Friday August 3rd, 2018: 6:45 PM

  Before the day even began, I had to deal with my dr????????????????????????????????e????????????????????????????a??????????????????????m. As soon as my head hit the pillow, the Black Butterfly was there waiting to discuss things with me. I didn’t think it would be wise, or even worth my time, to attempt to lie or shade the truth. I received a mental message asking if I knew how much I might have changed things with the spell I cast. I told her I’d had a suspicion about the inhabitant of the ice block, and it had proven correct.

  I explained that Donald Gill was infused with power from the para-elemental plane of Ice, which meant he had been affected by something not of this world. He wasn’t just a powerful metahuman; he was a planar-enhanced, powerful metahuman. This means there are already forces from other dimensions and planes at play. The Lady was silent for what felt like forever—at least, for the amount of time one spends dealing with the minor mental avatar of a celestial being like her. She finally spoke, saying she could see the remnants of that energy, but not all of it. There are fields and energies stopping her from seeing more, and she warned me to be cautious.

  I cautiously told her about what I was working on, and how I had started training my first apprentice/student. The Lady said that she had witnessed this, and that I was teaching him well to help others without knowing them. I told her that it was just the best way to try to expand the influence of Good. The Lady agreed with this and said that my plan to provide training for these students and others, will help with getting the world ready for another form of enemy. I thanked her for her praise, and said that I would be planning on making the combat rooms, and wanted clearance on that.

  The Lady said that it would be a simple thing to just make them be ephemeral representations of the things that are summoned, rather than actually summoning the entities. I thanked her for the idea and said that I would pursue this method as it will help us out dramatically. Ending the dream, The Lady asked me if I was interested in learning more abilities and feats. I told her that I think that I had tapped out my damage capabilities right now, and that I would have to learn feats that increased my combat effectiveness. The Lady said that tonight, when I sleep, I will be presented with a few different options, and I can pursue what will help me the most. I thanked her and the dr????????????????????????????????e????????????????????????????a??????????????????????m????????? ended, with me waking up to the familiar oppressive weight of Rex, Bright-Eyes, and the kittens.

  I stretched while in bed and got up, a little later than normal but still before dawn. I got up and collected my thoughts for a few moments before I organized my day. I politely requested that Rex head down and take a look at both of our erstwhile combatants now technical captives. I didn’t worry too much about the Dragon Raider, because if Rex stayed small, he can be missed easily. I talked to Bright-Eyes in English, not using the Truespeak spell, and told her that someone had chosen her to be a Familiar, and that it would be up to her to decide. Bright-Eyes looked at me and there seemed to be a bit more intelligence behind her eyes, but she hopped off to deal with her kittens.

  Then I went to the Mini-Avengers and got them to finish up the last brick of the Overwhelming Banality of it All. After their work yesterday, there wasn’t a lot left on it, so I started two of them, Natasha and Clint, on it. That left the other six to work on the next project, which I decided to go with an item on my list, front door of the tower. It wasn’t going to take all of their work day to finish it, but it was important to stop easy access from those who should not be able to access. After an hour of training, they started to work away on it.

  I presumed that this first door would be done before business opened up for S.H.I.E.L.D., so I could surprise them with it. I went up to check on Cal, and he was just getting up and getting food and starting to get ready for meditating. I joined him and told him that we might have an interesting day today, and that while he can deal with the Dragon Raider without issue, that if he sees Donald Gill up and around, he should get away and get my attention as quickly as possible. Cal agreed and said that since he was done with the work for the tower, that he was going to start studying up more on all of the information that he could get from S.H.I.E.L.D. for his armor and gear, after he recovered all of his energy. I agreed and we meditated while recovering what had been expended the previous day.

  We got our meditations done, and I left Cal to his studies and then went down to check on the captives myself, and then meet up with the Agents when they arrived. As I got down there, I looked in at the Dragon Raider first, and saw that he was just laying on the bed. I opened up the “door” with the Chisel and brought him in food and drink for his breakfast. He got up and asked if I had any news. I told him that he had a co-prisoner across the courtyard, but that once we can ascertain where we are taking him, he will be able to be removed from here.

  The Dragon Raider sighed and said that it was all Jiāo'ào Zhànshì ’s fault. I listened to him as he told me that Zhànshì had come across the Bow of Apollo, and was searching for the Arrow. They found it in a small village, and that he had abused the power once finding it. The Raider then explained that he had fled from Zhànshì before the Masters of the Mystic Arts had arrived. The Raider explained that he had caught back up with the group after it had broken up, and that they were working now on a much lower level, stealing smaller things whenever they got a hint about something magical.

  I nodded and said that he might still be useful for S.H.I.E.L.D. and that they will be by to finish up the transfer today. He nodded, looking resigned, and said that he would do so. I nodded and used the Chisel to shut the door behind me as I left. I walked over to Donald’s cell, and saw that he was still on his bed. I opened up the cell cautiously, brought in a set of food for him, and left it on the table. It would become gruel if he doesn’t eat it in an hour, but that just means that it can be disposed of easier.

  I closed the wall up behind me and said to myself that I would check in later today on him. I walked up to the fourth floor, and used Vanish and my armor to exit the tower and float down to ground level. I walked in through the door to the E-Bike garage, and looked to see which vehicles were there. It turned out that there were three of the bikes there, along with Cal’s and my own. Either the three Agents were already here, or they all left in Smith’s SUV last night.

  I walked into the “storage” room and then out into the hallway. I listened carefully, but the granite was doing its job of being an acoustic dampener. I checked Agent Smith’s door first, and it was unlocked but no one was inside. I checked the other offices and then went to the break room. The three Agents were there, sitting, talking in hushed tones as Agent Peterson spoke up to say, “Hey Jonathan…” before noticing it was me. I smiled and apologized that I wasn’t Agent Smith, but that since he wasn’t here yet, it might be a good time for them to ask any questions that they want, before my answers get curtailed.

  The three of them looked at me oddly, and no one spoke, initially anyway, at least until I cleared my throat and said that they could ask me, or wait for it to get filtered down on a “need to know” basis, and who knows how long that will take. I added that I wanted them to be on the right page for thinking about things about me, and not have any confusing misdirections. I waited a bit more, before Agent Peterson was the first to break the silence and ask me about the images, all of them. I smiled and said that the first instance is a spell called Mirror Image, a spell designed to provide distractions and take hits intended for the caster. The later one, the field of “me’s”, is an advanced spell called Army Across Time. It is actually temporary temporal possibilities that possess the ability to misdirect and aid me in combat, especially by drawing focus away from me towards them.

  Agent Peterson was writing all of this down with careful notes, and asked me if she could ask another question. I looked to see if the other two had any questions first, and when they didn’t, she asked me how I knew that Donald Gill would be knocked out that easily. I laughed when she asked that, and repeated the word “easily”. I told her that I was down to just slugging back and forth at the end, the only tricks I had left were designed to help me get away if the worst happened. All I would have been able to do is just shoot at him back and forth, and that would not have gone well, if he had not already caused some self damage by doing more with his ice blasts.

  I slowed my laugh and said that I had done so much to prepare for this, that unless you can land a telling blow with a spell, or stop the other person entirely with it, it is almost always more efficient to be doing damage to the opponent, rather than try something that had at best a fifty percent chance of success. I added that I always preferred to improve myself and my teammates rather than try to impair my enemies, as sometimes the impairments don’t stick, but it would be stupid for a teammate or yourself to try to resist a beneficial spell. Agent Vance spoke up and asked if there had been anyone from this world who I had included in one of these beneficial spells. I told her that Clint Barton had experienced the Haste spell early on, and more magic as well. Agent Vance nodded and asked what my hardest fight was so far. I thought about it, and admitted that the one that had got me closest to death were the three drones that I dealt with.

  Agent Vance nodded and said that the video did show that it seemed to be a strenuous battle. And then she mentioned that it seemed that I was okay enough to clean up after. I shrugged and said that I was one hit away from losing consciousness, and back where I am from, unless you have some real trustworthy allies, that’s a death sentence. Agent Vance nodded to that as well. I looked to Agent Cross, and he seemed to be the most reserved about this, but finally asked his first questions, asking me why gemstones and salt. I smiled and said that where I am from, this mutable economy is non-existent. Everything has a fairly standard set price. It helps for trade, and is represented even in spells. Everything falls back to a gold piece standard.

  Agent Cross laughed heavily at that, and I stopped to let him excise his mirth. When he calmed down, I told him that Salt, for lack of a better option at the beginning, has a set value per pound, and is also used in casting magical spells. Now creating magical items isn’t exactly a science, as two different creators can make the same rough item, two vastly different ways, but the one thing that is consistent, is the need to sacrifice components to anchor the magic into the item or location. Even though salt, and by extension, synthetic gemstones, are cheap here, they carry the same value there, and thus for the magic system. So, I can make what would be considered massively valuable things very cheaply, but it doesn’t decrease the time it takes to make them at all. Agent Cross nods and says that this makes a very confused version of sense. I smiled and said that I can’t even take credit for the idea, that some Knight by the name of Poley was the one who had written it down somewhere. Agent Cross sounded it out and asked, quietly, “Sir Poley?” I acknowledged that yes, that was the attribution that was listed with the notes I had found with my spell.

  Just then, Agent Smith came in, and said that it was convenient that I was here, because we were having a surprise audit today in preparation for the actual launch of, sighing, “Patrick Bateman Corporation Healthcare”. He looked at me and said that they were especially going to interview me, especially after last night. I shrugged, and said that it was probably a good idea. Agent Smith jumped off of that, saying that they were all going to be interviewed separately, and that the Agent should be here any minute. Everyone else went to their individual offices, and the reception area, except for Agent Smith.

  I waited for the others to leave and asked him if there was any briefing that either Cal or I needed before the interview. Agent Smith smiled and said that it would be best if I took him to see Donald Gill. I walked with him out of the Break room back through the hallway to the supply closet and into the long corridor. As we got to the area of the wall where the door to the tower used to be, there was now only a continuation of the blank wall. I smiled, and told him to place his hand against the wall, think the word “Amicus”, and then walk forward.

  He put his hand on the wall, and seemed to focus for a moment, and the stone melded around him and he passed through to the other side. I followed him and he was just standing on the other side of the wall, looking at his hands and asked if he had really just mentally activated a magical item. I told him that he did, and that this was going to be the first test for prospective students. Agent Smith laughed a little and asked if I was going to place a riddle in glowing runes above it to make the people think of the command word? I told him that this seemed to be a very good idea and thanked him for the suggestion.

  Agent Smith shook his head and asked me to lead him through the tower to the cells. I took the lead and walked down the hallway past the Visitor Greeting center and the Storage and Disbursement rooms, and through a door into another hallway, and then to the secret stairwell that heads both up and down. I went down the stairs to the lower level, the basement, and led him over to the cell with Donald Gill. He was still asleep from what we could see, and the now gruel had not been touched. Agent Smith asked if I knew for certain how long he would be unconscious. I told him that I did not, that I can’t use the goggles through two solid feet of stone, and they don’t work through other distance divination spells.

  Agent Smith chuckled and said that it sounds like a design flaw. I shrugged and said that there would be other ways to know, eventually, but this kind of jumped ahead of any planning that was going on with the project. I would eventually rig all of the cells with Status monitors and eventually make some a bit more comfortable for long term inhabitants. Agent Smith seemed to be mulling that over, before asking if I thought that I would need a bigger prison? I told him that if I did, I would look into making something that was extremely secure.

  Agent Smith lifted an eyebrow and asked how secure, and I told him an isolated plane that only people of certain alignment, with a specific material, a specific skill ability, and a certain class can access. Agent Smith asked if that meant that only I could remove the people placed there. I shrugged and said that other planes-walkers might be able to, but that it would either require extreme luck or a LOT of dedication, because I can also, with enough gems, make it so that the only magic that can work there is that from those who have characteristics similar to what I place the access requirements to. Agent Smith asked how large of a place that can be. I shrugged and said that it would really depend on how much capital that S.H.I.E.L.D. or in this case S.P.E.A.R., decides to put into making it.

  Agent Smith said that he could bring it up to Director Mackenzie once I get some specifics down on paper. I told him that I would add it to the list of eventual commitments, at least until it gets too important to be held off. Agent Smith nodded to that and said that we should head back, that the auditor is probably already here, and will probably be starting with Agent Peterson, using the Director of Operations office for the interviews. We walked over to the Dragon Raider thief and I asked Smith if S.H.I.E.L.D. would be transferring him to some place soon. Agent Smith said that he asked for a transfer last night, and that it should be approved for Monday, so basically, I’m a drunk tank.

  As we walked back up, Agent Smith went back to the area where the “door” was, and placed his hand against it, and felt it was sturdy stone. He asked me if this meant that you needed to do the same thing to exit as to enter. I told him for now, you did. I would do something to make it quicker for multiple people later, it just needs to be one way only, so that a back trace can’t teleport to the origin and bypass the door security. Agent Smith nods, places his hand on the “door” and then starts to meld through it again.

  I followed and we went through the long hallway to the “Storage Room” and then into the office’s hallways. We both went to the break room and sat down. I grabbed a bottled water from the cool box for myself and then thought about it and grabbed him one as well. I changed my to be a non-caffeinated Dr. Pepper and the same for Agent Smith. Agent Smith smirked and asked if I could do “Cheerwine”, to which I said that it had been a long time, but that was one of the flavors that David Drake had given to the machines back in the Bolting Barghests.

  I changed it and Agent Smith took a drink, and then said it was a little different, but not much. Likely due to someone having tasted it a long time ago, and not remembering it exactly right, he added. I shrugged and said that years can do that to memory. While we sat, Agent Smith asked me if the theatrics were really necessary last night. I told him that I only had a limited duration on my invisibility, and having the different versions of me point at the next one and disappearing kept the helicopters and reporters focused on them for MUCH longer than it took for me to get outside of their regular view.

  Agent Smith laughed, and said that it made a kind of strange sense that I would do that. After a few minutes of small talk about what plans that I had and what items I would be making, Agent Peterson came into the break room, with a brown haired woman that was slightly shorter than Agent Smith and myself, but taller than the average woman. The new woman says that she is Natalie Rushman, and that she is a Procurement and Compliance Analyst for S.H.I.E.L.D.. Agent Smith gets up and shakes her hand, introducing himself. Agent Rushman says that she will have his interview second to last. She looked at me and said that I must be Curtis Zine.

  I stand and walk over and shake her hand, saying that I was who she claimed. Something about her didn’t seem exactly right, and I muttered that with her complexion, I would swear that she would be a redhead. She shrugged after a minute, saying that maybe it skipped a generation. She then pivots and says that I will be the last interview, that one Cal Thimes will be the second to last. I told her that I would get him down here and ready. Agent Rushman nodded and said that she would be interviewing Agent Cross next.

  Agent Rushman left the room and Agents Peterson and Smith both looked at me oddly. I shrugged and said that it just seemed odd is all. Agent Peterson said that she was going back to the reception area to keep getting things ready. Before she left, she noted that it was odd that it was only a fifteen minute interview, and that it was only about the processes that we were developing for the P.B.C. Healthcare front. I looked over at Agent Smith and he shrugged, saying that it would be good if I got Cal sooner rather than later.

  I agreed and walked out to head to the top of the tower. As I got to the tower top, Cal was there in his room, studying the S.H.I.E.L.D. materials, when I cleared my throat and told him that it would be better to move his studies down to the S.H.I.E.L.D. break room. He asked me why, and I told him that there was an Agent from S.H.I.E.L.D. that was doing interviews, and she had requested both of us. Cal nodded and packed up his tablet, and we walked down together. When we got to the door, he looked and saw it was just painted on the wall now. I smiled, and told him to think of the word “Amicus” while placing his hand on the wall.

  He did so tenuously, and then he melded through the wall and arrived on the other side. I followed, and he asked if that was going to be the way out from now on. I told him that it would be until I got something better. As we continued walking, I told him that the beauty about that, is that you can’t disable it, and if you dispel or disjunct it, it just stops working and becomes a wall. There is no door or lock to finesse or pick.

  We made our way to the storage room and then to the hallway and break room. It was empty, and I supposed that Agent Cross was doing the interview in his own office. As time went by and Cal was studying, I decided to perform an Ears of the City spell, to see if there were any happenings going on. There was a rumor of the Grape Street Crips going to tag some building or what have you, in the attempt to get some face back from them being busted so thoroughly, and rumors of another powered individual on the streets, but nothing to the extent of Donald Gill. I figured I could have Cal deal with the Crips, and I would deal with the powered individual.

  While we waited, Agent Cross dropped by to get some coffee, and smiled when he saw the two of us. He noted that his interview was even quicker than Agent Peterson’s, as his numbers were already registered in S.H.I.E.L.D.’s database, and the questions were really just about the aspects not able to be quantified, like how many of each item I forecast to be able to be produced in a given month, and what those will take, resource wise. I shrugged and said that I hoped that my discussion with him helped prepare him for it. He smiled and said that it did, and that we might expect to need to make more items soon, as this program increases in Norfolk, and expands beyond it. I nodded and said that once I get more people on the roster, and trained up and we can make more. Agent Cross nodded, grabbed a doughnut of some kind, and went back to his office.

  Agent Vance would be the next interview, followed by Agent Smith. I walked out of the break room to Agent Peterson, in the reception area, and asked her if she had a minute to walk and talk. She said that she did, closed her laptop, and we walked through the hallway to the supply closet. I told her that she was going to need to know how to enter here on her own, because I expected her to have to do things with the school, and I was teaching her separately. I told her to place her hand on the wall, and think of the command word. She did so, and melded through the wall. I followed and led her through the meeting room, the disbursement room, and then down to the basement.

  I showed her the cells, and especially Donald Gill. I told her that he was going to be stuck here for a while, so it would be good to know. I told her that Donald seemed to be a good man, he wasn’t pure rage, he just seemed to be very confused in the fight. I added that we might need to work up a good psychological profile and work and he might go back to being a good S.H.I.E.L.D., or in this case S.P.E.A.R.. Agent Peterson nodded and said that she would work this up and look for the best person to be the handler for him. I chastised her slightly and said that handler should not be the term that we use for it, maybe facilitator or associate.

  Agent Peterson said that this might be a better name for the position, especially for more sensitive individuals. We walked back to the reception area, talking about different aspects of the roles and how I might appreciate it changing slightly in the “S.P.E.A.R.” era, not to force my thoughts on the matter though. Surprisingly, there wasn’t all that much push back from her on many of my thoughts. Then again, I wasn’t really pushing for large changes. She sat back at her desk and I wished her well. I walked back to the break room where Agent Vance was talking with Cal, going over aspects of his, agreeable few, interactions with the criminal element since becoming Cinnebar.

  I told them that I didn’t mean to interrupt, but that this might be a good time to bring this up. I told them that I had gotten rumors that the Grape Street Crips were going to try to do something, some time tonight, between the end of the work day and midnight. I have heard that they are planning a small heist, and that it will be at a cell-phone store, and gave them the location and how small the “crew” was supposed to be. Agent Vance gave me a bit of a side eye and asked me how I had gotten this information. I told her that I had a certain knack for getting access to local rumors, and that they had been talking about this over the past night, apparently.

  Agent Vance nodded and asked why I included her. I told her that I had a sneaky feeling that I would be busy with something else at the time, and that it would be good to have reliable backup for Cal when dealing with an encounter like that. Agent Vance gave me a bit of a look, and changed the subject by saying that Agent Rushman was fairly quick with her interview, just going over the new building and how the security is set up for this building, and the aspects of just the P.B.C. Healthcare line. I thanked her for being as thorough as she is, and asked her if she knew how long Agent Smith might take. She shrugged and said that it might be a half an hour or more. I thanked her and said that I would probably take a walk around the block and just see what the weather was like.

  Agent Vance sighed and went back to talking with Cal. I got my gear ready and changed it to look like a regular set of clothing, and walked out the front of the reception area. I waved goodbye to Agent Peterson, and walked out the front of the building. Luckily, there was no police officer, coincidentally right in front of the door this time, so it was a smooth transition to the sidewalk. I walked around the block until I arrived in front of a building with the label “O.J. Warehouse”. There was a cornucopia of smells.

  I walked in and found that this seemed to be a place that sold scents of different sorts, and the kindly cashier spotted me immediately and went to walk me through ALL of their options. It had an extensive amount of different scents and smells. After almost an hour of going through options, I picked an assortment of soaps, oils, and fragrances for both Amber and any future students. I left with a large bag of items, and a bit lighter in my account balance. I carried the items in obvious bags, and walked around until I got to a cross walk and then headed back towards Bob’s Gunshop, and then on to the P.B.C. Healthcare front office, before walking back into the reception area, and asking Agent Peterson if I could have her thoughts on the different samples that I just got.

  I had just put the bags down on her desk, before I even had the chance to open them up or let her know exactly what the items were, Agent Rushman came in and said that she’s ready for my interview, and that she’d prefer to have it in the Chrysalis if at all possible. I shrugged, and said that we can do that, and politely asked Agent Peterson if she could get the other three Agent’s opinions for the soaps and fragrances, and let me know what everyone likes for the office and what they think that the future students might like. Agent Peterson agreed and I walked out of the reception area with Agent Rushman in tow. I walked down the hallway, and stopped at Agent Smith’s office to let him know that I would be having my interview now, and that it was going to be in the Chrysalis. Agent Smith nodded and gave me a look that indicated that this was an approved plan.

  I then went through the hallway to the storage room and activated the secret door. We both walked to the section of wall, and told her that either she could attempt this first, or I could and then she could attempt after. Agent Rushman replied back in a clearly professional tone that, as an example of safety, she would prefer that I go through first, even though she has been told by Agent Smith that he has been through this before. I shrugged and told her to think of the command word as she is placing her hand on the wall, and that she should be able to follow fairly easily. I performed the activation and melded my way through the wall, and not six seconds later, Agent Rushman did the same.

  I smiled and asked her if she wanted a tour of the floors as we went up to my office, or if she is fine with just heading up there. Agent Rushman said that she was fine with JUST heading up there first. So, we went up six flights of stairs to make it to the seventh floor, and then left the stairwell to go to the office. As I walked past the door to the outside, my phone buzzed, having gotten a signal, and then started ringing. I looked at Agent Rushman, who seemed to be having the same thing happening.

  It was Agent Smith, and he didn’t even wait before he yelled out that we had a GIANT PROBLEM in the Wyndham Garden Hotel Parking Lot. I apologized to Agent Rushman and said that I needed to deal with something, and headed out the granite pass-way to the balcony. Agent Rushman followed after me, saying that she was receiving something about this too. As I went around to the side of the balcony that would show the Wyndham Garden Hotel’s Parking lot, and saw a shorter version of what I knew to be a Fime or Frost Jotun, and yelled out what a runt of a frost giant is doing here. Agent Rushman looked at me oddly and asked what I meant by it being a “runt”.

  I looked at her, as the Frost Giant had not made any majorly hostile moves just yet, he was just yelling something in the tongue of giants about demanding the casket of ancient winters, and said that this one looked to be barely ten feet tall, whereas the ones where I was from were close to fifteen feet or taller. I told her that this one was yelling about how he wanted some casket of ancient winters, and wasn’t going to stop until we gave it to him. She said that we did not have any casket of ancient winters here, and just then the giant roared and started emitting a cloud of freezing mist, coating the ground and making it cloudy. I sent Rex an emotion about a desperate need to fly to save someone while I started getting ready. I cast Mirror Image on myself as Agent Rushman asked what I was doing.

  I told her that I was going to deal with this thing, and if it was as evil as they were back where I was from, then I wouldn’t waste time trying to talk it down. I got a mental response back of a feeling of Rex rushing to get to us. Agent Rushman asked how I was going to get down there. I smiled and said that I would just float down. I then cast Good Hope, knowing that Rex would benefit from it as soon as he got in the radius. Amusingly, it seemed to have an effect on Agent Rushman as well.

  Just then Rex barreled through the port-way to the balcony, in his medium size combat form. Agent Rushman dropped back a bit, before Rex rushed over to me. I cast Mirror Image on him, and spared a glance between him and Agent Rushman. She asked me what I was thinking, and I asked her if she wanted to feel what Clint experienced. She asked me why I thought that she would know what Hawkeye experienced, and I told her that the only other person who wasn’t immediately panicking when they saw Rex in his combat form first, was an Avenger.

  Agent Rushman cleared her throat and her posture changed slightly, as the mask over her face changed from the perfect reproduction of someone else, and her natural face and hair color returned. She looked at me and said that Clint said that I was perceptive, but not that I was a mind reader. I told her that I had not read her mind, but that I had just noticed that she didn’t go paralyzed from seeing a predator like Rex. She asked what I was going to do for her, and told her that she was going to get the same benefits that Rex and I were, as long as we could manage it without any more danger happening to others down there. I cast Mirror Image on her, as I recommended that she not resist what I am doing.

  There were now eight image copies of each of us, and I started my next bevy of spells. I cast Displacement on both myself and Rex, and then on Agent Rushman as well. Just then, a large icicle flew out of the frosty mist and pierced a cop car’s windshield. No one was injured, but it showed that the time for waiting was past. I ran towards the wall, and told Rex, in Draconic, to carry her to the ground.

  I quickly told her to follow me, which she did, without a hint of hesitation. As we reached the edge of the balcony’s crenulations, I jumped as far as I could before activating the windwalk ability to go farther, faster. Luckily, Rex had managed to take off and catch up and was gripping Agent Rushman’s shoulders as he glided down to ground level with me. We were almost at ground level, just inside the parking lot and seeing the ice creep on the ground, when I cast Haste on the three of us.

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  As we landed, Rex’s powerful, heat reinforced wing blasts blew away a bit of the fog, only briefly, showing us that the Jotun was on the move towards the cop car its icicle had impaled. I whistled and told it, in its own language, to stop the hostilities and surrender before we needed to reply with force. There was an icicle that launched towards me that managed to take down an image, with a growl of rage. I yelled in the common tongue of this realm, that that settles it, and I pulled myself in closer, not within ten feet, but enough to get a good view of the Giant, I dropped into my Stance of Piercing Rays, and started blasting away with my pistol, invoking my Searing Burst boost.

  The giant reacted with a thin wall of ice, which got burned away by my first shot, and the next two hit him. Rex took the opportunity to launch a gout of flame at the frost giant’s back, and Natasha fired off two widow’s bites against him. The Giant ROARED in pain and jumped clear across the distance to within ten feet of me, attacking with five strikes from a pair of extended Icicle daggers. I lost four more of my Mirror Images, as they burst into a spray of sparkling snow. There was another effect, however, as the Frost Giant’s utter cold aura around him was awash over me now.

  Thankfully, I had my void-formed spaulders, which helped to resist the searing cold of the elemental force attacking me. I still couldn’t fire off a salvo with him this close though, so I did what might have been the stupidest thing I could do. I whistled to Rex to engage as I stepped INTO the giant’s field of attack, dropping into my Body of Night Stance, and swung on the Giant with my unencumbered cestus, twice. Surprising even myself, I actually struck the thing twice, once with an Iron Fang Strike. I actually managed to draw the blue blood of the giant twice, but was unfortunately only rewarded with a vicious, evil grin.

  Just as his predatory grin widens further, and he attempts to grapple me, he seizes up as Agent Rushman hits him with a series of four energized strikes to the backs of his knees and his lower back, electricity arcing through him. In fury, he slams the two Ice daggers down into the pavement on either side of him, letting loose a burst that wipes out ALL of everyone’s images, and hits us all with a very frigid cold. Or at least, that is what he would have intended to do. Rex manages to avoid all of the frost, somehow, and come out of it with just a glistening to his wing tips. Natasha must have been cut from the same cloth, to have evaded everything like that.

  Me, on the other hand, was front and center for it, but I managed to avoid enough of it that my void formed spaulders reduced the cold damage to less than a mild case of frost bite. What it did do, is give me the opening to use my still active Windwalk ability from my armor to back up the distance needed to line up my shot again. I was within ten feet, so still within the arc of his strikes, but I had a slick idea. I was back in my Stance of Piercing Rays, and I fired off two rounds quicker than the rest. My first round was actually to strike his hardened ice covered wrist as he went to attack me due to firing this pistol within his reach, using my Intercepting Shade maneuver.

  I then used my second round to actually attack him, with everything I could put into it, tacking on my Sight Piercing Fang AND Horizon Wind Lancet. While I was doing that, Natasha struck him with a vicious strike from behind, while Rex slammed into him from a full dive. This combination knocked out the Frost Giant, and caused him to fall forward onto me. I used the momentum to lift him and body slam him into the pavement. I let out a breath of exhaustion as Natalie looked like nothing really strenuous had happened.

  I asked her if S.H.I.E.L.D. had the mechanisms to hold something like this, as my cells were too small to hold something this large. Natalie sighed and said that she didn’t but that she knew someone who might have something. I told her that the wounds that Rex or I inflicted would magically heal in just under twenty four hours, but that they would continue to look real for just under an hour. Agent Rushman asked me if that meant that in twenty-four hours, he would be just as healthy as he was already. I told her that any damage that she had done would still likely remain, until healed naturally.

  Agent Rushman nodded and asked if we weren’t so lucky as to have a cell that we could actually hold this person in. I told her that I had no current place that could hold someone like this, but if she felt that we couldn’t get them elsewhere, with someone who COULD hold them, I could possibly make a very THICK cell, but it would just be a time slowing process. It would be better for them to be in a place where they cannot eventually bash their way out. Agent Rushman sighed, and said that we should probably get someone who deals with this kind of thing on a fairly regular basis. I told her that I could try Master Wong, if she didn’t know anyone better.

  Agent Rushman told me that her usual contact was on a sabbatical right now, so Wong would be the best contact. I texted out a message to Master Wong, apologizing, and telling him that we had an incursion from wherever frost giants were from here, and we had gotten the drop on it. It is unconscious but there are more details to relay in person, when he is available, of course. It wasn’t thirty seconds before another one of Wong’s Marvelous Sparkling circles opened up right next to us, just as the Haste wore off. The Good Hope was still standing strong, and would be for another fifteen minutes. As Wong arrived, he opened up another circle, this time into something called the Mirror Dimension, where he asked me to carry the giant into it. I did so, and after I had lifted it up, with a decent amount of exertion, I put it down and noticed that where I had only noticed those four strikes from Agent Rushman, there were over fifteen precision strikes to different nerve clusters and pressure points that she had actually accomplished in that short combat. As I saw this, I heard Wong ask Agent Rushman, “How are you handling things, Natasha.”

  I walked out of the Mirror Dimension, after pocketing some of the giant’s belongings, and Wong closed the circle, asking if it would be better if we went to the tent. I agreed, and he opened up another circle, this time into the Campaigner Tent in the Chrysalis. I brought down the Field Provision Box and set us up around the table in the main center of the common area of the extra-dimensional tent. I asked Wong if he would like his usual, and he smiled before saying that he would like a Reuben and a stout beer. I reached into the box, and pulled out exactly what Wong was thinking.

  I looked over at… Natasha… and asked her what she would want to eat and drink, since it was lunch time anyway. Natasha said that she’d like a Grey Goose and some Pelmeni, beef and lamb. Wong cleared his throat and said that the vodka wouldn’t be alcoholic. I told him that I didn’t mind using the extra energy on this, and pulled forth her food and drink, before grabbing Wong’s drink, her’s, and the whiskey I pulled out, before casting Tears to Wine on them, and then changing back the taste, color, and texture to what they were. Wong looked at me a little oddly, and I told him that we would be easily better off using the benefits that come with this spell.

  Taking a cautious drink from her glass, I told her that this drink is currently alcoholic. Not nearly as strong as vodka usually is, but it has a side benefit of making EVERY attempt to bend your intellect or wisdom to the task, vastly more superior, for the next two and a half hours. I added that I did this for two reasons, to provide a bit of alcohol, because I feel like we all need it right now, and because I wanted there to be minimal confusion in our discussion. I added that, just so that she knows, normally, the food that comes out of this box, will be whatever you envision whenever you take it out of the box, or have someone take it out of the box for you. It will have every flavor, texture, smell, of that food that you envision.

  It will last that way for one hour. After which time, it will revert to a simple, nutrient dense, filling, yet bland tasting gruel. This will not cause you digestive issues, and in fact is more nutritionally complete than most meals, but I added this feature so that eating isn’t a chore. Natasha cautiously took a bit after Wong helpfully took a bite of his sandwich. With the aid of my own enhanced whiskey, I managed to catch a slight glimmer of recognition in her eyes, as she tasted the dumplings.

  I offered up, so that she can tell that I have no interest in lying, that I am from another world, and things like these giants are present there. I offered up that I did not know if they were related, but there were vast similarities between the two. I added that I did not have the personal capability to return to my old world, and nor would I if I could, because of issues that Wong knows about. I added that it is a matter of safety for this world, to which Wong nodded, sagely. I finished off with telling her that it is my goal to make people’s lives better here in Norfolk, and further abroad.

  Natasha listened to all of that, watching for deception but finding none, because I wasn’t lying. I added to both her and Wong that the Giant, as discussed briefly, had mentioned wanting something called, “The Casket of Ancient Winters.” I went on to explain how the Giant had just kept yelling that he knew that it was here, that it was here yesterday. Wong looked at me, and I told him that there was no Casket of Ancient Winters here as far as I knew, just Donald Gill, who was now warming in the holding cell. Natasha said that this would be a relief to Thor, but also an issue, since many of the treasures of Asgard were lost when his realm was destroyed by Surtur.

  I told them both that I had pocketed some things from the giant as I had moved them, and that we should review them in this state now, while we are all buoyed by Good Hope and mentally enhanced by the Tears to Wine. I produced a shard of ice that was not melting, a roll of cured dragon hide with an esoteric map printed on it, a jagged piece of wood on a necklace chain, a pair of dark metal shoulder guards, an enchanted large sized blue sapphire, and a large bag with some icy blue gems, some metal ingots, and a piece of odd hide with writings in Jotun runes. The two of them looked over the items, and I separated them into two distinct piles, one that had some degree of magic - the shard of ice, the wood splinter necklace, the shoulder guards, a (giant’s) fist sized blue sapphire, and the dragon-hide map. The other items, those that had been in the bag, were all non-magical, but important for different reasons. I had not translated the runes on the piece of hide, but I knew it would be fairly easy to do so, when that came up.

  Wong looked at the ever-frozen shard of ice, and said that this was a shard of the pedestal that held the Casket of Ancient Winters when it was originally on Jontunheim. I asked him if it was likely that this shard would hold an affinity for sources of Para-elemental Cold Energy, and since it is a unique thing, the fact that Donald Gill had some degree of bleed over from the Para-elemental Plane of Ice, he might have caused a false positive when he used his energy yesterday? Natasha looked at the two of us, and I remembered that she had not been to the “basement” yet, so I quickly explained that over the past two days, we have two, “guests” awaiting decisions for where they might go, a Dragon Raider by the name of Jia-Hao, and Donald Gill, a promising former S.H.I.E.L.D. agent who developed powers and ran afoul of the issues with H.Y.D.R.A. Natasha asked if Donald Gill had developed metahuman powers, and Wong offered up that not only was Donald Gill now a metahuman, but that he also has formed a conduit to the Para-elemental Plane of Ice while he was entombed in ice off the coast of Africa. As we looked over the other items, Wong picked up the crude, forearm length splinter on a just as crude chain made of hard ice links. A look of panic washed over his face, as he said that this was a splinter of Yggdrasil. I asked to hold it, and he gently placed it in my hands.

  I focused on the feeling from it, and declared that this must have been how the Frost Giant had arrived here on Earth. I voiced this as I focused around the item, and clarified that it had been used today, and that the energy would take at least six sunrises to recharge enough to be operated again. Wong looked pensive, and said that this didn’t make sense, as it would mean that the Frost Giant was planning on not using the Splinter of the World Tree to get back, until a week had passed. I pulled out the giant fist sized blue gem, and noted that this had magic similar to something that I had made, that would allow him to contact someone with a matching stone, likely once a day. Wong nodded and said that if someone else had access to a better means of retrieval, they could signal to the other side and then another force could be brought in.

  Wong looked over the other items that had a shred of magic associated with them, and between the giant sized spaulders and the map, he carefully withdrew the map from the hoard, and unrolled it. He looked over it, and I recognized it as a planar map, with eight other realms on it. It had a globe on it illuminated that said Midgard in Jotun runes. I read some of the others, and of the eight remaining realms one looked to be destroyed, with the word “Asgard” on it. The map seemed to be flickering there, with the words disappearing from there slowly, and appearing in the same sphere as Midgard.

  I looked at Wong and asked him if this was what I thought it was, a real time map of the pathways between the nine planes? Wong agreed, and unless he was incorrect, this was the Codex of the Nine-fold Paths. I nodded and asked if it would be good to have this on another plane, temporarily. Wong agreed, and I got up, grabbed the map and the communication stone, walked outside the tent, put one inside one extra-dimensional pocket, and the other inside my other extra-dimensional pocket. I walked back inside the room, and Natasha asked me what I had done. I looked over at Wong and he nodded subtly.

  I told Natasha that we were currently in an extra-dimensional space, and I had more extra-dimensional spaces, but they could not be accessed while in this extra-dimensional space. I explained that, for all intents and purposes, the Codex was in an extremely small plane, that could only hold fifty pounds of material, that was currently holding thirty, and had NO point of access. It was a similar circumstance for the communication stone. Natasha followed through the logic to say that if someone looked in the pockets, in here, they would not be able to access it, and it would only be what was normally in those pockets. I nodded saying it was a rudimentary method of security through true inaccessibility, especially since the spaces can only be accessed by those of good morals. I added that with enough varied bags, you could create a situation where you have duplicate bags inside of bags, where some would have to be removed inside the extra-dimensional spaces, and others only while outside of other extra-dimensional spaces.

  Natasha was following along, and we stopped at the last item bearing magic on the table. It was the pair of giant sized spaulders. Feeling a hint of magic from them, I asked Natasha to pick them up and try to put them on. She looked at me oddly, but picked them up and placed them over her shoulders. The spaulders immediately started to shrink to fit her.

  I smiled and told her that these would be fairly useful for her, if she wanted to keep them. Wong looked at Natasha and laughed a little, explaining that yes, these would indeed be useful for her. She moved her arms, getting the flexibility right in them, and I mentioned that I can work on modifying them slightly tomorrow, but that for now, they would provide her with a resistance to most worldly temperatures, and further resistance to more extremes of hot and cold, keeping her very comfortable, and that they would also allow for the attachment of something called an armor crystal, that I could make tomorrow morning.

  Wong seemed to be a bit hesitant for a moment, but then he returned to his regular self. We looked at the remaining pile of items, the icy blue gems, the metal ingots, and the strange hide. I looked over the three, and noted that the gems were just that, gems that I could use in making some of Natasha’s gear enchanted tomorrow morning, the metal ingots were what I was surprised the most about. It was Adamantine. Like actual Adamantine, from the stuff that they have where I was from.

  Wong noted that this wasn’t Uru metal, but it was exceptionally strong. I said that I recognized the metal and told them what it was and how strong it was. Wong asked me if I could use this in making items. I said that I would need access to a forge, but that while the materials here were of a sufficient size that I might be able to make several rings out of it, I definitely did not have enough to make armor or anything that large for a weapon. Maybe some ammunition, but they had their own problems, of damaging weaker projectile weapons.

  We settled on two of the three ingots staying with me, with one going to Tony Stark when he gets too busy looking into other details for our liking. I unrolled the hide, with the Jotun Runes, and translated how it was a set of instructions, how the reader should only activate the Communicator WHEN he finds the Casket, and if he can’t find it after two weeks, or if it is not the Casket, he should come back after two weeks. Then the hide says that the reader should only barter with the gems or metal if he cannot take the casket by force, or if he needs supplies that he can’t take for himself.

  With the collection of all of the supplies and gear from this intruder dealt with, I asked Wong and Natasha how we should separate each of these enchanted items. I offered up that obviously, the spaulders should stay with Natasha, since they work well with her, but that leaves the Communication Stone, the Codex of the Ninefold Paths, the Splinter of Yggdrasil, and the Shard of the First Winter. Now, I offered up that I could do something tricky with the Communication Stone, maybe Monday or Tuesday at this rate, where it will detect the thoughts of the person contacting the stone, and repeat back a message picked out to be the most banal and not alarm raising possible. If we want to do that, maybe we include via a means of hopping through realms, at least three or four more times, to decrease the possibility of the giant missing coming back right here. That would leave the Codex of the Nine-fold Paths, the Splinter of Yggdrasil, and the Shard of the First Winter.

  Master Wong suggested that the Codex of the Nine-fold Paths was too dangerous to have at the Chrysalis. I agreed, and said that the Reliquary of the Chrysalis is not ready for something of that importance. I added that the Communication Stone should be bounced between realms, if at all possible, after some enchantment and modification, every few weeks. I offered up that if there were no objections, I would keep the Shard of the First Winter in the Reliquary, as it might help for rehabilitating Donald Gill, and provide warning if the Paraelemental Plane of Ice intrudes again. That left the Splinter of Yggdrasil.

  Natasha spoke up, and offered that we could always gift it to the Asgardian population that is starting to settle in Trondheim. I thought about it and remembered somewhere that the great tree Yggdrasil was important to the Asgardian people. I offered up that I could research magical methods to help the splinter recover into a full tree, if it was desired, but that I was not powerful or capable enough yet. Natasha asked if I would really work to learn something like that just to help the Asgardian people. I told her that it wasn’t just to help them, but that would be enough. I was going to learn it to find a way to increase the amount of food and vegetable goods that could be produced in large swaths of land here, to help everyone.

  With the portion of the meeting requiring Wong done, the three of us stepped out of the tent, where, for the first time, Natasha saw the room that she thought was twenty foot deep by thirty foot wide, was now contained inside a ten foot by ten foot tent. I smiled and told her that every boarding and class room in this building was going to be getting this treatment, meaning that the average floor size was going to go from twenty-four hundred square feet to eighty-eight hundred square feet a floor. Natasha said that this would vastly increase the capacity of students. I nodded saying that I needed to train the teachers first, which is where Cal comes in. He is my first apprentice, and will be the first teacher, once I have trained him sufficiently.

  I pulled the Codex out of the extradimensional pocket, and handed it to Wong. Wong nodded and opened up a Sling Ring and stepped through, noting that he would be delivering the Gelid Heart to Tony in four hours, if I was available to open the Scrying portal. I smiled and said that not only would I be able to do that, but that we can extend the duration this time, if desired. Wong finished stepping through and said that he would bring the snacks this time. Natasha looked back and forth, and asked what we meant by Scrying portal. I asked her if she ever wanted to see Bruce Banner and Tony Stark stumped by something which should not exist, but yet does anyway.

  Natasha said that she actually didn’t have any plans for the rest of the day, aside from going over the books of this new, “S.P.E.A.R.” department of S.H.I.E.L.D. I told her that she can feel free to walk through the building, but the only concerns are that the cells will not be able to be accessible without a special magical item or spellcasting from me currently. I told her that she can look in, but what look like regular bar doors, are actually one foot thick solid stone. Natasha asked me how many cells we have, and I told her just four for now, but that if we need to have more, there are plans in the making. Natasha nodded and said that she would go through and investigate on her own, but to please use Agent Rushman for the other S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents.

  I told her that I would, and that I was planning on working on figuring out what I planned on setting up for her gear, similar to how I did for Clint. Natasha thanked me and said that she would think of any ideas that she could to bounce them off of me when she gets back. I sat down at my desk and prepared with the only wand that I had access to currently. This faded piece of magic from Golarion, smuggled through the centuries, and now available for me to use, just for one spell. I sighed and hoped that I wouldn’t have to learn a feat, just to use this spell more.

  I started going over the properties of the Spaulders that had “bonded” to Natasha, and what additional features I might be able to work in with other items. By the time that two hours had passed, I had a list of nine items that I could make for her tomorrow that might vastly increase her effectiveness. I didn’t plan on "magicing" anything that would be better served by technological means, so utility is the more important matter of the day. When there was just over an hour left, Natasha came walking back into the Campaigner’s Tent, and asked if we were going to start getting ready at four. I told her that I would be casting two spells, that she is free to watch, but that one of the spells was going to take an hour of casting.

  Natasha said that she would be glad to observe, and I told her that the middle of the three back rooms is a set of facilities, if needed, and that we would have just over a half an hour of observation time after the hour of casting. I pulled out the expended wand, and broke it as I cast Arcane Concordance, focusing on extending the next spell that I cast, that being Scrying. During the last four minutes of my casting, I heard the sparking of the Sling Ring. I heard Pepper greet Natasha and ask how the “audit” was doing today. Natasha replied back that there was an interesting day that she’d have to talk to her about later.

  The three other people all gathered around, with Wong staying standing, and the two women sitting and getting out some snacks and drinks. My scrying mirror started to clear and show the scene that we had come across before, the Gamma Lab on an island off the coast of Mexico, where Bruce Banner and Tony Stark had split their focus between working on Bruce’s attempts to figure out the rift between himself and his Hulk personality, and industrializing the process for enspelling Phoenix Cores with Tony’s Hot Box and then reshaping them with Tony’s Petro Printer. Just as the scene resolved, we heard Bruce say that he was certain that this modification on the pattern would get the final bit of improvement that he was chasing. Within seconds, we heard a clearly artificial female voice tell them that the energy was back. Tony stopped Bruce and said to the open air that he knows that “we” are watching, and wants to know what is it this time? We looked at each other as Wong prepared his Sling Ring delivery.

  Tony stood there waiting for a verbal answer that just would not come, due to the impossibility of the spell in transferring from the Scryer to the Scried upon, but the magical response of a new item being dropped on the bench in an empty spot in front of them, was what he received. A short note, written in the flourishing handwriting of Wong, declared that this is the Gelid Heart, a crystalline structure that maintains a surface temperature of negative eighty degrees Celsius, the temperature at which carbon dioxide sublimates, and maintains a twenty cubic foot area around it to just thirty-five degrees Fahrenheit. Tony read the note and yelled out the word, “NO.” He paused as he handed the letter to Bruce before continuing, by saying that he can potentially understand the Phoenix Core, as heat is an energy that can radiate. He looked exasperated as he yelled out that COLD is NOT an ENERGY.

  The one thing I will say about Tony, is that he can get VERY focused. He had stopped addressing us immediately once he started trying to figure out the anomaly before him. Back in the tent, watching him through the mirror, Natasha asked us how long we gave him to try to figure out the Phoenix Core. Wong spoke up and said that we had given him twenty four hours between when we had sent the first Phoenix Core and when we had sent Tony’s Hot Box, along with a pallet of granite and the instructions. Pepper laughed a little and said that she had suggested the activation phrase. Natasha asked what it was, and I whispered over to her, “Calorem Me, Pepper”.

  Natasha had a slight twitch of amusement, when I told her that we had seen during the delivery of “Tony’s Petro Printer”, that he was actually having Bruce say the Activation phrase, much to Bruce’s chagrin. While we were having this sideline discussion, we were all watching Tony and Bruce puzzle over this new Arctic Scientific Anathema. Wong spoke up and said that it was better that we gave the heat one first, because he would have done something dangerous with it if we hadn’t. Just then, we heard Bruce yell at Tony that they can’t cut this, because it is the only one that they have, and it might react the same way as the hot one and spread micro-particles everywhere. I took this as the cue and looked over at Wong and Pepper.

  Pepper smiled and said that they were ready, and Wong nodded back at me and pulled out a pair of boxes. He opened up another Sling Ring Portal, in a different section of the lab, in view but not immediately next to them, and placed both boxes on the table with a pair of notes on top of them. Tony immediately saw the portal close and the boxes land on the table, but before he could rush over, the artificial female voice chimed out that there was someone waiting at the door with a large package for Tony Stank. Tony looked over at Bruce, and Bruce sighed, saying that he would go to the door. Tony practically leapt onto the boxes, pulling the first one and yelling out, “What do you mean TONY’S COLD SHOULDER?!?”

  Bruce came rushing back with a hefty set of boxes on a dolly, responding to Tony’s frustrated yelling. He asked Tony what was wrong, and Tony said that this had been called Tony’s Cold Shoulder, and that it required “ice related puns”. Bruce took the note and read it carefully, aloud. That was when I heard Wong’s flourish. The note said that this item required Ice or cold related puns to operate, and that they needed to be different each time. Wong added that the machine had a limited memory, but they couldn’t say exactly how many you needed to say differently, before you could repeat a pun. I looked over at Wong and told him that this was diabolical, to not let Tony know exactly how many different puns he needed to use before it resets. He just smiled in response.

  By this time, Tony had flipped to the delivery boxes, already expecting everything to be connected. It was addressed to Tony Stank, which is odd, because they were on an island, and it was, “care of”, Colonel James Rhodes, with a quickly scrawled “We Love you Tony!”, and “Happy Geological Exercises.”. Tony quickly opened up the top box to show dozens of fist sized quartz crystals. He instantly looked back at the “Tony’s Cold Shoulder”, that Bruce was cautiously prodding. He loudly said, “Fine, I’ll perform for you all, sparing a wide ranging glance around, likely trying to look at wherever we were Scrying from.”

  He grabbed the top crystal out of the box, confidently walked over to “Tony’s Cold Shoulder”, placed the quartz in it, shut the lid, and said, “It was awfully cold of Rhodey to use that name on me.” A pale blue glow shone out from around the lip of the box, and Tony immediately opened up the lid, and the quartz was not a Gelid Heart. He went to reach in, but that female artificial voice called out, “Careful Boss, it is very cold.” Tony stopped, grabbed a set of tongs, and picked the new Gelid Heart and placed it alongside the original Gelid Heart. Tony went to the box and grabbed nine more, and ran through a series of nine more puns, the sixth of which was an attempt at the first one, which didn’t work. Tony muttered that it was more than six attempts at least.

  After a little over a minute, he had eleven total Gelid Hearts, all sharing the same characteristics. He went to his second “Tony’s Petro Printer”, and muttered that he loved that the abbreviation was “Tony’s P.P.”. He opened it up and saw that the command word was the same, but there was another rolled up scroll inside. It was a drawing of a set of mesh baffles to maximize surface area. Tony smiled and said that he expected something like this. Just then, the body-less voice spoke again, proclaiming that Pepper Potts and Master Wong were both unavailable via GPS and Cell Tower Triangulation, that the last known location for either was at the Avengers Compound.

  Tony thought quickly and asked it to spread to all other active Avengers. The voice came back and noted that all of the Avengers can be located, via cell tower or GPS, except for Natasha Romanoff’s backup phone. I looked over at Natasha and she looked fuming. Tony quickly asked the voice to triangulate the last known whereabouts of all three for the past six hours. The disembodied voice then proclaimed that both Natasha Romanoff and Master Wong were at the same parking lot in Norfolk, Virginia, before both disappeared and Wong was located at a Ben and Jerry’s in Vermont.

  Tony appeared to be frantically looking about the room, planning a next move, before Bruce got his attention by asking him what kinds of solutions could this provide. Tony was almost absentmindedly going through things before he hit upon the possibility of cooling off server farms with minimal electrical load. Tony perked up and said that he can make F.R.I.D.A.Y. even better. His computing can be even faster. Refrigeration eliminates almost all of the electrical AND chemical requirements. Bruce kind of winked in the general direction of the Scrying sensor as Tony redirected his focus to possibilities of this new, novel energy source and supply.

  Wong almost quietly muttered that he was just picking up a Hunka-Hulka Burning Fudge for this. Natasha fumed and then realized that, inside this tower and even more so inside this tent, she could not be tracked, at least by Tony’s methods. He might have seen her here, via cameras and other things, but where she went from where he last saw her, that he won’t know. Pepper tried to calm everyone down by noting that this is just something that Tony does when he is adrift. He tries to reach out for the most concrete things around him.

  I clammed up and then noted to the others that all three of us would have been seen by the helicopter reporters, which might not mean much for them, as he already knows them, but that he doesn’t have any experience with ME as a superhero, and that now he has a different videos of me teaming up with Captain America, Hawkeye, and now Black Widow, and I am almost a ghost, for a background. Today, he will have seen Natasha Romanoff in the same area as Verdigris, and Master Wong. He will definitely see the videos of the fight. I asked how they thought this might go for him and his incessant desire to unravel mysteries. I then asked Pepper if there is a way for us to keep him occupied with this until we get him the next three stones, and six boxes.

  Pepper recommended that we keep feeding him different challenging tasks that appeal to his problem solving nature. The fact that he now has the means to replace fuel for steam generators, and now the refrigerant from air conditioners, he can institute a DIFFERENT style of industrial revolution. Wong spoke up thoughtfully, saying it would be a Magi-tech revolution. I asked Wong, Pepper, and Natasha if they thought we should wait on the other three energies. Natasha asked what I meant, and I apologized, saying that I had five different ways to express a constant source of energy, the first of which is heat, which we provided to Tony under the title, Phoenix Cores. The second of which, which he received today, expresses cold, are called the Gelid Hearts. The last three, are one that has a constant P.H. or acidity, and are called Blight Stones, one that has a consistent vibration that can counter sounds called Sonus Chords, and the final one is one that expresses electrical potential, and are called the Galvanic Sparks.

  Wong cleared his throat and said that we had been planning on moving the releases to Tony to be every two weeks, so that he has the potential to fully grasp the new rules of physics for each of these, but that we would have sufficient time to get the world ready. Then I realized that Natasha had not been privy to this part of the conversation, that Pepper and Wong knew. I told the both of them that it was time that we had the Avengers buy in. I pulled out the picture lens transparencies, and showed Natasha the recreations of what was going to happen within six years. She pulled up the same details that Wong and I had poured over, and Wong offered up to her that we were pushing the Chrysalis and S.P.E.A.R. forward faster, to make sure we are as ready as possible for this.

  I added that we are not even certain on the time frame, only that at most it was six years, and any magic to affect the growth of plants would change that date. Natasha nodded and asked if that was the reason for the school. I smiled and said that it was a person from a world like this who had taught me to use the scientific method in relation to the magic of my home-world, and I thought it only just that the people of this world learn to use the same to defend their world. Natasha breathed in and out, thinking. I told the other two that I was going to give Natasha the full rundown, nothing beyond what was acceptable, but the clarity that is needed. I asked if they might find it too difficult to have Natasha’s back up phone dropped off in, say, a camera free room in the compound for the day, while she waits for her new gear and the full rundown.

  Wong gathered up what he needed, and the extra snacks that he had brought, along with Pepper, and Natasha’s Cell Phone, and opened up a Sling Ring portal and the two of them walked out. Natasha sat back down at the table, and I sat opposite her, and explained everything over the course of three hours. It was getting towards eight, when I would receive my daily contact from Amber, and offered up that Natasha could either stay in the guest room with Cal, or take the levitating cot from it and pick any of the rooms marked for sleeping quarters, or go back to whatever Hotel she had used previously, just that it would be good for her to leave an example of her combat kit for me to enchant, starting very close to midnight tonight. Natasha said that she would go get her gear, and bring back the combat equipment that she’d prefer that I enchant. I thanked her, and asked her to keep an eye out for Cal, as he was going on his first true solo mission, and might want to offload the adrenaline high onto someone, by telling someone EXACTLY how it went.

  Natasha smiled and said that she would keep that in mind. I got everything set out, and waited for my nightly Sending from Amber. She sent me, “I saw the fight with that giant! That looked scary! I love you! Good Job! I will be home before the end of the month.” I sent back congratulating her, “Good! Can’t wait for you to get back! This is becoming a very active time, and I am sure that you will help! Love You!”. I nested down on my cot while recovering the last of the frostbite damage from that giant’s attack. This has been a supremely busy day.

  So, I had figured that Natasha would be the next Avenger to drop by, and give him a once over, so to speak. When the random encounter generator said that it was going to be an Extra-Dimensional Threat, on the hottest day of the year, I figured, why not? Just to clarify, yes, Curtis did a fair amount of damage, and on anything under the scout that came here, he might have won by himself. I kept the damage rolls for Natasha’s hits separate from what Curtis would have seen, just to make sure that I didn’t give him access to information that he would not have known about. I figured Natasha as a level 20 Rogue- I just haven’t figured out the Archetype yet. She’s getting a bunch of interesting items, but not things that improve numbers much. That will have to wait for tomorrow.

  Cal will be taking on any encounter that is CR 2 or less for now, at least until he gets a higher level or something more dangerous comes up. Gives him a way to level up by performing superheroes, while not having “worthless” encounters on Curtis.

  The main item that was made today was an Overwhelming Banality of it all (for S.H.I.E.L.D.), and the “Friendship is Magic” Door.

  “Friendship is Magic” Door

  Aura Weak transmutation; CL 5th

  Slot Magical Architecture; Price 4,400 gp; Weight -

  Description

  This section of wall used to be a door, but was sealed up and replaced with a section of wall that allows a person touching it to meld through the stone, to the other side, using the meld with stone spell. It requires Good Alignment, and the mental command word, “Amicus”

  Construction

  Requirements Craft Wondrous Item, Meld With Stone; Cost 2,200 gp

  The following items were on the giant:

  Shard of the First Winter

  Codex of the Nine-fold Path

  Splinter of the World Tree

  Ice King’s blessing

  Also of note, I discovered that the script I was using to batch automate random encounters kind of went screwy for yesterday and today, so after “this weekend” I am going back to hand rolling them. Also, I ended up rolling “Unexpected Grant” for a downtime event, so that was the reason for the pushing the gemstone portion of the wealth from the Giant.