I woke up on a bed, staring at an unfamiliar ceiling. "A bed," I thought to myself. I clearly remembered falling asleep in class. How did I get here? As a matter of fact, where is here? I sat up, intending to look around, needing to understand what was going on. Then, I realized there was something white dangling in front of my face. I raised my hand to pull whatever it was out of my hair and froze. "What the hell?" I muttered. My hand was white, not Caucasian white, but white-white. I was albino. I jumped off the bed, stumbling around my room, staring at my arms, and then... I fell on my ass. The pain jolted me awake. I needed to remember what happened after I fell asleep. This shouldn't be a dream; the pain would likely have woken me up already. I was in my economics class, a requirement for my business major. I was already a few weeks ahead in the class, so I decided to rest my head on my desk, and then... that's it. That's all I remember. Now I'm here. "Fuck," I thought to myself. "What the hell is going on?" I rolled over and pushed myself off the ground. "I'm here now; I just need to find out..."
A flash of light slammed into my eyes. Memories flowed in, and for what felt like hours, all I knew was pain. But when it finally ended, I had some understanding of what was going on. "So, this is an isekai?" I asked aloud. "But I didn't even die. What the hell?" I had just started dropshipping and, combined with the money I was making from investing, life was beginning to look pretty good. I sighed and sat on my bed, sorting the memories from my new body. The name of this new body... uh, my new body was Clark Reed. I was 6'1", albino, and had waist-length hair. My father and I had just moved to Chicago, and I was set to start school today. And apparently, I was in the world of Invincible. This is what I assumed, since the only universes I've seen Omni-Man outside of the Invincible universe are Mortal Kombat and Fortnite... I refuse to accept I'm in either of those. I've also seen other heroes from the show here, so it seems like a good guess. My father is fairly well off, but we live below our means in a middle-class suburban area. I sighed again and stood up. "What am I even supposed to do..." The words died in my throat. Wait, this is an isekai. That means I get some sort of boon, right? A golden finger? A grin spread across my face as I started trying various ways to summon my system. Five minutes later, I lay on my bed once again, staring at the ceiling, but this time with hollow eyes. "I'm gonna die. Who the actual fuck reincarnates someone in what's essentially The Boys on steroids, with no powers?" I cursed. "Fuck whatever god that did this to me. If I live, I'm gonna..."
"System download complete. Unlock the gift pack by collecting the DNA of an important character."
"An important character? Where am I supposed to get something like that?" Then, a shit-eating grin spread across my face. "Wait, aren't I technically an important character? I reincarnated here, after all." I spat in my hand and summoned the system, and then I waited for something to happen. I sighed. "Yeah, obviously that wasn't going to work." I walked out of my room and into the bathroom to wash my hands. Sighing again, I walked downstairs. I planned on making a bowl of cereal. I probably wouldn't be seeing my father for a while. After the death of my mother, he threw himself into work, so while he does live with me, he's rarely around. After I finished eating, I went back upstairs. If I was now Clark, I would have to play the role of Clark, and that meant I would have to go to school. After getting dressed, I went to the bathroom to clean myself up. I stared at myself in the mirror for a while and smiled. In my past life, I was Black, and I had the thickest kind of hair, which was hard to grow out. I was kind of liking the new look.
I walked back to my room one more time, put my glasses on, and grabbed my keys and my backpack. I went downstairs to the garage, put my helmet on, and stared at the motorcycle. In my past life, I had a driver's license but no car; I'd never even ridden a motorcycle before. But Clark had both a driver's license and a motorcycle license. His motorcycle was a gift from his mom a few months before she passed away. It was a sports motorcycle, and a few months after she passed away, his father also got him a car. He got on his motorcycle and began the ride to school. He couldn't stop smiling even minutes after he got to school. Riding a motorcycle was so cool. Yes, Clark had done it many times before, but he had only experienced those memories. He was about 30 minutes early. After getting inside the school building, he had a minor sense of deja vu. Ignoring the feelings, he went to the front desk to ask where his classes were. The rather uninterested woman slowly looked up his information and printed out a copy of his schedule. On the back was his locker number and combination. Then, she resumed what she had been doing before he showed up. I left to wander around the building to look for my classes. He knew where they were, but he now needed to find them. Every now and then, I'd get a strange look, which wasn't surprising. It wasn't often one sees an albino, at least, I hadn't seen them often. A few minutes after finding my last class, the bell rang, and I went to my locker. While putting my things in, I heard a familiar voice. I turned my head and saw Mark and William. I opened my locker to hide my face before realizing that I literally had nothing to hide. I began putting my stuff in my locker, removing what I thought was necessary from my bag. I also took a "on-the-go" pack of Kleenex and placed it in my pocket. Clark often got nosebleeds, so he usually kept tissues on him for such situations. As I was closing my locker, I heard someone clear their throat. "I think she's been pretty clear about how she feels, Tod," Mark said. I looked up to see Mark getting punched in the face. I watched the scene that represented the start of Invincible. After watching Amber (still hate her guts, btw) kick Tod in the nuts and then thank Mark, I walked over to him and said, "Are you okay, dude?" He replied with a quick, "I'm fine." I looked down at the ground and saw a mix of blood and saliva. I pulled a Kleenex out of my pocket and said, "I'll clean this up." After wiping up the mixture, I walked to the bathroom, practically jumping for joy on the inside. When I got to the bathroom, I walked into the closest stall, sat on the toilet, and summoned the system. When the system appeared, it said, "DNA Mark Grayson acquired. Due to the importance of the character, the rewards will be adjusted accordingly. The tissue vanished from his hand.
{Gift pack unlocking. You have received:
Rick Sanchez (mental) [U: Rick and Morty] - The intellect of Rick Sanchez.(ETA 4mins)
Juryrigg (mental) [U: Ben 10] - Intellect/Instincts of Juryrigg.(ETA 1mins)
Medusa (Powers |enhanced| |growth|) [U: Marvel] - Powers of Medusa, enhanced by the system.(ETA 40mins) Would you like to take on an attribute of any of the characters for a chance to gain more?" (5 Mins)}
Staring at the prompt, I didn't know what to do. I knew Medusa, the Inhuman from the comics and TV show. I couldn't imagine any attribute too bad from her, so I decided to try to get an attribute from her.
{You have taken (long hair) from Medusa - your hair cannot be shrunk past its current point. If it is cut, it will grow back to its current length in seconds. In exchange, you have gained more control.}
I looked at the message. To me, that was a boon. I liked my hair. "If it's just this," I said before selecting Juryrigg, and I felt it instantly. My perception of the world changed. I looked around, and the world simply felt like building blocks to me. The feeling was euphoric, a high of its own. In this high, I tapped it again.
{You have taken (pointy eyes) and (pointy ears) from Juryrigg - your ears now have pointy tips and your eyes are now vertical slits. In exchange, you have enhanced your Intellect/Instincts 2 fold.}
I sat on the toilet, embracing the feeling of the high for an unknown amount of time before reality slapped me in the face. "I need to leave," I thought to myself. "I can't stay here." If an enhancement that's supposed to be strictly mental did this to me, what will a physical one do? I don't want to find out in the bathroom at a public school. I stumbled to my feet, still feeling the high, and made my way to the door, not even glancing at the mirror. I stumbled down the hallway and toward the front exit. After I left the building, the light seemed unbearable for a few seconds, then it was fine. Making my way to the parking lot, I found my motorcycle. I knew what I was doing was a very, very bad idea. This was basically driving while intoxicated, but really, what else could I do? I didn't know what was going to happen, and there was a literal superhero in that school. I turned the key and began the ride home.
I arrived home on time. I parked the bike on the driveway and stumbled into the house, going straight to my bathroom. I went into the shower and sprayed myself with cold water. A few minutes later, there was heat, then the pain started. I screamed. The pain was unlike anything I had ever felt in my two lives. My hair began to fall out, leaving me bald. For an amount of time I can't measure, the only thing I knew was pain. There was no time. I couldn't even feel the cold water; it was all just pain.
I woke up on the ground of the shower. I was leaning on the wall, and the cold water was still falling on me. I didn't know how much time had passed. I tried to stand, but I was too weak. "God, I just want to turn off the water. If only my arm were a little longer," I thought. There was a thud, the water stopped, and there was a clank on the ground. I was too tired to find out what it was, and once again, I was no longer conscious.
When I awoke again, I saw the broken shower handle on the floor and my shed hair covering part of the drain cover. "Fuck," I muttered to myself.
***
ngl this one was rough took me like 6 hours
anyway let me know if I messed something up really bad or just let me know your thoughts
what can I improve on?