Chapter 50

The Fastest Man Alive

So, you want to learn some magic?

Luke Cage & Jessica Jones

It had been a rough investigation over the last few weeks. When they had taken down that safe house, everything had gotten quiet, too quiet. So, Luke and Jessica had to put boots on the ground and ruffle the known dealers. They had been working the streets until they had finally gotten a name, Club G.

Jessica had found out this 'Club G' had an underground fighting ring. Humans and meta-humans both went there to buy the Mutant Growth Hormone drug, also known by the street name of MGH. With all of this, there was big money all around. Things had changed there recently with the introduction of the MGH; New York was starting to change. And that was why Luke was riding his bike with Jess riding Bitch on the back to that same club.

They had been able to get themselves an invite after speaking with Turk Barret. At first, he didn't want to give up his invite, but that changed when they brought up the fun time he had with a certain speedster. Luke had to laugh when he watched Turks face pale at the mention of Ben.

Luke pulled over into the parking lot next to the club, allowing Jessica to jump off the back while he parked his bike. Backing his bike up into the parking space, Luke located guards standing near a door with an exit sign above it. With his kickstand down, Luke pulled his helmet off before placing it in storage along with Jessica's.

Jessica unzipped her jacket as Luke got up from the bike and they made their way to the front of the Club G's lines. The bouncers looked at his wrist tag with the invite before checking Jessica's also as the plus one. One of the guards checked them both for weapons before letting them know someone was going to be at the bar for entertainment.

"Fuck, can we go now?" Jessica said with her general abrasive attitude. "I need a drink, then a good fucking, but I can't get either standing here all night."

The guards shared a look before giving Luke a chuckle and allowing them into the club.

"You know, we didn't have to come out tonight." Luke said to Jessica as they walked into the club. Jessica chose to ignore him as she listened to the thumping of the beat that blasted out of four massive speakers.

"Yeah well, I wasn't going to just let you punch these assholes in the face without me." Jessica replied as she called over a bartender.

"Jessica, I didn't come out here to punch anyone in the face." Luke said back as the bartender came over with a couple of beers.

"I'll bet you the cost of the wall you broke down." Jessica replied as she brought the beer to her lips.

"You mean the wall you broke down because you couldn't wait to get to the bedroom?" Luke asked back with a raised brow. "And my belt buckle."

"Yeah, well, the pounding you gave; broke it down. So it's your fault." Jessica said as she placed the beer bottle back down.

There was a sharp breath intake, causing Luke and Jessica to look at the blushing blonde that was on the stool beside their own. The blond was fanning herself but squeaked when she noticed the glare shot in her direction.

"Walk away, bitch," Jessica said as she eyed the bimbo and her companions. "I'm not sharing."

"Jessica, can't you be nice?" Luke asked as he watched the gaggle of party girls back away from Jessica's glaring face. Jessica turned to give Luke a look, but their time together was interrupted by a nicely dressed man walking up.

"Well, well, well, So big man feeling lucky tonight." A man that stood five feet tall and was about as high as Luke's waist spoke.

"Yeah, no words shared, but flashy is the thing around town." Luke spoke back the code he had gotten from Turk.

"I see, I see, follow along." The sharply dressed suit said as he turned around.

"Bout fucking time." Jessica huffed as she downed her beer then a following shot before walking behind the shorter man.

"Jessica."

"What? I want to punch some face in, and this is just the place." Jessica replied as Luke shook his head at her statement. There was nothing he could say because he knew that she was not playing up the role. Luke had noticed the smile at the corners of the guide's lips, but for the life of him. He couldn't understand why the guide never made introductions or gave his name.

Without saying any more, Luke followed along. What they arrived at was a back room with four people standing guard. Luke noticed nothing else in the room besides four white walls. Then he and Jessica watched as the short man moved a ring before inserting a key. The back wall shifted, and the guards held out a hand for them to step forward and get frisked once more. Luke moved swiftly as a viper to stop one of the guards. Luke had grabbed the man by the wrist and squeezed a little feeling the bones crunch under his grip as he pulled the man's arm back.

"I would like you to refrain from such actions. Thank you very much." Luke growled at the man who attempted to grope Jess. The other three guards took a step back as the one's arm he held went down to his knees from the pain.

"Okay, man, okay." The guard screamed out as Luke looked down at his begging form. For a moment, Luke wondered if he should break the arm some more, but thought better of it when he noticed the short man come back up the stairs. Jessica gave the downed guard a fake smile before punching his lights out. This caused Luke to drop the arm he held. Without looking back, Luke watched as Jess scowled with a shrug at the short man before following him down those same stairs.

Following along, Luke said nothing as he got to the bottom of the stairs, but couldn't help his surprise with the size of the fighting pit. It had to be at least twenty feet in diameter with a sand floor and cage surrounding it. There were sounds of thumping that drew Luke's eyes to the two currently inside the ring fighting. Down in the fighting pit was a lady on fire while the other person looked like they were made out of sand. Ignoring the two, Luke sighed and followed behind Jessica.

He just knew in his heart that it was going to be a long night. Maybe he should have just taken her up on her offer. At least then, he would be back home and doing something far more pleasurable. Luke had stood there for a moment and watched them fight. Hee watched as the man made of sand wrapped the lady up in an attempt to suffocate her.

"Come, come, come." Their guide spoke as he directed them over to a small hospital next to a betting booth. He sat down next to a man in a white lab coat with no name tag on his front. "So you in the market or wanting a bout.?"

"A fight would be nice." Jessica muttered under her breath as she looked at the fighting pit.

"We are in the market." Luke answered before Jessica could end up starting something. The short man took a look at them before waving over one of his guards. The shorter guy then whispered something in his man's ear before letting him walk off. There was a cheer behind Luke as the lady with flames burst out of her hold. Her fire had scattered the man made up of sand.

Jessica looked at the battle, then scoffed, before grumbling something about her being able to do far better than that bitch. Luke didn't notice how the short guy took note of that statement before he took the offered seat.

"Where are my manners," The short man said after he took his seat and someone brought out a hard case for him to sit on the desk. "The names Savage, and your Luke Cage."

That brought Luke and Jessica up short because they didn't think these people would know anything about them. He glanced at Jessica and noticed that four more guards had come into view. Jessica let out a low, 'FUCK!' before settling in beside his position.

"We can do this the easy way or the hard way." Savage said as he tapped on top of the case on his desk.

"Well, I can always punch your face in." Jessica said as she punched her left hand into her right palm.

"And I could always have my men fill you with lead." The man called Savage said as his guys brought up semi-automatics.

"Then, let's take it easy." Luke said, his deep voice calming down some of the goons.

"Good, so your broad has been talking smack right. Well, let's put your life on her skills." Savage said with a nasty smile. "She won't be getting a shot of MGH either."

"And if I beat your guy like a cheap drum?" Jessica asked as her iconic resting bitch face was showing.

"You get to walk out of here with no extra holes." Savage replied to her; fortunately, Luke was already checking for a way on how to escape.

"Good because if you shoot me, I'll pull the bullet out of my jacket and shove it up your ass with my pinky finger, and who do you think that will hurt more?" Jessica replied with her resting bitch face.

Before Luke could put a stop to everything, Jessica walked up before ripping the gate from the fighting pits. Savage raised an eyebrow before pressing a button under his desk.

"Bets are open!" Boomed around the arena as numbers started to roll across a screen. The LED screen hung over the pit above the cage.

"This is not going on her date night card." Luke muttered as he walked down to the stand around the fighting pits.

"Haha! She is a wild one. I would pay for a night if I didn't know she was with you." Savage said beside Luke, but Luke never had a chance to answer. Out from one of the locker rooms walked a man that was as large as Luke himself. The brawler had to have been half a foot taller than Luke with thighs for his arms instead of ham chops. The man's head was bald with tattoos along his neck while he had piercings all over his lips and ears.

Jessica was in the fighting pits with her resting bitch face while the big man waited on the outside. Before he entered, the guy in the white lab coat ran up to him with a blue liquid syringe. The large guy held out his hands, and then the one in the lab coat gave him the injection.

He grunted a bit before dropping to one knee, Jessica had to watch as his skin changed color to a metallic shine. Clang, clangs sounded out as the goon pounded his fist together as he prepared himself to enter the cage.

"You don't look too worried." Savage said as he looked over at Luke's calm exterior.

"I'm not because she is wearing her steel-toed boots," Luke replied with a chuckle. "Just wait and see."

Savage wanted to say something, but he had no chance as the announcer started to make his rounds on the competitors. Luke ignored it all to check his smartwatch, that same watch was disguised with a standard clock face and dial. With two quick flicks, Luke called in back up while he also sent out a GPS ping on his location. Luke's wrist vibrated five times, letting him know that his backup was five minutes from reaching his position.

A waiter came around, and Luke took the offered beer and downed it as Jessica planted her boots right into the groin of the metallic brawler. Everyone winced while Savage noticed the chuckle from Luke at his side. The brawler went down in a scream of pain as he held his caved in privates. Jessica had kicked him so hard you could see the ripple of metal roll up his back and down his legs as the screech of metal rang out.

The brawler's hips had caved in, giving him comical U shaped innards. Luke knew that when the MGH wore off that he was a dead man because there was just no way of coming back from a shattered hip and pelvis. Savage's face twisted into a frown and then a growl, but Luke was already moving. Savage yelled out for some more of his men to enter the cage and get Jessica. What he didn't notice was Luke's action while he was screaming at the top of his lungs.

With the half-finished beer in his hands, Luke turned and smashed it into the guard standing at his back. He didn't need the bottle since he was bulletproof, but the surprise factor was his aim. The goon went down with a dazed look, leaving Luke all alone since the others were running to where Jessica was in the fighting pits. With a double-tap on his belt, Luke's utility belt activated, allowing him to pull out a tracker and place it on the hard case.

Luke noticed Jessica was having far too much fun as she kept punching out the goons. Before Savage could react, Luke went for the guy in the lab coat and stopped him from injecting another person with the MGH.

"You think you fucks can shut me down? I am Savage, bitch!" The short man screamed as his body started to transform into that of a beast. Hair sprouted all over his body as his teeth grew, and claws extended out of his fingers. Luke watched as his body hunched over before having to jump out of the way as Savage launched himself towards his location. Before he could land, Luke had grabbed one of the metal chairs and swung it at Savage. He bounced off the chair and flew towards the fighting pits smashing into the gates.

More guards poured into the area, but a super-powered tap to the head put them down for the count. Who didn't go down from such a hit was the club owner Savage. He had gotten back up enraged, but to bad for him, he was now within Jessica's reach now.

Jessica reached her hand through the bars in the cage to grab a fist full of fur. With a mighty heave, she pulled back, yanking Savage into the mesh of the cage. Whoever built that cage did a damn excellent job Luke noted that as a tuft of fur was left in Jessica's hands. Savage had bounced off the cage springing forward. Noting the trajectory of his path, Luke grabbed up a table and used it as a bat sending Savage into the wall.

A bang sounded out as Jessica kicked open the cage as she stalked out. Before Luke could say anything, Jessica reared back her foot, then unleashed a nasty kick into the side of the club owner.

"See, I told you that I would win, pussy." Jessica huffed as she gave him one more kick.

"Easy, easy, Jessica." Luke chuckled as he had to move her away before she gave him another kick. Luke bent down and picked up the club owner but noticed the escape door turning bright red.

The door burst open and in came flying a person on fire.

"Fear not citizens for I have come to- what the what?"

"Alright fire butt you can clean up here, Luke and I are going to go home and get some coffee." Jessica said before giving out orders to the cleanup crew that followed along behind the human torch.

"Isn't it too late for coffee?" Johnny Storm asked with apparent confusion on his features.

"Aren't you a playBoy or something? It's an innuendo for sex, you wet matchstick." Jessica replied in clear exasperation as she threw her hands up in the air.

"But don't you have to file a report, and aren't you in charge here?" Johnny asked as he turned to Luke.

"He does have a point Jess." Luke said, agreeing with Johnny Storm.

"You should not agree to his cockblocking," Jessica snarked with a finger jabbed at the human torch. "People with suits are already here, and our little bands record everything, we aren't needed."

"Point, for you, then Jess." Luke agreed.

"Now, I want my coffee, and I want it with lots of cream." Jessica replied as she made for the open escape door.

Luke gave Johnny Storm one last look before taking off his smart band. He then tossed Johnny, his smart band, before leaving some parting words.

"Night, kid."

O.O.O.O

Benjamin Blake

Leader, King

The public sky car flew along the afternoon sky of Pandora while I relaxed into my seat as I looked over my kingdom. I had an intrinsic understanding of how much of a groundbreaking path I currently walked. There was a common understanding within the comics that any happiness that a hero might receive would come along with pain and suffering. The shoe would drop one of these days, but I was no hero and was lying in wait to shoot that metaphorical bullshit down.

Before me floated a hologram depicting all of my kingdom's reach with comings and goings. I thought it funny that this would remind me of the game civilization. I had a T-rex with a blue fur logo depicting Hank being in the Savage lands. He had made it there without any crashes or mishaps, which made me breathe a sigh of relief. They had set up the small colony and had a link set with portal control. I was going to head there once I had gotten this magic thing down.

I wonder if the girls would like a sabertooth cub, maybe a triceratops egg.

The next mark was located on the west coast, and that was of a water droplet. The west side was where Namors little embassy was going to go next to the trading port of the city. It was the closest to water, and the cliff face on that side allowed for a spectacular construction. We had cut into the side of the cliff face and replaced it all with window and reinforcement. The trading center now looked like a spiraling set of windows and moving elevators connecting directly to the ocean. The stunning sight of watching barges move and float around on anti-gravity fields would never get old.

The next mark was Ororo in the east with the school, Natasha, and Emma in Greenland over Roger's body. Gwen was in New York at the tower, and Felicia was in a business meeting. A wave of my hand shifted the map to display my military. Out of the two hundred thousand astarts birthed out of the artificial womb pods connected under the island. A very substantial one hundred and twenty thousand made up my military forces. This ranged from logistics to transport and ground forces. The navy was turning out to be one of my service forces' largest, and I was oddly okay with that.

There was a lot of love for my ground pounders, but sometimes, all you needed was to launch a missile that would kill everything in an area, including the earth itself. Granted, each of my Spartans was just a downright nasty super-soldier trained by Natasha, Raven, and Gunny. Hell, Gunny had brought a small contingent with him when he had moved onto the island. So I was secure in knowing that there was not a military on this planet that could stand up to me.

Not even the Wakandan military could stand up to my own, and Namor's couldn't be fielded very far out of the ocean. Hell, once I got my hands on an unsuspecting Atlantean criminal, our underwater disadvantage would be drastically reduced.

Shifting the map allowed it to transition to the budding space station. Once Jean had given the okay on that project. We had opened it, allowing the population of the island to visit once the atmospheric generators were online and a few shops and apartments were built. Some of the reviews had come in, and I couldn't help smiling at how proud they sounded.

A vibranium ore miner was saying how easy it was to use the specialized tractor beam to mine. Then he went on to talk about how our protocols allowed him to breathe easy, knowing that he doesn't have to worry about blowouts or caving in with our advancements. Emma had wanted me to put the spider bots and survey squids to mining, but I had to explain to her how idle hands cause more issues, and humans would always need work. The A.I collective on the island was always going through video footage and posted reviews to help ensure that the island ran smoothly and that everyone stayed happy.

The next series of jobs to be released to the public would revolve around space. This would include the shuttles and some of the spacecraft under construction by the spider bots and matrix squids. The sign-up sheet to be on the engineering teams and repair crews were filled within moments once it went live. Everyone was ready to work in a field that could be found nowhere else in the world. They wanted to be masters of their destiny, and it didn't hurt that most of them grew up watching Star Trek and Star Wars. The flight schools were also flooded with students, and I was alright with that.

Putting my thoughts aside, I noticed the shifting of the holo-map to Jean's shuttle. That was fine, but it was the glowing red section of my map that had me sitting up in my seat and placed me on high alert. With a wave of my hand, the network promptly started to update me on the situation. It would seem that one of the matrix styled surveyor squids had found an old derelict ship just floating out in space. Of course, we didn't recognize the make and model, but the collective was running a search through the NOVA EMPIRE's public networks for something. Jean had pulled up next to the craft and was preparing her boarding team when it hit me.

FUCK, I would have to place a bug in their galactic library once I visit their homeworld of Xandar. I hate dealing with UNKNOWN's in Marvel. Shit like this was asking for xenomorph eggs. Shit, if I remembered correctly, Xenomorphs and Predators were a small part of the marvel universe!

"ABORT! ABORT! ABORT! OMEGA FOUR FOUR NINE NINE TWO ONE OVERRIDE ALPHA TWO." I yelled with full-blown panic in my voice. "Shut down protocol six seven one one."

I watched as the shuttle Jean was flying powered down the gravity drivers. The airlock disengaged, and I took over controls from the sky car and had them retreat one hundred meters from the craft.

"Flight control, this is Phoenix, what's going on!" Jean started to yell into her comms unit. "I demand answers, dammit!"

"Flight control to Phoenix, we are unsure of what happened." I heard a reply from the others.

"That was my doing," I spoke up in the comms unit. "Flight control, dispatch another shuttle with quarantine gear out to Jean's location now."

"Yes, my king."

"Jean, this is not a movie. You can't dock and just walk onto that ship." I said with a sigh as the holo-video started.

"And why not?" Jean asked back from her pilot's seat. She was wearing one of the UMF suits in a flight suit jumper configuration.

"Jean, you're a fan of horror movies," I said with a deadpan look on my face. "So please don't have me explain to you about all of the ways that this can go wrong."

That statement seemed to pacify her, and I watched as her face paled for a second before her eyes glowed an eerie red.

"Flight suits and full containment protocols then." Jean replied with a nod of her head. Before I could say anything, she turned and started to give out commands to her crew. I sat with a smile and watched as she whipped them all into action. I sat and waited for a moment as the second shuttle arrived at her location and started to let out small two by two rooms that expanded to surround the derelict ship.

On the outside of the expanding room were attachments allowing Jean's shuttle to dock. On the other side, she would find a room completely isolated from the other ship. Inside that room, her crew would find food and a full medical suite to run tests and check the air for pathogens and other such things. Yeah, paranoid, I know, but it was better than bringing back xenomorphs or the Brood to earth. I wouldn't see Jean for another seventy-two hours because of the isolation protocols in place. Yet, I was okay with this over the alternatives.

There was a bing in the cabin of the sky car, noting my arrival to the Archmage's tower. I looked up and around, noticing my guards standing outside waiting on me. Sending Jean my love, I shut down the call and prepared myself.

O.O.O.O

Arch-Mage Tower.

Standing on the pathway, I looked up at the tower that floated there in silence. The tower stood like a beacon and radiated power for all to feel. Up above gardens floated around on blue whips of light. The tower wasn't made of stone, no, even here I had opted for crystal and glass to make it pop with the magical interaction. My whole island was made with setting us apart in mind, and having a mages tower was a must with the number of magical threats in Marvel.

I knew that once I stepped beyond the door's boundary, I would be greeted with a new world of possibilities. Magic was one of those things you didn't play with. Not only was it one of the most versatile things around, but it was also one of the worst double-edge swords someone could use if abused.

Taking a deep breath, I stepped across the threshold of the mage's tower. The world exploded with a cacophony of sounds as I found myself at one of the dueling arenas.

"Took you long enough dear." The Ancient One said as she sipped her tea. Her back was turned to me as she watched the battle rage before her. There was nothing I could say because this lady was just far too fucking terrifying, and I was just happy that she was on my side. There would be no way to defeat her because of the infinity stone she had in her possession.

Hell, I was confident that the only reason why she even died in the movie was that she was ready to pass on. There was no way she went from kicking everyone's ass throughout the movie to suddenly get stabbed and die. No, that was because Marvel decided to cop out and set up Dr. Strange to replace her. Then there is the other side of it that she might have just been ready to pass on.

"There was an emergency," I said as I sat in the open chair beside her own. Taking up the empty cup, I held it out for a serving of tea. As the teapot floated over to fill up my cup, I looked down at the two magic users in a heated battle.

Down below, were Marcus and Selene dueling as if their life depended on it. Marcus's tattoos were on full display and they glowed as he tossed out spells after spells. Marcus was bare-chested as he dodged a nasty spell that melted the golem that was guarding his back. Selene, on the other hand, had glowing red eyes with a manic grin on her face while tossing out spells far faster than when I had faced her.

"Ego, has a way of limiting one, does it not?" The Ancient One spoke serenely as she kept on watching them duel. Honestly, I didn't know what to say, so I said nothing and just kept drinking my tea. The golem that Selene's spell melted warped before coming back to life and attacking Marcus from the back. Marcus paid it no mind, and when it swung at him, his hair extended and skewered the damn thing before slicing it up into small chunks.

A twist of her fingers sent a blaze the size of a three-story house at Marcus, causing him to slam his hands into the ground. I was wondering what he was trying when the ground turned to water before leaping up and devouring the flames. Setting back in my seat from the steam explosion, I brought up a hologram menu of the field and learned that he changed the entire thing with one move. Since I had arrived, Marcus had been on the defense. I was starting to wonder how he was going to win this.

When the steam cleared out, it showed two Selenes, while Marcus was all bloody with slash marks on his body. Marcus had no chance to escape as the left Selene waved her hand, causing the water beneath him to erupt. This launched him into the air as the Selene on the right had a massive magical circle form before her readying an attack. I couldn't stay anymore and was already moving to save my astarte, but I was stopped because I couldn't leave my chair.

"He has not yielded; it would not do for his king to rescue him." I heard from my right. Before I could say anything, Selene launched her attack towards Marcus. The attack she launched zoomed across the battle arena, I watched as Marcus twisted in the air. As he twisted, a purple shield started to form around his body. Marcus didn't even land on the water's surface; he went right through without causing one ripple.

The right Selene raised her hand, pulling up all of the water on that side of the field. I watched transfixed as an Olympic pool's worth of water was levitated with nothing but a hand gesture. I watched as the water froze with another gesture, but that purple light was still surrounding Marcus. There was a growl and then a burst of power as he broke free, causing icicles to fly all around the battlefield. Selene displayed impeccable control as she summoned all of them back to her sides. They rotated around her once before being transformed into flying monkeys and sent towards Marcus once more.

This fight was over, I could easily see that Selene was by far his superior during this bout.

"This fight is over." I spoke before entering commands into the holo-deck. The Ancient One sent me a smile, but I was far too busy eyeing the time panel on the holo-deck. The systems were recording the whole bout, and one of the islands AI's had placed a counter beside the video's time sensor. The recording was rolling at one hundred times that of standard time, and that was when I understood what the Ancient One meant about ego blocking one's view.

Selene could have kept up with me at my higher speeds. I knew that Marcus couldn't do that before this, which meant he learned enhanced speed recently. Then there were the other implications in all of this. I couldn't stop thinking of all the angles as the Ancient One sat there with her tea watching a hyper-speed battle of magic.

Ignoring the implications of that, I sent in my override code and shut down their battle. A stasis field descended upon both of them mid-battle. Both combatants were frozen within the stasis field while I decided to take my time descending from the viewer's area. I paid no mind to the all-powerful Sorcerer Supreme that decided to follow behind.

Opening the door that led to their battlefield, I took a moment to look down at the waters below. They had turned a hardened battleground into an ocean with naught but a spell. The only thing that kept the room from collapsing down was the enchanted reinforcements to deflect spellfire.

This was why I needed to learn magic; you just can't do something like this any other way.

They both looked down at me from their elevated height, my arms were crossed against my chest, and the look on my face screamed pain to any with disobedience.

"I did not come here to watch as the two of you try to kill each other." I said with an icy undertone to my voice. Marcus had a look of mortification on his features while Selene looked bored. "This is over, clean yourselves up."

With a wave of my hands, I utilized my gravity control and moved them both to separate ends of the battlefield. Marcus gave me a look before disappearing while Selene stood there looking at me.

"Clean yourself up, then meet me upstairs, it's time for our first lesson." I told her before turning around. I noticed that the Ancient One was no longer there, but ignored that and left the arena. I made my way to the platform that would take me out of there. There were no elevators in the mage's towers; what they had opted for was a five by five platform that could go up, down, side to side, forward, and back. Hell, the only thing these damn platforms didn't do was travel at an angle, and I was not going to be the one that brings that up in a conversation.

Crazy fucking mages.

I stepped off the platform on the top floor in the midst of a forest clearing with a lake so clear you could see straight to the bottom. Shaking my head at it all, I did a quick look around before finding a few sets of meditation mats. Selene walked into reality with a ripple of dark green flames, instantly locating me as I prepared myself to take a seat.

Neither of us said anything as I pulled my combat boots off and placed them at the side. Selene had taken a seat across from the blue meditation mat I had selected as my own. Taking a moment to put my thoughts together as I sat down, I waved my hand and summoned a holo-screen. Floating between us was the magical grimoire that she had written for me.

"The grimoire had everything to make anyone a magic-user." Selene spoke while examining her nails. I gave her a leveled look and took in her attire. She was in an all-black silk dress far closer to a corset than an actual dress with matching goth makeup. Her hair was done with loose curls, and nothing was out of place as she flexed her delicate fingers.

Perfect was the word that came to mind, but I wasn't here to indulge myself with her company.

"I know that already, but every time I attempt to create my own spell matrices, they go haywire." I replied smoothly and kept my voice neutral.

"Let me see the spell matrix." Selene said without even looking up. She wasn't looking at me, but I could feel her interests being peaked. It was starting to look like she was a tsundere, and I didn't know how I felt about that. Sighing more to myself instead of about the situation, I held out a hand palm facing upwards.

What I wanted to construct above my pal was a magical ball that I could use as a magic missile. This had been an idea of mines for some time now. I could throw lightning, yes, but I wanted the versatility that magic provided. I watched as a small shell of arcane energy formed above my head before exploding in a mixture of red and yellow. The explosion sent a shockwave of power into my surroundings, blasting away some of the grass and ground, but Selene wasn't even affected by it.

That was interesting, I knew I was protected from my own powers, but when did she set up a defense. Selene said nothing as I looked at her, so I attempted to create the spell matrix a few more times. Each time I put in more and more power causing larger and larger explosions. As I was forming the fifth arcane bolt within my palm, Selene moved. A magical circle appeared within moments to stabilize the arcane orb above my open hand.

I raised an eyebrow at her, but she said nothing while the arcane orb overpowered what she did. Selene watched it explode in both of our faces once again. I heard the tsk of her teeth, but I said nothing as she finally gave me her undivided attention.

"Once again?"

The look she gave me spoke volumes, and I took that as the yes I would need. Once more, I created an arcane orb, this time though Selene was right next to me. She sat far to close, almost placing herself within my lap. Ignoring her, I brought up my right and created another arcane orb of power.

"I see," Selene mumbled to herself as she examined the orbs before they exploded within my palms.

"And what is it that you see?" I asked as neutral as I could.

"Your power is neither stable nor is it balanced." Selene answered at a critical eye pointed at my chest.

"Impossible, I have one of the best controls over my powers around." I replied as I tried to figure out what she was talking about.

"And in there lies your issues." Selene answered back, smugly.

"Explain."

Selene gave me a look, and I returned the same one back. Silence descended before she chose to break it.

"You have your power separated into two parts," Selene started as she answered me with a lazy look on her face. "That's fine right now, but in the long run, not only will this not work for magic; it will backfire because of the imbalance you currently have within you. I can already see and tell that you use this yellow source of power more than you use the red."

"Hmmm."

"Then there are the stability issues. You have such a firm grasp over this yellow source of energy within you that there is no soft control. There is no natural flow of energy besides what you're allowing, and that means mental instability," Selene said bored as the day was long. "I can sense the mark of trauma on you."

There was a pause as my mind rebooted from her statement. The only trauma I could think of was the kidnapping situation, but I was over that, wasn't I? I was certain that I had killed all of those that had wronged me that day. So how could that be an issue in why I couldn't use magic correctly.

"Let's work on those issues about the two different sets of powers." I said as I held up both hands. On the right arm, I had the strength force while on the left, carried the speed. Selene looked at me with interest, but I paid her no mind as I started to focus inwards.

Within my mindscape, I looked over all that made up who I am. The planets that represented my mind and memories still rotated around the yellow star that was the speed force. While the red death star that was the strength force still floated within the void. Thoughts and ideas ran through my mind as I looked over the two and wondered on how I could get them both to work as one. The first idea I had was to just unleash both and let them mix, but that would be suicidal.

Circuit boards and capacitors flitted through my mind for a brief moment before I dismissed that also. What I needed was a gradual mixture of both strength and speed within my mind. As thoughts and ideas flew through my mind, something tingled and drew my attention. With some concentration, I followed it along to reach my mental citadel. Within the citadel sat six thrones, and upon these thrones were my mental representations of Jean, Ororo, Emma, Gwen, Raven, and Natasha. On closer examination, I found a tether of power leaking out from my core.

It was noticeable that neither Raven's, Emma's Gwen's, nor Natasha's connection to myself was a color other than orange. It was clear to tell why Jeans was red, while Ororo's was pure green while connected to myself. One was of Gaea, and the other was that of the Phoenix. I paid neither any mind because if they were detrimental to me, then they would have acted a long time ago. What I did pay attention to was the connection and how it was interacting with the outside world.

I watched as the energy just flowed through the astral and back like a loop. I tried once more, but I noticed the friction within the astral or as Selene called it the instability. Pulling the power back, I looked over the tethers that anchored me to my woman. What I found was an even mixture of speed and strength, but I couldn't tell how or why their connection was so stable. The energy I found flowed like water yet, it was so stable it gave off the feeling of insurmountability.

Pulling out of the citadel, I sat within the nebulous void of my mind. I had to contemplate on what I found. The only way forward would be to allow the strength force to bond with me. This bonding would be in the same way that the speed force did when I first spoke those magical words. For an hour, I sat there and thought about all of my options. Millions of ideas ran through my mind, but I could only see one way. I took a breath before releasing my hold over the strength force.

The world hit me as if it was truck-kun reborn.

Raw power rushed through me as I released the hold that I had kept so tightly leashed. I gritted my teeth to keep from screaming as power, unlike any I have ever felt flowed through me, forcing my body to adjust and accommodate it all.

Breathe…

Breathe…

My arms expanded as my thighs exploded with muscles showing off the sculpt. My shirt expanded as my rib cage shifted, and my back expanded. I grew and grew as I shot upwards to tower over Selene. My form exploded upwards before topping out at around ten feet. Pain unimaginable coursed through me as my arms shot out bones shifting and growing to accommodate the raw power that flowed through me. I released a growl to keep myself from screaming out as the power ran through me.

It was now that I understood why the speed force had knocked me out when I had first received the power. I pounded a fist into the ground, causing a creator. I noticed Selene had already retreated a ways back as my power rampaged around my body. With a grunt, I started to use the speed force trying to sync it up with the second heartbeat that I felt within my chest. The beats in my chest echoed again and again in my attempt to create a balance.

Lights flashed around me as I fell down to my knees, hands gripping my chest. I paid no mind to the medics as I pushed for synchronization. The one medic that was brave enough to step close was sent flying from a slight nudge.

"Treadmill." I growled out before starting to sprint. No one was able to stop me as I blasted out of there at such high speeds everyone went flying. I knew where I needed to go, and I hoped that it would help. I sped through the maze that was the Mages tower. The aim was my cosmic treadmill back in my own lab. The ground cracked and broke beneath me while I ran across the island.

There was no punching my code into the keypad as it crushed under my fingers. Growling, I smashed down the wall and made my way into the vaults looking for one of my locked away inventions. Automated defenses popped out, firing salvos at me, but I paid them no mind as I absorbed the plasma rounds. With a wave of my hand, gravity, velocity, time, and so much more flew out and crushed the plasma turrets firing at me. I bullied my way past shield generators and complete false walls in my hunt for the cosmic treadmill.

I coughed up the burning heat in my chest, splattering blood all over the hallway as I fell back down and took a knee. My eyes blurred as the world went hazy.

I was…

I was going to die.

Again...

Die again…

No!

I refuse…

UUURRRGHHH!

I roared, forcing my way up from my kneeling position; I was going to make it.

Moving like a battle tank, I forced open the bolt hold doors that kept the elevators locked. The security had slammed down, shutting down my vault access. I couldn't enter the codes nor use the scanners due to my condition. Disintegration beams descended onto me as I rolled over to fall into the elevator that was crushed beneath my falling form. Quickly I grabbed the flooring, then brought it up in a makeshift shield before diving out of the elevator.

Looking around, I noticed the 5B painted on the wall, helping me orientate myself with my mental map. Tesla coils and MAC guns came out of the walls, and that was when I received my first injury. With the right mind, gravity drivers could be such a flexible tool. And right now, I was starting to regret my own paranoia as a one-inch slug ripped through my right bicep going 1/4th the speed of light. I stumbled with the echoing shockwave as the round slammed into the wall behind me. The second and third rounds were dodged, but I wasn't fast enough for the fourth and fifth.

The sixth slammed into a gravity wall giving me a moment to catch my breath. My vision was red from the blood vessels that had burst, but I paid that no mind as I moved forward.

Think, Ben, think.

The sound was low, which meant bleeding eardrums, but it wasn't so bad because equilibrium was still there. Coughing blood meant internal injuries due to shifting bones. Speed was cutting in and out, but my strength was still there. There were no longer three heartbeats in my chest. That meant the sync was working, and I needed that narrowed down from two because there should only be one, my heart.

It was funny; I did the one thing I said I wasn't going to do. I released all of the pent up power I kept shackled. My only hope was the cosmic treadmill. I could deal with the mental trauma later, but I needed synchronization right now.

Soon I arrived at the big vault.

The large vault was made purely out of adamantium, and there was no way in unless you have a strength rating over one hundred tons. Lucky for me, not all of the internals were made out of the same materials. Unlucky for it, none of the insides contained vibranium. Eyeing the vault, I slammed both palms into the front and worked my gravity into the internals. The counterweights shifted just enough for me to get my fingers into the seams of the vault door.

The metal refused to buckle as I forced it open. Gears ground together, and metal creaked, but I pushed through it all. Vibrations of the internal mechanisms breaking reached my fingertips, but I pushed on and on. Fire licked my chest as more blood poured forth from my mouth due to excretion. Who would have thought this all came to be because I had too much control over my powers, and just releasing them would cause me to almost die.

Good news to all of this was once I survived this, I would no longer need to worry. But the downside was if I didn't make it to the cosmic wheel, I would die and leave everyone. I was never going to place my name in history with the greats. If I failed here, I would never be able to build my Empire.

The smart band on my wrist started to scream out warnings about my health, but ignored it and pushed on. My chest burned as the two beats sped up within my chest, yet I pushed on. My breathing was haggard, and my blood poured out; I wanted all of this to end, but I didn't want to die.

I had to push on.

I had to keep going.

A beep drew my attention, forcing me to raise my head and look around. I found myself on the floor of the vault as the alarms blared around me. Panic set in once more, but I noticed the blurred green line to my right. My legs felt like jelly and refused to allow me to stand, so I did the next best thing; I crawled. The motion of my hand activated the cosmic treadmill as I pulled myself onto its surface.

"Over…. Override acti…. Active sync. Activate sync reality."

The cosmic treadmill had come around when my paranoia was in full bloom. With the birth of Faora and Alexander, I had gone through a phase where I built anything and everything I could think of. The cosmic treadmill was one of them; I didn't just build it because I could. The cosmic treadmill served a few purposes. One was to help in my distillation of a hyper-kinetic particle, and the other was to test the higher limits of my speed. One of the few things it could do besides those two was to create a reality synchronization over the speeds forces spectrum and omni-verse.

The other was to use a sample of my blood, which carried my quantum signature. This would then broadcast across the omni-verse and allowed me to find my way home. This was also incase I fell into one of Richards fucking portals. Backups for my backups, paranoid true, but better than dead.

The threads started to move slowly, forcing me to walk.

Breathing deeply, I took a strong step forward. Then another and another, before I knew it, I was running.

BOOM!

BOOM!

BOOM!

My steps sound like thunder as I picked up the pace. Power flowed, and I pushed through my pain. Before I changed over to a flat out run, my legs carried me from a jog to a sprint. Lightning arced around me as I pushed on. Blue, red, and yellow lightning licked at my form as I ran. Blacks, greens, and purples made themselves known soon after, but I kept on running. The pain wanted me to buckle and break, but I had my goal. I had my vision, and I would not fail today. I had one job, and that was to run and keep on running until I was able to align and sync my powers.

Seconds, minutes, then what felt like hours passed me by. The world shifted in a kaleidoscope of colors, but I kept on-going. Moments felt like days, and days felt like years to my hypersensitive sense. My beard grew, and my hair became shaggy. My skin warped and cracked as grey licked at the edges of my temple, yet I ran.

I was lost within the annals of time when I finally felt the fire reseed from my chest as something clicked into place. There was one tender moment where I wanted to stop and take a look at myself, but I knew that I couldn't. My instincts screamed at me, but I kept on running. I was within the speed force, and I had to find my way home. That thought made me almost facepalm myself because I was running on the cosmic treadmill, and it had a return function built right in.

I raised a hand to my face, but the smart band didn't respond to my mental commands. Instead of panicking, I hit the manual controls, not the cosmic treadmill, and had it bring us back home while I powered it. Instead of looking around, I powered on trying to get back home. I was desperately trying not to think about the time dilation and the one hundred years I spent running within this realm. My clothes were aged, and I could see the same on the treadmill.

Right as I noticed, the issues of the cosmic treadmill smoke started to rise out of its sides. I noticed that with a thought, my powers flowed to cover the treadmill. The friction was removed and absorbed, smoothing out the ride right as the back walls to my vault came into view.

Jumping from the cosmic treadmill, I allowed it to crash into the back wall as I landed. What greeted me was a team of spartans all decked out in combat armor, and guns up pointed in my general direction. Behind them were a team of medic and blood. Blood was every fucking where and it made me wonder how in the hell I made it this far without dying. The vault was a wreck; the hallway was trashed; the whole place looked like a battlefield.

And this all started because I just wanted to learn some damn magic.

One of the medics forced their way to the front to run a scanner over me as I raised a patch of earth so I could take a seat.

"It's the king." The medic yelled back. This caused a few things to happen all at once. The spartans lowered their weapons, and the medics ran forward with a gurney for me to lay on. This in turn had me looking at the thing with pure loathing.

"I will walk myself out of here," I told the medic as I stood back up and dismissed the earth formation. "How long was I gone?"

"Eight days, my king." The medic replied. This caused me to almost pause mid-stride. As I thought over the implications of that, I noticed the rest of the destruction within the hallway. I could tell that they had recently just made it to the vault because they were held up by the secondary defenses. I noted that no one was able to shut down the security once I had broken the key panel.

I would have to fix that.

The reason why I went for the keypad and scanners was to keep hackers out. Hell, the vault wasn't even integrated with the island's computers. As I looked around at all of the destruction, I noticed the changes within myself. I could feel the shift of gravity and the earth. Another major change was the strength I exhibited when I grabbed a door handle instead of letting a spartan get it for me. The alloy bent within my grip as if it was made of clay.

Releasing a sigh, I shifted back down to my six feet height before flying up the shaft. I then made my way to the ambulance that was waiting outside for me. While sitting in the back of the ambulance, I started to give out commands and check data tablets for updates on the island. Before I could make it through the first report, the tablet started to explode with rings as eight different calls all came in at the same time.

Instead of answering, I sent back messages that let them know I was alright and heading to the hospital. Closing that down, I sent a message to Alex to bring over the latest wrist computer. This would be the omnitool and a major upgrade from the smart bands I used to wear before. The only thing missing was a mini fabricator, but that was already pushing it with everything already packed into the thing.

I stepped out of the ambulance and right before the Ancient One, who ran a few magical scanning spells over me. She gave me a nod and smiled before saying something about reaching balance, then vanished.

Bloody woman.

A nurse came out with a hoverchair, but I walked right past her and had another one show me to my room. I wasn't out of my clothes for more than a minute when the family came rushing in. Relaxing in my hospital garbs, I allowed them to fuss and yell while I just relaxed and ignored it all. When it finally looked like they had come down from their excitement, I spoke.

"Well, I am alive."

"What the…. What the shit Ben!." Natasha exclaimed out loud.

"Language," I replied back, but they all gave me that flat look like it was all my fault. "Things happen, alright."

Then I shrugged, and before they could start another round, Alex walked in with my omnitool. Behind him were a few techs and medics to check me from top to bottom. They gave me the collective, 'this isn't over' look, but that could wait. But I could see the worry etched on their features and I knew what they were concerned about. I had spent a hundred years in that hell of a dimension and my hair was one of the only things that told of the passage of time. Well, that and the aged look of my UMF suit and dead smartband. I was looking all fucked up, but I was alive and that was all that matters.

Alex and his team started to run scans over me as I had Salt relay the more important news to me. One of them was that Stark had his birthday party, and it was a total blow out like in the movies. The other was that Fury was looking for me, but I wasn't available at the time. For that, I had her call Peter and tell him that we were going on a road trip once I was out of the hospital. The island saw its first natural births of a boy while Jean had towed that spaceship to the space station.

The ship had been cleared of pathogens and all life signs before they towed it. That was a silver lining in all of this, but the downside was that this ship model wasn't in Xandar's public database. Natasha and Emma had put up a video of them finding Cap on the black market. Then they had the same video as a doctor extracted blood and put it up for a price. Right now, the sample of blood was worth a cool half a billion on the market. I knew that it was going to get messy soon, and I knew that Nat couldn't wait to spring the trap.

Namor was being sorted, and the embassy by the ocean was already built. Only a few Atlanteans had come to the mainland, and that had started a rush on UMF upgraded clothes for them. From what Sage was telling me, Alex had taken it as quite the challenge to have our tech work underwater.

One of the more fearless nurses came in and asked for some quiet because we were getting too loud. Looking at the kids, I asked my mother to take them home since they had guards, and we were safe on the island. Before she left with the kids, Sage updated my omnitool with a very important piece of information. Some guy had died from gamma exposure in his beverage, and I knew what that meant.

Bruce Banner and General Ross were now going to be on the move. The good news was that I already had a base set in New York, so they will both end up coming directly towards me. Instead of leaving with the kids, the ladies decided to stay behind.

OOOO.

4 Days later.

Peter was there waiting on me as I checked out of the hospital with a giant stuffed bear. The look I gave him could have killed planets, but he ignored me and gave the stuffed animal to my girls. It turned out he won four of them at Coney Island earlier today.

Shaking my head at them, I had them ushered onto a sky car before closing the door and sending them to school. Peter, on the other hand, got a punch in the shoulder for his troubles.

"Thanks, Pete." I told him as my own sky car came down to meet me, and we both got in.

"Ohh, it's cool, I am the amazing Uncle Pete after all," Peter replied with a wave of his hand. "So, tell me why did you want me to come along?"

"Remember that conversation we had about your father a while back?" I asked as the sky car flew high over the ocean. The ride was so smooth you couldn't even tell the change in elevation or pressure.

"Yeah, I remembered," Peter answered with a shrug. "Uncle Ben said mom was too independent, and he wasn't reliable."

"Yeah, about that," I muttered as I brought up a hologram with his DNA and the other match. "I found him, and he is dying."

End Chapter….

A/N

There are a few chapters left inside this arc before things shift once more.

I have noticed that some of you are asking about Gwen and I do have something planned for her that I don't want to show happening right now. For that, I will not spoil anything, but know it's going to be badassery.

Ehh, I know I don't generally reply to comments on less it's certain sights so I thought that you readers might like some insight this time around. Yes, Benjamin had to almost die to fix his imbalance problems. The cosmic treadmill is a nice little easter egg for those comic Flash fans around, but also a clue for later.

Yes, there is a lot going on but I do have a pretty detailed storyboard for when things happen and don't.

Please leave your thoughts on the chapter. I do read every comment and you can always chat with me on discord or the message systems.

You can reach me here at my discord or join my patron if you would like to be 5 chapters ahead or gain access to commissioned artwork.

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The next chapter will be out in 2 weeks time...