Volume Zero: When The World Was Young
A/N: Hey guys I have returned and guess what! I'm giving up my other stories for adoption or at least you can continue it the way you want. Now just to clarify one person per story and it can't be the same person, so if you want both the Hopeful and the New Race then too bad you are going to have to choose. Ask permission before you do this though so that we don't end up with a messy situation on our hands. Now that we have the formalities out of the way I present to you my new story that I will definitely continue as much as I can. This is a reimagining of the Marvel Universe and I know they have been done before, but this one starts out with an OC-centric story and will slowly expand to include the other heroes in Marvel. Volume Zero is going to be a set of prologues to the stories that I'm writing and not one straight linear story, while the rest of the stories will have a title and start from Volume One. And now the story begins!
P.S. I won't be describing characters native to the Marvel Universe, so look them up.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything Marvel-related, however I do own my OCs and if Marvel wants them they are going to have to cough up some money.
Unknown Place-Unknown Time
Mind Gem. Reality Gem. Power Gem. Space Gem. Time Gem. Soul Gem. These are the Infinity Stones and they are some of the most powerful items existence easily reaching the powers of the Celestials and even surpassing them if combined. They each control a thread of existence and therefore even using them in tandem can destroy the multiverse
What many people don't know is that there is a person who tugs on these strings to make reality. He is the creator of this universe and plays with it like a puppetmaster to their puppets. In fact, there he is now. A tall handsome man walked out of a black hole like he was walking out of a door. The man was 6'2" and he has dirty blond hair and he has bright blue eyes with flecks of silver scattered across his pupils like stars.
"Jeez, no need to make me go and blush"
...ANYWAYS, the man wore a baggy long-sleeved shirt and some pajama pants. His choice of clothes hid his powerful frame very well which could put Captain America to shame.
The man was here for a reason and hopefully he didn't forget like he has done several times before.
The man was standing there scratching his head looking confused."...What was I here for again?"the Puppetmaster questioned.
You know for a man in control of the universe I worry sometimes.I mean really you forgot your MOST IMPORTANT JOB!
"Just kidding I know exactly why I'm here it's to choose some new imprints for the stones right?"
*sighs* Yeah that's it. The Puppetmaster created the infinity gems when he wanted to explore the universe he had created, but he had so much power that he would erase any progress he had made with the universe and that is how the Big Bang happened. To safely explore his universe he had to get rid of most of the power he had, this came in the form of the infinity gems.
They were pinnacles of creation, the Puppetmaster had gone to the DC multiverse and went to a universe where all of the Lantern Corps were peaceful with each other. There the Puppetmaster, with the help of the Corps crafted the stones using a mixture of all of the different energies. In return the Puppetmaster decided to give them emotions...the following conflict was the bloodiest war in the DC multiverse, even Darkseid shudders at the thought of the war.
Anyways once Puppet Master returned he added his essence to the stones and he gave each of them a specific strand of his abilities. While this was a good solution, it also coincidently added colors to his universe, it was only temporary since eventually the stones would overflow with power and decimate the galaxy they were located in. To come up with a counter Puppet Master had decided to give the excess power to something that would eventually die.
This has both pros and cons to it. Pros: the energy will eventually die when the being who possess the power would die/Cons: the living beings usually had their own agendas and that was a dangerous game all on it's own and the fact that Puppet Master loved experimenting with the combinations of species and stones. Recently, he gave a fly the Power Stone and that's how the dinosaurs went extinct. He couldn't stop laughing for days after that occurrence.
Now back to the point, every 50 million years or so he has to choose which living beings would receive the imprints and that's his one job...too bad he forgets a lot or there would be about 210 more galaxies out there. This is one of the rare times when he remembers to do his job and now he must choose the imprints.
The story now refocuses on Puppet Master who got bored and decided to play Fallout 4 while floating upside down.
"Finally, I had to politely wait for you to finish your exposition before I chose who I wanted to imprint"he flips himself upright before closing his eyes and focusing on the first stone, the Mind Stone. Remember when I said that Puppet Master likes to experiment, yeah a more accurate statement would be that he loves to f*ck with his universe as much as he could.
"You know what Mr. Narrator my own "Age of Heroes" is coming up, so it's time to make my own band of super people! They could be called the Council or the Illuminati or-" JUST SHUT UP AND CHOOSE!
"Fine then party pooper. Anyways I already have chosen my first member of my super team!"
Outside of Earth's Orbit-November 15th, 2011-Tuesday
"Ben Grimm to Overwatch. How am I looking out here Reed?" said the man soon to be known as the Thing.
"You're doing great just be careful on how you move, we don't want you getting lost in space"responded Reed Richards.
"Reed how little faith you have, I spent nine years preparing for this, so if anything you be careful"
"Okay buddy I'll just have to-"Reed stopped"Hold that thought Ben"
Reed had been looking at the scanners and everything was just fine a second ago and now there was a space storm coming their way out of nowhere. Reed sounded the alarm"Ben get in here now!"
A frightened Sue and Johnny Storm ran into the room"What's happening why has the ship just gone into safety mode!"Johnny shouted.
"Follow me! We need to go help Ben, he's outside right now. I'll explain along the way."
They had tried so hard but they couldn't bring Ben in before the storm reached them. As the storm passed over the four of them something...fantastic happened. While a cosmic storm would have normally killed them all. This one wasn't normal, it was conjured by Puppet Master and contained the Mind Gems powers within it.
Instead of exposing their bodies to radiation and having them die Puppet Master altered it so that instead of... you know,killing them,it would interact with their DNA and give them powers. And the storm gave Reed Richards a little something extra. His brain began to change, evolve into something extraordinary. Reed Richards already one of the smartest men on the planet began to get even smarter and smarter until he was easily the smartest being in the universe, but just because you have intelligence doesn't mean you have knowledge and with these new gifts came an insatiable hunger for knowledge.
"Now for the reality gem"
Wundagore Mountain-February 16th, 2000-Wednesday
Erik Lehnsherr, once a very powerful man called Magneto, was now living at the base of Wundagore Mountain with his two children, Pietro and Wanda Maximoff. They had kept his late wife's maiden name in respect and love towards the woman whom had died during childbirth.
And their birthdays were coming up in a month and Wanda wanted a pony which was, unfortunately, way too expensive for his mining job . Now he has trouble trying to break the news to nearly six-year old girl. To soften the blow he started the day by making her some chocolate chip pancakes and then playing with her until evening.
"Wanda dear, I'm sorry but I have some bad news"Erik started his dreaded delivery.
"What is it daddy?"asked Wanda with her wide and innocent eyes.
"It's…"Magneto faltered. How could he not when his baby girl was looking at him with those eyes filled with love and adoration."...the pony company ran out of ponies"
You could practically see the disbelief from young Wanda's eyes, but realizing that she wasn't going to get a pony for her birthday she started to cry and throw a tantrum.
"B-b-b-but Daddy you promised!You said that you would get me a pony no matter what!" the furious six-year old kept on yelling at her father. In that moment something...mystical began to happen as Wanda latched onto her want for a pony.
In a field close by-
There was an innocent pony just eating grass with nothing in the world to bother it. Slowly, but noticeably the atoms that made up the pony started to drift away like sand in the wind.
Understandably the pony started to panic, but before it could do anything it was fully transformed into the particles and it began to float towards the tantrum-throwing child.
Slowly the particles started to form back into the pony right in front of the stunned Erik and the angry girl. Wanda had her eyes shut in anger at the Pony Company and her father and Santa and everyone else who didn't bring her a pony. The pony had finally finished forming and all it could do was share Erik's bewilderment. Erik slowly started to look back and forth between the pony and the pony started to look between the two humans.
"Wanda dear, open your eyes"
Wanda opened her eyes and there was the pony. "IT'S A PONY! THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!"
"Wanda you are going to accomplish great things one day"Erik smiled proudly at his daughter.
"Hey I should give the power stone to a spider, you know how cool it would be to have a spider on my one would ever commit crimes ever again."
Do I need to remind you what happened the last time you gave it to a bug.
"That's why I'm giving it to a spider from the Weaver's Web and not some common household spider"Puppet Master explained.
Oscorp Lab-August 1st, 2012-Wednesday
Spiders. They never anything wrong, yet they are considered to be one of the most common fears on the planet. With their eight legs and beady eyes these creatures are just another part of nature. However, a fun fact is that there are magical totems for every living creature with an animalistic instinct inside them.
Spiders have a special role on the totem pole of nature. The Spider-Totem contains the Web of Life, which represents the bonds and relationships between living beings all connected by a giant web.
One particular member of the Spider-Totem family got caught by the company that went by the name of Oscorp. The spider was brutally experimented on until it was essentially the Captain America version of a spider. Using it's newfound abilities it easily escaped capture, but once it did it was filled with unimaginable pain.
You know how I just said that it was the Captain America of spiders, well now he was the Superman of spiders. However Puppet Master didn't think this through. Feeling threatened and not knowing what was causing it pain it jumped towards the nearest human and bit down. Hard.
The brown haired boy screamed out in pain before collapsing. Then suddenly the spider exploded in a small puff of power. The boy was now frothing at the mouth and people were shouting. The boy was sent to the hospital and remained there for 3 months in a coma. Eventually, this boy's uncle would die and he would forever learn that with great power there must also come great responsibility.
"Well that was disappointing now I won't have a spider on my team"Puppet Master pouted.
This may be even more interesting because now the boy holds the energies of the Spider-Totems and the Power Stone.
"Whatever. On to the Space Stone."
Outer Space in a Galaxy Far Far Away-October 8th, 1976
Puppet Master, why is the story in outer space?
"Well my narrating friend I decided that I need a force of nature on my team and a very powerful one too"
No way! Not even you're that crazy!
"But I am!"
You're going to give the power to Galactus!
"No"Puppet Master stated bluntly.
Then who?
"Why the Phoenix Force of course. Hey that rhymed." Puppet Master chuckled.
There it was. Both the most beautiful and terrifying thing you will ever see. The Phoenix Force was manifesting itself as it's namesake and burning down the planet where a Kree-Skrull battle was just taking place. The Phoenix was attracted to death and this battle was filled with it.
"Rebirth! The dead rise in my name and serve me!"The Phoenix screeched.
Suddenly the dead Krees and Skrulls began to rise and attack the living. "Yes master" was chorused around the battlefield.
At the Kree base they were coming up with a countermeasure to the godly being. Their commander on the mission was the Great General, Ronan the Accuser and an idea that might just work.
"What if we use the Cosmic Cannon?"
Immediately the room exploded into outrage.
"Silence! Your word brings truth. It is our only option if we wish to defeat the damned bird" Ronan voiced his opinion across the table and soon mutterings of agreement filled the room"Set up the cannon now"
"But sir this could make the Phoenix even stronger." one Kree asked. Shortly after his head was taken off by a swing from Ronan's hammer.
"Anyone else doubt the plan?"
Silence.
"Good now get to work"
"Sir the cannon is ready we just need you"Ronan's aide said.
"Then so be it. Let the battle for our fates commence"
The Cosmic Cannon is a device designed to take down Galactus in case he ever decided to stick his head in Kree business and while the weapon hasn't been tested against an actual cosmic being before it was their only hope. Ronan walked up to the cannon and using his hammer he activated it.
The cannon began shooting balls of pure cosmic radiation at the Phoenix and for a second it worked but then something...uncanny happened. The giant flaming bird had died, but the thing is with phoenixes is that they don't stay dead. The battlefield exploded with red and purple energy as the Phoenix Force fused with the Space Stone's power.
Before Ronan was turned into a skeleton he saw that the Phoenix had changed. It was still a giant red bird on fire, but now it's eyes glowed a deep purple and the edges of it's wings were tinged with purple. It could only be described with one word: Majestic.
You just created a monster. You know that right?
"Well yeah, but in what universe does the Phoenix not end up with Jean Grey, one of the few people who can control it"
Hopefully not this one.
"Now onto the trickiest of them all, the Time Gem"
Sacramento, California, a hospital-July 18th, 1996-Thursday
"Damn you Mason you just had to go and get me pregnant didn't you huh!"shouted the woman as she was constantly trying to reach for Mason's neck. The woman's name is Harper Avila and she was a beautiful women with long purple-dyed hair and she was currently trying to give birth and murder her husband at the same time.
"Sorry" Mason meekly apologized. Let's just say that the sight of Mason trying, and failing, to help his wife through her giving birth was hilarious. Mason Avila was a very tall man, topping out at 6'5" with a god-like muscled body.
Suddenly, the lights in the room started flickering like it was a horror movie. The doctor and nurse paused for a second before going back to delivering the baby. Mason silently wondered if Harper had screamed so loud that it woke up some sleeping ghosts. Meanwhile, Harper herself was shouting at the ghosts to come and take her on if they're brave enough.
What was really happening was that Puppet Master chose a newborn for the Time Stone's power. This newborn was soon to be named Ashley Avila and her powers manifested the most out of all of the imprints. She received perhaps Puppet Master's most powerful ability, the ability to manipulate chronons, the building blocks of time. You know how atoms are supposed to be the building blocks of the universe, yeah chronons are times equivalent of atoms.
She out of all of the imprints had the best chance at changing her destiny. That day the girl with orange eyes was born.
"Now finally the most influential of all the stones, the leader, the Soul Gem"
This stone was special as it was the one tied directly to Puppet Master's soul. Whoever wielded the Soul Gem had a chance to pull on Puppet Master's string just like he can do with the whole universe. Since it was so important Puppet Master decided to follow the Lantern Corps. traditions and have the gem seek out it's own owner, the one with the most spirit in the whole universe.
Unknown place and time
Tell me who you guessed to hold the Soul Gem. Captain America, Spider-Man, some other strong-willed character. Well you are probably dead wrong unless you are on the same path of crazy story telling as me.
Planet X-November 28, 2000
Much goes through the mind of a young sapling before it grows it's legs and all it can do is watch. The saplings are very eager to absorb anything they can from their elder trees. They watch and absorb love, happiness, hard work, heroes, villians, laziness, anger, and prejudice.
They absorbed all of these traits however one of these young saplings is different. It thought for itself and wondered why the world had to have such bad things in it. Still a sapling it had a dream to make his planet, no his galaxy a place without evil.
That young sapling was now had his legs and his dream still stood strong as he fought against prejudice and hatred with peaceful methods starting several protests for equality among the species and against slavery.
One day, he had seen one of his fellow saplings beating on a poor Terran slave. Furious he had charged and beat on the tree until he was a pile of twigs and sap. Despite his good intentions he was thrown in jail for murder along with the slave.
There they were sitting in jail right next to each other, a normal day in the life of a prisoner. Until a bright green gem floated down to their cell. The prisoners were surprised and the Terran voiced their question "What the hell is that?"
The gem then shot into the trees chest making him convulse in pain and green light shine through his branches. The tree started to run around the room trying to get rid of the pain, the sadness, the pure emotion. Sap was starting to pour from the tree's eyes as he started to cry. Finally, the tree started to calm down, but sap was still pouring down from his eyes.
The Terran, a small raccoon by the way, asked "Hey buddy remember me it's Rocket, your prison buddy remember"
The tree remained silent still lost in the emotions.
Rocket tried to distract the tree from whatever was clearly distressing him "You know you never told me your name"
More silence. The tree was still lost fighting the emotions trying to get back in control of his soul. He knew that he had to focus on something, but what? He had no family to love, saplings didn't get families, his friends disgraced him when he went to jail, and his "prison buddy" was practically a stranger. He kept on searching for something to grab onto until he finally found it.
His dream. The one thing he has longed to achieve since he was barely a sprout out of the ground. His dream to get rid of all of the evil plaguing his galaxy. All of a sudden the emotions started to align towards the tree's noble goal. He had regained control over himself and now he had a purpose. First thing first, he wouldn't be able to stand up against the evil by himself, he would need more...guardians. And he already had his first stood up and faced the tiny mammal called Rocket.
"I am Groot"
A/N Soooo, what did you think? Was it good? Was it bad? I need constructive criticism people! Anyways on to the explaining. I wanted a narrator figure of sort, but the Watcher and other characters are overused so I decided to come up with an OC on the spot, the Puppet Master. As for the infinity stone imprint idea, it was an idea for my OC Ashley that she would have time-related powers however I wanted her origin story to be original so I came up with the idea of infinity stone imprints. Now regarding my choices for the imprints I'll explain.
Reed Richards-Mind Stone: I wanted the mind stone to be set up differently than normal so it focuses on intelligence instead of how it works in main continuity. I hate how unclear they are about intelligence in Marvel and they say Reed is the smartest man alive, but I couldn't always see here I decided to truly give him the brain boost he needs to be the smartest man alive
Scarlet Witch-Reality Stone: Their powers are similar, so I used the reality stone to amplify her powers to completely unreal levels, however the freak quantum occurrence only happened because of her intense emotion towards wanting a pony, so don't expect her to be completely OP.
Spider-Man-Power Stone: Spider-Man is without a doubt my favorite Marvel character, so I feel like I had to honor that in someway. And what way better than to give his personal motto a little more oomph. The spider part gave him all of the typical mainstream spider abilities, such as his spider-like abilities and Tantric and Chaotic energy(both are canon), but his abilities and overall strength has been increased. He only possesses a very small amount of the power stone's...well power. He can only access all of it when he reaches an all-time adrenaline high though.
Phoenix Force-Space Gem: Ok this one wasn't exactly my idea as when I reached some writer's block someone offered up Jean Grey and I thought that maybe it could work because she already has the Phoenix Force. Then it clicked why not give this story some real tension and Phoenix will rear it's head eventually where our heroes will need to band together in my version of the Dark Phoenix storyline.
Ashley Avila-Time Gem: When I created her I was addicted to Quantum Break and all I could do was think "how would Jack's powers fit into comics" Ashley is my answer. And no she isn't like Jack Joyce so don't worry. I believe I already explained my reasons for her recruitment earlier.
Groot-Soul Gem: I had some writer's block on this one too and had some trouble deciding who to choose. I had also considered Cap, Daredevil, and Adam Warlock, but the first two it would ruin their characters in my opinion and Adam Warlock will eventually get his hands on the soul gem, but since I know nothing about him I'm going to do something different with him. As for my actual choice I saw an image of Jean Grey reading Groot's mind and all he said was his signature sentence, but his mind was filled with a whole paragraph full of meaning. That's when I realized that Groot was the perfect choice for the Soul Gem.
Now that the explaining is over I hope you all have a great day.
Reviews are awesome Constructive criticism is better.
-Sage out-