[A/N]: This is a big one! Tell me how you felt about it and show some appreciation by chucking some powerstones my way!!
After letting his healing aura work its magic on his battered body, the ache in his muscles had faded to a dull memory, and the cuts from his sparring session with Mordo had sealed completely. He made his way through the quiet corridors of Kamar-Taj, following the path to the Ancient One's private hall.
The space was exactly what he'd expected from someone who had mastered the balance between simplicity and profound wisdom. A low wooden table sat at the center of the room, surrounded by cushions that had clearly seen decades of use. The Ancient One knelt behind the table with perfect posture, her movements flowing like water as she prepared tea. The scent of jasmine mixed with something distinctly mountain-grown filled the air, immediately creating an atmosphere that demanded respect.
"How is your body feeling now?" she asked without glancing up from her tea preparation. There was amusement threading through her voice.
He settled across from her, accepting the offered cup with both hands in the traditional manner. The porcelain was warm against his palms.
"You really need to be less obvious with your teaching methods, you know," Jay said after taking his first sip. The tea was perfect, with complex layers of flavor that somehow managed to be both calming and energizing. "Anyone with half a brain can see you deliberately paired me with Mordo today."
He paused, studying her serene expression.
"Though I have to admit, I'm curious about the reasoning."
The Ancient One finally looked up, meeting his gaze directly. Her ancient eyes held depths, but right now they were twinkling with mischief.
"Master Mordo approaches both power and principles with absolute rigidity," she said, setting down her own cup with care. "You, on the other hand, are far too flexible with both. By pairing you together, I hoped you would each learn to accept and integrate aspects of the other's nature."
Jay couldn't help but grin at the elegant simplicity of it.
"Alright, Yoda. Point taken."
The moment those words left his mouth, he felt as if an invisible backhand slap connected squarely with the back of his head. Jay spun around instinctively, his danger sense having given him absolutely no warning whatsoever, but saw nothing except empty air.
When he turned back, the Ancient One's expression hadn't changed, though her lips were definitely twitching with suppressed amusement.
"There are limits," she said mildly, "to how far casual humor should extend in the presence of one's teacher."
Jay rubbed the back of his head, genuinely unsettled. His danger sense was supposed to be foolproof. The fact that she could bypass it so completely was both impressive and terrifying.
"Message received, loud and clear."
The Ancient One's demeanor shifted then, becoming more serious without losing its underlying warmth.
"Your powers may be diverse and impressive, Jay, but they are not the be-all and end-all of your potential." She leaned forward slightly, her gaze intensifying. "To truly master them, to bring each ability to its maximum capability, I need to understand your complete arsenal."
She paused, letting her words sink in.
"That is, if you trust your teacher enough to be completely honest with her."
Jay set down his teacup and fell silent, considering. This was a crossroads moment, he realized. In all his knowledge of the Marvel multiverse, the Ancient One was someone who genuinely had the world's best interests at heart. Her methods could be questionable, but her ultimate goals were always pure. If she had taken him on as a student, he owed her the respect that came with complete honesty.
Still, some of what he was about to reveal could literally reshape global politics if the info fell into the wrong hands.
"First," he said carefully, "could you please use your strongest protective spells? Some of what I'm about to tell you..."
The Ancient One smiled at his caution, and there was genuine approval in her expression.
"You need to work much harder on your observational skills, dear student," she said with gentle reproach. "We have been in the Mirror Dimension for the past ten minutes."
Jay's head snapped up in shock. He immediately stood and walked to where the windows should have shown the monastery's central courtyard. Instead, he found himself looking out at an endless expanse of fractured reality like staring through a kaleidoscope that had been shattered and reassembled by someone with a very twisted sense of geometry.
The walls bent at impossible angles. Staircases climbed toward infinity and descended into nothingness. Everything reflected and refracted in ways that made his eyes water if he looked too long.
"How long have we been..." he started, then huffed in frustration as he returned to his seat. "I really do have a long way to go, don't I?"
"Indeed, you do. Now, please continue."
Jay took a deep breath, centering himself. This was it. Full disclosure.
"My original ability is what I call power theft, though that's really an oversimplification." He met her gaze directly. "It's not just about permanently taking someone's powers. I can create a field extending about fifty feet from my body that cancels all active superpowers except physical mutations."
The Ancient One's eyebrows rose slightly. She'd known the general outline from her glimpses through the Time Stone, but hearing the full scope directly from the source was genuinely impressive.
"More than that," Jay continued, "I can force awaken dormant abilities via X-genes and Inhuman genetics without requiring Terrigenesis or any of the usual trigger events."
Now her expression shifted to something approaching concern. Such wide-ranging versatility, especially the ability to safely awaken Inhuman powers, was the kind of capability that Atlan would go to war over. Black Bolt himself would certainly fight for access to such an ability if he knew it existed.
"There's more," Jay said, reading her expression correctly. "I can temporarily copy someone's powers, though doing so leaves the original person significantly weakened. And perhaps most importantly, I can permanently grant up to two of my stolen abilities to other people."
The Ancient One went very still. The applications of such power were beyond staggering. Jay could potentially create an entire army of enhanced individuals, each wielding multiple superpowers and bound to him by gratitude and loyalty. In the wrong hands, it would be the foundation of a superhuman empire.
"However," Jay continued, and something in his tone made her focus even more intently, "my body can only contain a maximum of ten distinct powers at any given time. I'm honestly not satisfied with this limitation, though I've discovered I can fuse multiple compatible abilities to occupy only a single slot..."
THWACK!
This time, the invisible slap was considerably harder, and Jay's danger sense still provided absolutely no warning. He grabbed the back of his head, staring at the Ancient One in complete bewilderment.
"What now?" Jay asked.
Her eyes were closed, her lips pressed together in what looked like barely contained irritation.
"There was a fly," she said through gritted teeth, "on your head."
Jay made what he privately thought of as his "confused Pikachu face," but wisely decided not to push his luck any further.
"Please," she said, her tone suggesting he should proceed very carefully, "continue."
Jay kept one hand protectively positioned over the back of his skull.
"My second power is the healing aura you've seen me use. I can heal myself and others to an extraordinary degree, even reversing aging by up to a decade, regrowing entire missing organs, even repairing damage that should be permanent." He demonstrated by allowing green energy to flare around his hands, the warm glow filling the space between them with concentrated life force.
The Ancient One nodded, though internally she was cataloging the sheer number of powerful beings who would kill for access to such potent healing energy. Mystical creatures, to ordinary mortals who were desperate, the list was endless. The energy signature reminded her strongly of the chi-based healing practiced by the most skilled masters of K'un-Lun.
"My third ability is the danger sense," Jay went on. "It functions as a true sixth sense for incoming threats, but it also enhances my mental processing capabilities and provides both perfect tactile memory and eidetic recall."
"Many powerful sorcerers and spiritual practitioners develop similar abilities over time," the Ancient One acknowledged. "At our level of operation, it becomes almost a requirement for survival."
"Fourth is molecular mimicry." Jay gestured toward his necklace, where a small adamantium bullet hung alongside what looked like an old quarter. "I can absorb and replicate the properties of any substance I touch. This adamantium bullet, for instance. I absorbed its metallic properties to fight Mordo earlier."
Before he could say anything more, the Ancient One moved with supernatural speed. One moment she was sitting serenely across from him, the next she had plucked the necklace clean off his neck and was examining the bullet with intense concentration.
Her casual demeanor vanished completely.
"Keep both this bullet and the metal's name as hidden as possible," she said urgently, her voice carrying a weight that made the air itself seem heavier. "I do not want Celestials or Collector's minions descending on Earth if they detect even a trace of celestial flesh."
Jay nodded soberly, filing away his knowledge about Tiamut sleeping beneath the planet's surface for a much later conversation. When he reached for his necklace, the Ancient One paused, her attention now fixed on the quarter hanging beside the bullet.
"This coin," she said slowly, turning it over in her palm. "Where did you acquire it?"
"It was a gift," Jay said quietly, his voice taking on a distant quality. "From a friend."
The Ancient One studied his expression and seemed to recognize the sensitivity of the subject. She examined the quarter more carefully, her mystical senses clearly picking up something significant.
"This piece once held extraordinary fortune woven into its very essence," she said finally. "Such luck is not something to be taken lightly."
For a moment, Jay's carefully maintained composure cracked. Memories of Domino flooded back. Her laugh, her confidence, the way she'd kissed him.
He shook his head hard, accepted the necklace back with unsteady hands, and forced himself to continue.
"My fifth power is tachyon field manipulation," he said, his voice regaining strength. "I can apply a field of tachyon particles to any object, but especially weapons, that allows them to cut through virtually anything by disrupting molecular bonds at the quantum level."
The Ancient One's eyebrows rose with genuine appreciation.
"So, you now possess both an unstoppable offensive capability and an unbreakable defensive one," she observed. "That represents a remarkably potent combination."
"Exactly!" Jay said, his enthusiasm briefly overriding his earlier caution. "I was specifically working toward that exact synergy. Totally worth all the effort it took to acquire both abilities."
The Ancient One actually chuckled at his excitement, the sound warm and oddly maternal.
"Please, continue."
"I also have technomorphing capabilities," Jay went on. "I can control and even temporarily merge my consciousness with any technological system I touch."
"Given how dependent both our world and most alien civilizations are on advanced technology, it's probably one of my most genuinely terrifying abilities." The Ancient One's expression grew thoughtful. "Is that the extent of your arsenal?"
Jay paused, looking slightly embarrassed.
"Actually, there's one more that I almost forgot about. I use it so infrequently that it genuinely slipped my mind." He held up his hand and concentrated, allowing shadowy tendrils to writhe up from his palm. They moved with an almost living quality, darker than simple absence of light. "This is dark..."
Before he could finish speaking the word "darkforce," the air around him absolutely exploded into mystical activity.
Dozens upon dozens of different magical circles materialized in concentric rings around his position, each one glowing with different colors and pulsing with distinct energies. The Ancient One's hands moved in patterns so complex and rapid that Jay could barely follow them, her fingers tracing sigils that seemed to burn themselves into the air.
Red bands that looked like they were forged from pure light wrapped around Jay's arms and torso, binding him completely in place. These were the legendary Bands of Cyttorak, and Jay could feel the immense mystical force behind them.
"What's going on?!" he shouted, struggling instinctively against the restraints.
"Be calm and do not panic," the Ancient One commanded, her voice carrying absolute authority that seemed to resonate through the Mirror Dimension itself. "Remain completely still while I examine you."
Her magic spread over the dark tendrils like searching fingers, scanning them with various forms of mystical energy. Jay could feel the probing sensation, not painful but definitely intrusive.
"I believe," she said grimly, "that a Dark Lord may have gained partial control over your body. I can sense potent darkness that should not exist within any mortal vessel."
"That's impossible!" Jay protested, genuine alarm creeping into his voice. "I took this power from a SHIELD prisoner named Marcus Daniels also known as Blackout. He could access something called the Darkforce Dimension and manipulate its energy directly. It's not demonic or evil, it's just extradimensional!"
The Ancient One's scanning spells abruptly stopped.
She stared at him for a very long moment, her ancient eyes seeming to peer directly into his soul. Then, without any warning whatsoever, she completely released all the mystical bindings holding him in place.
And summoned what appeared to be a rolled-up newspaper, which she used to smack him firmly on the head.
"Do not," she said with barely controlled exasperation, "scare me like that again! And do not mention such dangerous capabilities casually in front of other people!"
Jay covered his head with both hands, not from pain but from genuine fear of further retaliation. He had never seen the Ancient One lose her composure so completely, and it was honestly terrifying.
"Accessing extradimensional energies without proper contracts or mystical preparation," she muttered under her breath, beginning to pace. "Wielding forces that require decades of study and protection rituals. And he claims he cannot perform even basic sorcery!"
She stopped pacing and fixed him with a look that could have melted adamantium.
"This student of mine..."
"What exactly are you saying?" Jay asked cautiously.
The Ancient One took several deep breaths, clearly working to compose herself. When she spoke again, her voice had returned to its usual calm authority, though traces of exasperation remained.
"You will spend the remainder of this day in meditation within this Mirror Dimension. No tardiness will be tolerated when I return to check on your progress." She began weaving the complex gestures required to exit back to normal reality. "We clearly have far more work ahead of us than I initially anticipated."
With that pronouncement, she simply vanished, leaving Jay completely alone in the impossible architecture of the Mirror Dimension.
Jay looked around at his surroundings with new eyes. Walls that bent at angles that hurt to contemplate. Staircases that climbed toward infinity and descended into what looked like the concept of nothingness given physical form. Windows that showed fragments of different realities, sometimes multiple versions of the same scene playing out simultaneously.
It was beautiful in its impossibility, but also deeply unsettling.
"Man," he said to the empty fractured space around him, "I really do need to prioritize getting some kind of teleportation ability."
He settled himself into a cross-legged meditation position on the strange, reflective floor that seemed to be made of mirror. The Ancient One was absolutely right. He had an incredibly long way to go before he could consider himself truly trained.
But he felt like he was finally on the right path.
Even if that path apparently involved getting periodically smacked with newspaper.
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