You might be on to something there😅.

(Didn't wanna use John Doe.)

Thanks! This piece gave me a lot more trouble than I originally though because I avoided any gendered word for the protagonist.... and basically everything spins around the protagonist's world, and I only figured this out while I was writing :D.

Oh man I'm a little confused. How does one species live in the mind of another? Great story.

The alien slowly opens the door and hears a strange sound begin to float through the air.

"...helped thousands they'll help you too.

One lump sum of cash

They will pay to you.

If you get long term payments but you nee-" *SLAM*

The alien, fearing for their sanity slams the door shut and immediately decides that the human mind is just too dangerous to learn the secrets of.

Man who’s only power is to change the colors of things

sorry I thought a lot but can only write this much for now

Shirley, that had been her name before she had joined the thousands of corpses near the border of the bombing site. The humans had resisted initially, but there was only so much that limited minds could achieve against transcendent beings who had long ago shed their physical forms. Absolute prediction was in place, once again, in human society - every word known, every breath monitored, every echo heard, every hope shattered.

V had been watching her quite intently. There was nothing new to learn, but it was a hobby he had taken up after learning about the human concept of a "miracle". Many human concepts had found their way into the colonizers' minds, carried by a wave of thoughts similar to what humans would have called "nostalgia" - the gender, absurd love, self-destructive actions, revolts.

He found it fascinating - how the colonizers, supposedly a superior life form, were learning so many new things from a Type-R civilization. Access to the human world was limited even for investigators.

10 years he thought. It had been 10 years since the new government had been established on Earth, yet the human brain, at its core, remained an ever-changing enigma. It was possible to predict their actions, but most of their actual motivations remained hidden. Only the tune was heard, but the tune was too simple. The lyrics and the emotion and the beats, all remained hidden. Many of the colonizers believed that it was futile to read something that seemed to change from the core every second. Those who possessed human emotions, even for trying them out, were terrified. Accelerated evolution had never been witnessed before.

One of his eyes saw the tentacles carry the girl into the expanded synapse fluid. She was dressed in some form of ornamental clothing, its glistening white no more, covered in blood.

But she was still alive.

His awareness ring expanded as it rotated to contain the signals flowing from her mind into his. When humans of these times were on the verge of death, the mind produced an incredibly loud "roar", that was dismissed by many as the noise created as a result of the mind trying to save itself by creating its own world of memory.

After all, stories were unique to humans.

It was as if he would greet the girl as she embarked on her journey. Since the colonizers' world had a faster speed of time than the human one, such investigations usually took one to five human weeks from their perspective, although it would only be an instant for the subject.

One of his eyes entered into the cave that always appeared, while all the others intently watched, collecting petabytes of data every second. He saw himself from high above, as a man wearing a similar garment, but charcoal black. The "roar" was active, and reality was more vivid than usual. The black on his body was the darkest black he had ever seen.

The cave moved over him, taking him deeper and deeper. His other eyes had realised that something was out of the usual, but the inner eye was cut off from this information for the sake of collecting new experiences.

The girl stood before him, her eyes a perfect, full white.

"Intruder" she said. "What is your purpose?"

The eye of translation didn't respond, along with most of the other ones. It was only him - a small, original piece of the existence he was now, alone in a strange place. "I can't understand" he tried to express, making the most appropriate hand gestures based on what he could recall.

The girl disappeared, and a voice spoke to him in his own language.

"What brings you here, child?"

superb

really something to bite my teeth into

Captain Cavity was on his knees, begging, not for his life, but for something far more... well, important isn't the right word, but it sure seemed that way. He was ignoring Admiral Art Deco, focused on his henchmen. Or rather, Baron Beak's henchmen.

"You can't do this to me. After all the jobs we've done? All the fights we've fought?"

"Sorry, boss," the obvious head mook said. "But we got families. Marco's boy needs braces. That stuff's ain't cheap, yeah?"

Marco gives a nod, "And it ain't like we never talked about it with you."

The Admiral gave a cough, trying to get their attention. They gave him a quick glance, enough to show they knew he was there, then Cavity turned back to his former employees.

"I told you, dental is expensive!"

"Yeah, we get it," the head mook responded. "But the Baron is willing to pay that expense."

"What if... what if I give you guys the rest of the banking holidays off? That's four more days a year!"

"I'm sorry to interrupt—"

"Can it, Art. We'll get you in a moment." Cavity didn't even to to face the hero as he said it.

"—but am I to understand you aren't pro iding dental for your henchmen? You, Captain Cavity, aren't–actually, now I say that, it makes some sense."

"Shush!"

"Hol'up, boss. Is that what this is about?" A third mook asked, looking up from some paperwork. Art was pretty sure he was named Dean.

"What?"

"Cap, I've seen the budget," Dean said, handing the papers off to Marco. "You could afford to give us dental. We even floated different plans by you. Are you holding out just because of your shtick?"

"... No. That'd be... crazy?"

"Then what's the reason?" Art asked on the henchmen's behalf.

"I told you to shush."

"No, boss, answer the question." Head mook said it with a smirk.

"Alright, fine," Cap said and stood up. "Yes. I can't give you dental because of my theme. I'd be mocked by the mad scientist community."

"Ok boys, let's go. There's nothing more for us here. Admiral, let him have it."

A look of fear suddenly came over Captain Cavity's face as Art stepped toward him and the henchmen stepped back.

"Whatever happened to tow weeks notice?" The villain asked.

Art Deco paused so they could answer.

"That's a courtesy we reserve for a boss who cares."

Art gave a half nod to them men, then got to work.

...why do I get the impression that Lor's surname is Ipsum?

Tim hurried down the brightly lit corridor toward the security door into the observation deck. Slapping his access card to the keypad, he stepped inside. Professor Fowler stood before the observation window, dressed in a crumpled white coat, and beside her hovered a pinch-faced man in a black suit.

Tim approached. "You wanted to see me, professor?"

"I did, Tim." She gestured at the stranger. "This is Director Wang, head of research. He came to personally oversee our experiments."

Director Wang looked him up and down and sniffed. "That's him, then?"

"Yes, sir," Professor Fowler said quietly. "Out of all my assistants, I believe him to be the most... suitable. Director, are you sure we must—"

"The board is pressuring me for results. I'm sorry, but there's no other way. I'll deal with any fallout."

Tim glanced between the two of them with a polite, somewhat confused smile.

Professor Fowler sighed. "Tim, it appears that the time has come for the next stage in our research. One of us is to go inside and observe Subject Zero's reactions."

Tim's eyes widened. "Go inside?" he said with excitement. "But you always told us it wasn't safe, professor."

She winced and directed her gaze to the observation window. Subject Zero was currently lurking deep in the jungle of reinforced concrete and steel pipes that made up the enclosure. The walls were dented and cracked from the creature repeatedly ramming them with no apparent damage to itself. "There is, of course, a certain risk..."

"The knowledge we will gain far outweighs the risks," the director interjected. "Son, you've been chosen to be the first person to make direct contact with an alien. It's quite an honor."

"Wow," Tim said, wide-eyed. "Is it really okay? I'm only a junior assistant."

"I'd say that's perfect," the director said with a strange glint in his eyes.

"Then... then I'll do it," Tim said, peering at the window with excitement. "Oh man, I can't wait. I always wanted to see it up close."

The professor sent the director a strange look, as if telling him, you see?

Director Wang produced a pen and a sheath of documents in small print. "Just a small formality first, Tim. Sign these papers, and we can proceed."

He shrugged and scrawled his signature at the bottom without reading.

The director cracked a smile. "Excellent. Go ahead and prepare to enter. We will observe from up here."

Tim nodded and set off toward the hermetic hatch into the enclosure with the other two in tow. The professor borrowed his keycard, touched it to the keypad, and punched in a code.

"You're now authorized to enter and exit the enclosure. Tim, for what it's worth, I'm..." She trailed off and looked away with a complicated expression.

The director cleared his throat. "You're doing something truly important," he said, patting him on the shoulder. "Your family will be proud."

"I'm an orphan, sir."

"Indeed? You chose well, Fowler."

"Yes, sir," she said stiffly.

Tim tilted his head in confusion. "Pardon?"

"Never mind, never mind. Good luck, Tim. Your courage is an inspiration to us all."

Smiling at the praise, Tim entered the small airlock and rolled on the balls of his feet as the hatch behind him closed. Then the one in front lowered with a hiss of equalizing pressure, revealing the mess of gleaming steel and concrete. Tim inhaled deeply. A faint spicy scent he couldn't place lingered in the recycled air.

He walked into the enclosure, his steps echoing on the hard concrete, then glanced up at the observation window. The professor averted her gaze, while the director pursed his lips and motioned him onward.

He faced forward and resumed moving, squinting at the shadows cast by the jutting pipes and broken pillars of concrete. The environment was said to resemble the one Subject Zero had been found in. Tim's clearance level was too low to know the details, but rumors said the creature had been retrieved from the alien vessel they found orbiting Jupiter.

Soon he made out the contours of Subject Zero, and gasped, coming to a halt. It was the size of a hippo, six-legged, and covered head to toe in something like white fur that covered its sensory organs save for the enormous black nose—or the alien equivalent of one.

The said nose twitched, and Subject Zero swiveled its head toward him. Sliding off the pipe it had been hanging off with two legs, it landed on the ground with deceptive softness. Its hind legs coiled powerfully, and it sprang toward Tim like an oncoming truck.

He lurched backward, but an instant before the collision, the creature extended its middle leg to grab a pipe and spun around with dizzying speed. Pushing off it, the alien leapt toward another pipe, then onto a pillar. Tim watched in awe as it bounced around him almost faster than the eye could track. He hadn't seen the alien this excited since they tried offering it some apples.

At last it landed before Tim and slowly approached with a strange rhythmic gait, its enormous nose quivering. He froze, uncertain; it only now occurred to him that the professor hadn't given him any specific instructions.

Well, she always told him that he needed to show more initiative. Shrugging, he reached for the creature's nose. It let out a puff of air and recoiled.

"It's okay," he said softly. "I won't hurt you."

The creature paused, then slowly extended its nose toward his hand until they made contact. The nose was cool and slightly damp. Making a strange chuffing noise, the alien took a step back and lowered its stance. Then it lunged at Tim, swept his legs from underneath him, and threw him high into the air.

Tim screamed before he crashed onto its soft back, the impact driving the air from his lungs. It bent down, then threw him into the air once more. This time Tim managed to land on his knees and elbows and grabbed handfuls of wiry white fur. The creature made that chuffing noise again and bounded off across the enclosure.

Tim's screams turned into whoops as they barreled around at breakneck speed, the alien frolicking like an animal who was finally allowed to stretch its legs. After the exhilarating ride that left Tim dizzy, it finally stopped. Raising its shaggy head, it tapped the concrete floor with its front leg.

"Oh, you poor thing," Tim murmured. "How long have you been locked in here?"

The creature chuffed and patted out a rhythm with its legs.

"I'm sorry," Tim said. "I don't know what I can do to help."

It pattered toward the hatch and lowered itself to the ground.

Tim frowned. "I don't know if you will fit," he said, "but let's try."

Sliding off the alien's back, he approached the hatch and pressed his card to the keypad. The door slid open. He yelped as the creature shot past him in a blur, somehow squeezing its enormous bulk through the door as if it were made of liquid.

Behind the thick glass of the observation window, the professor and director were gesticulating and yelling, but Tim couldn't hear a thing. He gave them a cheery wave and squeezed into the airlock, fighting his way through the forest of white fur toward the inner door.

"Just a moment, buddy," he gasped out when the creature let out a pitiful whine. "Hang in there."

Fumbling around blindly, he finally touched the card to the keypad. The hatch opened, and with a series of chuffs, the creature burst into the observation deck.

Tim followed suit. He was surprised to see that Director Wang had fallen onto his behind, while Professor Fowler stood pale and shock-still, the creature looming over them.

"I think you tricked me," Tim accused.

Director Wang swallowed. "Son, I can explain—"

"What is there to explain? Do you think I'm stupid? You"—he pointed at Professor Fowler—"you knew how cuddly Teddy was but you never let any of us play with him before!"

"I... what?" She exchanged a wide-eyed glance with the director before shaking her head. "Teddy?"

Tim shrugged and came up to the creature to pat its shaggy flank. "I think the name fits."

"Tim," she said weakly, "do you think you could get Subject Zero back into the enclosure?"

He crossed his arms. "Its name is Teddy."

"Very well," she said, swallowing. "Could you please... take Teddy back?"

The director nodded mutely, not letting his fearful gaze of the creature looming above him.

Tim's brow furrowed. Teddy turned its shaggy head toward him as if to tell him something. "I don't think it wants to," he said, nodding. "It's not nice to keep him locked up in there."

The director drew himself up. "Now listen here, you little—"

Teddy let out a snort and smacked the floor between the director's legs, leaving a huge dent. The man squealed and clambered backward.

"Oops! Teddy is sorry. This place is just too cramped for him." Tim patted the creature's side. "Come on, buddy, let's get out of here."

This time no one tried to stop them.

A large amount of henchmen have defected because the other guy has a better dental plan. It's most ironic that the villain they left has a dentist alias.

This was it. Commander Collapser had his nemesis, Dr. Defacer, on the ropes. In a few more hits, it was all over.

Collapser had decided enough was enough, and one way or another, he'd end it all today. Either the Doc died, or he did. While it's easy to see the final straw, it was hard to put thing into his perspective. After all, Dr. Defacer had never killed anyone. Not directly.

But after years of little embarrassments, of failure after failure to stop him, of watching him walk out of every trial a free man, well, it adds up. And it was hardly the first time Collapser had killed a villain.

Now, here, he had his foe on the ground, saw the fear in the little man's eyes, and raised his battle hammer for the final blow.

"Goodbye, Doc," he said, starting the downswing.

"Bonjour," came from behind him. Or rather, "Bahn jor." It was a woman's voice with a deep Texas drawl. He'd deal with her in a moment.

Except, in a moment, he found he was sweeping down on Dr. Defacer with a feather duster, instead of a hammer. He chucked aside a went to grab a chunk of the surrounding rubble when he noticed his gloves were gone.

His whole outfit, in fact, was changed. No longer his suit, specially designed by top government scientists, but a rather revealing maid uniform, or rather, Spirit Halloween's idea of a maid uniform. He turned and saw the woman, in the standard Defacer mook getup. He went to charge her, but was suddenly aware of the sound of a news helicopter. He stopped and stared at them for just a moment, but it was moment enough for the Doc to activate a teleporter and escape, taking his henchwoman with him.

His career was ruined after that, his face having been revealed when his mask changed to the little white headband thing. Family and friends had to go into the protection program. But being honest, he didn't care about that. No, it was the clip, shown over and over and over again. The whole world had seen that one, last, crowning moment of embarrassment.

He would need to go rogue, make a new suit on his own, so he could get his revenge. He'd end Defacer yet. But first he'd have to deal with that woman.

"Your majesty, the rebellions are bad enough without killing the horses of your noblemen to achieve what has been done in Spain with those... 'aero carriages.'" Edward tried to explain. "Horses aren't necessary anyway. Not with what we've been able to put together."

Henry narrowed his eyes at what looked like a crossbow built for the hands of a giant. "Nothing is faster than horses..."

"Cannot arrows reach their mark before a horse?"

Henry was quiet and seemed a bit ruffled.

Edward gestured toward the men standing around the contraption. They started to whip and lead a pair of oxen on either side so that a thick rope was drawn tightly back. A groaning sound came from the arms of the contraption as it was drawn and then finally locked into place. There was a call from the Ox teams and then at the front another team guided an 'aero carriage' into the groove so that it was like a loaded crossbow, the carriage being the bolt.

There was another call and the driver climbed into the carriage. He gave a wave.

Edward turned to Henry. "At your call, your majesty." He gave the King a smile.

Henry nodded. Edward raised his fist, then pulled his arm down. The lock was released and with a low twang the winged carriage shot off into the sky. No cliff, no horses.

When it became clear that the aero carriage was going to stay in the air for awhile, Henry's mouth fell agape.

"It won't stay in the air much longer than the Spanish aero carriages as it currently exists--however, we think putting in a lathe or a pulley might allow the carriage to remain airborne by spinning a smaller wing at the nose."

"Huh... well.... well done Edward."

"As you wish, your majesty." Edward grinned from ear to ear.

As Henry looked on, marveling at everything, Edward reached into his bag. He produced a large leatherbound book with a space cut in the pages. A screen flesh dimly, words and pictures changing. "Looks like the rebellions are still going to happen. Everything according to plan..."

Soon they'll know the meaning of friendly fire

Oh my god yes 😂😂😂

[removed]

The username lmaoooo

"Ok that is weird," Mike said as he looked at the view from his window. he pinched himself to make sure he wasn't asleep and sure it hurt and left a mark, so he was awake. Then Mike noticed that other things are different too, the framed photos on the wall showed him with a group of people he wasn't familiar with, some of them floated in the air, others had glowing eyes, and then he noticed that he himself had a small flame coming out of his right hand.

"The super hero academy class of 2017," it read below, astonishing him, then he looked at the other picture on the wall, in all of them he was in different posses doing stuff out a comic book, in some he hovered using flames, in other he made small twisters and in the last one he hugged a woman that looked very familiar.

"What the hell is going on? am I in some kind of a weird trip? but I never touched those kind of stuff, maybe that asshole John pulled a prank and put on of his medicine in my drink last night, it feels so real," then he felt tingling in his nose and sneezed, freezing the picture in front of him.

"Ahh!" he yelled and them a flame came out from his hand just like in the first picture.

"Calm down, I am sure that there is some reasonable explanation to all of this," Mike told himself as he heard the door to the apartment opening.

"Michal? You are awake! " A female voice was heard from the corridor and there stood Sara, his girlfriend, but she looked different, Sara had silver hair and very pale skin instead of her regular blond and tan, but before Mike could process, Sara rushed and embraced him. "I knew it would work!" she cheered.

"What worked?"

"Of course, you don't remember, your mind was scrambled by Mindwave in your latest mission, you lay unconscious for several days before me and Neuro deiced to try to restore your mind from scraps, it's taken us some time and a lot of effort, but here you are standing! We all thought you were going to vegetable for the rest of your life," Sara explained.

"Mindwave, Neuro, I don't understand those words," Mike responded, worrying Sara. "Oh no, no, no, but it only had 3% chance of happening!" Sara stated as she takes out some sort of device and starts to scan Mike.

"3% of what?" "That we bring back the wrong Michal, you are Michal, but not our Michal," Sara elaborates.

"Wrong Michal? what does it mean wrong Michal, return me back where I belong too,"

"Can't do that, once conciseness is well rested in a mind, it's almost impossible to replace it, only Mindwave can do that, and no chance she will help us here," Sara elaborates.

"So I am stuck here?"

"Yes, I will have to make some calls. Seems like WeatherMike will have a very long recovery period. but first we will need to get you settled, so let's see where do I start?" Sara inquires.

"From the beginning," Mike responds, still trying to process everything.

Disclaimer:

Edit: never try doing two things at the same time, posted a fixed version this time.

English isn't my native tongue, and I didn't have time check all the spelling and the grammar so I am sorry for any errors you may encounter.

Don’t leave us hanging!

Just recently posted the next part! Thanks for reading!

Yoooo...please keep going!

I aim to please! Just added another part of you’re interested!

This was not supposed to happen, the Meld Interface afforded certain protections for the Thraxian mind travelers, chief among them was the incontrovertible fact that memories were unmalleable—the past was the past.

Ax quickly learned that this was a mistaken assumption. Indeed, the Thraxian had—in their arrogance—doubled their error of judgment: they’d underestimated a second species in their pursuit of understanding.

“This isn’t right,” said Ax. “I wasn’t here, this could not have happened in this manner.”

“And yet I speak to you,” said Holly. “You’re of an adaptive people, Ax. Do what you do best, adapt.” The words Holly spoke were incongruent with the motions of her mouth, it was as though her movements were out of phase with her speech.

Jim’s body was still, frozen in time. It was just Holly and Ax now.

“What are you?” Asked Ax.

“You’re the superior species, Thraxian,” she said, the potency of her voice’s venom not lessened for its current target, “you tell me what I am. That is what you do, isn’t it? Classify, codify. Condemn.”

Ax’s mind went into overdrive. This…thing was of a species he’d catalogued. Recently. The realization hit him hard and he readied himself for battle. “You’re a Kereon, aren’t you?” He said.

“Very good, Ax,” said Holly. “Although it took you longer than I expected. I was really laying it on thick there. Sure, I had to use the lexicon of this…human…but I figured that you’d more quickly recognize your deepest shame unfolding before your eyes. And what shame it is.”

The Kereon grew tired of the charade and exploded itself through the constrained confines of the human form, ‘Holly’s’ body burst in a cloud of blood and a hail of gristle and bone. The creature that emerged had thick, brown fur that covered it head to toe. It stood 8 feet tall with 4 boney protrusions emanating from it’s back like upside down buttresses. It’s eyes glowed a fierce amber and were fixed steadfastly upon Ax.

“What do they call you, beast?” Said Ax as he raised his pincers, his shell strobing red and white in a show of intimidation.

“You know me, Ax,” growled the Kereon. “You’ve seen me, been me. I’ve seen you, been you.”

Ax couldn’t believe his blunder. He’d allowed the Kereon he’d Meld Interfaced to return to its home after he’d concluded that the species was absolutely innocuous, too primitive to threaten the Thraxian empire.

“Thereon,” whispered Ax to himself as if he’d just remembered the solution to a problem over which he’d long labored.

“One and the same, Ax,” said the beast proudly. “It seems we’ve beaten you to the humans. Their minds are surprisingly conducive to our abilities. And to sneak in under the watchful eyes of the great and all-seeing Thraxian Empire. Isn’t it funny how that works?”

“What—what do you mean you’ve beaten us to the humans? Explain yourself!” Ax shouted, his anger flavored by fear.

“We discovered long ago that we could live deep in the minds of the humans—in the levels that escape rational thought, that exist well below their consciousness, in places far beyond detection. We’ve entrenched ourselves in these vicious creatures.

“Watching. Learning. Waiting.”

“Waiting for what?” Said Ax.

“Waiting for you to let us out of these deep recesses and into their core consciousness, of course.”

More on the way. r/InMyLife42Archive

"Attention, big fluffy wolf-people!
You are falling under the jurisdiction of the Terrans' Reassuring, Endearing and Affectionate Troops (T.R.E.A.T.)
Your friendship is imminent. Any resistance will be suppressed by the means of tight hugs, belly rubs and ear scritches.
As we are currently speaking, the T.R.E.A.T. transport ships are entering the atmosphere and will land in close vicinity to your amusement parks, camping sites and other places of recreation.
I repeat, do NOT resist your befriending, otherwise you might fall victims to our H.O.R.N.I. (Highly Obnoxious Reproductive Needs Individual) contingent, whom we are barely containing.
Let us boop your snoot and mush those beans for your own safety and gratification.
This was Alagriel Vidnich of Outer World Observatories.
See you on the surface.
Out."