When Ellen White woke up, he was in a hospital in Manhattan. Both his arms were broken and wrapped up. All around him, hurt people were crying in pain. Looking at the others with missing arms or legs, Ellen knew he had been very lucky.
A nurse walked in with a clipboard. She had neat blonde hair and a few freckles on her nose. Her curvy shape made some patients stop crying for a moment.
Seeing Ellen was awake, she smiled. "You're one lucky kid! To be right where those two monsters were fighting and only break your arms?" She looked at his papers, then bent down to pat his head. "The police tried to find your parents but couldn't. You should call them to come get you and pay your bill!"
"What time is it?" Ellen asked, looking out the dark window.
"4:15 in the morning," said the nurse, whose name was Penny. "You came in last night, so you slept for six hours. Your bill is two hundred and thirty-seven dollars. You can use the phone at the front desk. I have to go now. Bye!"
"Bye, Nurse Penny," Ellen said, reading her name tag.
When the nurse left, most patients watched her go—but not Ellen.
The small boy climbed out of bed and went to the window. He saw many ambulances still bringing hurt people to the hospital.
He checked his pocket and found almost three hundred dollars. He went to pay his bill, then left quickly. As he walked out, he heard the head nurse on the phone, sounding worried.
"Yes, we're full! Send the really hurt people to another hospital! ... Don't you know? Those monsters broke many buildings! We have over a hundred very hurt people here. The police said more than eighty people died last night, over a hundred cars were wrecked, and thousands are hurt! What can we do?"
Outside, Ellen stopped a taxi. "Forest Hills, in Queens," he said as he got in.
"Hey kid, that's far. You have money?" the driver asked, sounding doubtful.
"You'll get your money," Ellen said, looking out the window.
The car started moving. Soon, they passed the area where the fight happened. It was blocked with yellow tape, and police cars with flashing lights were everywhere.
Seeing this, Ellen felt better and leaned back in his seat. 'Five years. So the big story is starting. But why did I get stuck in a ten-year-old's body? It makes everything difficult.'
...
Five Years Ago
Five years earlier, Ellen was watching "Spider-Man: Far From Home" in a theater. The movie had just ended, and he was waiting for the special scene after the credits. But instead of a cool scene, he got shot.
An angry man ran into the theatre with a homemade gun. He started shooting at a couple sitting near Ellen, screaming, "You cheated on me?! I'll kill you!!"
By bad luck, all the stray bullets hit Ellen. As he lay bleeding on the floor, his last thought was: 'What was the scene after the credits?... I wish these bullets would miss...'
Then everything went black. When he woke up, he was a five-year-old child lost on the streets of New York. A kind couple later took him in.
That's when he saw the words in his mind:
----------------------------------------------------------------
Control: 49
Strength 7, Defence 5, Speed 8, Spirit 17
(Note: A normal man's score is 10)
Ability: D-Class Metal Control
------------------------------------------------------------------
Twenty minutes later, the taxi stopped on Forest Hills Road. "Hey kid, twenty-nine dollars," the driver said.
Ellen gave him thirty dollars.
The driver took the money. "I'll keep the extra dollar as a tip. Listen, a kid like you shouldn't be out so late." He drove away fast.
Watching the car leave, Ellen wanted to make its wheels fall off, but he didn't. He walked to his house and looked at his broken arms. He moved his finger a little.
His last flying knife, hidden in his pants, flew out and cut the wraps on his arms. He threw the wraps in a trash can.
"Only one knife left," he said to himself. "This was a bad deal. I got nothing and lost all my things." He put the knife away and quietly went up to his room.
a big box full of high-energy food—chocolate, energy bars, canned beef—floated down from a shelf. He started eating fast.
At the same time, a thick iron rod floated over from the corner. After he finished eating, he carefully put his hands on the rod.
His arms, now free from the wraps, shook badly from the pain. It hurt so much he couldn't even make a fist, so he used floating metal pieces to help move his hands.
When Ellen's hands touched the iron rod, he felt a strange sinking feeling. A special energy wrapped around his broken bones, slowly pulling them back together and fixing them.
He first found this power when he was eight. He had been flying too high, fell, and broke both legs. That night, crazy with pain, he dragged a big iron frame over and put his hands on it.
By morning, half of the iron frame was gone, and his legs were completely better. But the pain kept him awake all night and he caught a cold. After that, he was careful about using this power.
...
The sky outside was getting light. Ellen saw it was after five in the morning. The iron rod in his hands was now half gone. It had just disappeared, leaving nothing behind. Ellen had thought a lot about how this healing worked.
It wasn't that he was eating the metal.
It was more like trading the metal for healing energy. But how it worked, he still didn't know.
Hearing his foster aunt and uncle waking up outside his door, Ellen knew he had to hurry.
He sat cross-legged, and a soft golden light glowed around him. The iron rod in his hands began to shake. Then little golden sparks flew out of the rod, joined the light around Ellen, and went into his body.
It took less than ten minutes. Ellen slowly opened his eyes. The room was dark again. He threw the iron rod into a big metal box behind him.
Click!
With a soft sound, the rod broke into two pieces when it hit the bottom, as if it was made of glass.
Ellen stood up and looked at his arms—they were completely fine now.
'I feel... stronger.'