Your Savior Is Here! (No, Not Me, That Other Guy) Chapter 2: An Unlucky Spawn, an avengers fanfic

A/N: Working out a whole lvling/HP/quest system is really hard, apparently. And google docs does not format well with fanfiction. This chapter was really fun to write, though. I used google translate for some parts, so it's probably very incorrect grammatically. If anyone speaks German and knows how to correct it, feel free to let me know. I appreciate constructive criticism and reviews, plz no flames, and enjoy the chapter!

Disclaimer: I own nothing- I'm just playing in other people's universes. I owe a lot of my inspiration to other fanfic writers and readers out there- I really appreciate you guys, I've totally enjoyed being part of the fanfiction community ever since quarantine started.

Reina blearily opened her eyes, a pounding headache begging for her attention. She was leaned up against a wall, head resting on cool stone. Breathe in, breathe out.I'm not dead, I'm fine, it was all a dream. But the memories came crashing back: the rushing sensation of falling, being thrown back against the leather seat, the beating of her own heart loud in her ears. The blaring car alarm compounded with the crash of waves as she hit the water. The taste of copper on her tongue, shards of glass cutting into her body as life fled her.

Stop. Breathe in, breathe out.

A car horn shrieked, her desperate attempt to save the person heading right for her. She wrenched the wheel to the side, the vehicle turning over in slow motion, tumbling, rolling, crashing down the hill. Objects were flung around the interior, pens and papers taking flight, a coffee mug desperately leaping out the open window in an attempt to save itself. Glass shattering, broken, splintered.

No. No, no, no. Breathe in, breathe out.

Piercing laughter, an elbow thrown from a friend. A teasing grin, waving a fresh driver's license in front of their face. Race you to the car! A father, shaking his head in amusement. A winter's night, cuddled together by the fire. Fallen leaves piled up, children using them as projectiles to bury each other under a mix of red and orange. A picnic in the grass, a seven-year-old picking flowers, a crayon drawing of a family. Flashes, fragments, nothing concrete. Pieces of a life, each memory fuzzy, but the crash remembered in perfect detail.

My death remembered in perfect detail.

The panic that had been so easily suppressed was brought to the forefront, her breathing fast and heavy, surroundings neglected. Tears trickled down her face, trailing a path through the dirt on her cheeks, and dripping onto the ground. Hands curled into fists, nails digging into skin, attempting to bring some semblance of awareness back to the small girl curled up into a ball. Eyes squeezed shut, to block out the world around her. Breathe. Focus. Come on, Reina. Pull yourself together. Breathing slowly slowing down, she opened her eyes, wiping away the tears on her face.

Skill level up!
Emotional Control (Novice 2)

Can't tell if I should be embarrassed or not. Does calming myself down really count as emotional control? I guess I was thinking more emotionally than logically- in fact, I should probably take a look around. Reina was resting on the floor of a room made of stone, dark grey walls staring down at her from all sides but one. Rusting iron bars faced her, metallic guardians blocking the exit. A hallway stretched from side to side beyond, another dark room facing hers. Cracks stood out on the dirty ceiling, dim lighting sending shadows dancing along the floor. She was dressed in thin rags, and shivered as she finally realized the chill emanating from the stone. Dammit. Shouldn't have picked Bad Luck. I mean, what the hell was I thinking? Picking something called Bad Luck can't have possibly been a good idea. Alright, there has to be some way to access some kind of user interface.

"Menu." Nope. "Pause." Guess not. "Interface, heads-up-display, help menu, ummm, inventory, options."

"...How about character sheet?"

Black text popped up in front of her, and she stumbled back in surprise. Ok, good to know.

Well done! You have discovered the gamer interface. Access your character's stats by thinking or saying "character sheet." The display options can be changed in settings.

Name: Reina Jones
Lvl: 1 (0/100)
Age: 4
Race: Human
Title(s): None

HP: 550 (750)(LOCKED: underage)
MP: 750
FP: (?)
Buffs: (-)
Debuffs: (-)

Str: 10 (LOCKED: underage)
Dex: 10 (16)(LOCKED: underage)
Con: 10 (14)(LOCKED: underage)
Int: 18
Wis: 16
Cha: 16
Luk: 10

AP (Ability Points): 0
PP (Perk Points): 0
SP (Skill Points): 50 (LOCKED: underage)

Perks:

Actor
Determined
Dueling
Eidetic Memory
Linguist
Mage Sight
Mind Arts
Mistborn
Prodigy
Addition: Player's Mind [Off]

Skills:

Acting (Novice 1)
Arcane Observer (Novice 1)
Combat (Novice 1)
Deception (Novice 1)
Emotional Control (Novice 1)
Languages (MAX)
Melee Weapons (Novice 1)
Mental Barriers (Novice 1)
Observation (Novice 1)
Ranged Weapons (Novice 1)

Mistborn Physical (Novice 1)
Subsections: Iron (Novice 1)
Steel (Novice 1)
Tin (Novice 1)
Pewter (Novice 1)
Mistborn Mental (Novice 1)
Subsections: Zinc (Novice 1)
Brass (Novice 1)
Copper (Novice 1)
Bronze (Novice 1)
Mistborn Temporal (Novice 1)
Subsections: Cadmium (Novice 1)
Cerrobend (Novice 1)
Gold (Novice 1)
Electrum (Novice 1)
Mistborn Enhancement (Novice 1)
Subsections: Chromium (Novice 1)
Nicrosil (Novice 1)
Aluminum (Novice 1)
Duralumin (Novice 1)

Relationships:
LOCKED: underage

Quests:
?

Are you kidding me? 4? Great, that won't be weird at all, being a 4-year-old with the mental capacity of a 16-year-old. But quests seem interesting- I wonder how quest creation works? Hopefully, it will allow me to find a way out of here.

You have gained your first quest!

Quests:
Quests are defined objectives for the Player to accomplish in-game. They often reward XP, as well as any number of other rewards- reputation boosts, items, and sometimes even titles or buffs. Quests can be user-defined, challenge quests, game progression quests, etc. Quests are rated from E to S***, with E being the easiest and anything above B containing a risk of death.

Quest: Escape HYDRA's clutches [S]
Objective: Escape from HYDRA

Bonus

(?)

Rewards:
Heavy reputation loss with HYDRA members
Will be hunted by HYDRA
5000 XP
Extensive assassin training

On Failure:
Potential Death
Deaths of Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes

[Accept]
[Reject]

Fuck. Please, please don't tell me I'm captured by HYDRA.

Congratulations! You have been captured by HYDRA.

Fuck you, game.

Language!

Did the game just Steve Rogers me? Ok, don't panic, captured by HYDRA, that's not too bad, they're only a secret criminal organization that is probably going to kill me or use me in some sick experiment. Plus, if I accept the quest, I'll only have to worry about this super organization hunting me down, most likely trying to kill me. But I can't get stuck here forever, so, I guess I'll have to accept.

+ [Accept]

Quest added to list.

Reina raised a hand to rub her brow as the headache got worse. I probably need some water- yeah, that's a good first step.

As if someone had heard her thoughts, a loud bang echoed down the hallway, the metallic noise ringing in her ears. Heavy steps fell on the concrete, and a man walked into view. He was a tall, bulky figure, dressed in all black with an overlaying military jacket. Pistols were strapped to his belt, along with a wicked-looking knife. A crooked nose, as if it was bashed in one too many times, emphasized the sneer on his face. He had short hair, mostly hidden under a dark helmet with goggles that tried and failed to obscure his beady black eyes.

His voice was rough and gravelly when he spoke "Iss auf, du wirst bald beurteilt. Mit etwas Glück werden sie entscheiden, dass keine von euch Maden die Arbeit wert ist. Nun, du wirst entweder Hydra dienen oder du wirst sterben." Great, now I'm regretting not taking more German classes. He said something about being judged, Hydra, and dying… not ominous at all.

You have unlocked a new skill!
German (Beginner 18)
(Languages subsection)

She ignored the notification when he threw a package into her cell, which came to rest at her feet. The rifle in his hands clanked as he reached up to scratch the stubble on his chin, and he gestured to the package with his gun. Picking it up, she unwrapped the contents- a bottle of water, a hunk of bread, and some beef jerky. Reina bit into the bread and winced; it was obviously stale, but it was better to eat while she could. The burly muscle man (that's what she was going to call him now) watched her eat and only walked away once she had drunk the last bit of water.

Settings, Reina thought, after his heavy footsteps had all but receded. Apparently, she was able to edit her HUD, which would be really nice as the game kept sending her messages that were right in front of her face. Clicking through the options, she set quest alerts, skill alerts, ability score increases, wake-up messages, and game notifications all to the bottom right corner. The HP and MP bars went in the lower left, along with FP… which she still had no idea as to what it stood for. Reina sucked in a breath as she noticed an option right near the bottom for a minimap- a minimap. So incredibly useful. She placed that in the top right corner of her vision and made it slightly transparent.

Next on the list was determining which skills she could work on while stuck here. Unfortunately, nothing Mistborn related would work, as the only metal she had was the iron bars, and they were clearly rusted. No skills based on acting or languages would work for now, and she obviously couldn't train up weapons skills. That left Emotional Control and Observation.

Not exactly knowing how they worked, Reina looked around her cell, trying to see if anything was interesting. That didn't seem to work, so she stared directly at the bars, eyes watering with the strain after she had been staring at them for a few minutes. She was about to give up hope when a notification chimed.

Rusted Iron Bars
These bars are made of solid iron, and while rusted, are still sturdy and unlikely to bend. Ingesting metal scraps from these iron bars would most likely make you sick, rather than being useful Mistborn reserves.

Skill level up!
Observation (Novice 2)

Huh. Well, not much else to see in this cell, so that's not really going to work. Emotional control- I guess meditating would count? Reina crossed her legs, sitting up straight as she closed her eyes. Breathe in, breathe out. She allowed the memories of her crash to flow into her mind, panic quickly rising in her chest, and tried to look at them with a calmer demeanor. It's over. Breathe in, breathe out. Let the memories go. Reina opened her eyes again when she heard a small chime, feeling slightly more at ease than she did before.

You have unlocked a new skill!
Meditation (Novice 1)
(Emotional Control subsection)

Skill level up!
Meditation (Novice 2)

That's… actually really useful. Reina closed her eyes again, trying to work through the fact that her whole life had just been upended. Wait, I'm in the Marvel universe now! A strange thread of joy shot through the melodramatic thoughts, a beacon of light that sent the shadows skittering to the edges of her mind. This is awesome! I'm going to get to meet the Avengers, and Guardians, and… oh... hopefully not die at the hands of Thanos. A smile came to her face as Reina slowly got lost in her thoughts of the Marvel universe, her surroundings fading away.

Sleep interrupted!
HP halfway restored.
MP halfway restored.
FP halfway restored.
No status conditions healed.

Skill level up!
Meditation (Novice 4)

A rough hand was gripping her arm, tugging her roughly through the gate before tossing her forwards into the hallway, causing her to stumble. She barely had time to notice the wake-up message before her thoughts were interrupted.

"Move. The doctor will see you now." Reina blinked in surprise about understanding spoken German, before scurrying forward so she didn't have to feel the cool metal of his gun pointed at her back. She was led down the stone corridor, as they turned left, right, went down some stairs, made a right again, then a left, right, left, and another left into a massive stone chamber.

The room was obviously very interesting- it seemed like some kind of lab. An observation deck stood at the far end, separated by a thick pane of green glass.

But nothing caught her attention more than what was in the middle of the room. Not the cluttered desks holding papers with advanced chemical formulas, nor the assortment of gut-wrenching tools covered in blood that adorned the wall. Not the tanks with strange liquids swirling around inside, the whiteboard covered in a messy scrawl, or what looked like a torture chair pushed off to the side.

No, what caught her attention was the big pile of rags in the center of the room, that seemed to be shifting… Reina sucked in a breath as she was pushed closer, and noticed a pair of eyes staring out of the rags, right at her- a set of eyes belonging to a child. Not a pile of rags. Children huddled together, corralled like animals, and seemingly, all here for one reason- one reason that was abundantly clear, shown by the floating vats of chemicals, the restraining tables that she had missed before, and the people that had just walked into the room.

Scientists, dressed in pristine white lab coats, stepped onto a raised platform, their eyes gleaming with an almost predatory gaze. And behind them, a man, dressed in a way similar to the guard from before. With a dark blue outfit and combat vest overlaying it, guns strapped to his hips and one slung over his back, he struck an intimidating figure. The feeling was only amplified by spotting the gun in his hand. Unlike the guard from earlier, however, he wore no helmet- instead, a black mask stretched over his mouth and nose, leaving his short brown hair and piercing blue eyes in full view. This was no ordinary soldier, no… made even clearer by the metallic hand that gripped his rifle. The Winter Soldier.

Oh my God.

Abbreviated Character Sheet:

Name: Reina Jones
Lvl: 1 (20/100)
Age: 4
Race: Human
Title(s): None