"Waking up in a dumpster is not how I was expecting my morning to go…"
Ripping his way out of a black trash bag is a five foot seven inches tall eighteen year old boy with black hair and green eyes. Ray stands up, finding himself in waist high garbage that reeks to high heaven. He looks around, finding himself in a dark and damp alley with multiple people walking along the sidewalk at a brisk pace, so absorbed by their own thoughts and conversations that the rest of the world might as well not exist.
'Why was I inside a trash bag and thrown into a dumpster in a city I don't recognize? Last I remember, I had just beaten the final boss of the Shadow of the Erdtree DLC for Elden Ring. That fight was quite difficult until you learn his patterns, and even then you still get hit by half his attacks even if you dodge perfectly. Now what happened after that?'
Ray shakes his head before looking down and noticing that his favorite shirt is now just a shredded mess covered in dirt and grime. He sighs audibly, knowing that it's completely unsalvageable. Resolving himself, he grabs the edge of the dumpster and hoists his body up and over the edge, his tattered shoes slapping the pavement. He dusts himself off as best he can before heading out of the alley.
As he stands at the end of the alley, the sunlight streaks down towards him, blinding him as he holds his arm up to try and block the light. When his eyes finally adjust, he is shocked to find himself in a very large and heavily populated city, the complete opposite of his rural home that he remembers.
'Where the hell am I? This sure as hell ain't Kansas…'
As he is looking around, a few pedestrians look at him before turning away and hurriedly fleeing the area, their faces clearly showing disgust as they judge him by his disheveled state. Though he is far too distracted to notice as he racks his brain trying to figure out what is going on.
His thoughts are rudely interrupted when a newspaper flies through the air on the mid morning breeze and slams into his face. He reflexively grabs the offending paper and almost throws it away before seeing an article that makes his blood run cold.
~Billionaire playboy Tony Stark: Missing and presumed deceased~
While Tony was at a weapons demonstration in Afghanistan, his convoy was attacked by terrorists calling themselves the Ten Rings. As of this moment, we only know that lieutenant James Rhodes and a few other soldiers made it out of the ambush alive. With no word on Tony's whereabouts, it is highly likely that he perished during this incident.
Ray rereads the article over and over again, hoping that he is reading some prop newspaper and not a real one. But the more he reads the more the gravity of his situation sinks in.
'Fuck! This is the marvel universe… Why the hell am I here?'
Ray flips through the newspaper quickly, finding 'New York Times' on the front in bold letters.
'So I am currently in New York city in the year 2008, Tony was kidnapped only a week ago, and I have no idea how or why I am in this universe to begin with… How am I going to survive the likes of Thanos or even his army of Chitauri…'
Ray drops the newspaper and walks a little ways back into the alley, sitting down on the cold, wet floor with his back to the wall. He sits there contemplating his existence before feeling something in his jeans pocket.
Ray pulls out his wallet, thumbing through his bills and counting just under three hundred dollars. Even in the more modern era where credit cards can pay for anything, he still carried cash just for emergencies. He also pulls out his ID, staring at the completely useless plastic with his face on it.
"This ID shows my birth year as 2006… I am clearly not two years old, need I say more? And this is nowhere near enough money if I have to survive on my own. Maybe there are some discount stores around here that I can get some clothes from…"
Ray slowly stands up and heads back out of the alley. He walks along with the other pedestrians, making sure to keep his distance from them, as he looks for any signs that would lead him to a discount store.
Luckily for him, he finds one nestled in a one way street after only half an hour. After cleaning himself up as best he can in the public restroom, he purchases a gray t-shirt, a light jacket, faded jeans, boxers, and a pair of sneakers for sixty bucks, a price that he would consider blatant theft if he was thrift shopping back home.
After throwing away his old clothes, Ray grabs some food from a nearby street vendor, which is another ten bucks. He finishes his meal then calmly thinks to himself for a few minutes before deciding to gather some more information about this world, hoping that he can come up with a plan for the future. He stands up and starts walking the streets, asking for directions to the nearest library.
One good Samaritan and a forty five minute jog later and Ray finds himself in front of the New York public library. He walks inside as calm and collected as possible, hoping that he will not be stopped by anyone.
Luckily, he makes it in with no hassle, quickly finding a seat at an open computer. First he searches for prominent events that happened within the last few years, uncovering an article about mutants ripping the golden gate bridge in half and floating the remainder over to Alcatraz island.
Ray rubs his temples as he starts to freak out even more than before. 'God damn it! It's Marvel and X-Men! I am absolutely, unequivocally boned… It also says here that Bolivar Trask is leading research on solutions to the mutant problem, which means that this is a timeline before the Days of Futures Past movie. So I will also have to deal with the shapeshifting sentinels that detect the mutant genes in all humans so they try to kill everyone, basically this universe's version of Skynet. Just great…'
Ray continues to gather information, finding not much else that is helpful to his situation. He does find an ad for Nelson and Murdock, meaning that Daredevil is in this world as well. The events of the Captain America movie that haven't been covered in black ink make him believe that they played out similar to the movies as well.
'Ok, thank god that there are no comic influences in this world. The comic world is far more dangerous than the cinematic one. Though I should always keep my eyes open for other memorable characters…'
Ray shivers at the thought of the dangers that could be closing in on him at this very moment. He takes a look around, making sure that no one is spying on him. Knowing that his time here is limited if he wants to remain undetected by the likes of SHIELD or HYDRA, he calmly and quickly gets up and makes his getaway. Eventually he finds himself in the infamous central park, taking a seat on a bench. He leans back, his mind still reeling from the realization of his current predicament.
'Ok, let's go over what I know so far… This world appears to be a marvel cinematic universe with some of the other marvel movies that aren't part of the Avengers tacked on. So far I haven't received any random power or something so until I do let's just assume I will never get one.'
Ray scratches his head in frustration. 'This is too much for my pea brain to think about right now. I'm just a gamer… why didn't I get some kind of system or something?' Ray sighs loudly. 'I guess I should look for a place to sleep, hopefully I will be more clear headed in the morning.'
Just as Ray goes to stand up and search for a place to stay for the night, golden letters materialize in front of him.
Calibration complete…
Welcome to the Elden Ring system
Would you like to journey to the lands between and gain the strength necessary to survive in such an unforgiving world?
(yes) (no)
Ray blinks a few times, making sure he is not hallucinating. When the letters don't just disappear, he scratches his chin in thought.
'Of course it shows up now… Well at least I wasn't thrown into this universe without a power like I feared. Now do I accept it or not… I don't really see an option here. If I let this opportunity pass me by, I might as well just hide in a hole and hope I win the fifty fifty disintegration snap lottery...'
Shaking his head at his abysmal prospects should he decline, he mentally accepts, causing his vision to swim before falling unconscious. Little does he know that a certain organization has already noticed his future minted currency and is homing in on his location.