Chapter 1The first thing I saw was a street busy with pedestrians walking around me, on their way somewhere. To something. The air was cold, but I wasn't. I could only feel it on my face. Right. I was wearing my jacket. A thick black fake-leather thing that was lined with fake fur on the inside. A hand-me-down from my father. Made in China, but it had withstood decades already without looking any worse for wear.
I felt someone bump into me from behind before proceeding forward, not even casting a glance back at me.
And that's when I noticed it. Like a bolt of lightning hitting me, the absence of something vital pressed into my mind.
I opened my mouth and tried to make a noise.
I felt air push through my throat, felt the throat rumble, felt the vibrations tickle my jawbone, and I heard nothing. Nothing at all.
A car sped by me on the street, and I heard nothing.
I saw people chatting to each other, and heard nothing.
Nothing at all.
I stumbled over to the wall of some business or other—Sheryl's Textiles—and pressed my back against the wall, trying to breathe, to think—
From where I stood, I could read the signs of the establishments on the opposite side of the street, above the heads of the people walking by me.
'1# Brockton Realty'.
'QuickMart'.
'Drug Store'.
Nothing in Norwegian.
English. Why was it all in English?
Brockton?
I dug through my pockets, searching for my phone. With a visceral panic, I realized that I didn't have one. Not in my hoodie pocket underneath my jacket, not in my jacket pocket, or my pants.
I was phoneless.
In the twenty-first century, that was as good as being crippled.
Deaf.
Oh god, I moaned. I couldn't hear it.
No one spared me even a glance.
I read through more signs, and saw the word 'Brockton' pop up once again, this time along with another word. 'Bay'.
'Brockton Bay'.
Worm?!
I closed my eyes and whimpered.
And then, I remembered.
000
I woke up to a vast canvas of whiteness surrounding me on all sides, and a voice droning dispassionately, filling my ears with the only sound in this place.
My full government name, it recited.
Then every net-handle I have ever made up.
"There," the man finally said, after I was on the verge of dying of some cringe-related illness. "Those are all mine, now."
Huh? "What do you mean?" I asked.
"The names. They are mine now."
No. How does that even make sense?
"My name," I said, "is…" I furrowed my brow after I paused for a fraction of a second longer than I should have. "My name is mine," I finally said.
"Then why don't you remember it?"
I tried looking around to find out the source of the voice. Even my body felt wrong somehow. Like I wasn't whole, or complete. I tried to touch my face, but I felt nothing, sawnothing. Not even my hands.
"Ah. You should know that you are just a ball of consciousness at the moment," The voice continued. "I judged that speaking to you in this way would be less distracting. It also allows me to manually tune down your anxiety and panic. Yes, I have your name, now. I took it because it belonged to the world that you left. Your consciousness and lived experiences are yours to keep, but your name is a special thing, conceptually. I'm afraid that I must hold it—"
Forget about the fucking name! "What the hell is going on?"
Then I felt a bone-deep dread at a horrifying thought. "Am I… dead? Is this… is this heaven? Or hell? Am I being judged right now?"
Wait… weren't there three questions that one was asked in the grave? Who is your lord, what is your religion, who is the prophet?
I opened my mouth to speak when—
Before me, he manifested. He was dressed in pretty blue and green robes speckled with images of flowers and clouds. He wore a long pair of beaded necklaces made of some shiny green stones, probably jades, he wore a black hat with a peacock's feather at the back, and… he was very pointedly East-Asian in looks.
"My name is Xiao Jingyi," he said to me. "I am a bureaucrat."
Wait, what? "Am I… not being judged?"
"Ah, no." He waved his hands, and a scroll appeared before him.
"Is… is god real?"
"You mean the Jade Emperor?"
If I had a body, I would be pulling my hair at that insanity-inducing sentence. The Jade Emperor.
…the Daoists were right? All along?
I sighed. I couldn't be mad, really. How long had I spent my life pointedly disregarding the tenets of my erstwhile religion only to suddenly make a heel-face turn at my final moments? I never would have made it into heaven in the first place. That just hadn't been in the cards for me.
"Right, so what are we doing?" I asked. "What exactly is Daoist eschatology? I'm really murky on that."
"You're not here for that," Xiao Jingyi said. "You're here because you're an entrant into a game between gods."
Shit. That didn't sound nice.
"I took you out of the source world and will vest you with abilities."
"O-okay?" Abilities? Like powers? "Where am I dropping?"
"Earth Bet."
What the fuck is going on? How does this even work? "You mean, from Worm? That's a real place?"
"Not in the sense that it is as real as the source world," Jingyi explained. "But it is indeed real. Conceptually real. The concepts exist, as written. In fact, you are currently every bit as real as the people in Earth Bet are. Before, you were more real, but now you have been reduced to a level in which you can safely interact with this world. Like a four-dimensional being reducing itself to three dimensions to walk among humans."
"What am I supposed to do?!"
000
I stumbled my way through the street, trying to act natural, like my entire world hadn't just been ripped from me, like I wasn't the single most alien being on this planet—Scion included.
I had lost my entire family.
And for what? To, to play a game.
I kept walking back and forth on the same sidewalk, gaining a newfound appreciation for the gift of hearing. A world void of sound felt unimaginably terrifying to me. It was like darkness everywhere I wasn't looking directly. I had no early warning system for anything I wasn't already looking at.
Back to the wall.
With a wall at my back, I could at least eliminate most of my blinded angles, keep myself in place while I mustered the courage to… to do what?
000
"Your power will be to steal one parahuman ability every day," Jingyi raised one finger. "Stolen powers get placed into one of ten slots. You may use all your powers concurrently. Should a person whose power you've stolen die, you may free up one of the ten slots and have this power become permanent. You may carry an infinite number of permanent powers."
I closed my eyes. "That's… okay, that sounds good, I guess?" I muttered. "Don't I have choices, though? Can't I pick drawbacks to earn points to get perks and stuff?"
He huffed. "What did you have in mind?"
Thanks to Jingyi fucking with my head, I felt weirdlymentally ready to partake in the time-honored forum tradition of Munchkinry.
"Do I have a power sense?" I asked. "Actually, first off, how exactly am I able to steal parahuman abilities?"
"By touch. You must make skin-contact with your target. You may not kill your target before stealing their power." Only after, went unsaid. I put a pin on that moral quandary. Actually, wasn't he an authority on this stuff? Why not knock it off right now?
"Is hell real?"
"No."
Oh. "Can I sense powers?"
"You will know who is or isn't a parahuman based on sight alone."
No that's… weak. Too weak.
"Do I start off with some other power, at least?"
"I'm beginning to doubt that you understand the enormity of the power that you will be blessed with," Jingyi said, eyebrow raised.
"I'm not exactly the cunning strategic type," I said. "I really despise the idea of going after villains to get my first power, and I hate the idea of stealing from the heroes even more."
"Do you?"
I winced. "I don't know. It depends on the hero, I guess. I just hate how cowardly of an option it is. Jingyi, what exactly is the point of this? Why am I doing this? What's the win-condition? And who am I competing against? And why did you pick me?"
"You're doing this to earn me some additional clout with the heavenly court. That's the point of all this, to entertain my colleagues and gain me influence. To win and earn an additional reward, you must defeat Scion. Do so, and all the limits of your power will be lifted. You will be able to hold an infinite number of powers on the temporary slot, you may increase the number of powers you can steal each day, and you may even be able to change the parameters of those powers."
"Like second triggers?"
"Precisely. Finally, these powers will last forever. Provided you secured yourself the right powers, that would make you effectively immortal. You are competing against other entrants from the source world interacting with other worlds, but you will be alone on Earth Bet, in this respect. No other source worlders will join you."
I frowned and nodded. "And… I guess going home's no longer in the cards."
"On the contrary. Once you defeat Scion, you may regain your many names and go back to the source world to live out the rest of your life. You may return at any point, or after death. However, you may never return to the source world again if you do. And you will not be able to enter the source world with your powers, or your complete memories, either. All the skills you learned on Earth Bet would be left behind for you to pick up once you made your return."
Then I knew what I was choosing. Whatever this all was, it obviously wasn't as significant as living back on Earth, back in the real world.
"I need something to get me started," I said. "A power sense, at least. Not just sight-based but omnidirectional. Like Taylor's bug control."
"Fine," he said. Wow, that was easy. "What are you willing to give up?"
Give up? "My, uh… my sense of taste and smell," I said. "If I can get it back with powers."
"Hmmm… stealing powers will now make you re-experience your target's trigger event."
What?! That was… raw. Too raw. "No, that's… that doesn't sound good," I said. "Won't it slow things down? I can't really use it as a combat option if I'm laid out and going through hell, right?"
"Indeed. It will make you think very carefully before using your powers."
"And aren't trigger events quite… graphic?" I asked. "Won't it hurt me, psychologically?"
"Indeed, it will. Very much so, should you prove unable to find ways to counteract this mental damage in your journey."
He didn't give a shit at all. "Jingyi, work with me, here. This is supposed to be entertaining."
"Indeed. My colleagues will find this very entertaining. Also, as this is still too mild a drawback, I propose one more. Your sense of smell, taste, and hearing."
I chuckled in incredulity. "How about you cut off my dick as well?"
"You would bleed out, and even if I were to remove and heal over the loss of your member, more mutilations would only be window dressing at this point. Unimportant peripherals."
Come to think of it, did he even have one?
"I'm not a eunuch," Jingyi said sharply. How had he known that I was thinking that? "It makes no difference to me whether you say or think something. You are a ball of consciousness, not a living creature. All your thoughts are speech and vice versa."
"Fine," I said. "I give up. Put me back in the source world. Make me forget everything. If you won't work with me on this, then I won't work with you, either."
"Is that so?" Jingyi asked. "You would reject the chance to become a god?"
"I'm not god-material."
"Then who is?" Jingyi asked. "Tell me, do you remember much of your day before this? Going to work. Going back home. Going out drinking with your friend. And every intervening point besides. Do you recall just how many times you thought about how doomed your world was?"
No snow in Oslo even though it was mid-December.
AI integrated into every fucking little thing. Drinkable water disappearing by the second to give mediocre adults a slightly more convenient workflow. The bullshit seeping into every aspect of online entertainment, to the point that it was all now just a highly optimized attention-farming machine that required minimal human input.
Cryptocurrency becoming mainstream. More resources being spent in the name of getting rich from the most arbitrary fucking way possible.
Computer part prices going up, absolutely shattering my childhood dream that one day, good gaming PCs would be totally affordable. That I could play Skyrim ENB on the highest setting one day, too.
That I could own a house without selling my soul to Satan himself.
The world was so fucked.
So fucking fucked.
We are killing ourselves. And nobody could give a fuck to put a stop to it all, nobody in power at least.
"You never answered one question?" I said quietly. "Why me?"
"Because saving the world, to you, would not stop at killing Scion. I don't expect you to make your return to the source world after 'winning' the game. I expect you to stay, and continue saving the world. Because you are intensely dissatisfied with the way of things."
What made him think I wouldn't turn out like every other disingenuous bastard that had made a name for themselves decrying the shortcomings of society, only to change their tune drastically once they had gotten a taste of power and fortune?
The Ice Cubes of the world. The Kanye Wests. With power, I could make enough money to completely invalidate all those concerns of mine. I would be a hypocrite in the making.
"Nevertheless, that is what I am selling you. A chance to make the rules, because you hate the ones already in place. Fear is what informs your current reluctance. Would you like for me to reduce it before you make a decision?"
He had pissed me off.
By reminding me of how shit things were.
And that anger? Well. It was enough.
"I need something else," I muttered. "A power that lets me upgrade one of the ones I already have."
"Done. In exchange—"
"I won't just drop this entire game on the spot," I said. "Humiliate you in front of your buddies by dying early." I grinned.
He grimaced at me. Fuck him. "I could return you to the source world should I choose it."
"Would you? Choose it? Do I even have a choice whether I go right now or not? You already stole my name and I never agreed to a thing yet. That alone should require some form of repayment, to keep us both on the same page." I would crash out over this, and I hoped he knew how far I could go to be petty.
"Fine," he said. "You may receive one token every ten days that will allow you to 'upgrade' any ability in your list, excluding the greater power-stealing ability, for a total of three upgrades."
"One token to start with."
He clenched his jaws. "Fine."
"When am I dropping in?"
"March first, 2011. Brockton Bay. No one will know of you. You will be a total stranger to everyone."
I felt a flare of spiteful glee at that last part. I didn't want to argue, for fear of pushing my hand too far, and because BB was a good place. Lots of capes, many of whom I had some familiarity with. Didn't matter that it was a rough start.
"And I can heal my deficiencies, right?" I asked. "With parahuman abilities?"
"Indeed."
Ah.
Shit. This was a good deal. A better deal than I honestly expected to get, deafness notwithstanding.
"And the power sense?"
"One thousand meters in every direction."
Whew! I was only expecting a couple of 'city blocks' at best, whatever that meant. A kilometer of power sense was strong.
000
I closed my eyes and plunged my world into utter void.
I opened them near-instantly as the shock of it all shot through me. No eyes, no ears. Bad time.
I took deep breaths and tried again. Just for a few seconds, I told myself.
I closed my eyes again.
The utter void sharpened my senses, and easily made me able to pick out a pair of signatures, one that was near the edge of my range, and another halfway through it. I could sense the edge of my range, and could easily judge distances based on that fact, by approximating where the signatures existed in relation to the range.
Nine-fifty to a thousand meters for the first power.
Four hundred to five hundred meters for the second one.
The first power? Heightened reflexes. Heightened coordination. Minor pyrokinesis. Dimensional storage.
Circus!
The second? Complete self-regeneration every four seconds. Minor self-idealization, minor ability to repair broken equipment, perfect pain tolerance.
Roughly half a kilometer away, there was a real, actual Neo-Nazi with real superpowers. And he went by the name of Alabaster.
I focused my 'token' on the power sensing, and tried to use it.
My range exploded exponentially. Ten kilometers instead of one.
I smirked. Got one over on the heavenly bureaucrat, for sure.
I felt dozens upon dozens more capes pop into my range.
Four of them were Wards grouped tightly together. Aegis, Gallant, Clockblocker, Vista, six kilometers away. Three more were New Wave: Glory Girl, Panacea, Shielder. I assumed this was Arcadia High. Interestingly, there were three more capes in their midst. Capes, or just people with powers.
One could lower the temperature of things they touched by a few dozen degrees. It gave them an immunity towards cold temperatures as well. Useful…ish.
Another was able to introduce auditory lag to anything in their vicinity. A Stranger power that seemed rather difficult to master.
A third had the ability to adhere objects onto surfaces. Bonded objects were too stuck to really be able to move with human strength. The power could unbond the objects quite easily.
There were a lot of these cases, powers that had never appeared in canon, likely people that had no interest in doing cape activities. Or maybe not cape activities in the Bay.
In comparison, the number of capes I recognized by their power, based on those I didn't recognize at all, was one to a whooping two.
Powers drove their users towards conflict, but it seemed possible, likely even, to have powers and forego using them for the purposes of conflict in the first place. Fascinating. They would be worth tapping for powers, these people.
No, on second thought, they wouldn't be worth it at all. I'd quickly run out of temp slots if I went after them.
In fact, I had to be very, very sparing on who I used those for.
And as for the perm slots…
Alabaster was two kilometers away from a trio of other capes, whom I recognized by their powers: Hookwolf, Cricket and Stormtiger.
Further away still, towards the high rises, I sensed Krieg, Fenja, Menja, and Kaiser.
I stopped looking for them after that.
What the hell am I thinking? Killing people?
I'm not a murderer.
No. No killing. If I couldn't take out Scion with just ten powers in the temp slots, then I simply didn't deserve to win in the first place.
As for right now, who should I steal from?
Alabaster felt oh-so tempting. He was right there. A jogging distance that even my fat ass would let me eat up in five minutes or less.
And what if he was in a Nazi bar? What if I, a pretty fucking black guy, decided to saunter right in, slap the regenerating cape in the face, and take off bolting, all the while as I suffered the mother of all nightmares in the form of whatever horrible event made the man trigger in the first place?
Shit. Shit.
I had better candidates than Alabaster in mind. A better candidate, that was.
000
"Am I a blindspot?" I asked Jingyi.
"No. But if you were to take the powers of a precognitive blindspot, then you would share in that immunity. Conversely, if you were to gain more than ten powers, precognitive predictions would be less reliable around you."
"Ten more powers?" I asked. "How does that work?"
"You would be too variable for most precognitives to accurately predict. Even Contessa might find you to behave in unexpected ways, though given time and effort, she could account for this."
"But if I took ten powers, and also the power of a powerful precognitive?"
Jingyi nodded. "You seem ready to play the game already."
"I still have a few more questions."
000
I looked around at the street, then approached a man wearing a long gray trench coat, a fedora hat, and a briefcase. "Excuse me sir," I said, hoping I was speaking in a normal volume. "Do you happen to have the time?"
He looked at me in something approaching aggrievement before stopping, and lifting up his left wrist. I looked at the watch quickly.
Eight o' clock sharp. He quickly walked away, probably already late for something.
Eight o' clock, huh? I'd have to wait quite a few hours then, just walking through the city, until classes ended.
I had a middle school to go to.