At a gaming cafe, Mark sat searching for any information on the heroes or notable characters in this world. He was having trouble because there were a lot of characters he recognized from other comics, and even video game characters for some reason.
"Why the hell is Lara Croft here?" Mark was very confused. On the monitor screen was a picture of the famous archaeologist from an article. He had only found it because he got sidetracked for a second.
Mark was baffled because her background story fit, from what he remembered. He became slightly worried that other video game characters existed here too. Despite that, he had other things to be more concerned about.
'But I'm more worried about Spawn being here. Because of his appearance, devils and gods become real in this world. And from what I read, Witchblade is the same thing. Hellboy is here too. My situation is far worse than I thought it would be.'
His sense of reality had been shattered as he uncovered all of this. This became his greatest concern regarding his situation. He hadn't thought this far ahead when he chose to become Mark. He thought he would be Mark from the TV series. The hypothetical had only been about gaining Mark's powers, becoming a Viltrumite, and fighting his villains. Not fighting demons, angels, and gods.
'That fucker must've known I was right, so he put me in this comic book universe just to make me suffer. So fucking petty.'
Mark sighed as he continued searching the web for more information. He also found an article about Supremacy, a group of Supreme helping people.
'Supreme. I've heard of the name before but I don't know much about Supreme, I know he's a lead character in some comic. I've seen him somewhere before. More villains I have to face, looks like.'
Mark was growing very fed up with his situation now. Originally, he had been excited to have powers and everything, but now problems kept piling up. It made him annoyed and frustrated.
'I should find a way to learn magic and get hand-to-hand combat training.'
As he browsed the internet, he remembered something that could help in the combat department.
"War Woman." Mark quickly began searching for her whereabouts. 'From what I remember, she's in Boston as a very successful CEO, if I'm not wrong.'
Mark began checking for CEOs in Boston. It was easy because there weren't many famous female CEOs who were tall and athletic. A CEO went by the name Holly.
'This must be War Woman.' Mark studied the screen. 'She looks the part. She should be able to train me in hand-to-hand combat with her experience. She'd likely lend a hand to Omni-Man's kid.'
Mark wasn't entirely confident in this plan, but it was his best option for now. At least until he mastered flying and could move around more easily to find whoever he needed. He didn't plan to act on it immediately, though. Mastering flight came first.
After he finished his research, Mark left the gaming cafe and went to practice his flight in a nearby forest. The area had plenty of obstacles, which would help him learn to adapt. Mark took a deep breath, floated up, and began flying straight ahead, trying to avoid the trees as he moved.
But he didn't do it well enough. As soon as he tried to maneuver around a tree in front of him, he overcorrected and slammed into another one, sending it crashing to the ground.
Mark got up and brushed the dust off his clothes. "I need to be more careful."
He began flying again, this time very slowly and not at normal speed. He made careful turns around the trees, weaving between them. He was enjoying the practice until his mind reminded him of the kind of monsters lurking in this world.
He kept practicing until the sky turned red with the sunset. Then he finally headed back home to have dinner with his family. He kind of loved it. He missed having a family's love.
. . . .
After dinner, Mark sat on his bed trying to find something to do. There was no smartphone yet in this year. He looked up at the ceiling, searching for anything to occupy his time.
'Why did I transmigrate into 2003?' Mark sighed.
But then an idea clicked in his mind.
'Training. I should do that.'
Mark got down on the floor and got into a push-up position. He began doing push-ups at a normal pace.
He instantly felt it was too easy. The strength that resided within his body made everything feel weightless. So he began performing the movement very slowly, tensing his muscles so they would finally feel something.
Mark kept going until he felt a slight burn in his muscles. But it didn't matter. The exercise wasn't working at all. Pushing his own bodyweight didn't force the Smart Atoms within him to adapt.
He sighed yet again. He couldn't train his body.
'I really wish I had a gravity chamber.'
But he knew he had to be patient.
'I can't find the Mauler Twins until I master flight. I don't want to accidentally get caught by Omni-Man.'
So now Mark had nothing to do. Training was useless. Practicing flight in the house was too risky because his father was home and could hear him. His homework was already done. The only thing left was studying.
'I don't want to do that.'
Mark sighed. He didn't want to experience the boredom of studying. But as he looked around the room, he sighed once more. This time, he started studying.
'I'm already having trouble with school. I should just focus on this so my grades don't drop.'
Mark shook his head and opened his books. He began reading.
"Man, this is hard. I don't remember how to do this," Mark complained. He had forgotten the formulas.
He decided to study math first since he would rather tackle that than physics, chemistry, or biology. He despised those three because they required memorization on top of math.
"I hate school," Mark muttered.