DoorMan (MCU SI) - #129 : lol

Disclaimer - I don’t own Marvel or any of its characters. The Mighty Mouse does =and I hope it is not standing behind me with a shotgun cocked and ready to blow my brains out the second I have the audacity to press PUBLI——

DoorMan #129

Kamar Taj [June 2008]

–Colin Baxter–

He nodded at all of the people he was familiar with, the number of which was reducing by the day because he spent so little time in Kamar Taj, as he made his way towards the library. Wong, distant as he may have been towards him since he lost his hands, would surely have some sound advice to give to him.

If that advice came with some harsh, biting words? Then so be it.

The rotation of people coming to and leaving from Kamar Taj over just a short period of time, like maybe two to three years, was insane. Due to the safety of all the Sorcerers booming exponentially over the past couple of centuries, Sorcerer Families have become a thing, mostly in Asia and Europe.

Sorcerers, who instead of dying on duty, found families, whilst also being active Sorcerers, which was almost impossible before due to the mortality rate of Sorcerers. Those Sorcerers ended up having giant families, mainly because being a Sorcerer granted them everything they could possibly need.

Then, it was not necessarily fixed but a large majority of the Sorcerer progeny ended up being more attuned to the Dimensional Energy all around them than any other normal child, not to mention the proximity to an Active Sorcerer cultivating the right mindset to one day join Kamar Taj.

Most of the family members of these Sorcerer Families knew that learning magic was the best way to reach the top, as even without abusing magic, one’s safety and health could be guaranteed, not to mention all the other benefits one could get from specialising in something.

Which is why the apprentice batch in Kamar Taj, the ones learning the basics, like Eldritch shape summoning and sling rings, were huge. They were in the hundreds, easily. Most of them came from such families.

Despite all of that, despite all of that headstart, the literal bloodline advantage, the number of Masters that came from people outside these families, with no Sorcerer heritage to speak of, was in the majority.

It was something about the desperation or the need, or the uncertainty that came with being an outsider in the world of magic that gave birth to the Masters of the Mystic Arts, which is why, he knew, that of the hundreds of apprentices he saw training just now, maybe a dozen would become Masters and even amongst Masters, they would always remain in the lower rung.

In terms of power, anyway. The strongest Masters currently all came from outside the magical circle, with no heritage. 

Mordo. Kaecilius. Wong. Drumm and more.

Even so, it didn't hurt to be polite, he thought to himself, waving and greeting everyone who came to him, as he finally reached the library, with the Ten Rings burning a hole in his pocket.

A treasure that was by all means something that would make the world riot over, but that was out there. IN here? In the sacred halls of Kamar Taj? It was a B-grade relic at best.

Well, here’s hoping that bringing in such a relic would finally get him his own relic.

He entered the library, seeing apprentices and Masters alike studying, as he whirled around and found himself facing Wong’s back, as he had his headphones on, and was sorting through piles of paper.

Shaking his head, a hand shot out of his back and tapped Wong on his shoulder. The yellow glow must have clued Wong in on who was behind him as he sighed, placed the yellow pages down carefully, and turned around, tapping the headphones twice to make the songs stop.

“Hi!” He grinned at Old Man Wong, who merely stared at him with a neutral look on his face, which just meant that Wong was scowling at him.

“Don’t be like that. Look, I know you disagree with how I am going about things but can we do that later? Preferably in some resort? With a Spa? Great Food and Weather?”

Wong took two steps forward, taking the headphones out of his head with a telekinesis spell, as he looked down upon him, which was not possible because of their height difference but Wong somehow made it work.

“Don’t think you can bribe me with that.”

He smiled nervously, “Okay. Maybe this will help make my case,” He said as a hand reached into his pocket and took out the Ten Rings, looking completely lifeless right now but as soon as he injected some Chi into them, they lit up as if Christmas lights, glowing a bright yellow as he tried to get a feel for them on his way here.

They were surprisingly intuitive, with information about them entering your mind as soon as you inject Chi in them. Well, it tried to enter his mind. He was able to stop that but he wished to know more about them so he let it in, and boy, was there not a lot of information about the Rings.

No hidden message. No hidden feature. Nothing about who made them.  Nothing about their end goal. No extra esoteric features either.

Just vague ideas as to what one can do with the rings.

In the end, he considered them not useful for him or anyone sufficiently powerful. It was a great tool for someone whose only superpower was Chi and martial arts, making it perfect for Shang-chi if he wished to do so, in the future or the Iron Fist.

“What are these?” Wong asked him as he held them in his hand and just as he expected, they did not react at all. They were basically inert without Chi being injected into them and even then, the Chi must be injected with intent.

“They are the Ten Rings, Master Wong. Not of this world, or this universe. Please have them catalogued as a B-tier in terms of risk but C-tier in terms of combat and have the relic library updated.” 

He turned around as the Ancient One walked into the library, the lack of reaction from the apprentices and Masters around them cluing him in on the fact that she was hidden from everyone but them.

“As for you,” She then turned to him, “I assume you have some questions.”

“I do. I wanted to ask Wong about them but sure, your advice works as well.” He said as the space around them fractured, before he was sitting in a comfortable chair, with steaming hot tea placed in his hand.

He knew it was coming, and he could have interfered with it, but he had a hunch that doing so would not change his destination, only the orientation in which he would arrive, which was kinda scary if you think about it.

“So, I assume you are here to talk about Wenwu and his children?” 

__xx__

Red Hearth

“Alright, Everyone!” He spoke through the place’s intercom, something that he had honestly forgotten he’d installed in the beginning, “Huddle up on the Dining Floor. I have an important announcement to make!”

With the announcement done, he waited calmly, purposefully using a spoon and a fork to eat a banana, after cutting off both the ends with a knife.

“Hmm, so this is what it feels like to eat like a douche,” He said to himself, as he ate the banana in slow, purposeful bites, fully immersing himself in the role of old pompous British nobility.

After about a three minute delay between his intercom announcement and the lifts opening up, he saw Bruce and Maya making their way to him, with nervous curiosity on Maya’s face and just curiosity on Bruce’s.

They took their seats and then watched as he ate a banana like a psychopath. He purposefully waited to finish the banana before speaking.

“So,” He said, letting the tension in the room ramp up, “What have you guys decided on?”

Bruce and Maya looked at each other before asking him, “About what?”

He looked at them as if they were at fault as he said, “I thought I told you about this before I left. Your…vacations!”

Maya all but collapsed in relief in her seat while Bruce looked at him, exasperated.

Lol.