*AUTHORS NOTE AT THE END, 2019 UPDATE, PLEASE READ*
Mai Taniyama was usually late for work. She knew this. Whether it was because she missed the train, or she had a conference at school, or she was just caught up in her own personal business, Mai was always late.
But today, today was not her fault.
Dodging left, she narrowly avoided a blast of sand heading her way, her body rolling until she was behind the cover of an overturned car. "Out of all the days for you to show up," Mai muttered, coming out of her cover to shoot a large stalagmite of ice at her opponent. On a regular day, you wouldn't see this teen clad in mystical, form-fitting blue armor, a grimace on her face as she faced an unhinged enemy. No, on a normal day you would see warm brown eyes, chocolate colored hair, and a small smile on a tomboyish figure. On a normal day, Sandman, aka Flint Marko, aka William Baker, would be stranded on an island, surrounded by water with no fucking chance of escape.
And did it annoy Mai that this was not the case?
Absolutely.
"Come on, Baker, I know you can do better than that!" Mai taunted, she then grabbed a car and threw it at the sand creature, using the wind to get it to go the extra mile. Sandman simply absorbed the car before spitting the crushed tin out. Sighing, Mai jumped back, once again, just barely dodging the sand that was shot at her.
Taking a deep breath, Mai crouched down low, her eyes following her target as he slowly approached, convinced for some reason, that the resident superhero was giving up. Now!
Mai shot off into the air, her hands clasped tightly together, "Hey, Baker! High Five!" she pulled her hands apart, sending a blast of air towards the Sandman. Caught off guard, Flint didn't even manage to dodge, getting hit full force and scattered.
Feeling the sand particles in the air, Mai made a rowing motion with her hands, pulling the wind in and spinning it together in a near perfect vortex. "You know, I've never trusted the weatherman, I don't recall a sandstorm being predicted for today," Mai released the sand, letting it fall to the ground, "Of course, raining sand wasn't mentioned on the forecast either," Mai muttered looking towards the sand that had collected to form a large, and confused, Flint, lying dazed.
With a slashing motion of her hand, Flint was encased in dark blue ice, a shade only seen on Earth by her hand. Mai flew to the nearest building, dissolving her ice absentmindedly while dialing in a number on her phone.
"What did you do?" An aggravated voice questioned over the phone.
"Well hello to you too, Mr. Smiles all the time!" Mai answered cheekily.
"I don't have time for this shit, Taniyama, what did you do?" Nick pressed.
"Nothing," Mai snorted, "It's more like, what did S.H.I.E.L.D. do? Considering the last time I checked, Marco Flint was kept locked up in a safe place, not roaming the streets of Shibuya."
"Fuck."
"Exactly, so I need a cleanup. He's been detained."
"Thanks, Agent Taniyama, we'll be in contact."
Mai hung up with a sigh, shoulders dropping, relaxed.
Then she looked at the time.
"Shit!"
⦽The Real Side of Mai Taniyama⦽
Moments later Mai burst through the door, "I'm here!" she called.
"You're late," a cold voice answered in reply, Mai looked over, her warm brown orbs meeting hard cobalt. Before his eyes flickered to the news that was playing on the TV in the office, a new edition that came in after SPR was reformed.
Mai rolled her eyes, "Well, it wasn't like I could do anything about it when that," she pointed to the fight between her and Sandman, "Was blocking the way. It was hell to get through."
"Please tell me you weren't an idiot and decided to walk into that trouble," Naru growled.
"Of course not," Mai snorted, more like crashed into, "I went around on seventeenth to avoid it, which is a longer route."
The dialogue between the two hadn't changed much since Naru's, or better known as Shibuya Kazuya aka Oliver Davis, had returned with Lin from England. Though that could have something to do with the fact that Mai refused to acknowledge their last few moments in Japan before they left, and Naru was all for doing the same.
It was a dangerous thing to do anyway, having a relationship in Mai's line of work. She had no idea when she would have to drop connections with SPR, soon, possibly, what with all the other 0-8-4's that have been popping up recently. She was running on borrowed time.
"Today, Japan saved again from another threat. The United States of America has previously named the enemy as Sandman, an entity that is completely made up of sand, with a weakness to extreme heat, and water. The threat was taken down by Japan's own hero, Kald Bris, whose identity still remains unknown. She was last seen on the roof of Magi Inc. before fleeing the scene, moments later a clean up crew arrived. Nice to know our hero wants to keep our city clean, both from crime, and damage caused by it…."
Mai shook her head at the reporter. Kald Bris, or cold breeze… Honestly, the names people come up with.
"Hey, pretty cool having a superhero here, right Naru?" Mai asked as she took the tea kettle off of the stove, letting it cool a bit.
"She's not a hero Mai, she's a vigilante, there's a difference." Naru sighed, looking down in his notebook and scribbling a few notes in. "She won't work with the police and she knows no boundaries when she intervenes on any given situation. Kald Bris is a menace, although, not a totally useless one, a menace all the same." Without looking up he continued, "and Mai? T-"
"Tea?" Mai questioned, handing him his cup, already made just the way he likes it, and at the perfect temperature. Naru blinked, looking stunned before his face fell back into his usual stone cold expression. He took the cup without giving thanks, not that Mai cared anymore, she had long since given up on teaching him manners.
Exhaling a little through her nose, Mai took the cup of hot chocolate off the tray she was holding and walked to Lin's office. The silent Chinese man was sitting at his desk, all the lights off and steadily typing on his computer. Mai muttered something about eye strain while placing the mug on the desk next to him, taking the empty cup and leaving, just barely hearing the low 'thanks' given as she closed the door behind her.
Finally, Mai took her own cup of tea and began working at her desk. Multi-tasking between S.H.I.E.L.D. files, homework, and actual SPR case files.
This has been a routine for the past few weeks, seeing as there hasn't been a case brought in yet. Mai was admittedly restless, with only a few odd criminals popping up every once in a while, she found herself without anything exciting to do. The last time she saw some action was when Stark decided that telling everyone where he lived was a good idea. Then all the extremis terrorist, and… gods above, Stark stresses her out.
Mai wished that things would go back to the way things were when she first joined SPR. She was sent to Japan a few months prior, S.H.I.E.l.D. wanted to start a division based on paranormal occurrences, and a lot were being reported in from Japan, so, they sent Mai and several others to scout. Meeting Shibuya Kazuya, later on dubbed as Naru, was hitting a gold mine for her. She had more success than all the others sent to Japan, even started her own research with the unknowing help of Naru. She made friends and was actually able to enjoy life as a teenager, for once.
Then the damn Tesseract gets stolen, Mai was told to remain in Japan, only to come in as backup if the Avengers Initiative failed, of course, it didn't. But the success of the Avengers came at the cost of Agent Coulson, a long time friend, mentor, and family to Mai.
To say she wasn't the same since his funeral was an understatement.
While she still smiled, laughed, and interacted with the others, she became…. Detached, dissatisfied with the quiet life, (well, quiet to her) of SPR. Next thing Mai knows, they find Eugene Davis' body. Naru reveals himself as Oliver Davis, which came as a shock to everyone but Mai and Masako, not that they knew about the former's knowledge. And then everybody was gone, and Mai was alone.
She was shipped back into the field, taking on more assignments, keeping track on Stark, and pretty much flying solo. After a year of being on her own, she gladly accepted her chance to return to Japan upon Naru's want to reopen SPR.
The chiming of the door broke Mai out of her thoughts on the pass. Quickly setting her files aside, she walked out to the front, a bright smile on her face.
"Hello! Welcome to Shibuya Psychic Research! Do you have an appointment?" Mai questioned, the smile not leaving her face even when she met the eyes, or, eye of the client.
A pale man with blonde hair, and one blue eye smiled at them, wrinkles crinkling along the black eyepatch that covered where his left eye once was. Next to him was a delicate looking woman, with black strands tied back in a neatly done bun, her grey eyes roaming around the office in curiosity.
The man spoke, "No, no appointment. Ve vere hoping you vould take a fit in?"
Mai nodded her head, "Of course! Let me get my boss and his assistant. Please, have a seat."
Dr. Hinrich Schäfer and his wife gave a relieved smile before settling on one of the office couches.
Mai quickly made her way over to Oliver's office, "Naru?" she called, rapping her knuckles on the door, "We have a client."
"I'll be right out."
Mai gave an affirmative noise before moving on to retrieve Lin. Moments later, all five of them were in the sitting area with a tray of tea and an inquisitive air.
"You have a case?" Naru questioned, taking a sip of his tea and meeting the Doctor's gaze unflinchingly.
"Ves, we, my vife and I, have vecently- decen- re-" Heinrich gave a frustrated noise, his Japanese was warbled, and honestly, Mai was surprised he managed all that he did so far.
"Du hast kürzlich?" Mai questioned, ignoring the slight widening of her coworkers eyes.
Heinrich's blue eyes lit with amazement, "Du sprichst Deutsch?"
Mai nodded, "Ja," she then turned to Naru, "I could translate to make things easier if you want."
Naru nodded, "That is acceptable."
Mai smiled and then looked back to the clients, "Dein Fall?"
"Meine Frau und ich sind vor kurzem nach Amerika gezogen."
"He and his wife had recently moved to America."
"Es war schön. Bis vor kurzem ... Eis bedeckt einige der Räume. Objekte bewegen sich zufällig, seltsame Geräusche kommen aus Räumen, in denen niemand ist." Heinrich continued, waving his hands as he talked.
"He says that it was nice at first. But then ice began to cover some of the rooms. Objects would move from time to time. Strange noises would come from rooms without anyone there." Mai translated, having no difficulty keeping up with the rapid German.
"Alle, die wir besucht haben, konnten das Problem nicht lösen."
"Everyone they've gone to hasn't been able to solve this case."
"Ich bin bereit, für jede Ausgabe zu zahlen, um Ihr Team untersuchen zu lassen. "
"He says he's willing to pay for all the expenses it takes to get our team over to America."
Naru cocked his head to the side, "Ask him why he came to us," he told Mai, who huffed in response.
"Ask him yourself, he can understand Japanese just fine, it's speaking it that he has a problem with." Like you and writing kanji, Mai thought venomously as Naru repeated his question directly to Dr. Heinrich.
At this question, his wife, Linda Heinrich, eyes lit up as she spoke excitedly. , "Ah, einer meiner amerikanischen Kollegen hat dich empfohlen."
Mai tilted her head, "Amerikanischer kollege?"
"Mai?" Naru questioned.
"She says she has an American colleague who recommended us."
Naru looked sharply at her, "American?" At Mai's nod of confirmation he sighed before looking back at the couple. "We'll accept your case, please consult with Lin-san and Taniyama-san about our requirements for our base and access that we may need."
⦽The Real Side of Mai Taniyama⦽
So... Hi? I've been absent from this community and decided to brush up on some of my old projects. This being one of them. So, I hope you like it. There is more to come, chapter 2 is in fact, being written now. So, expect updates soon!
And yes, this is a Marvel and Ghost Hunt cross, I'm basically placing all of Ghost Hunt into the MCU! I already have most of the MCU events planned, thankfully, writing the Infinity War Parts are a long ways away.
Hope you enjoy! I don't own Ghost Hunt or Marvel.
Bye!
-2019 Edit-
Hi! So life happened. Um, I was really into the swing of writing things and then bam, college hit me. So I am soooooo sorry about not being able to update recently.
I finally reached that point where I feel like I can write again without it being a distraction or detrimental to my grades, so, theres that. I am almost done with the next chapter. And! I have updated the timeline, which you will see at the bottom of this chapter.
I would also like to leave a small little, ahem, response to some of the comments that I have recieved. It was going to be in the next chapter, but I still have, like, half the chapter plus a flashback to Mai's first SPR case to work on, and it will still be a week or so till I get that up.
So, here's my note.
"Hey, let me ask you something. Have you ever heard of more than, lets say… three stories that are a crossover between the marvel universe and the anime Ghost Hunt? No? You wanna know why…?
Because there's not a lot of people that are in both demographics.
I get comments and personal messages from people who have never paid attention to Marvel at all, yet still enjoy this story. And you know what? Ghost Hunt's biggest crossover category is Harry Potter, with like, 22 stories total. Do you really think, that other people would easily find this story if it was actually in the crossover category? No. No you wouldn't.
Also if your confused that it's a crossover or find the story misleading despite the words MARVEL and CROSSOVER being in the title, well, that's not my problem. So no, I will not be switching the category of this story, and if that offends you, don't comment about it. Just don't read the fanfiction, you see that little tab at the top corner of your screen, or the back button on your device? Click it, click it now.
And, here's a little shameless plug, if you want to further read my thoughts on crossovers with stories that don't share the same demographic, then read My Ghost Hunt Story Ideas That I'm Too Lazy To Write, it gives a deeper insight and reasoning for doing so.
So, you know, thank you for your concern Luna, Hiy, and Aemin, but no. Also, Aemin, I don't think it's your responsibility to keep the forum in order, but kudos to you for trying! ;)
That is all I have to say in the matter and I will not address it again, no matter how much you comment on it in the review section. But if you're really determined, keep doing it, I'm sure you'll somehow change my mind.
With that said, can I just say, I'm super hype about the next few chapters because I finally have all of the movies leading up to, and including, Infinity War on DVD! This, plus A.O.S. being on Netflix equals all the point of references for me! Mwahahahahahahaha!
ONWARDS WITH THE SHOW!"
Ahem, yeah, I realize now that my response is a little more, heated, than I probably want it to be. But the point stands nonetheless, there's simply not enough reasons to switch the category of this story just because it's a crossover, especially when I would like for this story to be, you know, read.
Ah! And the timeline! Here it is! As spoiler free as I can make it, it's not the full extensive timeline, cause, that would be spoilery. But, it just has what arcs there are, and what year they take place in.
Enjoy!
Ghost Hunt Canon Arc 2011-2012
Ghost Hunt S.P.E. Test Arc 2013
|Independent Mai Arc| 2013
|Agent Mai Arc| 2013-2014
|SPR and MCU| 2014-2015
|Pre Sokovia Accords| 2015-2016
|After Sokovia| 2016
|After Homecoming| 2016-2017
Ragnarok 2017-2018 (Time works differently on Sakaar)
Infinity War 2018
By Infinity War, Mai is 23 years old. So, lol, we will watch her grow.
The Arcs with || have a different Arc name, but, the name of that Arc is filled with way to many spoilers.
The canon arc happens in correlation with the SPE Test Arc, so, case 1 in cannon is told along with case 1 in the fanfiction.
Let's just say everyone in SPR goes through it. And Infinity War, when I get there, will leave you shook.
My original goal was to get to Infinity war before End Game came out, lol, that goal was not reached. But, hopefully, before the next Avengers movie after End Game, I'll be caught up to the MCU.
Um, sorry that this wasn't a chapter update, but I felt like I couldn't just leave y'all hanging in limbo without explaining why.
The rest of the chapters have been edited. Enjoy them, and if your new, I hope you'll enjoy this story. It's good to be back.