Third Person P.O.V.
Xavier School
"Ouch…" Kitty groans while she pulls her feet off the ground to lie down on the couch.
"Still hurting?" Rogue asks, a little concern appearing on her usual flat tone.
"Just a little." The intangible meta answers "That guy stomped on the ground while I was sinking in… Almost everything on my body was intangible except a little of my foot, you know? To stay afloat. That was how I twisted my ankle… It could have been worse."
"A good reminder that you are not invincible." The goth meta scoffs.
"Believe in me, I know. I was holding my breath all the time… It's terrifying to fight someone so much quicker than you. I felt if I became hitable even for a second, I would have died."
"Good that you all escaped then."
"How could we not? With Kurt and I, not even that motherfucker could keep us there…" Kitty grunts "Too bad we aren't able to grab Logan's son."
"Another one, huh?"
"Well, the guy is old, so… statistically." Kitty defends him with a shrug. "I'm surprised he doesn't have more."
"Not to sound mean, but I think the world is a better place with as few Wolverines as possible." Rogue jokes
"Yeah, I agree… The food chain would not be able to support this species. I heard they don't have a natural predator."
"And they are very aggressive to humans."
"Very aggressive in general."
The two laugh together for some time before the rest of the girls arrive. Jean, Jubilee, Illyana, Tabitha, Laura, Paige, and others
"What are you guys laughing at?" Jubilee asks while propping herself on the couch. Kitty needed to make her feet intangible to avoid being sat by the short-haired meta.
"Just talking about Kitty's last mission."
"Oh, the one where you guys get your asses kicked?" Jubilee laughs. She can joke about it because everyone came back safe and sound.
"Shame on you all." Illyana shakes her head in a disappointed way.
"Hey! That guy is strong! And I was busy looking at the sexy body of Logan's ex… respectfully, of course." Kitty jokes to defend herself, "Now, excuse me if I'm not willing to relive the awful experience of having my ass handed to me by an evil super sentai guy." She turns away and takes her phone from her pocket. "I'm gonna go to my comfort zone and see Eidolon content on the internet."
"Here we go, you're addicted." Jean smiles. One of Kitty's favorite pastimes was navigating the rabbit hole of heroes on the internet, with a special focus on the most active here: Eidolon.
"Shut up." Kitty gumbles without even looking at her, easily clicking on her favorites tab to go to the threads about Eidolon.
There are threads about all heroes and villains… in truth, there are threads about everything on this site, but Eidolon is always in the Top 3. Here, people can share their experience with a certain hero, videos, memes, artwork, etc.
Kitty checks every day because it never fails to entertain her.
"First post is a video during that Convergence-thing that happened in London. Showing Eidolon avoiding that Elf Queen advances." Kitty starts "It says: Why Eidolon never falls for honey traps? The average woman around Eidolon, and then an edit of a bunch of hot women that he interacts with. Oh, that warrior woman friend of Thor was giving him the eyes…"
"Fair enough…" Jean nods
"Do you think I'm one of the hot women he interacts with?" Paige asks
"Not you." Jubilee answers mercilessly, and Paige gives her the middle finger.
"In hindsight, even Kurt's mom was flirting with Eidolon." Jean appears to notice a pattern.
"And that Psylocke during our mission…" Jubilee says
"And those elf queens during the Convergence."
"Damn, every time the guy needs to avoid the advances of women."
"Poor guy…" Jubilee shook her head sarcastically
"While some are dying of thirst, another drown…"
All is said in a joking tone
"There's another similar video…" Kitty says "Eidolon is with Thor on the street, and they are being approached by some female fans…"
"Put it on the TV already, no need to keep narrating." Rogue cuts her off
"Okay, geez…"
A minute later of pairing the two devices and Kitty was able to share the screen of her phone with the huge TV in the living room.
The video is titled "The Eidolon fanbase is crazy", filmed from a fan perspective, it starts with a lot of girls running to Thor and Eidolon, who seem to be chilling after the black-clad hero defeated a small villain.
From more or less half a dozen girls, half approach Thor and half approach Eidolon. Kitty laughs immediately, seeing the clear division.
While Thor fans look pretty normal in their girly clothes and make-up, Eidolon fans are rocking the goth/emo/punk archetype. Black clothes, tattoos, dark lipstick, heavy make-up…
Even Thor said that on the video, "Your fans are very unique individuals, my friend." He speaks with a good natured smile.
"Shut up, your fans once made some ritual topless dance for you. Mine are pretty normal." Eidolon defends his fans equally in a joking tone.
Then he goes down to sign the autographs, but for some reason, he pauses. "Wait a minute…" Eidolon then unfolds the paper and peels the external layer, revealing a full document underneath. "This is a marriage certificate…"
"Ooopsie~" One of the goth girls says, not looking ashamed at all.
Kitty is already laughing loudly while the rest of the X-Men are shaking their heads while holding out a laughter.
"And this one is an adoption paper? And this one too!" Eidolon unravels their evil plot.
"We can be a happy family." One of the girls says in a pleading voice.
Now, everyone laughs while watching him shake his head like a disappointed father, "And I just defended you guys…"
"Sorry, daddy~"
"Don't."
While Thor guffaws, Eidolon signs now blank papers, "Now I know why Stark doesn't accept anything handed to him." but his fans are not done.
When they are leaving, they suddenly turn around and grab the hem of their shirt and pull it up… Luckily Eidolon is pretty fast and holds it down.
"Behave." He says in a deep voice, a little more serious.
"Yes, daddy~"
"Sorry, daddy~"
The video ends with Thor laughing while Eidolon sighs.
"They are gonna flash him in the middle of the street." Jean is facepalming
"Bitches are crazy." Jubilee shakes her head.
"Really down bad." Rogue scoffs
"They are giving women and goths a bad name." Paige comments
"Don't look at me while saying that." Rogue glares at Paige
"This reminds me of that goth girl who asked Eidolon to make his autograph a tattoo." Kitty is still laughing "Marking ownership on her body or something like that."
"Did he do it?"
"No, he only signed her skin and said if she wanted, she should cover it with a tattoo on her own."
"Smart, not taking responsibility for her actions." Jean approves.
"Still weird because she asked on her belly to make a womb tattoo." Kitty shakes her head. "Eidolon is nice enough to begrudgingly stylize the tattoo. Look!" She searches and finds the picture saved.
It shows the belly of a pale tattooed woman, her belly button is pierced, and she is wearing only black panties that don't hide her thighs filled with tattoos. The tattoo is the name "Eidolon" but the hero made the central "O" a spiral and made that both "Eid" and "lon" look like wings in the way he wrote in cursive.
"That is kinda cool." Rogue comments
"I'm telling you, Eidolon is a man of culture. That is exactly how a womb tattoo should be." Kitty exclaims "His mistake is that now a lot of girls are copying it." She laughs loudly
"Let me guess the type of girls…" Jubilee gives Rogue a look.
"Stop lumping me together with those maniacs!" The goth woman shouts while the rest laugh.
Kitty goes back to scroll down and finds an interesting thread: "Eidolon can turn into anything, what would you ask him to turn into to have sex with you?" Kitty reads, pausing her scrolling.
"I'm afraid to look." Jean says
"I'm curious…" Jubilee admits
Illyana looks disgusted at them and at the screen.
"Click on it." Paige says urgently
"I'm already seeing where this is going…" Kitty, the more experienced with the internet, sighs
The first answer… "A Vampire."
"Okay…" Jean says
"Valid." Jubilee adds
"I don't see how much different he would be…" Illyana comments, and they can't disagree. Dark clothes, a mantle, white hair… he is kinda of a vampire already.
Second answer… a Werewolf.
"Valid." Jubilee says without thinking.
"..." And everyone turns to look at her.
"...what?" She shrinks a little under their gaze. "They are kinda sexy… And don't shame fur-covered people! Dr. McCoy is one of them!"
"Wolverine is one of them…" Paige jokes.
"Better than the answer below, at least… a dog." Kitty comments, and everyone's face changes.
There are all kinds of answers… From wholesome ones like: "Eidolon. He is already my ideal man." that makes the girls nod to "tentacle monster" that made everyone but Kitty shudder.
"Some guy said: On a woman." Kitty laughs
" 'The Hulk'? Just go for the Hulk then." Paige shakes her head
"Is that Cthulhu?" Jean frowns.
People start sending pictures too… There are normal people and celebrities, too. There are demons and all kinds of monsters.
"And that is a Roswell Alien…" Jean says again, looking at the picture of the standard gray alien, with a big head and big black eyes.
The answers get more and more unhinged.
"Someone said 'a horse'." Tabitha says in disgust
"It took too long to appear…" Kitty laughs. "Just below, someone replied: 'Why not a centaur?' and the Horse Girl replied…" Kitty's face fell as she read it, "...I want to hear him neighing…" There's more, but she can't read that out loud.
"..."
"...."
"....."
"...that is enough internet for today." Kitty says and shuts off her phone. "Next time I'm gonna stick with 'Eidolon helping animals montage'."
"I feel dirty."
"Women are as freaky as men."
"You guys need to see women's fantasy romance books then…"
"Illyana, don't turn up like that." Jubilee says to the pre-adolescent.
"..." The blonde girl stares at the older X-Men with dead eyes. She hates being treated like a kid. She is probably more mature than they are because of all her experiences. "Whatever… I forgot to tell you guys, Eidolon told me that this weekend we can visit the person who made my suit. If you all want…"
"I want!" Jubilee says immediately
"Me too! Your costume is so cool…" Kitty adds
"It will be nice…"
"Good, she said that all of your costumes are a 'sacrilege against fashion'." Illyana gives them a mock grin.
"Hey!" Kitty doesn't agree. "Okay… Not everyone needs to wear yellow. I mean, it's MY color, not everyone gets as good as me in yellow, so you guys should change." She brags smugly
"Like I wanted to wear yellow…" Rogue scoffs
"Let me guess… Black and a womb tattoo of Eidolon?" Kitty taunts, needing to become intangible to dodge the pillow thrown at her face.
.......
Hector P.O.V.
Earth-1610?
I control myself from grabbing a snack to eat while Mrs. Morales chews Miles for details about América Chavez. "Who is this girl?", "From where is she?" "Who are her parents?", "Where did he meet her?", "Why are you hiding her?"...
All difficult questions to answer. Like, from where she is? really? Not even I know her origin universe.
Miles sputters and struggles with his answers while his parents loom over him threateningly.
Oh boy, his mother started talking in Spanish… I'm sorry, Miles. All spider people have to suffer a little.
"I… I… Okay, okay… Calm down…" Miles raises his hand to his parents while subtly walking to me. Then he quickly pushes me till we are in his room. His parents are on our tail. "I will answer your questions later. I promise!" Blam And he closes the door while his mother was saying something.
"You slammed the door on your Latina mom's face… You are braver than most, Miles Morales." I nod in admiration.
"And whose fault is this?" He glares at me.
"Ah, c'mon, think about it… What if Ms. Chavez drops by one day without warning, and your parents meet her? They will have, at least, a not-so-good impression because they will think you hide her from them." I say. In truth, I am helping him, and he is too blind to appreciate it.
"And how do I explain that she is a multiverse traveller, huh?"
"Omit this part for now. Example: I am an exchange student who is going back to his country after today." I say "I don't plan on returning here anytime soon, anyway."
"Why did you come back anyway?"
"Geez, is that how you treat a friend? I thought you would be happy on seeing me…" I shake my head in a disappointed way "No homo, by the way. Your pheromones don't work on me."
"Stop saying that, I was worried that it's a real thing!"
"It is, I just dealt with a Peter almost cheating on his girlfriend with another spider-girl in my universe because of pheromones."
"Really?"
"Really. Same spider, different genders… it can be dangerous." I nod. "And apparently there's a specific one that has pheromones that can affect everyone else." Jessica Drew is like that, for what I saw and felt.
"Then I'm glad I can become invisible and electrocute people…"
"Right? Best spider." And we high-five five. "Anyway, I came here to test some things and to learn a little."
"Learn?" He sits on his bed while I pull his study chair to sit.
"Yep. This universe is very advanced in the timeline compared to mine, like… A little more than a decade. I can simply get the list of superheroes and supervillains and go check on my universe for them."
"Isn't this dangerous in some way?" His brow furrows slightly
"Good that you have this kind of thinking." I point at him "Yes, it can be dangerous if I create some preconceptions of certain people and things ended up being different… it is different after all… slightly." The thing is that I already have those preconceptions from the beginning.
I continue "It is about how I will act… I will be careful. Only keeping an eye on things, maybe doing something in the last second. Example… What if someone's origin story involves a tragedy? Maybe I can lessen the damage a little, or maybe redirect a future villain to a path of righteousness, or simply stop the event that would give him powers to begin." Like how I will not allow Venom to give birth to Carnage and all other symbiotes.
"I see… I get what you mean." His face shows understanding "That can be a crazy ass advantage."
"Right?" It is more like an excuse for my meta knowledge. Power Manipulation is the excuse for the Assimilations, and Multiversal Travel is the excuse for my meta knowledge and subordinates. And even items! I can simply say that I travelled a lot around the multiverse. "Change subjects… How is your life as Spider-Man going? Had any trouble?"
"Not that much… Schedule is a bit tight tho." He says
"That is a given. Things can get pretty hectic all of a sudden, so be prepared."
"Ah yes, you are the paranoid of the bunch." Miles rolls his eyes
"Shut up, noob. You know nothing… You can be kidnapped and then dissected and cloned, media can start a crusade against you, S.H.I.E.L.D. can be in your ass… By the way, they are… It's just that I disabled their devices with this thing here." And then I put my nameless anti-bug disc on his table. It can only be used with my technopaty, but it is convenient.
"For real??" He almost shouts in surprise
"For real. There's none in your home… I'm surprised. Who is the head of S.H.I.E.L.D. now? Maybe they are short-staffed. Anyway, you are already on their radar and you didn't even notice."
"Damn! How did they discover that?"
"Ah, please… it just needs one display of superhuman ability and they profile you. Are you leaving as Spider-Man through your window?" I ask, making him wince "They know a Spider-Man probably lives in the area they work because of their powers, so they probably passed a thin comb through the whole of New York. Your height is enough for them to get to you."
"What a hell? How can I keep my identity a secret then?" Miles looks exasperated.
"That's the thing… You don't. Just don't be surprised if you get home and you find a spy in your bed. Not in the fun way… They like those power plays."
"That's messed up."
"Tell me about it." I shrug. "Let me give you some tips…"
We talked for some minutes, I told him the basics, reminding him that he is still human and can be knocked out if he is caught lacking… Always check your surroundings, me wary of poison gas, closed spaces, etc. You know, my experience as a hero and all that. He even gave Miles some trinkets, a Superhero Starter Pack of some kind. The guy can't depend on Aunt May's goodwill forever.
But it didn't take long for his mother to knock on the door and immediately open it to talk with us.
"Dinner is ready, Miles." She says after breaching the guy's privacy.
"Well, time to go." I stand up and pat my clothes
"Already? Stay for dinner, querido." Mrs. Morales turns to me
"I don't want to impose." I reply
"Oh no, no, no. You will not!" She shakes her hand
"Are you sure?" I double-check
"Of course, I already put your plate. Don't refuse my hospitality."
"Far from me to do that…" Well, if I have the chance to watch this sitcom…
.......
"Hmm Mrs. Morales, this is not flattery… Your food is so good. How are you able to do that and still work as a nurse?" I complimented before giving her a conspiratory smile, "You are a superhero, right? You can tell me, I can keep you secret."
She laughs while putting more things on my plate "All moms are superheroes." She says before walking back to the kitchen.
"..." I can feel Mr. Morales' eyes digging holes in me while I look at my plate; luckily, he is not the superhero of the family.
He was watching me very closely to see if I would check on his wife's butt as she went back to the kitchen. Not that I can't appreciate a Latina Mami, but I have much more self-control than that.
So I just stare at my plate while I eat, ignoring the looks that Miles and his father give me. I have a thick face, so acting shameless is a piece of cake, and seriously… The more they look annoyed, the more I want to poke them.
Mrs. Morales comes back to the table and talks with me "You don't look like it, but you eat a lot, Hector." She smiles happily. "You will need to find a nice girl who can cook for you." She is already acting like an aunt of mine, asking for my "novias(girlfriends)".
"Do you have any nieces to introduce to me then?" I smile back "That cook like you and looks like you."
"Ah, you flatterer~ Stop that~" She waves me off playfully
AHEM Mr. Morales coughs loudly
"Erm… And what about Gwen, Hector?" Miles suddenly says
"..." I pause mid-bite. Well played, Miles… Well played.
"Who is Gwen?" Mrs. Morales looks at me with a teasing smile. Yep, she already turned into an aunt of mine.
"She is a friend of mine…" I answer slowly "She, Miles, and I became friends because of a project, but there's nothing else."
"Oh, why so?"
"Well, we live too far… I'm from another country, you know? Double nationality. I'm going back tomorrow morning, that's why I came to talk with Miles before going. We are in a project together at school, after all." I weave the lie effortlessly.
"From which country are you? It's in Europe?" Mrs. Morales asks.
I chuckle a little "Brazil, my father is from there… I'm coming back to live with my grandparents."
"Brazil? You don't look like it…" Miles's father comments while eating.
Hm, what a good opportunity~ "What do you mean by that?" I tilt my head while narrowing my eyes
"Erm… Hm… Ah…" He almost chokes on his food while his wife glares at him. Oh, look! He is exactly like Miles on this!
I decide to help the guy and I laugh to disperse the awkwardness "Hahaha! Okay, I understand! It's natural to have some images in your head when you think about a country… Skin-wise, I took from my mother, you know? My father was as black as you, Mr. Morales."
"Is that so?" He blinks in surprise
"Yep, but much more friendly…" I give him a knowing look.
He coughs, a little ashamed. Again, I don't blame the guy for giving me the Cop Look, but from his perspective, he must be acting immature.
"Brazil, huh? So you are Latino too. I should have known… Hector is a Latino name." Mrs. Morales chimes in to change the subject "I never visited Brazil, it looks like a beautiful place."
"Ehh… What is beautiful is beautiful, what is ugly it's ugly… Like all countries." I shrugged. "If you are gonna do tourism, it's a good choice to see the beauty of nature and many cultures. Avoid the dangerous areas, please. You are from Puerto Rico, right, Tía? Can I call you Tía?"
"Of course, dear. And yes, I'm from Puerto Rico."
"It's a beautiful place too." I nod
"Have you been there?"
"Yes." Being Eidolon is easy to travel "On a vacation once." I lie easily
I know enough to have a talk with Rio Morales about her own birthplace.
"But tell me, how you and Miles get to know this… América. And Gwen, too." I knew she would not let go of the juiciest gossip: Her son's love life.
Asking while I am here is also a good way of getting answers.
While Miles was shell-shocked, I decided to concoct a story to help the guy. "We didn't know each other before, we got to meet because of a project. Gwen, América, and I are exchange students. Oh, I just remembered we took a picture together!"
I pulled my phone and, quickly with my technopathy, I edited our costumes to normal clothes. The photo is real, Gwen and Peni wanted to take some to remember the adventure.
"Let me see…" Rio receives my phone and looks at the screen. "Hm, I think I can safely guess Gwen is not the Latina one." She jokes
"Yes, haha. Sometimes the image in your head is accurate." I laugh
"Okay, I'm seeing the similarities…" Her husband says while stretching himself to look over her shoulder
"Really?"
"Yeah, she even has the same arc earrings."
"I don't think so…" Rio says while staring at the picture. "Aren't those girls too old?" The couple starts whispering between themselves while I secretly laugh, and Miles tries to shrink into his seat. Too bad you can't use your invisibility, huh?
"I don't know, they look young…" Mr. Morales whispers back
"I'm not saying they are old-old. I'm saying they look like college students. Maybe early twenties!" Rio shouts in lowercase to her husband.
"Hm, maybe… At least that América girl doesn't have piercings…" Hey!
"She is too tall. She is absolutely older." Rio is still on that.
And yes, América is pretty tall for a woman. She was taller than Miles before, but he is on a growth spurt.
"I think they are taking advantage of them…" Rio says in a lower voice, filled with worry that his son is being groomed.
"Pfffft!" I need to hold back to not to guffaw. She is so protective of her little boy. "Don't worry, Tía. I will not let her eat Miles." I joke
"Hmpf, I just need to make sure he is in good company. It's a mother's job to do that. Your mother should do the same, little man."
"Mom…" Miles visibly winces at the side while I keep a light smile on my face. C'mon, it's all about intention; she doesn't know.
"It's okay, Miles. Don't make this more awkward than it needs to be." I say, still chuckling. The couple already noticed something was wrong "Well… Please don't feel bad, but… My parents died in an accident some years ago." I say
"Oh Dios mio!" Mrs. Morales immediately puts a hand over her heart, looking mortified. Yeah… I guess it's expecting too much not to go through it.
Even the animosity Miles's father had with me disappeared… Ugh, don't look at me like that. Now I have lost the desire to tease you.
"Hector, I didn't know… I'm so sorry." She reaches out to grab my hands
"It's okay, it's okay… Don't feel bad. Acting normal is the best way to get over it, so please don't bring it up, okay? Let's just enjoy the nice dinner made by the beautiful matriarch of this family." I say in an exaggerated, pompous tone, to keep the mood light.
"..." The couple exchanges a glance before nodding with forced smiles.
Geez, awkward humor is not really my thing.
.......
"Bye, Tio e Tia." I wave at them while Miles and I go down the stairs to the streets. Dinner went back to normal after some time.
"Bye, Hector. You are welcome to visit anytime." Rio says at her husband's side
"Yes, you are." The guy started treating me better after knowing my sad origin story. A little boring because the guy is genuine. A rare good cop around this area… he is going to die, isn't he?
"No backsies." I point at them "I will take advantage of your goodwill next time. You will wish to throw me out next time!"
"I doubt it."
Miles accompanies me to wait for the taxi… A lie, obviously.
"Your family is nice. Especially your mom…" I tease.
"Dude…" He deadpans
"Okay, sorry…" I raise my hands in surrender while laughing
"You are lucky your mother is dead…" He says, and we pause "Okay, that came out wrong…"
"PFFFT! Haahaha!" Ignoring his guilty face, I laugh hard
"Shh, shh… It's fine. It's not about the words said, it's about intent." Words can't hurt me, and the moment is pretty comical. "My mother would laugh if she were watching us now." I give one last laugh that ends with a sigh.
"..." He continues to look at me strangely.
"Seriously, your pheromones don't work on me…"
"Stop with this pheromones thing!"
"Then stop looking at me like that! My spider-sense is tingling!" I shudder. "Anyway, I'm going back now, Miles. Multiversal travel is not something that I do often, so don't wait for me."
"How did you do that anyway?"
"A mix of being a genius and a cheater. Why?" I say before smirking "Want to search a certain Multiverse Hopper?" I wiggle my eyebrows at him.
"Ahem Uh… I don't know… It's just pretty cool…" Look at him trying to play it off while blushing.
"Okay, dude. If she likes you, she will come back one day." I assure him.
"Are you gonna visit Gwen?" He asks to change the subject
"No…"
"Why?"
"You know that is complicated…" I give him a look
"Yeah, you are her ex and maybe future boyfriend… pretty wacky."
"Right? I can't reciprocate her misplaced feelings like that." I shake my head. "She needs space to get over it."
Miles sucks some air between his teeth, not knowing what to say "That's rough, buddy."
"Thank you for your helpful words." I roll my eyes. "Anyway, I'm going. Be careful out there, Spider-Man. You inherited more than the great powers and responsibilities…"
I press the button on my wrist device, making a portal appear behind me. "...you inherited great trouble too."
"No one told me!" He shouts in a joking tone while I am being sucked by the vortex. The anchoring is working to pull me back to my real body.
"We fucking did! We have a whole ass intervention about it, motherfucker!" I shout back, the last thing I hear is him laughing loudly
......….
Third Person P.O.V.
Night falls on the city of Detroit. Huntress, the hero vigilante who took it upon herself to take care of this crime-infested city, is starting her patrols of the night. This time, with two "sidekicks".
"Do I really need to go through this?" Virgil Hawkins, now wearing his new Static Shock costume, his new retractable board also in hand.
"Yes. New world, new many things…" Huntress says in a non-nonsense tone "I don't doubt your expertise, but you better go through a supervised night before acting alone."
"..." On the side, Shadow just observes the two. She is tagging along because she doesn't have anything better to do.
What Huntress doesn't say is that this little team-up is more to help Virgil therapeutically than to see his skills. At least, that was Hector's intention, but she doesn't think she is in a position where she can help anyone mentally.
It's not because they are from the same universe that they can create some sort of support group. Helena, Harley, Cassandra, Virgil, Pamela, Killer Croc, King Shark, and anyone who Hector has a card and just didn't summon yet… Despite having this main thing in common, they couldn't be more different from each other.
And Helena thinks that she is probably the most different from them all. Just because of a single experience that puts her apart from all others… She saw her universe being destroyed.
This still weighs in her mind. The powerlessness, the unawareness… She only watched the last seconds when everything became nothingness. Just a few seconds of realization, not even enough time to settle her feelings.
Was she angry? Sad? Unwilling? She doesn't know… She can't replicate the feeling; she only keeps feeling it in a constant lesser degree… Her universe ended, and she still doesn't know how to feel about it.
Maybe that is why she reached back at Hector's power and came to the Marvel universe. Whatever she felt, it was still nagging her, and she was maybe seeking some kind of closure.
Maybe discover that her universe was res-established afterwards, Hector said that it is possible, or simply know what ended everything. What was their mistake? Her mistake? Should she have done more? How? She is so weak…
Was weak… She is getting stronger. Helena had close contact with the top of the hero world in both universes, so she will not get conceited, but she is stronger now.
Sometimes she stays awake at night wondering if the her of now would be able to make a difference? It's silly, but she still can't help but wonder if she would be able to tilt the balance just a little to the right side, even if she were a weak normal woman.
Or if Hector would be able to save her universe in some way. Maybe not with strength alone. That is one of the reasons she follows him. The guy is like her, aware of the risks and is actively working every day to prevent all horrible futures.
It's her tragedy that brought her close to him, and ironically, it's her tragedy that creates this invisible wall between them.
Helena can admit in her mind… She thought about Hector romantically.
How can she not? Ignoring his age, that is more of a formality right now, Hector is indeed her type. She just won't say that close to Shego's ear, of course.
He is an attractive guy with a good personality, the two have a very close platonic relationship; they are in the same boat… There are a lot of reasons for them to eventually get together.
Seeing his polygamous relationship working so well also creates mixed feelings inside her. Sometimes she looks at it with some small envy, wondering a "what if?"... Even Harley and Poison Ivy ended up in a relationship with him, albeit the latter is still not officially established.
Helena obviously thinks about it. A part of her often wonders, "Why not?". What is holding her? Hector obviously has, at least, a very good impression of her; she would dare to say that he thinks the same in the depths of his mind.
But then… That constant nagging feeling she has since the destruction of her universe makes itself present. She once lost everything, so what is stopping it from happening again?
Keeping her distance, not getting attached, is a defense mechanism in case things go wrong again… She can be as pessimistic as Hector sometimes. Or realistic, as they would call themselves.
There's also the fact that maybe all of her feelings and goodwill for him are fabricated, a byproduct of his power. But for some reason, she can't bring herself to care that much… Maybe even this is something created by his power, too.
Unfortunately, thinking about it will not give her an answer. The only answer she has is his attitude toward his people. He never abused his power over them, so she believes that his power also doesn't influence her mind as much, and if it does, it's not his fault, so she will not hold it against him.
'No use to think about it…' She will not make a move on him, and Hector is too nice to do the same.
She would not call him a passive guy, because that is what one would expect of someone in a relationship, albeit a strange one. If Hector starts actively making moves on women, his harem will grow faster than the Avengers.
So the two will stay in this romantic Limbo, keeping a platonic relationship, and she is happy about it… Yep, she is satisfied with this.
"Let's go kick some butt. Meanwhile, I will tell you the differences between this world to ours." Huntress says and then steps into the air, making the two follow her.
"Yes, ma'am." Static Shock salutes before stepping on his board.
"Did you watch the class that he prepared?" She asks
"Well, I read the leaflet." Virgil says slowly.
"Watch the class. As goofy as it is, it really helps." She deadpans
Hector asked her to at least give some support to the kid. Helena doesn't think she can help much, but she at least can be a familiar face in this unfamiliar world.
......…..
The Fantastic Four
Earth's Ocean
Deep in the ocean of Hector's universe, the Fantastic Four continues their investigation.
"We are close to the epicenter of the seismic activity… We just need one more demonstration to pinpoint it." Mr. Fantastic says, his eyes glued to the scanners on the panel of the Fantasticar.
"I don't know if I want any seismic activity right now… You know, where are so close to their origin point." Human Torch comments while driving the Fantasticar, now turned submarine.
"This weird seismic activity is still not strong". Invisible Woman says to her brother, "But it is unnaturally constant and is gradually increasing in force. That's why we are investigating it now."
"So it's man-made?" The Thing asks from behind. He on his human form, still wearing Eidolon's gift that allows him to turn off his rocky form.
"With all the broad possibilities open in this modern world, it can be anything really… A strange natural phenomenon never once registered, someone with powers, an asteroid, or a spaceship…" Mr. Fantastic is saying
"A magical artifact…" But Invisible Woman interrupts him with a smile, making the older man groan.
Despite the two being people of science, only one of them strongly rejects magic. Susan accepts that there's magic outside and inside science, while Reed thinks everything is science and magic is just a sub-section of the whole, that is, Science.
Seeing Reed's disgruntled expression, Susan laughs a little. "Just saying all possibilities. We need to keep our minds open. If we go looking for something specific, we can miss what really needs to be seen."
"Alright, let's keep our minds open to anything that can be suspicious." Reed says, "It can be something small and inconspicuous.
He is proved wrong not even 5 minutes later.
As they continue to travel for some time, they are met with a shocking sight…
"Eh… Guys, I think that is the thing we are looking for." The Human Torch states the obvious.
"You think?" The Thing asks sarcastically.
What they find is a huge facility between a cliff on the seabed. It looks like an underwater industrial area, filled with machinery and tubes for transporting cargo. The most eye-catching thing is the glowing building in the middle, pumping the ground and the water around it.
"Is that… trash?" Susan squints her eyes to look at what is being transported by the tubs that go everywhere. "Are they cleaning the ocean?"
"Is this a good thing then?" Ben asks
"Not if they are just tossing around on the other side." Johnny points to where some tubes end; they're simply releasing the trash in the ocean.
"Okay, that makes no sense."
"We are missing some pieces of the whole picture here." Reed says
Susan goes to operate a camera beneath the Fantasticar to check things with more clarity. "Look, those wrappings… Companies from the surface." She says while zooming in.
"And?" Johnny doesn't see why that is important.
"That is a Japanese company, and that is a Swedish one, and that is a Brazilian one, and that is an Australian…" She points out "Why would the trash of all around the world be here?"
"The ocean is around the world…" Ben tries not to sound sarcastic.
"Maybe an ocean current." Reed adds
"This sounds fishy." Susan shakes her head
"Heh! Fishy~" Johnny laughs before being slapped in the head by his sister
"Maybe that building is burning the trash to generate energy…" Reed tries to guess, "But why? There are volcanic oceans that are better options close by, and the trash being discarded also goes against this theory."
In the end, they don't have much to go on. The only thing they know is that this place is creating strange seismic activity that has increased the sea level slightly in the last weeks. It also threatens unknown maritime monster life, enough to make it move closer and closer to the surface.
"What do we do then? Destroy the whole place?" Johnny suggests
"We can't do that without understanding the whole situation…" Susan shakes her head "It can have dire consequences… I'm going in." She finally says after a pause.
"What?" Her brother is the first to turn to her in surprise
"It's the logical next step… I can turn invisible, let me check what is really going on there."
"That is too dangerous." Her brother replies immediately
"Yes, you may not even understand things there… The language, the kind of technology… It can all be too different." Reed is against it, too.
"Look, I'm the first guy to always head in… But maybe this time we should take a step back." Ben says calmly "It's not a huge priority, right? That thing will not flood the world tonight or sink a continent in the ocean tomorrow… Let's go back to the surface, talk with more people about it, and then see what we can do…"
"Even so, we need to bring something back to discuss." Susan argues
"We have their location."
"What if they move? From all we know, this is a moving fortress that can grow crab legs and walk away." She shoots back, already removing her seatbelt, "Or it can really sink the world today, or just a city in the Netherlands… It doesn't matter, we have the chance to at least start doing something now, anything we can."
"...." It's hard to argue against her sincere desire to help. Logic doesn't hold up well against those emotional and moral reasons.
"Don't worry, guys, my suit has a tracker and I can call for help at any time."
"Yeah, but my hands are kinda tied down here." Johnny says, not happy at all
"You are our escape driver, that is more than enough." She pats his cheek
"I swear, this car better be very durable, because I'm gonna shove it right through a wall. Any wall!" Johnny says, making her laugh.
"And I will allow it this time." She says and gets out of her seat to squeeze into a passage below the seat that would allow her to leave the car without filling it with water. She puts on a portable diving helmet while moving, one that covers only her shoulders and above.
"It only has enough air to last 30 minutes, don't forget." Reed remembers her
"I will not." With those last words, she is launched through the small compartment directly to the ocean.
"But if you find a place with air, it will naturally recharge." He says now on her earpiece, testing their communication
"Okay." She says back to confirm she is hearing him.
A clever use of her powers protects her from the pressure and pushes her forward much faster than her simply swimming. She also becomes invisible, but continues being careful. Her invisibility is not perfect, she already knows that.
And she is underwater, basically creating a "her-shaped" vacuum. Anyone can still see the outline of her body if they pay attention, or the water moving behind her.
Invisible Woman moves while looking around. The whole place has a certain alien aesthetic that would only be possible underwater, whole buildings in impossible positions glued to the side of the cliff or upside down, all because of buoyancy.
The number of sea people ( for lack of a better name) was big. Susan marvels in their anatomy and different colors, despite the circuntances, seeing another culture like that is something incredible.
Unfortunately, she doesn't have time to enjoy the sight, she quickly looked around, the big glowing building looked tightly closed… If that thing is even a building.
So she identifies the most important one, the biggest, and with the highest influx of sea people going in and out, and swims there.
She waits for a distracted one to enter, and she follows close behind, as silently as possible. There's a room where the water is drained before they can really enter the building.
'So they are amphibious…' Invisible Woman thinks 'I guess it's to protect delicate technology.'
Walking carefully and close to the wall, she stalks around some sea people, following them till she finds what she is looking for. On her way, she tries to hear some talks, but most of the language is foreign to her…
To her surprise, she noticed that they indeed use some broken words of the languages of the surface here and there. Two even had a conversation entirely in Spanish! Another was reading something in English.
"Susan? Are you there? Time is running out!" She hears Reed's voice on her comm
"I'm okay. I found a pocket of air." She assures them "I think I'm close to something important. I'm looking for any computer or any access point."
"Be careful, then. You can use the bug on your kit to invade whatever terminal you find, then you can leave without taking any more risk." Reed says from the other side.
"I will do that." She nods
It doesn't take long to find what she is looking for. Paying attention to the people moving around, and thanks to the huge building, she was able to use her powers to make some walls invisible to check a room before entering.
It was risky, but she was rewarded quickly enough.
She found a storage room and, in a stroke of luck, was able to enter when some sea people were leaving. It seems this room also catalogs the items being moved around the building.
Not the ideal, but Invisible Woman can't be picky, right now. She thanks her good luck that the computer available has an entrance compatible with her device.
"I'm in." She says in her comm "And out." She only waits till the screen showing the virus loading before removing her USB and retreating quickly. A quick scan by turning the door invisible later, she opens it without worries and runs away on the same path she entered.
Despite the lack of need to explore, she took longer to go back because her luck ran out, and she needed to wait till the sea people moved and passed around her. She couldn't enter an elevator with them, for example.
But there's no surprises… She was able to go back to the edge of this complex facility and find the fantasticar parked in the midst of a lot of algae.
She doesn't even need to turn off her invisibility; her suit still has a tracker, so the Fantasticar rises up slowly, and she goes beneath it to enter again.
"Good job, girl." Ben greets her, his big, normal human hand extended to pull her.
"Thank you." She says, removing her helmet "What did you find?" She turns to Reed
"It took a while to decode their language, but it was worth it." Reed says with his eyes glued to a screen, foreign words being translated to English in real time in front of them "Maybe it's because they are cut from the rest of the world, but they didn't put a lot of protection and safeguards on their files. Their plan is simple, but devious…"
Mr. Fantastic then starts explaining.
The shining building that they saw earlier is called Tidal-expander, a very unimaginative name for what it can do. A device that slowly increases the sea level of the world, despite the slow effect, it is an honest to god apocalyptic device.
It seems that a certain radical group of Atlantis wants to attack the surface; the Tidal-Expander would obviously give them a tremendous advantage. A small setback to their plans is the fact that the actual ruler is not so inclined to do such a thing, despite his dislike of how the people of the surface treat the ocean.
So to exacerbate that negative feeling, those radicals are collecting the trash and dispersing it around Atlantis to make the situation look worse. They actiosn are also what is influence the sea wildlife.
"Okay, we stepped in some big shit." Ben comments
"Can they really do that? Invade the surface?" Johnny asks "They are just a city."
"Atlantis apparently is as big as Australia. We saw just a small part of it." Reed explains while checking the logs
"Still losing in size."
"The Ocean takes ⅔ of Earth." Susan says
"We have more people and nukes."
"Nukes are the last thing we want to use."
"We have the Avengers, us, and Eidolon." Johnny argues
"Okay, that is more plausible." Susan concedes "But a war, in any form, is not the ideal. We need to stop it!" She continues strongly
"I agree, but this has become a political issue. We need to tread carefully and think thoroughly about our next step." Reed comments "We are representing the surface now."
"Nothing we can't deal with." To their surprise, Johnny is the one saying that.
"I thought you would say to go back to the surface." Susan looks at him.
"Whatever, we are already here… And it doesn't sit well with me having to ask for help from other heroes." He shrugs "We dealt with Mole Man before, too."
"I don't think the problem is asking for help. We should do the two: trying to solve things here and send a message back." Susan says to them.
"We are a little too deep, but we can send a capsule that can deliver a message when it reaches the surface." Reed says, already doing that. Some seconds later, a torpedo is ejected from the fantasticar in a diagonal line to the surface.
"I think our best course of action is to go talk with the king of Atlantis." Susan suggests "His… subjects are doing things behind his back. I think he would not be happy with that. The problem can solve itself."
"The problem never solves itself." Ben is not that optimistic. "Would he believe us?"
"We have the data." Reed points
"Would we be able to even talk with him… Last meeting was not a friendly one, I will tell ya that."
"Good that I can go in unnoticed, right?" Susan smiles while the rest sighs worriedly
Her brother groans loudly. "My words from before stand… I'm not afraid of hammering this thing through a castle wall." Johnny says while holding the steering wheel tightly.
..........
Some time later and many kilometers above them, Hector finally returns to the Space Station.
"Master…" Cortana says, sending information straight to his brain while he returns to his main body. "I intercepted a message from the Fantastic Four.
"Okay…" He opens his eyes slowly. "I'm going." He stands up, his body morphing into Eidolon.
With a flick of his wrist, a card appears between his fingers, and he looks at the image of the Gargantuan Leviathan.
"Nah, it would be cool but kinda overkill." He eventually says after hesitating.
He was weighing whether the future trouble it would be worth the cool points he would gain by appearing on the head of the colossal beast.
"If not for my powers, I would never enter the ocean. Subnautica gave me thalassophobia." He jokes "I'm taking some people with me… I haven't bonded yet with Killer Croc and King Shark… And it has been some time since I did some outdoor activities with Machia."
"You and Gigantomachia are overkill, master." Cortana deadpans.
...
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