Chapter 107 Debu
[Flasback]
[[[8 Hours Ago]]]
Lauren’s footsteps crunched along the gravelly road, as she did her best to make herself look unassuming.
This attempt of her failed spectacularly, as her attire screams nothing about subtlety.
Lauren was currently wearing a pair of ripped jeans along with a loose jacket swung carelessly on her torso.
She was also wearing a pair of snickers which she considers as old, but were still functional for her.
The bottom half of her face was covered by a face mask, while her eyes were covered with a pair of tinted glasses.
Her long, black hair was strung into a ponytail behind her, as Lauren does not want her debut to fail just because of her hair.
"If its my hair that will make me fail in my debut tonight, then that will just add to my tally of my misfortunes..." Lauren muttered to herself as she kicked a stray can nearby.
"Clonk." The can let out an audible sound as it hit the nearby wall.
Lauren ignored it as she continued on walking.
Just like what she said to herself earlier, Lauren is going to have a debut now.
But this debut will not be the 18th birthday kind of debut. Lauren had not yet reached the age for that, and with her current financial condition, having a birthday debut is almost impossible for her.
The debut that she was talking about was the ’Debut’.
A Hero Debut.
Yes. Tonight, Lauren will be having her Hero Debut.
Lauren looked at her palms which were starting to tremble already.
She tried to contain them as she took some deep breaths to calm herself down.
"Don’t be afraid now, Lauren." Lauren muttered as she chided herself. "Now is your chance to be a Hero and make a change!"
After she said these words, Lauren could not help but smile as she remembered about all the Heroes that she adored since she was a child.
There was Myth, Viber, Tetra, and many more that she were geeking about.
All of them were great Heroes who made Lauren feel happy and hopeful.
And now that she is going to become a Hero, Lauren knew that she must follow their footsteps!
Lauren then looked back at her palms, which was at this point, seemed to be both slightly glowing.
If someone will look closely at her palms right now, they could possibly see some kinds of symbols moving on her palms.
"...."
After looking at her palms, she let out a sigh as she thought to herself,
"If I did not become a Superhuman, being a Hero is almost impossible for me..."
Lauren then let out a sigh, as she recalled everything that she knew about Superhumans and their relation to the appearance of Heroes.
**************************
Up until the end of 20th Century, everyone living on Earth were all ’normal’ people.
Nobody at that time had the ability to summon laser beams or explode objects from a distance.
Everything was still ’normal’ back then.
But that all changed at the day of January 1, 2000.
At that day, multiple people around the world suddenly manifested the ability to wield powerful abilities that were beyond the norm of human science and technology.
When the public caught the whiff of this, everyone panicked, as they thought that the end of the world was coming.
Fortunately, their fears were unfounded as nothing apocalyptic happened.
However, the manifestations of powerful abilities continued on happening even after that day.
More and more people manifested these abilities as days passed on, resulting in chaos and destruction.
This period of time can be considered to be one of the darkest period in human history.
These people with special abilities, who were all called as ’Superhumans’, brought a massive and radical shift in the society.
People began to fear them, as their unpredictability and lethality were something that made them an unknown factor.
It was only when the SHA, or the Superhuman Association was established that the order was almost restored.
In order to make the public trust the Superhumans, the members of the SHA established the Hero and Villain System.
Any Superhuman who engages on illegal or inhumane activities will be considered as Villains, and they will be treated just like criminals. In some cases, harsher treatment might be given to them depending on what they did.
As for the Superhumans who wanted to do good, they will be taken in by the SHA to become Heroes.
These Superhumans who became Heroes has the responsibility to help people out when they needed help. And of course catching and imprisoning Villains are part of their jobs too.
Fortunately for the SHA, this Hero and Villain was able to change the public’s view about the Superhumans.
If before, all Superhumans were viewed as freaks of nature, now, Superhumans were just viewed as either the enforcers of good or the spawn of evil.
That kind of view is not really that good, but that is much better than being treated as a freak...
Aside from placating the public, another goal of the SHA was to determine how the Superhuman abilities manifest themselves in the first place.
However, up until now, the SHA is not making any headway to reach this goal.
The only thing that was known right now was that the manifestation of the Superhuman abilities were mostly random.
If you are lucky to get it, then you will get it. If not, then you will not.
"Well, I do not care on how these abilities manifest themselves." Lauren muttered to herself as he clenched her fists tightly. "What matters the most right now is that I have these Superhuman abilities, and that I will use them for the greater good!"
**************************
Lauren manifested her Superhuman ability three days ago when she was peeling an apple that her sympathetic neighbor gave her.
At that time, her hands suddenly glowed as she felt some sudden urge to slap her palms on something.
When Lauren felt this urge, information suddenly flowed into her brain, teaching her about new things.
After receiving this information, Lauren almost cut herself as she realized that this information was teaching her on how to use her Superhuman abilities!
It was at that point that Lauren realized that she was not a normal human anymore.
She was already a Superhuman.
**************************
As she continued on walking along the road, Lauren kept her hands hidden on the pockets of her jacket as she reviewed about all the aspect of her abilities.
She had already done some experiments about her abilities and the results that she got made her both nervous and excited.
Her ability was to essentially produce stickers that looked like mathematical symbols from her palms.
Each symbol has its own unique effect, and quite frankly, these effects were impressive.
However, these symbols will only work once they were pasted on something.
This limitation entails that Lauren must place her palms in contact with an object or person that she wanted to use the symbol on.
She cannot just throw the symbol towards her target. She can only do it through palm contact.
When Lauren saw this limitation, she was slightly disappointed, but she knew that she must accept it, since Superhuman abilities are just like this. They have weird rules and even weirder effects.
Another thing that made Lauren disappointed was the fact that she can only produce 4 mathematical symbols now, which are the +, -, x, and .symbols.
As for the other mathematical symbols, Lauren was not sure on when she can create them.
So right now, she had to make do with the 4.
But even with just these 4 symbols, Lauren was sure that she can use them to be a Hero. After all, their effects were quite impressive.
The - symbol, which necessarily represents subtraction, was Lauren’s favorite symbol.
Once this symbol was slapped on an object, Lauren can ’remove’ one kind of physical or chemical property of that object.
For example, if the - symbol was placed on a syrupy material, Lauren can remove its viscosity, allowing the viscous material to flow much more easier.
If the - symbol was placed on a metal wire, Lauren can remove its conductivity, which will make the wire pretty much an insulator.
There are other more ways that Lauren can use this symbol, and she cannot wait for the opportunity to use them.
As for the time limit, each - symbol placed will only last for 30 seconds before they disappear.
That might seem short, but in a fight, 30 seconds could be just enough.
The + symbol on the other hand, is the opposite of - symbol.
Instead of removing a chemical or physical property, the + symbol will allow Lauren to ’add’ a physical or chemical property on an object.
This chemical or physical property however must come from a material that was near Lauren, maybe around 10 meters around her.
So if for example, Lauren wanted to give a block of wood some corrosive property, there must be a some kind of corrosive acid nearby.
If no corrosive acid was nearby, then Lauren will not be able to add this property on a block of wood.
Just like the - symbol, the time limit of the + symbol was also 30 seconds.
If the - and + symbols were all about removing or giving properties, the x and ÷ symbol were about improving or degrading these said properties.
Once placed on an object, the x symbol will allow Lauren to enhance the physical or chemical property of an object.
The rate of enhancement will depend on the amount of x symbols placed.
One x symbol will do nothing, but placing two x symbols on the same object will double the effect of the chosen physical or chemical property. Three x symbols will triple this effect, four x symbols will quadruple this effect, and so on and so forth.
With the use of this symbol, Lauren knew that she can use it to raise her fighting capabilities, as long as she uses it right.
As for the ÷ symbol, its use is just the opposite of the x symbol.
The ÷ symbol reduces the effect of any physical or chemical property.
One ÷ symbol will do nothing, while ÷ two symbols will divide the effect by two. Three ÷ symbols will divide the effect by three, four ÷ symbols will divide the effect by four, and so on and so forth.
Just like the x symbol, its applications, if used quite right, will be pretty useful too.
**********************
With these 4 symbols in her palms, Lauren decided to become a Hero today.
And no, Lauren will not join the SHA as their Hero.
Lauren wanted to debut as an Independent Hero.
After all, Lauren was sure that her father’s... dubious record will make her quite illegible to be an SHA Hero.
This leaves her no choice but to become an Independent Hero.
But at least with this status, she can still help out people.
Since she was debuting tonight, Lauren knew that she must wear something protective inside her body, in case something serious happens.
Fortunately for her, her deadbeat father had left his kevlar vest before he abandoned her and her younger sister.
Lauren was currently wearing this vest under her jacket, making her feel more secure.
But aside from the vest, Lauren had no more fancy equipment to help her.
This of course had frustrated Lauren, but she had to just make do with what she had.
Besides, this is her first night out. There will be no Supervillain who will just pop out from behind her, right?
This expectation of hers were shattered as she heard a pair of voices coming at her left.
Lauren looked at that direction, and what she saw made her go pale in fear.
She saw two people facing each other, and they seemed to be having some sort of business deal.
One of these people was a bespectacled man wearing an impeccable business suit.
The suit was so straight and wrinkle-free that Lauren doubted that it was cheap.
This man was holding a briefcase, which he was passing to the person in front of him.
The person receiving the briefcase was a middle-aged woman, around 30-35 years old.
She had a long silky black hair which flowed until her hips.
Her face can be considered to belong to a beauty, although it was slightly warped by the sadistic smile on her face.
She was wearing tank tops and shorts, which was a far contrast to the formal suit of the bespectacled guy.
This woman gave the bespectacled guy her sadistic smile as she received the briefcase.
But before the woman could grab the case, she suddenly paused, as if she had detected something.
A few excruciating seconds later, and this woman suddenly looked at Lauren, who was looking at the woman with a twitching expression on her face.
"Girl." The woman said as she slowly approached the busted Lauren. "What the hell are you doing in my territory? Are you blind or something?"
"Territory?" At the instant that she said these words, Lauren immediately realized her blunder.
She looked around her once more, and that was when she only realized that she was at the border of the territory held by the Children of Jotunn!
Ok, it might only be the border, but criminal organizations treat territories way too seriously!
"You do not know this place? Hmph, it seems like I have to teach you a lesson then." At the instant that the woman said these words, Lauren suddenly felt the temperature plummeting, as if someone had placed a massive ice cube nearby.
"Uh oh." After feeling what was happening to her, Lauren looked back at the tank top woman, as she tried to identify who this woman was .
After a second of scrutiny, Lauren let out a shaky laugh as she realized who the woman in front of her was.
"Why, of all the bad guys that I could meet, the one who I see first was the Supervillain Glacia?" Lauren thought to herself as she saw Glacia forming her signature Ice Armor, which she will undoubtedly use to clobber Lauren. "This is too much misfortune!"
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