super-powers Beware the Uncorrupted (Epilogue Added 05/28/22)

[Ro20316]

Man. This story is a treat.

Its beautifully written and it delves on every character.

I loved how the first part was center on SAM and some of his past. Imagine having the kind of superpower he has and see everyone around you die for some reason. That would be damaging in so many lvls.

Julia is a fave of mien eventho she is not in all chapters. I think there is more than we see on ehr and she is actually pretty powerfull.

[PeepoHappy]

I came from your previous story, Envy and Lust (which I adore btw and hoping for a continuation) and here I am still amazed at your second one. You're writing is so good that I feel like i'm part of the story, interacting with the characters and such. The two main characters somewhat mimics your previous one, the scrawny one having a dangerous ability, while the love interest is a big, buff and sexy stud ( This isn't an issue, I actually love this cliche!). Plot is okay, it strays from a typical superhuman stories and gives us a fresh new point of view, from a view of a tragic hero. Overall, I'm loving the writing so far, and makes me dream of a superhero lover of my own. Kudos to you Philosopher!

[PeepoHappy]

Will there be any updates soon, Mr. Philosopher sir?

[Philosopher]

On 7/16/2021 at 12:22 PM, PeepoHappy said:

Will there be any updates soon, Mr. Philosopher sir?

Of course! The last few chapters are admittedly rather complicated to pull off in a cool way (I’m actually establishing some kind of multiverse that will combine all of my stories together, and that takes a lot of planning) and I’m making sure that everything makes sense before I upload!

Fear not though, updates are soon to come!

[Trekka]

On 7/17/2021 at 6:58 AM, Philosopher said:

Of course! The last few chapters are admittedly rather complicated to pull off in a cool way (I’m actually establishing some kind of multiverse that will combine all of my stories together, and that takes a lot of planning) and I’m making sure that everything makes sense before I upload!

Fear not though, updates are soon to come!

Looking forward to further installments, in the mean time, may the inspiration flow freely !

[Philosopher]

PART 12

The door of the elevator opened with a swift sound, cold air blasting through the gaps and pushing my hair back. Inside, there was nobody I could see in particular, but with the way the hairs on my neck had stood up, I could feel there was someone waiting for me to enter. Perhaps it was a hero with the power of invisibility, or simply mercenaries that the Province had armed with invisibility belts, patiently waiting for an excuse to disintegrate me with their futuristic weapons. Nevertheless, I gulped down the excess saliva in my mouth and I made my way in the middle of the shaft, careful to stay away from the edges in case I accidentally bumped into something or someone who didn’t want to be seen.

I waited for a few seconds, waiting for the elevator to start rising, but I soon noticed the bright panel waiting for someone to push a button. As I reached to press the button for the fortieth floor, I felt something move next to me, and then slowly, the same button being pushed by an invisible force.

“Oh,” I gasped as I took one step behind. Looking around me, I could see nothing other than the expensive crystal that the elevator was made of. If it was some kind of ploy made to frighten me, it definitely worked. I tried to make it not appear on my face, instead straightening the red tie I was wearing, and taking a deep breath to relax.

The elevator was moving now, slowly going through the floors. By the time we had reached the fortieth and final floor, I could feel sweat in my socks, as well as my back. The sheer level of paranoia you can feel when you know that someone is watching you, but you can’t see them, is something else entirely. The happy ‘ding’ the elevator made when I reached my destination made me sigh with relief as I quickly run out of the cubicle, far away by the invisible thing inside it.

An armed guard promptly stopped me before entering the office of my supervisor. “Name and ID, please,” he grumbled, clearly too tired to be up seven in the morning. After I showed him my badge, he nodded in response and let me through. I had to go through the exact same thing every day with the same guard, regardless the several times he had seen my name. I guess the Province was being careful around shapeshifters, although I wasn’t even interning for an important person. I made my way down the hallway and found the office. I sighed, preparing myself for pain.

One month.

One freaking month being a bureaucratic slave for one of the most annoying Province officials that existed in the universe. She was a middle-aged woman who clearly spent her free-time cruising in Dunkin’ Donuts, if her double chin and general swollen look had anything to say for it.

“Percy! There you are!” she smiled in a way that I knew I’d suffer for the rest of the day. Smugness didn’t even begin to describe it. “So, I know you’re going to hate me for this, but I forgot to print the required paperwork for today… and I also forgot to brew some coffee for us,” her smile widened, letting me know that she had definitely not forgotten.

Being an intern for the Province was akin to going through the trials of Hercules. Forces beyond your control would test and probe you to see what tickled and stuck, until they formed a pattern of constant irritation and bewilderment. The intern programme was especially designed to weed out the weak-willed or the ones seeking glory in one of the biggest organisations in the United States. Supervisors would do their damn best to break their interns, and the ones who came out sane would have been hardened by the embers of hard work and loyalty to the Province.

“Earth to Percy! Hello?! We don’t have all day! Go up the seventy-eighth floor and grab the papers for me. And use the stairs, hun, alright? HR wants us to show that we’re eco-friendly! No using the elevators until further orders,” she winked at me, her fat cheeks barely suppressing the snorts she would make after I was gone.

I turned around and gave her a bright smile, knowing that I was showing too many teeth for it to be a natural one. “Sure thing, Miss Diggins! I will gladly climb THIRTY-FOUR floors to get some PAPERS!” I nearly screamed at her face, probably grinning like a maniac. With that, I started walking towards the side-area of the building, where the emergency stairs were located. Interns and employees were allowed to use them any time they wanted, since the Province HQ was perhaps one of the most secure buildings in the country, as it included weapons, invisible soldiers, and superheroes that could end you with just a blink.

I had to stop and gasp for some sweet air when I reached the sixtieth floor. I wasn’t nearly done, but I was already sweaty and feeling miserable this early in the morning. After I was done with this, Miss Diggins would probably ask me to fetch the donuts she had just ordered from the reception and make climb up all the way again. Her favorite part was when I would arrive back, my face green and my body trembling from the exertion. She’d just stare at me, before asking me to do another chore that was conveniently on the other side of town. Once, she had asked me to walk to a supermarket and grab a gallon of water, of course knowing that the nearest market was three miles away. It had taken me three hours to get the job done, my arms screaming at me the entire way back to the building.

Finally reaching the seventy-eighth floor, I stumbled a bit as I felt a wave of light-headedness, the result of sprinting the last few stairs. The floor’s guard gave me the stink eye, but I couldn’t care less as I approached him and showed him my badge. Then, I moved to the printer area and began searching the numerous papers for Miss Diggins name. There was so much paperwork that the Province employees would go through every day that it seemed impossible to organize, and yet somehow, they made it work. My guess that they had employed someone with supernatural organisation skills. Or maybe it was the cold and ruthless office standards that would punish anyone for filling the wrong papers.

I couldn’t help but sneak a peek at the many matters that Province was involved with.

Political Reinforcement for the State of New Jersey.

Request of Funding: Los Angeles Province HQ – Plastic, Steel.

Report of Interest: Massive amounts of black paint stolen from Oregon warehouses.

Earth Gamma Inter-communication: Request for Approval.

The paper I was looking for was hidden behind the communication request. I was about to put it back on the pile when it struck me.

Earth Gamma? What was that supposed to mean? Is it some kind of code for gamma radiation?

I shook my head and left the rest of the papers alone. This didn’t concern me, not in the slightest. I wasn’t about to get fired for snooping around. I couldn’t afford to, not after what Julia had told me.

We were speaking less and less with every day that passed. She had never explicitly given me an explanation regarding the ‘end of the world’ prophecy, and she refused to elaborate further, in fears of straying me off the path that I was supposed to take. She only told me that it was bound to happen soon, very soon. The only thing I could do for now was make sure I was a good intern and build my relationship with the higher-ups of the Province.

“Percy? What are you doing here?” someone said behind me. I instantly recognized his deep voice. It was becoming so deep that I could nearly fill it in my bones.

Sam.

Oh god. Not now.

“HEY, BUDDY!” I turned back with another of my teeth-showing grins. I had to find a way to stop this stupid habit, but it was becoming too difficult to control. I bore my eyes at Sam, careful not to look at his overdeveloped body.

He hardly looked like a teenager now. His huge arms were bulging out of his shirt like two overripe watermelons, the sleeves of his poor shirt appearing ready to burst, his biceps flexing and tensing as he held what I presumed to be a metal suitcase. His hard chest appeared to be further stretching the shirt to its breaking point, the massive round muscles dotted with two nipples that showed through the skin-tight fabric and pointing at me. His abs were impossibly defined and sculpted, belonging to a bronze statue rather than a person. The ridges between them were so deep that they almost sucked the fabric of the shirt into the deep valleys. My neck moved on its own, glancing down his pants, and I did my best not to gasp. I could perfectly see the outline of his cock, perfectly sitting beneath the thin fabric of the jeans that did nothing to conceal the immense bulge. It looked to be seven inches, soft. Every inch of it was visible as it ran down the length of his left thigh, another massive muscle that made me congratulate the sturdiness of his pants. It was a miracle that they hadn’t burst yet.

His face was still looking at me when I snapped out of it, and I scrambled to put a response. “I was just… uh, you know, intern stuff, horrible torture from the supervisor, making me run up and down the building like a wild rabbit. What’s up with you, bud?” I playfully smacked him in his huge arm, knowing that he probably didn’t even feel it.

It was his turn to look around awkwardly. “Oh, you know. Flying around the West Coast, shutting down nuclear reactors in case the Corruption decides to pay a visit,” he slowly said as he looked outside the many windows of the floor. His hand was unconsciously gripping the suitcase now, so much that he had put a dent to the handle. “Listen, we need to talk about the lasagna last night. They were pretty burnt, and I want to make sure everything is fine between us.”

I nodded my head. Lasagna was a code-word for my powers, something we had made up the day before I applied for an internship in the Province. Every time Sam’s danger sense spiked around me, the lasagna would be ‘burnt’. Other times, when things were relaxed, the lasagna would be ‘perfect’. Neither he nor I could afford having an invisible soldier behind us, listening to every word we said, never mind the numerous hidden cameras positioned throughout the entire building.

“How burnt are talking about? Like a little discoloring in the top?” I smiled back, trying not to show the desperation in my face.

“More like charcoal,” he bent down, whispering in my ear. “Meet me at my place when you’re done with your shift.” With that, he gently patted my shoulders and disappeared from my view, leaving me alone to wonder what the hell had just happened.

Fuck this. Screw Miss Diggins and her horrid chores.

I was not about to climb down the entire way to my floor after what Sam had just told me. Taking the nearest elevator I could, I punched the number 40 and closed my eyes, trying to ground myself to reality. It would all be okay after Sam and I talked. He would explain any of his suspicions and we would deal with the problem together. I hadn’t noticed any change in my powers, other than minute-improvements in summoning the orb of antimatter, taking me a full ten seconds to produce ten grams of the stuff. The level of destruction these ten grams could produce was something that frightened me both me and Sam. He always looked at the white particle with suspicion and contempt, almost as if he expected it to talk back. Needless to say, I had never allowed the enveloping shield to disappear. I was almost certain that I wouldn’t be able to control the antimatter once it contacted the matter in the air, beginning the chain reaction that would literally vaporize us from the face of the planet.

I opened my eyes, patiently waiting for the angelic ‘ding’ to sound. The elevator was taking an awfully long time, and I couldn’t bear to listen to another discipline lecture from Miss Diggins about the importance of being on time.

I only grasped that something was wrong when the elevator started climbing through the ninetieth floor, steadily going to the ninetieth-first and ninetieth-second. I felt the color bleach out from my face, realizing that these floors were definitely not meant to be walked by interns. This was the big boy league, the stakeholders and directors of the Province, their time more valuable than statues of pure gold. I tried pushing any other number, desperately pleading for the elevator to stop its ascension.

Nothing worked.

I watched in horror as ninety-eight became ninety-nine, and then finally one hundred.

Ding!

The doors opened and I was left to stare at a grant, expansive room. Massive windows had been  placed in the edges instead of walls, giving me a glimpse at just how high in the sky we were. The HQ was a gigantic building, perhaps the tallest in the state, and as I slowly started walking around, I could feel the change of atmosphere from the high attitude. The entire floor was empty, except for a single, small desk positioned directly in the middle of it. It was made of some luxurious wood and glass, as it reflected the beams of sunlight entering through the windows. On top of the desk was a small laptop, and someone was hunching close to it, as if they couldn’t see what they were reading. As I walked closer and closer, I could behind to discern the shape of an old woman, perhaps in her seventies by the long mane of white hair she had.

“Well? Are you going to keep me waiting?” the woman looked up from the laptop, her lips curling into a smile. However, her eyes betrayed a kind of irritation that only old, rich, and powerful people had around them. I decided to pick up my pace, almost jogging to get to the middle of the floor. Even without the cubicles and the printers and the papers, the floors were still large enough for me to be out of breath when I finally reached the desk. I could see her clearer now. She was certainly old, but not ancient. She had wrinkles around her face, but they were few and in-between. Her eyes sparked a brilliant blue, and her pearly whites smiled as she showered me with a smile. Her clothes were immaculate, a smart jacket around a white top and designer-made pants that probably cost what my brother made in a year. She wasn’t wearing any jewelry on her neck or ears, but in her hand, I could see several large gemstones attached to golden and silver rings. One of them even glowed, a beautiful orange.

She saw me staring at the glowing ring, and her smile widened. “You like it? It’s a gift from the Washington Director. It has been tinkered by Sorceress.”

My eyes widened as I heard her name. “Sorceress? Wasn’t she supposed to be locked-“ I started blurting out, but I had to stop before I embarrassed myself.

“In the Mountain?” she mused. “There’s a programme, you know. Made to rehabilitate supervillains who have powers that could be proven useful. They’ll never become true heroes, but the taste of artificial freedom we can provide them is more than enough. Sorceress took the deal, and she made these rings for all of us. It provides a limited sense of clairvoyance, so that every Director knows where every other Director is.”

I nodded, as if I understood what she was saying. “Uh, not that this isn’t super interesting and all, but why are you telling me this? I must have accidentally pushed the wrong floor, so I can just go back to my supervisor,” I laughed awkwardly.

The smile disappeared from her smile and her eyes bore into mine. “Percy Duval, yes? New intern, I presume.”

“That is correct,” I quickly nodded.

“I remember your application. I had it fast-tracked.”

My mind froze. “You were the one that accepted my application? I didn’t know Directors involved themselves with the internship programme.”

The Director’s neck tilted to the left, as if she was a dog looking at a new toy. “We don’t. I am familiar with your family, Percy. Your brother. Mother. Father.”

Oh shit. Oh shit. This was no accident. She must have overridden the elevator somehow. She wanted to meet me.

“Yes. I know all about that pesky incident with your father. Class 9, matter manipulator. Truly frightening stuff, when you realise that we are matter as well, and thus able to be manipulated. Air too. Everything really. Made one of our agents into literal dust. Tell me, how was he before he was… apprehended?” she asked, closing her laptop with a small thud.

I wanted to slap her teeth out. The way she looked at me, she knew that the news of my supposed murderer of my father was still fresh and raw. The tiny grin on her face, the way that her eyes drifted left and right to catch a reaction, it reminded me of a snake waiting for the kill.

I cleared my throat. “My father was a wonderful man. His family meant everything to him. He always made time to hang out with me and Johnny, even when he was dead tired from working overtime at his job.”

“Really now? Such a powerful man, not using his gifts to make a fortune. Matter Manipulation is one of the strongest powers I have made in my entire career, not considering other threats and the Pillars. I find it hard to believe that he wouldn’t at least use it to transmute precious metal or something, if you don’t mind me saying.”

Made? Did I mishear her?

I rattled my mind, trying to find the perfect response. “I’m not sure why he didn’t take advantage of his powers. He was always smiling when he was around us. Perhaps he was happy enough that we were with him. I had never, ever, seen him sad or angry when he was with us. Everything was perfect, until-“ I shook my head, trying to not myself tear up in front of the Director that had sent my dad in jail.

“Until what?” she said, her eyes half-closing in suspicion.

“Until he got caught and murdered a man, I guess,” I gritted my teeth and clenched my wrists. I could literally make her explode, along with the rest of this godawful building. The Province was a disease, corrupting innocent people like my father into committing atrocious things simply because they were strong.

I could actually make her go away, forever. I would probably die too, and so would countless others, the force of the antimatter explosion probably annihilating everything in a mile radius.

I had to calm down. Now.

“Well, let’s not dwell in sad affairs now. How are you finding the internship?” she changed the subject with a wave of her ring-filled hand. She was so smug, more than Miss Diggins. She practically asked me to insult her. Or that was my anger trying to make me act in a way that would make everything explode in my face, perhaps too literally.

“It’s quite alright. I do hope I get a good letter of recommendation from my supervisor after I finish the internship over the summer.”

“Have you considered applying for the superhero programme as well? I bet that your internship here would give you more chances at being accepted by the Province, you know. Maybe I could help a little bit as well,” she grinned again.

I didn’t understand what she was getting at. The superhero programme was explicitly for people with powers, not normal civilians like-

It suddenly hit me, and I almost squealed in fear.

Oh fuck.

As she saw my expression change, she grabbed something from under her desk and threw it at me. I half expected it to be a gun, or a grenade, or anything that would end me, but I was more surprised to see that it was my backpack. The one that I had accidentally lost when Sam was flying over Las Vegas.

“We found this in the Mojave Desert, next to some rather interesting craters. You see, the sand had crystallized in them, showing high levels of gamma radiation. Quite peculiar, I’d say. Even more when we found your backpack.”

I suddenly felt like I was caught with my hands in the cookie jar. The way she looked at me was like a scolding mother, ready to punish me for the rest of my life. “Alas, a simple coincidence. Nothing to worry about, correct?”

I was shaking as I whispered, “Yes ma’am.”

“Great! Off you go now. I heard Miss Diggins wants you to run and get her some donuts. That cow ought to want a ton of them,” she grumbled as she opened her laptop again and went straight to typing.

I was halfway near the elevator when I heard her name again. “Oh, and Percy?” she nearly shouted.

“Yes?”

“I’d hate to see you have the same fate as your father. Please look into the Superhero Programme. There aren’t many spots left, but the Mountain is always willing to take more!” she cackled like she had just told the greatest joke of all time.

Waiting for the elevator felt like an eternity as I desperately tried to stop my hand from forming an antimatter particle and removing her from existence.

^ ^ ^

“She knows. She fucking knows!” I wailed as I stepped around Sam’s tiny apartment. Laundry was everywhere, along with a plethora of ripped clothes and torn trousers. Sam was apparently upgrading his wardrobe, as his clothes were now so small that he was struggling to look decent every time he left his house. Not that I minded the view really, but it wouldn’t be nice to be arrested for public indecency.

“Percy, you need to relax. If she knew, wouldn’t she have taken you in by now?” Sam asked, sitting down in the sofa, and flipping through the channels of the TV without ever stopping at anything in particular. Even then, I could sense his anxiety, despite him trying to appear cool. He only stopped when he found Channel 9, going through today’s news.

“-paint has been stolen from warehouses across the entire states of Oregon, Nevada, and Idaho. At the time, there are no clear suspects regarding these peculiar robberies, although authorities claim that this is not going to affect the public in any major way.”

“This is not the time to watch stupid TV! We’re burning down here!” I yelled at Sam, and he immediately shut it off, turning his full attention to me. “That’s better. Now, what the hell are we going to do? I’m telling you; the old hound knows about me. Why else would she give me the backpack and threaten me with the Mountain? You can’t send normal citizens in there, as far as I know.”

Sam moved on the edge of the couch, as signaled by the groans of the poor thing. It must have been reinforced with something in order to not break under his huge mass. Patting the spot next to him, he smiled. I slowly moved over and took my place next to him. I idly stared at the black screen of his TV, wondering how we even got here.

“You know I got your back, right? I won’t let an interdimensional horror to get its fangs at you, no matter what. The Director is another beast entirely, though. If she has figured out your power, then you’re going to have to agree with everything she says, one way or another,” Sam mused, putting his large hand on my shoulders and dragging me closer to him. The weather was getting warmer now, and the intense heat coming out of his body did not help at all. Nevertheless, I allowed myself to exhale, slowly melting in his grasp. “Have you talked to your brother yet? You know, about…” he nudged at my hands like they were radioactive.

They might as well have been.

“No, of course I haven’t. I’ve barely even seen him since we returned from Portland. I’m busy with the internship, and he’s doing double shifts almost every day now. I don’t think we even need the money, it’s just that he doesn’t want to be home with me.”

Sam perked up. “What makes you say that? I thought you two were in pretty good standing.”

“We were until I started acting like a brat. And then I got these powers, and then we went to Portland, and after that it’s been… I don’t know. Awkward? I feel like he knows I’m holding secrets from him, and that’s the last thing he wants from life. More secrets.”

Slowly, Sam put his head in my shoulder. It would be really cute if his head wasn’t big as well, making my shoulder strain from the effort. Nevertheless, I let him do it. I liked how I could feel his warm breath so close to my neck, and the way his skin felt against mine was… intense. I adjusted myself a little in fear I popped a boner right there and then.

“Hey, Percy?” Sam broke the peace after a few minutes. I was beginning to fall asleep, my head leaning to his, but his deep voice woke me up.

“Yeah? What is it?” I yawned as I stretched my hands. I couldn’t even begin to encircle Sam’s bulk with them, but I tried, nevertheless. He seemed to appreciate the gesture, and he smiled.

“Do you want to get out of here?” he then said, his smile disappearing in an instant. He was dead serious.

“Get out of here? And go where exactly?” I asked, confused.

“I don’t know, away! I can fly us to Hawaii, or Greece, or Russia even! We can have a vacation, just you and me. No more Directors, no more Corruptions. Just peace and freedom, together. Let everyone else deal with this crap for just a single moment,” he said, his tone getting slightly more intense as he went on.

I entertained the idea. Before, I was contemplating leaving everything and running away on my own, and I had laughed at the notion. But with Sam? Sweet, handsome, giant Sam? It seemed very alluring now that I thought about it.

“Leave everyone else to deal with it, huh?” I wondered out loud, and Sam jumped next to me.

“Are you actually considering it?” his face had lit up like a kid on Christmas Eve. I don’t think I had ever seen him happier. His smile was gorgeous, simply waiting for me to lean in and kiss it.

It would all be so easy if I did it. We would get up and run away. Grab the bare essentials and then get a condo in Los Angeles or Mykonos or a mountain and just living there for the rest of our lives.

Indeed, it would be so easy to just give up and leave.

That was precisely the reason I couldn’t.

Julia’s words still echoed through my mind. If we left, we could be sealing the end of the world. I couldn’t exactly tell Sam about Julia and her prophecies, not without giving away her secret. I couldn’t do that to my best friend, not after bringing her so much pain.

I had to let him down another way. It killed me to do this, but I had to.

“Sam…” I started saying, and I could see the hope in his eyes extinguish. It almost broke my heart. “That would be amazing. Really. I would love to go around the world with you, enjoy our time, have some fun.”

“But you won’t do it,” Sam rose his towering body up, making me feel like a toddler again. His expression was of pure disappointment, and for some reason it reminded me of the Director.

“It’s just that… I don’t know anything about you! I don’t know where you’re from, I don’t know about your family, or your friends! I don’t know your history! You can’t expect me to simply give up my old life and run away with you, right?” I tried to explain, knowing that my argument wasn’t strong enough.

“Really?” he shot back. “You really want to know about my past?” his eyes squinted in doubt. “Fine. What do you want to know?”

I couldn’t believe my ears. Sam Shaw was giving me a free pass on his history. “Okay. Um. Do you have any family or something?” I asked, curious to hear the answer.

“Hmm. Mom, Dad, and brother all perished in a car accident. Their bodies were unrecognizable. Closed casket. I survived, somehow. Next question?” he said, tapping his foot down in annoyance, making almost the entire apartment shake.

I froze, nearly not believing what he had just told me. His entire family is dead?! I had suspected something like that, but this was beyond horrible. “Uhm. Jesus. I’m so sorry. Didn’t your family have powers as well?” I said, knowing that it wasn’t nearly enough.

“You know that powers do not have a genetic component, right? It’s all pure randomness on what you get, although similar powers cluster together, but this doesn’t matter right now. It’s okay. I’m over it. Next question?”

Huh. I always thought that powers ran in families. That’s what the school curriculum had taught us anyways. I wouldn’t dare correct Sam right now, though.

“Uh, okay. Do you have any friends then?” I moved to my next question. Surely, such a handsome guy must have had more than a few people following him around.

“Oh, that’s a tricky one. After the accident, the government send me to an orphanage. The best in the entire country, until it burned down to the ground. All my real friends died horrifically around me, but somehow, I was able to withstand the fire and the smoke. That’s how the Province found me, actually,” Sam answered with no emotion in his voice.

It took considerable effort to keep my mouth from hanging open. What the fuck? Why the hell is everyone dying around this guy? I had to keep my cool, or else I would look like a super asshole. Saying something now would make everything worse.

“I know what you’re thinking. Oh, poor little Sam, all his friends and family are dead. He doesn’t have anyone in the world, boo-fucking-hoo,” Sam’s voice got louder again. If he had any neighbors, they were surely hearing everything now. “You know, after the Provi-“ he stopped, correcting himself, “-the Director took me in, she made me go through a thousand different tests. So much pain, in so little time. But as always, I got over it,” he cracked his knuckles as he moved around his apartment. “I was so little and innocent back then. That changed when I went to school for the first time. The sheer amount of bullying that I was against at the time was enough to make me want to jump off the roof of the HQ. I’d had done it, if the crystals at the top of the building didn’t produce a forcefield.

“Sam, I’m sorry, but you should-“ I tried stopping him, but his voice boomed over me.

“NO. Just let me speak for once.”

I gulped down, sensing my dry throat. “Okay.”

“Yes. Okay. That’s what I thought,” he almost hissed. “I don’t think you realize how much it hurts to grow a foot taller almost overnight. Your legs and spine and everything literally stretch themselves, and the pain is almost unbearable. I was going from party-size to quarterback levels in the span of a few weeks, and every single day hurt. I couldn’t even breathe properly because my ribs hurt so much.”

He suddenly stopped and punched a hole through the wall. I instinctively yelled at the sight of sudden violence, and when the dust cleared, I could see Sam having pushed almost his entire arm in the new hole.

“That felt good,” he smiled savagely. It was the smile of a predator. “That’s when I started getting stronger too. I was starving every single day; I was eating everything they were giving me. One day, I got so hungry I ran towards the trees of my school and started eating the leaves. But people weren’t making fun of me as much these days, especially since I was so much taller than most of them. Everything I was eating would somehow only convert to muscle rather than fat, and when you’re both big and tall, that’s when people go from making fun of you to… fearing you,” he crunched his hand, still in the wall, and I could feel concrete being obliterated in response.

“Sam… please stop. You made your point.”

Sam shook his head. “I haven’t even begun. Making friends was so easy when most of the girls wanted a piece of this,” he said, flexing the giant bicep of his free arm and making it even bigger, “that it was almost laughable. Suddenly, I was in the football team, breaking new records every time, I was on the field. The guys were either envious or scared, but I couldn’t care less. I finally had new friends.”

With deliberate slowness, Sam removed his arm from the wall, the entire apartment shaking as he did. I was afraid he had broken something in the foundation, and now the entire building would come crashing down at us.

“So, imagine what happened when I got so excited in our final play of our sophomore year and showed my full strength against the other team. Their quarterback broke almost every bone on his body, spine included, and he was bent in so many different ways that the paramedics didn’t think he’d make it to the hospital. I can still hear the screams of the students, the wails his mother made as he saw her little boy utterly broken.”

Even if I had the power to say something, anything, I wouldn’t dare stop him now. My mind was partly listening to him, and also trying to find ways to escape the apartment in case Sam went amok. I hated my way of thinking, but the things he was telling me sounded more than personal.

“After that, nobody talked to me again. The school wanted me out, I wanted out, the Province paid millions to keep this under rags, and also paid for a healer to visit the quarterback. They fixed him, kind of. He doesn’t have legs or an arm anymore, but he’s alive. I don’t know if I would call that living though,” his voice trembled as he dusted himself off. Everything in my mind was screaming at me that this was a bomb about to explode, and I had somehow set it off. He then turned and looked at me, a weird gleam in his blue eyes. “So, tell me Percy. Is that enough information for you, or do you want more?” he growled as he started moving closer to me. Whatever was in his way, he would just shove it away, and it would crush and break against the walls or the kitchen counter. He threw the entire sofa away as if it weighed less than a piece of paper.

“Sam, Sam. Please calm down! I’m sorry, I-I-“ I blurted out, my entire body feeling almost paralyzed as I saw the giant stud of a teenager walk closer to me with what I could only assume was a murderous intent. He closed on me, so fast that I couldn’t even make a move for the door. His body trapped my feeble one, and I couldn’t help but cower in fear.

“You’re sorry? What are you sorry for, exactly? The fact that you don’t trust me, even after all this time, or the fact that you just won’t understand how much I like you?!” he uttered, his face only a few inches from mine.

What.

Out of anything I could have said, only one sentence was blurted out of my mouth. “You… you like me?”

I could see all the color drain from Sam’s face, and all the anger and frustration that was coming out of him evaporated, replaced by a kind of primal fear. “Shit. FUCK!” he yelled and pushed me aside, jumping into the wall and going through it. Bricks and dust flew everywhere, and a wild stone managed to nick me in my cheek.

I didn’t care.

Before I could do anything to stop him, I saw Sam fly away, in speeds I would never manage to achieve even if I had my own jet.

^ ^ ^

Province Headquarters: 100^th Floor.

The old woman was walking back and forth in her massive office, the size of an entire floor. When the architects asked if she wanted anything added, she had kicked them out. The exquisite view of the city below her was something that should not be spoiled by mere furniture.

Most days, she enjoyed looking at the little people below, walking around the streets and living their simple lives. They didn’t know that she was watching them, watching every single person. Privacy was something that she didn’t bother herself with anymore. Any secrets her loyal citizens had were also hers, and hers alone.

Now, however, the Director could feel the malevolent hand of chaos threatening to unravel the entire empire she had built through blood and tears. She could feel the storm coming, and when it did, she had to be ready to face the music. With a swift movement of her hands, the chip inside her ear was activated, the connection open.

“Agent Bravado here. How could I help you, Miss Director?” the voice of a man came out of the chip.

“What is the update on the Corruption’s location? Has it moved from Idaho?” she demanded from the voice at the other side of the connection. As long as she had a grasp on where the entity was, she could deploy the appropriate countermeasures and achieve victory.

“Ma’am, it kept jumping hosts until it found what it was looking for. I didn’t know that the Province was able to cover up the stories of so many serial murderers appearing out of nowhere in such a short time span.”

“Yes, yes, controlling the media is rather easy when you’re backed up by the government. It was harder to… relocate the ones who kept asking questions. Anyways, what’s its current host? Why did it stop?” the Director bit her nails, before realizing what she was doing and slapping her own hand away. She hated that disgusting habit.

“It’s an Unhuman for sure. We… we don’t know who it is, but he’s the one who has been stealing all these massive amounts of paint over the weeks. All black paint, and we don’t really know why. The target is always moving, so it’s hard to estimate the next destination, although it seems that it has stopped attacking warehouses for the time being.”

The Director pondered for a minute. Paint? Why would the Corruption need paint? Did it decide to abandon its career of mass genocide and pick up drawing instead?

A white-hot dagger of heat broke her concentration in an instant, and she rose her hand in alert. One of her rings was glowing an ominous red. “Very well, Agent Bravado. Continue the surveillance and alert the team the moment the Corruption begins moving to Seattle. Other than the Mountain, this is the city with one of the most powerful Unhumans in thousands of miles. If it comes anywhere, it will be here. I have to go now,” she finally said, ending the connection right there and then.

Not even a minute passed when she felt the room temperature drop. Soon, she could even see her own breath in the cold climate. If she was superstitious, she’d be terrified that a demon had been summoned in her office.

Actually, she smiled bitterly, a demon would be better. Her attention turned to the front of her own desk, where time and space were beginning to fragment and break down to their fundamental forces. For a single moment, she could see entire galaxies and nebulas, countless words brimming with life and death, all wiggling together like worms in a can. Then, as soon as her brain registered the image, a rectangular object appeared out of nowhere, resembling a doorway. It was completely white, seamless in an almost maddening way. Its edges frizzled in contact with actual matter, and the structure wobbled for a bit before solidifying.

A man entered through the infinite white, appearing out of the doorway. The Director prided herself on having high standards, but even see was struck at how beautiful the man in front of her was. She simply couldn’t stop admiring his immaculate features, his strong jaw, his black hair styled in an 80s haircut worn by the famous investors of Wall Street. His eyes, though, were his most attractive feature, a sea of endless grey that almost made her pant with desire. He was wearing one of his usual black suits, although this time, she could see him holding the suit jacket draped over at his shoulder, showing off the size of his biceps and forearms. He was by no means huge like her pet project was, but the man had a kind of aura that made it difficult not to submit to it.

“Miss Addams. Always a pleasure,” the man smiled as he took a few steps ahead, approaching her. His smile reminded her of Allen Delon in his younger years, able to swoon thousands of girls just like that. “I see that you still wear the ring I gave you. Lovely. Although, from your expression, I presume that your investment hasn’t turned out the way you intended?” he said as he sat on top of her desk. He was taller than average, his expensive shoes clinging firmly on the ground.

“It’s good to see you too, Ben. No, I’m afraid that he won’t be able to be ready for the fight against the Corruption. Such a shame too. He was so close in overcoming that last hurdle, that last limit. After that, he’d be a walking god,” she shook her head in disappointment. “It’s that little boy toy of his, Percy. Thank everything that the idiot managed to awaken to something worthwhile. Maybe this entire operation won’t go to hell after all.”

The man perked up at the sound of the name. “Oh? Do tell. What kind of powers did he awaken to?” he asked as he put his jacket down and unconsciously flexed his arms. Even through the shirt, she could see how defined they were.

“Some kind of explosion inducement powers. Based on our gamma radiation readings, we presume it to be antimatter. Powerful stuff, although not even remotely usable based on the nature of antimatter. I don’t know how it will affect the Corruption, but it’s the third best thing we’ve got, barring Wannabee Girl or… Timebreaker.”

Ben looked at her with a funny look on his handsome face.

He’s studying me. Goddamn him to hell.

He then got up from the desk and moved closer. “That does not concern us though, does it? You’re here because you want permission to go ahead with Timebreaker’s Endworld trinket. You know what this machine can do, and how it can affect us all, right?” he said as he put his hands on hers, engulfing them.

Miss Addams was not a woman who understood fear. But with this man, it was sometimes the only emotion she felt.

“I am well aware of that. But the situation demands us that we secure our legacy, one way or another. If the Corruption manages to grab one of our stronger Unhumans, then there will be nothing left. Sam is not strong enough to stop a Corruption-fuelled Mister Superior, never mind someone like Wannabee Girl. If Timebreaker is caught, then we’re as good as dead. I have to protect our future, Ben. Even if that means becoming the bad guy of this story.”

Ben’s grip strengthened against her hands, but not enough to bring her pain. She looked up to his wonderful grey eyes, and she was surprised to find tears in them. “I understand you, Lydia. I really do. Hell, if it was on my hand, I’d let you go ahead with your plan immediately. The knowledge that your universe has provided to us is immeasurable. The Corruption is capable of reducing it all to dust, and it would be a tremendous loss to see it blink out like a spent candle.”

The Director felt her mouth curl into a frown. “But you have to do your job. You’re here to ask me for a collateral in case this all explodes in our faces.”

Ben’s face darkened, and his hands rose to his eyes in order to wipe the moisture away. “That is correct. The Library cannot authorize this exorbitant request of yours without you supplying something of equal value.”

“I know what you will ask me. I’ve built the entire Province with the help of this… thing you know,” she said as he moved towards her desk, making sure not to touch the white portal in case she felt through the multiversal lattice, never to be seen again.

Underneath the mahogany wood, she felt the cold metal of the small fingerprint scanner, moving her thump to it. A few seconds later, the top of the desk began opening in two, revealing a suitcase hidden underneath. That stupid pet of hers had somehow put a dent on the handle, but the mechanism was otherwise undamaged.

Damn it all to hell.

The Director cleared her throat. “Bravo. Quebec. Kilo. Uniform. Sierra. Three. Four. Nine. Six.”

The suitcase opened, an audible click echoing around the two adults. “Access granted,” the suitcase announced, and Ben moved to open it.

“WAIT!” she screamed, grabbing his hand. Instantly, she felt her entire heartbeat slow down until she wasn’t sure whether she was having a heart attack or not. Ben turned his face at her, an expression of pure anger making his once angelic characteristics resembling a demon spawned from the depths of hell.

“Let my hand go. Now,” he fumed.

She instantly followed his command, her breath quickening but her heartbeat returning to normal. This is no mere man. He is a monster. She cleared her throat again, praying that her voice sounded normal. “I need to put a second code. If you touch the suitcase, it will detonate and kill both of us in an explosion of shrapnel laced with the blood of Dinocrab, a deceased Unhuman. It’s capable of turning your blood into a specific type of enzyme that can self-replicate, leaving only a puddle of protein and bones behind.”

Ben observed her for what felt like an eternity, before nodding his head. “Please excuse my manners. I’ve had a long day, and the interns in the Library have been more than a headache. We almost had to cut off a universe from the multiversal lattice, you know?” he laughed at his own joke.

“Right,” she said and moved to the suitcase. “There is no secret door that will lead you to the next adventure. Stop looking. This is it. There is nothing else.” The suitcase made a whirring sound, and then it opened on its own, revealing its contents within. She quickly grabbed it and held it in her hand.

“Ironic, using that quote. Here I am, a man from another world, entering yours through a secret door!” Ben clapped his hands in amusement. The Director didn’t respond, her attention directed at the object inside her palm.

“This… this thing. If I give it to you, then I won’t be able to make any more Unhumans. You will leave us without the greatest weapon we can deploy against the Corruption,” she trembled, her voice shaking. Slowly removing the rings from the fingers to limit any potential of catastrophic accident, she turned to the man in the suit.

She was getting afraid, and that made her paradoxically angry. All this work, all these years working on this project, changing the course of human history forever. She had sacrificed so much, and this man wanted to take her foundation away.

The Director was talking now, resentment flowing through her voice.

“I built my entire fucking career with this abhorrent object! I SCULPTED  this world, I CREATED the Unhumans. I MADE us strong, strong enough to fight against the stupid motherfuckers from Earth Zeta that dared to attack us, I built the Province with my bare hands, and I ALLOWED myself to be demoted to a simple Director of a state to not arouse suspicion. I am a fucking GOD with this thing, and you want me to just give it you?!” she wailed as she opened her palm and revealed what was hiding within.

 

 

Even after all these decades, she couldn’t properly explain what it was. It resembled a crystal of some sorts, a blood red tinge coloring the interior of the gem. It had the shape of a rhomboid, with one end being slightly larger than the other. Every time she had dared to touch it, the crystal would levitate some inches in the air on top of her palm, as if controlled by an unseen force.

She held it in front of the man in the suit. “This Shard is the core of this world. Without it, there will be no more awakenings. We will be stuck with what we got. Sam was my only hope that we finally got lucky with the randomness of the Shard, and we got a good superpower, but… I don’t know. Please, there has to be another way!” she almost cried as she saw Ben reach in, grabbing the Shard and putting it in the pockets of his pants, as if it was nothing more than a packet of cigars. “I used it every day, every night, every time I had a break from this horrible job. It would activate and would grant someone in the world a power. It always took something from me though,” she trembled bitterly.

“Lydia. If there’s someone that knows the importance of this Shard, then it’s me. This isn’t a punishment, but a precaution. In the event that you lose against the awakened Corruption, it would be… unwise to leave the Shard in a compromised universe. Its brothers and sisters might be hidden away in other worlds, but even if one fell in the wrong hands, the damage it could do to the entire multiverse cannot even be fathomed. Can you imagine what the Corruption would do if it got its hands to it?” he mused as he grabbed his coat jacket and walked near the portal. “Your request is granted. You have full permission to use Timebreaker’s machine,” he declared as he began passing through the white.

Lydia Addams fell on the floor. It felt like Ben had grabbed a piece of her soul and tore it out of her. Without the Shard, she was nothing. Just another old hag, patiently waiting for the hand of Death to take her to the underworld where she would surely pay for her many crimes and sins.

“Oh, and Lydia?” Ben added before his head disappeared through the doorway.

“What?” she whispered, tears flowing down her eyes.

“May God have mercy on your souls.”

She watched in desperation as Ben disappeared, the white portal shimmering out of existence the moment his head went through. She was left alone in her office, the opened suitcase being the only sign that something was amiss.

The Director briefly wondered if she had made a terrible mistake. With a grunt, she expelled the thoughts out of her head. By going on this path, she had ensured that her legacy would forever remain, one way or another.

And after all, legacy was the most important thing in the world.

[DawnFire98]

Wow. The ending/third section of your story with the Librarian and the Director is just pure hype for me. At the same time you´ve accomplished to broaden the world of this story and introduce us to new and interesting characters and powers. Now, I wanna see, where this goes. (P.S. Reading this story pushed me to work on my own story more, so thank you!)

[PeepoHappy]

On 6/28/2021 at 7:47 AM, Philosopher said:

“You’re so nice,” Princess cackled. Her demeanor was that of a small child that had been grounded for staying up too long; her words dripped in sarcasm. “You’re not good, you know. You’re not bad either. You’re just nice.”

I reread the story again and I noticed when Princess said "you're not good, you're not bad either, you're just nice", I think it was a reference to "Last Midnight" by Meryl Streep from Into the Woods.

[Philosopher]

I know, I know, I'm three months late, but I'm finally ready to finish the series! I finally moved to my new dorm for the year, and I got some time before the semester starts, so I'm planning on finishing the story before continuing the expansion of this multiverse.

I hope all of you will enjoy, but just a warning before you read. This chapter is rather dark and contains descriptions of intense physical/emotional damage.

Part 13

Darkness.

An infinite void, lacking substance and color.

She didn’t know where to look. She didn’t know what to do. When she tried to breathe in, she found herself chocking. There was nothing to inhale, nothing to exhale. She existed in a plane where creation itself had forgotten to fill it with matter and life.

Julia tried to scream, but nothing came out of her mouth.

Am I dead? Is this it? Was I too late?

She pondered, again and again. The last thing she remembered before falling asleep was that the deadline her power had given her was happening in two days. In two days, the world as she knew it would be changed forever, one way or another.

She tried to scream again, for anything to hear it, pass her message to someone who could do something, anyone in the real world.

Nothing.

The silence could never be more deafening.

Julia tried to move her body, but there was nothing to move. She couldn’t see her arms, her torso, her legs. It was as if someone had completely erased them from existence, along with everything else.

Is this punishment? Did I misuse my powers somehow?

She was about to scream again when something moved in the void.

Red.

A red light, or liquid, seeping through the black nothingness that encircled her. It began encompassing the surrounding area, which seemed to be a bigger than her own bedroom. Threads of red began appearing out of nowhere, crimson color blooming in the obsidian nothingness.

Soon, one of the threads reached her own perspective. It was so close, almost mocking her, daring her to touch it and see what would happen. Julia knew that it was a trap of some kind, but she touched it anyways. There was nothing else to do.

Her perspective instantly changed, the black and red dissipating. She found herself back in her body. She had matter again, she existed, and she almost started to cry.

But when she tried to breathe in, her mind almost broke apart.

Pain.

Infinite pain radiating from every part of her body. It felt like a thousand tons had crashed all her bones into a pulp, the rest of her mangled flesh little more than a paste of human flesh. She screamed and screamed, but only a low wail came out of her mouth. Everything tasted like metal, and her vision swam along with dust and blood. She tried to move her hand, only for it to radiate levels of pain she had never thought possible back to her brain.

It was so much that it took half an hour for her consciousness to return back to her broken body.

This is hell. I am dead and this is my punishment.

She almost didn’t see the red thread worming itself into her vision. She did everything to touch it again, and when she did, she found herself back to the black void.

There was no more pain, but the memories didn’t leave her.

More and more threads made their way down the walls, eclipsing the black and painting the entire room an ominous crimson.

Suddenly, Julia understood.

The threads weren’t punishment. This was the future.

Her future.

These threads were timelines.

Timelines where she died a horrific death. Some kind of building had probably crashed her in one of these futures, and the threads had given her a glimpse of her end. 

And by judging from the increasing number of red, her future appeared to be rather bloody.

She touched a thread that seemed more pink than crimson. Perhaps this future wouldn't be so bad?

Instantly, she found herself in the middle of a wasteland. Still burning flames surrounded demolished buildings around her, and she could hear more structures crumbling down to the ground, shock-waves echoing around her. The air was thick with black tar and smoke, she could barely see in front of her. The ground was wet, and when she looked down, she saw what she assumed to be dried blood.

"Julia?" a frail voice came from her left, but she recognized it immediately. It was Percy. She started running towards the source of the void, so happy and ecstatic to have her best friend in this self-made hell.

She found him a few feet away from her original position.

It was indeed Percy. Grit, blood, and dust had painted his face a horrific crimson, speckled with black streaks of god-knew-what. The moment he saw her, Percy immediately started coughing, falling down on his knees. Behind him laid a crater the size of... she couldn't understand. It seemed to stretch miles on the horizon.

But this is supposed to be downtown...

The horror just wouldn't stop. Seattle was gone, erased from the map.

"I had to do it, Julia. I had to stop... I had to stop it," Percy crawled towards her, his hands an unrecognizable mess of flesh and bone. "I... I think I used too much. I-" he coughed again, only this time, blood came out. "I think I'm dying."

She quickly made her way next to her dying friend. "Oh Percy. Oh, what happened?" she cried, feeling her own body becoming weaker.

"It is the radiation. The explosion produced so much of it. We're walking corpses, Julia. And so is everyone else, unless they made it to the underground bunkers," Percy replied. She could hear life escaping from his words. "We... we were wrong. We should have used the machine. Timebreaker's machine, it- it would give us another chance."

They both sat down, energy seeping away from them. Julia could feel her own body shutting down, and she knew that the end would soon be coming for both of them.

"I'm so sorry, Julia. There was- there was no other way," Percy shook his head. His eyes had taken a sickly yellow, as if he was suffering from jaundice.

"Shh. It's okay. It's okay, Percy. We are together. This is the only thing that matters now," Julia cried as she grabbed his non-mangled hand.

A few minutes later, they went to sleep for the last time.

^ ^ ^

Julia woke up screaming. Her parents barged in her bedroom in mere seconds, only to see their only daughter covered in sweat and tears.

“Julia, oh my god, close your window!” her mother ushered to the other side of the room, while her father consoled her.

“Another nightmare?” he asked, sitting next to her in the bed, and she nodded her head.

Her father placed her hands around her in a semi-hug. This was always his own signal for bad news.

“Julia, I need you to listen to me very closely. Your mother and I will have to lock the entire house, and we will have to go to the basement for a while, okay? You have to grab everything you need from your room, because we will stay down there for quite some time,” he explained to her, his hands straining from emotion and stress. It was something she had seen before, during all these times she would go to the doctor for her check-ups.

“Wh-why? What’s happening? Is it a hurricane?” she meekly asked, her brain still reeling from her horrible visions.

Her mother soon joined them, stepping down in front of the bed and grabbing her hand. “No, sweetie. It’s a supervillain attack. A big one. The Province has put a Class 9 alert to the entire city. We need to go to the basement right now.”

Julia immediately understood.

It was time.

It was time for everything, everyone to say goodbye. “No. No. You must be wrong,” she shook her head in denial. It was early, too early. “This can’t be how it ends,” Julia whispered and cried as her parents hugged her tightly. “This cannot be.”

No matter how her father and mother tried to comfort her, the only thing she could do was cry and shake her head in fear.

Unfortunately, her power had been two days off-track.

^ ^ ^

I stood alone in the break room, slowly munching down a raspberry donut. It was one of the few perks that The Province would grant its employees, that being free meals every day. From Italian cuisine to old-fashioned burgers and fries, it provided entire buffets in every single floor. Most of the food would be trashed by the midnight crew, so this was one of the best times to take advantage of the abundance of delicacies.

No wonder the taxpayers are complaining about the maintenance for every state’s headquarters. You can literally eat like a king!

Most of the people had checked out for the day, as it was a relatively quiet Friday, and everyone wanted to go to their families and perhaps enjoy a lazy evening with them. That is, except me, because my manager had put me some extra assignments to do because she simply felt like it. Plus, I was still avoiding Johnny these days, although not as much as before, and I didn’t feel like walking home before eating at least a gazillion calories worth of free food.

I patted my stomach as I began to feel satisfied. I quick glance at the clock told me that it was 11 PM.

My manager’s shenanigans had continued to haunt my every minute in the building, making me run up and down in floors, never mind her near constant demands of iced lattes at the other end of the town. The only good thing to come out of this situation was that my stamina had improved quite a lot, and so did my definition, the result of literal hours of walking, running, and biking around the city. I did have to admit that all these jobs were also a small blessing, as my brain would be too focused on the task to think about more pressing manners, such as the fact that I hadn’t seen Sam for nearly three weeks now, or that doomsday was supposedly approaching, all according to Jules and her prophetic vision.

Now, being alone in a room filled with empty chairs and tables, I couldn’t help but wonder just how the hell had I found myself in this situation. Was this the accumulation of all my previous choices, or were these choices manipulated by un unseen hand, a presence that no mortal could quite pinpoint and reveal?

Had Sam admitted his feelings of me because of that presence, or was it really how he felt about me? Did I even really liked him as much as he liked me? I mean, he was the definition of a perfect human being, quite literally self-improving his body as time went on, but the same couldn’t be said about the mental parts of himself. He was hot-headed, irrational, reckless, and something told me he rarely took no for an answer.

But at the same time, he was sweet, caring, and his thirst for justice was unparalleled to nobody. He’d always try to cheer me up when I felt down, and every minute I spent with him felt natural.

Right.

And now, he was nowhere to be found. Somehow, he went completely off the radar, and even the Province’s quasi-AI’s couldn’t pinpoint his exact location with their ultra-powerful satellites. The Director had even called me up to her floor to ask me whether I knew something about where Sam had gone, since ‘we were so close, practically glued together at the hip’. Her words, not mine, but I could only shake my head in ignorance. My guess was that he somehow adapted to be untraceable by modern technology or flung himself deep into the depths of the earth, where not even infrared technology could detect him.

I’d honestly do anything to speak to him right now, work things out, and just talk, but it’s never that simple, is it? There’s always an error in the code, a glitch in the system, an excuse for people like me to never get their happy ending, right? I was practically helpless, equipped with an ill-conceived power that was meant for self-assured destruction in the best case, unable to help with the investigation or the prevention of the end of the world. I knew that the high ranks of the Province knew that there was something really bad happening right now somewhere on the planet, the Corruption working its way towards its target for the eternal death of the universe or something horrible like that, and I’d just stand there, delivering coffee and pastries to an overweight woman whose laugh reminded me that of a seagull screech.

Happy thoughts, Percy. Happy thoughts.

Finishing the donut in my hands, I puffed away the sugar and began heading for the elevators. My phone kept dinging my entire shift, but corporate didn’t allow us to use it at any time in fear of taking a break before our allocated time. I finally took it off my pocket, eager to see if I had any messages from Sam.

To my surprise, it was three missed calls from Johnny. That wasn’t particularly odd, but he knew I couldn’t answer during my shift, so it was weird that he had tried to call me three times in a row. I hit the call-back button and waited patiently for the elevator to arrive.

He picked up almost immediately.

“PERCY, WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU?!” he screamed at the other side of the line, and I instinctively pulled the phone away from me, my left ear ringing from the sudden loudness.

“Johnny, what the fuck?! Stop yelling, I’m at work! You know this!” I shouted back, although not nearly at the same volume. “It’s extra pay, and my manager hates me so she’s putting me in night duty. I have to pr-“ I continued to explain, but a sudden crash from the phone made me stop. “What was that? Are you playing a game?” I asked, not understanding why my brother was so mad at me.

“DIDN’T YOU HEAR THE NEWS?! YOU HAVE TO COME HOME, RIGHT NOW!” Percy roared at the phone, making me almost drop it. The elevator dinged at the same time, opening its doors for me. “There’s a Class 9 threat for the entire city! Some kind of supervillain that the Province has never seen before! Jesus! Are you still at the headquarters?” he asked, panic abundant in his voice.

I took a moment to regain my own voice. “Cl-Class 9? I don’t understand, aren’t all of them in the Mountain? Nobody could’ve esc-“ I tried to rationalize, but I stopped.

Shit. SHIT!

“Find a place to hide, right now. Go to the basement of the building, the… paint can’t touch you there, according to the news,” Percy’s voice echoed around me, but it was like I was hearing him from another world.

It’s happening. It’s happening right now.

“Got it. I’ll hide in the underground floor, that’s where they store most of the vehicles. I’ll call you when I get there,” I said at the phone as I entered the elevators and punched the -1 button. The elevator complied immediately, beginning to move downwards.

“Percy?” the phone crackled. For some reason, the signal was beginning to deteriorate. “Percy, I can’t hear you. If you’re listening to me, just know that I love you, okay? It’s-they say it’s pretty bad outside, and some people have already been consumed. Please, please be safe, okay?” he said, and I could hear the emotion in his voice.

“I… I love you too, Johnny. I’ll be safe, I promise. Talk to you soon.”

With that, the call ended on its own, my phone showing a ‘NO SIGNAL’ notification.

The end of the world had started, and I was utterly alone.

^ ^ ^

The elevator was travelling towards the tenth floor, when the normally white lights turned to a bright red. At the same time, a robotic voice started speaking through the speakers.

“This is the Unhuman Broadcasting Alert. The city has been attacked by a Class 9 Supervillain, name currently unknown, but dubbed the Muffler. Powers include the control of a black substance that has the ability to immobilize anyone who touches it, before engulfing them and removing them from known existence. The substance has similar properties to paint, and it is currently unknown whether victims die immediately or not. The estimated casualty count is unknown, and communications have been severely interrupted.”

The elevator stopped at the ground floor. I tried hitting the -1 button again, but nothing seemed to work.

“Please do not attempt to go outside. Remain inside houses or buildings, preferably somewhere where water or any other liquid substance cannot easily enter. The black substance further has the ability to corrode and corrupt any forms of matter known to the authorities, although metal seems to have a partial immunity to the effect. Food and water must be rationed as the Province deals with the threat.  Mister Superior, Timebreaker and Wannabe Girl have all been alerted and are approaching the city as we speak. We repeat, do not leave your safe zones. Ration your supplies, as you may have to stay indoors for more than a day. We are going to continue updating you with any news until the clear has been given. This is the end of the broadcast, and may God have mercy in our souls.”

The doors of the elevator opened, and I was left to stare at an empty Province reception.

There was nobody. No guards, no night crew, not a single soul to be seen or heard.

The robotic voice from the elevator turned itself on again. “The Muffler has been spotted in downtown Seattle. Everyone on that area should prepare for impact.”

I ignored the voice, instead trying to find if anyone was around here. “Hello?!” I shouted, but nobody replied back. The only thing I could hear was the background noise of the multiple air conditioners, a constant buzzing sound akin to bugs.

The voice in the elevator continued to speak, uncaring if anyone could still hear it. “Danger. Massive amounts of black paint reported to be coagulating in Sand and Fifth Avenue. Avoid this area and prepare for impact.”

I was about to find the stairs for the underground floor when something snapped in my mind.

Sand and Fifth Avenue. That sounded oddly familiar.

And then it clicked. That road was less than a block away from here. It’s where my manager’s favorite Starbucks was located.

The voice continued, without a care in the world. “Alert. Alert. The Muffler reported to be approaching the Province Headquarters. Please evacuate the area. Please evacuate the area.”

I started to run towards the stairs, only to feel the ground beneath me begin to shake and tremble. Through the glass panels of the reception, I could see an inky, black substance begin to flood the streets, consuming cars and trees as if they were little more than sugar in a cup of water. The substance hit the glass, and it instantly began to crack and deteriorate, as if its durability was being sapped away by something alien.

I didn’t stare for too long, instead rushing for the stairs towards the underground floor.

It wouldn’t matter anyways.

I could hear it in my mind, whispering.

Oh, Percy…

Oh, Percy!

I have waited for so long, Percy.

You can’t deny me anymore.

The whisper was weak, almost fading into the background noise of my racing thoughts. I stumbled down the stairs, receiving an awkward fall as I jumped towards the cement, my ankle complaining at the onslaught of sudden movement. Above me, the air conditioners stopped working, the electricity flickering in and out. I heard glass shatter and break, a roar of liquid entering the reception. By that point, I was already at the bottom of the stairs, and I quickly ran towards the steel-reinforced door that was the entrance for the underground floor. I quickly closed the door behind me, but not before I watched in horror as some kind of thick, black sludge made its way through the flights, corroding the stone and metal where it touched the walls. It dripped towards my general direction as if it was alive, and I couldn’t help but scream silently in my mind.

It’s here. It’s here.

I had to get out of here, now. I started running in the hallway, desperately trying to remember which door led to the underground vehicle hangar. The cars there only needed my Employee ID and password in order to be activated, and even though I couldn’t drive, I knew that this was my only hope for survival.

Goddamn it! I should had prepared more, I should have done something instead of sitting in my ass all day, waiting for the devil to finally decide to murder me!

My thoughts were roaring in my head, but my body had taken control, and run I did until I found the main entrance for the garage. It was a massive underground hole built with reinforced foundations to support the entire weight of the skyscraper above it, and it was filled with vans, trucks, transportation buses, and simple cars that bore the Province logo on them. By my rushed estimations, I maybe had two minutes before the ‘Muffler’ broke through the steel door and flooded the entire garage with their viscous ferrofluid, dooming me in a fate worse than death.

Choosing a vehicle was the easy part of the process, and I hurried towards an old Ford that was thankfully small enough to navigate it easily on the streets. I struggled to open the door, but when I did, I hopped into the front seat and activated the quasi-AI on the control panel. It was one of the older models, manufactured to detect any potential anomalies in the road when Province officials and agents would rush into points of interest in the city. It immediately detected a thousand different anomalies, and then the program shut down on its own, overloaded by the amount of errors in its system. Thankfully, it was also capable of opening the massive, hangar-like door of the garage, the only pathway to relative freedom.

As I punched in my ID and password, I was becoming increasingly aware that the sound of ‘water’ was increasing behind me. Already, I could see the steel door on the other side of the garage beginning to deteriorate in an alarming rate, its metal corroding supernaturally and only leaving a sickly orange hue behind. Blobs of the black water began sipping through the cracks, and they started moving towards me like malevolent snakes.

I was running out of time.

Why did nobody alert me?! My phone doesn’t have any notifications regarding a supervillain attack! And where did all the guards go? Why was I left… alone?

The car’s engine roared into life, and I didn’t waste a second as I kicked the gas. I desperately tried to keep control of the car, starting, and stopping as I tried to learn how to drive it, and as I approached the large hangar door, it slowly began to open. I rammed the car through the moment the doors opened enough, and I began climbing the road upwards until I made it outside the building, now equipped with a badly scratched Province Ford.

The roads, too, were empty. There wasn’t a soul I could see for miles. Doors were left open, windows had been shattered, and there was disgusting, black goo everywhere. Cars were abandoned in the middle of the avenues, meaning that I couldn’t drive.

“FUCK!” I shouted at nobody at particular. My voice echoed around the abandoned blocks, but there was no response. I managed to get out of the car in two seconds, not keen on waiting for the evil bastard to catch up to me. Already, bits of the dried-up goo were beginning to stir on my wake, as if my presence was awaking them from their slumber.

The whisper in my head was becoming stronger too.

Percy.

Percy.

Stop running, Percy.

Come join the fun.

It is your destiny. Your duty.

Even you know it, deep inside.

I prayed to God that this didn’t mean the Corruption was now closer to me than it was before.

Although now that I thought about it, the voice wasn’t in the wrong. My power is literally designed to nuke things out of existence, no trace left behind but radiation and more death. I didn’t have an amazing power like my father or Sam, a superhero power that I could use and save the day.

Perhaps, you are meant to be the bad guy?

I shook my head, trying to dispel the voice away. I was finding it difficult to discern between my thoughts. Was it me, or the Corruption thinking these things?

I didn’t wait to find the answer, instead choosing to spring to the opposite direction as fast as possible.

It could be fun. So fun. Unlimited power. Zero inhibitions. The entire world becoming your sandbox.

I desperately tried to ignore the voice, but I just couldn’t. All around me I could see rusty cars, old clothes, patches of black liquid stirring on my wake. A particular large puddle of the disgusting stuff was beginning to form a tentacle, slowly etching towards me like a parasitic worm.

Your deepest desires becoming reality.

My legs were beginning to slow down on their own. I was sure it wasn’t because I was tired, I had walked and run the same road countless times before, and I knew I wouldn’t get tired so easily.

No, it was my mind that was making me slower.

They abandoned you. All of them. The Province. Your father. Sam.

Yes, they had done exactly that. I was all alone, against an enemy that would keep coming forever and ever, until it had gotten what it wanted.

And they abandoned you.

They abandoned me.

I stopped running. Instead, I turned my head, only to glimpse a fifteen-foot tsunami of black water approach me at a terrifying speed. On top of the tsunami stood a person, their entire body covered in the same black substance, only leaving their head exposed to the air.

I recognized the villain. The Corruption hadn’t made a person on its own. It had possessed a new vessel, something or someone who was able to enchant paint itself with abilities.

It was the Painter.

As if he had heard my thoughts, the Painter/Corruption smiled, a crooked smile filled with yellow teeth.

Aren’t you tired of everything? Just let go. Let go of this body and join me. Join us.

It was right. It was so right. How could I not see it before? Nothing mattered, absolutely nothing. If the Corruption didn’t absorb me, I would die in a myriad other ways in this cruel, little world I lived in, filled with monsters and pretenders.

Rather than running away, I started approaching the tidal wave of death. I was tired. I was done, and I would have succeeded in getting swallowed by the darkness if a short girl in a purple suit didn’t grab me.

“Woah there, buddy! Snap out of it!” the girl giggled as she grabbed my arm. At that exact moment, I felt the entire world turn upside down, everything turning white rather than the infinite void that I expected.

We appeared inside an unknown location, but from the moldy odor, I knew that we were underground. I then proceeded to empty my entire dinner on the floor, coughing and gagging as undigested donuts came out of me.

“Sorry ‘bout that,” the girl laughed without a care in the world. “Teleporting someone for the first time in their life does have some side-effects,” she said as she helped me get up. “Oh, you puked a rainbow. Cool.”

I gave myself a moment to breathe. “Who-who the fuck are you? Why did you save me?” I asked as I sat down next to my own vomit, not caring. My thoughts were less muffled now, and I was beginning to realize what I was about to do a minute ago.

In front of me stood a petite girl, barely out of high school. Her black hair had been painted purple on the edges to match the purple superhero suit she was wearing. Part of her face was hidden behind a purple domino mask, disguising her delicate lines but showing off her lavender eyes. Behind her was a purple cape, streaks of white halving the purple in too. I had never seen a hero with these kinds of colors on their suit before. Was it a rogue, or was she a part of another organisation? I had never seen her before in the news or in the Unhuman Wiki.

“Don’t worry, Percy. The Corruption does that to your mind. It literally corrupts your thought patterns, along with everything else. Now that we’re far away from it, you’re safe. Oh, and I’m Wannabe Girl. Pleasure of meeting you,” she beamed and patted my head like a dog. “I heard a lot about you from the Seattle Director. You got dealt with a bad hand regarding your power, but it’s okay. We will find a use for you, don’t you worry!” she laughed absently, like she was discussing the weather for next week.

“You’re… you’re Wannabe Girl? I-I thought-“

“That I would be older? Or that I’d have a cooler power than teleportation?”

“Erm. Both, actually.”

Wannabe Girl frowned, though the frown didn’t contain any contempt. “My power is… unique. It’s really hard to explain, but I’m more like a jack of all trades, master of none. I copy powers of others and I can use them for a limited time on my own, or give them to others. I can hold around five to ten powers in any given time, although they’re far weaker than the version the original owner has. Teleportation is just one of the things I can do.”

I stared at her, my mouth hanging open. “Just… just how many powers do you have?”

She shrugged her hands. “It depends on the situation, but I can do many things. When I’m not fighting someone or something, my main power reverts to immortality. I’m like, sixty years old or something. One of the first Unhumans to appear. Although if you add the time when I had a friendly match with Timebreaker, you’d might have to add some centuries,” she laughed awkwardly.

“Jesus, talk about overpowered. Um, where are we, by the way?” I asked as I took a look around the place.

“An underground bunker. Built around the 1980s, because, you know, nuclear missiles are still a thing, no matter how many Unhumans have appeared in the world. Hell, the missiles might become the main threat against humanity’s survival, now that the Shard-“ she started blabbing, but quickly stopped. “Anyways, the Province is taking care of that pesky Corruption. We’ll just stay here until the threat is over, and then we’ll send you to New York for… safekeeping.”

My eyes must have betrayed my surprise because she quickly raised her hands as a sign of peace. “Oh, don’t be like that. You know that your power is rather… volatile, and it seems that the Corruption has taken a special interest in you, so it’s just a safety measurement for the good of the public. Plus, since you attract the Corruption so much, we can use that in our advantage.”

I then realized why I was left alone in the Province Headquarters.

“You… you used me as bait, didn’t you? For the Corruption.”

Her face was now neutral, no emotion apparent. “Guilty as charged. You are becoming a very important resource for the Province. The Corruption has been an annoying bug, unpredictable and immensely dangerous for both humans and Unhumans alike. Now that we have a rough way of directing it where to go exactly, it will be rather easy to secure and finally get rid of it away. Finally cut the cancer away from this universe.”

“What’s going to happen to Painter? He’s still possessed by it.”

“He sealed his fate a long time ago. Don’t you know that his green paint is an acid that melts everything on its way? So many people have been literally dissolved by it. I read in your file that you visited one of the malls he had attacked recently. You saw the damage he had done, right? Moreover, his red paint causes irreversible third-degree burns that usually require amputation, leaving victims scarred for life. Hell, his normal black pain simply overcharges your brain with so much pain that you fall into a coma, but with the Corruption enhancing it, you are also dissolved and added to its hive-mind, locked in an infinite existence of infinite pain and suffering.”

“Oh.”

“So, yeah, we don’t really care-“ she started saying, but she stopped mid-sentence, touching her left ear. “Shit. I have to take this.”

“Take your time,” I murmured, lost in my own, corruption-free thoughts.

I almost died this time, for real. My soul or mind or whatever almost got incorporated in a simulation of literal hell by the Corruption, which would then jump hosts and nuke the entire planet, or worse.

I almost caused the end of the world.

My body shivered in the revelation, but relief soon came. The Province would take care of the corrupted Painter, and then we’d finally be done with this menace. We would soon be safe and free.

“Um, Percy?” Wannabe Girl called behind me. “There’s a… situation. Would you mind telling me just what the FUCK is Sam Shaw doing fighting the Painter?!” she shouted to me, fear and anger mingling in her voice. “Fuck me. FUCK! We need to go, now!” she rushed towards me and grabbed my hand.

The entire world flipped upside down, colors melting into a puddle of white, and I found myself at the roof of a tall building with Wannabe Girl next to me. I proceeded to gag, but this time, nothing came out. It took me a few seconds to look in front of me, and the sight made me want to vomit again.

It was Sam. A giant version of him.

Last time I had seen him, Sam was hovering at the range of NBA tall, but now he had blown his old height out of proportion. He seemed ginormous, as if he had added a full head to his already titanic frame. I was sure that if both of us were in the ground now, I wouldn’t be able to reach higher than the first row of his abs.

The rest of him had grown too. Ginormous slabs of pure muscle could be seen everywhere in his giant body, so big and dense that they resembled mountains or something equally as big. Parts of his suit had been burnt or ripped away, revealing intricate networks of pencil-thick veins snaking around almost everywhere, supplying the superhuman body with power. The more I saw his body, the more I observed balls of muscles pouring out of seemingly everywhere. The suit he was wearing probably barely fit him, and that was before all the damage it had received from the fight, the sheer volume of muscle making the poor cloth bulge out everywhere, resembling something like second skin. I had never, ever seen someone as big as Sam, and that was me observing him from a distance. I couldn’t even fathom what I would do if he was close to me. I just knew that I wouldn’t be able to control myself anymore.

“Holy fuck,” I breathed out.

“Language!” Wannabe Girl whispered back.

Sam, or the giant titan that resembled Sam, was currently fighting a cackling Painter. Bursts of flaming red paint gushed from the corrupted man’s hands, flinging towards the flying demigod, who quickly flew out of the way. The red paint would slam down to the pavement or the sides of the buildings, and it would instantly catch fire, burning with an intensity that I could feel from up here. The red color had been imbued with the nature of lava, and there was plenty of it pooling on the ground. Other bursts of green paint followed, but Sam would simply fly through them, seemingly unfazed by the acid. On the other hand, when the pain splattered on the ground, it would eat the cement or nearby cars until almost nothing remained.

The Painter/Corruption was still riding his tsunami of black paint, hundreds of tendrils rising from it and flinging themselves at the flying mountain of a man. None of them hit their target, as if Sam somehow knew exactly where the tendrils would hit. It had to be his danger sense, or else there was no way that Sam could predict their trajectories to such fine detail.

Wannabe Girl started shouting next to me. “Agent Shaw, retreat right this instant! This is not your battle to fight! Leave this to the professionals!” the volume of her voice was somehow augmented, sounding much louder than it should had been. I clutched my ears in pain, the ringing almost becoming too intense.

And yet, Sam continued to fight the otherworldly enemy. His usual black suit had been ripped, burned, and torn in several places, revealing his superhuman body beneath it. As always, there was not a mole or blemish in his perfectly tanned skin, not a cut or bruise that would signal any form of damage.

But he wasn’t winning. The Painter/Corruption was laughing so much, as if it enjoyed the fight, the damage, the potential death the two of them could cause in their surroundings.

I could hear sirens on the horizon, joined by the knowing sounds of helicopters and jets. I doubted they would be able to do anything to help, but more manpower was always welcomed. I also knew that few heroes would come to join the fight, as the Province couldn’t risk losing them to the Corruption.

“Percy, I wouldn’t bring you here if you weren’t the only one who could stop Sam from fighting! Just tell him to stop!” Wannabe Girl shook my entire body with a force that almost dislocated my shoulder. “HURRY UP!” she groaned in anger and repressed fury.

“Christ lady, you’re going to make me fall off the roof!” I snapped back at her. I then turned my attention back to Sam. “SAM, CAN YOU HEAR ME? YOU NEED TO STOP FIGHTING! THEY’RE GOING TO TAKE CARE OF THIS THING!” I waved my hands left and right, trying to catch his attention, but he only gave me a sideways glance filled with an unrecognizable emotion. Fear? Anger? Shame? I couldn’t tell at all.

“Fine. If he doesn’t want to talk, maybe this will distract him,” Wannabe Girl groaned behind me and touched my back. I felt something akin to static electricity make the hairs on my neck stand on guard. “I just lent you one of my powers. Short-term invulnerability, but it won’t last long. Oh, and also, sorry about this.”

She proceeded to push me off the roof.

Gravity was quick to take advantage of this, and I immediately started falling down to the road below me. In front of me, I saw Sam stop fighting, his face now a mask of horror as he saw me plunge to my certain doom. He zoomed towards me in impossible speeds, glass shattering behind him from the force of his flight. My mind had barely begun to register the fall, when I felt two sturdy hands grab my entire body, stopping my descent in an instant. I immediately grabbed one of the hands, the giant bicep not even straining from supporting my entire weight. Even slightly unflexed, I could feel how big it was, bigger than my entire head.

"Sam," I whispered, feeling blood rush to my face. "I-I-"

Do you really think you can run away from me?

The alien voice was droning around me, so loud that it made me choke in my own spit. The Corruption wasn't done with us, but Sam didn't seem to care about it anymore. And neither did I.

My hero had somehow managed to catch me again. Sweat was dripping down his golden hair, his entire body turned red from the exertion of the fight. He was almost too warm to touch, and he seemed too tired to laugh. “That BITCH!” he shot a look of rage towards Wannabe Girl.

“Hey, hey! Listen to me, I’d be fine anyways. We need to go away, right now! The Province is going to defeat the Corruption on its own, they don’t need you!” I snapped my fingers in front of him.

“Are you kidding?! I’ve been trying to track it for weeks now, and they’re here to steal my kill?” he growled like a wild animal, a deep sound that made me shiver.

“Shut up and fly away, NOW!” I begged him to listen. “We are going to mess their pla-“

I saw it before Sam could. A black tentacle, hiding in the part of the building that the moon couldn’t shine its beautiful light to.

Let’s finally finish this.

Milliseconds before it could touch me, Sam threw me on top of a nearby roof. It was a bad landing, and the pain that shot through my leg told me to stay put and wait for help. I hoped that the invulnerability Wannabe Girl had given me hadn’t run out, and this was one of the downsides of having a weaker version of the original power.

Crap, Sam!

I couldn’t wait for help to arrive on its own, and with pain that made me see stars, I dragged myself to the edge.

I watched in horror as I saw the tendril attaching itself to the flying hero.

It hadn’t missed its target.

Too far. Too bad!

The tentacle had successfully connected to him, right on his back. Sam exploded upwards, trying to sever the tentacle, but it just elongated to match his increasing attitude. The Painter/Corruption was still laughing, although his laugh sounded frailer, weaker now. Sam tried to grab the tendril with his massive paws, but he couldn’t seem to grasp a hold of it, the ferrofluid substance expertly avoiding his hands.

I could still hear the whispers, but this time, they weren’t addressed towards me.

Is that all you’ve got?

You’re not even a real superhero, are you Sammy?

Just a scared, little boy.

You wouldn’t last a minute from where I come from.

Give in. Give in! GIVE IN!

“Sam… SAM!” I yelled from the roof, trying to grab his attention, but it was all for nothing. On the other side of the street, Wannabe Girl started flying towards Sam and the tentacle, her own small hands crackling with some kind of fuchsia energy. She blasted everything she had on the black tentacle, but it did almost nothing to sever it, the tiny gaps healing themselves as more fluid filled them.

The Painter/Corruption had stopped moving now, as if his batteries had run out. He had positioned himself to look at me, the same alien smile that originated from someone who didn’t know how to move their jaw properly.

“Sam, listen to me. Don’t do this. It’s lying to you. It won’t give you what you want,” I gulped down my fear and shouted at him. A marble of antimatter was already forming in my hands, my unconscious part doing the job for me.

Sam’s voice sounded hollow, lifeless. “It’s… it’s okay. I got this, Percy. I will just adapt to it,” he said as he started descending, right into the giant lake of black water below us.

“SAM, NO!” I screamed, but it was too late. The Corruption had already its clutches on his mind. The water below started swirling around Sam, attaching to him like it had done to the corrupted Painter, before disappearing into nothingness.

Sam’s body was absorbing it.

“WANNABE, DO SOMETHING!” I cried at the useless superheroine in the air, but she didn’t dare come close to the mass of water, or Sam. Instead, she flew towards me, grabbing me from my arms and holding me.

“This is bad. This is very bad. We need to get out of here, now,” she said, an odd calmness in her voice.

“LET ME GO YOU WRENCH!” I fought against her, but she was too strong for me to handle. “LOOK WHAT YOU DID TO HIM!” I pointed at Sam, his eyes closed and his giant body unmoving. The Painter/Corruption had collapsed now, leaving nothing behind but a frail skeleton, the bones charred to a crisp.

 “Oh god,” Wannabe Girl whispered as she finally understood what was happening. “Oh god. Prepare for teleportation. I need to speak with the Director and Timebreaker, stat!” she gulped, and the now familiar sense of her teleportation power began to manifest around us.

“NO! WHAT ABOUT SAM?!” I cried, tears flowing down my eyes like an open faucet. I shook my head, barely believing what was happening.

“Look, I don’t know what to say! This was not part of the plan!” Wannabe Girl hugged me tightly in case I escaped her grip and splattered down the pavement.

The energy was almost ready to transport us now, and I couldn’t bear to see Sam. However, if I didn’t, I would hate myself for the rest of my days. So, just before Wannabe’s power whisked us away, I stole a glance at his general direction.

His eyes were open now, and he was smiling, grinning even. To any random individual, the smile would look normal. Beautiful. Divine.

But I knew that the monster smiling to me wasn’t Sam anymore.

Hello, world.

[cregssatx]

Wow, you know how to make an entrance, Philosopher.    Glad to see you back!  Great addition!