As for what Shiro was doing… well, Shiro was a first-rate slacker. At that moment, he was sitting in his chair like a boss, waiting for results without lifting a finger.
[I think I should go out for a while while Lucía investigates and does her thing…] he muttered under his breath.
He decided to leave her alone while she worked on what he had ordered her to do.
He slowly stood up, walked over to the closet, and put on a black jacket. After all, he could not go out dressed just any old way; he had to wear something worthy of the Storm Dragon.
Once he was ready, he headed for the door. Just before leaving, he stopped and glanced back over his shoulder.
"LUCÍA, I'm heading out! I'll be back in a bit!" he shouted loudly.
"Okay," Lucía replied without taking her eyes off what she was doing.
(Somewhere else…)
A dark-skinned man with an eye patch was staring at the sky from inside a massive aircraft.
"Sir, I have something to report," said a man as he came running over.
"What is it, Agent Coulson?" asked the man with the eye patch, turning his gaze toward his subordinate, who had arrived drenched in sweat.
"Director Fury, a few moments ago the radars detected a massive energy source coming from Queens, New York. It appeared out of nowhere… and then vanished without a trace," Coulson reported.
Fury's expression did not change.
"I see. Investigate it."
His tone was uninterested, almost bored. But it was not because he did not care. In a world like that, strange phenomena were as normal as breathing. He had seen shape-shifting aliens, mutants, scientists capable of defying logic, humans with absurd powers, and threats too bizarre to classify.
That was, in a way, the normal state of his world.
Even so, something deep in his chest told him that this phenomenon was not just another anomaly. Something was about to change, and he did not know whether that change would bring salvation… or disaster.
Coulson looked at his boss with concern. Even if his voice had sounded indifferent, he knew better than anyone that Fury never ignored anything that might put the planet at risk.
Without adding anything else, the agent nodded, said his goodbyes, and left to begin the investigation.
⸻
[MC's Point of View]
Meanwhile, Shiro was strolling calmly through the city.
Or at least, that was what he was trying to do.
Because he had barely stepped out of the house when an explosion thundered near an alleyway.
"Seriously?" he asked himself, looking in the direction of the blast. "I've only been outside for five minutes…"
Another explosion shook the area.
With a resigned sigh, Shiro activated his magic, turned invisible, and rose into the air to see what the hell was going on.
From above, he found the answer immediately.
The one causing all the chaos was none other than his friendly neighborhood Spider-Man, fighting Electro.
Shiro watched the scene for a few seconds and quickly came to a conclusion.
Apparently, this was one of Spider-Man's first fights against him.
Spider-Man was still shooting regular webs at him, as if that would somehow work against a man made almost entirely of electricity. The result was obvious: Electro was wiping the floor with him without much trouble.
Honestly, this world was a mess. You never knew when the canon events were starting, whether they had already happened, or if everything was unfolding in a completely different order.
Shiro watched the fight with a mix of pity and disappointment.
"Well… at least this will help me kill some time and start building my image as a mysterious guy," he muttered.
He quickly descended to street level and, using his magic, blended into the crowd like an ordinary person.
Then he started thinking about how to catch both fighters' attention.
And, as usual, he came up with a rather questionable idea.
Civilians were running in every direction in a panic. Though, honestly, in that world even that seemed like an assigned role.
Every being had a role.
The civilians' role was to scream helplessly.
And their superpower was to run around in despair while giving heroes the emotional energy needed to unlock a justice-fueled power-up and defeat the villain at the last second.
With that brilliant theory in mind, Shiro spotted two drunk men not far away and teleported next to them.
The two men, with no idea what had just happened, jumped in fright and, as expected, immediately began their victim monologue.
"Somebody help us, please!" the drunks shouted.
Shiro, of course, joined the performance.
Since he was pretending to be a normal citizen, the least he could do was act like one.
Spider-Man, thanks to his sharp senses, heard the cries for help right away.
Electro did too.
When he noticed his opponent's reaction, a twisted smile appeared on his face.
"Take a good look at them, Spider-Man," he said cruelly. "I'm going to kill them like they're ants… and you won't be able to do anything to stop me."
It was, essentially, the typical villain speech.
"I won't let you do that, Electro!" Spider-Man replied firmly.
"We'll see about that," Electro shot back with a dangerous smile.
And without wasting another second, he launched himself straight toward the group.
Electro moved like a living bolt of lightning, leaving a trail of blue sparks in his wake. The few civilians who had not yet fled let out desperate screams when they saw him approaching with that deranged smile.
The two drunks clung to each other, trembling as if their souls were already halfway to the afterlife.
"I don't want to die! I still owe three months of rent!" one of them shouted.
"And I owe money to way too many people!" the other added, on the verge of tears.
Standing beside them, Shiro kept up his fake look of panic, though inwardly he was far more annoyed than worried.
[Wow… even their last words are depressing.]
Electro raised one hand, and a sphere of electricity began to form in his palm, emitting a hum that made the air bristle. Spider-Man tried to reach him by firing a web at a nearby wall to propel himself forward, but it was too late. The distance was still too great.
"It's over!" Electro roared.
At that instant, a gust of wind sliced through the street.
The electric sphere trembled.
For a fraction of a second, the entire atmosphere turned strange, heavy, as if something invisible had descended upon the scene. The asphalt cracked beneath Shiro's feet, and the black jacket on his shoulders whipped violently in the wind.
Electro frowned.
"What…?"
Shiro stepped forward.
The fake fear vanished from his face as if it had never been there. His eyes, calm only moments ago, took on a coldness that did not belong to any ordinary civilian.
A small spark of magic danced between his fingers.
"Hey," he said in a calm voice. "Would you mind stopping all that noise? You're ruining my walk."
Spider-Man's eyes widened in surprise.
Electro, on the other hand, smiled viciously.
He had found a new target.
And Shiro, at last, stopped acting like a spectator.
⸻