American Comics: I Earn Merit by Saving Tony, and Hydra Invites Me to Join

Lynn, a rookie FBI agent in the Marvel universe, rises through the ranks with a favorability System. Max out Gwen's, Thor's, or even the Celestials' favorability, and he can steal Spider-Sense or the power of thunder. Kill someone with negative favorability, and they can drop a legacy. The director values him, and his senior colleague protects him, all thanks to his skill at winning people over with a cut of the profits and keeping their secrets in hand.

After leading a team to blow up a Middle Eastern terrorist hideout and pulling Tony Stark out of a cave, he is called into the office of his immediate superior, James Duke. Duke personally hands him an invitation: an application to join the Hydra Brotherhood. Sign it, and the D3 chief's post is his at once, along with control of the entire New York field office's underground business.

Lynn looks at the list, which is full of the names of politicians and judges he has just befriended, and smiles. Hydra wants an obedient blade. He wants the whole snake dead. The day he signs, Gwen spots a Hydra badge at his waist, while Tony calls to demand why Lynn signed his name on a list of Stark weapons smugglers. Meanwhile, Duke's favorability in the System is quietly dropping from 7.

This novel and its characters are entirely fictional. Any resemblance to real people or events is purely coincidental. Do not imitate.