Energy Guy's eyes fluttered open.
His breathing was shallow. His skin was slick with sweat. Every inch of his body felt heavy, like gravity had doubled.
He was lying on a cold metal floor in the back of a moving vehicle. At first, he thought it was a van, but it felt… too large. Too tall.
Everything inside was dark—almost pitch black. The only sound, aside from the distant rumble of tires, was a faint voice to his left. A boy's whisper, trembling in the silence:
"Mommy… I want my mommy…"
The words crawled beneath Energy Guy's skin, but before he could respond,
Darkness took him again.
The next time he woke, his vision was blurry, but clearer than before. The vehicle had stopped. Cool air spilled in from the opening doors, and the sudden light forced him to squint.
It wasn't a van.
It was the back of a semi-truck, its walls reinforced with dull white plating. The back doors swung open with a hollow clank, revealing the same two brown-haired men from earlier, now wearing sterile gloves.
Silver Guy stood at the far end of the truck, arms behind his back, his posture rigid as he watched.
"Careful with them," he ordered. "I'm not dealing with another lecture from the King."
Them?
Energy Guy turned his head, and his breath caught in his throat.
There were two other boys beside him, both unconscious. Both around his age.
The first had black hair, just like him, same height, similar build. They looked eerily alike. For a brief moment, Energy Guy wondered if he was looking at a distorted reflection.
The second boy was shorter, curled into the fetal position, shaking slightly in his sleep. His blonde hair was messy, damp with sweat. He looked like he'd already been through hell, and didn't want to wake up again.
Before Energy Guy could process more, one of the agents grabbed him roughly under the arms, hauling him upright like a sack of cargo. His legs dragged uselessly across the floor. He wanted to scream, to twist free, to do something, but his limbs betrayed him. He was too weak. Too dazed.
The three boys were pulled out of the truck one by one and dragged down a pristine white hallway. Fluorescent lights hummed overhead. Glass panels lined both sides, behind which scientists in lab coats watched silently, some scribbling on clipboards, others speaking into headsets.
Energy Guy's vision blurred again.
He woke once more, just as a shuttle door hissed open before them. The three were dropped inside a new room, this one brighter and colder than the hallway before.
It wasn't just a room, it was a test chamber.
The walls were pure white and seamless, made from polished composite panels that stretched twenty feet in every direction. The floor was tiled with faint gray lines forming a grid, and in the center sat three raised circular platforms, like stages, or operating tables. Overhead, a ring of soft cyan light pulsed around a high-tech observation dome, where cameras and scanners pivoted silently, tracking their every move.
Silver Guy carried Energy Guy himself, setting him down gently. In contrast, the two agents dumped the others carelessly beside him with a dull thud.
Energy Guy groaned, lifting his head. As his vision sharpened, he took in the room, then the unconscious boys—
—and then, finally, the man standing in front of him.
His heart skipped a beat.
Standing beneath the glowing ring of lights, flanked by nothing but empty space, was a figure who didn't need an introduction.
His crimson cape flowed down his back like fim, adorned with the insignia of kingship. And atop his head, balanced with quiet authority, was a perfectly polished golden crown.
Orange Guy.
The King of All Abilities.
The legend who rewrote the rules of reality.
Energy Guy's mouth hung open. He couldn't tell if he was still dreaming. Couldn't tell if this moment was real. But one thing was certain:
He was afraid.
Orange Guy gave the slightest nod, his gaze scanning the three boys.
"These ones will do just fine," he said calmly. "You all can leave."
The two agents turned to go without hesitation, their boots echoing on the tile.
But before Silver Guy could follow—
"Not you," Orange Guy added. A slight smirk tugged at the corners of his lips. "You can stay."
Silver Guy turned back, just barely masking his irritation.
"Of course, sir."
Orange Guy stepped closer, his attention shifting now, not to the two unconscious boys, but to Energy Guy himself.
"You woke up before the others," he said.
He crouched slightly, just enough to meet Energy Guy's stunned gaze.
"Interesting."
Energy Guy looked up at him—the man towering over him—the man from the stories, the billboards, the history books.
Orange Guy.
A legend. A king. A man he respected… maybe even admired, just a little. How could he not? The most powerful ability user in the world standing just feet away.
With what little strength he could muster, Energy Guy croaked out one word:
"…Why?"
Orange Guy's eyes had drifted away for a moment, casually scanning the room. But at that small, strained question, his gaze snapped back to Energy Guy.
"I was planning to answer that," Orange Guy replied, his tone calm, measured, "once the others woke up."
He tapped his foot against the pristine tile, as if waiting for some hidden cue. Seconds passed. His fingers drummed against his staff-less palm.
He clicked his tongue, mildly impatient.
"Ahem."
In a sudden flash of crackling orange lightning, his staff materialized in his hand, brimming with residual static.
The sound and light startled Energy Guy, but it did more than that.
The other two boys stirred instantly, jolting awake, blinking against the harsh white glow of the room.
Orange Guy raised an eyebrow, mildly impressed.
"Oh. Two birds with one stone."
To Energy Guy's left, the blonde boy, the smaller one, sat curled in on himself, his face pale and drained, eyes glassy with exhaustion. His expression was empty, like his soul had already given up.
To his right, the boy who looked almost identical to him, black hair, brown eyes, the whole nine yards, shot upright, fists clenched, eyes burning with raw fury.
The moment he registered his surroundings, he shouted:
"Where is she? Where is my mom?!"
Orange Guy's expression shifted, gone was the smug grin, replaced with a facade of false warmth, manufactured sympathy.
He knelt slightly, lowering himself toward the furious boy.
"No need to panic, Fire Guy," Orange Guy soothed. "Your mother was compensated very generously to give you up."
He leaned in closer, voice dropping to a cruel whisper:
"She'll be living a much better life without you. In fact… all of your families will."
At his signal, glowing orange screens lit up behind them, holograms hovering in midair.
On the first, Fire Guy's mother appeared, sitting comfortably in a luxurious apartment, sipping wine. On the second, Energy Guy's mother, visibly tearful, but sitting in a sleek new car, holding the keys to a better future.
The third screen remained dark.
Energy Guy's face paled. His heart sank. Fire Guy's breathing grew ragged with shock and rage.
The blonde boy, the one with no screen, stared at the floor, unmoving, unsurprised.
Orange Guy's voice softened with mock pity as his gaze swept across them.
"I understand how you all must feel," he said. "Fire Guy, you adored your mother… supported her through every hardship. Energy Guy… your mom? She never judged you. Never punished you."
His eyes drifted to the blonde boy, whose empty stare finally lifted to meet his.
"And Charcoal…"
Charcoal's face barely twitched. His voice came out dull, resigned, heavy with defeat.
"I already know."
Orange Guy straightened, his fake compassion fading like smoke. His grin returned, wider now, more genuine, sharper at the edges.
"Don't worry," Orange Guy remarked. "I sense great potential in you… despite your history."
Energy Guy's fists tightened on instinct. His stomach churned with the urge to speak, but Orange Guy's presence smothered the room like a blanket of static, swallowing the moment.
Then, with a wicked grin curling at the edges of his mouth, Orange Guy's voice echoed across the sterile white walls:
"Now, I'm sure you're all dying to know why you're here."
His staff pulsed with orange energy as the ring of lights above them hummed to life, scanning their faces one by one.
"Let me… elaborate."
Orange Guy puts up a barrier around the three boys with a single twirl of his staff. Energy Guy and Fire Guy pound their fists against the translucent wall, but it does not budge. It hums with an eerie resonance, swallowing the sound of their protests.
Silver Guy lingers at the rear, hands clasped neatly behind his back. His eyes remain fixed ahead, refusing to even glance at the three boys.
Orange Guy leads them into a wide, sterile chamber where three containment pods stand upright, metallic frames humming faintly with restrained energy. With a wave of his staff, he forces the boys forward and slots them into their respective prisons, Energy Guy on the far right, Charcoal in the center, and Fire Guy on the left.
The pods seal shut with a mechanical hiss.
Orange Guy strides to the center of the room, Silver Guy at his side. He folds his hands behind his back, his staff resting against his shoulder, and studies the boys like a collector admiring rare artifacts. None of them speak.
"That's a wise choice," he remarks coolly. "Opening your mouths will only result in an intense suffocation. A simple safety measure."
Energy Guy stares at him in terror. Fire Guy glares with a mixture of rage and fear. Charcoal… remains blank, his face unreadable, though his fists clench at his sides.
At Orange Guy's signal, Silver Guy pulls a lever connected to the pods. A low hum begins to fill the room as the machines power up, thin streams of energy crawling up the boys' limbs.
Orange Guy watches, his grin widening.
"As everyone in this room knows, I am the first individual, mortal or otherwise, to manufacture artificial abilities."
Energy Guy and Fire Guy stiffen, their hearts racing. Even Charcoal's hollow mask falters for a moment, unease flickering across his face.
"But what none of you know…" Orange Guy continues, lowering his voice, "…are my motivations."
Even Silver Guy glances sideways at him, faint surprise flickering in his otherwise impassive expression.
A prickling sensation crawls through Energy Guy's fingertips and legs. He turns and seemingly, Fire Guy feels the same, his jaw tightening. Charcoal stays still, though the faintest twitch betrays him.
"When I was younger, long before the admiration and reverence you all see now, I was part of a very… prestigious line of work." His eyes narrow. "Too prestigious. Surrounded by those who had been blessed with abilities. And me? I was belittled at every turn. Dismissed. Laughed at. Treated as less, when I was more intelligent than every last one of them combined tenfold."
His voice sharpens with venom, reverberating off the chamber walls.
"And so I devoted myself to one truth, abilities should not belong only to the few. They should be earned. Engineered. Perfected. Not passed down like trinkets of fate."
Energy Guy's body convulsed as a torrent of pain tore through him, like lightning flooding his veins. It surged upward, slamming into his skull until his vision blurred white. He tried to scream, to release even a shred of the agony clawing at him, but his throat locked tight, his own body denying him that relief. His jaw clenched so violently his teeth ground together, one threatening to snap under the pressure.
Orange Guy's voice warped into meaningless static, drowned beneath the roar of his suffering. The edges of his vision darkened, consciousness slipping away like water through his fingers.
And in the last fractured moment before the darkness swallowed him whole, a single thought clawed its way through the chaos:
What the hell is happening to me?