Awaken into a new world

Brian Lung snapped his eyes awake from a foreign alarm ring. Still half-asleep, he smacked the clock residing on the nightstand and rose to see an unfamiliar bedroom.

'Where am I?'

He examined the surroundings in the hope of finding some clues to his unusual location. The room had white painted walls with contemporary furniture to boot. It was not extravagant by any means, but it felt cozy and comforting in a strange way.

The first thought that came to his mind was that he had gotten kidnapped. However, it was a ridiculous idea, he was only a senior developer for a startup company in San Francisco. Furthermore, Brian didn't have a lot of money to start, so why would anyone kidnap him?

Rummaging through the strange room, Brian found an employee badge neatly placed on top of the nearby work desk. He picked up the piece of plastic attached with a blue lanyard in curiosity. As his eyes surveyed through the information printed on the I.D., they went wide in bewilderment.

'This can't be right. Is this someone's cosplay? What is this?'

Intrusive thoughts ran through the back of his mind about the nature of the card. Printed in blue and black inks were the words 'Stark Industries. Employee I.D. Quentin Beck. Lead Engineer.' There also was a photo of the famous actor J.G on the plastic. Brian's thumb ran over the smooth surface with a satisfying swipe.

[Quentin Beck Image]

Brian thought that whoever brought him here had been really into cosplaying. The card was so well made that it made him wish his own employee card was produced with the same level of details. Placing the I.D. down, he opened the only door leading to what he hoped would answer for his current situation.

"Hello? Anyone there?"

Exiting the bedroom, Brian saw a tidy living space with an open entry to the washroom, opposite where he came from. In shock, his face distorted into a terrified expression when he saw what reflected back at him from the washroom mirror.

"No No No No No No. This can't be happening."

He rushed towards the restroom's mirror and stared at himself. What he saw was the face of J.G wearing a t-shirt and sweat pants. Brian ran his fingers through the eyebrows, nose, then lips and twisted them around in desperation, hoping that it was all just some kind of trick.

"You're dreaming. Wake up. Wake the fuck up. You've finally lost it now. They're going to put you in an asylum. Wake up, god damn it."

He slapped himself a few times to exit this nightmare, but the pain felt real enough to make Brian question his sanity. What greeted him was the image of a 5 foot 11 inches man with a surprisingly toned body, very different from what he was usually used to. Before long, a blaring headache attacked his fracturing mind, which made him scream in misery.

Twenty-seven years of memories flashed through the man's eyes. The upbringing of Quentin Beck, his parents, his education, the start of his employment with Stark Industries, even what he ate for breakfast every day all crammed into Brian like air into an already inflated balloon. He was not sure how long it lasted, but whatever length it was, it was too long.

Collapsed onto the marbled floor, Brian, or more accurately, Quentin pried himself off the ground. He quickly left the washroom with one final look back to the mirror and muttered.

"Fuck."

Quentin sat down on the living room sofa with all the information he had just received and thought about his newly found predicament. His arms were shaking from both the excitement and fear he experienced. There existed both Quentin Beck and Brian Lung. Two separated people from different worlds smashed together into one giant mess of a person. Not even thinking about how he got here, he knew what his future entailed if he didn't make changes to his current trajectory.

The month was August 2012, a couple of months after the Battle of New York and around six years before The Blip happened, the catastrophic event where half of the universe's population was erased by The Mad Titan, Thanos. The question that plagued Quentin's mind was.

"Did I get blipped after the snap?"

He did not think so. For the original Quentin to gather up the people, resources, and planning required to take over EDITH and learn about the drones at all, he needed to be around during the five-year blip. It was ridiculous to think he would be able to plan all that with the short timeframe between Endgame and Far From Home. The events would eventually lead Quentin to his own death at the hands of Peter Park. Regardless, he could not be sure that the timeline would happen just like the movies or maintain the same with his synchronization with Brian Lung.

Quentin Beck was just a human without godlike powers and luck of the original cast. Would he be able to make a difference at all in just six years? How would he be able to change fate in the first place? It was not time to think about such things right now. Whatever direction he planned to go in, Quentin needed funds and lots of them to be able to even do anything.

Quentin Beck was born from the union of Elmore and Henrietta Beck. The two were not abusive to him, yet their love was never unconditional. Throughout his upbringing, Quentin was showered with praises when he excelled and ridiculed if there were any minute mishaps. They were mainly interested in how he could make the family look good. He only felt secure and worthwhile when he was recognized as the best. It explained why future Tony Stark's insult on his work developed such an immense hatred from Quentin towards the Iron Man.

In the movies, Tony did not trust Quentin and claimed that he was unstable, but with the memories of Brian Lung, that might not be the case in the long run. Brian was an adopted son of a loving couple, which supported him in his career choice. Their teachings allowed him to learn humility and grit when facing problems in life. The two childhoods had a contrast in their upbringing that would change the course of Quentin's future actions.

Whatever their plans were, the holographic technology he was working on was pivotal in his new tactics. Quentin could split away from Stark Industries and create his own company; yet, he knew that the process of finding investors for a startup was an extraordinarily grueling and time-consuming procedure. If he could just show Tony the value of his work and that he himself was not "unstable." There was a chance that he might be able to open a subsidiary company under Quentin's name. On the one hand, with Stark's backing, he could save the much-needed time to focus on other ventures. On the other, breaking away from Stark Industries in the future might become a problem, but Quentin had to try it first. Time was of the essence.

He knew the perfect way to market his product. The people of this Earth had witnessed the destruction of alien life forms and the heroism of Earth's mightiest. What better way to go other than letting them experience what it was like to be a hero themselves. He would need to draft an organized plan for Tony and promote his technology as a new gaming experience. The surface goal was to provide an escape from the newly realized horrors of the cosmos. However, both the old and new Quentin knew that there were millions of other ways to utilize his invention to its fullest. He desperately needed to buy time and funding that he didn't currently have.

/ Ring Ring /

Quentin's phone buzzed from the inside of his bedroom. He reluctantly stood up and moved to pick up the call. The caller I.D. was Felicia Morris, his direct supervisor, and the augmented reality research team manager.

"Hello?"

"Hello? What do you mean hello? Where are you? It's the first week back to work, and you're not here. I understand that the world is crazy right now, but you have responsibilities to the company and your co-workers to show up at least. Morale is already low, we can't have the lead engineer being a no show."

The angered voice of his boss echoed through the entirety of the apartment. He forgot how loud she could sometimes be.

"I'm sorry. I got held up by something. I'm on my way."

"Huh? Are you apologizing? It must be quite serious then. Fine. Just come to work. I know that it's hard, but we have to try to return to some sort of normalcy."

Quentin had never made an apology so quickly before. He was a self-centered person who believed solely in his own genius. Anyone who said differently was inferior or jealous in his mind. Nonetheless, he was different now. He knew that there were so many more terrifying things out there lurking in the shadows. His pride was not high on the priority list in comparison.

"I understand. Again, I'm sorry. I'll be there right away."

"Yea, alright. Just hurry up."

Felicia ended the call in her office with a deep sigh. She wondered what Quentin was thinking about. The man seemed different somehow, just from their call. He was much more reserved and less arrogant than a few months ago.

'Is it possible that the event in New York had shaken him somehow? Nah, he'll turn back into a prick soon enough.'