Colleen had been having a bad day, she had only moved to New York a few months ago —moving into the dojo that had been gifted to her by her sensei. While she liked the city, the liveliness and the mix of cultures, it was very hard to live in. She was 20 years old a master in multiple martial arts and yet she had no students. It seemed here they thought that a Martial Arts Master should be an old man as any students that came for the introductory lesson never returned. She had spent the better part of the afternoon stapling fliers in Hells Kitchen.
As she did her eyes drifted off to the large Dojo that rested there, though she hesitated to call it a dojo. Ultimate Power Fighting, with Michael-Sensei. The name infuriated her, not only that, but the teacher himself, he looked like he'd never fought a day in his life. Americans were weird, or perhaps it was only New Yorkers who were like this.
Colleen sighed as she finished stapling her advertisements and started heading back to her dojo. However despite all the misgivings she had about living here she was excited. Having her own Dojo, passing on her knowledge, recruiting for the hand. It was like a dream come true; she would finally be able to pay off her debt to them. She owed them much of the woman she had become, and if she could help some lost souls the same way they'd helped her then she would have fulfilled her mission.
As Colleen walked she heard the sounds of a scuffle, stopping in her tracks she walked back a few steps and looking into an alleyway. She saw a young man being cornered by a bunch of thugs —which was another thing she hated about this place. She watched as the first one swung at him, but was instead greeted with a body shot that nearly made him collapse. She could tell the young man was injured by the way he moved so throwing a punch like that under those conditions was impressive.
The next one that lunched at him was knocked out cold with one punch to the side of his head. However what Colleen hadn't seen was the third man who had a knife as the young man had been in the way. 'Shit!' She cursed as she watched him get stabbed, she would've intervened sooner had she known he was armed. However she was surprised once more as the man was picked up as if he was a child and thrown across the alley where he smashed against the wall.
Colleen snapped out of her surprise when she saw him get tripped up and the man who he'd hit in the liver try and finish the job. She rushed down the alleyway jumping over his body and delivering a flying right to the man's head. He fell into a nearby dumpster where she made sure he stayed down by smashing his head into it. She then turned around to check on the young man but noticed the one he'd knocked out before —and the one who tripped him was trying to get up. She lifted her leg up 180 degrees before bringing it back down on the back of his head.
She finally was able to look at the young man's injuries. He'd been stabbed in his midsection but lucky it was off to the side and just under his ribs so it was likely just a flesh wound. While she was tempted just to call an ambulance and leave, she would be remiss if she at least didn't find out what that crazy strength he used came from. 'Perhaps he could serve the hand," she thought to herself as she lifted him up and slowly took him back to her Dojo through the backstreets.
...
Mark groaned as he opened his eyes, he was starting to get a little sick of being assaulted by pain and nausea whenever he woke up —though at least he still had his senses this time. He looked around and saw he was in an apartment, a pretty clean and neat one. He moved upright on the sofa he was on, he didn't have a shirt on but his midsection was covered in bandages. Pulling them out he saw that the knife wound had already scarred over, a good sign his powers were coming back.
*grumble*
Though it also meant his appetite was increasing too. He stood up, wincing slightly as his body still ached and moved around. It seemed like a typical apartment, he saw a corridor that seemed to lead to a bedroom and a bathroom In between. On his right however was a set of double doors that led into a large open space, to Mark it looked like a dojo as the floors were padded and there were a few wooden swords as well as some pads and a punch bag.
"You're up."
Mark turned to the source of the voice and saw a rather attractive Asian woman walk down the corridor. She was around 5,6ft had a slim body but with a hint of muscle. She wore black leggings and a tank top and had her hair in a ponytail. "Where am I?" Mark asked as he realised he'd been staring a bit too long.
"You're in my dojo," she replied as she approached him. Without hesitating she touched his stomach pulling the bandages aside, her eyes widening as she saw that the wound had already closed up.
"You were the one who finished off the thugs after I got stabbed," Mark stated.
She looked up at him and nodded before moving the bandages back into place.
"Well thanks for the help, I was in a pretty bad spot there," he said as he rubbed the back of his head.
"I won't take up any of your time," Mark said as he spotted his shirt hanging over a chair. He walked over to it and slid it on preparing to leave.
"You don't have to go so quickly!" She said abruptly. "You should rest after all you were stabbed less than a day ago,"
"We both know I'm fine," Mark replied as he started stretching his arms. His entire body felt stiff, whatever portal he'd travelled through had sure done a number on him.
*grumble*
His stomach roared again which silenced both of them. "Can I at least treat you to some food before you go?" She asked.
Mark sighed but nodded before taking a seat back on the sofa. "I don't have much in, give me half an hour, I know this good takeout place," she said with a smile as she put on a jacket and her shoes before heading out.
'Kinda trusting to leave me here by myself,' Mark thought to himself. In Gotham even your friends had to empty out their pockets when they left your house. He knew he wasn't in Gotham, he guessed it was New York, both cities were pretty similar with the former being much more dirty and crime riddled.
Mark lifted his shirt back up, the bandages at this point were just ceremonial and so he decided to take them off. After putting the clump in the rubbish he sat down and waited for his host to return. He hadn't even gotten her name yet. In hindsight he was a bit rude to her, she had saved him from that thug at the end and even offered to let him rest here and was now out getting him food.
In Gotham that meant someone was about to cut you up and sell your organs on the black market.
However she had already had that chance and didn't do anything so he thought she was being genuine. Mark decided he'd be a bit nicer to her when she came back, it wasn't often you met someone like that and his mom had always taught him to show kindness where it's given.
Less than half an hour later his host had returned with a paper bag in her arms. She smiled at him as she walked through the double doors. "Hope you're hungry," she said as she set the bag down on the table. Mark stood up and moved toward the table pulling out a chair and sitting down with the woman.
"Listen, I appreciate you helping me and letting me recover here..." Mark said "And the food too," he added nodding to the bag.
"Gotham isn't the most friendly of places so I was a bit suspicious of your intentions," he explained. "I'm Mark," he said holding his hand out.
She smiled at him before taking his offered hand "I'm Colleen," she replied. When she grasped Marks hand he noticed that it wasn't soft and was instead calloused like his. She trained hard, but that was clear enough from how easily she dealt with the trash back in the alleyway.
"Let's eat," Colleen said as she started taking out the boxes from the bag. It smelled good, but even if it wasn't Mark was far too hungry to complain.
Even after inhaling two boxes down Mark still didn't even feel like her even begun to satiate his hunger. Colleen hadn't even finished half of her food before Mark started on the fourth portion of chow mein. She looked at him with a mix of concern and amusement, but shrugged and just assumed it was down to him being out for a day. After the fifth box Mark slowed down, not because he was getting full, but because he realised he was being rude. "Sorry about that," he said with a slightly sheepish grin.
She shook her head as she covered her mouth —as she was still chewing. "My mother used to say it's good for a man to have a healthy appetite."
"Mine did as well," he said with a small smile. "Though I still think I went a little overboard," he added as he looked to the four empty cartons of Chinese food.
"Don't worry about it, food is meant to be eaten, it's good you're eating, means your healing is going well," she said as she set her chopsticks down. She then got up from her chair and moved over to the fridge, when she opened it she bent over, Mark couldn't help but glance at her backside as she did. The leggings did little to conceal what was underneath, and it sent a rush of blood directly south of his head. She was quite a small woman, but she no doubt trained quite a bit and that was reflected in her body. Her ass was small but it was for lack of a better word meaty, like a nice little peach. Small but round and toned, perfect to sink your hands into.
Mark turned his head around as he saw her stand back up and bring over a bottle of soda as well as two styrofoam cups. "Sorry about the lack of cups, I only recently moved to New York, I'm still eating on paper plates," she said with a sheepish smile as she sat down.
Mark chuckled. "I don't mind, a cup is a cup," he replied as he accepted the offered drink.
"Where did you move from if you don't mind me asking?" Mark asked as he took a sip of his drink.
"Hokkaido," she replied.
"Long way from home," Mark commented.
Colleen nodded but shrugged. "Some work associates of mine needed someone to run a branch of their dojo in New York a friend recommended me for the job," she explained.
"Must be hard," Mark commented
"Why do you say that?" She asked.
"You look around my age, I doubt many people would take you seriously as a martial arts instructor," Mark said as he continued eating, though he quickly realised how insensitive it sounded. "No offence," he quickly added after.
Colleen laughed as she leaned back in her seat "You're right it has been much more difficult than I expected, doesn't help that that dumbass downtown is stealing all my potential students," she said throwing her chopstick at the window. "He doesn't even teach real martial arts!" She added before sighing.
She then turned her head back to Mark. "So you said you're from Gotham? Is that in Europe or somewhere south?" She asked.
Mark stopped eating and looked at her before chuckling, but then he realised that she'd only come here recently. "No it's just across the river in New Jersey," he replied.
Colleen frowned, she had extensively studied the area before coming here, there was no city in New Jersey called Gotham. She stopped leaning back in her chair. "I don't want to seem rude, but are you sure you mean New Jersey?" She asked.
Mark raised an eyebrow before nodding. "I'm pretty sure I'd know, I've lived there my whole life," he replied.
Colleen nodded slowly "It's just that I've been to New Jersey, but I've never heard of Gotham," she said.
Mark looked at her for a moment before laughing. "Very funny," he replied before taking a sip.
Colleen stood up and walked over to the sofa, next to it was a small table and on that table was a laptop. She brought it back to the table and opened it before bringing up a search engine. "Search for yourself if you don't believe me," she said.
Mark had a small smile on his face but he decided to humour her little joke anyway. Typing in Gotham City, New Jersey. The smile melted off his face when no results came up, a frown started to form when he brought up the maps and looked manually only to still find nothing. "This is a joke right?" Mark said with a frown in his face.
Colleen shook her head. "I've never heard of Gotham before," she replied.
Mark stood up from the table, considering things logically. "Maybe I'm in some weird mirror master dimension." He did fall into a void, and the existence of other universes had already been proven when he was in school. Maybe if he could find the Mirror Master of this place he could get back home.
"Mirror master?" Colleen said with confusion etched onto her face.
Mark looked up at her. "He's a supervillain in Star City," he replied automatically.
Colleen was quiet for a moment "I'm sorry I have no clue what you're talking about," she said almost apologetically.
Marks heart started to beat faster. "Superman? Batman? The Flash? The Justice League? Superheroes?" He said in quick succession all while looking at her intensely.
She shook her head "I saw on the news something about a man who calls himself Ironman?" She replied, but Mark wasn't listening. His breathing was getting heavy and his chest was getting tight, he pushed past Colleen and ran through the doors leaving the apartment despite her calls for him to stop. He rushed out the building looking around the streets, the sounds of sirens and cars filled his senses. He turned his head around and saw a massive tower with an S on it. "Excuse me what's that building?" He asked a stranger walking towards him. He thought maybe it stood for Superman.
"Are you stupid kid? That's Stark Tower," he replied before barging past him and walking down the road.
'What the fuck is Stark Tower,' he thought to himself.
(AN: Name one place tighter than an asi— *cough* *cough* anyway. It's pretty late and I actually cba for these AN so you're just gonna see some unhinged stuff.)
Support me for that good shit.
Patreon.com/captainalfie78works