Jackie

“For tonight's stories, we have a story from Tallahassee, where assaults and robberies have increased dramatically over the course of the last 5 days.”

Jackie had been watching the news for the past hours, in awe of the situation they were in. When the capsules did…whatever you would call it on that day, they woke up in their school, now empty with everything and everyone removed.

The Hero System, they called it, blazed to life, telling them to ‘be heroes’ and to ‘stop crime’. 

I wonder if they forgot about Ajul. But this is really, really fucked.

One of the smartest students in the group, Tran, had been looking through public information banks, trying to get a sense of where they were. Was this inside the game? The kids that have been inside of VR machines are never this realistic.

They all had identities, but no past. The people in their lives in the ‘real world’ were not alive, even celebrities given twisted synonyms to what they knew.

“It's like an alternate world.” Sam had commented one day after looking for their houses, the address not real, the neighborhoods slightly different.

Jackie had pondered that for a minute. But in what world does her girlfriend gain telekinesis? The first day, Sam destroyed a wall by accident when the cyan mist erupted out of here, pulling a wall down.

Jackie looked at her hand, her power arguably even more…magical. Hyperegeneration had her confused for a bit, but when she had cut herself against the brush of a tree, it instantly healed. In the middle of the night, she had tried to cut her hand, but the second the blade pierced her skin, the cells were repaired immediately. 

As a desperate attempt to assert her humanity, she sliced a chunk out of her finger, flesh removed from bone, which healed in less then a second. The pain was so little as well, sensation related to pain dulled like she was taking pain killers.

 

But even the dulling sensation didn't change what she was seeing on the television. A man with a black mask covering his face, laughing maniacally as he drove a stolen muscle car. Weird projectiles were also hitting the police cars that were chasing him as he threw bags of money around, to random people in the streets, in their neighborhoods. 

“Is that Ajul?” a voice asked. Jackie turned as Gabin stretched his arms in the air, yawning. They weren't just doing nothing inside their empty highschool building, using it as their home base in the middle of Orlando. Sam proposed the first day to try and be heroes, just to see what the system tells them, because “It's better than sitting here and getting panic attacks on where our families are.”

“If it is, he clearly is enjoying the role that was given.” Jackie muttered, getting up from her seat. “He’s in a whole different city right now. Who do we know that’s closest to him?” 

Gabin took his phone out, scrolling through before gasping, rubbing his hand on his chin. 

“Sam won’t like it.” he groaned, showing her his screen. Jackie read the name and cursed. 

“Damn.”

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Ajul

Stretching his arms in the air, the carjacker in question was giddy after a robbery went so well.

Can't believe those dumb bastards didn't notice me standing and watching them rob that bank!

That bank, now home to the sliced up wounds and blood of the robbers, left unconscious to the policy's whims. Ajul thought back to when he was standing over them, contemplating killing them. 

Was it the right choice? I’ll have to kill someone eventually, shouldn't I get it out of the way?

He shrugged it off for the moment. Killing everyone like some crazy genocidal person would probably just leave him with some bad…issues when this was all over. Ajul was pretty sure it was a simulation. None of the streets matched previous knowledge, nor did any of the documented constellations share any similar names. The idea of another world, another universe crossed his mind, but even his rather simple understanding of the science that school taught him made it doubtful.

I mean, the energy, the theories, everything would have made that Adanya bastard a god. Why throw thousands of students a simulation just for a competition?

But seeing as they did basically get fried by that weird box before going in, Ajul was still hesitant regarding whether they were still…alive.

Aside from that he was doing the ‘villain’ business kinda well. Mostly robbery and inane chaotic activities, but Ajul was starting to notice something. There would be people that seemed…off. Different from the normal people, the civilians. 

In the last week, Ajul did some testing, following around random people to see their lives. For the most part, they were all complex, just as a normal person would be. If it was a simulation, it’d be extremely advanced. Even if it only loaded the areas that he interacted with, news would display miles away and he’d go there, whatever event happened.

But those odd people were different in his vision. Their outline boiled like heat waves, ever so slightly. They appeared, trying to stop his antics by reasoning, getting people out of the way when Ajul obliterated a bill board because it looked stupid.

Heroes? Maybe, that’d be intuitive, I guess.

As Ajul leaned on the car, he summoned paper. Paper from nothing gathered around him as he tried to experiment. 

“A sword maybe?” he muttered, as the paper gathered in the shape of a classic medieval longsword, gently laying in Ajuls hand. Swinging it down against the hood of the old sedan, it clanked against it.

“It's not sharp. What if—” Ajul focused, imaging an edge on the sword as it sharpened. Repeating the action, the sword cut into the metal of the car, stopping an inch in. 

Nice! I’m pretty sure I can control it in the air as well!

Ajul dismissed the sword, the paper fading away as he moved into the building he took as his own. 

I think it was abandoned, but it's whatever. No one comes around these parts. 

From the Tallahassee city area, Ajuls abandoned building stood sparingly with strip malls and buildings. That and trees and grass, it was pretty much the opposite of eye-catching.

Lying in the makeshift bed Ajul made, he stared at the ceiling, stretching his arm out to the ceiling as he gripped his fist. That weird void that he was in before awakening had changed something about his body. 

His strength was significantly stronger than before. At least 5 times more. But, even when he exerted his full strength when he tried to flip a car, he felt a resistance deep in his muscles.

“Is it…a limit? Like a level cap for the beginning? Or a skill thing?” he muttered. 

Oh yeah…there was also that symbol ability.

The ‘Written’ power’s description touted the ability to draw a symbol that correlated with effects. Like a ‘fire’ symbol that blazed a small flame depending on the stamina he puts in. 

“These powers are so weird.” he laughed.

“Yeah, right?” a feminine voice commented. Ajuls eyes widened, as he shot up from his bed, summoning his paper sword, his eyes darting around his room.

A figure in the shadows caught his eyes as Ajul launched his sword towards it, using his control over the paper to accelerate it as the figure darted back, gasping.

“Jeezus Ajul! It's just me!” the figure spoke, stepping out of the shadows. Victoria emerged from the shadows, her previously large frame fading back to the smaller one Ajul was familiar with.

“Oh. OH!” Ajuls face lit up as he sighed and walked towards her, giving her a hesitant hug. He was never good at the whole…touching thing to his friends.

“Are all of you guys…alive?” Ajul asked, pulling back from his friend. 

“Yeah, I’m kinda shocked you are.” Victoria responded, walking around the warehouse.

Confused, Ajul asked “Why? I would think we all should be shocked that we are alive.”

Victorias face changed from her playful smirk to deadly serious. Ajul rarely saw her serious, even in school. Vietnamese, small with long black hair, someone that seems to always be serious. But that silliness that defined her in his memories was not the woman in front of him.

“Victoria?” Ajul questioned.

“Ajul, did you not see the system’s message?” she asked.

Ajul shook his head.

“....whats the color of your system?” 

“Like a blood red, why?”

“Ours is blue. It told us what we had to do to leave whatever…this is. Save as many people as possible, defeat the criminals and villains, and…”

“And what?”

“Kill you. Why do you think I’m here?” Victoria whispered, as she rubbed her arm.

Ajul stood in shock for a moment before Victoria continued. “The ‘Hero’ System gave us alot of information. About powers. Authorities, the countries, ‘aura’, whatever.”

“Do we need to fight?” Ajul calmly asked. His breaths were long and deep, as he locked eyes with Victoria.

“That or…you get ganged up by 48 other heroes in 3 days instead.”

That's right…if I fight her she’ll ‘report’ back to them in more time then the rest of them. They’ve all probably seen the news reports on me.

The air was tense as the two stared at each other.

“I don't want to fight my friend.” Ajul muttered.

“I know.” Victoria responded, flicking her wrist forward. The shadow around her feet darkened violently, pitch black as a sharpened pike shot from her feet towards Ajul. 

Launching himself back, Ajul summoned his sword again before dashing back towards Victoria. Ajul was no swordsman, just the random viewings of manga and shows with swordsmen that do ridiculous moves. However, he swung with confidence as before his paper sword clashed against Victoria a shadowy sword shot up from her feet, a dao was slightly curved as the two crashed through the wall of the building.

In the parking lot, the sword fight continued, the swings loudly clashing, as a concerning truth began to reveal itself.

“Shit!” Ajul cursed, as Victoria dashed around him, her speed significantly faster then Ajul. Twisting his body around, Ajul felt a cut in his flesh of his legs as he saw Victoria running back around to the front of him.

“Damn, why are your legs so tough?!?” Victoria yelled palming the pommel of her sword, stabbing it towards him.

How’d she get so fast? I know that we ‘need’ to fight, but she really is putting her everything into at least wounding me.

Ajul put his strength into his legs as he pushed off to the right, dodging the stab as he dropped his sword and kicked at Victoria's arm.

“FUCK!” she yelled out as she was launched to the side, flying into a random car. The door of it crumpled, the glass shattered.

Victoria staggered as she got up, her shadow sword fading away as she smiled. “I think that's enough, right?”

An adrenaline filled Ajul took deep breaths as he dissolved the paper sword.

“Alright…alright…what now?” Ajul asked, collapsing to the floor as he attached paper over the cuts on his legs.

Victoria stumbled out of the damage of the car as she wrapped shadows around her arm and leg. 

When did she get to learn so much about her own power?

“You need to get better with your power, strength, and fighting. We got a ‘quest’ to protect the senator for the state from ‘villains’.”

“Villains? Like more of me?” 

“The villains of this place, whether AI or not, doesn't really matter. They're coming here next month.”

Ajul scratched his chin as he looked around. People began to gather after seeing the broken wall and damaged cars. Their phones recorded the two, as Ajul raised his arm towards them.

Shooting bullets of paper at the phone, they shattered as the shocked voices of people made him laugh.

“I might be fucked, huh?”