Interlude - Bad ideas abound.

"Tony, I think this is a bad idea. You should reconsider. He....that man told you specifically not to do this." Banner said, fidgeting in place, biting his nails in worry.

"And we are listening to him why exactly?" Tony asked, pacing around the room, tinkering with the various holographic screens lining.

"Because he knows the future Tony! And he warned us in no uncertain term to not do ...this!" Banner spat, pointing at the screens.

"We don't even know what we're dealing with here."

"That's exactly why we have to study it. Make this. Because we don't know what else is out there." Tony grimaced, "And I'm not waiting on that two-faced, piece of shit to save our hides. It's my planet. I can...we can protect it ourselves." He turned to Banner, and gestured at the TV.

"You saw it too, didn't you? The movie. We did it. We succeeded. We didn't need him."

But Banner wasn't listening.

"Why can't we just let SHIELD handle this? They can check if it's dabgerous or not and then we can-"

"We cannot, Dr. Banner." Nick Fury interjected, walking in.

"SHIELD is compromised. I don't trust them. Not with something this big and powerful. You need to be the ones to find out what this is...and how we can use it to protect ourselves."

"I think we have the answer to the what of that. The jewel appears to be a protective inside. Something powerful.

A computer. I'm deciphering it's code now."

"A computer Tony? Really?" Banner asked, walking over, his interest piqued.

"Yes. I think it can help us finish that project we discussed." Tony added.

"The suit-of-armor-around-the-world project? We just thought of it yesterday Tony, we haven't even ironed out the details." Banner protested.

"I already did it."

"When?" Banner asked, flustered.

"Last night." Tony smirked, and flicked a screen off to the side, as more and more data poured out, screen after screen projecting up around them.

"There!" Tony pointed to a screen in the middle.

He pulled it up and displayed it for everyone to see.

It was a design for an artificial intelligence.

And a miniaturized processing unit powerful enough to house it.

"This...this is revolutionary." Banner exclaimed, skimming through it.

"It better be. This will be our secret weapon against him. And others like him. I think I'll call him...Ultron." Tony announced.

"Here. You start with this. I'll get the base processor ready." He threw a screen at Banner.

Banner looked at it and furrowed his brows.

"Is this even possible, you know with our current tech? Research like this takes decades, Tony."

"Leave the tech to me Jolly Green. You focus on the neural synchronisation network." Stark patted his back and left for his workshop.

"We're not seriously going against that man are we?" Banner asked Fury.

Fury shook his head.

"Not like this. But it helps Stark focus, so I suggest you keep quiet about that." He replied, and went back to working on his own projects.

Banner sighed in relief and looked down at the blueprints given to him.

"Let's get to work."

.

"Please tell me you foresaw that." I said, stepping through the portal into the Ancient One's room.

Her face twisted in a wince as she looked down at her tea.

"I ...did not."

I narrowed my eyes.

So Lady Death is a blindspot to the Ancient One.

That is not good. Not good at all.

"That ...will be a problem then." I said.

"Our deal needs altering."

"How so?" The Ancient One asked.

"I'm pushing up the schedule. Things are in motion now that cannot be undone." I replied.

"We had an agreement. Strange-"

"Can be recruited through other means. And if it's the protection of Earth that you want, I will arrange for it. For the next 4 billion years or so.

That's more than Strange could have ever accomplished. If you agree to give me the Time Stone. Final offer."

She looked at me and sighed in defeat when she noticed the stern look in my eyes.

"How will you accomplish that?"

"With a single letter, a pinch of science and a thaumaturgical dyson sphere.

Tell me Ancient One...have you heard of the SCP verse?"

.

".....universes stacked on top of...."

This was the 81st time he had watched the video, memorizing every word, tone and affectation. Every last detail, committed to memory.

And yet only one idea echoed through his mind, dwarfing everything else.

There are other universes.

Other worlds.

Left to rot and overpopulation. To destruction.

He had believed the universe required correction.

And that it was his destiny to bring it to fruition.

But now...

This had shattered all of his preconceptions.

All of his beliefs.

There were an infinite number of universes.

An infinite number of tragedies.

All requiring his guiding hand.

All requiring .... correction.

Once he believed he was inevitable.

Now...he knew it to be true.

This was destiny showing him the path.

He would gather the infinity stones.

He would save this universe. Give it a new lease on life.

And then, he would go out into multiverse. To bring his gift to the rest of them.

All of them.

And he knew where to start now.

With the man from another world.

The traveler from the multiverse.

Jay Walker.

And the planet that held three of the infinity stones.

"Sire, what should we do with the remainder of these ungrateful curs?" Ebony Maw asked.

Thanos stood up and turned to face the natives of the planet, one that he had just subjugated with a bloody conflict.

The Chitauri.

They had failed him. They had almost destroyed his destiny.

Usually, the price for failure would be death.

But today, he was feeling.....charitable.

They would pay the price.

They would pay it in blood.

Their own and his enemies'.

"Conscript them. And chart course for Xandar. We must raise our forces. A great battle for destiny looms on the horizon. And I intend to witness it actualised."

He would come for the traveler.

But not without preparing first.

For the man who can collapse realities.....armies are a mere formality. And yet, greater men have fallen to forces smaller than his.

Thanos looked solemnly at the people being pressed into collars and armor and closed his eyes.

He knew he would need something more. Something made to his specifications. To match the might of an infinity stone and it's wielder.

He searched his memories for just such a thing. And he found it in one.

An enchanted weapon forged from the stars.

His agents had heard the head dwarf brag about it once in passing.

Stormbreaker.

The greatest weapon they had ever dreamt of forging.

It could summon the Bifrost, the Asgardian teleportation bridge.

A weapon fit for him.

A weapon to herald a new age of peace and prosperity.

And he knew where to get it. The same place he had intended to commission his gauntlet from.

Nidavellir.

Destiny would arrive. And it would arrive with him.

.

Dr. Wong sat in the gold covered hall on an ornate but deeply uncomfortable ...throne.

That was what it was. And she refused to call it a chair. Chairs are supposed to be...well chairs!

Not this, whatever it was.

She sighed. First the supervillain girl from a troupe of killer clowns.

And now, apparently the God of Thunder. A God. With a capital G.

Ugh.....She needed a drink already.

Just five years earlier she would have chastised herself for it but now, day drinking was all but routine for her.

She looked down at the jeweled chalice with liquor in it and looked around to see if anyone was looking.

No one.

Sheepishly, she lifted the monstrosity and brought it to her lips, taking a quick sip of the delicious honeyed beverage.

It wasn't wrong. She convinced herself.

They had left it there for her.

It wasn't inappropriate.

Nope.

She was in the right. And this was a shining city floating in space in another universe.

Yup. Just another day for Wong.

She chuckled miserably at the absurdity of it all.

Where had her life gone wrong?

She wondered.

Was it when she had met Rick for the first time? Accepting the Smiths as a client?

She didn't quite know. But at least the beer was nice.

She gingerly lifted the cup with both her hands again and took another sip, larger this time, when suddenly she heard someone clear their throat.

Startled she almost jumped, dropping the chalice on the table. Thankfully, none of the liquor spilled. It was almost supernatural.

But then again. She was in a floating city of gods. Gods!

She looked up at the voice and let out an involuntary squeak.

The man before her....he was just too handsome.

As if cut from marble and carved by the....gods.

Of course.

Of course.

Still she couldn't help but ogle him, her eyes wandering to his biceps and thick arms and the-

"Ahem!" His voice awoke her from her daydreams.

"May I sit?" He asked, uncomfortably.

Ah! He's uncomfortable.

You've made a client uncomfortable.

Her unconcious scolded her.

It was shameful really. Ogling a client like that. No matter how handsome he was.

She had to show restraint!

"Yes. Of course! Please!" She said, blushing, pointing to the equally uncomfortable marbled throne before her.

He took a seat opposite her and looked at his own chalice of wine, taking a deep gulp from it.

She watched in rising horror as the towering man emptied the huge cup and let out a satisfied groan.

"Ah! That was refreshing." He exclaimed, slamming the cup onto the table.

"Another!" He ordered as a serving girl scurried away in the distance.

Odd. She thought. But then again, it wasn't her place to judge.

"So... Thor, right?!"

"Yes. And you must be the doctor. Wing?"

"Wong. Dr.Wong." She corrected.

"I see. Let me make this clear, Dr. Wong. I do not need this ... therapy my father seems intent on forcing onto me. So let's make this quick. Do whatever magic you must and ease my ..." He made air quotes with his hands, "Burdens. So that I may be on my way to more productive tasks. Like drinking. And feuding. The things that actually help."

Wong sighed.

So this was one of those tyoes of patients.

She was getting more and more of these lately.

No matter. She told herself. I can do this.

If I can stand Rick Sanchez and the Smiths for five years, I can handle anything the universe...or was it the multiverse now.... throws at me.

"Alright. Let's begin with something mundane. Tell me about yourself." She prompted.

"Like what?" He asked.

"Say for example, your family. Te me about them." She elaborated.

"Right....right mortal. My father is All-Father Odin, king of Asgard and ruler of the 9 realms. My mother Freya, she is the All-Mother, obviously."

"Obviously." Wong mirrored.

"My brother Loki, everyone knows him. Mischievous little shit. God of mischief actually and I have a few nieces and nephews...? I'm not sure what you mortals qualify your brother shapeshifting into animals and giving birth to as...but oh! One of them bit my cousin's hand off. Things got a bot awkward around the castle when that happened...." Thor twiddled his thumb, looking into the middle distance, as Wong began to scribble out some questions, mostly about her own sanity, as he continued.

"And one of them got lost in the starry sea. Well ran away, but we don't like to admit that around here. Apparently it was some prophecy about me killing him or something stupid like that.

And the other, my father rides into battle. It's...complicated...as you can see...." He trailed off and an awkward silence threatened to take his place.

Unwilling to let that happen, Wong sighed as she flipped through her report.

"Let's change topics for now." She said when the serving girl arrived with anither chalice of wine, and placed it on the table.

"It says you dressed up as your mother once to wed a ....frost giant? How did that make you feel?"

"Pfft!" The serving girl did a poor job of containing her laughter as she rushed off, leaving Thor looking down embarrassed and slack jawed.

"Uh.... it's-a it's a long story. I'm sure you don't want to hear it... let's just skip this and-"

Wong raised an eyebrow.

Interesting.

Now she had caught onto something that might be worthwhile.

"No. No. Go on. We have time." She insisted, leaning back into her throne, trying desperately to contain her own giggles.

"Alright ...." Thor sighed, "If you insist. It went like this....."

.

In the council chambers in the basement of a class six safehouse bunker, the members of the O5 council gathered to make a judgement, and one that might change the fate of their world forever.

O5-1 looked at the envelope on the table and opened it up, revealing the actual letter, while another copy was projected onto a screen before them.

"I'm sure you all recieved a copy of the letter yourselves. What do you think?" He asked.

"The forensic analysis shows no trace of any compounds or contaminants other than ink. It seems unnaturally clean. A trap, perhaps." O5-8 said.

The Lesser of the twelve, he was a merchant and industrialist, a founding member of the organization in it's early days, funding it with his money.

True. He considered.

The SCP Foundation's Overseers weren't your average joe schmoes.

Just knowing they exist was a privilege not held by many.

And yet somehow, this letter was delivered straight to him. The O5-1.

"Why don't we just find out who sent it and kill them?" O5-7 suggested.

The Green, the best assassin in the world, and a master of all known methods of war.

"I second that." A deep voice with a Midwestern US accent offered.

O5-6, The American. The deeply patriotic secret owner of the US military.

"If we can find them." O5-12 countered.

The Accountant. The treasurer of the SCP Foundation and the smartest mathematician in the world. He had such a grasp of the way things worked that he could statistically predict the future to the nanosecond.

"They were able to find, us, send us a personal message and possibly get away, without trigger either of the safeties or reality anchors. So they are likely who they say they are, unless further proof is provided.

When you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable must be the truth." He pointed out.

"You can't seriously expect me to believe they are a multiversal traveler that can summon the Scarlet King just by entering our dimension?! I know dealing with the impossible is a Tuesday for us but this is a bit too far fetched." O5-9 argued.

The Outsider, a genius researcher that was specially recruited into the O5 council at a young age.

"And look at their demands. They just want the plans for the reality anchor and our study of the thaumaturgical nature of SCP-179? Does that not sound suspicious to you? That sounds exactly like what one of those alien entities would want if they wanted to invade our world. The plans for the reality anchors so they can reverse engineer a way to disable them and the code to our last line of defence in the void of existence that is encroaching at the edges of the solar system! I way we ignore this and go about our business. Clearly if they had the ability to invade us, and take what they wanted, they would have already done so. Whoever this Jay Walker is, if that even is a real name....they are a non-threat as of now. Let's treat them as such and move on. I can't believe you dragged us out into the open for this." She slammed, the dossier on the table in anger.

"You seem concerned about something else too, O5-9. Perhaps this other concern is affecting your judgement." O5-10 calmly jabbed.

Another powerplay in her long and meaningless quest to oust The Outsider from the council.

He sighed.

O5-10, The Archivist, whose job was to record everything that ever has happened, is happening and will happen. The wisest and most knowledgeable member of the Foundation and one of it's contingencies.

But apparently all the wisdom in the world doesn't make you any less of a bitch about everything.

He sighed.

The Archivist continued.

"But you make a fair point. This was an unwise decision, gathering us in one place like this. It leaves us ... vulnerable. If I were to desire the death of the council, this is what I would do to gather us in one place and end it, once and for all."

"I knew I smelled fish when I walked in. Did you organize this? Is that what you want?!" The American stood up from his chair, facing up to her.

Just looking at it made him uncomfortable and yet The Archivist stayed calm as a lake.

"No. I'm merely suggesting a possibility that might have occurred had someone wanted to bring us down at once." She replied.

"Well isn't that a mighty fine coincidence then that we just happened to be here. All at the same time." He scratched his patchy beard, in worry.

"I'm leaving. Consider my vote with the majority. I am not risking the security of the United States of America on some stupid extradimensional prank postage. Adios!" He said, storming out of the council chamber.

O5-1 sighed, shaking his head.

"Anyone else have anything to say, or should we take a vote?"

A single hand raised above the rest.

O5-2. Sophia Light. The Nazarene. Beloved of Death. And him. She could die and revive as many times as she needed to for Death never took her in his embrace.

She was another of the contingencies for the foundation, in case of extinction class threats with her ability to revive herself.

"Have any if you considered that this Jay Walker might actually be telling the truth? That we could be saving another world with just two dossiers of information. That is a small price to pay for the lives of billions of humans!" She appealed.

"It's not worth it. Even if say we believe him, what's to say he isn't just lying? What if he uses it to enslave his world?

Besides, it's another world, another Earth, another people's business. We can barely hold together our own. No point in meddling in the affair of parallel worlds."

"He's asking for information, Aaron! Not military support and your right nutsack! Can't you show him some sympathy?"

"Sympathy is how people in our business get killed Sophie. Our responsibility is to our Earth first. Be reasonable. This is hardly the behaviour of-"

"You want reason, Aaron. How's this for some reason." She snapped, "If he's telling the truth, and he wants to protect his world, he will risk it coming to ours and we will have to face him. And possibly the Scarlet King too. Both at the same time. And I don't know if you know this, but SCP-999 is yet to mature. So unless you want a Thaumiel class reality restructuring event on your hands, this is the best option, any way you spin it."

She raised her fingers and began to count out the possibilities one by one.

"We send him a copy of the information and maybe it helps him save his world.

Maybe he enslaves his world. Or maybe he fails to save his world and we never hear from him again.

Either way, we are safe. But if we don't send him the information, there is a non-zero chance that we might face the end of the world. So choose fucking wisely."

"You missed one option, Sophie." Aaron deadpanned, wagging his finger, "This is an elaborate ruse to lure us out and we all end up dead anyway."

"Let's leave that up to vote then, shall we?" She said, "Who up for sending aid information to this world? Show of hands?"

Everyone looked at her, then at O5-1 as he nodded. And a vote was held.

Some hands went up in the air, while some stayed down. And a vote was tallied.

A vote that would decide the fate of their world as they knew it.

______________________

A reaction chapter and a tease at the SCP verse future adventure.

Only time will tell where this string leads.

Till then, this has been the extra chapter for 500 powerstones.

Next extra chapter at 600 powerstones.

Thansk for reading!

Also, if you want to support me buy me a cup of coffee or read ahead go to,

www.pat.reon.com/goldenfingers