Chapter 7: ENIGMA

"I told you already, I want to shake Ironman's hands…"

"Here, shake Ironman's hand and go home…"

The nano-tech Ironman gauntlet covers Morgan's hand. She reaches her hand to Stray, demanding him to be done with the handshake already. "Remember the first time we met?" She suddenly asks.

"Yeah, something about using me as a shield? Come to think of it, why me? You could have gone for someone else at that time, you know?" Stray reaches his hand and grabs Morgan's metallic hand.

"Well, you look roughed up. Like a kid who grew up on hard times, so I figure, you might be a tough guy… I judged you a good shield, that's all… I don't know for whatever reason possessed you to follow me here…" With those words, a current of electric shock courses from her Ironman gauntlet to Stray's hand. Lying faint on the ground, the last thing Stray remembers was Morgan's regretful face.

…

Today is Saturday, February 6, 2010.

Because it is the weekends, Stray doesn't have to worry much about the school staff finding his illegal stay here on campus. As long as he can stay out of their radar, he is safe.

The lack of student activity thanks to today being Saturday greatly helps Stray in staying incognito.

Stray's body is feeling a bit strained since the events of last night. "I saw it coming, but I stayed my hand... Never thought she'd rough me up this way though." He stretches his numb arm caused by Morgan's shock therapy. It didn't come as a surprise to him that Morgan did something like that.

If she wants to go, then she should go.

Stray has an agenda of his own for jumping at the time machine. He was just in the right place and at the right time. He sees the opportunity, so he takes a jump at it. He doesn't know much about time travel or the multiverse, but he is damn well sure of what Morgan wants to achieve. That it is to create a branching timeline, a universe of its own, deriving from the past that they knew.

Taking his time to contemplate on the matter, Stray waits by the basketball court's most inconspicuous corner.

Some students were doing their drills for basketball earlier this morning, but they have to go since they have friendly matches with another school the next afternoon. As lunch comes waving to him, Stray decides to soldier on the hunger. According to his estimate, and if he guesses right, any time soon, someone will suddenly pop out from the very center of the basketball court.

Thus, the excruciating 5 hours of waiting since lunch ensues. It was a miscalculation on Stray's part, but he can't miss his companion's arrival. If he thinks about it that way, then the wait wasn't so bad.

At exactly 5:00 pm of the afternoon, the wait ends. The person who Stray was waiting for finally shows up. It was Love. In her same rebel outfit, she suddenly pops out in the middle of the court carrying a rather menacing axe. There weren't any special visual effects in her arrival, just a pop… Like a mole suddenly peeking from its hole.

"Hey there, friend, how are you doing?" Stray approaches Love like the old friend he was.

"We aren't friends, just acquaintances…" She quickly shuts Stray down.

Ignoring Stray entirely, Love calls on the power of Bifrost in her axe.

Stray panics at the sight of this. "Hey, hey! Calm down, you are going to tear off the roof!"

Thankfully, Love still has her reason. She immediately halts her axe's Bifrost ability. She is on a different timeline, one that doesn't have 'Stormbreaker' yet. If she does use its Bifrost ability, it would certainly alert the Asgardians, not to mention, make them mark her.

"You know what," As calmly as possible, Stray does his best to accommodate Love. "Whatever it was that you were trying to do, please don't. For now, I need to hear the whole story. It is unfair if I am being kept in the dark."

"Moreover, I haven't had lunch yet. Heck, I didn't even have dinner since last night." Stray pitifully begs.

"You are so fragile."

…

In the nearest fast food they find, the two share a table for Stray to eat and Love to tell the story.

"It started with Morgan learning of Toussaint's princely identity. That was a year ago. Stupid Toussaint got found out because of his vibranium pen. What kind of idiot has a vibranium pen? I am not really criticizing him because I am jealous of his pen…

"That aside, I joined their little project a month later after Morgan recruited me. Morgan was really insistent on saving his father, you know? She was convincing… Because I too wanted to save mine… to save, that special someone. Toussaint is the same, he also had a father that needed saving…

"Morgan recruited me because of my adoptive mother, Jane Foster, she thought maybe my brilliant mind could also help with the cause. Well, I too am a member of the prodigious Academic Decathlon team. No offense, but you are not cut out for the time-traveling project…

"Aside from my brain, I think she also wants me as insurance against Toussaint. She only needs to do a little digging, and she'd pretty much know my connection with Thor. I think, you already knew my connection with Thor though… Those two must be secretly fighting or something...

"Morgan and Toussaint were in the middle of a beef. But they quickly resolved that after I joined the project. I don't know what they are fighting about though.

"The plan was for us three to form together a team and stay together even after the time jump. But that won't work anymore, because of Toussaint's stunt of bringing you in… I don't know why, but Morgan is insistent on you not knowing the project.

"That's the full story."

Still munching on his fries, Stray listens attentively to Love's story. When she finishes telling her perspective, Love stands up with an axe still in her hand.

"I guess, we are done now, right?" Love bids Stray goodbye.

Before even Love takes a step out of the establishment, Stray stands up from his chair, leaves his payment in a hurry, and catches up to Love.

"Hey, wait… Where are you going? I was lucky that I still have a dollar or two on me, that's why I was able to pay for my food. But what about you? What are you going to do? I recall you didn't even bring a bag with you since the time machine. The time travel was crazy, but you, an accomplice, don't even have any supplies on you. That's crazier. Heck, Morgan has a bunch of arc reactors on her. And Toussaint? He at least had a bag with him, what about you? Are you even thinking about this seriously? Are you an idiot?"

Stray angrily yells at her. Rarely does he gets angry, but when he does, Stray can say pretty hurtful things.

"What did you say?" Love grabs Stray's collar and raises him a head above her. "Do you know what a time stone is? One of the six Infinity Stones, the remnant of a singularity that predated the universe, representing the element of time. Do you know how did I get it? At first, we were planning on using Stormbreaker's Bifrost as a catalyst for time travel, or maybe some Pym particles. But we are just high school kids. No matter how special we are, we are just kids. We know our limits. The chances of us succeeding with Bifrost or Pym particles are close to zero. We were desperate… That's why I did, what I had to do…"

"What did you do?"

"I made a deal with a monster…" Love lets go of Stray. "The others don't even know this, but I am living with borrowed time. I had some supplies for this quest through time, but I lost them on my way back to school… Martin, please, just don't get in my way."