Cannibal: The Boys SI (Patreon)

Chapter 1

ANNIE JANUARY

Annie January was blessed. She was blessed by the Lord himself, for she was a special girl.

In a world of over eight billion people, there were only a handful of such people, people who were all chosen for a greater purpose, and Annie January was one such person, for she was not just Annie January, daughter of Donna January.

No, she was also the young and rising star named ‘Starlight.’  A being blessed with the power of light itself.

Through this power, she would be able to fulfill her greatest dream of helping people, become a superhero, and eventually become a part of the Seven, the Earth’s Mightiest Heroes.

Yet all that would come later because before she could do that, she had to get through her school first, and that was not easy, especially when half her time was spent being hauled from one Superhero pageant to another by her mother.

Annie did not hate doing them, yet she wished to have some agency of her own, especially since she had not been feeling well for the past few weeks.

“You need to tell her,” the boy beside her added worriedly.

Of course, Annie had always tried to keep her powers as a secret, yet her friend was not really ordinary as well. He may not have been blessed like her, but he was smart, very smart, even at Math.

That had to be a superpower. Had to be!

Haise Sasaki, or Haise as she called him, was a half-Japanese half-American boy who had won a scholarship to her school because of his grades. He was an orphan and stayed alone, having argued for emancipation, using his intellect as a basis.

And it was that intellect that had brought them together. She had tried to keep her powers and her persona of ‘Starlight’ a secret but with her constant disappearances, it had not taken him long to figure out her prowess and the secret identity she used during those peasants' meetings.

And they had been together ever since, she had always found it difficult making friends, but being friends with Haise was very easy, even though they held very different world views. Perhaps it was what made them so compatible.

“But I cannot. Mother has been working so hard for me. I cannot disappoint her,” she said weakly as she plucked the petals from the flower. They sat there on the roof of her school, skipping class.

Well, technically, they were not skipping class. They had gotten lost on their way to the nurse’s office, and she did have a bad sense of direction, so it was not entirely out of the realm of possibilities.

“So what? You told me yourself that you are in pain. If she truly cares about you, then she would pull you out of the pageant,” he said dismissively, saying she should have gotten angry at him for that.

But Haise only ever got angry with her and with the Superheroes.

“You do not understand. These competitions are very...”

“That is Bullshit, and we both know it,” he said, and she gave him a glare, and in her rage, she opened her mouth without thinking.

“What would you know! You do not even have powers!” she retorted regretting the words as soon as they left her mouth.

Haise’s smooth black hair fluttered in the air as he looked at her with a hurt expression, and her fists balled up as she saw his expression.

“I am sorry. I shouldn’t hav...” she began and saw him stand up as he shook his head.

“Well, I am sorry for being concerned about you, Annie,” and with that, he walked away back through the corridor.

He would avoid her for the whole day, and she realised that she had hurt his feelings a lot. Haise would never be jealous of her. The truth was he never wanted anything to do with superheroes. For some reason, he didn’t like them and that was an understatement.

He called them monsters, said they were duplicitous, and suggested that she temper her expectations and maintain a more cynical view of the world.

Preposterous, they were superheroes, blessed like herself, and saved millions of people. How could they be the bad guys? They were literally heroes.

And it was one of her reasons for doing what she did, of wanting to become a hero so that she may prove him wrong. So that she may show him that the world was not as doom and gloom as he made it out to be and that there was light and hope.

Yet that day would come later, for until the bell rang, she would not get to see him, and all the effort spent in searching for him aggravated the pain in her back.

“Annie,” her mother greeted her at the gate of the school, and while she hugged her mother, she looked at the rush of students running out of the gate in one last hope of finding him there, so she could apologize to him.

Yet he was not there.

And so, with a final sigh, she sat in her mother’s car, her back hurting more and more with every passing second.

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“I am not going to the pageant,” she said the next morning as she looked at her mother, who turned towards her with a frown.

“Why? You have been preaching about this the whole week. I also got special permission from your teacher,” her mother said.

“I am not feeling well, and I have a special test at school,” she said, thinking of how she had upset Haise yesterday and needed to apologize to him.

“No, you don’t,” her mother cut in, catching her lie instantly, making her feel guilty for doing so.

“I asked your teacher, you have no test today,” her mother asked sharply.

“It’s a surpris....”

“Annie January!” her mother spoke forcefully as she looked down at her.

“You are lying to me. Don’t you remember your lessons from the church on how lying is a sin? And lying to your mother like this, so blatantly,” and she felt even more guilt at that.

“But I do not want to go. My back hurts, and I do not think these competitions are worth it.”

“Of course they are. They are your path to stardom, your path to the lord and his mission of helping the people as he did. And what do I say about the pain...”

“Pain is weakness leaving the body,” she recited and saw her mother smile, yet for some reason, it did not reassure her as it always did.

“I will be done with the packing in ten minutes. We will..”

“But I do not want to,” she spoke again.

“ANNIE! Do not be ungrateful!”

“But it’s one competition, and I do not feel like going. We have one next week as well; I will go there, I promise....”

“We are going, and that is non-negotiable. Now get ready young lady!”

And Haise’s words ran through her head as she saw her mother pressuring her, and rage and frustration bubbled up inside her.

“NO!” she snarled in rage. She felt the eyes in the room flicker, and she activated her powers.

“I am not going....” and with that, she ran out of the house, picking up her bag as she began to walk towards the school, hoping to find Haise today, so she may apologize to him.

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As she neared the school building, huffing in sweat, she saw him there, walking towards the building with his large cup of coffee in his hand.

“Haisee...” she called him out.

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Back in her home, Donna January was not having a fine day. Her daughter’s rebellion had put her a spot, put her whole future in jeopardy, put the investment both herself and Vought had made into her all those years ago into jeopardy.

And she was not blind to the cause behind it. That damned pest. Annie would never ever have the guts to talk back to her, let alone defy her, if it was not for that damned friend of hers who continued to fill her head with that filth.

He was a heathen, a nonbeliever, one of those new and modern atheists who believed science had all the answers, and now he was corrupting her daughter. He was a freak, what he was, with how pale he was.

She had let it all go because she had seen how happy Annie was after finally having a friend, but if she had to choose between her daughter's happiness and her future, she would not hesitate to choose her future. After all, she knew what was best for her daughter.

So she picked up the phone and dialed the number written on the card she had been given all those years ago.

“Hello, who is it?”

“My name is Donna January. I am the mother of one Annie January, also called ‘Starlight’, and I wish to report a little problem.”

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Back at Vought one, Madelyn Stillwell sat on her deck when she was approached by a new intern while she peered over another one of their Supes fuckups, a collateral that would cost their company a pretty penny.

“Miss Stillwell,” she was broken out of her trance. She looked up and found herself staring at the face of a new intern who seemed a bit hesitant.

“Yes, Ashley,” she asked with a smile as she closed the file.

“We just received a complaint from one of the prospects handlers,” she began, and it was not new.

“Which category?” she asked.

“A future A-lister, focused on the religious, conservative, and female demographic,” the intern replied, and she nodded.

“Do we have a handler in the area?” she asked.

“Yes, his name is Jason, codename ‘Gecko,’” and he was competent enough, if not a bit eccentric.

“Have the details sent to him.”

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