Alex POV:
A few weeks later...
I'm sitting on a bench, in the usual gym I go to, twirling a silver card around my fingers. It was the random skill card that I got from the quest. I thought it would be something real life adjacent, like some kind of niche martial art, but my expectation was far too low.
[Skill Card: Blink]
Now that's cool. Something straight out of a LITRPG. A short-range teleport spell.
I'm not sure who I can really give it to, though. No matter how cool it would be, it really clashes with my fighting style, and Peter doesn't need no teleportation with his webs. Maybe I'll give it to Nat.
*CLANK*
I was brought out of my musings by a bar hitting a rack. Beside me, soaked in sweat, Peter got up from his current set, something like 500kg for 10-ish reps. To be honest, after getting our powers, the gym hasn't been hitting as hard anymore.
Off to the side, Ned was walking on the treadmill. Walking. On. The. Treadmill.
He really paids 40$ a month for a gym membership just to walk. Crazy.
Suddenly, a system screen popped up in front of my eyes.
[Quest Complete: Preparation is key]
[You have realized that you and the entire world will be in great danger in a year. Prepare for the battle of New York!]
[Reward: ??? (Something to help you survive the battle, based on performance)]
I freeze.
Has it been a year already? Wait, more importantly, that means that the events of Avengers 1 are about to happen-
Before I could continue that train of thought, Everything went black. White? I couldn't tell. There was emptiness all around me.
The silence was so thick that it hums in my ears.
I'm floating in nothing. Not falling, not standing. Just suspended in a void that feels too big to comprehend.
After a while, maybe a second, maybe an hour, hard to tell in this plain, something appeared in the distance. A white dot. Growing closer and closer.
A tall man in an all-white suit stands before me.
Sharp features. Dark curls. Eyes like polished glass, reflective, but empty.
When he speaks, his voice echoes from everywhere and nowhere at once.
"Congrats on beating the tutorial." Says the figure, straightening his cuffs. "I'm guessing you are curious about who I am. I go by many names. ROB. The System. The Author. A God." He pauses.
"But in this world, I'm known as The Beyonder."
I know that name. He's one of the most powerful and omnipotent beings in the Marvel universe, along with figures like one above all. He's the one who caused the infamous secret wars and destroyed the entire multiverse, just because of what? Because he was bored?
"I see recognition in your eyes," he says, faint amusement in his tone. "Good. That saves me some time."
"So this is… real?" My voice comes out small. "You're saying everything, the system, me being here, was because of you?"
He nods. "Boredom is a curse, Alex. When you've watched infinite universes live and die, all following the same story, even gods crave… variation. I chose you at random. Dropped you into this reality. You were supposed to shake things up. To make it interesting."
I can't speak. My throat's dry. My hands are trembling, though there's no air to shake in.
"So that's it?" I whisper. "No grand destiny? No chosen one bullshit? I'm just a-"
"-variable," he finishes. "A random element in a stagnant equation."
He tilts his head slightly. "And yet, you've done more than I expected. You survived. You adapted. You changed things. Out of the millions of subjects that I've seen, you are the most interesting."
There's no pride in his voice, just observation.
Like I'm some lab rat that happened to solve the maze faster than the others.
"But you've caused ripples in the timeline," he continues, his voice sharpening. "And ripples draw attention."
I gasp. "The TVA found me?"
The Beyonder scoffs. "Those time-travelling fools can't intervine with anything concerning higher power. "He looks past me, as if seeing through layers of space. "Another power has noticed. One that's close to or rivals my own. The Trinity, the Triple Face of Judgement. The Living Tribunal."
The name hits like a bullet. I feel my pulse quicken.
The cosmic judge of balance. He's the one who keeps the balance across the infinite multiverses.
"He does not approve," Beyonder says simply. "Your existence here disrupts the equilibrium that he carefully set. And while I protect you from erasure, he will respond the only way he knows how: by restoring balance."
"…How?" I ask quietly.
"By strengthening your enemies," he says. "By escalating every threat you face. The more you interfere with this world, the more resistance it will generate."
The void grows colder.
"So the more I change," I murmur, "the worse everything else becomes."
"Exactly."There's a hint of pity in his voice now, though faint. "Your path has only two endings. Either you and everyone around you dies, and the balance resets, or you find a conclusion satisfying enough to bring this story to peace. That's the law of narrative universes, Alex. There is no freedom without closure."
He raises his hand.Reality trembles. I can feel myself fading.
"Consider this your reward for the tutorial," he says. "An X-Factor. Use it well, and entertain me."
And then...
Light. Noise. Air.
The gym reappears around me.
Peter's still panting by the bench. Ned's still on the treadmill, humming to himself.
The barbell gleams like nothing ever happened.
But my hands won't stop shaking.
And for the first time since I arrived in this universe, the weight pressing on my chest isn't from training.
It's from knowing that every step forward drags the entire world closer to the edge.
But before I could even ground myself back to reality, I feel something in the back of my neck. A presence. Somebody is watching me from behind. I'm sure Peter noticed it as well, as we both jumped into action, coiled up and ready to fight at a moment's notice.
Ned freezes mid-step on the treadmill, wide-eyed, muttering, "...Guys? Why are we in a fight stance right now?"
Suddenly, the glass door to the gym slides open with a soft ding.
A man in a dark suit walks in. Crisp tie, polished shoes, badge clipped to his belt. Calm. Too calm. He doesn't belong here.
He walks like he already knows how this conversation's going to end.
"Alex Lee. Peter Parker," he says, voice smooth, even. "You two have been difficult to track down."
Peter freezes. "Uh, do we, do we know you?"
The man flashes a faint smile and pulls out a sleek black ID folder.Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement, and Logistics Division.
Ned blinks. "...That's a really long way of saying 'we're the government.'"
"Looks like someone really wanted to have SHIELD as the acronym," Peter adds his two cents.
Agent Coulson doesn't even react. "You three need to come with me."
Peter raises his hands instinctively. "Okay, whoa, hold on. We didn't do anything. Whatever this is about, it's probably a mistake-"
"Two enhanced vigilantes," Coulson interrupts, his tone still polite. "And a novice hacker supporting them. Hundreds of crimes stopped, including a human trafficking ring, taking down one of the best assassins the world has to offer. Tell me, does that sound like a mistake?"
Peter's face goes pale. Ned almost trips on the treadmill. I stay quiet.
I can feel his eyes on me, sharp, observant, trained to notice lies. I can't show weakness, not after what I just learned.
Still, my brain feels fuzzy, like static. The Beyonder. The Living Tribunal. Balance. It's too much. I can barely hold my focus.
Coulson sighs softly, slipping the badge back into his pocket. "Relax. If I wanted to arrest you, I'd have brought a team. The director just wants to talk. It's about an initiative we're assembling. Something… bigger than any of us."
Peter blurts out, "Who's the director? What's the initiative?"
Coulson's mouth twitches, almost a smirk. "You'll meet him soon enough."
He nods toward the gym exit. "Now, we can do this the easy way, you walk with me, or the hard way, where I call in someone who's a lot less friendly than I am."
Ned whispers, "...He means Nat, doesn't he?"
I exhale through my nose. "Yeah, probably. Why are you so scared of her anyway?"
Ned deadpans. "...Remember when she held me as hostage."
Coulson's eyebrow raises slightly. A flicker of acknowledgment."So are we going to keep bantering, or are we going to get going?"
Ned freezes. Peter looks at me, silently asking what to do. I give him a small nod. He might not know who these people are yet, but I do.
And if Fury's calling us in now… then that means the Battle of New York is closer than I thought.
I glance back once before following Coulson out the door, the weight of the Beyonder's words still echoing in my skull.
The more you change, the stronger your enemies will become.
Guess I'm about to find out how true that really is.
(a/n What do y'all think about the backstory? Can y'all guess what mutant ability Alex got?)