Hello everyone,

Follow me on instagram at wtmcdonaldauthor! If you are feeling generous, and wish to donate to my writing career, you can find me at (P) (A) (T) (R) (E) (O) (N) under the same name for early access to chapters of The Ladder!

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

'Beep'

'Beep'

'Beep'

'Vroooom'!

My eyes jerked awake, and I tried to sit up. I squinted immediately, as my eyes weren't used to the brightness of the room. My hands reached up and I covered them for a moment. The smell of antiseptic was prominent wherever I was. The constant beeping of what was obviously a heart monitor told me that I was in a hospital.

A memory passed across my mind's eye. I was looking down to a quarter sized hole where my heart was supposed to be. But I knew it wasn't there. I had no pain anywhere in my body, and I could feel the comforting thumping of my heart pumping blood throughout my body.

I took my hands off of my eyes, and looked down to my chest. It was covered by a hospital gown, and I quickly ripped it off of me. The way my arms and muscles felt, I knew that I couldn't have spent much time there, as I was still strong and there was no muscular dystrophy.

I had a couple of scars on my body from childhood, and time spent on the force, but the newest addition was definitely not there before I had been ambushed by Red Hulk, Abomination, and Sterns. A quarter sized piece of skin was raised and knotted where the wound in my memories were.

It was exactly where my heart was.

How did I survive?

I searched my mind and found the energy I was so familiar with. Relief surged through me as I pulled on it. It was obviously a fluke with Sterns, next time I wouldn't be so…

Nothing happened.

My skin didn't expand. I didn't grow muscles. I didn't get bigger. I didn't feel invincible.

Disappointment immediately replaced the relief I was feeling at finding the energy inside me. Sterns really had taken my powers. It was like the loss of a limb. I could feel my other form, although I couldn't summon it. It was a phantom feeling.

I let my head fall back into the hospital bed and my hands naturally ran to my hair, where I grabbed two clumps. The pressure of my hands on my hair grounded me slightly. Just enough so that I didn't start panicking. What was I going to do now? I didn't have my powers…

Sterns had to be stopped. Red Hulk had to be stopped. Abomination had to be stopped. Those thoughts brought a headache up out of nowhere.

How can I stop them? How was Blonsky alive? So many questions.

I quickly came to the realization that I couldn't do anything laying there in the hospital bed. I felt fine, and somehow I had been healed after having a whole blown through my chest and heart. That was something that I did not have an explanation for. I didn't know of any technology that could do that, in any of my lives.

I ripped the leads on my chest off, and climbed out of the bed. My IV came next, and I carefully took it out of my skin. The beeping of the machines turned into a loud screeching noise, and I sighed knowing that it would bring in nurses and doctors in a flurry.

The door opened as soon as I thought that.

"Rick!"

"Bruce?" I asked, confused. Somehow, he was the last person that I was expecting to walk through the door. Hell, if Nick Fury would have walked through, I would have been less surprised.

His hands gripped my arms. "You shouldn't be out of bed yet, we don't even have your blood results back."

"What?" I asked, once again confused at that information. "How did I get healed up then?"

"Healed? You were fine when SHIELD found you, do you have any wounds?"

I was fine… I thought as I processed what he was saying. So whoever, or whatever, had healed me, it was before SHIELD found my body.

"What happened Bruce?" I asked. I needed to know what they knew. Where had they found me? How did I get to a hospital, from the coast of Africa?

"That's what we'd like to know, too."

Great, of course he's here. I looked to see Nick Fury stalking into the room, with his normal gait.

"Your tracker went offline without warning over the Atlantic. We assumed you found it, and didn't want to be tracked. Once we learned that your plane was missing, we started searching." Bruce answered for Fury and SHIELD although I was curious with his use of 'we' and how he spoke for SHIELD. I ignored it, for now.

"Then we find you on the coast." Fury continued for Bruce. "With blood on the ground beneath you, signs of a struggle, and yet, no wound to be found."

The last sentence sounded more like a question, so I decided to correct them. "I was attacked." I told them as I gripped the handrail of my bed for stability. I felt great, but the situation was getting to me.

"Attacked?" Bruce whispered.

"Attacked by who?" Fury expanded upon that line of questioning.

"Sterns…" I answered immediately. "Blonsky, and another figure. As big as the hulk, but his skin wasn't green, it was red. Like blood red."

"You killed Blonsky!" Fury argued. "I saw the footage from Stark."

"Sterns?!" Bruce asked.

I waved my hand in front of them. "Give me a moment."

"You don't have a moment. 93 people are missing and I need an explanation yesterda…"

"Dead, all of them." I interrupted him. I decided that I needed to sit down, and I moved over to the lone chair in the room. It looked orderly, telling me that nobody had been sleeping in it. What did I expect, someone to cry at my bedside? It was dumb, but a part of me did wish Bruce would have slept beside me as I recovered.

I'm a fucking sap.

Sure we spent months together in the Amazon, but he owed me nothing, something he continued to remind me of, no matter what I expected. He chose Stark, and he had his own life to live. We wouldn't be the hulk bro's of the comics. At least, not anytime soon.

"You're going to have to give me more than that." Fury said.

I snapped.

"He fired a fucking missle at the plane, and the only way I survived was transforming!" I yelled, giving him what he wanted. "I saw what looked like a jet, and I followed it! It landed, I attacked, and walked right into a fucking ambush! Give me a moment to fucking think!"

Fury's hand dipped to the gun in his jacket, and Bruce stepped up. They thought I was going to transform and rage out like Bruce did. Didn't I tell them that I was in control of A-Bomb? Hadn't I proven myself enough to them? After everything?

"You don't have to worry about that!" I spat towards them. "He took it from me…"

There was silence in the air, and I could see the wheels spinning in both Bruce's and Fury's head. They were putting two and two together. A traitorous part of me whispered that they were happy about it. They didn't accept me, and had no plans to. I was unknown to them. Even Bruce didn't trust me…

"Took it?" Bruce asked. "How is that possible? You can't just take it." His face and demeanor screamed that I was a liar. He was jealous.

"Apparently you can. I've been trying to transform since I woke up… It's gone…" I reiterated, trying to keep my composure and not blow up on them again.

"God Damn It!" Fury shouted as he walked to a window. He paused for a moment and breathed out slowly. "You're sure it was him? Sterns."

"I saw him. He had a suit that used some Stark Tech mixed with his own. He killed me, or tried to." I said as I grabbed my hospital gown again and moved it so my chest was visible and pointed to my newest scar.

Bruce's back hit the wall he was near, and he sank to the ground slowly. Fury was leaning on the wall heavily, as if there was more information I wasn't privy to. We all sat there in silence, and it became palpable in the air. Bruce was feeling depressed. Fury was …furious and tired by the looks of it.

"What happened?" I asked, reading the room. They were hiding something from me.

"Nothing, that's what the problem is. He's a ghost… We know of him, have physical files on him, but digitally he's a ghost. Important people are disappearing. Reports of advanced weapons and jets far beyond our own. All eye-witnesses, but no proof. He's everywhere, and nowhere." Fury explained.

We all let the information sink in. Sterns was dangerous, because he obviously had tech that was years, or decades ahead of everyone else around. He was in every system, and now he had two gamma enhanced beings as bodyguards and hit men. The only people capable of fighting on the same level were Bruce, and Thor. And Thor was off-world, while the Hulk couldn't be relied upon.

Sterns had fucking TWO gamma beings, and I had a nagging suspicion that he was no slouch. At least Iron Man levels of dangerous…

"What do we do now?" I asked. It was for my sake more than it was for theirs. What do I do now? I had no powers, no information on how to stop Sterns…

I'm useless.

"We?" Fury parroted. It was sarcastic, as if 'what the fuck can you do?'

I frowned, and I was quick to reply that I could help. But I stopped myself. Could I help? My hand reached up to my heart, and I felt the scar over it. I had almost died… again… That's two miracles in one lifetime and there might not be a third.

"Rick, I'm sorry man. You said he tried to kill you right? What if he succeeds next time?" Bruce asked, pity written all over his face.

How dare he fucking pity me.

"He's right, Rick. It's best you stay out of it, from now on."

I didn't reply, but I wanted to shout at them that I wasn't useless. I couldn't though, because I knew they were right. And truth be told, just the thought of facing Sterns caused fear to shoot through me.

Fury nodded to Bruce, and without another word they walked out of the room together. They fucking left.

The fear slowly turned to anger, and it burned in my gut.

"At least they were nice enough to get me some clothes…" I muttered as I walked out of the hospital.

"Where to sir?"

I looked up to see a man in a black suit with an earpiece in, a SHIELD agent, and one who was forced to drive me around. He was either very skilled, because of my relative fame, or not at all because of my irrelevance. Either way, I didn't want him nor did I need him.

"I think I'll take a walk. Tell Fury I said thanks but no thanks." I told the guy and turned away from him.

I'm sure he said something to me, but I didn't hear it. I looked around at the skyline of New York and did my best to take in the sights.

I needed to think, and the best time to do that was during an aimless walk.

It was weird to feel stomach pains from a lack of food. It had been so long since I actually felt the need to eat. Sure I would get hungry, but it was never nagging like it was now. I bit into the New York Frank in my hands as I walked away from the hot dog stand and continued my tour around the streets of New York.

Surprisingly good. I thought as I continued eating the hot dog.

Every shop I passed, l looked through the window. In fact, I had a couple of bags in my hands. It was nothing special, and definitely nothing that I needed. They were my way of supporting the businesses I had visited. I had bought more 'I love NY' coffee mugs than I could drink in a week.

I took a random turn, and finished my hot dog at the same time. I looked down and wiped my hands on my pants before deciding that I should find a place to stay before it got too late.

"Just hand over the bags, and your wallet. I don't want to hurt you."

I felt something poke against my spine towards the lower part of my back. It took me longer than it should have to realize what was happening. I was being mugged… Someone was actually trying to mug me…

My fucking luck…

"You can have it all, it's not worth my life." I told the guy as I slowly moved my bags to the edge of my fingertips and held it out for him.

Once I felt my attackers fingers touch mine, I acted. I turned quickly, and the hand that was holding the bags moved to where I knew his hand was near my back. He was not expecting the movement, and barely moved by the time that I grabbed his wrist.

My left elbow lashed out and hit him right in the nose. He began falling, but I used my hold on his wrist to control his momentum. With a twist of my hand and body, he was on his stomach with his arm behind his back. My left knee was on his other arm, pinning him to the ground.

"Drop the knife." I commanded, offering no other alternative to him.

"Ah what the fuck man!"

I twisted the crack-heads arm more, applying pain to him. "Drop the fucking knife now or I'll break your fucking arm." I repeated, much more forcefully.

The knife clattered onto the ground, and I breathed a sigh of relief. My other hand reached down and grabbed it quickly. It was a switchblade, telling me that this was not the first time the man had pulled a stunt like this. The sound of running feet caused me to duck and roll off of the man. When I finished my roll, I jumped up to my feet.

"Oh you have friends." I commented as two more crack head looking guys rolled up on the scene. The bad part? One had a baseball bat, and the other had a tire iron.

This fucking day…

Every step caused a pain to shoot down my leg, from where my hip had impacted the side of a brick building. It was either that, or a baseball bat to the head, so I tried not to complain. I gripped the bags in my hands a little tighter after getting out of that situation.

I made a right turn.

"You handled that well."

And came face to face with a person that could only be described as a monk. She wore yellow robes that were loose around her joints, and tight around the wrists, ankles, and waist. I knew who it was from my memories immediately, but that didn't cause me to stop and look at her like she was a weird cosplayer.

"You could have helped…" I retorted, as I knew what the woman in front of me was capable of. My eyes latched onto her bald head unconsciously. It was unnaturally smooth, with literally no hair growing anywhere. It wasn't just shaved, no, it wasn't growing at all.

She smiled at me and shrugged. "You know me, yes?" She asked as she turned to her left and climbed up some stairs. I looked up, curious if I had stumbled upon the Sanctum Sanctorum.

Wow, what are the odds…

It didn't even phase me that she knew who I was. This was the woman who had wielded the Time Stone for centuries, and kept our dimension safe from indescribably powerful beings. This was the woman that had trained Karl Mordo, Kaecilius, and eventually her successor Stephen Strange.

"The Ancient One." I answered confidently as I followed her up the stairs into the New York Sanctum. "Sorceress Supreme." I added on as I looked around in the room I found myself in.

It was just as majestic as the movies and comics depicted. There was a staircase directly in front of you as you walked in, that moved up and to either side of the Sanctum. I could also see past the staircase into a hallway that had multiple doors in it.

"The title does not change for Genders, actually. It's just Sorcerer Supreme." The Ancient One corrected gently as we continued to walk in some unnamed direction. I followed with my eyes roaming around the place like a kid in a candy store.

Good to know.

"So we're past me pretending like I don't know what any of this is aren't we?" I asked, rhetorically. I had already revealed that I knew who she was, and she obviously didn't have any problems.

"Ha!" The Ancient One snorted at my question and began laughing. I looked at her like she was crazy for a moment, as I was not expecting her to laugh in such a manner. "You have no idea how many times I wish I could have said that exact sentence. Travelers are always so entertaining." She explained.

Wait, travelers?

"Travelers?" I blurted out, latching on to the word. "Are you implying…"

"Of course. Did you expect to be the only one?" She asked as she turned a corner and walked into a room.

I followed her without question and immediately I noticed the architecture change to a completely different culture. It definitely had Asian inspiration. I turned around and looked at the door, only to see that it was closed.

This is Kamar-Taj. I just traveled across the world without realizing it.

"Well…" I responded, immediately realized something. "…I guess that makes me seem arrogant when you put it that way." I added.

"There have been others throughout history. You're the first in a long time, however." The Ancient one explained as she made another turn. And just like that, I walked into the same room that Stephen Strange had walked into with Karl Mordo, when he had first met the Ancient One. It gave off a dojo feel, with kneeling mats and tables for tea ceremonies.

"Wait." I said as my brain short circuited. I was trying to process all of the information, and there was a lot. It was safe to assume that Travelers were essentially 'self-inserts', or interdimensional travelers. Not only that, there hadn't been any in a long time, at least in this universe. When was the last? Who was the last? So many more questions leapt to the tip of my tongue.

I settled for a more simple one. "Why does that interest you?" I asked.

Just because I was a traveler, didn't really mean anything. As far as I knew, the Ancient One was not someone to seek out anyone. People normally sought Kamar-Taj out, to be healed. Then she would oblige, while convincing them to stay and learn the mystic arts.

But she had sought me out, in front of the New York Sanctum… not the other way around.

She turned to me as I asked that, and reached out a hand to me. "Tea?" She asked.

"Please." I answered quickly. I was not going to deny the famous tea of Kamar Taj. I was actually really thirsty, after kicking the ass of the crack heads that tried to mug me back in New York. So I reached out and grabbed the tea from her. Almost immediately I carefully brought it up to my lips, mirrored by the Ancient One.

"What do you know of magic?" The Ancient One asked.

I swallowed my sip of tea, and allowed the taste to wash over my tongue. It was just as good as I expected. Perfect temperature, not too much honey, just perfect. "Wow, that's good tea." I said as I took another sip.

"Not much, just that you channel interdimensional energies into your bodies, and shape it to form spells. But I'm not even sure if that's accurate." I answered as I continued to down the tea in my hands at a record pace.

"Basic, but not completely wrong. To speed this up a bit, Travelers have access to a rare but versatile energy force. Tell me, have you ever heard of the Destiny Force?" The Ancient One asked.

What do you do when someone might already know the answer to all of the questions they are asking? The Ancient one has probably already watched the conversation happen a couple of times. No doubt, she knew just how to manipulate me to answer how she wanted. So why even bother asking me that? Was it a test?

I decided that honesty was best with a woman that could know your every secret. "I have heard of it, but I'm not an expert on it. As I know it, nobody is an expert on it." At least the comics never really expanded on the energy force that very few people could manipulate. The comic book version of Rick Jones was actually capable of performing many many miracles with the energy source. But nothing was ever concrete in its abilities.

"Exactly!" The Ancient One said as she snapped her fingers. "It is a miracle worker, nothing more. Unlike other dimensional energies, the Destiny Force requires a catalyst to be able to manipulate its powers. All the travelers I ever met discovered it during traumatic events that changed their very biology. I believe you fit that criteria as well don't you, Rick?"

Well that was rhetorical. I had been irreversibly changed by Gamma radiation. A-Bomb was literally a result of what she was describing. Did I even have to answer that? Subconsciously, I reached out to the part of my mind where A-Bomb used to reside. Out of curiosity, I pulled on it as I used to and just like I was growing familiar with, it didn't budge.

"Yes but I lost it. I can't control it anymore." I told her with a somber tone seeping into my voice without me meaning to. I brought the tea to my lips again, more to soothe my rising anxiety than anything. I was disappointed to see it was empty.

"You never could. Not really. It is not something to be controlled."

I turned to her, and looked her in the eyes then. "I could, when I had my powers. It lets me control my form." I retorted.

"No Rick, when you lost your …form." The Ancient One explained, excitedly. "It replaced it. The Destiny Force saved your life."

I frowned, as I caught on to what she was implying. "You're saying that it healed me?"

She nodded at me, and another smile blossomed on her face. "That was when I felt you." She added, explaining a little more of how she knew who I was.

I frowned, as it didn't really add up to me. "If it's uncontrollable, why am I here?" I asked. Was she saying that she could teach me how to control it?

"Ah, you assume that I want you to join Kamar-Taj…" The Ancient One said with a raised eyebrow. As if to ask 'you think I want to teach you?'

I nodded and spread my arms out. "Why else bring me here?" I wondered, as if it was an obvious deduction.

"I admit I hoped you would join our ranks, but I will not force you. Think of it as an introduction." The Ancient One answered as she finished her tea off. She stretched her hands out to me and motioned for me to give her my empty tea glass.

I didn't even need to think about what she was offering. It was an obvious answer from me. Sterns just took my powers away from me, and proved that he was too dangerous to be left alone to his devices. Before this conversation, I was lost in what to do, but now a path opened up to me.

The Ancient One was offering me the ability to gain the power to take on Sterns. Not only that, but he knew nothing about magic and what it could. I shivered as I thought about Sterns using his IQ to combine magic and science. He was already encroaching on broken territory.

"I'll do it." I said as she walked away from me.

There was a tickling at the edge of my senses. Something was behind me, and I turned to what I perceived as a threat. It was a portal, just as they portrayed it in the movies. A ring of circular Eldritch Energy cutting into space-time.

"No thanks." The Ancient One said. It took me off guard and I couldn't react to the foot that she planted on my back, sending me through the portal. I rolled with the blow and turned back to her.

There was a circular golden ring that clattered on the ground in front of me, and the Ancient One waving at me mockingly.

"If you find your way back, I'll teach you."

A/N: Boom!

Well everyone hated the last chapter LMAO!

Anyway, we shall continue, and if it's good hopefully it'll turn out good. We have a clear villain, and a path forward, more than what we had a chapter ago and I'll take that. Plus a clear vision of Rick at the end is beginning to form, which is a good thing fo me.

Anyway, tell me what you guys think.

Let's talk in the reviews!