All the Queen's Men (MCU SI spite fic)

[Mariadreaming9]

Chapter 16

The next day, when I was scheduled to head to Mawmaw's place, Dad took me aside.

"Jackie?" he asked, seeming kinda uncomfortable.

"Yeah Dad?"

"With the burglary, ah, you know how Jeje has family still in China?"

"Yessss?" I tilted my head, not sure what this was about. Jeje didn't really talk about his life back in China. I knew about the family but from what little I did know I was pretty sure their relationship was complicated. The person to ask if you wanted to know something about China was Mawmaw.

"Well, they heard about what happened and decided to send someone over to, ah, look over things and make sure it doesn't happen again."

"Really? And Jeje is okay with that?"

Dad's face did a funny thing when he bit back what was clearly a very negative answer.

"Jeje would prefer to find his own men, but he can't send this man back without being disrespectful," he said diplomatically. "However, Jackie, the man they sent is… not someone you can play around with."

He raised his hands as I gave him the look I felt that suggestion deserved.

"I know, I know," he said. "You aren't the kind of person to do that. But… still, Mawmaw and I talked it over, and we think it would be best if you didn't go over to help her out until this is all over. The man and Jeje are going to be very busy, and it isn't something you can help with either."

Inwardly I blanched. If I couldn't go to Chinatown, how was I to figure out who had the bamboo?

"If I can't help Mawmaw and Jeje, could I help someone else?" I asked. "What about Auntie?" Auntie Yi was always busy with something.

Dad hesitated. "Maybe… We'll see. Let me call and check."

Since it didn't look like we'd be going right that minute, I went back to my room to continue trying to… infuse? The quartz pendant with my will or whatever was needed so that it would work to scry things with. So far I'd been getting non answers from it when I tried, but it'd only been a day.

After a short while Dad came back. "Aunt Yi would be happy to have you help," he said. "She's working on a night market festival. You can start tomorrow." He paused and looked a little uncomfortable again. "…If you're going to be spending time in Chinatown, you should probably meet the man helping Jeje."

"Okay." I had to admit I was curious. I knew next to nothing about my relatives over the sea, and I'd always wondered what they were like.

We traveled back to Manhattan Chinatown, as Jeje and the mysterious man were operating out of Uncle's office.

When we got to the office, Dad paused and looked at me. "When you greet him, be very respectful," he said. Then he knocked.

After a moment Jeje called out "Come in!"

We entered to a tense room. Dad did a small bow to Jeje first, then the stranger, and I copied him as I studied the newcomer.

He looked, in a word, dangerous. He was probably at least six feet tall and built like a brick house, with a small scar above his left eyebrow. I couldn't tell how old he was. With how Chinese people aged, he could have been anything from 20 to 40. Dressed all in nondescript black clothes, he was definitely not the kind of person I'd want to meet on a dark street at night.

We studied each other as Dad introduced me in Cantonese, me warily and him with a blank face. He did not give his own name after I'd been introduced.

Once the introductions and polite small talk was done, Dad started going through the motions to leave. He was excusing himself when the man said "Stop," in heavily accented English. "Stay. You might have noticed something."

Dad tried to hide a grimace. "Let me send my daughter away first," he said.

He fished his cellphone out of his pocket and handed the flip phone to me. "Don't lose this," he said. "And go see if Mei is available. If she is, you can go play in Columbus Park. I'll be done soon. If you need me, call Jeje's phone."

I nodded, silent, and turned to go, happy to escape the oppressive pressure of the room. I wasn't sure what the man's deal was, but I knew I didn't want to spend any more time with him than needed.

Above Uncle's office were apartment buildings where a lot of his workers lived, especially those who worked for him and would have difficulty showing more legal ids to landlords. Mei was the daughter of one of those workers. She'd moved to America with her family a year ago, and since she was around my age, Uncle had asked me to be her friend.

I knocked on her apartment door. After a moment, Mei's mom opened the door. "Ah, Kalai!" she said happily. "Why you here?"

"Dad needed to talk to the man from China that's helping Jeje," I said slowly, as Mei's mom was still learning English. "He didn't want me there. Is Mei available?"

Mei's mom grimaced when she heard about the man, but smiled when I asked about Mei. "Yes, yes," she said, then turned back into the house. "Mei! 你的朋友在这里!" Your friend is here!

"哪位朋友?" Mei yelled back. Which one?

"Kalai!"

There was the patter of footsteps and then Mei appeared in the doorway.

"Hi," she said. "You here to play?"

"Yes. Dad said that if you are free, we can go to the park. Can you play?"

Mei had a quick conversation in Cantonese with her mom, too fast for me to follow, and then nodded to me. "Mom is coming too," she said. "Please let me grab some things."

After a few minutes she came back with a ball. Her mom was right behind her with a bag and a few water bottles.

Smart.

Mei's mom locked the door then we headed out.

As we were walking to the park Mei turned to me and said "Thank you."

"You're welcome. But what did I do?"

Mei grimaced. "The apartment… the… mou seot gaa, the man that is helping Mr. Lam, he is staying there. It makes the place scary. I am glad for a reason to leave."

I thought of the man I'd met in Uncle's office. "Yeah, he definitely seemed scary."

Mei's mom shushed us. "Do not speak. He can hear," she said.

Mei shuddered and went silent.

I didn't pry. Not yet at least. But lungfumousi… lungfumousi meant martial artist. I did know that Jeje used to practice martial arts in China, and considering how old he had been when he came over he had probably taught by his family.

Dread began to pool in my stomach.

I had hoped that by picking taekwondo I'd stay out of martial arts culty nonsense. But, if my suspicions were correct, that had been entirely pointless because it was beginning to look like I might have been born into it.

But then… Jeje hadn't been happy about the man, right? And sure, he still sent money overseas, but supporting family was a big thing to him. Plus, he didn't do martial arts anymore, right?

I shook my head. Ugh, this was pointless. There was no way for me to know if Jeje was a part of a marital arts cult, all I had were suspicions.

I needed more information.

Once we got to the park, Mei and I started kicking the ball around while Mei's mom sat near some elderly men playing mahjong.

Mei kicked the ball to me and I kicked the ball a little further away as her mom started to get distracted by the game. Once we were far enough that I thought we wouldn't be overheard, I said "Hey, Mei?"

"Yes?"

"The man from China, he is a martial artist, right?"

"Martial artist? Yes, that is the English word."

"Do you know if he's like, an army veteran or something?" It was a stretch but I was hopeful.

Mei looked uncomfortable. "No," she said. "I don't know. Mom will not talk about him. Says he can hear everything." She kicked the ball over to me. "But," she hesitated again. "My dad, I heard him say the man was a part of Sap Waan Bong."

Sap Waan Bong. 十環幫. Ten Rings.

…

"Coool," said Tom once we met up in his bedroom and I'd explained what had happened.

"No, not cool," I corrected him. "Tom, I'm possibly related to a terrorist!"

"Ooo, maybe you could go undercover and like, use your abilities to bring them to justice."

"Tom, no," I said. "A, that would be incredibly dangerous and B, I have no idea how connected Jeje is. The Ten Rings are basically a terrorist franchise. Different cells could have vastly different goals as far as I know, and taking down just one does nothing to the whole organization. Also," I said as I saw Tom was unconvinced, "we wouldn't really be able to go together so I wouldn't be able to talk to you at all."

Tom made a face. "Okay, fine," he said. "Although if we buy the phone perk…"

"It's five hundred points Tom, we can get the phone perk or we can save up for the growth telekinesis."

Tom grumbled but surrendered the point.

I watched him for a moment. "…how's the cultivation going?" I asked.

Tom perked up. "Oh it's going fantastic!" he bragged. "I did the whole thing and now I'm totally stronger than I was before."

Really? That seemed unlikely. Then again, it was only 100 points in the store and the System was pretty cavalier when it came to just giving us a book. I doubt it would have been so relaxed if it was too hard to learn. Most power fantasy readers didn't like reading any mcs struggling too hard to master something.

Still, if he'd already mastered it…

I frowned.

"Tom, if that's the case, it might not be a good idea for you to keep coming to Chinatown," I said.

"What?!" He jerked back like I'd hit him.

"We already know that there's someone in Chinatown that can sense qi, or whatever the Healing Bamboo gives off. And from what I've heard, I bet the man Jeje's family sent can also sense qi. If you've fully mastered the cultivation method, either of them could probably sense it, especially since the man is keeping a close eye on anyone close to my family. It's too dangerous."

Tom scowled and pointed at me. "I knew it! You're just jealous!" he shouted.

I blinked at him. "What?" I asked. Where did that come from?

"You're jealous that I mastered the tree thingy! So now you're trying to prevent me from solving the mystery!"

"No? The heck Tom? I'm happy that you've mastered it; it means you can survive better." I wasn't certain what the hell this was but it was beginning to irritate me.

"Bullshit! I bet you thought it was hard and that's why you didn't want to learn it!"

"What the hell Tom! Of course I want it, but I want to learn it after it doesn't like, immediately put my life at risk!"

"Then you're a coward."

"Excuse me?" Oh, now I was getting pissed off.

He sneered at me. "What did you say, after that one game? 'With great power comes great responsibility'? Well, what's the point of having powers if you don't do anything with them? If you don't help people?"

I remembered that day. Tom had been complaining about his coach making him do extra work because it was the basketball team's star.

I took a deep breath and glared at Tom. "What's the point?" I asked. "What's the point?! The point is that you survive Tom. You have no idea what the fuck I've seen. How many people I've seen die. How many heroes. Heroes that could shatter buildings with a punch. Heroes that could warp reality. Heroes that died," I snapped my fingers. "-like that."

I stepped closer. "I can't save everyone," I said. "I can't even come close. But I can give you what you need so you can save yourself. Give a man a fish, feed him for a day. Teach him to fish, and he never goes hungry again."

I took a deep breath and forced down the way my throat wanted to close. "I can't be there every minute of every day. I can't make sure you're safe. But I will do my damndest to make sure that when it all ends, you'll still be there. I don't- I don't want to lose you." I rubbed my prickling eyes.

The day this had all started, when Tom had nearly been hit by a car… I'd had a nightmare about it two nights ago.

It was so, so easy to lose your life here. Even outside of superheroics.

When I'd opened my eyes, Tom looked awkward.

"Is it really that bad?" he asked.

"Yes."

He cocked his head to the side, looked confused and uncertain. "Then, why didn't you tell me?"

I huffed and tried to smile at him. "I have enough nightmares and anxiety attacks from knowing what I do. Didn't want to give you any."

"Ah." Tom rubbed the back of his head. "I uh, I didn't actually master the tree cultivation thing. I mean, I can do the stretches and exercises it shows in the pictures, but I don't understand all of the writing. I just," he looked at the ground and scruffed it with a foot. "I felt jealous because you have such a cool power. So I wanted my own power. But then, when I got it, you didn't want to learn it. Well, you didn't want to learn it right at that moment, so I thought it wasn't as good. Then uh, when you asked how it was going, I said I'd mastered it because I wanted you to feel jealous too. I'm sorry."

"Oh. Oh Tom." That… that made a lot more sense than what I'd thought at first. Jeez. I think… I think I'd been so focused on making sure he'd survive and then what happened to my family I didn't take into account his feelings.

"Yeah. And then when you said I shouldn't keep going to Chinatown, I thought you were jealous and trying to punish me. And, I want to help you, I really do! When I'm helping you it feels like I'm actually doing something, making a difference!" Tom looked to the side. "Not like when I'm just staying home doing nothing because 'just being there is helpful', like with my brother."

"And then I said you shouldn't come, and it felt like you were being told to stay home again," I said.

"Yeah. So I got really angry and…" he waved his hand and shrugged. "I'm sorry," Tom said again.

"I'm sorry too," I said. "I was thinking so much about keeping you safe that I wasn't thinking about if you were happy."

"No, it's fine," Tom said, uncomfortable.

I frowned at him, trying to think of a way to make things right.

"How about this," I said. "I go alone the next time I head to Chinatown and if that one martial artist doesn't show up when I'm helping Auntie then you can come. That way you can be safe and help out."

"Sure," said Tom. "I mean, I wish I could go with you all the time, but at least this way I might be able to help. But isn't that dangerous for you? What if the guy figures out something is off about you?"

"I don't think he would notice anything," I said. "Not unless I do something crazy in front of him. He barely glanced at me when we met. Besides, girls in China are supposed to help their families. Or, at least that's what Mawmaw says."

"Okay," Tom said. "But, please be safe. I don't want to lose you either."

I smiled at him. "Only if you promise the same."

Tom held up a pinky.

I laughed and hooked my pinky in his.

"Cross my heart and hope to die," we chanted. "Stick a needle in my eye."

"I'll be safe," Tom said.

"And so will I," I said.

Tom laughed. "Nice rhyme."

"Thanks. Now, I said last time that I'd help you make a secret compartment for the scroll. Did you find a good book?"

He did, a hardcover copy of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire that Tom's mom had bought before she went super Christian and decided that it had Satanic subtext. We ended up needing his dad's help cutting all the pages in order to make a box, but we just told him it was for an action figure. It was a surprisingly good day.

I was still worried about the Ten Rings and just what the martial artist was going to do. But if there was anything I'd learned in this life so far, there was only so much worrying I could do before it became more harmful than helpful, and I didn't know enough about what was happening to do anything else. So I decided to just wait and see.

Hopefully, it wouldn't be too long until something happened.

...

AN: All translations were a mix of high school Chinese, Google translate, and this website CantoDict, so please let me know if you know a better word.

Side note, the night market festival that Auntie Yi is working on is slightly ahistorical. New York's first night market was, to the best of my knowledge, the Queens Night Market started in 2015. However, as a temp night market festival typically happens over several months instead of over like a weekend or something, I thought a night market offered more chances for something to go... interestingly. Chalk it up to a different world, different history.

 

[Mastersgtjames]

Welp, was not a fan of Tom's character before this, or that the MC revealed her secrets and shared her system & points with him... It was not too big an issue though. But now? Yeeaah... Actively dislike him now. I know, I know, he's just a kid. But that just makes it worse with how much danger the MC is putting both herself and him in with her sharing all this with him.

 

[Knightowl 4183]

So can they purchase one of those things that allows you to shed impurities? Like the Cultivation thing where you shed impurities as your body builds itself back up better?

Honestly I feel that Tom would veer away from Growth Telekinesis if he realizes someone could accuse him of cheating at Basketball, even if he didn't use it... They could sow doubt on whether he did or didn't, and as such they would have to disbar him from playing "just in case"

Which would make him pretty bitter, what with his love of basketball. On the other hand, exercises that naturally make him better can be argued and even excused when shown others could have similar results. Dear god...a Wuxia basketball league, that spreads into other sports as a kind of new age Yoga or exercise routine. The powers would lose their shit, that Cultivation is becoming main stream to reach sports stardom.

If he chose to get the other cultivation stuff, maybe even a higher point cultivation tool to aid in his journey... Well he could likely become THE Tank in their little party, or at least the Martial Artist like Richard Dragon in DC Comics...

 

[always_confused]

Most adults are only marginally more mature when it comes to completely unjustified feelings of jealously they have, I don't blame Tom for nothing. The doofus is actually pretty endearing in his own way with how he clearly really does care for Jackie.

 

[LordVile]

Well, kids gonna be kids.

 

[Arbitbit39]

Hmmm is his wife still alive? If yes should she warn him?

Edit
Also who's here think the guy is listening the kids right now? And think possible seer?

 

[Kylia Quilor]

Welp, was not a fan of Tom's character before this, or that the MC revealed her secrets and shared her system & points with him... It was not too big an issue though. But now? Yeeaah... Actively dislike him now. I know, I know, he's just a kid. But that just makes it worse with how much danger the MC is putting both herself and him in with her sharing all this with him.

Click to shrink...

I mean, he's a white, american preteen boy who has found out that for all intents and purposes, he'll never be the main character of the story. That's gonna shake at the foundations of his sense of self, and his mom is clearly off her rocker, so I cut him a bit of slack right now.

 

[Domar7431]

I reminded mostly calm when I did

Click to shrink...

remained

I made stripped masks

Click to shrink...

striped

scoped me up

Click to shrink...

scooped

leached

Click to shrink...

leeched

impossible to anything to be completely harmless

Click to shrink...

for

Tony Starks

Click to shrink...

Stark, just the one

need to bad guys in power

Click to shrink...

the

Cendipede

Click to shrink...

Centipede

in acquiesce

Click to shrink...

to

Things that kept secret

Click to shrink...

that are kept secret

marital arts cult

Click to shrink...

martial

 

[RandomOTP]

A lovely story! Watched ^.^

 

[boyboy180]

This story really has a lot of potential. I'll enjoy keeping up with it.

To do more than just give compliments though; I'm trying to think ahead to how this arc will end. As it's currently set up, I don't really see it ending with a fight scene. Well. Maybe the two of them vs one normal guy. But even then probably not as the idea of their powers being "Revealed" in any way during this arc feels unlikely.

The great thing with this kind of situation is that the stakes are at once massive and meaningless. As far as I understand, the bamboo can't be traced back to her and the system. If the cover story is "She just found some lucky bamboo" then that might as well be it. And it's just a fairly cheap things point wise so even if it's odd, it's not something that would change any sort of power balance in any major way.

And yet that hasn't removed how important this arc feels. Because there are the family and emotional situations too.

 

[Warmachine375]

Interesting story so far after binge reading the chapters, which are pretty good and detailed so far, and I will be watching this with great interest.

 

[Mariadreaming9]

Chapter 17

When I went to help Auntie Yi, she let me know that while all help was appreciated, there wasn't that much a 9-year-old could do. As such, once Tom joined, it basically became our jobs to put up and pass out flyers to tourists along Mott Street.

"Did your parents never take you to Chinatown before?" I asked in amusement as I watched Tom gape at the bright signs and bustling people.

"Mean Jackie," he said. "I was here for your 7th birthday, remember? I just… forgot how crazy it was."

I snorted but let it pass. Margaret preferred museums and places of religious significance when she went out, and Scott preferred the great outdoors. Neither of his parents were the kind of people to bring Tom to a place like Chinatown on their own.

"If you want to look at anything more closely, I borrowed my mom's old pair of birdwatching binoculars," I said. "Told her I wanted to try and keep an eye out for cool birds while I'm here."

"Ooo, good idea, I'll see if I can do the same," said Tom.

I laughed. "Just keep in mind you'll have to actually do some bird watching," I said as I pulled out my bird watching notebook from my backpack. "People will notice if you're looking around with binoculars, and people get tetchy if they think you're watching them, criminal or not."

"Think we might see Pale Male's babies?" Tom asked.

"Maybe? I don't know." I looked around and spotted an alcove. "Hey, pretend you're talking to me about something," I said as I ducked into it, pulling Tom with me.

"Sure? Um… birdwatching! Do you think Pale Male will accept the new nest?"

I gave him a thumbs up as I struggled to undo the clasp on the quartz pendant. Once I got it out, I started spinning it in a circle.

Tom, curious about what I was doing, petered off on his chatter about the protests we'd gone to over the removal of Pale Male's nest. I waved at him to keep going while trying to focus on the healing bamboo. I hadn't had much luck with the map, but I wasn't certain if that was because I wasn't good at scrying or if there was some other issue. As such, I was trying out scrying out the general direction of the healing bamboo from Chinatown itself, and theoretically in the same area the bamboo was.

I didn't seem to be having much luck. Honestly, I wasn't certain if the bamboo was even still in Chinatown, or even America. It'd been days, and it wasn't like it would have been difficult to smuggle the plant out.

Maybe I should try a more global map… where would they have sent the healing bamboo… huh?

Did the pendant just twitch?

I tried again, focusing on the healing bamboo. Yes! It was only a small twitch, but I definitely felt the pendant try to move in one direction.

I quickly flipped the page of my birdwatching journal to the map section, where I drew a small arrow from my location in the direction of where the pendant had twitched.

I looked up and grinned at Tom, who had moved on to chattering about eBird. "Got it," I said.

"Got what? Did you figure out where the bamboo is?"

"Not quite, but getting there." I showed him the map. "This is the direction I got from the pendant, finally. If I can get directions from a few more places, then I can draw lines across the map, and where the lines meet, that should be where the bamboo is."

"Cooool," said Tom. "Where else should we get readings? How about at the end of the street?"

"Sounds good. Just keep in mind, we need to be out of sight."

We headed down the street, offering pamplets to tourists along the way. At the end of the street, there was an alcove that looked good, but it was occupied by some people already. Seeing as how we did have several hours left in Chinatown today, Tom and I decided to make a few more passes up and down the street.

Around the second pass, I started getting a weird tingle from [Beginner Insight Technique]. It wasn't the kind that told me to dodge immediately, rather it was the one that meant something wasn't quite right.

"Jackie?" asked Tom.

"Something's wrong," I said. "I don't know what though. Keep your eyes open."

He nodded seriously and stepped closer to me.

We walked slower, trying to figure out what was setting me off. I didn't see anything strange. There weren't any white unmarked vans sitting ominously on the street corners. No roving bands of gangsters. Just a normal Friday afternoon on one of Chinatown's busiest streets.

I swept my eyes back and forth. No strange smoke. No one seemed in pain. I paused, as the tingling increased as I looked at a café across the street. It seemed normal… there.

I met eyes with a woman in a long white sundress and hat. Or at least I thought I met her eyes, through her giant sunglasses. She was looking straight at me.

I nudged Tom. "Why is that woman looking at us?" I asked.

I felt him do a mini jolt as he noticed her too. "I don't know but it's weird," he said. It was. She still wasn't looking away either, now that we'd noticed her.

I weighed my options. I could go back to Auntie Yi's, get away from this. Or, I could confront the woman and try to get some clue as to what was going on.

I looked up and down the street. Plenty of tourists. Plenty of witnesses.

"I'll going to talk to her," I said.

Tom nodded uneasily. "I'm right behind you," he said.

We waited to cross the street and walked up the woman. She still didn't look away. In fact, our choice to confront her seemed to make her amused of all things.

"Hello," I said, giving her my best customer service smile. "I noticed you watching us. Are you interested in the upcoming Manhattan Chinatown Night Market? It's going to be held on this very street!" I handed a pamphlet out.

She took it with a long-fingered hand. Her fingernails were manicured, but short, far shorter than you'd normally see on a woman dressed as nicely as she was.

This close, I could see through her sunglasses enough to be able to make out that she was Asian.

"I am a little interested," she said. "Although I'm not sure I'll be able to attend. Business, you see."

"Well then," I said. "Can I answer any questions? You have been watching us closely. Very closely."

"Just curious," she said. "You were here a few days ago, correct? Helping your family?"

A shiver ran down my spine. That was way too close an observation. How long had she been watching me?

"Yes," I said. "I was, and I am."

The woman smiled at me. "How lovely. You remind me of myself at your age."

What the fuck. That was not something you said to a strange child.

"That's nice. Do you have any other questions?" I said through gritted teeth.

"Not now. Thank you for the pamphlet."

I took it as a dismissal, nodded, and walked away as fast as I could without looking like I was running. Tom followed. We ducked into the first alley we saw.

"What the fuck," I said.

"Super creepy," he agreed. "We should tell your aunt."

I bit my lip. "She might try to stop us from coming to Chinatown, if she thinks it's dangerous."

Tom paused, thinking it over. "…we should still tell her. Remember our promise?"

Be safe.

I looked at Tom, and nodded. "Okay. Let's tell her."

…

Auntie Yi reacted worriedly, as I'd thought she would.

"Maybe I can talk to the café owner, see if I can get CCTV footage of that woman," she said. "Either way, maybe you should stay in here until your dad comes to pick you up."

I grimaced. If that happened, there was no way I'd be able to head to that alley to complete the readings, at least today.

"We can still help though, right?" Tom asked.

"Of course," Auntie Yi said. "We'll find something else for you to do next time."

I sighed, but nodded to Tom. Guess today was a bust. Well, maybe.

"Okay," I said. "Mind if I use the bathroom?"

After Auntie Yi said yes, I tried scrying in the bathroom. I managed to get a result, but with the alley and the bathroom so close together, it wasn't as good as I needed.

Still, there was nothing to be done. Tom and I passed the time talking about his boy scout badges. The fingerprinting one he'd noticed super easy, and his dad had already put in an order for the fingerprint cards he'd need to complete it. I was going to do it too, even though I wouldn't get anything from it.

We were also going to do the fitness badge together. Next week both of us were going to get the needed physical. I felt super dumb when I realized I could have just asked my doctor for advice for getting fit. It wouldn't even have been weird; I was literally an athlete.

Well. Notes for going forward I guess.

...

AN: Yay more plot! Also Jackie and Tom's general training plans get a mention; they do have lives and plans outside of Jackie's family drama.

 

[Logos01]

As long as that wasn't Madam Gao or The Ancient I guess you're mostly okay? Spoopy.

 

[RandomOTP]

A lovely update ^.^

 

[NemiTheNen]

I am having flashbacks to the whole Pale Male thing now.

 

[mobius22]

Ok, this looks good so far and. i'm glad you are taking your time developing your character. Alhjough you don't have to tie yourself too much to the MCU, you cam mix a little to throw your character off balance so her future knowledge is not as good as she think it is. Like this being part Ultimate universe. Or using character from 'Nora from Queens'.

 

[Mariadreaming9]

Chapter 18

Surprisingly, Tom and I were allowed to go back to Chinatown. In her office, Auntie Yi and I introduced Tom to my older cousin, Houjin.

"Houjin has been talking to some vendors on the corner of Canal Street and Centre Street," she said. "Since you still want to help out, why don't you go with him to pass out flyers. Hopefully that will be far enough to keep you away. However, just in case I'm giving you my extra cellphone." She handed me a Motorola Razr.

"If you see anyone suspicious or feel unsafe at all, I want you to call me immediately," she said.

I nodded. "Yes, Auntie Yi," I said.

Auntie Yi smiled at me and Tom. "I want to thank you both for helping out," she said. "I know this isn't what most kids your age think of as fun, but it's very important for the future of Chinatown. I'm hoping that this event is what will finally bring the tourist numbers back up to what they were in the 90s."

"That would be nice," I said. More tourists meant more business, especially since Uncle's restaurant was back up and running.

"Now, go have fun," Auntie Yi said. "Oh, and take some bottled water with you. It's hot out there."

"Yes, Auntie/Mrs. Lee," Tom and I chorused.

Houjin slouched, as we gathered the waterbottles, clearly not pleased to have to deal with his annoying kiddy cousin and her friend, as I'm sure he thought of us. Recently sixteen, Houjin was in his full angsty, edgey teenage rebellion phase. Honestly, I was surprised he was helping Auntie Yi without complaining.

"You look nicer than normal," I said as we walked down the street, trying to make conversation.

"Whatever," he replied. He did look nicer than normal though. Instead of his normal oversized, distressed band t-shirts, he was wearing a simple white one that fit him much better, and his hair was recently combed instead of a mess.

We walked in silence until we came to a cute little café where a teenage girl in a cute blue blouse and shorts was waiting outside. She perked up as soon as she saw us, or rather Houjin.

I looked up as Houjin waved at her, and unusually bright smile on his face.

Oh. Oooooooh.

Heh, cute.

Tom and I watched as Houjin and the girl, who's name was apparently Lan-Shin, greet each other.

"And who are these two?" she said.

"Oh, this is just my cousin and her friend," he said. "Mom wants me to keep an eye on them."

"Aww," Lan-Shin said. "That's sweet. She must really trust you."

"Y-yeah," Houjin said.

Tom snickered. I stepped on his foot, seeing an opportunity.

"So you're the vendor Houjin is meeting?" I asked.

She laughed and waved. "My dad is," she said. "I just help out."

She turned to Houjin. "He's a bit busy right now. Maybe he'll be free in half an hour? I could get you a drink, if you want to hang out for a little while."

"Sure!" said Houjin.

"We don't want to bother you two," I said. "Hey, Houjin why don't Tom and I go around passing out the flyers while you wait with Lan-Shin. Then, when it's time to head back, you can text us." I held up the phone Auntie Yi had given me.

Houjin looked surprised, but quickly agreed. After a quick check to make sure we knew each other's numbers, Tom and I split off.

We quickly found an unoccupied alley, and I pulled out the pendant. It took a few minutes for it to start working, but after my first success, I had gotten better fast. Once I had the direction down, I pulled out a second pencil to use as a straightedge and extended the lines.

"Bingo," I told Tom as I circled where the lines intersected, a building on Mulberry not far from Canal. "Think we have enough time to get there and back before Houjin texts us?"

"I dunno. How long do you think he'll be?"

"Well, we have at least half an hour? Probably? I don't think he'll be in a rush to get back, all things considered."

Tom shrugged. "Sounds like a lot of time, honestly. If you're worried though, we can head there now."

I nodded. "Yeah. Good idea."

I was the one who knew the area, so I was the one to lead. It wasn't that far a distance either, the location was right in the heart of Chinatown.

Something about that niggled something in my mind, but for the life of me I couldn't remember what it was.

The building I'd circled on my map looked like all the others on the street. Nothing about it suggested that it could be a host for criminal activity. Tom and I glanced down the alley next to it.

"Fuck," I whispered as I saw the CCTV camera.

"Jackie!" Tom hissed. "That's a bad word."

I rolled my eyes at him. "We need to cover the camera," I said.

"Camera…? Ooooh," Tom said as he spotted it. I pulled him away and out of the line of sight.

"Let's not show the potentially criminal owners of the camera our faces," I said. "Like I said, we need to cover it."

"How?"

"Hmmm." I looked around the street. Despite being near the main roads of Chinatown, this area was a bit dingy. There were crumpled newspapers on the streets and plastic bags rustled in the light breeze. I wasn't certain…

Wait.

I carefully tugged one of the plastic bags out of the trash can and gently pushed it around using telekinesis. "Does that look like it's being blown by the breeze?" I asked Tom.

"Yes? Oooh, right. You're gonna cover the camera with the bag?"

"Hopefully. Keep an eye out, I need to focus."

I pulled out my Mulan wallet with the tiny mirror. Using the mirror, I peered around the corner into the alley. I'd never tk'd something without looking directly at it, so this was a first for me. It… was almost like using inverted controls when playing a video game.

I grimaced as the bag "blew" in the wrong direction again. Hopefully the randomness sold that it was just the wind moving the bag.

Finally, after several trial and errors, I managed to hook the plastic bag over the camera securely enough that it didn't seem like it would just fall off.

I sighed. "We're good," I told Tom.

The alley we slipped into was dirty and cramped. It definitely seemed like the kind of place that criminal activity would take place, although I would imagine drug deals, not ninjas. The red brick stretched up, revealing about two dirty windows each floor from the second floor to the top, fourth floor. There was a rusty fire escape that hung from under the windows. The whole place smelled like garbage and caked-in cigarette smoke.

"I thought the ninjas would be somewhere cooler," Tom said.

I shrugged. "Well, they don't want like, super spies digging around, so they probably made it look bad on purpose. Let me see if I can figure out what floor it's on."

I pulled out the pendant, but while I got the distinct sense that the bamboo plant was close, I couldn't figure out how high it was.

"No good," I said.

"We could try to climb the fire escape," Tom said,

"No, look at how rusty it is, that would probably make a ton of noise."

Tom sighed. "Maybe you could use that mirror? Like, telekinesis it up and angle it so we can look in the windows."

"No, too small," I said as I started to smile, "But there is something else I can send up there."

I pulled out the phone that Auntie Yi had given me and flipped it open. Yes, it had a picture function! Camera was shitty but workable.

I started digging through my little bag, before pulling out a sticker I'd gotten from the doctor and a little bit of gum. Thank god for my tendency to never throw anything away.

"Uh, what're you doing?" Tom asked.

"I'm gonna take pictures of what's through the windows," I said. "But I can't really feel things through tk, I tried." I really had. Being able to sense what was inside boxes or behind locked doors would have been super op. "So I'll need to use tk to push the camera button on the phone, but there's two problems. First, it'll be really hard to see which button is the right one, and second, I don't want to press too hard and break the phone."

I pulled the sticker off and put it over the camera button. Then I popped the gum in my mouth and started chewing.

"So if I put the gum over the button, I can use it to see both where the button is and how hard I'm pushing it."

I picked the gum out of my mouth and put it on the sticker.

"And the sticker?"

"Don't want to get gum on Auntie's phone. Get ready to catch it if I drop it."

Preparations complete, I lifted the phone into the air and carefully maneuvered it over the closest second story window. I squished the gum down several times, before bringing it back to me.

The camera hadn't gone off every time, but I had two pictures of what looked like a normal if run down living room.

Okay, it worked.

It wasn't until I got to the third floor that Tom and I struck gold. Whoever had stolen the bamboo hadn't bothered to get a grow light and instead had it next to the window. There were several other items in the room that could've been other items from uncle's store, but the pendant confirmed: that was my bamboo.

"Got'em," I said to Tom, who barely contained his whoop of glee.

I took pictures of what was in the rest of the windows, but the only thing of interest was what looked like some kind of training room, and after that it was time to run back to Houjin.

I spent the route back deleting pictures and scraping off anything remotely sticky from Auntie's phone, Houjin's head glued to his own phone with a goofy smile on his face. Hopefully if there was anything sticky left on Auntie's phone she'd just assume it from candy fingers.

Auntie seemed happy when we got back, and after Houjin had left, I pulled her aside.

"Hey," I said. "Did you know that Houjin has been seeing someone?"

Auntie Yi gasped in delight. "No!" she said. "Oh, I was wondering why he's been so cheerful lately." Auntie had a soft spot for romance a mile wide, and I wasn't surprised that Houjin hadn't told her anything. She could get a bit annoying about it sometimes.

"Don't tell him that I told you, but yeah, the daughter of a café owner." I leaned closer. "I bet he'd appreciate the chance to talk more with her."

She giggled. "I bet he would." Then she raised an eyebrow at me. "But why are you bringing this up?"

I shrugged. "Tom," I said. "He hasn't really seen a lot of Chinatown, and I want to show him more. So if you sent us over there again, I'd appreciate it."

Auntie Yi looked at me. "Oh? So like a double date?" she teased.

I rolled my eyes. "Auntie. Still nine. No." Like I said, she could be a bit annoying. Especially when she decides that your best friend at six is someone you have a crush on. But if it was what let Tom and I head out to collect more evidence about where the bamboo plant was, I'd take it.

"Oh, let me have my fun. I'll think about it."

"Thanks Auntie!"

Well. Fingers crossed.

AN: Kudos to whoever figures out the inspiration for Lahn-Shin's name! Hint: the Lahn-Shin in this story is a reporter for her high school newspaper.

 

[TheSoulReaper]

Thx for the chapter, great work and story!

 

[JohnDoe22]

Nice an update! Looking forward to more!

 

[Mariadreaming9]

Chapter 19

"So we're headed back?" Tom said, laying on his bed.

"Possibly," I said. "Auntie said she'd think about it. Which means she's considering it, but only because she thinks we're in luuuuuuuuvvvvv." I shot him heart hands from my spot on the floor, just to be a jerk.

"Eeeewwww," said Tom. "No offense, but eeewwwww."

"None taken. But we're going to need to figure out what we're going to do now that we know where the bamboo is."

"I dunno, find out more and then tell the police?"

I sighed as I let my head thud against the bed behind me. "If this were a sane, rational world, that would be the best option. But like, for us? What would we even tell them, we saw a bamboo that looked like a stolen one when we were sneaking around taking pictures through windows? Even if they believed us that's a, not enough for a warrant and b, more likely to have them go after us."

"So we need more evidence?"

"Or clues, but yeah."

"Well, if we're going back there…" Tom got off his bed and rummaged around in his closet. "Where is it- ah!"

He pulled out the mini camcorder that he'd gotten last year for the Hawaii trip. Unlike the bigger camcorders this one was shaped much more like a camera.

"Oh, good thinking!" I said. "If we own the camera taking the pictures, we don't have to delete them."

"Well, yeah," said Tom. "But I was thinking that we could take videos of the inside. Maybe if we catch them committing crimes on video, then we can tell the cops!"

"Still runs the issue of 'did you get this illegally' but you know what? Let's do it. We can get more info on whoever we found. How long can you record?"

"Uhhh, two hours, looks like."

"Okay, so we might, if Auntie says yes, find a way to the place… wait, did we ever find the name of it?"

"Uhhhh…." Tom thought for a bit. "No?"

I frowned. "Let me look it up. I might be able to use my Google-fu to figure out who owns it."

I pulled out my map, then used Scott's extra computer to see what Google maps had on it. Google maps wasn't helpful, so I had to hunt down the address. Even had to actually open up a phone book while Tom figured out what exactly his camcorder could do.

When I figured out where we were, I sat back in shock.

Chikara Dojo, said the nondescript listing.

"Uhhhh Tom?" I said, my voice a little higher pitched than I would have liked. "I figured out who stole the bamboo."

"Oh yeah? Who?"

"The Hand," I said. "The immortality ninjas. The place we found? Is where they train lower leveled ninja until they decide they're good enough for special training."

Or… at least it would be in the future. Heck, it might be an upper ranked training ground right now!

"Jackie?" said Tom, sounding concerned. "Are you okay?"

I noticed I'd begun to hyperventilate just a little. I stopped.

"Sorry," I said. "Was just… surprised. Got blindsided. The Hand are like, major players in some of my visions. They seek two things, immortality, and someone who is a born assassin and martial artist, known as a 'Black Sky'."

"So they're dangerous?"

I laughed bitterly. "Tom. Everything is dangerous. Living is dangerous. But yes, the death eater ninjas are incredibly dangerous."

"Then, it's important that we do this, right?" he said, holding up his camcorder. "So we can get them put away."

"Yeah." I breathed out. "Yeah, it's important. Don't know if any of them will actually stay in prison if we get them in there, but if we take down one of the ways they recruit people, that's less people they have and less people they can victimize."

I nodded, firming my resolve. "Okay, we're doing this. Tom, how's camcorder's abilities?"

"Pretty good! Although I don't know if we'll be able to hear what's inside."

"Maybe they'll leave the window open?"

"Why would they do that? It's really hot out right now." Like scorchingly hot. God I hated New York summers sometimes.

"Let the wind in? I didn't see an AC thing in there."

"Some wind would be nice. But hopefully not enough to blow the camcorder off."

I frowned. "Actually, wait. If it's not windy, I'm not sure how we'll pull off the bag over the camera trick."

"Ooo, I have an idea for that!" Tom said, excited. "One of the boys at Boy Scouts showed me this cool recipe for fake bird poop. We can just toss that at the camera!"

"Brilliant. Okay, let's practice."

It took a bit of work, but after a few trial runs I was confident in being able to attach the camcorder and get out quickly. Hopefully that would also mean I could get it off safely. But that would be a later problem. For now, it was time to rest and get ready.

…

We were in luck; Auntie Yi agreed to my request. And once Houjin heard that Tom and I wanted to go off on our own to "play at an arcade", he was happy to let us go off on our own.

We quickly made our way to the alleyway, trying not to look suspicious. I'm pretty sure we failed miserably though. I was far too keyed up, imagining glaring ninjas in every shadow.

My hands were shaking with adrenalin.

Back again outside the alleyway. Mirror out. Nobody in the alleyway.

Good.

Pull out the double sealed "bird poop" mix. Open.

Carefully move the bag up, out of the sight of the camera. Then dump the mixture over it.

Duck into the alley. Open gum packet. Chew-chew-chew.

My mouth was so dry.

Once the gum was wet enough, take out camcorder. Stick gum on camcorder. Pointing it away from us, press "play".

Levitate it. Up to the window. Press until the gum squishes out from around the sides.

Then leave. And we were good.

…

"That was too easy," I told Tom. "Why was that too easy?"

Tom shrugged. "Seemed as easy as it was last time. Why are you freaking out this time?"

"It's…" I said, before remembering we were out in public and lowering my voice. "It's the freaking Hand, Tom. The death eater ninjas! They should not be outsmarted by a couple of kids!"

"Maybe that's why? I mean, no one really expects kids to do this sort of thing. Even though there are stories about kids doing similar things all the time."

"Pretty sure those stories are exaggerations." I sighed. "Ugh. Maybe you're right. Well, no point in worrying about it right now. What's done is done."

Tom nodded.

We ambled along for a minute. Then Tom broke the silence. "I've been trying to understand the Wood scroll thingy- just understand it, not actually practice it!" he said as I shot him a look. "And I don't really get it. What's kwee?"

"Qi," I corrected him. "It's uh, you know the Force in Star Wars? It's sort of like that. Basically, everything has qi, especially living things. And if you do certain things with certain types of qi, you can either use it like superpowers or strengthen your body until it's beyond human limits. At least that's my understanding."

"So we're going to be like Jedi?" Tom asked, excited.

"Probably not exactly like the Jedi, but who knows? I've heard of some pretty cool things like being able to punch things so hard it stops time and stuff like that."

"That would be so cool!" Tom mimed punching and then the punch causing a huge explosion. "Boom!"

I snorted. "Pretty sure we're not going to get anything that awesome out of a cheap 100 point scroll."

"What, you think it's the power to like make flowers grow or something dumb like that?"

"Nah, not that dumb. At least it would be carnivorous flowers."

Tom laughed and we had fun coming up with progressively dumber and weirder plant powers.

Then the cell phone I had borrowed from Auntie Yi rang.

I glanced at the caller ID to see Houjin, and flipped it open.

"Yeah?" I asked.

"Shit, Kalai," said Houjin. "You gotta get back here. Something's happened and Ma is going nuts."

"Fuck," I said.

"I'm at the corner of Canal and Mott. Get here now," he ordered and hung up.

"Fuck," I said again. "Tom we need to run. Houjin's meeting us in a block or two."

"But the camcorder!"

"I don't know! It's like two blocks over!"

"Can't you use your powers or something!?"

"I-maybe?!" I said. I'd thought about flying with tk before, but that would be too suspicious here. But what Superman had done with jumping in the Klan book…

"Okay, I'm going to try something. Grab my hand and don't let go," I ordered Tom.

As soon as he had a firm grip, I took off running. As I took each step, I used telekinesis to push myself and Tom forwards, going faster and faster.

After the first few stumbles, I hit a rhythm, and Tom followed. We hit the corner at a speed that would probably rival Olympians and dashed towards the alleyway. Stopping only to make sure the camera was still covered in fake poop I didn't even bother to enter the alley before holding a hand out and telekinetically yanking the camcorder off the window. Then we were turning and running right back out down the street.

"-it's fine Mom!" Houjin said as we came into view. "Look, she just got out of the bathroom. We'll head back to the office now." He glared at us as we finally stopped. "You took your sweet time."

"We-gasp- we got here -gasp- as soon as we could," I said, doubled over panting, Tom nodding next to me as he copied my pose.

"Well, straighten up, we have to go, like now," Houjin said.

I did and my vision pulsed and swam. I stumbled.

"Jackie!" Tom said. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, just, ow. Got a headache." I'd never done something so strenuous with my telekinesis before, at least while also doing something physical. This whole affair was pointing out some rather glaring holes in my self-created training regime.

Tom offered me his arm and I grasped it, grateful.

"Hurry up," said Houjin. We hurried.

When we got to the office, Dad was there, pacing anxiously. I could hear angry shouting from inside the office. He straightened up as he saw me and rushed over.

"Oh Kalai," he said worriedly. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah," I said. "Headache."

"Probably the heat, drink some water," he said. "Now, we're leaving. You too Tom."

"What's wrong?" Tom asked as we got in Dad's car.

"Not now."

It was a tense drive, and Dad didn't relax until we could no longer see the familiar signs of Chinatown in the rearview mirror.

Once his shoulders untensed, I cautiously asked "Dad?"

He slumped, a little. "Sorry about that Jackie. But you won't be able to go back to Chinatown, at least in Manhattan, until that… man is gone."

I frowned. "Which one? The one that Jeje's family sent? Did he do something?"

Dad sighed. "Yes, that one. He heard of the strange woman that was stalking you and thought she might have connections to the robbery. He wanted to see if he could find her using you."

"Like as bait?"

Dad's hands tensed on the steering wheel. "Yes."

"Oh."

In my pocket, I gripped the camcorder.

Tom bumped my shoulder. I glanced up at him, then showed him the camcorder. He nodded.

We spent the rest of the drive in silence.

...

AN: I know that Chikara Dojo was filmed under the Manhattan bridge, but the in universe advertisements declare that it is in the heart of Chinatown, so that's where I put it. If that's too big of a dealbreaker you can pretend it got moved to the filming location during minimum 6 years from now to when it was filmed.

If you want a far better explanation of qi, I highly recommend ReligionForBreakfast's youtube video about it. I'm not linking to it however as it includes academic discussion of r-rated topics as religious practice.

 

[Mariadreaming9]

Chapter 20

I asked to spend the rest of the day at Tom's house, since I couldn't stay at Chinatown. Dad just seemed happy I didn't seem too upset, so he said okay. Then I took some Tylenol, and prayed it would kick in before we got to Tom's house.

Once we got there I wasted no time claiming the spare computer to see what we had gotten. We'd only been out an hour, so I wasn't too hopeful.

Beginning to fast forward through the footage, I was unsurprised to see a grand total of nothing happening. Tom seemed to wilt as the minutes ticked by. I glanced over at him.

"Hey, at least we have some sort of visible proof that they have the bamboo," I said.

"Yeah," he said. "I was just hoping that we'd get something- wait, look!"

I looked back to see two men discussing something in the middle of the room. I quickly went back to when they first came in, and slowed down the video.

The two men entered the room through the door we though led to the training room. One of the men, who looked vaguely Hispanic, gestured at the bamboo. The other man, a somewhat older looking East Asian man, made a placating gesture. Then he unrolled something that he showed the Hispanic man.

"What's on the paper?" Tom asked.

"I don't know, keep watching!"

The Hispanic looking man left and came back with another large piece of paper. I paused the video as he set it down.

"I think… I think it's a map of New York?" I said, confused. Not just Chinatown. Not just Manhattan. But all of New York.

"Why?"

"I have no idea."

The older man pointed out several places on the piece of paper he was carrying and then places on the map of New York.

There was some more talking, and then they moved to leave. As they did, the paper the older man was holding shifted just so, and I could see a corner with two indistinct purple characters set along the lines of what looked like an octogon.

"That, I've seen that before," I said. "Hold on, let me pull up Google."

I tried "purple characters octogon" then "purple characters Chinese octogon", before finally hitting gold with "purple characters Chinese octogon map".

"It's a bagua map!" I declared.

"What's that?"

"It's a feng shui thing, supposed to help you figure out how to get the chi to flow right in your house and business. But… I'm not sure what they are doing with the map of New York, or how the bamboo features in."

"Well, you know the Hand better than I do. What are their big goals again? Something to do with a sky and dragons?"

It was a lightbulb moment. "Tom, you're a genius!"

He looked pleased as I opened Google maps on New York.

"One of the main goals of the Hand is to get their hands on the dragon bones buried underneath New York city, but they don't know where the bones are! And, in the cultivation books I've read, the presence of powerful Qi forces, like ancient dragon bones, can cause plants and animals to develop special powers! I bet that that is what the Hand thinks happened with the bamboo," I explained as I tapped the map.

"How does the ba-gu-ah thing help then?"

"Well, it's supposed to be a map of how Qi flows. I think they're trying to use the map and where the bamboo was found to figure out where the dragon bones are!"

"Wooowww…" Tom said. "That's brilliant." He plopped down on the floor. "So what are we going to do about it?"

I frowned. "Well… we can't really go to the police. Mystical Qi affairs are kinda beyond them, and we still don't have solid evidence of wrongdoing. The only people who would probably do something about this are the Ten Rings."

"Like the jerk that wants to use you as bait? Wouldn't it be really dangerous if they got their hands on the bamboo?"

I shrugged at Tom's skeptical look. "Possibly? But I think it would be worse if the Hand were able to find the dragon bones, because I'm pretty sure the process of excavating the bones would destroy New York."

"Are you serious? How would that work?"

"Unfortunately yes. And I'm not sure how it would work, only that my visions imply that the Hand excavating dragon bones were the real cause of Pompei being destroyed. Compared to that, letting the Ten Rings know about the bamboo is much less likely to cause problems, because their leader knows where live dragons live."

"There are real dragons living on Earth!?"

"No, but there are living ones in a dimension connected to Earth." I thought for a moment, remembering Ragnarök. "Several dimensions actually."

"Wow," said Tom again. "I hope we get to see real dragons someday."

I laughed. "On one hand that would be very cool. On the other hand, that would require poop hitting the fan hard and I don't want that."

Tom giggled at the word poop. Then he grew somber. "Will you be okay if we tell that jerk? About the Hand and the bamboo?"

I smiled at him. "I think so. He'll probably just assume the same thing the Hand did. And if he doesn't, at least now I know that Dad will protect me, and I bet Jeje will too."

Tom nodded, solemnly. Then he reached out to grab my hand.

I squeezed back.

Still keeping my promise.

…

It was easier than I thought it would be, putting the letter together. I had agonized over how to send proof when any printer would leave trackable marks on what it printed. It had been Tom's idea to turn it into a puzzle, printing out the picture in pieces and then cutting and gluing it together, thus scrambling whatever marks had been made.

Then I drafted a letter in Chinese, then went back and added obvious mistakes, enough to disguise where the letter came from, but not enough to make it unreadable. I mean there were going to be mistakes no matter what, but I'd never tried to write Chinese in tk before and I wanted to make sure that my writing wasn't too recognizable.

The much harder part was figuring out how to deliver it to Jeje. Being a rich businessman living in one of the biggest cities in the world, he had a constant camera on both his front door and his mailbox. I didn't want to just mail it from somewhere in Queens either; I wasn't certain what sort of local connections that he had, just that he had a lot of them. With the reveal that some of those connections were to the Ten Rings, mailing it from Queens would probably just put an even bigger target on my head.

Which left something doing something a bit sketchy which made me very uncomfortable: putting the letter in a bag and somehow telekinetically stick it to Jeje's window without him noticing. It took about a week, but I finally had a chance when I volunteered to take out the trash.

I wished Jeje luck as I slipped back into his brownstone.

…

"He's finally gone!" I announced happily as I set my bag down in Tom's room.

"Who?"

"The Ten Rings jerk."

"Yes!" Tom fist pumped. Then he looked at me. "Did you get the bamboo back?"

"It was my uncle's, and no. Jerk is bringing it back to China."

Tom made a face. "That sucks. But at least it's not going to put you in danger, right?"

"I think so. It's not like Dad or Jeje would tell me anything mystical, but they aren't warning me to be careful of kidnapping attempts or to prepare for a trip to China, so I think I'm in the clear."

"So we did it?"

"We did it!" I held out my hand for a high five, and as Tom slapped my hand with his own, the System blared.

[CONGRATULATIONS!] It said. [For solving the Mystery of the Stolen Bamboo, you have earned 500 points!]

"Oh really?" I said, surprised. "So we can earn points for doing things like this too?"

[Correct! As long as there is a satisfying narrative, then points may be earned. To increase the number of points, please attempt to cause lasting change, either on a personal or societal level.]

"Wait, what?" Tom asked as he read the last part. "What does that mean?" He pointed at it.

"I'm guessing that it means that we could've gotten more points if while solving the mystery we'd changed things a lot, either in Chinatown or in our lives. Like if we'd, I dunno, started a gang war getting the bamboo back, that would be a big change. Instead, we just made it so that things would go back to normal."

"Wait," Tom peered at the System. "Does that mean that if like, Jackie or I got seriously hurt or like, destroyed Chinatown, we'd have gotten a lot more points?"

[Correct, as long as it was narratively satisfying.]

"Wow, that's like… really messed up."

It didn't look like the System would reply, so I shrugged and said "Hey, it could be positive change too. But you can see why I'm so wary of the System all the time, yeah? And," I continued as he nodded, "speaking of positive change, we now have just over one thousand points, sooooo we can finally afford to get you the growth telekinesis!"

The look of realization on Tom's face was beautiful. "Yes!" he cheered, throwing his hands up in the air. "I get superpowers!"

[Purchase [Growth Telekinesis I] for-

"Yes!" Tom said, not even letting the System finish writing.

The box glowed for a moment, and Tom frowned.

"I don't feel any different," he said.

"Did you feel a tingle?"

"Kinda?"

I smiled then tugged a tissue out of a box and placed it on Tom's desk. "Focus on the where the tingle came from and try to push the kleenex," I said.

Tom screwed his face up in concentration before he thrust his hand forward and the tissue moved a little bit.

"Yes!" he shouted. "It moved it movedddoooowwww…" He curled down, clutching his head.

I chuckled. "Yeah. Get used to having a headache. You'll get it a lot practicing."

Tom uncovered an eye to glare at me. "You knew this would happen."

"I did. Remember, I went through this exact same thing."

Tom groaned. I rolled my eyes at him.

"Go lay down," I said. "I'll get you a Tylenol."

When I came back Tom was face down on his bed. He groaned as I nudged him. "I hate you," he said.

"No, you don't," I replied cheerfully.

Tom waved a hand at me as he got up to take the pills. "When do the powers get to the awesome stage?" he asked.

"After you've practiced a lot."

"That sucks. This sucks." He flopped back down onto the bed.

"It gets better. Besides, guess what?"

Tom shot me a suspicious look. "What?"

"Since the Ten Rings jerk has left, we can finally start properly learning the Elemental Wood cultivation method."

Tom considered that, then sat up with a huff. "Alright. But you're starting it first."

"Very well."

I rolled open the scroll. It had a brief discussion on the nature of wood Qi, then a set of yoga-like movements, called qigong, meant to cause a person's Qi to move in a wood-like manner. Then there were some chants and meditation exercises, but I was going to start with the movements because they were listed first.

Tom watched me as I began, laying the scroll down on the desk and checking it as I made the movements. After a few minutes, as my movements became surer and I suffered no apparent side effects, he got up and started doing them along with me.

"How long does this take?" he asked.

"I don't know. I guess we'll find out," I said.

His groans were music to my ears.

…

AN: We're getting close to the end of the arc folks, but it's not over yet. We still haven't figured out what the strange woman's deal was

 

[Mariadreaming9]

Chapter 21

Perhaps it was because it was only a 100-point technique but after only a few practice sessions we started to get the hang of wood qi. I was the first to be able to actually feel it, being more experienced in martial arts, but Tom, being the one with a near constant headache, was the one to figure out that it could be used to reduce strain.

Which of course meant that his tk ability skyrocketed once he no longer had to worry so much about the pain.

Lucky bastard.

After that, things settled into a routine. Get up. Eat breakfast. Meet up with Tom and whatever parent was supervising us for a daily run. Then go to the park to practice qigong in the guise of practicing martial arts for Tom's Master-of-arms merit badge. Do assorted exercises like push-ups or yoga. Maybe go to one of our bedrooms to practice tk and just talk.

It wasn't every day of course. Tom had church on Sundays and there wasn't always someone available to supervise us, but most days were like that. It was nice. Predictable.

It was hard when Tom left for Boy Scout camp.

Mom comforted me as I waved goodbye at the back of Tom's dad's car.

"It's only a week," she said, patting me on the shoulder. "Hey, maybe you can take the time to start working on the eco garden you were thinking about making in the backyard."

"It's the middle of summer Mom. I don't think it's the best time to start planting." The eco garden was an idea I'd come up with to help with both wood qi and just to do nice things for the environment. But I'm pretty sure it was past the date where you could plant seeds and that's what I wanted to do.

"Doesn't mean you can't start planning it out or something," Mom said. "The best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago. The second-best time is today."

I sighed. She had a point.

I wandered out back. Mom, being an avid birdwatcher, had plenty of birdfeeders up right outside the window, and Dad had built a small bug hotel a while back, but aside from that it was a pretty normal backyard. Grass, some flowers around the edges, a patio with a grill for backyard parties and a small shed.

I sat down in the grass and pondered what it should look like. I know I wanted lots of native plant species, and flowers and fruits that would provide food for the wildlife. Also a water feature. But I wasn't certain where to put things.

Well, if I wanted lots of wood qi…

Considering the bagua map I'd found online, I wondered if there was a way that I could make a bagua garden. Or feng shui, whatever the right term was. I only knew of what I'd picked up from watching my family. But still, a garden that could help me study qi flow, or one where qi… congregated? Collected? Either way, a meditation garden was a cultivation staple for a reason.

Except I knew just enough about the topic to know that I knew nothing at all about how to make it work. I sighed. Oh well. Someone in the family must have a book about it…

…

Tom was brilliant with glee when he came back. As soon as he unpacked he dragged me off to tell me every little thing that had happened while he was at camp.

"I won first place in the race and the push up competition," he bragged. "I would've gotten first place in the plank and the sit up competition too, but the camp counselors said that the other boys should have a chance to get first place."

"That's fair. But good job!" I said.

"It's the wood qi. Every time I got sore I just circulated the wood qi and I was good to go."

"Sooo you were cheating?" I said with a smile.

"Hey! I worked hard to get this good!"

"Yeah, but it wasn't like they had the chances you had," I pointed out. It was interesting how easily we got wood qi however. It wasn't exactly a rigorous scientific study, but if Tom was right and it was that easy for him to win with just a single cheap cultivation method under his belt, one that he had learned in a week no less, then cultivation was completely overpowered.

…Then again, Tom was the star of the boy's basketball team for a reason. Unlike me, who had purposefully worked towards becoming strong since I became aware of where I had been reborn, Tom just seemed to exude athleticism without even trying. And while I wouldn't be surprised if having the system made cultivation easier for me, it could just be that Tom was naturally gifted at it.

With the cultivation method and his natural athleticism, I suppose it wasn't surprising how well Tom had done.

Tom rolled his eyes at me. "Oh, there was one other thing," he said. "In the middle of camp, we had shooting stars one night. It was pretty."

"Nice. Did you make a wish?"

"Yeah! I wished to be the best superhero ever!"

I snorted. "You better work hard then."

"I am! Seriously, Mom is starting to worry about how often I get headaches."

"Even with the wood qi?"

"Yeah. Like Coach says," and here he dropped into a squatting wrestlers pose, fists raised, "NO PAIN, NO GAIN!"

"Alright, just don't hurt yourself."

"I won't, don't worry."

…

Saturday morning, when I asked to spend time with Tom, I was told that he was recovering from camp. It seemed weird to me, since he seemed fine yesterday, but I let it go. His family probably just wanted to spend time with him since they hadn't seen him in a week.

Sunday morning, however, I got a different response.

"He's away on another camping trip," Mom said over our usual breakfast. "It was a bit of a surprise for all of us, but it was a really good opportunity for him."

I blinked at her. What?

"He just got back from camping," I said. "When will he be back?"

"Probably a week or so."

I raised an eyebrow. "You don't know?"

Beginner insight pinged at me. Mom and Dad were uncomfortable, and… didn't Dad normally focus on reading the newspaper around this time? Instead of carefully watching me while pretending to focus on breakfast.

"You aren't telling me something," I said. Something was wrong.

"Knew she wouldn't fall for it," Dad said.

"Harry," Mom said, then steeled herself as I got more nervous. "Look, Margaret noticed that Tom was acting… off, and wanted him to spend some time at the doctors to make sure he's alright. You know how she is about health issues."

"What kind of doctor?" Because Jon was the person who's health she worried about. Not Tom so much.

Mom hesitated again, and Dad took over. "A psychiatrist," he said.

"What."

"Scott thinks she's overthinking things, but figured that it wouldn't hurt," he explained.

"Margaret thinks that that psychiatrists are quacks," I said, trying to ignore the ice creeping down my spine. "What psychiatrist?" Maybe I was overthinking things. Maybe she was just flipflopping again. I could be catastrophizing things. But something felt wrong.

"I don't know, just that they're based at St. Vincent."

I abandoned my cereal to head to Dad's computer, ignoring Mom's half-hearted "Jackie," behind me.

St. Vincent, a Catholic hospital in Manhattan. It wasn't exactly a place I'd considered the Hand to possibly have control over, but it wasn't like I had comprehensive knowledge of their resources.

I pulled up St. Vincent's website on Google, hoping they had modernized enough to have a list of doctors online. I searched their services, when I noticed something that made my heart stop.

"Dad!" I yelled back at the table. "Are you sure it was St. Vincent's that Tom went to?"

Dad looked up at me from where he was talking to Mom. "Hm? Oh, yes. It was St. Vincent's."

"And he's supposed to be at like, an in-patient psychiatric unit?"

"Yes?"

"St. Vincent's doesn't have a pediatric psychiatric unit."

Dad stood up. "Are you sure?" he asked, brows furrowed.

"Double-checking now," I said as I grabbed the phone Dad kept next to his desk and dialed the phone number on the website.

I tapped my way through the hospital's automated answering machine as Dad entered his office, Mom hot on his heels.

Finally, finally, I got a real person.

"Saint Vincent's Manhattan Hospital, receptionist speaking," said a bored voice as I put her on speakerphone. "How may I help you today?"

"Hi, I'm calling to see if St. Vincent's offers in-patient psychiatric services, for children."

"Let me double check," she said and I heard keys clacking. "May I ask what city you are living in?"

"Queens," I said.

"Ah. Unfortunately, our Manhattan branch does not offer psychiatric placements for children, but our Westchester branch does. If that is too far, I can see about recommending you somewhere closer, but it will not be under the umbrella of St. Vincent's Catholic Medical Centers."

Dad grabbed the phone to start talking to the woman, but I'd heard enough. Ducking around Mom I ran through the kitchen, down the hall, and out the front door.

"Jackie! Come back!" Mom yelled from the door, but I didn't turn back.

I tk-ran down streets I had gone through so many times on my route to Tom's house. The concrete sidewalk should have torn up my bare feet but with wood qi circulating through me and nothing but Tom on my mind I couldn't feel it.

It was a desperate hope. Dumb beyond belief. But maybe, just maybe, he was at home.

Safe.

I skidded to a stop in front of Tom's house. No car. Sunday church service, of course.

I tk-jumped the gate to the back garden, hoping Margret had kept up her bad habit of leaving the back door unlocked.

I tried the handle. She had.

"Tom!" I yelled as I opened the door. "Tom?!"

No answer.

I ran through the house, yelling Tom's name over and over again, hoping for some kind of answer.

Finally, I reached Tom's room and threw the door open. It was empty. Messy. The same room I'd been in so many times, looking the same as it ever was.

I checked the desk, the bed, anywhere he might have left a note or something. Finally, I checked the secret compartment we had made in the Harry Potter book.

The only thing was the wood qi scroll, undisturbed. I pulled it open, hoping there was maybe something left, some kind of clue.

Nothing.

I was out of options.

I sunk to my knees

If only… If only I had let Tom choose to buy the phone option, instead of insisting on forcing him to keep my secrets. He could've contacted me, before all this happened. Or I could have simply messaged him, see where he was.

Wait.

"System!" I yelled, voice cracking.

[Yes host?]

"The phone option, for companions! I know I don't have the points to afford it, but if it helps me find Tom, wouldn't that be a good story? Rescuing a friend? Please! Can I get it?"

[…]

I stared at the blank screen, heart pounding in my chest.

[…Under the circumstances, I can approve a 500 point advance. However, in return, you will not be able to earn any points for the next year/365 days]

"I don't care. Do it."

[500 point advance granted. You now have 583 points. Would you like to purchase [Companionship Perk]: [Talk To Me] for 500 points? Y/N]

"Yes!"

[Purchasing… Done! Connecting you to [Tom Sawford] now.]

A new blue screen popped up.

"Tom!" I yelled at the screen. "Hello!?"

I watched as my words appeared on the right side of the screen.

A moment later, writing appeared on the left side.

[Tom Sawford: What?]

[Tom Sawford: What is this?]

[Tom Sawford: Who is Tom?]

My heart stopped.

The writing kept coming.

[Tom Sawford: Why is there writing showing up?]

"Because…" I found my voice. "Because I purchased the phone option. Tom, what's wrong? What do you mean 'Who's Tom'? Where are you!?"

[Tom Sawford: I mean "Who is Tom?"]

[Tom Sawford: And who are you?]

"Who the hell are you!?" I yelled back. "System you said you were connecting me to Tom Sawford!"

[I am]

[Tom Sawford: I'm Mantis. Who is System?]

[Tom Sawford: Doctor?]

[Tom Sawford: There's this-, and someone keeps- keeps- keeps talking to me-, calling me "Tom"]

"Tom?" I asked. "Tom, who are you talking to?"

[Tom Sawford: They're-. Their name is-.]

[Tom Sawford: I can't say it! It's like- it's like I open my mouth and nothing comes out.]

The Secrecy perk. I had Tom bound to keep the secrets of my powers, his powers, and the truth about the future. I guess… since the phone perk counted as a "power" for the purposes of the perk, he couldn't tell whoever he was.

[Tom Sawford: A hallucination?]

"Tom? Tom, I am not a hallucination," I said, trying not to sob. "Tom, please listen to me!"

[Tom Sawford: Okay. I'll try to ignore it.]

"Tom wait-!"

[Tom Sawford: Hail Hydra.]

Then the screen disappeared.

[Companion [Tom Sawford] has indicated that he no longer wishes to speak. You may attempt to contact him again in one (1) hour.] The System reported.

"Hydra," I hissed in shock. "HYDRA? How the hell did they find out about Tom? And- and what did they do to him!? He sounded like he didn't remember anything!"

[That is something you will have to discover.]

A beat.

[I am sorry.]

My throat clogged up. My eyes prickled. And as I heard my mom yelling my name from outside Tom's house, I finally gave in and cried.

…

Once my parents had contacted Tom's parents and discovered they couldn't get in contact with the "doctor" who had Tom, they called the police.

They didn't find anything. It was as if Tom and the people who took him had vanished into thin air. The only person that had any clue where Tom was now, was me.

Not that I knew where exactly he was either. Every time I tried to talk to him, Tom would respond to something like "Shut up!" or "I'm not listening!" and then the screen would close.

Wednesday, Scott brought Jon over for a "sleepover". I didn't really feel like entertaining but… it was Jon. So I tried to make it look like I hadn't spent the last few days crying my eyes out and put on a smile for Jon throughout dinner. My parents did the same, trying to keep up a nice atmosphere. After some TV and a shower, Jon went to sleep in the guest room. I was supposed to go to sleep too, but there was no way I was staying in my room when it seemed like Scott and my parents might discuss what happened to Tom.

I quietly opened the door and tk floated down the hall to the edge of the stairs, just out of sight of the living room.

For the longest time, all I heard was the quiet clinking of glass bottles. Then finally, Mom spoke.

"How are you doing Scott?"

A sigh. "…Not good." A pause, then a dry, bitter laugh. "I thought I was prepared, you know? Dad being a firefighter, and all those stories he'd tell about the calls he responded to. I thought I knew how the world really worked. Turns out, I didn't know a damn thing."

"What really happened?" Dad asked. "Tom seemed fine to me. Why did Margaret think he needed a psychiatrist?"

There was a pause. "She didn't think he needed a psychiatrist," Scott said. "She thought he needed an exorcist."

"An exorcist? Why?" Mom sounded shocked, and I couldn't blame her.

Another sigh. "The night Tom came home from camp, Margaret said she was left Tom alone with Jon, and then, when she came back she swore she saw objects floating in front of him, around Jon."

I clenched a fist. Damnit Tom! Did nothing I said about keeping secrets mean anything to you!?

"When she confronted him, Tom claimed he wasn't doing anything, and then that it was just a magic trick," Scott continued. "But, well, you know how Tom's been getting a lot of headaches recently?"

A pause as both my parents made sounds of affirmation.

"Margaret is convinced that those were a sign that some kind of entity or demon was trying to possess Tom, and the floating objects proof it had succeeded."

"But it was just a magic trick?" Mom said.

"She doesn't believe that," Scott said. "Something about the way he said it."

"Scott, what I don't understand is why you went along with it," Dad said.

"I was worried about what Marg would do otherwise." Scott sighed. "I suggested that maybe she ask Father Fletcher to do something, but she was worried that Tom might hurt Jon. Next thing I know two supposed exorcists have showed up at my home. I tried to stop it, but then one of them pulled me aside. He told me that when a parent or guardian truly believes that a child has been possessed, it's best to have the child leave for a bit for the "exorcism", or else the parent could hurt the child in an attempt to stop the possession. He said he was actually a psychiatric aid for St. Vincent's Hospital. God, he played me like a fucking fiddle!"

Scott took a deep breath. "The worst thing, is that he's not wrong. About Marg, I mean. The way she turned on Tom… It was scary. It was like all she saw when she looked at him was a monster out to hurt Jon. And now-" he hiccuped. "And now I'm terrified of what she'd do to Jon, if he ever did anything strange. Would she turn on him just as fast?"

He gave a choked sob. "I love her," he said. "I love her, but I can't, I can't let her hurt Jon too."

Scott finally broke down in tears, and I slipped away as I heard Mom and Dad start to whisper soothing nothings to him. I had heard enough.

When I had first let Tom in, I had made myself a deal: I would do my best to make Tom a main character. It was one of the reasons I was more okay with him joining me in Chinatown. And ultimately why I had pushed for him to get growth tk. After all, wasn't that the easiest way for someone to become a main character in a superheroverse? To have superpowers? And while wood qi was an important and useful, it wasn't as superhero-y as being able to lift things with only your mind.

I had forgotten one important fact.

We were in Marvel. And no Marvel superhero was complete without a tragic backstory.

Mine had been 9/11.

Now, it was time for Tom's.

...

AN: Lol kudos to those who called it. This has been in the plan since the beginning. Word of warning though, I don't believe in putting characters on buses, at least not when they are important.

I don't know if St. Vincent's in Manhattan had an in-patient pediatric psychiatric unit when it was open (it closed in 2010) but for the purposes of this story it does not. Chalk it up to multiversal differences if needed.

Also sorry I've been gone for so long. Had some issues. But I'm back now and the next chapter is already written and ready to be dropped next week! Should only be two more chapters until this arc is done, which is exciting for me as this will be the first story I've managed to complete two arcs to! (Don't worry, this is like my third story written so that's not a warning).

 

[Zentoraus]

What a complete change in tone.

Children hijinx, antics, and adventure turned into a kidnapping and brainwashing in 1 chapter.

 

[Kylia Quilor]

You are a truly evil author.

 

[C.H.A.D]

I don't understand how long was Tom gone. I know that it's easier to brainwash kids but didn't it happen too fast?