Of Teeth and Blades (Worm/Venom)(OC)

It was only after the winter break had ended when it all started…

I walked through the halls like I always had. I liked to come early. Less people would notice me that way. There were others too, but they were few. Probably also the same reasons as I did. Kids who were thin, fat, lanky, nerdy, ugly… social outcasts like me had their heads down, keeping to themselves. Too afraid to start any form of conflict. We knew what we were. We scurried around and hid. We turn a blind eye to each other once one of us gets caught… we were rats. Scurrying around and running away when the cats come to play.

The bullies here weren't those typical kids with a chip on their shoulders lashing out and making themselves feel better by beating up a nerd, no… almost all of the bullies here were from gangs or gang affiliates. There were rumors. Rumors that kept getting more and more sick as each gang tried to one-up one another.

To me, they were no different than the criminals and murderers they associate with.

Where are the teachers, you ask? Like how the authorities in the bay area, they're just there. Trying their hardest to ignore it. Too much trouble to deal with. Too much danger due to the gangs… Why risk yourself and your family when you can just get paid to look the other way? Hell you could even join in with the fun.

Then there were the popular kids. The beautiful ones. Kids who won the genetic lottery with parents that lived downtown and were too stupid to even enter Arcadia. They controlled most of the students here through the sheer stupidity of being popular. Their influence and money bought them their protection and personal goons to help them torment people like me.

Laughing and heckling filled the hallways. The assholes found their targets. Winter vacation was only a temporary respite. A normal school would have friends greet each other and talk with one another. Like those you see on TV. Here the day starts with the assholes harassing the meek.

I tried my best at hiding within the crowds. My old gray hoodie pulled up to try and at least blend in.

I saw the usual jocks muscling against a scraggly kid that I didn't know. I saw the infamous Greg Veder being dragged around by the collar by some tall Blonde-haired muscle-head along with some others. I saw Matthew from Biology class being extorted. I saw Jose being pinned to his locker and being slapped repeatedly by some Asians. Everywhere I looked there were kids being harassed.

This was everyday at Winslow.

When I reached my locker, my heart sank and dread filled.

Four boys were there talking amongst themselves. Shaved head, black and red clothes. One was leaning on the door of my locker, another was brazenly smoking, the third was laughing as he put penises on the other lockers, the last one was openly laughing.

Fucking Nazis.

I almost cursed out loud when I saw them because I knew them. This particular group kept pestering and harassing me nonstop. Kept telling me to join their little group.

I was a big guy back then. Not obese, but fat enough for people to ridicule me. They called me names like 'Pigster' and 'Chubbs'. Asians called me Buta. While the Merchant druggies just called me the 'Pigsley'. Real original. I know. They even had the idea of making snorting sounds whenever I passed by them.

The Nazis wanted me though. I apparently passed their vetting process since I was born with naturally blonde hair and green eyes. Though the tone of my blondeness was more onto the platinum side. They probably figured that since I looked big enough, they could use me as the big guy of their little group. You know the type. Always in the background, crossing their arms and looking intimidating so that the others could look like they had backup.

But I didn't want any of that. They didn't know that my father was Jewish and my mother was from the Philippines or at least her relatives were... It just so happened that I inherited too much of my father. The moment that they'd find out, they'd just make me an example for the others. I was not privy to finding out what they do to so-called mongrels with a Jewish background so I avoided them at all costs.

I was tall. So I always slouched to hide in the crowd. Like I said, back then I didn't want to get involved. Rats remember?

I managed to slip away quietly. Fuck. I wanted to just go home that day and forget about Winslow for just one more day.

In my frustration and distress, I didn't notice that I was instead being followed by a bunch of ABB members. I was just too distracted back then. They must've noticed me when I turned and walked away from the Nazis.

ABB. Where do I even begin? Back then I only heard some rumors from the grapevine. Rumor has it that these Asian assholes was running human trafficking rings down at the docks. Where all the nasty shit happens. Kids. Adults. It didn't matter. You cross the ABB and you become fair game to these monsters. You can imagine my reaction when I found out that it was all true.

Everyone not an Asian was a target and since their main rivals were the Nazis, me looking like the typical blonde bumbling pig made me prime meat. They got this sick satisfaction in hurting someone who was bigger and taller than them. It fed their egos. It made them feel powerful.

Needless to say, I was completely blind-sided when I reached the men's restroom. I got shoved in and as usual they beat the shit out of me while calling me the usual names. At this point in time, I'd probably have gotten used to it. It was just how things were. I was just unlucky enough to be in their cross hairs.

I didn't know when they'd stopped since I had lost consciousness when one of them kicked me at the back of my head. Thinking back, I probably got off easy since I didn't go through the beating consciously. I only felt the aftermath.

I had a swollen eye, a broken arm, and a sprained ankle. Bruises covered my body and the backpack that I had was shoved into a toilet. I could see yellow stains on it.

I only winced in pain when I adjusted myself to a sitting position on the floor. My tears had run dry a long time ago. At that point in my life, the only thing that I could feel was acceptance.

This was what it was like in Winslow. This was what it was like in Brockton Bay.

The things I experienced at Winslow were like a prelude to the shit that happens once you graduate. Nothing would change. You'd just be another slave to these criminals.

I probably sat there alone on the piss-stained floor of the men's restroom for an hour. Thinking about why it was like that. It was probably the first time I asked the question to myself.

It kept rewinding in my head. No answers. Just a repeating question.

'Why was Brockton Bay like this?'

It was a question that I asked myself over and over through the years.

I picked myself up and washed my bag on the sink. I could barely look at myself in the broken and vandalized mirror. I knew that I looked pathetic already so there's no need to remind myself further.

Classes had already started when I got out of the restroom. The halls were empty and I could hear teachers already starting their classes.

I would have just gone home at that point. I wanted to go home.

…But I didn't. Back then my parents always taught me that school was important. My mother always reminded me that if I could endure school and succeed with honors, my future would be secured. She even told me that she dreamed of me attending Cornell once I graduated from High School. To her, succeeding in school was the path to pave the way for a brighter future for me and my family and I believed her.

I never once skipped. I kept my grades above average and always played school safe. I never once tried to make friends. I learned my lesson back when I was still a freshman. Everyone had motives in Winslow. Especially to outcasts like me.

So I figured I'd just say that I slipped and fell off some stairs on the way here. That would explain the injuries if someone asked. No point in telling the teachers since that would just aggravate the gang members.

So I made my way to the classrooms on the second floor to get to my class, thinking about ways to explain my lateness to the teacher. Of course I could have used the 'I fell down the stairs' shtick with my broken arm and bruised face. But it can't hurt to be prepared right?

I immediately stopped when I reached the floor though. I immediately knew something was wrong once I smelt something so foul that I had gagged and almost puked right then and there. The stench was nauseating. I tried to back off only once again when I heard a cry for help. A girl's voice echoed in the hallway but no one came out of the classrooms. Of course. The classrooms were made to suppress the sound of students so that the noise that a couple hundred students made in their classes didn't mix into a cacophony of uncomprehending noise.

The voice sounded like it had come from a girl. But it had gone hoarse, like she had been screaming for hours in vain. It had been painful to hear. Hell, I think I felt my own throat hurt just imagining it.

In a couple of meters I saw one particular locker that had something seep out from under it. Something wet and horrid. Flies buzzed around wildly and cockroaches kept running on the locker's door.

It was like a scene from a horror movie. Shit. I might've even pissed my pants.

You might be thinking that I'd immediately gone to help the girl. To push through the bugs and open the door… you're forgetting that I was not who I am today.

I hesitated. I contemplated whether I should just look the other way like what I've always done. I had gotten used to just shutting the bad things out as long as it wasn't happening to me. To just turn around and not get involved.

I was just about a couple of meters away from the locker when something strange happened.

I don't know whether it was an act of some higher being or something, but something compelled me to turn around and face the locker where the girl was in. And I was suddenly reminded of the question that I had asked myself back at the men's restroom.

'Why was Brockton Bay like this?'

An answer was formed almost instantly in my head…

'Because we did nothing to change it.'

No one was here to witness me try and help the girl so there was no reason to be afraid that I had just released some bully's victim.

So I began to walk closer to the locker.

….

My choices that day changed a lot of things. For me and for others. It was how it all started.

Because when I opened that locker, I didn't see a crying girl.

Instead I saw someone who lost their mind in their despair. The girl was covered with all kinds of shit. The stench was even more powerful too. She instantly tackled me to the ground, and kept biting and clawing at me, all the while bugs and spiders began to cover my body.

When she bit me on my arm, the insects that were on me also bit me at the same time. When she clawed at me, the bugs began to scratch at me with their legs.

I probably screamed along with her. Though mine was of horror and pain while hers was of rage and desperation.

More and more bugs covered both of us. While she, still hysterical, was trying to punch my face. I used my arms to shield myself but the bugs kept on biting me everywhere…

Then something happened. I really couldn't explain how. But one moment I was being attacked by a thousand bugs and a crazy girl, the next thing I saw a vision of something big and… fuck I can't explain it. It looked like rocks but at the same time it looked like flesh. There are these crystal-like spikes jutting out of them. When the thing began to shift, there was a sudden change… something else was happening. This giant ball of rocks and flesh began to get covered by a black inky sludge. The thing began to break apart and tendrils of black oily liquid began to sprout out. It felt like hours. But it only took a couple of seconds when the black mass stopped moving… what used to be a mass of flesh and rocks now looked like a cocoon suspended in space.

Then I saw one black tendril begin to reach towards me. I tried to move my body but I was paralyzed. As the tip of the tendril got close, I saw something happening to the giant black mass. White shapes began to form and coalesce to something, fuck. I was too busy staring at the thing inching closer to my forehead so forgive me if I didn’t get a closer look.

The tendril did eventually reach my forehead however and I felt myself burn. Unimaginable pain filled me. It was like I was being pulled apart by something. I tried to scream but I couldn't’. My mind just went back to the scene of me trying to defend myself from the girl and then it was like my memories were being played back in reverse. More pain came as I felt myself being reassembled and dismantled again and again.

It eventually did end though. I found myself gasping and panicking on the bed of a hospital. I could remember the nurses’ faces when they saw me pull out the IV tubes with enough force to tear some skin. Like the girl, I was now the one who was being hysterical.

Who knew that this was how my story started out.

Heh.

Origin stories are funny things, aren’t they?

 

February 1, 2011

Classes had just finished hours ago and all I could think about was just how stupid I was to think that things would be different.

I was once again on the floor of the same bathroom where I had my shit beat out of me at the start of classes. The only difference was that not once did I fall unconscious when they started to kick me. I kept my arms to my head to protect it as they started to use bats and plungers.

As I was on the ground, one kid who was wearing this expensive shirt and accessories was watching. He was shorter than me for a few inches and was puffing smoke from a cigarette.

"You should have minded your own business, Buta." He spoke with a japanese accent, casually squatting to meet my gaze… unfortunately my face was still being pushed to the ground. The rich asian kid then gave what sounded like an order to the other asian kids. The beating stopped and I had my hair pulled roughly, making me face him directly.

"I- I didn't do anything…"

The kid laughed in my face and slapped me to the ground. The other laughed.

"Very funny, Buta." He stood up and paced around me. "You know how much trouble you caused us with your little stunt?"

"What are you talking about?" I grimaced.

He suddenly hit my face with a newspaper.

'Attack at Winslow. Alleged gang members suspected of assaulting two teens' The words wete on the front page of a newspaper.

What? They thought that I talked to the police? What the hell?!

"You got the pigs involved, Buta. They asked us some reaaal tough questions. Do you know how much that distressed me?" He kicked me in the ribs and stomped on my face when I was on my back.

"Hey. Youske, do you know how distressed I was?" He turned to his posse.

One of the asian kids answered. "Very"

"Very." He nodded. "You hear that Buta?" He added more strength to his foot. "Did you fucking hear that?!" He raised his foot and brought it down again and again on my face while repeating 'you hear that?' over and over. I only grit my teeth as this all happened. Why did this have to happen to me? I don't even know this asshole! I did one good thing and this is how I was rewarded…

No wonder nobody's ever tried to go against these criminals…

One of his posse called out to him and told him something in Japanese.

The rich asian kid removed his foot from my face and spit on me. "You tell anyone, and it won't be just you who will feel the consequences in snitching." He scoffed.

"Your mother's quite a looker isn't she?"

My eyes widened and anger bubbled up. I quickly stood up and glared at him. "Don't you fucking dare-" a bat hit me on the side of my head and I crumpled to the ground just like that. The all laughed and began to exit the restroom, leaving me on the ground writhing in pain.

"See you around, Buta."

I heard the door close. I crawled to the same wall where I had rested my back on before and like before, I just sat there on the dirty piss-stained floor. I almost lost my composure there…

Fuck…

I nearly had a heart attack when the door opened but calmed down when I saw that it was just some kid. The kid only took a look at me for a moment before her entered on of the stalls to take a piss. After that he just left not even sparing a glance at me.

I must've been staring at the opposite wall for about an hour since I noticed that the light from the small window for ventilation began to dim. I reached for my pocket and found my phone. It was an old keypad phone that didn't even have color. The screen was a bit cracked but I could still see the letters and symbols when I unlocked it.

6:13 pm. I've gotta get home.

I stood up with a groan. When I looked at the mirror, I could see the extent of the damage those assholes had done to me. My face was swollen. My lip was split. Part of my hair on the sides were ripped. My nose was a mess too. Blood was trickling from my nose and forehead… Jesus Christ… and I just got released from the hospital too…

I can't go home like this. Mom would freak out and ask questions. Questions that could lead her to calling the cops and then things would get worse.

'Your mother is quite the looker.' I felt a sudden spike of anger when recalled that fucker's words.

"FUCKING DAMN IT!"

'Just what am I supposed to do?! If I fight back things would just fucking escalate to the point of no return. All that stuff about standing up for yourself? Total bullshit!' My hands gripped the side of a sink.

"Fuck…" I deflated and calmed down.

'getting angry won't change a thing…'

I began to turn the tap on and began to wash the blood off my face. As I did this my mind went back to when I was hospitalized.

My mom had arrived just in time for her to see me cower in a corner, threatening to hurt someone if they came closer. I was hysterical, my mind was on fight or flight mode. That… dream… that dream was just too real. The black tendrils. The pain of being ripped apart… it felt all too real. Every time I blinked, my vision would change. One moment everything was normal, the next everything was black and white except for red glowing figures vaguely shaped like humans, then everything was normal again. I must've looked like I just escaped a loony bin because I could see some of the more well-built nurses began to prepare to detain me by force.

When they tried to approach me, my mom immediately snapped at them and told them to let her handle me. The nurses looked reluctant but conceded.

I was still a shaking and sweating mess when she slowly walked to me. Everyone flinched and almost charged right at me when I swung a hand at my mother… but she stopped them and turned back to me. She kept telling me that it was alright. That everything was alright. And when she reached me, she began to put me in a tight hug. She stroked my hair as I cried in her arms…

Maybe she was the one to call the cops. No way did she let this kind of incident go unnoticed… Carla Marie Steinmann was a mama bear and she was proud to be called that. She was always protective of me, always trying her best to provide for me ever since my dad died.

Things went by like a blur during my hospitalization. Initially they gave me about three months to fix the arm broken by the ABB gang members. They were quite surprised when I healed in just about a week or so. They did tests on me but nothing irregular came out. Which baffled the doctors… they didn't release me yet though, despite my insistence. We didn't have enough money to keep me in this hospital. Hell just a week here was enough to force my mom to go on late-night shifts and that distressed me. She didn't tell me of course but every time she visited, the circles on her eyes were becoming deeper and darker. She hadn't been sleeping right.

Then the damnedest thing happened a few days later. A bunch of suits came to my room with a bunch of machines rolled in on a trolley. A man introduced himself to me as Dr. Micheal Bauer, a member of the local PRT. My confusion at that time must've been obvious since the doctor smiled and explained that they were just here to run some tests. He explained that I was designated as a potential parahuman due to how fast I had healed. The doctors of this hospital must have notified them.

I was not really that knowledgeable with regards to capes. I really had no interest in them other than when I was required to study up on Parahumans 101 for an exam. So imagine my surprise and bafflement when I heard his explanation.

Me? A cape? The thought was incomprehensible. I was nobody. No special traits. No deviating personality. No hero complex. No villain complex… How could I be a cape?

The doctor clarified that all I had to do was to let them put this weird metal hat thing with wires on and ask me some questions to monitor my brain activity and gauge my reactions to certain questions.

They told me that they had already contacted my mother and had her permission. All they needed now was mine.

Seeing as there was no danger in the procedure, I gave them what they wanted.

The testing was fairly quick as the doctor asked me random questions and scribbled on his clipboard and occasionally monitored a tablet of sorts. At first I was worried that I might really be a cape. I wondered what I would have done if I was…

Money was a huge issue for both me and my mom. Her salary as a sweatshop worker was barely enough to keep us afloat. We were basically living on salary to salary. No money saved at all. I had asked her to let me at least try to do some part-time work but she always refused saying that I should focus on my education. Maybe if I was a cape, I could use those powers to go rogue and open up a business based on the powers that I have.

But alas it wasn't so.

The test came out negative. I wasn't parahuman at all. They just rationalized that I probably had a fast metabolism. Which was bullshit since I was fat…

When they left, I sighed in both relief and disappointment. Relief since I didn't get to deal with all the problems capes faced on a daily basis, disappointment since I never had the chance to monetize my supposed powers…

Things just blurred after that. Nothing worth of note happened aside from my mom becoming more and more haggard and me fussing about her health.

I closed the tap once I saw that all the blood that coated my face was gone. Green eyes stared back at me in the mirror when I raised my head up. Then I looked down to see the state of my clothes and sighed in frustration… of course I had to clean these up too. I locked the door of the restroom and began to remove my clothes.

At least I didn't have any broken bones today.

After a while, I finally left the restroom and saw an empty hallway. It was already dark outside. I checked my cell phone and saw that it was already 7 pm.

Fuck. I was late.

I cursed to myself and hurried to exit school. I passed by some janitors who only gave me a passing glance before I finally reached the doors to the outside, some of them gave me questioning looks but I didn't respond and just hurried out.

Night time in Brockton Bay was a battleground. Gunshots and the occasional sirens from either fire trucks, ambulances and police vehicles overpowered the ambience that you would expect from a city. The putrid smell of sewers wafted and the scent of petroleum filled the night air. Occasionally I could see someone in costume, some lesser known cape, patrolling by looking for crimes to thwart. Though with how gaudy this one guy looks, the thugs probably fled and hid themselves until the cape leaves the area and business goes as usual.

My apartment was located just at the border of the Docks area and Downtown. A fairly safe place to live in due to it being located just a few blocks from the expensive looking buildings and condos of Downtown. My dad knew the person who owned the apartment and had secured us a unit.

But it didn't mean the place didn't suck though.

The building was old. The wallpaper on the lobby was already peeling off the walls. Some of the lights were flickering, the owner not even bothering to change them. The couches that were meant for guests were now being occupied by a bunch of fat cats, 10 of them in fact, all owned by the owner of the apartment building and it did wonders to the smell of the place. One of them, a fat white and gray coated cat with blue eyes, noticed me and meowed in delight. It got off its perch and ran towards me, immediately rubbing itself onto my leg, purring. I smiled as I rubbed the back of its ears.

"Hey there Veronica. I'm afraid that I don't have any food on me at this moment." The cat just kept purring and leaning into my hand as I rubbed its head. I wanted to stay a bit and play with her but I unfortunately am really late for dinner.

Noone really bothered complaining about them. Otherwise they'd just have to move out and find another place with cheap rent and a good location.

I reached the door to our apartment and unlocked the door with my own key. But then I noticed that the lights were off.

My heart sank. Those ABB bastards!

"Mom?!" I called out. "Mom?!" I called out again, trying to reach for the light switch.

'Your mother is quite the looker' That asshole's words reverberated in my head.

The lights turned on.

"SURPRISE!" My eyes widened and I almost stumbled back. "Happy Birthday Ricky!"

Standing in front of me holding a gift box in her hands was one of the most important people in my life. Hell, she's THE most important person to me.

Her smile was radiant despite the gauntness of her face, her eyes sparkled despite the deep eyebags. Her black hair was tied to a ponytail and she was wearing her favourite clothes.

Birthday?... Oh. I forgot. Today's my birthday. Mom had told me to come home at exactly 6:00 pm because she had something to speak to me about. That was why I was hurrying to get home.

Her smile suddenly faded once she saw the state of my face. Yeah. The swelling must've startled her.

"Ricky… your face! Why do you have those bruises?" She put the gift on a shoe rack and she began to inspect my face.

'Wait… just bruising? I was sure that there was some large swelling on my face.'

She hurriedly ran towards the fridge and grabbed the ice cube tray to put some ice on a plastic bag. "Here. Use this" She gave me the plastic bag and I pressed it onto my face, oddly enough, where I'd there'd be a nasty bump there was nothing.

"Richter. What happened to you?" She led me to the old sofa and had me sit down.

"Nothing mom. I slipped on some stairs. There was still a little bit of frost on them and I got careless…"

She looked at me with these sad eyes. She wiped a tear that was threatening to fall with her hand. I knew she didn't believe me. My mom was a sharp woman after all… she just sighed and nodded.

"...you… you should be more careful next time. Okay?" She forced a smile and gave me a kiss on my cheek.

"Now come on. I baked a cake for you. It is still your birthday, you know?"

I smiled and nodded. But deep down it hurt me whenever I lied to her. She was just… the kindest, nicest person that you can ever meet. I didn't want to worry her.

She led me to our small dining table that had various foods prepared just enough for both of us. There was her special spaghetti made with cheap corned beef that I always loved, a few pieces of homemade fried chicken, her special vegetable soup and finally her own special blend of pork Adobo.

All of them were my favorite.

I smiled genuinely and hugged my mom and gave her my thanks. She hugged me back but then pushed me slightly. "Oh! I almost forgot."

She went to the drawer by the small kitchen that we had and picked out two candles in the shape of numbers. She put the candles on the cake and lit them with some match sticks.

"Happy 17th birthday Richter!"

This was probably one of the happiest nights of my life. For once we both sat and ate at the table. We ate all of the fold that I had liked ever since I was a child. The gift that she gave me was a new T-shirt, though I was kind of taken aback by her choice. Usually she would pick lighter colors like White, yellow, or sky blue since it's easy on the eye for her. But the shirt she bought me was black and had the simple design of a stylized white spider on it. Pretty grunge if I might say so myself.

"I just thought that, now that you're 17, you might want to impress the ladies with this. I heard that darker colors are popular nowadays."

"Moooom" I blushed. I never really had any experience with the opposite sex aside from being partners on an assignment. I doubt they'd give someone like me a day.

"Oh come on! You are handsome! And I think black looks good on you!"

Black does look good on me. They say that you look thinner when you wear black so that must be it.

I gave my thanks to her and we talked a bit more as the night went on. We finished up my birthday with a movie night.

It was a classic movie called 'Alien', where this parasitic monster hunted down a crew of a spaceship one by one before eventually getting killed by the female lead. We both enjoyed it.

After that we both went to bed. Our apartment was small, yes, but it has enough space to have two small rooms of our own.

When I entered my room, I just plopped down onto my bed and sighed in comfort. The cold sheets and the smell of fabric conditioner meant that mom had probably changed it.

She really is the best mom.

With a satisfied smile I let the sleepiness take over.
—----------------------------------------------

February 2, 2011
2:24 am

May Arasaka had lost the light in her eyes as she stood in a lavish room. She was wearing a skimpy sailor uniform that barely covered the lacey underwear that she wore. Her face was caked in makeup while her smooth black hair was done in twin tails. She tried her best not to cry and ruin the mascara. A hollow smile plastering her face.

"Oh yeah, she's still a virgin. I can guarantee it, Uncle." The voice of her 'Boyfriend' only put her in more despair.

"Hmm… is that right? Come closer girl." A fat Japanese man gestured for her and her 'Boyfriend' stealthily shoved her towards him.

She stumbled from the shove and fell onto the fat man.

"Ohoho aren't you the excited little minx." The fat man licked his lips and suddenly grabbed her ass. She let out a voice which probably made the fat bastard happy.

"S-so we have a deal right? Uncle?"

The fat man cupped her face and looked at her with this lecherous hunger. He smiled cruelly. "Yes. She will do. You and your friends can have this week's shipment. Do with it as you see fit."

May could only swallow back a sob as she was being sold by a person that she fell in love with. Kei Masamoto. He was probably the most handsome boy she'd seen. She was head over heels as soon she laid eyes on him.

He was a rebel. He didn't care for the rules. He had the bullies under his beck and call.

Looks. Power. And money. What more could a girl want?

Jokes on her then. The bastard was only nice on the outside. He kept pestering her for sex again and again. Even after just one date. But she always held him off. She just wasn't ready to go that far yet. She kept pampering her as the days went by. She knew that he was doing this to get her to spread her legs but she didn't mind… the thought of having one of the most popular Asians at Winslow as her boyfriend made her feel valuable and important…

Until a week ago. He started to get handsy. He would sometimes explode in a fit of rage and take it out on her. He even kept hanging out with older girls that she suspected were whores. It was too much by then.

When she decided to end things, that's when everything went wrong. In the middle of the night, he came to her house with a bunch of gang members and started to harass my parents. He demanded that she come with him. Her parents were powerless to go against him.

It had turned out that he was a relative of a Japanese Yakuza boss that had ties with the ABB.

Most people think that the ABB had absorbed all the Asian gangs in the city. They were wrong. The ABB are only figure heads and enforcers. Associates for the most part. Yakuzas, Triads and various criminal organizations still exist.

How she found this out? Her 'boyfriend' told her. He told her that he had been intending to sell her after he was done with her ever since the beginning…

She sobbed.

"Oh don't worry my sweet. It'll only hurt on the first time. I promise I'll be gentle." The man's cruel grin told her that he was certainly not going to be gentle.

"Have fun uncle!" Kei laughed and whooped. Happy that he sold his girlfriend to his disgusting uncle.

All she could do now was pray that someone would save her. That a hero would come bursting out of that door and whisk her away to safety as they stop these monsters.

The man began licking and biting her neck. His hands stroked her ass. She could not hold her tears as they began to freely fall from her eyes. The man chuckled and intensified his groping

'Please. Someone. Anyone. Please save me.'

Just as Kei reached the door the power to the place suddenly cut off. Darkness filled the room. Voices of the men outside could be heard as they scrambled. The floodlights automatically turned on and slightly illuminated the room.

"What's going on? A power outage?" Kei wondered out loud.

"Gheh. Those damned fools. Brat, tell them to hurry up and fix the lights."

Kei nodded and began to turn the knob of the door.

But then stopped when a loud sound was heard. Movies didn't give justice to how loud the sound of gunfire truly is.

Kei back off from the door as more gunfire was heard. They could hear people running and screaming.

"Where is it?"

"What's happening?"

"There's something in here!"

"Guard the boss!"

"Oh god! It's he-"

"Run! Run! Aaaaaah"

"Aaaaa oh god no! Noooo"

"Behind you!"

"Noooo"

"It's everywhere!"

"The walls! They're coming out of the walls!"

"Help me! Please god! Help me!"

"Aaaaaah"

"What the hell is that thing?!"

"Aaaah oh god- Aaaaah"

"No! Nononono! Please! No! Aaaaah"

Screams and gunfire filled the building. Crashing, squelching, breaking. They could only imagine what was happening on the outside of the door.

Kei and his uncle hid behind May as they used her as a human shield as they quivered in terror.

The horrible noises continued until eventually only silence filled the outside.

"Is… is it over?" Kei's voice broke.

"Why don't you check?!" His uncle snapped at him.

May only stared at the door.

THUD!

The door shook.

THUD!

The door shook again.

It was here. What ever attacked the men outside had found them.

"D-do something!" Kei's uncle ordered.

"W-what?" Kei's eyes widened.

"Did I stutter?! Go and fucking do something!"

Kei only swallowed and tried to think of something but then his eyes became glued to her. An idea formed in his mind.

"What if we- What if we used her as bait. Have that thing take her while we escape." He suggested.

Could only close her eyes in acceptance. Of course. What did it matter? She was already dead anyway.

"Good idea. Girl, go and open that door. At least make yourself useful." He snarled.

I did not protest and did as they asked.

She walked forward and paused as she reached the door. She could only hope that whatever the thing outside does to her, it would do it quickly.

Then she opened the door.

The two bastards quickly hid behind the bed.

What greeted her was a wall of darkness as every light source from outside the room was somehow snuffed out.

The two bastards looked confused. Then they began to chuckle in relief.

"Must've left."

"Man, that was one hell of a scare… " Kei laughed.

…

But then they noticed that May wasn't moving.

Then something happened that turned their blood to ice as chills went down their spine.

Black inky tendrils began to enter the room. They began to cover the walls like roots. Bigger tendrils crawled on the carpeted floor.

May turned to them with cold eyes as the dark tentacles avoided her.

She was like a rock in a moving stream. The black mass avoided her as they crept into the room.

Then they screamed in horror as thousands of mouths opened up from every tentacle. Rows and rows of sharp needle-like teeth kept snapping in the air.

She noticed that the snapping mouths seemed to be fixated on Kei himself. The bastard tried to move away but the mouths and tentacles only followed. His uncle noticed this and tried to get away as far from Kei as possible but another set of tendrils with mouths blocked his way.

It was then that they begged and begged. They even thought that May herself was the one controlling the creature.

She only looked at them though. She regarded them as the monsters that they were.

When the creature finally struck. She did not look away as they were torn apart and devoured.

By the time it was done, the darkness itself retreated back and she was left alone in a building that hours ago had dozens upon dozens of armed men.

She began to laugh. She laughed and laughed.

she had thought that her prayers went unanswered...As it turned out. Something really did answer.

 

February 2, 2011
1:05 am (Before reaching Kei Masamoto)

Everything was a gray haze… like looking at a filter from a camera. The only other color I could see were various silhouettes of people who glowed red. The sounds that I could hear were echoey and loud. My body moved on its own and for some reason, I was close to the ground weaving side to side as I crawled on the floor.

'Your mother is quite the looker.'

His voice echoed in my memories along with the laughter that followed. Anger and hate bubbled up inside of me. That bastard. He can kick me. He can beat me up. He can call me names...but I will not let them hurt my mother…

Images began to appear in my head. Images of their threat realized.

An image of my mother coming home from work. She was just passing by some alleyway when they suddenly struck. They grabbed her and gagged her

They dragged her as she was screaming. Despite the cloth that gagged her, her scream was still loud enough to hear. People saw them but didn't do a thing when they saw that they were all wearing green and red. The color of those monsters.

It wasn't their fault. If they did anything stupid, it would be their families next. They were powerless. All they could even hope to do was call for the local superheroes but even then it would have been too late.

It was DISGUSTING.

I snarled. From the corner of my grayscale vision, I could see black tendrils sprout out from me and I reached for the window. It didn't matter that my window had metal railings. I simply passed through it, using my tendrils to reach another building just parallel to my window and pull myself to it. I felt myself stick to the wall and began to slither down onto the alleyway below.

When I took a deep breath, I could smell the familiar scents of the monsters that threatened my mother and beat me. I growled as I slithered on the filthy ground, sticking to the shadows and avoiding anything that vaguely looked like humans.

I found my first target when I found myself on one of the poorest sections of the docks.. I remember him as the tall one. I remember Chinese tattoos and several piercings on his nose and ears. The smell of some kind of chemical or drug was on him. Permeating all around him. I could hear laughing which echoed inside my head. When I got closer, I hid myself behind some boxes and observed.

He was with several other people. I could not make out their faces nor could I properly tell anything about their physical appearance since all that I could see were red silhouettes.

It looked like they were beating someone. The person on the ground, weak and barely moving. They laughed to themselves in amusement as they swung their weapons onto the person's leg.

The person cried and begged for them to stop.

They only replied after they swung a bat onto the man's back.

"That's what you get for fucking walking in here like you own the place."

"I-I live here…" The man sobbed. I looked at my surroundings and realized that we were behind a boarded-up shop. But it didn't look abandoned. Looking up I saw that there were lights on the windows.

They only laughed.

"Is that right? Then you should be paying us then." The thug then began to rummage in his pockets.

"W-what are you doing?... I've already paid this month's protection money."

"Says who? You? Go fuck yourself old man. You're just a fuckin squater. In case you haven’t noticed, this is ABB territory." He giggled in delight when he found the man's wallet. But groaned in frustration when he only found 20$.

I watched from the shadows thinking about what I'm supposed to do in this situation. My target was there, but there were others too. I have no beef with these guys.

I decided to just wait until he's alone. Then I'll strike.

But then something unexpected happened.

"Grandpa!" The sound of a little girl echoed in my ears.

A small figure, no, a toddler ran towards the fallen man and hugged him.

"N-No! Betty! Get back inside!" The man begged his granddaughter. The girl only wailed and cried as she kept clinging onto him like he was dying.

“Ohoho! A little N*glet! How cute.”

The man forced himself to sit up and hug his granddaughter to protect her.

“Bunch of n*ggers squatting in our territory? Tsktsktsk”

“Please! Just leave her out of this! I-I’ll give you more money! I swear!”

The Asian gangster scoffed but nodded. He prodded the man’s head with his bat and spoke again.

“Have it by tomorrow. I don’t have to tell you what happens if you tell anybody about this, right?”

The old man only nodded profusely as he held his granddaughter.

Satisfied, the Asian gangsters left while occasionally hitting bottles with their bats as they amused themselves while they walked away. I stayed in the shadows and stared at the sobbing man and the crying girl. Most probably, they were the only people left in their own families. I looked at them, imagining myself in the arms of my mother with her being bloody and bruised. I could feel myself shift as I moved in the shadows toward the gangsters.

I hated everything in this city. I hated that people are powerless to actually do something about the rot that’s been festering. The heroes tried their best, but they are outnumbered. Villains, monsters, and criminals roam the darkness without fear of justice and retribution.

When I found the gangsters talking and messing around just behind another building. I positioned myself just above them, on a ledge that had no light to chase away the black shadows. They were drinking and smoking as if they hadn’t just attacked an innocent man and his granddaughter.

Just another day in Brockton Bay. A robbery in the morning. Villain attack in the afternoon. Murder in the evening. People like me and my mother suffered while these bad people lived in comfort in their little groups. Unafraid and arrogant. They thought that they ruled the night.

Maybe it was time to remind them that there was always something in the darkness.

When my tendrils hit the scant light bulbs that illuminated the area, the only thing I could see was red. It was as if my body had been waiting for this moment. Excitement fueled me and I let myself go. A toothy grin formed on my face.

It was time for them to fear the night again.

—---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

My eyes snapped open and I stumbled out of my bed. I landed hard on the cheap floor covering making a loud thud as a result. It did not hurt though so I did not groan nor did I feel any sort of discomfort. I only sighed and stood up. Bad dream. Haven’t had that for awhile.

"Ricky? Are you alright in there?" My mom knocked on the door.

"Yeah! I'm okay! Just fell off my bed." I replied.

"Alright. Well you go and take a bath. School will start in an hour."

"Okay."

I stretched my body and cracked my neck just to see if there wasn't any stiffness or something and then went to my closet to get some clothes and my towel. When I began to head to the bathroom I saw my mom already in her usual work outfit, which consisted of a white collared T-shirt with the print 'Stitch and spin' on the left breast and regular jeans.

"Food's at the table so don't skip breakfast. It's bad for your health. I'll be going first so don't forget to lock the place okay?"

I nodded and she smiled as she walked to me and gave me a kiss on the cheek before walking out of the front door.

I proceeded to walk into our small bathroom. It was the size of a broom closet. The sink was directly beside the shower and the toilet was put parallel to it. A bucket was put on the shower area to use the water that leaked from the shower's pipe as a way to flush the toilet.

I put my fresh clothes on some hangers that were hanging directly above the toilet and began to remove my clothes. At first I was careful not to move much due to the pain that bruises caused but then I was surprised to find out that there was no pain at all.

I looked to the mirror on our sink to check the bruising on my body to see if something changed. And something did. Where there used to be bruises there was nothing. I recalled that there was a cut on the left side of my torso but again there was nothing there. I stared at my reflection, confusion evident on my face. My face. There’s something different about it but I could not put my finger on it. I looked down onto my body and also noticed something different. There used to be folds on my armpits and my stomach fat was supposed to hang below my underwear.

‘Okay. This was weird.’

In the end though, I just chalked it up to my imagination and proceeded with my shower. The ice my mom gave me must’ve helped heal the bruises and I must’ve been imagining my wound. After I finished showering and changed my clothes I did my routine of eating breakfast before going to school. I always made sure to check every appliance in our apartment since we wouldn’t want a fire due to electrical failure or something, can’t hurt to be prepared right?

I locked the door on my way out and headed to the lobby. I passed by Veronica, the fat cat that always greeted me when I came back from school, and gave her a rub on the back of her head. I smiled as she purred and that just made my day a little bit better. I could see a few people also leaving to get to wherever they had to go in the morning. I never really bothered to get to know them. There was his guy that lived with his partner, an old woman who always carried some bread in a paper bag, a guy who was lifting his expensive-looking bike on his shoulder and heading out, a girl who I’ve seen on Winslow a couple of times but I never bothered to interact with, and a man who had this military-style buzz cut lounging on one of the couches wearing military fatigues and a tank top while sipping coffee and reading the newspaper. Cats practically surrounded him as they nuzzled onto him. Yeah, you would not believe that this action-hero-looking guy owned the 10 cats that lived here… also he’s the owner of the Apartment building.

“Richter. Good morning.” He nodded when he saw me. Yeah. I kinda know him too. His scarred face smiled as he saw me and his one working eye, the one that doesn’t have this white stuff on the iris, twinkled.

“Good morning Mr. Kel.” I nodded in response.

“Heading for school?”

“Yeah, actually.”

“That’s good. Stay safe out there, ya hear?”

“I will. Thanks Mr.Kel.”

The conversation was short, awkward and to the point. That was how it was for as long as I could remember. Don’t get me wrong. I actually preferred it to be like that and Mr. Obadiah Kelly was one of the good ones. My mom often told me of how we just gotta understand Mr. Kel, He and my dad used to be on the same unit during the war in the middle east. His mannerisms and his quirks were due to his experience of full on human to human warfare. My mom told me how war changes people, how killing changes you, how it burrows deep within and keeps reminding you of what you’ve done. Sometimes it might even make you do things that you didn’t mean to do. She described it like it was a disease and I didn’t really disagree.

I said my goodbyes to the old war veteran and headed to school. On the way there I stopped by a small bookshop to grab some newspaper for myself. I didn’t really have a smartphone to access the internet nor did I have time to watch the morning news so I just chose this alternative, it can pay to know what’s currently happening out there. It was cheap and the paper sometimes helped to be used as scratch paper in case I needed to wipe something off of me or my bag.

It mostly cape news. Stories and reports about the current activities of the various hero teams in the city. On the front cover was Glory Girl posing for the camera with the tagline: Glory Girl gives exclusive interview! Find out more on page 3!. Just below it was a picture of Assault and Battery with the description talking about how cape relationships work.

‘Brockton Bay Bugle’... should have named themselves ‘Cape Exclusive Bugle’ instead.

I made it to school relatively without issue. I could see other kids arriving at the same time as me. Instinctively I sought out the four Empire members and those ABB kids on the courtyard. Thankfully they weren’t there.

As usual I pulled my gray hood up and slouched myself to make myself seem shorter and blend with the crowd. I saw the four Empire members currently talking to other white kids who were probably also E88 and managed to avoid them by taking a different route. Surprisingly enough, I managed to get to my locker and head to class without issue. There were no signs of those ABB kids, especially that rich dude, Kei Masamoto. He’s probably off with his Yakuza friends and committing whatever crime he has planned for fun. Just the thought of him doing drugs and doing vile acts to whoever he sets his eyes upon made me angry…

I paused. Wait. How do I know that?

I shook my head. Fuck. Whatever. It doesn’t matter. I must’ve just heard it or seen it on a notice board or something. He was popular after all.

Classes went by without a hitch. I answered the questions my professor asked correctly and did some light reading on future lessons. When noon break came, I immediately headed to my secret spot just behind some bushes located near the gymnasium. It was hidden and solitary. It used to be a dump site and had hundreds of bottles littering the place, but after cleaning that one particular area out, I had managed to carve a piece of peace and quiet on campus. It was pretty awesome if I say so myself.

But before I could reach there though I suddenly bumped into someone who must've been running.

“Oof!” We both let out.

I looked to see who it was and I saw this tall girl with long dark curly hair and was wearing some thick-rimmed glasses. There was something about her that was familiar but I could not put my finger on it. But she did somehow remind me of my mom though, with Stick-thin, gaunt stressed-out face, and large brown eyes.

“Ow, sorry. Are you alright?” I asked. I was worried that I might have injured someone.

“Yeah. Yeah, I’m fin-” He eyes widened when she saw me, a look of recognition plastering her face. Did she recognize me? Who-

“There she is! After her!” A voice of a guy called out from one of the hallways followed by the sound of shoes running. I turned to see a bunch of guys running towards us. “Oh shit! She’s with Pigster! Hahaha Sophia was telling the truth!” One of the guys laughed.

What the hell are they talking about?

Suddenly, I felt a hand grab my arm and start to pull. I turned to see that it was the girl. “Com on! They’re after you too!”

I didn’t fight back and just followed her as we ran. “What the fuck is happening!?” I asked as we rounded a corner and avoided some kids.

“They think we told the cops about the incident!”

“They what?!” So it wasn’t just the ABB who had beef with me? Of course, they weren’t the only ones! The other gangs in the school must’ve felt threatened due to the police presence. Snitches get stitches as they all say. “Are they fucking stupid?!” I growled out in anger. “Wait, how are you involved in all of that?” I asked while we ran.

She stayed quiet though, her lips pursed and mulling it over. Thinking about how she should answer. “I’ll tell you later. But first, we’ve got to find someplace to hide!”

I stared at her with suspicion. Was she the one who found me and the other victim that day? Was that why she was being chased? The thought of it being my fault didn’t sit with me right.

“I know a place we can hide. But we’ll have to lose them first.”

She looked at me and nodded. We both looked behind us and saw that they were still chasing us.

“Over here.” She called out and I followed her as we cut through the cafeteria. “This way.” She added when we exited through the other door and made a sharp turn. She looked behind us and turned to me. “We’ve got about 10 seconds till they find us or the other kids rat us out. Where is this hiding place that you’re talking about?”

“Behind the gym”

“Your secret hiding spot is at the glass bottle pile?!” She exclaimed.

“Just trust me on this!”

I ran to the direction of the gym and she followed. When we finally reached our destination, I immediately showed her how I traversed the glass dump. Some of the bottles were arranged like a path. It was hidden enough along with the broken sharp glass that a person who did not know would not b able to pass through without cutting themselves.

We finally reached my clearing and ducked ourselves just in time for the assholes to come and pass by the place. We both waited while we were still lowering ourselves until we could no longer hear their voices.

We both made a collective sigh as we both sat on the ground.

“Okay. What the fuck was that all bout?” I asked her as I made myself comfortable. I checked my keypad phone and saw that it was still 12:25pm.

She panted and sucked in as much air as she could. I offered her a bottle of water from my bag and she inhaled it. With a pop, she put the cap back on and gave the bottle back to me with a thanks.

She regarded me with this conflicted look on her face and began to quietly stare into the ground. She was thinking really hard about something. She almost looked scared. It took her about 7 minutes to finally talk.

“First of all. I’m sorry.”

“For what?” I asked her, perplexed.

She grabbed her own bag and pulled out a letter in an envelope. The envelope itself was stained and looked like it was dipped in ketchup. She gave the letter to me and I hesitantly accepted it. There was something written on the back. ‘To: Mr. Richter Steinmann, From: Daniel Hebert’. Daniel Hebert? Who?

“My dad made that.”

“Your dad? Why would he want to give me a letter?”

Taylor gulped and looked like she dreaded what she was about to say.

“My name is Taylor… and I’m the girl from the locker.”