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 #11
Red Hearth [January 17, 2008]
–Colin Baxter–
Whistling a jaunty tune, he monitored the Discord chat on the tablet with one eye while keeping an eye on his eggs. It had been more than 24 hours since his latest close brush with death and he was kind of over it now, hence the merrily preparing breakfast for himself.
He was so thankful that the Ancient One allowed one of the Masters, who was a Master in fusing magic and technology in ways that had benefited Kamar Taj immensely, to cast the same spell on the Red Hearth as the one cast on Kamar Taj and the three Sanctums.
The spell that allowed all of them to have an active internet connection but with no [possible way of tracking the connection. It was awesome. Not only did it give him an edge over literally every other computer system on the planet, but it also provided Red Hearth with an essential service.
The Internet.
It was awesome, especially for him since he would not have been able to afford any of the stuff inside the Red Hearth had it not been for the internet and its ability to mask its users behind a thin veil of anonymity. That thin veil was far denser in his case but his point stood all the same.
So far, he was a multi millionaire, purely based on his work and his investment choices. He was in the process of liquidating his entire portfolio to invest in the inevitable Stark Industries crash once Tony went missing. The stock should further crash when Tony would announce that they were shutting down their weapons division.
It was not much, about 3 million dollars but hey, why would he waste such a sure shot way of making money?
He had tried roping in some of the obviously wealthy masters in Kamar Taj but apparently, he was still a child who didn't know anything about the real world and had only gotten lucky with his gifts, which was true. It was not his loss so he let them be.
But Old Man Wong though?
Man, he fleeced the old man dry, liquidating anything of value that the man had and poured it into the Stock Market. After all, he was the prodigal son and anything he asked for would be given no questions asked. The OId Man couldn't even complain since he was seeing his net worth rise.
Shovelling the scrambled eggs in his mouth, made up of whole 15 eggs, he must have looked like a chipmunk because he was sooo hungry. He had only eaten half his daily protein requirement yesterday, mainly because he didn't have any appetite after almost dying but the hunger came roaring back today.
Man, he was so going to hit an all you can eat buffet, for dinner.
He felt a light bonk on his head as he felt Jin'ya floating into the dining/kitchen area. It was a shared space but the old fuck never made anything aside from barbequed meat, which was done on the upper floors, with the endless red rivers in view.
"Eat slowly. The food is not going anywhere." The air vibrated as Jin'ya used his precise telekinesis to deliver his words without opening his mouth. Man, talk about being lazy.
He eyes the floating tiny lizard. Well, two could play at this game, he thought as a door appeared behind Jin'ya and let loose a small shockwave that was immediately negated by the old fuck's automatic shielding.
"Nice try. You'd need a lot more to get past my guard." Jin'Ya commented as multiple pieces of clearly marinated meat flew out of the freezer and began hovering around Jin'Ya as he came through one entrance and went right up into the elevator.
All this while, he glared at the dragon as he purposefully chose the time he would be semi-full with eggs to do the barbeque. He stabbed the eggs and shoved them in his mouth, much less enthusiastically than before as the elevator dinged, probably taking Jin'Ya to the top levels.
He shoved the plate to the side as he saw that the chat was not active as well today. That was to be expected, it was a weekday. Not everyone had the privilege to be snoozing on a Wednesday.
He sighed, pulled back the eggs, absentmindedly ate the rest, before washing the plates, and putting them in the dishwasher.
Jin'Ya usually did them with his telekinesis but he didn't feel like relying on the old dragon today. It was funny. The dragon was definitely a net positive in his house, capable of doing anything and everything while being witty, snarky, and overall not a boring person but somehow, after endangering his life, and not getting any apology after, has affected his living experience with the dragon.
Letting the dishwasher do its thing, he hopped into the other elevator and jumped to the lower levels. Those were the storage areas, lab areas, ritual rooms, and more.
He entered his personal lab and found all the 10 data disks arranged carefully. To his surprise, he had discovered already that the data disk he had stolen right under Barton's nose was the real deal.
That only left the last data disk but he was unsure if his luck would still work in finding that ship because there was basically no way SHIELD still had that data on their servers. It was probably all paper files now or maybe even strictly verbal orders, no paper trail to be found in that regard.
He sighed and set aside the chips, and pressed a key on the keyboard, turning on the monitor from standby.
Oh, how he wanted those holodisplays that Tony probably had at this point but those were not on the market, not even as a concept. Tony probably built them as a side project and used them only in his personal lab.
Dude probably thought of a product that had the potential to introduce a whole new category of displays, as a side project.
It was times like these that reminded him of his reality, and then humbled him a bit. He was not a genius like Tony, not even in his wildest dreams. All he had going for him was an above average brain that was really really good at doing lightning fast calculations, and then applying them to Computer Science, hence his field of expertise.
He was nowhere near Tony when it came to mental genius because the dude could pick up a subject and become a subject expert in it within days or weeks, instead of the decades that it would take for a normal person.
That is why, despite having a very fancy, and a very impossible home on Mars, his home was filled with tech that one can find on the open market, even if it was of the highest order.
He could not outright invent holo displays just because he really wanted those damned things, because he was not a genius. And it was times like these, that made him realise that he could not do the whole save the world thing all by himself.
He would not be able to bear the burden or do a good job of it. Nada. Zilch.
The best he could be was a very versatile muscle, ready to be deployed in any zone, and act from the shadows, so that the burdens of operating in the light did not apply to him.
"Hmm," he muttered as he received an alert about Bruce Banner. The Military had spotted him in Brazil and General Ross was on a warpath.
His seniors have restrained him for the moment, arguing that the local government and the local military assets should be enough to bring the man in or atleast get an accurate location before a full out tactical assault can be initiated, so that's good. That gave General Ross one more day of breathing.
Oh yeah, he was going to kill General Ross. Once the man stepped over the line and he had definite proof that he was not only getting his soldiers killed needlessly, but also pushing Banner over the edge, whilst endangering local civilians?
Yeah, it was game over for the guy. One had to be a special level of stupid to be that guy.
He might also just bring Banner over here, on Mars, if he found out that General Ross was mentally ill, or was acting on orders of other people, people who could not be killed just yet.
He set an alert that would inform him once Banner's accurate location was updated in the military database. He might need Jin'Ya's help to pacify Hulk but it should all be doable.
Excited, he began drawing in plans for a reinforced room, more so than the usual ones. He might need to commission some work, which was more expensive but hey, if he could have the Hulk onboard, it would all be worth it.
He just had to figure out if he wanted to reveal his identity to Bruce Banner.
Oh well, something to figure out for later.
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