[center][img]http://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/marveldatabase/images/1/1d/The_Immortal_Iron_Fist_(2007).png/revision/latest?cb=20130523002657[/img][/center] [b]New York City, around 6:00 PM, March 20th, 2005[/b] Danny Rand-Kai could feel the [i]qi[/i] of this city: a murky, pulsing, constantly shifting thing that felt gritty, strange and just...[i][b]alien[/b][/i]. This was not his city, this wasn't even his world anymore, and the gleaming metal spears that were the buildings stabbing the sky with cars whizzing by underneath in a grating cacophony of horns and breaks and curses only served to contrast against his memories of K'un-Lun with its graceful architechture and pristine surroundings. K'un-Lun, his home since the age of six, a bubble of frozen time that had suddenly popped and left him stranded in this unfamiliar modern world with its' endless swarms of people rushing about in the blind frenzy of speed that only those who truly know mortality aspire towards. Danny supposed he had no one to blame for his feelings of loss and discomfort but himself, though. After all, he had chosen this path, chosen to give up paradise, eternal life, the love and adoration and peace of K'un-Lun.... For revenge. It was a path he alone could walk, for he had taken up the mantle of the Immortal Iron Fist: the Living Weapon, a title that should rightly have belonged to his father before his untimely death, that of a warrior who fought alone as a burning light against an eternal storm of dark- [i][b]"EVERYBODY WAS KUNG-FU FIGHTING!" THOSE KICKS WERE FAST AS LIGHTNING!"~[/b][/i] [i]*sigh*[/i] His cellphone ringtone was probably Joy's idea of a joke, and even though it grated on Danny, defeating a dragon was nothing compared to trying to figure out how to reprogram the thing. The instant interruptions of cell phones were exactly the sort of thing he hated about this modern world and- [i][b]"IN FACT IT WAS A LITTLE BIT"-[/b][/i] [b]*Click*[/b] [color=seagreen]"Go for Danny Rand, majority shareholder and future CEO of Rand Incorporated."[/color] Joy's laughter on the other line brightened his mood significantly, even if he had to admit it wasn't really productive to his current train of thought. "Very funny Danny, but we both know the day you have my job is the day the company goes under! Anyways, just calling to let you know that we're going to have to reschedule dinner, this whole meeting's running late but I'm dealing with some pretty important clients that I can't exactly walk out on. You gonna be alright taking care of yourself for the night?" It had been Joy's idea to start having dinners together at the end of the day, maybe to try and give things a sense of routine, normality, even family. That's what she was trying to be, he supposed, some cross between a mother and an older sister ever since she'd been named as his guardian. It wasn't like they weren't close in their own way, considering Joy had known him since he was in diapers and she and her father had known his parents even before that. If anything they'd only grown closer due to the fact that both of them had lost their parents in those mountains- He forced himself to respond before he started remembering. [color=seagreen]"Yeah, I'm sure I'll be fine, I'll figure something out."[/color] "Okay, if you say so. Oh, and before I forget make sure to get out of the penthouse, experience the city a little! It's not good for you to just sit in your room brooding all day, Danny. After all, you're only sixteen! You need to live a little!" [b]*Click!*[/b] Danny took a moment to gaze out the window at the skyline and the bustling city below. His father's city. Maybe he had gotten a little too distracted and grim lately, forgotten who he really was and why he was here. [color=seagreen]"Experience the city and...live a little...huh?"[/color] [hr] [b]Chinatown March 20th, 2005 7:30 PM[/b] [b]"KILL HIM, KILL HIM, KILL HIM, KILL HIM!!!~[/b] Okay, so an illegal underground fighting arena beneath a run down Chinatown restaurant [i]prooobably[/i] wasn't the side of the city Joy was hoping he'd experience, but the Young Dragon had to admit for the first time in a while he definitely felt like he was living. Besides, it felt good to be back in the traditional masked garb of the Iron Fist, dragon symbol plain on his chest, wailing on criminal scum in hopes of fighting well enough to secure an audience with the mob boss known as Chiantang. Because in addition to being one of the most established tong leaders around, The Black Dragon was well known to Danny as a [b]literal, actual dragon[/b] in disguise and one of the most well-connected figures when it came to the hidden subcultures where mysticism and martial arts intersected. The bloody faced, stony skinned man-mountain before him went by the name of Six Elephant Jiang and was his tenth opponent of the night, and if at first both he and the crowd had looked hesitant and amused at the sight of a short-for-sixteen blue-eyed white kid in the garb of a legendary warrior, well, several successive cash injections and the way he was quickly becoming a betting favorite ensured that there were plenty more to come. But Danny had let himself get overconfident. Before he knew what was happening the mass of muscle that was Jiang had recovered from his latest Thunderfoot Kick to the face and picked him off the ground in a death grip that reinforced the suggestion that he wasn't entirely human. Specifically, boosting his body's durability with qi was only [i]just[/i] preventing all of his ribs and the organs in between from being ground into a fine paste and his efforts at kicking out of it or reversing were about as effective as an ant trying to wrestle an actual elephant. If he wanted to avoid dying, there was only one thing to do. Danny searched deep within himself, deep within his very being, and called upon the fiery Qi of Shou-Lao. Though it was still nearly pinned against the giant of a man, his right fist began to glow...to smolder...to [b]burn.[/b] Until Daniel Rand-Kai hit a man twice his size with a One-Inch-Punch that was Like A Thing of Iron. The impact blew the man off his feet...and through the ropes of the ring...and into a few unlucky audience members...[i]and[/i] three inches deep into the concrete arena wall. The bloodthirsty crowd that had been roaring for death just moments before fell silent and then, the whispers began: [color=lightgray]"The real Iron Fist?...the kid's the real deal?...I thought the costume was a joke...Nobody's ever beaten Six Elephant Jiang...If it's the real Iron Fist he's been scamming all of us!...If he's the real Iron Fist he'll try and punish us all..." [/color] [b]"THE KID'S THE REAL IRON FIST! KILL HIM![/b] Then waves of humanity rushed at Danny like an angry tsunami. [hr] [b]March 20th 2005, The same arena, 9:00 PM[/b] [i][b]"EVERYBODY WAS KUNG FU FIGHTING!~" "THOSE KICKS WERE FAST AS LIGHTNING! IN FACT IT WAS A LITTLE BIT FRIGHTNING! BUT THEY FOUGHT WITH-"[/b][/i] [b]*click*[/b] From atop his seat on what was less of a pile and more of a small hill of unconscious kung fu gangsters, a slightly more battered Danny Rand-Kai answered the phone. [color=seagreen]"Yeah, hi Joy. Oh no, no need to worry about me, I'm doing just fine. Yup, I decided to go get some takeout. Um...yeah, Chinese-"[/color] his foot lashed out at a figure that started to stir without actually bothering to stand [color=seagreen]"-food. The owners were pretty friendly, it's been a nice time. D'you want anything? Well, alright then. It's fine, I understand. I'll see you in the morning before school." [/color] So much for a lead on his revenge, but if nothing else Danny was certainly feeling more at home. Maybe New York City wasn't so bad after all. Besides, from what he'd heard the legitimate front for this place had some pretty badass pork dumplings. Then he felt it, thrumming across battle-senses still heightened from his melee with the street-fighters. An aura of qi of massive potential power, wild, barely-masked and restrained like a bonfire in the night or music in a soundproofed room. It resonated with him, despite coming from above ground and apparently...from the direction of the Bronx? Regardless It was a savage, bestial aura that Iron Fist was absolutely sure could only have its' origins in one place. K'un-Lun. Danny hopped off the pile of twitching, concussed thugs with a grin. [color=seagreen]"Look, guys I hate to beat up and run, but something's just come up. So uh, just stay right there, and when some of you are capable of moving again do me a favor and tell the Big Boss that the Immortal Iron Fist is in New York City. Got it? Great." [/color] Martial arts action, occult secrets, sudden and endless mysteries... Maybe K'un-Lun and New York weren't so different after all.