The Protagonist System

177 An Explosion Of Powers

Rikki's warning had come just in time, because that week had all ten women confirm their pregnancies. It was a weird feeling that my Karma Points could be used in such a way and without my permission. Then again, maybe this was how both Fate and Death were getting back at me for not leaving certain deposits in some of the various worlds I had been to.

Viper and I managed to gather our things and retreated from the public eye just before the news story broke on national television. One of the politician's wives had let slip to her best friend about a secret government fertility program that had a 100% success rate and the whole thing blew way out of proportion.

Each and every woman that had ever wanted a child, and either couldn't have one or never had the opportunity to, came out vocally about the government holding out on them and they wanted their kids right now.

It took a lot of political manoeuvring for the government to release the information that the first successful experiment had only just been confirmed and they hadn't been holding out on anyone, let alone a thirsty nation that wanted an instant family for themselves.

The next round volunteers for the second experiment, to everyone's shock, was over 9,000!

Thankfully, my name had been kept out of the story, so there wasn't a mad scramble by a bunch of horny women to get me to deliver the payloads to their wombs directly. Viper was visibly relieved when I told her I had no interest whatsoever to do anything like that. I had her now and she was all I ever needed, which made her very happy to hear.

It actually took about four months to impregnate all of the volunteers and a lot of them were surprised to discover the stipulations in the contract about how they and their children would be taken care of by the government.

They also had to sign NDAs and agreements that if the child developed powers, they were automatically government employees and always would be. Conscription was one of the basic tenets in the Supers Registration Act, so they all agreed.

Not surprisingly, the next few months passed by without incident or any further experiments. The government wouldn't allow any more pregnancies until they confirmed that the first and second batches were viable and stable.

It was humbling and staggering as the first ten births happened on the same day, like clockwork. It was noted heavily and the doctors controlling the experiment spread the information to all the other pregnant women. They would know exactly when they were going to give birth, right down to the hour and minute. Each impregnation had been fully documented.

When it was all said and done, both Viper and I were grateful that there were only a handful of people that knew I was the sperm donor for nearly 10,000 kids. It was too ridiculous to even contemplate, actually. It shouldn't have been physically possible to have so many kids within a single year of time and all of their birthdays were within four months of each other.

Viper's little girl was the apple of her eye and she adored the little brown haired cutie that came out of the womb with a full head of hair. Sarah had inherited her mother's large eyes as well, giving her an adorable puppy pout without her even trying. Needless to say, she was going to become a spoiled little princess and an accomplished grease monkey, just like her mother.

Vance was was almost 17 and graduated high school before he shocked everyone by openly committing a bank robbery. He wasn't even wearing a mask, so he outed himself as a super in full view of the public and was quickly arrested.

Doctor Sunbright barely started to speak to him when he said his plan had worked. He would finally be reunited with Bobbie and there was nothing they could do about it. His training and studying of the Super Registration Act had given him all the clues and the motivation he needed.

Unfortunately, Vance was right. Not even Rikki Dicker could step in and change the ironclad procedures they used for villainous supers and Vance happily joined Bobbie's Infiltration Team with open arms and an open heart.

The last I heard, Bobbie had been both overjoyed and heartbroken that Vance had thrown his life away for her and proved that he loved her more than anything else. They were kept apart as much as possible, including separate living quarters, and they were watched constantly to ensure that nothing happened between them.

I couldn't really concentrate on that, though. I had a beautiful little girl and a new wife to take care of, so that's what I did.

*

The world grew and changed over the next few years as communications evolved, computers became smaller and faster, and the constant threat of powered people cropping up was kept in line by an all encroaching government. It had been solid planning on Rikki's part and she ensured that when she retired, there would be someone there to take over for her in her very important job of properly handling supers.

Hank Porter, previously known as Hank Parr, had taken his wife's last name to ensure their daughter wasn't associated with the known villains. He had tried to stay in contact with his daughter Danica and she humored him for years and led him on. When she graduated high school, instead of moving in with him like she promised, she committed a federal crime and joined her brother and their mother in The Conscription Corps.

It had been a severe blow to the man's heart that he had lost her like that and it took him a long time to recover. After another long debate with his current wife, he decided to never attempt to talk to any of them ever again, just like Vance had shouted at him years ago to do.

When Hank's and Viper's daughter reached five years old, she showed off her power of telekinesis. It was only limited to small objects, probably because she was still only a child and should grow with both time and use. It was reported to the head of the department, aka Hank himself, and he suppressed the information. He still logged it as he should, except she was named test subject Alpha and that was that.

The ten volunteers had their own children turn five years old not long after that and all ten children developed powers. They were almost random and Hank noted them all down, including where they lived and who their mothers were.

The two women that knew he had been the source of the donations had asked him if he had those powers and he denied it. He played it off as the genetics passing off the super gene and they wouldn't know what power the child would get until the gene activated and their power manifested. They would never know that he lied.

Hank had investigated after his daughter's power manifested and performed diagnostic spells on her, then he had a bout of inspiration. When he checked his Adventurer Card, he found the magic spells for movement, Wingardium Leviosa and Locomotor, had a star beside them. He touched a star and it said a copy had been made and shared.

After the ten experimental kids manifested their powers, Hank checked the card again and found a mix of ten spells and skills had little stars beside them, one of which was his Elastic Body skill. He knew then that all of his children were getting derivatives of his abilities and that was both good and bad. It would still almost be random what they would get, since he had a very long list of skills and spells available and they could be issued in any combination.

The problem was when the second stage of the experiment came to fruition over the next four months. There was going to be a huge surge of super-powered children and he referred to Rikki's plans in that regard. They had already built several schools on a plot of government land changed into a campus, so he started the recruitment process for teachers and babysitters.

They needed educators for nearly 10,000 children and staff to take care of security and everything else. It was going to be a lot of work to implement, even though Rikki had set all of the building blocks up for him to put into place. His first call was to Rikki Dicker to come out of retirement to be the administrator of the campus.

After Rikki stopped cursing at him, he told her that didn't know of anyone better for the job and she would have a staff to do all of the actual work for her. She sighed and grumbled about ungrateful brats and Hank knew he had her. With her onboard, everything else fell into place almost by themselves.

The Sky High School Initiative was a go.

*

World Paused.
Congratulations! You have reached the tentative end of the story and have put into place the start of another. Good job! You have surpassed all expectations and have also ensured the continued creation and existence of Supers in that world for the next few centuries.
Gender-bend Worlds unlocked for free: +11 (Click here for list)
As an added bonus for successfully raising the technology level of an entire planet, we have granted you all future Karma Points from this world in a lump sum for you to use immediately.

I stared at the popup and didn't know how that was possible, then remembered both Fate and Death were good friends. Ah, I get it. I could go back and live out the rest of my natural life and nothing I did would impact anything, besides raising my daughter and spending time with my wife.

Do you want to purchase the memories from a cloned doppleganger of you that was left behind?

Excuse me, what? I asked, shocked.

It's the newest feature we had installed. This last world created so many possibilities and branching timelines that the best way to ensure nothing would change if you chose to depart, a clone of you with all your memories (without the system) was inserted into the timeline and lived out the rest of your life for you.
That was how we determined the final Karma total. Isn't that great?

You mean, I... I can't go back? I asked, feeling sad.

You can go back if you want and live out your life like normal and then you can come right back here to this moment, since we are outside of time here. That's the benefit of different but similar timelines. Everything can be predicted if the variables are set beforehand.

I thought about that. So, me entering it and changing Bobbie's rescue to include the kids instead of letting them have their own adventure, caused an endless amount of divergent branches?

All of your kids have that ability, too. The children you have now were enough to cause a multitude of different timelines with all the choices they will make during their lifetimes. With another 25,365 sperm just sitting there in storage and waiting for the next experiment or a hopeful woman that wants a guaranteed child, your current Karma Point total is more than anyone else that has ever existed.
Karma Points: 1,023,675

I was shocked when the total appeared and I immediately brought out my Adventurer Card without thinking about it. I bought the last 5 levels I needed for my Touch of Divinity skill for a whopping 992,000 points and unlocked my base level to go up to Level 100. I also felt all of my perks kick in full force and I let out a sigh of relief as Mind Block gave me full control of my mind once more.

Karma Points: 31,675

I then spent the XP to level myself up, and up, and up to finish it out at Level 100. I glowed for five solid minutes and felt a presence at my side cuddling in to share in the glow.

Congratulations! You have completed an item: Adventurer Card (Rank 1).
Bonuses granted: Divine Body (restored), Metamorphmagus (Limited-Restored), Adventurer Card (Rank 2), Inventory (All blocks removed).

I felt a metaphysical weight in my head as everything I ever stored in every world reappeared in my head. I had completely forgotten about a lot of things I had put away in haste and now it was all back. Hundreds of cauldrons of bubbling potions, dozens of sports cars and various other vehicles, warehouses full of potion ingredients, and entire libraries of books that were both magical and modern.

I had completely forgotten about the dozens of trunks I had full of crafting supplies and how to make them, expanded backpacks, magical tools, armour pieces, enchanting equipment, and a whole lot of other things that had been blocked off and I couldn't access, making everything since I had been hurt, so much harder than it had to be.

Oh, and with my Mind Block back in place, I remembered how to use wandless magic. I let out a groan at how useful that would have been in the last world. Could I have done things differently if I had it? Thinking back at what happened, I could honestly say that I wouldn't. My life had become great after the mess with Bobbie and I wouldn't change it for anything.

That was when I realized something. I had already experienced the best six years of that life and both Viper and I were happy parents with nothing left to fear from anyone, now that I was a part of the government keeping everyone safe.

I bought the memories of my clone from a parallel timeline and my life flowed through my head and settled into the back of my mind. Susan had grown up to share most of her mother's traits and my powers, making her another elastic powerhouse like her dad. She also had a long career as my right hand woman at the academy and took over when I retired with Viper.

Her daughter with another super named Dirk Powers had produced a dark haired little cute that would eventually grow up to have her own superhero career and then she would become the principal of the High School division and she looked after the next several generations of capes.

I floated there and let those future memories comfort me. So, should I let the current world go and let a clone take over, or should I keep it paused and I can return at any time to live out that life?

A pair of soft lips were felt on my cheek and then on my lips, then a feeling of endless time touched me.

I chuckled. You're right, I don't have to make that choice right now. I can always come back later and choose.

A reassuring feeling touched me and I nodded.

Okay, show me that list of free worlds. I thought and the popup appeared.

Currently unlocked free worlds (x12):
Taylor, Worm (previously unlocked)
Xeno: Warrior Prince (Xena: Warrior Princess)
Alan Ripley, Aliens (Ellen Ripley)
Kevin Janeway, ST:Voyager (Katheryn Janeway)
Samuel Carter, SG1 (Samantha Carter)
Wonder Man, Daine Prince (Wonder Woman Diana Prince
Carter Everdeen, Hunger Games (Katniss Everdeen)
Prince Bael Organa, Star Wars (Leia Organa)
John Grey, Marvel Boy - Phoenix (Jean Grey Marvel Girl - Phoenix)
Shawn Connor, Terminator 2 (Sarah Connor)
Lawrence Croft (Lara Croft, Tomb Raider)
Alan, Resident Evil (Alice)

Whoa, that's quite the spread out list of gender-bend worlds. I thought and read them over again. I could choose one of them or one of the multitude of other worlds I had available. It was going to be a difficult decision and one that I had plenty of time to think over and consider.