As soon as we returned to the Mansion, I was off to grab a shower and a change of clothing. Atlantis didn't have showers, per se. Instead, they used a sort of sonic machine that vibrated the grime off you using sonic pulses to create currents in the water. It was very neat and very super-science-esque, but the feeling was off to me and I hadn't used it as much as I would have otherwise. After spending eight-and-a-half hours cooped up in a two-person Submersible Jet with Cap, heading for New York City from the Middle of the Scotia Sea, I was practically begging for a real shower.
Fortunately, Jarvis had rooms prepared for every active member of the Avengers, just in case they felt like crashing at the Mansion instead of making their way back home. Mine was in the same hallway as Doctor Strange and Thor's. I suppose Jarvis felt that keeping all the magical guys on the team together meant that it would cut down on any mystic shenanigans blowing back on the rest of the team. Regardless, I headed for the room, shucked off the ridiculous Atlantean Outfit I'd been given, entered the shower, and just let the water run.
I sighed as the warm water poured down my body. As it did so, it sapped the tension out of my frame. As the water poured over me, I breathed out all the anger, frustration, and indignant rage I'd been holding back at having to play nice with Namor and do him favors, all while remaining pleasant, diplomatic, and practically groveling. I centered myself and let the water wash those feelings down the drain along with the dirt. I honestly hadn't known how much I'd been holding in, but after an hour and a half in the shower, just letting the water run, I could safely say that I'd been holding in a lot.
"I think, if I'm gonna keep having to do stuff like that, I'm gonna need a shrink." I muttered to no one in particular.
"But who do you talk to for something like this?" Came a familiar and annoying voice from my right. I turned to see the amused grin of the Beyonder standing near the shower.
"Damn it, don't you know not to walk in on a man in the shower?" I hissed.
"Please, if I swung that way, I could do a lot better than you. Besides, who do you think gave you that body to begin with?" Scoffed the Beyonder.
"Why are you here? No, scratch that, how are you here? I thought the others didn't let you go off on your own anymore after they found you?" I queried.
"Oh, I'm not really here. This is just a projection, think of it like a hologram or Astral Projection, only much more impressive." Chuckled the Beyonder.
"Fantastic, very impressed, now if you could get to the point?" I asked, Deadpan.
"Of course, but only because I'm in a good mood. I've tracked down a lead on the Beyond Corporation." Smirked the Beyonder.
"Fine, where?" I questioned.
"Not so much where as when." Grinned the Beyonder.
"Right, can we save the cliched lines and just get to you telling me the info, please?" I queried, rolling my eyes.
"Fine, always in a hurry. It must be the Mortal, Human, Condition." Grumbled the Beyonder.
"If you start monologing about mayflies, I'm going to have to hit you." I deadpanned.
"I'm not really here. Projection, remember? What would hitting a projection accomplish?" Asked the Beyonder.
"It would accomplish making me feel better. Now spill." I groused.
"Fine. Five years from now, in Boston, Vancouver, New Orleans, somewhere in North Dakota, and Brooklyn. It seems that there are a few people who they've taken an interest in." Answered the Beyonder.
"Five years from now? In those places? That sounds like Nextwave. I'm familiar with Nextwave. What about it?" I questioned.
"I know you are, however, going further in the Timestream revealed that Elsa Bloodstone, Tabitha Smith, and Monica Rambeau never returned to the Timestream. Aaron Stack and the Man known as Captain XXXX did, but they only did so wounded. Aaron Stack wound up self-destructing after being returned to Earth Six-One-Six in low-earth orbit, and Captain XXXX lost an arm, wandering off never to be seen again." Informed the Beyonder.
"That's not supposed to be how things go, is it?" I queried.
"It is not. I've been convinced now that the Beyond Corporation attempted to turn Nextwave into a serious team after their recent scare and that wound up going poorly, with almost the entire team dying as a result." Nodded the Beyonder.
"And you want me to do what with this, exactly?" I asked.
"Simple, make your way to the site of one of those abductions and infiltrate the Beyond Corporation's operation. Then put a stop to whatever it is. With your abilities, you should be able to slip in undetected, and once you're there, I should be able to find you." Responded the Beyonder.
"Right, go up against the Beyond Corporation and thwart their plans. Easy." I muttered.
"Exactly." Smirked the Beyonder.
I rolled my eyes, grabbing a towel. However, when I'd finished drying my hair, the Beyonder had gone, cutting power to his projection or whatever it was he was using to remotely talk to me. After a bit of drying off and a change of clothes later, I was wearing some familiar clothes, instead of weird Hyborian Throwback outfits. Nodding to myself in the mirror, I made my way down to the meeting hall to be debriefed. Surprisingly, given it had taken me two hours to shower and change, I wasn't the last Avenger to arrive.
That honor, surprisingly enough, went to Tony Stark. Given it was his family home we were meeting in, I had to wonder about that. I knew Tony was still a teetotaler, so it wasn't like he'd gotten drunk and just lost track of time. He wasn't acting like he'd fallen off the wagon, either, so I had to wonder just what had happened to keep him away. I'd learn what that was along with everything else that had happened over the course of the week.
"All right, I'm here, so let's get this show on the road. I'm basically being held together by caffeine and the suit right now, so if we could hurry this along that'd be great." Began Tony.
"Right. I suppose I'll start then. Turns out, Star Trek is real out there in the Omniverse. I managed to grab a bunch of tech from there that should be reproducible here." I nodded.
"Original Series or The Current Stuff?" Questioned Tony.
"Season Two TNG. Picard hasn't even met the Borg yet, so Earth is still pretty loose with what tech is and isn't available for purchase. I still tried to mostly go with older tech, just in case the more advanced stuff wasn't doable with local materials." I shrugged.
Then, I pulled out the items I'd bought from Stogo's Shop first before then grabbing the phasers I'd managed to pilfer from the attack on Utopia Planetia, starting with the one from Twenty-Two-Fifty, proceeding to the one from Kirk's Time, then moving onto the one from the TNG-Era. Finally, I added the laser rifles, mono-edged combat knives, and ablative vests from the Eugenics War Bunker. After going through each item and what they did, I turned toward Tony and nodded at him.
"Do you think you can replicate these?" I queried.
"Johnny, I can reverse-engineer anything. The question isn't can I make more of these, the question is how many of the features can I afford to keep in a mass-producible model. They may have all kinds of technology over there that helps them build Supertech on a massive scale, but since you didn't bring me any of it, I need to work with what I've got. Gimme a couple weeks." Grunted Tony.
"That seems unlike you. What ails you, Tony?" Asked Thor.
"Boardroom Politics, Big Guy. If only I was a King like your Old Man and didn't have to deal with a Board of Directors willing to sell out for giant wads of cash. Unfortunately, that's not the case, and I'm staring down the barrel of a Hostile Takeover." Grumbled Tony.
"That is not entirely unlike the situation betwixt Loki and I, but I take your meaning. Continue, please." Acknowledged Thor.
"Right, so. Stark Enterprises is facing a Hostile Takeover by a Japanese Firm, Fujikawa Industries. Apparently, they started during the whole Counter-Earth Fiasco, buying up a bunch of stock when everyone thought we were dead. It got bad enough that they've been able to leverage their stake against some of the Board, which means that unless I can pull something off soon, they're gonna swipe my Company out from under me. I've been up for the past thirty-six hours trying to hammer out a corporate strategy for beating this thing, but it's an uphill battle. Just letting you guys know that I may not be able to win this one." Sighed Tony.
"What happens if you don't manage to beat the takeover?" Questioned Cap.
"Stark Enterprises gets bought out by Fujikawa Industries and I need to start up a new company. I can only finance this team for so long out of pocket without corporate profits to back it up, you know." Admitted Tony.
"What if a second outside partner helped you out?" I queried.
"What do you mean?" Asked Tony.
"Well, you said that this started when Fujikawa bought up enough stock to start pressuring board members. What if someone else consolidated a bunch of stock who was allied to you?" I questioned.
"Who? You? Johnny, no offense, but the couple million your Old Man left you isn't gonna cut it for the amount of Stock you'd need to buy." Retorted Tony.
"I guess it's a good thing that I've been making a metric crapload of money on my own too, then. I've got a few ventures going, agricultural, mineral, and forestry-related." I shrugged.
"What are you talking about?" Queried Cap.
"This holograph can connect to the internet, right?" I asked.
"It can." Confirmed Tony.
He pressed a few buttons on the table. Instantly a web browser popped up and a keyboard popped up in front of me, folding out of the table. I typed in the web address for my various online retailers. LeadToGold dot com served as the online storefront for the Starkesboro Mining Conglomerate that I'd partnered with the Musgrave Mining Company to form. I'd bought a controlling stake in the Conglomerate and between that and the constant stream of mundane metals coming out of the extensive mines under my tower, mines that mystically replenished themselves at the end of the month, I was raking in a hundred million a year from that venture alone.
I then typed in the Web Address for BonesoftheEarth dot com, which was a company I had set up to sell gemstones and stone quarried from the extensive mines underneath my tower, gemstones and stone that consistently replenished themselves at the end of every month. Likewise, I pulled up SpiceIslands dot com, which was a supplier of raw spices and whatnot, Cornucopia dot com, which was a supplier of vegetables, WeaversLoom Dotcom which was the same for linen and cotton, and Woodwose dot com which did the same for timber. All of those mystically replenished at the end of the month, and all of which together were making me another one-hundred-twenty-five-million a year.
"These are all headquartered in Boston. You're a big player in that area?" Questioned Cap.
"Not exactly. They're headquartered in Boston on paper, but actually, they're all really headquartered in Starkesboro. That's where their operations are."
"I don't know if that's such a good idea. After all, I may have killed Sligguth during our mystical duel, and you may be showing those cultists and partial Serpent Men who remain a better way, but there is only so much death can do to an entity like that. You could be in for a major financial loss if the Son of Set awakens." Warned Doctor Strange, speaking up for the first time.
"That's just more incentive for me to ensure Sligguth stays dead, now isn't it?" I queried.
"Fair enough. Just be warned." Intoned Doctor Strange.
"I get it." I nodded.
"How much are you making off these?" Asked Tony.
"It's only been two months or so, but I've already made about thirty-seven-and-a-half-million dollars. I'm willing to put all that into Stark Enterprises Stock to help you out." I offered.
"You'd need almost three times that to be able to help me out against Fujikawa. Save your money, Johnny. We'll need it when I have to start up a new company." Sighed Tony.
"Fair enough." I shrugged.
"On that note, who's next? Do we have any good news to follow Tony's Bad?" Questioned Cap.
"Verily. I have a niece, it seems. One who even Loki, black-hearted as he has been of late, cared enough for to beg me for help. It would seem that My Brother's Blood which flows through her veins was enough to draw an ancient calamity toward her in an attempt to possess her. Loki recognized the signs of possession and begged me for help. Together we banished the spirit which sought to possess my niece. A Foul thing from between the time when the Oceans Drank Atlantis and the Advance of the Glaciers. I am pleased to say that it did not triumph this day, and my niece remains free of its influence." Announced Thor.
"This Spirit, it didn't happen to be cloaked in yellow power, calling itself the Living Tarim?" Queried Doctor Strange.
"Verily. Why do you ask?" Asked Thor.
"Because that Spirit was released by the recent plundering of the Turanian Ruins in Keraadistan. I had suspected that the Living Tarim had been imprisoned somehow. The nature of the Hyborian Cataclysm that ended with the last ice-age dawning has never been explicitly stated in any surviving records, though I have long suspected an ancient mystical ritual gone awry, personally. It still always struck me as odd that a slow death such as the reshaping of the climate would be able to kill such a being in a way that kept it dormant for over ten thousand years. I now have conclusive proof of the Living Tarim's spirit having been bound." Informed Doctor Strange.
"This Spirit was trapped in the ruins, then?" Asked Cap.
"It's more than that, Cap. The Living Tarim was the avatar of the God Erlik, an Underworld God worshipped by the Turanians and some of the Hyrkanians of the Hyborian Age. It's said that the spirit of the Living Tarim was so powerful that the several bloodlines had to engage in selective breeding in order to be able to provide priests who could allow the Avatar to possess them and continue leading the Priesthood." I explained.
"Wait, what do you mean selective breeding?" Frowned Tony.
"Oh yes, the oldest of these families had already become too inbred to continue to reproduce. However, new powerful bloodlines were always found and married together to begin a new family line. It was said that the last of each of these inbred Bloodlines could only truly function while being possessed by the Spirit of the Living Tarim, during which they were possessed of the Supernatural Resilience and Mastery of Necromancy, Pyromancy, and Geomancy that the Spirit of the Living Tarim had natively, while also being intelligent and well-spoken to the point that one of these Priests managed to go his entire life masterminding a series of victorious military campaigns against the Kingdoms of Khauran, Punt, and Iranistan only to have the Spirit leave him returning from battle and turn into a babbling imbecile." Informed Doctor Strange.
"That isn't the point. The point is that it points to a requirement for the Spirit to bind with a human with powerful blood in order to affect any change in the world. Typically, those sorts of spirits tend to be the really powerful ones." I pointed out.
"Verily can I attest to this Spirit being potent enough to resist either Loki's Magic or my own lightning should either of us have faced it alone. I can well believe it to be an Avatar Spirit of a dead Elder God." Intoned Thor.
"But you hit it together, and you're here, which means you put the big ugly back to sleep, right?" Questioned Tony.
"Verily. The Spirit of the Living Tarim will not trouble anyone ever again." Concurred Thor.
"And with me putting the Liche Priests of Ancient Akhlat to rest in the ruins, that should take care of any unintended issues arising from Mors Cruentia's little field trip to the Turanian Ruins of Keraadistan." Nodded Doctor Strange.
"So it sounds like aside from Tony, everyone did all right then. I guess that's good enough for the time being. I've spoken with Silvije and we have a plan to get whatever military tech we can to the Symkarian Army to stop Doom attempting to annex the Country. If Tony can get on the reverse engineering, I think we have a path forward. We'll reconvene when he's got something, but until then, you're all on-call, so keep your ID Cards close. I think we can call this meeting to a close, though." Dismissed Cap.
I barely waited long enough for him to dismiss us, already getting ready to head back to my Tower via Apparition. Poker Night was tonight and Jen had invited me as a second date. I never kept a lady waiting if I could help it, especially not ladies I was into, double especially if they could punt me across the city if they got annoyed enough. As soon as the Magic took hold, I was sent hurtling across space and coming out of the Apparition in the water about a hundred yards from my Tower, which was to say about twenty-five yards off the coast of my private island and ten yards above the water. Fortunately, I was able to apparate a second time right to my doorstep just in time to avoid taking a plunge into the ocean. It seemed that being able to see my destination drastically increased my accuracy. Who would've figured?
At any rate, I headed inside handing off the Atlantean Outfit I'd been forced to wear by Namor to Bartholomew to use as a Trophy before mounting the stairs to my bedroom. I was going to change into something nice-looking for this evening before going out with Jen to play poker. I was wearing a Drow Spidersilk Shirt in Purple and Black, along with matching black pants. As it happened, I probably shouldn't have bothered.
After all, when I arrived at the room, it seemed like Jen and I were the only ones who'd bothered to wear anything nice. . .
XXXX
I was the last person to arrive for tonight's game apparently. The Wallingford Hotel was an old, historic, hotel from the roaring twenties, close enough to the financial district to have seen regular renovations after having the odd visiting businessman stay there. Room Eight-twenty-two was where the Game was being held, and as I entered, I was immediately struck by how at odds most of the occupants were with the decor. While the Room had white stucco walls and marble tile floors, with plush leather furniture surrounding a table that wasn't so much covered in green felt as it was covered in green velvet, the only people who seemed to match the price were Jen and I. I was wearing my fancy drow spidersilk duds, while Jen had on a wine-red dress that she looked absolutely gorgeous in.
The other three members of our five-person Poker Game weren't dressed nearly as well. In fact, it was almost like they hadn't even tried, though, in Thor's Case, I'd give him a pass. The Big Guy wasn't exactly up on Midgard's latest fashions, after all. Ben Grimm was wearing a greasy leather trenchcoat and hat to disguise his appearance while Wolverine apparently hadn't cared and instead was wearing a pair of Sweatpants and a Wife Beater Shirt. Meanwhile, Thor was seated with a mug of some kind of ale in one hand and a flannel shirt and jeans.
"Thor? Jen didn't tell me you'd be showing to this." I mused.
"Verily. I do not make it to such games of chance often, but when I do it is generally an interesting time." Nodded Thor.
"Nice to see you two dressed up." Snarked Jen, cocking her head at Logan and Ben Grimm.
"You try wearin' a suit with this mug. That'd be downright macabre." Scoffed Ben Grimm.
"I just wanna be comfortable, Jen. That too much t'ask?" Grunted Logan.
"Thor, buddy, what's with the flannel?" I queried.
"I am blending in so as to be inconspicuous amongst Midgardians. Is this not an average outfit for Midgard?" Asked Thor.
"Maybe if it were a few years ago." Frowned Jen.
"Perchance would you have any tips for places to acquire more up-to-date clothing?" Questioned Thor.
"I'm pretty sure that you're gonna stand out no matter where you are, Thor." I frowned.
"Kid's got a point. Ya ain't exactly inconspicuous." Huffed Ben Grimm.
"Yeah, y'gotta real way with words too. One that ain't gonna let ya blend in." Agreed Wolverine.
"Mayhaps you are right. Though would be nice to simply blend in. Perchance with some Magic?" Queried Thor.
"I can disguise your appearance, but like Logan said, you don't talk the way most people do, which is something my Glamours won't help with. Sorry." I apologized.
"What about Donald Blake? Didn't you used to have a secret identity?" Asked Jen.
"Doctor Donald Blake was never who I was. We swapped places, our souls bound together by my father through mystical rituals, but we were never truly one and the same. I did once inhabit a mystical construct of Donald Blake's Body, though this was no more the real Donald Blake than I was. In any case, I have long since eschewed the identity and the real Donald Blake is dead regardless." Explained Thor.
"Oh." Muttered Jen.
"Maybe work on your acting?" I hedged.
"Fascinatin' as seein' folks try an' get Goldilocks to fit in is, that ain't why we're here." Cut-in Ben Grimm.
"Grimm's right. Buy-in tonight is gonna be twenty-five. Proceeds go t'the Charity o' the winner's choice. Pony up." Grunted Logan, tossing down twenty-five dollars onto the table before lighting up a cigar and taking a seat.
I put down my own buy-in, while Ben Grimm reached into the pockets of his trench coat for a wallet that seemed to be made out of the same unstable molecules as the Fantastic Four's Costume, pulling out twenty-five bucks and putting it down on the table. Jen reached into her cleavage and pulled out the money putting it down and taking her seat. Finally, I did likewise, grabbing twenty-five bucks out of my bag of holding and setting it down on the table. I fixed myself a drink from the mini-bar, then took a seat of my own.
"Game's Texas Hold 'Em. Blinds start at five and ten, white chips are five bucks, red are ten, blue twenty-five, green fifty, and black a hundred. Everyone gets two grand in chips to start off with, and there ain't no buying back in. If you're out, you're out, tournament style." Explained Ben Grimm as Logan began handing out stacks of chips and Ben began shuffling cards.
Soon enough, the game began. I wasn't sure we'd be able to finish it, though. After all, these things did tend to get crashed by supervillains and whatnot pretty often. Not that crashing a game attended by the Thing, Thor, and She-Hulk was a bright idea mind you. Fortunately, though the game would be crashed, we would still get to finish, as a D-List Villain attempted to rob the Hotel about halfway through the game.
Taking care of that wouldn't even require us to leave the Hotel, after all. . .
XXXX
AN: The next chapter is already up on my Patreon, so check the link in the threadmarked post if you guys feel like throwing me a couple bucks to get chapters in advance. Everyone who does is super appreciated and I can't thank my patrons enough.
Another brief bridging chapter, though this one has set up. Here we see that something is going to happen with Nextwave that requires Jan's intervention to fix, and we also see what's going on with Tony, that being the takeover of Stark Enterprises by Fujikawa Industries which results in Tony having to start up Stark Solutions. We also see the outline of the next steps as it involves Doom and get a bit more character interaction.
At any rate, the next chapter will be part two of the Floating Superhero Poker Game Slash Second Date for Jan and Jen. Featuring a poorly timed attempt to rob the hotel by Herman Schultz, AKA the Shocker.
Stay tuned. . .