[ Location: Outside the Sanctum Sanctorum - Bleecker Street ]
[ Date: May 4th, 2012 - 6:00 PM ]
We stepped out of the heavy wooden doors and into the dusty New York air. The magic Sanctum faded behind us, looking like just another boring brick building.
"That bald woman," Esdeath said, brushing frost off her sleeve.
She sounded annoyed. "She was strong but she talks too much. Is your head fixed?"
"She gave me a warning," I said, rubbing my chest where she'd punched my soul out.
It still ached like a Invisible bruise. "But yeah... the noise in my brain is quiet now. I know how to filter it. It's like turning down the volume on a many loud radio."
Esdeath nodded, instantly losing interest in my mental health.
She looked at the ruined street.
"You promised me a date," she stated, putting a hand on her hip. "And food. I am hungry, I will not be satisfied with just tea."
"Yeah ,Right," I checked my watch.
[ Time Remaining: 2 Hours. ]
"I know a place. It's not fancy, but the locals love it. Just please don't freeze the waiter and customers."
[ Location: Shawarma Palace ][ Time: 6:15 PM ]
The city was a broken mess, but the Shawarma place was open.
Capitalism is the real superpower.
We sat at a wobbly table near the back.
The air smelled of roasted chicken, dust, and alien exhaust fumes.
Esdeath ordered five wraps. She didn't just eat them; she destroyed them.
She tore into the pita bread like it had insulted her family.
"This meat is... acceptable," she declared, wiping garlic sauce from her lip with a napkin. "But I prefer to hunt my food. It tastes better when it tries to run away."
"We just hunted alien space whales, Esdeath," I reminded her, sipping a lukewarm soda. "I think that counts as working up an appetite."
I glanced over my shoulder.
In the corner booth, the Avengers were eating.
They were completely silent.
Exhausted.
Tony Stark looked like he was about to pass out in his pita bread.
Thor was eating everything in sight.
Tony glanced over at us.
He blinked.
He looked at Esdeath (who was licking sauce off a knife), then at me (in my black trench coat).
He nudged Steve Rogers. "Cap. Look. It's the ice woman and the glow-stick man."
Steve looked over.
He was still in his dirty, torn uniform.
His hand immediately dropped to the shield leaning against the table.
He looked tense. "They helped us, Tony."
"Yeah, they helped by turning aliens into popsicles and throwing whales into buildings," Tony muttered, loud enough for me to hear. "That's not 'help', that's 'showing off'. But who are they?"
Natasha Romanoff was staring at us, her eyes sharp.
"They aren't from SHIELD or Asgard. That man...."
"He held the Mind Stone's power," Thor rumbled, chewing loudly. "I can feel it , A little , and he knows magic too, I can feel it."
"Great," Bruce Banner grunted, rubbing his eyes. "More glowing weirdos."
I smiled and raised my soda can toward them.
'Cheers, Earth's Mightiest Heroes. Thanks for the nuke.'
Tony stared for a second, then raised his pita in a tired toast. "Don't break my city again, Show off."
"No promises," I called back.
Esdeath glared at them. "Why are they staring? Do they want to fight? That one looks durable."
"No fighting," I sighed. "They're tired, let them eat."
Esdeath finished her last wrap. "I am full , Now... dessert?"
"Dessert?" I looked at the menu. "They have baklava."
"I do not mean sweets," she stood up, her hand resting on her sword. "I mean violence. I am bored. The food was too easy."
I sighed, pinching the bridge of my nose. "Of course you do. Fine. There's a subway tunnel nearby. I seen a squad of aliens is hiding down there with remote viewing."
Esdeath's eyes lit up like a kid in a candy store. "Lead the way."
[ Location: NYC Sewer/Subway Tunnels ][ Time: 6:45 PM ]
It was a massacre.
We dropped into the dark tunnel.
Seven Chitauri soldiers hissed at us, raising their laser rifles.
Esdeath didn't even draw her sword.
She stomped her boot.
CRACK.
Massive ice spikes shot out of the walls, trapping three of them instantly.
She laughed, waving her hand and freezing the air around another alien until it shattered like glass.
"My turn," I said.
A Chitauri charged me with a long, sharp spear.
'Telekinesis: Atomic Rearrangement.'
I just reached out my hand.
'Flowers.'
[ Ability Active. ]
The alien metal of the spear rippled. The atoms scrambled and changed.
POOF.
The deadly spear turned into a massive, beautiful bouquet of red roses.
The alien looked at the flowers in its hands, completely confused.
It chirped.
"For the lady," I grinned.
Then I clenched my fist.
'Gravity Well.'
The alien imploded with a wet crunch, flattened by invisible weight.
Esdeath looked at the red roses floating in the dirty subway water.
She looked at me.
"You turned a weapon into... Flowers?" she asked.
"I'm flexing," I admitted. "Do you like it?"
She walked over to me, stepping over a frozen alien.
She grabbed my collar and pulled me down.
She kissed me.
It was cold—like pressing your lips against a glacier—but intense.
'Whoa. Okay , Here goes my first kiss at the age of 14. She doesn't even know my real age haha, I can live with this.'
"You will make a fine King," she whispered against my lips. "Do not die, Vivan in your world or I will kill you myself."
"Mixed signals, Esdeath," I laughed, a little breathless. "But I'll take it."
[ Location: SHIELD Secure Storage Tent ][ Time: 7:30 PM ]
"We have ten minutes," I said, checking my system timer. "Lloyd is going to ban me from the chat if I come back empty-handed."
We were sneaking into a SHIELD containment tent near Stark Tower.
I had put the guards to sleep with a quick Telepathic Sleep Command.
I scanned the crates.
'System. Loot mode.'
I grabbed a glowing blue cube from a cracked case.
[ Arc Reactor Prototype ].
I grabbed a chunk of the alien whale armor. [ Chitauri Metal ].
Then I found a heavy, locked crate pushed into the corner.
It was labeled "Confiscated Contraband - Wakanda."
"Bingo," I whispered.
I popped the lock with my mind.
Inside was a small bar of silvery-blue metal. Vibranium.
"Shiny," Esdeath noted.
"Indestructible," I corrected, shoving it deep into my Inventory. "This is going to make a great weapon later."
Ding!
[ Mission Complete. ]
[ Cooldown Ending. Initiating Return in 1 Minute. ]
"Time to go," I said.
I turned to Esdeath.
"I can't take you back with me, for now" I said softly. "My world... it's complicated."
"I have my own war," she shrugged, though her eyes lingered on me. "My Empire is waiting. But this... this was a good date."
"See you in the chat lobby?" I asked.
"Count on it."
She gave me a mock, playful salute.
Then, the System pulled her away. She vanished in a flash of bright blue light.
I was alone in the ruined tent.
"Okay," I took a deep breath. "Back to the 80s."
[ Transporting... ]
[ Location: Hawkins - Home Gym ][ Date: October 31st, 1985 - Night ]
Gravity returned with a heavy thud.
I landed on the rubber mats of my home gym.
'Metamorphmagus: Deactivate.'
I let go of the magic holding my disguise.
My height dropped six inches. The sharp, adult jawline softened a bit.
I was a fourteen-year-old teenager again.
I groaned, stretching my back.
'Puberty sucks. Being twenty was way cooler.'
I still felt heavy. The raw power—the Spirit 500—was buzzing under my skin like a sleeping dragon.
It felt tighter in this smaller body.
I looked around.
My gym was perfectly quiet.
I checked my Inventory.
Philosopher's Stone (Stone of Avarice).
Vibranium Ore.
Arc Reactor.
Alien Metal.
Chakra Sword.
Glock 19.
Etc...
"I'm loaded," I whispered, grinning.
I looked at a rusty iron dumbbell sitting in the corner. 50 lbs.
Old. Useless.
'Let's test the new toy. For real this time.'
I picked it up.
'Psychokinesis: Atomic Rearrangement.'
'Target Element: Gold (Au).'
[ Ability Active. ]
I just used my mind.
I grabbed the invisible protons and neutrons of the metal and shoved them around.
The grey iron rippled. The rust vanished completely.
The metal turned a brilliant, deep yellow.
It got heavier.
Denser.
In seconds, I was holding a solid, 24-karat gold dumbbell.
I smiled, seeing my reflection in the shiny gold surface.
"Spirit 500, Divine Psychokinesis, Infinite Gold and a New girlfriend who freezes time."
I walked over to the window and looked out at the dark Halloween night.
Suddenly, a cold prickle crawled up the back of my neck.
The hairs on my arms stood up.
It was a feeling.
Something massive and dark was pressing against the edges of the world.
Somewhere out there in the fog, the Mind Flayer was still watching with others.
"Vecna..." I whispered to the cold glass, my eyes flashing a bright, dangerous Violet. "I'm ready for you."
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