Hero Super

'A memory’, Calvin immediately recognized the misty frozen world he opened his eyes to. ’Not in the alleyway… a new one.’

The past week had been nightly replays of mainly two similarly vivid scenes in a foggy world: one of hunger and pain with the superhero flying above and one where Dom engages in a not-so-legal drug deal. This wasn’t either of those. It wasn’t as populated as the street, but it was just as lonely. Nor was it as disgusting as the alleyway, but it was just as decrepit.

A house.

Although calling it a full-blown house was too much. It was more of a room with a roof. A shack, with four walls made of repurposed wood, an uneven cement floor, and a ceiling filled with more holes than a sieve. It wasn’t much, but Calvin could feel— no, he knew, it was home.

He stood outside, in what seemed to be a under-developed area of the city. The road was made of cheap and cracked asphalt, the buildings were made of even cheaper and crumbling cement, and everything was squished together like a hastily packed briefcase an hour before an unexpected trip. Dom’s home was packed in between two apartments, in what was supposed to be an alleyway in between. Like a small child trying to fit in, trying to survive their own way in between the adults.

He couldn’t move his head, as per usual, but the setting of the current memory was obvious. It was Dom’s home.

'Home…’ He let the word linger in his thoughts, feeling its meaning cemented on every rot and crack on the building. 'What memory is it this time?’

At the thought of his question, the world that was once frozen slowly crawled forward. The mist rolled and flowed as Dom’s emotions slammed into his chest like a truck. Panic and despair covered up the enormous pangs of hunger in his stomach. His heart threatened to force its way out his chest, through his burning lungs, bruised bones, and irritated skin.

“Shit!” Dom cursed, his eyes quickly catching a dim mote of light flying into the room from the outside, making him re-double his efforts to run.

'Is that…’ Calvin’s eyes widened, the ethereal white orb more than familiar to him.

“No! No, please!” Dom slammed against the door and broke it open, not even wincing as he turned to the bed at the side of the house. “River!”

Calvin felt his spine tingle and his heart drop, not knowing if the terror flowing through his veins was his or Dom’s, 'She’s hatching.’

He couldn’t even see a person on the bed, the sheer amount of white orbs already gathered in a vague figure of a human lying on the bed made it look like a miniature sun was in the room, lighting up every shadow in every crevice of the dingy shack. It was near the final stages, at least from what Calvin could guess from Dom’s chaotic emotions.

“Come on—”, Dom arrived near the bed and kneeled, immediately using his hands to feel for the person’s arm.

Dom grabbed the paper bag and reached inside, taking out a small syringe filled with a red liquid. With a swift yet careful set of movements, he estimated where her vein would be and confidently pierced it with the syringe. Soft but even pressure on the plunger, letting the medicine inside be carried by the blood instead of forcing itself through.

“Please,” Dom whispered, his desperation radiating through Calvin as the both of them watched with bated breaths and waited for a sign that the medicine worked.

A handful of painful seconds passed by, their beating hearts keeping their sprint-like pace in their chests. Even Calvin, in his passenger-like state, felt the itch of anxiousness in the back of his head that he was sure was his own rather than Dom’s.

Finally, after another moment, the light started to dim.

'Woah,’ Calvin, now unburdened with Dom’s heavy emotions, could now process what he just witnessed.

Dom collapsed on his ass, breathing heavily as he leaned on the bed frame, “Oh thank god…”

'What did he inject?’ He thought, seeing the light fully disappear from the girl’s body.

Before Calvin could see more of the memory, the world froze again. The mist started rolling in, swallowing his vision, until finally the last light of the decrepit shack dimmed and he was surrounded by nothing but the void of his mind.

Then, he woke up.

'Medicine that can stop a hatching…’ Calvin idled in his thoughts, still feeling emotions from the dream hours after waking up. Even breakfast couldn’t steer it away to the back of his mind.

Naturally, he had already tried skimming through information about everything he could gather from the Academy’s network. Although all he got were piles of old research papers, thesis, theories, a handful of cases of snake oil salesmen peddling a panacea, and one conspiracy nut saying that the Councils are injecting children with medicine that inhibits powers through vaccines.

Naturally, he skimmed through everything, except for the last one. That one gave him a laugh.

“Ow,” Calvin said flatly as he felt a dull punch to his shoulder. “What?”

Ina looked at him, brows curled in obvious annoyance, “I called you a dozen times. You okay? You’ve been looking like a zombie since earlier.”

“Yeah,” He nodded. “Just distracted.”

They were currently sitting with a crowd of around three thousand newly admitted students, all sitting in uncomfortable plastic chairs in the middle of the academy park. The academy had set up an enormous, stylish, and architecturally dubious canopy to block the sun, along with speakers and display screens here and there, for those too far away to see or hear the fat man in an expensive suit prattle about the history of an Academy that was literally just built a few months ago.

Today was the official first day of the Academy, and they were currently attending the entrance ceremony.

“Holy… is he still talking? It’s been an hour,” Calvin groaned, the speech sounding like the same buzzing he heard before he began daydreaming. “Where’s Quinn? She already skipped breakfast… which was weird.”

“Queenie’s somewhere on campus, probably hiding,” Ina answered, shrugging helplessly.

“Hiding? Ah,” Calvin remembered the reason, chuckling as he turned towards said reason. On the stage, sitting gracefully on an incredibly opulent and regal 'throne’ behind the thick man was Quinn’s mother, Damsel. “Why is she even here? I feel like she just pops up everywhere.”

“Apparently, royals have a duty to keep up appearances and attend every major event, charities, etcetera. At least, that’s what Queenie said.”

“I’m sure she didn’t exactly say it like that.”

“Of course not, but I can’t call one of the Seven 'delusional’ and ’narcissistic’. Not in public.”

“You just did,” he said, chuckling as she scoffed.

Applause suddenly roared from the audience, the newly admitted students vehemently started clapping their hands in joy and relief as the monopoly-man-looking principal finished whatever speech he was blurting out.

The joy was short-lived, however, and a collective groan radiated through the crowd as another pompous-looking man stepped up after the host called them over— the vice-principal.

“Do we have to be here?” Calvin asked, leaning back.

“I don’t, but you do,” she poked his arm, “I’m here for you, man.”

“Why just me?”

“You need the points. Quinn and I have rich girl privileges.”

“I swear to god— if I ever become a villain, know that 'rich girl privileges’ is the reason.”

“We can be each other’s archnemesis if you want,” She suggested.

He chuckled, “That’s so romantic.”

“You have no idea,” Quinn’s voice suddenly appeared behind them, circling around to take the empty seat beside Calvin. “You okay?”

“Why does everyone keep asking me that?” He muttered, annoyed.

“You look very much not okay,” Quinn answered, gesturing to her eyes.

Calvin didn’t have a mirror, but there was no need for one to figure out what she was referring to. His sleep deprivation had gotten worse since the night he went to Dox’s place, and it wasn’t just Dom’s memories this time. He’d been getting legitimate nightmares, sometimes about the kidnapping, sometimes about his previous life, but most times about getting swallowed by a weird void. Sometimes there’s also zombies, but that’s just normal.

'Super Information.’

Super Information

Super Name None Super Attributes

Super Status Alive, Spirit-severance, Slight-Fatigue(Body, Spirit), Fatigue(Mind), Sleep-Deprivation Super Body 2 (+1)

Super Quest Road to Heroism III, A True Hero's Name, An Unknown Power Super Mind 1 (+1)

Super Points 0

Super Spirit 3 (-0.3)*

Super Powers

Impervious Pebble Gourmand's Insight

Color Control Jumper

Vigilant Aegis Unknown

Super Information

Super Name None

Super Status Alive, Spirit-severance, Slight-Fatigue(Body, Spirit), Fatigue(Mind), Sleep-Deprivation

Super Quest Road to Heroism III, A True Hero's Name, An Unknown Power

Super Points 0

Super Attributes

Super Body 2 (+1)

Super Mind 1 (+1)

Super Spirit 3 (-0.3)*

Super Powers

Impervious Pebble

Gourmand's Insight

Color Control

Jumper

Vigilant Aegis

Unknown

'I had all-nighters before, but it never showed 'sleep deprivation’ before. Damn… I really should get in contact with Miss Marzi and get this out of my system, maybe it’ll help’ He thought, making a note on his watch. “Do super sleeping pills exist?”

“Why do you want super sleeping aid?” Ina asked, raising a brow.

“To sleep?”

“But why do you need super ones?”

“I… don’t know?”

“Have you tried normal ones?”

“…no?”

“Pft—” Quinn stifled a laugh. “You know sometimes I do wonder how you don’t just poison yourself on a daily basis.”

“Shut up,” Calvin pinched her cheek, immediately regretting it as she grabbed it and squeezed. “Ow! Ugh… I just thought— just shut up.”

“Super sleeping pills are only for fourth-rankers, or third-rank Physics,” Ina explained, chuckling. “Real superheroes.”

“Why only them?”

“Because they won’t die of cardiac arrest.”

“Ah.” He realized the problem. “Where can I get sleeping pills then?”

“There’s probably a pharmacy somewhere on Campus,” Quinn answered, shrugging. “Or, you can just have Ina knock you out if you want. Better for you, since you’re poor— oweh~”

“Shouldn’t you be hiding or something?” Calvin asked, pulling the hand back before she could crush it again.

“That woman only stays in an event for an hour,” She gestured to the front, towards the empty 'throne’. “'A royal’s duty is second only to their time.’ Why even come here if she’s just going to leave after an hour.”

“So that principal really did speak for an hour,” Calvin groaned.

“I don’t know, you were the ones here.”

“Calvin wasn’t really here,” Ina said, shaking her head. “Let’s just go, just say two privileged people dragged you away from being a good student.”

“Hey—”

“I don’t think we have to,” Quinn said, pointing to the front.

“Oh wow, that was faster,” Calvin remarked, sighing in relief his points weren’t dragged away by two privileged rich girls.

Another set of clapping rang out, much more apprehensive than earlier as the students tensed up and wished that there wasn’t another speaker to talk about things they didn’t care about. The host came to replace him, bearing a bright smile and an excited look as he glanced towards the cards and spoke to whomever in his earpiece.

“Thank you for the very brief speech, Vice Principal. I’m sure everyone here is excited to get going and have lunch— but wait, we still have our final speaker for this morning, and he’s someone you’re all going to want to see. Normally, in my card, I’d have all sorts of titles and nicknames, a script to introduce someone, but for him… well, I really don’t have to do anything but gesture,” He chuckled. “Anyway, without further ado, our guest speaker, Mister Rasimus Caliban!”

The moment of tension in the students as they dreaded the following speaker was suddenly turned on its head. The annoyed silence turned into roaring excitement as their faces brightened from the host’s words.

Not a second later, a cloud of purple smoke appeared in midair, coalescing downwards and into a figure of a hunched man with a walking stick. The old man looked around, waving slightly to the audience who clapped and cheered louder as he made his way to the podium.

Calvin looked at his two friends, wondering about the reaction.

Ina was standing up and grinning with undisguised elation, which told him the man was probably a hero. And a powerful one at that. But, unexpectedly, Quinn’s usual face of aloofness regarding anything that wasn’t pink, food, or Ina wasn’t there, replaced by a bright and surprised smile as she stood up and looked over the crowd along with the rest of the crowd.

Interest piqued, he mimicked the two and looked over to the front, glancing at the screens to have a better look.

Frail, like withering plantstuff, almost making Calvin wonder why no one was bothering to even help him as he walked. There was nothing impressive about the old man in his eyes, other than the fact that he was probably the oldest man he’d seen. Yet, somehow, everyone’s eyes glowed in apparent reverence as they watched him walk.

The applause grew louder, with some whoops and wows from the crowd as the old man kept walking one step at a time.

“Who’s that?” Calvin asked, making his two friends turn to him with flabbergasted expressions. “What?”

“Seriously?” Ina had no words. “Rasimus Caliban? Dr. Ra? You don’t know him?”

“It’s Calvin, what did you expect?” Quinn added, her truthful words stinging him.

“Just tell me,” he sighed, gesturing for them to elaborate.

“You know Destructoman? Allegedly strongest of the seven?”

“Escaped from him once. We’re practically best friends,” he said, nodding. “What about him?”

“Escaped? You— never mind. Anyway, Destructoman’s only the strongest because Dr. Ra retired,” Ina explained, excitedly looking back to the front. “He’s someone even Empress is wary of.”

“Even Empress?” Calvin muttered, following her gaze. The old man was still just halfway to the podium, “Wait, you can retire?”

“Of course you can. Did you think this was a lifetime job or something?”

“I don’t know, didn’t really think about it.”

After an agonizingly long and increasingly awkward applause that amazingly continued until Dr. Ra reached the podium, the crowd died down into silence and anticipation as they looked forward to hearing his speech.

“If he could teleport why didn’t he just appear on the podium?” Calvin asked.

“Shush, he’s speaking!”

“Superheroes,” the old man spoke, his voice surprisingly full of vigor unlike his visage implied, “that’s why most of you are here. The Tinker department, forging the tech that aids the superhero in their mission. The Support department, offering indispensable aid on everything the superhero needs inside and outside of their mission. And the Hero department, crafting the people who are destined to be heroes— on paper, at least.

In truth, all of you are destined to be heroes.

I could go on saying wise words, about how each and every piece of information you learn in your journey to being a super in your department is going to contribute to saving someone’s life, about experience beating power, about a lot of other stuff, but that will take too long and I don’t really have a lot of time, thanks to a certain someone,” he side-eyed the portly principal who shrunk at his gaze, “So, to keep this short, I’ll just say this to all of you: Being a Super is a blessing, being a Hero is a choice. No matter what you end up learning in this academy, I hope all of the choices you make lean towards making yourself a better Hero. All of you will become strong in time, but it takes effort to be someone worthy of that strength.”

One final round of applause roared, both from students idolizing him and students thankful for keeping his speech short. Either way, the old man started making his way off the stage before pausing and turning back as if he had forgotten something.

“Ah, and here,” he spoke, snapping his fingers.

A purple cloud billowed from his hand, rolling over towards the students like a small tsunami that reached up to their chests. Calvin felt alarm bells for a brief second before realizing no one else was panicking and instead, they were cheering louder and more excitedly. Particularly, Ina, who was blasting his ear with a barrage of unintelligible words of amazement.

Gritting his teeth and hoping it wasn’t something Mental, he closed his eyes and drew a sharp breath as he felt the cloud pass through him.

“Woah,” he muttered, feeling a wave of coolness wash over him.

“There we go, we can’t have tired students on the first day,” The old man nodded, satisfied. “Good luck everyone. Study well.”

With that, he was enveloped in purple smoke before disappearing as fast as he appeared.

Calvin was busy looking surprised. The headache, dizziness, and fatigue he’d been feeling since earlier disappeared. “What just happened?”

He turned to Ina, who was too occupied looking at the slowly disappearing cloud enveloping them. Quinn was also distracted, although it had more to do with the state of her appearance rather than the cloud itself.

With no one answering, he opened up his Super Information to investigate.

Super Information

Super Name None Super Attributes

Super Status Alive, Spirit-severance Super Body 2 (+1)

Super Quest Road to Heroism III, A True Hero's Name, An Unknown Power Super Mind 1 (+1)

Super Points 0

Super Spirit 3 (-0.25)*

Super Powers

Impervious Pebble Gourmand's Insight

Color Control Jumper

Vigilant Aegis Unknown

Super Information

Super Name None

Super Status Alive, Spirit-severance, Slight-Fatigue(Body, Spirit), Fatigue(Mind), Sleep-Deprivation

Super Quest Road to Heroism III, A True Hero's Name, An Unknown Power

Super Points 0

Super Attributes

Super Body 2 (+1)

Super Mind 1 (+1)

Super Spirit 3 (-0.25)*

Super Powers

Impervious Pebble

Gourmand's Insight

Color Control

Jumper

Vigilant Aegis

Unknown

“Woah, how did he— even Super Spirit?” He asked, looking at his status. “The Manning Effect would be… does he have an absolution prefix too? Or whatever it’s called.”

“Absolution? No, he’s just that strong,” Ina said with eyes of reverence still looking towards where Dr. Ra disappeared.

“Holy shit… that’s scary. What’s his power?”

“Something about medicine, I think,” Quinn answered, sitting back down in relief as no purple sullied her pink outfit. She turned towards him, gesturing to his face with a flat look, “Look, you’re human again.”

“What did you think I was before?”

“One of Ina’s demons.”

“You’re the one I have a contract with.”

“That was amazing— oh, Calvin, you look human again.”

“I swear both of you hate me.”

The entrance ceremony concluded with the exit of the guest speaker. The students forced to attend for points all flooded out of the venue and back into their hovels. They only had a few hours before homeroom orientation began.

Calvin, Ina, and Quinn ate lunch in their usual spot underneath a tree in the park before deciding to head straight to their homeroom half an hour early out of boredom.

The first day— actually, the first week of classes was mostly orientations of each class they were taking. And the first three months were mostly general education, with bits of super stuff sprinkled in the week. The curriculum was in an experimental phase, as they were the first of many years to come of an academy catering specifically towards bettering heroes.

“Homeroom 1A. Kinda lucky we’re all in the same homeroom, huh,” Calvin said, looking at the notification in his holowatch.

“Yeah, sure, luck,” Quinn smirked.

He narrowed his eyes, turning towards Ina, “Rich girl privileges?”

“No,” she chuckled, “it’s first come first serve this time. We registered together, so we get lumped together.”

“What? No systemic classism this time?”

“Nope. Lucky you.”

“So it is luck.”

The three entered one of the larger buildings on the campus, not too far away from the administrator’s all-seeing-tower that sat in the middle.

Calvin felt a wave of weird nostalgia as they went inside, not because he’d been to school at any point in time, but because he felt like he’d seen this architecture many times over. Hallways to the left and right, a set of staircases in front, and lockers everywhere. It was in every high school movie, book, and game he’d ever seen.

“Wait,” he suddenly realized something, “why are there lockers?”

“Maybe it looks boring without. Who cares, let’s go.”

They banked left as they entered, immediately seeing their destination. A set of double doors Calvin was familiar with.

“Reminds me of that first day in the workshop,” He commented, looking at the plaque on the side of the door saying 'Homeroom 1A’.

“Same tinker tech door,” Ina nodded as they went in. “Not a lot of people can make expanded spaces.”

“Not a lot of people can do interior design too, it looks like.”

The space was large, just as large as the workshop’s room, and boring. The inside of the room was the same bland grey-grid thing that Calvin knew from Ina’s Gym and the Exhibition room. There was nothing else, just four walls, a ceiling, and a floor.

“Is this a trend?” He asked.

“Kinda,” Quinn nodded, “It’s a modular room, like Ina’s place.”

“Mine’s better,” Ina said. “Let’s just wait outside—”

The doors opened behind them, and in walked a woman wearing a white shirt, a black skirt, and a brown trench coat, the most comic-book look of a suspicious person. Adding to that, she wore a pair of large sunglasses and a black cloth mask, completing the seedy but fashionable drug dealer look she had going for her.

“Students?” She spoke, her voice sultry and raspy. “It’s still some time before homeroom. Did you even eat yet? Well, doesn’t matter, get out. I need to make this place look like a room first. Shoo.”

She waved her hand and summoned three giant grey rabbits from underneath them. The three yelped in surprise as they were forcefully mounted on the bunnies and subsequently carried out of the room before any of them could react.

The doors closed, the bunnies disappeared, and the three sat disheveled on the ground.

“Dang wabbit,” Calvin said, watching the motes of light left after they disappeared.

“She could’ve just let us walk out,” Quinn grumbled, dusting her skirt.

“That wouldn’t be fun,” He chuckled, standing up and offering a hand to the both of them. “Or adorable.”

“I’m adorable.” Quinn said, standing up on her own.

“You like rabbits?” Ina asked.

“They’re cute,” he shrugged.

“I guess,” Ina chuckled, grabbing his hand. “I would’ve done that too if I could.”

“Demon rabbits,” Calvin shuddered as he pulled her up.

“Hmm… you just gave me an idea,” Ina muttered, crossing her arms. “I wonder if there’s one I can make a contract with. Demon rabbits…”

“Please don’t,” Calvin plead.

“Please do,” Quinn said, turning to him with a whisper. “Demon bunny girl Ina.”

Calvin raised a brow at her, “I’m the one that has to exorcise her if that happens, you know?’”

“I’ll applaud your sacrifice.”

“Huh, you guys are in this class too?” A familiar voice asked, approaching from the entrance.

Calvin looked over to see James and Mara walking over, with another person in tow. He immediately turned to Quinn after seeing the other person, relieved to find her not going feral like he expected her to.

Instead, she had on an icy look on her face as she stared lifelessly towards the three approaching them, specifically towards the third person— Alden.

Although it was a bit hard to recognize him right now, with the fake swirly mustache and the monocle, there was no one else insane enough to wear a full butler’s outfit and carry a tea set with one hand on their way to class. At least, there was no one else Calvin knew of.

“Greetings, esteemed company,” Alden spoke with a particular accent, bowing as he addressed them. “A most delightful reunion, sir and madams.”

“What the hell?” Ina muttered.

“Let’s just go here,” Quinn whispered to Ina and dragged her to the side.

“Which movie?” Calvin turned to James and asked.

“It’s a series. Downtown Abigail.”

“The one with the accents?”

“Unfortunately.”

“Please just ignore the idiot,” Mara gave a tired sigh. “Hello again.”

“Hey,” Calvin nodded to her, glancing between her and Alden. “Haven’t seen you guys around much.”

She scratched her cheek as it reddened, “We were just hanging around wherever. You know…”

“We’re introverts, Calvin. We stayed in our rooms the entire time.” James explained, earning a punch from Mara. “Ow.”

Calvin chuckled, “You guys fight in the arena?”

“What part of 'stayed in our rooms’ didn’t you get? Ow.”

“Don’t be rude,” Mara whispered to him loudly. “I can’t fight and James sucks at fighting.”

“I’m being rude?” James gave her the side eye.

“I see,” he turned to Quinn and Ina who went into their own world and sat in the corner, ignoring him trying to socialize. He sighed and muttered, “Why is everyone I know a loner, goddamn.”

After a few agonizing minutes of him talking awkwardly to the three before returning to Ina and Quinn’s side, the suspicious-looking woman from earlier popped her head out of the doorway and called out to them with a whistle.

“Hey, you can come in now,” she whispered, popping her head back in.

Calvin narrowed his eyes, “Not sketchy at all.”

“Come on, I want to sit in a proper chair,” Quinn said, dragging him and Ina towards the door.

“Ah,” the woman’s head popped out again, “leave your pockets in a locker. Just scan your holowatch and whatever, it won’t get stolen.”

They looked at each other before following her instructions, scanning their holowatches on the nearest lockers and putting their pockets in. Calvin was tempted not to comply but was persuaded by the fact that homeroom teachers have free reign over giving and taking away points.

“Let’s go,” Quinn said, pushing open the double doors. “Oh come on!”

“That’s… new,” Calvin muttered, seeing the inside of the room.

Trees. Everywhere. All sorts of plants, bushes, dirt, rocks, and probably insects too. It was like a certain wardrobe that opened into a world with talking lions and beavers. Except there were no lions nor beavers, only trees.

A rabbit appeared behind all of them and proceeded to tackle them into the 'room’, slamming the doors shut behind them. Even the other three were pushed in, just as confused as they looked around.

“Where— is this a forest?” Mara asked as they saw the same scenery. “Why are we in a forest?”

As if to answer her question, their holowatches collectively vibrated. A notification from the network, their homeroom teacher sent them a simple message.

Pre-test Examination

Objective: Run

Reward: 100pts

Penalty: Cleaning duty

“Run?” Calvin asked, confused.

As the question lingered in the air, the forest itself seemed to answer as rustling came from between the trees surrounding them. In the darkness, pairs of glowing red eyes popped out of nowhere, followed by skittering and chattering of teeth as the thing they were supposed to run away from showed itself fully.

“Demon rabbits?”