Blacklight emerges

The autumn night flowed like water as darkness gradually settled in.

Looking out through the seventh-floor window, he saw that the lights outside still shone brilliantly despite the late hour. The nightlife had only just begun.

But all that excitement belonged to other people. Mercer had nothing. He watched the man on his battered television deliver a declaration that stunned all of America.

"I am Iron Man!" Tony Stark declared on the television.

Mercer merely sighed, looking helplessly at the scattered bills in his hand.

"Three hundred dollars left altogether. That should barely get me through this month. I crossed into another world, and I still have to worry about making a living. Did I come here just to be cannon fodder?"

He had arrived in this world only a few months ago, taking over the body of an ordinary Chinese American high school junior living with a foster family.

In this world, his name was Mercer. Alex Mercer.

"I really am the most pathetic transmigrator ever."

Mercer gave a bitter laugh. While he was still lamenting his situation, an angry pounding came at the door, followed by his landlord's drunken voice.

"Hey! Chinese kid, pay your rent! Your lease expired two days ago. If you don't pay today, get the hell out!"

Looking at the three hundred dollars on the table, Mercer's mouth twitched. If he spent two hundred on rent, he would starve. He called toward the door.

"I'm sorry, sir. Please give me another chance. I'll look for work tomorrow!"

It wasn't as though Mercer hadn't tried. He was just an ordinary student, and a Chinese American at that. People constantly discriminated against him and found fault with everything he did. He would get fired within days of starting a job.

Now his landlord was bullying him because he was an outsider, too.

The landlord hammered his fists against the door, looking ready to burst in and beat him at any moment.

"No! You're paying today, or you can pack your things and get lost!"

The landlord's aggressive tone left Mercer no way out.

He sighed and began gathering his belongings to move out. Suddenly, he heard a woman's voice at the door, speaking to the landlord.

The somewhat familiar voice prompted Mercer to open the door. Standing before him was a tall white woman with blonde hair and blue eyes. Both her face and figure were undeniably stunning.

"Alex, I've got beef stew at my place. If you haven't had dinner, go have some," the tall woman said.

"I paid your rent for this month. Hurry up and find a job. You can't keep going like this."

"I... thank you, Carter. You've done so much for me."

Mercer ignored the landlord's smirking face and thanked Carter gratefully.

The woman before him was Peggy Carter, an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. and this world's Captain America!

In this world's timeline, the person who had successfully received the Super-Soldier Serum wasn't Steve Rogers, but Peggy Carter, standing right in front of him.

When Mercer first learned that, it had given him quite a headache.

He had thought he would end up in the Marvel Cinematic Universe like so many other transmigrators. Instead, he had arrived in a universe where Peggy Carter was Captain America.

The timeline had changed, and that one difference would trigger a butterfly effect, causing all sorts of changes to later events.

Mercer truly couldn't predict what would happen next.

Carter looked at him. For some reason, her gaze always lingered on his eyes for a moment before she spoke.

"I'm heading out on a mission. Wash the dishes for me when you're done eating."

As she spoke, she handed him a key. Mercer had no idea why Carter trusted him so much that she would let him come and go from her home as he pleased.

Was it because I looked so young?

Mercer accepted the key in a daze. After a moment, he asked with a conflicted expression, "Why are you so good to me?"

The question caught Carter off guard. Her gaze lingered on Mercer's face again, but she had no intention of explaining much.

Before leaving, she offered only a quiet remark. "I... think your eyes look a lot like his."

She didn't explain whom she meant. She simply left.

The landlord was the only one baffled by her cryptic words. He nudged Mercer with his shoulder and said with a suggestive wink.

"Chinese kid, you've got game. The prettiest woman in our building actually has a thing for you..."

Before the sleazy middle-aged man could finish, Mercer rolled his eyes, walked past him, and headed for Carter's apartment. He unlocked the door with the key she had given him and stepped inside.

A faint fragrance hung in the apartment. He couldn't tell whether it was perfume or something else.

He stood before the mirror beside the shoe cabinet. Although his body belonged to a young Chinese American man, his eyes were an unusual blue tinged with green, strikingly deep and beautiful.

"She must have meant Steve Rogers."

Mercer shrugged. Steve Rogers was the only person who could make Carter so distracted and linger in her thoughts like that.

The apartments all had roughly the same layout, so Mercer easily found the kitchen.

Sure enough, a pot of beef stew sat there. When he lifted the lid, its aroma rushed into his nose and made his mouth water.

After his stomach growled in protest, Mercer could no longer suppress his hunger. He quickly found a bowl and spoon.

To save money lately, he had been living on milk and discounted bread bought just before the bakery closed. He was so sick of it that he could almost throw up.

He hurriedly filled a large bowl to the brim with steaming beef stew. Its mouthwatering, meaty aroma kept teasing his nose. Mercer scooped up a generous spoonful and was about to put it in his mouth.

BOOM!

A deafening crash erupted right beside him. Before he could react, something seemed to have smashed into the building around him.

The tremendous impact practically obliterated the other side of the apartment. Mercer stood on one side with a spoonful of beef stew in his hand, while the other side had been reduced to a gaping void.

"Wh-what's going on?!"

He sprang out of his chair on instinct, yet still remembered to grab his bowl.

Peering into the dust and smoke, he focused his gaze, and his pupils suddenly contracted.

An enormous figure stood amid the dust. As it cleared, he finally saw the figure's true appearance.

"It's Abomination!"

That hulking body and gray, spike-covered skin were all too familiar to Mercer. This was Abomination, one of Hulk's enemies.

He didn't know why the guy was here, but Mercer knew he was in trouble.

He had seen Abomination, and Abomination had seen him.

Seeing an ordinary person still inside the apartment, looking shocked yet eating beef stew, the snarling Abomination was momentarily at a loss.

The scene looked straight out of a nineties comedy cartoon.

Despite the circumstances, Mercer really wanted to offer a word of praise. Carter was a genuinely good cook. The beef was fragrant, tender, and full of flavor.

Abomination finally snapped out of it. With a low growl, he reached toward Mercer, making his scalp prickle with terror.

"Fuck! How did I actually get dragged into this?!"

I'm just an ordinary guy who wanted some beef stew. Even that gets me caught up in this?

Ordinary people really are cannon fodder in the Marvel Universe!

As he watched the enormous hand, bigger than two of him put together, hurtle toward him, the sheer terror of impending death instantly flooded his entire body.

Before he could react, an emotionless voice sounded in Mercer's ears.

"Life-threatening danger to host detected. Infinite Hero Card System activated. Claiming beginner gift pack..."

"Antihero card acquired: blacklight virus!"