The set of circumstances that led to Calum Thornton ordering the Chronivac online could only be described as the grand culmination of a joke - a prank, thought of only in terms of a distant half chance that anything might actually happen. Let alone that something like that might actually arrive. Calum was frustrated, he felt isolated, and he acted out in order to make his voice heard when it felt like it was so often drowned out in the drama between his dad and his step-mother. Honestly, after he did it, he had kind of just forgot it even happened - well, until the device actually showed up on their doorstep. True to form, dad had never even noticed the 15.99 missing from his bank account. After all, he made enough to have that be well and truly below his notice.
Calum had just been sitting around in the three story house, sweat drenching his t-shirt and pants, and his wavy blond hair matted and clinging to the back of his neck. His bright green eyes were glowering, and focused on the ground. Where most 13 year old boys got to go to the arcade or enjoy a quick little meal from a fastfood place, Calum had the hate of such places ground into him from an early age. Most of his schoolmates except the "other school bullies" knew him as a distant and angry boy. The truth was, Calum's dad, Bryce Thornton, had foisted a lifestyle on him out of pure ego. You see, Bryce had injured his shoulder early in his bodybuilding career - and while he remained fit and muscled, he couldn't quite make it as far as he wanted to. So Calum became the proxy - the one he lived vicariously through.
Most boys his age would kill to have rock hard pecs, six pack abs, and broad shoulders. But Calum regarded it as a sign of how much his dad had imposed on him. You didn't get like that so early without a chemical kick, after all. Calum on the one hand liked being so big and strong relative to the other boys - on the other, just looking in the mirror reminded him of grueling diets, his dad behaving more like a manager, and the shots. He wasn't exactly fond of it, but he took how powerless he felt, and pushed that on others. Calum bullied, and impressed on others how big he was...to avoid how small he felt in the home.
He hurried along out from the living room - which, through a sliding glass door led into the home weight room - and hurried to the front door to pick up the device. The device whose very existence Calum had scoffed at upon seeing it. Just thinking of it as a drain on dear old dad's resources. He hurried because it wasn't like dad was the only unpleasant person in the house. There was also his stepmom, Allyson Brandt-Thornton.
She tried. Oh, she tried to be a mother to him. But with how her own son Daryl ended up, she would very often be sour with him, and would punish Calum for seemingly nothing - in an effort to find some way to punish his dad. On top of pushing steroids on Calum, Mr. Thornton would often be out late, and owing to his history, the prevailing theory was that he was enjoying his nights out at the local...club. He cheated on his last wife, and so the logic went he would cheat on the new woman too.
They would have thunderous, loud arguments late at night, and then they would have violent make-up sex, and promise they wouldn't fuck with each other like that any more...at least, for a few months. Until Bryce's oats got a little too wild. Then it would repeat. It was hardly the sort of place for a teen to be growing up - so it was perhaps understandable both Calum and Daryl hadn't exactly had the best time of it.
As Calum retrieved the box from the front stoop, he saw Daryl outside. Chatting with a bunch of other nerdy guys and hanging out by the neighbor's house. Daryl was a 16 year old boy and skinny as a reed, thick brown curly hair cut a bit wild, and amber-brown eyes. One might expect that Daryl would be the victim of the younger, hardy bodied brother's bullying. You would be mistaken. Owing to his mother's ardent protection and lightning fast reaction to any aggression, Daryl responded to his "jock brother" with disdain and derision. Far from a soft-spoken and good nerdy guy, Daryl was very much the outspoken, pushy leader of his nerd Clique. And whenever he thought he could get away with it, he would badmouth and insult Calum - and Allyson would overlook it.
Calum hurried up to his room with the Chronivac contained in the box it had arrived in. Eager to see if there was any truth to the stories he had heard about it. Apparently, according to his buddy Gregory, "some dork" had gotten stuck as a donkey for three weeks or something. At least, so the myth went. It had about as much a sense of folklore as Bloody Mary. A kid's story of the things lurking about on the internet. In this case, a marauder program that could turn you into a donkey.
The muscled teen had just laughed at it - and then he, Gregory and their other bud Allan had gone back to picking on the dorks. But now, Calum had it right here in his own hands. He sat it down on his bed, looking around his room. The place was adorned with a queen size bed, a mirror on the dresser by his bed, another dresser by the opposite wall, a closet, and some fitness weights left strewn about. His laptop - mostly for schoolwork - was left on a desk.
Theoretically, that was what was going to work the Chronivac, and let him do whatever he wanted with the people he loaded into it. Honestly, the idea of having power made Calum feel giddy. Almost as giddy as when he and Gregory spied on the older girls in their school. But this giddiness was betrayed. Calum heard the telltale whistling. The sound only one person ever made when he was on the move out from his room.
Calum shoved the box containing his Chronivac under the bed - and just in time.
His room door swung open and the beaming figure of Bryce Thornton stood there, a broad grin on his face. Dad was tall, even bigger than Calum in every way, and honestly, Calum didn't get even now why Dad didn't just compete himself. He was huge! Bryce had a handsome face, a strong jawline, and no body hair whatsoever below the jaw. Some of Calum's friends likened the way Bryce's skin, so smooth and hairless, looked to a mannequin or something. Even at 42, Bryce tried his hardest to stay youthful looking - vanity might as well have been his word. He had numerous creams and wrinkle removal gels in his bathroom, and boy he'd have a fit if someone messed with those.
"Hey son!" Bryce said, crossing his arms in front of his chest, still smiling. "You know what day today is, champ."
Shit.
Calum gulped, "...Testy Day?" This was gonna sting.
"You know it." Bryce gestured, and Calum knew better than to fight back. Fighting back got him slung over the shoulder and held down. "I'm gonna make you the youngest IFBB Pro ever, Calum. You'll be bigger than that brat Jeff Seid. Better looking than Jeff Seid. And you'll win more categories than him, too." Calum for his part just looked down, biting his lip. Mentally preparing for the injection.
As he stepped into his dad's room, he looked around.
As usual, it was a complete and total mess. The bed was barely put together. Numerous wrappers and food containers rested on the floor. There was a pungent aroma of sweat in the air, and a lot of dirty clothes were slung about everywhere. There was a big full length mirror by the bed, the best so that Bryce Thornton could see the features of the one person he really, truly loved every morning.
He fished out a container from under the bed, and stuck a long needle into a bottle, both produced from the container. Calum gulped, and grit his teeth as he sat down and extended his leg. Wincing at the numerous stains on the bed. "Yeah, yeah, clench your teeth." Bryce said, and jabbed the needle into Calum's leg, giving the young teen a fresh dose of testosterone. Calum grunted and clenched his fists tight. Fuck you, dad, fuck you so fucking much shooting me up with fucking steroids---
By the time it was done, Calum breathed and watched his dad apply a little pad to it. Panting a bit, Calum asked, "Can I go...?"
"Yeah, go ahead. And don't make any noise tonight. Your step-mom and I are gonna be having a night to ourselves." And now Calum walked off sighing. So they were in that phase of the relationship. Wasn't long before dad got bored. Then it'd all repeat. Over and over.
But now, as Calum rushed back into his room and threw the door shut, he pulled out the Chronivac from the box. Outright tore the box to pieces with his sheer strength. Grinned as he looked at the little disc containing the allegedly so powerful program. He turned his laptop on, let it power up and cool. Once he had it on, he set the disc to go in, and sat back.
He watched the screen seem to turn into a series of blue squares one by one, followed by a display of a sphere made of the blue squares - and then a cheerful "WELCOME TO THE CHRONIVAC!" played in a low tone. Calum looked around, hoping nobody heard after that...and relieved there were no sounds of movement. Calum crossed his arms and waited. Watched as the program started loading...and it seemed it was loading pictures of his family as they were now.
His step-mom, dressed in a blouse, shorts and high heels, her long brown hair styled back. She seemed to be out shopping for something.
Daryl, smirking at nothing, walking outside evidently. He seemed to be amused by some cruel joke he likely just told.
And his dad...ew, fucking ew. Dad was completely naked, his hand around his cock. Calum almost fell out of his chair in shock. He---he kinda knew his dad was self absorbed. But going by the look of things, his dad was literally sat in front of that big old full length mirror. Just...masturbating at his own fucking reflection. A literal caricature of a narcissist.
Thankfully, Calum was able to see the option to load "linked personages". And before long, he saw Daryl's dorky, loser friends - outside with him, walking with him. Still hanging out there none the wiser. And apparently, his mom was talking to someone in the market. Some nerdy looking guy named Braiden, going by his outfit he was an assistant there at the market.
Calum considered the basics. Considered the options listed, and then clicking through them, he was able to see numerous branching options. Available changes that he could make to the people around him that he, at best, tolerated. Calum smugly cupped his chin, sitting there in front of his computer. He could get up to some interesting things with this program.