Chapter 5: Doing Adult Stuff... Not The Fun Type Though
Disclaimer: I own nothing. This history have no interest in offend any party. Having the sole objective of only entertain the readers. Enjoy~
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"If you don't have enemies, you don't have character"
- Paul Newman
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I'm not feeling tired. I think to myself as I collect certain things that I will study now. I slept little. I ran. And I still feel refreshed.
None of the cards I'm assimilating have super-human physical characteristics. But I remember reading somewhere that Batman, had trained himself to only need 3hrs of sleep, and be like he got 8hrs. Alfred also thought the training was so inhumane, that anyone else would have died or gone insane.
And here I am. Reaping all the benefits, without any of the suffering or effort.
Aah~... Feels good to cheat.
But I don't have time to just sit around and wait for the powers to come to me. For all I know, this world could be Marvel zombies, and it could happen tomorrow.
That's why I've already planned my training routine, in order to assimilate Miles as quickly as possible. I want to have assimilated them all by the next monthly Draw.
Stopping to think. I think it was good to start with the weakest ones. And even not having won anyone Overpowered at first. How long would it take for me to assimilate Darkseid or a Celestial? Heck... even Superman should last for months of assimilation.
From a weak normal guy to Superman, it can't be that simple. It almost makes me have thoughts of just summoning the very OP characters. I would have them instantly. Serving me...
But I get that thought out of my mind in the next second.
Personal power is the best type of power.
When I'm going to assimilate characters like Thor, I need to be at at least a similar power level. To take days, I can't spend months with the Slot full.
Hmm~... I wonder if the number of slots will increase in the future... Porabably yes... I hope from a yes.
Sipping my coffee, I open a Laptop. My father Laptop.
I need clues, I'll look for everything he's done lately. If he was messing with suspicious people, I'll know. He kept everything on this laptop.
I'll turn the house upside down using D4C later. When I don't have a visitor.
But for now I can start by looking at the most obvious places.
And although I'm excited to learn magic from the books I got. I know that I am not a Gamer, that the books will disappear in my hand and I will gain the knowledge and how to use it in an instant.
It will take time and discipline. That's why I'll read the books when I can fully dedicate myself to them. I don't even know if I can use magic, or if I have talent.. I know Loki's card will help me.. But since I can't assimilate him now...
Argh... So Much to do. And there's only one of me. And summoning someone else would cause me to have more things to do instead of helping me with my problems right now.
Tch. Going back to the laptop, my father's password I already knew. He was never the type to hide anything. So, deep down, I'm already half aware, that I won't find anything suspicious in it.
Can be my biased thinking... but I don't think they are involved with something shady. I think they're victim. And they're surprised as me, for whats happened, when it happened...
Half an hour later... nothing.
There are things related to family and friends, photos, trips that have started to be planned. Work stuff... Patient files (which I'll look more closely at later, looking up everything about them), texts and written surveys. Emails... work. His life is us and his patients.
I'm a little relieved that I didn't find out that my father was... I don't know... associated with Hydra, and was experimenting on mutants. Or something like that.
Perhaps the death of the two is simply the result of someone's greed. Or perhaps even simpler... an accident.
No... I know it's not. Someone is responsible. And I won't let my guard down until I find out.
...
I'm making lunch, having looked through more papers and documents in my parents' room. And once again I didn't find anything that led anywhere.
I did half an hour of shadow boxing to expend all that energy I have now. And I noticed that my movements became more fluid over time. As if I've remembered how to fight, after staying rusted for a long time...
I know it was because I lacked muscle memory... at the end of my short shadow boxing session, my movements in the mirror were incredibly fast and accurate, which even surprised myself. Batman's percentage went up by one more. Now I'm thinking about joining some dojos... But time is very precious to me right now.
I will look for tutorials on the internet.
Speaking of internet, in addition to looking for my parents things, I went to research the state of the world on my computer. Funny that despite being 2004, my pc is a good a some of 2010-12. Thank you genius of this world.
And these geniuses were my main research focus. I can't look up very specific and secret names with my meta-knowledge. But I can research scientists, people famous enough that it wouldn't be strange for a young geek like me to be interested. (I also did some stupid research between one and the other. As entertainment: manga, anime, porn...)
Everything to mislead. I cannot be careless. Maybe they have a program on the internet that alerts them if someone writes certain names.
First and at least, many things in entertainment are the same. Famous titles like Harry Potter, Indiana Jones, Star wars also exist here. Older manga like Hajjime no Ippo, Yu Yu Hakusho, Evangelion too.
But Naruto, One Piece, Bleach and movie franchises from the mid-90's that I knew in my old world don't exist here.
Now the most important. Iron Man, Fantastic Four, Spider-man and Hulk are already common knowledge. In the MCU these things would start in 2008. I'm not in easy mode then.
Mutants are a thing too. Magneto is pretty famous international terrorist, but no mention of the X-men. But I Search about Henry McCoy and Charles Xavier, and they are well respected in the scientific community. But Dr. McCoy rarely appears.
I think someone is already blue.
As a side note, there's a Mutant ghetto here in New York. I think with a thousand inhabitants, very shitty place, but can be useful in the future.
Bayville High School exists as well, with a certain institute for youngster gifters nearby. I believe the X-men must be in my age group, which could mean X-men: Evolution. But it's best not to rely on meta knowledge other than knowing that characters exist and their powers. I have no idea that they will be good or evil. I'll just use it as a reference, for all I know this is the Ultimate Universe and Wanda/Pietro is a Alabama thing.
Ah. I sigh at the thought that there are people with unstable sanity out there with powers to wipe out this planet. And Wanda is just one of many.
I need to win a spaceship in Gacha.
And having the option to just yeet myself from this planet.
...
"Something smells good." Dr. Christine Palmer says, walking into the kitchen, looking a lot more relaxed. Wearing my mother's shirt and pants, which I'd left for her in case she wanted to.
I noticed her approaching right before she announced her presence... I faintly notice to myself.
"You look a lot better, and that outfit fits you perfectly…" I say.
"Oh. These are really comfortable, I will give it back later." She says smoothing the clothes over herself.
"You can keep if you want… I was planning on donating most of my parents' stuff. Superfluous stuff in the case... Nothing with sentimental value. Clothes, shoes, and maybe auction some watches and jewelry online. And give the money to charity..."
She stops and looks at me impressed.
"What? I... I don't know that will be disrepectfull or not... but I think they would like, they always helped people in life. So I thought I'd do one last good deed on their behalf. Or something like that..." I say a little uncertainly, trying to explain myself too much, maybe... but I don't want her to think I'm a heartless bastard.
"I... I think that is wonderfull. They would love it. That's very nice from you, Hector." She says with a hand in my shoulder.
After a comfortable silence, and when it started to turn into an uncomfortable silence, I decided to change the mood by drawing attention to the food.
"I don't know what you like, so I made a mistake-proof recipe... Vegan Caesar salad and Baked Chicken Rollatini with Spinach." I say starting to put the food on the table. The good doctor hurries to help with dishes and cutlery.
"It's light enough not to leave you bloated and gives you energy to carry on for a long day."
"Wow...looks great. You will be a very good catch to any lady out there." She says teasing me a little. Two days ago I probably blush and change the subject. But...
"My good doctor... are you implying something? Just a heads up ... To me ... age is just a number " I say exaggeratedly flirty, for her to see that I am just kidding.
"She chuckles and give me a playfull slap in the shoulder. "Haha. A number like the 5 on my sentence?" she retorts.
"Please... I'm sure that you can take just community service, I will even help you." I say showing my palms, to placate her.
"Well... I can present to you some good girls, I'm worried that you will be led astray of the right path for someone ill-intentioned. I have some cute nieces, if you want..."
"Hey. A niece of you can't be more than 10 year old, right? So I'll have to refuse, I don't steal craddles..."
Now she laughs loudly. "Hahaha. Aren't your too charming? Now I'm worried about whatever lady catches your eye, not the other way around. I can't guide my innocents nieces to an evil boy like you." She responds. Ah~ There's no Woman who doesn't like to have her age downsized.
And she called me "boy" so I have zero chance for now, huh. I can change the subject.
"Well, let's dig in. All this food can't disappear for itself." I say gesturing to the table, after finishing all preparations.
During lunch we have a light conversation.
When we're done and she's helping me with the dishes the topic gets a little more serious.
"I will take care of the funeral, don't worry..." she said when I mentioned some things I had to do.
"I don't want to burden you more..." I reply. That would help me a lot, I don't know anything about how to organize something like that...
"It won't be a problem... In fact, I've already started. And the Hospital is helping. It will be tomorrow, if that's okay with you... Actually, I should have talked to you earlier, but it turns out I was more tired than I thought." She says apologizing.
"Is there a friend of yours you want to call?" she asks after a moment.
"No. I think only they family and friends from work should go." And I don't have any friends either way.
I still have to notify my grandparents in Brazil. I don't even know how to broach the subject. I decide to talk to her.
"Look, my paternal grandparents are in Brazil. It wouldn't be possible for them to arrive on time. I don't even know if they would want the two of them buried here. I'm sure not for my father. But at the same time, my parents wouldn't like to be separated... So I was thinking. Is it possible to cremate both, gather the ashes and then divide them? I wants the two of them to have a ceremony here and in my father's hometown."
She looks at me.
"I think that's possible, I will arrange" she says after thinking a little over.
I smile. "Thanks, Dr. You have no idea of the weight that you are taking from my shoulders." I mean truly, I honestly don't want to have to deal with the funeral. My chest tightens just thinking about it. I know it's bullshi, that I'll have to face the two of them being buried forever. But a part of me just wants to delay this moment as long as possible.
"Please.. I'm glad that I can help. And call me Aunt Chris. No need to be so formal"
"Okay, if you insist. Thanks Aunt chris"
She smiles and after a while she decides to go." I will inform you later tonight the time and place of the funeral. Now I have to go, get some things from my apartment, and go back to work. Yay" she finishes faking excitement. "You have my contact, don't hesitate to call." She says as I guide her to the door.
Before leaving she turns around and puts her hand on my shoulder and speaks. "You're acting very mature, for all that's happened...your parents must be proud." And she gives me a kiss on the cheek before walking out the door and getting in the car.
After giving her a little nod, I enter the house. It's time to learn magic.
....
According to what I knew from my past life, unlike DC magic, which "always has a price to pay", like memories, emotions or the universe going to charge you somehow in the future with karma.
In Marvel, you use magic with energy... You manipulate energy to alter, manipulate, create what you have in mind, regarding the purpose of magic. Maybe make fire, summon storms, create illusions, heal wounds. But you need some power source for all cases.
The problem is that not all beings have these reserves of energy to use, like the Aesir of Asgard. Then you can take that energy from other beings, deities, cosmic forces or dimension. In the MCU the Ancient One takes energy from the Dark Dimension, in the comics Selene Galio takes lifeforce from people, the gods of Asgard have their own ivinity and maybe dimensions of their own.
I think Mjolnir is connected to an external dimension as well, so Thor had trouble utilizing his divinity. He cheated. So being without Mjolnir allowed him to grow not only in character but also in strength.
That's why Odin banished him, I think I read somewhere that Thor was sent to Midgard to be a blind spot for Those Who Seat Above in Shadow, who are the ones who make the Ragnarok cycle, and Odin wanted some hope to save it. Asgard. Not sure, I read on the wiki.
I've never read the comics so hard, only the most famous ones. Civil War, House of M, Planet Hulk and others. Who can blame me. I'm young... and it's hard for new fans to get their bearings with so many reboots and alternate universes and timelines.
I'm getting off topic.
Back to magic. These Chakra Books are different from what I thought. They don't teach you how to get energy from other places, or how to use amazing spells that can level cities.
It teaches to meditate. Achieve inner peace. Increase your inner strength. Circulate your Aura or Chi, open meridians and Chakra gates. Strengthen the body and mind. Create mental spaces, make astral projections. More basic stuff. But that for me is exactly what I need.
I have the Loki card, but it's the MCU card, where Asgardians are aliens that people in the past confused with gods and created religion. They're not that impressive compared to the Asgardians in the main universe, and probably this universe I'm in.
So I'll have to learn the most basic magic. And safer one. Making an oath to never draw energy from any outside force. I don't think I need it anyway. Just win a card from some protagonist isekai and Bam. Mana.
At that moment when I was on the third and final book, in a part that interested me a lot about creating a palace for mental defense, the doorbell rings.
Can a man take a breath to become a wizard?
Opening the door I find a man in a suit and briefcase. Everything about him screams "lawyer", and my instincts scream "Shady Lawyer".
"Mr. Carvalho? Hector Carvalho, I presume." He says with a smile on his face.
"Yeah…And your are?" I say, with only my face visible. He doesn't know it, but D4C is behind him ready to turn him into a doghnut if he makes any suspicious moves.
I've looked around, and he seems to be alone. His car is a mercedes-benz parked right in front of my house.
"I'm Leopold Darrow, the lawyer of your relatives. First of all, I must say that I am terrible sorry for this tragedy... They don't desserve such an unlucky accident to beffal on them." He says with a face full of regret, but I'm not buying anything that he is saying.
"I'm gratefull for you kind words Mr. Darrow. But I have to ask the reason for you visit." I say letting my grief show on my face. I now have a pretty good poker face, but will be strange if I show nothing when talking about the death of my parents just a yesterday.
"Well, as hard a moment are. Is my legal duty to pass some information to you, Mr. Carvalho" he says apologetically.
"Of course. Don't worry, you are only doing your job. Enter, please. Do you ant a drink or something like that?" I offer and open the door fully now, and guide him to an empty guest room. With nothing to him to see.
"I will accept, please. Will be a long talk. Water would be good." He say smiling after and while opening his briefcase, and taking a bunch of papers.
"Allright. I will be right back, make yourself comfortable."
After bringing a jar of water and two glasses, I sit at the table and start listening to what Mr. Darrow have to say.
Just as I expect, he talks about my parents assets, money, life assurance. He looks very competent, I find no flaw in his talk. Later I will doublecheck if nothing have been left out, but he don't appear to be lying about the money atleast. For the little that I know.
But he appears to be avoiding a certain topic... My legal guardian.
I narrow my eyes slightly. And decides to try to get this guy out of his comfort zone.
"Um…is good that you're so efficient Mr. Darrow. I want to resolve these pending issues as early as possible. I'm thinking in return to Brazil, and ive with my grandparents."
And I finally see a reaction on that face that apparently has a little perpetual smile. He widens his eyes, and then disguises himself to normal. If he'd just shown surprise, he wouldn't have been so suspicious.
But the fact that he instinctively and immediately tries to disguise that reaction... say that something smell fishy.
My paternal grandparents living in Brazil, and if there's someone of my family that I can be absolutely certain that don't have anything to do with my parents deaths, are them.
They live very simply on a small farm where my father grew up, they are kind and relaxed people. They don't care much for material goods. Even with my dad constantly sending money, they never used it. They keep it in an account in case of an eventuality, like a natural disaster or something.
People who live off the land are like that, "you have to be prepared for the will of heaven" they always say. In the end my father gave up on making them live more luxuriously, and just tries to convince them to stop toiling in the fields and live without working for the rest of their lives.
But they can't even do that, huhu. It's not easy to stop a person who has worked honestly all his life. Idleness and boredom would do more harm than good to my grandparents.
That's why I talked about my paternal grandparents, I can at any time leave this place that seems to be the center of problems, New York. I always have that option. Maybe in the future if this country have something like super registration act or something, I can just refuse and go back to Brazil. Dual nationality for the win. I think Doom abuses his diplomatic immunity too.
"Yeah, this country... this city... don't make me feel good after the accident. Maybe I must go back." I say shrugging my shoulders, but eyeing him carefully.
"Uh... I don't know Mr. Carvalho, there are so many legal issues, will be hard to maintain contact in another country..." he say a little nervously.
"But I can resolve this from Brazil, right?" I ask innocently
"Yeah...yeah...but you will have to start again, and is not any lawyer tha you can trust.." he starts rambling reasons. Ooh~ Are you sweating Mr. Darrow?
"I understand... there's too the fact that my parents want my education to be here.. so... is just an alternative." I say helpfully.
"YES. I mean, here you will have great opportunities"
HOH. You have no idea. This place is dangerous, but truly is full of opportunities, and the reason that I'm hesitant in leaving.
"Well" he says recovering his calm and finishing his glass of water. "I think that I spoke of everything" No, you not. "So I will take my leave, please. Any questions don't hesitate to ask" He says giving me his card.
"Okay, Have a good day sir. Thank you for everything" I say smiling
"Please, is just my job" he says leaving.
After he leaves, my smile turns a bit colder. D4C is still watching him get in the car and start driving.
"I have to act fast, I can't let others get ahead of me" I mutter.
I was going to look it up on the internet, but I remember it's 2004, so I go check the phone book.
After a phone call, I start getting ready to leave.
I wear my Thor Suit under my clothes. I take my documents and copies, in addition to the documents that attorney Darrow brought, and put them in my backpack.
And then I start to walk between the wall and the couch, using D4C I go out two blocks away between a garbage and the wall of an alley.
Looking around and seeing that no one is around, I pull my hood up to cover as much of my face as possible (without looking like a thug) and go after a cab.
When I finally get one, I go in and show the paper I had written down at home.
"To this address, please." I say to the overweight man behind the wheel.
"Alright, kid. In no time" he responds before taking off.
40 min later I left the cab, giving a good tip to the driver.
I enter a very simple place. Where there was a sign saying "NELSON and MURDOCK attorneys at law".