The basement laboratory was a catastrophe of broken equipment and shattered containment fields. Yasuo's Sharingan picked out the details blast patterns radiating from a central point, scorch marks that suggested energy discharge rather than conventional explosives, and a conspicuous void where something had clearly been stored. The mounting brackets remained, twisted and empty, surrounding a circular platform that still hummed with residual power.
"They knew exactly what they wanted," Spider-Man said, examining the wreckage. His fingers traced the edge of the platform, careful not to touch the scorched metal. "Precision extraction. In and out in under five minutes, based on the security timestamps." He looked up at Yasuo. "This wasn't a smash-and-grab. This was surgical."
Yasuo moved closer, his enhanced vision analyzing the energy patterns lingering in the air. They swirled in complex helixes that his mind struggled to categorize not quite electromagnetic, not quite anything he'd encountered in Runeterra, but carrying an underlying resonance that felt disturbingly familiar. Like looking at his own reflection in water, recognizable but distorted.
"Dimensional energy," he said quietly. "What does that mean in this world?"
"It means someone's trying to punch holes in reality," a woman's voice answered from behind them.
Both men spun. Yasuo's Sharingan flared to combat readiness, his body dropping into a fighting stance. Spider-Man's hands came up, web-shooters aimed at the figure emerging from the shadows of the stairwell.
The woman from the rooftop.
Up close, she was even more formidable than Yasuo's distant observation had suggested. Black tactical suit that hugged her frame with functional precision, not designed for intimidation but for lethal efficiency. Auburn hair fell in waves past her shoulders, framing a face that could have been carved from marble beautiful in a cold, dangerous way that reminded Yasuo of a sheathed blade. But it was her eyes that held his attention. Green, calculating, and carrying depths of experience that spoke of violence endured and violence delivered in equal measure.
"Natasha," Spider-Man said, his posture relaxing slightly but not completely. "When did S.H.I.E.L.D. start sending you to babysit my crime scenes?"
"When our sensors detected an anomaly that doesn't fit any known energy signature in our database." Her gaze shifted to Yasuo, and he felt the weight of her assessment like a physical touch. "When hospitals report patients who heal from fatal injuries overnight. When street cameras catch footage of someone moving with reflexes that shouldn't be possible." She took three measured steps forward, each movement economical and precise. "When someone appears out of nowhere with abilities that read like myth and legend rather than science."
Yasuo met her stare without flinching, his Sharingan analyzing every micro-expression, every subtle shift in her stance. She was dangerous lethally so but not immediately hostile. Her hands remained visible and empty, though he had no doubt she could have a weapon drawn in less than a heartbeat. More interestingly, her energy signature up close was even more puzzling than from a distance. Human, definitely, but with undertones that suggested enhancement. Not cybernetic like some of the people he'd seen on the streets, but something more subtle. Something biological.
"You've been watching me," Yasuo said.
"Since you walked out of St. Luke's Hospital wearing stolen scrubs." A ghost of a smile touched her lips, there and gone in an instant. "You're not very good at being inconspicuous. Those eyes tend to draw attention."
"Okay, time out." Spider-Man made a T-shape with his hands. "Natasha, this is... actually, I don't know his name. Mysterious Wind Guy, this is Natasha Romanoff, also known as Black Widow, premier spy and occasional pain in my webbing. Can we all agree to play nice while we figure out who stole potentially world-ending technology?"
"Yasuo," he said, not breaking eye contact with Natasha. "My name is Yasuo."
"Yasuo." She repeated it with perfect pronunciation, as if testing how it felt. "Japanese origin. 'Peaceful one' or 'calm.' Ironic, given what I've observed of your fighting style." She moved past him toward the extraction point, her shoulder nearly brushing his. The brief proximity allowed his Sharingan to catch more details scars hidden beneath her suit's collar, the micro-tensions in her muscles that spoke of chronic readiness, and something else. Something in the way she held herself that reminded him achingly of his own carefully constructed walls.
She was hiding pain. Deep pain. The kind that came from years of surviving things that should have broken her.
Yasuo understood that intimately.
"The dimensional energy research," Natasha continued, crouching beside the empty platform. "Stark Industries was developing it as a clean power source, but the applications extend far beyond electricity. In the wrong hands, it could open doorways to other realities, other dimensions. Or worse destabilize the barriers between worlds."
The words hit Yasuo like a blade between the ribs. Other dimensions. Other worlds. Was that how he'd arrived here? Had someone or something already breached those barriers, pulling him from death in Runeterra to resurrection in this alien reality?
"You know something about this," Natasha said. It wasn't a question. Her eyes had tracked every micro-expression on his face, reading him as easily as he read combat patterns. "Your energy signature. Our sensors can't classify it because it's not from here. Is it?"
Spider-Man looked between them. "Wait, what? You're saying he's actually from another dimension? Like, parallel universe, multiverse theory, sci-fi made real?"
"I'm saying his power signature doesn't match anything on Earth," Natasha replied, standing with fluid grace. "Which means either he's the result of an experiment we don't know about, or he's exactly what he appears to be someone who shouldn't exist in our reality." Her gaze locked onto Yasuo again, penetrating and unrelenting. "So which is it, Yasuo? What are you?"
He could lie. Should lie. Every instinct honed by years of being hunted screamed at him to deflect, to hide, to never reveal weakness to potential enemies. But something in Natasha's eyes stopped him. Perhaps it was the recognition of shared trauma. Perhaps it was exhaustion from carrying secrets alone. Or perhaps it was simply the realization that in this world of wonders and impossibilities, the truth might be less dangerous than deception.
"I died," Yasuo said simply. "In my world, my brother killed me for a crime I didn't commit. I felt my life end. Felt the darkness take me." His hand moved unconsciously to his chest again. "Then I woke in a hospital in this place, this world that shouldn't exist. My body younger. My powers diminished to shadows of what they were." He deactivated his Sharingan, meeting her gaze with only mortal sight. "I don't know why I'm here. I don't know how this happened. All I know is that I should be dead, and instead I'm trapped in a reality that makes no sense."
The silence stretched between them, heavy with implications. Spider-Man shifted uncomfortably, clearly out of his depth with metaphysical revelations. But Natasha's expression had changed subtly, the professional mask slipping just enough to reveal something softer underneath. Something that looked almost like understanding.
"That must be terrifying," she said quietly. "Being torn from everything you knew. Everyone you knew. Existing in a world where the fundamental rules have changed."
"You speak as if from experience."
"Everyone's been torn from something." The vulnerability vanished as quickly as it appeared, professional composure sliding back into place. But Yasuo had seen it with his supernatural sight the momentary drop in her guard, the flash of old wounds that never fully healed. "The question is what you do with what comes after."
"Wow," Spider-Man interjected, his tone attempting levity that didn't quite land. "This got heavy fast. Should we hug it out, or can we get back to the part where someone stole dimension-breaking technology and we need to stop them?"
Natasha's earpiece crackled to life before anyone could respond. A male voice, tense with urgency: "Romanoff, what's your location?"
She touched the device, her other hand already moving toward weapons Yasuo could now see concealed beneath her suit. "Queens. Stark facility. What's the situation?"
"We need you in Midtown. Now." The voice carried barely controlled panic. "All agents, we have a Code Green situation. Banner has lost control, and this time " Static burst across the line. " it's different. He's not calming down. Repeat, Banner is not responding to standard protocols. We need "
The transmission cut off, replaced by the distant sound of an explosion that rattled the building's remaining windows. All three of them turned toward the noise, and through the blown-out wall, Yasuo could see a pillar of smoke rising into the night sky, miles away but clearly massive. The ground trembled with a secondary impact, and somewhere in the distance, car alarms began wailing in a cascading wave.
"Banner," Spider-Man breathed. "Oh no. Not the Hulk. Please tell me that's not what Code Green means."
Natasha was already moving toward the exit, her entire demeanor shifting into combat mode. "It means exactly that. Bruce Banner. The Hulk. Strongest there is, most dangerous when he can't control it." She glanced back at them. "And if he's not responding to protocols, it means something's wrong. Very wrong."
Another explosion, closer this time. The building shook hard enough to crack a support pillar. Through the hole in the wall, Yasuo's Sharingan caught movement in the distance something massive, green, moving through the city like a living earthquake. Even from miles away, the energy signature was overwhelming, a raw primal force that dwarfed everything he'd encountered since arriving in this world.
"We have to help," Spider-Man said, already shooting a web-line toward the opening.
"No." Natasha's voice was ice and command. "You evacuate civilians. Get people out of the impact zone. This is beyond "
"I'll go with you," Yasuo interrupted. Both of them turned to stare at him. He met Natasha's skeptical gaze steadily. "You said yourself my power signature is unique. If this Banner has lost control, perhaps seeing something truly foreign might reach him where familiar things cannot. Or at minimum, I can fight."
"You can barely control your own abilities," Natasha countered, though her tone suggested she was considering it. "What I saw on the security footage you're operating at a fraction of whatever you used to be capable of."
"Then I'll be a fraction of use instead of none at all." Yasuo moved toward the exit, his body already readying for combat despite exhaustion pulling at his limbs. "I didn't ask to be brought to this world, but while I'm here, I won't stand aside while people die. That's not who I am."
Natasha studied him for a long moment, her eyes searching his face for something. Whatever she found must have satisfied her, because she nodded once, sharp and decisive.
"Try to keep up," she said, then sprinted toward the stairwell with inhuman speed.
Yasuo followed, Spider-Man swinging past them both toward the distant chaos. As they ran, another explosion lit up the night sky, and Yasuo felt the ghost of his brother's blade pierce his heart once more.
He'd died once seeking an end to pain. Now, it seemed, he'd live to face entirely new kinds of monsters.
The only question was whether he'd survive this second life any better than he had the first.