Fox was just an ordinary person.
Naturally, she couldn't possibly put up a truly even fight against Herman. Still, with him holding back a little, things stayed under control—at least the office desks managed to survive the clash. What Fox did come to realize, though, was that earning Fate's favor was nothing like the easy path she had once imagined.
In the end, the "battle" concluded with Fox bowing her head and begging Herman for mercy. The chaos within the boss's office never reached those outside.
Everyone else carried on as usual—working, watching TV—while Herman's office alone was filled with birdsong and blossoms.
"I knew there had to be aliens!"
Skye sat in front of the television, completely absorbed in an episode of Unsolved Mysteries.
"The U.S. government is deceiving its people. Citizens have the right to know the truth." The host's solemn words closed out the program.
Skye watched with fascination, nodding along with the final claim: that the U.S. was hiding a lunar alien corpse and secretly conducting autopsies.
"Huh? Why are you only coming out now? And why do your clothes look dirty?"
She had just finished watching when she ran into Fox, slipping out of Herman's office in a rush, looking rather disheveled. Fox had tried to cover up the marks on her, but some stains weren't easy to hide without washing.
"Just discussed some work with the boss," Fox said with a guilty little smile, clutching her coat and hurrying off.
She had lost and pleaded for mercy in this round, so now wasn't the right time to demand a mission from Herman. She would wait until next time to air her frustrations.
"How strange."
Skye wrinkled her nose. She caught a scent she couldn't quite place. Being inexperienced, she brushed it off, assuming Fox was just in a hurry for the bathroom.
"Guess I should head out for supplies."
She fixed her hair and clothes, grabbed the little handbag on the table, and walked straight to the elevator.
...
At the front entrance, Quicksilver stashed away his Playboy magazine at blinding speed—so fast that no ordinary eye could have caught it.
If Magneto ever discovered his eldest son was using such extraordinary mutant speed for something like this, he'd probably cough up three mouthfuls of blood on the spot.
"Want me to grab some snacks for you and Wanda?"
Skye wasn't much older than Quicksilver, but she liked to treat him and Wanda as if they were kids.
"What? You think I'm still at that age where I eat snacks?" Quicksilver sneered, his muffled tone making it obvious he was forcing his voice lower.
"Fine then, forget it."
Skye rolled her eyes.
"Well, since you asked, I can't really turn you down. So yeah—get me a bottle of Pepsi and a bag of Lay's."
"Thanks."
The second he saw her growing impatient, Quicksilver dropped the act and admitted to what he really wanted. He was a guy who lived for simple junk-food pleasures.
Fat didn't slow him down anyway.
"Tch, and here I thought you had self-control."
Skye shot him a look of disdain, slung the little bag Herman had given her over her shoulder, and, humming a tune, stepped out of the elevator and into the streets outside Stellar Tower.
The wind was still, the sun blazed hot overhead. Few pedestrians walked the streets, only a scattering of vendors here and there.
"Give me a Mexican sausage."
To avoid being recognized, Skye wore a dust mask. Passing a street stall, she couldn't resist buying a fragrant grilled sausage.
"This is so good."
She walked quickly toward the next block, completely unaware that the vendor selling sausages had a bone-conduction earpiece in his ear.
"At this rate, I might as well switch careers and sell sausages for real," muttered the S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, staring bitterly at his little food stand.
He was one of fifty agents stationed long-term in this neighborhood to monitor Herman. Among them, his cover was the most seamless.
Every day, he sold at least five hundred sausages. To be honest, his income here was far better than what S.H.I.E.L.D. paid him.
"Look on the bright side—at least we're not sent on dangerous missions."
An old man sitting on a park bench, reading a newspaper, tried to console him cheerfully.
"But if the Homelander finds us out... do you think we'd have a chance to live?" the vendor muttered. He clearly had no idea.
The truth was, Herman knew about their presence all along. He simply didn't bother driving them away. After all, the food they sold was made with real ingredients, free from gutter oil or other shady shortcuts. Herman often ate from their stalls without paying.
The agents naturally didn't dare complain.
They simply thought Herman, this Homelander, really was a tyrant.
...
"They shouldn't have seen anything."
After finishing a rather spirited "battle," Herman washed up, changed clothes, and walked to the window to pull open the curtains.
As one of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s most closely monitored targets, he knew his every move was being tracked. Herman was fully aware of the agents outside. The fact S.H.I.E.L.D. hadn't planted surveillance inside Stellar Tower was, in a way, their greatest show of respect.
"Skye actually paid for her shopping... what a nice little bargain for those tax-funded freeloaders."
Herman didn't particularly mind S.H.I.E.L.D.'s surveillance. As long as they didn't interfere with his life, he wouldn't care even if they stationed ten thousand agents around his home.
Of course, among those watchers, HYDRA agents inevitably slipped in. But they never lasted long—Herman always arranged for "accidents" to put them in the hospital. Sometimes it was a runaway car, sometimes a passerby suddenly going berserk.
In short, HYDRA agents never managed to stay in this neighborhood for more than a day. With his mind-reading ability, Herman easily identified them. He wanted no entanglements with that shadowy, cowardly organization.
Even if S.H.I.E.L.D. suspected he was behind those accidents, they had no proof—and certainly no courage to confront him. The fact HYDRA never made a move said everything about S.H.I.E.L.D.'s attitude toward Herman.
"I just hope these agents know their place."
Herman gazed out the floor-to-ceiling office window. To him, he was simply admiring the view. But to the agents outside, the sight carried an entirely different meaning.
"A terrifying stare!"
"Such cold, indifferent eyes!"
"I'm scared he'll just kill me on the spot!"
In their eyes, Herman was looking down at them from above. More than a few agents shrank their necks and lowered their heads, fully aware of the message.
...
Skye chewed on the sausage made by the agent as she moved through the streets.
After walking for about twenty minutes, she arrived at a Chinese supermarket, its shelves filled with delicacies shipped from across the ocean.
Whether it was Herman's influence or the fact that half her blood was Chinese, Skye had always had a soft spot for Chinese cuisine. Her Mandarin wasn't bad either.
"Give me a hundred packs of dim sum cookies."
After picking out what she needed, Skye walked to the checkout counter and smiled at the shop owner.
The supermarket was run by a Chinese auntie who had lived in the U.S. for decades. Her livelihood came from importing goods from China to sell locally, and by now she owned several properties.
"You must have a pretty big family."
The auntie greeted Skye warmly. Seeing how this girl came by every so often to buy in bulk, she assumed Skye must have many brothers and sisters at home.
"It's mainly because everyone at home eats a lot."
Skye felt a strong sense of belonging at Herman's company and already thought of the employees as family.
"As long as the family's together, that's happiness."
The auntie turned to fetch the cookies. At that moment, a burly man staggered in through the door.
He looked drunk, his steps unsteady. A baseball cap was pulled low over his eyes.
"I want booze! Lots of booze!"
The man walked straight to the counter, his voice hoarse and rasping. Skye caught a strong, unpleasant odor coming from him and quietly shifted her position.
"You're disgusted by my smell?"
The man suddenly turned his head, his emotions flaring as if on the edge of madness. "You know why? It's because I can endure this stench that I escaped from that hellhole!"
His hysterical scream made Skye jump.
The man's state was clearly unstable. Stripes of discoloration began spreading rapidly from his neck toward his face.
"I understand, sir. I didn't mean to offend you."
Skye quickly apologized, thinking she had just run into a drunk.
"Sir, this girl is a good person. She wouldn't mock you."
The Chinese auntie placed a few bottles of liquor on the counter and tried to calm him down.
But the burly man brushed her words aside with contempt.
"Apologies don't cut it! You'll pay for looking down on me!"
His eyes burned with a red, crazed light. Suddenly, he clamped both hands on Skye's shoulders and shoved her hard against the supermarket's glass front window.
BOOM!
Skye felt like she'd been hit by a train. Before she could even react, her body was hurled backward.
CRASH!
The glass shattered to pieces.
With that inhuman strength, the man flung Skye straight out onto the street. She rolled across the pavement several times before finally coming to a stop.
"Damn it! Did I just run into an alien!?"
Pain shot through her whole body as she struggled to her feet, fear and shock clouding her mind, yet her thoughts still spun wildly.
"See that? That's my power! You shouldn't despise me—you should fear me!"
The burly man's mental state was in complete collapse. Holding a bottle of liquor, he stormed to the doorway, shouting at Skye. Red, flowing markings had begun spreading across his skin.
"Oh my god! What is that guy!?"
"Girl, run!"
"Is that man hitting a woman!?"
...
On the street, many passersby were drawn by the commotion at the supermarket.
A crowd quickly gathered.
"Hey! Buddy! Hitting a woman is wrong!"
A well-built man stepped forward to intervene, but as he got closer, he froze at the sight of the hulking man's face—it looked as if molten lava was flowing beneath his skin.
"You should talk things out with a lady," the man said, his voice noticeably softer now, though he still tried to stand up for Skye.
However—
"This isn't your business!" The hulking man grabbed him with one hand and hurled him away like a human shot put.
BOOM!
The man flew more than ten meters before crashing onto the hood of a sedan. The sight of a full-grown adult tossed like a toy sent screams rippling through the crowd.
Not everyone was too scared to act. A food vlogger happened to be nearby scouting for content. The sudden chaos lit up her eyes—this could be her ticket to fame.
The early 2000s were the boom years for internet celebrities in America. Outdoor livestreaming had already become a trend, and the tech level in the Marvel Universe was overall more advanced than the world Herman came from.
"Oh my god! What's going on over there? Let's get closer!"
A YouTuber with seven to eight hundred thousand subscribers rushed toward the supermarket, filming fearlessly on her phone. She even started a livestream. After some quick adjustments, the signal held steady.
"Look at that man's face! Everyone, look!" she shouted, thrilled, certain she had just captured the scoop of her life—the kind that could make her a star overnight.
…
"So scary! Is that a monster?"
"It's gotta be some kind of military experiment—I've seen this on the dark web!"
"Isn't anyone going to save that girl?"
…
The livestream chat flew by with comments.
Seeing the skyrocketing viewer count, the influencer didn't dare get too close. Instead, she filmed secretly from behind cover. Luckily, the hulking man hadn't noticed her.
"Now get on your knees and apologize!"
The hulking man reveled in the fear around him. He turned to Skye in the street, his twisted face full of cruelty, his tone dripping with arrogance.
"What a lunatic…"
Skye clutched her arm, bleeding from cuts caused by shattered glass. Fear gripped her chest. She knew she was in real danger.
"Trying to run?"
The man grabbed a refrigerator by the supermarket entrance and hurled it straight at her. His aim was poor, but not poor enough.
The fridge missed—barely.
"Shit!"
Skye's heart nearly stopped as the massive refrigerator slammed into the ground right in front of her. If it had landed just a bit closer, she would've been crushed to death.
"What the hell did I get myself into!?" Her legs went weak. In panic, she looked back and saw the hulking man grinning at her like a predator toying with its prey.
She was still just a teenage girl. She had never faced a life-or-death situation like this. Terror froze her, leaving her unable to think.
BANG!
A gunshot cracked the air.
It came from behind the hulking man.
The Chinese auntie from the supermarket stood there, clutching a small pistol, firing at him in desperation.
"Heh… trying to stop me?"
The hulking man turned his head. The bullets hadn't hurt him at all. The spots where they struck bubbled like molten rock before instantly sealing shut.
"Stay back!"
The auntie's face went pale. In all her years, she had never seen anyone shrug off bullets. Panicked, she emptied the rest of the magazine.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
The barrage only enraged him further.
"Why can't you see the truth?" the man roared. He stormed forward, seized the auntie by the throat, and was about to snap the life from her.
THUD!
Skye, who had been ready to run, froze when she saw him about to kill the innocent woman.
Her fear was overwhelming, but it didn't outweigh her conscience.
Seeing the auntie's life in danger, Skye hesitated only a moment before grabbing a chunk of metal from the shattered fridge. She rushed forward and smashed it against the back of his head.
"You think that hurts me?"
Blood gushed, but fiery magma-like substance surged to the wound, sealing it in seconds.
"Playing with death? Fine — I'll give you what you're asking for!"
He turned, glaring viciously at Skye.
Before she could react, he seized her by the neck with his free hand and lifted her off the ground, laughing maniacally as though admiring a piece of art.
"Let me go!"
No matter how she struggled, she couldn't break free.
Her vision blurred, her breath grew faint, and the world around her slowly drained of all color.
...
For more chapters, feel free to follow me on P@treon.
(50 Chapters Ahead)
[email protected]/PinkSnake
...
Every new review helps the fic grow — and unlocks extra chapters as a thank-you to readers.
Current Reviews: 13 / 17
Bonus Chapters Released: 06 / 10