the emperor fears the sun
The sun’s bright rays hit Shang-Chi’s sleep encrusted eyes, and he hugged his pillow with a frown. Bird song happily chirped from the window and stirred him even further from the blissful arms of sleep. He had never broken from his morning ritual before, and today would be no different, but he could still grumble about it.
He threw off the soft covers from his bed, but an unnaturally metallic glint caught his eye. It was the Rings. They were still on his arms from last night. Shang-Chi sucked in an uneasy breath and gently slid them off. The day was young and innocent, so the Rings were not needed. Hopefully.
After a quick breathing exercise, Shang-Chi got dressed. A slim fitting black tee paired with an orange and white letterman’s jacket worked for him. Comfortable workout pants and white vans completed the look. The clothing part of his morning was easy, now it was time for the regime.
Three sets of five pushups, five sets of eight curlups, and finally his daily mile run. New York during sunrise was actually quite beautiful, if you ignored the myriad of hawking vendors and busybodies in cheap suits heading to their daily grind. Shang-Chi chose to overlook all the urban dirt and grime to instead focus on the glistening dew on the flowers and the delicious smell of breakfast pancakes wafting through the air. Crisp, fresh sights and smells flowed in and out as he ran through the same ground as yesterday. It was familiar, yet just new enough to satisfy Shang-Chi’s ever roaming gaze.
But, of course, since this was New York city…..a super powered attack just had to interrupt his idyllic morning.
Rumble and debris crashed right ahead of Shang-Chi, and it was by pure luck that he wasn’t caught under it. His reflexes kicked in and launched him away from the danger zone, allowing him to take a preliminary assessment of the threat.
From what little data he could visibly gather, it looked like a superhero versus supervillain brawl in Times Square. The Rhino, if he remembered correctly, was that giant oaf in the animal themed powered suit. He usually fought Spider-Man, and oh, there he is! The scarlet spider jumped from building to building, trying to web up the villain and stop him from causing more damage. He didn’t appear to be doing so hot.
The Spider temporarily tripped The Rhino up, but the brute’s armor protected him, and even allowed him to strike Spider-Man out of the sky. He landed into a hard pile of rubble that ripped up his costume and his body. The Rhino made a move to crush the itsy bitsy spider, and suddenly the world slowed to a crawl. Shang-Chi felt familiar adrenaline rushing through his arms as he raised them. He wanted, no, he needed to help Spider-Man. He couldn’t just let the poor kid die-
FHOOSH!
A gale-force gust of wind blew past him and settled on the exposed skin of his forearms. It was the Rings, they had responded to his distress and flew to assist him. Must be their mental connection. Weird, and definitely a little creepy. But, no time to think, only act!
Time resumed just as The Rhino brought his ginormous, armored foot down on the Spider. Based on pure instinct, Shang-Chi vocalized a mental command to the Rings and they went flying off again, this time towards the villain’s mech suit. With one magnificent slice, they cleaved right through it like a knife on butter. The two parts of the now separated mecha collapsed and The Rhino dropped from his perch into the wreckage below. Spider-Man, recovering from his brutal ground pound, spotted Shang-Chi instantly from where he was staggering to his feet. One of his costume’s eyes was ripped away, revealing the bloodied human underneath. The kid managed to look surprised and grateful at the same time.
“Hey mister, thank you!” He waved his arm weakly.
Shang-Chi smiled and waved back. “It was no problem, really.”
Spider-Man cautiously picked his way out of the ruins and approached. He had several deep looking cuts all over his body and a burgeoning black eye that would be entirely purple the coming evening. Despite all that damage, he still somehow looked affable enough.
“So, are you like….an Avenger or something? I don’t know if I’ve met all the new members yet.”
Shang-Chi half smiled and half grimaced. He supposed that he was an Avenger, but should he go around and just announce it to every superhero he meets? Maybe Captain Marvel and Dr. Banner wanted to keep his inclusion a secret….for protection reasons? Or maybe they were collecting a new roster of heroes and wanted to stage an official press conference at a certain time in the future……
The humming in his mind was back again. It was low, almost inaudible. But it was persistent, and persuasive.
What did it matter what Danvers and Banner wanted. Shang-Chi knew what he wanted, and it wasn’t to hide in the shadows forever. He had lived half of his life pushing down an aspect of his personality and being ashamed of himself. He was tired, so, so tired of doing that. Katy was excited for him to become an Avenger, so why shouldn’t he enjoy his new status too?
“Yeah, I’m an Avenger. Just joined like, yesterday. Nice to meet you.” Shang-Chi extended a hand in greeting, and caught sight of the Rings. They were glowing a bright orange.
“Nie to meet you too! I’m Spider-Man!” The kid earnestly shook his hand. He seemed very excitable and eager to impress.
“Shang-Chi.” He didn’t really know how to continue the conversation further, so he let the spider take the lead.
“Hi! Nice bracelets, dude. Very fashionable!”
Shang-Chi instantly regretted his decision. “They’re rings, not bracelets, but thank you. I like to think that they enhance my look.”
Any confidence he might have once held melted away into anxiety. “Oh, sorry! I’m not that into accessorizing....”
Shang-Chi’s eyes flitted down to the spider’s wristbands. “Nice gauntlets. I guess those don’t count as ‘accessories’?”
Spider-Man let out a tension bleeding laugh. “Well, they shoot webs so I can get around the city, but I guess they do sorta-“
A huge rumble interrupted the spider’s stuttering sentence. It was a crane, embossed with a distinctive ‘Damage Control’ logo on the side. Wow, they got to crime scenes fast apparently. Accompanying them were some New York police officers, there to secure The Rhino and take him into custody. Not that the spider wasn’t charming, but Shang-Chi was happy that they were stopped before the conversation got too awkward. It was still way too early in the morning to be dealing with this.
The two Avengers departed with the usual pleasantries, and Shang-Chi resumed his daily run back to the apartment. A superheroic brawl in the middle of Times Square was enough exercise for one day.
Footfalls sounded like thunder in his ears until the ruckus of New York faded entirely into the background. All that he could hear now was the strange metallic humming in the back of his mind. The Rings fortified every movement of his body, so much so that he could’ve run twenty miles. Vitality ran through his blood, clear and true. Using them in the fight only enhanced that feeling of powerful longevity.
If that was how his father felt every time he donned the Rings for battle, how the hell did he ever put them back down again?