"So we'll be monitoring the situation from here," the young blonde explained. "If you can replace the other side of this portal in a timely manner," She continued, "then we'll be able to see when it opens and move in to either back you up or help with any refugees you send our way. If you don't," she finished, "well I've been working on a way to brute force a portal on and off since last time I was here and the data from the sensors my dad's setting up near the portal in the flood graveyard, the data from a working portal, should let me finish it so if you're not back in a week..."
The main Avengers team was a little busy right now, though they'd be free in a few days, so helping them out had been delegated to the Fantastic Four(and kids.)
This somehow involved the Human Torch showing off for kids in the park, but right now, Luz was outside the old shack speaking to Val Richards, Amity nearby.
"It shouuldn't come to that," Luz said. "Most of what I need to make a new portal door is actually really common. If the Emporer's Coven didn't find the basement, then almost all of it should be in Eda's apocalypse supplies. We'll just need to rendevoux with the refugees holed up at Hexside, if they're still there, and hopefully some of the advanced healing students are still around."
"...Why do we need an advancedhealing student?" Amity asked suddenly. "I know we're going to have to draw some blood to make a new portal, but..."
Luz immediately felt a flush of guilt. "Um, it's a little more than blood we need, Amity, I... I was gonna bring it up afterwe got to the demon realm and could check if this was an option, but... Probably a bad call. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to... Can I wait to tell you until I can tell everyone?"
"Okay, but... Your tone has me very worried," Amity reluctantly agreed.
"I know, I'm sorry," Luz apologized again. "I promise I'm trying to be better."
"I believe you."
"Te amo, mi Diosa."
"Y yo te amo, mi batata."
"...So anyway, if you manage to get a portal up and send through refugees," Val interrupted awkwardly, "we can transport them pretty quickly. We're coordinating with the Institute, Uncle Pete says they're more than prepared to take in a bunch of short-term residents, and they've stocked up on food that's demon safe just in case."
"That's good to know," Luz replied.
"Anyway, Franklin and I are homeschooled, and Ben and Alicia's kids are still being acclimated to Earth," Val continued. "We can stay here for a couple of weeks assuming that Galactus doesn't get hungry and Uncle Doom doesn't have another tantrum... By the way, he's been stocking up on unicorn hair even since that incident at the embassy a while back. You wouldn't happen to know anything about that, would you?"
"Apparently, unicorn hair can be used to protect against certain cosmic entities and... Oh, I'm going to be so nettled if it turns out he was working with Cipher," Luz finished.
"I'll ask. Anyway, all the monitoring equipment is in place. I should be able to handle things, so if you've got things you need to tell people, you can do that," Val concluded.
"Yeah, thanks."
From there, the long since familiar trek from the shack was nothing, and soon enough, they were in the Noceda household once more, where several people were packing bags and going over checklists.
"Okay, we've got camping supplies, emergency rations, and—Oh, Hey Luz," Hunter turned to greet them. "Amity."
Amity nodded, and then Luz's Mom walked in from the kitchen. "Okay, bad news. Doctor Strange can't help right now. Something about a sudden magical resurgence in a parallel universe."
"Oh, that sucks," Luz replied. "So are we not going yet, or?"
"No, we should still be able to go today," her Mom reassured. "This Collector is just a misguided child who needs to be shown a little empathy, right?"
"That's what Papa Titan said, and I trust him," Luz confirmed.
"Then this is a problem you can definitely handle on your own," her Mom agreed. "As long as you're sure you're up to it."
"I'm sure," Luz confirmed. "I don't like that we waited almost a week, but... It was probably the right call. I feel much better than I have in a long while, but... There's something I haven't said, so if we can get everyone in the living room, it'll be easiest to tell everyone all at once."
Once everyone was assembled, Luz began. "So, we know that to make a new portal, I'm gonna need Titan blood, and since the vial we have is only enough to open Evelyn's portal, I'm gonna have to use mine. That's part of why we'll try to meet up with the people hiding out at Hexside since the Healing Track classroom has the resources for a big blood draw. But that's not the only thing I'll need to make a new portal... Now, I promise I didn't keep this secret on purpose. I was gonna talk to you all about it before just doing it, but I wanted to check if it was possible before bringing it up, but then I kind of alluded to it a little bit ago, and the way Amity reacted made me realize that this is probably something I should just come out and tell you but, um," she was suddenly having dificulty putting it into words.
"Luz, you're rambling again," Willow said in a tone that suggested she was switching into 'mom friend' mode. "I believe you when you say you weren't, that this isn't like last week. We all do, right?" This was met with a chorus of agreements. "So just spit it out already."
"You're making it sound like you need to rip out your eye or something," Gus quipped.
Luz very deliberately remained neutral. The resulting silence was awkward.
"Mija, no," her Mom started.
"Not rip it out, but... The original portal door used the Titan's eye as one of the components, and it's a necessary one," she clarified. "I'm not about to ask King for one of his eyes and the odds of someoone fishing up the fosilized eye of a Titan and just leaving it somewhere where we can steal it are pretty low," Luz had to wonder just when Papa Titan had lost his eye given how small it was int he finished door... Unless it'd shrunk, but that wouldn't explain how Belos had managed to actually move it around to use it. "I count as a Titan now, and with my healing factor, my eye should grow back, so I figured, if there are enough advanced healing students... I mean, the school has an operating theatre for the advanced healing students. IT's mostly for cutting apart cadavers to study organs and practice surgical techniques." Luz swallowed a lump that was forming in her throat. "So.. If we can get someone to remove it surgically, then... I don't even know if it's gonna be possible. We might have to wait until after I talk down the Collector to find a surgeon who can do it and... I even asked Logan for some of his blood. He offered some of it to heal faster if we tried flaying off the coven sigil, remember... I told him I might need an eye removed, and he agreed, so now my healing factor shouldlet the eye grow back before I even make up so..."
"Should?" her Mom asked.
"I mean, I haven't really stress-tested my healing factor," Luz explained. "I don't think getting into the habit of hurting myself real bad is a good idea, cause, you know, the depression. Especially after how you all reacted when I tried to test Evelyn's portal by pricking myself, but Logan told me how long it normally takes him to heal from something like this and... Look, this needs to, and I don't want, and—"
Luz was immediately pulled into a group hug, and slowly, over the next minute or two, her racing thoughts calmed.
"Mija," her Mom started, "I get it. What you're saying makes sense. I don't like it, but this probably does have to happen. You clearly thought this out, and while I would very much have preferred if you'd told us this while planning this... You're friends are right; this isn'tyou just doing something risky without telling us. Don't work yourself up and throw away all the progress you made this week."
"Yeah, yeah, thanks," Luz replied.
"That said, I want final say on whether we go through with this," her Mom continued. "If I don't approve of the facilities or the surgeons we can find, then this is not happening. We'll draw enough blood to open the old portal from the other side and find a surgeon who can do it here."
"..."
"Mija?"
"It completely slipped my mind that we could use my blood to open Evelyn's portal from the other side," Luz admitted. "My God, I'm dumb."
"My Titan, no you're not," Amity said from where she was smooshed up to Luz's side.
This prompted some laughter, and then the group hug broke up.
"Okay, I'm okay now. thanks for being so understanding and stuff," Luz said and... "But... Your standards, Mom?"
"Hey, I might be an animal doctor, but I still know what a proper surgical theatre is supposed to look like and how this kind of thing is meant to go down," her Mom defended.
"Not that, I mean, you're coming too?"
"I want to see this world where you've spent so much time," her mom said. "Where you're building a life, where almost all of your friends are. I need to meet these people, and see this place. I need to be okay with this, and that starts with seeing this world with my own eyes."
"Okay, that makes sense. I just figured that when Vee said she wasn't going that..." Vee wasn't ready to go back to the demon realm long-term and probably wouldn't be anytime soon. The day of unity was a little different, and... Besides, if this took more than a couple of days, then she'd be missing school.
"I'll be fine on my own for the weekend," Vee interrupted. "And Mashy's parents agreed to help if this runs long, and I need anything, so I'll be fine."
"Oh, so they're Mashy now?" Luz teased, which prompted Vee to blush in such a way that she was reaching Amity levels of tomato resemblance.
"Okay, you can tease your sister later," her Mom said. "We're leaving in a couple of hours, so you and Amity make sure your bags are packed, and I'll call up the people helping us so they know we might be coming back the way we came if making a portal doesn't work out."
With that, the two teens went upstairs to make sure they had everything they'd need. Amity took Luz's hand. "Luz... When we get to the demon realm... We don't really know what we're going to find. After all this time, I still have no idea what I want to be when I grow up or what my future's going to be, but... I just want you to know that whatever comes next, whatever the future holds, that it's so cool that you're going to be part of it."