[ Continuation of Chapter 23 Flashback ]
Satoru lay on the floor, staring at the ceiling. His brain felt like it had been scrubbed with sandpaper.
The door to the room creaked open and the Ancient One walked in.
"How are you doing, Satoru?" she asked, her voice calm but lacking its usual warmth.
"Besides finding that my head hurts so much and my eyes feel like they're made of lead... I'm doing just fine," Satoru croaked. He didn't look at her. He let out a long breath. "Sorry. I should've told you."
He knew there was no point in lying, not that he held any intention of doing so prior to this happening. She likely had seen the dimensional energies he used, which may or may not be the cause of his Domain Expansion going out of his control.
The Ancient One hummed, which was tinged with disappointment. "Curiosity is a virtue in a sorcerer, Satoru. But, you should've known your limits."
Satoru groaned and sat up slowly on the bed, his hand immediately flying to his forehead to steady the ache. "I don't remember much of what happened at the end," he admitted, looking around the room. "Considering I'm still laying here… I take it Kamar-Taj wasn't destroyed because of me?"
"I managed to stop your technique in time," she replied with a nod, standing at the foot of his bed. "Whatever it was you created, it should not exist…"
A rare flash of anger broke her composure. "...If I had been a second later, there would be no Kamar-Taj. No Masters. No you."
"The other masters believe a relic in the sub-basement went out of control," she said, her gaze fixed on the window. "The Relic Guardian is currently shouldering the blame. If Mordo, Sol Rama, or any of the others were to discover that this catastrophe was caused by your meddling with the energies of the Dark Dimensions, they would label you a zealot. They would strip you of your rank and exile you with no memories of this place."
Satoru's brow furrowed. He felt a spike of irritation that cut through the pain in his brain. The hypocrisy of her words was worse than his migraine.
"And if they knew you were also using the energy of the Dark Dimension?" Satoru asked, his voice gaining a cold edge.
"What would they think if they found out the Ancient One — the Sorcerer Supreme — is doing the exact same thing?"
The Ancient One's composure slipped. She went completely still, her eyes widening in shock. "What..?"
Satoru didn't back down. He shifted on the bed, reaching for a pair of sunglasses on his nightstand and sliding them over his eyes to dull his Six Eyes.
"Yeah, I know. Don't try to hide it," he said, leaning back against the headboard. "My eyes don't lie. While you know I only used those energies to fuel a technique — which, yeah, I agree, I should've thought ahead before pulling the trigger — the others don't. You're lecturing me about rules while you've been breaking that very rule."
The silence that followed was suffocating. The Ancient One looked at Satoru with an unreadable expression. She stayed quiet for a long time.
"I have been protecting Earth for centuries, Satoru," she finally whispered, her voice sounding older than he had ever heard it. "A human body can only live so long. I used the energy of the Dark Dimension to prolong my life... to remain as Earth's protector against dimensional threats until a worthy successor could be found."
The door to the room suddenly creaked open, hitting the stone wall with a dull thud. Mordo stood in the doorway, a tray of tea in his hands.
His eyes were wide with utter disbelief as they locked onto the Ancient One.
"You're using... the energy of the Dark Dimension?" Mordo whispered, his voice cracking.
The tray tilted, the ceramic cups rattling against each other, but he didn't seem to notice. He had clearly heard everything.
The Ancient One turned toward him, her face masking her shock with a sorrowful calm. "Mordo..."
'Yikes. Didn't mean for this to happen.'
Satoru glanced at the Ancient One sheepishly, who glared at him with blame and exasperation.
…
[ Present Day — 4 Months Later in Avengers Compound ]
In one of the research facilities of the Avengers Compound, AC/DC's Shoot to Thrill was blasting at a volume that made the whole spacious room vibrate.
Tony Stark was in his element, wearing a grease-stained black tank top and a welding helmet pushed up over his messy hair, working on something.
Across the workbench, Satoru was hunched over in navy blue coveralls, his white hair messy and a pair of protective goggles resting on his forehead.
Between them, a massive holographic display flickered, showing a cross-section of a Sling Ring intertwined with a complex circuit board of Stark's design. They were three months into a project Tony called 'The Bridge', an attempt to synthesize the mysticism of the Sling Ring with quantum mechanics.
"Hey! Gojo! Hand me the oscillating calibrator!" Tony screamed over a guitar solo, his hands busy in the underbody of the load-bearing.
"What!?" Satoru yelled back, not moving an inch.
"I said, hand me the calibrator!" Tony bellowed louder, gesturing frantically toward a silver tool on Satoru's left.
"What!?"
Tony let out a long sigh. He stepped back and clapped his hands once. "FRIDAY, kill the noise."
The music cut out instantly, leaving a ringing silence in the room.
"I said," Tony repeated, wiping a smudge of tar from his cheek with the back of his hand, "can you hand me the—"
"WHAT!?" Satoru shouted at the top of his lungs, the sheer volume echoing off the metallic walls.
Tony froze, staring at him with a mix of disbelief and irritation. Satoru blinked, finally realizing something. He sheepishly reached up and pulled a pair of bright orange industrial earplugs out of his ears.
"Oh, shit. Sorry," Satoru grinned, his voice returning to a normal volume. "Forgot those that were in there. Your taste in music is a literal crime, Tony. Like listening to a transformer have a seizure."
Tony stared at him speechlessly for a few seconds before rubbing his temples. "It's a classic, you uncultured brat. And I asked for the calibrator."
"Right, right. This thing?" Satoru picked up the tool and tossed it casually through the air.
Tony caught it with one hand, grumbling under his breath. He pulled his welding helmet back down. "FRIDAY, bring the 'seizure' back. Volume at two hundred percent."
The heavy drums kicked back in. Satoru rolled his eyes, leaning back over the hologram. "We're still far from completing this, y'know? But, once we're done, you won't need a sorcerer to open a portal for you."
"WHAT!?" Tony roared back over the thunderous guitar riff, purposely mimicking Satoru earlier.
Satoru stood there, dumbfounded, staring at Tony's welding mask. He opened his mouth to reply, then realizing Tony was doing it purposely, he just can't prove it over the dark lenses of the mask.
He simply shook his head and returned to his own work.
…
[ A few hours later ]
The project was shelved after they did the work for the day, marked for their next weekly session. Satoru, now showered and dressed in fresh clothing, strolled down the sleek hallways toward the training facility.
Tony walked beside him, vigorously scrubbing a stubborn grease stain from his palm with a handkerchief.
"By the way, have you seen Thor?" Satoru asked, glancing at Tony. "He invited me to his place a while back. I was thinking of taking him up on it because of a personal project of mine."
"He's back in Asgard," Tony replied without looking up from his hand. "Probably doing God things. Capes, hammers, mead, those stuff. Did he tell you how to contact him?"
Satoru hummed, thinking back to the hangar. "Well, he said to just call his name or something.
Tony smiled knowingly, a mischievous glint in his eyes. "Then literally just do that. Go outside, yell at the sky. Who knows? He might appear like Beetlejuice if you say it enough times."
Satoru chuckled. "You know what? I might just try that. Who knows, right?"
"It's really a shame you're not part of the Avengers, with Bruce gone, it makes me feel like I'm surrounded by idiots all the time even after retiring from the group." Stark said.
Satoru chuckled, not commenting on that.
They arrived at the heavy reinforced doors of the training bay. Steve Rogers and Natasha Romanoff were already there, standing on the observation deck overlooking the sparring floor.
"So, who's winning?" Satoru asked as they walked up.
Steve didn't say a word. He let out a weary sigh of defeat, reached into his back pocket for his wallet, and pulled out a crisp five-dollar bill. He handed it to Satoru.
Natasha smirked, while Tony let out a sharp bark of laughter.
"Score again," Satoru chuckled, snapping the bill into his pocket.
Below them, the arena was a mess of activity. It was a three-on-three full on fist fight. No superpowers were used, just straight physical skills.
Illyana, Rintrah, and Wanda were locked in a heated fistfight against Rhodey, Pietro, and Sam Wilson. The new Avengers lineup was losing and Steve knew that.
"Your kids are getting mean, Gojo," Natasha noted.
"That's what usually happens when you feed them only vegetables and promised meat if they win," Satoru grinned.
The sparring session finally wound down with Rhodey and Sam Wilson gasping for air on the mats. Rintrah stood tall, barely sweating, while Illyana and Wanda were busy checking for bruises.
Satoru leaned over the railing, cupping his hands around his mouth.
"Alright, that's enough for today! Let's go, kids!"
The trio below nodded toward their sparring opponents in a silent show of respect, while Wanda chatted with Pietro for a moment longer before they headed together toward Satoru.
"Next week again, Stark." Satoru said to Tony.
"See you, Gojo."
Satoru offered a nod to Steve and Natasha who responded with a nod of their own.
Once his disciples reached his side in the hallway, Satoru clapped Rintrah on his massive, furred shoulder. "I'm hungry and I'm pretty sure Illyana's mom has already prepared the meat I gave her. Let's move."
Rintrah stepped forward, his hands weaving the familiar orange sparks with much more confidence than four months ago. A circular portal hummed to life.
"Ladies first," Satoru said.
Wanda and Illyana stepped through, followed by Rintrah then Satoru.
…
[ Xavier's School for the Gifted Youngsters ]
The portal flickered out, leaving the group standing on a spacious and perfectly manicured green lawn. In front of them sat a massive, stately manor.
A woman was standing on a nearby fountain area, just in time to watch them portal their way in the institute.
She had dark hair with a distinct white streak running through the middle. She wore a green and yellow jumpsuit and leather gloves.
"Well, look who it is," she said with a thick Southern accent. "If it isn't sugah."
Satoru waved a hand. "Hey, Rogue."
[IMAGE]
...
[Author's Notes]: Provided an image of Marvel Gojo Universe's version of Rogue within this chapter; The Rogue of my dreams. It's a personal favorite, not that it means nor imply anything.
Alexandra Dadarrio is just... ahhh~!
Just to clarify again, this isn't harem!
On another note, I decided to drop this chapter in advance because I'll be away from home to investigate some work-related stuff, and I foresee myself being too exhausted to drop the chapter tomorrow.
Chapter drop will resume on Monday, 12:00 AM UTC +8 — See you guys still then.
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