In the meantime, Jin'Ya, knowing that Tony Stark was about to get the awakening of a lifetime, had made his nest in Kamar Taj, a space reserved for the grumpy dragon, designed to house him for longer periods of time. The dragon was responsible for keeping an eye on the genius playboy billionaire philanthropist, and informing him if something untoward happened to one of the smartest humans on the planet.
He hoped that nothing drastic would happen in this timeline but who knows? He couldn't really predict anything because the one place where he found an anomaly, Wakanda, was the one place that was shielded from Jin'Ya's gaze, both because of Bast's protection and also because of the planetary supernatural treaty that the Ancient One made Jin'Ya sign.
It was a Wednesday, the middle of the week, and he had nothing to do for the day, a transitional period, his handler said. He had to report to Stark Industries, or more accurately, someone from Stark Industries would come pick him up tomorrow to give him his orientation.
He had read testimonies from previous interns that the Dean handed to him once his internship offer was confirmed, and according to them, the gig was kind of awesome. They did not give any important work to any intern, which was obvious, but the work given was also not expected to be completed on time.
Essentially, each and every one of the 29 interns that came from his University to Stark Industries to intern told the Dean the same thing. It was a very nice and rewarding experience. The corporate atmosphere was one of the best and it was the gold standard for work life balance, according to the Dean who told him explicitly that he could even continue his freelance work and continue doing open source projects even if they conflicted with some of Stark Industries' projects, as long as he himself was not working directly on them, which was very reasonable.
He stretched, and after checking the time, grinned and jumped into the bathroom for a quick shower, because his body simply did not generate the same amount of sweat and grime as normal people so his body did not need regular cleansing, not that he did not still regularly bathe.
Some people might be into that but he was a clean freak by a wide margin, a problem exacerbated by his enhanced senses that allow him to see much better than normal people.
Whistling, he changed into a T-shirt and shorts, since today was his day to roam the city and not meet people in stuffy business formal attire, and went down to the ground floor.
He had a free breakfast buffet to demolish, to eat all the calories he might need for the rest of the day.
____xx____
–Shuri Udaku–
She sat in a cafe in a better part of the town, one of the American places where everything was very overpriced but it was only because you paid not just for the food but for the time spent in a very well maintained and expensive place. In her case, she was sitting in a booth with enough privacy for her to work on her laptop without any peeping toms nearby.
"Thank you," She smiled at the waitress and went back to reading the reports on her laptop. They were SHIELD reports, on the so-called Orange Menace, and what reports they were.
Enhanced strength, durability, and speed. Ability to turn invisible. Flight, Strange Door manifestation, that were bulletproof and could be manipulated remotely.
Multiple projections of the same Door could be used, just like he used to create that makeshift ship that he flew around, at speeds rivaling the fastest jet she had made for the Royal Air Force, back in Wakanda.
Sipping her coffee, she swiped her hands on the trackpad and saw the UI change completely, now resembling the systems she had back in her personal lab, showing a single red dot, along with a real time feed showing Colin Baxter, stuffing food in his mouth as if it was his last meal on the planet, in the breakfast buffet of the hotel he was staying at.
She had followed Colin to LA last night, mainly because she was very much interested in him and also because she had no friends back in Seattle and her only acquaintance was, strangely, the guy who was hiding from the rest of the world by throwing a smoke screen in the form of an up and coming genius programmer.
She really did not know how to approach this whole situation. On one hand, she did not know the kind of person Colin really was and haphazardly approaching someone who had the potential to seriously hurt her, even after her enhancements was not wise. She could not just approach him and tell him that "Hey! I know your secret. I would also like to be your friend."
Ewww. Cringe.
She finished the last of her coffee as she swiped the UI as it went back to the general state of work happening back in Wakanda on projects she marked as priority before she left, chief among them being a way to efficiently and safely disseminate viable cures to the rest of the world in a phased manner.
She had a lot of work and if by some misfortune, the past record of her country was ever revealed to someone like Colin? Then she could only pray to Bast because she had gone through the SHIELD reports on the conservative estimates on both the Hulks' as well as Colin's powers and they did not paint a pretty picture in her opinion.
An alert on the screen brought her attention back to reality as she pressed a button on the table that would alert the server to come to her table. She was in the mood for some classic American fries and cheeseburger. Now that she had essentially an always on calorie consumption machine in her body, she could eat anything and everything she could ever eat and never have to worry about her figure because her body needed so much more energy to sustain itself now that she had injected herself with the extracted and refined juices from 11 Heart Shaped Herbs, something that was supposed to be a suicide according to Bast but somehow she survived as if the universe itself made an exception for her.
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:Seek212., Lucas Mikkelsen, frivolous_humdinger and 70 othersIdleMuse0307Apr 23, 2025Reader modeNewAdd bookmark Threadmarks Threadmarks DoorMan (MCU SI) - #39 : Venerable Dragon, and Stupid Mating Humans! New Threadmarks IdleMuse0307I trust you know where the happy button is?Apr 24, 2025Add bookmark#90Disclaimer - 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 #39
Kamar Taj[January 23, 2008]
–Jin'Ya The Venerable "Self Imposed" Psionic Dragon–
His one eye cracked open as he imposed some well deserved Draconic pressure on his surroundings, snickering as the weaker humans that were practicing near his dwelling skittered away. It was always fun to do that to humans. Most humans couldn't even explain the sudden sense of fear, it was just something the lizard part of their brain told them.
They were in the presence of an apex predator and should leave the vicinity immediately. Opening his eyes fully, he stretched and yawned, in the privacy of his chamber, on the edge of Kamar Taj. He grumbled once more as he had to be particularly forceful with his aura as a human couple was on the verge of mating near his dwelling, which was hidden from the vast majority of people here at Kamar Taj.
He will never understand the urges of humans. Mating while under threat? Somehow, they went at it even harder when they were scared.
Shaking his head, he controlled the urge to look deeper into what were obvious mental and soul aberrations of the humans and instead focused on his two surveillance targets on the planet and the third surveillance target in the Red Hearth.
With a flex of his will, a portal manifested in front of him as his awareness spread through the portal into the Red Hearth and located Banner, who was currently making himself coffee while going through the phone given to him after all tracking had been removed obviously. The man was much more stable than he was when he was on the run and barely surviving with suicidal thoughts. He knew, on an Astral Level, that the sheer weight of Banner's soul would stop him from dying in a mere mortal manner. For someone of that stature, they were destined to die in a blaze of glory, lighting up the Astral Realm as their soul withered into nothingness.
He didn't even know if his soul could be consumed by even the oldest of soul eating monsters deep in the Astral Realm. The strongest Psionic Dragons he knew, and he would know, he was one of them, weren't even that much stronger than him and as he was now, he wouldn't dare touch Banner's soul.
That single fact raised Banner's worth a ton for him and Colin because just in case he was unable to defend Colin from his own species who will come for him once they realise how juicy and ever nourishing a soul he was hiding from them, Banner's soul will act as a great deterrent due to his proximity in the material universe.
Finally all stretched out, he hummed in satisfaction as his dwelling and its surroundings were now all void of animals or distractions. He scoffed at the pair of humans who were running away, barely clothed. Even non sentient animals had the intelligence to realise something was obviously wrong and flee the area but humans? Somehow, their brains, which helped them become the apex species of their planet, stop working whenever they are in the presence of a sufficiently attractive human.
A major evolutionary flaw, something he was sure would be stomped out by the boot that was evolution soon enough.
He then followed the psionic threat he had latched onto Stark's mind and winced as he saw the man's condition. The man himself was unconscious, completely out of it but diving into the minds of the people nearby gave him a pretty good idea as to how his surgery was going.
Doctor Ho Yinsen was obviously trying his best but with limited tools and even more scarce patience from his captors, the best he could do was a stop gap measure, nothing more than that. The man himself was once again a cesspool of negative emotions slapped with a single positive hope being able to help someone escape the prison he was in.
That was the only thing the Doctor had going for him and that was sad. Ofcourse, sadness of this calibre and even beyond was commonplace on the planet. Coupling that with human's tendency to mate at rates Dragons couldn't even fathom without any regard for planning whatsoever made Earth's Astral realm such a dirty place that he hadn't dipped his senses too deep into it for the entirety of his stay on Earth in this new body.
This body was more than capable of handling his full psionic output, even if only for a few minutes but he had been "advised" to not do that by the Ancient One and her backers because that would simply break the Astral Realm of this planet. Souls of his strength were not supposed to be in the same vicinity as normal human souls because that would just set off a genocide of the whole species, outright breaking one of the commandments of their race that every member had to agree to before they travelled throughout the universe.
As strong as he was, breaking the commandment would have some pretty severe consequences, even for someone of his strength.
Satisfied that the man would not die and the people keeping them captive have seen value in keeping Tony Stark alive for longer, he severed that connection and moved onto the always active mental link between him and Colin.
Colin, he was an odd soul. It was clear that the soul had been touched by something other, something out of this reality. Something that got him his bullshit powers and allowed him to become someone who might one day have a hand in changing the entire galaxy or even the universe if some of the ravings of the older Psionic Dragons were to be believed.
.....
He snorted as he sensed the same divine shielded mind in LA as he did back in Seattle. Apparently, Princess Shuri of Wakanda had arrived in LA as well. He couldn't read her mind but he sure knew how humans worked at this point, at least most of the time. Sometimes, these hairless apes barely make sense with how they revert to their baser instincts but in this case, he knew that Shuri was following Colin, who had no idea that he was in the same city as someone whose soul had gotten a lot stronger than it was just a few days ago.
Ah, this was going to be fun, especially if he didn't warn Colin. She doesn't seem to want to harm Colin and even if she did want to, Colin was much stronger than her, based on her soul strength.
Considering it payback for forcing him to live on Earth where he was constrained, psionically, magically and mentally, just to monitor a single person. Granted, TOny Stark was supposed to be the uber saviour of the human race, according to Colin but he was unsure based on previous actions of the Merchant of Death.
"Tony Stark is in the exact same conditions you thought he would be. No deviations, yet." He relayed mentally as he borrowed Colin's senses and found him getting ready to enter the human workforce, in a very shielded manner.
Honestly, why Colin goes about, pretending to have to work to live was beyond him. Even if he did want absurd amounts of money, there were plenty of ways to go about doing that. Instead, someone who was stronger than most of humanity chose to hide in plain sight, peddling his brain for some money, and then after earning more than enough money, went on to get a "job".
"Fine. Keep me informed if there are any changes and you know what to do if his life is in any danger."
He shook his head at the foolishness of wasting so much time on stuff he thought useless as he mentally conveyed his understanding before cutting off the mental link.
He snorted in amusement as he watched Banner look at the kitchen in shock and awe as dozens of kilograms of meat were brought in through a portal and dumped into his dwelling.
It floated in front of him as he lazily floated down to the ground and stamped his paw on the ground, lighting up the ritual circle on the ground that began automatically roasting his breakfast.
Sure, it wasn't Ta-Lo meat but it was in huge quantities, so it made up for its deficiency in taste, somewhat.
DoorMan #40
Stark Industries HQ[January 23, 2008]
–Colin Baxter–
He calmly waited in the pantry area, with 5 other interns, all of whom were notable names even at their age. They were supposed to mingle using this time but what the hell were the HR people thinking, putting a bunch of chronically online socially awkward teenagers in a room to socialise on their own accord?
If it is not a requirement, most of these nerds wouldn't even step out of their dorms. Still, it would be nice to network with people who would understand his work and then he would finally have someone in his life who would appreciate the blood, sweat, and–okay, he didn't work that hard but still, it counted for something.
"Hi, I am Colin Baxter." He offered his hand to the closest person in the vicinity who was an Asian teenager with thick glasses. He was really not doing the stereotypes any favour here, with hair slick back, bulky glasses, and an overall lanky build. Come to think of it, out of all the 6 of them, he was the most bulked out and he wouldn't even call himself a bulky dude, just a lean muscled guy.
Not that he could even gain bulky muscle because, apparently, CHI decides the optimal use for muscles and with the way his muscles were nourished with CHI, the more strength he gains, the denser his muscle fibres become instead of just becoming bigger, so, no becoming a professional bodybuilder to explain his strength since he would just becoming heavier as his strength increased.
"Hi. I am Jack Slash." The man eagerly shook his hand as he began making small talk with him. Something to pass the time at least since it was clear that this was one of the metrics they would use later on to review the internship applicants. Social skills were pretty important, after all.
After a while, the topic rounded back to tech, since they did not have much in common. He tried asking Jack about gym, exercise, and even Badminton since that was the one sport he played very well, and for all of these questions, the answer was in negative so he pivoted to things he knew everyone in the room had an interest in, nerdy shit.
"Oh yeah, I read both of your papers on the IP stuff. You have some really great ideas–"
"Yeah, but they will remain ideas, until the world plays catch up with networking hardware. With the industry being monopolised, there is very little chance we can see any funding come your way for the next generation of efficiency in the Internet. It's a shame, I'm sure it would have brought down basically everything in terms of cost, at least in the long run but we all know that the executives calling the shots at publicly traded corporations rarely if ever think that long term." He turned slightly to see an African-American man approach him.
Wow, was he tall, taller than even him, "Hi. I'm James Bourbon."
"Hi. I'm Colin Baxter."
"Yes, I am aware. I follow your work regularly. You have remarkable determination to have 3 things going on all at once in your life. Your academia, your freelance work, and even this open source project. I would love to chat over some of your more experimental ideas that require a Quantum Processor to perform the calculations needed for a global bus that every single device can ride on."
He smiled and nodded, "Yeah, sure. I would love to get another opinion on it. Between us, I don't think I will see that happening anytime soon. Not just because every university and company that has a Quantum Computer has flat out denied me their use but also because it will turn a single place into a target, centralising most of the communications on the planet into a single control unit, which while supremely efficient secure, would ultimately fail at the human error test."
James nodded, "I wholeheartedly agree. Technology is neither good nor evil, it's the humans that make use of it. In that case, whoever, the risk of it being used for evil is so high that it is better not to make it at all."
He nodded, and then turned to the door as someone from the Orientation team had finally come.
"Alright, people, let's get you your badges."
—-
He yawned in boredom as the HR guy explained the security principles to them for the second time. Did he not know one of the people here was actually hired by one of the three letter government agencies to do something highly illegal on their behalf? Probably not.
After that, somehow it was time for the lunch break as they were herded to a cordoned off area with a small buffet arranged for the six of them and their Orientation mentor. As he ate the no doubt tasty and good quality food, his mind drifted to what was happening here.
He was beginning to have some doubts about this whole endeavour but he couldn't back out, not now anyway. Might as well just go through the two months and then decide if doing this is worth it or not.
_____xx_____
Red Hearth
–Bruce Banner–
He was in comfortable gym clothing as he lifted the handle with more and more weights until it finally became too much for him and stopped. Looking at the weight on the machine, it showed a staggering 300 pounds of weight being lifted from the small handle coming from the ground.
He stepped back and wiped off his sweat as he realised that he didn't even feel that bad. This was not supposed to be possible. Not only did he not have the required muscle mass to lift something that heavy, he also did not have the training to do it properly and regular practice for his muscles to get them used to lifting so heavy.
Jin'Ya, the resident dragon, had told him that he was going to stay on Earth for an important mission and would only check in from time to time. His method of checking in was odd as well because all he saw was a bunch of meat products being airlifted from the kitchen and into a portal that led to who knows where on Earth.
For the time being, he was all alone on the Red Hearth and while it was nice to have a safe environment, where he knew Ross would never be able to reach, it was also kind of lonely. He started playing online games on the absolutely stacked out machines that Colin had in this place but even that got old after just a couple of hours of playing.
There was just too much profanity in that space for him to properly enjoy it as a beginner.
That was why he was here, in the gym, to workout because, intellectually, he knew that exercise was the best legal antidepressant there is. Granted, Colin could probably get him all sorts of pills but he wanted to at least try doing it the hard way.
As it turned out, he was different now. Not just as Hulk but even as plain old Bruce, he was much stronger than he should be.
The machine on the ground was the perfect test. It has a very uncomfortable lifting position, with a single handle coming out of the ground, which was very short and barely fit both of his hands on it, and to lift the handle with all his might.
The machine would progressively increase the load and in the end, give you a figure on how much weight he lifted. Never in his life has he ever done strength training. No weightlifting, nothing.
The best he had done before this was cardio and even the majority of that was running, on treadmills and away from the military.
Sighing, he wiped the meagre sweat and moved on to the next machine. The next time he met Colin, he'd need to see about getting some medical stuff as well because he absolutely had to study his own body now.
He did notice the fact that he was vastly more resistant to cold as he trekked through the snowy Canadian wilderness but having a vastly stronger body that could potentially grow stronger?
That was a game changer, for the right as well as the wrong reasons.
The inner scientist in him would not stop until he was at the root of his mutation, and now that he had a safe space to pace himself, he could finally do the thing he was best at.
SCIENCE!
And not SMASH!
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:Moops, bloodyparty, Seek212. and 67 othersIdleMuse0307Apr 25, 2025Reader modeNewAdd bookmark Threadmarks Jao(Verified Lemon Drop Addict)Apr 25, 2025Add bookmark#93IdleMuse0307 said:"Hi. I am Jack Slash." The man eagerly shook his hand as he began making small talk with him. Something to pass the time at least since it was clear that this was one of the metrics they would use later on to review the internship applicants. Social skills were pretty important, after all.
Is Jack a serial killer? Like Quote ReplyReport Reactions:FortunisMortis, TerribleReadingProblem, SCLNotegemeL and 6 othersOrphiexWombat aficionadoApr 25, 2025Add bookmark#94Jao said:Is Jack a serial killer?Yeah, that's also where my head went at first, but as a hacker handle it makes sense given how important the "backslash" character is in programming. Like Quote ReplyReport Reactions:SCLNotegemeL, El Espectador, Delusionist and 1 other personThreadmarks DoorMan (MCU SI) - #41 : Clobberin' Time! Nothing % Everything! Only up from here on out! New Threadmarks IdleMuse0307I trust you know where the happy button is?Apr 28, 2025Add bookmark#95Disclaimer - 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 #41
Stark Industries HQ[January 28, 2008]
–Colin Baxter–
Colin sighed and collapsed on the bed as soon as the door closed to his hotel room. He only had the weekend left in this hotel room before he was moved to the official Stark Industries housing, which was just a series of residential buildings made exclusively for use by Stark Industries' employees or guests and whatnot.
The accommodations were more than generous enough but for some reason, he did not feel like moving to the official residence. It was….vexing.
He had thought that this would be one of the first few steps he could take to learn more about the things happening inside a company that might help him better but he was just realising that his entire school of thinking was flawed.
Stark Industries was an old company, like pre-WWII company and while it did only grow exponentially in the past couple of decades, that root, that history allowed it to create a stable foundation, a sense of trust that was very important, perhaps even more so than the product, for a publicly traded company to thrive.
He did not want that, not in this form anyway.
"Argh," He groaned into the pillow as the choices became too many and his thoughts became jumbled. He couldn't even ask Jin'Ya for advice because the Dragon had no frame of reference for this. Jin'Ya thought that it was all just a giant waste of time. He couldn't fault the dragon for lack of trying as he had combed through the memories of multiple people on the Wall Street and in the end had come to the same conclusion as he did.
It was all f*cking pointless, at least to some degree.
He sighed and turned around, facing the ceiling now, already missing his own personal artwork on the ceiling that was most definitely going to deplete his deposit given to the landlord as the cost of repairing that was substantial.
He closed his eyes and despite not wanting to, he cycled CHI in his body. He was not really tired per se but he really needed the mental clarity that could only come with happy chemicals in his brain, something that always happened whenever he cycled CHI in his body. It never really got old, the rush of happiness that was accompanied with literal life force flowing in his body.
It could become a dangerous dependency but he made sure to have weeks between each session, just in case, to monitor his mental state during that time and he had Jin'Ya in his corner, the de-facto Astral expert on Earth. According to Jin'Ya, substance abuse is as mental as it is physical and as such, shows up in their Astral Form and can be detected by Jin'Ya with ease.
So far, he was clean.
He jerked a bit as he heard a knock in his mind, for the lack of a better term. Knowing who it was since JIn'Ya never bothers knocking, he opened the link and greeted Dr.Banner.
"What can I do for you, Dr.Banner?"
"Ah, Colin, I was just reaching out to ask about the shipment."
He sighed once more as he got up and trudged towards his personal laptop, "Just a second, I'll check."
Waving his finger over the laptop's body, he activated the enchantments on it, connecting to the invisible network in Kamar Taj using the planetary shield as a global wireless network.
"Uh, Bad news, Dr.Banner. The shipment's being delayed by a week because of some customs issue. It should be here in the first week of Feb, according to the latest update from the supplier."
"..Oh…Okay. Just let me know when it's here. I have a lot of ideas just sitting around."
He winced as he sensed the hope dwindle from the man's voice. His finger twitched as the enchantments faded away, returning his laptop to the normal mode as he spoke through the link, "Speaking of which, how goes the setting in? I know you have started exercising and made some exciting new discoveries."
He smiled as the excitement came roaring back. Scientists, a very easy bunch.
—-
"Thank you," He took the absolutely massive order of 5 Hamburgers, 2 Cheeseburgers, 2 cokes, 3 Large fries and a Lava Cake from the room service guy, who was subtly trying to look into his room to see who was going to eat this food. Smiling politely at the guy, he shut the door before any inquiries could be made.
After all, it was clobberin' time!
….Clobbering the food, that is.
___xx____
–Shuri Udaku–
"How many times do I have to tell you that I will come back once I want to," She explained patiently to T'Challa, even as she continued working on stuff that she would never want to see the light of day. Having Bast's blessings enhanced more than just her body. Her brain was shooting off ideas every which way and she needed to write them down, or else, her brain refused to settle down.
"I know, I heard you the last three times but come on! Baba is depressed and nobody knows why. It has been almost a week since you left and things have changed so much. At Least tell me what happened between you and Baba," She sighed and dispelled the holokeyboard after hearing the pleading in T'Challa's voice.
Looking at him, she paused a beat before replying, "Look, you'll know once you become King but for now, let's just say that I disagreed with one of Wakanda's long-standing policies and Baba did not agree with my request to put a stop with that practice."
T'Challa looked at her with an incredulous gaze, "W-What? You went ahead and became the strongest Black Panther Wakanda has ever had, just because you had a disagreement with Baba?"
She snapped at him, "It was not JUST a disagreement. It was physically revolting to think that Wakanda–" She stopped, took a deep breath, and said with a stoic face, "If you want to know more, just become King as soon as you can. Then you can order me for all the information you might need."
T'Challa, seeing that his transparent attempt at goading her was seen right through, chuckled nervously and replied, "Even I know that the Black Panther is not beholden to the King or even the Royal Council, should the King and the Black Panther not be the same individual."
She rolled her eyes and waved her hand, shutting down the video feed. She did not need the law recited to her verbatim. She memorised that thing when she was six and had nothing else left to read.
____xx_____
–Tony Stark—
His eyes snapped open as he took in deep breaths and then slowly turned to the side, looking at Yinsen, the man who saved his life, the man who didn't even remember meeting, "How long this time?"
Yinsen looked at his watch and then began scribbling on a small notebook that his captors gave them. Apparently, guns and missiles were aplenty in this place but ask for a pen and notebook, these guys had none of it so they had to ration fucking paper of all things in this god forsaken hell hole.
"4 hours 23 minutes and 17 seconds." Yinsen replied and he cursed. That was too much. Removing the tapes attached to some of the wires, he sat upright from the bed and held the battery in one hand and began hobbling towards the workspace created for him. It was a very generous term, to name it as a workspace when it was just a bunch of tables attached together.
"Come on, Yinsen, we have work to do. Who knows how long they'll keep me alive once they know I have to go under every day with a real possibility of never waking up." He bitterly remarked as he began working on the newly arrived Jericho missiles, his mind working as he tried to come up with a better plan than just making an exosuit and blowing this whole place up.
He did not have enough time, materials or even hands for two whole suits and it put an ugly feeling in his heart to explore an option where only he lived.
"Don't lose heart, Stark. You still have a lot to gain if you manage to get out of here. After all, you have nothing, so this is rock bottom and I don't know much about American culture but I do believe they say from this point onwards, it's only up, right?"
He chuckled at Yinsen's relentless hope and his deep speeches that somehow all hit dead centre and made him look back on his life and how he had basically squandered most of it, not making any connections, meaningful connections in his life.
It was all….so sad.
Shaking his head, he dumped the battery keeping him alive on the desk and watched it ominously move due to the weight imbalance, "SAve for the speeches for later on, Yinsen, preferably over a glass of ridiculously overpriced Wine and the best steak money can buy."
Yinsen adjusted his glasses as he looked over all of the plans they made to appease their armed overlords for the moment, "Ah, that is a nice scenario to imagine."
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, Seek212., Lucas Mikkelsen and 64 othersIdleMuse0307Apr 28, 2025Reader modeNewAdd bookmark Threadmarks Jao(Verified Lemon Drop Addict)Apr 29, 2025Add bookmark#96IdleMuse0307 said:Shaking his head, he dumped the battery keeping him alive on the desk and watched it ominously move due to the weight imbalance, "SAve for the speeches for later on, Yinsen, preferably over a glass of ridiculously overpriced Wine and the best steak money can buy."
Save the* Like Quote ReplyReport Reactions:sidefaceThreadmarks DoorMan (MCU SI) - #42 : Saturday night Baby! APOSTLE calling! New Threadmarks IdleMuse0307I trust you know where the happy button is?Apr 29, 2025Add bookmark#97Disclaimer - 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 #41
Stark Industries Accomodations[February 3, 2008]
–Colin Baxter–
"Nooooo!"
He took it back, this internship was awesome! He laughed in triumph as he finally won, in chess. Yup, it was currently 2 in the morning, and he was in the lobby of their accommodation and was playing chess with one of his fellow interns.
Leaning back into the chair, he looked around him and saw similarly enthused forms playing board games of various sizes and shapes, scattered throughout the lobby attached to them. The layout of the building was unique as well.
It had seven floors with each floor having 10 rooms, for 10 people. Then the floor also had an independent washer/dryer unit, a small gym, the aforementioned lobby stocked with all the games one could need, along with a room carved into the side of the building that had the Theatre room.
All of this in a single floor. The entire lobby was sound treated as well, hence, the lack of restraint on their part in screaming, either in triumph or in despair.
"Yield before my might," He said in a deep voice before turning to the side as his phone pinged with an alert. Without breaking stride, he turned to Jack Slash and smiled apologetically, "Sorry, I have to take this. I'll bring the next round!"
That set off another round of WOOOO in this lobby. See, everything in the building itself was free, it was another form of consumer paradise, but one had to actually go down to the reception to get it. Everything was open 24/7 but the people were very lazy to actually go down and fetch the drinks.
Non-alcoholic mind you.
The madlads maintaining this building had freshly squeezed juice available at all times of the day, so all the people got whatever fruit juice they wanted at any time of the day. There was food but that was time limited. They COULD however tell the reception to order anything from any 24/7 food chain and get it for free, at any time of the day.
Living here was becoming more and more attractive by the day.
Weaving between the tables, he got out of the lobby as his smile dimmed, looking at the alert on the phone. His fingers twitched as he cast the enchantments on the phone as well as on the glasses he had begun wearing when he came for the internship, making the entire UI switch on the phone.
For the dozens of cameras littering this lobby, it would show usual stuff but for him, it was a personal alert from his system that had dozens upon dozens of targets that were being searched for, on the internet. He smiled as he read the target this time, and after checking on the location of a sub-target, switched off the phone and went into the elevator.
His systems found AIM or atleast the organisation that was peddling around discount pyromaniacs and looking for any investors to get the project off the ground.
The elevator dinged and he smiled at the receptionist before moving to the pantry, which was also accessible 24/7. Taking the stuff he needed and putting it in a basket, he scanned it at the self checkout and put his thumb for ownership so the system knows that he took out the drinks, for record keeping purposes since there was no billing involved whatsoever.
Smiling at the receptionist once more, he got into the elevator as his mind churned with what to do with AIM, or Aldrich Killian who was trying to perfect the Extremis Super Soldier serum.
Now, there was no way in hell that he was going to inject his previous body with that trash, even if it was somehow perfected because his powers were more than enough to make him strong but it wouldn't hurt to have Bruce take a look at it.
He finally had a super genius on his side, might as well take advantage of it. Jin'Ya was currently on an Astral Talk with one of his buddies in the Astral Realm, whilst also keeping an eye on Tony so he did not want to disturb Jin'Ya just to talk to Banner right now but once the data was done, in a day or so, he might contact Banner to get a look at whatever samples he might recover.
He put on his normal face and went into the lobby that was still abuzz with activity as it was Saturday night and none of the people here were inclined to go to a club. Actually, this was their club, in a sense and he would have been more than happy to just go on for the entire night but he had some stuff to do, meetings to crash, serums to steal, scientists to kidnap, all that jazz.
That is why once he set down the drinks on the table near the door, he turned to Jack who was busy on his phone, probably waiting for him, and said, "Hey, I gotta turn in for the night. I need to meet someone tomorrow morning, early morning."
Jack nodded, "Yeah, sure. Good Game." He bumped firsts with the guy and waved at all the other guys as he left.
"Bye, Colin!" They all did it in the sing-song voice of a class greeting the teacher in the first lecture of an absolutely cold morning, which was hilarious, in his opinion.
Turning around, he went into his room and turned on the laptop after activating the same enchantments, resulting in the server from Kamar Taj opening on his laptop. He read through the first few reports to see that SHIELD has been keeping an eye on the Advanced Idea Mechanics Think tank because they suspect them of trying to create advanced weaponry under the guise of medical technology along with a case of some fraudulent investors.
Money coming in from Zurich, spent on very overpriced equipment coming in from China, hiring foreign faceless workers from Vietnam for rates surpassing that of European scientists. Yup, that'll do it, that will put anyone on the radar of SHIELD if the company in question was dealing with stuff that could be easily used to make biochemical weapons.
He knew that Killian was dealing in more than just a dirty bio weapon but SHIELD probably thought that they were dealing with their average run of the mill terrorist group who would eventually lose their patience and slip up, not knowing that the potential slip up would be a spectacular explosion that would wipe out any evidence of wrongdoing.
No, SHIELD was taking the hands off approach because they couldn't really swoop in and essentially destroy a US company without due cause and just in case they couldn't find anything incriminating in the company, the World Security Council (and their donors) would surely get on Fury's case and that was probably the last thing he wanted, what with his planet already being full due to a certain orange menace stealing his secure data.
He shook his head and shut down the laptop. They had a meeting scheduled in Lagos in an hour, where they were going to showcase their first ever successful specimen, and the language was carefully worded as well, showing no sign that it was actually a person.
SHIELD was going to be there but only in a nominal capacity, for some reason. It was as if they were a globe spanning agency that couldn't afford to send in the cavalry for every single lead, without knowing if it was worth it or not.
After all, why would anyone at SHIELD think that someone with barely a billion dollars in total funding over 5 years could make anything close to the super soldier serum when entire countries spending dozens of times that in a single year couldn;t even create something close to the original Super Soldier Serum?
Maya Hansen really was a genius in her own right. He didn't know what he would do to her because her knowledge was really dangerous and giving her to SHIELD was not an option.
He got ready, arranging his room and putting on his sling ring because he had to be there right now. He only knew a single location in Lagos for the portal and the location for the meeting was in a parking lot of a commercial building that was shut down for construction for the moment.
Putting on his orange one sie which was just a small patch of fabric when unfolded, he was about to open a portal but froze as his phone rang. His phone never rang. No, it buzzed or pinged at most with a short sound. Never this hideous ringing sound.
Taking it out of his pocket, his eyes widened as he saw "APOSTLE OF BAST" as the caller ID.
In the medium sized bedroom, which was now totally dark, a single word echoed, single handedly encompassing the situation Colin was about to find himself in, "Shit…."
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, Seek212., Lucas Mikkelsen and 61 othersIdleMuse0307Apr 29, 2025Reader modeNewAdd bookmark Threadmarks Threadmarks DoorMan (MCU SI) - #43 : Shuri Shenanigans & EXCUSE ME?! New Threadmarks IdleMuse0307I trust you know where the happy button is?Apr 30, 2025Add bookmark#98Disclaimer - 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 #43
Stark Industries Accomodations[February 3, 2008]
–Colin Baxter–
He tried to wrack his brain as to who this Apostle could be, maybe the Black Panther? But then again, if Wakanda wanted an audience with him, they would never use subtlety, they would just bulldoze through.
He couldn't even try to track the hack because he was in such a hurry and who knows who might get the Extremis serum if even a single vial slipped through the meeting. Jin'Ya could not accurately ferret out information from individuals from the world without lunging his soul deep into the Astral Realm, something he was neither inclined to do nor was he allowed to do.
So, with a heavy heart, he swiped the animation and accepted the call. "Hello?"
He was surprised to hear a feminine voice come out of the phone's speakers, "Hello, Mr.Colin Baxter, or should I call you the Orange Menace?"
A chill ran down his spine as he looked around and activated his gaze enchantment, cursing mentally as he found a single gaze on him, probably of the same person who was calling him. He had a clue who this person was but no clue how they found out about him. Well, since the cat was out of the bag and Wakanda was the one place he need not fear because he knew so much stuff about them that putting them in the ground would barely be an inconvenience for him.
"Shuri?"
"..."
"I suppose you hacked my phone and my systems? Using your fancy Vibranium servers?" It was a gamble he was willing to take, to be in a position of strength since he was flying in pretty much bling here.
"You know far more than you should, Colin Baxter." He smiled and was about to reply but stopped as he felt something arrive on top of the accommodation. It was damn near silent but even Vibranium could not silence the tiny disturbances in the air, which he felt because he had his senses peeled ever since he got the phone call. Damn Wakandans.
He was in a hurry and they had to contact him at the same time...
"Are you right above my room right now?" He asked, incredulously as he tried to sense the shape of the ship they were in. There was a good chance that it was Shuri but she could not be alone, being Princess of Wakanda and all that jazz, so he was playing it safe here.
"Yes," Was all he heard before the CHI in his body spiked a bit as something small and light hit the balcony, right in front of his door. Tensing, he waited for the door to open, already summoning his most devastating Doors in both his hands, a Fire door, and the Kinetic laser Door.
Yes, both were energy based attacks and could work poorly against Vibranium but they would raise enough of a ruckus that Wakanda would be forced to hide and he would call in Jin'Ya to get him out of here. THe fire could be explained later on, that was not the scope here.
The lock clicked open and the door swung open, revealing nothing? No, something was there, it was just invisible. Pointing his right palm at the door that was crackling with red energy, he said in a deathly whisper, "Quietly come in, I am sure you don't want Wakanda's secrets to be sent to a select group of people who can and will come for your Vibranium, right? Princess Shuri?"
There was a moment of silence before he sensed the figure come in and close the door. A moment later, the invisibility was dispelled, revealing a sleek suit with purple lights coming through the crevices. His eyes narrowed as he recognised the suit to be the one Shuri used, in the future.
His question was answered when the helmet part of the suit just receded, revealing Shure's face and also the fact that she was using Nanotechnology right now, which meant that her tech was much more advanced than it was in canon.
There was a moment of silence between them, where both of them spent a second observing each other before he broke the silence, "So, what can I do for you, Your highness?"
Shuri snorted as the rest of her suit flickered for a moment before changing into normal clothing. Walking towards the couch, she sat on it and looked at the opposite couch, gesturing for him to sit too. Rolling his eyes, he dispelled the crackling red energy in his palm and sat down on the sofa right next to her, keeping his senses cranked to 11 just in case this was an ambush.
Shuri eyed his palm which was now not glowing red, "Neat trick. I wonder how many more of those you can pull out of nowhere?"
He didn't deign that with an answer as he asked, once more, "What do you want, Princess Shuri? I doubt this is just a social call."
Shuri shook her head as a small hologram was projected in front of him. "I was curious, that's all. The one on the left is the energy reading taken from two different isolated incidents, and the third one is the most recent one, taken from this room just a scant few minutes ago. Notice anything familiar?"
He cursed as he realised that SHuri could somehow track the orange onesie whenever it was activated. The density of the enchantments on the thing rivalled most Relics in Kamar Taj and that was probably what Shuri's sensors picked up on. This was…game changing. He had to warn the others at Kamar Taj because if Shuri could sense his use, she could also interfere in other operations that Kamar Taj had around the world.
He ground out, "Yes. What of it?"
The displays were dismissed as Shuri said, "Nothing. I was just curious."
He blinked at her, "Just curious?"
She nodded repeatedly, "Yup. So, where are you off to? The last two times you donned that suit, you did some pretty interesting stuff. Illegal stuff but interesting nonetheless."
He looked at her oddly, "You want to come?"
"Oh yeah, most definitely. Why else would I come into your room in the middle of the night?"
He exhaled and then stood up. "Fine, if you want to do this. But only you, none of your security can come."
"What security? I came here alone."
"And you thought that it was a good idea? You know how strong I am," He remarked as he donned his suit, which expanded instantly to cover his entire body, top to bottom, as he psyched himself up not to embarrass himself during the hardest part of any operation.
The portal opening.
"Wow, is that nano tech? I sense no Vibranium so how did you solve the Quantum interference? Also, the energy coming from it ebbs and flows, what's up with that?" He mechanically turned to the side, to see Shuri with her head buried in a screen, mumbling questions, either to herself or to him.
"Can you not?" He deadpanned at her who waved her hand at him to shut up.
"You do know I have a deadline, right? There are some dangerous people I have to capture today and the only reason I am even allowi–"
"Excuse ME?! Allow me?"
He blinked at the sudden outraged expression on her face. He sensed that he made a mistake of some sort but he didn't know at the time he was digging himself an even bigger hole, "Yeah, your suit. I assume it's Vibranium? That should be more than enough to protect you from most things so you should be saaafeeee–"
He raised his forearm to block the dropkick as he skidded backward, toppling over the sofa and backflipping to land back on his legs to see Shuri standing in the same spot with her leg outstretched in his direction.
"Okay, first of all, cheap shot. Second of all, I didn't mean it that way." He tried to defend himself, keyword being tried as the next moment a flying Shuri came his way with her leg aimed at his chest. He had to redirect her at the last moment by grabbing her leg and flinging her back to the sofa.
He DID NOT want to explain a hole in the wall to the admin team here. That would be embarrassing on all levels.
"Would you stop?" he asked, exasperated as Shuri stood up, smirking. She looked at him expectantly for some reason, as the suit reappeared on her, sealing her up to her neck.
He sighed, "Fine. You don't need protection. Princess Shuri is more than capable of defending herself. I was wrong, I apologize. Now, can we go?" He bowed mockingly at her and asked her pointedly.
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:bloodyparty, Seek212., Lucas Mikkelsen and 61 othersIdleMuse0307Apr 30, 2025Reader modeNewAdd bookmark Threadmarks stadsWell worn.Apr 30, 2025Add bookmark#99nice chapter thx for writing it
wonder what shuri's reaction will be once she learn shield will be calling her the side kick Like Quote ReplyReport Reactions:FortunisMortis, TerribleReadingProblem, IdleMuse0307 and 1 other personJao(Verified Lemon Drop Addict)Apr 30, 2025Add bookmark#100IdleMuse0307 said:He cursed as he realised that SHuri could somehow track the orange onesie whenever it was activated. The density of the enchantments on the thing rivalled most Relics in Kamar Taj and that was probably what Shuri's sensors picked up on. This was…game changing. He had to warn the others at Kamar Taj because if Shuri could sense his use, she could also interfere in other operations that Kamar Taj had around the world.
Shuri* Like Quote ReplyReport Reactions:SadimThreadmarks DoorMan (MCU SI) - #44 : Tag Along & Regretful Tag Alongs..... New Threadmarks IdleMuse0307I trust you know where the happy button is?May 1, 2025Add bookmark#101Disclaimer - 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 #44
Stark Industries Accomodations[February 3, 2008]
–Colin Baxter–
Waving his arms a bunch of times mid air, he was thankful that the portal opened on the third try, showing clouds on the other side. A nifty enchantment on the sling ring allows the caster to decide if air and water could come out of the other side, given that the pressure did not exceed a certain limit. It was not like he could open a portal to the bottom of the ocean and then keep the pressure at bay.
He would be vaporised by water of that pressure if he ever tried that, as was evident in the Sling Ring Warnings book distributed to everyone who ever got a sling ring. They had to memorise it, else, they were not given authorisation to use the Sling Network and without the network, using the Sling Ring required far more finesse and power.
"Hmm, what is your power source? A single person having such a diverse range of abilities is not something we have ever witnessed. Curious. Truly curious." Shuri murmured as he rolled his eyes and jumped into the portal, landing on an Air Door while Shuri floated through leisurely, propelled by the two boosters on her feet. He was curious about the suit but now was not the time for that.
Why did he bring her, an absolute stranger, to a mission he would deem critical? Who knows but Jin'Ya was not here to lecture him so he counted that as a win.
"Lagos? Why are we in Lagos?" Shuri asked him as she experimentally placed one foot on the Air Door, which was keeping him floating in the air.
"Well, many reasons but the main one is that I have been tracking someone who is scheduled to have an important sale here in Lagos in about an hour. So, if you could just follow my lead," He said his piece before letting the Air Door dispel, dropping him from tens of thousands of feet in the air.
He swiftly angled his body so that he was cutting through the air, heading straight down. They were not exactly above Lagos, just a little bit off the coast and last he checked, the radar systems were not exactly top notch so he was fine and Ms.Wakanda over there was in a state of the art suit that probably had all sorts of stealth mode in it.
"What is the plan?" he looked to the side as Shuri was flying down with him. Somehow, her words reached him perfectly, despite all the air between them. ANother Wakandan tech then.
He sighed and took out a USB from his pocket and presented it to her. She swiftly took it as it immediately melded in her suit. OKay, that was cool.
A moment later, as he used controlled air bursts to slow him down for an impending splash, he heard her scream, "Super Soldiers? Controlled Super Soldiers?"
Gently floating on top of the ocean with the Air Door, he looked at Shuri who was now standing on the door, going through the data docket he had compiled about AIM. Most of it was just information that SHIELD and the other law enforcement agencies had compiled and some of it was just him connecting the dots using his meta knowledge.
"They are here to sell a Super Soldier Serum?" Shuri asked him as the Door began moving in the direction of Lagos.
"Yup. I don't know if it is working or not but I can't take that risk now, can I?"
"So, what's the plan? Are you going to turn them into SHIELD? Confiscate the research and then hand them over to–"
"Hand them over?" He deadpanned at her as they dove underwater, courtesy of another three Air Doors appearing all around them. ONce they were at a sufficient depth, the Doors propelled him forward. Turning to Shuri who was looking at him with an odd expression, "To answer your question, No. I am not going to hand them over to any government related entity who will just make them restart their work, with government level resources this time."
Turning to the burner phone he kept handy, he saw that the parking lot where they were about to have their meeting was actually across the city. SIghing, he turned to Shuri who had gone quiet at his declaration, "I assume you have a decent Stealth mode built into your suit?"
"Once we surface, follow my energy signature. The location is on the other side of the city. Alright?"
Shuri nodded, "Sure. Are you going to kill all of them?"
He sighed, "I do not know, actually. I do know that I can't let them be free. I know that some of the people there did not work willingly. Some of them are just people down on their luck. Once I'm done with the ringleader, I'll have to evaluate the situation on a case by case basis."
"This Killian guy? Does he pose a threat to you?"
"Me, personally? Nope. But the world does not need a renewed super Soldier Arms race and I, for one, would like to live in a world that was not in a constant state of emergency."
"Makes sense," Shuri said as he activated the stealth function of his suit and shot out of the water. He couldn't see her but he could faintly sense the air disturbance behind him. She then slowly disappeared from his senses the higher they got, due to the air speed.
Within minutes, he landed on top of the building that was sealed off for maintenance work. He felt the light impact beside him as Shuri spoke, "I've scanned the place. There is no one in all the three underground parking lots."
"Well, you're the one with the more advanced tech here. Cast a wider net then." He suggested before walking over to the edge of the helipad, looking at the city which was bustling. THe sun shone brightly above them as he looked at the crowd moving around the city, not knowing that at any moment now, someone was going to bring in a walking human bomb capable of reaching temperatures high enough to melt steel.
"So what's your plan? A mass purge of everyone involved? That would be the best way to minimise any risk of fallout as well as thoroughly destroy the research." Shuri commented lightly as a hologram appeared in front of him, showing a program that was looking for Killian, Maya Hansen, and a couple of other lieutenants of AIM through every single camera in Lagos, of which there were plenty.
"Well, the top management has to go. I know Hansen is only working to get her research done. She did not find anyone else willing to fund her research. Killian is in it for both revenge as well as his broken body. The other three Doctors with him are utterly ruthless, they have to go."
"Uh-huh. So the Doctor lives, the person with the most value lives while the rest die. What about the clients?"
"Once I have ID on them, I'll see what kind of scum they are and get rid of them as well."
"I see. Do tell me why I should let you get away with Hansen. For all I know, you could be doing all this so you could build yourself an army of Super Soldiers. After all, I don't really know you that well, Colin, to trust you with something so world changing." Shuri said in a tense voice as she positioned herself facing him.
He smiled, uncaring of her threatening position, "Shuri Udaku, daughter of T'Chaka, brother of T'Challa, daughter of Queen Ramonda, genius extraordinaire, and now, Bast's chosen as well."
He turned to look at her who had now donned her entire suit, covering her entire body, the holo displays dispelled completely, "I do not care for your motives and if you think I am here to profit from people who can, at best, be called traitors to the Human race but do know this, if you even think of interfering with my work, I will not be kind, to you or Wakanda. So, please, think your next words carefully."
Turning back to the city at large, he expanded his senses and almost winced at the amount of feedback. Shuri was right though, the parking lots as well as the entire building was completely empty, which was odd. No construction work, no squatters, nothing.
He felt more than heard Shuri coming to stand by his side, "I apologise if I came off judgemental. I know that with my country's track record, I have no right to lecture you. Now, this is your operation and I did just come here as a tag along at the last moment. Please, ignore me and continue."
"Uh-huh." he said as he mentally wished that Jin'ya was present. Sure, her thoughts were walled out by Bast but having backup would have been much more preferable to having someone who might turn on him at any moment.
Why did he agree for her to come with him, again?
Oh yeah, she figured out his identity and he panicked at the spot.
There was a beeping sound before a holo display appeared in front of him, showing both Aldritch Killian and Maya Hansen, spotted by a traffic camera, in a car headed their way.
"Show time."