The Awakened World

Part 5: A New Breed

The ground was shattered, with large chunks of soil and rocks lying here and there. A battle had occurred here, of this she was certain. It seemed that he had lost; there was no sign of Brian anywhere. Susan pushed her glasses up to rub her eyes. She had come to check on him and make sure that no one had caught wind of him. But as was apparent, someone had indeed found about him and moved in. "Alright, let's think about this rationally," she thought as she observed the battleground that used to be the front yard of her family's cottage. "Evidently, someone came here and did battle with Brian. The important questions are who, why and what actually happened." Susan walked to the door and started to form a theory. "The attacker wasn't one of the officials. If an official had napped or killed him, it would already be on the news as a warning to all others who would seek to defy the Awakened. The attacker also had to possess some modicum of talent; even though Brian has no experience with his powers, the amount of it he has compensates for that. No, there is only one conclusion: it was someone from the resistance". Susan looked to the sky and sighed. "He must be saved from them," she muttered, "Not only for him, but for me too." She shot one more glance at the broken ground and began to walk towards her car. "As much as I hate it, she must make a comeback."

Brian was not sure how he should feel. A while ago he had fought with the woman that was sitting before him. After being defeated he was carried into the base of her organization. And now their leader was inviting him to join them, the resistance that fought for the common man. Or so the older man, who called himself Jupiter, said. "Rebels who fight for an equal world, huh. Seems a bit too good to be true," Brian thought as he scanned the room with his eyes. The woman, or Minerva, sat on a chair and looked disinterested. However, Brian could tell that the moment he tried something she would spring into action. The light-haired man, Mercury, sat nonchalantly and listened to some music on his phone. Brian couldn't sense the same sort of alertness from him, in fact it seemed that he was barely interested in what happened in the room. This was not the case with the mountain of a man called Pluto; he leaned against the walls in the corner of the room and stared at Brian. Brian averted his gaze as fast as he could; this wasn't someone he wanted to antagonize. The leader of the bunch stood in front of Brian and looked at him expectantly. "Look, I'm flattered that you would consider having me join your group, but I don't think I'm cut out for it," Brian said, but continued as Pluto stopped straightened up: "But I suppose that I don't really have a choice in the matter, do I?" Jupiter smiled. "Quick to catch on, aren't you? Indeed, we cannot afford to let you leave this base. Besides, it's not like you could live a normal life anymore, after killing a member of the Awakened," he said. "As for whether or not you're cut out for it, well, let's just say that you are more than capable." Brian straightened his back and looked at Jupiter, surprised. "How can you tell that?" Brian asked and then thought of something. "Do you understand what has happened to me, by chance? "

Jupiter smiled and nodded. "We believe that we do. But before that I'd like to give you a little history lesson. I assume that you remember what happened when 'the Awakening' occurred? How the newly "Awakened" largely split into two camps: those who wanted to keep living as before and those who wanted to use their newly found powers to rule over ones who didn't have them?" Brian nodded. It had been a chaotic time, with public unrest resulting in riots here and there. Some of the powerless tried to attack the Awakened, with horrific results. "It didn't take long for the old leaders of the world to declare war on the Awakened, but you know the result: half of their armed forces were decimated by a single strike team led by 'our benevolent overlord'," Jupiter continued. "This led to the founding of the regime you see today; the rest of the leaders were won over by offering them the position of class-1 citizen and all those Awakened who had advocated equal living either ditched their opinion or went to hiding. That is who we are, the remaining Awakened who still believe in equality." "Don't bore him to death with your lecture, Jupiter," Minerva said and switched position. "The thing he was trying to convey was that we are truly on your side, and the 'good guys', if you will. Just tell him what he wants to know already, Jupiter".

"Well, I suppose I will, then," Jupiter said, with an annoyed expression. "Alright then, listen well: after the start of the 'new world order', all science was heavily regulated. The ones in charge were very interested in finding out about their new powers. After a year of non-stop research, scientist came up with a theory. They had found some new never-before seen proteins that allowed the human body to interact with the previously undetected 'noosphere'. This allowed humans to exhibit the powers the Awakened have become known for. These proteins were found to be coded by a previously inactive gene." Jupiter lit a cigarette and continued. "Now this is where it gets interesting: across all humans they scanned, they found that there exist four slightly different versions of this gene. The awakened had a gene that coded the protein that enables them to use powers, but the powerless actually had three different kinds of gene. The first is inactive and doesn't code anything. People who possess this gene will never have any powers. However, the two other kinds do produce proteins. These people were pretty few and far between, and because they didn't exhibit any kind of power, interest in this curiosity waned."

Jupiter blew smoke out of his mouth and shook his head. "This was a mistake they wouldn't come to regret until a month ago. That was when the first 'second generation Awakened' appeared." Brian's eyes widened. Could this be the answer to his question? That he was a new breed of Awakened? "Indeed, you're one of these new Awakened. A month ago, the first of your kind appeared in a city centre in a sector across the Atlantic Ocean. He started to attack Awakened left and right, and it took an elite squad of six to take him down. Even then one of them died and two suffered grievous wounds. As it turns the protein they thought was useless turned to be one that allowed for more powers but took more time to mature." Brian was shocked, but also saw that this explained how he had been able to defeat Scott without any experience. "So, if I'm not mistaken, I'm a new kind of Awakened, one that can overpower most normal Awakened, and as such a very precious asset?" Brian said, coming to understand what his new position in this world was. "Precisely," Jupiter said with a grin.