The orphanage dining hall looked exactly as it always did.
Plain tables.
Plain food.
Plain walls.
Except today, two posters had been pinned to the bulletin board.
The first commemorated the anniversary of the Allied victory in World War II.
Nothing unusual there.
The second made Evenson stop in his tracks.
It showed a man in a blue uniform patterned after the American flag, carrying a round shield painted with a white star.
A cold feeling settled into his stomach.
Slowly, he looked up at the headline.
In Memory of Captain America
Old soldiers never truly die. May freedom and honor remain with you.
"...Captain America."
The words barely escaped his lips.
His appetite disappeared.
He finished breakfast mechanically before hurrying back to his room, where he sat on his bed with his face buried in his hands.
Then he searched through fourteen years of memories.
At first he’d assumed the poster was merely a strange coincidence.
It wasn’t.
Captain America had always existed in this world’s history. Evenson simply hadn’t paid much attention before his past-life memories returned.
Steve Rogers.
The only successful recipient of America’s Super-Soldier Program during World War II.
Leader of the Howling Commandos.
The hero who shattered Hydra’s ambitions before disappearing alongside the Red Skull in the war’s final days.
Official history declared him the greatest hero in American history and a living symbol of freedom.
Everything matched.
Except...
Ryan Mercer’s memories insisted Steve Rogers wasn’t dead.
Not really.
He should still be frozen beneath Arctic ice with the Tesseract.
That single contradiction made everything click into place.
"...This isn’t my Earth."
He let out a long breath.
"It’s Marvel."
His ambitious dreams collapsed like a castle built from playing cards.
Before this revelation, he’d entertained all the usual isekai fantasies.
Become stronger.
Get rich.
Live however he pleased.
Maybe even carve out his own legend.
Now?
He’d been reborn into one of the most absurdly dangerous fictional universes ever created.
A world that somehow managed to rival Azeroth in terms of catastrophic weekly disasters.
Earth alone was terrifying enough.
Somewhere out there lurked Thanos, a being capable of challenging cosmic powers.
Beyond Earth stood Asgard and the Nine Realms, ruled by beings humanity called gods.
And that was only the beginning.
Loki.
Thor.
The Infinity Stones.
One apocalypse after another, all waiting patiently in the timeline.
Evenson rubbed his temples.
"This world is a death trap."
The Hulk could use a god as an improvised weapon.
Iron Man would eventually fill the skies with armored suits.
Thor could flatten cities without particularly trying.
Compared to monsters like that...
What exactly was he?
Fortunately, the timeline hadn’t reached that point yet.
Steve Rogers was still asleep beneath the Arctic ice.
Bruce Banner was still hiding from General Ross.
Tony Stark hadn’t become Iron Man.
Thor was probably still in Asgard, blissfully unaware that exile was in his future.
That sounded encouraging.
Until Evenson remembered one inconvenient detail.
S.H.I.E.L.D.
Unlike superheroes, S.H.I.E.L.D. already existed.
It was everywhere.
Watching.
Listening.
Collecting information.
If someone suddenly started displaying unexplained magical abilities, how long would it take before they noticed?
A week?
A day?
An hour?
He imagined walking down the street only for an arrow from Hawkeye to pin his sleeve to a wall.
Or discovering that the glass of water he’d casually accepted contained one of Black Widow’s more creative poisons.
Or waking one morning to find a platoon of armed soldiers surrounding the orphanage because someone had classified him as a potential global threat.
None of those scenarios felt impossible.
Not in this world.
Trying to live like an overpowered fantasy protagonist, casually collecting treasures and growing stronger without consequences, would paint an enormous target on his back.
S.H.I.E.L.D. wouldn’t ignore someone like that.
"So... join them instead?"
He considered it for all of three seconds.
Suppose they accepted him.
He’d receive training.
Become an agent.
Gain access to classified resources.
And surrender nearly every meaningful freedom he had.
Someone like Tony Stark could negotiate because he was Tony Stark.
Billionaire.
Genius.
Industrialist.
A man whose father was Howard Stark.
Evenson was...
A fourteen-year-old orphan with no family, no influence, and no leverage whatsoever.
If S.H.I.E.L.D. decided he was useful, he’d become an asset.
If they decided he was dangerous...
He didn’t particularly want to imagine the alternatives.
Then another thought occurred to him.
What if I told them I know the future?
He snorted.
That was somehow an even worse idea.
If they believed him, they’d never let him leave.
He pictured himself locked inside an underground vault built from solid vibranium, surrounded by layers of security and enough armed guards to invade a small nation.
Every day would become another interrogation.
Another lie detector.
Another demand for everything he knew about the future.
His entire life reduced to classified intelligence.
Nobody below the highest clearance level would even know he existed.
Freedom?
Not a chance.
People often imagined organizations like S.H.I.E.L.D. as shining defenders of justice.
Evenson wasn’t so naïve.
Intelligence agencies dealt in probabilities.
Calculations.
Acceptable losses.
If sacrificing one person genuinely increased humanity’s odds of survival...
They would make that choice.
History offered plenty of examples.
Captain America willingly worked with them.
War Machine belonged to the United States military.
Black Widow and Hawkeye were veteran S.H.I.E.L.D. operatives.
Those who cooperated found a place within the system.
Those who didn’t needed overwhelming advantages.
Tony Stark possessed immense wealth, unmatched genius, and the Stark legacy.
Thor had the backing of an interstellar kingdom.
The Hulk?
The Hulk had enough raw power to punch almost anything on Earth into submission.
Even then, he spent years running from the military.
Evenson looked at himself.
Power?
If he studied thirty lessons a day for the next several years, he might eventually become strong enough to challenge someone like Captain America.
The Hulk?
He’d need to start writing his will.
Status?
He was an orphan.
Outside the orphanage, fewer than twenty people even knew his name.
As for powerful allies...
He considered the Burning Legion for exactly one second.
"...Actually, that would probably get me killed even faster."
Hydra was dangerous.
The Burning Legion made Hydra look almost respectable.
His course was suddenly crystal clear.
Stay hidden.
Study quietly.
Grow stronger.
And above all...
Do not attract attention until he possessed strength worthy of protecting himself.
Evenson walked to the window and watched the morning sun climb over the rooftops.
With a wistful sigh, he rested his forehead against the glass.
"There goes my dream of waking up as the invincible chosen one."
A faint smile tugged at the corner of his mouth.
"It was nice while it lasted."
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