Chapter 24: The Aether and The Ancient One!

November 29th, 2013:

A few weeks after the whole Dark Elves mess, I was sitting in my jet, thinking. I had gone on a few dates with Darcy. Her knowing that I was Venom made it a bit easy, because I didn't have to lie to her about why I couldn't go out after 11 some days. She understood my duties as Venom, which I was really thankful for. We even became officially a couple. Thor and Jane approved. Selvig threatened me a little, Peter teased me, a lot.

I was ready to give my Master's exam by the end of the term in December. Business was blooming, the medical scanners were finally approved by the FDA for sale to the hospitals. I did have to pay the original inventor a royalty, as he had left Oscorp once his idea was rejected, but it was alright. I even gave him a cut for all the profits I'd make on those sales.

Thor was here to stay, and finally Bucky Barnes had recovered from his brainwashing. So Cap was bringing him to New York soon. It was about to get nasty for Hydra.

The reason I was in the Jet was that I was planning something I really needed to do. I was planning to meet the Ancient One. It would either be the best meeting ever, or the most frustrating meeting. Depends on whether she kicks my butt, or decides to help me.

I was currently in my jet, hovering above Kathmandu, Nepal. I had searched for the Masters practicing their arts in the backyard or something, but it must be hidden really well.

"Let's do this the old fashioned way then." I say and jump out of the plane, still invisible. I search around, looking for any sign of a monastery or a temple that looked like it might house a secret magic school. No fuss.

"Kamar Taj?" I ask for the umpteenth person, 3 days later, still in Kathmandu and the 5th marketplace since I'd begun searching.

The person shakes his head and I continue walking. I was garbed in a casual jeans and shirt, wearing a cap, like the classic Marvel Hidden look.

"You are really persistent Mr Osborn." A voice from behind me says. The Ancient One.

I jump, because even Venom did not see her coming. I control my breathing and say, "Well you aren't exactly easy to find."

TAO was wearing a yellow robe, with a hood that covered her head and the forehead. She raises her eyebrow at me and says, "That is for a reason Mr Osborn. If anyone could find it, there would have been a surplus of sorcerers in this world."

I frown and ask, "Wouldn't that be good? More sorcerers means better defenders against any of the threats."

TAO nods and says, "Yes. But it also means more chances of sorcerers trying to take over the world."

Can't argue with that.

I ask, "So.. Can we talk? A little private?"

TAO raises her eyebrow at me and says, "Very well. Come." And she creates a portal with her fingers.

The portal was amazing. It was a stable hole in Space-time! The science required for this to actually work! It was simply on a scale I was not yet equipped to handle.

I follow her silently, too excited to say anything. The portal leads us to a room with a small Chinese tea table, TAO taking one seat and offering me the other. I nod and sit.

She gives me tea to drink, which I take. I instantly get a smile on my face after smelling it. It was the traditional Indian chai. So she knows. I graciously drink the tea, nursing it while thinking and finally say.

"You probably know my whole life story, so I'll directly ask. Will you help me?"

TAO looks at me with a neutral face and asks, "Tell me Mr Osborn. What will you do with the infinity stone?"

I frown. That was an expected question. "I will protect anyone I can. Excuse me, I think I'm wrong, but are you able to see beyond your death using the eye?" I ask her. Because if she doesn't know what's going to happen..

TAO looks at me, smiling and says, "I haven't seen the battle happen Mr Osborn, if that's what you're asking. But you did tell me how it went in one timeline. So I know how the war would have happened, had you not interfered. But tell me Mr Osborn. You have been here for 14 years, how much have you actually changed?"

I grimace at that. Even I knew I hadn't changed much of anything. But I still think, and answer, "Umm.. I prevented Hydra from gaining a foothold in America, I saved Frigga from dying, protected one Infinity stone from Thanos' hands. At least for now. I made sure Kilgrave didn't get his hands on Jessica which consequently saved Reva Cage. Saving Ben's life, I made sure Peter became worthy of Mjolnir, which made him semi-Asgardian, and would be a great help in the final fight. I prevented Otto from becoming a villain, same with Toomes. By making sure that Loki knows I know the future, I even made sure that more of Asgard will be saved from Ragnarok." I pause at that.

Huh. I thought I wasn't changing enough, this is still enough to increase our chances against Thanos.

So, getting a little frustrated, I continue, "I did a lot okay? For someone who was afraid of changing the timeline, I changed a lot of things and still kept the timeline intact. I can still say that whatever comes next, I can handle. Even if somehow Dr Doom or someone from out of Universe appears, I'll still be able to handle them, with the Avengers. Not alone, because I'm not exactly alone here. Peter knows what's going to happen. Even if I die, he and Siri will whip something up to save people. So don't ask me, what I have actually changed, because I have done a lot for this world."

The Ancient One looks me in the eyes, and I don't back down, looking her right back. She finally nods and says, "Good."

I blink, losing my fury and eloquently say, "Huh?"

She smiles at me and says, "I wanted to know if you've even realized that you have changed a lot of things with very little consequences. There will be some major consequences, I won't tell you what," she adds as I open my mouth. I quickly snap it shut, and she continues, "You have been getting stronger, little by little, so that you may fare better in the final battle. And it has been working. You are now somewhere close to Thor in terms of strength, yes? Possibly even stronger?"

I nod, dumbly. I never even realised that I was now about equal to Hulk in strength. Huh.

"Now you just need to work on finesse. You told me Thanos beat the Hulk down like a small kid. It was understandable. Hulk is a small child. Only about 10 years old in fact, and he doesn't even know how to fight smartly. You do. So you have already improved things by a lot. Just keep training and you will succeed Harry." She finishes.

I think upon it. I could definitely fight Hulk on an even ground before Extremis. So theoretically, if I and Hulk fought now, I might defeat him. Only if I do it quickly. The angrier he becomes, the stronger he is, and all that.

I turn to TAO and say, "Thank you for this. So will you do it?"

TAO raises her eyebrow and asks, "Will I do what, Mr Osborn?"

I answer her, "Will you repair.. um purify?.. the reality stone? I think Malekith corrupted it for his own purposes and right now, the stone is focused on that purpose. If we want to get the stone truly on our side, it has to be purified first. Am.. Am I right?" I ask, hesitantly. All this was just my theory. I didn't actually know if the reality stone was corrupted, but it did act like it. How else would only Malekith be able to control it?

TAO looks at me and says, "I will. The time stone will be able to reverse the damage done to the reality stone." I get happy, thankful that my theory was correct, but her next words stop me short.

"But.. It would require a huge amount of power. Power which only 2 items in this entire universe could produce. The Power Stone or the Tesseract." She says, a little grimly.

"What about the Mind stone? Couldn't it help? Being an infinity stone too?" I ask hesitantly.

TAO shakes her head and says, "The Mind stone does not have enough power for it."

"Well.. fuck." I groan in frustration. There's no way, I'll be able to take the Power stone from Morag and keep it back in time for Peter Quill to pick it up. So I'll have to ask Loki for a favour. Which will be really tough. Fuck!

"You did this on purpose didn't you? Paused to get my hopes up and then dropped the bomb. Loki will never agree to it." I say bitingly.

"Not purposefully, but your reaction was worth watching. And how do you know? You did save his mother." TAO answers, calmly.

"It will be like.. blackmail. Fuck!" I think on it. I could try to convince him to lend it to me, but I'll have to give him something equally important in return. Would my serums even work on Asgardians/Jotuns? I don't think so. So Vibranium.

"How long would you need it for?" I finally ask TAO.

TAO closes her eyes for a few seconds and says, "A month. The purification process would need the Tesseract for close to 25 days, but to be on the safe side, 1 month."

I nod. Fucking hell! This is.. madness! I get determined, and say, "I'll bring you the Tesseract. Keep everything you need ready." And start walking out of the room.

"Wait a minute, Mr Osborn. No one knows you are here, and Id rather my students don't ask me uncomfortable questions." TAO says and opens up a portal to my left. I walk through the portal and into my Jet. The portal starts closing behind me, but I don't pay any attention.

"Siri. Start hacking, full power, into Shield and search for Project Pegasus in 1980s. There should be designs for a light speed engine and the name of Dr Lawson somewhere. Find them and also find anything they have on harnessing the Tesseract's energy." I order.

"Yes sir." Siri says.

I had kept this out of my mind because I didn't have the Tesseract with me. But if I manage to convince Loki to lend it to me? I'm taking full advantage. I'm going to fucking become Captain Marvel.

Going home, I take 50 canisters of Vibranium and store them in my pocket space. I will need at least 30 to convince Loki. But he's greedy, so I'll probably have to give him more.

Taking the Jet, I fly to an open space, and get out. I look up and shout out, "Heimdall! I need to meet with the King! Tell him I have a deal to make. Open up!"

At first nothing happens for about 5 Minutes, so I shout again. And then the bridge opens taking me with it dropping me on Asgard right in front of Heimdall.

I stumble a little but control myself. Looking around, I once more get a little amazed by the architectural wonder Asgard is.

"Welcome to Asgard, Harry Osborn. The King has been notified of your arrival." Heimdall says and continues his vigil.

I nod at him and start walking on the rainbow bridge. The view down was amazing and scary at the same time. Once I cross the bridge, I get joined by 2 guards who were probably there to make sure I don't do anything.. untoward. We reach there in 20 minutes, which I utilised seeing the market. I could already see an improvement in the people's lives which meant that Loki was king. There were even the beginnings of a statue being built.

Once inside the main palace, a guard knocks on the door to the great hall. The door opens up from the inside and another guard leads me to the front, where Odin was sitting on the throne.

He looks at me silently for about a minute and says, "Leave us."

All the guards leave the hall immediately. I look around and even use my senses to verify that this was Loki and not the real Odin, which would have been weird.

"So, Mr Osborn. Heimdall tells me you have a deal to make?" Odin, now turning into Loki asks.

I nod and say, "I want the Tesseract for 3 months. I will return it to you at the end of it."

Loki raises his eyebrow, but I can tell he's pissed that I'm making such a demand. He asks, "And what.. do you need the Tesseract for?"

I hesitate, I didn't want to tell him, but I'll have to. Fuck! I should have planned ahead some more. I say, "I have in my possession the Reality stone. But it is corrupted. I know someone who can revert it back to its original purpose, but we need either the Tesseract or the Power stone, which no one knows where it is. So I need the Tesseract."

Loki thinks for a long time, close to 10 minutes and asks, "What do you have to offer in return?"

I bring out a canister of Vibranium and say, "This metal can only be found in one place on the planet. Everyone else thinks all of this metal has been used to build a shield. You should remember it. Steve held off Mjolnir with this metal." I pause to let him see the metal, and say, "I will offer you 10 such canisters in exchange for the Tesseract for 3 months."

Loki asks for the canister, which I give him. He takes the Vibranium out and examines it for a while. Hitting it a few times with his daggers, nothing happens.

He turns to me and says, "20 canisters of this metal, for each month you have the Tesseract in your possession, in advance."

I scoff at him, and counter, "5 canisters per month. 15 in total. This metal is rare even on Earth."

Loki smirks and says, "It's not Asgard's problem, is it? But you did save Mother. 15 canisters per month and you'll have the Tesseract. Anything less and I will kick you out of Asgard right now."

I hesitantly nod, still keeping a neutral face and say, "Deal. 45 cannisters full of Vibranium will be given to you as the Tesseract is given to me."

Loki nods, smirking. He then turns back into Odin and starts walking towards the treasure room. 2 guards follow us, but keep their distance. Odin opens the door to the treasure room and closes it when we get inside.

I take my time to look around. There was the Eternal flames of.. something. The fake infinity gauntlet, Casket of Ancient Winters, Orb of Agamotto, there were a few more things I didn't recognise, but obviously important if they were here.

"Here. The tesseract." Loki says and I see him carrying a cube. I could literally feel the power radiating off of that thing. I bring out a case made of Praedium to keep the Tesseract in and keep it in front of Loki, who just raises his eyebrow at me.

"I'm not going anywhere alive if I try to steal that cube. You know that as well as I do." I grumble but start removing Vibranium canisters. Within a few minutes I remove 45 canisters, counting them while removing, because I didn't trust Loki to somehow make one invisible or hide it somewhere.

Once all 45 are out, Loki keeps the tesseract inside the case. I touch the cube once, feeling the power flowing off of it and making sure it's there, and then close it, absorbing the case immediately.

Loki just smirks at me and says, "Remember. 3 months. After 3 months you will be branded a thief and the army will come after you."

I nod, grimly. Hopefully I'll finish the procedure in 2 months time. Soon I return to Midgard, Heimdall dropping me right where he lifted me from. I enter the plane and start going towards Kamar Taj again.

Halfway there, a portal opens up inside the plane and TAO steps through. I ask her, "Isn't it dangerous? Opening the portal on a moving object?"

TAO smiles at me and answers, "Every object, even the stars, are a moving object Mr Osborn. Depends on the frame of reference."

I blink at her. She's not wrong. "Fuck it. I was about to come to Kamar Taj itself. But now that you're here. The Tesseract," I bring out the case keeping the Tesseract and open it. There was the cube shining in the inside. "Is ours. For the next 3 months. But I'd like it if you repair the Reality stone within a month."

TAO raises her eyebrow at me, but doesn't say anything. She takes the cube out, allowing me to reabsorb the case and says, "I will give the cube back to you within the month. Now, the Aether?"

I grimace and bring out the sceptre which contained the Aether. As soon as it's out I give it to her and say, "Can you make sure the Aether stays inside the sceptre?"

TAO nods silently. She takes the sceptre from me and says, "I hope this all works out Mr Osborn. I really do. Farewell."

I mumble out, "Goodbye." And watch her leave through the portal she came from.

"Was it really necessary? Giving her the Aether? Would she even be able to fix it?" Venom asks.

I sigh and say, "If she was unable to fix it, she'd have known that Venom. The woman views through time and sees all the possible timelines again and again. So she knows what's about to happen more than we do, probably."

I ignore Venom's grumblings and start flying back home. Siri was busy with the hacking, which she should be done with sometime tomorrow. It was late so I go to sleep as soon as I go home.

December 4th, 2013:

I slowly wake up, refreshed, at 5 AM as usual. I freshen up and go to the gym to work out. Once I get to my lab after the workout and shower, Siri calls out to me, she says, "Sir, I have found the designs for the engine. But the power source is experimental. I recommend not using the designs."

I shake my head and say, "Don't worry about it Siri. We're not going to fly. Start ordering the parts for it. We'll start building it tomorrow. And what about harnessing the cube's power?"

Siri shows me the plans for what Selvig was working on with Shield. The plans were good, but a lot could be improved. If Hydra could manage it in the 40s, I could do it in the 21st century.

I start ordering parts for the harnessing project too. For the first I'll need a lot of engine parts, which I already have the most of, but I still order everything new, just to be safe. Carol's accident was just that, an accident. She was lucky to stay alive. I don't want to mess anything up.

I call up Peter, Bernard and Darcy and tell them that I will be busy for the next few days, probably in my lab. I had to tell Peter what I was working on, but he knew why O was doing it, so didn't ask much questions. Darcy got a bit upset, but I promised her I'd make it up to her some day soon.

I work on making the engine for the next 5 days. Making it exactly the way Lawson made it. I had a plan. I will make the engine, harness the energy from the cube into the engine's power core, and then I'd slowly add all the energy into myself. I didn't have the luck to survive an explosion if I tried to do it the way Danvers did it.

Once the engine is complete, I run simulations on it with the Arc Reactor as the power source. It works really well. The arc reactor was built by studying the Tesseract, so the power was compatible. Unfortunately it wasn't strong enough to repair the reality stone.

Since it works, I decided to make another one for my jet. Never know when I'd need space travel, and the ship was already strong enough to survive the vacuum of space, as proven by Hulk.

The next few days I work on adapting the Absorbing serum so it is compatible with me. The absorbing serum helped Banner absorb the Gamma radiation and turned him into the Hulk. I was going to do the same to help me become like Captain Marvel. Hopefully without an alter ego.

If I'd have tried to modify the Absorbing serum for myself, a few months ago, I'd not have been able to di it. Thanks to the Extremis, my brain sort of.. cleared up. I was still the same person, with the same intelligence. But my thinking speed improved somewhat.

Which is why I manage to modify the Absorbing serum within 20 days. It was still a long time, but it was alright.

Now that my work was done, and TAO was still to contact me, I decided to make it up to Darcy. We had still spoken on calls, and she had even come to visit me a few times to take my mind off of the stress. But now it was time I make it up to her. I had already called her to make sure she was ready for the date.

I ring her doorbell, dressed in my casual clothes. Darcy opens the door wearing jeans and a full sleeve grey shirt, along with the beanie she always wore. It was like her signature style and I really liked it. She had a bag with her, packed for a few days of travel.

"You're looking awfully cute this day." I say smirking at her. I hug her, kissing her cheek.

Darcy smiles at me and says, "You're not so bad yourself, tiger. Now. Where are we going?"

I smirk at her, and say, "It's a surprise. You ready?"

Darcy mirrors my smirk, gets close to me, putting her hands on me chest and says, "Yup. Can't wait to have you all for myself for 2 days." I shake my head and just pick her up in a bridal carry.

"Hey! Not that I mind, but a little warning next time?" Darcy yelps out.

I shake my head and whisper, "But you like it, don't you?"

Darcy blushes and says, "Obviously. With your hand where it is, how could I not like it?"

I smirk and keep softly caressing her butt. I bring her to the jet, which was landed this time and ask Siri to fly us to our destination.

"You still aren't telling me where we are going?" Darcy asks, after 30 seconds of silence.

I get close to her and say, "Would you want me to spoil the surprise, Darcy? It would not be fun now, would it?"

I kiss her on the lips after that. Darcy smiles into the kiss and says, "This.. is.. certainly.. fun.."

We continue kissing and all too soon Siri interrupts us. "Sir. We are at the destination."

I separate myself from Darcy, sighing in regret instantly and say, "Goddammit Siri. Come on, Darcy. Let's go now." I pick her up, take her bag and start walking out of the Jet.

As soon as the jet door opens, Darcy picks up a sound, she asks, "Are we on a beach?"

I smile and say, "Yup. A private beach. My father had this whole island bought when he had made some sort of big deal. He made it into a holiday house for himself. I only recently found out about it actually."

Darcy becomes excited and shouts, "A whole island? For ourselves for the next 2 days? Awesome."

Knowing she could only barely contain her desire to run into the water, I drop her down, shaking my head. She starts removing her clothes while looking right into my eyes. I become a little flustered, but don't back down. I start doing the same.

As soon as we are in our last clothes, I smirk at her, pick her up in the fireman's carry and start running towards the ocean.

"Hey! What's with you and picking me up today?" Darcy exclaims indignantly. Instead of answering, I repeat my actions from when I'd picked her up before, distracting her.

"Well, if that's your answer then I agree too." Darcy whispers out.

Soon we reach the water and I drop her into it. The house was completely furnished, and had food enough for a few months of stay, so we had no trouble in that.

We stayed there for the whole weekend, enjoying our holiday, work free, no interruptions. We even finally have sex that night. I was new at this, so I had taken it really slow and was really careful not to push her into it. She just got tired of waiting and took advantage of the opportunity this island presented us with.

December 28th, 2013:

Soon we got back from the island, and I dropped Darcy back to her apartment. I was on my jet, going home, taking my time, when a portal opens up behind me. TAO steps through the portal, empty handed.

I raise my eyebrow at her and ask, "Did it work? Is the Aether now back to its original state?"

TAO sighs and sits down on the co Pilot's seat. She looks at me gravely, which frankly scares me, and says, "Yes. It worked. The Aether is now turned back into the reality stone. Semi solid still, but now not like it was before."

I smile, thankful that it worked. I ask her, "Where is it then?"

She looks at me calmly and brings out the sceptre from.. somewhere.. and hands it to me. I take the sceptre in my hand, and look at the Vibranium orb on its head. There was a red light which flowed through the Vibranium which wasn't there before.

"How did this happen?" I ask TAO.

TAO explains, "While I was reverting the Aether to its original state, it tried to lash out at me. I had to use the Tesseract and the Time Stone to control it. Fusing it to the Vibranium was one way of doing it, which I did."

I slowly touch the Vibranium orb, trying to get a feel for its power. But I don't feel anything like I felt when I first held it. Thankfully.

I let out a breath and turn to TAO, "Thank you for this. It will really be useful in the end."

TAO smiles sadly and says, "I wish I could tell you not to do what you are about to. But we both know you'll not listen. But remember, you don't have to do it all alone."

I nod, thankful. I say, "If there was another option, I'd have done it. Thank you, again. If you require any help, don't refrain from calling me."

TAO shakes her head and says, "If it happens, I'd be sure to call you. Before I forget, the Tesseract."

She gives me the tesseract, which I hold in my hands and later store in the Praedium case. I look up and don't see The Ancient One anywhere. She probably already left.

I currently have 2 infinity stones in my possession. And I'll soon have the third. For a month. But still. 3 infinity stones in one hand. Fuck I'm awesome.