Location: Cairo, Egypt
Three Days After Meeting Ororo
"I am definitely not wearing this," Hela declared, her voice carrying the kind of absolute authority that had once commanded armies across the Nine Realms.
She stood in the small clothing shop, holding up a black mini skirt as if it were some kind of offensive weapon. Her expression was a mixture of disgust and disbelief, as though Elric had just asked her to wade through sewage.
"You have to," Elric replied calmly, browsing through a rack of shirts without looking at her. "If you don't want to stand out, that is."
"Why do we have to blend in at all?" Hela's voice rose slightly, drawing glances from other shoppers. She lowered it to a sharp whisper. "Why don't we just subjugate this place? The people here are pitifully weak. I could conquer this entire city in an afternoon."
Elric finally looked at her, his expression patient but firm—like a teacher dealing with a particularly stubborn student.
"Okay, let me explain this one more time. This is Midgard—Earth. You can go on a killing spree if you want, but let me ask you: how long do you think it would take for Asgard to send its army once they detected large-scale violence committed by someone using Asgardian magic?"
Hela opened her mouth to respond, then closed it.
"And then," Elric continued, warming to his theme, "you'll have to explain to this world's version of Hela why you look exactly like her and can use her powers. Go ahead. I'd love to see how that conversation goes."
Hela's face fell. He was right, damn him.
She knew her own personality too well. If another version of herself suddenly appeared, claiming to be from the past, her future self would kill first and ask questions never. That was simply how she operated—eliminate threats before they became problems.
And this appeared to be a future version of the world she had come from. If the timeline held true, Asgardians grown stronger with age, which meant her future self would be more powerful than her current iteration. Not to mention the entire Asgardian military at her disposal.
No matter how unwilling she was, she had to acknowledge the logic.
"Fine," she said through gritted teeth, clutching the mini skirt with obvious reluctance. "But I'm not happy about this."
"Duly noted," Elric said, grabbing a purple blouse from the rack and tossing it to her. "This should match. Ororo, please show her to the changing rooms."
Ororo, who had been watching this exchange with barely concealed amusement, nodded. "This way, Princess."
The emphasis on 'Princess' was just mocking enough to make Hela's eye twitch, but she followed without further complaint.
As they disappeared toward the back of the store, Elric allowed himself a small smile. "I'm going to the coffee shop next door. Meet me there when you're done."
Elric stepped out of the clothing shop and into the afternoon heat of Cairo's streets. The city buzzed with life—vendors calling out their wares, cars honking in perpetual traffic jams, the smell of spices and exhaust mixing in the air.
To any observer, he appeared to be just another tourist, perhaps a young man on a gap year exploring North Africa. No one could see the intricate web of magic he had woven across the city, or the dozens of invisible clones he had dispatched to key locations the moment they had arrived on Earth.
He had already gathered as much information as currently possible.
The history of this world was very similar to his original Earth—same major events, same cultural touchstones, same general technological development. But it was completely different from the main MCU timeline he had studied so extensively.
His clones had found no trace of Kamar-Taj in any of the locations where it should exist. Not in Kathmandu, not in any of the hidden sanctums that should dot the globe. The sorcerers of Earth, if they existed at all, were either deeply hidden or simply absent from this reality.
The Tesseract—the Space Stone—was nowhere to be found. World War II had ended without any appearance of Captain America, which meant Project Rebirth had either failed or never happened. No super soldier serum, no frozen hero in the ice, no SHIELD built on the foundation of Captain America's legacy.
And if there was no SHIELD, there was probably no Asgardian presence monitoring Earth either.
This is most likely the Fox X-Men universe, Elric concluded. A reality focused on mutants, without the other Marvel elements mixed in.
It was both good and bad news.
Bad because the Space Stone and Time Stone weren't conveniently located on Earth where he could retrieve them. He would have to search across the cosmos, which was enormously time-consuming and potentially dangerous.
Good because without the broader Marvel power structure—no Asgard actively monitoring Earth, no Ancient One protecting reality, no SHIELD investigating supernatural events—there were far fewer entities powerful enough to oppose him. Collecting the Infinity Stones should be significantly easier once he actually found them.
Logically, he should just leave Earth immediately, begin his search across the stars, and depart this universe as soon as he collected what he needed.
They didn't even need to hide or be subtle. With mutants existing openly and facing prejudice, a few people with unusual abilities wouldn't draw excessive attention. They could operate freely.
But Elric wasn't doing the logical thing.
He was doing this purely for his own pleasure.
Or more accurately, he was having far too much fun messing with Hela.
A smile crept across his face as he imagined getting her a job at a fast food restaurant. The former Crown Princess of Asgard, conqueror of realms, Goddess of Death... working a cash register and asking customers if they wanted to supersize their order.
The mental image was delicious.
"Why are you laughing?"
Hela's voice came from directly behind him, startling him slightly. He quickly restrained his smile and turned to face her.
And stopped.
"You look... quite beautiful, actually."
He wasn't lying. The transformation was remarkable.
Hela wore the black skirt that ended just above her knees, paired with the purple blouse he had selected. Someone—probably Ororo—had helped her with light makeup that softened her normally severe features. Her long black hair, usually flowing loose or pulled back for combat, was styled in a way that looked both elegant and modern.
She looked less like an ancient warrior goddess and more like a young professional woman out for a day in the city. The effect was striking precisely because it was so unexpected.
"Stop talking nonsense, you bastard," Hela snapped, but there was less venom in her tone than usual. A faint hint of color touched her cheeks—whether from embarrassment or anger, Elric couldn't quite tell. "What should we do now?"
Elric gestured toward the coffee shop. "Let's get some information first. Anyway, finding the Infinity Stones by randomly searching is inefficient. We need to see if there are alternative options."
They entered the café—a modern establishment that could have existed in any major city on Earth. Air conditioning provided blessed relief from the heat outside. The smell of coffee and baked goods filled the air.
Ororo had already claimed a corner table, three cups of coffee waiting. She had changed as well, though her transformation was less dramatic—simple jeans and a white t-shirt that made her blend perfectly with the local youth.
As they sat, Elric continued his thought. "Let's see if the Phoenix Force can be used instead of the Infinity Stones."
Hela's eyes sharpened with interest. "The Phoenix Force? That cosmic entity?"
"It's higher quality energy than the Stones in some ways," Elric explained, keeping his voice low. "It should work for what we need, though I'm uncertain if I can actually harness it safely."
"And how do you propose to find this Force?" Hela asked, sipping her coffee and immediately making a face at the bitter taste.
"We find Jean Grey first," Elric said. "She has the best chance of attracting the Phoenix Force—or already has it, depending on this timeline's current point."
He paused, looking at Ororo with a slight smile. "Actually, our deal is already over, isn't it? We agreed on one week, and it's been three days since we left the desert. You've guided us to Cairo, helped us blend in, taught us the local customs. You've more than fulfilled your end of the bargain."
Ororo blinked, surprised by the sudden shift in conversation.
"It seems we're going our different ways now," Elric continued, his tone genuinely respectful. "Thank you for your help, Ororo. You were an excellent guide."
There was a long moment of silence. Ororo looked down at her coffee cup, her fingers drumming against the ceramic in a nervous rhythm that didn't match her usual confident demeanor.
"Really?" she asked finally, her voice carefully neutral. "You're just... leaving? Just like that?"
"That was our agreement," Elric said. "Unless you have somewhere specific you need to be, I wouldn't want to keep you."
Another pause. Ororo's drumming fingers stilled.
"Can I..." she started, then stopped. Tried again. "Can I come with you too?"
Elric raised an eyebrow, genuinely curious now. "Oh really? You didn't just want to get away from us some time ago? Why would you want to follow us now?"
Ororo's face flushed slightly. She looked away, then back, clearly struggling with honesty versus pride.
"It's just..." she began, her accent thickening slightly as it always did when she was emotional. "I felt that you would get into trouble after leaving me. So I generously decided to help you."
The excuse was transparently false, and they all knew it.
Hela snorted into her coffee. "That's the worst lie I've heard since Thor tried to convince Father he didn't break the training hall."
But Elric just smiled warmly. "Okay, okay. You can come with us. We definitely need your help."
Ororo's shoulders relaxed slightly, relief evident in her posture.
"But," Elric added, his tone becoming more serious, "I need you to understand something. Where we're going, what we're doing—it's dangerous. Not street-level dangerous. Cosmic-level dangerous. Are you sure you want to be involved in that?"
Ororo met his eyes steadily. "I've been running from danger my whole life. Maybe it's time I ran toward something instead."
Hela made a disgusted sound. "How inspirational. I think I'm going to vomit."
"You're just upset about the skirt," Ororo shot back, a hint of her earlier amusement returning.
"I am a princess of Asgard! I should be wearing armor, not—not this ridiculous—"
"You look good in it," Ororo interrupted. "Very modern. Very chic."
Hela's glare could have melted steel, but Ororo just smiled innocently.
Elric watched the exchange with satisfaction. This was good. If Ororo was going to travel with them—and he very much wanted her to—she would need to be able to hold her own in conversations with Hela. The fact that she was already comfortable enough to tease the Goddess of Death was a positive sign.
"Alright," he said, standing and finishing his coffee. "First stop: find Jean Grey. Ororo, do you know anything about Charles Xavier's school?"
Ororo's expression became complicated. "I've heard of it. A school for 'gifted youngsters' in Westchester, New York. Professor Xavier has been trying to recruit mutants for years, offering them a safe place to learn and train."
"And you never went?" Elric asked gently.
"I..." Ororo hesitated. "I didn't want to be part of someone else's dream. I wanted to find my own path."
"Well," Elric said with a smile, "how about finding your path with us for a while? See where it leads?"
Ororo considered this for a long moment, then nodded decisively. "Alright. But if you try to turn me into some kind of weapon, I'll bury you in a sandstorm."
"Noted," Elric said. "Hela, stop pouting about the skirt. We have work to do."
As they left the café, none of them noticed the subtle shift in the air—a brief flicker of crimson and gold energy that pulsed once and disappeared.
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