Chapter 15
I stared at him.
Was I supposed to know who this guy was?
And what the hell was S.H.I.E.L.D.?
"S.H.I.E.L.D.," I said slowly. "Never heard of it."
"We're a government organization that deals with threats most people don't even know exist. Aliens. Enhanced individuals. Weapons that shouldn't exist. Things like that."
He gestured at me.
"Things like you."
I tensed up. My hand twitched, ready to summon the sword at a moment's notice.
"How did you find me?" I asked.
Fury pulled out a tablet from inside his coat. Tapped a few buttons. Turned it toward me.
The screen showed footage from the invasion. Me summoning grand chariot sword then transforming.
Shit. I knew that was risky.
"Adam Maxwell. Seventeen years old. Recently transferred to Midtown High from Kansas. Mother is Michelle Maxwell, nurse at Queens General Hospital. Father Henry Maxwell, deceased six months ago.
Fury continued.
Fury continued listing details. My address. Where I'd gone to school in Kansas. Even what classes I was taking now.
I was silent. They knew everything now. Everything.
"Relax, kid. I'm not here to haul you off to some black site." He stopped a few feet away from me. "If that's what I wanted, we wouldn't be having this conversation in your basement. We'd be having it in a cell somewhere."
"Then what do you want?"
"Answers." Fury's one good eye locked onto mine. Hard. Unblinking. "Three days ago, an unknown combatant in advanced armor showed up in the middle of an alien invasion. No prior record. No files. No intel whatsoever. Just appeared out of thin air and started tearing through Chitauri like it was nothing."
Chitauri. So that's what those aliens were called.
"I was helping," I said. "People were about to die."
"And saved a lot of lives." Then he continued. "We have absolutely no idea who you are, where you came from, or how a seventeen-year-old kid got his hands on that kind of tech."
I didn't say anything. What was I supposed to say? Yeah, I got magic armor from a system in my head that gives me random rewards every day?
Yeah, right. That would go over well.
Fury seemed to take my silence as confirmation that he was on the right track.
"You're going to answer my questions. All of them. Honestly. And then we're going to have a conversation about what happens next."
"And if I don't?"
Fury tilted his head slightly. "Then you become a problem. And I don't like problems." He paused. "So I'm going to ask you again, nicely. Where did you get the armor?"
I took a breath. Okay. Here goes nothing.
"It just... appeared," I said. "One night. About a week ago. I woke up and it was just there. In my room."
Fury's expression didn't change. "It appeared."
"Yeah."
"Out of nowhere."
"Yeah."
"And you have no idea where it came from."
"No idea."
Fury stared at me.
The silence stretched on and it was starting to get uncomfortable.
Finally, Fury sighed.
"Let me be clear about something." He stepped closer. "I don't believe for one second that the armor 'just appeared.' That's not how the world works. But I can see you're not going to tell me the truth. Not today, anyway."
I didn't say anything. Just held his gaze.
Fury sighed. "Here's what I think. I think you're a kid who stumbled into something way over his head. I think you've got abilities you don't fully understand. And I think you're scared. Which is smart. You should be scared."
He paused.
"But here's the thing. You fought alongside the Avengers. You saved lives. You didn't run. You didn't hide. And from what I can tell, you're not a threat." He narrowed his eye. "At least, not yet."
"So what happens now?" I asked.
"Now? Nothing." Fury put his hands in his pockets. "You go back to your life. Go to school. Stay out of trouble. And if ever the world needs your help again… well we'll meet again for sure.
"That's it? So you're... leaving?"
"For now." Fury headed toward the stairs. "But understand this, Mr. Maxwell. I'll be watching. S.H.I.E.L.D. will be watching. And if you step out of line, if you become a threat, we will come for you. Are we clear?"
I nodded. "Crystal."
And with that, he was gone.
I sighed.
I stood there for a long moment, just processing what had just happened.
Nick Fury knew who I was. S.H.I.E.L.D. knew who I was. They had footage of me transforming. They knew where I lived. Where I went to school. Everything.
My secret identity? Yeah, that lasted all of three days.
Great job, Adam. Great job.
But honestly? I didn't regret it. If I hadn't done what I did, people would've died. That family in the park. All those civilians running from the aliens. Maybe even Spider-Man.
I'd do it again. Even knowing S.H.I.E.L.D. would find me.
I turned back to the washing machine. Right. Laundry. The reason I came down here in the first place.
I transferred the wet clothes to the dryer, my mind still racing.
Fury said he was watching. That S.H.I.E.L.D. was watching. Did that mean they had agents tailing me? Cameras on my house? Were they monitoring my phone?
Probably all of the above.
The thought made my skin crawl. I'd gone from completely anonymous to being on a government watchlist in less than a week. All because I decided to help people during an alien invasion.
But what was I supposed to do? Let them die?
No. I'd made the right choice. Even if it meant the government showing up in my basement.
I closed the dryer and started it.
My phone buzzed. I pulled it out.
Text from Mom: Working late again tonight. There's leftover pasta in the fridge. Love you.
I sighed and typed back: Okay. Love you too.
I headed back upstairs and flopped onto the couch. The TV was still off. The house was quiet. Just me and my thoughts.
And the knowledge that somewhere out there, Nick Fury and S.H.I.E.L.D. were watching everything I did.
That was going to take some getting used to.
My phone buzzed again. Another text. This time from Peter.
Peter: Hey, you see the news? They're doing a special report on the invasion tonight. All the heroes. Iron Man, Cap, everyone. Gonna watch it?
I thought about it for a second.
Me: Yeah, I'll watch. What time?
Peter: 8pm. Channel 7.
Me: Cool. See you at school next week?
Peter: Yeah man. Stay safe.
I set my phone down and checked the time. 6:30pm. An hour and a half until the special report.
Might as well see what the news had to say about the invasion. Maybe they'd mention the "Unknown Armor Hero" again.
I grabbed my phone and pulled up YouTube. Typed in "blue armor hero invasion."
Hundreds of videos. Thousands. People had been recording everything.
I clicked on one. Shaky phone footage of me fighting aliens in the street. The armor gleaming blue in the sunlight. The shields glowing as they deflected energy blasts.
The comments were wild.
"Who is this guy???"
"That armor is sick!"
"He saved my family. Thank you, whoever you are."
"Wait is that Grand Chariot from Akame ga Kill???"
"OMG IT IS!!"
"Bro is cosplaying during an alien invasion lmaooo"
"That's not a cosplay you idiot, he's actually flying and punching aliens through buildings"
"How does an anime armor exist in real life???"
I scrolled through more comments. More people recognizing the armor. Talking about the anime. Comparing screenshots.
Yeah. That made sense now.
The morning after the invasion, when Peter recognized Grand Chariot, it kinda stuck with me. I'd felt like an idiot for not checking the internet when I first got the armor. Like, that should've been my first move, right? Google "Grand Chariot armor" and see what came up?
So after Peter mentioned Akame ga Kill, I looked it up. Found the manga online. Binge read the whole thing in one sitting.
And yeah. Peter was right. That show was dark. Like, really dark. Almost everyone dies.
But I learned more about the armor. How it worked. What it could do. The Danger Beast inside it. All that stuff.
Though honestly? Most of it was information I already had.
The only thing new I found was this move called Grand Fall. Some technique that Wave, the original user, performed. A devastating aerial attack where you gather momentum while flying upward, then dive down at terminal velocity with the armor's full power concentrated into a single strike.
Sounded cool. Sounded dangerous. Definitely something I'd need to practice before trying it in an actual fight.
But yeah. No wonder people were recognizing the armor online. Grand Chariot had a pretty distinctive design. Dark blue plating. Those holographic shields. The whole aesthetic.
I closed YouTube and tossed my phone onto the coffee table.
I opened my system. Speaking of which, the day after the invasion, I got a huge reward.
It is already gone now. I used it three days ago. But let me tell you what I got.
It was a small bottle with red liquid inside. Glowing faintly.
[Limit Breaker Potion]
The Limit Breaker Potion changes the drinker's very being, making them limitless. No ceilings, no walls to constrain their growth. When consumed, all artificial or natural restrictions on growth, ability, etc. are removed. The whole "you can only get so far" saying becomes irrelevant.
A regular athlete who could once only imagine shaving a few seconds off a sprint might, through relentless effort, eventually outrun race cars, then fighter jets, and someday the very speed of light. A street thief might climb the ladder from lifting coins to snatching away someone's luck, their memories, even their time — or they could get so good at sneaking that they hide inside someone's shadow or their memories. A telekinetic who once couldn't budge a chair could, with enough practice and experience, hurl mountains, then planets, and eventually whole galaxies like skipping stones on a lake.
The potion does not just open the doors to unlimited expansion — it also ensures no effort is ever wasted. No matter how marginal the gain, no matter how incremental the climb, the user will always move forward if they continue training, practicing, or pushing on.
Stagnation is never an option. All effort, every droplet of sweat, every bite of learning acquired points toward improvement. Every time the consumer takes action or trains, they will see small but noticeable gains, which increase based on the difficulty or amount of effort invested in that activity.
Even though the growth may not be big, it guarantees that sooner or later, they will be able to penetrate walls once considered impassable. With perseverance and time, there can only be progress, and there is no longer any limit to where that progress will lead.
Yeah I know.
This was a very overpowered reward, granted that I survive long enough.
I could become unstoppable. Eventually.
The word "eventually" was doing a lot of heavy lifting there, but still. This was insane.
When I first read the description three days ago, I didn't hesitate. I uncapped the bottle and drank it right there in my room.
The moment it hit my stomach, warmth spread through my entire body. Not painful. Just intense. Like every cell in my body was waking up. Coming alive.
Then the bottle just dissolved in my hand. Vanished like it never existed.
I'd waited for something dramatic to happen. Some transformation. Some visible change.
Nothing.
I felt the same. Normal. Maybe a bit warmer, but that faded fast.
Honestly? I still wasn't sure if it was working. The description said I'd see small but noticeable gains every time I trained or practiced.
Welp I just needed to survive long enough to actually use it.