My Superhero SystemChapter 7 – The World Without Ultra Buff
Ultra Buff didn't just punch hard.She bent the rules of existence.
If gravity said fall, she said float.If a bullet said too fast, she said no, you're not.
People called it "reality alteration," but scientists argued it was "probability manipulation."Nobody really knew.
She could make the impossible seem casual.
For years, she held the planet together — not by speeches or politics, but by presence.
Criminals didn't plan bank robberies when the air itself seemed to whisper her name.Governments behaved.The Wegs stayed polite.
But now, she'd been gone three weeks.And the world was cracking.
Newsfeeds ran wild:
"Is Ultra Buff Dead?""Alien Retaliation Linked to Hero's Disappearance?""Government Cover-Up?"
In East Haven, small-time crooks started acting big.Carjackings, looting, gang wars in alleys that hadn't seen daylight in years.
Everyone felt it — like hope itself had taken a sick day.
Tanya scrolled through the feeds at breakfast.
"They're saying she vanished fighting a Weg scouting drone off Africa. No remains."
Their mom shook her head.
"That woman saved more lives than presidents. Lord help us if she's gone."
Tim barely touched his cereal.
He could feel the sickness around the city — not just disease now, but something heavier.
Fear had a color, too.
A deep violet fog that clung to people like perfume.
He saw it on the subway, in the grocery line, even on kids walking home from school.
And the System whispered quietly in his mind, analyzing it all:
Fear density increasing: 23%.Crime probability rising.Recommendation: Intervention.
"Intervention?" Tim whispered under his breath. "You mean like… act?"
Affirmative.
He laughed softly.
"I'm not Ultra Buff. I'm a guy who can cure athlete's foot and see colds floating in the air."
Potential exceeds current perception.
He stared at his reflection in the window — pale face, healed body, eyes that glowed faintly gold when he blinked too slow.
Outside, sirens wailed again.
Someone screamed down the block — a purse snatcher, maybe.
And for the first time in his life, Tim didn't freeze.
He ran.