Chapter 3: New Family

January 1st, 1984

Earth - ?????????

Somewhere in the mountains of China

Nestled in comfortably at the top of a mountain, a compound in the shape of Mjolnir's hammer could be seen. The hammerhead part of the compound was a bare courtyard, and the handle part contained what looked to be a green-roofed pagoda style building.

On this freezing cold day, a black portal manifested above the courtyard.

This portal is the one Mephisto manifested. The spell he used to open this portal was what was agreed upon by himself and Clea in the contract; it would transport Jack to the most ideal place on Earth that would help him grow.

Mephisto and Clea agreed that the only way to accomplish such a powerful spell is for her to sacrifice her body and for Mephisto to draw out all the latent energy in it for him to open the portal that would lead to good fortune for Jack.

Poor Jack was unaware of this, and the abrupt way Mephisto killed Clea shocked Jack into a rage.

Jack, overcome with hate, was praying to Cicero that wherever he ended up, it wasn't in some blazing hell or trash composter.

Jack swore that he would turn Mephisto into rat shit and save his new mother in the future if he survived. After all, she is his mother in this new life, whether he liked it or not.

Clea never had a child before she was married to Stephen Strange, so he didn't spirit possess some unborn child he hopes. With Cicero's powers, hopefully, I'm like some Jesus baby; conceived by miracles.

Even if that weren't the case, she sacrificed her own soul and body for him to have a chance at life; Jacks morals wouldn't allow him to leave her to suffer in Hell.

*WHOOOOSH* *CLUTTER*

With a loud bang, the glass case that contained Jack crashed into the floor of the compound, rolling a few times with poor Jack tumbling around inside.

"FUCKIN' HELL!" Jack was cursing inside his mind in a panic.

With a few more rolls, the case stopped and was upside down with Jacks face smushed up against the glass.

"What the hell did I do to deserve this?" Jack, reminiscing on the past few hours, was depressed. First, he died, and that was bad enough. Then, he woke up in some giant clow-, sorry, Jesters hand; don't get him wrong, he respects Cicero more than anything, but being crushed into a soul paste inside his palm wasn't very fun, a warning would've been appreciated. Finally, to top it off, he witnessed the murder of his new mother.

Like, damn.

"Mephisto, that mother fu-" Before Jack could finish that thought, he saw a beautiful oriental woman running towards him from what looked like a green-roofed pagoda style building after unsmushing his head from the glass container.

Now behind her, a man is seen cradling a baby with one hand and what seemed to be a 6 year-old child's hand held in the other. Another child that appeared to be 6 as well stood behind the family, and the odd thing is, he was missing a hand. Unfortunately, Jack couldn't make out the features of the womans family because they were too far away.

"Oh my God, Wenwu, I think there's a baby in there!" exclaimed the beautiful woman.

"Li, don't get near that container! Who knows what that thing is!" Exclaimed the shocked man.

Ignoring what seemed to be her husband, Jack saw the woman running towards him with no hesitation. She approached the glass case and flipped it over as delicately as she could, making sure she didn't harm the small little thing inside.

*Gasp*

When the woman saw the child, she was absolutely shocked. What seemed to be a beautiful baby boy with sparkling blue eyes and snowy white tufts of hair was looking back at her with a curious gaze.

"WENWU! It's a baby boy! GET OVER HERE NOW!" the woman shouted.

The whipped man delivered the sleeping baby he was cradling into the waiting arms of his son.

"Shang-Chi, watch over little Xialing and stay here with Mattias," said the man.

"Yes, father!," the little asian boy exclaimed while holding his sister with the utmost care.

"Yes, sir!," said the one-armed white boy.

After nodding at the two boys, he hurried over to his wife as quickly as possible; peering over his wifes crouched form when he arrived, the sight that greeted him stunned him to stillness.

Never in his thousands of years of life has he seen a baby like the one in front of him. It couldn't be human. It was too perfect, and no human he's ever seen has had hair as naturally white as his, except maybe in albinos, old men on the edge of death, and some mutants, but even then, he doubts any of those could compare to the ethereally white hair this young baby has. He has also never heard of a human awakening their mutation at an age so young, so whatever this baby is, he's willing to bet it's not completely human.

Not only that, the power this baby emitted was unbelievable. Energy wise, it almost reminded him of the Ten Rings he gave up when he married Ying Li. If this was 20 years ago, he would've trained this baby into a killer under his banner. He can tell the potential this baby has is immense. The little thing might even be a genuine Demi-God.

"Honey, there's something inscribed on the case! Come look!" The excited woman yelled.

After shaking off his shock, the man stood behind his wife. They both read the inscription together:

"Jack Frost - Vermin Trash," They both said in unison. The man seemed to fall into deep thought, having read this.

His wife, on the other hand... "What the hell?!?! What fucking piece of shi-" Ying Li was absolutely fuming after having read that inscription carved in the glass case.

Ignoring the woman who was about to go on a tangent for now and not being able to see the man behind her due to angle of the woman, Jack couldn't help but start to think about his current circumstances. He thought about his daughters and son. He missed them so much. He thought about Clea, the woman who gave quite literally everything for him to have a chance at life in this new world. He thought about how he was even going to begin accumulating enough power to see them again.

"Oh yeah, the A.I. Chip! How do I activate that thing?" Thought Jack, breaking out of his memories.

As soon as the term: "A.I. Chip" was thought, a piece of Jack's soul trembled.

[Ding!] A crisp bell-like sound resounded in Jack's head while a crystal blue interface appeared in front of his vision.

[A.I. Chip initiating.... 2%.... 15%.... 40%.... 60%.... 100%] A mechanical female voice resounded in Jacks head, while the floating crystal blue interface mirrored the exact words the voice said.

Jack thought it was kind of trippy; he felt like he was a videogame character with the glowing interface in front of him. It's kind of like Master Chief, he thought while remembering his nerd of a son playing Halo.

Though I guess I should be thanking him for his nerd ways, or my gacha roll would be immensely different if not for all the shows and movies he has shown me. Not to mention the fact that I wouldn't have gotten the skill, [Infinity Castle] without him. I'll definitely have to thank him for that when I see him next. While thinking of his son, a new prompt lit up in front of him, interrupting his thoughts.

[Ding! Hello, Jack Worthington! I am your personalized A.I. assistance chip. I'm here to assist in any way possible. Just ask or demand.] The mechanical female voice said.

Before he could think of a response to that prompt, a new message appeared.

[Ding! 1 New Message. Would you like to open? Y/N?] The voice said.

Jack thought in his mind, "Yes!".

A long crystal blue window popped up in front of his view, no voice was heard, it looks like it's just a written message.

[Ding! Message, from: Cicero]

[Dear Jacky, I hope you landed in your new life in one piece. Sorry for not sending you there gently and crushing you in my palm, I thought it would be funny to give ya a little scare, xD. Anywho, I thought I'd let you know that by the time you're reading this message, I'll be in deep hibernation, already beginning the power transfer to your vessel. Not to worry, the A.I. Chip will show you your progress on assimilating the aspects of Entertainment, Fun, and Freedom on your status screen. Just say: "A.I. Chip, Scan My Body!" and your chip will scan your body for innate talents and display them with your 5 basic attributes, along with your self-created skills. Since I like you and want you to succeed, I also took the liberty of loading the A.I. Chips database with all of my general knowledge, so in the future, you'll never be caught flat-footed with the unknown! Well, that's all I really have to say... Good luck, Jack, and as one of my greatest of friends would say, "May the odds be ever in your favor."]

Reading the first part of the message, Jack was understandably pissed considering what he's been through these past few hours, but as the message continued on he became more and more grateful, ready to even burst into tears when he heard Cicero put all his "general" knowledge into the chip, whatever that meant.

[Message End. Delete? Y/N?]

"No!" Jack thought hastily. He'd like to read this letter in the future to reminisce. Maybe it's because of his old age, he secretly thought.

Jacks last thought would make him seem wise, if not for the fact he's currently in the body of a seven day-old baby.

While Jack was thinking of Cicero, he felt his tiny glass prison jostle. He then remembered his fate was left in the hands of the people in front of him.

Knowing he's in some variation of the MCU, he hoped they aren't some demonic cult that bathes in kids' blood or something. Afterall, that 6 year old kid over there is missing his fuckin' hand. With that said, he returned his attention back to the two bickering adults in front of him.

"What?! What do you mean you already have a full plate? Don't lie to me! I'm the one always cleaning up after the kids! You're the one always laying around on your ass! Adding one more won't affect your life anymore than it is now! Besides, you brought Mattias into our home without even asking me, why can't I do the same for this little one?!" The beautiful asian woman said fiercely.

The man known as Xu Wenwu sighed with a forlorne look on his face, completely ignoring her hurtful jabs, "Yes, wife, as you say."

Seemingly satisfied by her husbands response, she returned her attention to Jack.

"Did you hear that little one? We'll be your new mommy and papa." The woman known as Ying Li said with a dazzling smile.

Jack, stunned by her smile, smiled back through the glass case.

"Ahhhh, isn't he the cutest little thing you've ever seen? Come here Wenwu, give your new son a good look at his new papa," Ying Li said after fan-girling at Jacks little smile. Ying Li then moved out of the way to give her new son a chance to see his papa.

After having a good look at his new adoptive mother, he decided to take his first clear look at his new father. "Someone that could snag a beauty like the one in front of me must be a great man," Jack secretly thought.

Taking a peek past the beautiful woman, his twinkling blue eyes almost bulged out of his head after getting a good look at his new father.

"Is that the fucking Mandarin?!" And with that revelation and all the stress Jack has accumulated these past few days, he burst out crying, thinking to himself: Why is this Marvel universe so set on fucking me over?

Ying Li and Xu Wenwu were at first stunned by his sudden outburst, but then Ying Li burst out laughing, pointing at Xu Wenwu's face.

"Wahhahahahhaha!!!! I ca- ca- can't can't breathe!!! Oh my god! He took one look at your ugly mug, and he burst out crying! Bwahahahhaa!" Ying Li was clutching her stomach laughing harder than she ever has in a long time.

Xu Wenwu, with a downcast face, said, "Oh, I'll definitely have fun training my new son in the future. Definitely." With one last look at the crying baby and his laughing wife, he turned around with a huff and went to inform his children they'll have a new punching ba-, brother.