Marvel : Titles

The Workshop

Vancouver, Canada

In a base hidden from the outside world, the sound of various machines working nonstop could be heard along with the occasional screams of people.

Inside the base two tall men in guard uniforms pushed open an iron door. They slowly walked into the room and placed a hospital bed they had dragged along with them in the middle.

On the hospital bed, a teenager with a pale face was lying motionless on his back.

Although he was conscious, the teenager could hardly move his body at all, since his hands and feet were tightly bound by leather buckles to the bed. The most he could do was to turn his head to look at the surroundings around him.

The room he was brought into was dark and narrow, with an operating table in the middle and a light pointing at it, hanging down from the roof above it.

Judging from the lack of cleanliness and the mess of equipment all around the operating table, it is obvious that this place was not up to the standard that a normal hospital's operating room should be. There was even the clear smell of blood all around the room.

Besides the operating table stood a man wearing a white coat, who was currently busy fiddling with some medical instruments as if preparing for something.

"Fuck, not you again..." Upon seeing the man, Val, the teenager lying on the bed, felt his mood sour instantly.

But faced with guards who were much stronger than him, Val didn't even try to resist. He was then carelessly lifted by the guards and thrown hard onto the operating table, restraining him flat on the table like a lamb waiting to be slaughtered.

"Welcome back, little mouse." The man in white coat turned around and stared at Val with with clear malice in his eyes.

"Alright, let's start with the main question again: how did you appear in our research institute? Our security systems, including the CCTV, didn't detect any trace of you before you seemingly appeared out of thin air. I'm really curious to know—how did you do it?"

"..." Val really didn't know how to answer any of these questions.

How can things like transmigration be easily revealed to others, especially to the bastard in front of him who calls himself Ajax?

Val knew very clearly that the name 'Ajax' was fake, a fabricated identity.

If he remembers correctly, this guy should be called Francis and the place where Val is now, is the same research institute where Deadpool aka wade wilson volunteered to become a guinea pig to treat his cancer.

As for Val, he has been in this world for just a little more than two months.

Compared to many ways of transmigrating, Val's process can be said to be very simple.

In a blink of an eye, Val, who was playing video games at home, suddenly appeared in the middle of this research institute.

And before Val could make any sense of the situation he found himself in, he was spotted by the patrolling guards and knocked unconscious.

When Val woke up, he found himself lying on the operating table, being injected with some kind of medicine by some man in white coat. There was no room for resistance during the whole process. The leather buckles restraining him made sure of that.

What greeted Val afterwards were a series of brutal interrogations and torture.

Getting beaten with iron rods, drowning, suffocating, enduring high temperatures, getting soaked in ice water...

Val couldn't keep count of how many times he had come close to dying from the series of abuse. If 'that' hadn't appeared, even if he didn't die, he would have lost his mind long ago.

Also every once in a while, Val would be sent to this operating room by the guards and here, he would always be greeted by Francis, a perverted sadist. For Francis Val was like a new toy so he always used different ways to torture Val each time and the intensity of torture gradually increased.

It increased until Val's body couldn't bear the load anymore, or he simply passed out. Each time, it made him feel like dying would be better than carrying on. But whenever he thought it would finally be the end, he would open his eyes to find himself still alive and ready to face another round of torment.

Over and over again...

Val really wants to escape the lab, to see the sun again and eat a nice meal in place of medicines. But he also can't take the seemingly 'easier' choice of confessing to Francis, since he knows all too well that if he answered any of Francis's questions, his suffering would only worsen.

Anyway he wasn't the only one trapped in this nightmare. All the 'patients' in the lab were experimental subjects, like him, stripped of their freedom. Seeing their condition is what motivates Val to make his escape as quick as possible.

. . . . . . . . . 

After waiting for a while, Francis realized that Val still had no intention of answering, then his eyes showed a trace of coldness.

"It seems that you still don't intend to tell anything...well It's okay, we have all the time in the world. I'll make you talk eventually." Francis spoke as his fingers slowly trailed down Val's cheek, leaving a cold, clammy trail in it's wake.

Francis then placed some needles connected to wires next to him in front of Val.

Then again he stained his fingers with some unknown liquid and began to spread it evenly on Val's neck.

As if wanting to crush Val's mentality, Francis explained his intentions while slowly fixing the equipments on Val, "With these, in the next few days, your body will be continuously connected to live current but you can rest assured that the voltage will not kill you. It will only make you feel a little pain, like burning from inside out."

Looking at the metal needles in Francis' hands, Val's heart skipped a beat.

"Wait!" Val finally spoke up. He couldn't help it since he was just a ordinary person before transmigrating, so the oppressive atmosphere was really making Val's heart race through the roof.

Seeing this, Francis smiled satisfied that his method had worked. He looked at Val and spoke with a smile "Okay then I'll give you one last chance to tell me. Who are you?"

"I am..." Val's mind was running wildly at the moment. He definitely can't tell the truth so he was trying to use all his brain cells to come up with a convincable lie.

But unfortunately his brain cells were ordinary just like him so they couldn't came up with anything so he just decided to bite the bullet and grit his teeth for pain "Who am I? I'm the guy you keep questioning because clearly, your life's so dull that interrogating me is the highlight of your day."

Francis's smile faded instantly, his expression hardening. "Careful, little rat ."

Val shrugged casually. "Careful? If I were any more careful, I'd end up as bald and clueless as you."

Francis's jaw tightened, his patience wearing thin as Val continued to spout nonsense. At this point, Francis could see that Val has no intention of confessing his real identity anytime soon.

His face darkened: "Very well. I hope you can leave the lab while retaining this quality-humor. If you remain alive till then, that is." Francis stopped the pointless conversation with Val and took the metal needle and pinned it to Val's neck...

. . . . . . . . . . 

After an unknown amount of time, Val opened his eyes again.

The operating room that caused him pain was gone. He was now in a old and spacious hall.

Through the dim lights in the hall, he could see a large number of hospital beds around him.

Lying on it were people in white hospital gowns. They all had different expressions in their face but most of them were seemingly numb. Then there was the continuous wailing and an atmosphere of despair filling the entire hall.

"Wow I guess he didn't kill me after all...aghh." After the recovery of his consciousness, Val suddenly felt a piercing pain all over his body.

He held his chest in his hand tightly, cold sweat oozed out from his forehead as his face turned pale from the pain.

At the moment, Val felt as if countless ants were gnawing all over his body. He had not felt the pain till now because he was unconscious.

It was the result of his body being connected to high voltage electricity. Under the stimulation of electricity, his muscles and nerves suffered serious damage, his organs were damaged, resulting in intense pain but luckily he had felt pain like this before. So it was bearable to some extent.

If Val hadn't grown accustomed to the pain over the past two months, he would have likely been screaming at the top of his lungs by now.

'I…really might die if I have to go through it again' After a lot of efforts on suppressing the maddening pain, Val thought to himself.

Then by uttering 'System' in his mind, a status screen appeared in front of his eyes.

[Val Collins]

[Sex: Male]

[Age: 18 years old]

[Title: None]

[Abiliy: None]

The status screen that appeared in front of Val's eyes was the only thing that was keeping his mind intact till now. It was a gamer like system but with only one function for now.

With this Val could unlock various titles by meeting specific conditions and earn abilities. Each title grants him a new ability. After his sudden arrival in this world, this downgraded gamer-like system had appeared in his mind, a must have power for his current situation.

Having read countless web novels in his past life, Val understood exactly what systems like these were capable of. Now, it was his only hope—his one chance to escape the torment that had become his daily life and maybe something more?