The first thing I noticed was the smell.
Not smoke. Not blood.Oil. Hot asphalt. Old trash baked into concrete by a city that never slept.
I stood there for a moment, letting my senses adjust as the last echo of Death's voice faded completely. The alley was narrow, brick walls rising on both sides like a canyon carved by neglect. A flickering streetlight buzzed overhead, casting uneven shadows that crawled along the ground.
Nighttime.
Definitely nighttime.
I exhaled slowly. "Okay," I muttered. "We're… somewhere."
Nozomi stepped beside me, eyes scanning everything with sharp focus. Her ears twitched instinctively—then she froze and immediately reached up, pressing them flat beneath the illusion she'd already started forming.
"Hide everything," she said quietly. "Now."
Right.Good call.
I focused, pulling my aura inward, compressing it until it felt like stuffing a storm into a bottle. My tails faded from existence, ears retracting as the illusion settled fully. It wasn't perfect—but to anyone normal, we were just two teenagers in street clothes.
No glowing energy. No soul-flux pressure. Nothing supernatural.
Just… people.
Once that was done, I really looked around.
Fire escapes zigzagged up the buildings. Dumpsters overflowed with black bags. Somewhere far away, a siren wailed—long and tired, like it had been doing this job for decades.
Cars passed at the mouth of the alley. Real cars. Yellow taxis. Massive black SUVs.
"…Hiro," Nozomi said slowly. "Do you see that?"
I followed her gaze.
At the end of the block, a massive digital billboard lit up the side of a building. Bright colors. Clean graphics.
STARK INDUSTRIES – INNOVATING TOMORROW
I felt my stomach drop.
"…No way."
We stepped out of the alley cautiously, blending into the sidewalk traffic. People brushed past us without a second glance—business suits, tourists, couples arguing, someone yelling into a phone.
English everywhere. Fluent. Natural.
This wasn't a hero society.
This was… our old world.
No—worse.
As we walked, more signs confirmed it.
A news screen in a store window showing a debate about the Sokovia Accords
A kid wearing a hoodie with a crude iron helmet printed on it
A taxi blasting rock music I hadn't heard since my first life
We scanned the surroundings for more information about the new world, specifically, what arc is it? After walking a bit more, we decided to first find a place to sleep. That part alone wasn't hard; what was hard was to find a hotel that didn't look like it was secretly run by a villain.
After a while, we found a modest-looking hotel that also did forex trading, which was helpful to us. The money Akihime had insisted that we take came in handy.
"How many rooms?" The clerk asked us while giving us a smile that showed he had the wrong impression, but you would get that when two teens, a boy and a girl, try to book a hotel room. The fact that we look alike wasn't even helping our case, as most Asians look alike.
"One room for a week, please," I asked, deciding not to explain. His smile grew as he handed me two keys with the number 403.
"Floor 3. Enjoy your stay. If you need anything, the room has a phone connected to the room service. Don't hesitate to call."
I nodded as I headed to where Nozomi was waiting for me next to the elevator.
"You look annoyed," She commented with a raised eyebrow when I reached her.
"Well, I just had to deal with a clerk who thinks I am booking one room with my girlfriend," I answered as I gave her her key and walked into the elevator.
She smiled and wrapped her arm around mine. "What are you saying that you cannot date me?"
I looked at her with a deadpan face. "Sorry, you lost that privilege the moment you became my sister."
She pouted. "Now you are making me wish I had my powers so that I can return us to the moment of birth and fix that."
We reached the third floor and headed to the room written on our keys. I was modest with one king-sized bed, a TV, a bathroom, and some normal hotel stuff.
I plopped down on the bed and began to unpack the stuff we had brought over.
"I am going to take a shower," Nozomi said as she disappeared into the bathroom.
"Eve, you there?" I called out to my phone. Ever since we returned home from...our run, I had set up Eve on our phones so that no matter where we are, we can access her.
"At your service," Her stoic voice came a second later as she materialized on my phone.
Do whatever it takes to find more information on this world. Especially S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Avengers," I instructed.
"Right away."
With that taken care of, I decided to get some sleep. I sank into the comfortable bed and shut my eyes.
Morning came fast. I reviewed everything Eve had given me to make sure that it was still going according to script. With that done, I decided to step out a bit. "Nozomi, I am going to step out a bit."
"Sure."
I exited the room and started to walk around the hotel, before exiting. I walked around the city, taking in the structure and design of everything, and the fact that a giant spaceship was floating over the city. After walking around for a bit, I decided to have something to eat.
I entered a dinner that looked promising. I found a table in the corner and ordered. When the waiter left, I used the time to observe the place. I was normal-looking and had a lot of customers as all the tables were filled to the brim, with some even sharing them. With nothing much to do, I pulled out my phone and started scrolling.
After a while of comfortable silence, a waitress walked up to me. "Um, excuse me." I looked up in confusion. "We wanted to ask you if you would mind sharing your table with some other customers?"
I nodded. "It's fine."
She smiled brightly before walking away and returning seconds later with someone. I looked up at the person she had brought back and...my jaw dropped, literally. In a white t-shirt, dark blue jeans that did her ass justice, and a cropped black jacket covering her hourglass figure, with red hair flowing loosely behind her back. Natasha Romanoff—aka black widow.
She smiled at my reaction as she slid into the seat opposite mine. "You good?"
Realizing I was staring, looked away from her with great difficulty. "Y-yeah, I'm fine."
The waitress chuckled but didn't say anything and just took Natasha's order. While my mind was having a civil war. I was not sure whether to be scared at the fact that I was sitting face-to-face with a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent and a member of the Avengers, or be happy cause she is my favourite character in the entire movie. Totally not because she is drop-dead gorgeous.
When the waitress left, she turned back to me with amusement. "Nice to meet you, I am Natalie."
I inwardly snorted at the attempt to use a fake name. "Hiro, pleasure is mine. Sorry about earlier."
She just chuckled while I inwardly cursed myself for bringing that back up. "It's fine, believe it or not, you are not the first."
I chuckled. "I believe it."
Her eyes scanned me for a few seconds before speaking. "You don't seem to be from around here. Are you a tourist?"
"You could say that," I replied. "It's my first time in America."
She raised a brow. "Really? You sound fluent in English."
I shrugged. "I was born different."
She chuckled again. "How so?" She leaned forward, resting her head in her palm.
Before I could respond, the waiter who had taken my order returned with my food and set it in front of us. And let's just say, it was... a lot. "Enjoy." With that, he left.
Natasha looked at the food, then at me in disbelief. "Can you really finish this all by yourself?"
I smirked. "Want a bite?"
She froze for a second before shaking her head. "That's not what I meant."
I looked out the window as I sensed a familiar presence approaching the dinner. "I have high metabolism." I turned back to her. "And I never said I was alone."
The dinner's bell rang as Nozomi stepped in. She scanned the room shortly before making her way to our table. "Really? I take my eyes off of you for one moment, and you are already flirting with other women."
Natasha looked at Nozomi with a weary smile, while Nozomi just plopped next to me.
"You should really watch how you phrase your words, or people might misunderstand you," I warned unwrapped the food to eat. "Nozomi, this is Natalie. Natalie, this is my sister Nozomi."
Nozomi just smirked at the look Natasha was giving us. "If you want to pursue my brother, you're gonna have to go through me first."
Natasha gave her a deadpan stare. "I am good."
Nozomi's smirk grew. "Really? It looked like I interrupted something."
I decided to let Natasha handle that conversation, as nothing I would say would make Nozomi shut up. But fate seemed to have other plans. As soon as I took the first bite of my fries.
Booooom!
The ground shook as an explosion rocked through the nearby buildings, and black smoke came from a nearby building.
"I fucking hate fate," I whispered, my voice laced in frustration.
Many people started to whisper about the explosion. I turned to Natasha to gauge her reaction. She was looking at the source of the explosion with narrowed eyes as she tried to assess the situation.
Just then, another explosion hit, and a car was flung to the window we were sitting next to. Natasha's eyes widened before she flung the table away and reached over, pulling Nozomi down while screaming at me. "Get down!"
I ducked just in time as the car crashed through the window and into the middle of the dinner. Luckily, no one was injured.
Natasha turned to everyone. "Run! Find somewhere safe to hide."
The people didn't need to be told twice.
"It would be wise if you found somewhere safe," She turned before sprinting out of the door. I turned to Nozomi as we walked out of the dinner, and we shared a nod before heading into an alley and jumping on top of a building to get a better view.
"Just as I expected," I breathed as I stared at the scene in front of us. Turns out the dinner was not far from the New York City Sanctum. In front of the destroyed building, Iron Man, Wong, Bruce, and Doctor Strange were facing off against Ebony Maw and Cull Obsidian.
We arrived just in time to witness Tony's iconic transformation scene and him hammering Cull Obsidian. He then turned around and started to talk to Bruce. Using this as an opening, Ebony Maw launches him into the sky and starts attacking the rest with some trees. Wong conjures a barrier while Strange opens a portal under Bruce, sending him away.
Ebony Maw launches a car at Strange, thinking he is distracted. Strange turns around and forms a barrier, before the car could hit the barrier, Tony returns and blasts the car back to Ebony Maw, who just slashes it into two.
We moved closer to hear what they were talking about. We stopped a few buildings away. With our enhanced senses, we could now hear their conversation.
Tony turned to Strange. "You gotta get that stone out of here, now."
"It stays with me," Strange shot back.
"Exactly. Bye," Tony replies before he activates his thrusters and launches himself towards Ebony Maw, who controls some metal from around him, trying and failing to hit Tony. But before Tony could reach him, Cull Obsidian got up and threw a large alien chain at Tony. The chains strike his chest, sending him crashing through multiple buildings and landing in a park nearby, where Bruce was sent.
Bruce came running towards Tony, who was lying on the ground, groaning. "Tony, you okay? How are we doing? Good? Bad?"
Tony turned and faced him. "Really, really, good. Do you plan on helping out?"
"I'm trying. He won't come out," Bruce complained.
Before their talk could go on any longer, Cull Obsidian ran through a wall of a nearby building and threw his flail in Bruce's direction.
Tony pushed him back. "Hammer!" This caused the flail to miss. Tony twisted mid-air and activated his thrusters, launching himself towards Cull Obsidian while blasting him with his Repulsors. The titan put his shield up, redirecting the blasts, cutting through a tree that nearly crushed Bruce.
He called out to the green monster inside him(not in that way) as he crawled from under the tree. "Come on, Hulk! What are you doing to me?" He then proceeded to slap himself. "Come on! Come on! Come on!"
I watched with an amused smile at this. "Wow, this is better when you watch it live than on screen."
Nozomi looked at it with a weary smile. "Shouldn't we be helping them?"
"We could, but the less we intervene, the fewer the anomalies. We will intervene when they are about to lose."
Bruce's slapping finally got a reaction from the green beast. His head turned slightly green, and his muscles grew a bit. "Noooo!" The green beast screamed before retreating inside. Bruce's body twitched as he tried to force it out until he fell back on the tree, complaining. "What do you mean, 'no'?"
The fight with Tony and Cull Obsidian was also dragging on. Tony was hovering a few feet off the ground, blasting the titan, but his blasts were getting blocked. The titan then swung and hit Tony, knocking him down with a bounce.
Using that advantage, the titan attempted to strike him with the flail. Before the flail could reach him, it stopped mid-swing. A face covered with a red mask and white eyes then peeped from the side. "Hey, man." He then turned as Tony also rolled around to see what had happened. "What's up, Mr. Stark?"
Tony rolled onto his back in confusion. "Kid, where'd you come from?"
Spider-Man, who was still holding the flail and stopping it from crushing Tony, replied in a cheerful voice. "A field trip to MoMA—" He was cut short as Cull Obsidian stopped using two hands and used one to grab Spider-Man by the waist and flung him to a fountain nearby.
Tony, not wasting this chance, shot a repulsor in Cull Obsidian's side, doing nothing except making him angry. Peter got up and webbed a pole, and swung back towards the titan and Tony, all while asking. "What is this guy's problem, Mr. Stark?"
Tony, dodging a swing from the titan, tried to explain. "Alright, he's from space. He came here to steal a necklace from a wizard."
Before Peter could land, Cull Obsidian used the flail to grab onto a section that opened up by the top and then swung around while Peter screamed and struggled to free himself. He then flung him in a random direction towards buildings, and at the same time, used his shield to block a repulsor beam from Tony, who was hovering a few feet away.
Cull Obsidian grabbed a taxi that was right next to him(which had been teleported with Bruce, in case I forgot to mention) and threw it at Tony. Tony ducked under the car while Peter appeared behind him and caught the car with a web mid-swing, swinging it before crashing it into the titan.
I turned to the side of the magical users. Ebony Maw used his telekinesis to lift a bunch of bricks, shaping them into darts, then hurling them towards Strange and Wong. Strange opened a portal to suck them all in. On his left, Wong opened a similar portal, only that this time, the projectiles shot out, heading for Ebony Maw.
With a flick of his wrist, Ebony Maw lifted a car and put it in front of him for defence. The projectiles hit the car, but one got through and hit him in the face, causing his head to jerk to the side.
He turned back to look at them with a scowl on his pale face. He then raised his arm towards a water hose on the side, pulling out a metal object that had gotten stuck inside. The moment the metal got out, the water then sprayed free, hitting Wong and causing him to be sent flying.
"Ow," Nozomi winced besides me. "Tha's gotta hurt."
Strange used the chance when Ebony Maw was distracted to form a whip, and he threw it in his direction, tying up his arm and pulling him towards himself. Ebony Maw let Strange pull him in, and when he was close enough, he grabbed Strange and flew to a nearby wall, using the bricks to lock him in place.
"Your powers are quaint. You must be popular with children," Ebony Maw taunted with his unusual old voice. He then tried to grab the eye of Agamoto, but the moment he touched it, he screamed in pain. Pulling back, his pale palm had a visible burn mark.
"It's a simple spell but quite unbreakable," Strange remarked.
Ebony Maw let out a low chuckle. "Then I will take it off your corpse." He grabbed him and pulled him out of the locks. Strange used this to his advantage; he flew forward, pushing Ebony Maw back, and he hit a van, causing Ebony Maw to lose his grip on him. Strange then rolled away and then got on his knees. He tried to use the eye of Agamoto, but vines sprouted from the ground and twisted around his limbs, waist, and neck, tightening to limit his movement.
"You will find...removing a dead man's spell... troublesome," Strange spoke in short breath as the vine around his neck kept tightening till he was close to passing out.
I then turned to Nozomi with a smirk. "I think it's time we got involved."
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Again, I am terribly sorry for the mistake, and it's already late in my region so I am not sure if I will be able to post anothe chapter today but I will try my best. Thanks to everyone who has added my book to their library. Very much appreciated.
Leave a review to help me write my book better, and don't forget to drop the power stones.
Peace out.