In MCU with One for All -Chapter 15

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Disclaimer - All the usual Yada Yada Yada. I don’t own any rights to any characters in this fic, save for my OCs. Marvel owns them. Don’t sue me.

Earth - 16969 [MCU AU]

Villa, Bangkok [A week later, 2009] 

–Jamie Bell–

He woke up with a single beep from the alarm clock, eyes snapping open as his hand shot out to stop the rest of that horrible alarm from ringing. Looking out the window, he saw that it was still dark as he got up from the bed, ready for the next step in his training.

Hopping into the bathroom, he splashed cold water on his face and then looked at himself in the mirror, struggling to find much difference. He had not dramatically changed anything about himself. He was fit then and he was a little more fit now. And yet, it felt like he was a completely different person from the day that he screeched out of the company parking lot because he was just so frustrated with having to live out the same routine over and over again.

Shaking his head, he straightened up as multiple hands shot out of his hand, fetching multiple things all at once. The water heater was turned on, his clothes were taken off his body, one was holding his brush, and so on.

It was all kind of routine for him now. To think that he struggled to control even a single hand at the beginning of this exercise he made up would be a shock to anyone who would see him wield spider limbs as if they were his original limbs. Plus, it was very practical as well, allowing him to multitask with startling ease.

Within no time, he was ready and dressed up, all thanks to the spell he liked to call Jazz Hands. It was funky and totally unrelated to what the spell actually did but hey, he was the inventor of the jutsu so he could name it whatever the hell he liked.

Checking himself in the mirror, he wore something different for today. Today was the day he had an off site assignment of some sort, assigned personally by the Ancient One. He hoped that this one was something that would at least lead to his promotion to Master. He really hoped to introduce himself as a Master of the Mystic Arts whenever his inevitable clash with SHIELD happened.

So, for the day, he was wearing casuals. T-shirt and Jeans. Just everyday wear for a middle aged guy. 

With that done, one of his Jazz hands shot out and grabbed the sling ring off the nightstand and slipped it on his finger. One wave motion and jump later, he was standing in the central plaza of Kamar Taj, used as an informal gathering place whenever there was a big announcement or a big fight with a large audience.

With a light jump, he was mid air as spider limbs shot out and safely brought him to the next floor, where no one was present. Not odd considering that many apprentices went home or practiced in the smaller training grounds in groups so people didn’t really use the bigger one unless there was going to be a big commotion or extreme damage to the grounds which would have to be repaired later on.

Whistling, he headed to the library on his feet instead of using the spider taxi because it was not as comfortable and seamless as he would have liked it to be. He wagered that people with motion and maybe even car sickness would just ruin his clothes if he used the spider limbs to cart people around.

It was very disorienting and the only reason he was able to keep up with the likes of Mordo while relying on his Spider Limbs is because of the Chi Reaper. Honestly, that artifact seemed like it was tailor made specifically for him. Just pumping it full of Chi increased all physical attributes, including his reflexes which allowed him to react to Mordo’s vastly superior combat moves, likely due to his experience fighting a number of Demons who are all physically superior to baseline humans.

He entered the library and nodded at the apprentices he made eye contact with and walked straight to the adjoining section of the Library, where the entry gates were located. Those were the points that were essentially anchored portals, allowing people to get to predetermined locations with authorisation. 

It was protocol to use these spaces when leaving for missions that Kamar Taj issued out to experienced apprentices or to Masters, as a way of training and completing smaller, less threatening tasks of Kamar Taj. 

According to what he had heard, these tasks were mostly harmless, and very rarely was anyone ever seriously injured because most of the major threats were either handled by the Ancient One or foreseen by her so that she could order people to go in groups instead of going alone into a potential ambush.

He was expecting to get one such mission, his first one without any senior supervision, but apparently, they had different plans for him and by they, he meant the Ancient One.

Wong said with the most straight face ever, “You are assigned a potentially mystic anomaly in Rio, with chances of high stakes combat. You will be dropped near a bottling plant and the only clue given by the Sorcerer Supreme is Smash.”

“What?” His confusion was palpable as he heard the orders and that confusion turned into realisation as his face turned into an ‘O’, followed by panicking, which Wong chose to ignore by smugly pointing out, “It’s a good thing that your combat ability has been proven quite recently.”

Oh, this smug bastard.

“I am supposed to be going in alone?” He asked, a little, okay, a lot hesitant about going anywhere near the strongest person on the planet, that too all by himself.

“Yes. Now if you have any more questions, you can refer to this,” Wong handed him a small booklet that was very thin, “And happy Journey.” The man waved his arm in the air and opened a portal that led to an alley of some sort.

Swallowing his hesitation, he clutched the booklet tighter and walked into the portal as if a man were walking to his death. The portal closed behind him as he was left standing in a shady alley, alone.

Sighing, he slipped the booklet into his jeans, took a deep breath and opened his eyes with renewed determination. He could do this! There was just a chance of combat, not guaranteed combat and even if there was, he had far higher chances of escaping than regular people.

Where was he anyway?

The booklet had a map with a red dot indicating his current position but before he could begin navigating in this place, he had to take stock of his reserves. He came to Kamar Taj, expecting a far easier mission, not this potentially deadly one.

Moving out of the alley with what he hoped to be a casual walk, he looked around and almost missed a step when he saw the name on a massive board that said Pingo Doce, with a little logo of the classic sugary drink below it.

The gate below it was equally massive and it led to an open road that further led inwards into the industrial zone around him, as workers were ferried back and forth in small buses. It also looked to be the biggest facility around him, as far as his gaze went and Wong would not have put him far from the place where Bruce worked.

As far as his knowledge went, for security or for some other reasons, there was usually only one single large exit and entry point for workers, especially workers in factories, to make sure that there was a choke point in case of a robbery or something else.

So, theoretically, as long as he remained in this place, he should be able to see Bruce coming in or out. These places worked in shifts anyway so who knows if he will find Bruce clocking in or out of work.

All he could do was wait. So, he turned around and slipped back into the alley. HE saw that the surrounding buildings were offices of some sort but both of them were closed and the broken windows suggested a period of prolonged emptiness.

Once he was certain that he was alone, he concentrated and did something that he was still practicing, using Spider Limbs with Universal Dimensional Energy. It was vastly easier to just summon 8 Spider Limbs when he was using his personal reserves but when he was relying on external energy, it took him some focus to summon even two of them.

Thankfully, two were enough as he scaled the walls, slowly, and after finding an empty window, climbed through it to enter the likely abandoned office. Due to the continuous ventilation from broken windows everywhere, the office did not stink but due to the same airflow, it now had a thick layer of dust on everything.

Slowly, he walked to the edge of the floor, and plopped his ass down on a chair summoned using external Dimensional Energy, to keep an eye on the entry point.

Might as well train until he can find Bruce. This was going to be a multi day mission because he was not going to confront Bruce until he was at his hundred percent, even if it meant delaying contact by a day.

He was willing to take that risk.