Chapter 174 - My SI Stash #74 - Blueman by Pro-man (MCUXDC)

-Yo! here's A MCU SI fic~ SI with a Kryptonian body, the fic was originally dropped but author decided to rewrite and it now has quite the word count, check it out!

Sypnosis: Waking up in a puddle in a foreign city wasn't the oddest part of my morning. That came later when I picked up a newspaper that had a headline "I am Iron Man." and then noticed that rather bizarre fact that I was several years in the past, along with having aged years and world looking like a comic book.

Gaining the Boy Scout's powers ontop of all that was only icing on this cake.

Rated: T

Words: 71K

Posted on: forums.spacebattles.com/threads/blueman-dc-mcu-si-reboot.811787/ (Pro-man)

PS: If you're not able to copy/paste the link, you have everything in here to find it, by simply searching the author and the story title. It sucks that you can't copy links on mobile (´ー｀)

-I'll be putting the chapter ones of all the fanfics mentioned, to give you guys a sample if you wan't more please do go to the website and support the author! (And maybe even convince them to start uploading chapters in here as well!)

Chapter 1

This isn't Dublin?

It was the rain that woke me up, it felt like I had been shoved into a heavy shower while still being in my regular clothes. On top of that, I was lying face down in a rather dirty puddle, my mouth wide open and my tongue tasting the muck.

"F.u.c.k!" I shot up, my dripping wet hair slapping me in the face. Surprised, I tried to blink out the water from my vision, throwing out an arm to hold onto a nearby wall when black spots started to fill my sight and the world started to spin around me, causing me to lose my footing.

Because of the spots that filled my vision, the only thing that I could use to tell where I am was the sound of cars roaring past me at a subdued speed I'd expect from a busy street. There were also some yells coming from people, basically, should people be speaking to each other loudly.

"God," I groaned as my sight returned. A searing ache hit my head like a bullet was going through it. "What did I drink last night to cause this?"

It looked like I was in some alley, in someplace that I didn't recognize at all.

I closed my eyes as the light from the street suddenly hit, telling me that it was some point during the day rather than night. With another groan, I spat out the muck from my little time with that puddle I was surely standing in by now.

It wasn't long until my balance was righted and I could stand on my own without the world feeling like it was falling down around me. It was then that I had a sudden thought, why is it sunny… when it was raining just seconds ago.

It was then the showering started once more, the sun getting blocked by the dark clouds that were no doubt above me at this very moment. For the first time, I looked up, seeing the tall buildings that surrounded me being basked in beams of light coming from behind the gaps between the rain clouds.

"I've no idea where I am," I spoke suddenly, my head peeking out of the alley to see the people that we're walking on past me. "Which city is this? Ain't Dublin."

The Irish Capital had buildings with a different sort of architecture, the streets were designed with a different sort of pavement that was flatter, that was greyer. The number of tall buildings as well was a sign that really highlighted that this was some other country, Irish cities didn't have many buildings of this size.

I glanced up the street finding that while crowded, it wasn't overly busy for such a wide place. At the corner of the street, I spotted a newspaper stand, I got an idea.

It only took a few seconds for me to get over there, a loud jangle in my pocket telling me that I had plenty of change to buy a paper. I put a smile on my face, trying to keep it natural as I strode up to the man at the stand.

My heart started to race, I didn't like the stare this man was giving me, it even caused me to shiver a little bit. Though that could've been just how wet my clothes were from the rain.

"Sup," Speaking absentmindedly, the man at the stall repeated the phrase back to me. I threw my eyes to the papers down below, finding the New York Bulletin staring at me with its' bold title page. I didn't even look to the main image or the head title, just the dates that were listed on top of the title.

May 2nd, 2008.

"This the latest paper?" I asked the man, for the first time letting my eyes meet his.

"Yeah, what of it?" he responded, only briefly looking down at the papers, though I'd imagine that he'd be seeing it all upside down.

"2008?" I raised a single eyebrow, twisting my head to the side so I could give the man a side glance.

"Yeah 2008," Now it was the Newspaper Stand Man's turn to glance at me funny, something that caused me to feel more than a little subconscious. "You feeling okay man?"

Licking my lips while scratching the back of my head, I could feel my heart start to race at the sudden thought that entered my head. Had I gone mental?

"Yeah, just gone on a bit of a binge last night, just woke up with a headache. So I'm just washy…"

Which was when I finally looked at the image on the front of the New York Bulletin… with the words written across it…

"Iron Man is Tony Stark, the CEO moonlighting as an international vigilante, is he a hero or a danger?"

I couldn't believe what I was reading, it was like someone had been playing a joke on me. Had Disney buying out Marvel lead to some bizarre New York theme part of Disney land where everyone stays in character?"

"Insane ain't it?" his voice brought me back out of my thoughts, causing me to sharply glance at the people walking around me, searching for some end to the streets that didn't look like a real city. "Stark thinks just because he has money and some fancy armor that he can take the law into his own hands, it's ridiculous."

"Yeah," Was all I could muster up, picking up the paper and throwing the man a few coins that I had on me, only letting the size of them tell me what they were, no doubt overpaying the man. I walked away, ignoring the man's call for me to return for my change.

My attention was too caught up in the article in front of me, talking about what the CEO of Stark Industries had gone through in the last few months, about how he was kidnapped, about how he escaped the adductors. It went into further details, but basically it repeated a lot of the Iron Man movie, barring the personal interactions.

Including how the "I am Iron Man" scene only happened yesterday.

If this was a prank, then I've pissed off someone with a lot of money. But I don't know what I could have done to Elon Musk?

There was a splash from a car hitting a nearby puddle that hit the lower half of my left leg, causing me to m.o.a.n out loud quietly. Only the sudden growl from my stomach and a rather severe cramp stopped me from cursing out my life at the moment.

Before I could even think about what to eat my eyes caught a glimpse of a rather large sign saying all you can eat… 7.50 Dollar.

The windows of the place were red-rimmed, the door a blue shade that clashed with that red horribly. Something that I hadn't thought possible before now, at least to my understanding of color-coding.

The place was called Joey's or something like that, I honestly couldn't be bothered to read it properly, I was just so hungry.

"Stomach, you're about to become full." I grinned while walking forward through the doors of place, some family-owned place from the appearance of it. The inside seemed to say the same to me as well, so I walked forwards towards the buffet table… when an arm came out, stopping me only barely in my tracks.

"For such a skinny guy you sure are train-like," This man told me, his face having on it a slight smile that masked the grimace I could see form in his eyes along with the slight scrunching of his nose. It looked like I smelled bad. "It's the fee upfront, sir?"

I took a breath, letting my eyes take in the man before. He was just a normal slightly overweight guy in a shirt and pants.

"Right," As I reached through my pocket's looking for the jingling of spare change to help me find where exactly I'd put the money in coat pockets. From, the by now rather peeved expression that seemed to take over the other man's face, I knew that he wouldn't like me standing up looking for the money for much longer. "Found it!"

In a rush a nearly threw the tenner onto the man's waiting hand. A sigh of relief leaving my body as I came to realize that I hadn't even checked what I had on me before this. I was super lucky that It was an American Dollar and not… like a Pound or even a Euro note.

My eye was drawn onto the plates of pasta, some kind of cheese mix, so I grabbed a large bowel and filled it to the brim. Letting the smell of the freshly cooked Italian food enter my nostrils. Usually, I wasn't the kind of person to eat food like this, but as it's been said… hungry is the best sauce.

I found a free table and started to down my meal as if I hadn't been eating right for the past few months. I was actually eating too fast as it turns out, the food got stuck in my throat, causing me to cough and punch at my chest.

Eventually, I noticed the water jug on the table and so filled the nearby glass.

A good gulp was all I needed.

"You okay?" Glancing up, I found it was the man from before that had spoken, actual concern was etched on his face.

"Yeah, " Replying sheepishly, I rubbed the back of my head. "Just ate my meal too fast, I'll be careful from now on."

It was only when the man gave me a slow nod, turned and walked away from me that I dropped my hand from the back of my head. That was when I noticed something odd, my hair was far longer than I'd ever remembered having it; like it hadn't been cut in about a year.

Which was concerning only because I've never let my hair grow past my ears before.

"What the f.u.c.k?" I whispered, bringing my hand over to cover my mouth. Taking another bite of my meal, hoping that it would stop me from doing that thing when I start to talk out loud when I was, in fact, trying to just think.

I let my heart race, let my right leg start to bounce under the table. I was sure that this was a dream, it made no sense to be stuck in New York, with the right currency, while both somehow being in the past and having grown out my hair.

Suddenly my arm brushed up against a chest pocket as it made way towards my face to pinch my nose. When I felt what was there, my leg stopped bouncing, my heart froze. Chuckling lowly, I crept my hand into the pocket grabbing the newly revealed phone and wallet that I had somehow not noticed in my blind panic.

I looked at the phone first, it was the model that I had in secondary school. A Samsung C3050, an old sliding phone from before Android took over, which annoyed me, mostly because if I really was in the past then even this phone might be too new for me to use with the current phone operators.

Still, I slide the phone up to enter in my home number, making sure to add the digits needed to call it when out of Ireland. That was when I got the dreaded reply from the phone.

"We're sorry; we are unable to complete your call as dialed. Please check the number and dial again, or call your operator to help you."

With my anxiety acting up more every second, I slid the phone back to disengage the call. My hands coming up to my eyes as I rested my head against my palms and my elbows against the table.

I let out a low breath, trying to calm my racing heart while my mind told me that there was a chance that my phone just wasn't covered in this country. Though the chances of that were low when I'd already been carrying US Dollars.

"What'll I do now?" I whispered, pulling lightly on a small section of my long hair at my fringe. To keep my anxiety from acting up once more, I started to think about the situation in hand from a detached point of view, like I was playing an RPG.

First, it was obvious that no matter what the Paper said earlier, that at least six months had passed since I could last recall, my hair told me that. But the more worrying thing was that I couldn't place the date I was taken at, not what time it was in the school year even. The only concrete thing I could say was that it was Leaving Cert year. Meaning that it should be 2012.

Was I even at school still when I was taken?

I looked at my reflection on the handle of the fork I'd been eating with and found that I'd gained some stumble along my jaw, that I'd grown as far as to grow a small mustache even, something that I hadn't managed while going to school.

"Maybe it's been more than six months?"

"What's been?" The voice spooked me, causing me to jump in my seat just a tiny bit. "Sorry," I turned to face the speaker, their apology for scaring me seemingly sincere sounding enough for me to take it at face value.

"It's fine, I was in my own world," Taking in this new person in front of me, I didn't think much of her other than she was around that age I'd been thinking I was, 18 and that she was huge. Not in a fat way, but that way I'd expect out of soldier, like she was ready to wreck some shit up. She was wearing something of a jumpsuit and looking like they'd just come from a run, and given that it was raining, that meant she was soaked.

"Pat," I held out a hand to shake.

"Louise," She sat down on the chair across from me, not shaking my hand. Which given my state of dress… and how I woke up in a puddle, I don't blame her, I wouldn't shake me hand either.. "Hope you don't mind me sitting here, all the other tables are full."

I took a quick look around the room, finding that I'd somehow not noticed earlier the other tables being full.

"I'm told that it's a free country," I moved my eyes back to my food, seeing that the plate was nearly empty. "Can hardly stop you. You've already sat down and look like you could defenestrate me with one hand."

I tried to keep my tone light as if the day hadn't bothered me but I was sure that some of my shakiness got through. The only thing that I could hope for was that the girl put it down to me looking homeless.

Homeless could mean that I'm coming off drugs… not sure why I wanted that.

"Always wanted to try it," she shrugged, a slight grin on her face. "Just never found a reason to."

"Sorry, but I don't plan on giving any reason," I took a few more bites from the pasta in front of me. Watching as Louise took a comic out of her bag, I found that I couldn't recognize it, but that's not saying much given that I only really read a handful of DC titles. "Whacha reading? If you don't mind?"

"Hyperion: Judgement Day," She raised a single eyebrow in disbelief if I was reading her face right. "You're not a comic fan?"

"Sure… just more into the Irish comic scene," I lied back, trying to think of a reason why I didn't know the comic. Though, really I hadn't needed to and that was more likely to lead to more issues than solutions.

"There isn't an Irish scene for comics," Louise responded, her expressionless amused than it had been before. "I should know, been to Ireland before."

"Exactly, hence my lack of comic knowledge," I recovered instantly, giving her a hammy wink from my left eye. Something that did cause her to let out a small giggle, something that seemed to ease the tension that I'd caused earlier. "Tell me about Hyperion?"

"You don't know about Hyperion?"

"Just general stuff, last of his race, sent off to Earth by birth parents," I shrugged, watching as Louise actually twisted her ponytail, squeezing the water out of it and letting it hit the ground. "Raised to be a good little American, but that's about it."

"You've got the right of it," She told me, her eyes reaching towards mine as I leaned back into my chair. "Except for the odd issue that modern-day comics have where it just can't stop making evil alternate timeline versions of him."

"Gets boring?"

"Gets boring," Louise nodded, her eyes coming back to read the pages down below. "And makes being a fan really hard at times."

"I've got a question?" I asked while reaching for the last few forks of my meal.

"Good, because mine's what's the question?"

I couldn't help but laugh out loud at that one, using my left hand I forced my fringe out of eyes. Honestly, I hadn't expected that I'd be laughing like that so soon but it could've been due to mania setting in. I'm told that people eventually fall into that when they go mental.

"You know where the nearest phone booth is?"

"Yeah, it's around just down the block," Louise pointed out the door and to the left. I could tell that she was kind of confused by this response. "Why, is your phone not working?"

"Must have broken it," I shrugged, standing up and hearing the squeak of my shoes on the floor below. "Got some calls to make, maybe I'll see you around sometime?"

"Maybe."

The phonebooth I found was old, it was rusted in some places. The glass that made the walls were broken in the sides, the shards had been gathered up and gotten rid of a long time ago from the lack of any surrounding the booth. The phone itself though?

That was glistening clean, with glowing blue buttons and two green neon swirls for both the mic and the speaker. It was like someone had put a brand new phone in but for some reason didn't bother with replacing or even just fixing the rest of the booth.

I think that I spent over ten minutes going over the phone booth, trying to figure out several things. First, how to use a payphone, since I've never actually used one before in my life. The second, was it broken or did I just not know how to call people internationally with it?

I checked the device over, finding no fault in any part of the slick machine before me. Couldn't even understand the damn blasted thing.

"What's wrong with it?" Growling, I clenched my hands into fists at my sides. "This shouldn't be so hard, it's a f.u.c.k.i.n.g phone!"

Stamping my foot down hard the phone booth's floor… I heard a rather loud crack spread from my feet. I flinched, closing my eyes hard enough that I would be surprised if they disappeared into the recess of my sockets.

"Just what I need." I opened my eyes and stared at the ground that had dared to break because I put my foot down on it too roughly. "To be arrested for destruction of public property."

That was when I noticed the sign I was standing on, a crack running through the form of what looked like a steel sign saying: "Out of Order."

Taking a deep breath, I was about to turn around and leave the booth… till it started to ring, the chime an alien sound to my ears, like something I'd expect a xenomorph to make before leaping at their prey.

"It's ringing?" I glanced left, I glanced right, hoping that someone would run up and reveal that it was for them, because the only other option was that someone was watching me at this very moment. That was when… the numbers on the phone changed into letters, going from a soft blue to a sinister green.

ANSWER THE PHONE

My heart skipped a beat, my mouth dropping in surprise. So I picked it up, letting the speaker touch my ear slowly while letting the mic come to be about a cm away from my mouth.

"Hello?"

There was no response, not even the sound of heavy breathing to signal that someone really was on the other side of the call. But there was an odd electronic whine on the other end, something that was sending a chill that crept up my spine.

"Listen carefully," The voice was distorted, making the voice unrecognizable barring that upper-class style accent. "There's an alley to your left, go down it. If you do not, people will die."

"Wai-" I was interrupted by a click and then another electronic whine that told me that they'd hung up on me. I glanced back to the number pad, the symbols once more becoming normal lettering. It was only then that I finally looked down the alley, watching as a very suspicious-looking man walked down, looking like some mix of a terminator or Kyle Reese with the large coat that could hide weapons.

I knew that it was a bad idea to walk down there, especially in a city like New York, and having already been told that there was trouble about to go down there. It was just I couldn't help but wonder what exactly was going to happen down there? Would it answer how I got here? Why I was here?

But there is just as likely that it was some sort of trap, laid by the people that had put me here. I don't know why they'd let me go and then set up a situation to recapture me. It could be to let me panic, see how I'd react.

This all could be some kind of sick experiment.

Deciding to take a chance on it, I walked down the alley with a keen eye for any funny business. It was a massive alley, at least to my small-town sensibilities, so much so that I could probably have a game of soccer comfortably here with two full teams. At the center of the alley, two guys were standing all their lonesome.

One was a black man, at least close to middle-aged, with a close beard, wearing a black coat with his hands stuffed into the pockets while a plaid shirt was barely peeking out from beneath. Also on his face, I could see the thick black rims of his glasses.

The other man was in a large beige coat with a tall collar covering the bottom of his face. While the other man had dark hair this one's hair was red, with the grey creeping up from the roots, giving him a far older appearance dispite the fact that his face had fewer wrinkles than the other man.

They hadn't noticed me, or at least I was far enough away that they didn't take any heed that I was here. It was odd looking at them though, as if I could see them better than I would normally from this distance, even making out the lip movements that the black man was using as he talked to his friend.

But I didn't know how to read lips, so that was useless to me.

That was when I heard the screeching of a pair of tires, causing me to snap my head away from the two men. It was another pair of men, one riding on the back of a motorbike while the other one drove it, this time wearing all black and with helmets that obscured their faces from view.

My heart metaphorically exploded in my chest as the one with their hands free raised up a gun, some sort of automatic weapon from what I could tell. Without thought, I screamed, my left arm reaching out as if it would warn the pair better.

"LOOK OUT!"

But the first two men were turning to face me rather than the oncoming threat aiming at them with each passing second. Adrenaline must have started to rush through my veins as the world slowed down and even though I knew it wouldn't make a difference, I ran towards the duo as fast as I could.

My feet slammed into the pavement with loud clacks as the world blurred around me, the muzzle from the gun flared.

But the sound of the gunfire didn't come yet, instead, it slowly moved in the air. It was like a miracle from the Lord himself, letting me slam into the two none-motorbike riding men though letting the bullet hit my body.

"Shit," I swore rolling on to me side as the world speed back up and the motorbike ran off into the distance. My hand went to the newly made hole my jacket, trying to keep the blood that would no doubt be pouring out of the bullet wound. "F.u.c.k."

"Jesus Christ!" The white man of the two men I'd saved swore as well. His hands coming down to hold my hand, the one already covering the hole. "You going to be okay kid?"

His words broke me out of a haze, letting me realize something important.

"I feel fine?" I replied, confused by my own statement, my hand pulling away from my jacket, much to both men's horror, to reveal that there was no blood. "Did they miss?"

"No," The greying-red-head answered, his now free hands coming up from the ground to showcase something trapped between the sleeves of his coat. "The bullet flattened against your skin."

None of us spoke for a while after that, not sure if it was because they were as gobsmacked by this as I was or if they were just waiting for me to speak up about how such a thing was possible.

"Holy shit? Am I bulletproof?"

I must have worn an expression that was far too expressive for the two men not to take the connotation that my words gave. The black man took his friend to the side.

"Hey," he said in a low voice, keeping his mouth close to the other man's ear. "The kid is okay, but we need to get out of here," his eyes glancing over to me. "And with what this kid just did… he needs to get out of here, before someone calls the cops about the gunfire."

The white man sighed, his eyes briefly looking at me.

"Fine, but I can't take him, Ben," he said, revealing the black man's name as Ben as he started to walk away. "Ain't got anywhere to put the guy and I've got my own family to take care of. "

I'd noticed that the redhead looked almost regretful as he left like it was painful for him to turn down trying to help the man that saved his life. At least that was what impression I got off the man, I could've easily been wrong.

"Right," Ben smacked his lips together, grabbing my attention as he did so. His left hand came down to lift me to my feet, then nearly pushing me forward as a loud set of sirens started blaring "We need to get out of here."

I followed along with the man, not making a single noise as I did so. Too shocked at what was happening to question this man dragging me out of the alley with a grimace on his face.

"You know," he grunted, his eyes glaring. "You could start moving, I'm not the best guy around to be lifting a fully grown man."

"Sorry," I muttered, making sure that I was actually following along with the man rather than being carried by him. Glancing at his face I couldn't help but think that the man was oddly familiar to me like I'd seen him somewhere… I just couldn't place where?

"What's your name kid?" Ben asked me, his tone light as we changed from walking at a fast to a slow pace away from the scene. I pondered the man's question carefully, thinking about the answer with all that I currently knew in mind.

"Pat," I said, continuing the lie I'd told the young girl earlier. " Pat Doyle, and you?"

He paused mid-step, his eyes glancing at mine like he was surprised that I hadn't recognized him. Meaning that my familiarity with the man would have easily been placed on him being some kind of famous person, which would at least explain that drive-by earlier.

"Suppose your not a big print man?" Ben asked me, resuming his strut alongside me with a small confident grin. "I'm Ben Urich, a reporter for the New York Bulletin."

"Thought you looked familiar, must have glanced over your paper at one stage or another," Saying this I noticed that Ben was now fully taking in my appearance, I think for the first time. Looking at my disheveled clothes, my dirty face and even the unkempt hair Ben seemed to have decided something.

"You homeless?" There was a light air to his tone, like what he had asked me wasn't a big deal. I couldn't disagree, part of me was deeply ashamed that I was in such a state that someone could even make such an assumption… but then… it did seem to be true.

"Yeah, woke up homeless a while ago," I replied, letting my eyes drop to my dirty shoes. Looking at the dirty stains that littered the surface, stains that I wasn't used to seeing. My mind still questioning how I'd gotten into this state. "Don't actually remember when I got to this state though."

Ben cast a glance towards me again, one that started out amused and slowly shifted into one of concern and sympathy. Eventually, he patted me on the shoulder, trying to give some small measure of comfort.

"It's been a tough year for a lot of folks," he said, his tone serious, from what I could recall, mostly because the Financial Crash would've happened recently, and even years after it, it was still affecting my family. "You ain't got any family that could help out?"

"No," I shook my head, thinking of the people that I hadn't tried calling yet but realizing that I didn't actually know any of their numbers. I'd never really needed to call other people and given that lack of any real response from the numbers that I had, thought that it might be better not trying. "I've been by myself for the last four years."

It was really just a guess based on the length of my hair and counting backward from the last year that I could remember with any real detail.

"You don't have anywhere to stay then," Ben continued, this time muttering to himself rather than asking me a question. We continued walking towards some destination, Ben eventually hailing a cab that the two of us stepped into. It was only then that he spoke once more. "You can stay with me, I've got a guest room in my apartment."

I wasn't sure how to take that, I could tell that he hadn't made that offer all that lightly, he'd tried finding somewhere else for me… not sure why he didn't offer to take me to some sort of shelter though.

"You offer hobos a place to stay often?"

"Just the ones that save my life."

It didn't take long for us to arrive at the apartment building, just twenty or so minutes which was a surprise to me, given that it was such a busy city. It wasn't a bad apartment either. It was clean, lacking any graffiti or any other kind of markings that would tell me we were in gang territory.

It was as we entered the door to his apartment, on the second floor, that Ben broke the silence that had enveloped us since that brief conversation in the cab's backseat.

"Doris!" Ben called out, his voice loud but soft. "I'm home… and I've got a guest."

There was a rather loud sigh from a room nearby, a small black woman walking out from behind a wall. Her face had a rather annoyed expression on it as if Ben had angered her.

"Ben," Doris m.o.a.ned, throwing her hands down. "What have I told you? If someone's coming over, I need to know in advance or I won't be able to cook enough food for dinner."

"I'm sorry, it was rather sudden," he responded sheepishly, his shoulders making a shrugging motion. "Guy's helping me with a little something, nothing that'll cause any trouble but… as you can see," Ben pointed over at me, his arm waving up and down my frame showcasing the rather dirty state I was in. "Kid needs a place to stay… you ok with that?"

Doris gave me a look, her eyes staring into mine with such an intensity that I couldn't help but look away from her. I was now only looking at the woman from the side of my vision, glancing as her expression softened even as her eyes stayed piercing.

"First… he takes washes and you lay out some clothes for him."

With those words, Doris turned around and left the hall. Ben moved to face me again, a slight apologetic grin on his face as he ushered further into the apartment and stopped at a brown door.

"Showers in there," he said, his other hand pointing at a radiator to the side. "I'll leave clean clothes that should fit outside."

That was when I was left alone, truly alone for the first time since waking up in that alley this morning. Alone and with a real mirror, looking at my face, I noticed that my face had aged by years since the last time I had a good look at it.

The hair that I used to guess my age previously seemed to be the least noticeable signifier. My face, while clean of spots, was now covered in dirt from the street, in some of the cheese and pasta sauce that I'd eaten earlier. I'd lost all the baby fat that I was known for during secondary school, my cheeks looking like I'd lost a full stone.

Even though I could tell by the sound of my footsteps that I'd gained about two stone.

I could make out the back of my hair, peeking out from the sides. I'd somehow lost my infamous cow's lick that I had holding up my fringe for most of my life. If I didn't know better, I'd wouldn't be able to tell that I was the same person anymore.

It was only the shape of my nose, the shape of my eyes, and the small scar that I had above my left eyebrow from picking at a chicken spot that came together to form my unique face. Suddenly, a knock at the door shook me out of my thoughts.

"Hey," Ben's voice came through the brown door, light and full of cheer. Something that did a great deal to put me at ease, which only meant that I felt numb… rather than shocked. "I've left some clean clothes out for you, they might be a bit short on you, but they're at least clean."

"Thanks," I replied, robotically, while I turned on the electronic shower. "I really appreciate you doing this for me," Speaking louder to overcome the sound of the shower. "Not many people would."

"Hey, you did me a massive favor, the least I could do is help you get back on your feet."

And so I was once more left alone, this time I didn't dwell on my thoughts but instead focused on washing the dirt of New York off.

I got dressed in a plaid shirt, the sleeves of which were barely enough to reach my wrist, and a pair of jeans that were somehow too tight but just about long enough for my legs. The only real issue I had now was just how long my hair had become, with it cleaned the damn thing straightened out and was over my eyes now.

Blocking me from seeing anything if I didn't swipe it the side.

"Mr. Urich!" I spoke, only slightly loud. "I'm out now. Where should I put my dirty clothes?"

"There's a basket by the bathroom door!" Ben yelled back, his voice coming from a room down the hall. I put the clothes where he mentioned and went off towards where his voice was coming from.

"Hey," I said as I approached the frame of the door, a jaunt in my step that felt like it hadn't been there in a long time. "Thanks again for doing this for me, I've been in a bit of a spot of late and really needed the help."

After my eyes caught Ben, I took in the rest of the room. What I found was like a conspiracy theorist's wet dream, there were playing cards set up on several wooden boards attached to the furthest wall. Each one had a name, with a red string poked into the center of one and into another.

"That's what I wanted to talk to you about," Ben told me, sitting on a chair with his left foot resting on his knee. "Tell me, what is someone like you doing living on the streets?"

"Someone like me?" Was my response, feeling confused by the statement.

"You're young, powerful," he pointed at me, his index finger pointing at me as if it would prove his point. "You're also obviously an Irish National based on your accent. So I don't know why you're living on the streets of New York."

I explosively sighed, my whole body seemed to sag as my earlier thoughts came to mind once more. Spotting a free seat across from Ben I took it before shitting my eyes and rubbing my forehead to get the hair out of my eyes once more.

"You'd have a much better idea of that than I would at this point. One day, I was just studying for my leaving cert and then…" I clapped my hands together, causing the man to jump. "Bamm, I woke up in an alley with my face in a puddle and about four years added to me face."

"You have amnesia?"

"And I'm bulletproof now," I sighed once again, something that I was doing a lot lately. "That's a recent thing."

"They could be linked," Ben scratched his chin, turning his chair around to face his desk and grab his notes. "Some sort of super-soldier experiment, like with the Hulk."

I let the name drop of another Marvel superhero go, not wanting to draw any attention to the fact that it was a surprise that he was treating a fictional character like they were real. Because I had my own bombshell to drop.

"The last time I checked, it was 2012," That caused Ben to spin around in his chair, facing with this expression that fused disbelief and confusion into one perfect blend. "Now, it's 2008."

Ben suddenly licked his lips, taking his glasses off his face with his left hand while he once more scratched at his chin. It was only after a few seconds had passed that Ben spoke again, it was after his black-framed glasses touched the table that he said something.

"If you weren't bulletproof I'd think you were just crazy," he gave me another small smile while reaching over to pat me on the shoulder. "I'll help you get to the bottom of this Pat."

And with those words, relief filled my heart. It felt like the first time for hours… I could breathe again.

"Thanks."

"Hey, don't thank me, you saved my life," he responded, putting his glasses back on his face and removing his tie from around his neck. "And there's a story here, one that needs to be discovered. That's interesting…."

Author's Note: Hello true believers, here we've got the result of the vote over on the old thread. I decided that it would be better, and easier on me in terms of not needing to reorder all my old threadmarks. The old story is still in my sig so if you want to check it out if you hadn't read it yet, feel free.

For those of you that have read it, I'll say that this version will be a lot different in certain aspects, the same in other aspects. His supporting cast will be the same while I'm going to speed up the development of other things. The time period has been pushed back, to around the end of the first Iron Man movie, rather than the messed up version of the last story... where Daredevil season one was somehow happening after Civil War when it was supposed to be well before that.

Here things are better constructed so I don't make that sort of mistake. I've also decided to introduce certain elements earlier, as you've seen in both this chapter, and will see in the next.

Now, the next chapter should be both bigger than this one but I doubt it will come out till after Christmas.