Chapter 5: No one watches television

May 3 was a Sunday, so Edward had his day for himself. At midday, he was eating some noodles, made by his teacher and said to be highly nutritious, while watching the news. How pleasurable it was to be able to eat on his sofa.

Three months ago, the famous playboy/billionaire Tony Stark had been kidnapped by the terrorist group Ten Rings. And now, three months later, he had finally escaped. Yes, escaped, not released.

Edward found it to be surprising a good for nothing like Tony Stark who never faced any difficulties in his life to escape from a terrorist group. Even a battle hardened soldier would find it extremely hard to escape from a terrorist's lair, not to talk about Tony Stark. Moreover, he was unharmed. Physically.

But even more surprising was that the first thing Stark did when he got back in the country was to pull his company, Stark Industries, out of the weapons business, which they had been dominating since WWII.

This wasn't just surprising, this was shocking. Of course, as soon as the news spread, his main competitor, Hammer Industries jumped at the occasion and tried to take back all the terminated contracts. Oscorp did too, and conflicts were about to take place.

Well, not that he was concerned in the slightest, Edward was a biologist, and a mechanic at times, but no weapon craftsman.

As he was about to watch the interview of Ms. Potts, spokesperson of Stark Industries, three people suddenly crashed down from his ceiling.

On the remains of his beloved TV, Edward recognized two people. One was his friend and neighbour, Diana, while the other was the assassin who tried to kill him three months ago. As for the third person, she was a weird woman with fur all over her body. Instantly, Edward thought of her as a mutant. Or a furry, he didn't know which one was worse.

Speaking of weird people, Diana wasn't dressed like she usually would, nor like anyone would, except a spartan warrior maybe. She didn't have a dress or anything in the kind, she was in a freaking armor. She had a sword and a shield in hand, as well as… a glowing rope on her hip?

What. The. Fuck.

The assassin from three months ago, who had his face disfigured, probably because of his punch, yelled "I'm going to kill you!" As he said that he jumped toward Edward, but Diana punched the side of his heel, making him fall.

Edward never thought he was in the middle of a dream, because he didn't sleep, and his meditation technique gave him enough control of his mind to make lucid dreams were he to wish to.

But as Diana protected him, she left her defence open, and the feline woman on top of her took the opportunity to use it. Five bloody scratches were left on Diana's face, and they looked quite deep.

However, despite this, she still yelled "Run!"

Edward was in a daze. Despite being attacked by two people, she was still caring about his well being, telling him to run…

The assassin from three months ago once again pounced toward Edward, punching toward his head. Edward, who was feeling anger, rise, suppressed it down and let calm and serenity cloud his mind as he felt the punch trajectory.

Much to his shock, now that he had his attention on the assassin, he found the punch to be so fast he couldn't even follow it with his eyes. He could even follow his teacher's full powered punches, and yet this man's fist was so fast he couldn't see it, meaning that in term of punching speed at least he had surpassed a human's limit. Great.

Fortunately, he had leveled up his Chi Sense a lot in the past three months, and he was now able to use it at will. As he dodged the fist, it went through the wall behind him, destroying bricks as if it was some fragile glass.

Although this superhuman strength, because this was exactly that, superhuman, shocked Edward, he also saw that this assassin lacked any semblance of martial art training, making his attacks obvious.

Against his master, Edward wasn't able to dodge his attacks despite easily being able to follow them, but this assassin was predictable.

Lowering himself, Edward dodged a second strike from the assassin, which also went through the wall, and dealt an uppercut. Much to his shock though, the man's jaw barely moved, and it was instead his fist that hurt.

This, once again, was not normal, and Edward understood the man had gone through quite some changes, just like him. No, more than that, with the fight ongoing behind, he understood he was in presence of three super individuals, all with extraordinary strength, resistance and speed.

Although this much was shocking, Edward made use of his teacher's teachings, and kept himself serene. Emotions would only cloud his Chi Sense and turn him predictable, he had to be as calm as a lake.

Jumping out of the way, Edward avoided being grabbed by the overpowered assassin, and kicked his joint, making him bend the knee. Good, as powerful as he was, he still had the same weaknesses other humans would have.

Glancing toward the other fight, the two women were making a wreck out of his apartment, the feline woman was making scratches everywhere like the damn oversized cat she was, while Diana was crushing things by sending the feline woman into them.

Unfortunately, he couldn't really look how their fight was going as the assassin was coming for his life. Closing his eyes to better feel his Chi, Edward dodged several attacks before striking his elbow against the assassin's carotid artery.

As strong as he was, Edward's full powered strike against his carotid was enough to deal severe damage. The assassin tried to strike again, but mid swing he starting falling to the ground, twitching. Against a normal human, Edward would have definitely killed them with this strike.

But it seemed the assassin's resistance allowed him to resist from getting a stroke, and so he just fainted. And got his face stomped on.

One the side, both Diana and the feline woman didn't even see their fight was over, and so Edward took the opportunity. He could see for himself how strong and fast they were, and he didn't really want to get involved in such a fight.

So he took a knife nearby, and threw it at the feline woman. She didn't even see it coming as it pierced into her side. However, much to Edward's surprise, it only penetrated a few centimeters before stopping.

Still, that was enough to take the feline woman's attention, who screeched at him like a cat would. Although it didn't go too deep, that knife must have hurt, it went right between her ribs.

However, unfortunately for her, she diverted her attention from the main threat for too long, and Diana delivered a terrifying uppercut her. The punch was so powerful the feline woman was sent flying upward, she slammed into the ceiling harshly before falling back toward Diana, who was back on her feet and kneed her in the stomach, knocking her out.

Diana and Edward looked at each other in silence, Diana panting. After a moment, Edward took the noodle bowl he had put down before the fight, sat on the sofa, and asked with a smile "You want some noodles?"

Diana snorted and crashed into the sofa as she said "Why not?"

Edward let out a small laugh and made another bowl. As he did, he said "You think those two are going to pay for the repairs?"

Diana replied "I doubt they could where they are going, even if they wanted to." Edward snarled "What a pain, how am I going to explain all that damage to the owner!"

Diana though, replied "Don't worry, the owner is a friend. He will understand." Edward nodded and handed her the bowl he just made before sitting down himself. Then, he asked "So, you like cosplay or something?"

Diana chuckled and said "Sorry for your ceiling." Edward waved his hand and said "No worries, it's fine. But seriously, are you a mutant?"

Diana shook her head and said "Demigod."

Edward blinked, before saying "Demigod, sure. Definitely not too much to take in a single day. Just curious, who are we talking about?"

Diana replied "Zeus." Edward swallowed and asked "I see, I see… So, he's not gonna smite me if I flirt with you is he?"

Diana once again laughed as she said "Don't worry about that. What about you then? You weren't this skilled three months ago."

Edward nodded and said "As I already told you, I entered a dojo. Apparently, I am quite talented. Why did that guy attack me though?"

Diana's face turned a little unsightly as she said "I apologize for that, my enemies wanted to hurt me by killing you."

She expected him to get angry, but surprisingly, he got closer instead, and with a weird smile on he asked "So I'm important to you?"

Diana was shocked, before she pushed him away with a snort and said "Those noodles are good." Edward grinned seeing her act bashful, somewhat, and changing the subject. Still, he said "My teacher made them himself, they are highly nutritious apparently. Old Chinese recipe, or so he said."

There was an awkward silence for a few seconds, before Edward asked "Are you really a museum curator? Or a warrior?"

Diana shrugged and said "Both? I think I may need to present myself once more. I am Diana of Themyscira, Princess of the Amazons, Daughter of the Queen of the Amazons and of the strongest Olympian, Zeus and museum curator."

She turned her head to look at Edward, expecting to see a shocked face, but he had the same weird smile as earlier as he said "So I was right? I am dealing with royalty. How dared I make my princess work?"

Diana rolled her eyes kicked him farther on the sofa, saying "Piss off." the kick was light, just enough to push him away but not hurt him, so Edward merely laughed… and choked on his noodles.

After they both finished their noodles, Diana stretched her body, offering Edward quite the view, and she said "I need help…"

Before she could even finish what she wanted to say, Edward replied "Sure."

She looked at him in shock and said "You don't even know how dangerous this is going to be." Edward shrugged and said "You don't strike me as one who would put her friends in danger for no reason, so to ask my help you must really need it. What kind of friend would I be to say no?"

Finally, she smiled and said "Thank you, Edward."

This time, he did not make any joke but simply smiled and nodded. Diana smiled back before taking out her phone and making a call.

Once she was done, Edward said "I get you like antiques, but you should really think about getting a better phone."

Diana pocketed her Nokia and said "They all break in my pockets when I go at full speed." Edward tilted his head and asked "Full speed?"

She smiled and suddenly turned into a blur, only to reappear next to him. Although it was only a few meters, there was a big dent on the ground, and an explosion sound. Edward blinked and said "So you can run past the sound barrier, definitely not too much to take in a single day."

Diana grinned at her first victory over Edward. The two then walked out of his apartment, going in her car. Well, she did change before going, she couldn't just get out in the street in her armor, though she did take it in her car.

Also, she tied up the feline woman and the assassin together using a rope she got out of seemingly nowhere. Not her glowing rope that was screaming 'I'm Magical!'