Fixer Upper Part 3

When I was stealing from a prehistoric library, I brushed up on a guy calling himself Charles Darwin. Honestly, the book was a little boring but what did check my eye was his quote of survival of the fittest. Because that is something that has defined this superhuman society, in this era, genetics was now the newest currency on the market.

Hell, entire back longed dating apps have gotten founded on the purpose of who can create the next big Omna. My birth was, unfortunately, no different. For my baby, daddy was the part-time hero/ business tycoon known as The Gambler.

Despite being one of the weakest heroes in Krimo's history, his wealth was unparalleled because the Gambler had the power to give himself any superpower for one hour each day randomly.

From transmutation, duplication, and everything in between, Gambler commanded each one with absolute precision. Through that power, the man decided to capitalize on his business fully, selling his "genetic material" to the highest bidder—all for the chance that a lucky lady could give birth to the next great Omna.

Of course, given my current situation, you can tell I didn't cut. The only real love my parents shared was their love of gambling and risk. But luck was never on my mother's side, instead leaving her on a one-way downward spiral towards the lower levels. Upon my conception, she hoped that I would gain an ability that would reclaim her former glory.

However, that would later turn into some kind of sick joke once my ability got revealed. I still remember the happiness on her face when I pulled out a small diamond from god knows where when I was only a couple of days old. From there, I was named Jewelia Docks, the gem of a child that will bring us back to the upper levels. From that day forward, my mother would force me to use my powers.

At first, it came in the form of games; if the item were rich, then she would keep it, and if not, it was all mine. Except as I told you before, I would almost always end in rags. Over time dozens of objects came, from a link-filled shirt to headphones so torn away the wire was fully naked.

I enjoyed it all, thinking I was on some weird hot streak as I took every item, fusing and reworking it all together to make it work for me. The happiest days of my childhood got spent searching up every factoid and instruction I could find on the random junk I pulled out. However, as I got more excited, my mother got more desperate. Soon enough, the pleas grew from misdirected games to pitiful begging.

"C'mon Jewelia, mommy needs to make ends meet, and it's been years; if you give me a little something, I promise I'll pay you back.

To ultimatums.

"You better stop holding out on me or no dinner for you. Do you hear me, missy?

To full-on madness.

"I brought you into this world, and I will happily take you out of it, missy. How dare you betray your mother? Stop taking what should be mine!?"

As punishment for my "betrayal," she would start pulling out the belt, hitting me so that it snapped in half, and locked me in the basement with all the other "trash" I had summoned. In the depths of that hellhole, I felt so afraid I stayed alert for days on end, along with my very thoughts so long that paranoia started to seep in. That paranoia quickly turned into truth, as I realized what I had to do to succeed against those stronger than me.

"She's going to kill me; it's her or me. She's going to take my life, so I'll just have to take her's right?"

So with my arsenal right in front of me and survival as my only option. I set up my plan. An old match and some perfume were all needed to set the basement on fire. Eventually, when mom came down with a fire extinguisher, desperate to save her "asset," I struck her in the neck with my homemade shiv! The battle was over before it could even start; it was almost frightening how easy it all was.

So easy that when I saw my abusive, hateful mother die in a pool of her blood, I just saw fear and bewilderment in her eyes. From there, the mood entirely changed because even in my stress and anxiety, I knew this in my heart. I knew on some level I was just as bad as her.

After all, if potential riches were always within your grasp, wouldn't you go mad as well in the search to find them amongst thousands of rags? Either way, a hunger formed in me that day; greed and ruthlessness fuel me to this day.

For years I survived in the crosshairs of the lower levels, jumping from place to place to further build my inventory. One particular day thou amongst one of the numerous nameless dumpsters I regularly dived in, I found an invaluable asset, a day-old donut. A day-old donut that a then bloody Eternus saw.

The battle we had that day was probably the most intense we've ever had. Leaving us both bloodied and bruised up but ever even. But just when I thought that I was about to lose, Eternus decided to give the Donut to me. And after I scarfed down my spoil of victory, I just had one question.

"Why?"

"Because you're frankly the only one I've seen who's even half as hungry as me. And I think that if we combine, we can eat like kings. You can use me all you like to because I promise to accept you at your worst and your best."

It wasn't exactly my first experience with offers like these, but something about his composure and the fact that he had the same hunger as me. I somehow just couldn't refuse. Over time as our numbers grew and we adopted the mutated version of some nuclear family, I still kept true to myself. I didn't want to survive; I wanted to thrive by any means necessary.

And if I had to take the position of this team's resident devil to do it, then so be it. After I let Gum carry me off, I decided to retreat into my private room, leaving our flawless team leader with one chilling remark.

"There's no heroes or villains in this world, Eternus, only people. And right now, those people only come in the weak and strong. And unless you can think up some cost-free way of getting us to the latter, I suggest you man the fuck up and own what you did and figure out our next move, fearless leader," I said as the other Cons sought to Eternus' aid.