Setting: Worm.


Bird.

Chapter 1


A dull impact brought keen awareness on its wake.

I was laying on something hard and cold, my hearing was overtaken by a distracting ringing, my vision held nothing but darkness, and my body felt strange; it was tingling all over, and it felt… more constricting I want to say, but I lack a reference.

It was a confusing experience.

I think I supposed to be scared in a situation like this, but I wasn't for some reason. Perhaps because of how good I was feeling.

It was like waking up from a nice nap, feeling your energy completely replenished and your worries far away. I would be stretching my joins if I could move-

Oh wait, I can move my limbs, they felt heavy and sluggish now, but that's quickly changing. As the seconds passed, I was becoming more and more comfortable with my body, and it was becoming lighter and easier to move.

I opened my eyes, feeling a little dumb for not noticing they were closed before and saw my hand… my hand?

It looks… spider-ish, like my skin was stretched to its limits on top of the bone. Was I always been this skinny? Or… pale?

The opening and closing of fingers confirmed that it was indeed my hand, and looking the arm attached to it; I concluded that I was dangerously skinny, like, on the level of being a problem.

Which contracted to how good I felt, I don't think I should be feeling this strong if I was anorexic, yet my eyes showed evidence of the contrary.

Pushing that to the back of my head, I raised my eyes to see where I was.

The name 'hospital room' immediately jumps on my mind when I saw the soft colors and nondescript furniture, the fallen I.V. pole was also a very telling sign.

I was in a hospital. That made sense. Have I fallen from my bed?

Raising myself carefully and turning my head slightly, I noticed the toppled bed lying horizontally beside me.

Right, I fell from the bed.

Gripping the side of the bed, I used it as leverage to raise myself the rest of the way… and was shocked by what was happening behind the bed, a shock so great that it kick-started my hearing and made the world stop moving in slow motion.

"LET ME GO YOU FUCKING COCKSUCKER-ARG!"

"SHUT THE FUCK UP BITCH! Hold her fucking down man!"

"BITCHASS MOTHERFUCKERS, FUCK YOU AND YOUR FAGGOTS FUCKBUDDIES! THIS IS THE ONLY WAY YOU EVER GET- GRAH!"

"I SAY SHUT THE FUCK UP!"

"LET ME GO, LET ME GO LET ME GO LET ME GOOO! AHHHH!"

Tree guys were fighting to hold down a nurse, she was trashing mighty and cursing every single one of them until the one on the right literally sticks a sock deep inside her mouth, but it only made her growl and thrash some more.

A-A rape scene? Holy shit they're trying to rape her! W-Wha am I suppose to do in this situation!? I-I don't have a phone to call the police, Should I call someone?

She lets out a muffled scream as the men managed to tear always her uniform's shirt. With a burst of laughter, the one in the middle tried to catch her kicking legs to do the same with the pants while the two other roughly started to massage her breast through the bra.

Seeing that, I knew I had to do something.

"H-Hey!" I called, instantly regretting it. DUMBASS! What that fuck my skinny ass could do against three grown men, I should have sneaked out of the room and called somebody!

Too late, four pairs of eyes turned to me. The men regarded me for a second, and then they burst out laughing.

"Oh, that's fucking rich!" One of the men said between laughs. "Hey Mark, you literally knock the kid awake!"

"I know right! I can cure the sick by pushing now! It's my cape power!" The other bellowed.

They keep laughing until the nurse kicked the one in the middle in the balls and tried to escape, after that they quickly turned their attention back to her.

"R-Rape!" I shouted to the door, my eyes still mostly on the scene. Part of me knew that I should go get someone personally, but it was difficult to turn my back to the scene knowing what was about to happen to the nurse; it felt wrong. "There is a rape! Please help!"

I thought the guys would be annoyed at that, but two didn't even bother to react, while the third just laughed at my face.

What! Aren't they worried about being found out? We are in a hospital it shouldn't be too long now before… Then I heard, the sound outside of the room, I didn't notice before because I was focused on the horrible sounds inside of the room, but out there, I could hear shouts of terror, glass breaking, hushing of bodies, shots being fired…

There was something very wrong going on, I don't know what it was, but it became clear that help isn't coming.

There was another muffled scream followed by a victorious one as the man in the middle managed to break the waist belt of her pants, and pulled it down to her knees, the right side of her purple underwear was dragged to the middle of her thigh by the movement.

"H-Hey, Stop this-"

"Fuck off kid!" A guy snarled, his voice promising a world of hurt.

I almost did; I mean, a fully grow muscular man dressing and acting like a thug could make many people back off, this isn't the kind of person someone could brother without a genuine threat of danger, but what he was doing, and the way the nurse's eyes grew increasable more desperate, made impossible for me to not do something.

"I-I say; stop!" I shouted, grabbing his shoulder.

And his flesh molded under my grip.

It was like grabbing a pizza dough filled with extremely brittle cookies, expect it was an overly muscular male shoulder. My spidery hand closed almost completely feeling almost no resistance. Shattered bones immediately jugged from the flesh between my fingers, blood followed.

It was an incredibly shocking sight.

"Ah?" The man looked at his right arm, which fell useless to the side, held together only by skin. His other hand going to his destroyed shoulder. "Ah?! AH! AAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

He fell to the side screaming incoherently and contorting in pain. My wide eyes moved between my hand and his thrashing body.

What in the fuck just happened!?

"What… The hell…" I heard someone uttering from beside me. I turn my head to- Baseball bat!

The world suddenly slowed down to a crawl. I could see every inch of the opportunist man that was swinging the bat. He was clearing aiming for my head and looked like he was putting all his strength in it too, his face buffing with air, his waist bent widely to the side, his muscles tensing by effort.

I blinked… then noticed I could move just fine even if the rest of the world was in slow motion.

Pushing the many, many incredulous questions about what was happening to a time where I didn't have a baseball bat being swung to my head. I entered inside his guard, put my hand on his chest and pushed him, looking to throw his balance off.

He shot backward like a bullet, his body exploding through the window.

"The fuck!?" The last man standing gave voice to my feelings; I looked at him and noticed that he had a knife. He noticed that too, and it fell to the floor a moment later. "H-Hey man, I ain't looking for trouble, j-just following orders knowwhatImean? GUH!" There was a distinctive sound, then his rolled back, and he fell forward. The half-naked nurse was behind him, holding a fire extinguisher.

She then walked to the one trashing on the floor and hurled the extinguisher with a loud howl. The guy stopped moving.

What followed was a few minutes of silence, with the nurse leaning on the extinguisher with her head dipped down trying to calm her breaths. I didn't know how to proceed from there.

"Hum, are you ok?" I tried.

She jerked up suddenly, making me flinch.

"I'm fine." She said in a voice of someone how isn't fine. Her hand moving to push her breast back to the cups of her bra; I felt my ears warming by the sight, they were… very sizable. "More importantly how are you? You shouldn't be able to move."

"What-" I tried to speak, but she cut me again.

"No no, that level of atrophy." She mumbled, feeling my arm, from up close I could see how deeply exhausted she was, both her green eyes had noticeable dark circles under them, her light brown hair was folded back in a matter that could only be described as messy, and her skin was sickly pale. "Are you feeling any pain? Dizziness? You should lie down while I grab my equipment… Ah fuck, the bed."

"M-Ma'am." I pushed her back lightly, thankfully no herculean strength this time. "I'm alright, we should worry about you!" I gulped when I saw her wide, fixated eyes roaming around; her breathing has not calmed down, I noticed. "I think you're having a panic attack or something."

"You feel too warm, let me get the thermometer." She ignored me and turned to look around the room. "Damn, where did I put it…"

Okay, she is definitely not fine. She must be having a breakdown or something because that's not normal. I… I don't know what I should do in this situation, how can I help her?

Something 'clicked' inside my head, but not in a way where you suddenly figure something out or have an idea, there was a literal 'click' inside my very being, a… thing embedding itself into my very core, I would be freaking out if it didn't feel so natural.

And I suddenly knew what I should do.

I step closer to the nurse, my hand going to her naked shoulder, and I release the energy I had gathered on my fingers.

It crashed through her like a wave, passing through every inch of her body, utterly destroying any stress accumulated, loosening any overly tensed muscles, calming any overwhelming worry. It was like she received the mother of all messages in a second.

She moaned loudly, not a sexual moan though there were some traces of it, but a relieved moan, the one a person lets out after they pop their back in the right way. Her weakening knees collapsed under her. I held most of her weight before slowly lowering her to the floor.

There was a long moment of silence where we just looked at each other, her eyes blinking dumbly as she managed to think clearly for the first time. Then she lowered her head to my shoulder.

It was my turn to blink dumbly, not understanding what had happened… but then the shaking began, followed by the quiet sobs.

I did my best to comfort her, trying to not let the feeling of a soft, half-naked woman get to my head too much. I also shot her with the relaxing energy a few more times, when I felt she truly needed it.

Eventually, she calmed down, leaning away from my embrace and sitting on her ankles.

"Thank you. " She said quietly, not meeting my eyes. Is she embarrassed? That's kinda cute.

"You're welcome."

She cleaned her eyes, her other hand reaching for something on the floor close to us; a pair of rectangular glasses.

"You're a parahuman." She said, putting it on, there was a crack on the right lens

"I'm a what?"

"You have powers." She said, bringing a lot of questions to the forefront of my mind, "You don't know what that is? What can you remember?"

…What can I remember?

What can you remember that questions felt like a hurricane to me, in one moment I felt relieved for understanding more about my situation, then growing terror as I failed to remember anything substantial about myself.

"I…I don't know." I mouthed, breathing more rapidly as I totted on the edge of a freak-out, but never quite lose my ability to think. "I don't remember anything," I said to her and to myself, contrary to what I was expecting, I actually felt calmer after that.

But not calm enough to show on the outside, as the nurse quickly pulled my apparently panicky form to her pillowed bosom. My blush must be showing over my entire body.

"Shh, it's alright, it's alright." Now she is the one confronting me; I felt kind of guilty for only being able to think on how soft she felt. "This is common for cases like yours. I'm sure you'll remember after a few days of rest."

"Mmm," I just shut up and enjoy her warmth, the polite thing for me to do you have been to offer her something to cover herself, but I only had that hideous hospital gown, and the cold floor on my ass told me how much I was wearing underneath.

Then, there was an explosion somewhere, and the room shook.

The nurse immediately grabs my shoulders and pushed me, "Michael listen, we need to leave this place now. I need you to follow me ok, follow me and keep close."

"Michael? Is that my name? What is going on?"

"No time to exclaim, we have to go!"

-0-0-0-

The guy dressed like a gangster pointed his sub-machine gun at me and pulled the trigger with a scream. I let out my own scream, fighting the fear of being on the wrong barrel of a gun; I ran through the rail of bullets, they feel like raindrops.

I body slammed the guy on a wall, feeling his ribs cracking against my arms. When I stepped back, he fell to the floor, unconscious.

Not gonna lie; having powers is kinda cool.

"Good work," Angelica said, following behind me. She's still uncertain about letting me act as a shield, having let out a scream the first time I caught a bullet for her. But there was just too many of these guys, the only way we could move was facing them directly, and I was the one bulletproof.

Running through a hospital while it's being attacked by gangsters was a dizzying experience. Three men trying to rape a woman was simple, I knew what I should do then, but people panicking, running around screaming, men and women with guns shutting anyone that got close, people fighting, getting hurt, dying, all around me, it was…difficult.

Angelica maintained her focus thankfully, she was the one pulling me along and not letting me get distracted by the violence around us. We didn't run to the exit like I had imagined, first, we made a stop of the dressing room to get some new clothes, and more importantly, a car key, then we moved to the hospital garage, gathering as many supplies we could along the way.

"Get down," She ordered as we reached the garage door at the end of the stairs, "If we're lucky, they'll still be fighting."

I kept my question inside and peeked through the door as she opened it.

"Fuck." She cursed, and I noticed that unlike the rest of the place; there was no fighting.

Instead, there were gangsters everywhere, laughing and talking among themselves as they loot the bodies… is that the police?

"We have to get to that big ambulance right there," She pointed to the vehicle at the corner, "But with them around…" She bit her lower lip, looking at me with conflicted eyes.

I picked up what she meant. "You want me to distract them. That's what I've done over these last minutes right? What the difference now?"

She kept staring me for a few seconds, and then pointed at the garage again, more precisely to one particular man, he was wearing only pants showing his heavily tattered, and on his face there was a stylized hockey mask.

"That's Musclebound; he was a famous supervillain before… before the city fell."

"Supervillain? You mean like the comics!"

"Shhh! Keep your voice down." She said closing the door a little. "My point is, he is very dangerous… I… I can't send you to fight him." She let go of the door, turning back. "Let's find another way."

"The building is on fire," I reminded her. "That crazy guy was throwing around Molotov's," And when I say crazy; I mean really crazy, like foaming in the month crazy, it was terrifying facing a genuinely crazy person for the first time, especially when he was dressed like a nurse. "We don't know how much the flames spread."

I could see her seriously considering the options, her tired eyes growing wearier, "Michel, he… he killed superheroes before. And you're just gaining your powers, what if there is a limit you don't know? Something that he can use against you, you could die." She glances at me up and down. "Christ, you shouldn't even be up, you just waken up for a long coma."

"We really have to talk after all of this," I shook my head, "Just get to the ambulance ok?"

"Wait!" She tried, but it was clear that there was only one option there.

Perhaps it was the fact that I spent the last few minutes tanking bullets and breaking bones, but I felt deep inside that I could take him… Or perhaps it's my teenager arrogance speaking.

"Hey! Hey you! Musclefreak!" I shouted, striding confidently through the garage.

All the eyes were on me, good. There was laughter because a skeletally thin boy wearing too big clothes that made him look a homeless person insulting a badass super villain was bound to get some laughs. There was also some guns pointed at me, and insults thrown, but that was expected. The villain in question just stopped kicking the body of a police officer and glared at me.

"Is this a joke?" He asked, his voice muffled by the mask.

Then I punched him.

He flew in a twisting arch, hitting a parked car in a denting impact; the car's alarm went off.

There was no more laughter.

The villain stood, the pieces of his fragmented mask falling from his face, he turned to the side and spat a couple of teeth, all while trying to evaporate me with his glare.

I raise my arms in a boxing stance, not the most intimidating visage, but I made my point.

"Alright kid, you have my attention." He said darkly, taking a step forward… And then falling to his knees.

I blinked. "Oh… What's wrong?" The words came from a place I didn't know, but they felt right. "Perhaps you dropped a coin or something?"

Musclebound let out a drain out, almost animalistic growl, his body beginning to bulge grotesquely, his skin stretching to the breaking point and then beyond, from the new tears on the surface I could see red muscle pulsing. "I'm going to murder you." He stated simply. I got a feeling it was a promise.

He dashed forward; his new grotesque form was like a moving train. It made me take a step back almost instinctively.

I managed to avoid the uppercut, but his next move was faster then I predicted, sending me flying.

I destroyed a car on my landing, and some of the gangsters were quick to get out of the way. Then I rolled to the side to avoid his dropkick.

As he was tangled in the remains of the car I took the opportunity to punch him in the ribs.

It… didn't send him flying; instead, the impact his made his bulking muscles jiggle a little.

Soon after, he bitchslapped me to the side.

I felt the air rushing around my body was I crashed through several vehicles and a support pillar, only rolling to a stop when I reach the wall on the other side of the garage.

Well fuck; I thought this fight would be easier… at least I'm not hurt.

…Oh yeah, his strikes are sending me flying, but not hurting me, that good to know.

I got up, and watch the villain growl as he began to walk to my direction-Wow he is big, like three or four times bigger than before, but he's rapidly shirking.

For some reason he's not dashing like before but walking to me instead, I took advantage of that and rush to attack him myself. My fists making his muscles jiggle again.

Alright, I get it; physical attack won't work.

A big red hand evolved most of my arm. And suddenly my perspective was shifting violently as I was being slammed in the floor like Hulk did to Loki.

Hulk and Loki where the hell did that come from?

Being slammed on the floor was getting annoying, so I twisted myself free from his grip and rolled away to create some space- He is even bigger now! His head is scrapping on the ceiling.

Man, powers are freaking weird, I wonder how his work.

Suddenly there was a 'click' inside of my very being and- 389 muscles are contracting, 279 are relaxing, his waist is twisting, his weight is being shifted, his next attack are coming from the left.

After that, he couldn't hit me anymore.

I watched his power work as I danced around his firsts; his body can absorb any direct impact and use it to empower his muscles, making him grow in size, strength, and durability, but sacrificing speed, but its only temporary, his strength gradually goes back to normal if he does not get hit again. He doesn't have control of the absorption, and his body has a limit of how much it can handle, two punches from me took him to the edge of his limits.

That is neat! Is it one of my powers!?

No… More, I can decide each power I have, I have something… Slots! I have slots inside me that can be filled with powers! Currently, only two are filled... Wait two?... My strength is a power independent to this one!

Holy fuck that's overpowered!

"Stay. Still!" Musclebound growled, reminding me that he was there.

"How about this!" I punched him again. Taking him past his limits.

There was a mighty hush of air and a sound like an explosion as the grotesque form of Musclebound, for a lack of a better word, popped like a balloon.

Thankfully, there was less blood and guts involved that one would expect, though there was some blood.

"…You." Musclebound mumbled horrified. He was back on his human form, but with bloody remains of giant muscle fibers connected to his normal ones. I could see that he took less damage than it looked, but the absorption aspect of his power needed a few minutes to restart.

I opened my mouth to let a witty or dry comment, but he was suddenly run over by an ambulance, the passenger door opening in front of me.

"Come on!" Angelica shouted. "Before they start shooting!"

I didn't need to be told twice.

Soon, we were racing through the garage on top speed, leaving a series of shocked gangsters behind.

"Are you alright!?" Angelica shouted, she was doing her best to look and me and on the road at the same time. "God, he slapped you around so much!" She lamented, her knuckles turning white around the steering wheel.

I glance at her - terrified of losing me, excited to see me winning against a villain, exhausted for overworking, in her mid-twenties, heavy smoker, hadn't taken a bath in more than two days, about to menstruate. I closed my eyes and 'unclicked' my second power out of me. Now, I know how Tattletale feels…

Wait, who?

"Michael, MICHAEL!"

"I'm alright!" I quickly opened my eyes and looked into her terrified ones. "It didn't even hurt. Seriously, I'm super strong now."

"Oh." She leaned back focusing. Slowly a smiled formed on her face. "You fought Musclebound." She stated.

"I did." I also leaned back on the chair.

"And you won." There was… something in her voice, I couldn't figure out what.

"Yeah."

For one moment, I thought I could sleep on that chair, to finally rest after a crazy day. But then… we left the garage.

… It was like the inside the hospital, only worse.

There was some kind of encampment in front of the hospital, rows of tents neatly lined beside each other, with a modest fortification around it. And everything was on fire.

There are people there, some crying and running for their lives, others trying to fight the armed gangsters, a few policemen trying to provide support, but they're being massacred, but the worst of them, whose numbers seen to be increasing on each second; were the crazy ones.

They were dancing naked in the fire, fucking in the middle of the hail of bullets, eating their own flesh in a mad, deliriously glee. One of the crazies had powers, from his hands came powerful streams of fire that burned everything around him, there was a decapitated head hanging on his dick.

It was a vision of hell.

"Don't look," Angelica said quietly, as she runs over one of the crazy ones.

I tried not to look at the blood on the windshield.

"What happened here?" I asked breathlessly.

She kept a hard look ahead of her, preparing to break through the feeble fortifications.

"Simurgh."


Worm Cyoa: Ver 1

Choices:
Reincarnation

Mode: World Breaker (+12 p)(All the Power start off twice as strong)

Power: Kaleidoscope, Eidolon, Alexandria (-6 p)

Perks: Bank, Shattered Limiter, Invictus, Inspiration, First Impressions, Manpower.(-6 p)