Meta Essence Gacha in Marvel-Chapter 120: Always Gamble on Gacha

Cortana

Cortana’s Gynoid body walks through an isolated section of the Space Station. Normally, she would have control over the whole building, but this part is special... This section is Hector’s personal laboratory in the Space Station.

He has others, of course, spread through the whole Solar System, but those are disposable places for dangerous experiments. This one here, in the innermost and well-protected part of the Space Station, is his real laboratory. His man cave, or fortress of solitude, whatever he decides to call it on the day...

The reason Cortana needs to go in with her body instead of simply making a hologram appear there is that not even she is allowed inside under normal circumstances. Not like Hector doesn’t trust her, he trusts her the most, but precautions are precautions.

He trusts the others, too, but others can still get information from them beyond betrayal.

Another thing is that his body right here in the lab right now doesn’t have her body inside it. There’s no Main Body, but the one with her real body is busy with another little trouble.

She finally reached the doors to his laboratory. Left and Right, the unnecessary hot ballerina robots, stay on guard on their respective sides of the door.

A brief sound, in a frequency that no normal human can hear properly, is emitted from the three. An entire conversation and verification process happened during the 1-second exchange, and Cortana walks through the doors that opened to her, without even slowing down her pace.

This gynoid body of Cortana can feel the scanners checking on her while she goes through a narrow corridor. She also knows all the traps and hidden weapons here, behind those adamantium walls and floor.

At this point, he must have already given her permission to enter because no one reaches this far without him knowing. As expected, the door at the end of the corridor opens with a tss sound, revealing the interior of her master’s laboratory.

It’s more than a laboratory, it’s really his "secret base", as childish as you can call that. From the corner of her eyes, she can see rows of variations of his Eidolon Suit; vehicles, opened and disassembled; weapons in exposition, and much more.

She walks through some rows of tables, each containing different materials and things he is trying to do with them. She noticed the Nth metal table; it seems he is still trying to make it more durable. Those blood samples of his summons from the DC universe are exposing his latest attempts.

She ignores the ones in the "magic area"; unfortunately, that’s where he is. As much as her master tried to put Magic in "science terms" to explain to her, it still goes against Cortana’s beliefs, and she doesn’t like it very much.

She can understand the initial concepts, but deepening her readings, she saw more and more exceptions. It reaches a point where the rule is that "there are no rules". Magic is indeed bullshit, like her master always says.

The walk is long... He is working on so many things.

Her master keeps multiple projects going. While he waits for the results of the experiments to come out, he moves to another, keeping tabs on everything perfectly... Of course, he has her help, but his brain would still be able to do it by himself.

It’s just that her job is making his life easier.

Right now, he is working on two projects. The recently added projects always receive very special care and attention till they reach a bottleneck. Hector never dwells too much on failures or obstacles; he has the modus operandi of simply taking a step back and going to do something else, believing that inspiration will appear eventually when he least expects it.

And worked most of the time. He doesn’t have the habit of forcing things. It’s on his personality.

She passes through an area showing some magic circles in holographic projections, around a small capsule holding a wisp of something... A part of a soul.

That’s one of the two projects he is focusing on now. He wants to lock the souls of his people so that they can’t go to the afterlife or be claimed by anyone. Then, making a new body to resuscitate them is easy.

He has some ideas with a method using the Cerebro, but it does not seem reliable.

The tricky part is going against the natural law of the world and stopping the soul from moving away. And he is making experiments with that. If he succeeds, all his people will be essentially immortal as long as Hector exists.

She read the plans. He is testing a little of everything. From pacts, simulating the people "selling their souls" to him.

An anchoring with a small part of their soul being kept in a safe space, similar to a philactery of a Lich. He is trying to use the principle of his Soul Anchoring to make it as safe as possible.

And lastly, trying to put a lot of magic in the soul, to protect and guide it naturally back to him. Programming it in an autopilot of some kind.

There are other ways, but those are the ones with the highest success rate, apparently.

If Cortana looked a little to the other side, she would see his other project. A half-finished Multiversal Portal. She can see all the exposed wires, the kaleidoscope machine behind it, together with crystallized coordinates of other worlds. She can also see the prototypes of small apparatus that would go together with the portal, from guns to wrist devices, and even a full-body suit. All half finished too.

Cortana ignores that for now and turns her attention back to Hector. On his civilian identity, but wearing a UMF skin-tight bodysuit, he is writing in the air, making magic circles and testing their effects. His All Seeing Eyes of God are fully activated while he makes small alterations before noting them down on a holographic screen.

After a spell that turns an object illusory, he finally talks with her.

"Cortana, I will need you to bring subjects B-13, B-21 and B-42 to the section four..." He points to a room inside this place, "Put them on the blue magic circles and let them in observation for 8 minutes, then for 4 hours, and then for 13 days. Checking for any changes between those periods of time. If they die, warn me, otherwise, just do it after the end of the experiment."

"It will be done, Master." She answers without hesitation. Things like that would be simpler if he were not so paranoid and used some of the many bots around the station.

But no bot from here leaves, and no bot from the outside would enter. He even controls the influx of air in the place, filtering it 3 times, so obviously he will not slack off in anything else.

"You got rid of the markings..." She comments with a small, amused smile.

"Heh, I have a lot of anti-magic means. It was... laboriously, but not hard." He chuckles "It was never his intention anyway."

The markings that the Ancient One magically wrote on his body remained even after he divided himself.

Cortana watched that fight, if that thing can even be called a "fight"... It was a reckless and chaotic show of skill. Summarized by the phrase "they are throwing random bullshit at each other". It was so different from how hector really fights, which surprised her a little.

Obviously, neither of the two took it seriously. Not dodging, just spamming powers and magic. Hector was able to really sneak a light slap on the Ancient One’s head after he kinda cheated by becoming a tryhard for an instant.

Then, with a "so that is how things are?", the Ancient One also got a little serious and messed up with him. It ended after Hector was able to dodge, cut, and reflect only 9.987 markings. The last 12 of the 9.999 are able to sneak around.

The Ancient One even praised him for being able to deal with that much, the markings are surging from impossible places, to where Hector exactly dodged at that time. He was only not able to dodge the markings that came from the real world.

In a great show of his abilities, the Ancient One was able to conjure magic in another dimension(real world) and bring it to the Mirror Dimension to hit Eidolon. The attack literally spawned on Hector directly while crossing dimensions.

With a "If you are sealed, I’m a flying blue platypus with purple dots, seven tails, five arms, and 3 heads" from Hector, the play ended.

"Okay, that is enough for today." Her master suddenly says, and the holographic screens around them enter sleep mode. A dozen robotic arms move and grab the capsules where many materials stay, bathing in the light of different magic circles and under the most diverse effects.

"Let’s see how it goes if they are exposed in those conditions for some time." She sees him making an expression, like he is checking notes in her mind "Tomorrow I will study some alchemy and then portals. I’m almost good enough to reshape rare and magical metals. The formula is almost ready." Her master says and then goes to sit in a chair.

"Are you gonna fuse back?" She asks, finding it strange that he went to rest so early.

"No, time for my favorite day of the month." He smiles while moving his fingers in the air.

"The Gacha..." She says, and his big smile is an unnecessary confirmation.

......

Hector P.O.V.

From all my summons, Cortana is the one who knows the most about the intricacies of my power, and even she doesn’t know everything about the Essence.

"I will continue with the Specific Rolls of Characters. I need more summons, and things are becoming very uncertain." I say while preparing to draw "If I need to stay away, I want at least a couple of planetary-level characters to take care of things." Tatsumaki was good, but I need more.

I mean, I have some weapons of mass destruction, but they are not known as reliable options. Especially in a defensive battle.

"Are you sure? You need to balance it." Cortana intervenes while sitting on my lap. This body of hers is the soft one. "Specific Rolls will not give you Miscellaneous Cards. And you need them, especially the Background Customization cards, to summon people who can really help."

A fair point, but "I still have some to spare. Next time, I will go back to letting the Gacha take its natural course." There are probably all types of cards that I can gain if I just go with the normal rolls, but characters are still the best thing I could pull.

"With 130 points, you can roll two normal batches and one specific one."

"Yeah, but normal batches normally come only two or three characters. I need numbers for now." I answer before directing my attention, "I also need to keep getting some to assimilate, even if they are weak, but with a specific skill set, like Rex Salazar. Anyway, it’s time for the Ga-Ga-Ga-Gacha!~"

I also have that feeling that the Essence is catching up with my explosive growth in strength, so I have a good feeling that good cards will appear.

Let’s go!!! I did not forget to pray to Megumin’s panties and steal some luck from the prisoners.

01- Blair - Soul Eater

Eh... Maybe it was a bad idea to pray to that specific lucky charm.

I’m not beating the allegations, am I?

Ah man, is she strong at least?

Well, she can always learn magic from here. It’s usable, and she seems easy to deal with. It’s not Yoruichi, but it’s good enough.

02- G.I. Robot - DC (Creature Commandos)

There’s always some DC cards, huh? Being the Twin multiverse, it can’t be different. Let’s hope for a Poison Ivy card to Harley...

And I guess hanging out with Nazis influenced the Essence. It’s okay, Gacha... I’m gonna kill them at the right time. I will even summon this happy trigger of a robot to do it.

I can’t hog all the fun.

03- Planetina - Rick and Morty

Hmmm~ Exactly what I was hoping for, but... She is kinda crazy.

Reading the description, it seems I will have the rings to summon and control her. Good, good.

I really can’t tell her power level, but she can’t be weak.

On another note, first time gaining something from the Rick and Morty Universe, the Essence is really stepping up its game, but I think it’s too soon to hope for a Rick Sanchez card for me to assimilate.

04- Agro - Shadow of Colossus

Oh my~ My good horsie! I can’t pass this good fella! But a horse... Well, my grandparents have a farm.

How I will explain to him remains a mystery for now.

05- Zangief - Street Fighter

Hahaha! I guess I can’t always gain the hot girls, huh?

That meeting with the Winter Guard from Russia must have influenced the Essence. I should have gone from England or France then, Cammy and Manon are hot. Even Brazil... it has Laura.

06- Ainz Ooal Gown - Overlord

Ohoho~ Nice! Love it!

Another Magic user, huh? Must be because of the Doctor Strange moment... I remember when I suffered waiting for a magic user... Good times.

Wait, I just remembered... The Self Insert Card!

Momonga is a perfect target for that card!

Let’s think about it more deeply later. I will need to accumulate some Travel Tickets, too.

I guess it has been a long time since I used a Travel Ticket.

07- Stormfront - The Boys

Talking about Nazis...

And it is the female version of the TV series. Well, the comic version is also... Haah I don’t know which one would be worse.

Whatever, I can put her on a leash and put her to spy on Hydra, maybe.

Or killing her... Who cares about a nazi?

08- Jinx - League of Legends

"..." I’m starting to think that I’m attracting this specific archetype... Harley, Juri...

I can’t say which version it is, and how broken she will be, so I will put her on hold for a little. But not for long, I’m The One That Fixes Them, after all.

I can fix her.

09- Metal Knight - One Punch Man

Okay, pretty good.

But his motives are obscure, so I can’t trust him... Too smart, capable, and ambitious to make me feel comfortable in letting him to his own devices.

Johan is one thing, a guy that can create weapons of mass destruction is another...

I think I have a bad impression of Genius Scientists in general. I really don’t like them.

But seriously, they are nice as characters... but on a screen, not in my universe.

Let’s see the last of the batch... It will be good.. I can feel it!!!

10- Shiraori(Kumoko) -Kumo desu ga, Nani ka?

Told ya~ Very OP and likable Isekai MC. Magic user and a spider... Oh, the Spider-verse thing!

I think she was lazy as fuck, right? Damn, is this a miss? Nai wa~

No, I can make use of her.

And we are a little similar too. If I’m not wrong, she is also a very paranoid and careful person, who always has precautions and is very hard to kill.

Looks familiar...

"Yep, at least half of them are pretty good." I say to myself.

Planetina and G.I. Robot can immediately go to the field. I can get some new magic from Ainz, Blair, and Shiraori. With the exception of Agro, everyone can be useful to my plans.

"It could have been better, but I can take it." I comment. "But I feel I haven’t used all my luck yet..."

"Master, you should roll a General Batch." Cortana advises

"Yeah, I’m a careful and cautious guy after all..." I nod

"Yes."

"But you know..."

"??"

"99% of the gamblers quit before they hit big, Cortana! Roll!!" My intuition is telling me to make this roll.

01- Siegmeyer of Catarina - Dark Souls

Worth it! Onion Bro!!!

Where is Solaire? I can give him solar powers and put him on a crusade to exterminate vampires! We will be able to raid Hell together!

Okay, jokes aside... From a serious point of view, it was not a very good card. But Onion Bro has a good heart. He is from a non-modern world, and things will be difficult, but I think I can put him on a path that will satisfy him.

I remember his ending... I’m gonna cry...

02- Madam Eight-Legs- Revenge of the Iron Blooded Sword Hound

Okay, this pet I will not be able to put on the farm.

I was reading this manwhua. This creature is pretty strong... It can be useful. Maybe as a guardian beast to somewhere that I deem important.

I will need to decide on this place, though.

And it is a spider... The Spider-Verse adventures left their mark. Which other spider characters exist in fiction? Aragog? I think hoping for The Weaver is delusional, right?

03- Pamela Isley - DC Comics

WHAT?!? The Gacha giving something I ask for??

This can’t be real... Am I being sponsored by it? Don’t fall for it, guys, those streamers receive a boost of chances in their accounts! It’s a scam!

Well, this batch paid off with this... Harley will be happy.

But Poison Ivy is a more complicated bitch than my lovely Harley Quinn.

The Mysognist vs The Misandrist, with Harley in the middle.

It will end in a threesome... no surprise here. Even I can see it.

04- Shura Kirigakure - Ao No Exorcist

A lot of Boob Anime Women...

I knew my luck was good, but sometimes I forgot the type of luck I have.

And she comes from an anime world with demons. So I guess those trips to Hell have a finger on this card.

05- Virgo - Fairy Tail

Another magic one... And very submissive. No trouble in sight. Perfect.

Isabella is gonna like her. The poor woman is having her share of trouble with Power and Baby 5. I need to throw her a bone, too. Sorry, Isabella. I love you.

And my dream of a squad of Battle Maids gets closer too.

06- Mosquito Girl - One Punch Man

Hmmmm... Does this... fall into the furry category?

Or does it just apply to the ones that really have fur? I think the term grew too broad.

I guess she is only a Monster Girl... It makes more sense. She can get it...

But why is there discrimination against furries, then? Monsters are okay but if they have fur, no?

I mean, I’m not a furry, but Loona and Lola Bunny...

I guess it’s not about the characters but the weirdos in expensive fur suits and their pizza parties (don’t search this up).

07- Angstrom Levy - Invincible

And... And... And I was just finishing my portal...

It was like when I was making an AI and I gained Cortana.

It’s not as good as América Chavez, but it’s an excellent roll nonetheless.

08- Indiana Jones - Indiana Jones

Meh, there’s always a useless one. If you are gonna give me an archaeologist adventurer, at least give me Lara Croft.

09- Mikaela Barnes - Transformers

Another useless one...

Being Megan Fox is worth nothing; at least give me someone with some skill.

April O’neil also looks a little like Megan Fox - not as much as this one - but she has skills in journalism. What does this one have?

I’m gonna recycle this one later.

Okay... the last one... C’mon Gacha... I’m grateful, but I need one Defender!

One to keep Earth safe in case I need to do something on another planet, or dimension... A strong one... Please, I need this! I never asked for anything! (lies)

10- Rayquaza - Pokémon

"...."

I was expecting gold, but I received a diamond. Or in this case, Emerald!

The alien hater himself! And one of my favorites! Better than this, only if I gained Giratina, my favorite.

I knew it! Always gamble!!

I don’t even need to wait. Grabbing the card, I say:

"Rayquaza, I choose you." It’s more of a Yu-Gi-Oh invocation, but okay.

The customary motes of light forming the serpentine shape are similar enough to pokémons leaving a pokeball.

He appears with a roar, not as big as many would think, only 7 meters in length, but no less intimidating. He is pretty fucking cool.

Fearless, I approach him(Her?)... or is he genderless? Trying to read his "aura" I think it’s a male. Whatever, I will put what I learn from How To Train Your Dragon to use and extend my hand while approaching slowly and wait for him to make the last move.

"..." I wait patiently. I don’t want to use any... rough methods to tame him. Even though it may be needed. You capture pokémons by beating them most of the time, but the Essence may help with that last detail.

Rayquaze is obviously the unfriendly, if not the distant, type. After a little more time, he just reached a little to nudge my hand and backed off. He is not being aggressive or anything, so I guess it is a win.

Now... How do I increase the Relationship Loyalty? Different from other pets, I think Rayquaza doesn’t eat anything... Maybe he can and just doesn’t need it.

Absentmindedly, I start stroking his neck.

"Who is the good cosmic dragon? You are. Do you want to go kill some aliens? I can take you for a walk around the Solar System..." I say in my pet voice "Those Skrulls will have a surprise if they are caught lacking on our planetary space, right? Good boy."

Yep, I’m taking my cosmic Chinese dragon for a walk.

.......

At the same time, Eidolon(P.O.V.) on the Surface of the Planet

I can’t take Rayquaza that far, but I guess I can take him to fly around some meteors. I bet no other trainer would be able to do it as a bonding time with their pokémon.

Do you swim with your Floatzel? Spar with you Hitmonchan? Okay... Can you fly into space with your Rayquaza? Guess not.

Funny how now, I can probably become a champion in all regions very easily. When I go to Sinnoh, Cynthia’s Garchomp will receive a beating.

Hearing someone talking at my side, I came back to reality.

"Are you really not gonna say anything?" A young man asks while looking at me with a dead gaze.

"..." I keep my silence and look around. Right now, we are on the ledge of a building. I’m sitting with my legs hanging off while he is standing. "You have already made up your mind." I say calmly, mantle billowing on the wind. Too bad I can’t see the night sky because of the lights of New York.

"You are a hero, right? Shouldn’t you be talking me out of suicide? Saying that life is worth living, that suicide doesn’t erase the pain, it only passes to someone else..." He almost looks offended, but his eyes remain dead.

"I don’t think you want to listen to this cliche bullshit of someone that don’t know your struggles..."

"..."

"Or someone that you envy/resent and think has everything..." I say and watch his face change "Yeah, I saw your look when you saw me. You think I have it easy... Are you hoping that I would talk so that you can scream at me something like ’How could you know what us normal people go through!?’?"

"..."

"Busted, huh? A little pathetic, I would say... Trying to leverage your worst moment and your life just to simulate some moment of power over me. Using my heroism against me just to feel superior for once? Would that make you feel better? I can already imagine why you are doing it... No one likes you, I bet. Go on, Jump! By the way, there’s a Hell."

"Shut Up!!" He shouts like a whinny little bitch, but he is just a kid. Older than me, but even so, I will end the night with him alive and well.

"... I was in silence. You are the one urging me to talk." I’m a master rage-baiter. I can see the anger flood his being.

"Then just watch!" He hisses and turns again to the edge, facing the busy street hundreds of meters beneath us.

"I’m watching..." I comment casually

"..."

I just stare. That is not my first "Suicide Save". It’s more common than I would like to be. It became surprisingly annoying when people discovered that I appeared to give some pep talks.

I appreciate the ones who I saved praising me on social media, telling their experiences to boost my reputation, and even helping people who are going through the same.

But like with every good thing... There are always some people to spoil the fun.

Attention seekers and stalkers started appearing, so I got extra careful to appear if someone is threatening to jump. It sucks, but I guess is part of the job.

I know that this one is genuine. I can smell his hopelessness... ’I gave up’ is almost written on his forehead. But there’s hope... He reacted to my rage bait, a really dead person inside would not get angry.

He wants something, maybe an answer... Sorry, but I can’t give that. I mean, I can... but it would be a temporary thing. He needs to find the reason to live on his own. I can only help a little.

I continue to stare at him in silence... He looks back at me, seeking that answer... Waiting for me to intervene... I do not.

"Fuck it!" Gritting his teeth, he jumps.

"..." Well... At least he is not an attention seeker. He really jumped as a last fuck you.

I ignore him falling for a little, just so that he can feel death, so that life can pass through his eyes and he can see his regrets...

Then I reached for a portal with my hand and pulled him back to me.

"-AAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! Agh! cough Cough!" He rolls on the roof while recovering his breath.

"People say that the ones who commit suicide are cowards... I can’t agree with that. The one doing that is neither a coward nor brave, just... Haah just broken, logical, and hopeless.

Reaching the point where the only way out is suicide is tough. The lack of hope can even overwhelm the fear of death." I comment while he wheezes on the ground

"You stopped me!" He accuses

"Yes, I did. I’m a hero."

"You... You didn’t talk me out of it, but you are gonna save me??? Just like that?? What is the sense of that??" He shouts angrily

"I can’t stop you from jumping. You may jump another day. I can only catch whatever you are falling." I say firmly

"..."

"Sit here... You are living on borrowed time, right? You kind of already died. So just waste some time with me." I pat the place my side.

"..." He can’t refute my flawed logic and obeys ƒгeeweɓn૦vel.com

"What is your name?"

"Brandon..." He answers weakly, head down.

"Why don’t you tell me your story now?" I suggest "At least someone will remember you if you decide to cut your wrist at home..."

"..."

And he did... Brandon’s story is nothing super crazy. Not something that anyone would say "He has every right to be the villain". Just a great number of small things that accumulated enough to suffocate him.

Never a popular kid, but I studied a lot. Not a genius, but has good grades. For whatever reason was rejected from the Colleges he applied to, his favored brothers don’t have that setback...

He is living the average life of a male at the beginning of their 20s.

Many expectations, comparisons, failures that look like the end of the world... his girlfriend cheated on him and started dating her affair. And she is living the good life now. His bullies also entered college with scholarships because of sports...

He put a lot of effort, behaved... And people who did him dirty are succeeding while he is failing. Where is the karma? What is the point?

"Not that bad..." I say casually.

"Not that bad? NOT THAT BAD?!"

"Yeah, at least you are healthy." I shrug.

"I knew that you wouldn’t understand." His anger was so great that he almost turned into the Hulk.

"Okay, Brandon... Two things. First, all problems are small problems while you are healthy; there are people much worse than you... If you want, I can give you a tour around the world that will make you feel grateful for your life." I say "But I will not go into that route... Second, it’s okay that you contemplate suicide. Even justifiable... A reasonable crash out."

"What?" She looks baffled

"You heard me. It’s okay... I’m not gonna shame you for that. You are not weak... You are acting strong for too long, right?" I turn to look at him.

"..." Finally, I get him... I can almost see the moment my words pierced the fog of isolation in his mind. Someone understands you, Brandon. He wants to hate me for being an all-powerful, successful hero. He wants to close his ears to anything that I say... But I pierced that barrier now.

"Let me tell you something that people never talked about... For some reason, is a secret..." I start, attracting his attention and tactfully ignoring the tears appearing in the corner of his eyes. "Everyone thought about giving up."

"..."

"Everyone. Even Captain America, Spider-Man, the Hulk, and even I... The Hulk himself tried to end things, but it was because he was putting people at risk, but he overcame that low point and is in a pretty good place right now. The thing is, everyone who succeeds thought about giving up at least once." I say strongly "But they pushed forward. Some very quickly... The thought just flashes in their mind before they recover; some take longer. Some reach their breaking point before they recover, unfortunately." I give him a look.

Ignoring his pensive expression, I continue, "Let me tell another open secret... Happiness is not forever, and neither is sadness... You must have read the expression that life is ’a rollercoaster, with ups and downs’... But people just take it as obvious and never think too much about it."

I chuckle and say "I know it’s the last thing that you want to hear, but I need to say the cliche... Best days will come."

He almost laughed...

"Whatever bad phase that you are going through, it will pass... Exactly like whatever good phase anyone is going through. It’s impossible to last forever. People are pessimist and easily accept that happiness is temporary, but they never think that sadness is the same. Haah It’s because it’s easy to pass through a happiness phase... During an unhappy phase, you don’t need to act like you are happy... Just grit your teeth and move forward... Survive! I’m sure things will get better eventually."

"What do you do if your unhappy phase lasts too long?" He asks with a scoff.

"Yeah, it happens... Normally, small happiness lasts a little, and small unhappiness too. At one moment, you are happy with your life and a problem appears... You solve it and is okay again. And then another problem... Someone can be going well professionally, but their mother can die... Someone can marry and then lose their job... It comes from all directions."

I shrug, "It’s impossible to defend, so you can just prepare yourself... That is one of my mottos. If you are in an unhappy phase, just survive, like in a sandstorm. It will be over eventually, believe in me. Sadness goes away with time. And if you are in a very happy phase... The type that you sigh with yourself and say ’Life is good’.... Prepare yourself that trouble is coming. It’s inevitable. From relatively small things like your car breaking down to your loved one suddenly dying."

"How do you prepare yourself for your loved one’s sudden death?!" He asks in disbelief

"That is one of the things you are rarely ready for... But it is so out of your control, that sadness eventually fades away without you needing to do much... other problems, on the other hand, you can deal with. You can save money to to economic problems, take care of your health so that you don’t end up in the hospital... You know, keep yourself in control. Bad things come when you are out of control. Even your emotional control... If you know that eventually something’s gonna happen, when it really happens, you’re not gonna be that surprised... ’It is what it is’."

"It is what it is..."

"Yeah, at least keeping your calm and not being that affected emotionally will soften the blow. Let’s use your life for example... You failed to enter college... What can you do now beyond working hard for the next chance?"

"Nothing..."

"Are you afraid of being mocked by your parents and siblings? Can you do anything to stop them from mocking you?"

"No..."

"Then it is what it is..." I shrug. "If eventually you will need to face their mockery, just prepare yourself and don’t react. You will see that their mockery will lose force."

"..."

"Words and feelings can only affect you as much as you allow, Brandon. Get a hold of yourself, of your life... You already have their negativity. Thrive on it! You jumped just to spite me, right? On anger... use that. Hate them, hate yourself... At least feel something beyond emptiness. Use your anger and spite as a fuel till you run out of it... You will eventually reach a point where you will not hate them anymore. They will become inconsequential to you... And at that moment... You will be free." I look at him "And then you will look around and see that the sad phase will be over."

"..."

I let him think in silence, just watching the street below and saving some people remotely. Adding some things here and there.

"Obviously you need to move your ass and make some effort... If you stagnate, you can’t move forward. And like with gravity, things that go down tend to stay down. You need to change something, look at yourself, and reflect." I sigh, "The 20s of a man are complicated... There’s a lot of disparity between the peers. Some fly high and quickly, some don’t move forward... Comparison is the thief of joy. Everyone has different times and starting points, and even finishing lines. No need to get desperate because others are succeeding while you lag behind a little. I know that there’s a lot of pressure. ’You need to have your life figured out already, blah, blah, blah.’ Your time will come if you put constant effort. Don’t let yourself be crushed by other people, in any way... It’s their stinging words or their success. You will just be creating an extra problem for yourself..."

"Do you have problems too, Eidolon?" His sudden question makes me laugh out loud.

"Pfft, HAHAHAHA! Of course, Eidolon-sized problems." I say

"Hard to believe... I mean, look at you." He gestures

"You are seeing me through your own life, Brandon. Yes, I don’t have problems with girls or money. The things that worry the average man... But I’m in a constant moral battle. Every day is a dilemma. And the dangers too... Last week, for example, Earth was almost destroyed by an Interdimensional Dark Lord."

"For real?"

"For real." I nod. "I was stressing."

"I guess hearing words from my family is not as bad as that." He is able to joke. Finally. Victory.

"Tell me about it... But everyone has problems, Brandon. We can’t look down on them because they look insignificant to us. You are unlucky with all your relationships, almost like you are cursed... Pretty bad." I joke, and he chuckles. Humor is a very good coping mechanism "But if you still want that tour..." I offer

"Ehh... I think I’m too scared now, but I’m curious." He says "Can you tell me about it?"

"Okay, let me give you some examples... This all happened last week. Pretty mild stuff. A guy in the army comes back from deployment to find that his wife cheated. He lost the court battle, by the way. And still paying alimony and child support. Very common..."

"Damn."

"An old woman has a husband with alzheimer that forgot about her and now is in love with another woman with alzheimer in the care facility."

"Ugh..."

"A little girl watched her mother die because her father refused a blood transfusion... They are Jehovah’s witnesses."

"..."

"A father has a stroke while taking a bath with his baby son... The son drowned... he blames himself now."

"Geez..."

"A brilliant young lady was just accepted into her dream college, but she got paralyzed from her waist down because of a drunk driver..."

"Okay. Stop, stop... I’m getting depressed again." He shakes his head. "Can’t you help them?"

"I help who I can... And that is another Eidolon-seized problem, Brandon. I can’t help everyone, and it’s never enough." I confess "Can you imagine? Everyone’s problem is my problem... All the powers and advantages that you envy so much create expectations thousands of times worse than the one you dread. Another day, a woman spat on me because, in her words, I let her baby die... I was completely unaware of her existence. Her baby died from a congenital disease. Apparently, she pleaded for me to appear... I never did. I was out of the world, not that she cares..."

"It’s not your fault..."

"Say that to her and to my feelings." I scoff. "Every day the thought crosses my mind, Brandon... ’I would be better if I stop’, ’Those people don’t deserve me’... I’m not proud to admit that, but I’m proud to say that the thought is squashed in the same millisecond." I smile "I’m getting pretty strong, and not because I can bench press the Earth."

"..."

I turn to him, "And if you got over the desire to end things today, you too got a little stronger, Brandon." I pat his shoulder "You are stronger than you think. You will survive this bad phase."

Now he cries.

With a smile, I shake him a little while he covers his face.

"C’mon dude... If you think just a little, I bet you can find something silly worth living for. This planet has goth girls, tomboys, and Latinas! Are you really gonna miss this??"

Now he laughs while crying.

While still shaking him a little, I declare "It cannot be that cowardly, but suicide is pretty gay." I say, making him laugh harder.

"Now you’ve convinced me. You should have started with that." He says between laughs and sobs.

I laugh too. He recovered so fast from the dead eyes. "That’s the indomitable human spirit!" I say "And we are so close to space exploration... You can’t die before bagging some hot alien babes."

......

Third Person P.O.V.

Eidolon helped Brandon get home.

"Wanna fly or go through a portal?" He offers

The young man appears to think hard "That is a hard choice... I think... A portal. It’s rarer, and my home is not that far from here. It would not be a long flight." He seems in a better mood after the talk. "And I think I have had enough of heights for today."

"Haha, good choice. Then go in." The hero gestures, and a portal appears close to him

Brandon hesitantly, and maybe a little excitedly, goes through the dark portal before stopping "Eidolon... Thank you."

"All good, Brandon." The hero waves him off "It’s rewarding enough to see you turn your life around... Like I told you, I see a lot of bad in this line of work, but the good makes everything worthwhile. If the bad is inevitable, focus on the good things. That is the choice you can make. It’s not easy, but you can do it."

After that, Brandon goes through the portal, and Eidolon remains alone on the rooftop.

He walks to the ledge and looks at the city. So many people, so many with their own stories...

This is common knowledge, but it is something that normal people simply don’t think much about. But him? He can see their lives... From where he stands, he can see their intimate moments, living their lives without anyone nearby, being genuine and showing their true selves.

Who would have thought that having all this power would make him get attached to them?

Normally, it’s marketed that when you acquire powers, you become unfeeling and uncaring. Now he finds himself cheering for them even in the moments he can’t help... Like a nervous little kid going through his first day at school, like he knows him personally. Or a youngster going to confess to his crush. Or someone is having a job interview. Performing on a stage. Meeting the parents of their loved ones.

He is getting invested in all of them...

"Ah man... That One Piece vacation." It all started there. He still doesn’t know if it is a good thing or not. Being so invested also means that you become vulnerable. As dark as it sounds... Maybe not caring is for the best.

He holds back his overthinking mind for once and decides to continue to go with the flow. Only the future will answer...

"Haah This is one of those says where I love this planet goddam too much..." He shakes his head and chuckles "Next week I will probably be contemplating End of Evangelion level measures."

He does one last survey around the nearby area - which is very large on his standards - before calling a day and going to rest for an hour or two before starting again. During his break, unless something really big happens, he is not gonna move.

"Hm?" His senses capture the presence of two people whom he knows. "Oh no..." He moves fast, becoming a blur before disappearing from his spot.

.......

On another part of the city, Peter Parker, aka Spider-Man, had the surprise of the week when he met another person with spider powers like his.

The obvious asian woman with a black and white spider-themed skintight suit was probably trying her first webslinging around the city. Peter obviously went to talk with her. It’s another Spider-Person, after all.

The talk didn’t go too far before a gang suddenly invaded an ATM place near them. Spider-Man obviously changed focus to catch the perpetrators. It was fairly easy. Despite having guns and bombs, they are afraid of using them, for obvious reasons. They don’t want to summon him, after all.

But they have some devices that seem to come from a sci-fi movie, like the one that melted the door in seconds. But the criminal would need to touch the surface he wants to melt, it’s not something that can be shot.

So it’s an easy job for Spider-Man.

The female Spider-Person even helped a little, not that it was necessary, but no one expected another Spider, so she easily helped some criminals, easing Spider-Man’s burden.

Peter even gives her a thumbs-up while doing his usual acrobatics while fighting. After finishing to deal with the criminals, Peter jumps to the female spider and says

"Let’s go before the cops show up. It’s always a lottery... They can ask for an autograph or shoot you."

Cindy doesn’t need to be told twice and follows him, she is also curious about him. Anyone would be in her situation.

They stop to talk while clinging to a wall of a building, like how only the Spiders can do.

"So... I know that is a weird question to ask in a first meeting, but... Spider bite?" Spider-Man asks awkwardly. Is he... flirting with her?

"Yes, I guess we have a lot in common..." She answers... Is she... flirting back?

The two talk a little more about the only thing in common, without a care about revealing some secrets. Like that happened in Oscorp... They get closer... And closer...

They didn’t even notice... The other is just... It smells good, they just want to make sure if they are feeling it right. Just a little closer... Their masked faces are too close now...

"!!!" Then suddenly theta re yanked back by the scruff of their neck.

"Saved." Eidolon says

"Dude, whattahell?!" Peter says while struggling

"Don’t make me throw cold water on your two." Eidolon throws them to the top of the building, gently to the superheroes’ standards, but very far from each other, before floating between them. "Oh boy... I feared this day. We need to have a talk about the birds and bees, I mean... the spiders."

..........

A.N.: Hello there, I promised myself to stop with the long notes, but hear me out for a minute.

I just need to clarify something... The last weeks have been "a little" bad for me. I didn’t allow it to affect my work or my stories, but I kinda avoided and delayed starting big and important arcs till I put my head in place. Only the ones accompanying through the Patreon, but you all are gonna notice in the next Chapters.

That’s the reason I went with character development and foundation instead of something deeper. It was fun writing the interactions, so it’s okay. Just saying. I feel that it is fair to explain.

The thing is, those last weeks have been horrid... Damn, don’t wanna trauma dump, but... You remember the suicide help part. The "sometimes bad phases" happen.

Yep, I am in a bad phase, lol.

First, my car broke down, so already losing money and the inconvenience sucks.

Misery loves company, so my dog, who was sick for some time, needed to be euthanized... She had tumors, already old, suffering a lot, the procedures would be problematic, and she was not reacting well to the chemo, and even in the best case, she would lose a leg.

So I made the call... I killed my dog.

It’s something I don’t wish on anyone to go through.

Exactly one week later, my grandpa dies... yep, bad phase.

But don’t feel so bad for my grandpa. He died in his sleep peacefully, at 93 years old. Probably the most enviable death possible, after a very long life. After 16 children and who knows how many grandchildren. He didn’t suffer and was healthy till his last days.

And last, my other two dogs got sick of rat poison because of negligence. I had 3 labradors, one died, so two now.

I didn’t sleep the night that they got sick. Thankfully, they are recovering now.

Man... Life hit me with a combo. One-two, liver punch and an uppercut.

Anyway, no trauma dumping, just saying. Maybe to help me or anyone reading this.

It is what it is, fellas... This bad phase sucked, but I know it will go away eventually. I will go through it and keep my head up till the good phase so that I can grab it. Not the first time I went through shit like this. It happens.

Despite everything, I can’t complain much. I am healthy, I can work, I have some good friends...

Focus on the good things.

If anyone is going through something similar... Hang in there. Good days will come.

Be safe out there. And as morbid as it sounds... I wish you guys to live and die like my grandfather. Hehe~ Everyone says from all his grandchildren, I’m the most similar to him, so let’s hope I take after his longevity too.

Bye bye, till next time. Thank you for the support.

......

If you like this story, consider supporting me in the p.a.t.r.e.o.n... There are Chapters ahead there.

Here is the Link: (without spaces)

patreon . com / Evans 269

Hope you all enjoyed it, make a comment because interaction motivates me to keep writing. Thanks for reading.

Till next time and stay good y’all.

Bye Bye~