Reticence Saga

Severed Web

Chapter 35: Vormir

There are certain important things one should never do while traveling between dimensions. For one thing, it's often a bad idea to be traveling without some sort of vessel as interdimensional space can be very rough on organic life.

For another thing, it's a bad idea to do anything that could knock a vessel off course. In this case, invoking a spell of living death.


Matt tried to push the zombie Gary away from him as the ship shook. "Gary, you don't wanna eat me. You don't know where I've been...in fact, you do know where I've been," he snarled, trying to push him off. Zombification was not doing any favors for Gary's complexion, or his dentistry for that matter. And that wasn't even bringing up his breath.

There was the shudder of another dimensional transition. The damn ship was skipping realities like a stone. Matt settled for headbutting Gary and scrambling for the flickering controls. "I swear, if this stupid curse takes us to a zombie dimension, I will have Lady Nega's head," he snapped.

Gary chose that moment to lunge again. "WILL YOU GIVE ME ROOM TO WORK?!" snapped Matt before punching Gary across the bridge.

"Warning...alter altitude," said the computer at that, Matt turning to the screen to see a valley ahead. "Oh shit," he muttered.

"Matt, what's going on?" asked Chloe, who had her hands full with zombie NegaMorph.

"Take the controls! TAKE THE-" yelled Matt.


The splitter group known as 'the Order' was their answer to the NSC's Darkrift and the Combine's Section 31 and as such didn't have tech restrictions...and the Klingon bird of prey the gang had was one such example, a heavy duty warship.

The crash would barely scratch the hull and, should have not even rattled a cup in the canteen. Sadly in Chloe's rampage as one of Dracula's minions, she had blown several sections, including internal dampeners.

The ship smashed into the valley of fungi, digging a trench, before sliding to a halt, no way anyone would survive...


Ow, my head..." groaned Chloe as she sat up, clutching her head.

She looked around weakly, eyes widening. Gary and Matt slumped, clearly dead judging from their twisted heads.

NegaMorph reformed with a groan. "I'm gonna kill Lady NegaMorph," he muttered weakly before noticing the scene. "Oh, this is bad..." groaned NegaMorph, "Where's Spider-Man?"

"No other lifesigns detected on board. Alert, unable to engage search and rescue beacon. Unable to detect wormhole network beacon," said the computer calmly, Chloe twitching.

"What about Megan?" asked NegaMorph.

"Uh, guys?" Chloe and NegaMorph turned to see Megan. Well, not quite like she was before. She looked more like her teenage self, only she was shaded green and translucent. "I, uh, just came out of my robot body," said Megan, "Am I a ghost now? Should I be panicking?"

"No other lifesigns detected on board. Fatal damage to synthetic. Alert...possible ectoplasmic lifeform detected," said the computer, before saying, "Checking files...object: Prisoner 001, codenamed Lady NegaMorph terminated by necromantic spell...note: critical impact, all on board lifesigns terminated...Object: Lady NegaMorph lifesign reactivated. Object: Lady NegaMorph has breached secure airlock 3...Object:...lifesigns reactivated on bridge...object...

"Wait a minute, wait a minute," snapped Chloe, "What do you mean 'all on board lifesigns terminated'? I'm not dead and neither is NegaMorph." Chloe then looked doubtful before she checked her pulse.

"Stand by...object 5: Lifesigns reactivated on bridge..." said the computer in a 'matter-of-fact voice.

Just then, there was a groan as Gary started to sit up. "Stupid zombie spell," grumbled NegaMorph.

Just then, Gary's neck straightened itself out with several loud clicks as a healthier pallor returned to his skin. "I thought it was bad enough when I died the first time," he said.

"Warning: Lifesign reactivated on bridge," said the computer calmly.

Spider-Man staggered into view at that. "I just had the craziest dream," he said, "There was this huge piece of windshield going through my chest."

"Warning: Lifesign reactivated...warning...lifesign reactivated," said the computer before there was another crack, Chloe turning to see Matt shoot upright with a scream.

"Ok, are we in the afterlife or not?" asked Chloe.

"We're in the afterlife?" asked Matt before looking around, "This doesn't look like Heaven." Then he spotted NegaMorph and yelled, "OH NO, NegaMorph'S HERE! THIS MUST BE THE OTHER PLACE!"

NegaMorph glared. "Oh for God's sake," he muttered, before the computer said "Unable to pinpoint location. Local jamming in effect. Multiple lifeforms detected in multiple locations. Unknown radiation permutating local area. Recommended course of action. Recon area...pinpoint location...recover wayward prisoner dead or alive."

"Well that tells us a whole lot of nothing," said Spider-Man.

"Yeah, and we need some answers," said Megan, "Like how come you guys came back to life while I'm a ghost now?"

"Increasing scans...Section 31 distress beacon within vicinity," said the computer, a line map appearing on a screen before zooming out to show a flashing dot.

"Oh, so we're not the only ones to have crashed...wherever we are," said Matt.

"Beacon frequency is match for a model used by static facility," said the computer.

Chloe said, "So far it's our only lead to where we are."

"They better have something we can use to fix this ship," said Matt.

"The ship is 100% operational. However, without a gap in the jamming, it is not safe to use the jump drive," said the computer, adding, "There is a 75% possibility the Section 31 facility is the cause of the jamming."

"Well, then I think it's time we visit our new neighbors," said Spider-Man as he approached the airlock.

"Wait a minute," said Gary, "We don't know what's out there."

"Let me see," said Megan before floating forward and sticking her head through the hull. After a few seconds, she pulled her head back and said, "Mushrooms, lots and lots of mushrooms."

"Atmosphere survivability at 100%," said the computer cheerfully.

"Great, last thing we need is spores getting into our lungs and sprouting roots," said Chloe dryly.

"Section 31 are the Combine's Darkrift. If there's people there, it'll be the safest place here," said Matt.


The beacon's location was inside what, at first look, looked like a grassy hill, till you got closer and noticed it was a white building overcome with vines and mold. As they approached, two turrets turned to fire, making harmless clicking, their ammo spent.

"Ok, they didn't waste their ammo on harmless critters," said Chloe, "We need to be careful."

"What's there to shoot at here? Man-eating mushrooms?" asked Spider-Man. Gary, who was resting a moment on a giant toadstool, stood very quickly.

"I doubt it," said Matt, taking a step forward cautiously before another turret popped up to aim, this one looking cleaner. "Relax, it's out of-" began Matt before it opened fire on him.

The group quickly scattered, hiding behind the mushrooms. Though considering how they were being perforated, they wouldn't make good cover for long.

Chloe glared, looking where Matt fell, before he groaned, "Immortality hurts." before a plasma ball shot from his hand and through the turret.

"That'll draw them out," said Chloe.

A second later, a missile shot from the building, NegaMorph opening a shadow in front of it, aiming it back at the building.

Spider-Man shot a webline at the missile and yanked it away from the building. It exploded on a hillside, scattering pieces of mushroom around. "What did you do that for?" asked NegaMorph,

"Uh...reflexes mainly," said Spider-Man, "Also, we're not going to get answers if we blow this place up." A shape was seen just inside the door running for it. "Like him," said Spider-Man, firing a web string at the figure, tangling its legs up.

The figure fell with an oof, before rolling, aiming a rifle and opening fire with a 'brakka' noise. "Ok, this has gone on long enough," said Chloe before she dashed forward.

The figure, pulling at the webbing, fired more. Chloe's electricity made the bullets veer before she got close enough to pick up the masked figure, his armor made from various overwatch armors, before slamming him into the wall, pulling his gun aside. "Ok, buster, start talk-" she began before the figure jabbed his fingers into her windpipe.

Chloe's words went out with an undignified squeak as she clutched at her throat. The figure's gloves tore open to reveal claws before it slashed her throat and ran, the wound glowing and healing almost immediately, along with the stabbed windpipe.

The figure snarled in frustration before a web shot hit him and pinned him to the wall, the figure snapping something in combine, though it was probably not flattering.

"I'm pretty sure you have English in your translator," said Matt, "I don't really want to bandy around here in Fungus Town, so just turn off your jammer so we can go and you can go back to doing whatever you're here for."

"Eat me, NSC," snarled the figure, a strange twang to its accent.

"I wouldn't tempt her," said NegaMorph, "She might actually take you up on that."

Chloe glared, grabbing the mask and pulling, the mask coming loose to reveal a black-furred vulpine face, scowling. "All you'll get is my ID code, human," he snapped, only to spot NegaMorph and hiss.

"Yeah, I'm real scared, foxy," said NegaMorph dryly.

"Hey, let me try something," said Megan before she floated into the fox's body.

The fox shook before he said, "Man, this guy's got discipline. He's a vulx...head of security at this research center...ow...owowowowow. How did he knows? He's thinking about your singing. I'm out," the fox snapped before Megan got out of him, clutching her head, the fox smirking.

"Section 31 found it's the best way to repel possessors and mind controllers," he sneered.

"I think I'm flattered," said Matt.

"It works...and possessing works two ways. So this place got you too and you lost a prisoner," said the fox, glaring at the group, before saying, "I'd say this place is restricted but as I'm all that's left..." before a howl was heard in the distance. "How far is your ship? They'll be out in a few minutes."

"They who?" asked Matt.

"No time, get inside," snapped the vulx, using claws to slice his way free.

"Why should we?" asked Chloe.

Just then, they heard a rattling hiss that didn't sound too far away. "You did say he was shooting at something," said Spider-Man.

"I was shooting at what I thought was a buncha hostiles. Now get in before the real hostiles get here, kid," snapped the vulx, running for the doors.

The group headed for the doors as the sound of hissing got louder, and from multiple directions. The vulx hit a switch, a heavy blastdoor slamming down, more slamming down over the windows, plunging the place into darkness, before neon lights flickered on to show a lobby, several vines covering things and a symbol shaped like a shield on the reception desk, the words 'Section 31' below it.

The vulx took off the remains of his helmet as he walked over and sat on the desk. "The first people in a year and they crashed," he sighed, the others noticing brown stains on the walls and floor.

"Well, at least our ship-" started Spider-Man only for Matt to elbow him.

"I saw inside your ghost's head, remember?" said the vulx, before the blastdoor shutter shook as multiple things rammed against it. "They probably saw your crash too," he said, before saying, "You can call me Sechek. I'm all that's left of 120 scientists and Overwatch stationed here."

"What's here to study? Besides fungi?" asked Gary.

"The radiation here's rejuvenating. Hell, I tore out your friend's throat and your other friend got perforated from the last turret here and they're still among the living," said Sechek.

"Well, I have an enhanced healing factor," said Chloe.

"But he doesn't," said Sechek before plunging a dagger into Matt's side.

Matt twitched before yelling in pain, Sechek pulling the dagger out before pointing, the cut closing up. "Those things out there are the same. At first there was just a few and we could scare em off or disintegrate them...but the D-orbs ran low and they realized our other weapons just annoyed em...then they rushed us one night..." said Sechek with a sigh.

"So if you can't die, why are you so worried?" asked Gary.

"Oh, you can die. High caliber and anti-tank will do the job, blasting their head, disintegration...and being devoured..." said Sechek, staring at one of the stains with a distant look.

"But besides that, anything else is fair game?" asked NegaMorph before stabbing Matt through the chest with his tail.

Matt yelled in pain as Sechek said, "I saw one get impaled, took a while but it eventually died, so I'd stop that."

"Ok then," said NegaMorph. A few seconds later, he took out a mallet and whacked Matt over the head.

"Stop that!" snapped Matt.

"Make me," sneered NegaMorph, before he started to glow. "Oh...oh yeah," he grumbled before he was squished into an old coffee cup on the desk via plasma control. "Totally worth it," he rasped.

"Doesn't explain why I'm a ghost though," said Megan.

"Well, apparently the rejuvenation radiation doesn't work on machines," said Spider-Man.

"That or your body's occupied," said Sechek, before saying, "Better we get away from the blastdoors. Once they realize we're not in the lobby, they'll lose interest.

"What exactly are 'they'?" asked Chloe.

"Records say they're called Vorms...though not any version I've ever seen. They look like they're half-starved," said Sechek, leading them in deeper, the building getting cleaner as they went in.

"How can they be? There's bound to be lot of things to eat here. Unless they don't like mushrooms," said Spider-Man.

"Vorms are carnivores and our scouts saw no other animal life," said Sechek.

"They wouldn't have developed into carnivores if there was nothing else here to eat," said Spider-Man, "Either they're not native here or something has really changed."

"Gee, what was your first clue?" asked Megan dryly, half-floating through a wall.

"You saw them?" asked Matt.


4 minutes earlier...

Megan winced, sticking a finger in her ear. Matt's singing was just as bad when it was a memory then in person. She didn't notice as the vulx steered her friends inside, or when a roar was heard, mostly as all she heard was ringing.

"I shouldn't even have eardrums right now," she muttered, "Being a ghost sucks." Just then, she heard something hissing. She turned to see a desiccated dragon-like creature leering down at her. It was about 7 feet tall including the neck, had a humanoid body frame with no wings, and was pretty much paper-thin skin stretched over bones.

"Oh crap," muttered Megan before it lunged at her with a hiss, went through her and faceplanted a boulder behind her, making a 'bleh' noise before sliding down the rock. "Man, if it had a brain, it'd be dangerous," Megan said sarcastically,

More hissing was heard among the fungi. "Of course, numbers might make up for that," said Megan hurrying through the base's walls.


"There must be dozens out there but they make Morph look like Chip," said Megan.

"I'd say they're zombies, considering this place cured Gary and NegaMorph of being zombies, I don't see why they would be," said Matt.

"No...I could tell. They were breathing. They're just...mad with hunger," said Megan with a shudder, realizing she'd picked up those thoughts from the one that had jumped through her.

There weren't many thoughts to pick up. All Megan could pick up was an unending hunger, never enough food to sate it. Unfortunately, it appears that even starving to death here isn't an option. Which means those creatures will try to eat anyone they find. All of a sudden, Megan became very concerned for her other half.


Lady Nega peered over the edge of the mushroom she'd taken cover on, rolling her eyes as the Vorms below tried to jump up at her. "I shoulda stayed in the cell," she muttered.

In hindsight, using that spell of living death wasn't her best thought-out plan. No, that's a lie, that didn't even count as a thought-out plan. At least this strange planet cured her zombieism.

That was another thing. It was a known fact that it took ALOT of magic to cure magical zombieism but something had done it and done it fast.

And there was definitely the sky worth mentioning. It was impossible to tell what time of day it was because there didn't appear to be a sun, moon, or even stars. It just looked like a giant green aurora casting an eerie light below while shifting between every shade of green known to exist.

Lady Nega looked at the horizon, her fungus sanctuary giving a good view for miles. Whatever was doing this had to be close...for example those lizards down below looked like they shoulda starved to death years ago. Whatever this thing, it has to be powerful. And if it's powerful, it must be hers.

She concentrated, reaching out, before going bug eyed as she sensed something that overloaded her magical senses. "Nurble bone cheese," she gibbered, falling sideways. She wouldn't recover for an hour at least, but she'd be smiling (and drooling a little) till then.


"So besides fungi and Vorms, anything else on this planet?" asked NegaMorph.

"Put away that chainsaw," said Chloe, not even looking up from the report she was reading.

"He can get matching robot arms," said NegaMorph before he heard a finger snap, managed a "Oh cr-" before his head popped.

Sechek sighed as Matt went to town on NegaMorph. "I wasn't privy to what they were researching but the lack of morgue means the science team were aware of whatever causes this. Probably where the jamming is too," said Sechek

"Wait, you're not causing the jamming?" asked Matt.

"No...we had stabilizers to break it...but that was the first thing those reptiles broke," said Sechek.

"Then what's doing the jamming?" asked Gary.

"Something at the temple...but it's swarming with those things. I led the last of security there to try and take out the signal," said Sechek.

"There's a temple?" asked Megan.

"North of here where the fungus is thickest," said Sechek

"Maybe we could investigate," said Spider-Man.

"You did hear the part about the security team being wiped out, didn't you?" asked Sechek dryly.

"Well, it's that or we learn to like fried mushrooms," said Matt.

Sechek sighed. "You humans...how the hell did one of you beat us?" before he said "We'll go in the morning. They usually sleep then."

"When is morning?" asked Chloe.

"Few hours...wherever we are, time and space are up the afterburner," said Sechek, adding, "Place is unstable enough as it is."


The rolling green energy of the sky was a mess on a normal day, able to draw your eye in, but something new was occurring. At the point where the gang's ship had arrived, a small purple tear was forming, slowly expanding...it probably wouldn't draw attention...right?


In Asgard, everyone is on the move. There are battles to fight and feasts to be had. But one man never moves far from his post. Heimdall, Watchman of the Nine Realms and Keeper of the Bifrost, gazed out into the cosmos with his all-seeing eyes. Of course, 'all-seeing' is a little misleading. He couldn't see everything at once and it was possible to shroud something from his vision, but only through the most complicated of sorcery.

That said, he was the Watchman of the Nine Realms for a reason. Usually, there was hardly much of note, but today, there was something...off. It was hard to say where exactly in the universe Asgard was, if it was in the Milky Way Galaxy or not. But Heimdall had a very good view of most of it. And on the very edge of one spiral, near one of the Magellanic Clouds, there was a flicker that had not been there before. It strained even his eyes to focus on it.

He peered closer, focussing his attention on it...there it was again. A...glimpse of something, something powerful.

"What could that be?" he muttered, "Could Surter be making another breach in the universe?"

A second glimpse was seen, this time showing a green world, deep deep in the realms. "If that is what I think it is, then I'll soon not be the only one to see it," said Heimdall.

He expanded his gaze out. He could already sense forces moving towards it. The void walkers were sending their vessels already...

He could even see, down where his vision almost failed him, the realm of Niflheim was showing some very rare activity. Hela would be on the march soon. And there may be more in the dimensions not included in the Nine Realms.

He frowned, sensing the Dark One's forces moving too. Whoever was going to get caught in the middle was going to be in serious trouble before long.


This was one of those rare occasions where Matt was completely aware he was dreaming. Perhaps it was because his dream was a very sharp contrast to the waking world. Instead of being in a greenlit world of fungi, he was now in an icy, foggy world that was drearily twilit. Not to mention there were plenty of bones underfoot.

He reached for his blaster, pausing to realize there was no gun...there was no holster either. He looked down slowly to see skulls, some he recognized. There were corpses in NSC armor, others in EGIS armor...and some in a uniform with the tag 'Maelstrom Star'...others had names he recognized.

His eyes narrowed before he looked around. "Ok, I've been in this situation. Come on out or I'll start singing," snapped Matt.

"Usually warriors are shaken to their cores to find themselves here," said a female voice. A figure emerged from the fog, a towering woman dressed in green with a very impressive headdress with so many horns it looked like it would give her a neckache.

"I dunno...I've seen alot of death," said Matt darkly, turning towards the voice and being snout to snout with...well it was probably canine, except there was a green glow in its mouth. It snarled, glaring at Matt before finally just licking him before stepping aside.

"It would seem Garm is eager for your arrival here," said the giantess as the huge dog walked over and sat by her side.

"Nice dog...can't place the breed," said Matt, slipping into his joking persona, while thinking. Whoever this lady was, she'd strolled through his psychic defenses like they were mist. That meant she could beat him to a pulp. This meant to carefully know what level of 'taking the piss' could result in death.

"Normally, I cannot take the souls of those who have died in battle," said the giantess, "But those who die fighting my legions, that's another matter entirely."

Matt gulped, before saying, "In my defense, Ghoulwyrm brings it on himself every time and if he didn't react so funnily, I'd stop going for his head."

"What?" asked the giantess in confusion.

"Oh, phew. So, which legions do you refer to?" he asked carefully, the dog seeming to, to Matt, roll its eyes.

"The Legions of Niflheim," said the giantess, "My army of the dead."

"I don't think I've shot any undead in this dimension..." said Matt thoughtfully.

The giantess smirked. "All undead are my legion," she said.

Then Matt remembered when he heard the name 'Niflheim' before and how major Norse mythology is in the Marvel universe. "Uh...you wouldn't happen to be Hela, would you?" Matt asked nervously.

"Finally," sneered Hela.

Matt looked at the dog. "So...he is?" he said carefully, backing up.

"Garm, my loyal guard dog," said Hela, petting the large hound's head.

"He's a big boy," said Matt nervously.

"You should see his father," said Hela.

"I'd...rather not. Is there a reason I'm here?" gulped Matt.

"Oh, I just wanted to make an announcement of my impending arrival and you appeared to be the most receptive one," said Hela, "I suggest you stay out of my way."

"Erm...we would if we knew where we were. What's so special about mushroom land anyway?" said Matt.

Hela started to laugh, Garm rolled his eyes more as if to say 'Now you've set her off'. "You know not what you are even guarding? The Norns must have been in a humorous mood this day," said Hela.

"You're not gonna tell me, are you?" said Matt in a dull voice.

"That would lose the surprise," said Hela, "Anyways, it isn't that hard to figure out, even for an ignorant mortal."

"I'm not even from this dimension," snapped Matt, Garm wincing at Matt's tone.

"I doubt you'll be able to reach the afterlife of whatever world you are from," said Hela as the shadows grew darker around her, "But I shall gladly welcome you into mine."

"I'm fine, thank you. I have a long happy life ahead of me," yelped Matt, the shadows pausing, Hela starting to laugh darkly. "What? What's so funny?" asked Matt.

"It will spoil the surprise," said Hela before she shoved him hard.


Matt shot upright with a yell, making everyone jump, worse in Sechek's case, who fell out of his bunk with a surprised yip.

"What's up, Matt?" asked Chloe.

"Oh, you know, ominous dream of portending doom," said Matt, "Seems more personal than usual."

"I told you not to eat the Combine rations. They're always heavy on the cheese," snapped Chloe.

Sechek snapped, "ENOUGH! We might as well go to the temple. As close as it is safe anyway," adding darkly "I'll never get any more sleep with you guys."

Just then, there was a ripple in the air. "Anyone else feeling that?" asked Matt. Spider-Man sat and grasped at his head. It felt like someone had put an electric pencil sharpener inside his skull and the vibrations were driving him crazy.

"Warning...dimensional tear detected...Class Z," said Sechek's wrist computer.

Just then, there was a blue shimmer in the air that seemed to be struggling for resolution. Eventually, more definition was established and it took the form of a translucent Doctor Strange. "Oh, finally," said Doctor Strange, "I've been trying to get in contact for hours."

Sechek reached for a blaster, only for Chloe to stop him. "Hold fire, foxy," she said warningly in his ear, holding his arm down.

Spider-Man asked, "Doc? What's wrong?"

"Well, Spider-Man, I was hoping I wouldn't find you here or anyone else," said Doctor Strange, "You've landed in a world that was never meant to be found again."

"Oh great, forbidden planet and Lady Nega is loose here," muttered Matt.

"So what's so forbidden about this planet?" asked Chloe.

"What do you know of the Infinity Stones?" asked Doctor Strange.

"They were five stones, each with the power to control a different aspect of the universe," said Spider-Man, "Power, Mind, Time, Space, and Reality. Whoever has all of them can control the universe, like Thanos did for a short time. But the Infinity Stones were drained by Ultron and rendered useless." The others gave Spider-Man an odd look. "What? I read SHIELD reports, especially if they're about the Avengers," said Spider-Man.

"Perfectly correct save for one detail," said Doctor Strange, "There were not five Infinity Stones, there were six. Vormir is the hiding place of the last stone, the Life Stone."

Matt, Chloe and Sechek all gulped at once at that. "Oh crap," muttered Matt,

"I never heard of the Life Stone," said Megan.

"It's a well-kept secret," said Doctor Strange, "Whoever holds it has the power over life and death themselves. You can imagine the devastation it could do in the wrong hands. It was why it was hidden on Vormir and Vormir was hidden between dimensions. It would prevent anyone from completing the Infinity Stone set and become truly omnipotent."

"Great...simply great...and Lady Nega's in the same area code," snapped Matt.

"It will only get worse-" started Doctor Strange.

"Of course it does! Of course it always bloody does!" snapped Matt.

"Uh oh...meltdown," muttered Spider-Man.

Matt snapped, "It was a simple pickup! Just pick up Megan and head back. But NOOOOOOOOO! She had to go evil and stuff and be on SHIELD's most wanted and then lead us on a damn trip across a dozen dimensions on a WILD GOOSE CHASE!" going to half dragon as he ranted.

"Should we-" started Sechek.

"There's no stopping him now," said Chloe.

"But it sure makes for interesting listening," said NegaMorph as he filmed with his camera.

"And then there's NegaMorph, who's been trying to kill me since we got here. Just cause we have infinite lives here DOESN'T MEAN IT'S FUNNY!" Matt screamed, his eyes glowing and Nega twitching before being crushed into the camera.

"So the Life Stone is why we can't really die?" asked Gary.

"Then how comes I'm a ghost?" demanded Megan.

"Your body is probably occupied by another spirit," said Doctor Strange calmly.

"Technically it's the other half of her spirit," said Chloe.

"You know, maybe the Life Stone could make Megan a new body altogether," said Spider-Man.

"I would not advise it, Spider-Man. The Infinity Stones are dangerous," warned Doctor Strange.

"This thing has the power of life and death," said Chloe, "I'd rather not see how much death it could do."

"Then you'd better hurry so it doesn't fall into dark hands," said Doctor Strange.

"Pardon?" asked Gary.

"By coming here, you've torn a hole in the dimensional membrane that separated Vormir from the universe," said Doctor Strange, "Now other realms are on the move to claim the Life Stone. The Dark Dimension is boring a portal here as we speak."

"Is their leader named Hela by any chance?" said Matt, snapping back to his senses.

"No, that would be Dormamu, " said Spider-Man, "Big demon, flaming head, can't really mistake him for anyone else."

"You've met him before?" asked Megan.

"A few times," said Spider-Man.

"Hela is the ruler of the Asgardian realm of Niflheim," said Doctor Strange, "She is the Queen of the Dead."

"Which gives her plenty of reason to want the Life Stone so she's coming here too," said Matt dourly.

"What?" said everyone, Matt recounting his little dream visit to them.

"I doubt Dormammu and Hela would play nice with each other," said Chloe.

"And that's better, HOW?!" yelled Matt, his twitching eye indicating he was starting to slip again.

"Their armies will probably be more busy with each other than us," said Chloe.

"That's good...wristcomp. This guy's clearly not the breach. Where's the Class-Z breach?" asked Sechek before a gray fist punched through the wall.

"Undead soldier?" asked Matt.

"Probably a Mindless One," said Spider-Man, "Dormammu's minions of living stone."

The Mindless One finished tearing the wall aside, two more behind it. "Just shoot it!" snapped Sechek, firing.

"Gladly," said Matt before opening fire.

The three Mindless Ones eventually shattered, showing a glowing orange rift and more minions coming through. "You gotta be kidding. I shoulda let you get eaten!" snapped Sechek, hitting a section of the wall and a klaxon starting. "Run!" he snapped.

The group quickly ran over the hills. Incidentally, it turns out the larger mushrooms were actually springy enough to enhance their leaps when jumped upon.

"What did you press?" asked Matt before, where they had been, suddenly lit up and a blast wind knocked everyone down, a green mushroom cloud, cracking with arcs of lightning rising from it.

"Something to put those things off," grinned Sechek.

Chloe looked between them, dazed. "Oh, God, now there's two of you," she groaned.

"So now what?" asked Gary.

"Well, I think we can presume the Life Stone is at that temple," said Spider-Man.

"We find the Life Stone," said Matt, pausing before seeing something out of the corner of his eye. He could have sworn he saw something moving among the toadstools, something too furry to be a Vorm.

"Hey, human! Snap out of it!" called Sechek, adding darkly, "Some of these mushrooms are omnivorous."

NegaMorph laughed. "Oh please...carnivorous-" he began a tendril grabbed him and dragged him away.

"Did a fungoid vine just drag off NegaMorph?" asked Spider-Man nervously.

"Don't be silly," said Megan, "Fungi don't have vines."

"I'll go get him," sighed Matt, transforming to dragon form and walking into the undergrowth, Chloe swearing the mushrooms were giving him a wide berth. It proved, if true, that the mushrooms were smart enough to not pick a fight with a walking flamethrower.

Matt sighed, looking around before shuddering, feeling the old 'someone walked over my grave' sensation. He looked around, glaring, in time to see a blur go past. "How fast can starved-to-mostly-death lizards move?" muttered Matt.

A snap got his attention and he turned in time to see a pair of eyes flying at him...


"How long does it take to kill a mushroom?" muttered Chloe in annoyance, before footsteps were heard.

Matt, in his human form, walked into view. He was carrying NegaMorph, who had a large mushroom over his head. NegaMorph said in a muffled voice, "Either get this thing off me or pass the garlic butter."

"Anything else we should avoid? Any molds that'll try to infect our bodies and turn us into zombies?" asked Spider-Man.

"Nothing like that, but we ought to expect more weirdness as we get closer," said Sechek.

Chloe nodded as she got the mushroom off NegaMorph, which sprouted legs and ran off making chittering noises. "Sooner we're done here, the better. This place is giving me a migraine," she muttered before looking at Matt who was looking at the sky. "Matt...bro, wake up!" she snapped, jabbing him.

Matt blinked. "Oh, me...sorry, head was in the clouds, sister," he said.

"Were you snorting spores?" asked Chloe.

"Of course not. Just trying to work out where we are," said Matt angrily.

Sechek snapped, "Hey, you two. Argue on your own time." Matt growled something under his breath.


As they got closer to the temple, it became easier to tell where it was. There was a distinct spire among the swirling green aurora above that was always above a fixed location. There was also more Vorms, though they seemed to be keeping their distance

"Is anyone else thinking what I'm thinking?" asked NegaMorph.

"That aurora would make an awesome screensaver/visualizer?" asked Spider-Man.

"No...that this energy isn't healthy," said NegaMorph with concern.

"But isn't it concentrated life energy?" asked Gary.

"What the Life Stone can give, it can take away," said Matt grimly.

"And too much of anything is bad too," said NegaMorph, before pausing, "Hey...that was surprisingly deep for you."

"Have you seen what the other Infinity Stones could do?" asked Matt.

"Uh, no, and neither have you," said NegaMorph.

"No...but...I read about them," said Matt carefully .

"You? Reading about non-mission criteria?" asked NegaMorph, "You sure you didn't some mind-control spores in your sinuses?"

"Uh, there are some slime molds over here that you really want to avoid!" called Gary.

NegaMorph glared at Matt, before Matt said, "NegaMorph, my friend...it's me, don't you trust me?"

"Since when do you ever call anyone 'my friend'?" asked NegaMorph.

"All the time," said Matt.

"No you don't," said NegaMorph before spitting black slime in Matt's face.

Matt turned, pushing Nega back, before grinning, his eyes glowing yellow. "You should stop suspecting your friends," he said in an echoing voice that seemed to get into NegaMorph's head and fill it.

Just then, Gary ran past, running away from slime mold that was moving a lot faster than mold ought to. "I don't think I want this thing to touch me!" called Gary.

Matt glared at NegaMorph before saying in the same voice, "Go help him."

NegaMorph shook his head before saying, "Gary really needs to find some ranged weapons." He then blasted the mold with his eye beams.

"At least show some spirit," sighed Matt. Matt called to the others, "We best be more careful. The closer we get to the Life Stone, the more influence it has."


The 'temple', if it could be called that, seemed to be a cave set into a cliff, albeit one covered in mushrooms...oh, and alot of Vorms. Unlike the ones seen so far, these ones looked better fed, though their eyes had a faint green glow.

"We better be careful," said Chloe, "I'll doubt they'll let us walk right in and steal their sacred source of life."

"Like they could stop us," said Matt darkly, looking at his blaster before readying his ion blade.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, can't we use a diplomatic approach?" asked Gary.

"Their brethren attacked us," snapped Matt, glaring at Gary.

"Those Vorms were starved to madness and just barely count as living," said Megan, "These Vorms don't seem to have that much of a problem."

Chloe nodded, not noticing her brother's eyes flash amber for a second before he said, "This is a bad plan."

"And what's your plan? Charge in and cut down every Vorm that gets in our way? In a place where they'd probably only stay dead for about a minute?" asked Megan.

Matt glared before nodding, "You have a point. It'll be easier to get the stone with stealth and guile."

Everyone that knew Matt personally turned to give him a suspicious look. The only exceptions were Sechek who only just met him and NegaMorph was staring off into nothingness.

Matt looked between them, before saying, "Well, we are outnumbered."

"Matt, have you been feeling alright?" asked Megan.

"Perfectly fine," said Matt confidently.

Megan was tempted to look inside Matt's head to see if everything was really fine. But then again, a look in Matt's mind would probably scar her for life. "Ok...so we sneak in and nab the gem," said Megan, the group noticing Sechek looking worried, before he slowly raised his hands, pointing.

At the same time, Spider-Man's spider sense went nuts, turning before gulping and poking Chloe, who turned and groaned, a dozen of the Vorms stood behind them, blades in hands. "You intruders are pretty easy to sneak up on. Please come quietly," said a cream-scaled one at the front in a calm, serene voice.

"Well, it looks like we'll have to try diplomacy now," said Gary.

Chloe nodded. "My name's Chloe Lynch. Our ship crashed and what's stranding us here might be your stone. Also there might be trouble coming," she said to the Vorm, who frowned .

"Uh, you've already had dinner, right?" asked Spider-Man.

"The sacred stone sustains us," said the Vorm calmly, sighing, "She did warn that you would come. We do not tolerate violence...or kidnappers I am afraid."

"She who?" asked Megan.

"That'll be me." said a familiar voice behind the Vorms who parted.

It wasn't much of a surprise to see Lady NegaMorph there, looking very smug. "YOU!" snapped Megan before diving at her dark self.

The others watched as Megan collided with Lady Nega, though, instead of going through her dark side, the two collided head first with a sound like two coconuts, the Vorms and gang all wincing.

"I don't think you'll be getting your body back that easily," said Gary.

"It's like I said, Issac," said Lady Nega, a little dazed.

Megan was the first to recover and was trying to get a foothold back into her body. Putting her ghost feet into Lady Nega's mouth was most likely the wrong approach.

"Please come quietly. While me and mine prefer not to kill, we do know how to...circumvent the power of this place to keep you dead," said Issac, the cream-colored Vorm.

"I'm sorry, what was that?" asked NegaMorph. He had been a little too transfixed by his niece trying to possess herself.

"My clan have lived here many many years and our starved brethren are as much a threat to us and you. We've learnt how to make sure our kills stay that way, demon," said Isaac.

Chloe winced, "Wrong words."

Matt glared. "He wouldn't do something that dumb," he said, eyes glowing at Nega.

"Don't call me a demon," said NegaMorph offhandedly.

Chloe stared. Usually NegaMorph went ballistic. "You did hear what he said, right?" she said carefully.

"Whatever," said NegaMorph.

Matt nodded. "See? He can be calm."


Their 'cells' were actually pretty nice, the remains of some sort of ship, probably what had brought the original Vorms too.

Chloe was far from relaxed. She was absolutely certain that something was wrong with Matt and it's apparently spread to NegaMorph. Probably some parasitic fungus had infected their brains. And here she was without athlete's brain powder.

"You've been here for ages. You musta seen something like this," she said to Sechek.

"Nope, all the fungi was macro-fungi, just big," Sechek said for clarification.

"So no worries about them growing inside us?" asked Spider-Man.

"Nope," said Sechek calmly.

Chloe glared before snapping, "Take this seriously. Do...you know...what's wrong?" she snapped, grabbing and shaking him.

Sechek yawned, "Yeah...he's probably possessed."

Matt perked up. "Eheh...that's nonsense," he said nervously.

"How many ghosts have you seen floating around here?" asked Megan.

"You," said Sechek, adding "I'm a Section 31 agent. You think you're the first ghost I've seen?"

"Well, shouldn't there be more ghosts in a world that's between life and death?" asked Megan.

"Most people here haven't lost their bodies," said Sechek, "Those who have...well, it seems the afterlife is a better alternative to here."

"It's not all it's cracked up to be," muttered Matt before covering his mouth.

"Megan, mind taking a look inside his head?" asked Chloe.

"You do realize what you're asking of me," said Megan.

"I'll cover your therapy bills," said Chloe.

Megan gulped, looking at Matt who was now grinning. "I...I really don't want to," she said nervously before sticking a hand in and recoiling. "That's not Matt," she said weakly

"Whose ghost is it?" asked Gary.

"It's not a ghost," gulped Megan, Matt grinning with teeth that were way too sharp.

"Ok, whoever or whatever you are, get out of my brother," snapped Chloe.

'Matt' grinned wider, "No...my mistress gave me a very specific task. Her minions cannot come too close to the stone, but I'm not dead."

"Mistress?" asked Gary.

"Let me guess, Hela?" asked Spider-Man.

"Indeed," said 'Matt' calmly, adding, "At least one of you knows my mistress."

"Matt's being possessed by a minion of the Queen of the Dead?" asked Chloe, "He is not going to be happy about that."

"Not just a minion," said 'Matt' before green flames went up around him. Once the flames cleared, in Matt's place, was a black furred anthro wolf, eyes glowing as blood-red as his chest and smirking. Chloe rolled her eyes as she heard the hellhound in her head say 'woof' eagerly.

"Tremble before the terrible Garm, Hound of Niflheim," snarled the wolfman.

"Matt officially has no more room to talk down to me about being possessed and controlled all the time," said Chloe flatly.

"Explains NegaMorph too," said Megan, pointing at NegaMorph who was twitching.

"Actually, it's very surprising that Garm has been able to exert any influence over him at all," said Gary, "NegaMorph hates being ordered around."

"Silence, gargoyle!" snapped Garm, adding, "Now, mortals. My mistress told me to retrieve the stone and you will help me if you value this body's life."

"Matt's knocked worse things from out of my body," said Chloe.

"Worse than me?" sneered Garm, "Do you not know that I am the watchdog of the Asgardian underworld? Do not realize that I am considered a death god?"

"All I know is that Cerberus is worth three of you on his worst day," said Chloe.

Garm's eyes narrowed at that, before he smirked. "Every insubordinate comment is more pain for your brother," he sneered.

"He can forgive me later," said Chloe before picking up a bone and throwing it so that it hit Garm in the crotch.

Garm snatched the bone out of the air. "So childish," he sneered, before Chloe glared as he said, "You have no choice. Either you aid me, or your brother dies."

"Or choice 3: we exorcize you and hound you back to Hela," said Chloe, "Megan, give him the astral boot."

"Me?" asked Megan.

"Are you a sorceress or not?" asked Chloe.

"Yeah...but I'm a ghost at the moment," said Megan.

"Yeah, we kinda need to deal with Lady NegaMorph," pointed out Gary.

"Now then. We should look into leaving," said Garm calmly, walking up to their 'cell door' before punching a fist through the lock.

"This day is not going to end well for the Vorms," said Spider-Man.


Lady NegaMorph looked at the chamber to the Life Stone. It was tempting to walk over and take it but while evil Lady Nega was, stupid she wasn't. Regardless of it being the gem responsible for the immortal Vorms, she knew that too much would be bad. She needed to work out a way to get to it without it killing her.

There was also whatever was coming in via rifts that she could sense. Her new 'friends' has told her about what were clearly Mindless Ones. Dormammu meant trouble.

"Lady Sorceress, we have a problem," said one of the Vorms. Apparently the dimensional isolation had made the Vorms more vulnerable to manipulation. That or they were really out of touch.

"Yes?" she sighed.

"The stone ones are getting closer...and your prisoners are missing." said the Vorm nervously.

"Oh come on. I thought you could keep them in there for at least another hour," snapped Lady Nega.

"The door's lock was torn out and the guards said a wolf creature knocked him out," said the Vorm.

"I knew I should have put shackles on Chloe," muttered Lady Nega.

The Vorm said, "But it was male."

Lady NegaMorph tensing up. That might mean Chris...and that meant the Bladestorm was sitting in orbit. "Shit...find them...kill them!" she snarled.

"But in this realm-" started the Vorm.

"Yeah, yeah, can you at least seriously incapacitate them?" snapped Lady Nega.

"As you will," said the Vorm nervously, before leaving, Lady NegaMorph waiting till she was sure nobody was there before sweating. No way these idiots could hold off the marine contingent of the Bladestorm and she doubted even the stone could save her if they decided to just drop a mac round on her head and turn the entire place into a crater.

Well, it might. The Life Stone might make its wielder immortal by definition. Of course, that depends on it not deciding to suck the life out of her instead. She got up and got ready to leave. She could make it to the ship and leave on it easily enough.

Just then, there was a heavy knock on the door. Actually, it didn't seem so much as a knock as an attempt to break the door down.

"One second. I can't come to the door," Lady Nega called nervously, before the door glowed before exploding inwards, Matt standing in the doorway, though his eyes were glowing red, as was the palm of his hand.

"Ok, should have put more effort on those cells, but I'm very busy right now," snapped Lady Nega.

Matt smirked, walking in, the rest of his little gang behind him...wait, they looked real nervous for some reason. "So you're the bodysnatcher." said Matt with amusement.

Lady Nega was quicker on the uptake than the others, thanks to her naturally suspicious nature. "Ok, whose ghost is possessing him?" she asked in annoyance.

"Ghost? Now that's just insulting," sneered Matt, his hand glowing and Lady Nega yelping as she was dragged into his grip, Matt bursting into green flames as Garm dropped his guise. "Now then, you're going to be a good little mortal and take me to the Life Stone," Garm said smugly.

"Hey! I found it first!" snapped Lady Nega.

Garm raised an eyebrow, hooking a claw under her collar, a single claw, before lifting her up. "I'm sorry, what was that?" he said calmly.

"And who are you supposed to be?" asked Chloe. "Have you not heard of Garm?" asked Garm. Lady NegaMorph seemed to be thinking it over. "Oh come on. I'm not that obscure!" snapped Garm.

"I DON'T REMEMBER WELL UNDER PRESSURE!" screamed Lady Nega back before saying, "Minor death god...works with Hela. The only reason they're helping you is because you'd kill Matt, right?"

"Yes, but that's not important to you," snapped Garm.

"Actually, I don't care about killing Matt either," said Lady Nega before blasting Garm with her eye beams.

Garm's head whipped back, before leaning forward, revealing barely a mark, before he grinned. "That tickled," he sneered, before throwing Lady Nega across the room into the far wall and he snapped, "What part of 'god' did you miss?"

"Figured that you'd be more vulnerable in a weak body like Matt's," said Lady Nega.

"Maybe if I was wearing his look. Now, the Stone, before I do what I do best," Garm warned.

"It's not like you can take it anyways," said Lady Nega, "If you weren't a minor god, maybe you wouldn't be drained of your life by it."

"If my mistress did not think I could do it I would not have been sent," said Garm.

"And yet you had to wear this loser's skin just to get close to it," said Lady Nega.

Garm twitched at that. "Yet, he had you running across the realms to avoid him," he said.

Megan, however, was getting the idea. Matt was known to go a little...screwy when he got upset and mad people were hard to control or possess.

"And you'd think with all his persistence, he would have gotten somewhere," said Megan, "I've lost track of how many times he'd dropped the ball. You'd think his hands were greased. Or maybe that's just his body secretions."

Garm twitched again. "If you're trying to make me angry, it's not working," he snarled.

"Ladies, let a sibling professional handle this," said Chloe before cracking her knuckles.

Garm glared, readying another of the glowing red bolts. "It will not work," he snapped.

"Oh, that's rich talk from the guy who thinks he's so above being influenced and possessed," said Chloe, "After lording over how I always get turned into a minion, you can't shake out a mangy old dog. And don't tell me he's a minor death god. I've seen doorstops that would make a better gatekeeper than this sorry mutt. You really are pathetic, Matt."

Garm's eyes glowed threateningly. "Watch your tongue, mortal," he warned, before twitching again.

"I mean, come on. At least get controlled by something respectable. I've seen terriers more vicious than him," said Chloe.

This time, the twitch was visible, Megan giving a thumbs up and sticking her hands into Matt's head.

"Gee, Kala would be so embarrassed to see you like this," said Chloe.

Garm snarled, aiming a slash only to twitch, Megan seen behind pulling a spectral wolf out the back of his head as Garm got a slackjawed expression.

"Now hold still..." said Megan through gritted teeth before she pulled the wolf completely out of Matt.

The wolf spirit turned and snarled before howling as it vanished in a burst of energy, his physical body blinking, eyes switching to a neon blue. "I'm back," he said in Matt's voice, before his eyes narrowed and he started trying to strangle Chloe. "SECOND RATE?" he snapped, the others managing to pull him off.

"Did she actually say 'second rate'?" asked Spider-Man.

"I'm not sure, but I wouldn't bring it up," said Gary.

Chloe finally managed to get free. "I'm sorry...was all I could think of to snap you out of it," she managed.

Matt took a deep breath and said, "Ok, that's fair, but don't do that again. Now as for our black witch..."

Lady Nega had been trying to creep to the door, before Matt pointed "Get back here.," before staring as she was dragged over to him. "Did the wolf ghost give me the force?" he said quietly, Lady Nega rolling her eyes.

"Residual charge, I wouldn't worry," said Chloe, "You don't seem like a wolf man to me."

Lady Nega glared before dealing her other self's infamous kick, Matt yelping before Lady Nega ran for the far wall where she'd been originally thrown, blasting the bricks aside.

"I worried about the risks before, but now you've pushed me into a corner," said Lady Nega before leaping into the next room, the main chamber of the temple. It turns out, it was much more open in the back. Half of the temple appeared to be missing and the chamber abruptly ended at a cliff. And upon a pedestal at the very edge of the cliff lay a glowing green gem.

"L.N., you don't want to touch that..." said Chloe carefully, Spider-Man inching forward.

"Don't you realize? This is my last resort. You've ruined every plan, drove every last minion I have away, cut off all of my exits. I have one last move to make and I'm not ending this without a fight," snapped Lady Nega before she lunged for the Life Stone.

But just before her fingers could touch it, a webline whipped out and grabbed it. "Well I've got plenty of moves," said Spider-Man before yanking the Life Stone away. He quickly wove a mitt out of webbing before catching the Stone.

"NO! GIVE ME THAT!" screamed Lady Nega, lunging at Spider-Man.

"Nope," said Spider-Man before web-swinging out of the temple. Lady NegaMorph roared before there was a sudden flash of blackness. It's a bit hard to visualize, but when it was over, she was in her giant dragon form and flying after Spider-Man.

The group watched, Sechek saying weakly, "You didn't mention she could do that."

"Only seen her do that when she's really furious," said Gary.

"And I think Spider-Man just pushed her far enough," said NegaMorph.

A Vorm peered in at that. "Erm...if I may...the statues have arrived," he said nervously, an explosion heard outside.

"Oh great, Spider-Man gets to play with the dragon while we do all the work," snapped NegaMorph.

"Hey, that's my body flying after him!" snapped Megan before flying out of the temple.

A Vorm was sent flying past at that, a Mindless One stomping into view, before turning to look at them and, to everyone's surprise, pausing.

"Uh, Mindless Ones can't think right?" asked Matt, "I mean, the name 'Mindless Ones' seem to heavily suggest that."

The Mindless One seemed focused on Matt, before looking at the others before walking off. "Did we just get blown off by a golem?" snapped Matt.

"It's because you wear my form, you idiot!" Matt turned to see Garm's spirit floating besides him. "Even Dormammu's forces would hesitate to face Hela's on equal footing," snapped Garm, "Dormammu won't attack you until he has the Life Stone."

"Why are you still here?" asked Matt.

"The Life Stone's influence keeps me from returning to Niflheim in this state, at least under my own power," growled Garm.

"Ok, well, begone! Or whatever I say to get rid of you," said Matt.

"That'll work," said Garm before poofing away.

He noticed the others, before he said, "I think I'm being haunted."


Megan glared, trying to keep up with her body, which was busy trying to eat Spider-Man, while below, Vorms and Mindless Ones were fighting. "If anyone has had a harder time keeping up with their own body, I'd like to hear it," muttered Megan.

Lady Nega turned her head to glare at her. "Oh, now it's you...begone," she snarled, breathing black flame that, of course, did nothing.

"You're not getting rid of me that easily," said Megan.

"I suppose I'll have to shove you in another robot body," said Lady Nega dryly.

"No robots," taunted Megan before making a lunge for her body.

But it felt like flying into a steel wall. "I can't be evicted so easily," sneered Lady Nega, "This is my body just as much as yours."

Megan glared, before snapping, "What would you even want with the Life Stone? It'll kill you."

"It's all or nothing now," said Lady Nega, "It's the power of life and death. I'd say there's a 50/50 chance I'll be able to wield it."

"Are you crazy? That's not just your body to risk!" snapped Megan angrily.

"Too bad for you," sneered Lady Nega.

Megan's own eyes glowed red at that. "No...not this time. You ruined everything. You mind controlled my boyfriend into some muscle for world domination. You ruined the lives of random people here just to make minions..." she snarled.

"Well, if they had only cooperated with me..." sneered Lady Nega.

"You turned the local Lynches into monsters." snapped Megan.

"As if the Lynches we know are so ordinary," sneered Lady Nega.

"The ones you changed were," snapped Megan.

"They would have been changed eventually," said Lady Nega, "If not me, then some other villain."

"You don't know that," snapped Megan.

"They're Lynches. What else was there to know?" sneered Lady Nega.

"You had no right," snapped Megan.

"Uh, ladies, are we going to keep on the chasing?" asked Spider-Man, "This Stone's starting to burn a hole in my pocket."

Lady Nega twitched before snapping "SHUT UP AND GIVE ME THAT STONE!" lunging at Spider-Man with a swipe.

Spider-Man just barely dodged out of the way of her swipe. Well, almost. Lady Nega's claws missed the pouch with the Life Stone in it, but they snagged his mask as they were passing over.

Lady Nega brought herself to a hover, looking at the mask before at the unmasked Spider-Man, her eyes widening in recognition. "You...YOU!" she snarled.

"What? Does this face look familiar to you?" asked Peter.

"You're him! Peter Parker! The one who became prom king! Then that must mean Mary Jane Watson is Spider-Woman! She stole the prom queen crown from me!"

"Wait, that gig got us locked in that loony town...and you're STILL hooked up on that?" snapped Megan, a dark aura forming around her.

"It was the happiest night of our life and you know it!" snapped Lady Nega. She turned to Peter and snarled, "And the first thing I'm going to do when I get back is find Mary Jane and burn her alive."

Lady Nega roared at that, only to go wide eyed as she was grabbed by webbing and span into a wall. "Just ask the Goblin how well it went for him when he threatened the people I cared about," said Peter before snatching his mask back and putting it back on.

Lady Nega just stared before her eyes narrowed. "Fine. I'll start with you," she said, flames licking out her mouth before Megan got in her way.

"No...I've had it with you," Megan snapped.

"Oh please, you're nothing but a nagging voice in my head. The only difference now is that you're outside of my head. The only thing you can do to me is nag," sneered Lady Nega.

"Maybe this can even the playing field," said Spider-Man before holding up the Life Stone.

The Life Stone flashed green for a second, Lady Nega opening her eyes. "That's it? It's just a camera flash. What a rip!" she snapped, before hearing a whistle, turning and getting a punch to the snout from Megan.

Of course, to a dragon, that was just a tap with a pencil. The real shock was that Lady Nega felt that at all. "You shouldn't have been able to do that," said Lady Nega.

"The stone put some meat on my bones," said Megan, before she aimed a glowing hand at Lady Nega before sending a magic blast that knocked Lady Nega flying, "And it gave me my magic back."

"My magic is just as strong as yours," said Lady Nega, "And I have the stronger form."

"No, you don't," snarled Megan. With that, Megan flashed brightly, when the light faded, an almost white Avalarian dragoness in her place. "Oooh...shiny," it said in Megan's voice.

"You've got to be kidding," said Lady Nega flatly, "Your powers are based on shadow just as mine."

"Well, it's more of a visualization of our respective natures. I'm the good half, you're the evil," said Megan.

"And evil always cheats," said Lady Nega before lunging with two talons at Megan's eyes.

Megan put up a hand to block the strike. "Yeah, I'm not that greater good either," said Megan before tail-whipping her dark half in the stomach.

Several Mindless Ones lumbered into view at that, one tossing a limp Vorm aside before they noticed the trio. "Spider-Man, get the stone outta here!" Megan called, before a blast from the Mindless Ones went between them, both of them turning and saying in unison, "This is a private fight!" A blast of shadow fire and a beam of light energy vaporized two of them.

"Good luck with fighting your not-so-inner darkness," said Spider-Man before web-swinging away.

Lady Nega tried to follow only for Megan to grab her tail. "We're not done," she snarled before lunging, claws out.


"Well, didn't take them long to work it out." snapped Sechek.

Matt blasted another mindless one and snapped at NegaMorph "Maybe if someone hadn't used my real name."

"Hey, you still have the real Garm's power while it lasts," said NegaMorph.

"Yeah...limited ammo is so fun and the bastard left my blasters in the mushroom kingdom," snapped Matt, grabbing a Mindless One and crushing its head.

"They're not hard to break at least," said Gary, smashing another one.

"True, but Dormammu clearly values quantity over quality," said Chloe, indicating the tide of Mindless Ones still coming, "And we know it's a matter of time before Hela sends her Army of the Dead."

Matt looked over to see Garm in a reflection, smirking. "I think they're already on their way," he said.

"Didn't I tell you to begone?" asked Matt in annoyance.

"I'm not a ghost," sneered Garm, adding, "And I'm making sure you don't accidentally devour someone's soul."

"Oh please, they're the Mindless Ones," said Matt.

"The mind and the soul are two separate things," said Garm.

"So you're saying they have souls?" asked Matt.

"Well, no, but Hela would have my hide if I send her the souls she's not supposed to get," said Garm.

"Meaning..." said Matt.

Garm said, "You might accidentally suck the souls of your friends out...on your right." Matt turned and smashed a Mindless One sneaking up behind him from the right.

"You know, I gotta ask, what's it like being the watchdog of the underworld?" asked Matt.

"Well, not too exciting," said Garm, "Most watchdogs have to keep people out. I have to keep people in. Not that there are many attempted escapes. Niflheim's filled with those who died every other way but fighting. No fight in them at all."

"Just that? Die in a fight and you don't have to go to Hela?" asked Matt.

"Well, there's also drowning at sea. There's a special afterlife for that. But only if you like seafood," said Garm.

"I would have thought there would be more to it than that," said Matt, "Like with Cerberus-"

"Oh, don't get me started on Cerberus!" snapped Garm, "He gets all the popularity and attention. And it's only because he has three heads, big deal!"

"Sore point?" said Matt, turning and blasting a Mindless One with a red beam that caused it to...dissolve, Matt yelping.

"To be honest, this is the most exciting thing to happen to me in centuries," said Garm, "Usually all I've got to look forward to is Ragnarok when me and Tyr will kill each other."

"So...when is that?" asked Matt curiously.

Garm raised an eyebrow, "How do you say? Company secret...unless you want to join. Someone to talk to who isn't a zombie would be nice."

"Uh...no. I like the land of the living. I have a girlfriend," said Matt.

"Yes," smirked Garm.

Matt glared, "What do you know?"

Garm snapped, "Focus." just as a Mindless One tried to punch Matt

"So is there an exit strategy or are we just going to build up rubble around us?" asked NegaMorph.

"Just keep shooting!" snapped Sechek.

NegaMorph snapped, "You're not my boss."

Garm said to Matt, "My geas is still on him."

Matt said, "NegaMorph, keep shooting."

NegaMorph just kept shooting but he shot Matt a dirty look. "You know, you're still unkillable," he growled.

"We'll talk..." began Matt, grabbing a Mindless One and tearing it in half. "LATER!" he finished, before the group heard an explosion, seeing two shapes in the sky blasting at each other.

"Who's Lady Nega fighting?" Chloe yelled over the sound of battle.

Spider-Man swung by, saying rapidly, "I used the Life Stone so that Megan is material and has her powers back and now she's fighting her evil side and I hope she wins."

"What?" said Matt in confusion.

Garm said in his head, "Get the stone. You're the strongest present. You can guard it better."

"Spider-Man, keep that rock away from the rockheads!" snapped Chloe.

"Not a problem," called Spider-Man as he swung away, "They can't catch me up here."

Matt however was heading for Spider-Man, Garm was right...the stone would be safer with him. "Where do you think you're going?" snapped Chloe, grabbing Matt's tail.

"She wants the stone for herself," whispered Garm, Matts eyes blazing before he pulled his tail free and knocked Chloe flying with a blast and a snarl.

"Ok, time to pound some sense back into my brother," said Chloe.

Matt was already watching Spider-Man, waiting for an opportunity to leap up and grab the stone. "Now stop right there and-" started Chloe before Matt threw a few Mindless Ones at her.

Chloe yelped, before noticing Matt's glowing eyes. "Garm, where's Megan when you need her?" she snarled, before calling to Spider-Man, "Matt's whammied again, play keep away." She readying her armor's gauntlets, before Matt leapt up at Spider-Man.

"Oh good, because swinging away from Flightless Ones was too easy," said Spider-Man sarcastically.

"Give me that stone!" snapped Matt, trying to leap up again and this time managing to climb into the roof, running along a support rafter towards Spider-Man.

"I don't think so," said Spider-Man, "You don't like you have the great responsibility for great power right now."

"HAND IT OVER!" yelled Matt, lunging, claws out and eyes glowing red.

A taser web hit Matt in midleap. "Sorry about that," called Spider-Man.

Matt roared as electricity arced over his chest where the web had hit before he tore the webbing off. "You'll pay for that!" he snarled in what sounded like a duet of his and Garm's voice.

"And probably this too," said Spider-Man before webbing up Matt's head.

Matt made a muffled yell, tearing at the webbing as Spider-Man swung to another rafter, Matt tearing the webbing off. "GIVE ME THAT STONE!" he roared, before sending a spell blast out.

Spider-Man swung back out of the temple and ran across the roof. "Ok, still got an army of Mindless Ones after me and Garm's making another grab for the Stone," said Spider-Man, "Still nothing I can't handle."

On cue, another rift opened at the far end of the courtyard, drawing everyone's attention. Two sets of fingers appeared in the rift before it was pulled open wider. On the other side of a rift was a giant demon wearing purple armor and a head surrounded by flames. "That's Dormammu?" asked NegaMorph.

"I'm afraid so," said Sechek.

Dormammu glared down at his Mindless Ones. "How pathetic," he spat, "You cannot even retrieve one simple stone for me." His eyes glowed balefully and all the Mindless Ones melted into sludge. "It's like you mortals always say," said Dormammu with disgust, "If you want something done right, you have to do it yourself." With that, he stretched the portal wider and set one foot down on Vormir.

A second later, a green bolt of magic hit his leg, Dormammu turning to glare to see Hela standing in the distance, a frown on her face. "The Life Stone is mind, demon," snapped Hela.

"I'm not about to let the last Infinity Stone slip through my grasp," snarled Dormammu before throwing a fireball at the goddess.

Hela smirked before a skeletal...thing took the shot for her, portals opening around her and various legions of the undead coming out.

"Oh man, Matt will be sorry he missed this," said NegaMorph.

A second later, a large, almost horse-sized wolf came through to sit next to Hela, somehow giving the air of smirking. .

Dormammu roared before more rifts opened up, hordes of Mindless Ones and demons that looked like fiery pterosaurs coming out. The armies of the Dark Dimension and Niflheim soon charged at each other to begin a battle that would have really looked very impressive if it was animated and would probably tax the budget of a major film to its breaking point. Unfortunately, we don't have the budget to show it so we'll go back to our heroes in a second.

Hela looked at the wolf before looking at the stone in Spider-Man's hand. "Garm? Fetch," she said smugly, Garm snarling before barking, Matt's eyes glowing before he upped his attempt to reach Spider-Man.

"Oh come on, that's cheating," called Spider-Man. Garm snarled, before starting to pad towards Spider-Man himself, not even noticing some of the hits from the Mindless Ones and swatting aside the ones who kept trying. "I wonder if Thor ever had days like this," said Spider-Man, "Wait, of course he's had. He probably does this about once a week. Probably on Thursdays."

Matt seemed to have snapped out a little, sending a blast into Garm's side as Garm lunged at Spider-Man. Garm snarled before turning his bloody red gaze full upon Matt.

Matt glared, before blinking, going slackjawed, Chloe and Nega pausing as a black mist engulfed Matt. "Get a picture," Chloe muttered to NegaMorph.

"Already on it," said NegaMorph, pulling out his camera. "Say 'AAARGH'," said NegaMorph as he held up his camera.

What leapt out of the smoke was a similarly sized wolf-beast to Garm, complete with horns, before it bit down on NegaMorph's camera and the hands holding it, before with a snarl, it spat the crunched-up camera out and snarled like a chainsaw.

"Hey! That was my good camera, you slavering mongrel!" snapped NegaMorph.

The wolf seemed to look to Garm for orders, who nodded, before the wolf opened its mouth, a glow seen at the back of the throat. "Oh, this is gonna really su-" began NegaMorph before a blast of almost crimson flame hit him. "Ok...that's it...now I'm mad...bad dogs get a time out," he rasped, his shadow growing to be under the Matt-wolf who yelped, scrabbling at the edge as he fell into it, NegaMorph shutting it smugly.

"That will not hold him long," snarled Garm, "Nor will it keep me from tearing apart your-"

"Oh, shut up already," said Chloe before punching Garm in the nose.

Garm yelped, shaking his head before changing to his anthro form with a flash of flame, wearing leather armor. "You really are annoying," he snarled, before lunging at Chloe.

"Fortunately, I always keep a backup camera," said NegaMorph, pulling it out and filming the two hellhounds.

Chloe turned to glare before Garm tackled her. At the same time, NegaMorph twitched, before saying "Oh boy", before his shadow belched out Matt-wolf with a literal 'buuuurp', the wolf shuddering, curled up and whimpering.

Most notably, his fur was now almost white. What the whimpers translated to for Garm and Chloe was 'Can't sleep, clown'll eat me' over and over.

Garm smirked though, readying to take command again before Chloe punched him again. "Nope...brother's off-limits, buster," she snapped. Garm tackled her again, only this time, he got a knee under his tail. "And paws off me too, dog!" snapped Chloe.

NegaMorph was meanwhile looking at Matt, who had shifted back to anthro, but was still white, and shaking. "Ne-NegaMorph...you are seeing a psychiatrist when we get home," he stammered.

"Ha, who's calling the kettle bla... maybe the wrong time for that analogy," said NegaMorph.

"Just help Chloe, I'm gonna help Spider-Man," managed Matt.


Spider-Man was quickly finding out that holding a stone that EVERYONE wanted was not that fun, everything from undead monstrosities, to demons to even some Vorms were trying to get the Infinity Stone off him.

"Man, this thing is more trouble than it's worth," said Spider-Man, "Good thing I'm not the corruptible type."

"Of course not, you're Spider-Man," whispered a perky voice

"Was that my imagination getting talkative again?" asked Spider-Man.

"Just think of what you could do with the power of life and death," said the cheerful voice.

"I'd rather not," said Spider-Man, "I don't think I have the responsibility for that kind of power."

"Not even to bring back the one who taught you about power and responsibility?" asked the cheerful voice.

Spider-Man paused at that, a familiar face flashing before his eyes. "That's right. You could bring Uncle Ben back. It'd be as easy as clicking those fingers of yours," said the voice in the same cheerful tone.

"I could...no, there has to be a catch, isn't there?" asked Spider-Man, "Would I start going crazy with power?"

"I dunno, would you?" said the voice.

Just then, Spider-Man's shoulder angel and shoulder devil appeared. "Yeah, sure, use the stone, don't you think you deserve to have Uncle Ben back?" asked the Spidey Devil.

"You know that something would go wrong if you do," said the Spidey Angel, "Didn't you ever read 'The Monkey's Paw'?"

"Hey, I thought you guys left for good after Nightmare tried to manipulate me on Christmas," said Spider-Man.

The angel and devil gave each other awkward looks as they said, "Uh..."

"Hey...are you even listening to me...erm...I mean yourself?" said the third voice, before saying a word that seemed to echo.

"Ok, I am officially seeking some therapeutic R&R once I get back home, barring any other events," said Spider-Man.

"Ok...so can we start again?" said the third voice, Spider-Man noticing the Life Stone was glowing faintly with each word. The voice paused before saying, "What was said in that memory of yours. Ah yes, pay no attention to the Infinity Stone behind the curtain...I mean webbing...gah."

"You'd think an ancient relic from the dawn of time would have more experience tempting people with power," said Spider-Man.

"Look, I've been left alone in that temple for centuries. I'm out of practice," said the voice.

"You never tried to corrupt the Vorms?" said Spider-Angel.

The stone replied, "Those guys? They only arrived 60 years ago and have less vices than a rock. My company has consisted of mushrooms. I HATE MUSHROOMS! Now are you gonna use me or what?" proving that millenia of loneliness had probably sent the stone's personality a tiny bit nuts too.

"No, I'm completely off the idea entirely now," said Spider-Man.

"Oh come on, not even a little?" moaned the stone, before saying "Uh oh."

One of Dormammu's demons swooped, slashing at the webbing glove and snatching the gem. The last thing Spider-Man heard from it was "Nope." before the demon spasmed in the air before desiccating into dust, the gem falling down into the melee below.

Matt could see all this, the stone falling down towards the ground. Everyone would go for it at this rate and anyone of them would be bad. He glared, aiming his blaster. This was not going to happen as he ran towards it, aiming and pulling the trigger.

A beam of plasma hit the Life Stone's surface. Under almost all circumstances, the Infinity Stones are indestructible. But everything has a frequency that if it were vibrated at long enough, it would fall apart. And the plasma beam was configuring to the Life Stone's destruction frequency, as could be seen by the cracks starting to spread across it. "YOU FOOL!" yelled Hela, Dormammu, Garm, and Lady NegaMorph, "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!"

"Nobody gets phenomenal cosmic power," snarled Matt, a demon tackling him down, but it was clearly too late.

The gem shook, a faint voice from it saying "Oh bugger." before the stone exploded.

A bright green flash filled the sky, the aurora that illuminated the sky was all sucked up into the energy surge. Cosmic energy swirled directionlessly for a minute before it seemed to collapse on itself. It was if the Life Stone's power had become a large body of water and it was drinking itself out of existence.

The energy finally blew, blasting the minions closest to the epicenter, before finally vanishing. Dormammu glared before opening a rift. An explosion like that would attract...attention he had no wish to attract

Hela's fists clinched. The power over life and death, the last Infinity Stone in the universe, gone because of one foolhardy mortal.

"Garm...stop playing with that bitch and grab that mortal," she ordered, glaring at her undead army. "Grab them all!" she snapped, before an amber beam shot down from the clouds, hitting one of her larger monsters, vaporizing it and its surrounding smaller fellows. At the same time, a Bifrost beam lanced down at the opposite end, Asgardian warriors emerging at the same time black-suited troopers appeared opposite.

"About bloody time." snapped Sechek, flashing his ID to the black-armored troopers who let him past, Chloe glaring as he melted into the crowd.

"Oh sure, now they show up," said NegaMorph in annoyance.

Lady Nega meanwhile was staring, wide eyed. "No...that moron...that Grade A gold plated MORON!" she snapped, not noticing the already-partially translucent Megan sneaking up on her before Thor appeared last out of the Bifrost, Section 31's troops, who had been aiming at the Asgardians all aiming at him.

"Spider-Man, I did not expect to see you here on Vormir," said Thor, "How came you to this lost world?"

"It's a long, long, long story," said Spider-Man.

Lady Nega glared, but remained silent, before her eyes crossed. "Oh nooooooo," she said, her voice descending.

Megan sank into the dragoness's back before she shrank back to her human form. "Finally back home," she said before she changed back to Lady Nega.

"No, back to square one," she snapped. Her left arm turned human before it punched Lady Nega's face.

Chloe, NegaMorph, Spider-Man, Thor and even some of the Section 31 troops watched as Lady Nega literally embodied the warning 'stop hitting yourself'.

Then the right half of her face became human as Megan snapped, "This time, you're going down!"

"In your dreams!" snapped Lady Nega. The two continued to struggle, their body shifting between human and hybrid.

"Oh, man, that's uncomfortable to watch," said Spider-Man.

One of the troopers shrugged. "Shoot her," he said before Mjolnir knocked him flying, the other S-31 troopers scrambling back.

"Nay," said Thor, "This battle must be ended by her alone."

"Yeah, but how is it going to end?" asked NegaMorph.

"You can't be rid of me that easily," sneered Lady Nega, "There's a reason I've been dominant all these years. I'm the stronger one."

"Not anymore," snapped Megan. Just then, red magic surged over her body, rendering it human.

But then her dragon-headed tail grew out again. "This ends now," snapped the dragon head with Lady Nega's voice. She reached around to bite Megan's head off.

But then Gary rushed forward, holding a sword from one of the fallen skeleton warriors. "Yes, it does," he said before swinging the sword, chopping off the tail.

Megan twitched, before on reflex knocking Gary out. "That hurt, you...oh wait, no it didn't," she said, adding the last part cheerfully. The stump twitched before regrowing the tail, the head under her control. "Wait a minute, I had Uncle Nega's regeneration all this time?" asked Megan.

"That works both ways," hissed Lady Nega's head. Her dragon tail body was starting to grow bigger.

"Not this time," said Megan before blasting Lady Nega with a spell.

The dragon's growth stopped before reversing. Lady Nega kept shrinking, her body becoming simpler in shape. "Cursssssssse you..." she hissed before she finished transforming into a small black snake.

Chloe glared, aiming her blaster at the snake, before NegaMorph put a hand on her shoulder, before swallowing the snake in his shadow. "I can hold her till we get back," he said calmly, before there was a yell of 'Medic' behind the S-31 agents, some of them parting to reveal two badger anthros in combine armor knelt by the human Matt, who was slumped in the crater the stone had made.

"Is he ok?" asked Chloe with concern.

"Despite all likelihood, he's still alive," said one of the badgers.

The other said, "He's just out cold...and we can't wake him." Chloe gave a worried look at the rest of the gang.


Matt grumbled as he sat up in the dirt of Hela's realm, only for Garm to pounce at him out of the fog and, with the air of an animal who was more than happy to stay there all day, sat on his chest. "You made a grave error, mortal, in crossing me," said Hela's voice in a cold tone.

"I crossed an alternate version of you," said Matt, "And I might do it again with another Hela."

"No...you crossed me, mortal. That stone was mine," snapped Hela darkly, clearly not in the mood for sass, Garm glaring at Matt and growling. "By rights, I should have Garm devour you," said Hela calmly, walking around Matt.

"Ah, ah, ah, that would count as 'falling in battle'," said Matt, "Out of your jurisdiction."

"Oh, but that's not going to happen. What was it that was said? Too much of anything is...unhealthy? You were right next to the Infinity Stone when it exploded," sneered Hela, bending over to sneer.

"So I'll be living another 1000 years?" asked Matt.

"No...you're going to die, human. You're overflowing with cosmic energy thanks to the stone...and it's going to kill you," said Hela with a smirk, adding, "Slowly."

"I've had worse things inside me," said Matt.

"No, you haven't," said Hela, "The only reason you're not dying now is because the Life Stone gave you extra life energy. But that won't last forever. It's not going to even last long. And because I anticipate you'll be dying in your bed, your soul will be mine."

"You're lying," said Matt after a minute.

Hela laughing cruelly. "By all means, think that," she sneered.

"If I were you, I'd get your affairs in order, say your goodbyes, see if you can father any children in the time you have left," said Hela. An hourglass appeared in her hand at that. Matt's name was on it and the top half was emptier than he expected. "Your time is running out," said Hela.

Matt stared, before snapping, "I've got out of worse. I'll beat this too." before his form turned to mist as he woke in the mortal world.

"He'll be too useful to just turn into another undead," said Garm, before tensing up, looking around.

Hela glared as several hooded figures appeared around them and a much larger one, its shape only an outline in the fog. "Hela...you didn't have to lie to him," said an amused voice.

"There was no lie. His time is short," said Hela.

"Oh, that is true, we can agree there. You lied..." said the figure, two red eyes glowing brightly, as the voice finished, "When you said his soul was yours..."


When Matt awoke, he saw he was in a bright, airy place with noticeable gold accents in the magnificent architecture. "Oh no, this time it really is Heaven," he moaned.

"No, you are in a soul forge," said a female voice.

"I'm in a what?" groaned Matt, looking around. He saw what he presumed were Asgardian women with official-looking robes of some kind. "Uh...what is this place?" asked Matt.

"You are in the Infirmary of Asgard," said the woman who was working the machine that Matt was floating in, wait what?

Matt yelped, "Please make me stop floating." in a weak voice.

The woman said, "I would advise against that. You are very ill."

Matt stopped struggling. "How ill?" he asked in a worried voice.

"By all rights, you should be booking a seat in Valhalla," said the healer sternly, Matt seeing several pulsing spots in the lights above him. "I give you a few months at most," said the healer.

"Well, surely superior Asgardian medicine ought to remedy that," said Matt, putting on a front of false bravado.

"No...this is some of the nastiest energy poisoning I have ever seen. The best I can do is provide medicine to slow the progression," said the healer.

There was a long pause before Matt said, "I assume patient confidentiality is still a thing even in Asgard."

"If you wish but I assume you'd want to inform your family," said the healer calmly.

"In time," said Matt, "First, I want to exhaust my alternatives."

"Midgardians...fine, I'll have the medicine prepared for you," sighed the healer.

"Thank you," said Matt.


Matt walked into the grand hall. One good part of being brought in by Thor was that while he'd gotten medical help from the palace, his friends were enjoying a proper Asgardian feast. He looked at his new replacement arm. The blast had wrecked his cyber arm, but the Asgardian replacement was almost indistinguishable from a real one.

"I almost wonder if I should have taken the Stone up on its offer," he muttered.

"Matt," called Megan cheerfully, waving him over.

Matt looked at the small silver container he'd been given, popping its lid up to show a small pile of gray pills. The doc had said one a day. He flicked one into his mouth before putting the pills into his wristcomp. "Hey guys," he called, thinking, 'I can get through this...I've gotten through worse. They don't need to know'

"So, how long was I out?" asked Matt.

"Not that long," said Chloe, "Turns out we weren't missing that long from Earth either,"

NegaMorph said, "Got in contact with the Bladestorm the minute we got here. We've been gone about 24 hours, max."

"Time dilation?" asked Matt.

"You know how time tends to meander between dimensions," said Chloe.

"Well, that's a small relief," said Matt. He sat down next to Spider-Man. "You ok? You look lost in thought," he asked, taking an offered drink.

"Well, it's just that we've been through a lot in the last few days only to find out that it wasn't days at all," said Spider-Man.

"Oh, they were days," said Matt, "You're just lucky not to have lost much time on your own world."

Spider-Man looked over. "It's happened to you?"

Matt nodded. "Got stuck on a planet for over a decade once. Came back to Nullspace and barely a week had passed. Admittedly, I spent most of that decade stuck in a stasis crystal but still..." he said.

"Uh...does that affect your aging at all?" asked Spider-Man.

"Why? My hair didn't stay white, did it? I dunno...probably would have if I hadn't been in that crystal. As it was, I was only there about 4 months awake," he said, adding, "Never really thought about it. NSC uses temporal stabilizer satellites to keep time dilation down so it's surprisingly rare."

That said, he did take a look into a shiny, reflective tankard. Yep, his hair was still black. Though after all he's been through, he wouldn't be surprised to see graying at the temples.

"At least this is almost over." he said to himself, adding "One way or another." before shrugging and taking a swig of the tankard's contents...and then wondering where all the flashing lights came from.


Megan was a little too distracted to eat right now. She was staring at her evil self in a small cage. Apparently, the Asgardians really knew how to make cages, even for small things. She had a feeling Loki was a major inspiration. The black snake inside was giving her a baleful glare, as much as something without eyelids can glare.

The glare promised revenge, painful revenge. Lady Nega planned to get loose and Megan would be the first one she dealt with.

"What are we going to do with her?" asked Gary.

"She has a lot of crimes to answer for," said Megan, "Might take years to answer for them all."

"Well, she'd need to be changed back," said Gary, "Snakes can't stand trial."

"Oh, can't they?" asked Megan in pretend surprise.

Lady Nega hissed angrily at that, clearly not happy at the idea of permanent snakehood.

"But would it be enough?" asked Megan, "I mean, she's literally the part of me who did all those terrible things, but I know there will be people who'll blame me anyways. And don't I have to make reparations for her actions?"

"No, it wasn't you. It was never you," said Gary kindly.

"I'm pretty sure the Council back on Avalar will feel differently," said Megan.

"No, they won't. Matt and the others will speak out for you," said Gary.

"Would it be enough?" asked Megan, "That Virk virus...even if my dark half has been removed, another one will take its place. They won't trust me with the power I have now."

"Then you go through the proper training," said Gary, "Just as Matt and Chloe have. You don't need to tough it out on your own anymore."

"You think I can really do it?" asked Megan.

"Your uncle had a worse record than yours and they let him join the good guys," said Gary. Megan paused, Gary had a point at that.

"I'll let that slide this time, Lesog," said NegaMorph.

"There are still those who have I have wronged personally," said Megan, "Well, Lady Nega has wronged."

"Well, at least two of them are going to have better lives among the Combine," said NegaMorph.

Megan and Gary gave him an odd look. "Oh, I guess you didn't hear about that," he said.

"Hear about what?" asked Megan.

NegaMorph saying, "The Lynches you mutated...Lady Nega mutated are living in the Combine now."

"Well, the alternate Matt is, as well as the alternate Kala," said Chloe, "My alternate...is still dealing with the shock of being freed from her mind alteration."

"So..." said Megan nervously.

"Yeah, Lady Nega is to blame, but I think it would go a long way to make things smoother with a little reparation," said Chloe.

"She'll kill me. I designed her to be a killing machine," gibbered Megan, her imagination running away with her.

"Don't worry, we can make sure she listens," said Chloe, "We're going to be pulling as many strings as we can with this."

"You're gonna try diplomacy? She's gonna eat me," gibbered Megan.

"She's an alternate of me, she's not that unreasonable," said Chloe. There was a long awkward pause at that. "Why are you not reassured?" asked Chloe in an annoyed tone.

Everyone turned to look around at that, Chloe glowering.


It's generally considered a universal law that energy itself cannot be destroyed, only expended or dispersed. Of course, that's without taking energy beings like Electro or Zzzax into account. That's when physics tries to look the other way.

But the energy of an Infinity Stone cannot be lost like that. Without a vessel, it was drawn towards where the others would be. It followed an imperceptible trail to a micro-dimension that would be impossible to find from the outside.

Inside the dimension was an exact replica of Manhattan, with the exception of no people at all. But there was something in this city. The Life Stone energy was drawn towards the replica of Avengers Tower.

The energy flowed and shaped till it had a humanoid shape, several others appearing around it. On the surface, they resembled darker versions of Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, Hulk, and Black Widow. But in truth, they were manifestations of the Infinity Stones: Power, Space, Time, Mind, and Reality.

Life himself had turned into a black-suited version of Spider-Man. "Guys...I haven't seen you for a few eras," he said cheerfully.

"I can't believe we've forgotten about you," said Captain Power.

"Being self-aware ain't easy," said Mind Hulk.

"Yeah...like being dumped in a pocket dimension with just mushrooms for company for several millennia. You coulda steered your hosts my way," said Spider-Life

"You never had the fun of hanging out with Thanos," said Iron Space.

"It is just as well," said Time Thor, "Could you imagine what it would be like if he had the Life Stone's power?"

"Who in the verse was...wait, I think those lizards talked about him once. You got a point." said Spider-Life, before saying "So...er...what do we do now?"

"Pretty much whatever we want," said Reality Widow, "Maybe we stay here beyond the reach of everyone. Maybe we scatter ourselves across the universe to be collected again."

"Oh hell no. I am not being dumped back on Planet Fungus," snapped Spider-Life.

"So I think we can make ourselves a private little universe," said Captain Power.

"Yeah, but it's kinda lonely with just the six of us," said Mind Hulk.

"Well, lucky for you, you've got me here now," said Spider-Life. Green energy flowed from him before forming into a small sphere. The sphere expanded until it took the form of a six-eyed robot. "Ok, who's this guy?" asked Spider-Life.

"Arsenal," said the others in unison in bored tones.

"Oh, am I alive again?" asked Arsenal, "I thought I had sacrificed myself for good."

"I did not know that the Life Stone could create robots," said Time Thor.

"Well, we have collective omnipotence, right?" asked Spider-Life.

There was a pause before Reality Widow said, "You don't know what a robot is, do you?"

Spider-Life said gloomily, "Not really."

"Well, it's good to see Arsenal again," said Iron Space.

"Tony?" asked Arsenal.

"Not exactly," said Iron Space.

"Oh, I see. Would you like to play catch?" asked Arsenal.

There was a pause before Captain Power said, "Why not?"


Finally getting another chapter up. This one is going to have a lot of repurcussions in the stories after this.

Of course, the main focus of this fic is the Life Stone. This is essentially my reimagining of the Soul Stone, which has received a lot less focus than the other Infinity Stones. This is apparently mainly because of the complications of defining the soul so it won't step on a lot of theological toes. I've simplified it to basically the power over life and death, which is pretty close to what the Soul Stone is supposed to do anyways. Its hiding place, Vormir, is from the MCU and I included the Vormirs that came from the comics.

The fate of the Infinity Stone energies comes from a spin-off comic based on 'Avengers Assemble' which have the 'Dark Avengers' from another dimension threaten the main Avengers and it being eventually revealed they were the personifications of the Infinity Stones. (It's an actual comic.)

But now it's looking like Matt's days might be numbered and there's still a few issues left to wrap up. The last few chapters will be appearing soon so keep an eye out for them and please review.