Marvelous Martial Arts (A Marvel Story)

Fury smiled at Mason, though he found it a little sinister as the man said, ”Your tongue has been turned quite blunt in the presence of your parents. You were much more vindictive the last time we spoke. Have you given thought to the proposition I made you?”

Mason shrugged. ”What’s there to think about? I already agreed, didn’t I? Or were you afraid I’d go back on my word?”

Fury did not answer that, so Mason turned to look at his mother, who explained, ”While you were away, Stark Expo took place. Your sister was presenting one of her projects there. I’m sure you heard what happened.”

”Bunch of suits attacked the expo, yes. Orchestrated by Hammer, correct?” Those were the events of Iron Man 2, which he had missed.

Camille nodded. ”Your sister saved quite a few lives that day. You are apparently not the only hot-headed one. Anyway, since then she has moved out to her own place, and is currently working on Stark Tower. They nearly finished it, I think.”

Mason smiled, ”Good for her.” He knew about Stark Tower. He did not hear about it anywhere, but when he got back in New York, it had been hard to miss the new tower in the skyline.

She nodded and continued, ”As for Audrey, things are more complicated. She… has changed schools.”

Mason immediately understood where she was going with this. The one thing of note that had happened with Audrey was the fact that she had awakened her power and revealed herself to be a mutant. And since Mason had freed the mutants trapped in time, there was only one school she could have gone to. He could not help but think that baldies were everywhere.

And this time, Mason had another explanation than his meta-knowledge, so he said, ”Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters?”

They looked surprised. ”Well, yes, actually. How did you know?”

Mason rolled his eyes. ”Why do people like to pretend I’m stupid? You get outsmarted a couple of times by a demon billions of years old, and suddenly you’re Forrest Gump.” Although he said this, secretly Mason did like being thought of as simple. It offered opportunities.

His father sighed, ”Would you just answer?”

”Yes, father,” he dragged out the word, ”did you think I did not care about Audrey awakening her powers? Of course I looked into it. That’s how I found out about the school the X-Men went to.”

Fury interjected, ”Those records were wiped. How could you find out about it?”

Mason gave him a side-eye. ”You don’t need to know that, Mr. Eyepatch.” he looked back at his parents. ”Anyway, I’m the one who freed the mutants trapped in time, which includes the X-Men. And now you’re telling me Audrey changed schools. Doesn’t feel like much of a leap that she would have joined the X-Men school, an institution tailored for her special needs that just so happens to be just an hour North of here. Speaking of which,” he once more looked at Fury, his face turning frosty this time, ”you wouldn’t happen to be trying to get a foot inside the X-Mansion using my sister, would you?”

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Mason’s stare would have made any man uncomfortable. With his breakthrough, Mason had elevated his entire being, and energy from his Three Treasures infused his every move. Though it was nowhere near the scale of his Spiritual Domain, it still had an effect.

But Fury was used to pressure, and he remained unmoved as he explained calmly, ”I was working with Charles Xavier before you were born, boy. Besides, she is a child.”

Mason would have argued that Fury would have no problem using a child as a means, but he did not actually believe that. Nick Fury did have morals, as far as he could tell. The Director of SHIELD may have been numbed by his career, he remained a relatively good person in Mason’s books.

So he let up on the pressure, asking, ”Alright. So Elena took her independence and is working at Stark Tower doing God knows what, and Audrey is learning to master her powers while keeping a normal childhood. I don’t see anything wrong with that, why are you speaking about it like it’s the end of the world?”

His father argued, ”We only said you three were the subject at hand, not that anything bad had happened. You are being very dense, Mr. Gump. Who said Nick’s visit was an official one?”

Mason looked at the three, gobsmacked, everything finally fitting into place as he exclaimed, ”You guys are friends?” Although he said this, inwardly Mason did not believe for a second this to be the truth, or at least the whole truth. Mason might believe that Fury was ultimately working for the sake of ‘goodness’, he did not believe for a single second the spymaster had randomly befriended his parents.

Besides, putting Fury aside, Mason knew his parents. They would not have struck up a friendship with Fury so easily. There was something behind this, but they most likely would not tell him, so Mason would rather play dumb.

Fury shrugged, ”Acquaintances, at least.”

Mason narrowed his eyes at the spymaster, hiding his true thoughts. ”You did this just to spite me, didn’t you?”

Fury deadpanned at him, ”Because you call yourself the sun does not mean the world revolves around you, Mr. Tunt.”

His mother added, ”Actually, it was thanks to Nick that we had reports on your whereabouts, and knew you did not just die in some forgotten corner of the world.”

”Alright, alright, I get it, I’m a bad son. Now, do you want a firsthand account of my travels or not?”

Thankfully, Fury had excellent social understanding, so he decided this was the moment to leave. After a last promise that they would speak soon, Mason left Fury at the door and started telling his parents about everything he had gone through.

Starting from the conflict in New York with the Hand, which he had only briefly touched upon before, the people he met, the assault on Fisk Tower, and the big fight with the Incarnation of Set there. Why he had to leave for Kamar-Taj right away, although going by the look in their eyes, Mason was pretty sure his parents guessed he was dodging the situation with Audrey too.

Then he told them about Kamar-Taj and its wonders, his regular visits to Mount Everest, the secret societies like the Hand and the Seven Capital Cities of Heaven, their Immortal Weapons, the big fights, the schemes within schemes, and the final confrontation with Krahllak.

He finished his journey, telling them about the most wonderful places he had found, all the people he had helped, and although at first they had feigned anger about his lack of communication, Mason could see the pride on their faces as he told them about everything, and found himself feeling a warmth in his chest.

It was a strange thing, all things considered. Mason had a family in his old world, a family he loved, and when he got into this world, Mason had not only been a grown soul already with plenty of experience, he had also been trapped in this body.

One might think this would build resentment, but it built love instead. Because Mason did love his family, and completely considered it his own. Sometimes, he wondered whether that was because of his body’s genes that pushed him to see those of his blood as family, but in the end, it did not matter to him. Before his parents, Mason truly felt like their child, no matter how strange it might seem.

Mason still did not feel like he had robbed them of anything by taking over this body either. Because for all intents and purposes, Mason had to take over the body.

Had he not, the old owner of this body would have killed himself. And even before that, saying he had been a disappointment would have been an understatement.

And the Mason of today could hardly be said to have stolen the body. He had been in it since its very conception, lived everything it had, and he had only gotten control of it once the old owner gave up and unknowingly gave him access to it.

So Mason did not feel any guilt for the feelings he had for his family, and gladly listened as his parents now told him about how the rest of the family had been since he left, giving him more details about how things went for his sisters.

It was a good day.