45 The Guest Behind The Door
In the end, things always get hot.
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"Wow! Today's pancakes make the ones before look bad, Vision." Rocket happily commented, shaking his head from side to side as he ate.
"Don't put it like that, Rocket. Vision, what he means is that your food is always amazing, but it seems like you've outdone yourself today." Lylla said softly, trying to counsel and help Rocket.
"Don't worry, young Miss Lylla. I understood what the young master Rocket was trying to say. But I appreciate what he said. I felt inspired and happy making breakfast today using my own body for the first time, and I appreciate the compliment." Vision said, smiling happily at Rocket and Lylla.
Vision was also eating. He doesn't need to eat, but he can do it if he wants.
He didn't want to sit with us as he saw himself as a family butler, but I made him sit and told him he was part of the family.
While we ate and chatted, Strange entered.
"Good morning, Stephen. Sit down and enjoy. Vision is probably the best cook in the world." I said, inviting Strange to sit.
"Thank you. Sorry to bother you." Strange said with a smile and sat down.
Robots came and brought a glass, plates, and cutlery for him.
"Ready to become the Sorcerer Supreme again today?" I said with a smile.
"*Spit-take*Cough*Cough*" Strange choked on the juice he was drinking, and when he managed to compose himself, he asked in shock, "What do you mean today?!"
"Well, Yao wants to take a vacation, and she can't wait. But don't worry about the repercussions, she has everything planned." I said smiling and continued, "Can you shape-shift easily? Because if not, I'll give you a serum that helps with that. I asked that because you can't reveal your true name and appearance, as you'll need to train Stephen from this reality into a Sorcerer Supreme before we fix your universe and you can retire." I said with a serious look.
"Am I the one who's going to train my alternative self from this reality?" Stephen asked me in a strange tone.
"Yes, is there a problem?" I asked, amused.
"No, I think it's a good idea." Stephen said, narrowing his eyes with a mischievous smile.
Well, I imagine it must be fun to train your own alternate version. One day I should try that.
About Stephen from this reality, having an alternative version of yourself as a teacher, and this being one of the ones who made the most mistakes while being one of your strongest versions, the Stephen of this reality can cut many corners and become much better than he could have been.
"What about the shapeshifting you asked, I swallowed a demon that allows me to easily change my appearance, so you don't have to worry." Strange said with a smile and went back to eating.
We continued talking and eating until everyone was full and left.
Vision took the kids to study. All four of them are intelligent, but they lack a lot of knowledge, especially vocabulary, as they often say the wrong words because they don't understand their meaning or they are unfamiliar to them. But still, they know much more than their months of age should allow.
Yes, none of them are even a year old, but they have been through a lot in these few months of life.
We are currently at the end of the year 1999, and even though they know a lot, I am thinking that when the new school year begins, I will enroll the children so they can have more friends and interactions with other people.
Anyway, Vision took the children, Pepper went to work, Carol went to catch the bad guys, Yao took Stephen, and Friday is trying to figure herself out.
And finally, I am heading down to my workshop to study the 13 new stones that I obtained. Two pairs of stones from the Ultrons and a time stone that I got from Stephen.
Arriving at my workbench, I began to analyze the data.
"Vision, what have you found out?" I asked aloud.
Despite teaching the children with his body, Vision can still be my assistant as before, both at the same time.
[Sir, after a thorough analysis, the stones have proven to be much more difficult than we anticipated.] Vision said.
"Well, it's not surprising. Tell me about the current state of the stones." I said, touching and expanding the holograms, quickly processing the information.
[The current state of the stones is dormant. No energy spikes can be observed in the stones, and they have become practically common crystals.] Vision analyzed.
"Predictable. Have you been able to locate the source of the problem? What makes a stone from one universe useless in another?" I asked, scratching my chin.
[More research is needed, but some theories can be established. Although they resemble common crystals, I was able to observe that they are complex arrangements for information storage. In fact, calling these structures complex is an understatement. The study of these Infinity Stones, even without their energy, has the potential to enormously propel any type of technology and knowledge. Their atomic structures form highly advanced information storage systems, harnessing phenomena such as quantum entanglement and superposition, and even concepts that we still do not fully understand. It is possible that all the information about the universe of the origin of the stones is contained in these seemingly simple crystals.] Vision said solemnly and with a hint of fear.
Even he was breathless in the face of such power in a simple crystal.
I narrowed my eyes slightly. The stones are more complex than I thought.
"So you're telling me that an Infinity Stone does what it does because it contains all the information of an aspect of the universe, which allows whoever possesses it to control an aspect of the universe." I asked, seeking clarification.
[Essentially, yes. I believe we still need to conduct more in-depth studies, but I believe we are not far from this conclusion. What makes these stones useless in other universes is the fact that, even if to a minimal extent, the universes differ from each other. Without the complete data of a specific universe, the Infinity Stones cannot access the unlimited energy that allows them to control an aspect that shapes reality itself.] Vision concluded the explanation.
"Even if they had access to the pure energy of their respective domain, perhaps their power would not be as strong." I analyzed, looking at the holograms of the stones.
"Well, let's test it. Take our space stone and use its energy to power another space stone." I ordered with an excited smile.
[Sir, it's better to proceed with caution and wait for more analysis.] Vision said, trying to advise me, but I interrupted him.
"Don't worry, I know it will work." I smiled and said.
Sighing helplessly, Vision began to prepare everything.
The house being formed by nanobots makes everything practical and efficient, so it won't take long for everything to be done.
And why am I confident? It's because I remember that in What If, Strange used the time stone against Ultron when the latter used his time stone to stop time for everyone.
If we consider what Uatu said, Strange couldn't use the time stone unless he had opened a hole from his reality to that one, which he didn't do.
So, there's only one possibility left.
Strange managed to use his time stone by feeding it with the energy from Ultron's time stone.
And before my eyes, everything was ready and the Tesseract began to power the space stone with its energy.
The space stone, previously dim, began to glow in a blue hue.
Then the machines where it was started to manipulate the space stone, and a blue portal appeared in front of my eyes.
"It worked!" I smiled happily at the portal, but my smile soon faded and surprise colored my face as I looked at the person on the other side of the portal.
The person on the other side looked surprised at the portal. Behind her, the world seemed to be collapsing, with smoke, fire, and destruction everywhere.
In her hand, she manipulated a small, golden technological rectangle.
"Is this crap broken? Why did the door appear in this format? Did they update the TemPad? Is that even possible? You can even see the other side of the door. This could be useful or troublesome." The hooded girl complained and analyzed to herself without caring about me.
Meanwhile, I was looking at her in shock.
This is impossible! How did this happen?
"Sylvie?!"
