Arc Nine. Chapter Two-Hundred Sixty. Strange New World

After letting himself absorb the knowledge of the Mind Stone collected while Wanda and his other self were in the alternate reality Peter knew that Latveria was the cause of the main change. He laughed and shook his head at his other self, but shuddered when the memories of Hexen losing control and slaughtering men by the dozen, and of poor Gwen. It made him they were happy and under control here. He just wished he could do something to honour the memory of the man that risked everything only to be erased. After things had settled, he would talk to Wanda and Hexen. They knew him better and would know.

In the '40s Doom's father had attempted to save Steve and Doctor Erskine but the rewrite had failed, as had he. But inspired by his efforts Steve had investigated his homeland and found a surprising amount of Hydra activity there. Once he had taken command of the Howling Commandos Steve had taken it upon himself to liberate Latveria from Hydra as soon as possible and accidentally struck a fatal blow to not just the Nazis but Hydra as well.

A strange metal was discovered in the foothills of Latveria, and Red Skull had been using it to make his tanks and weapons. Peter knew it was an alloy of vibranium and had given Hydra the edge they would have used to defeat the Allies. With Hydra and the Red Skull defeated early, Latveria never fell and as such Dooms family enjoyed a celebrity status until they rose in power and were now its rulers.

Peter sighed, Wanda's home was gone, and even the incidents of Hydra's infiltration were gone. His mission with Natasha had taken them into Latverian airspace and they had been shot down by automated missile defences. Erik had taken the hurt pair in and they never found Ultron. Wanda was never exposed to the Mind Stone and it was her nursing him back to health that created their connection. Strucker was a low-level agent and had been killed during the attack on the Triskelion, and not by Wanda as before.

That caused its own issues. Peter and the rest had one set of memories, but Wanda and Stephen had different ones. There were minor changes that nobody would know about, small things that unless Wanda or Stephen were already aware would go unnoticed and that left Peter with an unsettled feeling.

Peter leaned back in his favourite chair and pressed on his phone, called Shuri. He would deal with everything else but first, he had to deal with the most important one.

As his symbskin connected and he felt Shuri connect to Jhalia he sighed,

"I don't have good news." and he could feel Shuri's apprehension, "and it seems neither do you."

"Doom is pushing for Latveria to gain a larger portion of vibranium than we allowed even you. He is citing some ancient pact we made, but only he has a record of it. What happened?"

Peter shook his head, "Doom used another Stone and changed things. Ninety-nine per cent of the world is the same, but he made himself more powerful. Check to make sure he didn't plant some stupid contract that nobody knows about," and he head Shuri swear, "He also has vibranium of his own, but it's not pure. It was probably a fragment of the asteroid in Wakanda that broke free and melted into ore already there." Peter sighed "I know it's a lot to take on faith but please don't give in to his demands. He messed with reality itself to get what he wants, we have no idea what he'd do with pure vibranium," and Peter shuddered at the thought of vibranium enhanced Doombots flying through the air.

"Reality Stone? Are there more Infinity Stones on Earth?" Shuri asked,

"Three we know of, and two are protected. I can explain but not over the phone, and not without a seriously large amount of security. You know how dangerous they can be, and we just found out how powerful some of them really are," Peter paused, "And find out which tribe, they might not even exist outside his own schemes."

Shuri sighed, "M'Baku. He is backing M'Baku. I have a requisition order from Latveria during World War Two. Doom provided aid to an obscure Wakandan tribe and is now pushing for compensation. They existed though, but it was one of the tribes we used as cover."

"Tell him to suck it then. Remind him that we have the Stone and two others, and we can and will make his life a living hell if he doesn't stop playing games. He knows about the Reality Stone, but not the others or he would have pushed to take them too."

Shuri tingled with excitement on the other end of the phone "I like it when you are forceful. Are you coming to visit any time soon?" but Peter had to disappoint her.

"I can't. With Doom and a few new players on the board, we need to stabilize things here. I took your advice, Pepper and a few others work for me now. Parker Inc is going to be great. So, while it's not much. I'll visit as soon as I can, okay?"

Shuri huffed, "Not even married and I am cast aside. I shall weep into my pillow, and eat so much chocolate that I get fat, and have acne."

Peter laughed "and I would still love you, my heart. I'll be in Africa as soon as I can. I promise," and after seeing Wong and the others, had an idea, "Does Africa have sorcerers?"

"We do, but they are secretive. They do not share with strangers, and so no, whatever strange idea you are having is a no. Relations here are strained as it is. They are complaining we did not consult with them before announcing ourselves and are quite upset that we are sharing our vibranium with you."

"Does Stephen know about them?"

"Oh your Doctor Strange, I believe so, he is one of the reasons they are quite angry. But you will have to talk to him about it, I am apparently only queen of the mundane. The mystical has its own set of rules and rulers."

Peter sighed, "I will, and everything else?" His idea of getting Stephen to create portals to and from Wakanda went up in smoke.

"Erik is behaving, but M'Baku still sends his advisors to tempt him. I am afraid a war is coming to Wakanda Peter, and we might need to postpone not just your visit but everything."

Peter sighed, even after dealing with the White Gorilla tribe M'Baku was refusing to back down. "Shuri, you do what you need to. And if you need me, you always know where I am."

"I do, and I will. I must go, my heart, being Queen is exhausting," and as the line went dead, Peter put down his phone. He would check on Wanda, and make sure nothing major had changed. It was a delicate subject but with Doom's takeover of Sokovia, she might leave the sanctum to find that both Erik and Pietro were different people, or that her mother was still alive. While nothing had changed for him, Dooms interference with reality was rippling through the world, and not in a good way.

Across town, in a tall glass building, Peter was not the only one feeling the effects of history being written.

Elektra stood in front of Felicia's desk, angrily shouting at her, after clearing everyone out of the room.

"So, you thought this was a good idea." Elektra had heard from Emma that Peter had proposed and that with his influence in Wakanda, they would all be getting married.

Felicia sighed, "no, I said from the start it was stupid," and Elektra paused,

"Then why did you wait so long to tell me? and why did I hear from Emma of all people. She was almost glowing with smugness at knowing something my girlfriend should have told me, and told me as soon as it happened, not a week later."

Felicia couldn't answer her. She had gotten wrapped up with the proposal and that Peter could actually marry her, she had forgotten all about Elektra, and she knew that was the issue. They worked together, they trained together, ran the Black Cats together but in the end, Felicia had forgotten her as soon as Peter came back into the picture.

"I can tell by the look on your face that even you agree with me," and Elektra devolved into a series of Greek swear words. Gesturing wildly at Felicia while shouting. "I had enough of this from Matt. You know he was seeing Karen behind my back, and you know you mean everything to me, so why?"

Felicia leant back in her chair, "because. He means everything to me"

Elektra stopped, and stood staring, "and I don't?" but Felicia shook her head,

"It's not the same. I love you both, and I care for you both but with him, he was there for me, he cared when it looked like nobody else did," and she sighed "even you."

"Oh so now this is my fault?" Elektra spat accusingly, but Felicia shook her head,

"No, it's not, it's mine. I know exactly what it's like to want something so badly it takes everything, every breath, every heartbeat, but we both got our revenge, we just took a different path to get there." Felicia stood and moved around to stand next to Elektra, "You know how I feel, Hades lets you know, but you knew that-" but Elektra glared at her,

"Don't you dare, don't you dare say it." and Felicia sighed,

"You knew that I loved someone who was stupid and goofy and would do something this stupid, and it infects you, I want to be stupid and goofy with him, and yes I said yes, and if he was here and you asked I would still say yes to him, and to you and Emma and everyone else. I love you all but life doesn't work like that, life hates us," and Felicia threw her hands up, "life hates people who are different." and as she moved and took Elektra by the shoulders, "but Peter doesn't hate you, and I asked already. Shuri said no, as well, you are a wanted murderer and Wakanda is already pitching a fit over him, but it doesn't change anything, it doesn't change how I feel."

Elektra crossed her arms and huffed, "you still didn't ask, and I heard you also got angry at him for not asking, so," and she raised an eyebrow. "Do I threaten to beat your ass on the mat, or are you going to make it up to me?"

Leaning forward Felica whispered something and Elektra tilted her head and frowned, but nodded.

Taking out her phone,

Hey Pete, Elektra is pretty mad you stole the march on her with this wedding thing, how are you gonna make it up to her?

In the warehouse, Peters phone dinged and reading the message her rubbed his forehead with his fingers, not her as well.

What does she want? I really don't feel like playing games. I might be able to upgrade her armour, if Liv is feeling generous I might get another harness for her.

Well shit, I was thinking foursome with Emma but damn, that works too.

Reading the text he groaned, Emma had still been harassing him about a Symbiote, especially after they discovered the Stacy Formula didn't work on mutants and Stark had claimed ownership of Extremis. Not that it stopped them from using it. The Extremis symbiote cells he could produce were something that Tony had no control over. Not that Enhancing an Augment was something they wanted to do. There were too many variables as to what could go wrong, and it was shelved as a stupid and possibly deadly idea.

Picking up his phone he sent a text to Shuri, and receiving an affirmative, he replied to Felicia. He needed to get a grip on not just his business life but his private life as well before it spiralled out of control.

We can Enhance Elektra, we can give Emma a Symbiote, but that's it. If Elektra or Emma gets huffy or starts complaining then they get cut off. Personal lives are now off-limits for business favours. Markers are being cashed and then voided. No more.

Peter waited for a moment and as Felicia agreed, and then a new text from Emma appeared he slid his phone onto the table, and lay back in his chair, covering his eyes with one arm.

Doom grabbing the Reality Stone changed everything. He knew that they were powerful but there were now three on Earth that they knew about. Loki had the Space Stone and with the Power Stone and the Soul Stone still unknown he couldn't take any risks anymore.

Pulling out a new drawing tablet, he switched it to document mode and began to type. It was time to finalise his plans for Parker Inc.