9 Chapter 9: 15 Years Old
July 21st, 1991
Earth - ?????????
Long Island City, NY, Jacks Skyscraper.
It's been about a week since Jack moved to America. At first, Jack was a little hesitant to accept an entire skyscraper from his father, but he decided, "Why not? If you got it; you might as well use it.".
He converted the entire top floor of the skyscraper into a beautiful terrace style living and training quarters overlooking New York. He also connected each floor of the skyscraper to his [Infinity Castle] space and made sure to scan for any listening or tracking devices with his [A.I. Chip].
With Jacks soul attribute at 190.5 points, his [A.I. Chip] was able to scan nearly 3.5 miles in any direction.
Jack initially tried accessing the worlds internet database for information, but he was only able to scan internet servers within his soul attributes range; as an old soul, he doesn't know much about the internet besides browsing it. Although he couldn't get top secret information yet from secure databases, he was able to download pretty much all the general knowledge from the internet at this time into the [A.I. Chips] database.
While the skyscraper had a cleaning company that came by and took care of all the empty floors, no one else occupied the building except for Jack. It was a little weird having an entire building to himself, so he usually just stayed on the top floor training or going into the [Infinity Castle] space to see Stella and return home.
Within the first week of moving in, a black BMW pulled into the buildings underground parking garage. Being alerted that someone came in through his [A.I. Chip] that was hooked up to the security system; he saw a man in blue combat robes with a yellow trim step out of his car with a black ponytail sticking out of his hooded head.
The man looked around the garage and stared directly at the camera, exposing his white half mask with various decals on it. This was Jacks introduction to hell.
In the beginning of their training, Jack made fun of Death Dealer because of his extreme advantage in stats; although they were nothing to scoff at, they were still at the limits of a normal human. Death Dealer didn't take kindly to their first lesson and left that day without saying a word after being manhandled and mocked by a 7 year old.
A few days later, a long string of trucks and vans started pulling into Jacks building. Before he could wonder who they were, he received a call on his bulky satellite phone from his father. His father told him that he was sending in his best mechanics and scientists to set up a room where he'll be able to train. Curious, he waited for around a month for it to be complete.
When he was eating breakfast with his family, his father informed him that the training room was ready. Excited, Jack ran into his dimension straight back to New York to see what his father prepared for him. Exiting through his dimension in the main lobby of his building, Jack headed towards the elevator and pressed the button for the basement floor. His building had a total of 45 floors. 40 above ground, and 5 below, making his building stand tall at around 500 feet or 152 meters. Jack was currently headed to the 5th floor basement; he wasn't sure if there were people down there, so he decided to go down through the elevator.
Arriving in the basement, what was revealed before Jack was a tunnel with multiple doors leading to an expansive underground space that measured around 45,000 square feet. The entire space was coated in a gunmetal gray metallic substance. Standing in the middle of this room was Death Dealer with what appeared to be a metallic suit made out of the same substance the room was coated in.
Seeing Death Dealer for the first time in a month, Jack smirked.
Walking into the room with the door sliding shut behind him, he said jovially, "What's up? Here to have some more fun? I thought you had enough last time?".
Death Dealer just stared at him for a few seconds before he pointed at the metallic suit. Getting that he wanted him to put it on, Jack stripped down to his underwear with no hesitation and slipped on the suit.
Getting a feel for the weird suit and stretching his fingers around, he said, "So what doe-"
Before he could ask what the suit does, Death Dealer pulled out some clunky plastic remote and cranked one of the dials adorning it halfway.
*CLUUUUUUUUUNG*
A metallic ring rang throughout the room. Jack was stuck to the ground like a fly on a sticky trap.
"Urgggggg," Jack was grunting, trying to get himself back up.
When he was halfway up, Death Dealer cranked the dial on the remote up more.
*CLUNNNG*
Ready for the change this time, Jack just fell to his knee.
"DAMN! This shit is heavy as fuck!," Jack thought while he was straining to stand up. Seeing 3 other dials on the remote, Jack didn't like where this was going.
"We need to magnetise the other walls to calibrate the gravity chamber and your suit," Death Dealer said his first words ever to Jack.
Before Jack could even formulate a response, Death Dealer cranked the other three dials on the remote up to the same level as the first one. Feeling the pressure emitted on him from all four sides, Jack felt like he was being squeezed by the Hulk. With his strength stat at nearly 150, equaling nearly 10 tons in force, this was extremely impressive.
Before he could reorient himself, Death Dealer was on him like white on rice. Kicks, jabs, open-handed knife strikes, and elbows were thrown at him unceasingly. Managing to block a few, he was unable to keep it up for long as Death Dealer targeted his armpits, neck, eyes, crotch, ears, and basically any other weak point on Jack.
Feeling disoriented, Jack tried throwing a right jab, but Death Dealer deftly avoided it while transitioning into a Taekwando spinning back kick; connecting the heel of his foot with Jacks chin.
"Oh, I'm ready to have some fun, Jacky boy," Death Dealer said grimly.
For the next 8 years, Jack would train with Death Dealer relentlessly in the gravity room 5 days of the week for 10 hours a day. He was taught fighting styles from around the world such as Krav Maga, Sambo, Muay Thai, Kung Fu, Kickboxing, Brazillian Jiu-Jitsu, Taekwondo, Fisticuff, and Death Dealers favorite fighting style: Silat.
When they weren't working on refining Jacks unarmed fighting style, they could be seen using and going through polearm exercises. Although Jack wanted to learn more weapon styles, Death Dealer argued that learning and mastering one weapon type would be for the best, and Jack ultimately agreed with him after some thought.
Deciding already on polearms, he was taught the correct way to kill with staffs, halberds, glaives, pole-axes, and spears.
Jack knew that if he wanted to progress in his [Aspect Progression], he'd need to be involved in nearly every major event in the MCU spreading fun, freedom, and entertainment before finding a way off planet to spread it on an even larger scale. Not even mentioning the slowly progressing [Winter Aspect].
He knew that he'd eventually be a public figure, so he made sure to master the hook staff as a non-lethal alternative, but he wanted to make sure he had the power and skill to stay alive in this fucked up AU, so he did train in more lethal weapons in case the need ever called for it.
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August 7th, 1999
Earth - ?????????
Long Island City, NY, Jacks Skyscraper.
In a gunmetal gray training room a little smaller than a football field, two figures could be seen. One was the familiar Death Dealer, and the other was a youth that appeared to be 18 standing at around 6'1. The metallic suit the youth was wearing couldn't hide the explosive physique that was hidden beneath; an 8-pack adorned his body, along with extremely well-defined mermaid lines.
The youth had short snow-white hair and piercing blue eyes paired with an extremely handsome face, making him look like some sort of God. This youth was the 15 year-old Jack.
Where athlete's physiques are built for sports, every inch of muscle on Jacks body was honed for combat. From the rigorous daily training since childhood and the ridiculous stats fueling his body, Jack already looked like an 18 year old.
Squating in the middle of the room in a horse stance, Jack could be seen carrying a pole made out of the same substance his suit and training room were made of. His arm muscles were straining, and slight sweat could be seen rolling down his face.
"Okay, that's enough for today, my disciple," Death Dealer said to Jack. After about 4 years into their training, Jack became Death Dealers' self-proclaimed disciple. Not wanting to argue with the man and being grateful for the training, Jack didn't disagree.
Walking out of the training room with Death Dealer, Jack placed his training weapon on a rack in his training rooms armory. Saying goodbye to Death Dealer, he went to the sauna on the 44th floor after a hard days work. Jack stripped and looked at himself in the mirror of the sauna's bathroom.
"Damn, I look good. Even at my peak in my first life, I wasn't even close to as built as I am now," Jack thought while felxing his muscles in the mirror.
Deciding to stop before his ego imploded, he thought, "A.I. Chip, show me my attributes!".
[Ding! Scanning...]
[Attributes:
Strength: 196.4
Physique: 300.0
Vitality: 210.2
Soul: 201.5
Energy: 290.4/300.0]
Looking at his stats, Jack was extremely satisfied. He didn't think he'd be able to progress so much after signing a familiar contract with Stella.
With the gravity rooms effectiveness coming to an end, Jack was only able to strengthen himself through [Aberrant Anatomy], [Ta Lo Martial Arts], and [Sub-Zero Avatar].
Having the [A.I. Chip] scan for when he'd reach the power level of Thor, it analyzed that it would take nearly 1800 years of continuous strengthening to reach 1500 in the strength stat.
Realizing that fact, he knew he'd have to find an alternative way to boost his powers. He just didn't know where to start.
His plan for now is to wait for canon events to happen to get his hands on an infinity stone without anyones knowledge while simultaneously getting acquainted with Thor for Asgards knowledge. He secretly hoped that Thor was a dumbass in this AU.
He had a general idea of when most events would take place and where, but he wasn't sure what changes would be made with his interference, not to mention this being an AU.
After soaking in the sauna and washing off afterward in the roman style bath, Jack opened a portal to his dimension to go back home to the Xu Family Compound for dinner.
Opening the door to his bedroom, Jack made his way into the family dining room. As soon as he opened the door, he was assaulted by a 15 year old girl who started to cling to him like a koala bear.
"Jack! You're back!," Xialing exclaimed.
"Yes, just like every weekend, I'm back," Jack said wryly. Ever since 3 years ago, Xialing developed a crush on Jack. Jack, being over 100 years old mentally, wanted nothing to do with it, so he's been trying to avoid her for the last 3 years with little success.
He loves Xialing, but he sees her as a sister, if not his granddaughter. He just hoped she'd grow out of it.
Prying the blushing girl off him, he took a look at the rest of his family that were shooting him various looks. Shang-Chi and Mattias looked amused and went back to stuffing their faces with food. Xu Wenwu looked a little depressed, and Ying Li was nodding her head like she saw something all along that no one else did.
Sitting down next to his mother, Jack felt something move beneath the table. Stellas jungle cat sized body ambled out and draped itself across his lap. Rubbing his left hand through her fur while he ate with his right hand, Jack engaged in conversation with his family.
After dinner came to an end, Ying Li got the attention of the family and said excitedly, "Jack, we have some exciting news for you. We enrolled you into high school as a senior. We know you've already learned the curriculum, but your father and I thought you could use some friends."
Jack blanched, but he came back to his senses a few seconds later. With a frown adorning his face, he said, "Mom, what do you mean you enrolled me in high school? That seems like a giant waste of time. I'm busy with training. Besides, I have plenty of friends."
Everyone at the table looked at Jack with odd faces before Mattias said, "Jack, name one friend you have."
"Er..." Being stumped for about five seconds, Jack registered the fur under his left hand.
Jack exclaimed, "Stella, for one! Isn't that right, Stella? Aren't you my friend?"
Stellas head perked up on his lap, and she said through their bond, "Of course, we're the bestest of friends!" while wiggling her butt excitingly.
"See! there's one!" Jack said smugly. Looking at his family, he wasn't expecting to see their sad faces directed towards him.
From the Xu family's perspective, all Jack did was ask an animal if it was his friend, and it chirped back excitingly.
"Jack has no friends... I'll be your friend Jack," Xialing said through her tears while patting his shoulder.
"Jack, you'll be enrolled next month at Bayville High School," Xu Wenwu said with finality. He realized that he seriously stunted his sons social growth throughout the years of training. While Mattias, Shang-Chi, and Xu Xialing all went to public schools to learn how to interact with other children; Jack stayed at home talking to his animal friend and training like a masochist. He thought that may be why his son acts and talks like an old man.
"Some social intercation will do him good," Wenwu thought while looking at his downtrodden son stroking his only friend.
