sort of…” I stared at my hand and wondered what I could do. I was so in shock at what he did, though, that I didn’t even feel up to attempting to try to use my powers again. However, one question stuck in my mind. I locked eyes with him. “We know we have powers and we know how to activate them, but there are two questions left to be answered: How did we get these things, and who else has them?”

[BoxHead]

Chapter 5: Realization Part II

Spoiler:

4:03 PM

Brandon Imamura

I finally got back home and put my bike in the garage. The puffs on my hands had gone down, but the bottom of pinkie knuckle had started to develop a pad, now. I walked in through the garage, but at the last second, I picked up some gloves. I don’t think they should blow off the leather, but I’d rather have that happen, than have a car be blown away. I put them on and walked in the house. My parents weren’t back yet, but I heard the TV on. I quickly took the gloves straight off and if someone was in the house, I had to attack them. Could my palm send someone flying back? Sure, it sent me skidding a few feet, but could I do any serious damage? I was cushioned when I went flying, so I’m not sure.

I stealthily approached the corner, and I was ready to lunge, but whom I saw was a surprise. It was a family friend; I think 20 years old, on the couch, eating a Subway sandwich, while watching a football game. His name was Michael Slater; he’s the son of a neighbor back when we lived in Texas. He goes to a college in Virginia to practice medicine, and he aims to be a surgeon. Our families have known each other for a long time, so he occasionally visits our house here before flying back home during breaks. I guess my mom let him stay and gave him the keys to the house or something. He noticed me and laughed. “Oh, damn. This is awkward,”

I laughed back, “It’s fine, man. This is like the 3rd time it’s happened. Just, why are you here? Did the semester end already?”

“Oh, uh, no. The campus has some issues with power right now, so we’re off for about a week,” he responded.

“Ah, okay. Hey, uh how did you get in? We lost the spare key. Did you climb through the window or something?” I said jokingly.

“Oh, l, uh was about to call your mom about that, but I found the door unlocked,” he responded.

I shrugged. Seemed simple enough. It’s not like I was in charge of locking the front door, as I always exit through the garage side. I ran upstairs to my bathroom and looked at my palms. The paw pads had stopped looking like bloated hives. They had shrunk so that they were just a tiny bit off my hand, and were much tougher now, like it was made of cartilage. It was also getting a little bit more stable, as I could control the pushing ability easier. The sensation was odd. Holding it back was like having a tired muscle that you wanted to stretch. That’s the best way I can describe it.

However, I can’t always fully hold it back. My hand would start shaking randomly and would need to find something to push; otherwise it would start making a humming sound. If that happened, I would find something small, like a marble to push out my window, and it would go flying. I’m scared to think about what would happen if I held it any longer. I couldn’t expect to control this by day one, so I needed to find an excuse to cover my hand. I guess I could wear gloves, as Maryland winters are brutal, but would it work in school? Probably, although I’d get some weird looks. It was worth the sacrifice, as I can’t let anyone see these again. That one guy saw these pads, and he probably has no idea what the hell is going on.

6:15

Devroux Alter

I have no idea what the hell is going on. So, let me get this straight, my best friend can freeze things, I can shoot lasers, and we have no idea how we got them or who else has got them. I went through a bunch of ways we could’ve got these. Aliens? Experiments? Rituals? Did we eat something bad from the cafeteria? I mean I’m surprised how well Hayley just happened to accept my lasers quickly. It just doesn’t really add up, in theory. But in this case I think her day has been so weird that something like this doesn’t affect her as much.

She turned to me. “When did you first use this power?”

“Let’s see… This morning, there was a fly, on my mirror and when I went to hit it, my middle finger suddenly glowed and left a burn mark on the glass,” I replied.

“I partially froze by breakfast,” she laughed, realizing how dumb that sounded. Then she turned serious and said, “Was it this morning?” I nodded. She pursed her lip and thought to herself for some time. She then said, “Have you noticed anything weird in other people?”

I shook my head. The closest thing to weird today is that one antisocial Asian kid with swollen hands. I at least hope he’s okay. I said to her, “Anyways, as far as I can tell, these powers are elemental, but that’s not much to go on, as only you and I are shown to have them. Hell, there could be people who can stretch, turn into animals, or hell, even live twice, but on the other hand, it could just be elemental, and others could shoot fire or sand or something. At this point, we could be the only ones. Have you ever seen Hancock?”

Hayley rolled her eyes. “I doubt we’re aliens, but you have a point on the powers. I don’t think we’re alone, but don’t you find it odd that me and you both just happen to have powers?”

“I find it weird that you just accept it so casually,”

“Shut up. I’ve seen so much stuff, that my mind is numb. Anyways, isn’t it weird that no criminal just HAPPENENED to wake up with powers? Nothing has been said on the news yet, and looking at the crime rate, a criminal with abilities isn’t too far fetched, and a super powered bandit would raise media attention. Yet, we haven’t heard much.” She responded.

“I don’t know. That’s not really a good example. But there HAS to be some good explanation for all this. I honestly have no idea how-“ I was cut off by the sound of crackling fire. We both looked to see if we hadn’t effectively stomped out the embers from my laser beam. As we stood up to look, we saw a bush with blue flames on it. However, under the bush was a note. I used a stick to grab the note, and I held it in my palm. The note slowly drifted to the left, even though there wasn’t a breeze.

“These blue flames… someone somehow managed to put that on a bush. And it’s dying out fast, too. There’s no way some ordinary person could’ve found us and done that. I guess that answers one of our questions,” Hayley said.

“Yeah, but that just raises like 20 more.” I responded. I showed her the slowly moving note, and it only had one thing written on it: BMC.

[BoxHead]

Chapter 6: Seven Days Later

Spoiler:

November 29

7:00 AM

Brandon Imamura

Luckily for me, nobody cared about me wearing gloves for a week. I sat in the back for most of my classes, and even in the ones were I sat near the front, nobody really cared, which is one plus about being “that one awkward Japanese kid.” The lack of attention allowed my work to get done, without any struggle. However, I knew that my parents would have to see one day, and I had to trust in them not to freak and call the hospital. Most of the time when talking to them, I usually faced my palms away. It was only a matter of time before I showed them.

However, on another note, my paws were completely formed. They were tough and my pushing ability was working pretty well. The cool down on the pushing ability was becoming pretty short. I was able to push things a few yards, and they would skitter some more. When it came to pushing myself, however, I saw that there would occasionally be a large bubble of air around me, if I pushed hard enough, but that led to a lack of control. Even though a bubble cushioned the impact, I wasn’t immune to hitting trees.

I would practice in the woods that we lived next to. People would bike and jog through the path in the afternoon, but I found a place out of sight. My parents wouldn’t really care most of the time, as I would say I’m going to hang out with one of my friends or something. But to be safe, I did hang out with them sometimes after practicing my powers, just in case my mom called a parent.

At this point the thought of there being others like me has crossed my mind once or twice. I secretly wished that there weren’t because if I became a hero or whatever, I kind of wanted some of the spotlight. Sure, that sounds pretty vain, but lots of people feel that same way. When I thought of it, I usually ignored it and went on with my life. But another thought that constantly crossed my mind was thinking of how I got them. A skin disease or something was the most probable answer, but this would be the weirdest skin disease ever.

Michael stayed at our house for around 3 nights, and my parents didn’t mind as he’s like a second son to them, basically. It might’ve been me, but I think he knew that I’m hiding something. He may or may not have seen the pads, but he acted in a way like he knew that I was hiding something, but decided to play along with it. On the day that he left, I was talking to him as he was getting into his car. He told me one thing, “Hey, Brandon. You’re studying biology, right? If you ever have like some questions about anything medical related, like growths or something, don’t be afraid to text me,” It seems harmless enough, a family friend who’s going into medicine offering help on homework and stuff, but him specifically mentioning growths kind of raised a red flag. A horrible thought washed into my head. What if he has powers?

7:30 AM

Hayley Reyes

It’s been a week since I got my powers, and the only person I trust with this secret is Dev. Every day, the powers seem to get a bit easier to manage, but we’re far from mastering them. All I mean from that is that I don’t accidentally freeze a Dr. Pepper when I’m stressed about the science test. However, my power with the ice has gotten better, as I’m able to make small ice constructs, like tiny cubes, out of freezing the air. Dev has got down his laser thing better although he never really uses it that much, except shooting it in the sky when he’s bored and no one is watching. Luckily, it doesn’t come back down as a comet and kill us all. The whole BMC thing is still a blur. I kept the note for myself, much to Dev’s disappointment of not being able to blow it up. However, I didn’t trash the note he gave us.

I had a feeling that said that this BMC guy would give us all the answers. I mean a flaming piece of paper is kind of important, right? At one point, I thought keeping this note would be a way for that guy to track us, but then I realized that he found us anyways. This guy probably could control fire to the point to he could fly and dropped this note. He could’ve completely destroyed both of us. I know I shouldn’t be jumping to such obvious conclusions like this, but after a lot of thinking, another person with powers is the only way for something like that to have happened.

Then, there was the case of the magical moving note. I had accidentally spilled water on it, while bringing it home, but it seemed to be waterproof. When if crashed into the brush, I remember that none of the flames got caught on it. It was fireproof, also. However, I have torn it, accidentally. When I placed it down, it always skittered in one direction, as if there was a small breeze moving it. The name BMC was just as confusing as the properties of the paper. I knew nobody with the initials of BMC.

I stared at my bowl of cereal. I picked up some milk and let it drop, leaving a few droplets. I concentrated on my power, as I blew cold air at one droplet, and it bounced on the side of the bowl as it dropped. Yeah, I can freeze things with my breath now, also. These powers were still scary, albeit being pretty cool, but the only thing I REALLY want to know is who else has these. The origins of these powers were still a mystery, but not as fascinating as the mystery of who else can do this stuff. Only time could tell.

An undisclosed location

“It has been one week ever since the subjects have manifested their powers. Do you think BMC has found them yet?” said a voice.

“Of course, Mr. Kenshin. That man is a Phoenix. He can spot a mouse miles high in the air. He knows their faces, and he probably dropped them all some notes. Trust me, your investments have not gone to waste, even with all the events that have happened.” said another.

“But Professor Gandor, how do you know that the kids won’t know how to use the notes?” replied Mr. Kenshin.

“He can’t risk landing and telling them, and the kids don’t even trust him. Even though they’re teenagers, they’re smart enough to know that he’s bad. Though the note is pretty much self-explanatory, moving in the direction where the note’s maker is, what says that they’ll actually do that?” replied Gandor.

“I suggest we send out Mr. Ledge, Mr. Sitcon, or anyone else who can handle BMC, just in case. It’s better safe than sorry, you know,” rebutted Mr. Kenshin.

“This project can’t go on much longer if we send out operatives just that easily. I’m sure you know that, Mr. Kenshin,” spoke one voice. Both of them shut their mouths and saw their leader, the main man behind this whole scheme. “Currently in this operation, we have those two operatives, Ledge and Sitcon. We only have one scientist now, the man you’re arguing with, who should go back to his duty,” Gandor ran off to another room at that instant.

The leader continued his speech. “We have a sponsor, which is you, and we do very much appreciate your tenacity even after all the failed tests, leaving us to these small numbers. We would appreciate it even more if you continued to finance us.” Mr. Kenshin started to back away. The leader held up his hand and made a gesture with his fingers that stopped the financer’s movements.

Mr. Kenshin gulped. “Yes, sir. It’s no problem, really,”

The leader smiled, “Of course it’s not. Now then, I believe it’s time for you to be going. BMC is not a problem.”

Kenshin gulped and bowed. “I understand. Thank you for your cooperation, Mr. Naijeru,”

[BoxHead]

I slave over a keyboard just to please your damn brains. I deserve an egg roll.

Chapter 7: Into the Rabbit Hole

Spoiler:

11:00 PM

Brandon Imamura

I lay on my bed, bored out of my mind. The thought of having someone know your ability and NOT help you out takes away the thrill of it. Even if he did help me with this stuff, I don’t think a sidekick would be that great, if I decided to use my powers publically. A boss would be twenty times, worse, though. If he had powers, he’d most likely destroy me in a fight. I was demoralized to go around and practice my powers or even get out of the room to eat today. I thought I could do something with this tuff, and I know I still can, but I didn’t feel up to it. Hell, I could just be paranoid that Michael knows about this stuff.

But no, at this rate, he may as well outright tell me, and I wouldn’t be that surprised. Suddenly, I heard something slam into my window and land really loudly. I saw that is was an envelope. I looked outside and the trees weren’t blowing with wind. The letter still stuck to the window as if something was pushing it. Out of sheer curiosity, I opened the window and the envelope flew straight into my chest and fell to the floor. There was no breeze whatsoever. That scared me. A lot.

I closed my window and felt the envelope. There were no explosives inside of it, luckily. I quickly opened it up and out fell two things: a folded piece of paper, a smaller piece of thick paper. I looked at the letter first. It said:

Brandon,

I know of what you can do. I’m proposing a plan to take down the people who tested on you and gave you these exact powers. Although you can do extraordinary things, these could be horribly dangerous, to both you and others in different ways. I propose you meet me Friday, November 30 at approximately 1 o’clock AM, using the tracking note provided. On your trek there, trust no one. If you cannot meet me, then we will arrange for a separate date and you will receive another letter before then. We hope to see you.

Well, that made things scarier than they were. Nobody signed it, and I don’t even know if this person is trustworthy. Is it Michael? It couldn’t be. His classes started again, and I saw him drive off. Even if he is somehow setting up a team of superheroes or whatever, what makes him stay out of college? It could be some whole other guy with powers, which seemed the most logical. It could even be the organization that gave me these powers. Hell, how do I know that this company is real? How do they even get their funding?

Well, my question isn’t answered at all. In fact, what astounds me more is the small piece of paper. There was nothing on it, and it seems nothing more than tough paper. I suddenly saw it tilt in my hands. I dropped it out of shock and it slowly crept in the direction of the window and stopped after moving a few centimeters. I picked it up and made sure there was no draft. I shook my head and studied these things. I contemplated to myself. What have I got to lose? I’m an awkward kid and I don’t have many friends. I knew my parents would care about me, but they seemed so busy with work that I sometimes feel as if I’m not there. It’s 11. Two hours to decide. I sighed. Let’s head on to Wonderland.

1:15 AM

Leo Reyes

I’m trying to go to sleep, but doing that after a crappy week doesn’t let me rest easy. I guess the date went pretty well. We just went to the movies, nothing too much. She seemed pretty happy, but I received a text the next day that it wouldn’t work between us. Figures. I’m about as well off as Devroux. Did I really remember his name? Man, this is worse than I thought. I yawned. Oh yeah, then there’s that whole thing about me being an uncuttable zombie. The sidewalk incident wasn’t just luck. After the movies, I went back home and ate some pasta. I think the whole date kind of made be a bit jittery. That led me to being clumsy and accidentally stabbing myself with a fork, but it just went in my skin. When I pulled it out, it was as if nothing happened.

I had gotten freaked out, and I didn’t feel anything, to top it off. I then became insane for a few seconds. I stabbed myself in the palm to test it out. Nothing. I didn’t want to tempt myself any more and try cutting off limbs, so I stopped. The night after being dumped, I woke up to a surprise. I didn’t have to cut my own limbs off. My arms were already detached from my body. Before I could yell, I could still feel them, along with another sensation. I suddenly had the ability to make my detached arms float in the air. I could hover them around. I flew them to my desk and picked up a pencil and brought it back. I tried reaching the door, but it couldn’t fly past there, as if the invisible rope holding it had ran out.

After a while, I pulled my arms back to my body, but they were slightly in the wrong place. After about what seemed like an hour of fixing, I finally managed to fix it. Since then, I haven’t really used this weird mutation superpower thing. I didn’t want to be hunted by government dogs by showing it in public. I sometimes thought about telling someone, but I knew they would turn me in to a hospital or somewhere. I’m sorry if I don’t sound like I’m extremely amazed or something. I’m too tired to recollect everything. It was cooler during the moment, I swear. It honestly is more like a doctor telling me that I have a growth on my hands that’ll blast things away. It’s not like I don’t like it, it’s just that seeing that kind of stuff traumatized me, especially after the break up and stuff.

A few minutes ago, I heard Hayley walk out of her room, trying to be silent, but it didn’t work, at least to me. I don’t know where she was going, and at this point, I don’t really care. She probably went to get some water or something. While she was gone, I wondered if these things were genetic. Could she be some telekinetic arm-moving demon like me? Or could she move her legs instead? But as I thought of it, I never heard her come back that night before I went to sleep.

[BoxHead]

YOU UNGRATEFUL SLOBS BETTER APPRECIATE THE 2000 WORDS I TYPED HERE. I'M OFF TO WATCH MORE LOST. Enjoy!

Chapter 8: Into the Rabbit Hole II

Spoiler:

12:45 AM

Brandon Imamura

Why not arrive a little early? Getting out the house unnoticed wasn’t easy. I tried climbing out silently, but my skills with that aren’t too great. I would go on for some time describing my inner thoughts while attempting to scale the bedroom window, while looking awesome doing it, but I realized that I’m not Spiderman. Instead, I slid down my wall and pushed myself 20 feet into some bushes. Luckily, nobody noticed by crash.

The card kept moving in one direction, towards the woods. We lived near some woods, which were the space between the neighborhood and a nearby park. The woods weren’t too hard to navigate, as I had a flashlight with me. I walked for some time, contemplating what I would do. I always had to remember that it could always be a trap. This could be their way of luring me out and snagging me, so I practiced my safety pushing along the way. I’ve gotten better at this technique, and I can go a couple of yards while still maintaining a large bubble of protective air around me.

While walking through the midnight woods, I eventually veered off the jogging trail and started going into woods that were in an unmapped part of the town. See, this was a relatively new city, being around for 40 years, if you count the older parts of town used for farming, but if you count actual town building, then it’s only 20 or so years old. Even with 20 years of advancements, there are of acres forestlands that haven’t even been mapped out. With this in mind, I had to be sure not to get lost, so I pushed the ground every so often, leaving back paw print indents in the ground.

I don’t know what dangerous things lies in these woods. Could I kill them in time before they kill me? I haven’t heard of wolves living around here. I heard there are mountain lions in Maryland, but I don’t know about here. The worst thing I’ve seen is a bat. Now, let’s just pretend for a moment that there IS a giant carnivorous mammal in these woods who just happens to not be hibernating. I haven’t ever used this ability against anything alive before, besides me, and I don’t know how powerful it can be offensively. I mean, all I can do combat-wise is push people and smash rocks into them, and while that can be effective, I don’t always have a large solid object to smash them with.

My only two options after that is to use liquids or gases. Now, I know highly pressurized water can be deadly and even lethal, but that requires a continuous stream, and the only thing I can do is deflect a stream at something else. I don’t know how resistant these pads are to attacks, so I don’t know if stuff like that will kill the enemy or me. And gases… I have an idea, but I don’t want to risk it, as I prefer my arm to stay on my body.

Eventually, I checked my time and saw that it was 1:00. I still had ample time, as the letter sender expected me to leave now. The card kept sliding in the same general direction. I had gone farther than I ever had before. I sat down and took a breather. I looked up and saw the stars. I looked at the constellation Ursa Major. Huh, after looking at these pads after a while, they resembled paws of a bear. I had a pad for my palm and every knuckle at this point. It’s kind of funny because I tend to eat a lot and sleep it all off, much like how a bear hibernates. I wonder if that should be my superhero name, “The Bear.”

I laughed at the stupidity of it and moved on. I had a feeling that I was drawing closer to where I needed to be. I kept walking forward, as the card started moving a little less each time it crawled. I started moving at a jogging pace now. I had to figure everything out. Suddenly, I saw a tiny speck of light peripherally. It was bright, even though it seemed to be no larger than a… match. My card was pointing in another direction. That wasn’t the guy I needed to see. Now what would some random guy be doing out here at 1 AM. I remember the letter. “Trust no one,” he said.

Suddenly, I figured it out. He was an arsonist. It seemed to be the only possible explanation for a guy in the woods in the middle of the night, holding a match. Now, I was about to turn back, but I had to meet these people, and he would see once I moved and would probably attack me for being a witness. I looked at my palms. Why the hell not? I’ve got nothing to lose.

I put all of my energy into my arm and thrust forward my palm as hard as I could, straight into a tree trunk. A large section of it split off of the tree and sailed towards the man. I saw his figure move in surprise as the trunk sailed straight into his chest. He got knocked on his back, and I was going to attack again, but suddenly, I saw a flash of light and a fast moving, glowing, rod. The rod burned my left arm and hit another tree behind me, and exploded. The tree toppled to the ground while still aflame. Dandy.

The guy stood up from the debris as he coughed, “Who the hell are you?”

I was tempted in all hell to say, “I’m Batman,” but I decided to go the traditional route by answering, “Who the hell are you?” The other guy stood up and I could clearly see that the light was not a match and instead was actual glowing orbs of energy on his fingertips. I didn’t know who he was and I didn’t have much time to think as adrenaline pumped through my veins. I sailed another portion of the tree I toppled straight towards him, but he quickly reacted by shooting a beam of light (which I thought was a rod) and blew the wood apart.

He quickly made an O shape with his right thumb and index finger. An even brighter ball of light materialized in the hole. Suddenly, a bunch of small, glowing particles of lights shot towards me, like shotgun pellets. Like any smart cookie, in the face of fire, I stop, dropped, and rolled. As I was on the ground, I pushed myself to be behind him, barrel rolling in a safe air bubble. By the time I got up close to him, I could see what he looked like.

He was a high school student, and I might’ve seen him once or twice. I think he noticed me, and he paused. However, that was one of his worst mistakes as I could manage to place my hand on his chest and push him back a few yards. The sensation felt amazing. It was like I had an indestructible pad of death made out of condensed bouncy balls.

The guy stood up, and he looked pissed. He was hurt, and I could tell it. I had sustained some shockwave impacts and a few burns, but I could tell he had been beaten up bad. I suddenly saw his whole body shimmer a bit, but in a split second, he was gone. But as I saw him disappear, I felt an enormous pain in my chest as I sailed into a tree. I saw him standing where I was before, with the bottom of his shoe smoking. He looked as amazed as I was, like he’d never done that before. Unfortunately, he knew to only marvel for a millisecond this time, as he shot a beam of light, right before I pushed myself.

The air bubble managed to condense around me, but by the time I was off, the blast was only a few inches behind me, and I definitely felt it this time. Luckily for me, that one teleport thing he did tired him out as he ran after me, instead. However, he learned how to use his light kick thing, where he would make a small blast of light to boost the speed and power of his foot. I stood up again, this time ready, but he had faked me out. He put light under his left foot, which I prepared to deflect. However, he only used that to proper himself in the air, and he attacked with his right foot, straight towards my shoulder.

I managed to push myself away right before the contact, but he barely managed to connect. He had the edge. He knew I had to come close, and now he had that covered. I was tired. He was tired. I had to use my final plan. I was going to die anyways; it’s not like his powers were the type to spare your life like mine. I breathed in. I pulled back my arm, with my palm facing him, storing all my energy into it. He charged up a shot. My palm hummed. The light glowed. My palm buzzed. His finger released a shot. My hand got blown back, while releasing my trump card.

I shot 100% condensed air straight at him, with the sound of a balloon popping. I had used a lot of my energy. I had released a white bubble, the size of a grapefruit, with four floating spheres above it, showing the knuckles of my main fingers. It sailed extremely fast and when it hit the light, I saw it combust and fizzle away. The bubble plowed straight through it and was headed towards the enemy. He was hit wit ha shockwave so great that he got sent flying back a few meters. However, the bubble continued and plowed through a few bushes and trees, with each of them being blasted apart.

The other guy coughed and wheezed for air, as did I. He slowly crawled to his feet and suddenly, charged a blast of light on the end of his heel. This time, it was something else. It was going to be a beam. I inhaled. This was it. I clasped my hands together, and they buzzed. After a few seconds, I had created a bubble the size of a melon, and he had a rod of light on his foot, the size of a tin can. A weird blue aura had materialized around us. I ignored it, as it was probably the air pressure along with his heat creating an odd image. I stuck the air to my right palm as I prepared to shoot it. He had aimed his foot right at me. I smirked. This was it.

POP! POP!

I saw my hand detach from my body as the grapefruit shot straight up into the air. His foot did the same, shooting a brilliant stream of light, which I didn’t even know if I could counter. I didn’t see any blood. Our body parts floated around us, and I finally started to take notice of the aura around us. It was a dome of light that surrounded both of us, barely. Suddenly, I heard a few more pops, and my vision went everywhere, like I was being spun around. I stopped and I finally noticed what had happened. I saw my body parts and the enemy’s body parts attached together like a jigsaw puzzle, with our heads plopped on top like a cancer. I could feel myself, but I couldn’t move my arms or legs, as if they were stuck somewhere.

The blue aura disappears. “Damn, Brandon, I at least thought you would do better than that… although I don’t know why he showed up so late. I thought you weren’t the type to throw the first punch,” I recognized the voice. It was Michael.

[BoxHead]

Chapter 9: Loose Ends

Spoiler:

1:15 AM

Brandon Imamura

“Oh,” I responded.
Michael looked a little pissed. “’Oh?’ What do you mean by ‘Oh?’”

I shrugged my shoulders (which were attached to the other guy’s right foot). “Not really that much of a shock. I kind of expected it really. You line about ‘growths’ when you supposedly left wasn’t too subtle.”

Michael’s expression changed to annoyance. The other guy intervened, “Wait, you know him? How does the awkward Japanese kid with tumors on his hands know him?”

I remembered him. He offered to take me to the nurse’s office a week ago, when I first saw these pads. I turned to him (the best I could, you know, without having a neck and such) and said, “First off, it’s not a tumor, and yeah, I’ve known this guy as long as I can remember. Speaking of which, I remember him heading off to college. Was that a lie, too?”

Michael shook his head. “No, the college is actually still having power issues, you see. I legitimately thought it was fixed until I heard the word. I wasn’t planning to set up a team until later, like Christmas break. Anyways, do you mind telling me what went down in your mind to launch a tree at Dev?”

So that was his name. It was pretty weird. “I thought he was going to start a fire.” I replied.

Dev butted in. “How does my finger laser look like a lighter?”

I said, “You know, it’s small, bright, and it’d be weird for some random-ass stranger to be wandering in the woods at a time like this,”

Michael added in, “Yeah, didn’t I tell you to come around at 12:30?”

Dev rolled his eyes. “I was held up with stuff,”

Michael replied, “With what? Jersey Shore?”

Dev coughed, “Don’t judge me.”

“Anyways,” Michael continued. “If we’re going to have a team and take down this organization, we’ll have to work together first,”

“You know, it’d help if you told us exactly WHO we’re fighting.” Dev replied.

“Now, now, I can’t give some random untrustworthy loose cannon info like this, can I?” Michael retorted, while smirking.

“GET ON WITH IT.” I yelled.

He shrugged. “Anyways, the only way I’ll reassemble your bodies is if you guys promise not to randomly start killing each other like that. Otherwise, you’ll turn into diced tomatoes for a while. Got it?” We both attempted to nod, but Michael still got this message, even though we looked pretty stupid, twitching our heads like that. He made the blue dome around us and reassembled us into our regular selves. We followed him deeper into the woods. We eventually reached a clearing with a shack. Inside the shack were a few crates, a flashlight, and a Subway sandwich wrapper. There was also a hidden trapdoor under the dirt.

As he opened the trapdoor, it revealed a room lit up with some battery-powered light bulbs. The floor was paved with tile, the walls, although being made of dirt and rock, seemed pretty stable, and there was a fan and a heater to stop it from getting either too stuffy or too hot. There were a few couches laid out around a table with some snacks. It seemed like Michael had a little too much time on his hand to install this all in an underground base in the middle of the Maryland woods. Suddenly, a pinecone hit me in the head. It came from outside and somehow curved itself in. I looked confused, but Michael just rolled his eyes. Down the trapdoor ladder came a kid. He was Black and looked about 15 or 16. He looked pretty normal, you know when compared to a kid like me who just fought a laser man.

Michael said, “Oh yeah, this is Trey Porter. He’s the first kid I met when I uh… I’ll get to that part later. He’s the reason you guys got the letters.” Trey looked at us in a way that kind of pissed me off. He seemed like a cool guy, but he had a little smirk on his face when he saw me, as if he was saying to himself, “Heh, what a pansy!” I had the urge to punch him, but I refrained from it. Michael turned to him and said, “How about you show them your powers?”

Trey turned to us and said, “Okay then. Anyways, ya’ll pay attention, because I’m showing this only one time,” his tone made me a little less mad, as he seemed pretty laid back. “I have perfect aim when I throw stuff. Whatever I throw will always hit the target,”

Dev replied, “That seems a little overpowered. What’s the catch?”

Trey continued, “Well, first off, to get the aim on someone, I need to physically touch them. Once I do that, I can ‘lock on’ to them. Anything I ‘lock on’ will automatically be a target I hit 100% of the time, unless there’s a stronger force blocking it. I can only ‘lock on’ to two things at a time, one for each hand. I don’t think you remember, but I’ve locked onto you guys in this past week,” I remember that 4 days ago, a kid pushed me a bit while running home from school. It was Trey. Dev seemed to remember too as he nodded his head. Trey went on, “So, we made some of these letters, along with tracking notes and I threw them to both of ya’ll. You followed the notes back here and, here we are,”

Michael then said, “Well, this has been fine and dandy, but I think I better explain fast, before you guys start passing out on me and stuff. I’ll fix up your injuries and stuff, while telling you everything. You guys deserve answers. Anyways, I guess this is our first team meeting.”

Dev said, “So, are we like the X-Men or something?”

Michael said, “More like the Avengers, but yeah,”

And from there, our lives dramatically changed. Our outlook on many things altered. We became more cautious. We became more aware. We accepted and had vowed to use these cursed blessings for good. We were going to use the blessings of the devil to make wrong into right.

An undisclosed location

2:30 AM

“Gandor, it seems we have a problem,” spoke a voice.

“What is it, Mr. Naijeru?” replied the professor.

“I have to overrule my previous order of not sending Ledge and Sitcon. It seems that this may be more trouble than I thought,” responded Naijeru.

“I could tell. The readings show a massive improvement in ability control with adrenaline pumping through them,” said Gandor.

“Not just that. Check the ability progress scanner again,” said Naijeru. Gandor clicked a few keys on his computer, which brought up a window. “Look at what’s wrong. There should be charts showing the progress of some of the kids. I thought my personal computer was being buggy, not showing it an hour ago, but it seems that the scanner had been removed from their body. Three of them have not shown any chart activity at all. Even if they died, you said that the charts would say so, right?”

“Yes, sir. It appears that someone’s made contact with the kids. This is a much larger threat then I ever imagined,” replied Gandor.

“Precisely,” said Naijeru. “I also believe that there are two, don’t you?”

“Possibly. Two of them had very high adrenaline levels, while one of them had mildly high levels running through her, with both of them happening at different times,” Gandor said.

Naijeru smiled a smile that would befit a madman. “Let’s wake the operatives and send them out, shall we?”

Another undisclosed location

1:30 AM

Hayley panted. She saw the crowbar’s movement under the dim light. She dodged the downward strike, and jumped back from the sweep. Her opponent had been sparring with her fro about 10 minutes or so, testing her strength. She had done well, but she mostly dodged and rarely made actually contact. However, when she did at tack, it was ferocious and devastating. The opponent swung the crowbar vertically down, and she caught it, freezing it at the same time. She snapped the metal object and went in for a close-up strike. Her fingertips were covered in ice, ready to turn his chest into an ice pack. He jumped back, but Hayley quickly froze the air around her hand and shot a few small ice darts. They hit him, square in the chest.

She panted some more. The opponent clapped. “I’m sure glad I wore Kevlar for this,” he said.

Hayley said, “You promised me answers if I managed to impress you in the spar, and from the looks of it, you seem impressed. Now then, Mr. BMC, or whatever, speak up.”

[BoxHead]

Chapter 10: Rewind

1:20 AM

Brandon Imamura

There was an awkward silence present in the room, broken only by the crunching of Doritos. Michael sighed, “So, I guess I’ll address the elephant in the room to you guys. I’ll tell you all how we got our powers,” We all glanced at each other until this awkward moment was broken with a, “Go on.” Michael inhaled as he began speaking.

“The organization we’re up against is known as Epsilon, a small criminal group that used to just be a part of the black market. Now, well… they’re doing this. Your powers stem from a chemical known as Kronos, which contains properties that defy all logic and physics. This chemical was found in a fruit that was found on an island in the Pacific Ocean. Through black market trades, Epsilon managed to research and harness Kronos from the fruit. They used it to create serums that would give them random abilities. Eventually, for whatever reason, they decided to test these abilities on other people. The only problem: The serums had been specifically developed for each person in Epsilon and required lots of time,”


Michael continued, “You see, when randomly injecting Kronos into someone, there is a pretty good chance that the person would die from cardiac arrest. Anyways, in a mildly small amount of the population, some people have a genome that can bond and allow the Kronos to manifest and give the people powers without extra mutation of Kronos. Anyways, it took Epsilon a few tries to get to this conclusion, and they landed here to test their plan out. They would find a small town and have their scientist, Jesus C. Gandor (yes that’s his real name), create a gas compound that caused the people with this genome to suddenly become sick,”

He continued, “He aimed at gassing schools, as teenage and young adult population seem to be the most expendable. As they would become sick, another member, only known by his codename, BMC, would track them down. The last person to this 3-step plan was Ronald Sticks. Sticks can turn anything into a door, including air. These ‘air doors’ can allow him to teleport to any location in eyesight. Sticks would teleport into a sick person’s room, sedate them, even as they’re asleep and send them back to the hideout,”

I remembered getting a random fever on the last week of the 8th grade. I then asked, “So, after this whole relay race, they injected us with Kronos?”

“Correct,” he replied. “Anyways, remember when I told you that it took a few tries for them to come to the conclusion about the genome? Before doing the gassing and scanning, they randomly picked up people in small towns and injected them. This included the town where I stayed. Trey and I survived after being injected, due to us having the genome, out of sheer coincidence. Even more lucky, the large amount of Kronos injected into us was just enough to jumpstart our powers sooner than others, but not enough to kill us. However, when Sticks delivered us back, we quickly developed powers, but they were extremely hard to control,”

“Wait a minute, how do you know about all their plans and stuff?” Dev asked.

Michael responded, “That’s where the revolt of the Epsilon group comes into play. After a few tests and multiple deaths, many group members questioned their ethics, namely BMC and Sticks. In secret, they tracked down Trey and me and started teaching us ways of controlling our powers. Trey already explained his power, so I guess to clear things up, I’ll explain mine. It took a while for everyone to figure out my power, but I can create a sort of ‘operation room’ by making that blue aura dome. Anything in the room ignores the laws of nature and follows my rules, to a certain extent. So far, I ‘ve learned to be able to move, break apart, and reassemble any object in whatever form. I used that power to turn you into jigsaw puzzles and I used to make this underground room,”

“The two guys even gave us files from all of their tests, which leads to what I’m telling you now. From those files, I managed to find you guys, but I had to wait a few months for your small doses of Kronos to manifest into powers. However, after a couple of months of training, they were found out and a giant battle happened at the old Epsilon base. Many people were killed in the fight, including Sticks. BMC managed to retreat, and we think he might be trying to recruit more people,” Michael said.

I asked, “They why are you doing this? Why don’t you work with the BMC guy?”

He sighed. “You see, when Trey and I were training with those two, BMC always rubbed me the wrong way. He was mysterious, but very risky and headstrong when it came to using powers. He was very aggressive when we sparred, and would always give us a few burns or so.”

“Burns?”

“Yeah. He’s kind of a phoenix,” Michael replied.

Suddenly, Dev piped up. “Hey Michael, did you send a letter to a Hayley Reyes by chance?”

“Reyes… I recall reading a file on a Leo Reyes, but Hayley Reyes is a mystery to me.” He said.

Dev gulped. “Hey Mike… We were contacted by BMC one time. He dropped a tracking note in a fireball one time. Hayley kept the note, thinking it would be an answer to her questions about powers. Do you think…?”

Michael’s face showed a look of horror mixed with concern. “No, we can’t jump to conclusions. What powers did she have?”

Dev said, “She could freeze things,”

Michael sighed, “Oh damn. I don’t know if BMC has contacted her yet, and it’s best not to ask her, as we can’t let BMC let know that we’re onto him. But we can’t just fully ignore all of this. But that can’t be our priority right now. What we need to do is find a way to take down Epsilon before they get even more out hand than they are right now. Now that you two are here, we need a plan. Let’s meet again in two days, during Thanksgiving break. Make an excuse to say that we’re going to go camping or some crap like that. From then, we’ll be starting our plan. Now then, I guess you guys need to get home,”

We trudged ourselves back, via the trail I made. I wondered about Kronos, about Epsilon, about the Reyes girl, and even about Michael’s involvement. I trudged through the woods, knowing one thing: this Thanksgiving won’t be peaceful.