Prologue

Adam's death was much like any other; he stopped breathing, his heart faltered to a stop, and his vision faded to black. He had lived an ordinary life without much theatrics or drama and he died in his sleep from a cancer he didn't even know he had. He was dead, and yet here he was still feeling very much alive in an empty white room.

Not knowing what to do he panicked and started hyperventilating, terrified by the all-encompassing lack of anything in his immediate vicinity as well as the fact that it appeared as if he was floating with neither ground to walk on nor walls to push off of. Working up the courage to call out, he yelled, "Hello, is anyone there? I don't know what's going on, please help me."

And a voice so deep that even the empty air around Adam appeared to tremble slightly responded,

"Yes, yes, my child I will be with you shortly, I was just browsing through your file."

A ball of light floated into Adam's sight, identical in appearance to the white surroundings but so full in presence as to be the center of attention.

"Now you, my child, were quite the interesting case; you actually lived an impossible boring life. Us gods typically provide trials and tribulations, with which mortals like you must temper yourselves, along with various boons and blessings to aid you; but you, my child received none, neither remarkable intelligence nor great idiocy, not one illness or disease but without a feeling of great health. You were born a completely fresh piece of white paper and over the course of your life it was painted with only white, having none of the bright color so evident in the lives of others. In order to remedy this situation and suitably 'paint' you for the afterlife, I am giving you another life, this time in a much more chaotic world where it will be almost impossible to not be caught up in the rigors and pleasures of life. The world you are being sent to is one of heroes and villains, superpowers and advanced technology."

Adam was struck speechless for a moment by the sudden info dump and was about to start asking questions when he was cut off by the being that called itself a god.

"Now, because your circumstances are partially my fault, I will let you make some decisions on the blessings you will receive in your next life. The world you are going to is one of the infinite possible versions of the Marvel Universe that you read about and watched while you lived. You may make three wishes, one for a superpower within the bounds of what a human can be born with or develop, another for the ordinary traits like appearance, intelligence, charisma, and strength limited to within what is achievable to an unaltered human, and the last for the circumstances of your birth and family. Make your choices."

Growing ever more confused, though emboldened by the apparent peaceful nature of the being, Adam simply asked,

"May I have some time to consider, this decision is too big for me to act rashly and pick without thought."

The god did not directly respond, rather a timer appeared before Adam and started counting down from three hours.

Adam heavily weighed his options, his first thoughts were to simply ask for super strength or some other basic power, followed by considering the incredible powers no human could have that would never be allowed, but then he realized that the entire purpose of his reincarnation was to find some excitement and add some creativity to his life. With that realization in mind, Adam made his decision for his first wish and moved onto the second with an hour and a half until time ran out. Spending significantly less time on the second question, Adam gathered some simple specifications and moved on in less than twenty minutes. Now onto the third, Adam considered his choices and decided he would be happy as long as his new family is middle class or wealthier and his parents are loving, most of the rest did not matter too much to him. Speaking up before the timer ended, Adam said,

"Sir, for my first wish, I wish to have a power similar to Rogue from the X-Men, except I would like to be able to permanently keep abilities that I take and be able to get rid of the abilities should I no longer want them; I would also like to be able to control whether I am taking power or not when I am touching someone. If this power is too far then could you place a limit to the number of powers I can have at a time or make it so controlling it takes time to master."

"This wish is suitable as long as the restrictions are in place, there will be a limit of three powers at a time and it will take three years of practice for you to be able to fully control your ability."

"Then for my second wish, I want to be moderately handsome as well as charismatic; I'll leave the specifics to you. I would like whatever else I can get for this wish to be put towards my intelligence as long as I am not made too much smarter than the real mental powerhouses like Reed Richards and Tony Stark."

"I grant this wish as well, you will be a little smarter than Peter Parker but not as smart as Tony Stark."

"For my third and final wish, I want to be raised in New York within a reasonable distance from both the City and the X-Men mansion. I want to be in a middle class or wealthier family with loving parents. If possible, please let me be born the same year that Rogue is and let my power awaken at a similar time, she was my favorite character and getting to meet her eventually would be cool."

"Granted."