Chapter 1: Zero

A little dark-skinned boy was sitting on his bed inside his room as the window crackled from the raindrops outside. It was a cold evening, the orphanage was short in funds, and they could barely afford a heating system. The dark-skinned boy was covering himself with his thin blanket, daydreaming as he didn't really have anything to do in this cold temperature.

Then, a knock came from his room's door.

"Come in…" the boy murmured weakly.

The door opened, revealing a nurse and a middle-aged man that was wearing rather formal clothing.

The man smiled as he saw the boy. "You must be Jeremiah."

The boy just nodded weakly, and stared at the man blankly.

"I'll leave you to it." The nurse smiled at the man, and closed the door, leaving the man and the boy to talk alone.

The man pointed at a chair near him. "Can I sit?"

The boy once again nodded weakly, confused on why the man was here.

"Hello Jeremiah. My name is Dr. Martin Brenner." said the man, leaning towards Jeremiah to make eye-contact. "Are you cold? Here, take my coat."

Brenner then took off his coat, and covered Jeremiah, making him warm.

"Who are you?" Jeremiah questioned curiously. "I never got a visitor…"

Brenner chuckled. "Well, as I said, my name is Dr. Martin Brenner. I'm a doctor."

"A doctor?" Jeremiah tilted his head. "So you're here to cure me?"

Brenner chuckled slowly as he found it amusing. "Cure? Are you sick, Jeremiah?"

"My friends hated me." Jeremiah murmured. "I can… move things… with my mind…"

"Oh really?" Brenner asked, acting surprised. "Can you show me?" Brenner then took something from his pocket, it was a small pencil. He put it on the desk beside him, and pointed at it. "Here, move this."

Jeremiah shook his head. "I can't move that."

Brenner raised his brow. "What do you mean?"

"I can move that though." Jeremiah continued, pointing at the iron bars on the window. He raised his hand slightly, the iron bars then bent, opening a slight hole so his body could move through the bars.

Brenner was definitely surprised. "You can bend iron, but you can't move a pencil?"

"I can… but I have to focus a bit." Jeremiah innocently answered. "My nose will bleed if I try that…"

"Interesting…" Brenner hummed. Brenner then took his pencil and put it in his pocket again. He stood up and walked towards Jeremiah, ruffling his short black hair.

"Jeremiah. Are you interested in coming with me?" Brenner asked politely.

Jeremiah was confused. "Coming with you? What for?"

Brenner chuckled. "Well… You said that your friends hated you here. What if I tell you that there are similar kids like you, surely they want to be friends with you."

"Like me?" Jeremiah questioned innocently. "They can move things too?"

Brenner smiled. "Yes, they can. You are not so different from them."

Jeremiah then played with his hands, a bit nervous at the question. "Is it cold there?"

"I assure you, it's not that cold." Brenner answered.

Jeremiah then looked at Brenner. "Okay… I'll come with you."

Brenner was smiling widely now. "Excellent. I will finish the paperworks, then I will take you to your new home, to meet your friends there."

Jeremiah nodded innocently, and Brenner walked to the door. When he opened it, he turned to Jeremiah once more, and said.

"Jeremiah?"

Jeremiah just looked at him, expecting a continuation.

Brenner smirked at him. "You can call me Papa, from now on."

Jeremiah once again nodded, and Brenner closed the door, leaving Jeremiah alone again for a while.

—

A confused Jeremiah was now sitting inside a bland lab. He was wearing a strange headset with wires connecting all over the place. Brenner, along with an assistant that was wearing all white was watching him closely, making him nervous.

The man in white was fixing his headset as he smiled at him. "It's alright, don't be nervous."

Jeremiah nodded weakly, and Brenner then spoke. "Okay Jeremiah, I want you to crush this can." Brenner then put a coca cola can in front of him, and turned to Jeremiah. "Can you do that?"

Jeremiah nodded meekly, but didn't say anything.

"When I ask you something, you have to answer it verbally, Jeremiah…" said Brenner.

"Y-Yes Dr– I mean, Papa…" Jeremiah answered, anxious.

Brenner nodded. "Good. Go on."

Jeremiah then looked at the coca cola can, and it was easily crushed by Jeremiah.

Meanwhile, Brenner was watching the monitor near him rather excitedly. He was scribbling on his notes, as if he had made a discovery.

"Amazing…" Brenner murmured. "Simply amazing…"

"I-Is that alright?" Jeremiah stammered.

"You have done well, Jeremiah." Brenner smiled as he walked up to him. He took something from his pocket, and gave it to the boy. "Here, have a candy."

Jeremiah smiled, happy to get a reward.

"We will give you some more tests after you rest, for now, you can rest."

Jeremiah once again nodded, and Brenner left Jeremiah alone with the assistant, before he was taken to a room for rest.

—

The test was a success, Brenner deemed Jeremiah as a 'natural' on using his abilities, but he noticed that the wave that was captured by the device shown that it was significantly different from the rest of his 'friends', he doesn't need to much focus to use his ability, but unlike his other friends, he cannot do anything that is remotely mental, he could only do 'physical' things.

Brenner found that Jeremiah's power works differently, he can control electromagnetic fields around him, so that is why Jeremiah said that it is harder to move the pencil rather than bend the iron bars, because metal is an essential part of his power.

In his report on Jeremiah, Brenner stated that the possibility of Jeremiah's power is endless, in theory, he could raise an entire town to the ground in an instant by just a thought, in theory, he could stop a nuclear missile from ever touching US soil easily, in theory, he could create an earthquake so large that it could disturb an entire country.

But Brenner said that he was getting ahead of himself, as it would be hard to train the boy to that state of control.

Brenner planned on teaching the boy extensively, unlike his other friends, but he would need to survey the boy's state first.

—

[One Year Later]

Things are not going too well for Brenner, as he found some fatal 'weakness' in the boy. He is not good under pressure, he would often break down crying when Brenner tried to push him to the edge of his limits instead of facing them, he also seemed distant towards his other 'friends', Brenner could see a tinge of hatred from everyone's eyes when they saw him. He's only ever close to one of his 'friends', subject number eleven, a sense of camaraderie is building between them, but it needs more observation.

The boy is not improving on his ability at all, Brenner felt like it was a dead end, he was so excited at the prospect of the boy's ability, yet his expectation was thrown out in an instant.

Brenner became more and more stern towards the boy, Brenner avoided giving him a subject number because the boy didn't like it, and wanted to be called Jeremiah, but Brenner's patience broke when Jeremiah didn't improve at all. After that, he strapped Jeremiah on the bench, and forcefully tattooed him. Subject Number Zero, it was a weird name to give him, because the others were named after number one, not before number one. Brenner thought that it was because of his inherent power that was different from others. The other could move things using their minds, could transfer memories to others, and many other things, but this boy? He can control electromagnetic fields, and the nature of his power is simply too different from the others, hence the name.

Besides, Brenner had a lot of pent up resentment towards the boy, as he disappointed him again and again, naming him 'Zero', nothing, null, void.

—

Zero was now sitting in the rainbow room along with the others. He had just come back from his usual sessions with Brenner, making him more and more traumatized. Brenner tortured him, giving him electro shock, trying to boost his boundaries of power to the limit, but it just made Zero in pain.

His hands were still shaking as he sat in the corner of the room, tapping his feet rapidly from anxiety. This place is nothing like what it was promised. The room was still cold, the daily lessons were torture, he made no friends at all, and he didn't to be in this place anymore.

"Aww… disappointed Papa again?" a teenager suddenly approached him, making him flinch. Zero looked up, and saw that it was Two, staring at him smugly.

"What do you want?" Zero said bitterly.

"A waste of space." Two spat. "If only you're not here… Papa would give us more attention. What's the point of teaching you anyway now? Papa spent hours on doing it, and you can't even light a bulb."

"I'm different from you…" answered Zero timidly.

"Sure…" Two laughed in malice as he walked away. But then, the doors suddenly slammed open by a strong force of wind that made all of them scared. The lights were flickering rapidly, and someone entered the room.

It was that assistant that always watched the other test subjects. His nose was now bleeding, just like the others when they used their powers. One of the test subjects saw what transpired outside and screamed.

Zero also had a peek from the corner, he saw blood running through the corridors, dead bodies everywhere, including test subjects, they died gruesome deaths. Their limbs twisted, eyeballs missing, jaws cracked, it was simply horrifying to see.

One of the test subjects inside the rainbow room started to float, their eyes rolled back, and their limbs started to twist as the other subjects screamed in helplessness.

One by one, the test subjects started to float and die, Zero became more and more scared. He walked back to the corner of the room. He saw them die one by one, the cracking sounds, the sound of gushing blood, it was becoming more and more unbearable.

Eventually, the assistant turned to him. His menacing stares send chills down Zero's spine.

"N-No…" Zero stuttered as he crawled back towards the corner.

"You…" the assistant murmured. "Papa's favorite child…"

The assistant kept approaching Zero, one step at a time. "Too bad… if you weren't so pathetic… you would have achieved many things… you would dominate all of this trash…"

The assistant then raised his hand, and Zero started to float to the air. He couldn't move his body, he was trying to breathe but couldn't, he was trying to see in front of him but couldn't.

The assistant chuckled lowly. "Too bad indeed…"