I worked through my grief by keeping my hands busy. First, I reforged my armor, transplanting all of my runes from Jean's borrowed armor into mine. With my orbs, it took seconds. The effects were largely the same, except now I had slots for the infinity stones in case I needed them, which I very much doubted I would.
Rebellion's new form took some getting used to. For now, I opted not to use it at all, relying on pure runes and my autonomous orbs. I kept a nice odd number of five. Each was as large as my fist and hovered behind my head, forming a small wheel.
With a step and a hint of hesitation, I teleported out of my dimension, returning to Earth, high in the sky above New York. It was pure chaos. Most of the fighting was already done, and everyone who hadn't been in my dimension when it was torn apart was pitching in.
Jean was healing people. The Avengers and the GDF helped with collecting the bodies of the dead flesh monsters, and everybody else pitched in on the ground level, turning over cars, raising masonry, and helping families vacate buildings that remained miraculously untouched despite the carnage that'd ripped through the skies of New York.
I stepped in to help as well.
A simple teleport saw me inside a bar in Queens, helping a bartender. A massive shelf stocked with expensive booze was about to fall on her back and potentially paralyze her for life.
A circle of runes spooled from my empty hand, forming my version of a rewind spell. It was something I'd seen the Ancient One perform before. And I had more time than almost anybody with the Time Stone. It gave me the insight to weave the spell out of pure theory and instinct.
The five or so barflies left in the establishment stood frozen in place as my hand turned counterclockwise, repairing the bar. Liquor poured back into mended glass containers and zipped back up to the bar table. A half-eaten burger reassembled itself. Stools mended, shelves stayed in place, and some of the general wear and tear vanished. By the time I was done, the bar looked untouched by the devastation the short war had visited on the city…
I teleported, helping the next person, and the one after that, and the one after that. Thousands of lives and small businesses were saved in minutes, and just before I moved on to restoring the whole building and reversing public property damage, a GDF agent teleported beside me just as I put the finishing touches on a cafe.
I raised a brow, looking at him, and a second later, Nick Fury appeared. He was taller than he used to be before the serum. Both of his eyes worked now, and the scar was gone. So were all signs of aging. He looked to be permanently frozen in his early forties with the musculature of a bodybuilder.
My helmet slid off my face.
"How can I help you, Fury?"
"I've been getting calls all over New York of a mysterious man in a metal suit putting small businesses back together," he said. "New York doesn't know which hero to thank. There are so many of them today."
"It was something to do since I missed the battle."
"Jean handled it quickly enough," he said. "And from what I gathered, you had quite the battle of your own," he said. "And had time for some tattoo work, it seems."
I waved my hand, and we were at a bodega across town. Some idiot was trying to rob the old couple who ran it. I put him to sleep with a thought and yanked his gun over to me, turning it into ash mid-transit.
Fury hid his fear well. His breathing barely hitched, and he didn't shiver. But his mind betrayed him. It was a riot and completely open to me, even through the substantial protections he was wearing.
"Need something, Fury?"
"Rin, the X-Men, Yelena, and the mutants that were trapped in your dimension when the fighting started—how are they?"
"Gone," I answered simply. I could've told him the truth and explained how inter-dimensional travel worked, but I was well beyond the point of trusting Fury with the truth. "The dimension collapsed around them in a fight with the Eldritch after I was removed from it by Shin and Lauren."
"I'm so sorry…"
"I knew there would be a cost...I didn't just think they'd be the ones to pay it," I said, transporting us to a subway terminal. Some debris was on the tracks, as was a couple just recovering from their transformation. A snap of my fingers moved them to safety.
"Ask the question on your mind," I said coldly.
"I don't…" Fury started to deny, but I cut him off.
"I know you better than most, Fury. You're not exactly sentimental."
He swallowed. "The infinity stones?" he asked.
"They were destroyed along with my dimension," I said. "Only the Power and Reality Stones are in play now."
And I genuinely meant that. I only realized it partway through the fight with Lauren that the reality stone we fought with couldn't be the one from this universe. It had to be the one from the dead ones because of how the multiverse worked.
"The Novan won't like that," he said. "Neither will the world council."
"Neither needs an Infinity Stone to protect their interests." Another wave, another location. "They can always make more soldiers. And in a few short years, Earth's defenses will match the Novan Empire's."
"That's no guarantee," Fury pointed out.
"No, but Sentry is, as are the Avengers and the armor I crafted for your men. Consider them a gift. I will only take them away should you abuse them."
Fury eyed the balls floating behind me, and I caught his eyes lingering on the faint tattoo lines covering my neck and some of my face.
"What exactly happened to you out there?"
"I won…" I simply said. "Shin is no longer a problem. We only have to worry about the rest of the universe."
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