Chapter 185: Back Home
9th March 2021, Temporary hideout Earth 838
(Jasmine Sayre POV)
I snorted, “You found your energy, directed it, but let it go before the punch. You need to trust yourself. You can do it, America, I know you can. You know deep down that you can. Now, do it again and punch that wall.”
The girl eyes looked determined, she closed her eyes for a second, brought back her hand, and punched the wall. Immediately, a star made of some sort of blue energy empowered her punch, destroying the wall, as if the Hulk had punched it with full force.
America gave me a grin, “That was awesome.”
I nodded, “Yes, it was.”
It was close. I was going home soon.
It took less than a week for her to master her portal abilities and was pretty much ready to try her first deliberate portal to another universe.
While she was practicing in the back, I stayed with Strange, “We’ll need to leave as fast as we can. With how much energy the girl is outputting, it’s a miracle that Richards hasn’t found us yet.”
He gave me a confused look, “Out of all the people that make up the Illuminati, why is he the one that worries you the most?”
I shrug, “You have no idea how intelligent that man is. Yes, Xavier can mind control half the planet, Rambeau could blow up cities, Mordo could summon demons, Carter is a good fighter but honestly, nothing impressive, Black Bolt’s voice could destroy countries if he wanted to, but in terms of pure destructive potential, they do not rival Richards.”
“How? He’s smart, and he can stretch, you can’t compare him to Captain Marvel of all people.”
“You don’t know what I know. When someone says that Reed Richards is the smartest man in the world, you imagine another Stark, but you’re wrong there. Words cannot express how intelligent that man is, and what he is capable of. I’m not even Joking here. But his intelligence is not why I’m worried about him, it’s the lack of foresight, and the lack of understanding the implications of his inventions that frighten me. You should have seen what his counterparts have done in the multiverse. From cloning deities to super viruses, and in the face of great pressure, where he finally breaks, where he brainwashes children, kills thousands of people with anti-matter bombs, destroying universes left and right. The truth is, that Reed Richards is a far more dangerous man than you could ever be. All it would take is one bad day for him to snap and be a danger to everyone.”
Strange blanched at this, “You’re serious.”
I nod, “Trust me, Reed Richards is by far the most dangerous member of the Illuminati, and right now, he believes that we risk destroying his universe by simply existing. It’s why I’m so insistent on leaving as quickly as we can. He underestimates me, still, so if it comes down to it, I will defeat him, but if he comes prepared for the fight of his life, there’s a good chance that he builds a weapon powerful enough to kill me. It won’t be an easy fight, but he’s still the one that worries me the most.”
He looked at me, “No, that’s not it. If you were so worried about him, you would have killed him already when you fought. You’re pressed for time for your universe.”
Damn him, I forgot how insightful the man can be, sometimes. I sigh, “Fine, what do you know about cosmic entities?”
His eyes widened at that, “They’re stories, that certain ideas and principles started to develop a conscience of their own, that they became so powerful that their influence spread through the multiverse. Are you telling me that they’re real?”
I nod, “Yes, they are. I used to have a working relationship with one of them, but I chose to leave their employ. But one of them, Entropy, decided to enter my universe, Earth Prime and manipulate the events so that he could use Thanos’ snap to spread an attack throughout the multiverse, to have the ultimate entropy. Everyone is at risk. We fought, well, he kicked my ass, but I was able to scrape a draw with a last-minute trap. Unfortunately, it didn’t stop him from sending me to another universe. I was able to bargain with another entity to send me back, but I took too long to be able to contact them, and my world was locked. America is literally my last chance at going back.”
He was gaping at me, “Do you need any help with that?”
I chuckled, “It’s a bit above your pay grade, but I have my own version of Doctor Stephen Strange if things get messy. Don’t worry, he’s a bit older and more experienced than you are. But don’t worry about that, you’ll have to deal with the probable incursion that Wanda’s mind walking is probably going to cause.”
Stolen novel; please report.
“Wait, what?”
“Seriously? Didn’t I tell you that an incursion happens when someone uses the Darkhold to Dream Walk? Wanda’s little stunt is going to have far reaching consequences, that you’ll probably have to deal with.”
Strange looked resigned at this, “I never really get a break, do I?”
I snorted, “Don’t pretend, Stephen, this is when you’re the most alive, when you’re the happiest. You could never experience a normal life like someone else, you will never live in the suburbs with a wife and kids, it’s just not you. Because you wouldn’t be happy with it, you feel alive when you’re fighting, beating impossible odds. It’s who you are, in every iteration of you the multiverse, Stephen Strange is a remarkable man.”
Strange looked lost at this and nodded, “It appears that I have a universe to save.”
I nodded at him, smiling, “Yes, you do,” I, then, gave him a mischievous smirk, “I have to ask this because I’m certainly doubting your intelligence here, did you seriously cast a global spell, changing the minds of millions, because Parker had a hard time and didn’t even try to defend himself against a doctored video?”
He looked surprised at my knowledge for a bit – knowledge that I got using my telepathy on him – then, he looked at me questioningly, “Parker?”
“Peter Parker, Spiderman.”
“Oh, right, the spell affected me too.”
I gave him an unimpressed look, and he wilted, “Come on, he was having a bad time and he needed some help, especially after Stark died and left him out to dry.”
I snorted, “He’s a teenager Stephen, one who didn’t even try to stand up for himself out of guilt or something. They’re generally reckless idiots and Peter Parker is no different. You jumped the gun, and almost destroyed your universe because you didn’t even try to get the bigger picture. What the hell were you thinking?”
“He’s a kid whose mentor's death I arranged, and he needed my help.”
“You felt guilty about it, but don’t shatter your reality because of teenage drama. You were a candidate for Sorcerer Supreme, you need to act like it.”
The man looked down and nodded, “I understand.”
He needed to hear this, to understand that his actions, the actions of anyone of his power, really, reckless or not, have grave consequences. He was able to somewhat take things back, but he won’t always be able to.
America entered smiling, interrupting us, “I think it’s time.”
I tilted my head, “Are you sure about that, kiddo?”
She nodded, “I’m as ready as I’ll ever be. I can feel it.”
“Alright, let’s get to Strange’s universe first. Do you remember how it feels?”
She nodded and closed her eyes to concentrate for a bit before punching the air. A portal that had the form of a star took shape, and the three of us jumped into it, leaving this universe, forever.
With that done, I looked around, we were in New York City. I immediately spread my telepathy and discovered that this was, in fact, Strange’s universe. Strange looked around and confirmed it, “This is my universe. I need to get to Wong.”
The man immediately opened a portal and left.
That left me, and America just standing around. I look at the teenager, “Alright America, you have a choice now. You could either stay here with Strange. I don’t doubt that he would accept you without any issues. You could come with me to my universe and continue your training, or you could keep jumping around, from one universe to another. It’s your choice, but you’ll always have a place in my universe and probably in Stephen’s as well.”
The girl looked hesitant, “I think I’ll need to keep traveling. I always wanted to find my moms, and now I can.”
I nodded at her, “You do realize how slim the possibility really is. Finding a couple in a single universe is already very difficult, finding them in the entire multiverse is almost impossible. The chances of that happening is very slim.”
She shook her head, “I know how impossible that is, but I have to try.”
I nodded, “I can respect that, but if you ever need any help, I’m only one portal away.”
The girl gave me a smile, “Ready?”
I nodded, “Yes, I am. Are you staying here, or are you coming with me?”
She shook her head, “I’m staying here for a bit, take a breather you know. I didn’t want to say anything, but your universe feels weird, stifling somehow. I don’t want to go there.”
I shrugged; it was her prerogative, “But will you be able to make a portal there?”
She nodded, “It took me a little while to find it, and it will probably take a lot out of me, and I won’t be able to hold it for a long time.”
I nodded, “Let’s do this.”
She grinned at me, “Goodbye Jasmine.”
I gave her a warm smile, “Goodbye America, and good luck.”
The girl punched the air and started yelling in exertion. Immediately, a star portal that was barely one meter wide started to appear in the air, and slowly started to shrink. America looked like she was sweating and panting in her effort. The portal was slowly getting smaller and smaller. I take a decision and turn into a raven and fly heading towards the middle of the portal that immediately closed behind me. Immediately, I could feel the rightness, the connection with this reality. I knew immediately that I was home.
I took a deep breath, reveling in the feeling, and I was immediately interrupted by energy beams directed at me. I dodged them, of course, but I looked around and found some aliens flying some sort of weird vehicle, shooting everyone around. I looked around and I knew that I was in New York. The aliens immediately felt familiar, they were the Chitauri, and they were attacking New York. The invasion wasn’t supposed to start before 2012.
This was impossible, I needed to check things. Summoned the closest newspaper and read the date, it read May 4th, 2012. I had missed over half a decade somehow. It wasn’t the multiversal travel, since Strange’s world’s time didn’t change when he travelled with America. I started to look back, the only time I was affected by a temporal attack was during the fight with Entropy. I was sent back into the multiversal portal with a temporal blast from my last-ditch attack. Did it affect the portal somehow, sending me to another universe forward in time?
I’ll need to study this further. I need to find Selene and Wanda as soon as I could. But for now, I had a few aliens to kill. Nothing like a few aliens for me to take my anger on. I immediately change into my Morrigan costume, and instinctively try to reach for my staff, only to remember giving it away during my resignation from Death’s employ. I really need to craft a new one. I had so many ideas. But for now, I guess I’ll be going old school. I raised my hands and sent waves of darkness at the aliens attacking me, disintegrating them further.
I had a vicious smile on my face. Let’s show these aliens why even Odin himself fears my power.