Time to put the super in superhero!

Nate took in the sight of the Contestants back in their bodysuits. He tried very hard not to stare how the form-fitting clothing hugged their bodies, and realized very quickly he was losing that battle. It was hard when there was literally nothing else to look at in the giant room he was in – the interior of the training room was a massive, warehouse-sized space absent of color. The walls, floor, and ceiling were all a bland white, and there was nothing else in the room to occupy his sight.

So it was that he was trying not to be a creep when Serena reappeared in the room. She glanced at the Contestants, then Nate, smiled, and launched into her spiel. Within seconds, it was clear from her demeanor that the cameras were back on.

“Welcome, one and all, to day one of Harem Heroes! Last time, on our pilot episode, we met the Master and Contestants for this season of Harem Hotel. We learned that not only would our Contestants be competing to be in the Master’s harem, they would also be training to become Earth’s first superheroes! Then we saw their transformations, and finally, learned about the twist!

Today, our Contestants have had a chance to rest and adapt to their transformations, so it’s time to hand out the part of the show that makes us unique! Superpowers! That’s right, each Contestant is going to receive their superpower in mere moments! We’re making sure to give them their powers here, in training room 1, so that they don’t hurt themselves, because we know you wouldn’t want to see any such thing happening to our beloved Contestants!

“So, without further ado, let’s move on to our first Contestant of the day. Helena, please step forward!”

Helena did so, stepping to the front of the group of Contestants. She did her best to look unaffected by the sudden awareness that she was on TV, or whatever the interdimensional equivalent was.

“Helena, alongside your Back to the Future/Mommy Issues transformation, you were voted to be granted D-Rank Time Control superpowers. Ready to be a superhero?”

Helena gulped, then nodded.

*SNAP*

“Gah,” Helena crouched, holding her head from the sudden spike in pain. After a moment she stood up, shaking it off.

“Now, for an unintuitive power such as Helena’s, I will be explaining the details aloud for those at home to understand. Helena, D-Rank is the weakest classification of power, but Time Control is an incredibly strong power to begin with. Your new power allows you to slow down time as it relates to your perception and nervous system, but does not allow you to physically move any faster. Popular culture has dubbed this particular capability as ‘Bullet Time.’

“As such, while using your power, you can have a reaction speed far surpassing human limits. To demonstrate, let’s perform a good, ol’ fashioned ruler drop test!”

*SNAP*

A ruler appeared in Serena’s hand. She moved over to Helena and held the ruler at head height, dangling down.

“Now, for those who don’t know, the purpose of the ruler drop test is- Wait, one moment.”

She leaned over in front of Helena, then spoke a short blurb of nonsense. Helena suddenly relaxed, having previously been rather tensed up, and breathed heavily.

“Sorry about that,” Serena spoke back towards the audience. “Helena was stuck with her power turned on, so she was experiencing the dread of watching time move like a snail. That is, after all, the point of doing this in a controlled environment – we wouldn’t want to hurt or traumatize or Contestants just from getting their powers. Her whole goal today will be to focus on activating and deactivating her power, but we’ll get to that after the test.

“Now, where was I… Oh, yes, the ruler drop test – its purpose is to test reflexes. When I drop the ruler, Helena’s goal will be to grab it herself as quickly as possible, allowing us to measure the difference in height and calculate reaction time.”

Serena continued on to explain the instructions to Helena, cautioning her not to anticipate the drop or try and fudge the test. Once Helena was prepared, she told her to activate her power. Then, a few seconds later, Serena dropped the ruler.

Helena’s fingers moved at the same moment Serena’s began to slacken, resulting in the ruler failing to drop at all. Serena applauded, and eventually the rest of the joined in.

“See, at the D-Rank level of ‘Bullet Time’, dear Helena now has perfect reaction speed. A highly useful ability that we all look forward to seeing her put to good use! Now, Helena, keep your ability deactivated until I say otherwise, and please step to the side. It’s time for the next Contestant, Maria!”

Maria and Helena exchanged places.

“Maria! You really lucked out in the Transformation round! I mean, a transformation that lands you that smokin’ fine wife of yours? That’s practically a reward! And it came with a C-Rank power! That’s a step above your wife’s, and in an incredibly powerful superpower as well, Foresight!”

*SNAP*

Maria staggered backwards, clutching her head like her wife before her.

“Like her lover before her, Maria has gained an unintuitive power, so I’ll do some explaining. As a C-Rank power, her Foresight has two components to it: Foresense and Premonition. Premonition is the easiest to explain – she’ll need to learn to trust her instincts, because if she’s got a good feeling or a bad feeling about some location, plan, or action, it’s likely her superpower talking!

“Foresense is a little more complicated, but for those well versed in pop culture it’s a familiar power. She’ll get a warning of incoming danger just before it happens, a ‘tingle’ warning her away from the threat. Let’s demonstrate, shall we?”

Maria, having fully recovered by this point, looked at Serena with trepidation.

“Maria, dear, to demonstrate this, I want you to close your eyes.” Maria begrudgingly complied, so Serena continued. “Now, I’m going to try and slap your face. What I want you to do is listen to your new foresense. Don’t move in anticipation, don’t move out of fear, move only when you feel that ‘tingle’ and move away from the danger, not into, okay?”

Maria nodded.

“Now, what you’ll see in a moment is that her new sense only registers real future danger. I can swing my arms any which way around her, and as long as I don’t plan on connecting, her sense won’t trigger.”

Serena demonstrated, moving her arms a few times in mock slaps, but always stopping short of touching Maria. Finally, with no verbal warning, she followed through on her swing.

Maria instantly leaned out of the path of the slap.

“Wonderful!” Serena cried, starting to applaud as Maria opened her eyes. The rest joined in as well. “Maria, your training will center entirely on getting used to such ‘tingles’ in a less controlled environment, with the intent of getting you prepared for the chaos of combat. Now, step over to your wife, we’ve got to keep things moving!”

Next up was Sarah.

“Sarah, my dear, how’s your transformation? Everything copacetic, my new contortionist?”

In response, Sarah bent over backwards, folding over to bring her head up from behind her legs. She raised a thumbs up before unfolding.

Serena whistled. “Oooh ooh, the possibilities! Yes, you got exactly the transformation you asked for, Contortionist! And the linked Superpower is D-Rank Martial Arts!”

*SNAP*

Sarah’s whole body shook, jittery reactions playing across her form. A moment later they settled down and Sarah was looking down at her hands.

“With D-Rank Martial Arts, you now have the knowledge and reactions of a black belt in every unarmed martial art known to man!”

“Nate!” Sarah shouted, grinning like a lunatic, “I know kung fu!”

Nate snorted a laugh and facepalmed.

“Indeed, as well as taekwondo, jiujitsu, karate, capoeira, jeet kune do, tai chi, sumo, muay thai, silat, aikido, sambo, krav maga, the list goes on! And that’s why your training will be to form your own fighting style from all those styles – pick a single one as your go-to or mix and match, the choice is yours. We’ll hold off on your demonstration until you’ve had some time to sort through the options, Sarah.”

Sarah nodded rapidly, still rather gleeful, and moved over to join Helena and Maria.

“Sam, you’re up next! Now, it’s my understanding you’re keeping the name Sam, but want it to stand for Samantha instead?”

Sam, having stepped forward, frowned at Serena. “How would you know that, you weren’t even there for that discussion.”

“We’ll consider that an affirmation, Sammy dear. Welcome to the fairer sex, thanks to your transformation, Youngest Treasure! And like your stepmother, you’ve got a C-Rank Superpower attached – Illusions! Brace yourself, because this one is likely to sting!”

*SNAP*

“Eeek!” Sam squealed, falling to her knees. Her hand covered her head in response to the sharp pain drilling through her grey matter.

Serena winced, “Well, we’ll wait a moment for Sam to recover before asking for a demonstration. Sorry, ladies, if I could do this safely without the pain, I would. This isn’t avoidable without some really nasty workarounds you wouldn’t want to deal with, trust me.”

A minute later, Sam finally felt well enough to muster herself and stand back up straight.

“Excellent. Sorry, again, for the **** pain, mental ones such as yours and your mother’s are the worst. Moving on to the superpowers, though, you’ll be excited to hear that not only can you conjure visible illusions, with the C-Rank version of your power you can also include sound! Go ahead, give us an illusion.”

Sam thought for a moment, looking around for inspiration. Her eyes lit up at an idea when she looked over at Nate, and a small smile alit on her delicate face.

“Spectre reporting,” Came a feminine voice to Nate’s left. He looked to the side and saw standing there the unmistakable form of a Spectre, a sexy space assassin from an old game he and Sam had enjoyed in the past. Skin tight bodysuit with glowing lines, high-tech futuristic armor pieces, goggles atop a finely coiffed ponytail of blonde hair, and even a sci-fi sniper rifle made her look straight of the the game. Even more surprising was the fact that she looked completely real, not like a video game character at all – he’d have pegged her for a particularly good cosplayer if he didn’t know better.

“Ah, a classic look, and even a version that doesn’t threaten interdimensional copyright! Good choice, Sammy!”

A moment later the Spectre disappeared, and Serena continued, “Your training will be very straightforward – learn to be comfortable with your new power. Your superpower is the most versatile power of the round – your imagination is truly the limit, my dear!”

Sam dutifully moved off to the side, allowing Alex to take her place.

“Next up, the resident goth girlfriend thanks to her transformation, BTGGF, it’s Alex! Alex, how are you liking the new you?”

Alex shrugged, “I’m still me. Just curvier.” She gestured to her body for emphasis.

“Hah! Ain’t that the truth! Well, you’ve got the most complicated superpower of the round – Grimoire Magic!”

*SNAP*

No one was prepared for a book to suddenly rise from between Alex’s breasts, least of all Alex. She yelped in surprise, stepping back as the book dropped to the floor. After a breath of examining the book which lay inert on the ground, Alex bent down and picked it up, dusting it off as she rose.

“That’ll be your grimoire, Alex. It’s linked to your soul, so you can always store it back there – simply push it between your breasts when you aren’t writing in it.

“Grimoire magic requires a good deal more forethought than the rest of these superpowers. At the moment, that grimoire of yours is empty. You’ll need to fill it up with spells – specifically cantrips and lesser spells. When you return the grimoire to your soul, you’ll be able to ‘read’ it - for every spell in there, you’ll find yourself able to use that spell in reality. But be smart – you can’t erase spells from your grimoire, and you only have a limited number of pages, so don’t waste them with useless spells.

“Also, in the case your Grimoire magic is upgraded, not only will it grant you access to more powerful spells, it’ll double the number of pages you have access to, so don’t worry about conserving pages for that reason.

“At the moment, you don’t have any spells, so no demonstration for you. Your training for the moment will be on filling out your grimoire, and then familiarizing yourself with the spells you’ve chosen. To that end, I hereby grant you access to the Eldritch Library during your stay here.”

Serena snapped, and Alex heard a beeping from her phone. She pulled it out and saw a new icon on her screen – a white pentagram over a black box.

“That icon will open a portal to the Eldritch Library. The portal will remain open while you are inside, but close once you have returned. It will be disabled during Challenges, though, so don’t plan on hiding there or using it as a safehouse.”

Alex, taking all of this information in, nodded, then pushed the book between her breasts, where it disappeared. She instantly looked up and caught Nate looking, to which she grinned a teasing grin. “See something you like?”

“Not fair,” Nate complained light heartedly.

Alex smirked and walked over to join the rest of the superheroes, leaving only Vivian to step forward before Serena.

“Now, Vivian, you, too, got the transformation you asked for, Fake It ‘Til You Make It. But I’m very sad to see you haven’t earned a single BP from it yet!”

“I know! I was testing all kinds of things with Alex this morning, but nothing made the number go up!”

“Ah, then let me give you a little hint. In fact, allow me to give ALL the Contestants a hint. Both BP, in the case of Vivian’s transformation, and VP, for everyone involved, will only be awarded for actions not previously taken. We don’t want to give advantages for prior relationship progress – we want to see that all happen here! As such, when it comes to VP, the one with the least possible points to gain is Alex,” Serena gestured to the goth.

Alex pursed her lips, then shrugged, “Makes sense, we even practiced kissing each other with the excuse of learning how to kiss.”

“It wasn’t an excuse!” Nate protested.

“Riiiight,” Alex smirked at him.

“Wait is this in both timelines? Or just the female one?” Vivian asked.

“Female one,” Alex clarified. “I wasn’t gay enough as a man, no matter Nate’s preferences.”

“I’m not gay!”

“Femboys?”

“Fuck you.”

“…And the one with the most possible points to gain is little Sam!” Serena continued, having let the byplay play out.

“Wait really?” Vivian asked. Sam, too, look surprised.

“You kissed him on the cheek as thanks for his birthday present,” Alex noted.

“…But only in the female timeline. That counts?”

“Again, counted for me. Only kissed him as a girl.”

“I suppose that makes sense,” Sam said. “We’ve hugged, but brothers don’t really kiss each other on the cheek.” Nate nodded in agreement.

“And so, with that clarified, let’s get back to Vivian’s superpower! Vivian, your voted superpower is C-Rank Teleportation! Now, before I give you the power, I’m going to spatially lock you, so don’t try anything right away, okay?”

*SNAP*

Vivian suddenly froze rigidly in place.

“Now here comes the superpower!”

*SNAP*

“Aagh,” Vivian cried, and then she seemed to almost flicker in place.

“I’ve spatially locked her so that she doesn’t accidentally teleport herself into a wall. We wouldn’t want that. So, until she’s got it under control, I’ll keep her spatially locked here. That’ll be her goal for training today – get her power under control until she’s not an immediate danger to herself.”

Vivian continued to periodically flicker in place as Serena turned back to look at Nate. “In the meantime, we can move on to the final superpower for today. Master, yours is the only non-mental superpower, so while you won’t get a headache, your body will likely ache a bit during the change. Ready?”

Nate gulped, then nodded.

*SNAP*

Nate would have cried out in pain if his entire body hadn’t seized in pain. Instead, all that came out was a garbled exhale, as his body twitched and fought his control. After a half minute of not even being able to breathe, his body finally relaxed and he sagged to the floor. Gasping in big breaths, he managed to **** himself back upright. Even after the pain had passed, he still felt a dull ache throughout his body, but at the same time, he felt… sturdier, more firm.

“Excellent, and again, sorry about the pain. And now, time for a demonstration!”

“But wait, what’s his power?” Sarah asked.

“I’m glad you asked!” Serena said, then she snapped, summoning the same handgun she had before to her hand. She spun and, in a shocking recreation of before, unloaded her gun into Nate.

Screams of dismay and horror rang out from the Contestants, more than a few covering their mouths in shock. Helena dropped to her knees as she felt her legs give out from under her.

Finishing her twelfth shot, Serena leaned back, blowing the smoke off the tip of her pistol. “How’s it feel, Nate?”

“Uh, fine, actually,” the man in question replied, still standing and having not even flinched under the barrage. “Though I don’t like you playing with their heartstrings. And I liked this shirt.” He fingered one of the many new holes in his shirt.

Serena rolled her eyes and snapped her fingers, the shirt repairing itself instantly. “Well, get on with it! Take off your shirt so your adoring public can see you’re okay.”

Nate glared at her, then looked back to his family, whose eyes were still wavering in disbelieving horror. He shook his head, then unbuttoned his shirt, “It’s alright, guys, I’m unharmed. My power’s durability, so I guess I’m now bulletproof.” He bared his chest to them, showing he didn’t even bear a mark where the bullets had his him.

Alex, Helena, and Sarah rushed over toward him, each woman scrutinizing his chest to confirm his lack of even a bruise. The rest trailed after, each woman taking the chance to get an eyeful of his fit musculature. He wasn’t superhero ripped, but he kept his body in good shape, and despite the roller coaster of emotions, each woman there (even Sam!) was taking the chance to subtly ogle him while masking it with their distress.

After a few moments of this, Nate finally batted away the examining hands, “Alright, alright, enough already, I’m fine, okay? It’s A-Rank Durability, guys, I think Serena’s proven her point.”

“Yes, indeed, I have!” Sarah said, drawing their attention back. “This whole demonstration is to prove a point! You see, if we are making you all into superheroines, then Nate, the Master of the harem, must be even MORE super! If you are to be the Justice League, then he will be your Superman!

“As such, Nate will be training in a separate training ground, one you will not be allowed access to unless arranged prior to the training. This is to prevent any one of you from wandering into a stray bullet or rocket, or whatever crazy dangerous weapon Nate is testing his durability against. Understand?”

Everyone present nodded, though Nate knew that this, like Might & Magic, was likely another situation that had a hidden reason. If he had private training in a separate training ground, then he could potentially use that as a cover for Villain activity, such as setting up for the Challenge.

“And with that, we’ve dealt out the first round of powers! Which means, ladies and gentleman, it’s time for a training montage!”