Just Another Man 1: I am ... (Patreon)

Disclaimer: I do not own Worm, which is Wildbow’s work.

Tags: Worm, self-insert, lewds, worm cyoa, plot and porn

CYOA Template: Worm CYOA v.6.1.2 (interactive CYOA)

-VB-

Summary: 

A mongrel without family or friends comes home from his day job, and sits down in front of his computer to enjoy some light reading. He discovers, however, that one of his favorite fandoms just got a new “Choose Your Own Adventure” template. 

Seeing as he had nothing to do, he went and filled it out…

-VB-

Just Another Man
Chapter 1: I am ...

-VB-

I am the definition of a mongrel, though the term usually didn’t apply to people. But people were people and they used terms incorrectly however they saw fit because they felt that it was right. 

People insulted each other all of the time, even though such an act rarely earned them allies from those who they insulted. Why? Because it felt good to put others down.

I have had such treatments. I wasn’t white, asian, black, hispanic, or anything. I was a mix of everything.

Maybe that’s why I didn’t have friends in this stuck-up, clique-fest, inconsiderate, and rude city. Oh, I’m not black enough? I’m not Asian enough? I’m not white enough?

You’re not letting me into your political party because I said a few things in the past?

‘Well, fuck all of you. I make more money than most of you anyways.’

… I really wished I could leave this city, but my job was keeping me tied here.

My only entertainment and stress relief at home was the internet. I had hobbies outside of the internet, yes, and hobby associates, but the internet was the easiest and most accessible entertainment.

So when I turned on the computer and opened the browser and their start-up tabs… I saw something interesting. 

In one of my feeds, I saw an alert for a new Worm CYOA.

It was one of my most guilty pleasure readings. Worm wasn’t exactly a classic novel, but it had a fandom that just made great fanfictions. 

And CYOA was one of the ways some of these fanfictions weren’t written.

I wrote too, so I naturally clicked the link and went to fill it out. As usual, I didn’t pull my punches. I made choices that I would actually make as if each CYOA was real and each choice was something I would actually have to deal with.

I wanted to be strong and powerful. What was the point of being given power if I refused it? 

-VB-

“What?” I blurted out from the wet asphalt ground. 

The moment I completed the CYOA and went to save the choices, I found myself elsewhere. 

My heart pounded in my ears as denial began to settle in.

I shook my head once, and then a hysterical laughter broke out from my lips unbidden and unwanted. 

But there was another thought that niggled at the back of my mind.

‘Didn’t I want to leave my city?’

That thought grew louder, slowly, but it gained ground little by little. It crescendoed, blasting aside other thoughts until that thought dominated my mind for full five seconds. 

As I sat there on the wet asphalt ground, my mind began to unravel and then reassemble. 

My thoughts drifted from “I’m lost” to “I gained everything.” I let out a shuddering breath before standing up, flinching a little when I stepped on a sharp rock and noticing that I didn’t have shoes (I never wore shoes within the house).

Oh. My skin was gray. Like a literal concrete gray. 

Even as I slowly moved without aim, I began to wonder if … this wasn’t an opportunity. 

I paused, stopping both body and mind.

I searched internally, looking for that unnatural aspect of myself that I supposedly had.

And I found it. 

The feeling was like a second mind resting quietly on top of me, figuratively. It was a weight that existed but did not burden me. I … poked it.

It awoke, and soon, I was seeing power.

I laughed.

I laughed hysterically. It wasn’t long before I was hyperventilating and shuddering as the full weight of my new existence settled in.

It took awhile to calm down.

“Okay,” I muttered out loud. “Okay.” I shuffled over to a chair next to a dumpster (I was in an alley, I just realized) and sat down. I took a deep breath again - and it really did help me calm down, this deep breathing - and I began to feel embarrassed for my dramatic reaction. 

“I hope no one saw me,” I groaned as I dropped my face into my awaiting hands with elbows on top of the knees.

“... Sorry?”

My head snapped up, and came face to face with a young African American girl. Barely moving into adolescence, she … dressed rather poorly. 

What was with the random highlights and ghetto outfit? What kind of an irresponsible parent allowed their kid to dress in fishnet stockings and string tank top?

Wait, was I in Brockton Bay’s ghetto or something?

“Hey, I’m too young to be considered like that.”

I sputtered. “What-?”

“Oh, you got a dirty mind, mister. You just admitted it.”

“I didn’t even say anything!”

“Nuh uh, you did. Your eyes were saying shit.”

“What-? I was thinking about how weird you dressed!”

“Oi! Don’t diss my shit! I’m not one of you … wait, what are you anyway? You don’t look like a Nazi-”

Oh yeah, there were Nazis in this city.

“- a dragon cock sucker -”

… Yes, there was a man who transformed into a giant dragon powerful enough to sink Kyushu fighting Leviathan.

“- or a druggie, even if you just had that episode-”

And drug dealers that forced drugs on their “customers.”

“-so what are you?”

“... Would you believe me if I said I am an interdimensional traveler?”

She gave me a stink eye. “You saying you’re a cape?” she asked before reaching out and pinching my nose. 

“Ow!” I yelped at the suddenness and the rather strong grip of the girl.

She pulled back. “Oh shit, my bad. I thought you were wearing a mask. Can’t see much right now and all.”

“Well, I’m not wearing a mask, and that sounds like a recipe for disaster, pinching a cape’s mask,” I grumbled as I nursed my now red nose. “What are you doing out now? At … night.”

It was pretty dark. 

Okay, I knew that I was in Brockton Bay, which meant New England, and I was here in April, which meant that the sun didn't set until it was at least over seven p.m., right?

She frowned. “Well, shit’s going on in the house. I’m not going back there until it’s done and over.”

“Huh,” I muttered. “... Going to introduce yourself?”

She blinked before cackling sheepishly. “Sorry! Didn’t even realize that. Name’s Aisha Laborn.”

I nodded once and then froze.

I looked up.

Highlights, check.

Trashy clothes, check.

Black, check.

“Umm… As in Brian’s little sister?”

She blinked. “Yeah, you know my brother?”

“Well, no.”

She blinked and then narrowed her eyes. She took a step back. “... Are you a gay stalker? I ain’t dissing gays but stalkers?”

“No! I just … know him.”

“Not making this look any better, son.”

“I’m at least twice your age, little girl,” I snapped.

She stared at me for a bit before shrugging, losing the apparent hostility. “Whatev’s,” she waved me away before turning and walking away. “Just stay away from drugs!”

“I’m not a druggie!” I objected.

“Certainly looked like one! And don’t do anything stupid like joining a gang!” she shouted before she turned a corner at the mouth of the alley. 

I groaned as I dunked my face back to my awaiting hands.

-VB-

When I finally got the strength to move, I didn’t move. 

No, I just sat in a lonely alley and tested all of my powers.

The conclusion was thus: one, the combo powers were a combination of the powers that led to their existence and thus removed the prerequisite powers; two, I didn’t have a way to test Fae Court until I fought a parahuman; three, I was capable of creating a copy of myself using Hive Mind, and I knew this because a copy of me stood in front of me; and fourth, my greatest power was none other than Heroic Spirit.

The more pressing issues, however, were the Geas: the unconscious one and the conscious one. 

The Conscious Geas was one that was blaring inside my mind fairly loudly: “Be a King.” It was an ambiguous Geas, so I could go a lot of ways about it, but I felt myself feel weaker and weaker with each passing second when I took no action towards it. 

The thought of marking my territory made me unnaturally excited and happier while thinking about lazing about or serving under someone made my body itch and cringe.

So I stood up, plans running wild in my mind. 

And I moved both of my bodies.

“Install.”

The weight in my mind buzzed and coalesced over me, finally eager to show itself off. 

“Doormaker.”

My second body spoke up.

“Install.” A pause before both of my bodies smiled wickedly. “Contessa.”

-VB-

Kenta stared at the woman who just walked into his home. 

He took in that fedora, that suit, that gait, the sheer indifference.

His eyes widened to painful degrees while his body shook and burst with power as the threat walked into his home.

“Why are you here?” he asked even as his mouth turned into a snout and scales grew over his body at a pace not experienced since he fought Leviathan. “Why are you here?!”

The woman looked at him.

A golden portal opened up behind her, and a single western longsword slid out. Just as it left the confines of the portal, she grabbed its hilt and stepped forward, letting the sword rest in rest.

And pointing towards him.

“No,” he growled. “NO!” 

She moved.

He struck.

She ducked underneath his flaming punch, stepped leisurely to avoid his fire breath, and then swung her sword.

He choked as his neck split at the front and blood gushed out. He lunged forward, expecting his regeneration to kick in.

He stumbled.

He fell.

Why wasn’t he healing?

He watched as the flames on him died down and his body began to turn back into his human form.

Darkness crept in. The last moments of his life were spent watching the woman pull out his mask from a secret drawer underneath his couch and leave.

Kenta died.

-VB-

Bakuda died in a whirlwind of explosions.

-VB-

Oni Lee disappeared.

-VB-

One by one, the middling managers of the Azn Bad Boyz were called into the headquarters, and each one found themselves shocked seeing the three hung bodies of their capes and the man who stood in front of the bodies. He wasn’t anything like what they were used to. 

He did not bare his upper body to show off the tattoos and muscles like Lung did, carry a vest and weapons, or adorn himself with dangerous bombs; he wore a pristine black sharkskin business suit with equally black and shining dress shoes. His mask was a simple one, a white marble-like full opera mask with no holes for eyes, nose, or mouth, complete with a crown of golden laurel. 

It was a distinctly western look to a gang composed of Asian minorities. It was a distinctly formal appearance in a shabby room filled with vagabonds and gangsters.

No one dared to approach him or speak out of turn, not with the bodies of their former capes hanging behind his back.

When all of them had gathered and looked up at the cape apprehensively, he spoke. 

“I killed Lung.”

He looked over them once almost leisurely. 

“I killed Bakuda.”

He gestured to the three bloody bodies behind him.

“I killed Oni Lee.”

He paused as he drew his hand back into a clasp behind his straight back.

“Does anyone object to my takeover of the Azn Bad Boyz?”

Silence.

“I asked,” he spoke up, only a little louder than his previous statement. “Does anyone object?”

“NO, SIR!” all thirteen managers shouted at the top of their lungs. Fear of death - and worse - permeated their very beings.

He turned wordlessly, and doors behind the corpses opened, which most hadn’t noticed until then. With a wave of his hand, the corpses were drawn into a golden portal, showing the managers what laid beyond. 

It was a grand feast upon a long table.

“Come!” King ordered. “Let us celebrate the birth of a new kingdom! Know that I am the King and that you are all now my subjects!” 

-VB-

A/N: here is a story where the MC meets Aisha first. Are there other stories that have the MC meet Aisha first? I am also aware that “King” is a cape name for one of the founding members - if not the Founder - of the Slaughterhouse Nine. 

-VB-

[spoiler=”Full Build”]

Who?, Scenario, Character, Shard, Point Conversion, Perks and Drawbacks, Powers, Me (Denial), Open All, Tier 4 Powers, Tier 3 Powers, Power Copy, Combo Powers, Tier 2 Powers, Tier 1 Powers, April 7, 2011, Insert, Male, Average, Brockton Bay, Shard of the Warrior Entity, Queen, Blood Thirsty, +25 SP -50 CP, +10 SP -20 CP, +2 SP -4 CP, +2 SP -4 CP, Negentropy, Case 53, Conscious Geas, Unconscious Geas, Wanted, Slaughterhouse 8, Endbringer Target, Tinfoil Hat, Fallen Worship, Trump, Stranger, (Shaker/Master/Thinker/Blaster) Bag of Holding, (Master) Hive Mind, (Tinker/Trump) Enchantment, (Trump) Fae Court, (Trump) Fighting makes me stronger!, Gate of Babylon, The Legion of the Fae, (Trump/Changer) Heroic Spirit

[/spoiler]

[spoiler=”Details”]

Conscious Geas: Be a King
Unconscious Geas: ???

Fae Court:
Escalation Engine (Lung)

Single Use Area of Effect Device (Bakuda)

Clonal Distance Rebirth (Oni Lee)

[/spoiler]