Marvelous Martial Arts (A Marvel Story)

Mason was never afraid of revealing what he was capable of. For example, he never intended to wear a mask once he became a hero, partly because it did not align with his values, but most importantly because he did not believe it would be of any use.

Even if it shielded his identity from the general public, he did not doubt for a second that agencies like SHIELD would only take days at best to find his true identity. He was not some expert spy, and even if he were, Mason doubted even someone like the Black Widow would be able to hide indefinitely from them.

Of course, it was something else entirely to allow scientists to test his blood, but Mason trusted Alice not to do anything evil with his results.

Besides, the worst that could happen if these results fell in the wrong hands would probably be the creation of a clone, but Mason did not worry so much about that. Even if a clone of him were to be created, it could not possibly have a soul as strong as his, so it would inevitably be an inferior product.

More importantly, though, these were only some of the potential problems that could come with testing, and ignored the good sides. First, Mason was helping a friend, which was already enough of a reason on its own. A friend he trusted.

But even on a more personal standpoint, getting a more scientific look at his case might help with his cultivation. So far, Mason had solely been relying on ancient knowledge, which was often passed down through poetry and thus not necessarily the most accurate.

Mason did respect the knowledge of old, for even discovering such practices in the first place, but no one ever managed to break through Awakening in the history of mankind, so a more modern look at the problem might offer unexpected solutions.

The two of them arrived in a small room on the 14th floor, with a large machine in the middle of the room. Alice had him sit next to it as she explained, ”We will be starting with a full-body MRI to look for any anomalies.”

Mason gave a second look at the almost-alien-looking machine, questioning, ”That’s an MRI? Shouldn’t I take off my clothes then? I’m pretty sure I have some metal on me.”

Alice grinned proudly, ”I told you this place was the best. This is not your typical MRI, but an invention of Mr. Richards. It applies a self-contained magnetic field that is capable of ignoring the typical magnetic pulls. Unless you have a chunk of pure iron in your pocket, we’ll be fine.”

Mason shrugged; she was the expert here. He lay down into the machine, and after a few seconds had a faint feeling of something passing through him. The feeling was faint, and should have been invisible, but Mason’s enhanced senses seemed to sense it faintly.

It lasted for a few seconds, the sensation not exactly uncomfortable, but not comfortable either. Mason could just tell it was there, and not much beyond that.

Getting off the machine, Alice followed with a few other tests. For some, Mason had an idea of what they were, like when she took blood samples, but others might as well have been magic to him.

Still, by the end of it, Alice was staring at the results with wide eyes, as if struggling to believe what she was reading. Looking over, Mason found himself unable to properly read them, so he asked, ”Found anything interesting?”

This broke Alice out of her trance as she looked at him, taking a moment to find her words, ”I… I am going to need some time. Some of the results are still being analyzed. But- how to put this,” she put down the futuristic tablet and joined her hands, clearly still struggling to find the right words, ”Well, I can confirm you never used steroids in your life.”

Mason smiled, her hesitation amusing him, ”I knew that already.”

She gave him a look before revealing, ”Your body is dense. Your muscles, bones, tendons, organs, soft tissues… everything is strong. Unnaturally so. And everything is much too uniform.”

She once more hesitated before asking, ”Are you a mutant?”

Mason could understand her hesitation. Although the X-Men used to be around and performed their fair share of heroic actions, the Brotherhood of Mutants had also existed, and there had been quite a few incidents involving mutants.

There had been fewer mutant sightings ever since the X-Men mysteriously disappeared, but it was not that unusual either to hear about an incident involving one somewhere in the world. The views on mutants were also quite divided, with some not even believing they existed, others remembering the good the X-Men did, and of course, some who hated them.

”As far as I know, no, I am not a mutant. Nor do I possess anything superhuman. I simply have achieved the peak human physique.”

From Mason’s understanding of her, Alice would normally have replied with a sarcastic comment, yet she remained silent here. Instead, she leaned back into her seat, sighing, before finally asking, ”Is there something I should know?”

Mason was firmer this time, ”If that is of any help, I achieved this through training. Both physical and mental. And technically, it is something that anyone could do.”

”Technically?”

”In the same way as ‘anyone’ could build an Iron Man suit.”

Alice nodded in understanding. Tony Stark was 100% human, but that did not mean anyone could replicate his feats. In other words, while what Mason had done to his body was human, it still required a certain talent.

She gave another glance over the results and pointed out, ”This is abnormal. Yet you agreed to the testing. Why?”

Mason shrugged in response, ”Why not? It’s not like it’s a big secret. Besides, it helps both you and me. I’m looking for a way to take the next step, and I figured this might help.”

Alice was clearly lost, so Mason gave her a brief overview of how he had reached his current point and what he needed to go forward. He did not go into too many details, and mostly kept to the widely available knowledge.

Cultivation might sound esoteric, but information on Neidan, or Internal Alchemy, was actually widely available online. Most people simply took it as myth, as even Awakening experts could only sense their internal energy, often called Chi, after decades of training, or through special circumstances.

There was also the matter of talent, as even if one believed in Chi wholeheartedly, if they did not have the talent for it, they would never be able to control it, in the same way Mason would never be able to create a nano-suit for himself.

Once Mason had given her the brief overview of his cultivation so far, and the theoretical way forward, she kept glancing between his Three Treasures and said, ”This is interesting. What you’ve told me falls under many gray areas science still has not explored. The soul, for instance. Or this connection between all things. For this Essence, however, I do believe we have something on the subject.”

”You do?”

Alice nodded, although her expression grew more complicated as she revealed, ”Bioelectricity. But I am not versed in the subject. If you truly want an expert opinion, and valid insight into the matter, it might be better to involve Mr. Richards. I’m sure he would have an answer to your questions. But I understand this is not something easily told to strangers.”

She had lowered her head by the end of her sentence, her voice growing quieter with every word. Yet, as she finished, Mason suddenly burst into laughter, causing her to sharply raise her head as Mason spoke.

”You say that like it’s a bad thing. I know about Reed Richards and his extraordinary genius. And as I said, it really is no big secret. I would gladly have Richards look into my case. If anything, I’m more scared my case wouldn’t interest him enough.”

It was not that Mason trusted Reed Richards unconditionally. If anything, Mason was pretty sure he remembered an evil version of the man, and even if this version was one of the many good ones, which was much more probable, Mason would not just trust him that easily.

But this was not about trust. Again, Mason simply did not see any harm in being examined. It was not like he was bearing some secret inside of him. He certainly had a powerful soul, but not only was that something Richards probably would not be able to detect, but even if he did, so what? What exactly could they do if they learned that? And why would they even do anything about it?

The same went for Mason’s cultivation. Sure, anyone who examined him would discover he was strong, but what would they do about that? He did not have any serum inside him that could be replicated, so in his eyes, he only stood to gain.

Alice looked surprised at his willingness to be experimented upon, but she ended up smiling as she nodded. She tapped something on the tablet before saying, ”Alright then. I will take these to Mr. Richards if you’re okay with it? I think he is busy with something important today, so he might not help us right away, but I will get this to him as soon as possible!”

Mason smiled at the excitement she showed, and nodded to show his approval.

But as Alice grinned and stood up, Mason suddenly had a bad feeling. That something was not right.

Like danger was approaching.

Then, the glass window shattered, and the entire building shook as the sound of an explosion echoed throughout, and the ceiling fell on them.