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 #21
Earth Bachelor Pad, Seattle [January 18, 2008]
–Colin Baxter–
"So, are you finally going to get yourself a mate?" He choked on the water as Jin'Ya spoke directly into his mind since it was still dangerous for both of them to be in his apartment since it could be bugged seven ways to Sunday.
"What?! No. Why would you even ask that? You know exactly well how human customs work," He grumbled as he had to wipe the water off his T-shirt and since he was still possibly under surveillance, he could not open a wind gate and dry it out, or a fire gate but that would be overkill since he would have to use most of his focus to restrict the flow of energy and only allow some air to go in and then come out superheated for it to work or else, pure fire will come tumbling through the Door and burn this entire place down.
Jin'Ya chortled in his mind, "I know, which is what makes this so funny. You had no idea how to say no and that is why you are now about to have dinner with the same people whose ideology you utterly despise."
Seeing that wiping the water was not working, he threw the shirt into the laundry bin and took out a new one, "Not their entire ideology, just the part where they try to hinder the rest of the world from advancing while they steal anything they could get their hands on. Wonder why they didn't steal from Howard Stark? The man was a genius of his era, and probably had tech that Wakanda wanted."
"Probably because of the attention it would bring."
"Yeah, fat load of good it did Howard Stark. The man died an ignominious death all the same. HYDRA scum."
"Yeah, about that, I have something that might interest you. The man next door, he is not just any War Dog as the Princess thinks him to be, he is one of the head honchos. His thoughts just turned into a very ugly direction when he heard from the Princess that you were making significant progress in your technology."
A chill ran down his spine as a harsh frown formed on his face. "Are they here for that? Is Shuri here just to kill me?"
"No, that's the thing. The Princess doesn't know a thing. The man is now planning to report it to his superior and recommend that you be killed." Jin'Ya spoke into his mind as the dragon was nearby, probably lounging high up in the air in one of the many green spaces surrounding the apartment complex. The ancient dragon was tiny and could camouflage his body against all types of technology that existed on the planet.
The only he could be tracked is if someone was specifically looking for psionic energy and that was still a long way away.
He took a deep breath and relaxed. That was still a sore topic for him, especially since he traced a pattern in their actions and how they hid their involvement in it. Promising young scientists were killed in accidents, killed in ways that were probably painful. To kill someone for something so selfish and then not even have the decency to give them a painless death?
That was unacceptable in his opinion.
"It is just the man. We can handle whatever comes our way. Worst comes to worst, I will just open a Door next to the weakest sun and show them just what awaits them if I am further targeted."
"Whoa! Whoa, calm down, Colin. You said it yourself, we can't treat them as enemies. We need the next generation to help the rest of the world, not make them your enemies."
"Fine," He spat as he looked at the clock as it struck 7:30 PM. Shuri should have texted him by now.
"Jin'Ya, we are moving to LA next week, both for my internship and also because we need to make sure Tony becomes Iron Man. Postpone whatever activities you might have because you will be overlooking Tony for the entire time he is in Afghanistan." He ordered the dragon since this was one of the very few things where he could tell the Dragon to do something and he would comply.
He read a sense of indifference at his words from the mental link, "Pfft. Don't worry about that. I can stay anywhere on the planet and still sense a mind once I have sufficiently marked it."
He countered, "But can you make sure he is safe? Can you deflect bullets from that distance or if need be, conduct delicate heart surgery?"
"But ofcourse!"
"I meant, can your body handle that much psionic energy being pumped into it?"
"I will look into it."
And that was that.
He was about to read a book, just to pass the time when his phone chimed.
[ Dinner should be done in 15 - Shuri :) ]
Wow, that was awfully informal of her. Shouldn't she be wary of being so friendly with a stranger, much less an "outsider" in their own terminology?
An entire nation of racists and xenophobes. Goes to tell that the fault lies in the human race itself, irrespective of color, and that…is the best argument against racism. That human nature defaults to the same setting, irrespective of setting, color, age, etc.
Getting ready, he wished himself luck and after 15 minutes, knocked on the apartment next door. His base level senses told him of the absence of any breathing in the apartment aside from Shuri's. That either meant they were hiding much better than he had expected them to or they had actually vacated the place, which was surprising.
Jin'Ya chimed in his mind who was tagging along for the ride, "They are in the apartment below you, armed with everything they have, ready to eviscerate you at a moment's notice. Also, the man has already reported your activities to his superior along with the recommendation. The Dora Milaje does not know."
Yeah, he figured so. Let them come.
"This is a nice apartment. When did you get the time to do all this?" He asked as he saw the artwork on the walls, immaculate furniture placement, fully stocked cabinets, and more. Both of them had the same layout apartments and yet, hers looked so much more luxurious than his. Perks of being a princess, he supposed.
"Yeah, I had a friend of mine hire some people before I moved here to get everything set up. It does look nice, doesn't it?" Shuri mused as she moved into the kitchen, to get whatever she had cooked up and he sat down at the dining table, wary of any sudden vibranium nets falling on him or something.
"You can just blast it all away or just heat everything around you to the point of self immolation."
"Get out of my mind, Jin'Ya!" He raged at the Dragon who cackled madly in his mind and said, "Never!"
He sighed and let the dragon be. After all, there was not much he could do in that instance. The Red Hearth was a magical sanctuary, not just in words but an actual, real life magical sanctuary, a beacon of magic on an otherwise dead planet.
The thing with the universe is that magic is everywhere, even on dead planets but the magic is just dispersed everywhere, chaotic and messy. Having his Red Hearth in that place with all the wards on it, gave the chaotic magic a direction, an Order to its unruly chaos. That magic then began shaping itself into a ley line that should go right underneath his Red Hearth and should be fully formed in about 5 more years.
Once that happens, life will start appearing on the planet after a century or so of the Ley Line being active. That, while being a happy surprise, created complications. Like the Red Hearth and the magic being pumped into it could not be handled by him, who was the magical owner of the place.
So, he had to form a guardian contract with Jin'ya, designating him the official guardian of the Red Hearth, officially forging a semi permanent contract with Jin'Ya, as long as both of them were alive. It also had a minor side effect of the contract and its strength, since it was reinforced by the Vishanti themselves who wished to have another planet teeming with life, right next to Earth for reasons unknown, which made sure that their mind bond bypassed his power completely and latched directly to his mind.
That created a direct unbreakable connection between their minds. Normally, it was fine and desirable even since nothing could break that bond but right now, the damned dragon was just being annoying on purpose.
"Here. Mac and Cheese, I hope you like it." Shuri came out of the kitchen with two plates in her hand. It actually looked…nice. So, he complimented her.
"It looks really nice," He said as he took a bite and yup, totally normal and tasty, plain old Mac & Cheese.
"Thanks."
Just like that, they both ate in companionable silence right up until Shuri broke it.
"So, I read your paper on the new data transmission pipeline. Theoretically, if you could do it, it would mean billions in savings for the world, right?"
He looked up and nodded, "Yup. That is the goal."
Inwardly, he sneered. She probably already built the damned thing and was probably internally laughing at his backward ass.
Well, not everyone can be geniuses like her.
"You're interested in theoretical computer science? That is a heavy field, not to mention on the other spectrum of Material Sciences." He casually commented.
"Oh, yeah. I am more of a multidisciplinary person. For the time being, Material Sciences is the quest but I do like to read on the Computer Science side in my downtime."
He opened his mouth to ask more, just so he could make her trip but stopped midway, not even letting an emotion show as he received an alert from Jin'Ya. Cleaning his face with the napkin, he set down the spoon & fork. Apologising to Shuri, "I am so sorry but I just remembered that I have an important meeting. Thank you so much for the Dinner, I'll host you as soon as I get the time."
"W=what happened? Is everything fine?"
"I'm so sorry," He yelled as he left her apartment.
"Jin'Ya?"
"Done. She doesn't suspect a thing and I scanned her mind, there are no sensors installed in your apartment though the guy below is definitely planning on it. Also, they only have a single drone in this area. It is big but I have already implanted a suggestion in Shuri's mind to make it inactive and go to sleep. The guards will just watch over her and not even look in your apartment's direction." Jin'Ya spoke into his mind.
"Great." He said as he jumped into a portal that formed in his living room, with Jin'Ya on the other side, which was mid air.
"W-whoa!" He glared balefully at the dragon who did not have the decency to catch him with his telekinesis and so he had to open multiple smaller Air Doors on his body to stabilise himself.
Taking a deep breath, he caught the thrown orange onesie and wore it mid air.
It was time to rescue the Hulk, and Bruce Banner.
The Military was alerted by Ross a few minutes ago, which triggered his alert. They had spotted him in Canada.
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