37 Chapter 37 - Filling The First Slot
MIRIO TOGATA
INSIDE THE MULTIVERSAL CURRENTS
Mirio's eyes opened to an incomprehensible sight. If he could describe it in words, it would be like dimensions folding onto themselves.
Of course, he was bewildered beyond any reasonable use of the word. Admittedly, half of that bewilderment came from the fact that Mirio never expected to open his eyes ever again.
Still, this was a welcomed surprise nonetheless.
'Is this the transition to Heaven?' Mirio questioned, though whether or not this was a blessing was still in question.
Mirio gritted his teeth, trying to control the mind-numbing pain originating from every nerve-ending in his body. Luckily, the pain – which was in direct contrast to what his eyes were seeing – kept Mirio's mind sane.
This clarified sanity allowed Mirio to question everything about his current situation. His thoughts were beginning to clear, and he remembered what exactly happened before he ended up in this… Dimensional current?
After the explosion atop Stark's Tower, Mirio could remember thinking this was the end of him, then there was falling and he even thought he caught sight of Jessica, but then, he woke up in this place.
But where exactly is here?
'Probably nowhere.' Mirio scratched his head, still a bit doubtful of his current experiences.
All he could perceive was colorfully blinding lights, like a never-ending rainbow extending to the ends of time. It felt like witnessing infinity for the first time. Though he wasn't exactly sure, Mirio could feel that he was moving inside the rainbow tunnel, but he could not see the movement.
It was confusing to feel movement but remain stagnant. The strangeness of the entire situation was almost too much for his mind to reconcile.
Luckily, as a hero, Mirio was trained to resist illusory sensations such as vection, but somehow, he could tell this was not perceiving movement where the movement was not – there was an actual movement happening… but it felt as if he was hopping from somewhere to the next.
How long did he drift? Mirio did not know, but eventually, the intense pain subsided. Mirio curled himself into a ball, trying to examine his body through tactile contact.
Though he could not feel his injuries exactly, Mirio decided to use his hands to make sure everything was still there. It was then he realized there was no counterweight to leverage his body, there was nothing to touch.
All that existed was the tunnel of rainbow-colored light, extending with no end in sight.
"I have felt this sensation before…" Mirio felt something clicking and then, like a gunshot through the heart, it hit him. He had experienced all of this before.
This sensation…
This irritating sensation…
This vaguely familiar sensation…
'Indeed, I have felt his before.'
Mirio thought back to the moment before he ended up in an alternate Universe's New York City. The moment he used the full might of his Quirk that had been fast-forwarded by Eri – the moment he was able to permeate between the barrier of the Multiverse.
What were the chances he had done it again, but this time with interference from the Cosmic Cube of Space?
The chances – to his surprise – weren't nil.
Mirio knew he was supposed to die a heroic death atop Stark's Tower, but maybe, through the mix of Tesseract Energy and his own permeation quirk…
Just maybe, something miraculous happened. Maybe, he was trapped between Universes, drifting endlessly but… alive?
Mirio was neither here nor there.
With nothing to hold onto, Mirio exerted his full strength to spin his body, hoping something would give… and something did give!
Mirio managed to force himself to spin out of control, and things started to turn extremely trippy. From his arms to his legs, and then to the rest of his body, Mirio watched as his body spaghettified, drifting to one universe out of the many.
۞۞۞
EARTH 8096
DARK PHOENIX UNIVERSE
After The Professor briefed everyone about the mission to rescue the Astronauts trapped on the spiraling shuttle, Rave was the first to enter the Blackbird.
Hank had recently re-designed the jet to make spaceflight possible, but this would still be the first time for actual testing. In all honesty, he was excited to see how his designs would hold up for the mission at hand.
Hank slid into the jet behind Raven, always remaining just a couple of steps behind her. Ordinarily, he should have been the one to enter first as the pilot, but his affection for Raven had become an open secret at this point.
Most surprising of all was Raven. As someone who could turn into anyone and adjust to their lives instantly, she seemed largely unaware of how deeply Hank's affection ran. Of course, she was not totally oblivious, but still willfully ignorant in some aspects.
Jean frowned in displeasure, barely managing to hide her discomfort from Scott – the overly cautious lover. Even without actively using her psychic abilities, Jean could feel the weight of Hank's love weighing on her shoulders.
It was a pure sort of love, but much too ideal for the concept of love Raven expected from her lover – at least in Jean's opinion. To get rid of the feelings, Jean had tried to get Hank to confess, but nothing went as planned.
Jean entered the Blackbird, already mentally exhausted, and Kurt, Scott, Ororo, and Peter followed after her. Still, Jean felt a bit uneasy about the upcoming mission.
'Don't worry.' Raven's mind hummed, knowing Jean would pick up the mental message. 'For this mission, we will leave at the first sign of danger.'
Jean's nervousness was quelled somewhat.
A couple of minutes later, the seatbelts clicked shit, and everyone settled in their respective seats. Hank pressed a button to activate the lift, sealing the Blackbird in preparation for takeoff.
The basketball court above split apart to make way for Blackbird's ascension. Jean was focused on the launch, but she felt Charles's mind brush against her own, offering comfort and reassurance.
Blackbird went supersonic and disappeared behind the clouds, heading for the infinite beyond of space to complete the assigned mission.
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Nearly ten minutes later, the blue skies faded, replaced by the dark expanse of space. Only… darkness was not the only thing there was. Hank's eyes opened wide as he noted the space shuttle spiraling in the distance.
Blackbird was heading towards the space shuttle, and likewise, a solar flare in the distance was rapidly approaching. The computers roared to life as Hank tried to determine if the solar flare was an actual solar flare or something more.
"That's… a solar flare?" Raven was incredulous, noticing the strange movement of the cloud of cosmic dust.
Everyone could see it was definitely not a Solar Flare, but it also didn't seem like anything out of the ordinary. It made it hard to be too cautious. Then again, as X-Men, Raven and the others were accustomed to seeing unordinary things.
Hence, their views may have been a bit skewed.
"I've never seen anything like this…" Hank frowned.
Blackbird's engine was cut as it drifted in the direction of the spiraling space shuttle.
"The orientation thruster is misfiring," Hank instantly noticed the problem. "The cabin holding the surviving astronauts won't hold for long."
Raven sunk into deep thought for a couple of seconds. "Kurt, can you get in there?"
"It's spinning too fast, I can't see inside the window." Kurt felt helpless. His ability wasn't exactly reliant on sight, but teleporting without knowing where was just asking to get stuck in a rock or something.
Raven turned to Scott. "I need you to blast that thruster, slow down the spin."
Scott flicked a button next to his seat, and his chair slid out of the seating alignment, rising into a hidden chamber on the floor above. There, Scott found a kaleidoscope perfectly fitted for his mutant ability.
As soon as the kaleidoscope covered his face, Scott took aim with the guidance system and opened his eyes, sending a red beam that punctured the thruster system of the space shuttle, slowing it down.
The moment the space shuttle slowed enough, Raven ordered Kurt to depart.
"Kurt, take Peter and go!"
Kurt placed a hand on Peter's shoulder and disappeared in a space-bending flash of blue smoke. The next instant, Kurt and Peter reappeared in the space shuttle's cabin, directly behind some very surprised and confused Astronauts.
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In Blackbird, Raven ordered Ororo to seal the cracks in the space shuttle. Using the minimal control she had in space, Ororo controlled the flow of air inside the space shuttle, turning the leaking air into barriers of ice.
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"Be right back,"
Before Kurt could reply, the world in Peter's perception slowed and in the next instant, several Astronauts were detached from their seats, floating towards Kurt. Peter took a small break to stare out the window, noticing, unlike everything else that was frozen in time, the solar flare moved just as normal.
'This definitely isn't a solar flare,' Peter thought, but then again, it wasn't his job to make the decisions.
In another instant, Peter was next to Kurt, connecting the hands of all Astronauts to Kurt's body in preparation for the space-bending to come. Kurt could bend space to teleport, but he required a line of sight and physical contact.
In a flash of blue smoke, everyone was gone from the cabin.
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Kurt reappeared in Blackbird along with Peter and all the previously hopeless Astronauts.
"Strap in, we're heading home!" Raven ordered, a sinking feeling in her gut telling her to complete the mission as soon as possible.
"Wait!" A Female Astronaut interrupted. "Our commander, he isn't here… he was in the airlock working on the thruster."
Raven grew hesitant, clearly thinking about cutting the losses, lest they put everyone at risk for a single person.
"The heat signature is rising fast… that solar flare is minutes away."
"I can't hold it any longer," Ororo warned.
"We gotta get out of here," Raven decided, not willing to risk her fellow Mutants for a Human who had a life a thousand times better than theirs. "I said strap in!" she barked.
'No… Raven. No… we are not leaving anyone behind,' Charles's thoughts were broadcasted from the surface of the Earth, through the void of space, and into Raven's mind.
"I am not putting this team in any more danger," Raven snarled. Not for humans who make millions a year and have life way better than us. She left that part unsaid.
'What about their team?' Charles's idealism dripped into her mind, making her hesitate. 'Jean can hold that shuttle together, can't you Jean?'
Sending Jean's doubt, Charles continued.
'You know you can do anything you set your mind to.'
"I can hold the shuttle together but not from here, I need to get inside," Jean finally replied, though, everyone could hear her uncertainty.
"The heat's spiking," Hank was growing anxious, and he was not alone. "We got less than a minute until that wave hits."
"She said she can do it!" Scott supported Jean's claim, though, deep inside, he wished that she would choose not to.
Raven hesitated for a split second before giving her ultimatum. "Thirty seconds!"
Peter was quick to seal Kurt's suit with duct tape in preparation for the teleportation to come. Kurt placed a hand on Jean's shoulder, and the next moment, they were inside the wrecked space shuttle.
Jean instantly went to work, spreading her arms to expand the telekinetic force necessary to keep the space shuttle together. Kurt teleported along his line of sight, heading deeper into the shuttle, arriving next to the unconscious astronaut in a matter of seconds.
The moment he placed his hands on the Astronaut, Kurt teleported several times, hoping to reach Jean within the designated time period.
Unfortunately, Kurt was a bit too late.
As soon as Jean entered his line of sight, Kurt attempted to teleport to her side, but something impossible happened – the solar flare hit and somehow, bounced him through an established dimensional rift, directly back into Blackbird.
Kurt's teleportation could bend space, so the solar flare would have to be an energy that transcended space-time to toss him away. That was a frightening thought.
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A flash of blue, a bend of space, and Kurt and the Lead Astronaut reappeared inside Blackbird without Jean in tow.
"Where's Jean?" Scott questioned anxiously. "Where is she? WHERE IS SHE!?" he was a thin line away from absolute madness.
Kurt was not sure what to say, but he mustered the strength through his frightened stutters. "I am sorry…" he pointed to the space shuttle engulfed in heat probably thousands of times worse than the sun, itself.
Obviously, no Mutant could handle such heat.
"Brace for impact," Hank warned, knowing it was already too late to escape the blast, and perhaps, they may not even survive the solar flare from this distance.
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The cosmic energy ravaged Jean from head to toe. The pain was unlike anything she had ever experienced before, and that said a lot considering she could hear the deepest darkness of human minds.
It had been this way since she was a child.
Jean opened her eyes, feeling the cosmic energy drilling into her body like the most invasive species in existence – whatever that was.
Jean briefly caught a glimpse of the cosmic energy heading towards the Blackbird, so she weakened the telekinetic shielding protecting herself from the worse brunt of the Cosmic Storm, and instead, proceeded to pull all of the Cosmic Energy towards herself.
It was a reckless move, almost as if begging for death, but her friends mattered more to Jean than her own life.
The burning and melting didn't stop; instead, it became more intense.
It was almost as if the Cosmic Storm was having fun burning away the essence of her being. Jean got the distinct telepathic impression that the solar flare was testing her, playing with her to determine if she was worthy of survival.
Worthy of becoming its host.
Each time she was on the verge of death, the heat from the Cosmic Storm would ease up just enough to barely keep her alive. Just as the last bit of Jean's health was dwindling away, she caught a shadow from the corner of her eyes.
A breach silently opened in space, and out of the breach, Mirio floated. Instantly, he shrieked in pain as the blazing Cosmic Storm burned into his skin, drilling into his body like a surgeon who took a reverse oath to do all harm.
'Who are you?' Jean blocked out the pain, broadcasting her thoughts directly into Mirio's mind, pulling his body closer to her own.
Misery loves company.
Although it was not exactly Jean talking at the moment – it was half-Jean, half-something else.
Mirio felt the suffocating presence of empty space, then he felt the burning sensation of intense heat, but as Jean pulled his body closer, her shields also gave him some reprieve.
Perhaps it was his hero instinct.
Or perhaps, Mirio just wanted to latch onto a chance for survival.
But as soon as he was near Jean, Mirio wrapped his arms around her body and semi-permeated them both, easing some of the pressure they were enduring.
The Host of the Legendary Phoenix Force and the host of the Mightiest Quirk in the world provided comfort for each other. An unprecedented event in any Universe.
'Who are you?' Jean's thoughts bombarded Mirio's mind once more, but this time she didn't merely ask, she was extracting some of his memories.
However, before Jean, or the Cosmic Entity occupying her body, could extract anything beyond surface thoughts, the entirety of the Cosmic Storm came down like a torrent of waves.
Jean took the brunt of the cascading Cosmic Waves, but some of the energy also seeped into Mirio's body, filling the red slot in his empty Quirk.
As if this was the moment his quirk was waiting for, as soon as Mirio's slot was filled with a new quirk made from the Cosmic Energy of the Phoenix Force, he was pulled back into the Multiversal Currents.
Jean was spared from absolute death due to Mirio taking a minimal percent of the Phoenix Force out of her grasp. What remained was not the shell of Jean that was supposed to survive, but 80 % Phoenix and 20% Jean.
