Marvel: The Game of Talents

Before we begin:

Special thanks to UnseenPickle,Newbie25, Ethan Farias, Najicablitz, Jeremy Hernandez for their support on Patreon. 

I'm also extending the 10% first timer discount for a week or so. 

Enjoy!!

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The sound of metal grinding filled the dark room, setting teeth on edge.

Two burly men in guard uniforms shoved open the iron door, wheeling in a hospital bed with slow, measured steps.

On the bed lay a teenager with distinctly Asian features. His wrists and ankles were bound tight with leather straps, immobilizing him. He could barely manage to turn his head, taking in his surroundings.

The room was dim and cramped, with an operating table at the center. A dirty curtain hung nearby, and the rusty operating lamp above told him one thing for sure—this wasn't any ordinary medical facility. The faint smell of blood and mold lingered in the stale air.

Beside the table stood a man in a stained white coat, busy arranging medical tools, clearly preparing for something.

"Hell's bells…"

The sight made Ethan's heart sink.

He knew he was no match for the guards flanking him, so when they hoisted him up and dropped him onto the operating table like a lamb to the slaughter, all he could do was lie still.

"Welcome back, little rat."

The man in the coat turned, fixing Ethan with a cold stare.

"Let's go over it again. How did you end up in our facility?"

"Our guards, our cameras—none of them caught you sneaking in. Care to explain?"

Ethan Lee fell silent. He didn't know how to answer that question—not without sounding insane.

Time travel? Yeah, right.

Especially not to this guy, who called himself "Ajax."

Ethan Lee knew better. That was a fake name. If memory served, his real name was Francis.

Yes, that Francis—the supervillain from Deadpool.

That meant Ethan Lee was currently in the secret lab from the movie, where Deadpool's origin story of cancer treatment hell unfolded.

As a traveler from another time, Ethan Lee had been stuck in this world for two months. Compared to the bizarre time-travel scenarios in books, his experience was almost laughably simple.

One moment, he was playing a game at home, and the next, he was here, in this grim research facility.

The guards had found him almost instantly, knocking him out cold.

When he regained consciousness, he was strapped to this very table, a foreigner in a white coat injecting him with who-knows-what, leaving him with no chance to resist.

What followed was a blur of interrogation and torture.

Beaten with iron rods, waterboarded, suffocated, roasted, dunked in ice water…

Ethan Lee had lost count of how many times he had been subjected to that sadistic routine.

Every so often, he'd be dragged back to this operating room, only to be met with Francis's cold, unyielding gaze. Each session brought new levels of pain, pushing his body and mind closer to the brink.

When he could no longer endure or passed out, they'd stop—temporarily. But the next round would always come, just as brutal.

Over and over again…

These days had been a relentless cycle of agony. Ethan Lee knew even if he confessed everything, it wouldn't make a difference. This place was a front, a lab where "patients" were merely test subjects robbed of freedom.

He'd come to one realization: there was only one way out of this facility—death.

If he wanted to survive, he'd have to escape.

Francis watched him, his eyes chilling as Ethan Lee kept his silence.

"So, you're still not going to talk? That's fine. We have all the time in the world."

With that, Francis wheeled an instrument closer and dipped his fingers into a strange liquid, applying it along Ethan Lee's temples.

Francis's voice softened, almost a whisper, as if savoring the torment to come. "In a moment, we'll be connecting you to some AC power. Don't worry; the voltage is low enough not to kill you. At most, it'll make you feel… uncomfortable."

Ethan Lee's pulse quickened at the sight of the metal needles.

Was he planning to electrocute him?

"Wait!" Ethan Lee finally broke, unable to bear the mounting dread.

Francis's eyebrows lifted; he thought his scare tactics had worked.

"Last chance," he sneered. "Tell me, who are you?"

Ethan Lee's mind scrambled. The truth was out of the question, and he couldn't just claim to be a Saiyan. Who knew if Dragon Ball existed in this world?

He hesitated, finally blurting out, "It's… complicated…"

Francis narrowed his eyes, as if Ethan Lee's identity might be more layered than he'd assumed.

"Well, spit it out!" he demanded.

With no other option, Ethan Lee continued. "Let's just say… I understand what I know, and you don't understand what I don't know. The less you know, the better, so why ask?"

Francis's face twisted in confusion, realizing he'd gotten nowhere.

"So, what's your real identity?"

"I know what I know, and there's no point in explaining what I don't know. Got it?"

"…"

Francis's smirk vanished, and he glared at Ethan Lee with icy contempt. He could tell now that Ethan Lee wasn't going to talk.

"Fine," he growled. "Let's see if you can keep up the humor after this."

He pressed the metal needle to Ethan Lee's temple.

Some time later, Ethan Lee awoke.

The operating room was gone, replaced by a vast, dimly lit hall lined with hospital beds.

Figures in white hospital gowns lay scattered across the room, their faces mostly vacant, though the air was thick with muffled cries and anguished moans. Despair hung over the hall like a cloud.

"Agh…"

As his senses returned, Ethan Lee felt pain flare across his body like fire.

"Damn it, Francis went all out."

His nerves and muscles screamed, the aftermath of the high-frequency electric shocks, each pulse carving pain deep into his tissues.

But if nothing else, Ethan Lee had built a tolerance over his time here. He grit his teeth, clenching through the agony.

This had to be enough.

As he focused his thoughts, a character panel popped up in his mind:

[Player: Ethan Lee][Gender: Male][Age: 18][Talent: None]

The interface wasn't new. It was the character panel of a mobile game he'd been playing before he got thrown into this mess.

Danganronpa: High School Talent Development Program.

Unlike the original Danganronpa, a detective-style adventure, this game was a quirky character development sim, where players unlocked unique talents for characters, creating super high-school prodigies with god-like potential.

After his sudden "arrival" in this world, the game had somehow followed him here.

And now, it was his only hope of escaping this hell.