Over the next few days I went about setting up my fortress of solitude, filling the cold home with a myriad of furniture, accents, and plants.
If I ever got bored of being a sorcerer super-spy I could easily get a job with a moving company.
After I was done furnishing the first three floors, satisfied with the jungle-like aesthetic that melded with the cozy inviting textures and earthen tones, I moved to enchanting basic defenses around the place.
I couldn't use anything too crazy, since I didn't have a Ley-line beneath my home to power the Enchantments. Unlike the runes I used to water my plants, which ran off ambient universal energy to pull and condense moisture from the air.
Anything strong enough to stop something like a superhuman punch needed more juice. I siphoned from the electricity powering my home, converting it at an abysmal ratio into Universal energy as a stand-in power source. Which subsequently increased my power bill by 50%.
Then I turned my attention to the basement. It was fairly small, just a simple room holding my plumbing systems, electrical boxes, h-vac stuff and a single door that led to a tiny storage cabinet.
I filled the place with mundane packing boxes and cleaning supplies, creating the facade of a normal basement.
I approached the cabinet door, a grin on my lips.
This is where the fun beings.
I began by enchanting the door into a dimension gateway, creating two copies of the storage room and then warding the living shit out of it, and adding a number of illusions to make it less attractive and memorable. With each additional enchant my power bill would rise, though hopefully that would be a temporary measure.
I linked the door to my magical signature, using a combination of my blood and the Force itself.
I had noticed something… unusual about the Force. How it interacted with inanimate objects and interestingly, machines.
I first noticed it when I was making Lilith, the process was — too easy. I had read a stupid amount of books on cars, engines, motorcycle maintenance and mechanical guides, but I had the feeling that I really didn't need to. At least, not to the extent that I had. It was like the Force itself was bending to my intent, which, yeah—was obvious. Intent & Will went hand-in-hand for all of my Force abilities, the magic of Kamar-Taj was very similar in that aspect, though it was more of a surrendering to energies. The Force was more symbiotic.
I thought back to all the scenes I remembered of Star Wars. How a budding Jedi child could use the Force to create their lightsabers. It was this very thought idea that helped me make Lilith, how the seats would automatically sense if you were getting on or off, or whether the passenger foot-rests would appear.
It was something more, a higher level of connection. A Pseudo-Technomancy of some kind. I spent hours sifting through my memories, stretching the limits of my esoteric Star Wars knowledge, searching for the Force Ability — until it the words finally hit me.
Mechu-Deru…
Everything clicked as the words bubbled to my mind. The Force literally quivered around me, whispering its truths to me.
It could do more than merely bend thingsto my will, allowing me to impart complex intent either temporarily, or permanently into an object, and even interface with machines at a molecular level.
Much like Enchanting in way, just without runes and sigils. A softer, more intangible process that worked less on a pre-established 'language', and more-so on a metaphysical level.
If that made any sense.
It was how Sith's could make those unholy dark-side abominations, or monstrous chimera's of flesh and machine.
How Anakin made C-3PO as a goddamn child, made his pod-racer faster than the rest, and how Vader managed in that Frankenstein suit of his.
My mind had been opened.
I found that I could even use Mechu-Deru in combination with my Mystical Enchantments, giving a semi-sentience to my runes while empowering them with the Force.
I stepped into tiny storage room, the Force shaking with anticipation.
The first thing I needed was a power-source, whether magical or otherwise to support my plans. My mind immediately went to Tony's Arc Reactor and my Spatial Dimension. The former was heavily guarded at The Avengers' facility just upstate, while the latter I could use — but had the draw-back of revealing my Spatial Dimension and keeping it in a constant chunk-loaded state.
It was a similar process to how Tao siphons dark-dimension energy from Dormamu, just in this case it would siphoning the Force instead.
But my Spatial Dimension was my trump card, making me hesitant to use it.
…guess I'm going on a little heist.
—
I was honestly gobsmacked at how terrible the Avengers' security was… at least, when pitted against The Mystic Arts.
In terms of tech however? It was an impregnable fortress, pressure-sensors, cloaked drones flying around, hidden turrets, not to mention that each and every square-inch was under the constant surveillance of F.R.I.D.A.Y.
And don't forget about the superhuman individuals who called it home.
…but the Avengers? The Avengers were currently a little busy, weren't they? On a wild goose-chase, getting strung along by some normal dude on his quest for revenge.
And how wonderful was it that the only two Avengers that could potentially catch me red-handed were about to get into a little scuffle. Namely, Wanda, Vision, and Hawkeye.
I installed an array of simple yet well-hidden detection runes around the facility. Using Mechu-deru to impart simple commands to the runes, filtering the detection magic to only trigger when a human tries to seek through.
Three days later, the system triggered.
Clint had arrived, and my window of opportunity had opened.
It was a quiet, cool night with little wind. I was high above the surrounding forest, standing on a Force barrier, dressed in my custom Master Robes and a ski-mask while under a cocktail of cloaking spells.
*BOOOOOM!
A ball of fire erupted in the near-distance temporarily flipping the night into day.
I moved, launching towards the facility in a silent blur, arriving at the annex just in time to see a very red, very bald man phase through the walls and fly towards the explosion.
Vision's mind stone was the only true worry I had, Wanda was still a budding chaos mage. Powerful, yes, but unrefined.
With a simple swipe of my hands I portal'd in. Now, you might be wondering why I didn't just portal into the server room? That's because I didn't know what it looked like, Vision made me hesitant to get too close, even with Astral-projection — don't forget that the mind stone was a goddamn infinity gem, who knew what crazy whacky shit it could do.
I digress, once inside the facility I moved like a ghost, making full use of my Force Sense to navigate through the complex and winding halls, avoiding laser sensors like an acrobat. Within two minutes I found my target. I could sense the heat ebbing off the servers, the hum of power coursing through their wires.
I clamped down on the Force, hyper-focusing to a single spot inside the server room — retrieving as much spatial clarity as I could before slicing my fingers down and opening a portal into the room.
Immediately, the loud hum of server-fans filled the room. Quickly, I found an access terminal and placed my hand over its interface.
I focused, letting the Force flow through my hand and into the terminal. My months of programing/computer classes and Force-Trance reading sessions kicked in, the knowledge weaving with my intent as I bent the machine to bend to will.
The screen began to flicker, command lines opening and closing in the blink of an eye. It was an intricate procedure as I broke through layer after layer of security firewalls faster and sneakier than F.R.I.D.A.Y could anticipate.
Within a minute I was in, full access — grinning at the sheer supernatural abilities of the Force. I summoned an SSD to my hands and connected it to the terminal.
I sifted through numerous files, finding and copying over anything that peaked my interest. Security systems, drones, propulsion & cloaking tech, blueprints for war-machine upgrades and weaponry. I almost cackled aloud when I found the simple A.I models Tony used for his manufacturing robots, stripping down versions of Jarvis & FRIDAY.
My eyes ballooned when I stumbled upon the Extremis Virus. I assumed it had been destroyed, though maybe parts of it floated around in black markets, but as doses — not a fully analyzed formula!
But then I saw an attached folder titled: Pepper Potts.
…Pepper was infected with Extremis at the end of Iron Man 3… and then Tony 'somehow' cured her.
The son of a bitch had done more than cure her however, he had fully reversed engineered the Virus down to its formula.
Killian would be rolling in his grave if he saw this.
I unfortunately didn't find any of Tony's miniaturized Arc Reactors — only blueprints for a generator-sized reactor that powered the Avengers' Facility.
It'll have to do.
Suddenly the building began to shake, the walls rubbling as a shockwave began to spread throughout the facility in staggered waves. I safely ejected my stolen knowledge and sent it to my Storage just as the lights began to flicker.
Looks like Wanda just sent Vision on an involuntary trip to into the Mantle.
It was my queue to leave, as the place would soon be swarming with Avengers' and governmental agents alike.
But I still have one more stop.
I portal'd back into the hallway, seeing a number of flashing red emergency lights flooding the halls.
With a greedy glint in my eyes I Force Dashed through the facility, quickly arriving at an expansive hanger-sized section of the annex. To my right was a gargantuan wall of floor-to-ceiling windows, and to my left…
…A lonely looking Quinjet.
I bared a wolfish grin, swaggering over and tapping my hand against its cold metal frame.
In the blink of an eye, without a sound, the stealth-jet vanished.
And with a simple swipe of my hand, so did I.
—
When I returned back home I let out a satisfied sigh, stretching my arms and patting myself on the back for a job well done.
After a quick shower and a fried-rice dinner cooked entirely through telekinesis I hit the hay, sinking into my bed with a smile.
The next morning I rode Lilith over to the nicest computer store I could find, dropping three & a half stacks on highest end laptop they had in store.
It would only be a temporary thing, an intermediary before I got the big guns up and running.
Back home I connected the SSD to my newly acquired device, looking over the requirements to construct my own Arc Reactor.
This… this is a little beyond me.
The mechanical side of things could be easily remedied via Mechu-Deru, but I clearly had a lot of papers to read and more stealing to do.
Superconductors, magnetic containment systems, Cryogenic coolers and thermal regulators, A.I management modules, EM shielding and a whole host of other components. Palladium, Carbon nano-tubes, Superconducting and heat-resistant alloys.
Goddamn, the whole — 'Tony Stark was able to build this in a cave! With a box full of scraps!'
Hit wayyy harder now that I was actually looking at the thing. I could see how Obadiah could loose his fucking mind over something like this, it just didn't seem possible — superhuman.
It gave me a newfound appreciation for Tony Stark's genius, truly, a man worthy to steal from.
I began drawing up plans, examining parts of the Arc Reactor I could replace and/or enhance through liberal use of my Enchantment skills. Mechu-deru was going to be doing a LOT of heavy lifting, so I needed to compile a list of research papers and theories to supplement my metaphysical technomancy.
I opened a browser tab to begin making a list of companies and warehouses from which I could… politely, requisition the things I needed.
Or at least I was going to, but then realized in my infinitewisdom I forgot to get wifi for the house.
Ugh...
Just as I was about to call the fastest service provider in my area, my SWORD issued phone pinged. I pulled out the transparent device, looking down at a message from Johnson.
[SGT J:] Report to Facility 025 — immediately.
I couldn't help but groan. I was so close, so close to getting my secret base setup. But damn, did I need the money. I just hope this isn't about my heist and instead about a Chaos mage on the loose, or probably the upcoming airport shenanigans.
Whatever it is, I hope it doesn't take too long.
I got things to do!