Today's finally the day. I have just finished up my last project that required me to dive into the Ancient One's personal collections. One of the last times I needed to learn before leaving is how to create illusionary magic. I can always use my fists and brain to get almost anything I want but what I need the most right now is to know how to fake something so real that everyone will believe it. The art of deceit and misdirection is a character flaw I really wish I can just drop and never touch ever again. But in order for this world to survive the future cataclysms that are bound to occur within the next decade it requires many many things. One of them is for me to lie to everyone. Now I wish I can just stop and live a normal life because it's not my problem and I'm not a superhero. But because I know what's going to happen and I have the abilities to help, I just can't walk away. Not when my whole purpose for this journey is to gain enough power to protect myself and my family. SIGHHHH.
Anyways the very last relic I needed to complete is a wrist watch for me to wear. It functions like an Omnitrix except only for humans and I don't actually go through any physical transformation. Now it just displays an illusion over my body into a copy of someone else….watch now that I think about it. It's essentially the same shit Megamind has. SIGH. And here I thought I was going to be original for once. As for why I need such a device or illusion magic? Well I need a way to blind with crowds and a way to migrate into America because today is going to be a very eventful and important day in history.
I place all of my bags at the front of my door as I look back at the now empty dorm room. I say it's empty because it's no longer a cluster fuck with all of my tools and equipment but really it still has a bed, table and restroom for the next student to us. I slowly close my door for the very last time before picking up my bags and heading towards the inner sanctum of Kamar-Taj. Soon I find myself at the three portals to the sanctums around the world. I quickly bow towards Wong as he nods back at me before coming in for a hug.
"I'm going to miss you Ned. It's going to be so quiet without you and all the chaos that you make. Honestly things just might start to get better when we're not under the constant threat of the dormitories blowing up." He and I both laugh as a flash of memory pops up into my mind.
"Well the only thing that's blowing up now is just you and your bathroom Wong but hey. I won't be gone for long. It'll only be for a couple of years but we'll see. The world is changing man and I need to be out there to make my mark in history." I smile at him before making one of my pockets from my bags open up. From the pocket, a red card slowly floats up towards him.
"What's this?" He grabs onto the card while giving it a quick exam.
"It's my new business card. Burn it in a fire pit whenever you need me and I'll show up. Just make sure it's an emergency or something serious because those things are hard to make." I put on a smirk before my eyes caught on to someone walking towards us from behind Wong. "Sara!" I waved my hand and called out to her as I wasn't sure I would get the chance to say my final goodbyes to her. She slowly makes her way to us with her hands behind her back while trying to keep a straight face.
"Well the two of you really do look like an item now." I shift my eyes from her outfit to Wong then back to her. "Or is that just the uniform of a master?" She puts on a chuckle before reaching out to give me a hug.
"You know Ned. I never got the chance to fully say my goodbyes to my brother but now I think I can. I'm sure this is what he would have wanted us to do." She slowly pulled away from me before handing me something. "This belongs to James. I'm sure it's not worth very much but he would always keep this on his person whenever he traveled around the world. He said it always brings him back home, no matter what happens. So, I want you to have it. Because you will always have a home here at Kamar-Taj." I hesitantly accept the stone necklace as Sara holds on to my hand. She gives me a warm and reassuring smile while rubbing my hand gently. "I-I I-"
"And you can't say no because it's a gift from your big brother. And besides. He would have loved it if you kept it safe until you got back. But until then, I want to wish you a safe journey and be sure to come back in one piece."
I slowly nod my head as I take a closer look at the necklace. It looks homemade since it's just a rock wrapped around in metal wires attached to a rope… Now I definitely can't lose this. "Thank you so much sister Sara. I'll definitely give it back once I return in a couple of years. Until then I'll keep it on me whenever I leave my house to keep the luck charm going." I put on a smile and slightly bow towards her. I use some magic to put on the pebble necklace before picking up my bags and continuing to make my way out.
"Ahhh so there you are. Why is it that you have chosen to leave on this day and at this time?" The Ancient One calls out to me from the top of the staircase of the Sanctum Sanctorum. I put on a smile as I makey way up to greet her. "You and I both know why today is so important. And as for the timing? Well I don't actually know if the timing is proper but I just need to leave right when IT happens." I give her a wink as she scoffs a bit.
"I see. Well, I'm not sure how you know about that event but today is the day. I've looked into the future countless times and today I will need to be here to protect the Sanctum. It has been wonderful having you with us Ned. If you ever feel the need to come back, just know that you are always welcome." She puts on a warm almost motherly smile that I can't help but smile back. I walk all the way down to the doors before turning back to face her. I set all of my bags down before getting on my knees and kowtowing with the most respect that I can muster up.
After a couple rounds of paying my respects to the Sorcerer Supreme I step out of the doors and on to the streets of NYC with my bags. Man, I can't say how much I missed the big city life. Like sure Kamar-Taj is in Kathmandu and that itself is a pretty big city but it's not an American city. You don't see homeless people shitting on the street next to a restaurant that serves twenty to thirty dollar appetizers. SIGH. I guess I just miss my previous life just a little bit because I've been growing up so "unamerican" this whole life. It's been too clean and peaceful and not enough self-hatred and racial biases.
BOORRROONG!!!
Suddenly a loud sound breaks through downtown Manhattan as Everyone in the street stops in their tracks. We all turned to face the direction of the sound which was coming from the empire building and the Stark tower. There's a beam of energy coming from Stark tower. It seems to be cutting through the very fabric of space as a portal of sorts is ripped open. Soon tens of flying alien crafts begin to pour out of the portal as they begin the attack of New York City.
Taking this as a signal for me to begin my new life in the new era of humanity, I quickly pick up my bags and begin making my way towards any place that will take in anyone for shelter. Soon I find myself in a business like building as a crowd of civilians huddle together. "Hey, do you think it's that dangerous outside?" I hear one of the staff members whispering to someone else.
"Ah yeah I think so. There's a hole in the sky and a bunch of fly-" BOOM! An explosion occurs outside of the building as some of the windows shatter. The broken shards of glass flew towards us but luckily enough no one was hurt or injured from the exploding glass. However that is the least of our concerns because there's a small squad of chitauri aliens that had found their ways into the building. Fuck this isn't one of the buildings that is shown in the movies. Fuck fuck fuck.
I quickly bend down and cover my head just like everyone else as we all try to protect ourselves in the most sheepish way possible. While blending in with the crowd, I quickly messed with my watch before pulling out a scarf from one of my bags. I begin to cover my face with the scarf before switching my face and appearance underneath the cover of the crowd. The mask is ultimately just a distraction to hide the real mask created by the watch. Once I was done I jumped towards one of the aliens when the opportunity opened up for me. I grabbed onto their face and smashed their head into the wall while holding on to the gun-like spear weapon that it was carrying. I turn the spear towards another alien nearby and ram the spear into its throat before twisting my body to place the alien in between me and the last one standing. PEW! PEW! PEW! The last chitauri in the building attempted to shoot at me but the body of its dead comrade took most of the energy blasts. I reach down to place my hand on what seems like the stock of the spear and-PEW! I send a shot of energy into the chest of the last alien as it suddenly slump down onto the floor.
I let go of the spear in my hands as the alien still connected to my spear also went limp on the floor. I look around at the crowd as a few heads begin to look up and turn towards me. I gaze into the eyes of the fearful people before picking up the spear I had just dropped. I dislodge the spear from the corpse and toss the spear at the feet of a security guard. "Pick it up. You got some people to keep safe." I toss the other spear to another person as I pick up the last one for myself. I tuggle on my scarf to make sure it's still on as I stand tall and on guard while anticipating for the next wave of aliens to come into the lobby of this building.
-----Several Hours Later-----
"Hey sir please you have to help me find my family. I can't find them, mister. Please." I try to grab on to the hands of a government official as I put on an act of fear and desperation that only a child could do. I think sprinkling a little bit of chilli peppers under my eyes really brought the act together.
"Hold hold son. First, what is your name? Do you know your home address?" The officer tries their best to calm me down while not getting too involved.
"M-my name is. Is Ned Leed, mister. I-I don't know where house is."
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So uhm well I think I'm doing pretty well at trying to move to the US through this method. Right now I'm just sitting in a gymnasium-like room. I guess this is like the waiting area for the civilians that are affected by the chaos of the invasion. I guess I won't have too much to report for today since so far it's mostly just waiting and waiting for hours. Well there is one good thing about all these long boring waits, I got the chance to restart my habit of people watching. Now I have not seen a lot of people that looked interesting but there are a couple that made me wonder, "just how did they arrive to this point in life?" YAWN. Welp I'll resume my mental journal for my imaginary friends when I do encounter something interesting again. For now I'm going to start a game of ball with a couple of kids that look my age.
I walk up to a kid that seems to be alone just like me. I roll my ball towards me as I call out. "Hey wanna play a game?"
The little boy with wire frame glasses, slowly looked up from his feet and onto the ball and then finally on me. He calmly smiles and nods as he gets up on his feet before throwing the ball at me. With ease I caught the ball and the two of us moved to a corner of the gymnasium to not bother too many people.
"My name is Ned. What is your name?" I toss the ball towards him. As soon as he caught the ball a smile slowly sprouted on his dust covered face. He quickly toss the ball back to me.
"Hi Ned, my name is Peter."