The dumbell fell to his side, and Liam struggled to keep his breath steady.

He felt like shit. His head felt like it’d been hit by a hammer and his body wasn’t doing much better. He still had plenty of strength left to beat the ever living hell out of the clone in front of him,though. It was half mangled on the ground, coughing up blood as it held itself up by the wall. Now, Liam couldn’t have done that all by himself, especially in his woozy state. Fortunately for him, he hadn’t been on his own.

Copy 2 was growling like a dog as it pulled copy 1 up by its collar, ready to throw another punch before Liam stopped its swing. He had expected some resistance but the thing had seemed smart enough to stop just before touching him. “That’s enough, I don’t know if this thing’s alive, and I don’t wanna explain a corpse to mom right now.” Copy two let go of the first and kneeled to the ground with a hand to its chest, just like Liam had done to his higher ups back in the third district.

…He was starting to like this one.

It had come from his body moments after the first drew blood, and the feeling had been so nausea inducing that he had keeled over. He almost thought he would soon be killed when the two of them stood in front of him, but that immediately changed when the second had gone for the other’s throat. The moment Liam had enough strength to stand he had joined in, leaving them in this mess.

The first copy coughed again, spraying some blood on itself as it fell to the wall and slid slowly to the floor. It shuddered a bit, looking up at him with the same, dangerous eyes before watching them glaze. Maybe he’d already gone too far. Liam groaned, crouching down so he was eye-level to the thing. He slapped it gently on the face, which seemed enough to wake it up.

“Don’t fucking die on me. I’m not gonna be able to explain that to Mika, got it? You’re gonna stay alive and you’re gonna like it.”

Surprisingly, it nodded. A few awkward moments of helping it up and both Liam and copy 2 had finally gotten it to a chair. Liam was shocked to find it handling the wounds, no longer looking ready to pass out. The wounds and bruises he’d done on it almost seemed to visibly close up. Its breathing was heavy and erratic, and it still seemed ready to fall to the ground, but that had been it. Soon all that was left from the scene before to remember the fight was the blood on the floor, as well as the torn scraps of the uniform still on its body.

It was disturbing, but Liam still had a giant grin on his face.

“What the hell? Can you guys can fix yourselves? That’s crazy.”

The clone didn’t say anything, but Liam didn’t need it to. He had the ability to make copies of himself, which had already been a pretty good deal if he had to be honest. The fact that the things were a bit harder to kill than normal was just icing on the cake.

He grinned as the thing walked up and next to copy 2 and fell into the same kneeling position. The whole thing was just too crazy for words, but it was finally something he could understand. These things were loyal to him, and wouldn’t even mind dying to him if that was what he wanted…

He fell back onto his bed, the lack of energy finally taking him as he closed his eyes.

_____________________________________________________________

Shit shit Shit shit!

Liam’s breathing was labored as he hurriedly scrubbed the school uniform he was wearing with soap and an iron scrub, desperately trying to remove the blood on them. The mirror was just mocking him as the pink water continued rushing down the sink, even though he’d only gotten some on his pants and sleeves. He was an idiot for falling asleep all of a sudden, because now the blood had dried and he looked like a murderer.

One of his copies of him was right behind him, staring at him with curious eyes as he worked hard to clean the suit. He wished he could take one of theirs, but copy 1 had his uniform in pieces and copy 2 was more covered in blood than he was. All three of them looked like they had killed someone.

The two clones needed to clean up also, but the one Liam and this copy had ganged up on still seemed pretty out of commision, not being able to follow him to the restroom. He had wanted to tell them to clean up as well until he remembered that they didn’t need to go to school, only him.

“...Go change clothes. Whatever you wanna wear, just hide those. And take care of the house while I’m doing this. Clean everything up.” The copy nodded and bolted out of the bathroom, not needing any more instruction. That solved one problem.

He didn’t have to say it, but murder was definitely not allowed in the first district.

He’d tell the second copy once he was done with the uniform, but that would take a while. At least he’d woken up early. He’d slept like a log but the sun hadn’t even gone down at that point, so it was still pretty deep into the night. He glanced at the clock behind him through the mirror.

Four a.m.

It meant he still had a good few hours to go before his mom woke up and found this bloody scene.

That was plenty of time.

____________________________________________________________

The car ride was tense on the way to school, and neither one of them could look at each other, for obvious reasons. Both were red at the embarrassing actions of yesterday, and that wasn’t an exaggeration. Liam would have thrown himself out the car if he could see just how red he was. The tension was clear between them, and neither wanted to talk about it. That was fine by him, at least for today. It meant that she wouldn’t notice the pink sleeves of the shirt under his dark blue uniform.

The school had finally come into view, and that meant the hardest part of today had been over.

As if.

He got out of the car and had to jump away as his mother pushed her foot on the gas and drove away at worrying speeds. If she got a ticket that’d be another problem the two would have to deal with…

At least he was on his own again.

“Liam!!”

Oh, goddamnit.

His little buddy slammed into his back.

With a lot more force than he had expected.

Fortunately it had been the little bastard that took most of the damage.

“O-ow… What the heck are you made out of…”

While Liam had only been sent a few steps forward, Elliot had been sent bouncing back, falling to the floor and scraping their hands and knees…

And their new pair of wings.

“You could have at least broken my fall, you know? …Liam?”

The kid looked around for the suddenly missing person, only to yelp in shock as both his wings were grabbed by the hilt, picking him up.

“What the hell… how do you keep getting all the good shit?” Elliot sent a weak punch towards Liam in a flustered state and Liam had to let go of the new appendages.

Elliot took a step back and jumped, fluttering a few feet away with quite a bit of skill. The kid must have practiced quite a bit on their off time. “Give me a warning first! Geez… And don’t swear at school or the teachers will get mad! Where were you yesterday, by the way? You didn’t come to lunch and I was worried that-”

Liam wasn’t listening, shocked at how pretty the wings were. The feathers almost shined in the sun, all of them a soft fluffy white that almost made them seem like they were just there to look good…

Wait.

Liam closed in and brought them to his side with an arm, a big grin on his face. “You got an ego power? Didn’t know you had it in you, squirt.” The kid scowled, which was leagues cuter than the scowl he’d seen on the clones last night. Elliot pushed against Liam’s face in anger, not amounting to much. “No I didn’t! My power’s shapeshifting! You said yourself that Egos had to be crazy Liam! I was just showing you wings because you said yesterday that… uh…” Their ears turned red for some reason.

Aw, no way.

Elliot quieted down, only to yelp as Liam pulled him even closer, a cocky grin on his face. Was he talking about the angel thing yesterday!? “You remembered that!? No wonder you’re so goddamn smart. Shit, even I forgot I said that until you reminded me. ‘Sthat how you got an Ego power? Aw, kid, you're making me blush here!” The kid scowled and tried pushing Liam off to no success.

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“It’s not an Ego power! And stop swearing!”

The rest of the first years seemed just as excited as the two of them were, and Liam and Elliot talked about what Elliot’s power did until the twi had to split ways. The kid could turn into any animal he wanted, apparently, and could turn different parts of his body into animal parts at will. Liam had asked how that was any different from an Ego power, and had been chased off with a pair of bear arms. He hadn’t even got to brag about his own power, which was a bummer…

Liam smiled, his heart feeling warm thanks to the moment. He’d have gone to class looking like a psychopath if Elliot hadn’t shown up. Everyone in the school and the kid had chosen to surprise him with their power.

It almost made what had to happen next worth it.

Maybe he should have come a bit earlier, the class was almost full now. He took a deep breath and carefully opened the door to his classroom this time, peeking inside to make sure no one was going to run into him. The class was talking amongst themselves, each showing what they’d gotten from yesterday’s event. He saw one of them throwing a ball of fire around like a ball and shuddered. A flamer, there was a flamer in the room he was about to willingly step inside.

These kids were acting like it was a show.

The boy snuffed it out the moment he had entered the classroom, fortunately.

The whole conversation in the room also died.

Liam bit his lip, trying to keep his poker face as he made it to his desk and put his head down, pretending to sleep.

The class waited a few more minutes before anyone started speaking again.

“Where’s the other one?”

“Quiet! We don’t know if, if he’s actually… Is he… is he asleep?”

“I don’t know… someone touch him.”

“Don’t! -gah…don’t touch him, are you crazy!?”

“She’s right… we should get Ezekiel to do it.”

Despite the grim situation, Liam fought to stifle a laugh.

“W-what!? I- …Why should I do that!?”

“Shut up! You’re just screaming in a whispered tone, you idiot. And you literally can’t get hurt! Besides, they like you the best in the class.”

“What?”

“Yeah, remember? They shook your hand when you guys played dodgeball?”

“What does that have to do with anything!?”

“He didn’t stab you.”

“He has a knife!?”

The sound of a book hitting a wooden surface resounded across the room, making half the students yelp in surprise. The color drained on the other half when they saw Liam rise up from the desk immediately, without a hint of sleepiness. Liam didn’t care, he wasn’t about to act like he was sleeping in Wyland’s class. He had too much respect for the man.

Wyland was sipping from a mug and flipping through the book he’d slammed down. The desk underneath looked new, and more expensive compared to the last one. Considering the look of satisfaction on their face it seemed like it had been a nice surprise. Well, the teacher also looked tired, but Wyland always looked tired in the mornings.

“Alright you peabrains, enough rumors and take out your textbooks. In a couple hours we’re going to go train your new powers, but first we’re gonna brush up on all the safety guide… safety, uh…” Wyland looked up, and he smelled the air a couple times before looking at the students with a confused look. “I… what the heck…” Another couple sniffs and the class was muttering confusedly under their breath.

Except for Liam.

He pulled his sleeves over his hands in a panic, paranoia taking over. He prayed that it wasn’t what he thought it was until the worst case scenario happened.

Wyland’s eyes locked straight onto Liam.

He looked like death, and the life in his eyes left him as he trudged outside the classroom. “I… Liam, could you come outside for a second…”

It didn’t even sound like a question, and Liam knew better to mistake it as one.

No one in the class made a sound as he stood up and walked towards the door, his knees weak as he did so.

The moment he’d opened the door of the classroom, he was pulled outside.

The door slammed shut, and for a moment Liam thought he was going to get in a fight until the sleeves of his hands were torn in half. Both of them. He had tried struggling away after the first one but Wyland had just been too strong.

“No damage… that's… that’s good, I guess. Kid, you aren’t… hurting yourself, uh, anywhere else right?”

What?

“No?”

The teacher almost seemed to age 20 years at that answer.

“Yeah… that’s what I thought. You kids are built differently down there, so you can handle a bit of bullying.”

He couldn’t help but grimace, Wyland also thought he was being bullied, huh?

“Why would I hurt myself, even if I was? What kinda logic is that?”

The teacher smiled with heavy eyes, looking straight past him.

“You’d, uh… yeah, you’d be surprised. So, If you aren’t harming yourself, and you don’t look like you’ve been put through a shredder…”

A hand was slammed next to him, hard. The force had been enough to cause a rumble in the school, and Liam felt the vibration in his bones. Even with the overwhelming show of force, the hero had his hand over his eyes, as if what they were going to do would be extremely difficult.

“What the fuck did you do, kid!?”

Liam was scared.

He was absolutely terrified.

He should have never asked for this feeling to come back.

“Youre smart, Kid… Always listening in class even when I’m boring myself. So, tell me, what power do I have? Go on.”

“...Super… enhanced strength…”

Liam stood still for a moment at the sudden question, before opening his mouth. Words came out, but they were so dry and raspy that he could barely hear them. Wyland heard him just fine, though.

“Yeah… Yeah that's right. But that’s just what I tell people. Truth is, I have enhanced everything. Sight, hearing, taste… smell. and kid…” He leaned in close to Liam, their eyes taking on a dangerous tone. “ Anyone can see your pink sleeves, but you smell like a butcher shop, and that smell ain’t any kind of animal I know. At least, Its not any I’d wanna eat.”

He could even tell it was human blood!?

Liam fell to the ground, his legs giving out on him.

This man was going to kill him.

He was picked up by an arm,

“You’re coming with me, and you better hope you have a good alibi or else I swear-”

The words were suddenly interrupted by the sound of sirens blaring. The hallway suddenly went red, and Liam could hardly hear over the noise of a woman speaking.

“Warning, lockdown in progress. Please enter the nearest room to you within the next five minutes. Closets and staff rooms will temporarily be open to everybody on campus. Warning, lockdown in progress…”

“...shit.”

Wyland looked at the sirens like they’d appeared at the worst possible moment, his eyes taking on something Liam could only describe as complete rage.

The super raced inside the room filled with screaming kids, with Liam in one arm, and ripped one of the steel legs off his new desk as if it had been made of styrofoam.

He struck the metal rod into the wall, earning more screams, and pulled Liam close before painfully tying one of Liam’s hands into it.

He tied the metal around Liam's hand as if it had been nothing.

“You stay here. Try to escape and I’ll personally see to it that you don’t ever see the light again.”

He didn’t even get an answer as Wyland bolted out of the class, leaving Liam alone with a bunch of screaming students, some of which were hiding under their desks while panickedly trying to use their phones. It was complete chaos, but Liam was too busy laughing. Even when large metal sheets started covering the walls and windows, Liam was feeling more relieved than ever. Whatever had happened, whatever these loud sounds and red lights meant… It meant that he was able to survive that second.

That was, until the window, still mid lockdown, shattered.

The students screamed in panic, and ran to the other side of the room, pressing themselves against the wall when a massive, flexible spear burst through. It flailed wildly, and struck the desks, sending them flying erratically around the area.

The metal window was shutting down on the thing, but that hadn’t been enough. With a twitchy, erratic movement, half the creature slipped through the broken window, its head, or what had been a head back when it was still human, looked around. It used to be a girl, probably about as old as the rest of them considering the uniform, but now she was barely recognizable with her head split in half down the middle. Each side of her face turned individually, looking in different directions,

watching each of the screaming and crying classmates.

It had two broken legs that seemed to have shriveled up in the process, but it’s arms were two spears that it used to walk around, and now it finally made it through it went towards a poor girl who had fallen to the floor from pure panic. Her legs were no longer usable, and all she could do was sob, clutching her leather bag as she stared at the monster’s careful, calculated movements with blood shot eyes. It raised a large spear all of a sudden, coiling it in a spring as if to charge it.

And then the monster stru-

Liam slammed the desk leg as hard as he could into the monster's skull before it could finish, earning a pained shriek that reverberated around the room. It staggered back, and he jammed the jagged end into what used to be its shoulder, earning purchase and jamming it as hard as only two arms with one dislocated hand could manage. The leg the teacher had jammed in the wall had been the perfect weapon, heavy and strong enough to deal some serious damage…

But Liam wasn’t thinking about that.

Or the monster, really.

No, he was thinking about what a fucking lie the name ‘Utopia’ was.

He grimaced as a hand spear went into his gut but failed to pierce all the way through, and shouted as hard as he could when he slammed the leg into the creature’s skull again. He was too hopped up on adrenaline to feel it all that much, fortunately.

The entire time he’d been in this district, he’d had to deal with a lot of things. He had to deal with the students acting like he was a time bomb with a broken clock, had to deal with a teacher who was suspicious of him for killing somebody. He had to deal with a dysfunctional fucking brain that made him have a natural awakening moments before getting a normal one, in a situation that wasn’t even life or death…

But he was safe, that was the deal. His life in the badlands had been the sacrifice he had made to BE SAFE FROM BULLSHIT IN THIS FUCKING DISTRICT!!!

WHAT THE FUCK WAS AN EGO-DEATH DOING HERE, THEN!?