Aye sorry for the week of delay😭😭🤲 It's kinda difficult for me to login to my account on the app with all the crazy storms. I'll make it up to y'all with extra 10 chapters within the week before we resume our daily 1-2 chapters.
(1/10)
---
Chapter 17: "This Is Fine. I'm Fine. Nothing's on Fire. Except Maybe My Life."
POV: Leon Walter
Friday morning baby!
---
Okay. So.
Remember that time I just wanted to survive high school without tripping over my own shoelaces and somehow ended up sinking my show into the ground?
Yeah, well.
Apparently, the universe took that request, chewed it up, spat it out, and said, "Here, try world-ending secrets and existential dread instead."
Awesome.
I woke up the this morning like any self-respecting teenage science experiment—covered in cold sweat, surrounded by cracked drywall, and vaguely glowing.
But hey, I didn't vaporize the furniture, so we're calling it a win.
Currently? I was still lazily lying in bed, staring at the ceiling like it held the answers to the cosmic riddle that is me. Spoiler: it didn't. It just had a suspicious crack that might be in the shape of a bat if you squint hard enough.
My sheets were half-kicked off. My hair looked like I wrestled a lightning bolt and lost. And Jesse, the house butler who may or may not secretly be a retired assassin, knocked softly on my door.
And sure as hell do I need a coffee–
"Sir?" he said. "Would you like chamomile tea or hot chocolate?"
Or that. I blinked. "Both. I am spiraling, Jesse. I need the full spa experience."
"Very good, sir."
Five minutes later, I had a mug in each hand, staring at my window like the moon owed me child support. And that's when it happened.
The weird buzz kicked up.
Like... a power line started humming inside my skull. My heartbeat synced to some invisible beat. My vision blurred, then focused sharper than 4K ultra-mega-HD. And I saw it again:
The flash.
Not lightning. Not memory. Something... Forgotten. Cold. Familiar.
A room. White walls. A voice.
"Subject 08. Heart rate stabilized. Beginning neural overwrite."
Then—gone.
Like a dream I almost remembered.
I dropped the mugs. They didn't shatter. They floated an inch from the floor. My hands trembled. My fingertips were glowing faintly blue.
"Jesse?" I called out weakly. "Uh. Quick question."
"Yes, sir?" he replied from the hallway.
"Did we recently switch from decaf to, I dunno, liquid depression?"
A pause.
"I'll get the mop." Jesse said with a sigh. Now I feel bad for spilling hot tea on my pants.
____________
Cut to: Carol's hidden room.
She sat on the windowsill, holding an old photograph. Me—skinny, bruised, eleven years old, fresh out of nowhere. Literally. SHIELD had no records of where I came from.
Just a pod. In a lab. Labeled: Project Eclipse.
She muttered to herself, "You're not just a kid anymore... are you?"
The wind shifted. She stood.
Outside, a storm began to brew.
---
Back to me.
I took a deep breath. My fingers twitched. The air in my room shimmered slightly. My thoughts raced like a hamster on meth.
One voice inside me whispered: Run.
Another said: No... it's time.
I blinked.
"Alright, Leon," I muttered, straightening up. "Either you're the next chosen one... or a walking nuke waiting to happen."
I opened my door. Heading to the kitchen to whip me some sugarcoated cereal with zero care for diabetes.
*CreeeEEeek*
That door needs some oil.
I sneak my way into the hallway, careful not to run into Carol especially after a magical night like yesterday..
Call it incest, but she's a damn beaut- What am I yapping about!
"Sir," Jesse said gently as I shamefully walked out from behind the flower pots like a zombie in pajama pants, "should I inform your 'educational institution' that you're suffering from spontaneous molecular dissonance?"
I blinked at him. "…I think you just described puberty."
...
"Very good, sir. Your cereal is glowing."
"I noticed. It's staring back."
He handed me a lead-lined lunchbox. I didn't ask.
---
At School
Now, I expected the usual: Liz giving me her sunshine smile, Gwen rolling her eyes, Flash being aggressively Flash, and the distant hope that MJ might say my name in a non-legally-concerning tone. Felicia being absolutely unpredictable...
Instead?
Silence.
Not the "everyone's asleep" silence. I mean movie trailer silence. Birds paused midair kind of silence.
Then—
"Yo, Leon!" shouted Flash, arm slung over my shoulder. "Did you get taller overnight, or are you just standing on my ego?"
I snorted. "Your ego's tall enough to be an elevator."
Everyone laughed.
Normal resumed.
Almost.
Except...
Roxy—sweet, oddly insightful Roxy—stared at me like I'd grown a second head. She smiled, but it was tight. Calculating.
I caught her reflection in the window.
For half a second, it wasn't her.
It was someone older. Paler.
I blinked.
Gone.
"Leon?" she asked sweetly.
"Huh?" I choked on my brain. "What? Yeah. Algebra's crazy, right?"
"…You okay?"
"I'm not wearing matching socks, Roxy. Nothing about me is okay."
She smirked, but her eyes never stopped scanning.
---
Later: Gym Class aka Torture in Public
Coach Johnson blew his whistle like he was auditioning for "Most Annoying Man Alive."
"Alright, degenerates! Dodgeball! Walter, you're on fire today!"
"I think that's literal, coach!"
My arm crackled with a sudden burst of blue energy. When I threw the ball, it dented the wall, covering the wall in web of cracks.
Everyone stared.
I laughed like it was a joke. Like I meant to do that. Like I wasn't one power sneeze away from launching into orbit.
From across the court, Gwen narrowed her eyes.
Crap.
---
Lunch: The Final Battle
I sat with my tray of "definitely food" and tried to look inconspicuous.
It failed.
MJ sat across from me, sipping her drink like a queen holding court. "You've been weird lately."
I choked on air. "Me? Weird? I'm the definition of average. You could staple me to a chart labeled 'baseline human.'"
She leaned in. "Your shoelaces are floating."
I looked down.
They were indeed floating, my friend.
"New fashion trend," I deadpanned. "Very anti-gravity laces."
She raised an eyebrow. "Leon."
And that's when it hit me—
Not metaphorically.
A kid from another table actually hit me with a tray, accidentally. It bounced off my shoulder with a clang like he'd smacked a car bumper.
Everyone froze.
The thick metallic tray bent.
My shoulder was fine.
"Oh," I said aloud. "I'm the school's final boss."
---
End of Day... I was as depressed as a steaming iron. No one wants to be a steaming iron!!
I was leaving school when a hand grabbed my arm. Hard.
It was Roxy again. No smile now.
Just a whisper.
"Be careful with who you trust."
My brain short-circuited. "What the hell does that mean?"
She let go.
"Be careful who you trust." She repeated.
Then she walked off like nothing happened.
And me?
I stood there, heart racing, hands buzzing, eyes flickering blue.
I had no idea what was going on.
But apparently?
Everyone else did.
---