[Odin Borson, The Allfather, POV]
I sat there on my throne, trying to understand what that cosmic presence brought with it. In all my years, even before my father gave me the throne, there had always been 'beings', tenets of 'existence', abstracts, watchers, that even the bravest of Asgardians would not want to face and a few days ago I felt the aura of one, and not just anyone, The Phoenix, on Midgard.
I had peered into Midgard before even Heimdall could notify me but my sight was cut off from the location I had sensed the signal.
That action of mine which was nothing more than a precaution had turned into a cause of worry.
Abstracts were not like other beings. Just the sight of one was enough to send the vast cosmos into frenzy as the sight of one was the same as the herald of great change. And for that reason, I worried.
I doubt a lot of people knew what had happened since Midgard was as well as disconnected from the rest of the Universe but I wouldn't be a fool to think that there are not some who had sensed what I did.
Thankfully, it left Midgard after a few days otherwise I fear what it would have brought upon the Midgardians, and by extension, Asgard and the other realms under it.
"You have been having that look on your face for the past few days. Tell me, what worries you?"
I let out a sigh. In my thoughts, I had neglected the presence of my wife until she was at my face. Maybe I am getting too old after all.
"The Phoenix rebirthed in Midgard."
"Oh my!"
"Thankfully it has left."
"But that isn't all there is to it, is there?" By the fathers, she was a woman any man, any king, would want.
"The arrival of the Phoenix… I can't help but feel like it is the prelude to troubling times. It is called the being of life and rebirth for a reason. I fear what changes its arrival would bring to our corner of the cosmos. I'm afraid troubling times lay ahead of our people and… sigh."
My words were stopped as I felt the soft hands of my queen caress my head as she hugged my head. "It'll be alright. While the younger generation can't be said to be as strong as those of ours, they do have a bright king to lead them."
By Bors beard, if there was ever a time I doubted my wife's words, it was these.
"Frigga…"
She chuckled before she let go of my head and taking along with it all my worries.
"You are touted the wisest king Asgard has ever seen. Time will tell, and our boys will rise up to the challenges it brings. You can't be Odin Allfather forever." Her smooth voice were like ministrations of the morning birds around Yggdrasil.
"Now come with me. I believe you deserve a moment of relaxation before you brood away all your hair."
It's not like the Nine Realms are fated to end today. What harm is there in relaxing for a while before going back to worrying as a king.
Who ever said being king was fun?
…
[Draul St. Cross POV]
The days went by without much fanfare after the Phoenix left. The days felt somewhat bland after that experience and the others took note of it.
The things she told me were as mind boggling as they were… mind boggling. All in all, I just didn't know how to feel about it.
And then came the part where she said something about my abilities not being what they were.
I spent the next few days after that training, trying to find out what she saw, what it was that I had been using since the beginning in correlation with my abilities but I found nothing.
It was just the same since ever.
Nothing had changed in the way I used my abilities so I just decided to forget about it for the time being and focus on something else.
I had left the mechanics field for a while to focus on the biological sciences. I figured if I wanted to make a new arm for Bucky, knowing just how the brain works wasn't going to cut it so I wanted to know how the body as a whole worked, and maybe who knows, I might just turn out to be one of those mad scientist type that create all those fucked up serums in this universe and the next one over.
There had never been a time where I ever regretted having such comprehensive intellect as I do now.
Even with my mind capable of storing everything I read, it still was a pain in the ass to learn so much about cells and blood and tissues and… God, brains, all in one field of study.
I had to study on every single branch of the damned subject that was available to me on such short time but the frustrating part was that I haven't even scratched 10%, heck even 5%, of the damned subject which wasn't surprising as that was like 10,000 years of human advances in plants and animals. I doubt I could even read and understand everything there was to know about living things even if I were to read non stop for the next decade, so I just focused on the part that I wanted, needed. No one wants to be a know-it-all, most definitely not me.
I focused my backroom research on the only thing that I had in abundance – Super Soldier Serum. What? You thought I was going to use my blood? Delusional. I don't even want to know what type of secrets were encoded in my body. I was of the mind that somethings were meant to never be known and I treated my body as such.
Now why Super Soldier Serum? Simply because, most, if not all, serum that made 60% of the biologically engineered heroes and villains of the Marvel-verse, on earth, had a trail mark that lead back to the serum Erskine created. It functioned as the best base for any kind of future power up one might later have. It was a place as good as any to start.
Since Fury's, well my, search for Klaue still on hold, I had to focus on other things to keep my mind off everything that had been happening recently.
The look Bucky gave me when I told him I needed his and Steve's blood for research was unnerving. If it had been one of apprehension, then I would have quietly backed off and started another project that wasn't based on the serum but the fucker had this look… like he couldn't believe I could ask something like that. It was like a look you'll give someone who took candy from a baby and gave him a strawberry flavored poop. It was a mix of disgust, disappointment and a healthy dose of intrigue.
It was as if he was telling, or rather, asking me if I was done making a fool of myself.
He seriously went: "Really? You quack? Want to do research? And here I thought Santa being real was an eye opener."
I had never been so pissed off, not even when I was fighting the X-Men or HYDRA, like I was when the bastard said that.
I left him to his couch after I had taken some pint of blood from my resident soldiers.
Officially I now have four lazy bums doing nothing other than working out and eating all day, laying around my house. Two super soldier brothers and two assassin sisters. The look I had on my face when Fury pointed that out must have been amusing to watch since his baldheaded ass took pictures.
I definitely wasn't running an Avengers orphanage… oops! Don't want to say that out loud.
Most of my equipment came from S.H.I.E.L.D since, well, you have to use what you have so why not?
I was already running out of space in my house but moving now was not a good idea. Hell, I haven't even spent up to 6 months inside it. So unless something comes up, I don't think I would be considering moving anytime soon.
So with all the distractions out of the way, I finally decided to focus on the task at hand.
My first try and I was proud to say that I didn't understand a single thing about it. Sure I could tell that it acted as some sort of super steroids given that the mitochondria was shooting off massive amounts of energy than was normal but other than that, I was still a ways off from understanding and perfecting the Super Soldier Serum.
I spent my days locked inside my new lab reading, testing and experimenting on any route my head told me. If someone had told me that I would be this smart and be conducting such research after the age of 40 then I would have smacked that idiot.
It was almost a week into my experiments before I had a minute breakthrough that finally saw me out of the lab.
"Woah. Bucky was serious when he said you won't be coming out for days." I met Yelena who looked like she just had her sparring session with Steve that had been going on since they moved here.
I had offered to enroll her in a school just for her to at least experience what normal life was but she turned it down, telling me that she wouldn't be able to fit in with 'normal' anymore.
For a fifteen year old kid, she was pretty mature but then again, considering what she'd gone through during the most part of her childhood, it was to be expected. If I were to be honest, apart from me, Nat was the only one who 'behaved' normal. It wasn't actually an act on her part but was how she responded to everything that had happened in her life.
'Ugh! Can't think too much. Need. Refill.' I staggered to the kitchen counter to make myself a cup of coffee and greeted Yelena with a groan while passing by her.
"You really should consider coming out every few days. Although you don't look any different, you still stink." Ughh. That hurts.
I waved the brat off and poured two mugs of coffee for myself as I sat there on the kitchen counter thinking about my most recent success. Even if it wasn't any huge milestone, it still counted as something.
Christmas was like a week away and I wanted to see if I could make any headway before the celebration.
I was deep in my thoughts that I did not realize when the others came out from their closets and joined me in the kitchen.
"Any progress." Steve's question brought me back to focus and took me off the counter before making my way to the stove to flip some pancakes.
"Not anything monumental." I said and took the bowl of whisked eggs that someone passed me.
"Which means you've at least made some type of progress. That's… incredible." I almost scoffed at what he said.
Incredible my ass. That thing was like a kaleidoscope of wonders, ever changing. The only thing I found incredible about it was how it increased the human's base potential, like burrowing extra holes for energy storage into the cells of the host. One other thing I was sure of was that it was almost impossible to identically recreate Erskine's formula.
I looked around the kitchen and noticed a missing head. "Where's Bucks?"
"He's out in town. Said he was feeling stuffy from being inside the house all week long. Between us four here, I think he misses his arm." Yelena tooted.
Yeah that gotta suck for Bucky but unfortunately there was nothing I could do. His former arm was as banged up as it could get and there was no repairing it so he had to make do with the prosthetic.
"Hopefully the pancakes will cheer him up." Nat said as she whipped out some cream while Steve and Yelena set the table.
This picture wasn't half bad.
…
[??? POV]
"Kekekeke. Looks like things are about to get fun."
Maddening laughter echoed throughout the void as 'he' peered through the flimsy film that that stupid thing thought would help in shielding its new toy from interested sights.
"Hmm? What to do? What to do?" He looked at the mortal and peered a little deeper, (wouldn't want to spoil all the fun now would we?) and looked at the interesting events that he could throw a few wrenches in with no one the wiser. Not that there was anyone as wise as he was after all.
Even the stupid author who thought he was making a great scenario couldn't possibly have thought of the plan he just put in motion. He just made a bet for a few years and he was about to 'sit' back and watch as his winnings came in full.
Oh right! That other guy who saw him. He might make a good addition. For an annoying mortal he did manage to break through the wall and watched some of the events that he shouldn't have.
"Let's add him then."
"Hey don't you dare let him write shit about me!" He heard the unmistakably annoying voice of that mortal.
"What are you doing here?" Amusement bled through his voice as he beheld the gaze of the mortal.
"As the Green Lanter- oh sorry, wrong univ- wait don't!"
He waved the consciousness away and continued his wonderful plans. Even if slightly amusing, he was still annoying.
[Draul St. Cross POV]
With Christmas just a few days away, I toned down in slaving away in my research… god, still feels weird anytime I say it, and called Fury for a meet.
I could've just given him a call and be through with it but I also wanted to see Clint who was back in duty after his medical leave.
"You still haven't found Klaue?" We were in a bar since I didn't want to be anywhere near S.H.I.E.L.D.
"We found someone matching him somewhere around Cairo but we lost him. Mind telling me why you are looking for this dude?"
"Let's just say he has some things I really need to get off his hands." No way I was telling Fury about the shipload of Vibranium that guy had stashed away.
"Right?? Do at least give me an heads up when you decide to blow up whatever his shit is." Fury dropped the topic but what he said somehow irked me.
"What do you mean 'blow up'?" I asked.
He chuckled and then looked at me and chuckled again before he spoke. "50 bucks says you blow up whatever this Klaue guy is doing. Literally and metaphorically."
I frowned at that but still doubled down on the bet. I could solve my problems without blowing shit up. I might not look it or act it, but I believe I was more assassin than the Black Widow… though Bucky got me beat hands down on that front.
"So what are the plans for the New Year?" I asked him.
Fury shrugged with a "don't know", while I couldn't help but think about what I wanted to do the next year.
My life pretty much has been a day to day goal to live by. There was nothing concrete when it came to me. The company was running, the research wasn't for me but just to kill time, while I had uses for the Vibranium, it was mostly for Bucky and the girls (grrh, more projects!). I still had Doom's hand to work with but I kept that shelved for later.
"Damn!" I muttered under my breath. There were no goals to aim for.
I had money.
I had power.
I didn't have that much influence, possibly none, but I could get it if I wanted to.
I had friends, maybe a family? Though the Avengers Orphanage wasn't official yet.
I had knowledge.
Secrets.
It was at this point that I realized that I had been doing was not that different from what I did in my former life. No, there was actually a difference in the fact that I felt fulfilled with this life than I did with the other.
Sure there were surprises to be witnessed in the coming future given the universe I was in, but with that knowledge of surprise came the lack of expectation.
God. I wasn't thirty yet and my life was already looking bland.
I shook those thoughts out of my head and sipped from my alcohol.
"Hey Nick." He turned to me with a raised brow since I usually just called him Fury and rarely ever Nick.
"I don't think I'm looking forward to the new year all that much again." Even I could not help but cringe at how that sounded when it came out of my mouth.
"What… the… fuck? What the hell is wrong with you?" I smiled wryly as I saw his unenthusiastic reaction. "You sure you're not getting high on something, 'cause what you just said sounded like crap."
I don't think he understands entirely. I doubt anyone does.
Sometimes I felt like a 4th wall character when I look at the people around me. It blurs the line between what's real and what's not and then I'd end up thinking about a million ways their lives would have gone different if it all went according to the script.
But then again, the script is written by beings who do whatever they want just for the fun of it. Bending reality down to its last atom of 'existence' on a whim. Reaching thoughts like these make you feel like nothing you do is worth it as all that you did was never truly you doing anything… but rather someone wanted you to do it and you did, without the knowledge that you never had freedom to begin with.
Thoughts like these were the ones that made me lose motivation most of the time but the arrival of the Phoenix changed that.
She told me, although unimplied, that there were rules.
Obviously the rules that held those beings wouldn't take much consideration of those lower mortals but there were bound to be stipulations that safeguarded the interest of all sentient beings. Fairness was out of the question but at least everyone had an illusion of interest and freedom.
If there were rules, then there was bound to be someone who could enforce them.
The One Above and The One Below were the prime example.
There had to be an antithesis to everything because if there wasn't, only chaos would be left.
My situation though was different – I had a charge.
I was someone else's pawn. A piece they could play whenever they felt the need.
An optimist in my situation would say that there was a chance to turn those around and become the king of the board – like chess. But those people would be the first to fall since they based things too much on human analogies.
No human analogy factored in Omniscience except for the term – God.
It was something we don't know anything about except that any being who possessed this trait was all-knowing. But how 'all-knowing' is all knowing, is something we couldn't hope to comprehend. Optimists were most times naïve idealists.
Pessimists and realists on the other hand were more likely to see what something was for what it truly was.
The notion of going against a being such as whatever was powerful enough to pull me here was not a thought that I fancied smart enough to entertain. All in due time I guess.
Fury and I kept talking to pass time before I left to meet up with Clint who had some sort of reconnaissance mission underway.
'Just like old times.'
…
"Remind me again how this is 'just like old times'?" I chuckled and kept moving forward ignoring the smell that was coursing through the warehouse we were in.
The place we were at was one of those illegal facilities that experimented on metahumans and the smell that filled the entire place already clued me in on what type of mission this was.
This mission was a solo for Clint but I had told Fury to let me in on it just for kicks.
I had managed to sneak up on Clint but he caught me when I was like 200 meters away. He had some acute senses which were almost bordering on superhuman.
What was supposed to be an infiltration mission turned into an extermination mission. Fury obviously didn't care if these fuckers died and neither did we.
It was a steamroll between Clint and me vs the mooks in here.
"So what have you been doing all these while?" I asked him as I made my way through the bodies.
"Nothing much… Just hanging around with my girlfriend." He said before pausing for a second contemplating whether to say the next part.
I knew he had a girlfriend off the grid but we've never talked about her once. "You've got a girlfriend?" I asked.
"You don't sound too surprised about it." He said.
"Because I'm still wondering if you've been seeing a lot of things recently. I heard hawks had such good eyesight that they could see up to a mile. Maybe you can finally see the future." I jabbed.
"… "
"Prick." It was always funny how he sometimes fails to get a joke even after seconds of pondering on it.
"Let's just get this over with."
…
The snow had been pouring nonstop for the past three days which made the house a lot more cozy than usual.
Everyone was in the holiday spirit, even Bucky.
We didn't do much decoration around the house since it didn't matter that much, the physical part at least.
We all had a reason to be happy with the festive seasons although none of us were religious.
Nat and Yelena were thankful for being free.
Bucky and Steve were the same.
Same with me.
We all became free one way or the other and that alone was enough to uplift our spirits.
I even went out of my way and got presents for everyone. Nat, Steve, Yelena, Bucky, Fury, Clint, Coulson, Hill, Ororo, Logan. Everyone who had an impact on my life so far were receiving a present from me.
It was currently Christmas Eve and I was working the eggnog recipe I got from Fury a long time ago.
Nat and her sister went out like an hour ago just to enjoy the sights as it was already nighttime. They had invited me but I refused to get in between such precious moments for the estranged sisters.
Bucky and Steve were out, with Bucky having dragged Steve with him to hit the bars which left me alone to take care of everything else. I had a smile on my face as I hummed a tune and dropped the last of the boxes at one corner of the room.
"That's a job wel- !"
It came faster than I could react as it dulled my senses before the ground rose against me in the form of a sharp slab and pierced right through my chest, almost destroying my heart in the process.
My weak body couldn't react before yellow vine-like energy constructs wrapped around my limbs and stretched me out.
My head was buzzing so much that I couldn't keep focus nor could I understand what was happening to me.
My thoughts were pulled to a halt when two figures in capes and masks floated inside my house.
Metallic silver and green.
Dark red and purple.
I could feel something entering my flesh but my disoriented mind had no idea what it was.
"C-ca-pes." I coughed out mouthfuls of blood as I couldn't even get out a single coherent word.
"A false bravado. It matters not however, since this day shall be your end nonetheless." What the fuck was this guy saying?
I gritted my teeth as I felt something drilling through my skin and bone and coming out from different parts of my body making me look like a porcupine.
Whatever they used in holding me down was doing wonders as I couldn't even think correctly. Even my regeneration was slowed down.
The vertigo that was currently bombarding my head was also not helping.
I looked at the dude who had the yellow thing around his arm as he turned them and made the restraints holding me stretch.
"Doom will make sure your suffering is extended." Metal gear said and immediately something clicked in my head. Doom… Victor Von Doom… Dr. Doom.
"F-f-uc-k." Even cursing at him was a problem. Whatever magic he was doing, because that was what it definitely was, was messing with my mental capacities.
Magneto had a scowl on his face as he looked at me which deepened as I flashed him a bloody smile.
I was still suspended and held mid air when Magneto raised his hands and some of the stuff from my labs started flying towards him. There was not much in there anyway other than my research on the Super Soldier Serum and my codes. None of them were of value since I'm pretty sure Magneto and Doom would have gotten their hands on the Super Soldier Serum if they wanted to anyway.
I was still thinking about the things of value in my house when pain wracked my brain as I felt my kneecaps explode. The groan of pain that wanted to leave my throat was struck down as I felt my elbows shatter before being flung to the side like a soccer ball.
The moment I left Doom's magic influence, my regeneration kicked up as smoke started leaving my wounds, healing it in the blink of an eye but the two masters before me were not as stupid as I hoped… they never were from the beginning.
A metal spike burst out from my stomach while the ground changed into chains that wrapped around my neck.
The two were obviously here to kill me in the most painful way possible which was the reason why they were toying with me.
"Don't think about putting up any pitiful resistance. Although it would be amusing to see you do so, only to increase your torment." Doom's thick and raspy voice echoed into my ears as he blasted me with magic that had me spurting out blood like a geyser.
My legs and arms were crushed only to be healed again and again as much as they wanted. The metal Magneto had put inside my body was doing marvelously at damaging me.
I looked around my house – the presents I had bought were all destroyed. The eggnogs were gone.
The minimal decoration a bunch of lazy ass adults could do had been lost since the first exchange.
The kitchen was on fire.
Christmas has been officially ruined.
"What's the point?" 'Just end it all already.' I couldn't help but think that the shadow of a smiling face was looking at me as soon as I thought that.
…
…
[??? POV]
"Hahahaha…
On the first day of Christmas, my true love said to me …
Who wants white Christmas when you can have it in red?
Hahahaha…"
....
...
...
A/N: I'm so hyped for next few chapters. I had such a fun time writing it. I might not be able to post steadily this week. My cuz just lost his mom and everything just went to shit. I can't even write anymore.
Hopefully I can get out of this funk I'm currently in, fingers crossed.
Read up to 25 chapters ahead at pa*treon /Draul_TheOminous.