"I never said you're a superhero."
"Didn't… well good because that would be outlandish and uh… fantastic." The man on screen pauses. "I'm just not the hero type clearly with this… laundry list of character defects, all the mistakes I've made. Largely… public….",
Before Stark could continue speaking the Don Cheadle lookalike whispers something inaudible to him.
The billionaire then picks up a piece of paper and says, "The truth is… I am Iron Man."
Stark just announced himself as Iron Man. I thought that the first Iron Man movie was in the year 2009. This showed me that my memory isn't perfect, that I could forget important things which could cause a catastrophe.
Also on the topic of Stark, I bought shares from his company when he announced that he would no longer be part of the weapons manufacturing business. At the time the stocks of Stark Industries were at an all-time low. Easy money.
Future knowledge is worth it.
"So… what do you think?" I ask my father who was sitting on the couch adjacent to mine. Today was a Saturday and I decided to not do anything but relax. No plotting about the future, or being stuck in my lab, just me, doing nothing.
"About what?" He asks.
"About Stark being Iron Man. I mean… do you approve? What's your opinion on this?" I prod him further.
"I don't mind, and if I'm being honest I don't really care all that much. But, if you wanna know what I think about this… well to me it's fine, I mean the guys got money to spend and he used it in a very creative way. As long as he doesn't just… you know, provide the general public with this technology it doesn't matter." He responds. Huh, his response was pretty lackluster than what I originally thought.
"I thought you disliked billionaires?" I asked him.
"I did at one point but now, I'm just too old for that anymore." He says with a laugh.
I couldn't help but smile, "You're only 54 years old dad, you've got plenty of life ahead of you." Please, I'm scared to lose you too.
"Hahaha, you're right son, these old bones have plenty left in them." My father said with a grin. "So how's work going so far for you?"
"Plenty good actually, at least for now. Rachel, my lab partner's pretty nice. Dr. Ock is very intelligent, more so than me and he's quite helpful." I pause before saying, "I will leave and join another company in the future though."
"Why? You seem to be doing well for yourself so far."
"I don't know I just get this feeling that something bad will happen to the company… also Norman isn't exactly the best person to work for. You don't know what he does behind the cheerful businessman persona." In truth, Oscorp industries would be bought by Hammer by next year. I didn't care because I disliked Osborn and Hammer would be outwitted by Tony Stark.
"Hmm, that's quite right. You're a grown man now son, make your own decisions." He smiled at me.
"Thanks, Dad," I replied.
"Doctor, how have you been," I say as I enter the door to our laboratory.
"Good, David so far how about you?"
"I'm in a pretty good mood nowadays." I walk towards his experiments. "So what exactly is this?" I say gesturing towards the holograms of the tentacles displayed on the screen. Obviously, I knew exactly what it was.
"These are limbs. Fully functional limbs that can be powered by the motor nerves of the human brain." He pauses. "The design isn't complete yet, but it will in just a few months."
Few months huh? That meant Spider-Man would be showing up earlier than I thought. In the original MCU timeline, Peter says he had his powers for six months to Tony during the events of Civil War. This meant that he gained his powers in the year 2015 or something like that. Then again I could be wrong just like with the whole Stark fiasco.
"Each limb has three other claw-shaped parts on its base for balance and grip," Otto continued.
"Sounds like something your wife would enjoy," I said with a grin.
"Yes, she would. Once I get done testing this on myself, she'll enjoy using it due to its usefulness-," he looks at me as I give him a deadpan stare, "why are you looking at me like that?" He asks in confusion.
I sighed. Of course, this was a guy that spent 90% of his life in a lab, would he really understand that kind of a joke. "Never mind. Just don't show this to Osborn."
"Why? We could revolutionize medical technology. We could-" I cut him off
"You wouldn't get credit for it though. Sure you could create it but Norman is a criminal hiding behind a businessman persona. He could easily spin lies and you would be none the wiser. The only reason I work for him is because the job pays well."
Silence takes over the room for a few seconds.
"You're right." He sighs. "But we're taking the equipment from Oscorp that is owned by him. He would know if we're conducting experiments behind his back since he's a master actor and liar."
"We could take away equipment from the 'waste' section. The company due to its large size generates many tons of waste per year. Stealing appliances and gadgets from there should go unnoticed."
"Hmm, good idea." He replies.
"You're smarter than me Otto, you should have figured this out."
"Don't sell yourself short David, you're just as bright as me when I was your age. I just have more experience," he says with a smile. "Besides I was too busy working on this project."
"I suppose," I say.
I'm going to have to do my best to prevent him from going insane. He was a really good friend that I loved to work with, all in all, a completely nice guy.
He genuinely wanted to help disabled people. Those prosthetic limbs or as most people who see it, call it tentacles, were only for him but he also built capable hands and feet for those who had lost their appendages.
Besides him going rogue would cause the death of a lot of people which is not something anyone would like.
My studies at Kamar-Taj continued smoothly. Using portals made it easy for me to travel to Kathmandu.
Conjuring up constructs by using tangible energy through eldritch magic took me two weeks. I was one of the last of my batch of sorcerers to do it. Shaping it up to suit my needs through mental commands until it was perfect took me another week. But once I completed my task, using it to create various other geometric shapes was so much fun.
Once I moved from that, I went to start learning various shield spells. From the movie Dr. Strange, it managed to withstand a literal blast of pure energy from Dormammu for a few seconds before completely disintegrating. But c'mon man, it's a blast from a God-Like being who lives in his dimension and could manipulate reality on a whim. Even two seconds was worth it in my opinion. This is exactly why I practiced it until I could create shields as big as half my body within 0.5 seconds. Enhanced speed thinking and reflexes without the use of the speed force certainly helped in that regard.
I also discovered I couldn't create constructs or portals while using my super-speed abilities. When I'm in Flash time, the constructs simply do no appear as fast as I perceive objects around me which meant that I could not form magical constructs whilst running at super speed.
Astral Projection was another I had done my best to master. Your very soul was taken out of its body and put into a plane called the Astral Plane. It was beyond the physical plane and made a sorcerer capable of traveling to non-physical existences. In the Astral form, a magic used more or less exists as a form of energy. One would not require to breathe and could easily transverse through any physical objects no matter how strong it is. Once again I could not use the speed force while in Astral form, however only time would tell if I could. I wasn't very experienced in this field of magic yet.
Languages were something every sorcerer learned at the institution. So far I have learned German, French, Arabic, Latin, Greek, and a bit of Xhosa, just in case I ever visit Wakanda. Speed reading with the addition of long-term memory? OP as hell. But I knew my memory was by no means perfect as shown by me not remembering when the first Iron Man movie took place. Constant practice was important.
"Good afternoon, Master Wong," I greet him as I dump the books he had recommended for me to read on his desk. Wong was exactly as the movie portrayed him. He had a constant deadpan and serious expression on his face that just made you want to feel uncomfortable if you stared too long. Definitely a bad conversationalist.
"David," He acknowledges stiffly before his gaze lands on the books. "I see you have completed the books I tasked you with reading." He knew I could read at faster speeds than a normal human due to the Ancient One informing him earlier.
"Indeed I have. All the languages you books you have assigned me with have been read thoroughly at least 5 times and memorized as best I can." I reply.
"Excellent work David. You are advancing well with your skills in the Mystic Arts." There was genuine praise in his eyes and I had to blink twice to make sure I want dreaming. No it was real… and actual complement from Wong, wow.
"But I cheated, didn't I? No one else can read as fast as I can." I muttered in shock.
"It is not called cheating. You are simply using the resources given to you."
"Thank you for the vote of confidence Master," I reply before remembering why I was here. "Oh, the main reason I'm here is that I would like to check out the book on illusions."
"The book on illusions…" He then gets up and walks to wherever the book is located.
Now, the main reason I wanted to learn illusions is due to their usefulness and as the ultimate spying tool. I could trick people easily by changing my looks to match the look of various other human beings. Maybe I could trick Thor too as Loki did? Hmm, something to test out later.
Anyways back on topic, I also hoped illusions could be used telekinetically as telekinesis was another art I wanted to perfect. It would probably increase my mental defenses too.
I snap out of my thoughts once I hear footsteps again.
Wong dumps two books on the table. "These are the books on illusions so far for your level." My level? He answered the unspoken question. "Yes there are two more volumes on illusions, but you have not reached that level of mastery yet."
I sighed. Patience David, you'll get it sooner or later, "Right. Thank you Master Wong."
He simply nods stiffly once before going back to reading whatever… he was reading.
I gather the books before finding a place to sit.
Kamar-Taj had so much to offer in terms of knowledge. Despite my super speed reading, I'd think it'll still take more than a hundred years to not only memorize but also understand everything present in the books. This was a sanctum that was established a very long time ago.
Hmm, alright time to get back to reading.
I was in my suit whilst practicing using my speed in the desert. Portals were useful like that.
I wanted to create an offensive capability like the flash created lightning rods, but without looking like lightsabers.
'Alright this should work'. I think to myself.
I start vibrating my hands while surrounding it with speed force energy which comes of as yellow lightning. I concentrate much of the energy to the tips of my open fingers.
Cracking sounds of lightning is heard before my hand lights up in a completely yellowish form electricity. It looked exactly like the chidori from Naruto except yellow in color.
I dismiss the energy from my hand and everything returns back to normal.
Cool. I'll call the attack lightning blade.
Now let's see if I could do it while running.
Instantly everything starts moving at a very low speed. I run and start concentrating high amounts of energy just like I did with my hands previously. So I could do it while running. Good.
I ram the lightning blade straight through a large boulder. My hand cuts through the rock like a hot knife through butter.
I haven't really experimented with my powers as much compared to last year other than constantly working on increasing my speed. The reason was because I was busy with studying magic, work and maintaining relationships with those close to me. It was why there was no way I was becoming a billionaire like Tony Stark who's workload probably consist of the entire buildings everyday. Now I know he uses his AI to do a lot of his work for him, but I don't have an AI. I'm not as smart as Tony Stark in anyway.
"Do you know that I have future knowledge?" I couldn't help but ask the Ancient One. She had to right? There was no way she didn't.
"I've had my suspicions," she replies with a smile.
"On the first day I arrived you said: 'but in every future, I've seen of yours or at least those that are visible to me, in most if not all of them you are amongst Earth's greatest allies.' I don't think you share that kind of knowledge with the person as that arrives at your doorstep."
"It took quite a while for you to catch on."
I sighed. "Yes, it did. In truth, I know only parts of the future or at least an alternate future where I don't exist."
"Please do elaborate."
"In this future or at least now the future that would've happened had I not existed, I know everything up till the part where the Avengers bring everyone from the dead. What happens is there is a genocidal maniac who wants to collect all the infinity stones to kill half the universe to restore 'balance'," I used finger quotes, "which is a pretty stupid plan. The Avengers time travel and take the stones from alternate realities to reverse the process."
Her eyes narrow at that last sentence. "The infinity stones create what you experience as the flow of time. Removing one stone will doom the reality that the stone has been taken from. But I'm sure you already know that."
"Oh right, you can't see the future past your death." she instantly looks guarded. "Don't worry I won't tell anyone." I sigh and rub my temples, "Look how about I start from the beginning."
"That would be in your best interest," she says in a firm tone and I gulped. Well fuck, I hope this goes well.
So I tell her. About everything I knew about the MCU which I and the speed force didn't exist in, from the first Iron Man movie till endgame. Gaining the trust of a powerful being like the Ancient One was important.
Oh and I also told her about WandaVision or whatever I had watched of it. God that woman who would one day become Scarlet witch needed therapy.
Throughout my explanation, the person in front of me did not even twitch once or show any sign of emotion other than curiosity. But then again, she is very old and has experienced quite a lot.
"... So yeah that's it, or well at least as much as I know. That reality of course is no longer possible due to my existence."
There was complete and utter silence for a few minutes which made it very uncomfortable.
She finally sighed breaking the awkward tension surrounding both of us, "I expected you to know parts of the future, but your knowledge far exceeds my expectations. The fact that you know that I draw power from the Dark Dimension is also quite alarming." she pauses. "So in these... movies that you have used as fictional entertainment, Kaecillius draws power from the dark dimension and kills me?"
"Yes. Dormammu returns to take over Earth but Strange defeats him by using a time loop. Honestly, that was a very creative way of defeating that powerful celestial which is why I think Strange should become the next sorcerer supreme."
She smiled. "You would be correct in your assessment. Strange is meant to be the best of us."
"Right. So uh... will you know... die when Kaecillius kills you or will you change your fate?" I ask the awkward question that bugged me the entire time. Looking back at it I realized that was very insensitive of me.
She takes a sip of her tea... where the hell did that come from? I look at my hands and lo and behold there is a cup of tea. "In every future I have seen, all of them lead to my death at that exact moment. After preventing countless futures, many worse than the other, you would think I would be able to escape my destiny. But to answer your question, I am not sure."
"Very well." I sighed to myself before I remember something else. "There is one person I would like to bring to this institution in the year 2013. Wanda Maximoff."
"The conduit of chaos magic? Are you sure that would be wise?" she inquires with an eyebrow raised.
"Yes, in fact I think that would be the best possible choice. That woman needs therapy, badly. I think you could also help teach her how to wield her chaos magic too. She could be one of Earth's greatest allies in the upcoming war."
"You realize that you are essentially talking about kidnapping and manipulating her to use as a tool for Earth's safety? What if she discovers the truth?," she asks. A valid question indeed.
"Yes I know, but it is a better alternative than her being a traumatized child without someone to guide her. I mean her parents die, then she's experimented on, she fights robots, loses her brother to those robots, manipulated by another robot, which also once again dies. After that she's snapped out of existence and then once she returns due to the second snap, Wanda is once again in a battlefield. You see the pattern here." I reply.
"Your idea does have merit. I suppose you would want more allies in the battle against this 'Thanos' character?" I nod. "I do have ideas for that, you do not need to worry about it. The conduit of chaos magic should certainly help in this endeavor."
"Yes she would. With multiversal reality warping powers, Thanos wouldn't know what hit him. Also, how old is she in this timeline?" It was the year 2008. I had to know.
"She is currently 19 years old."
"Wow, I though the twins would be younger."
Captain America called Wanda 'a kid' but to me I think that it was just to effect Stark because she didn't know how to use her powers well. Steve after all was almost a 100 years old, so to him Wanda definitely was a kid. Every Avenger on the team was at least 30 barring Vision. Vision however biologically can be any age with the power of the mind stone and is an AI, his age doesn't count.
"Also I have one more question before you continue your duties," the ancient lady nods. "What is the sling ring made of and how does it work?"
"The sling ring is made out of an alloy of palladium, copper, nickel, zinc and a cover of gold. As for how it works… you will find out in the armor enchanting section," she gives a smile that says 'I-know-something-you-don't'
I sigh, "Wong wouldn't let me touch that unless I complete every single book on my level."
She chuckled. "Yes Master Wong takes anything related to sorcery very seriously, but deep down he is a very compassionate man."
At that I smile, "That he does." I get up to leave, "Thank you Ancient One for your time."
"My pleasure, David. Remember, Sunday 5 AM sharp".
"Yes Master." I automatically before leaving through a portal I made.
Alright, time to get back to Oscorp.
"Doctor Conners pleasure to meet you today," I say with a smile
"David, it's good to see you too. What have you been up to these days?" he questions.
Doctor 'Curtis' Conners was a very pleasant man who had noble intentions and was the lead herpetologist in Oscorp. He had lost his arm when working for the US Military as an emergency battlefield surgeon after which he worked on developing a cure for it by studying lizard genome. He had a son named Billy and a wife named Martha. The man was friends with Richard Parker aka Spiderman's father who died in a tragic plane crash. Red skull was ruthless and lives didn't matter to him.
"I've been working with Dr Octavius on his new project, the one where he designs tentacle like limbs for movement through." I reply.
"Ah yes that one. Anyway, the reason why I'm here is to introduce you to my assistant Miss Gwen Stacy." He points to his side and I come face to face with a girl who looked exactly like Emma Stone.
Well damn this timeline is weird.
AN: Yeah my upload schedule isn't consistent.
Now about Wanda's age, in WandaVision they state that she and Pietro were born in 1989. I'm going with that. Some people say she was like 16 or 17 in civil war but fuck that. So yeah I'm changing her age.
hiareportsyou: I'm not sure about whether altering DNA or the genetic structure of a speedster disconnects them from the speed force. Some say no, some yes.