The Unseen Scribe
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Marvelous Gamer - Chapter 4
🕑 Added 2023-10-26 16:27:33 +0000 UTCAN: Hey guys.
First villain fight, as well as a meeting with a group of heroes.
I'm sorry for the lack of update these last two days, I had electricity issues again. This time it was my microwave that short-circuited, I had to change some of the wiring at my place, and still might have to change more later.
Anyway, hope you guys enjoy this one.
Chapter 4
It's been a little over three months since I was dropped into the marvel world, and things have been going pretty good for me.
Daredevil, Jewel and I, hit another one of the Kingpin's warehouses, and this one was even easier than the previous one, despite the increased security. The warehouse was in Matt's area, Hell's Kitchen, so we followed his lead. He had a lot more information about the warehouse than I did in the previous one, his information coming both from his own scouting of the place, as well as his day job. Being a lawyer, he makes some good connections, including people that work in the City Hall, so he was able to get the old plans for the building. We hit that warehouse so fast that we were able to completely clear it out before the enemy's reinforcements came. That little adventure netted me a little over 6 million, and I put all that money to good use.
I bought two new apartments in Harlem, just at the other side of the river. I could even see my previous one from my new place. My new apartments were actually mine, instead of just renting. The one I am using is a lot larger than my previous place, with two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a large living room, dining room and a nice, recently renovated kitchen, right at the top floor of the building. I also bought the apartment below mine, it's not nearly as nice as mine, but it is good enough. I bought it because I should start gathering people soon, so I'm going to need some place for them to live. I was starting to work on more permanent accommodations, but those would take some time, so for now, the apartments would have to do.
I spent just over 2 million on the two apartments, which is honestly quite cheap considering the housing market in NY. I think the only reason that I could get a place so big, at such a low price, was because it was in a crime infested neighborhood, something that I quickly solved when I moved in. It wouldn't do to have so much criminal activity so close to where a live, they could end up seeing something that they shouldn't, so I quickly solved that issue.
I spent a few hundred thousands on furniture for the two places, as well as improving my previous one, which I was still renting, since it was a nice safe house anyway. By the end of it all, all three of my apartments were looking really posh, it actually felt like I was a rich guy, which I was these days, since I was making so much money by selling drugs and weapons to the game store. I didn't ask what the ROB was doing with all those drugs, maybe he was using them, or maybe he was selling them for a profit in a different world, whatever he was doing with them wasn't my problem, I just cared about the money coming in from my 'job' at ROB Inc.
Despite spending all that money, I still had around 7.5 million just a couple weeks ago when Tony Stark returned from Afghanistan. The guy was clearly traumatized, even I could see that from his interview, and I'm not a trained psychologist. The PTSD was almost palpable as he gave his speech about his company stopping the manufacturing of weapons. The day after his speech, Stark Industries stocks had fallen over 80% and I actually laughed when I saw that, people are insane. Sure I have bullshit dimensional traveler knowledge, so I know for a fact that Tony Stark will turn things around; but even without it, I still would've bought those stocks. It's almost like people forgot that Tony Stark is a genius, one of the smartest men in the world, a guy like that probably already had hundreds of ideas of products to make, and that is even discounting the fact that Stark Industries already has some presence in other sectors of the economy, weapons was their main source of income, but it wasn't the only one.
I bought 7 million in stocks right at the lowest point, I expected to have an increased of at least 150% this year alone, and I would keep buying as much as I can for the next year. I expect the next five years to bring even more profits, with Stark moving the company towards clean energy and consumer products. The ARC reactor alone will be a massive money maker, and I'm pretty sure that Tony will also be selling some of his outdated processors, which, considering JARVIS, must be a few generations ahead of almost anything on the market right now, Reed Richards had some pretty advanced stuff for sale, but those were one off items, all of them custom made, probably just enough to make some money for the Baxter Foundation.
I also made some advances in my personal power. I bought another martial arts mastery, this time it was sambo, which I combined with my karate to make a pretty interesting style, it gave me a lot more options for fighting, as well as a lot more understanding of my enemies, after all, the more you know, the more you can predict your enemy's next move.
I also had almost enough saved up to buy a companion, and I was having some troubles choosing. I really needed a healer, but a hacker or a telepath would also help me a lot. I need to gather information, my patrols were still a little random, if I knew exactly were a crime was being committed, I would be a lot more efficient in my crime fighting, so I was seriously thinking of buying Sombra, from Overwatch. She was good enough to hack almost anything in the marvel world, even S.H.I.E.L.D would be vulnerable to her. The only ones that would be able to stop her were Reed Richards, Tony Stark and Dr. Doom, and I had no reason to mess with those guys, the FF and Iron Man were firmly on the heroes sides, and I wasn't going to pick a fight with Doom until I had some heavy hitters on my side, the likes of Supergirl, or Alexandria, from Worm.
But my need for a healer was still greater than anything else at the moment, even with my serum enhanced body, I am still a squishy guy, one that can easily be killed by a lot of people, a bullet could still kill me, so I definitely need a healer as fast as possible. There were some healers on the common and uncommon list, common healers were just doctors, uncommon healers had some healing powers, but not much, what I truly needed was a healer in the rare tier or above, and the best cost benefit for me was Dr. Angela Ziegler. A rare tier companion, and one that had some pretty OP healing tech, she ended up being my choice, even if I did consider others, and would probably get others from the higher tiers later on. I looked at Panacea, but she was listed as a legendary tier companion, since her power isn't actually healing, but the ability to modify any living organism, which is pretty fucking scary, so I can understand it being a legendary power. I also considered Tsunade, for her skill set as both a powerful healer and a powerful fighter, and I definitely considered her for her skill set, not for her… large assets. But she was listed as an epic companion, and at 250 credits, it was a little expensive for me at the moment, so I went back to my 100 credits pick, Mercy will be my first companion from the game store.
A lot happened all over the place since that first warehouse hit, Spider Man showed up again, this time with his classical suit, he even already had a couple of encounters with some of his classical villains. The first one was against Rhino, Peter managed to stop Rhino from robbing a bank, and even got him arrested in the process, but in typical marvel fashion, Rhino is already on the streets again, breaking out of prison in less than a month. This world definitely works on comic book logic, something like that would never happen if it didn't, and some of those villains would definitely be death row inmates, maybe not Rhino, he is still small time, but some like Juggernaut or Magneto definitely should be dead already, since they both were already arrested once. The second fight between Spider Man and one of his classic villains was against Shocker, and again Peter managed to arrest him, but unlike Rhino, Shocker is still in jail, probably not for long though.
Things also were a little crazy in North Salem. I once again found videos on the internet about what is going on out there. There were videos of strange, metal balls grabbing people out of nowhere and flying away with then. People were talking about how those metal balls could fly, if it was some new tech developed by the crazy scientists of AIM, or maybe something that was stolen from Reed Richards or Tony Stark, but I know exactly what they were, asteroid M happened, and it seems that Magneto lost, as expected. I am keeping a close eye on the Institute, I always liked the X-Men, even if I disliked Xavier, so I know a lot about them. I know how many powerful enemies will show up there first, there are some truly terrifying mutants out there, and I definitely want to know exactly when they show up, things seem calm up there at the moment, nothing major happened since the asteroid M thing, only a small skirmish between Shadowcat and Avalanche, with Kitty dropping Lance on his ass. Obviously there was a video, it happened in school and teenagers will be teenagers; the video was quite fun to watch, little Kitty Pryde can pack a punch.
I also found a lot by wandering around the city, none of which was good. I think I found one of Hellfire's main bases. There was a lot of movement of people both rich and influential around one of the oldest buildings in downtown; normally that wouldn't be enough to say it was a Hellfire base, but I did see someone who I imagine is Sebastian Shaw, walking into the building once. I never found anything about him on the internet, but the guy that I saw, was walking into the building hand in hand with Lourdes Chantel, which I did find some pictures of. The guy even looked like comic book Shaw, balding and sideburns included. But that wasn't enough to convince me it was a Hellfire base, what did was the pale, black haired woman wearing a tight black dress and an actual cape, there was only one person that fit that description, and would be willing to draw that much attention to herself by wearing a cape.
I am actually terrified that Selene is in the same city as I, she is probably the most powerful person in New York at the moment, and could kill me in the blink of an eye, sure Dr. Strange was probably keeping an eye on her, but this is a still inexperienced Strange, he just returned from his trip to Nepal, and I still didn't know which version of the Ancient One was in this world, movie or comics, it makes a massive difference in the amount of power that Strange has, comic book Strange is more powerful overall, but that is only after decades of experience, movie Strange is actually more powerful right at the end of his education than comics Strange.
I am keeping an eye on that building, and I even asked for the help of Daredevil and Jewel. I definitely want to know everything that goes on around that building, it would be better to have eyes inside it, but for now I would have do with indirect information. Maybe I will get an invitation, if I continue to make the amount of money that I'm making, it would make things easier to deal with the threats that might come from there. But I probably won't have the amount of money necessary to even be considered for a long time. Maybe I can get some help from Angel, his father is a member of Hellfire; but to get that help I would have to get involved with the X-Men, and I don't want to do that right now.
The Fantastic Four also had a battle with Kree sentry somewhere near the space center in Florida. I don't know why a Kree sentry was there, and even worse, why the Kree would send a sentry to earth, those things seem expensive, not the kind of things to send unless it is a major objective. I don't want the Kree getting too much interest on earth, we have no orbital defenses, so a Kree fleet could just bombard us into the stone age from orbit without much trouble. The battle with the sentry looked brutal, even The Thing seemed to be injured by the end of it, and it only ended because Reed Richards was somehow able to disable the thing, they weren't doing much damage to it before.
My own personal life also changed a little. Jessica was a constant presence in my apartment these days, as well as my bed. She just showed up whenever she wanted, opened my fridge, ate my food, drank my beer, and then she jumped into my bed and we fucked for hours. That was how our relationship was, we did spend some time together watching tv, or playing games, we even went to the movies once, but most of the time we just fucked. We never actually talked about our relationship, if we are boyfriend and girlfriend, or if it is just some casual thing, and it didn't seem like she wanted to talk about it any time soon.
I also met Mary Jane Watson, Flash Thompson, Harry Osborn and a few others at the club just a few days ago. They were celebrating MJ birthday, she had just turned eighteen. Most of those kids probably only got there with fake IDs, or Osborn's money, but they were there partying anyway. Peter is a lucky guy, MJ is hot with a capital H, she is one of the most beautiful women I have ever seen. She is comic book pretty, something that is almost impossible to achieve in real life. Although, it seems Peter is going the Gwen Stacy route, so Peter and MJ might never happen, especially since I plan on making sure Gwen doesn't die, that death broke the guy for a long time, Peter is a nice guy, he doesn't deserve to feel that pain. I also don't know how long Gwen will live, and how long Peter would be depressed if she dies, add that to the fact that there is enough of the movie verse in this world for me to think that there might be a chitauri invasion in the future, and I have another reason to make sure Gwen lives, I want Peter in top shape when the battle happens.
It is definitely not because Gwen surviving leaves a barely legal, hot redhead in the market, I just want to spare Spider Man from the pain of losing his girlfriend, this has nothing to do with MJ, and no one will make me confess otherwise.
I shook my head to drive away the thoughts and looked down at the commotion on the street. I am standing on a rooftop just a couple of blocks away from my new place, and I'm still working on cleaning up these streets, I managed to drive away most of the thugs, but a few still return every once in a while. Dusk was settling in, and the streets were a little darker because of it, but I still can clearly see what is going down there, and what I saw made me both excited and afraid in equal measures. I clearly recognized Tombstone, a vampire looking albino is difficult to miss, and the commotion seemed to be because the business that he tried to extort protection money from wasn't willing to pay. I was excited because this was almost a perfect way for me to have my first fight with a villain, but I'm also nervous due to it.
I jumped into the fire escape and quickly made my way down, once back on street level I walked towards were Tombstone was still threatening the old business owner. Once I was close enough to them, just a few meters behind Tombstone I said.
"Why don't you leave the old man alone and go back home, big guy? He didn't do anything to you."
Both Tombstone and the old man turned towards me, and when the large albino man saw me he immediately ran towards me. I got into a fighting stance and deflected his first blow, wincing a little at how strong it was, he definitely already has super strength, not as strong as me, but stronger than a normal human. He tried to go for another blow to my head and I ducked low, which ended with me getting a knee to the face and almost biting my tongue.
Fuck, this guy is strong. I thought to myself as I repositioned and assumed a fighting stance again, thanking the ROB that his knee hadn't injured me much.
"The boss wants you dead, you've been hitting his warehouses with that devil looking guy and the chick."
Thank you villain monologue. So he is definitely already working for the Kingpin, this doesn't help me much, with the timeline of this world all over the place, but it is a good bit of information.
He tries to hit me in the head again and I dodge, this time retaliating with a kick that sent him skittering back, I quickly follow it with a roundhouse kick, hitting him on the stomach, making him fly a little and hit the wall of the building.
I take a few moments to breathe and access the situation. The old business owner has walked back into his shop and is looking out of the window, watching the fight, there is also a crowd gathering around us, so things are definitely a lot more public than any of my previous actions. I am distracted from my looking around by Tombstone getting up and attacking me again, he throws a furious punch my way, I deflect it and follow it up with a chop to the throat, but he catches my arm and brings me in for a head-butt, which makes us both dazed for a little while.
He recovers first and sends another punch towards my head, I duck under it and hit him twice on the body, making him groan a little, but I hit with another knee, this time it hits me in the chest and sends me flying a little. I hit the ground hard, and immediately have to roll away from a stomp, getting up, I grab one of his kicks and swipe his other leg, making him fall, but before I can follow up with another hit he is already rolling away and getting up.
He comes towards me again, and manages to body check me into the wall. I groan as my back hits the wall, and definitely fell like I broke something, but I shake my head to drive away the pain and hit him with my knees twice, making him take a few steps back and giving me enough space to use the wall and propel myself into a superman punch, hitting him square in the jaw.
I made my way towards the street again, putting some distance from me and the wall, and Tombstone quickly charges after me, trying to punch me in the body, but I dodge and hit him with a kick near his ribs. He lashes out with his own kick, hitting me on the right side, and making me wince in pain, something definitely broke when I hit that wall.
I punched the side of his face and he just took the hit, flying away and using that momentum to hit me with a brutal kick to the side, thankfully not on my right side, but I felt something break on my left as well.
Tombstone got up from the floor and ran towards me again; I am still a little winded from the hit to my left so he is able to tackle me to the ground. I don't know much BJJ but I watched enough MMA to know what I should do, so I immediately cross my heels and start to bring my legs up as close to his shoulders as possible, stopping him from hitting me. Once he is mostly immobilized, I start to hit him with elbows to the face; I see a cut open on his brow before he stands up, dragging me with him. Knowing exactly what he intends to do, I quickly uncross my heels, use my hands to propel me, and use my superior agility to land on my feet in front of him.
I use the little bit of time to look around and see what is going on. The crowd got even bigger, and there seems to be civilians recording the fight on their phones, the store owner is still locked inside his business, looking outside from his window. I look at Tombstone and see he looks in a better shape than me. Sure, the cut on his brow is bleeding a lot and impairing his vision, but apart from that, he doesn't seems to have any other injuries, while I'm dealing with at least a few bruised ribs, if not broken, as well as a possible concussion. He also looks like he can keep going for a lot longer than I; probably his enhanced stamina is better than mine. I'm at a serious disadvantage right now and I start thinking of ways to end this fight quickly, or else I'm going to lose. Then, something flying above us catches my eye. I look up and don't see Tombstone using my distraction to his advantage, he is prepared to hit me, and would probably knock me out, if it wasn't from the fiery, human sized bullet that speeds past me and hits him.
I look towards were Tombstone fell, and see a man looking at me. He is dressed in a deep blue, spandex suit, with a number 4 on the chest. Blonde hair, blue eyes and a roguish grin that the ladies must love, I know exactly who this is, what I don't know is why he is here.
"Hey, we were flying around, saw your fight, and decided to help out a little. You don't mind, do you?" The Human Torch asks, giving me a smile.
"Not at all, thanks for the help." I responded. Looking at a rooftop in the direction that he came from, I see the FF flying car parked there, both The Thing and Invisible Woman are waving a greeting towards me, while Mister Fantastic is looking towards the ground, probably trying to find a place to park the car at ground level. "How did you know I'm not the bad guy?" I ask.
"That girl over there…" He says, pointing towards a girl holding her phone on the other side of the street. "Has been streaming since before you showed up, we saw the entire thing." He adds, and I internally thank the girl for being crazy. Any sane person would run when they see a super powered fight, but she not only stayed, but streamed the entire fight. Sure she helped me, I definitely didn't want to get a fiery punch, but she is still a little crazy for staying around.
"Well, thanks for the help again. My name is Guardian when I'm wearing the suit, you don't need to introduce yourself." I say, making him chuckle a little. Looking at Tombstone, I see that he is knocked out, a single punch from Human Torch taking him out of the fight. That doesn't mean that Johnny is stronger than me, it is just physics showing that it still applies to super powered fights every once in a while. With the speed he was flying, he probably hit Tombstone with Hulk strength.
"You need any medical help?" Johnny asks, looking at how i'm holding my sides. I open up my game interface and see the amount of credits I have, and see that it rose by 10, due to 'defeating a super powered villain'. I guess it still counts, even if Johnny was the one to land the final hit. But the important thing is that those 10 credits bring me to a total of 104, I finally have enough to get myself a healer companion.
"No, thanks. I have a friend that can help me with this; she is a really good doctor." I responded.
"From what I saw of the fight, you probably have a few broken ribs. Your friend might be a good doctor, but we have tech that can fix you up in just a few hours." I hear a feminine voice say from behind me. Turning around I see Susan Storm for the first time, long blonde hair, blue eyes and long legs, there must be a photo of her in the dictionary, right next to hot blonde.
"My friend is really good; she also has some nice tech." I responded. Sure, they probably have some nice tech, and getting an in with the FF would be nice, but I want to get my healer as quick as possible, and Mercy could probably fix me up in a few seconds. She can bring people back from the brink of death, a few broken ribs and a minor concussion must be child's play to her.
"I guarantee her tech is not as good as Reed's, You will come with us, and we will fix you up in a few hours." She says in a tone that sounds like a mother scolding a child, and by the chuckles from the man behind me, I'm guessing she uses that tone a lot with her brother.
I look at the game store again, to see how the companions show up in the world when you buy them, and see that there are a few options, she can either show up right next to me, or in one of my properties, so I decide to extend an olive branch. "My friend's medical tech is the best in the world. But I will agree to go with you guys if we can pick her up, seems like a fair compromise, right?"
"Fair enough. But your friend will only be allowed to treat you if her tech is better than ours, if she is a doctor, then she will be willing to step aside, if she is not able to provide the best treatment." Susan responded, making me chuckle a little. Reed Richards might be a super genius, but Mercy is basically a miracle worker.
I step out of their hearing range for a little bit, pretending that I'm calling my friend, when in fact I'm looking at the game store. I wait for a couple of minutes before I actually press the buy button, with the option for Mercy to show up right where I am, I thought about taking the option for her to show up at my apartment, but I don't want anyone knowing were that is, even the FF, since they probably have a few people spying on them. I know it worked when I hear the gasps from the crowd, looking up I see Mercy in her Valkyrie suit, gliding down towards the street like the healing angel that she is.
She lands right by my side, and I see the FF approaching us. I use the time to look at her. She looks just like she does in the game, blonde, blue eyes and a nice form fitting suit, and I mentally retract my statement about the Invisible Woman, because Mercy is even hotter than she is.
"Hey, boss. Nice of you to make me your first pick. It is also nice that you are a hero, I know a few counterparts of mine are probably helping villains in other worlds, it is nice to know I'm not going to be doing it here." Mercy says, giving me a smile, and responding a few of my questions before I even ask. She knows about the game, and she also knows about the fact that she is not from this world.
"Is this your friend?" I hear Susan Storm ask, as the FF reaches us, all four are here now, with The Thing carrying the still unconscious Tombstone.
"I am. I'm Doctor Angela Ziegler, but you can call me Mercy when I'm wearing the suit." Mercy says, giving them her real name, not that it really matters since her suit has no mask.
"It is an honor to meet you, Dr. Ziegler. I read your paper on nanobiotics, it is truly revolutionary." Reed Richards says, extending a hand towards Angela.
"The honor is mine, Dr. Richards. I'm a huge fan of your work." Angela responds, shaking his hand.
This little interaction makes me pause. Sure, I can understand Mercy knowing about Reed Richards, the game probably gave her some knowledge about the world she was coming to. But Reed Richards knowing about Angela Ziegler is something that I didn't expect.
"I have to insert any characters you buy from the store in a believable way. So, Angela Ziegler is now, and always has been, a citizen of Switzerland, in your marvel verse, and Overwatch was a group of independent heroes that helped fight Ultron, and then immediately disbanded after that."
"Are you always watching me. Don't you have anything better to do?" I ask in my mind, I could recognize the voice of the bastard ROB that killed me.
"I do. But my girls and I decided to watch you get your ass beat. You were hitting him more than he was hitting you, but you were still losing the fight, that's kinda hilarious."
"Can you go back to do whatever you do when you're not annoying me?" I ask, and feel him leaving my mind.
I'm brought back to the conversation around me when I hear Reed Richards say. "I do believe Dr. Ziegler has better tech than us."
"I still think they should come with us to the Baxter Building, at least so we can learn more about our new friends." Susan Storm says, smiling at me and Angela. Mercy looks at me, waiting for me to answer, and I nod my head.
"Sure, that sounds fun." I responded, making both women smile.
Bonus Scene – Black Widow
"What do you have for me?" Nick Fury asks, as he walks into the conference room and seats at the head of the table. There are a few people in the room. Phil Coulson, Maria Hill, Clint, Sharon Carter and a few other agents with high enough clearance.
"There was a fight in Harlem today sir. It was between one Alonzo Thompson, codename Tombstone, an agent to the Kingpin; and a new vigilante that goes by the name of Guardian. The vigilante seemed to have the fight well in hand, even if he was getting a little beat up, but the fight was interrupted when the Fantastic Four showed up and helped deal with the threat." Maria Hill said, as a video of the fight started playing on the tv.
Natasha watched the fight and immediately realized that the one marked as Tombstone was just a common street brawler, but the vigilante moved as a master of both sambo and karate, a dangerous combination in the right hands. She also realized that they both had similar powers, enhanced strength and stamina, with the vigilante also having enhanced speed, at least he was a little faster than Tombstone.
"And why are you showing me something like that?" The Director asked, giving Hill a glare with his one good eye. "We don't deal with crime lords like the Kingpin, we leave that to the other agencies." Fury said, in a tone that suggested that someone was about to get shot, for wasting his time.
"Because of who showed up when the fight ended, sir." Hill responded, and then the video on the tv changed, showing a blonde woman falling from the skies in a white suit with golden wings. "Doctor Angela Ziegler, codename Mercy. A member of the now disbanded group of vigilantes known as Overwatch, they helped in the fight against Ultron, and quickly disbanded after that, we haven't been able to find any member of the group since." Hill added, and Natasha saw Fury's interest grow.
"What do we know about the other vigilante, Guardian? Is he a member of Overwatch rebranding, or is he someone new?" Fury asked.
"He is New, Sir. We didn't knew much about him before today, but he and Ziegler joined the fantastic four in the Baxter Building, and while he didn't take of his mask, he did say his name, and one of our bugs was able to pick it up." Hill said, and the images in the tv changed again, this time showing a good looking man, probably around twenty years old. "Isaiah Jones, twenty years old, grew up in an orphanage in New York, works as a financial advisor and stockbroker at ROB Inc. been making quite a lot of money in bonuses in the last few months, and made some substantial investments in Stark Industries with his own money." Hill said, giving the usual information about a new person of interest for S.H.I.E.L.D.
"Keep an eye on him. We know that Morrison, a member of Overwatch, was the recipient of the only successful recreation of Captain America's super soldier serum, and this Jones kid seems to have similar powers. If Overwatch was able to recreate the serum we will need to know how, and acquire the process." Fury said, after a few seconds of thinking. "Any way we can get to him?" He asked.
"He goes to night clubs frequently, Sir." Hill responded.
"Widow, you're up. I want you to bring me everything this kid knows." Fury said, turning towards her, and Natasha nodded her head in agreement. It wasn't her first seduction mission, and honestly, how hard would it be to seduce a guy that goes to night clubs almost every night.
AN 2: Isaiah almost lost his first fight against a villain.
We also see the first companion from the game store.
And a nice bonus scene showing that our protagonist now has a certain agency looking for him.
I will see you guys in the next one.
