Peter shrank in reflex as the shop seemed to fall even more silent that it felt as if everything was looking at him, from the women in front of Isaac's counter to the weird books that filled the horror bookcase.
"Um. Am I interrupting something? I can come back later if you're a bit busy." He muttered out softly as he became even more conscious of the spotlight he was currently under.
"No such thing, Peter. Come on." Isaac said with that disarming ease he always had; a trait that Peter found impressive.
"Are you sure?" He asked again as he trudged closer to Isaac under the plain-tell amusement of two of the women. He would've preferred it if no one had been in the store when he made the request he was about to make, except that it wouldn't be fair to Mr. Isaac. He needed his customers after all.
"Depends on you: do you want to buy it now or later?"
"Now… if you don't mind." In his familiar fashion, he dropped his bag on the counter before remembering that he wasn't alone with Isaac in the shop, but he powered through it.
"So what do you want?" Isaac asked.
"Well I was thinking that…" It was entirely reflex but one of the women looked really familiar to him for some reason, so without meaning to, his head turned around but he ended up meeting the gaze of the blond woman and he flinched his head back.
"What?" he heard her asked. She had a really thick Russian accent. "Don't tell me you sell weed to kids in this place."
He was not a kid, he wanted to say, but he wisely kept his mouth shut.
"If that's what they want to buy. And trust me, I have some very flamboyant strains."
"You sell weed?" The woman asked in surprise with heavy tones of amusement.
Peter on the other hand was flabbergasted. "You sell weed?"
"Yes to both." Isaac replied casually. "Like I already told Peter some time ago, I sell a lot of things. All quality and at great prices too."
He turned to Peter and asked again. "So what do you want? Or do you want to write out a list?"
Peter shook his head without really thinking about it as that was not what he wanted, instead it was the opposite. "I would like to browse your catalog if you don't mind."
"Sure thing. I made a general catalog for my things. It contains the cheaper stuff, very budget friendly." He agreed easily and brought out a book, a different one than the one he had given Peter back then.
Peter took it and immediately went to the index, took a mental snap of the page, and flipped towards the page for materials. His eyes desperately went over the different types of fabrics listed down, relief flooding his veins when he saw that they were within his price range.
He brought out a little book and started scribbling down specifics to price tally. He still needed to do over the technology(mundane) section so he was working with quality based on price range. He was tempted to take a look at the artifact(magic) section but he controlled himself to focus on what was more important.
While Peter busied himself with the catalog, forgetting himself to the outside world, the three women were still left on how to react.
Ororo wanted to leave, having no desire to advocate an escalation, while Yelena was thinking of the dimensions in which her mission was busted. Mystique was the only one who looked completely laidback and relaxed, even though she was the lynchpin to the tension.
"Now, how about we answer some questions: first of which is why are you here?" Mystique directed at Yelena who simply deadpanned at her.
"What? In your mind, I'm just going to answer because you asked me a question?" She scoffed and for more emphasis pointed towards Isaac and the oblivious Peter. "And you want to do all that in front of them?"
"Oh don't worry about that. Isaac dearest knows how to keep his mouth shut. Isn't that right, Isaac?" She looked at Isaac who calmly nodded.
"I don't make it a habit to tell on my customers' business. If you want privacy, you can use that section over there." He pointed at one of the less congested parts of the shop. "Just call for me if you need anything."
"Well, you girls coming?" Mystique asked.
Ororo wanted to say no, but then again Mystique. Yelena thought about it for a second and followed after the shapeshifter. She reckoned this was the best way to know what Fury wanted her to know, especially when Mystique was being unusually generous.
"What's this about?" Yelena asked as they stood around a small lounging area that accommodated the three of them without feeling cramped. Her hands tucked under her chest, an action that made Mystique roll her eyes at her, but Yelena didn't care and kept her hands on her hidden guns.
Mystique pointed at her. "Lemme guess; Fury has you sniffing for the rumors of a mutant cure."
Yelena did not acknowledge or deny it, instead she turned around. "Looks like it's more than just a rumor."
"Touché."
Yelena pointed her head at Ororo. "And why is the class rep here?"
Mystique turned to Ororo who gave a nonchalant shrug. "No particular reason." She didn't need to say more than that. Whether they believed her or not was their own problem.
"What do you want from us, Mystique? And don't say nothing or else I'm leaving." She added, even though she would be leaving either way.
Mystique looked at the two of them, slight hesitation showing on her face for the first time, before flashing the both of them a cat-eating grin. "Quite the little shop this place is, right?"
Yelena frowned at the stupid rhetoric and Ororo was about to do the same when her mind went back to five minutes ago. Mystique saw the look on her face and gave her a knowing look. Yelena followed the look and a perfectly blended expression of suspicion/confusion splashed across her face.
"I don't understand. Why the hell are you two looking at each other like that?" She asked.
"I for one would like to know." Ororo seconded. "Are you alluding to Isaac? Is he a mutant or what?"
She did not like the idea of outing a potential mutant in front of the Black Widow but she knew Mystique well enough to suspect the angle she was playing at. She also did not miss the way the spy's hands tightened on the possible gun she was holding.
Mystique was about to default to her usual redirecting habit but held it back under the stare of both ladies even as she raised her hands in false surrender.
"Will someone tell me what it is, or do I have to start doing my own questioning?"
Ororo really didn't see the need for importance, which admittedly might be due to ignorance with the way Mystique was acting. As far as she could tell, Isaac was a normal man, very polite and maybe with a few eccentricities, but nothing entirely out of the norm.
"I'll ask you this first, Yelena. You saw this building from the outside and have a rough dimension of it in your head. Now tell me; how big do you think this place is compared to the outside?"
Now that Mystique said it out loud, Ororo thought about it. She didn't really pay attention to the building when she walked in, but the inside was very expansive and despite its chaotic arrangements, there was still enough space inside to not be cramped.
"Something doesn't add up…" Yelena said as she looked around cautiously, her hands hovering very close to drawing her gun.
Mystique continued. "Not only that, but in case you didn't realize, some of the things in this shop are outright magical."
Yelena's brows furrowed in confusion while Ororo's scrunched up in contemplation. "So wait, he's a sorcerer? It's not that big of a deal or am I still missing something?"
Mystique rolled her eyes and looked at Ororo. "Figured it out yet?"
"He's selling these magical items… in a pawnshop." Ororo remarked.
"And not just magical things too, but even some neat pieces of advanced tech, probably alien, who knows?" Mystique added.
"How do you know all this?" Ororo prodded, to which Mystique simply smiled. It was enough to let both other women know that this wasn't her first time here.
"So he's some kind of intergalactic smuggler or something?"
"Or something." Mystique replied unhelpfully.
Yelena's mind ran a short sprint about what that might mean and the clear winner was nothing good. An unknown element, possibly an intergalactic weapons broker, setting down shop in New York under SHIELD's radar was absolutely nothing good. Worst of it was that Mystique knew about it, which meant the Brotherhood too.
Ororo she could somewhat believe about her ignorance about the shopkeeper, but something about the way Mystique was acting strangely was telling her that she was missing something.
.
... ...
Peter scribbled on his little notebook as he flipped through the sections of the catalog and soon he had multiple formations of viable options across multiple pages.
The first thing was an upgrade material for his suit, not because it was the first thing on his mind but simply because he found an affordable and interesting item.
—Memory Cloth (Mistborn): A purely utility fabric that can change its shape, pattern and form when touched by specific people. A quick civilian disguise.
—Omni-Fabric (The Incredibles): A revolutionary piece of fabric created by Edna Mode(who must be credited) that is not only incredibly flexible, but also fire, tear and extreme temperature resistant.
These two were the ones that he was going for. They were the best ones listed, not by a long shot, but they were extremely budget friendly and he could integrate them together himself.
The Omni-Fabric was his choice option from a pure necessity standpoint but he couldn't overlook the Memory Cloth. It was a practical godsend.
There was another option he considered alongside these two, but had to set aside for the future because of the price. It was cheap, scarily so for what it provided.
—Smart Fabric/E-textiles (Cyberpunk 2077): An integrated fabric that flows a genuine cyberpunk aesthetic; combining seamless tech functionality and dystopian street fashion.
It is made up of conductive threads and wearable technology that allows for touch controls, seamless communication, highly environmental resistant, active configurable lighting that changes based on the wearers mood, weather, or vibe of the location. It also comes with an integrated incognito mode for data protection.
He was already salivating at the thought of taking the fabric apart and at the type of UI a piece of clothing could use and it wasn't entirely his fault that he could picture the next upgrade of his suit. If anything, it made it even more vital for him to get the first two fabrics and then get the Smart Fabric and fuse everything together, if possible, to create the perfect techno-fusion suit.
The next thing on his list, the tech category, was two specific things.
—Omni-Tool (Mass Effect): Multipurpose diagnostic and manufacturing tools as well as computers used for a variety of civilian and battlefield tasks; hacking, quick fabrication, environmental and element analysis.
—Detective Mode Cowl (DC/Arkhamverse): A piece of streamlined and sophisticated technology that provides real-time deep forensics and analysis, pattern recognition, structural analysis, thermal and facial scanning. An indispensable aid to one of the greatest detectives that ever lived.
He should have stopped there, he really wanted to, but curiosity had led him into flipping over to the magic section and what he had seen…greed was the only word he could come up with.
His logical mind had warred against him that none of these could possibly be real but a simple reminder of Mr. Isaac's refund guarantee in the event of his items not working as advertised erased his reluctance.
He was weary of the whole magic thing, and the apparent indication that they were real, and while he had no intentions of diving deep into it, a few things wouldn't hurt.
Of the rip, the first thing his eyes were glued to was a description of a little pouch that he could fit into one of the pouches in his utility belt.
—Bag of Holding (Dungeons and Dragons): A small pocket-dimension storage bag. A necessity for any adventure, trust, you will definitely need this.
The next thing he got, mostly because of how cheap it was, was an amulet. Well, a magic amulet.
—Amulet of Protection (Dungeons and Dragons): An enchanted amulet that provides both magic and physical protection to their wearer by shaving off a brunt of the incoming attack, whether physical or magical.
He reminded that the bigger the level of attack incoming, the lesser the damage that can be absorbed by the amulet.
Getting slammed into and through buildings did not feel good to his back.
He looked at his selection list and nodded to himself. It was a good one.
If he could, there were a few things in the magic section that did interest him like the Shadow Cloak, the Time Turner and the Anywhere Door. Especially the Anywhere Door. The thought of being able to instantly retreat to his room after a fight instead of swinging back felt like a sin to him.
Unfortunately for him, these things were pricey. Take the Time Turner for example; he knew more than most not to mess with time in any spectrum, but by God he was prone to making bad decisions.
"Do you really have a nuke?" Peter couldn't help but ask as the possibility of magic suddenly seemed so real, as well as the uncertainty of Mr. Isaac.
The man chuckled. "Do you want to buy a nuke?"
They both stared at each other until Peter broke eye contact. "No. No, I don't think I do."
"That's too bad." He heard the man mutter. "Nice selection by the way. This is a new spending limit for you. I'm glad to see it."
Because he was a 'Merchant' right? Peter looked behind him, finally remembering the group of ladies. "Don't I get a 'Valued Customer' Discount, like a one-time 20% off?" His face burned as he engrossed himself in the store behind him.
He was joking(maybe) and he didn't really expect any discount from the man so he was surprised when he turned around to see the man look like he was actually considering it.
"Um, I don't really mean it, you know."
"Well now that you mention it, I'll be completing one of my quotas if you make this purchase, and you've been my most impactful customer…"
Peter's face flamed up in awkward embarrassment with the vocal appreciation.
"I think I still have one of those coupons." The muttering continued as the man went through his lower cabinet before coming back up with some printed papers that he handed over to Peter. "You've got some serious luck, kid."
Three tickets of '14% off' category coupons.
"Thank you." Peter accepted the coupons with gratitude. These little things were paper-made lifesavers. "Why not 15%?" He asked curiously, feeling a bit put off at the odd even number.
"It makes things more interesting." Isaac said as he started calculating Peter's tally. His eyes almost popped when the teenage boy saw the amount.
He was about to make two agonizing cancels on his orders but paused for a second. "Can I use the three coupons at once."
"Haha, nope. One coupon per category purchase. These are not General Coupons."
Peter reasoned with it and smiled. Maybe his luck was finally seeing him through. The universe wasn't so bad after all. "Three different purchases then."
One ticket went to the fabrics, one to the tech pieces, and the last one went to magic items. Three different categories of items. The only thing that annoyed him was that he had to leave the store and walk back in for it to count as a different purchase, store rules it seems(whatever that meant).
To balance that little setback, he had them all sent to his doorstep. Express delivery for the win.
Peter Parker's life was finally stepping up.
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