adripoor was, if nothing else, a place you could get lost in easily enough. The Lower Town, in the shadow of the glitz and glamour of the High Rise Arcologies of the Upper Town, was practically always dark, thanks to those same shadows. The streets and alleyways were lit primarily via the neon lights advertising this or that bar, restaurant, nightclub, or massage parlor. Practically everything down in the Lower Town was owned by some crime syndicate or another, each of which paid fealty to the Boss of Bosses of Madripoor, the woman known only as Tyger Tiger.
It was one such bar that I was sitting in now, a shot of Bourbon and a Beer in front of me as I waited for the Bartender, a Part-Asgardian Rock Troll going by Roughouse, to be done with a phone call in the back. The man claimed to be a mutant, but the Mystic Radar doesn't lie, and honestly, if he wanted to masquerade as a mutant, I wasn't going to rain on his parade. Plenty of people in the Lower Town have a reason to hide who they are and what they can do. I know I did, but paying for my drinks in Gold seemed to quiet any questions that Roughouse might have had.
As I slammed back the shot and nursed my beer, I couldn't help but wonder just how fucked up my spark was if this was the sort of situation that jumping universes got me into while using it. Seriously, how the fuck had it taken my intent to jump into New York City as wanting to go to Madripoor? I get that drawbacks were a thing I'd taken, but there was a limit, right? With a sigh, I sipped at my beer, figuring I might as well just let it go.
"Could've been worse. Could've wound up in the Savage Land." I shrugged, before letting out a groan.
"Damnit, I just jinxed myself didn't I?" I groused. Fortunately, before I could dwell on it, Roughouse returned with a bowl of some sort of noodle soup and put it down in front of me.
"What's this?" I questioned.
"Bakso. It's a type of noodle soup with meatballs. These ones are chicken with a bit of tapioca flour and salt. It's a common street food around these parts." Answered Roughouse.
"Not that I'm going to complain about free food, but I didn't order this." I pointed out.
"You paid in real gold. That's worth way more than a shot and a beer." Retorted Roughouse.
"And if I wanted another shot and beer?" I pressed.
"Ymir's Icy Breath, man just take the soup!" Scowled Roughouse.
"Heh, so I was right about Asgardian Rock Troll. The Mystic Radar doesn't lie." I grinned.
"Feh." Grumbled Roughouse, heading over to pour me a second shot.
"There's about seven grand worth of gold in that little coin you gave me. The enchantment was rubbish, though. An alarm spell that alerts the forger if it's traded to ordinary folks, but the alarm goes nowhere. Whoever this gold belonged to, they're dead or otherwise not a factor, which means you're on the up and up. Anyway, there's enough money in that one coin to buy a three-course meal, with a shot and beer for each course, more than four dozen times over." Frowned Roughouse.
"I suppose you've got a point there. I don't have to ask if you poisoned the soup, do I?" I acknowledged, slamming back the shot.
"What would be the point? You've obviously just stormed some kind of stronghold for their gold. Would poison even work on you?" Grumbled Roughouse.
"That's a fair point too." I nodded before grabbing some of the soup up in a pair of chopsticks. It was surprisingly good for something in the Lower Town of Madripoor. No wonder Logan liked this place so much. Sort of Spicy, but also savory.
"So, you said you were looking for Patch, right? You a friend of his?" Queried Roughouse.
"We move in the same circles and he owes me one. I happen to need to get to New York City in the next forty-eight hours. Normally, I'd just head to the airport and buy a ticket like anyone else, but there's a lockdown in place." I summarized.
"Why not just bribe the guards at the barricades? You've got to have more than just the one coin, yeah?" Asked Roughouse.
"What and have every member of the Madripoor Security Forces looking to put their hand in my pocket? No thanks." I scoffed.
"And you think Patch can get you across?" Questioned Roughouse.
"Or knows someone who can. I just need to get in touch with him to be able to cash in that favor he owes me." I responded.
"I'm afraid Patch has not set foot in Madripoor in some time." Came another voice from the doorway.
I turned and spotted an older Vietnamese Man in a green suit who had entered the bar, along with a Vietnamese Girl who looked to be Jubilee's age in a white dress shirt, charcoal vest, and charcoal slacks. They were accompanied by a black-clothed, gray-haired, pale-skinned, pointed-eared, fanged, Swordsman. My first thought was the Swordsman was a vampire, but that wasn't quite right. It's more like he was trapped in a state between life and death.
I didn't recognize the swordsman or the old man on sight, but I did recognize the Girl as Karma of the New Mutants, which clued me in on exactly what was happening here. Karma had spent part of the nineties working for her Uncle, a former General of the South Vietnamese Army who fled Vietnam ahead of the NVA Victory in the Vietnam War with a bunch of money to become a Gang Boss in Madripoor. General Coy or something? That's right I think. This must be the rough time period when he and Tyger Tiger were sharing power. I didn't recall any more specifics, though.
"Is that so?" I questioned.
"Indeed. That Gold you are carrying could be quite useful to me, depending on how much of it you have. After all, it would be funding outside of my usual sources which I might use to unseat my partner from her lofty position. Xuan, be a dear and make him give me the gold." Grinned General Coy.
Karma put her hand to her head and tried to possess me psychically only to find out that nothing was getting through my mental shields. For a long moment, Karma tried, only to bash her head against my mental shields time and again.
"Xuan?" Frowned General Coy.
"I'm trying Uncle. I can't get through his shields. It's like I keep running into a wall of pure adamantium." Huffed Karma.
"Do you know what an Omega-Level Mutant is, General? Charles Xavier himself couldn't get through my shields." I grinned.
"Fine, we do this the hard way, then. Roughouse, Bloodscream, earn your paychecks!" Spat General Coy.
Immediately, the Swordsman, Bloodscream, rushed for me, hand outstretched as if to grab me just as Roughouse leaped over the bar counter. I ducked under Bloodscream's outstretched hand even as Roughouse rushed me from behind. I telekinetically reached out to trip Roughouse even as I tripped Bloodscream with a leg sweep. The pair stumbled into each other and Bloodscream's outstretched hand started draining Roughouse's life force as they collided.
I was already moving away though. Life force drain at a touch was a nasty ability in the best of circumstances. I wanted to be nowhere near it. As I moved away, I tossed a conjured blast of fire at Bloodscream as he forced his draining touch to reverse back into his partner. The fire blast slammed into Bloodscream's back, burning him and setting his clothes on fire. He dropped to the ground to put out the flames and came back up with his burns already healing even as Roughouse charged me with a lunging punch.
The punch smashed into my face and sent me flying out of the window in the front of the bar and onto the dirty, darkened streets of the Lower Town. I stood, feeling my lip had been split, but also that my various enchanted pieces of gear were still supercharging me enough that even with the bits I'd replaced with Gear from Harry Potter Earth, I still was tough enough, strong enough, and fast enough to take Roughouse with only a few bruises and scrapes.
As Roughouse exited the Princess Bar he looked at me in disbelief as if he'd expected his punch to do more damage. I sucked in the blood off my lip before spitting it out on the pavement and grinning at Roughouse.
"Thank you, Sir, may I have another?" I mocked.
"Ymir's hairy bollocks, take this seriously!" Spat Roughouse as Bloodscream came out of the doorway, drawing his blades.
"No, I don't feel like it." I retorted.
"Then I'll make you!" Roared Roughouse as he charged forward.
"Roughouse, wait!" Called out Bloodscream, but his partner didn't seem to hear him.
I ducked a lunging right cross and fired a pair of jabs into Roughouse's floating ribs with enough force to bruise the Rock Troll Descendant's lower right floating ribs. That only seemed to anger him as he brought his fists down on me from above in a double Axe Handle smash that I rolled away from, dropping a vial of jellified Wildfire on the pavement in my wake. As Bloodscream charged in after me with his blades, a conjured bolt of flame ignited the Wildfire, engulfing Bloodscream in green flames that burned hot enough to burn through his blades and seemingly immolate him.
"Damn you to the darkest depths of Nifelheim!" Spat Roughouse leaping for me even as I doused the Wildfire with over a ton of sand stored in my bag of holding.
Using the powers of Cosmere Sand Mastery I doused the Wildfire swiftly, backpedaling away from Roughouse even as the Dragon Pulse clued me into the fact that though he was naught but bits of charred bone and ash, Bloodscream was somehow still alive. The benefits of mystical immortality, I supposed. He'd eventually reconstitute himself. I had other problems at the moment, like the angry Rock Troll Descendant in the grips of the Warrior's Madness.
Roughouse charged for me and I used my power of Sand Mastery to smash over a ton of compacted, partially glassed, sand into him from the flank with all the force my magic could muster. The sand swiped him in the side and sent him sprawling down the street toward the docks. I rushed toward him firing off a Lightning Bolt that slammed into him, stunning him temporarily and letting me reach his position. He clambered to his feet but just before I reached him I cast the jelly legs jinx on him wandlessly before kicking him in the chest with everything I could muster.
I felt a number of his ribs break from the kick and without being able to move his legs temporarily, he couldn't stop the momentum from booting him out into the harbor where he was swept out to sea. I knew that for a guy like him, he'd eventually return. He was too tough for something like being swept out to sea to kill him. It'd take him a while to swim back to shore, though, even though it looked like he'd powered out of the jinx as he was swept out of the harbor on the tide and into the ocean.
With Roughouse swept out to sea and Bloodscream temporarily a pile of ash and charred bone, that just left Karma whose powers didn't work on me anyway. Indeed, as I turned back to head up the street, I found General Coy and Karma trying to beat a hasty retreat. A thrown Amber Spear landed in front of the General as I advanced on them, punching into the pavement and halting their retreat.
"So, how about we talk about how you're going to get me on a flight to New York City to make up for this little misunderstanding?" I demanded.
Not two hours later, I was sitting on a plane to Laguardia, flying first class back to the States on the General's dime. Sometimes, I reflected, things worked out perfectly, even if you didn't start in the best of circumstances. All it had required to bypass the roadblocks thrown up by my malfunctioning Spark had been kicking a little ass that belonged to a Crime Boss.
And that, I decided, was fine by me. . .
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.
So yeah, Madripoor isn't the most hospitable of places for a Street-Level Hero. Fortunately, Jan is not a street-level hero at all. This was a bit of a fun romp inspired by me rereading an old Marvel Comics Presents: Wolverine storyline recently. It's not really going to affect a whole lot going forward, though when Karma does come back to the X-Teams and comes across Jan in the future, she's going to remember him.
At any rate, the next chapter will be Tony's party, with guest appearances by a number of former Avengers, most notably Doctor Strange.
Stay tuned. . .