The world once thrived in harmony. People laughed, chatted on street corners, and children played beneath skies filled with birdsong. That peace ended the day Gabriel Tsitneics flipped a switch.
A renowned prodigy in every field of science, Gabriel had built a satellite—one not just advanced, but magical. Its purpose: to grant powers to anyone it targeted. But the satellite was a mess of rusted metal, tangled wires, and sparking circuits. What should have been a controlled activation became a planet-wide disaster.
It malfunctioned. Badly.
Sparks flew. The satellite trembled in orbit. Then a surge. In a flash, everyone on Earth—every man, woman, and child—was gifted powers based on the knowledge they held. Worse, the satellite's strange biological tech encoded the power into their very genes.
Gabriel, wide-eyed and pale, ran to his console. Static blared. Monitors flickered.
"EVERYONE, THIS ISN'T SUPPOSED TO HAPPEN!" he yelled through the broadcast. "IT APPEARS YOU'VE ALL GAINED POWERS IN CORRELATION TO YOUR KNOWLEDGE. BUT NO PROBLEM, I KNOW HOW TO FIX THIssss-#-*;#!###()#($$+#;#;"($(#)#—"
The signal cut out. Gabriel was never seen again.
---
*Minutes before the chaos...*
"It's all set! Finally—they'll recognize me as the greatest scientist in the world!" Gabriel cheered, standing among overheating monitors and a web of sparking cables. "Just one flip of the switch and... I'll be a legend."
*He was right—just not in the way he hoped.*
---
**Years Later**
The world adapted. People mastered their powers. Cities rebuilt. Knowledge was now as valuable as gold—and just as dangerous.
In a cluttered lab hidden in the city's industrial zone, a dim light buzzed above scattered books, spilled chemicals, and notes scribbled in six colors of ink. Amid the mess sat a skinny 17-year-old in a worn lab coat. His unruly hair bounced as he wiped sweat from his brow.
"Five days... Five days to figure this out," he muttered. "God, I'm an idiot."
He snapped his fingers. The lightbulb overhead flicked on with a quiet hum.
A grin broke across his face as he cleaned his foggy goggles on his sleeve.
"Electricity, ion flow, electron manipulation, blah blah... something about charge differentials—whatever," he mumbled while spinning lazily in his desk chair. "Point is, I finally did it."
The bulb above him trembled violently, casting shadows across the chemical-stained walls.
The boy stopped spinning.
"…Huh?"
Outside, a boom echoed across the city. Sirens wailed in the distance.
He stood up, flicking his goggles back onto his eyes with a practiced motion.
"Well," he smirked. "Looks like I'll be testing this in the field."
This was Manifold. Or as his friends called him—Goggles.
He ran as fast as he can to the field, using air to speed up his pace.
"HELP, HELP, THIS PERSON HAS GONE INSANE. PLEASE HELP US."
The soil shaking uncontrollably, the fields are covered in rocks and debris, it was a dangerous area to be right now. The person wrecked havoc in the town, and it was a mess all around. Manifold smirked, and adjusted his goggles and stood up straight. "How exciting! A seismologist on a loose? Guess I'll gain experience from this fight after all, I'm just a starter after all." a grin formed on his face, "time to get to work."
"Don't know how to handle seismic waves buddy? Don't worry, I'll try helping you finding the epicenter with my cool tricks!"
The person was stumbling around, eyes vacant, muscles tensed. He mumbled "Earthquake.... Earthquake...?" it was a big muscular, person who wielded rocks for weapons, with brown clothes, dusted and dirty. Rocks flying around him, spinning violently.
"This may turn out badly." As Manifold sprinted with his goggles on, and lands an energy punch on the seismologist. The seismologist flew over the ground and stumbled down, and shakes trying to get back up. "SEISMIC LONG SURFACE" as the earth waved around Manifold and clear blue water entered the move, trying to deflect it. "Heh I'm so glad Water beats Earth. Anyways! Hydrogenation Blast!" huge waves of water devastated the earth waves, and clashed with each other, roaring water waves and shaking earth waves. "although hydrogenation blast doesn't make sense... eh it's fine!" as Manifold amps up the damage and a crack from the earth waves, and it shattered down into multiple blocks and hits the seismologist. The seismologist went flying out all drenched in water and it knocked him out unconscious.
"I guess you've never been in a water adventure before huh?" He chuckled and sat down grinning as he adjusted his goggles again.
The Sci-Fighters arrived, an organization who keeps all the rogue people and locks them up. They also maintain peace in the world and stop disasters, they are also called by code names they rarely use their real names, but to rely on their code names. An organization located around the center west side of Quasar City.
"All right ma'am's, and sir's. You guys can take it from here." As he fixes his goggles, dusted his lab coat and stood up straight.
The Sci-Fighters took the seismologist in custody, their movements are swift and efficient. Manifold stood there staring at them, and jumped in joy waiting for the journey ahead of him. "I wonder what they do on their free time?" As he scratched his chin, thinking.
The Sci-Fighters saw Manifold, a skinny boy who had goggles, a worn out lab coat, and messy black hair. Their eyes squinting, and a deep cold stare pierced through Manifold. "Thank you for handling the seismologist there, great job!"
As the Sci-Fighters left the scene, and fixed the destruction caused by the seismologist with one of their teams powers with the power of construction knowledge.
Manifold walked back home, gazing at the lights from the buildings, slowly walking and awestruck by the city he lived at. The city was filled with flourishing buildings, luminescent light sources and full of green trees ahead of the road. As he went back home, he took off his goggles and his lab coat, as he went to sleep.