The Immortal Iron Fist (fist_of_iron) wrote in oh_marvelous, @ 2014-04-28 14:59:00 |
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Entry tags: | z: om1: !complete, z: om1: affiliation: heroes for hire, z: om1: character: colleen wing, z: om1: character: danny rand, z: om1: character: misty knight, z: om1: location: new york |
The things I've done in the world I've seen-
Characters: Danny, Colleen, Misty
Setting: New York City
Content: Nothing questionable
Summary: Temporarily beardy Danny returns to NYC after years in K'un-Lun, trying to figure out where he belongs.
New York, possibly the greatest city in the world, home to eight million people. To villains and heroes and at one time to Danny Rand, the Iron Fist. The prodigal son had returned after a long absence, only to find that this was not the home he'd left behind. The city was an alien world as Danny walked its streets, so different from the other place he'd once called home; the ancient and celestial city of K'un-Lun. A world apart from this one, steeped in mysticism and tradition, it too had lately changed. He'd never felt like more of an outsider there than during his latest stay, helping to defend the land where he'd grown up as it recovered from a recent revolution. Its people didn't know how to react to the change in leadership, the shifts in the antiquated but enduring values of a society of immortals. A relentless pall of unrest settled over the divine city and the atmosphere became stifling. As an outworlder and a part of the rebellion and the new regime, Iron Fist had plenty of suspicion and strife directed at his way. He was happy to leave, but felt lost once he had.
Minutes, hours, years passed strangely in K'un-lun and when he reached civilization on Earth, Danny learned that he'd been away for almost five years. A lifetime for New York City. For him, it hadn't seemed that long, and he felt guilty at what his friends must have thought about his disappearance. Time was a transient enemy. It had changed the New York he knew. Buildings and neighborhoods, people and fashions, culture and noise (god, how had he forgot all the noise?) were all just different enough to seem foreign to him. The displacement he felt now wasn't as bad as it had been in the past, but the things and places he only half-recognized filled him with dread that he couldn't quite shake off. All he wanted was to find a quiet place, away from the sound and fury, to adjust and find some balance. He needed time. He needed to call someone, Jeryn maybe, get money and a place to stay. Figure out what was home anymore.
The Rand Headquarters, his father's building, was his home until it was half destroyed in the fight to save his life years before. This, he realized, was where he was going until he was standing on the sidewalk where it should've been. It was gone. A homeless shelter and soup kitchen stood in its place, bearing the 'Rand' name. Once Danny got over the shock he smiled his surprise. He'd told himself that demolishing his father's building was his own choice. Something he might do someday, but couldn't bring himself to do before he'd left Earth again. In all the time he was gone it hadn't crossed his mind again. Now, when might have expected to feel bitter or angry at this transgression, he only felt relief. Some changes were for the better.
"Do you need help?" a voice broke through his dumb smiling reverie and he turned to a woman who'd just stepped out of the shelter's front door. Danny thought about how he must look; unkempt hair and beard, dirty clothes from a trek through snowy mountains and the long trip from Asia back to New York. The journey hadn't exactly been kind to him. She must think he was down on his luck, lost, and in a way that was true, but he didn't need the help she could give. "No thank you-" he began, but a piece of bright paper tacked to a bulletin board beside the entrance caught his eye. He drifted towards it, brows furrowed, and the woman watched him a moment longer and then ducked back inside. The weather worn flier was pink, with familiar faces xeroxed at the top and the words 'HEROES FOR HIRE' printed below. They'd started the agency back up. Some things never changed. Tearing the flier from the board and holding it like something holy, Danny knew exactly where home was.
When he reached the address printed on the ad, Danny stopped on another sidewalk, staring up at an unfamiliar building. A Chinese restaurant was not what he'd expected. He scanned the windows until he saw a small sign written with a marker on construction paper, announcing the offices upstairs. Inside he met with the stormy scowl and judgmental eye of the establishment's proprietor. She opened her mouth, prepared to order the grungy drifter out, but he cut her off to ask about the business upstairs. After a silence spent considering him she nodded, suspicious, and told him that this entrance was for paying customers only. And that there was a lock on the back. The little woman behind the counter reminded him somehow of Shao Lao. Proud, fierce, and protective. This little dragon lady wouldn't let him pass without exacting her toll, but Danny smirked at her. Iron Fist knew how to slay a dragon; he went for the heart.
His flattery, jokes, and smiles wore her down until she finally yielded with involuntary laughter and the sly admission that those girls upstairs were good for business. With a last promise to try everything on the menu as soon as humanly possible, Iron Fist vanquished the dragon lady's resolve and ascended the stairs empty-handed and triumphant. He paused before a frosted glass door in the hallway, HEROES FOR HIRE stuck on it in cracked letters, and took a deep breath. After a sharp knock he opened the door and strolled in, dirty and bearded and grinning. No matter what he encountered in that office, anger or relief or indifference, Danny was glad to be home.