《Purge All Evil》 Chapter 1 I opened my Email after a long day of work and scrolled through my unread mail. Most of it was spam, but there were a few emails which notified me of story updates and other subscriptions. There was one that really caught my eye. It was titled CYOA, nothing else. A straightforward title I thought. That was the reason it caught my eye. I opened the email and inside the sender stated that he had been rereading my first ever story and that he was a big fan of mine. He wished that I would continue writing my old fanfiction. He stated that he was aware of the fact that I probably wouldn¡¯t continue, but if I could do him a small favour and fill out the CYOA in the link then he would be ever so grateful. I hadn¡¯t received any comments or emails from my earlier works in years so it was heartwarming to see that someone still read my first story. I decided to check it out and clicked the link. The page transferred me to was the Worm CYOA version 5 updated. I had read many Worm fanfics, so I was familiar with the story. I regret that I didn¡¯t read the worm serial before the fanfic but I just couldn¡¯t be bothered to invest so many hours of my time to read a story that was over 1.5 million words. The first thing that I noticed when I opened the link was the length. I was astounded, most CYOAs weren¡¯t very long, it caused me to be a bit put off but I did decide to fill out the CYOA. Prior to this request, I had filled out a few CYOAs for various other fandoms such as One Piece and JJBA so I was aware of the ¡°proper¡± way to fill out the CYOAs. I started by picking Gestation setting which gave me +15 character points and +15 shard points. This was the setting where cannon starts. Next was choosing Paths, I could choose to become a Hero, a Villain, a Rogue or a Vigilante. I selected the Vigilante Path. I wasn¡¯t a large fan of authority inside fiction, most of the time the governments were corrupted or stifled the characters¡¯ potential. I still wished to help save the World, call it a childish desire if you will but I wished to feel the satisfaction of knowing that I saved someone. I chose the Drop-in entry which granted me (+5 character points). Now I skipped over a large part and went to the flaws section and picked out the flaws that wouldn¡¯t completely harm myself. I didn¡¯t want to be a case 53, create my own nemesis or have amnesia. There were enough problems in the apocalyptic world of Worm that I didn¡¯t have to add any limitations to myself. I decided that I wanted an Overpowered self-insert so I tried to maximise that amount of points that I could take without overwhelming my character in weaknesses. I read through all of the options and eventually settled on Slaughterhouse 9 which gave me (+4 character points and +2 shard points). I knew that I(my character) was eventually going to fight and kill the Slaughterhouse 9 so I might as well get some points out of it. I chose Endbringer Target which granted me (+3 character points and +4 shard points) for the same reason as the S9 and finally Numbed Emotions, that gave me (+2 in shard points). I figured that it was the best alternative, if I was going to be killing people then I should probably not emphasise with them and let it get in the way of killing them. I continued to scroll down and saw the path specific section. It would grant me more points depending on what I chose but in the end, I decided to choose the Anti-Villain option. There were other options such as Anti-Hero where I targeted the heroes and weeded out the corruption or Ambivalent where both the Heroes and Villains would hunt me down. However, it seemed to me that that would be overkill and I would probably die within the first day or two. Anti-Villain granted me +3 character points and +1 shard points. It was at this point where I could start granting myself abilities and power. For my costume, I chose to give myself the path specific stealth suit and a pair of blades. It would complement my choice of the Martial arts skill that I was planning to take. Ever since I saw all of the Korean martial arts movies, I had been enamoured with the idea of fighting many goons and the martial arts skill would help me. The costume and blades took -4 character points which were quite a sizable sum because skills were expensive. I moved onto the skills section and decided to take Martial arts (-4charcter points), Stealth (-3 character points), Hacking (-1 character points) and Parkour (-2 character points). I scrolled down to the advantages and looked at them. The only ones that really appealed to me were Blindspot (-3 character points and -4 shard points) and Second Trigger (-4 character points and -3 shard points). Unfortunately, they were fucking expensive. The next section was the Shard type. In this section, I could choose between the Scion, Eden or Abbadon Shard. I decided to take the Abbadon Shard (-3 character points and -3 shard points) which was vastly better than the other types. It was the only shard which cost points instead of granting them, but it gave many advantages. The most noticeable was the increase in the strength of powers and the fact that it had a much larger source of energy than the other shards. The next stage was choosing a Gift, this could be knowing the plot of the story to the tiniest detail or knowing how your actions affect different people via dream invasion. I decided to choose Payoff, an ability that would allow me to keep all of my powers in our world after Scion was dead and I would be returned back to my earth. And now to the most awaited part- power selection. There were so many to choose from, I looked at my remaining points and saw that I had an adequate amount. I couldn¡¯t get the strongest powers but I could get any other power that I wanted. I browsed through the powers and stopped. Is that really there? I rubbed my eyes and squinted, yes there it was clear as day. Sitting on the screen was the option Stand (-7 shard points). As a huge Jojo fan, I instantly picked the power and read the description. I could have any amount of powers as long as it is in the 10 point limit, that was so overpowered. I immediately decided to second trigger the power (-4 character points and -10 shard points), essentially any power that the stand got was the second trigger version. There were limits however, it couldn¡¯t have any trump, tinker, thinker or master powers, but it was a fair flaw. I chose Flight (-3 shard points) which allowed the stand to fly at 150 Km per hour but with the second trigger version, it could fly at 350 Km per hour. The next choice was Pocket Room (-1 shard points), an ability that grants the user his own small private dimension where time is frozen. The second trigger version allowed the user to store living things in the pocket dimension. The implications of this power are just insane, The stand could potentially carry anything that I wanted like weapons or even bombs. Or steal whatever I wanted and that wasn¡¯t taking into account that I could simply just hide inside my stand¡¯s space and safely control him from there. Elemental (-3 shard points) was the next power that I chose. It essentially allowed the user to turn into fire, water or wind. This was essentially being untouchable to most of the world with the exception of a few tinker tech devices and esoteric abilities. Then there was the second trigger version, which allowed the user to turn into any material around them and gain their attributes and abilities. Razor Hand (-2 shard points) was next it allowed the user to turn their hands into sharp claws, it was pretty strong but there were many other powers that dwarfed it in power or utility. The reason that I chose it was that the second trigger version allows the user to cut things at the molecular level! This was an incredibly powerful ability. It was practically a crime that it cost so little, but whatever. It''s good for me. The final choice for my stand was Peak Condition. It was an ok power not very useful but the second trigger version was the reason I chose it, this truly was Overpowered. It gave my stand infinite energy. I could think of so many combinations that it wasn¡¯t funny. For example, I could combine it with Elemental and create an endless amount of an element. I could also use my powers with no restraint as my shard would be powered forever with this power. The stand was overpowered and it was incredibly cheap, compared to how much each power would have cost me individually. I didn¡¯t know if I should get more powers, I had decided to make an overpowered character but this would be overkill I could take any parahuman solo. But who am I kidding it¡¯s just for fun anyway so I continued on. The next power was the Unlimited Shard Works (-7 shard points). I also second triggered it. This power allowed me to copy a power that I could see for a single-usage before losing it. For example, copying Miss Milita¡¯s power and then summoning a gun. After finishing the magazine then the copy disappears. The second trigger version of Unlimited Shard Works let me copy any power that I could see forever. I was down to two points so I looked through the remaining one and two-point powers and chanced upon Presence (-2 shard points). It let the user essentially be aware of everything that was going on in a 25-metre circumference of myself. It was like Observation Haki from One piece only without much range. I looked at my points score and saw that there was one character point left. I went to Perks and chose Plot convenience. I didn¡¯t have enough for Blindspot so I chose the next best thing. I went over my choices again and I was satisfied with my choices. My character would stomp over all of the Wormverse. With sufficient time he could solo kill Scion. As I was preparing to send my CYOA to my fan, I thought to myself that this was what usually happened before a ROB(Random Omnipotent Being) sends you to the world of the CYOA with your choices. I knew that such a thing was impossible in the real world because there was no way in hell that there would ever be a ROB. And even if there was why would he choose me of all people. I sent it to him. A few minutes later I received a short email saying ¡°I loved it, Enjoy.¡± My last words were ¡°Oh Fuck¡± before I blacked out. **************************************************************************************************** I woke up sitting with my back against an old dirty brick wall disoriented and sleepy. I opened my eyes and looked at my surroundings. It was nighttime and there was one crappy wall light that was glowing dimly. The light that it gave off was enough to let me survey where I was. It appeared that I was inside a narrow alleyway full of discarded trash, broken glass and rotten food. A few metres from my foot was a few empty discarded syringes, as I looked around I could see more and more syringes. There were even a few old couches. I understood that this was a place frequented by druggies, it was the perfect place for you to get lost in your hallucinations. Nobody would come searching for you. My head was still woozy and I couldn¡¯t remember how I arrived in this trashy alleyway. I was sure that I wouldn¡¯t have taken drugs if offered when sober, however, when I was drunk I couldn¡¯t be too sure. I tried to understand how I arrived inside such a horrible place but I couldn¡¯t remember. I was disgusted by the revolting filth that surrounded me and I scrambled to get off the ground rubbish filled ground. I started walking in the direction of the entrance of the alley when four big men entered the alleyway. They were all caucasian, each man was wearing a leather jacket and was covered in tattoos. I assumed that they were in their twenties, acting brash, and impulsive with no thoughts or regard towards their surroundings. In fact, they appeared to be in a gang. One man, who I presumed was the leader had an SS tattoo on his hand. They advanced in my direction slowly and dangerously. It was clear that they were drunk. I was getting some disturbing vibes from them. By now I was wide awake and alert. But I surprisingly wasn¡¯t feeling scared instead all I felt was calm and clear-headed. This was despite the fact that I had never been cornered like this. I wasn¡¯t quite sure what was going on but I instinctively knew that I could use something inside of me to help fight these men.This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source. So I pulled on that sensation and felt a weird tingle in the back of my head and all of a sudden I could see everything around me. It wasn¡¯t using my eyes though, instead, the closest I could compare it to was a 3d sphere-shaped model of the area. I was aware of every little detail that was in my range be it the tiny pills that were spilt on the ground, the gaps in between the bricks even the small sign on the building that was near the entrance of the alleyway. I could even read the small handwritten sign that was stuck to the door and read the Sam¡¯s Barber Shop and in smaller letters the Best in Brockton Bay. I was in Brockton Bay. I was in the Wormverse, where everything would end in two years if I didn¡¯t stop Scion. But now was not the time to think about that. The guys in front of me were from the E88- Neo-Nazis who would love to abuse and kill people who didn¡¯t look or follow their beliefs. Now I knew I didn''t fit the Aryan type, I was at an average height of 1.77 metres¡¯ with tan skin, short brown hair and brown eyes. I had Jewish roots throughout my entire family, in fact, my mother was Jewish. Though I counted myself as an atheist. The fact that I was in the Wormverse meant that I had powers, I had picked 3 powers. The Stand, Unlimited Shard Works and Presence. The power that allowed me to know everything around me must have been Presence. Now what to do with these pieces of shit. My thought process was interrupted as the leader, a tall bloke with blond hair, blue eyes and pale skin took a closer look at me and said to his friends ¡°Look at this Fucking Jew and his big ass nose.¡± ¡°You¡¯re a Jew aren¡¯t you? Get the hell out of Brockton Bay and America we don¡¯t want your filth corrupting our city and our country. You Jews make deals with the devil that¡¯s why you¡¯re so successful. But first, we¡¯re going to have to teach you a lesson, otherwise, you won¡¯t learn that you need to die. If you survive, pass the message to your leaders.¡± He said to me with a sadistic look in his eyes. I felt rage flow through my veins, how dare this idiot threaten me right after I come to this world. I was practically a god compared to him. I could destroy a city by myself if I really wanted to. I could rival the Endbringers in destructive potential only using my stand. I could beat them in so many ways. Burn them to death, suffocate them, cut them into little pieces, stab them, mutilate them to the point that their own mother wouldn¡¯t recognize them. This was only a tiny amount of ways I could kill them and despite this, they were threatening me. Fine then, I decided that I would have to beat them with my fists the old fashioned way. I had had anger issues throughout my life and it seemed that it wasn¡¯t any different here. ¡°I would leave but your mother would protest. She enjoyed our time in bed last night too much to allow me to go.¡± I replied as I prepared to use Presence alone to beat these fuckers into the ground. They tried to rush at me, the keyword here is tried. It turns out that the reason that they were all walking so slowly wasn¡¯t because they were trying to intimidate me. It was because they were so drunk that they couldn¡¯t move any faster. Two of the E88 goons fell as they lost their balance while the leader managed to reach me. I entered into a fighting stance as I tried to remember what I had learnt all those years ago. Presence showed me that he was going to attack using his right fist. As he did so I dodged to the right while instinctively punching him in the stomach with an undercut punch. It hit him with full force knocking the air out of his lungs. This caused him to collapse onto his knees as he cradled his stomach. The other thug that was running at me didn¡¯t have any balance, so a simple leg sweep and push combo knocked him on the ground. He hit his head on the gravel and broken glass when he landed and fell unconscious, blood started oozing out of his head. Presence alerted me of the other two goons that were getting up. This time I was the proactive attacker as I rushed them and slammed my knee into the first thug¡¯s face. Using my other leg, I used a roundhouse kick to hit him cleanly across the face. I heard a satisfying crack. They didn¡¯t get up. I went back to the leader who was the only one conscious and pushed onto the ground before repeatedly smashing the man¡¯s head into the concrete pavement. His head was bleeding heavily, but he was still breathing faintly. Well, it appeared that buying the Martial arts skill was worth it. I didn¡¯t know how to use these moves intentionally yet, but my body responded automatically with the appropriate attack. Because I was wearing a T-shirt and Jeans in the chilly streets of Brockton Bay, so naturally I was cold. Even the small workout that I had just now didn¡¯t let me heat up. Brockton Bay was a seaside city and therefore had a sea breeze. This meant that when it was chilly, they would amplify the cold dramatically. I took off the thugs leather jackets and tried them on before picking the least offensive one. Additionally, I took a hoodie and pulled the hood up. I went through their pockets and every single one of them had a pistol. It appeared that I was lucky that they were drunk otherwise if they had been sober they could have just shot me. I wasn¡¯t sure if I could have summoned my stand in time if they did. I also didn¡¯t know if presence allowed me to dodge bullets but I didn¡¯t want to try until I had copied enough brute powers. There were so many things to find out. I also found 124 dollars when I went through their wallets. I kept one wallet and put the money in it and added my own meagre 100 dollars. After pocketing the money I tried to understand what I should do. The adrenaline rush certainly wasn¡¯t helping. I had just beaten 4 men, most of them bigger than me with ease. Now I wasn¡¯t a violent guy, throughout my life I had only been in two fights. I knew that I couldn¡¯t call the police because most of them were corrupt. The E88 members would be out within the hour, so not only would it jeopardize my anonymity by them knowing my face. They also wouldn¡¯t get punished. If it had been any other person in this alley, be it, man or women, they would have been either beaten to an inch of their life, shot, died or been raped. These men clearly weren¡¯t good people and it was my duty as a soon to be vigilante to make sure that they would be off the street. So after coming to a decision, I decided to rid the streets of their influence. I stomped on their knee joints and elbows with all of my strength. There was a sickening crack and the only way they would survive was if they received Panacea¡¯s treatment. But knowing her personality if they were to get an appointment with her, she probably would heal these criminals. If there was a chance that they would return to terrorize innocent people then I would have to remove the threat. I held the guns and examined them. There was a silencer on one of them. This was probably given to the leader as the silencer cost as much as a normal pistol. I steeled my heart and methodically shot the E88 gangsters in the head. I reasoned that I was doing the world a favour by wiping out these scum and I left the alleyway immediately, pocketing the gun as I did so. **************************************************************************************************** In front of me stood an old warehouse I had scouted out and decided would be a good testing site. I broke the rusty lock after analysing the weak and worn down sections with Presence. I entered and peeked my head cautiously inside. Presence had a range of 25 metres, that meant that I couldn¡¯t sense anything after that range without using my natural senses. I didn¡¯t know if anyone was inside because the warehouse was larger than I expected. It was however abandoned as I had anticipated. The floor was made of broken concrete and gravel that was made when the owner must have removed the original machines. There was a row of small windows near the roof of the warehouse that were meant for clean air to come in but they were all broken. All in all, it was a dump. But that meant that it probably wouldn¡¯t be visited, which was good for me. I had decided that after the clash I had with the E88 members I would have to learn how to use my powers. I could meet any gang member on the streets of Brockton Bay and that included capes. While I wouldn¡¯t have any real trouble with most of the capes in Brockton, Lung, Armsmaster and Kaiser were examples of parahumans with much more experience than I. Experience was a large factor in the fight and I didn¡¯t have much of it. While I did have incredibly strong powers at my base level I was only a normal human at the moment. This meant that I wouldn¡¯t be able to tank any blows from these kinds of capes. But that would change incredibly quickly. At the moment, the cape that I really didn¡¯t want to meet was Oni Lee. According to my memory, the ABB had recruited Bakuda already and that meant that Oni Lee was equipped with many bombs with many strong effects. I currently have 3 strong powers. The first was the stand. It would be my primary power until I copied powers using Unlimited Shard Works. Unlimited Shard Works had the potential to be the most powerful of my abilities but to balance it out meant that I would be rather weak in the beginning compared to the future. I could copy any power that I could see forever. It meant that in theory, I could copy the Endbringers¡¯ powers and perhaps even Scion¡¯s himself. That brought me back to why I chose to come to an abandoned warehouse. Here I would test my stand. I would learn how to combine my stand¡¯s powers to amplify its offensive power. I walked to a relatively flat spot on the ground and sat down in the lotus position. I closed my eyes and started aligning my breathing to my heartbeats. Once I achieved this I started to metaphorically search within my body for my powers. I sat there for a few moments totally still. Inwardly I was commanding my stand to come out of hiding and assist me like it was willing to when I fought the gangsters. As I was willing my stand into existence, I ¡°pulled¡± on my desire to hunt down the scum of this earth and punish them and felt something snap inside. Before I knew it, in front of me was a tall humanoid figure floating a few centimetres off the ground. The stand was tall and muscular, with glowing white eyes and hair made of white flames. Its body was made up of a combination of fire, water and air constantly shifting. I stood up and looked closely at him. I mentally commanded him to float to the right then to the left. The stand responded immediately before I had even finished thinking of my command. It felt like it was an extension of my hand. I started out with the most basic test checking out his brute strength by making him hit various objects. It was straight-forward and simple, but it was effective. It first hit the wall and punched a hole through the plaster and wooden wall. The next thing it punched was a broken slab of granite that was lying on the floor. This time it only managed to make small cracks in the slab. However, its hand dispersed into flames after making impact before taking a few seconds to reform. It appeared that it was able to damage granite however it cost my stand its physical shape. I commanded it to become granite using his elemental powers and try breaking the slab now. It punched the slab and this time there was a large boom and its fist created a small crater. This was good, turning into solid and durable materials caused it to gain a brute factor. Combined with its ability to channel and become the elements allowed him to be incredibly strong as it could essentially tank most hits and regenerate. Next was his speed. My stand floated off the ground and flew across the room and started doing some aerial tricks turning instantaneously. It was fast, not quite on the level of the Triumvirate but fast enough. I felt no need to test its durability or regeneration factor as it was essentially an element so it could always become something sturdy and if that wasn¡¯t enough then it would reform. The next of his powers on the list, Razor hand. It was a power that manifested by creating long blades that sprouted from his fingers and allowed him to cut through molecules. Essentially they were the better version of Armsmaster¡¯s Nano-thorn technology that he used against Leviathan. I activated them and from the stand¡¯s fingers ten 30 centimetre long blades sprouted. They were made of the element that was making up its hands. I commanded it to slice the slab of granite that I had used earlier using its claws. They sliced through the granite-like a hot knife through butter. This was an incredibly deadly power but it wasn¡¯t all that practical in group fights until I could combine it with other powers. I decided that I would only use this power on the strongest threats I fought since they would probably be the ones that were either too arrogant to fight in a group or opponents where conventional methods wouldn¡¯t be helpful. I moved onto the next power, Pocket Room. I told the stand to open it up, once he did so I entered. Inside the pocket room was my costume and my swords. I had wondered where they were when I had made my way to the factory. I would check them out later and looked around at the pocket room. It was in the shape of a cube, merely 3 metres in total. I sat down and controlled my stand from safety. I should have entered the pocket room in the beginning and it would have saved me the hassle of finding a good place to sit. Now that I was safe I commanded it to put a small piece of concrete that was lying on the ground into the pocket dimension with me. It did so easily. I removed that rock and pushed it outside the space. Once again it left easily. The action was so smooth. This time I tried to manually place the rock into the pocket dimension with my own hand but it appeared that I couldn¡¯t. Only the stand could do so. I left the stand and tried to test its range. I commanded it to move away from me to the other side of the factory. It did easily and I learnt that its range was truly long. The factory was at least 200 metres long. I had moved to the back of the factory while my stand was in front of the entrance with no problem. It caused me to realize that despite being a stand it was also a Projection. This meant that I would have to test out how it differed from the normal Jojo stand to a Wormverse projection. I moved onto the final power- Elemental. It was the stand¡¯s strongest power. It allowed the stand to turn into a sentient element, that meant that it could turn into living air/wind, water or fire. It would also have improved strength in its chosen element¡¯s environment (I.e water element would be amplified in the sea). There was also the second trigger version of the power which allowed the stand to turn and create any material that was within a certain range. I decided that I would test out fire first. So to be safe I entered the pocket room first. Then I changed the stand into granite and reinforced the walls and ceiling with half a metre of granite to make sure that the fire wouldn¡¯t burn down the warehouse. Only then did I make the stand turn into its fire form and first started out small. It conjured a small flame that I morphed into a ball and then into a straight line. I slowly increased the flame¡¯s heat and size. This continued for a few minutes. I then made it eject a wave of fire and instantly stopped it. I continued to experiment with my powers for the next few hours and came to a few conclusions: -I could only control the elements that my stand conjured at the moment. I would need to do further testing to understand if I could control the chosen environment of the element. -I could generate an endless amount of my element when combined with Peak condition. -The stand could dissolve into air and accompany me wherever I went. -It could not be injured at all by conventional means. -It could only create elements from its body, they couldn¡¯t be conjured out of the surroundings. -My Razor Hand could not extend with the ejection of the elements. -I could not condense fire into solid objects. Air I could turn into simple shapes but each required me to constantly focus on the object. While I could simply turn water into ice, it required a large amount of concentration and time and it would melt within a few minutes. Additionally, it wasn¡¯t durable enough and shattered almost instantly when I hit it against a myriad of objects. -The stand could accelerate and decelerate instantly with no buffer time. -My stand could not enter my body like the Jojo stands, however, it could materialize partially by solidifying its limbs from air. -My powers clashed with the pocket dimension. While I was inside it I couldn¡¯t use Presence and had to rely on my normal senses. I also came up with the conclusion that I would have to see the power in-person to copy it. So while I was safe it also severely restricted my potential. -My stand had to be within a 50-metre range of a material that wasn¡¯t his original 3 in order to become the said object. -The stand would be able to turn into a material and then create any amount of said material. It meant that once I amassed a large enough collection I wouldn¡¯t have any shortage in resources. After coming to these conclusions I went to the local supermarket and stole a pad of paper and some pens. The wonderful thing about having an invisible and intangible stand with a pocket dimension was that he could easily become a master thief. I had simply walked through the shop and pretended to browse through some clothes while on the other side my stand simply took the pad and pens from the back of the stack. I returned to the warehouse and wrote down my lists of goals. I was going to be a vigilante and a powerful one at that. I had to choose my targets according to my level of strength. I would start with the weakest gang of Brockton Bay and move onto the stronger ones until I removed all gang activity in the city before moving onto the rest. I would copy the powers of each parahuman that I saw and I would do without limitations. I would have to copy Panacea¡¯s power first. With Biokinesis I would be able to sense the thoughts and thus see and sense what the parahuman in question is able to. It would allow me to copy tinker, master or thinker powers. It essentially let me bypass the main weakness that Unlimited Shard Works had. I would move onto the merchants after gaining my first copied power. **************************************************************************************************** Hi everyone I am attempting to write a Worm CYOA after reading so many different ones. I initially started writing this when I didn¡¯t find enough villain main characters. So I decided to write my own. I haven¡¯t written in almost two years so I am rusty. I will gladly read and respond to your reviews and comments. Now The SI will be an evil and ruthless bastard, because of Numbed emotions and the vigilante route. The shard grants him his powers and perks and thus also disadvantages. He will not make a gang or become a Hero because the shard mentally influences him to follow the vigilante path. These aspects of his character will not change. Until next time... Chapter 2 After deciding to copy Panacea¡¯s power I realized that I would need to come in contact with her. Why? Because in order to receive her biokinesis, I would need to feel and understand it, I would need it to be used on me. This would require me to meet her at Brockton Bay General hospital, however, this lead to a small problem, How would I meet her? After all, I couldn¡¯t just see her for without a reason. She was busy healing at the hospital and even if she wasn¡¯t, there was no reason that she would let some random guy meet her, let alone touch her. I could take the chance of meeting her randomly on the street in locations that she frequented or waiting for her outside of her school. But as soon as I thought of these possible ideas I dissected their flaws. Regarding the first idea: meeting her in the street. Well, I didn¡¯t know how long it would take me to find her randomly out on the streets. There was a much lower chance that I would. Even if I did, there was no guarantee that she would heal me. The other option was to go to Arcadia High and wait for her to come out after finishing school. While I could do so and most likely meet her within a day or two, it would mean that I would easily meet New Wave starting with Vicky Dallon AKA Glory Girl. She was Amy Dallon¡¯s sister, who happened to have a forcefield that let her be a flying brick and also had a mind-controlling aura that alternated between complete adoration and absolute terror. I would probably copy her forcefield but not her master abilities. This would lead me to being vulnerable to her aura and together with Panacea, she could easily knock me out or even accidentally kill me. If I was captured I would end up locked in captivity and have to escape without copying Biokinesis. While there was a large chance that I could overwhelm Vicky¡¯s forcefield and neutralise her, it meant that I would no longer be able to receive Panacea¡¯s healing. Amy loved Vicky and anyone who would harm her would never receive any treatment from her and perhaps even be purposefully harmed. So the only option left was meeting her at the hospital, I would have to harm myself to gain access to Panacea. The next problem was deciding under which identity I would meet her. As a civilian who had injured himself? No, that wouldn¡¯t work. She would instantaneously know that I am a Parahuman. As soon as she touched me she would sense my Corona Pollentia. This meant that I would have to craft an identity that had a power, that triggered. Perhaps I would meet her under the persona of a fresh trigger who had triggered with a self-harming power? It was a plausible option but still not as perfect. Maybe as a victim of a crime, but then I would need to shoot or stab myself multiple times for it to be serious enough to require Panacea. This led to the problem of staying conscious. I would lose a lot of blood and I wasn¡¯t sure if I could stay awake long enough to reach the hospital, much less to copy her power. Perhaps as a long term trigger that as a result of not using his power enough it mutilated its user, like Leet¡¯s power. No, I would need something that wouldn¡¯t cause too much suspicion on her part. I had it! I would pretend that I was a fresh trigger who was testing his powers and got injured? I was aiming to be a hero and save people. Yes, this one was the best, it was convincing and a common enough occurrence that the authorities wouldn¡¯t look into the situation too deeply. I knew that I didn¡¯t need a secret identity since I technically didn¡¯t exist, so it wouldn¡¯t be a problem to show my face. If worse came to mind then I could simply enter my Stand¡¯s pocket space and command my Stand to leave. However, I still had not addressed the issue of actually meeting Panacea. As soon as Panacea touched someone she was aware of every part of their body. This meant that she would know when I would lie to her unless I steered the conversation. I knew that she was an introvert and rather passive as a result of her mental and physical abuse at the hands of Carol Dallon and Glory Girl¡¯s brainwashing aura. And after all, I wasn¡¯t technically lying. I was a fresh trigger and I could get my Stand to burn my hand. Yes, this is what I would do. Now to address the next issue. How would I set up the meeting? Almost every worm fanfiction that I read had the main character coming into the hospital and instantaneously meeting her. But that didn¡¯t make sense. Panacea was a very busy hero and people would fly from all over the US because of her miraculous healing powers. This meant that she was constantly at work healing life-threatening injuries. In order to get healed, I would need to use my powers to jump the waiting list. It was essential that I would not delay copying Panacea¡¯s power. Not only was it incredibly powerful and versatile it would also grant me the ability to copy master, thinker, tinker and certain stranger powers. Without it, my growth would be very stunted. I would have to seriously injure myself. At least my arm and chest in order to be seen and at least down to the bone. Yes, my plan should work. However, if I didn¡¯t time it right then there was a chance of dying or at the very least crippling myself. I decided that I would set my hand on fire and let the fire creep up my arm and onto my chest. The flames would burn my body for a few seconds and then I would douse it with freezing water. My flames were hotter than natural fire, so I would have to be incredibly careful. I summoned my Stand. I had noticed that while it responded to my summons, there was a slight delay. Normally it wouldn¡¯t be a problem but in combat where a multitude of attacks came in the span of seconds a delay of a second or two was very important. I tried to think of how to solve my Stand problem while at the same time gathering the resolve to burn myself. It was incredibly difficult to hurt yourself knowingly, especially such a serious wound like the one I was planning on inflicting. I hadn¡¯t ever been injured to the degree that I was planning to hurt myself. While I had broken my leg when I was 15 it wasn¡¯t that bad and healed within a month. I breathed in and out rapidly. This burn was going to really hurt. As I gathered my resolve I let my thoughts wander. I returned to thinking about the slightly annoying feeling of summoning my Stand. I had to make sure that it was perfect. After all, it was my strongest power at the moment. Let¡¯s see, what do both stands and projections have that mine doesn¡¯t? Well first they have powers, so does mine. They also have Users, so does mine once again. They also have names, so does mi-. Wait, is that what was missing? A name. I can¡¯t believe that despite the many hours of experimenting, I only thought about giving my Stand a name now. What should I call my Stand? What about Firestorm? No, it didn¡¯t fit my Stand¡¯s unique traits and it was also too cliche. How about Whirlpool? But that was also unsuitable. I continued to try to think of names for the next few seconds, before realising that I probably wouldn¡¯t manage to find a name at the moment. I finally gathered my resolve and decided to command my Stand to burn me now, otherwise, I would just back out. My Stand floated closer to me to allow for greater precision and I commanded it to set my flesh on fire. I immediately felt the pain. It was so fucking painful. It wasn¡¯t gradually heating up, no it was at a high temperature from the beginning and was climbing quickly. I screamed and screamed in agony. ¡®fuck. Fuck! Fuck! FUCK! FUCk! FUCK!¡¯ I chanted in my head as I let out many screams. I was lucky that I was in the docks, the most impoverished place in the city. Nobody cared or interfered in anyone¡¯s business. So no one would come to see what was going on. At most, people would assume that some gang members had decided to hurt someone. The flames burned brighter and with a much higher intensity than before. I felt the fire leave my control as I stopped concentrating on my stand and merely wished the fire to stop burning. I felt as if my entire body was on fire. I used the last of my consciousness to command my stand to douse me in water. I blacked out right after. **************************************************************************************************** As I awoke, I felt the pain. I was currently lying on my back surrounded by a broken concrete floor. It took me a few seconds to stop focusing on the pain and discover that I was on the ground of the warehouse. I summoned my Stand and surveyed myself through its eyes to assess the damage. The first thing that I saw was the black and red charred flesh that was my torso and the left side of my neck. Luckily it hadn¡¯t made itself up to my face. My light blue shirt had also melted onto my chest which certainly felt terrible. On my arm specifically my wrist some bone was showing, the fire had melted away the skin and flesh that covered it. All in all my body looked terrible. I physically couldn¡¯t move my left arm at all. I knew intellectually that damaging myself to such a degree was a necessary step to accomplishing my goal but it certainly made it difficult to focus on completing the current steps. I felt that I had wasted enough time and I commanded my Stand to pick me up from the floor using his aerokinesis. I knew that if my Stand had any associations to fire then the PRT would attempt to imprison it and then interrogate it. It would carry the suspicion that it had harmed me. Even if it didn''t, the PRT was so hopelessly corrupt that it was possible that fame-hungry heroes such as Armsmaster would desire to simply put a ¡°villian¡± away for harming a civilian. And even excluding the PRT and heroes, there was still the issue of Thoman Calvert, also known as Coil. Coil was the villain mastermind that was pulling the strings of all of the main organizations in Brockton Bay. Unfortunately, that included the PRT, he was currently employed there as a PRT consultant. Calvert had a keen eye for parahuman talent and would recruit anyone available with whatever means necessary. He wasn¡¯t above kidnapping and drugging young children, so there wasn¡¯t any doubt that he could order for my Stand to be detained and then break him out. It would make him seem like a villain and the Stand would receive lots of unwanted attention. He would then blackmail my Stand into joining his organization. Now, this was impossible as it was my stand and it would simply disappear once it left my range. But that would still put me on the PRT¡¯s radar and possibly halt my healing. So I forced my stand to only use its aerokinesis. It took on the appearance of a humanoid made of wind. I had it shield me from the wind and air in an attempt to lessen the air resistance and thus lower the damage that I would take from the movement. I then jetted off into the sky and flew to the hospital. My Stand flew us as quickly as possible to the Hospital. We quickly left the Docks and passed the impoverished sections of the city. My Stand quickly arrived at the upper-class area of Brockton Bay, this was where the richer and well off families lived. At least by Brockton Bay standard, when the gangs had started and the sea trade had stopped most of the rich and influential businessmen had moved to safer cities. This led to the real estate companies lowering the prices for the properties due to there being no buyers. Brockton Bay was a shithole that was filled with the most parahuman criminals in all of the US. The criminals included the E88, a gang that had over 10 powerful capes in their gang and was famous all over the country as the central hub for neo-nazis and purists. There was also Lung the cape who had managed to fight Leviathan solo and had fought off several superhero teams, meaning that the only people that lived in Brockton Bay were those who loved the city and those too poor to leave. If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. Luckily Brockton Bay General hospital was quite noticeable from high up, with all the capes in the city there was a large glowing H on the building¡¯s front to make it seen from far away. I was sure that it was built after many heroes and villains weren¡¯t able to find the hospital and arrived with worse injuries. The hospital was quite a tall building, something that set it apart from most of Brockton Bay. There weren¡¯t many tall buildings in the city, with only a few Skyscrapers in the upper-class districts. After a few minutes of mind-numbing agony. I arrived at the hospital entrance and allowed myself to drop down. I had thought that with a little bit of time the pain would dull slightly at the very least, it turned out that instead of dulling it had only grown worse. My eyes had started to tear up from the pain. I couldn¡¯t consciously control my tear ducts, not with all of my focus spent trying to control my Stand without falling or worse blacking out. That meant that secondary needs such as controlling my tears weren¡¯t as high a priority. As soon as I landed on the pavement outside the hospital, I collapsed. Unfortunately at the moment, my body was that of a base-line human. I had no enhancements, upgrades or any unique training, this meant that I had quite a low pain tolerance which led to me to have involuntary bodily reactions. I focused on sending my Stand away to not bring too much attention. I wasn¡¯t ready for my Stand to enter the playing field yet. I was sure that it would receive either a good reputation as an anonymous cape that helped those in need and didn¡¯t take credit. The other option was that he would receive a bad reputation as a violent cape, perhaps a villain. Either way, it didn''t matter, what I needed at the moment was Panacea¡¯s powers after that I wouldn¡¯t need any secret identity. Once I copied her Biokinesis, I would have all the necessary tools to gain all the power needed. At that point, I would have enough power to defeat all who stood in my way with the exception of Scion and perhaps the Endbringers. I concentrated on Presence, while it was passively activated it would only warn me of threats. I had to focus on it to actually sense everything that surrounded me. People were already starting to gather around me. One of the bystanders had already run to call for some hospital staff to come and help me. There were a few bystanders who were doing their best to calm me down. I wasn¡¯t faking the amount of pain I was in. By that point my eyes were tearing up, I had serious burns all over my body and on my arm there was even a section that had burnt right through the flesh to the bones. This had happened during the flight to the hospital. Some of the charred muscle and skin had already fallen off. This resulted in the horrific sight that was my body. Around me was a small crowd that numbered between 6-15 people, most that were just unsure of what to do. However, there were two or three that were doing their best to help me. I noticed that there were a few people that were filming me and my injuries. I knew that there was now an almost 100% chance that the Protectorate and by extension Coil would know about myself. This didn¡¯t necessarily mean that I was at risk of being a cape but it would raise suspicions. This meant that I would have to set my plans in motion earlier than I wanted to. Using Presence I sensed the two Paramedics running out to get me with a stretcher between them. I soon saw them with my own two eyes as they cleared the crowd without much difficulty. Now that the crowd had been told what to do they moved almost instantaneously and the few men that had been trying to reassure me that I would be alright were the last to move. The Paramedics must have been on a break since they were usually positioned with ambulances. I also noticed that one had a fresh coffee stain on his thigh, he must have been drinking his cup of coffee before hearing the frantic bystander who had rushed into the hospital to get help. As we made our way into the hospital I was rushed to an emergency room. Almost immediately a male doctor came and introduced himself as Dr Smith. He started checking up on me and immediately started bombarding me with questions. ¡°When did this happen? Where is the most painful? Where I was at when I was burned?...¡± After a few minutes, he determined that I couldn¡¯t be healed by normal technology. I required Panacea. If it was just the wound they could stabilize me long enough for Panacea to deal with more urgent cases. But due to the high chance that the wound was already infected, I was likely to die within the next few hours. Normally this wouldn¡¯t be the case but because of how dirty and full of discarded drugs the docks were, the bacteria there were much more toxic. Dr Smith and a few nurses told me to wait, Panacea would arrive soon. A few minutes later I sensed a teenage girl walk down the hall to my room using Presence and I saw her as soon as she entered. Panacea was a young girl. She was wearing her costume. A robe with a large red cross on her chest and her back. Her hood was down and her scarf was tied to her waist like a sash. But her face was what really made an impression. She wasn¡¯t incredibly beautiful or attractive if anything she was a bit below average. However, her expression showed just how different she was compared to the usual doctors. They usually pretended to smile when they saw a patient or did their best to reassure them. But her face had her emotions shown clearly on her face. Boredom, mixed with apathy and hints of hatred. Of course, as she got closer, she covered it up with an artificial smile that would have convinced me that she was happy if I hadn¡¯t known how much she hated being in the hospital. Using Presence I focused on reading her body¡¯s movements and I noticed that her body was slightly trembling and her eyes were blinking rapidly. This was an indication that she was incredibly exhausted and stressed. She was burnt out. When I was younger I had watched a few documentaries that had stated that a high percentage of surgeons and medical staff who were overworked and stressed out would burn out. If they didn¡¯t take a break and go to therapy then they would either quit their profession or they would commit suicide. The burden of being in charge over a person¡¯s life and death is a very stressful position, something that most people are unable to fathom let alone do. The job itself, tending to a patient for a good few hours while maintaining their concentration was incredibly exhausting. While Panacea could probably heal the worst injuries in minutes, it didn¡¯t change the fact that it was still incredibly straining. There was also the social aspect. They had to reassure the patients and tell them that they would be okay. They also had to deal with patients'' families, it wasn¡¯t an easy job. Panacea was like a celebrity, people wanted her attention and who knew what kind of obnoxious people she had to deal with. This insight let me understand that she probably wouldn¡¯t care about me and just want to move onto the next patient. As she stepped closer I saw her eyes slightly widen when surveying the damage. Most patients don''t come into the hospital with such gruesome injuries. She motioned for the doctor to leave and most of the medical staff left leaving only a nurse. She touched me and began surveying the damage at the same time I focused on her touch with all of my being. She began healing me in complete silence. I felt my body¡¯s flesh breakdown and move towards my injured torso and arm. It was a miraculous sight, in front of my very eyes my overweight body was becoming thinner as my fat was converted into raw biomass that was used to repair my body. These thoughts were pushed away as I focused on copying her power. After I copied her Biokinesis, I moved onto copying her thinker power which let her sense and understand biology. I surveyed her body using her hand as a connection to her body and focused on her brain. It was there that I looked at all her nervous system using my rudimentary knowledge of biology. There was so much going on, especially in her brain. Using what I found there I managed to translate it into sensations and managed to copy her secondary thinker power. It was more difficult than expected but the payoff was worth it. Her power was simply amazing. As soon as I copied her thinker power to know the body I knew everything that was going on in her body. I suddenly knew the normal human template. I had received millions of biological blueprints that made up the world¡¯s biology, this included animals, plants and even bacteria. Unfortunately, I wasn¡¯t as well versed in these things and neither as Panacea. She focused primarily on humans so while I had theoretical knowledge I would have to experiment on the necessary specimens to accumulate the necessary knowledge to understand how to operate on these lifeforms. But I did know how a normal healthy human being should look and focused again on Amy. This would be my first opportunity to use Biokinesis on another creature. I wanted to first scan her body, I knew that Glory Girl¡¯s aura should have inflicted long term harm to her body and I wanted to understand it. I scanned her body and the results showed that she suffered from a bit of malnutrition (easily fixed with a balanced diet), some weakness (probably from the stress) and a mild shortage in vitamin D. The body received vitamin D from being in the sun for a sufficient amount of time(Probably being indoors for too long). However, all these issues were quite common according to my new medical knowledge. What really stood out to me was her brain. There was a difference in comparison to the average human in her Amygdala, Hippocampus, Prefrontal Cortex, Hypothalamus, Cingulate Gyrus, Ventral Tegmental Area. All these areas in the brain were in charge of emotions. Translating the brain¡¯s thoughts into understandable language meant that she wasn¡¯t mentally healthy and there was also a major difference in the romantic love section. Amy was mentally abused since she arrived in the Dallon household, this meant that she had low self-worth, zero confidence and anxiety. There were a few other issues that were a result of her emotional abuse but they were the primary issues. On the other hand, her thoughts on a romantic relationship were all about her sister Victoria ¡°Vicky¡± Dallon. This wasn¡¯t natural, rather it was the result of a long term artificial master effect. This was because of Vicky¡¯s aura. It had twisted what should have been sisterly love and affection into forced feelings of romantic love. Now I had so many options on my next few steps. I could kill her right at this moment ending her life. I could program a virus that would kill her over the week, over months. I could tweak her brain slightly to change her feelings of love toward Glory Girl to myself. I could do so many things but I decided against them. I wasn¡¯t quite sure how this would change canon and I wasn¡¯t sure that I wanted to change it quite yet. So while she was healing me I set several mental blocks that would work in her subconscious. She would be unable to stop any of my creations without my express permission. She couldn¡¯t scan my brain, change it or hurt it. She couldn¡¯t cause any harm to me, this included verbal, or physical harm. She couldn¡¯t spread my secrets and she most certainly couldn¡¯t make any indications that she had any of these restrictions. She would also want to listen to my words as long as they didn¡¯t go against her worldview. I also made it so that I would seem like a good person and she would slowly warm up to me and care about me on the same level as Victoria. Now with these blocks in her subconscious, it would seem to her as a simple gut instinct or a bad feeling. If she truly tried to break these commands she would forget what happened, erase all evidence and return to a point prior to the situation. All this occurred in the few minutes that she healed me, now while she technically could read my mind and stop me from placing these blocks. She would have to focus on reading my thoughts. This meant that she would have to stop her or at the very least slow down her healing of my burns. She hadn¡¯t. So she didn¡¯t know about my placing the blocks and even if she discovered this now, she wouldn¡¯t be able to do a thing. I waited until she finished healing and healing my body. All of the burns had disappeared and I had lost most of my fat. She looked at me with a tired look on her face. ¡°You will be experiencing some temporary weakness for a few days. You will also need to eat more, I burnt through your fats, luckily there was enough stored up in your body to substitute the damaged tissue.¡± ¡°Then it was lucky that I packed those pounds, right? See this as a sign that it¡¯s ok ta¡¯ let loose and enjoy yourself. Me mum¡¯s always tellin¡¯ me that I have to look af¡¯er my weight and eat healthily yada, yada, yada.¡± I made an effort to seem annoying and shallow. That mixed with my deliberate Scottish accent would hopefully cause Panacea to leave more quickly. I had lived in Scotland for a few years and had picked up the Scottish accent, but when I deliberately made my accent incredibly difficult to understand. ¡°No, that isn¡¯t right at all. Mr...?¡± ¡°Thomson, John Thomson. Nice to meet you Panacea, thanks for fixin¡¯ me up. I really appreciate it.¡± ¡°As I was saying, no you should eat healthily. While I was healing your injuries I noticed that your liver was slowly being damaged. It means that it wouldn¡¯t show but over time you would become sick and eventually die in your late 40s to early 50s. I fixed it but you shouldn¡¯t go back into your prior eating habits.¡± ¡°Wow, thanks for tellin¡¯ me. I''ll be careful, I promise.¡± I could tell that I was getting on her nerves. She looked like she wished that she could disappear from the room in a heartbeat. It surprised me that she didn¡¯t ask me from where I was, most people, when they heard me speak, would stop me and try guessing. ¡°One last thing before I go. I noticed that you have a Corona Pollentia. I don¡¯t like making assumptions but I think that your injuries are a direct result of either being in a cape fight or testing your power. Am I correct?¡± I froze on purpose. This was why I came up with the cover story that I planned earlier. I would really have to use all of my non-existent acting skills. ¡°How, how do ya know that?!¡± I said nervously. ¡°Please calm down, Mr Thompson. I am a healer and thus under the Hippocratic Oath. I cannot harm you. That in addition to the unwritten rules make sure that I will not reveal what I have learnt today to the public or any other organizations. This includes the Protectorate. Do you know what the unwritten rules are?¡± ¡°Yeah, I do. Read ¡®bout it on the forums.¡± ¡°Good, then you can tell me how you burned yourself.¡± ¡°Well, I was plannin¡¯ on testin¡¯ my powers on a larger scale. Ya see I am a pyrokinetic, I shoot fire from my hands. I just recently got me powers. I''ve wanted to be a hero me whole life, I finally had the oppor¡¯unity to help others. I would probably join the Protectorate after I had an achievement or two under me belt. But my power ain¡¯t that safe. The fire only comes out of my hands, me hands are the only parts of me body that is immune to heat. Before today I had only been playin¡¯ with harmless things.¡± I didn¡¯t exactly have any examples but that didn¡¯t stop me from quickly coming up with them. ¡°I tried to use it to light a cigarette which worked and then tried to create small shapes. Today was the first day that I was gonna test them out on a large scale. I went to the docks in the early hours of the mornin¡¯ on purpose ¡®because there weren''t meant to be lots of people. I arrived and started out small. In the beginning, it went well but as I became more and more confident I lost control and I by mistake aimed up and the flames crept up my arm. At that point, I lost consciousness. And I woke up at the hospital.¡± She looked at me with some suspicion on her face wanting to poke holes in my story, but the exhaustion won over her desire to stop me. I was truly lucky that she only started asking questions after she had left my side. It was a foolish move to leave a newly triggered parahuman with clear offensive abilities without any means of neutralizing him. She was a striker and I should have been either extremely traumatized or at the very least emotionally unstable. But I knew that she was probably confident that nobody would try to hurt her. She had probably assessed my emotional state when healing me and knew that I wasn¡¯t feeling hostile. Even then I assumed that she knew that I was aware of the concept of not harming the healers. After all, if you hurt them no one would heal you in your time of need. Well, that and whoever harmed her would have to face the full brunt of the Protectorate and the Brockton Bay gangs. ¡°I believe you,¡± she said. ¡°Now there is one last thing that protocol dictates. I know that you don¡¯t want to join the Protectorate, but you need to join a team. The statistics show that independents usually die within the first few months. I would prefer that you didn¡¯t join the villains but I know that there is a much higher chance that you will. Unfortunately, that is how the system is constructed. But at the very least will you try your very best to not harm innocents?¡± This was the first time that I saw a genuine emotion on her face that wasn¡¯t boredom, exhaustion or apathy. There was an earnest desire to protect the innocent. I agreed instantly, it didn¡¯t cost me anything and it would get Panacea off my back. ¡°Of course, I promise you that I will never harm the innocent as long as I can.¡± She looked at me intently and I projected my desire to help save this world to her. It seemed she liked what she saw as she turned around and started walking out. I called out to her ¡°Thank you for saving me!¡± She didn¡¯t make any movement to indicate that she had heard me but I noticed using Presence that she had to restrain a slight frown on her face. As soon as she left I summoned my stand and entered his pocket dimension. I knew that I had to scram, she was probably going to tell Glory Girl about me. My stand turned into air and drifted out. I smiled inside the pocket dimension as I mentally ticked an important step off the list. Yes, so far my plans were going along perfectly. **************************************************************************************************** Hi everyone Sorry for not updating for so long, I had my exams coming up so I had to study for them. I spent so much time on them¡­ Still haven¡¯t finished but with the Coronavirus I finally had the opportunity to continue writing. So here¡¯s the chapter, enjoy! Interlude- Pancea Panacea I raised my head from my desk as I listened to my maths teacher prattle about the Pythagorean theorem. But I was too tired to concentrate on his explanation. I had only slept 2 hours yesterday and it was troubling me. A month ago I could have slept for 3 hours at the bare minimum but now I found it more and more difficult to stay asleep. It was happening more frequently, I would wake up after an hour or two of sleep and find myself walking to the hospital. Just yesterday I had come home at five in the morning after healing patients. I had been a licensed medical practitioner for 2 years already and was considered the best doctor in the US, if not the world. It may have seemed like I was boasting to the unaware but I had my reputation for a reason. I had the power to heal any disease, injury or medical condition as long as I had sufficient biomass and the issue wasn¡¯t in the brain. Everyone in the world knew the name Panacea. I had seen patients from all over the world, be it from Britain, China or Egypt. My healing services were in large demand and my mother Carol was more than happy to leave me in the hospital to tend to those in need. It was common knowledge that my power allowed me to treat and heal the most life-threatening injury in a matter of minutes. But the truth was my power was so much more. I had Biokinesis, the ability to shape biology, to change and morph life. It¡¯s only limitation was that it didn¡¯t work on me. Most would have been happy having such a powerful ability. My power could be used for good. I could theoretically solve world hunger by creating artificial food sources, creating creatures that¡¯s sole purpose was to heal the injured. I could even make artificial soldiers that would fight endbringers instead of the Protectorate. But the good was overshadowed by the bad. I had the potential to be the most dangerous person on the planet. I could engineer many plagues and diseases in a matter of seconds that would end all life on earth with the exception of the Endbriners and Scion. I could also turn normal men into powerful parahumans with little to no difficulty. I could create an army of super-soldiers with little to no problem. It was in my capabilities to turn the weakest creature on the planet into one of the strongest. And that wasn¡¯t the most dangerous part, sure I could end all life on the planet, but that paled in comparison to my power¡¯s most deadly ability. Mind control. With a single touch I could change a person¡¯s thoughts and mind however I wanted. I could turn the kindest most selfless man in the world into the worst murderer in history. The idea of death was a scary thought. But what was scarier was the loss of control. I knew that almost everyone would choose death rather than lose control of their body, of their mind, of their life. You just had to look at Heartbreaker¡¯s victims. Back when Heartbreaker was still experimenting with his powers, the PRT managed to rescue some of his victims. What they found was that the victims would commit suicide after realising that they wouldn¡¯t be able to return to Heartbreaker. When one of his would-be victims discovered that she wouldn¡¯t be able to escape she shot herself in the head. Another example was the Simurgh victims. Anyone who was a Simurgh bomb would lose all control of their life as their thoughts were radically altered and changed subconsciously without them knowing about it. They would then destroy a monumental event or invention that would create a better world. The best example was Sphere, a tinker who specialised in terraforming landscapes. He was working on creating a plan to colonise the moon. The Simurgh turned him into the Slaughterhouse 9 member Mannequin, one of the worst parahumans alive. I didn¡¯t want this god-like power. I had never wanted it. All I ever wanted was to be a normal girl. A normal girl with loving supportive parents and the best sister in the world. Not exactly a grand wish. Instead, I had received a mother that hated me without ever telling me why. A dad who was so depressed that he couldn¡¯t see that his family was falling apart. And worst of all, a sister who was so amazing that I couldn¡¯t help but fall in love with her. Two years ago before I got my powers the situation wasn¡¯t as bad. Mom didn¡¯t hate me as much, Dad wasn¡¯t in such a bad place and I hadn¡¯t fallen in love with Vicky. But afterwards, it down spiralled. I was told to sacrifice all of my time to go heal in a hospital, Mom had started looking at me like I was the worst person on the planet and Dad had sunk deeper into depression and I couldn¡¯t save him. And worst of all Vicky had gotten a boyfriend. Dean, who was a perfect match for Vicky. It would have been easy to hate him, he was born incredibly rich. He had it all, status, money and confidence. But he wasn¡¯t some entitled asshole, instead, he was an incredibly nice and caring guy, who looked after his friends. He was also the hero Gallant, a ward who was an empath and could shoot emotional blasts. I felt so angry and guilty at myself for hating him. For being jealous of his relationship with Vicky. Mom was an influential person, not only was she the hero Brandish, she was also a leading lawyer. But she was too busy with her day job and taking care of Dad to be a hero as well. Before Dad fell into depression, he would patrol the city with Mom as the hero Flashbang. Now the only person to patrol the streets barring Aunt Sarah was Vicky, known as Glory Girl. Vicky was the only one out of us who wanted to be a hero. She had wanted to be a hero ever since we were little. Probably as a result of Mom¡¯s stories. It hadn¡¯t changed when we had grown up, even after her trigger. A trigger is meant to be the worst day of your life. When you go through an extremely traumatic event that causes you to want to die, you receive superpowers. Her trigger was pathetic. Vicky triggered because she failed to score a basket at a big basketball game. I had triggered after Vicky had gotten hurt fighting a new gang called Chorus. She had just received her powers a few weeks prior. She was still figuring out the chinks in her power. Vicky was a grab bag cape. Grab bag capes usually had up to three powers that were connected in some way. Usually, there was one strong power and the rest were auxiliary or weaker powers. Vicky¡¯s main power was her forcefield. It allowed her to withstand any damage no matter how strong the blow, as well as have super strength. She could throw cars like she was throwing tennis balls. Her other powers were flight and a passive aura that either caused people to adore her or fear her. She had one weakness. Her forcefield would break after receiving a strong hit and reform after a few seconds. Back then she didn¡¯t know about the weakness, she had thought that she was invincible. The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. Chorus had attacked the mall I had been shopping in. They were a new gang without a lot of members and only one cape who could enhance his voice to the point that each shout would destroy a wall. Her name was Banshee and she was their leader. As soon as I saw them entering the mall, I sent Vicky a text and in a minute or two she had recklessly charged in without notifying anybody. I had sent the text in hope that she would tell the rest of our family. But she hadn¡¯t understood the message and had come rushing in. As soon as she crashed through the mall roof, the Chorus gangsters had raised their guns and opened. One of them had a machine gun and hit her multiple times.that was the moment that we discovered that Vicky wasn¡¯t invincible. She could be injured. When I watched her fall from her flight I triggered. I don¡¯t remember what exactly happened but the gang members had all collapsed and I had healed Vicky. It was only later when I was experimenting with my powers that I learnt that I had probably created a temporary virus that had paralysed the entire gang. The news had stated that the PRT had captured a new gang and they were off the streets. After further experimentation, I had discovered that my power was villainous. If anyone knew what I could do I would be labelled as an S class threat. Just creating a creature with reproductive organs would cause the PRT to mark you down as an S class threat. It didn¡¯t matter what your intentions were. It was known that all S class threats were incredibly powerful and incredibly dangerous. The S class parahuman Nilbog had the power closest to mine. Before his powers were known he had killed and captured the inhabitants of his town before turning them into freakish monsters. Another S class villain who had powers similar to mine was Bonesaw. She was a wet tinker, a tinker that specialized in biology. She had created countless monsters and had ruined thousands of lives. I knew that I would be killed the moment that I revealed the full extent of my power so I promised myself that I would not use it. When I first started healing people, I learnt that I could brainwash and mind control people to the highest degree so I decided that I would not touch brains, it was my sole rule. If I broke this rule I didn¡¯t know if I could stop myself. I would become a villain, no, a monster worse than the 9. A year after I had received my power I had entered puberty. I started to look at Vicky differently, from a sister to a love interest. In the beginning, I thought that the feelings would pass. After all, how could I be falling in love with my sister. But over the next couple of months, I discovered that the crush that I was feeling towards Vicky wasn¡¯t going away, it was increasing. At that point in time, I had started masturbating to her photos. So when she started to get reckless and injure criminals, I had to help her. I wouldn¡¯t let her go to prison over some gangster. So I would wake up in the middle of the night to the sound of my phone ringing. Vicky would beg me to come heal another criminal that she had accidentally injured. And I would. I would stop whatever activity I was doing to rush to her aid. There were multiple times that I stopped healing a patient because Vicky called me. Just this month there had been seven cases. I wished that she would be more careful but that was just not who my sister was. And I loved her for it, I loved her with all of her faults. I loved the fact that she was always worried about me, how she would support me. I loved her expressive eyes, her radiant smile, her confidence. While she wasn¡¯t perfect she was my Vicky. So when I brought up the fact that I healed a particularly interesting patient today in the morning she seemed surprised. Vicky said that I had stopped talking about the patients that I¡¯ve healed. She hadn¡¯t brought it up because she thought it was something personal. I had healed so many that over time I had forgotten who I had healed. They all blended into one faceless being. The last patient I remembered before John was a small child that had stage four liver cancer. His parent¡¯s had him flown into Brockton Bay after all other treatments had been used. He had only 2 months to live, I had healed him immediately and within 2 minutes he was healthy again. I think that was two weeks ago However, John Thomson was different from others. He was a recent trigger, probably a day or two from what I sensed from his Corona Pollentia. He told me that he had Pyrokinesis. However, only his hands were immune to his power. Most Parahumans had a limitation to their power. It was unknown from where it came, just like I couldn¡¯t heal myself he wasn¡¯t immune to his own power. He had an extremely powerful version of Pyrokinesis. I could tell that the damage he had received from his backfire had been immense. Compared to most burned patients the fire had spread incredibly quickly on his body. It had only been active for a few seconds before it had been doused. To do that amount of damage the fire must have reached 5000 degrees celsius at the bare minimum though it could have been hotter. But one thing that I noticed when I went over our conversation, was that his burns weren¡¯t created from a backfire from the palms but from an external source. He had lied to me. This led me to think about what else he had lied about. I realised that he had lied about his accent. In the beginning, he had spoken in a thick Scottish accent, but later on, he had stopped using it. Instead, he had a faint British accent combined with another accent I wasn¡¯t quite familiar with. However, he didn¡¯t lie to me about his desire to be a hero. To do justice and save people. I could feel his conviction, his desire to rid the world of evil. While he had lied about his powers, it was commonplace for most parahumans to do so. But what was weird was the fact that he lied about the way he received his injuries. He had to be protecting someone, a family member or a friend. Or perhaps he was being blackmailed. I decided that I would find him and find out what happened. **************************************************************************************************** So because I am in quarantine I have a lot more time so I can write more. This chapter is to show Panacea¡¯s thought process and to see how John¡¯s presence begins to affect her. I¡¯m writing this story as a way to practice and wanted to try experimenting with different points of view. So leave your thoughts in the comments to let me know if the chapter was good and just let me hear your thoughts. Have a good day! Dragonfang1917