"3, 2, 1, CUT!"
The cameraman's voice cut through the air at the smoke-filled fire scene.
"Phew~"
Colin, who had been holding a pose for the camera, immediately breathed a sigh of relief. He reached up to pat his face, stiff from maintaining a serious expression for so long, and asked the cameraman before him.
"How was it?"
"I think it was great."
Putting down the heavy camera that had been resting on his shoulder, the thickly-bearded cameraman, Smith, shrugged and replied nonchalantly, "You're too tense, Colin. This is just an ordinary, run-of-the-mill fire news report. Incidents like this happen several times a day in New York City. There's no need to worry so much."
"Maybe you're right, Smith."
Hearing Smith's somewhat perfunctory reassurance, Colin's anxiety unexpectedly eased a little.
Turning his head to glance at the fire behind him, which was gradually being brought under control, and the emotionally stirred crowd, a dazed look involuntarily appeared on Colin's face.
It had been less than a week since he had arrived in this world. Zhou Cheng, or rather, Colin, was trying hard to adapt to his new identity and this seemingly familiar yet fundamentally different superhero world he now found himself in.
...
"Hey, Colin! Colin..."
Just then, the cameraman's voice, combined with the urgent honking of an automobile, pulled Colin back from his daze.
Snapping back to his senses, he saw that Smith, who had been standing across from him, had somehow already gotten back into the news van and was honking the horn, urging him to get in.
"Hurry up! The Newspaper Agency just called. Said there's a police chase happening in the Twelfth Block. They want us to get to the scene immediately and film a firsthand news report. Dammit, of all times... If I'd known, I would've shot more footage at the fire to drag things out..."
Rolling down the window, the cameraman Smith stuck his head out from the driver's seat and complained with a dark expression.
The reporters sent by the news agency to cover stories on the front lines were usually either veterans or rookies. The former had connections to get exclusive stories, while the latter had plenty of time to be ordered around at will.
Judging by Colin's performance, he was undoubtedly in the latter category.
And it was precisely because of this that the various amateurish mistakes Colin had made at work since transmigrating didn't arouse too much suspicion, allowing him to use his rookie reporter status to successfully get through the initial chaos and hardship.
"Okay, coming."
He shook his head, suppressing the thoughts that surfaced in his mind.
Colin took a deep breath, tightened his grip on the microphone emblazoned with The Daily Bugle's logo, and jogged over to the passenger seat of the news van driven by the cameraman.
...
The news report on the car chase ended in failure, as expected.
By the time Colin and the cameraman arrived, the police had already completed the arrest and were speeding away in their police car right in front of them.
"Dammit, another wasted trip."
Watching the police car disappear into the distance, Smith couldn't help but slam the steering wheel and curse.
In the driver's seat, the bearded cameraman Smith complained out of habit, but Colin's attention in the passenger seat had long since been captured by an advertisement playing on the large screen in the square.
"...possessing cutting-edge biotechnology... we are at the forefront, safeguarding your health and safety. Hydra Biotech, always by your side, solving all your troubles. Hail Hydra, the perfect protector..."
In the advertisement, the skull-and-octopus symbol of Hydra appeared brazenly on the square's screen.
It gave one a strange sense of absurdity.
However, apart from Colin himself, no one else in the entire square found what was happening strange.
This, of course, included the cameraman Smith sitting in the driver's seat beside him.
After all, to the people of this world, Hydra was just a multinational corporation specializing in biotechnology research, not the infamous Hydra organization from World War II. Even "Hail Hydra," originally a slogan used by Hydra for brainwashing, had now become the advertising slogan used by Hydra Biotech on the square's screen.
Things like this weren't just happening on the big screen in the square.
In fact, ever since Colin arrived in this world, the more he learned, the more lost he felt.
Everything in this world was vastly different from the superhero world in his memories. In this world's history, Tony Stark had died in an automobile accident back in the nineties—yes, the very same one that had claimed the lives of Howard and Maria.
Only this time, it wasn't just Stark's parents who had died; it also included Iron Man himself.
From the old newspapers Colin had dug up, he could vaguely discern that the family of three had been traveling together, apparently on their way to a special event they'd been invited to, but had tragically perished en route.
And after losing both Howard Stark and his successor, Tony Stark, Stark Industries, founded by Howard Stark, quickly fell into decline. Although Howard's former deputy, Obadiah Stane, had attempted to manage Stark Industries during this period, he was ultimately unable to halt the company's downward trend.
The last news report Colin had seen in the media about Stark Industries was from two years ago, when it was acquired by Hydra Biotech and became one of its subsidiaries. After that, it was difficult to find any related reports.
Tony Stark's death made Colin clearly realize that he was in a superhero world completely different from the one he knew from memory—a superhero world without Iron Man.
In fact, it wasn't just Iron Man, Tony Stark, who had vanished.
S.H.I.E.L.D., Captain America, the Avengers—everything Colin was familiar with no longer existed.
In their place were the Thunderbolts.
A 'legal' superhero group, registered with and subordinate to the Federal Government.
On this team, there were superheroes Colin recognized, like Luke Cage and Iron Fist, as well as supervillains like Crossbones and Bullseye. Heroes and villains, who in Colin's memory should have been mortal enemies, were now teammates on the same superhero team in this world.
And besides the individuals mentioned above...
Black Widow, Natasha, was also one of the members of the Thunderbolts.
Apparently, in this world without the Avengers...
this super-spy had still found her place.
She became a member of the superhero team, the Thunderbolts, lawfully pursuing unregistered superhuman criminals within the United States who operated without government permission.
(end of chapter)