DoorMan #13
Red Hearth [January 17, 2008]
–Colin Baxter–
"197…" He heaved with all his might, finally getting the weight up, and then threw it across the room, not having the confidence to set it back down properly. The weight made a thunderous noise that felt different than what it would have made in normal gravity.
Heaving for breath, he opened a gate of water and just drowned himself in fresh cold distilled water, drenching the entire area around him in water. It was fine, he would clean that up later on.
He really needed to look into getting some sort of management system for the Red Hearth. As things stood right now, most of that was done by Jin'Ya and even then, he had to pay an exorbitant amount of money to that bastard for that. For regular CHI infusions for his physical body in this plane, Jin'Ya would look after a mere 10% of the total built up area of the Red Hearth, which included his own living quarters.
It was outrageous. If he offered that level of tune up to any billionaire back on Earth, he could have had entire armies work day and night to maintain this place. He sighed as he chugged down mineral water, from the Himalayas.
Once again, a W for the portals. It was supremely convenient to get stuff from naturally inaccessible places using portals and a constantly burning fire all around him. Sure, the dimension of fire that he had in his possession was nowhere near the level of potency of his water dimension, let alone the CHI dimension, but it had its uses, like heating up a small area around him so that he didn't freeze his balls off in a negative 55 degrees environment.
He had only gone there once in the past year, filling in thousands of gallons worth of glacier water before heating it all up and using that to drink every time he was in the Red Hearth. On Earth however, he drank normal mineral water that tasted so bland compared to real mineral water but he had to maintain a disguise so he didn't let something small like that stop him.
He switched off the 5G environment and sighed in relief as the difference was immediately noticeable, with his body feeling way lighter than before and the mere act of wiping the water off his eyes not straining his muscles anymore. Working out in advanced gravity environments really was the best way to get a full body muscle workout for him.
Well, sparring with the Hulk might have helped but then again, his CHI worked really fast but not fast enough to heal a broken bone as soon as it was broken. He might be able to get a broken bone healed in minutes if he really focused the CHI output but that would put him in a vulnerable position and also would not really help if the bone was something essential like his Spine. Something like that would take weeks, if not months of bed rest to heal.
Sure, the spine would come back stronger but that was not something he was willing to risk, especially not with the impromptu rescue operation he was going to mount with Jin'Ya. Once his analysis on the backers of Ross came back, depending on the results, he was going to either do a quick rescue operation of Bruce, OR do a quick brain surgery on General Ross, or rather, have Jin'ya do it on his behalf.
After all, that glutton was going to hog all his meat quota from Ta-Lo this year, so why not get him to do something useful for once?
Sighing as cold water was blasted from the overhead shower at high speeds, he let it wash away the sweat and grime. Remembering all the cleaning that was still left, especially the water that he had spilled on the mats, he sighed once more. He really needed to look into getting some kind of reliable workforce in this place.
Getting hired help was outside the realm of possibility, simply because he didn't trust anyone to loiter around his home when he was not here, which was the majority of the time going forward because of his internships and then jobs, and then once he inevitably started his own firm.
Looking straight up, he let a thin layer of CHI coat his eyes to protect it from the onslaught of high pressure water being thrown straight at him, and thought forlornly at the fact that he would be spending less and less time going forward in this sweet bachelor pad of his.
"Damn Thanos," He muttered as he switched the shower off and got ready. Looking at Earth time, it was 7:00 PM.
Grinning, "Perfect." For some retail therapy that is.
And maybe, after that, he could go visit Ta-Lo. After all, the next appointment to refill his aging body with CHI would be right in the middle of the Stark Internship. Coincidentally, he also needed to renegotiate the meat quota, and this would be the perfect time to do that, away from Jin'Ya's prying eyes, or rather, prying psionic senses.
...
…..
Standing in the portal room, he stupidly waved his hands multiple times in the air, to open a portal in his Earth bachelor pad, which was decidedly less cool than the one here, and had to stop immediately, stiffening as he felt something trip past his magic. More specifically, the ward that he cast around his apartment had tripped.
He immediately closed his eyes and focused on the series of wards he had cast on his house back in Seattle. The ward for detecting living beings with body mass more than 10kg was not tripped. The ward with soul detection was not tripped.
The ward with…motion sensors was tripped? How?
Some sort of machine then? A drone?
His eyes snapped open as he groaned in frustration. "Bloody Stark!"
Tony Stark and his burning curiosity. Hissing in frustration, he stalked back out of the portal room and headed to his office, a different workspace from his usual lab space. In that place, everything was expendable, with a literal magically protected network keeping everything safe and secure.
No wireless devices were in that office and once the door was locked shut with a satisfying thud sound, it was basically a Faraday cage, making sure that no wireless signals ever got out, just in case. Cracking his knuckles, he sat on the best chair money could buy at the moment, set the Air conditioning to a nice 24C, and booted his systems up. He had multiple systems rigged together to provide the very high level services he needed, just in case he had to hack into Stark servers once again.
He didn't want to do this because it would just incite Stark more and more but the man was going to go through a very major morality shift soon anyway so doing this to get the man to back off for a bit was a small sacrifice. Besides, it was not like Tony would ever tell anyone that he found the legendary unnamed hacker that the whole world was searching for.
Yup. he was still unnamed, even by the wider media networks, because anytime someone tried to name him and publish that name, he hacked their servers, deleted any mention of whatever tacky nickname they had given him, and exited their servers.
It spooked everyone into complying as he intended. He was now the unnamed hacker but most of the people in the know now knew what that name meant. Stark was probably also one of them but the man had somehow found something that created a link between his public persona and his Dark Web persona.
Well, that identity could be burned at any point and he wouldn't much care. Actually, most of his identities could be destroyed and he wouldn't lose a wink of sleep, only the main Colin Baxter identity mattered. That was the one most important to him because that was who he was and who he intended to be, for the rest of his life.
After all, that was the name given to him by his parents and it was the least he could do to honor that name, by making it great and a household name on the planet by the time he turned 25.
Lofty goals for a normal human but he was the holder of the Keys, the bearer of the most powerful magic, in his opinion, that has ever existed that did not affect the mind of its bearer.
"Alright, Jarvis. Let's see you take on this," He muttered as he located Tony Stark and began targeting his LA house. Let's see how Tony likes it when someone tries to invade his privacy.
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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, KO-Animus, EdragonGhostmage and 102 othersIdleMuse0307Mar 20, 2025Reader modeAdd bookmark Threadmarks PetroxExperienced.Mar 20, 2025Add bookmark#25Hack his sound system to Rick roll him at full volume Like Quote ReplyReport Reactions:FortunisMortis, SCLNotegemeL, ozyly-esehembo and 4 othersThreadmarks DoorMan (MCU SI) - #14 : Ethics Lecture for the Merchant of Death! Threadmarks IdleMuse0307I trust you know where the happy button is?Mar 21, 2025Add bookmark#26Disclaimer - 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 #14
Stark Residence, LA [January 17, 2008]
–Tony Stark–
Slurping on his noodles, he was bobbing his head up and down on some AC/DC when the music was abruptly dimmed which was normally a cue for Jarvis to say something important while he was in the middle of his jam sessions, which were few and far between his research on weapons, Jarvis himself and most recently, the newest curiosity on the block that was his brain.
The 'Unnamed' hacker. The bane of all the three letter spy agencies on the planet, including the country that actually invented the damned thing on which the unnamed hacker does his job.
"Sir, if I may?"
Setting down the takeout container, he spun his chair and gestured with his fingers, as multiple holo displays appeared in front of him, "Interrupt away, Jarvis!"
"As per your instructions, I have been combing through the digital footprint of one Colin Baxter, on the suspicion of him being the hacker you have been looking for."
"Uh, huh. And?" He said while the screens flashed with all the data that Jarvis was able to find and comb through. He was much slower than Jarvis though so he only looked at the red highlighted ones, trusting Jarvis to know what would interest him most.
And interest it did, the code this kid has written on internet security along with creating much better and faster internet protocols meant that he was doing some serious work. Like, working on a level that maybe 10000 people could match, that were alive globally. And that was a hard maybe. Most of those people would be busy doing something else to earn more money, like computerised trading maybe.
"I have been through the entire code repository that Mr.Baxter built for the new Internet and have already incorporated some of it to optimise my transmission code," Which was good because he had been the one who explicitly ordered Jarvis to see if there was anything on the internet that could be sued to improve his processes and to do so in a sandbox first, observe the results in an accelerated timeline and then apply the changes as long as they did nothing to the base OS, that was off-limits. The only thing that came to Tony's eyes was an after action report.
"...but I have been unable to find anything that could lead back to him being the hacker aside from the very tiny coding pattern similarities we found about Mr.Baxter's code when he was only 16."
"So, Colin doesn't have that mythical protection that just makes his systems invisible to everyone? You were able to get past his firewalls?" He asked, even as his eyes flew over the new code that Colin had written, something that was being tested by The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) before it could be pushed to be used for the wider internet. He was an honorary member but it had been ages since they did something so interesting that he had to contact someone at the organisation to get him actual credentials to log in and take a look at the documentation, something that he had to do when the first advanced Qubit encryption program had been launched on the planet, by a completely unknown developer at the time.
"..No, sir. While the protections were robust enough to deter anyone not being extremely cautious, they were not enough to stop my intrusions. I was not able to find anything that suggested any links."
"And? You would not have just approached me if you weren't stuck yet?"
"As per protocols, I have sent a long range Surveillance drone that was available in the Seattle area, the latest Surveillance ones built for urban warfare, the USD-1. I was able to launch the smaller bird to get into the apartment and look for any air-gapped systems, just in case but aside from some clearly discarded as well as hot spare hard drives for his computer systems, there hasn't been any…" Jarvis' voice got stuck mid sentence.
He jumped a bit as a screech emanated from all the speakers as all the lights in his room flickered before coming back to life with a blood red colour.
He flinched minutely as a modulated voice came out of the ceiling speakers, "Huh, Addressable RGB lamps everywhere. Nerd much, Stark?"
He gestured frantically with his hands, despite maintaining a calm facade, to get something active in the lab. The displays, the lights, the tools, the freaking Air Conditioning were all automated, and that had come right back to bite him in the ass.
"You have me at a disadvantage here. You know my name but I don't know yours," he said, trying to maintain his false bravado while inching towards the small weapons cache he kept in the basement, just as decoration. He stopped immediately as he heard the very loud voice of that particular door locking itself with its three tiered locking pattern, something that was guaranteed to keep out even the most heavy battering rams.
He would know. After all, he was the one that built, designed, and sold it to the military for a pretty penny.
"I haven't yet chosen for a moniker yet, Stark but I am sure you will try to give me one. In which case, might I remind you that you, in particular, have a lot to lose if your digital laundry was aired to the world, instead of some hackers on the web or some journalist organisation."
"Hey now, that is going a bit too far. What have I done to warrant this level of aggression?" He said as he leaned on the now shut down holo table and sipped on his Iced Coffee.
He looked to the side as a holo display lit up, with red hues in the background, with an amorphous humanoid shape on it, "Chinese and Iced Coffee, really?"
"Hey! I happen to like it. I assumed you'd understand, considering that you most likely live on the same diet I am eating right now."
"Wow! Stereotype much?" The other party bantered with him and he relaxed considerably at that. There had been no overt movements yet, aside from Jarvis being absent, which was a red flag but if the mystery hacker warned to harm him, there were probably a dozen things in the lab that could be taken over to deliver some truly life ending damage to his squishy body.
Judging by his skill, he could probably erase all traces of his involvement after killing him with one of his own creations, which would probably be termed as a lab accident by the media. Obadiah might look a little closer but the man had always been more financially oriented rather than tech oriented and probably would take whatever the tech flunkies at SI told him at face value.
"So, what do I owe for this impromptu visit? You know you could have Facetimed me, I would have accepted it." He snarked as he set down his Iced Coffee. He did not like feeling like this and he was going to make sure that Colin, if it really was his name, felt the same as he felt today, at least at the beginning.
Now, he was getting downright comfortable with this banter.
The voice scoffed, "Please! Like I would risk that. Now, Mr.Stark, I know you think that you are above the law, and in most cases, you might be but spying on a teenager using what is clearly military grade drone technology is not nice. I, for one, would like Mr.Baxter to continue his work on improving the internet, one protocol at a time."
He smirked at the camera closest to him, which was a tiny one installed on both the sides of the Holo desk on the supports that came up to his eye level.
"Bingo! I knew it was you, Colin. You know, you are going to pay for this little stunt. Come to think of it, don't you have that internship coming up? What would you like better, to scrub the toilets or man the parking lots in the sun? I'll let you choose."
His smirk faltered as the modulated voice laughed, "If you think I am him–" Another holo display appeared in front of him, showing a small closeted space that was transformed to become a workstation/gaming room with Colin furiously shouting at the screen while holding on to a game controller, "--then you are far dumber than I thought you to be. Mr.Baxter is more than capable of making sure that he is not followed by anyone, as are many members who know just how modern surveillance works. He is currently playing with some of his friends, and wow, those were some creative insults."
His brows furrowed as he answered, "Then why do this? If you are not him, then why did you come after me, right now of all times?
"....You are leaving next week for Afghanistan, to sell the Military your newest generation missiles?"
He faltered at the sudden change of topic, wondering what that had to do with his current cyber invasion. "Yes?"
"I understand that if you don't supply the military with weapons, someone else will, someone who would not be nearly as charitable as you are but for once, I would like you to think of the impact you are making with your weaponry. Your weapons are decades ahead of even the most secretive of weapon research divisions on the entire planet, which makes you the automatic number one weapons supplier."
"...So?" He asked, a tad bit defensively as his face turned cold. He had heard this argument numerous times. It was used to paint him as the Merchant of Death. A title he abhorred with all his heart. Do the peace loving hippies people have any idea how the world would be if the good guys stopped fighting? Or didn't get the best weaponry mankind could make?
"I cannot dictate how you live your life, Mr.Stark. I just wish to advise that if you must sell weapons, don't sell weapons that change the trajectory of wars and then not track them actively."
"I don't remember asking for a philosophy and ethics lecture, Professor Cyber Criminal," He shot back, his hand twitching as he thought of getting some alcohol to drink to get rid of some of the thoughts that were forming in his mind.
"...You are right, I have no right to dictate how you or how your company works. I just want to advise you to live by your own words. Enforce your own policy. Track where your most advanced weapons are going. That is all I can say at this point."
"I'll run my company however I damn well please. Now, get out!"
"Oh, I thought Obadiah was the one who ran the company?"
The man took one last shot at him before the lights in the entire lab flickered, before returning to the perfect colour profile that Jarvis had configured to have the perfect color profile to simulate the creative juices in his brain.
Now? Now he just wanted to drown in some alcohol to drown the thoughts in his mind. Something like that always happens whenever the Merchant of Death tag comes from people he least expected to think like that.
"Where did a cyber criminal get off of lecturing me about ethics?" He scoffed as he opened the liquor cabinet of the lab.
"....M…Mr ... .Mr.Stark? Mr.Stark? Are you safe? I was shut out of my transmission protocols for 3 minutes. Should I call the authorities?"
He smiled as he heard Jarvis speak. The new transmission protocols huh?
"That's how he got in.." He muttered to himself before gulping down the shot.
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, KO-Animus, EdragonGhostmage and 109 othersIdleMuse0307Mar 21, 2025Reader modeAdd bookmark Threadmarks Jao(Verified Lemon Drop Addict)Mar 21, 2025Add bookmark#27IdleMuse0307 said:"I have been through the entire code repository that Mr.Baxter built for the new Internet and have already incorporated some of it to optimise my transmission code," Which was good because he had been the one who explicitly ordered Jarvis to see if there was anything on the internet that could be sued to improve his processes and to do so in a sandbox first, observe the results in an accelerated timeline and then apply the changes as long as they did nothing to the base OS, that was off-limits. The only thing that came to Tony's eyes was an after action report.Click to expand...
used* Like Quote ReplyReport Reactions:Sadim and IdleMuse0307EmptinessThat which encompasses realityMar 21, 2025Add bookmark#28"Of course you know THIS means WAR!" Like Quote ReplyReport Reactions:SCLNotegemeL, Sadim, El Espectador and 1 other personThreadmarks DoorMan (MCU SI) - #15 : Uh oh...Wakanda.... Threadmarks IdleMuse0307I trust you know where the happy button is?Mar 24, 2025Add bookmark#29Disclaimer - 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 #15
Red Hearth [January 17, 2008]
–Colin Baxter–
He sighed. That was…not what he had in mind when he hacked Tony's systems. It was quite easy when Jarvis had just enacted his very own transmission protocols in his system, giving him quite an easy inn. Of course, a VI of Jarvis' capabilities was more than capable of getting out of the trap he had set, given time. He had swiftly withdrawn his presence from Tony's systems as soon as he said his last piece, not wanting anything in his system that could be traced back to the Red Hearth.
He did not want to take any chances with Tony's utter genius, slim as they may be. Tony's biggest advantage was that he lived and breathed science and that was also the one thing that would help him stay ahead of Tony for the foreseeable future because to the man's mind, something as utterly broken as magic could not possibly exist and even if it did exist in the man's reality, he would just sideline it, believing his science to be far superior to some magic.
Finding his systems using pure science was just utter stupidity. Now, maybe Shuri from Wakanda could do some mystical mumbo jumbo with her Vibranium computers but until she was of age and running Wakanda's systems, he was safe and sound.
He leaned back and stared at the ceiling, thinking of what he just did. Going into the situation, he was admittedly being petty because Tony had done something that had invaded his privacy. The apartment didn't have anything of particular value and most certainly didn't have anything that could tie his real identity to the mystery hacker, but the mere fact that Tony thought himself above everything else, of being able to easily invade his Earthen bachelor pad just to look for some incriminating evidence, it just ticked him the wrong way.
But the more he thought about it, the more it felt wrong to do something so provoking just to be petty. So, he pivoted and thought of things that he could tell Tony without changing the future way too much.
The Jericho missiles and a small tip as to what was happening with his weapons was an easy game, especially since he was leaving in less than a week, for Afghanistan. There wasn't much that Tony could do in less than a week, especially since the man didn't have the slightest intention to do anything about Obadiah, arguably the most significant father figure he had in his life.
"Ooof," he muttered as he thought of how devastated Tony would be once he was exposed to the fact that Stane was the one who organised his assassination.
As for the bit about him playing a video game. That was easy since he had multiple such recordings ready for the very same occasion. Recruiting Jin'Ya to make the illusions as realistic as possible was a stroke of genius from him.
Speaking of whom, he was about to go do some shopping before he went to Ta-Lo, to get the required meat for that glutton. For someone the size of a particularly large lizard, Jin'Ya sure ate a lot of spiritually enhanced meat.
'It helps me adjust to this body better' was his defense but he was not as naive as Jin'Ya thought him to be.
Shutting down the systems, he stood up and stretched, getting ready to continue his planned excursion. After all, it should be just about noon in Ta-Lo. It was odd, to have the timezones of not just multiple countries but also two other pocket dimensions in his mind.
"What an odd life I lead," He muttered as he turned around, leaving his hack room as he had taken to call it, making sure that everything was powered down before leaving the Faraday Cage. It wouldn't do to accidentally infect the rest of the Red Hearth with any virus. It would be a bitch and a half to remove, especially since he didn't have an AI of his own that could do the tedious work on his behalf.
Just another thing that reminded him of the difference between a true genius like Tony Stark and someone jumped up on natural cosmic steroids like himself.
Speaking of steroids, with a flex of his will, a larger than usual amount of CHI was flashed through his body for a single cycle, banishing all the mental exhaustion from his brain. It was probably not healthy to do that every time he felt slightly down but hey, you live some you die some, and he was going to live for a very long time.
Heading down to the portal rooms once again, he checked out his outfit. A simple T-shirt with Jeans, and a hoodie to top it all off, since it was cold in Seattle.
Waving his arm stupidly in the air, he smiled as the portal opened only on the fourth try, a gust of cold air coming through the portal and hitting his face as he lowered his arms and jumped through the very small opening in the air. How the other Masters could open portals capable of transporting entire ships between them, after pooling only a couple of Masters, was beyond him.
He landed lightly on his feet and began walking out of one of the many designated portal points that had been installed in the city, on his request, because it would not do for him to portal into some random place that had a CCTV pointed at it. All the portal entry points were established with enchantments that encouraged people to avoid the area, along with making sure that total noise and light suppression were achieved when it came to the sparks made by the portal.
It was little things like this that reminded him that Kamar Taj had thrived under the rule of the Ancient One, in the middle of humanity evolving from using just steam to the soon to happen era of having a fake replica of an Infinity Stone to be used just as a power source for cities.
He smiled as he thought of the incredulity that begins across the universe would feel when they learned of the fact that not only were humans capable of replicating an Infinity Stone, however, diminished it might be, but they used it just as a giant battery.
"Ah, humans, man.." He muttered as he sauntered out of the alley, the enchantments making sure that his entry and exit into the alley were not captured by any camera. It essentially turned that area into a dead zone, CCTV wise, because the enchantments made it so that anyone looking to install CCTV would just gloss over that area and it was further enforced by the fact that most of the locations looked like trash anyway, creating a decent network of portal entry zones throughout the city.
Perks of being the all but adopted son of Kamar Taj. Everyone loved him there and he made sure that he took full advantage of it. Everyone expected him to take on responsibilities as well and he did, providing extensive healing to anyone who asked. So far, he had returned combat capabilities to multiple older Masters who had retired due to one or other debilitating conditions that were pushed further back due to judicious use of his CHI.
Taking advantage of his enhanced physique, he walked in the cold and walked right into the nearest Micro Centre he could find. He needed to build a new server for his public facing website's beta page that he was going to be working on from now on since he was done with Uni for a while.
The main page will always be hosted on one of the bigger cloud providers, but he had some interesting ideas he wanted to implement on his website and building a localised server to test that stuff and also to get some feedback from the users of his website was a good idea since it allowed him to learn how to go about doing that and also because it was much cheaper this way.
Plus, it was always more fun to build things with your hand rather than have it all served onto your plate.
Picking up the components for a basic computer, he turned back to get some extra RAM just in case the load on the website was higher than he expected. On the way to the aisle, his enhanced senses picked up on some chatter, something that he did not like, not at all.
Someone right outside the store as well as someone in one of the nearby storage closets was speaking Xhosa. The language of the Wakandans and some nearby African countries.
It might just be someone from the nearby South African countries who was in the store as well but knowing his luck, it might just be Wakandan War Dogs who were surveilling him, probably because of his advancements in Computer Science.
He made sure to maintain his smile, as he paid the bill but instead of taking it with him, he chose to have it delivered to his apartment. That way, if things outside devolved into a fight, the precious computer would be fine.
He might be rich but he would never ever disrespect his gear like that.
Cycling CHI throughout his body, he took the receipt and walked outside the store, with his hands in his pocket.
Smirking slightly as he looked at the clear sky, he thought of the Wakandans and they were most definitely Wakandans.
Now, what might you guys do now?
He might have to delay the visit to Ta-Lo. No worries, Chief Tekt would understand.
DoorMan #16
Seattle [January 17, 2008]
–Colin Baxter–
Whistling idly, he walked the streets which were semi deserted since it was much later in the night and in the commercial district he was in, was closing down for the night, with only a few stores open at this late hour. Checking his watch, it was 10.30 right now and the Wakandan spies, as they could only be WarDogs to hide their traces so efficiently, have been following him for about half an hour now.
He had not done anything but walk around the commercial zone, listening to music in one ear and keeping a close watch on the movement all around him. He really hoped that they were not here to kidnap him or something. That would end really badly for them.
The dark deeds of Wakanda were not forgotten by him as he seemed to recall a program of Wakanda that dealt with foreign scientists and engineers who came too close to advancing the outside world. Wakanda maintained its lead over the rest of the world not just through advancements using the Vibranium and enjoying peace for basically all of its existence because of Black Panther but also because they deployed specialised teams to identify and kill the people who might end up posing a threat to their so-called advancement.
That made him so mad that he had half a mind to let himself get captured and go all the way back to Wakanda, just so he could tear down this facade, destroy a few buildings, assert dominance, and then force their king to end this policy and step down from his post to let kinder heads prevail.
Alas, that was just his youth speaking, if he were to borrow the words of Jin'Ya. The chibi dragon was useful in more ways than one, even when he was not making active use of the vast psionic expertise that the Dragon had. Even being someone with whom he could bounce ideas with was more than valuable enough.
He remembered debating this same thing with Jin'Ya, to use force and shocking secrets to essentially push T'Challa onto the throne early and let him guide Wakanda into becoming a force for good, something that was immediately shot down by Jin'Ya as the intricacies of their royal court was not known to him, neither was T'Challa's current behaviour.
If T'Challa took it the wrong way and chose to pursue revenge against him, then it would just be their efforts down the drain. In the end, after discussing with Jin'Ya, he had decided that letting them be was the best course of action for the moment, right up until the Wakandan people actually began spying on him.
Sighing as it was getting far too late for it to be reasonable, he turned directions and headed to the exit. He might not get reliable transportation after 11 PM, not that it would matter to him since he was not exactly worried for his safety.
Flagging a taxi, he told them the address to his apartment and closed his eyes, leaning back on the backseat. His enhanced senses picked up on them speaking in their native language for a while before that too was filtered out.
He cycled CHI in his body, as if on autopilot since it was something he did before sleeping since it helped destroy any toxins in his body that would then be flushed afterward. This new development was interesting.
Since they were not taking any overt actions, he could not do anything. Not like he could disappear from highly advanced surveillance they must be conducting on him, without any explanation, just to get to Ta-Lo. Even if it was very tantalising, just to think about the heavenly barbecue from Ta-Lo's meat supply. Hell, he couldn't even fathom why all of the people living in Ta-Lo were vegetarian. They literally used to waste all of that heavenly meat because most of their dietary requirements, and yes, even protein was taken care of by the plants that grew around the lake where their Water Dragon lived.
It was a vegan or a vegetarian bodybuilders paradise, as the plants in that place had more protein per unit weight than even the densest of protein sources available in the outside world.
"Keep the change," He paid the taxi and took in a breath of cold air as he waved at the doorman before entering his building. He has to go through three different security checks before he can reach his apartment door, which also has another lock. Overkill security, yes, but the area was filled with well to do people, and they appreciated the extra security that the building provided.
He stilled for a second as he heard Xhosa once more but this time, from the apartment next door. They were three people, one girl, and two older male, all of them speaking over each other furiously. He pretended that everything was normal and Wakandans had not just infiltrated the building where he lived, just so they could spy on him.
Opening the door and closing it, he sighed and went to the bedroom, not in the mood to do anything else. He was not hungry and while the enchantments told him that nobody had entered his apartment, he was not really looking forward to this.
Or maybe….
His lips curled into a sinister grin as he thought of what this could lead to.
'This could be the prime opportunity to troll people. MUAHAHAHA~'
Smiling like a loon, he entered his bedroom and laid down on it, pretending to sleep but focusing on his senses, entering a state he called sensory overdrive, where he focused on all his other senses and used CHI to supercharge them, allowing him to perform feats that he would normally be unable to.
He didn't normally use this because it left him vulnerable because he was pretty much out of it. It was like his body was focusing on the area far away from him but not close to him. In this state, unless something physically touched his body, he would not realise that something or someone was near him.
In this state, sense of time left him as well so it was not suitable for quick recon as well, only suitable for time periods where he was staying still for longer periods of time, like sleeping, for example.
CHI cycling removed the need for it so he could be extremely productive for over a week before the deliberating effects of sleep were felt by him, and even they were reduced month after month, to the point he theorised that he would be able to forego sleep for months, maybe years before he lost optimum performance.
Jin'Ya told him that even after all of that exhaustion, it might take less than eight hours of sleep for him to recover completely. That level of extreme experimentation wherein he pushed his body to the extreme was not something he was keen on doing, especially since he got by just fine as he was now.
His senses picked up on the movement right across the hall, with 5 people in the apartment, two more than he had picked up on before. Something was flying right outside his apartment window, very tiny but flying independently, and with the way it was moving, it was most definitely artificial.
A drone then.
He could pick up on sounds but not being fluent in Xhosa meant that he was unable to understand what they were speaking. Something was not right, this was not what a surveillance operation would be, even a long term ones.
Since it was not a smash and grab operation and they were establishing some sort of long term operation, they did not need so many people in a small apartment, all cramped up because that would just raise suspicion, on both his part and the people in the building.
Exiting his sensory state, he realised that he would not be able to keep things hidden from them while being in his apartment.
He cursed internally, keeping his eyes closed as he thought of something that could help him evade them when his ears picked up on some noise. It was the same girl's voice as before but it was very much more heated with all the other voices sounding deferential to the girl?
If he was right, his apartment was probably heat-mapped, as well as sound mapped completely. They didn't breach his apartment for some reason but it was probably only a matter of time before they did that as well.
"Damn," He had to figure out ways to bypass them but first of all, he had to meet them. After all, he still had about 15 days for his Stark Internship and he had nothing much to do before then, so might as well spend it trolling these people.
Or more realistically, finding out their goal since it did not seem as simple as assassinating a promising young Computer scientist who was poised to advance global computer standards.
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, bloodyparty and 95 othersIdleMuse0307Mar 25, 2025Reader modeNewAdd bookmark Threadmarks OrphiexWombat aficionadoMar 25, 2025Add bookmark#33IdleMuse0307 said:He cursed internally, keeping his eyes closed as he thought of something that could help him evade them when his ears picked up on some noise. It was the same girl's voice as before but it was very much more heated with all the other voices sounding deferential to the girl?Ooh, is Shuri finding out about the seamier side of Wakandan philosophy? About how far the War Dogs go beyond "preserving the lie?" I'm now imagining Colin inviting her out for super Chinese BBQ.
"Shuri, welcome to Ta-Lo, a secret and hidden civilization of great advancement and deep wisdom. Ying Nan, meet Princess Shuri of Wakanda, a secret and hidden civilization of great advancement and… debatable wisdom." Like Quote ReplyReport Reactions:Ultra55, SCLNotegemeL, Sadim and 11 othersIdleMuse0307I trust you know where the happy button is?Mar 25, 2025Add bookmark#34Orphiex said:Ooh, is Shuri finding out about the seamier side of Wakandan philosophy? About how far the War Dogs go beyond "preserving the lie?" I'm now imagining Colin inviting her out for super Chinese BBQ.
"Shuri, welcome to Ta-Lo, a secret and hidden civilization of great advancement and deep wisdom. Ying Nan, meet Princess Shuri of Wakanda, a secret and hidden civilization of great advancement and… debatable wisdom."Click to expand...Ah, what a fun idea
*AGGRESSIVELY notes it down for future chapters* Like Quote ReplyReport Reactions:SCLNotegemeL, Orphiex and JaoOrphiexWombat aficionadoMar 25, 2025Add bookmark#35IdleMuse0307 said:Ah, what a fun idea
*AGGRESSIVELY notes it down for future chapters*Glad you liked it! Unfortunately, the other ideas of Colin ripping through the wall like the Kool-Aid man (or the wall-punch-rip-through from Iron Man 1) probably wouldn't work very well, but they're fun to imagine. Like Quote ReplyReport Reactions:SCLNotegemeL, Jao and IdleMuse0307Threadmarks DoorMan (MCU SI) - #17 : What a weird guy.... New Threadmarks IdleMuse0307I trust you know where the happy button is?Mar 26, 2025Add bookmark#36Disclaimer - 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 #17
Earth Bachelor Pad, Seattle [January 18, 2008]
–Colin Baxter–
Colin stretched as he got out of the bedroom, having woken up in less than two hours because his body simply did not need that level of sleep yet. Yawning more out of habit than need, he walked into the kitchen still in his PJs.
The apartment's design made sure that tons of natural light spilled into the living space when it was morning. It was approximately 7 right now and with that, came a new Dawn, a new day.
"Huh," He smirked to himself as he remembered the spying bitches who lived next door.
"Birds flying high, you know how I feel…"
He twirled as he took out a carton of eggs from the fridge, which he kept stocked here as well since he needed to maintain both identities. It was nice that his body needed a lot of fuel to function and while he could temporarily stave off the hunger by flooding his body with CHI, he liked to eat a lot and even having fully stocked pantries in both his places didn't completely fulfill his dietary needs.
It helped a lot in making sure that everyone believed that he still lived on Earth, not that anyone was looking, not until recently. Somehow, he didn't believe that the only ones with backdoor access to Tony's systems were SHIELD.
"Sun in the sky, you know how I feel…"
Wakanda must have access as well. They might have taken Tony's suspicions seriously and were probably here to confirm and surveil him to see if he was the famed hacker whose systems even Wakanda couldn't crack.
"It's a new dawn, it's a new day, it's a new life for me…"
Whipping the eggs, he set a pan on the stove and waited for it to be hot enough for the butter to melt.
Wakanda's systems were much more advanced than he would have expected them to be. So much so that the rest of the world, hell Tony's systems didn't seem to be even in the same century. It was not that big of a lead that Wakanda had, as far as he could recall. They were ahead, yes, but not that ahead. Something must have changed with his arrival.
It was not like he knew what this universe actually entailed and even if it did at one point resemble the canon MCU, his existence alone had butterflied so many things out of existence and created new problems as well.
Flipping the omelette, he plated it and placed the bread in the same pan, for that oh so deliciously greasy flavour. Grinning as the bread looked perfectly golden brown before turning off the stove. Looking at the near perfect, very easy, and quickly made breakfast, he grinned and began to dig in, singing purposefully in bad tones…
"And I'm feeling good"
He most certainly did.
...
...
…..
Tying his shoes, his senses picked up on the presence of just two people in the next door apartment, as opposed to five from last night. The drone in front of his house was gone as well. He was about to head to University, he had a few things to confirm with the Dean's office about the upcoming Stark internship, and also to see what accommodations would be provided to him as part of that, because that internship was more luxurious than most full time jobs, in terms of amenities.
Full accommodations, food, transportation, stipend, laundry, and more were a part of the full package. Essentially, he would be working at Stark Industries for a summer and would probably end up with more money than most minimum wage workers made in a year, such was the opulence when it came to the most valuable publicly traded company on the planet.
Whistling jauntily, he smirked as he heard someone coming up to the door, as he stood up and opened the door, expecting to see some hardened spy but his smile froze as did his body before he forced it to move and continued locking the door as if nothing had happened.
Internally, he freaked the f*ck out! What the hell? Was that Shuri? She sure as hell looked like a slightly older version of Shuri from the MCU. Same face but taller and with a different hairstyle to boot.
He sneak peeked at the girl before hurryingly getting out of there. Something was seriously wrong with this timeline because how does Shuri get to be roughly the same age as him when she was just a teenager in MCU during 2016 or something?
The Math was not Mathin.
He tried to be nonchalant about it but more than Shuri or Wakanda showing up on his doorstep, the fear of his knowledge being rendered invalid terrified him more. The only way to confirm it, without exposing his identity, was to equip another one of his identities.
It was time for the Orange Ninja to raid a nearby Wakandan spy site. For that though, he needed Jin'Ya's help but this time, it would be free since they had a lifetime arrangement where Jin'Ya would help him maintain his original identity and help defend him if Colin's life was in any danger. The same went vice versa but there were very few beings in the universe who could hope to hurt Jin'Ya and come out on top.
In exchange, all he had to do was let Jin'Ya live in the Red Hearth rent free. So far, that agreement has not been invoked, not even once, since he stayed in his lanes and made sure that he did not bite off more than he could chew.
A major reason for that was Old Man Wong who was more like an overprotective mother hen than a badass ninja sorcerer when it came to Colin Baxter and his safety. Speaking of which, it had been a while since he returned to the mother hen's nest plus he also had to review the status on his original spell, since that was one of the ways he could gain enough merit to become a Master of the Mystic Arts, giving him access to the vast resources that are available to active Masters serving the Sorcerer Supreme.
Sweating slightly, he made sure that none of the Wakandans was following him before heading to the University. Thankfully, the cab ride was silent, as his mind continued to churn about what to do.
There was still the Ta-Lo meeting for the revised meat quota, the original spell review in Kamar Taj, general purpose catching up with both Mother Hen Wong and the Ancient One, and then, there were the Wakakandans.
"Haaaa…" He sighed out loud as the burdens of so many things fell on his delicate shoulders all at once. First off, the University admin meeting and then contact Jin'Ya to get the duplicate ready.
Then, he might get enough room to complete his other chores. If not, he would end up spending most of his time dodging Wakandan surveillance efforts. They were very advanced if their cyber security was any indication.
Things added up as well. If Shuri really was much older than canon and roughly his age, then it meant that she had far more time to revamp and invent in Wakanda. With all of Wakanda's resources available to her, she would be able to easily elevate Wakanda's tech to a level never before heard of.
"Damn…" He muttered as he leaned back in the seat. Uni was still about half an hour away and he had nothing to do until then. Whipping out his mobile, he shot a quick text to Jin'Ya, in code language, informing him about an impending requirement, so the dragon would be able to postpone his Astral realm romances.
"Need help with moving some stuff. Will be busy. See you soon."
That was enough for Jin'Ya to know that Colin needed to move somewhere and needed Jin'ya to cover for him.
"Free arrangement?"
He smiled at that and shook his head, the freeloader dragon.
"Yes, this comes under the free arrangement."
Well, Jin'Ya would most certainly have some questions since this was the first time that his help was needed to maintain his identity, atleast on an active participation basis. The good thing about Jin'Ya and the current body he was inhabiting was that he could not just teleport, but also create portals.
That, coupled with his vast psionic powers meant that Jin'Ya could be anywhere in the same state as him and they would still be able to communicate effortlessly, which was essential because it was much harder to track.
Up until recently, he thought it would be impossible to track but if Shuri had about 5 more years to modernise Wakanda's systems and overall push sciences in that space, then he was not so sure about Wakanda's inability to sense psionic energy anymore.
Entering the Dean's office, he asked his Point of Contact about the details of the accommodation who told him that they should be in an E-mail that should come today itself.
Thanking the man, he got out of the space and froze, once more, as Shuri, who was most definitely either Shuri or a clone or a twin of that girl, stood on the stairs, looking frustratedly at her phone.
Nope, not touching that with a ten foot pole. He was about to pass her, when…
"Excuse me?"
With a slight smile plastered on his face, he turned to the Princess of the most powerful nation on the planet, and said, "Yes?"
"Can you help me? I am new here and have a meeting with the admissions office—"
Oh, crap! She was going to study here? In this dump of a University?
"--Someone told me it was part of the Dean's office but it is not here."
"Oh, yeah, that used to be here but it is now on the south side of the campus. Just follow that path and eventually, the signs will take you to Admissions. Are you a freshman?"
"Yes." She smiled at him and it did look genuine but then again, Shrui could be a completely different person from canon. Best not to rely on that bit of knowledge when it comes to her.
"Oh, I forgot to introduce myself," Offering her a handshake, "I am Colin Baxter, a freshman as well. Comp Sci."
"I am Shuri, a freshman as well. Material Sciences."
"Oh," He made an enlightened face. Yeah, he did read something about that. Stark Industries and the university collaborated to create a very advanced, "most advanced" in their words, Material Research facility.
It was all very exciting for their field, according to the few people he met from that field, with a total investment of 12 billion, over the course of 10 years.
"Well, I guess I'll see you around. I am in a hurry, so bye!" He left in a hopefully nonchalant manner but he had a hunch that he just came off as weird.
He carefully hid the wince and kept the sunshine smile on his face as he heard her mutter under her breath, "What a weird guy."
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 106 othersIdleMuse0307Mar 26, 2025Reader modeNewAdd bookmark Threadmarks Threadmarks DoorMan (MCU SI) - #18 : Cutting Edge, my ass! New Threadmarks IdleMuse0307I trust you know where the happy button is?Mar 27, 2025Add bookmark#37Disclaimer - 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 #18
Earth Bachelor Pad, Seattle [January 18, 2008]
–Colin Baxter–
"Haaa," Sighing, he looked up at the ceiling from his bed as he thought of the encounter with Shuri. As far as he was aware, there were no bugs on his person and he did not see the signature Kimoyo beads on her, but he could never be too cautious. It was the evening now, he had lunch at the Cafeteria itself. It was bland but it was meat and it was properly cooked or boiled, he could never tell when it came to that particular lunch hall.
The matter with Wakanda was getting more and more complicated. Shuri being here meant that Wakanda meant business. They were incredibly protective of their princess, someone who was, in his opinion, so much more valuable than a mere Black Panther. In T'Challa's generation alone, they had two different Black Panther candidates while they had none who could even hope to reach the same echelon as Shuri when it came to science.
He had just about 4 days till his flight. Yeah, he met the rep and got all the details for his internship. The internship was for 10 weeks and housing was going to be top-notch. The rep showed him some examples of the entire building that Stark Industries owned and operated purely to house student interns or probationary employees or employees who needed to work at their HQ for a short period of time before they were whisked back to their home locations. It was great for temporary housing so that was sorted.
All he had to do was figure out what he could do in LA, with his alternate identities. IT had been a while since he went out as the Orange Ninja and did something else other than commit treason, and many other espionage charges, on SHIELD. He had been meaning to do something more adventurous for the week he supposedly had off but then, this Wakanda thing just fell into his lap and now, he could not move without alerting the damned Wakandans.
"Hello, Colin. I have arrived."
He stilled for a moment before relaxing as he heard Jin'Ya's voice in his brain, meaning that the dragon was somewhere in the same state as him.
"Where?"
"In the city itself. I have been checking out the portal drop locations and I have to say, the enchantments are really shitty. I should be done correcting them soon. I will contact you in an hour or so."
He barely resisted the urge to yell at the stupid dragon as the mental link was cut off from the other side. That was not what he was here for, and he knew that the enchantments were not really top notch because he didn't need them to be top notch. He had no idea how long he was even going to stay in Uni because lately, it had been feeling like a chore, with Old Man Wong's insistence being the only thing that kept him from dropping out.
Plus, he couldn't exactly afford a Master on Jin'Ya's level when it came to enchantment. It worked so well so why even touch it?
He groaned as he rolled over and face planted into the bed, thinking of his next moves. The Hulk alert had yet to arrive so that was out for now but once he reached the Red Hearth, he should check in on those documents once more. Tony was going to get kidnapped in about a week's time and surprisingly, there has been no movement from his side since the hack.
He didn't know if he had it in him to let Tony suffer, just for the character development. Realistically, there was not much he could do as Colin Baxter but as someone who hoped to follow the Ninja Jesus in his Nin-Nin ways, he could do much, from outright stopping the demonstration from happening or just saving Tony before that missile went off and he was carted off to Yisen who would end up staving off Tony's death temporarily.
That might work, except it might end up depriving Earth of its, almost, greatest hero, something that didn't sit right with him. Tony needed that time in the cave to understand that his weapons were being used for stuff that would not sit right with him, that being a weapons company inherently meant that his weapons would be sold to the good guys as well as the bad guys.
A little brush with death was all that was needed for him to gain another perspective. All of these things were true, yes, but it was not his decision to make. If he could actually go and rescue Tony from experiencing all that horrible stuff, he felt like he had the moral responsibility to save him but then again, he also had to think of the future, especially the future since he knew what was coming.
He sighed and opened his eyes, with steely determination in them. The incident with Shuri told him that he couldn't completely rely on his meta knowledge. He also knew that Tony was getting kidnapped but if his knowledge was not reliable in this timeline, Tony might just die in that cave, never getting the chance to become Iron Man.
That was….unacceptable.
Fetching his phone from the table, he opened the web and searched for Tony Stark, and opened the first link which actually had the itinerary for his visit to a war torn country. Damn, talk about a security nightmare. It was written that Tony had a military presentation on the 23rd of Jan, about 5 days from now.
He had to report to Stark Industries on the 23rd as well. Welp, it's a good thing he had that indefinite deal he signed with Jin'Ya that would allow him to use the Ancient Dragon as a doppelganger.
Locking the phone and throwing it on the dresser, he put his hands behind his head and looked at the starry ceiling, the one he's made using his kinetic lasers, as both practice in modulating the output and also to test his aiming as well as art skills. It was…crooked.
"Huh," he said to himself as he never really saw that before but now that he knew it, he couldn't unsee it.
He will be tailing Tony, from the Mirror Dimension, or rather, Jin'Ya might, depending on who wants to tackle the task of Internship orientation. They would only act if Tony's life was in actual danger, not from the shrapnel or from the disastrous fall in his suit but an actual credible threat to his life.
That should work, as a compromise on both sides. Making sure that Tony is safe and sound but a little roughed up by the terrorists so he finally realises what he has been doing all his life.
Shaking his head, he got up and began changing. Jin'Ya should be here soon and once they swapped places, he had a lot of work to get done on the Red Hearth. He turned to the door as he heard footsteps coming and what do you know, it was Shuri's voice and she had probably just rung his doorbell.
Putting the T-shirt back on, he opened the door, to find Shuri with her hand raised, about to knock for some reason. She took one look at his face and then said.
"Hey! You are Colin, from the University, right?"
He extended his hand, "Yup, that's me, and you are Shuri. Did you just move in?"
She shook his hand, "Yes, I just did, yesterday actually. Can't believe that we live next to each other. What a coincidence!" She said as she invited herself in, walking in his living room like she owned the place.
Yes, what a coincidence, he thought to himself as he plastered a smile on his face while keeping the door open. Who knows what those trigger happy spy bastards might do with their energy weapons if they thought their Princess was in any danger?
His senses might not work because Vibranium was known to absorb most of the energy incident on it, so no noise as they activated their guns and freaking lasered him. He did not want to test his durability against energy weaponry, not yet anyway.
"Can I get you anything to drink?" He asked as he headed into the kitchen.
"Just water."
He nodded and focused on his senses, careful not to funnel too much CHI into his body as his body begins to glow then.
"Here you go. So, what brings you to Seattle? Are you from around here?" He asked as they both sat down, trying to maintain conversation, since he was not supposed to know if she was from here or from the most powerful nation on the planet, dry land that is. Atlantis was a solid contender for the top spot, owing to their vastly more powerful protector and also because of the sheer amount of land they would rule if their claim over all seas was legitimate.
"As you might know, the University has just begun a new venture and I was interested in that. I also needed to go somewhere for college so I just chose this one because it seemed interesting to research cutting edge Material Science." She said with a smile, trying to seem casual but he noted the way her eyes moved over every single thing on display and stayed a bit too long on his computer.
He maintained his smile while internally, it confirmed something for him.
Wakanda has the same suspicion about me being the hacker.
It makes sense, Shuri would definitely be curious about the one who broke through their firewalls within 4 hours. He had no idea they already had Shuri on the helm, so he tried to breach their systems, only to realise that they kept everything air gapped and the only thing he had breached was a media server that was responsible for cataloging a lot of the outside entertainment base.
It had mind boggling amounts of storage and memory though it was ultimately useless since it did not have even a lick of data on Wakandans.
That must have stoked their curiosity in him and now, he had a hyper intelligent, like smarter than Tony, Princess of Wakanda living right next door, looking curiously at him.
God help me.
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, Seek212. and 97 othersIdleMuse0307Mar 27, 2025Reader modeNewAdd bookmark Threadmarks PetroxExperienced.Mar 27, 2025Add bookmark#38Might need to change the name as Doormat. Like Quote ReplyReport Reactions:Baka_Berserker, TerribleReadingProblem, Ultra55 and 9 othersOrphiexWombat aficionadoMar 27, 2025Add bookmark#39Ohh, he in trouble now. Although he could probably distract them with other truths.
Shuri: "So you are the hacker who penetrated Wakanda's cybersecurity!"
Colin: "What? No, I'm a wizard."
Shuri: "…huh?"
Colin: "Yeah, most of the other secret civilizations on the planet know about you guys. They're not super impressed."
IdleMuse0307 said:that his weapons would be sold to the good guys as well as the bad guys.
I think you meant to reverse the order here - "to the bad guys as well as the good guys." Since he already knew about the (nominal) good guys. Like Quote ReplyReport Reactions:Hapless_Hollow, SCLNotegemeL, ozyly-esehembo and 5 othersDrageosI trust you know where the happy button is?Mar 27, 2025Add bookmark#40I mean wakakanda is certainly powerful technologically they just suck in every other way possible. Like Quote ReplyReport Reactions:Taelys, SCLNotegemeL, ozyly-esehembo and 6 othersThreadmarks DoorMan (MCU SI) - #19 : Dinnner with Shuri Udaku.... New Threadmarks IdleMuse0307I trust you know where the happy button is?Mar 28, 2025Add bookmark#41Disclaimer - 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 #19
Earth Bachelor Pad, Seattle [January 18, 2008]
–Colin Baxter–
The more he talked to Shuri, the more he was certain that they were onto him. Well, they thought they were onto him because he would not slip up, not while he had Jin'Ya on his side. Speaking of the ancient Dragon, what was taking so long?
It had been almost an hour and he was getting tired of hosting Shuri. No matter how many times he tried to steer the conversation towards her origin, she put it right back on the track of Colin Baxter and what he did. What his hobbies were, what he did in his spare time, his family, and more.
He smirked internally as they tried to gather information on Old Man Wong. He had gone to pretty great lengths to make sure that what little information was out there on him, was very hard to access.
He had to have some digital footprint or else it would draw even more suspicion. He had to have a social security number, a passport, some investments, banking transactions, a small loan, a driver's license, and more. Any of these things would not reveal a single significant thing about him but he had to have them, just so he could reduce suspicion.
Besides, if these fools tried something on Old Man Wong, they would be in for a pretty rude surprise, and by some miracle, if they put even a scratch on Wong, well, the forcefield around their city would keep outsiders out but once he was in, the same forcefield would keep them inside, with him.
Getting tired of this and using the excuse of it getting dark outside, he slapped his knees and stood up, "Well, it's getting dark. I still have to make dinner so, I'll–"
"You should come over!"
He choked on his words as he looked at the now far too cheerfully smiling Shuri.
"What?"
"Yeah, you should come over. It'll be great, like a housewarming party. Ooh, I better go, I'll call you when dinner's ready?" She thrust her phone in his direction and he leaned away from it as if it was a live demon Naga, a half-snake half-man demon.
In the end, he couldn't even refuse as he inputted his number and watched her leave his apartment.
"Bye!"
He smiled half heartedly as he waved goodbye before slamming the door shut, leaning against it, and sliding down in resignation.
Why did I just agree to that? He questioned himself as he slammed his head back on the door, gently since he didn't want to put a hole in the door and put his head out of it. That would be one awkward conversation.
As far as he could sense, he didn't sense any advanced electronics or the signature all purpose Kimoyo Beads that she could use to scan everything in sight but one could never be too paranoid so he resolved to maintain steady CHI output consistent with normal humans for all the time he would be in that apartment.
He felt tense, as if he was walking into a trap of some sort.
Yeah right. As if the Princess of Wakanda would go somewhere else to study Material sciences. He scoffed internally. T'Chaka would have built her whatever size lab she wanted if she had just asked.
"Well, this is interesting." He nearly jumped out of his skin as Jin'Ya's voice revered all around him, not through the mental link.
He looked around and hissed into his mind, "What are you doing?"
"Oh, don't worry, I am just using the airwaves to speak to you. Everything is isolated, not even someone standing right next to you would hear me speak." Such was the confidence that came from honing your telekinetic prowess for literal millennia.
He sighed in relief as he stood up to boil some eggs. He was sure that whatever dinner that was awaiting him in that den would not complete his daily protein intake, so eggs it was. Protein came first.
"Just…come here soon."
"You got it."
He did not look forward to whatever mac and cheese meal she could make, he thought as he collapsed on the sofa, doom scrolling on his phone as the 10 eggs were set to boil with an automatic timer that would kick in and stop the flame.
He then paused in his scrolling, and then mentally kicked himself for having any preconceived notions about Shuri, based on his meta knowledge. This was an entirely different person he was dealing with, someone who was born in a different era, grew up with a set of parents that might have had a completely different set of personalities, alongside an older brother whose personality might have changed completely after having a younger sister that was much closer to his age.
If he remembered correctly, in the MCU, Shuri was like 20 years younger than T'Challa, something absurd like that.
Perking up, he opened the university website, logged in using his student ID, and began looking for course lists. It was public data, to see the names of the students enrolled in different courses.
The Material Sciences course had a lot of enrollments, probably because of the promised shiny new investments in any and every research project. Most of these students were probably there to make money and that was fine, everyone had to eat but in his opinion, if one wanted to advance their own field so much that people began throwing money at them, one had to be passionate about the subject, or willing to work like a donkey and have the corresponding talent.
Filtering the list alphabetically, he scrolled down and finally found the name. Shuri Udaku, huh, so that's their surname, or more probably, that was the designated fake surname Wakanda used everywhere on the planet.
So, she was speaking the truth. She was enrolled in the program or at least her name was on the list. She could have just as easily hacked the whole thing so who knows? Dropping the phone on the coffee table, he leaned back and rubbed his eyes as he thought of how he could get out of this predicament.
Yes, he only had four days before he was whisked off to LA but something told him that even that wouldn't be enough plus, he had stuff, important stuff that needed to be taken care of before his internship. Jin'Ya could act as his substitute in many matters but not at Ta-Lo, the old dragon might just provoke the poor old Water Dragon in Ta-Lo. That dragon did not have a name or rather, no one knew it.
When asked, Jin'Ya told him that all Dragons guarded their true names zealously as it could be used to cause immense harm to not just the Dragons themselves but to their entire bloodlines. With draconic birth rates being what they were, none of the Dragons wanted the slightest chance of harm to come to their younglings.
If a Dragon told someone their true name, it meant that the Dragon trusted the person with not just the Dragon's wellbeing but also with its future children. That level of trust was rare and it was probably also the reason why the Water Dragon was just called "guardian patron" by the locals.
____xx___
Meanwhile, Stark Industries HQ, LA.
–Tony Stark–
"Hey! Look who's here! My shining star!" He smiled as he hugged Obi, his father in all but name. Growing up, he remembered seeing Obi a lot more than his own father. His father trusted the man and so did he, as most of the operations in the company were overseen by the man himself.
"Hey Obi, how's it going?" He sat down in Obi's cabin, which was surprisingly simple. He expected a lot more opulence.
"Great, great. All thanks to you, my once in a century genius. With our new Jericho missiles, well, let's just say that you are about to make a lot of people even richer. The stock market is going to riot once they see the amount of zeroes on the cheque that the Army will be throwing at us." Obi grinned and slid him a whiskey, neat, just like he liked.
"Yeah, about that.."
Obi's smile left his face as he leaned forward, "What? Is something wrong with the Missiles? Do we need to recall the ones sent forward for the demonstration?"
He waved his hand, "No! No, nothing like that. The missiles should work perfectly fine. It was just that I was looking for the production manifesto and couldn't find any. Do we keep it in physical files or something?" He slightly joked at Obi since everything was mandated to be kept on secured encrypted servers as per Company policy.
The encounter with the hacker left him with some questions, some uncomfortable questions that could be easily answered since he had access to all of Stark Industries' files. Unfortunately, as he later found out, he did not have access to all the files, for some reason.
Hence, his reason for visiting Obi. He needed to check the manifesto and see how many were produced and sold to check for himself if company policies were being followed or not.
"Oh, that? Yeah, we moved to strict physical copies once you informed us of the breach last year. Most sensitive information is kept like that. Unfortunately, I don't have that list on BUT don't worry, I will make sure it is delivered to you before you leave for Afghanistan. You leave in 2 days, right?"
He nodded.
"Don't worry, I will take care of it. It's my mistake anyway, I should have given you a copy in the beginning itself but I was just so busy, you know how it is.."
He waved his hands to calm the man down, "I understand, truly. It is some idle curiosity of mine. We can go over the files once I am back from Afghanistan anyway." He stood up from the chair, ready to leave since he was satisfied with the answers.
"Since you're here, I thought we might just get some dinner, you know, you & I haven't had dinner in years now."
Putting on his coat, he spoke, "What? That can't be right. What about that–"
"I'm not talking about award functions, Tony." The man said in an exasperated tone and he grinned at the man.
"See you around, Obi."
"See you, Tony!"
Tony turned around and missed the flash of hatred on Obi's face, as Tony headed back to his car, ready to relax for the 2 days before he had to endure the scorching weather of Afghanistan.
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
A/N -
In some comics, Shuri's surname is Udaku and their rule was known as the Udaku Dynasty of Wakanda.
Something something True Draconic names being precious, something something witchcraft dangerous.
Also, Tony has begun asking the right questions but apparently, forgot to trust the right person.
DoorMan #20
Seattle [January 18, 2008]
–Shuri Udaku–
Smiling, she entered her apartment, only to lose it as she scowled at the Dora Milaje standing still in her living room.
"What are you doing there? Get off the window!" She hissed and had to physically pry one of the War Dogs Baba had sicced on her when she was finally given permission to come study in the States.
She snapped her fingers behind her which released a wave of energy from the door that covered the entire apartment, shimmering a dim purple before disappearing from view, and then spoke in a normal tone, "How many times do I have to tell you that I don't want you here."
"But Princess Shuri, we have orders from the King to protect you with–"
"Yeah yeah, your lives. I know but that doesn't mean that you have to stay so close to me all this time. If you haven't noticed, this is a one bedroom apartment."
The Dora Milaje assigned to her shook her head, as did the War Dog, "Doesn't matter. We shall sleep on the floor or in the closet. What matters is your safety."
"Argh!" She groaned in frustration as she stormed into the kitchen. She had dinner to cook for the Colin Baxter, the most powerful hacker on the planet, and she had no time to waste on these people who refused to leave her.
"No! What do you wish to eat, My Princess? I will fetch it for you. We can't let you cook." He raised an eyebrow at the hand that was holding her wrist which finally caused the Dora Milaje to release it.
Taking in a deep breath, she closed the fridge and turned to them who looked just about ready for war. She was about to say something but something caught her eye. Something that was hanging innocently off the War Dog's utility belt.
Her eyes widened as she marched up to the man who backed up progressively until he was flush against the wall. Gingerly taking hold of the sphere hanging on the utility belt, she carefully removed it and held it close to his face, which caused him to widen his eyes and try to back away even more.
"What. IS. THIS?" She asked, livid.
"M-My Princess, that is…the… Prince T'Challa was worried about–"
"Are you serious? You brought this? A tachyon bomb here? What were you planning on doing, erasing the entire building?" her glare could kill him here if she had powers like that. Taking hold of the Tachyon bomb, she fetched her Kimoyo beads and touched both of them together before deactivating the bomb.
With a slight whine, with yellow light escaping the sphere, the Tachyon Bomb was defused. She did not know what her brother was thinking, allowing wartime heavy weaponry to be used just for her protection. A bomb was not a protection tool, it was meant for destruction and the one she gave to the Wakandan Royal Military was capable of erasing entire city blocks within an instant.
This small bomb could erase this entire 6 storey building with ease. The ones she had locked up in her lab could erase smaller towns, with designs capable of destroying cities just sitting in her mind, though they would never see the light of day.
She refused to make anything more than that because she could not even imagine the fallout from even a single application.
Until and unless she saw the first hostile alien with her eyes, she would not be making any weapon more potent than the Tachyon bombs. They were straight up matter disintegration bombs, with Vibranium backed energy shields being the only thing capable of stopping the wave of disintegration.
Conveniently, Wakanda was situated underneath one such forcefield meaning once they used this bomb on their enemies, even if they were right at Wakanda's doorsteps, the damage would be contained, something that no doubt pleased the War Council.
A necessary evil as she had used the same bomb to get funding and more importantly, permission to slowly release their advanced medical cures to the rest of the world. So far, the signs pointed to the cures being suppressed and/or being sold for a fortune by the outsiders themselves.
There was not much she could do in that case because her hands were tied until T'Challa was king but the fact that the outsiders would just let people die, simply for money and not even life changing money but money just for the sake of more money, was….predictable. After all, she was privy to the extensive monitoring done by Wakanda on the state of their neighbours and the ones who ruled over them.
Sighing, she turned to the Dora Milaje, showing her the now smoking Tachyon bomb, "THIS is the reason I did not want any protection. I also knew that I would not get total freedom so, here.." She gestured forward with her finger, and the Kimoyo Beads on both of her wardens glowed slightly as the data was forwarded.
"I have rented an apartment just below this one. If you must be with me, try not to come in my way. Now, leave, I have to make dinner."
"Dinner, My princess? I am well versed in cooking. She can fetch anything you might like and I am more than capable of cooking anything you like. That is part of the reason why I was chosen." The War Dog said, sounding very excited at the prospect of cooking.
Wrinkling her brows, she refused the offer, "No, I will be the one to make dinner. Besides, it's just Mac and Cheese. How hard could it be?"
Both of them looked at each other before the War Dog opened his mouth, "um, princess, can we stay," He hastily added after her pointed glare, "Only until you are done cooking."
She bit out, "Fine." A little supervision shouldn't hurt, especially since this was the first time she would be cooking.
Plus, how hard could it really be? She had seen Americans do it.
Thankfully, the fridge was fully stocked and she knew that there was Mac and Cheese in it. Hopefully, it will be fine.
....
...
"So, how is it?" She asked her two experimental test subjects, each of whom sported strained smiles on their faces.
"It is…edible, My Princess." The War Dog said and got swatted on the shoulder by the Dora Milaje. She leaned forward to scoop up a piece but the War Dog snatched the plate from the table and just gobbled it all up.
"What are you doing?" She hastily asked. Her eyes widened even more as the Dora Milaje did the same.
As the War Dog finally finished swallowing her food, he choked out, "I'm sorry, My Princess, it was so good that I couldn't help myself."
Her hand still outstretched mid air, she deadpanned at the man as she took the pan off the stove and threw the rest of it in the trash. Turning around, "I've seen Friends."
She then sighed and looked at the clock, it was 7, "Guess cooking is not as easy as it looks."
"Um, My Princess? Why are you cooking? Why did you invite the white man here anyway?"
Sitting down at the dining table with them, "That is Colin Baxter, he is one of the people I wanted to meet during my time in the States since I don't know when I will come here next."
"Oh." Both of them exchanged looks before the War Dog stood up, "I'll cook. If he is worthy of Princess' time, then he must be truly something."
She turned around as the man began cooking, "He is. He is the closest to cracking the efficient data transmission pipeline that I built years ago. I have seen some of his hypotheses and the exact principles are the same ones we use for our global Military communication."
The man paused and then turned around, "Wouldn't that make him a security risk then?"
She waved the man off, "Pssh. He is barely at the theoretical level. I have already invented it. By the time Colin reaches the code stage, we would have already moved on. No need to worry about that."
"I see. Still, I think we must inform the King about his existence."
"He is right, My Princess. We must make sure that Wakanda's interests are protected before everything else."
Her brows furrowed as she thought about it and then shrugged, "Sure. Just don't tell him that we had dinner. I don't need Baba raining down missiles on the poor man."
All of them shared a laugh at that, not knowing what chain of events Shuri had set up when she uttered the words that made Colin Baxter a threat to Wakandan Military assets globally.
A/N - It is my headcanon that Shuri & T'Challa had no idea about Wakanda's deplorable actions in killing foreign scientists who come too close to their own advancements. Their respect for their father would have certainly gone down the drain.