Marvel's Villainous Gacha 68 (Patreon)

Once he had finished making a dozen jumps, half of them roughly toward Kree territory before he took a sharp ninety-degree turn and jumped more until he settled in an empty system, safely hidden in a nebula, he returned to talk with Jane and Darcy.

Darcy was giving Jane a summary of what happened since she disappeared, and from Jane’s shocked expression, he guessed she was deliberately frontloading the discussion with the most shocking details.

It was confirmed by Jane’s initial reaction when he entered the room. “You’re Professor Azure.”

He smiled. “Really, I would have expected you would have focused on my space base—“ he responded, only to be forced to duck when she threw a pillow at him. He was happy to see there was no reaction from Aether. It seemed to distinguish between genuine anger and playful roughhousing.

“Since when?” she asked.

“Professor Azure, since the first day. Space base, after the Battle of New York,” he explained.

“Does it have something to do with your ability to teleport?” she asked.

He nodded, deciding to be somewhat truthful. Since the situation forced him to be open with Jane, he decided not to lie pointlessly, but instead fudge the details. “It’s something I could do since the Battle of New York,” he said. “My best guess, some kind of interaction with the giant wormhole the aliens attacked, and my power.”

“And you didn’t tell anyone?” she said.

“You know I never trusted SHIELD, even before realizing that they had been infiltrated by Hydra. It was a good thing I didn’t, because ultimately, it proved very helpful. Do you have any idea what Hydra would have done if they knew I could teleport and build robots.”

She frowned. “Probably nuke the city again to get rid of you,” she admitted. “It was them that tried, right?”

He shrugged. “Makes sense, but I wouldn’t bet against bureaucratic incompetence. Ultimately, it doesn’t matter at this point.”

Darcy giggled. “Ain’t that the truth, bucko?”

Jane threw a glare at her. “So, what? You decided to use your tech knowledge to build an army.”

“More or less,” he said, and noticing she looked panicked, he threw her a tablet. “No one else was doing it despite the threat.”

Jane paused, started reading, her eyes widening further with every document. She gulped. “This can’t be true. This says the government has documented alien contact since the seventies.”

“And, that’s just the stuff I was able to get from the occasional SHIELD and Hydra databases I got my hands on during the chaos,” he said.

“They can’t be that irresponsible—“ she started, then paused, laughing bitterly. “What am I saying? Of course they can be.”

He sat next to her and hugged her from the side. She lay against his shoulder. “And, that’s why I decided to build a base on Pluto. Luckily, I can establish permanent gates.”

Her eyes widened. “And, with that, you’re suddenly free of the biggest challenge of space travel, bringing the stuff to orbit at great expense.”

“Exactly,” he said. “I already had the infrastructure and the tech.”

“Where did the tech come from?” she said. He pressed the screen, switching to Kree City records. “A full alien city, with its database intact.”

He nodded. “Exactly. It gave me all I needed to start. The rest,” he added, shrugging. “I might have been underselling how smart I actually am, mostly to avoid SHIELD attention.”

She sighed. “I would say you’re paranoid, but considering how they had reacted to my research, which had no immediate risk, I can’t imagine how they would react to yours even without Hydra.”

“Easy. Immediate assault before throwing me into a bunker,” he responded. Then, he caressed her back. “But, let’s focus on our urgent issue first.”

“Yes, the star destroyer that somehow bonded to me, impossible to separate,” she said with a sudden sadness.

He caressed her cheek. “What, just because an arrogant old man deemed it so?” he said.

“I mean, they have thousands of years over us—“ she started, but he silenced her with a kiss, while also wrapping her tight, letting Soft Hugger do its magic.

“Maybe, but they are also a civilization in decline, with no intellectual curiosity. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have just declared it impossible after a few attempts. No, Odin was just lazy enough to wait for your demise before taking the artifact. That way, he gets his weapon without angering Thor.”

Jane sighed. “I would argue, but after being referred to as a farm animal that was invited to a feast too many times, I can’t refute the possibility. Odin was complicated.”

He nodded. “Exactly. I’m sure I can figure out a way to remove it, eventually.”

“What about the life energy drain? They assume I would be dead before the end of the year.”

Probably in less than three months if he hadn’t intervened, he corrected mentally, but he didn’t tell that. “Don’t worry. Extending that period is easy. We just need to create a variant serum that focuses more on endurance and recovery than pure strength, and it’ll be solved. And that assumes I can’t just remove it. I have some ideas,” he said. “Do you want me to start?”

“No,” she said.

He kissed her cheek. “Sure, we can start tomorrow, once you take a nice shower and relax.”

She tensed. “Not what I mean,” she declared.

He paused. “What do you mean, then?”

Jane’s expression changed, radiating a sense of determination he usually only saw while she was focused on her research. “I mean, do we need to remove Aether out of my body? It’s supposed to be a weapon, right? Can’t I learn how to use it?”

He frowned. That was not something he had considered. He was against in principle, but while he could override her decision and lie to her that it was impossible, that wouldn’t be the truth. And, while there were things he would happily lie about, this was not one of them.

“Are you sure? It’ll be risky?”

“As risky as living on a planet that’s apparently under threat from multiple warlike alien empires and a genocidal mad warlord with disposable insect armies?”

He sighed, but his mind was already working on the problem. Her biggest problem was that she was weak, baseline human, unable to meet the energy needs of the stone. But, that could be easily bypassed by the serum, at least enough to meet the base need of Aether.

For actively leveraging it, they would likely need something more exotic, either a power armor providing the power if it could take other forms of energy, or maybe something extreme like gamma radiation, which was a distant last resort. Another Hulk was not something he wanted to deal with.

“For the record, I don’t like it,” he said. “It’s an ancient magical weapon, and it can come with some very dangerous risks, some of which we couldn’t even begin to guess.”

“But, you’ll help?” she questioned.

He sighed, doing his best to suppress his initial reaction. It was one thing to help them with the super-soldier serum, which he was a hundred percent sure was safe, but an ancient artifact was something else. “If you insist, yes,” he agreed.

“I do,” she said confidently.

“Then I have a condition. I handle your training, and you’ll follow my instructions until you’re ready,” he said. “We’re dealing with a weapon that scared Asgard when they were still an actual civilization, and not just the corpse of one.”

“Deal,” she said.

He smirked. “Good. Still, I didn’t expect you to focus on Aether first. I would have thought that you would be more interested in actually understanding the mechanics of space travel, both for wormhole, and the remote readings I got on Bifrost, but maybe I’m—“

Her gasp of shock was simply too beautiful. “How can you hide that from me?” she gasped.

“I just sat down, you curious beaver,” he teased her.

“Isn’t my research useless now that we have actual interstellar spaceships?” she said after thinking a bit.

He shook his head. “Not necessarily. I checked your approach, and it promises a novel approach between Bifrost’s working principles and wormhole travel. It might grant some unexpected results.”

She nodded. “You’re right. Figuring out how to apply the principles of Einstein-Rosen bridges to other drives could be groundbreaking.

“Enough to put your name into the history books,” Darcy added.

Jane preened, then paused. “Don’t exaggerate, Darcy,” she said.

He chuckled as he hugged her. “I don’t think it’s an exaggeration,” he responded. “But, how about one step at a time.”

“Yeah, first, we return to Earth,” Jane said.

He shook his head. “I’m afraid not, at least not until I’m confident I can block Heimdall’s active gaze. We can’t go near any of the connected nine realms until then.”

Darcy snorted. “That guy is like a living invasion of privacy.”

“Certainly,” Jane agreed. “Then, what’s the plan?” she asked.

“First, we find an empty planet with an atmosphere and relative safety.”

“Why not start here?” Darcy said.

“Because we don’t want to risk the structural integrity of the space station when we’re inside it, not when we’re dealing with a weapon of unknown qualities. We’ll find a nice planet, ideally empty, or at least with a population small enough that we have enough land for ourselves. And, while we’re traveling, I’ll focus on customizing the super soldier serum.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Jane said.

He avoided the temptation to heal Jane, with no idea how Aether would react.

&&&

The planet they found didn't have a name. It was empty, mostly because it was sixteen jumps out from anywhere notable, orbiting an unremarkable star. He discovered it in the old Kree survey archives, with a single line of notation.

Nothing changed in the five thousand years that had passed.

The basics were simple. It had plant and animal life. The gravity was stronger than earth by some margin, the air was thinner, but nothing that couldn’t be handled by a little dome.

It was important that they could survive easily even if there was an accident.

"I hereby conquer this planet in the name of my amazing boobs," Darcy said, stepping off the ramp and turning in a slow circle. "From now on, it’ll be known as Lewisland?"

"Really, Darcy. Colonizing? What happened to all those rants about evil colonizers?"

"That only applies when the land has natives. This is an empty planet,” she said happily. Then, she looked. “How the hell can we get our hands on an empty planet that allows living?”

He shrugged. “Because it’s far out of the way. No one wants to colonize a planet that’s sixteen jumps away from the nearest viable route.”

“Logistics,” Darcy chuckled. “Bane of empires.” Then, she looked back, watching the drones assembling a house, a large training field, and multiple shield encampments to create an isolated field to make the situation more comfortable. Then, she noticed the deployment of twenty-one Sutherlands Mark IIIs. Twenty of them were equipped by the automated systems in case of a crisis, but one was empty, with its cockpit open. “Tell me that’s my latest toy,” Darcy said excitedly.

He smiled. Jane gasped. “Please tell me that’s not. Darcy can’t be trusted with something like that.”

“I promise I’ll blow up only one mountain,” she responded.

He laughed, amused, leaving the two to their argument while he focused on building the defenses. The bulk of the work had been done by hand, but he made sure to build the core defensive system, sensors, and cloaking by hand, making sure Fortification Tinker bonuses applied.

He didn’t expect those precautions to be needed, but it was always better to be safe than sorry. Especially since he wouldn’t stay with them all the time.

Once everything was done, Jane was in the middle of the field, ready for his attention. “Ready?” he asked.

Jane nodded, tense. Understandable, as they had no idea exactly how Aether would react to his healing attempts. He started with the simplest possible method, staying a distance away. He hit Jane with the weakest healing light he could come up with.

And, he was glad that he hadn’t tried that on the ship. Aether reacted by exploding in a burst of energy, destroying everything within a range of ten feet, the impact radiating even more. But, the real dangerous attack was the blast targeting him, which he dodged.

If they were still in the station, they would have had a broken wall.

“I can’t control it!” she said, panicked.

“Don’t worry, it’s just a start,” he said, and hit her with another healing light. This time, Aether flared, but it didn’t respond with another blast. He used several more healing blasts, teaching Aether that he was harmless.

His approach was led by the initial findings of the Asgardians. The Aether was not sapient in any reasonable measure, but it had a rudimentary sentience, and repeated attempts taught it to distinguish.

It worked well enough that, even when he shifted to his healing flames, the Aether didn’t react badly. So, he sat across her, held her hand, and started focusing on the diagnostics.

The first thing he noticed was just how bad her state was. Outwardly, she still looked excellent. Internally, she had the life energy of a fifty-year-old, her vitality drained by the Aether. Left alone, she probably would have died in a month or two.

Luckily, he had more than enough means to solve it. Especially since he could switch the target of his Boost ability, meaning his Tantric Healing could get even better.

“How’s it?” she asked, hesitant.

“My power can replenish lost vitality, no worries,” he said. “And, once we do that, we’ll use the super soldier serum, and it will solve the issue of the passive drain. You’ll live a long life,” he promised.

“They told me I was destined to die,” she whispered, letting out a relieved breath, tears spilling. He caressed her cheek, understanding her panic. It couldn’t be easy to hear that.

He kissed, which almost automatically triggered Tantric Healing, slowly fixing her body. “You’re not going to die,” he said, his voice low. “Not from this. Not when I’m ready to help.”

She leaned into his palm, eyes closed, breathing him in. He let her get comfortable. When she opened them again, the fear was still there, but passion joined as well. Learning she wasn’t destined to die was an intense feeling.

She kissed him, as if she needed the proof to prove she was alive.

He responded the same, because he was also worried. It was a tough pill to swallow that, after his precautions Jane still almost died. If the Aether had been hungrier, it could have easily drained Jane, killing her before he was even aware of the situation.

The sensation of powerlessness was not something he enjoyed.

The kiss turned deep and hungry, her fingers already working at the fastenings of his shirt. He helped her, then did the same for her, peeling her clothes until nothing remained between them.

He laid her back carefully on the grass, following her down, kissing and caressing her. Jane squirmed underneath, her moans of passion spectacular. But, the same couldn’t be said for her physique. Underneath him, she felt listless and hollow.

It needed to be fixed, he decided, slipping inside her, Tantric Healing, enhanced by Boost, working wonders to address every deficiency she had, her reserves recovering slowly.

He could feel the Aether siphoning some of it, but only a little of it. Even as he went in and out of her tightness, he was assessing the Aether, and he was sure that it was not malicious against its host. It was draining the absolute minimum it could. Unfortunately, it was not calibrated by humans.

Luckily, he had long lost his qualification to be counted as human.

They stayed in missionary, focusing on gentle kisses and steady movements as he slowly repaired the devastation in her body, first replenishing everything she had lost, then replenishing with more.

“God, I missed not feeling exhausted all the time,” she whispered.

He didn’t say anything. He just smirked before he picked up speed. After all, it was a celebration. Her legs wrapped around his waist, heels digging into the small of his back. His intensity rose, the deep thrusts dragging against every sensitive place inside her.

“Yes, faster!” she moaned as her hands tightened on his back, her fingers digging into his shoulder. She met every thrust, hips rolling up to take him deeper, her moans hungry.

He braced one forearm beside her head, the other hand sliding under her lower back to tilt her hips higher. His speed picked up even more, putting her recovered body to a proper test. She moaned loudly. The tantric healing intensified even more; every time she clenched around him, the healing energy spiked, fixing some of the buried issues.

He had a feeling that, without his intervention, she would have dealt with some deadly diseases even if Asgardians were able to remove them from her.

She climaxed with an explosive moan, losing control of her body. “I’m yours,” she moaned, delirious. Luckily, the Aether stayed calm while she trembled underneath him.

It was a fun way to pioneer a new planet.

Then, the achievement arrived.

[Feat Achieved! Defeat and subjugate the wielder of the Reality Stone

+1x Legendary Random Gacha ticket]

He lay next to her and buried his face in her neck, mostly to hide his expression of utter shock. He expected to receive a ticket, but he expected a Gold, maybe Platinum at most. Diamond would have surprised him.

Legendary utterly shocked him. It seemed that he might have been underestimating the Aether. Especially since the System called it a different name. The Reality Stone was a very formal, and a very dangerous name.

It was not good news.

But, before considering more, he pulled his reward.

[Tinker - Energy]

{Legendary Ability: Allows you to build, construct, and design contraptions or machines related to the production and use of energy. Such as hyper-efficient solar panels and wind farms, microfusions reactors, bio reactors, Hydro Reactors, and even arc reactors.}

At least the reward wasn’t another healing ability. Technically, energy tinker wasn’t something he needed urgently, since he had Yggdrasil drive and arc reactors, both sufficiently viable.

However, he was also aware that energy production and storage were still a serious bottleneck, especially since he would eventually expand. For example, arc reactors wouldn’t be a sustainable way to build a real space dock, especially if he ever were to start building real spaceships that could truly face capital ships and dreadnoughts, the kind every space empire had by the thousands.

Not to mention, it would allow him to further upgrade everything in his arsenal, from drones to spaceships.

However, before everything, needed to understand what the Reality Stone was. And, he suspected it would take a while for him to achieve that.