I had never felt more tired in my life. The fight had been the worst I could remember. Not just the constant transforming, the fighting, the killing, but the final moments where I took Strucker on a whirlwind tour of the universe? I was DONE. All I wanted to do was lie down somewhere dark and sleep.

Unfortunately, that wasn’t in the cards.

First, we had to begin counting casualties, so to speak. Doing some basic clean-up and such. Figuring out what was left, what wasn’t.

Tony called the Avengers Tower. Luke, Jessica, Pepper, and Matt, with the help of the NYPD and military, had cleaned out the Hydra who attacked it a bit before the end of my fight with Strucker.

“I want to fly out there,” Tony said as we walked side by side, Jen and Steve walking with us through the halls of the Behemoth, all in more casual clothes now. “Pepper says she’s okay, but…”

He didn’t make a quip. No sarcastic joke. He just looked worried as hell. Steve placed a consoling hand on his shoulder.

“She’s not… perfectly fine,” I said, drawing the attention of the others. “I did check in on her while I had the Mind Stone. She’ll be okay for now. But she killed someone for the first time today. Same with Fitz. They’ll need someone to talk to. But Pepper is strong,” that was understating it. My brief brush with her mind led me to realize she had a lot more willpower to her than even she believed.

“None of that makes me want to relax,” Tony said with a bit of heat.

“I know. But it’s the truth,” I sighed. When I stumbled a bit, Jen grabbed my arm, pulling me back into a standing position.

“You need to rest,” she said sternly.

“So do you.”

“I’m fine,” she helped me walk with a scowl on her face. “I didn’t fight a telepathic battle against a force of nature. Anything that happened to me out there, I can heal from.”

Fair. Technically, my body was okay. But the mental exhaustion wasn’t something a quick transformation could help with.

“What were you thinking, pushing us out like that?” Jen continued, grimacing. “We could have helped out against that bitch.”

Yeah, I told them about Emma. No one was much of a fan of hers.

“Maybe. But I couldn’t risk you guys getting hurt in there.”

“I thought you died.”

Ah. Well… fuck.

Steve and Tony shared an awkward look.

“I’m sorry,” I mumbled. “I didn’t have any options.”

Jen growled, sounding like her larger cousin. Her hand clutching at me squeezed down just a bit, then relaxed. “Next time you pull shit like that, at least try to let me know you’re alive. Okay?”

“I promise.”

She kissed the top of my head, which led to me blushing. “Now. What are we going to do about the mutant thing?”

Ah. The gigantic elephant in the room.

“Leave it for now,” I said.

“You should at least tell Maria,” Tony said, looking almost surprised at his appeal for me to go to an authority figure.

“No. We leave it to the Avengers for now,” I said firmly. “The Mind Stone is enough of a can of worms. If we add the mutant thing on top of that, without any information beyond existence, we don’t know what might happen.”

“And you’re sure one of them wants to meet?” Steve asked.

I looked down the hall. A bald man stood there, watching politely as we approached. He looked a lot like Patrick Stewart. I mentally sent an acknowledgement to him. He nodded back before fading away into smoke.

“Yeah. He’s willing to wait.”

“Ooookay,” Tony winced a bit. “Fuck me, that stings,” he clutched at his shoulder.

“You all right?” Steve asked, worried.

“Yeah, yeah, just got hit by a laser,” he said dismissively. “Anyways. Fine, we’ll leave the mutant thing off the table until we can get a real read on them. But what about the Mind Stone? That thing is… powerful.”

To say the least.

“What do you think we should do with it?” Jen asked. “Use it as a paperweight?”

“Funny,” Tony said with a smirk. “Actually, I think we should study it.”

“Study it?” Steve frowned. “Isn’t that dangerous?”

“Maybe,” I frowned. “I’m mostly worried about keeping it away from Thanos as long as possible.”

“Thanos?” Jen asked. Oh right, hadn’t gotten to explaining him to her yet. Or had I and we just both forgot about it? I was tired, sue me.

“Alien psycho in love with Death, wants to kill half the universe as a gift for her.”

“Wow, a romantic, huh?” she said with all the sarcasm in her soul.

“Downright Shakespearean,” I agreed. “Anyways, he needs six stones to do it. We now have one. I wonder where the others-”

“I know where they are,” we looked up as we entered our destination. The hospital wing of the Behemoth was a damn mess. The ship had lasted pretty well against the alien spaceships, but it had still taken a fucking pounding, and the medbay had collapsed inwards. Thor and Ares stood side-by-side, both covered in ash and dust from helping lift out chunks of concrete, metal, and other debris.

Thor, the one who had spoken, had a very serious look on his face. “I have suspicions, at least.”

“You think your father knows something?” Ares asked his fellow god.

“If he doesn’t, he’ll know who will,” Thor said firmly. “I’ll need to speak to Maria Hill. I believe when this is done, I’ll be making my return to Asgard earlier than I’d planned.”

Steve nodded at that, then continued walking, the rest of us following. Ares tapped me on the arm before I could leave entirely.

“You get two days to rest,” he said grimly. “Then we reconvene. With all the new forms you’ve obtained, I will need to update your training. Also… well done.”

He gave Jen and I something that wasn’t quite a smile. “I saw you both fight. It was a worthy battle.”

That may have been the best compliment he had ever given us.

“Thank you, Ares,” I said, touched.

“Whatever,” he waved a dismissive hand. “Go visit your friends. I’ll want to talk to you afterward.”

That sobered me up. Right. Not all of us had been completely safe.

------

In the main floor of the med bay, four people worked tirelessly.

First, Melati. The girl who would become Komodo in other universes was bouncing from patient to patient, bandaging, applying salves, injecting medicine, her tail waving gently as she moved, sometimes shifting to avoid another doctor or nurse passing by her. She didn’t even acknowledge us as we entered, instead focusing on her patients.

Then, there were two surprise guests. Luna Snow looked up as we entered, smiling at Steve. The pop star was looking over a wounded man in a Chinese army uniform, his chest covered in a burn scar from alien plasma. As we passed, she released waves of black ice from her hands, covering the burn slowly. Despite me calling it black, it was closer to a dark-colored gem of sorts, just see-through enough that we could see burnt flesh stitching together.

“I simply don’t understand how you could have such faith in that ability of yours,” someone said to Luna. I looked over at him. Then I stared at him.

A… tentacle monster? In the middle of using multiple arms to do surgery, some with scalpels, some with syringes, more fluttering underneath the dark doctor's uniform he was wearing.

Oh wow, my weirdar was still working. I thought it broke after today.

“I’ve seen it work before,” Luna said, sounding absolutely unfazed.

“You’ve seen the appearance of healing,” the tentacle man said-wait, he didn’t have a mouth. Just a big diamond of glowing light set into his strange head. Was… was the light his mouth? “I simply for the unseen side effects of your abilities. Using ice ‘magic’ to heal people. Who knows the potential complications that will arise from it?”

“Leave it alone, Tonic,” Simmons, the last of the quartet of people dominating the art of healing, rushed past Tonic and Luna, still speaking. “Luna’s power works, as do yours. We have too many injured here to quibble about methods, especially when you insist on doing open-heart surgery by yourself without a surgical suite.”

His loud sniff of disapproval (how could he sniff? He had no nose!) went ignored by Simmons, who rushed over to us. “Right this way.”

“How is he?” Steve asked, following Simmons quickly.

“He’s alive and stable. He hasn’t woken yet though. Thankfully we had enough blood on hand. He came close. Flat-lined once… but he’s okay now. Unfortunately…” she brought us to a set of patient divider things, those curtains they were using to separate all the patients. She pulled it open.

Maria Hill and Bucky Barnes looked up at us. Maria was sitting next to the bed, hand holding tight to the patients. Bucky was standing awkwardly back, his arms crossed.

Maria was crying. Or she had just been. She had a pair of deep bags under her eyes and a bunch of scratches across her face and body. Her right cheek had a horrible bruise on it. I guess even the top commander on the field hadn’t been able to avoid battle.

She didn’t let go of his hand as we filed in. I gave her a small smile.

“...You look how I feel.”

“Sucks to be you,” she said snarkily, a tired smile following briefly. Then she looked down at Sam Wilson.

The Falcon was heavily injured across his body. Bruises, cuts, and burns across him had been treated. But the worst was his right leg.

It was gone. From above the knee down, his leg was gone. The stump was wrapped in clean white bandages. I looked up at Sam. He was awake and staring at his leg.

“Sam,” Steve said softly, patting Bucky on the shoulder before standing at Sam’s side.

“Cap.” Sam said. His voice was raw, haunted. “We win?”

“You thought we might have lost?” Bucky said sarcastically.

Sam actually smiled a bit. Weakly, but still a smile. “You look like we lost, standin there all sad. Big crybaby.”

Bucky glanced at Steve, who was hiding a grin, then smiled to himself. “Well at least you decided to join Team Cyborg. Get a fancy new leg of your own now.”

“I’d rather the arm,’ Sam snarked. “Get those super punches.”

Tony frowned. “Wait, there’s a Team Cyborg? Why aren’t I invited?”

“You don’t have robot parts,” Jen pointed out, flipping her green-black hair back.

“I did for a few years! I had a robot heart! I should be in charge of it!”

“You got rid of it though,” Sam said.

“Well if I’m not in charge, who is?”

“First off, it’s not a real thing,” I said, joining the conversation. “Second if anyone was, well… it would be-”

“Deathlok,” Jen said.

“Mike,” Steve said at the same time.

“Peterson,” Maria added.

“Mr. Peterson, of course-” Simmons finished up before Tony spoke up.

“Yeah, yeah, figured it out when you all did,” Tony said with fake annoyance before getting serious. “Seriously Sam. If you need a new leg, we can repair you. I’ll even give you the Six Million Dollar discount.”

“Do you take IOU’s?” Sam said, then winced.

“Sam!” we looked up to see Rhodey enter the curtains. He was wearing his armor, facemask open. When he saw Sam’s leg, he immediately snapped his eyes to Tony. “Tony-”

“Yeah, I’ll make him a new leg. All the bells and whistles,” Tony chuckled. “Should be fun. I can give you all sorts of cool things.”

“Maybe just start with a working leg,” Sam said in the voice of a man whose sanity was being tested.

“Spoilsport. Fine, no rocket jets or Rider Kicks.”

Sam chuckled. “Well… at least I have more in common with a few of the other Vets…”

The way he said that spoke volumes. He was joking a bit, joining in. But you don’t just lose a limb and be okay with it.

We all knew that, but you don’t just spit something like that out.

Maria clutched his hand. “Hey. I got to go. But I’ll visit in a bit, okay?”

“Okay,” he leaned his head back, eyes closing.

Maria looked up at us, going from worried to Ice Queen in a moment. “Dial. Tony. Walk with me.”

I stepped aside to let her pass, sharing a look with Jen. She nodded for me to go, but looked as worried as I did.

Tony and I followed Maria, who walked with a quick pace towards the exit.

“I’ve got dozens of analysts working on all of this. But none of us predicted the bucket of worms that Strucker would open. I now have three distinct species of aliens knocked out across the battlefield, alien technology left across the battlefield, allied nations with technology and powered humans none of us expected, a massive broadcast telling the whole galaxy we’re open for business, and what you once told me was a fundamental portion of the universe sitting in X’s pouch?”

The last was directed towards me. “Yeah. The Mind Stone, connected to the minds of every living sapient being in existence.”

“Fantastic,” she scoffed. She led us to the outside of the ship. Well, it had once been inside, but alien firepower had ripped off the walls until it became a makeshift balcony. “We should be good to talk privately.”

“If you’re about to hit on us, I have to tell you, I’m dating someone,” Tony snarked.

“Same. And my girlfriend is both super strong and a lawyer,” I added.

She clearly wasn’t in the mood. “You two have been creating your own space program, right?”

Tony and I shared a look. “Yeah,” I said. “You know that thou-”

“I need you to accelerate it,” Maria snapped. “The Enterprise is space-worthy, but it can’t be the only defense Earth has. Not with this being our second damn invasion in the last half a decade, this time perpetuated by a traitor to our species. BRIDGE needs to extend its reach. Start making ships of war, training our forces for battle on other planets if need be. ”

“Doesn’t the Outer Space Treaty sort of make that illegal?” Tony asked. “I mean, I’m all for big honking space guns-”

“The UN is going to have a meeting about that soon,” Maria said. “The treaty isn’t going to work when the threat comes from above. Ah, Thor, Ares.”

Tony and I turned to see Thor come over to us, Ares just behind him.

“Thank you for coming. Have you thought about what I asked?” Maria said.

“Yes,” Thor looked grim. “I’ll send word to my father about your request for an alliance with Asgard.”

“Don’t hold your breath on my end,” Ares snarked. “At most, my brothers or sisters might come along, but the armies of Olympus only move when Zeus is stirred by something other than his loins,” Ares said with all the disappointment of a blood knight.

“As long as you try,” Maria turned to look out at the battlefield. “Please. With Hydra gone, I can finally focus on the greater threats ahead of us. But we’ll need help.”

Tony looked a bit nonplussed. “Damn. You don’t know how to take a break, do you?”

“Not when the world is on the line,” she continued without missing a beat. “I’m going to be fighting on multiple fronts now. This battle simplified things in a lot of ways. Complicated others. I don’t plan on sitting on my hands. So please. Accelerate your space program. And be ready for anything. I’ll deal with the politicians currently screaming at me. Everything else? … that’s up to the Avengers.”

“...No pressure,” I joked.

“Is that what you think? No, we’re all going to be under massive amounts of pressure now,” she chuckled a bit. “Beyond that though? Feels damn good to win,” she said with a satisfied smile.

Then she scowled again. “As for the rest… we’ll deal with it as it comes… Where the hell is Chernobog?”

“Chernobog?” I asked. “Last I saw him, he was chewing on one of my mental constructs.”

“You haven’t seen him since pulling him into your head?”

“No, he was out here.”

“...”

Everyone stared at me. Tony spoke next.

“He was in the real world… eating one of your mental constructs?”

“It’s Chernobog. I stopped questioning it,” I sighed. Seriously, Chernobog was still chewing away at the SCP-106 I’d made. I’d have felt more sorry if it wasn’t for the face the Old Man SCP is a massive piece of shit.

“Well-” Maria said, looking like her head hurt. “I wanted him to reach out to Svarog.”

“Good luck with that,” Ares said with a shrug. “He’s even more reluctant to interact with the modern world than my father.”

“It’s still worth trying,” Maria said simply. “With all the shit headed our way, it’s time Earth’s forces finally started consolidating.”

“Be careful of that,” Ares said warningly. “Many of Earth’s powers would rather rule. You invite too many of them into your household, and some may use that as a way to obtain their former rule.”

Maria chuckled, shaking her head. “Ares, you don’t need to tell me that. I may not be a God of War, but I’m trained in it.”

“I know. You are one of my sister’s favored after all,” he said kindly.

She scoffed, but still smiled. “We’ll handle it-

"Man that old bat down in the infirmary is one scary battleax!” we turned to see Chernobog walk up to us. He was grinning, large shadowy face twisted into a macabre structure. “She even confiscated my snacks. Sheesh! Reminds me of Baba Yaga actually." The last was said with a fond sigh. “I should visit her soon. Miss that crazy bitch.”

“Is that beer?” Tony asked, eyes nailing in on the six-pack the God of Evil was holding. “Because I could use a goddamn beer.”

“Not just beer!” Chernobog held it up. “A six-pack of the purest Zlatý Bažant! I figured, since we won, we’d celebrate like kings! Don’t worry Dial, I brought you something shitty and non-alcoholic.”

“Chernobog…” Thor scowled, speaking the same way one would ‘Satan’. Or ‘Stark’. “I will warn you. Though you were a valuable ally on the battlefield-”

“Yeah, you weren’t so bad yourself, sparky,” Chernobog tossed Thor a can, the metal bouncing off Thor’s armor before the God of Thunder caught it. Ares caught the next can and looked at it skeptically, while Tony and Maria were handed theirs. To me, Chernobog handed a can of something called Kvas. “Been a while since I’ve been in a war like that! We killed a LOT of people!”

“The point of the battle wasn’t to kill people,” Thor said, annoyed.

“Maybe not for you,” Chernobog said. “But fine, be a do-gooder! We won, and I can smell more chaos on the horizon!” He laughed. “If I knew being a good guy would end in so many full bellies and dead men, I’d have joined you all years ago!”

Wow. Dude really knows how to kill the mood.

“Fine,” Tony cracked open his drink, grinning. “I’ll drink to a win. To kicking Hydra’s collective asses!” he said with a salute to the battlefield.

“Uh, to beating a shit ton of aliens as well!” I said awkwardly.

“To a battle well fought,” Ares chugged back his beer.

“To murder!” Chernobog added cheerfully.

Thor scowled at Chernobog, then took a deep breath. “To the heroes who sacrificed their lives to give us a tomorrow.”

“...To the fights we’ll win during that tomorrow,” Maria said decisively.

We stood together, three mortals and three gods, looking out onto a destroyed battlefield while chugging back our drinks. And in the distance, the sun finally set down.

------

Agent Phil Coulson/Leader of Team SHIELD

Phil and Skye stood on one side of the small tent. May was on the other. The three of them stood in silence, a patient's bed sat in the center of the tent, the ‘beep. Beep. Beep,’ of the monitor slowly driving him crazy.

“...I should have been here,” Skye mumbled. The young woman had taken off her armor some time ago. It was pitted by laser fire, broken by superhuman fists, but still good enough to repair. Skye herself had a long burn along her leg currently wrapped up in bandages. It was likely the scar from it would last the rest of her life.

“You were here,” Phil said with a sigh. “All of us were. But it’s war. We fought as best as we could, but we all knew there was no guarantees. Just be glad he’s alive. A lot of people aren’t.”

Skye nodded slowly. Phil’s heart tightened in his chest at the look on her face. Her eyes were baggy with exhaustion, but it was the haunted look that made him feel… well, horrible.

The tent slid open. Phil looked up to see Dial walk in alone. He looked around, nodding to Phil and May, then seeing Skye. The Arabian man didn’t speak. He just walked over to her and stood next to her. After a moment, she leaned against him. Phil smiled, seeing the comfort she took in her friend coming to her side. Dial whispered to her, Skye nodding against him.

The tent opened again. Melati, her scales glimmering in the light, came in, her lab coat gone. Simmons came in next, her eyes even more blackened by exhaustion than Skye’s, a ring around her mouth from hours of wearing a mask.

“Hey,” Skye said, flashing a smile.

“Hey,” Simmons said back, walking over and giving Skye a hug, who returned it gratefully.

“Is he okay?” Dial asked Melati.

“His spine was shattered to pieces, what do you think?” Melati glared at Dial, anger in her reptilian eyes.

He met her gaze calmly, not the slightest bit perturbed.

Melati growled a bit, but when Dial responded with nothing, she relaxed. “He’s… well. He needs a lot of work. My serum did a lot for him, but I didn’t want to overuse it. So he was in surgery for a good while… I don’t know if-”

“It is nice to know,” the patient said weakly. “That my prognosis is so reassuring.”

“Otto,” Phil stepped forward, walking around Simmons, only for her to join him. “How are you feeling?”

“Like my spine is shattered.” Otto Octavius was looking around blearily, blinking a lot. “I… Simmons. How bad is it?”

“...Bad,” she said sadly, taking his hand. “With everyone on hand, we think you’ll walk again. But motor function will likely be heavily impaired. We did what we could, but-”

Otto shut his eyes tight. Simmons stopped talking.

“I-” he tried to speak, only to freeze up. His eyes squeezed, tears pouring out, and his fingers went white around Simmons hand. May took his other hand. He could barely move the fingers of that one. That realization led to fresh tears.

“We’re here for you,” May said.

As Otto cried in silence, everyone stood with him. “I… I can fix this,” he said quietly. “I can fix it. I just need help-”

“You have it,” Simmons said immediately. “All that you need.”

Dial nodded, a strange look on his face. “Yeah. Everything we’ve got.”

------

Army Brigadier-General Everett Buckler

Buckler watched as an M1 Abrams rolled past. The AIM weaponry he’d been given had done well in the field. He could even, with some deliberation, say it had done great. It had all worked perfectly. Too perfectly for experimental tech. It was suspicious.

But worse was the other tech he’d seen. Russian tanks fitted with electricity throwing weapons, zooming across the battlefield alongside their own version of the Avengers. Chinese super tanks that are more akin to moving fortresses. Alien ships dropping out of the sky to rain hell on humanities forces. Dial, already an immense threat, turning into a goddamn giant monster.

Buckler watched as people piled into the Behemoth. He noticed two people in particular.

Black Panther and Darkstar. A Wakandan in a black cat costume. A Russian girl with power over the strange energy known as the Darkforce. The two of them were chatting now, sitting against a jeep as soldiers streamed around them. They should have looked ridiculous. Costumed morons in a room of serious men and women. Darkstar with her black skin tight outfit highlighted with yellow boots, gloves, and a tiara. Black Panther in his own all black skin tight uniform, a pair of small cat ears on his head.

They should have looked stupid.

Except they didn’t. The soldiers around them treated them with a sort of… awe. Eyes flickered constantly to them. Buckler couldn’t blame them.

Black Panther stood with all the regalness of royalty, his stance strong. He spoke with a smooth and relaxed voice, his African accent giving his words an exotic tone. “-this is my first true war as well. I’ve only fought in small skirmishes before this. The experience was interesting, to say the least.”

“I’m glad I’m not the only one,” Darkstar sounded like a damn My Little Pony character. She reminded Buckler of his niece. Not in skin color of course, but they were the same sort of cute.

But moments before, Buckler had seen her floating overhead. Eyes glowing white, shadows coming alive around her, sending down waves of power that ripped through the ground, turned living men into wet piles of flesh. As she flew up there, Thor had joined her. She’d flown next to the God of Thunder. Lightning had joined the shadows she sent down. In that moment-

Buckler shut down that thought. She wasn’t a goddess. Just a girl, woman really, with power.

“-we should chat sometime!” she said shyly, looking like any young girl meeting someone she found attractive. “I mean, we’re both superheroes, we can, I don’t know, partner up or something?”

Black Panther chuckled. “Yes, that would be worth looking into. Let me give you my number.”

Such a normal conversation. So why did it worry Buckler? Because of the people having it.

A Wakandan man with invulnerable armor. A Russian girl with the power of gods. They were a small tip of a massive iceberg. The whole world was becoming insane. And the American military was at risk of being left behind.

Buckler turned away from them, pulling out his phone. He called a familiar number on his listphone. After a bit, the person on the other end answered.

“General Buckler?”

“Getz,” Buckler said, walking as he spoke. “Your AIM tech worked well.”

“I know! I saw the broadcast!” Lyle Getz, the leader of AIM, said excitedly.

Fuck you, Strucker.

“Do you have any idea what that broadcast is doing for us? The amount of information we got from it is going to be perfect for our research! Our weapons were able to take down alien aircraft, cause harm to Gamma Mutates, even contain them! And Tonic performed better than we’d ever ho-”

“It’s not enough,” Buckler said simply.

“E-Excuse me,” Getz said, his enthusiasm shattering.

“Let me be clear. Your weaponry was good. Very good. And Tonic saved the lives of dozens of people, including an Avenger. But you saw what we’re competing against.”

“The aliens?”

“Damn the aliens!” Buckler barked loudly enough to scare those around him. He gave them a glare until they all ran for the hills, then focused on his call again. “The aliens were always a concern for us. But the damn Russians, Chinese, a Wakandan? BRIDGE has new weapons and tech, the Avengers have been recruiting. The United States Military is being left behind, Dr. Getz. And I won’t have it. I’ll push for your funding to be raised. But I need goddamn results. I need superhumans and weapons.”

Getz was silent on the other end for a long moment. “...There have been some… interesting developments on our end. The experiment with Tonic was enough to get the ball rolling. And we did collect some new assets that might help us further-”

“Do it.”

Buckler hung up. He took a deep breath, sighing.

For just a moment, he felt as though he’d made a deal with the devil. And he knew he had more devils to call before the day was done.

------

Dr. Lyle Getz/Director of AIM

Deep in the bunker of AIM’s primary laboratory, Lyle stared at his phone for a moment. He’d been having such a good day as well… Then again, this was all technically still good news. More funding would be perfect for their latest projects into Nanotechnology. Their benefactor had shown them something very interesting. Something that might be able to compete with X and Jarvis, the androids the Avengers had working with them, as well as some tech that might be good cheap alternatives to Captain America and Iron Man. In the meantime though…

Lyle put his phone away and walked through the halls of his lab. He stopped before a door, taking a deep breath. Then he entered the room.

In the aftermath of the Rio Timequake, three people had appeared in AIM’s laboratory. One, a savage wildman, had escaped. One, a redheaded woman, was just waking. The last, a thin bald man, had awoken some time ago. That was who Lyle was visiting now. One of the many refugees out of time from AIM’s great experiment.

But he didn’t act like a refugee. More like royalty.

Inside, a man stood tall, looking out the window. He was wearing a hospital gown and sweatpants, his bald head shining in the sunlight, peaceful in his stance. He looked over at Lyle, then back out the window. Outside were the loading and unloading docks. Trucks and forklifts moved about, shifting machinery and experiments. Some were sent out to military bases across the country.

The bald man standing at the window stared out at the moving trucks and machinery with avid interest.

“Still watching them?” Lyle asked as he walked up.

“I know. To you, such sights are mundane. But in my own time, such things were the product of wonders. I had thought, at first, that the loss of magic cheapened the world. Now I find it has only deepened your understanding of it,” the bald man said softly. He looked over at Lyle.

Lyle fought the urge to swallow in fear. That look on the man’s face… Under that large beak of a nose, his smile was rapturous. Lyle forced down the illogical emotion to focus. “Well, the world has moved on quite a bit. But magic still has a place in it.”

“Oh, undoubtedly,” the man chuckled. “That is why you’re here, isn’t it? To ask about the world of me and my companion?”

“Oh yes,” Lyle chuckled along with the man. “We just have so many questions. If we could have your help, well… we could open entirely new avenues for our research-”

The door suddenly banged open. Lyle jumped, looking behind him.

Standing there was a redheaded woman. She was wearing a hospital gown and nothing else, the usually unflattering white clothes looking very good on her. The shortness of it revealed flashes of muscular legs, the tightness of it flowing close to her large bosom. Her face, framed by crimson locks of hair, was beautiful as well. The look on her face, on the other hand, chilled the blood within Lyle.

“You bastard,” she hissed, stepping towards the man.

“Almati,” he said calmly. “I see you have awoken.”

“Awoken!?” the woman screeched. Behind her Monica came in, the black haired woman glancing at Lyle. “My kingdom is ash! Our world is gone! Replaced by-”

The man stepped forward and slapped her in the face. The blow echoed in the air as she fell to her knees. Lyle gasped in shock at the violence of the move. Monica took out a gun and pointed it at the man.

The man didn’t even look at her, focusing on the woman on the floor. “...Have you regained your senses, Almati?”

She glared up at him. Her right cheek was bruising quickly. “You absolute bastard.”

“Bastard, yes. But first and foremost, I am an opportunist,” he turned and looked out the window. “Almati. Look out at this world. A world that has, at last, turned to logic as it’s answer against the monsters among us.”

“...A world where we no longer rule,” Almati glared at Lyle. Lyle immediately spoke, seeing where this was going.

“Look. I’m sorry you appeared here. But we can help you find a good life! A better life.”

“A life with indoor plumbing,” Monica said dryly.

“Indoor what?” Almati said, nose scrunching with confusion.

“Every home of this country has a bath within it,” the man turned with a grin. “All of them. And that is the bare minimum. Food, shelter, wealth, entertainment, all cheaply available to the poor and rich alike. Luxury isn’t luxury anymore. It’s a given.”

“You like this world?” Almati said, stunned.

“I love it. And I believe we can do great things here,” he turned and held out a hand to Lyle. “I accept your proposal, Dacter,” the man said, mangling the word ‘doctor’ as he did. “I will do everything I can to aid you from here on. My magic is at your command. In turn, I ask that you teach me all your world has to offer!”

Lyle stared at him. On the surface, he seemed genuine. But underneath that… it was his eyes. Insane eyes. Eyes so deep they seemed to pull the world into them.

And yet… never again. Never again would Lyle allow himself into the depths of despair he’d once been in. He didn’t care what it took. AIM would become the greatest scientific organization of all time. No matter what deals he had to make.

His hand was wrapped around the bald man’s. He shook it up and down. The man grinned. “Yes… You have a deal.”

“Good. Then, from now on,” the man said with a deep rumble of amusement. “The magical power of Kulan Gath is yours to command.”

------

At the same time, in a forest far away, a large muscular arm twisted a spit. A small rabbit was cooking over a fire, juices sizzling merrily. The owner of the arm looked up into the sky. He sighed just a bit, pulling the rabbit off the fire, the swords at his side glinting in the sunlight. While one was a modern machete, the other was a more traditional looking broadsword. And yet, both were well-cared for, oiled and sharpened carefully.

Dressed in nothing but fur around his hips, he seemed uncaring of the chill air, instead focusing on the meat before him.

He took a bite into the cooked rabbit, then sighed to himself.

“By Crom that’s good,” he said in the language of his time. Ancient Hyborian.

Conan, a barbarian pulled from his time, sat in the forest, devouring a rabbit. Unknowing of the storm that would soon follow him. But then, he was a barbarian. His entire life was a storm anyways.