Choosing a superpower should have been the highlight of my life. I waited in line to get the power serum that should awaken my powers and tried to remain calm. I was getting a superpower maybe I would get a flight or the power to talk to animals. There was some lewway so I could in theory select a power to slow down my aging process.

Not that I would be allowed to choose a power like immortality in the reclaimers center. They were big on saving the planet and reclaiming the barren wastelands. Having a bunch of immortals take up resources was not permitted.  Still, the five days of constant speeches and lessons had been worth it so I did not have to register my new power with the government

 Unfortunately, I was still getting the speech as I approached the scanning machine that would let me know what powers I could choose from. The leader of the local redeemers cult was still talking. "We need to reclaim the wastelands of middle America and Africa from the desert. Global warming may have been reversed but the damage left behind is still there."

I ignored what would hopefully be the last lecture I would have to listen to and headed to the scanner. A single machine that looked like a giant lamp was embedded in the ceiling.  

Had I been doing my super affinity test in the public scanner the various gang and government officials would have been around. The government had assured everyone that what happened to Claire Smith would not happen again. The video of the African super grabbing Claire when her power of advanced plant growth was discovered was still shown by privacy protestors. 

The fact Germany and China had sent their supers to kidnap Claire was mentioned a lot. Rare powers were valuable and should I gain one I wanted to sell my services off to the highest bidder not be stuck in a small cell and forced to use my powers on seeds for eighteen hours a day.

I passed the usual signs advertising the new land rushes. Take Texas back for America. Help stop the cannibal pirates. Help hunt down the family members of the climate deniers.  

It had been over one hundred years since the last climate denier died according to all the records we had. But yet they still wanted to hunt down the families. I did not see the point but I would not stop them either. Having to walk past a mass grave where the famine victims had been buried every day gives you little sympathy for the ones who caused the great famine.

I wondered who was being bribed.  Having the American and anti-American posters put up on the same wall seemed weird. Taking a deep breath I walked forward the scanner activated and rotated around me twice before I was pushed out of the way by a woman in a robe.

For a moment I almost tipped the reclaimer follower who had pushed me but decided against it. I remembered I was not coming back so why bribe anyone? All around advertisements were up offering citizenship if you gained a decent super power. Finally, I looked at the big three advertisements. Canada, China, and Germany had a small sign-up each. Why pay for a big advertisement when everyone wanted to get a job in a country where there were no organ thief gangs?

The attendant sniffled "I suppose you just did your two-year course to get access to the scanner." I shrugged "No redeemer sister I believe in the cause it's just I am nervous. A neighbor got the power to always keep any coffee he held in his hands warm. Another of my neighbors got a farting skill. He can now talk by farting."

I rushed over to the scanner and made a note of my aptitude.

Body                 6 - 9   out of 20

Mind                 6 - 9   out of 20

Superpowers 4 out of 6

special             3 out of 8

Techknology    4 out of 6

Mystic               7 out of 21

Mental               549  out of 1000

3 unique paths 

I looked at the various scores none of which was life-changing. A sense of dread washed over me I was ordinary. I would be stuck in a one-bed apartment for the rest of my short miserable life. My mental stats were high just not high enough. I settled down and took a look at my special paths. 

I took a look at the unique paths on the display.

Path 1

Mental Mystic mind reader power  

potential 65 / 100

Path 2

Technology   Artificial intelligence 

Potential 60 / 100

or

programming 

potential 79/100

Path 3 

superpowers special lesser invisibility

Potential 21 / 100

My paths are not great but they were better than trying to get some random superpower. Now all I had to do was buy a super serum that suited me. The attendant nodded her eyes filled with sympathy but her voice showed none of that and was as cold as the grave "You know if you want we can have a super serum calibrated for you." I wondered again if I should tip her. But the redeemers were hard on bribery. They tended to nail anyone caught doing it to a mutant ant hill.

I sighed the redeemers did have access to that sort of service. They could get you a better quality super serum. I had to think for a moment but I finally nodded. Going to the black market for that sort of thing would be a huge risk. For the past 30 years, the great academies have been driving out their competition. As my score was not high enough for a scholarship I needed to go elsewhere to improve my chances of a decent power. I had found a mad chemist who swears he could make me a decent serum but it was still a risk. Who wants three noses?

It was decision time. As too many people choose invisibility I would not be able to do anything with it. Even my apartment which was basically a glorified bed inside a wall had invisibility defences. They were fairly cheap and  Every woman's toilet had basic heat sensors.

Mental powers would be useful but sooner or later someone with the identify skill or some other skill would out me. If I had been doing anything illegal or my girlfriend was too pretty then I was in real trouble. No female trusted any mind controller and no male trusted someone who could convince their wife that it was time to take a shower in their living room or that their husband had always looked like that.

The attendant grinned "You know we can increase the percentage chance of you gaining an extra skill by 3 or 4 percent. If you take the Super Power technology route you will still have a 3 to 4 percent chance of gaining a mystic skill on top of your Artificial intelligence skill."

I looked at the manic gleam in the attendant's eye and nodded "How long will I have to work for the Redeemers." "If you are willing to accept a villain serum it's free."

Now normally getting anything for free means trouble. When you eat the free food you realize you are addicted to some new drug. When you take the free toaster you wake up a few weeks later mind controlled by a villain named the Ass Spanker. Although if you were stupid enough not to have a lawyer program look over the fine print you fairly much deserved whatever you got.

I was nervous about getting things for free but as long as I did not have to sign anything I decided to take the offer. If it was a choice between working for the Reedemers for a couple of years and having to get up a five in the morning to listen to sermons or getting a crap power I choose the villain serum.

Looking at the attendant whose name I did not know I nodded "Let's do this but I want to know what level of serum I am being given." "We have a few billion samples of Java Jim's serum. It might be old but it's still viable. We only ask you to look favorable on us if you get a decent power."

I looked at the display monitor and then used it to look up Java Jim a small time superhero who had brewed billions of super serums he had tried to give out for free. The corporation not happy with this had hired people to kill him. 

It was perfect a do-gooder serum that could be trusted. The attendant's eyes glowed with a knowing look "It will take a half hour to get the serum ready wait in the hall."

I stood in a fairly decrepit hall. There were not even any chairs but then again the redeemers were not all that wealthy. After I had been there a while. A blonde woman dressed in a slutty but obviously expensive dress came along following another attendant. The blonde was screaming "What do you mean my best option is a waste disposal option? Vicky got the static shock power and is charging tricks a fortune.   " I ignored everyone and thought about praying. I decided not to as given my past history I did not want to be struck by lightning.

A whole half an hour later after listening to others complain about their superpowers I was ushered into a side room and given an injection before being sent back for a new scan. I knew the redeemers wanted to see what powers I gained. Firstly if I gained an extra power they could update their records on how effective Jim's super serum was. Secondly, if I got a power they did not like they could kill me. 

The machine beeped and I looked at the attendant who was crying "Look your results are amazing both of your powers overlap."

My heart almost exploded in my chest. Overlapping powers are the stuff of legends. The ability to heat a cup of liquid in your hands is minor. A secondary abilty to be able to spread your power over a wide area alters things. Heatray had the ability to heat liquids an overlapping power that allowed his power more range turned him into a siege weapon. He literally could boil the blood of anyone in a five-mile radius.

Admittedly I could get something useless like heat ray vision who wants to be stuck welding every day? But something like bacteria control with transmission would have you eating in a penthouse with strings of supermodels. 

The beer master lived in a floating garden filled with naked women and men. All he had to do was alter a few strains of yeast. Then I remembered my specialty artificial intelligence and a chill went down my back.

The attendant's tears made sense. The most feared super power the power that could keep on growing. What do you wish for if given a single wish? A billion more wishes. 

The artificial intelligence I would soon be able to create must have a learning ability. Something that would them improve themselves over time. If this was the case I could create an artificial intelligence to create more advanced intelligence.

My computer superintelligences once they were advanced enough would be able to upgrade themselves. One computer builds a smarter computer which would then build an even smarter computer. Until in the end, you had a computer so smart it could work how to do anything.

Do you want to live forever or take over the world? Or maybe you want to fix the deserts that had once been habitable land. Even bringing the dead back to life was possible.

The only problem was the corporations. So you invented a car engine that can be grown and uses sugar water as fuel. Well, the car manufacturers have a gift for you a tank which they will use to set you on fire and then roll over you.

My power was valuable and I was now a would-be power but a lot of people would be coming after me. The attendant ginned "Your one in ten thousand. But bear in mind there are over a billion people on this planet. I have a brief video which will explain everything to you."

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

As I was being led to a small broom closet I briefly considered if I was going to have my organs harvested. It was not impossible things like that had happened before.  I decided I had to take the risk. A growth ability was my way out.

The broom closet had a small hidden screen no bigger than a book. The screen lit up and I saw an old black man whose face was covered in wrinkles. 

The old man image spoke out "I am Jonathan and as I am to die of a poison the academies dosed me with I have decided to release my knowledge into the world. To the academies, I say this you killed me to stop me selling my super serum. Now watch as I give my serum away.

To you who take my serum I  ask that you kill as many Frenchmen and women as you can. My grandfather sold his family into slavery due to a lack of water. We were poor but had each other. That is not entirely true we were poor and desperate but mostly happy. Then they fixed Egypt's fields and suddenly our cash crops were not worth as much as before.

They were still making millions but a rich heiress wanted her new cars and coats. So she raised the price of water and we were forced to cut back on planting food crops in favour of coffee. We starved so she could buy her dresses."

The image of Jonathan changed to images of him with his family. "I would only ask if you become powerful enough to bring back the dead you bring back my family."

The image changed again to Jonathan in a large building. Vast vats of chemicals behind him. "Now for the important news. I have produced oceans of super serum and have sent it out for free."

The image changed showing one of the machines producing row after row of super serum. Jonathan's face appeared on the screen "Those are super-serum-making machines and I have sent out hundreds of them. Listening to this recording will unlock your new powers.

Plus this recording should block out most forms of surveillance. So whoever you are stay hidden for longer than me and build yourself up before going public. Also, find those French people for me and kill them ."

The image on the screen changed to that of Jonathan's family members and it listed how they died. 

Tina died of cancer.  Cancer cure was destroyed by Apex Corporation so they could sell more expensive temporary suppressant cancer treatments.

Jack died of hunger. While there was enough clean water to water his crops the water was sold at a thousand times mark up.

The list went on and on most dying from being poor. It was a simple story a French company had purchased the copyright on a water purification system and Jonathan's family had been glad to pay for clean water. At least at the start. Cheaper technology came along but somehow the price that Jonathan's family paid kept going up. Then one of Jonathan's neighbors developed a power that would clean the water.

The French corporations naturally took extreme actions and Jonathan decided to hide his powers until he was stronger. I winced at the images of Jonathan's dead family. The list had just reached the point just after everyone realised Jonathan was a powerful super.

It looked like the corporation that sold him his water decided to kill him and his family before he could use his power to clean up the water.

The door was open behind me opened narrowly missing my head and I came face to face with an old attendant who glared at me. "Right, my name is Terrance. We get paid for you to watch this video when you're done with that one. Also, there is an American warlord in town and we do not want to embarrass him.

Ever since they lost that war with Cuba they have all been we used to be in charge. I swear the republican party tax breaks to the rich meant they had to cut all entitlements to the old. From that point on  "

I looked at the Attendant "Listen I do not care it's ancient history. It's not like it will ever affect me. Give me the video and get out" Terrance sniffled "The French paid us to show this video to anyone who saw that one. So watch it and try not to move your eyes away from the screen or fall asleep or we will make you watch it again."

I sighed as the small screen I had lit up this time with an old lady who explained that I was going to see the dead bodies caused by Jonathan's 

vengence.

The old lady's voice was soft and emotionless as she began. "I am here to try and appeal to your sense of justice. Jonathan was not powerful enough to directly strike at my family. You may wonder why you do not know the name of the corporation that caused the damage. It is because some of them married other rich folks and they erased their past.

Now I am not going to tell you Jonathan did not deserve justice but how he went about it was wrong"

Images of spiders attacking people appeared on the screen as I watched an army of spiders swallow Paris whole. I swallowed as the image changed to show the clean-up. Piles of millions of dead humans were shown.

The image shifted to the woman speaking "In 2010 a ventilator design was released from MIT that cost 200 dollars. Yet when a disease called covid came in the average cost of a ventilator was 17000 dollars. " I tried not to fall asleep as I did not want to have to listen to this again. 

Unfortunately, the speech stopped after a quick speech about the 4000 dollar ventilators turned down by someone called Trump and I was back looking at the bodies of the dead. Most had been trapped alive by the spiders wrapped in webs and eaten slowly alive. It turned out the spiders had been designed to torture their victims alive. 

I waited for the end of the speech betting myself that it would be about the ones actually responsible for the whole thing the water corporation owners getting away with it. Rich folks did not tend to get caught up in spider invasions.

It turned out I was wrong. Rich folk did indeed get caught up in spider invasions especially when someone used an E.M.P. weapon on their home security system. Without a phone or computer service, they were unable to call in the mercenaries that rescued most of the other rich folks.

The last part of the recording was a record of what Jonathan had done next. He had moved to Japan and had another family. An image of him with the Mona Lisa in the background finished up the talk.

Then images of the child victims appeared. I sighed at least this time it was not the victims of the opioid crisis. Who creates a soda drink that is as addictive as heroin and sells it to children? The films about the withdrawal centers were harrowing and still gave me nightmares. 

Terrance opened the door again and nodded at me "You're done unless you want to watch the We are sorry about causing global warming video you get paid half a credit."

I shook my head "I will take my status." Terrance nodded and gave me a sheet of paper

Tom

Physical strength normal 

Intelligence normal

Superpower 

Can create learning computer programs  

Now all I had to do was work out where to go. The big three China, Canada, and Germany were out. They would test my superpower before allowing me citizenship. India and Africa were both war zones where the fighting had not stopped for decades. 

South America was a possible choice but there were rumors the Mexican empire was about to join the whole continent together. Once that happened they would want a list of all superpowered people living in their territory.

So parts of Asia and maybe Australia were left. Places with some technology not too many wars and no real oversight. I needed time to develop and Terrance the assistant was giving me a look I really did not like. 

Terrance smiled and I felt my ass clench I was about to get bad news. Terrance at least did not delay."So you know that America released a couple of self-learning nano bot plagues designed to kill supers with growth powers? Well, it turns out someone has altered the American strains. They must have as America does not have enough cash to keep the nanobots in production. "

I felt my heart palpitate Terrance smiled. "So it looks like Earth is not all that safe. But luckily we have a nice new job for you in one of the old space hotels. It's perfect for you a place outside Earth but still not part of any of the corporation's sphere of influence."

For a brief second, I was tempted to break Terrance's nose and rush out but then I realized if I made a big deal out of this it could be my end. All Terrance has to do is whisper my new superpower to a gang and I would be finished.

Still, I have lived in a hellhole for years and I knew how to at least check out the situation. "I will have to speak with Kate." I got ready to kill Terrance if he told me there was a problem with seeing Kate or that I would have to meet her in some underground hidden room.

Terrance nodded "Fair enough after they found all those hotel chains selling their client's internal organs last week people have become less trusting."

"Wait what when was this?" I stared at Terrance trying to think if there had been another organ-selling case recently.

Terrance grinned "You should keep up with the times the bigger hotels start stealing organs from stragglers every winter once the tourists have gone home. It's always the same they throw a few lower staff to the wolves and the hotels involved are sold from one corporation to another. Of course, this time they made a mistake. They took one of the Cuban Rockets family. "

The legendary Cuban Rockets were considered the single most powerful family of super-powered people on the planet. I wondered how stupid whoever it was who messed with one of them. Then I decided I did not care. It should have nothing to do with me all I needed to do was meet Kate to find out what my options were.

After rushing a talkative Terrance I was escorted to Kate's office. It was a large room that had been changed from a couple of apartments to an office. On the wall were a number of human skeletons with little displays which showed how they died.

Kate was an older woman with red hair wearing some kind of kimono she looked at me. "When the major famine began Saint Mary killed everyone over the age of seventy. Anyone aged fourty to seventy was sent to war to die. Their sacrifice saved us if not for them we could have ended up like India a wasteland full of the dead."

I looked at the smaller skeletons and deciding I really really did not want to know what Saint Mary had done. I took a seat in a worn chair. Kate looked at me and then at her display. Her display was super tech it looked like a pane of glass suspended from the ceiling on invisible wires but I knew it was super tech. The type i would soon be able to create.

Kate looked at something I could not read as it was backward to where I was sitting. Kate tapped the screen. "So the Cuban Missiles are upset with the hotels you might think it has nothing to do with you. You would be wrong. The hotel owners just declared bankruptcy which is not an unusual occurrence. What is that instead of selling their companies to each other the hotels were bought by an outside player and sold off."

I looked at Kate whose grin widened. "Trust me this is great news for the Redeemers. But not so great news for you I am afraid. Most of my contacts in the orbital hotels just got spaced. Well, they call it firing but in reality, they just tossed them into space without any spacesuits."

Kate looked serious she wanted me to apply for a job where the last employees were thrown into space. Kate's voice came out hard and cold. "It's a risk I will not deny you that but what choice do you have? The ex-corporation owners just shot themselves in the foot. No one will trust them now so they will be more willing to allow an unknown person like yourself to work for them. " 

I blinked looking at Kate in confusion "Wait I thought that the Cuban Missiles would take control of those hotels." "They tried but the corporations are richer. It is all still a mess on who will come out on top. But with all the chaos it is the best time for you to go into hiding "

Kate pulled out a hand pistol and pointed it at me. "Now you are going to thank me for this later. After all, you are just being press-ganged not chopped into little pieces while you are still alive." Looking down the barrel of what looked like a toy gun I knew that I was going to the space station.

Kate's eyes crinkled showing her age and for an instant, I felt like asking about not being sent into outer space. But that instant was soon over. Kate's eyes hardened and she pointed the ray gun at my head. Her voice turned cold "You will put on a spacesuit and I will strap you into the rocket myself. Oh Tom here is your Status card"

Tom 

Combat power 1

Strength, reaction speed, and endurance are all normal 

Superpower

Can create self-learning computer programs

Passive skills

No passive powers were detected however given the superpower developed more than likely within the next month a number of passive powers will develop.

Mental Wall. 

Photographic Memory

Advanced maths skills

My status showed no combat skills at all. Even my neighbor's cat could set someone's hair on fire by looking at them. The way it bullied the local dogs was funny. Why my neighbor had paid for a super serum for a cat I would never understand. I sighed and comforted myself my power would grow. Given enough time I could use my computer programs to help me develop until I had godlike powers.  

But still, I was annoyed other people got the ability to fly or super speed. I had the power to create computer programs. Still, I would not trade it for a more physical skill even if I could. In theory had in theory no upper limit on how powerful I could become but that was of no immediate use.

Kate pulled out a space suit from under a pile of bones that was in a corner and tossed it to me. "A bit old but it should do the trick. With the I would normally say unfortunate troubles getting you to your new job is going to be hard.

I do not want to risk someone shooting down your shuttle so we will send you in a garbage pod. They have been modified and are safe but the space suit will block the smell and we can switch off the camera. You do not need to know what you will be sitting in."

Starring at the pile of bones that the spacesuit had come from I stared hard at Kate."Wait what?" Kate leveled the gun at my head "Into the suit it is a few decades old but as it was built at a time when the copyright laws were not enforced so it should be better than anything on the market."

I looked at the suit that was worth more than a small apartment. Maybe forty years ago before the big three decided they owned the copyright of everything ever invented such a suit would be worthless. But with the big three insisting on payment for any technology used it was worth a small fortune.

Kate looked at the suit. "The family that owned it had insurance. Of course, once the troubles happened that insurance was worth less than a fart. They should have bought better insurance like my father did. Then again they would also have had to insist on the payment in German marks. My father was always smarter than most. "

I wondered why Kate was talking but noticed the look in her eye she must have known the person who had owned the suit. Maybe he was her boyfriend. Maybe he was just her classmate. Not that I was going to ask and risk annoying the crazy lady with the hand ray gun.