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 #97
Middle of Nowhere [April 2008]
–Colin Baxter–
He took a deep breath in, visualising Dimensional Energy to be a raging flow of river, as it wrapped itself around him, not drowning him but covering him in a protective embrace.
Then, he opened his eyes and smiled. For he was floating in the middle of an energy storm, the likes of which would have shredded his arms off just a scant few weeks ago, and yet, there he was, floating in between, covered by a seemingly thin layer of Dimensional Energy, with nothing else to protect him from the onslaught of the very heavy energy.
He uncrossed his legs and stood on nothing, looking all around him as he could feel the energy taking its toll on the full body barrier he had around him, micro cracks forming on the outer layer but his control had advanced to such a point he could continue the cycle of casting newer barriers with Dimensional Energy by matching the rate of destruction, minimising energy expenditure.
Jin'Ya came into his view, with a small load of stuff with him, that he promptly threw at Colin. With a mental flex, a hand made out of Dimensional Energy shot out of his chest and caught the purple bubble, bringing it closer to himself as the shroud of Dimensional Energy expanded to form a small room, as the stuff that Jin'Ya brought him was dumped into the box he had formed around himself.
"Hmm, much smoother than before. Still, you missed a spot," Jin'Ya pointed at the corner of the room, where a small piece of the heavy energy outside was nestled in, having made its way in during the expansion of the barrier.
With a small rearrangement, he sacrificed a small barrier and removed that piece of energy from his bubble of Solitude.
Ha! It made him crack up whenever he thought of that term in his mind. Also, he might be going a little crazy doing nothing but training in this palace for what he estimated to be months now, so there was that as well.
Jin'Ya wouldn't tell him how long they had been at this, only that they would leave once he could leave the cloud of energy on his own, which, fair, he still couldn't do. Not while actively defending himself from Jin'Ya attacking him from all angles. Yup, that was the prerequisite to pass the training here which was harsh in his opinion, but necessary if he wanted to have a shot at defending himself against opponents at the same level as the Red Matron.
The treaty with the Ancient One and Kamar Taj was still active, as far as he knew but if the Red Matron could somehow get around it, then so could someone else so he was not taking chances with his safety and if he could meaningfully become better at using Dimensional Energy, then he would do so, time be damned, as long as he did not end up spending years here, though he was sure that was not the case.
Taking the stuff that Jin'Ya brought him, he took the largest spherical object and pressed the top of it and took a single step back, allowing for the world's most portable bathroom setup to emerge from it. Then, he attached the water tank, the waste tank, and took out the toiletries.
This had been the routine for the past few months or so, as he did his training, as Jin'Ya told him, waited for the dragon to come, and he came right on time, with this essential package.
He then bathed himself, and put on fresh new clothing. Clothing from Xandar was very comfortable and soft, but sadly, they did not have much in terms of fashion. Denim, apparently, was not used on Xandar much because many alien species were allergic to it. Another interesting tidbit that Jin'Ya told him when he was in the middle of his meditation to get into the proper mindset to build stronger barriers.
"So, finally going to tell me how long I have been doing this? You know this counts as some sort of torture scheme, right?" He asked Jin'Ya as he tore into a sandwich, with meat from some sort of chicken adjacent family that is commonplace on Xandar.
He gave up the questions about the food long ago because one got very hungry doing the same mentally and physically demanding task again and again.
"Two months." He did not choke on his food because it was not as shocking. He continued chewing and after swallowing, replied, "Oh, that's not too bad. How long do you think we'll be here until we can leave?"
"Actually, we can leave now if you want to."
"Huh?"
"Yeah, you've progressed very well, far more than I expected you to, and frankly, you deserve a small break from this. So, we can either go straight to Earth, or go to Xandar. Your wish." Jin'Ya offered him and he peered suspiciously at the man. This was way too good of an offer from him, especially considering his actions over the past two months, bordering on torture.
__xx__
"How long till we reach Earth?" He asked Jin'Ya who was piloting his spaceship. That's right, who has two limbs and a personal spaceship? The guy sitting in the co-pilot's chair with his two remaining limbs on the dashboard.
Yes, that guy!
"I really should have downloaded the English language pack before we left Xandar," Jin'Ya grumbled because the ship was showing all sorts of data in a completely alien language to him. With the universal translator that was gifted to him by Jin'Ya, he could understand and speak most alien languages as if they were speaking English but reading and writing was a whole other beast.
Which is why this old, beat up spaceship that he was the proud owner of, did not have all the languages downloaded in it, especially not English, because it was a language spoken on a planet that was literally named as Dirt, in the wider interstellar community.
It was also why Jin'Ya was slightly irritated with him because he was endlessly curious about everything that was being shown to him on the dashboard, as well as the multiple written warnings on many parts of the inside of the ship.
"As for your question, it will take another hour before we finally leave the Jump Gate near the Moon."
"Alright."
"So, how do we fuel this thing on Earth?" Alas, that was not going to be the end of his line of questioning and he had a feeling that the chances of Jin'Ya just turning this thing around and buying him an English Manual and downloading the English language pack were increasing by the minute.
___xx___
Slowly, the ship came to a halt right above a clearing in the middle of Nepal, a few hours away from Kamar Taj, Kathmandu. As the ship descended on the clearing, there was a ripple effect mid air, as they parked the ship on the clearing, away from cities, roads. It was impossible to just stumble upon this place by accident and the cloaking ensured that there was little to none emission of energy.
With a quiet hiss, the bay doors opened up but the engine, no, it did not go down quietly. There was a very gravelly sound that came from the engine, resonating throughout the ship as it was finally turned off.
Still, it might sound old and was probably older than he was, but hey, no fumes!
Jin'Ya floated out of his seat as his conjured hands picked up his luggage, as he walked towards the ramp. "As for the fuel used, no, we would not be able to refuel on Earth but I already have placed an order for fuel which should be delivered in about 10 Earth days. Once we have a functioning depot setup around the Red Hearth, you should be able to make most trips without much issue."
And there was that.
This whole ship placement was a very temporary thing. Once he spent a few more weeks in Kamar Taj, experimenting with his newfound mastery over Dimensional Energy and brushing up on some advanced enchantments, they were going to expand the area of the Red Hearth.
No, the building would remain the same, it was not going to get an expansion. He already had more space than he needed, no need to add more. What they planned was an expansion of the environmental shield around the Red Hearth or if it went according to his plan, it would be a second environmental shield on top of the existing one, just at a much larger radius.
Then, the underground depot as well as the hangar will be built, with the eventual end goal being a proper hangar facility that he could then lend to his fellow allies.
Earth's first fully functioning spaceship depot, if you will.
He knew, for sure, that there were people at NASA who would cream their pants if they knew that such a thing existed.
All in all, it should be done within a few months, at most, especially since he was going to buff up his arsenal of spells, and there was no shortage of offensive spells that could be used to dig up bigger holes on Mars.
Jin'Ya opened a portal and left for the Red Hearth, to check in on Bruce and the other and also to see if the methods they found for his hands worked or not. He was not really interested in that, at the moment.
He was far more interested in getting his personal spaceship hangar and at a close second, came the checking of his life. His absence must have been noticed, despite his many contingencies to make sure that none of his work was too messed up in his absence.
His money was all in a trust anyway, so no issues there.
He shrugged and then floated up. He needed an internet connection and the fastest one in all of Nepal was in Kamar Taj, installed by yours truly.
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