Loki’s Successor System

Jin sat down in the passenger seat of the vehicle. The bearded driver kept throwing looks at him. This driver took his time behind the wheel: he didn't speed at all. The ride was indeed a quiet one.

The driver suddenly looked at Jin. "Hey ... do I know you from somewhere?" His tone was curious. 

"You're Johnson from high school," Jin said, "dubbed 'Electric kid' after poking an electrical outlet with an iron fork and nearly killing yourself."

"Oh wow," Johnson said, "you remember that? Christ."

Jin didn't answer.

"You remembered who I am .... but unfortunately," Johnson said, "I don't remember who you are."

Jin just looked at him as he steered the vehicle. He seemed unenthusiastic with that look on his face. That apathetic look.

"Are you Foster? Micheal?"

Jin shook his head.

"Hey," Johnson said, "I'm giving you a free ride, the least you can do here is give me a hint."

Jin looked away. "Does a crippled kid ring any bells?"

Johnson's mouth gaped. "Wait ... this can't be ...." he paused. "You're Pearl Pierce's grandson, aren't you?"

Jin nodded without bothering to look at him.

"I remember your grandma because I had a taste of her apple pie this one time from Tristan. He gave it to me when I was starving after forgetting my lunch bag home. Those pies were the best things I've ever put in my mouth. How's your grandma?"

"She's alright," Jin said, "Just awfully quiet these days."

"I'm sorry but I can't remember your name. What was it again?"

"My name is God," Jin said.

Johnson cackled. "Come on, man, be serious. I genuinely need your name right now."

"It's Jin," he said, "Jin Pierce ..."

"You people have like the coolest surname ever!"

"If you say so ..."

"I'm serious, man ..."

"Mhm."

"We should have a drink sometime. So I can get to know you...."

"Hmmm, no thanks," Jin said, "I don't drink. But if you want we can spar ... I'll much prefer to do that ..."

Johnson looked ahead at the road and frowned. "I don't have any powers, man. I'm not even supposed to be out here. But I believe that there has to be a better place out there."

"Where to?" Jin asked, smirking.

"The base," Johnson said, "it's underground. Safe from the monsters here on the surface but far from safe when it comes to the monsters down there..."

Jin smirked. "I see ... "

"If you want," Johnson said, "we can turn around right now. You can come with me. I'm headed toward those domes. I heard they're the best places to be in the apocalypse. They call it 'The New World' there. They didn't let anyone in past the ten thousand people cut off number, but I have," he took a hand off of the steering wheel, jammed it into his pocket, and pulled out three ruffled pages, "these."

Jin looked his nose down at Johnson. "Mhm. What are they?"

"Signatures," Johnson said, "but I call 'em tickets to heaven. They're pages signed by one of the government officials who now resides back at the base. They'll one hundred percent let you into the domes with these bad boys. They did it before. Back at base, we had a guy with a duplication ability copy the signed page for us. Most didn't even bother taking up a ticket, so I snagged myself three of them. One's for my girlfriend who is currently within some ... walls where a Wizard is the head of everything. That means I have one extra ticket. A ticket you can claim right now."

"No thank you," Jin said, "keep your ticket."

Johnson shrugged, jamming the paper back into his pocket. "Suit yourself. You chose to go to the base of that's what you are opting for. The base isn't bad at all, y'know. But everyone there has some sort of powers. They're all extremely gifted and they continue to get stronger."

Jin licked his lips. 

Johnson continued, "That place wasn't for me at all. Couldn't stand being that different. I felt like an egg in the hands of a leaping child. So leaving was best for me. For me ... not you. You probably have a chance there. What ability do you currently hone?"

"Shapeshifting," Jin said brusquely.

"It's still something," Johnson said, "I'd just advise you to stay away from the elites back at the base. Don't mess with them. They have the most powerful abilities I know. There is even a little girl with a crazy set of abilities, tens of them. They're leveraging this girl, the people back at base. They're trying to make her stronger, and stronger she gets. Stay away from them, Jin."

Jin grinned widely. The thought of another one like him had only arisen his excitement. 

"Here," Johnson pulled out a piece of paper from his pants pocket, "it's the spare ticket I previously offered you. Take it in case you've changed your mind about staying at base."

Jin took the ticket from him and put it in his pocket. "Thanks."

It got quiet for a while as Johnson drove and Jin just sat there in the passenger seat, watching out through the windshield. 

"Hey, Jin," Johnson said, "I've got a question for you ..."

"Ask away," Jin said, "and make it quick ..."

Johnson frowned. "Do you think the world will ever be the same again? How it was ... before all of this."

"Never," Jin said, "it'll never go back to normal—so I'd kill every last bit and speck and piece of hope you might have in that heart yours."

"That's a really pessimistic thing to say though."

"I know. It came out of my mouth."

"You must've gone through something real bad to answer that quickly."

"Mhm."

"So what are you going to do when the world's like this?" Johnson asked. "Are you just going to accept death?"

"I'm going to ascend," Jin said brusquely.

Johnson looked at him quietly for a bit, not bothering to say a word. Then, he looked at the road again. "Are you wondering about what my answer would be to such a question? Well, the answer is that I'll continue to—"

Suddenly a Void appeared amidst the road. The road cracked. It held a Boulder in its hands. It's ballade attached to its back. It immediately spun, and hurled the Boulder at the car.

"Be right back," Jin said, vanishing.

The Boulder came hurtling through the air, heading straight for the vehicle. When suddenly, Jin appeared, slashing in a downward motion. The Boulder was cut in half.

A piece of it smacked into the side of Johnson's car, destroying his left mirror. Johnson's feet reached for the break, but then he felt something touch his shoulder. Jin—no, a clone—was in the backseat of the vehicle. 

"Keep driving, head straight, don't stop," the clone said.

Johnson, eyes widened, looked at the road again. The clone vanished from the backseat. 

The Void came rushing toward the vehicle. The vehicle sped toward the Void. Johnson hesitated. He wanted to hit the breaks. A foot reached for the breaks. He clenched his teeth.

Suddenly Jin appeared at the Void's side, and thrust his hands at it. The Void was knocked out of the road from a powerful shockwave. 

Another Void came crashing down from the sky. It landed in front of the vehicle, holding its sword in its hand. It suddenly spun like a tornado and sent a the sword pitching toward the vehicle.

Jin appeared in front of the sword, and blocked with his dagger midair, his mask on his face. The impact sent him still pitching forward. His body crashed into the windshield of the car. Johnson jolted in shock. Jin's body was on the vehicle. He looked over his shoulder at Johnson through the glass. "Keep driving," he said, then he vanished.

The Void was still the middle of the road. Jin appeared in front of it, and slashed at its body. The creature staggered. Jin teleported behind it, and kicked it forward. It was about to collapse when he thrust it to its side, a shockwave sending it pitching out of the way of the vehicle. Jin vanished just before the vehicle hit him. He also appeared in the passenger seat, folding his arms.

"Special type of shapeshifting," Jin said.

Johnson jaw was dropped as he steered the vehicle.

"What?" Jin asked, looking at him. Then, he put on his seat belts. "Better now?" He looked ahead, his mask disappearing from his face.

"W-what ... did I just witness?" Johnson asked.

"Nothing at all," Jin said, "And thanks for the ride by the way."

Johnson recognized that they had arrived at their destination. He slowed the car as he took a sharp turn.

He stopped the vehicle, and turned to Jin. "Remeber the ticket's in your pocket."

"Yeah."

"Have a nice day, and thanks for what you just did," he said. 

Jin nodded, opening the car door. "No problem. Thanks for the ride. Save travels as well."

Johnson smiled as Jin closed the door shut.

Jin watched as Johnson turned the car around, and drove away. 

Suddenly, Jin turned into Johnson, taking on his form.

He started toward the base as Johnson, wearing a smirk on his face.

Cliff appeared next to him. "Cold. You're going to use his identity to do crimes here, aren't you?"

"He's as good as dead anyway," Jin said.