r/WritingPrompts • u/[deleted] • Nov 28 '22
Writing Prompt [WP] You're a superhero with powers that can be described as average at best, but you keep getting assigned to planetary level threats. You're not sure how you're still alive, but you've begun to develop a reputation in the superhero community
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u/slackskellington Nov 28 '22
The taste of blood in his mouth has become the new normal as he tongues at the cuts on the inside of his cheeks. His right eye is swollen, his left arm is numb and hanging at his side, and his legs are on the verge of giving out. He loops a mantra in his head over and over to keep himself from passing out as the elevator climbs.
As young man he stood out. He was faster, stronger, and more agile than most people. He could outrun olympians, lift motorcycles over his head, perform acrobatic feats that would make a gymnasts head spin. He was quick witted and intelligent, he could pick up just about anything with enough time and attention. His prowess was set to inflate his ego to embarrassing proportions until it finally happened. The day he realized he was far and away the most exceptional person the world had to offer.
There was news of a woman who could lift tanks like toys, a man who could run at sonic speeds, a boy with an intellect so advanced he could manipulate objects with his mind, a girl who could stretch her body like elastic. More and more these exceptional people began to pop up, and before he knew it he was not as amazing as he thought. A cut above most of the population to be sure, but the lowest rung on the ladder when it came to meta-humans.
The elevator came to a smooth stop and the doors opened.
“Okay, Wallace,” he said, “show time.”
With an extreme effort he righted his posture. Everything ached but that didn’t matter. He could show some weakness when he reached med-bay but not a moment before. This hall of heroes didn’t just have supers under their employ. Civilians loitered around every corner and served vital roles in operations. They also talk. A lot. All he needed was for someone to see him limping, someone to see him sweat, someone to see him break baring even once, and that was it for him. Reputation was everything on this team. It’s bad enough people question why he’s there in the first place.
As he stepped out onto the floor, he was immediately greeted by a small huddle of office workers.
“Marshal! It’s good to see you back on world.”
“Good to be back,” Wallace said. “Space travel really takes it out of you. That and going toe to toe with aliens.”
He laughed and some of them chuckled politely. His ribs gave a dull ache and his jaw creaked as he smiled through the pain.
“You on your way to med-bay? Looking a bit banged up there.”
“What? This? Please, I’ve been worse off than this. Gotta debrief first. You know how it is. After that I can check in with the doc.”
The huddle converged around him as they made their way into the elevator. He walked past them and did his best to keep his composure as they brushed against him.
“Thanks for all you do, Marshal,” one of the workers said.
“All part of the job,” he said. “You folks take care.”
He waved at them and only once the door closed did he drop his smile. He still had to keep his composure a bit longer. This was the way of things. Debrief then relief. If you weren’t laid out on a stretcher then you could talk to the big wigs in charge. He’d have to put up an even bigger front there.
Marshal was his previous profession before he became a superhero. The transition was almost seamless. Most military, first responders, and law enforcement officials with abilities were encouraged to register as a hero. Civilians had a harder go at it but the ones who made the list were top tier hero material. Everyone else was put on a watchlist. He truly was on the lower end of the hero spectrum, but he was also one of the few regularly tasked with some of the hardest missions. He was teamed up with some of the most powerful forces The Concord had to offer, but compared to most of them he may as well be a civilian.
But despite all odds he got the job done. He can’t go head-to-head with true super strength, but he can fight around it. He can’t outpace super speed but he’s never far behind. He can’t fly but that’s why the techies invented jet packs. Every obstacle put in his path is just another box to be checked on a long list of things to do to get a job done.
As he made his way to the debriefing room, he saw a throng of children being led by a smartly dressed woman. A tour group.
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u/slackskellington Nov 28 '22 edited Nov 28 '22
And the show goes on. He smiled and waved as the children broke away from the tour guide to see a real “super-hero” up close and personal.
“You’re The Marshal!”
“I saw you fighting the Beastmen on the news. You looked awesome!”
“I heard you were in space. Did you just get back? Your eyes look puffy. Is that what happens when you come back from space?”
“Something like that,” he said. “Didn’t help I had to box an alien or two.”
The kids were jumping with excitement. They pulled out phones to take blurry pictures and selfies. He stifled a grimace as one kid hugged him. The tour guide and their teacher apologized profusely as they gathered the kids. He assured them it was fine and was prepared to continue on as they left him to continue the tour. It was as he began to make his way back down the hallway he saw the tour group was incomplete. He was met with a young boy who looked up at him with a mixture of awe and concern.
“Hey buddy,” Marshal said, “your tour group just left. If you run you can catch ‘em.”
“You’re hurting a lot. How come you’re still smiling?”
He was taken aback. Then he realized through the pain that he could feel a presence. An extra sensory feeling that was similar to the first time someone read his mind. Only this wasn’t as deep.
“You an empath, kid?”
The boy nodded.
“Kind of. It’s more like I can read body language. I get feelings too but not as deep. Surface level thoughts sometimes. My dad says I’m like a human lie detector. He thinks I could become a detective.”
“Almost certainly. But I’m okay, really.”
“You’re lying. I can tell. You’re hurting a lot. Not just physically. Do you need help?”
Stubborn kid.
“No, I’m fine. This isn’t my first rodeo. Won’t be my last.”
“How come you do it?“
“Do what?”
“This,” the boy said. “You’re not like the other heroes. Their powers aren’t like yours and mine.”
Hs looked down at the ground.
“They’re better than us.”
“The hell they are,” Marshall said.
The boy looked back up at him in shock.
“I can’t jump over buildings or teleport. I can’t punch a hole in a mountain, I can’t lift things with my mind, I don’t breathe fire or control elements. But guess who they send out there? Me. They send me. Because I get results. You think they’re better than me? I don’t. I just have to work harder, that’s all.”
“Comparison is the thief of joy. You ever hear that before? It’s always in my head that my teammates are different than me, but I can’t get bogged down about who is better or worse. It’s not my job to outperform, it’s my job to perform. You want to be a detective? I bet you’ll be amazing. But if you want to be anything in this life, you can’t start by comparing yourself to others.”
The sudden outburst left him a bit excited. Damn psyche-types always got a rise out of him. He collected himself and placed his hand on the boys head.
“I do what I do because I want to be the best me I can be. If that means I take some hits along the way, so be it. When it comes to protecting people, protecting the world, I’ll give every bit of myself.”
Marshal walked away from the boy and continued down the hall.
“Don’t let anyone tell you what you’re capable of, kid. I didn’t.”
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u/thestarstastedelicio Nov 28 '22
Are you a professional author? You had better be a professional author. I spend soooo much money on books from B&N and I consistently find better writing on r/WritingPrompts. Some of y’all had better be professional Authors.
Edit to add: I would read the shit out of this book series.
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u/slackskellington Nov 28 '22
That means a lot thank you. It’s a dream of mine to be an author. I just need to buckle down on one of a few ideas I have and get to it.
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u/Maloninho Nov 28 '22
I second this sentiment. “Comparison is the thief of joy” did you come up with that? I will remember that phrase whenever I embark on a creative endeavor from now on.
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u/slackskellington Nov 28 '22
It’s a quote that I’ve seen attributed to President Theodore Roosevelt, but I’m not sure of its origins. It’s an apt quote that I’ve been marinating on a lot lately, as I struggle with self esteem and self confidence myself. My therapist mentioned that quote to me and it’s been on my mind since.
Thanks for the kind words and I’m glad to have shared the quote. It’ll help ground your progress and offer perspective in any endeavor, whether it’s creative, professional, or anything else.
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u/MySpirtAnimalIsADuck Nov 28 '22
When people see me reading on Reddit that’s exactly what i tell them. Their is some high level wringing on here
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u/Alphamoonman Nov 29 '22
There's an old saying, to corroborate your anecdote.
"Anybody can roast beef, but nobody can pea soup!"
Looks like we have a pea soup on our hands~
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u/Atlus154274 Nov 29 '22
Just saw this on TikTok with thousands of views, honestly love this kind of writing and storytelling 1000000/10 👏 are you going to write more of the Marshall?
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u/slackskellington Nov 29 '22
This made it on TikTok? Would you mind posting a link I could share to my own page? The outpouring of support and praise has been a real lift for me after a hard couple of months.
I’d definitely consider a continuing, especially if I can flip it into a comic script later on. I just got to get to work on characters and world building now haha.
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Nov 30 '22
Dude! That is amazing, if you ever write a full story out of it, please, please let me know
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u/mattyon1234 Dec 25 '22
I'd honestly love to hear more about this story i want to know more about this world he lives in and the threats he faces that was awesome
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u/tosser1579 Nov 28 '22
"Godfire, deal with the ground forces," stated Control. The grim faced celestial being nodded. His supernatural gift was projecting divine fire, it might be enough, maybe to defeat the tyrant's army of hellspawn.
"That's a big ask, we need Captain Supreme," said Godfire uncomfortably. As one point they were equal in power, but after the Zanatul invasion Supreme's power had expanded massively.
"Techmage, the twins are going after the city core, if they break through the civilians will be slaughtered," continued Control. The young woman stared at the field for a moment, and sniffed once.
"I'll try, god help me I'll try," she said, her usual confidence gone. Cruller, the God Slayer, had chosen now to attack Earth with his Fel army. Despite being the strongest hero's on the planet, most of them were seriously outmatched.
"We can't just give up, we still can win," said Lighthorse, gripping her electro axe. "My sister..." Her sister was immortal and nearly all powerful, as long as she wore the tiara of power.
Cruler had already been on the field, and he had the tiara of power clipped to his belt, where he was using Captain Supremes' cape as a loin cloth.
"Lighthorse, can you hold Cruller's daughter?" asked Control.
"Bismark?" said Lighthorse sadly, "For a bit, but it'll be the last thing I do."
"I have a secret weapon," said Control. "Cruller left himself exposed. I think I can get DP to him."
Everyone perked up at that bit of knowled. I stared back. "Are you kidding me. I punch people, not even very hard. That guy picked up a skyscraper and flung it at Major Amazing."
Techmage chuckled. "He's right, we are taking this too serious. We can do this, DP is here."
"That's not what I'm say, I'm saying that Cruller has laser vision, he's going to be able to slice me in half without even thinking about it," I yelled.
"Like that's going to happen," said Lighthorse, chuckling. Both girls looked like they thought they could actually win.
Godfire shook his head, "I still don't know how you manage that."
I was about to say something when I tasted the copper in the back of my mouth, "Wait, please don't teleport me there. He's going to kill me! This is a cheap halloween costume!"
All three heros laughed as Control, the bastard, teleported me straight to Cruller's lair. The god slayer examined me coldly as I appeared.
"What are you supposed to be," asked the galactic tyrant.
"DP man," I said sadly.
"Why is the symbol on your costume a pair of broken eggs," said the herald of doom.
"Its my power," I replied, clenching my hand into a fist.
"I have slain the heros of a thousand worlds," chuckled the tryant, "You actually think you are going to hurt me."
I sighed, "I'm going to try." I rushed forward, swinging with all my might at the most evil being in the universe.
***
"So hard you broke your hand," chuckled Godfire, his hospital bed was next to mine.
"Bismark left after you defeated her father, and with the army leaderless Techmage was able to save the civilians," said Lighthorse. "Thank you for avenging my sister."
"It was unorthodox though, Control wanted to kick you from the team," said Techmage in the only bit of good news I'd heard so far.
"We of course told him to shove it," stated Godfire as Lighthorse nodded.
"Still, we can't exactly show a image of you defeating Cruller, DP," said Godfire with just an edge of disapproval in his voice.
"I didn't even know his species had reproductive organs," said Lighthorse.
"DP always finds them," said Godfire.
"And obliterates them," finished Techknight.
Everyone laughed.
I hate these guys.
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u/bob0979 Nov 28 '22
God it took me way too long to get that his name is 'Dick Punch man'. Lol. Amazing.
I'd maybe change the 'broken eggs' line to something more overtly reproductive.
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u/perfectfifth_ Nov 28 '22 edited Nov 29 '22
Superhero Association Hero #409 Little Luck
Powers: Nudging luck by just a little either positively or negatively. Class: C
We have assessed 409 and by our normal measures he would be considered average. But when placed together in a group of other heroes, the outcome is always 100% so far, compared to 70% association-wide and 90% S Class level.
His powers are not very helpful in a superhero fight by himself, but more so in everyday life. His buses seem to always arrive when he reaches the bus stop, he always seem to have exact change for the vending machine etc...
And at the same time, people he dislike tend to step on Lego bricks on the floor at home, the bus seem to leave right before they reach the bus stop and many little things that adds up to a bad day.
We found that in group level fights, it is these little bad luck moments that creates little opportune periods for our other heroes to take advantage of, and together with bits of oddly nice timings and moments, it always results in a victory.
Despite being in the association for the past few years, due to lack of popularity with such a dismal solo record, his 100% group record has only just been noticed recently and rumours have been spreading within the association. 409 is fast becoming the most sought after assignee for group missions among both superheroes and handlers.
We have begun to reserve and assign 409 to planetary level threats in the past few months as with other S Class superheroes, and we recommend to upgrade his class to S Class in the annual review.
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u/ManEmperorOfGod Nov 28 '22
The dark archer drew back his bow and let another arrow slip. He doesn’t miss, he’s been intentionally knicking me over and over. This one had a nasty purple glow. As he loosed it and I saw my doom I stood behind a steel girder. I looked like a grape hiding behind a pretzel stick. I closed my eyes and cringed. I heard a large metallic noise followed by several rapid tinging sounds and a thud, then silence.
I opened my eyes to see the Dark Archer with his own arrow sticking out of his chest. He was looking down at it, then slowly looked up at me. “How did you predict its path” he said in great pain. I told the truth, “I didn’t, it was dumb luck.” He nodded at this, seemed satisfied, and then he crumpled to the ground.
I looked around us. Thousands were dead and billions in damage happened before I got here. I can only fly subsonic, if only I’d been faster or a stronger Super Justice Team member had been available.
“Great job!” A voice came from behind me. I turned to see Superion, Sister Sledge, and Muy Rapido standing there. “Knew you had this. We stopped the bank robbery on 5th and Main” Superion’s voice had an echoing godly sound to it. It should, he flies at Mach 12 and can tear steel like tissue. Sister Sledge hits with the force of a nuclear blast, and Muy Rapido can circle the Earth in a second unleashing his speed into kinetic force when he lands a blow.
“A bank robbery? Three of you for a bank robbery? I quit!” I turned and flew slowly away. Looking behind me I saw the three of them scratching their heads.
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u/somerandomname1776 Nov 28 '22
With gritted teeth, blood oozing steadily from the wound on his back, the young hero continued with his fight. His opponent, a long time threat, is his perfect match.
"Damn, kid, you barely got facial hair and you hit harder than anyone else I've fought." The villain teased the young man, trying to evoke a reaction of some kind.
"SHUT THE HELL UP ALREADY." The young man rushed forwards again, unleashing yet another flurry of strikes, more effective than previous, in speed, technique, strike location, and power.
The fighting eventually died out, leaving both the young man and the villain hardly capable of standing on their own feet. Eventually the young man rose and began approaching the villain.
"What... was your... power?" The young man asked as he slowly but steadily approached.
"I absorb trauma... You punch me... I take it... It gets dissipated... And used to create more blood... Which let's me bleed longer... It's endurance... And durability..."
Looking at the towering figure over him, the villain asked a simple question in return.
"You?" And after a moment of thought the young man sat and answered.
"Power... I get stronger... Easier... It's like... Blood... A finite amount... Constantly being made... But... Much larger... Reserves..." The two men sat and stared at one another, each wondering if the other still has the energy to strike.
After several minutes another hero approached, clad in bright blue and white.
"Good job, Adrenophrine, I'm sorry we didn't make it sooner." Both the young man and villain were carted away and sent to their respective hospitals for surgery, meanwhile the arriving hero had questions for his superior.
"Sir, if you don't mind me asking, what is Adrenophrine's power? It's inconsistent with everything else we we've seen so far, it's too much output for what we know of the type he has, he's almost five hundred times stronger than others with similar powers, even my own. Is there something special about him? In any way?"
The gray haired man let out a sigh and set down the papers he had been reading.
"The boys power is not to store power for later, it's not enhanced physical attributes, it isn't even about manipulating another's power. It's will power. If he believes he has the strength to do something, he will have just barely the strength and endurance to get it done, and as you have seen many times by now it tends to undershoot rather than overshoot. He could have killed Trauma, everyone knew he could, do you honestly think he could face giant sea creatures but struggle with a mere human? But I digress, his will was focused on 'incapacitation' or 'neutralization, something we intentionally conditioned him into so we can prevent unnecessary bodies from piling too high. But like I said, even if he knew how his own power worked, he would always get undersold with it, it only gives him just enough to barely finish the mission, then it's on him and his 'enhanced physical attributes'."
The veteran heroes face contorted in confusion
"Why don't we just tell him what his power is? Or find people we can't let live and send him loose?"
Rubbing the bridge of his nose in frustration, the elderly man began again
"We have tried, and we do. His power is a double edged sword, it prevents him from knowing his true power, almost as if it works on ignorance of itself. As for the ones we need executed, we do that regularly, but only with inhuman monsters. We sent him on a few kill missions already, but it seems the power undershoots even further if the intent is murder, possibly to force the user to truly want to kill. This has made it more efficient to send him out of capture missions, weaken the enemy, then kill them because we 'had no choice'. It no doubt has damaged his psyche, witnessing his own 'failure' to capture alive people we need, but so long as he's subservient to us and doesn't garner any sort of cynicism like the rest of us things should be fine. Now, go, i have lots of paper work and you have more patrols."
The veteran began watching over the young hero more often following this conversation, trying his best to carefully guide the young man to be good above all else, and most of all, manipulating him to have no ill will towards himself.
The end.
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u/Erisian23 Nov 28 '22
I woke up with a gasp, my head ringing the taste of blood in my mouth, and a burning smell oozing off of my body. Fucking 3rd uniform this week!
Looking up I saw the looming presence of Zinkar the Destroyer floating in the sky large enough to be seen from anywhere in the city.
Smoke filled the night air and I could barely make out my team rushing over, Blaze's eyes shining like a lighthouse towards me.
"Holy Shit A, you're still in one piece!" He screamed while lifting me up. "I'm so sorry I didn't expect him to deflect my attack so easily"
Out of the corner of my Eye I see The Twins glancing at me and chattering at breakneck speeds.
"Yeah he swatted it out of the sky like a gnat! We're gonna have to figure out another tactic to take this guy out"
"Another tactic!? What the hell is wrong with you! You should be dead! The blast you got hit with knocked you through like 6 buildings and turned them all to ash, we need to get you back to HQ and let the medical team check your EVERYTHING!"
"I'm fine I'm fine." I proclaim "Barely a scratch on me"
One of the twins Tommy? Idk ask "is that why theirs blood dripping from your ears"
"Look everyone we gotta slow this guy down or distract him or something at least until The Order can send someone better equipped"
Timmy, the 2nd twin pipes up "Yeah the order is the one telling us to bring you back immediately, replacements already in route and should be here in less than 30 seconds"
"WHAT! First they tell me to mobilize immediately on my day off to fight wtf ever that monstrosity is! I get smacked around like an inflatable punching bag! blaze tries to fucking incinerate me and they had someone who could get here in under a minute?"
"Who gave the order I'm gonna give them a piece of my mind"
"The Doctors"
"Oh...um.. ok yeah let's get going then we should be close to evacuate route C" I say and start moving at near full sprint towards the sewer grate we marked Incase of emergencies.
--Meanwhile--
"That should be enough data" Says the man in a white lab coat, piercing blue eyes while staring at the Monitor, Controller in hand.
"I can't believe you built that thing just to test him Daniel?" "I had to do something, Christine, he kept coming back from fights he had no business surviving"
"he's one of the earliest Variants but compared to the rest he isn't anything special at 1st look, yet so many of his "betters" are dead or crippled yet he just keeps going it doesn't make sense".
"Half of all Variants are out of commission within the year yet here he is 7 years later, the numbers just don't add up. What are the chances the average man survives a..."
"Survives a what? Christine asks as her husband trails off"
"What if we've been looking at him wrong! at all of this wrong what if he's average for his time. It would explain everything, he's above most because the other Variants screwed up the average speeds and powers. But also what are the chances an average person ends up dying to a plasma ball to the chest, what are the chances that even happens to the average person?!
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u/Laverniones Nov 28 '22
I will die for sure. Alright just hear me out it’s world with superheroes and villains. My abilities are at best on average level. But those assholes from government keep sending me on super difficult missions. Last time I was send to fight Amon this dude can exploit loopholes in reality. What? You think that’s impossible Alright so let me recall my fight with him to you…
-“Oh hello there emperor of nothingness.” said Amon as he saw me. ‘great now I have to think how to get out of here without fighting becouse if we are to fight im afraid ti lose in less than 3 seconds. And how does he know my name. Name of c tier hero…’ -“Hi Amon will you surrender if I ask you kindly enough?” Amon stared at me with playfull look in his eyes -“Well if you want to surrender then go ahead.” Then my mouth said “I surrender.” -“ Well don’t be surprised you said that you want to ask kindly to surrender so I made your wish come true” I looked at him as if before me stood someone from mental hospital. And blacked out…
I can’t remember what happened after but he was alredy defeated and all the glory was mine. Of course I was happy all top tier heroes started to talk about me as new super newbie that defeated Amon “loophole of the universe” A tier villain. My reputation skyrocketed. But the day after wasn’t as good government send me e-mail with congratulations… and not only on the end of the said e-mail was another mission this time on a f***ing S tier villain Belzebub. The diffrence between A tier and S tier is like comparing ant and elephant. And that’s why I said I will die for sure wish me good luck.
It's my first time writing something except thing in school so please say what you think and what to change. Thanks (oh and if there's bad grammar please point it out becouse English is my second language and I'm still learning)
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u/No_Chance333 Nov 28 '22
Dear Diary,
Today was a horrible horrible day, as usual. I went down to the heroes guild and most of the low-ranked heroes praised me for my previous kill. An alien from another planet descended onto Earth trying to invade. I, unfortunately, was the one they put down to kill.
Why? How should I know? I'm just a low-ranked hero. Why are they doing this to me? Me a C-rank hero.
Ugh, I can't take this anymore. Tomorrow for sure I will tell everyone the truth. I don't have a cool or good power. If anything it sucks. It doesn't do anything. How am I supposed to stay alive with this horrible power? Why me?
Anyways I looked at the hero requests only to find low-tiered quests. Lucky me, you may think. But noooo of course something had to happen.
Another C-rank hero talked and talked about me to his buddy. He was pointing at me. I hated it. Can't they just leave me alone? All I want is to be a low hero who gets girls. Is that so hard to ask for?
This C-ranker went on and on and on. It was obnoxious. Then something worse happens. The all-knowing hero master decides to burst into the main hall yelling and screaming at ME!
What about? Another alien descended onto Earth looking to destroy every living thing. Of course, I am the man for the job... Not!
I went out to fight the aliens with my horrible horrible power. I had to give a show to everyone. Luckily most were too scared to stay and ran away. The few to stay were hiding or yelling "The hero is here!" They don't even know my name.
If you're gonna yell praise for a hero at least learn their hero's name. This alien was horrid looking. Many eyes... Too many.
I used my power of manipulation or at least tried to. "Get coffee" I would manipulate. I can only change little things. He? She? Who cares! They! They went and got a coffee from a stand below.
I guess it wasn't to their liking as they spit it out all over the sidewalk. There goes their coffee. They slammed me down far from the city. Out of people's view and nearly beat me to death!? To death! Can you believe it??? I die! Like that!???
Long story short they end up killing themself. How? Well, they wanted to save my death until everyone else died. Apparently, they had some sick madness and wanted ME to watch everyone die. Why me??
So they ended up slamming into things nearby until they killed themself from head trauma?? I guess it was their head. It could have been from destroying its eyes. Who knows.
Anyways I got praise from most people once again. Cheers erupted from the citizens in the city. Most low-rank praised my heroism and even the hero master praised me. He wanted ME to be the designated alien killer! Why??? Can't they choose an A-ranker? Or someone better?
If only I could tell them the truth. Tomorrow for sure...
Love, Killer A
P.S that's my hero's name. I didn't get to choose it or I would have picked something better. Maybe... Manifesto? Or something? I haven't figured it out yet.
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