บท 88: Far From Your Galaxy
One year later:
The Lost Space Station of the Shi'ar Empire:
He'Kor didn't like this. She didn't like this at all. She didn't like the crew she was working with, she didn't like the job and she most certainly didn't like the space station they were salvaging.
"So this is it? The place where they tortured the children of the Phoenix?" the small rodent Gori asked, sniffing the air, "it smells like death."
"Yeah, apparently they also used it to make weapons to kill the Phoenix," the leader of this salvage crew grunted, a tall blue skinned commando named Tox. He was covered with scars and looked mean as hell and he was. He'Kor shuddered remembering the way he looked at her when they first met, she was glad he stopped himself out of respect for her skills.
"Fat load of good it did them," Gori snorted, "got crushed in the end didn't they? Lost a freaking system."
"The Phoenix didn't kill the system," He'Kor spoke up.
Tox raised an eyebrow, "what do you mean?"
"The Phoenix...it didn't destroy the star...the Spider did."
"The Spider? What's that?" Gori asked.
"Not a what, a who," Tox replied, growling, "he's the leader of the Avengers."
"That mercenary group we ran into on Plotex-5? Those boy scouts cost us money!"
"Yup, same bunch of goody two shoes. Which is why it's hard to belive their leader had any kind of balls….I did hear a rumor it was him who destroyed the star, was that true He'Kor?"
He'Kor nodded quickly, "yes, it is. He blew up the star with some kind of super weapon. I heard it from my in-law, apparently he also fought Gladiator and...well, if what she says is true then the rumors around him are true…. all of them."
"You two sound stupid," Gori snorted, "how can one man do somthing like that?"
"Some say he's a God," Tox added, "an Asgardian."
"Yeah, but you know those folks aren't really gods, just take a long time to die. No, whatever happened to that star it had to be the Phoenix's doing, I'll put money on that."
"How much?" asked an unknown voice.
All three of them turned at once, blasters in hand and firing. The figure raised a hand and suddenly a the bolts halted in mid air. Out of the shadows down the corridor two fingers walked out, one dressed in black and silver with a helmet in the shape of a cat while the other wore red and gold with burning orange eye.
The woman in red flicked her fingers and sent the blaster bolts into a nearby wall, blowing it apart. The three salvagers knew they were outmatched the second they saw her. They threw their blasters down and raised both hands and held them up.
"Smart move," the woman in red smiled, turning to the woman in black, "you want to question them?"
"I doubt they know anything," the woman replied, sounding very agitated, "we don't have time to waste Jean, let's just get this over with and continue searching this place for clues."
"Hm...I suppose you're right," Jean sighed, turning to the salvagers, "run to your ship, leave and never return."
"Y-yes ma'am!" they cried out in one voice, turning around and bolting towards their docked ship, not even bothering to grab their weapons. After all, if you met the Phoenix, one of the leading members of the Avengers, you ran. You did not question it, you just run away and don't look back. And if you live, pray to whatever god you hold because on that day, you had meat a real god and lived to tell the tale.
Arachnos:
Avenger's Point:
We were at the top of my personal tower in the middle of the city. The roof was cleared out, there was no one else here but me, my daughter and Johnny.
I looked up at my eyes grew to the size of dinner plates, "holy fu-"
"-Daddy! Look at me! I can fly like mommy!" Hope cried out, flashing her teeth in a smile, a few of which were missing, lost when Hope feel down jumping from wall to wall, trying to stick to the surface like she once saw me do.
"Dude, your kid can fly," Johnny whispered as he munched on a bagel.
"Yup."
"Did you know she could do that?"
"Nope."
"...She's still growing?"
"Yup."
"Is that normal?"
"Nope."
"Huh...good talk," Johnny rolled his eyes before taking off leaving behind a trail of flames.
"Hope, honey," I called out, just a little bit of fear for her safety, "how exactly are you doing that?"
"I don't know, I just did," Hope replied with a smile, throwing her hands out, wide, pretending to be a bird, flapping her hands around, hovering still in the air, "I wanted to fly like mommy and I did! Isn't this cool!"
I smiled, "oh yeah, it's cool." Inside I was a mess. I put up a good front but I was out of my depth here.
One year, that's all it took. My little baby girl grew up in a blink of an eye. And that wasn't just an expression, she literally shot up like a sprout.
She lost all the baby fat she had when she was born. She was thin, but a healthy thin. Her face was just like Jean's, though Wanda and the others insisted there was a bit of me mixed in there too, only I can't see it.
She had her hair cut short, though the red was still bright like fire. She wore a UMF suit in the form of a onesie that was black with a green songbird on her chest and a hoodie in the shape of an eagle's beak over her head.
Accelerated ageing. Words, but by Stan Lee the actual thing was horrific to watch. She was a year and a few months old by now, but physically she was around four or five. God, when she said her first words at month's time I was ecstatic, thinking for sure it was because she was a natural genius.
But when she started to grow I didn't know what to do. And then she started developing powers, at first it was her summoning a jar of cookies and then contacting her mother through her mind.
I pulled my stolen Thriller jacket around myself, I had the UMF suit transform into a simple plaid shirt and jeans with the jacket Kitten stole for me put over it. "Princess," I called out, raising into the air slowly, floating besides her, "can you try moving?"
"I think," she groaned, focusing herself to the task. Slowly she began to move forward, her eyes opened up, "daddy! I'm doing it! I'm-wah!"
She dropped down but I grabbed her before she hit the ground, "woah there princess, still getting the hang of it huh?"
"Yeah, I guess," Hope pouted, "not fair. You and mom can fly, why can't I?"
"Well princess, your mom and I took months to learn how to do that, while you took a few weeks at best, so far I think you have both mommy and I beat by a few years," I grinned, kissing her forehead, "you don't have to worry, I'm sure soon enough you'll be soaring."
"You think?!"
"Oh, I know,' I nodded, landing back to the ground, holding her close, "now, what do you say you and I visit your aunt Sue, huh? I'm sure if you ask nicely she'll give you those lollipops she makes."
"Cool! Let's go let's go!" Hope cried, climbing into my arms like a money, grinning like only a child could when promised candy.
I chuckled, "alright, hold on tight okay?" she nodded as I secured her tightly, taking off into the winds above Avenger's Point.
Over the year since Hope's birth the Avengers I built evolved into something more. We used the microbots I had used for building my Death Star, the ones I left behind in before taking it to war with the Shi'ar. They helped build this place within a month, using resources from satellites that was orbiting the 8th planet of the system. It was a pain transporting it, but I wanted to leave the resources of this planet as untouched as possible, which was one of my goals.
So began the construction of the orbital elevators. It was a tough project to enact, a hobby I found myself deciated most of the free time I had not spent with Hope. I had help here and there, but it was mostly mine.
The orbital elevators had twelve pillars built into the planet's surface with three perpendicular rings around Archno. The pillars were made of nano carbon fibers, flexible enough to be a cable while remaining large enough to serve as a place for an orbital elevator.
The rings around the planet held solar panels and docking stations for our ships, since a year past we acquired many more ships to add to our armada, and obviously any maintenance work or restocking that needed to be done can't be done without coming to the ground, which most of the ships were unable to do.
The orbital elevator in the middle of Avenger's point served as the core for the city's heart. After it's construction the city really began to bloom. There was a platform built around the elevator on top of which the city was constructed.
If there was such a thing as a utopia, I dare say I came close to making it. I took inspiration from New York, Xandar's capital city, the Korbinite's image of home and Asgard. The last one was kind of a personal issue as I wanted to mimic to the closest version of heaven I had ever seen.
The buildings were massive, skyscrapers all around with parks and greenery placed wherever it could be. No land vehicles were used, either aerial ships or personal levitation boards were used. Yeah, that's right, Johnny invented hoverboards, god he was smirking a lot that week he did.
On the ground level we had farmlands, miles and miles of it being taken care of by Korobites, who quickly took the manual labour, even volunteered to do in spite of my offers to let the whole process just be industrialised.
They took a hard stance on it, they said it was a second chance for them, to grow something rather than destroy, Bill made the case and well, I relented.
Things were still coming together, but as far as we could tell we had made something amazing. We had made a home, a safe haven for those targeted by the greater universe, a safe home for my princess.
I flew Hope and I over to the south-west corner of the city, the unofficial science corner of the city. Johnny has his garage overlooking their city edge, Tandy and Wanda shared a monetary which they shared with others who wished to learn magic and most importantly Susan has remade the Baxter building, we shared the lab space.
I landed at the roof and went downstairs. As soon as we entered Sue's lab Hope jumped out of my arms and flew, "auntie Sue! Look what I can do!"
Sue turned, her eyes wide in surprise, "what the-oh my god, Hope that's amazing!"
"I can only hover for now, but daddy said I'll get better," Hope smiled as she suddenly began to drop.
I grabbed her immediately, Sue raised an eyebrow. "She's getting the hang of it," I replied, she noticed my look of concern.
"I see, hey Hope honey, do you think you can help me out?" Sue asked, turning to Hope and flashing the biggest smile she could.
"Sure!" Hope asked, practically jumping out of my arms again and rushing to Sue. The blonde woman took her hand and walked her over other examination table.
Sue made it seem like a game, I guess that's the best anyone can do given the situation. She had Hope play with a stuffed bunny while she scanned her. She made Hope move the bunny with her mind to measure her beta wave output. She did every test she and I could come up with and at the end gave her a lolly to chew.
Hope finished the candy in seconds, my little girl had quite a sweet tooth on her. She and I played around with lab equipment for some time, I showed her how to work a hologram and make her drawings come to life. After twenty minutes she began to feel sleepy.
She fell asleep in my arms and I carefully tucked her into bed Sue had for patients, her bunny placed at her side.
"The sedative didn't work as well as it did the last time," I whispered as I joined Sue at her terminal, she was pouring over the data she had collected on Hope, analysing it.
"She's growing immune, I'll need to mix in a stronger dose in the next batch," Sue held out her hand and I handed her the lollipop. She used Hope's saliva on the stick for DNA, Princess had this habit of biting the stick like a toothpick, something she picked up from Johnny.
"I hate having to drug her," I sighed, looking at the data.
"It's either that or tell her something's wrong," Sue whispered, squeezing my arm gently, "by doing this it doesn't feel like in a lab running tests, but rather playing with her dad and aunt Sue, getting tired as a result."
I grumbled, nodding along. It was logical, but damn me to hell. We waited for a few moments for the machine to finish what it needed to do, the results popped up and Sue sighed.
"What's wrong?" I asked, defaulting to her expertise.
"Her growth isn't slowing down, it's speeding up," Sue admitted with a sigh, "by the time she's two she'll have the body of a pre-teen, by the time she's four she'll be my age and when she becomes ten…."
She didn't need to say it, "can we stop it?"
"Peter I...I don't know," Sue admitted, turning to me with a shared look of concern, "Hope isn't like anything we know. She's have Phoenix and half...well, you. Your DNA is so altered from the standard strain we base our analysis of that we have no say on what can or will happen."
I hummed, pulling up a file containing a blood sample I took sometime before I injected myself with Thor's blood. "I took this sample to check for my system's compatibility with Asgardian DNA. This is the form my DNA strain was in when Jean was pregnant. Can we decipher anything from this?"
Sue shook her head, "your DNA is a mess Peter, I can't make heads or tails of this...Peter if we don't do anything-"
"I know," I cut her off, slamming my fist against the table, hanging my head, "I know...I'm taking her to Asgard, maybe they have dealt with something like this before. At the very least their medical technology is more advanced than ours, maybe-"
"-If you think it's for the best, then do it," Sue told me, quickly planting a kiss on the cheek, "but right now? I think it's best you take your daughter to bed Pete. When's Jean coming back?"
I shook my head, "she and Felicia are still looking through the remains of the space station the Shi'ar used to house Angela, they are hoping to find something about Embers and alarming growth rates in there."
"Speaking of Angela, did she mention anything like this happening to her?"
"No she...she didn't. She said she had a normal childhood, but that could mean anything give she's half Asgardian. She took twenty years to grow to her prime and then her stopped aging. It slowed down by a lot, she didn't track her growth rate though, there was no need..."
"Go to Asgard, I'm sure they can help. But until then, your daughter needs to be in her own bed. And take things slow with her. Her powers are ...well, worrying."
"I can't tell her not to use them Sue."
"She's one Peter, she should be flying. Just… just help her learn control. I'm worried about your many powers will awaken in her, not to mention the boost her latent psychic powers will get from being born from the Phoenix."
"Control, I know…. I know… thanks Sue," I whispered.
"Anytime."
I took Hope and flew her home. It was outside Avenger's Point, I didn't want Hope to be raised in the hustle and grind of a city, and since we could fly distance wasn't a problem.
It was a cottage besides a lake thirty miles from Avenger's Point. The lake was massive and nearly five square miles of it was boarded up. Only I, Hope, her mother and a few others knew about my real home, to everyone else I lived somewhere in the city, they probably thought I lived in the tallest skyscraper there.
The cottage could house twenty people easily, frankly it was more a small mansion than anything but I called it the Parker cottage. Made it sound more like home.
Hope had toys spewed all around the front yard, messy girl. Guess she got that from me. I landed at our front yard and walked in. The security system noted my signature and stood down. The door automatically opened for me as I walked in and up the stairs to Hope's room.
I opened the door, the inside was massive. I had made her room bigger on the inside, all it took was a little magic. And with Wanda's help, I enchanted the ceiling as well to resemble the night sky outside.
I laid little Hope and tucked her in. I was about to leave when I heard a small voice call out, "daddy?"
I turned and smiled, watching her rub the sleep out of her eyes, "hey Princess. You not sleepy?"
"No, did I fall asleep at aunt Sue's again?" she grumbled.
"You did," I sat down at her bedside, "so tell me, did you dream anything good?"
"I dreamt I was going up the walls, like you," Hope smiled, snuggling into her pillow.
"Oh, so you want to crawl like daddy huh?"
"Yeah, do you think I can?" she asked.
I nodded, "I do. You can fly, so why can't you crawl?"
"But flying is easier," Hope pouted, "crawling like you is hard."
"It's not, it's….it's something you feel, you know?" I leaned in close, "tell my Princess, what do you feel when you fly?"
"I feel happy," Hope replied, pulling herself up, sleep forgotten.
"Okay, then, when you crawl, all you have to do is feel brave," I whispered, "like nothing can hurt, like nothing can pull you away from this wall."
"And then I can crawl?" she asked, her eyes once again going wide.
I nodded, "then you can crawl."
"Can I try right now?!" Hope asked, practically jumping on her bed, throwing her covers off.
"It is getting late..."
"Oh come on dad, please?"
I sighed, "alright, fine," I held out my hand and she practically latched onto it. We walked to the far wall of her room, one with the least number of crayon drawings and doodles on the wall and I gave her a nod.
She looked nervous, she bite her lips, chewing on them a little. She reached out and stuck her right hand on the wall. She then placed her left a little high and tried to pull herself up, only for her finger to slide down.
"You can do it, just keep trying," I assured her, giving her a push. To try again.
She nodded, her eyes focused, Jean often said she got the same look I did whenever I was focused on something. Hope does it when she can't figure out why blue and yellow makes green, I do it to figure out how to solve quadratic equations in my head.
She pressed her fingers onto the wall again and pulled, and for a second, she raised herself up before coming back down. I grabbed her by the armpits and held her steady, she scampered like a puppy trying to get on the ground before he hands stuck themselves onto the wall again.
I let go as she slowly pulled herself up. My eyes widened as I watched her get five feet off the ground before she fell back down, though I grabbed her before she hit the ground.
"Daddy! Daddy I did it! Did you see?!" Hope asked, her eyes bright and shining, she kicked her legs in joy, "I crawled! I crawled!"
"I did baby! Oh my god you were amazing!" I gasped, holding her up in excitement, "you did it! Oh I'm so proud," I kissed her cheeks several times, "oh wait till mommy and aunty Kitty comes back they are going to be so happy!"
"Hehe, yeah and-daddy...what's that?" Hope pointed to the ceiling above us. I turned and my eyes widened in shock. Forming above us was a dark cloud of energy that rippled across the space it inhabited.
"No," my spidey senses went off. And suddenly Hope began floating right out of my hand
"Daddy!" Hope cried out, reaching out for me. I leapt, grabbing her and snapped my fingers. Two silver bands around my wrists transformed into my gauntlet's in a burst of lightning which I directed at the hole.
"You can't have her!" I cried out, whatever this is, it was dangerous. I poured the energy, kept going over and over again but we were just pulled deeper and deeper into its reach. I was close enough now that I could feel its energy, it felt like...the Web of Life!
"No, not her," I hissed, whatever it wanted with Hope, I wouldn't let it happen, so I channeled the energy coming out of the portal and pushed it back into itself. A sleight of hands in the energy transfer, making it hurt itself in the process.
But as the energy built up from my act, I knew this wouldn't stop it, nothing was going to stop this. "Hold on tight Princess! Close your eyes and don't look! Don't look!" I cried out as we began rising to the ceiling.
"Sexy, call Susan, tell her what happened," I felt Hope curl her face into my arms as my suit appeared over my clothes, armouring myself, "tell her I have Hope and I'll find my way back! I swear!"
"Pete-" and before Sexy could reply Hope and I were sucked into the giant portal above us, tossed around in what could only be described as a well of black space and shining stars with pools of red and blue all around me.
I began to spin, I looked around as everything went by in a blur. I made sure Hope was still in my arms, her green orbs were open, looking in awe at the lights around us. I looked at the stars and slowly realised something, they weren't stars, no, stars didn't connect with each other through webs of silver lines.
I activated Web Vision and I saw the world around me for what it truly was, wordls upon worlds connected together like a chain. I saw the world I was form, saw other worlds, thousands if not millions of them, and I felt myself being pulled into one in particular.
A ball of light encased us as we began moving faster and faster. I put my hands over Hope's eyes and deactivated my Web Vision, the information I was absorbing was too much. I risked a look out and gasped, seeing a whole universe come at me.
I was so fucked.
There was a sudden shift in the world around us, ripples moved through it and I found another one of those black portals open before me. Bracing myself as we went through I found myself in the middle of the air, falling down a great distance.
I used my telepathic powers to stop myself and began to float in mid air, looking around me. A gasp left my throat as I recognized immediately where I was. Home...New York. I was looking at the city at midday, the sun bathing it's people and buildings with warmth.
The smell of greasy food, the open sewage ducts, the turned over garbage cans...why did I love this place again?
I floated down, looking around in disbelife. I tapped my ear piece, "Sexy? Are you there?" No responce. I cursed, every since Avenger's Point came online I had the AI hosted on a server feild, not hardwired into my suit. Stupid mistake but then again I had planned on staying put on Arachno for the forceable furture not get sucked up into a hole in space and time.
I looked around, right now I was in, probably, another world. Dimentional energy, the Web of Life, it all added up. I was in another world...again…..fuck me. I had no AI, no people, no money, no resources and what's more my daughter was dragged along for the ride!
All I had was a suit made by the craftsmen of the gods, myself and Hope. Someone had to have done this, no way this was a coincidence. Someone was after my daughter and when I find who, what I'll do to them will make what I did to the Shi'ar pale in comparison.
"Daddy?" Hope finally asked, looking up at me, "where are we?"
I removed my mask with a mental command and replied, "we're...in New York Honey, on Earth."
"Earth? You mean the place where you and mommy are from?" Hope asked, looking at the city in excitement at the promise of a lost birth place. She took a single breath and coughed, "I don't like it. It's stinky like uncle Johnny's feet."
"I know honey, I know," I rubbed her head gently. I needed to get us back home as quickly as I can, if there was an FF in this world then Reed or Susan of the world can help me. If not...then I'll have to build a portal. I mean, how hard could that be, right?
But first, I turned to Hope, if we did see other versions of people she knew, she would need to know not to mention anything.
"Princess," she looked at me, "listen...do you remember what I told you about twins?" Hope had asked a few weeks ago when she saw two identical alien girls walking on the streets.
Hope nodded, "yeah, they look the same but they aren't the same. They have different names and different everything."
I nodded, "exactly...and right now, we are in a world where everyone is like a twin of the people we know. So we might end up meeting a twin of mommy, me or even aunt Kitty. Do you understand?"
"I think...will the twin be like you?"
I nodded, "they might sound like me, but they won't be me."
"What if I have a twin? Will you be able to tell it's me?"
I chuckled and kissed her forehead, "I'll always be able to tell if it's you." Hope giggled. I looked around before spotting the fire escape nearby. I walked over to it and carefully designed into the alleyway down.
I had the suit and gauntlets turn into bracelets again while changing Hope's UMF suit into something a five year old would wear, yellow tights, a red sweater and a rainbow undershirt with pink sneakers.
We walked out of the alley and once again I found myself in the streets of New York, though I knew it wasn't the New York I knew. I couldn't help but smile in nostalgia, damn I missed this place.
"Ew!" Hope suddenly cried out, pointing at a heap of garbage, "daddy what's that? It looks gross."
I sighed, downside of living on a planet with no garbage, you don't know what garbage is. "That's...a problem honey," I replied with a sigh, "come on, we need to move."
"Where are we going?" she asked.
"We're going to find a library, to find some information that can help us," I tell her, "daddy needs to find out how to get us home."
"Oh...what's a library?"
"A place with a lot of books."
"What's a book?"
I chuckled, shaking my head, "you'll see"
Hope's eyes were all over the place, excitement clear in them as she saw the city her mother and I grew up in for the very first time. It was all new to her, buses, cars, assholes. One knocked into Hope and kept walking, eyes glued to their phone.
"Watch where you're going!"I hissed back, though he ignored me.
"People are mean daddy," Hope huffed at me.
"Well they all can't be nice like aunty Sue and me," I smiled back, "you just need to push back next time, okay?"
Hope nodded. Sure enough in the very next crowd of people we came into someone tried to push her around and Hope pushed back, just enough to not be thrown aside. She looked up at me and smiled and I smiled back.
As we walked I noticed the way people moved, they looked...excited, most of them did. All of them had this spark in their eye, like they had a new lease on life. I didn't understand it, what exactly happened to make all these people so eager to get to work?
I also noticed quite a few murals freshly painted along the way. Most of them were of members of the Avengers, but a majority of them, surprisingly, was of Tony. Why did Stark gain a sudden rise in popularity?
It took a while to get to the New York Public Library, a long time when you're with a girl who was effectively a five year old. She had questions about everything, what a light stop was, why they were even needed, what a car was, why they didn't just use the shiny lights we used in our cars and so on.
Honestly it was like seeing a princess for a fairy tale get lost in the real world. I smiled all the time, enjoying her questions, something about her curiosity about my home, or a version of it, made me smile.
We finally reached the library and I moved to the computers. Hope looked around in awe of the physical dusty books, her eyes wide in wonder. She gave me a look, I nodded, already knowing what she wanted to do.
She yipped and ran off into the shelves, looking for this mystical artifact called a 'book' her father seemed to know so much about, while said father turned to the computer and pulled up man kind's greatest and most dangerous invention: Google.
I looked up the date, to my surprise it was the year 2023, almost nine years ahead of my own personal time. Damn, future. Well at least I know for a fact I'm somewhere in the marvel multiverse given the murals of Tony and the Avengers I saw outside.
So I began with the first name that came to my mind: 'Avengers'.
I got ten million hits. I pulled up the first image, it was Tony Stark. It was attached to an article published by the Washington Times, the title was simple: 'His Final Act Avenged as All'.
"Tony's dead?" I whispered in horror. I pulled the article and read it, apparently in an effort to undo an event the paper called 'the Devastation', Tony Stark lost his life. Apparently he gave his life in the event the Avengers and the collective world government's kept on the down low, all people knew is that he saved them all.
I googled 'The Devastation' and the articles I got from the hit made my blood run cold. The devastation was what humanity called Thanos wiping away half of all life in the universe. This was...I was in the main Marvel Movie Cinematic Universe, I was looking at what's to come after Infinity War.
I didn't get any details on how exactly Tony managed to bring everyone back, some reports actually claim it was the hulk who did it. But one thing was clear, the Avenger's upstate facility looked like a battleground and the few leaked satellite images I could find indicated something big was there.
The images were too grainy to figure out, all I saw was a field of brown, red and orange, but there was no mistake about it, this was the world that the Avenger's avenged.
"Daddy!" Hope called out, startling me out of my seat as I turned to her holding up a big red leather bound book, "look! It's about princesses like me!"
I looked at the book, it was a tome with sanskrit on the surface which red; 'The Scarlet Princess'.
"Hope, where did you get that book?" I asked her with a serious tone.
Hope froze, recognizing the tone of voice, she immediately pointed at a man looking at us from a row of books a few feet away. A man dressed in a fine shining suit with a black shirt and black tie.
He nodded to me, hand held open by his side. I sighed, turning to Hope, "what did I say about talking to strangers?"
"Eh...to not do that?"
"And why didn't you do that?"
"Because…." Hope blushed, she squirmed under my gaze.
I sighed, reached down and patted her head, "it's fine, why don't you sit down and read the book Princess? I'll go speak to the nice doctor."
"Okay!" Hope smiled as she walked to a sitting area nearby, book in hand.
"Oh, and Hope?"
"Yes daddy?"
"No dessert."
"But daddy," she whined.
I narrowed my eyes, "do you want to make it no crayons either?" Hope shut her mouth and quickly ran away, hoping to not make the punishment worse.
I got up and walked over to the man in the suit. He looked at Hope and smiled, "that's a little harsh don't you think?"
"She needs to know talking to strange men isn't a good habit to have," I replied with a shrug, "it's mean, but needed. It's a pleasure to meet you Doctor Strange," I held out my hand, "I assume you detected the energy released in the city when my daughter and I were dropped here?"
"Yes...I did," Strange replied as he shook my hand, "do you know me?"
"I'm from another Earth, parallel worlds and all that. I've met two other versions of you, one was my teacher and the other my fellow student, in that order," I smiled, snapping my finger and summoning a mystical circle before vanishing it just as quickly.
Strange looked down, hiding his surprise well, but I knew the man too well to be fooled, "I see, and may I ask why you decided to hop dimensions? Father daughter field trip?"
I shook my head, "no...I wish it was something so simple," I motioned him to follow as we walked towards Hope, I needed to keep an eye on her, can't risk her talking to some pervert, "we were kidnapped. This portal made of energy from the Web of Life tried to suck my daughter in. I grabbed on and well, here we are."
"Web of Life?" Strange asked, clearly confused.
I looked at him, "you don't know about the Web of Life?"
"No, should I?"
"No...are you not the Sorcerer Supreme yet?"
"No I'm just a master of the arts, not the Sorcerer Supreme," Strange confirmed before raising an eyebrow, "am I in your world?"
"In the first one I visited you were, but you passed the title on to someone else by that time," I told him, "right now though I suppose you are my daughter and my best chance of getting back home."
"I see...getting back to this Web of Life business," Strange prompted.
"It's a multiversal binding form of energy. Highly dangerous and...erratic. It's made from the connected living energy of special individual all over the multiverse, totems. And with it...well, I suppose it makes the Infinity stones look like a rock collection by comparison in certain ways."
"You know about-" Strange stopped himself, cutting his surprise as he looked at me, "who are you? I don't recognize you but you seem familiar to me..."
"My name is Ben Reily."
"I'm assuming that's not your real name?"
"You would assume right," I smiled, "but, yes, you do know a version of me in this world, though don't be mistaken there is a lot of differences between him and me...I think. I don't know enough of this world to be certain."
"I see...totems, what are they?"
"If a human bears the abilities of skills of an animal, they become the totem of said animal spirit."
"So the totems that charge the Web of Life are...Spider totems? Which means," his eyes widened.
I held up my hand, "I'm not your world's Spider-man Doctor Strange. Clearly I'm older and," I eyed Hope, "more mature. I would appreciate it if you didn't mention this to him as it would only make things strained in the boy's life."
"I see...and why should I trust you?" Doctor Strange asked, "you said it yourself, you are not the Peter I know. So that could make you anyone...though I doubt a completely evil man would have a child as pure as her."
I smiled, "Yes, well, she's a blessing...the Doctor Strange I know keeps a list of notable individuals who could harm the Earth. I assume you keep the same list?"
"And if I do?"
"Then you would have also had the Orb of Agamotto analyse the energy levels I'm giving off. You would know that I'm one of the most powerful beings you ever encountered, which is why you have over two dozen students from Kamar Taj hidden behind glamours in every other row."
Strange didn't even lift an eyebrow. I continued, "I admit it took me awhile to notice. Being a parent kind of devieds your focus. But I picked them up the moment I spotted you," I waved at one seemingly empty corner, "hey Wong. Did you lose weight?"
There was a shimer as Wong stepped forward, dressed in civilian clothing, his eyes narrowed. Strange looked at him and nodded and almost immediately all the hidden sorcerer's revealed themselves, dressed to blend in.
"We had to take precautions," Strange explained.
"I understand," I told him, "and I would do the same. But, I also hope this makes you understand just how outmatched you are...and that if I wanted it you and everyone in this city would be dead already."
Strange was silent for a moment before he spoke, "Peter Parker I know didn't even know magic was real until he met me."
I smiled, "I'm not the Peter Parker you know. And please, call me Ben."
New York Sanctum:
We walked into Strange's study, Hope bolted into the nearest seat, ignoring all the cool magical items in the room, and opened up the book Strange had given her and put her nose into it.
While I'm glad she takes after Jean and me for a love of books, there was a little part of me that was disappointed that she didn't even bother looking at all the cool stuff around.
Strange noted her enthusiasm and smiled, "she's an eager one isn't she?"
"First time seeing a book," I told him, "what's the story about?"
"A princess that was dethroned and spent her life finding allies to help her get the throne her father left for her," Strange explained, "I didn't know she knew sanskrit. Did you teach her?"
"No she… she has this chip inside her that translates all recorded languages. I know sanskrit and put it in there...oddly familiar to another language in the greater galaxy. Belongs to a now extinct species, well, I say extinct but in reality they just lost all sense of identity while mingling with other races ..."
"How did you get such technology?"
"A long story Doctor, for another time," I waved off his question, "now, you were just about to tell me you found a way to send me home?"
Strange sighed, his suit shimmered as his usual blue master's robes came upon him while his cloak of levitation came flying out from some corner of the sanctum and wrapped itself around Strange. I noted though he didn't have the Eye of Agamotto around his neck, which was...odd.
"If this Web of Life is as powerful as you say it is, then I highly doubt we can send you back," Strange said, taking a seat and motioning to the one across his desk, "can I get you anything? Tea? Coffee? Beer?"
"Tea, if you don't mind with a little honey, like the Ancient One used to make," I dropped the obvious hint that I knew her as well.
"Of course," Strange waved his fingers and sent out a spell into the kitchen, "so in your world you knew the Ancient One?"
I nodded, "Yes, I do. She was my mentor, well, still is."
"She's alive?" Strange asked, surprised.
"Yes...unlike here," I sighed, rubbing my temple.
"You seem to know a lot of my universe, but you haven been here for what, a few minutes at the most? I doubt a couple of google searches helped you out."
I nodded, "you're right, I do have intimate knowledge of your world, but that's because of my powers."
"Powers?"
"I can tap into a fraction of a fraction of the Web of Life's powers, with it I can see, sometimes, into other worlds. See other possibilities...this world is one I managed to witness a lot. I got up till the point Thanos assembled the Infinity Gauntlet and snapped half the universe out of existence...but if you're still alive then that means you reseversed this."
"...Your are right...we did," Strange nodded.
"We...as in Tony?" I guessed.
"I thought you said your visions stopped after Thanos snapped his fingers," Strange raised an eyebrow.
"Google….so did he do it or Bruce?"
"Banner reversed what Thanos did while Stark destroyed what remained of Thanos and his army."
My eyes blinked, "he snapped them out of existence?"
Strange nodded, "at the price of his own life... "
"...And I assume in the process, the Infinity stone were destroyed?" I motioned to his neck.
Strange reached up and sighed, "yes...sadly...it was a sacrifice that needed to be made."
"Tell me everything. Please."
One hour later:
Hope was sound asleep, half her book finished already. I looked at her, couldn't take my eyes off her sleeping form. Oh baby girl what have I gotten us into?
"And now...five years has passed," Strange finished, draining the last of his tea.
I shook my head, "this world is fucked up."
"Language," Strange hissed.
"Who are you? Steve Rogers?" I smirked, turning to him, "now...you said something about not messing with power beyond our control?"
"Yes, like you said, it was the Web of Life that brought you and your daughter here. I don't think it would do that unless it wanted something from you, here, in this dimension."
I sighd, rubbing my eyes, "agreed...but what? What could it possibly want from Hope? What could she do?"
"Perhaps...perhaps contacting this world's version of you could prove helpful?"
"What for? He's still a kid, practically a child," I sighed, "he's wouldn't know what to do. He'd be just as clueless as me, perhaps more so..."
"You don't like him very much, do you?" Strange noted.
I smiled, "no, I don't. He's...he's not my favorite version of myself."
"You've seen others?"
I smiled, "a few. He's my second least favorite."
"And the first?"
"Let's not talk about that," I waved his question away, "so no help from you, no Reality stone...I'm fucked as far as I can tell… wait, there wouldn't happen to be a Reed Richard's in your world would there?"
Strange shook his head, "the name doesn't seem familiar. Should it?"
"In my world he's the world's smartest man," I sighed, "so no help from the Baxter Foundation as well...fuck."
"You curse a lot for a man with a child."
"She's asleep, kind of the only time I can let loose," I ground my teeth, "Strange, I know this is a long shot but...do you know anything children that grow too quickly?"
"You mean metaphorically or…?"
"How old do you think Hope is?" I asked.
"Five, six?" Strange guessed.
"One. She had her birthday just a week ago," I replied. Strange's eyes widened, "we can't seem to make it slow down or stop or even understand why...I tried everything, science failed me and unfortunately I was in a place where the texts of Kamar Taj weren't available to me. Do you recall anything like that?"
"I don't know...but I can certainly try," Strange replied, "while I do that...perhaps it would be a good idea for you to find out what the Web of Life wants from little Hope and you."
I rolled my eyes, "and how do I do that?"
"...Maybe you should go on a trip?" Strange suggested, "you know, I heard Venice is lovely this time of year."
I raised an eyebrow, he was obviously going somewhere with this.
Venice:
Okay, this might actually be a nice change of pace.
"Dad! Look! Boats!" Hope cried out, smiling as we roamed the streets of Venice. The sun was beating down on us hard, the people around moved, eager to excite themselves from one tourist to another.
I smiled at the excitement in her eyes, "oh yeah? Which one you like?" I payed for the scoop of gelato I got from the street vendor and pulled her along to the water side.
We had changed our suits forms. Hope now wore blue leggings with a white shirt and red jacket while I had a pair of shorts and a hawaiin shirt
"That one!" she pointed at a red and gold boat rocking on the water near us. She turned to me and looked with eyes wide open and beginning, "can we please go?"
I smiled, "alright, we can go."
"I love you daddy!" She reached up to the scoop of ice cream in my hand, "what flavour?"
I showed it, "vanilla."
"I like vanilla!"
"I know," I took a spoon and ate it. I then took another scoop and she looked at it with longing, "what?"
"What?" she looked confused.
"I told you Hope," I narrowed my eyes, "no dessert."
"B-but-"
"-Do you want to make it no crayons?" I raised an eyebrow.
Hope crossed her arms and puffed her checks, "you're not fair! I hate you!"
"Oh? You do?"
"Yeah! You're the worst!"
"Oh, then I guess since I'm the worst you can just stay here will I get on the boat."
Hope's eyes went wide in panic as only a child could when threatened with robbing a good time, "no! You're the best! Please! I want to come too!"
I chuckled, "well, if you say so," I held her hand and pulled her along, crossing over to the port and finding ourselves at the end of a very active que of teenagers who all look like they were on vacation.
I was just about to tune them out when I heard a very loud voice call out, "Peter! Over here!"
My head snapped and standing there on one of the boats was Tom Holland, or rather I should say Peter Parker of Earth- 1999...something. Damn this world has a lot of nines in it's designation.
I looked at the teenagers now and slowly recognized them, brown Flash Thompson, Michele Jones, Ned, oh god Strange you jackass!
"Come on honey, I think we should get on another boat," I told Hope.
"But daddy I want to go on the red and gold one!" Hope cribbed.
"Princess, it's full, I'm sure we'll get another boat soon, okay?" Hope pouted again, I sighed, looks like I was going to have to give her my ice cream before she started crying.
"It's not a problem sir," Ned suddenly called out, the puggy asian kid had a smile on his face as he waved us over, "we have plenty of room."
"Oh, thank you, but we couldn't possibly-"
"-Daddy please!" Hope began tugging on my arm, her eyes looking ready to explode with tears. I tried to say no, I really did, but you try looking into the love of your life's eyes and telling her no.
So with a sigh and great reluctance we climbed on board, Hope rushed to the front with Ned and Michells by her side, Peter was just behind them, while I sat in the way back with Flash, who was busy taking selfies.
I eyed Peter Parker, I found myself split between him and Hope. My little girl could fly so I didn't worry about her falling overboard, plus Ned and Micheel seemed to have taken a shine to her. Peter however seemed to notice me staring at him, he didn't say anything, though he did turn away, clearly nervous.
Damn you Strange.
He was clearly hiding something. He had something up his sleeves...but I knew he was sincere about helping Hope so I can trust him to try and find a cure for her. But that didn't mean he didn't have plans. What does he mean to accomplish by bringing us together?
But I know one thing, Doctor Strange never does anything without a reason too. I just need to figure out what the reason is.
"So why are you in Venice," Peter suddenly asked, breaking me out of my trance.
I blinked, still looking at him, "I'm sorry? Oh, right, well it was business first but now it's more of a vacation for me and the little one."
"Oh, cool," Peter nodded, turning to Michelle playing with Hope, helping the girl splash water from the canal onto Ned. They giggled, I could smell the love rolling off Peter's body.
"You know, you should just tell her," I smiled. He looked back at me, confused, I motioned to Michelle, "trust me, telling her is the easiest part, after that it's all about being consistent."
"I-I'm sorry?"
"I know love when I see it," I reply, "trust me kid, life's too short to be wasting on what if's and what not. Take this time to get to know her better and ...well, maybe a candle light dinner would help."
"I-I-" he began to stammer, blushing. Stand Lee, was I ever so obvious?
Crack!
There came a loud sound as suddenly a small wave across the canal, rocking our boat. My spidey senses went off, something was off. "Hope, come to me now!"
"Daddy, my head is tingling," she grumbled.
"I know baby, come on, I'll help," she walked into my hand and I quickly began patting her head, holding her tightly in my arms, "better?"
"Yeah," she replied. Her sense of danger must have worn off when she realised I was there to stop whatever it was that was coming. Well, it seems my little girl inherited a lot more from me than just sticking to walls.
Suddenly another wave came, the boat began rocking harder.
"Is she going to be okay?" Michelle asked.
"She'll be fine. She gets migraines, I think just the boat rocking too much. We should get on land, please," I pushed a little bit of force in my tone, telling them it wasn't a request. The boatman nodded as he began stirring us away from the shore, just as another wave hit, this time stronger than before.
I turned to Peter, his eyes widened, he got it too. There was a rumble as slowly a large pillar of water started to rise out of the canal water. The ground began to shake, the pillar began to grow bigger and bigger until it stood at a towering height above all buildings around it.
The pillar began to twist, transforming it's water into arms and a head.
"What the hell is that?!" Flash Thompson cried out.
I narrowed my eyes, "Hydro-man."
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