She had woken several times after a breakdown. The sensations she felt waking each time, left her lips tingling, and there was a faint static buzzing around her ears, a touch of zapping electricity lingering in her fingers.
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Her leg hurt like hell, but the fact that it was moved a bit higher, by her doctors, did not go unnoticed, the other was no longer a paralyzed lump of flesh, and she felt movement returning slowly. There was a trace of something burning or frying, filling her nostrils—a detail she couldn’t place.
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The hospital corridor had become lively throughout the time she was out, her memory was hazy but she knew acted irrationally when she started hearing everything within a mile. Her head hurt. Was it a dream? She could hear perfectly fine now.
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No, it was very real!
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[Intent detected]
[Super Audition leveled up 1>2
[Activate power Super Audition ?]
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No! Nononononono! It can’t happen again. She frantically waved to the transparent screen that appeared in front of her face.
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A person wearing a dark blue scrub marched abruptly inside her room as she waved frantically for the menu to disappear, a pen and a pad in his slender hands. Immediately frowned upon seeing her.
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“Ms. Pinewell?” the doctor started, readjusting his thick glasses with a frown. "Are you alright?”
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He was an attractive older man, in the archaic sense. Chiseled jawline, trimmed beard, sharp eyes, and tall. A bit too old for her taste, Though she wouldn't mind exploring her options. Uhh, what was she thinking?
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“Hello…I’m fine, I-I’m just testing hands, yeah?” she twitch her fingers.
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“Yeah? Perhaps you need to test those legs as well.” He joked, giving her a side eye and a wide smile. She blushed. Was that an inappropriate joke or her imagination?
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“I’m Doctor Baier. And you Ms. Juniper Pinewell, caused quite the ruckus this morning, or so I heard.”
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“I apologize I–”
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“Yes, you had a mental breakdown and so on and so forth, it happens.” He nodded something off on his list, and she stared at the man like a child did a teacher. "Something more anomalous occurred during the last few hours, though we expect some third party to be involved.”
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“I’m sorry… I don’t understand,” she whispered, her voice cracking.
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“You don’t possess any latent or untapped superpowered abilities Ms.Pinewell?” he raised a brow.
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“Not that I know of.” she gulped sweating. There were complications with being a known super, law enforcement and agencies will be all over you. She didn’t need that right now.
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“It appears, that either some kind of individual may have ‘touched’ you before the ambulance came, or you have a dormant power which correlates with super regeneration. As your leg seemingly recovered partially overnight. You might not even need crutches. You'll probably be discharged tomorrow. ”
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That was surprisingly good news.
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She put on her best expression of acting shocked. After what occurred so far she just felt numb. How to circumvent detection, the last thing she needed was the government-appointed social worker, to try and take her siblings from her. Capes were dangerous, capes were unpredictable, and families with capes were dysfunctional typically.
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Remy! She still needed to contact her brother.
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“We can discuss most of it later, I have other appointments at the moment. There was a power outage earlier, We’re not sure it was supernatural in origin, however, it could have been the source of this ‘anomaly' of yours, perhaps a super samaritan. But more importantly, gaining your consent to run a few tests, is Vital. Of course, the hospital will pay for any unnecessary expenses. So what do you say…”
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She felt uneasy, it was so sudden. What could she even say here, without being exposed? She was not some lab rat, she also didn’t want to be reported for anomalous phenomena. Big Brother was always watching.
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“Can…we discuss this later, please?”
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Disappointment was visible on his face. “Of course. I’ll be back in a few hours. A nurse should check up on you soon.”
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She stopped him before he left.
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“Um…the bag on the ground, could you pass it along?” he complied, His piercing eyes met hers, it felt predatory.
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“Of course, get well. Juniper.”
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Shivers, she felt a bit creeped out by the doc but chalked it down to her overly active imagination. The rationalist would say it’s her brain jumping to conclusions after several traumatic events. Paranoia. or maybe some pent-up and twisted frustration she had felt.
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She rummaged through the bag as he left, some of her groceries still present, a lot of them wholly missing. The hospital must have confiscated it. Her phone was indeed inside. There was a large crack on the screen, she’d need a proper replacement soon. She could barely afford the rent. Pressing her thumb on the finger scanner, it refused to acknowledge her as Juniper Pinewell. Sighing, she manually opened it, a 12-digit password that read )P$5'M0E(i^(.
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AN annoyance but a necessity these days. Hacking had been done by malicious SLM (Super language models), and other rogue AI. Being hacked by a scammer was a tragedy, being hacked by the machine could mean the end of your existence.
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Her fingers immediately swiped up and down left and right, small pieces of phone glass, frolicked against her skin of thumb. Tapping on a profile that read out Remy’s name, she waited for an answer.
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Nothing came up, ringing and ringing and more ringing. She dialed again, desperate, anxiety started eating her heart out. What if something bad happened? She needed some kind of closure. Electronic static buzzed out.
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“Hello, Jun?” Her brother’s voice left the phone. Instant relief, a weight off her shoulders.
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“Remy! Are you okay? I–” she paused, her throat choking.
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“We’re fine, perfectly…” he said something else, She couldn’t hear him. Her phone-buffered, inconsistent network channels were becoming way too common in Core Pacifica, the results of capes battling it out in the cityscape. Damaging the internet infrastructure.
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“I’m sorry, I didn’t hear that, but listen…I got into an accident, I can’t come home right now, my leg is injured.”
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“We know, we were there yesterday.”
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“What, with who?” Stranger danger came to mind, she didn’t trust anyone near her siblings. Not even the parents of friends of her little sister.
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“One of our neighbors, it’s…not important. We’ll be coming by soon–” he coughed through the phone. Her motherly instincts kicked in immediately.
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“Have taken medicine rem?”
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“Yes, yes of course sis,” she heard a malicious shrill in the background. A little girl screaming, something crashing onto the floor, that sounded very much like a cooking pan. It was definitely Effy causing some chaos. "What's that?"
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“Uh, I have put off, don’t worry we’ll be there soon.”
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“Wait!”
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Beep, beep, beep.
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At Least they were safe, that was one issue she could cross off her mind. She stared at the blank monitor that hung over her head, there were more things to worry about such as the hospital bills her strange powers, and the fox thing that visited her earlier. It dumped a lot of things on her, superpowers, aliens, Elysium. It didn’t let her know much if only there was some kind of way to let her communicate with her powers.
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[The system is always ready to offer assistance to its users.]
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There was, and It could read her thoughts!
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[Not exactly, The System, is personally tailored to the conscious, subconscious, and unconscious of the user’s mind. The system can change to fit new parameters.]
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There was a fucking AI in her head.
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[System prefers Synthetic Intelligence. Artificial implies a human-made construct. The earth-based Systems were made and constructed by Elysium for chronically online individuals, humans with an unhealthy obsession with video games, and other ‘nerd’ media.]
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It was cheeky too. Another thing she didn’t need right now.
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[System chan is always happy to help Jun-sama. (˶˃ ᵕ ˂˶) Kawaii! kawaii]
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That’s too much. Please shut up, please shut up. The voice went from robotic to the voice of an annoyingly high-pitched anime girl. She was sure it broke the embarrassment parameter in her brain.
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[System Chan starts giggling cutely]
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Just can it, I don’t wanna make people think I'm crazy.
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[...]
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Like summoning a devil out of a well. A nurse appeared out of nowhere, a different one this time, she probably traumatized the poor woman who had been caring for her before. The shadow of a second person tailing her stood in the doorway.
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“Ms. Juniper, someone here to see you,” she said firmly.
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Caught off guard. She forced herself up, who other than her family. She doubted they learned how to travel at the speed of light while she was gone.
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A green-eyed, blond-haired girl peeked inside her room, waving to her, two bags slung around her arms. A get-well sticker, attached to every bag. She wore a simple cotton shirt, frayed shorts, a pair of flip-flops, and a cap on her head. Though they were about the same age, she’d recognized the alluring face anywhere. The poster child of Core Pacifica, every girl wanted to be her, and every boy wanted to do stuff that should not be mentioned…
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She herself had a crush on her once before she learned how corrupt ‘heroes’ really were and the cabalistic corporations that controlled them.
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What the actual fuck was she doing here! Helio girl, in casual clothing? Well, she hasn’t been a girl in ages.
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The nurse left, and the room became instantly awkward. She swallowed, her nerves wreaking havoc inside of her. Was she in trouble, did the hospital know something about her, did they out her to the gendarmerie?
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“Hi, Juniper right.” she went to sit on a chair next to her, bags set on the ground, an unnatural glow radiating from her skin.
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“Hi…”
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From afar she really held the appearance of a goddess, but from up close she really looked kind of ordinary. Beautiful but…a human being. There were smaller faint circles under her eye, hidden by makeup. Her eyes though jubilant held something akin to a lie.
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Both of them stared at the other for a while, stammering not knowing what to say. A hero coming to personally visit was the least surprising thing for Juniper. Helio girl lowered her head.
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“Ah…you’re probably wondering what I’m doing here.” she giggled nervously. “Truth is I feel bad about what happened.” she struggled to bring other words out. She looked like she was on the verge of breaking down.
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“Um…you didn’t hit me with that pimped-up car did you?” she teased, cringing at her dumb joke.
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“No, But I may as well have. I lured those villains to the other side of town, precisely to avoid any critical damage. But it still happened. Someone got hurt.”
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Juniper didn’t know what to say, she had barely processed the event. What was she here for comforting, closure? How was she supposed to help the person who was supposed to be in control of the situation? A realization dawned on her, the cape that was slammed into the roof was Helio girl. The chaos happened shortly after. If she was honest with herself, some part of her was angry, the other in a state of awe.
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“There were a handful of victims injured, but…someone died. I have to live with that.”
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"Oh,"
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[Comfort her, you baka O_O!!!]
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What. Not now, AI!
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[Comfort her, preferably in a warm embrace.]
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It was hard to concentrate on the thing in her head and the girl in front of her.
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“It’s okay, you’re not responsible for what happened. If you had done nothing how many more people would die.”
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“You say that but…” The girl stood up. Shaking her head. Staring at her broken leg. “ I–don’t know how to deal with this stuff. ”
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“I don’t either,” she paused. “but you came and that means a lot.”
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She turned her face away biting her lips, hiding something, her face obscured by her cap.
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“I'm sorry, this was a mistake,” she motioned to leave. “Your medical bills, I took care of them if you need anything at all from me. Feel free to call me." She handed her a card, with a scribbled-down personal number.
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Taking it reluctantly. Very briefly their fingers brushed against the other, and she felt a sharp jolt of energy discharging from the girl’s finger. Her own finger was heating and Recharging, the faint feeling of electricity going through her veins.
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[Mimicry skill activated. ]
[Mimicry Analysis ]
[Solar Powered Sentinel Level 1 - Draw and convert sunlight into raw power]
[Charge equivalent to 2000 watt maximum]
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She jerked her hand away, frightening the cape.
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“I’m sorry, did I do something wrong.” she pleaded. Did she not feel the spark of electricity?
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“No, it’s my fault, I’m sensitive to touch. “ she lied, hoping to get this awkward situation away asap.
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[Activate power?]
[Y/N?]
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No, no, no.
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“Well, I’ll be taking my leave now, I’m sorry for everything…” Heliogirl left, Making Juniper let go of a heavy breath.
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That was so awkward
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Was her feelings genuine, what was she hiding? There was something off about her too, something more than guilt. Juno honestly couldn’t worry about it at the moment. She diverted her attention to what just happened briefly.
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Her skills/system had subconsciously activated her power and nearly outed her. She needed to have a long discussion with this ‘system’.
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Something was clear, her ability allowed her to steal others' powers. The nurse she touched definitely had super hearing, awakened or dormant it didn’t matter. A thousand possibilities raced through her head. If she could touch a healing cape and refine her abilities, could she free her brother from his illness?16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ7bxA3IF2N
