The cosmic instabilities, however?
My thoughts seemed to shudder, and I suddenly realized there was some kind of cracking going on all over the universe, as if the seams of reality were tensing and stressing, leaking something through them.
With a flicker I set the two Thanosi here on vivic fire, looked at the Lived-Line of Adam Warlock again, and took off after it. -Morgan, Spiders, are there any kind of manifestations going on around whatever you are investigating?-
-Some kind of planar instability, and some kind of aliens just arrived here to fight!- Peter /reported instantly. -Almost like elements of reality are starting to condense down and be rewritten...-
-Deal with the invaders. I suspect they are Death-worshippers happy to end all of existence by trying to find the source of what you are experiencing. I expect that whoever or whatever is behind it is in the vicinity.-
-And you?- Morgan /asked, already beginning the process of binding or removing all of those fools.
-I am following a trail to the source of the effect, I believe. You may be able to discern the same with the Eye.-
-Understood,- Morgan /acknowledged.
-----
He had gone up into the Overspace, the area where manifestations of cosmic beings dwelled. Actually he had gone up past it... I zipped by the images of Eternity, Lord Chaos, Master Order, and even the Living Tribunal, alongside dozens of other non-finite beings...
The Sanctum’s Library had a lot of information on a lot of stuff, including a great many cosmic entities and powers of non-finite variety. I hadn’t gone exploring those places and dimensions myself, only seen them written about... but Agamotto had also spoken about such places at great length with Nimue, and so the shared knowledge was all there.
The Infinity Abyss!
I stepped forth into the highest of all subdimensions, hovering over a great yawning abyss, a black hole of interdimensional proportions. The multiverse itself seemed to be spread about it, and stretched dangerously from this perspective, as if it was ready to collapse and go down the proverbial dark hole.
“You... who are you? How did you get here?” a weary voice called out to me.
I turned as a floating chair entered, an emerald-skinned and clearly aged alien with a long head, clearly showing signs of exhaustion, riding upon it.
Power seethed about him on simply incredible levels, tied right into the structure of the multiverse itself. I could feel it and him with rather incredible clarity.
“A Weaver-servant!” he murmured upon seeing me clearly. “They have felt their little web begin to unravel, and sent one of you to inspect me?” he asked, rather derisively.
“Uh, no, sir,” I replied calmly, smiling despite myself. “I’m following the temporal trail of Adam Warlock back to here. He went insane a short time ago, and I believe the reason is tied to here, which also seems to be the focal point of a universe-wide decay taking place. My name is Dynamo.”
“Adam Warlock... has gone insane?” The alien sighed heavily as he inspected me, shaking his head wearily. “He has not yet found my successor?” he asked urgently.
“He’s been comatose for months, sir,” I replied calmly.
“I passed to him the information needed to pass on to my successor, if I could not live long enough to teach her myself,” the alien groaned, reaching up to pat his enlarged skull. “To think he could not handle the information...” He shook his head once, then turned his head to stare at me urgently. “My time grows short! My successor must be found!”
“I believe that is taking place as we speak. The threads of power leaving you have naturally sought out your successor and caused disruptions around them, as they do not know how to use them.” -Hey, Morgan, found the living source of the problem?- I /asked drily.
-How did you know?- she /replied, equally drily. -It’s a two-year-old girl, who’s rather too old for her age.-
“How would you describe your position, sir?” I asked him calmly.
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
“I am Atlez, the Custodian of the Multiverse, and its cornerstone against the Infinity Abyss beyond,” he replied, fatigued yet proudly. “By my life and position, all of existence is warded against collapse.”
-She’s the cosmic cornerstone of the universe. How fast can you make it to my location?-
-Spend a Gate X and link with me.-
There was a LOT of metaphorical distance between us, real, dimensional, and imaginary. But that was why X Valences were so sweet, powering right through that, running into one another along our link, and resolving into another Portal.
Morgan stepped through, Levy swirling importantly behind her, with a young human girl in her arms. Somehow I wasn’t surprised when Peter, Gwen, and Cindy hopped through the Portal, too, doubtless dying to know what was going on.
They kind of gawked at the literally mind-blowing sight outside the windows, although, only able to perceive it in the visible spectrum, it didn’t actually blow out their minds. Morgan gave it a good long stare, then glanced at me in amusement.
“Thirty to actually understand all that,” I said under my breath, giving it a dour look.
She half-laughed, striding towards the green alien, who first blinked in astonishment, and then managed a warm smile as he reached out to the little girl, who giggled and reached her own hands out to him in turn, as if they were old friends.
Energies were already sparking around the two of them, growing in a complex, ethereal manner, a rather sickly green turning to a warm, spritely blue.
Peter pointed mutely at the window show, trying to get my attention.
“The Infinity Abyss. The loose thread of the multiverse.” I tossed a thumb over my shoulder at the alien and human girl behind us. “The tape job.”
I was sure I heard a soft ‘hmph!’ from the alien at his job description, but he let it go. More important things to do, like urgently training his successor before he died.
“Wow,” Gwen murmured, looking at it all. “I don’t even want to think about the math behind all this...”
“Nah, you don’t,” I agreed, turning my head. “Ho, doesn’t look like this is over.”
“What, now?” Morgan asked, turning away from where the two Custodians were ignoring her, deeply immersed in whatever mode of communication they were using.
“Thanos just killed one of his clones in his base. I think I should go down there and ask him what is going on.”
“Ugh, him?” Cindy made a face. “Can I beg off this one?”
“Space lair of a genocidal madman?” I was actually surprised.
“I’ve seen like five or six by now,” she rolled her eyes. “The High Evolutionary’s was pretty tight, tho...”
“Well, you don’t have to confront furrow-jaw himself, and can just go poking about if you like, but the stuff he leaves laying around IS kind of dangerous.”
Despite herself, excitement flickered in her eyes. “Well, maybe I can just look around a bit...”
“There you go.” I started to flicker up something, paused, and said, “Give us a random Portal, Morgan. We’re not letting him know about this place.”
Morgan nodded once, and crimson and scarlet swirled on the glowing blue of the magic she swirled up. With a last look at the Custodians of the Universe, we exited the Infinity Abyss.
------
“Master Thanos, a word with you, if we might?” I Asked, my Voice going literally everywhere in this base.
The Spiders fanned out and literally disappeared from sight, going to explore, keeping tabs through passive Marks, no talking. At this range, bolstered by their Specs, a telepath wouldn’t be able to listen in, so they could coordinate without fear.
“High Guard Dynamo.” The broken gravel voice was also formless, seeming to come from the air, but really just from an advanced speaker system using the materials of the walls. “Were you responsible for the deaths of X, Mystic, and Warrior?” he asked pointedly.
“I was,” I confirmed for him.
“Come.” Doors slid open, Morgan and I glanced at one another, and glided through them.
---
The lab was full of dead alternate Thanos-types. Center stage was a crumpled corpse in a glass cylinder with bone claws jutting out of the back of its hands, raising an eyebrow from us.
Thanos was looking out over them with his normal expression, one of grim contemplation and dissatisfaction with life, the universe, and everything. Obviously he hadn’t found the proper answer yet. He should have read Douglas Adams...
Oh, right. No Douglas Adams in this continuity.
“More failed experiments, oh Champion of Death?” I asked, looking them over, analyzing them, recording stuff, marking stuff we could use, and sending it off. There was a level of genetic hybridization tech here even the Xandarans didn’t have... although the use it had been put to was rather horrific, making expendable clones and stand-ins for himself.
“Yes,” he confirmed with dissembling ease. “Their intellects suffered and their motivations were simplistic and childish, incapable of nuances of thought and adapting to new circumstances. They were blunt instruments, for all their talents were best used with subtlety.”
I inclined my head at that. “Some things take time. Artificial memories never perform like living ones.”
“A point I will note for the future.”
Morgan had also scanned the area, and she frowned. “What,” she asked, the Eye at her throat glowing, “did you grow behind there?” She pointed at a hangar-sized door at the other side of the room.
His dark eyes gleamed. “Omega.”
“That’s not an ominous choice of names at all,” I noted fatalistically. “What’d you do, cross him with ALL of the others?”
His depthless eyes flickered at the thought. “No. I designed him with the genetics of Galactus, to be even more powerful than Him.”
Morgan and I slapped our foreheads in tandem. “Sweet Eternity in my tea, what are you compensating for?” Morgan had to exclaim.
“You... thought diluting Galactus’ genetics and Origin Energy with your Celestial-originated, namby-pamby Cosmic-powered abilities would make a more powerful version of Him?” I had to ask, an eyebrow going waaaaay up.
He gave me one of those looks, the one Schmot Guys get when they come up with a crazy idea that is really stupid on later thought, after they actually went through with it...