The cold air blew through the air, paired with the soft drops of freezing rain along the ground. The city was illumined in bright neon lights, that colored the city in beautiful colors. Laughter rang through the area and chatter among groups of students. With a loud shout, multiple fireworks launched into the air, lighting up the dark sky with colorful lights, some even spelling out words. As the fireworks blew up, everyone around screamed out, "Happy New Year!!!!"
With a small smile, someone turned, umbrella opened and above his head, ready to depart from the event. This someone was Dante Ravenwood, a nineteen-year-old college student. He was someone who stayed to himself mostly, though his striking appearance made that a bit difficult, his striking white hair and scarlet red eyes sticking out like a sore thumb.
He was out today because he and his fellow students were invited to a small party for New Year's. It wasn't anything special, just watching fireworks go off. He decided he was going to leave early, as none of his close friends had shown. No reason for him to stay, he hated being forced into awkward conversations and small talk. So, he decided to leave. But, besides the start of the new year, there was another big thing that would happen later today. But, there was no time to think about it, as a loud and harsh rumble ran through the city. Dante slightly lost his balance as his eyes roamed the area, noticing everyone was rushing to a certain part of the city. Due to their excitement, he knew what was going on… So, he decided to follow behind.
He sprinted after everyone, looking past them as a blur was blasting through the rain. He noticed everyone stopped, but was cut off by officials stopping them from going any further. A frown formed on his face as the scene in front of him was visible to everyone.
There, was a man clad in unique clothing, a mix of midnight blue and gold. His cape flowed through the cold breeze. This man was Titanstar, one of the various superpowered warriors in this world.
On the opposite side, was a large creature, its features unrecognizable. But, it wasn't the first of its kind. They've shown up before but with an unknown origin. Its body began to pulse with power, powerful enough that Dante was able to feel its power from within his own body. With a roar, it launched itself at Titanstar. But, he was easily able to dodge the attack. He clenched his fist, the golden gauntlets on his arms glowing with power. With a powerful swing, a punch slammed against its body, and the shockwave from the attack ripped through it, shattering nearby windows. The creature flew back from its power, slamming into a building, and causing a large smoke cloud.
Cheers ripped through the noise, everyone began praising him, commending him on how he was able to easily apprehend this target! Well, everyone besides Dante. He stood silent, his frown still plastered on his face. Battles like this never sat right with him. Yeah, they were cool to watch, but, what rubbed him the wrong way was the consistency of these attacks. These things that aren't explained suddenly show up many times, just be easily beaten by these heroes. Something about that wasn't right…But of course, Dante had nothing to really go off of, so he simply let it go, turning back in the direction he was headed before. He was just ready to head back to his dorm and rest. He felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. Reaching for it, he switched the screen on, and it was messages from his family. He let out a soft breath and began texting them back.
Dante is currently lying on his bed, engrossed in a book, while having soft music play from his speakers. His eyes traced the words as he mouthed the words to himself, as it helped him process information better. He was currently reading a mystery novel, as it was a small interest of his. Solving mysteries was always something he enjoyed and was invested in. But, he wasn't able to get fully invested, as a loud tune played over his soft-spoken music. He found his ear twitching as he turned his focus to the sound.
"Attention students! I'm sure you know what today is! It's our annual field trip to the Heroic League so everyone can gauge what their powers are! Once you're ready, meet at the front of campus as the buses will be ready to depart at 10:00!"
Dante sighed and sat up, "Right…" He whispered to himself. Today was that day… Every year, people around the age of 18-25 were told to head to the Heroic League to confirm if they had awakened their powers.
In this world, people aren't born with superpowers, they awaken them. And some people have their powers awakened at different points in their lives. But, studies of shown that if your powers don't awaken within those age ranges, you don't get any. Dante missed out last year, but of course, he didn't really care. He was never excited to awaken his own powers.
The place where you get tested for your superpowers is the Heroic League. The Heroic League was where you signed up to become a superhero, but, it was mostly for people to get scouted out to become superheroes. That's why they decided to have students go there to be tested, to groom young talent… Or that's what Dante thought at least. It also acted as a base, but no one was stupid enough to try and attack it, they would drop dead on sight.
Dante rose from his bed, his feet planted on the ground. He stretched and grabbed a pair of clothes, ready to go and get this over with. As he got dressed, something was lurking in the back of his mind. He knows he said he didn't care if he awakened his powers or not, but a lingering bit of curiosity told him otherwise. But, he pushed it away and grabbed his phone and his wired earbuds. He knew the ride there would be long, that's why they chose to do it two hours before your powers were meant to awaken. He grabbed his bag and slung it over his shoulder and he was ready.
He soon arrived at the front of campus, where a bunch of buses were lined and students stood out waiting. He knew none of his friends would be here, they awakened their powers already. He could tell they'd be great heroes due to their powerful abilities. And considering how often they talk about it, he knew that once they were recruited, they'd jump at the opportunity. He found a spot by himself, and he watched as many others arrived as well. Quite a bit of people showed up, and since he never cared, he wondered how anxiety-inducing it was, to not know if your powers would awaken. People had to wait a whole year if their powers failed to awaken, it was probably very stressful for them. He folded his arms as his eyes traced towards one of the school staff members.
"Alright! I hope this is everyone, because it's time for us to depart. I'm gonna need everyone to split up and get on the buses so we can go! And I hope you all are able to awaken your powers today!" She spoke out as everyone cheered and clapped. So, doing as she said, everyone began to split, others staying with friends. Dante stood and went towards the shortest line, since he didn't have anyone to wait on, he'd rather wait on the bus than stand in a line all day. So he turned for the last bus and stood behind at least five people. But, due to the lack of crowd, they were able to get on fast. He climbed the stairs and looked around for a good seat. He settled for a front seat, since most people would choose the back seats, which would lead to someone deciding to sit next to him, which he kind of wanted to avoid. He sat down and took his backpack off, sitting it next to him. He let out a breath and took out his phone, putting the earphone jack into the hole before putting one of the earbuds in his ear. He didn't want to start his music yet, in case he had to hear something important. He leaned back against his seat as he waited.
He stared at the ceiling for a while until the staff member stepped onto their bus, "Alright! All the buses are loaded, and we're about to take off!" She took the empty seat at the front as Dante gave a slight nod, feeling the bus start-up, the slight rumbling shaking his body. It soon began to take off, following the other buses. Dante finally put the other earbud in and closed his eyes, beginning to play his music. It would be a long ride, and this is how he was gonna spend it.
As Dante rested in his seat, he felt a pulse of power within him, as he opened one eye. He looked around, and there it was. A tall standing building with large letters plastered at the front, HL. Dante sat up, waving his hair out of his face as he sighed, knowing it was time. The bus continued forward before coming to a stop behind the various other buses. Once the driver shut the bus off, the staff member stood and turned towards the students, "Alright! We're here! Everyone stand up and one at a time step off the bus. Don't head inside until I give the word." She stepped off the bus and Dante felt the bus shake as everyone began rising out of their seats. Once everyone behind him was off, he stood and followed behind, going down the stairs as he stared up at the familiar building. He frowned and sighed. He took out his earbuds and wrapped them around his phone before shoving it into his bag. He took one more glance up at the building before stepping to the side and waiting for all the buses to empty.
Soon, all the buses were drained and the staff member walked forward, "Alright! Now it's the time everyone was waiting for! Let's head inside and we can get started since we're the first group!" She turned on her heel and led the group inside. Dante shook his head as he followed, how many 'Alrights' was that now?
Once inside, Dante shoved his hands into his jacket pocket as his eyes glossed over everything, it was nothing he hadn't seen before. Many superheroes, mainly small named ones roamed around, with fancy people accompanying them. He turned his attention forward as there were scientists standing at the front.
"Welcome everyone! It's good to see you all again! We're going to do what we did last time alright? Let's go ahead and not waste any time. We're going to split you up by last name. If you see the first letter of your last name, stand over there. Once everyone is in the right spot, we can get started." Everyone began to scramble to their spots, but Dante took his time. He looked around for R, heading for that spot. As he stood alongside a few others, everyone was able to gather to their spots. The lead scientist clapped, "Great, everyone is in place. Now, we can commence the tests." Doors opened and one by one, people went inside. Dante stood at the back of the line, so it would be a while until his turn. He sat down on the floor, pulling his phone out of his bag. He had a bunch of time to spare.
As he texted someone, he heard his name being called, and was a bit shocked at the speed of the tests. He sighed and stood, following the scientist inside.
He was led to a large pod, and he was told to step inside. There was a bunch of machines lined along the wall, with a white bed in the middle of the room, and cameras all around the room. On top, was a pair of all-white clothes. He grabbed them and began changing into them before taking a seat on the bed. He let out a small breath, it was time for these tests to start…
As the test began, everything was as he remembered, nothing had changed about the test itself. But, as he went through them, his body felt different as they continued, and his stats were much different.
Scientists sat inside a room, staring at Dante through a monitor. They held clipboards with his information on them, and something about him wasn't adding up. "You see this right? No elemental signature nor psychic indicators…" One said, tapping his clipboard, a frown clouding his features. "Are we even sure this kid has powers now?"
"Yes, his physical enhancements are clearly present, which wasn't like this during his last test. There's no doubt that he must possess some type of power."
"Then maybe he has physical abilities?"
"Not possible, if he did, his results would've been a lot different than what we currently have. His stats are like most others when developing their powers. So it's unlikely that those are his powers…" The scientist sitting in the chair looked carefully at the screen before, an idea sparked in his head. "This isn't something we've seen before, maybe we should try something new. An emotional stress test." He reached over and began to set up various things, it never got to this point for anyone's test, so they weren't sure how well this would go. But, they had to figure this out, it could be something big.
Dante sat silently in his pod, staring aimlessly at the ground, he hadn't awakened any powers from the looks of it, not that he minded. But, he did feel different during his tests. Though, he wasn't sure if it would lead to anything. As he was getting ready to relax, a loud ringing sound rang through his pod causing a loud strain on his ears. He went to cover them and the lights began to flicker, inflicting a sense of panic in him. His head began to throb and his vision blurred as he felt his body fall to the floor. "W-What's happening!?" He screamed, his voice barely audible over the loud ringing in the pod.
The scientists watched as this happened, it would only last a few seconds, and they hoped the stress would cause his powers to show themselves. As they watched, something suddenly happened. Dante, who was rolling around on the ground, suddenly disappeared!
They looked shocked and everyone stood, "What happened?!" One of them called out.
"H-He vanished!!" Everyone came closer to the monitor, noticing that Dante wasn't on screen, but his vitals were still displayed. "But, he's still in the room…Maybe he can go invisible? Someone, go check on him!" One of the scientists nodded and sprinted out of the room nearly tripping on his own feet. Everyone felt themselves calm down, and a growing sense of accomplishment, at possibly finding an answer.
"Um, if you don't mind me asking, who is it that we're testing?" The scientist turned around, as everyone else did looking at the person who asked that question. "What? We're testing Dante Ravenwood…you didn't know that?"
He blinked and looked around at everyone, "Dante? You mean that kid from last year?"
The frontman frowned and stood from his seat, "Yes, he's here now, how do you not know that?"
The scientist didn't answer and just kept silent. The front scientist frowned at this guy's confusion, what was going on with him? He folded his arms and turned back towards the monitor and the vitals of Dante. Was it…?
The scientist that left moments ago arrived back, "Sir, he's there, but he's not invisible!" He turned towards him, shock on his face. "What?!" He turned back to the monitor, still not seeing the boy, but seeing a couple of nurses tending to someone who wasn't on the feed...
"Yeah, he was still recovering from the blast we did…I made sure to have some nurses take care of him right now."
He continued to watch the footage, but he didn't even show up on the feed when they were rewinding it…It was as if he was never there in the first place… He shook his head and turned towards his team, "Alright, let's put together what we know."
After about an hour, they began to put together this strange situation. Dante was able to make himself disappear from the video feed, and completely erase his presence from preexisting feed. So, there's no doubt that that was one of his abilities. But, still, something wasn't adding up, one of the scientists lost his memories of something that had just happened. Was that a second ability of his, or a coincidence? He decided to run one last test. He would have one of his scientists interview him, nothing too serious, just some basic questions.
Dante sat on his bed, gaze aimed at the ground. This test was longer than he thought, and he still didn't feel any different than before mostly. But, a knock rang through his pod as the door slid open, and multiple people stepped inside. He lifted his head as someone pulled up a chair and sat down in front of him.
"Good afternoon Dante Ravenwood, how are you?" He asked as Dante relaxed his posture.
"I'm fine…"
"That's good, don't worry, I'm just here to ask you a few questions. Can you do that?"
"Y-Yeah…"
"Good, so, when's your birthday?"
"May 30th…"
"Alright, what's your favorite color?"
"White I guess…"
"Do you like to read?"
"Mhm…"
"What's your favorite color?"
"White…Wait…huh?"
"Do you like to read?"
"I-I said yes…"
The questions came out at rapid fire, but, the interviewer also repeated questions and seemed to act like he didn't…It really made Dante confused. Why was he acting like that? Did he just have a terrible memory? After a while, the interviewer stood and gave a bow, "Alright you're finished, we'll be ready for your results in a bit. Please be patient." He turned as Dante gave a small nod, still very confused.
The people around followed him out of the room as the scientist waited for them to return with the results of this interview. "Alright, here are the questions and the answers he gave me." The interviewer said as he passed over his clipboard. The scientist glanced over the words, and noticed that questions were repeated, even multiple times. He nodded, it seemed like his theory was getting proved more and more. One of his partners walked up, "Sir, some of our testers are seemingly forgetting where they are… They don't remember coming in at all."
And with that last bit of evidence, there was no doubt about it. Dante had a secondary ability, memory manipulation.
Soon, after a bit more research on Dante's data, they were finally able to come to a solid conclusion. All that was left was to pass the information to Dante himself.
He walked inside the room as Dante sat up, with a sharp breath. "Alright Dante Ravenwood, your results came back and we've come to a conclusion. You possess two powers, ones we haven't come across before." Dante sighed and braced himself to learn of whatever powers he possessed. "Firstly, when we were watching you from the cameras, you suddenly disappeared from our feed, the live feed, and the recorded feed. So, you have the power to erase your presence from any form of digital media." Dante looked a bit surprised, he had to power to not show up on camera? What was that useful for?
"And second, you have memory manipulation. Right now, you can't control them, but don't worry, they're new, and no one can control their powers from day one. Just give it a few days and you'll be a master." Dante's eyes widened, memory manipulation? That's dangerous…was it safe to have a power like that? And worse, the heroic league knows of it… He shook his head, it wasn't something he should be worrying about right now. He gave a small nod, "Alright, you're free to go. Remember, be careful with those powers. We don't know the extent of your powers, you could end up erasing all of someone's memories."
He couldn't lie, that thought scared him. Accidentally making someone lose their memories, but, if he had memory manipulation, does that mean he could give someone false memories or even restore someone's memories? The possibilities were endless…But it also began to hurt his head… The scientist turned to leave, as Dante turned back, putting on his old clothes and ready to leave this pod…
He exited the room, and glanced around, it was clear not everyone had awakened powers, which would be expected, but some were more obvious than others. As he looked around, there was someone on fire, but standing around like it didn't affect him. He wondered how he would get back on the bus like that… He walked towards a spot by himself, not wanting to risk losing control of his powers. He sat down and let out a soft breath, his body feeling fatigued. He pulled out his phone and began to scroll aimlessly, at times like this he would like to listen to music, but his ears were still in pain from that loud ringing. He knew he couldn't handle it, so no point in trying to.
After a while, everyone was finished and the staff member called for their attention, "Alright, that's everyone, congrats to everyone who was able to awaken their abilities. And for everyone who did, I wish you luck next year. Now, let's go, let's board the buses and you can all continue on your Christmas break." And so, everyone rushed for the doors, but they were stopped by a voice. "Now hold on a minute," everyone stopped and turned towards the source of the voice. "Before we forget, for the ones that were able to awaken your powers, look out, 'cause, in a week, you could have a spot in the Heroic League, free of charge. It all depends on your powers and skills that you've shown today. Good luck everyone and have a great rest of your day!"
The staff member smiled and rubbed her hair, "Sorry, can't believe I forgot that…"
Everyone sprinted out as Dante rose and walked out, wanting to keep his distance from everyone. But, the bus would be an issue, what if he made the bus driver forget where the school was? What if he made him forget how to drive?! Dante felt himself panicking inside, there was so much that could go wrong with not being able to control his powers! He slowly got onto the bus but quickly rushed towards the back seat. Once seated, he laid his head on the seat and closed his eyes, He didn't even know the range of his powers, what if it didn't matter if he kept his distance?! So many unknowns just keep sparking in his mind.
Soon, the buses began driving and he glanced out the window. He wanted to distract himself from his lingering thoughts, so he thought about his path going forward.
With memory manipulation and these Sensory abilities, he could become anything…right? He could become a hero who would help take down the supervillains, or a supervillain who would feed information to others about the superheroes…His choices were just as endless as his powers. But, he was getting ahead of himself…he didn't have the funds to become a hero, and what were the chances he was given an internship? He felt like they weren't likely.
But, only time will tell. He had time to think about what he wanted to do…