Just as I was about to start rolling my tickets, really commit to the gambling addiction and see if I could pull something that would help Nakime survive the Viltrumite currently demolishing my pocket dimension, a beep interrupted me.
Even through my blurry vision, I could make out the door to my cell sliding open with that pneumatic hiss.
A man in blue clothes walked up to me, but I couldn't make out his face through the combination of broken glasses and blood in my eyes. Just a vague human-sized shape, moving with purpose.
Panic spiked through me. I was chained up, half-blind, with no idea who this was or what they wanted.
'Fuck it. When in doubt, gamble.'
I mentally tore my first Bronze ticket, feeling that familiar rush of anticipation as the gacha spun.
[Charming Eyes]
|Common Trait|
Not to be confused with the mystical eyes of charming, instead of hypnotizing people your eyes are just really pretty.
Heat flooded my eyes, intense enough that I had to squeeze them shut as tears formed just to cool them down. When I opened them again, everything felt... normal.
'Could be useful,' I thought, 'if only I could actually see my targets.'
Great. Pretty eyes. That would really help me against a Viltrumite or whoever had me chained up in this cell.
I tried to move my hands to wipe my eyes, but the chains clinked loudly, stopping me short.
The man spoke, his voice rough and authoritative. "Don't even try. Those are tungsten alloy cuffs used to contain supers. You're not breaking out of them without help."
He stepped closer, his face coming into rough focus as he leaned down to my eye level.
And just like that, I knew exactly who this was.
Those scars on his face were deep and ugly. The shoulder-length white hair that had probably been blond before stress and trauma turned it silver. And most importantly, that attitude in his voice - the tone of a man who'd seen everything, done worse, and wouldn't hesitate to do it again.
Cecil Stedman.
Director of the fucking Global Defense Agency.
The man who in canon would cut deals with supervillains, clone heroes without their permission, and generally do whatever morally gray bullshit necessary to keep Earth safe.
And he was personally interrogating me.
'Yeah,' I thought, 'I need to get out of here. Right now.'
I ripped another Bronze ticket mentally, desperate for something useful.
[Musk]
|Uncommon Trait|
Your smell is really good, a bit arousing even.
'What the fuck am I even gonna use this for?!'
An itch spread across my entire body, blooming from my pores, only to vanish the next second as the trait settled into place.
Pretty eyes and sexy smell. I was turning into a dating sim protagonist while chained up in a GDA black site.
He pulled up a chair and sat down, the movement casual but his eyes sharp.
"Look," I finally said, my voice coming out rough. "I don't know what you think you saw, but—"
"Kid." Cecil's voice didn't change tone at all, but somehow cut through my bullshit. "I've been doing this job for a very long time. I've dealt with aliens, demons, and the worst of them all, politicians. All of them tried to lie to me. All of them failed"
He leaned forward slightly.
"So let's skip the part where you insult my intelligence, and get to the part where you tell me the truth. Because right now? You're the prime suspect in the murders of Earth's premier superhero team. An unknown stranger with no ID, records, or history of even existing was found in a restricted space. Not to mention minimal injuries compared to the rest of the heroes."
The way he said it, cold and clinical, made my stomach drop.
"You see how that looks, right?"
I stayed silent, my mind racing. How much did he know? How much could I admit?
"The GDA spent the past day and a half feeding you glucose drips to bring you back from near-starvation," Cecil continued, his tone still flat. "We patched up your injuries. Cleaned the blood off. Made sure you didn't die from shock or internal bleeding."
He paused.
"We didn't have to do any of that. We could've let you die and saved ourselves a lot of trouble. So I'd appreciate it if you didn't waste our efforts by lying to my face."
My eyes went wide with shock as I gulped hard.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa! I'm the victim here! One moment I'm just minding my own business," I started, the words tumbling out, "next I'm in the Guardians' HQ getting threatened by people in costumes, and just as I'm trying to figure out what the hell is happening, this flying brick in red and white starts his blitzkrieg, butchering heroes left and right!"
My voice cracked slightly, part truth and part desperate improvisation. The visceral memory of watching those heroes get torn apart flooding back.
Cecil's expression shifted. Shock flickered across his scarred face, quickly replaced by grim understanding. "So it really was him."
'Huh, the spymaster, believes me? Thank Lady Luck for the NO ENEMIES Trait'
He muttered to himself, like he'd been hoping for a different answer.
While he was processing that, I tore my Silver ticket, hoping for something better than pretty eyes and sex pheromones.
[Soul Solid]
|Uncommon Item|
One Piece - A cane sword belonging to Brook of the Straw Hat Pirates. This sword is extremely sharp and durable, not having dulled even after years of use. It is also extremely dapper.
I felt the cane sword appear in my mental storage space, the same place that had held the Modified Compound V before I'd chugged it.
'These are some seriously shitty rolls,' I thought bitterly. 'Did RNGesus curse me or something? Is this payback for surviving when I should've died?'
"Get on with it, kid." Cecil recovered from whatever thoughts he was having. "Tell me exactly what happened in that room. And if you ever want to get out of this cell and see the sun again, you'd better tell me the truth."
Even though I wasn't particularly worried about being locked up, genuine worry filled my expression. This was new territory for me. I'd been an heir to the 'Strange' fortune before the disownment. People used to respect me and bend over backwards to curry favor.
Now I was chained up, being interrogated by a scarred spymaster who probably had contingency plans for contingency plans.
I dismissed the spiral of thoughts and mentally tore my Gold ticket, hoping for something actually useful.
[Steam Emission]
|Rare Ability|
Allows the user to conjure, control and emit blasts of hot steam from their body.
My breath turned hot, scorching hot, like I'd just inhaled from a boiling kettle. The sensation settled into my lungs, ready to be unleashed.
'Not as good as straight-up flamethrowing, but I could work with this.'
Especially if my target was as close to me as Cecil currently was.
But I held back. I was in his cell, in his facility, probably surrounded by GDA agents with weapons that could put down supers. And Cecil's skin was already artificial from that terrorist attack; steam damage would be minimal at best.
"Get on with it, kid," Cecil said, clearly impatient. "I don't have all day."
So I began narrating my side of the story, with a healthy dose of fabrication mixed in with the truth.
"Look, I was just a normal kid, going about my business, when suddenly I saw this golden light. Next thing I know, I'm in this weird metal room with gadgets and computers everywhere. I called for help, that's when these people in costumes appeared."
Cecil's eye narrowed slightly, watching me.
"At first, I thought they were cosplayers or something, but then they started using actual powers. Threatening me, demanding to know how I got there."
My voice shook a little, remembering the sudden hostility. "That's when I realized they were real superheroes, Guardians of the Globe, they called themselves."
I paused, swallowing hard.
"But before I could even explain myself, before I could say anything, this guy in red and white appeared and just... started attacking them indiscriminately."
Cecil's expression was unreadable, but I could see his mind working behind those distrusting eyes.
"The others were yelling, trying to defend themselves, calling out his name. The Omni-Man was killing them." My words came out strained "I saw him split the guy in blue completely in half and turn the fish guy into paste against the wall. Then my glasses got broken and everything was just blurs, but I remember seeing this white and red blur come up to me, grab my throat..."
My neck unconsciously itched around my bruises.
"He called me a bug. Asked what I was doing there. And then... then I passed out."
Tears started forming in my eyes. The memory of that grip, the absolute hatred in Omni-Man's eyes amplified by the curse, the certainty that I was about to die...
I started sweating, my body reliving the terror.
'I'm... I'm seriously too weak. I need to get stronger. This can't happen again.'
I tore the Platinum ticket to distract myself, to give myself something to focus on besides the memory of almost dying.
[Glowing One]
|Epic Trait|
You passively absorb radiation with your body like a sponge, using it to fuel your body and energy and consuming it in the process. Absorbing enough radiation, such as Gamma Radiation, X-rays, and even ultraviolet radiation, will have an effect of permanently increasing your physical stats and energy reserves proportional to how much you absorb. You are also immune to the negative effects of radiation and recover stamina and energy faster when exposed to it. While sunlight would have a negligible effect, eating some radium chips would probably act like cultivation pills for you.
Fire erupted through my veins. I bit my tongue hard enough to taste blood, barely holding back a groan as the burning sensation consumed me from the inside out.
Then it faded, replaced by... awareness.
I could feel radiation all around me. From the fluorescent lights above, to the radiator systems in the walls and even from whatever power source was running this facility.
No matter how minuscule, my body was absorbing it.
'This... this is really good,' I thought, the fear fading slightly as excitement took over. 'All my abilities require massive amounts of energy. I can't just pass out after every attack. This solves that problem. This is...'
The good roll did wonders for my terror. The addictive rush of getting something actually useful.
'Ah fuck, I'm gonna get really deep into this addiction, aren't I?'
[A/N]: Guys we're running real low on Review. Do leave reviews carrying your genuine thoughts also don't forget to drop them stones
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