Chapter 3:

We left the three unconscious men in the alley after taking all their wallets. Would they be all right just being left there? Maybe.

There had been a lot of shouting, and while no one came to actually help us, we figured someone would have at least called the police with all the noise. The three men should end up getting some medical treatment at least. At least I knew that none of the men had died. Even the guy who I had initially kicked. He was passed out, but steadily breathing, when we left.

According to Shadow, I had broken a few of his ribs though. He deserved worse, but I didn't know if I was ready to be an actual killer…

After that, Shadow led me a few blocks from the alley we were in towards her loft. We ended up on a street that was pretty run down, but not completely uninhabited. Her loft was at the top floor of an old apartment building. According to her, we had neighbors squatting in the other apartments but they were rarely home.

“So this is your loft, huh?” I asked while looking around. It was in about the same condition as the place I had just left, but at least this place wasn't run by an evil old crone and her nazi son.

“I know it's not much, but it's the best I can do as a runaway.” Shadow told me honestly.

“It's fine.” I replied. “Being here is a lot better than being on the streets tonight. Thanks for letting me stay with you.”

“No problem.” Shadow said. “Are you hungry? I have a few boxes of cereal at least.” She handed me a box of cheerios that she had sitting on the counter.

Shadow sat down next to me after taking a handful. I thanked her and started eating as well.

As I was chowing down, I looked around her loft. Taking in what we had to work with.

There were lightbulbs in the ceiling and we had working electricity–somehow–but other than that, there weren't any other appliances. There was a single bed in the corner, a couch in the middle of the room, and one extra door to the side that I figured was the bathroom.

I asked her if we had running water or not and she said yes. Although, she said the water wasn't drinkable unless it was boiled first.

For someone like me who had literal superpowers and a whole new world at her fingertips, these were unacceptable living standards. We were going to need to do some upgrades around here.

I finished eating and put the box back down. “Is pickpocketing the only way you’ve been making money, Shadow?” I asked her.

“It’s the only way I've figured I could make money so far.” She said. “I try not to go after too many people in one area. I don't want the police showing up.” She shrugged. “Although… This is Hell’s Kitchen, so I doubt they even would.”

So that's where we were. Hell's Kitchen, New York City.

If I recall correctly, Hell’s Kitchen was a popular area in a lot of Marvel Universes. It was usually riddled with gangs and crime. It was where street level heroes like Daredevil or the Punisher tended to roam. I didn’t know if either of those two were active yet. I didn’t know anything about my current timeline. I knew it was a version of Marvel with Mutants, which the MCU did not have until much later in the timeline. Pretty much when they were running out of ideas for anything else.

“To be honest, I don’t feel good about using my powers to pray on innocent people.” I told her. “Especially since the people of Hell’s Kitchen are already struggling enough as it is.”

Shadow grimaced. I could tell that I hit a sore spot there. “I know… I always feel bad when I take someone's wallet sneakily with my powers. But I have to eat too. I try my best to only go after wealthy looking people…” She trailed off.

That would have been fine with me except, “How many wealthy people actually live in Hell's Kitchen though?” I asked her doubtfully.

Shadow leaned back on the couch and sighed. She looked guilty. “Not many…” From her expression, I figured she had mostly been going after regular people. She didn't have any other choice really. I wasn't judging her, this was the hand she had been dealt. I was just hoping that now that I was here, we could start stacking the deck in our favor.

“So there's no wealthy targets to go after?” I asked her.

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“Not exactly. There are wealthy people, but they tend to all be criminals. I know a lot of the gangs around here make most of their money from preying on the residents of Hell's Kitchen.” She explained to me.

My eyes lit up upon hearing that! “Evil street gangs!? Tell me more!” Was this the start of my superhero origin story!?

Shadow scoffed at my excited look. “Nice try, but no! I thought the same thing as you when I first hit the streets. I asked myself, maybe I can be a superhero like Captain America was? Maybe people will look up to me! Mabe my parents will take me back if I become famous?”

“I can admit that I was thinking about the first two, but that last sounded a bit personal….” I told her.

“Yeah, well…” Shadow turned towards me with a sad look in her eyes. “It didn’t happen! The first person I saved from a mugger called me a mutant freak and screamed at me to get away from them!” She said bitterly. “That ended my dream of being a hero right then and there.”

Wow…There is a real genuine fear of mutants in this world. I wondered what the cause of that mass fear was? I was also sad to see a girl with such cool powers be so jaded.

I could tell I wasn’t going to convince her so I tabled that conversation for now. I didn’t know Shadow well enough yet anyway. I could tell that we were probably going to be good friends going forward, but that was for the future. For now, we barely knew each other and i didnt want to push her and make her uncomfortable. She had only been kicked out by her parents two months ago. That must have been devastating for a 16 year old girl like her…and highly illegal by her parents.

If this was a normal world, I'd immediately take Shadow to the nearest police station to report her parents, but with the way this world apparently sees mutants, Shadow might actually end up being painted as the “bad girl” and get arrested.

Truthfully, I also wasn’t sure if I wanted to solely be a “hero” either. Heroes tended to not do too well in the Marvel Universe. They got screwed over more often than not actually. One of the prime examples of that tends to be Spiderman. Poor Peter always gets the short end of the stick in his stories. Either his girlfriend dies or the world turns against him and he dies tragically alone and penniless. Did I want that kind of life? The answer to that was obviously no.

As it got later into the night, Shadow went to sleep on the mattress in the corner. I stayed up a bit later pondering what I wanted to do with my new life. Instead of planning any big things out, I decided to start by focusing on smaller goals, and seeing how things worked out for me from there.

Two short term goals I needed to prioritize were getting a better handle on my current powers, and finding a better way to get money.

The first goal was simple enough. I just had to train my body. It wouldn’t be pleasant as someone who never seriously worked out in her past life, but in this life I wanted to be better. I wanted to be better than better in fact. So I was going to have to train hard. In the Naruto anime, Rock Lee was wearing 5000 kilogram ankle weights when he was 13…

I’m currently 14 and I know if I attempted that, both of my legs would fall off. I had a long way to go, but it should be possible for me to theoretically reach a level like that. 5000 kilograms was nothing anyway, when some versions of Spiderman could lift over 100 tons!

As for the second goal of acquiring finances–that one I was still figuring out. One thing was for certain though. I didn’t want to go around pick-pocketing innocent people like Shadow had been forced to do so far. Not only was that bad karma, which was a real thing in this Universe, but it also went against my own principles. At this point, I'm pretty sure that I had actually overworked myself to death, just trying to bring home a paycheck, and that’s how I came to be in this new body. I don’t want anyone else to suffer financially like I did because of me…unless they are evil.

“Then fuck em…” I muttered to myself with a quiet giggle. I didn't want to wake up my new roommate after all. I fell asleep a little bit later.

…

I woke up the next morning with Shadow hovering over the couch. She was looking at me weirdly.

I yawned and stretched myself out. “Good morning, Shadow. Is something wrong?” I asked her.

“Is something wrong?” She repeated back to me sarcastically. She pointed towards the nearby table. “What is that?” She asked me.

“A gun?” I replied questioningly. Oh right, I had set that down there after she went to bed. I certainly wasn’t going to sleep with a loaded gun in my pocket!

“Why do you have a gun!?” Shadow exclaimed in exasperation. “How did you get a gun!? You're only 14!” She was warily eyeing it on the table in paranoia like it was going to jump up and start shooting all on its own.

I couldn't tell if she was more upset about there being a loaded gun in her loft, or the fact that I had somehow acquired it as a 14 year old girl. Either way, I started giggling at her expense. I couldn't help it! Her behavior was too funny for me!

Shadow pouted at me for giggling at her. “What’s so funny?”

“I’m sorry.” I said in between chuckles. “It's just funny to me that you can take out two grown men with a wave of your hand, but you're nervous around a tiny gun.”

Shadow puffed her cheeks at me. “Guns are still dangerous! I’m not bulletproof despite my cool powers! I’m still just a squishy girl like everyone else.” She said with a huff.

She’s not? Her shadows looked pretty strong though when she used them earlier. “What if you wrapped yourself in your own shadows like armor?” I asked her.

She scoffed. “That obviously wouldn’t…huh?” She paused for a second in thought and started muttering to herself. “...Wrap myself in shadows? ...Why didn't I think of that…?”

…

While she was distracted, I slipped around her and headed into the loft's sole bathroom. It was surprisingly clean inside, and I’m sure Shadow was to thank for that. After doing my business, I stood in front of the sink to wash my hands.

I looked into the mirror and called on my Sharingan to activate. Watching my eyes transform in the reflection was trippy. One moment my Irises were dark black, and the next they were glowing bright red. A black circle surrounded each of my pupils and one black tomoe sat on that circle on each of my eyes. I only had the first stage of my Sharingan right now. I knew that more would come with time and training.

I deactivated my Sharingan and stepped out of the bathroom. I didn’t want to stay holed up in the loft all day. I wanted to get out and explore the city. I also had a bit of money in my pocket and wanted to get some clothing that actually fit me.

Shadow was done monologuing to herself by the time I came out. I glanced over towards the table and noticed that my gun was missing. I opened my mouth to ask her where it was, but she stopped me.

“Nope! I hid the gun and I'm not telling you where. I would be a bad role model/roommate if I let you walk out of here with a gun.”

I pouted at her. “I wasn’t even planning on taking it with me. I had only taken it in the first place to keep it away from Chris!” I didn’t need it anyway. What kind of self respecting Uchiha would walk around with a gun!?

Now, a sword on the other hand…

“Are you heading out?” Shadow asked me.

I told her I was going out to get some better clothes and take in the sights a bit. Maybe explore the city a bit while I figured out what I wanted to do with my life. Shadow told me where she stashed the key for the loft–above the door frame–before I left, so that I could get back in. Not that we had anything worth stealing, but this was definitely an area where you locked your doors when you went out regardless.

With that, I headed out of the Loft and towards the nearest thrift store.

XXX