Chapter Text
When the Heroes for Hire piled into their usual hideout, they froze. There was Danny Rand, Iron Fist suit gleaming as always, perched casually on a couch… except now, across his chest was a bright green dragon-themed baby carrier, cradling a tiny bundle with toasty brown skin, short spiky black hair, and a miniature yellow mask over his eyes. The baby was calmly sucking on a pacifier, almost meditative, like he’d just been born knowing the chi he carried.
Luke’s jaw practically hit the floor. “Danny… what the hell is that?”
Danny took a slow, casual sip from his smoothie, glancing down at the baby. The little one sucked in perfect rhythm, almost like he approved of the drink. Danny shrugged, an easy grin on his face.
“Oh, this? It’s just a smoothie,” he said, tilting the cup toward the baby. The infant responded with a determined suck, as if echoing Danny’s sentiment.
Colleen blinked twice. “Danny… that’s… not your kid, isn’t it?”
Danny hummed thoughtfully, lifting the baby slightly to peek at him. “You could say that. Let’s just say he’s… training for the chi. Starts early.”
Luke blinked. Misty pinched the bridge of her nose. Colleen leaned in, fascinated.
Finally, Jessica—who had been silently staring this whole time—gestured vaguely at the baby like she was pointing at a wild animal that had wandered into the living room.
“…Does it—does he—have a name?”
Danny hesitated. Not awkwardly—more like he was trying to be respectful about something weirdly sacred.
“Well…” He shifted the smoothie to his other hand. “No. Not yet.”
“What?”
“Danny, what—”
“Are you serious?”
Danny held up a hand. “You have to understand, the Iron Fist’s job is to deliver the next bearer of the chi of Shou-Lao.”
“‘Deliver’ as in—" Misty stared, suddenly looking horrified.
Danny smiled serenely, though it really didn’t reach his eyes. “Yup. My last sabbatical?” He gestured at the baby, who was now kicking happily. “Now you know why.”
Luke muttered, “I don’t know whether to be impressed, horrified, or just very, very confused…”
Danny winked. “All three, usually.”
The baby sucked on his pacifier, seemingly in agreement.
Misty stared. “Still. Danny, that is a child. You don’t just ‘deliver’ children—“
“K’un-Lun handles the raising part! It’s tradition.” Danny argued, gently palming the baby’s torso. “I’m basically… the stork.”
Luke sputtered. “You are a six-foot karate stork, that’s what you’re telling me?”
Danny sighed, half-woeful, half resigned. “It’s not like I can influence his training or upbringing. They take him in, teach him, guide him. Until then… he’s just ‘the baby.’ That’s what the elders say to call him. Like—literally. ‘The baby.’”
Jessica crossed her arms. “You are telling me a mystical Kung Fu city sent you home with an unnamed, chi-activated newborn because you were… the delivery boy?”
Danny shrugged with the calm of a man who had long since accepted his life’s absurdity. “That’s the cycle. I deliver the baby. K’un-Lun raises the baby. The baby becomes Iron Fist. Circle of life. Very Lion King, but with more punching.”
The baby kicked again, and a tiny green spark pulsed from his foot, gently bouncing Danny’s smoothie in his hand. Danny didn’t even blink.
“…So yeah,” he added. “For now, just call him ‘the baby.’”
Luke turned around, walked to the nearest wall, and very gently tapped his forehead against it. “Man. I miss when our weirdest problem was a dude with a snake for an arm.”
Danny was wiping mashed peas off the baby’s dragon-themed carrier when Jessica finally asked the question everyone had been thinking: “Okay, I gotta ask… why does the baby have a mask? He’s not gonna be fighting crime, Danny.”
Danny nodded seriously, as if this were the most sensible parenting decision in the world. “It’s to protect his identity.”
Luke blinked slowly. “He’s a literal infant, man.”
“Yeah,” Danny said, “but you never know when your arch-enemies will attack. Better safe than sorry.”
Before anyone could argue, Danny gently lifted the tiny yellow mask away from the baby’s face.
And the room collectively melted.
The baby blinked up at them with wide, almond-shaped eyes—beautiful, soft, round little eyes that made him look both incredibly serene and constantly on the verge of a nap. As soon as the light hit his face, he gave a small gummy smile.
Colleen practically squealed. “Oh my god, Danny, he’s adorable.”
Misty leaned closer. “Look at those cheeks… and those eyes…”
Jessica—who would rather walk through glass than coo over a baby—crossed her arms but couldn’t stop the corner of her mouth from twitching.
“…Okay. He is kind of cute.”
Luke took one look and snorted. “Man, he looks nothing like you.”
Danny didn’t even argue. He smiled softly, almost proudly. “Yeah. I know.”
He brushed a hand through the baby’s spiky black hair. “He has really strong Chinese features. The elders said that happens sometimes when a new bearer is born. The chi shapes him for K’un-Lun, not for… Earth families.”
The baby cooed and reached up to grab one of Danny’s fingers.
Danny’s expression softened even more. “It… actually makes me feel good. Knowing he’ll fit in. He’ll look like the people who’ll raise him. He won’t feel out of place like…”
He trailed off, but they all knew what he meant.
Colleen placed a hand on his shoulder. “He’s going to thrive there.”
The baby decided this was a good moment to blow a tiny, chi-flickering bubble from his lips.
Danny sighed. “And hopefully not blow up too many monks.”
The baby kicked happily, as if making a promise he absolutely had no intention of keeping.
Jessica smirked. “Well, he learned from the best.”