The Plan

"I am iron man"

Those words just won't leave his head, this is it. This is the start of everything, he needs to get prepared otherwise he will be left behind.

'Okay so quick recap' he's thought to himself while writing in a notebook, 'I am a avatar to a Tiger God, I have enhanced strength enough to stagger a unprepared hulk, my speed is enough to dodge bullets with relative ease, my senses are significantly improved and i can summon 2 tigers both strong enough to pierce the hulk's skin and muscle'

'Where do I stand compared to the villains of this world, where do I stand compared to the heros' he thinks to himself while tilting his head back. He looks back down at the notepad turning the page labelling it weaknesses.

'I need to identify my weak points, number 1 my lack of fighting skill. Against an average guy I have all the time in the world to make it look like I know what I'm doing but it showed when I was fighting the hulk that i need to learn some form of martial arts to help, I was stumbling and diving for my life with efficiency and composure thrown out the window.'

'2 my lack of equipment, if this continues I'll end up fighting Thanos in ripped jeans and a leather jacket, and while that sounds like possibly the coolest thing ever it's also not practical.' He thinks to himself, he has the money he can go splash some on something to help against future enemies.

He rubs his forehead before looking back at the notepad, knowing he is missing about 37 other weaknesses but not being able to identify them off the top of his head. He flipped the page again linking this one as strengths.

He quickly wrote the following: '1 my powers, I might even be near spidey level strength which is amazing, if I put that amulet on I'm sure I would surpass him psychically. Being nearly as strong as Spider-Man automatically makes me dangerous. On top of that, having tiger summons makes me a fighter who can just jump people 3 v 1.'

He rubbed his eyes again thinking 'Another strength could be the fact I'm a gods avatar, if I'm in a sticky situation aka about to die perhaps he could help? I wouldn't bet on it though.' he writes it down in his neat handwriting.

No matter what Kieran thinks his mind comes back to the fact he is a Gods avatar, surely his potential should be higher than your average street tier hero, he's got the backing of a God surely that should mean he's got more power than someone bit by a radioactive spider.

'I can't just depend on the Tiger God to just bless me with powers though, it's unrealistic. The Tiger God wants entertainment so he won't just hand me free power. He wants to watch me take that power.'

Kieran's mind is racing thinking of ways to get stronger, to surpass your average superhero and drag yourself into the top tier. His mind races from the extremis serum to exo suits, power armour, sorcery and then it finally lands on the Black Panthers Heart shaped herb.

'No, no impossible Bast and The Tiger God would surely clash, they are both gods meaning they've both got giant egos meaning they would fuck it up.' Kieran groaned another potential power up gone.

'Extremis' might be an alright idea, it's just extremely risky until it's perfected. By the time Iron Man 3 comes around I should at least be on decent terms with Stark. Perhaps he can give me some?'

'Power or exo suits. No, I'm not good with tech I'd somehow fuck it up, nope' he thinks with finality 'however something like black panthers suit would be amazing but well I highly doubt wakanda would hand me one'.

'Sorcery however is a shout, that could be perfect but I don't remember where the building they teach at is, I know there's one in New York and that's it. It's worth searching for it but not placing all my bets there'

'First though I'm going to start with getting rid of these weaknesses' he thought to himself standing and closing his notebook.

—-

Kieran observed a store called 'New York Top Survival Store' in a tacky bright red bold font in its front window, as he pushed open its door he heard a bell ring.

He entered the store coming across its owner a white man looking about 40 something years old who prompted him over.

"Hey young man, you wanna get some survival gear! Well you came to the right place son" his accent thick but Kieran couldn't tell where it was from just that he is an American.

Kieran nodded "I need a knife that's sharp and won't break" he said bluntly, he noticed the man's eyes brighten as he leaned down under the counter.

The man grabbed a knife slapping it on the counter still in its leather sheath, 'is sheath only for swords ah whatever it doesn't matter' Kieran thought to himself as the man slowly pulled the knife out of the leather revealing it to be a plain but sharp 6 inch blade.

"This here knife is one of a kind, plain looking but Lemme tell ya this knife is sharp, confident and a brave companion to keep with ya on your hunting trips. It's the personal knife I use whenever I'm out and about. It's relatively budget friendly, extremely strong and durable as well. And with a little bit of extra oomph on your part it will pierce bone without any lasting damage to the beautiful knife!" The American man finished his salesman's pitch to Kieran.

Kieran knowing almost not thing about knives other than they cut stuff was instantly sold 'this knifes a brave companion huh that's um, awesome' he thinks to himself.

"One more thing you'll want is a basic sharpening kit to keep the bad boy sharp over here" he grabbed a sharpening kit placing it on the counter.

Kieran nodded "okay I'll take both of these but can you leave them here real quick, I wanna look around a bit more and buy some other stuff." And as he received a nod from the man he started to look around, coming across a pair of black boots.

'It would be awfully cliche but these definitely have more grip than my current shoes' he thought as he looked down to his cheap but comfortable shoes.

He grabbed a pair in his size coming across some black cargo trousers as well, 'again cliche but these have like 8 pockets and that's probably useful' he picked them up before making way to the counter letting his items to be scanned.

"That'll be $206.85 please" the man said with a straight face and smile, Kieran handed over the money getting his change and leaving.

"200 fuckin quid these guys take the piss" he murmured to himself as he started to head in the direction of his next stop.

—-

He ended up outside of a small sports centre, as he entered the building he saw a receptionist who as he showed her a flyer he found about a week ago quickly pointed him towards a door.

As he pushed open the door slowly he saw a group of 3 all following the movements of an older black man. He quickly pulled his head back closing the door and sat waiting for the lesson to end.

He placed his bag containing all his previous purchases next to him as he leaned back against the wall waiting.

25 minutes later the 3 people all left the group before Kieran entered the room, "you're the guy on this flyer right?" He handed the teacher the flyer, his bald head shining with sweat.

The teacher looked up and nodded, "how many sessions do you do a week?" Kieran asked the older man.

"7, I do one lesson Monday to Sunday everyday at 10:00-12:30 each lesson costs $6" the man almost rumbled his deep timbre explaining all the details needed.

Those hours really aren't great for an average guy, Kieran thought to himself wondering how many customers this guys got in total.

"Can I take all of the lessons?" Kieran asked with some apprehension in his voice and for the first time since he met the man he saw a flicker of surprise on his face.

The man nodded "come back tomorrow at 9:45 I will get you going on the basics, now I am leaving." The man said as he walked out of the room, leaving Kieran quite confused but also excited.

As Kieran left the flyer in his pocket fell out revealing its message 'Join Us! For lessons in the Graceful Wing Chun' on a bright orange backdrop in a bold white font.