"Christopher, are you sure you're ready to come home? The doctor said you could stay for observation, that acerbic was bad honey." My mother asked as the bus crash had been bad but the pressure was building and if I was right I didn't want to be in public.
"I'm fine mom, all the scans came back negative, and I just want to be home." Rubbing the cast on my arm, the crash had been horrible: a cape fight between the Empire and PRT. Barron some new Nazi cape was a showing the flag and attacked a PRT partial and promptly had his ass handed to him by Miss Militia then while fleeing he slammed into our bus which was luckily enough almost empty by that point as myself and a handful of others were on it, the driver wasn't so lucky he was killing by the Barron flying straight into the windshield.
I didn't blame Miss Militia whatsoever that Nazi was an idiot who flew into the bus of his own volition, the Nazi of course died from the impact and was announced as suicide via cop.
Shaking my head I leave that in the past and walk to moms car, closing my eyes thinking and remembering the past. I started remembering my old life a couple of months ago around my 16th birthday, a life of happiness and fulfillment.
I lived a full life and was reincarnated to this world and given something that would help me survive the future and protect my new family.
"Honey, we're home." Mom gently shakes my arm and I look over to her long flowing brown hair and green eyes from our Irish roots. She gives me a small smile, still worried about the situation.
"It's good to be home mom, if you don't mind I'm going to lay down and rest for a while. The past couple of days have been rough." They had been and the building pressure was rising and I didn't have to tell my parents anything yet.
Pulling into our home a modest home in the colonial style that my parents had bought and paid off before my father passed away and we were able to afford to stay here when he passed.
Groaning standing up as I was pretty sore from everything still and made my way to my room to hopefully not blow everything up with whatever ability I gain, "I'm laying down mom I'll yell if I need anything."
"Okay! Sweet heart try and get some
Rest." Mom said as she moved to the kitchen fixing dinner for the night.
My room was pretty normal for a teenage boy but more organized and clean as I can't stand clutter or messes. Laying down on my bed I focused on the pressure in my mind till everything fell away and my entire world was this gauge feeling till I felt the pressure build and release.
I slowly opened my eyes, relieved and slightly worried, in front of me a semi transparent screen.
"Welcome user [Chistopher] to the CYOA program allowing the user to choose abilities from various Jumpdocs and CYOAS.
You will receive 10 CP a day and can earn more points completing optional missions based on your chosen docs or not I'm not your dad!
Your current Balance is 1,000 points to unlock and use on your chosen CYOA."
[The system has all jump chains, to unlock new chains he must spend 1,000CP, use an unlock token or complete a mission.]
Okay…..scrolling through the list I was extremely overwhelmed by thousands of docs that could make me a god among men or becoming a literal god, avoiding those I moved to the docs based around stuff I knew.
Teen titans doc was surprisingly strong and would help me establish my future here, one I didn't want to be a on the street hero I wanted to be like Bruce Wayne using my wealth to prevent crime via jobs and programs.
So selecting Teen Titans I choose the [Nerd] start making me a tech Wize and giving me enough knowledge to hold a couple of Bachelor Degrees moving on to the [Nerd] perks: [Engineering] is free and gives me access to make Minion level bots like MONQI from Young Justice. [Bioengineering] is 100 CP that turns me into the Jurassic park Scientist times 100 I can splice animal DNA and make people Demi Humans, [Telepathy] makes me a low powered telepath no mind wiping an entire planet like professor X, [Technopathy] is 200CP it allows me to control and communicate with technology, [Genius] is the most expensive 300 CP perk makes me makes a genius on par with DC genius where a man in the 40s made sentient robots that could control tornadoes.
Which ate up 850 of my points leaving me 150 to use on the extra perks which [Allowance] 100CP gives me $100,000 worth of the local currency which will be enough to start my business which I actually had a good idea for.
The last two perks I choose are a free Costume and theme music for my fights and entrances.
Pressing confirm and my mind expanded as I felt knowledge slip into place with years of memories and experience of working with technology and scientists from the DC multiverse.
Taking a breath as my mind raced I knew how to build giant mechs and freeze rays. I could build anything I could imagine with a lot of money and time as my knowledge is restricted by my available resources unlike the Tinkers here in Worm as their powers power their tech.
Sitting up I felt better as the pressure had finally stopped, I got up from the bed and headed down to the dining room and planned on how I am supposed to explain this to my mom.
————-
Mom had thrown together some baked sandwiches for us because of how late it was getting and both of us were exhausted from the day.
Sitting in the living room which we normally never did as she always insisted that we sit at the table like normal people, "Hey...mom I think I want to get my GED." I asked her as I set my sandwich on my plate.
Mom looked over at me and waited for me to explain, "This isn't some kind of trauma thing I just feel like it is a waste of time, because I have powers now but I'm not a parahuman and I don't want to be a normal Hero."
I pulled out the card my monthly allowance came on and waved at the TV making it change the channel. Moms eyes went wide and moved to sit beside me.
"Oh sweetie, I know how parahumans get their powers and your wreck fits that description to a T. I've headed the other Nurses and some doctors talking about trigger events before." She says and wraps an arm around me.
I shake my head no, "You saw the MRI scans of a tumor in my brain that shows I have powers, and it's not just powers like Technopathy, whatever is behind my power gives me $100,000 every month, and makes me a comic book super genius." I pull out my phone to the banking app and show her the account with all of the money in it.
Moms eyes went wide as even with her nursing job she didn't make this much a year and after her husband's death things have been tight, they could pay off all the debt and start to renovate the house.
I rest my hand on her shoulder bringing her back to the moment, "That isn't all, I get charges like Dauntless and with enough time I can get even more powers and skill. In week I should be able to double the amount I'm given every month."
Mom leaned back into her seat overwhelmed by everything that I had said, "You aren't going to go running around in spandex fighting thugs right? Because that would be extremely dumb even for a teenager to do."
I couldn't help myself and let out a big laugh, "No I'm not mom I have a better plan, one of the biggest problems for the Bay is that there are so few jobs available and fewer that provide a livable wage, I mean look at us if it wasn't for dad paying off the house before he passed we would have lost it. Who knows how many people lost their homes because of the bay being blocked and the businesses fleeing because of the gangs." I got more and more passionate as I knew that Brockton was being used as a testing bed for Cauldron.
Mom pulled me into a hug and gave me a peck on the cheek, "You sound just like your father, now walk me through this. How are you going to start a business? I know a GED is first but what will your actual business be?"
"Portable and cheap housing, the bay is filled with scrap steel and the docks have hundreds of old Conex containers, the ones they use on Cargo Ships. If I can get a hold of an old warehouse big enough, one of those containers can be turned into housing, offices, kitchens, anything needed to make a home or emergency shelter; they can even be modular allowing for homes to pop up in a couple minutes.
Heck if I can get the DWU involved they have all the skills I need to do this as much of it is welding, fabrication, and electrical work."
Mom looked at me impressed but worried as this would be really dangerous for us to do and bring a lot of attention to our family and me most of all.
"If we do this sweetheart...we do this together." Mom says as she grabs my hands in hers, "Let's write all this out and figure out what all we need to do to make this work."
———————-
That's what me and mom did over the next week. We organized spreadsheets and made a lot of phone calls to some lawyers mom had met when they visited the hospital.
With my $100,000 and now $200,000 we could buy an old train maintenance and construction building in the Trainyard that had been abandoned and the city has it up for sale as even the banks do want to try and deal with it.
For $50,000 to $70,000 dollars which would eat up quite a bit but we believe we can get it for $50,000 if we pay up front and how bad the condition of the building is, next equipment for construction and other necessities.
After that is employing skilled and qualified people to actually construct the modular homes and to sell them to various companies and organizations like the PRT and Guild or areas affected by S Class events like Endbringers or the Slaughterhouse Nine.
We also found an online test for my GED that I took and will arrive within the next two weeks so I'm in the clear there. Mom has quit her job and has "officially" become the CEO of the company on paper but in reality I'm the one in control of the company.
With everything written out and spreadsheets made, mom and I decided it was time to have a meeting with Mayor Christenger for the Salvage rights Boat Graveyard as it was in a gray area in terms of legality.
So we arrived in our Sunday best for the meeting which started off on a week note. The Mayor was "busy" and couldn't see us for two hours so we had to wait for him to be free.
"You must be Mr. And Miss Cummins, what brought you here to city hall today!" His voice was smarmy and reminded me of a used car salesman, he also looked directly at my moms tits.
"Well, Mr Mayor, I wish to know the salvage laws and the city's opinion on salvaging large chunks of ships from the grave yard, as I plan on opening a revolutionary business here in the bay." I say trying to keep the man's attention away from my mother who is not happy with the man currently.
The Mayor looks at me like he is indulging a child so I stop before he can speak, "Here is the plan along with notes from our Lawyer on the situation."
He looks over the packet half hearted at first but begins to read more thoroughly as he realizes that I am being completely serious with him and my plan could actually work, plus make money.
"Well, Mr.Cummins I'll write up a few permits for your Company to allow you to scrap the entire Graveyard, but I'll need your company's name for the forms." Now trying to reverse the damage he had done earlier in the conversation
"Horizon Industries." I sat as I reached across the table to shake the man's hand and move to the property manager for the city as we had a warehouse to buy and more meetings to attend.
———/
Nerd [100cp]: You developed an interest in science and technology at a young age and quickly became a young savant. Your technological skills are impressive and could be
used to bring about many new scientific innovations.. BUT that's boring, so you've decided to spend a few years making robots and other crazy devices instead!
Engineering is free and every other power is discounted by 50%.
Engineering [0cp]: You're a master mechanic and an expert at building robots and other technological devices. You also have a fair bit of knowledge about hacking into
Computers.
Bioengineering [100cp]: You know how to create mutagens and modify biological creatures. You could use your knowledge to give people animal based super powers or enhance someone's natural physical abilities.
Telepathy [150cp]: You're able to mentally communicate with people over long distances, hear what someone is actively thinking and plant weak hypnotic suggestions
into other people's minds.
Technopathy [200cp]: You can communicate with electronic technology and command
it to do what you want. You can't force a machine to do anything outside of it's capabilities but you can can figure out how to improve a machine by talking to it.
Genius [300cp]: You're one of the brightest minds in the whole world, which is really impressive when the world is filled with super geniuses that can create nanites, cyborgs, energy weapons and FTL starships.
Allowance [100cp]: You receive a $100,000 worth of the local currency from a mysterious yet trustworthy benefactor every month.
Costume [Free]: Regardless of what you decide to do this unique piece of attire will be essential for your career. Your costume tells people who you are and although it doesn't provide much protection it's still better than going around naked.
Theme Song [Free]: You get a personal soundtrack that will play whenever you enter
combat or do anything else worthy of music.