Alex POV:
A few hours later...
After the first carjacking, we proceeded to stop a few other crimes before eventually returning home.
Nothing went wrong, and it felt waaaay too easy. Maybe Pete and I overprepared for this. I don't think that we'll have any problem dealing with anything unless it's a superpowered villain, or some massive group like the Kingpin's empire or the mafia, or the Hand.
As we were returning back home, Me running and jumping across the rooftops and Pete swinging alongside me, Peter opened his mouth.
"-That was kinda too easy, no?"
Yeah, if he also thought that, it definitely was way too simple.
"Yeah dude, it kinda felt like playing creative mode the way we oneshot everybody." I replied back. "You know, if we're not gonna have any trouble, we should split up to cover more area and save more people. Or split times."
Pete looked slightly conflicted. "I'm not sure, man. What if we face some like a supervillain or something by ourselves?"
"Then we can always call for help. That's why we have Ned, right? Our comms guy, our man in the chair."
I could feel Ned's smugness radiating all the way from here.
"If that's the case, then we can split the times. I can do the afternoon, and you do the nights?" Peter offered.
"...You know what, sure. It's not like I'm gonna have to change my sleep schedule for it anyway." I reply dryly. (a/n I CANT DO THIS ANYMORE I'M GETTING 2 HOURS OF SLEEP A NIGHT)
Right as we return back to Neds house at like 3 AM, he greets us at the front door and starts talking about how sick we were, but my attention was elsewhere.
[ Quest Complete! Daily Quest: Keeping the Streets Clean]
[You have started your career as a street-level hero! Every day, you will be awarded depending on the number and types of crimes you stop. Crimes stopped:
x1 Carjacking
x3 Minor Robberies
x2 Assaults
X1 Public Nudity]
[Reward: Subskill Card: Driving, 500$]
Oh, a subskill skill card? For driving? Is this for stopping that carjacking? So if I give this to Peter, he'd immediately know how to drive? Can I give it to Ned? Oh, and the 500$ is going straight to the stock market.
[Items given by the system can only be used on or by party members. Also, since it's a subskill, he won't gain a system skill for it, but will learn how to drive.]
I cut into Ned and Peter's conversation. "Yo, Pete, you know how to drive?"
Peter looks a little embarrassed. "...No? I don't have my license yet. I was supposed to get it last year, but I kinda got caught up with training. Why?"
I just think about summoning the skill card, and a small grey card appears in my hand. Hmm, I wonder if it's grey because it's a bottom-tier skill...
Ned looks amazed. "Dude!!! How'd you do that!!!"
I hand over the card to Peter. "Here, your cut. Just hold it in your hand and think of using it? It has something to do with my powers. The original powers, not the bear ones, don't worry."
Peter takes the card, looks at it skeptically, and then it disappears.
"... Did it work?" I ask him.
"I think? I think I know how to drive now? But like, I still need to take the test if I want to legally..." He said.
Ned cut into the conversation. "It's not like we're perfectly law-abiding citizens. What did you two do all night again?"
...
-o-
3rd Person POV:
Somewhere in the Pacific Ocean...
The room was dim, lit only by the cold blue glow of holographic maps and flickering surveillance feeds. Data streamed endlessly across wall-mounted monitors, streets, faces, energy signatures, threat levels, all shifting in real-time.
Steel walls surrounded the room like a bunker, occasionally reflecting an excessively bright flicker from the screen. The room was silent except for the occasional beep of a terminal or the low thrum of engines vibrating through the floor. Shadows clung to the corners, trying to hide from the figure in the center of the room.
At the center of it all stood a figure in a long black coat, hands clasped behind his back, bald head reflecting the light from the main screen, his singular eye scrolling through the myriad of data.
Suddenly, a beam of light enters the darkened room as the doors behind the man slide open with an audible hiss, and a woman wearing a shield uniform and her hair done in a bun walks in, holding a clipboard.
She stepped onto the command deck, her boots clicking against the metal flooring. The sliding doors hissed closed behind her, sealing the top-secret room once again.
The figure at the center of the room didn't turn around.
She approached and stood beside him, handing over the clipboard without a word.
After a pause, she spoke quietly.
"Two enhanced vigilantes sighted in Queens. Masked. Unregistered. Unknown."
The man took the clipboard with one hand, flipping through the attached pictures.
One image showed a teenager in red and blue webbing crouched atop a streetlight. Another showed a second figure, bulkier, draped in fur and leather, necklaces faintly reflecting the streetlight, standing between a civilian and an armed suspect.
Beneath the photos, incident logs: carjacking, assault, robbery. All resolved within minutes of the police being called.
"Same pattern for every incident last night." The female agent continued. "One hits the scene first, gets people to safety. The other shows up a few seconds later and apprehends the threat. There are zero casualties."
He let the clipboard drop back to his side. Still silent.
She shifted slightly. "We pulled facial scans from traffic cameras, but nothing was usable. They're careful. The one in red... moves like an acrobat. It seems self-taught, but they're very skilled. Possibly enhanced musculature. The other-" she hesitated, "-we're still trying to classify. Strong. Agile. We haven't seen enough of his fighting since he takes his opponents out so quickly, but his technique seems familiar..."
The man's gaze stayed fixed on the screens. One now replaying a slowed-down footage of a blurred figure leaping from rooftop to rooftop, not with the practiced grace of a parkour expert, but with the force of a charging bear.
"Want me to send a team?" The female agent inquired.
There was a long pause.
Then finally, a voice, low and rough:"Not yet."
He turned slightly, his profile just barely illuminated by the flickers of the screen.
"Keep your eyes on them. It doesn't seem like they're causing any problems. For now."
The female agent gave a short nod. "Yes, Director."
And with that, she turned and walked back into the shadows. But just before she leaves the command room, the director opens his mouth again.
"Oh, and Agent Hill. Make me two more copies of the Avengers Initiative, just in case."
"Yes, director."
And with that, she stepped out of the room, the doors hissing shut behind her, leaving the Director of SHIELD alone once more in the dark, watching the screens.
Especially, a picture taken of the graffiti next to the crime scene.
"Spider-Man and Ursa, huh..." The man chuckled.
A rare grin started to make its way up the man's stoic features.
However, he wasn't worried about anyone seeing him in this position.
He didn't need to.
Because when Nick Fury watched the world, it rarely got the chance to watch back.