The next day. May 12th. 8AM.
"You know Rogers isn't going to like this. Seriously, out of all the places you could move to, you chose this place?", Tony said to me, looking surprised.
The scenery had changed. We were no longer at Stark Tower. We had bid that place farewell, looking to start the next chapter in our lives. I know Tony said he's indebted to me, but we are as well. It's almost as if we were playing an endless game of catch, seeing who would end up with the ball last. I saved his life, and he's looking to repay the favor by making sure we're squared away with ours. That includes getting identification, buying a house, and so on. I didn't think he'd include the entire kit, but color me surprised.
Seeing his surprised look made it all the more worthwhile after deciding on the living space. This place in particular might be a bit of a stretch, but Tony's a goddamn billionaire. I'm sure he can work his magic to acquire the rights to this building.
And you might be wondering, which place did I decide on?
Aura gave me a list of potential places. Do keep in mind what Aura presented to me were just possibilities. It's not like I needed to choose a place to live from that list. I could have decided to live in bum-fuck-middle-of-nowhere in some obscure place inside Canada or some shit. A place that could potentially have relevance years down the line once the X-Men come over, but nothing of importance that will take place until then. That kind of thing.
I could have also chosen to move back to Japan. Knowing its housing market, it should be very cheap to buy a place over there, compared to buying a house over here in the states, which could potentially require millions of dollars. Japan, on the other hand, is a much more cost-effective place to live. But that's the thing. In the MCU, Japan has barely any presence in the broader sense of things.
Right now Japan doesn't have much limelight. It will in the coming years, mostly leaning toward Daredevil, and Hawkeye. The latter which won't take place until much, much later. The blip needs to happen first, which will cause Hawkeye to start parading around Japan as the Ronin, killing off Yakuza members one after another. Some even may have ties to a criminal organization, known as the Hand, which is conveniently associated with Daredevil's plot.
In fact, knowing that Daredevil is now part of the MCU, it's probably better that I didn't decide on Japan. I don't know how big the Hand's influence is here in Earth-616. Is it small? Is it big? I don't know if I'd be walking into a tiger's den. It could be a great potential source of experience, but seriously, those fuckers are ninjas. NINJAS.
I ain't equipped to deal with assassination threats. The Black Widow is already beside me, and if she truly wanted to take my life, I could put up some resistance, but just merely that. Like I said, my body is still raw. I need to develop myself before I can start taking on bigger threats, such as the Hand, regardless of how much influence they have in the shadows.
If I chose to live in Midtown, I could experience Iron Man's next plot points, which includes Iron Man III, as well as Daredevil's story. If I chose London, I could interact with Thor's plot, including Thor: The Dark World, and potentially head out into the Nine Realms. But I'm looking to stay closer to Earth for the time being. Choosing Queens would put me much farther away. And while that would connect me to Spiderman and his story, it's still a few years out until he makes his proper debut. Captain America: Civil War needs to happen first. Plus I'm a little too old to experience high school again. So that's out the window.
That narrowed things down to me. Before I could even experience anybody's plot points, a training montage is in order.
And guess what?
The place where I'm standing out just so happens to have one, if not THE best sparring partner a guy could ask for. Gotta start from the ground up, right? Otherwise, I'd just be courting death.
Just knowing that caused me to put a grin on my face. I looked back at Tony, who was standing beside me, still gawking at the place I decided to live at from here onward.
The building we're at is situated south of Manhattan, located in Lower Manhattan. It is beyond the East River. Speaking of this river, both this place and Queens are beyond it, but Queens is much farther out, being twice as distant as it is to Stark Tower. Coming from Queens, if you're unlucky with rush hour, it could take up to an hour of driving to reach the island. Here, however, cuts that distance in half. It only takes twenty or thirty minutes at most to drive toward Stark Tower.
Littered with brownstone buildings that painted the streets in a historic brown-reddish hue, this place was called Brooklyn Heights. Of New York City as a whole, this part of the city had a bigger past. It even stood beyond the World War II era. That's why the streets here stood out, compared to the more modern look you could find in downtown Manhattan.
After all, this place was where Captain America once lived. Both before and after he became a Capscicle. Thankfully, unlike the wide area of destruction caused by the Chitauri Invasion that took place in Midtown Manhattan, here in Lower Manhattan, most buildings survived the attack. You could still see the damaged buildings in the near horizon further inland, though. It's not like Lower Manhattan came out entirely unscathed.
Thanks to the ongoing construction further inland, it wasn't exactly quiet. But there was this subtle feeling in the air. A lacking presence, if I had to describe. No matter what street we ventured into, little white candles could be seen lit and placed at the corners of each house. It wasn't the dead silence Ant-Man felt while he tried returning home after the blip happened. No, that was way too eerie. Here, it was more of a somber feeling.
I'm sure many folks here in the outskirts of New York City lost some loved ones. They're likely paying respects to those who died. Not the kind of memorial you'd see like the one Ant-Man paid a visit to during Endgame. This is more on a lighter scale. Perhaps this fits the mood, though? Both Momo and Nana were able to shed some light on the matter the four of us personally dealt with. You know, meeting God and all of that, only to realize there is no home to return to. That meant the girls couldn't return to their parents, or to Planet Deviluke. Similar to the scene ongoing here, they might still have a desire to grieve. Once our new place is squared away, we'll have the time to do so.
Tony saw my initial grin get replaced with a frown, causing him to look my way. I didn't immediately respond to his first comment.
"Why the long face? Are you looking to pivot elsewhere?", Tony questioned, unsure.
"Nah, it's nothing.", I responded, quickly shaking those thoughts away. They'll come, but we need to look at the present. Acquiring a house comes first and foremost. "You won't go back on your word, will you, Tony? I've decided on this place.", I answered, deciding on the place where Captain America once grew up, and the same place he returned to.
"I'm always a man of my word. But once you make your decision it's final. No takesies-backsies. If you're really wanting to live here, I'll have to make some phone calls, but it should be a cinch.", Tony replied.
"Oh I knew you'd be able to work your magic, Tony.", I replied, smiling. Yet, my gaze was drawn elsewhere. I saw a red-haired woman dressed in her casual hoodie. Her hands were placed in her pockets, acting all nonchalant. She even could be seen chewing some gum.
"But pray tell, why is it exactly that you are here with us?", I questioned. I'm pretty sure I knew the answer. And so did this person. But it's best for her to say it outright.
"I'm YOUR caretaker, not Tony's. Whatever his business is has no relation to what I do. You're stuck with me bud, whether you like it or not. If you really do become this building's landlord, it looks like I'll become one of your tenants. You-know-who will cover these expenses, so in a way, it'll just become another form of passive income for you. You really do have nothing, huh?", Natasha answered, musing to this fact.
"Pretty much. We have to start out from scratch again. And as you said, this could become a good source of money for us, regardless of whether Momo-chan becomes Tony's personal chef.", I responded with a nod of my head. As I said that, Lala just stared at the building in front of us.
"Are you saying this is going to be our new home from now on, Baki-kun?", Lala questioned.
"Sure is. There are some people already staying here, but I'm sure the entire building isn't entirely rented out. And we could even renovate it to add a floor, entirely just for us. What do you think, Lala-chan?", I questioned. I saw Lala enter a pondering motion, before she smiled.
"Hmm. I think I like it! It's got this old touch to it. And it's not as noisy as it was back at that giant tower. I'm sure we can get friendly with the neighbors!", Lala happily replied. Momo could be seen observing the building, trying to scrutinize it from top to down, while Nana just stood there dazed. We did do a pretty quick change of scenery, and she's had the lowest time to recover from what's happened to us. But once we've settled in, I'm sure Nana will return to her normal self.
"Who's being friendly to who now?", A voice suddenly said, calling out to us.
"Hmm?", I replied, not expecting to hear a voice speak our way. Actually, it sounded pretty familiar. We all turned off to the right. Lo and behold, a rather built figure could be seen jogging. He was wearing a casual gray hoodie. He likely chose this to wear something loose. Beads of sweat trickled from his forehead. It wasn't long until he saw five figures standing near his building.
"Well if it ain't Cap himself. Glad you can join us.", Tony said, greeting the blonde-haired muscular man.
"Is that you, Tony? And you all are...", The figure said, finding a stopping point. Guess he was out jogging. He probably does this on a daily basis. And before long, I too will be part of this. Perhaps not entirely one to one with what this guy has as a schedule. But morning jogging will be included.
"Yo. I know it's been about a week. How's it been?", I said, greeting him. Who else could he be but Steve Rogers, aka Captain America?
And of course, I was speaking in English.
"You're the ones who came through the portal with Tony...Just what on earth is going on here?", Steve replied, taking a moment to take some sips from his bottle he had at his waist.
"Boy, we really haven't caught up in a spell, have we Cap? Haha! I jest. Just give me a moment...", Tony said. It was only a moment where I didn't look back at Tony, but he brought out an electronic pad of sorts. Maybe an iPad? I haven't a fucking clue. Perhaps it's one of his own devices? He's way more into the tech stuff than I am. He was already fiddling with it, tapping one area after another. "And...done!", Tony suddenly said, finishing his current motions.
"What are you doing now, Tony?", I decided to ask.
"Oh nothing serious. Does this look familiar to you at all, Cap?", Tony said, drawing Steve's attention toward the device he whipped out.
"That...", Steve replied, being caught off guard by what appeared to be a bunch of terms and conditions on his tablet. It kept going on and on, and was quite long. "The hell? Isn't this the deed to this building?", Steve questioned, not expecting to see this.
"Sure is! And yours truly just so happened to buy it at this very moment. You're looking at your new landlord!", Tony announced. It was now Steve's turn to show a surprised Pikachu face.
"...What?", Steve retorted in disbelief. Shock appeared all over his eyes, making him appear goofy. I tried holding back a laugh.