When I first woke up I was confused. I could barely open my eyes, I felt so drowsy, but I saw my mom sitting next to me. She was holding my hand and her eyes were closed. I tried to talk to her, to say I was awake, but then I realized I had a massive tube sticking down my throat. Unable to talk to get her attention, I tried my best to squeeze her hand, but she didn't notice. And then I noticed that I could only move my eyes, and that I wasn't squeezing her hand, I only thought I was.

As I looked around the white room again, I realized the T.V. was frozen. It's screen was blue, with some blurry white writing. I blinked a few times, wetting my eyes and helping me see.

::HOME::

-MENU-

-INVENTORY-

-SKILL TREE-

\2 POINTS TO SPEND/

-ENHANCEMENTS-

\1 SLOT OPEN/

-ACCOMPLISHMENTS-

'What the hell was she watching?' I thought to myself, confused at her unusual choice of television. Unlike my left hand, when I tried to grab the remote to try and change the channel, my right hand was able to move and grab the remote. As I clicked the channel down button, the text saying inventory lit up. I pressed it again and the skill tree text lit up. 'So it's not a show, it's a menu.' I clicked back up to the menu, and then clicked the 'OK' button on the remote.

The T.V. played a zoom in transition, displaying a page with some stats listed, Endurance 4/10, Intelligence 8/10, Charisma 6/10, Honor 5/10 and Focus 7/10. I pressed a few buttons, trying to back up and see what the other options had in them, and found that the mute button did the trick. When I clicked on my inventory, I saw my hospital gown, underwear and hospital bracelet. There were three more open slots under the clothes section, for my head, legs and feet, along with twenty other open slots for miscellaneous items. I realized then that this menu was pertaining to me. It specifically said in the bracelet's information "Jackson Michaels' Hospital Bracelet".

'What the Fuck? The hell is this?' A multitude of possibilities flashed through my brain, from psychotic fever dream to hysteria caused by my possible concussion. I couldn't move my head, or any other limb save for my right hand, so I couldn't find a way out of this. But then I noticed the little help button in the corner, with a little symbol for the input button next to it. Not knowing what else to do I pressed input, and a help screen came up.

::HELLO AND WELCOME TO YOUR PERSONALIZED PLAYSTATION PORTABLE GAME CONTROLLER. PRESS 1 FOR HELP WITH NAVIGATING THE HOME PAGE, PRESS 2 FOR HELP WITH SETTING RESPAWN, PRESS 3 FOR HELP WITH NAVIGATING THE SKILL TREE, PRESS FOUR IF YOU ARE CONFUSED AND DON'T KNOW WHAT'S HAPPENING, PRESS FIVE IF YOU...::

I stopped reading after the fourth option, pressing four on my remote. More text popped up, explaining my situation;

::THIS SYSTEM HAS BEEN CONFIGURED TO DEFEND AND FIGHT FOR THE HOST, IN A MULTITUDE OF WAYS, SO AS TO NOT HAVE ANY ACCIDENTS LIKE THE PREVIOUS ACCIDENT WITHIN STARK INDUSTRIES. AFTER THE ENERGY SURGE FROM THE MK. 1 PROTOTYPE ARC REACTOR, THE PLAYSTATION PORTABLE SYSTEM BELONGING TO {:jackson michaels:} INFUSED WITH THE CRANIUM OF {:jackson michaels:} AND EVOLVED TO A TYPE ZERO ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE. THIS SYSTEM CAN NOW ALTER THE BODY AND MIND OF {:jackson michaels:} TO THE BENEFIT OF HIS LIVILHOOD::

'Wow' I thought, 'Does this mean I can be a superhero? Like Mightyman and Lightman, and Captain America? I love those comics! Wait, would they ever make a comic of me? Would they make a comic about a real person? That's never happened before. Woah. I could become famous! All I have to do is save some old lady!'

I pressed the mute button again and then clicked down onto the Skill Tree section. It opened up to a large circle split diagonally four ways. Each quarter had its own color, red on top, green on the left, blue blue on bottom, and yellow on the right. The red section was labeled STRENGTH, the green labeled AGILITY, the blue was labeled MYSTICALITY and the yellow had STEALTH. Curious, I clicked through the options to see what they did. When I pressed the up arrow on the remote, the strength tab grew, showing several branches moving away from the circle. Only two of the options were visible however, Invulnerability and Super Strength. I backed out and looked at the other sections, agility had Flight and Super Speed, stealth had Invisibility and Teleportation, and mysticality had Mindreading and Magic.

I've always been interested in things like supersonic cars and faster methods of travel, so the Teleportation and Super Speed options seemed like the best fit for me. I backed out of mysticality and clicked back into agility to select Super Speed. It said before I had the two skill points so I figured I could buy both. I was wrong however, as the two skill points were apparently used to open and start a section, as when I clicked on Super Speed it spent both the points on both the agility options.

'Well Flight isn't the worst power to have,' I thought to myself. With the two powers bought I closed back out to the main screen. I shifted down and clicked on Enhancements, to see what was in there. A long list with nine open slots popped up, with one enhancement on the side. I clicked over to it, and read the pop up for it. It said "Electrical Mind: All electronics devices and machines will be easily understood, easily managed and utilized by the system owner." I was already pretty handy with electronics, thanks to my time in the robotics club, but to have it readily come easy, and with stuff I know little about, I was really excited to have the enhancement.

After adding the Enhancement, another pop up came up.

::ALL SKILLS AND ENHANCEMENTS ADDED. WOULD YOU LIKE TO LEAVE?::

::Yes:: ::NO::

I thought about clicking no, and exploring my achievements so far, but then I realized I wouldn't have many, if any at all, 'cause I haven't done much with my life so far. Deciding, I clicked on the yes option and the T.V. started to play again, the latest Office episode resuming from where it was cut off. I heard the beeping of my monitor, and the bustle of a busy hospital. I tried to squeeze my mom's hand again, and this time I was met with success. Her eyes opened and she looked over at me.

"Jackson? Are you awake sweetie?" She asked concerned.

I nodded my head the best I could, but winced from the pain in my forehead. I dropped the remote and lifted my right hand up to my head, and felt something bumpy under the bandages near my temples.

"No, no darling, the doctor said you shouldn't touch the wound. Let me call her over. She'll make sure your okay." My mom said, her brown hair shifting over her shoulder as she leaned over me to brush my hand away from my head. It took a minute for the doctor to arrive after my mom pressed the red call button on my remote.

"Hello Mrs. Michaels, you called for me?" The doctor poked her head in and asked.

"Yes, my son woke up!" My mom said excited, looking up at my doctor. She quickly looked back me, as if afraid I'd fall back asleep.

"Oh?" The doctor said, looking over at me, walking into the room fully. I watched as she walked in, and blushed when I realized I was staring at her. She was uniquely beautiful for a doctor, reddish brown hair, slightly curled, she kinda reminded me of Jessica Rabbit. "Good morning Mr. Michaels, my name is Dr. Nadia Russan, I've been overseeing your recovery. I know this must all be a shock to you, but first and for most we need to make sure you relax. Your head wound is still very touch and go. I'll have a nurse come by in the next few minutes to remove your feeding tube, and then I'll be back to answer any questions you might have. Sound good?"

All I could do was nod my assent, and watch as she left the room. My mom filled me in on what I missed, apparently I was in a coma for a week and a half. Since finals week at my high school was only a week away, and I wouldn't be fully healed, and since my grades were already so good, my principal allowed me to skip my finals exams. 'That was real lucky,' I thought to myself, 'but now I've studied for nothing'. The nurse walked in and fiddled with the feeding tube, making me gag as she pulled it out. My mom tried to distract me by telling me of how Carlie came to visit me while I was sleeping, and how my robotics friends replayed their regionals win on the T.V., in hopes I could hear them. While I was sad to have missed regionals, I was nonetheless happy when I found out they won.

After the feeding tube was gone, I coughed repeatedly on and off for at least five minutes. When my voice came back to me, it was really raspy, and my pubescent voice cracks seemed to come out in droves. A few minutes of telling my mom my POV of what happened, and not the authorities guess as to what happened, my doctor walked back in.

"So, Jackson, I'm certain you have many questions, but I have to do my due diligence and ask how your feeling first. The nurse took all your vitals, and all seems to be in working order, but I need to make sure you don't have any memory problems. Can you tell me what year it is?" She asked, sitting in an office chair next to my EKG.

"2009. December. Um, I'm not sure what day it is though," I said not having to strain my mind too hard.

The doctor gave a chuckle, "Well you answered my next to questions as well, you're a pretty proactive guy." I blushed as she said that, realizing I answered her question and then some. "Do you know where you live?"

"1156, Elmore Lane, Los Angeles California" I said easily, feeling better knowing I was passing her small exam.

"Perfect, now one last question Jackson, where do you go to school?" She asked, putting her clipboard down as she waited for my answer.

"Science Center Academy and Research Facility, or S.C.A.R.F. for short." I answered after thinking for a second or two.

"Well all seems to be in order, your memory is intact, and the slow response for the last question could be fatigue," she said, and puzzled me as it didn't seem like that long of a pause. "Now, time for you questions. Fire away."

I thought for a second, and I only really had one question, about the bumps and bandages on my forehead. "Why does my forehead feel so bumpy?" I asked, almost raising my hand to feel again.

"Well we did our best to extract the pieces of metal from the reactor explosion and another object we couldn't identify, but some of the metal was too embedded in your cerebral tissue," she explained slowly, softening her words, trying to make me feel better.

But I felt nowhere near better, regardless if it gave me super powers, my brain was my best asset and my eyes widened in fear when she said metal was embedded in my brain tissue. "In my cerebral tissue? Isn't that a bad thing?" I asked in a panic.

"No Jackson, we got rid of most of the metal, and these pieces, although stuck in your brain, haven't caused any issues. There isn't any corrosive decay, so there's no worry of poisoning or toxicity affecting your blood stream." She paused to let all that information set in. "It also appears that your brain has not sustained any damage, like it moved itself and altered shape to still function even with the shards still stuck inside. It's a medical miracle, we're all at a loss of how this happened. It would do more damage to remove the shards, rather than let them stay where they are."

I blinked a few times, trying to wrap my head around the fact that I would have to spend the rest of my life with metal shards sticking into my head. "Well...thank you doctor. It's kinda cool right mom? I'll look like the Terminator." I started to giggle uncontrollably, squirming in my hospital bed as the absurdity of the entire day set in. My doctor looked concerned as I laughed my head off, and glanced at my mom. I was too distracted in my thoughts and humorous situation to hear what she said exactly, but I could hear her say something about pumping some midazolam to put me to sleep for a bit. My laughing slowed as my doctor injected it into my I.V. drip, making me feel very drowsy. Eventually my rough laugh stopped completely, and I felt my eyes droop closed.