Location: Midtown High – Queens, NY
Time: Wednesday, 7:54 AM
Multiverse anomaly #37 of the week: the vending machine outside homeroom was now exclusively stocked with orange-soda-flavored Pym Particles.
Nobody noticed… except the physics teacher, who was now six inches tall and yelling from inside a recycling bin.
Not my fault.
Probably.
I stood at my locker, sipping a truly abominable school coffee, watching as another tear in reality shimmered faintly beside the drama room. A glowing triangle of kaleidoscopic static hovered mid-air, humming the Twilight Zone theme.
Peter passed me without breaking stride.
"Third one this morning," he muttered.
"Fifth if you count the math teacher splitting into two timelines," I said.
Ned followed with a tablet. "I logged it. That version of Mr. Andrews now thinks he's married to a sentient TI-84 calculator."
Peter: "Midtown's cursed."
Me: "Oi, Midtown's evolving."
[System Notification – Multiversal Echo Detected]
Origin: Unstable dimensional tether
Possible Culprit: YOU
Side Effect: Reality fatigue in local radius (800 meters)
Suggestion: Seek anchor. Or don't. YOLO.
I stuffed my coffee in the nearest dimensional rift (probably fine) and kicked my locker closed.
Behind me, someone cleared their throat.
I turned—
Anastasia.
Wearing the Midtown High cheerleader uniform like it owed her money. Blonde hair braided neatly. A little ribbon. Very not subtle.
"Oh no," I said flatly. "You're in my school now."
She smiled like a knife.
"Of course I am, nii-san."
[Trait Activated – Sister Problems x 100]
Public Reaction: "Wow, his sister's hot."
Force Response: ANXIETY.
Player Status: Not okay.
"Don't you have an evil base to rebuild?" I asked.
Anastasia twirled her hair. "I decided watching you suffer was more productive."
She leaned closer. "Also… the multiverse is cracking, and I think we broke it."
"Oh, we, huh?" I muttered.
"Don't be mean, Rowan. You know I only want to keep you… safe."
Translation: She'd been scanning alternate timelines for versions of me that didn't exist anymore. Or that she erased.
Yandere.exe was running at full capacity.
Bell rang.
Peter and Ned were already halfway down the hall, muttering about time warps and paradoxes.
Anastasia walked beside me like we were dating.
I sighed. "You're gonna tell someone we're siblings, right?"
"I already told the principal," she chirped.
"And?"
"He said, 'You're lucky. Most students don't get stalked by family until college.'"
I blinked. "I hate it here."
Meanwhile – SHIELD Surveillance Van Outside
Maria Hill squinted at a screen.
"Did… the girl just tell the vending machine to self-destruct in French?"
Fury sighed. "She's got a system now. A nerfed one, but it's adapting."
Talos (in disguise as the janitor): "She also claimed Rowan in front of half the student body. That's a declaration of war."
Fury: "We need backup."
Back in Midtown – Cafeteria, 12:42 PM
Lunch was quiet.
Too quiet.
Peter, Ned, and I sat in the corner, surrounded by a bubble of silence no one dared break. Jean wasn't at school today. Neither was Scott.
Which meant something was coming.
And I didn't mean homework.
"Okay," Ned whispered. "Why is reality acting like a glitching video game?"
I flicked a pencil. It spun, then floated mid-air, caught in a gravity shift ripple.
"Because," I muttered, "I think we're close to something important."
"What kind of important?"
"The first piece."
Peter leaned in. "Piece of what?"
I looked around. The cafeteria lights flickered. Somewhere, a wall buzzed with quantum static.
I whispered, "My origin."
[Quest Unlocked – "Fragments of the Force"]
Location: Brooklyn Naval Yard – Abandoned Dock 42
Status: Sealed Rift Detected
Warning: Time Displacement Field Active
Optional Objective: Don't let Anastasia follow you (spoiler: she will)
The lights cut out completely.
Everyone gasped.
Then — in a single flicker — reality reset.
I blinked, and standing at the far end of the room was a man in dark robes, flickering like a memory.
I gasped.
He looked like—
"Dad?"
Then he vanished.
[Multiversal Echo – Designation: Anakin Skywalker]
Residual DNA match: 87.2%
Temporal Anchor: UNKNOWN
"He's searching for you…"
I stood slowly.
Peter grabbed my arm. "Where are you going?"
I didn't answer.
Because I knew exactly where I was going.
And exactly who I was about to become.
End of Chapter 10
Next Time: Chapter 11 – "Fragments of the Past"
Rowan and Bucky head to Dock 42
Anastasia follows (of course)
Strange multiversal anomalies explode into reality
And the Force shows Rowan a memory from a life he never lived…