“Injuries are severe, he may not wake up for a very long time” a voice said. It sounded quite devoid of much comfort to me, even though the words should hold it. 

My body felt like lead was on my chest, and not a single one of my limbs was not in a rough feeling and heavy cast. 

Yet to open my eyes, I continued to listen to the people talking over me. I already understood where I was by the smell of disinfectant. This was likely a hospital wasn’t it?

“Well doctor” a younger voice said, compared to the doctor then, it was about a decade younger or so, but it was still a grown adult. I would say it sounded rough, but clearly they were saddened. “I wouldn’t be so hasty. The fact he isn’t in the morgue right now has to say something right?” the voice said.

“Look, just because he survived it, doesn’t mean he’s waking up from it. With no family around, we can only keep him on life support for so long. I doubt he can even afford the bills at all by this point” the doctor said.

It was at this point I grew tired of waiting, the words bubbled in my throat. I disliked this feeling of being talked about. I opened my eyes.

When I opened my dark, muddy eyes, I was glaring at a doctor who stood over my bruised and bandaged body. Overlooking it once again.

He stared back with his cold blue ones before I quietly spoke “Doctor, you’d do well to not under-estitmate me. I suspect you’ved one a background check already? I won’t bore you with my sustained PRESENCE. When can I leave to go back to work?”

“Well, yes, Nicholas. Your bills are too high to pay based on what we know about your job. You’re suffering from a fractured arm, and you’re lucky your legs are even capable of healing. We also had to preform surgery to remove shards of glass from your face” The doctor saidvery softly, stepping back and dusting off his hands.

“I see, and what about the person who pushed me?” I asked, clicking my tongue.

“You jumped, didn’t you?” the doctor asked, although he knew I wasn’t lying with how confident I sounded. It was clear then that he also was inherently saying that no one had been found.

“I fell, now that I think about it more. Take the money out of my emergency account, just tell the bank to call and have me approve it. Now about me getting out of here” I say. I decided to ignore that question then. 

“If you really want to leave, I guess you can be a clerk in both a wheelchair and an arm cast” the doctor sighs.

“I don’t want to burden you” I forcefully sat up, looking over at the tubes hooked up to me. I sighed. 

“I’ll get the paperwork done right now then, I really do recommend you stay for at least a week though” the doctor says.

“I recommend you worry about other patients doctor, ones that can AFFORD paying for a week of care” I say with a biting edge, adjusting my unbroken wrist quietly. I could hear it clicking and rubbing against itself. Clearly it was messed up as well, just not to the point of needing work though.

“Good point I guess, come on nurse, let’s allow Nick some rest before he will, well, be leaving” The doctor nods and takes the male nurse out of the room.

I took a deep breath, now then with them gone. I listened closely to the sound of the room while I closed my eyes. Letting my mind clear as all that I could hear was the distant sound of clicking heels and beeping machines. Slowly they faded too, before I opened my eyes into a black void.

In front of me was a white window with three words on it. Each one was in cursive font and a deep red color. 

“Start, The Hero System” I said mentally. The window closed, and displayed a new message for me.

A list of powers came in front of me, they ranged from everything like invisibility to flight, there were even things as specific and deadly as matter deconstruction and save/loading. Each of these powers was all good, but the further down I went the weaker they got.

“Do weaker abilities possess a greater potential for becoming stronger over time?” I question to the system, getting a new window to the side of my gaze

The answer was enough, I thought for only a moment “Show me all weapon proficiency powers” I ordered. As I expected, the top was ‘proficiency with all weapons’ before slowly going into things like guns and swords. It grew more and more specific, and by that virtue, weaker.

When I reached the bottom I looked at the two weakest options. I was willing to invest in this and take all the time need to make these stronger. “System” I asked “What is the difference between knives and daggers for the purpose of these two proficiencies?” 

Lots of rules, but that was good. More rules meant more unique ways to grow. “I select knife proficiency,” I said.

Once said, I felt information enter my mind, my hands also changed, becoming more deft and my fingers more nimble. My broken one even healed quickly, but was still held in a cast. 

I took a deep breath, before closing my eyes again and focusing on the things around me again. When I opened them again, the doctor was once more looking at me. I seemed to have fallen asleep sitting up.

“Nurse John will see you out Mr. Nicholas, and you’ll be given transportation back to your apartment building” he said.

I nodded, and didn’t speak as I was lifted into a wheelchair and moved out of the room, out of the hospital. I would worry about the notification of a mission, when I got home.