TGS - #2 (Patreon)

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Canadian Wilderness

–Jack Sullivan–

‘So this is my power,’ He thought with satisfaction, unaware of the gaze of the Watcher of Asgard that had been following him since he awoke in this universe. 

He had thought that he had been cheated out of his powers for a moment but it would seem like the pain of that experiment was going to be worth it. Well, if he could properly control this power, that is. He looked in childlike wonder as the dome of green energy that surrounded him created a pleasantly warm atmosphere, warding off the cold he was feeling earlier. With a thought, the barrier that was surrounding him began contracting until it was just large enough to fit him snugly. With a thought, it expanded to its previous proportions. He noticed something while playing around with the barrier. Its green glow intensified when he tried to shrink it and it became dimmer the bigger it got. The same was not true for the glow around his body. He found that he could not control it at all. At least, not for now. So, he focused on the thing that he could control at this point and that was the huge green curtain that was now draped over the entirety of the clearing he was in.

As he saw the barrier change shapes and become multiple different shapes along with some truly irregular ones, his eyes lit up as a truly great idea filtered into his mind. “Let’s see if this works,” he muttered to himself as he lifted a boulder that was twice his size. It took a little bit of effort but it was not significant by any stretch of the imagination. He then gingerly placed the boulder on a surfboard he had created out of the green barrier. There was a ripple wave emerging from the point of contact of the boulder but aside from that, there was no feedback to him about the weight being placed on the barrier. He then stepped aside and went as far as he could and then willed for the barrier to cover the boulder and move forward and to his utter joy, the surfboard continued to move around the clearing and even rocketed straight into the air until it seemed to hit some sort of distance limit as it jerked to a stop. He then recalled the surfboard and found that the boulder had not moved an inch from its place, owing to the barrier holding on to it that strongly.

He then did a truly asinine thing at a time when he should be securing food, water, and shelter. He recreated that surfboard and then stood on top of it and then, with a thought, whooshed straight into the sky, “Woohoo!” His loud exclamations of joy would have startled many birds had there been any life in the winter wasteland he was in. As it was, he was able to get a high enough altitude, from where he could see….nothing. There was literally nothing as far as he could see. 

No roads. No smoke. No lights. No sign of human activity. Nothing.

“Damn,” His shoulders slumped as he realised that he would have to travel very far to reach civilization and it was not as if he was safe right now either. The only reason he would not show up on the radar was because of his relatively tiny size and the fact that he was not at a truly significant height for them to detect him. He could also not go too fast or suspicions would arise from the sensors that were no doubt tracking any fast-moving object across any part of the world. He could see the sun rising and yet, the subtle warmth did nothing to ward off the chill in his mind. For the first time, he realised that he was quite alone here. 

The memories of that soldier who had lived his entire life under the illusion of HYDRA came to the forefront of his mind as he quickly got to work on securing the essentials for himself but then, halfway through, he realised that he didn’t quite feel hungry yet, nor thirsty. Realising that he was not a regular human being, he chose to travel. Travel because he would not be able to handle his thoughts for so long without the company of someone benign around him. The perks of being born Asian, he mused to himself, never being too far away from a crowded place was something he took comfort in. It was a chaotic order in a weird way that he was thankful for, especially since it was nearly the same at his job as well. 

“No time to mope. Here, we gooooo,” He muttered to himself as he gave the full throttle to the surfboard, rocketing him towards a random direction. He didn’t have much of a criteria aside from the sun peeking out from the mountains and he hoped to find someone near those mountains. 

As he cut through the air, quite awkwardly, as he was holding on to the surfboard with all his might, his thoughts wandered to the world he had landed into. Depending on the time period, he might be screwed or ultra-screwed. He would have to confirm that pronto. It should be fairly modern considering that HYDRA was experimenting on him and actually succeeded in giving him these weird green barrier powers. He still did not have the full explanation yet but he would not hold his breath for some help from the person who sent him here. They seemed fairly pragmatic and giving him these sweet powers in exchange for a whole lot of pain could be considered a fair exchange.

As far as his memories go, the period where HYDRA had the most resources to experiment was either at the height of the war, when the Captain was not actively participating, or after SHIELD had wormed its way into the global power structures. He could not decide which one would be worse. On one hand, being in the 1940s would suck, coming from an age of modern amenities but it would also give him the best chance to lay down the footwork for the upcoming enemies. On the other hand, being born in the modern ages, around the time Stark became Iron Man, would not give him much time to prepare but would be comfortable living-wise. It would also help because his memories regarding that era were rock solid. He could probably intervene and make the lives of lots of people better if he was smart and exploited his knowledge properly. Of course, he could also become a lot richer if he used his current powers properly but that just seemed like an ill-advised thing to do.

He could go around selling his powers to the highest bidder but not only did that bring in a ton of risk regarding the clientele, it would also bring undue attention that could only end in him landing in either a prison cell or a dissection bed. No, that route was probably cut off. Of course, he could sell his services to someone who he knew was good. Someone whose moral compass was quite alright and who had deep pockets to sustain that moral compass.

Someone like–

“Hey, kid!” He heard someone say that to him but that could not be right, right? He was hundreds of feet up in the air and cruising at very high speeds. There was no way someone was flying in the air beside him, right?

“Hey, kid!” He mechanically turned his neck to the side to see a very red and gold piece of advanced armour floating right alongside him. It was a true testament to the influence the memories of that soldier were having on him that he didn’t immediately pee himself in fear of Stark and then squeal excitedly because he was going to meet the Tony Stark. 

“Haha,” He was not proud of himself for that awkward smile and wave he gave that Stark mirrored as well. He then did something that should have been his first response to seeing someone in advanced armour at your side.

He….ran.

Yes, he ran full throttle. Tracking advantage of his superior build quality and powers, he made a hard right and ran in the opposite direction as fast as he could. In hindsight, that was not a good decision because soon enough, he could feel some sort of shockwave on his rear as he sped past the white landscape. 

‘Ohmygod that was Tony Stark. That was also a sonic boom. ShitShitShitShit!’ Were his thoughts as he flew higher and higher to avoid the mountainous terrain he was in. So far, it had been less than a day since he had been dumped into this reality and he had already met someone who was more than capable of turning him into a perfect rendition of Swiss cheese, which is, fun fact, not always made in Switzerland.

No, his thoughts were wandering as panic began setting in. He then did something he probably should have done way before. He looked back and–

“Hehe,” Awkwardly smiled at the armour that was, even now, hot on his tail. He was probably trying to say something but the speed at which they were moving, no sound would reach him. He then did everything in his power to shake Stark off his tail. He dived below, began travelling in irregular patterns then rocketed up into the air with his highest speeds. He tried twisting and turning and yet, Stark was hot on his tails quite the same. Weirdly enough, he was maintaining distance from him for some reason. No matter how hard he accelerated, Stark maintained the same distance and he was going quite fast. Much faster than when he broke the sound barrier and yet he had Iron Man at the same distance. 

Above Greenland

–Tony Stark–

When Jarvis had first informed him about some disturbance in the snowy regions of Canada, he was taking a break from his work and thought, why not, so he donned his suit and went on a cross-country trip to the edge of Canada. He was not sure what he had expected but a base that was smoked very recently was not on his list. He could see some parts of the base were deliberately burned down and a single place where it seemed like everything was vaporised. There were trace energy signatures that Jarvis tracked down to an area a few hundred miles north. He traced the signature only to run into what looked like a kid. 

A kid who was glowing green and was holding on for dear life on some sort of surfboard that glowed green as well.

“Jarvis?”

“Detecting trace gamma energy from the subject, sir. Same signature as the surfboard. It would seem that the subject is capable of innately generating such energy constructs, sir,”

That….threw him for a loop. As far as he was concerned, there was only a single big green giant on the planet and that was the Hulk. He could see very similar gamma signatures from the kid in front of him but he did not seem like a hulking rage machine so he took a risk and greeted him.

What followed was an awkward smile and wave before the kid booked it. He followed suit of course but the kid didn’t stop there. He broke the sound barrier and then accelerated even more. He was glad that he had upgraded the suit to go beyond Mach 6 if need be but this was just ridiculous. The kid seemed afraid of him and was doing everything in his not inconsiderate power to shake him off but…it was fun. Jarvis was constantly spoofing the satellites and radar to make sure that NATO didn’t fall on the kid’s ass as he blatantly violated airspaces that even he would hesitate to.

It seemed as if the kid had gamma-based powers but aside from creating those energy constructs that he could control by his will, he had yet to see some other power. The kid was also deathly afraid of heights it would seem, because he was still holding on to the surfboard with all four of his limbs, creating a hilarious sight. The kid dived below and then up and then down. He turned hard right and then crossed over to Greenland, not even realising that with his speed, he was crossing countries very easily. 

At this point, they were over Mach 6 and his suit was starting to reach its limits. Even Jarvis was not as confident in getting the kid anymore and at the speed they were going, his words would not reach the kid even if he used the biggest speaker in existence. There was no radio on the kid. No tech whatsoever and he was still going despite him being very non-threatening aside from chasing him for hundreds of miles in the air.

So, despite his best wishes, he stopped and let go but not before completely scanning the kid from top to bottom. His energy signature was also stored and saved for future reference. He would not get anything from that kid now. He would have to go back to the base for more information.

As far as he knew, there was no mention of that base in any of the records he had access to so he had more hacking to do in his schedule now. 

He looked forward to it. It would have helped immensely had the kid been in the fights he had been in previously. Just the sheer strength those barriers must have to protect the kid from becoming minced meat due to their speed, it would easily stop even high-caliber rounds. The kid was going to be a powerhouse and he, for one, would like it if he became one with the right company, with the right morals.

Speaking of right morals, “Jarvis, call Agent Coulson of SHIELD, will you?”

“Affirmative, sir.” 

Well, if a chat with old one-eyed might shed some light on the situation, he could stomach that short meeting and if not, it was always a pleasure to meet with mister Agent. Pepper liked him.

Word Count - 2416