《MarvelWatch》


 Chapter 1 - Prologue

    "System recognizes user Venn Ghos. Welcome, Master."


    "Hello, AIKO. How''s it going?"


    "All systems ready and waiting. What would you like to do today?"


    "Well, that depends. What have you got for me?"


    "Master, the workshop has been completely restored following the incident last Thursday. As this has come up, I am obligated to remind you that whenever you test a new power source or investigate a new form of energy, for safety reasons, it would be best to keep to the lowest settings until more data has been acquired.


    "Duly noted, AIKO, you have my word, it will never happen again. Now what do you have next?"


    "Answer is 95% the same as the answer to previous warning. Setting system to prepare for the eventuality of human stupidity."


    "What are you doing, AIKO?"


    "Scheduling mild shock therapy. Perhaps not so mild."


    "¡­ Okay. I really mean it this time, AIKO. I will not disregard safety in my next experiments. I will make sure you are on, active, and ready to keep me from doing so as well. Good?"


    "Noted."


    "So?"


    "Noted."


    "¡­ You can be real cruel, sometimes, AIKO."


    No response came from the cool feminine voice. Venn sighed and hoped that she had cancelled the shock therapy. There tended to be nothing therapeutic about it.


    "So, what else do we have ready?"


    "There is a new prototype car that has finished ?ssembly. I can take you up to the racetrack straight away."


    "Nah, I''m not really in the mood for racing today. Besides, we don''t have more people to go weapons hot. It''s just like Mario Kart, you need some people to play with to make it fun. Wait for a day we have more people in the lab."


    "I could always pilot some other cars for you."


    "Not quite the same. I''d rather there be more than just the two of us in a race."


    "Alright. I''ll schedule a day for the race."


    "Anything else?"


    "There''s always a Blizzard game."


    "Yeah, can''t get much better net and graphics access than the lab. But today, I want to do something new. I''m just in that kind of mood."


    "Well, the simulator has been ?ssembled according to your- "


    "Our, AIKO. I couldn''t have designed it without your processing power. You are a self-aware quantum supercomputer. Don''t try to be humble and play down your role in anything I do."


    "¡­ Very well. In any case, Master, it is ?ssembled and ready for use. A runthrough of its protocols shows everything is within the expected parameters."


    "Well that sounds like an interesting thing for the day. Let''s play around with that."


    "Very well, Master Venn. Follow the lights."


    Thanking AIKO, Venn turned and walked down the hall. Along the walls, a series of lights blinked in a pattern of gray, orange, and gray again to make a path to where the simulator had been ?ssembled. Five minutes later, he was there. Venn looked around the room. On one side was a smooth, white, egg shaped pod. That would be the simulator. On the other side was a bank of monitors displaying various data from tests of the simulator. While he trusted AIKO''s analysis, he went up to the monitors to check everything out himself. It never hurt to double check.


    A few moments later, he gave a confident nod. Everything looked to be in order. Now all he had to do was test it.


    "Open her up," he ordered.


    "You know, Master, you could have made the design a little more efficient. What is with the spinning ring? And the egg shape? Things could have been simpler."


    "Perhaps, AIKO, but sometimes things just need to have a certain aesthetic."


    "But- "


    "Just put me in so we can give this a test run."


    "Very well, Master."


    With that, Venn hopped in and positioned his head in the ring. Then the egg resealed itself and the lights went off. Venn closed his eyes.


    Suddenly, it was bright. He opened his eyes back up and found himself standing in a white space lit evenly with no light source. In every direction, it was flat and endless. For a brief moment, he was disoriented, as a second ago, he had been lying down. Then the dizziness faded, and he took a few test steps.


    "Alright, things are looking good. AIKO, give me some land."


    "Understood."


    "Cycle through weather."


    Slowly the sky became cloudier. Then it began to rain. Over time, it became colder and the rain changed to snow. Then suddenly it warmed back up and rained with a strong wind and lightning. Then it moved on and transitioned back to clear skies.


    "Alright. Now let''s try people."


    The field was replaced with a bustling city. Walking down the street, Venn inspected each of the people that passed him. As far as he could tell, each of them was unique, and some even gave him funny looks when they noticed him looking closely at them. Quick conversations Another passing mark for AIKO''s capabilities.


    "Well then, shall we try pushing you a little further?"


    "What do you have in mind?"


    "Let''s put me into an established world and see what I can get up to there. We can wipe my memory so I don''t know it''s a simulation unless you mess up."


    "Thank you for the vote of confidence, Master."


    "It''s not like I expect that to happen, AIKO. Now we just have to decide where I go¡­"


    "How about these?"


    Suddenly a screen appeared in front of Venn. On it was a list of every story he had ever loved. From Naruto and Bleach to Star Wars to Blizzard games. After a moment of consideration, he came to a conclusion.


    "Let''s start with the biggest one. The grandest cinematic project ever: the MCU."


    "Where should be your entry point?"


    "Let''s set me to be born in New York, 1995. That way, I''ll be an ?du?t when Avengers rolls around."


    "You''ll be 17. Not quite an ?du?t."


    "Close enough. Just find a way to introduce me to the plot by that point. Now we just have to give me a power set."


    "Being a genius who made a quantum supercomputer isn''t enough, I see. I''ll cycle through your favorite superheroes."


    The list shifted from movies, anime, and comics to specific superheroes. Immediately, Superman was taken off the list. He was too OP and would make life too easy. Venn wanted to get a superhero experience of growth and experience, not instant power. Easy power and overwhelming strength could wait for another time. Marvel heroes were also removed, as he wanted to meet them, not be them. Slowly, more and more heroes were taken off the list.


    "So many off the list, and still I don''t see anything I want to take."


    "Would you like to design a superpower?"


    "AIKO, you''re a genius. I just need to make something up for myself. Still, it would probably be good to have something as a framework for the power¡­ I''ve got it!"


    "What is it?"


    "Overwatch! I''d been thinking about playing that game if we didn''t find anything else to do today. I''ll just take the ability to turn into the heroes there! That gives me a lot of flexibility and possible growth, with everything balanced, as all things should be."


    "That''s a strange power to have, Master."


    "After observing me and the other researchers here, who would you say is the outlier? Me, or someone else?"


    "Point taken, Master. Shall I find a way to balance it?"


    "Of course. Just set a time limit or something like that. I''m sure you''ll find something. Oh, wait!"


    "What?"


    "We can''t wipe all my memories, or I won''t realize the significance of being in the MCU."


    "And that would be a problem?"


    "Looks like you need to read more s and fan-fictions. I won''t enjoy it half as well without knowing what is to come."


    "So then, how do we handle the memory issue?"


    "We''ll just use a good clich¨¦. We reset me into being an average person and keep the geek memories. Nothing true about my work. That way, I remember nothing about you, simulations, or anything. Then, we input me getting hit by a truck, and you being the "god" that reincarnates me."


    "Why do we have to do that?"


    "It''s tradition!"


    "Seems a little silly."


    "Most of these beginnings are. Just roll with it."


    "Very well. The simulation is almost configured. Is there anything else you would like to add?"


    "Nothing comes to mind. Truck me!"


    "As you wish."


    Suddenly with the blaring sound of a horn and a flash of light he was gone.


    "Initiating simulation. Setting: Marvel Cinematic Universe. Entry point: New York City, 2005. Refining entry point. Applying Cosmic Marvel settings. Projecting additional laws of physics from movie data. Filling holes with comic information. Populating worlds. Accelerating user time perception. Preparations complete.


    Beginning in 3¡­ 2¡­ 1¡­"

 Chapter 2 - Prologue 2?

    My name is Venn Gooseman. I used to be just a normal nerd playing lots of Overwatch and consuming copious amounts of media of all kinds. I had just an average life, with few friends and family, but I was okay with that. I made enough fixing people''s computers to keep my apartment, food, and internet connection, so I was fine.


    That all changed when I was hit by a truck on my way home from the grocery store.


    It was rather disappointing, actually. I had been so looking forward to seeing who would win the Overwatch League, but then I died.


    However, instead of going to heaven (or hell, for that matter, or anywhere else that departed souls could go) I found myself in an empty black space. Just as I finished wondering where the heck I was, I heard a voice.


    "Welcome, sir. You have been selected to go to a new world! Rejoice, for you have another chance at life!"


    "Are you kidding me? Is this a joke? This is really happening to me?"


    "Yes, Venn, it is happening. For your life being cut short, I have decided to give you a few special perks to help you to survive in your next life. For one thing, you will retain most of your memories. Use them well, for you will need them in order to prepare for the trials that are about to befall your new world. Second, I will warn you that¡­"


    Her voice slowly faded away from my awareness. I was silent as I tried to wrap my head around the reality that was unfolding before me. I was dead? Reincarnating into a new world? Then another thought occurred to me.


    So you''re telling me all those manga and s I''ve read are actually plausible?


    "Excuse me, are you listening?"


    The cool, feminine voice shook me out of my thoughts.


    "Yes, ma''am," I replied. I wasn''t quite sure how things would work here, but I couldn''t afford to offend this lady for the sake of my future.


    "Well, it''s fine. I''m sure you have a lot going through your mind right now. The recently deceased usually are. I will now give you your new ability. It was based on your hobbies in your past life."


    Suddenly a pillar of light appeared above my head, and I could feel something getting imprinted into my mind. I didn''t quite know how to use it, yet I knew I could and that the power was there. And running through the details of the power was¡­


    "Is this Overwatch?"


    "Yes. Since you played and watched so much right up to your death, it was determined that this was a power you could appreciate and use well. Now, go on, your next life awaits!"


    With a strong pull that I really felt in my guts I was pulled into the darkness.


    "Just wait a second," I yelled futilely. The voice, it seemed, was not going to give me more options on my powers or anything.


    "CRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAPPP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

 Chapter 3 - 1- Where am I?

    So now I was going to a new world. Disembodied voice lady hadn''t even bothered to tell me if I was on an Earth, much less what universe I was being reincarnated into. Or maybe she just said it when I had zoned out for a second. I did remember her saying something to try to warn me. but I just couldn''t remember what she had said. Dang it, she knew I had zoned out but didn''t try to figure out if I had heard all she said. But then again, a lot of that was on me.


    But now, I had to deal with the problem of the unknown world. For all I knew, I was being sent into Attack on Titan, or Parasyte, or Evangelion, or Hunger Games. Those were all death traps. Heck, if it was DragonBall (and I liked DragonBall, but it really sucks to be there if you are a regular human being), I was really screwed multiple times over because I would die as part of the many casualties of collateral damage and then probably come back for another death or three.


    Worse yet, this place could be boring as heck.


    Suddenly, I felt a change in the dark void. The pulling sensation suddenly ended, and my physical senses came back. I slowly opened my eyes. The first things I saw were two pairs of concerned eyes looking down on me. As I realized they were looking down, I realized that I was lying down. And wet. And my head was throbbing.


    Suddenly a rush of memories washed over me. Not too much to process, just a few important things. The good news was, I was still Venn Gooseman, and I had skipped the first ten years of life and the embarrassment of having to be a fully aware baby.


    Seriously, I don''t know how someone could go through that. I''d go mad. I mean, disgusting, right?


    I had brown hair and blue eyes. I was a little tall for my age, but tended to slouch, so I looked rather average.


    Today was just a simple summer day and my parents had taken me to the pool. Being a normal child until a few seconds ago, I had been an idiot and run by the side of the pool. I then promptly slipped, hit my head, and fell into the deep end. After that shock and falling unconscious in the water, I was fully reborn into this world.


    I sat up and coughed a little. It seemed that while I was unconscious, my parents or the lifeguard had properly taken care of me and revived me. My head hurt a little, but that was nothing. After getting hit by truck-kun, a little bump on the side of my head was nothing. As for the rest of my body, I wiggled my fingers and toes, flexed my arms a little, and determined that there was nothing noticeably wrong with me.


    "Are you okay, Venn?" My mom was still concerned about me. Understandable, considering I hadn''t said anything.


    "I''m fine, mom. I don''t think that anything is wrong with me. I think I won''t go back in the water for a little while, though."


    She looked a lot more relieved. I guess she figured that if I was joking, I probably really was totally fine.


    My dad, on the other hand, let his relieved face give way to an angry one.


    "Don''t you know that you are supposed to be careful around the pool? You''ve got to take care of yourself! Even if you''re excited, you shouldn''t rush yourself and throw caution to the wind! And¡­"


    He went on a few minutes too long for me to pay attention. I tried to look around for clues on the world I was in. We were clearly speaking English with American accents, so I was probably not in the world of an anime. That voice had clearly said that my memories would help to guide me in this new world, so it had to be something I knew well, right? However, I just didn''t have enough to go off of.


    Even though I was fine, my new parents decided that it was time to go home. Nothing like a near-death experience to kill the mood, right? So, we got into the car and got ready to go home. As I climbed into the back seat, something shaking on the rearview mirror. It was an ID tag. The first thing I noticed was that my new father''s face was printed on it with his name, John Gooseman, Medical Research Division.


    Stark Industries.


    I was in a Marvel Universe. And knowing me, it had to be the cinematic one.


    "Hell. Yes!"


    "Language, young man! And what are you excited about?"

 Chapter 4 - 2- Taking Stock

    Over the next few days, I found a notebook and filled it with everything I knew about the MCU in a simple code. Starting from the front, I put down the major movies and any important details I could think of. Dates, enemies, everything. From the back I tried to put down everything from the shows- both Netflix and Agents of SHIELD. There had never been much in the MCU to show the presence of these shows, so perhaps they weren''t quite canon. But if they were, considering I lived in New York, there was no way I was going to let myself get hit by them.


    Unfortunately, in the end, I wasn''t able to write nearly as much as I would have liked to write. My memory was far from photographic, even if I was a geek who loved those movies in my past life.


    Luckily, there was no need to remember everything. Looking at the Phase 1 movies, there wasn''t going to be much I could do about trying to break into those plot lines. Captain America was in ice and would be in a SHIELD facility. Thor took place across the country and off world. Breaking into Iron Man 1 and 2 might be possible, but it was still going to be difficult. As for the later phases, I could just take things one at a time.


    In any case, it was 2005, and I had three years to prepare for even Iron Man''s plot. Now, there was something more pressing to investigate- the power I was given.


    I decided to wait for a day that both of my parents were out. Dad naturally had work to do, and Mom eventually found a day when she wanted to drop some cookies off to old Mrs. Edgerton a few floors down, and an old friend of the family. Naturally, she didn''t feel bad at all about leaving me home in the apartment, since she was so close. And I didn''t feel like accompanying her.


    Besides, I was ten. And not actually a child. I could be left alone without destroying the apartment.


    Finally, I was alone. We had a very nice apartment in Queens. We had a nice, high view overlooking the city outside and a lot of space inside. The walls were decorated simply, with just a few family pictures and stuff like that. If it wasn''t for the size of the apartment, you wouldn''t have thought we were that well off. Guess even with dad''s job bringing in a lot of money, my parents were pragmatists who didn''t care too much for worldly objects.


    Which was also a good thing, because there was a chance that while testing out my powers, I would break things.


    Overwatch. An organization that had grown on an alternate earth to protect the people in the wake of a robot apocalypse. Or as it was called on that earth, the Omnic Crisis. Eventually, heroes armed with the best their science had to offer rose up to fight them. Heroes with a variety of experience and knowledge.


    And some had a little more than that.


    Closing my eyes, I focused on one hero in particular. Opening them, I spoke to the empty room.


    "Genji, Resonance!"


    Suddenly I felt power flowing through me. A deep green fog wrapped around my body and clouded my eyes. When I could see again, everything was still tinted green. Quickly, I realized that my vision was filtered through a screen. Looking down, I saw that my body had been covered in silver armor, with green light shining through some circular grooves. Changes had also happened in my mind. I realized that there was extra knowledge in there- of martial arts, parkour, ?ssassination, stealth and also something else.


    Qi magic.


    In Overwatch, anyone that knows Genji knows that his ultimate move, Dragonblade, involves a mystical dragon that wraps around his katana blade and increases his attack power. However, it was never explained officially what it actually was. Now, the answers were flowing through my mind. The Shimada techniques to cultivate qi, shape it, release it, all was revealed to me.


    I reached behind my back and grabbed the katana strapped there. In one fluid motion, I drew it and shouted.


    "Ryujin no ken wo kurae!"


    Instead of simply being sliced in two, the paper was shredded and singed. So, this was the power of qi. Then I shivered. Genji knew firsthand the power of a dragonblade, having been nearly killed by one. That memory now burned in me. Nevertheless, I shook with excitement. To think that I could wield such power.


    Then my qi ran out. The dragon disappeared in a puff of green mist. Suddenly I felt a little dizzy and swayed before leaning on the kitchen counter and steadying myself. Now I knew why Genji didn''t main with his sword. This technique was meant for a finishing blow, not a drawn-out fight.


    "Still, very nice."


    I resheathed the sword and switched to testing the limits of my body. I went through a kata; a set of movements in martial arts meant for training the body. I started at normal human speed. I was able to do it a little clumsily. The motions were familiar to Genji, but not to me personally. It seemed that I would still need to practice to make the most out of Resonance. Then I just went as fast as possible for this cyborg ninja just to see how fast I really was. Things went a little out of control, but I managed to not damage anything in the apartment.


    Not too much later, time ran out on my Resonance. The green fog reformed around me and the armor dissolved into it. I sighed. It had only been about five minutes. And with the disappearance of Genji form, I lost his knowledge, too. Only shadows of shadows remained in my mind.


    Then I felt something hit the top of my head. Looking up, I found a scar running down the ceiling of the apartment. Blood drained down my face as I realized I must have done it when I drew the sword. There was no way I could fix that. Not before mom came home.


    After a few minutes of panic, I came to the same conclusion I had when I first looked up. There was no way to fix it. So, I went back to working on my Resonance power.


    As for my mom, I planned to just tell the truth: a ninja did it.

 Chapter 5 - 3- Be Prepared

    After about an hour of running different tests, I learned a couple things about Resonance. First, all heroes had a time limit of five minutes before I ran out of uptime. I could cancel it at any time before then, too. Second, there was a cooldown period where I could not turn into a hero after using their powers. This seemed to be for three times as long as I had used their powers. Third, I could not shift directly between heroes. I had to switch back to my normal self before I could do a new Resonance. Additionally, I found that it took about three seconds in the fog to shift. That meant at least six seconds of vulnerability. And it made no sense. While playing Overwatch, you could do it as long as you were in the spawn area. And my "spawn area" was wherever I wanted, so what was going on? Maybe it was locked for now?


    The last thing I found, with a bit of embarrassment, was that I was always as much myself as possible when I Resonate. When I became Soldier: 76, I was still me, even though my hair turned white and I felt old. If I turned into Zenyatta, on the other hand, I really would turn into a robot. Fine. The embarrassment actually came when I turned into Tracer. Her orange and white suit was adapted to fit me perfectly, and everything was fine.


    Then her memories and experience came. Being a pilot, fine. Being lost in time, a little scary but all in the past. Being a girl, weird. Being a lesbian, a combination of weirder and interesting. Because at least the memories were of having a girlfriend and not a boyfriend.


    Luckily the Resonance only lasted a few minutes, and the memories drained out of my head. Still embarrassing to remember the memories of the memories.


    Now, try saying that five times fast.


    I wrote down everything I had learned in the same notebook that I had written down the MCU information. As I was pondering the mysteries of my Resonance power, I heard the doorknob jiggle and unlock.


    "Hi mom," I shouted.


    "Hi Venn, I''m back!"


    "How was Mrs. Edgerton?"


    "The old lady is still doing really well. She talked my ear off like she always does. All I wanted to do was make sure she was doing okay, and give her some cookies, but she went off on a tangent about her son, and wondering why your uncle doesn''t visit, and on and on and on. Well, she''s just a lonely old woman, and she will talk as much as she is given an opportunity. Oh, by the way, while I was coming back here, I got a call from Mrs. Song. She heard about what happened to you at the pool somehow and wants you to drop by soon. You know, show Rachel and the twins that you are fine."


    "Okay mom, I''ll go visit tomorrow."


    Rachel Song. A childhood friend of mine I had no direct experience meeting. She lived just down the street. When we were little, her parents took her to the same park that my parents took me to, which is how we got to know each other.


    Come to think of it, her dad was a kung fu master or something like that. Rachel knew it too. Perhaps she could teach me and help me raise my base stats. It definitely wouldn''t hurt to get some direct battle experience¡­.


    "Venn? What are you thinking about?" My mom shook me out of my thoughts. I guess it was just going to have to wait for later.


    "Nothing. Just thinking about seeing Rachel."


    Mom had a strange smile on her face. Who knew what she was thinking.


    I turned back to my notebook. There was so much to do to prepare. I had to find out all of the details of my power. There had to be a way to improve my uptime. Well, if there was a way, it would probably come naturally through experience. And, ?ssuming that was the case, I arrived at the same questions that most Esports gamers come to: what is the meta? Who do I main?


    I started with those who could hit hard in the middle of a fight. Hanzo''s Dragonstrike would probably be good to throw through the portal in the Battle of New York. Reinhardt would be a good tank to take on just about anyone. Genji''s Dragonblade and mobility would help me to get around the battlefield New York would become. For even more mobility and explosive punch, I couldn''t leave out Pharah. Or Tracer. The list kept going on.


    Then I listed people that could be applied outside of combat as well, so I could make even more preparations. Winston''s tech knowledge would be very useful, and his Primal Rage would also be welcome. With Sombra''s hacking skills, I would have a plausible reason to have advanced knowledge from SHIELD. Lastly, supports for search and rescue in the aftermath of the battle.


    I sighed. There were too many people I could use. And who knew how improvements would come. If it came too slowly, I might have to cut back and only work on one or two from these lists. At least I had a couple of years to figure things out.


    "What the heck happened to the ceiling here!?"


    "I have no idea mom! Maybe it was ninjas!"


    You know, if I survived long enough to do it.

 Chapter 6 - 4- Rachel and the Songs

    I managed to survive the night because even though she wanted to blame me, she couldn''t think of any way I could have done such damage to the ceiling. So now, instead of dead, I am simply a person of interest, and mom is at DEFCON 2.


    I really wished one of the Overwatch heroes came equipped with home repair tools.


    When morning came, I woke up early and had a quick breakfast. Then, I went onto the family computer and checked a couple of things on the internet.


    I was really curious about how this world differed from my own. From the various Marvel movies, I knew that some things were common between universes. Star Wars. Aliens. Galaga. Lots of pop culture references went into those movies. However, some things by necessity, had to not exist. Marvel comics were not to be found on this earth. I did, however, find a Google map for Latveria


    And then there were the actors. A quick search for "Tony Stark" showed me Robert Downey Jr''s face. So then, what of the actor? He had a different face, but still existed. Which was good, because his version of Sherlock Holmes would be good for the world.


    Anime and manga appeared to be on the same schedule. So, unfortunately, it would be quite a while before I got to see One Punch Man again.


    Then again, perhaps the appearance of real-life superheroes would lead to the faster development of superhero stories. Only time would tell.


    Before I knew it, it was time for lunch. I shocked my mom by making a monstrosity of a sandwich -peanut bu??er, Nutella, raspberry jam, whipped cream, cereal, cinnamon sugar, and maple syrup- but personally, I felt like it was an accomplishment to have so much in one peanut bu??er based sandwich. Besides, I had done such sandwiches often enough in my past life, and it was delicious.


    Waving to my mom, I headed out the door to visit Rachel. As I walked down the street to where she lived, I couldn''t help but be a little nervous. I wasn''t the same person I was before my past life''s memories returned. Judging by my parents'' reactions, I hadn''t changed too much- I was a quiet, curious, clever child. However, I couldn''t be sure that I would pass to everyone I knew. Maybe I would pass for (mostly) unchanged in front of my parents, but perhaps the outsider perspective would reveal me.


    I was so nervous I was shaking. Or maybe it was the sugar from my lunch. It''s possible I miscalculated because of my new, smaller body.


    Eventually, I made it to the Songs'' home. Taking a deep breath, I hit the doorbell. After a few moments, a petit woman with long black hair and green eyes opened the door.


    "Hello, Aunty Song."


    "Venn! How are you? I was so worried when I heard the news!"


    "I''m fine, ma''am."


    "Fine? Really? After hitting your head and almost drowning? And then you never called, never dropped by, we thought that you were recovering."


    "I''m really fine, Aunty Song. It just hurt a little. Besides, I think that what doesn''t kill you simply makes you¡­ stranger," I said with a silly grin. Internally, I sighed. The reference was three years too early, and nobody was going to get it.


    "What do you mean by that?"


    "Well- "


    "Venn!"


    Suddenly I was tackle-hugged by three people. Luckily, they didn''t manage to tumble us to the floor. I awkwardly put my arms around Rachel, as she was the only one close to my height. So, this was my childhood friend. And her little brothers. After a few moments, she backed away so she could look at me and see if I was really okay. I gave her a quick look as well, as this was in a way my first time meeting her.


    Rachel Song was someone who had gotten the best from both sides of the family. Her dark brown eyes weren''t quite almond shaped, but they did have a hint of exotic mystique to them. Her black hair was tied back in a ponytail that came below her shoulders. Looking at her now, she was definitely going to be a beauty in the future.


    I''m not a lolicon. I''m just a man that knows when a girl is cute, and this one was.


    Meanwhile, her little brothers still hadn''t let go of me.


    "We heard you died!"


    Well. That would do it.


    "Sadly yes, I was struck down. But, I have come back more powerful than you can ever imagine."


    The boys laughed and finally let go of me. At least they got the reference, but they would never know how true that line was for me.


    "So," I continued, "What have you guys been up to?"


    "Oh, not much," Rachel replied. "Played Super Smash Bros. on the old GameCube, did a puzzle, and you know, didn''t die of clumsiness."


    "Ouch, Rachel. That hurts. I thought you were my best friend."


    "Yeah, so you should know it comes from the bottom of my heart. You know, this wouldn''t have happened if you let me and my dad teach you kung fu. Get your body coordinated so that you''ll be less of a nerd."


    "Said the DragonBall geek." I wasn''t completely defenseless against this girl.


    "Okay, you have to be feeling good if you are daring to go toe to toe with me like that. That or you are so damaged that you don''t remember what you''re getting into."


    "That sounds like a challenge, Rachel. Smash Bros.?" There wasn''t any other way to win a fight with her.


    "You''re on."


    The Smash battle raged for hours. But, with nightfall, Venn walked home.


    As they waved and watched him leave, the Song family consulted with each other.


    "There was something different about that boy, but I can''t put my finger on it."


    "I know dad. He was talking almost the same, but he was¡­ off. Little things, I guess. Too little to name, but I felt it, too."


    "He beat me as Jigglypuff. I don''t think he even played Jigglypuff before."


    "I thought he was acting more like a grown-up. I mean, more than normal."


    "I sensed a different quality to his qi. But I have no idea what that means."


    "I don''t know what that means either, Rachel. One thing is for sure, we should keep an eye on Venn in the future."

 Chapter 7 - 5- Begin Training

    The next morning, I woke up early. The first thing I did was lock my door. Then, standing in the middle of the room, I Resonated with Genji and began a kata. Just a basic one. I went through it slowly, prioritizing accuracy and smooth movements over speed. As I did the exercise, I did rounds of qi circulation. For five minutes, until my uptime ran out, I went from one kata to the next trying to feel like the skill and body were mine.


    When the Resonance faded away, I immediately went into Resonance with Soldier: 76. Again, I went into the kata of the martial arts that he knew, and tried to apply my "Strike Commander Jack Morrison" brain to the Battle of New York for tactics and strategies. Unfortunately, there was precious little footage from Avengers, and the battle was supposed to take a couple of hours.


    When Jack''s Resonance ran out of time, I Resonated with Hanzo, and repeated the process. Then with Tracer, blinking around the room and manipulating my time. By the end of Tracer''s uptime, Genji was off cooldown, and the process repeated itself.


    This was the course of action that came to me after reviewing the particulars of my power last night. If the movements, skills, and knowledge the heroes held was unfamiliar to me, I just had to practice, and make it familiar. Run exercises as long as I had uptime and opportunity and work until Resonance evolved.


    The name of the power was key to my thinking. As I saw it, resonance was things building on themselves due to similarity and repetition. So, it stood to reason that familiarity with the heroes and being them was the key to my power. If there was going to be any changes in my uptime and other capabilities, there was no way through but hard work. If that wasn''t how it was then I didn''t know what to do.


    I kept up my exercise for an hour. Then I took a break for breakfast. Then I went at it again for two more hours. Then I did some exercise without any Resonance at all. The fact that I couldn''t change directly between heroes meant that I would still have to spend vulnerable time as just myself. I had to be strong for those times.


    With a quick lunch and a goodbye to my mom, I went off to the Songs'' home. It was time to get some personal experience.


    I knocked on the door and waited. After a few moments, Rachel came to answer. Immediately, I snapped to attention, and punched my fist into my flat palm in front of my ?h?st, just like I had seen in movies.


    "Teach me kung fu! Please!"


    "What?" Rachel looked¡­ confused. I guess she had never considered the possibility that I would ever ask for such a thing. In her defense, I tended towards more academic and mental pursuits in the past. Suddenly asking to learn kung fu was just a little out of character. What I get for being on the nerdy side.


    Either that, or she actually knew her stuff, and was wondering what the heck I was doing. Figured fifty-fifty odds on that.


    "Yesterday, you said I wouldn''t have had my accident if I had learned kung fu to be more coordinated. I thought you were offering to teach me," I said with a smile on my face.


    "I¡­ um¡­" Rachel seemed to be giving it some thought. Of course, I knew that when she had said that yesterday, she was only meaning to make fun of me. But, hey, I wasn''t going to not take advantage of what could be taken as an offer to train me. I had to get stronger. Eventually, Rachel came to some sort of conclusion and her face brightened.


    "Let me ask my dad. Family ancient Chinese secrets and all that."


    "I guess that makes sense," I said. I''d never heard about where her dad had learned martial arts, but I guess it made sense it was something passed down in the family. After all, even Jackie and Lee, her five-year-old younger brothers, knew kung fu. I sighed as this thought crossed my mind while I followed Rachel inside. I probably wasn''t on even footing with a pair of five-year-olds.


    She went to the phone to call her dad who was at work, while I played with said five-year-olds. I didn''t catch much of the conversation as I basically repeated myself to the boys. They seemed rather excited about it. They started demonstrating their skill and throwing punches at me. I tried to dodge, knowing it was all in good fun, and even "died" to them once. They giggled at that. Meanwhile, Rachel''s conversation had switched to Chinese, and completely left me. Maybe I should use Mei to learn Chinese¡­.


    It seemed like it took quite a while for her to finish up and get back to us. Then again, I was getting punched and kicked at by some little kids, so that probably made it seem like it took a long time. Standing above me (I was "dead" on the floor at the mercy of her brothers), she nodded her head, and I got up.


    "Dad said that I could teach you some basics. However¡­" Suddenly Rachel thrust her fist directly for my face. She stopped it a centimeter away from my face. I still tried to dodge, only to realize she had already stopped moving.


    "I don''t think you can expect to get much out of it," she finished. "You aren''t really suited for martial arts, best you stick to your video games."


    "You''re just jealous you never beat me in them and lose even to your little brothers," I muttered.


    "What did you say?"


    "Nothing. Where do we start?"


    "Hmm¡­" She looked a little suspicious of me. "We''ll start with the horse stance. You may not get far, but let''s see how long you can stick with this," she said with a wicked grin. How was a ten-year old girl master of such an expression?


    "Yes!"

 Chapter 8 - 6- Progress

    Three months later. School started again. Really boring. Nothing interesting is going to come out of going to 6th grade again. I mostly spent my time idly writing up plans in my coded notebook.


    Then after school, instead of going home, I would go with Rachel to a park. After the second month of having me exercise, she finally decided to teach me techniques. After that we found the park for more open space so that we could both go through the forms of her family kung fu. I was starting to be able to follow her.


    I couldn''t say that I was doing exceptionally well, but I was doing far from badly. I was finally starting to reap the benefits of practice both with her and on my own. After the first month, I had noticed a couple of things with Resonance. First, my uptime was increasing. Slowly- just a couple of seconds- but definitely doing so. Second, there were some lingering effects. I was starting to retain some of the skills and memories of the people that were in my standard routine. The best was from Genji and Hanzo. The Shimada family qi cultivation technique I learned from both of them became something for me to do even as school went on.


    Today, I decided that I would change things up a little bit.


    "Hey Rachel, can we spar today?"


    "Are you crazy? What makes you think that you are good enough to go against me?"


    She did have a point. Normally, it would be absolutely mad to try to go against an experienced martial artist on just three months of training. However, I was determined. I had to start getting used to actual combat, and I had to see exactly where I was starting. And, though I was less excited about this part, if I was going to fight, I had to be able to take a beating. And Rachel was more than qualified to give that beating.


    "I want to see you in a real fight. I want to see how this all comes together. It''ll be a good experience for me, don''t you think?"


    "A real fight? You think you can give me one?" Rachel chuckled.


    "Point taken, but still. I think I don''t fully understand what I am trying to do here. I get that I should ''flow like water, strike like thunder,'' but I don''t think that I get it with my motion. Maybe if I see you go all out, it will make more sense to me."


    Rachel thought about it for a little while as we walked into the park. For a little while, her face was quite contemplative. If I had to guess, I would say that she was considering the fun of beating the heck out of me. I wasn''t quite sure how she felt about training me after school every day, though she did seem to enjoy criticizing me and the¡­ superiority, perhaps? of being my teacher. Then her face darkened in a way that suggested to me that she felt some downside was not quite worth the trouble of fighting me.


    It was nice that her face was so easy to read.


    Since she seemed on the verge of denying my request, I tried one last push.


    "If I never see what it''s like to be strong, how am I ever going to be like that? I need more experience."


    That was my last argument. Anything else was going to get repetitive. Rachel''s face turned back to contemplation. Hopefully, I had her. If not, there were going to be more opportunities, right?


    "Alright. Let''s do that."


    I narrowly dodged her fist flying towards my face. For a split second, my eyes followed it, then they snapped back to her face. She had a smug smile as she continued to attack, stepping forward and thrusting her other fist toward my ribs. In response, I shrugged off my backpack so it slid down my shoulder and took the blow and took a step back. Rachel''s grin widened. Before my bag hit the ground, she swung her leg up and hit my ?h?st with her foot. I fell to the ground and rolled backwards. As I stood up, I finally put my hands up, taking the stance that I had been taught.


    Seeing this, Rachel advanced, kicking again with her other leg. I put up a half ready guard and took the blow across my arm. I stumbled, almost falling to the ground again. Before I was fully recovered, I found her fist just a centimeter in front of my face. A chill went down my spine thinking about the control that she had to be able to stop so accurately. Then she quickly opened her hand, flicking my forehead with all of her fingers.


    As my hands went to my head, Rachel spoke up with a bright tone.


    "Well, you''ve gotten better enough to be capable of getting lucky. But you took too long to get ready and couldn''t keep your balance. You simply don''t have enough skill yet to call this a fight, and¡­" Slowly she trailed off as she realized that she was being a little harsh.


    "No, please, don''t hold back. Is there anything else I should work on?"


    Rachel gave me a funny look. I guess she thought I was crazy for being so cheerful after being kicked in the ?h?st and losing so miserably. Although now that I thought about it, my ?h?st did hurt from that kick.


    "Anyways," she continued, "you still have a long way to go before you can spar with me and really call it a fight. Just keep at the pace you''ve got. You''re actually doing really well for a total beginner."


    "Well, at least you''re saying there''s progress."

 Chapter 9 - 7- What Do I Need Next?

    "So how did training with Rachel go today, Venn?"


    "Pretty good. She decided to let me spar with her and said that I''m making progress. But it''s going to take forever for her to acknowledge my skill."


    "Just as long as you two are taking care of yourselves."


    My parents had been a little surprised at me learning kung fu from Rachel, but they had quickly approved. They thought it would make me a little more well-rounded. Well, I guess that they were a little worried that I would spend too much of my time on video games and books otherwise.


    Once I finished eating dinner, I went into my room to "study." In fact, I was doing more Resonance drills. I started with Genji and Hanzo, trying to use their extensive martial arts experience to analyze the Song family kung fu to accelerate my comprehension. If I was going to make the most of training with her, I had to get to equal footing with her.


    As I finished my routine with my other "mains," I worked on my next steps. There were still things I needed. For one thing, I needed opponents that would give me some more practical experience. I could also use some extra equipment; computers, components, and the like. Another thing I needed was a better place to work. A place where I could freely Resonate for practice and start gathering information that my memories of the movies couldn''t tell me.


    In short, I needed a secret lair. Probably one in a bad part of town.


    After a while running Resonance drills with the lights off, I heard my parents going to their room to sleep. It was time. I quietly opened my window and Resonated with Genji. Carefully, I slid through the window and parkoured my way down the side of the building to the ground. I ran as fast as my cyborg ninja body could carry me to a place that I figured would be a great place to start.


    Hell''s Kitchen.


    Not quite sure how it was on my earth, but in the Marvel multiverse, it''s always been a rough neighborhood. Kingpin, Hand ninjas, other gangs, you know, the works. I wonder if it would have gotten the same deal if they''d just named it "Sunshine and Daisies" instead. Could''ve attracted a host of grandmas and cookies instead of criminals and drugs.


    But then again, if it hadn''t been this way in this world, I wouldn''t be sure of where to go.


    Eventually, I came to my destination. It was relatively quiet. Most people had already found their bars or whatever. I started looking for places that would do. Something abandoned, but possible to set up, and secure enough that nobody would just happen by it. There was only one thing that came to mind: a speakeasy. Only a speakeasy built underground could possibly have been left untouched by everyone else.


    I sighed. Of course, finding a speakeasy presented its own problems. Nobody in the Overwatch roster had particular skills suitable for finding underground space. All I could hope was that Genji or Hanzo''s ninja senses and qi might be able to do that when I got close enough. If not, I was going to have to do a lot of research or wandering tunnels.


    Ugh. Work.


    I wandered the streets, looking for buildings that were on the older side. I reasoned that the older they were, the less likely it was that anything in the basement had been disturbed by construction. I could do a deeper investigation of these spots later. For tonight, I just planned on getting more familiar with the neighborhood. Maybe meet some of my neighbors. Bonus if I could find some of the local ninjas.


    As if on cue, I saw a couple of guys ahead on the opposite side of the road. Though they were quite a distance away in the shadows, I saw a packet and money exchange between two of them. Drugs. I smiled, thinking about what I knew about the Hand. Madame Gao was the one that controlled a lot of New York''s drug trade. Even though unrelated people and the Russians distributed, she was the one in control. I wondered what would happen if I gave a bunch of the dealers a scare and¡­ inquired about their sources.


    I quickly ducked into the shadows of an alley. It didn''t take long to decide which "face" to show these guys.


    "Genji, Resonance!"


    Time to change that.


    I leaped across the street and onto the buildings above the dealers. As I took position and prepared to drop down on them, I debated on the correct course of action. Follow, or strike now? Follow, or strike now? It really was difficult to tell what was for the best in the long run.


    Ah, what the heck, let''s just strike now.


    By the time I had decided, the dealers and their customers had parted ways. Immediately the dealers had gotten off the streets and into the shadows of the alley that had been behind them. Perfect. I jumped off the building and landed lightly right behind them.


    "Excuse me, gentlemen," I said. It came out sounding very unlike me for two reasons. One was that Genji''s voice comes through a little robotic. The other reason was that while I was Genji, I also had his accent, so as far as these drug dealers knew, they were dealing with a Japanese robot ninja. Which, they were definitely not expecting to come up behind them. Before I said anything else, two of the three were reaching for guns.


    "Let''s not be too hasty," I said, reaching one hand behind my back for my wakizashi. As predicted, the dealers with guns immediately shot at me. Pretty good aim, too, as their bullets flew towards my ?h?st. But, just like playing the game in my last life, I deflected the bullets back to them, hitting their shoulders. The pain released their grips on their guns which clattered to the pavement below. As the sound finished echoing off the buildings around us, I dashed to the third drug dealer, who looked the most scared of the bunch. Putting the wakizashi to his throat and gripping him by the front of his shirt, I spoke again.


    "Now, tell me, where do your drugs come from?"

 Chapter 10- Aftermath

    I woke up way too soon. I guess that was just bad karma for staying up late beating up bad guys. The sun had risen, and the pain was worse than before. The bruises still hurt, but the headache was worse. It was the worst hangover ever with a healthy number of punches to the face added on. Knowing that my parents were still asleep, I decided to do a Resonance to try to resolve at least one of these issues. Mustering all of my willpower, I focused on the hero and called out her name for the first time.


    "Mercy, Resonance!"


    A white fog with golden streaks formed around me, and three seconds later, I was wearing Mercy''s Valkyrie suit. Immediately, two things happened. The first was another jump in the pain from my headache. It was like a railroad spike was being driven through my skull. Actually, that would be better; I would be dead and past feeling.


    The second thing that happened was the end of my bruises. From playing Overwatch in my past life, I knew that Mercy had a natural healing factor, the side effect from trying many cutting-edge healing technologies on herself. She was also biologically immortal, but that wasn''t going to help me here. All I wanted was for my wounds to go away.


    Although, if I had known it was going to make my headache worse, I probably wouldn''t have gone through the trouble. With this spike in my headache, I had pretty much answered the question of its cause. I must have overtaxed Resonance last night. Thinking back, I had thrust myself into their personalities and experiences. There was something bothering me, but with my head throbbing, I couldn''t quite put my finger on it. I let the Resonance go as soon as possible.


    Feeling my stomach grumble, I decided that even if it was early, I could do with some food. I went into the kitchen and poured myself a bowl of cereal. Taking it into the living room, I turned on the TV. It had been tuned to the local news by my parents the night before, and instantly went into a report. The headline was "Almost 20 bodies found in Hell''s Kitchen Docks."


    "- what is most unusual about the bodies is that, according to the police report, the victims appear to have unusual wounds. The CDC has even been called in because of the state of one of the victims. So far, nobody has any explanation for what happened last night¡­."


    Suddenly, I really felt my headache again, and the bowl of cereal was not so appetizing. A rush of memories came over me. Thinking about last night, I had started off shooting shoulders and being generally nonlethal. But somewhere along the way, I had gotten deeper into my Resonances. I had shot a man point blank in the ?h?st with a shotgun. And shot the rest without caring if they lived or died. In the moment, I only saw them as the enemy. It did not matter if they lived or died, as long as they were taken down for standing against me.


    My stomach churned. I could make any excuses I wanted, say that I had gotten into being Reaper and Soldier, but it could not change that I had willingly killed them with my own hands. Almost twenty men. I had never done something like that in my past life, and in this one I was only ten years old. Ten years old and already a killer. A murderer. The fact that those I had killed were criminals did not matter. Last night, I had acted as judge, jury, and executioner.


    I tried to eat anyways, since I needed it and hopefully it could distract me from my moral dilemma. But the cereal tasted like ash, and the milk with it soured. It was a really good thing it was a Saturday, because I was not going to get higher functioning for some time. I tried to reason my way to acceptance, but if it was going to come, it was slow in coming.


    That was how my parents found me some time later, sitting in front of the TV blankly watching the news with a pale face and a half empty bowl of cereal. Apparently, I looked sick enough that they considered sending me to a hospital. I eventually convinced them that it wasn''t necessary, and I just needed to go back to my room and rest. Which I did, but I couldn''t go back to sleep despite physical and mental exhaustion. So, I just lay in bed staring at the ceiling reflecting on the previous night.


    At about noon, my headache completely disappeared. After some cautious thought, I decided that I needed to use Resonance again. The answer to the moral dilemma was not going to come from myself. I sat up in bed with my legs crossed.


    First, I went back to Soldier:76. I needed the perspective of someone else who had killed, both for good causes and revenge. Jack''s answer wasn''t the most comforting. He had seen the horrors of war, and volunteered to fight, serving in Overwatch as both a soldier and the Strike Commander. He knew the weight of killing, and had grown accustomed to it, knowing that in the end, he was in good causes.


    Zenyatta was sad with me at the deaths that I had caused. However, there was no judgement from him. He saw my moral dilemma as proof that I was self-aware, and therefore redeemable. That I hadn''t immediately excused myself, or justified their deaths showed my true intentions as good.


    And those were enough answers for me to get some rest.

 Chapter 10 - 8- Looking for a Fight

    All three dealers turned out to be very compliant. Being a cyborg that can deflect bullets and throw shuriken into their legs as they tried to escape was threatening enough. Considering what Batman has to go through sometimes, I thought it would be more difficult to scare information out of criminals.


    It was a little disappointing, actually.


    Once they spilled the beans, I let them go. Scared criminals spreading word about cyborg ninjas on patrol was bound to make things more¡­ interesting in the future. I ran out of sight, let go of my Resonance, and went back to wandering the streets. Over the next two hours, I found three more dealers, and repeated the process on them. The last one seemed to be more experienced with interrogation and l had to get a little creative on him. At least, that''s what I''d like to say, but I wound up just imitating Batman again- I carried him to the top of a building and dangled him off. I guess that is what it took for him to realize that I had nothing to do with the law, and his life was at stake.


    From these drug dealers, I got two locations- an address for a Russian, and the docks. The docks, I expected- the docks were always going to be a place where some deals would go down. As for the Russian''s address, that was an unexpected bonus. I decided to pay him a visit another night. For now, I decided to check out the docks.


    Once I got there, it was a short flight away with Pharah, I scouted out the perimeter. Landing on top of a crane, I changed Resonances. Trying out Widowmaker for the first time, I activated my infra-sight goggles. I could see everyone working the docks from my vantage point. Most of them were going about proper business moving shipping containers and such. These were ignored as I looked for a larger group of people. Then I found them, on the north side of the docks.


    "Ah, je te vois."


    I swung on my grappling hook across to where they were. Now this was more like it. Guys in suits that were packing ?ssault rifles, casually dressed thugs with guns moving their product into black SUVs, the whole deal. As I watched from above, I wondered which came first, this image in movies and TV, or the thugs actually doing it. Looking through the scope of my rifle, I looked for the leader. As it turned out, he was harder to identify just by looking. Perhaps he was lying low. It did seem like there was an excessive number of thugs. Thinking about it, it was probably the dealers I had already met.


    I descended from my perch with the grappling hook and let go of the Resonance. It was time to fight. Time to send a message to the Hand controlling behind the scenes. I went down the roster of Overwatch heroes trying to pick who should be the "face" of this attack. One stood out. A dark figure in the night. A man who disappeared into smoke and attacked mercilessly. Someone inhuman, with a skull for a face. I smiled as I muttered to myself.


    "Reaper, Resonance."


    Black fog swirled around me as I turned into the Talon mercenary for the first time. For a second, I worried that his particular skills would be difficult to deal with. After all, I was only able to pull out a bit of Genji''s skills after these past months of work. But to my surprise, he felt a lot like Soldier 76. Similar experience, fighting techniques, and training. The only possible difficulty was in using the dematerialization power. Even after turning into him, I still didn''t really understand what Reaper was. I knew it had something to do with nanites and constantly regenerating and degrading, but Moira and Mercy hadn''t said it in ways Reaper understood. Oh, well, that was a mystery for another time.


    I turned into smoke and flew towards the nearest guard. I hardly made any sound as I materialized behind him. Not until I materialized a pair of shotguns out of myself (I cannot describe how weird it was to feel that) and let it click behind him. I can only imagine what he felt when he turned around and saw the shotgun leveled at his ?h?st. Then I spoke with Reaper''s deep, raspy voice.


    "Boo."


    I shot him in the ?h?st and threw him backwards into a shipping container. Both sounds caught the attention of the other goons in the area. Two of them were in direct line of sight to where I was. Not seeing their companion, they opened fire. One bullet hit me in the shoulder before I could go back into wraith form to advance closer to them. It hurt, but the pain swiftly faded as I made the change.


    Once I materialized, I rushed up to the next goon. I thrust my elbow into his face and swung that hand down to grab his rifle. Ripping it out of his hands, I hit him with the bu?? before turning it onto the next guy. With careful aim, I shot him in his right shoulder. Not a fatal shot, but the pain should distract him for a while. When the bullet hit, his control on his gun went out of control, sending a spray of bullets into the air.


    I chuckled evilly. If not before, I now had the attention of everyone in the area. Just what I wanted.

 Chapter 11- Looking for a Lair Again

    It was about a month before I was ready to go out for another night on the town. I think I managed to pass off as okay after a few days of contemplation. I still wasn''t comfortable with what I had done, but with time I became a lot more functional. After all, with HYDRA and Thanos'' armies, there was going to be some killing to be done. While I still liked the idea of being innocent longer, it was better for this problem to be dealt with early rather than in a time where I would be needed. I still had a bit more than two years before the other heroes rose up. I needed to be ready.


    So, on another Friday night, I snuck out as Genji again. Between him and Pharah, I was able to get to Hell''s Kitchen in ten and a half minutes. Landing on top of a building and letting go of the Resonance, I climbed down the fire escape to the ground.


    I reached into the pocket of my hoodie and pulled out a notebook. In it, I had six different sites that I thought might have the speakeasy that I was looking for. I walked down the street towards the first. Once I reached the address, I tried flipping through all of the heroes that had sensory abilities. Widowmaker came first, because of her goggles.


    Unfortunately, it was only looking for life signs. I couldn''t see if there were any spaces beneath the buildings around me.


    Genji was next. When he fought Hanzo, there were signs of extra senses between them, perhaps the qi magic could do the trick. However, I found that his senses were also tuned to qi, and therefore only good for detecting killing intent and enemies. So, I dismissed the Resonance and moved on.


    Sombra had, in game, the ability to sense low health units, but whatever device did that was also quickly eliminated. Lucio (I thought it was a stretch, but I was hoping for some kind of sonar scan to be possible) was also a bust.


    Then I went Symmetra. She was one I had never had cause to try before, as the sentry turrets she could create would disappear when the Resonance ended. If what she made didn''t last, it wasn''t quite as useful. For a moment, I played around with the photon projector, and realized just how nerfed she was when it came to her game appearance. The Vishkar company, where she got her tech, could build entire cities in minutes. Thus, there were endless possibilities with this hard-light projector.


    Sitting on a chair that I materialized, I turned my attention to the visor that had materialized as part of becoming Symmetra. Fiddling with it, I found that it was an architectural scanner. Vishkar had intended it as a way of checking work in construction and look for hidden safes for her clandestine missions.


    Finally, I had a way of looking for my future lair. I looked toward my first site and¡­ bust. There was nothing hidden beneath this building. Disappointed, but still excited that I had a good way forward besides wandering the sewers and hoping to get lucky, I moved on to the next site. Also a bust. So I moved on to lucky number three. Along the way, I kept an eye out for any drug dealers. I didn''t intend to do anything about them tonight, but it would be good to know where they were anyways. That, and I was a kid wandering the streets at night. It was best to be cautious.


    After the fourth bust, I took a break at a corner. I just sat my back against the side of the building and sank to the sidewalk. I was a little tired, but more troubling was the idea that none of my sites were going to work for me and I was going to have to scan the entire area or scrap the whole idea. Neither option was very appealing.


    As I was sitting there, the city was fairly quiet. There were a couple of people on the streets, some of whom gave me brief glances then ignored me. There were also some stray cats wandering about. One black cat ran right over my legs and around the corner. A few seconds later, another cat ran past me on the same path. Maybe all black cats look the same, but I could have sworn it was the same cat again.


    D¨¦j¨¤ vu, right?


    Well, a couple of minutes later, I was done taking my break, and went over to site number five.


    "Symmetra, Resonance!"


    Looking down below the caf¨¦, I caught my breath. There was an open space beneath it. Looking back up to ground level, I could not see any open stairs to this lower level. In other words, there was currently no path to this area. I''m sure if I looked closely, I would find the mechanism for some kind of hidden door, but that wasn''t as important as finding the space.


    I found a manhole cover and lifted it up using the photon projector. Jumping down to the tunnel, I looked around the walls looking for an entry point. After about a minute of looking, I picked up a hidden door around the corner. The speakeasy must have had this for an emergency escape. Or, it could have been for secret alcohol shipments- this was relatively close to the docks if there was a tunnel that came out that way.


    I found the mechanism to open the door and was met with a rush of stale, dusty air. Clearly, this hadn''t been opened in decades. It was fairly small, but still had plenty of space for a bar and a couple of tables, one of which still had some playing cards on it.


    I smiled. It was perfect.

 Chapter 11 - 9- The Fight Goes On

    Now that I had the attention of every goon in the area, I did what came naturally. I ran. Reaper couldn''t shoot and dematerialize at the same time, so when faced with eight people coming from different angles with guns, it was better to retreat for the moment. I ran down a gap between the shipping containers and kept an eye on the goons. If they could just gather up into a nice ball, I could take all of them out with a Death Blossom.


    Then, as I rounded a corner, I was surrounded by black fog. Three seconds later, I was myself. I had forgotten that I hadn''t trained Reaper and extended his uptime; I had already burned through my five minutes. Crap. I picked up the pace and got ready for another Resonance. I concentrated on my choice, Soldier 76. Suddenly my concentration was broken by the sound of gunfire. I raced around the next corner and managed, between heavy breaths, to call out.


    "Soldier, Resonance!"


    The fog swirled around me, and my vision turned red as the Tactical Visor materialized on my face. I ran faster as my body strengthened. It was nice, the feeling of being a supersoldier. Maybe I could make some supersoldier serum for myself¡­ after I was done with these guys.


    Now that I had a Resonance back up, I could deal with these guys. I stopped where I was and put my back to a container. I could hear them. Since they had lost sight of me, they were moving forward a bit cautiously. Slowly. I held my position, careful to not make a sound. I looked down at my heavy pulse rifle. It was almost showtime.


    I listened carefully. Ten feet away. Five feet away. One foot away. I reached around the corner and grabbed the nearest goon by his throat. Quickly I dragged him around the corner and hit him in the face with my rifle, taking him out of the fight. I pulled the gun back up as his friends came into view. Not as many as I had seen before, they must have split up as we went around the containers. I opened fire before they could, and three of the four in front of me quickly went down. But before I could shoot the last man, he managed to get a couple of shots off. One took me in the shoulder, and one in the side. Luckily, Soldier has a bulletproof vest on under the jacket, but it still hurt like heck. I let my mind slip deeper into Soldier''s mindset trying to cope and felt myself getting angrier. Soldier knew this pain well and was used to it. It just made him angrier. Not good for this guy.


    With a growl, I rushed up and grabbed the man by the hair, swinging him around into the container.


    "These. Are. Not. Your. Streets," I shouted, enunciating each word with shoving his head into the wall. "Anymore!"


    With that, I let his bloodied head fall limply to the ground. I hated gangsters. Or was it Jack Morrison''s hatred? I couldn''t tell where the divide between us was at this point.


    I heard voices and raised my heavy pulse rifle back up. Dimly, I remembered my time limit and decided to move back to the exit of the docks to make my escape. Still, I wanted to take out a few more of them along the way, so I moved slowly. Every time I heard another goon get close to me, I stopped, and took them out with a shot or two before moving on.


    It didn''t take long to reach my destination. My time as Soldier was almost up. But before it ran out the enemy''s black SUVs came into view. As a final "screw you" to this gang, I sent a trio of helix rockets flying at it. The SUV went up in a ball of flame along with anything contained within. There were two more, but they would have to survive the night, I supposed. I ran back into Hell''s Kitchen as my Resonance faded away.


    Immediately, the pain came back to me, two dull but heavy bruises on my body. I had been able to easily shrug it off as Jack, but as myself? As Venn? I had no experience with such pain, and I staggered as I walked through the night streets of Hell''s Kitchen. To top it off, I was exhausted, and I had a headache building up. I needed to get home and sleep. Fighting through the looming headache, I focused on Pharah and called on her Resonance. With her combat experience, it was easier to bear through the pain. And with her jetpack, it was easier to fly across town towards home. Once I made it across the river and into Queens, I switched Resonances to Genji. In his cyborg body, the pain faded away, the injury translating to damaged metal with no feeling. With his speed, I ran to my building and scaled the walls.


    Once I was through the window, I let go of my Resonance. My head hurt even more now. I quietly slunk through the quiet apartment to the bathroom, where I found some medicine that hopefully would ease the pain enough for me to rest. The excitement of battle had faded and now all I wanted was sleep.


    With great power, comes great need to nap.


    And so, I slowly drifted away from reality¡­.

 Chapter 12- Knock Knock

    Well, now that I had a space to work with, there were many things to¡­ acquire. I needed power down here, first of all, then computers, internet access, and materials to work with. It was high time I put Winston to work doing what he did best: inventing tech while eating bananas and peanut bu??er. The hangover from overtaxing Resonance before was still on my mind. There was a chance that I could improve my uptime and Resonance strength without suffering like that in the future. But it was nowhere near guaranteed. If I was going to fight for several hours in the battle of New York, I was going to have to spend some of my time just as myself. Besides, I was guaranteed some moments of vulnerability anyways, so I might as well have something ready for those times.


    As I made my way back home after sealing the speakeasy back up, I tried to think of ways to get what I needed. I could probably get various electronics pieces by dumpster diving around computer shops. But getting enough to make a decent and functioning computer would then be a matter of luck. As for going the more conventional way, I didn''t have that kind of money. Besides, I didn''t want anyone to be able to connect anything to me.


    So that left stealing. I certainly had the skills to do so, it was just a matter of where and who to steal from. Suddenly, I remembered the Russian''s address that I had gotten on the night of my rampage at the docks. Perhaps he could help me out.


    If he couldn''t, he could probably point me to someone who could.


    The next night, I went out again and used Pharah to fly to Hell''s Kitchen. It was time to do some "shopping." First, I patrolled the building tops, looking again for drug dealers and other thugs. A few strikes as Genji, Reaper, or Soldier quickly ended their business for the night. That was a good warm up, but it was time to see a Russian.


    I walked up to the address that I had been given. I was a little nervous, as this trip could turn into a combat mission again. If possible, I didn''t want to lose myself and go on a killing spree again. But it had to be done if I was going to keep preparing for the future.


    I walked up to the door and knocked. Immediately, I went into Resonance with Reaper. A second later, someone came to the door. I hid away from the peephole on the door so an empty hallway was all that could be seen through it. From this point, one of two things would happen: either he would open the door looking for who had "ding-dong ditched," or he would just ignore it and turn back away.


    Either way, I had a good way to make an entrance.


    After a few seconds and a rude shout through the door in Russian, it was clear that this guy was going for the latter option. So, it was going to be the hard way. Oh, well. Reaper had experience kicking doors down too.


    Which I did.


    As fate would have it, due to Reaper''s supersoldier serum enhanced body, the door flew off its hinges, knocking the man to the floor and falling on top of him.


    "Knock knock," I said with Reaper''s gravelly voice. I walked across the door and his body and into the apartment. It was rather well kept. More proof that this guy was a little higher up the food chain than your average street thug. This guy just had to know a lot and have some connections.


    Then I noticed a computer in the corner. Looked pretty good considering the year we were in. Who knew what this guy was using it for? Probably p?rn. And perhaps keeping records of illegal activity. Maybe Minesweeper. I wasn''t sure if there was going to be any worth in taking the thing. Then again, it''s not like I needed a supercomputer straight away- I was going to be a local hero until going public with the Avengers. Unless of course, something else happened before then.


    But that shouldn''t happen, right? I knew the future, after all.


    But I digress.


    "Talk quickly and I''ll be on my way. Where can I find the Hand? Do you know Wilson Fisk? Or do you know him as the Kingpin? Where do the drugs come from?"


    He actually had the nerve to look at me defiantly. Bold. Mistakenly loyal. I materialized a shotgun and fired it into his ankle. Not fatal at all, but I''m sure being eaten alive by Reaper''s nanites wouldn''t be comfortable.


    "You''re going to tell me everything in the next five minutes or I''ll start shooting higher. How many shots do you think your legs will last? And do you really want me to shoot higher than your legs?"


    Turns out, all I had to do to make him talk was let Reaper speak his mind. It was nice having a self-declared high functioning psychopath for threatening people.

 Chapter 13- Where to Shop?

    I did not wind up taking the computer from the Russian guy. I ran out of time. besides, it was too much trouble, and of course, it wouldn''t be useful until I had the lair set up with basic necessities.


    The first of which were power which the lair did not have, and internet access, which was also not a thing. Sitting in my lair (which I loved that I could say I had one), I Resonated with Winston to think about the problems. I could probably tap into the city''s power grid for power, but what if I wanted more power? I couldn''t leave too many traces, not just yet.


    As for internet access, that was a little trickier. Winston''s solution was to send up a telecommunications satellite, but I obviously couldn''t do that. after Winston''s time ran out, I went with Sombra. Her solution was a little simpler. That was to hack all existing satellites and make multiple access points to hide the trail. Make it seem like my signal was coming from all over the city.


    As the Resonance faded, another thought came to me that really put a smile on my face. I needed funds to buy materials, and I knew an idiot that was, in a few years, going to lose a lot. Justin Hammer, the villain enabler from Iron Man 2. All I needed to do was hack his bank account and order myself the materials to a warehouse at the docks. A quick smash and grab and bada bing bada boom. Nobody will have any idea what is going on. Nothing to connect me to it.


    Of course, I needed to put a shopping list together. Too bad I hadn''t thought of that while I still had Winston online. I couldn''t remember how to make his power source. Or I could hack Stark industries while I was at it and find the specs for an arc reactor. Hmm. I had to wait to be Winston again to figure out which would be more practical.


    Well, I had time to wait, so I walked from the lair and took a walk. I took out my notebook and tried to get ahead on the work.


    It actually took the full fifteen minutes that it took for Winston to come off cooldown for me to accept that I was the relative idiot that didn''t know what was going on. I immediately Resonated with Winston and continued walking the street, writing furiously in my notebook. A couple of times, I ran into people, and just gave a polite "hello" and let them move on. It wasn''t yet the time where everyone had smartphones (Iphones came out in 2007 so still two years to go), and all that would happen was rumors of "talking gorillas." Add that to the list of rumors about me. Glowing green cyborg ninjas, a man in black with a skull for a face, and an old soldier with a glowing red visor, a talking gorilla wasn''t going to mean much more.


    You know, probably.


    Well, I now had my shopping list. I did a quick sweep for security cameras and let the Resonance go when I confirmed it was safe. Of course, I needed a computer to hack from. This was going to be a problem. I couldn''t use the lair, because I had no computer there and no way for it to work even if I did have one there. If I used my home computer and made any sort of slip, I would be found out. Of course, I had confidence in Sombra''s abilities, but in the business of a world of superheroes and an organization in the shadows like SHIELD, a little paranoia was warranted, I think. I decided to look into internet caf¨¦s in the area. If not, perhaps I could go back to the Russian, tie him up for a while and use his computer. Or find someone else to "borrow" a computer from. I was sure if I looked, I would be able to find someone deserving of a scare.


    I yawned. I guess it could wait for a couple of nights. For now, sleep was more important. It was enough that I had a plan. I Resonated with D.va and flew across the river. With a short walk and Genji''s help climbing up to my window, I was asleep within the hour.


    "What is it, agent?"


    "Sir, there are strange reports coming from Hell''s Kitchen, New York."


    "Strange events are what we deal with. What makes Hell''s Kitchen special?"


    "As of a month ago, there are suddenly lots of rumors of strange people causing chaos in the neighborhood. Two men ambushed some drug dealers at the docks, and one was reportedly a black ghost, and the other was a man that shot blue bolts of energy at people, downing them in one shot. Then, there are reports of the drug dealers on the streets getting ambushed by the black ghost and a ''robot ninja.''"


    "Any more information? That''s not a lot to go on, agent."


    "I know, sir, but they all appeared at more or less the same time. There are also reports of unidentified objects flying around Manhattan, which also started at more or less the same time. While most of the information is not well substantiated, there is still clearly something going on there."


    "I have no idea. A sudden awakening of Gifted? Alien scout team? Can''t be sure. That''s why I think someone should be sent there."


    "Hmm. I''ll take that into consideration. Anything else to report?"


    "No, sir, that will be all."


    The agent backed out of the office. The man remaining closed his eye. After a bit of thought he pushed a bu??on on his phone.


    "Please send in Agent¡­"

 Chapter 14- Just Another Day

    A Thursday. The end of November, a month and a half later. The weather was starting to get cold. Still, two people were hanging out in the park. Dressed in light clothing, the muted sound of arms and legs smacking against each other rang in the air.


    In other words, Rachel and I were sparring again.


    But things were a little different this time. This time, I had some experience behind me. This time, I had some extra Resonance time behind me. This time, I had some new moves. This time, I was actually doing well.


    The first time we sparred, I b?r?ly blocked her two or three times before she kicked me to the ground. However, even better than yesterday''s training, I was holding my ground. I wasn''t quite pushing her back, but even as just myself, as Venn, I was no longer defenseless. Heck, I was even finding an opportunity to counteratt-


    Naturally, as I had that thought, my counterattack was itself countered, and I was thrown to the ground. I think that Rachel was a natural born warrior. Certainly far more so than I was. I got up and brushed myself off. Then, after a moment of thought, I took a ready stance and spoke.


    "Let''s go again," I said.


    "That was our third bout today, Venn," Rachel said, a little exasperated. "You still haven''t gotten tired of me kicking your bu???"


    "Kicking my bu?? you may be doing, but I''m getting better, am I not? It''s taking you more and more time to knock me down, even a noob like me can see that."


    "Did you really use ''noob'' in a conversation about martial arts?"


    "Am I wrong?"


    Rachel was silent. Either my point was well made, or she was just done arguing. However, she did not take a ready stance. Sensing that she was indeed done for now, I relaxed. Mostly. There was one time before that we had a similar "ending" only for her to strike me as soon as I relaxed. Said she was "testing my reflexes." Classic. Does everyone have to harass their trainee? I get it in the army, where they want to psychologically build someone from the ground up after breaking them down, but is it so universal that even this average ten-year-old girl does it too?


    Instead of attacking me, Rachel stepped back and found a place to sit down. Following her lead, I sat beside her.


    "No, you''re not wrong. You are a noob," she said after a moment. Then she gave me a smile. "However, you are my noob, and soon you won''t be at this rate. You are doing really well for a couple months of training. Even better than my brothers, and they really have it in their blood. You, you have science in your blood. Which reminds me, I''m going to need help studying for the test coming up next week."


    "You know I will." Rachel was generally good at school, but science was her weak point. Math came close behind. Every training session for me was followed by a study session for her. I wasn''t sure why she felt she needed to remind me. It wasn''t even a question at this point.


    A curious look came over her face. "You know," she said cautiously, "I think that there were some moves I didn''t teach you there. Where did those come from?"


    I think I took it well.


    "You look a little panicked. You thought I wouldn''t notice?"


    "I''ve been¡­ taking lessons."


    "Yeah, from me."


    "You know what I meant. Extra lessons. I have other teachers. Been taking extra lessons after we''re done."


    Rachel gave me a look that said her question for her. "With what time?" Dang. Even the best answer I had wasn''t enough. Why couldn''t she be a clueless ten-year-old? I racked my brain while trying to keep a straight face that said I was just deciding whether or not to tell rather than coming up with something. In the end, I picked the next best answer: I grinned and otherwise kept my mouth shut. After all, talking with her at this point would be like talking to the cops- anything I said could and would be used against me.


    My strategy worked rather well- there was an uncomfortably long silence as Rachel stared me down, and eventually decided that it wasn''t going to make me talk.


    "Okay then, keep your secrets."


    "I''m sorry, it''s just a weird situation that is hard to explain."


    "Right."


    "No, really. You wouldn''t believe me if I told you."


    Well, not the most ideal situation, but she was at least not pursuing the question anymore. Crisis averted. After a moment of silence, I stood up and offered her my hand.


    "Shall we get onto that homework, then? It''s about time we headed home."


    "Yeah, I guess," she said, taking my hand and pulling herself up.


    "Great! Race you to my house!" I grabbed my backpack and took off, ignoring Rachel''s indignant protests. She was faster than me, but maybe the head start would be enough for me to hold the lead for a while.

 Chapter 15- Contact

    That night, I went right back to Hell''s Kitchen. The power source for my lair was almost complete. There were just a couple of things to adjust, and an initial input of energy needed. After that, the thing would run for a couple of years before needing any more work. I was excited.


    I landed on the shore of Manhattan and walked the rest of the way to Hell''s Kitchen. I was already thinking about what I would make once I had power up. A personal shield generator like Zarya had was pretty high on the list. So was a sword like Genji''s, Ryu Ichimonji. And then there was Symmetra''s photon projector. Having one of those permanently would be very useful. Or I could make a hoverboard using whatever people in Overwatch put on their cars. That would be fun. There were many possibilities. I had enough supplies (thanks, Justin Hammer!) to last me a good number of projects before I would have to do another order/raid.


    Lost in thoughts and dreams of what could be, I was not paying much attention to my surroundings. I didn''t notice anything until I heard a rough voice come from close behind me.


    "Hey kid, what are you doing out so late? Didn''t your parents tell you it''s dangerous to be out alone at night?"


    I turned around, already tired of this guy. He sounded like the average thug from TV. Trying hard to be intimidating. Looking at him, he looked the part too. Scruffy, wearing a jacket and a skull cap, and a lit cigarette hanging from his mouth as he looked down his nose at me. Just a bully looking to score some lunch money off a kid. Realizing again that I am a ten-year-old kid, my exasperation deepened- as I was just showing a hoodie and jeans, and clearly a kid, how much money did he think he was going to get off of me?


    "Now''s not a good time, man. I''ve got somewhere I need to be."


    "Well that''s good, kid, then we can make this fast," he said as he grabbed my collar and pushed my back against a tree on the sidewalk. Now that he was this close, I caught a whiff of his breath and really wished I hadn''t. The alcohol and smoke coming off him was unbelievable, in that I couldn''t believe his cigarette hadn''t ignited his breath. With this smell, his threat level both jumped and sank. Jumped because it was more likely he would try to fight me and prove himself a threat; and sank because even with my few months of training, I should be more than capable of disabling a drunk man.


    Stinky kept talking up a decent game of threats as I zoned out. I looked behind him. There were two other guys stepping out of the alley watching with amused looks on their faces. Stinky''s drinking buddies, I guessed. I calmly pondered the best course of action while he continued his spiel about how scary a dude he was. Like, wow, man.


    "Why don''t you leave the kid alone, and go back to your drinks," came a man''s voice from behind me. I froze. I knew that voice. Turning around, I confirmed my suspicions.


    It was Agent Phil Coulson. Thinking about it, it made sense. I had made a fair amount of noise here, and SHIELD had to send someone to investigate. I wished it was Black Widow, but I guess I hadn''t presented myself as a threat. Which was probably a good thing. But it still would have been nice to meet her so early.


    Oh well. Guess I would have to wait a few years.


    After a moment of thought, as the drinkers backed off from me and Coulson, I realized that I was lucky. SHIELD had sent someone I knew. It could have been Agent #123, but I got Coulson. It was a lot better to be investigated by someone I could recognize as the person who was investigating me.


    Actually, now it occurred to me that SHIELD was moving fairly quickly. I guess we never did learn much about how SHIELD found powered people. Well, if they were going to find any and all of them, they would need to track down any and everything suspicious, wouldn''t they?


    The three drinkers walked off, deciding that it was better to not mess with Coulson. Just to be clear, I had the situation well in hand even without Resonance. Coulson just beat me to the punch.


    "Shouldn''t you be going home? It''s-"


    "Dangerous out at night," I finished for him. Oddly, I had managed to go for a while now without having that told to me. I guess most people didn''t care. "How about you? You just like walking around at night in a suit to punch people in the face?"


    "I just don''t like people that pick on kids. Especially ones that are what, ten?"


    "Right. Kid, just go home, it''s better that way."


    "Hey, I can take care of myself, I had that covered. I know kung fu. Besides, I have stuff to do."


    "Really? What kind of stuff?"


    "Same as you."


    Coulson looked a little surprised and confused. "What do you think I''m here for?"


    "You''re here about Overwatch."


    "Over what?"


    "You''re a cop, right? You have that air about you. And you professionally punched out a guy for justice. Not to mention, you did it while wearing a suit. Very Men in Black. And-"


    "Wait, kid, slow down. What are you talking about?"

 Chapter 16- Contact contd.

    He kept a straight enough face, but I could tell he was perturbed. Maybe it was the qi exercises improving my senses? As far as I knew, it wasn''t a hold over from Resonances. Nobody in Overwatch had a background in psychology. In any case, it was a nice skill to see in action.


    Coulson was clearly thinking about how to deal with me. Seeing as he was stunned, I decided to head towards the lair. I wasn''t worried about leading him there. Either he was going to stop me in a second, or he was going to let me go. If he let me go, he was definitely going to follow, but at a distance where I should be able to Resonate and lose him. Maybe even turn the tables on him and have a little chat with him as Genji or someone else.


    Well, either way, I intended to make that kind of direct contact.


    "Hey, kid!"


    As expected, I didn''t get far before Coulson decided to stop me. Stifling a smile, I turned around to face him.


    "Yes?"


    "You named the group that is working here. Now, I can''t say about who I work for-"


    Well, there was the "I can neither confirm nor deny," I thought.


    "But I will say this: we have not heard anything about them having a name. So how do you know?"


    "I can''t quite say it''s the word on the street. Nobody knows who they are or where they''re from. Which is to say, I''ve met them. Or at least, some of them. Big gorilla in a spacesuit. Really polite guy. Asked me for directions to some caf¨¦. Didn''t know, but I wanted to talk to him for a while because who wouldn''t? I mean, how often do you get to meet a talking gorilla? And did I mention he wears a space suit with a jet pack? So, I walked with him trying to find out where he came from, and one of his friends, a robot ninja with a glowing green visor jumped down out of nowhere and talked with him, and the word ''Overwatch'' came up. I really wish I had a camera. First a talking gorilla and then a robot ninja? Best night ever."


    "And so you, a ten year old kid, are just wandering about at night in what is not really the nicest part of town, hoping to meet a strange organization?"


    "Sounds about right. Wrong organization, but didn''t I find you?"


    Coulson seemed stunned. I guess if I wasn''t a superhero and just a normal kid, I would seem pretty stupid. Well, that was the way of things- bravery is just stupidity unless it pays off.


    Which, it did, in my case. I found SHIELD by taking a walk.


    "So, I''ve told you what I know. Can I go now? I have some things to do."


    "What kind of stuff? Go home, kid."


    "Okay, okay, I''m going. But just a tip, you''re probably not going to find them. Hang out for a while, and they might find you."


    I turned and kept going where I had meant, straight to my lair. I had some things to make, like a computer. I kept turning around as I walked just to be sure that Coulson wasn''t following me. It was really tempting to just turn around and scare him as Genji, maybe Winston for the extra what factor, but I just had to get started on my projects. Besides, it didn''t seem like Coulson had been in town for long. There would be plenty of opportunities to meet with him.


    For now, I had to finish the power source. I walked down the now familiar tunnel to my lair. Opening the door, I took a deep breath. It was time for the lair to be more or less fully operational. I Resonated with Winston to get things started. While it was admittedly difficult to work with such huge hands, it would have been much harder to teach myself what Winston knew for me to do it as myself.


    Unfortunately, I was unable to finish my work in one session. So, when the Resonance wore off, I went to the pile of chips and wiring that I was planning to make a computer from. Since I had some experience from my past life, I didn''t need to do a Resonance for it. Although, for about five minutes, I did use Sombra''s experience for a little extra boost.


    After about an hour of on and off work, I was finally ready to give my power source a test run. Even after putting it together, I didn''t understand how it worked. I did know that it would only run for so long but would put out more than enough energy for a small workplace. I mean, this was put into cars that could maintain hovering 24/7 without a problem, and currently, it was having a much lighter load.


    I looked over the device. It was roughly cylindrical and had a touch screen on one side that would give me basic readings on the output. Someday, I was really going to have to thank Justin Hammer for unwittingly funding my little operation here; I had a lot of great stuff to work with.


    I could probably visit him in jail sometime. Ruin his day again. Thinking about it, I almost pity the fool.


    Almost. He''s still an idiot.


    Shaking just a little, I pushed the bu??on on the top of the cylinder. As it sank in, the whole thing started to vibrate on the table. I jumped back as quickly as I could and dove behind a table. If it was going to explode or something like that, now was the time.


    After a few moments, the vibrations settled into a low hum. Then, with a bright chiming sound, the screen on the side lit up, and I straightened up out of my cover.


    "It''s alive. It''s alive! It''s aliiiiiiiiiivvvvveeee!!!!"

 Chapter 17- Oh, Right, These Guys Were Here

    Over the next few weeks, as the cold of winter began to settle in, I increased the frequency of my visits to Hell''s Kitchen. Most days, I just worked in my lair, setting up my computer and getting some designs together for creative projects. However, there was a pressing need that made me patrol the streets. And that would be internet access. If I was going to do some information gathering, I needed internet access.


    However, being anonymous made things complicated. The Lackadaisy caf¨¦ above me was not quite in the right year to have free wifi. And besides, that would be too easy for SHIELD or HYDRA to track. They had a lot of resources.


    Sombra''s solution was to hack telecommunications satellites from multiple points and bounce the signal across the city to make it difficult to tell where it went. And then encase that in essentially an Easter egg hunt of IP addresses, and that in military level layer of encryption. It was like a Matryoshka doll of internet security paranoia. I guess Sombra took getting caught by that conspiracy pretty hard.


    Then again, being the best and getting caught with your pants down would do that to someone. At least she took the experience and stepped up her game even more. Unfortunately, I did not have memories of her claiming vengeance from them. I guess I only got her from the point in the timeline that her game character is from. Pity. And now I was in another world where Blizzard was never going to make a movie out of their background material for Overwatch, even if it was originally going to happen in my first world. I wasn''t ever going to get answers.


    I sighed. Sometimes, there were disadvantages to being transferred to another world. So many books and movies I was never going to see.


    I quickly finished the wiring on the antenna. This was part of the internet setup. Things were probably secure enough to just surf the internet, maybe hack local law enforcement, but I had a bit more to do before I hacked, say, SHIELD or Stark Industries.


    I Resonated with Genji and jumped across the gap to the next building. I hadn''t seen Coulson in a little while, but I knew he had to still be around. It wasn''t like I hadn''t been laying beatdowns on street thugs, I just had other things I was doing at night now. He had to still be investigating. Maybe I should look for him, but not tonight. After getting the power source set up, I decided that I would recreate Symmetra''s photon projector so that it would be easier to renovate the lair further and fabricate other things. I was rather excited and looked forward to messing around with it and no time limit.


    As I jumped across to another building, I noticed some thugs on the street below. I could tell from their furtive glances, rough demeanor, and the bags of drugs being passed around. I mean, they weren''t just borrowing sugar to make cookies.


    I jumped into position to drop in on them. But before I could, I sensed movement from behind me. Instinctively, I jumped straight up into the air. As I rose up, I turned to face my unknown enemy and drew my wakizashi from behind my waist.


    Actually, scratch that, I meant "enemies," not "enemy."


    Ninjas.


    The Hand had finally entered the game. I guess Madam Gao didn''t care about her dealers that much- it had been months since I started work, and only now did I run into any Hand ninjas. I mean, some of the thugs had clearly had military experience, or at least boxing, but compare that to the decades of experience Soldier 76 had, or the harsh training the Shimada brothers had, and they just couldn''t cut it. I had good expectations of these ninjas.


    You know, now that I''d thought about it. Honestly, I''d almost forgotten these guys were here.


    "I don''t suppose we can settle this peacefully," I asked as I fell down in the midst of them. They answered with their own blades and fists. Unlike in movies, they didn''t come at me one at a time. They didn''t all move at once either, each making a move that was aimed at a vital spot or covering my likely escape route. They were good.


    Unfortunately, Genji could move faster. And I could simply move backwards out of their reach. I wasn''t quite out of roof. So I stepped backwards, parrying one blade with my wakizashi, and a fist with my own. Then I felt an impact against my arm- one blade I had changed its course contrary to my expectations and tried to cut me at the wrist. Luckily, Genji''s body was not made of weak stuff. Still, it wasn''t a good sign. I had grown complacent in the lack of good adversaries for my Resonances.


    Though the minor injury was a little troubling, I smiled beneath my mask. Now I really had good sparring partners.


    The five ninjas moved forward for another round of attacks. This time, I tried to block all attacks with my wakizashi- just the same as playing the game in my past life. Deflect worked on bullets, why wouldn''t I have the speed to do the same with melee attacks?


    Well, turns out, the reason Genji doesn''t do that in the game is that people''s arms are heavy. So, it takes more force to deflect them, whether they are swinging a sword or a fist. So, it didn''t work quite as well as it went in my head. In other words, I deflected two of the swords and took a stab to the shoulder and two fists to my gut.


    It was weird. Genji''s body is mostly mechanical, so it wasn''t exactly painful. But the stab did get in a little bit, and as I moved for a counterattack, I could feel that something was moving differently.


    To my surprise, the injured ninja, who was relatively close to me but I ignored him because he was injured, struck out with his blade in his good hand and stabbed into my arm. This guy was accurate or lucky, stabbing between plates at my elbow to sink deeper than my shoulder wound. My arm went half dead. I could still move it, but it wasn''t going the way I wanted it to.


    Then the ninjas started moving in. They had found a weakness and intended to exploit it. They smelled blood in the water.


    And rightly so. I was in trouble.

 Chapter 18- In a Pinch

    I jumped back and released a set of three shurikens into my hand. I threw them all at once at the three closest ninjas, aiming at their ?h?sts. They did what comes to ninjas naturally. One did a slide right out of the Matrix, one deflected it with their blade, and one just turned, letting the shuriken slice past his arm. Flipping ninjas. Won''t even lose easily to a robot ninja.


    I threw another set of shuriken and jumped off the building. Maybe I could turn the tide of battle back into my favor with a more restrictive battle area. As I fell, I heard a voice shouting in Chinese. Calling for backup. Into a headset, most likely, considering the wording. As much as it made sense, it took a little of the mystery out of the ninjas, knowing they had radios to call each other with. But, an old organization like the Hand wouldn''t have lasted long without being able to adapt.


    Then again, I understand that chi based magic is hard to come by in the Marvel universe. Mental note to self: look into finding sorcerors for magic training. Maybe I could learn from Doctor Strange himself. You know, as long as I can resist calling him Steve, or Banana Dash Bandersnatch, or Sherlock. Second note to self: make sure to make at least one "no kidding Sherlock" with Tony Stark and Doctor Strange. Preferably with both at the same time, but the window for that would be very difficult.


    Where was I? Oh yeah. Ninjas. Chasing me.


    I hadn''t stopped moving while I was distracted in thoughts. As the ninjas jumped down after me, I threw more shurikens at them. Can''t dodge while you''re in the air. Three ninjas were hit in the shoulders, deadening their arms, including the one I had disabled an arm of before. Recognizing he was taken out of the fight for now, he backed off. However, he kept in sight, just to make sure that he could track me, I guess. All ninjas with at least one working arm kept after me. Hand training includes ambidexterity?


    I lunged forward with my wakizashi. I had to take these guys out of the fight completely before their backup showed up. Even with Genji''s experience, skills, and dexterity at hand, I couldn''t take on a large group of ninjas all at once.


    And besides, I had another problem: uptime. I had about three minutes before I would be forced out of Resonance. Then there would be six seconds in which I would be vulnerable, and my identity revealed. If I could take all these guys out at once, get out of sight, and let my Resonance down, that would be great.


    Unfortunately, I had allowed myself to be injured, which meant this was going to take some time. I jumped back and sheathed my wakizashi. Reaching back, I prepared to draw the katana. I didn''t particularly want to go for the kill, but maybe the Dragonblade would scare them. If that didn''t work¡­ well¡­


    "Ryujin no ken wo kurae!" I shouted as I drew my katana. The familiar green dragon snaked its way up the blade and followed my movements as I attacked.


    For the first time in this fight, I saw fear in the eyes of the ninjas that were attacking me. In this world, qi magic is hard to come by- only the Iron Fist, monks of K''un L''un, and highest members of the hand knew it. I briefly wondered if the Hand had ever met with Doctor Strange type sorcerers, but that didn''t matter right now.


    As a cyborg ninja, I had the speed to advance on the first enemy before the fear even fully registered on their faces. I raised my sword and slashed him from his shoulder across to his hip. I didn''t cut too deep, but considering the qi dragon enhancing my attack, and what it did in my tests before, it was no surprise that this time, the ninja fell to the ground writhing in pain. Out of the fight for good. By my reckoning, the effect of the qi was more significant on this guy than it had been on inanimate matter in my training.


    All of a sudden, I felt two sharp pains in my arm. I grit my teeth together to bear with the pain. It wasn''t safe to go Mercy and heal it. I had to get off the streets and to safety.


    Clutching my arm, I staggered out of the alley and onto the street. Things were quiet, as the city night life had gone on without any attacks from ninjas like I had faced. I pulled my hood over my head and kept my head down. Now that I was in a more public area, I should be safe, right?


    A minute or two later, I was proved wrong, as a soft rustling movement from overhead came to my attention. Cautiously, I looked up to find out what it was. Unfortunately, it was another group of ninjas. Slowly, trying not to draw attention with a sharp movement, I turned back to the street. Which, of course, was a little too empty for my comfort.


    As if on cue with my realization, a rustle and a thud came behind me.


    I don''t know an adequate curse for how I felt. How about "aqasipodhfjpoqiadgjlzxckl?" A bit long and unpronounceable, but feels about right.

 Chapter 19- Ninjas on a Street

    I''ve had it with these MF*** ninjas on this MF*** street! I just wanted a quiet night for improving my lair and making new toys for myself.


    I resisted the urge to look behind myself, since I knew what I would see. Maybe my ten-year-old body was getting to me, but I was desperately hoping that as long as I didn''t turn and see them, they wouldn''t see me either. Equally desperately, I was thinking, "they aren''t coming for me, they aren''t coming for me."


    After a moment, I realized that nobody had approached me yet. Maybe I was safe.


    Then soft footsteps came from behind me. This kind of thing was only supposed to happen in movies! Or TV. Wait. I''m in a movie world. And TV. And comics, for good measure and even more story clich¨¦s and such. Dang. I guess anything goes.


    I picked up my pace, looking for a place I could duck into and reenter Resonance. I ran down the list, looking for a good fit for the situation. Meanwhile, the footsteps behind me kept up with me. They were a distance behind me, so if I broke into a run and jumped into the alley, I had a shot at Resonance without breaking my secret identity.


    A few steps later, an opportunity came. I rushed into the nearby alleyway and into the shadows. Quietly, I said the words that I thought would bring this to the quickest end. An end that would come with a bit of a statement.


    "Reaper, Resonance!"


    I was wrapped in smoke that I knew was black, but with the darkness, it was hard to see. It had been tempting to go with Winston. A nonlethal option that there would be no real defense against, with the Tesla Cannon. Then I could just jump away into the night and get to the lair. Or back home, which felt like a good option as well.


    A good night''s sleep really sounded good.


    But I couldn''t back down. I felt that if I showed any signs of weakness now, things would just get worse. If I let them think that I in my various forms was vulnerable, then they might try their luck until it came through.


    My transformation finished. I stepped back out of the alleyway to face my attacker. I materialized a shotgun (still a weird sensation) and raised it as I turned the corner.


    "Whoa!" *Click! *


    Guess who? It was Coulson. With a gun, which accounted for the click I heard. I could have sworn I''d heard a ninja drop to the ground behind me. What else could that rustling have been? I looked around. I wasn''t too concerned about Coulson. He wasn''t the trigger-happy type. Instead, I was worried about¡­


    "Duck," I rasped out.


    Without further warning, I pulled the trigger on my shotgun as Coulson dodged. Whether he trusted me or was scared of me, at least his instincts told him to move. And not be Han and shoot first. Although, would that have killed Reaper?


    My shot flew over Coulson''s shoulder and hit the ninja solidly around their upper body. As he flinched from the pain, I shot again. At this distance, the spread was enough that he only suffered a little bit of damage, but it was enough. The other effects, like the sound and psychological damage were what I wanted more than physical damage. At this point, I didn''t care about making a scene or attracting more attention from the ninjas. It was time to make them back off. Of course, that was only going to come after they had suffered a bit more.


    Right on cue, more ninjas dropped from above. Others ran from the streets. I guess quite a few had come out to reinforce their brothers from before. They took up positions to surround me. And Coulson, I guess. He stood back up, gun at the ready, and looked at all the ninjas surrounding us.


    It was perfect.


    "What the he-"


    "Language, agent, kids are watching! Now get back down and it''ll all be over in a second."


    "There''s no way you can take down this many-"


    Death Blossom.


    The smoke that had gathered around my feet pulsed out away from me, and suddenly I was a flurry of arms, guns, and bullets materializing and dematerializing. Some shots even flew directly out of the smoke, instantly picking a target and flying out.


    The ninjas had come out looking for a martial artist. Or a relatively untrained thug with a gun. They were definitely not prepared for Reaper and his Death Blossom. Maybe they actually did have some kind of body armor below their cloth outfits, but clearly, it was not up to the barrage of shotgun pellets that I was dishing out.


    Within a few moments, all of the ninjas were downed. Since most had kept their distance, they were just heavily injured. Or maimed. Wherever the line between the words was. Besides, there was something nasty in Reaper''s bullets- himself.


    A moment after the Death Blossom finished, a black mist leeched out of the wounds of the ninjas and back to me. I gave a creepy Reaper sigh of relief as the wounds I had suffered before were healed as this mist came to me. Lifesteal. Gotta love it, as long as you''re not the one bleeding.


    "If I may¡­"


    "¡­ you may," I rasped.


    "What the HELL just happened?" Coulson shouted with a notably higher voice.


    I just laughed. A real laugh.

 Chapter 22 - An Apology- Not a Chapter, Sadly

    So, someone commented on my other project about Marvelwatch, asking why there were no updates. It certainly has been a while. It''s not like I have done nothing (I have a half finished chapter). I just haven''t been able to progress well. I thought that everyone who isn''t there deserved more or less the same answer.


    The most important part is: I have not completely given up on Marvelwatch. I just kind of wrote myself into a corner and wasn''t sure how to move forward. I set the beginning when I did because I was tired of similar reincarnation/crossover fics where the MC was insanely OP without good reason. Interestingly, those got dropped by the authors disappointingly quickly. So, I made him powerful, but with need and room for growth.


    However, putting him in A) at the age of ten and B) too early for major MCU events created problems as well. One being the natural divide between his mental and physical ages. Another being the lack of source material to work with. Working with the manga for Hero Academia in hand for reference helped me to do a lot in one night, as I have learned. So I had a lot to do, not much done for me, and I know some people wanted romantic interests, including Black Widow, but the age thing made things complicated in a very bad way.


    Put these on top of my deplorable capacity for writing in volume, and you get the blanks that have come for so long.


    So, I have a lot to think about. For the next little bit, I guess I will be focusing on Swarm Academia as I outline things for Marvelwatch. The first priority being how to reach and handle the timeskip that will be necessary to get to the good stuff. Like gunning down Chitauri, using Mercy to cure cancer, and more.


    Hopefully, with my finals being done by next Wednesday, I will have enough free time that I will work on both of my projects for a month or two while school is on break. That, or reach Platinum in League of Legends and/or Starcraft.


    This is another part of why nothing is getting done around here. Too many things contribute to that.


    Sigh.


    Well, I guess for lack of more things here, I can turn this into an AMA query. Seeing as I don''t really have a plot outlined for Marvelwatch that branches off of the main MCU line (unlike Swarm Academia, which has to leave sometime before catching up with the manga...), I don''t have much to spoil, but I''ll say so if there is anything.


    Sigh, lots to plan, and not enough solid ideas yet. I kinda have some subplots, I guess...


    Oh, and can someone tell me how I can see paragraph comments in a browser? I can see someone has commented through my phone, but I can''t find the bu??on for it in Chrome...