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DoorMan #6

Dean's Office, UW (short for University of Washington) [January 14, 2008]

–Colin Baxter–

After a very thorough patting down that definitely had his eyebrows raising, which also included him surrendering all his meager belongings, like his laptop, he was finally cleared to enter the Dean's office, which was odd, very odd and the people who frisked him did it all professionally, not that he wouldn't have put them on their asses if they'd tried anything.

He could have used his enhanced senses to figure more stuff out but where was the fun in that? So, he did as they told him to and was finally allowed to enter an adjacent conference room, instead of the Dean's office directly.

Putting his hand on the doorknob, he turned to the security detail and mocked sarcastically, "Can I go now or do you guys need to check my underwear too?"

There was a strangled choking noise right as he entered the conference room, coming face to face with….Tony STARK?!

Composed and ready as he was, even he froze for a split second at the sight of the infamous billionaire, current Merchant of Death, just sitting nonchalantly right next to a very stressed out Dean. Still, as shocking as it was to see him right now, it was not much in the grand scheme of things so he schooled his expression and took the seat in front of Tony Stark.

"Dean Stein. Dr.Stark." Greeting them, he took in both of their expressions. Tony was looking mildly interested right now, instead of just looking dazedly at him while using his mobile phone under the desk, and the Dean, Dean Stein just looked stressed out. Poor Man.

"Ahem, Mr. Baxter, let me introduce you to–"

"The kid knows who I am," Tony said as he interrupted the Dean, finally setting his phone down on the table.

"..Ah, yes, of course he does. Now, Colin, the reason–"

"Let's cut to the case shall we, kid?" He smiled internally at the blatant disrespect to the Dean of a prestigious institution, not to mention who was old enough to be Tony's father. Well, it was not his job to humble Tony, no, it was Life's job, and it would almost certainly happen soon enough.

"Yes, Mr.Stark?" He replied, unphased at the whole charade. There must be a reason why someone of Tony's status had come personally to meet him. It was probably his exploits on the Dark Web that caught the eccentric genius' attention, or rather, Jarvis' attention and the manchild just couldn't contain his curiosity to come to meet the person who was the one person who could build better neural net algorithms than the man himself.

He knew there was no way that a human could crack stuff that fast. It had to be Jarvis but at that moment, he had no idea that Stark had left poor innocent Baby Jarvis exposed to the Dark Web.

"Is this you?" Stark slid the Stark phone to his side, showing a profile he had painstakingly built and kept hidden on the Dark Web, something he built on the side to build a reputation and to chase the thrill of cracking new security stuff, at the beginning of his career.

"That seems to be a profile of someone on one of the many leadership boards on the Dark Web. Am I supposed to know this 'WallBreaker_69' that you speak of?"

Ah, the wonders of crude boy humour that was only funny in a group of degenerate teenagers.

Tony looked straight into his eyes, "Right. So you claim to have no idea who that is?"

He shook his head innocently but he had a hunch that he was about to be proven wrong, and the best way to do that would be to look at his code and for that, they would have to crack his security and that was not for the faint of heart, since it used ridiculously advanced hardware and software to hold a tiny amount of data, something that he could afford with all his money, laundered through various countries and organisations, courtesy of Kamar Taj's vast network of favours who were happy to provide all their services when he asked around.

"I see." Tony said and then as if a switch had been flipped, he beamed and pocketed his phone, "Well, sorry to bother you, young man. I just wanted to meet the smartest cookie that this college has produced in a while. Now, I was supposed to give you the whole shtick about working at Stark Industries but I think you will fight right in with the stuff we have. I'll have someone send you the data packet. You'll come work directly under me. Until then, have fun and stay in school, kid."

He watched, amused as the Dean tried to get some manner of control over the situation. A situation that had been railroaded by Stark as he shook Colin's hand and left the room, acting as if he didn't listen to Dean fawning over him, right up until the door slammed into Dean Stein's face.

He sat back down in his seat as Dein Stein slumped and turned around, to look at him grinning like a loon.

"Oh, come off it, Colin. You'd understand if you were in my position."

He raised his hands in mock surrender, "Hey, I didn't say anything. I am sure you have your reasons for kissing–"

"If you finish that sentence, I am going to make sure that you have to do all your assignments in the classroom itself. Do you want me to do that?"

"Hey! Whoa! Where'd that come from? What did I do? It was all him, you were there!" He defended himself or at least tried to.

"Yeah, yeah, I know. That asshole! You know, if he hadn't just given us a 10 million dollar donation, I would–"

"What? 10 Mil? Damn, that's as if he is a billionaire, with no personal value for money. Shocker!"

Dein looked at him, sighed once more, and sat down in front of him.

"Look, Colin, I don't know what he came here to do and if he was satisfied or not, but the administration has high hopes from you, and even if you do end up taking the corporate route, which I don't think will justify your talents, we will support you in any way we wan. I was told that Mr.Stark wanted to meet you but he just handed…you–"

"What?" He asked a touch defensively. The Dean was pretty chill and due to his many exceptions taken from normal schooling, he knew the Dean on a much deeper level than most of the people in the University, so they could both talk freely. The man was an old geezer with an obsession to bring in more money for the University but he was alright.

Not evil, just a product of his environment and the expectations of the society and his job.

"You really are that WallBreaker character, aren't you?"

"Hmm. I don't know. No way to find out, I guess."

"*Sigh* You will lead me to an early grave one day. Just…keep it separate from your public identity."

"I don't know what you are talking about but I'll think about it."

"That's all I can ask for. Now, I know you had your last exam today. A month long break. Where are you going? Bahamas? Hawaii? Switzerland? India? Thailand?"

"Hey, what do you take me for? I don't have that kind of time, to do a global tour."

"Really? And what about the three month long vacation you took, claiming that you were working on a new product feature for TCP/IP protocol that would revolutionise the damned thing, and where do I find you, according to your Social Media?"

"H-Hey! In my defense, I did revolutionise the damned thing but the overhaul required was deemed too much of an effort so the goal was shifted to the next financial year. It works! You know that, the university received confirmation from them, on my behalf!"

Stein got all in his face, "Yes! I did. I was very proud BUT you could have done that here as well, instead of gallivanting around Italy and Europe, posting pictures of food and the countryside on your page. Do you have any idea how many complaints I had to deal with? Complaining about the special privileges you receive and abuse?"

"Alright, I got it. Won't do it the next time I go on a Europe trip!"

"Out! Get out of my office!" He laughed maniacally as he exited the conference room. He quickly snatched his bag out of the assistant's hands and fled the area, laughing all the way.

Ah, it was all so fun. It was nice watching Dean's blood pressure rise in real time.

____xx___

Colin's Bachelor Pad (Earth)

"Ah! Finally…." Colin grunted as he entered his apartment and dumped his backpack and just collapsed into his heavenly bed, without even taking off his shoes, something of a sin back when he used to live with Old Man Wong and that habit was certainly ingrained into his very soul but right now, he just didn't have the energy for that.

Plus, Old Man Wong was not here right now so who cares?

He turned around to lay down on his back, staring at the ceiling where he had engraved, with his own powers, a cool Dragon when he had a little creative phase because he had been very very excited to get his own place that he could actually host parties at!

Alas, that remained only a dream since he did not have any friends in Uni, at least not yet, what with all his concurrent projects advancing at the same time, requiring his attention at all times.

Sometimes, he wished he could make a clone of himself, just like Naruto could but that was a failed direction to work for. It was much better to develop one's mind more to better sustain multiple trains of thought at the same time. His brain was even better. According to the Ancient One, if he tried hard enough to do something, his brain would literally mold itself to accommodate that activity, courtesy of the CHI flowing through his body.

Today had been quite the day, and he had yet another ship to hit tonight, the second last one before he could complete the set and finally figure out exactly what SHIELD had been planning.

With controlled application of his Doors, he blew the shoes off and snuggled deep into the blanket after cranking up the AC. After all, having a cool outer area while being nice and warm in a blankie was THE best way to sleep.

DoorMan #7

Colin's Earth Bachelor Pad[Midnight, January 15, 2008]

–Colin Baxter–

His eyes snapped open as the alarm rang in his apartment, which was pitch dark yet he could see reasonably well, even in that darkness. With practiced ease, he got up and cast multiple illusion spells all around his pad, making sure that no one barged in while he was away on his mission and also to trip a spell he had woven into the building which would alert him when an unfamiliar person would come on the same floor as his apartment, giving him enough time to portal in from wherever he was in the world.

With a snap of his fingers, one of the lockers he had installed in the walls opened up, with the same orange onesie flying out of it, right into his hands.

Naruto would be really proud of him, seeing him perform stealth missions wearing the hideously bright orange hoodie that grew even brighter once he started channeling CHI throughout his body, more so than the usual amount that is.

Seeing the pre-printed picture he had taken of the area in the Pacific Ocean where the private vessel would be at midnight. Barring any anomalies, the location should be similar and if it was changed, then he would just call it a night and come home to investigate more about it because he was not going to go barging in on a heavily armed vessel with incomplete information, superhuman abilities or not.

He did not have his own relic yet, which was a shame. He had cajoled the Cape that would end up choosing Stephen Strange but the damn thing didn't respond to him at all. No other cape, defensive or offensive resonated with his magic which was fine because not all Masters got a relic for themselves and he still had time till he was officially conferred the title of magic but he had still expected something to resonate with his magic, given his status as an otherworlder.

Slipping on his sling ring, he channeled the required dimensional energy and pictured his destination, a thousand feet up in the air. He'd already cast a stealth spell on his body so that radar should not be able to detect him and in the dark of the night, catching his orange glowing onesie should be hard enough.

Waving his hands multiple times, he groaned in frustration as the stupid portal refused to open in the first dozen attempts. At this rate, he would never make an official Master since the exam included fast and reliable portal opening and closing as one of its parameters and as seen, he sucked at it, so so much.

"Finally!" he all but shouted as the portal finally opened up as he dove through the portal lest it close abruptly. The sling ring had a safety feature built into it so that once Master was midway, the ring would take over the energy modulation of the portal so he would be fine once his body entered the portal, otherwise, he ran the risk of slicing himself in half using the event horizon of a portal as a very sharp knife.

The cold air hit his face and he immediately used doors on his entire body to begin the process of reorienting himself mid air. It was very hard, especially with the strong winds at this height but this was not his first time so, with a little bit of effort and more than a little bit of flailing around, he finally stopped his descent and ascended instead.

With two gates on his feet and two on the back and front of his torso constantly emitting low amounts of thrust, he had finally established himself to draw the Binoculars he had hidden inside the onesie. It was surprisingly roomy and had multiple pockets for very useful stuff.

He could only see a couple of lights from this height, so he used his Binoculars to zoom in and… "There it is," He smiled as he saw the ship, using all of its lights as if it was not on a stealth mission.

His lips curved as he realised what it was, "About time they did this," He muttered as he realised they had just set a trap for him, and what a cliche way they had gone about doing this. A blatant way of drawing him in and then, what? Blow up the whole ship.

"Well, this night just turned a whole lot more interesting," He muttered as he stretched his body. It was always nice to do that before a heavy workout, despite CHI removing all those pesky side effects anyway.

He should be too small for radar but taking that risk did not seem right with him, and this was way too early in the grand scheme of things for him to expose his powers to SHIELD of all people. So, stealthy entry game it was.

OR, he could just turn around and leave, letting them fester while he hacked into SHIELD's databases again and found out where the last two ships were. Chances were that it was all hidden now but that was a much better shot than continuing with this obvious trap.

Alas, he was a teenager now and we were a rather hot headed breed of humans.

He dropped the air propulsion keeping him up and let himself drop, straight into the ocean below. He was reasonably certain that he would not be eaten up by some shark or whale before he reached that ship. Imagine how sad it would be for him to die to marine life before even setting his eyes on any Chitauri let alone the master of the Chitauri.

The winds buffeted his body as he was whisked around before the ocean water finally came so close that he opened a door of pressurised air and removed the surface tension of the water, otherwise, it would have been like hitting a concrete floor at that speed.

Closing his mouth and letting CHI run through his body, letting it act as a substitute for oxygen, multiple doors opened all around his body, letting loose small jets of pressurised air, propelling him forward in multiple directions before he got the hang of doing it right.

Having memorised the last location of the ship, he dove in deep and then activated the pressurised air jets on his feet, shooting him forward into the ocean like a rocket.

Grinning as he saw the water part around his form, he increased the flow of air around the jets, propelling him even further, with the water rippling over his form, his eyes catching the water patterns with ease.

With a thought, his entire form was jerked upwards as he shot out of the ocean and grinned as he saw the ship only a little bit further away. Underwater once more, he shot towards the ship once again, slowing down this time since he didn't want to be chopped by the ship's propeller blades.

Swimming using a single door which was expelling a small amount of air, he swam very close to the surface of the water, getting closer and closer as the lights began getting bright.

Checking once more that his spell was active, he jumped using an air boost and latched onto the ship using his hands. Slowly, he climbed the ship and came on the deck, after getting all the water off his body Using Air Doors.

Walking silently, he walked the entire length of the deck of the ship, which was very small, barely 10m long as he waited for the door to open up. The stealth spell worked on cloaking his heat signature as well as bent the light around his form, turning him mostly invisible.

Obviously, any overt movement would break the spell but that was not what he was here for.

He waited behind one of the many crates on the deck for well over 10 minutes before giving up on the patient approach. Manifesting an air Door on the other end of the deck, he let loose a shockwave that pushed all the craters away towards the door of the ship.

That, predictably, raised alarms as he saw red lights blaring with sirens going off around him. He crouched behind the closest crate and waited for the door to open. They opened and what seemed like a small army poured out of the doors, holding on to Military level gear and weaponry.

A bead of sweat ran down his face at the realisation that maybe, just maybe he might have jumped the gun here. Then again, that was only if he had to fight these people. Last resort, he could just torch this entire place with fire and leave unscathed, if only with his pride injured since he didn't want to touch his more esoteric offensive abilities against only a bunch of non enhanced but armed people.

Timing it just right, he speed walked into the door, only to freeze as he saw yet another squad of armed soldiers just waiting for something to come through the door. He gulped at their scopes being pointed straight at the door.

A spike of fear had him going so slow, through the center of the doorway and turning right, as he saw a heavy armed presence on the walkway turning left. His heart hammered in his chest as he walked while keeping close attention towards his surroundings.

His heart sank as he saw the door closed and more importantly, his heart sank as he realised that it was a trap. He could sense the slight movement of people behind that door, and movement behind him as well.

The entire ship was just teeming with heavily armed mercenaries or soldiers that were more than willing to fill his body with lead. Welp, time to term this mission as a failure, he thought to himself as he turned around, ready to head out the same way he came in, only to freeze as the doors began closing behind him.

He tried to run as fast as he could but the door closed right on his face. He could have used the lasers and burst out of here, killing a few in the process but without a concrete way of knowing who was just doing his job and who was loyal HYDRA, he will not go around just killing anyone standing in his way.

Exposing the portal spell to them was out of the question. He might as well display super strength before he would display portals. The only problem was, he didn't want to display that as well.

Still, this confirmed one thing for him. It was something very, very important to SHIELD, whatever data he had been stealing, otherwise, this level of force was not warranted against a thief, no matter how classified the data might be, considering that the data could not even be opened without having all the pieces.

His gaze snapped to the door as it creaked, before opening once more. He smiled and was about to roll out but the smile became stiff when he saw who was on the other end of the door.

Clint freaking Barton, with his signature Bow and Arrow was standing in the middle of the door, with the arrow aimed straight at him. He smartly sidestepped and almost sighed in relief when he saw the tip of the arrow not following him.

From both the sides of Clint, a veritable army of men flooded the small hallway and he sighed in resignation as he realised exactly what was happening.

They had somehow figured out that he was invisibly entering their strongholds and had devised this strategy to box him in.

As expected of Clint, the agent with the highest case closing rate in all of SHIELD.

Well, this should be fun....

As expected of Clint, the agent with the highest case closing rate in all of SHIELD.

Well, this should be fun....

It would be hilarious if you hid from them by hiding in a box. Like Quote ReplyReport Reactions:FortunisMortis, SCLNotegemeL, AstralBard.N and 6 othersThreadmarks DoorMan (MCU SI) - #8 Threadmarks IdleMuse0307I trust you know where the happy button is?Mar 12, 2025Add bookmark#13Disclaimer - I don't, and have never claimed to, own Marvel or its Intellectual Property. This is all just so that I can take my maladaptive daydreaming and turn it into something so that it does not ruin the rest of my day.

DoorMan #8

Aboard the Starliner, Pacific Ocean [Midnight, January 15, 2008]

–Clint Barton–

When he was first assigned this mission, he thought it was a joke. But then he sobered up, seeing that the file was handed to him by Director Fury himself, in his office. Burying the joke about the orange onesie deep in his mind, he began shuffling through the entire case file they had on their mystery assailant, who was targeting classified ships collecting classified information, the source of which was a hack they had only just discovered after finding out that three classified locations had been hit successively.

The only thing that SHIELD knew was that it was a male, highly skilled, very much enhanced, and capable of slipping past all the sensory technology that the world had, all at the same time and all in the same person.

The fact that they did all of this while wearing a bright orange onesie meant that their thief was a troll as well, a feeling he knew all too well. Still, something told him back then that any attempt at any humour in front of the irate Director would fall flat anyway so he kept his mouth shut and requested some time to come up with a strategy.

He was given all the clearances he would need and was basically told that he had to bring his person in: Dead or Alive. Now, the Dead or Alive part came from Secretary Pierce, above the Director even because he was pretty sure that the Director would love to have someone like that on his payroll but since he was not sure how to respond at that moment, he confirmed to Secretary Pierce that he would try his best.

The plan was basic but had a high probability of working. The trolling of the thief suggested an age on the younger side but the training meant that they were probably young in mind and heart since just the abilities alone would not have allowed them to do what they did, which was hitting nine classified ships and taking their data disks, all by themselves.

Hell, the only reason SHIELD even knew that they wore an orange onesie and their rough dimensions was because they chose to appear on camera. On every ship, once they had completed their task, be it knocking out every single operative or stealing the data disks from their safe enclosure, they purposely found a camera and posed in front of that camera with that hideous orange onesie that glowed in the dark, further cementing his theory that they were young, at least in mind.

So, they set up a trap. A working one, since the ship actually was recording the data and saving it in the data disk which was safely enclosed in a titanium box right next to the engine, which was notoriously hard to get to.

Hundreds of operatives flood the ship or all chambers to see if they can find the invisible person. The analysts also think they could be intangible but if that were the case, they would not have had to break apart the titanium cases to steal the data disks and also would not have dodged any and all gunfire heading their way, according to the testimonies they recorded from the operatives.

Multiple testimonies confirmed that the orange guy was not bulletproof but capable of breaking apart steel, something of an oddity since it was common consensus within the Analysts' staff, that once someone got strong enough to outright break steel or metal, they gained proportional durability simply due to the density of the muscles required for that feat of strength.

So, there he was, on the ship, alert since it had already struck midnight and all the raids occurred around the same time.

And then it happened. He had radar scanning every single thing around them, ordered to alert him should even a small human sized person enter their range but he heard nothing from them. He smiled as he heard a crash on the deck, likely one of the many crates they had purposely left on the deck so their mystery thief could use them to create a distraction.

After that, everything went as planned. The ship was small, purposefully chosen to divide the entire hallways into smaller sections. The plan was to show a bit of the force and then corral the thief into the less fortified areas and coincidentally, into the areas which could house the data disks. Then, they cleared the locked down chambers, one by one, not by sight, not by motion or heat sensors but by a pure old tactic known as overcrowding.

The purpose was to fill a room with all of the agents, suffocating the space so much so that it would be impossible for a person to hide. For that, the roof was lowered as well, making sure that the area they needed to cover was reduced.

Judging the time to be enough, he gave the orders for all the chamber doors to be sealed shut, trapping anyone who was inside at the moment. Clearing them one by one, they finally came across the third chamber.

"Open it up," He spoke on the radio and tensed with his bow and arrow ready, as did all the other agents as they expected something to happen. Nothing happened when the door opened fully, but he didn't let his guard down, even as two flights of soldiers began flooding the chamber.

He kept an eye out for any minute disturbances since no form of invisibility was perfect, even if it was an enhanced power, everything had weaknesses. He stood at the entrance, making sure that no space was left empty when he saw it, a slight shimmering right in front of him.

Trusting his instincts, he instantly let the arrow loose, smiling slightly as it was stopped mid air as the glowing orange form of their mystery thief was revealed. A skull mask on his face, and an air of finality around the man.

"Got you," He muttered as dozens of guns were aimed at the now revealed man. He crushed the arrow in his grip, which was expected since the man could reportedly bend steel but it put things into perspective since his arrows were custom made, very strong in all aspects.

"Surrender! You are surrounded by SHIELD! By US Law, you are committing treason. Come quietly and we might be able to–" He dove for cover as the sound of bullets being fired filled the chamber, as the man ducked and punched the ground, instantly caving the entire floor.

He didn't know how but there was a huge shockwave in the aftermath that ragdolled everyone in the chambers. He heard bones breaking as he winced at the particularly rough landing.

Getting up immediately, he notched his arrow as he looked down the hole and saw a hole heading straight down two floors, stopping at the engine room. "Flood the entire ship. Be careful, the intruder has super strength. I repeat the intruder has—"

HE stopped mid warning as a mocking voice filled the entire ship, "You'll never catch me alive, copper!"

Against his will, a smile formed on his face as he jumped down the hole after creating a makeshift ropeway for himself using one of his utility arrows. Apparently, their thief was a troll and had taste.

He ran in the one direction the hallway led to and found a staircase that led straight up, with its lid open.

He hoisted his bow behind him and began climbing and yelped as the entire staircase detached from the top, with the manhole cover closing in.

"~Too Late~!" In a singsong voice, the mocking was clearly heard all around him somehow, as he, once again, landed roughly, barely managing to move himself out of the way of the heavy metal staircase crashing on the ground.

Okay, this was getting a little annoying now, "Everyone! Get to the engine bay! Create a human blockade around the engine room. I repeat–"

Was all he could get in before the lights flickered before only the red emergency lights flickered on.

His radio crackled to life, "The engine is down. I repeat, the engine is down. Schakowsky is unresponsive. I repeat, Agent Sho–" He cursed as he ran all the way back and began climbing up using the same rope with which he had come down.

If the engine room was breached, then the probability of the data disks being taken had also increased. Then again, he still had the final trap left. He didn't want to use it, just in case it injured the bastard but after seeing his actions, that bomb might just give him light to medium injuries, that's all.

Pressing a button on his belt, he ran towards the engine bay with all his might, smiling slightly as a dull boom was felt across the entire ship, making the lights go out for a moment before they returned.

"Quarantine the engine bay. I repeat, do NOT go in. I repeat–" He ordered everyone before reaching the Engine bay, bruised from the multiple rough landings.

Damn, he was getting too old for some of this shit.

The Engine Bay door was locked down, with no impact on it.

"On my mark," He said before pushing the emergency open button and storming the place.

"GO! GO! GO!" People screamed as they began looking for the thief. He, meanwhile, headed straight to the place he knew the data disks were held. With practised precision, he fired an arrow straight at the place he knew the data disks would be, his arrow flying through thin air before embedding itself into the wall.

Blinking through the smoke, lights flooded the area from the agents behind him as he began looking for the thief, who should hopefully be bruised or atleast dazed from the explosion.

Instead, "You've got to be shitting me…" He muttered as he saw where his arrow had landed.

Right on top of the word TRY. In Red ink, in big bold letters, it was written NICE TRY on the wall, right next to a human sized hole in the hull.

Well, this was a failure.

DoorMan #9

Red Hearth [January 15, 2008]

–Colin Baxter–

Phew, that was close. He cast a cleaning spell on himself, casting away all the soot and stuff, before he looked at the walls of the portal room. A room created specifically for people to portal into, since this was the only place that didn't have the anti spatial manipulation wards he had woven into the entire structure of his home.

As expected, the walls in front of him slid open, revealing giant glowing balls of red and purple, ready to blast away any intruder that dared to invade his home. The glowing balls were pretty much forbidden spells, made from the essence of a mass genocide of demons, instilled with multiple spells, so as to make a ball of pure destruction that, if failing in destroying the target, would poison and curse them with high level spells, pretty much guaranteeing the death of anyone below the level of Wong.

Sighing as the walls slid back down after confirming, on a Quantum level, that it was Colin Baxter and not a clone, or someone possessing his real body, or even a time travelling version of himself. He really had gone overboard with the security of this place but hey, if the Ancient One was offering a wardstone that had pretty much unlimited energy and would last for years, who was he to decline overkill protection for what was his home in this reality?

After all, it is not paranoia if they really are out to get you. He learned that from watching Moody and Fury, both one eyed paranoid sons of bitches that always survived.

Choosing not to switch into his clean clothes, he trudged towards the small freshening up station he had built just outside the portal room. As he neared the door of the portal room, multiple vigils, which were runes from different languages, flashed before the door opened and then the same thing happened when it closed, essentially, opening and closing a pocket dimension that had been anchored to the Wardstone buried deep beneath the Red Hearth, right below the chambers of Jin'Ya, the de facto protector of his home, and when the time comes, Jin'Ya will be the most fearsome protector in the Nine Realms.

The dude was a monster, and it was only a matter of time before he got to witness the old fuck in all of his glory. Sighing in relief as hot water began cascading down his body, he thought of what would happen should someone succeed in getting past the protections in the portal room.

He giggled a bit at the possibility, even though it was small, so much so that he was tempted to invite some Demon Prince through the portal room, only to watch Jin'Ya wreak havoc on the poor demon.

Oh, well. That was going to be impossible since Jin'Ya was a master of psionic manipulation and would read the mind of the demon instantly and then, it would not be fun for Colin Baxter anymore.

"Decontamination procedure, complete." The computer said out loud as his entire body was bathed in high concentration UV, just to get rid of any germs he might have brought from Earth and considering that he was just swimming in the Earth's oceans which were increasingly being treated as Earth's common sewers, he might just have some new bacteria, viruses or germs on him.

Wincing in discomfort as the CHI flowing through his body rushed to the injured spots and began healing the burns, stretching his skin in the most uncomfortable ways, he waited a few seconds before heading out of the UV chamber. The UV chamber, while decontaminating him, was also moving, so he stepped out into the living room, a shared space between him and Jin'Ya, who was nowhere to be seen.

That was odd.

He expanded his senses and connected to the ward scheme of Red Hearth, and let out a creepy smirk as he realised where Jin'Ya was and what he was probably doing.

"Hehehe," He laughed as he began tiptoeing back to the elevator, making sure to mask his energy signature while doing so. Wouldn't want to tip off old man Jin'Ya, who still couldn't let go of his romance even after being a gazillion years old.

The elevator tinged as he reached the conference room, an area laid down with the most advanced communication arrays of magical, psionic, and technological connections, allowing for communication almost anywhere. They were in the process of setting up another room, where they would use the Warp Gates to communicate throughout the wider space, after they had pilfered any spaceship that was unfortunate enough to get stuck in their net.

So far, none had taken the bait and it was unwise to disturb Titan, once home of Thanos lest they invite the calamity far before than scheduled.

Sure, he gave the Ancient One and all the people he could rally, about a 50% chance of defeating Thanos without the Stones, especially since they would have two on their sides, but the chances of decimating Thanos' forces while injuring the Titan to such an extent that even fighting a Kylosian (Drax's species) would be all but a death sentence for him. But still, it was much better to avoid that possibility altogether.

Now, he was headed to the psionic wing of the conference room, the one used predominantly by Jin'Ya, mainly because he was the only one skilled enough to actually operate it since it was a completely manual machine with no machine interference whatsoever.

According to the Ancient One, this served as yet another line of defense in their communications network because the only ones capable of operating their network were dragons who had spent who knows how many years in the Astral Realm, soaking up psionic energy and becoming masters at manipulating it.

"Hehe…" He giggled as he came closer to the room that Jin'Ya was currently using and it was becoming increasingly harder to control his laughter, and therefore, his energy suppression because this was it, this was the moment he was going to remind Jin'Ya for the rest of his humane life, since Jin'Ya, the old fuck was immortal and was not going to bite the dust anytime soon.

Just as his hand touched the door knob, a dark aura assaulted his being as he was flung back from his body–No, his Astral Form was flung back out of his body, with his body falling slack in slow motion.

He looked down and saw the Door that continued to pump CHI throughout his body right above his chest. Huh, so they carried over in Astral Form as well, something that he had not dared experiment with because who knew what could happen with the doors he had attached to his very soul. He didn't want to risk becoming a vegetable and so, that part of his training was omitted as well.

You know, he could actually understand the position of all the other Masters who were so opposed to him actually getting the title of Master because firstly, his portals were abysmal, and secondly, he didn't even know how to draw out his Astral Form, hence the huge back and forth about getting a new spell from him peer reviewed and certified to officially confer him the title of Master.

Ignoring that for a moment, he pointed above the conference room and screamed hysterically, "What the fuck is that?!!!"

Right above the conference room, at last in the Astral Realm, there was a giant void, that had far too many eyes and tongues than he was comfortable with, and the most gross thing of all, there was a tongue, coming from inside the room and heading into the void.

"Ewww!" He screamed as he tried to float back and realised that he couldn't do that. In that moment of bumbling panic, he called upon his CHI and flooded his soul with it, trying to break free of the hold, searing away the translucent waves around him.

He smiled as it seemed to be doing something but apparently, that was not how it worked because the next moment, he blacked out.

...

…..

"Ugh! What hit me?" he groaned as he flopped off the chair he was sitting on. With Bleary eyes, he looked up and saw the floating form of Jin'ya looking down at him, and in a mighty pissed way too!

"You! What the fuck is wrong with you? Why would you become a beacon of CHI in the fucking Astral Realm? Do you have a death wish?!" Jin'Ya screamed at him as the entire room shook from his anger.

Even in the dazed state that he was in, a chill ran down his spine as he realised what he had done.

"Oh god," He muttered as he looked around and checked his body and then closed his eyes, going straight for his mind to check if—

Bonk!

"Don't bother. Your soul is whole. You were lucky I was here, you idiot!" Jin'Ya bonked him psionically and told him.

He sighed in extreme relief. How could he have forgotten that the Astral Realm was filled with ancient soul sucking monsters who would love nothing more than to have a life filled, unlimited CHI providing soul such as himself?

His shoulders sagged as he lay down on the floor, thinking of what his stupid curiosity and a little prank could have led to. He should have just left Jin'Ya alone but he was just fresh off from a defeat and wanted something to stave off his boredom long enough for him to regain the motivation required to find the two remaining puzzles of the data.

Then, his eyes snapped open as he sat upright. He pointed at Jin'Ya, "Hey! It was your fault at first! Why did you push me out of my body? You knew that it was a danger, the Ancient One said so. How could you put me in such a position? Do you have any idea how scared I was when I saw the whole and the tongues and the–Oh god, the eyes!"

He all but screamed at the being older than civilization itself as he got off from the high of being saved.

Jin'Ya looked increasingly embarrassed before, with a hmph, he disappeared from the spot.

"Oh yeah! That's real mature of you! As expected of an old fuck. Run from your mistakes, why don't you!" He shouted with magic enhancing his voice, making sure that his voice reached the entire Red hearth, top to bottom.

Thank god, the floors where he planned to build habitats for animals and other rare species were not yet populated. Otherwise, those poor creatures would have been subjected to his magic enhanced rant as well.

Word Count - 1850

I'd love to hear what you think! Your feedback means a lot — whether it's your thoughts on the plot, characters, or just a quick comment about your favorite moment.

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If you guys would like to support me, or just want to read up to 15 chapters ahead, you can head on to my P*treon. It is the same name as my username. Like Quote ReplyReport Reactions:Sarif, JimmyBlah, Seek212. and 103 othersIdleMuse0307Mar 13, 2025Reader modeAdd bookmark Threadmarks OrphiexWombat aficionadoMar 13, 2025Add bookmark#17Ahh, the pranking round robin. A classic if ever there was one~ Like Quote ReplyReport Reactions:FortunisMortis, El Espectador, G1 Convoy and 1 other personThreadmarks DoorMan (MCU SI) - #10 Threadmarks IdleMuse0307I trust you know where the happy button is?Mar 14, 2025Add bookmark#18Disclaimer - I don't, and have never claimed to, own Marvel or its Intellectual Property. This is all just so that I can take my maladaptive daydreaming and turn it into something so that it does not ruin the rest of my day.

DoorMan #10

Red Hearth [January 15, 2008]

–Colin Baxter–

Splashing water on his face, he tried to get that near brush with death out of the way. Apparently, space in the realm world and space in Astral Realm were not proportional so even though he was on Mars, which had barely if any living souls on it, he could still have been targeted by Soul leeches who would have dragged his soul into their bodies and used him as an eternal fuel source.

He shivered as the image of that void with all those tongues and eyes flashed in his mind. He had to actively stop his mind from further going in that direction, the very thought of what Jin'Ya could be doing, as a psionic being, in the Astral Realm and how close it looked to….

It nearly made him hurl as he groaned and flashed his body with a wave of CHI, making him feel instantly more refreshed.

"Never again," He muttered to himself as he collapsed in his bed, the very expensive and very comfortable bed that he had bought in China, to be hauled all the way to Mars. It had taken some work, a lot of work to be honest but he could now honestly say that making the Red Hearth was the best decision of his life.

A space, away from all the noise on Earth, not to mention the constant threat of something happening that might damage his home, or worse, something happening that might not be able to destroy the protections he would cast on his home but would end up outing his identity to the world, which would suck a whole lot.

He honestly loved his life, his work, and even his education, tedious as it was to learn something he already knew, mainly because it gave him the chance to live a normal life. He shuddered at the thought of becoming so one tone focused that he forgot everything else, that there were many other things in life.

That Earth itself was a place of supreme wonder and he would have lost the chance to explore the planet in the mad race to become strong enough to defend Earth despite never having had the chance to actually explore it.

He rolled over on his stomach and got the tablet he had specifically modified to remove all wireless connections from it. It was plugged directly into the wall, both for power and for the internet because he did not trust any device on the planet.

In this tablet alone, he had to remove two different GPS modules that were not supposed to be there. Freaking Chinese made tablets man, they had all the hardware to spy on you.

In a way, it was to be expected of any country that would call itself a superpower. The United States had all the software to spy on the global population and China supplied the hardware through which it was all made possible.

What China also did was install a bit of extra hardware to make things easier to track, for their political party as well.

Unlocking the tablet, he opened YouTube and set the rain sounds in a loop, because he really needed the sleep right now. While it might have been only 2 hours that he had spent looking for the data disk, the fight and the ensuing run to get out of that ship without killing or harming anyone had been exhilarating.

It also brought to his attention the case agent responsible for handling his case. Clint Barton, Hawkeye, future Avenger, and Future-er Ronin, not that he would ever let that come to pass.

With the sounds of the rain echoing throughout the room and the curtains and lights closing on their own after he clapped his hands twice, he soon slipped into a dreamless sleep.

____xx____

Aboard the Helicarrier

–Clint Barton–

He was bruised, battered, cold, and short of a data disk which was supposedly a critical SHIELD resource, but he was still standing ramrod straight right in front of Director Fury who continued to stare at him.

The first dozen times, it was scary, then it became merely intimidating, now it was downright normal. The man glared at everyone, even if they did a supposedly good job. No doubt a tactic to maintain fear in the entire workforce.

"So, Agent Barton, explain to me how you lost someone who, in your own words, had cornered without a shadow of a doubt." Director Fury drawled.

He took in a breath before replying, "As you have no doubt read in my report. The thief was capable of so much more than what we had theorised. His super strength was off the charts, capable of caving in multiple reinforced floors of the ship in a single punch, at super speed, while becoming invisible to all possible senses."

"And what of this explosive you had tucked away into the Data Disk chamber."

"I thought it prudent to have a way of destroying the classified data since it was classified as Tier-3 data, which was data that could not be allowed to fall into enemy hands, even if it is at the cost of the data."

Director Fury nodded and then glanced below where Clint could see multiple snapshots, from every conceivable angle, showing the orange onesie clad thief with the skull mask, right before he caved that floor in and severely injured two of the soldiers, fleeing with the data disk in the ensuing chaos.

"So, we have a big troll in our hands, do we?"

"Yes, sir. I believe this is someone with a classic Narcissistic Personality Disorder as well as ADHD, simply because of the way they demand attention by wearing that bright orange getup along with causing distress and breaking laws while having fun at the expense of the people guarding said ships."

"...Hmm, yes, you did speak of the taunts as well as the final hurrah that was the thief spray painting NICE TRY on his way out."

He sighed as that was very annoying for him. It displayed a lack of competency on his part as the thief was able to get the spray paint and then write those two words before creating a hole in the ship's hull before fleeing that way. It all pointed to a very attention seeking whimsical character, who might as well be a psychopath, based on his actions.

"...Ah, yes. This one, do you think it has something to do with mind control? Did you feel any anomalies in the way you acted?" Director Fury pointed at the possible abilities section, the line being the ability to project a modulated voice in all directions, scrambling any way he could have predicted the location of the speaker.

He closed his eyes as he thought back on his actions, from receiving the reports, to formulating a strategy to getting the people on board and then ultimately culminating in the showdown that resulted in a military vessel being beached because of all the damage done to it.

He opened his eyes, "No. I don't think I was being influenced by anything when I made all those decisions. I made most of the decisions in the Triskelion before I was shipped off."

"I see. You are dismissed. You will be spending 48-72 hours in Quarantine and will be cooperating with all the medical personnel, just in case. After which, we will have a discussion as to what to do with our Orange Vanisher."

He saluted and left the Director's office, almost collapsing in relief as he arrived at his quarters. All level 7 or above Agents had their own personal space aboard the Helicarrier. He was tired, mentally and physically and while there were no permanent injuries, the temporary ones hurt like a bitch.

He was so looking forward to a hot bath before he was carted off to be poked and prodded at by the medical geeks.

I'd love to hear what you think! Your feedback means a lot — whether it's your thoughts on the plot, characters, or just a quick comment about your favorite moment.

Likes and comments really help keep me motivated, so if you enjoyed the chapter, let me know!

If you guys would like to support me, or just want to read up to 15 chapters ahead, you can head on to my P*treon. It is the same name as my username. Like Quote ReplyReport Reactions:Sarif, EdragonGhostmage, JimmyBlah and 112 othersIdleMuse0307Mar 14, 2025Reader modeAdd bookmark Threadmarks Heavenly MarkNot too sore, are you?Mar 16, 2025Add bookmark#19Nice Like Quote ReplyReport Reactions:IdleMuse0307DrageosI trust you know where the happy button is?Mar 17, 2025Add bookmark#20I enjoyed the escape from Clint. Like Quote ReplyReport Reactions:SCLNotegemeL, El Espectador and IdleMuse0307Threadmarks DoorMan (MCU SI) - #11 Threadmarks IdleMuse0307I trust you know where the happy button is?Mar 18, 2025Add bookmark#21Disclaimer - I don't, and have never claimed to, own Marvel or its Intellectual Property. This is all just so that I can take my maladaptive daydreaming and turn it into something so that it does not ruin the rest of my day.

DoorMan #11

Red Hearth [January 17, 2008]

–Colin Baxter–

Whistling a jaunty tune, he monitored the Discord chat on the tablet with one eye while keeping an eye on his eggs. It had been more than 24 hours since his latest close brush with death and he was kind of over it now, hence the merrily preparing breakfast for himself.

He was so thankful that the Ancient One allowed one of the Masters, who was a Master in fusing magic and technology in ways that had benefited Kamar Taj immensely, to cast the same spell on the Red Hearth as the one cast on Kamar Taj and the three Sanctums.

The spell that allowed all of them to have an active internet connection but with no [possible way of tracking the connection. It was awesome. Not only did it give him an edge over literally every other computer system on the planet, but it also provided Red Hearth with an essential service.

The Internet.

It was awesome, especially for him since he would not have been able to afford any of the stuff inside the Red Hearth had it not been for the internet and its ability to mask its users behind a thin veil of anonymity. That thin veil was far denser in his case but his point stood all the same.

So far, he was a multi millionaire, purely based on his work and his investment choices. He was in the process of liquidating his entire portfolio to invest in the inevitable Stark Industries crash once Tony went missing. The stock should further crash when Tony would announce that they were shutting down their weapons division.

It was not much, about 3 million dollars but hey, why would he waste such a sure shot way of making money?

He had tried roping in some of the obviously wealthy masters in Kamar Taj but apparently, he was still a child who didn't know anything about the real world and had only gotten lucky with his gifts, which was true. It was not his loss so he let them be.

But Old Man Wong though?

Man, he fleeced the old man dry, liquidating anything of value that the man had and poured it into the Stock Market. After all, he was the prodigal son and anything he asked for would be given no questions asked. The OId Man couldn't even complain since he was seeing his net worth rise.

Shovelling the scrambled eggs in his mouth, made up of whole 15 eggs, he must have looked like a chipmunk because he was sooo hungry. He had only eaten half his daily protein requirement yesterday, mainly because he didn't have any appetite after almost dying but the hunger came roaring back today.

Man, he was so going to hit an all you can eat buffet, for dinner.

He felt a light bonk on his head as he felt Jin'ya floating into the dining/kitchen area. It was a shared space but the old fuck never made anything aside from barbequed meat, which was done on the upper floors, with the endless red rivers in view.

"Eat slowly. The food is not going anywhere." The air vibrated as Jin'ya used his precise telekinesis to deliver his words without opening his mouth. Man, talk about being lazy.

He eyes the floating tiny lizard. Well, two could play at this game, he thought as a door appeared behind Jin'ya and let loose a small shockwave that was immediately negated by the old fuck's automatic shielding.

"Nice try. You'd need a lot more to get past my guard." Jin'Ya commented as multiple pieces of clearly marinated meat flew out of the freezer and began hovering around Jin'Ya as he came through one entrance and went right up into the elevator.

All this while, he glared at the dragon as he purposefully chose the time he would be semi-full with eggs to do the barbeque. He stabbed the eggs and shoved them in his mouth, much less enthusiastically than before as the elevator dinged, probably taking Jin'Ya to the top levels.

He shoved the plate to the side as he saw that the chat was not active as well today. That was to be expected, it was a weekday. Not everyone had the privilege to be snoozing on a Wednesday.

He sighed, pulled back the eggs, absentmindedly ate the rest, before washing the plates, and putting them in the dishwasher.

Jin'Ya usually did them with his telekinesis but he didn't feel like relying on the old dragon today. It was funny. The dragon was definitely a net positive in his house, capable of doing anything and everything while being witty, snarky, and overall not a boring person but somehow, after endangering his life, and not getting any apology after, has affected his living experience with the dragon.

Letting the dishwasher do its thing, he hopped into the other elevator and jumped to the lower levels. Those were the storage areas, lab areas, ritual rooms, and more.

He entered his personal lab and found all the 10 data disks arranged carefully. To his surprise, he had discovered already that the data disk he had stolen right under Barton's nose was the real deal.

That only left the last data disk but he was unsure if his luck would still work in finding that ship because there was basically no way SHIELD still had that data on their servers. It was probably all paper files now or maybe even strictly verbal orders, no paper trail to be found in that regard.

He sighed and set aside the chips, and pressed a key on the keyboard, turning on the monitor from standby.

Oh, how he wanted those holodisplays that Tony probably had at this point but those were not on the market, not even as a concept. Tony probably built them as a side project and used them only in his personal lab.

Dude probably thought of a product that had the potential to introduce a whole new category of displays, as a side project.

It was times like these that reminded him of his reality, and then humbled him a bit. He was not a genius like Tony, not even in his wildest dreams. All he had going for him was an above average brain that was really really good at doing lightning fast calculations, and then applying them to Computer Science, hence his field of expertise.

He was nowhere near Tony when it came to mental genius because the dude could pick up a subject and become a subject expert in it within days or weeks, instead of the decades that it would take for a normal person.

That is why, despite having a very fancy, and a very impossible home on Mars, his home was filled with tech that one can find on the open market, even if it was of the highest order.

He could not outright invent holo displays just because he really wanted those damned things, because he was not a genius. And it was times like these, that made him realise that he could not do the whole save the world thing all by himself.

He would not be able to bear the burden or do a good job of it. Nada. Zilch.

The best he could be was a very versatile muscle, ready to be deployed in any zone, and act from the shadows, so that the burdens of operating in the light did not apply to him.

"Hmm," he muttered as he received an alert about Bruce Banner. The Military had spotted him in Brazil and General Ross was on a warpath.

His seniors have restrained him for the moment, arguing that the local government and the local military assets should be enough to bring the man in or atleast get an accurate location before a full out tactical assault can be initiated, so that's good. That gave General Ross one more day of breathing.

Oh yeah, he was going to kill General Ross. Once the man stepped over the line and he had definite proof that he was not only getting his soldiers killed needlessly, but also pushing Banner over the edge, whilst endangering local civilians?

Yeah, it was game over for the guy. One had to be a special level of stupid to be that guy.

He might also just bring Banner over here, on Mars, if he found out that General Ross was mentally ill, or was acting on orders of other people, people who could not be killed just yet.

He set an alert that would inform him once Banner's accurate location was updated in the military database. He might need Jin'Ya's help to pacify Hulk but it should all be doable.

Excited, he began drawing in plans for a reinforced room, more so than the usual ones. He might need to commission some work, which was more expensive but hey, if he could have the Hulk onboard, it would all be worth it.

He just had to figure out if he wanted to reveal his identity to Bruce Banner.

Oh well, something to figure out for later.

I'd love to hear what you think! Your feedback means a lot — whether it's your thoughts on the plot, characters, or just a quick comment about your favorite moment.

Likes and comments really help keep me motivated, so if you enjoyed the chapter, let me know!

If you guys would like to support me, or just want to read up to 15 chapters ahead, you can head on to my P*treon. It is the same name as my username Like Quote ReplyReport Reactions:Sarif, EdragonGhostmage, JimmyBlah and 102 othersIdleMuse0307Mar 18, 2025Reader modeAdd bookmark Threadmarks DrageosI trust you know where the happy button is?Mar 18, 2025Add bookmark#22Well the Hulk will certainly be interesting,

And potentially very humbling. Like Quote ReplyReport Reactions:Sovereign Of All, SCLNotegemeL, ozyly-esehembo and 3 othersThreadmarks DoorMan (MCU SI) - #12 : Heavy G workout! Threadmarks IdleMuse0307I trust you know where the happy button is?Mar 19, 2025Add bookmark#23Disclaimer - I don't, and have never claimed to, own Marvel or its Intellectual Property. This is all just so that I can take my maladaptive daydreaming and turn it into something so that it does not ruin the rest of my day.

DoorMan #12

Red Hearth [January 17, 2008]

–Colin Baxter–

After finishing up some work on the new generation IP protocol they were gearing up to launch to the rest of the world, Colin got up from his desk and stretched, despite not needing to because his body was much more resistant to stiffness than normal humans.

The alert about Bruce Banner should work as expected, reaching him as long as he was on Earth and in the Red Hearth, making sure that Bruce did not have to spend any more time being hunted down like an animal. He might need some muscle for that, though.

"Hey, Jin'Ya?" He shouted in his mind, sort of like a psionic doorbell. See, one thing to note about Astral Realm lifeforms like Jin'ya was that their minds were absolute, walking disasters, creating havoc in the Astral Realm just by existing, and if they manifested in the real world, then it would spell disaster for any normal person nearby.

If Jin'Ya wasn't so used to suppressing over 90% of his own power, just so he could normally interact with the mortal species, Earth would have had a giant dead zone right around the Himalayas, simply because that was the place where Jin'Ya first manifested. It was just one of the dangers of summoning an Astral lifeform like Jin'Ya. Thankfully, that was not Jin'Ya's first rodeo so they were fine.

"What?!" He smiled as Jin'Ya snapped at him. It was actually disadvantageous for Jin'ya to so tightly wind his Astral Presence around him because that is how his species navigates the world. On Earth, he had to keep it to himself, otherwise, the Ancient One would have punted his little ass back to the Astral Realm.

On the Red Hearth however, he could let it all loose, not having to worry about accidentally killing everyone around him as long as he did not go all out. Colin was fine because he had mental training to withstand the passive Astral pressure that Jin'Ya gave out.

"I don't know if you are aware of a giant green ball of rage on Earth. But in a few weeks' time, we might have to go and rescue him from the Military. I might need some extra muscle for that, would you be willing to come?"

There was a pause on the other side before a slimy voice slipped into his mind, "20 pounds of Ta-Lo's exquisite meat collection."

He gawked in the real world as he immediately snapped at the dragon, "Are you insane? That is my entire year's meat allowance. You can't ask for it, all at once. That would leave me with nothing for the rest of the year. It's only January"

"Do you want my help or not?" He could just picture the damned thing's smug expression. Ah, it made him want to punch the dragon but he knew it would just be futile.

He growled, "Ah! Fine. But if there is a single mishap on the mission, I will be docking part of the meat."

In return, he got the impression of a middle finger and then a careless wave of his paw as the connection was shut down from Jin'Ya's side.

Shrugging, he exited his office, thinking of how he could increase his quota of meat from Ta-Lo. After all, there was no way he was not going to have anything to eat from that place for the entire year. That would just kill him.

He might just have to bear it and act as a CHI battery for an entire week for their semi dead dragon. That might just get him double the meat allowance, something that he fought tooth and nail for when he first negotiated the deal to help rejuvenate their water dragon.

Ah, he could still remember that day. He had just turned 16 and was asked what he would like for his birthday present by Wong, and well, being the little shit that he was, he asked for something not just expensive but also very very difficult to achieve.

To visit Ta-Lo, one of the many mystical hotspots on the planet but the one that should be the most friendly. Now, he knew even back then that Kamar Taj and all the mystical hotspots on the planet were peripherally aware of each other and would alert each other if any large threat was found.

So, he knew they could communicate with each other. He was just betting to see if the connections extended to transport as well. That was how he found himself standing in front of the Ancient One who asked for his reasons and after he told them that he just wanted to find out what a place untouched by large scale industrialisation looked like, he was granted permission to visit.

The permission to visit was just a medallion from the Ancient One and a portal that opened up beneath him, depositing him in the forest on the outskirts. Back then, he did not have his CHI door permanently open yet so he was not as strong. However, every night, he made sure to have the CHI door open for at least two hours and use that to strengthen his body, which was a nighttime ritual he had created back then, so he was not super worried.

The worries were evaporated, however, as he reached the lake and was mesmerised by the picturesque view. Being identified as an envoy from Kamar Taj meant that he was treated with respect and also with healthy caution as he looked really young.

That was his first trip to Ta-Lo, where he returned with a healthy appreciation for the milk products, mainly the desserts and also the barbecued meat, which was to die for.

The second time he wanted to visit, however, the Ancient One showed her true colours, telling him that he could not use Kamar Taj's medallion just for free and needed to give something to Kamar Taj to use its authority in return.

Not to be outdone, during one of his later trips to Ta-Lo, he negotiated a deal with the village chief. The village chief was a wrinkly old man with two daughters. The village chief was the one who looked into the admin side of running a small village and the Protector of the village guarded the entrance.

The youngest daughter of the village chief was now the Gate protector, with the previous one, also the village chief's daughter, having defected from Ta-Lo to have her own life in the mortal world, according to their own words.

The deal was to flood the lake, the lake that housed the water dragon, and also help keep the influence of the terrible entity inside the seal, with pure CHI from his gates. They were understandably cautious and disbelieving at first but when he opened his first GIANT gate, which was 20ft tall and 10ft wide, to emit waves upon waves of CHI into the lake, they were flabbergasted.

That little stunt was about to cost him a bit because that much CHI being infused into the lake meant that all the creatures in the lake were a bit stunned and had almost swarmed him to presumably tear him apart when the water dragon came and disciplined everyone.

The Water Dragon spoke something to the village chief and the village chief told him to state his terms. The sighs of relief when he just asked for 20 pounds of meat annually gave him hope right now that they might increase his yearly quota.

Inflation was a thing in Ta-Lo, right?

'Maybe the village chief would be amenable to doubling the quota?' He thought to himself giddily as he entered the elevator and pressed the button for the training room. He needed to catch up on the training that he had skipped for the past two days.

After all, this chiseled physique was not going to be maintained by itself.

He needed some 5G full body training to do before he could get his body ready for February in LA. Some sort of interview process that required him to move to LA for two weeks, all paid for by Stark Industries, obviously.

It probably had something to do with Jarvis finding that he might be the unhackable hacker on the Dark Web, not that he would ever admit it. That would be the height of foolishness. If he admitted that he had a way of foolproofing a system by hiding it so that not even the owners of the internet could find it? Well, let's just say that the NSA would be the least of his worries.

The elevator dinged and opened up to a giant sprawling empty space with high ceilings. High as in 200 ft high ceilings, just in case he wanted to do a PR on his high jump.

Fiddling with the mystical controls of this place, he grunted as the 5 times earth's gravity mode was activated, making him shift to secure his footing. The max it could do was about 20 times Earth's gravity but the most he had ever been able to stand in, was about 12 Gs, and even then, it felt like he was about to vomit his internal organs.

So, yeah, 5G for a heavy workout it is.

I'd love to hear what you think! Your feedback means a lot — whether it's your thoughts on the plot, characters, or just a quick comment about your favorite moment.

Likes and comments really help keep me motivated, so if you enjoyed the chapter, let me know!

Chapter 660 - 12