DoorMan (MCU SI) - #84 : It's the Find Out Phase..... (Patreon)

Disclaimer - I don’t, and have never claimed to, own Marvel or its Intellectual Property. This is all just so that I can take my maladaptive daydreaming and turn it into something so that it does not ruin the rest of my day.

DoorMan #84

Ta-Lo [February 18, 2008]

–Colin Baxter–

He could feel the confusion within the room as he uttered those questions, laced with unmistakable hostility. The confusion didn’t last for long as the golden dome around him, which had turned invisible as soon as he had woken up, flickered to life as the Ancient One appeared in front of him.

The memories he received from Jin’Ya told him that the Ancient One was the one who’d cast the golden dome around his prone form, something that was very similar to that of the dome that was cast around Odin when he went in his infamous Odin Sleep.

“Can I have the room?” The Ancient One said out loud, which was not a question but a demand as all of the people began shuffling out of the small room, and the moment everyone left, the dome that was visible around him expanded to mold itself to the shape of the room, covering every single surface, which was probably a privacy filter for their conversation.

“So,” He began, voice bitter, “Do you have anything to–”

“What were you thinking, Colin?” He blinked in confusion.

“W-What do you mean?”

“I mean, what were you thinking? Opening a New Door, in an unsecured place? Near the seal holding back the Demon of all places? Did you lose your mind?”

“Do you have any idea what would have happened if the destabilising space was not sealed shut by Jin’Ya and the rest of them?”

His eyes widened as he finally realised the folly of his actions. The implications of what could have happened were not lost on him.

“B-but you would have–”

“Let me make one thing very clear to you, Master Baxter. I am not all seeing nor all knowing, and certainly not when it comes to you. Your powers make it very hard to see your future. Which is why I have time itself flow around you, just so I can make decisions with some semblance of certainty.”

And then, she laid it all out, clearly.

How she foresaw a life altering, life threatening event that he would undergo, one that he would only escape with an inch of his life, using something that would only be its second ever application.

How if he didn't have a prior and very recent experience doing the same thing, he would not have survived, resulting in a chain of events that would have led to the genocide of Wakanda, as Wakandans would not have stopped in their search for Shuri, inevitably stumbling upon Kamar Taj, wherein the Ancient One would have had to finish off the entire country, with none being the wiser, just so they could avoid any possibility of war in the future.

He got chills hearing her speak so clinically about killing off an entire civilisation, of the battle spreading across the Astral Realms, with her finally killing off Bast and dying after, just because he wanted Shuri to see this cool place.

“I knew you were going to perform stupidity of the highest order, and yet, I could not stop you in any meaningful way because doing so would have just led to death and destruction this world has not seen in centuries.” 

And the worst thing was, that he knew she would do it. More than the certainty in her voice when she spoke of what she could and would do if it came down to that, it was the historical records in Kamar Taj, detailing how the Ancient One, using her powers to see the future, brought down entire civilizations, from the outside, using subtle manipulations of various pawns or directly, by slaughtering people down to their last member.

All of it was available to be read in Kamar Taj’s library, once you became Master and got the respective privileges. All the Masters in Kamar Taj knew the length to which the Ancient One can go and has gone to ensure the future she deems good, is brought to the forefront.

So, the fact that his single decision, to show Princess Shuri something she likely would have never experienced in her life, might have brought about genocide and deicide, it shook him at a level he was not sure he could mentally process yet.

“With all that being said, I am glad that what I saw has come to pass, and your body was not taken over by Kamar Taj’s greatest enemy.”

Wait, what? Greatest enemy? But that was…

“Shit!” He whispered as another bout of shock hit him, the realisation of just how close he had come to the biggest of the big bads of Kamar Taj bringing yet another chill to his body.

The Ancient One nodded, “Yes, part of the reason I allowed this to happen was because I could not see beyond the fog. The Time Stone, a fundamental part of the universe itself, could not show me what lay beyond the fog. I analysed the remnants of the matter you had on your body when you came here, and aside from your own blood, I found mystical DNA consistent with that of the Dark Ones.”

Dormammu.

So, that’s where that mountain and the Demonic Dragons were coming from.

“But how?” He asked, the shocks piling on top of each other. He was nowhere near ready to even be in the presence of Dormammu, let alone confront him in any capacity. His soul would shred itself if he somehow found himself right in front of Dormammu’s true body, such was the Dread Lord’s strength and his relative soul weakness.

It was one of the reasons why he would never even attempt to fight Dormammu, if the Sanctums were destroyed in the future, because he knew for a fact that he did not have the necessary strength, the conviction, then the strength of soul, to stand in front of the Dark Lord and tell him to f*ck off. That part was better left to megalomaniacs like Strange and to an extent, the most dangerous woman on the planet, who was standing in front of him with a very bad look in her eyes.

“So, Master Baxter, yes, you do still have the tag, if only because it would take a lot to disbar you, the second Strongest member of Kamar Taj, this is your last warning. No spontaneous experiments, magical or otherwise. No performing dangerous magical stunts to impress girls. Kamar Taj is a place to heal, to protect, to learn but it is not a place where you can learn Sorcery to do something as mundane as impress women.”

He bowed his head, knowing that he was in the wrong here, no matter from what angle anyone looked at this.

“As for your arms,” His gaze drifted to his arms, still black, blue, and bruised, unleashing an ungodly amount of pain through them as the slightest movement made him wince, “I suppose by now you have realised what you have done and how lucky you are that you only had to give up your arms.”

“What?” His neck snapped up, incredulity in his voice as he tried to stand up, only for his hands to fail him, “What do you mean?” there was no way he could hide the fear in his voice.

“What?” The Ancient One gave him a confused look, as if he was the one who was being irrational, “Or did you think handling a fraction of a fraction of the shard of Infinity was going to just give you some burns and bruises that would heal on their own?”

“B-but I healed just fine. The Chi healed all of it when I first opened it and we both know that the first activation is the one that is the most dangerous then how could–”

“Let me explain something to you. The Infinity Stones, they are not the most rational objects out there, their energies are not something that can be quantified or rationalised in most ways. You could predict them, learn their patterns but even then, it’s barely worth it.”

He barely listened to her words as he cycled Chi through his body, focusing on his arms, to the point that his entire body glowed golden, Chi leaking through his skin as he flooded his body with Chi, as little beams of light began leaking out of the injuries on his hands and yet, nothing.

“Like I said, Infinity Stones don’t operate on logic, at least not something we can comprehend. The first time, it did not damage you that much, so your Chi was able to heal most of the damage. This time, well, the only way I can see you regaining complete use of your hands is if you somehow manage to cut off and regrow your limbs.”

“Nononononono,” He continued whispering as his hands continued to stay the same, no change even as he pumped enough Chi in them to power the freaking Elder Dragon present in that lake.

“For what it’s worth, I’m sorry.” Before he could come up with any meaningful reply, he felt a spell being cast as sleep overtook him.