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 #67
Ta-Lo [February 16, 2008]
–Colin Baxter–
He schooled his expression soon after taking off, and then landed slowly in the village square, where most of the regular consumers of his goods were already eagerly waiting for him, no doubt informed by the Village Chief, who must have been in turn informed by the Water Dragon.
In canon, the role that the Water Dragon took in the workings of the village had diluted so much that it was not until the end that everyone got to see the Dragon in its entirety, and that was because the Water Dragon was vastly weaker back then.
Now that he has been constantly getting CHI infusions, he was fine and actually on track to get to its peak, before the whole sealing Demon and keeping it sealed thing. He did not know what was really sealed inside that mountain, aside from it being pure evil so he did not want to take chances and had given the Water Dragon ample amounts of CHI every time he visited, in addition to the agreed upon CHI appointments.
Sometimes, he just wanted to get away from all the chaos so he came here, discreetly, and enjoyed the greenery everywhere he went. Plus, every single leaf of grass in this place was infused with high amounts of CHI, courtesy of yours truly as well as the Dragon, so it was infinitely calmer in this place.
Now, though, he felt tense, as if something was about to drop on him, and he could only helplessly see the shadow of it approaching. He did not like this feeling one bit and resolved to do something about it.
For now, he needed to have a talk with the black hearted cunning of a man, who ran this Village.
Waving at the people who had gathered around him, he waved his hand once, creating a portal, or more accurately, parts of a portal before the Water Dragon took over and fully opened a stable portal. He was so thankful for that, otherwise it would have ruined his carefully crafted image of a genius outsider magician who had come bearing gifts.
"Enjoy!" He said before turning around and headed to the guards, who were standing at the entrance of the Village Chief office along with the beloved Ying Nan, next in line to be Village CHief, once the old geezer retired because he could not see the man kicking the bucket anytime soon, despite his outwardly feeble and old appearance.
"Hello, Ms.Ying Nan, how do you do?" he bowed theatrically before continuing to walk forward. He paused as a very sharp knife, attached to a piece of wood that was stronger than steel was thrust towards his face, not by the guards but by Ying Nan, the beloved of the entire village.
Raising an eyebrow at the sudden action, he deadpanned at her, "That could have hurt me."
In return, she jabbed it towards his eye, making him lean back, "Hey! Whoa! Hey! What the f*ck?" He yelled as she continued to step forward and jab him with the pointy spear, making him do Olympic gymnastics to dodge.
"I sense anger within you, vast and hot. Why are you looking for my grandpa?" She questioned him as she continued to try to hit him with all her might.
His face turned into an O as he realised the reason for the sudden hostilities. With a sigh, he stopped dodging and simply raised his finger, and stopped the spear right in its tracks, making Ying Nan and the guards look at him with wide, disbelieving eyes.
Well, he hadn't stopped the spear with just his finger. If anyone looked closely, there was a small Blue rectangle that had appeared in front of his index finger, which was stopping the Spear from advancing. He was just using his superior strength to hold the shield in place, so to speak.
"What is with women in this place hitting first and asking questions later?" He mused out loud as he looked at the guards as well as the Village Chief who had now come out to watch the spectacle, along with the villagers who were no doubt whispering.
"What is happening?"
"Why are they fighting?"
"Why is she trying to hurt the Life Bringer?"
Were some of the few questions he heard from the many. Anytime now, the response should come from the other side….
"Ying Nan, stop that now!" The Village Chief had to step in as he smirked down at her, very condescendingly. It was nice to do this, especially since the girl made it her mission to try and downplay his contributions to the village at every turn since she was older than him and yet, he was stronger than her.
The earlier spars, she won all of them but later on, once he got the hang of his strength, he could just bullzone through all of her techniques and throw her out of the ring, in friendly spars, obviously. If she came for his life, the outcome would be the same, the process might differ a bit.
"You could have spared her pride, and just came to me," The Village Chief said as they both began walking side by side towards the office.
"And you could have warned me about the Bloody Vampire you deputized." He stressed about the warning as the man winced at the anger in his voice. Soon, they were in his office, with no one around to listen.
"So, what do you have to say for yourself?" he asked the man while he kept an eye on the surroundings. He knew the Water Dragon was doing an excellent job at keeping the Demon contained but it never hurt to keep an eye on everything because in canon, despite the seal, the Demonic entity had been able to contact Xu Wenwu, who resided outside the pocket dimension.
He did not know how to look for any contact residue but the least he could do was search for any demonic residue around him, however unlikely the situation might be.
The VIllage chief, whose name he did not know, sighed, "Look, I can see now, in hindsight, that it was a mistake to hastily give her Ta-Lo's seal, but you have to look at it from our point of view, the single person capable of helping our Guardian and safeguard our people from the Demon was in danger."
He slumped, again with the same argument. This was not going to fly—-
"That too, an assault on you by Hell empowered Vampires, parasitic creatures capable of doing much worse than simply death. You are the single most important person to Ta-Lo right now, more than me, more than Ning Yan or anyone else, and for that, I had to act hastily lest we lose you. For that, I apologize." The man bowed his head and that just took out all the anger in him.
"Fine," He said, defeated. "Now, I hope you know about the State visit tomorrow? I am not taking no for an answer. I know you people only reside in a 50 mile radius around the Water Dragon for protection purposes but I would like to explore the other parts of this place."
He stopped the man from interrupting and gave him the same spiel whenever he asked to roam the areas unexplored, "I will have both Jin'Ya and the Red Matron with me, so no need to worry about my safety. So, Yes or No?" He asked the man pointedly.
Before the man could respond, however, another voice made itself known in the conversation, "It is fine, Zhenzu, the Life Giver has valid points and we have erred him because of your hastiness. Life-Giver, you can freely roam these areas."
And that is how he found that the name of the Village Elder was Zhenzu.
"Thank you, Water Dragon," He cheerfully waved at the invisible yet all encompassing Water Dragon and his gaze.
Kind of what Uncle Sam wishes to be, huh?
If you guys would like to support me, or just want to read up to 15 chapters ahead, you can head on to my P*treon. It is the same name as my username.