Disclaimer - 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 #98
Kamar Taj [April 2008]
–Colin Baxter–
"Welcome back, Master Baxter," The first one to greet him was Wong, who looked very stoic, but he knew that internally the man was very happy to see him. Well, he hoped, anyway.
He knew the man was using official terminology because they were in the open, and the man was very stingy when it came to breaking his character in front of the vast majority of the people here at Kamar Taj, so he played along.
"Glad to be bad, Master Wong. Anything exciting happened while I was gone?" For some reason, Wong's face twisted briefly before returning to his usual stoic face, with an intense expression.
____xx____
–Master "Wongers" Wong–
The moment Colin asked him that question, his mind flashed back to the memory of the fight from two months ago, when the Ancient One unexpectedly rounded up all of the strongest Masters and went somewhere, handing him the responsibility of looking after Kamar Taj in her absence.
It was the first time a responsibility of that level was placed on her and he understandably panicked since she was taking every single Master his seniors with her, for an undisclosed mission that might end up threatening the planet beyond anything they had ever seen.
Only a few threats could warrant a movement of that sort but he did not have the time or the urge for any clarification from the person who was organising a massive expedition not seen in his lifetime, to combat a dangerous foe, so he decided to investigate on his own, later on, when he was saddled with the responsibility of looking after the place that had nurtured generations of protectors of Humanity.
Curious about the whole event, he had used his unprecedented access to check on everything, essentially. Everything that was being actively monitored by Kamar Taj and could be checked, he checked on.
The three Sanctums and their respective shield modules? Intact.
The six backup lines established in case any Sanctum falls? Intact.
The 17 demon seals on the planet? Intact.
Spells cast on multiple public sites to deter any civilian from stumbling into them? Intact and in need of a recharge in about 70 days.
Nothing that could tell him about that event was found so he did what he could. He waited, instructed some of the newer initiates and walked around, inspecting everything and maintaining a constant state of vigilance just in case some stupid decided to attack Kamar Taj at their weakest.
He expected an update, a signal, a call for more reinforcements, something, from the party that left but alas, he did not receive a single peep from them for over a week. After which, everyone came back, save for the Ancient One.
From the people that came back, he learned about what had happened. These people had gone to Ta-Lo, not to fight but just in case something happened, to help evacuate the entire place and create a last defense for Earth around the entrance of Ta-Lo.
No injuries, nothing, which was a good sign and he took it as such, right up until the Ancient One arrived, and she did not come alone.
With her, she brought the downed form of the Red Matron, one of the strongest beings on the planet, capable of low level reality warping with her blood magic. Someone like her was severely injured, to the point that he couldn't even feel any threat coming from her despite being just a few feet away.
Usually, being in the same vicinity as her was enough to trigger a reaction from his instincts but back then, she was just down. He thought for good and in some part of his mind, he thought that it was for the better but the Ancient One, likely due to some obligation, decided to heal her.
Then came the state of the Ancient One. Her face was covered in soot, her one hand hung limply by one side and even the Eye of Agamotto had some scorch marks on it, indicating a fierce fight had gone by.
He had not had time to even ask her what had happened because the only ones who knew had either recovered and left Kamar Taj hastily or were in meditation. The Ancient One had given strict orders to only wake her up once Colin had returned.
He wondered if she would finally tell everyone what the hell happened in Ta-Lo, now that Colin had returned.
___xx__
–Colin Baxter–
"Master Wong? Hello? Wong? WONG!" He had to shout to finally get the man out of some sort of reverie that he was in.
"Huh, what? Oh, Master Baxer. The Ancient One has been waiting. Can you stay in the library until I can inform her?" Wong asked him, somewhat excited for some reason.
He shrugged it off, "Sure, I was headed to the library anyway. And she probably knows I am here anyway, but, sure."
Wong swiftly turned and began briskly walking as he turned and made a beeline to the library. He had some experimenting to do and what better way than to start with spells he never had the accuracy for, now that he has tremendous accuracy.
Waving and nodding at some of his acquaintances, he crossed the threshold of the library and smiled upon feeling the familiar sting of the wards identifying him before deciding not to smite him as he entered the Masters' section of the library.
Kamar Taj's motto of no knowledge being forbidden was true, but only to a certain extent. The hidden part that was barely ever said out loud was that some knowledge would be withheld from people until they were ready and the one judging people would be the Ancient One.
Which is why even he did not have unfettered access to everything. Some of the Ancient One's personal collection had stuff that literally had to be chained up by chains made up of some magical metal, which was like Uru but not Uru. Odin, for some reason, had exclusive ownership of every single Uru made weapon in the galaxy.
Well, he knew why Odin had control of a very strong and volatile material. It was because he was strong, simple as that. The Dwarves believed in might makes right, which is why no Uru weapon shall ever be made for anyone without Asgard bearing down on them.
Getting near the Restricted section, he was rewarded with the same feeling of ominous doom that he got whenever he tried getting near them before but this time, it was noticeably dimmed down, as if the cursed feeling had difficulty getting to him.
Hmm, progress then.
"Nice," He smiled and stepped back to see if he could find a spell he could practice without having to go to the largest sparring ring, but also one that would be high level enough that he could get an accurate reading as to where he was in his progress.
Come to think of it, how did Strange ever get anywhere near her collection without going at least a little bit mad in the process? Was it because he was already mad, or was it because she was already playing favourites and clearing the path for him. Because having the Eye of Agamotto out in the open, with Strange being cleared for the pedestal enchantments and having the Book of Cagliostro out in the open, just begging to be used? It reeked of outside intervention.
Moving on, he began browsing the books of spells available here.
"Separating different gases from the air and poisoning Demons? Pass." No way to check on the efficiency without some sacrifices and he didn't think the Ancient One had it in her for his shenanigans right now.
"Magnetic pole manipulation? Creation of a mystical magnet? Nah." Too much metal around here. He didn't want to think what could happen if he could not modulate the strength of the magnet and ended up even slightly moving the metal racks in the library.
Too bad that the Mirror Dimension was now unavailable to him, due to his loss of a working limb. He paused from his browsing as a thought occurred to him.
He slowly looked down and flexed his toes. Hmm, maybe?
"It is not feasible, Master Baxter," He whirled around to see the Ancient One, with the same placid smile on her face.
"The Sling ring on your toes, I mean," She continued, "It will not be feasible for combat and the effort required to, once more, relearn will not be worth it. I am sure you will figure something out but I can tell you this, that is not a viable solution."
He nodded, "Alright. I will look into something else."
"See that you do," Then, she looked at him, as if she was peering through him, "Remarkable. To do so in such a short period of time. I did not believe him when he said so, but I believe that you have surpassed your previous uninjured self in raw Dimensional Energy manipulation in such a short period of time. Congratulations are in order."
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.