章 18: Chapter 18: Time travel's a bitch!

Seeing Lor's unconscious body standing among them, everyone agreed to move location and continue the conversation at Lor's house. He had built his house, as a normal "looking" two-story house. He also had the fortress but that was known to be his lab.

It took an hour for Lor to wake up. Logan did not miss a second to rub his fainting in Lor's face. Kitty joined. Lor got angry and his eyes turned red but neither stopped. They knew Lor would never fire his heat vision at them. Lor seeing this decided to write something for the laughing duo. Kitty's eyes widen when she saw Pete's full name on the piece of paper Lor gave her.

Logan's eyes narrowed when he saw Mystic's real name written before him. This showed Logan that Lor knew about their secret relationship. He was surprised at first but slapped his head when he remembered that Lor had enhanced hearing, better than his.

The duo looked at Lor who was now smirking. They knew what he meant. They had gotten something to laugh at him and now he showed them that he had something to laugh at them. They would not put it past Lor to know one of their embarrassing secrets that only the people written on those papers know as well.

Lor: Want to keep laughing?

Both stayed silent as Lor walked up to Carol. He sat next to her as everyone else made eye contact. They unanimously agree to a silent retreat. Whatever those two were going to say should be between them and only them. They were adults thus there was nothing they could offer as assistance before the secret couple had their talk.

They left the living room and waited in the kitchen. Just because they wanted to let the secret couple talk in privacy did not mean all of them could resist eavesdropping. They noticed that Lor and Carol went into a room on the second floor.

Two hours passed and there was no sign of them descending. Kitty got curious and wanted to hear what they were saying. She, along with Ororo, decided to get near the room to eavesdrop. When they got near the room, they still heard nothing and deduced that Lor must have made the rooms soundproof. Kitty phased her head inside the door to take a look but instantly shot her head back and brought Ororo downstairs with her. Logan saw them return.

Logan: So what's going on up there?

Kitty's face redden.

Kitty: They aren't talking at all. They doing it.

Logan: HA! I guess she can't get any more pregnant than now.

Charles: From what I saw before we left them alone, both of them are clearly doing this to avoid the conversation they need to have.

Magneto: Give them a week and It will pass. Let's go we don't want to... disturb their "talk".

They left following Magneto. Lor and Carol spent the next three weeks living together while avoiding the pressing subject. Lor was scared that Carol would not want the child. He was a firm believer that a woman had every right to choose whether she was going to have an abortion or not and that a man could choose whether or not he would raise the baby if the mother refused abortion. Like Dave Chappelle once said.

"If you can kill it, I can at least abandon it."

Lor wanted Carol to give birth to the child. It would massively derail his plans but he could not bring himself to abandon the child now that he knew its existence or more accurately its future existence. He could force Carol to have the child but if he was that kind of man, he would have already taken over the world after Loki invaded.

Lor knew that child was his. He knows that in the comics Carol got raped to give birth to a villain who raped her. That was why when they started their secret relationship, he put a mental barrier on her that way she would not be mind controlled into having sex against her will. Lor made a mental note to introduce that villain to another girl, first name Omega, last name Beam.

Carol was scared. She was not ready to be a mother. She barely wanted kids in the first place. The more she thought about it the more she realized that Both of them had different plans for their own future which that child would derail yet she did not want to get rid of it. It could work if one of them abandons their plans/dreams for the future and helps the other while raising the child. She wanted to protect the world, and keep everyone safe, while Lor wanted to protect mutants above all, along with his friends.

Their respective goal was similar but both of them knew that sometimes, they would clash against one another. That was one of the reasons why they agreed to keep their relationship a secret though at this point everyone in their close circle knew as their meetings became too noticeable.

Since both of them wanted to avoid the subject, they would distract each other when either of them thought the other was going to bring the subject. Carol would undress while Lor would grab Carol before giving her a passionate kiss. Those two actions would lead to them having sex till both of them forgot the reason they started doing it.

Though as much as they tried they eventually had to have the conversation they were dreading. Lor and Carol were now laying on a king-size bed, naked under a thin turquoise bedsheet as they were embracing each other. They both looked at the ceiling and refrained from speaking. After a moment of silence, they sighed.

Lor: *Sigh* We have to talk about this eventually.

Carol: *Sigh* Might as well rip the bandage quick. Lo... I don't know what to do with this. I don't want to lose the child. I know it's quick but I already love that child-

Lor: It's the same here.

Carol: But we both know that with our lifestyles, raising a child is... *sigh* I won't back down from any fight... no matter the odds, I always fought back but I can't bring myself to think what would happen if that child was put in danger because of our lifestyles. The earth has already been invaded twice in less than five years and there is another invasion coming with the Skrulls. Can we really bring a child into this world when we know that a lot of people will be after him/her?

Lor caressed Carol's right shoulder with his right hand as she was hugging the right side of his body with her head on his chest.

Lor: We can because we both know we would protect the child with all our might plus... there is no way I would let that happen!

Carol saw Lor's eyes burning with an orange-yellow-red glow. Seeing Lor like this brought a smile to her face. The last time she had seen Lor like this was when he was "fighting" Doomsday.

Carol: HA! I guess you're right. Though now we have to talk about the future.

Lor: Yes we do- Hold on! What was that about a Skrull invasion?

Carol: Huh? I didn't tell you, that during our investigation, that Fury and I found out that the Kree had discovered something alarming.

Lor: Something about the Skrull, right?

Carol: Yeah, the Kree had won the war with the Skrull years ago by destroying the armada of the Skrull Queen. That armada contained the strongest members of the Skrull army as well as the most brilliant minds on their side. The Kree then proceeded to exterminate the Skrull race but a few years ago, a trace of that Armada was found. It was after the defeat of the Kree's invasion of Earth. It took a while but the Kree managed to find evidence of the armada. That was when they understood that the Queen had faked her defeat and let the Kree exterminate her people to make them believe her "death".

Lor: I presume that our victory over the Kree left them defenseless enough to lower the Skrull vigilance which led to their sighting. What do the Skrull want with the earth?

Lor was sincerely asking as he never bothered to learn about the Skrull's motives. He was shocked to learn about the invasion but quickly figured that it was because of him. To explain it best, he would use the words of the Reverse Flash/Professor Zoom in the movie Flashpoint.

"Break the sound barrier, there's a sound boom. Break the time barrier, there's a time boom."

Lor's existence had broken the reality barrier ergo reality boom. The Skrull queen had died in the MCU but the reality boom changed that.

Carol: We don't know that for now.

Lor: Hm... We will deal with them when they try to take a swing at us.

Carol: *Chuckles* True.

They then spent the remainder of the night cuddling. The next day, they spent it figuring out how their relationship was going to function. They were both stubborn and knew that they would not move from their standpoint unless it endangered the child's life. They sat on two couches in front of one another. Carol was the first to speak.

Carol: Let's be honest. We both thought at some point in the future, we would end this relationship due to our fight against one another. We are both stubborn and each has one major flaw.

Lor: We can agree that your major flaw is your competitiveness and people can control you via that.

Carol reluctantly nodded at Lor's words.

Lor: This leaves the question of my major flaw. We already know I'm a sociopath in the eyes of the government-

Carol cut him off.

Carol: That right there. What you are doing- trying to do. That is your major flaw.

Lor: I don't follow.

Carol: Drop the act, Lo. I know you are trying to use my compassion to gain control over the situation.

Lor: I use compassion?

Carol: Yes, you always get the conversation going where you want it to be whenever you bring back your past. I didn't catch it at first but after spending time with you I know for a fact that you are not as traumatized as you appear- no pretend to be.

Lor watched Carol. He saw no fear in her eye, only concern.

Carol: You sometimes have a short outburst of emotions but after remembering them, I realized that they always happened whenever someone was looking into you. Fury might not care about that fact and people such as Tony and Reed might not have noticed it but I did. After these past three months, I know for a fact that you are not as unstable as you let the world believe. That's why I decided something when we agreed to keep the undeveloped child.

Lor: What did you decide?

Carol looked Lor in his eyes before giving him a Warm smile.

Carol: We will fight in the middle.

Lor: Fight in the middle?

Carol: Yeah, you will help me not be as stubborn and competitive as I am and I will help you regain compassion and learn to feel not act while shedding crocodile tears.

Lor was baffled. He was perplexed. He kept looking at Carol's eyes before laughing.

Lor: HAHAHAHA!

Carol stood up as Lor fell from the couch he was sitting on, trying to contain his laughter. She had a slight blush on her cheeks.

Carol: What?!

Lor: HAHA! You caught me off guard with that "decision". You want to help me regain my compassion and not use it as a weapon. I did not think that you would say that... I'm in! Let's fight in the middle.

Lor proceeded to stand up and lift Carol in a bridal carry.

Lor: You caught on to my acting.

He brought his face close to her.

Lor: I'm liking you more and more Carol... Especially that look in your eyes.

Carol blushed. She did not expect Lor to say that and before she could even say anything, they were in Lor's room, where a giant TV had appeared and his bed had changed into a large couch.

Lor: Now that we've settled this, for now, I feel like watching a movie. What movie do you want to watch?

Carol regained her sense due to the confusion, not blushing anymore she spoke.

Carol: Movie? I got a few but first, tell me what's that about my eyes?

Lor sit down on the couch while cuddling Carol who was on his lap. She did not mind that as she even put her hands over the back of his neck.

Lor: The are very few people that look at me while wanting nothing. Whether it is fear, jealousy, or expectation, most have at least one of those in their eyes. There are other emotions but those are the most common. Mutants are no exception either. Some fear me due to once being enemies, others either are jealous of my powers or expect me to be the savior of mutant kind. My actions are hundred percent responsible for the last one but it feels good when someone looks at me with neither of those three, like a normal person. It's a nice feeling.

Lor lies down bringing Carol with him in a spooning position.

Lor: From the moment we met, disgust and pity might have been the emotions that were in your eyes before you started looking at me with the same eyes as you have now. It's the same type of eyes that my friends look at me with.

Carol: Nice try, I'm not falling for that one.

Lor: Huh?

Carol: You just tried to use my compassion right now.

Lor wrapped his arms around her waist.

Lor: *Chuckles* You are good. Though I was telling the truth. you might actually be able to-

Carol: Lor! Can I ask you something and you answer truthfully?

Lor: huh? Go for it.

Carol: The thing you said on the moon on that other reality, in that air dome... was it true, or were you trying to guilt trip me?

[AN: I forgot to say that Lor had put an Air dome on the moon in the DC Universe]

Lor heard her voice stutter for a second.

Lor: *Sigh* it's both.

Carol: Huh?

Lor: it was true since my end goal is to have all that, one way or another. As for guilt tripping you, you were spying on me for S.H.I.E.L.D, I just got back at you. That way we would be even.

Carol's body wrapped itself with a golden-orange glow as she sent an angry elbow blow toward Lor's stomach while he was still spooning her. Although it happened almost instantly, Lor saw all of this in slow motion. He decided to weaken his electromagnetic field to feel the pain of the incoming blow. He knew that Carol just wanted one hit and the mood would return to what it was. Lor wanted the mood to return to being pleasant and enjoy the movies that Carol picked.

Lor: OOFFRGH! T-that hurts.

Carol: NOW we're even.

Carol told Lor the movies she wanted to watch and spent the whole movie marathon cuddling and eating the food that Lor would make out of thin air. Lor was happy. He knew that Carol was trying to make him more compassionate while he would make her more like him.

To Lor, Carol had almost everything he desired in a woman. He knew that if she joined his side, she would not be against his methods, the same methods he hid from everyone else. Lor found this fun. It would be a game.

While Carol would try to change Lor, he would try to change her. That way no matter who wins they would be together and there for their child. Carol, though she did not voice it, knew that. She was confident she could change Lor before he changed her. Lor planned to do nothing. Once Carol gave birth, she would see the dangers that could harm their child and would be more open to Lor's way of things. Lor would later regret that decision.

Lor spends the following week, showing Carol around the city. They had agreed to a compromise. Each would spend two weeks of every month at the other's home. After a coin flip, it was decided that Carol would be the first to spend two weeks with Lor at his home. Carol easily adapted to the city.

She had been given a special bracelet from Lor, he had told her to use it in times of emergency. Unknown to her, Lor had put a special function on that bracelet. He had spent years creating this function but was only able to succeed when he acquired the infinity stones. The function was to temporarily give the wearer of the bracelet the powers of a Kryptonian.

Lor knew that Kryptonian had the power to temporarily share their powers with other, humans when said Kryptonian was under a blue Sun. Lor had initially created that function based on power and to create an army of Kryptonian soldiers in the event of a war with an invading force.

~MC POV~

Carol just left for Ororo's house for their weekly "girl's night". This is the last week of the month that we will spend in the city of Fortitude. I might as well do this now. I'm going to get the Soul stone and kill Thanos. I was planning on letting him come to me, let the Avengers weaken him a bit before I beat him. That way the world would think that the Avengers are relevant. It was mainly so that the world does not look for me every time a villain shows up.

I could beat him along with his army even before I got the mind stone. That is how broken Kryptonian is. The reason why Kryptonite exists is to give the possibility of losing. I understand why Aizen lied about his Shikia, it is so much fun deceiving everyone.

Things have changed now. I won't play with the real dangerous enemy, I will kill them on sight. I need the soul stone. I can protect my unborn child but I would rather make sure I have a dozen ways to bring her back to life. To kill Thanos and obtain the Soul stone was very easy. I went back in time and found Red Skull just as he was about to be teleported by the Tesseract. I was obviously cloaked. No one could see, hear or feel me. I follow him all the way to the sacrificial altar of the soul stone.

I fast-forwarded time until Thanos came with his army. They held the guardians of the galaxy captive. They had been captured while they were out looking for Ronan. After five years of torture, Gamora finally gave in. Thanos brought Gamora with him to the altar. At that time he did not know the method to attain the soul stone. Once Red Skull told him. He cried. Gatorade laughed at that until Red Skull told him he was crying for her. She knew she would die but begged her Father to spare her new family. Sadly it was too late. Thanos had ordered his men to kill the Guardians of the Galaxy when he and Gamora were out of sight.

At that time Thanos, from what I saw in his mind, thought that with this he would get his daughter back. Gamora lost the will to fight when she heard that her teammates... especially Peter had died. Thanos threw her off the cliff and obtained the Soul stone. He had reinforced his conviction. His next step was to make the dwarves create a gauntlet to house and channel all stones.

He had not been able to do that in the past five years as TheAsgardianss had been more active and interacted with the Dwarves. It would take time but he would find a way or that was what he thought as I blasted him with my Omega beams. It instantly killed him. Thanos' men were shocked but I did not even give them the time to see me as I snapped them into dust. They only had time to realize that they were turning to dust as most of them screamed.

I held no pity for them. They had committed uncountable genocide and I frankly didn't care about them. I assimilated the soul stone instantly. I could have merged it with the Phoenix project but it could be stolen. I had already reversed engineered it and thus had a blueprint for it. I assimilated the soul stone so that I could mass produce the "rebirth pods" as I call them. I knew from Fury's mind that Krakoa existed but I was not going to let the five be the only ones that can resurrect mutants.

I kept my distance from them as I saw no need to rush things but now I must make plans for them to join me. I already thought of a way to migrate the Asgardians to Mars as the more strong individuals there are on Mars the safer it would be for the child even if I was not there.

I revived the Guardians of the Galaxy as I had promised Gamora as she was falling to her death. I gave them the last message Gamora had for them as well as made them think Gamora killed Thanos and his army with her sacrifice. They decided to honor her death by becoming the Guardians of the Galaxy. I could not resurrect Gamora as she was sacrificed for the Soul stone. Fucking MCU logic. I returned to my house the moment after I had left.

As I walked to the kitchen to make something to eat, a small bird made of flames left my body and landed on my right shoulder. I looked at the small bird before speaking.

"It's rare for you to come out...Phoenix."

The small bird looked into my eyes before speaking.

"I know, I prefer watching as fate changes thus fulfilling my purpose but I felt it when you... changed. You are as powerful as the first time we spoke."

I chuckled when the Phoenix Force spoke about fate but that stopped when I realized something was not right. I incurred more.

"First time we spoke? That was when I absorbed you from Jean. I was not as powerful as now, you are either pulling terrible lies or..."

My eyes widen at the second possibility. The Phoenix Force's next words clarify my doubts.

"Yes. We have spoken before that moment. Have you never wondered how I knew that your existence itself was the opposite of stagnation? It was you, Lor. You told me that when I was still trapped inside that girl's mind."

Now that the Phoenix Force mentioned it, I never thought about it. I always assumed that it knew or sensed that my existence changed the already existing fate of the world. It turned out that my future self or in this case me in a few moments would travel back in time to do such a thing. I needed to know when that happened.

[AN: like Master Oogway once said there is no accident.]

"When did we first speak to one another?"

The Phoenix Force flew off my shoulder and landed on my sandwich, burning it but I was too focused on the matter at hand to care.

"We first spoke when you were putting fake memories inside that girl, Jean and the blind guy, Scott was it? You put them inside an illusion where you seduce Jean while disguised as Scott and made Scott see a mentally defenseless Jean. While they were succumbing to the temptation, you informed me of your existence and told me not to do any lasting damage to my previous host."

I was shocked. If what the Phoenix Force said was true... who am I kidding it is true. Then it explains why Jean was fine before and after I absorbed the Phoenix Force. During the years, I absorbed the powers of the Phoenix Force, Charles felt the need to reinforce the mental barriers in Jean's mind, less and less. They weakened over time. I always attributed it to me weakening the Phoenix Force as the reason Jean only got mild headaches after I stopped absorbing it or the fact that it did not take control of Jean when she found out about Scott's infidelity.

I started to feel bad. I technically seduced Jean while being seen as Scott. I knew the reason my future self did it was so that Jean can not discover my conversation with the Phoenix Force. Wiping her mind would leave traces of it but the guilt would stop her from looking too far into it. I was going to do it as I needed the Phoenix Force. I could not grow weaker with a child on the way but I was not going to do it without talking to Jean... and Emma. Yep, they got together and got engaged while I was in that red solar cell.

According to Bobby, it started with both fighting when Jean laughed at Emma when Scott cheated on her. The guy never learns. They had been drunk. That was the reason Emma had revealed Scott's infidelity and Jean laughed. They started their catfight and woke up naked in a hotel room. It was rocky at first but after a while, Emma left Scott for Jean. To this day Logan, Logan keeps reminding Scott that his game was so weak it turn away from their team.

I prepared myself and flew to Jean and Emma's house the next day once their girl's night was over. I let the Phoenix Force explain and told them that in the future I might do that. Jean was angry. I knew her and thus knew exactly how to seduce her completely. It became a heated discussion until Emma joined and calmed her. After a lot of thought, she agreed to it as it had already happened thus was not her problem, it would also lessen her still existing guilt and she would finally be able to ask me something she had been meaning to.

Emma and Jean had been wanting to have a child. Emma wanted the child to be a mutant thus they could only ask someone they knew as it would guarantee the child would not have any family problems as they already knew who the father would be and not some lies the donor would write. Emma and Jean had made a list, I was one of the very few people on that list that fit every criterion and had fewer enemies to their knowledge. It was obvious that they could not ask me before as it was awkward but now was their chance, Emma reminded Jean of that.

~3rd POV~

Lor agreed as it solved the problem but made them agree that he would be in their child's life. The couple had no query about that and even welcomed it. Lor then went into the past after informing Carol that Jean and Emma had asked him to donate sperm for them to have a child. Carol was happy for Jean and Emma. She did not care about the Sperm donation as she had seen that Both of them were acting a little bit weird during "girl's night". Now that she thought about it, it was always after someone mentioned her pregnancy. Lor and the lesbian couple decided to keep the time travel a secret. Lor had looked into the future before going to see them. He had told himself that if everything went well he would give himself a thumbs up at a determined time. Seeing his signal, Lor went to talk to the lesbian couple else he would have just gone back in time. Now, what little guilt he had was gone.

Lor arrived in the past X-mansion. He cloaked himself. Not even Xavier could sense him. He first went to Scott and put him in an illusion. It barely took five minutes for Scott to give in. He then created a fake mindscape and proceeded to go towards Jean disguised as Scott. Jean took a month before giving in, just in time for his past self to arrive and learn about it. During that time Lor had already told and convinced the past Phoenix Force. Lor had used the space stone's power to switch their place whenever they slept that way they would smell like each other.

Lor returned to his time right after locking time when he first told his story to Carol alongside the Avengers. Lor knew that time lock would inform him if anyone other than him messed with his past. When he arrived back in the present, he was greeted by Carol who was ready to leave the city for her two weeks. As they were flying towards Carol's home, a Bifrost opened in front of them stopping them. Out of the birds came Thor.

Thor: Lo, my friend, Asgards is in grave danger. We have gathered the most fearless warriors in the nine realms, you are the remaining one that has yet to join. Will you join us in a glorious battle that is to come?

Lor looked at Carol who smiled while glowing. He had her answer.

Lor: I- no We will be happy to help Asgards.

They all walked into the Bifrost which sent them to Asgards. When they arrived both Carol and Lor saw an army armed to the teeth facing them. Thor calmed the army and brought his guest to the palace. He explained to Carol that he had a sister that was coming to kill everyone in Asgards. Women and children included.

[AN: five months and two weeks before Hulk arrives]