4: Around the World
Boom!
A sonic explosion followed by strong winds, in a blurry motion, a figure soared through the skies, navigating through clouds and mountains. It traversed seas and rivers, even going beyond the blue sky, almost reaching outer space.
"WOOOOOOOOO!!!" an excited voice echoed as a fourth sonic explosion took place.
Descending towards the earth, the figure landed on top of a high mountain, gazing at the horizon.
Daniel admired the views with excitement, inhaling the fresh air and letting the sun touch his skin. Flying was incredible! With enthusiasm, he looked at the hooded trench coat, closed with a long zipper, covering his body. It was a dark blue garment that allowed him to fly at high speeds without worrying about ending up naked.
It was a rather simple piece of clothing, but the sense of achievement in creating it was not small. After all, he had put a lot of effort into making it.
Even though he had gained a certain level of knowledge thanks to the mysterious being's gift, the truth was that recreating the type of vitrumite fabric was very difficult without the proper technological foundation.
It was like giving the blueprints of a 21st-century technological product to a caveman and expecting him to recreate it. Of course, he wasn't in as precarious a position as a caveman would be, but he wasn't in a significantly better one either.
Earth's technology was still very backward compared to Viltrum's, after all. The only saving grace he had was that the simplest and weakest fabric required more of a chemical process than a mechanical one.
Fortunately, Earth had all the necessary chemical elements. If there were one unknown to humans or originating from a completely different planet, then he wouldn't have been able to do much.
But even if it was the simplest type of fabric, it was still incredible.
He looked at the mountain peak beneath his feet and carefully began to land; perhaps the most complicated part of flying was stopping.
For a Viltrumite, flying was even more natural than breathing; it was simply more natural than walking. Stopping was like forcing yourself to completely cease using one of your limbs.
He concentrated deeply; everything around him seemed to slow down as he descended from the sky. All his attention focused on the gravitational changes his own body produced in his surroundings.
It was astonishing. Gravity, a fundamental force in the universe that can bend all matter, something even light is incapable of escaping. When faced with a Viltrumite, it simply seemed to yield, bending around their mere presence as if it didn't exist.
Daniel wondered what it would be like when he decided to wander through space at some point. How would it feel to go faster than the speed of light? Because he knew he could do it; he knew that Viltrumites could defy the logic of the universe once they started flying in space.
He didn't know exactly how, but he guessed that ignoring gravity was a crucial point.
He cleared those thoughts from his mind; flying through space was now... dangerous.
Not only because of the unknowns that might exist in the vast universe but also because he wasn't sure if he could return to Earth. How do you navigate in space? There's no up or down, left or right—it's simply an infinite void with all possible directions to go.
Very easy to get lost if you have no way of knowing where you're headed.
He stopped concentrating once his feet touched the ground softly. The only indication of his landing was a gentle breeze that was expelled from where his feet made contact with the earth, in a circular shape. Besides that, it was a smooth and controlled landing.
"Perfect," he smiled.
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United States.
Dealing with crime and saving people were two entirely different things in the way you could handle them.
Punching a thief? Easy.
Rescuing someone? Much more difficult.
"Calm down and apply pressure, it's just a small wound, you'll be okay," he said as he looked at the 15-year-old boy bleeding from a knife wound.
He had heard his scream and arrived just as the criminal was pulling the knife from the young boy's side. Dealing with the criminal was simple, but dealing with the boy was a bit complicated when he couldn't stop shaking and screaming.
"Oh God! I don't want to die!" The boy looked in horror at the blood dripping through his fingers. Daniel sighed and lifted him in his arms.
"It's okay, hold on tight. I'll take you to the hospital," With that, Daniel jumped high into the sky. His body sailed through the air as if there was no resistance at all, and he soon began to accelerate in a controlled manner towards a nearby hospital that he spotted due to the great height he had reached in just a few seconds.
"Whoa!? H-how are you doing this!?" the boy exclaimed in amazement as he saw the incredible views of the city from a great height. He clung tighter to Daniel, almost forgetting that he was injured, and looked wide-eyed around him.
In a short time, Daniel landed in front of the entrance of a hospital, causing some people to jump in amazement. However, they didn't have time to react. He quickly found a pair of nurses and handed over the trembling boy in his arms.
Then, he departed just as quickly as he arrived.
His dark blue hooded trench coat, dark pants, and work boots, along with his goggles covering the upper part of his face and the gray scarf covering the lower part, would be etched in the memories of those who saw him that day for quite some time.
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China.
The sea waves slapped Captain Tao Ming's face; his body shook as he tried to maintain balance. The crew members ran everywhere on the ship, attempting to withstand the violent storm that battered them, but the vessel was not built to endure such an relentless fury of the sea.
"Quick! Quick!" the captain urged his men, but before they could do anything more, a massive wave struck, tilting the ship to one side. The cries were drowned in the sea, and Captain Tao felt his vision blur.
Then, in a blurry motion, a figure fell from the sky, plunging into the sea. Suddenly, the sinking ship was brought back to the surface. In swift, blurry movements, the entire crew that had been submerged in the sea began to reappear on the ship.
Many started coughing, looking around in disbelief.
Captain Tao suddenly felt his lungs filled with air again and took a deep breath. His gaze lifted to the sky, where he saw a figure among the storm clouds, lightning flashing behind it.
He blinked, and the figure was gone.
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Chile.
The ground shook, strong vibrations causing some people to nearly stumble. Despite this, citizens accustomed to such events continued with their day, except for a group of construction workers who now found themselves in a precarious situation.
Working at great heights was always dangerous. Safety measures were often lacking, and the threat to life was more common than it should be.
Despite knowing all this, Luis didn't expect something like this to happen to him.
"Hold on tight!" his coworker gritted his teeth while holding onto Luis's hand. Luis's safety harness had broken due to the sudden tremor, and he had almost plummeted to his death if it weren't for his coworker who managed to grab him. Nevertheless, his coworker was also shaken, and his grip was not secure; he was rapidly losing strength to continue holding on.
Luis felt sweat running down his body as he squeezed the hand that prevented his imminent death. The other workers around him shouted, but no one could do anything to help him. In fact, some of them were also in danger. The structure they were working on tilted, and the tremor intensified the screams.
Luis looked at the sky and thought of his family, his son, and his mother. He thought about everything he couldn't give them and felt an unparalleled desperation.
Then he lost the grip that held him, and he began to fall.
His mind went completely blank, death beginning to whisper in his ear. But before he could accept his imminent fate, he felt someone holding him in their arms, and suddenly, he was staggering on the ground, completely safe.
"que mierda?!" He looked around, and a surprising sight greeted him. In blurry outlines, more and more people began to appear around him, and soon he realized that they were all his coworkers who had been with him at heights.
He looked up and saw a blurry figure traversing the structure and bringing everyone down.
In no time, no one was in danger, and everyone stared in disbelief at a figure fading away in the sky.
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England.
At night, near some residential buildings, a truck driver carrying gas suddenly felt pressure in his chest. His eyes opened with red veins starting to flood them.
His hand clenched near his heart, and a choked scream almost escaped his lips. His vision darkened, and suddenly his heart stopped beating. He collapsed, completely losing control of the truck, which overturned and crashed into one of the residential buildings.
From the sky, a figure noticed the accident, and everything seemed to move in slow motion. The explosion started gradually, with fire rising.
The impact hadn't reached the building yet. From the figure's perspective, it even seemed to almost stop. With inhuman speed, the air broke, but even before the sonic wave began, the figure was already in front of the gas explosion.
He watched as the fire expanded towards him, and an idea that he wasn't sure would work came to his mind. He wasn't a scientist; he didn't know if something like this was viable or possible, but he didn't care. With no time for anything else, he decided to try it. If it didn't work, then he would use his body to absorb as much kinetic energy as possible.
And so, in a logically illogical feat, the figure stretched both arms before quickly bringing them together in front of him, both palms colliding with a force not inferior to that of the explosion.
He clapped towards the sky.
That night, all the residents of the nearby buildings would be awakened by two explosions that occurred simultaneously from their perspective.
A burst of air and fire rose into the sky, illuminating the night for a small, brief moment.
The kinetic energy shot into the clouds, creating a hole in them.
In a surprising turn of events, the building that should have been impacted by the explosion remained completely unscathed. The figure let out a sigh of relief before looking at the wreckage of the truck. There, a charred corpse lay, and with a mournful gaze, the figure ascended into the sky.
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Russia.
The thunderous sound of snow moving at high speeds was like distant thunder echoing.
In the skies, this sound caught the attention of a figure flying through the clouds. At first, it didn't pay much attention, but then its eyes caught the image of human structures on the side of the mountain where the avalanche was beginning to descend.
Its pupils contracted as it noticed the houses of a small village, and tiny figures, from its high-altitude perspective, began trying to escape.
Why? Why did people think building a village next to a snow-filled mountain was a good idea?!
With no time to think, it accelerated to position itself in front of the village and in the path of the avalanche.
How do you stop an avalanche? That question came to its mind, and an answer quickly followed.
I don't know.
Then an idea arrived as fast as the previous response.
I don't have to stop it, just redirect it.
And so, its body acting as the toughest drill in the world, it accelerated towards the mountain and began creating an artificial path for the thousands of tons of snow hurtling down.
The village was only hit by small amounts of snow, and no one was injured. Giving a final glance, the figure waved to a little girl who was looking at it with her mouth wide open before ascending into the sky and leaving.
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Japón.
Scotland.
Norway.
India.
Mexico.
Colombia.
Canada.
France.
over the course of two full weeks, similar events unfolded around the world. The news began to spread slowly but steadily. Witnesses and blurry images were commonly presented as evidence, yet there were many who couldn't believe it.
Skeptics thought it was all a hoax.
However, there were also those who firmly believed in it, mainly the witnesses to these incredible feats.
The world didn't know it yet, but this marked the beginning of a new era.
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In the sky, among the clouds, a flying structure concealed behind advanced camouflage technology was situated.
An airship, the most advanced on the planet, the helicarrier, sailed slowly through the skies.
Inside, agents of the world's most secretive organization moved like a well-trained army or the gears of a perfectly assembled machinery, each engaged in crucial tasks.
They watched over the world for any threat that could jeopardize it.
At the center of everything, behind the command center, an office was located with an eagle emblem on its door.
Inside, staring at dozens of projected screens displaying various images, the director of the world's largest organization was present.
Nick Fury observed with his singular eye the various news reports in front of him.
"And so, witnesses and evidence continue to accumulate. The case of the gas truck has been analyzed by different experts, but there is still no explanation ruling out the involvement of the mysterious hero who—"
"Sightings continue to increase, more and more witnesses are providing their testimonies from around the world,"
"Just a few hours ago, an avalanche that threatened to bury a small town in Russia was miraculously diverted. Recent images reveal a humanoid figure among the snow—"
As these and more videos played before Fury, causing his lone eye to gleam. With evident seriousness, he took out his communicator.
"Agent Romanoff, I need you in my office."
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At the summit of Mount Everest, Daniel stood amidst the countless flags left by those who had managed to climb to its peak, his trench coat fluttering in the cold wind. He looked at the sky and sighed.
Two weeks - he had traveled the world for two weeks but found nothing.
There were no heroes.
Of course, he hadn't searched as meticulously as he could have if he stayed in one place for a longer period. Still, he believed that if there were any other heroes, he would have encountered them by now.
Why had he found nothing?
"Is it too early?" This was the only explanation. Even in a world of heroes, there had to be a starting point. Everything has a beginning, and it seemed that the era of heroes in this world had not yet commenced.
This made things a bit complicated.
"No matter, there are no heroes? Fine, I'll do it myself." determination surged within him.
It seemed like the responsibility was growing, but that was okay. It motivated him to move forward; the pressure increased his desire to achieve his goals more than ever.
If he had to become the world's first hero, so be it.
No, he could be more than that. Recalling the words of a character he had liked in his previous life, he couldn't help but smile.
It would be a great goal to pursue, challenging, unsure if he could live up to it. Ideals like these were challenging to follow to the letter, But if he didn't try, what was the point of this second life?
"To become a pillar, huh... a symbol..." Yes, he could do that.
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"Everything points to it being the same individual," Natasha Romanoff said, placing a folder in front of Nick Fury with the code name of the target. The director examined the files with a furrowed brow; each paragraph of information presented painted a clearer yet confusing picture.
Natasha glanced at the director reading the information. She had to admit that this case had been a very interesting defiance to follow, which was ironic considering the individual they were investigating and the name he had chosen for himself.
"I have more," she said once the director finished reading the scant information they had managed to obtain. It wasn't much, as tracking the subject had proven very difficult.
She hadn't even managed to get a lead on his real identity.
The satellites couldn't keep up with his speed of movement; he traveled the entire world without any obstacles. The only way to know he had been somewhere was when a witness or camera managed to capture his blurry figure.
Soon, Natasha connected a USB drive to the computer, and on the projected screens, several images were presented.
Images that typically didn't reach the general public or news media—private security cameras with very restricted access.
In all of them, despite being of much higher quality than common cameras, only a blur could be seen due to the incredible speed.
Natasha made some adjustments to the computer, and soon the images became clearer, and his speed of movement slowed down.
This time, the blur was clearer. On each screen, a humanoid figure covered from head to toe in what could be called a discreet outfit was present.
The most recognizable features were the blue trench coat and the face hidden behind a pair of goggles and a gray scarf.
"To wrap it up, I managed to obtain this from a family that had an accident recently,"
Then, a final video played. Inside a car, a teenage boy recorded his family while rain pounded outside the car. It was a homely atmosphere where everyone smiled and enjoyed themselves—a trip that suddenly got interrupted by an animal unexpectedly crossing the road.
The driver swerved in surprise, and the car skidded in the rain, beyond his control. The image shook along with the family's screams. Despite that, the video continued, and it was evident that the car started overturning off the road.
From what little was visible, it was clear that it was an extremely dangerous situation.
And then suddenly, it wasn't. The car came to a sudden halt in mid-air, still upside down. Then, the car seemed to flip by itself and began descending slowly. The teenager leaned his recording phone out of the window, and it was then that Fury saw him clearly.
Dressed in familiar clothes that were now completely visible, the figure lowered the car to the ground and nodded towards the family, who stared at him in disbelief.
Then, he turned around, and on the back of his trench coat, a silver D symbol was clearly visible. This symbol seemed to focus as the figure suddenly lifted off the ground slowly before soaring into the sky, piercing through the dark clouds. The sound barrier was broken, and the clouds were forced to disperse, causing the rain to stop in the area.
All of Fury's focus was on the looping video, and from the side, Natasha observed his expression growing increasingly serious. She could understand it; even she had to watch the footage several times before she could believe it.
In all her years as a spy, she had never seen anything like this.
"We've got a problem."
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