The Marvel Experiment : Chapter 2

[ Powers - Alright, I should have just made this another doc at the start of the fic but here we go. Cap is gifted with powers that allows him to cast magic circles on the bodies of other people, as long as they are in his field of view. 

The people can reject the circle if they so wish. The magic circle is cast on people’s wrists, and it acts as a two way communication as well as power bridge. Cap can call on people to give him power, strength and everything in between through the magic circle, the amount depending on the people. The flow of power can be cut off as well so there’s that.

Strength, speed, healing are just some of the examples of powers being shared. Hope that helps! ]

Disclaimer - I don’t own Marvel, Disney, or whatever IP I might end up using in this fic. Duh, if I owned those companies, I would be some douchebag billionaire trying to turn people’s lives miserable. Since I don’t, I will instead be using my creativity and imagination, towards something productive, and yes, relaxing is productive.

Brooklyn, New York [The next day, May 2011]

–Steve Rogers–

His eyes snapped open as he saw the ceiling of his apartment. He slowly woke up, rubbing his head as he got off the bed and began walking to the kitchen.

“Was it a dream?” He muttered to himself as he felt a slight throbbing headache, something of a rarity for him ever since he became the Super Soldier Serum. He froze on the spot as he spotted something from the corner of his vision.

Slowly bringing his right hand to his face level, his eyes widened as he saw a blue circle with an intricate pentagram pattern in the middle. His eyes narrowed in confusion as he did not remember having that on his hand just a day before. Something was wrong, he thought to himself as he hesitantly touched the pentagram in the middle.

As soon as his finger made contact with the symbol, his finger felt like it was heating up and his eyes widened as he remembered.

Remembered the conversation he had with that superpowered stranger. The one who gave him this power, this gift, if he was told the truth about it.

“Remember, Steve, this is the one gift I can give you, that will change your entire life. It is something well suited for you. It works off people trusting you enough to empower you. On one hand, your power will be in the hands of the masses, free to take away if they so wished but on the other hand, as long as people believed in you, you can call on the power of millions, maybe billions of people and let me tell you, there is nothing quite like that power.”

He remembered the incredibly vague and scarce explanation before the man disappeared from the spot and his vision blacked out, appearing back in his head. Shaking his head, he got himself some much needed coffee and a pen and paper. He had some planning to do and writing it down always helped him get ahead of things.

Taking a sip of the incredibly bitter coffee, he sat down at the dining table, and just as he was about to write it down, he paused. Something warned him that it was not safe to do so. His mind went back to the odd interaction he had with the man. He remembered the man having the same intricate pattern on his wrist which throbbed for a bit before his vision ended. If he remembered correctly, he could cast the magic, for the lack of a better term, on anyone in his vision so he must have used that on the man, who must have complied with the request.

If he was correct and that was a big IF that would need experimentation to confirm, people who had his mark could contribute many things to him if they wished to. Strength, speed, physical characteristics, intelligence, emotions, and even intuition.

The same intuition told him that he was being watched, all the time. That made sense because there was no way they would leave someone like him unwatched but the question remained : How?

He slowly set the pen down and exhaled slowly, finishing the coffee. One thing was clear, the Spectre, as the man called himself, was correct about his question. Just because he was told that this was not his era, not his war, did not mean he could stay still. No, it was not in his blood to stay still while there were people out there who needed his help.

Being Captain America does not mean that he could only help people out if there was an active war happening somewhere. He needed information, he needed to integrate with the current culture, and current information sources, something he had neglected doing because it was all so incredibly confusing and new to him.

Not anymore. He could not just use the excuse of being overwhelmed to ignore the state of the world. He needed books, and he needed them now.

He also needed to experiment with his powers but there was no need to be hasty about that. He was safe right now, and that was a luxury he seldom had in wartime. He could properly get used to his powers before doing something truly drastic. He had a feeling that his handlers would not be happy with him going public, something that was a necessity if he wanted to use his powers.

—-

He knocked on the door, listening to the response it evoked as he almost certainly heard a gun safety go off before the door opened. A blonde greeted him, and normally, he would have indulged in their act, of being a nurse and not the agent who was tasked with keeping a watch over him but for now, he needed something from them so…

“Hi, I know you are undercover but I was going through the documents provided to me and I don’t really have much in the way of cash. I seem to remember getting a nice salary as part of the Army, but the cash I have on me is nowhere near that amount. Do you have a way of getting me access to my bank account?”

“W-What? I don’t know wha–”

“You have a gun in your back pocket, calluses on your hands, and the way your eyes have roved over the exit and entry points in this apartment multiple times during our conversation. Should I go on?”

She sighed, “No. I’ll contact my supervisor.”

“Thank you,” He said and stayed in his place, waiting for her.

“Y-You want me to do it right now?”

He nodded, “Yes Ma'am.”

—-

After a short course and demonstration by the lovely agent Sharon, who refused to give him her last name for some reason, he was off with a plastic card that could get him hard cash from machines that were installed in nearly all streets in the city. He could also just use the card itself to make payments at most places but there was something reassuring about having hard cash on him so he ended up withdrawing about 500$ dollars from his bank, which he was told was in the process of being populated with enough money for him to last several lifetimes.

He could certainly understand the delay since he had been dead for seven decades, so it was no surprise that he did not have an account anymore. Hell, he was surprised to know that most of the banks when he was a little kid still existed today. They must be older than most countries at this point.

Following the directions from the agent, he turned the corner and finally came across a public Library. According to her, he should be able to find most of the books he wanted here with ease.

Holding his driving license in one hand, he entered the library, excited and determined to learn more about this world he was thrust into.

It was not a situation he had expected to wake up to but he had to live with the hand that was dealt to him.

_____xx____

Brooklyn, New York [The previous day, May 2011]

“Oh, you will do just fine, Steve Rogers.”

“Alright, let’s get tedious stuff out of the way. I am called as Spectre, I have been looking for you, or someone like you but hey! I found you! My luck must be completely gone by now. Eh, who cares?”

Steve watched as the man mumbled to himself for a bit before he snapped his fingers, “Ah! Before I forget, here!” The man took out a glowing blue orb from his jacket, the shade being alarmingly closer to the Tesseract, which caused him to tense up.

“Oh, don’t worry. This is nowhere near as dangerous as that blue cube.” The man casually said, revealing his knowledge of classified information. Steve was about to step back a bit from the unknown object when his body seized up.

“Ah, we don’t have much time so why don’t we skip this.” The man said as he thrust the glowing blue orb towards Steve and Steve watched with rising alarm as it sank into his chest, making his entire body glow blue.

Then the Spectre explained the powers, in incredibly brief, creating more questions than he answered.

The last thing Steve saw before he blacked out was the man looking straight up for some reason.

After Steve Rogers blacked out, the Spectre looked at the now floating unconscious body of Steve Rogers for a moment before his hand lashed out, holding on to a black lance of some sort that crackled with world ending energy.

Holding on to that lance clearly damaged the hand of the Spectre, as his entire body began flickering in and out of reality, but the man still grinned and looked straight up as he did so, “Not this time, PAL!”

With that, there was an explosion that seemed to sweep through the surroundings, before hitting the border of the gym as if the walls were impenetrable. Then, the explosion of black and blue mist was rolled back, revealing the pristine form of the gym, as if nothing had happened here.

Once everything was done, and the space around the gym had stabilised, there was a sigh that echoed through the empty gym as the form of one Old looking Sorcerer Supreme was made visible.