[The Heroic system is starting, 1%, 2%, 3%...]
Hearing an unfamiliar voice ringing in his head, made Rick immediately open his eyes warily. But after looking at his surrounding, he was immediately shocked.
Gone was his desk, computer, TV screen and ps5, because he was no longer in his room but what look like a cell in a prison with the simple bed, the bars on the windows and the metallic door! But what convince him was his orange prisoner outfit.
Upon seeing this, Rick tried to remember what he did yesterday night that make him end up in this situation but then foreign memories start to invade his brain. It was only after the info dump was done that he finally understand what happened to him.
"I traveled to the Marvel verse? And in the MCU?!"
Yes Rick or Richard Mason was a normal student who just finish high school but yesterday while preparing his stuff to go on holiday a truck suddenly appeared in his room and killed him and then he transmigrate in this 18 years old boy also named Richard Mason.
This Richard Mason wasn't as lucky as him. His father, Phineas Mason alias the "Tinkerer" work in the black industry which forced Rick to drop out of school and work in the same 'industry' at the age of 14. But while he was force in that path, Rick didn't want to do things to shady so when he was 16 he start to involve himself in the smuggling business and now at the age of almost 19 he was known as "The Agent" an international smuggler and independent contractor.
As for the reason he found himself in prison, it was because of a commission who turn bad. A client asked him to transport and destroy a car far from Russia and Rick accept. Until he saw that the car was a Porsche 911 Turbo Cabriolet ! That was a Luxury car! So Rick decide to keep it and hide it Budapest. But then he didn't know why, but from that day onward people start to spy on him. Feeling the threat for his life, he start to travel to different countries to escape and finally land here in Cambodia. Here, he thought that he was finally safe, but a blond woman caught up with him to 'ask' about that car.
Wanting to end all his problem, Rick simply told her that he threw away the car in the Ocean. When telling her that, Rick thought that it was over but this time that blond Russian wanted the name of his client to which he replied that he didn't know, but she didn't believe it. So she start to torture him, but because Rick still didn't say anything and maybe she was bored she threw him in this prison while leaving for instructions for those guards to break me and make me spill the beans.
And so for more than 10 ten days, Rick was tortured everyday by those guards. And it was because of one of those torture that the previous Rick died.
As for why he knew that he was in the MCU universe? Because the Russian woman was Yelena Belova the sister of the infamous Black Widow and that she look almost exactly like the one from the movie. Also he himself did look like a little like the Rick Mason from the MCU so with these two combine it wasn't difficult for him to guess it.
But in other circumstances Rick may have been happy with this news, right now while being in pain from the injuries he received from the guards, coming to the Marvel universe didn't seem like a good thing at all. Especially when he knew that lately those guards were talking about simply killing me because I still didn't talk
"I really need to think of a way to escape this place or I'll end up just like my predecessor."
Saying that, Rick took out the old screwdriver the previous him manage to steal from the storage while nobody was looking, thinking about how it could be use in his escape but didn't have any idea at all.
[...98%, 99%, 100%!]
As if to awaken Rick from his thoughts, the voice in his head stopped counting which prompt his attention to the present matter. Then without waiting for him to do anything lights spots start to come out from his body before gathering at the back of his hand, forming the letter 'H'.
But it didn't stop there, the letter start to shine brightly to the point where Rick almost couldn't open his eyes, but then light start to transform into a transparent screen.
On this screen countless short videos of game flash through Rick eyes : Spider-Man, Valorant, Jetpack Joyride, Tower defense, Assassin's Creed...
Finally all those pictures merge and form the letter 'H'.
[Welcome to the Heroic System. My name is Athena, I am this system consciousness.]
"Heroic system? Athena what can you do? Can you help me escape?"
Rick said a bit eager.
[While my creator create me on a whim, my purpose is to look for a world that will be in a huge crisis in the future with a lack of heroes and helped it host to become one.]
'Lack of hero? Athena, do you know where this is?'
[After reviewing host memories I understand your confusion. Actually host while indeed there will be hero in the future, there's no hero that can be recognized as one right now. For example Clint Barton known as Hawkeye is not a hero but a secret agent. To be a hero, not only do you have to do Heroic actions but it has to be recognized by the public, which isn't the case with agent Barton right now.]
With Athena explanation Rick understand better. When choosing the world Athena took one which will face crisis in the future, but doesn't have any hero on the present.
'Oh okay. By the way don't call me host in the future, just call me Rick. And about your functions, what are they?'
[Understand Rick. I have five main function : personal information, mission, maps, lottery and mall. The personal information is self explanatory, it will show you your name, level, Heroic badges, Heroic names and skills you possess.]
'Heroic badge ? Heroic names?'
[With the Heroic badge, you will be able to randomly summon a hero. There are two types of Heroic badge, one permanent and the other is timed to your level. With the permanent one the Hero will be summon in this world and will be able to stay forever. Note that obtaining a permanent Heroic badge is way rarer than a temporary one that is already rare. Because I am a Heroic system, enslaving people isn't heroic at all, while all summoned characters will always be friendly to you and will consider you as their leader. But they will all have their own independent thinking and aren't bound to you at all. When summoned, they became real people.]
The warning from Athena shock Rick a little bit. When he learn that the Heroic badge could summon people, he thought that it will be like in those novel where the person summon will be 100% loyal to him and obey his every command. But now he learns that this wasn't the case at all! The only thing he could guarantee from them is their friendliness! Which means that even though you summon them they weren't forced to follow him or join him.
But at least he confirmed with Athena that while some summon could be morally gray, none of them were villains. They could only be hero or anti-hero.
[For the Heroic names, it's more complicated. They are three way for you to obtain Heroic names: the first one is through the public. As long as a majority of people recognize your Heroic name, it will be written in the system.
The second way is to buy it in the mall, but I don't advise you to do it because it is expensive. For the third way, you can win it in the lottery.
What's interesting for you is that Heroic names obtain through the system can give all the skills and inventory of the hero you took it from. Let's say you bought the Heroic name of Clint Barton 'Hawkeye' from the mall. Then after buying the title 'Hawkeye' you gain all his skills, outfit and even weapons he possess. What's more, every time you level up, you can upgrade the Heroic name to make your skills and item obtain from it more powerful.
As for Heroic name gain through people, it can only give you skills.]
After that Athena continue to introduce the rest of the system. The mission was divide into three categories : main mission, side missions and hidden mission. The good news for Rick was that no mission was mandatory and no punition was taken if he failed them. However Athena warned Richard that most of the main mission, if not taken or failed could result in a disaster for him or the earth because those missions were important for his survival or the betterment of the world.
As for the side missions, they were just optional missions attached to the main one. While hidden mission were mission Rick gave himself. The only thing particular about the hidden mission was that they could only been triggered while wanting to help.
When it comes to the rewards most of them were the same : experience points, mystery box and gold coins. The only thing that change was the amount of it with side mission being the less rewarding followed by main mission.
Maps was also self explanatory. Every time Rick goes to to a new location it is record in the map function. The only time the map the map update itself without him having to that location is when he accept a mission.
The Lottery function was separate into two mode: the random lottery and the Hall lottery.
First of all Rick learn that be it for the random lottery, the Hall lottery or even the the mall could only give items, skills, badges and outfit from video games with a hero inside.
While it surprised Rick a little, but then he recall that he did saw only games from those pictures earlier. With this he understands why the Lottery was separate into 2 mode.
Because the random lottery could only get the things from any random games, but the Hall lottery could chose from a game specific. But to unlock Hall lottery you need a Hall card that he can only win from random lottery or rewards from hidden missions. Hall card can give you access to a specific game pool to chose from. Furthermore Hall cards were also the key to open the mall function.
After understanding everything Rick finally ask the most important thing. "How do you use the lottery or buy in the mall?"
[Gold coins are the currency used by the system. You can obtain gold coins from missions rewards or the random lottery function. The random lottery function doesn't need money, but open every weeks. On the contrary the Hall lottery can be use at any time, but need you to pay 50 good coins for each use. The random lottery function is open, would you like to use it?]
"Yes, open it Athena." Said Rick with excitation.
Contrary to the roulette that he was expecting the random only had a red button with 'start' written on it. But it didn't bother him he just urge Athena to start. Then after clicking on the start button 10 card start to appear.
[Congratulation, you've won:
500 GC
Tower Defense XTD Hall card
Avengers Takedown Hall card
Jacob Frye complete outfit
700 GC
Health capsule
Martin Mystery's U-watch
900 GC
Red backpack
Odd Overboard.]
(A/N: Tower Defense XTD doesn't exist. I just write it randomly, but most of the skills from it are taken from a real Tower Defense game.)
While puzzled by some reward, the pain on his body force him to take a look of it later.
"Athena use a health capsule please."
[Affirmative.]
With a burst of light, a Grey capsule with a red cross appear in front of Rick. Without hesitation he press the button on the top causing the capsule to burst in green particles that enter inside him. Repairing his badly damaged body in a few seconds.
Being finally able to move, Rick immediately stand up and stretch himself a few times, before refocusing his thoughts to Athena.
'Athena how do I use the Hall card?'
[You don't have to do anything. Every time you win a Hall card it's functions are unlocked automatically.]
'Oh then use 300 GC on the Avengers Takedown lottery and 300 GC for the Tower Defense XTD one.'
[Understand. Congratulation you've won:
Black Widow unlimited Wrist Blasters ×2
Double Jump skill×2
Wall sliding skill ×2
Upgrade skill
Electric Orb×3
Slow special skill
Decay special skill.]
"Finally my first skills! Athena give them to me!" Said Rick with a big smile on his face.
Athena didn't said anything this time, but Rick did feel different and new knowledge on the skill being transferred to him. But when the dump information was over he was a bit disappointed, but at the same time extremely happy of his gain.
For one, he learned that he couldn't stack the same skills. After receiving the skill, the other copy of it were of no use for him, but he could give it to other people, as well as his equipments. The second thing was the special skills he receive this time. The Slow and Decay special were skills that could be integrate to the tower in the game. Because of that, Rick couldn't use it himself but had to integrate them to objects to be able to use those skills. Fortunately only him could use those special skills.
But for Rick, his biggest gain so far was the Upgrade skill. With this skill he could 'evolve' any object up to ten time. While money was required it didn't matter for Richard Mason because not only could he use any kind of money, but every time he upgrade something he would obtain the revealing knowledge on how to build that something! Meaning even if he broke the upgraded thing he could still rebuild it.
After geeking over his skills, finally get back on track and think about his escape plan.
'If I remember correctly, there is some kind of knife laser or something in the U-watch right? Besides Jacob Frye also had a grappling hook in his assassin outfit. This, added to my new skills escaping from this prison should be feasible thing to do. Athena, give me the U-watch and Jacob Frye complete outfit.'
With another burst of light surrounding Rick his outfit completely changed. Gone was the orange suit of a prisoner. Now he was dressed as the Victorian assassin from the famous game Assassin's Creed Syndicate. Top hat, green jacket, white shirt, black Trench coat, boot, pants and a cane.
All in all, while still in a cell, Rick didn't look like an inmate at all, but more like a cosplayer. Still, he thought that he was quite handsome in this suit, and he wasn't the only one who thought like that.
"Well, well, well. What a man so well dressed is doing in a prison so dirty?"
Startled, Rick quickly turn his his head, to see through the bars of the window, a young red hair woman looking at him with a seductive smile. But that smile didn't appease Rick, but make him more wary,especially with her following question.
"Are you 'The Agent'?"
Frowning, Rick answered.
"Who wants to know?"
That question only make the woman's smile wider.
"Well, mister The Agent you can call me Black Widow."
Upon hearing her codename, Rick pupils widened comically which obviously didn't go unnoticed by Black Widow.
"Oh, you know me?"
'No kidding! If I who saw almost every marvel movies didn't know who the famous Black Widow was, then I really shouldn't have watch those movies in the first place.'
While Rick was complaining internally, he was still a bit curious about why Natasha Romanoff was here. Because while he remember that in the MCU Natasha was the one who save Rick from this prison, they never explain on why she was here. So instead of thinking on his own, he simply ask.
"Yeah I know you, the infamous Black Widow. And then, what do you want from me?"
Black Widow didn't reply immediately but took a good look at Rick first before replying.
"I heard from those guards that you almost couldn't walk straight, but apparently you still have some energy left on you. In that case it will make everything easier. Here's the deal 'Agent' : I'll take you out, and in exchange you give me the information that I want."
"Are you also here for the person who gave me that car a month ago ?"
"It depends, what's the name of that client?"
Rick just stay silent with a teasing smile on his face. How could he not know that the moment he threw the name out the Black Widow will just leave him alone? He understood clearly that while at this point of time Natasha was on the path of betraying the Red Room, she didn't have that heroic heart of sacrifice like in Vormir yet.
At this point of time especially because she wanted to cut her ties with Red Room, Black Widow was especially selfish.
Just look at the movie: just to ensure that Dreykov was indeed inside the building, she let Dreykov's daughter who was just a little girl, get inside too and blow them up together.
Because of that, Rick was very careful of what he says.
"I can get you what you want, but you need to let me out now."
Natasha just smile at that "Deal. Now retreat to the door if you don't want to die."
Without asking anymore questions, Rick did as told and then start to hear some strange noise.
"Bip. Bip. Bip. Bip."
The moment he understood what he was hearing the wall explode forcing him to crouch to avoid the fragments flying all over his cell.
"We don't have any time waste, so get up and let's go Agent."
[Side Mission from the Main Mission 'Dreykov fall' unlocked. Prison Break (1) : escape from Cambodia's Prison and rejoin your base.]