"Well shit, that's gonna be a thing ain't it", Jason stood in place staring straight ahead at the sight that lay before his eyes, and looked up and up and up. In the midday sun the large OSCORP labelled building answered the question of where he was.
The only thing was that he was unaware of exactly which type of Marvel world was he in, could it be Comics, MCU maybe even the What If? It could even be an AU with a weird amalgam of different sources.
Jason was in a bit of a pickle, he had followed the MCU early on pretty religiously, however as more and more of the one shots came out it became hard to follow along and when they started playing with the different timelines it just became too much.
Not to mention his lack of knowledge of the comics universe, there was just so much content that he didn't know where to start. Don't get me wrong, Jason had picked stuff up here and there but if his current world leaned more towards that area then he had definitely been dumped in the deep end.
Though with his powers and system, it may end up levelling the playing board. These thoughts that were running through Jason's mind kept circling trying to pull up any information from the deepest reaches of his mind that may help. His body on auto pilot Jason made his way towards the docks and some of the abandoned warehouses that he could use for his power testing.
The midday afternoon sun's rays blasted through the New York streets, Jason could see the people surrounding him trying to stick to the shade and keep out of the sweltering heat. Though despite the temperature Jason strolled down the sidewalk without a care in the world, the sun's rays felt like the best energy drink to his body. Feeling revitalised and with a skip in his step he swerved through the pedestrians on the way to the waterfront.
Getting lost in the feeling Jason tuned into his enhanced hearing to manoeuvre through the crowd, picking up the sound of gulls he followed the calls down to the riverside. The array of buildings along the wharfs were bustling with workers as they unloaded the various container ships and moved goods around the warehouses.
Picking up a few points of interest that would be worth checking out at a later stage Jason put them to the back of mind, and walked along the road towards the more run down of warehouses away from the active wharfs.
Yet as he moved away from the less used buildings his immediate surroundings started to sound significantly quieter. This may be due to the distance from the wharfs, but it could also be due to the condition of the buildings. He could hear the groaning in supports and see the cracked glass in the windows. Everything about them told Jason that they hadn't been used in most likely years, yet Jason could pick up the odd movement that sounded out of place in what was supposed to be abandoned buildings.
Yet again there was something that would require closer inspection at a later stage. However, at the current time there were more important things to be done. Jason needed to get a hang of his powers in order to reduce the risk of undue injury. At the moment he is more likely to hospitalise someone instead of restraining them.
It took the best part of an hour to finally find a warehouse that not only was unused but was also apart from the closest one being occupied. By either some of the local homeless or other individuals of a criminal inclination. This would mean that he could be a little less restrained and not worry too much about the noise he would be making.
Squeezing through the gate and finding a way into the building wasn't too hard, with no one around he could take his time looking for a safe way in. The doors had all been boarded up and not wanting to dismantle them and make it obvious that someone was inside, Jason looked for a window that was open enough to get in, yet out of the way enough to be too difficult for regular people to try.
Jason made his way around the building and spotting a window towards the top third of the rear wall facing the water that was open a crack. The frame had warped from exposure and this led to the window being open a crack, for a moment there Jason looked around for something to try and get him high enough to get inside.
Though after 20 minutes of looking it dawned on him,
"I'm such an idiot, I can just jump for the window.", however what didn't cross his mind was the fact that the super strength he was thinking of, was as of yet untested and he had not gotten a great handle on his capabilities.
They say hindsight is 20/20,and though I would have liked to say I performed the action flawlessly, the wood shards in my hair and debris scattered on the ground told a different story. After god knows how many attempts and after extricating my head from the roof numerous times I finally managed to grab a hold of the window sill.
Easing the window open I closed my eyes as the screech shattered my silence, having a quick glance around and tuning into my hearing I waited to see if there was any reaction. Upon seeing/hearing no response I pulled myself into the warehouse and flopped to the ground.
Standing up and dusting myself off I surveyed my surroundings and temporary training facility. The roof loomed overhead, its surface pockmarked with rust spots at various levels of decomposition. the rafters rattled and shifted in the wind and as the building settled. Various crates were spread haphazardly over the floor covered in dust accumulated over what was probably years.
There were stacks of discarded scrap metal and old storage fixings, broken and disused pallet jacks lay forgotten, trails of grease spreading from their misshapen wheels. Looking around I could see various other types of machinery and equipment that had broken long ago and now accumulating a layer of dust. Instead of recycling them it seems that due to the effort that would require, they were left behind by the previous owners.
There was enough of a breeze coming through that the dust build up should have been blown away, so the fact that it remained and had only increased in mass showed how long this building had been abandoned for. This let a smile spread over my face as I realised it would be the perfect location to train in my abilities.
Getting through at least a basic series of stretches let me get nice and limber and after finishing with some dynamic stretches I got ready to deep dive into my first set of tests.
Thinking back to my experience earlier in the day and getting used to my strength so I wouldn't ruin everything I owned. I thought it may be a good idea of getting started with that so moving around the warehouse I found a few pieces that I could use to test my restraint. Moving to the first I eyed the small wooden box covered in dust, whose label was faded to the point it was illegible. Bending down I grabbed it in my hands and with the smallest exertion I carefully raised it up to waist height. Hearing creaking in the wood panels I stopped and tried to reduce the pressure even more.
The fact that the boxes had been exposed to the elements, despite being inside the warehouse meant that I had to be extra careful due to how brittle they were. Shifting the box to one hand I raised it up and eyed the outside, noticing some faint cracks running from the left side to the back. Being able to stop and limit the damage to that made me grin, it seemed that I was on the right path.
Bending down I carefully lay it back down on the ground and with the final placement I breathed a sigh of relief. But that was very short lived, as soon as I stood up and made to move to the next piece, I heard a final crack and collapse of the box I had just put down.
Turning around I saw that the small crack had turned into a large one and it stretched around the full circumference of the box which subsequently cause the collapse. Sighing deeply, I put it to the back of mind and moved on, after all it was definitely the degraded box, not my excessive strength.
This became the common theme to my experiments with super strength, who would have thought going from a normal average joe to a super human would be difficult. The sun was starting to dip towards the horizon and after numerous hours of trying to contain the force I was outputting it had finally started to come together. Let's forget the pile of broken and mangled objects (they were like that when I got here…..).
Eyeing one final small box as if it owed me money, I psyched myself up 'you can do this Jason, you've only broken and shattered the whole inventory of the warehouse, but this one is different, this is the one'. Taking a deep breath I exhaled and moved up to the box and bent down, 'carefully, carefully', repeating what by now was my mantra I grasped the box and with extreme care slowly stood up.
And there was...… no crack, nothing at all, it was intact and undamaged, "OH SHIT YEAH!!!! LET'S GO". Yelling in joy I threw my hands in the air (like I just don't care), completely forgetting the box that had until now been in my hands.
That was until the next moment I heard a crash right over head and with screeching metal and tearing noise, I could see the box, or what was left of it disappear into the afternoon sky. Frozen in place I knew that I had just royally screwed up.