New Delta Suburbs

June 8, 11:22 A.M.

I felt like dying at the moment.

Just a few days ago, I had awakened powers of my own, a chance anyone would jump at to take from me. However, nothing about my power was something someone would want.

“Okay, let’s try one more time. Deep breath, son, and-” My dad sliced a knife across his left ring finger, and the second after a drop of blood welled up on the cut, it vanished, completely healed over. I winced as the cut appeared on my left ring finger instead.

“I can’t stop it, Dad! Every time I try to control this…curse, it just fails. I can’t stop it.”

I slumped down on the table. At least I could be thankfully I was an only child and had no little siblings getting themselves hurt and in trouble, in turn hurting me.

My mom walked into the room with a cup of coffee and handed a second to my dad.

“No luck?” she asked sympathetically.

My dad shook his head. “We can’t seem to figure it out.”

“Well, what is he going to do? He can’t be a social recluse all his life, just because of this power!”

I shut my eyes tightly. She was, of course, right. But it hurt to hear, more than the cut on my finger. I was destined to either be a pariah or have to endure taking the hits for any and everyone nearby. I at least didn’t seem to have a huge range, the person had to be nearby, so I wasn’t getting hurt when the neighbor’s kid scrapes his knee, unless I happened to be walking by at the time.

“I’m not sure, dear. But hey, Alex, buddy, don’t worry! We’ll figure this out, okay?” My dad ruffled my hair, and I forced a smile.

“Yeah, for sure Dad. We’ll figure this out.”

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A few hours later, I lay slumped in my bed, reading a comic. It was one of the newer ones, comic writers taking real life inspiration to write more exciting stories, seeing as nobody would really care about Spiderman when there are real heroes out there. Limitbreaker Issue #21: Reached His Limits?! was nothing special, though. Limitbreaker was probably the best-known Hero Errant around, being the de facto leader of the Ten-Pointed Star, the Hero organization that kept the world together after powers started appearing. They were the people who first came up with the classification system for Amps, created Arrays to train teams of young people who got their powers, and knighted the first Hero Errants, the big names of the Hero world. Everyone dreams about getting their power and rising through the ranks to become a Hero Errant, a gallant savior of the world.

Then again, it’s not like I could dream about that anymore. My power wasn’t exactly suited to being a glamorous superhero. Save that for the people who got actual good powers.

I tossed the comic into a pile near my door and rolled over, staring out my window. Maybe it wasn’t so bad. A lot of people recounted having a hard time controlling their power when they first realized it. Maybe, in a while, I could rein my life back in, be a normal person.

My thoughts halted when I saw the black limousine pull up to my parent’s driveway.

I sat up and watched through the window as my dad opened the door. I couldn’t hear what they were saying, and opening my creaky, old window would definitely alert them. Speaking of “them”, out of the limousine stepped a sharply dressed young man, maybe 20, wearing sunglasses and looking like he could shout “Get down Mr. President!”

As he and my dad talk, my dad grows more and more animated, before both men stiffen, and stop talking. Then, after a few minutes, my dad walks back inside, not closing the door. I quickly roll away from my window and grab a book from my desk, flipping it open just as I hear a knock on my door.

“Yeah?” I called out, trying to steady my voice.

“Hey sport, someone wants to talk to you.”

“Oh, sure Dad, be right there!”

I let my book slip from my fingers and take a deep breath. Something seems unnerving about this whole situation, but what can I do? I walked downstairs, and the man and my dad look at me. The man doesn’t smile.

“Alex Fei. My name is Roger. My boss would like to speak to you.”

“Heh, um, I mean, I haven’t done drugs or stolen anything, I think you might have the wrong guy.”

The man gives an imperceptible shake of his head, “No. He wants to talk to you about your power. We can help you.”

My eyes widen in shock. “You can? How?”

The man just nodded and gestured towards the limousine. I look at my dad, concerned.

“It’s up to you Alex,” he says quietly, “But I think it could be worth a try.”

I could tell that I don’t really have a choice here. Whatever happened to my dad must have been this guy’s power, or maybe his boss. They don’t seem immediately malicious, but I’d be willing to bet that if I refused this offer, they would be.

“Wait, one question. This isn’t like, a ploy by those villains, right? I heard they hit the school, and have defeated the local Array recently…you aren’t working for them, right? I don’t want to be an example for scaring people by getting killed.”

“No,” the man said, “We are not connected to Pact in any way.”

“Right. Well, I guess I’ll see you later Dad.”

He nodded and gave me a reassuring smile as I stepped into the limousine, and the door closed without a sound.

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We pulled up to a large industrial factory building, surprisingly enough. Despite having not said anything the whole drive here, as we stepped out of the car, I mustered up the courage to ask, “Um…why are we here? No offense, but this doesn’t look like what I was expecting.”

“Looks can be deceiving,” an unfamiliar voice responded.

I quickly glanced up to see an old man, bent over a cane with a tiny silver brain as the handle of the cane. He had small spectacles and wore an oddly monochrome suit, much more worn than the suit the young man had on. He had a thin layer of grey hair receding from the top of his head that barely covered his exposed head.

“Take me for an example,” the old man continued. “I may look weak and am in fact very physically flimsy. But my mental strength, and the capital I control, more than makes up for that. Or you, Mr. Alex Fei. You don’t look like the type to have such an interesting power, and yet here you are.”

“Yeah, I heard you could fix me, make my power work for me, right?”

“Perhaps. Follow me.” The old man turned and walked into the factory through a small side door, and I quickly made to follow, only sparing a glance back at the younger guy, who seemed to be on a phone call.

“Alex, my boy, do you know what is the most important thing in this world? It is not money, nor power, nor women, nor even a superpower. All of these things are useful, pleasurable, and so on. But without control, you cannot properly have and use these things.”

“So, you’re saying I need control over my power? How can I do that when we don’t even know where these powers come from?”

He nodded, smiling. “And there is the problem. Since powers first started appearing, many brilliant minds, including some Amps with powers related to learning and deciphering, attempted to figure out where these powers come from. But nobody seems to be able to find it. A well-kept secret of the universe, if ever there were one. But while we haven’t discovered where they come from, we have learned some very important things about powers. However, those scientists were too scared to test their theories. They were afraid of the power they could unleash. But here, we are not afraid.”

“So what have you learned?” We entered a long hallway lined with metal. Oddly enough, it seemed to stretch a lot further than the building looks from the outside, and I could hear cheering from far away. “Is it something that can help me?”

“Well of course, why else would you be here? There is only one reason people come to the Skull Ring, to strengthen their powers.”

“The…Skull Ring?”

We reached the end of the hallway, and the doors creaked open to the sound of a girl screaming loud pop music lyrics, the noise blaring from speakers in various corners of the room in such a way that the lyrics blended with the constant crushing tide of words from the crowd, along with more huge speakers pumping out enough bass to shake parts of the floor, and cheering from all directions. Neon lights flickered on and off from random directions, and everywhere I looked, skull insignias were plastered on the walls, floors, chairs, the clothing of the people who walked around handing out drinks and food to various people sitting on bleachers and chairs that were spread in an impossibly sized room that couldn’t possibly exist in the building we first entered. Trash and dirt littered the floor, and the people were grungy and seemed to be a stark contrast to the well-dressed servers, and the old man with me. In the center of the room, a sandy pit caked with old blood and fragments of weapons and bone alike was the focus of everyone, as two people brawled in the center of the pit.

The first one, a tall guy with gangly limbs and black hair, stood still, taunting his opponent, a short kid about my age who opened his mouth. The old man covered his ears and said, “You may want to cover your ears for this.”

As my hands closed over my ears, I caught the start of a shriek, the sound of a thousand pots and pans banging together while scraping down a chalkboard, and I winced. It only added to the general noise and disquiet of the place, and I felt extremely out of my depth.

The shriek disoriented the tall man, who stumbled back and forth as the kid leapt up and delivered a solid kick to the man’s head, letting out a loud crack that resounded across the room. The crowd jeered, a unified sound cutting through the cacophony for a split second, before the tall man got back up. Without warning, the man starting ricocheting around the arena, moving too fast to follow, and seemingly without the man’s control, he slammed his body into the kid, sending them both slamming into the sand with a crash. When the dust settled, the man stood up, holding a bloody fist in the air. The crowd roared it’s excitement at the winner, and two men came over to pick up the kid and carry him off, while an announcer walked over to the tall man.

“Corkscrew with his third win! He’ll be moving up to the Silver League now, playing with the big boys! Or at least, the big boys to him.”

The crowd laughed raucously. It wasn’t even that funny, how many of these people were drunk, or high? I shook my head.

“I don’t see how this is going to help my powers grow.”

“Hmm…let me tell you, when I first met him, that Corkscrew could barely move under his power’s influence. After some training and a few bouts in the Skull Pit, he’s grown to be a force to be reckoned with. We can do that for you too.”

“In this place? Sorry, but it’s…”

“Disgusting? A ravel? Absolutely, but that’s why we have it this way. Vicious, bloody, grimy…it’s perfect to bring out the full extent of your powers.”

I sighed. “I don’t know…my parents wouldn’t like it.”

“We can take care of that, m’boy. Trust me, this is what you need. After a few weeks here, you’ll be strong enough to do whatever you want around your parents, but until then, I have a man who can duplicate you. You’ll stay here, train, and your clone will live your life as normal.”

I shook my head. “Seems too shady, sorry. How can I be sure you aren’t just going to, I dunno, harvest my organs, or something? I’m out.”

“You’re just going to deal with your power crippling you all your life?” The man inquired.

“I…yeah. It’s better than this.”

I turned to leave, but two burly guards blocked my way.

The old man walked to stand next to me. “Sorry m’boy. We can’t let an Amp slip from our grasp that easily. I’m going to have to ask you to stay…just a bit longer.”

I glanced at him, concerned, but something about the way his head swayed, his eyes swirled…I felt like I was staring into the face of a snake, or even a dragon. It was...hypnotic...