Story Arc: Welcome to a Parallel Earth
Episode 1: New York City is full of surprises (III)
Chapter 3: Discussions in a Turkish Restaurant
Plot: Bruce and Mesh ended up inside a Turkish restaurant to eat and talk about what to do from now on.
XXX
POV Narrator
Half an hour after meeting and defeating Rhino.
Mash and Bruce are inside a small Turkish restaurant, both sitting at a table in the center of the room.
Bruce wanted to eat a shawarma, but having accidentally found this restaurant, Little Turkey, he decided that the two of them can eat here.
After all, when it comes to nutritional values, there is not a big difference between Shawarma and Kebab.
There are no other customers in the restaurant and the entire staff is working at full capacity and each of them has a blue gleam in their eyes.
The Planeswalker used a blue-colored magic to alter people's perceptions.
The customers quickly finished eating, paid and ran away, believing they had to get home for an emergency.
The staff believes that they are serving a wealthy and very important customer for the future of the restaurant, not seeing the oddities of Bruce and Mash.
This spell is not even mind control or an illusion, but something in between.
At the center of the Master-Servant couple's table, among the plates, glasses and cutlery, is Mash's rectangular visor, Bruce's gas mask and Black Cube.
Mash no longer wears her knight armor, going back to that sexy red dress.
Demi-Servant woman is eating numerous Turkish dishes such as: Sigara Borek, Çorba, Dolma, Cig kofte.
Mash being the team's vanguard and main tank, often ends up consuming a large amount of energy, protein, and fluids.
So, despite some embarrassment, Mash must eat a large amount of food to function properly.
Bruce took off his shawl and his tattoos came back into view.
The Last Master of Chaldea has a plate in front of him with a pyramid of Kebabs on top.
He doesn't have the same nutritional needs as Mash, but when he does eat, he eats enough to last him a whole week.
"Senpai, do you have any idea how we should proceed?" Mash asks, taking small bites of her meal.
"First of all we should gather information, in our experience, Parallel Worlds can confuse us." Bruce said, remembering some old cases where he ended up in worlds where the bad guys are good and the good guys are bad.
"Shall we finish eating and have a reading marathon at the library?" suggests Mash, who is used to doing research at the library for one reason or another.
"This time we don't have to stay in the library all day and all night. Someone else has already started the research for us." Bruce declares, may the kebab on the plate.
"Who helped us? Isn't it just the two of us here?" Mash asks, raising an eyebrow.
The knight girl is sure that only she and her Senpai have arrived in this Parallel World.
"Mash, don't you know? I'm never alone." Bruce said in an almost amused tone.
When the Last Master of Chaldea spoke, the tattoos on his body began to move and twist, as if laughing along with Bruce.
"Senpai, that joke is pretty old." Mash said, having heard that phrase a hundred times.
The knight girl keeps an eye on her Senpai's tattoos, which have stopped moving, going back to looking like simple tattoos.
"I haven't forgotten about your unusual "roommates", but none of them have materialized on the physical plane to go off and look for information." Mash said, knowing her Senpai's abilities very well, including the type of "roommates" he has.
Bruce Belmont is never alone, this is not a metaphor to underline a bond of some kind with another person, instead it is a fact.
The Last Master of Chaldea is a sorcerer with an absurd talent for the Dark Arts and the innate gift of being a Devil Forgemaster.
With such skill and talents, it is no surprise that Bruce has dabbled in making contracts with esoteric or exotic creatures that are not Servants or Heroic Spirits.
Most of these entities are located in distant places and through their contract can be summoned to Bruce's side.
But a small number of these beings have bonded with Bruce's body and spirit, leaving tattoos as signs of their presence.
Not to mention four singular cases, which will be explored in the future.
"I'm not just a Sorcerer or a Forgemaster, I'm also a scientist." Bruce said with a devious smile.
Making a motion with his hand, as if he were a stage magician about to pull a flower or a poker card from his sleeve, Bruce made a small device appear.
The object is made of a rare and resistant metal, square in shape and as large as a penknife.
The edges are silver, the center obsidian, with a stylized purple S above.
"Senpai, is this what I think it is?" Mash asks, looking at the object as if it were some kind of old friend he hasn't seen in a while.
"Yes, it's Shockwave's Data Core, I managed to repair it.
My AI and I have one thing in common, we are both not easy to erase." Bruce said, placing the device in the center of the table next to the Black Cube.
The Shockwave Data Core, or NDS for short, emitted a faint glow.
A few seconds later the Black Cube also produced a similar glow, as if it had received a message.
The Black Cube's response appeared in the form of the release of a white, sand-like substance, which spread across the entire table, avoiding touching the plates and cutlery.
But the sand did not avoid coming into contact with Shockwave's Data Core.
Once in contact, a three-dimensional holographic image of a large red eye made up of circuit-like lines and curves appeared above the Black Cube.
"Scientific and Tactical Support AI, Shockwave, is active. Operational capabilities at 100%." Declares a monotone, robotic voice that matches David Sobolov's pitch.
"Senpai, why didn't you tell me Shockwave was back?" Mash asks, having been convinced until a few seconds ago that the AI was out of the picture until they got home to where Shockwave's backups are.
"It was supposed to be a welcome home surprise," Bruce said, wanting to introduce Shockwave when he and Mash returned to Boston.
"Shockwave, how are you?" Mash asks, looking at the red eye-like orb, Shockwave's initial form.
"All my parameters are within the expected standards. I am currently comparing my data bank to the internet on this planet." Shockwave responds, focusing more on his tasks than on social relationships.
'Shockwave has been activated for seven years (not counting time shenanigans or reality warping), but he still acts like Senpai when he's in Workaholic Scientist mode.
If I didn't know that Shockwave was created by Senpai and Amelia, I would say that he was created by Senpai alone.' Mash thinks, not seeing any trace or characteristic of the 'mother' in Shockwave.
In short, Shockwave took everything from the "father" and nothing from the "mother".
"Shockwave, take your avatar form and give me a presentation of your findings." Bruce said, resuming his eating, not wanting to let the food get cold.
Hearing these words, Shockwave made the red orb disappear and made fourteen different screens appear, seven facing Bruce and seven facing Mash.
Three screens show written text, three screens show photographs and videos, the last screen at the top shows the image of a young human adult in his twenties, American.
The adult in the holographic screen has lightly tanned skin, short black hair, and wears a sort of futuristic armored suit colored black and red.
The most notable feature of this character is his V-shaped mechanical visor, featuring a huge red optic in the center.
This is the avatar that Shockwave has developed over the years for when he needs to interact face to face with people.
If anyone is wondering where Shockwave got his name and the basic idea for this aesthetic, well, his "father" is a fan of the Transformers franchise.
Bruce and Mash began reading the information Shockwave found through his brief research.
The first one to find a small but interesting news was Bruce.
"The Carol Danvers of this world didn't have any accident that caused her to lose her arm.
It means Carol Danvers didn't leave the army and she didn't become a successful comic book artist. The science fiction genre has suffered a loss." Bruce mutters in a slightly disappointed tone.
Yes, on Earth-2126 Carol Danvers is a normal woman who has made it big in the comic book world, her most famous and best-known work being Captain Marvel.
"Senpai, the Avengers didn't form. But the Fantastic Four and the X-Men exist and are quite famous." Mash said, seeing that in this world there are only two big and famous superhero teams.
"Mash, in this world Dr. Henry Pym and Janet Van Dyne are young and just starting to be Ant-Man and the Wasp." Bruce said, finding the age difference surprising.
"Wasp is surprisingly beautiful, even her costume is nice, different from the bland suit Wasp II wears in our world." Mash said, liking this world's Wasp more in terms of looks.
"I wonder if this Henry Pym is going to be a stubborn, paranoid asshole who will do anything to keep his toys for himself." Bruce comments, grabbing the knife on the table with some force.
"Senpai, are you still angry at the original Ant-Man, it's been years, can't you forgive?" Mash asks, unable to understand why Bruce hasn't left the conflicts with Hank Pym behind in this case.
"Mash, I am capable of forgiving, I have done it several times, but I never forget.
But as for Dr. Henry Pym, I will never forget and forgive his insults, his arrogance and his demands." Bruce said in a cold tone, bending the knife in his hand.
To say that Dr. Henry "Hank" Pym of Earth-2126 and Bruce Bel Bahamut Belmont don't get along would be an understatement.
"Using reverse engineering and my mental abilities, I was able to reverse engineer the Pym Particles and produce my own variant.
Then, not even a day after field testing them, my Tower was overrun with ants and Henry Pym's henchmen.
Sending your daughter and son-in-law to do your dirty business is a sign of cowardice." Bruce mutters, remembering how he had to burn down some floors of his Tower to repel the ants and the second generation of Ant-Man and Wasp.
"I had to return the favor, if Henry Pym had kept his mouth shut and stayed in his place, well, he would have had fewer problems in life, especially health-wise." Bruce said, having no problem beating up a foolish and arrogant old man.
Mash wisely decides not to say anything else.
'I hope this world's Ant-Man is different from our world's Ant-Man.' Mash thinks, not wanting to see a large-scale ant extermination.
For a few minutes, the two remained in silence, taking bites of food between readings.
Until Mash expresses a very important information in his opinion.
"Senpai, Peggy Carter did not become Captain Carter here.
The place of First Avenger was taken by Steve Rogers, who called himself, Captain America." Mash said with a regretful tone.
Mash isn't too happy that her favorite Avenger, Captain Carter, doesn't exist in this world.
"Is this by any chance a case of reversed roles?
Steve Rogers became Captain Super-Soldier and Peggy Carter became the pilot of the Hydra Stomper." Bruce asks, curious about how things turned out in this world.
"No, Senpai, Howard Stark never got to build the Mark I HYDRA Stomper Armor here.
Other differences, Bucky Barnes was sort of a Robin to Captain America.
In 1945, Bucky and Steve were declared dead when they sacrificed themselves to stop a HYDRA rocket from hitting Washington, D.C. They died in an explosion above the Arctic.
At least, Peggy Carter became the first director of SHIELD, who died of old age in 2008." Mash read a few lines that highlight the major differences between their world and this one.
"You know, Mash, in the few trips to Parallel Earths I've made (without being involved with Spider-Man, Venom or the Fantastic Four), I've discovered the existence of a universal constant.
Whoever ends up playing Captain Carter or Captain America or Captain whatever his name is, somehow, they end up in our day and age." Bruce said, noting this phenomenon.
"Do you think Captain America has been in a state of cryo-suspension in the Arctic all this time, just waiting to be found and woken up?" Mash asks with a hint of suspicion.
"Senpai, with the current level of technology, a normal, healthy person can only stay in a cryogenic pod for ten years at most before suffering severe side effects or worse." Mash said, certain that a human being cannot survive in such a state for seventy years.
Bruce shakes his head slightly in amusement.
"Senpai, I think you've been watching Sherlock Holmes in the 22nd Century, Duck Dodgers, and Buck Rogers too many times." Mash comments, knowing Bruce's taste in science fiction.
One of Masha's tasks is to keep her Senpai in check, even for small things like his over-the-top imagination.
"And you, you're forgetting two important things.
Number one, the benefits of the Super Soldier serum, from my limited research, a Super Soldier can theoretically stay frozen for a minimum of a hundred years without any problems.
Number two, the Counter Forces tend to curse and bless heroes in mysterious ways, influencing us to seek out danger and saving us from certain death by the millimeter." Bruce said, laughing at the heroes' bad and good fortune.
"Anyway, Senpai, I'm not convinced that Captain is still alive." Mash said, closing the holographic screen that tells of Steve Rogers and his entourage.
"The famous words of the Demi-Servant woman who was sent back in time in the British Lostbelt and was stuck in ice for 2400 years." Bruce said, facing a woman who spent 2400 years under the ice with no side effects.
"It's not the same. The circumstances were different and I'm a Demi-Servant, not a Super-Soldier." Mash said, trying to win this little argument.
Seeing that one of his creators and one of his female assistants were having a debate, Shockwave decided to intervene.
"The debate can be resolved by locating the subject and discovering the status of his vital signs. If Steve Rogers is alive, Bruce wins. If Steve Rogers is dead, Mash wins." Shockwave suggests a method of resolution.
"For that suggestion, once we return to Earth-2126, I promise to build an invisible satellite, just to guard your backup servers." Bruce comments, appreciating Shockwave's intervention.
"Senpai, do we have time to search for Captain America's body in the Arctic? Shouldn't we find a way to get home as soon as possible?" Mash asks, preferring to go home rather than hunt down a relic of World War II.
"Mash we have two surefire ways to get home." Bruce said in a monotone voice, as if it were an obvious and trivial matter.
"Number one, let's wait a few weeks or months until he's fully healed so I can use my Planeswalker Spark to its fullest extent and open a portal to Earth-2126." Bruce explained the first method of returning home.
"Travel between Parallel Lands is not the purpose of my Planeswalker Spark.
The effort will put me to bed for a week, but that's no problem, you'll surely be happy to be my personal nurse." Bruce talks about the negative aspects of this method.
Mash can't help but blush, she doesn't want to admit it, but a small (big) part of her appreciates the moments in which she takes care of Senpai without having to resort to Magic or Strength.
"If you feel sick or tired, I will take care of you to the best of my ability, you just have to ask." Mash said with a reassuring smile.
"As always, you are a reliable woman." Bruce comments, having faith in Mash.
Bruce, with a wave of his hand, closes the holographic screens with the documentation of this world.
"Shockwave, shows the basic blueprints of Project Gate and Project Bridge." Bruce said, wanting to provide a visual.
Shockwave showed two holographic screens, the left screen depicted a large circular machine, the right screen showed a telecommunications tower straight out of a science fiction movie.
"I prefer the second method less because of my personal opinions, but it is a long and doable path.
This method has two variants, both of which require at least three months of work and the collection of a lot of materials.
Variant A, involves the fabrication of a portal for travel between dimensions, the design is based on the Stanford "Ford" Filbrick Pines portal.
Variant B, involves building an inter-dimensional telecommunications tower to hitch a ride home from the Spider-Gang or Venom-Gang." Bruce said with a slight grimace.
The Last Master of Chaldea dislikes dimensional portals, which can easily cause massive damage to the fabric of space and time.
Even the inter-dimensional telecommunication tower, which is more secure at first glance, could get its signal intercepted and end up attracting the attention of someone or something bad.
XXX
A little curiosity.
In Bruce's personal opinion, there are things where people should not interfere, unless they were born to do so.
A good example of people who can interfere where others cannot would be people who belong to one of the three "Walker" categories: Time, Plane and Prisma.
Timewalkers, those who can travel and control time masterfully, thanks to an innate talent and years of intense training.
The most famous Timewalkers of Earth-2126 are Woz, Saint Germain, Aeon, and Aoko Aozaki.
Planeswalkers—the few who are born with a Planeswalker Spark, much less able to ignite it—gain the power to travel to every corner of the multiverse and perform magic that others cannot even dream of.
Prism walkers, perhaps the rarest and most unknown category, people capable of traveling through the infinite Parallel Earths, manipulating energies of other dimensions and seeing every scenario: What if?
One of the youngest Prisma walkers is America Chavez who can barely control her power.
The eldest and most powerful of them all, Kischur Zelretch Schweinorg, who has learned every trick and mastered the secrets of the Second True Magic to reach heights never seen before in this multiverse.
XXX
Returning to the restaurant, Little Türkiye.
"So we're stuck in this parallel world for a month or three months, depending on whether I want to strain your Planeswalker Spark or have you build a complex machine." Mash said, summarizing their options for returning.
"Whatever we choose, we'll have enough time to do a little Captain America hunt in the Arctic, and we can stop in a few towns along the way and pretend to be tourists." Bruce said, proposing what they'll do for the next month.
"It doesn't seem like a bad plan to me, we'll stay in New York for a week and have fun, and then we'll get a plane ticket or two to visit this America.
It's towards the end of the month, a short trip to the Arctic. It's practically a vacation." Mash said happily.
"To make everything more interesting, why don't we make a bet.
Whoever is right about Captain America's fate can give the loser an Order to carry out, as if it were a Seal of Command." Bruce said with a mischievous smile, having a weakness for betting and gambling.
"What kind of order?" Mash asks, wanting to know the limits of the winner's order before accepting.
"For my part, you can ask me anything you want, except cutting the ties or the head of a member of our family or one of my almost friends." Bruce said, willing to do anything if he loses the bet, except hurt the family or the almost friends.
"In short, if I win the bet can I ask for anything, anything that comes to mind?" Mash asks, trying to keep his imagination under control.
"You have a blank check from me.
If you want me to marry you, I'll buy you the wedding dress and the rings.
If you want a child, I will be a sperm donor to your uterus.
If you want a strip show, just tell me what kind of music and dance you like best, and especially what dress you want me to wear." Bruce said in a monotone, but his right eye had a certain glint of interest.
Mash's mind stopped thinking rationally.
Instead, Mash's mind created a huge amount of scenarios, many of which made her face red as a chili pepper.
If anyone could look into Mash's mind, Inside Out-style, they would see Joy, Embarrassment and Anxiety working as if their lives depended on it.
"Senpai… I… accept… the bet…" Mesh stammers, barely managing to get full words out.
"I'll take the bet too, my prospective bride." Bruce said with a terribly sweet smile, tilting his head slightly.
Mash's mind upon hearing the word bride has become a confusing labyrinth, unable to distinguish right from left.
Bruce continues to smile, puts a hand on his lips and blows a kiss to Mash.
The Last Master of Chaldea used the Midair Kiss attack on Mash.
The attack is super effective.
Mash's brain went haywire, causing him to pass out and produce an imaginary fog of steam.
"Teasing Mash is one of my funniest and most innocent pastimes," Bruce said, amused by Mash's over-the-top reaction to a few sweet words and a mid-air kiss.
Finishing looking at Mash's cute, unconscious face, Bruce focused on his work.
"Shockwave, I want a list of abandoned buildings in New York, me and Mash will use those as a temporary base." Bruce said, his tattoos moving again.
Specifically, the crow-like tattoo on his right shoulder and the snake-like tattoo around his neck are moving, as if they want to come out.
"Shockwave, scours the internet for information on SHIELD, HYDRA, AIM, MRD, Wakanda.
Just because I'm on a so-called vacation, doesn't mean I won't stop doing my job." Bruce said with a serious tone. Bruce is a workaholic, who never takes a real break from duty.
"Carmen, Vritra, you can come out." Bruce said, making a hand gesture that means move or exit.
Once those words were said, the two tattoos disappeared from Bruce's skin, this time they didn't hide.
Two exotic-looking animals appeared around the table.
A female crow with a silver beak and talons, her name is Carmen the Crow.
A mutant ferret-like creature, reminiscent of Kudamon from the Digimon cartoons, her name is Asuka Vritra.
"Understood. Every 24 hours, I will announce my findings on the listed targets." Shockwave replies, starting the search via the internet, turning off the holographic screens.
The Black Cube sucked up the white, sand-like substance, which functioned as some sort of user interface or connectivity system.
The female raven sat on Bruce's left shoulder as if it were her place.
Vritra didn't go to greet Bruce, instead he dove headfirst into Bruce's plate, wanting to eat it all himself.
Bruce, accustomed to this attitude, concentrated on his discussion with Shockwave.
"Shockwave, keep an eye on social media, I want to be notified about the following individuals: Iron-Man, Ant-Man, Wasp, Hulk, Thor, Hawkeye, Black Widow, Wolverine, Nick Fury, Black Panther, Magneto, Doctor Doom." Bruce lists a list of important people who are expected to play a big role in the world.
"Waiter, I need the biggest cup of hot chocolate you have, a dozen chocolate-filled donuts, and flavored salts." Bruce orders some sweets and something to wake up the unconscious girl.
Bruce began to look at his shadow, as if he had seen or heard something that only he could perceive.
"Shinobu, your donuts will be here soon, until then here are some meat-based snacks." Bruce said in a calm tone, dumping an entire plate of Turkish food on the floor, aiming at his own shadow.
Instead of falling to the floor and making a mess, the food sank into the shadows like a puddle or quicksand.
'Soon this lunch break will be over and I can move on to something more interesting.' Bruce thinks with a stoic face.
Continues ...