[ WP ] You wake up in a universe where everyone is ALWAYS super strong except you . You 're saught after as a hero for delicate missions where precision and minimal structural damage is ideal .

Flowers of colored fire exploded across the night sky. Red, violet, and green – perfect in symmetry and luster. The imperial fireworks were more beautiful than Riza could ’ ve ever dreamt of. Still, they paled in comparison to the young man who just sat down across the table from her. This was their moment, yet something felt oddly amiss. 
 
 ***** 
 
 *Three days ago…* 
 
 Riza rolled her eyes and stepped through the gates to her workplace. Thursdays were the worst because that meant new experiments. She was sure she ’ d have tinnitus by the age of thirty if she kept working here, and from the looks of it, that would be the case. Her only pleasure in life was stealing glances at the handsome assistant director. His name was Rowland. That was all she knew about him. 
 
 Riza was grade-a-nobody, working double shifts as a cleaning lady. Her days consisted of sweeping the floor outside the new ERGO Particle Collider. She sighed and leaned on the mop. The speeds of the moving parts down there were dizzying. She never stopped for more than a couple of seconds, though, and always made sure to wave at the surveillance camera to show that she wasn ’ t taking a long break. 
 
 Today she was running late – someone had managed to clog all the toilets on the seventh floor – and once she reached the catwalk with a view over the collider, it was hours past midnight. The piercing grinding noise went mostly unhindered by her cheap earplugs, and it would only get worse by time. Hurriedly, she pushed the bucket behind her and painted the floor in wide wet arcs with the mop. It felt like her eardrums were bleeding. 
 
 The floor shook, and the water spilled everywhere. Riza cursed and tried her best to mop it up. She was almost done. Almost. The floor shook again, and Riza lost her balance and tumbled the ground. Next thing she knew, she was bathing in soap water, and the glass cover of the collider was hailing down in a million pieces. 
 
 Sirens and alarms were going off. Lights were flashing red. She tried to move but cut her hand on a shard of broken glass. Then a white sheen surged out from the collider and Riza was left blinded. 
 
 At some point she must ’ ve passed out, she reckoned, because how else would she have ended up on a massive operation table made out of hardened titanium, with a crowd of people around her. Although, from the looks of it, these weren ’ t people. Their bulging biceps and broad necks, and the fact that they were all over nine feet tall suggested that they were giants. 
 
 She couldn ’ t understand what kind of strange place she had come to. Why was everyone so big and strong? 
 
 “ You made it! ” one of them thundered. 
 
 “ Made what? ” Riza said tiredly. “ Where am I? ” 
 
 The giants exchanged quick glances. 
 
 “ You completed the mission, ” the largest one said. “ You… y-you made it! ” 
 
 They all cheered again, stomping their feet so that the entire room shook. Riza couldn ’ t understand what was going on or how she ’ d ended up in this strange place. She touched her ears; they were still ringing from the loud noise of the collider. 
 
 “ I don ’ t even know you… ” she mumbled. “ What ’ s happening? ” 
 
 “ Yes, you do, ” a massive boulder of a woman said. “ I trained you for six months, which wasn ’ t easy, by the way, considering your puny size and lack of muscle tissue. ” 
 
 “ I don ’ t remember anything. ” 
 
 “ You were sent through the Glow Gate… ” one of them said. 
 
 “ You were chosen because you were the only one who could fit through. ” 
 
 Riza shook her head. She didn ’ t remember any of that. 
 
 “ Here drink this, ” the woman said and produced a vial. “ Maybe it ’ ll jog your memory. ” 
 
 The concoction tasted like swamp water, and Riza grimaced as she swallowed it down. Soon the noise in her ears was dying down, and she was starting to recall tiny bits and pieces. 
 
 She had been a scientist because that was all she was good for in a world of super strength. She was the only person on the planet who wasn ’ t able to pull up a tree by its roots or lift a building. She looked at the gathering of heaving muscles in the room. 
 
 These men and women were her colleagues. She had been sent back through the Glow Gate to a time before everyone became powerful. Her objective had been to destroy the collider, to ensure certain scientific breakthroughs didn ’ t occur. Breakthroughs, which would endanger the continued survival of the power race. 
 
 She remembered it all. How she had hated not being able to do sports with her friends. And being so weak that nobody could ever touch her or love her. She had been destined to a life of hopeless solitude. That ’ s why she had taken the amnesia shot the day she went through the portal. She had planned on staying in that world and becoming the guardian of the collider. What had gone wrong? 
 
 ***** 
 The celebration of Riza ’ s successful mission was going to last for a month. She looked up at the fireworks and then at the man sitting in front of her. She had gazed at him dreamily for years. How was he here now? 
 
 “ Did you know I was the one who invented the amnesia shot? And, of course, the antidote. ” Rowland said. “ How does one give up the survival of their entire species for personal happiness? And what happiness at that; scrubbing floors… ” 
 
 “ I… um… ” 
 
 “ Did you know I realized quite fast that you weren ’ t from around my time? I had you on and off amnesia for years, while I grilled you for the secrets of the future. I never thought it would be possible to get here. But what is it that they say? ” 
 
 “ I don ’ t know… ” 
 
 “ You know what, *nevermind*. I ’ m not going to have a drawn out monolog like some dumb villain – I am a scientist after all. Here, Riza, just drink this and forget everything. I ’ ll enjoy the fruits of ‘ your ’ success for the both of us. ” 
 
 Riza closed her eyes and swallowed. He was right, it was easier to forget. 
 
 ***** 
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