"Can you tell me about your journey? I would love to hear your story!"
Hearing this, Jack fully explained everything he and Gwen had experienced.
The Ancient One listened quietly as Jack told her about their journey, from arriving on Zen-Whoberi to eventually reaching Knowhere.
After hearing everything, Jack asked her a few questions about the things he had been wondering about. The Ancient One answered what she could, while also clearing up some of his doubts about the universe, the different levels of power, and whether the things he had learned so far were actually true in this universe or if something had changed because of the timeline.
From the Ancient One's answers, it seemed that the universe still followed the rules Jack remembered from the MCU, at least for the things she knew about.
Jack also asked about Mercer and the demon behind him.
"Don't worry about Mercer or the demon behind him anymore. Everything concerning them has been taken care of," the Ancient One said calmly.
Hearing that, Jack finally relaxed a little. At least one problem from their time-travel mess had been completely dealt with.
After thanking the Ancient One again, Jack and the others left the Sanctuary and headed back to the spaceship. Emma and Morgan also followed them to the spaceship.
"How much have you completed on this time machine?" Jack asked Morgan, looking at Mercer's time machine, the main reason they had come to this era, with curiosity.
"There were some books and manuals related to the time machine among the things we found, so we were able to fix most of the broken parts. I'd say it's more than 95% complete. The only thing we can't figure out is the energy for the travel," Morgan explained to Jack.
"Energy? Like a nuclear power plant, the kind Mercer got electricity from?" Jack asked, confused.
"No! If it was that, we could have easily gotten it. Even spaceship energy would have worked. But it's a different kind of energy, the main energy the time machine uses for time travel. It's the main item that makes time travel possible. We need energy from the Space Stone, or something that has 'space' in its energy. Mercer originally planned to use the Space Stone from Hydra once he fixed this thing. I have the same idea now."
Hearing "Space Stone," Jack immediately thought of the Time Stone and the Ancient One.
"Why didn't you consider the Time Stone? That would be easier to get, right?" Jack asked, confused.
"I thought of that too, but this old model of the time machine was built by our Plumbers in the future, and the fuel we used is very similar to Space Stone energy. If I wanted to use Time Stone energy instead, it would need a lot of experiments and data, but we don't have the time or equipment to test it out. So using the data we already have is the right move."
"Fair point. But I remember, at this point in time, the Space Stone is still with Hydra. It won't end up in the ocean until 1945, after Captain America defeats Red Skull. That's about two years away," Jack said, recalling what he remembered.
"Then the only way is to borrow the Space Stone, recharge our time machine, and return it before anyone notices. That way, we won't change the past. Can that be done?" Gwen, who had been listening, asked.
"That would work. We'd only need it to recharge. It won't take much time, we can easily do that." Hearing that it wouldn't take long, they decided to borrow the Space Stone.
"So how do we find the Space Stone Hydra has?" Gwen looked at Jack, noticing he seemed very sure about finding it.
"Leave that to me!" Jack said confidently. Since Emma had mentioned earlier that Steve was still doing his stage shows, Jack knew Steve hadn't gone to save his old buddy yet. Soon, Steve would leave to find him, and Jack planned to use that chaos to grab the Space Stone, since he clearly remembered it was kept at the same base.
For now, he needed to keep an eye on Steve, so he left that task to Red Queen and continued his research into removing the Omnitrix's transformation time limit.
The next day, Jack was buried in his research. Gwen, meanwhile, was in a video call meeting with the Plumbers, giving them instructions.
Jack was currently in his Grey Matter form, sitting in front of several monitors as he studied the Omnitrix's transformation system. He went through the data again and again, trying to understand what caused the time limit and how the Omnitrix decided when to end a transformation.
There has to be something I'm missing.
Jack continued working, comparing different sets of data and checking the Omnitrix's energy readings. He was so focused on his work that he didn't notice how much time had passed.
Suddenly, the Omnitrix beeped.
Beep!
Jack looked down at it. The transformation time limit had run out.
Already?
Before he could continue, Red Queen's voice came through the communicator.
"Jack, Gwen has finished her meeting."
"Okay. I'll be out in a minute."
"I don't know if I'm the leader or you are. I'm the one doing more work," Gwen complained to Jack, who came out of his lab.
"Sorry, Gwen, I'll help you once I finish this project," Jack pleaded with her.
As they entered the rest area, they both noticed Emma and Morgan playing a game.
[GAME OVER]
Emma stared at the screen.
"..."
"That was unfair! You must have cheated!"
Morgan sighed. "You lost."
"One more!"
"No, this is already the fifth time. I'm leaving," Morgan said, getting up from her seat.
"No, one more! This time I'll win," Emma said.
"Come on, Emma, I'll play with you," Gwen offered, seeing this.
"Okay, then. This time I'll win for sure."
Gwen sat down beside Emma and started playing with her, while Jack remained lost in thought.
What am I missing? There's something... just a small problem.
Just then, Jack noticed Emma's Omnitrix.
The Omnitrix... built by my future self. Yes! Maybe studying this can help me!
A/N: The Patreon version is already updated with 20 advanced chapters. If you'd like to read ahead of the public release schedule, you can join here: