Chapter 49: Acclimation
"Dad, what are you doing?"
"Nothing." I said innocently, way too innocently.
"If Mom catches you, you're probably going to be dead." Tarts said.
"Yeah man, this isn't worth it." Miles said.
"Shush you two." I said. "I know what I am doing, and I am doing something fun."
"Yeah, because making a paint bomb with a tripwire is Mom's version of fun." Tarts said.
"One, it's not affecting Death." I said. "Two, it is her type of fun. As long as she doesn't get hurt."
"Yeah, Mom won't be affected at all." Tarts drawled out. "Just her new bestie will be covered in every color in the palette, and there will only be a small group of people that can be blamed, and there is only one person that can chew us all in, and said person is Mom."
"Is there a problem with us getting in trouble?" I asked.
"Yes?" Miles asked.
"No, there isn't." I said. "Yes, Patrick and Marie will be covered in paint. Yes, we will have a good laugh. No, it does not matter that Reaper will chew into us."
"Say that again, Legend?" Death said sweetly, popping out of nowhere, startling the hell out of us.
"No, nothing is wrong babe." I said immediately, looking at her frightfully.
"I'll be the judge of that…" She said, looking at me and the kids as if we were about to be sent to jail.
"It was all Dad's idea." Tarts blurted out after a moment.
"Betrayal at its fucking finest." I said, enunciating each syllable.
"Ease up." Death said, and gave me a light peck on the cheek.
I placed my spider legs around her, and used my hands to softly comb her hair, and she gently snaked her own arms around my back, and pulled her head an inch back, throwing most of her hair behind her back.
"Yeah, they're going into lovey dovey mode, Tarts." Miles said.
"Let's get out of here." Tarts said, and they both left in a rush.
Death and I both chuckled lightly, and I kissed her forehead. "Why do we always have to torture them like that?"
"We both know that we both enjoy it." Death said amusedly, tightening her grasp on me.
"That's true." I said.
Death rested her head on my chest, and said "I still can't believe that sometime in the future, you and Tarts will lose most of your powers."
"I still have the drive that I have always had." I said, smirking.
"Ohh, what exactly are you trying to say, Legend?" Death asked.
"What do you want to take from what I am saying?" I asked mischievously.
"Does Tarts have a full sibling in the future?" Death asked.
"No, do you want to make one for him?" I asked, grabbing her thighs and wrapping them around my hips.
She locked her legs behind me, and hoisted herself properly in my grasp, then attacked my lips.
After a while we parted, and she looked at me happily. "Thought you'd never ask."
I walked into the informal dining room, and yawned loudly. "How's it going Kid?"
"I'm feeling bored." Miles said. "We're just sitting here in Chicago and doing nothing."
"You realize we're in Chicago?" I asked. "And the Prohibition Era has already left its mark on this city?"
"Oh damn." Miles said and he jumped out of his seat, running for the passage to the Hive.
Suddenly he was floating in the air right in front of the door and running for no reason.
"I'm responsible for you, Kid." I said, inwardly laughing at Miles' peril. "You're not going out in your normal suit, and you aren't doing anything stupid without supervision."
"You did not just pull the adult card." Miles and Tarts said simultaneously, horrified.
"What are you going to do about it?" I asked triumphantly. When they didn't give an answer, I smirked. "Breakfast first. We can see the city later."
I let Miles go, and he begrudgingly took his seat at the table, as I did the same.
Anne came and sat at her spot at the table, and kicked Miles lightly in the shin. "How was your morning, Kid?"
"It was bad enough with only Peter now you had to join." Miles said, grumbling.
"What happened to me being your favorite person?" Anne asked.
"I never said anything close to me even liking you in any way, shape or form." Miles said.
"Go to hell." Anne said, whacking Miles lightly in the head.
"Been there, done that, never again." I said.
Anne gave me a look. "Where didn't you go?"
"If I knew I'd tell you." I said, smirking at her plight.
Patrick came, setting a plate of pancakes on the table. "Let's feast, people.'
"Thanks homeboy." I said.
Patrick raised an eyebrow at me. "Homeboy?"
Miles snorted, and I groaned at the slip. "Homeboy is like something we used to say. It basically means… well it means homeboy."
"Homeboy. Huh." Patrick said, testing the waters. "Homeboy. Doesn't sound that bad."
Patrick sat down, and we started to eat.
Miles and I were flipping at each other, attacking each other at speeds way too fast for anyone other than Death and Tarts to follow.
"When are we going to Wakanda?" Miles asked as he attempted to trip me.
"Two to three days." I said, chopping at him.
Miles sent a roundhouse kick at my chest, and I bent back to evade the kick, resting my weight on my spider legs, then before Miles could bring his foot back to himself, I threw my legs off the ground, using the momentum I gained from my dodge to kick him in the stomach.
I jumped off the floor, as Miles rolled with kick and backed up five feet back. We both looked at each other, and threw ourselves at each other again.
"You've gotten better." I said, grunting as Miles stabbed me in the chest with one of his spider legs.
"What can I say, meditation is useful." Miles said as he went on the offensive.
"True that." I said, sliding in between his legs and getting behind him then aiming a chop at his prone side.
Miles crouched under my hand, then jumped up, sticking to the roof, then jumping off again, and ricocheting off the walls, floor and ceiling.
He kept on ricocheting, increasing speed and forcing me to move around to dodge his cannon-like attack form.
Slowly, he forced me to move into a corner of the room. It wasn't that I couldn't attack him in this form, it was just that to hit him in any way would have me receiving more damage than him unless I was as fast as him.
His black and red blur cornered me from every angle, and while I could be fast enough to get out of this position, gravity wouldn't comply.
After searching for several moments, I found a weakness.
Jumping in the direction of a miniscule hole in his blockade, I made it out and ricocheted off the wall, and eventually became a blur just like Miles.
For a minute we were just bouncing off of everything, and attempting to hit each other to no success.
Eventually, I was able to hit Miles by crashing into him headfirst, and we both crashed onto the floor in pieces and groaning.
"I hate you, Miles." I groaned, reconnecting my whole body which didn't enjoy the crash, and letting my healing factor do it's work.
"My turn." Tarts said. "Me against both of you."
"That's not fair." I whined, resetting my back.
"For -ugh! us." Miles added, wincing as his neck cracked back into place. "We're not doing that again."
"First time you've won against me in a spar." I noted, getting up and limping to a chair.
"That wasn't a win." Miles said in confusion.
"Me and the bros have a system." I said. "None of our spars end in a clear win, so our way of deciding who won is that the person who started the move of destruction is the winner."
"What happens if there's only one man standing by the end of your beatdown?" Miles asked.
"We count that as a total decimation." I said, taking a towel and wiping the sweat that was starting to appear on my forehead.
Death sat on my lap, and I kissed the side of her forehead then put my arm around her, then we both leaned into each other.
"Peter, we've been here for a week now." Miles said, taking a seat. "What's the move?"
"So, I would call for help from the Nova Corps, but they have no reason to help, and as such, they won't." I said, displaying a hologram that displayed the general area of the known galaxy. "Other than that, in terms of help from space, I'd call in a favor or two from Arishem and his Celestials, but I can't have him focusing on Earth any more than he already is. I can't get any help from the Ravagers, and I can't get help from any of the other Celestials. I don't trust any of the big players out there, honestly. Arishem isn't trustworthy for obvious reasons, I'd ask Stan if it wasn't for the promise Father took from him, the Living Tribunal just needs a lot of help, and the Elders are obviously untrustworthy. So there isn't anything in terms of manpower from space, but we can collect a shitload of firepower from my planets. Extraterrestrial aside, let's look at the stuff on our planet. We can possibly enlist the help of Wakanda, there are one or two other advanced countries, but no one else will believe us, most likely. But we can put them on the back burner for now, and possibly enlist their help later. That's all, I think."
"What did you mean by Arishem and 'his' Celestials?" Miles asked.
"What are Celestials anyways?" Marie asked.
"Firstly," I said, "Celestials are these crazy strong beings. They create suns and planets on whim, and I can go on and on about their powers. Mind control, matter manipulation, energy protection, etc. I was a Celestial for a time, in fact, Tarts is a Celestial right now."
We all looked at Tarts, and he shrugged. "For now anyways," He said. "Dad said that we're going to lose this stuff anyways in the future, so yeah."
"And we can't trust that Gobby won't have a way to counteract the mind control, so we're not using that," I said. "Anyways, Miles. As to what I said about Arishem and his Celestials, I mean that within the Celestials, we have groups, or cults, if you will. Did you notice something in what you saw? All of the Celestials had the same type of headgear. That was significant to their clan. Arishem is the leader of their group, and there are other groups of Celestials. Unfortunately, I couldn't interfere or join any of them, what with me being dead. In that state, I couldn't interact with many people. I could only directly interact with Tarts and Death and everyone that already died, but I couldn't interact with anyone else. I was practically lowered to the role of a Watcher without asking for it. Currently, Arishem and his Celestials have the upper hand over any of the Celestials opposing them, and Tarts is among those. I have no reason to ask for help from his people, and as such, I won't. They are already somewhat on the defensive, even with their powers. But that's besides the point. Anyways, I intend to enlist the help of Wakanda, but I don't believe there are any other people who may be able to assist us."
"All right." Miles said. "Now what?"
"Now, we go to sleep." I said, turning around towards the not-an-elevator. "Let's get some sleep, people."
Chapter 50
"Halt!"
We paused in our trek through the jungles that adorned the Wakandan border, and moments later, Dora Milaje stepped from foliage and into the clearing, pointing their spears at our heads and chests.
"I thought you said we wouldn't be harmed!" Anne whisper-yelled at me.
"Well, he didn't say they wouldn't point their very dangerous weapons at us." Miles casually said.
"Enough." I said, stopping our banter before the Dora Milaje felt they needed to attack. I cleared my throat, and spoke in clear Wakandan. "I need to talk with the current Black Panther. It's imperative that you take me to his council immediately." Then I made a show of observing my surroundings, then pausing at my five o'clock. "Though, it seems I am already in his presence."
The Black Panther walked out of the foliage, and I saluted respectfully, as did the Dora Milaje.
"Outsider." He said to me in a neutral tone, his English heavily accented.
"King T'Chanda." I responded in Wakandan, in a perfectly pronounced manner.
He stared my lenses down, and I stared right back, unblinking, when after a minute he turned around and signalled to the Dora Milaje. "Follow me."
We followed him, and thirty minutes later we arrived at a village.
At the opposite side of the village, there was a car resembling a limousine surrounded by smaller cars that could almost pass as motorcycles.
We entered the limo, and took our own seats. I sat across T'Chanda, and he nodded at me.
"Well?" He challenged. "I have not exiled anyone from Wakanda, nor had my father or my grandfather before him, so I believe you are the descendant of someone exiled before. Who are you?"
I smirked, and took my mask off. "I have no relations to any of Wakanda's past." I showed the inside of my lower lip for emphasis. "I just need some help."
"Who exactly are you?" T'Chanda repeated.
"Apologies." I said. "They call me Peter. Peter Parker."
"Peter Parker?" He asked, with a surprising amount of recognition in his voice. "You look nothing like Peter, whoever you are."
That had me pausing for a moment, but I didn't show it. "There's another Peter Parker?" I asked, feigning ignorance.
"Drop the guise, whoever you are." T'Chanda said, looking at me harshly. "I sincerely hope for your own well-being that you haven't done anything to Peter."
"You have the weirdest luck, Pete." Miles said.
"Don't I know it." I muttered. "Look, your Highness, I did not know that my grandfather had anything to do with Wakanda."
"Peter does not have any children, let alone grandchildren." T'Chanda said, baring his claws. "Start talking, before I make you."
"Oh geez, I don't know, Panther." I said. "How does an outsider with no known ascendants of Wakandan origin have the ability to come into Wakanda undetected, with a familiarity to your traditions, and have tech the likes of which, not even you have, and claims to be the grandchild of one you apparently know?"
"Time travel is not real." T'Chanda said, and he made a swipe at me with his claws.
I let his claws scratch at my chest, and instead of affecting me, his claws broke.
"They said the same thing about magic," I said, "but Yemandi's Crown proves the opposite, doesn't it?"
He looked at me in surprise, not understanding how I was immune to vibranium, and how I knew about the crown.
"I believe you are finally listening to me." I said. "Now that all parties are partial to discussion, let's discuss."
"So you've come back to the past to defeat an enemy of yours who wishes to kill people needlessly, and need allies to defeat him, but at the same time you will not save the world from a war which will needlessly take lives beyond counting, many of them innocent." T'Chanda summarized, sitting on his throne with two Dora Milaje standing on his sides. "Am I misunderstanding?"
"Oh no, you've got it right." I said, smiling in a way that showed my fangs. "But I don't see you doing anything about that last half either, your Highness, and as such, I think your point falls to moot."
"What can I offer that you do not already have?" T'Chanda asked, knowing better than to argue with me over morals.
"You're the Black Panther." I said, my tone suggesting it was obvious. "You would serve as just another nuisance, another thing giving him pain. Although in the long run you have no major role, you will serve as a distraction. Also, he is way more of a theatric than Mysterio, and that's saying something. You're going to be my surprise helper. You'll be slinking along the back of the curtains, and being that last minute hero."
"You wish to make Wakanda your Black Ops squad?" T'Chanda said heatedly.
"I don't see a problem with that." I said. "We're facing someone way stronger than us. We have to take advantage of every win we have."
"What do I get in return?" He asked.
I made a point of looking around us. "You are decades ahead of the rest of the world. What could you need?"
"Information." T'Chanda said.
"Ooh, I'm sorry, I can't do that." I said. "I can't be spilling like that. However, as a boon from myself, I can advance your technology a century ahead. Will that be alright with you?"
"Knowledge is power." T'Chanda said. "But that will suffice."
"Till next time then." I said, and teleported the three of us out of there, leaving only a pager and some tech in our place.
We landed in the Hive, and I smiled. "Well, at least we got that done, huh?"
"Why didn't you just teleport us there?" Anne asked.
"One is because of theatrics, two is because now it's a sign of trust and respect, that even though I could have just appeared out of nowhere, I took my time walking into his abode. Three is because I want him to be on the watch. He doesn't even know me. In fact from now on, he will probably have both me and Gobby on his watchlist. He knows that I wouldn't have gone to him unless I needed to get something from him or if I was actually desperate for help, and the idea of someone as strong as me needing help will just continue to put him on his toes."
"Hey Peter, why aren't we going to the Inhumans?" Miles asked.
I spun around to face him. "Now, why the fuck didn't I think about that before?"
"'Cuz you're a dumbass." Miles asked. "Now that I realize that you forgot this, I've got to see if you forgot anyone else. Did you forget Symkaria? Eternals? Mystics? K'un Lun? Ravagers? Gamora? Shi'ar? Kree? Skrulls? Transylvania? Attuma? Latveria? Blade?"
"Can't do Symkaria." I said shortly. "Long story. I didn't forget about the Eternals. It's just going to be complicated. I think that I will just ask for the help of Druig and Ajak, and ignore the rest. Mystics, I feel that I shouldn't bother them, but should I absolutely have to, if even with all the allies I gather, I will. Ravagers, they haven't really gotten good enough yet. Gamora, she's not ready to rebel against her father yet, even if she is already the great assassin she is. Shi'ar, they are not dependable. This world is a mine of resources that they haven't harvested yet, and I have no intention to bring them here before the Age of Supers. Same with the Kree. I suppose I can check if Mar-Vell is already around, but if he isn't around then I will not do anything. Skrulls, we have no idea whether they're good ones or bad ones. My time as an Observer made me think that they were more neutral, if they feel the need to attack this planet they will, but until then they won't touch us. So I've been going back and forth about them. Not sure, we'll see. Transylvania, I have no idea how the fuck I even forgot about them. Like, I know Dracula was essential to defeating Red Skull. But whatever. Yeah, I'll see about him. Attuma just went through all that BS with the Black Tide. He's not ready for all this, especially with me just being another king, and add the fact that we're outsiders. Latveria isn't that impressive yet, it's Doom that'll bring it to its glory. Uhh, Blade won't be happy working with Drac when it works out on that end, but he probably will under the circumstances. I just have to make sure we're closer to the fight day before we get to him. Yeah, those are all the names you mentioned."
"Explain, please." Anne said. "Who are these names?"
"Oh, my bad." I said. "Symkaria is an Eastern European country- why is it always the Eastern European countries? Sokovia, Latveria, Symkaria, Balya, what did we ever do to them? Whatever. So Symkaria is an Eastern European country which houses weaponry about a generation ahead of the rest of the world. Keep in mind this doesn't even change with the advent of the crazy smart people like Howard, Tony, and Arno Stark, Reed Richards, Valeria was able to beat their tech in most universes, and the list goes on. Anyways, so yeah. They have good tech compared to the rest of the world. Also, they have skilled people in their army. Then the Eternals are-"
"Hey hey hey, wait up." Miles interjected. "You're forgetting something about Symkaria. You and one of their royals are romantically involved."
"Not true, and that doesn't help in this briefing. I'm trying to give Anne information that can be helpful, not things you want to share over tea." I stuck my tongue at Miles, and faced Anne. "Anyways, the Eternals are really powerful people. Remember how we talked to you about Celestials? These are basically their love children. Genetic experiments of what is basically human perfection, and given a purpose. Practically robots. Mystics, well they're Masters of the Mystic Arts. -"
"You mean they're magicians." Anne said with a smirk.
I ignored her. "Next up is K'un Lun. It's this tiny city with this really strong dude. K'un Lun is filled with Mystics, Dragons, men from centuries ago that have the bodies of men in their prime, amulets infused with powers and spirits, and martial arts. They're one of the seven cities of Heaven. Am I missing anything, Miles?"
"Nah, that's about it." He responded.
"Alright, next up, Ravagers. Miles, care to take the podium?"
"No problem." He said, showing slight surprise in his face. "The Ravagers are a group of bounty hunters. They're good at their job, and for the most part, they do have a conscience. Everyone knows about the Ravagers out there."
"Yup." I confirmed. "Next up, Gamora. She's one of the last of the Zen-Whoberis, a tough green-skinned alien species. When she was a child, her planet was attacked by Thanos, the Mad Titan, and her mother and 50% of the population, plus any who fought against Thanos were all murdered. During the fight, she went up to Thanos, although she was a kid, and stared him down. Impressed by this, Thanos adopted her, and trained her how to fight. Eventually, she and her sister (they're both adopted) broke from Thanos' ranks. She's one of the deadliest assassins in the universe, if not the deadliest. Miles, Shi'ar?"
"Alright. So the Shi'ar are one out of several major empires in the universe. They have an empire that spans over a million planets, and have advanced tech. They have a grudge against this thing called the Phoenix, because a long time ago the Phoenix laid waste to their empire for many reasons. Phoenix also has this attraction to taking humans as hosts, so it's basically a war between Earth and Shi'ar. But see, the thing is, they haven't found a reason to attack Earth yet, and they won't have it anytime soon."
"And having them come here is a gamble no one wants to bet." I said. "The Kree are another empire, they have an obsession with technology, power, and they're the reason Inhumans are a thing. They always get into war with the Skrull empire, which Miles will expound upon shortly."
"The Skrull are a race with shapeshifting abilities, and that's basically it about them. No need to go into their needless history."
"Correct." I said. "Now, Transylvania is, well… It's Transylvania." I shrugged. "You know, like the place where vampires live, and where Dracula is the Count and leader?"
"Dracula is real?" Anne asked. "Yeah, just keep on dropping these bombs that make me wonder what's real and what's fake."
"Just consider everything real unless proven unreal." I smirked. "Keep in mind, there is a very large difference between unreal and unrealistic."
"Why do you always say 'keep in mind?'" Anne suddenly said.
I raised an eyebrow at her. "What do you mean?"
"I mean you always say 'keep in mind.'" She made a mock serious face. "'Keep in mind, there are strong people out there.' 'Keep in mind, mine and Miles' powers have practically no physical limits.' 'Keep in mind, we will have to kill people.'"
"I know why he says it." Miles said, leaning against the wall, arms crossed. "I'll leave it to him to explain though."
And with that, he just turned around and walked out of the room, leaving me to my doom.
"Well?" Anne challenged, putting her hands on her hips. "Care to explain?"
I sighed deeply, and instinctively crawled around with my spider legs as I explained. "It's just a tick. It's like… something I just say. When I'm trying to… ugh. I dunno how to explain."
Death appeared with her usual gusto, smiling at us. "It's his way of subconsciously showing affection." She said. "The closer you get to him, the more frequently he will clarify smaller, almost obvious points that he thinks you might've missed. Don't you see how he does it with all of us?"
Anne didn't say anything for a moment, processing what Death said. Then she slugged me in the shoulder. "At least this means that you'll actually visit instead of just blank promises." Then she just walked away.
I absentmindedly rubbed the area which she punched. "She's strong for a mutant." I commented, staring at nothing.
"You know, why isn't Cyclops dead?" Miles asked, watching me from the doorway. I looked at him confusedly.
"When did you come back, and what does that have to do with anything?" I asked. "Besides, he hasn't even been born yet."
"No, I mean in the main continuity." Miles said. "His powers are beams of concussive force. Why isn't he dead every time Juggernaut swatted him, or something? I never really left though, I just made a show of that."
"It's part of being a mutant." I said. "Their bodies are always a little more developed than the human body. Not super soldier levels, but higher than a normal human can achieve."
"So who's stronger normally, Mutants or Inhumans?"
I scoffed. "Barring the strong ones, like Wolverine, Colossus, and Juggernaut, it's all for the Inhumans. Their power sets are even more potent than the mutants."
Miles hummed thoughtfully. "So if the Mutants Vs. Inhumans war went indefinitely without any outside help, the Inhumans would win through brute overpowering."
"Not necessarily." I said. "With the Inhumans, they have generally higher power sets, and their army is more organized. But with the Mutants, they have generally lower power sets, but when they get a good power set, it has the potential to usurp the power set of a typical Inhuman."
Miles nodded. "So for example, the Inhumans have Medusa, Crystal, Blackbolt, Karnak, Gargan, Inferno, Ghost, and others. The powers they have are significantly stronger than most mutants, and even if there are mutants with similar power sets, they aren't as potent. Like Kitty Pryde, she has the same powers as Ghost. But if they fought, Ghost would win. Because Ghost is not only able to 'ghost' himself, he's able to do it to things around him as well. He's also able to make himself invisible, so there's that. Or Inferno, if he ever fights Firestar. Angelica might be able to control fire admirably, but not to the extent that Inferno or even Crystal can. Not to mention, Inferno can make himself the magma armor. But then there's also the Omega level mutants, or some of them. Like Juggernaut. An Inhuman with a similar power set would be Gargan. But compared to Juggernaut, Gargan is nothing. But if Gargan goes against Colossus, Gargan is winning, no sweat. Am I right?"
Miles looked at me questioningly. "On spot." I said, confirming his theory. "Also, look at who many consider the strongest psychic in the world. Xavier. Now, compared to me, he's got nothing, but I'm magic, enhanced, powerful friends, all that jazz. But if he is compared to Maximus, then he's still nothing. Maximus could control a small army without a sweat, if I remember correctly. But if Charles wanted to accomplish something of that extent, he would need Cerebro."
"Can the Phoenix go to an Inhuman though?" Miles asked, making a pocket sized portal to another universe and pulling out a… Coke?
"I'm just going to ignore the fact that you stole a Coke from another universe." I said. "Actually, it depends." I looked at Death. "This is really complicated, ain't it Reaper? How do I explain it?"
"Just say it as it is." Death said. "She's our favorite threesome partner."
Miles spit his drink at that, and started coughing. I gave Death a stink eye, and patted Miles back.
"Calm down kid." I said, patting his back vigorously. "It's not exactly how Reaper described it. I'm the Avatar of Life in this universe, and a major Totem of the Web of Life, adorned with several titles regarding Life. On the flip side, Reaper is Avatar of Death, and could possibly be connected to the Web of Chaos and Death as a minor totem in this universe. What can I say, opposites attract." I kissed Death on the forehead, then returned to telling my story. "And Phoenix is the Avatar of Rebirth. Which is basically Life and Death wrapped up together. So when we came within the known universe, she kinda trailed along, . Earth was basically just forming, and I wanted to see it as if I was on the Watchtower, watching it all from there or something. Threw a rock, tapped it a couple times to give it a few craters, and the end product was the Moon. Out there in Asgard and beyond,-"
"Hold up!" Miles said, cutting me off. "You're the reason we have a Moon in this universe!?"
"He just explained that part." Death said, amused.
"Please tell me you did something so it can actually turn into a Death Star." Miles pleaded.
"Now that sounds like something I'd like." Death said, intrigued. "Did you make me a present on that precious rock of yours? No wonder I could feel all those strong ores and magics there. I thought it was just a toy of yours."
"Well… I did base it off some movies from back home." I said sheepishly.
"YES!" Miles shouted exuberantly, throwing a fist in the air. "Hey wait, is this like some sort of butterfly effect? You use the Death Star and also display telekinesis and telepathy which George Lucas of this universe sees which leads to him creating the movies?"
"... possible." I said. "I never really looked into his inspiration for the movies, as I thought it was simply his imagination, same as our George Lucas."
"I knew it was a good idea to design lightsabers!" Miles said, telekinetically- I'm sorry, using the Force- to pull a cylinder to himself while throwing a cylinder at me, and activated it, revealing a bright blue humming light. "Of course I know him, he's me."
"Oh no." I said, realizing who he wanted me to be, and activated my lightsaber, which turned out to be crimson red. I manipulated the atoms around me, giving me an armour like Darth Vader's.
Miles opened a portal on the ceiling, and Tarts fell out of it, and looked at us in confusion, wondering why I was in black armor and Miles looked like an old man with a hooded robe.
"Say the line!" Miles exclaimed, and I groaned.
"Tarts, I am your father." I said in between clenched teeth.
"....ok?" Tarts said, confused.
"OH MY GOD! WHAT IF WE ARE THE REASON FOR THE MANDELA EFFECT!" Miles shouted, and I wanted to fuck being a hardcore fan right then and there and stop this semi skit, semi important theory.
Somehow, I know that my forced decision to let Miles stay would bite my ass within the next few days.
Chapter 51: A Change of Scenery
Kaine groaned, lifting himself from the… pile of trash? He observed his surroundings and figured that the Siege Perilous transported him to a landfill in the middle of nowhere. With a grunt, Kaine threw a banana peel off his shoulder.
"I wonder where I am…" He mused internally, stretching.
He felt out with his senses, and found a group of prowlers in the distance. Kaine assumed a lotus position, and waited for the prowlers to find him.
Three minutes and 37 seconds later, (Kaine counted), The prowlers surrounded him, thinking they had him captured for rights. One of them started walking forward to place handcuffs on him, but right before he was within reach of Kaine's arms, Kaine spoke up.
"Are you guys sure you want to attack me?" He said.
Instantly, they trained their weapons on him. Kaine finally opened his eyes, and saw the people that 'captured' him. They looked vaguely familiar with raggedy masks for faces.
Kaine ignored the problem of who they were, and cracked his neck slowly. In a flash, his leg flew out and stabbed the one who attempted to handcuff him. Kaine threw the corpse at another of the prowlers, and slinked through the piles of trash, taking the men out one at a time.
Two minutes and 19 seconds later, they were all dead by his hands, except for one. Twenty-two prowlers, one for each of his natural blades: ten claws from the wolf, six Wolverine claws, four spider legs, and two stingers.
The last man was pointing his gun in every direction, scared out of his bones. His movements were jerky, and he was murmuring unintelligibly. Then he saw something move to his left, and he screamed and wasted his ammo, too terrified to conserve his ammo.
His gun stopped firing, and he looked at it, then back in the direction he was shooting at. Before he could realize he had wasted his clip on a rodent, he was swung off his feet and held upside down.
When he was finally brave enough to open his eyes, he stared into a dark red face with white teardrops for eyes.
Then the white eyed man put his hand to his face, and his face started to burn.
"AHHHH!!!" He exclaimed.
His face felt like someone had dropped burning oil on it. He couldn't move the hand away from his face, and if this continued, the white eyed man with a hand of pain could probably melt his bones.
Then the man ripped his skin off his face, and he screamed even more. At this point, the pain was unbearable! His face was-
SNIKT!
Kaine ejected all three Wolverine claws in his left hand, embedding them in the man's throat. Then he sheathed his claws, and dropped the corpse on the floor.
Kaine walked a couple steps forward, then took his mask off and spit. "Assholes, wouldn't let a dude wake up from a bigass fight with their nemeses in peace." Kaine looked at his right hand, and opened his fist. "Huh, so each of us have a piece of the Siege Perilous. Still doesn't answer the question of where I am right now, feels out of the universe."
Then there was a large sound, and Kaine looked up to see a rainbow comet flying- wait was that Thor inside the rainbow? Kaine groaned realizing he was in some variant of Earth-199999, and that the events of Thor: Ragnarok had just started.
"Why is it always us that has to deal with this bullshit?" Kaine asked no one in particular.
Kaine used magic to make himself invisible as he saw some more prowlers attack Thor. As soon as Valkyrie arrived, he teleported into her ship. He stifled a chuckle when Valkyrie used a little bit of electricity to defeat Thor. As soon as they had lifted off, he stepped into action.
"Many apologies, Your Majesty." Valkyrie said, shocking Thor with the device once more.
"Enough." Kaine said, becoming visible.
"Who are you?" Valkyrie said, putting her dagger on his neck.
"I'm not an Asgardian, and I'm someone who can't be killed with something as puny as a dagger." Kaine said, suddenly having his stinger on her neck, and two of his spider legs on her heart and forehead.
"Who are you?" Valkyrie said, putting more pressure on his neck with her dagger.
"Someone who doesn't care about Asgard, but cares about the universe." Kaine said. "I know you have heard rumors of Thanos, what if I told you that if Asgard is destroyed, he will attack."
"Thanos is a folktale, the story of drunks." Valkyrie hissed.
"I'm sure Gamora is fake too, and so are the Zhen-Whoberi then?" Kaine asked rhetorically.
"Say what you want, stranger." Valkyrie said.
"Odin is dead and Hela has returned, Valkyrie ." Kaine said, and she froze at the proclamation of her title. "Hela currently controls Asgard, and do you know what that means? She gets stronger. She draws power from the realm of Asgard. What's the only way to defeat her?"
Valkyrie stayed silent, realizing what Kaine was aiming at.
"What happens next?" Kaine asks again. "Ragnarok, that is what! Then Thanos has a golden opportunity. The Tesseract is either with Thor, Loki, or it is floating in the abyss where Asgard once was. The Power Stone is with the Nova Corp, who are no match for Thanos. Two stones down, it won't be too hard to get the rest, will it? The Aether is with the useless Collector. That's three stones. The Mind Stone was in Loki's Scepter when he attacked Terra, and now it sits in a useless robot. That's four stones. The Time Stone sits with the Mystics of Earth, that's five stones. The only two people who know where the Soul Stone is are me and Gamora, Thanos' daughter. He knows how to make her spill, and he will. That's six stones."
"What do we need?" Valkyrie asked.
"One angry Hulk would be highly appreciated." Kaine said. "I'll take care of Loki, keep Thor asleep, hell, let the two of them meet in the Pit."
~~~~~
Kaine snuck into the Arena, following Loki.
As soon as Loki was alone in a hallway, a portal formed underneath him, and he fell into the ship, where Kaine teleported himself to.
"Now I know you have questions, Loki." Kaine began. "But guess what, I don't have time for your bullshit. I'll say a word, you give me your reaction. All you need to know beforehand is me, you, your brother, and some others need to beat the shit out of Thanos, and I need some honest answers out of you. Capiche?"
"I am Loki Odinson, Prince of Asgard, and I will not have a masked robber treating me -"
Kaine slapped him on his cheek. "Did you hear any of the shit I said? Let's start, I don't give a fuck about your denial. Hela?"
"My bitchy sister." Loki said.
"Asgard?"
"My kingdom." Loki said. "You know, I'm beginning to enjoy this game."
Kaine slapped him again. "Cut the shit, God of Mischief. Ragnarok?"
"Destruction of Asgard."
"Tesseract?"
"Space Stone."
"Its location?"
"Asgard."
"Hela's power source?"
"I don't know."
"Asgard." Kaine said, and Loki paled. "Now you see where I'm going. Your kingdom, as you proclaimed, is going to be destroyed, and the Space Stone will be vulnerable."
"I'll take it with us when we destroy it." Loki protested.
"Thanos will intercept you."
"How do you know that?" Loki said angrily. "I don't know how you already know all this stuff, masked idiot, but I will ensure our safety, when it comes to it."
"You will be too late, Odinson." Kaine said. "You think Thanos is dumb? You think he didn't let the Terrans grasp the Mind Stone out of stupidity? You are an Asgardian, prove it. You have the knowledge. Tell me, Odinson, what form of sentients do the Eternals most resemble bodily?"
"The Asgardians, Xandarians, and the Terrans."
"Correct. Our forms are the most powerful, and the most improvable, in a way. And the Asgardians will fall, very soon, and we both know that. The Xandarians are a strong people, armed by the Nova force, but Thanos will obliterate them. He will collect the Power Stone from the ruins, then he will collect the Space Stone from you. The Collector will fall next, and he will give the Reality Stone, then it's practically game over. The Terrans may be able to put up a good fight, but Thanos' army alongside three stones is far too much. You are fighting a losing war, Loki."
"You say all this, however you have no explanation as to how to fix this." Loki said.
"For now, Thor is in the dark. There is a Valkyrie in charge of him, and she will take care of him, for now. Tonight, at the gladiator pit, Thor will face off against the long lost Hulk. I will go alongside you to the Grandmaster's box, and I will hack his technology. Next, we will let those two duke it out. Then, we will break Thor out, along with the other gladiators. We will use them as an army when we attack Asgard. From thenceforth, we will mostly wing it, but I have several different plans, but it gets less linear."
"Say we successfully destroy Hela, what next?"
"I never said we were destroying Hela, did I?"
"If not that, then what?"
"Tell me, Odinson, if Odin was a better father, would there be anyone that could face the three of you siblings without quaking in fear? Hela, Goddess of Death, Thor, God of Thunder, Loki, God of Mischief and Lies. Your combined power sets could make you quite literally, the most dangerous trio in the universe. Your father is dust, and you need to let that shit go. If the three of you can work together, then Thanos won't be a problem."
"You think you can put a leash on that bitch?" Loki asked amusedly. "She's been far too unhinged by the actions of Father."
"If that doesn't work we'll set Surtur on Asgard, and they both will fall. Then we will meet Thanos in battle, and we will do our best to kill him, or at least decimate his forces."
"His forces are endless."
"So am I." Kaine said, making clones of himself to make a point.
"You're a sorcerer, like the wielder of the Time Stone." Loki said, surprised.
"I am much more powerful than him, but yes, that is one of my fields of expertise." Kaine said, dissolving his clones. "Now, you've got two options. One, go along with the plan. Two, don't, and make shit way harder. What's the move, Odinson."
"I will… see where your endeavor goes, and assist you minimally."
"That's a nice silver tongue there, Loki." Kaine said amusedly. "Let's go, we've got work to do."
~~~~~
Kaine was standing in front of Loki in the hall, using a spell to make himself invisible.
"You know, you don't have to hover over me like that." Loki whispered harshly. "I'm not going to run away, or something."
"Thor will be here in about ten seconds." Kaine said.
Sure enough, ten seconds later, the Grandmaster entered, Thor strapped in a wheelchair behind him.
At first, Thor's wheelchair followed Grandmaster, then it stopped.
When Thor recognized Loki, he called for him.
"Dumb brute." Loki whispered when he realized that Thor wouldn't stop screaming, and he walked over to Thor.
"What do you want, Thor." Loki asked exasperatedly.
"Free me, Loki!" Thor said. "That idiot Valkyrie put this thing on my neck, and I have a gladiator fqight tonight!"
"Not yet." Loki said. "Valkyrie and I are working on it. Don't blow our cover."
"If something happens to me, we're going to do 'Get Help' and you'll be the one needing help." Thor said.
"Do you two know each other?" Grandmaster said, barging into their conversation.
"Well, Thor has actually always been a legend of mine." Loki said smoothly. "To actually see him in person, it's quite the honor, if I do say so."
"Ahh, well, it's always nice to see someone who appreciates my work." Thor said. "If you want, I can sign your robes, just give me a marker."
Suddenly, Valkyrie came in and grabbed Thor's wheelchair. "I'll be taking this one to the usual place?" She asked the Grandmaster.
"Of course." He said.
Valkyrie took Thor away, then Loki turned to the Grandmaster. "Well, I'll see you tonight, I'll be at my chambers till then."
Grandmaster nodded. "I'm looking forward to seeing him fight my champion."
~~~~~
Loki retired to his chambers, and Kaine dropped the spell. "I've hacked the tech. Now, it's time to unleash Thor."
"Why can't we just break out now?" Loki asked, flipping a knife.
"Tell me, Loki, what does the name Sylvie mean to you?"
A knife flew at Kaine's forehead, but he stopped it with his hand, half a millimeter away from his mask.
"How do you know that name?" Loki asked harshly.
"I'm not from this universe." Kaine admitted. "That's all you need to know, for now."
"How do I know you're not a Kang?"
"My brother fucking killed the Kang in our universe." Kaine said simply. "Now, how did you destroy the TVA the second time?"
"How do I know I can trust you?" Loki asked.
"You don't." Kaine said simply. "All you need to know, for now, is that we have the same goals."
"Fine." Loki said. "Sylvie and I, we used Alioth on the Kangs whenever they attacked. We still have Alioth sitting around, and we use him whenever someone attempts to attack another timeline. Eventually, we returned to the moment in time I entered the TVA from, and we cloned, for lack of a better term."
"You two actually fucked? How narcissistic are you?"
"No!" Loki protested. "Well, we did, but that's not what I meant. I meant that we had nexus events, and -"
"Eventually, there were separate timelines." Kaine said. "Then why were you letting this go on? You could have killed Thanos."
"Our plan was to continue the way the elder Loki did. You coming was unplanned. I went along with your plan for now because I figured that you were unique to this timeline."
"And where's Sylvie?"
"Right here." Sylvie said, materializing behind Kaine and pressing her knife to his throat. "Give me a reason not to kill you."
Kaine flipped backwards, landing behind Sylvie and pushed her into Loki. "You couldn't kill me if you tried. But as for why you should trust me, me, my brothers, and my nemesis were all thrown across the multiverse by an artifact. I am trying to save your universe, or at least help it, until I am pulled back by the artifact. Honestly, I have nothing to benefit from this."
"Prove that we can trust you." Sylvie said.
"How about this? The fact that you've unsuccessfully cast illusions on me?"
"Who are you?" Loki asked.
Kaine deactivated his mask. "Well, I'm Kaine, normally I'm the third strongest person in the multiverse, but my father blocked most of my powers, the asshole that he is. Right now, I could probably fight a Celestial and narrowly win. My father is an asshole, and thinks of my older brother, and by extension me and the rest of our brothers, as play toys." Kaine winced his pain as he fell to his knees. After a moment, he stood up. "That was him angry at my casual proclamation."
"What about the One Above All? What does he mean to you?"
"You know the stories of the Greek pantheon, right?" They nodded. "So think of me as Poseidon, my older brother is Hades, and my younger brother is Zeus. However, in this story, Zeus isn't the king of this family, because truthfully his power has nothing on Hades'. The One Above All is like Chiron to us. Our half-brother who is much weaker than us. Well, there's one of him for each universe, so they're all like weaker half-brothers. He should be coming here pretty soon, cuz I can't hide my presence from him. He might just be watching for now."
"You're not lying." Loki said, astonished.
"Maybe." Kaine shrugged. "Or maybe I'm strong enough to nullify your control over your domains. Either way, I'm powerful enough that you have no choice but to hand the reins over to me."
"Fine." Loki said. "We'll do this your way."
Sylvie stood up, and pushed her knife against Kaine's throat. "If Loki gets hurt, I'm coming after you. And no matter how strong you are, I will hunt you down , then I will torture you."
Kaine smirked. "He won't get hurt. But I doubt you'd be able to go through with that threat."
"Don't try me." Sylvie said, pushing her blade.
"Do it, cut me." Kaine said. "I won't even try to heal myself. My body will do it automatically."
Sylvie sliced his neck open, then their jaws dropped as they watched Kaine bleed for thirty seconds, then the wound started to slowly close and within 45 seconds, there was no sign of a cut.
"Yeah." Kaine said amusedly. "One time, my older brother was mad at my younger brother, so he ripped his own head off and threw it at my younger brother so fast that there was a hole where his stomach had a hole the size of my older brother's head, then they were both fully healed within two minutes."
Both of them were speechless, and Kaine smirked. "Back to the point, before we started talking about me, we were talking about why we're letting Thor and Hulk fight. I asked you if you knew Sylvie to give an example. Before you had to fight Alioth, you always thought you were way weaker than you actually were. You were forced to unlock the extent of your powers. Same thing with Thor. He still thinks his powers were connected to Mjölnir. Fighting against Hulk will force him to tap into the true well of his powers, making him the true God of Thunder, and start him on his path to become the All-Father."
"So we're waiting so Thor can quit being so weak?" Sylvie asked. "Fine by me, I guess. We were going to stay here anyways."
"Cool." Kaine said. "Now, we need ships, and make sure they're good, not the orgy ships."
"Can we at least throw Thor in that one?" Loki asked.
"Fine." Kaine said.
~~~~~
A few hours later, Kaine followed Loki as he went to the top box.
They went through security, then Loki sat next to Grandmaster, and Kaine stood at the back.
Meanwhile, Thor was entering the ring, armed and ready.
According to the Valkyrie, he would have to fight this man, and they couldn't interfere.
He stood in anticipation as the doors opened to reveal… "Hulk?"
Hulk grunted in agreement.
"Hulk!" Thor said happily. "It's good to see you, old friend! Where have you been? They've been looking for you down on Earth."
"Hulk had fun here." Hulk said.
"Ohh, that makes sense." Thor said in agreement, while everyone else was looking confusedly. "You get to fight all the time, right?"
"Yeah."
"Yeah, well, we've got to go now, buddy, how about you let Banner out?"
"EVERYONE WANTS BANNER!" Hulk roared. "BANNER PUNY! HULK NOT WANT TO BE PUNY!"
Hulk swung his hammer at Thor, and Thor jumped away, narrowly avoiding being flattened.
"Ok, you don't need to be Banner, you can just be Hulk." Thor said frantically.
"HULK BEAT PUNY GOD, HULK WILL BEAT THOR TOO!" Hulk roared, punching Thor across the arena.
"That statement still brings awful memories." Loki whispered.
Hulk jumped at Thor, but Thor rolled away at the last second.
Thor attempted to punch Hulk in his knee pit, but it didn't work, and Hulk kicked him into the air.
As soon as Thor was close enough, Hulk grabbed him and started slamming him into the ground, similar to how Hulk had smashed Loki so many years ago.
While no one else realized this, Kaine could see that Thor's eyes slowly gained their electric look, and Kaine smirked in anticipation.
Hulk slammed Thor into the floor one more time, then as he picked Thor up again, a large electric blast came out of Thor and blew him out of Hulk's grasp.
Thor landed on his feet, then he skid back ten feet, and Hulk gave a roar.
Thor roared back, then they charged at each other, Hulk faintly glowing green and Thor surrounded by electricity.
They both jumped at each other, and the resulting collision blasted them both back, rolling across the arena.
Thor looked at his hands, which still had electricity running across them, then he looked at Hulk, and began punching in the direction of Hulk, sending electric blasts from his fists at Hulk, and getting him angrier.
The Grandmaster took his remote, and attempted to shock Thor into sleep.
Unfortunately, that didn't work, because Kaine had control of the chip.
Hulk jumped up, and landed with a fist to the ground, causing a shockwave which blew Thor off his feet.
"Enough!" Valkyrie called, entering the arena.
"Angry girl?" Hulk asked confusedly.
"Remember what I told you, Hulk?" She asked. "Today will be a small fight."
"Yeah, but Thor's not done." Hulk whined.
Thor coughed. "I'm not done, that's true. I still have to beat you, Hulk."
Hulk scoffed. "Thor can't beat Hulk, he's puny, like Loki."
"Just you wait, Hulk." Thor said. "I'll -"
"Not now, boys." Valkyrie cut in. "For now, we have to run."
She pointed at the entrances to the arena, where soldiers were entering. "Let's take care of them, then we'll leave."
Within seconds, they knocked all the soldiers out, then they ran out.
"Angry girl!" Hulk asked. "Does Puny Banner have to come?"
"Yes, he's easier to hide." Kaine said, dropping in through a portal.
"Who are you?" Thor and Hulk asked at the same time.
"A friend." Valkyrie said.
Hulk changed into Banner mid stride, and they continued to run.
They reached a fork, and Kaine passed them all. "Follow me! Sylvie has a plane ready, and she already released the rest of the gladiators, they're all on their own ship!"
Loki joined them, entering from a side hallway, and he matched their pace. "I escaped from The Grandmaster."
"No shit." Kaine said.
"I'm sorry, but can someone please explain what is going on?" Banner asked meekly.
"Just shut the fuck up and follow us for now, Banner." Kaine said.
They reached the hangar, to see two large ships leaving, and a third, smaller ship waiting for them, with the door open.
"Hurry up!" Sylvie called. "They're starting to close the hangar doors!"
Kaine made a portal right in front of them, and they landed inside the ship.
"Go!" Kaine ordered.
Sylvie shot out of the hangar, the ends of the wings of the ship lightly scraping against the closing hangar doors.
"I thought the gladiators would all leave in one ship." Kaine commented.
"Oh, there was a… a horse man. He said he had to go save his people, so he needed the ship, but he would help." Sylvie said.
"Was his name Beta Ray Bill?" Kaine asked.
"Yes it was." Sylvie said.
"He's an honorable person. He will come, hopefully I can convince him to fight against Thanos."
"Who are you, and who is Thanos?" Banner asked.
"Goddamn, y'all are so fucking blind." Kaine said when he realized that only him, Loki, and Sylvie knew who Thanos was, while Valkyrie only knew of the rumors.
"Excuse me?" Thor asked.
"Tell me, Thunderer," Kaine said, facing Thor, "who gave your brother the sceptre?"
Thor looked confused for a second. "Did he not steal it from the vaults in Asgard?"
"I am not sorry to say that is a lie." Loki said.
"For a long time, Loki was a puppet for another person." Kaine said. "For several years before the battle in New York, his eyes were blue. Originally, his eyes were green, but no one noticed the change. Loki never willingly sent the Destroyer to you, that was the one that controlled him. After the fiasco with the Destroyer, the puppeteer called Loki to himself, and bade him to attack Terra with one percent of his army. Loki had no option but to do so, but when he was defeated, his mind was released from the control, because the puppeteer no longer held the Mind Stone, and Loki's mind was… rebooted. Although his mind was free, this was also part of the puppeteer's plan. Loki could not speak of the puppeteer's identity, and Heimsdall was unaware of his identity as well. Odin feared whoever would be powerful enough to cause such damage, but kept the truth under wraps for security reasons. Loki may be able to tell you more."
"Thor…" Loki said hesitantly. "Mother is alive, and so are the Warriors Three."
"What!?" Thor asked. "What do you mean?"
"I went through some trials immediately after the battle of New York. Remember when I disappeared after Hulk ran into the hallway and Stark fell down?" Thor nodded. "I reappeared a minute later, but it had been months for me. I chose to come back to save whoever I could of our family. Unfortunately, I couldn't save Father."
"And were you ever going to tell me?" Thor asked angrily.
"You would learn it in two weeks." Loki said.
"Why not now!?" Thor asked, shaking Loki by his shoulders.
"Because I die in two weeks!" Loki shouted.
Thor stepped back in shock. "No, that isn't possible… you always cheated death, you'll do it again."
"That wasn't his plan for this time though." Kaine said. "Elder Loki probably got too deep in his head."
Sylvie looked at Loki sadly. "You were going to leave?"
Loki swallowed. "I'm sorry, Sylvie. I was just scared, and I - I still am. Every single Loki that we know that went past this point lost everyone."
"As in?" Kaine asked.
"Five of us went against Thanos using what we learned during the TVA stuff. In three of those universes, Thor finishes it with dust and dies. In two of them, Sylvie gets killed."
"I'm a wildcard, Loki." Kaine said. "Just because it happened there doesn't mean it will happen here. You have my word that you will have a happy ending."
Loki nodded gratefully.
"Well then, where's mother?" Thor asked.
"Oh." Loki said. "Umm, she's in a time loop."
Loki pulled out a TemPad, then an orange rectangle appeared, and Frigga walked out of it, along with the Warriors Three.
"Mother?" Thor asked.
Frigga hugged him. "It's nice to see you, Thor." She said warmly. "How have the years treated you, my son?"
"They haven't been incredibly kind." Thor said.
"No, they probably haven't." Frigga said, caressing Thor's cheek. "The world is rarely nice to those who deserve it."
"Ain't that true." Kaine muttered to himself.
Frigga heard his statement, and took a look at him, but she didn't comment.
After a few minutes of talking with her children, she quietly sat down next to Kaine. "Why do you wear the mask, warrior?" She asked softly. "You are not in battle."
Kaine took his mask off. "It's muscle memory, mostly. Most people never get the privilege of seeing my face."
Frigga studied Kaine's face. "Your eyes, they speak of a muted pain." She said quietly. "As if you've lived lives upon lives of pain. Not even Bor, Odin's father, had pain this deep. Who are you, warrior?"
"No one of consequence, All-Mother." Kaine said.
"Tell me your stories, child." Frigga requested.
"I was once someone else." Kaine said. "Then I was thrown into another world, and forced to make the best of it. I was tortured by a higher being without reason. I was forced to see trillions of mortal lives filled with torture. Now, I stand as a protector of the multiverse, and I am currently going where the Norns guide me."
"The Norns cannot possibly have illusions that they can determine your path, you are much too powerful for them."
"No. However, for now, I support your children, and your Norn take advantage of this fact."
Frigga nodded in understanding. "Of course, that is the type of game they would play."
"All-Mother, forgive my impudence, but I must ask you a question."
"Do not worry yourself over formalities, child. What is it that you wish to ask me?"
"Is Hela your child in any form?"
"She is not my child by blood, her mother passed away during her childhood. However, she is my child as much as Thor and Loki are."
"Then I hope that you can break through to her, she is a great warrior, and an Asgardian I would like to fight beside."
"When will you return to your universe?"
"When I am called, which will be awhile, but not too long."
"Then let us hope that my daughter misses me as much as I miss her." Frigga said.
~~~~~
Two hours later, they arrived at the Bifrost bridge.
They all got out of the ships, and moments later, they heard a howl.
"Fenrir." Kaine commented, and his mask reformed over his face.
The large wolf came bounding at them, and several of them began raising their weapons, when Frigga raised her palm, and walked forwards to the wolf.
Fenrir paused when he realized who was walking towards him, then he bounded at Frigga, and rubbed her muzzle against Frigga.
"It is good to see you too, Fenrir." Frigga said softly. "How about you tell my daughter that I wish to see her?"
Fenrir bounded away, and several minutes later he returned with Hela riding on his back.
Hela dropped off of Fenrir, and ran into Frigga's waiting arms.
"The Asgardians told me that you had passed onto Valhalla." Hela said with a choked voice.
"And so they were made to think." Frigga said. "The Norns intended for my death many days ago, but Loki prevented me from entering Valhalla."
"I missed you very much, Mother." Hela whispered.
"I did too, dear." Frigga said. "I was forced not to save you, I apologize for not letting you out millennia ago."
"You had your blood child to worry about, I don't blame you."
"It wasn't only my blood child. I would never let myself think of something as heinous as killing your father, and both of your brothers would be forced to fight over the throne at a young age."
"I understand, Mother." Hela said, releasing Frigga from her embrace. "Now that I have returned home, I feel much better than I did in my prison."
Kaine stepped forward. "Hela, I am sincerely sorrowful for what Odin did to you. However, I must demand that you release any Asgardians you have captured, and call off your soldiers from hunting Asgardians."
"Who do you think you are to address me as such?" Hela asked harshly, bringing her sword out.
"I am not of this universe, and I have no say as to how Asgard is ruled." Kaine said. "My name is Kaine, and I am merely a traveler who is attempting his best to make sure your universe is safe."
"Mother, is he trustworthy?" Hela asked.
"He is a good man, Hela." Frigga said. "If there is anyone here that should bow to another, we should all be bowing to him."
Hela started in surprise, never hearing such high praise from her mother, and promptly vanished her sword. "I apologize for my disrespect."
"There are no apologies needed." Kaine said. "Now, we have to get ready, the Norns and their counterparts may not have expected this confrontation to be dissolved so peacefully and quickly, but they will act promptly, and we must be prepared for their meddling."
Kaine looked at the assortment of Asgardian gods surrounding him. "Can I depend on you all to fight with me?"
"I know firsthand what Thanos plans, and you seem to know what you are doing, so yes, you will see me fighting by your side." Loki said.
"Same here." Sylvie said.
Valkyrie took a swing of her beer. "Well, what the fuck, I have nothing else to do, I came here to kill the bitch," she gestured at Hela, "but since that doesn't seem to be happening, I need someone to kill."
"Your name was Brunhilde, was it not?" Hela asked.
"What's it to you?" She asked.
"I was forced to kill your sisters. Merely a month before, I had been fighting alongside the Valkyries, but then Odin sent them to kill me. Your leader, Reyna, came to me ten minutes before the rest of you, begging me to kill all of you. Odin had told Reyna that any Valkyrie that returned would be killed without their blade in their hand. Reyna wanted you all to enter Valhalla more than anything. I can still remember her begging on her knees when I said that I didn't want to kill my friends. I left you alive at Reyna's request, she believed that you would escape and eventually bring the Valkyrie back. You have no idea the pain of seeing the betrayal in my friends' eyes as I killed them, not knowing that I was doing it out of mercy."
"Odin was once a great king, and a great father." Frigga said. "I remember, when Hela's mother was still alive, he would let Hela sit on his lap as he sat on his throne. Then she disappeared, and Odin was no longer the same."
"Odin never should have fallen in love with a woman that wasn't his, nor should she have gone to Odin." Kaine said simply.
"You know who she was." Frigga said. It was a statement, not a question.
"Of course." Kaine said. "She has been chasing after my brother and his lover for many millennia, ever since my brother and her got together."
(A.N.: If you haven't already realized, Hela's biological mother was the Phoenix Force. In this story, originally she was with Anansi, which I will expound on later, then she went to Odin, then when Peter and Death got together, she left Odin in every universe, each of her aspects in the universes settling near where Peter stayed, but in their own universes. But I'll explain it in detail later.)
Hela's eyes widened when she realized who exactly was Kaine's brother's lover.
"Do they have a child?" Hela asked.
"Tartarus." Kaine said. "Not the Greek Tartarus, but his name is Tartarus nevertheless."
"You realize we have no idea what you all are talking about?" Sylvie asked.
"Apologies." Hela said, then she turned to Kaine. "I will fight by your side."
"I will fight with my children, as I should." Frigga said.
Everyone looked at Thor. "I don't know who the new guy is, but you all like him, so I'll fight as well."
"Hulk likes you." Bruce said. "He says that even though you look puny, you're not puny, and he wants to 'Hulk smash' with you."
"You'll both have a chance for that pretty soon." Kaine said.
As if by some sort of predetermined fate, a soldier ran up to them from the mountains. When he was close enough, they could tell it was Heimsdall.
"Nidavellir is under attack!" Heimsdall said, panting.
"Loki, you tell the troops to get back inside the ship and set coordinates to Xandar." Kaine said, immediately taking control. "Loki, Sylvie, you'll go with them. I expect that half of his forces will be attacking one of the places while he is at the other, thereby thinning the enemy force while he gets the easier prey at Nidavellir. Heimsdall, you tell Beta Ray Bill to take his ship to Xandar as well, and board the ship with him. All-Mother, Hela, Thor, Bruce, Fenrir and I will board the ship we came here by and go to Nidavellir. Is that clear?" He got nods. "Then get started! Let's go! As fast as we fucking can!"
Within minutes, they were all in their respective positions and heading to battle.
Here's to hoping that we're able to get this done with minimal casualties. Kaine thought to himself as they flew through the Jump Point.