The Superhero System Chapter1
Chapter 1 – The Crush with Super Strength
Timothy Wren had a crush on someone who could punch a tank in half.
He never met her — Ultra Buff only appeared on world feeds, lifting collapsing bridges and smiling like she wasn't holding back an earthquake in one hand. Her muscles gleamed under the spotlight, and every time Tim saw her grin, he swore his heart jumped out his chest like it was trying to fly to her.
He didn't even know her real name. Nobody did. Just "Ultra Buff."
His friends joked that he had no shot, but that didn't stop him from replaying every interview, studying the way she talked, how she paused before answering, how her smile faltered sometimes when no one noticed.
"She look happy to you?" he'd ask his sister.
"Tim, she's saving the planet. I doubt she's worried about dating."
That hurt. But Tim was used to hurt lately — physical, emotional, all of it.
His last doctor visit ended with words that never left his mind:
"It's terminal, Tim. A year, maybe less."
He left the clinic numb, thinking about all the jobs he'd applied to, all the dreams he'd shelved. Acting. Theater. Film. His agency said his look was too "ordinary." Whatever that meant.
Now he stood at the bus stop, backpack slung low, sun in his eyes, city sirens wailing somewhere down South Elm. The sky shimmered — alien patrols again. The Wegs were up there, orbiting like flies, part of some "treaty of peace and knowledge."
Tim didn't care. He just wanted to live long enough to tell Ultra Buff she was his hero.