My Superhero System
Chapter 16 – The Friend at the Door
Tim hadn't been sleeping much lately.
The System whispered even when he tried to rest — faint alerts about illness levels across the city, pings of fear, minor events he could stop if he wanted to.
He was learning to ignore the noise, to choose his moments.
That night, he felt something different.
A pulse.
Not fear, not sickness. Something darker — heavy, sharp-edged energy vibrating a few blocks away.
Warning: Foreign System detected.
Signature — incompatible with Hero Protocol.
Tim frowned, sitting up. "Incompatible how?"
Classification: Hostile. Probable origin — Weg Source.
His heart skipped. Wegs again.
He stood, half-dressed, ready to move, when a knock hit the door.
Three knocks. Slow. Familiar.
He froze.
Only one person ever knocked like that.
He opened the door and saw Jalen Price standing in the hallway, hood up, face pale but smiling.
"Yo," Jalen said softly. "You got time to talk, man?"
They sat in the small kitchen, old memories hanging in the air like ghosts — late-night game sessions, dumb jokes, the way they used to dream about being famous together.
Tim leaned on the counter. "You disappeared for a week, bro. I thought you dipped."
"Been… dealing with some stuff." Jalen rubbed his arms, hiding the faint black circuitry pulsing under his skin. "Heard you been dealing with some stuff too."
Tim tried to laugh it off. "Guess news travels fast."
But then he looked closer.
The aura around Jalen wasn't human anymore. The colors were wrong — black mist shot through with sparks of deep red. The System inside Tim hummed uneasily.
Alert: Villain System proximity—30 meters.
Host ID: Unknown. Threat Level—High.
Tim's pulse jumped. "You okay, Jalen?"
Jalen's jaw tightened. "I dunno, man. I… think something's wrong with me. Feels like there's a voice in my head. Telling me to do things."
"Voices?" Tim stepped closer. "What kind of things?"
Jalen's eyes flickered red for half a second. "Bad ones."
The air between them went cold.
Hostile activation detected.
Initiating defensive subroutine.
Tim clenched his fists, fighting the glow building under his skin. "You're not my enemy, J."
Jalen staggered back, hands to his head. "I don't want to hurt you, Tim, I swear—"
Quest Timer: 01:07:14 remaining.
The voice thundered in Jalen's mind, louder than thought. Eliminate target.
He screamed, dropping to his knees. The floor cracked beneath him. The lights flickered.
Tim reached out. "Fight it!"
Villain Host aggression 67%.
Jalen's breathing turned ragged. "You don't understand, bro. It won't let me!"
Then he vanished — blurred into motion faster than any normal human could move — crashing through the apartment wall and into the night.
Tim stood there, heart pounding, dust in the air, staring at the hole where his best friend used to be.
The System's voice whispered coldly:
Villain System confirmed.
New Directive unlocked: Terminate or Redeem Host Jalen Price.
Tim swallowed hard.
"Redeem," he whispered.
"Always redeem."