It was difficult to tear myself away from my newly expanded family, but I was aided by one simple fact: I was one hell of a paranoid bastard. The all-consuming fear for my life that had dominated the first twenty-odd years of my new existence in this crazy universe reared its ugly head again, except this time it extended to the three globes of light that were a continuous presence in the back of my mind.
I was strong now, stronger than I had ever thought possible, likely the strongest being on the planet.
The same couldn't be said of my children. They needed to be protected at all costs, and I would ensure their safety with the same determination that had guided me in ensuring my own survival as well.
That meant, no matter how much I might have wanted to, I couldn't hang around in my loft with my newly expanded family at my side.
I had a Dwarf I needed to have a chat with.
"Phineas." I called out lowly in the soft light of the dawning sun glinting through our full-length windows and bathing Jess and the kids in a golden-dappled light as they serenely snored away on our massive bed.
Initially the kids had been put in their own cradles at the side of our bed as a hovering Sam had argued, citing a whole library of articles concerning childrearing, probably memorized from the moment Jess announced her pregnancy. In some ways, he seemed more excited and nervous than the two of us.
Still feeling somewhat unsure about our parenting skills considering our young age and the fact that these were the most powerful babies born on Earth in several thousand years, we decided to follow his advice.
Right up until it was nearly 2 AM and Helios seemed determined to show everyone in Othrys he also had the most powerful lungs on Earth. Eos was crying as well, though thankfully at more human levels, while Selene was merely quietly fussing in her crib, though her accusing, big soulful eyes were almost worse than Helios roaring.
The kids only calmed down after Jess and I took them into our own bed, being careful to keep them situated properly, kicking our blanket off the bed. It wasn't as if we really had a need for it anyways and we between our own bodies acting as comfy heaters, the kids would be fine as well.
Finally, the kids and Jess fell into a deep sleep. She was laying flat on her back, arms and legs splayed out haphazardly over the bed, with Helios curled up on her chest, Selene and Eos nestled comfortably in the crooks of my arms.
I remained awake however, simply staring at my new family until with the rising of the sun I managed to gather my resolve, place my girls carefully next to their mother and get out of bed with an ache throughout my body and a plan on my mind.
A near-silent ping! in my ear showed my digitized friend was paying attention.
"Gather Cho and Radcliffe. Tell them to bring the designs of the Particle Infusion Chamber and the Cradle. Make sure Radcliffe has Hall's notes, the PIC needs the Gravitonium to work optimally. Alert Sterns as well: he should have the research of all my genetic enhancements and databases. I'll alert the Ancient One. Call Foster and Selvig as well to be on the safe side, have them check over my new Aurelian Armor, check if the Space Stone is playing nice."
"Sure thing Michael."
I can feel him retreat from the room as he rapidly carries out my orders, but I can't help but linger for a moment longer. Carefully, I lean over the bed, stubbornly ignoring the burning of my muscles and the tautness of my skin as I plant a featherlight kiss on Jess' forehead.
"I'll get us through this. I promise. Thanos dies." I softly whisper.
The tender moment is somewhat ruined when all I get in return is a massive snore as a bit of drool starts leaking from the corner of her mouth, so I just sigh, shake my head and with one last look over my shoulder exit the luxurious room.
A simple magic portal leads me straight from the hallway outside my bedroom to standing in the middle of the court area of Othrys inner sanctum, its duracrete walls and shining quartz-glass towering far above us. It's surprisingly windy and somewhat chilly out here, courtesy of our new elevation above sea level. Thankfully, most of the citizens here have been enhanced in some way so the cold doesn't really bother them anyway, and for the baseline humans there's always the insulating clothing that Othrys has designed.
Apparently, one of Noah's interns got the bright idea of taking Amber Armor to Melvin and Elliot with some interesting ideas and daring drawings and I'm now the proud owner of my own fashion line.
Took me by surprise, that one.
I'm quickly drawn from my musings by the arrival of the team I had assembled. Sterns and Radcliffe arrive first, the expert on Kree technology and Inhuman genetics still groggily rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. Sterns is his chipper self as usual, seemingly unaffected by the early hour. Then again, I have suspected for some time now that he's managed to eliminate his body's need for sleep entirely.
Their arrival happens to coincide with a portal springing into existence right next to me, the Ancient One stepping through seemingly without a care in the world. Still, she shoots me a piercing glance from the corner of her eye and I'm fairly certain she has a pretty good idea what I'm about to do.
As Radcliffe and Sterns start chatting incomprehensible techno-babble Selvig and Foster run up, much like my eggheaded friend not seemingly bothered by the early hour. In their case however, I'm more inclined to chalk that up to them having forgotten to go to sleep again rather than any genetic modifications. As they approach, various diagnostic tools peaking out over the edge of their overstuffed duffelbags, I let the Aurelian Armor spring into place around my body, though I leave my head bare for now.
No need to make my friends look at an expressionless visor when there's no immediate danger for sudden decapitation anyways. Both Foster and Selvig quickly start looking over the bright blue glow coming from the center of my massive chestplate, looking like an overpowered Arc Reactor.
Cho is the last to arrive and looks somewhat put off, a mass of holograms flitting about and hovering over the large glass plate she's holding in her hands, scrolling through the displayed information at a truly impressive rate.
"Michael. I'm not yet done integrating the designs of the Cradle into the Particle Infusion Chamber, especially considering I'm still trying to model the vast possible ways in which Vibranium may interact with Gravitonium and your altered genetics and energy fields, not to mention-" she starts up immediately but I cut off the torrent of words by calmly raising my hand.
"That's fine, doctor. What we will be attempting can be seen as something more along the lines of a… sales pitch, of sorts. We're just going convince some outside forces to help in the construction of my new body, which is still weird to say out loud by the way. Your designs, untested as they may be, should be more than sufficient in showing them just exactly what I want from them. Leave the actual convincing part to me. In any case, it'll still take even masters of their caliber some time before a project of this scale is completed, so you've still got room to run tests if you feel the need. In fact, should everything work out as intended, I expect you will be working closely with our new allies on the project."
"You sure you wanna do this now Michael? I mean, the kids are only a day old, maybe you could stick around for a little while at least…" Sam hesitantly offers, but I resolutely shake my head.
"I know and I wish I could just kick back and spend my time with them. But heroes, or whatever the hell I qualify as these days, don't get paternity leave. I have received dependable intelligence that Thanos is on the move. He has begun acting earlier than I expected while I have waited too long: with my body ripping itself apart, I don't think it's wise to face him when he's backed by his army and the Black Order. There are two stones still left unaccounted for, and only one of those is potentially within his reach. Hopefully Bill and his team won't arrive too late and will be able to secure the information to the Soul Stone's location, at least for now. But as long as Thanos lives, he poses a threat to my family and my people. I need this new body, Sam, and I need it yesterday. There's no more time to waste: we're in the endgame now."
As I'm speaking I can see everybody else stand a little straighter at my dire words, the gravity of the situation once more pressing on their minds, the thought of sleep all but forgotten. I feel a slight tapping on my chest and gaze down in surprise to see Jane leaning in close to my chest, tongue peeking out of the corner of her mouth as she's seemingly whacking away at me with a small hammer, the blows barely even registering.
Feeling my gaze on her, Jane glances up with a blush and a shrug.
"Just stress testing." She quickly says in an embarrassed tone and I just barely manage to keep myself from asking just whose stress she was working out here, the armor's or her own.
Giving a slight cough, she moves over to stand with Selvig, who is simply looking through what seems to be a long list of technological read-outs. He doesn't seem worried however, so I try not to be as well.
"Right, now that we're all ready…" I begin, glancing at a still blushing Foster out of the corner of my eye.
"Stand close to me please, make sure that we're physically connected." I finish, my last words gaining a mechanical undertone as my helmet shimmers into being around my head.
Teleporting by using the Tesseract was markedly different than using a magic portal. Where a magic portal was essentially you using a cosmic back alleyway as a shortcut between two places, briefly dipping out of this dimension before re-entering it, the Tesseract was… honestly, "glitching" might be the best descriptor. You didn't "cheat" the intervening distance between you and your destination. The very concept of distance was altered so that "three galaxies over" became synonymous to "one step forwards and a bit to the left". Travelling using the power of the Space Stone was somewhat of an oxymoron, as you didn't really travel to somewhere, everywhere else just came closer to you instead.
Due to having two layers of separation between me and the Space Stone in the form of the Tesseract itself and my own armor, I didn't have an instinctual feeling for Space like Oliver had when he still had Odin's Jewel as a powersource. But in order to preserve his sapience as best we could, we had borrowed heavily from the procedure that had saved Phineas, meaning that virtually all of the information in his databanks had been copied and rebuilt in Othrys' own systems.
Including information on the interstellar special anomaly that was the Yggdrasil and the planets that nestled within its infinite multitude of branches. Calling on what just be one of the most extensive maps of the World Tree outside of Asgard's deepest vaults, I mentally flew over the information displayed on my HUD, quickly settling on a single planet.
Or rather, a single neutron star, surrounded by heavy rings and contained within a mighty Dyson Sphere.
Nidavellir.
"Hold on to your butts." I say grimly, before activating the Tesseract in my chest. I had some experience with Tesseract travel on account of my trips with Oliver, as did Sterns. The sensation was roughly similar, if feeling somewhat closer to my skin than I was comfortable with. None of the others however had that experience to draw from, and with the exception of the Ancient One, I was treated to some of the most brilliant minds on Earth absolutely screaming their head off.
Admirably, the former Sorcerer Supreme managed to keep her signature, cool expression, though I politely pretended not to notice the way her grip on my hand seemed to suddenly increase tenfold.
And then, before it had even truly begun, the weird experience ended and my little group found ourselves standing in one of the most famous forges in the galaxy. I would like to say that we stared around in awe and understanding of these great machines that had given birth to some of history's greatest weapons.
Unfortunately, the truth was that about half of my little group fell to their knees and started heaving.
Good thing we left early enough that nobody had had breakfast yet.
A flex of my magic and a wave of my hand quickly gets rid of the mess, but the sound has alerted the denizens of Nidavellir and massive shapes start moving towards us, great shadows flitting through the machines.
Understandably paranoid after what Earth has been through these last few years, my group quickly stands closer to me. Sam's armour appears around him in a flash, mechadendrites spread out and at the ready. I can feel magical power well up in the Ancient One, though she keeps her hands loose at her sides for now. Foster, Cho and Selvig are non-combatants though, so they quickly stand behind me, but I'm somewhat surprised when Radcliffe pulls what honestly most closely resembles a Star Trek phaser from the back of his belt.
Seeing my visor aimed at him, Radcliffe gives a shrug, phaser still held high.
"Kree tech in a more… fun package. Perfectly safe. I think."
Any chance at further conversation is halted when the first of the galaxy's finest blacksmiths steps around what looks somewhat like a crucible, if said crucible was the size of a small house. A wild mane of hair and a bushy beard obscure much of their face, though a button nose and two intelligent eyes remain clearly visible, even from its impressive height of well over three meters. The arms and legs were noticeably short compared to their torso however, not that did anything to diminish the biceps that were bigger than some of my scientists.
I can hear Sam whisper in my ear as several more blacksmiths join their friend in staring at our motley group with undisguised curiosity and a good deal of wariness.
"Aren't Dwarves supposed to be… smaller?"
I suppress a chuckle and take a great stride forwards, looking fearlessly up at the Dwarf who had discovered us.
"Greetings! I am Hyperion, Sorcerer Supreme of Midgard, and I come with good intentions! Tell me, where is King Eitri, for I much desire to speak with him!"
A muttering goes up around us, which thanks to the Dwarves' size sounds more like the rumbling of an oncoming storm. Another Dwarf pushes himself to stand at the front of the gathered crowd. He doesn't wear any marks of station that I can see, but the others still respectfully move out of his way. Probably a foreman of some kind then, though I have no way to be sure other than delving straight into his memories with the Mind Stone.
I suppose when you only number around threehundred and have lifespans spanning millennia you get to know all of your colleagues well enough that nametags and signs of your station become a bit useless. Hell, Eitri himself had been garbed pretty much the same as the rest of his people from what I can gather from the gathered smiths.
The new arrival sends me a piercing look, which combined with his size and the hammer (with a head larger than my torso) he's holding firmly in his hands, is honestly somewhat intimidating.
"We know your name. We know that title. What business does the Sorcerer Supreme have with our King?"
Interesting. Not only does he seem all that surprised at the fact that we knew about this place in the first place, much less figure out how to travel to it, he also seems very on edge and untrusting. I imagine that my new job title went a long way in explaining the former (asides from being incredibly powerful, Agamotto was also known to be an avid traveller, which likely included a tour of the Realms at some point), while the latter was explained as probably being my fault.
In the original timeline, it had taken Thor and the full might of the Eihenjar over a year to tour the Nine Realms and restore order to the Yggdrasil. Of course, in reality this really meant just protecting their allies on Midgard, Vanaheim and Nidavellir from various threats in the universe. As far as they were concerned, both Svartalfheim and Niflheim were desolate wastelands, home only to the dead. Legions of Dark Elves littered the former, the broken remains of the Valkyrie scattered across the latter. Muspelheim and Jotunheim, the realms of Fire and Ice, were threats that needed to be kept in check. Laufey and much of his kin was slain, while Surtur remained crippled, but that merely made them more spiteful and no less dangerous. As for Alfheim, the reputed world of the Light Elves, it had been in seclusion from the rest of the universe for thousands of years by now. None has set foot in that place since Odin sealed Hela away and relinquished control of the realm back to the Elves.
They had not forgotten the massacre they had endured at the Odinsdötter's hands however, and rumour had it that it was now a hidden place that could never be found, unless you already knew where it was.
Now however, the Bifrost had remained shattered for over a year and Thor had been stuck on Midgard all that time. A good thing too, considering without him Earth very well may have fallen to Mephisto and Dormammu before my return, which would've meant that all of the Realms would've been royally fucked. Still, this left Vanaheim and Nidavellir unprotected and Jotunheim and Muspelheim unchecked, unless Odin had somehow managed to find another way to quickly move massive amounts of troops all over the Yggdrasil.
Considering Thor was still on Earth, I highly doubted that.
No wonder the Dwarves were on edge around unexpected arrivals. They likely had been forced to fight off several attacks since Thor had smashed the Bifrost without the promised aid of their millennia-old ally. Their forge may be considered mythical to the rest of the galaxy, that didn't mean that people wouldn't try to find them and take said mythical stuff for themselves.
On the contrary, in fact.
Focusing my attention back on the assumed foreman of the gathered Dwarven crew, I spoke up with my arms held low at my sides, palms open and facing towards them in order to make myself as unthreatening as I could.
"For what else would someone seek out the great master of forges, the creator of Mjolnir? I seek to hire his skills and I'm willing to trade something immensely valuable in return."
Fun fact about Dwarves in Norse (and indeed most) mythology: they are near-universally greedy to a fault.
At the mention of a trade, I can see the dwarves' eyes quickly dart over my gleaming armour, its golden shine glinting in the immense glow coming from the burning forges around us, a speculative look entering most of them.
The foreman seems to think for a few moments before nodding to himself and speaking up in a gruff tone.
"Very well. Just you. The others remain here. Leave your weapons."
Glancing over my shoulder, I give a reassuring nod to my group, who slowly relax, though Radcliffe doesn't put his phaser back in its holster and Sam remains in his armoured form, though his mechanical arms retract and fold up against his ironclad form.
With a twirl of my hand and a flash of steel, Harpe sits in my hand, its blade gleaming wickedly and causing several starts and gasps amongst the gathered Dwarves. The Foreman whoever, standing closest to me, immediately locks onto the handle of my weapon, recognition blooming in his eyes as he shoots me questioning look.
As my armour folds away (and I immediately notice the heat of my surroundings, though I'm not really bothered by it) I merely innocently smile back as I nonchalantly throwing my scythe over my shoulder, not needing to look back to know that Sam snapped it out of the air with a mechadendrite.
"Lead the way." I say, mentioning with my hand and the foreman hesitates only for a moment before nodding and turning on his heel.
A couple of barked orders cause most of the group to disperse, resuming their work, though a very obvious guard remains behind in a rough circle around my companions, who thankfully don't seem all that skittish anymore now that the shock of our unconventional travel and sudden welcoming party has begun to fade.
All in all, it's a shorter trip that I had expected before the foreman has come to a halt, his King a couple of dozen metres in front of us. Eitri is leaning over a workbench covered in various sheets of designs and schematics, occasionally humming to himself. He's standing in the same area where Stormbreaker was forged in Infinity War, though currently the lens is closed. The immense windows do give a magnificent view of the Neutron star however, safely contained within an impressive Dyson Sphere, which is currently rotated so that smaller beams are being guided into other ports on the inner rings, presumably to keep several projects going at once.
It would be somewhat impractical to focus the whole immense output of a star through a single point every time you wanted to heat something up. The line just to smelt ingots alone would probably end up consisting of all 300 dwarves at some point.
"My King, a visitor for you. Hyperion of Midgard, their Sorcerer Supreme. He says he has a deal for you." The foreman says without prompting or even bowing.
Straightening up in surprise, a gargantuan Peter Dinklage turns around to face me with a curious expression and for the first time in decades, my mind wanders to the Game of Thrones series. I had found the quality of each season steadily worsening after the first ones (which had been damned good if I recall correctly) and the last one had been set to release less than a year after I had swapped universes.
I hoped they managed to save the ending at least and return to the quality of the earliest episodes.
"From Midgard? That's… unexpected." Eitri muses out loud, before nodding to the foreman, dismissing him.
The other Dwarf gives a short bow of his head, before turning around and walking off, presumably to continue on his own project or oversee the works of others.
"What deal would a Sorcerer Supreme be looking for? Your sanctums should be stocked on relics and artefacts as it is, not sure if there's anything in there that's worth trading for a new weapon." Eitri says as he crosses his arms in front of his chest, the harsh times Nidavellir has gone through clearly having gotten to its King as he stares me down with a cautious expression on his face.
"I do not seek a weapon for the Sanctums, King Eitri. I merely seek your aid in a project of mine. Given the stakes involved, the successful completion of the project is utterly paramount and your experience would be greatly appreciated. Not to mention the amounts of Uru that I seek to incorporate into it means that there is no other place in the universe I would turn to but the fabled smiths of Nidavellir." I easily respond.
"Special project huh? One that needs my help and our Uru, no less. What kind of project are we talking about that has such steep demands then, Sorcerer of Midgard?" Eitri asks, cagey but despite himself still intrigued.
"I seek to build a vessel to contain the full might of the Infinity Stones." I bluntly state and Eitri's eyes bug out in surprise.
A heavy silence hangs between us for a long moment, before his expression darkens and closes off.
"No. This is no business for mortals to get involved in, even Sorcerer Supremes. Heed my advice and forget you ever even heard about the Stones-"
"I already found them." I interrupt, somewhat pleased at the positively gobsmacked expression Eitri now sports, staring at me with his hand still raised in the air.
After a few seconds, he visibly shakes himself, before crossing his arms.
"Nonetheless, do not go searching for them, as they are powerful beyond-"
"I already possess four of them."
"-… measure." Eitri finishes weakly.
"How…"
"A lifetime of planning as well as a healthy amount of luck." I reply with a smile, before my Aurelian Armor springs back into existence around me, my shield forming as well this time. Eitri looks startled at the sudden appearance of the mass of metal and white cloth, but his eyes immediately lock on the purple glow coming from my shield, the blue glow coming from my chest, the yellow glow coming from my helmet and the green glow coming from my throat.
This time, the silence is far longer as Eitri drinks in the various lights of the Stones with a faraway look in his eyes. When he speaks, it's careful and measured, almost whispered if he wasn't taller than a house with a voice to match.
"Not since the days of the Celestials has a being wielded more than one Stone at a time. Those that tried were all destroyed by their power. To take hold of even one is to invite death. And yet… you survived."
"Not quite." I respond with a grimace.
Seeing his questioning eyes lock with my own, I elaborate as I let the armour fold away again.
"The Infinity Stones are not the only power I possess. As you know, no human is capable of handling their power, so I had to become more than merely human. I reforged myself, taking a name from one of the Titans that visited my world in ages past and over the years I have grown to match their might. But I have reached the limits of how far my body can evolve. No matter how high I strive, the sources of power I take into myself, I cannot deny that the foundation itself is flawed."
"A new vessel… you seek to build a new body, one that can handle this new power." Eitri finishes, quickly catching on.
"Indeed. I already have machines, designs, materials and experts at the ready to start. Exotic metals and biology, various energies, the Stones themselves… but I need a base to build it all up around. I feel that Uru is the answer and that your knowledge will be necessary in uplifting it from merely an automaton to my new full-fledged physical form."
Eitri doesn't answer for a long time, leaning back on his workbench, his eyes flitting over where the Stones shone brightly for all to see moments ago, my mere revival throwing much of what he knew clear on its head.
"We are blacksmiths, Hyperion. We deal in fire and steel and smoke. What you need is a biologist or a medical doctor of some sort. In fact, go see a mind doctor while you're at it, because you're clearly mad." Eitri finally says, his expression darkening.
"I think you'll find you're more useful in this than you can give yourself credit for-"
"What part about 'blacksmith' don't you understand?!"
"What do you know about Vibranium?" I merely shoot back, seeing Eitri blink as he's taken off guard by the sudden question.
I'm not sure what he heard that I said. Both of us had a universal translator implanted (at least I assumed so, considering his species and age, Eitri could be using magic or simply know English), meaning that words automatically got changed to the closest available equivalent in the other persons' vocabulary.
A Human could point at a row of spaceships and indicate one by saying 'that one that's the size of a frigate' and an alien who evolved on a world without seas would still understand which ship he'd meant.
Vibranium was the name humanity had given to the energy absorbing miracle metal, but from what Sterns could pick up from the libraries in Xandar it was known under many different names throughout the universe, though seemingly only the big players had had contact with the highly rare mineral. In most languages and cultures, the name usually referred to its meteoric origins (there had been no planets found with natural ore deposits) or incredulous properties, but one particular location had a name for it that had confirmed a suspicion I had even back in my old universe.
On Knowhere, the decapitated head of an ancient Celestial, the commonly used word for Vibranium could be roughly translated as marrow.
Vibranium was part of the biological make-up of Celestials. It explained why there were no known natural ore deposits throughout the galaxy, why it had its utterly alien properties no ordinary metal should have. It even explained the biggest differences between this universes' Earth and my own. The Celestial's knowledge or memories likely lingered within the metal itself, much like how the Kree had figured out how to encode information such as the Words of Creation into their own DNA. That was how the original tribes of Wakanda managed to go from using wooden spears to building a civilization based off it while thousands of years later all Howard Stark could do with it was make a frisbee, why their city looked so futuristic and alien: the lingering echoes of a long-dead Celestial guiding their path.
Said echoes might even explain the existence of Bast, given that she claims to have been born form the land itself.
More importantly than that however, was how the part of Celestial crashlanding on Earth had affected Terrestrial life. At the point of impact, the changes were the most drastic, as showcased by the Heart-shaped Herb. But it was highly likely that during its fiery entry through Earth's atmosphere it shed parts of itself that might have landed anywhere around the planet. Spores from a being renowned for the way they cultivated life itself could've spread throughout the biosphere. Fast forwards ten thousand years and the predominant species on the planet had been infected with enough it that their DNA was capable of immense alteration and growth.
On my Earth, getting blasted with radiation meant a grisly death. On this Earth, it meant green skin, ripped shorts and anger management issues.
A hundred billion planets in the galaxy, millions of civilisations, hundreds of thousands more that were spacefaring, yet only on Earth did Ego found someone compatible with the Celestial gene.
The secret of Vibranium was that it wasn't really a metal: it was organic.
Judging from the widening of his eyes and the way he suddenly tensed up, Eitri was well aware of this, as expected as the galaxy's most revered blacksmith. Not an easy title to claim unless one had extensive knowledge of metallurgy as well, I suppose.
"I have a vast store of Vibranium in my possession, as well as the largest concentration of Gravitonium anywhere on Midgard. None other possesses more knowledge about the human DNA, not even the Kree with their experiments of the past. My magical strength is second to none in my order and I am empowered directly by the Light Dimension. I have a machine that can build a body using Vibranium as a base and another that can impart any being with the properties of whatever material or energy of my choosing. But I need something to bind that all together, coalesce it into a single being. Something that can withstand the full might of the Infinity Stones. You can deliver that to me." I state with heat in my voice, steadily closing in on the Dwarf King, who looks more uncomfortable the closer I get.
"But I won't. All that power, in a single being… no, no I will not build a weapon of such destruction. None can be trusted with it." Eitri mutters heavily to himself.
"It's because I seek to avoid destruction that I'm asking this of you. All of this power that I've gained, it was for a singular purpose: to beat Thanos." I press, satisfied when Eitri's eyes snap back to mine in shock.
"He seeks the Stones. He needs them in order to wipe out half of all life and before I intervened, he was closer than ever before. In just a few more years, he would've been ready to take them all and he would've been successful, Eitri. Nobody would've been capable of stopping him, of even standing against him. Half the galaxy dies if he succeeds."
"N-no. No, even a Titan cannot wield all of the Stones-"
"Do you think I'm the only one that knows that? Or the only one who knows that we can, if we just have the right tools?" I ask leadingly, and Eitri is quick to pick up on what I mean.
"He'll come here?"
"His full armada, all of his might, arrayed against a mere 300 Dwarves, many of them non-combatants. Striking while Asgard's focus is directed elsewhere. Your people will be slaughtered, Eitri. The forges will run cold and freeze over as the star is locked away and you'll remain here, alone, sitting crippled in your dead home and amongst the corpses of your ruined kin. And Thanos walks away with the Infinity Gauntlet, the last step in a millennia long plan for the decimation of life itself. He wins. Unless you help me beat him first."
Eitri is shaking his head now, wild hair and beard bristling around his head as worry is clear to see in his eyes.
"Then beat him and be done with it all!" he shouts back at me, but a sad grimace crosses my face.
"I can't. Not anymore. He was my biggest fear for much of my life, a tormentor haunting my every dream. Even as I gathered more and more power, that fear hardly faded and I was too paranoid to face him. Looking back, there was probably a time where I was stronger than him, where I could've won. But I didn't dare face him, trying to find safety in the next power-up, the next ability that could give me an edge over him. Now, I'm paying the price for my cowardice." I chuckle bitterly, before grabbing the hem of my shirt and smoothly pulling it over my head.
The fire of the forges throws a game of light and shadow over my broad chest and bulging muscles, throwing my raised skeletal structure into a stark contrast. But even more attention-grabbing than my size or unusual anatomy, are the glowing cracks that are littered all over my torso and arms. Jagged and of varying length, they shine with an internal, bright white light, showing where the Light Dimension is seeping through my body into this universe.
Eitri stills completely, looking on in a mixture of awe and wonder as pure hope slowly seeps from my torn skin.
"I am dying. I can no longer face Thanos as I am now. Even if I were to kill him in a fight, it would certainly spell my own doom as well. Aside from me very much wanting to stay alive, this would mean the Stones would be in the middle of his territory, free for one of his many underlings to take them for themselves. None are Thanos' equal, but even one Stone in the hands of a member of the Black Order could spell the death of countless worlds. I need that new body, Eitri. I need the help of the Dwarves."
Slowly, glancing from the cracks in my skin to my face, the Dwarven King clearly looks torn.
"How do you know all this? How can you be sure he'll win?" he asks softly (or as soft as a 5.5-meter-tall Dwarf can really be be).
I give a grim smile.
"This will be somewhat easier if I alter my size. Please don't be alarmed."
Before Eitri can ask what I mean, a staccato series of flashes occur around/from within my body and within the blink of an eye, I'm suddenly standing taller than Eitri himself (who has nearly toppled over his workbench in his rapid backpedalling at the surprise) at a solid six meters.
Not done yet, I raise both my hands, fingers held in exotic patterns as I turn the counter clockwise, my helmet forming around my head. The Mind Stone and the Time Stone glow brightly with their signature colours as I allow the energy in both to steadily build up.
"See for yourself." I offer once the Eye of Agamotto has fully opened, extending a hand down at the Dwarven King who is now looking up at me from his position on the floor where he fell on his butt.
Wide eyes take in my new size with shocked eyes, before they settle on my helmet and the amulet at my neck. As I had suspected, familiarity enters them when he sees the sacred artefact of the Sorcerers Supreme, and with the energy I'm drawing from the Mind Stone, it's clear from his surface-level thoughts that he has a surprisingly good idea as to what I'm planning.
We remain locked in position for a few moments, Eitri struggling between his cautiousness regarding the stranger with far too much power and his need to know the threat his people face, to see for himself if they truly were as doomed as I told him.
Eventually, his love for his people won out, but just as he made to grasp my offered hand, several calls of "My King!" went up around us, startling us both. Looking at the massive room, we saw that our little discussion was hardly private anymore as it seems roughly half of the population in Nidavellir has been eaves dropping on our little talk.
Including the guard detail that was supposed to keep an eye on my friends, which they had solved by taking my people with them, I note with some amusement.
"My King, are you certain this is safe?" One of the bystanders asked in a worried tone, a sentiment that was repeated throughout the room in low mutters and soft whispers.
Taking a deep breath, Eitri worked himself to his feet, before looking at his subjects, his people, his family.
"We need to know. If there is any truth to what Hyperion told me… if there is any chance to save you… I need to know."
And with those words, Eitri turns towards me and without a second thought, clasps hands with me. Immediately, an emerald energy field suffuses us, scintillating flows of various green glows pulsating and twisting around us and from within us. Meanwhile, both our eyes are lighting up with a vibrant yellow, courtesy of the Mind Stone, even as we stand completely motionless.
Ironically, it's somewhat difficult to tell how much time has elapsed before Eitri suddenly moves, ripping his hand away from mine as if burnt, both glows fading out of existence as a tired sigh leaves my body. While I slump over, Eitri has backed away until he's hit one of the massive crucibles in the room, slowly slinking down its blackened surface until he's sitting on the floor, breathing hard.
His eyes are wild and frantic and keep flitting back and forth between his two hands, opening and clenching them repeatedly as if to reassure himself that they're still there. The gathered crowd of Dwarves immediately calls out to their King and the simultaneously smallest and largest stampede in the galaxy happens when almost all of them rush to Eitri's side, making the tools on the workbenches rattle from the force.
Those Dwarves that didn't immediately run to their King's aid are instead advancing on me, hammers and tongs as large as humans held in threatening stances as they stare me down with stormy expressions.
Before things can get out of hand however, Eitri's commanding voice rings out across the room, halting the Dwarves in their tracks.
"ENOUGH!"
Climbing shakily to his feet, the King of Nidavellir looks to his subjects with tearful eyes, going from face to face as if to burn them into his memory. Slowly walking amongst them, laying hands on shoulders or petting them on the back, Eitri moves amongst his baffled subjects, confused at his behaviour and the big fat tears that steadily keep flowing down his face and into his bushy beard.
Finally, he reaches me and by now I've recovered enough that I've straightened to my full length (at this size, at least), folded my helmet away, close the Eye of Agamotto and thrown my shirt back on. I'm still breathing somewhat hard though, the air shimmering whenever I breath out as if I'm some kind of Balrog-lite.
Looking up, Eitri locks eyes with me for a long moment, before giving me a slow, considering nod.
When he speaks up, I can't suppress the massive grin on my face.
"Whatever aid you seek. The Dwarves of Nidavellir will provide. We will build you your new body, Hyperion."
There's no cheering at the statement (aside from my internal one), since the other Dwarves are simply confused about what the hell is going on and my team is merely relieved we don't have to fight their way back to Earth, so I merely give the King a shallow bow of gratitude.
"Excellent, King Eitri. I have brought several of my scientists with me who will work on the project, as well as their designs. I would be more than happy to let your people look them over and give their input. Additionally, I think it would benefit us both if some of my crew were to-"
That's as far as I get, because it's at that point I spot something move from the corner of my eye, and as I focus on the overlooked eaves dropper of my talk with Eitri, I can feel my heart plummet to rest somewhere between my ankles and my knees.
Because I recognize the raven that's calmly sitting on a massive anvil, quietly ruffling its feathers and looking straight at me with an unusual amount of intelligence in its gleaming little eyes.
I almost expect the gravelly, commanding voice that rings out across the workstation, seemingly coming from everywhere and nowhere at once. A voice filled with the confidence of a great warrior and a wise scholar.
The voice of a King.
"Hyperion, New Titan of the East River, Lord of Othrys, Sorcerer Supreme of Midgard. The court of Asgard would speak with you. Your arrival is expected as soon as possible."
And with that, the sound of Odin Allfather's voice fades away into nothingness, punctuated by a piercing call of Huginn (or Muninn) and silence reigns over Nidavellir. Or at least, it does until it's broken by my eloquent response.
"Fuck."
AN: So, apparently my way of dealing with a paper that's due in two days is to write this instead. Well, there are always second attempts, I suppose… Also, this chapter is somewhat on the short side, because I originally intended to include Michael's visit to Asgard as well, where a BIG ASS SUPER FIGHT is gonna take place (with some hopefully unexpected contenders stepping into the ring). Unfortunately, convincing Eitri took me surprisingly longer than I had originally thought, meaning that I had to push all that cool Asgard stuff to the next chapter. Sorry that it makes this one a bit boring, though I hope people like what I came up with for Vibranium. Let me know in the comments, drop a like and ring that bell! Wait, wrong website…
Fun Fact: I am definitely going to have someone call Odin's birbs Hugging and Mugging. Probably Darcy. It goes well with Mew-Mew. (Additionally, has someone seen my sanity? He hasn't been home for several days now and we're getting worried)
REAL Fun Fact: G.R.R. Martin is an avid Marvel Comics fan, having written several letters to the publishers during the '60s, some of which can still be found online today in digitized copies of their letter columns.
MASSIVE SHOUT-OUT TO ALL OF MY PATRONS! YOU CAN TELL, BECAUSE I'M USING ALL CAPS! YOU'RE SHOUTING IN YOUR MIND AS YOU READ THIS, RIGHT?! Anyways, thanks so much for your support, love all y'all.