May 31, 2000
Hiro could make out the distant sound of sirens and wondered, "Is that the police?" The alley was bustling with a mysterious figure and his henchmen. He was crossing his fingers that it was, for otherwise he would be screwed by the towering figure before him.
He made another effort to stand up and recover,"Is that all you've got?" As Hiro gripped his fist in wrath, the figure taunted him. Hiro stood up and attempted to attack the villain-
BEEP BEEP BEEP
"....Hmm...Ughhhh..." His alarm clock, which he uses to begin each school day, woke him up. Maybe it was the dream he had, but he felt his heart racing, or maybe because his older sister would reprimand him any second now.
Hiro rubbed his eyes as he looked at his messy room: scattered clothes, a half eaten snack, and a shelf full of novels and superhero comics, a complete geek.
"Hiro!" There it was, the expectation became a reality. From the room across the hall, his older sister called him. "I know I've told you this before, but get up early, not thirty minutes before class!"
"Now, now, there's no need to worry." Their mom makes breakfast for her children.
"Shower it all up, Hiro."
Immediately, he grabbed his school uniform from his closet, then his bath towel, and hurried to the restroom as quickly as he could. After taking a refreshing shower, he quickly wore his uniform and rushed to the dining table.
"How's college?" His mother asked, curious to how well her son is doing at a university.
"It's all good, I've been doing well."
"Doing so well that you're prepared for your exam today?" His sister smiled, she knew that Hiro forgot to study, "I can tell, it's either you've been reading your books and comics or you're playing video games all night long."
Hiro immediately looked at his mother, she was definitely disappointed, "I actually did...but I can't be certain that I'm prepared."
Hiro tried to play it off but his sister knows his habit of lies too well but rather than be a snitch to their mom, "I see, well, good luck on your exam."
"I hope you pass and don't forget to pray." Hiro's mother smiled.
Hiro said goodbyes, preparing to face the test he had neglected to study for the previous day.
In a last-ditch effort, he texted his classmates in their group chat requesting study materials for a quick review, but by the time someone finally responded, he had already arrived at the campus gate.
Hiro immediately opened the reviewer and quickly skim and scan the whole notes, he's not even sure if he could memorize this in under, "Fuck, there's only five minutes left before the first exam." Hiro was starting to panic, he can't afford to fail this one, this is his favorite course in his degree and not only would it be disappointing for the professor but for him as well, he is an aspiring writer after all, reading a lot of novels and comics, idolizing the main characters with a characteristic of heroism, triumphant to all those villains in the story.
Arriving at the classroom door, Hiro felt the immediate weight of everyone's gaze as he was the last to enter. He was only five minutes late and he can't believe all of his classmates are this punctual. Add to the fact that he has social anxiety and is introverted, it doesn't help that those eyes were piercing through his soul.
Taking a seat at the back of the room, Hiro listened as the instructor outlined the guidelines and procedures for the upcoming exam.
Moments later, the exam started "I'm fucked." and it is evident that Hiro is struggling to answer even to the most basic questions. He started to sweat, already in panic on how to answer these problems.
He closed his eyes as he wipe his sweat off that's about to drop on his eye, the moment he opened it once again the world changed, atleast to how he sees it.
Suddenly, Hiro's vision constricted to a stark duality of yellow and gray. His classmates and the instructor appeared in muted shades of gray, while the inanimate objects around him – the door, windows, and chairs radiated a bright, glossy yellow.
At the same time, a faint, rhythmic melody drifted into his ears. Everything was confusing for him, he had no choice but to close his eyes once again, hoping to get it back to normal.
Thankfully it did fix his eyesight. The world was once again familiar: the television screen black, the walls white, and the natural scenery visible through the classroom windows a vibrant green.
"What was that?" He wondered.
He looked back at his test papers that seemed...easy?
"Wait what, the answer to this question is this..." He encircled the right option in the multiple choice questions. Filled the correct answers in the blank statements without problem. Even the essay portion, which presented a literary concept entirely unfamiliar to him moments before, flowed easily as he articulated his thoughts and interpretations without hesitation.
All of a sudden he seemed to know every concept of the lesson in this course, like he studied these months ago.
He finished the exam, he looked at his classmates and they weren't still in the essay part of the paper. They seemed to struggle even if he knew that they were smarter than him.
Hiro was nervous but he definitely knew that the answers that he encircled and wrote were correct. The information, completely foreign to him just half an hour prior, now resided clearly in his mind.
"It must have been the reviewer," Hiro thought, "but there's absolutely no way I could have memorized all that information while rushing to campus." He couldn't fathom how he suddenly knew everything in those notes within a mere five minutes, yet there was no other logical explanation other than the reviewer.
An hour later, after the first exam concluded, they moved to another classroom for the second test. To Hiro's astonishment, he felt equally confident about acing this one, despite having absolutely no prior study, no shared reviewer from classmates, and no personal notes to rely on. "What the hell is going on?" he muttered to himself, utterly bewildered.
By the end of the day, having completed all three exams, Hiro felt confident that he got high scores in every single one, despite not having studied for any of the courses.
It was time to go home after a tiring day full of examinations from his majors, he was accompanied by two of his friends from high school. Their conversation continued until they reached the exit, where one friend was met by his waiting father. The other friend suggested going to the plaza, but Hiro declined, saying, "I'll just go home."
They said their goodbyes as his other friend crossed the street. Hiro continued his walk alone when he heard a soft "psst," as if someone was trying to discreetly get his attention.
He turned around to see if the sound was real or just in his imagination. To his surprise, a casually dressed man was leaning against a nearby wall. This man wasn't trying to be mysterious and could easily be identified if he was taken hostage by this dude.
"Do I know you?"
"Well you don't and even I don't know you, but I know that you have it." The mysterious man replied.
"I have what exactly?"
After this mysterious man blinked his eyes, his pupil turned into a glowing yellow color and the shape of a ring.
"What the fuck?"
"You somehow got this today, didn't it?"
Hiro remembered that he got weird eyesight on his first examination today, "Yeah, I actually did...how do you know about this? And how did you find out it's me who has it? Do I also have those glowing yellow ring eyes?"
"One question at a time, kid. To answer your third question, yes, your eyes will appear yellow every time you switch your eyesight, it's called the supernatural eye."
"How did you know it was me?"
"You appear blue to me when I have my supernatural eye and sorry to say this but you already became a superhuman the moment you have this eyesight."
"How? And a superhuman like those superheroes I read in the comics?"
"Some say it's the god's calling for someone to become a superhuman, and it's up to the user to use it for heroism or for villainy." The mysterious man replied, "and yes, superhumans like the heroes you read in the comics."
"Another question, how do I activate this supernatural eye?"
"It takes a while to switch it so casually and since you're a new superhuman, it might take a lot of tries before you can switch to supernatural eye."
"Last question, what is your name?"
"Max, Max Westley." He reaches out his hand for a handshake.
Hiro accepted it, "My name's Hiro and I sure hope you're a good guy Mr. Westley."
"Trust me, I am."
"So are you taking me somewhere?"
"Later, just go home and rest. I just want to give you a brief introduction of you becoming one of us. I wanted to have your cell phone number so I can call or text you when I need you."
Hiro pulled out his phone and gave his number to the man.
"I think I will be calling you at morning dawn so be prepared."
"That early?"
"Yes, and you need to be present at all costs."
Hiro felt surprised by his declaring tone, "Okay, I will."
"You can go, now."
Hiro waved goodbye to Max, who didn't return the gesture. He kept walking until he reached the bus waiting shed.
After a short wait for a public bus heading towards his neighborhood, he signaled one, and it pulled over to pick him up.
Hiro sat and was lost in thought to the situation earlier, "That guy seemed completely out there," he mused. "There's no way I'm some kind of superhuman. But then again, the way his eye color instantly changed... he couldn't have been faking that. How even is that possible?"
He remained doubtful about the man and his claims, dismissing him as likely delusional.
Reaching his neighborhood, Hiro signaled the bus conductor to stop. He alighted and began his walk home.
When he reached home, he was greeted by an aroma of his mother's cooking, "You're home? How was the exam?"
"Mom you wouldn't believe this but I think I did an amazing job on it."
"Don't get too confident." Her mother smiled, even if he's lying, she would always be proud.
Hiro realized that for some reason, he couldn't say what happened to him earlier with Max.
"I would immediately show my test papers once I get them back." He was so joyful about his performance on his exams.
"How about I treat you and your sister if you really did amazing on your exams."
"I bet on it, mom." He smiled wistfully of confidence.
Hiro then had dinner with his mom,"where's sis?"
"I think she's still busy with work."
"Okay let's just leave some food for your delicious cooking."
His mother smiled, always touched by his son's kindness.
Later that evening, Hiro enjoyed some personal time, immersing himself in novels, and then rewarding himself with video games after completing each chapter.
He opened his eyes from a ringtone, "The hell, what time is it?" He didn't even realize that he fell asleep while playing his video game.
Hiro looks at his clock in his room, "2:00 AM!? So who is this calling..." Then he realized it was probably that lunatic man he met near his school.
He picked it up, "Hello?"
"Hiro?"
"Yes it's me, are you Mr. Westley?"
"Good, I need you to meet me by 3:00 AM."
"For what exactly again?"
Max sighed, "I told you that you're a superhuman and you're needed in the agency to meet your other fellow superhumans."
"Agency? I know we talked earlier but there's still a lot of things for me to process whether you're telling the truth or you're pranking me to the extreme."
"Let's meet at the fast food near you, I know where you live."
That sent chills down to Hiro's spine, "That's why you let me go home-, I'm so stupid."
"Sorry for that but like I said earlier, trust me."
"Okay I am getting up and slowly sneaking out of the house because my family is still asleep."
"Good luck on that."
Hiro didn't even have time to take a bath, he slowly tiptoed from his bedroom up until the front door. He was lucky no one took notice of him sneaking out of the house.
Hiro went to the fast food diner and there he was, Max Westley.
"We still have forty five minutes, let me treat you for your early breakfast."
"Sounds good." Hiro replied, would never say no to a free meal.
When they were eating, Hiro raises a question, "How do you know about all of this?"
"I was in the same position you are in, kid. I was a hero eight years ago."
"Does it happen annually?"
"Semi-annually, I was in the second batch of 1992."
"So am I in the first batch of this year?"
"Yep."
Max looked at Hiro, "You thought I was a crazy man, didn't you?"
"No way, superhumans can read minds too?"
Max laughed, "It's just my hunch, no special ability there."
"Oh-" Hiro nods to answer his question
"Yep definitely me eight years ago, I used to think the person who recruited me to the agency was out of their mind but it's very real, kid. You're now in charge of protecting this city."
"Why me though, I seem so average to be chosen from the gods."
"To be honest, based on my experience. There's no telling who would be chosen to be superhuman so I can't answer your question. Maybe they have seen something in you but don't take my word."
It's almost 3 am and Max alerted you of the time, "We better get going."
"But it's still too early, I don't think there's public buses to provide us service.
"I have a car, let's go kid."
Hiro sat in the passenger seat with a seatbelt on.
"Kid, be cautious of your batch."
"Why?"
"This is the only batch that had sixteen superhumans; since 1964 the year the first superhumans existed, there had only been fourteen or less superhumans in every batch, never more than fourteen."
"So you're telling me there's a spy or something."
"Probably, or maybe I'm just being paranoid. In my batch there were thirteen of us and my recruiter told me that I should be cautious because in their batch there were only eight. What I'm trying to say is, either there's a spy or the gods above are expanding the quantity of superhumans when they feel like it."
"I take your word, Mr. Westley."
Max nods for Hiro's trust on him, he turns on the engine in his car as he sped down the dawn emptiness of the highway.
"Are you ready for this?"
Hiro was anxious but tried to keep his cool, "I guess so, but fifteen other people? That's a lot of new faces."
Max chuckled, "Just think of it as a team, you know like the Teen Titans or whatever the squad of superheroes in those comics are."
From towering buildings to a side street where the agency is visible, it looks like a modern structure with large glass windows but it looks abandoned.
"They're trying to be discreet?"
"Oh yeah, our identities are kept hidden outside of our realm."
Max parked the car and they stepped out, Hiro took a deep breath. They walked down the entrance, the large double doors swinging open to reveal a futuristic looking lobby.
"Welcome to HQ, let's find your batchmates."
Max and Hiro walked ther way down a corridor lined with training rooms and dorm rooms. As they reached a large gathering area, he could see them although they were incomplete but there were twelve unique individuals (along with their recruiter) present.
"That makes me the thirteenth to arrive then?"
Max simply nods as they wait for the last three to arrive.
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In a dimly lit room of an abandoned warehouse, flickering lights struggling to stay alive. A large table covered in blueprints and digital displays all invented by this man. The display shows his plans for the city. The man in a dark tailored suit looked at his plans, he was known as The Architect.
With a gloved hand, he traced a diagram of the abandoned looking building, "You think you can hide?" A sinister smile curling at the corners of his lips.
"Sixteen new superhumans, hmm..." he murmured, "...So naive, you think you can change the world?"
Behind him, a massive screen of the profiles of the new superhumans, he paused on a picture of Hiro, "Oh the one that Max recruited, Perfect."
The Architect turned away from the screen, his silhouette framed by the dim light, "We will capture every single one of them. Their powers will serve a purpose for me, and soon, they will bow to my vision."
As he spoke, two figures emerged from the shadows. One with a futuristic scope goggles carrying a sniper rifle and the other in a dark purple cloak with a purple mist surrounding his entire body.
"And if they resist?" The person on a cloak asked
The Architect's smile widened, eyes gleaming with cold calculation. "Then we will show them why it is futile to defy against me, they are not prepared for what's about to come."
With a snap of his fingers, the lights flickered and the room plunged into complete darkness before the screens illuminated once more, this time showcasing the destruction of the city if the superhumans resist, "They will soon learn that in this world, I am the one who's controlling their fate."