Kapitel 6: A Sudden Realization of Reality

I watched with an exasperated look as these three grunts, clad in dark gray skin-tight suits, began discussing among themselves how they would brief me on whatever was going on here.

I had just woken up inside this high-tech futuristic room filled not only with these three grunts but also with a bunch of others like them. By the looks of it, I was also one of these skin-tight suit-wearing grunts. Soon after, the cautious-looking male grunt with the number label '704' stepped forward.

"Haha, yeah, man. I could fill you in..." He said with a bit of hesitation. I was still confused as to why they were acting so reserved toward me. "What do you want to know?" Grunt No. 704 asked me back.

I paused for a moment, thinking about what I should ask first. "Uh... well, for starters, where are we?" I asked him, wanting to know where the hell I had gotten myself into. I had just been a normal job-seeking dude walking into a random alleyway, unknowingly getting caught by some witch's mischievous whim, before then being run over by a large speeding truck as I tried to escape from said witch.

Then I found myself inside a test tube in a dimly lit laboratory, coincidentally where I had seen Grunt No. 704 and also the meek-looking Grunt No. 702 inside their respective test tubes (though when I thought about it, it made sense why I did see them, as my own grunt's number was No. 703, the closest to them both). This was also where I encountered a bunch of white-coated mad scientists who had most likely done something to my body, especially that blonde beauty mad scientist, Victoria.

Coincidentally, both of these encounters with such malicious-looking women had ended with me losing consciousness as they showed me their own wicked smiles. I felt like fate was playing pranks on me...

And now, I was here, just waking up and surrounded by skin-tight-suit-wearing grunts.

"Where are we? You don't know, big guy?" Grunt No. 704 looked surprised by what I had just said, or at least that's what I interpreted from the movement of his mask eyes and his demeanor. Since I couldn't see their faces, I had to rely on small cues of facial expressions and body movements to understand my fellow grunts.

"No... not really..." I answered with a bit of a solemn tone. My response seemed to take him aback, as he then looked to his two fellow grunts for help. They both appeared a bit confused by what I had just said.

"Well... maybe his memory got a bit messed up by the experiment?" The female grunt, No. 711, guessed at what might be happening to me.

"Yeah... That could be it. I mean, those scientists were a bit... off..." The meek grunt, No. 702, added to the theory, referring to the scientists I had also seen inside the dimly lit laboratory.

Honestly, I wasn't sure if I had lost my memories or not. Again, I was pretty sure I had been job-hunting as a regular citizen, but now I was here in some futuristic room surrounded by my fellow grunts.

Grunt No. 704 then directed his attention back to me. "Well... let's just chalk it up to you having temporary amnesia," he said with a jovial tone, returning to my earlier question. "So where are we, you ask? We are currently inside Max Brain's secret underground lair," he informed me matter-of-factly.

"Ah, I see. Max Brain's secret underground lair, huh?" I nodded in acknowledgment.

Grunt No. 704 nodded along with me. "That's right, big guy! Haha!" he affirmed, laughing jovially.

"I see, I see. It does make sense when you think about it. Haha!" I chuckled along with him. The atmosphere between us was quite comfortable as we both laughed jovially.

"Huh?!?!" I abruptly stopped laughing and exclaimed in surprise, startling not only the three grunts in front of me but also everyone else in this room. I immediately got up from my "bed" and confronted Grunt No. 704 directly.

"Did you just say 'Max Brain'?!" I demanded confirmation from him, looming over him. Unbeknownst to me yet, No. 704 was terrified by my sudden confrontation. My sudden outburst not only scared him but both Grunt No. 702 and No. 711 were also quite scared, especially the meek No. 702, who was almost on the verge of passing out from fear.

"Y-Y-YES! WE ARE IN MAX BRAIN'S SECRET UNDERGROUND LAIR!" Grunt No. 704 repeated his previous answer, missing the actual point of my question, but it was more than enough for confirmation. I slowly backed away from him, a shock of realization washing over me.

The revelation hit me hard.

'Max Brain...? The comic book supervillain, Max Brain...? It couldn't be true... could it...?' My mind raced, trying to process the implications of what Grunt No. 704 had just revealed to me. I fell into silence as I directed my gaze to one of the many large 'M' letters painted on the walls of this futuristic room.

Max Brain.

I had heard about this comic book character. He was a supervillain known for his superhuman intelligence, his mind, and intellect beyond that of any normal human or even other superheroes in the comic book stories featuring him. He was almost always the mastermind behind every dastardly evil plan.

Not only that, he was said to have nearly conquered the (comic book) world multiple times. (Un)fortunately, his evil plans were always thwarted by his arch-nemesis, the superhero Ultra Guy, often due to his arrogant attitude and tendency to underestimate his adversaries, which ultimately led to his many failures.

Nevertheless, he was still quite popular in the superhero comic book fandom, to the extent that even a (former) regular guy like me knew who he was. However, his design was rather comical, always portrayed with a huge bald head and the letter 'M' plastered on his giant forehead.

Even so... I couldn't believe it.

"No way..." I muttered in disbelief, still unable to comprehend the situation. "This is some kind of prank... isn't it?" Again, I muttered to myself, trying to cope with the overwhelming realization. Turning away from them, I clutched my head, attempting to suppress the headache that was beginning to intensify as I grappled with the reality of my situation.

Everything that had just occurred felt like the most elaborate prank imaginable. I just couldn't wrap my head around it. Then... I tried pinching my right cheek quite hard, thinking that maybe, just maybe... this was all just a dream... but... it wasn't. I felt the sharp sting of my pinching quite vividly. Even the dark gray skin-tight material covering my head felt all too real to be a dream...

Then... I noticed that the wall of this futuristic room was immaculate and polished, almost like a mirror. It was polished enough to serve as a makeshift mirror, and thus... I finally saw my appearance... My current appearance as the Grunt No. 703.

I was tall... taller than I had ever felt before. Broad shoulders stretched wide, endowing me with a sense of strength and presence that was entirely foreign to me. As I glanced down, I noticed my waist was not just thin, but sculpted, almost impossibly so, leading down to chiseled abs that seemed to ripple with every movement.

My upper body, my arms, and even my legs, all rippled with muscle, as if I had been transformed into some sort of living sculpture of power and athleticism. It was as if I had stepped out of a comic book's pages, embodying a superhero's larger-than-life proportions. But... I had mixed feelings about this... "transformation" ...

While it was true that my body somehow became the embodiment of a superhero character... I was not a superhero.

My body was encased in this dark gray, almost black material, giving me the appearance of a skin-tight suit. There were a few distinct light-gray markings on my body, such as the large two vertical-and-symmetrical stripes on both of my obliques, the number label '703' on my left chest, another smaller-and-shorter horizontal stripes on my collarbones, and the last one was a marking that really stood out from the rest, that was the pair of tribal wings marking that surrounded the eye holes of my mask.

I did not look like a superhero; rather, I looked like a supervillain instead. But of course, I wasn't a supervillain either.

I was just one of the grunts, just like the rest of the grunts gathered here in this room...

In the end, I came to a revelation: I had somehow been reincarnated into another world... a superhero comic book world...

"Hey, man. You okay...?" I heard a voice from behind me. Turning, I saw that Grunt No. 704 and even the female Grunt No. 711 were carefully approaching me.

"Yeah. You seem to be taking this whole stuff with quite a shock. Are you okay?" Grunt No. 711 asked me, her voice filled with genuine concern.

I was surprised. I had just now realized why these people were afraid of me, as my appearance was far more intimidating than any of these grunts here. But that wasn't what surprised me.

I was... taken aback by how these two still cared enough to ask about my condition, even after I had thrown an outburst towards them. I had expected them to distance themselves from me, but they didn't. Instead, they asked how I was feeling, which made me feel really guilty...

Turning around, I replied to their concern, "Ah, yeah... I'm okay—"

"ATTENTION TO ALL GRUNTS! QUICKLY GATHER TO THE DESIGNATED AREA!"

An intercom suddenly blared throughout the room, calling us all to attention.