Upstate New York
HYDRA Secret Base
Alpha Station
James Holden snapped his eyes open, blinded by a harsh white light. Instinctively, he tried to raise his hand to shield himself, but he couldn't move.
His body was strapped inside a cylindrical metal experimental pod. His limbs were bound by gleaming alloy restraints, cold to the touch. A heavy collar clamped around his neck, blinking with a red light.
"Where… am I?" James muttered, his temples throbbing as memories flooded back.
He remembered his commute after work, a runaway truck smashing into his car, the windshield shattering, the crushing pain in his chest...
"Shouldn't I be dead?"
Outside the pod, figures in white hazmat suits bustled around a console. The emblem of a red skull on their chests made James flinch.
HYDRA!?
I'm in… the Marvel Universe?
I've… crossed over?
But his body was still his own; this wasn't a soul transmigration. So how was this possible?
"Experimental Subject X-137 is awake. Vital signs stable," announced a cold female voice through the pod's speakers.
"Prepare the 73rd genetic serum injection."
James struggled, but the restraints didn't budge an inch. Through the reinforced glass of the pod, he surveyed the lab. Schematics of human anatomy and genetic sequences lined the walls. In a corner, empty pods bore suspicious black stains inside.
"Serum ready," a male voice declared.
"Following the 72 previous experiments, we've adjusted the genetic recombination sequence and added a new catalyst."
"Let's hope this one survives the first phase," the female researcher replied nonchalantly. "The last subject exploded, and cleanup took two days."
James's throat tightened. Thankfully, he'd learned English for a job in international trade, and his American clients had always praised his fluency.
He realized he was a guinea pig for HYDRA, and from their words, the previous 72 subjects hadn't survived.
"Countdown to injection: 10, 9, 8…"
James thrashed violently, the restraints cutting into his skin, blood trickling from his wrists. He couldn't die here, not in such a ridiculous way after surviving a car crash!
"…3, 2, 1. Injection."
A mechanical arm descended from the pod's ceiling, a gleaming needle piercing his jugular vein. An icy substance flooded his bloodstream.
Suddenly, excruciating pain erupted through his body. His skin cracked, his muscles spasmed unnaturally, and his bones creaked with an unbearable sound.
"Vital signs spiking! Heart rate at 200, blood pressure 220/150!"
"Abnormal brain activity, off the charts!"
"My God, his muscle density has tripled! He's going to explode—stop the experiment!"
James's vision filled with red. His cells felt like they were being torn apart and reassembled, a primal, savage force awakening within him. As his consciousness frayed, a mechanical voice echoed in his mind:
[Ding! Detection of abnormal vital signs. Activating Superman Growth System!]
[Host: James Holden]
[Current Universe: Marvel, Earth-]
[Fatal genetic mutation threat detected. Initiating emergency defense protocol.]
[Granting: Complete Steel Body (fused with DC Superman's Codex of Life)]
A colossal power surged through James's body. Every cell vibrated with boundless energy, like a giant awakening from a long slumber. The mutant factors from the serum, threatening to rip his body apart, melted like snow under this force.
Outside, the monitoring instruments went haywire, sparking wildly.
"What's happening? All devices are malfunctioning!"
"The subject's vitals… impossible! All readings are off the scale!"
"Look at the pod!"
Inside the reinforced glass, James slowly raised his head, his eyes glowing with incandescent red light. The alloy restraints, capable of holding a tank, snapped like paper as he moved.
"Impossible!" the female researcher screamed, stumbling back. "That alloy can withstand 500 tons of force!"
James stood amid the pod's wreckage, staring at his hands. He felt a power capable of lifting mountains and shattering oceans. His super-hearing picked up every heartbeat in the base, his X-ray vision pierced through dozens of steel layers, and his cells brimmed with near-infinite energy.
"So this is… Superman's power?"
[Ding! Host has obtained a complete and evolving Steel Body. Current abilities include, but are not limited to: super-strength, bio-force field (flight, super-speed), heat vision, arctic breath, super-hearing, X-ray vision, etc.]
Suddenly, the lab's blast doors burst open. A dozen HYDRA agents stormed in, their energy weapons trained on James.
"Don't move, X-137! On your knees, hands on your head!"
"Fire!"
James slowly raised his head, a smirk tugging at his lips. In his eyes, the agents moved in slow motion, each energy projectile tracing a path he could follow. The blue bolts ricocheted off his bio-force field like they'd hit an invisible wall.
He exhaled lightly, releasing an arctic breath. A wave of polar cold swept through the lab, freezing the agents into ice blocks, their terrified expressions locked in eternity.
James strode to the main console and crushed the alloy like clay with a single motion.
Sirens blared, red lights flashing frantically.
"Alert! Base on Level 1 combat status! All combat units, converge on Lab B!"
His X-ray vision pierced the walls, revealing hundreds of HYDRA soldiers mobilizing and three heavy mechs powering up.
He grinned, his body lifting gently into the air.
"Perfect for testing my powers."
Like a bullet, he shot through the lab's ceiling, pulverizing twelve layers of reinforced concrete before landing in the base's central hall.
The HYDRA soldiers had no time to react. The shockwave of his arrival sent them crashing into the walls.
"He's here! Fire!"
Hundreds of energy beams converged on him, but not one so much as grazed his clothing. (Note: I've added clothing to avoid the hero running around naked.)
Hovering in the air, James scanned the room. His eyes ignited, and his heat vision sliced through HYDRA's heavy armor like butter, melting support pillars. The entire base shook.
He darted toward a mech, grabbing its 30-ton chassis with one hand and hurling it into the other two like a toy.
BOOM!
The three mechs exploded in a fireball, the shockwave tearing off half the roof. Sunlight flooded the base, amplifying James's powers further.
"Monster! He's a monster!" screamed a surviving commander, his pistol trembling in his hands.
James landed in front of him. His super-hearing picked up an encrypted conversation from deep within the base:
"Activate the self-destruct protocol! The subject must not escape!"
"But, sir, our men are still inside!"
"Execute the order! Countdown: 60 seconds!"
James shook his head. "You'd kill your own men?"
"For HYDRA's glory, sacrifice is necessary!" the commander sneered. "You won't escape! Everything within five kilometers will be razed! Long live HYDRA!"
James sighed, then shot into the air, piercing hundreds of meters of rock to reach the surface. His vision located the base's central reactor. He inhaled deeply and unleashed an arctic breath.
A wave of absolute cold froze the reactor, halting the self-destruct sequence. The entire base turned into a massive ice sculpture.