He was floating in a space that defied every rule his Eyes had ever recorded.
It wasn't a void, nor was it a physical room. It was an expanse dominated by an exploding, crimson mist or perhaps they were sparks. No, it was something far more primal. At its core, this place was a cycle of the making and unmaking of things. He watched fundamental truths of reality coming undone at the exact same moment they were being built back into existence. Matter didn't just change state here; it changed its mind. Solid stone dissolved into concepts, and abstract thoughts condensed into burning heat.
'Where the hell am I?' Gojo thought, though he couldn't tell if he was speaking or merely existing.
The portion of the Aether that had forced its way into his body was moving his consciousness through the unknown. It wasn't exactly killing him; it was showing him something. It dragged his mind backward along the lane of what he could only perceive as time, forcing him to witness a replay of reality itself.
Images flashed before him, vivid yet simple enough for his mind to grasp. He saw a universe before the current one, a cosmos dominated by an eternal, cold darkness. He saw the Dark Elves, creatures who existed since that previous, starlit void. Then came the birth of the current universe, a blinding explosion of light that they loathed.
The memory shifted, focusing on a massive conflict. He watched a younger, fiercer Odin leading the armies of Asgard, driving the Dark Elves back into the shadows. He saw the All-Father's grandfather, Bor, waging a desperate war to rip the Aether away from Malekith before the Elf King could plunge the Nine Realms back into that ancient, primordial night. It was a brutal, decisive history lesson, burned into his subconscious by the very weapon Asgard had tried to bury.
Suddenly, the historical replay shattered. A huge, irresistible suction force yanked his consciousness forward through the timeline, pulling him out of the crimson mist and slamming him back into his own flesh.
Gojo woke up with a heavy, ragged gasp.
His eyes flared a deep, ominous Red, the force of the Aether vibrating in his corneas before the raw processing power of the Six Eyes forced the foreign energy down. The crimson bled away, settling back into his brilliant, electric blue.
He blinked against the harsh fluorescent lighting, realizing he was lying on a makeshift cot inside the London warehouse.
"Satoru!"
Thor was kneeling close to him, his massive hand resting on Gojo's shoulder. The God of Thunder let out a breath he seemed to have been holding for hours, his rugged face etched with a look of profound relief. "By the All-Father, I am relieved you are alright. For a moment, your spirit seemed entirely lost to us."
Gojo groaned, rubbing his temples as his brain finished cooling down. "Yeah, well... I had a really weird dream about your ancestors. What happened?"
Thor stood up, offering Gojo a hand. "You and Jane were ejected from the rift. The moment you touched the floor, the anomalies closed entirely. Jane woke up a few minutes ago but she was confused. You both have been unresponsive for five hours."
—————
Gojo stood a few paces back, watching Thor speak with Darcy and Ian. He raised his own hands, his white eyelashes fluttering as he activated the full depth of the Six Eyes. He adjusted his perception, peering through his skin with an X-ray-like gaze, mapping the flow of his own blood and internal energy.
His brow furrowed into a deep, frustrated frown.
'What the hell is going on?' he thought.
He shifted his gaze across the clearing to Jane. Through his vision, Jane was practically glowing with a swirling, chaotic nest of angry crimson energy woven directly into her cellular structure and pulsing like a parasite. But when Gojo looked back at his own body, there was nothing. The heavy, boiling energy he had felt earlier was entirely gone from his system.
'Where did it go? I know I felt it enter me. Did my brain just... digest a literal infinity stone?' The sheer lack of a trace was more baffling than if it were actively trying to kill him.
Before he could dig deeper into his own anatomy, he saw two British police officers step into the clearing.
"Are you Jane Foster?" the first officer asked, pulling out a notepad.
Jane blinked, still looking a bit pale. "Yes."
The officer gestured toward Ian, who was holding a piece of scientific equipment. "Do you know this man?"
"He's my intern," Jane said sheepishly. "Well... my intern's intern."
"This is private property and you're trespassing the lot of you," the officer said, his tone brooking no argument. "You'll have to come with me."
The officer stepped forward, reaching out to grab Jane's arm to escort her out.
Gojo's eyes narrowed as through the Six Eyes, the universe slowed to an agonizing crawl. He saw the crimson energy inside Jane stir violently, reacting to the perceived threat. A localized shockwave of force began to build around her skin, preparing to blow the man to pieces.
In a fraction of a millisecond, Gojo folded space.
A silent pressurized pop echoed through the clearing. Before the officer's fingers could even brush Jane's sleeve, Gojo appeared right next to him. He grabbed the policeman by the collar of his vest and teleported both of them ten yards away, dropping the bewildered man safely onto a stack of old pallets.
A millisecond later, the Aether force erupted from Jane. A shockwave of pure, dark red energy blasted outward, shattering the nearby windows and sending a wave of loose gravel flying against the walls.
Thor immediately rushed forward, dropping to his knees beside Jane as she fell to the ground from the sheer exhaustion of the release.
The second police officer backed up, his hand flying to his baton as he stared at the cratered floor around Jane. But Gojo wasn't looking at the officer, nor was he looking at Jane. He was staring at his own sternum.
For a split second, the exact moment the Aether force had erupted from Jane, Gojo had felt a sudden, unfamiliar heat flare up in his chest. It was a phantom echo, a sympathetic resonance that burned white-hot for a heartbeat before sinking back into the absolute dark of his core.
'Okay, what the hell was that?' Gojo thought, his hand pressing against his shirt. 'So, it didn't actually leave. It's just hidden.'
The second officer pulled out his radio, his voice shaking. "Place your hands on your head! Step back!"
Thor stood up, shielding Jane with his massive upper body. "The woman is unwell."
"She's dangerous!" the officer yelled into his radio. "Requesting armed response officers to the scene! We have an atmospheric anomaly and hostile elements!"
Gojo casually walked back over, hands in his pockets, leaning over the officer's shoulder with a mocking grin. "Wow, 'hostile elements'? Is that what they call people with good hair these days? You guys really need to update your handbook."
"So am I," Thor rumbled to the officer, completely ignoring the radio chatter. He turned back to Jane, lifting her into a tight, protective embrace. "Hold on to me."
Gojo glanced over his shoulder at the warehouse entrance, hearing the distant, faint wail of London police sirens beginning to echo through the streets. "Hey, Thor. As much as I love a good scrap with local law enforcement, we might need to move away from here soon enough. I don't think their little pea-shooters are going to play well with whatever is cooking inside your girlfriend."
Darcy walked up, stopping right next to Gojo. She looked at Thor holding Jane, then up at the towering, shirtless thunder god, letting out a heavy, dramatic sigh. "Gosh, the whole 'saving the girl from the cops' thing... It's so tragically romantic. I mean, look at those arms."
Gojo looked down at Darcy, a sarcastic smirk playing on his lips. "Yeah, yeah, true love, cosmic destiny, blah blah blah."
He looked back toward Jane, his mind still racing to calculate the red energy signatures, but as his eyes briefly scanned Darcy's distracted frame, a totally separate, completely unbothered thought crossed his mind. 'Damn, she's got great tits indeed.'
Gojo glanced toward the warehouse entrance as the muffled wail of British police sirens grew louder. He rolled his shoulders, his hands returning to his pockets. "Alright, lovebirds, and whatever you two are," he said, gesturing to Darcy and Ian. "As much as I enjoy a good standoff with local authorities, we need to leave. Like, right now."
Thor nodded grimly, his arm still supporting a shaky Jane. "Satoru speaks truth. Midgard is no longer safe for Jane."
Darcy crossed her arms, her eyes darting between Jane's glowing skin and the shattered windows. "Okay, wait. What exactly was that red, glowy, explosion thing? Because that did not look like standard physics. Did she catch some weird space flu?"
Gojo offered a breezy, dismissive wave. "Let's just say she picked up a very old, very angry hitchhiker. It's got a bit of a temper." He turned toward Thor, his tone dropping the sarcasm for a fraction of a second. "We need to get her back to Asgard because of it. Immediately. The stuff inside her isn't something mortal medicine can even look at without melting."
"Can I come?" Darcy piped up, her eyes widening with sudden excitement. "I mean, I've got my notebook, I'm great under pressure, and honestly, I really want to see the giant golden palace."
Thor offered an apologetic, albeit firm, smile. "I am sorry, Darcy. Asgard is currently facing its own security trials, and the journey through the Bifrost while the realms are unstable could be perilous for those without necessity. You must remain here and ensure Erik is found."
Darcy pouted heavily, crossing her arms. "Fine. Classic superhero excuse. Leave the sidekicks in the dusty warehouse."
Thor didn't waste another moment. He stepped into the center of the scorched concrete floor, holding Jane tightly against his chest, and looked up toward the ceiling. "Heimdall! Open the gate!"
THOOM.
A blinding pillar of rainbow light tore through the clearing completely burning the ground below them further. The raw, cosmic force of the Bifrost enveloped Thor, Jane, and Gojo. In an instant, the three of them were yanked out of London, leaving a dazed Darcy and Ian standing in a vacuum of displaced air.
The transition was a violent blur of color, but the moment their feet hit the solid, polished surface of the Bifrost Observatory, the roaring stopped.
Heimdall stood at his post, his hand already on the hilt of his greatsword. His golden eyes locked onto the trio immediately, stepping down from the pedestal as Thor stumbled slightly, supporting a suddenly unresponsive Jane.
"You return sooner than anticipated, Prince," Heimdall rumbled, though his eyes quickly shifted to Jane's pale face. "And you bring a heavy burden."
"She collapsed just as we entered the stream," Thor said, his voice laced with panic as he lifted Jane fully into his arms. "The energy within her... it reacts to any threat, but it is tearing her apart from the inside."
"The soul-forge of the healers is the only thing that can map this energy within," Heimdall advised, gesturing toward the bridge. "Go. Waste no time."
As Thor carried Jane out of the observatory and down the long, shimmering length of the Rainbow Bridge, Gojo walked at a much more leisurely pace, his hands behind his head. He took a deep breath of the sweet, crisp Asgardian air, totally unfazed by the sudden dimension hop.
'Man, it really does taste better here,' Gojo thought. He flexed his fingers, checking his internal circuit. 'And as for me... absolutely nothing.' It was bizarre. Jane was practically a walking Chernobyl of ancient red energy, yet he had absorbed a portion of that exact same substance and felt completely fine. No strain, no corruption, no glowing veins.
Suddenly, a heavy, familiar sensation pressed down on his shoulders. It wasn't physical weight; it was a gaze. From the high, golden towers of the palace miles away, a sharp, singular pressure locked onto Gojo's position.
Gojo smirked beneath his hair, tilting his head slightly toward the royal palace. 'Yep. There it is. The moment our boots touch the floor, the old man is already watching.' He let out a silent, sarcastic chuckle. 'Odin, you sly old dog. You're sitting on that throne pretending to be the stoic king, but you're tracking my every move like a jealous landlord. Let's see how long you keep that straight face when you find out what we brought home.'
He quickened his pace slightly, following the trail of ionized air Thor left behind as they headed toward the healing chambers.