Marcus sat on his bed with his 9mm in his hand. He popped the magazine out and checked that it was loaded again before sliding it back in. He stared blankly at the pistol as he considered what he was about to do.
"Marcus, yes?"
Startled, Marcus fumbled with his pistol, then quickly grabbed it and held it up nervously.
"W-who said that? Who's in here?"
A figure materialized in front of him.
"You haven't chambered the round," it said.
Marcus frantically tried to pull the slide back, but it was stuck.
"Safety," the figure said.
Marcus turned the safety off and cocked the pistol, nearly dropping it in the process.
"I said who are you!"
The figure smiled.
"My name is of little consequence. You can call me 'The Traveler'. And I assure you, there will be no need for that."
Marcus' finger rattled against the trigger.
"Just tell me what the hell you want!"
"Why, only to help."
Marcus steadied the gun, then lowered it slightly.
"What do you mean?"
The Traveler took a step forward and Marcus immediately raised the gun again.
"I told you, there will be no need for that. You would find it tragically insufficient for stopping me, anyway."
Marcus leveled the sights, just in case.
"Look, just tell me what you're doing here before we have to find out if that's true."
The Traveler smiled and nodded.
"You're a man down on your luck. In your hard times, you've turned to thoughts you had never considered before. Like I said, I am only here to help."
"Help how?"
"By giving you a gift."
Marcus lowered the gun.
"What kind of gift?"
The Traveler put his hands up.
"Why, anything you want! I can give you any ability or power that you desire."
"How about a million dollars?"
The Traveler laughed.
"Always. That is always the first place the human mind goes. A million dollars? Why not a billion? Or a trillion? Or a wallet that never goes empty, or an endless supply of some object?"
Marcus considered this.
"Any of those would be fine, I guess."
The Traveler smiled again.
"Unfortunately, I cannot give you anything like that. It would cause too great of an imbalance, you see. But I can change you in any way that you wish."
Marcus thought for a moment.
"So, like, you could give me the power to fly?"
The Traveler nodded.
"Or travel through time?"
The Traveler winked.
"That's right."
Marcus scratched his head.
"Okay. I want to be able to walk through walls."
"Ah, the ability to phase through solid matter?"
Marcus shrugged.
"Yeah, I guess. That means I can walk through walls, right?"
The Traveler grinned.
"Indeed. Now, you're sure that's what you want? Any caveats?"
"Any what?"
"Stipulations. Addenda. Any modifications to the power that you might not have considered."
"Oh. Uh. Yeah, I want anything on my body to, er, walk through walls with me. Like anything I'm wearing. Or holding."
The Traveler gave him a wide smile.
"That's more like it! If that's what you want, I will make it so. One last chance to change your mind."
Marcus shrugged.
"I guess that's all."
"Splendid! I hope you thoroughly appreciate this new ability. With that, I will bid you farewell."
The Traveler vanished with a laugh.
Marcus looked down at his gun and the ski mask on the bed beside him with a rather sinister grin.
"I guess I won't be needing these after all. Now, let's see if this power actually works before I head down to the bank."
Marcus stood up, walked towards his closed bedroom door, and phased directly through the floor. He plummeted in a panic for a few seconds before rematerializing several dozen feet beneath the surface of the Earth.
