Sunday, July 15, 2018, 2:30 PM Norfolk, VA

  I woke up well before sunrise, ready to start the day, with the completed information about the Craft Construct feat in my head, so I needed to put it to work right away. I gently got the momma cat to get off of me, with only a little annoyance on her end, and went to meditate, run through the blitz of spells to enhance my alchemical crafting and knowledge preparation for the area, including adding more blood to the Sanguinary Preserver, filling it up quickly and healing as frequently as needed. Rex said that he would watch over me while I perform this task. I placed the Mini-Wong on the black marble table, and politely requested Rex to bring me the salt. He changed to his “battle form” and deftly carried the bags to my work area, two bags at a time.

  After eight bags moved, the salt was set and ready, so it was time to begin. Thus began the arduous process of bringing this entity to life. First, before it was enchanted, I used Prestidigitation to open up one temporary hole each in the body and head, through the clay, and carefully deposited a pint of my blood that had been stored in the enchanted Sanguinary Preserver.

  It took four hours, and a LOT of salt, dumping three hundred pounds of my newly replenished reserves, but thankfully, I expected that I should get more before the week was out. It was just barely eight AM, and the Mini-Wong looked absolutely ready to start his work enchanting, so I started right away with instructing it and working on the Mini-Ironman. Another two temporary holes in the head and chest from Prestidigitation to allow for the blood from the Sanguinary Preserver to be placed in this Dedicated Wright as well. Rex dutifully brought another eight bags of salt, even though I would only need seven this time, meaning we would have a spare bag of salt for the next one, or if there was some odd change in the enchantment that needed extra salt.

  After two more hours, barely after ten AM, Mini-Tony was up and ready to go. Mini-Wong still had some work left in him, and I could do another two hours myself, and Mini-Tony was completely fresh. Rex quickly got up and brought another eight bags, just like the last two times. That left the next one to make, and I chose Mini-Hulk, who was ready to be enchanted as well. After the same two holes were temporarily opened up in the Dedicated Wright, and a pint of blood added, leaving only one pint left in the Sanguinary Preserver.

  Mini-Ironman, Mini-Wong, and myself all worked together on Mini-Hulk, finishing it in just barely eighty minutes, putting us almost at eleven-thirty. Then Mini-Bruce’s eyes glowed with intelligence as it started to move, just like Mini-Ironman and Mini-Wong had. I only had one more Pint of Blood left, and it was almost noon, so I decided to just do one more today. I could not add more work to the task, but at least I could instruct the trio in their work. Choosing the Mini-Thor, I opened up the same two holes that I had done for the other three models, and added the last of the blood from the Sanguinary Preserver.

  Rex only had to bring six bags this time, so he had more time to entertain the kittens. With the three Mini’s, Mini-Thor was done after an hour and twenty minutes, while I provided instruction to all of them for the first hour. The enchanting of this last Dedicated Wright for the day put us at well past noon, almost one PM. Not wanting to waste any of the Mini’s time, I set them to start work on my full sneaking gear, my shinobi shozoku that I had brought with me from my home world. Slowly, there was less and less that remained of that world, that had not been enchanted or enhanced here, or out right replaced.

  Being that it was as late as it was, and how I had already had a stressful day so far, with all of the crafting, and draining, and what not, so I decided to utilize my bedroll and take a nap. Before I could take the nap, I knew I needed to get all of this down. I also realized that I would need to get a bit to eat, so I used the Field Provision Box to get a quick snack. The momma cat was looking very comfy on my cot, but got up as soon as my intent was clear. I figured that I would need to get up soon after and figure out what else to do for the day.

  ********

  Sunday, July 15, 2018, 6:00 PM Norfolk, VA

  I woke up at almost half past three, bright eyed and ready to go. The mother cat wasn’t on me, so I got up and got dressed in my armor and gear, not exactly languidly, but not with any urgency either. I started my meditation and refilled my mystical abilities. I checked with the Mini-Vengers and saw their progress. It was going to be all of their effort today, and even then it would not be done tonight.

  Rex yawned and grunted a bit, and the kittens seemed to be summoned by their momma at just that time, and gamboled over to her, with her on her side, waiting to feed them. Rex nodded and rose from where he was and looked at me. It was just after three forty-five when the speaker attached to the long wire that was plugged into the headphone jack for the SHIELD cellphone, started to sound off an alarm. I looked at Rex, who was suitably panicked as well by the alarm. We rushed out the tent flap to pick up the phone, unplugged the wire for the speaker to answer the phone.

  It was Agent Smith, and he was frantic. There was a drone attacking the Portsmouth Naval Hospital, attempting to steal some vital information. He told me that there were not any other agents in the area that could handle the threat, and that they needed me to help. I asked him to send directions to my cell phone, and when he did I noticed it was across the river. I noted that it was a ten minute ride, and Agent Smith said that it was even worse than that because the Berkley Bridge had an accident on it, stopping Portsmouth bound traffic, and he added that he didn’t think that they even had ten minutes.

  I looked at the map again and saw a patch of green on the map and came up with an idea, and I asked him to clear the roads to Town Point Park from here. Agent Smith seemed a bit confused, but said that he would get the lights to be set to keep the way clear, and that I would be there in four minutes. Throwing on my Thinker’s Domino Mask, the last item of my current loadout available, as my shozoku not available since the wrights were working on enchanting my current one, told Rex to follow me, and we headed out of the storage unit, grabbing my SHIELD electric bike along the way. Getting on the bike, I had Rex hang on, as I cast Phantom Chopper on the bike, wrapping it in an ectoplasmic sheath making it sleeker and more aerodynamic. We took off and quickly got up to full speed, going FAR faster than what was intended for this road.

  When Rex and I got to Town Point Park, there had already been police keeping people away from the direct line to the hospital. The crowd’s (and police’s) heads all turned to watch as the bike tore across the grass at speeds that would not be out of line on the interstate, and then went right towards the water. One of the children yelled something, asking what I had intended to do. That was when the enchantment on the bike took over, and we started riding ON the water. On the surface, just like those lizards.

  It was about a mile of riding on the water dipping and swerving carefully around small crests and waves, due to the gentle breeze blowing. I could hear a helicopter overhead that was likely reporting on the stoppage on the Berkley Bridge. I couldn’t pay it any mind, but I figured that I was causing enough of a spectacle that at least some eyes would end up on me. Oh well, can’t be in the shadows forever, right? After a little over a minute, we left the Elizabeth River right at the back side of the Portsmouth Naval Hospital, just shy of the Records section.

  As I jumped off the bike, Rex jumped off of me, flying alongside me in this tiny form. I landed with a roll and came up in the Stance of Piercing Rays, with my rifle being pulled out from the Endless Bandolier silently and swiftly. Thinking quickly, I immediately cast Mirror Image and Displacement on myself, and Haste on the both of us. Just as the Haste settles on us, the nearby wall of the hospital explodes out in a triple blast of concentrated plasma. It wasn’t one drone, but three.

  I cursed to myself as I took aim at one of them, activating my Searing Break and singling it out for my focus, and dropped it after three shots. The other two both take aim at me in a coordinated manner, and I get hit with a massive wall of plasma, all seeming to ignore my Mirror Images and Displacement effects. After the third massive hit, my darkleaf lamellar armor seemed to dissolve into nothing. Rex tried to bite into one of them, but their armor was too thick. Realizing this, I used my Iron Fang maneuver and pierced through the armor of the second one, followed by two more shots, but it wasn’t down.

  Then another wash of plasma engulfed me. I wasn’t down for the count, but I was certainly more wounded than I had been since the supervillain fight. One of them looked to be lining up a kill shot, but Rex took the chance and bodychecked the Drone, knocking it out of alignment at the last possible minute, saving me. I didn’t waste the chance he gave me, and dropped that second drone, with the three rounds that I pumped into it, causing it to explode. The third and final Drone fired at me with a hit, wounding me more than I had ever been before, knowing that one more hit would knock me out or even end me.

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  While that Drone lined up their last shot, I reflexively fired and deflected their last plasma shot just far enough away from me. Rex tried to engulf the drone in flame, but that didn’t do anything more to the drone than his bites did. I hit it with three rounds and watched it sputter and die. With a word, I sent Rex inside with the mission to quickly scout if anyone needed assistance. I used my active Prestidigitation to clean up the drones and stuff everything into my Handy Haversack and the enchanted Saddlebags on my S.H.I.E.L.D. bike. I got empathic feelings of great remorse from Rex, as he flew back out, and then he verbally told me, in draconic, that none that were wounded were alive. I sighed, tossed him a trout and picked the bike up while he ate the reward. I finished packing everything up and sat down on the bike, waiting for him to finish. After he was done eating, I welcomed him back onto my shoulder, before starting towards the Norfolk, riding back down the bank to the shore, and back across the river, at that same speed I had arrived with.

  I noticed, after a minute, that the helicopter that seemed to be following my movements was tracking me, so I wove in between some buildings and when I was certain I was clear, I hit Rex and myself with Vanish. We continued to secretly get back to the storage unit. Once we were safe, I stashed the bike and got on the phone to Jonathan. Jonathan answered almost immediately, and asked if I was okay. I told him that I was going to have to rest for a few days after that fight, at least until my new armor was fully ready, as my current armor was destroyed. He asked when that would be, just to know how long he needed to be ready to look for someone else, and I told him that it would be at least five days.

  Then he asked me if he could get the drone components from the drone that survived. I told him that I would have it available, and remembered that the illusion that covered the other two drones showed much more explosive results, and I was thankful for it, as it gave me… options. Jonathan told me that he would drop by to pick it up when the pallet of salt was delivered. I remembered then that he had promised me another pallet, so I told him that I would be ready, but healing. Jonathan said back that he could give me a half an hour or so to be “presentable”, while arranging the delivery.

  We said goodbye, and I immediately went to go check out the three drones, once I got them inside the tent. It was interesting, arranging it, but we got all three into the extra-dimensional space, and then checked them out. One of them clearly had a vial of blood in it, that was still safe. I checked the other two, and their samples were almost destroyed. I quickly put the remaining blood in two different spare vials, so that I can check them out afterwards.

  I put one of the other two drones in the saddlebags, and stored the other in a secret place, so that I can possibly keep one to myself. I got everything ready and decided to wait to hit myself with a few Cure Light Wounds spells to try to keep the image of me wounded in Jonathan’s mental view. Being as close as I am to death, it might make for a good visual anyway. I was out of my old armor, now set on a mannequin, with the hole still blown in the center of the chest. I changed out the shirt that I had been wearing, as it seemed that this was too much damage for it to recover from, and sat down with the bottle of whiskey that I had stored away for such an occasion as this.

  The sting of not being able to save those people, not even knowing if I could have gotten there in time to save them, left me pondering questions that I did not have the answers to. None of my spells were “supernatural hindsight”, so I couldn’t get any definitive answers from things in the past, and there are always the questions of “what if I had finished off the drones quicker” or “what if I was stronger” or “what if I had focused on learning spells to take things down faster rather than just ones for keeping myself safe” with my current choices. After a half an hour of ruminating over this, at the levitating table, in a camp chair, drinking chilled whiskey, I decided to check outside the storage unit, dimensional hopping back out, just to see Jonathan a distance off, waiting in his car, and a new pallet of salt right next to the roll up door. Jonathan looked up almost immediately, noticing me, and got out of his car, to head over to talk. I started to receive notifications from my phone, for messages and such that had probably happened while I was at my table, drinking.

  Agent Smith walked over and asked if we could go into my base. I shrugged, and opened up the roll up door, and led him in, before casting a spell to get an Unseen Servant to move the salt, bag by bag, inside the “antechamber” that is the first five feet of the storage unit. I offered him a seat while I sat down in mine across the table from him. The drone that was the most intact, with the blood vial, was the one that was on the levitating table, between us. Jonathan asked me if I was really doing okay as I took another shot of the whiskey.

  I thought about it for a minute, and told him that the real problem is that I don’t know if I could have saved any of them, if I had just finished the fight faster, or gotten there sooner. Maybe four minutes was too long. Maybe if I could have found a way to get there within seconds, I could have saved one or more of them. I punctuated that statement with another swig of the potent potable in front of me. Jonathan took an offered shotglass, and took a swig himself, saying that it is something that we can never know, but that he was certain that I had stopped them from killing even more people.

  We sat for a minute before Jonathan looked around and noticed the Mini-Avengers working on enchanting my shozoku. Jonathan muttered that if he wasn’t seeing it with his own eyes, he would never have believed it. I said that I was half-way done with the crew, and that I would be done with it tomorrow. Jonathan nodded and asked if this was the drone, pointing to the one on the table. I nodded and said that he should be careful, because I don’t know if any signals have or will be sent from the drone when it exits the extradimensional space. Jonathan pulled out a rolled up bag of some odd material, and shuffled the drone into it.

  Jonathan finished his drink, thanked me for it, and stood up, grabbing the newly filled sack. He said that he would be on his way, and that he’d make sure to get some S.H.I.E.L.D. resources down here for the next week. I thanked him and said that I might be able to get all of the supplies for the Warehouse transfer at the end of that week as well. I escorted him out, and while he was walking away, I helped the Unseen Servant finish moving the rest of the sixty-three bags of salt into the unit. Then I had the Unseen Servant move the same amount of bags that I had used today to the black marble table.

  While I was outside, after I had finished up getting the salt moved, I took a look at the phone to check who might have texted or messaged me. First, I saw a text from Clint, telling me that he, “Heard I made a splash”, and checked that I was doing good. I quickly responded to him that I was going to be okay, even if my armor wasn’t. I added that it would just take a bit of time to heal. I figured that he can find out about the new armor when I step out in it.

  Next was a text by someone whom I had seen, but never talked to, as the S.H.I.E.L.D. phone identified the texter as “Natasha Romanoff”. She simply sent that, “The team saw the footage. Don’t worry, the information has been handled. Good Work.”. I think that is as good of a response as I can get from her, if anything that I have read or been told about her is in any way accurate. While I was certain that she did NOT have any taps or surveillance in my current tent, who knows? Hopefully, the future interactions with her can stay this positive.

  After that was a message from Steve, that was very much what I needed to hear, or read in this case. He wrote that he, “Heard about what happened. Hope you’re alright. That was some fast thinking, and you saved a lot of people from something bad. Get rest and recover.” I know it was a reiteration of what Jonathan had told me, but coming from Captain America, it just means a bit more. I don’t know why, but maybe even with me just getting here less than two months ago, I still had an inherent respect for him. Not that this is a bad thing, as I think that more than half of the reason why I am as accepted as I am, is because of his endorsement. I sent him back a text to thank him for the concern, and let him know that I was going to be recovering for a week or so, unless there was a call that they needed me for, and that S.H.I.E.L.D. had said that they will be sending some reinforcements to cover the city while I am down.

  Then came the voicemail, from Pepper Pott’s number. Her message was a bit of true concern, but also relaying a bit of information from Tony, as should be expected. She told me that she (and Tony, at the Mexico Gamma Lab), had seen the news reports and just wanted to know that I am okay. She offered to send someone to help if needed, and that Tony was fascinated by the magical effects on the bike and on the structure of the drones, but that he was mostly worried about my safety. I know that was a bit of her providing information that Tony did not voice himself, but that she had gleaned from her long-time interactions with him.

  Instead of calling, I sent her a text message that said that I would be fine after a week of recovery, and that I had salvaged one of the drones for Tony to be transferred to him whenever it is most convenient for them. It will be in my safe storage unit to prevent any signals from being sent, but I don’t have any information if anything was sent before I took it down. I added that I appreciated the offer of help, but that S.H.I.E.L.D. had claimed they would be sending a team to help carry the load. I finished off the text by saying that I would be “off-grid” for a week or so, but that she knows how to contact me in an emergency. I thanked her for her concern and wished her success in the propagation of clean energy that Stark Industries was now working on.

  Finally, the last voicemail was from an unknown number, but it turned out to be from Wong. He was fairly gruff when he spoke, telling me that the magical nature of the fight had come to his attention, and that while my actions were commendable, that they might draw unwanted attention. He cautioned me to be mindful of who might be watching, and offered the healing of Kamar-Taj, if it is needed. I called him back, but got his voicemail message. So I left him a response, thanking him for the warning, and declaring that I didn’t go into it expecting to be as open with the magic, but it was what was required to finish the fight and keep others from getting ahold of the technology that was dangerous. I finished by thanking him for the offer of assistance, and that I would keep it in mind, but that I should only be down for a week or so.

  With the flurry of messages, text and otherwise, dealt with, I sighed, went back into the storage unit, closed the door, and went to review what I needed to do. My former armor was destroyed, but it had been useful for so long. A shame, really, but this world used different rules and different levels of escalation. Maybe I can recover the materials to add to new gear and new equipment. I decided to maybe have the Mini-Avengers take some time later to scavenge what they can from it, and just figured that I could use some time to rest.

  I unloaded all of the spells I could into the Alchemy pot, to speed up the crafting of the temperant baths, then decided that I would just go and rest for the rest of the day. I guess the mother cat sensed my mood, because she jumped up on my lap and insisted on getting petted. I reclined back in the camp chair and decided to use my transcription spell to just fill out my journal entry for today. I’ll get back on it tomorrow, but for tonight, I think having a mother cat on my lap, Rex curled up at my feet, warming a bunch of kittens, and the warmth from the liquor, I can spare some time to be a bit reflective. I figured that I would empty out any other spells that I could cast, to get myself healed as much as possible before sleeping, and put as much blood as I can in the Sanguinary Preserver, in preparation for tomorrow.