Marvel: Trading Across the Ninja World

Queens, New York City

The school bell at Midtown High shrilled loudly, and as soon as it rang, someone in the classroom grabbed his backpack and dashed toward the door.

Karl saw his best friend trying to slip away and shouted after him, “Hey, Kane, you promised to play video games with me today!”

“Uh, Karl, what I said yesterday was ‘next time’—which means the day after tomorrow,” Kane replied, then poked his head back in after stepping outside to add, “Next time for sure, Karl.”

“Tricky Kane. Did he really mean tomorrow?” Karl grumbled in complaint. Kane had said the same thing last time, but they'd never finished that level together—a game that required two people to clear.

Another classmate passed by Karl, laughing, “If you remind Kane every day, he’ll probably keep his promise next year.”

“I swear, Kane must have been triggered somehow. He loves guns more than he loves me, his dearest friend,” Karl complained, then packed up his things, preparing for his 135th solo attempt at the game. He vowed that if he hadn’t cleared it by the 200th try, no matter the excuse, he would drag Kane to finish it with him.

…………

Kane had indeed changed, and it had been three years since those changes began.

It was now the year 2000. Kane had crossed into this Marvel world three years ago. After experiencing surprise, fear, excitement, and terror, he eventually adopted a calm perspective toward this extraordinary event.

He knew for certain this was the Marvel universe because, a year after arriving, he'd used his parent