The first thing Ethan heard was the beep of the machines around him.
Ethan didn't know what had happened to him. His head hurt, in fact, his whole body hurt, and he was having a hard time thinking straight.
Still, he forced himself to open his eyes and identify the environment around him.
The slight burning he always felt after being a long time without opening his eyes was present, but that didn't bother Ethan as he looked at the surrounding environment.
White walls, white ceiling, beds and machines scattered everywhere, that was a familiar place for Ethan, the place where he always ended up when his bad luck decided to attack.
He was in a hospital room.
Only after noticing this, Ethan stopped to look at himself. His condition was not one of the best, but there have been occasions when he was worse.
Along with the pain that consumed every part of him, his whole body was covered with bandages and there was a machine near his bed monitoring his vital signs while he had a tube with serum connected to his forearm.
Um, now he was having flashbacks of the day he was run over, because he had ended up in a state very similar to the one he was now.
Ethan tried to get up, stretch his body, take a walk around the hospital and maybe find someone to explain how he had ended up there, but of course it wouldn't be so easy. The moment he tried to move just a little to try to settle in that hospital bed, a wave of pain ran through his whole body, his cells forming a violent protest against his attempt to move.
" Aghh... " Ethan let out a small moan of pain as he lay back on the bed and felt the pain disappearing little by little, but the message was clear. He was too weak to move at the moment.
Time passed while Ethan waited for someone to show up for him. A doctor, a nurse, maybe even another patient, anyone who could explain which hospital he was in and how he ended up there.
Then time passed, and Ethan just stood there without moving a muscle, just enjoying the sunlight that passed through the window and the beeps that the machines around him released.
After some time, Ethan managed to organize his thoughts and remember the sequence of events that made him end up where he was.
"Shortly, I woke up in New York in a dark alley, was crushed by wreckage and now I'm in a hospital" Ethan thought with a sigh, wishing once again that someone else had his luck "Things that only happen to me"
As much as it wasn't the worst situation Ethan had ever had after an accident, it was still difficult not to get angry and annoyed by things like that just happened to him.
Did he burn a hospital for children with terminal illnesses in his past life for God to have given him such bad luck? That was the only explanation he had for that.
Oops, I'm dirbling again.
After complaining about his luck, Ethan remembered that he needed to figure out how to get back to Chicago as soon as possible, before someone noticed his disappearance and began to imagine the worst.
He didn't want anyone to think that he was so devastated by Cassandra's incident that he ended up running away from home. That would totally destroy his social life.
But first, he had to find out how he got there and pay the hospital bill. Or run away without paying if the bill was too high.
And also what was the incident that sent him to the hospital. He knew it was an explosion and that the wreckage ended up falling on his body, but he also knew that explosions didn't happen out of nowhere. Well, most of the time.
A terrorist attack maybe? They were actually very common, a bunch of lunatics with weapons and bombs thinking they rule the world and wanting to cause confusion. It was very simple to imagine.
Or maybe it was the work of gangs, since you never know what a bunch of unemployed crazy people with no future with weapons are capable of doing.
Or simply a building demolition that ended badly...
Knowing how his luck worked, everything and a little more was possible in those scenarios.
[I'm sorry to say, but it's none of the scenarios you thought of]
Ethan's thoughts were cut off when a new voice was present at the place.
Opening his eyes, Ethan came across a green holographic screen a few centimeters above him, with the exact same words he had heard written on them.
A hallucination maybe? Ethan thought.
[ This is not a hallucination ]
You denying that it is a hallucination only increases the chances of being a hallucination.
[... This is not totally a lie, but I can assure you that what is happening to you now is not a hallucination ]
As much as he wanted to continue the discussion about what was real or not with the screen in front of him, Ethan knew that it wouldn't take him anywhere and the best thing would just let the thing go its course.
After all, if that was a hallucination (which he was sure it was) it would not be strange for him or anyone to find someone who suffered a strong blow to the head talking to himself.
This was even very common if you thought about it.
"Okay, if this isn't a hallucination, then what are you? " Ethan asked, deciding to follow the flow of the thing.
[ I am your system ]
The 2000s TV series narrator voice that that screen had was kind of strange, but very pleasant to listen to.
"System? Like those from the games and manga? " Ethan asked curiously. Despite not being a big fan of fiction, he was well informed in this department.
[ Yes and No. I am a system, but very different from those you just described. I'm a templates system ]
"Templates? " Ethan repeated, not being familiar with the word and much less with its meaning.
[ First of all, do you at least know where you are? ]
Although he found the question strange, Ethan replied: "Well, I know I'm in New York, I think that's enough"
[ Actually, you're not just in another city, you're in another universe ]
" Another universe? "
[ Yes, you're in the marvel universe now ]
Ethan was processed by those words for a few seconds. After finally understanding what they meant, he closed... sighed and just accepted the new reality.
[ Just that? No existential crisis or something like that? Are you just going to accept it like this? ]
"Honestly, the way my luck works, waking up in an alley and discovering that I'm in another universe is something that no longer surprises me" Ethan replied as if that were the most normal thing in the world.
He was unfamiliar with the Marvel universe. Of course, he knew about some heroes and had seen some movies, although he had already forgotten most of the things he saw in these movies. And despite knowing that it was a "dangerous" universe, his life was already the very embodiment of danger, so it didn't make much difference.
The only thing that bothered him now was the system that apparently he now had. For the rest, it was just another normal Sunday for him.
[ ... You know what, it doesn't matter. Let's just jump to what matters ]
[ As I said before, I'm a template system. Templars are a kind of models or structures based on fictional characters. I, as a templant system, have the ability to make you win these templants, making you gain the powers, skills or characteristics that the characters of this templant have ]
"Like a gacha game? " Ethan asked, now with his attention focused on the explanation that had somehow caught his attention.
[ Yes, like a gacha game ]
"So once a month I get a new template? " He asked, since most of the gacha games he found revolved around a similar logic.
[ Not exactly. Whenever you gain a new template, you do not immediately gain the same abilities of the character in question. You will have the same powers and the same potential, but you will have to train if you want to become as strong as the character in question.
Only after "completing" the template, you will have access to another template ]
"Um, cool," Ethan said.
[ Just that? You won't ask who created me, how I merged with you or my other features? ]
"Is all this you said relevant to me now? "
[ Well... No ]
"So I don't think it's worth asking" He replied shrugging his shoulders, and regretting seconds later with the pain he felt.
An awkward silence took over the room afterwards.
[ You have the right to win a random template now. Do you want to use it? ]
"It could be" Ethan replied wanting to end that strange atmosphere.
A smaller green screen appeared in front of the larger screen. On this smaller screen, several names of several characters began to appear, being so fast that Ethan had difficulty keeping up.
After almost a minute, the screen finally stopped at a name.
[ Enerjak | Sonic ( Archie Comics ) ]
[ Um... Ahh... Congratulations? ]
Who the fuck is Enerjak?, was all Ethan thought at that moment.