The gun was still warm when Dean snatched it off the ground—not from firing, but like it had been forged minutes ago. The weight was perfect. The grip molded to his fingers like it was made for him. The man in the coat didn't wait for questions. He just turned and walked toward the burning horizon, his coat flaring behind him like a banner.
Dean hesitated only a second before following. The winged thing in the sky shrieked, diving low enough that the wind of its passage sent debris skittering across the broken pavement. He didn't flinch. The tablet strapped to his wrist buzzed again:
**STATUS SCREEN**
**HP: 68% → 72% (Regeneration Active)**
**SP: 500**
**Available Worlds: [Limitless - 2000 SP]**
**Warning: Second Wave Inbound - 00:12:43**
"Twelve minutes," Dean muttered. He thumbed the safety off the gun. "Cutting it fucking close."
The man—Benefactor, whatever—glanced over his shoulder. "You're thinking too small." He snapped his fingers, and the world *rippled*. The ruins around them blurred, then sharpened into the sleek interior of a high-tech bunker. Dean's boots clicked against polished steel. "Twelve minutes here is twelve hours there. Time dilation's a bitch."
Dean's grip on the gun didn't loosen. "There?"
The Benefactor tossed him a pill—small, blue, unmistakable. "Limitless. You've got the points. Spend them."
The tablet burned against Dean's wrist. He didn't need to look to know the option was pulsing. **Limitless - 2000 SP**. He had 500. Which meant—
"First trial's free," the Benefactor said, grinning like a shark. "The rest? You earn."
Dean swallowed the pill dry. The effect was instantaneous. His vision sharpened until he could see the individual fibers in the Benefactor's coat. His thoughts unspooled—calculations, probabilities, the exact angle his bullet would need to pierce that winged thing's eye socket. The tablet chimed:
**STATUS SCREEN UPDATE**
**Ability Acquired: [NZ-48 Enhanced Cognition]**
**Duration: Permanent**
**Side Effects: None (System Override)**
Dean exhaled. "Cheat codes."
The Benefactor laughed. "Welcome to the big leagues." He tossed Dean a second object—a ring, black and unadorned. "Next world's on you. Don't die before you get there."
The bunker dissolved. Dean stood in a grimy alley, the stench of garbage thick in the air. The tablet updated:
**Current World: Earth-616 (Marvel Cinematic Universe Variant)**
**New Objective: Locate [Tesseract Fragment]**
**Reward: 3000 SP**
A gunshot echoed from the street. Dean checked the chamber of his own weapon. Six rounds. He'd need more.
He stepped out of the alley just as a man in a red, white, and blue suit went flying through a storefront window. Dean didn't blink. His enhanced mind had already mapped the fight—Stark's repulsors overheating, Rogers' shield angle imperfect, the third assailant (enhanced, unknown origin) telegraphing his next strike.
Dean raised his gun. Fired once.
The enhanced man dropped, a hole between his eyes.
Silence. Then Stark's voice, tinny through the helmet: "Who the hell are you?"
Dean reloaded. "The guy who just saved your ass." He tapped his temple. "And the only one who knows where the Tesseract shard is."
The tablet buzzed.
**STATUS SCREEN UPDATE**
**SP: 500 → 800 (Combat Bonus)**
Dean smirked.
The game was on.