John POV
I followed Mystique out of the facility and saw two more members of the Brotherhood of Mutants waiting outside. I recognized at least one of them right away. His long tongue was partly out before he pulled it back into his mouth.
Toad.
He didn't look exactly like the movie version. He was wearing goggles, and I remembered reading somewhere that he had trouble seeing in broad daylight, even going blind if exposed too long. That's why he covered his eyes. Still… it felt weird, considering his powers were related to a toad.
While I was thinking about that, I looked at the other guy. The first thing that stood out was his bald head. Completely clean. On top of that, there were tattoos across it. He also wore something like a mask, more like a blindfold with cuts around the eyes. I felt like I had seen him somewhere before, but I couldn't place it.
"Everything done?" Mystique asked. From her tone, it was clear she was leading this. Not surprising. A lot of people thought she worked for Magneto, but that wasn't really accurate. She worked with him.
Toad nodded immediately, while the other guy spoke. "I've transported anything useful."
Transported? Does he had spatial abilities?
"Good," Mystique said with a small nod. Then she turned slightly toward me. "He's joining us."
Both of them looked at me after that, sizing me up.
I didn't say anything though it's seems they don't mind.
Mystique looked at the other guy. "Take him to the house in Odessa. Toad, you'll be evaluating him."
Evaluate me? For what? Am I worthy of joining them?
"Uh okay," Toad said clearly surprised by her. The other guy just nodded.
"Drop him off, then come back. We need to meet the X-Men," Mystique added.
The man stepped closer to me, placing a hand on my shoulder, then on Toad as well. The next second, everything shifted. I felt a sudden wave of dizziness, like the ground disappeared for a moment. Then it was over.
I blinked and looked around. I wasn't in the woods anymore instead inside a living room. Turning back I find the teleporter gone.
Only Toad was left, staring at me.
"So what's your mutant ability?" he asked getting close to me.
"I can make fire." That's all I said.
"Fire, huh," he muttered. Fuck...he suddenly let his tongue out, stretching it all the way to the wall. Way too long. Like… what, fifteen feet? Maybe more. Then he pulls it back and crunches something. He probably just caught an insect.
"You can move around the house," he said after swallowing whatever he just ate. "No one else is here right now. Just you and me. Don't go outside until you get a new ID. That'll take some time. Food's in the kitchen."
He started walking toward a room, then paused for a second. "And don't enter my room." With that, he left.
Man… he smells weird. And that's saying something, considering I haven't had a bath in a month.
Whatever. I'm finally free.
That thought stayed for a second, and for that moment, I actually felt a bit at ease. But only for a moment. Because reality wasn't simple anymore.
Aliens, rogue AIs, gods, demons, cosmic entities… there was a lot out there that could wipe out Earth without much effort, why do I care because that's the planet I live one currently.
And on top of that, people who want mutants dead. If they ever decided to act on a large scale, people like me would be the first targets. Sentinels, Sublime, Skrulls…
"Yeah… no pressure," I rubbed my face and let out a breath.
I just got out. I need to take it slow.
Grrr…
My stomach growled. Looking around I finally found the kitchen after a bit. Place is huge. This isn't even a house. It's basically a manor.
I opened the refrigerator and checked inside. No veggies, no milk. Just soft drinks, beer, snacks… and some half-eaten stuff.
I grabbed a Coke can, shut the fridge, and picked up a pack of Lays from the shelf.
These guys definitely don't cook.
I walked back to one of the rooms and saw a TV. Might as well see what's going on in the world while I eat.
I dropped onto the bed and… yeah.
That was way too soft.
For a second, I just stayed there, staring at the ceiling.
Is this normal?
Or is it just because I've been sleeping on concrete for the past month?
Probably both.
Still… this feels illegal.
I opened the Coke, took a sip, and turned on the TV.
"Following the incident in Monaco, Senator Stern has criticised Mr. Stark, stating that his technology is no longer secure as he stated and someone was able to replicate his armour. He has urged Stark to cooperate with the government, suggesting federal oversight to prevent further misuse…"
So the events of Iron Man 2 are happening. Does that mean this world follows the MCU timeline?
…Probably not exactly.
With mutants around, it's already different. Way too many things overlapping. It's more like everything is mixed together instead of following one clean timeline. I switched the channel, just scrolling through random stuff, and one report caught my attention.
"Was the Fantastic Four really innocent or are they misleading the public by blaming everything on the Wizard? According to their recent statement, the criminal activities linked to the Human Torch were not actually carried out by him…"
Wizard…
Right, leader of the Frightful Four. Doesn't seem like the full group is active yet though.
Silencing the audio I thought about my experience, I want to kill everyone responsible for that facility's existence. It was a pity mystique and rest killed everyone else, I was really hoping to burn everyone alive. Still I am not out of options. In the future, I would try to find everything about it and then find the owner to give them a similar experience.
But for that, I need power. A lot of it.
If this connects to the government, then it's not just some small group. I might end up going against bigger players… Avengers, Fantastic Four, even the X-Men depending on how things turn out.
Xavier might understand my situation. But that doesn't mean he'd let me go that far.
I opened the system to check the progress.
[Toya Todoroki – 19%]
The assimilation speed is really fast. It hasn't even been half a day since I got the template, and it's already near one fifth. Was it because both our abilities are related to fire? I need more templates to understand how it actually works.
Looking at the cards in the inventory, the only thing currently useful to me is the Inventory from the manhwa. It's an ability, but I don't know if absorbing it will show any reaction. Forget it. Let's do it. I clicked on the card.
[Do you want to equip the Inventory?]
[Yes] [No]
So it asks before letting me use it. That didn't happen when I slotted the template. Interesting. Wondering about the reason behind it, I choose yes mentally.
One thing good about this system is that I don't have to make any gesture to use it, everything can be done mentally.
[Inventory Online]
The moment the notification appeared, I felt something inside me that hadn't been there before. A subtle connection.
Inventory, I said in my mind.
Another holographic screen appeared in front of me. Unlike the GACHA interface, this one was much larger. A clean 10x10 grid stretched across it, perfectly aligned. In the lower-left corner, it showed 0/100.
Does that mean the storage limit is one hundred items?
Hmm.
I picked up a pillow and carefully pushed it toward the screen.
Holy shit it vanished.
Immediately, one of the empty slots displayed a small pillow icon, and the number changed to 1/100.
"It's so cool," I couldn't help but say out loud. Even though I had seen it before on screen, actually using it felt completely different.
I pulled the pillow back out with a thought, and it reappeared in my hand instantly.
So how does it work? Is it using an already existing pocket dimension within this universe, or does it create a completely new one? Can others detect it? Track it? Access it forcefully?
Way too many questions.
I picked a lamp from the table and put it into the Inventory. When I saw x1 appear at the top of the new icon, I confirmed it wasn't my imagination when I noticed it on the icon earlier.
I took the pillow and placed it inside again. Now there were two icons each with x1. I took another pillow and placed it inside. One icon now changed to x2. So I can stack multiple items of the same type in a single slot.
Interesting.
But where does the system draw the line for distinction? Does it categorize by object type, material, function, or exact identity? Will every currency pillow be counted as the same?
I will test all that later. I should also check how many of the same item I can stack, and whether mass and size matter here. There has to be some kind of limit. One hundred slots does not necessarily mean infinite capacity per slot. If each stack can hold unlimited quantity, then this ability borders on broken.
Also, I need to find out whether time passes inside. If it doesn't, then this is the perfect place to store emergency food, water and medical supplies. Who knows if tomorrow is the start of a zombie outbreak.
Maybe I should keep some gold too, in case I have to live in hiding. Gold is one of the few universally accepted assets. On this planet at least. If currencies fail, gold usually survives.
I took a mental note to make a list of priority items for surviving an apocalypse, not the mutant self proclaimed god but the global collapse kind, well there's not much difference in them.
I wonder if someone is watching me right now, through some hidden camera. I was doubtful about testing it now, but then again, if anyone questions my new abilities, whose number will increase over time due to the gacha, I'll just say it's the result of the experiments done on me which I am slowly exploring.
"Arggh…" Now that I actually noticed it, my whole body was in pain. I followed Mystique earlier on impulse, just to stop her from killing the doctor, but now everything was catching up to me. The longer I lay on the bed, the more the pain started to settle in.
My vision was already getting blurry, and my body felt heavy too. Although the chips weren't enough to fill my stomach, right now that didn't matter because I now need a good sleep.
Adjusting myself properly, I closed the TV, picked one of the pillows and held it close, closing my eyes.
"Good night, everyone."
************
"Ah… Aahh…!"
A sharp jolt tore through John's body as the electricity surged again, locking his muscles and forcing his back to arch against the restraints.
"No… stop… please, stop…"
His voice came out strained and uneven, barely holding together while his body trembled uncontrollably. The air carried a faint metallic smell of burnt skin. The white lights above flickered, harsh and cold, making it hard to focus on anything.
"Voltage stable."
"Increase it."
"No… no, please—"
A violent crack of current cut him off.
"Aaahhh—!"
This time it hit harder. The pain ripped a raw scream out of him, echoing across the room. His fingers twitched uselessly against the restraints, every nerve in his body screaming.
Around him, figures in lab coats stood in place, calm and detached. One of them adjusted a dial on the machine, not even bothering to look at him.
"Subject is still responsive."
"Good. Continue."
"I can't… please… I'll do anything… just stop…"
Another surge slammed into him.
Crack.
"AAAHHH—!"
His voice gave out completely, breaking into a hoarse cry as tears blurred his vision. It didn't matter. No one reacted. No one cared.
"Please…"
His head dropped forward, his breathing turning shallow and uneven, each inhale shaky and weak.
"Stop…"
************
"STOP!" I shot up suddenly, breathing hard.
For a moment, I just sat there, trying to understand what was real and what wasn't. My chest was rising and falling too fast, my heart still racing.
Then I looked around and slowly realized there were no restraints, no machines, no lab… just a normal room.
"…just a dream," I muttered.
"Phew…" I wiped the sweat from my forehead, trying to calm myself down.
"Yeah… that felt way too real." It was like the movie scene of what I experienced.
Sniff… sniff…
"…is someone barbecuing?" I frowned a bit.
"OH SHIT." I turned my head and froze for a second.
Flames.
The curtains were burning, the table had caught fire, and even parts of the wall looked slightly melted. The whole room is on fire.
"…don't tell me I did that." I stared at it still trying to process.
"And why are they blue…?"The flames are blue
Then I remembered.
"Right… Dabi."
So the assimilation went up?
Now that I think about it, the dream wasn't just the lab. There was something else mixed in. A kid… surrounded by blue flames.
"…not the time." I shook my head and forced myself to focus. I need to stop this.
Taking a slow breath I looked at the flames again.
Control.
That's literally my thing. Not just making fire… controlling it.
Pyro usually makes flames bigger, stronger, more destructive. Right now, I need the opposite.
I inhaled slowly, steadying myself.
This was my first time actually trying to control it. Before this, I had only created fire once, when I burned that man.
I raised my hands toward the flames and made a small clenching motion with my fingers, focusing on pulling them back, reducing them instead of feeding them.
"…come on…" For a second, nothing happened. Then I saw it. The flames started shrinking.
"Okay… okay, it's working."
I kept doing the same thing, moving my hands slightly, focusing on each burning spot one by one. Curtains first, then the table, then the patches on the wall.
It took some effort. Not hard, just… weird. Like learning how to use a muscle I didn't know I had.
But slowly, the flames died down. One by one. Until there was nothing left but smoke and that burnt smell.
"Phew…" I let out a breath and lowered my hands.
Finally done.
I looked around the room. Burn marks everywhere. Blackened walls, parts of the floor scorched, and a lot of things just… gone. Turned to ash.
Then I noticed my own arms. There were burn marks on my skin too.
It stung. In fact, it was painful, but compared to what I went through before… it felt like nothing.
Considering how much damage those flames should have done, this was way less than expected. Probably because of the fire resistance I got from Toya. His resistance wasn't perfect, not like his cold side, but it was still there.
Still, this whole thing reminded me of something I had started to ignore.
If I don't control the flames properly, then forget natural fire… even the ones I create can hurt me.
Yeah. Classic.
Creation killing its creator.
I opened the system and checked the progress.
[Toya Todoroki – 24%]
I need to get used to this fast before it gets out of hand.
Closing the system, I pulled off the burnt t-shirt I was still wearing. At least the bed didn't catch fire somehow.
BANG.
"Hey, how long are you—" Toad stopped mid-sentence. He just stood there for a second, looking around the room. Then he clicked his tongue and looked back at me.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?"
***********
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