imagine you're me in 2019 diving and chilling and my diving instructor tells me to turn around and i see this literally 2cm away from my face

Mind over Matter

Prologue

Hi everyone! This was a collab with Master Villain ​, this is the prologue to the series, so expect more to come! We've written this prologue together, but from this chapter on we’ll be posting different sides to the story, so make sure to check his posts out on either here or the GSS. Have a great rest of the week!

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Eniac paced back and forth slowly in front of his newly completed machine as it whirred to full-power, pondering over how to proceed. His bodysuit clung to his lithe frame even more closely as he moved in front of the massive piece of technology; the heat it radiated caused a small bead of sweat to form on his brow. He knew what his ultimate goal was, what he wanted to accomplish. The world needed to be brought into utter chaos. Creating a device capable of bringing the most evil, malicious thoughts and feelings out of each and every individual on the globe, without bias, would accomplish that in spades. 

And of course, choosing a location for villainous activity is one of the most important steps in making sure things go smoothly. The public can’t be too close, on the chance that someone sees what’s going on. And the further from major cities, the further from the prying eyes of the heroes that keep them safe. Above all else, that’s why Eniac found himself here, in this tattered church in the middle of nowhere, pacing the scuffed, wood-panel flooring, waiting for his device to warm up. All in all, things had been going smoothly, and the villain couldn’t have been more pleased.

The closer it came to the moment he could activate it, the more excited he became to launch the world into his vision. There would be no more pesky superheroes acting all high and mighty. Everyone would simply be at odds with one another, dragging the world into magnificent mayhem. The thought of stepping out of the shadows in the end to take control of it all brought a shiver down his spine and a wicked, malicious grin curled at his lips.

“Nearly two whole months of work,” he began; working alone so often had him talking to himself more and more. “I can’t believe I’ve come this far. Tonight will finally be the first test of my device! The radius is already set to only about a dozen miles… I can’t wait to see how the citizens of Valorie City break into madness!”

Just as Eniac finished cackling to himself, a silent alarm buzzed from his belt. Someone with powers had passed the sensor outside. A quick check of the cameras told him all that he needed to know, and he excitedly stepped in front of the machine’s console, watching it come to full power.

“I’ve got you now, Eniac!” He heard exclaimed euphorically from behind him. Eniac smirked and turned around. In one of the smashed windows levitated a muscular man in a white bodysuit. The classically handsome man had everything in the looks department; deep blue eyes, wavy blonde hair and a very attractive beard. Eniac wished he could grow a beard like that, it was a definite chick magnet. The floating man wore a grey pair of briefs over the bodysuit, but his bulge was still extremely prominent. A grey “P” stood proudly on his chest. It was a little distorted because of his huge pecs, but it was definitely recognisable as the city’s main superhero. Eniac hated the telekinetic goody-two-shoes.

“You really thought I didn’t expect you to come, Powermind? I heard your thighs clapping against each other from a mile away!” Eniac bellowed out a laugh. A scowl formed on Powermind’s handsome visage. He had gained a little bit of mass around his legs, but that couldn’t really be why he knew Powermind was coming. Powermind quickly realised it was a taunt as he shook it off. “Oh yeah? Sounds like someone is envious of my big muscles since they’re just a sad little twink!” Powermind laughed as it was now Eniac’s turn to glare daggers. 

Eniac put his hand between his suit and his cape, hiding it from vision as he glided his thumb over the remote. “Well then, Powerbottom, how about you come show me how big they are!” The taunt was dripping with pure sarcasm. Powermind’s nostrils flared as he got enraged and he let out a warcry before charging into the barren church. The first blow was Eniac’s as he jumped sideways and tripped Powermind, sending him flying with his momentum. Powermind quickly recovered with a tumble and sent some metal flying. Eniac quickly ducked, but one of the plates hit him as he went down and he let out a grunt.

“Give up Eniac. This City is under my protection and there is no way that I will let that dastardly machine go off! What… does it do exactly?” Eniac laughed and he pulled out the remote. “Why don’t you wait and see!” As Eniac’s thumb moved for the button, he suddenly felt a tug on the remote as it went flying towards the wall, smashing it to pieces. “You should think of a different name, Eniac sounds much too smart for someone who’s not even able to predict that!” Powermind laughed up a storm until he noticed that Eniac wasn’t sulking. He was smirking.

“Hey wait a second, what do you have up your sleeve?” Eniac’s face went into stoopid mode. “I’d explain it to you, but I’m too dumb to know anything.” He then turned to the machine. “Oh look! A big red button hehe. I want to push the button!” His petulant child act was disturbed by his maniacal laugh and his arm wound backwards to slam the button. Powermind frantically tried to move the machine, but it weighed over a ton and was securely anchored to the church’s floorboards. There was nothing available to him to throw at the machine too, only an old wooden crate which would shatter on impact, some harmless pebbles and a shiny sheet of metal. Powermind was out of options. 

Eniac’s hand smashed the button as he cackled some more and the machine started whirring into power. The laser’s know started to light up as it prepared to fire onto the unsuspecting citizens. The prone hero sulked in defeat. “If only I could jump in front of the laser and block it. Wait a second!” Powermind looked around frantically and he found the metal plate again. “Here goes nothing!” He screamed as the plate flew across the church. At that moment the laser had finished charging and blew it’s load at the city. The beam made it a few metres before encountering the metal sheet. “Yes!” exclaimed Powermind. 

“What have you done!!!” Eniac tried to run but it was too late. The laser bounced back from the reflective surface and hit the machine back. The energy was too much for the machine as it blew up, causing an explosion so big that Eniac was flung far into the distance. Powermind was lucky in a way, since he was already on the floor, he couldn’t fly far. He stopped tumbling after a little while and his consciousness faded.

“THERE HE IS!” The helicopter had spotted an impressive grey body in the grassy hills which could only belong to one person. After the explosion, the hero’s friends immediately came to action, searching the area for signs. An hour later they had finally found Powermind, his grey suit a bit tattered and his hair a bit scorched, but overall stable with no visible wounds. The helicopter’s medical team quickly put the body on a brancard and they set course to the headquarters where they had the proper medical tools. 

Eniac was less lucky. He had landed in the sea and was washed ashore a few kilometres away. He cursed and sighed as he started his journey to his lair. At least most of his black bodysuit was gone, so he wouldn’t be recognised as easily. Only his crest, scraps of his suit and his boots remained. He looked down at his chest and noticed a white smudge on the dark logo. He rubbed at it, but to no avail. He was going to have to use bleach or something. Back in the helicopter one of the medics took a closer look at Powermind’s chest during his inspection. The crest heaved up and down on his mighty pecs with every breath, but something dampened the shiny metal. A black stain was on the bottom of the P. He tried to wipe it off with a rag and some water, but no luck. He wrote in his report that there’s probably some ash from the wooden construction on the superhero but otherwise, there was nothing of note to add.

Chapter 1

 ​Plague. ​I gagged at the smell that drifted out of the small cottage; it drifted out of the open windows and under the door. I knew what we were going to find. Almost every house hold had it, and the ones that didn’t were becoming rarer and rarer every day. James stepped forward and knocked on the door. ​“Please open the door for an inspection of your dwelling,” he said. Arthur and I exchanged looks. We could clearly tell that this dwelling was infected. We would have to go in anyway, but that was James for you: polite and proper, no matter what. Arthur was more rough and tough, while I was more of the quiet and conservative type. We three made an interesting trio, with Arthur and James were always bickering, while I was usually the one who had to step out of my comfort zone and settle things. ​James was tall and muscular, a permanent sign of the labors he performed in the mines. Everything about his physique was manly. His borderline black hair was cut short, showing off his dark brown eyes. His defined chin line had the start of a beard growing. The ratty shirt he wore showed off the large scar on his right arm that he never spoke of (the last man who had asked about it ended up in the infirmary). James didn’t care about how he looked; he only cared about providing for his two younger sisters after his parents died. Yet, he somehow still managed to awe most of the girls in the village, winning almost everyone’s heart. ​Arthur was skinnier than James and shorter than me, but not by much. His long gold hair, combed to perfection, hung down low on his forehead, almost coving his light, blue eyes. He was far tanner than I was, and had a short temper and sarcastic attitude. He often sat in the village squared and laughed at the people who walked through, giving him his fair share of dirty looks, and earning him a bad rap. ​I what people call a stick. I was skinny, and had almost no muscle on my body. I wasn’t particularly tall, and people like James dwarfed me. I had curly bleach-blonde hair that most people considered to be a bird’s nest. The most interesting features about me are my two, emerald green eyes, which sometimes possess a splash of yellow. ​I used to hate my name. “Theodore” just didn’t seem to fit me back then. I’d gotten used to it since then, but I still thought that something like “Matthias” or “Thomas” or even “Peter” would be better. ​The door swung open, startling me from my thoughts and revealing a small woman in a full length gown. The stench of decay flowed out the door. Arthur took a step back and coughed. I probably would have turned and lost my lunch, if I hadn’t already done so a few houses back. Even James’ steel composure swayed at the smell. The woman seemed unfazed by the putrid odor, and gestured for us to come in. We strapped on our masks, and stepped in. ​“As you can see, there is no plague in our home! You can take off those silly masks and head back out the door once you are content that there is no sign of that evil disease,” she said once we had entered her house. James and Arthur began to poke around, looking for the usually signs. I took a quick glance around the cottage. It was cleaner than most houses we visited, and surprisingly spacious. Fresh flowers sat in a vase on a small table next to the fireplace. A small bed, child-sized, sat in a corner, and a larger table sat pushed in the opposite corner with three chairs surrounding it. The house almost looked innocent. The smell, however, told a different story. ​“Where is your husband?” Arthur asked a little more forcefully than necessary. ​“Out in the market, getting tonight’s supper with our child,” the woman said. I watched her carefully. She put on a good façade, but I could tell that something was up. She slowly twisted an old wedding ring around on her finger. Her eyes quickly darted to a small broom closet, and then quickly looked around to see if anyone had noticed. Her eyes met mine, and her act crumbled for a second. Her eyes pleaded for me not to look, not to unearth the secret in the closet. “How old is your child?” James asked as he inspected the bed. As quick as it had left, the bright cheery woman with nothing to hide returned. “He is going to reach his seventh summer later this year,” she said with a sigh, as if contemplating what she would do for his celebration, or as if looking back on his childhood memories. “What is in that closet?” I asked softly. Her eyes darted in my direction, and she began to turn her ring faster. “Oh, nothing, just a little extra storage for an old woman,” She giggled without humor, her eyes fixed on my like daggers. They begged me not look, not to push it, not to finish my search. I looked back at her with sympathy, knowing that it was too late. James and Arthur pulled open the door, and stepped back immediately. James turned and wretched in the middle of the floor, and Arthur staggered away from the now over powering smell of death and decaying flesh coming from the closet. I crept closer and took a peek in the closet, the woman bursting out in tears behind me. There, stacked with care in the tiny closet, were the woman’s husband and child, decaying right in her house. The woman collapsed in onto the bed, sobbing. Her shawl fell off, revealing the large blotches infamous to the plague. She sobbed as James and I removed the bodies to be burned. She sobbed as we placed them in my cart with all the others we’d collected that day. She sobbed as Arthur slowly took her arm and led her away from her house, towards the infirmary that she would stay in until she died of the plague. She was still sobbing as she turned, and silently caught my eye, telling me everything she was thinking in an instant. This is your fault, she said. It’s your fault that I will die away from my family, in a horrible sick bay. It’s your fault that I will never get to say goodbye to my husband and son. It’s entirely your fault, she screamed at me silently, piercing through me with cold eyes. Then she was gone. I turned towards James, who sat next to me in the front of the cart. “Let’s get going,” I said. He nodded, and I gave a click to my horse, Lea, a dappled gray mare, and she set off down the street to the next household we would destroy. ************************************************** ​After the bodies had been burned and I had bid James farewell, I let Lea take us back the stables. I undid her tack and turned her out to the fields, giving her a sugar cube for her services before she left. I watched her until she was no more than a speck in the distance, then turned away and headed down to the spring that only a few trusted individuals and I knew about. I threw off the ratty clothes I’d been wearing for plague duty and jumped in. For a little while I just floated there, letting the cool water lap against my back. The pine grove that hid my secret get away filled the air with a sweet fragrance. Eventually, I grabbed a cloth from my knapsack and wiped all the possibly infected areas of my body. The people of my village took no chances when it came to the plague. My mind quickly flashed back to the girl. It was like I was just there, sending her out, watching her- No. I would not. I could not allow myself to think like that. I couldn’t show sympathy. I needed the extra rations, and plaque patrol was the way to get them. ​When I was finished cleaning myself, I rose from the spring and let my body begin to drip dry. I peered out from the grove, and investigated the horizon. A wall of dark gray clouds greeted me, coming in from the west side of our island. I turned away from the incoming storm and looked at the rest of Aris Island, the place my people called home. It was small enough that many mapmakers from the mainland forgot to include us in their designs, but just large enough to fit our people’s needs. We once were a nomadic tribe of traders, traveling on the mainland from place to place, staying no longer than a moon anywhere. However, after a long and harsh war with another tribe, we moved here, to Aris, the place that would keep all of our people safe. ​And up until recently, the island had done just that. Our people settled down and learned how to fish and how to farm. We grew and prospered on the beautiful island, and when I say beautiful, I mean it. From the birch forest in the north to the ragged cliffs in the south, Aris was a sight to behold. Now, in the heart of summer, wild flowers bloomed all throughout the fields, making them look like one large mosaic. The forest was alive with growth and beauty, filling everyone who gazed upon it with a sense of awe and respect. In the west, a few hills lazily rolled up, creating the perfect place for our animals to graze and rest. Our village sat nestled in the east, right where the sea and the land met. ​I turned away from the beautiful view, and put on the change of clothes I had brought with me. I left the grove, and headed back to the village. I reached my one-room house, which some called pitiful (I personally preferred the word cozy), and let myself in. A familiar interior greeted me; the dining table with one chair positioned against the window, the bed with blue sheets in a corner next to the fireplace, and the ugly rug which sat in the middle of room, showing off its “glory” for all to see. I planned to rid of the thing as soon as possible. I threw my plague duty clothes in the fire, and then fell back into my bed. Within seconds I was fast asleep.