Hero Super

Super Absorb

Super Power: Demon Cultist detected. Absorb?

Yes No

Super Absorb

Super Power: Jumper detected. Absorb?

Yes No

“What?” Calvin looked at the panels in confusion. His eyes widened in recognition of what the white motes were. ‘They’re exactly the same light-slash-mist that appears when I absorb powers. So that means she’s just getting a power? But that doesn’t explain why they ran away and why Quinn is so—’

Calvin decided just to ask her directly. “What’s happening to her?”

Quinn sniffed and spoke through snot and tears, “she’ll— turn into a hatchling— and—”

‘Yeah, that gave me absolutely no information at all. What the fuck is a hatchling?’ He turned to the panels, wondering why there were two. Connecting the dots together, he formed a premature conclusion. ‘Two powers. Is that why?’

“Is there any case of someone awakening two power— Quinn! Listen to me!” He shouted as he grabbed her by the shoulders. “I need you to answer in case I can do something to save her!”

“W—what?” Quinn shrank back, looked at him with anxious eyes. “Save her? You can save her?!”

“I need to know what hatchlings are! Do they have two powers?” He asked, glancing at the white motes continuing to converge.

“I—”, she sniffled before breathing deeply to calm herself down. A second later, her eyes changed as a resolute light shone through them, “—yes. It’s one of the theories. Either the power is too strong or there’s two or more powers.”

Calvin nodded, turning back to the panels. “So this might stop if she only gets one power?”

“How do you know she’s getting two powers?”

“Just— answer the question.”

Quinn frowned, glancing towards Ina before nodding. “Maybe.”

“Maybe?”

“No one ever stopped a hatching before.”

Calvin winced at that information.

He had no idea what was happening, and it wouldn’t be prudent to ask Quinn right now. But from her devastated expression, the mind-controller’s cowardly retreat, and the stampede made by others rushing out, he figured it was probably the reverse of a ‘good thing’.

‘I don’t need to do this. I can just run away, just like everyone else.’ A stray thought appeared like a gremlin at the back of his mind.

He wanted to run away. To survive. To live.

But then he looked at Ina, remembering his time in this world hasn’t been the best, but it was infinitely better than the previous one. That little gremlin melted into a puddle of gremlin-goo, realizing one thing: She wants to live too.

“Fuck it. Let’s just fucking say this is payment for the gym membership.” He muttered and held Ina’s hand, confirming the foremost panel to absorb [Jumper].

As if magnetized, the motes of white light still in the air curved their path, suddenly being attracted towards Calvin’s body. Some of the white light that was already in Ina’s body was pulled out as well, shooting straight towards him in a frenzy.

They gathered in front of his chest, like a small white heatless sun. Once it grew big enough, a small tendril of mist started to reach out like a hand caressing his chest. Slowly, the stream of white light started to thicken as it flowed into Calvin.

“What are you—” Quinn looked on in disbelief, her eyes dilating at the fantastical and impossible display happening right in front of them.

Her chest started feeling tight, the white light no longer feeling like impending doom but something else. Something more fundamental. A tingling feeling started at the back of her skull, a tiny voice telling her that she should not be looking at this. That she was not worthy of looking at this.

“Ugh… damn.” Calvin groaned. Not from pain, however, but from the refreshing feeling that coursed through him. It wasn’t too different from drinking a bottle of cool water and only realizing you haven’t drank anything for an entire day. “Hooh…”

Super Help

Jumper

The super can gather strength and propel themselves off of any surface.

He swiped the annoying screen away immediately, turning his attention towards more important matters. Namely his friend.

Ina lay on the ground beside Quinn, still unmoving but no longer glowing. The surrounding white light had all been absorbed by the both of them, the heavy spiritual pressure in the air disappeared, and the imposing monster that was Driver— well, he was still there.

“Is she okay now?” Calvin asked Quinn who broke out of her flabbergasted daze to check on her best friend.

She checked her breath, her pulse, her temperature, everything that could confirm she was alive. And she was. “I— think so… she’s just sleeping?”

“Good.” Calvin sat back, taking deep breaths not from fatigue but from relief. “Fucking hell… that was something, huh.”

“You— what did you do?”

“Saved her.” He said, giving her a knowing stare. “I think we better get out of here first.”

Quinn looked at him without emotion before nodding, picking up Ina with relative ease. “Let’s go.”

As they started to head to the door, Driver, the ever-present green drug-monster with a dent on the back of his head, stood in their way. He was noticeably smaller, owing to the diminishing effects of whatever booster shot he took.

“Forgot about this fucking—” As Calvin was complaining, Quinn pressed a hand on Driver’s chest. The monster man’s entire body shook for a moment before he collapsed lifelessly on the ground. “Uh— what did you do?”

“Turned his insides into soup.” She smiled and winked at him.

Calvin looked back at her with an expression of flabbergast, “you could always do that?”

“I thought we were sharing secrets?” She said with a smirk. “Let’s go.”

“Wait a minute.” Calvin said with a gesture, walking over to Driver’s body. With a large windup, he kicked the corpse with a bellow. “Fuck you! You kidnapping—”

Super Absorb

Super Power: Vigilant Aegis detected. Absorb?

Yes No

“— fuck.” His eyes widened at another screen popping up in front of him. Without hesitating, he confirmed and another light show appeared, with the motes of light coming from the man’s dead body this time.

Immediately after, he felt a familiar feeling of bloat and discomfort in his body. He quickly swiped away the super help and pulled up the super information panel to check what was happening.

Super Information

Super Name None Super Attributes

Super Status Alive, Bruised, Slight-Fatigue(Physical), Fracture(Ribs), Spirit Bloat(minor), Spirit-severance, Presence Reduction(Plain White Shirt), Body Enhancement(Plain White Shirt) Super Body 0 → 1 (+1)

Super Quest Road to Heroism II, A True Hero's Name Super Mind 0

Super Points 0

Super Spirit 1.7 (-0.3)

Super Powers

Impervious Pebble Gourmand's Instinct

Color Control Jumper

Vigilant Aegis

“Ah fuck, I forgot about that.” Calvin cursed, reading the spirit bloat status effect. The discomfort was mild, like a dull feeling of expansion inside his body, but it didn’t bode well if it was going to get worse.

“What was that?” Now it was Quinn’s turn to ask.

“Secrets. Now we’re two for one.” He shrugged. Looking weirdly at the sight of her small stature carrying the sleeping, he offered, “want me to carry her?”

“No.” She replied instantly. “Let’s go.”

“Wait— what about…”, he glanced towards Allen’s corpse, still wet and lifeless inside the now-opened machine.

“Put him in your pocket.” She said with a gesture.

He narrowed his eyes at her coldness, but this was an emergency situation. Respect can wait when they’re safe.

After putting the corpse into his pocket with scary ease, he followed Quinn and jogged out of the room. They opened the map to get a sense of direction before making their way towards the exit marked on it.

“You’re not tired yet?” He asked Quinn who was easily keeping up with him while carrying Ina.

Quinn smiled at him. “Secrets.”

“I think ‘I can stop hatchings’ is wildly different from ‘I’m stronger than I pretend to be’.”

“If that’s how you see it, what can I do?” She shrugged like it wasn’t her problem.

“Please at least tell me that you actually like pink.”

“I love pink.”

“That’s… honestly reassuring.”

They continued on their way, passing through empty corridors and rooms, not checking any place and just beelining towards the exit. They were doing that in the hope of encountering the others on their way.

However, the lack of any sign of life was as relieving as it is disheartening.

“Why is this place so empty?” Calvin muttered while jogging, confused as to why there’s not a single sign of anyone else. “Where are the others?”

“They probably also ran away from the hatching.” Quinn muttered, her tone darker.

“So— what was happening there was bad.”

“Very bad.”

“Bad enough to evacuate an entire base?”

“What do you think?” Quinn scoffed, she started explaining while they jogged, “the problem is unpredictability. Most hatchlings are world-ending disasters. There are a few cases where it was weak enough to be killed by unpowered people, with normal guns even, but those are edge cases. Worst case scenarios tends to happen more often, and have happened more often, hence the panic.”

“So… super bad.” He made a mental note to study up on what hatchlings are, given somehow he could prevent one with his super system. ‘I feel spiritually bloated afterwards though. That should sound like a good thing, but I feel like I’m going to explode. Maybe there’s a super power that can let me erase super powers.’

The two started to slow down as they neared the exit, making sure there wasn’t an ambush before moving towards the next cover. Eerily, at least to Calvin, the base was as empty as it can be. Not a sign of the kidnappers nor the other children.

He started to feel uneasy at the lack of people, but Quinn reassured him that it was normal. Especially if the mind control guy had spread the word that a hatching was happening, they’d have been too busy to run away.

“That’s the exit?” Quinn asked, looking towards the giant circular hole on the wall. It looked more like the entrance of a storm drain than a supervillain base.

“It is. Let’s go in— or out, actually.”

They stepped into the hole and into the darkness.

Gradually, the cylindrical hallway that was their path to the exit was shrinking like an ice cream cone. This continued on until they practically had to crouch down as they reached the end, where a circular drain cover was being used as a door.

‘Okay, so evil lairs don’t necessarily have to comply with building regulations.’ He made a mental note of how much of a fire hazard these places can be.

Calvin pushed the drain cover, swinging it open by the hinges with a simple push, before crawling through and into Villainopolis. He stood up and made sure the coast was clear. The alleyway they exited into looked to be deserted, not one person waiting to ambush them.

He found it suspicious, but signaled Quinn nonetheless.

Ina’s upper torso poked out and Calvin quickly supported and pulled her out, careful not to hit her head anywhere, then sat her to the side while helping Quinn out as well. After the three were out, Quinn scooped Ina up again before the two of them carefully walked.

Quinn looked at the empty alleyway they emerged in, feeling the drab sense of something wrong in the air. “So this is…”

“Villainopolis.” He pulled up the holowatch to look at the map. “I’ve only been here once, so I don’t know where an exit is. We just have to look for a fridge.”

“A fridge?”

“Tinker tech, I think. It’s weird, but I’m too tired to question it.” He shrugged. “Let’s move carefully—”

“Doesn’t look like a hatchling to me. What do you think?” A third voice appeared above them.

Quinn and Calvin got into a stance as they turned around and looked up. Seeing the person, the three had wildly differing reactions. Calvin felt his stomach drop. Quinn released a sigh of relief. And Ina was just starting to snore.

“Fancy seeing you around here, Calvin.” Lightspeed smirked.

“Ah fuck.”

A Concerned Citizen sent coordinates

A Concerned Citizen: Salutations, hero. Prior to this message you will find that I have sent you a set of coordinates to a base located inside Villainopolis(if you do not know where this is, I request that you pass this message to your superior).

A Concerned Citizen: This base currently houses at least five super-powered individuals, two of which would be ranked at the fourth level of Vanguard’s ranking system, along with eighteen young adolescents that are recent kidnapping victims in your current investigation.

A Concerned Citizen: While this message might sound suspicious, I do hope that you would weigh the chance to rescue the kidnapped children heavier than your lack of trust towards me.

A Concerned Citizen: I endeavor you to hasten your actions, and hope that the children make it safely back into the city proper.

“Hm— and you received this when?” Sky asked as he finished reading the messages sent to a few heroes on duty.

“Just a few minutes ago, sir.”

“You too?” He turned to another newbie hero who nodded in confirmation. “Whoever this was probably wasn’t able to crack holowatches of higher heroes, so that’s some comfort.”

His holowatch alerted him of a message which he quickly brought up.

Annoying Woman: Girl with bat turned herself in

Annoying Woman: Says she was from the terrorist group that kidnapped the kids

Annoying Woman: Gave me coordinates to the place too

Annoying Woman sent coordinates

Annoying Woman: Up to you if you want to go check

Annoying Woman: Remember to back for dinner

Sky compared the coordinates he just received to the one from ‘A Concerned Citizen’. They weren’t a perfect match, but they pointed to the same general place.

“I received it too, sir. You think it’s real? Should we check?” Lightspeed asked, looking at his own holowatch.

“We need to. Some of the kidnapped children are a part of the central families.”

“Children of the Council members?” Lightspeed sounded surprised.

“And some of the important figures in inner city. There’s also Damsel’s kid, but she says they’ll be fine.” Sky shook his head. “Model parents, those two.”

“All in that one class?” Another newbie asked.

Sky sighed, “it’ll be out by tomorrow, but this wasn’t’ the only place that had kidnapping attempts. Inner city to Central, it happened everywhere. And they all targeted rich kids.”

He massaged his temple, just thinking about the overtime pay they had to manage with this whole fiasco was going to be a nightmare, much more the complaints from several stuck-up , narcissistic, and unfortunately important families.

“Not every one was successful, a few were caught. But they’re all from different ‘groups’. A lot of them were relatively new as well. It just— stinks.”

“How were they able to do that?”

“Well, according to whoever the fuck investigated, They used the lapse in Oracle’s system during the bombing. Got to them before anyone could know something was happening.” Sky spoke darkly. “But that’s bullshit. Even with that disturbance, Oracle won’t have its functions wiped out like that. It’s just not— it can’t happen.”

“What does that mean?”

“Find a conclusion for yourself. You’re a hero now, not an intern.” He said, stepping away from him. “Anyway, go to dispatch and have them assemble a few heroes, we’re heading out.”