The Name of the Game

by LostInAForest

John Smith woke up one day with a blinding headache and a concoction of strange memories and strange abilities. He didn't believe it at first until strange things began happening. He wanted to try and keep his head down but his desires and the world around him seemed to want different things. John knows he is not a good person, but he knows that if he tries he can do good things.

9. Chapter 9

Game System has been updated; the Quest System has been added.

John blinked in surprise as he watched the message that had appeared as he woke up. An update?

Multiple Quests have been discovered.

Quest: Defender of the Universe

Objective: Defeat Thanos and his armies.

Rewards: Unknown

Failure: Death of at least half the universe. 50% Chance of death.

Accept this Quest?

Yes – No

John considered it for a moment, watching the quest. His stomach churned slightly as he did so. He had spent so much of his time avoiding getting caught and trying to make things as good as he could for himself, could he take the risk and fight Thanos?

No. He decided. He couldn't

But he could do something else. He could create his own army, his own group that might be able to defeat Thanos.

Originally, he was going to leave the Avengers and co. to defeat Thanos but now that he had become a part of SHIELD, he had no doubt that he had altered the timeline. He couldn't leave it up to them, he was going to raise an army to fight Thanos.

He pressed yes. A few more quests popped up.

Quest: Building an Army

Objective: Recruit an army strong enough to defy Thanos.

Bonus 1: Recruit 10 People.

Bonus 2: Recruit 100 People.

Bonus 3: Recruit 1,000 People.

Rewards: Unknown

Failure: Possible Death of the Universe.

Accept this Quest?

Yes – No

Quest: Enhancements

Objective: Gain access to ways to enhance your army.

Bonus 1: Gain access to the Super-Soldier Serum

Bonus 2: Gain access to the Powerman Process

Bonus 3: Gain access to a stabilised Extremis Serum.

Rewards: Unknown.

Accept this Quest?

Yes – No

John accepted both quests; they gave him a place to start once he had escaped from SHIELD. However, just because he was fighting against Thanos, didn't mean that he would be going completely straight. He did every much enjoy doing less than moral things of course.

As he dismissed them, he began to look around, he quickly recognised where he was. He had been placed inside on of SHIELD's enhanced containment rooms. There was no way he would be able to escape from there anytime soon.

As he looked around John heard the electronic door of the cell slide open.

"Good morning Mr Smith." John looked towards whoever had walked into the room and saw a severe looking woman that he vaguely recognised from the MCU, but he could not quite place.

"Usually, people introduce themselves when starting a conversation, it's just polite." He went with the sarcastic approach, not really being in a tolerant mood.

"You can call me Agent Hand; I will be your commanding officer for the foreseeable future." She looked at him with a no-nonsense attitude. It was clear that she was a professional, John was not sure he could be her in a fight if he wanted.

"What am I doing here, why haven't you just killed me or something?" John asked, confused. He had been captured, he was sure that they'd probably lock him up in the fridge, but as far as he knew this definitely wasn't the fridge. "Who are you guys?"

"We are SHIELD, it stands for the Strategic Homeland Intervention and Enforcement Logistics Division, we protect the world from what its not ready to see, from people like you." Hand explained. "As to what you are doing here you have been chosen for a new project headed by myself. It is purpose is to reform enhanced criminals as members of SHIELD. You are extremely lucky nobody ever died at your hand or due to your actions, otherwise you would not be here."

"I do my best not to kill." John admitted, the idea of killing unnecessarily disgusted him. He remembered the other John's death, it wasn't a nice one and he didn't want to cause it for others if it was unnecessary.

"For today you will undergo some tests by our scientists and go through a psychological evaluation and interview to ensure your compatibility for our project. If all goes well, you will start your training tomorrow." Agent Hand explained. "Do you have any more questions?"

"Yeah, does this mean I'm going to go on missions and stuff?" John asked.

"One day maybe." Hand spoke. "And if you prove to be an asset to SHIELD then you will be granted benefits, one day you may even be given your freedom."

"I look forwards to it agent Hand." John put on a smile as he began to make a plan as to how to escape. An inescapable cage that he was kept in, probably inside an underground bunker that it would be impossible to get out of in legal means as well as impossible to dig out of. His only hopes were gaining new powers or waiting until they trusted him enough, which wouldn't be easy for SHIELD agents.

"Good, you will be collected in twenty minutes to undergo examination. If you resist or attempt to escape you will be placed somewhere devoid of human contact, you will never see another person again, do you understand?" Hand explained.

"I do." John nodded.

Before leaving, Hand turned to him and spoke one final thing. "You're young Mr Smith, very young. You've got a long life ahead of you. Now, there's no changing what you've done and the consequences, but you might just be able to change if you put in the work."

Quest Discovered

Quest: Escaping SHIELD

Objective: Successfully escape SHIELD's clutches.

Rewards:?

Failure: Eventual brainwashing by HYDRA.

Accept this Quest?

Yes – No

John accepted the quest, a smile on his face. He wasn't sure whether he was going to change or not, but he would get as much out of SHIELD as possible before he escaped.

"Okay, I'm going to take a blood sample now. Just relax your arm." John did exactly as the biochemist said as she pushed a needle into his arm very carefully and took a sample of his blood. He was slightly sceptical at first when he had walked into the lab but was quickly placated by the one woman inside, she was very familiar to him thanks to the other John's memories.

'Call me Dr Simmons'. She had told him. Jemma Simmons, arguably one of the smartest people on the planet was taking blood samples from him and testing him. John figured out in his head that she had likely just graduated from the SHIELD academy of Science and Technology and apparently, she had specialised in enhanced testing.

He had frankly been quite shocked when he had walked into the lab and seen her, especially without Fitz, the man who had been her inseparable partner in the Agents of SHIELD show.

"What is this place exactly Doc?" John asked, she had been the first person there that had been directly nice to him apart from either not speaking to him at all or being completely cold and just giving him orders. Though he supposed it was much easier to get a patient to cooperate if the doctor had a good bedside manner. Or it might be because out of everyone in the facility he was the closest to her age, she after all did seem very young for a qualified doctor.

"This is an asset training facility built for the project that Agent Hand informed you about. It's quite a recent development." The doctor was quite talkative. She busied herself around the room, placing a small drop of his blood from the sample inside some machine that he assumed would analyse his blood. "Now, I've been asked to ask you some questions, are you ready?" She asked as she sat next to him.

"How about one question for another?" John asked. "I know nothing about this place, I want to know more before anything else happens and you've been the only person besides Agent Hand to actually talk to me."

"If I feel its appropriate, I'll answer your questions Mr Smith." Simmons told him. "So yes, one question for another."

"Good, I'm ready then." John answered Simmons' questioning stare.

"Question one," She picked up a clipboard and a pen, beginning to read questions off it. "you've shown some enhancements when compared to a normal person, what currently is the extent about your abilities?"

John thought about the question for a second and decided what to keep from her or not. He decided to tell him about all the abilities he currently possessed apart from the storage dimension as he had displayed them in public before.

"I have three abilities that I know of. The first is some sort of extrasensory perception I think." He made himself seem more unsure than he actually was. "That was the first one. I started to be able to tell when I was in danger or not. Like when I was being chased by that blond agent, I could sense her heading for me, so I started running. The second one lets me touch someone and paralyse them for a short while, I used that one on the blond agent too. The last one lets me blend into my environment, it's not perfect but most people will just overlook me."

"Now" John continued. "It's my turn. What exactly is SHIELD, it's it a part of the government like the army or something? Or like the CIA, are you going to waterboard me?"

"SHIELD is a bit like the CIA but its more advanced and more secretive than them. Most of the public know about the CIA but SHIELD is relatively unknown. It allows up to move more secretly. We are a part of the US government, but they don't control us like they do the CIA. Next question, do you have any idea how you developed your abilities?"

"No," He lied to her. "by danger sense just appeared one day while I was at work and surprised me. I thought I was going insane, I'm not completely sure that I'm not right now. Then I touched someone and accidentally paralysed them. It was very weird. I don't know what triggers it, but they just develop I think randomly."

Congratulations! You've earned a new skill:

Lying – Level 1

"Thank you." Simmons nodded.

"My question now. Am I the only one in the project, if I am, isn't that a bit shit?" John asked.

"You are currently the only subject, but we plan to introduce more. The division is recent, so you are our first subject. Now, have you ever taken part in any medical experiments or had any similar experiences?"

"Not that I can recall. Never even had my blood taken. I can't really remember the last time I went to the hospital either." John shook his head, this time being completely honest with her. "How likely is it that I'm going to be locked up forever?"

"If the project fails, very likely, so that's good motivation to make sure it doesn't." Simmons told him. "Okay, final question for now. Have you ever had contact with any person you knew to be enhanced or have any non-standard abilities?"

"Nope, I just had a normal life before all this. I didn't even want to do what I did. It's not like I had enough money to live." John spoke, hoping to get some sympathy from the woman, he had no idea if it had worked. "Why'd you decide to work in this project? You seem much smarter than anyone I've ever met, surely you would have been in some division with loads of advancement or something?"

"I was offered this position a couple of months ago, I accepted it immediately. For now, its temporary but If I do it well then it will be permanent. I'll be the head of a while science division in a department. I might even get some assistants once we get more funding." John was surprised at how honest she was being but didn't complain. She had probably been given a brief on what she was and wasn't allowed to tell him and was probably allowed to be somewhat honest in order to get him to be compliant.

That was all SHIELD wanted from him, to be compliant, and he was going to make them think he was exactly that and then, when they let their guard down, he was going to escape.

"Alright, so you'll be receiving an examination from me once a fortnight and then anytime you get injured or anything else I expect you to come straight to me." Simmons spoke. "You're free to go."

"Before I go, do you think you could get me a book or something in my room?" John asked, holding out hope. "I've been teaching myself Portuguese and don't want to slack."

"I'll see what I can do." Simmons nodded.

"I'll be your training instructor; you will refer to me as Lieutenant or sir and only those." A severe looking man spoke to John as he stood on one of the training mats in the large room. "It won't be easy but by the time I'm done with you you'll be an effective combatant. I will not take any shit from you. When I tell you jump, you jump. When I tell you to crawl, you crawl. You are not to use any of your abilities without my permission or the permission of an approved handler when out on missions."

"Understood, sir." John smiled.

"Your combat training will begin tomorrow; we will start with hand-to-hand combat. Today will be a physical evaluation." The Lieutenant explained. "Your combat and physical training will take up most of your overall training. You will be taught how to infiltrate and escape difficult situations. Before you are approved for your first mission, I must sign off on your abilities so you will need to prove yourself to me. Your training will consist of hand-to-hand fighting including the use of various weapons such as knives. You will then be trained in the use of firearms, in strategy and various other useful skills. I doubt you'll last long but you can try."

It was clear that the man did not want to be here, he was probably a field agent or a training instructor in the academy that was assigned on the project against his will. Therefore, he likely wanted the project to fail so he could go back to the job he liked.

"Understood, sir." John continued.

"Good, follow me." The Lieutenant ordered him, bringing him to a gym area where he would spend a significant amount of time training his physical abilities.

That night, when John returned to his room, guided by guards, he found two books on learning Portuguese on his bed, a smile grew on his face.

John Smith – Level 6 (245/750)

Title – Trilingual

HP – 123/132

AP – 594/594

Str – 17

Con – 22

Dex – 21

Int – 27

Wis - 16

Skill Point: 374

Skills:

English – Level MAX

Cooking – Level 21

Cleaning – Level 43

French – Level 80

Increased Cognition (S) – Level 3

Stalking – Level 26

Stealth – Level 52

Pickpocketing – Level 25

Running – Level 36

Language Comprehension (S) – Level 2

Enhanced Listening (S) – Level 2

Spanish – Level 80

Lockpicking – Level 11

Portuguese – Level 28

Unarmed Combat – Level 4

Lying – Level 1

Abilities:

Blessed Soul (Passive)

Danger Intuition (Passive)

Paralysis Touch (Active)

Camouflage (Active)

Storage Dimension (Active/Passive)

Quests:

Defender of the Universe

Building an Army

Enhancements