Author's Note:
3 MILLION VIEWS!! That's insane. Thank you all so much for the support.
As promised, here's the bonus chapter, and yes, there's a little Easter egg in here for my day-one and sharp-eyed readers.
Let's keep this momentum rolling as we push forward. Next goal is 200 Power Stones for 2 more bonus chapters, so drop a stone, leave a comment, and share the story if you're enjoying it.
You guys are incredible. Let's go. 💥🔥
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Jay took a deep breath, let the Life Equation sing through his cells, and prepared to begin the monumental task of planetary restoration.
But before he could start, Doctor Strangefate raised one hand. "Before restoration begins, you deserve to understand the full scope of what your battle has wrought" and projected a mystical screen.
Through the screen, Jay saw Earth-9602 as they did, and the damage was catastrophic.
Not just the destroyed continent or boiling oceans, but deeper structural wounds. The barriers between Marvel and DC that Access had woven together were torn in dozens of places, bleeding energy between realities. The delicate balance that let both cosmologies coexist was fractured, threatening to unravel the entire Amalgam Universe.
Jay's breath caught. "This is... I didn't realize it was this bad."
"Few mortals could perceive damage at this level," Doctor Strangefate said. "You wielded cosmic forces without full comprehension of their impact on merged realities. The damage remains regardless of who bears more responsibility."
"I will fix everything" Jay said. "I promise."
The Living Tribunal's three faces regarded him. "Then let us witness your commitment. Begin with the planetary damage, then progress to the dimensional barriers. Doctor Strangefate will guide where mystical knowledge is required."
Jay nodded and reached for the Life Equation again, letting white light blaze around his body. The transformation felt easier this time, more natural.
He raised his hands and felt the planet beneath him, felt Earth-9602's pain. The Life Equation showed him patterns in the damage, mathematical certainties about how matter should exist, how reality should maintain its structure.
Jay started with the most immediate wounds, the continent they'd vaporized. He reached deep into the conceptual layer where matter existed as possibility and began pulling scattered atoms back together. Rather than creating from nothing he chose to reversing entropy, rewinding causality in localized pockets.
To say the process was agonizing would be selling it short.
Each reconstruction burned through power faster than he could replenish it, but he pushed through because stopping meant the blood of Billions of humans on his hands. Continents reformed atom by atom, tectonic plates shifted back into stable positions and oceans that had boiled away began condensing back into liquid seas.
Years passed, or maybe minutes, time became meaningless while Jay worked at cosmic scales. Doctor Strangefate's guidance proved invaluable, pointing out where reinforcement was needed, where the barriers between cosmologies required delicate reweaving.
The Spectre watched in silence throughout. The Living Tribunal observed with cosmic impassivity, three faces tracking every detail.
Finally, after what felt like subjective days compressed into hours, Jay stepped back. The Life Equation's light dimmed as exhaustion finally caught up in waves, but Earth-9602 was whole again. Not perfect, still carrying scars, but functional and stable and most importantly, every single living being was back to as they were before Jay and Lady Death's fight began, down to the last bacterium.
"It is done," Doctor Strangefate proclaimed after one final mystical scan. "Earth-9602 is restored to functional stability. The dimensional fractures are sealed."
Jay's knees nearly buckled as the Life Equation flickered out. He forced himself to stay standing because showing weakness now felt dangerous.
The Spectre's expression didn't soften but something in his burning gaze acknowledged the effort. "Divine justice has been served. The guilty has repaired what he broke."
Jay wanted to feel relief, but rage was building in his chest despite exhaustion. He'd been hunted by Death itself, forced to fight for his life, nearly killed by cosmic forces, and then judged for defending himself.
And Lady Death just got bound in chains? That was it?
"Wait," Jay said, his voice rough but carrying an edge. "This isn't over. Binding an abstract for targeting a mortal under the One Above All's protection, that can't end with just containment and me doing community service."
The Living Tribunal's three faces tilted slightly. "Then what do you propose, outsider?"
Jay collected himself. "Compensation. I need compensation for the mental, physical, and spiritual damage I went through, not to mention the people who died on my Earth because of her actions. FURY killed dozens before I stopped him, and by the time I'm back, thousands will be dead, and she's the one who created him; she aimed him at me, so she pays the price."
Didi, who'd been silent throughout the restoration work, let out a surprised laugh. "Oh, I really, really like you. You remind me so much of Raj."
Lady Death's multiple tones erupted from wherever the chains had taken her. "Compensation?! From ME?! The audacity! The sheer GALL of a mortal demanding payment from Death Incarnate! I should drag your soul through every layer of Hel for this insult alone!"
"Yeah, I dare," Jay shot back, too tired and angry to care about cosmic protocol. "Funny thing about cosmic law, apparently it applies even to abstracts who think they're above it. You violated it to target me specifically, created an omega-level threat without sanction, caused the Fourth Wall breach that could have ended this entire story." He paused, letting that sink in. "So either I get compensated, or we can discuss how you nearly destroyed the Author's interest in continuing this narrative. Your call."
The Spectre's green eyes blazed with interest rather than condemnation. "Divine law permits compensation when cosmic entities violate their authority. The mortal has grounds for his claim."
Doctor Strangefate's psychic presence pressed against Jay's mind. "What form of compensation do you seek? And remember don't be greedy."
Jay knew what he wanted the moment the word 'compensation' left his mouth. "The Death Stone."
Pandemonium broke loose.
Lady Death's screams reached a pitch that made the dimensional barriers crack again. "The STONE?! You dare demand my STONE?! That artifact has existed since before your pitiful universe drew its first breath! It is woven into the fabric of entropy itself! ABSOLUTELY NOT!"
"He's got a point though," Didi said cheerfully. "You did violate cosmic law pretty spectacularly. Used Jim Jaspers' soul to circumvent restrictions, went after someone under divine protection and endangered an entire universe with your vendetta. That's a lot of violations."
"I was enforcing the natural order!" Death's voice cracked with desperation. "He stole from my realm! He resurrected the forbidden! Every action I took was to preserve the balance he destroyed!"
"And the Tribunal already explained why that doesn't justify creating FURY," Doctor Strangefate said calmly. "You knew the restrictions on abstracts regarding outsiders. You violated them anyway through deliberate circumvention. The compensation claim has merit."
The Living Tribunal's three faces deliberated together while Equity considered cosmic balance, Necessity weighed consequences, and Vengeance measured whether the punishment fit the crime.
The silence stretched for subjective eternities compressed into moments.
Finally, all three faces spoke as one. "The compensation is just. Lady Death violated cosmic law through premeditated action, created unsanctioned threats, and endangered both a unique universe and an outsider under divine protection. The Death Stone will be surrendered as recompense."
"NO!" Death's multiple voices cracked completely. "You're sentencing me to weakness! For eons! for the sake of ONE MORTAL?! This is madness! This is tyranny masquerading as justice! My brother will never allow this! Oblivion himself will intervene! You cannot give a mortal access to death itself!"
"Your brother is not here," the Living Tribunal stated with absolute finality. "We are. And we have rendered judgment."
The Tribunal's golden hand reached forward through dimensions and plunged into her skull through the eye socket, where darkness pooled deepest. When it withdrew, a black stone rested in the palm that seemed to swallow all light around it.
[Image Here]
Jay recognized it immediately as his Comic Book Nerd perk supplied details. The Death Stone was not just an Infinity Stone but something more fundamental; it was death itself crystallized and even looking at it made wrongness radiate through his awareness.
"Here," the Living Tribunal said, extending the stone toward Jay.
Jay reached for it despite every survival instinct screaming at him to run.
Didi moved faster, intercepting the stone before Jay could touch it. Jay opened his mouth to protest.
"Wait," Didi said, holding up one finger. "Trust me on this. Death Stones, especially from Marvel's cosmology are... problematic for mortals."
She raised the Death Stone to her lips and kissed it.
The transformation was immediate. The black stone that had pulsed with decay shifted while the wrongness bled away. Finally, only darkness remained, but different now, not the darkness of ending but of transition and rest, of gentle release.
When Didi lowered the stone, it still looked black but the quality had changed completely. It no longer consumed light but seemed to cradle it gently.
"There," Didi said, satisfied. "Now it won't kill you just from touching it or corrupt you into a genocidal maniac. You're welcome."
Jay took the stone carefully, and it felt warm in his palm despite its appearance.
"What did you do?"
"Gave it a little of my aspect instead of just hers," Didi explained. "Marvel's Death is all about ending, but I'm about transition. This stone now carries both meanings of death as ending and death as release. Much more balanced and much less likely to turn you into the next Thanos."
"You can't give him that!" Lady Death shrieked. "Do you have any idea what a mortal could do with access to death itself?!"
"Probably less damage than you did with it," Didi shot back. "At least he'll use it to protect people instead of hunting them."
The Living Tribunal's three faces regarded the modified stone, then nodded. "The compensation has been delivered. The balance is restored. The judgment is complete."
"The balance?! THE BALANCE?!" Death struggled harder against the chains. "When Oblivion learns what you've done, when he sees a mortal wielding fundamental death, there will be consequences! The abstracts will not stand for this insult!"
The Living Tribunal's response was cold. "He acted within the protection granted by the One Above All. You acted outside the bounds of your authority. This judgment stands regardless of your brother's opinion."
"This isn't justice, it's favoritism toward outsiders!" Death's protests faded as the chains pulled her deeper into cosmic prison. "Mark my words, outsider! You may have won today, but you've made an enemy of forces beyond your comprehension! This isn't over!"
The dimensional rift closed, and Lady Death's voice cut off mid-sentence.
Jay stood there barely able to process what had just happened. He'd been judged by cosmic entities, found necessary rather than innocent or guilty, forced to repair a planet, and compensated with an artifact that represented death itself.
Didi walked over to him. "See? That wasn't so bad. You got cosmic community service plus compensation. That's actually pretty impressive."
"I feel like I'm about to pass out," Jay admitted honestly.
"That's fair. You did fight Death itself, repair a planet and its nascent dimensions, and negotiate compensation from a cosmic abstract." Didi's smile carried genuine warmth.
Jay opened his mouth to ask the thousand questions burning in his mind.
But Doctor Strangefate raised a hand while golden light began glowing around Jay's battered form. "Go, outsider. Rest. Recover. Remember what you learned here today." The Sorcerer Supreme's combined voice carried amusement. "I'm sure Raj would be over the moon hearing how you made Lady Death your problem."
Jay blinked in confusion. "Wait, who's Raj?"
[Image Here]
"Someone who'd like you a lot," Didi said cryptically while waving cheerfully. "Maybe you'll meet him someday. If you're lucky, or unlucky. Hard to say with him."
Didi smiled, saying her final words, "But you should probably get home. Your girlfriend is freaking out, your friends are wondering where you vanished to, and you need medical attention. After all Jay, you are dying."
Space folded around Jay while the Amalgam Universe's cosmology pushed him out, the rejection both gentle and absolute.
The last thing he saw before reality blurred was Didi's smile carrying secrets and the promise this wasn't their last meeting.
Then Jay was falling through dimensions again, exhausted and wounded but alive, clutching a stone that represented death itself.
Somewhere in the space between realities, as consciousness began to fade, Jay couldn't help but laugh.
He'd fought Death itself, been judged by cosmic law, demanded compensation from a multiversal abstract, and survived.
The Life Equation might be lost, but its truth still resonated in his soul. Every choice mattered, every life had value, and freedom was worth fighting for.
The Death Stone pulsed warm in his palm as his native universe called him home.
One final thought crossed his mind before exhaustion claimed him: 'Domino's going to kill me all over for worrying her. At least I'll die as I lived: making questionable decisions and hoping for the best.'
And honestly? After everything that had happened today, that scared him more than facing Death itself.
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