Victor woke to the sound of sirens, distant crashes, and Hulk's occasional grumbling somewhere outside. Apparently, surviving yesterday wasn't a free pass—NYC didn't do free passes, especially not in a multiverse where bullets and other weird stuffs ignored the laws of physics.
AETHER's first voice of the morning:
"Good morning, genius. Did you sleep, or just lie there contemplating your inevitable demise?"
Victor groaned. "Does surviving a city-scale chaos count as sleeping? No? Then the answer's no."
Training With AETHER
Victor had quickly learned two things:
1. AETHER was entertainingly sarcastic.
2. AETHER expected him to actually use his system, not just stare at it in awe.
"Time to learn control, kid," AETHER said. "Your little display yesterday stabilized a fragment for five seconds. Impressive… barely."
Victor raised an eyebrow. "You mean I didn't blow up the city? That's barely impressive I knew I had it in me?"
"likely but Yes," AETHER replied, "because stabilizing a fragment is like walking a tightrope over a pit of reality-devouring monsters while juggling flaming chainsaws. Congratulations on not falling… yet."
Victor muttered under his breath: I knew buying flowers was safer what did I fuvkng do to deserve this.
AETHER guided him through exercises: fragment manipulation, energy projection, and controlling pulses of reality-bending energy. Victor's first attempts were… messy. Sparks flew, street signs melted into impossible shapes, and a taxi did a slow-motion somersault midair.
Here's your space to add funny mishaps, Victor's sarcastic comments, or interactions with minor heroes observing his training.
Hero Interactions
Spider-Man swung overhead, landing with his usual flair.
"Kid, you really have no idea what you're doing, huh?" He tilted his head. "That's… adorable."
Victor groaned. "who you calling kid, I could kick your ass right now, I have meta-awareness, you know! I've seen all your movies! I know how this goes!"
Spider-Man grinned. "Yeah? Well, the universe doesn't care about movie plots. Try surviving real time."
Thor arrived next, thunder rumbling under his boots. "What trickery is this, mortal? You bend reality with a finger impressive?"
Victor nervously raised his hands. "Uh… it's not bending… it's, uh, creative interpretation of physics?"
AETHER: "Nice save, genius. Pure charm and lies."
Natasha's eyes narrowed, unimpressed as usual. "If you break one building, I'm not saving you ever."
Steve gave a small smile. "He's learning. Give him time. And hope he doesn't destroy the city in the meantime."
Hulk growled somewhere behind him, already smacking a nearby obstacle just for fun.
First Serious Fragment Threat
The quiet didn't last. A larger, more unstable fragment anomaly appeared above the Hudson River, pulsing with dark energy that warped reality like oil on water.
Victor flinched.
"This is… way bigger than yesterday."
AETHER purred with amusement. "Welcome to level two. If yesterday was a warm-up, this is the main course. Try not to die, genius."
Victor channeled energy through AETHER, feeling reality push back. The anomaly pulsed, throwing ripples across the city. Traffic glitched, buildings flickered, and pedestrians screamed.
Spider-Man landed next to him mid-swing. "Remember: smaller anomalies first. Don't go full chaos master. You'll get killed. Or worse… embarrassed."
Victor muttered: "I'm already embarrassed. So… win-win idiot?"
AETHER: "Sarcasm. Good. You might survive after all."
Tony Stark arrived in his suit, analyzing the anomaly.
"Kid, you can stabilize it, but I don't trust you to do it perfectly. Stand back."
Victor's internal monologue: Stand back? This is my first real fight, and I'm supposed to… just stand back? Thanks, genius system.
Steve and Natasha coordinated a strategy, while Spider-Man zapped around giving tactical suggestions that made half the team groan. Hulk… well, Hulk was ready to smash first, think later.
Victor concentrated, following AETHER's guidance. Sparks of energy streamed from his hands, enveloping the anomaly. It shrieked, then stabilized partially.
Spider-Man whistled. "Not bad, newbie. Not bad at all."
Victor blinked. "I… didn't die. That's… progress?"
Aftermath
The anomaly flickered, closing slowly. Victor's heart still raced, adrenaline spiking.
Tony Stark glared, arms crossed. "You survived. Barely. But you did something impressive. Don't let it go to your head."
Victor muttered, "Too late. It's already gone to my head."
AETHER chuckled in his mind. "Confidence. Dangerous, but welcome."
Victor glanced at the skyline. Somewhere in the city, other fragments pulsed faintly. He sighed. Of course. It's only day two. Of what… forever?
Spider-Man swung overhead. "Get used to this, genius. Multiverse chaos doesn't take breaks. Neither do I."
Victor groaned. "I thought surviving the bullet was the hard part…"
AETHER: "Kid, that was just the tutorial."
--
A new, massive fragment anomaly ignites above Central Park. Shadows swirl within it, and Victor feels an ominous presence approaching.
Victor mutters: "Oh, great… someone else. Why is it always someone else can't it just be a beautiful girl?"
Spider-Man shoots a web mid-air: "you are look for a girl jeeze, Lesson three incoming. Try not to die… again."
AETHER's voice in Victor's head: "Chaos loves you. And trust me… it's about to get personal."