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DoorMan #51

Red Hearth, Mars[February 4, 2008]

–Colin Baxter–

"Alright then, let's go wake them up, then?" He half asked half stated as he stood up to go to the lower levels, the ones that Bruce could not access. Bruce never really asked about them but then again, he hadn't really been here all that long anyway. Those lower levels were mostly empty, save for some trinkets that Jin'Ya collected from Earth and some that the Ancient One wanted off the planet but also wanted within reach just in case.

Mostly magical stuff that might spell doom for a small city if used improperly. The problem with mystical enforcement on Earth being so strict, especially under the Ancient One was because of the whole secrecy around Sorcery being a thing.

A small artifact or so in the wrong hands might only affect a couple thousand or tens of thousands of people, which was significant but in the grand scheme of things? Irrelevant. What made that single isolated incident so much more dangerous than it had any right to be is because of the connected nature of the world these days and how quickly it might steamroll through any effort to actually hide Sorcery.

"So," he looked back as Bruce began speaking, "I assume we are going to wake up the scientist first?"

He nodded, "Yup. I am thinking of letting you both speak once I am clear explaining everything to her about the new circumstance and once you are comfortable with Extremis and how it works, we can see about letting the other guy off of sedatives. Don't worry, I will have something suitable to hold him within a couple of days, tops." He hastily added after sensing Bruce's hesitation with keeping a man unconscious for an indefinite period of time.

"Okay but if your words are correct, J.T. James has a very weak power which is what forced him to street art so why are you acting so cautious towards him? If my calculations are correct, he would need to generate a fire of high enough temperature to make most metals red to seriously injure you." Bruce blurted out.

He paused, as the elevator began descending to the lower floors, "Well, for starters, my paranoia won't let me underestimate someone who could do some serious damage before he was put down and secondly, you performed some calculations on me? I might have to include you in my power scaling docs then. Remind me to give you access."

Bruce whispered to himself, "Power scaling docs?"

He nodded, "Oh, yeah. That is a document I have created of known beings and their rough power levels along with confirmed as well as rumoured feats of strength, intelligence, esoteric abilities, etc. I think you'll like the data density in those. Word of warning though, there's some stuff of nightmare in that book, so read it at your own risk."

After that ominous warning, he stared straight ahead as the elevator finally dinged as they reached one of the lower floors, housing just two people in what was a medical prison since what else would you call being suspended in bio fluid in a medically induced coma?

"So you even have this built already," He noted the impressed vibe in Bruce's voice and mentally projected a middle finger to Jin'Ya who told him that this was completely unnecessary and Jin'Ya could have just as easily shut down their consciousness to the points of stasis within seconds.

"Yes, I knew someday this might happen so I was prepared in advance. They can stay in this state for another week before any intervention might become necessary."

"I see. Yes, this is off the shelf stuff but of very good quality. I assume it becomes harder the more advanced the medical equipment is?" Bruce mused out loud as he began inspecting all the equipment in the medical prison.

He nodded, "Yup, it gets increasingly harder to source stuff not because it is expensive or hard to get but because it gets–"

"Harder to hide where the stuff is going. Yeah, I get it." Bruce said as he whipped out a notebook and began writing stuff after going through all the machines currently attached to the two patients in the room.

Medical stuff, even one that is readily available to anyone with money on the planet, was weirdly more advanced than he had expected it to be. Like real life, semi-stasis pods with all the nutrients required being absorbed through skin was something that he expected to be hoarded by SHIELD or organisations of similar goal/size but apparently, there was a vendor in China who could provide this stuff, legally.

International Shipping and everything. He shipped one to Egypt, paid off a local guy to take delivery (after intimidating him obviously), and then brought it here once he confirmed nothing could be used inside for tracking.

Seemingly satisfied with what he was seeing, Bruce closed and placed his notebook on the stand nearby and began pressing the buttons on the bed in the exact same way as the manual suggested to begin the draining process.

"What?" Bruce asked defensively at the look he was giving him, "I had a lot of time cooped up in my room with internet access so I read all I could get my hands on."

There were crickets in the room as he slowly replied, "And instruction manuals were the thing that you read to stave off boredom?"

"...Yes."

He shook his head at that, not noticing that Jin'Ya had abruptly disappeared in the middle of their meeting.

____xx____

Kamar Taj

–Ancient One–

She stood in the subspace between pocket dimensions, arms crossed behind her back, waiting for the Psionic refugee. She had sent out the call out signal a moment ago and the next, there was a subtle disturbance in the small subscape she had carved out for herself. The disturbances began increasing in both frequency and magnitude before Jin'Ya found himself right in front of her.

She frowned as he righted his form and assumed his true draconic form instead of the tamer one that Colin was most familiar with.

"Why have you called me here, Guardian of the Nexus?" The displeasure in his voice was evident because he did not like dealing with her, certainly not after she bound him to terms most disadvantageous to him.

Colin…he was like family to her, something she never thought she would find again in her life. Colin didn't know what the Psionic refugee truly was and just how dangerous these Dragons could be and so, in her wish to protect Colin from something truly horrifying and someone who could wipe out planets if he so wished, she made sure that the Refugee knew his place and used the full might of her position to actually bind the Dragon to Colin, providing an almost unbreakable defense for Colin and consequently, Earth.

Instead of answering the Refugee's question, she asked one of her own, "How is the body working out for you? I assume you haven't surpassed the limits of it, given the immaculate condition." And there was a reason she'd put that as one of her conditions for the Refugee to live in the material world.

It needed a body to live in and she made sure that she made it with the best materials possible but with an added kill switch. While aware that such a trick would not work on beings as old as the galaxy but it should be more than enough to banish it back to the Astral Realm which was as far as she could do, on her own power.

The Vishanti would not lend her their power for such trivial tasks and as such, she was limited to relying on small tricks for insurance.

"Well, it is a little stifling but I haven't yet seen anything on this dirtball that would need me using more of my powers." The Refugee's voice boomed in the subspace as she raised an eyebrow and quickly erased the cracks that had begun showing due to the weight of the Refugee's soul.

"I will ask again, why have you called me here? I was in an important meeting with Colin." She shuddered internally at that. Colin….really did not know what he was and what he had, how valuable it was, and how most beings in the Astral Realm would riot the moment they heard someone like Colin exists.

They were really lucky that this Refugee was the first one who came searching for the disturbance in the Universe and was on his last legs when they met. She had met him earlier on and had summarily dispatched him once she was sure that he meant no harm to Earth and was simply here on a voyage.

Even then, after knowing the nature of this particular Psionic Dragon, she was quick to act and made sure that he would be bound to Colin until either one of them dies.

"I felt..something. A disturbance in Colin's future. It was in flux before but now, it is still not clear but I can see that some possibilities have been outright deleted." And that was yet another thing that was unique to Colin. Her inability to map out the future of Colin Baxxter.

"Oh, that. Yeah, the brat was confused about some of his actions, about the morality of them and I had to summarily remind him that you have to be alive to exercise your morality."

She nodded at that. "Alright, that helps somewhat but I would like to remind you about one of the clauses of–"

"Yes, yes, I know. No exerting undue influence with the intent to malign or otherwise alter Colin's core personality and decision matrices with or without magical processes or manipulation with words. I remember all of it, it is effectively written on my soul, you know?" There was no outright hostility but she noted the slight anger and resentment at that. That was fine, she could take that. If she was the focus of that anger, Colin would be spared from it, especially since she knew that Colin was actually growing on the Refugee as the days went by.

Maintaining the stoic face, she said, "Very well. You may return now,"

She sighed as she felt the subspace crack and break as the Refugee left with a tail swat at the whole thing, which might as well have been a sledgehammer to the last remaining pillar of a building.

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 50 othersIdleMuse0307May 12, 2025Reader modeNewAdd bookmark Threadmarks 0DensinGetting some practice in, huh?May 12, 2025Add bookmark#117Hehe, tiny Dragon is not nearly as cute or tiny a Dragon as it generally presents itself as being to the MC. Its funny because that was rather obvious from the start, as knowing about a setting though any form of media doesn't really mean what you know of the setting is the whole truth of things, and the multiverse is infinite in both its wonders and its horrors. So why would anything be exactly as it seemed from a form of media you've witnessed. A best its a snap shot of a possible variation from an infinite number of possible variations, unless you have a ROB actively making sure it matches the variation you know about perfectly, and even then thins would instantly start veering of from that outline the moment you simply begin to exists within its framework due to the introduction of a new variable to the weave of reality. Like Quote ReplyReport Reactions:FortunisMortis, JJLPH20, yarobas and 3 othersThreadmarks DoorMan (MCU SI) - #52 : Le Bruce: *horrified whispering*What Have I become? & Exchange visit to Ta-Lo & Wakanda... New Threadmarks IdleMuse0307I trust you know where the happy button is?May 13, 2025Add bookmark#118Disclaimer - 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 #52

Stark Industries, LA[February 8, 2008]

–Colin Baxter–

"...and that is how you can safely call on your designated APIs with a request to both the Business team as well as the IT Team. The Business team request will be handled by your team lead who will have to justify the request, but someday you too will reach that position so really this is for your benefit as well…." He zoned out of the lecture that they were receiving.

What were these people doing anyway? Half of the interns with him were of such calibre they were probably being headhunted by the government and the other half were on their way to quitting the stupid program halfway through and starting their own stuff, same as he was.

The one thing he failed to understand was how this stupid ass program managed to get a 90% retention rate. 90% of the candidates to whom they offered a role, accepted the role. Something must have been different in their case because he couldn't see a hardcore nerd accepting a role where he had to speak with a different HR for at least 2 hours every day.

They hardly did any work, which was expected but there was nothing that should have hooked their attention. No Quantum Computer usage, no experimental chiplet designs, no Arc tours, nothing. It was as if these people didn't even care about them.

It had been 2 weeks now and he could confidently say that not just him, but most of the others were already considering leaving this place. They were just passing time for the past few days, relaxing at Stark Industries' expense but even that got stale after a while. There was no mental stimulation and without that, all nerds would lose the one thing they had in spades.

Today, it was the Business team HR who was here to give them a lecture on how and where to interact with the Business team in regards to whatever might be needed for the development team, because this was a huge corpo and they couldn't just grant every developer's requests, even though the company most definitely could afford to do that, not for long though, as the news of Tony's disappearance had already spread throughout the world and with each passing day, the chances of his recovery dimmed more and more.

After a certain amount of time, his eyes were open but his thoughts wandered elsewhere, his hand on the trackpad of the laptop, unmoving. The talk with Maya Hansen went as well as it could have.

She had a huge freakout in the beginning, what with most of her life changing as she knew it and as it turns out, she did not really know what sort of criminal elements were involved, or rather, she had put her head in the sand and pretended not to notice anything as long as she was able to continue working on Extremis.

There was a lot of crying and a lot of awkward silences but once she was settled, and he exposed her to her new reality, which was a shiny new lab along with living quarters on Mars, away from most humans, she quickly began accepting his words as gospels of truth.

It also made her very wary of him as she quickly withdrew herself from the conversation whenever he was in the vicinity, which made him enlist the help of Dr.Banner, a known face to Hansen who had followed Bruce's work before his transformation. With a fellow scientist in tow, Maya quickly began spilling the beans about what Extremis was and how it worked. He didn't pretend to understand most of what they were saying but he noted the words and researched them later on.

As it turns out, Maya somehow figured out how to tap into some extreme CHI dimension, a tainted version that promoted growth at all costs. The serum, when injected into any non sentient being would just result in cancerous growths that would then explode in a spectacular fashion.

But if the serum was given to a human, someone with a soul, the dimensional link stabilised itself by reading the needs of the body and changing the body according to that and only drawing on more energy if things were not according to the blueprint.

That soul linkage was what was missing from her serum, which resulted in imbalances that led to explosive humans. Of course, this was not something she could have known, it required knowledge of the Mystics. She just told them of the procedure and the ingredients involved, and he figured out the rest from there.

The reason they needed J.T. James' DNA was because he already had a natural soul linkage to some fire dimension, something that the CHI was tainted with. That, along with some more fine tuning of the output, would create a nearly perfected Extremis.

He naturally made sure to relay his findings to Bruce and told him that there were gaps in their knowledge because they only explored one part of science before leaving the Red Hearth because his duty called him back.

All in all, quite a nice good cop, bad cop situation was pulled off by him and Bruce with Hansen. When he mentioned that to Bruce, he just stood there for a moment, staring in the distance, as if contemplating his life's decisions.

The matter of J.T. James was taking more time because he had yet to receive the adequate equipment to create a fireproof living quarter for him. If it was delayed by two more days, he was just going to go ahead with the stick route, which is him and Jin'Ya just intimidating the man into submission, which might make some stuff tricky but in the end, all they needed from him was his genetic material, and some harmless tests, nothing more.

A problem for another time then.

"That will be all for today….." he nearly sighed in relief at the end of that lecture as all of them shuffled out of the conference hall, which was completely empty as it was probably built for hundreds of people instead of the 8 or 9 that were in the hall today.

Once that was done, he quickly bid goodbye to everyone and came back to his quarters, in a luxury MUV that was kept on campus just in case anyone needed to take a ride back to the assigned accommodations.

Once Bruce was done understanding the underlying principles from what Maya could recall, what was in the USB drive she had on her person, he was going to try to get an abridged version from Bruce and then consult either one of the Masters or the Ancient One directly about Extremis and how to stabilise the soul linkage so that further work to convert Extremis from a weapons platform to medical platform can be done.

He opened his phone as something pinged him and immediately shut it off as it showed the Stark Industries stock on a steady decline. He had been buying shares of the company as much as he could. He did not have clandestine investment networks set up yet so all of that was transparently done but he didn't need to because he had over two months to get that stuff in order.

Once Tony came back and announced the death of the Weapons division, he was going to buy so much stock, pouring all of his savings into it. Last he checked, he had about a hundred million dollars saved up, in illegal money, and a couple million in white money.

Those hundred million were going to turn into hundreds more and give him the ability to buy a shit ton of land somewhere and turn that into his Earth base.

"Thank you," He greeted the security guard at the gate who confirmed his access and then allowed him entry into the building, and then the same for the elevator as well. Security was tight in this place.

Sure, the Seattle apartment was cool and all but it was normal, nothing about it spoke lair of a superpowered magical teenager. He wanted that, and despite it being chil–

He froze for a split second at the entrance of his door and then continued as normal, locking everything, changing clothing, freshening up, and then sitting in front of his laptop. With a twitch of his finger, he was connected to the server in Kamar Taj, which now had a message from Panther Princess.

He smirked. Cute.

Opening the message, his eyes narrowed as he read the contents.

"Hmm." Once he was done reading the whole thing, he leaned back in his chair and looked up, deep in thought.

Apparently, Shuri had come up with a proposal to slowly disseminate technology, mostly medical and energy related - solar stuff– to the rest of the world through a series of non profit labs, to create a soft cushion for the inevitable crash landing Wakanda was going to have when the world came to know about their hidden country.

It was nice, very detailed, and could be done entirely by Wakanda, without any input on his side, so why did he now have a standing invitation to visit Wakanda whenever he had time to "discuss the substantial changes that Wakanda will be doing to its foreign policy"

Something told him it wasn't that simple. It did not reek of a trap because he could just bring their shield down and also rig a dead man's switch to expose their country to the world, catching them flat-footed, which Shuri knew he had the willingness to do.

Well, what was the harm in replying? Only before that….

He smirked as he replied, "Only if you agree to a visit to an even more magical place, before my visit."

There, that should be interesting.

Shutting off his laptop, he then began working on the official letter informing Ta-Lo about an impending state visit from a Princess of a foreign country.

Yes, he was informing them instead of asking for permission.

Serves that geezer right for not giving him fair compensation for the CHI Sessions.

DoorMan #53

Stark Industries, LA[February 9, 2008]

–Colin Baxter–

Finally!

Something actually interesting was going to happen today. They were going to be taken on a tour of the Arc Reactor facility and despite its supposed not working state, it was still a very novel scientific application of forces that humanity even now could barely comprehend. Howard Stark truly was ahead of his time, to be able to understand something as genuinely abstract as an Infinity Stone and then somehow find parallels in nature and create a procedure to mimic a fraction of the original's capabilities, all the while being hamstrung by technology of his time was a miracle all on its own.

Speaking of miracles, he might just ask the Ancient One if Howard's discovery was purely his own skill or if there were some disturbances around him that coincidentally led to the discovery, just like the creation of Captain America's shield. The formula for that alloy is long lost now.

That shield was more than just Vibranium and the prevailing theory among the Sanctum nerds was that the shield had more than one isotope of Vibranium along with something else, something much harder than conventional metals to create that abomination that regularly broke the laws of physics. Yes, even Mystical laws were broken by that damned thing.

He had half a mind to see what would be the end result of a blood bonding process, wherein he would put the Shield through a ritual and blood bind it to the Captain. He was certain something amazing would happen, either it would gain some fantastic abilities or it would just outright reject the ritual. Either way, fascinating to observe.

He was brought out of his reverie when the car they were in jerked slowly to a halt. He got out without a word as his relationship with the rest of the interns had not progressed beyond friends of circumstances.

His eyes landed on the massive whirlpool shaped building, housing one of the largest experimental prototypes that Stark Industries ever built. It was a nice little PR win for SI, considering that Arc technology was touted as a viable alternative to Fusion Nuclear Reactors, as much as both of them were viable in the next century or so.

According to what little was available online, and in SHIELD servers, the Arc Reactor, this specific one still generated electricity, yes, it was positive in terms of net energy generated but it was so little that it barely made any sense to pour so much time and energy into it. It was also very expensive, the housing of the Reactor.

All in all, it was a net negative for Stark Industries, if not for the massive stock rally they had after the green hippies around the world saw the potential for clean energy.

"Welcome!" His eyes widened minutely as he saw Stane, the one responsible for Tony's continued imprisonment in Afghanistan, walking towards them, all dapper and charming smiles. He could see how the man could have fooled everyone with his act, least of all Tony who was barely sober for the past couple of years with how much he had partied around the world.

"I was told we had a new cohort of young geniuses but nobody told me they were this young. Ah, where was I?" The act was well oiled and rehearsed, easing himself into the conversation and then leading them into the building, sidelining their official guide.

He hadn't expected the man to come out here himself, what with him being in the middle of a crisis because the terrorists he paid to kill the man didn't finish their job, instead taking the money and keeping the man alive for their own purposes. It didn't take a genius to know that Stane must be so busy with damage control that he wouldn't even have time to breathe but the man was here, on an intern tour, of all things.

A charade, an act to show that he was in control, to show that he wasn't panicking. He could see it, the minor tremors, the sweat, the dark circles covered by makeup, the shrinking gut.

Wow, just a few weeks of stress and the man had lost so much weight. Wouldn't want to be him.

"Ah, I know you guys are all very smart but I have to warn you, it's part of protocol, no photography, no taking phone out of your pockets and more importantly, DO NOT TOUCH anything. It might zap you or it might not, we'd rather not find out, alright?" Stane leaned down and mock whispered to them.

"Alright." And the people replied. Wow, so gullible these people are.

After that, Stane led them towards the side with a large yellow door with the nuclear warning plastered on every inch of that door. Stane swiped his card as the door began opening with the stereotypical warning sounds.

"Alright, come on in." Stane jokingly put his hand forward and then pulled it back as if afraid of what would be on the other side. Despite all the people here being geniuses and knowing that if there was a leak in the Arc Reactor, they would all be affected, hand in the door or not, they all went along with Stane and laughed.

He would have rolled his eyes so much had he not been in such a small group.

Ass Kissing much?

Soon, they were herded into the room and the second his foot crossed the threshold of the door, he stiffened for a second and almost fell down. Only his superior sense of balance and the fact that he was last in line saved him from suspicion as he struggled to keep his expressions neutral.

The second he had stepped into the room, his powers began acting up, doing something that they had never done before. He quickly closed his eyes and entered his mind space, only for his entire face to warp in astonishment as the place where the Trees that symbolised his claimed Doors had a new addition at the moment. It was glowing blue, with discharges of lightning all around the Tree, with a glowing lightning logo seared into the bark of the tree.

"What the fuuuuuu–"

__xx__

Outside

The second they entered the Reactor room, a sudden surge of energy from the reactor was recorded by the technicians. Thankfully, the energy was bled off harmlessly because of protective mechanisms in place.

The second time it happened, the surge was much more noticeable, even to the naked eye as the housing that kept the Arc Reactor contained, crackled with energy, or lighting for some reason.

Meanwhile, Colin was standing at the back, with his eyes closed and his face scrunched up.

DoorMan #54

Stark Industries, LA[February 9, 2008]

–Colin Baxter–

This was supposed to be impossible. Everyone said so, the Ancient One, Jin'Ya, hell the freaking Vishanti were reported about the supposed working mechanism of his powers and they didn't object to any of that.

So, how–how in the hell is a tree with a Door attached to it suddenly in his mindscape, in the middle of the cycle? There were still about 7 more months before he got an extra Door that he would then attach to a dimension that would make a tree sprout in his mind, supplying him energy from that particular dimension.

This….This lighting door was not something that should have happened and had never happened in the past 7 years or so that he had his powers.

His eyes opened as he looked at the now whispering group, with Stane speaking into his phone anxiously. His gaze then snapped to the housing that kept the Arc Energy contained and noted the ebbing of the energy before it came rushing back at full force, hitting the containers. He also noted the slight tremors in the ground, generated from the containment unit getting hammered with energy.

He knew there were bleed off mechanisms in place but the question remained : For how long? How long until the output became too much for them.

Out of all this, the one thing that stood out to him was the connection he felt, with the energy inside. He could barely control himself from opening a Door and letting loose the energy from the newest door that he now had access to. This was all very new and he had never felt this level of feedback from his powers. They had always been passive, letting them be used whenever he wanted to.

Right now, he was not feeling like–

"Okay, kids, a little technical issue has arisen and that is why we will be cutting this trip short. Now, why don't you all turn around and exit the same way we entered, alright? In the meantime, I have to make some calls, okay? Alright." Stane said and then stormed off, screaming into his phone, into a door that opened just for him.

Everyone kind of just looked at each other for a moment, not knowing what to do, despite being told exactly, and then he had to take the lead. Taking a step back, he asked his fellow interns, "Come on, what he said."

As all of them speed walked out of the building, he could feel the tremors increasing as the time went by, and the attraction with his powers increasing as well, as if there was something in that energy that he needed, something that the Doors wanted.

His gaze never left the Arc Reactor Tower even as he felt the lights in the surrounding buildings dim as the Tremors began receding. He was sure that the rest of the people barely felt anything but he knew something was wrong with that specific Arc reactor, and he was going to find out what.

____xx___

Wakandan Royal Laboratory

–Shuri Udaku–

"Like I told you before, you are not following the Council's orders anymore. They don't know the first thing about science. No, you are going to do as I say or you will find yourself in need of a job. Am I clear, T'Kama?" She really had to put out an organisation wide notice someday because she was getting really tired of finding out what and how the Council had put their hands on, in the Royal Lab.

"Yes, Princess." The man bowed and left the lab, downtrodden.

She snorted as she turned around and glared at the bystanders, "What are you waiting for? You have your tasks, get on with them."

"Shuri." She whirled around before her mother could speak. "Mother." She curtly greeted her before turning around to continue working on her panel.

Today was one of the days she had expressly reserved to work with the people in the Labs so that everyone could see her work, and also to get the weekly report about everything she had put into motion. She had realised that Wakanda as a country had grown stagnant and comfortable, not just in terms of defense but also in terms of scientific discovery.

\Where most scientists gave up when it seemed like too much work, and moved on to the next method of discovery, Wakanda's scientists prioritised finishing a school of thought, thoroughly documenting it before moving onto the next stage, after exhaustive analysis of the failure. While not a wrong method per se, it still created a lot of overhead that—

"Shuri, can we speak? Private?"

She sighed and turned around, "Sure." She walked towards the smaller conference room, something she had built for herself because she needed to work on her projects she had set in motion for the outer world.

Shell Companies, Trust funds, Charities, Consultancies, Labs, Hospitals, Orphanages and everything in between. She was going to have to create such a large chain of everything to actually make sure that the medical advances she is going to share with the rest of the world are not buried in some technicality.

She was also fairly certain that even after going through this ridiculous process, someone was going to stop her and that is where Colin would come into play, or at least she hoped he would come. She hadn't had the time to see if he had replied and the isolated network she used to communicate with the best hacker on the planet was kept buried in a Vibranium shell with no connectivity whatsoever.

It had been 24 hours she had been working nonstop, perks of being Bast's chosen so she might just have to take a break and see if Colin had actually replied or–

"Shuri, you are not listening." The concerned look of her mother came into view as she sighed and leaned back into the seat. She looked out of the one way glass as people continued working under her. She already had two complaints about heavier than expected workloads but the sooner people realised that this was going to be the norm going forward, the better. They couldn't prepare themselves fast enough even if all the scientists began working exactly to her tune.

Looking back at her mother, she replied, "What is there to listen to, Mother? You know what Father did and you know my views on it. You know what I plan to do and you know the staunch opposition that I will experience. Despite knowing all of that, you still side with Father." She leaned forward, looking into her Mother's now sad eyes, "So, tell me, Mother, what else is there left to speak?"

"Shuri, your father, he made some mistakes but you have to understand that–"

"No, mother. I don't think there is anything you can say or Father can do that will make me forgive him." She then stood up, "Now, if you will excuse me, I have been working nonstop on a project that will give us some chance of being accepted properly by the rest of the world when we are exposed."

"That. Why do you say that as if it is inevitable. As if it is only a matter of time before everyone comes to know about Wakanda. We have remained safe and hidden for centuries and nothing–"

"Because people already know, mother. People already know about Wakanda. I don't think Father told you this but there is someone out there, someone I met when I went to the States last week. He was put on the hit list for the so-called Greater Good project and the guy already knew about Wakanda, about me, about everything."

She watched as her mother's eyes widened in horror and then realisation. "Yes, even if, and that it is a big if, the War Dogs were capable of silencing him, he had multiple dead man's switches that would have given away not just Wakanda's secret, but our location, our shields, Birnin Zana's defenses, the Tribe composition, how our army is inexperienced in actual warfare and more."

She kept talking as her mother all but collapsed into her seat, "The guy would have destroyed Wakanda as we know it and all of that because the War Dogs thought that he would reach our current level of computer efficiently in a couple of years."

Seeing her completely silent, Shuri stated with an air of finality, "So, Mother, no, I will not be forgiving Father and I will most certainly not be sitting back as Father continues to endanger our country's existence. I will be making it official soon anyway but since you are here anyway, I suppose you have a right to know."

She took a deep breath. Best to rip off the band-aid now, lest she regret it later on, "I am going to challenge Father for the throne, by the old rituals."

The silence in the room was deafening as she made her declaration.

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, Seek212. and 55 othersIdleMuse0307May 15, 2025Reader modeAdd bookmark Threadmarks Threadmarks DoorMan (MCU SI) - #55 : Birth of the Scrappy suit that will lead to Iron Man & 4K Babyyyy! Threadmarks IdleMuse0307I trust you know where the happy button is?May 16, 2025Add bookmark#124Disclaimer - 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 #55

LA[February 11, 2008]

–Colin Baxter–

Something was wrong, he thought to himself as he paced in his room. It had been two days since that incident and there has not been a single peep from Stark Industries about the situation. They were just sent home from the Reactor building and then an email was dropped to each and every one of them that their internship obligations were suspended until notice, and that they were free to enjoy the perks that came with the internship without doing any work.

Something was seriously wrong about the whole situation. Why would they keep all of them away from the company? Were they infected?

Well, Arc Reactor tech most certainly did not give off any harmful radiation and by the time they left the building, the containment unit was still holding strong. There was no news later on about the incident and the data he had been able to scrape through satellites showed no noticeable change in radiation.

Even so, they were now on their 3rd day of vacation since the day it happened, they were back in their accommodations by noon itself. He was starting to feel a little cooped up in this place, despite the list of amenities. All the other interns, taking the opportunity, were working on their own stuff or were off relaxing and roaming around the city, exploring.

He had no such interests, he had no pending work for the moment because he knew these six months were going to be action packed for him so he had told all his clients that he was going to take a year long hiatus.

It was not like he needed to work anyway and taking a small break to figure out how to create a much bigger brand was worth it, or at least he thought it would be worth it but he was quickly realising that he was never going to learn how to create a big company by becoming an employee. No, he needed something more than that and he was going to find that soon enough but for now, his focus was someplace else.

Pinging Jin'Ya through their mental link, he asked, "Hey, any update on Tony?"

Wordless, Jin'Ya complied and actually supplied him with a video feed, showing Tony working on some papers, drawing what looked like schematic diagrams on top of other diagrams. He smiled, knowing that this was the birth of what would become Iron Man and after instructing Jin'Ya to keep a close eye on Tony, he cut off the connection.

With that out of the way, he hopped onto his desk and opened his personal laptop. With a twitch of his finger, the enchantments on the laptop came to life and connected him to his personal server in Kamar Taj. Honestly, doing that one thing has improved the lives of many.

It was a massive server with caches of the majority of the streaming services, along with a large storage system to make sure that everyone at Kamar Taj could use that as cloud storage, and more importantly, it gave him a computer server in a place that was literally untraceable.

After all, it was in a completely different dimension.

He opened up the SHIELD database that he had taken from their heavily encrypted archives, this one held everything about the Arc Reactor. Not Howard Stark's notes, no, those were kept strictly off the internet and in old floppy formats but these notes were what SHIELD's analysts have in their database after analysing the original Arc Reactor every year or so.

Yup, SHIELD does periodic inspection of something that might one day become the future of humanity and clean energy. Surprising.

They were surprisingly heavily encrypted and the server usage had shot through the roof because, his stupid ass, found a cache of refurbished 4K TVs through a vendor in China and took it off his hands because he knew one place that could use 30 4K displays for over a hundred people.

Kamar Taj.

Yup, so, hindsight's a bitch by the way, he went ahead, took the 30 displays, consulted with some of the Masters, and installed them in Kamar Taj, hard wired internet and everything. So, now, his server, whose main purpose was for his use, now had most of its resources sapped by the simultaneous 4k streams that now happen in Kamar Taj.

Which is why it took days to decode this thing instead of the hours it would have taken otherwise.

Even now, the ETA was about 4 minutes. Sighing, he leaned back in the chair and decided to just wait it out. No point looking for something else which would take longer than 4 minutes and his number one curiosity at this point was the Arc Reactor because it had somehow messed with his powers, creating a Door that he hadn't even used until now, which was also eating him alive.

He really needed to get out of this place for a long period of time without it looking suspicious and there were very few ways he could do that. Honestly, he was contemplating just dropping out of the process completely, such was his burning curiosity when it came to the most fascinating and important thing of his life.

His powers. The Doors.

They were a thing of beauty and the fact that he could already do so much, become one of the most powerful beings on the planet, with a mere 7 Doors was more than telling. Who knows how powerful he would become as he aged and more Doors were unlocked for him.

The fact that his understanding of his powers' mechanisms was upended by the Arc Event was somewhat unsettling because if he didn't need to wait a year to get another Door, what else could he do to gain more Doors and gain ULTIMATE POWAAAAH!

Which is why he needed to get to the bottom of–

PING

His eyes zoomed in on the message he received, from Shuri or rather, from Panther Princess. After it went through the mandatory scanning processes, he opened it and read the single text message in it.

"Agreed. State the place and time. I will be there. This is important, your cooperation is of utmost importance to Wakanda."

Okay, that was odd. His brows furrowed as he thought of the language of the text. Why would she even need his cooperation and importance to Wakanda?

Shaking his head, he began typing, "Mount Everest Base Camp, a week from now, 5 AM local time."

He was actually looking forward to that now. A week would be sufficient time for him to generate some sort of reason to get out of this internship because doing a 9-5 or even having a regular day to day agenda itself did not seem appealing to him.

Life of crime fighting and world saving sounded way better to him.

With that out of the way, he sent the message, and then turned to the decoded files. There were dozens of reports, from multiple analysts from various divisions, having visited the Arc Reactor under multiple guises.

Homeland Security.

Pentagon.

Department of Energy and many more agencies were used to hide the SHIELD analysts that took deep scans of the thing every single year, as part of the government's agreement with Stark Industries for allowing them to have what was essentially a nuclear reactor on private property with private oversight under the condition that it would never be used to power anything useful, which is why Stark Industries HQ was still powered off the grid instead of the actual reactor technology they had sitting on their campus.

As he read through the reports, it was clear that the current rendition of Arc that they had was not viable, in any sense of the word. Not viable financially, strategically, or even as a PR stunt because that thing could barely generate more power than it needs to function. Some sort of fatal flaw in starting the muons in the Arc housing which led to subpar performance.

He was sure that Tony could solve this thing by taking a long look at it and spending a couple of nights on caffeine, it's just that he had no incentive to, until now.

Year after year, analyst after analyst, told the same thing. The thing was safe, with no risk of any explosion or radiation even in an explosion. Ulteriorly, they also noted that in its current condition, it was nowhere near a threat to Big Oil and Big Coal, only serving to function as an exaggerated science fair project.

All of that was fine but that was not what he was looking for. He finally reached the last report, the earliest one, made by SHIELD when Howard was still alive, right after the inauguration it would seem.

His eyes narrowed as he saw part of that report was redacted. Many words were blackened but he could make out something from the rest of the report.

Some sort of energy canister, used to start the Arc Reactor, reported missing from SHIELD's inventory, Category-3 object, non weaponized.

He leaned back and looked straight up, as those particular phrases began revolving in his mind. Then, it clicked for him.

"Huh." He stilled for a moment as he mechanically looked at the report once again.

Energy canister? The same ones that HYDRA made in WW2? Category 3 object? Yup, that level of energy density would classify it as category 3, and non weaponized means it was used for a reactor instead of for an energy weapon that disintegrated people.

"Holy fuck!" It was the Infinity Stone or its energy. The original Arc Reactor was jump started using the leftover energy cubes from HYDRA, extracted from the Tesseract.

That was the reason his powers acted up?

Now he really needed to go to an empty place and unleash the power of his eighth Door.

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 52 othersIdleMuse0307May 16, 2025Reader modeAdd bookmark Threadmarks PetroxExperienced.May 16, 2025Add bookmark#125He could have asked the ancient one to take a look in his off work hours. Is not like he has travel time. And the ancient one can make time. Like Quote ReplyReport Reactions:FortunisMortis, Zhen_Electric, yarobas and 1 other personMastersgtWell worn.May 16, 2025Add bookmark#126So... Is the Door connected to SPACE(the Concept) ike the Stone is, or just energy? Why did he not unlock a Door when near the Time Stone? Like Quote ReplyReport Reactions:UndeadFlowerBoy, yarobas and IdleMuse0307TomthebombGetting sticky.May 16, 2025Add bookmark#127Mastersgt said:So... Is the Door connected to SPACE(the Concept) ike the Stone is, or just energy? Why did he not unlock a Door when near the Time Stone?

Pretty sure the Time Stone is shielded by the Eye of Agamotto. That's why Strange has to use the Hand Signs and Movements to open it.

I bet if Colin, got near the Eye while it was open, he'd get a door related to Time.Last edited: May 17, 2025 Like Quote ReplyReport Reactions:JJLPH20, Jao, yarobas and 1 other personThreadmarks DoorMan (MCU SI) - #56 : Size Does Matter! of the Doors, Stane Sus & Shuri's power move..... Threadmarks IdleMuse0307I trust you know where the happy button is?May 19, 2025Add bookmark#128Disclaimer - 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 #56

LA[February 11, 2008]

–Colin Baxter–

He closed his laptop with a twitch of his ginger after going through the reports twice more before he was satisfied. Leaning back in his chair, he looked up and thought of what this meant.

Intellectually, he knew that his powers were related to space and dimensions and as such, he might have some sort of affinity with the space element, i.e., the Space Stone. The same stone's energy was used to jumpstart the Arc Reactor when Howard couldn't get it up to speed, at least that is what the SHIELD records say, redacted as they might be.

Howard being a senior ranking as well as a founding member of SHIELD meant that his theft of the Tesseract energy shard was overlooked. It was the only plausible explanation as to why his powers acted up.

He closed his eyes and entered his mindscape, wherein he had painstakingly defined processes when it came to his powers. He had it down to a process that was just upended by the arrival of the Eight Door, crackling with blue. It was a nice mid sized tree as well, not CHI sized but most definitely the size of the Kinetic Lasers.

The size of the Doors was based on the rating he gave their dimensions. CHI was S-tier, Air was the same but the Kinetic Lasers were A-tier. Water and Sand were B-tier, the less said about the light dimension the better.

So, from the size of the tree, he could tell that whatever that Door was, it would be helpful. He could take a guess from the lightning logo and the electricity continuously crackling all around it but without using it extensively and testing it with Jin'Ya, he could not create a comprehensive report on it.

Opening his eyes, he exhaled in frustration. It was at times like this that he wondered whether it was even worth it to have a valid civilian identity. It was his mother's wish, to see him be so successful his name would be on a billboard or at best, on a building. He had vowed to fulfill her wish in the most outlandish way possible but so far, that seemed to be impeding his work on saving the wider world.

Sighing, he got out of the chair and began pacing around the room. He was getting out of this place, that was for certain. This was not worth his time and the prolonged period of inactivity can most certainly be used as an excuse to get out of his place. He was sure that the Dean's office would raise a fuss but in the end, it was his decision.

Seeing the time, it was just about noon right now, and in about an hour or so, the lunches would arrive. For some reason, the communal lunch system has been taken off the menu, and individual tiffins were served to every single intern. It all felt like the enshittifaction of a service, like Stark Industries was hoping that once the perks of this place were removed and the overall quality of service reduced, combined with the lack of work for a group of hard working people, the group of interns would leave on their own.

He could see it happening actually. The cracks had already started to form. Jack Slash, the oldest of their group, was already complaining about lack of work and communication whenever they were in a group setting and was also seething because they denied his request for two additional monitors so that he could do his personal work efficiently.

Apparently, the dude was a multi monitor setup guy, as opposed to the rational method which was just a large enough single screen. The new TVs were rock solid and he had a 43 inch 4k TV working double duties as a monitor and he hadn't even noticed anything wrong with it.

He noticed that he was now rambling in his mind as his pacing continued to pick up pace on the carpet. At this point, he would get a mighty static shock once he left the carpet.

"Ah, Fuck it," He cursed the situation, and immediately began packing everything. Laptop, wallet, water bottle(enchanted to always be cool), Stark Industries' ID, and after checking that nothing was kept here, he locked the door and began casually walking out of the complex.

"Sir? Excuse me, Sir?" He slowed down and half turned to see the receptionist speed walking towards him as he exited the lobby and stood in the sun.

"Yes?" There was something definitely wrong here. Why the hell would she run all the way here?

"Sir, can I ask where you are going?"

His brows furrowed as he replied, "I thought we had free rein to move about in the city whenever we were not working. Today is not a working day, ergo, today I can go to the city."

She flashed him a strained smile, "Yes, sir. I was just asking where in the city. We have a pickup and drop facility, we can have you paired with an experienced driver who can show you all the spots in the–"

He raised a hand, "Let me stop you right there. I want to roam the city, on foot. I have been cramped in that room for two days now because of no official communication from SI. So, thank you for asking, really, thank you but I would really like to leave now. Bye!" He waved her off and turned around, actually feeling her struggle to come up with words to make him do as she says.

He turned sharply to the right as soon as he exited the compound, expanding his senses to hear what the receptionist might be saying.

His senses immediately zoned in on the voice that he heard just now, "Sir, Colin Baxter left. He didn't take the company car, he said he wanted to walk on foot. What should I do now?"

A slightly hoarse male voice could be heard speaking to her. It did not sound like a phone call. Maybe a Video Call? "Shit! Do we have any idea where he went? Did he take his luggage with him?"

The man was most definitely not on campus because there was no accompanying sensory data from his presence. No breathing, nothing.

"No, sir. He just had a small backpack with him. What should we do? Should I have him followed?"

"...Yes, do that, and report to me every hour. DO NOT get noticed, we don't need a lawsuit."

"Yes, sir."

He smiled, now certain that Stane suspected one of them of the Arc Fiasco, and while the old man was right about that, he would never get any answers like this. Stane also was probably looking for other reasons, so he could rule out the kiddy interns from the suspect pool because the man who could have Tony Stark kidnapped in the middle of an active war zone would most certainly have people who could take care of a few teenagers.

___xx___

Wakanda [An hour back]

–Shuri "Apostle of Bast" Udaku–

She leaned on her knuckles, showing her interest in the current meeting called forth by the previous Head Scientist who she had fired because he was more interested in serving the Council's interests than Wakanda's.

She really did not have time for this but with her impending announcement of her ambition for the throne, she could do with some public facing PR and despite the point of this hearing, showing her face should be enough.

Besides, all of this was just a small part of the ruling package. Her power alone would secure her the throne, of that she was certain. The easy going nature, the likeability of the citizens, and the bureaucrats only served to make the work happen more efficiently.

She knew she could not just threaten everyone so she had to maintain appearances here as well.

Her phone, which was on a quantum dot communications array between the sealed shut communications device used for Colin and her personal comms array built into her armour that she wore at all times, pinged.

Her eyes narrowed a bit as she subtly removed the phone and checked the message. There was only one person who could have replied and she was right.

Mount Everest?

For what? She slightly shook her head, replied in affirmative, and was about to put the phone back in her pocket when she heard a pin drop silence in the chamber. Looking up, she saw that everyone was looking at her, with most of them having disapproving gazes and glares on their faces.

Well, two could play this game, "Sorry. Important National Security Stuff. Continue."

Resuming her bored, indifferent pose, she gestured at them to continue this pointless hearing, a total waste of time.

DoorMan #57

LA[February 11, 2008]

–Colin Baxter–

Whistling a jolly tone, he walked on the sidewalk, with a general distance of the nearest Starbucks in mind. He had already memorised the correct route for the overpriced coffee shop including all its surrounding areas, allowing him to take as many detours as he wanted without truly getting lost.

Ever so often, his eyes trailed over the car that had been following him ever since he left the Residency. Yes, that is what Stark Industries calls what is basically the entire compound that they owned, which had housing for small time contractors or interns to like C-staff executives to stay in. It was quite large but given that they had their HQ in the same city, it kinda made sense to have something permanent installed so they were not reliant on hotels and the uncertainty that came with that, even with five star hotels.

He knew they were ordered to stay out of sight but man were these guys not the perfect fit for this job. To be fair, they thought they were tailing an ordinary if slightly genius teenager, not him. Still, not using different cars, using different routes, creating different profiles, and variations for every single interaction was a giant mistake, something that could not be excused if these guys were ex law enforcement, something that most if not all Multinational Corporations looked for their security personnel.

Sighing, he turned sharply once more, doing a complete U-turn and heading straight at the two guys in polo shirts tailing him, with visible white comms on their ears, not even consumer models, straight up professional models on people who looked like they lived and breathed Gym and also had comms on them that were only seen in the movies.

Smirking at the slightly panicking agents, he turned to the right, and hailed a bus, knowing that it led to the same block where the local Starbucks was, courtesy of his super hearing. While it was fun getting these people to run circles all around him and the city, it was starting to get hot and he had a lot of work to do, in terms of monitoring his finances, both legal and not so legal.

Getting himself a ticket, he thought of the spectacular week that was lying ahead of him, something he was actually looking forward to. First off, he was getting himself off the trainwreck that was the current cohort of internships, and then, he was going to prepare for reverse shock on Shuri, by showing her Ta-Lo.

Speaking of Ta-Lo, he hadn't heard back from the chief, despite the letter stating that an urgent response would be appreciated. That damned old geezer had the gall to fleece him with that CHI session, he was going to get this session, proprietary be damned. Ta-Lo benefited a lot from him and if the chief disagreed with him, well then, Ta-Lo's citizenry might find itself suffering from a trade embargo on very essential items.

With a slight jerk, the bus came to a slight halt as he got up from his seat to get off. People bumped into him as he stepped off and was greeted with a very bustling small marketplace. After ordering his usual overly complex sugary water, he sat down and opened his laptop. The second he opened the lid and was about to press the power button, a full body shudder ran through his body, his entire body freezing as someone, no, something just slammed into his senses..

He flinched as his mystical senses were bombarded by something or someone with reality bending levels of presence just hit his senses, and knowing how weak his pure mystical senses were, he knew that he was in the presence of a walking calamity.

His senses expanded as the sound of his heart beating uncomfortably loudly echoed in his mind. Even so, he pushed past that and tried to get some reading even as his entire being was telling him that he needed to hightail it out of this place, this city, this state even, and retreat to the nearest Sanctum so he could get either the Ancient One's help or Jin'Ya's or maybe both–

"Fancy meeting you here." His entire body trembled all at once, cold sweat running down his forehead as he looked up from his coffee and saw her.

The Red Matron, the Mistress of the Blood Veil.

In that exact moment, "JIN'YAAA!" All he could do was scream bloody murder in his mind, knowing that he was completely out of his depth here. W-What was she doing here?

___xx___

–?--

She smirked as she saw the brat freeze upon his gaze falling on her majestic form. She was using the veil to hide most of her beauty but the little Life Giver here was strong enough to look past the Veil. Not strong enough to ignore the effects though.

With a flex of her will, the Veil's effects parted around the brat as she sat down and watched with slowly rising amusement as the brat mechanically looked at her, as she sat there, leaned back, a sugary drink in her hand, and dressed for the occasion as well.

The people of this era sure had a liberal view regarding clothing, and skin showing. In her time, this little dress that she was wearing would have had the Church hunting her down and burning down entire villages if she so much as touched the area around them.

So, she deliberately stretched and smiled as the brat's gaze wandered despite the terror present in his eyes.

"W-What are you doing here? I thought the treaty prohibited you–" The brat stammered, slowly gaining steam as he tried to cite the pesky little agreement she had to sign with the Bald headed Demon years ago, when one of her more adventurous vampires had gone on a rampage that resulted in multiple deaths of the Sorcery Cult.

"Oh, this little thing?" She snapped her finger, creating a copy of the treaty in front of them. The scroll then slowly unfurled and floated down to land on the table, withering away soon after. "Poof! The treaty, it's just words, only worth the power of the signatories on it. More importantly, you humans have your way with words but sometimes, you forget that we were the original tricksters."

The brat turned even paler at her words, "B-but all these years, no one could–"

She threw her head back and laughed, "Oh, yeah. No one could approach you because your dear Ancient One threatened to disintegrate anyone who would. I still remember the screams of that Hell Demon whose soul arrived in Hell half on fire, something that was supposed to be impossible because Hellfire was supposed to help them, not hurt them."

"But, my dear little Life Giver," She leaned forward, letting her magic loose a bit as her eyes started gaining the red glow she personally designed for optimal intimidation, "Treaties and contracts, they can be bypassed, circumvented, bent if some signatories of the party wish so."

"Ah, there he comes–" She tilted her head to look straight up, sensing the intrusion of a being on her level intruding on her domain, "--your little Guardian Angel."

"Awww, how cute! Are you happy he is here now? Yes! You are!"

Like seriously I can see Jin yaa passing the buck to the ancient one and she isn't the forgiving type for violations. Like Quote ReplyReport Reactions:FortunisMortis, Ultra55, Sadim and 2 othersOrphiexWombat aficionadoMay 20, 2025Add bookmark#131IdleMuse0307 said:The Red Matron, the Mistress of the Blood Veil.Okay, who is this? I don't remember her from any Marvel continuity. All that turns up in search results is Codeein references. Is this an OC? Did I miss this in earlier chapters? Like Quote ReplyReport Reactions:Sadim and IdleMuse0307IdleMuse0307I trust you know where the happy button is?May 20, 2025Add bookmark#132Orphiex said:Okay, who is this? I don't remember her from any Marvel continuity. All that turns up in search results is Codeein references. Is this an OC? Did I miss this in earlier chapters?An OC Vampiress, Ancient and Powerful... Like Quote ReplyReport Reactions:Ultra55 and OrphiexThreadmarks DoorMan (MCU SI) - #58 : Treaty, Jin'Ya on the Case! & Get to the point, Woman!!! Threadmarks IdleMuse0307I trust you know where the happy button is?May 21, 2025Add bookmark#133Disclaimer - 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 #58

Local Starbucks, LA[February 11, 2008]

–Colin Baxter–

The arrival of Jin'Ya was immediately felt by him as an overwhelming corona of energy surged into his mind and pushed away the fog that had been clinging to his mind. Sure, it couldn't breach his mind yet but that was what made the Mistress of the Blood Veil so much more dangerous than anyone of her kind.

Her mind arts. The reality warping aspect of her powers came from her mind, the sheer strength of her mind and soul made it so that even people with the highest level of attainments in the mind arts could feel the weight of the so-called Veil that she carried around herself.

Hearing about it was one thing but experiencing it in real life was something that made him almost piss his pants and he was hardier than most Masters at Kamar Taj. he couldn't even begin to fathom what the end result of such a monster roaming freely around the world would be.

The next second, the world around him slowed down as Jin'Ya quite literally descended on this place, with all the wrath his giant monstrosity of a soul could muster, or at least that's what it looked like from his point of view as he was pulled into the Astral Realm, along with Varvara, the strongest Elder Vampire alive, as the massive Draconic silhouette of Jin'Ya was made visible to both of them.

He could feel the strain on his soul as time was accelerated here a thousand fold to make sure that their conversation was wrapped up early, before Jin'Ya's pressure in the Astral Realm started affecting all the humans on the planet. He could actually feel the strain as his thoughts refused to flow as fluidly as before. Man, Jin'Ya could be really badass when he wanted to be.

"What are you doing, Varvara Koscheyenka?" Jin'Ya's voice boomed in the space. Oooh, he was starting with true names this early in the match. The pressure in the Realm was starting to feel a little uncomfortable to him now, with her power counteracting Jin'Ya's in the Astral Realm.

Theoretically, there was no equal to Jin'Ya in the matters of the Astral Realm, at least in the observable galaxy and the space around it. Still, the Red Matron was not a feared figure for nothing, as she effortlessly glared up at the giant Draconic body looming over her, with not a hint of fear on her face.

"Oi! Ancient Dragon, no need to throw a hissy fit! I was not harming your Partner, on this, I swear on my magic!"

His eyes widened as a swirling vortex of red magic appeared around her Astral Form before settling down as a chain on her body, signifying the binding vow taking hold of her. Something like that was serious talk, with the consequence of breaking the vow being severe damage to the soul, and for someone of her level, any time she spent indisposed might as well be a death sentence.

"Fine, you can speak your mind. Just know that I will take great pleasure in devouring your injured soul if you break your own vow." With those words, they were back in the Starbucks, with the only difference being the existence of Jin'Ya, now floating by his side, looking at the Red Matron in contempt.

He didn't really feel like calling out her name because, for beings on her level, names meant power and also a way to mark someone. She might just learn something new about him if he tried to speak her name. Not her true name, no, that was a secret known to probably herself but her pseudo true name, something that she used to create infamy in her time.

See, True Names were not something assigned at birth. No, the names were just something that truly strong souls adopted as their own, changing the very meaning of those words in the fabric of the universe. It was like weaving your own name in the supermassive river of fabric that was the Universe. Through that, one could do a variety of stuff by borrowing the power of that river.

Now, for most beings, a single True Name was all they would get, but for some special exceptions, like mental disorders or with exceptionally old beings, like her, it was possible to gain yet another True Name. He didn't know the true extent of the possibilities but having two True Names gave them a massive advantage over methods that could hurt beings by learning their True Names.

The name that Jin'ya uttered was her second True Name, something that wouldn't harm her as much if used as a weapon but could still be used to signify the seriousness of the situation, as Jin'Ya just did.

"So, Mr.Baxter, the Life Giver, how is life treating you? I heard you have recently come into possession of something my entire race would tear itself apart for, and not only are you not actively hiding it, but you are also offering it as a service for dirt cheap rates." She smirked at him as she languidly sipped on her coffee.

"Get on with your point. We all know you were going to find out all along, which is why the conditions were added in the treaty." Jin'Ya spat out. He had a hunch that Jin'Ya absolutely abhorred this woman, and not for the same reasons as he did.

She pointed her straw at him, "Ugh, Paper Straw, melted so easily. I missed the days when you humans used stuff that would not wither for thousands of years. Made buying stuff a lot easier for someone of my age, especially since I do not have thralls to wait on me." She muttered as her eyes flashed red before the straw turned into a plastic one, with two glowing eyes on top of it.

More than the casual use of magic, it was her easygoing, carefree attitude that worried him. Just like every other significant magical powerhouse on the planet, she had signed the treaty that the Ancient One had imposed on both him as well as the other mystical powerhouses on the planet.

It was slightly his fault as well because he was young and hot headed, and the Ancient One, being the wise elder she is, saw right through his intentions and rightfully predicted that he would end up dead in a ditch with the number of fights he would end up picking in his quest to "cleanse" the planet of the multiple blights that had been allowed to survive for far too long.

He could understand the reasoning for Ancient One's inaction because her actions were dictated more by the Time Stone and the Vishanti than her own mind but he was free. In his mind, he was a free agent, with the power to back it up, or at least he would have that power one day.

Which was part of the reason why the treaty was brought forward. Normally a regular periodic signing, a treaty brokered by the overwhelming power of the Vishanti, there was quite a significant outroar when there were new terms added in the treaty, forbidding going after enhanced humans who were underage in mystic terms, where a century was considered underage.

In return, the Ancient One, Kamar Taj, and the VIshanti themselves would step in to pull back any human mystic who was a minor from harming the interests of any mystical enclave on the planet.

Kun'Lun, Ta-Lo, Atlantis, Transilvania, Romania, and more, along with individuals like the Red Matron were signies of the treaty, which all but guaranteed his survival up to the age of 100, granted that he was not offed by Thanos.

That treaty was the reason why he had to ask for permission every damn time to enter Ta-Lo, despite his stellar relations with them. It was also why he could not just raid the vampires' strongholds he knew the location of, despite having an inbuilt glorified flashlight that would work on most thralls, which were the majority of the workforce of these vampires.

It was also why Jin'Ya, someone who mostly ignored all the laws of all the civilisations he ever met in his long long life, abided by the treaty, because he too, was a signee of the scroll.

That scroll was part of why he had been very lackadaisical with his mystical training because he knew he had time and had set aside decades of his life, once the Thanos situation was resolved and he could let the world try to destroy it for a while before the heroes inevitably had to step in once more to save it, from itself or from some outside threat, only time would tell.

Now, she was here and telling them that the threat was being subverted somehow? The same one that had been used for over a thousand years by the strongest Sorcerer Supreme in generations, was being bent?

It was a cause of massive concern, maybe more so because of the bearer of the bad news being her, one of the last people he expected to come here to warn him.

Something was wrong with the whole thing here and he did not like it, not one bit.

Jin'Ya must have felt it as well, because the dragon growled at the woman, "Get on with it, you parasitic scum. I have other matters to tend to."

She just raised an eyebrow at Jin'Ya, "Look who's calling me a parasite? What do the humans say about situations like these? Ah, yes. Pot calling the kettle black, you understand?

He groaned at that. Get to the point, woman!

DoorMan #59

Local Starbucks, LA[February 11, 2008]

–Colin Baxter–

"As I was saying, before someone very rudely pulled all of us into the Astral Realm very haphazardly, I am here because I have credible news of someone successfully bypassing the rules of the treaty that I have signed. Someone from the Line of Cain, one of the Elders most probably, has made some sort of pact with the Lords of Hell, allowing him significant leeway when it comes to the–"

"But that's impossible." He butts in, "All extradimensional contractual pipelines have been sealed, as far as I know. They should not be open for another five years, Kamar Taj sees to that. If there was a stray crack somewhere, the Ancient One would've–"

"Oh, wake up to reality!" He leans back at her outburst, "You think your Ancient One is so perfect? That Kamar Taj can monitor every single sub dimension, every single dimensional outflow, every single call request, every single dimensional spill? No, that would be impossible, kid. I haven't yet figured out how they converted one of the smaller pipelines into a full blown dimensional connection but I will."

The hunger in her eyes scared him at the moment. That was another scary aspect of the Red Matron, her scientific rigor. Once burned as a witch with a curiosity never seen before, she represents the pinnacle of vampiric magical research, so much so that even the denizens of Transylvania, along with their ruler, respect her. Her words of the dimensional mechanisms ran straight over his head since, as mentioned before, he thought he had time to go through that stuff later on.

As it turns out, someone somehow contacted the Hell Lords to gain extraordinary powers, powers strong enough to bypass the Treaty.

"My point is, someone has done it and they have done it for a single goal, as far as I can tell. They need something, the Hell Lords, and for that, they have risked significant backlash by aligning with us Vampires. All to get something or someone."

His eyes widened at that.

"Colin," Jin'ya stated with an air of finality.

"Yes." She nodded solemnly, "Your little charge, the Life Giver's fame has now reached the halls of Hell and they now demand the one who can give them nearly limitless life force." She then turned to him with an amused smirk on her face, "Isn't that right, Colin Baxter?"

"Be that as it may, that still doesn't explain how you could approach him without breaking the laws," Jin'Ya asked her.

She then beamed at them, "Ah! That's where the beauty of reading and comprehension comes into play. You guys used English for the treaty, which, fair, was something that the majority of the members spoke and understood, but it is also something that has a vast potential to be misused or misunderstood."

His brows furrowed as he realised where she was going with this. She probably used some sort of loophole in the treaty to get around the no approaching him rule. He was sure she would reveal it soon enough because someone like her–

"You see, the Demons from Hell, while powerful and greedy, are not stupid. They have not hedged all their bets on a single vampiric faction, however powerful they may be. No, they have also approached another entity, sealed and vastly weakened from its peak, but in very close proximity with their target."

"Ta-Lo" he whispered, as things finally began making sense.

"Yes, my dear Life Giver. You see, the treaty left a certain leeway in the way you can do things, i.e., how you can build allies. The ones who you deem trustworthy are elevated in terms of getting around some of the stricter stuff on the treaty. As you can guess, when I politely requested a meeting with the Village Chief of Ta-Lo and relayed my concerns–concerns that were confirmed by the Water Dragon, he was more than happy enough to give me permission to approach you on my own, effectively making me a member of Ta-Lo as far as the treaty is concerned."

"Wow." That was all he could say as she smirked, basking in her supposed sense of superiority. She then faltered as he asked, "All of that? For what? Just to meet me? Because no matter how much you help me, I am never going to give you CHI, let's be very clear about that."

She then, honest to Stan Lee, pouted at him, "Oh! Come on, why be a spoilsport? I came all the way here just to warn you, that has to count for something, right?"

He snorted as her effect of intimidation just slid right off of him as Jin'Ya was right beside him. Bitch, using psionic manipulation in front of a Psionic Dragon. You wish to die? Was something he wished to say to her but he did not have a death wish as of now.

"I have been more than aware of the effects of my CHI on your king. If given freely, it is the greatest elixir for your kind, instantly elevating you above your base desires and granting you relief from any hunger for decades, maybe centuries based on the amount I can provide BUT I have also been warned by the foremost user of Time Magic that going down that route leads to nothing but devastation, as a new class of Vampires begins to take hold and exert their authority on your entire species." He stated before standing up.

"Now, I have a lot of work to do, something that I have been neglecting for a while now. If you have names, locations, or any other info, now is the time to share it but do note that you will not be getting CHI in return. Something else can certainly be negotiated." He did his best to sound serious because this woman meant business and while he was mostly a greenhorn when it came to mystical dealings, he had JIn'Ya with him who would correct him if he went off course.

"That's the thing, little Life-Giver." She stated with an air of superiority around her like she knew something he didn't, which was most likely.

"That's my only condition. A little sliver of what you pump regularly into Ta-Lo, pumped directly into me in exchange for all the information I have."

Ewww, that made it sound gross. There was no way he was going to do what came to his mind to a woman that old, despite her looks. Obviously, he did not let any of it show on his face, he was not dumb.

"Then I am sorry to say but we have no deal. We will look for them on our own. In exchange for bringing this to our attention, I promise to overlook this incident but know this, if you try this again, I can and will shatter your soul and feed the remains to Astral Terrors, do you understand?" Jin'Ya leaned forward as his soul exerted pressure on the very reality around them, making the space around them wobble as if it would break apart at any point.

"Oh, sod off with the threats, they don't work. I am your equal, if not in the Astral Realm, then in the material universe. I won't go down that easily and any battle between us will just force the others into action, so calm down, will you? You stupid Dragon." She grumbled as she just gave him a look and he blinked as he found himself back in his seat.

"Now," She flashed him a strained smile, "I know that you are very hesitant in creating a deranged hungry monster addicted to CHI but I am different, I can guarantee my own sanity. I have done similar stuff before."

"Really?" Jin'Ya scoffed, "When?"

She shot him a nasty look and then quieted down, "Even if I agree to stay in the Mirror Dimension for my research with the only key being in your hands?"

He immediately countered "If the key is in the Ancient One's hands." Like hell, he was going to trust himself for a task of this magnitude.

She scoffed, "Oh, that bald headed demon would just love that. She would never let me out. I might as well just present my True Name and True Heart on a gold platter to her."

She then looked at him with a gleam in her eyes that honestly made him feel uncomfortable. She then glanced at Jin'Ya before replying, "What if I made the same deal as him," She jutted her chin at Jin'Ya.

He was confused for exactly a second before the world around him blurred and then he was left in that booth with Jin'Ya and the Red Matron nowhere in sight.

"Well, damn." He sighed. This was going to be messy.

He pulled out his sling ring and went to the bathroom. He might need to call in the Ancient One on this. Jin'Ya would not take kindly to this and the last thing they needed was a fight of that level, destroying part of the planet.

"Oh, man, she is going to be pissed. Stupid Village Chief," He cursed that old man for this, and to some extent, the Water Dragon but the Water Dragon was chill so most of his anger was placed on the Chief.

Chapter 664 - 60