The hero of DC and Marvel

Toshinori's POV

It had been four days, which meant I was back at Harlene Quinzel's apartment. This time, she was actually home. The scent of freshly baked cookies filled the air, and I spotted a tray of them cooling on the counter.

We sat in the front room, a comfortable silence settling between us as we ate. I had to admit—they were pretty good.

"I've made my decision," Harlene said suddenly. "I'd like to work for your friend."

I smiled. "That's great news. We're happy to have you."

We both stood up, and I grabbed a bowl of cookies. She gave me a confused look.

"What? They're good," I said with a shrug.

She laughed. "Thanks. It's an old family recipe."

I tapped my earpiece. "Church, open the Ground Bridge."

A swirling portal materialized before us, and we stepped through. The moment we arrived at the base, Harlene's eyes widened as she took in the massive facility.

"This place is amazing," she breathed.

I chuckled. "Haha, yeah. It took my friend two months to build this."

Her eyebrows rose. "Your friend must have a lot of money if he did all this."

"Oh, he does. One time I asked how rich he was, and he said, 'I'm Scrooge McDuck rich.' Had to look that up later."

We walked into the briefing room, and I called out, "Church."

A blue holographic figure flickered into existence, and Harlene's jaw practically hit the floor.

"What's up? Need something?" Church asked casually.

"Yes, can you call Ed?" I requested.

"No problem. It's done." With that, he vanished.

Harlene turned to me, still looking stunned. "Was that an AI?"

I nodded. "Yep. One of them."

Her eyes narrowed. "One of them? How many do you guys have?"

"If we count Church? Nine."

"That's incredible," she murmured, shaking her head. "AI is not my field, but I know how hard it is to create one. And that one… he had a personality."

"They all do," I said. "Each one is unique."

"Who made them?"

"Our leader. He's possibly the smartest person I've ever met."

Before she could respond, the door opened, and Ed walked in—wearing his hero suit.

"Ed, is there a mission?" I asked.

"It's for me, not the whole team. I'm just recruiting someone," he explained.

"Oh, well, this is Harlene Quinzel. She's agreed to join us."

"That's wonderful news. I was hoping you would," Ed said with a smile.

"And I'm happy to be aboard," she replied.

"Good. There are a couple of things I need to discuss, though," Ed said.

"Like what?" Harlene asked.

"First, all the kids here have superpowers. Some are metahumans, others are mutants or mutates. I need to know—do you have a problem with that?"

She shook her head. "No, not at all. Superpowered people don't bother me."

"Good. Next question—are you willing to live here?"

Her eyes widened slightly. "I can live here?"

"Yes. The base has everything you'll need."

She let out a breath. "That actually sounds great. I don't really have any friends, and my family… we haven't talked in years."

Ed tilted his head. "Can I ask why?"

"Plenty of reasons," she admitted. "They never supported my dream of being a therapist—even though I graduated early, at the top of my class. They didn't even show up to my graduation. But I think the real reason we stopped talking is that they didn't support me being bi."

Ed sighed. "I can live for a hundred years, and I'll never understand people like that. Turning their backs on you just because of who you are… they don't deserve you. If I were your parent, I'd be proud of what you've accomplished."

Harlene smiled softly. "Thank you."

"No problem. Just telling the truth."

Ed straightened. "Church and All Might will show you around. You already have an office, and I had it stocked with files on the kids. Oh, before I forget—you're going to see some weird things here, so consider this your heads-up."

Harlene raised an eyebrow. "Define 'weird.'"

Ed smirked. "Strange creatures, dinosaurs, demons, a guy who looks like an octopus, and maybe some aliens."

She blinked. "You're joking, right?"

I chuckled. "Trust me, he's not. And trust me even more—it's gonna get stranger."

"Alright, gotta go," Ed said, turning on his heel.

And with that, he was gone.

Ed POV

I left the briefing room, heading toward the Ground Bridge.

I was glad Harlene had agreed to join us. The kids needed a therapist, and if I played my cards right, I might have just stopped a supervillain from ever being born.

But now, I had a different recruitment in mind—Peggy Carter.

With her on our side, we could properly plan Hydra's downfall.

I paused mid-step.

"What the hell am I doing? Going to the Ground Bridge? I can fucking teleport," I muttered.

And so, I did.

In an instant, I appeared in Peggy Carter's room.

She was sleeping, her face lined with age. The room was dark, silent except for the rhythmic hum of machines. She was old—just like in the movies.

I made sure Church had disabled any alarms, any cameras—no one would know I was here.

I stepped closer.

Then, suddenly—she woke up.

Even at her age, her instincts were razor-sharp.

"Hello, Peggy Carter," I said calmly.

Her eyes darted to me in confusion, but I could tell—she wasn't scared. It was an act. I saw her hand move beneath the covers, no doubt reaching for an alarm button.

"You can drop the act, Peggy. No one is coming."

Her expression hardened. Her eyes sharpened with focus.

"Who are you, and what do you want?" she asked.

I smirked. "That's better. I need your help."

She frowned. "My help? I'm old. I can't do much now."

"I can fix that easily."

A skeptical look crossed her face. "Really? If you have the power to reverse aging, then why do you need my help?"

"Because you're the one person who knows more about taking down Hydra than anyone else."

She didn't speak.

Instead, she studied me.

"Hydra is dead. I made sure of it."

I sighed. "Sorry, but they're alive. Bigger than ever. They've infiltrated governments—even S.H.I.E.L.D."

Peggy narrowed her eyes. "So, that's the real reason you came to me. Because you know I wouldn't work for Hydra."

I smirked. "That, and I rather work with you than with some of the other options."

"You mean Nick Fury."

"Exactly."

"He wouldn't side with Hydra."

"No, he wouldn't. But I know he'd do everything in his power to uncover my identity—and my team."

Her gaze sharpened. "You have a team?"

"Yes. A team of superpowered individuals. Ever heard of Starlight? All Might?"

Her lips pressed into a thin line. "I've seen them on the news."

"Good. That means you also know I don't take unnecessary risks."

Peggy leaned forward slightly, her mind already working through the puzzle. "You're telling a lot of secrets to a former spy."

I smiled. "I know."

"You have some ability to move undetected—or a teleportation power, since you got into my room unnoticed. You have the ability to reverse aging. And now, I know you have a team of superpowered people."

She paused.

"That tells me two things: either you're very confident I'll join you… or you have something I want."

I stayed silent for a moment. Damn. She's scary.

Then, I played my trump card.

"Steve Rogers."

Peggy's breath hitched. For the first time, genuine emotion flashed across her face—shock, disbelief, hope.

She quickly masked it with skepticism. "Steve Rogers is dead. He sacrificed himself to save the world."

"No. He's not. He's frozen. I'm looking for him right now. And I'm very close to finding him."

Silence.

"So… if I don't join you, you won't tell him about me?"

"I will," I said. "But you won't see much of him. He'll be busy helping me take down Hydra—and that's a lot of work. Plus, I don't actually have the ability to reverse aging. It's an item. And I only have two."

Her gaze darkened. "So, if I refuse, you're saying I won't get one?"

I folded my arms. "I have people to protect. If you alert Fury, S.H.I.E.L.D., or anyone else to my existence, I'll disappear. my people's protection comes first."

She was quiet for a long moment.

Then—she smiled.

"I understand you all too well."

She looks at me.

"I'll join you."

I grinned. "Glad to hear it. But there's one more thing you need to do."

She narrowed her eyes. "What?"

"We need to fake your death."

Peggy blinked. "Excuse me?"

"You're the former director of S.H.I.E.L.D. You can't just disappear. If you die, no one will go looking for you."

She considered it. "How?"

I smirked. "A special poison. It'll slow your heartbeat just enough for them to declare you dead. It won't show up on medical tests. Once they pronounce you, I'll swap your body with a fake—an android lookalike. No real function, just a decoy."

Peggy exhaled sharply. "You really thought of everything, didn't you?"

"Of course."

She chuckled. "Alright, then. Let's do it."

I stepped closer, pulling out a high-tech syringe from a hidden compartment in my suit. Small compartments like this were perfect for moments like these.

I was about to inject Peggy when she stopped me.

"You shouldn't do it on my arm," she said. "They might see the puncture wound."

I smirked. "Don't worry. I have a power for that."

She studied me for a moment before nodding, allowing me to proceed. I pressed the syringe to her skin and injected the fast-acting poison. Immediately after, I used a touch of healing magic to seal the puncture wound.

Peggy's eyes widened slightly. "I have a feeling you're going to be full of surprises."

I chuckled. "You have no idea."

I turned away and contacted Church.

"Reconnect the alarm system," I ordered.

A second later, Church confirmed. "Done."

I glanced back at Peggy. "You can press the alarm now. The poison works fast, and we need people to witness your 'death.'"

She pressed the button.

As the alarm blared, I teleported away, appearing back in the briefing room.

Church had already hacked into the security feeds, giving me a live view of Peggy's room.

The guards arrived quickly, weapons drawn, scanning the room for any threats. After securing the area, one of them noticed Peggy wasn't breathing.

They immediately called for a doctor.

I watched as the medical team arrived minutes later. They checked her vitals, performed their tests, and after ruling out foul play, the head doctor sighed.

"She passed away," he said.

He turned to a nurse. "Notify her family."

As soon as they left the room, I teleported back in.

I lifted Peggy princess-style and teleported straight to the base's medical wing.

I placed her carefully on a medical bed, then vanished again, this time appearing in my workshop.

The android lookalike was waiting. I grabbed it and teleported back to her room, laying it down exactly where Peggy had been.

With the switch complete, I returned to the briefing room, watching everything unfold.

Everything had gone exactly as planned.

I watched the security feeds, making sure no one discovered that Peggy's "body" was actually an android. The decoy looked human, felt human—but this was Marvel and DC. Anything could go wrong.

After an hour, nothing had changed. So far, so good.

"Church, keep an eye on the android," I ordered. "Make sure no one finds out."

"You got it," Church replied.

With that taken care of, I teleported to the medical room. I sat down next to Peggy's bed and waited for her to wake up.

It took another hour before her eyes finally fluttered open. She scanned the room until she spotted me.

"Did everything work as planned?" she asked.

"Yes," I nodded. "They all think you're dead, and the decoy is doing its job perfectly."

She studied me carefully. "You're cautious. That's good. You'll need that if you want to take down Hydra. So... are you going to take off the mask and tell me your name?"

I reached up, pulled down my hood, and removed my mask.

Peggy's eyes widened slightly. "You're very young."

"I get that a lot," I said with a smirk. "My name is Edward Valtheris, but you can call me Ed."

I pulled out a small glass bottle—one of the few I had from the Fountain of Youth. Peggy's eyes flicked to it, slightly taken aback.

"This will restore your youth," I said, handing it to her. "Drink it all."

She took the bottle and, after a moment of hesitation, drank every drop.

The transformation was instantaneous.

It was like watching a movie play in reverse—wrinkles smoothing out, gray hair darkening, muscle tone returning. Her body reverted to its prime, her strength restored.

After thirty minutes, it was done.

She sat up, staring at her hands, flexing her fingers as if confirming that this was real. Then she balled them into fists, testing her strength.

"It'll take you a few days to fully adjust," I told her. "Once you do, we'll start planning how to bring down Hydra."

Peggy nodded, still absorbed in the feeling of her renewed body.

"Church, take Peggy to her room," I said.

Church materialized, smirking.

"Yeah, no problem. Come on, old lady."

Peggy shot him a dirty look but followed anyway.

After everything, I went to my room, took off my gear, and went to sleep. The groundwork was almost complete—just a few things left to do, and then I could finally start being a hero.

Two Months Later

I had been busy these past two months. First, after Peggy got used to her new body, we started planning how to take down Hydra. It was me, Peggy, and Delta, while Church was busy helping heroes with their cities. I told Peggy everything I knew about Hydra, which, admittedly, wasn't a lot.

I explained that Hydra had an AI—Arnim Zola—who had somehow uploaded his consciousness online. I told her about key Hydra members: Alexander Pierce, General Hale and her daughter Ruby Hale, Gideon Malick, Brock Rumlow, John Garrett, Grant Ward, Baron Strucker, Daniel Whitehall, and Jasper Sitwell. I also told her about Hydra's secret school designed to train future operatives.

Then, I revealed the origins of Hydra—how it was founded in ancient times as a cult dedicated to worshiping Hive, a powerful Inhuman exiled to the planet Maveth by his own kind. Ever since his banishment, Hydra's true believers had been obsessed with bringing him back.

Peggy was stunned. A Hydra school? General Hale had a daughter? The organization had cult origins? It was a lot to take in, but she processed it quickly. Then I told her about Project Insight—Hydra's plan for mass surveillance and assassination. That was the last straw. She immediately got to work dismantling them.

Her first move was to eliminate the AI. That was easy. With all the AIs I had, hacking into Zola's systems and deleting him was a simple task. After that, Delta hacked into Hydra's entire network. Soon, we would have access to most of their bases, agents, and leaders. Maybe not all of them, I doubt the heads of Hydra, would allow him to keep their identity on file.

With Peggy and Delta handling Hydra, I moved on to my other project: creating a super soldier serum for my normal people. I asked Gamma to copy all the data Norman had on the Super Soldier Serum. There was a lot, so I brought in Richard and Mary to help sort through it. That turned out to be the best decision I could've made.

Together, we stabilized the serum and made it even stronger. I suggested integrating the Lizard Serum to grant regenerative healing, which they agreed was a good idea. They even added their own research to improve the formula further, incorporating the blank gene so that we could introduce new abilities while eliminating the negative side effects of any serum we added. And since we were in a world with both Marvel and DC tech, there were plenty of serums to work with.

Meanwhile, All Might had his surgery and was now at full strength. That meant he could keep doing hero work for much longer.

Speaking of hero work, the rest of the team was thriving:

Green Ghost had become a beloved figure in Central City. She worked with the police and made people feel safer, especially when dealing with metahuman threats, I warned her about reverse flash, but I don't think you would interfere because he's busy taking care of Barry.

A-Train was doing great in Freeland. He had dismantled multiple sex trafficking operations, returning daughters to their families, and significantly reduced crime. He was basically the Flash over there.

Kimiko had made the Glades much safer. With Church help, she had taken down a lot of corrupt officials. Some people loved her, others didn't, and the police were actively trying to arrest her—but Church made sure they never got close. The public was still debating her hero name, but many were calling her Nyx.

Starlight and Peter were doing great as well. New York was thrilled to have its Spider-Man back, and with two heroes on patrol, the crime rate had plummeted. Hell's Kitchen was still a problem, but things were improving.

And then, there was me and Ashley.

With my company, I had developed better bulletproof clothing for the police—lighter, more flexible, and far more effective at stopping bullets. I had also designed non-lethal guns that functioned like Fitz's Night-Night Gun, putting targets to sleep instead of killing them.

We were still a small company, but we were gaining recognition.

I had chosen New York as our base for two reasons:

It was where all the action was. If something big went down, I wanted to be close. I didn't see the point in setting up anywhere else.

Gotham was out of the question—way too much crime. I planned to make a contract with the police there, but I sure as hell wasn't putting my company in the same city where the Joker lived.

Central City was also a no-go. I didn't want to operate in a place where some sociopath could run faster than anyone else and wreak havoc at any moment.

Other cities didn't need my company's help as much, though I was still working on securing contracts with all their police departments.

Now, I sat in my office, looking out at the New York skyline from the building I had bought.

The groundwork was finally complete.

Peggy and Delta could handle Hydra.

The Super Soldier Serum was nearly perfected thanks to Richard and Mary.

My school on the island was finished.

Ashley was running the company almost entirely on her own.

Now, I could finally be a hero.

But before that… it had been two months.

Might as well use my system.

"System, use points."

"Activating Gacha."

Garnet's ability to summon shades (Steven Universe)

Ability to sense ki (Dragon Ball)

Boros' Physical Powers (One Punch Man)

Layla Williams' Chlorokinesis (Sky High)

Frozone's Cryokinesis (The Incredibles)

Orihime's Healing Rejection Abilities (Bleach)

David Dunn's Powers (Unbreakable - Split - Glass)

Penny Adiyodi's Teleportation (The Magicians)

Super Hearing

The Lusty Argonian Maid (Skyrim)

Mad Hatter's Pocket Watch (Descendants) [One-time use]

Austin Moon's Singing Voice (Austin & Ally)

An Amulet to Break Any Curse [One-time use]

Bang (Silver Fang) Summon (One Punch Man)

The Knowledge of How to Make a Perfect Steak

Atomic's Abilities (Ben 10)

One Bottle of Dionysus' Wine

Pure Enlightenment: Eighth Consciousness (Record of Ragnarok)

The Broath (How I Met Your Mother)

Soul Protection