Heroes Versus Villains

Professor Brain and Makeshift - Origins Pt. 2

As Aiden stared at his now spoon finger, he didn't realize - but Elijah did - that he had absorbed the glass bowl. Then the milk. Then a few corn flakes. Elijah excitedly jotted in his notebook and Aiden continued to process what was happening.

"Wonderful, absolutely marvelous!" Elijah said, taking down the last few notes.

"E-Elijah?" Aiden asked.

"Yes?" Said Elijah, not even looking up from his notebook.

"Why-?"

"I do not know," Elijah interrupted, "But what I do know is that this is fantastic!"

"How-?"

"Because!" Interrupting once more. "Think of what this means! I have figured a way to give people superpowers! This is just purely exciting! Aiden, we can live in a world with actual super heroes! We can save the day! This isn't some comic book or a fantasy story written by some 16-year-old kid on his tablet!" Elijah then looked up and winked. Aiden looked suspiciously at his brother but brushed it off. Elijah was always doing weird things like that, Aiden thought. "We can change the world, brother!"

Aiden then scratched his chin, but was immediately distracted by the fact he was scratching his face with a spoon made of table. Nearly instantaneously the spoon became a normal finger and no trace of table remained. Elijah scribbled away, doing a little sketch in the margins.

"Elijah," Aiden began, regaining his composure, "If there are super heroes in this world now... Doesn't that mean there will be super villains, too?"

"And I have already planned ahead, my younger brother, you see... We fight back! Duh!"

Aiden raised a brow, but Elijah had not looked up from his notebook since he started.

"What if they try to kill us?"

"They will." Elijah looked up and smirked. "Aiden. I know I said this wasn't a comic but they are surprisingly accurate. Think of a 'real-world' scenario. If you try to stop a bank robber, they will hurt you or kill you to rob the bank. Now, if you try to stop a super-powered psychopath from exacting revenge on an entire population, my bet is they will try to kill you." And with that he went back to scribbling.

Aiden simply say there. He couldn't refute his brother, especially now that he was apparently smarter than any AI ever will be. So, he sat back and stared at his hands, now realizing that - with the clue being the cornflakes in his lap - he had absorbed the bowl and milk. Eyes wide, he decided to try and conquer this power.

Elijah perked up, but Aiden was too focused on his power to notice. He turned his head slowly behind him and squinted at the corner of the room. There was something there.

Elijah approached it slowly (and Aiden is distracted), stopping a few feet away. He smiled a bit big and whipped out a notebook and waited.

What did he see? A rat had just found a puddle of Elixir on the floor. A momentous occasion! Elijah thought.

The rat sniffed the puddle. Elijah's face neared the notebook. The rat for closer. Elijah just barely peeks over his notebook to see the rat. The rat licked the Elixir. Elijah gripped his pencil a bit too tightly, an audible crack in the wood occurred. Then a reaction started. Elijah took notes.

Subject RAT ingested Elixir. Beginning to twitch. It is not running around. Fur standing on edge now. Twitching stopped. Tail is not moving. Rat is not moving. Not blinking. Speculation: deceased.

Exciting new reaction!
The tail is growing longer. The nose is, too. The ears. The body. the legs. Feet. Head. The Rat is becoming huge!

It stands on two feet. No larger than maybe a 7-year-old. Blankly staring into nothingness.

After finishing the last note up, Elijah peered back up over the notebook and was met face-to-face with the huge rat. Elijah was startled slightly but regained composure.

Aiden has still not noticed.

"H-hello little - er - big guy!" Elijah said, smiling gently. "How are you?"

Elijah got slightly closer, but it was just enough for the Rat to tense up, startling Elijah again. He backed up and stared at the wide-eyed rodent. Then, the Rat's mouth opened with the snap of belt to reveal terrifying, mutated, sharp to a point, jagged teeth. And rows of them.

Elijah's scream made Aiden's attention switch to the danger in front of his brother.

To Be Continued...