Disclaimer - I don't own Marvel/Disney IP. I am just a humble keyboard warrior. Also, the Chaos Gacha was made by Bronz here. I am just dipping my toe in the water, so to speak.
Pocket Beach Dimension
–?--
Jumping out of Gama's mouth, he coughed up the seawater that had found its way inside his mouth even after they had swam mostly above the surface of the sea, and with his mouth closed, as Gama just pushed him out of his mouth, with his slimy tongue.
Eww.
Trying to ignore that last sensation, he ordered Gama to go swim around in the ocean and bring him fish if he could catch any before turning to Alcina, who was just standing here with her arms crossed, a neutral look on her face.
He resisted the urge to air his thoughts out to her and instead began walking to the beach, completely drenched in seawater. The water was very clear, and likely void of any contaminant or plastic waste, but just the seawater was enough to make him uncomfortable standing in these clothes.
Thankfully, it was always sunny out in this dimension, and the air was also tropical temperature, so he was not shivering but with the lack of food in his system, it was getting uncomfortably cold for him. It really sucked not having dry clothing here.
In fact, it sucked not having shelter, a reliable way to cook food, and not having a way to reliably source blood and human flesh for the strongest piece he had on his chess board. It sucked not having the mindset necessary to just bulldoze over everyone in his way to make sure his goals were met.
He supposed the system was not named the Chaos Gacha without a reason. Chaos was not good or bad; it just was, and in his situation, his morals were kind of getting in the way of him generating a maximum amount of chaos and getting stronger for it. And in a universe as dangerous as Marvel, even taking into account the more kid friendly versions of it, it would be downright suicide not to do everything in his power to extract as much value as he can out of the Chaos Gacha because he did not know what was coming for him.
Sighing, he took the key out of his pocket and stared at it for a while, before he clenched it tightly, his mind made up. Looking up, he ordered Alcina, "We need to get out of the city."
Opening the door, he let Alcina through and jumped after her when she gave him the all clear. It was clear that while being in the city clearly had its benefits, getting out of it was the best thing he could do for now. He had time, it was only 2004, and if the reports were right, only the Hulk had come out for now. He had more than enough time for more superheroes to emerge, with the ensuing conflicts resulting in more and more villains coming out of the woodwork, all to wreck the world and mold it in their own image.
It had only been an hour or so since their encounter with the cops, so they were very careful as they got out of the sewers and entered the city once more. Alcina changed subtle features of her face and body that made her look completely different from her previous looks, as he did his best to keep his head down and walk.
He was still drenched and coming to New York City from a tropical atmosphere, while drenched was very clearly the wrong decision, but he had to do it. It was dark outside now, with most stores closed on their way. Now bereft of that last bit of hesitation at committing crimes, he ordered Alcina to break into a clothing shop and retrieve multiple sets of clothing.
Thankfully, there was no alarm ringing as they raided the place, getting about a thousand dollars in cash, along with a change of clothes. Using the door of the changing room, he just robbed the store blind of all its contents. He had chosen one of the franchise stores for a reason, not wanting to hurt a small business and feeling slightly better at sticking it to big corporations.
With the robbery done, they left through the back exit, dressed completely differently and thankfully dry as well. With the appropriate amount of layers on his body, they headed to the bus stop. The metro would have been the ideal method to leave the city if they wanted just speed, but he could not risk being trapped in an enclosed space with no way out.
At least in the case of a bus, they could always just break out and flee. In any case, he just needed to leave the city peacefully. Once out, he could figure stuff out at his own pace, not that he could dilly dally for long. The universe and all its threats were coming for him, whether he liked it or not, so he had to be prepared for that.
As he sat in a bus headed to New Jersey, he used his hoodie to make sure that his face was hidden, with Alcina sitting right behind him. During their raid on the clothing store, she had warned him that she was starting to feel hungry now, and if she didn't at least drink blood soon, her control over her urges might weaken. So, yeah, he had a vampire to feed now, with the threat of a feral or a weakened ally if he delayed any more.
He tensed slightly as he felt someone sit by his side. Looking up, he surveyed the bus and sighed as he saw it was full, which is why someone took the risk of sitting beside an obviously shady character like him. It was an old grandma, dressed in old grandma clothes. It was just the vibe he got from her.
Having told Alcina to guard him, he kept to himself, reminding himself that he just had to get through this bus ride, before he could just disappear into the woods. Gama was an option, yes, but his inability to fully close his mouth while swimming underwater was a big issue. He would need oxygen tanks and an enclosure to protect his face from being hammered with the water, as Gama swam through the ocean at high speeds.
He could swim at very high speeds, even if he had a person inside his mouth, but the sole issue of water made him rule out Gama as a getaway vehicle, otherwise they would have been out of the city by now.
"So, where you headed?" He was roused out of his thoughts as the old granny beside him asked him a seemingly normal question. One that he had no answer for, for himself. For her though?
"New Jersey." He answered in a curt manner, and began looking outside the window in hopes that it would end the conversation, but apparently, old people could not really take a hint or she was just a really jolly extrovert who just couldn't help but talk to strangers on the bus.
"Really? Me too. Do you live there? Or just visiting?"
Knowing that Alcina was right behind them and the old lady couldn't hurt him even if he didn't have a vampiric/draconic supernatural creature at his beck and call, he answered reluctantly, and he made sure she knew it.
"Just visiting."
"Me too! I am visiting one of my old friends. She recently moved in with her son, who works in the city. Who are you visiting?"
He groaned internally, not really knowing how to get out of this tedious conversation without drawing even more attention from the people in the bus. It would just be begging for attention if the old lady started speaking louder to get his attention because he just didn't respond.
She did not seem like the type who could take a hint so easily. Plus, she was old and it went against everything he'd learned in his previous life to just ignore old people just because they were a little annoying. They were old, annoying was like their default setting. He knew that because….
Because he could see a blurry silhouette of someone scolding him, chattering to him endlessly, and more. Instinctively, he felt a profound sense of loss, despite not knowing who this person was. He just knew they were someone who meant a lot to him, and losing them was not easy for him.
Suddenly feeling a tightness in his chest, he replied, "No one. Just wanted to get out of the city."
Something about his voice must have alarmed her because the next barrage of questions came with a far higher frequency and interest than before, the most important of which was his name.
Hers was apparently Gertrude, which sounded like exactly the kind of name an old grandma like her would have. Also German, so there was that.
"Uh…" was all that came out of his mouth after her line of questioning, as he finally looked up and saw her looking at him with concern, instead of suspicion, which was hella suspicious in his books.
"Oh, it's alright if you don't want to tell me that, sweetie! I know you young people like your privacy these days." The way she said that just upset him even more as he frantically tried to think of a fake name on the spot, to just placate the first person he had an actual conversation with, in this universe. Then, out of the blue, It came to him and yet, it felt just right to tell her.
"Mike," He said, a little hesitant at first, but then firmly after, "My name is Mike."
"Just Mike?" She smiled at him slyly, as if this was her strategy in the first place. Crafty old Women.
"Just Mike." He confirmed as the conversation moved to lighter topics, like the weather, famous spots in Jersey, what to eat and where to eat there, and more. He barely paid attention to the conversation, his attention being drawn to the notification he got from the Chaos Gacha.
He got two tickets, both of which had some implications he was not really comfortable deeply thinking of.
For finally choosing a name for yourself, Silver Ticket X1
For having a nationwide manhunt being launched for you, Gold Ticket X1
His eyes widened at the second ticket as he suddenly felt a lot more exposed than before, shrinking in on himself as he realised the repercussions of openly using his abilities to knock out two police officers had finally reached him. They probably got the recording from the cars or from their body cams about his abilities and Alcina's as well.
The nationwide part came just now probably because SHIELD must have wanted to handle this without gaining too much attention to keep the path of recruiting him open. Now that he had gone ahead and committed crimes, they must have had no choice but to widen the search net to bring him in, and to make sure that SHIELD was the one who brought him in.
After all, for a couple of years even after this, they will be considered the go to authority for matters that involve the superhuman. Not supernatural, because SHIELD didn't have the foggiest clue about how to handle real magic and Sorcerers, who bent reality on a regular basis.
Regular metahumans? Most of whom were just one trick ponies? They could handle that with ease. And so far, he could count himself amongst those one trick ponies, if you did not count Alcina and a dormant hidden bloodline that could be completely useless or make him a demigod.
He looked at the signs in the bus and saw that the next stop was going to be Jersey City, which was his stop. Without any delay, since he really needed all the powers he could get, he rolled both the tickets.
The silver ticket gave him -
[Kubikiribochi]
|Uncommon Item|
Naruto - An oversized cleaver-shaped curved sword revered as one of the blades wielded by the seven swordsmen of the mist. This blade is incredibly durable and conducts energy well. In addition, no matter how damaged the blade is, it will repair itself as long as it absorbs blood.
Great. Yet another thing that needed blood. Was the system messing with him? He was already queasy enough about anything needing blood in the first place, to the point that he was afraid of syringes in his past life and needed to look away when doctors were taking blood samples and now, he somehow had to source human blood and flesh for one of his familiars to live and protect him and for his sword to repair itself after it inevitably broke if he used it.
He felt the oversized sword that was more akin to a pointy club appear in his Item space, a space that was distinct from the familiar space. He also knew that the item space was different from the familiar space, in the sense that items could be put back in after taking them out once. Also, what the fuck was this roll? The only thing remotely useful in the past few rolls was Gama, and even then, the Toad could not transport him with ease.
Exhaling, he smiled at Gertrude to hide his inner turmoil, and rolled the Gold Ticket, praying to any God that would listen to give him something useful.
[Vibranium Weave Patch]
|Elite Item|
MCU - An ordinary-looking sticker that, when applied to a piece of clothing, perfectly suffuses it with Vibranium weaving, adding threads of vibranium perfectly integrated. Making the clothing incredibly durable and capable of dispersing kinetic energy to the point where even a baseline human can withstand a tank shell without dying. The patch only contains enough vibranium threads to be used on at most 5kg of clothing.
Yes! He barely contained the urge to pump his fist in the air as he felt the small patch appear in his item space. This was exactly the kind of thing he wanted early on. A way to convert his regular clothing into what was basically the best armour on the planet. It was perfect because he had just pilfered an entire clothing store, and he had clothing of all sizes and shapes.
While the 5kg limit was noticeable, it should be enough to allow him a full-body Vibranium shield, basically making him impervious to most things that SHIELD and any law enforcement agency in the country could aim at him, provided he was not stupid enough to keep some critical part exposed.
He was so glad that the store had multiple full facial masks as well, some kind of fashion accessory that he didn't understand. Gertrude looked at him when he basically melted into the seat in relief, as he was just a hop into his Pocket Dimension away from the best protection he could ask at this point.
Sure, Alcina was more than capable of protecting him, but she was also someone else, and no matter how fast, she could not be by his side instantaneously. Personal protection was the way to go and Vibranium was basically the best protection you could ask for, especially since it was already refined and ready to go, instead of being in Ore form, the processing of which could only be done by Wakanda at this point.
The sting from getting yet another blood related item fading away, he unhurriedly got up when the bus came to a halt, and got off the bus with Gertrude and Alcina right behind him, keeping his hood down to keep his face from being identified.
Still, even with that, he knew that it was not going to be enough, so after a hurried goodbye with Gurtrude, who insisted on giving him her number, they departed the train station, and began walking on the sidewalks, ready to find an isolated place to enter the safe space.
He really needed to do something about this whole door situation. If they had a portable door, they could use that to create an entry/exit anywhere they wanted, in the middle of a forest, if need be.
As they walked, he asked Alcina, "Can you fight with a sword?"
"I prefer not to. My body is my most efficient weapon." She replied curtly, her eyes ahead to look out for any threats. He could tell that she did not appreciate being used as a bodyguard, but what other choice did he have? He had no durability enhancement and, until now, no way to defend himself from bullets. All his other familiars were not capable of blending in, not to mention non-humanoid. Also, not really sentient as well.
"Very well." He said as they came across a gas station along with a store attached to it. A hardware store by the looks of it. It was as if a bulb lit up in his mind. Generators. Fuel tanks. Lights. Packed food. Camping equipment. And more. All of that available in a single place, ready to be stolen. With Alcina and an open portal, the stealing can be done within minutes, leaving them more than enough time to flee to an already chosen place to open the portal to his beach.
He leaned over, whispering his plan to Alcina, who nodded, though not without yet another reminder that she was feeling hungry. He nodded but realistically, he had no way of procuring that for her.
Killing a human, especially for food, was enough to make him queasy. Shaking his head, they continued walking to scout their getaway place. As a motorcycle whizzed past them, his mind also went to the method of transportation now that they were going to go off the roads and into the forests. Cars would be too big to get through the standard sized portal that opens on regular doors, so motorcycles would be the way to go.
A couple of jerry cans full of gas and a motorcycle should be enough for them to cross vast distances inside the forest, especially if his theory of a remote doorway enough for the portal turns out to be true. Maybe he could test if a large, bunker type door could be used to open a portal large enough to get a truck through. For now, though, a portable door was his topmost priority.
Just hide a door under something, use it to hop into his beach dimension, and leave through the same, with no one being the wiser.
As the plan of robbing multiple stores and people came together, a statement continued to reverberate in his mind. A phrase that made him pause for a bit, something that someone on the outside would use to describe his current circumstances.
Thus began his descent into becoming a criminal.