Jared's POV
As I gazed down at the tranquil water lapping around my legs, a sudden vibration in my pocket jolted me from my thoughts. The disturbance was unexpected, and in an instant, the thin thread of concentration I'd maintained unraveled, forcing me to stumble backward just as a new wave nearly soaked my tracks. I fished out my phone.
'Ryan Calling.'
In my memories, Ryan was a familiar face—a classmate I hung out with nearly every day. I answered the call, but before I could utter a single word, a girl's voice blared through the speaker, sharp and unmistakably annoyed.
"WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN, YOU IDIOT? I'VE BEEN CALLING SINCE MORNING, AND YOUR PHONE WAS OFF. WE HAD TO CANCEL ALL OUR PLANS!"
I considered explaining Jared's absence and why his phone had been off, but a second voice cut in before I could even try.
"Give me the phone, Maya. Don't chew his head off before he has a chance to explain. Why do you two always go at each other like rabid dogs? Jared? Jared, you still there?"
"Uh… yeah, Ryan," I replied, trying to mask my hesitation.
"You didn't come to school today. Is Everything alright?" Ryan's tone was softer, tinged with concern.
"Yeah, I just woke up with a fever, couldn't even get out of bed. I think Aunt May must have turned off my phone so I could rest."
"WHAT? YOU HAD A FEVER?" Maya's voice crashed through the line again, loud and disbelieving. "Did you go to the beach alone last night and catch a cold because of that?"
I took a slow, calming breath before answering. "No, Maya. But I'm at the beach now—I feel fine. Must have just been a viral thing."
"Oh sure, because going to the beach right after a fever is a totally sane thing to do," she retorted, her tone dripping with sarcasm.
"Maybe to you it isn't. Anyway, I'm heading home. I'll see you at school tomorrow."
"Wait—don't hang up! We could come meet you… HEY RYAN...GIVE THE PHONE BACK TO ME!" Her words faded out in a scuffle before Ryan's voice returned.
"See you tomorrow, Jared. Maybe Maya can let you live for just one day, huh?" He chuckled, ending the call with a sense of exasperation.
"Ryan might be the only one holding that friend group together," I muttered, rolling my tracks down and turning toward home.
I'd wanted to spend more time exploring the neighborhood, maybe even meeting Jared's friends to see if they might be useful. But the strange encounter with the water had changed my priorities. In a way, I felt a thrill of anticipation about coming to this world. After all, plenty of humans here had achieved greatness without superpowers. But now, if there was even the slightest possibility that I had one, I could dive into the whole Avengers mess with something more than pure guts. I did want to visit the sorcerer's supreme since their powers can be achieved by almost everyone if they put in the work. I still wanted to get a good grip on this world before i venture out for something like this.
Lost in thought, I soon found myself at home. Aunt May sat on the couch with her laptop, looking up as I walked in.
"You only left an hour ago—why are you back so soon? Is your fever back?"
She started to rise, worry creasing her brow, but I quickly waved her off. "No, Aunt May. It's just… really sunny out, and I thought a shower might help. Plus, I need to catch up on studies if I'm going back to school tomorrow."
Half-risen, Aunt May sat back down, eyeing me skeptically. "Alright. Freshen up and get to it, but if your fever returns, you're not going anywhere tomorrow."
"Got it, Aunt May," I assured her with a small wave as I slipped into my room and shut the door.
Inside, I noticed Peter's bag resting beside the bed. A part of me itched to go through it, maybe gain some insight into Peter's world and where he was. But I pushed the impulse aside and headed to the bathroom.
Once there, I noticed the bathtub and filled it with warm water. After the chaos of the day, a few minutes of calm was exactly what I needed. I eased into the bath, letting the warmth melt some of my tension. I noticed a few droplets clinging to the tub's edge, and an idea sparked. Raising my hand above the droplets, I concentrated, envisioning them rising with my movements.
Nothing. They sat, undisturbed. That's when it struck me—the peculiar sensation I'd felt earlier, in the ocean water, was missing. Even here, submerged to my neck, the feeling had vanished entirely.
"Maybe it's something I can recreate," I mused, closing my eyes and focusing on my palm. Almost immediately, I felt the strange prickling sensation return. Intrigued, I held onto it, fully immersed in the feeling, and opened my eyes.
I could hardly believe what I saw: not only were the droplets on the edge of the tub hovering in mid-air, but a portion of the bathwater itself had lifted, suspended in hundreds of tiny, glittering spheres.
"I did it!" I shouted in amazement, my voice reverberating off the tiles. Startled, I lost focus, and the droplets splashed back into the tub with an audible slap. I clamped a hand over my mouth, but it was too late.
"JARED! WHAT ARE YOU SHOUTING ABOUT? I TOLD YOU KIDS TO KEEP IT DOWN WHILE GAMING!" Aunt May's voice rang from outside my door.
I cracked the door open just enough to call back, "Sorry, Aunt May, I just got a little too into it."
There was a pause, then her footsteps receded down the hall. I let out a breath of relief.
I glanced back at the tub, musing aloud, "I'll need to practice in here over the next few days, or I'll end up making a fool of myself out there."
Turning, I caught my reflection in the mirror. Studying myself, I realized the truth: this body was softer, weaker. If I wanted any chance of survival, even with powers, I'd need to build strength and flexibility. In my previous life, I'd trained in hand-to-hand combat, even firearms. Here, though, it would take time and discipline to rebuild those skills.
The rest of the day passed in a quiet mix of practice and planning. I tried manipulating water several times, growing better with each attempt, but the largest I could manage was the size of a baseball. Each time I tried going larger, the sphere would break apart, crashing to the floor. By the sixth attempt, I felt exhaustion creeping in. Apparently, I had limits, and pushing them would take time.
Peter spent the day in his room, studying. Meanwhile, elsewhere in the city, unseen forces were stirring.
3rd Person POV
In a towering office somewhere across the city…
The man sat in a spacious, minimalistic office, his chair facing the sprawling cityscape framed by floor-to-ceiling windows. He seemed indifferent to the view, his attention focused on a small stack of files on the desk in front of him, each bearing a name of note:
Tony Stark
Steve Rogers
Dr. Bruce Banner
He was reviewing the file on Banner when a knock interrupted him.
"Come in," he said, setting the file aside, revealing an eyepatch over his left eye.
A suited man stepped in, closing the door behind him.
"Director Fury, we've detected an unusual energy," he announced.
Fury's eyes narrowed. "Phil, what kind of energy is worth bringing to me directly?"
"According to our experts, it was similar to that of the tesarract but was very faint and vague. Usually I wouldn't bother you with half baked information like this but this is the tesarract we are talking about so even the smallest news deserves your attention."
Fury's expression intensified. Phil Coulson was his most trusted agent; he knew when a situation warranted concern. The tesarract was something that SHIELD knew almost nothing about. Where did it come from, what does it do? Is it a good thing or a bad one? they had many questions for decades and they were all left unanswered. The energy that the tesarract releases is nowhere near any other energy that SHIELD had seen in many years so now just a whiff of it being sensed was a big deal.
"Where did it originate?"
"The brief nature of the energy made it difficult to trace precisely, but we pinpointed it to somewhere in Queens," Coulson replied, voice steady.
**
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