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Manhattan, NYC [May 1, 2012]
–Jack Sullivan–
“Damn, not even today, huh?” He commented to himself as he completed his patrol over the skies of New York and decided to stop for the day. He had seen Stark waving at him through his penthouse bar when he had done a fly-by later in the day and the sun was setting on the horizon, signaling the end of the day. According to his memories, the invasion was supposed to happen somewhere in the month of May 2012 and now that the month had begun, he had begun feeling jittery all at once. It was kinda ridiculous how much the Chitauri were going to be out of their depth once they reached Earth but even still, their sheer numbers intimidated him somewhat.
He had gotten confirmation from the Ancient One that none of the sorcerers were going to participate in that war, on her express orders and she herself would only allow him the use of portals and his innate powers. No sorcerer spells in front of the mundane people, got it?
It kinda limited his options but they limited to his strongest spells anyway so he was fine with that. He was sure that Stark Tower was going to be the spot where the Chitauri would gather and while dealing with a major population centre was going to be a pain in the ass, he had to do it, for the sake of the innocents.
He might have to see how effective the evacuation strategy was in New York in case of a natural disaster. Though, it rained pretty heavily and snowed pretty heavily in NYC so it must be somewhat thorough, at least that's what he was expecting. He would double-check with the Police chief, just in case though because dealing with an alien invasion would be a first of many firsts that Clark would have to go through.
Yeah, he was on a first-name basis with Clark, the NYPD Police Commissioner. Oh yeah, it was a chance meeting where he had to drop off a couple of crumpled-up cars to the police impound when he was stopped by the people there. He had wondered what was going on when in came the NYPD Commissioner who wanted to have a chat with him regarding his activities. He discussed his recent pursuits and the way he kept his eyes on the city below by flying above the city in his green Gundam.
Clark had also told him that even without him doing anything, just the sight of his giant green avatar flying overhead makes even the most hardened of criminals drop their weapons and surrender. Their cases of injuries on active duty have dropped to record lows and contrary to news pieces who said that the Police officers wanted him gone, almost all of the officers and even their families were very grateful for the hero to help keep their city safe. It was getting so easy for them that some of the officers had begun slacking off during the day because they knew most of the violent crime had gone underground.
“Hmm?” He stopped abruptly in his tracks as he saw something very peculiar. A very buff blonde man. Now, that would not have been an odd occurrence, especially in the area he was in but something about that muscle machine stood out to him. He turned around, his face already disguised to one of the burner masks he kept on hand, and saw the man was wearing a hoodie and had already turned around the corner. He ran after him and saw him entering a gym. A very old gym from the looks of it.
He ran to the entrance and saw that Goldie’s Gym was closed but the door was left slightly ajar, probably by the person who had entered before him.
He looked around shiftily and after seeing that nobody was paying even the slightest bit of attention to him, he realised that he was in New York and straightened up. Grinning toothily, he opened the door and entered the gym. The gym was apparently on the first floor and the door just led to a stairway. He climbed the stairs, already hearing the dull sounds of something hitting something.
Or rather, a very special someone hitting a punching bag.
“Bingo!” He shouted once he entered the gym and saw Steve freaking Rogers, the OG Captain America punching the shit out of the punching bag. Judging from the creaks of the chain holding it, he was sure that it was going to come off its hinges soon enough.
Captain America was in the middle of one of his very heavy punches when he heard his voice. He paused mid-punch, which looked super cool, and turned around.
He had to say, despite being vastly more powerful than the super soldier in front of him, he was still somewhat intimidated by the intense stare that he was subjected to by the blue eyes of the man lost in time. An awkward silence formed in the gym as Captain America looked in his direction with his hands still raised in his punching motion.
It didn’t look like the Captain was going to say anything so he fidgeted a bit under his gaze and then waved his hands, “Hi!”
The Captain looked very confused but nevertheless still returned his hand wave by waving his boxing glove.
“Um, you shouldn’t be here, the gym is closed,” The Captain said as he began removing his boxing gloves and went towards a bench where his water was kept.
“Uh, yeah. I kinda know that. Sorry for coming in but technically the door was left open so it is not breaking and entering and besides that, I was not going to let something as pesky as a creaking door come between meeting one of my childhood idols,” He kind of blabbered on and looking back, he was not exactly proud of the way he just fell short of words in front of the legend himself.
The captain stiffened slightly as he realised that he was recognized as the Captain America, someone who was supposed to be dead. He tried to play it off but he was very persistent in that regard. When it looked like he wouldn’t take no for an answer, he began packing up.
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“Alright, kid. It's time to go home. I am just an ordinary soldier, not whoever you think–”
“Which is exactly what Captain America would say. He was just so obnoxiously humble that he would say that he was just a soldier for the Army instead of the super soldier he is. That’s why you survived, right? The serum saved you from dying in the snow, right? Right?” He got right into his face and nearly vibrated in excitement.
He couldn’t help it. Despite knowing intellectually that he would meet the Captain someday, now that he was finally in front of him, he was just saying whatever came to his mind. It was kind of nerve-wracking.
The Captain paused in his efforts to stuff all his gear into his box and then sighed as his shoulders drooped. “Alright, kid, what do you want?”
He pointed a finger at him and then said, “Okay, first of all, I am not a kid, just a big fan. Secondly, I just wanted to talk. I know it could not have been easy waking up in a world that has moved on,” He said and sat down on one of the stools nearby.
The Captain looked amused as he said the bit about him not being a kid but he immediately tensed once he saw him using his powers to move the stool from one corner to under him as he seamlessly sat on the stool.
“Relax, I am the Green Guardian that you must have seen flying in the sky. Although I hate that name and have never and will never respond to that moniker, I will allow you to call me that,” He said and leaned forward, both of his hands under his chin as he looked at the wary Captain.
“You are the one who has been fighting crime? You are a kid!” The Captain took one look at the small barrier still floating behind him and then exclaimed.
He sighed, “Oh, come on! I am not a kid. This is not my original appearance. I just wanted to meet you so I donned this disguise.”
“You can do that?” The absolutely confused look on the Captain’s face was absolutely photogenic. Come to think of it, his face would be photogenic in every single situation. What an enviable ability to have, you know, aside from the extra strength, speed, and overall awesomeness.
He chuckled, “Yes, I can do that aside from a number of other awesome things I can do. Now, Captain, I am sure that you have a ton of questions about the modern world that you haven’t yet asked your minders at SHIELD. I would be more than happy to-”
“You know about SHIELD?”
“You’re kidding, right?” He deadpanned at The Captain.
“I was told that SHIELD is a very big secret and the common people know nothing about it,” The Captain said as he leaned on the wall and crossed his arms in front of his chest as he assumed a thinking pose.
He scoffed immediately, “Captain, I am sure you have seen various enemy strongholds in your days. Tell me, how can an agency that has a huge HQ in the middle of Washington DC and Virginia? Do you think a location like that can be kept secret? They have huge concrete logos built on the side of the buildings there. They couldn’t be screaming harder to the world if they tried to. Secretive? Please,”
“I…did not know that,”
“Well, you do now,”
“Thanks, I guess. I am going home now. It was nice meeting you and thank you, I guess, for all the work you do,”
He shook the Captain’s extended hand and watched him leave the gym. He sighed in disappointment. As far as the first meetings went, this was not what he expected it to be. He totally destroyed all the mystery factor he was going for and came on too strong.
The next time he would come here, he would probably come face to face with a SHIELD battalion instead of the CAptain, or the Widow. He didn't know what was worse between the two.
He sighed and snapped his fingers, creating a portal, and stepped through straight into the African continent. He had not been thinking much and stepped straight into a swamp.
“Eww,” He muttered as he immediately covered himself in a barrier and tried to take all the gooey stuff off his legs. He immediately regretted doing so because somehow, despite removing the stuff almost immediately, the smell still stuck.
*Sigh*
He sighed and looked around and paused as he realised where he was. He was in the vicinity of that small dockyard where he remembered Klaue was hiding. He was looking into that area using Google Earth View and that was the first thing his mind must have come up with when it came to South Africa. Klaue was hiding out here with the quarter-ton of Vibranium that he had stolen from Wakanda.
“Wakanda, hmm. What to do?” He hummed to himself as he sat cross-legged on one of his barriers as it began taking him through the swampy land he had found himself in. Any of the branches that came into contact with his barrier found themselves promptly cut by the razor-sharp edge of his barriers.
Well, one thing was clear at least. Now that he was here anyway, he was not going to let Klaue get out of here scot-free. Taking the Vibranium would be somewhat counterproductive because while he was smarter than average, he was not Tony Stark level who could make adequate use of all that vibranium. Selling it would do him no favours since having that much vibranium in the first place would be a huge red flag in the first place. He did not have the contacts for that anyway and handing it over to Tony would be the epitome of foolishness at this point. He had not yet evolved into the dependable self-sacrificing type long vision type of guy that he would turn into in the upcoming years.
Tony was out of the list and there went his list of contacts. He could try and offer it to Kamar Taj but he had a hunch that he would be laughed out of the compound if he offered them something that they probably had ample reserves of. After all, the Ancient One, or at least one of the previous Sorcerer Supremes must have realised that they could mine them from asteroids that roamed around space. Giving it to any governmental organisation was out of the question for obvious reasons.
“Hah, I can’t believe I am about to do this,” He muttered to himself as he stood up from the barrier and covered himself in the basic barrier, which still looked quite badass in his opinion. It was inspired by the Power Rangers suit that he loved to watch in his previous life.
He closed his eyes and concentrated on the coast where the dockyard was and opened up a portal. He opened his eyes and found himself floating above a bunch of rickety old ships that looked as if they would fall apart at any moment. Well, that might be the point of the hideout. After all, Wakanda would not search for merchandise worth 2 billion dollars in these ships.
“Well, might as well do the good deed for the day,” He muttered to himself as he sent microscopic barriers into the ships to check them one by one. He would probably find Klaue in one of the ships, drinking his ass off. Disarming him and securing the Vibranium should be easy enough and then going straight to Wakanda would be a bit more complicated but that was a problem for future Jack and he trusted future Jack immensely.
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Word Count - 2393
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