The reluctant superhero.., p.1
The Reluctant Superhero Book 1, page 1
THE RELUCTANT SUPERHERO BOOK 1
D. LEVESQUE
CONTENTS
Info
Patreon
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
About the Author
Where to find me
LitRPG
Chapter 1- Elemental Summoner
The Reluctant Superhero Book 1
By D. Levesque
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CHAPTER ONE
Without looking up, I batted away the ball that was heading towards me. With a flick of my wrist, the ball slid off my finger as if it was light as a feather and slammed into the wall behind me.
A guy came running up, apologizing. “I’m truly sorry about that! Miles hit the ball wrong, and it ended up going into the bleachers.”
I looked up, blinking at him. “What?”
The man, who I noticed was one of the baseball players from the field, scratched his head with his free hand and pointed behind me at the wall with his baseball glove. I looked over my shoulder and saw the ball on the ground.
“Oh,” I said, surprised.
The university sports player snorted. “How can you miss a ball coming at you? I’m pretty sure I saw you flick it away with one finger. What are you? A Super?”
I snorted at him. “Jesus fuck, no. I honestly didn’t even see the ball coming. You sure I flicked it?”
The guy frowned, uncertainly. “Well, I mean, I was pretty far away, but I thought I saw you flick it. I could be wrong.”
I lifted an eyebrow.
“Dude. If that ball had hit me in the hand, it would have broken my fingers. See this finger here?” I said, pointing to the ring finger on my left hand. “See that scar? That was from golfing and getting a ball right in the freaking hand because my dad hit the ball wrong. Who gets a scar from a ball? So, yeah. No. If that baseball had hit me, I would be crying in pain on the ground, not sipping my coffee,” I added, pointing to the disposable coffee mug I got from the cafeteria.
The man looked uneasy but nodded. “If you’re sure? You’re not in pain? That was a pretty damn close call.”
I wiggled all my fingers and smiled at him. “All good. Now, if you will excuse me, I have a test later, and I need to study.”
“Sure. Sure,” he nodded. “I’m just going to grab that ball.”
I waved him to the ball behind me, already refocusing on my studies. God, I hated this class. I hated going to university in general. But my parents had saved enough for me to go to university. They still lived in the City-State of New Los Angeles.
To celebrate my 16th birthday, I had went on a camping trip. Except, that’s when my Powers flared up. I ended up destroying the woods for a quarter mile in a blaze of fire. No, not a blaze of fire. More like an inferno. The heat was so hot that it melted the ground into glass. Thank God my parents hadn’t come, has they had to cancel at the last minute.
Otherwise, I’m afraid they would have been killed in that blast. My parents felt I was fine to go by myself, being a responsible 16 year old. It was a camping park within the walls of New Los Angeles, not out in the wilds. I’d heard the police assumed, through the news, it had been a fight between a Superhero and a Villian that SA had not released.
That was when I found out I was what we called a Superhero. Or Super, for short.
About twenty years ago, Supers started to appear. At first, it was small Powers, like low-grade Telekinesis. Or the ability to read minds or surface feelings. Like I said, small Powers. But in the last five years larger, more powerful Supers started to appear, including, unfortunately, Villians.
As a Super, we were required to register with the world governments. I wasn’t about to do that. So, I kept my Powers hidden. I glanced quickly at the wall where the ball had hit and frowned. That was too close. I had been engrossed in my latest studies, which happened to be fiscal responsibilities in corporate mergers. I hated Business, but it seemed at the time the easier course to take. God, I hated it. I should have taken something easier, like Arts.
I looked over at the baseball player, who was back on the field. I knew that the bleachers weren’t the best place to study since, well, flying balls and all, but also lots of shouting and crying out as the university’s baseball team practiced. And yeah, that was too close.
It’s not that I hated Supers. Well, ok. Maybe a bit. They were nothing but condescending assholes. Most of them thought the world revolved around them. And don’t get me started on Villians. They thought they were Gods. I did not want to be a Superhero. I just wanted to get my education, get a decent job, and hide away my Powers. Just be normal.
To me, my Powers were nothing but a pain in the ass. Not because they were shitty Powers. Far from it. They were Powers that most governments looked for when trying to get someone to work for them. And they’d stop at nothing to convince that person. They’d even go as far as coercion. I’d read stories of the Super called Lilly. She was one of the most powerful Telekenetics in the world, and the Russian government tried to make her work for them by kidnapping her family and using them as leverage.
Yeah, didn’t go well for the Russian government. She ended up almost destroying New Moscow before the Kremlin finally lifted the white flag. But that didn’t help those in the upper chains of power. She killed them all before she defected to the USA and came to work for us. In the process, she talked to the media and explained what happened. That was when others came forward with similar stories.
Now there was a law on the books that no government could use those methods. If a country was found to be coercing a Super, or even a Villian, which was rare, all Supers were required to destroy that government. One country laughed at the rule and tried it anyhow, and now that country was no longer there. It had been taken over by the country next to it.
Ever since then, no other governments tried to coerce a Super. But while there was no coercion allowed anymore, there were other ways to make people do things. And I’d seen enough of it. I’d read about some pretty shitty things happening on the Internet.
For instance, while kidnapping family and coercion didn’t work, financial blackmail still worked. Many of the Supers now would work for the government, buy expensive items, such as gifts, booze, drugs, cars, homes and go into debt, and then have no choice but to keep working to keep up their payments or lifestyle.
I made the decision to conceal my abilities and embraced a nonchalant attitude toward them. The truth is, I possessed extraordinary Powers, capable of manipulating various forms of energy. From harnessing heat and cold to mastering Telekinesis, I encompassed a wide range of abilities that many would classify as multi-gifted. Even within the realm of Supers, such a combination was considered nothing more than a myth.
Most Supers had one or maybe two Powers, tops. Usually, their first Power is the most dominant, and their second Power is more of an ability either passive or actively. Like, their first Power would be the ability to lift heavy items over a ton in weight, but their second Power would be perfect teeth. Or low regeneration for healing. Well, it’s not always an ability but more of a strengthening, or correction, of something, such as teeth.
I also had the ability to bend light. And to change the properties of my body until it was harder than Tungsten. Which is what I had used without thinking on my finger as the baseball came at me. That ability was more localized. I could not do it to my entire body. But I could do a finger. And apparently I did it now without thinking, which was not good for me.
I grabbed my cup of coffee, took a sip, and made a face. “Bleh.”
I heard a laugh behind me, and looking back, I saw Frank grinning at me. “Told you you should buy one of those thermos mugs. You never seem to drink your coffee fast enough.”
&n
Frank was rich. Why he stayed in the small apartment with me, I had no clue. He could literally stay in one of the dorms and not worry about anything, but he said, and I quote, I want to feel what the life of the little man is like.
To be honest. I can’t be angry at him. Because he genuinely really did want to learn. He grew up with a silver spoon. He came from a rich family whose father was a Super. One of the Originals, actually. His dad’s Power was the ability to see five seconds into the future. However, there was a toll if he used it. He would pass out for weeks, having to be kept alive in a hospital through intravenous tubes, since he would be in a coma-like state.
But also, it was limited in what he could see. Mostly it was stock market stuff. Frank explained once why his dad hadn’t one the lottery, and it was because they locked those down thirty minutes before they called the numbers. If it was a minute, or five, before they called it, he could have been one richer man. Also, his dad was banned from all and every betting venue on Earth. For obvious reasons.
On the plus side, that ability gave him an edge in the financial market. So far, though, Frank didn’t show any Powers at all.
“Yeah, yeah,” I snorted at him in annoyance. “Like you drink your coffee right away.”
“That’s because I prefer tea,” he said with a grin, sitting beside me and looking out over the bleachers and the baseball field.
“Susan was looking for you,” he said nonchalantly.
I scowled at him. “Please tell me you did not tell her where I was?”
Frank turned to me and looked offended, even putting a hand to his chest as if wounded.
“Please! Bro code. Besides,” he snorted to himself. “I saw what she did to your room last time. No thanks. She can stay away.”
Susan was, shall we say for lack of a better word, fucking crazy. I dated her once last semester, and it didn’t work out, so I broke it up. Mainly because she was clingy as hell. And also, her jealousy knew no bounds. She almost got herself kicked out of school when one day, I borrowed a pen from a female student in my classroom, and she took offense and almost killed the girl. She, the girl, not Susan, was in the hospital for weeks with a broken jaw, a broken arm, and so many lacerations that there were too many to count. The girl survived, thank God, but transferred to another university this semester. Too bad, she was cute.
The only reason why Susan didn’t get kicked out of university was because her dad was the Dean, and he quietly hushed it up.
I had to file a police report and even got a restraining order against her. Susan, though, did have Powers. Mild ones. She was fast. She could move twice as fast as a normal human. If she’s asking for me, it could only spell trouble since she knows she can’t come near me.
I turned to my book and closed it with a sigh. “I guess I should go hide in my room.”
“Fuck that,” he laughed. “Come to dinner with us.”
“Dude,” I laughed at him. “I can’t afford where you go. So thanks, but I’ll just grab something from the school cafeteria.”
“Oh, come on!” he moaned. “I don’t want to go alone. It’s with Precila.”
I raised my brow at him. “As in Precila who broke your bed, Precila?”
He blushed and nodded. Frank was tall, handsome, blond, and, well, looked like a fucking male supermodel with that long hair of his, but he was also shy as fuck. How the fuck someone as good-looking as him was shy was beyond me.
Myself, I wasn’t even close to his class, or I didn’t think I was. I was tall, about six feet, and in shape, thanks to my Powers which gave me an enhanced metabolism. I had short black hair and a short beard that I kept cut close.
However, I dressed like I was poor, which I was. I wore jeans that had seen better days and a shirt that I had when I was a teen. It was a concert shirt that said The Killer Wasps. I think the most expensive item I had on me was my watch, which was given to me by my parents the Christmas one year. It was a Rolex, but a cheap used Rolex. At least it wasn’t a knockoff.
I looked at Frank again and shook my head. “Fine. I’ll chaperone your date for you.”
Frank sputtered. “It’s not that I’m afraid of her,” which was a lie, “but that I think you need to get out more. Maybe we can find you a date,” he started, but I glared at him until he stopped.
He held up his hands. “Fine. I won’t try that again. But I still think you need someone.”
The last time Frank tried to set up a date for me, it was a disaster. Frank read the signals wrong and hooked me up with a lesbian. I mean, she was awesome, funny, and great to talk to. But she was a lesbian and I didn’t know, so when I invited her to my place, she took offense, slapped me in the face, and left. Oh, but not before coming back and slapping Frank too.
“What time and where?”
Frank grinned at me and lifted his hands for a high-five. I sighed internally but gave him the high five back.
“Just be ready for 7 PM. I will have a limo waiting.”
I groaned. Great. If it’s a limo, that means the restaurant isn’t going to be cheap. As if reading my mind, Frank laughed.
“All good. It’s on me tonight.”
“Good,” I growled at him. “Because I’m broke this month.”
Frank waved his hand dismissively. “You’re always broke.”
“Welcome to what it’s like living like a poor man,” I replied with a shrug.
I looked at my watch. It was just passed 2:50. “Shit. I need to go. I have a test at 3 PM. See you at seven back at the apartment,” I cried, quickly grabbing my stuff and stuffing it into my backpack.
Frank laughed at my reaction to being late. That man was never late. I honestly don’t even think he went to classes, yet he always passed all his assignments and tests.
CHAPTER TWO
I walked out of the testing room, my head feeling like it had been stuffed with cotton. I think I did well on the test. Barely.
I opened the door and left, heading down the hallway toward the washroom. The test wasn’t long, but I was so rushed to get to it that I didn’t stop for a piss. As I turned the corner I slammed into someone, causing both of us to crash to the ground in a pile of arms and legs.
“I’m so sorry!” said the girl under me. “I wasn’t watching where I was going!”
I untangled myself from her and helped her up. I even grabbed the two books she had dropped, noticing they were business books.
“All good,” I told her with a smile. “Are you all right?”
She was cute. Short, about five feet six, and curvy in all the right places. Her red hair was stunning, with fiery locks that cascaded down to her shoulders in luscious waves. Her hair seemed to dance with vibrant shades of crimson and gold, as if mimicking flickering flames. She had mesmerizing emerald-green eyes that sparkled with determination and a mischievous glint. But right now, they looked nervous and apologetic.
“Yes, I am. I’m so sorry. I wasn’t paying attention to where I was going!” she repeated.
Suddenly, small fireworks started to appear around her, as if at a Fourth of July event. I blinked at them. They were randomly going off all around her.
