Obligatory Disclaimer : I do not own anything (except maybe OC characters) all characters, places, worlds, universes…etc mentioned here belong to their respective owners and/or companies.

This is purely a work of fiction. Not meant to offend or incite, but to entertain and (maybe) inspire.

ENLIGHTENMENT

Nikki: That was amazing Mr Hammer ;) Encore?<3 <3

Justin: Sure, hit me up whenever you’re out of LA ^_^

Nikki: Definitely.

Justin: Keep it yummy for me ;)

Nikki: :)) Lol, you know I will.

Justin: GOODBYE!

“Hey!” I yelled at Eve who intruded into my phone’s software and manipulated my text message. She shouldn’t be able to do that so easily, Hammer, make better defenses. I kept the smile on my face, but inwardly I was busy drawing up counter measures. Judge me as much as you want to, I trusted Eve as more than anyone else, but failing to prepare is preparing to fail. And this might be my last day on Earth.

“Boss will you stop texting celebrities and focus!”

“Eve, you’re just jealous” I said, dropping the phone onto the table.

What? I am the world’s second wealthiest man (I see you King T’Chaka), what the hell do you think I do with my money, just sit and look at it? I invest heavily into my very expensive life goals. A single powered exoskeleton armor of mine can cost up to an excess of billions of dollars. And that’s me, the manufacturer with the relevant companies talking. When I’m not working, I play and I play as hard as I work… my brothers would be proud if they could see me.

But Eve was right. I was done playing. “Do we have the translocation coordinates locked?”

“Down to the last ten decimals”

“Great” I ran diagnostics on my suit of armor, double checking every piece of it to make sure it was running at a 110% efficiency. “Activate stealth” I commanded. With a deep sounding hum, I felt intangible energy fields surround my body – giving me a tingling sensation all over as the suit began to be suffused with exotic quantum particles that created a controlled imbalance, a state of matter disequilibrium that allowed it to exhibit ghost like properties on a large scale. In essence, I didn’t exist in the material world at this moment, I was just an ethereal observer, a ghost.

Awesome right? Right, except for one major downside – consumption. It ate through my pym – particle cache like a starving black hole. Pym particles that took a lot of back breaking effort to mine and secure. So I couldn't keep it on indefinitely.

I gave Shield what they thought they wanted to know about Thor’s hammer. Which was just me waxing technical jargon and poetry together, of course with hints of the truth in it. Do you also want to know what Mjolnir is? Heh, I have no proper fucking idea. In one moment it's a type 4 civilization’s super advanced weapon, in the next it's a magical marvel that made no sense. I studied it’s internal circuitry, if you can even call it that and it went on to make even less sense.

Because there are things even I don’t understand when it comes to magic. The power output ratio is ridiculous. It is ultra efficient, so efficient in fact that it shouldn’t exist, so efficient it makes my current reactor ring look like a toy. I was going to substitute the hell out of that magic with technology, when I have more time, I’m running on a tight schedule.

The Destroyer would be coming soon. So I had left the desert base and made a show of traveling out the country to continue with my vacation – to get the tails off me of course.

I jumped through the Q-Tunnel to my preset location. Ant-sizing myself as I landed.

I watched Thor get his ass handed to him by the Destroyer. The aptly named WMD, the titan sized walking disaster. This thing was sleek, spiked and brutal. The movies don’t do justice to it. Every step it took caused the ground to crater and cave in. Every time it’s metal whined, something disintegrated. Listen, there’s a difference between disintegrated and destroyed. Disintegrated leaves no evidence of the material’s prior existence. It is wiped cleanly off the face of the Earth, its particles whizzing out of existence. That’s what the destroyer did every time it’s visor drew back.

It was stomping and knocking Thor and his gang of merry gods through buildings and cars like rag doll shaped wrecking balls. When gods fall, they bleed. My nano-bots were there on the ground to scrape and lap up god blood, like little scavengers. Scavengers, I like that name.

Jane looked like she was about to get crushed by the Destroyer, because the damn lady couldn’t recognize that she was out of her damn depth and kept rushing head first into danger. So yes, I chuckled when she stood there screaming in terror as the sliver foot of the destroyer descended upon her, like an ant about to be crushed by a boot.

Mjolnir slammed the destroyer back with a thundering clang, sending glass shattering ripples through the air. The god of thunder, rescuing his woman. There was an almost tangible aura around him as he gained strength from his valor.

The whine came again, the strips of it’s metal visor receded. I could feel the intense energy boiling and roiling beneath its surface. The destroyer turned to stare at the god, and then came fire.

―HHVMMMMM!!

It was like looking into the sun. The smell of ozone and crisp burnt air was overwhelming. This might’ve been the second time I felt the world rumble around me due to extreme energy emissions. But it was the first time I saw light being split apart by a hammer. Come to think of it, this hammer does all the heavy lifting.

―BOoOOMM!!

Flaming metal chunks of the Destroyer rained down from the explosion. My ‘scavenger’ nanobots rushed to steaming pieces of metals out of view, no one noticed. The gods were busy celebrating their victory, some of the civilians rejoiced at the fact that they’d survived, others cried for their lost ones or destroyed property. Me, I got the scavengers to minimize and shrink the chunks of destroyer metal and then store it.

“Boss, I was able to acquire more pieces than expected”

Perfect.

“That’s why you’re awesome. Send them home and wipe the slate clean.”

“On it”

The nanobots converged to the extraction point with their payload, each of them disappearing through the invisible tunnel with a soundless blip. The others went into my armor.

Now came my part. I nimbly navigated my way through the wreckage, and upon finding my target, I stealthily hid myself in a fold of Jane Foster’s jacket. She took me right to the god of thunder. I waited till they got busy kissing – gluing their bodies together.

Now Justin!

I leapt onto the soft metallic meta-material of Thor’s armor. Going into stealth mode, I hid within a crook of the scales on the armor’s surface. ‘Eve.Material.Armor.Scan’ I commanded through the rudimentary psionic communication device. It is much harder than it seems to create a mental communication link with a machine. And although my device seems barely up to standard, it's a step towards progress.

[...Scanning…analyzing..]

The reason I’m going audio silent is the same reason why I couldn’t go for his hair – I didn’t want to take any chances with his enhanced senses noticing me.

[..Analysis complete...Material composition and constituents downloaded into meta-material archive.]

This, ladies and gentlemen, is the greatest guide to hitching a ride on a god. I joked to calm my nerves. Thor began talking about how he had to go to Asgard because it was in peril and so were the nine realms and all that.

It seemed like it wasn’t necessary to spend an eternity waiting for him to leave after all. The rainbow bridge materialized around us, it was beautiful, I admit. More beautiful and the VR simulations I ran based on this scenario. It was also disorienting, but I had experience with tunnel-like portals.

As soon as we landed on Asgard, I felt the difference. It wasn’t just the air that was cleaner, everything was made to near perfection. Beauty became the new normal. The ambient energy in the atmosphere welcomed and nourished you, like finding that comfy spot on a cozy couch. Except the couch was made in heaven. A flat Earther’s heaven.

|*.*.*.*.*.*|

This was the perfect time to invade Asgard. Odin was weak and deep in his Odinsleep. Loki had basically crippled Asgard’s defenses to allow the frost giants an entrance and to steal the Casket of Ancient Winters. And I was never one to waste opportunities.

I phased out of the raging god’s armor as he whizzed through the air. The boosters aiding my fall through the air. I landed on a rock and took in the sights around me, which doubled as a way to properly map out my location. I’d been scanning the city while we flew over it on Thor.

“Scan complete...Map inconsistencies corrected and updated. I’m bringing up the target location,” A new map appeared on my HUD with the target clearly outlined on it “now”

“Moving out.” I raced quietly towards the objective. The deserted, Asgardian palace courts. It had so, so many things I wanted to check out. But I couldn’t get side tracked right now. In the distance I could hear the urgent roar of thunder rattle through the atmosphere. I stood beneath an inconspicuous tree. I switched through the Electromagnetic spectrum, picking out a frequency that let me see the tree’s biosignature – it was blinding and it went deep underground.

“Activate Phaser systems” I ordered, unshrinking my body.

“Activated” Eve replied.

I sunk through the soil, squeezing through the building blocks of matter, like air through a sponge. When I began feeling suffocated, I knew it was entirely psychological, due to a fabricated sense of claustrophobia. I focused on something else, like my rapidly dwindling cache of pym particles and my inner voice which kept reminding me of how I was going to die horribly.

Tell me something new.

I fell and fell and fell, till I fell into a different dimension.

“Eve”

“Boss, it looks like we’ve gone through a dimensional barrier. From my observations, this looks to be a perfect pocket dimension”

Hoo boi. Is that it?

In the center of this eerily quiet dimension a tree large enough to house several planets was suspended. I noticed that light seemed to be coming for everywhere but nowhere at all. The space itself was luminescent. The gravity was like that of the moon’s in some place and that of Earth’s in others.

I approached the gigantic floating tree whose branches seemed as endless as its roots.

Is this really it?

Warmth. That was what I felt through my armor as I placed a hand on the tree. It was the type of warmth one would feel when reminded of a loved one. A welcoming, embracing warmth filled with love and acceptance.

There is a song of serenity that floats in the air. In the sea blue world, where leaves of green are clouds, branches of brown become the earth. There is no wind, yet the leaves sway. It is a harmony unheard of. It is quiet. It is peace that can never be. It is perfection of a certain order.

Yggdrasil.

The world tree welcomes me. Time has no meaning here. I want to stay. No, you don’t. Why can’t I stay here forever? To be part of the tree, to find eternal peace and rest. I can be free. No, you won’t.

Wake up. It is a mother I always wanted. It is the comfort that surpasses all things. Wake up, Justin. No, I want to stay here. Forever and ever…

….

…. Fuck that noise, I’ll never stop till I achieve my goals.

I shake my head and snap awake, breaking free from the hypnotic trance. Fuck this tree that thinks I’ll become nourishment. Fuck this kumbayah shit, I’m here for a reason.

Focus, what is that reason? Immortality and power. This is the Marvel-verse. I could be in a comic, I could be in a movie or even a book. My every word and action could be the imagination of an author. Or I could be in a facet of reality being interpreted as such. I don’t really care, because even if this universe is fake, I am real.

I won’t be conquered, I won’t be deterred. I won’t be controlled.

I.

Am.

Real.

“That is interesting,” A voice says. It is near. I walk towards it. “Take it from me, this is truly interesting” I hear the voice in front of me but I see no one, all I spot is a dry and empty well.

“Well, that’s because I’m down here” I stare down and nearly jump out of my skin. My weapons are all aimed at the head without a body. It takes a second for me to recognize who this is from mythology, it takes two to lower my weapons.

“Mimir, the wise?”

“My reputation precedes me” It speaks like a man without any worry. It, no, He speaks like a man who is amused. I look at it and pay attention this time. He is bald, with tufts of hair at the sides, his eyes have no pupils and beneath his mouth hangs a full gray beard.

“Child of Gaea, are you not a bit too far away from home?” He waits for an answer that never comes “Hah! Don’t mind this old man and his ramblings. Ah! I just wish I could see the look on the foolish king’s face, ohh how twisted it would appear when he finds out that there is someone here without his consent” He says, eyeing me all the while. It’s slightly disturbing to be honest, those eyes.

“I seek ---”

“Godhood. I cannot give you true immortality, unless you want to stay here with this old man for eternities upon eternities” He cuts me off.

“For a wise man you’re making some very stupid assumptions. Do not interrupt me again, there are many ways for you to die” I am serious.

“Aha! The wolf shows his fangs”

“Knowledge of runes and the power to wield them, I seek these”

“Ah, but knowledge is power, is it not? Hasn’t your knowledge granted you the power you wield today? No, what you seek is godhood, this is the way to power and with it comes knowledge… no wait, turn that around”

I am beginning to hate this guy.

“Isn’t godhood exclusive to the Asgardians”

“Of course not, Doom. Godhood is earned through sacrifice, not birthright...well birthright in most cases”

“Why did you call me that?”

“Call you what?”

“Do not toy with me. Why did you just call me, Doom?”

“That is your name, Victor Von Doom, son of Cynthia Von Doom, daughter of Morgana Von Doom, descendant of Morgaine the witch. Do not doubt me child, I am wise beyond you as the stars are to the soil, my knowledge is without end. I see things you can never begin to comprehend. Even gods humble themselves before me.” He looks at me with hard eyes, they turn soft and he laughs loud.

This is a being who loves rubbing his wisdom in your face

What the hell is this shit? I came here for power, not drama. Even if what he’s saying is true – I don’t have a reason to necessarily care and I’ll find out when I get back to earth, I can’t let myself be shaken, not here, not now. I have my priorities in order.

“If you’re done praising yourself, I’d like that godhood you can’t seem to shut up about now.”

“Hah! I like you. There are not many as strong willed and disciplined anymore. Forgive this one for his ramblings, it has been a long time since I’ve had guests. Please tell your creation I adore her too.”

He knows about Eve.

“Get on with it”

“Tsk! No patience. It needs sacrifice, child. Odin gave his eye and hung himself here on this branch, between the divide of life and death. He gained his wisdom and his Odin-Force. What will you give?”

I genuinely smiled. Pulling out the shrunken vials of god blood I’d acquired recently, including Thor’s and then I retrieved a shrunken canister of fluid which held the living head of Black heart.

“I am surprised. That is something fewer people than those on your right hand have managed to accomplish. Go ahead, pour your sacrifice into the well.”

I approach the stone edged well, I stare down its dark, endless depths. One by one, I drop the vials of blood I had collected, making sure to bring them to normal size. And last, I enlarge the head of Mephisto’s scion.

“Listen to me mortal, do not do this! My father will come for your soul!” It threatens. “I can teach you so much! It if’s power you want, I can give you more than you can ever dream of! Do not do this mortal? I beg of you!” When threats prove useless it begs. Even if I was stupid, I’d never be stupid enough to trust the words of a demon.

I tossed the head into the well. The screams echoing through its dark depths. Nothing happened.

“It seems your sacrifice is lacking. Search your heart, you will find the answer there” This fucker has been trying to get me off my game since the beginning. That’s not going to be happening, because I won’t allow it.

I stretch my arm out towards the well. The armor withdraws from my left hand. I extend the blade from my right glove and dig deep into my arm. I breath slowly, letting my blood drip down into the hole. If you were expecting me to give an eye or an arm – like an idiot – then you truly don’t know me. All it needs is my DNA and a sacrifice, I had done both.

This shit is cultish.

Water filled the well till it came pouring out and over. And I had an instinctual impression of what to do next. My helmet unlatched and folded back into the armor. I bent, bringing my head to the pool, gulp I began drinking the waters from the well of whatever mysterious attribute it represented. It took moments for me to notice that I wasn’t even drinking water, I was absorbing knowledge and something else I couldn’t recognize.

It was an information dump, except the dumping was being done to me each time I took a drink. Information, in the purest sense of the word. Data from all facets of life, great and small, obvious and hidden, logical and illogical, rational and arcane, mysterious and ordinary, holy and unholy, divine and natural. Knowledge of the cosmos, within and without. Knowledge of the runes. Knowledge. Knowledge. Knowledge. And I was going mad.mad.mad.

“Do you see it now child? That is knowledge beyond knowledge. Runes and magic.”

I was going mad.mad.mad.mad.mad.mad.mad.mad.mad.mad.mad.mad.mad.mad.mad.mad

With knowledge comes power. A seed was budding deep within me. My neurons were drawn taut, threatening to snap at a moment’s notice. The seed germinated, it would allow me to make use of the words.

Fire filled my eyes. Fire filled my body. The plant grew, the words multiplied. Fire filled my soul. It doesn’t burn. It is a warmth that accepts me. A warmth I can only find within. A voice I alone can hear.

|*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*|

I opened my eyes and my body was gone. I was drifting through the planes. Material and immaterial. I skirted on the edge of the observable universe. Dancing with particles that had no names. I pierced through the dimensions, emerging through singularities. The reflective mirror world. The esoteric nightmares. The intense and endless darkness. The great resplendent light of the benefic. The infinite fires and the cries of torture. The concepts made sense. My eyes beheld the great personifications in Over space.

As I looked at them, they looked back. I was less than an ant compared to them. My very existence was inconsequential to the scale of things. I was nothing.

I understand now.

Knowledge is power. Wisdom allows you to make perfect use of that power. Enlightenment gives you a deeper understanding of your power.

I was enlightened.

|*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*|

I must have been screaming because my throat was sore. Which, in and of itself should have been impossible, my body was augmented. I opened my eyes to find myself hanging by a rope on the world tree.

I flex my neck and the rope snaps, I land on my feet with a reverberating thud. I feel so strong. It’s like having liquid fire mixed with adrenaline course through my veins. My armor creaks and moans around me every time I move. There is sooo much power in me. Is this what having a god force feels like? Is this how Asgardians feel? I take time to let it sink in. No, this is the essence of magic. This is my life force transformed, this is an enlightenment.

“Yes, it is. You should remember that it is but a budding godforce, it is entirely yours and as such you must nurture it, if you wish for it to grow. Even if it isn’t as impressive as an Asgardian’s. But you are unique – one with many bloods”

I ignored him. “Eve, you getting the readings on my power level?”

“Yes boss, and it’s absurd.”

“What's your rough estimate”

“Boss, I don’t have any data pertaining to rigorous measurements yet. Based on an approximation, you’re most likely a step below an enraged hulk, when it comes to strength and raw power output. But your readings keep fluctuating so it might either be too modest, or an overestimation.”

“Well, thanks for everything old man, I’ll be taking my leave now,” I equip my helmet, having had enough of this guy’s cryptic bullshit, which was now enough to give me a migraine. “Eve, a tunnel to the base please”

“Gimme a sec boss”

“Don’t you want to know what you’re the god of?” The head asks teasingly.

“I know exactly what I am, old man.”

“Fire, child. The fires answer to your call. Be they of rebirth, condemnation or war. And the bloods in your veins speak”

“This is the second time you’re saying that. What do you mean ‘bloods’?”

He doesn’t speak but answers me with a mysterious smile.

“Boss, the gate’s ready” Eve reminds me.

I want to leave some words behind, but the migraine won’t let me.

I stepped through the gate and into the tunnel.

|*.*.*.*.*|

“Ah fuck!” I yell, as the pain spikes, someone is driving a blunted ice pick through my temples. My head felt tender and over sensitive. “Administer painkillers. Don’t be modest on the morphine,” The needles in my armor delivered their contents into my bloodstream. That should’ve stopped the pain, it got worse instead. “Eve, prime pod #5” I commanded, un-equipping the exo armor and the skin thin haptic suit I wore beneath.

“Boss, are you okay? Your bio-readings show rapid and erratic spikes”

I trudge through my lab naked, knocking over expensive equipment as I tried to navigate through the unbearable pain and the growing heat inside of me.

The pain is so much that I can barely even hear anymore. I feel a slick metal surface prop me up and prod me along a path. I recognize the whirring, it’s Tito, my assistant bot. I feel something warm begin to drip down my nose, eyes, mouth and ears. It is a coppery scent I recognize – it’s blood. As soon as I enter the metal confines of the rejuvenation pod, I assume a fetal position and fade into unconsciousness...

XXXXXXXXXX

In the Realm Below

The demon atop his throne scratches his chin. His cloven feet tap lazily against the crimson pools of blood and brimstone beneath his majestic seat. The sound echoes through his dimension, it is louder than the wails and the gnashing of teeth. Louder than the suffering of the tortured souls. Louder than the cackle of the torturers.

The soul of his eldest scion has been repurposed, his essence taken. It amuses him – his blood now runs in the veins of someone he never sired, and within that same body, a blood that carries divinity resides. He senses it. He laughs and chuckles.

The Anti is now born, doom truly walks the earth. It is a joyful day. The demon sends a portion of his power to the blood. Cementing the birthright of the one who carries it. Making them an inheritor. He is a loving father after all, and he welcomes all his children, whether they accept it or not.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX