Chapter 1: Well, that just happened.

"So then, I was talking to her yeah." I lean in, fully knowing that something big is gonna happen. I mean, I know Logan, he's my best friend. Clearly I know how he tells stories by now. "And she wants to meet up with me in her treehouse after school today!" Bullshit, I assume. No way in hell that this is an actual story. "Dude, you about to get it good tonight!" I reply, with a hint of sarcasm. "Sh, sh, here she comes!" A girl walks past our table, two others following behind. She winks, then walks away. But here's the thing. She winked at Logan. Crazy right? I couldn't even believe it myself. Logan looks at me with a mix of “i told you so” and astonished. Logan is so about to get laid. Im proud of him I guess. Yet again, all sweet things must turn sour eventually. We see two guys walking to our table. “Well if it isn't Zach and Logan.” One of them say. These are the “popular kids.” Usually seen around the girl Logan was “talking to” before. There names are Joseph and Justin. “Man. Where'd you get those pink contacts? Party City? You guys look like fre-” Im grabbed by the neck before I can say anything more. “You wanna keep running your mouth, boy? I'll choke you out right here.” Joe says, and drops me to the ground after choking me out for what felt like an eternity. Logan came and picked me up. “Thanks man. And uhh, Clawback. Hit em’ where it hurts.”

 Oh yeah, I forgot to mention. Mostly everyone in the school has powers. Mostly is the key word. Now, I know what your thinking, Zach. You're literally just ripping off My Hero Academia. To that I say, shut up and keep reading. I was born without any powers. However, I've always wanted to help make a difference. So I built stuff. Mostly grapples, some ziplines. Movement gear. They can also be used for combat too.  Clawback is a grapple that I cut loose and put an AI chip into. Its like a pet, but cooler.

 Clawback comes out of my backpack and stabs Joe right in his nuts. I stand up, and kick him in the face when he drops down. Justin approaches, and Logan uses his power, heat vision, to burn him. “Oh fuck. What did we just do Logan.” At this point everyone in the cafeteria is watching, shocked. The girl that winked at Logan is fuming. “We have to go. NOW.” I tell Logan. We run to the nearest entrance, and make it out while staff and bad students are all trying to grab at us. “HOLD ON!” I grapple onto a nearby tree, and swing through the air tarzan style to my house. All the while Logan is grasping my foot screaming for dear life. As we're making our grand escape, police arrive. Uh oh. I see my house in the distance. I shoot a zipline in the air that goes to my house. “Grab on!” I yell, and as we zipline I take it down behind us to cover our tracks. We make it in, I shut the door.

“So uhm. We just mercilessly beat up two really popular kids in the school. What now?” Im honestly wondering what Logan is thinking. That girl looked pretty pissed at the both of us. Will he even have the courage to meetup with her still? “Now, we wait for school to end.” Listen. I've known Logan for a while now, and I don't know where he's getting this confidence from. Logan was never the type of guy to do something like this. He must really like this girl then. Yeah...that's it. “Dude. You're sure about this? She looked pissed when we beat up Joe and Just--” This was the moment of realization for me. Joe and Justin had pink contacts in. That girl had pink hair. “Don't you think it's a little weird that the girl--” Logan stops me in my tracks. “Listen man, I don't have the slightest idea why you think this could be a bad thing. I think you're just jealous that I'm gonna get laid!” At this point, whatever. He's right. “Alright whatever, go have fun with your ‘girlfriend.’ I'm going to the homie hideout.”

The Homie Hideout. I love the homie hideout. It's the place where all the homies go after school. “Yo, yo! What's poppi--” oh yeah. School just ended now. Well, guess I'll kick back and play some games for now. I grab a soda, put the Super Mario 64 cartridge in, and wait. Connor is the first one to arrive. “Hey Connor.” Connor is one of the homies (obviously). He's essentially the brains of the group, alongside me. His power was that he has an extremely above average intelligence. But that's only when he is fighting someone or observing fighting. “Man, those two guys stood no chance against us, am I right?” Connor replies, “Actually, no. Their leader could have popped out at any second and took you all down.” Wait. Leader? Does Connor actually know more about this? “Wait,” I ask, “Who's the leader?” Connor cracks open a soda and sits down in the chair next to mine. “Pfft, like I'd know. You know I can only see through fights. Why don't we play Ultimate instead?” Alright, alright. There's gotta be something fishy going on though. I'm gonna check on Logan later. Speaking of Logan, just got a text that he's heading there now with a sunglasses emoji. You do you, man. Jacob is next to arrive. “Oh man, you guys started Ultimate without me?” Jacob is a really good friend of mine that I've known since I was 10 or 11 in 6th grade. Jacob is also powerless, that's how we met after all.  Getting picked on for the same shit. However, I've given him some gear as well to help combat that. He has shoes that let him run faster and jump way higher. “Hey, you guys hear the news?” I ask. They both haven't heard yet. “Logan head out to this girls treehouse a couple hours ago. Pretty sure he's getting laid right now.” They're both shocked. Nobody knew Logan had it in him to do things like this. “He ought to be careful out there. Who knows what they could do?”

Jacob is right. Maybe I should check on Logan. So, one the one hand, he's in danger. On the other, he's getting sloppy mctoppy from that one girl. I can't even recall her name. Guess i'll find out when Logan is bragging to me tomorrow in Lunch.

Chapter 2: Toxicity

I wake up the next morning and check my phone, expecting to see 40 unread messages from Logan. Nothing. He must've gotten it good then if he couldn't even text me the whole time. As I'm walking to school, I think back on to what happen yesterday. How will we be treated now that we did that? Our lives will be a living hell! Well, at least for me it'll be. Not so sure about Logan. I get to first period, and Logan is absent. Ok. Strange coincidence, but its not the first time he's skipped Geometry. The day goes by and in every class he's absent. He must be taking a sick day. Not gonna lie, if I got laid the night before I'd most likely take a sick day as well. I run into my friend Michael in the hallway on the way to our next class. “Have you seen Logan anywhere today?” He snaps back, “No, but I doubt you can see anyone in this hallway besides up to their shoulders.” Oh please. I'm not even that short anymore. 5'3 is still good. Yet again, Michael is almost 6 ft, so. I have lunch next period, guess I'm sitting by myself today, since Logan is absent.

Well, it's lunchtime…yay…I hate it when Logan isn't here. I look like a loser. Oh shit…here come 6 people. I'm about to get fucked. Wait. Is that the girl? AND LOGAN? “Logan, where have you been this whole day!” The girl speaks, “Oh. He's been with me. We've been having fun all yesterday and today!” The group laughs sadistically, and sits down at my table. “Logan. Are you ok? You do realize that these are the guys tha--” oh my god. He has the pink contacts in! “Is this some kind of fucking cult?” The group laughs. “Why would you say that, silly?” All the while everyone else has been quiet. I'm really uncomfortable right now. They must've did something to Logan. “I think we got off on the wrong foot…my names Cadence.” She sticks out her hand. “My names Zach..” and as I shake her hand-WOAH! WHAT THE HELL? My hand retreats back. Could that have been pleasure? Perhaps. She smirks at me. “What's the matter? Never touch a girl before? By your smell, I'd assume not.” My shock quickly turns to anger. I stare down Logan, and he looks away. The group laughs at me. I feel like I've been betrayed by one of my best friends. “You guys should really leave me alone.” Seriously? Was that the best I could've done? “Why? What are you gonna do about it? You're just a powerless freak.” This is just a huge power play to get me to lose hope. I know she must've did something to Logan, and the other guys. “Oh really huh? Powerless? Alright. Maybe I am powerless. But that doesn't mean I'm weak. You can't break me.” She looks slightly surprised. “I cant break you? We'll see about that.” As the group leaves, she pats my shoulder.

That feeling…has to be Euphoria. But how could just touch instigate Euphoria? But it was more of a uhm….sexual Euphoria? Oh god. I wonder what Logan has been through. Well, I'm sure it felt good, but what if she's doing really bad things to them. Well, whatever it is, I have to rescue him. “Did that just happen?” A voice comes out of nowhere. Odir becomes visible again. “How long were you there for? Why are you even here, you don't have this lunch peri-” He shushes me. “Don't ask questions that are irrelevant to the topic at hand. What's going on with Logan?” I really wish I knew. I shrug. “Whatever it is, we have to save him. Or else..” Then I start to think. How long has she been doing this to people? Has she murdered anyone? How has nobody caught wind of this?
“Odir. Arrange a meeting at the homie hideout at 4pm today after school. Tell everyone.” He nods, then goes invisible.

School ends, I don't see the clique anywhere during school. I head to the homie hideout at 4pm, and everyone is already there. “Alright guys. Got some bad news. Logan will not be joining us today because he is in a seduced-like state.” Everyone looks at each other. Michael speaks. “The fuck you on about?” Good question. If only I knew more about this. “All I know is that we are too avoid Cadence at all costs besides rescuing Logan. She emits a sexualized Euphoria feeling through touch, and there could be more ways.” Michael interrupts again. “So you’re saying that we get horny if she touches us. That happens even if there’s no special power.” Him and Odir laugh. All the while, Connor is looking devastated. Him and Logan have been friends much longer than anyone else here, so I can understand why. “I’m going to try and put a stop to this. I need one other person to help me. Odir, you can go invisible. This would be very useful in rescuing him. We will go next week after school. Connor, wait for us to come back in the Homie Hideout tomorrow.” Odir speaks, “I don’t know if I can do this. What if I screw up? I’ll be stuck there. We don’t even know enough.” I understand him. I’d be scared too. “Ok. I guess I'll be on by myself then.” All of a sudden, Connor stands up. “No. I'll go with you. I'll watch overhead while you rescue him. If I see something that is viable, I'll do it. They're in a treehouse right? You can take me up to a tree.” You don't see that everyday. A man volunteering for a battle that could very likely turn south. Honestly, I wasn't sure I'd make it out by myself. But, with Connor as support, maybe this could work!


Chapter 3: Set Up To Fall

So it's settled now. Connor and I will go and try to rescue Logan after school tomorrow. We've been gathering supplies since to help us. I've had quite a few run-ins with the clique in school, but I've just been trying to avoid them. I built an industrial drone for scouting out where the treehouse is, and we've pinpointed it. They are far from the homie hideout, which is a good and bad thing. I think I have them figured out. I just have to avoid getting held. The plan is to have multiple grapple points in which I can go back and forth from around the house. I've learned to skate on zipline ropes with my shoes with a lot of practice, so that will help. However, I need to meet up with Connor in school to finish up some plans.

4th period. Usually I pass Connor in the hallway. Speak of the devil! I call him over, and we go to the back of the hallway. “So, just to clarify plans. We set up the ziplines, multiple exits and one that circles the treehouse.” Connor nods, and explains his plan. “I'll be at the top of a sturdy tree, and watch from below, giving you advice through the headset you made.” Alright, alright. Cool. I hope we can just put this whole situation to rest afterward. “This is it. We can finally put a stop to this crazy situation we got ourselves in.”


So, everything is going good. We have a plan that we can execute. The only problem is we literally can't get near her. If her or her ‘slaves’ get a hold of me, im doomed as far as I know. School ends, and I'm extremely nervous. What if I do mess up? There are high stakes. Connor and I meet up at the treehouse. “Let's do this.”

I create a zipline up to a sturdy tree that we tested with the drone. Nobody seems to be there yet. Perfect! I start setting ziplines up to multiple trees, and one connected to all the others. A nervous wreck, I start ziplining down to the treehouse. This is when it all goes south. You see, as I'm ziplining down, pink gas starts coming from the bottom of the treehouse. A trapdoor opens, and 6 people pop up. The pink gas moves slow, but is being controlled by… Cadence. “Well, well. If it isn't Zach. I had no idea you'd come here today! Oh wait. I did. Know why?” A figure appears out of nowhere. ODIR? HE GOT CAUGHT! “I just had your little friend come and…spy on you guys a bit. By ‘you guys’ I mean you and your friend Connor wayyyy up there.” She points to Connor. Im speechless. Pink gas is slowly filling the room. “You see, you and your pathetic friends found me out. I don't think you fully understand my power. Joe. Can you stop breathing for me please?” As she says that, Joe drops down to the floor. He's...dead. She literally told him to stop breathing. And he did it. More pink gas starts engulfing the room. “I'm going to take out your whole group. Starting with you…I hope you have fun…” she smiles, as the group laughs. This pink gas has to be some kind of aphrodisiac that knocks out and completely seduces men! I have to stay out of it. I try to grapple, but i'm kicked to the ground and stomped on by Odir. Im restrained by the 2 other girls and Logan. I look up to Connor. He watches helplessly as I'm forced breath in the toxic gas. I have no doubt in my mind i wouldn't have gotten out if it wasn't for Clawback. Clawback comes out of my pocket, attaches his claws into me, digging into my skin. They make a grapple to a nearby tree. As I am pulled away, I manage to grasp onto Logan, and with all the adrenaline I have left, pull. Cadence grabs his other arm. She stares me down, and smiles. “Maybe next time, you should come better…equipped.” She grabs my hand, and flings it off of Logan, and i'm sent flying by the force of the grapple. All that I see before everything goes black is a glance at Connor in the tree, as I fall to the ground and fall unconscious.

Chapter 4: Recovery.