The crowd around him cheered so loud his ears hurt, Haruto was those in attendance for the big particle experiment, He stood near the front of the big hall in Neo-Kyoto's Central Expo Center, bright lights shone everywhere, cameras pointed at the stage, big screens showed the Particle Enhancement Project logo, everyone said this was the future, cleaner and more energy.
His aunt, Dr. Reina Bishop, stood on the stage with the other scientists, she smiled and waved at him, Haruto waved back, he felt proud.
Then the alarms started screaming.
Red lights flashed, a loud voice came from the speakers. "Evacuate! Core instability! Everyone out now!"
People started pushing, someone screamed, Haruto tried to move but the crowd pressed against him.
"Haruto! Run!" his aunt shouted from the stage.
He turned to run, but a deep rumble shook the floor, the giant particle core in the middle of the hall glowed brighter and brighter, blue light turned white, then red.
BOOM!
The core exploded, a wave of hot energy slammed into Haruto, he flew backward and crashed into a row of chairs, pain shot through his whole body, smoke everywhere people screaming louder.
Haruto coughed, his eyes burned, he pushed himself up on shaky legs, around him, chaos everywhere.
A man nearby had fire on his clothes, he rolled on the ground screaming as the flames ate his skin. Blood ran from cuts on his face, another woman lay still with a metal pole through her chest, red pooled under her body.
Haruto's was appalled "This can't be happening…"
He looked toward the stage, his aunt was on her knees, holding her arm, blood dripped from a deep cut.
"Aunt Reina!" he yelled.
He tried to run to her, but the floor cracked under his feet, more explosions went off smaller ones, but still deadly, sparks flew, a piece of the ceiling fell and crushed a man's legs, the man howled in pain as bones snapped.
Haruto froze, his body felt strange, hot like electricity ran under his skin, a big security guard ran past him, the guard had been hit by the particle wave too, his eyes glowed yellow, he suddenly lifted a heavy metal beam like it weighed nothing, super strength.
The guard roared and threw the beam at a falling piece of ceiling to protect some kids, the beam smashed into the debris with huge force.
Haruto watched closely, his mind felt clear for a second, he understood how the power worked the guard used his muscles and energy together.
Without thinking, Haruto copied it.
Power rushed into his arms and legs, it felt stronger than the guard's, much stronger.
He jumped forward, his legs pushed harder than he expected, he flew ten meters in one leap and landed next to his aunt.
"Haruto… how?" she whispered, eyes wide.
"I don't know!" he said. "But I feel strong, really strong!"
He grabbed a fallen steel pole that blocked their way, it should have been too heavy for a 15-year-old boy but when he lifted it, the pole bent in his hands like soft plastic, he tossed it aside easily, the metal hit the wall with a loud crash and left a dent.
Haruto grinned for a second. "Whoa… that was more than the guard did!" but the smile disappeared fast.
A loud growl came from the smoke, a man stepped out, his body disfigured, his skin had turned gray and bumpy like rock, one arm was twice as big as the other, with thick muscles and sharp bone spikes growing out, particle mutation, a monster already.
The mutated man saw Haruto and his aunt, he smiled with broken teeth. "More… power…" he growled.
He charged.
The monster swung his huge spiked arm, Haruto pushed his aunt behind him and raised his own arms, he still had the copied super strength.
Their arms crashed together.
CRACK!
The monster's bone spike broke,blood and gray flesh sprayed out, the monster screamed in pain and anger, Haruto felt the hit too, but his copied strength held, he pushed harder.
He understood the monster's power now it came from the particle energy changing his body, Haruto copied it on top of the strength.
His own muscles grew bigger for a moment, the power felt even stronger than the monster's. Overdrive kicked in.
Haruto punched the monster in the chest.
The hit was massive.
The monster's chest caved in with a wet crunch, ribs snapped like twigs, dark blood exploded from his mouth and nose, he flew backward ten meters and slammed into a broken wall, the wall cracked. The monster slid down, leaving a long red trail, he twitched once, then stopped moving.
Haruto stared at his fist, blood dripped from his knuckles. "I… I killed him," he whispered. His hands shook. "It was too strong. I didn't mean to hit that hard…"
His aunt grabbed his arm. "Haruto, we have to go! More are coming!"
They ran toward an emergency exit, the hall was full of screams and fire now, another mutated person, a woman this time, crawled on the floor. Her legs had turned into long tentacles, she reached for a crying child.
Haruto felt angry, he copied the tentacle power quickly, his right arm changed shape a little, he made it longer and stronger than hers.
He whipped his arm forward, the tentacle-arm slammed into the woman and wrapped around her, he pulled hard.
Her body ripped apart with a horrible wet sound. Blood and pieces flew everywhere, the child screamed louder.
Haruto felt sick, but he kept running. "This power… it's making everything worse," he said.
Suddenly he heard Aki's voice, his best friend was near the exit, waving wildly. "Haruto! Over here! Yumi and Sota are with me!"
Haruto and his aunt ran faster, they reached the exit just as the main roof started to collapse dust and pieces of concrete fell like rain.
They burst outside into the night air, sirens wailed everywhere, news helicopters flew overhead. Bright lights from cameras lit up the chaos.
People ran in every direction, some had glowing eyes or strange marks on their skin, particle Kids.
Haruto looked back at the burning building, his body still buzzed with raw strength, the copied strength and tentacle faded slowly, leaving him tired, his head started to hurt.
Aki ran up and grabbed his shoulder. "Dude, what the hell happened in there? You just threw that guy like a ragdoll!"
Before Haruto could answer, a new sound interrupted through the noise.
A black van screeched to a stop nearby, men in dark uniforms jumped out, they carried guns and strange glowing devices, one pointed straight at Haruto.
"Target acquired, particle signature strong, take him alive… or dead."
The man raised his weapon.
The gun fired.
A bright energy beam shot toward Haruto.
**End of Chapter 1**