War. Just the word makes me think of all the atrocities that can be justified using it, but none made it more obvious than the Evo War. No, that wasn't a war; that was a slaughter. Cities gone in the blink of an eye, the earth reshaped by those who presented themselves as gods. But sometimes, war is necessary for progress. Compared to the past, the world has changed for better or worse—I can't answer that. Only history will tell. For history records everything, even secrets meant to be hidden. It's just a matter of where to look.-Historian
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"Wait, what!?!" Ethan whispered urgently, grabbing my shoulders with enough force to crush a soda can. "You mean you got powers? And why did you say that out loud? What if someone heard you?"
"I checked, no one's here, and besides, we're in one of the private rooms," I reassured him. My friends and I have known each other long enough for me to trust them with this secret. Besides, it would be much harder to keep it a secret and probably get me killed.
As usual, Drake said nothing and went back to staring at his phone. He's always had this phone, now that I think about it... same black color, same model for the last five years. The only noticeable thing is the logo, which is a pentagram star with a capital G under it... Eh, I'm sure it's nothing. It's not like he's hiding anything.
"What's your power?" asked Drake, showing one of his rare moments of curiosity.
"Super everything, plus some perks," I said quickly because classes start in half an hour, and if I know Ethan, he's going to go off on tangents.
Ethan made sure we had the same classes this year so we don't have to split early. "I'm still not over this!!!" he exclaimed. "You can't just drop something like this on me!!! Are you an Evo? Wait, you got bitten by a spider... Is your alias Spiderm-"
"Nooooooooo!!!" I interrupted. "It is not! You are forbidden from even saying that name in my presence."
"Why?"
"...God."
"Aren't you an atheist?" stated Drake, with no one asking him for his opinion.
"No... Maybe... I'll decide when I die."
"Back to the main topic, sidekicks?"
"No."
"No!"
"C'mon, think about it. We could be heroes!!!"
"Hell no!!! And get killed by, I don't know, let's see: Stinger, Uros, Negavolt, Necro, The Undyings?" Ethan counted off on his fingers. Flinging his arms around, he resumed his very informative lecture on why I shouldn't be a Knight of Justice. "The Undyings, Thyme, they're fucking unkillable. Even Metro couldn't kill them during the Century War—the last battle between heroes and villains. And guess what? The villains won!!! And that was 20 years ago. Don't even forget what happened to the last hero in this city.
Remember Bright-Girl, the shining light in this city a year ago? Her Evo moniker was literally named after this city, and she got brutalized to death. Not killed, brutalized. Even the orcs in Shadow of Skirmish had it easier than her. Literally three months ago, Archangel sawed her limbs apart one by one, not before ripping all her nails off while she was conscious. He killed her after giving her 666 cuts with his sword, finishing by shoving it up her asshole until it came out her throat—the same thing he did to Macho-Macho before. And he was a veteran Evo who helped take down Angelon with the BUSTERS. And you want to be a hero in this city? What the hell makes you think you can succeed!?"
The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.
"Because unlike them, I'm not alone. I have you guys," I said. "Ethan, you're the smartest person I know besides my mom. With your technological skills, you recreated the Guardian suit... although it was the Mach One that was released on the deep web by Viro."
"And Drake... you're Drake... without you, we'd be missing our poster boy."
"Still not convinced!!!"
"I have a secret base already with a fully functioning G7 Exalt Core Operating computer with enough processing power to synthesize new chemicals in under 24 hours... and it comes with a Matter Furnace and Re-Atomizer."
"How?" Even Drake was interested at this point. "I thought they didn't make those anymore."
"I found Macho-Macho's base."
"Where?"
"When?"
"How!?!?"
"There were some spiders there, and I saw it while sensory exploring."
"Huh!?!?"
"We'll get to that later."
"Soooo," drawled Drake, without a hint of his face changing from his bored expression like always. "You have a base. You have powers. And you want us to help you become a hero because you'd be dead without us in like a year at most... like Bright-Girl. I have a question; your answer depends on whether I join this spandex club of yours."
"Shoot, not literally though. We don't want another school shooting."
"Tasteless. Even my dad makes better jokes than that."
"Shut up, Ethan!!!"
"I want to know why you want to be a hero?"
"Because, Drake, I want to live in a world where kids can smile, where teenagers can walk home at night without being afraid of getting robbed or beat up. A world of peace, a world of justice, a world wher—"
"Oh my god, hahahahaha... I can't stop laughing. I actually believed you there for a second, Thyme. If I didn't know you for more than half my life, I would... fucking Ethan."
"Fine, I want the bounties on their heads because I do not want to go to college, and I want to make a living, plus the glory. And I want to make a difference. I want my name to go down in the history books as the guy who changed this era. I want all these people who went to school with us telling their kids when they're older that they went to school with me. Besides, the higher they are—"
"The more it's gonna hurt when they punch you back to reality and bury you six feet under, Thyme. These guys have been there for decades. What makes you think you can take them?"
"Not me. Us. Besides, I have a plan. If we can free The APEX, it would make a huge change in the pecking order."
"That's your plan!!! Bro, that's insane. Do you know how much work it would take to achieve that?"
"Doable within a year."
"...Fuck you!!! Fuck your whole future. Hell, fuck your whole genome. I am not getting dragged into your mess again. Remember the last plan you had?"
"Yeah, that's how I ended up with powers."
Ah, sweet, sweet Ethan. The more he resists, the sweeter it is when he finally surrenders to my devious plans... that sounded creepy. I need to get a girlfriend or at least a friend with benefits. Too bad my only two best friends are male.
"I'll partake in this death wish of yours, Thyme."
"Why, Drake? You're the sane one."
"My curiosity is piqued. Besides, his plans are always amusing."
Nice. Drake's on board, and with the two of us, Ethan is definitely going to join.
"Meet me at Herks Plaza in the mall after school so I can explain it further and show you guys the base." Saying our goodbyes, I'm surprised Ethan handled it so well. Normally, he would have been freaking out by now. "I'm gonna die a virgin, oh god I'm so dead, I need to confess my sins, I need to get my will in order, I'm dead, gone, fini—"
"I get it!!! But dude, you'll be in the base most of the time..."
"Most!!! What about the rest? Is that when I die!?!"
"...No, we have school and a life, remember?"
"You promise?" He's crying; I should go easy on him.
"Yes... at least until you have a suit."
"What? I didn't hear that last part."
"It wasn't important."
"Oh good, I don't want it to haunt me after I join. What about Drake?"
"Wait, don't tell me poster boy..."
"Yep!"
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"Time for class, guys." Picking up my bookbag, I headed out of the private library room with Ethan and Drake and took our seats in the best row—the back—waiting for Mr. Kazin to come…
"Check it out, Thyme. All these girls are looking over here, and it's not at Drake. I got a new cologne over the summer called Couche. It's French. I think it's working." ...Whatever makes you happy, buddy. Whatever makes you happy.
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"Good morning, students. My name is Dr. Olyn Kazin. You can call me Dr. Kazin. I have a PhD in Evo history and Evo philosophy from Bright University, and this is History 3.4, or as I like to call it, Evo History."
"Now, my first question—and whoever gets it right gets no homework this week—is: What does the word Evo mean?"