Druid in the Marvel Universe Chapter 9: Hello, Principal

Raymond hopped in the shower real quick and then flopped onto his bed. The chat with Daredevil, Gilbert, had him thinking. Back in his old life, Raymond grew up, got hitched, and had kids in China. He was all about order—didn't matter if it was the good kind or the bad kind, anything was better than chaos.

Raymond had used his own muscle to keep three neighborhoods on Hellfire Boulevard safe, which was about as much as the other gangs would let slide. There were some solid underground rules here, and Raymond knew breaking them would mean war. And in war, it was always the regular poor folks who got screwed.

Once you get used to solving problems with a gun, it's hard to think any other way.

Luckily, in his past life, Raymond was just a regular dude with his own take on life. Now, even though he had some serious power, he still put rules first when dealing with problems.

That's why he was cool with helping the cops on Hellfire Boulevard. He wasn't about to tie himself down like Gilbert, trying to protect the whole community.

But when it came to stuff outside the rules, Raymond wasn't a stickler. He'd throw down or even kill if he had to. Like today, he fed the "Purple Enigma" from the Aegis Syndicate to his pet, the Corpse Flower, and saved the waitress, Jessica Wheeler, in the process.

In his past life, Raymond wasn't big on American comics, just knew the Avengers from Marvel. He knew about Gilbert 'cause Daredevil had a movie, and you couldn't forget a badass blind guy.

Jessica, this civilian superhero from the Defenders, was new to him. So, he hired her as his waitress without a second thought.

Honestly, if Raymond had known about Jessica's future, he might've thought twice. He believed superheroes brought super-sized problems.

But right now, he didn't know squat, just a bit surprised by Jessica's crazy strength. But hey, he had time-traveled, so a strong girl wasn't a big deal.

Raymond decided not to stress over stuff he couldn't control. He checked in with his pets: three ghost wolves patrolled three streets, and Thor and Caesar stayed in his shop to guard it.

The crows were scattered all over Hellfire Boulevard. Today, they had to pick up some of Gilbert's slack. Even though he had a deal with Fred to stick to three blocks, he wasn't taking over, just keeping the peace. He figured Fred would get it. Plus, Fred didn't know the crows were Raymond's summons.

The ghost wolves were a no-go; everyone knew they were Raymond's pets.

With everything set, Raymond hugged his pillow and thought about his wife from his past life. Her face was crystal clear. In minutes, he was out cold, dreaming of his wife and kids. Her nagging was sweet, and his son's antics were adorable.

He slept like a baby and woke up at five. He got up, washed up, threw on a tracksuit, and went for a run.

At the door, a Chinese couple was pushing a breakfast cart. Raymond waved and said, "Hey, good morning, Joseph, Ms. Martinez."

Seeing the small boy hiding behind the cart, Raymond laughed and said, "Daniel Martinez, I heard you bombed your last history exam. You're in for it, kid. Mr. Vincent's gonna give you hell."

Ms. Martinez's face darkened, and she gave Daniel a solid smack on the shoulder, pulling him out.

Daniel Martinez kept his head down, sneaking a quick glance at Raymond, and mumbled, "Morning, Principal."

Raymond gave him a half-smile, patted his shoulder as he walked by, and told Joseph, "Save me ten sandwiches and three cups of OJ. I'll pay when I get back." Then he pointed at Daniel with a smirk, "Kid, you're in trouble." With that, he took off for his run.

Early morning jog around his turf, and he got a little flirty attention from Susan, a housewife hanging out on the street. Feeling pretty good about himself, Raymond headed back to the restaurant in high spirits.

At the door, Joseph and his wife were already hustling. Sandwiches were getting steamed and bagged, handed out to the early birds heading to work. Daniel was on orange juice duty and collecting cash. When he saw Raymond come back, he got so startled he almost spilled juice on Alvin, who was there for breakfast.

Alvin just laughed and said, "Kid, looks like you're in for a rough day at school. Haha, I knew you kids would have it tough with Raymond as the principal. Haha!"

Raymond greeted Alvin and said, "Find a couple of guys from the kindergarten, $500, to fix the floor and door upstairs for me. And get them to hurry up. We just got $50,000 in. Talk to the teachers about what other gear and toys we need and buy them fast. I don't want to see little kids running around on the street anymore."

Joseph, busy with the sandwiches, chimed in, "Is it just some carpentry work? I can handle it for you. It's simple and won't cost anything."

Raymond thought for a second, "Alright, $200 then. Let Alvin call someone to deliver the materials you need." He waved his hand to stop Joseph from arguing. He grabbed his packed breakfast and headed back to the restaurant.

Inside, Jessica was already up and doing something. When she saw Raymond come in, her face turned red, and she started furiously wiping the table with a cloth.

Raymond teased, "If you keep wiping, the paint's gonna come off."

Jessica ignored him, tossed the cloth aside, grabbed a small comb, and started brushing Thor's fur like crazy. Poor Thor looked like he was being strangled, his tongue hanging out.

Raymond shivered and decided not to mess with her. The stuff at home was too valuable!

He put down the breakfast and went upstairs to wake Nick. But as he reached the bar, he saw through the small door that Nick was hopping down from the second floor on one leg. When Nick saw Raymond, he winked, trying to signal something.

Sitting in his wheelchair, Nick grinned and loudly said to Jessica, "Jessica, I think I need a cup of coffee. There was an earthquake at home yesterday, and I was too scared to sleep well."

Raymond just smiled and watched Nick dig his own grave, saying nothing.

For breakfast, Nick ended up with a cup of milk with added salt, and just as he was about to eat the middle of his sandwich, it fell out. His wheelchair got knocked over twice.

Nick desperately looked to Raymond for help, but Raymond just watched him get bullied.

The chaotic breakfast ended with Nick admitting defeat.

At seven sharp, a big-nosed school bus pulled up in front of the restaurant, honking its horn. Nick bolted, pushing his wheelchair, forgetting even his backpack.

Raymond shook his head, grabbed Nick's backpack, and walked out. He needed to check on the school anyway.

As he left, he saw Daniel helping Nick load his wheelchair onto the bus. Nick grabbed the door handle and hopped on with one leg.

Raymond greeted Jack, who had a shotgun on the dashboard, and tossed the backpack to Nick. Then he got into a pickup truck, called Caesar to sit in the passenger seat, and left Thor at home to guard the place.