Conflict

Chapter 1

I found myself face down in a shabby and worn out alley, 'what am I doing in an alley?', I thought to myself as I got up, the last thing I remember was completing my college work, doing the dishes, taking a bath, checking out all the various fan fiction sites I regularly visit to check for any updates and going off to bed. This can't be a kidnapping because I'm simply not important enough or know anybody important enough to warrant that.

I look around and don't really recognise the architecture style, it seem too westernised for an Indian locality, this throws me into further confusion, the last place with such buildings are Mumbai city which I haven't visited in an year or Bangalore city which I can't visit due to the on-going pandemic and quite frankly because there is no reason for me to visit. I reorient myself and freeze.

I look down and see clothes on my body that I've never owned, neither have I ever purchased trekking shoes despite wanting a pair for a while, I'm wearing black and grey trekking shoes, blue jeans, a white shirt underneath a black faux leather jacket with the hood pulled over my head. Clothes that I may have wanted for a while but definitely never got around purchasing, so my would be kidnappers took me from home and got me new clothes? Why? This is all so confusing, in the back of my mind a niggling doubt starts to sprout if these are human actions but I put down those thoughts hard, if not for humans than what? Monkeys? Rats? We have now evidence for aliens and Gods wouldn't take any interest in me, so exactly what is going here?

While I was debating myself I had subconsciously begun moving towards…somewhere, I still don't know where I was after all, I walk across a discarded mirror panelling that could have be once a part of a hotel or office and freeze. That wasn't me, no, it was an idealised version of me, slightly Greek too in features for some reason, but it wasn't me, how did I not notice this earlier?!

I am taller for gosh sakes, I look like I'm at least 6 feet and a few inches in height whereas I should be 5'9", the man in the mirror looks like he's been living in a gym for the last year, even though the clothes are bulky you can see that he's got a perfect mesomorph physique, I haven't touched weights in the last two years, and even at the peak of my fitness I never achieved such a figure because my body type never fit the ideal comic/manga look that most guys my age wanted after one week of workout. All of these factors aside the thing that freaks me out the most is that the man looking back at me in the mirror was younger…a young adult, around 18-19 years in age, somebody who just stepped out of teenage, not a fully grown man, not the 25 year old face I remember seeing in the bathroom mirror last night.

I never noticed in my inner turmoil that I was lifting decently sized mirror panel in my hands, just what was going on here? A new place? New clothes? A different body?! This is not human work! 'You already know what is going on, stop with the monologue and get to it, there's things to be done and standing here is not getting them done faster' whispered a part of my mind.

I reeled back in shock at the casual dismissal of the situation by my own mind, but I knew that I had changed, not because of this new body or the place I found myself in, because the entire time I was observing myself, the face that looked back was cool, confident and looked a little bored, like this was the 50th time he was put in this situation and it was starting to bore him, because he could stare down the apocalypse in the face and ask what's next? He would never bow down or break down in the direst of situations because he is will power personified, unbreakable and boundless…'Invictus' whispered my mind.

The mirror instantly shattered into pieces in my hands, there was not a mark on it, my hands looked untouched, 'no, no, no! This is not what I expected to happen! That word, why did that word pop up in my mind?! It was just an internet meme, made up by people who wanted to escape into a fantasy world where they felt they were the Main Character, who could save the day like Superman and fight and win unwinnable fights like Goku, but it was just a fantasy!' I thought furiously in my head, my anger materializing itself like the wrath of nature itself, my eyes were burning red, an aura of energy crackling around me lashing out like an ill-tempered child, the weather warped from the pleasant sunny day into a thunderstorm above my head, all the loose rubble around me was floating haphazardly, buildings around me cracked, the alleyway was turned into powder under the pressure, and the city…the city was trembling.

As if too mock my loss of control my senses dialled up 11, the screams, oh God the screams of the people were starting to drown me, I could feel my power flex itself for at least 70-80 Km and the ground and the air itself were fighting against themselves, it was starting to rain heavily and thunder strikes were spearing down from the heavens, in response the ground rose up a few feet, skyscrapers were twisting as if they were about to stand up and fight against the sky, and every living thing, every human, rat, dog and cat became the collateral damage. Their screams were harrowing, they did nothing wrong, all going about their day, some hoping to change their luck, some doing the daily grind, to put food on the table, to go back home to their loved ones, and it was all ruined by one man because he could not accept reality and move on.

What had I done? This is not what I wanted! I never wanted to be the source of all this destruction! Why me?! 'Welcome to your new reality, you now live in a world of clay and cardboard, where you are supreme and the rest will bow down or will be forced to bow before you, every time you lose control and lash out it is the world that will suffer the consequences' my traitorous mind cackled in delight, I needed to get myself under control before I kill even more people, I could already feel the death toll was around 812 people that my senses could identify and its only been 5 seconds since this cataclysm started, I had to fix this, I wrought this onto these people, I was not a hero by any means but I knew when to take responsibility.

I shot up into the air to analyse the situation, before I knew it I was already in the stratosphere, my eyes focused instantly on the entire city and more with Godlike precision and clarity, penetrating every obstacle in its path to see everything, my mind moved even faster already allocating safe zones to drop of people, where the affected are in levels of severity, and the fastest ways to reach there. I took a deep breath and reined in my power and instantly the storms subsided and the earthquakes lulled, the feeling on pressure in the air that was permeating throughout the city was instantly snuffed out but the danger still existed and I will do everything to correct the mistakes I made today.

I shot down to Earth at unbelievable speeds towards my arranged flight path; in mind I knew that I was an unstoppable force and an immovable object but speed was the deciding factor in this rescue and I could not slow down every time I rescue someone, thankfully physics didn't apply to me when I wanted nothing to do with it, I could hold up skyscrapers on my fingers without them falling into their own weight, I could catch people at light speeds without having to worry about popping them like a balloon at such speeds, so I willed my energy to form on my face like a mask of flame and I took off.

Today was just another day in good old Brockton Bay. Life was hard here, being one of the top ten cities in cape population and with most of the said capes being villains meant that the people here were built for sterner stuff, used to seeing the impossible, used to feeling like death was around the corner, but nothing prepared the people for the sheer magnitude to destruction that came upon them out of nowhere. The people almost expected to hear the wails of the Endbringer sirens seeing the storm above and the quakes below, expecting both the Behemoth and the Leviathan to turn up and raze the city down. Buildings were falling, lighting pouring down like water from the skies, and ground swallowed up people for what seemed like hours, but just as soon as it began it calmed down as well, the skies were still covered in black clouds, fires were spreading through the city, and people were still stuck in this horror, everybody cried out to be saved, for a hero to help them in their time of need…

And a hero they got

Faster than people could perceive they were moved from the places of disaster to the beach, the train yard and the boat grave yard all of which had their obstruction moved into piles to create empty spaces for people to stand in. Within minutes the empty areas started filling up with people from all over the city, no, not only people but also the animals of the city were partitioned using the junk lying around so that they would not crossover to the human side, the only thing people could see flashes of light travelling from the safe zones to the city and hear the sound barrier break multiple times in a second. The people of this city had seen personal power at it's perceived peak, they had seen teleporters, a fire breathing dragon, metal manipulators, men and women with weapons and armours from the future, a miracle doctor who could heal instantly almost any wound and even had their own Alexandria Lite…but never had they seen such a rescue, such heights of physical feats that blew over anything this world had ever witnessed.

When their saviour stopped with last rescue completed they saw an extremely well built man wearing civilian clothing, with his hood pulled over his head and orange-white flames covering his face like a mask with two bright red lights shining in place of his eyes. The crowd took in the image of their saviour and exploded into loud cheers! People were praising him for giving them another chance at life, a chance to carry onwards with their loved ones, the air around these dead parts of the city that no normal person would ever visit filled with jubilation and gratefulness, but their saviour only looked towards the ruined city, staring at it with such wistful longing that he did not react to cheer and kept floating in the air, and just as fast he came and rescued everybody he shot up into the air so fast that no one saw him move, only heard the aftershocks of the air as he long left the city and vanished into the sky, probably to save others in need.

Worm CYOA version 1

Entry: Self-Insert

Difficulty

Hard: +3

Complications

Wanted X 3: +3(6)

S9 is hiring: +4(10)

Leviathan: +2(12)

Powers

Alexandria: -2(10)

Legend: -2(8)

Psychokinetic: -2(6)

Inspired Inventor: -2(4)

Perks

Blank: -1(3)

Shattered Limiter: -1(2)

Invictus: -1(1)

Cloak and Dagger: -1(0)

In case the readers want to know what these mean in terms of powers from Super Power Wiki here's the list:

Supernatural/Absolute Condition (Alexandria)

Energy Manipulation (Legend)

Psychokinesis/Telekinesis (Psychokinetic)

Ability Intuition (Instant) (Inspired Inventor)

Experience Manipulation (Self) (Inspired Inventor)

Instant Learning (Inspired Inventor)

Instilled Knowledge (Inspired Inventor)

Intuitive Aptitude (Inspired Inventor)

Skill Manipulation (Self) (Inspired Inventor)

Talent Manipulation (Self) (Inspired Inventor)

Absolute Potential (Shattered Limiter)

Anti-Power Manipulation (Invictus)

Psychic Immunity (Invictus)

Indomitable Will (Invictus)

Tracking Evasion/Limited imperceptibility (Blank)