MARVEL : A myriad of personalities

To be honest, even Ray hadn't expected Léonid and Claude to react the way they did.

The so-called "gun-fu" was obviously something he had made up. Sure, the Deadshot persona did possess an unscientific gun technique that could bend bullets mid-air, but it had nothing to do with flicking the wrist or any of that nonsense.

Still, when faced with Claude and the others pressing him for an explanation, he couldn't just stay silent. So he spun a half-plausible, half-comical story to deflect attention.

Whether they believed him or not wasn't Ray's concern.

What he hadn't expected, however, was how readily Léonid and Claude swallowed the tale.

Léonid defending this so-called "gun-fu" was understandable—he had just lost to it. He wouldn't want to deny the technique that had beaten him. For the sake of pride alone, he had to hype Ray up a bit.

But Claude being so supportive of the story? That was more surprising.

"I'll head back right after this and get the internal notice and promotion ready for your integrated combat class. Everything should be in place before next semester starts," said Léonid.

"I'll leave it to you," Ray replied calmly.

"No trouble at all…" Léonid's tone was now worlds apart from the lukewarm politeness he had shown back in his office. His respect for Ray was now plain as day.

"The Department of Operations is lucky to have someone like you on board," Claude added, his tone carrying a faint trace of jealousy.

But Claude was far too experienced to let real envy show. That hint of jealousy was likely intentional—a subtle, performative gesture to balance the conversation.

Ray wasn't some naïve newcomer either. He simply smiled and let it pass without comment.

Since the semester was already underway, there was no way to open a course on such short notice. The earliest the class could launch would be next semester, still a little over a month away.

A month didn't seem like much.

But for Ray—who had only been in this world for a few days—it wasn't exactly short either.

He could use this time to sort things out.

His first priority: understanding the social ties of the body he now inhabited—family, friends, acquaintances.

After all, he had taken over someone else's identity. From now on, he would live as that person. Sooner or later, he'd have to face the past.

Even if just for peace of mind, he couldn't completely sever ties with the previous life of this body.

Besides, the idea didn't bother him. In his past life, he had been an orphan. After aging out of the foster system, he had enlisted, served, and eventually started his own firm after retirement.

Family—this was a novelty for him.

---

Richmond, Virginia.

Ding dong!

The doorbell rang.

"Clarisse, can you see who it is?"

"Okay, Mom—"

Thump thump thump thump—a burst of running footsteps followed, and the front door opened from the inside. But only a narrow gap, about the width of a hand, as the security chain was still latched.

A young Asian girl with a mischievous glint in her eyes peeked through the crack.

When she saw who was on the other side, her whole body froze.

"Not planning to let me in, little Clary?" the young mixed-race man outside said with a warm smile.

No need to guess—it was Ray.

With the academy matters sorted and nothing urgent requiring his attention, Ray had decided to look into the family background of the body he now inhabited.

According to the memories he had absorbed, the body's father was named Fang Luo Édouard, a Franco-Chinese man and the local police chief—Richmond's only Asian police captain.

His mother, Rolande Aiden, was a white American and a prosecutor for the city.

Their relationship hadn't been welcomed at first—especially by Ray's maternal grandfather. Back then, Édouard was just an ordinary patrol officer, while Rolande was a top Ivy League law graduate with a bright future ahead of her.

In North America, parents typically didn't interfere too much with their children's marriages, but that didn't mean they didn't care. Their opinions still mattered.

From the grandfather's point of view, his daughter could have done much better. He believed Rolande had been swayed by Édouard's sweet talk into marrying someone with no prospects.

And Édouard himself was the stubborn type, never one to bow to pressure. The first few years after their marriage were rocky between the two families.

It wasn't until Ray was born that tensions began to ease.

Worth noting—Ray wasn't actually his real name. That was just the English version. His Chinese name was Fang Mingxuan, and his legal name was Raymond Fang.

As for the girl who answered the door, she was his younger sister, Clarisse.

However, Clarisse wasn't Édouard and Rolande's biological daughter. They had adopted her after Ray had gone off to college. Given their professions, the adoption process hadn't been difficult.

"Clarisse? Who is it? Why aren't you saying anything?" called Rolande from the kitchen, a bit concerned by the silence.

Still stunned by who was standing outside, Clarisse finally snapped out of it. She turned around, eyes sparkling with excitement.

"It's my brother! He's home!"

"Your brother?" Rolande blinked, confused.

Clearly, she hadn't grasped who Clarisse was referring to.

Seeing that her mom still didn't get it, Clarisse quickly shut the door, unlatched the security chain, and flung it open again, revealing Ray to Rolande.

Likewise, Ray saw the elegant middle-aged woman standing in the hallway.

"…Mom."

The word slipped out instinctively, as if it came from muscle memory.

Clatter!

Rolande, still holding a wooden spatula in her hand, froze the instant she saw Ray. She didn't move. The spatula slipped from her hand and fell to the floor without her even noticing.