Morgan woke up the next morning feeling so groggy
and heavy he couldn't remember falling asleep. He sat up on the couch, staring blankly at the muted news broadcast on the tv screen. He rubbed his eyes and took stock of himself.
The news being broadcasted drew his attention, a little more awake he picked up the remote and unmuted it and when he looked closer he recognized the anchor, standing in a brightly lit office.
"...We are not going anywhere, not until we receive a comprehensive analysis."
His voice faded out, replaced by a live footage of a young, blonde woman. Her face was grim, her posture rigid.
" We are here today to inform you of another tragic incident in the sector. There has been a violent break out of jail in the northern sector and a mass breakout of several prisoners in one of the more secluded facilities. In the process, one escaped, terrorizing a large group of civilian workers and killing seven police officers during a riot ".
She paused, and Morgan could see her hands clenching and unclenching as she looked down into the camera. Then she continued:
"...As it turns out, these criminals were all former members of the military branch known as Special Forces. As you can imagine, the situation is highly dangerous for everyone who lives in this area. All residents must remain indoors, please."
Morgan turned off the tv and went to get ready for work. But the words of the news reporter still echoed in his head.
" All residents must remain indoors ".
He chuckled. He really wanted to remain indoors but corporate work was waiting for him, Old man Albright and his co workers were probably already at work.
So he dressed quickly and left for work.
************************************
As usual, the morning news about the Prison Outbreak was the talk of the work place .
He knew that there was a small segment of the staff covering the event that morning so he tried not to listen.
After dropping by the sales department, checking in with the workers, making sure everything was running smoothly, and getting his notes together, Morgan headed for the elevator and rode to the 4th floor where his office was.
He started walking briskly, too fast for a normal human and that was because Morgan Hole wasn't normal.
He was a "useless " abnormal human.
In the last few decades, humanity started developing super genes that helped humans to harness psychic powers.
These humans were known as Espers .
When people first discovered how to control these abilities, they were labeled as monsters. The term "eccentric" became synonymous with "unnatural", though some people said it was worse than any of those things.
But then, things changed. Humanity learned to adapt.
A lot changed after the Crisis. The world changed. Humanity evolved.
Espers had become a very popular and desirable people in society. Not only did they gain respect in a world that shunned abnormality, they gained fame and influence. And they were always welcome.
Espers covered about 65% of the Human Population . Harnessing powers like telepathy, pyrokenisis, electrokenesis, clairvoyance, space warping among others. In fact it was due to this genetic breakthrough that brought about the rapid advancement in technology.
But Morgan...well, his brisk walk was his super power. Whiles others had powers like telekinesis, biokenesis( ability to manipulate biological matter), probability manipulation and other cool powers, his was the ability to only walk fast.
Super Useful in a battle ,right?
His category was called the "Null". The Nulls were humans with useless abilities. For example a person with the ability to speak fast, or the ability to clap their hands fast or clap their hands super slow.
Or having the ability to grow your pubic hair more often than normal humans.
These people were the lowest of low amongst the Esper Class, they were literally no better than regular humans without super abilities.
They were mostly used as canon fodder on the battlefield or they mostly did the most tedious of jobs amongst the Esper class.
However , there were Nulls who came from prestigious and Influential backgrounds but the lifeguard at the gene pool hadn't been nice to them and they had ended up with basically useless abilities.
Morgan Ashley Hole was in this category.
He was the second Child of the Mayor of a Tier 2 City,and the grandson of a renowned librarian and an Esper Explorer.
Hole was mostly reminded in family meetings about how useless he was.
Sometimes they didn't even have to say it . He himself felt out of place when he used to visit his family.
One time at a family meeting, during the naming ceremony of his older brother's kid, one of his distant cousin who was about 5 years younger than him walked up to the podium and raised his hand.
His cousin, looking down from the podium , called Morgan and asked him if he'd like to share something with the room.
Hole looked around perplexed .
" I never asked to share anything with anyone..."
His cousin then shouted out in a mocking tone. " But you walked so fast into the house...I thought you...wanted to deliver some important message ".
The other cousins joined in with laughter. The old folks also let out a hearty laugh. It was a good joke actually, only his siblings and his parents didn't laugh.
"...Or maybe you wanted to tell us how you got your special powers, huh?",
And they laughed again.
Hole was embarrassed. It took him a lot of effort not to run out of the house.
Scenarios like this happened a lot.
Most of the time, family meetings were used as forums to bring out the best jokes against him. It was almost as if there was a competition to see who would roast him the best.
Even when they were kids ,they would sometimes meet to display their powers and Morgan...well ...he just walked fast out of wherever they were.
But he wasn't the type of lad to be disheartened or broken over mock comments and petty teasing.
He had a goal, he had a purpose and he worked hard eventide for it.
Where he lacked in super powers, he made it up with his wits and quick thinking.
Morgan was clever. He could think ahead. He wasn't the best in a brawl or fight, but if necessary, he could make a decision on the fly.
If the Esper World thought he was too useless then screw it.
The Corporate class was always eager to hire people willing and able to walk fast into problems and solve it,literally.
He left home at the age of 16, started working as a sales personnel for two years and gradually rose through the ranks before finally becoming a renowned data administrator.
Morgan had worked his ass off as a kid to reach his current position and now he was working his ass off even more to make sure he wouldn't fall back. He would never let anyone take that away from him.