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Kamar-Taj, the Library.
Wong was flipping through a thick tome on dimensional convergence when a flash of violet light shimmered to life nearby. A portal opened clean, silent, deliberate. A hand reached through and snatched a book off the shelf.
Wong shot to his feet. "Hey! Who's there?!"
Without hesitation, he cast a tracking spell, following the trail of magical energy through a portal of his own.
Stepping through, he arrived in one of the hidden research labs where he stopped cold.
"Nolan."
Wong's voice was tight with disbelief.
Across the room stood Nolan, calmly flipping through the very book he had just stolen one concerning divine hierarchies and primordial forces. But what truly caught Wong's eye wasn't the theft it was what lay on the massive table behind Nolan.
The dissected body of Bast, the revered panther goddess of Wakanda.
"Is that… is that Bast?" Wong's voice dropped.
The deity's form lay still, subdued and studied. Powerful, once revered even by Wakanda's kings, she now looked like a specimen in a lab.
"I didn't realize you took a trip to Wakanda," Wong said cautiously.
"I did," Nolan replied, barely looking up.
"And you brought her back?"
"Captured her."
Wong blinked. "Captured? You captured a god?"
"She was vulnerable outside her spiritual dimension. I saw an opportunity."
Wong tried to process that. Bast was a Skyfather-tier deity on par with Odin or Zeus in certain dimensions. Yet Nolan made it sound like he'd caught a wild animal.
Meanwhile, Nolan continued reading, his eyes scanning the text at near-quantum speed. "Interesting… Gaia."
"You mean the primordial Earth mother?"
"In the grand Marvel cosmology yes," Nolan replied. "Seems like elemental spirits, nature-based deities… they all trace back to her. She's the source. Earth's biosphere is essentially her domain."
"Gaia's rarely seen in our dimension," Wong murmured. "But the Ancient One did mention her existence… barely."
"In the grand scheme, the MCU is a minor fragment of the larger multiverse," Nolan said. "Most manifestations here are avatars or shadows. Gaia's true form exists across countless realities."
He closed the book with a soft thump. "If Bast's divine spark is born of Gaia… then the same may be true for others."
"You're not thinking—" Wong began.
"I am," Nolan said. "This is only the beginning. There's more to learn."
Wong rubbed his forehead. "You want to study gods now?"
"I already am," Nolan said. "And Bast is proving useful."
"…Right." Wong took a moment, then shifted topics. "Stephen Strange. He crashed his car. The Ancient One wants to know Do you want to recruit him or just heal him?"
"Leave him alone," Nolan replied. "Let him come to Kamar-Taj on his own. When he's ready, notify me."
"You've read his profile?" Wong asked.
"I've seen enough," Nolan said. "He's arrogant, selfish, but brilliant. And most importantly, he was a doctor before anything else. A surgeon who understands life and death. Once he breaks, he'll be reborn."
Wong shrugged. "You're the Guardian of the New York Sanctum. But lately it's Mordo doing all the heavy lifting."
"He knows where to find me," Nolan said. "He has before. Remember the last breach?"
"Right… that dimension's creature got sealed because of the Sanctum's suppression matrix. That gave me an idea, by the way."
"What?" Nolan asked.
"I want to convert one of the chambers into a permanent lab. The suppression field keeps external energy in check it's perfect for containing divine power."
"You're the Guardian. As long as the Sanctum's defenses stay intact, do what you want."
"Good."
Wong turned to leave, though still disturbed.
Nolan remained in the lab, alone, watching the containment pod before him.
Inside was a slab of muscle Bast's thigh, still glowing faintly.
Under his magically enhanced vision, the tissue was changing. It was undergoing a strange transmutation shifting from pure flesh into a glowing energy-matter hybrid.
"Divine power… rewrites biology," Nolan whispered. "This isn't just passive energy. It's transmutational."
If divine energy could rewrite muscle tissue into a new state, then what of his powers? Could psionic force or magic-infused biology do the same?
Could he build a bridge a literal, biological bridge between science and sorcery?
He attempted to probe Bast's memories again, but was mentally repelled. Her soul, what remained, was not cooperating. He'd need more time.
Still, the data was valuable.
The gods weren't merely channelers of energy. They were living manifestations of mystic-biological evolution.
And he was determined to unlock their secrets.
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