The first thing I registered was the distinct, rhythmic thumping of a headache that felt like someone was taking a jackhammer to my brain.
I groaned, rolling over on a mattress that was significantly lumpier than the one I remembered falling asleep on.
My hand blindly swatted at the nightstand, searching for my phone to check the time, but instead of the cold glass of my brand new samsung Trifold, my fingers brushed against a rough, wooden surface.
"What the...."
I forced my eyes open, the ceiling was unfamiliar, cracked plaster painted a dull beige, illuminated by the morning sun filtering through cheap curtains.
This wasn't my apartment and this definitely wasn't my room.
I sat up, my head spinning for a moment before stabilizing. A quick scan revealed a typical teenager's bedroom: a desk cluttered with textbooks, a pile of clothes in the corner, and a poster of a generic rock band on the wall.
I scrambled out of bed and stumbled toward the full length mirror attached to the closet door.
The reflection staring back wasn't me or rather, it was me, but..... totally remixed.
I was younger, maybe eighteen or nineteen. My face was sharper, my eyes clearer, and while I wasn't exactly young Brad pitt or Leo, I wasn't in bad shape either.
Memories that weren't mine began to bleed into my consciousness.
Alex Mercer..... a Senior at Midtown High, well .... marvel huh, atleast it's not the attack on Titans world.
Parents out of the picture, living on a modest inheritance in a small house in Queens.
A loner and a complete Npc and then, the blue box appeared.
It didn't flicker or fade; it simply materialized in the center of my vision, hovering with a crisp, digital clarity that made the rest of the room look low-resolution.
[System Initialization Complete]
[Welcome, Host]
I blinked and waved my hand through it.
The text remained, mocking my confusion. "A System?" I whispered, my voice sounding slightly different than I expected. "Like in those webnovels?"
A smirk tugged at the corner of my lips. If this was what I thought it was, my second lease on life just got interesting. "Status," I tried.
[Status Window]
Name: Alex Mercer
Race: Human
Powers: None
Skills: None
Items: None
Current Status: Civilian (Fodder)
"Fodder," I read aloud, scoffing. "Charming."
[Main Directive: The Path to Sex]
[Method:] Fucking, Dominance and Conquest
[Description:] The Host is currently powerless in a world of Gods and Monsters. To acquire power, skills, and attributes, the Host must engage in sexual activies with Targets of Destiny.
I paused, reading the line again.
"So...sex for power?" It was crude, simple, and exactly the kind of cheat code I could work with.
"Okay, System. Locate nearest target."
I fully expected a marker to pop up over the neighbor's house, or maybe I could just head downtown to a red-light district and farm Xp until I was Superman.
[Error: Invalid Target ]
[Restriction:] The System does not recognize generic entities, power can only be siphoned from Named known Characters...individuals with significant destiny, narrative weight, or latent potential within this universe.
My excitement cooled instantly.
"You gotta be kidding me."
I walked to the window and peered out at the Queens street below. People were walking their dogs, cars were driving by.
To the System, they were all NPCs and I couldn't just hire a professional to grind levels. I had to seduce people who actually mattered to the plot.
I rushed to the desk and booted up the clunky laptop sitting there. The date in the corner of the screen read: May 1st, 2012.
My stomach dropped as I opened a browser and typed in Tony Stark. The results flooded in....Stark Tower construction complete, Clean energy prototype.
A news article from yesterday mentioned atmospheric disturbances being monitored over the Atlantic.
"2012," I muttered, leaning back in the chair. "The Battle of New York,huh.... The Chitauri invasion."
It was days away, Maybe three, maybe four.
I looked out the window again, but the peaceful street felt different now.
In less than a week, a wormhole was going to rip open the sky above Manhattan. Leviathans were going to swim through the air, crushing buildings like cardboard and here I was, Alex Mercer, Civilian, with zero powers and a System that required me to sleep with women to get strong.
"I'm dead," I realized. "I'm actually dead."
I needed a plan and needed a target and it should be fast.
I scrolled through Alex's memories, looking for any connection, any thread I could pull. Midtown High... that was the key.
Peter Parker...
In this timeline, Peter older, a junior and We shared a some classes and loners stick together as they say, he wasn't Spider-Man yet, or if he was, he was in the vigilante phase, wearing a hoodie and catching car thieves. He was nerdy, brilliant, and socially awkward.
But Peter wasn't the target.
I closed my eyes, recalling the few times Alex had been to Peter's house for playing games. The small house in Forest Hills and the woman who opened the door.
May Parker......
In the comics, she was old but here? In this blended reality? The memories provided a crystal clear image.
She was in her mid-thirties, Beautiful with dark hair that fell in loose waves, eyes that held a mixture of kindness and a deep, hidden sorrow from the loss of her husband, Ben, two years ago.
She worked double shifts at the hospital to keep the house afloat. She was stressed, lonely, and arguably one of the hottest women in Queens.
[Target Identified: May Parker]
[Potential Rewards: Minor Regeneration / Enhanced Vitality]
The System pinged, confirming my thoughts.
Regeneration... that was what I needed. If a building fell on me next week, I needed to be able to walk it off.
I stood up, pacing the small room. I couldn't just walk up to her and ask her out. She was my friends's aunt. She was a responsible adult and I was..... well, technically a student.
But the invasion was coming....
A plan began to form in the darker corners of my mind, a plan that wasn't heroic. A hero would try to evacuate the city or would try to warn SHIELD.
I wasn't a hero, I was a Just a survivor.
If I wanted to survive the Chitauri, I needed power. If I wanted power, I needed May Parker and to get May Parker, I needed to manufacture a situation where the boundaries of student and aunt were blurred by necessity.
I sat back down at the computer and pulled up the staff rotations for Metro-General Hospital.
"Okay, May," I whispered, staring at her name on the screen. "Let's see if we can save each other."
I spent the rest of the day analyzing the world carefully. I checked the news for mutant sightings, nothing concrete, just urban legends about a feral man in Canada and stuff like that .....so there was X-Men.
I walked to the bathroom to wash my face. The water was cold, I looked at the mirror again and practiced a smile, warm, harmless, slightly vulnerable, the kind of smile that made a lonely widow trust you.
"System," I thought. "Show me my progression bar."
[XP: 0/100]
I grabbed my backpack, well I had a study session to crash.
The walk to Forest Hills was short, the air was crisp, typical for New York in spring. When I arrived at the Parker residence, I didn't knock immediately. I adjusted my shirt, roughed up my hair slightly to look like I'd been running, and took a deep breath.
I knocked.
A few moments later, the door opened.
It wasn't Peter.
May Parker stood there, wiping her hands on a dish towel. She was wearing a simple blouse and jeans that hugged her ass in a way that made my throat go dry. She looked tired, strands of hair falling out of her messy bun, but it only added to her allure.
"Oh, Alex?" she said, her voice warm but surprised. "I didn't know Peter was expecting you."
"He wasn't, Mrs. Parker," I said, unleashing the smile. "I actually.....I think I left my history notebook here last week? I have a massive exam coming up and I'm freaking out."
She softened instantly. "Oh, you poor thing. Come in, come in. Peter is at the library, but you can go check his room."
"Thank you, you're a lifesaver," I said, stepping past her into the hallway.
As I squeezed past her in the narrow entryway, I made sure to brush against her, just enough to be accidental, just enough to register contact.
[System Notification: Physical Contact Initiated]
[Target: May Parker]
[Lust/Interest: 1/100]
It was low, barely a blip but it was a start.
"I'll just be a minute," I called out over my shoulder, heading up the stairs.
I didn't care about the notebook, I cared about the calendar on the wall in the kitchen I had glimpsed at it, May 4th....Double Shift.
Perfect....
I knew exactly where she would be when the sky opened up and I knew exactly who was going to be there to save her.
Authors Note:-
Well....it's the last system....
It's going to be enjoyable.
Comment below on who you guys want and may be we can put out plans together.
Also support with power stones.