***
(Author's note) I was on a roll with my writing, so here is the next chapter early to make up for my absence.
***
Ray returns to the marvel world, finding himself sitting on the couch whilst surrounded by books and papers. He sighs audibly before standing up and grabbing some food before taking his seat once again.
Glancing down at the 'homework' on the coffee table in front of him, Ray scans over the words before tilting his head in confusion. He swallows a bite of his sandwich before setting it down and grabbing the paper, his eyes scanning the paper far faster than he could before.
What follows is a blitz of writing and reading so fast that anyone who would have seen it would think that he was just scribbling ultra fast or skimming the book and not actually learning anything.
By the time the sun dips below the horizon, Ray has read through over twenty books and finished all of the 'homework' that his teachers had assigned him.
Ray stacks the last book in a pile and leans back in his seat, his head throbbing yet he still has a big smile on his face.
'Wow… Just four points into intelligence and I get such a fast comprehension speed and vastly improved memory. It seems to me that increasing stats is an exponential increase rather than linear. That is actually quite frightening if I think about it. If the hand of Malenia weapon needs seventy dexterity to wield, how fast would Melenia herself be? If I was going a pure strength build, I would die without even knowing what happened…'
Ray grimaces at the thought of his head flying from his shoulders before stretching, his hands rising up as if he is praising the sun before some sixth sense makes him turn towards the large bay window to his left.
His eyes open in shock when he sees someone floating outside the window. A person that he immediately recognizes…
Without any warning, the entire window shakes violently and the sounds of creaking wood and warping metal echo throughout the room before that entire side of the room is ripped off by an unseen force.
Ray dives to the side to avoid the debris from the ceiling before looking back and seeing a strange, sickly green man leap into the room, his long tongue stretching out and running along his enlarged eyeballs.
"Come on, man! We're getting you out of here…" The toad man says, his webbed hand reaching out towards him.
Ray scrambles back in fright before falling on his face. He lays there for a moment with his hands near his face before slowly getting up and grabbing the man's hand.
The toad man throws Ray on his shoulders and leaps out of the building, landing on a thin metal platform. Ray looks over and stares into the face of Magneto, his signature metal helmet sitting atop his head. Age has clearly taken its toll on the man, his face riddled with wrinkles and deathly pale.
Magneto gives him his signature smirk before bringing them closer to him and forming a sphere of metal around them. He then propels the sphere away at an incredible speed, quickly leaving the area before any of the shield agents can interfere.
Four minutes later, Nick Fury is standing in Ray's room and staring out the destroyed window with a stern glare. A few agents are clearing the area when one of them finds a book on the ground. Once they see what's on the page they take the book to Fury.
"Sir, I think you should see this…"
Fury turns around and grabs the book. He looks down and sees the word 'double' written hastily over the page and the word 'agent' on the page circled.
Fury raises an eyebrow. "Double agent. Heh…"
Fury turns back towards the window. "Sorry you got thrown on the bike so early kid. I just hope you can ride without the training wheels…"
***
Meanwhile, a large metallic sphere rockets through the air at incredible speeds before reaching a nondescript warehouse. Magneto flicks his wrists to open a hidden entrance in the roof before descending into the building.
Once they are on the ground, the sphere splits open before merging into a ball the size of a baseball in Magneto's hand. He puts the sphere in the pocket of his clothes before turning towards Ray.
"Welcome to the brotherhood of mutants, Ray Winters."
Ray looks around in curiosity, seeing groups of mutants doing a variety of tasks.
He watches as a boy with a body made of green crystals clenches his fist and his hand turns into a blade that cleaves the training dummy in front of him in half.
Another mutant with quills sticking out of his skin whips his arms towards a target, groups of quills impacting into the target all around the bullseye until it is completely hidden from view.
The toad man claps him on the shoulder. "Welcome to your new home. There is no one here that will cut you open and experiment on you, no one to hate you for just existing."
Magneto stares down at him. "Welcome home…"
Ray nods his head, a few fake tears falling from his eyes. "Thanks for getting me out of there. Those people kept experimenting on me, wondering how my abilities work."
Magneto nods solemnly. "As I expected… Even an organization as 'righteous' as SHIELD still exploits mutants for their own ends. Do not worry, we are your new family now. And if you so wish, you can help us liberate our kind from the oppression of homo sapiens."
Ray looks down, his hands clenched into fists. "What do you need me to do?..."
***
Five days after Ray's kidnapping, a certain billionaire, playboy, philanthropist arrives at the airport, his arm in a cast and his skin pale from malnutrition.
A press conference was held only a few hours later, where Tony Stark declared the shutdown of the Stark industries weapons manufacturing division, causing his companies stocks to plummet in value.
The perpetrator of Tony's capture, Obadiah Stane, was absolutely livid, cursing the terrorists he hired for not killing Stark when they had the chance.
However… Like in all situations, there is a silver lining.
Through his contacts in the terrorist group, Obadiah learns about the prototype Iron Man armor and the device used to power it. Obadiah smirks to himself, thinking that maybe he can still squeeze Stark for a few more golden eggs.
Meanwhile, Ray can be found sprinting through an alleyway with a group of mutants from the brotherhood, their arms laden with supplies that they just stole. Of course, Ray stored away a portion of the stolen goods into his inventory when no one was looking in preparation for a rainy day.
The group reaches a sewer grate and quickly descends, the lid being returned to its position and leaving no evidence of their passage. They travel along the tunnels beneath the city for over half an hour before they make it back to the warehouse.
The other mutants cheer and congratulate the group upon their arrival, a few of them taking the supplies and disturbing the goods. A few of them slap Ray on the back, telling how good of a job he did and such.
Internally, Ray is conflicted. These past few days have been entertaining to say the least, but even with the warm welcome he still feels alone. Guilt clouds his heart as he wonders what will happen to all these mutants when SHIELD takes this place down in a few days.
Ray was able to steal a cellphone on his third day with the brotherhood and contact Fury, feeding him information about his whereabouts. With cooperation from the X-Men, this base was soon going to be raided, all of the mutants will be brought to Xavier's school, and the higher ranking members tried in a court of law.
His little escapade as a brotherhood member was going to end soon, and his return to SHIELD headquarters is all but guaranteed. Yet…
'Why do I feel like I shouldn't go back to SHIELD?...' Ray wonders, his eyes staring off into the distance.
The answer to that question would have continued to plague him, if something completely unexpected didn't happen…
The lights in the warehouse suddenly shut off, leaving the room in utter darkness. The mutants look around in confusion, the younger ones complaining as their shouts fill the air.
Suddenly, everyone hears the sound of glass shattering as small round objects are thrown through the windows, releasing a fine mist that burns the eyes and makes it difficult to breathe.
People in tactical gear rappel through the windows and bust down every door and swarm into the building, the sounds of gunfire echoing in the enclosed space.
The mutants scream in pain as they get repeatedly shot with rubber bullets, bean bags, and tasers, their bodies falling to the ground and spasming uncontrollably.
Ray's eyes harden as he takes out his Erdsteel dagger and quicksteps behind one of the soldiers, slashing the man's throat without any hesitation. A fountain of blood gushes out and the man clutches the wound before the life leaves his eyes and he falls over.
Ray quickly puts the soldier's gear into his inventory before going on to the next one. He manages to kill five soldiers whilst staying mostly unseen before noticing that the mutants are definitely on the losing side.
With a heavy heart, Ray quicksteps out of the building, finding an encirclement of black SUVs and armored trucks. He uses his heightened agility and multiple quicksteps to try and avoid detection but is caught off guard when a group of four soldiers run out of one of the trucks.
The soldiers raise their rifles and fire with no warning, rubber bullets impacting Ray's chest and causing him to stagger back momentarily. They finish unloading their clips and stare at the still standing Ray in shock, his eyes staring back at them like a predator hunting its prey.
Ray runs forward at full speed, arriving at the first soldier before he has a chance to reload and slicing his neck then quickstepping away from a hail of gunfire.
He charges towards the the second soldier and fakes a lunge towards his stomach before quickstepping behind him and stabbing him in the back of the neck.
The remaining three soldiers just start spraying the area with bullets, their fear making them irrational. Ray quickly dispatches two of them with the same tactics before the final soldier turns around and runs for his life. A crossbow bolt to the back makes sure that he doesn't escape.
Ray takes their equipment before, out of spite, putting his hand on the armored truck. His eyes widen in surprise when the entire vehicle disappears into his inventory.
A dangerous glint shines in the corner of Ray's eyes as he runs down one side of the road and adds seven SUVs and four armored trucks to his collection before running off down an alleyway.
He runs for over an hour, making sure to avoid cameras before finding a nice spot to sit down for a minute. He takes a bottle of water out of his inventory and drinks greedily.
'Damn it… How did I forget that Hydra is in SHIELD?... Of course they wanted the mutants for their sick experiments…'
Ray berates himself in his mind, guilt gnawing at him for bringing ruin upon all those mutants. While some of them have committed terrible acts, most were just children that were abandoned by society.
Ray feels a crushing weight upon his mind from his own guilt before his gamer's mind skill activates, calming him down. Ray takes a deep breath before staring up at the sky.
'Well what do I do now? I don't feel like I should go back to SHIELD because of Hydra, I can't go back to the brotherhood, and the X-Men isn't much better either…'
Ray scratches his chin in contemplation before remembering something.
'That should work. I mean… What have I got to lose?'
Ray stands up and walks out of the alley, making his way through the New York streets while still keeping a low profile.
A few hours later, he is standing in front of an unassuming gray stone house, the plague on the side reading 177A Bleecker Street. He goes to knock on the door when the door opens, revealing a man in a flowing red robe looks at him with a passive stare.
"The Ancient One is expecting you."
The man motions for Ray to walk inside, Ray nodding his head politely and entering the sanctum sanctorum. He is then led through the halls of the sanctum, passing groups of apprentices and solitary masters before arriving at a small Japanese style room with tatami flooring and a small table with a tea set and cups already prepared.
Seated on the other side of the table is the unmistakable visage of the Ancient One, her golden robes complimenting her pale skin and bald head.
Ray takes off his shoes before sitting on his knees in front of her, neither saying a word as she pours him some tea. He gently grasps the cup and takes a sip, the flavor a little on the bitter side then his liking.
A soft smile graces the Ancient One's face. "Welcome, Ray Winters. We have much to talk about…"