"Hello, Elliot. I am Michael."

  "Uhhhh…" I stared speechlessly at the bracelet on my wrist, the source of the deep yet inviting voice. "Hi… Michael."

  The voice didn't respond immediately, giving me enough time to get my bearings. This recent development, one of many actually, was a welcome one, but things were moving way too fast.

  "It's a pleasure to meet you," came the voice again.

  I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. This shit was actually happening, whether I liked it or not. There was no turning back now or skirting around the issue. Fuck.

  Ignoring the urge to find out how long I'd been out, I sat up in the bed and responded, "....Nice to meet you too."

  "You're put off by me," the voice said without hesitation.

  "Well…"

  "I'm a piece of code living in a tiny bracelet around your wrist. If I were in your shoes I think… I'd be unsettled too."

  That wasn't the whole thing but sure.

  "Heh…" I chuckled almost uncomfortably. "Sorry. It's just… this… you, it all came out of nowhere. I thought I was…"

  Another bout of silence ensued, and I used that time to go over the descriptions that came with the strange message and perks I received—damn it, how long ago was it?

  Giving the small entirety of my studio apartment a quick, sweeping gnce, I stopped on the small couch pressed against the right wall and shimmied off the bed, throwing off the thick covers.

  How I got under them I don't even remember. As soon as my feet touched the ground and I stood upright, the physical changes and the weird situation with the sheets made themselves known to me.

  With an arm impressively toned and more muscled than before, I reached behind me and grabbed the bnket sticking to my back, all the while trailing my eyes down my chest, abdomen and other arm, drinking in the sight male strippers and fitness gurus would bite their fists at.

  The clinginess of the cloth snapped me out of it quickly though, and I focused my full efforts on pulling it off, strengthening my grip but dialing it back down immediately when I recalled I could lift cars now.

  Even then, this forceful attempt failed spectacurly as the bnket captured my offending hand as well, sticking to my palm like it had been welded to it.

  "I've seen this before," I muttered to myself, recalling the various spider movies I'd watched. "All the spider guys go through it."

  "Are you referring to your inability to get the bnkets off of you?"

  I jolted, heart stopping for a moment as I instantly zeroed in on my wrist. I forgot about this guy. Damn it.

  "...Yes, Michael," I said and closed my eyes, picturing a candle fme while I briefly debated telling him everything. "I got powers… and I'm having some difficulty controlling them."

  "Perhaps, focus and control of your emotions is the key."

  "That's what I'm trying to do," I muttered with my eyes still closed.

  Following the instructions that had been ingrained in me with the arrival of my abilities, I did the mental equivalent of tossing every distracting thought and emotion into the orange candle fme and waited.

  Like a vacuum, the fme responded to my desire and sucked everything I "threw" into it and even more. At the exact moment nothing but pure focus and singur will remained, the soft, cloth sensations on my hand and back disappeared.

  Not only was this first attempt at consciously using one of my newly gained powers a success, it was also an additional piece of evidence that I didn't hallucinate the message and the juicy descriptions that came with it.

  "It worked," I said while looking around my apartment with my new eyes, or to be more precise, my new, sharpened brain, reminding myself that the brighter and clearer picture was my perception of things, not actual reality.

  "I am pleased to be of assistance," Michael said, managing to sound like it too.

  Everything looked and felt different. Not bad different though, just… distant. Even the way I bent down to pick the portion of the bnket on the ground. It felt so… smooth, so graceful, so free, like I couldn't make a mistake even if I tried.

  It felt like I could fly, and not in a hyper excited, I'm on zoomies sort of way. It was more like floating on clouds, in an endless sky watching distant mountains with snow capped peaks.

  Bringing my attention to the small portion of the bnket in my grip, I imagined my hand sticking to it and waited to feel something different.

  Nothing jumped out to my senses apart from the soft feel of the cloth. It seemed there was no special sensation that accompanied the use of wallcrawling.

  So as a simple test, I opened my hand, and lo and behold, the bnket or to be more accurate, my hand, stuck to it and kept it aloft. Nodding at the sight, I cancelled the effect in my imagination and the bnket fell with a soft shuffle that same instant.

  I stared at my open hand, clenching and unclenching it for a few seconds before directing my attention to the reason I got off the bed. Quickly reaching the couch, I carefully grabbed my phone and used the barest amount of strength to turn on the screen.

  5:04 AM.

  "I've been asleep for 12 hours?"

  "My internal chronometer concurs. Records show I came online 12 hours, 5 minutes, and 39 seconds ago."

  I had chatted with A.I.s before, and that was probably the problem I had with this situation. According to the description that came along with Michael, he was an Artificial Intelligence alright, but one who was simultaneously his own person while also specifically tailored to me.

  And if the little nuggets I'd been getting from him since I woke up were valid, he was supposed to be my confidant, a friend and a partner whom I could tell any and everything.

  "Michael?"

  "How may I be of assistance?"

  "What are your functions?"

  "If you are referring to my design parameters, then I am whatever you need and want me to be. If you mean my 'powers,' they are interfacing, data storage, and analysis. I can connect to computers to use them and also perceive the world through your senses, allowing me to assist in any endeavours you might engage in."

  Basically what the description said. No matter. Spider Sense was part of the spider powers package. If it was dangerous to tell him something, it would prompt me. If it didn't, it was cool all the same.

  Plopping my ass on the couch, I debated where to start from and decided that the very beginning was the best pce. Worst comes to worst, he's still stuck in the bracelet. I can melt him down if something happens.

  "Mike. Can I call you Mike?"

  "I have no problem with that. But what do I call you?"

  "I'm Elliot. Elliot Rath. I guess reintroductions are in order then. Nice to meet you Mike."

  "The pleasure is mine, my friend."

  I cocked my eyebrow at that bit but refrained from commenting, and instead proceeded to tell him about how I ended up here in DC, on the Young Justice earth of all pces, instead of the MCU.

  It came as a bit of a surprise to me when I couldn't stop spilling my guts after I started. Turns out I had a lot to get off my chest. Though the candle fme keeping me centered helped ease my anger a great deal.

  "So the entity tricked you?"

  "Yeah," I said, noting the distinct ck of heat in my voice.

  "Do you know why?"

  "Other than the fact that he thought it'd be funny? I can't think of anything else."

  "You've been referring to the entity as a he. Do you perhaps know him, or did you recognize his face?"

  I paused at the sudden tangent and thought about it, forehead creasing as I slowly leaned back into the couch.

  It then dawned on me, "Uhhh, I don't think so. I didn't actually see them. Matter of fact, now that I think about it, I can't remember anything apart from the words we exchanged. Huh… weird."

  Mike took a second to respond. "From your description of events, he, she, or it, is most likely a higher dimensional entity. Your human mind likely could not process what it was perceiving. Your exchange must've been facilitated by its abilities."

  This guy. "Gee, thanks."

  "You're welcome."

  "I was being sarcastic." I rolled my eyes. 'You're welcome he says.'

  "And I was being candid."

  Letting out a quick, shocked ugh, I stared at my wrist for a few seconds and shook my head in disbelief. I opened my mouth but stopped halfway, the "you're real cheeky for an A.I." dying in my throat.

  From the information that came along with Michael and the bracelet he inhabited, he was, in all respects, a person. A digital person made of letters, numbers, and symbols, but one nonetheless. Treating him any other way was a no go for me.

  "Elliot?"

  "Yeah?" I blinked a few items and looked at my wrist. "Sorry. My mind went elsewhere. What were we talking about?"

  "I believe we just finished the portion of the story where you woke up in the motel."

  "Right, yes. Let's continue. So, I woke up in a motel, with a driver's license, some other credentials, and a thousand dolrs in a wallet. I don't even like wallets."

  "Okay… where was this?"

  "Washington DC. The room had been paid for a month. I stayed there for three weeks, and nothing happened in all that time."

  "You must've been bored."

  "Not really. The TV was on when I woke up, and it showed news of Superman saving some workers from a nuclear reactor meltdown. I've never felt so mad. I was supposed to join SHIELD. Not end up in the universe where the vilins always win because of the writers."

  "..."

  "You don't like this world very much."

  "I don't, but that's a conversation for another time. Besides, compining never solves anything."

  "... Let's move on then."

  "After I calmed down from the fit, I just turned to sulking, basically. The occasional seething about the trickery and the bouts of dread about the horrors I now shared a universe with also had their moments. But this was mostly the first week, when even going outside was a challenge.

  At the start of the second week though I calmed down and thought things through, you know, came to terms with my situation and made pns. I needed a pce to stay, a job, and training. A whole lotta training."

  "Training? For what?"

  "For any and everything. My memories about this world are no longer just snippets of a show. They are now future events that can and will take pce. And I can't rely on the heroes to do everything."

  "So the training is to become a superhero?"

  "No. I'm going to be an agent. I'm going to build SHIELD from the ground up."

  "..."

  "An ambitious goal."

  "Is that a ck of confidence I hear?"

  "...Elliot, your goal… is admirable. But from what you described about SHIELD, their scope, reach, and sheer infrastructure and logistics, it seems like an impossible undertaking for one man to shoulder. Besides, I don't understand why you won't share what you know with the heroes. Even if they are as bad as you say they are, you could work with them to prevent at least one of the unfortunate events from happening right?"

  I frowned and raised both eyebrows. Where was this guy getting his info?

  "Uhhh… who said I haven't shared it with them? How do you think I got these abilities? How do you think I got you?"

  "..."

  "I apologize," Mike said in a voice that managed to sound small. "I had no idea,"

  "Naah, it's cool. Like you said, you didn't know. If anything, it's my fault for not telling you beforehand."

  "..Thank you."

  "We good?"

  "We're good. I will doubt you less from now on."

  "Alright funny guy, let's get back on topic."

  "We were talking about your abilities."

  I couldn't keep the excitement out of my tone. "Yeah. Got some pretty nifty ones along with a message, or a notification more like it. Like the confirmation of a completed quest."

  "Inform the Justice League of future events?"

  "Yeah," I slowed, my voice going a notch fainter as suspicion brewed in my chest. "Exactly like that."

  Now, I was excited, but not too excited to not notice how Michael's wording matched the message I got word for word. So far, the perks had proven themselves genuine, as seen with my wallcrawling, mind technique, and the A.I. confidant himself.

  But I couldn't shake the feeling that the entity chose those words specifically to screw with me. Or maybe, I could just be imagining things. Shaking my head to rid myself of these useless thoughts, I focused on the conversation with my friend.

  "So I am one of these abilities you received."

  "Actually, it's two items and six abilities. The other item is, get this: a freaking isnd."

  "That's… amazing."

  "Right? And it can grow."

  "...Maybe the entity is not as bad as we thought."

  "Hey. Don't go switching sides the moment things get better."

  "Isn't that… exactly what you're supposed to do?"

  Completely taken aback, I blinked a few times and looked at the bracelet. This A.I. had no spine. "You know what, file that for ter. We'll come back to it."

  "Filed. Now the abilities. Can you tell me what they are?"

  "Sure," I said and looked up while craning my neck. "Lemme just go over them… aannnd got it. The first one allows me to learn how machines work by simply examining them. The more time I spend with a device, the more I learn. Pretty underwhelming if you ask me.

  For number two, I had to reread it a couple of times to make sure I wasn't seeing things. Simply put, without my consent, nothing in existence can affect anything about me. I am immune to mind reading and a host of other copying, changing, or controlling effects.

  You were the third item, and the fourth was the isnd.

  For number five, I have a meditation-style ability that lets me toss my emotions, worries, and any distracting thoughts and sensations into a conjured mental representation of a real life item.

  This cleans out my mind and puts me in a hyperaware state where I'm fast and ultra precise. If I had a gun, I am certain I could empty the mag into a single hole. The best part of it though is that I can grant this ability to anyone."

  "..."

  "I can see why you're so confident."

  "Abilities or not, I was still going to try and recreate SHIELD, so it doesn't count."

  "They've boosted your confidence though."

  "That they did," I grinned. "Buckle your seatbelt, cause this is where things get crazy..."

  "...Okay?"

  'So even an A.I. can sound worried.'

  "Unlike these five which are free according to the message, these three cost 1000 points in total. For 300 points, I am now a savant when it comes to making ridiculously smaller and more efficient versions of technology I come across. I can also understand code, go figure.

  For another 300, I now have a sword made of my soul, sort of," I paused and held out an arm, and a not a second ter, a giant sword competing with me in height and width appeared in my grip.

  "It can cut through magic and psychic energy."

  Noting how the gigantic Soulsword seemingly had no weight to it, I took in the white brilliance of its rge bde and the thick bck lines extending from the equally bck hilt in stickman-like patterns along its length.

  Gently waving the sword around, I observed how it made no sound despite its impressive size. Pleased with this short test, I dismissed it with a quick thought and focused back on the conversation, moving on to the ability that made me the most giddy out of all of them.

  "For the st and most definitely not least of the abilities, the remaining 400 points got me the powers of the most popur hero back in my world, Spiderman. I can lift 10 tonnes, run faster than a speeding car, jump 3 storeys, and probably dodge bullets point bnk.

  What makes it even better than all the others though is Spider Sense. Simply put, it's an early warning system that makes it impossible for me to be caught off guard."

  SpoilerName: Tech-Adapting

  Description: By spending a few moments examining a machine, you can figure out how it's most basic functions work. Driving vehicles you've never encountered and operating strange computers is never outside your ability. Longer times spent studying a device increases your understanding, obviously.

  Source: Celestial Laboratory

  Cost: 0 CP

  Name: How Can You Cure Me When I'm Not Sick?

  Description: How downright offensive is it for people to say that treatments that suppress or remove Mutant powers are a cure? As if being born different was a disease? As if having powers was a curse? As if they're doing you a favor by forcibly stripping you of your natural abilities? And inevitably when a well-meaning but ignorant busybody makes one of these, it immediately gets appropriated by either anti-Mutant hate groups as a terror weapon or used by governments to institute an attempted mass depowering of all mutants. And then there are the people who want to sp a power-dampening colr on you and drag you off to "serve your country" or be "re-educated for your own good," or the people who feel entitled to tinker around with your genes or harvest your organs. As insurance against those people, you have bnket immunity to any and every attempt to remove, alter, lessen, damage, destroy, copy, steal, or replicate your supernatural abilities, DNA, or other aspects of your abilities or being without your freely given and fully informed consent. Nor are any biological samples obtained from you, be it a stray hair or an entire organ, viable for any purpose other than the ones you donated to explicitly under the same circumstances.

  Source: Celestial Grimoire

  Cost: 0 CP

  Name: Companion Bracelet

  Description: A bracelet housing an evolving AI; although Alliance policy is to hand them out to people only after they've gotten their css at level 10, an exception was made for you to get it a bit earlier. Although called a bracelet, there are different forms for different races. Slime people might be injected with a nanite swarm programmed with the same effect, for example. Once you have equipped the bracelet, the AI will adapt itself to gain an ideal personality fitting your own. The AI of a loner might become their perfect friend, that of a rich girl always left alone might become a butler caring for her, and someone living a loveless life might find that their companion AI has all the qualities they'd want in their girlfriend. No matter how your companion AI will end up, they will always end up in your best interest. As they have a photographic memory and see the world through your senses, they can highlight important objects or pces you might have missed, jog your memory if you forget something important, or browse through the internet to find information a million times faster than somebody with a human brain would. There are also various upgrades that can add to the functionality of the companion bracelet, such as identifying software allowing your companion AI to scan the Aura of creatures or objects to determine their ability, level, and other information, or even an upgrade to allow an instance of them to live in your brain and tap into your senses to control your body in dangerous situations, or just show the trajectories enemy projectiles will take so you can easily dodge them. For 50 CP each, you can apply one upgrade to your companion bracelet, with no limit on how many you can purchase.

  Source: Celestial Forge

  Cost: 0 CP

  Name: Personal Isnd

  Description: Ah, yes. This has grown somewhat popur tely, I'll admit. This is a private isnd of your very own, raised from the sea-floor, or created through a volcanic eruption, or whatever other means you want, that's not important. What's important is that this isnd is linked directly to your magical core. Simply put, its size is directly proportional to how much magic you pour into it. As you put in more magic, you can literally see new nd forming at the edges, ready to be moulded to your will. While it won't shrink once enrged unless you want it to, you have the ability to control virtually everything about this pce, including its shape, flora and even the weather. This isnd is roughly half the size of Irend to begin with, and can expand quite a lot, dependent solely on your power. At about Australia, though, the efficiency takes a sharp dive, to the extent it takes over five times the power to increase it any further, and this only rises from here. The effects of this isnd on the climate of the world are negated with the same magic that constitutes it, so no need to worry about that. Comes with rudimentary Notice-me-not charms all over it, but they won't stand up to any concerted efforts unless you boost them. Speaking of which, this isnd is very receptive of any protection or secrecy magic, to the extent that all such efforts yield twice the expected results.

  Source: Celestial Spellbook

  Cost: 0 CP

  Name: The Fme and the Void

  Description: You have mastered "the Fme and the Void". This refers to a concentration technique used in combat arts throughout the cultures and Ages of the Wheel of Time universe. It is based on the visualization of a single fme of a candle into which the person could throw all their emotions, fears and obstacles which block them from performing. All concerns, thoughts, even the concerns of life and death - can be learned to be fed into the fme. You enter a state of nothingness, your mind completely cleared from fears and emotions leaving you in a hyperaware state of consciousness to be able to focus exclusively on your desired task. This allows the user to perceive reality cleared from everything distracting. Being in the state of nothingness allows one to ignore the physical senses of the body of the performer. Cold or heat of the surrounding environment, pain of the injury, tiredness of the body and soreness of muscles are only observed from a distance as the subject would be someone else's body. All while it focuses your senses, increases the speed of your reflexes, and enhances the accuracy and skill of your fighting skills. It also allows one to become one with their weapon and one with their targets or opponents, removing obstacles of rational thoughts and emotions such as the opponent is stronger or more advanced in combat, and such, allowing you to act without thoughts, fear and anything else that would hinder you in combat. You don't have to fear going too far into the void, as you have mastered it completely, and you are able to grant others the ability to competently use the Fme and Void themselves.

  Source: Celestial Grimoire

  Cost: 0 CP

  Name: Parahuman - Miniaturization and Efficiency Tinker

  Description: You can miniaturize anything down to levels that any sane man would consider impossible. A fusion reactor the size of a watch battery would be the absolute minimum of what you are capable of, and you'd be able to make it far smaller than that. Your power also makes you a master of technological efficiency, anything you make needing barely any energy to run compared to what it should and continue to do so for a very long time. These specialties also make you a master of nanotechnology and simir pursuits. Of course you aren't barred from building something big like a giant robot, just that it'll be impossibly efficient and crammed full of more weapons and subsystems then should be possible.

  Source: Hero's Journey

  Cost: 300 CP

  Name: Soulsword

  Description: At some point in your past, you utilized a dangerous ritual to manifest your life force, your very soul, before you. Plunging your hand into the manifestation of your being, you withdrew a weapon. What shape this weapon took is up to you, but regardless of its appearance its abilities will remain the same. First among its traits is that it cannot harm mundane matter, simply passing through it as if it wasn't there and leaving no trace of its passage. However, mystical energies and beings will fall before it. Be it a sorcerer or a god, a curse or an enchantment, the weapon will rend it easily. A magical shield would be dispelled with a single swipe, a normally indestructible golem could be easily shattered. This even applies to things that aren't quite "magic" as well; dispelling a psychic's control over someone would be as simple as cutting it out of them. And when you have no need of the weapon, it can be banished back into your soul with a simple effort of will – and recalled to your hand just as easily. You may import another weapon into this to gain these qualities.

  Source: Celestial Reliquary.

  Cost: 300 CP

  Name: Champion of The Great Web

  Description: You're a Spider-Totem. Specifically, your powers are akin to Peter Parker's. Superhuman strength sufficient to lift ten tons overhead and sustain that indefinitely and toughness and stamina to match, reflexes sharp enough that you can more or less fight on autopilot, agility and flexibility at least four times greater than the finest gymnasts, and perfect bance and equilibrium at all times no matter how you're oriented in regard to the force of gravity. Casual control of molecur bonds lets you form an unbreakable seal between your hands and feet, even though thin yers of material, and other surfaces to let you crawl or even walk on walls and ceilings. Finally, you possess a form of extrasensory perception, a combination of precognition and cirvoyance, that warns you of danger. For minor things, you aren't really consciously aware of it, it's just a matter of reflexes, instinct, and intuition. You don't have to look both ways when crossing the street, you'll just know when it's safe to walk. For more pressing things, that require your active evasion, you'll be alerted by a tingling or tickling sensation at the back of your head and a general sense of where the danger is coming from and where to move to avoid it.

  Source: Celestial Mutation

  Cost: 400 CP

  [colpse]DaringEagle