Chapter 2: Brockton Bay

<Damian POV>

--???, ???--

My eyes fluttered open as the sunlight glared down at my form.

"Heh?" I sat up in suprise. Looking around, I was laying down in an alleyway.

I was rightfully bewildered by this. Afterall, I was pretty sure I went to sleep on the couch waiting for Mom and Dad to come home.

So, why the hell was I here?

... Where was 'here' anyways?

I looked around for some clues but unfortunately, didn't manage to find anything that could to point to it.

Just that apparently I was here with the clothes on my back... And my phone!

-I jumped up in suprise and elation as I found it in my pocket. 

'I can contact them with this!' I thought happily but my hopes were soon dashed when I found that it didn't have any battery.

Disappointed, I thought. 'It was a long shot anyway... But I should get moving. The sooner I get back home, the better.'

Determined, I stood up and walked out of the alleyway I had woken up in.

My body was tense, with panic and vigilance as I stepped out of the alleyway. I looked both ways just to be sure, almost afraid that something would jump out at me.

Fortunately, nothing of the like happened. Instead, I saw a big grey, 

ghetto-like city, and horrible beaches with a great view of the sea, and even a weird bubble in the middle of the ocean that I mistook for some kind of crashed hot air balloon at first.

Judging from the steadily rising sun from the east, it was morning. Somewhere around 9 or 8. Thus, there were many people going about their way, presumably to their jobs.

But... There was just something wrong here...

I just couldn't put my finger on it.

Once more I took a look around, at the people, their postures, and finally! I found the thing that was bugging me.

Everyone looked tense and vigilant, just like I was. They almost seemed afraid, that something would jump out and kill them... again just like I was.

While I had the excuse of being displaced and being in an unknown place, they didn't.

Now I was curious, what the heck had happened that people were so... tense here?

After walking around the nice wooden walkway, and seeing many good looking shops, I found a pair of nice police officers standing by their car and drinking coffee.

Approaching them, I asked. "Hello there!" I continued with a relaxing smile. "You wouldn't happen to know where I am right? I seem to have forgotten the last few hours." I cracked a smile to ease them up.

"Oh my!" Exclaimed the female police officer. 

"You're at the Boardwalk son." Said the the male police officer.

"The Boardwalk?" I asked confusedly.

The police officers both looked at each other briefly before turning to me and saying. "Yeah. The Boardwalk near the Docks?"

"What city?" I asked with a pit in my stomach.

I was pretty sure that there was no "Boardwalk" or "Docks" in my city. So that meant that somehow I may have been deserted in another city entirely!

I took some deep breaths to calm myself after I came to this realisation.

There was no use panicking right now, I had to get the full scope of the situation first and then call my parents to come and get me.

'What happened the other night?' I thought in worry.

The last thing I remembered was completing that CYOA...

"-Bay." Said the female police officer.

"Oh sorry, I didn't hear you." I said as I focused back on reality.

"I said, you're in Brockton Bay." She calmly repeated.

"Huh?" I blinked. "Brockton... Bay?"

""Yeah."" They both nodded.

...

My breath hitched, as my eyes widened. It felt like my head was going to explode...

The tense and vigilant people...

A big dark grey city...

A bubble just off the coast...

My mind was quickly putting together the clues, and was coming to a conclusion that I desperately hoped to be false.

But despite that, all the clues spoke for themselves.

I was sure that the police officers weren't lying to me, I could see it on their faces. They were telling the truth...

Despite my young age, I had always been a great judge of character. My Ma called it an inner talent of mine. So that was why I was sure that the officers weren't lying.

I also could not deny the similarities this place held with the one from my memories.

So that meant, no matter how much I wanted to deny it, that...

'I'm in Worm... Oh God, I'm in Worm!' Cold dread filled my heart at the thought of being on the same planet as eldritch abominations and superpowered psychos.

But my dread quickly turned into anger when I remembered the cause of this... 'displacement'.

'That bloody CYOA!' I furiously thought. 'Why oh why, did I fill it?! I should've just watched a YouTube video!?! I should've bloody hell ignored it! Why oh why, did this have to happen to me of all people?! Why did it have to be Worm of all places?!'

My internal rant was broken by the worried voice of the male police officer.

"-ey! Hey kid! You okay?" He asked wih an obvious worry in his eyes.

"Uh, yeah... Yeah I'm fine." I said with a tight smile. "Thanks for help officers. I know where I am now."

There was no need tell anyone in this godforsaken place about my circumstances.

God know, what they'll do...

What Cauldron would do if they find out about me...

Saying my piece, I turned away and started walking in the direction of the beach, so that I could sit and collect my thoughts.

Both the police officers looked at each other before shrugging going back to their coffee.

...

I sat at the beach, looking at the calming waves of the sea as they brushed by my naked feet.

It was very calming. And peaceful.

The cold air in my hair.

The salty smell of the sea.

... It felt refreshing.

Unfortunately, they weren't enough to stop my mind from descending into chaos and giving me an hell of a headache.

Cause this was what my situation was. A massive fucking headache of massive proportions.

Let me make this clear, I did not want to be here.

I had a life in my previous world. A good one with a bright future unlike many other NEETs, and weebs.

I had a loving family, a loving home and a loving dog.

But that was not the only problem (or the biggest) that I had with this situation.

It was that... I had been sent to WORM of all places.

Couldn't it have been Marvel or something!?

Everything would be much, much easier there.

'But nooo! Send him on a suicide mission to kill all Entities if he wants to go back home!' I thought sarcastically.

While I was a big fan of the Worm, reading it was infinitely different than living in it (and I had been here for barely an hour).

Needless to say, I was worried for my life... But there were a few factors that stopped me from falling into the deep and dark pit of depression and hopelessness.

And anyone would be depressed in this situation.

Afterall, I was now stuck in a death world where tens of billions of people in the multiverse were going to die in two years (give or take) by a multiversal being of unimaginable power (that I was supposed to somehow defeat if I wanted to go back home).

It was one of the worst worlds a person could get Isekai-ed into.

A legitimate Death World built on the concept that everything was going to get worse no matter how many bad guys you beat up.

Not to mention the list of enemies that would be after me once the knowledge of my power spreads.

All the Cape gangs in and out of the city. PRT. Cauldron. Endbringers. Maybe even Scion.

Believe it or not, Scion was the least likely person on the list who would attack me, as to him I would just be a ant not worth the attention.

Probably.

The biggest danger to me currently were the people (or creatures) that I had unknowingly provoked into coming after me.

I was talking about Leviathan and the Slaughterhouse 9.

What was I thinking inviting Leviathan- a fucking kaiju- to come and hunt me down?!

And just to put salt on the wound, Jack Slash and the rest of the Slaughterhouse Nine would also be coming after me if I didn't die because of the sea Kaiju.

And then to rub even more salt into the wound, if I ever wanted to go back to my old life, then I would have defeat Scion... and every other Entity.

That was practically a suicide mission.

A normal person would never follow it through as even a mad person would know that there were zero chances of victory.

And I would agree.

But... I just couldn't give up on them. My family.

No matter how bad the odds may be, I just couldn't give up without trying.

Cause that was what my Pa taught me.

...

================

And Done!

The protagonist has now entered the so-called lion's den! Now would he be eaten by these lions? Or would become one himself?

Find out in the next chapter of Absolute Power!

Till then, see ya!