“Another day just like yesterday.” I mumbled as stuck my toothbrush in between my dry jaws.
As I brushed my teeth, the doorbell rang. Who could it be this early in the morning? No way could there be a surprise visit from my girlfriend or anybody. I was a single man working in a big city where my family had died. With a step to the side and a turn, I reached the door of my tiny one-room apartment. Peeping through the eyehole, I saw two man in black suit with shades.
They looked just like they came out of the Men in Black movie. Well, they could be here to ask about the alien attack last night. Since last year, there were something known as super heroes who appeared, and they fought against the aliens from the wormhole on the other side of the island city. Sometimes, the aliens would come over to our side of the city where the business district and the port were. We were lucky that we still had a business district and a port as our island city was blessed by its geographical position and a global voluntary security force called the Super Heroes International Team (S.H.I.T).
I opened the door, and smiled at them as the toothpaste form rolled out of my mouth and onto one of the duo shiny black leather oxford shoes. Panicked, I tried to apologise, but two of them grabbed one of my arms each and dragged me out of my flat in my crumpled white T-shirt and stripped boxer shorts. I tried to protest verbally as I doubted that dropping a speck of toothpaste form onto a government official shoes was a crime. However, I could only mumble a string of incoherent words as I tried to stop my toothbrush from falling out of my mouth. I do not want to dirty something I put in my mouth every day.
I struggled as we headed into my apartment, but two trained agents were stronger than one average chubby dude who went to the gym only when he liked. Soon, I was pinned onto my bed. I had never thought I would be in this position on my bed with two other men. A cloth bag was forced over my head, and I felt a strong grip on my arm, before a needle stabbed into my forearm. Before I could make any move, I felt my toothbrush falling off my mouth as my body went numb and I lost consciousness. Unlike the agents, the people from the government whom I had met were hardly this efficient at their work.
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As I opened my eyes, I could see a silhouette of an angel in front of me. Is this heaven? Or am I more suited for Hell?
“Welcome to the base of The Response Against Super Heroes International Team. We are also known as T.R.A.S.H.I.T. But people call us T.R.A.S.H.” As my eyes adapted to the light in the room, a woman in her early 30s wearing a white top and black skirt stared into my eyes.
“Oh if you are the trash, I am the bin,” I mumbled as I still felt the effects of the injection. “You can be inside me.”
“This is a rather disappointing sight of a top soldier from our small island country where we put in so much resources in each of them,” the woman said as she pushed her fringe to the back of her ears, and she repositioned herself by resting both her arms on my forearms as they were cable-tied on the cold metal chair.
“There is a reason why I am let go from the Special Squad of Soldiers, Madam,” I replied as I looked at the clock to find out that I was only out for three minutes.
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“How about I give you a chance for revenge against the aliens that killed your family?” The woman asked as she stared into my eyes as if she was looking for a hint of change in my emotions.
“I am not fit to be part of the…” The door behind the woman opened and two men in scientist robes walked into the room and stood behind me
“We are putting together a new team sanctioned by the government,” the woman said. “And you are going to get help.”
“So we are going to be stealing the jobs of the Super Heroes International Team?” I asked as I got wheeled out of the room.
“No, we are putting the unlawful group out of business,” the woman said as I we got wheeled along the corridor. “This city is best protected by its own heroes and not trans-border vigilantes who pretend that they have mandate from any international organisation or governments.”
Turning into the next room, my chair was rolled under a showerhead-looking machine connected to the ceiling.
“Do I get to choose my powers?” I marvelled at the sight of the extra spaces in the plain white room that no average citizen of the island country will get to live in considering the obscene real estate prices.
“No, team dynamics over individual desires,” the woman said as the trio left the room. “If the process is too hard, remember why you choose to serve the country.”
The door shut. I then heard the sound of a heavy machinery working. It seemed like a huge amount of energy was needed to operate the machine above me. I started trembling as thought of the power that was about to hit me from the top. Could I possibly die from the transformation? I started screaming as the fear that I could not live another day of my boring office job hit me. The social media time in my cubicle. The tasteless coffee from the pantry. The dry biscuit from John’s desk. The short skirt of my boss’s secretary. I would miss them so much. As I looked up and screamed my lungs off with what I thought was my final breath, I saw a beam of white light shone down from the machine. Within two seconds, it turned off, and the trio walked back into the room.
“Eh…” I stared blankly at the machine as I wondered if the process was so simple.
“Congratulations! Welcome to the team.” The woman extended her hands for a handshake.
“Wait. What is my power?” I questioned as I recalled the two seconds of spotlight from the ceiling.
“Find out for yourself.” The woman smirked as she pushed back her fringe to the back of ear.
Looking down at my forearms that still looked like one of an average dude, I tried to break free from the locks of the chair to accept the handshake. I summoned all my strength into the forearms of mine. It started shaking hard as the veins popped onto the surface of my skin. The strength of a superhero. I could feel it. I knew I could break free from the chair if I tried hard enough.
“Argh!” I failed to even make a crack on the locks.
“Is there something wrong?” The woman looked back at the scientists.
“Wait, my power isn’t super strength?”
“Oh yes! It is not.” The woman recalled as she reached into her pocket for the key to the locks of my chair.
“Then what is it?” I was puzzled as to what a single beam light could transform my body into.
“You have a rock-hard body that has the density of a diamond now,” the scientist behind in his lab mask replied in a muzzled sound.
“So I’m D Diamond Dude now?” I started slapping my left chest with my right palm like how I thought the alpha males in sports did when they scored points for their teams.
“No, you are known as Shield,” The woman snapped me out of my alpha male dream. “We are going to start our briefing now.”
“No. Wait. There are still having meetings in here even as superheroes?” I palmed my face as we moved into the meeting room next door. “Send me back to my cubicle please.”