Outside his window was a city, with streets and buildings stretching in every direction without a clear end. In his peripheral vision stood multiple skyscrapers, and just two or three blocks away from his building stood a gigantic tower with a big STARK sign on top of it.
'Well, fuck.'
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And so the fourth panic attack came. With it also came an existential crisis, because why not have a little fun?
This panic attack also brought a new determination to not have any more after this one, because four is a really nice number and there is absolutely no need to change it.
Back to the breathing exercises Arthur went.
And ten minutes later, he finally calmed down again. After that came planning time. Because yes, Arthur might seem like a dumbass when you know he just had four panic attacks in two hours, but he really wasn't.
Arthur was smart, really fucking smart, smart enough to be in the middle of a bachelor's degree in engineering. So he was smart, certainly not wise in the slightest, but smart enough to start planning ahead.
And to make a good plan, there are multiple things that are required. First is information, a lot of information; second, a goal or goals; then third, the obstacles that are between you and said goals; and finally, countermeasures, a lot of countermeasures, because everything you just planned will go wrong and absolutely won't work, so you better cover your ass.
Immediately inhaling a deep breath, he walked to the desk and took the laptop, a notepad, and a pen from beside some school books, before sitting back down on the bed to start researching and taking notes.
'First thing I need to know is when I am, what year and in what sort of Marvel world. Is it comics, MCU, What If...? It's gonna change how much I can plan ahead. I saw almost all of the MCU, but I only read some comics, so let's hope I am in the MCU.'
Powering up the laptop and opening Google, the first search was for the year.
August 22th 2011
'Okay, so that explains the old phone and laptop.'
His second search was for Tony Stark, Steve Rogers, Bruce Banner and Hulk, Thor, Charles Xavier, Magneto, Frost Industries, Baxter Building, the Fantastic Four, Oscorp, Spider-Man, and every superhero name he could remember from Marvel lore without attracting too much attention by searching for names nobody was supposed to know yet, like S.H.I.E.L.D., Clint Barton, Natasha Romanoff, Nick Fury, or Armin Zola.
The search gave mixed results. Iron Man was born in 2008 when Tony Stark came back from Afghanistan. Captain America disappeared in Antarctica at the end of the Second World War. Bruce Banner is a scientist who has been missing for a year. Hulk was last seen in New York a year before. Thor only brings up results about Norse mythology, history, and folklore.
Charles Xavier and Magneto apparently don't exist, neither does Frost Industries or the Baxter Foundation or even the Fantastic Four. But Oscorp exists, and Spider-Man is already active and in his pyjama era, judging by the few videos he could find.
'So, a MCU alternate universe with Spider-Man born earlier and Oscorp.'
"Well, not the worst draw for me, I guess. No X-Men means no Phoenix wanting to burn the world to a crisp. No Fantastic Four means I don't have to plan to kill Reed before he literally dooms the world, and Spider-Man being here means I don't have to make that big of an effort to save New York or whatnot."
'This being the MCU means Thanos is not the monster from the comics, so that's good for me, I guess.'
When he finally ended his research phase, he welcomed his first planning session of his new life in this new universe.
'So, first things first, goals. Survive, because living is good, I think. Becoming strong enough to be free-ish from at least some of the cosmic threats that still exist in this universe, and, well, I guess being rich and finding love could be good.'
'And that's already enough for now, so next step: the obstacles. I obviously need to plan for Thanos, but he is seven years away, so let's focus on more immediate concerns, like the Chitauri invasion that should happen next year, in 2012. But, well, for that I would need either more power or more influence, so let's put it aside for now. The relationship and money aspects will also have to be put on hold until I can assess the situation of this body.'
While he was thinking and writing some of his thoughts on the paper in his hand, he also put his phone to charge on a nearby outlet.
'The most important thing for now seems to be to start experimenting with my power and what it can do, what it can mean for me, and for my future.'
He quickly stood up from the bed and started pacing in the middle of the room to think.
"Let's read the bit on the letter about my power again and see."
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"Fading":
Allows the user to make the universe forget him.
Think "FADE" to activate.
Think "SHOW" to deactivate.
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"What could this bit, 'the universe forgets him,' mean? How could this work? The universe, does it mean the people, the cameras? Can it work on the Ancient One? What about if I interact with an object? Is it also affected by this power?"
'So many questions and so little to go by.'
He stopped his pacing in the middle of the room and thought.
"FADE."
From his own point of view, nothing changed. He could see himself the same as before, but if someone had been looking through his window at him at that moment, they would have completely forgotten that someone had been standing there a second ago.
'Okay, so how can I test what I can do with my skill activated?'
He didn't want to go out of his comfort zone just yet, so he checked his phone's battery level, only to find it had charged to 20 percent in just 30 minutes.
Happy to finally be able to use a phone, even an older generation one, he activated the front camera on his phone and was shocked to find that he could not see himself on the phone.
Quickly taking a photo of where he was standing, he looked at the result.
'I don't even appear in this photo. What the fuck??'
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