Chapter Text
"In a world where (almost) everybody gets supernatural abilities, you'd think villains that use their powers for evil, and the chaos of people accidentally using their ability and causing calamities spreading across the world as common occurrences, that humanity blew up the earth and we've all been wiped out.
Yet that hasn't happened, somehow natural selection knit a perfect compromise to keep us alive. There's a biological barrier stopping abilities from appearing in everybody… a person needs to work for their ability, they don't get handed out for free.
Abilities have been around for generations, they help us like daily tools were used pre-transmogrification, as the history textbooks say, or in simpler words… pre-abilities.
You can get an ability via training the main factor of it. What is a main factor you say? It's the part of your body that is altered when the ability comes in, it's a painful process for some, so they need that.
For example, someone with a physical ability would discover it by training their muscles until their biological structure is allowed to evolve, yet someone with a mental ability would need to study up on the subject of their ability and how it works.
There's exceptions to this rule, for example mutants! Their main factor is their whole body and usually the main factor gets triggered by an occurrence they had.
Some mutant types are dormant, not every mutant is a dog person, and not everybody with a physical or mental abilities look like normal humans, there's variation and a solid limit to what abilities can be.
they'll never mix together to make an amalgamation of an ability, there's a few thousand abilities recorded, abilities that repeat and vary by only a few details. That's known due to ability doctors and scientists
If someone is having trouble with finding their ability, they can just go to the special doctor and get some insights on what their main factor is!
Unfortunately, specialists are expensive."
Mateo looked up from his notebook, watching as his classmates yelled and fussed around the classroom, the especially annoying Carter was as loud as ever, flaunting his ability as he usually did, making fire rings or smoke rings in the air to impress younger girls from other classes.
Suddenly turning his attention to Mateo, that was accidentally staring him down like he wanted to punt the guy (in his defence, he actually did)
"Ohh!!" Carter dramatically gasps "Freckles, you're doing homework?" He taunts smirking
Mateo usually just writes in his journal when he's bored, but he makes it sound so analytical while also mixing it with his subjects that dumbass Carter can't tell the difference over his journal and his homework
Today he had history, so he went all in with the storytelling over the starter theories when abilities started, ability-science and the history behind it. In actuality he was just writing his frustration about not being able to afford said specialist
"Can you do mine?" Carter leans over him, so close that he's able to feel his breath on the nape of his neck
"No." Mateo pulls up his hood, trying to ignore him the best he could, but that's virtually impossible when the guy can breathe fire
“Come on Matt! Pretty please…?” he huffs out, in the process activating his ability and scorching his hood and thankfully not his hair, seeing as ginger hair didn’t burn pretty
“Piss off Carter!” exclaims someone suddenly
Ah
It’s Alice, Mateo’s one and only friend, She gets into squabbles with Carter constantly, either because of minor disagreements or just Carter showing off his fire breathing too much, she acts like Carter picking on Mateo sometimes and Alice stepping in is just another “squabble” of theirs, while it’s really just not
She activates her ability, force field - a cool mental ability that lets her make a material almost like reinforced glass and move it the direction her hand is pointing - and pushes Carter away slightly so his fiery breath didn’t set Mateo on fire
“Erm… Thanks Alice.” he sheepishly responds
Alice pushes her force field up so Carter takes a few more steps back and asks with a wide smile “Anyway! Mattie, are you coming to training today?”
“Ah, no, not today, sorry” he shook his head
“You guys are still trying to become hero’s? Pftt… Like Mateo is going to be able to do that without an ability!” mocks Carter as he peaks above Alices force field, smirking
“Shut up Carter! Mateo is just a late bloomer!” Alice yells out
Mateos cheeks burn red as she said that, it’s the most embarrassing thing she could’ve called him without realising, she could’ve just called him unevolved and called it a day, because that’s usually what people call the group of people that can’t develop an ability
Carter isn’t just smirking at this point, he’s grinning, knowing this is the best chance to mock Mateo in front of the whole class with a propper reason, because if Alice said it before he did, “it’s fair game”
Yelling out “ Fucking primitive! ” before bursting into a fit of laughter, following in suit is the rest of the class, laughter echoes through the room the same as embarrassment streams through Mateos body as he hears that
He shrinks into himself, pulling up his hood. He wishes he could just disappear right about now, the subject of his unfound ability has always been a laughing stock because it’s not like he didn’t try! That’s the problem , he really did.
When he was 9, he went to training, the same as everybody else in his friendgroup at the time did, the difference? They got their abilities, he didn’t. Though , his friends also went to specialists that told them what their main factor was, but it was quite obvious! Most main factors are, because they relate to the persons relatives
So Mateo thought it was going to be easy! His parents both have abilities that focussed on agility or jumping in some way, his dad has an ability that makes him slightly faster due to a bird mutation, hollow bones. As for his mother, she’s just bouncy, she's immune to falling because she’ll just bounce .
So what was the natural thing to do? Beg his parents for cheap parkour courses and work his ass off to get his ability so he could be like the rest of his friends! Obviously that didn’t happen because he’s 14 and has no ability to be found.
He probably does have one! Only a few people don’t have abilities, and those people have specific medical problems or had a head trauma, and Mateo had none of those things, his ability was just… hard to find.
He’s trying to drown out the laughter when a hand grabs his wrist and drags him out of the classroom
“I’m sorry” Alice mutters under her breath, she’s looking down and her face is covered by her hair, but it was obvious she’s also flushed with embarrassment
“Alice??” he tries to grab her attention
They keep walking in silence for a bit, passing lots of classrooms and going down a set of stairs, not questioning anything Mateo let her drag him wherever she wants for a few minutes before he speaks up again
“Alice.” his tone’s insistent, just trying to understand where Alice is taking him, he tugs her hand
“I don’t like that they think not having an ability is a bad thing” she starts
“Well… everybody thinks that’s bad Alice, that’s not really out of the usual”
A thick silence fell between the two yet again, Alice marches on without any clear purpose and Mateo keeps following her, then she responds
“I know and I hate it.. It’s not something you can help" muttering the last part
“Er… Alice, you know I could've gotten an…" Mateo stops out of frustration, he'd rather not talk about the fact that he hasn't tried to get his ability in a while, even though he could've "Never mind… where are you taking us?” after hearing his words, Alice stops and turns around
“The school gate!”
pardon?
“HUH?!”
“And!! Stop letting them make fun of you like that!” Alice is adamant on scolding him for this
What?!”
Alice started tugging him towards the stairs again, she's waving her arms around and speaking in a determined voice to root the topic in
“Yea! You need to have confidence if you wanna be a hero! So you better show it!” she yells
“Okaay??” Mateo utters, bewildered
“Now go home!!” She shouts
“I got it ma’am!” He stands up straight and salutes “.... But, er, why?” looking around for someone to witness and save him from this madness
“Oh yea, Carter and his friends want to flood the class” she shruggs
“Of course! Very normal occurrence… I’ll just… go…” mutters Mateo, he realises the less he questions it, the faster he can get out and not have to do with Carter and his shenanigans
“Okay!! I’ll get your backpack so you don’t have to worry about it” she says, waving as she’s wobbling back to the classroom as if nothing happened
…
That was… surely something!
He quietly walks down the stairs, trying to process what just happened and what chaos will ensue yet again when they meet at school tomorrow, he isn’t ready for that at all and he isn’t ready for a soggy classroom
Though…
Alice’s words ring some truth to them, she’s right that he needs more confidence if he actually wants to be a hero, but what’s the point if his ability is so hard to get? Plus, being a hero without an ability is hell, especially for criminals that have amazing abilities that make them cocky enough to do something ridiculous
His only choice then would be to do nighttime patrols, because the people of underground criminal rings are usually the ones with weaker or non-existent abilities that won’t be that threatening, that’s what everybody advises to a “weak” hero, to get hired as night time heros
But Mateo doesn’t want to be stuck doing night shifts his whole adult life when he becomes a hero, even though he could probably look for a day time hero job later on in his career once he’s more respected, he’d rather not go through the trouble of that!
But what else could he do? Getting his ability has been hard, he’s been trying for years and it’s just not working. Some hero’s get their ability during their hero training, but that would result in the same situation where he’ll get stuck at a night time job
If only he could just start hero training now , that’d be so much easier, he’d even get a taste into the field!
Wait
He could do that
He could become a vigilante, couldn’t he?