Hanna like most people on the spectrum was not a fan of someone approaching and touching her from behind.

  "Oh fuck!"

  Her reaction was to pull her head forward and attempt to slam her head into the intruder of her space. She felt a strange shift of air, not like the air had moved but rather that the air had somehow moved faster? It was a strange feeling. Hanna whiped her head around towards the boy with the sandy blond hair and her glared her most ferocious glare.

  It wasn't very effective. In fact she saw that softening expression she hated so much practically glowing on the man's face. Like a neon sign saying "I think your adorable." She didn't even know who this guy was but she immediately decided she didn't like him.

  "Uh sorry about that dudete. I was just trying to say hello, shouldn't have gotten behind you like that." He said sheepishly.

  "A mtn dew" she replied. Her forgiveness came only in bribes.

  "Uh. You want one? Uh I can go get you one from the vending machine if ya want one." He said with that voice that was one part Texan, one part city, and one part surfer. It was a voice that just did not work. It wasn't grating so much as it was weird.

  The man came back with two cans of mtn dew and Hanna nabbed hers out of his hand like a cat might swipe a favorite toy out of its owners hand. She then started to gulp it down and in a matter of seconds drank it down like the hard-core gamer that she was.

  "My names Hanna." She told the sandy haired boy.

  "Joshua. Hey if you don't mind me asking. How long have you had powers?".

  "2 days."

  "Are you from a warzone?"

  "No."

  "Are you poor?"

  "No. My dad's friends give me a stipend every month for food and stuff that is definitely not games and in fact very ummm important to my living.... functions."

  "...."

  Hanna looked at Joshua puzzled. Why was he asking her so many random questions. Joshua looked left and right before whispering just loud enough for Hanna to hear.

  "Are you like in danger?" He asked and Hanna just shook her head starting to get a little annoyed at all of Joshua's questioning.

  "Then how are you at 60 points? I've been an empowered for 2 years and I only have 50!" He cried out in exasperation.

  "I have doubled points" Hanna replied before her mind coukd catch up to what she just said.

  "Doubled... points." He said as he put on a weird almost grin. Hanna replied with a polite smile.

  Joshua went through the five stages of grief all with that strange grin. Denial followed by anger which quickly faded to bargaining after he noticed her fidgeting and came to certain conclusions. He begged the system for the same treatment only for silence. Depression. Then finally acceptance that yes the world was unfair and he just had to live in.

  Behind Hanna polite smile was the same repeating mantra.

  "Ifuckeduphehatesifuckeduphehatesmeifuckeduphehatesmewhyisntherespondingdidiruinitallwilleveryonehatemenoohgodifuckedup!!!" A string of anxiety induced thoughts repeating over and over.

  Both were completely unaware of the others suffering as the silence dragged on. And on. Aaaaand on. Until eventually Joshua realized that Hanna was not going to be the one to start talking first.

  "So uh I'm soppossed to show to your room dude. Uh just follow me I guess."

  "Ifuckedupifuckedup..." her thoughts immediately came to halt when he finally spoke up. Hanna was relived and her mind started to relax a bit. She silently followed him through the grand hallways towards an open doorway which lead outside into green well cared for grounds. Hanna could not even see a single weed or out of place blade of grass and appreciated how neat it looked. It reminded her of an interesting fact.

  "Interesting fact: did you know the system doesn't create biological matter? If it has to It creates psuedo biology, but it's all made of unknown materials." She said this all in a manic rush of information.

  "Uh that's cool I guess." Joshua replied taken aback by the random comment. He was starting to wonder if he'd made some kind of mistake agreeing to escort the girl. He'd almost been head butted and been forced to go through the 5 stages of grief. Still, it was better then having to attend another lecture of medicine and treatment.

  "Also also! Did you know that artificers can't create biological tech. Even those capable of making clones have to do so through bionics. No one knows why, but a really interesting theory is that the system might have been designed by an entirely bionic race. Although it's incredibly unlikely. It's still fun to think about right?" She asked and spoke with the same enthusiasm a child might have if they discussed magic tricks to a parent.

  You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

  "Uhhhhhh.... space sharks!!" Joshua replied.

  "Space... sharks?" Hanna asked her voice taking an edge of confusion and clearly miffed at being interrupted.

  "Yep! Is clearly space sharks. They just like made the system one day so they could sorta watch and use us to make more powers."

  "No! That's so dumb!!!" She replied with actual genuine outrage.

  "There's no backing for that! In fact the system clearly hates actual biology so it can't be sharks because sharks are living things!!!"

  "Nah man. It's space sharks." Joshua replied with a smug look that made Hanna angrier!!!

  "No! Your uuuuuggg!!!" She screamed a kicked a nearby chair in anger and immediately regretted it. Nearby her now intelligent hands did a sort of buzzing motion showing they they were agitated but calmed down after about a minute as Hanna cursed her now her hurting foot.

  She heard a stifled chuckled and swiftly turned around to glare angrily at the offending person. Hanna debated the benefits of murder but upon seeing the open field she decided murder could wait, Halloween was just a month away.... it did spark some inspiration.

  "Uh why do you look like your plotting my demise?"

  "No reason!!" She quickly replied. Plot murders when alone she noted to herself as Joshua escorted her to what was the dorms.

  The dorms were situated near the school and were largely squat buildings, they weren't quite brutalist but they came close and stood in stark contrast with the lavish and impressive school. Hanna got mental whiplash as she looked at unimpressive concrete building then looked at the lavish school with its tasteful brick and wood exterior.

  "The dorms suck"

  Joshua just shrugged and nodded in agreement.

  "Yeah. Apparently it was a spite thing. One of the people in charge of building the dorms wanted them to be inside the school. Argument broke out. Well... you can see the result."

  Hanna for her part nodded while she idly tapped the casts on her arms. They were made from nanno mesh like most medical equipment and so she could still move her arm around and perform basic tasks. The better part of nanno was that they drastically sped up the healing process. Her arms would be most fine by tomorrow if a bit sore.

  "So come on in. In supposed to give you like a tour, so there's a breakroom were you can totally just sit back and watch a movie or something. There's also a gym but most people just use the one in the school. There's a DnD club on Saturdays if your into that sorta thing."

  He rattled all of this off and Hanna just sorta stopped paying attention and entered her own heads pace. Perfectly zoned out she barely even noticed as they made it to her dorm.

  "Finnally here's you dorm. Huh.... we're are your mates? They should be here to greet you." He looked around and checked the number then looked at the empty room with 4 doors. A kitchen. And a small living area with a TV stand.

  "Maybe their running late?" He asked obviously not expecting an answer. He got one anyways.

  "Who?"

  "Uh well normally your doom mates are supposed to greet you and there's pizza and all that stuff. Uh who's your mates I can try and call them see what's taking them."

  "Mates? I don't have any."

  "No?"

  "Yes."

  "Your serious?"

  "Yes."

  "So this whole dorm room is yours?" He asked with that sorta half grin that she was starting to get really annoyed with.

  Seriously what was that damn expression soppossed to mean? Smiles meant happy. Snarls meant angry. And frowns meant sad. Except there was like 15,000 other expression and it was a coin flip if Hanna could figure it out. Half grin? Was he halfway happy? Was he halfway angry? What did it mean!!!!

  "Of course you do. Well.... Uh give me one sec" he pulled out his smart phone and started making a few calls while Hanna explored her new room.

  She dubbed the room closest to the door to he the study room so she could escape from it when she didn't want to study anymore. She dubbed the room closest to the fridge the game room so she wouldn't be far from the snacks. Finnally she dubbed the last 2 rooms as emergency gaming rooms.

  Satisfied she sat on the floor as she opened up her screen. Her hands congregating around her as if to ward her of any potential dangers.

  That explained why they seemed to stick to her as if guarding her. She'd also noticed more then a few of the now 10 hands she'd made during the hospital had simply wandered off getting engrossed in gross and other tactile sense.

  "Okay got some people coming!!! Don't worry your not going without a welcome party on my watch. Uncle Joshua's got you covered!!!"

  PARTY!!!??? all of Hannas instincts told her to flee. To run her very life and not stop running! Parties were social interactions. Social interactions were bad.

  "Uh... you don't have to do that!"

  "Nah man it's good. Don't worry!" He said clearly not getting the hint.

  Dammit!!! Subtlety had failed and now the only option left was retreat. She made a break for the door as her hands buzzed around her with irrational.

  Only to bump into a group of people that had just walked up the stairs to get to her dorm. They carried pizzas, soda, and even some clearly not allowed drinks. It was too late the party had come and she was doomed.

  She dejectedly walked back and prepared for death. That damned Joshua looked at her with a wide obvious grin as people came in and set pizzas on the island that sat near the kitchen.

  The group was made up of a large man with grave gray toned skin who carried two coolers and was followed by 3 girls who were chatting to eachother as they walked in.

  How long had she been out of it!? There was no way he got 4 people already here with pizzas and drinks. Then more people started to walk in. First it was 2. Then 3 more. Then another 4 all mostly girls until the place was almost to crowded to move around in.

  "Hello hello!!! It's super ultimate nice to meet you! My names Taylor!!! My super hero name is Super Ultra!!! Joshy said you like mtn dew? I brought a super mega ammount."

  Mtn dews? The green hoard upon which even forgiveness lay? She felt the rays of hope. That just maybe this impromtu unplanned social event might not be so bad.

  This was confirmed when she saw that the island was lush with a bounty of pizza, mtn dew, candy, chips, and other foods.

  She was munching on the food before anyone else could even touch it.