Chapter 1: The Doomsday Newbie
"Alex! Alex, wake up! The teacher is looking at you!"
A sharp jab in my ribs brought me screaming back to reality. I groaned, my forehead peeling away from the cold, hard surface of a wooden desk. My vision was a blurry mess of fluorescent lights and dust motes dancing in the air. The air in the room tasted like stale floor wax and old textbooks—the classic smell of Midtown High.
"Alex? You okay, man? You were drooling," a whisper came from my right.
I blinked, rubbing the sleep from my eyes, and nearly fell out of my chair. Sitting right next to me was a kid with messy brown hair, cheap glasses, and a look of pure anxiety. He looked exactly like Tom Holland.
Wait, what? I thought, my heart doing a drum solo in my chest. Is that Peter Parker? Why is Spider-Man poking me? Is he cosplaying in class?
I looked down at my own hands. My heart nearly stopped. My hands were thin. My arms were twigs. Where were my ripped anime muscles? I had spent years hitting the gym to look like a Shonen protagonist, and now I looked like I'd struggle to lift a heavy textbook.
Then it hit me. The laptop. The blue light. The rewatching of Infinity War. The boom.
I transmigrated, the realization hit me like a truck. I was literally screaming at the screen about how Star-Lord ruined everything, and then my computer basically turned into a claymore mine. Boom. Lights out.
[Good job on guessing that, mortal.]
Suddenly, the classroom vanished. One second I was in a boring history lecture, the next I was floating in a pitch-black void that smelled like ozone.
"Who's there?" I yelled, but my voice sounded like it was underwater.
[I'm ROB. A 'Random Omnipotent Being' to you mortals. I was bored, and watching you complain about Marvel movies was the highlight of my eon. So, I decided to give you a front-row seat. I gave you a cheat—the Doomsday bloodline. The monster that cracked the Man of Steel like a glowstick. But I'm not a fan of spoilers. I nerfed it. If you want that 'Ultimate Evolution,' you're gonna have to train like a maniac to grow strong. Don't make things boring for me, you hear?]
"NOW GET LOST! SHOO!"
A literal giant foot kicked me through the void, and I slammed back into my seat. The legs of my chair groaned under the sudden impact.
"Mr. Alexander Prince! On your feet, young man!"
The teacher, Mrs. Warren, was standing over me. She looked like she hadn't smiled since the Cold War. "Why are you sleeping in my class? Is the history of the Stark Expo too boring for you?"
"Uh... sorry, ma'am," I stammered, my head still spinning from the cosmic kick to the ribs. "I didn't have a good night's sleep. I was... counting sheep. Thousands of them. It got very complicated around four thousand."
The class erupted in snickers. The teacher sighed, a look of pure exhaustion crossing her face. "I am tired of your stupid antics, Alexander. Sit down and do not disturb my class again."
"Yes, ma'am. Definitely wouldn't."
I sat back down, my mind racing. A nerfed version of Doomsday? No system? I looked at my reflection in the dark screen of my phone. I looked handsome as fuck—sharp jaw, messy black hair, and eyes that had a predatory, amber glow. But I felt... empty. Like a furnace that needed fuel.
The final bell rang, and it was like music to my ears. I didn't even wait for the teacher to leave; I bolted out of the class and into the boys' bathroom. I slammed the door shut and splashed cold water on my face.
"Well... at least I'm not ugly," I muttered, tracing the line of my new jaw. I did a quick "stat check" on my new body and nearly choked. Eleven inches? "ROB, you magnificent bastard. You gave me the full package. If I can't kill Thanos, at least I'll die a legend."
I gripped the edge of the porcelain sink, imagining it shattering like glass. I gritted my teeth, pushing with everything I had. My knuckles turned white, but the sink stayed whole. "Nerfed indeed," I hissed. "It's like having a Ferrari engine but no gasoline. I need power. I need to evolve."
I headed back to the hallway, where Peter was waiting by the lockers, giving me the ultimate stink eye.
"Dude! Really? You just bolted," Peter huffed, packing his bag. He looked genuinely pressed that I'd left him behind. "I thought you died in the hallway. You left me alone with Warren! She almost gave me extra homework just because she was mad at you!"
"Sorry, Pete. Nature called. And when nature calls Alexander Prince, you don't put her on hold."
"No, I ain't taking 'sorry' for an answer," Peter laughed, shoving me toward the exit as we joined the flow of students. "You left me behind. You owe me. You're definitely buying me lunch."
"Tch. Can you be even more shameless? You're a genius, Pete. Go invent a money-printing machine or a web-fluid that turns into gold."
"Shut up, big boy, and let's head out," Peter said, shaking his head.
As we hit the school gates, the afternoon sun hitting the pavement, a sleek black town car pulled up to the curb. Out stepped Harry Osborn, looking like he'd just walked off a yacht.
"Yo, Peter! Yo, Alex! What's up?" Harry called out, flashing a grin that cost more than my apartment.
"Am good, Harry. And you?" I asked, though my stomach gave a growl so loud it sounded like a literal monster lived in my gut. My Doomsday cells were screaming for protein. I felt like I could eat an entire cow.
"I'm great," Harry said, joining us.
I leaned in, putting an arm around Harry's shoulder. Since he was a billionaire, he was my best ticket to a high-calorie feast. "So, Harry... you're taking us out for lunch, right? I'm sure of that. A billionaire like you wouldn't let his best friends starve on the streets of Queens. Think of the PR disaster."
Harry barked out a laugh, shoving me off jokingly. "You thief! You're so shameless. I swear, even my underwear is shy because of how shameless you are, Alex. Do you ever think about anything besides food?"
"Hehe, maybe. But are you still buying?"
"Fine," Harry sighed, but he was smiling. "But we're going somewhere decent. No greasy spoons today."
I looked at Peter and winked. Step one: Get the billionaire to pay for the "Evolution Fuel." As we walked toward the car, I noticed my shadow on the ground. For a split second, it didn't look like a human shadow. It looked massive, jagged, and terrifying.
Train crazy, ROB said. Well, first I'm going to eat crazy.