Damian spent the entire day watching his daughters interact with unfamiliar children of their age.
He could see that they struggled a bit to integrate with others due to their intellectual and physical superiority.
He took advantage of the day to observe other classes, curiously watching students adapt to the new educational system.
The most entertaining part was observing the high school boys' combat classes; most of them returned home with injuries, and someone would likely be blamed for it on social media.
Younger children learned more gently, but it was still quite strict. Well, they would appreciate it someday.
As the day passed, Damian returned home before his daughters arrived, assuming they wanted the illusion of independence. Damian was more than happy to maintain that illusion.
In the evening at dinner, Damian listened attentively to his daughters narrating their adventures at school. It had been more than an hour, and they still had things to share, considering there were three perspectives throughout the story.
Soon, their mothers stopped them and sent them to bed since they had to go to school the next day.
Normally, Damian might have suggested they chat a bit longer, but he had something to do as well.
With the help of Cortana and his memories, he approximated the time and place where Midgard would connect with wherever the Reality Stone was. He hoped to be accurate, or it could be problematic.
So, he said he would return later before teleporting to London, where it was still early.
Upon arriving in London, he suddenly felt Jane disappear from Earth and appear in a distant place.
With concern and also doubt, he teleported to her just in time to see her reach for the pillar containing the Aether or the Reality Stone.
Damian appeared next to her and took her wrist. He wondered how Jane ended up in the same situation.
Jane was quite startled by the sudden grab and quickly tried to kick whatever was holding her.
Realizing it was Damian, she sighed in relief but sighed too soon, as Damian had an angry expression looking at her.
"You and I will have a good conversation about putting your hands in suspiciously deadly places," Damian said, pinching her cheek.
Jane pouted while holding her cheek in pain but said nothing, admitting she had been too audacious. She thought maybe she would gain powers or something cool, and if not, she could make Damian take it away.
Damian ignored Jane and inserted his hand, extracting a red fluid that stuck to his hand, attempting to enter him. In response, he released a strong electrical current that immediately returned obediently to the Aether.
"Return to your stone form," Damian said, looking at the fluid.
The fluid quickly turned into a red gem of the same size as the others.
Damian smiled, looking at the small gem. So many years and the moment had finally come.
"Is that what I think it is?" Jane asked, holding her chest in fear. Perhaps she hadn't been able to reach Damian in time if it was what she believed.
"Yes, the Reality Stone. I've been looking for it for a long time," Damian said before extending his senses.
He realized they were in one of the nine realms; the planet was completely dead, with no signs of life. Moreover, they were hundred of kilometers deep; it would have been almost impossible to find it even if they suspected it was on this planet.
"Do you want to go home, or should I take you back to London?" Damian asked, looking at Jane.
"London," Jane immediately said, trying to escape the scolding, taking advantage of Damian being in a good mood.
"Well, but don't think I've forgotten," Damian said, making her return to London.
Damian looked at the stone in his hand before reappearing over Madripoor.
It was already dark, but looking toward the villa where Natasha's family lived, he realized they were still awake. So, he appeared at their door and rang the bell.
The door was opened by one of the Widows, who looked at him with doubt.
"Hello, I have something I want to discuss with you," Damian said with a smile.
"Come in," the girl nodded, stepping aside.
Damian reached the living room and saw Yelena and all the Widows watching a movie on a large TV. It was really curious to see so many girls crowded on sofas, suddenly turning their gaze toward him.
Seeing him arrive, Yelena stood up in surprise.
"Brother-in-law, do you need something?" Yelena asked, looking at him with a smile.
"Hm, I want to talk to you. It would also be good if your mother were here," Damian said, nodding.
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"Oh, sure, I'll get her," Yelena said, nodding before running upstairs.
In a few minutes, Yelena returned with Melina, who was also confused, not knowing why Damian was gathering them.
"Well, I'll get straight to the point. I have a method to undo what was done to all of you at the Red Room graduation. It's up to you whether you want to reverse it, so tell me," Damian said, looking at everyone.
"Oh, I want to. Maybe I'll never use it, but you never know," Yelena said, raising her hand.
"I suppose," Melina said, nodding.
"I want to recover what they took from me," another Widow said.
"Me too."
"Same here."
They all said they wanted to undo what had been done to them. Damian nodded and raised his palm, emitting a red pulse that covered the entire room and reshaped reality, canceling the intervention they had undergone.
"That's it," Damian said, looking at them. They didn't seem different.
"I don't feel different," Yelena said, looking at Damian.
"What were you expecting?" Damian asked, looking at her speechless.
"I don't know, to feel like I regained something?" she asked with doubt.
"You didn't lose an arm," Damian said, looking at her while laughing and shaking his head.
"Well, that's it. I'm a bit busy, so I can't accompany you," Damian said.
"Thank you very much," Melina said. Even if she didn't feel different, there was no reason for Damian to lie to them.
All the Widows quickly thanked him in unison. He only gave them a slight smile before starting to leave.
"Oh, I'll accompany you," Yelena said, following Damian.
Damian reached the door and was ready to leave when Yelena grabbed his clothes.
"Hey, I heard that the period is something horrible. If I regret it, can you change it?" Yelena asked, speaking to him in a low voice.
"No," Damian said with a slight smile.
"Come on, brother-in-law, don't be like that. I don't even know if I want to have kids," Yelena said, shaking Damian's arm.
"I'm sure you can handle it," Damian said, tousling Yelena's hair before disappearing.
"Damn," Yelena muttered as she saw him disappear.
With the last thing he had to do with the Reality Stone, he appeared in front of Cortana's massive server.
"It seems the time has come," Cortana said, seeing him arrive.
"Yes, it seems so," Damian said, looking at the stone in his hand.
"But there are some things we need to take care of first," Damian said.
"Give a warning. No one should leave their homes, and cancel all flights," Damian instructed.
"Why?" Cortana asked, confused.
"There will be an invasion because of this little thing," Damian said, looking at the stone.
"Tell the scientist to prepare the soldiers; this fight won't be as easy as New York," Damian said.
"Also, send this information to the soldiers so they can be alert to enemy weapons," Damian communicated mentally with Cortana, sending her information.
"I'll be back," Damian said, appearing over the city and raising his hands to create a barrier that would reveal enemies. That should be enough, although the stealth of the elves' ships is excellent, in the end, they can still be detected.
He quickly appeared at his home and saw everyone except his daughters, who had gone to bed.
He felt a bit guilty for his daughters, who were excited about going to classes the next day. He hoped the elves would attack quickly so that tomorrow could be a normal day.
"Hello, I have good and bad news," Damian said, entering the living room and sitting next to Ana.
"Which do you want to hear?"
"The bad one," Ophelia said.
"The bad news is that we will soon have an extraterrestrial invasion—or wait, was that the good one?" Damian joked as he laughed.
"So I'll count on all of you to help defend your country."
"Who is going to invade us, and why?" Sophia asked, confused.
"Because I have the Reality Stone," Damian said, taking it out and showing it to everyone.
"The Dark Elves believe they own this little thing and will want to use it to restore the universe to total darkness," Damian said.
Ophelia quickly approached, taking the stone from him and examining it with interest.
"I hadn't heard about them," Carol said, frowning thoughtfully.
"The Dark Elves existed before the universe formed as we know it. As they wanted to return the universe to its original form, Odin's father fought with them and said he killed them all," Damian explained.
"These guys should be very strong, right?" Sophia asked, furrowing her brow.
"In fact, they are really strong threats to our soldiers, and they might be able to hurt you too, although nothing too serious, maybe," Damian joked.
"But it's okay. I've already sent information about the invaders; as long as you're careful, you should be fine," Damian said.
"I put a barrier outside the planet, so when they arrive, we'll know. Let's go to sleep," Damian said, smiling slightly.
Ophelia started playing with the Reality Stone, making things appear or changing the scenery.
"Oh, let me," Carol said, approaching and taking the stone from Ophelia before changing the scenery again.
Everyone took turns holding the stone and changing anything as they pleased.
...
In an unknown place in space,
A massive T-shaped ship hid in the darkness, a kind of computer analyzing before suddenly displaying a planet, Earth.
"So that's where they hid it," Malekith said.
"It's a rather backward planet; we shouldn't have any problems," one of the elf soldiers said.
"Then let's go quickly; the convergence is approaching, and we must get the Aether before Asgard," Malekith said.
The massive ship began to move toward Earth, and after a couple of hours, they finally arrived.
Malekith ordered a scan of Earth's surface before detecting the exact location.
Seeing no threats, he quickly advanced into the planet's atmosphere, activating the alarm that Damian had left.
It was not yet dawn, so there were no people on the streets, which really favored Madripoor.
Suddenly, the tops of the buildings opened as large cannons emerged, pointing towards the sky.
At the same time, an alarm started to sound throughout the city, warning citizens not to go out.
The Spartans also began to appear on the streets, ready to fight.
The elves' large ship soon noticed that the enemy seemed to have been alerted, so it continued descending before releasing hundreds of fighters with a large tip resembling a sword.
The cannons on the top of the buildings started firing immediately as soon as they were within range.
From the palace, a sudden golden figure emerged, facing the fighters while shooting rays of cosmic energy.
Suddenly, a fire dragon with a length of 15 meters appeared; upon closer inspection, there was a green-haired woman standing on its head.
The dragon spat large fireballs while using its claws and mouth to destroy the fighters.
The green-haired woman on its head continuously fired rays from a bright circle in her palms.
Malekith, in his ship, was dumbfounded, not knowing where this fierce and sudden resistance came from.
He quickly descended with his ship towards the central structure of the city, which he assumed was the control center and where the Reality Stone was. Once he had it in his hands, the battle would be easier.
Suddenly, a man stepped out of the palace, his silver hair dancing in the breeze, and his red eyes seemed to have power even through the screen in front of Malekith.
The man extended his hand before a magic circle appeared in his palm.
From it, a fireball with a diameter of 100 meters flew directly towards the large T-shaped ship.
It practically became daylight in an instant as the fireball traveled.
With no possibility of dodging, the fireball collided, creating a terrible explosion that shook the entire island.
The ark on which the dark elves came was badly damaged; the impact completely changed its direction, and it collapsed toward the outskirts of the city.
"Prepare for impact. Once on the ground, we must move quickly to the palace. We must recover the Aether at all costs," Malekith said to his men as he frowned, things were definitely off course.