“You want to stay in the phantom zone?” Dan raised his eyebrows at Tony’s serious expression, head tilted to the side. “Why?”
“Galactus was stronger than I imagined, a strength that made most of Krypton’s forces into little more than observers,” Tony’s eyes flashed with the light of inspiration as he balled his hands into fists. “From what you’ve told us, he’s not even the strongest foe to be found in the multiverse…
Tony waved to Phastos and Richards, who were in discussion with Cal. The stretchy scientist had plans to incorporate Krypton’s magic into its technology, a fusion between two very disparate schools of thought.
“I want to study the Lifebringer, alongside the information within Krypton’s databases,” Tony traced out a simple rune into the air, a basic foundational form that stood at the base of Merlyn’s magic. “The next time we encounter a real threat, I don’t want to be relegated to the lab.”
“I can understand that,” Dan smiled and withdrew a data crystal from his belt. The storage device was long prepared, filled with a combination of Ultron’s improvements on Stark tech and a full accounting of his own knowledge gained in the Marvel universe. “I’ve been waiting for you to ask something similar, but why remain inside the zone?”
“Time,” Tony returned Dan’s grin as he snatched up the crystal. “You said that you planned on accelerating time around the Lifebringer. If I set up my lab inside its control systems, my work can benefit the Earth far sooner.”
“Hmmm…” Dan flicked a hand and summoned another crystal from his laboratory on Earth. A light toss and it entered an orbit around his phantom sun, a pinprick of blue that rapidly swelled into a starlike Fortress. “You, and whoever else decides to stay, can use this as your base. I’ll position it next to the Lifebringer, but Etrigan will remain behind to keep watch.”
Richards would no doubt join Stark, as would Tony’s father and perhaps even Phastos. All of them were brilliant, but they also had a historical habit of taking one step too far. Etrigan would make certain that a Celestially enhanced Ultron, or some other abomination, was stopped before it began.
“That’s perfect!” Tony’s eyes flashed at the mention of the demon. “I want to study him anyway, and he can be a sparring partner to test out my ideas.”
“Alright, but don’t push him too far,” Dan snorted at the idea of Etrigan being subjected to endless experiments, a small revenge for the countless defeats in his younger years. “Figure out who else is staying behind, I’ll…”
Dan’s gaze lost his focus as a signal chirped in his ear. The Fortress on Earth finally detected an event he’d been waiting for, a pulse of gamma radiation that went far beyond background levels.
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“I’ll be right back,” Dan stepped from within the zone, into the light of Earth’s sun. Berkeley Labs, a federally funded research facility, stood on the sunny lawn below. “It looks like another Avenger has finally arrived…”
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“Are you sure you’re ready for this?” Atom Eve rested a hand on Mark’s shoulder, while Anissa prepared to awaken the comatose Viltrumite prisoners. May had granted permission to attempt to convert them to Krypton’s banner and Mark insisted on being present. “You can always have your reunion with your father later…”
“No,” Mark shook his head, gaze fixed on Omniman’s unconscious face. “I want to be here when he wakes up and see his reaction to Viltrum’s defeat.”
Atom Eve let out a small sigh, but nodded in support. Mark wanted to prove to his father that the Viltrumite’s path was the wrong one, show him that his betrayal of their family was for nothing. She understood having a gulf between parent and child, though Mark’s problem’s made her own seem small.
“We’re almost ready,” Anissa finished her selection for the first to be awakened, besides Thragg and Mark’s father. She had chosen two women, one with shoulder length back hair and one with a long blue braid. “Goku, signal the symbiote clones to let them wake but keep them paralysed.”
The Saiyan nodded and closed his eyes, in communion with Venom’s copies. As the only one among them with a symbiote of his own, it would be his job to manage the clones and keep the Viltrumites from attacking on sight.
The first to twitch was Thragg, body fully healed after his rough handed beating. The Grand Regent of Villtrum opened his eyes, unable to do more than turn his head. He scanned the faces around him, a hint of disappointment in his gaze.
“The one who defeated me, where is she?” Thragg’s voice croaked from a long used throat, loud enough to waken the other four Viltrumites. “Her power was like an ocean, limitless…”
“Mark,” Nolan’s gaze locked onto his son as soon as clarity returned, face twisted into a mask of pain. “I…”
“I don’t want to hear it,” Mark shook his head and motioned to Anissa. “I’m not here to listen to your excuses, I’m here to prove to you that my way is the better path.”
“Anissa the traitor,” the Viltrumite woman with the long braid snorted, the muscles in her jaw and neck tensed to the extreme as she struggled to move. “How dare you show your face before the Grand Regent, I should…”
“Silence, Ursaal,” Thragg barked out, his own face relaxed and weary. “Look around us, nearly all of Viltrum is imprisoned here. My title means nothing, if our empire is on its knees.”
“It seems like Empress May has had a profound impact on you,” Anissa met Thragg’s gaze with eyes filled with understanding. May could be terrifying, a force that rivalled the natural laws of reality. “That should make our conversation far easier than I’d hoped.”
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“One of my chosen has been altered,” deep within the space between realms, a fire flickered into existence. Wings extended, a bird of flame spread its wings like the dawn of a newborn sun. “Her body has been changed, reinforced by an unknown bloodline…”
The Phoenix narrowed its eyes, the boundless psionic force within it focused on a single lifeform within the multiverse. Jean Gray sat in a crystalline laboratory, eyes closed as a gene altering serum coursed through her veins. A golden machine that carried a spark of life stood at her side, a stylized ‘S’ engraved on his chest.
“She is becoming a more compatible host with each passing moment,” wings extended, the Phoenix circled her chosen’s universe, intrigued by the changes within Jean’s body. “Such a physic should be impossible, a form of life that exists in no other universe I’m connected to.”
A bundle of flame drifted out from the massive bird, a fallen feather that descended into reality and settled within Jean Grey’s mind. The woman frowned for a moment, before the heat vanished as quickly as it came. A deeper connection formed between the Phoenix and its chosen host, an ember of cosmic fire that began to fuse with her new Kryptonian body.