Run Chad RUN! #3.1

Commissioned by [ChaosUntold] on P*treon.

Disclaimer - I don’t own nor claim to own any of the IP of the giant multi Billion Dollar companies that might appear here. I just own any OCs that you see.

Kamar Taj [May 2011]

–Chad Tannings–

“What?” He asked, once more, as Wong, the guy responsible for training the person with not Sorcery, told him something that he had not been expecting at all.

Wong, nonplussed by his outburst, nodded, “Yes, your training will strictly be part time. As the Ancient One understands that you have an important job outside that needs your daily attention, she has decided to grant you permission to do this part time.”

He stood there, with a bewildered look on his face, as Wong walked away. Wong probably thought that it was enough of an explanation for him but it was not.

So, there he was, standing in the middle of one of the zillion courtyards that Kamar Taj seemed to have, holding onto three books that seemed small but were somehow larger on the inside, and also much heavier than they had any right to be..

Hell, even with his enhanced strength, he could feel the weight of those books and these were only the starter ones, about energy manipulation and how to safely experiment with energy without blowing up, which was paramount in his case because if he blew up, he would poison the universe,, which did not sound good.

He did not know the exact consequences of such a thing but it did not sound good.

He resisted the urge to curse out loud about the whole situation. If he was to remain part time, then why did he say goodbye to Diane? Why give up the trailer, his stuff in it, and the gym membership?

His routine! He had built it with blood, sweat and tears and he thought he had to give it up for Kamar Taj and with the way the Ancient One made it sound like an order, he thought he would be experiencing grueling training for months if not years, so saying his goodbyes was up to par.

Sighing, his shoulders drooped as he began walking to the library. No point crying over spoiled milk, he supposed. He was not communicated the details about this whole training session properly, which was not even his fault because the Ancient One just dumped him out of the Sanctum once she was done saying her piece.

Entering the library, he saw that it was very empty, save for the Librarian, whose presence he could feel somewhere in the giant space, with books literally glowing or giving off energy that he could feel was vile in its nature.

Damn, a real life magical library, along with all its associated stereotypes coming true.

Shaking his head, he dumped the books on one of the empty tables and winced as the sound echoed throughout the library. A shiver ran through his body, his body entering Flashtime on instinct, as he felt someone sneak up on him. Turning around, he saw that it was one old fuck, probably the Librarian, sneaking up on him or rather moving normally but not generating any sound?

He slipped out of flash time and the Librarian recoiled a bit, clearly surprised at seeing someone turn around abruptly without having the chance to process it properly, “I haven’t seen you here before, so I must assume that you are new. Since this is your first offence, you will be let off with a warning. Please refrain from making any sound in the library, as repeated offenses shall get you shovelling duty and trust me when I say this, you do not want that.”

He looked, utterly confused, at the Librarian but nodded nonetheless before turning around and opening the first book. 

What did the man mean by shovelling duty? Did Kamar Taj have some horse stable that he did not know about? Something that was not touched in canon? Then again, nothing of the overall teaching structure of Kamar Taj was revealed, aside from a few shots of people training with Dimensional Energy Conjuration, and the library.

The rest was just CGI fight scenes, which were admittedly cool but very loose in information density.

So maybe they had shovelling as the way of punishing wayward students? Who knows?

He shrugged and got back to reading the incredibly dry, void of pictures, book. Thank god he did not have a severe case of ADD, otherwise he would have been screwed and bored out of his mind.

____xx___

[~A Few Hours Later~]

He stretched, his eyes somehow feeling droopy despite his body never feeling this tired without some extreme physical strain on it. The book…calling it boring would be doing the word a disservice.

How anyone could get through this entire thing without at least going somewhat mad was a mystery to him. First of all, the book was not just dry, it was needlessly repetitive. For real, the first fifteen pages were just warnings on how not to manipulate energy.

Which was fine if not for the fact that six pages were devoted to the single warning of not to pump any sort of energy into one’s heart and then going into gruesome details of what happened to people who did, with various effects caused by varying number of energies being pumped straight into the heart.

All of them ended with the person either getting super cancer or the heart exploding with the force of a small bomb, both of which were very gruesome, because the super cancer reproduced at very high speeds, resulting in an explosion as well, just the fleshy kind.

He shuddered at the very thought of something like that happening to him and then he realised that the book kind of won? Shaking his head, he took the books and all but fled the library, feeling the intense gaze of the Librarian on him, who was probably just waiting for him to make some noise so that shoveling could be dished out as a punishment.

The library was making him feel very bored out of his mind and he needed a change of pace and a change of location. Having enough cash in hand, he reached the admin building of sorts of this entire place, which was supposed to be staged by a Master at all times.

He was told by Wong to reach this place whenever he wanted to go outside. He couldn’t use them as his personal taxi service though. He could only be taken to the New York Sanctum.

Apparently, the portals that acted as permanent fixtures to the Sanctums was not an option for him. Either he was not authorised for that or the Ancient One did not want to risk his Speed Force interacting with the permanent portal thing, but he could use a regular portal just fine?

It was all sorts of confusion that he did not question as he walked through the portal and into the lobby of the New York Sanctum. Looking around, he saw dozens of magical artifacts encased in magical glass and then even more hung up on the walls around him, along with the staircase that would take him to the upper levels which no doubt had more.

Alas, those were not for him as he walked out the doors and entered the busy streets of New York. He knew a nice place for coffee and a bagel near Times Square,  and he was craving something sweet so he smiled and walked to the coffee shop, holding the book he was currently reading under his arm.

Apparently, he could just store the books in the Library under his name, and the books were magical as well, looking nothing more than an ordinary folder to people, while to him, it looked very exotic, and the words even wiggled a bit when he looked too hard at them.

So, he walked to his destination, as was customary in New York, not doing any crime stopping today because he did not feel like it, not to mention he did not find any on his way to the coffee place, which was nice.

If he wished to, he could just take the coffee, walk just a minute or two and immediately see the Times–

His ears perked up, as he heard people screaming, gun safeties going off, and he was gone, in a Flash.

The next moment, he was covered in red, the book latched onto his back, held securely by the red all around his body as he reached the source of the commotion, which were a couple of agents blocking traffic, car or otherwise, from moving forward. 

He moved past them, and then his brain froze for a second, almost making him stumble if not for his super speed.

Right there, in the flesh, in a shirt two sizes too small for him, looking all around him in confusion was…Steve Rogers.

Holy Shit!

He did not stop, only doing a circle around the area to see if any danger to Captain America was present, and after seeing only SHIELD agents in the vicinity, and a convoy with Fury on their way to the Captain, he zoomed back and slipped out of flashtime, a small distance away from the Captain.

The immediate reaction was…not what he was expecting.

Then again, what did he expect from someone who had just fought his way out of a facility and was not facing a giant red monster, crackling with energy?

The punch aimed at his crotch, though, was not nice.

Sigh, so much for a good first meeting.