12 years later!
A boy was returning from school. He steps, hurried. He was striding through the streets at a fast pace, as though he was being chased.
The black-haired boy with dark brown eyes, donned a dark blue uniform with gold stripes running down its edges. He suddenly broke out into a sprint as if trying to shake off his pursuers. He was panting heavily and noisily, his chest heaving up and down at an incredible rate.
The black-haired boy quickly took a sharp turn through an alley almost losing his balance. But he was used to this kind of situation, there was no way he was going to stumble over the cold floor. He ran through the alleyway, a shortcut…? Or probably a tactic to shake off his tail.
Having almost gotten to the exit of the alley, he took a quick glance behind him. There were two boys chasing after him relentlessly. The boy had a surprised expression etched on his face.
But it wasn't because he was bothered that the boys were catching up to him. The gap between them was significant, there was no way they could cover up that distance in an instant, even if they were Superhumans.
That was what started all this bullying in the first place. Because they were Superhumans and he wasn't. Because they had awakened their superpowers and he had got nothing. That was how all this began. For all his three tries at the awakening ceremony, for three straight years he had got nothing. Not even a weak-ass superpower that could alter the colour of his hair.
After he was injected with the Catalyst for the third time it was proven that he had no mutant gene in him. He was more ordinary than the ordinary people.
Normally, ordinary people had one to five mutant genes in them but it was too minuscule for the Catalyst to detect them and reactivate their properties. These people would eventually awaken their powers as they age, but having very little mutant gene meant that your abilities amounted to nothing. Most of them could only use their superpowers once a day, while some of them awakened useless powers like the one that could alter his hair colour or the one that could grow an additional finger.
These weak superpowers had their strongest forms. Like the ability to alter the hair colour came from the superpower that allowed one to completely alter their form and appearance. And the ability to grow an extra finger came from the original superpower that allowed one to grow more upper limps. Like the famous superpowers; four arms, six arms, 8 arms…
Mutant genes highly contributed in the awakening of a Superhuman. But the black-haired boy was said to possess none.
However, the main reason why he became famous from his failure was because his father was a famous Hero. People had high expectations for the children of the famous Heroes, so when Carl didn't awaken any superpowers, people were disappointed. Most of them felt disgusted, some pitied him. Others simply blamed the whole situation on Carl's mother, Helen, saying that she hadn't been a faithful wife and that Carl's father, Jason, should go for a DNA test.
Life suddenly became miserable for Carl. He had always envisioned living a peaceful and quiet second life, but his life was far from being peaceful nor quiet. His father's attitude towards him suddenly changed. The man who had always been a Symbol of Hope to others, always wearing an unwavering smile of warmth, lost all of that after his wife died three years ago to a Xenosapian incident.
His father blamed himself everyday for her death, then suddenly he stopped blaming himself and started working his way towards the pinnacle of Hero Society. If Carl's memories served him right, his father was supposed to be announced as the newest S-Rank Hero next month. The man became a crazed battle machine after his wife's death, contributing greatly in the annihilation of Xenosapians these past couple of years.
But that wasn't what Carl was worried about, right now, he needed to escape from the bullies after him.
'Where's the last one?' Carl was surprised when he turned back and only saw two boys chasing after him instead of three. Anyone would have been glad that one of them had given up, but not Carl. He wasn't easily fooled, not with his 660 years past experiences as a Demon King.
Carl quickly increased his speed hoping to exit the alleyway in no time, but suddenly a shadow lunged towards him from upfront and before he could register what was happening, a fist rammed into his face at a devastating force.
"Damn… you… Superhumans…" Carl mumbled in a slightly muffled voice as a wave of immense pain washed over his entire being in an instant. His vision blurred and his eardrums started ringing. He lost his balance and he felt the world around him crumble… no, it was him that was falling. Carl crashed into the cold floor heavily.
Towering in front of him was the figure of a brown-haired boy spotting black eyes. The boy was clad in the same uniform as Carl.
"What's all this about Carl? Why are you running away from us? We only wanted to have fun together. You know, as 'friends'. Hehe…" The brown-haired boy said, his words an act of mockery. He glanced at the hopeless expression on Carl's face and giggled in satisfaction. He loved when his preys… despair.
"You're being a very bad friend Carl. All we wanted was to have fun together but you've been avoiding us lately. Have you forgotten how we've always been with you even when the whole world turned their backs at you? You need to understand that we are friends, and that friends don't quit on each other. We shall punish you for your recent behaviours Carl, only then will you actually learn from your mistakes." The brown-haired boy continued.
"Please… don't do this, Peter…" Carl mumbled in a pained whisper. The punch from earlier had knocked out the air from his lungs. He was barely able to speak.
"What was that? Did you say something, Carl?" Peter asked as he reached out both hands to grab Carl on the collar. He dragged the battered boy to his feet, a mischievous smile engraved on Peter's lips like someone who was about to do something really terrible.
Peter spared Carl a glare, he immediately folded his palm into a fist while his other hand held Carl up. Veins rolled under his skin as he moved his arm back.
Pa!
Suddenly, a devastating punch broke through the air viciously and collided into Carl's abdomen in a second.
"Argh!!" A wave of agonizing pain travelled through Carl's entire torso. Carl's abdomen was burning crazy.
Bam! Bam!
Peter didn't hesitate as he unleashed a couple of punches in a quick succession. The impact of these blows sent Carl collapsing to the floor instantly.
The two boys who had been chasing Carl from behind arrived just in time.
"Hey, don't kill him just yet. I got to have my turn too." A blue-haired boy said.
"Yeah, this trash deserves a proper beat up after making me run all the way here for miles." The other boy, a blonde-haired boy said while flexing his muscles. His wide arms, broad shoulders, and bulk physique made people often mistake him for an adult.
"Don't worry guys, you'll all get your turn. This punching bag can be
very sturdy at times." Peter said while smiling mischievously.