New Evolution

In a small, dark, quiet room, one can see a man sitting on a metal chair behind a metal table to which he was handcuffed. He sat up straight, not moving a single inch, almost as if he were a painting.

After a few minutes, the door opposite him opened as the distant and muffled sound of propellers entered the room, and so did a dark-skinned man with an eye patch and trenchcoat.

"Former Agent Masters. I'm late for a meeting with a few angry politicians and you're expected to be rotting in a cold cell soon. So seeing as we both have somewhere to be, I suggest we make this quick." Fury entered the room as he took a seat, staring at the man before him whose face was shrouded in darkness. His hand was also wrapped in a cast.

Fury was a master at handling his emotions, however, the man before him was responsible for almost killing his son. He was already having trouble seeing the man's face. He couldn't guarantee he would forget to mask himself throughout the interaction.

"I'm sorry, Director Fury, were you talking to me? It's just that I'm not familiar with that name. I go by Taskmaster." Replies Taskmaster, his voice flat and cold as he makes a witty remark.

"Why were you after him?" Fury says vaguely. Despite that, Taskmaster knew exactly what he meant.

"Sorry Boss, killer's code. Can't give up my contractor." Before Fury could retaliate, he paused for a minute.

Contractor? Ever since the day he rushed to Isaac's SOS call, he was under the assumption that Taskmaster had targeted his son to get to him. But that didn't seem to be the case. There was someone else.

"Is there a problem, Director?" Asked Taskmaster after noticing Fury's unusual silence.

After a few seconds, Taskmaster let out an unnerving smile.

"Hahaha, how interesting." Taskmaster wasn't one to smile or laugh so easily, however, he happened to stumble on gold. He couldn't help but express his feelings.

"The unusual interest in the boy, the shock of realising I was contracted and the fact that it was you who arrived after the kid sent out the signal. Not to mention the striking resemblance. Ha, I knew that kid wasn't a normal teenager." He laughed, somehow knowing Fury was at the scene when he was unconscious.

Fury knew Taskmaster wasn't stupid. There was only so much he could hide before he was figured out. Not to mention the fact that he blatantly slipped up just now.

"That kid. He's your son, isn't he?"

The chair Fury was sitting on scraped across the floor, releasing an ear-piercing screech as the Director stood up and walked towards the door.

"I'm right, aren't I? Haha, thank you for the visit, Director. I'll be sure to tell our mutual friend he has a mean right cross." Taskmaster laughed under his breath as he got his last words in before Fury left the room.

"You know you can't hold me forever, Director. I will escape, and I always finish the job…" Before he could finish, Fury shut the door, trapping the noise inside.

***

The streets of New York were as busy as ever with the sun standing at its peak. Despite the hot day, today seemed to be blessed with a cool breeze that was enough to render the heavy sweaters satisfied.

A large bus came to a stop before a boy standing beside his bike after travelling some distance.

"I can't even ride my bike anymore without flattening it. This is supposed to be the greatest ability that allowed you to go toe to toe with the world?" So far, this so-called great ability has been nothing but trouble for Isaac.

"You've barely experienced a portion of the ability. You'll be eating your words soon." Said Darwin, defending his ability.

As the bus doors opened, Isaac stepped on. As he did, the section of the bus Isaac had his foot on sunk to the ground, creaking as loud pops could be heard.

The passengers looked around, thinking a villain might be on the loose. Some even screamed and hid behind the chairs.

Meanwhile, Isaac was dumbfounded, staring at the scene with a blank expression. He retracted his foot as the bus returned to normal.

"I think I'll walk. Sorry." Isaac apologised to the bus driver as the driver stared at Isaac with a gaping mouth, continuing to follow the leaving Isaac with his eyes and completely forgetting about his job.

"Ok, I'll admit, you weren't so lucky with the evolution you obtained," Darwin admitted, to which Isaac sighed.

"Don't look too into it. You just have to get stronger. You might be lucky enough to get an ability that counters Steel Skin."

"Hey, let's slow down. I haven't decided whether or not to take up the mantle of the Misunderstood Villain. I don't even know if you're telling the truth." Darwin sighed as he heard this. He and Isaac haven't exactly been seeing eye to eye lately.

"Isaac, whether you like it or not, this is your responsibility now. You're the only one who can do it." The more Darwin talked, the more he filled Isaac with uncontrollable anxiety. And to think he was going to spend his summer break playing League.

Isaac didn't want to admit it, but he knew that was the case. If this was all true, what kind of man would he be to ignore what could potentially be the end of the world he knew?

"I'm not the only one. I could tell a hero like Tony Stark."

"Uh-huh, I'm sure Stark would believe a random kid who's known for his pranks."

Not only was Isaac known for his pranks, but it also seemed he was going to be known for his insanity, seeing as countless people he walked by caught onto the fact that he was talking to himself.

"Fine, how do I get stronger." He said, accepting his fate.

"That's my boy. Well, it seems the ability you have currently is a little different than mine. The one you have seems to work less efficiently."

Isaac raised an eyebrow as he heard this. He currently wielded the weaker version and it was still capable of extraordinary feats.

"Your evolution seemed to kick in only when you were at death's door, contrary to mine which would activate much sooner."

Isaac paused his steps as he gulped at the next words he might hear.

"So it seems the solution is simple. You have to try and kill yourself."

***

"Are you crazy?" Isaac stood in an empty warehouse, on a railing over a large tub of green liquid that bubbled and seemed to be radiating steam.

"I'm serious. Jump in the acid. Do you want to get stronger or not?" Darwin said in a nonchalant tone.

"There has to be another way. What if you're wrong and I burn in acid?" Isaac asks as the countless ways this can go wrong haunted him.

"It's easy. Trust the evolution. It's the greatest ability to ever exist." Says Darwin, his voice dripping with pride.

"It's easy for you to say! You're not the one who has to voluntarily off himself! This isn't straightforward you know…" As Isaac unknowingly stomps his feet forgetting his weight, he feels his footing on the railing loosen.

As a loud bang is heard, the railing Isaac is standing on quickly rips off its hinges, plummeting Isaac straight toward his death.

"Hahaha, sucker." Laughed Darwin as Isaac's words came to a halt.

"Holy crap, holy crap, Holy crap!" Yelled Isaac, letting out a girlish scream while Darwin laughed uncontrollably.

There was nothing for him to grab, nothing to save him from his descent. All he could rely on was this stupid ability which had absurd requirements to activate.

As he inched closer and closer to the acid, his heartbeat quickened. The ability wasn't working. Was he really going to die?

[Congratulations!]

[You have gained the C-rank Evolution "Gravity Manipulation".]

Before Isaac could sink into his doom, he halted in midair, directly above the acid.

He slowly opened his eyes and read the message, quickly putting two and two together. He'd be ecstatic to know he could fly now if he wasn't recovering from the fact that he almost died again for the second time this week. His face sweated profusely and his breaths were heavy and quick.

"Hahaha, I knew it! Did I not tell you you now possessed the greatest ability of all time?" Laughed Darwin. Despite him being in Isaac's head, he was obnoxiously loud for someone who didn't have a physical form.

Isaac slowly floated to safety as his shaking legs threatened to give out on him.

"Now deactivate the evolution and jump into the acid. You might get Toxic immunity. If you play your cards right, you could even gain Acid Manipulation." Said Darwin, frantically speaking as if he were an excited child.

All Isaac could do was stare into the blank air with a defeated expression.

"Yup, you're definitely crazy. I'm going home."