I decided to move into the same building Steve Rogers once grew up in, and now sees it as his own home. Presently it is 2012, and once 2014 hits, the events of Captain America: The Winter Soldier will take place, causing Captain America to relocate his lodging to Washington, D.C., where he directly works alongside SHIELD and the Black Widow. And then, he'll go rogue because of Captain America: Civil War. After that, the Avengers will relocate back to NYC with that fancy new building complex where eventually, Endgame's time travelling shenanigans take place.
I know that's a mouthful, but there's a period of two years before shit really starts to hit the fan.
And that's good enough for me. System users become overpowered pretty quickly with all the help their system typically gives. I will be no less. I won't be alone for that matter, either. I'm curious to see how much Lala will grow with the same system given to her.
At the end of the day, it's a Simulation System. Right now, we have a cooldown of once per day. It does have its own leveling system, so that cooldown might get reduced. The big point I want to make here is the fact I'm not the only one who can do this.
We can run two simulations per day~
I'm already getting an itch to try out the first simulation!
With that in mind, the four of us saw Steve unlock the door to the apartment. Natasha already bid her farewell for now. I'm surprised she's allowing us so much freedom, but I can only imagine it was thanks to Momo.
Stepping into the building, we were immediately greeted with the refurbished and remodeled first floor. It had been completely transformed into a personal training and combat gym. To be honest, it was large enough to be an actual gym. It just lacked a racetrack to allow running. But that can be supplemented with daily jogging around the streets of New York City. No doubt does Steve use this place daily to stay in peak condition as Captain America.
In the top left space in the room, you got a miniature boxing ring. It was decked out with blue and red ropes. Enough to allow two people to enter the ring, and that was all that you needed. You see, Captain America actually started with boxing when he began his path to learning martial arts!
A whole rack of punching bags could be seen on the bottom left side. There were even several punching bags lined up on the ground, waiting to be used. A single pole stood up, and one was in active-use, hoisted over it. Several marks could be seen. Steve easily had the ability to destroy these, which was a scene shown in the first Avengers movie. This one hasn't been destroyed yet, so he might resume his workout soon.
Several types of weights and resistance equipment could be seen scattered around, making the place quite messy. That also included sparring mats. Hell, even a personal locker could be seen. He was quite old-fashioned, wasn't he?
Apart from the messy room, several war-related posters and himself dressed as Captain America were plastered on the walls. A lot of them were old. Before Captain America went under, he participated in a lot, and I mean, A LOT, of maritime and wartime commercials. And a lot of that was forced onto him.
Changing pace, there was also a living room, and a kitchen. The living room's furniture were all replaced, keeping up with the modern times. But there was a hint of nostalgia. A single record player stood with several vinyls lying in wait to be used. As for the kitchen, it was spacious, functional, and rather clean, compared to how messy the gym was. Everything was open too. Not a single wall could be seen in the middle. If there was something to notice, it would be some war memorabilia hanging on the outer walls. They were mostly in black and white too, and I saw a very particular individual on one of them, Peggy Carter.
We didn't have to worry about the sound either. Looking around the space, I could see several noise dampeners placed around the walls, which had the ability to soak up any noise. I'm sure Steve makes lots and lots of noise while he is enjoying his workout. This is good. That means we likely won't hear a peep coming from down below while we are in our rooms.
Most of it was boxing-themed, to say the least. But that didn't mean this space wasn't just limited to boxing. Steve knew several types of martial arts. Boxing was just one of them. While he may have started with boxing, he eventually moved onto learning Judo, Jiu-Jitsu, Karate, Taekwondo, and even Krav Maga. That's why Captain America fought very well in close quarters, and could easily grab opponents left and right. He likely used Krav Maga while fighting multiple opponents all at once. And on top of everything, he fights with a goddamn shield. He knew how to crowd control and strike weak points when the situation called for it.
Captain America has a fighting style I hope I can adapt to, to supplement Baki's own fighting style where he is known to latch onto his opponents, and force them into submission. He is known as Baki the Grappler, after all!
And he wasn't the only one out there I was interested in learning from either.
There was another person close by. And by close by, I mean, on the same planet. Planet Earth.
It's not like I could just waltz into that guy's territory. Well, I knew where it was. But if I did that, I'd be placing a giant target on my back, and I didn't want that. You'd get to see him after Age of Ultron. He even has a suit to call his own.
The Black Panther. His fighting is extremely wild and unpredictable. I am not sure if he does incorporate any form of martial arts abilities into his fighting techniques, or if he solely relies on his instincts. I know the actor who played Black Panther's role died and caused all that drama, but I'm back in 2012. It should be him.
But like I said, I sort of, you know, can't exactly wander into Wakanda, even if I knew its location. I'd be immediately captured and interrogated, firing off questions why I even knew where they were, haha!
So ruling out Black Panther and his situation, what does that leave us?
I looked at Steve Rogers with a grin on my face. To my surprise, he had a look around the first floor. A hint of embarrassment appeared in his eyes as he scratched his head.
"I'm sorry for the ongoing mess. I wasn't expecting new tenants to come in. But you work with what you have, right?", Steve said to us.
"That's fair. We are kind of disturbing your day already. Once the four of us, and eventually Nat, get situated in our new rooms, we'll try to stay out of your way. Nat's covering our expenses until our first sources of income start rolling in.", I replied with a nod of my head.
"Haha, never thought I'd see a group of aliens try to make an honest living, let alone have some be in my same apartment. What was Tony's offer, if you don't mind me asking? I'm genuinely curious. That guy has way too much money.", Steve questioned with growing interest.
"I don't see why we need to hide that. He offered a six digit salary to Momo here to become his personal chef. Her cooking is quite fantastic. If you put up some of Momo's dishes at a Michelin restaurant, I'm sure she'd receive favorable reviews.", I responded, describing our situation to him.
"No kidding? Now that must mean something, if it's coming from that guy. And six digits too. There aren't a lot of starting offers with that. Seriously, I can't even fathom how it's like being in his shoes. Would you even need a job at that point?", Steve retorted. He for one wasn't a billionaire, so he didn't know how to act like one.
"That's a question for you and me both. But we'll be available for the next couple days, at least. Tony will take us to a bank likely to open a new account. That must mean our identification will be squared away before that happens. So until then, we'll be intruding on you.", I responded.
"That's fine by me. I know we've just met and all, but can I ask what is it that you do, exactly? You don't have a tail like the girls do. In fact, you look more like me than anything.", Steve asked.
I was waiting for that question. He wasn't wrong. I'm human, just like him. I'm not from the same race as Lala is.
"Heh. Boy am I glad you asked that question. I'm a human, just like you. Just under a different set of scenarios. As to what I do exactly...mind if I grab a punching bag? I haven't moved a single muscle since we landed here. I'm in a good need of a refresh.", I suddenly answered.
"You fight or something?", Steve responded, not expecting me to say that.
"Something like that.", I replied, keeping my playful smile on my lips. Guess me saying I was human went straight over his head, or maybe he had no comments about it? Captain America's a fighter, so it's possible he's more interested in that rather than where I came from.
Bending downward, I began to do some light stretching.
I guess the time to do our first simulation will have to wait. I need to let my body loose a bit first. It's been cooped up in a bed for an entire week. I'd be more worried if I didn't have my system, but after getting my stamina refreshed, I feel as energized as ever.
My eyes were glued on the used punching bag over to the left side of the room...