"Matter absorption" Alex muttered as he read through the details of his abilities. While his parents had excited looks on their faces, Alex retained the same dull look he has always had for a long while. It seemed as if getting a new ability did not impress him that much.
Apart from the superhuman strength and faster regenerative perks he gained from the operation, the main ability he was given was matter absorption. This allows him to absorb matter and use it to strengthen his body, it may sound cool but Alex really didn't fancy it at all.
"Go on, give it a try" Tracy said as he pointed towards the big ball of metal half his size.
Shooting them a final glance, Alex placed his hand on the big ball of metal and shut his eyes. Since there was no magic word or prior tests to help him figure out how his power works, Alex just had to feel his way around it.
He sat in a cross-legged position, with his hand placed on the massive iron ball and his eyes completely shut tight.
But nothing happened. He remained there for over ten minutes and there was still no change.
"I'm going to bed… I'm tired" Alex declared, clearly annoyed.
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Three days passed and Alex had made zero progress, making his parents doubt that the experiment worked. But as time passed, they realized the problem wasn't the ability, it was Alex. His vendetta against Deviants is somehow a psychological trauma that is blocking his abilities and preventing them from activating. Since they couldn't force him to use his power, they decided to let him return to school as a deviant, hoping that his super-human strength would be enough to see him through.
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Returning to school the next week was the most awkward moment of Alex's life. He left school as a human and returned as a deviant. According to the story cooked up by the military, Alex has been keeping his abilities hidden from everyone, including his parents and as someone who spoke against the government and expressed his hatred for deviants, he was looked down upon as a hypocrite.
"Fuck me sideways" Alex said as he entered the hall, catching the attention of everyone.
There was total silence and with all eyes on him, even the hardest man would crack under this pressure. Amongst those gazing at him with a hint of disgust in their eyes was the kid he once called friend, Chucky. For a while now Alex has always turned a blind eye each time Chucky was getting bullied and the latter has always believed that his friend was afraid and maybe that's why he never stepped in but knowing Alex actually had powers and chose not to interfere was giving him the wrong message.
It was more like Alex didn't care at all and only pretended to be his friend.
"If only my ability was invisibility… all this could be avoided" Alex muttered before walking forward.
Ignoring the soul piercing gazes directed at him, Alex walked towards his locker and opened it, there he found the updated calendar. Going through it, he realized that these deviants have their hands full with so many classes, especially combat classes and some classes which he considered dangerous just by the name. This made him wonder how they have enough time to bully the weak even with a schedule as tight as this.
"I hate this life…" Alex mumbled.
"ALEX BRIGGS!"
He heard someone scream his name and even though he expected this he couldn't help but groan weakly, wishing the ground would just open up and swallow him.
"Yea?" Alex shut his locker and replied with a hint of annoyance and impatience in his tone as he shifted his gaze to the source of the voice.
It was Blaze.
After their last encounter, the reputation of the youth must have dropped because he was defeated easily by a deviant who didn't even consider him worthy to use his ability on. Alex had predicted this like a thousand times before coming to school today. So he wasn't too surprised. What surprised him was that Blaze was quite smarter than he looked. This time he stood meters away from where he would have the range advantage when facing off against Alex who was a beast when it comes to close-ranged combat.
"You caught me off guard the last time, but this time it will be different" Blaze growled as his hands lit up with scorching orange flames.
Gasing at the balls of flame in his hands, Alex showed no signs of fear, tossing fireballs in a populated area like this is no different from begging for trouble. Even though the students have made enough space for them to fight it wouldn't stop the fireballs from reaching them.
"There will be no this time" Alex snorted and walked away.
While walking away he suddenly felt something hot closing down on him. His instincts kicked him as he swiftly leaped to the side, evading all the fireballs almost easily.
Bang!
Alex watched as the fireball smashed into a transparent barrier separating the students from the battlefield. His eyes dilated as a thought came to his mind. Someone else was lending Blaze a hand, this fight has been planned from the very beginning and the main aim for this must be to force him to reveal his special ability.
"I didn't say you can leave… " Blaze said coldly but he still kept his distance.
Alex sighed as he slowly got on his feet while tossing his bad aside. Utilizing his deviant ability has never been an issue, he just acted like he couldn't use it since he wished his parents would just forget about it and he can return to his normal life but since this has escalated to this point, Alex knew there was no going back the moment he revealed this ability but he also couldn't afford to lose here.
Losing to Blaze will open gates to more Deviants who feel they can walk all over him. For that reason, all he can do right now is beat Blaze so bad that the others would be too scared to act against him.