As Alex was going through a therapeutic experience in the time-accelerated Gaia Federation, the rest of the cluster was moving at the same speed of time as usual. Which was all still incomprehensibly shuffled up.
In the Asgardian Earth.
Not a lot of time had passed since Jane’s adventure to Earth-Z where she got her ass handed to herself by the two ‹Eldrich Leader Class› Abominations in quick succession.
At this point, as repayment to Alex for saving her at that time from that particular situation, she decided to help him locate the planet that he told her about. Morag.
“This place doesn’t exist in any Asgardian databases,” Jane told him after a thorough search. He had been standing right beside her through the process, so he knew.
“Which means that it’s most likely inaccessible by the Bifrost as well. If the planet’s data isn’t there then it is most likely beyond Odin’s domain,” Alex said with a thoughtful frown.
“Anything else I can do to help?” She asked him.
“Help me locate Xandar,” He said, “That’s the home planet of the Nova Corps. It should be an easy find.”
“It is,” Jane nodded, “I’ve dealt with them before. They are one of the nicer intergalactic empires, very nice policies for their mixed-race citizens despite one race being a majority.”
“That’s cool,” He said, “But we just need to get to their planet. I can get the rest of the information on my own and we can be gone within minutes. Sightseeing can come later.”
“If you say so,” Jane said before pressing her palm on the terminal once again. She then started searching for the relevant data before displaying it on a holographic screen.
“Do you need to make any preparations before we leave?” Alex asked her.
“Not in particular,” She said, “I’ve left most of the things in Fury’s hands along with the rest of the World Council. As for Loki and Hela … Those two are like problem children who can’t be helped. My being here or not isn’t going to matter if they truly decide to start another world war.”
“Good enough, let’s get going then,” Alex said with a shrug. Jane nodded and grabbed Hofund’s handle before pulling it out of its sheath. She held it with both hands and stabbed it into the ground before the rainbow bridge surrounded her and Alex. They both disappeared, leaving the Celtic Knot that represented Eternity in the place where they were previously standing.
Alex narrowed his eyes as he felt himself traveling through the Bifrost, “This is such an interesting design …” He said.
“It’s one of the greatest inventions stemming from the culmination of Asgard’s knowledge,” Jane said with a mesmerized tone, “It’s much more than interesting.”
“If I had an empire that spanned multiple galaxies, I would try to make travel efficient too,” He said, “It’s a pity that it’s only usable within the region of influence of the Odinforce. Because of that, a large chunk of the universe is inaccessible.”
“You know an awful lot about Asgard’s core knowledge,” Jane looked at him, “I’m sure you didn’t find this information in the database that we have on Earth. Knowledge of the Odinforce was never stored anywhere digitally.”
“Good question,” Alex couldn’t exactly tell Jane the truth about the source of his information.
She didn’t push him further and they waited for a few seconds as the Bifrost delivered them to the home planet of the Nova Corps, Xandar.
“Hm?” Jane frowned and within seconds, she and Alex felt a huge turbulence within the bridge that rocked them both around. Just as they were about to be yanked out of the Bifrost, the bridge disappeared and both of them collided with a hard floor. Jane groaned out before quickly standing up and wielding both her hammer and sword. Alex followed suit with an impassive expression.
“We’re in trouble,” Alex said as he faced a troop of a hundred guards, all decked out in some kind of modified Nova Corps battle armor that was filled with gold accents. They were all looking at the duo with hostility.
“Guess so,” Jane said before twirling Mjolnir in her hand. She was planning to slam it onto the ground to let out a blast of electricity. It would have a nice intimidation factor. Unfortunately for her, before she could even completely raise the divine weapon, she groaned in pain before falling down on one knee.
Alex frowned as he looked at the platform that they had both appeared on. It was marked with the usual Eternity Celtic Knot of the Bifrost, but under that, he felt some sort of foreign power affecting both him and Jane. He couldn’t yet recognize it, but he felt that it was an absolute suppressive force that he couldn’t contend against. Just to test it out, he attempted to pull Chaos Energy from his reservoir so that he could cast a spell, but he felt a painful sensation run all across his soul that made him cease his actions.
“Halt, Asgardians.” Soon, a gold-skinned woman, adorned in gold robes approached them, the soldiers parting to make way for her, “I am Nova Prime and you are trespassing on our planet.”
Alex and Jane both shared a confused look, “You are the leader of the Sovereign,” Jane spoke, her authority leaking out in her tone, “Why are you acting as the Nova Prime? And where is Irani Rael?”
“You seem to be under the assumption that you are the one in control here, Asgardian,” The gold-skinned woman had a haughty expression on her face, “Your powers are useless here.”
Alex looked at her and asked, “Answer her question. Xandar is an intergalactic trade planet. Entry and exit to and from the planet should have no restrictions, Asgardian or not.”
[She’s not going—] Jane’s telepathic thought was interrupted.
“I am Ayesha, the Golden High Priestess of the Sovereign, I am also serving as the Nova Prime for the Nova Empire. The Sovereign has taken control of the Nova Empire” She answered, “As for Irani Rael, the previous Nova Prime, she has moved on to a better place.”
At her words, Alex frowned, not even bothering to gloat to Jane about her not knowing his capabilities. It wasn’t because of the contents of the woman’s words, it was because of the amount of power he had been forced to channel from the Mind Stone to get her to speak in the first place.
[EP -2678]
«EP: 23746 -> 21068»
[We are being suppressed by an Infinity Stone.] Alex told Jane solemnly, [Most likely the Soul Stone from what I’ve been able to gather.]
It wasn’t that Ayesha had impeccable mental defenses. The Mind Stone could steamroll through any mortal mind no matter how strong. What took most of his EP was fighting against the ‹Soul Authority› of the Soul Stone that was actively suppressing him and Jane at the moment.
She didn’t respond but showed a frown, waiting for the leader of the Sovereign to speak.
Ayesha didn’t feel anything wrong with her previous words and continued, “After the continuous mayhem caused by the multiple variants of Thor Odinson running around, we have decided to implement precautionary policies against all Asgardians and enhanced individuals that approach Xandar,” She spoke, “For now, you are going to be sent to the containment unit until we can decide the further actions to be undertaken.”
Moments later, two guards approached Alex and Jane. They had two pairs of metal cuffs in their hands that had multiple glowing green lines going across them, presumably a circuit that would suppress Asgardians.
Alex didn’t really care about being imprisoned for now. He was more concerned about how he was going to snatch the Soul Stone from these people. He was going to play nice until he could get a viable plan going for him.
As for Jane, she showed a hostile expression as the two guards approached. Just as they entered the range of her movement, she swung both her hammer and sword with reckless abandon. A repeat of the previous events occurred as she groaned out in pain while falling down on one knee. The guards didn’t react, acting as if they had expected the scene.
They separated and one of them went to cuff Alex while the other went to cuff Jane. As the guard approached Alex, the armored humanoid roughly grabbed his arms and held them behind his back before cuffing his wrists with the suppressing cuffs. Alex didn’t miss the opportunity to send a sliver of himself into that guard so that he would be able to take control and put his plans in motion.
It was the same with Jane. The painful suppression, mixed with the guard’s forceful actions forced her to drop both her weapons as she was also cuffed. Alex had half expected her to lose her Asgardian physique in this state, but surprisingly, it persisted even as the suppressing cuffs made their way onto her wrists. That was a testament to the true power that Mjolnir held and how Jane had barely accessed a fraction of it. Unless she willed it herself, she wouldn’t turn back.
[Why are you just accepting this?] Jane asked Alex with a pained tone as she constantly felt the suppression of the Soul Stone.
[Patience.] Alex told her, [We are at a disadvantage right now. Let things settle before we do something.]
[We won’t be able to escape if we let them capture us. If, as you say, they do have an Infinity Stone, then we’ll be like sitting ducks once they put us in a cell.] She protested while trying her best to push back the guard who had a tight grip on her arm.
[Be my guest, keep trying.] Alex shook his head at his battle freak of a host. The guards, meanwhile, led both him and Jane through the hall as Ayesha, alongside the soldiers who were filling the hall, all departed.
‘Oh, these guards are the Sovereign’s remote control troops,’ Alex thought to himself as he infiltrated the guard’s gold armor, ‘I can work with this too …’
Unlike explicit powers like Chaos Magic and Lightning Manipulation, Alex’s passive abilities weren’t affected by the suppression of the Soul Stone. One of which was the ability to naturally traverse cyberspaces.
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thanks for the chapter
the mind is just a bunch of neurons and brain activity. i guess he can have it work well thinking of it like that. signals in the brain turned wifi.