E/d note: No more cookie tax required, please save your power stones for more deserving books! This series is trash and I am a trash editor! But I will continue to be the trash editor that will try to bring this MTL to you.
E/d note: The ending of MTL 23 and the subsequent MTL 24 and MTL 26 are all really weird. Ending of MTL 23 had seen Natasha asking out the MC on a "date", word for word it was like this: "By the way, I know that there is a very interesting sport, so do you want to play some exciting things later?" AND also "Kang, Sue, don't refuse an invitation from a beautiful lady, please". What in the Marvel is going on here?? If you've read my C25, then you should already know I removed that part completely and replaced it with a different scene :D
'Inner dialogue/thoughts'
"Normal dialogue"
[System]
[Diary entries]
(Word count: 1,556)
~ With Luke, at his favourite spot in the café ~
'I can't believe I got kicked out from my personal office by my own staff! It's not my fault Pepper broke down again at the song.' Luke thought to himself. 'Speaking of, I can steal a lot of songs from my original world while I am here in this Marvel Universe since most of the artists do not exist here. I can already picture my popularity soaring through the skies! Should I just be an entertainment tycoon?!' Luke pondered. 'Nah, it's not worth it in a universe as dangerous as this one is. Maybe I can just use those songs for personal situations like earlier from time to time.'
Time quickly passed by. Pepper had already left the café to head back to work. As she left, she had made both April and Crystal apologize to Luke for kicking him out of his own office, to which they did, albeit reluctantly and embarrassed. Pepper had explained that the song had just brought back some memories and that she was thankful that Luke had sung the song.
"Mind if I join you, Mr Sullivan?" Came the sudden request from Natasha.
"Oh no, I don't mind at all Ms Romanoff. And please, you can call me Luke, or Sully like Crystal does." Luke answered, unsurprised at Natasha's active engagement. 'It's time to see how well my meditation worked out for me'. Luke was curious to see how badly affected by the simulation he was, and how effective his meditation was to minimize the effects. His interaction with Natasha now would be a good indicator of it.
"Only if you call me Natasha, or Nat for short." Natasha replied with a smile as she took a seat beside Luke. "It's been a crazy day, hasn't it?" Luke asked.
"You mean the news? It is indeed crazy how Tony Stark of all people was kidnapped. You would think that the kidnappers would be wise enough to not go after one of America's main weapons developer. That's almost like declaring war against the entire country." Natasha said, "What do you think?"
'I see, either she's fishing for some information due to my diary entry, or she's testing my analytical skills. Guess I'll throw her a bone for that.' Luke thought before he began, "About the kidnapping? Nothing much really. I'm not a kidnapper myself so I don't know what their motivations could be. Although, considering that the kidnappee is Tony Stark himself, the motivation could be a number of things – money, attention, revenge, or even jealousy. Whatever the motivation is could be significantly amplified through time."
"What do you mean by that?" Natasha asked.
"Let's say someone's been in Tony's shadow for over 20 years, but now has the means to overshadow Tony. Those 20 years is a long time to grow the feeling of contempt towards Tony." Luke dropped the hint. "Also, it's kind of suspicious how in the reports it said that 'the convoy escorting Tony was ambushed'. Doesn't that just point toward someone from high up in the military or someone who has the power to I don't know, maybe buy the information from them, and then sell it to the kidnappers? How else could they have been ambushed? The convoy soldiers aren't all amateurs, are they?" Luke finished. He had dropped the subtle hints that could only point to a few people. It was up to Fury to narrow it down further. However, Luke was unaware that Fury had already thought of this, and yet had ruled out the true mastermind and was no closer to finding out who it was.
"So, you believe in the rumours then?" Natasha prodded. "You never know, Natasha. Some rumours could lead to a surprising outcome." Luke replied.
After having small talk with Natasha, Luke checked his watch and decided it was time to head back to begin his routine meditation. "Well, I think it's about time for me to head back. It's been a pleasure talking to you, Natasha. We should do this more often, you're quite a conversationalist." Luke complimented as he stood up.
"The pleasure's mine, Luke. You're not too bad yourself. We could make this a weekly thing if you'd like, during closing hours or whenever we are both free." Natasha responded.
"Sounds great! Well, I'll be heading off now, take care of yourself." Luke said as he made his final round around the café to bid farewell to the rest of the staff. When he had reached Crystal and April, however, they were both still a little mad at Luke for making Pepper cry but saying that he would sing a different song for them, a much happier one, had placated the both of them for the time being.
~ A few minutes later ~
Luke was currently walking on the streets of LA, making his way back to his apartment building. 'That wasn't as bad as I thought it would have been. All those meditation sessions have helped me significantly. Once again, when I saw her, I had the urge to give her a hug. But unlike before, I was easily able to keep it in check. Moreover, it seems her personality from the simulation world and the real world is not too different. She still has the same hobbies – shooting of all things and likes and dislikes. That is a major boon for me, since I wouldn't have wasted the simulation knowledge for nothing.'
Suddenly, he had heard a cry for help that originated from the alleyway that was ahead of him. Picking up his pace, he had reached the alleyway and saw a cliché scene – a woman was being mugged at knifepoint by a robber. 'Ah, the damsel in distress.' Luke thought. A part of him had wanted to carry on walking, as it was not his problem. But the other part of him, influenced by his past world self and his simulated experience, was screaming for him to rush in a help the lady. Grunting at what he was about to do, Luke had resolved to play the hero just for this one time.
However, knowing better than to put himself in the spotlight with an idiotic move like that, Luke had opted instead to lightly flick his finger as he carried on walking past the alleyway. This had sent a tiny water droplet, formed from the surrounding water vapour, flying at a high speed towards the robber. In the next instant, with precise control of speed and power, the droplet had hit the back of the robber's neck, which had caused the robber to pass out from the heavy blow.
The lady who was being "robbed" did not appear surprised when this happened, as if she was mentally prepared for such a scenario to occur. She had clicked the stopwatch hidden in her hands, before running out the alleyway in 'panic'. As she exited the alleyway, she looked around, only to not find anyone in the vicinity. Losing her panicked state, the lady calmly walked back to where the 'robber' had passed out. After a few minutes, the sounds of sirens could be heard in the background.
E/d note: I apologize for the very lacklustre second half of C26! As I was writing this and planning this out, my favourite League of Legends team, T1, had just lost to BLG at MSI :<
So, I was a little, out of it when I wrote this chapter down. I will try to bounce back, but the next few chapters may follow the same writing – where I just clean up the translation and not add anything from my own elements!
- End of Chapter 26 -
Next time in C27 - Saving the Twins!
"Then where are you taking us, and why us? There were many other kids back there, but you only took the two of us." Pietro asked.
C26 was written using MTL 24. In MTL 24, it started with a car ride to the "very interesting sport". And in that ride was the whole scene about Natasha asking the MC about the kidnapping, which I had converted into a table conversation. That was followed by the "test" that Natasha had set for Luke during the car ride. However, as you have read, I had changed the premise on it.
Moreover, the 'test' had been talked about during MTL 26, so I will shift the reactions from MTL 24 to MTL26, which should be C28 in this series! MTL 25 will focus on Wanda and Pietro regarding their move from Hydra to SHIELD. And I noticed that the MTL chapters are getting longer, maybe hitting 1k a chapter or more. This is a problem FOR ME because that means I would need double my effort to get through even more MTL content just for 1 MTL chapter xD
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