Happy Tuesday! Happy New Story Day!
I so excited about posting this story—however, as one person pointed out, I'm hyping it a lot so I may end up disappointing you. You've stuck with me so far, though, supporting me all the way, so I'm hoping that won't stop now.
What excites me most about this story is the theme of the plot. I sincerely hope it excites you, too. It's going to be a very different journey to the previous four stories.
Happy reading xxx
Prologue
Ross checked his reflection in the mirror as he adjusted his tie and smoothed his hair. He could not believe how good it felt to be clean, to be dressed in real clothes, not to have his nose filled with the stench of goat dung, and to not have the animals themselves sniffing around his feet while mosquitoes searched for bare skin to sink their teeth into..
He was in an empty apartment somewhere, though he had no idea where, nor did he know what had happened to the apartment's previous occupants. After the painful and stomach-twisting sensation of travel, he'd found himself in a bedroom, facing a window that gave a view of an anonymous city that could be anywhere in the world. He'd taken clothes from the closet, which seemed to be a good enough fit, and then had gone into the bathroom to scrub himself clean, which had taken a long time.
The difference between this place and where he had been was vast. He did not know how long he had spent on the accursed planet the Asset had dumped him on, but it had been long enough to incite a furious desire for revenge, the revenge Ego was going to enable him to achieve.
"What do I do?" he asked, making his way back into the bedroom and standing by the window. "When do we kill the Asset?"
"We cannot kill him yet," she replied. "I already tried. The Infinity Stones have chosen him, betrayed me completely, so he is essentially immortal now unless they choose otherwise, which they will not. Even targeting him in a multitude of realities and times will not be enough. We have to go back to the beginning and change his path, change the circumstances, so he is not able to bear them."
Ross sputtered. "I can't kill him? But you know what he did to me!"
"What he did to me was worse. He took The Infinity Stones out of my reach. My banishment lasted longer than you can ever imagine, and the ally I chose to free me failed. Thanos was given a mission, and he held The Stones in his hand, but he used them for himself, not for me. His petty desire to create balance doomed me to even longer in that place. I do not know how I was freed, as it was not Thanos, but I assume the child did something that weakened the barriers. That is not important. What matters is the opportunity I have now to change things."
"Change what?"
"The circumstances. The Infinity Stones found him Worthy, and I see in your mind when it happened. That is not only ridiculous, an insult, but it is also impossible. No one should be Worthy of them but me. Only I can bear them.
"Apparently not," Ross muttered.
"What did you say?" The question was asked with a sharp spike of pain in his head, as if a nail was being driven into his skull.
"Nothing!" He panted through the pain. "I said nothing!"
"Good. You would do better to say nothing in future, too."
"I'm sorry."
"As you should be. I will not tolerate disrespect from you. Now, it is time to act. From what I have glimpsed in your mind, I can see that the child was formed by circumstance to be what The Stones wrongly perceived as Worthy. Your mission is to change that. You were in a position of power before, weren't you?"
"I was the most powerful man in the world—The President of the United States!" Ross said proudly.
"No, before that, before Thanos came, you felt powerful; I can see it in your memories."
"I was, I suppose, as Secretary of State. But if you need me to be powerful, you've got to make me President again."
"No, that is not what I need. Your greatest power in the human world came from what followed Thanos, but the child was already gone then. I need you in a place in which he can be influenced and changed. Tell me, where do you think his power comes from?"
Ross didn't know. He'd paid no attention to the Asset before he'd received that report from Wakanda. Spider-Man had barely been a blip on Ross' radar. His targets had been The Avengers. All he knew was that Spider-Man was reported to have been in Germany when Stark and his team had battled Rogers'.
"I need you to know. Find out."
"How?" he asked. "I can't exactly Google his origin story."
"No, but you can live it. I will take you somewhere you can change him and create a new path that will not lead him to The Stones. What makes him Worthy must be changed."
"And what made him Worthy?"
"Nothing, but I suppose in their eyes it was some form of purity and goodness of heart, some strength. I need you to break him."
"How do I do that? He's got The Infinity Stones now. I tried to break him before, but I failed!"
"Which is why I will take you back, before The Stones, before Thanos. What was the crucial moment for you? Where did your power come from?"
Ross considered. "Before my election, my power came in 2016—May 3rd—when that usurper Ellis made me Secretary of State. Everything that followed was power."
"Then I will take you there. Your mission is power again, but not of the same kind. We are going to find the child, observe him, find what makes him strong."
"And then what?"
"Then we're going to change the circumstances. I want him weak and insecure. I want him Unworthy. I want you to find a way to break him down completely."
"Do I get to kidnap him again?" he asked hopefully.
"No, not yet at least. As you have said, that failed before. You are going to find a different way to do it, a subtle way. Take his strength away. Make him weak for me. Put him in a position in which The Infinity Stones will never believe him Worthy of them. Do you understand?"
"I do."
"Good. Then prepare yourself."
Ross took a breath, closed his eyes, and then felt a rush of warmth spread over him. A voice reached him, and his name was spoken in a tone that indicated it wasn't the first time.
He opened his eyes and saw he was in a room that used to belong to him. President Matthew Ellis sat opposite him, the polished Resolute Desk of the Oval Office between them. "Thaddeus, are you okay?"
"Yes," Ross said smoothly. "I am fine."
"You seemed a little… Never mind. Do you have an answer for me? Will you accept, become my Secretary of State?"
Finally connecting where he was in time, knowing what it meant and what would follow, a broad smile spread across Ross' mouth, and he said, "Mr. President, nothing would give me more pleasure."
He was in place, the devastation in Lagos was happening right now, and his path was clear ahead of him. He had the power he needed, though a more subtle kind now to what he'd had as President, and he would use that against the Asset. With fewer eyes on him than there had been when he had the most power, he could move in the shadows, find the right allies. He would play his part with The Avengers, put those events in place, and then find the Asset.
He was going to break Spider-Man.
So… Welcome to Story V. I have been waiting to get to this one from almost the very beginning. As soon as I realized With Great Power was going to be part of a series, I knew I wanted to use time travel, and this idea presented itself. It has the plot I'm most excited about out of all the stories.
Ross is back, of course. He was too rich a character to leave on Gryn Fylds forever. This time he's doubled up on power as one side of Nemesis.
You know from the summary that Tony is going back with Ross, and I'd like to know if you've got any guesses of who else is going. I can tell you there will be four characters sent back to 2016. Who do you think it will be?
Until next time…
Jadey xxx