Marvel.
Every time I think about it, horrors crowd my mind. There were no two ways about it. This was a Universe where heroes fought every day for the survival of mankind. Dangerous, treacherous, and unrewarding.
Though it depended on the iteration itself, on which Universe we landed in and how the timeline would flow, danger was always waiting around the corner.
I was grateful for the Omnitrix, if it could even be called that, and for Gwen, who had decided to stay with me. Deep down, she must have longed for some respite as well. Maybe we both needed a long vacation away from all the worries.
Money was solved for the moment, but I couldn't help wanting more.
Stark Industries, Frost International, Oscorp. Those were some of the names that came to mind. With Grey Matter's intelligence, reaching the level of those giants wasn't much of a challenge.
That thought led me back to another matter I had been turning over for the past week. The Omnitrix seemed far more magical than it had in the series, and with Master Control unlocked and access to nearly every alien at will, my safety was assured.
But the seed of ambition kept burning in my heart. Maybe it had never crossed Ben's mind, or maybe he had never craved that kind of power. But I wanted to be better. I wanted to be more than just human.
Compared to Gwen, an energy being and immortal, I was still only mortal. I didn't want to live with that weakness. Not when I had perfect tools and a perfect opportunity in front of me.
The Marvel Universe was chaos. But within that chaos, the strong thrived. Geniuses built themselves into towering behemoths, and the powerful ruled the skies.
As the thoughts kept turning in my head, I sifted through the Internet for all the information I could find. My goal wasn't to create a dossier on every hero and villain. Otherwise, I would have used something like Grey Matter or Upgrade. I only wanted to understand the world a little better.
I did come across posts about heroes. Spider-Man lived close by. The Avengers were at Stark Tower in Manhattan. The Fantastic Four stayed at the Baxter Building.
It was one thing to read about them in comics and another to see them in action. Sometimes you had to wonder how they managed in those skintight bodysuits that showed every curve and crease of their bodies.
Them being handsome men and top-tier beauties only made it worse. Seeing some of Psylocke's pictures in that skintight leotard had to be one of the most arousing sights I had ever come across. The X-Men suits were no improvement.
Some of them were so tight you could make out nipples through the lack of a bra, or even the outline of a tempting cameltoe. The stimulation was too much, and I had to change my search requests to focus on the villains instead.
That was when I found Tigra in a bikini, looking ready to pounce. I had to exit the app before I ended up with a painful hard-on.
After sitting at the desk for nearly an hour, I decided to stretch my muscles. When I stepped out of the room, I was met with the sight of Gwen doing stretches on a yoga mat. The tight material clung impossibly to her body, emphasizing every curve of her temptingly perfect figure.
Leaning against the doorframe, I adjusted my erection and watched her move through the routine. After a while, Gwen finally stood up and released a long breath.
When she caught my reflection in the window, she turned around in surprise.
"Ben, what are you doing there?" she asked with a smile.
"Watching you," I replied. "It was an awfully tempting sight, to be honest. I've been meaning to start working out as well, and seeing you just gives me more motivation."
"Well, I'm glad to hear that. Alright, I need to go take a shower."
I nodded in understanding and watched her leave. Glancing down at my raging erection, I decided some meditation might help calm it.
During that time, my mind kept drifting through different plans. Although we had rented a fairly good apartment and could have chosen to stay here, I was hoping for something more spacious.
I had already used Grey Matter to forge us some IDs. I kept our relationship and names the same, even opened a bank account. With that out of the way, looking for a luxury apartment or even a house on mortgage wouldn't be a problem. I would have to discuss it with Gwen, given what such a move represented, but something told me she would likely agree.
After that, we would need to do some shopping. If I intended to build something on the level of industrial giants, I had to start somewhere. Buying junk in excess would be the first step.
From there, I could work on myself. Marvel offered many opportunities, from the Super Soldier Serum to Cosmic Power. But most of them came with a price.
I could probably tap into my Anodite lineage and see if magic favored me, but that was more of a long shot compared to the certainty some other paths offered.
For now, they were just ideas. One day though, I would turn them into reality.
By the time I had calmed myself down, Gwen had finished showering and slipped into a pair of denim shorts and a red crop top. If she went out on the street dressed like that, she would definitely turn heads.
"You look like you're ready to head out?" I asked jokingly.
"Aren't you?" Gwen teased with a wink.
I shrugged. "Actually, you read my mind. We should go shopping and also look at houses for sale. We can't keep living in an apartment like this."
Gwen blinked, caught off guard. "That's thoughtful of you, but I'm not sure we need one," she said. "I mean, we've been living just fine up until now. What would we need more space for?"
"Come on, Gwen. Didn't I promise you earlier that we would live here? That means letting go of all those inhibitions. Look at you already. You seem to be adapting to that mentality."
Her cheeks flushed at the remark, though she didn't seem to care about her outfit.
"Besides," I continued, "it's not just about that."
"What do you mean?"
At her question, I explained what I had found on the Internet. This world was dangerous, far more so than our previous one. A house that doubled as a base would provide excellent protection. We could install security systems and alerts, not to mention keep ourselves informed of any threat.
As for shopping, Gwen had the ability to reshape simple clothing into any size or design. If she used more mana, she might even alter the fabric itself by rearranging molecules.
With her help, we could fashion costumes that might come in handy in times of need. We didn't have to be heroes, but trouble had a way of finding people whether they asked for it or not.