“If there is one valuable lesson I’ve learnt over the course of the years, it’s that your mind is the most previous thing you have, probably even before your soul.

Everything you do, feel, think, its dictated by your head. Even the slightest change can mean a permanent shift in your personality, and it isn’t unheard of, although rare, a case in which by exerting your own mental power you can change the fundamentals of your soul.

A breakthrough, they call it.

But the most important thing about your mind, is your ability to think and take decisions.

If someone manages to steal that from you…

Well, you’re good as dead… Or worse.”

 

---

 

“Good grief, just what on earth got into me earlier today…?” Lawrence shook his head, appreciating every little bit of the aforementioned mattress’ commodity as he rested his head in the bedhead.

The last few days had turned into a mess but this last drop had just filled the glass.

“Mental attack… or something similar to it.”

The Super’s Twitch. The Root’s way of telling you to get on your feet and start doing some heroic (or villainous) stuff.

Lawrence had taken some time to further investigate about the mysterious phenomenon. The information of his Meta Society Class wasn’t good enough to help him avoid another pulse of… instinct-yearning-obsession like that. It had been bad. Really bad. At the moment he hadn’t noticed, true, but looking in retrospective (something he found himself doing often these past days) it was something quite dangerous.

Let’s look at it from a bystander’s perspective he said. One moment, I’m focused in buying cereal and hygienic paper. The next, I’m going around kicking ass with some kind of superiority complex.

Yep, just like I thought. That doesn’t sit right. Not at all.

It was almost like a drug. The alteration on his behavior had been so intense he had actually felt a different person take control for a second. It was also scary how easily he had accepted this new personality as his own without a second thought.

So yes, the Root has some kind of powerful subconscious control over Metas.

Akin to a mental attack.

The funny thing about the Root was, nobody really knew something about it. As with the rest of things involving supers, there was a heap of theories and about zero-point percent of it was confirmed, or at least had some kind of backup.

Which would probably explain why he couldn’t find a damned thing about the Super’s Twitch.

In the regular forums, that was.

“Well, you know the saying. If it exists, there’s a fandom article out of it.”

That wasn’t the real saying but he really didn’t want to use the other one anywhere near the word root for several scary reasons.

“Internet is a shady place.”

Shaking his head, Lawrence began the arduous journey of surfing through the net in the search of the thing he was actually looking for, instead of… whatever the hell the browser’s algorithm made out of it.

Someone please explain me how on Earth a billionaires’ submarine about to explore the remains of an ancient ship has anything to do with…

He looked again at the exact words he had typed on the search bar.

“Metas mind control.”

Yeah, there had to be some deep-level relationship there, somewhere, too thin for such an underdeveloped brain such as his’ to understand.

Or maybe, just maybe, these browsers are shit.

Ignoring the poor quality of internet service, Lawrence kept navigating the chaotic waves of the Web… Until his eyes made out a firm batch of land. The metaphorical approximate to it.

He squeezed his eyes. “Let’s see… Uhm… ‘Thoughts on mind control and similar effects: an insight in the powers of Metas!’. Where’s this coming from…?”

He squeezed harder. His eyes hurt.

“Readit?”

Well, it wasn’t uncommon to find the solutions for all your problems in Readit. The only problem with that was the fact that it could also screw your life beyond saving, if you didn’t make sure you were reading the genuine stuff instead of buying crap from a bird-brain or a hoaxer…

“Like I said, internet is a scary place.”

Lawrence clicked on the article and immersed himself on the reading.

 

---

 

People never really thought that much on superpowers. Before any of this, before the First Generation, they were nothing but a dream, for kids and teens with their heads up in the clouds; or something to sell to others as a spicy subject. Take for example superhero comics of this era. Do you see one single hero who started as an adult?

Then superpowers turned into a thing. But then again, did any of this really change? If anything, this turned even more evident. While adults tried to settle out, make something with the chaos the world was turning into, children and teens went wild. Superheroes weren’t a thing of comics anymore. They walked among us, protecting us from the evils that lurked in the city.

I wonder, though, did we ever really think about the repercussions of superheroes in the world?

One of the subjects with more potential, yet left untouched (perhaps coincidence, perhaps not so much) is the subject of mind control.

As of today, we are aware of certain Heroes (and Villains) with a certain amount of control over our conscious and subconscious, if well we are yet to see a Meta being able to fully control one’s mind. For example: the infamous Adrenaline, a villain that cost the LHU a lot of money and effort with its ability to stimulate the target’s mind and send them into a frenzy. Curiously, this power resulted completely independent from the adrenaline body levels, unlike the name indicated. The mindless zombie-like sprout that gradually took over Mont Sanore State is quite hard to forget however, taking in consideration almost a fifth of the total population in the state ended under Adrenaline’s control… partially.

Another case of mind-control-like effects on the Meta population is Dad. A superhero whose power consist in making those around him particularly susceptible to to laughter. Despite not being a ‘famous’ hero such as Zeustro or Burn, Dad is quite popular with the middle-aged sector, especially men over their forty. Whether this is yet another coincidence is up for the reader to decide. However, one can imagine Dad’s power to influence the target’s mind rather than using some kind of pheromone, seeing how the target becomes ‘susceptible’ to laughter rather than outright doing so.

Yet, as mentioned before, it is still left to confirm whether these powers bend the target’s mind in a particular way or not. It is also yet to confirm a meta-ability, villainous or not, that completely overrides the target’s control over their own mind.

The topic of mind control is a cloudy one, and there are currently no coherent theories about the subject. Perhaps this mist is cast, once again, with a particular purpose in mind. The reader can only imagine.

How does one make sure they are not being controlled by someone else? This scary prospect still revolts around the author’s mind. One can only cross their fingers and hope life remains real, and not a mere illusion cast by a higher power.

 

---

 

“Yeah… that was a bunch of nothing.”

To be honest, Lawrence did understand the guy’s concerns about the reality of existence and such, but he hadn’t really said anything Lawrence didn’t know. Basically just an overblown “We don’t know shit and maybe it’s better if it stays that way.”

Although, it did leave him thinking for a while.

Influence one’s mind in a particular way or another… Isn’t that what my Gran Charisma does?

It was. According to the Feature’s description and Lawrence’s own, scarce experience using it, Gran Charisma basically forced the target to do whatever Lawrence wanted to, by sheer force of… charisma? He suspected that was mind-control-like.

More than anything he knew, anyways.

“Now that I think about it, I have the closest thing to mind control there is right now in the world of Metas, don’t I?” He hadn’t stopped to think about it, but now that he realized, two things bubbled up on his mind.

1: He had a one-shot mind control power. Whether it worked on several targets, or the effect even lasted after applied, it was subject to further investigation.

2: He absolutely had to keep this information from anyone but his closest circle, which right now meant Mika and no one else. If he could really imperio! his way over anyone, he would have to pay careful attention to who he was using it and in front of who.

It was probably as much of a big deal as in R’s books, except he was the only one able to do it.

“So, summing up: mind control. Use it carefully and avoid it if possible.” Which brought him back to the starting point: what he had done back in the FloorMart was… unacceptable on every possible way. He had to hold himself from ever doing so again. That included resisting the Super’s twitch.

But as far as planning go, he had no way to stop it, or the means of coming up with one, on that matter.

“Let’s leave this one for later” he shook his head. Today had been… exhausting.

Lawrence sighed. “I guess being a criminal mastermind isn’t as easy as it looks on the TV.” Not that I didn’t know that he said to himself, sluggishly putting his phone in the night table as he sank in godly comfort of angel feathers.

And so, he drifted to sleep.

 

---

 

Lawerence felt it. It was… vague, alien to himself, yet somehow connected.

It was a voice calling a him.

“Lawrence Lakewood” the voice said.

“I’ve been expecting you.”

“Who are you?” Lawrence spoke in a voice that wasn’t his. He recognized it: this was him, a younger, childish him. He clasped at his throat to discover, much to his dismay, he had none.

“Ah… let’s leave that for another day” the voice said. “Fancy meeting you here, or rather. I’ve been expecting you.”

“What do you mean?” Lawrence felt awkward speaking in such a squeaky, childish tone. But this… person, whatever was in front of him, made him all the more awkward. He felt slightly oppressed on its presence, like he was a kid watching an adult doing something incredible from afar.

It laughed.

“I tend to have that effect on most people- mortals, that is. The others think I’m crazy, stupid, or both.”

Lawrence couldn’t understand. The thing was reading his mind?

“Listen carefully, child” the voice said, acquiring a serious tone.

“You are about to wake up. Once you do, this memory will fade into nothing- alas, you lack power… for now. Nevertheless, know this: you are about to face one of the most important moments in your life. Whether you gain a powerful ally, or spell your own doom, it is entirely up to your actions.”

Lawrence felt scared. The voice wasn’t making any sense.

The voice laughed again.

“That’s alright.”

“It’s the intention what counts.”

 

---

 

There was a high-pitched sound. Lawrence’s eyes opened, his body tensed, and he frantically looked for the source of the noise.

He felt that was happening often these days.

The sound returned.

“Chieeeef!! There’s someone on the door!”

Lawrence shuffled in bed.

I hate to get up. Do I really need to? Can’t I tell Mika to handle it herself?

Yeah, no, I better get up until she screws something up.

Trustable as his minion was handling… minion-ish stuff, social interaction was definitively not her forte.

“I’m coming! Hold up a second!”

Lawrence grunted as he rolled out of bed. He really, really liked that matress. He looked down: it was raccoon slippers again. The only shirt around was the bunny-pawprint themed one. With the little carrots. He loved that shirt.

Brain half asleep he tugged the shirt and clumsily put it one while making his best not to fall. He checked himself in the mirror. Eyes sparkling in an uncanny purple, he fixed the strands of hair that had gained sentience somehow on his sleep and refused to stick with the rest of his hair.

It was… half a victory.

Who cares he thought to himself. Not my fault someone comes knocking on my door in the middle of the night…

Speaking of which, was time is it?

Lawrence was unaware it was around 5:00 PM, perfect time to pay strangers a visit.

He shuffled downstairs, pushing a cautious Mika away from the door and pulling in.

“What can I help you… with?”

His heart bumped.

He gulped, unnoticeably. Chaos Borne already up and working, he managed to hide the goosebumps all over his skin as a jolt ran down his spine, waking him up to the very core.

“Hello, Mr. Lakewood. May I?”

A blonde beauty smiled at him.

“I have some things I would like to discuss.”

She was back.