Adam woke up gasping for air, his heart hammering against his chest, his hands trembling, his clothes sticking to his body from excessive sweat. He lifted his arm to wipe the cold sweat from his face, taking a deep, calming breath. Forcing his Spectator abilities to the surface, he cleared his mind and instinctively analyzed the nightmare.
He saw his parents' faces at the start, the car that lost one of its tires, and most importantly, the blonde man standing at a distance, watching.
Stripped of the blinding panic, his perfect recall allowed him to zoom in on the memory. The car hadn't just lost a tire; it had been struck by something small and sharp that caused the blowout.
And at the end of the memory, the blonde man was not supposed to be there. Adam remembered the day of the accident clearly, and at the end, there was no one nearby. One more thing Adam found was that he could control his body in the dream at the very end, as if whatever was holding him had let go.
After getting his bearings straight and analyzing the dream for ten minutes straight, with as little as he saw, he could 100% say that the car's tire burst not on its own, but someone targeted the car in front of them. For what reason? Adam could not tell with so little information.
Finally, Adam got up from his bed and did a little stretching, walked to his bedroom window, opened it, and took a deep breath of morning air. After getting some fresh air, he went into the bathroom and did his morning rituals.
Done with his activities, Adam went into the kitchen to make some coffee. The first thing Adam saw upon entering the kitchen was a mess. "Right, the previous owner of this body did not clean up. Sigh!"
It had only been a few months since the accident. Being an only child who had just abruptly lost his entire family was a heavy blow, and the original Adam had clearly spiraled. Grabbing a rag, Adam began scrubbing the counters and organizing the clutter. As he cleaned, the blurry memories of the aftermath surfaced.
He had opened his eyes only to see the white ceiling of a hospital room with monitoring machines beeping in a rhythm. He had gotten discharged pretty quickly, seeing as he only had minor scratches, but the same could not be said for his parents.
The first thing he did was arrange for their funerals, and the second thing he did was to cancel their lease of the previous apartment where they lived, the reason being that the place held too many memories of his family. The second reason was that he could not afford the place.
As soon as he could, he found an affordable apartment for himself and moved out, leaving his old home forever. At first, it was hard—oh so hard—living alone. Celebrating his seventeenth birthday entirely alone, having no other relatives to lean on, was a heavy blow. But slowly, he got used to the loneliness and found comfort in it.
The third and final thing he did was drop out of school and get a part-time job after some time in a quiet cafe to support himself.
Slowly, Adam came back from memory lane after clearing up the kitchen and went to make himself some coffee.
"Day off is over, soldier, report for duty at 4 pm sharp," said Adam in a strict, no-nonsense voice like a military commander.
"Sir, yes, sir!" replied Adam while giving a perfect military salute, then he smiled and said to himself, "Heh, what am I even doing? Am I going crazy because of loneliness?" He sighed, got himself his coffee, and went to the living room to sit and make plans for the future while sipping his coffee.
After sitting down on the sofa in the living room, Adam took a sip of his hot coffee and thought about how to get close to Tony Stark and the whole crew. 'I am a dropout, but with my powers, I could take a job as an analyst or a negotiator at Stark Industries; those two are my best bet, but how do I get past the messy interviews? I do not have any degrees, and it would be foolish of me to think that they would let me join without any experience or formal qualifications.'
'I need to get a higher-up's attention on me, but I have to control the narrative and what they get to see from me.'
'Now, how can I get their attention, even if I can show them my abilities in the fields I am hoping for? How do I even get a meeting with them? Surely they are not so free to just wander around me, are they?' Adam thought in amusement.
"Let's just take it easy for today. It would be my first work day as Adam." With that, Adam finished his coffee and decided to go out for a morning walk.
After throwing on a red hoodie over a black t-shirt, dark jeans, and white sneakers, he walked out of the apartment, locked it properly, and went down.
After getting out of his apartment building, he decided to just walk around his neighborhood. Adam walked slowly while looking around. As it was still early in the morning, not many people were out and about.
As he walked, he thought about how he could make progress with his powers through small observations. 'Looks like I'll have to continue my acting method, but in places where conflicts are.' He paused, mulling it over. 'I will need to actively seek out conflicts to spectate, but where? Last time was just a lucky accident. Wait… Hell's Kitchen. The area is infamous for criminal gangs and turf wars. I can even confirm if a certain blind lawyer is there. Yes, that place will do perfectly.' Adam finished his morning walk and returned home, ready for the day ahead.