“Remember the rules,” Charlie whispers in Sara’s ear before he kisses her lips one last time and POOSHF! Gently puffs out a white vapor cloud that settles over her face, as a little extra insurance.

Charlie puts his clothes back on, adjusts his tie and opens the copy room door.

“Twenty bucks,” Charlie smirks at his friend Matt, who is outside the copy room, guarding the door.

“No way, man,” Matt responds in disbelief, “No fucking way.”

“Take a peek,” Charlie dares.

Matt cracks the door and spies Sara in all her nude glory, still entranced on top of the copy machine, gasping for air and soaked with sweat.

“Dude……,” Matt’s voice trails off and he hands Charlie a twenty dollar bill. Matt can’t believe it, when he went to lunch with Sara two days ago, she said she didn’t like big dudes. That is why Matt felt he had a pretty good shot of besting Charlie this time, but no Charlie always gets the girls.

“Watch the door until she comes out,” Charlie commands, he figures she will be there for at least another 30 minutes. “I’ll be at my desk.”

Charlie marches back to his cube and WZZZZZ! Checks out a few more employees on his way. He spots a new hot blonde, she was being shown to her cube and carried her employee benefits binder. Charlie notices a hot tattoo of a rose on her firm ass. Charlie had done all of the hot chicks in the office at least once, even the married ones. He’d done some of the dudes too. Variety was the spice of life. Charlie checks out Rodger, whose toned and tanned body he can’t wait to take a shot at later this week.

Sara had been employed at the Green & Rodgers accounting firm for a week, Charlie had to make it look natural for Matt, like he was building a relationship with Sara, so he always waited at least a week before amazing his human pal once again. Of course, he did have stunning black eyes, a large, smooth muscular build, and a bright, broad smile that charmed everyone. Still, his big secret was his pheromone breath, it did the trick every time, like his very own love potion number 9. One concentrated puff of the good stuff and people became his helpless sex puppets, regardless of their orientation. No one could resist Charlie. The coolest side effect though was that there was no drama. Yes, he had fucked all these people, but did they say anything about it ever? No. Why? Because he told them not to and they were in his thrall. He commanded each conquest not to inform anyone of their sex session and not to bother him at all. If he decided a previous conquest was worthy for another go around, he would make the approach.

Charlie sits down at his desk and notices another pile of files have been dropped off for him to audit. His immediate supervisor, 30 year old Steve Gerrick, has again dumped his work on Charlie, leaving Steve with time to take long lunches and kiss up to their department head.

Charlie WZZZZ! Takes a peak around the office, making sure the coast is clear and then WOOOSH! Using his super speed, Charlie gets to work and finishes two days worth of work in 16 minutes. He is pissed about doing Steve’s work. Not that it takes a while to do, it’s just the principle of the matter.

Charlie is ready for a coffee break, it’s not even 10 AM and he’s already fucked a girl and finished all his work for the next two days. He passes by Steve’s large supervisor cube and sees Steve with his coffee mug in one hand and the phone in the other yapping about his hot date last night to his buddy. VREEEE! Charlie’s pupils emit two hazy, transparent beams of heat that heat Steve’s coffee just below the boiling point. Charlie keeps on walking and Steve is none the wiser.

“OUCH! FUCK!” Charlie smiles as he hears Steve cuss and yelp as his suddenly very hot coffee catches him by surprise, causing him to burn his mouth and spill his mug all over his desk.

“Matt, I need to get in there,” Charlie’s ears pick up a distressed voice. “I need to fax this right away. What is she doing in there?”

Matt is having some trouble keeping his 43 year-old boss, Sam out of the copy room. SWOOOOSH! Charlie responds in a nanosecond, racing by at super speed, so fast he is invisible to the human eye. FLIMM! Charlie snatches the folder of documents out of Sam’s hand so quickly, he doesn’t even feel the folder slip out of his fingers. Charlie SWOOOOSH! Drops the folder back on Sam’s desk, which is down the hall and races back to the copy room, appearing before the two men, who WOOOSH! Turn and face Charlie when he comes to a halt near them, accompanied by a sudden gust of air.

“Hey, Matt, what is the deal?,” Charlie asks.

“I need to fax these--,” Sam interrupts, stops speaking and looks down at his empty hands. “Hold on a minute, I’ll be right back.”

Sam marches back to his desk, puzzled because he swears he had the file with him.

Charlie follows behind him, Sam steps into his cube and reaches for the folder. THWOP! The heel of Charlie’s palm slams into the base of Sam’s skull with just enough force to knock Sam out cold. “UHH—“ Sam slumps forward and UMPH! Charlie gently catches all 225 pounds of Sam before he lands on his desk. Charlie seats Sam in his desk chair and rotates Sam’s chair so Sam is facing his computer. To the causal passerby, it will look like Sam’s working at his computer. Satisfied with the set up, Charlie steps out of Sam’s office.

Charlie WZZZZ! Sees that Sara is up and getting her clothes on in the copy room and heads out of the office, he trusts Matt to handle the clean up. He takes the elevator down to the cafeteria for a soda.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Meanwhile, back in the office, Sara exits the copy room. She’s in a daze still. Her legs are kind of wobbly. Matt can tell she needs some help, he knows she needs to get washed up. He helps her out of the office and the two of them succeed in not drawing much attention to themselves. Instead of the bathrooms on this floor, Matt takes Sara up a few floors to a level with several vacant offices. On this particular floor, is a large executive office with a private washroom, complete with shower. Here she will have more privacy, Matt explains as he ushers Sara into the large washroom. Matt offers to wait, but Sara says no thanks. Matt starts back to the office, while Sara starts the shower to warm the water. As she strips off her clothing, she doesn’t smell the colorless and odorless gas that is seeping into the room. Within seconds, she collapses gently over the sink. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

After he finishes his soda, Charlie heads out of the cafeteria. Charlie passes by the main elevator bank though and steps into the service elevator. There he waits, not pressing any buttons to go to another floor. Charlie removes his neck tie, folds it up, and tucks it in the pocket of his pants.

Soon, the elevator begins to move upwards, stopping ten floors up.

The doors open and a lanky young man, barely out of his teens, steps in pushing a mail cart.

As he hits the button for a floor 15 levels up, the mail boy addresses Charlie, “Hey, you know this elevator is for mail room and building staff only.”

“Oh, really,” Charlie responds in mock surprise as he tenses his pecs which press up against his button down dress shirt, straining against the fabric. The mail boy steps back a bit when he sees Charlie’s chest suddenly inflate like a parade balloon, causing the outline of Charlie’s nipples to protrude from his shirt. PLINGG! A button breaks free and SPICKK! Nails the kid in the forehead.

“OUCH!!” The young mail boy cries out, Charlie smiles. Most power dudes would have trouble pulling this off without using their pheromone breath, but not the extremely handsome, confident Charlie.

“Sorry about that,” Charlie offers as he reaches over to the elevator’s control panel and pulls the STOP knob out. The elevator comes to an immediate halt between floors and, a few moments later, the mail boy notices, stops rubbing the red welt in the center of his forehead, and looks up at Charlie, with a wary expression on his face.

Charlie is just finishing the process of unbuttoning the last of the top five buttons of his dress shirt. Charlie smiles at the mail boy as he grasps each side of his shirt with his hands and pulls them in opposite directions, opening his shirt wide. The mail boy audibly gasps at the sight of Charlie’s well developed, muscular chest being liberated from the confines of his dress shirt and spilling out into view. Charlie rolls his pecs and the mail boy just gapes in awe.

“Hey man,” Charlie almost pleads, breaking the spell that his pecs have cast over the mail boy, “I need you to take that $33 out of your wallet and put it on the mail cart. Then put your wallet back in your pocket. Just do what I say and everything will be cool, ok?”

“Money,” the mail kid thinks, as a wave of relief washes over him, “That’s all this crazy, homo freak wants, fine. This guy is some nut job. He can take my cash ands security will be on his ass so fast--hey, how does he know I have $33?”

The puzzled mail kid does as he is told, while Charlie watches him, flashing the mail boy a broad, disarming smile while WHUM! WHUM! Rolling and bouncing his thick, smooth pectorals, priming them a bit.

Charlie asks the nervous mail boy for another favor, “Can you let go of the cart for a minute and step back like three feet?”

The mail boy shuffles his feet a bit in the requested direction. He’s not sure what’s this muscle head is planning, but there is an emergency phone with a direct line to the security desk behind a panel in the direction this muscle freak wants him to step and he is going to use it.

“Thanks man,” Charlie grins. “Just a few more steps please, just back away from the mail cart and turn around and face the wall there.” Charlie loves his natural charm, even before he got his powers, folks were predisposed to doing what the very handsome young man asked.

Charlie doesn’t like watching their faces, he has a thing about it, ever since David. The mail boy turns his back to Charlie as he walks over and stands right up against the phone panel, blocking Charlie’s view of the phone.

“That’s perfect,” Charlie remarks appreciatively. “Now just stand there for just a moment and this unpleasantness will all be over in a bit.”

“Yeah, muscle freak,” The mail boy thinks, as he positions himself to block the phone panel from Charlie’s view and slowly reaches to open it, “This ‘unpleasantness’ is going to end in about five seconds for me, at least.”

The mail boy carefully begins to fiddle with the door of the phone panel, trying not to move too much or too quickly as he does so. He doesn’t want to alert this asshole thief. Of course, Charlie is completely aware of exactly what the mail boy is up to, super senses don’t miss much. Hell, Charlie could make himself aware of what’s going down in China without moving a muscle, if he wanted.

Charlie looks down at his swollen pectorals and stops rolling them, they are so primed with power that he can’t look past his chest to see his feet. All of the eating and training he has been doing over the past few months has really boosted his power level, so much so, that tasks that used to require more effort and focus, are now accomplished on a whim. As a result, Charlie’s pecs are more than ready for the simple task at hand. Charlie occasionally forgets how powerful he is becoming.

Charlie hears the phone panel swing open. The mail boy grasps the receiver as Charlie heaves his two meat slabs in unison VRSHOOOMM! “AEEIIII—“ The mail boy cries out as a bolt of green energy shoots from each of Charlie’s swollen pecs, VIZZZACK! Slamming into the mail boy’s back. The force of the impact THWUM! Knocks the mail boy face first into the wall. The mail boy’s flesh glows green as Charlie’s power rips into him, his muscles spasm as his body shivers involuntarily. The mail boy experiences a numbing sensation, like his whole body is falling asleep, except it’s 100 times more painful. The mail boy feels an emptiness inside his chest that burns, expanding until FHOOOOMP! It consumes him entirely. With a flash of light, the mail boy explodes in a cloud of white vapor which FSSSSSH! Wafts through the elevator car.

Charlie steps into the cloud and WHOOO! Draws it into his mouth with the incredible suction power of his super lungs. Not a molecule of the gaseous meal escapes his lips.

Charlie snatches up the $33 and shoves it into his back pocket as he snaps the phone panel closed and FWOOO! Scatters the small pile of human ash on the floor below it with a brief puff of super breath.

Convinced that he has covered his tracks, the muscle titan then HOOO! Hovers up to the emergency exit hatch in the elevator’s ceiling and pops it open. He flies out of the elevator, closes the hatch behind him, and SHOOOOO! Flies up the elevator shaft and exits onto the office building’s roof via another emergency exit hatch.

Charlie takes in the view from the roof of the 78 story office tower.

“You just eat?,” a voice asks.

Charlie turns around to see Glen. He’s shirtless and sitting down with his back against an air conditioning unit. Glen works for a law firm in the building.

“Yup,” Charlie responds. “I had some mail boy. You?”

“I had a law school student,” Glen responds. “He was interviewing to be my law clerk, but I didn’t think he would work out.”

Although he doesn’t find the remark very humorous, Charlie chuckles politely, “As long as you stay away from my people, it’s cool.”

Charlie and Glen were not the only power dudes working in the corporate office park where 150,000 other people worked. There were a few others and they had all sort of met and decided to protect certain people from being consumed by their peers. Each power dude identified those people that he did not wish to be harmed in any way.

“AEEEEIIIII---“ Charlie’s super hearing picks up a muffled cry, somewhere in the building.

SWOOOSHH! He flies down the side of the building and stops at an office window at the 24th floor. Inside Marcus, who’s about to inhale a tasty vapor cloud, finds his meal interrupted by the giant shadow of Charlie being cast into his office. Marcus turns and gives Charlie the finger before WHOOO! Inhaling the vapor cloud.

Marcus is getting sick of Charlie playing the “big dog” role. Always checking up on the little dogs every time they ate. Marcus wishes he was big and powerful enough to take Charlie, but Charlie was truly the leader of the pack. Plus, Glen had told him about what happened to a power dude named Justin, who seemed bigger and stronger than Charlie. Glen said that Charlie’s battle with Justin out in the desert was a slaughter. Charlie didn’t just defeat and consume Justin, he beat him to a bloody pulp and then slowly devoured him, as an example for the others.

“What are you bothering me for, asshole?” Marcus whispers. “I didn’t kill anyone who’s protected, ok?”

Charlie gives Marcus a stern look and flies back up to the rooftop, leaving Marcus to stew.

Charlie lands on the edge of the roof, twenty feet in front of Glen.

“You don’t have to baby sit the guy,” Glen suggests, “He’s just trying to eat.”

“He’s been here only three months,” Charlie answers. “I have to make sure he can be trusted. I take this stuff seriously, I know you don’t.”

As if to prove Charlie’s point, FWOOOOSHHH! Charlie is blown off the roof as Glen hits him with an unexpected gust of his super breath and roars with laughter.

Charlie regains control of his momentum and SHOOO! Flies back to the roof top. Charlie is bigger than Glen and he knows he could take Glen any day. They are friendly acquaintances, but Glen’s need to mess with Charlie to somehow prove himself is grating on Charlie’s nerves. Charlie has exterminated power dudes for lesser offenses.

In fact, Charlie had some inkling of what was going on in the world, and he figured he would take out Glen when the world jumped off the cliff he sensed it was heading towards. Because soon it was going to be all about survival of the fittest.

Charlie, with his huge pecs hanging out, hovers over Glen SHRINGGG! Blue rings of energy cascade from Charlie’s pecs, streaming towards Glen in a tidal wave of power.

Glen leaps upward just as VRAXXXKK! The rings of blue energy reach him and wash over his body.

“ACKK, FUC—,“ Glen exclaims before his entire body comes to a sudden, involuntary halt.

“I think you need a time out, buddy,” Charlie half jokes, watching the last of his stasis power energy rings wash over a helpless Glen, immobilizing Glen for at least the rest of the day.

Charlie lands in front of Glen and smirks at the funny look that’s frozen on Glen’s face.

Charlie contemplates finishing Glen off right then and there, but that wouldn’t be a fair fight. Charlie removes Glen’s Rolex and keeps it for himself. That will teach Glen not to fuck around with him.

Charlie removes his shirt, and sits down to relax next to the immobilized Glen. WZZZZ! About a ½ mile away, Charlie spots a construction crew clearing trees, since they are putting up yet another building in the rapidly expanding corporate park Charlie’s office is located in. The 10 acre site of dense foliage will provide adequate cover, even in broad daylight. Charlie’s body has already processed the scrawny mail boy and an opportunity like this just can’t be passed up, Charlie decides. Besides, the construction workers all look pretty beefy.

SWOOOOSH! Charlie flies off the rooftop and through the trees, moving so fast, he is an imperceptible blur. FLIMMPP! He touches down in the dense woodland, near one of the beefy workers scattered throughout the site in yellow hard hats who are marking trees that will be cut down by spray painting their trucks with orange X’s.

Charlie, using the forest for cover and moving swiftly, sneaks up behind a tree that a crew member is marking. The worker suddenly notices the broad shoulders sticking out from either side of the large oak’s trunk, when KRACKKK! A fist blasts straight through the tree trunk in a burst of pulp. The worker jumps back in surprise, but the mysterious hand catches him by his tool belt and THRUMPP! His head smacks into the trunk as the hand pulls him forcibly into the tree. THUMPP! Charlie releases the unconscious worker, letting him fall to the ground. Charlie congratulates himself on his efficiency before he leaves the unconscious man.

WOOOSH! Charlie appears, OOOSH! Accompanied by a rush of air, in the center of a small clearing, near a worker who is in the middle of marking each tree in the clearing.

He smiles as he pumps his pecs, as the worker gives him a strange look.

“Hey, you shouldn’t be around here without a hard hat, man,” the worker states. “Are you even a part of this crew?” He asks after noticing Charlie’s business casual pants and shoes.

“Sure, I am here to help,” Charlie replies, using a calm tone, so the man doesn’t panic.

The worker watches as the handsome, powerfully built young man places his palms against opposite sides of a tree’s trunk and CERAKOOMM! Crushes the wood to pulp between his large, powerful hands. THOOOOMPP! The 50 foot tree, topples over.

The stunned crew member turns and makes a run for it. Charlie snickers as he watches the muscular 30ish construction worker flee like a child into the forest. Charlie VREEEETT! Unleashes two small, precise beams of his heat vision to VLIZIMP! Slice off a five foot long piece of the three foot wide tree trunk. UMPHHH! Charlie picks the over 500 pound chunk of wood and presses it up over his head, his massive guns swell with power, as they easily hold the impressive weight of the tree. Charlie WZZZZZ! Watches the worker, who is now about 75 feet away, as he performs some quick calculations before OOOOSHH! Pushing the tree chunk upward, the force his massive pipes generate sends the tree trunk thrusting into the sky over the clearing. KRACK! SNAAPP! The worker hears the tree branches breaking above him when THOOOOOMMM! The tree trunk crashes down on his right leg below the knee, KERACKK! Crushing the bones, trapping the built man like an animal.

“AEEEEEIIII—“ The worker howls in pain, his cries echo through the wooded area until WOOOSH! Charlie appears before him.

The muscle bound worker forces himself not to cry out, he doesn’t want to give this bastard the satisfaction. Charlie knows the man is in great pain, he really tries not to hurt humans any more than he has to before consuming them. Sure, he’ll scare and intimidate them, but he tries not to cause them too much suffering.

WHUMMPP! Charlie reaches down with one of his massively muscled arms, places his hand on the log, and WHUMMPP! Rolls it back a few feet off the man’s leg without any real effort at all.

The injured worker, horrified at the bloody sight of his severely injured leg, struggles with a renewed intensity not to cry out in pain as he manages to stand on the one well developed leg he has remaining. Charlie helps him in this effort by FAWOOF! Exhaling a quick burst of his bluish freeze breath, which quickly numbs the injured leg and ends the man’s physical suffering, while it encases the man in ice up to his knees.

HOOOSH! A rush of air, accompanies the worker’s swing of a hammer he plucks from his tool belt and PLINGG! Smashes into Charlie’s temple. Charlie tears the hammer out of the dude’s hand and HRENKKT! As his forearm flexes, he mashes the head of the hammer in his fist, as easily as a normal human would crush a grape.

Not giving up, the determined worker grabs his can of spray paint and just manages to get it free of his tool belt when KERACKKK! Charlie’s powerful hand snaps over his wrist, but PSSSSSH! The worker is able to get off a quick spray before CERISSH! A pissed off Charlie crushes the man’s wrist in his superhuman grip as the paint cloud settles on to Charlie’s pants.

“I like the fact that you’re a hard ass,” Charlie states, “but I need to get back to the office, so I can’t play with you all day.”

With that, Charlie brings his right arm up in front of his victim’s face and UMPHH! Flexes it, forming a mountainous bicep. Then, from the little hole that sweat flows from in the armpit of a human, Charlie PHSSSST! Sprays a white aerosol mist from his hairless armpit. The mist soaks the man’s head and gives off a very intense scent. The worker feels completely humiliated for a brief second, until the intense pheromones go to work, creating an intense feeling of euphoria that clouds his mind and, at such a high dose, causes irreversible brain damage.

Charlie URPHH! Lifts the drooling, brain damaged worker and slings him over his shoulder. Charlie rushes back to where the first worker he attacked is passed out and WHUMM! Drops the second worker next to him. The muscle titan then strips off his soiled pants and decides to leave on only his boxer briefs.

That’s when Charlie’s super hearing picks up a rustling in the brush and a human heart beat about ¼ mile away and 15 degrees to his left. Charlie turns and spots the tree marking dude cautiously making his way through the trees. It’s apparent the man must have heard Charlie’s latest victim crying out.

Charlie turns his head and takes aim, FWOOOOSH! His cheeks puff out like boat sails and, in his eagerness, Charlie creates a disaster as KERCKK! SNAPP! CERAACKK! Fourteen trees between Charlie and his prey are snapped from their roots by the too powerful and too broad gust of super breath and plummet to the ground. The worker OOOSH! Is blown through the air within a cloud of airborne twigs and bits of foliage, until THUMMMPP! He slams into the upper branches of a tree, the yellow hard hat he had strapped on saves his life.

HOOOOO! Charlie hovers up into the tree before the mesmerized worker, he reaches out with one of his large, powerful hands and SHRIIIPP! Rips off the worker’s hard hat. As the worker stares at Charlie in befuddlement, Charlie KERIISSH! Crushes the hard plastic hat into little bits of plastic that rain down on the ground 30 feet below.

Next, Charlie WUMPP! Grabs the man by his throat and, using his awesome muscle power, OOOOSH! Flings him through the forest and THRUMMPP! Into the soft earth near his fellow workers. The impact knocks the poor sap unconscious.

Meanwhile, on another part of the site, which is being completely cleared of trees, a bulldozer rumbles across the earth, striking the majestic forest down, leaving the dying trees for crews to cut into manageable pieces on another day.

Charlie WOOOSH! Appears in front of one as it moves toward a large tree. The driver doesn’t see Charlie over the bulldozer’s giant scoop, but WHUMMP! He surely feels the jolt when the bulldozer drives into Charlie’s outstretched hands and comes to an immediate halt. RENWREWNEN! The engine strains to move forward as the driver gives it more gas, Charlie’s superhuman physique is more than a match for any amount of horsepower the engine can generate as he holds the machine in place and RNNKK! Digs his fingers into the huge steel scoop. WRENKKTT! The metal screams and the entire bulldozer heaves and sputters as SHRRRIIPP! Charlie mammoth guns tear the scoop from the bulldozer, pulling the steel apart like it was paper. Then, with a quick flick of his wrists, OOOSSSHH! Charlie’s super strong muscles launch the scoop miles into the sky.

The surprised driver, getting his first look at what is causing his beloved machine so much trouble, panics and gives the diesel engine more fuel. The bulldozer, needing to make up the distance between itself and Charlie now that its scoop has been forcibly removed, charges forward. Charlie, not missing a beat, cocks his fist back, tensing his stacked upper arms up, before THWRAMMM! Powering his fist into the three ton machine. WREKKRASSH! The bulldozer’s front half collapses in upon itself, under the awesome force of the mighty blow, as it’s OOOSHHH! Knocked backward 40 feet and tumbles onto its side. Black smoke billows from the devastated machine as the driver, who sustains some scrapes and cuts, moans from within the enclosed “cockpit” of the bulldozer.

Charlie steps forward and RENKKT! Kneads his hands into the bulldozer’s steel hull. He UUFFF! Lifts the three tons of steel up over his head. His huge arms swell with super power as he RUMBLL! WRUMBBL! Shakes and bounces the huge machine with ease. The stress on the bulldozer’s steel frame is so great that it RENKKT! Begins to deform and bend. The driver, meanwhile, is thrown free.

Charlie, deciding he has had enough fun, swings the bulldozer down to his right KAATHOOOOM! Powering the back end of it into the soft earth. The machine is half buried and Charlie smiles, even though he is covered in dirt. It feels good to train and it’s even more fun in daylight when the trees protect him from being spotted.

Charlie HOOOO! Hovers in the air next to the bulldozer, raises both of his fists over his head and THWAMMMOOOMP! Unleashes his super strength upon the bulldozer one final time, blasting it 50 feet into the ground.

The driver runs as fast as he can for the trees. Charlie smirks as he wraps his arms around the trunk of a large oak tree, squeezes the tree trunk as if his huge arms were powerful anacondas, and pulls upward UUURPPHOOSH! Tearing the tree free of the soil. Charlie then grips the huge tree like a baseball bat and WUUUUSHHH! Swings it toward the driver. SMACCCCKK! The driver yelps as he OOOOSH! Rockets into the forest and THWAAAPP! Slams into a tree near his unconscious co-workers.

“NO!” comes a defiant cry from the forest and Charlie looks up to see another well built male crew member, who’s about 20 years old. Charlie, who has to get back to the office soon, flies at the punk, intending to take him out quickly. When VOOOOSHH! He finds himself swallowed in beams of intense heat.

“Oh shit,” Charlie thinks as the heat swallows him, “This construction punk is a power dude. Of course, judging by the intensity of these heat beams, he’s not a very powerful one.”

Charlie, “ARGHHH!” Acts like the beams really hurt him and then he THUMMMP! Crashes into the ground. VOOOOSHH! Setting the grass around him on fire.

The power punk stops his heat vision assault and WOOSH! Runs towards Charlie, who is face down on the ground. Charlie swiftly lifts his head, puckers his lips, and FAWOOOOOSHH! Unleashes a powerful gust of his freeze breath that swallows the punk and KRIKK! CKRACKL! Solidifies almost instantly trapping the power punk in a cube of very strong ice matter that despite his straining muscles, he can’t shatter and escape from.

Charlie is deadly serious as he approaches the imprisoned power punk. The kid has muscle, but not a lot.

“Here’s how it’s going to be, dude. I am stronger than you, see,” Charlie emphasizes this point by flexing his huge guns and bouncing his mammoth pecs. “I am sorry about your crew here, but I am going to consume them. You,” Charlie finishes, as he pulls his fist back, “Aren’t going to come back here, unless you want me to consume you too.”

With that, OOOSH! Charlie’s fist rockets forward and THWAMMM! Slams into the chunk of ice matter WOOOOSHHH! The power punk shoots into the sky on a rapid journey to the other side of the country. Charlie smirks as he watches the ice chunk disappear in among the clouds and then he SWOOOSH! Returns to the group of human males he has disabled.

Here Charlie is surprised to find that the three more men are standing among the others, these three Charlie determines where drawn to the area by the powerful scent of Charlie’s pheromone spray. He’ll have to remember not to use his pheromones so carelessly in the future. The men are in a happy daze and have no idea what is really going on. Charlie is happy to realize that he has the entire crew and is pretty sure that this meal should last him for a while.

Next, Charlie begins to RUMMMP! THUMMM! Roll and bounce his smooth, enormous pecs and VRAZZK! They quickly hum and glow with green energy.

Finally, Charlie closes his eyes and relaxes the huge beach balls of muscle and SHOOOOMMM! A broad beam of green energy slams into the group of strong men. FHOOMPH! Charlie hears the sound of each man bursting into ash and vapor and then he stops the beams from his smooth, thick pectorals.

Charlie steps into the resulting vapor cloud and WHOOO! Draws it into his mouth with the incredible suction power of his super lungs. Every single vapor molecule is devoured, as Charlie’s super lungs allow nothing to escape. Charlie rests for a few moments and decides he’ll clean up any evidence of this excursion later this afternoon, before SWOOOSH! Flying home for a change and a quick shower and then SWOOOSH! Racing back to the office.

On his way to his desk, Charlie stops by the administrative assistant’s desk and stuffs $33 into the donation box for the company’s charitable activities fund.

With all of his work done, he has time to pretend to work and think about the strange new world that only he and the power dudes he comes across seem to notice. Some don’t give a damn who is running the country or the planet, but Charlie is concerned. He knows something is up and he has recently taken to eating more humans and those power dudes he judges to be evil, in order to ready himself for the fight.

Charlie has been training too, training hard. Every night he flies out to another remote location and practices using his powers. Every day he fuels himself with at least two humans, sometimes more. He has to be ready, because the world is changing fast.

The whole idea that he has to eat humans disgusts him. He remembers the look of horror on the face of the first human he consumed, a friend of his who had discovered he had powers and broke his oath not to tell anyone else. Now Charlie made sure they were turned around, so he didn’t have to see that expression anymore.

“Hey Charlie,” A voice breaks Charlie’s train of thought, it’s Steve. “Sam went home with a headache. I’m going to cover some of his meetings and I need you to cover my 1:00 PM meeting in room 345B. Thanks.”

Charlie’s eyes glow yellow as Steve walks away, he restrains himself from vaporizing his hated boss.

Charlie heads to the bathroom for his daily trip, even though power dudes expel their waste products in a vaporous form that they exhale every once in a while, Charlie fakes it to fit in.

As he enters the bathroom, a happy shout greets him, “Charlie is here! Charlie makes bright lights!”

“Hey, Benny,” Charlie smiles at the special needs custodian who is one of Charlie’s “protected people” despite the fact that Benny caught Charlie using his powers a few months back.

After finishing his business, and leaving, Charlie’s mind floated back to that fateful day…..

Charlie had just been careless and he almost paid a price for it. The night before the incident Charlie had started his vigorous new “personal development” program, which involved flying all around the country practicing with his powers and the next morning he was completely exhausted. He lost track of time and had to rush to work, without having time to recharge, leaving him very weak and pale looking.

Fortunately, it was David’s last day at the office. David was transferring to another office in New York, since his six month assignment at this office was over. His office was all packed up and there was a going away party for David the week prior. Charlie had spent a considerable amount of time with David outside of the office. They worked out at the same gym and went mountain biking a few times.

David’s job was to travel from office to office for a few months at a time. He had no family or close friends, as far as Charlie knew and he had been over to David’s corporate apartment many times. At 34 years old, David was well compensated for his important position.

That morning Charlie was not looking good and it definitely showed, Charlie tried to recharge himself with solar energy, but that morning was cloudy. His pale skin and general lack of energy didn’t go unnoticed by many, including David who asked him what was wrong has he was passing by to return some unused moving boxes to the supply room.

Charlie accompanied David into the deserted supply room and as David slid his boxes onto the pile, he felt Charlie’s huge arms reach under his armpits, wrapping across his chest, and then UOOFFF! David felt the pressure on his chest as Charlie pulled him against his huge pecs and squeezed. David struggled and gasped for breath. He tried to cry out, but he was no match for Charlie’s power, even though Charlie was in a weakened state. After a brief struggle, David slumped over, due to lack of oxygen, in Charlie’s arms.

Mad with hunger, Charlie THUMMP! Dropped David onto the smooth tile floor before he SHRIIIPPP! Tore his shirt off, to expose his mammoth pecs. Charlie VHERRRRMM! Unleashed a continuous wave of green energy from his pecs, but, since his power level was so down, the beams took much longer than usual to create the desired effect.

After two minutes, David was glowing a faint energy color, but was otherwise intact. In fact, he awoke and emitted a low moan.

“Why---Wha---What are you, uh, doing to me?” David managed to whisper.

Charlie was horrified, his friend was awake and watching him with sad, pleading eyes. David didn’t understand what this faint green light was that was shooting from Charlie’s smooth chest. David didn’t understand how much Charlie needed him right now. David didn’t understand how weak and hungry Charlie was feeling. In anger, Charlie pumped his pecs in an effort to boost the intensity of his energy beams.

“UHHHH,” David grunted as the intensity of the beams increased a bit. Charlie starred down at his friend with tears running from his determined face.

“You just don’t understand, David,” Charlie offered. “I need you so bad.”

David didn’t respond, enough of Charlie’s energies had now entered his body to cause complete paralysis. A few seconds after that, David’s face contorted in pain and FHOOOMMP! He was gone in a flash of light, reduced to vapor and ashes.

As Charlie WOOOO! Inhaled the vapor cloud, Benny burst excitedly into the room after spotting the bright flash of light from under the door.

“Benny saw bright light! Did you make the light, Charlie made the light,” Benny exclaimed, taking no notice of the fact that Charlie was semi nude and sitting on the floor, exhausted.

Charlie felt his body absorbing the nourishing vapor as he held back tears. Now that his energy crisis was over, the true horror of what he had done, of David’s face staring uncomprehendingly back up at him was filling his mind.

Normally he would have exterminated Benny, but Benny was spared by Charlie’s feelings of guilt.

“You smoking Charlie?” Benny questioned in a disapproving tone as he pointed at the ashes resulting from David’s demise, “Smoking is bad and not allowed in building.”

“Yeah, I’m sorry Benny, I was bad,” Charlie managed to blurt out. “Can you promise not to tell anyone?”

“Yes,” Benny exclaimed. “I won’t tell, you go and I clean up. You Benny’s friend.”

Charlie quickly left the building, using some super speed, and WOOOSH! Flew high into the sky, over the clouds and drank in all the sunlight he could. He also consumed a few unlucky people who were outside.

Within an hour, Charlie was back to full power, but the visions of David’s death would haunt him forever. Meanwhile, Benny, the “special needs janitor” carefully gathered David’s ashes into a few vials for testing.

The whole incident depresses Charlie, he heads over to hit on the new girl with the rose tattoo. Maybe he’ll do some fucking to relive some stress before the meeting.

He’s three cubes away when he feels a tap on his shoulder, Ralph, the hottest and most built human in the office, who stands at 6’5” leans into Charlie’s face and sneers, “You stay away from the new girl, Dana, that ass is mine. You go near her and I’ll tell Sam I saw you pop him one before he collapsed, asshole.”

Ralph gives Charlie a sharp poke in the chest and walks away.

Charlie knows he must act quickly on this one. Ralph could tell anyone at anytime and he would be believed. Yes, Ralph was an asshole, but he was a great employee.

Charlie thinks and acts SWOOOSH! Charlie vanishes in a burst of super speed. Charlie races into Ralph’s office, FULMPP! Grabs him, and carries him away. SWOOOOSHH! In less than a second, THWUD! Ralph finds himself sprawled out on the floor of the men’s bathroom on the vacant 56th level of the building, 10 floors below where he was a moment ago. The only problem is, this floor is vacant for a reason.

Ralph pants and gasps for air and he waits for the dizziness to pass so he can regain his bearings. The whole room is spinning, but Ralph manages to crawl over to a toilet bowl before he pukes.

Charlie hates this, hates that his hand has been forced like this. Ralph is such an asshole, he deserves this, Charlie tries to convince himself as he stares down at the whimpering puking man, who has no idea what is going on.

Ralph stops puking and looks up and sees Charlie. He knows now. Ralph slams the stall door and locks it.

Charlie smirks at this, grasps the door with both hands by the top and RENKKKKKT! Uses the awesome grip strength of his mammoth forearms to tear it in half.

FWASSSSSHH! A brilliant flash of red light explodes from within the stall, catching Charlie completely off guard.

THOOMPP! Ralph’s fist connects with Charlie’s face and THOOOMP! Knocks him back 20 feet KERASSSH! Into the row of bathroom stalls behind him.

Charlie looks up to behold a Ralph surrounded by some kind of strange red energy field being generated by a metallic sphere with a pulsing red light in it’s center that has been bonded to Ralph’s solar plexus. It’s like he is wearing a suit of armor composed of red energy.

“HA! HA!,” Ralph sneers, “We have been preparing this for months and you fell right into our trap.”

Charlie VREEEETT! Fires his heat vision at the metal disc, but before his heat vision can penetrate Ralph’s energy shield, Ralph raises his hands toward Charlie and FRAACCKKTT! Two beams of red energy slam into Charlie’s muscular body. Charlie quivers and shakes under the assault which feels like thousands of volts of electricity shooting through his body. Charlie is forced backward and falls to his knees.

After 15 seconds the blasts stop and the energy field surrounding Ralph begins to fade away.

Charlie gasps and POOO! Tries to summon a blast of super breath, but instead a faint breeze fans Ralph, who fakes a laugh as he nervously fiddles with the sphere on his chest.

“Having some trouble with your powers, boy?” Ralph sneers.

Ralph’s red energy has messed with Charlie’s powers and energy matrix. Charlie is concerned about the affects of this red energy upon him. Fortunately, the sphere seems to have a long cycle time.

Charlie stands up and steps toward Ralph, who grows increasingly nervous.

“Damn it!” Ralph curses as he slams his fist into the device on his chest, the bright red glow of which is now significantly reduced.

Charlie snickers as he steps closer and closer, Ralph backs away.

“Please, no, don’t,” Ralph sputters. “I didn’t mean it.”

THUMPP! Charlie slams his open palm into Ralph’s chest OOOOSHH! Sending Ralph flying through the bathroom and KERAACCKK! Into the tile wall.

Ralph slides down the wall and lands on his ass. “Please, don’t hurt me!” He begs.

Charlie, now that he knows his super strength hasn’t been affected, VREEEET! Tries out his heat vision by burning a small hole in the wall next to Ralph’s head.

“Who are you working for? Where did that come from,” Charlie demands. Charlie feels ok, whatever that red energy was, it seems it’s effects don’t last very long, yet.

WZZZZZZ! Charlie uses his enhanced vision and scans the strange spherical device.

Suddenly, the device begins to brighten, Charlie isn’t having any of that, WOOOOSH! He races forward, grabs the sphere, and SHRRRIIPP! Yanks it from Ralph’s chest.

“AEIIIIIII---“ Ralph howls and Charlie quickly realizes that the sphere had “roots”. From its base flow a tangle of wires that reached deep into Ralph and throughout his body.

The horrific sight of Ralph covered in blood with a gaping hole in his chest and lacerations running all across his face and body, preoccupies Charlie, who doesn’t notice that the sphere is getting brighter.

Charlie WZZZZZ! Scans Ralph and gets a good idea about how the sphere and Ralph fit together before he VREEEET! Switches to heat vision and FSSSSSSHHH! Reduces Ralph, and the hardware embedded in him, to smoke and ashes.

Charlie then CRENKKT! Crushes the sphere in his grip which KASHOOOOOOOMPPP! Unleashes an awesome burst of red energy that fills the room. Charlie moans and collapses to the floor and the sphere burns bright for two minutes before it runs out of energy.

Charlie remains on the floor, knocked out, when CLIK! A panel in the wall opens. Six huge men in body armor and wearing helmets march into the bathroom. They strain as they lift Charlie off of the floor and carry him through the secret door............... •