Bronze Mettle (MCU/DC SI)

[Xavier Bronze]

Where am I? I'm in a forest somewhere. I thought... I was in my room? Ugh. What the fuck. Don't tell me I got pulled somewhere else. If I can only spend three weeks in any given universe, next time I jump I'm jumping off a cliff.

Well I've never seen woods quite like this...

I start walking. I wonder if there're even humans here. Statistically, the odds of there being life at all, or even a survivable atmosphere, are practically nonexistent. But statistically winding up in a universe so closely resembling the events of a movie is basically impossible too. I think I've been beyond logic for a while.

This is a weird place. Almost reminds me of Dagobah. Or… something.

What the fuck is that.

There's a jellyfish floating just a few meters away from me. A glowing blue jellyfish the size of a horse. It's flying. Is this the Savage Land? I don't see any dinosaurs. Just a giant floating jellyfish.

And the snake that I mistook for a tree trunk.

Fuck, run! Why am I not running? The tree twists and bends to face me. I try to move my fucking legs, to no avail. I'm paralysed. There's a snake that's big enough to swallow a bus, and I can't even blink to defend myself.

Every time I think I can't get any more terrified, some new situation comes along and proves me wrong.

The snake's one eye is bigger across than my armspan. It coils in a circle around me, creating a wall of flesh and bark scales a dozen meters tall in a matter of seconds. It flicks its tongue to smell me.

And then it uncoils and slithers off, leaving a trail of crushed trees in its wake. I can't turn to see what it ran from. But after a few seconds a hooded figure comes around in front of me.

Fuck, my eyes hurt. You don't miss blinking until you can't anymore.

This thing isn't human either. It looks at me with dark red eyes. It reaches out to me with a lobster claw where its hand should be, with one pincer at the center of my chest, and another touching my forehead. I feel a cool presence wash over me, and walls in my veins I didn't even know were there come crashing down and open up.

I collapse into the mud and gasp for breath.

It talks with an Indian accent, "You don't have to breathe here."

I ignore it, and take a minute. A little later I reopen my eyes and look up at my savior.

It lowers its hood, I wipe away my tears, and I get a good look at it. Its right hand is a lobster claw. Its left is a lion's paw. It has a hump on its back. Its head is like if a meerkat had tiger stripes. And those antlers couldn't possibly have fit inside its hood a minute ago.

I suddenly miss when I thought the weirdest thing was someone time travelling on tennis shoe power.

It asks me, "What are you?"

I hack out a laugh and glare at it, "What am I? I'm human. What the fucking fuck are you?"

"Hmmm… Human? No. Maybe once, but not anymore. Not entirely. Humans who come here share a kind of inner peace that you… don't share in."

I don't like being called not human, but I don't really know enough right now to dismiss the possibility. I stand up, "No shit. So where is this anyway?"

"It has many names. But this part of the forest is usually called Forever in a Day."

"Does time pass differently here?"

It gives an odd gesture between a shrug and a shake of the head, "No, but it only takes one day to get far enough within to where you may spend forever without finding your way back out."

"Fantastic. Can you lead me out?"

It bows, and starts walking. I follow.

 

[Xavier Bronze]

"So why did that snake run away from you?"

It shuffles strangely as it walks, almost like it has a limp, "The serpent fears fire. I have been known to start fires, and now it fears me."

I look around some more. Cicadas, or something that sound like them, chirp from above us, "Well, thanks for saving me."

"I don't help you from pure altruism. I fully intend to request a favor in turn once we make our way out of the forest."

"Not sure what I can do, but I'll see what I can do. I do owe you." As much as I hate to admit it.

We walk for a bit more, and I see some more weird stuff going on with these woods. Sometimes a clearing or hill will just vanish when it passes behind a tree. The sky has changed color two or three times since I got here, but I don't think I've seen it actually change, and I don't remember any transitional stages. Things far away on the horizon will sometimes still be visible in front of obstacles.

And that's not to mention the creatures. It's not so much camouflage as the boundaries between landscape and animal get really blurry in some places. An area of grass can move to find a patch of sun. Trees can have three different varieties of leaves and fruit on different branches, or even the same one. A few of the things I've seen can pass through solid objects, like the trees, or the ground, or the air. And don't ask me how I know the air is solid in some cases and not in others.

At least once, I've looked up to find the top of a tall tree, and found myself looking back down at a different stump, and I'm really trying to not think too hard about how that's possible without any kind of noticeable curve. Not too long ago we passed a stream that was definitely flowing uphill, and not in the funhouse trick angle kind of way.

To put it short: This place is fucked up in the head. Fuck logic. Fuck geometric space. Fuck biology. Fuck everything and throw it away, because whatever it is probably doesn't apply here anymore.

We're still walking, and I can't see anything except more trees up ahead. We're walking, and walking, and-

When did we leave the forest? We're in the middle of a giant clover-covered hillscape. I look behind me and can't see a single tree, anywhere around us. I didn't blink. I didn't look at my feet. There was no jump cut or transformation. And yet, now we are undeniably not where we were.

Fuck. This. My head hurts. I'm not equipped to deal with this. I really miss when Loki was trying to dissect my soul. At least I understood some of what was going on then. If I don't know what's up, I can't fight it. Hell, I don't even know what to fight, here. I have no way, no how, nothing to do except follow this thing and hope it doesn't eat me. I'm completely lost. I seriously don't like this place.

There's a door up ahead just sitting on its own on the top of a hill. Reminds me of Charlie the Unicorn, or Monster's Inc.

My guide walks up to the door and opens it. Of course, I say "opens", but I only assume that's what whatever I just saw was. It kind of folded behind itself and turned into a gap between spaces of air. I don't even know how I can see the gap, since the landscape around it is completely uninterrupted. I can only imagine some kind of fourth dimension is involved.

Whatever it is, it's bullshit. Goddamn, I just want to be H.O.M.E. right now…

I step into the door. Not even thinking about how weird that is or how that even works. Inside is a cozy little hut that seems to be made of a swarm of some kind of one-legged cats with no eyes. The walls and floor writhe like the cutest, fuzziest maggots in the universe. It doesn't look like there is a ceiling. It doesn't even look like there's a place where a ceiling would be.

My guide closes the door behind us and as it walks around, the things that form the floor rise to shape chairs, tables, and other things. It walks to a corner and starts to sit down before the chair is even fully formed yet.

"Now tell me how you came to this world."

 

[Xavier Bronze]

I'm getting really tired of being asked that question, "You first. What is this world? How far are we from earth, and how can I get the fuck back?"

Its eyes tilt, as if to imply eyebrows without actually having any, "My dear girl, this is earth. Maybe not the earth you're accustomed to, but you're closer to home than you think."

...I think I might just blow up the goddamn world. Fucking shitty crap on a stick this sucks. The earths are getting weirder.

It sees my emotions, the actual emotions themselves, and continues, "Allow me to clarify. This is a parallel plane of existence, very close to your earth. If you came here, it won't be difficult to go back."

"I've fucking done this before. This isn't the first time I've woken up in some weirdass world that calls itself earth. The worlds are just getting weirder, and I don't know how much more I can take. I didn't fucking come here. I woke up here, and-" Hang on. I didn't wake up here. "No. I didn't wake up here. I just.. Sort of... appeared? I remember what happened, but I'm not sure I have the full picture. I was in my room, staring at the wall, thinking. Then I... what, materialized? No, that's not right either…"

It makes a whistley clicking sound that I think stands for laughter, "Materialized? Do you think this is a material world? If you do, then I think I can understand your confusion."

And suddenly everything makes sense. I'm on a fucking spirit walk, or some shit. This is a dream world, or something. Psychic shit. Great. Non-sarcastically, great! I'm honestly thrilled to know what the fuck's actually going on!

I nod, "So this is some kind of astral plane. My physical body is still back home, while my mind, my "soul", wanders through here."

"Precisely. I'm surprised you were able to transport yourself here without realizing what you were doing. You must be very spiritually powerful."

I laugh, "Well I don't know about that. I do seem to have a knack for getting myself into situations I can't really understand."

"Can anyone ever truly understand their situation?"

"Yes."

That trips it up. It doesn't have a response. Sorry chimera dude. If you wanted a philosophy talk you invited the wrong person over for tea.

I'm getting a little tired of standing, but I also don't feel comfortable sitting on this ground. Hell, I don't wanna stand on it. "So, you said you were gonna ask me for something?"

It smiles. At least I think that's a smile, "To business then. I want you to steal something for me."

I think this means I've officially fallen in with the wrong crowd, "No promises... What is it?"

"A small velvet box. It's on a shelf, in a library, at the top of a tower."

Uh huh, "Who lives in the tower?"

"A wizard from the physical world. He moved here permanently only a few hundred years ago, but he first visited several thousand years before then. Nowadays he has very little power of his own, but he's in good favor with several pantheons that I'd prefer to not anger."

Merlin? "So, other than being even, what's in it for me?"

"You go, talk to the wizard. Your common origin as humans should get you in the gate. If anyone can get you home, he will know how. Use that. Talk to him. Find your way to the library and grab the box. Once you leave, give it to me, and you can use the knowledge the wizard gives you to be on your way."

"Why do you want the box? And why doesn't he want you to have it?"

"He doesn't care about it except as a museum piece. I can't get past the gate wards. Only a mortal soul can. I'm not a fan of gods, and I have a feeling they won't like what I plan to do with it."

I smirk at it, "Nope. No no no. You can't get me to do shit with vague answers like that. I want to know what you plan to do with that box, or I can just have the wizard zap me home with it."

"Intelligent of you. The box grants power comparable to that of a lower god. The pantheons feel threatened by any significant divine change. They are creatures of stagnation, and thrive on stability. You can see what I've done here in my home through simple mindscaping. I want to see what I can build with a stronger tool."

This is a dangerous situation. I get the feeling that I don't want to cross this thing. That snake wasn't afraid of it because of any fire. On the other hand, I don't know what this wizard would do if he caught me stealing. I could turncoat to the wizard, but I don't know if he could protect me, and I don't even know that this thing is telling the truth that the wiz can send me back. But making this thing into a god doesn't seem smart in the long term, especially if it might turn the real gods against me again.

Whatever I plan to do, the wizard's tower is the way forward. I can think about it more on the way there, "Lead the way."

It stands up, and walks over to the door as its chair sinks back into the roiling mass that surrounds us. The door opens again, and I follow my new employer-slash-enemy out.

 

[Xavier Bronze]

So, turns out the wizard's tower is really close. Like, we walk out the door, climb a lake, and there it is. Not much time to think about my situation more, or what I should do. Especially when I'm spending so much brainpower just not being driven crazy by this place. The place where climbing a lake is an actual functional way to get from place to place. Ugh.

The tower itself just keeps going up. It doesn't fade from sight. It's not just that I can't see the top. It's that I can see that there isn't a top. It just... keeps going. And yet, I can count the floors. There are few enough that I have a pretty good idea of how big the whole tower is. I'm waiting for what I'm seeing to make sense, and it just isn't going to. And yet, I can see it, and it obviously exists.

Again. Fuck this place.

Well I guess this is it. I grab the giant brass knocker and bang it against the wooden door twice. The double doors swing inward of their own accord.

I pretty much expected this, but it's definitely bigger on the inside. I could've jogged around the perimeter outside in about two minutes, but the front hall looks like the fucking Mines of Moria.

I cross the hall in three steps and reach for the door on the other side. I think I'm at the point where this stuff just doesn't phase me anymore.

A thunderclap booms behind me, and I turn back to see what it is.

The wizard stands before me. He looks like a pretty stereotypical wizard, with long blue robes, and an almost as long white scraggly beard.

He speaks, and several other voices speak with him, "What brings you to my temple?"

I tell the truth, "I'm lost. I was told you might be able to get me back to the physical realm."

He looks at me, and I feel the same invasive energy that was there when Loki scanned me, except it's a lot worse this time, like someone turned off the anesthetic. It hurts, like a combination of heartburn and brain freeze across my whole body at once.

When he stops, I'm on my hands and knees. But I'm a little surprised I'm not curled up in a ball. I take a minute, and then stand back up. If that's what his vision feels like there's not much point in running or fighting.

He regards me with slightly less suspicion, "You are not from this physical realm. You are from another. Would you like me to send you back to where your body is? Or back where you came from?"

I almost fall over again. Fucking hell! Give someone some tea before you break news like that to them! "You can send me back to my home earth?"

"With difficulty. Yes, I should be able to send you there. It is not a magical place, however. So you would likely never be able to return. And your spirit companion would not survive the journey."

"What, that thing? It wouldn't be coming with me."

"One does not simply separate and leave behind one half of a spirit as entangled as yours. Any removal or transfer would likely do irreparable damage to your own soul."

Fuck, what? I just met the guy! Wait… "Are we talking about the same thing?"

He looks a little impatient about my confusion, "You contain within you a great spirit. An entity of Light stronger than most I have encountered."

"Thank goodness. I thought you meant… something else." Wait, what did he just say? "There's something inside me?"

He nods, "A being of great power, and even greater capacity for good. If it were a different shape I would swear it to be an angel."

Ugh. Angels are real. Fuck me, of course they are. It's a comicbook world. Everything's real.

"So, I go back to my earth, this spirit thing inside me dies, and I come out the other side a slobbering wreck because my soul has been torn in half?"

"In simple terms. Yes."

I sigh, "Great."

Why couldn't it have been easy? It would have been so nice if it'd just been easy for once.

I ask, "What's you name, anyway? Merlin? Oz? Yen Sid?"

He smiles, and speaks in concert with a dozen other voices again, "Shazam."

 

[Xavier Bronze]

So that's what it meant by this guy being friends with gods. I looked up Billy Batson a while ago, and assumed he hadn't been born yet because Bruce Wayne is so young. Then again, maybe the wizard isn't due to choose his guardian for another few decades. Maybe Billy's a contemporary of Connor Hawke. There's no way for me to know.

"So, Shazam, would the spell to get me back to this universe's physical realm need some setup? Maybe if you have a library, that might be the best place to kick things off?"

He gestures towards the door I was about to open when he appeared. I open the door out onto a balcony several floors up. We both walk out, and when I turn around the door leads back into a library with a glass ceiling. So we both walk through the same door again and wind up in a different place. Because spirit magic bullshit.

I immediately notice the front hall of the library, which is filled with display cases for various ancient relics and magical artifacts. And from there it doesn't take long for me to spot the small, velvet-topped box. It's a ring box. Great. Nothing bad ever happened messing around with magic rings.

"You were sent to steal it from me."

Well, I guess that settles it. Either I'm dead, or I work for the wizard now, "Yeah, I'm not a very good thief. Someone should've told that muskrat downstairs." I face Shazam, "You gotta understand, it said you could get me home. I was this close to betraying it on my own."

"I understand nothing. But you understand nothing even less than I do."

Could there possibly be a more ambiguously constructed and meaningless sentence?

He adds, "This isn't the first time an innocent has been put in harm's way for this, and I fear it won't be the last. But I have no intention of punishing a defenseless victim of coercion."

I'm waiting for him to finish, but he doesn't, "...Thanks."

Shazam stands and stares at the ring box.

After a few seconds, I talk again, "...Are you gonna help me get back to this universe's earth?"

"You are already on this-"

I roll my eyes, "-This universe's earth, yeah I know. Are you gonna help me get back to the physical side of it?"

He continues to stare obnoxiously at the box, "You need no help for that."

I'm getting real tired of this shit, "And what the fuck does that mean?"

"Just that. You do not need my power to return you to your physical self. You have all the power you need."

"You're starting to sound like a bad saturday morning cartoon, you know that? I think I get why you usually hang out with twelve-year-olds."

That gets me an eyebrow. At least he's looking at me now.

He picks up the box and holds it out to me, "Objects of this kind are dangerous. The man who seeks them destroys most record of what they are and what they can do, so that no-one else may inhibit his search. Would you like to see within, so that you may recognize similar threats that you may see in the physical world?"

I look at it suspiciously, "It's not like Pandora's Box or anything? It's not gonna explode a bunch of ghosts or gamma in my face or something?"

He smirks, "The wards at the gate are all the protection it needs. And the contents aren't dangerous unless they are touched."

I reach out to open it myself. But then I realize that's still fucking stupid. I don't know this guy! If memory serves, the wizard is a pretty ambiguous figure in DC. Sure, he made Captain Marvel. He also made Black Adam in a few versions of the story. I don't know what he wants, what he's done. And chances are he cares as much about me as some cockroach on the wall.

I pull my hand back, "Sure. Let's see it."

He opens the box, and I see what's inside.

 

[Xavier Bronze]

It makes sense, in hindsight. Can't remember any other magic rings in comics. An honest-to-god Makluan ring. Looks just like they looked in Armored Adventures. I wonder how much of the history is the same? Is it actually magic here? I know a lot of the MCU is Sufficiently Advanced Bullshit.

"You recognize it already?"

I close the box and put it back on its pedestal, "Yeah, I do. It's a magic ring. The guy you were talking about is called the Mandarin, right?"

He looks between the box and me, almost amused, "Yes."

I'll have to remember to look up Gene Khan later, "I guess that weird dude downstairs is one of his stooges. I didn't know his network came this far."

"The transport ring allows him to spread his influence across space, realms, and dimensions. It is his most prized of the rings he's collected so far. His organization on earth is only a small portion of his true power."

"Do you know how many rings he has?"

The wizard shakes his head, "No. Neither do I know the locations of any rings aside from this one. They were scattered across the universe millennia ago. He already has the transport and armor rings, at the least. I have seen it. I have the divinity ring safely kept here. Other than that…"

I nod, "No way to know."

So the Real Mandarin is a thing, here. Not just Killian's stage version. Does he have any connection to the Ten Rings organization? Does Killian? Damn. I wasn't paying enough attention whenever Alex watched the Iron Man movies.

He says, "You have gone against his will, and for that you have my thanks. But once you return, you will not be safe."

Enemies. Great. And this time they have an actually valid reason to hate me.

I sigh, "Yup. Mandarin won't be happy I didn't retrieve his ring like a good little lackey. You can't whip me up any kind of protection charm? I guess it's a good thing I have SHIELD to protect me." ...Unless the Ten Rings have infiltrated SHIELD like Hydra did...

"I wish you the best. You have a good heart."

Wow. That actually means a lot, coming from someone who might actually be able to see it objectively, "Thanks. There are a few people who would disagree with you on that. Maybe you can stop by and talk to them at some point."

He smiles, "Unfortunately my tower requires my presence. This and other relics could prove disastrous to leave unattended. It is my burden, to never return to my home world. Much the same as yourself."

He's not wrong. Even now that I know it's possible, I might never be able to go back to Earth Prime. But on the other hand… "You know what? I almost hate to say it, but... This earth is growing on me."

What's more is, I feel like I can really make a difference here. I've already changed things. I've already saved lives by preventing Abomination's Harlem rampage. That was in my first week. Who knows what kind of good I can do long-term. I'm getting all hero complex-y, just because I've got some outside knowledge. I'm gonna get myself killed.

Oh well. Maybe I can take the Mandarin out with me, if I'm lucky.

"So how do I get back to the physical world, Doc?"

"Simply… click your heels together, three times." He waves goodbye.

Did he just make a cultural reference? He's just been messing with me this whole time, hasn't he. He knows the wizard stereotypes, and plays with people's expectations! That devious bastard… If that is what he's doing. It seems like that's what he's doing.

I frown, "Seriously, you don't have any tips? I'm on my own?"

He shrugs, "I could send your spirit back to your world. But, it would be along a different path, and pieces of your soul would trail behind you in both worlds. If you return along the same path, continued wholeness of self is ensured. Neither can I advise you. I came here on the power of the gods, outside the natural spiritual paths."

I cross my arms, "So you can't send me anywhere without breaking me. You're just not all that useful. Got it. Thanks anyway."

Well… I guess there's only one way I'm gonna get back. Unless I go back and beg the Ten Rings lemur, which wouldn't end well.

I sit cross-legged on the floor of the library and close my eyes. I attempt to meditate for a half-second before I realize that I have no idea what I'm doing.

 

[Xavier Bronze]

So I sit... And sit. And sit… And sit.

...And sit some more.

You're not supposed to think when you're meditating, right? But if I don't think, how the fuck do I know if it's working? How do I know if it's working anyway? I get the feeling I'm doing this wrong.

Of course it doesn't help to have a creepy old man staring at me the whole time.

I ask, "Could you clear out? Please? I'm not stupid enough to steal anything, no matter what the Mandarin thinks."

He steps around a corner that I know for a fact he wasn't anywhere near, and leaves. So long, nutso geometry. I've got a better life lined up without you in it.

...As soon as I can figure out how to embrace my spiritual side, or whatever. Should I sing? Do a rain dance? Sacrifice a goat?

What did I do last time. The last two times I've hopped earths, it was when I was right on the brink of falling asleep. Is that the secret? Should I take a nap? Sounds crazy, but I guess it's what the data holds. I lie down on the cold hardwood floor.

This sucks, just, so much. Alex could've slept on rocks every day for a month, but I've got actual standards. The lie detector chair was more comfortable than this. And I just scared the wizard off, so I can't ask for a throw pillow or anything.

Fuck.

Gotta stop overthinking it and just relax. Just… relax. No pressure or anything. It's just the only way I'll ever see anything I even remotely like again. Surprisingly, that helps somehow.

I curl on my side, and rest my head on my elbow the way Alex used to do. But it's not actually any more comfortable. It just compresses my spine weirdly. I lie on my back and put my hands behind my head. Much better.

So I lie there. And I keep lying there for what feels like an hour. Eventually I actually do stop thinking. I stop noticing the hard floor. I stop noticing the bright lights on my eyelids. The odd warm chill of the air fades away.

And then I realize it's actually faded away. I'm not just not thinking about it. It's not there anymore.

I open my eyes.

I'm in my room again! Booyah! I sit up from my bed and look around. Yup. Definitely H.O.M.E.. I stand and stretch my legs, even though they're not sore. "Not bad, mister wizard dude. Not bad."

I walk to the door of my room. The facial scanner doesn't activate, and the door stays very shut. Odd... Was there a power outage? I hope this place isn't airtight...

Or maybe the scanner's just broken. I reach for the access panel that doubles as a handprint reader.

And my hand goes straight through the wall! Fuck! What the fuck! My arm is transparent, like a ghost.

I'm back! This shouldn't be happening. I should be physical, shouldn't I?

I hesitantly look at the door. Should I test it? My hand feels fine. But I don't know the mechanics of this, whatever it is.

Fuck it. I walk through the door. I don't fall through the floor. I come out in the hallway where I expected to be. So, essentially I'm "out of phase" or whatever technobabble lets people walk through solid objects.

I've gotta find some way of letting SHIELD know where I am. Fuck, I don't remember what that Darkforce-infected guy in Agent Carter did. I'm really regretting not paying more attention to all that crap detail.

I walk through the door into Ike's room next to mine. Why isn't he here? He's always here when we're not out. I check Mike's room on the other side, and he's not there either. No luck.

Come to think of it, I was in a soul realm or whatever. So it would make a fucked up kind of sense that my mind came back as some kind of ghost, and that's why I'm not solid. But, if that's the case, where is my body? I'm guessing it didn't fade out like Yoda or else my room would be a crime scene right now. So why wasn't it in my room?

In order to get to SHIELD and tell them what's up with me, I've gotta figure out what's going on with them. I can't use any of the panels or tablets or holograms while I'm intangible. Can I hear? Yes, there's the sound of an air vent. So if I can find an agent, I can listen to their comms.

I start walking down the halls. And then I realize that's stupid. I'm intangible. I walk through a nearby wall and cut across several agent's quarters to get to the hangar bay as quickly as possible. There's always someone there to watch the big door.

Yes! There's an agent. As expected, she can't see me. I stick my ear up close to hers. My hand passes through her shoulder briefly and that's super unnerving. Being careful not to let that happen again. But I can hear her earpiece now.

"Agent Rossou's comms have been disabled. The Clairvoyant's condition is being handled by Doctors Fredman and Weir."

Agent Rossou is Ike's real name, but it didn't say where he is, or why he's on enforced radio silence. Sounds like something's happening in the medbay. Is Garret here? They wouldn't call him by his secret Hydra codename over comms, though, would they?

Well, intangibility is a resource too. If Hydra may have current operations in H.O.M.E., I better check it out. I head in the direction of the medbay.

When I get there, I see Doctor Weir and I'm guessing Doctor Fredman crowding around a hospital bed. Ike is sitting nearby, fiddling with his disabled comms unit. Hill is here? I know she's not Hydra.

Doctor Weir writes down something, "Still nothing except cortical static."

I walk around to get a better look at the patient.

Oh. It's me.

 

[Xavier Bronze]

I guess I found my body. Now, how do I actually get back in it?

But hang on. Do I really want to, immediately? I'm frikking invisible and intangible! I could sneak in anywhere, watch anyone without them knowing.

Then again, I really can't think of anyone within walking distance who's worth spying on. Luthor maybe? But I also don't know how long SHIELD is gonna keep my body warm for me. It'd suck to be stuck as a ghost forever.

Ok. Time to wake up. I pass my spectral hand through my own physical skull. Strangely, it touches the hospital bed on the other side. Hang on. If the bed is solid…

I hop up to sit on the bed, and lie down occupying the same space as my body. I shift my various limbs to make sure they're in the right positions.

This doesn't feel like it's doing anything... I'm lying down. My hands, my fingers, my feet, my hips...

My head! I'm still looking down at myself. I lean back and close my eyes.

One of the monitors beeps. Doctor Weir says, "This isn't possible. I'm getting something."

I crack an eye open, and can feel the weight of flesh on my eyelid that was missing before. I clear my throat, "Don't worry, doc. It's not every day I can pull a miracle out of my ass, but I'll try and do it when you're not around next time."

Hill and Ike almost shove the doctors out of the way to see me. Ike is genuinely worried. Hill looks almost annoyed.

She asks, "Do you have any idea what happened? You've been out for almost 36 hours. The doctors told us you were braindead."

I think about my answer for a second, "I took a walk. You couldn't wake me because I wasn't here. I was in some kinda limbo realm. You're lucky I found my way back as quickly as I did. Ungrateful fucks." I crack a playful smirk, "It's good to be back with the living."

Ike finally realizes that he's showing emotion and covers it up, "You've got a lot of explaining to do, Ms. Bronze."

I sigh, "I'll write a full report after I get some sleep. I'm exhausted." I'm getting really good at writing reports in SHIELD standard notation.

Why is everyone looking at me funny? Oh. From their perspectives I just woke up from a super-coma. Right.

"Don't worry. I'm not planning on dying on you again any time soon. You're still stuck with me."

Weir turns to Hill, "We'll keep an eye on her and call you if there are any developments."

"By the way, I may need some extra protection. I think I pissed off the leader of the Ten Rings."

Hill looks like she has a headache again, "You managed to antagonize one of the most dangerous terrorist organizations on the planet… while you were dead?"

I lean back and close my eyes again, "What can I say, I'm good at making enemies."

"If what you're saying is true, I think you take the Gold." She utters what from anyone else I would assume to be a laugh, "I look forward to reading your report tomorrow. If the doctors clear you we may have an assignment for the weekend."

Doctor Fredman interjects, "After Blonsky, I hesitate to let anyone off after less than 48 hours. But we'll see what her readings look like. She should be fine by then."

"No rest for the recently deceased, I guess. Whatever. Who needs it?" I yawn. "Me, apparently. Go figure. Ike? You gonna keep me company?"

I feel a middle finger pressed against my cheek. Once it goes away I hear footsteps going out the door and down the hall. Hill follows not long after.

I really do need some sleep. That spirit trip really took it out of me. It really is good to be back, though.

...Did I leave the door to Shazam's tower open?

 

[Xavier Bronze]

Maria Hill: Interlude​

I leave Xavier's hospital room and immediately get on comms, "Send a message to Director Fury. The Clairvoyant is awake, I repeat, the Clairvoyant is awake. A full report will be available tomorrow morning, and it sounds like he'll want to read this one. And request extra security personnel be transferred to H.O.M.E. over the next week."

Ever since she landed in the desert, this woman has been an endless pain in my ass. Existential ramifications of multiple earths aside, how do you maintain security clearances with someone who's seen the future? Someone who knows details on top Classified operations that haven't even begun yet. The paperwork alone...

And now she comes back from the dead, and she says she's pissed off the Ten Rings. No, worse than that. She pissed off the Mandarin. What little SHIELD knows about the man suggests that no increase in security might be enough to keep him out, if he really decided he wanted her dead. About the only worse people she could have picked would've been Lord Dyne and Superman.

But, I'll worry about that more tomorrow once she writes her report. The Manhunt negotiations are a much more pressing concern. Their SHIELD envoy is coming soon, and I've got to make sure we're ready. If it falls through we won't have to wait until next summer to be invaded.

And Coulson actually wants to add Xavier to that madness, as if it would make it better. She's never mentioned knowledge of any aliens except the Asgardians, Chitauri, Kryptonians, and Kree. There's reason to believe she might know something she's not telling, because of her early topics of research. But either she knows, and she thinks we're better off not knowing, or she doesn't, and there's no reason to tell her. Either way, as a Consultant she's near useless. She's also good at kicking up the kind of trouble we really, really don't need.

I've got to make sure the hangar bay is prepped. Then I'll get a few hours myself.

The next morning, I wake up without an alarm at 4 AM. I grab a cup of coffee and attend to my morning chores. A notice that Superman briefly entered Mexican airspsce… A request to relocate Blonsky's containment cell… A science team wanting access to the Puente Antiguo 0-8-4... An update on Phase 2 progress… More sightings in the New York subway network... A report on the recovery mission in Bialya… Nothing that needs immediate attention.

A few hours later, Xavier's report pops up in my inbox.

Spirit... World?

I sigh. This is gonna be another long day. She has to just be making things up sometimes to mess with us. I mean, a quest for a ring and a wizard in a tower? But, since she's... her, with all the inexplicable information she has, the wizard Shazam now has a SHIELD file. Someone has to talk to that girl about accountability. At some point, something she held out on or something she made up is going to get good agents killed.

I get a call on comms.

"Latverian submarines were seen in the Sea of Japan earlier this morning. We don't know how they got there without us spotting them and intercepting, but they've already started drilling into the seabed."

Oh no. If Latveria antagonizes North Korea, even accidentally… "What's he doing out there? What's he drilling for?"

"We don't know, but he doesn't have the permission of the United Nations. And if he sent ships all the way there, it has to be valuable."

"And no-one in that area is going to like seeing him take it away." Can I fly out and deal with this and still get back before the envoy arrives?

Hrrhg. I take a deep breath. This next month is gonna suck.

"Schedule a flight for 13:40 this afternoon. I'll talk to Dyne myself. Send someone else to talk to the Japanese and South Korea. We need to settle this before someone gets hot-headed."

"Understood."

I've handled Dyne's ego before. I can do it again. I just hope nothing else comes up until after the negotiations are settled.

 

[Xavier Bronze]

I'm reading up on Luthor, trying to find out if he's a supervillain yet or not, dig up the dirt. Not finding any. Stroke of midnight, and there's a knock on my door.

"Ike, that better not be you again. You've never once caught me with contraband in my room."

The door opens and it's Coulson. He gives me a disbelieving look, "What are you doing here?"

I give one right back, "Curfew, remember? Can't be out past midnight without authorization."

He shakes his head, "We can't keep you locked up today. It's Independence Day! Come on! You've got visitors."

He leaves, and leaves the door open.

Huh.

I walk out, and Mike and Ike are still there, but they don't have guns on their belts. I make my way to the foot entrance, and the security guy waves me through without even asking any questions. Okay... I walk past him and wind my way toward the exit.

Oh.

Oh! Jane and Selvig? I walk faster and Selvig swallows me in a big hug. I'm not really a hugging person, but I don't break away because that would be rude, and I want them to know that I'm okay. I smile at Jane over Erik's shoulder.

She smiles back, a little apprehensively, "Hey. Are you okay?"

I nod, "Yeah, I'm fine. SHIELD has been taking care of me. I've been helping them with cases, and I guess this is my reward."

Erik pulls away and holds my shoulders firmly, examining my eyes as if I have a concussion, "They abducted you. I thought we'd never see you again."

"Well I am kind of a walking security breach." They don't even know about the movie thing, do they? I never got the chance to tell them.

It's kind of touching how worried they are. Jane takes a turn looking me over for injuries, "When they told us we could come see you we didn't know what to believe, but we agreed. They've been trying to get me to sign up as some kind of consultant ever since you vanished. They wanted me to try and reopen the wormhole that brought you here. I thought they might have just been tricking me into coming in to one of their labs."

"They've been asking you to sign up because I recommended you. You're the best person to continue your work. I've been working for them, working for my freedom. I guess I've gotten some of it."

The two of them look behind me. What are they looking at? Oh. Right. Mike and Ike are still there.

I roll my eyes, "I said some of it."

We walk through the final door into the open air. I see a SHIELD standard transport van nearby, and follow Jane as she walks towards it. I guess they're gonna do the obligatory "driving in circles" thing, even though we can totally see the top of the Metropolis skyline from here.

Once we all pile in, I ask, "So where's the intern?"

Jane laughs, "Darcy thought it was a trap."

"Of course she did." I don't really have anything else to say, strangely enough. So we drive in silence for a minute.

Jane says, "We tried to get you out."

I raise an eyebrow at that, "How'd you even know where to find me? You tried to break into a top secret government base?"

She sheepishly avoids eye contact, "Not exactly. The rift you first appeared from left traces, scars in spacetime. I... may have picked at the scab a little."

"You opened a wormhole to Asgard to try and break me out of a top secret government base."

"Actually we were trying to open a wormhole into the base itself and just pull you out directly. But we obviously couldn't get the coordinates quite right. We didn't get anything at all the first few attempts."

"You mean you actually managed to pull something through a wormhole into the New Mexico desert?"

She smiles, "Yeah, it was pretty cool. Of course, it was supposed to be you, so not as cool as I would've liked. But at least it came out perfectly fine! Just a minor sunburn… and blindness."

I'm more than a little shocked, "You pulled a living thing through a wormhole? And it survived?"

She nods, "A beagle. It's collar says its name is Marchioly, but we couldn't find any missing animal reports in the area. There's no phone number and the text is doubled in some kind of Arabic so we're guessing the other end was somewhere in the Middle East or North Africa."

I take a moment to close my jaw, which seems to have forgotten its job briefly, "You pulled a living thing from one place on earth to another through the leftover fragment of an alien wormhole. That's total bullshit." She doesn't seem to know what to think of that. "And by that I mean it's amazing. That's seriously one of the most impressive things anyone I've ever met has done. And I've met some impressive people since I got to this earth."

Her flattered expression once again turns to confusion, "This... earth?"

Shit. That's right. "Yeah. I never got a good opportunity to tell you. Turns out I'm from an alternate universe. This one's a lot more interesting, though, that's for sure."

She looks at me like I just grew a second head and started making out with it, "The many worlds hypothesis is true?"

I shrug, "Probably. Or maybe there are only 52 of them. Who the fuck knows, I've only been to two of them, and I didn't come here by choice. Everything I told you was true. I don't know any more now than before about how I got here."

I can tell she's already running through possible tests and new hypotheses in her head. "Is there any way I could get you away from these... nice Agents long enough to do a deep molecular tissue scan?" Yup. There it is. "If there were a way to tell people from different worlds apart, we might be able to set up an alert network for if anyone new comes through."

There's a thought. I never considered anyone else might come through from Earth Prime. "Check vibrational frequency first. I have a hunch universes might be closer than you think." That was the bullshit the Flash show used, wasn't it? It seems like they were inconsistent. Is reality inconsistent, then? It certainly doesn't make any conventional kind of sense anymore.

The car pulls over.

Selvig hops up, "We're here."