"Your little sceme has gone on long enough! Time to finish this!"
As soon as Heavy Metal finished speaking, he charged towards me at full speed.
The ground thundered under his steps and his battered armor creaked in protest as I stood there watching in the middle of the road, frozen with a mixture of shock and fear.
I was helpless as his fist made contact with my chest, cracking several ribs and sending me flying into the wall of a concrete building behind me.
As I lay battered and broken, embedded in the wall, I could make out the sound of someone screaming in terror. The sound seemed to be coming from somewhere far away, almost like an echo, and I struggled to turn my head to find the source of it.
As my gaze swept over the street, I couldn't see anyone that might have been the source of the noise, but I did see a hero charging towards me.
Heavy Metal crossed the street in only a few seconds before standing over my broken body menacingly. I heard him say something, but I couldn't make out the sound through the blood that filled my eardrums.
When I didn't reply, and simply stared at him, he wound up his fist for another punch, and sent it hurtling towards my face.
As his fist impacted my skull, I felt a pressure in my skull, and everything went black.
I found myself standing in some kind of void, with nothing but inky blackness and a large mirror populating the strange world I now found myself within.
I turn to look at the mirror, and find a strange version of myself staring back at me.
The person in the mirror looked exactly like me, although I could tell that they weren't exactly the same. They had a look in their eyes that held an immense amount of weight within them, almost like they were many years older than myself.
I moved closer to the mirror, studying every detail of myself, and the reflection copied me as I examined them.
Suddenly, the reflection stepped backwards and smiled, before they spoke, startling me.
"I'm happy with what I see inside of you Alex. I was worried that you might not find a purpose before your 18th birthday, but it seems that I was wrong."
"Who are you?" I ask. "What is this place? And why am I here?"
"We are inside of your soul Alex." Said my reflection as he gestures around him. "This is a place where one can look inwards and reflect on themselves, hence the mirror.
As for myself, let's just say my job is to find promising humans to bestow a great power to. You are one of those humans Alex. I was assigned to your case since birth and you've had me worried for quite a long time. I personally don't bestow powers to humans that don't have true potential, unlike SOME of my coworkers who just hand them out willy nilly.
But now that you've finally found a reason for living, I feel safe granting you a power to help you forge your own destiny in the world."
"What do you mean I've found a reason to live? I've always wanted to have powers or go to school, that's never changed."
"Ah, but that's not what I'm talking about. You've always dreamed of powers yes, but today you put your own life on the line to save someone you considered a friend. THAT is a true purpose Alex, not something as common as wanting power or education."
"So you're saying my purpose is to help others? I thought villians were all about stealing from and hurting people."
"No, no." The reflection laughed. "You felt like you HAD to save them, from the bottom of your soul. This feeling might not be your true purpose, but that is something you will discover in time. For now, having the desire to protect your friends is enough for me to grant you the power to see it through, so you'll have to find your true purpose later on."
After speaking, the reflection reaches into his torn suit jacket and produces three glowing orbs that illuminated the palm of his hand with bright, white light.
"Now you must choose Alex."
"What are they?"
"These orbs are the physical representation of power. Before you ask, I cannot give you any hints as to what each power may be. You must listen to what your soul decides and choose the one that it reaches for."
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I studied the orbs for a few minutes without feeling any kind of desire to choose a specific one. I leaned in to the mirror to look at them more closely, and I could see threads of white energy swirling around the edges of the orbs.
The orb on the left swirled chaotically, with threads spasming and dancing about wildly on the surface.
The orb in the middle seemed more refined, with threads that calm traveled the circumference of the orbs.
The final orb seemed entirely different from the other two, with threads that traced intricate patterns across the surface.
As my face got closer to the reflection's outstretched hand, something interesting happened.
The orb with intricate patterns seemed to slide across the hand towards my face, before the reflection closed his hand to stop it from escaping.
"It's seems like the power has taken a liking to you." He said with a laugh. "All the same, you must choose the power that your soul gravitates to."
I could feel my body was being pulled in towards the mirror, but I couldn't tell which orb was the cause of the pull, so I put my hands against the mirror to try to get a better feel for it.
Suddenly, I felt an immense pull from the reflection's hand, and it was pulled open as an orb shot towards me.
It crossed the mirror and impacted my head faster than I could see, causing my to fall onto my back.
The moment the orb made contact with my skin, the entire void turned a bright white, and began to fade as I began to wake up.
The last thing I could see was the reflection standing close to the mirror laughing, as I heard him speak.
"Well this should be interesting after all."
With that, I faded out of the dream world and back into the land of the living.
The first thing I noticed was how much pain I was in. My entire body seemed like it was on fire, and I could feel several broken bones poking through muscle.
The second thing I noticed, was the fact that I was strapped into a medical gourney, with paramedics on either side.
Heavy Metal was also there, although he looked like he'd been hit with a freight train, as most of his armor was twisted into scrap metal by this point.
One of the medics must have realized I was awake, as he started asking me questions about my allergies and any previous injuries I might have had, but I ignored him and stared at the hero.
Heavy Metal turned to look at me once he heard the commotion from the medic, and walked over to stand next to the gourney.
"I'm sorry it had to come to this." He said sincerely. "I would have preferred to capture you without injury, but you fought back."
Of COURSE he would try and make it seem like he didn't want to beat me into a pulp!
His apology only made me furious, as I distinctly remember him punching me in the head while I was stuck in a wall.
"Fuck you." I say with malice in my voice. "I know what kind of person you REALLY are."
Heavy Metal just shrugged before turning to talk to a police officer waiting to hear his statement, and this fueled my rage even further.
"You'd better hope you can cover my medical bills, because they're going to cost you EVERYTHING YOU HAVE!"
The instant those words left my lips, I felt a strange tingling sensation, and I felt a disturbing popping in my leg and arms.
The medics stepped back and cried out in astonishment as I watched as my bones that had previously been sticking out of my skin, receded and reformed beneath the tissue.
As soon as my bones had reformed, I felt an immense feeling of power coursing through my body as my muscles bulged, causing my the straps on the gourney to snap, and the last shreds of my suit to fall away.
The moment I was free, I climbed out of the gourney to look for my friends, but they were no where to be found.
"What....did you do?" A familiar voice said behind me.
I turned to see Heavy Metal, who was now laying on the ground, trapped beneath his armor like a metal prison.
"What did you DO TO ME?!" He screamed in rage.
I ignored him, as several police officers had now started to draw their weapons after they realized what had happened, and I began to look for an escape route.
After a few seconds, I spotted the van, which was still parked by the back existence of the bank, and several officers were unloading the bags of gold from the back of it.
In an instant, I took off at a full sprint towards the bags and bowled the officers over as I grabbed two of the bags, lifting them like they weighed almost nothing.
I then dashed towards the nearest alleyway and began to run through it as fast as my power could take me.
I could hear the police in pursuit, with sirens blaming through the streets as they attempted to follow me.
I took several turns through other alleys, running as fast as I can, until, after an hour, the only sound I can hear is my heavy breathing as I lean against a wall.
Over the next couple of hours I move quickly and quietly through alleyways, being careful not to raise any suspicion as I walk through the dark pathways until I arrive on the opposite side of the street from my destination.
I look out from the alley in both directions, and finding the street empty, I quickly sprint across it and arrive at the rusty door to the hideout.
I knock twice, and the panel slides open to scan me, before the door opens and I enter the elevator.
I press the liar button, and wait for a few minutes, until the door opens and I enter the common room.
The room looks completely normal, except for a lack of henchmen, and as I run from room to room, I find myself alone in the lair.
Deciding that I should just wait to see if anyone will return, and being completely exhausted after sprinting for miles, I deposit the bags of gold in the middle of the common room, and head to my room for a shower and sleep.
As I strip the remnants of my clothing off and let the shower heat up, I look into the mirror to see the changes after the fight.
My body is nearly three times as muscular as before, with power coursing through my veins, and my hair is messy and caked with blood.
My face is almost completely covered in my own blood, no doubt a result of Heavy Metal's final punch, and there are bloody trails on my arms and legs from where my bones had protruded.
The biggest, and most important thing however, is that my eyes were now glowing a brilliant white, with intricate symbols dancing across my irises in swirling patterns.
As I turn away to get underneath the warm water of the shower and wash away my blood, I don't notice my reflection that remains standing in the mirror, smiling as it watches me bathe.