Chapter 171: Ancient One, How Am I Supposed to Live Without You!?
Matthew stood frozen for a long moment after seeing these visions.
He'd thought he was already prepared for the worst-case "Thanos crisis" the future might bring.
But looking at this now.
Not enough! Nowhere near enough!
Forget the six-Infinity-Stone Ultron for a second, even just the other two were already more than enough to overwhelm him at his current level.
After all, one of them was a quantum zombie virus, and the other was a Thanos who'd already successfully wiped out half the life in his own universe and was apparently now planning to bring his population-control program on tour to other universes too.
Damn it all!
Could these people not just sit still for five minutes?!
What did they have against minding their own business in their own worlds?!
Now he was going to have to start an arms race all over again!
Seeing the expression on Matthew's face, the kind a man wears after stepping in something unpleasant, the Ancient One patted his shoulder twice more. "Honestly, I do hope you can turn Umbrella Corporation into humanity's last 'umbrella,' for real. So that humanity and Earth can keep going after I'm gone."
Hearing the Ancient One's "words of encouragement" in his ear, Matthew's mouth twitched. "Do you really have to die?"
"With your level of strength, taking out Kaecilius should be more than enough, shouldn't it?"
At this point, Matthew was ready to deploy his full arsenal of arguments to talk the Ancient One out of dying.
"...How do you already know I chose to die at his hands?"
This time, it was the Ancient One's turn to look confused.
But she quickly waved it off. "Whatever, I don't know where you heard that from, but it doesn't matter anymore."
"My death is set in stone."
"Strange, down the line, will be stronger than I am. Better suited to be Sorcerer Supreme."
"...I don't really see it that way."
"That's because he needs time to grow."
"Once the time is right, he'll naturally become the strongest Sorcerer Supreme among us," the Ancient One said evenly.
"Emmm... I get that he's a late-game hero, sure, needs time to develop and all that."
"But if you don't survive the early game, how do you even get to the late game?" Matthew shot back.
After all, based on what Strange had shown in the movies, he clearly didn't have the ability to solo Thanos yet, not at that stage.
And if the current Ancient One didn't enjoy throwing matches for fun, did anyone really think Thanos would dare show up?
He'd be lucky if his ashes were scattered cleanly, let alone anything worse.
The Ancient One completely ignored the implications of what Matthew was saying.
Hear no evil, see no evil, recite no scripture from old turtles.
You can never talk a person out of something when they've truly made peace with dying.
"In any case, I'll do what I can to keep Earth safe before my death. After I'm gone, the planet will need the rest of you working together to protect it." With that, the Ancient One waved a hand.
The mirror-space vanished instantly.
The street returned to normal.
Even Logan reappeared from somewhere nearby...
Though, maybe it was just his imagination, but Logan's face didn't look too good right now. He looked like he might be about to throw up.
"Matthew, where the hell did you go?" Logan was bracing himself against a nearby streetlamp, dry-heaving repeatedly.
"I was talking with the Ancient One?" Matthew looked Logan up and down.
Seeing the state he was in, Matthew asked, curious, "Judging by how you look, where exactly did the Ancient One send you?"
"Me?" Logan dry-heaved twice more. "I have no idea what she did, but the whole time you two were talking, I kept falling. Over and over. From thirty thousand feet straight down to the ground..."
"It happened on a loop. About fifteen minutes' worth."
"You have no idea how brutal those fifteen minutes were for me."
"Anyway, at least I finally landed."
Logan took a few deep breaths, forcing down the nausea churning in his stomach.
Only then did he get to the actual point.
"So, what did you and the Ancient One talk about?"
"Or, more importantly, did you find a way to bring Professor X back?" He fixed Matthew with an intent, hopeful look.
Matthew didn't bother dressing it up. "I'll give you the simplest, most direct answer possible."
"No."
"Even she doesn't have a way to bring Xavier back."
"...However..."
"However what?" Logan pressed, urgent.
"However, she said we don't need to worry about it. When the time's right, Xavier will wake up on his own."
Logan: "..."
Come on, man, that's not an answer!
It was like spending forever tracking down some legendary fortune-teller everyone swears is dead accurate, paying a fortune for a single reading.
And then, just as you're holding your breath for the answer-
The fortune-teller looks at you and says: "The will of heaven cannot be spoken~~"
And then tacks on: "Worry not, my friend. The cart will find its road when it reaches the mountain, the boat will find its way when it reaches the bridge. Let fate take its course."
If Logan had actually been the one sitting across from that fortune-teller, he probably would've flipped the whole stall over with an elbow.
"I get it now." After a long silence, Logan suddenly spoke up.
"While I was free-falling for fifteen straight minutes, you two were just standing around chatting, and that hack mystic completely played you for a fool."
"Am I right?" Logan said, dead serious.
"Logan, we weren't just chatting-"
"All right, all right, you don't need to explain, I get it!"
Logan raised a hand, then went on in a voice dripping with resentment. "Figures. Mystics are all the same. Useless."
"Well, if she doesn't have a way to get Xavier back to consciousness, then that's that, I guess."
"That nutrient pod can keep him going until the day he dies of old age anyway."
With that, Logan reached into his jacket, intending to pull out a cigar and light it.
But halfway through the motion, he realized his cigar must have been left behind in that endlessly-falling mirror-space.
"Fuck! I hate that hack mystic!" Logan spat the curse out viciously.
He glanced at the bustling traffic nearby.
Since this trip hadn't gotten him the answer he wanted, Logan didn't linger any longer.
After a quick goodbye to Matthew, he set off on his own journey, determined to find another way.
Clearly, however harsh Logan's words had been, deep down he still wanted Xavier to wake up.
Once Logan had gone, Matthew slowly climbed into the car.
He didn't drive off right away. Instead, he sat there, quietly looking at the New York Sanctum not far away.
About five minutes later, a slightly plump figure stepped out from inside.
After confirming Matthew was across the street, the man slipped through a gap in the traffic and made his way over.
"Hello, Mr. Lawrence. You can call me 'Wong.'"
"Wong? Like, 'king'?" Matthew said, trying to make a joke of it.
"...Mr. Lawrence speaks Chinese?" Wong hadn't expected Matthew to be able to make a pun off his surname like that.
"Yes, a little."
He pulled a slip of paper from inside his robe, then took off the levitating ring on his hand and handed both over to Matthew.
"Sorcerer Supreme asked me to give these to you."
"The paper has the incantation for a portal spell, along with instructions and tips for using it."
"Sorcerer Supreme also said, once you've learned this spell, you can come find me again... well." Wong pointed at himself. "Come find me, I mean."
"At that point, I'll teach you more spells. Harder ones."
"Once you've learned everything I have to teach, Sorcerer Supreme will receive you personally."