Erythropoiesis 2.1
I slowly got out of bed, still trying to open my eyes and come to my senses. Almost immediately, reflexes kicked in, and I began a light morning warm-up. Over the years, it had already become my routine and a habit I had drilled into myself not without titanic effort. Despite superpowers, I was still a flesh-and-blood human who was simply too lazy to get up so early and train. But the desire to test the limits of supes' physical capabilities on myself was stronger, which is why I gave it my all.
However, since I was still a child and possessed a growing body, I focused more on gymnastics for now, rather than anything serious. But it was still very useful in my case, because with every second, I also began to better sense the movement of blood in my own body. The feeling of superhuman strength was refreshing like nothing else. I felt the power in my arms, and this sensation alone brought me to my senses, giving me the desire to move and test my limits. I felt a single current within my own body, flowing through arteries and veins and sustaining my life, and every heartbeat was like a hammer forcing me to move and do something. It was time to get up.
Opening my eyes, I began to look around my room while continuing to perform the set of exercises. We lived in a typical "American Dream" house—a two-story white building with its own lawn in a very good neighborhood with a low crime rate. My room was on the second floor, and the window offered a view of the neighboring houses and a park in the distance. My living space itself didn't particularly stand out—a twin XL bed, a desk with a computer for homework and everything else next to it, and a whole bookcase with various books and, oddly enough, even comic books of all sorts and genres.
The bookcase held my main treasure—a pile of books on medicine, local history, and, of course, everything related to supes. I had more than a dozen books by Brink alone. I have to admit, the old man was a true professional, holding three higher education degrees on the subject of superhumans. However, even though he was the best in his field, he wasn't the only one.
In total, I had another two dozen books by various authors examining the superhuman phenomenon from different angles. Mostly, it wasn't particularly important or useful literature, rather it explored the topic of heroes' impact on society. Some of it was about their image in the media, some wrote biographies of the most famous supes, and a few even examined their role in philosophy and new forms of political systems. Bullshit, but sometimes curious to read. However, the only one who wrote about superhumans from a biological perspective was the familiar Brink, which is why he was still my favorite writer in this field.
But, remembering the "lessons" given to me by Marvin, I didn't abandon comic books either. Surprisingly, you could find quite a lot of interesting things about heroes in them. Mostly tactics and clever tricks they use. And you shouldn't underestimate comic book writers—after dozens of issues, they really have to rack their brains to come up with something creative so the reader doesn't get bored and continues buying them. And although there wasn't a single hero with the ability to manipulate blood, I knew how to adapt the ideas for myself.
Finishing the warm-up, I stretched for the last time, after which I began to dress in something decent. A child my age didn't have much of a choice, so I settled on something simple—a blue sweater and regular green pants. Importantly, they were devoid of any supe brand logos; that would have been too much for me. After getting dressed, I immediately left the room and headed to freshen up. In the bathroom mirror, one could see a ten-year-old child who was a bit tall for his age. But in every other respect, I was completely unremarkable: short dark hair and ordinary gray eyes.
Almost four years had passed since my arrival in this world, and a little less since the moment I was taken into the Shetty family. Indira and Paul turned out to be decent people and good parents who truly tried to give me the best. But I didn't need all that much, so we hadn't had any special problems since then. As for gifts, I mostly only asked for books and comics, and sometimes video games. After all, this world had a completely different culture, which led to the emergence of a whole new genre of games that hadn't existed in my past world.
And here, despite all my rationality, I made a small exception and allowed myself a little weakness. Anyway, it's impossible to constantly work and train; sometimes you need to rest too. And the games about Soldier Boy and Payback were truly gorgeous, real classics of the genre here. Sometimes I also went to supe movies, but their quality was rarely good, although there were worthy representatives. All under the Vought brand, of course, but the company, in the rare moments when they didn't interfere with the creative process, could produce something worthwhile.
In general, the relationships in our family were excellent. They liked that I excelled at practically everything and didn't cause any trouble, and I was satisfied that they supported my endeavors. I wasn't a total nerd and geek buried in books; I was a quite active child. I did light home workouts and also went to a jiu-jitsu club. I had chosen between other, more aggressive martial arts as well, but rejected them after assessing the risks. After all, one strike from me and even the coach would drop dead on the floor. Therefore, I chose a school that focused more on defense, pushes, and holds—it would be much harder for me to cause serious accidental harm here.
Fortunately, supes were already a rather old phenomenon, which is why there were training methods even for "strongmen" like me. Practically all the establishments I know of only dream of associating themselves with the supe brand, so they try to adapt. In many ways, it's a marketing trick, because any place where a real supe trains, especially if he's still a child, gets a massive boost in popularity. People love heroes, and especially if they are still young and have the potential to become someone great and famous. Because of all this, I received special treatment and was even assigned a personal instructor, the best one they had there.
Things were also trouble-free at school itself. Indira and Paul were fairly wealthy people, which is why they could easily pay for my tuition at a private school. But I suspect they still got a pretty significant discount. Yeah, the "little hero" phenomenon once again. A school with a supe gets media attention, which equals popularity, which converts nicely into money. And considering that I also had the reputation of a little genius, years ahead of even the advanced curriculum, they would hold on to me to the bitter end.
Purely for the fun of it, I had already won several city-wide olympiads and once made it to the finals of a state-level competition. I could have reached the national level, but I just got lazy, honestly. I liked developing my power and studying everything unknown related to the superhuman phenomenon, rather than racking my brain solving physics problems, competing with a bunch of kids. Plus, it wasn't the most pleasant feeling, as if I were a cheat hindering truly smart prodigies from achieving their moment of glory. And I only agreed to all this so that Indira and Paul could be proud of their ward.
It was hard to even imagine what my life would be like without them, so I tried to brighten the time of my stay at least somehow. The classes themselves were more or less okay. For me, as a gifted child, they created a whole curriculum that was significantly ahead of even the advanced one. I considered skipping several grades as an external student, but the Shetty family said they would only let me do that once I finished at least the fifth grade. Allegedly so that I wouldn't detach from the peer group and would socialize normally. Well then, I have patience and am capable of waiting until the end of this school year. In class anyway, I continued to mostly train my power or simply read my literature. At first, the teachers were against the latter, but a few victories at olympiads that boosted the school's reputation, and they became surprisingly loyal and compliant.
Going down the stairs, I began using my ability to the fullest. I hadn't stopped practicing its use, thanks to which my mastery grew almost exponentially with every year. Over the years, the power had become practically an extension of myself, and I managed to use it for simple things almost without any effort of will. I trained it every day and every hour while I was awake. Largely because the fantastic feeling of something extraordinary still remained with me, refreshing my consciousness.
I suspect if I were a simple "strongman", I really would have quickly gotten used to my capabilities and wouldn't be so zealous in developing them. But my power was much more multifaceted and subtle, making every use bring unique feelings. The more I understood biology, the clearer the signals my power sent me became. Therefore, right now my "blood vision" extended for almost a hundred meters, at which distance I could feel every drop of the scarlet liquid. I could sense the people in neighboring houses and even their pets.
Yes, after some experiments, it turned out that I could also control the blood of birds, reptiles, and mammals. But with fish, insects, and the like, I was unable to feel anything at all. They were invisible to me, but I didn't attach much importance to it. I didn't exactly plan on fighting cockroaches with superpowers anyway. I still placed the main emphasis specifically on human blood, which is why I had a whole pile of books on medicine and anatomy that greatly helped in understanding all my capabilities.
Finishing my business in the bathroom, I went down to the first floor, almost immediately hearing Indira's shout. Entering the kitchen, I saw that they were already dressed in their suits, clearly prepared for work.
"Good morning, Mark! You'll need to meet with Mrs. Smith today. She called me and said something about a competition you can participate in. She didn't go into details, but said it's some new government program that you will definitely like," Indira said while sipping her coffee.
I shrug my shoulders, entering the kitchen and heading to the table. She and Paul were already at it, having an omelet with bacon and some greens for breakfast. I calmly sat down at it, proceeding to the expected meal.
"No problem, I'll drop by her place after classes. And how are things at work for you guys? Tell me a secret, is there anyone truly worthwhile there? It would be useful to get to know a future successful hero. I'm sure one could make a fortune selling his autographs."
Actually, this specific topic was very interesting, being a serious reason for my paranoia. The thing is, Indira worked as a psychologist not at some ordinary university, but at freaking Godolkin. The oldest place for training supes, which was operating back in the sixties and was founded by John Godolkin himself, called the main mentor of young heroes in all of history. He was a philanthropist and fighter for supe rights, previously even owning an entire superhuman team of his own—the G-Men. Yes, such a stupid name. But since the nineties, when he died in some accident, another person appeared in the principal's seat. Who was it? Richard fucking Brinkerhoff, better known as Brink.
And who became the new main sponsor of the university? Vought International, of course! And it was exactly in this institution that my adoptive mother worked. Not suspicious at all. Not one bit. Especially considering Stevie's words about how you should under no circumstances trust people from Vought. Thoughts of trying to uncover the truth immediately started entering my head, but I successfully chased them away, albeit not without effort. That moment will come, but not now. I need at least six more years, or better yet eight, to become strong enough and start dictating terms to the fat cats at the top myself. The plan is already there, but time is the main factor in it. For now, I need to pretend everything is fine. At least for the time being.
Paul clicked his tongue, comically pretending to be hurt.
"Why do you always ask specifically her about any interesting things that happened at work? All sorts of things can happen to me too, you know! Philosophy is a very interesting science, in which..."
Indira and I simultaneously looked at Paul skeptically, after which we started smiling.
"I'm sure that someone from the top of the list will one day become a true legend. But simply being first doesn't mean being the best. For now, the best chances belong to Franklin, a young speedster who is fighting for the title of the old man Marathon's replacement. Richard himself is mentoring him, which means he will definitely have a bright future. I'm sure one day he, or someone from the Godolkin top ranks, might even reach The Seven and stand on par with Queen Maeve or The Deep. The main thing is that they work hard," Indira finally answered.
I chuckle, continuing to eat my breakfast. Even though I understood intellectually that she is most likely an undercover agent deliberately sent to spy on me, you can't fool biology. Over the years, I had become significantly better at understanding human emotions through the internal reactions of their bodies. And while I am unable to determine a specific emotion by a spike in hormones or neurotransmitters, I am capable of reliably determining when a person is lying or pretending. And Indira and Paul were honest with me practically always.
I suspect they've simply gotten used to me and genuinely consider me their son. After all, I am a simple child, albeit a supe. And children who don't cause trouble are rarely treated badly. There are cases, of course, but I got lucky, thank God. However, despite all this, I kept in mind that they are most likely still following Vought's orders and are surely leaking information about me to them. Well, or their minds were simply wiped by telepaths. That could have happened too. Because of this, I didn't even think about truly opening up to them. The whole environment around me is, of course, very beautiful, but I have to remember that this is just a beautiful cage for an important little bird.
. . .
"Have a good day at school!"
I get out of the car, saying goodbye to my family, and immediately walk toward the school. My place of study was of such a level that we even had to wear a uniform with embroidered logos. And in America, that's a true rarity, showing the status of the institution. Actually, at first I even thought they would send me to some special school for supes, but it turned out that, aside from Red River, there aren't any.
The thing was that supes were born suspiciously evenly across the entire country, and excluding large cities, there were rarely more than one or two per town. In truly large places like California or Chicago, there were more, and it could reach a few dozen supes. And New York shone brightest of all, where The Seven Tower and Vought's main headquarters were located. Honestly, I have no idea how many supes are here, but definitely more than fifty. However, these were superhumans of all ages; there were rarely more than a dozen children for the entire city, which is why building entire schools is unreasonable. There were several universities where supes from all over the country came, but that is the exception.
---
Would you like me to continue translating the next chapter?