Unstoppable, keep moving and never stop, don't hesitate, don't waver, just go forward.
Worm AU
Worm AU
Unstoppable [Worm-SI]
- Thread starter Emma Cruzader
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Statistics (3 threadmarks, 7.7k words)
User Total Emma Cruzader 3 Threadmarks Reader mode
1.1 Unstoppable
- Location
- Eart
1.1 Unstoppable
He blinks, looks around, slowly awakening. It was like being in a sea of stars, where the universe lay before him like a perfectly painted canvas, clear to his eyes.
He was seated in an invisible chair, watching as a galaxy was formed and another was destroyed.
For a moment, his perception of reality almost twisted, but somehow it remained clear as if it were an extrasensory experience.
He could feel everything, be everything, and nothing at the same time, as if there were a filter protecting his mind.
"You've awakened~" the strange voice pulled him from his thoughts, and he looked.
That was... a strange being. He couldn't associate it with anything other than the vast universe around him, as its feminine body seemed like a crystal reflecting the space they were in.
No, it was the other way around. That being was the universe, and the place they were in only reflected it.
How did he know that?
"You have many questions, unfortunately for you, you've already asked them all, and they've all been answered. But this time, you had very bad luck, Daniel."
Daniel? Was that his name? But was that his entire name? Why couldn't he remember it? Why couldn't he remember anything?
"Bad luck in your draw, you lost your memory, but hey, that bet was worth it, although I'm not sure if you'd think the same now that you're no longer entirely yourself."
Bet? Confusion, his mind was nothing but confusion.
The being sighed, looking at him, shaking its head.
"You are no longer 'you,' but at the same time, you still are. Unfortunate, yet intriguing. I wonder what kind of path you will take now that only the most basic part of your being remains."
Daniel? Yes, Daniel, because he couldn't associate any other name with himself. He thought about the words of the being.
He had made a bet, and somehow that had caused him to lose all his memories? How then had that bet been worth it, as the being in front of him claimed?
Well, if his memories were rubbish, maybe he did, but he couldn't know now.
"What did I win?"
"Uh?"
"What did I win with the bet? What was the price for my memories?" If he had essentially raped his own brain, there should be something good in return, right?
"Oh! Yes, hahaha, I guess you can know. In reality, you are dead." With that, a series of information appeared in his mind.
He had somehow died and found himself in this space, where the being in front of him had decided to have some fun with him while also giving him a second chance at life.
It wasn't that he remembered it; it was that he simply knew it now.
A second chance, eh? Well, if he didn't have an impression of the being in front of him before, he certainly had a much better one now.
But a second chance at life in exchange for his memories? That didn't seem right.
"Without my memories, what difference is there between being alive and being dead?"
The being looked at him and seemed to notice the misunderstanding.
"Oh no, the second chance was free; your bet was different. In reality, it all started when you realized where you were heading. It doesn't make sense to tell you now since you won't remember it anyway, but you got a bit panicky at that moment, when I mentioned that I would give you three advantages and three disadvantages You seemed a little happier, but after the cards were on the table, you went back to panicking. You didn't like the outcome."
So, the place where he would have his second life was so bad that it had made him a little upset, and when his advantages and disadvantages, not that he knew what those were beyond the literal meaning of the words, came to light, he panicked?
So, he assumed that things had turned against him.
"Three disadvantages... I suppose I bet to change them in some way, didn't I?"
A smile formed by thousands of stars appeared on the being's "face"
"Even without memories, you remain astute. Yes, you made a bet with me. In exchange for removing two of the disadvantages, you decided to enhance one at random, a roll of the dice, so to speak. Only one of the disadvantages would stay, and in return, it would be enhanced."
Daniel understood then.
"One of the disadvantages had to do with my memories, right? It must have been a partial information wipe, but when it was enhanced, it turned into a total erasure of personal memories. That's why I can still speak and function like a human being, even though I don't even remember where I learned many of the things I unconsciously should know to maintain this conversation. So, even with that, the bet was worth it. That means one or both of the disadvantages that disappeared were bad enough for me to choose to bet on the less harmful disadvantage."
The being applauded.
"Right as always! That's why I like you; you're quick at grasping things. Yes, you bet on the least catastrophic disadvantage, a one-in-three chance! Although your luck was terrible, you managed to improve it a bit in the end, even if you're no longer the same person"
Well, if this was the best of three, then he would take it.
As mentioned, he was no longer the same as he used to be. Without his memories, he was someone different. So, had he just been born? Only a legacy, so to speak, or even a remnant of someone else.
Looking around at the distant galaxies and stars being born and dying, he couldn't help but smile.
He didn't know how he had learned what stars were, the information he had about them, or galaxies or the universe. But he supposed being born among them wasn't so bad; at least the view was stunning.
"So, what are my advantages?" He had already accepted his disadvantage, so it was time to find out what good things he would have with him.
"Mmm, who knows?~" There was amusement in those words, and suddenly, Daniel no longer felt so relaxed.
"What do you mean?" he asked, but a sense of foreboding had already settled within him.
"You made a bet, you won, and you paid the price. If I gave you the information you want, wouldn't I be breaking that deal?" The being asked with a twisted smile that only looked stranger on its starry skin.
Daniel pondered. So, that was it, huh? He couldn't even know what good things he carried with him until he discovered them on his own?
That could be a challenge.
"I won't even ask about where I'm going." the being didn't bother to respond, he sighing accepted these facts.
"I guess I'll manage."
"That's the spirit! Good luck, and remember to live your life to the fullest! Don't die too soon, or that'll be boring."
With movements that a trained cheerleader would make, Daniel watched the strange being move. It had a good figure, yet it was peculiar due to being the "universe" or something like that. Still, the curves were there, and that was all he needed.
So, he looked, enjoying the view,, he wondered if his previous self had left these kinds of preferences in him or they were just in him from the beginning.
"Probably the latter."
"Hey! Staring like that is rude!" The being crossed its arms in front of its chest, like a nervous schoolgirl with red supernovas exploding on its cheeks like a blush. Its arms pressed against its chest, making them shine even more at the same time that it accentuated them due to their size and the pressure on them, instead of hiding them as Daniel assumed was its intention. It seemed embarrassed, and if it weren't for that playful smile on its face, Daniel might have actually believed it.
That's why he looked harder and without blinking, not bothering with things like shame or courtesy. It's not every day you get a free show, and in every sense, this was the first he had since he was born, or re-born?
"Tch! Truly, your core is that of a pervert. I guess you hid it well with all those layers of personality." The being dropped its act, but the blush was still there, and he supposed that was real. Then, it approached, stretching its hand in front of Daniel's face.
"Until you die again, Daniel, no-Daniel!~"
Then everything went dark.
.
.
.
.
.
.
And then he woke up lying on a pile of trash.
"Is this petty revenge?" Daniel no-Daniel muttered, smelling the rotten food and a heap of different but equally unpleasant odors, he couldn't help but furrow his brows.
Daniel no-Daniel decided that if he saw that being again, he'd look even closer just to annoy it, maybe even pinch something.
"So, I'm petty too, good to know." Discovering things about yourself was interesting.
In a way, it was like getting a new car without a manual and learning something new about it every moment.
Although he would never know, he had never owned a car... or had he?
He decided that when he could, he would get a car just to say he did.
He looked at the sky, a bright and blue sky.
He brushed off his clothes, He didn't know he had clothes!
It seemed that his dignity would be preserved; it would have been a bit uncomfortable to walk around naked.
He was wearing a simple black shirt with blue jeans and work boots. Nothing too remarkable, which was fine.
"New life, new world, I suppose."
Now, what was he supposed to do?
Before he could think too much about it, there was the sound of a small explosion, and he felt something hit his head, causing it to jerk to the side. Then, there was a strange sensation, as if all the force of the impact spread throughout his body to the core.
On the other hand, to his sense of touch, it felt like he had been lightly slapped, and it stung for a brief moment, but the pain quickly dissipated when he felt that surge of "energy" briefly flow through his body.
"What the hell?" He rubbed his head and felt something slightly embedded in his skin.
He picked it up and saw that it was a small crushed metallic object, and it felt vaguely familiar.
"This is a bullet!?"
Then there were more gunshots, but they weren't aimed directly at him, But they were close, at least close enough for a stray bullet to reach him.
He looked towards the direction of the sounds and then at the bullet in his hand.
"Well, I'm bulletproof, and I would have died if I weren't," he didn't like that. He had just been born and was already going to die?
"If I'm bulletproof, then those guys are screwed," he didn't know who shot at him or why they were shooting.
But honestly, he didn't care. It had hurt a bit and almost ended his newly started life.
So he was going to go there and see what was happening. If they only had small pistols, he would beat them up, but if he saw something like a shotgun, he would turn around and strategically retreat.
Hey, bulletproof or not, it still hurt, and as far as his short existence had told him, he wasn't a masochist.
Or was he?... Hmm, no, he wasn't.
So he started running towards there, The sounds were receding quickly after all.
His pace quickly increased, and with each step he took, the next one was stronger and firmer. He felt that "energy" sensation inside him again, acting with every footfall, energy spreading from where his feet touched the ground. Before he knew it, he took a step that broke the concrete.
.
.
.
Left? No, they come that way.
Right, then.
Turn that corner, crouch down now, roll on the ground at this moment.
She heard, saw, and felt everything around her like never before, even since she gained her power.
It seemed like adrenaline had temporarily heightened her analytical abilities, and she was honestly grateful for that, even if she felt a headache coming on.
Stop, now move. She took two steps to the left as the sound indicated that a bullet would hit to her right, then she moved to the left again.
Like a game of cat and mouse, except the mouse could analyze everything around her to keep running.
But not forever, and the cat seemed capable of finding her no matter what she did.
Her lungs burned, her feet burned, and sweat dripped from her forehead.
Camera ahead, then she hides in the blind spot.
She ran through the alleyways, dodging the trash and taking shortcuts that only someone extremely familiar with the place could know, even though she had never been there before.
Her power analyzing every image, sound, and sensation, searching for the path that would get her out of this mess, Turn left.
Then she was trapped... wait, what?
Lisa looked at the dead-end alley with a pale face. How?! Why?! Her power shouldn't have led her to this place!
She turned around to run, but her body froze.
A mercenary entered running, the barrel of his assault rifle rising towards her in slow motion.
Her brain started to overload, trying to find a way to escape, and her power became useless due to the headache that was starting to hit her.
It's over... her knees almost turned to jelly, and she felt like she would collapse to the ground out of desperation.
Then a blur fell from the sky, and the mercenary was sent flying out of the alley, crashing into two other mercenaries who were following him.
"That's for shooting at me!"
.
Bad news? They weren't just small pistols, but damn assault rifles!
Good news? It was bulletproof from assault rifles!
Bad news again? They were chasing a cute girl.
Good news? It seemed that he was not only bulletproof but also strong, damn strong.
At one point, he took such a powerful step that he jumped four meters and reached the top of the buildings, deciding to move from there.
So when he saw the girl being cornered, he jumped down from above and with a strong blow, sent a man flying several meters and even caused those behind him to fall.
"Time to run!" Without thinking, he quickly spun around, grabbed the girl, and carried her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes.
Bulletproof or not, he didn't want to be shot again.
"W-wait?!" the girl screamed, but he ignored her and jumped with great force, incredibly high, he jumped damn high!
"Ahhh!"
"Ahhhhhhh!?"
.
.
.
.
.
.
Note:
[Spin-off] of Still Defiant, but you don't need to read that story for this, the only thing they have in common is how the protagonist arrives in another world and why, besides the protagonist, but that is questionable at this point due to all that memory erasure stuff.
Maybe if you want a clearer picture of the intentions of the mysterious being, you can read Chapter 1 of Still Defiant, but again, it's not necessary.
This story will have slower updates
He blinks, looks around, slowly awakening. It was like being in a sea of stars, where the universe lay before him like a perfectly painted canvas, clear to his eyes.
He was seated in an invisible chair, watching as a galaxy was formed and another was destroyed.
For a moment, his perception of reality almost twisted, but somehow it remained clear as if it were an extrasensory experience.
He could feel everything, be everything, and nothing at the same time, as if there were a filter protecting his mind.
"You've awakened~" the strange voice pulled him from his thoughts, and he looked.
That was... a strange being. He couldn't associate it with anything other than the vast universe around him, as its feminine body seemed like a crystal reflecting the space they were in.
No, it was the other way around. That being was the universe, and the place they were in only reflected it.
How did he know that?
"You have many questions, unfortunately for you, you've already asked them all, and they've all been answered. But this time, you had very bad luck, Daniel."
Daniel? Was that his name? But was that his entire name? Why couldn't he remember it? Why couldn't he remember anything?
"Bad luck in your draw, you lost your memory, but hey, that bet was worth it, although I'm not sure if you'd think the same now that you're no longer entirely yourself."
Bet? Confusion, his mind was nothing but confusion.
The being sighed, looking at him, shaking its head.
"You are no longer 'you,' but at the same time, you still are. Unfortunate, yet intriguing. I wonder what kind of path you will take now that only the most basic part of your being remains."
Daniel? Yes, Daniel, because he couldn't associate any other name with himself. He thought about the words of the being.
He had made a bet, and somehow that had caused him to lose all his memories? How then had that bet been worth it, as the being in front of him claimed?
Well, if his memories were rubbish, maybe he did, but he couldn't know now.
"What did I win?"
"Uh?"
"What did I win with the bet? What was the price for my memories?" If he had essentially raped his own brain, there should be something good in return, right?
"Oh! Yes, hahaha, I guess you can know. In reality, you are dead." With that, a series of information appeared in his mind.
He had somehow died and found himself in this space, where the being in front of him had decided to have some fun with him while also giving him a second chance at life.
It wasn't that he remembered it; it was that he simply knew it now.
A second chance, eh? Well, if he didn't have an impression of the being in front of him before, he certainly had a much better one now.
But a second chance at life in exchange for his memories? That didn't seem right.
"Without my memories, what difference is there between being alive and being dead?"
The being looked at him and seemed to notice the misunderstanding.
"Oh no, the second chance was free; your bet was different. In reality, it all started when you realized where you were heading. It doesn't make sense to tell you now since you won't remember it anyway, but you got a bit panicky at that moment, when I mentioned that I would give you three advantages and three disadvantages You seemed a little happier, but after the cards were on the table, you went back to panicking. You didn't like the outcome."
So, the place where he would have his second life was so bad that it had made him a little upset, and when his advantages and disadvantages, not that he knew what those were beyond the literal meaning of the words, came to light, he panicked?
So, he assumed that things had turned against him.
"Three disadvantages... I suppose I bet to change them in some way, didn't I?"
A smile formed by thousands of stars appeared on the being's "face"
"Even without memories, you remain astute. Yes, you made a bet with me. In exchange for removing two of the disadvantages, you decided to enhance one at random, a roll of the dice, so to speak. Only one of the disadvantages would stay, and in return, it would be enhanced."
Daniel understood then.
"One of the disadvantages had to do with my memories, right? It must have been a partial information wipe, but when it was enhanced, it turned into a total erasure of personal memories. That's why I can still speak and function like a human being, even though I don't even remember where I learned many of the things I unconsciously should know to maintain this conversation. So, even with that, the bet was worth it. That means one or both of the disadvantages that disappeared were bad enough for me to choose to bet on the less harmful disadvantage."
The being applauded.
"Right as always! That's why I like you; you're quick at grasping things. Yes, you bet on the least catastrophic disadvantage, a one-in-three chance! Although your luck was terrible, you managed to improve it a bit in the end, even if you're no longer the same person"
Well, if this was the best of three, then he would take it.
As mentioned, he was no longer the same as he used to be. Without his memories, he was someone different. So, had he just been born? Only a legacy, so to speak, or even a remnant of someone else.
Looking around at the distant galaxies and stars being born and dying, he couldn't help but smile.
He didn't know how he had learned what stars were, the information he had about them, or galaxies or the universe. But he supposed being born among them wasn't so bad; at least the view was stunning.
"So, what are my advantages?" He had already accepted his disadvantage, so it was time to find out what good things he would have with him.
"Mmm, who knows?~" There was amusement in those words, and suddenly, Daniel no longer felt so relaxed.
"What do you mean?" he asked, but a sense of foreboding had already settled within him.
"You made a bet, you won, and you paid the price. If I gave you the information you want, wouldn't I be breaking that deal?" The being asked with a twisted smile that only looked stranger on its starry skin.
Daniel pondered. So, that was it, huh? He couldn't even know what good things he carried with him until he discovered them on his own?
That could be a challenge.
"I won't even ask about where I'm going." the being didn't bother to respond, he sighing accepted these facts.
"I guess I'll manage."
"That's the spirit! Good luck, and remember to live your life to the fullest! Don't die too soon, or that'll be boring."
With movements that a trained cheerleader would make, Daniel watched the strange being move. It had a good figure, yet it was peculiar due to being the "universe" or something like that. Still, the curves were there, and that was all he needed.
So, he looked, enjoying the view,, he wondered if his previous self had left these kinds of preferences in him or they were just in him from the beginning.
"Probably the latter."
"Hey! Staring like that is rude!" The being crossed its arms in front of its chest, like a nervous schoolgirl with red supernovas exploding on its cheeks like a blush. Its arms pressed against its chest, making them shine even more at the same time that it accentuated them due to their size and the pressure on them, instead of hiding them as Daniel assumed was its intention. It seemed embarrassed, and if it weren't for that playful smile on its face, Daniel might have actually believed it.
That's why he looked harder and without blinking, not bothering with things like shame or courtesy. It's not every day you get a free show, and in every sense, this was the first he had since he was born, or re-born?
"Tch! Truly, your core is that of a pervert. I guess you hid it well with all those layers of personality." The being dropped its act, but the blush was still there, and he supposed that was real. Then, it approached, stretching its hand in front of Daniel's face.
"Until you die again, Daniel, no-Daniel!~"
Then everything went dark.
.
.
.
.
.
.
And then he woke up lying on a pile of trash.
"Is this petty revenge?" Daniel no-Daniel muttered, smelling the rotten food and a heap of different but equally unpleasant odors, he couldn't help but furrow his brows.
Daniel no-Daniel decided that if he saw that being again, he'd look even closer just to annoy it, maybe even pinch something.
"So, I'm petty too, good to know." Discovering things about yourself was interesting.
In a way, it was like getting a new car without a manual and learning something new about it every moment.
Although he would never know, he had never owned a car... or had he?
He decided that when he could, he would get a car just to say he did.
He looked at the sky, a bright and blue sky.
He brushed off his clothes, He didn't know he had clothes!
It seemed that his dignity would be preserved; it would have been a bit uncomfortable to walk around naked.
He was wearing a simple black shirt with blue jeans and work boots. Nothing too remarkable, which was fine.
"New life, new world, I suppose."
Now, what was he supposed to do?
Before he could think too much about it, there was the sound of a small explosion, and he felt something hit his head, causing it to jerk to the side. Then, there was a strange sensation, as if all the force of the impact spread throughout his body to the core.
On the other hand, to his sense of touch, it felt like he had been lightly slapped, and it stung for a brief moment, but the pain quickly dissipated when he felt that surge of "energy" briefly flow through his body.
"What the hell?" He rubbed his head and felt something slightly embedded in his skin.
He picked it up and saw that it was a small crushed metallic object, and it felt vaguely familiar.
"This is a bullet!?"
Then there were more gunshots, but they weren't aimed directly at him, But they were close, at least close enough for a stray bullet to reach him.
He looked towards the direction of the sounds and then at the bullet in his hand.
"Well, I'm bulletproof, and I would have died if I weren't," he didn't like that. He had just been born and was already going to die?
"If I'm bulletproof, then those guys are screwed," he didn't know who shot at him or why they were shooting.
But honestly, he didn't care. It had hurt a bit and almost ended his newly started life.
So he was going to go there and see what was happening. If they only had small pistols, he would beat them up, but if he saw something like a shotgun, he would turn around and strategically retreat.
Hey, bulletproof or not, it still hurt, and as far as his short existence had told him, he wasn't a masochist.
Or was he?... Hmm, no, he wasn't.
So he started running towards there, The sounds were receding quickly after all.
His pace quickly increased, and with each step he took, the next one was stronger and firmer. He felt that "energy" sensation inside him again, acting with every footfall, energy spreading from where his feet touched the ground. Before he knew it, he took a step that broke the concrete.
.
.
.
Left? No, they come that way.
Right, then.
Turn that corner, crouch down now, roll on the ground at this moment.
She heard, saw, and felt everything around her like never before, even since she gained her power.
It seemed like adrenaline had temporarily heightened her analytical abilities, and she was honestly grateful for that, even if she felt a headache coming on.
Stop, now move. She took two steps to the left as the sound indicated that a bullet would hit to her right, then she moved to the left again.
Like a game of cat and mouse, except the mouse could analyze everything around her to keep running.
But not forever, and the cat seemed capable of finding her no matter what she did.
Her lungs burned, her feet burned, and sweat dripped from her forehead.
Camera ahead, then she hides in the blind spot.
She ran through the alleyways, dodging the trash and taking shortcuts that only someone extremely familiar with the place could know, even though she had never been there before.
Her power analyzing every image, sound, and sensation, searching for the path that would get her out of this mess, Turn left.
Then she was trapped... wait, what?
Lisa looked at the dead-end alley with a pale face. How?! Why?! Her power shouldn't have led her to this place!
She turned around to run, but her body froze.
A mercenary entered running, the barrel of his assault rifle rising towards her in slow motion.
Her brain started to overload, trying to find a way to escape, and her power became useless due to the headache that was starting to hit her.
It's over... her knees almost turned to jelly, and she felt like she would collapse to the ground out of desperation.
Then a blur fell from the sky, and the mercenary was sent flying out of the alley, crashing into two other mercenaries who were following him.
"That's for shooting at me!"
.
Bad news? They weren't just small pistols, but damn assault rifles!
Good news? It was bulletproof from assault rifles!
Bad news again? They were chasing a cute girl.
Good news? It seemed that he was not only bulletproof but also strong, damn strong.
At one point, he took such a powerful step that he jumped four meters and reached the top of the buildings, deciding to move from there.
So when he saw the girl being cornered, he jumped down from above and with a strong blow, sent a man flying several meters and even caused those behind him to fall.
"Time to run!" Without thinking, he quickly spun around, grabbed the girl, and carried her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes.
Bulletproof or not, he didn't want to be shot again.
"W-wait?!" the girl screamed, but he ignored her and jumped with great force, incredibly high, he jumped damn high!
"Ahhh!"
"Ahhhhhhh!?"
.
.
.
.
.
.
Note:
[Spin-off] of Still Defiant, but you don't need to read that story for this, the only thing they have in common is how the protagonist arrives in another world and why, besides the protagonist, but that is questionable at this point due to all that memory erasure stuff.
Maybe if you want a clearer picture of the intentions of the mysterious being, you can read Chapter 1 of Still Defiant, but again, it's not necessary.
This story will have slower updates
2.2 Tentative allies
- Location
- Eart
2.2 Tentative allies
Blurry, everything was blurry!
Lisa could barely blink due to the sudden, rapid movement as they exited the alley.
Her body trembled, and a scream escaped her, just as it did from the boy who had saved her. If it were possible, Lisa would have wanted to look at him to deduce why he had come out of nowhere to rescue her, but the headache and the swift, jerky movements didn't give her that chance.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
A series of rapid shots followed them, and Lisa almost paled when she saw one of those bullets hit the boy's arm, only for the bullet to flatten as if the steel it was made of was clay, and the boy's arm steel.
"Damn!" the boy shouted, and Lisa felt herself being picked up again. Her vision disoriented when she found herself now being carried in a princess position, with bullets striking the boy's back.
She curled up even more to protect herself behind his body. If he was bulletproof, then who was she to get in his way?
Despite her headache, Lisa still glanced outside to assess the overall situation.
At least three vehicles were pursuing them, and there were at least twenty mercenaries on the ground, firing at them.
In the distance, she could see four more vehicles and probably many more mercenaries hidden somewhere.
She quickly activated her power and began to search. They needed to lose them, they needed to escape.
Now that it wasn't just her running, and she was in an elevated position, she could focus better.
"There, go that way!" She pointed, and the boy quickly nodded, heading down the indicated path.
Unbeknownst to Lisa, something strange was happening with her power.
Focused as she was on escaping, she couldn't realize this.
The sound of engines, tires on the asphalt, and rapid gunfire filled Lisa's ears.
'More hostility? They're more aggressive now. Why?' she wanted to know, but a sudden jolt interrupted her thoughts, making her stomach churn.
'Think later, preferably when not escaping'
She refocused and continued guiding their path, slowly losing most of their pursuers.
Of course, that was when one of them decided that pulling out a Tinker weapon in broad daylight was a good idea.
She barely had time to blink when she saw a one-meter-wide dark red energy beam strike his savior's head.
All color drained from Lisa's face, and for a moment, she thought it was over.
Of course, that was when the beam disappeared, and an angry face greeted her. There was no damage beyond the smoke that emerged, but even if there was smoke, nothing was burnt.
"Motherfucker!! They shot me with a laser beam!?"
Lisa didn't know if he was asking her, but if he was, she didn't have time to respond. The boy stomped the ground they were on with force, and suddenly, they sped towards the mercenary who had pulled out the Tinker weapon.
The mercenary tried to fire again, but the sole of a boot struck his face, sending him crashing to the ground.
It wasn't until they were over the mercenary that the boy realized there were five more surrounding them, and all of them had Tinker weapons.
"Uh oh... hold on tight!" Lisa would have appreciated a much earlier warning.
Her stomach churned again when suddenly they were in the sky, laser beams striking the spot where they had been before.
.
The wind hit his face, his eyes felt the currents of air, but unlike how it should normally be, his eyes didn't feel irritated or dry.
It was strange, somehow he knew that air at high speeds directly impacting his eyeballs should be something bad.
But it wasn't.
In fact, it felt quite refreshing.
Bang! His feet landed on the roof of a 6-story building, he let out a sigh and couldn't help but look back. The place he jumped from was at least a few hundred meters away. It wasn't a vertical jump, it was a horizontal one! Yet he jumped so high that he reached the roof of a building.
Considering everything else he had figured out, at least in part, what one of those advantages was.
Certainly, he didn't believe he was bulletproof and laser-proof before.
"Y-you!" the girl in his arms squirmed, her body trembling, and he assumed it was because of the abrupt movement they had been making.
"Oh, wait!" Daniel tried to lower her and put her on her feet, but her face was green, and he didn't realize the problem in time until suddenly she leaned over him and started vomiting.
"Shit!"
"Ugh!"
His nice boots suddenly found themselves covered in vomit.
.
Lisa thought she wanted to live a lot, she really thought she wanted to live, but right now, she felt that dying wouldn't be so bad.
Why?! Why did she have to vomit!
The problem wasn't just the act itself, on top of that, her cursed power decided to tell her in detail everything that came out of her and to which horrible taste in her mouth each belonged.
"Uh, that doesn't look good"
The voice irritated her a little, and without being able to stop it, her mouth spoke before she could hold it back.
"D-Don't tell me, Sherlock, do you-?!" what should have been a verbal attack using the information her power gave her to psychologically destroy the person in front of her didn't happen.
Because she couldn't see anything.
When she turned to look at him, her power simply shut off, as if it had decided to fall asleep when that should be impossible.
Her power never shut off!
Lisa found herself speechless when she realized she couldn't use her power to gather information about the person in front of her.
She should have noticed it earlier! Why didn't she notice it before?! Oh right, they were escaping.
"Okay, we should probably get you some water. Uh, although I'm not sure how we could..." the boy spoke, but before he could continue, something moving at high speeds impacted against his head, producing a thunderous impact sound and even some small electric arcs.
The boy blinked and brought his hand to the side of his skull where a strange bullet had forcefully hit.
"T-That! That's a projectile from a tinker-tech rail cannon! They're bringing out more tinker weapons. We need to go!"
Without hesitation, Lisa spat on the ground and launched herself towards the boy, who caught her in mid-air and cradled her in his arms.
"What?" the boy looked at her in astonishment, and Lisa quickly urged him.
"Let's go! Run, what are you waiting for?!" The boy reacted quickly.
"Right, escape!" And so, Lisa was grateful that she hadn't eaten too much that day because she would have vomited again later.
.
Daniel and Lisa landed in a dark and dirty alley, it was also narrow. A rat was even biting into a garbage bag not far from them.
The small animal scurried away upon seeing them arrive.
Lisa, the young blonde, leaned against a wall, holding her stomach. Daniel glanced at her for a second and then turned away. He had found her attractive before, but now she didn't look so pretty, so he averted his gaze to prevent his image of her from being tarnished any further.
Not like his boots, at least...
"W-We lost them. They shouldn't be able to find us here" Lisa said, her voice tinged with exhaustion. They had to flee to the most dreadful part of the city, where the merchants resided. It wasn't a good place, and Lisa would never have wanted to come here alone.
Fortunately for her, she wasn't alone this time, so she decided to come to this godforsaken place to get rid of those mercenaries.
Daniel sighed and nodded, feeling his shirt, now riddled with bullet holes and a part burned by lasers.
He hadn't expected to start his second life this way.
He took off his shirt. Walking without it was better than having it on as nothing more than tattered fabric. He looked at his body. Uh, if this was his original body, then his previous self was certainly in shape, at least better than average, although he couldn't exactly know what the average was in this world.
Daniel felt someone's gaze on him and saw Lisa intensely scanning him. It was as if she expected to see through him or something. He almost felt naked, but it was probably just the lack of a shirt.
To tease her, he flexed his muscles, and that made her realize that he had caught her staring at him.
"Take a picture, although it'll be less satisfying than seeing it in person" he said, laughing, and she scoffed, shaking her head.
"Who are you? Why did you save me?" For the first time in a long time, Lisa found herself unable to know the answer before it was given to her.
Daniel thought about it. Why did he help her?
"You're beautiful" he could only answer honestly.
"Wh-what?" The girl seemed bewildered by his response, even stuttering a bit, which only reaffirmed Daniel's opinion that she was indeed beautiful.
"And one of those guys' bullets hit me while I was relaxing in a pile of garbage, so I decided to see what was going on. When I saw that they had cornered you, I simply decided to mess with them"
That seemed like a more satisfying answer for her, although it seemed to intensify her gaze on him.
Then she seemed to deflate and let out a long sigh, averting her gaze from him.
"I managed to avoid most of the cameras, and you moved fast enough that regular people couldn't see our faces properly. But this mess will surely be in the news soon, so we should lay low" she seemed to hesitate for a moment before seeming to make up her mind and continue speaking.
"No, I haven't heard of you, so you must be new in the city, right? You don't even have a mask, so you should be a recent trigger? You certainly didn't seem to fully know your abilities while running, so you must be... new. Damn, this is easier when I use my power" she seemed frustrated, and Daniel would have been concerned about that, but his attention was caught by the words "my power."
"You have powers?" His question brought her attention back to him, and she reluctantly nodded.
"There's no point in hiding it from you since you saved me from all this mess, and you could probably figure it out on your own, Anyway getting back to the point, if you don't have a place to stay... you can come with me" she finally said, and Daniel pondered it.
"Well, I really have nowhere to go, and I certainly don't want to sleep among piles of garbage" he looked at her and smiled, "and you probably want me close to help you against whoever is chasing you, right?" That seemed to catch her by surprise. Did she not expect him to see through something so obvious?
She seemed thoughtful before nodding slowly.
"Yes, I'm not a great fighter as you can see, and whoever is chasing me won't stop now that they know my real identity, so I need... protection" she reluctantly admitted.
Daniel nodded and said, "Well, if you have a place where I can sleep and you can get me something to eat, consider it a deal" He didn't really need anything else for now, plus he wanted to learn more about this world. What better way to do that than by asking someone? And about that power, he wanted to know more about that too. Were there more people with powers out there?
"Believe me, I can do a lot more for you than you think, you just have to help me too."
With that, they shook hands in a tentative agreement. They would see how things go from here.
.
.
.
"Damn it!" there was a crunching sound as hands slammed on the keyboard on the desk.
Coil glared at the screens in front of him with fury. He almost had her! With her, his plans would have been even more perfect. He just had to turn her into his obedient pet. But then a variant appeared, and everything went to hell.
His power suddenly spiraled out of control, and the second timeline became difficult to see. It was as if a filter had suddenly blinded him partially. He could still see things, but when he tried to see the person who ruined everything, it was as if someone suddenly covered his eyes.
He was forced to shut down his power, and the feeling it left him with was frustrating enough for him to order his men to shoot to kill. Whatever was interfering with his power couldn't be allowed to continue.
Of course, his men weren't able to eliminate the threat in time, and now it was nowhere to be found. His power was functioning normally again, but that sense of helplessness made his teeth grind.
If something like that happened again at the wrong moment, it could destroy everything he had worked for.
No! He had to destroy it, no matter what or the cost.
.
.
.
"Phew, so this is a safe house" Daniel looked around the place. It wasn't too big, but it was spacious enough for the two of them. There was a living room, a television, a kitchen, a bathroom, and a bedroom.
"It's the only safe house they don't seem to know about. I checked, so we should be safe for now" Lisa quickly pulled out a computer from the bedroom and started using it.
"My bank accounts are fine, so they didn't track me there. I haven't made any major purchases either, so it wasn't through that... then, of course! The stock market, how stupid!" Lisa seemed lost in her own world, so Daniel went to the fridge and opened it.
There wasn't much, but upon thorough searching, he found a pack of frozen burritos and decided that would be enough for now.
Fortunately, there was a microwave.
"I'm covering our tracks. There were some people who recorded something, but nothing too clear. The PRT doesn't have anything so far, but they're already conducting an investigation. If the involvement of a parahuman is confirmed, things could get a bit problematic, but I can easily divert their attention" Daniel made sounds of understanding, but he didn't pay much attention.
He heated up his burritos and sat in front of the television, searching for and finding a remote control to turn it on.
"An unknown armed group caused chaos on the streets of Brockton Bay at noon. Reports indicate possible involvement of a parahuman, but-"
He changed the channel until he found some cartoons that seemed entertaining.
"Alright! I've completely covered our tracks" Lisa said, sighing. She then turned to look at Daniel and found him paying zero attention while watching a cat chase a mouse on the television.
"Hey!" she called out.
Daniel turned to look at her and nodded.
"Uh, great job. Although honestly, I have no idea what a parahuman, PRT, and all that stuff is" Daniel admitted honestly.
"What?" Lisa looked at him with confusion, and that intense gaze returned as if she was trying to see beyond the surface of his person, but it didn't seem to work.
"Come on, it's time for a talk" Daniel patted the empty spot next to him on the couch, and she raised an eyebrow but, overcome by her curiosity, she decided to go and sit down.
"So, it's possible that I've just arrived in this world" he admitted, and she blinked, but she didn't see the disbelief or amazement she expected. Instead, she seemed thoughtful.
"Are you from Earth-Aleph?" she asked as if the fact that there were other Earths was common knowledge.
"Uh, something like that. To put it simply, I'm not from here, so I don't know how things work, so it would be great if you could explain it to me" Daniel replied.
Lisa pondered his words deeply. There were many questions she wanted to ask Daniel, and if her power would just work as it was supposed to, she would already have the answers. Unfortunately, she had to resort to the old and boring human method of asking and waiting for a response, trying to see if it was true or not.
So far, he didn't seem to be lying, and even though her power wasn't working, she still had experience in reading people, so she could still see something. It was a poor consolation, but she would take it.
"Well, I have some time, so I'll educate you a bit" she decided. If they were going to be allies, it was better for him to know how and why things worked the way they did.
And so, they began to talk.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Blurry, everything was blurry!
Lisa could barely blink due to the sudden, rapid movement as they exited the alley.
Her body trembled, and a scream escaped her, just as it did from the boy who had saved her. If it were possible, Lisa would have wanted to look at him to deduce why he had come out of nowhere to rescue her, but the headache and the swift, jerky movements didn't give her that chance.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
A series of rapid shots followed them, and Lisa almost paled when she saw one of those bullets hit the boy's arm, only for the bullet to flatten as if the steel it was made of was clay, and the boy's arm steel.
"Damn!" the boy shouted, and Lisa felt herself being picked up again. Her vision disoriented when she found herself now being carried in a princess position, with bullets striking the boy's back.
She curled up even more to protect herself behind his body. If he was bulletproof, then who was she to get in his way?
Despite her headache, Lisa still glanced outside to assess the overall situation.
At least three vehicles were pursuing them, and there were at least twenty mercenaries on the ground, firing at them.
In the distance, she could see four more vehicles and probably many more mercenaries hidden somewhere.
She quickly activated her power and began to search. They needed to lose them, they needed to escape.
Now that it wasn't just her running, and she was in an elevated position, she could focus better.
"There, go that way!" She pointed, and the boy quickly nodded, heading down the indicated path.
Unbeknownst to Lisa, something strange was happening with her power.
Focused as she was on escaping, she couldn't realize this.
The sound of engines, tires on the asphalt, and rapid gunfire filled Lisa's ears.
'More hostility? They're more aggressive now. Why?' she wanted to know, but a sudden jolt interrupted her thoughts, making her stomach churn.
'Think later, preferably when not escaping'
She refocused and continued guiding their path, slowly losing most of their pursuers.
Of course, that was when one of them decided that pulling out a Tinker weapon in broad daylight was a good idea.
She barely had time to blink when she saw a one-meter-wide dark red energy beam strike his savior's head.
All color drained from Lisa's face, and for a moment, she thought it was over.
Of course, that was when the beam disappeared, and an angry face greeted her. There was no damage beyond the smoke that emerged, but even if there was smoke, nothing was burnt.
"Motherfucker!! They shot me with a laser beam!?"
Lisa didn't know if he was asking her, but if he was, she didn't have time to respond. The boy stomped the ground they were on with force, and suddenly, they sped towards the mercenary who had pulled out the Tinker weapon.
The mercenary tried to fire again, but the sole of a boot struck his face, sending him crashing to the ground.
It wasn't until they were over the mercenary that the boy realized there were five more surrounding them, and all of them had Tinker weapons.
"Uh oh... hold on tight!" Lisa would have appreciated a much earlier warning.
Her stomach churned again when suddenly they were in the sky, laser beams striking the spot where they had been before.
.
The wind hit his face, his eyes felt the currents of air, but unlike how it should normally be, his eyes didn't feel irritated or dry.
It was strange, somehow he knew that air at high speeds directly impacting his eyeballs should be something bad.
But it wasn't.
In fact, it felt quite refreshing.
Bang! His feet landed on the roof of a 6-story building, he let out a sigh and couldn't help but look back. The place he jumped from was at least a few hundred meters away. It wasn't a vertical jump, it was a horizontal one! Yet he jumped so high that he reached the roof of a building.
Considering everything else he had figured out, at least in part, what one of those advantages was.
Certainly, he didn't believe he was bulletproof and laser-proof before.
"Y-you!" the girl in his arms squirmed, her body trembling, and he assumed it was because of the abrupt movement they had been making.
"Oh, wait!" Daniel tried to lower her and put her on her feet, but her face was green, and he didn't realize the problem in time until suddenly she leaned over him and started vomiting.
"Shit!"
"Ugh!"
His nice boots suddenly found themselves covered in vomit.
.
Lisa thought she wanted to live a lot, she really thought she wanted to live, but right now, she felt that dying wouldn't be so bad.
Why?! Why did she have to vomit!
The problem wasn't just the act itself, on top of that, her cursed power decided to tell her in detail everything that came out of her and to which horrible taste in her mouth each belonged.
"Uh, that doesn't look good"
The voice irritated her a little, and without being able to stop it, her mouth spoke before she could hold it back.
"D-Don't tell me, Sherlock, do you-?!" what should have been a verbal attack using the information her power gave her to psychologically destroy the person in front of her didn't happen.
Because she couldn't see anything.
When she turned to look at him, her power simply shut off, as if it had decided to fall asleep when that should be impossible.
Her power never shut off!
Lisa found herself speechless when she realized she couldn't use her power to gather information about the person in front of her.
She should have noticed it earlier! Why didn't she notice it before?! Oh right, they were escaping.
"Okay, we should probably get you some water. Uh, although I'm not sure how we could..." the boy spoke, but before he could continue, something moving at high speeds impacted against his head, producing a thunderous impact sound and even some small electric arcs.
The boy blinked and brought his hand to the side of his skull where a strange bullet had forcefully hit.
"T-That! That's a projectile from a tinker-tech rail cannon! They're bringing out more tinker weapons. We need to go!"
Without hesitation, Lisa spat on the ground and launched herself towards the boy, who caught her in mid-air and cradled her in his arms.
"What?" the boy looked at her in astonishment, and Lisa quickly urged him.
"Let's go! Run, what are you waiting for?!" The boy reacted quickly.
"Right, escape!" And so, Lisa was grateful that she hadn't eaten too much that day because she would have vomited again later.
.
Daniel and Lisa landed in a dark and dirty alley, it was also narrow. A rat was even biting into a garbage bag not far from them.
The small animal scurried away upon seeing them arrive.
Lisa, the young blonde, leaned against a wall, holding her stomach. Daniel glanced at her for a second and then turned away. He had found her attractive before, but now she didn't look so pretty, so he averted his gaze to prevent his image of her from being tarnished any further.
Not like his boots, at least...
"W-We lost them. They shouldn't be able to find us here" Lisa said, her voice tinged with exhaustion. They had to flee to the most dreadful part of the city, where the merchants resided. It wasn't a good place, and Lisa would never have wanted to come here alone.
Fortunately for her, she wasn't alone this time, so she decided to come to this godforsaken place to get rid of those mercenaries.
Daniel sighed and nodded, feeling his shirt, now riddled with bullet holes and a part burned by lasers.
He hadn't expected to start his second life this way.
He took off his shirt. Walking without it was better than having it on as nothing more than tattered fabric. He looked at his body. Uh, if this was his original body, then his previous self was certainly in shape, at least better than average, although he couldn't exactly know what the average was in this world.
Daniel felt someone's gaze on him and saw Lisa intensely scanning him. It was as if she expected to see through him or something. He almost felt naked, but it was probably just the lack of a shirt.
To tease her, he flexed his muscles, and that made her realize that he had caught her staring at him.
"Take a picture, although it'll be less satisfying than seeing it in person" he said, laughing, and she scoffed, shaking her head.
"Who are you? Why did you save me?" For the first time in a long time, Lisa found herself unable to know the answer before it was given to her.
Daniel thought about it. Why did he help her?
"You're beautiful" he could only answer honestly.
"Wh-what?" The girl seemed bewildered by his response, even stuttering a bit, which only reaffirmed Daniel's opinion that she was indeed beautiful.
"And one of those guys' bullets hit me while I was relaxing in a pile of garbage, so I decided to see what was going on. When I saw that they had cornered you, I simply decided to mess with them"
That seemed like a more satisfying answer for her, although it seemed to intensify her gaze on him.
Then she seemed to deflate and let out a long sigh, averting her gaze from him.
"I managed to avoid most of the cameras, and you moved fast enough that regular people couldn't see our faces properly. But this mess will surely be in the news soon, so we should lay low" she seemed to hesitate for a moment before seeming to make up her mind and continue speaking.
"No, I haven't heard of you, so you must be new in the city, right? You don't even have a mask, so you should be a recent trigger? You certainly didn't seem to fully know your abilities while running, so you must be... new. Damn, this is easier when I use my power" she seemed frustrated, and Daniel would have been concerned about that, but his attention was caught by the words "my power."
"You have powers?" His question brought her attention back to him, and she reluctantly nodded.
"There's no point in hiding it from you since you saved me from all this mess, and you could probably figure it out on your own, Anyway getting back to the point, if you don't have a place to stay... you can come with me" she finally said, and Daniel pondered it.
"Well, I really have nowhere to go, and I certainly don't want to sleep among piles of garbage" he looked at her and smiled, "and you probably want me close to help you against whoever is chasing you, right?" That seemed to catch her by surprise. Did she not expect him to see through something so obvious?
She seemed thoughtful before nodding slowly.
"Yes, I'm not a great fighter as you can see, and whoever is chasing me won't stop now that they know my real identity, so I need... protection" she reluctantly admitted.
Daniel nodded and said, "Well, if you have a place where I can sleep and you can get me something to eat, consider it a deal" He didn't really need anything else for now, plus he wanted to learn more about this world. What better way to do that than by asking someone? And about that power, he wanted to know more about that too. Were there more people with powers out there?
"Believe me, I can do a lot more for you than you think, you just have to help me too."
With that, they shook hands in a tentative agreement. They would see how things go from here.
.
.
.
"Damn it!" there was a crunching sound as hands slammed on the keyboard on the desk.
Coil glared at the screens in front of him with fury. He almost had her! With her, his plans would have been even more perfect. He just had to turn her into his obedient pet. But then a variant appeared, and everything went to hell.
His power suddenly spiraled out of control, and the second timeline became difficult to see. It was as if a filter had suddenly blinded him partially. He could still see things, but when he tried to see the person who ruined everything, it was as if someone suddenly covered his eyes.
He was forced to shut down his power, and the feeling it left him with was frustrating enough for him to order his men to shoot to kill. Whatever was interfering with his power couldn't be allowed to continue.
Of course, his men weren't able to eliminate the threat in time, and now it was nowhere to be found. His power was functioning normally again, but that sense of helplessness made his teeth grind.
If something like that happened again at the wrong moment, it could destroy everything he had worked for.
No! He had to destroy it, no matter what or the cost.
.
.
.
"Phew, so this is a safe house" Daniel looked around the place. It wasn't too big, but it was spacious enough for the two of them. There was a living room, a television, a kitchen, a bathroom, and a bedroom.
"It's the only safe house they don't seem to know about. I checked, so we should be safe for now" Lisa quickly pulled out a computer from the bedroom and started using it.
"My bank accounts are fine, so they didn't track me there. I haven't made any major purchases either, so it wasn't through that... then, of course! The stock market, how stupid!" Lisa seemed lost in her own world, so Daniel went to the fridge and opened it.
There wasn't much, but upon thorough searching, he found a pack of frozen burritos and decided that would be enough for now.
Fortunately, there was a microwave.
"I'm covering our tracks. There were some people who recorded something, but nothing too clear. The PRT doesn't have anything so far, but they're already conducting an investigation. If the involvement of a parahuman is confirmed, things could get a bit problematic, but I can easily divert their attention" Daniel made sounds of understanding, but he didn't pay much attention.
He heated up his burritos and sat in front of the television, searching for and finding a remote control to turn it on.
"An unknown armed group caused chaos on the streets of Brockton Bay at noon. Reports indicate possible involvement of a parahuman, but-"
He changed the channel until he found some cartoons that seemed entertaining.
"Alright! I've completely covered our tracks" Lisa said, sighing. She then turned to look at Daniel and found him paying zero attention while watching a cat chase a mouse on the television.
"Hey!" she called out.
Daniel turned to look at her and nodded.
"Uh, great job. Although honestly, I have no idea what a parahuman, PRT, and all that stuff is" Daniel admitted honestly.
"What?" Lisa looked at him with confusion, and that intense gaze returned as if she was trying to see beyond the surface of his person, but it didn't seem to work.
"Come on, it's time for a talk" Daniel patted the empty spot next to him on the couch, and she raised an eyebrow but, overcome by her curiosity, she decided to go and sit down.
"So, it's possible that I've just arrived in this world" he admitted, and she blinked, but she didn't see the disbelief or amazement she expected. Instead, she seemed thoughtful.
"Are you from Earth-Aleph?" she asked as if the fact that there were other Earths was common knowledge.
"Uh, something like that. To put it simply, I'm not from here, so I don't know how things work, so it would be great if you could explain it to me" Daniel replied.
Lisa pondered his words deeply. There were many questions she wanted to ask Daniel, and if her power would just work as it was supposed to, she would already have the answers. Unfortunately, she had to resort to the old and boring human method of asking and waiting for a response, trying to see if it was true or not.
So far, he didn't seem to be lying, and even though her power wasn't working, she still had experience in reading people, so she could still see something. It was a poor consolation, but she would take it.
"Well, I have some time, so I'll educate you a bit" she decided. If they were going to be allies, it was better for him to know how and why things worked the way they did.
And so, they began to talk.
.
.
.
.
.
.
3.3 First Step
- Location
- Eart
3.3 First Step
Lisa was very good at explaining, and Daniel assumed it had to do with her power; the details she provided were just what was needed to make the whole context clear.
It wasn't too tedious, and it only took a few hours for Daniel to understand his new home more or less.
Heroes, villains, parahumans.
Endbringers.
Suddenly, being bulletproof didn't make him feel so secure anymore.
He didn't know how strong these "parahumans" were or how he compared to the big leagues in his new home, so he felt he should test his "powers."
"Do you want a place to practice?" Lisa looked at him thoughtfully; she had been busy doing many things on her computer, something about fucking with those who tried to kidnap her or something like that.
It seemed somewhat vengeful, and he certainly didn't want to get involved in her affairs, at least not unless it was necessary to maintain her safety.
After all, that was the deal: Lisa provided him with food and a place to sleep, and he beat up anyone who tried to harm her.
It was simple, and he didn't know how long it would last, but he decided not to think too much about it.
Whether they stayed together for a long time or a short time really wasn't a concern for him at this moment. Thinking about the future seemed unimportant when he lived only in the present.
Not having a past played a significant role in that way of thinking.
"If I need to see what I'm really capable of, I barely know anything about my powers beyond being very tough and strong" and that strange sensation he had every time he was hit, but he decided not to mention that.
Lisa narrowed her eyes, that intense look returned to her as if she were trying to find something in him but couldn't.
She sighed and opened a map of the city on her computer.
"If you want to do it without anyone finding you, the best option is this place" she said, pointing to a spot near the sea.
It seemed like it was once part of a port or dock, but now it was more like ruins surrounded by rusty ships.
"Not too close to all those ships. Many first-timers capes use those places, and it's constantly monitored because of that. Although it seems lonely, it's actually not. The best option is where these abandoned warehouses are. Not even the drug addicts go there, and if you enter one, you'll have enough space" she said, looking at the images on the maps.
he didn't know how to read maps, but there were street names and establishment names, so he could navigate his way there if he paid enough attention.
"Alright, I'll get dressed" Lisa stood up, and Daniel raised an eyebrow.
"Dressed?" he asked.
"You weren't planning on leaving me here alone, were you? No matter how confident I am that this place is hidden, the risk of being found is too high" she said, as if it were obvious, and in retrospect, it was.
"You're right. Well, I'll wait for you" he said, seeming like she would be his guide.
Lisa sighed and went to her room, where she took out a black suitcase that had been hidden deep in her wardrobe.
"I didn't think I would have to use this" she murmured, but with resignation, she opened the suitcase and took out a full-body suit in purple.
although she was a cape, she hadn't exactly been out on the streets too often. It was too dangerous. She was a thinker, not a brute! Nevertheless, she had prepared this, just in case it was necessary.
It seemed like that moment had arrived.
After a few minutes, she emerged. The suit felt tighter once she put it on, although she knew it was tight, knowing something and feeling it were two completely different things.
Daniel saw her come out and raised an eyebrow. It seemed that besides being beautiful, she also had a great figure.
"Is there a Halloween party?" he joked, and she snorted.
"Oh, shut up. You'll also wear one at some point, but for now, put this on" she tossed him a black mask that would cover his face. It was quite simple in design.
Daniel looked at the mask with some doubts but decided he would follow the example and put it on.
"It's already night, so it'll be easy to sneak around. Follow me, I'll make sure no one sees us" she put on a dark-colored mask and started walking.
Daniel followed her, thinking about the tests he could do.
.
.
.
Walking stealthily at night was an interesting experience, although probably everything I was doing would qualify as an interesting experience.
When you don't have personal memories, anything remotely interesting becomes something to appreciate.
Until the even more interesting thing comes along, of course.
The warehouse area was quite large and also quite uninhabited, almost in ruins.
As Lisa had told him on his way, many years ago, something known as "Slaughter 9" had attacked the city, and the warehouse area had been part of those that suffered the worst blow.
No one had bothered to rebuild or clean up the site.
Apparently, the event had been so bad that no one really wanted to get close to it and they treated it seriously as an area that didn't exist.
And the truth was that there wasn't much worth getting close to.
Almost everything was in ruins, filled with trash and rusted metals, as well as dust and a bunch of cobwebs.
Daniel could even smell an unpleasant odor that seemed to linger.
Lisa led them to one of the warehouses that still had a roof and three walls, the fourth one was partially collapsed.
It was quite large, probably almost the size of a soccer field.
Daniel didn't know why he would know how big a soccer field was, but he decided not to question it.
Knowing things without knowing why he knew them seemed to be a part of him, a walking mystery, and it really ignited a small spark within him.
Although he wouldn't question it yet, there was still that little doubt in his mind, that question he didn't know if he would ever get an answer to.
Who am I?
"No one is around, so you can start" Lisa looked around the warehouse after checking the surroundings. She saw a box not too far away and approached it, wiping off the dust and sitting on top while taking out a laptop different from the one she had used before.
street equipament she called it.
"Now, how should I test this?" Daniel thought about all the chase that had taken place. There were many things he could do, but he decided to keep it simple.
He looked around and saw a decent-sized piece of debris. He picked it up and weighed it in his hands before going over to Lisa.
"Throw this at me" Daniel said, extending his hand with the debris.
"I don't want to offend you, but I don't like those kinds of games" she replied.
Daniel felt like those words should have a hidden meaning, but he couldn't see it.
"Come on, just throw it. Since you're here, you should help me. After all, the more I know about my powers, the easier it will be to stay safe" Daniel insisted. Lisa couldn't argue against that. She sighed, set her laptop aside, stood up, and took the concrete, which surprisingly was heavy.
She had to use both hands to keep it from falling.
"This is really heavy. I'm not sure if I can throw it too far" she said, her teeth slightly clenched. Daniel blinked in confusion; it had seemed quite light to him.
"That's okay, I don't need you to throw it too far" Lisa nodded before using all her strength to throw the piece of concrete towards Daniel.
It was a poor and poorly aimed throw, but it still served its purpose, and Daniel felt the impact.
As expected, it didn't do anything to him, but he could feel that wave of energy coursing through his body from the point of impact.
He closed his eyes and focused on it. Somehow, he could feel every part of his body with extreme clarity. He could "see" that wave of energy traveling through every cell of his body, and in some way, he could sense that he had become slightly, very slightly, stronger.
"Interesting..." So, some kind of energy absorption? Impact absorption? With such a simple test, it was hard to say for sure.
But now that he concentrated on it, he could feel a well of energy within him, deep within him.
It was there, resting inside him as if waiting to be used. He couldn't tell if the amount was large or small, but he could recognize where most of it had come from.
He also noticed that it was slowly fading away, very slowly, but it was happening.
As he remained still, he could see it seeping out of him. In fact, the less movement he made, the larger the leakage became.
With some concern, he jumped high, at least three meters, and let his body fall directly to the ground without doing anything to cushion the impact.
"Hey?!" Lisa stepped back to avoid the dust from falling on her.
he felt the impact, but it didn't hurt. Instead, the wave of energy traveled through he and settled into that well of energy, and suddenly he felt that it had become larger, and the leakage almost stopped.
"Movement? Impact?" These two words came to mind.
"Did you discover something, Sherlock?" Lisa seemed somewhat annoyed.
Daniel didn't know it, but for her, not being able to infer and figure out what he was doing was almost torture.
It was like suddenly going blind. Even though you could hear things, it couldn't compare to seeing them.
That's how Lisa felt. With her normal vision and her wit, she could figure out one or two things about Daniel, but without her power, it was like being blind.
What's worse is that she noticed that this blindness wasn't limited to just Daniel. The clothes he wore, the things he held, all of it suddenly became blank to her power.
She had been observing him closely to infer this. The biggest confirmation was the piece of debris. It almost fell due to its unexpected weight. She should have known it was too heavy, but she didn't.
her power was of no use in him, and the effect it extended to anything he did. It was like fumbling in the dark, and she hadn't experienced this in a long time, so much so that she almost seemed to have forgotten it.
"I think I discovered something, but I need to make sure" Daniel suddenly started running in a large circle.
At first, his speed remained within the human range, but with each step, that speed increased until he became a blurry figure, and Lisa felt the wind hitting her face and saw some debris starting to lift up.
A tornado was starting to form.
"Stop! Stop right now!" Lisa shouted, covering her eyes from the dust.
Daniel came to a sudden stop, causing the air currents to become a bit chaotic. Fortunately, it didn't cause too much disaster due to the large size of the area and the fact he stopped before forming a real cyclone.
"Yes... I think I know what I'm doing, more or less" said Daniel, looking at the marks on the ground that had been created by his footsteps.
Lisa shook her dusty hair and gave him a disgusted look.
"Do you know how difficult it is to clean hair?!" Even her costume was dirty.
Looking at the dust on her, Daniel thought of something, and a mischievous smile formed on his face.
Lisa didn't like that expression at all, but before she could say anything she saw him taking an exaggeratedly deep breath.
Then, she was almost thrown backward by a gust of wind that shot out from Daniel's lips.
It was as if his mouth had suddenly turned into a compressed air gun.
Daniel made sure not to put too much power behind his little trick; he didn't want to hurt her, after all.
He stopped exhaling quickly and saw Lisa now dust-free and with clean hair... although it now looked more tousled than a bush.
"Ready, now you just have to comb it" He said with a smile, his amusement not diminishing even when Lisa started gathering debris and began to throw them at him.
.
.
.
Note:
A somewhat short chapter, I need to read more about Worm. I thought I knew enough until I sat down to plan this story and realized I have several gaps in my knowledge.
It's been many years since I read Worm, and that knowledge has become even more blurred by all the fanfics I've read since then.
Can you believe that now I'm not sure if some things are canon or not?
So, I'll have to read Worm or, alternatively, explore the wiki.
Nevertheless, I'll add the AU tag to this because I'm not sure if I can keep everything the same.
Lisa was very good at explaining, and Daniel assumed it had to do with her power; the details she provided were just what was needed to make the whole context clear.
It wasn't too tedious, and it only took a few hours for Daniel to understand his new home more or less.
Heroes, villains, parahumans.
Endbringers.
Suddenly, being bulletproof didn't make him feel so secure anymore.
He didn't know how strong these "parahumans" were or how he compared to the big leagues in his new home, so he felt he should test his "powers."
"Do you want a place to practice?" Lisa looked at him thoughtfully; she had been busy doing many things on her computer, something about fucking with those who tried to kidnap her or something like that.
It seemed somewhat vengeful, and he certainly didn't want to get involved in her affairs, at least not unless it was necessary to maintain her safety.
After all, that was the deal: Lisa provided him with food and a place to sleep, and he beat up anyone who tried to harm her.
It was simple, and he didn't know how long it would last, but he decided not to think too much about it.
Whether they stayed together for a long time or a short time really wasn't a concern for him at this moment. Thinking about the future seemed unimportant when he lived only in the present.
Not having a past played a significant role in that way of thinking.
"If I need to see what I'm really capable of, I barely know anything about my powers beyond being very tough and strong" and that strange sensation he had every time he was hit, but he decided not to mention that.
Lisa narrowed her eyes, that intense look returned to her as if she were trying to find something in him but couldn't.
She sighed and opened a map of the city on her computer.
"If you want to do it without anyone finding you, the best option is this place" she said, pointing to a spot near the sea.
It seemed like it was once part of a port or dock, but now it was more like ruins surrounded by rusty ships.
"Not too close to all those ships. Many first-timers capes use those places, and it's constantly monitored because of that. Although it seems lonely, it's actually not. The best option is where these abandoned warehouses are. Not even the drug addicts go there, and if you enter one, you'll have enough space" she said, looking at the images on the maps.
he didn't know how to read maps, but there were street names and establishment names, so he could navigate his way there if he paid enough attention.
"Alright, I'll get dressed" Lisa stood up, and Daniel raised an eyebrow.
"Dressed?" he asked.
"You weren't planning on leaving me here alone, were you? No matter how confident I am that this place is hidden, the risk of being found is too high" she said, as if it were obvious, and in retrospect, it was.
"You're right. Well, I'll wait for you" he said, seeming like she would be his guide.
Lisa sighed and went to her room, where she took out a black suitcase that had been hidden deep in her wardrobe.
"I didn't think I would have to use this" she murmured, but with resignation, she opened the suitcase and took out a full-body suit in purple.
although she was a cape, she hadn't exactly been out on the streets too often. It was too dangerous. She was a thinker, not a brute! Nevertheless, she had prepared this, just in case it was necessary.
It seemed like that moment had arrived.
After a few minutes, she emerged. The suit felt tighter once she put it on, although she knew it was tight, knowing something and feeling it were two completely different things.
Daniel saw her come out and raised an eyebrow. It seemed that besides being beautiful, she also had a great figure.
"Is there a Halloween party?" he joked, and she snorted.
"Oh, shut up. You'll also wear one at some point, but for now, put this on" she tossed him a black mask that would cover his face. It was quite simple in design.
Daniel looked at the mask with some doubts but decided he would follow the example and put it on.
"It's already night, so it'll be easy to sneak around. Follow me, I'll make sure no one sees us" she put on a dark-colored mask and started walking.
Daniel followed her, thinking about the tests he could do.
.
.
.
Walking stealthily at night was an interesting experience, although probably everything I was doing would qualify as an interesting experience.
When you don't have personal memories, anything remotely interesting becomes something to appreciate.
Until the even more interesting thing comes along, of course.
The warehouse area was quite large and also quite uninhabited, almost in ruins.
As Lisa had told him on his way, many years ago, something known as "Slaughter 9" had attacked the city, and the warehouse area had been part of those that suffered the worst blow.
No one had bothered to rebuild or clean up the site.
Apparently, the event had been so bad that no one really wanted to get close to it and they treated it seriously as an area that didn't exist.
And the truth was that there wasn't much worth getting close to.
Almost everything was in ruins, filled with trash and rusted metals, as well as dust and a bunch of cobwebs.
Daniel could even smell an unpleasant odor that seemed to linger.
Lisa led them to one of the warehouses that still had a roof and three walls, the fourth one was partially collapsed.
It was quite large, probably almost the size of a soccer field.
Daniel didn't know why he would know how big a soccer field was, but he decided not to question it.
Knowing things without knowing why he knew them seemed to be a part of him, a walking mystery, and it really ignited a small spark within him.
Although he wouldn't question it yet, there was still that little doubt in his mind, that question he didn't know if he would ever get an answer to.
Who am I?
"No one is around, so you can start" Lisa looked around the warehouse after checking the surroundings. She saw a box not too far away and approached it, wiping off the dust and sitting on top while taking out a laptop different from the one she had used before.
street equipament she called it.
"Now, how should I test this?" Daniel thought about all the chase that had taken place. There were many things he could do, but he decided to keep it simple.
He looked around and saw a decent-sized piece of debris. He picked it up and weighed it in his hands before going over to Lisa.
"Throw this at me" Daniel said, extending his hand with the debris.
"I don't want to offend you, but I don't like those kinds of games" she replied.
Daniel felt like those words should have a hidden meaning, but he couldn't see it.
"Come on, just throw it. Since you're here, you should help me. After all, the more I know about my powers, the easier it will be to stay safe" Daniel insisted. Lisa couldn't argue against that. She sighed, set her laptop aside, stood up, and took the concrete, which surprisingly was heavy.
She had to use both hands to keep it from falling.
"This is really heavy. I'm not sure if I can throw it too far" she said, her teeth slightly clenched. Daniel blinked in confusion; it had seemed quite light to him.
"That's okay, I don't need you to throw it too far" Lisa nodded before using all her strength to throw the piece of concrete towards Daniel.
It was a poor and poorly aimed throw, but it still served its purpose, and Daniel felt the impact.
As expected, it didn't do anything to him, but he could feel that wave of energy coursing through his body from the point of impact.
He closed his eyes and focused on it. Somehow, he could feel every part of his body with extreme clarity. He could "see" that wave of energy traveling through every cell of his body, and in some way, he could sense that he had become slightly, very slightly, stronger.
"Interesting..." So, some kind of energy absorption? Impact absorption? With such a simple test, it was hard to say for sure.
But now that he concentrated on it, he could feel a well of energy within him, deep within him.
It was there, resting inside him as if waiting to be used. He couldn't tell if the amount was large or small, but he could recognize where most of it had come from.
He also noticed that it was slowly fading away, very slowly, but it was happening.
As he remained still, he could see it seeping out of him. In fact, the less movement he made, the larger the leakage became.
With some concern, he jumped high, at least three meters, and let his body fall directly to the ground without doing anything to cushion the impact.
"Hey?!" Lisa stepped back to avoid the dust from falling on her.
he felt the impact, but it didn't hurt. Instead, the wave of energy traveled through he and settled into that well of energy, and suddenly he felt that it had become larger, and the leakage almost stopped.
"Movement? Impact?" These two words came to mind.
"Did you discover something, Sherlock?" Lisa seemed somewhat annoyed.
Daniel didn't know it, but for her, not being able to infer and figure out what he was doing was almost torture.
It was like suddenly going blind. Even though you could hear things, it couldn't compare to seeing them.
That's how Lisa felt. With her normal vision and her wit, she could figure out one or two things about Daniel, but without her power, it was like being blind.
What's worse is that she noticed that this blindness wasn't limited to just Daniel. The clothes he wore, the things he held, all of it suddenly became blank to her power.
She had been observing him closely to infer this. The biggest confirmation was the piece of debris. It almost fell due to its unexpected weight. She should have known it was too heavy, but she didn't.
her power was of no use in him, and the effect it extended to anything he did. It was like fumbling in the dark, and she hadn't experienced this in a long time, so much so that she almost seemed to have forgotten it.
"I think I discovered something, but I need to make sure" Daniel suddenly started running in a large circle.
At first, his speed remained within the human range, but with each step, that speed increased until he became a blurry figure, and Lisa felt the wind hitting her face and saw some debris starting to lift up.
A tornado was starting to form.
"Stop! Stop right now!" Lisa shouted, covering her eyes from the dust.
Daniel came to a sudden stop, causing the air currents to become a bit chaotic. Fortunately, it didn't cause too much disaster due to the large size of the area and the fact he stopped before forming a real cyclone.
"Yes... I think I know what I'm doing, more or less" said Daniel, looking at the marks on the ground that had been created by his footsteps.
Lisa shook her dusty hair and gave him a disgusted look.
"Do you know how difficult it is to clean hair?!" Even her costume was dirty.
Looking at the dust on her, Daniel thought of something, and a mischievous smile formed on his face.
Lisa didn't like that expression at all, but before she could say anything she saw him taking an exaggeratedly deep breath.
Then, she was almost thrown backward by a gust of wind that shot out from Daniel's lips.
It was as if his mouth had suddenly turned into a compressed air gun.
Daniel made sure not to put too much power behind his little trick; he didn't want to hurt her, after all.
He stopped exhaling quickly and saw Lisa now dust-free and with clean hair... although it now looked more tousled than a bush.
"Ready, now you just have to comb it" He said with a smile, his amusement not diminishing even when Lisa started gathering debris and began to throw them at him.
.
.
.
Note:
A somewhat short chapter, I need to read more about Worm. I thought I knew enough until I sat down to plan this story and realized I have several gaps in my knowledge.
It's been many years since I read Worm, and that knowledge has become even more blurred by all the fanfics I've read since then.
Can you believe that now I'm not sure if some things are canon or not?
So, I'll have to read Worm or, alternatively, explore the wiki.
Nevertheless, I'll add the AU tag to this because I'm not sure if I can keep everything the same.
- Location
- Australia
It's hardly an SI if the mc doesnt have the meta any longer, and no one actually truly writes how they would act in these situations so its not really a self-insert either. so without Meta its not really an SI
Jordisk
<Unverified N00B>
- Location
- Blind Eternities
- Pronouns
- He/Him/His
As mentioned, he has subconsious background knowledge, and as this is a spin-off from their other fic there is also a chance to regain the memories. It is less that the memories are gone and more that they are blocked, so personality is basically intact, they just don't have metaknowledge or precise language for things. When things are explained to them, they unlock the background enough to understand them, and they didn't lose skills. He can still do math, still knows how to do basic exercises, and so on.
His powerset is looking like early Superman, back in the 'leap tall buildings in a single bound' days.