“Hey! Shitheads! Leave my brother alone!” A voice called out. Looking up, even though my vision was blurry, I could see the figure of my twin sister.
“Lookie here, Charlie’s little sister is here to protect him!” One of the bullies laughed. “Man, isn’t that pathetic? Too weak to fight his own battles, so his sister does it for him.”
However, while the meathead was laughing, Carla was already attacking. Her fist went straight into his nose and I could hear the crunching sound. The bully howled in pain and his thug friends all stopped laughing. Knowing the fight wouldn’t be over yet, she spun around and kicked him in the stomach, completely knocking the wind out of him.
“Anyone else want to fight me?” She asked, fists raised. The bullies all shook their heads and ran off, clearly intimidated. “You alright, Charles?”
“Y-yeah, I’m okay. S-sorry you had to help me out…again,” I apologized. She just shrugged and helped me up.
“Let’s get you home and cleaned up before Mom and Dad get home,” she said. “They would freak if they saw you right now.”
“I’m sure they would,” I replied. I barely managed to put one foot in front of the other, but with Carla’s help, I was able to get home. “Th-thanks, seriously. You’re always helping me out, Sis.”
“Well, that’s what siblings are for, ya know? They help each other,” she said with a smile. “Now, you get yourself cleaned up and take a nap. You don’t look good, like, at all.”
Sighing, I watched as my younger twin sister walked off. Once again, she had saved my from bullies. And I had been able to do nothing about it myself.
“I wish I was stronger,” I muttered, frustrated. “But because of my body’s condition, I’m just so weak! I mean, I’m an 18-year-old senior who’s gonna be graduating, but I get beat up by fucking freshmen straight out of middle school.”
Angry, I punched the wall next to me. However, that just made my already injured hand feel worse. Gritting my teeth, I ignored the pain and stumbled my way to the bathroom. Looking in my mirror, I realized just bad I actually looked. Both my lips were busted, one of my eyes was nearly swollen shut, I had bruises all across my face, and I had blood dried in various places.
“You’re pathetic,” I muttered, looking into the mirror. Sighing, I began washing my face off, trying to make myself look at least a little better. However, everything was so tender that it hurt to touch or wash anything. Eventually, though, I got it done and stumbled to my bedroom. There, I changed into clothes that didn’t have blood on them. “There, now maybe Mom and Dad won’t know what happened.”
But I knew that wasn’t true. With my swollen eye, busted lips, and several bruises, it was pretty obvious. At that exact moment, there was a knock on my door.
“Hey, can I come in? I’ve got some makeup here. Maybe I can cover up some of your bruises and stuff?” Carla said, as optimistic as always.
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“Yeah, sure, you can try it if you want,” I replied. She opened the door and walked into my room, carrying some of her makeup in with her.
“Here, sit at your desk, and I’ll start working,” she said. I did as told, sighing as she started applying the makeup. But after several minutes, I actually didn’t look too terrible. The only problem was that my left eye was swollen to the point of being half shut.
“Thanks for trying,” I told her. She nodded and gave me a little hug. She then left my bedroom and went back to her own. “Anyway, what should I do? I don’t really feel like working on homework after getting beaten up, but I know I need to.”
Groaning angrily, I turned around in my desk chair. Looking over the scattered papers sitting there, I finally decided to just work on my writing project. But even that eventually got tiring and boring after a while. Looking at my phone, I started wondering why our parents weren’t home yet. Though the next moment, that was the last thought in my mind.
[Super Power System installation complete]
[System at 100% functionality]
[Open your status window to view your details]
“Uh, what the hell is this?!” I shouted. I then heard running in the hallway as Carla burst into my room.
“Charles! Charles! Did you get this weird message too?” She asked, pointing to an empty space in front of her.
“Assuming that what you’re pointing is simply invisible to other people and is actually there, probably. Does it say something about a Super Power System?” I replied. She nodded vigorously. “Can you see the message in front of me?”
“No, I can’t. I guess we can only see our own displays,” she guessed. I nodded in agreement.
“I wanna see what this status window thing it’s talking about is,” I told her. “Status window!”
A translucent page similar to the messages in front of my face appeared. However, this one was much larger and had more information on it.
[Name: Charles Jackson]
[Age: 18 years]
[Species: human]
[Gender: male]
[Height: 6’ 3”]
[Weight: 240 lbs]
[Hair Color: brown]
[Eye Color: blue]
[Skin Color: Caucasian]
[Level: 0]
[Powers: Muscle-Based Condition (Lv.1), 100% Muscle Usage (Lv.1)]
“Um, sorry, but something’s wrong with this display. It says that I’m 6’ 3” and 240 lbs,” I noticed.
“That…may not actually be incorrect,” Carla said, her eyes wide. Hearing her comment, I decided to look down at myself. And what I saw caused me to nearly pass out from shock. I was actually taller and covered in muscle to the point where my clothes, which were now too small, were ripping slightly.
“Dang. What just happened to us?” I asked.
“I have no idea. But there’s a section on my status window that mentions powers. Does yours have that?” She asked.
“Yeah, it does. It says my powers are Muscle-Based Condition and 100% Muscle Usage,” I answered. “What’re yours?”
“I have Bullet Projection and Enhanced Senses,” she replied. “Maybe Muscle-Based Condition is the reason for your change?”
“I guess that makes sense. Let me see if there’s a description of some kind,” I agreed. I clicked on the power, and another window popped up describing the power.
[Muscle-Based Condition]
[You possess a powerful and abnormal muscular structure that causes an increase in body size and muscle mass.]
“Yeah, it was because of that. It says here that it gives me a ‘powerful and abnormal muscular structure that causes an increase body size and muscle mass’. Honestly, sounds pretty cool,” I commented.
“Yeah, it does. What does 100% Muscle Usage do?” Carla asked. I could tell she was really curious about what was going on.
[100% Muscle Usage]
[You are able to utilize 100% of your body’s muscular strength which maximizes your physical strength.]
“I’m just basically able to use my muscle’s full strength instead whatever amount humans can normally use,” I explained. “What do your powers do?”
[Bullet Projection]
[You are able to fire bullets made of energy/matter from your own body.]
[Enhanced Senses]
[You possess senses that are extremely accurate and much sharper than normal.]
“I’m able to shoot bullets from my body and I my senses are sharper and more accurate,” she replied with a shrug.
“Wow, that’s…pretty cool. And very dangerous. You’re like a human gun,” I commented.
“Well, sure, but why would I ever need to use a power like that?” She stated. “It’s fine, no one needs to know.”
“Wait, but, how many people are being affected by this? It can’t just be us. Is it the city, the state, the country, the world?” I said, trying to get a handle on everything. But before I could say much else, we heard the front door open.
“Kids! Are you alright? We’re home! Come to the living room now please!” Mom shouted. Carla and I looked at each other before running out to where our parents waited. And what we saw shocked us. Mom’s eyes had a pale green glow in them and Dad’s clothes looked burned. “Kids. We need to talk.”