Chapter 16: Chapter 16 : Party and setting up

Next Friday, Ryan drove his Maserati to Gwen's house. It was the first time for him to visit there. He was wearing a simple white shirt and black pants for the party. 

Upon entering Gwen's parent's house, he was greeted by Captain George Stacy, and his wife Helen Stacy. 

There were also a few of Gwen's friends waiting as it was a small party. But, all of them are girls. 'Didn't she say all her friend is here?' Ryan gulped for the future he's about to face.

He greeted Khan , an eccentric girl who he had seen before in the university. He was waving at her from afar instead of approaching her.  'There's no chance I'll go to the group of girls,' he thought.

The birthday girl was still getting ready. Ryan tried to make small talk with the people there, but he gave up completely after 5 minutes.

"This is torture..." he mumbled as he walked away from the giggling group of girls Khan dragged him to. Escaping the conversation, he poured some wine for him to drink. George noticed him and smirked. "Kid, you dare to drink in front of a police captain?"

"I'm already at legal age George," Ryan said playfully.  They have met a few times before so Ryan was comfortable with the captain. They meet when George came to his house to explain about the case involving the crooks and a few times after when he drove Gwen home from their day out. 

"But you drive here, don't you? Let's see how you take your car back after this," George smiled evilly, causing him to get goosebumps.

At first George was hostile to him, thinking he was going to take his daughter away. But seeing Ryan never crosses the line, he became friendly towards the kid.

"Nothing to worry about. I already called a driver."

George nodded as he acknowledged Ryan's safety measures.

"Still. Drinking a lot isn't a good thing," the captain said as the kid was already on his third glass of wine. Surprisingly, he wasn't blushing or drunk, causing George to assume he had been drinking for a while. From Gwen's story that she always brought up suspiciously at the dinner table, George also knew that Ryan is a socially reclusive person. 'The kid must be uncomfortable...' he thought.

George once thought that maybe this was a trait geniuses had. For example ; Stark becoming a narcissistic dick who moonlight as a human planter while Ryan became an antisocial loner. If you ask George, he will pick the latter character sheet rather than the first one. 

While George was in deep thought, Ryan surprised him with a question he never though he'd ask.

"George, what do you think about Hell's Kitchen?" Ryan asked casually. 

George frowned at the question and his face became solemn. He has a sharp look and replied a little agitated, "Why do you ask?"

Ryan thought maybe this is a sensitive topic for George so he played it off by shrugging his shoulder and saying nonchalantly, " I don't understand it. I thought you might explain it to me."

George stared at Ryan's naive face and realised that it was just an innocent child curiosity. He also felt the need to warn Ryan about going there impulsively.

"Hell's kitchen is a hodgepot of criminal activities. I pity the citizens there. Sure, not all of them is bad. But the gangs there is uncontrollable..." George explained while shaking his head.

"Why doesn't the cop do something?" 

It was pretty ballsy question to ask a police captain, but he has no malice. 

George let out a long sigh and said, "Even if we do something, about the gang or the drug. New ones will just take over. We tried multiple times. It all can be traced back to one thing." George stopped there, looked at Ryan in the eyes and explained. "Poverty..."

Ryan moved away from the depressing topic after George became silent. More guests arrived, saving Ryan from continuing.  George's former partner, Mr. Rodrigue and his wife come to celebrate together with everybody. George introduced Ryan to Rodrigue who has just hugged him.

"Nice to meet you Mr. Knight," Rodrigue smiled and shook hands with Ryan. Then, Rodrigue moved away, but his hand stayed clamped to Ryan's hand, detaching away from his body.

"Eh", Ryan's eyes widened and he froze on the spot.  Rodrigue noticed his reaction and laughed out loud. " Hahaha! Sorry kid, just messing with ya."

Rodrigue took back his fake hand and explained, " I lost my real hand a few years back."

The old man reattached his fake hand. " This one has no function, but it is great to prank people," He said while waving the prosthetic awkwardly while laughing in a self - deprecating manner.

Ryan looked at Rodrigue while feeling amused. "How did you lost it, if I may ask?"

The old man didn't mind his question and started telling his story. of course, he was the protagonist and George was the screw up in the story. George rolled his eyes at the greatly exaggerated story and drank his wine in distress while chiming in once in a while to correct the facts. 

10 minutes later, Gwen came out from her room with a beautiful blue dress with an eye catching necklace. Ryan heart skipped a beat, but he didn't realise it.  All the people present wished her their birthday wishes and she become the center of attention. A song and a cake later...

"Here, Happy Birthday Gwen,"  Ryan said and handed her a wrapped gift. He had been drinking a lot to avoid the conversation and he felt really tired now. His social battery was already drained by the short period of time he is there. 

Gwen grinned and received the box happily. She did the customary, " Aww, you don't have to..."

Khan interjected and said excitedly, " Open it now Gwen! I want to see what a young billionaire's gift is!"

Most people here already know who he was as he wasn't hiding it. He nodded to Khan's request and also nudged her to open it.

Gwen opened the box happily. After unwrapping it, there was a smartphone inside.

Khan said," This is the IPhone right! I also got one!" She took out her phone and showed it to Ryan.

Gwen accused him, " You just took it from your company.. right?" She was a little disappointed to see the thought placed in the gift. 'Wait, why do I expect something more?' 

She smiled at him and thanked him nevertheless. She already bought one of the phones. 'Maybe I can give this to mom or dad,' she thought. The busybody Khan was also disappointed. She was hoping to see maybe a diamond locket or a gold bar or car key. Ryan coughed and took the phone from Khan's hand.

"This one is special," he said while explaining the phone. The one on sale right now corresponds to an iPhone 5 specification, but the one he gave Gwen has a major upgrade! More storage, more megapixels, 4k display, et cetera...

"Lastly, there is a new feature specially made for Gwen." Ryan said while displaying a mysterious smile that attracted the attention of all the girls there. 

Gwen was in disbelief by his proclamation. She felt that that's a special phone, but it will be no more than that. Ryan smirked and ordered.

"ALBUS, greets Gwen."

ALBUS : Hello Gwen. My name is ALBUS, an Artificial Intelligence that will help you from now on!

Gwen : (0-0)

Khan :(0o0)

Other girls: (;,,;)

A mascot of an old wizard was dancing on the phone screen. Ryan finished his presentation by saying, " I can guarantee the technology in this phone will not be obsolete for another 10 years."

Suddenly, Ryan realised what he had done. "Why the hell does this turn into a phone unveiling ceremony?" he muttered underneath his breath.

Gwen was shocked and she turned nervous and has a shaky voice. "This is too much for me!" She said in a worrying tone as she worried about the cost. For the phone to be able to support an AI, she thought the cost was tremenodous

"Before, you're dissatisfied, now you're scared. Make up your mind." The tired Ryan had no filter and blurted out, "I made it specially for you, don't worry about it. There will never be a second one in the world" 

She stared blankly at him as he threw out a sudden attack. Her feeling was conflicted about the gift. He noticed and said, "Just say 'thank you' . Don't need to think very much."

There seemed to be a protective bubble on those two that other people couldn't chime in. The girls was a little jealous of Gwen's luck and very frustrated to see them keeping it in the friend mode.

The atmosphere didn't bother Khan who was still fiddling with the new phone."Hey, what is this app? Facetime?"

The duo's eye contact broke off.

"That's a new feature of the iPhone, it will be released once the new version of the phone comes out. It's a video call feature," Ryan explained.

Khan retorted,"Who she gonna call if it wasn't released yet?"

"Well she can call me.  I have it on my phone." Ryan blurted out without realising what he meant. 

Gwen blushed a little, but turned to her usual face in an instant. Although she did it quickly, Khan caught her reaction and smiled evilly. 

The boy doesn't realise what he did. The girls started giggling behind his back.

This gave Khan a lot of new material. She teased,  Basically he made a video call app just so he could see your face anytime. Oh so sweet, a young billionaire's love. Don't forget to bring it while you're in the shower."

She stopped when she has a bruise on her shoulder from being hit by the angry birthday girl. 

When he returned home, he was exhausted. He poured a glass of the Iron Blood Lover liquor and rested in front of the TV.

His exhaustion was too much for a young man, even if he was introverted. He wasn't only exhausted because of Gwen's party, but also because of the clone he received yesterday.

You are reading story Head Patting in Marvel at novel35.com

During the trading session, TheDoctor delivered a custom made clone to him.

TheDoctor: The clone is controlled by an thin contact lenses that acts as a neuro-link to the clone's brain.

When he split his consciousness to control the clone, trouble came with it. A splitting headache, vertigo, and nausea, and more It took a few hours to adapt from his two person viewpoint.

"I'm basically two people at once," He said as he faced the clone.

Usually, this kind of technology needed the user to be asleep to control the other body. "But, sci-fi was added with a magical element. Now, I can do this without sleeping." He was confident before splitting his consciousness and regretting it later.

There's a few upgrades he made to the other body before it went on its journey. The clone drank the gene optimization fluid to make it stronger. Ryan also gave the clone some potions, and some body strength dan. Before leaving, the clone had 4x body strength of a normal man, making it easier for him to survive. 

Also, Ryan bought a storage ring for the clone. It was a low end quality of storage unit. It only  had 1m³ in volume compared to others that has ten times more minimum. This was the only ring that can be accessed with brain signals instead of magical energy or internal energy.

"It was very hard to find a storage ring. I was hoping to get a bigger space for it like in the novels."

The one he got cost him 10,000 tc. He didn't mind it as being alone allowed him to maneuver a lot more. He turned his smartphone profits into tens of kilograms of gold and some artworks that he sold in the system. That was how he was able to afford the ring. 

"But it'd still be easier to find compared to the magic circuit..." He let out a long sigh. 

His hunt for the magic circuit is still not successful. He became skeptical a few times about its existence, but most members of the group chat already bought it. He forced himself to be patient until he manage to find it. 

"Let's put in some identification cards, passport, cash, gold bar, some tech and a change of clothes."

He crammed together a lot of stuff inside Kai's storage ring. Oh by the way, he decided the clone's name will be Kai Vera after smacking the keyboard randomly a few times. He felt a sense of familiarity with the name but he didn't know why. 

One of his worry is that if the clone could use the system. The things he placed into the ring was all that he thought necessary.

"Weapons, house deeds, magic scroll, magic potions, a supercomputer, signal jammer, stealth suit, healing dan, strengthening dan..."

After settling the personal stuff, he took some time to get used to being a split body. In his mind, he could process 2 separate points of view after a few hours He adapted to the vertigo and he's no longer nauseated, however it was taxing on his mind. 

With ALBUS's help, he forged some documents about Kai's immigration status, his credit score, his previous experiences, his childhood, and more. He knew about Shields' existence, so he didn't take it easy. Maybe he even gone a little overboard. 

After making the identity airtight,  Ryan controlled Kai to tore open an Invisibility scroll he bought for 200 tc. It could make a person invisible for 100 minutes only. Slowly, the clone move away to the Hell's Kitchen area of New York.

"He'll arrive at the docks in half an hour later. Just in time for the ship to arrive,"

Ryan even set up the method of Kai coming into the country. By smuggling himself outside to other countries first and immigrating back using the official channel,  Kai will become a citizen of the United State when he went back. The paperwork for immigrating was already done, as he started preparing for the clone weeks ago. Now, Kai just needed to be there on time.

All of this was done yesterday before he went to the party. Finishing season 1 of the Overlord anime, he  is going to sleep after finishing the drink.

Suddenly his phone rang in the middle of the night. He checked the screen and someone was facetiming him.

He answered the call with a smile. A beautiful voice on the other side of the screen asked, "Did you enjoy the party?"

Kai POV. (Ryan as Kai POV)

(Russian accent) "My name is Kai, from Latveria. I came to New York after my family was killed by a dictator in my country. " Kai practised his introduction in this body. (In normal accent) "No wait. The accent is too corny."

It's been 3 days since he arrived at the Clinton area. He wanted to buy a shop at the 6th street and open a small clinic there, but instead he had to go deeper into the Hell's Kitchen muddy ground. His new shop is located on 30th Street instead. 

"This clinic has been shut down before as the owner... was shot dead. If you want to set up a clinic, I really recommend an area away from this place. The only reason I took this sale was because I'll go back home to a different state after this." Phil Dunphy, the realtor responsible for this sale, advised him.. .a lot.

Kai smiled at the kind man and said, "It's okay, I don't mind it "

Phil washelpless. At first, he's scared when he saw the guy's cold face and heard his Russian accent. But, the guy was really nice. He said his last word to Kai after signing the paper. "Only tough guys can survive here. Please make sure you are tough".

Kai's heart warmed when he heard that. The man was really nice and his intention was pure. 'He reminded me of Uncle Ben.'

While cleaning  his surgical tools and arranging his shop's interior, he checked out the information that he got from [TheDoctor] as prop.

"This is the first intermediate knowledge I got."

When he opened it, his brain almost exploded from the information.

From diseases, surgery, drugs, and many more. In his mind, it's as if he's been reading only medical books for 12 years until he becomes a specialist. His enhanced control over his body makes him a natural born surgeon but he still needs practice. 

It can't be denied that he didn't have any experience in treating people, so he used a simulated environment to do that. Using his training card, he changed the setting from combat to medical. So, every night when he meditated, he practiced doing surgery to people.

After digesting the knowledge, he realized many drugs he read aren't even developed by this world.

"It'll be a side project to bring this medication over to this universe."

He could cure many diseases with the new drugs, but the equipment for manufacturing is too advanced ro create.  He needed to wait till he got the corresponding blueprints or spend a lot of time trying to figure it out. "Of course, the main body is responsible for this"

[TheDoctor] also gave him some medical kits. Such as x-ray glasses, blood testers, stethoscopes, and other equipment . It greatly helped his clinic in setting up. He disguised it as items he bought from the Knight industry and the main body will deliver it later.

At night time, he's still renovating the clinic when he heard some gunshot sound from far away. He could hear this because his hearing is more sensitive from other people. "I wonder how Daredevil sleeps here..."

Kai finally understands why George said Hell's Kitchen is a cesspool of crime.

"There isn't a peaceful moment here. I guess that's the norm in New York, but in here it's too much."

He's only been here for 3 days, but he was mugged 5 times. He didn't shy away from breaking a few bones or face when they did that.

There's also many people who come to Kai's clinic demanding protection fees. They claimed to be a part of a gang. The tattooed gang walked in confidently into the not-yet-opened clinic, and started to take  his stuff.

"This is a welcome gift you need to give us." The thugs laughed out loud.

Of course, Kai retaliated correspondingly. He smirked when the people come into his clinic.

When they started to become excessive, he gave out some broken bones as a gift. 

"Damn, shoot him!"

The thug wanted to, but Kai broke his arm with the hammer he used for construction. Kai muttered coldly, "You took out the gun first, so this is self defence."

"ARGHHH!!!" The thugs yelled as he got bashed in by the hammer. 

"Is this enough for the protection fee?" Kai asked when all of them are incapacitated. The thug's blood splattered on his face, making him look twice as cold. When the thug ran, he screamed, "Just wait for The Grey Rat gang to kill you!"

"As they are rats, it makes sense to use rat poison." he mocked when as he stared at the running rats. 

That night in the gang's lair, all the rats were dead in one night, cutting the problem at the source. Police come by to question him as he had an entanglement with the gang, but there's no evidence he was ever near the gang's base. 

"They didn't come when I got attacked, but if the gang member were attacked, that's when they start scurrying."

If he didn't know George, and what the police captain told him about this place, he might think that all the police here are dirty.

The wannabe doctor now has an infamy on the block. People don't dare to mess with him.

When he got out of his clinic, people only gave him the stink eye. He didn't mind the stare as his work was easier when there was no one bothering him. 

"It's been a week, but it's finally done," Kai said as he stood in front of the clinic.

He wanted to treat 10 people and leave, so he didn't have to make a beautiful clinic that he himself  had renovated. The only reason he did that was...

"Because it's so much fun..." The building, the sawing, the breaking of the wall, the upgrading. All of it gave him comfort.

There's a lot of skill he bought and knowledge he bought for his construction and he greatly enjoyed it. After a week, Kai finally opened his clinic for business!

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