Chapter 2779 - Marvel 27

With Alex and Gwen enjoying themselves to the fullest, the long wait for the elevator's descent seemed to pass by in a blur.

When they heard the distinct ding of the elevator, they reluctantly parted from each other as Alex fixed both of their clothes. They walked out of the elevator as the multiple doors whirred open to reveal a large room that didn't seem to indicate in any way that they were currently in the core of the planet.

They had a large number of measures in place to regulate the atmosphere within the room, but there was still a stuffy feeling due to the limitations of their technology. Not only was the temperature well over any comfortable level, sitting at a stable hundred degrees Fahrenheit even with the temperature regulators working at full capacity, but there was also a sense of suppression that was felt from all around them. It was as if there were invisible waves of some sort pressuring them from all directions. These suppressive waves were the reason that Alex couldn't use mystic arts portals to travel to the core at will and still had to take the elevator.

"How long till the other elevator arrives?" Alex asked Gwen who had approached a terminal and was quickly typing commands to get things moving.

"An hour or so," She said, "Even though we slowed down our descent significantly when alter me came out, the other elevator is still much slower."

"Hm," Alex nodded, "I see, let me know if you need anything, I'm going to go examine the generator." He started walking to another part of the room before reaching a door. Pressing a button to open the door that led to the next room, Alex was instantly hit by a wave of heat that made him feel as if a fire was directly assaulting his body. Not wanting to mess up the temperature within the main control room further, he quickly entered the room and closed the door with the push of another button.

Alex's surroundings could mildly be described as a raging inferno as he moved to a floating sphere in the center of the room. It was floating on top of a small pillar that was as high as Alex's chest. That pillar was the source of all the heat that was causing the generator room to be so hot.

"Everything seems stable enough," Alex mumbled as he examined the sphere and its connection to the main power supply for the shield. He couldn't input any commands to the generator since any terminals would've been destroyed in the extreme heat that was within the room, easily reaching a temperature that would easily vaporize even some metals like magnesium. Alex was only able to endure being here due to the extremely resilient nature of Symbiotes and having overcome whatever heat and sound traumas had been instilled into his being.

After a few minutes of examining the connection between the sphere and the relay that siphoned off the energy from the core while directing it to the planetary shield before siphoning back the residual energy into the pillar, Alex left the room and went back to the main control room.

"I don't see any discrepancies," Alex said, "Once the team comes down, we can probably start the process." He approached Gwen, who was focusing on a screen with her brows furrowed.

"We'll need to recalibrate a couple of the Dyson Core's energy relays first," She said, "I see D29, G24, and T67 all at lower integrities than the others. They are still above the replacement threshold, but if we want to modify the shield, we will have to push the generator by another factor."

"Show me," Alex looked at the screen that Gwen had been examining and examined the red sphere in the center that was surrounded by a set of hexagonal constructs, forming a sphere around the sphere, reminiscent of the structure that formed the shield. The center sphere had multiple breach points that were being used to anchor the sphere of hexagons to it and keep them all in place.

The projection was their main energy source and was formed by creating a large structure to cover the core of the planet so that they could accurately control the energy of the core. Gwen had named it the Dyson Core since its design was reminiscent of a Dyson Sphere, which was a theoretical construct that could envelop an entire star to collect all of its energy.

The shield generator had many different components working together, but the Dyson Core was the most integral one since none of the energy requirements for the shield would be possibly fulfilled without the heat from the core.

Examining the projection for a few seconds, Alex noticed the three damaged hexagons on the Dyson Core and said to Gwen, "I shouldn't need too long to replace them, do we have the necessary equipment down here?"

"Not really, the regular maintenance is still a month away, so no supplies here," Gwen said while shaking her head.

"Fine, I'll pull some stuff down from the lab," Alex said, "You should be happy that I have many backup bodies up on the surface."

"I'm still not able to understand why you don't just leave one of your bodies down here so that we don't have to take that long journey through the elevator…" Gwen said, "I get that the portals can be interfered with, but you're still able to use your ‹Inventory›.

"Have you felt how uncomfortably hot this place is?" Alex asked, "There's no way I'm leaving a body down here without a host to inhabit."

"Fair enough, and the ride down is always fun," She said suggestively.

"The ride up is also going to be pretty fun," Alex wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her close.

Gwen put her hands on his shoulders and looked up into his eyes, "They'll be down any minute now…" She said while leaning her body closer to him.

"Which means we have at least a minute," He said, making Gwen burst out laughing.

"I think we'll need more than a minute," She said with a flirty smile.

"Let's test it out then," Alex said before slipping his hand directly under Gwen's lab coat and top, tracing his palm along her bare waist.

"Alex…" Gwen had a look of desire in her eyes as she looked directly into his eyes.

"Mhm…" Alex slowly started trailing his hand upward, closer to her chest.

"They're here," She whispered with a hint of lust in her voice before stepping back, "How about a rain check on that minute."

"We're doing a lot more than a minute after this," Alex said with narrowed eyes as the distinct ding of the elevator sounded out, announcing the arrival of the rest of the team.

It took a few seconds for the doors to open, but the scientists quickly entered the control room and got to work assembling the modules that needed to be added in. As for Alex, he went back to the generator room before opening a hatch that was beside the relay pillar and going through it before closing the hatch behind him. Alex took his slime form and attached himself to the pillar that was going down toward the core of the planet and moving lower by using it as a medium of transport. He passed through the lava that had reached temperatures upwards of almost five thousand degrees Fahrenheit as if it was a simple swim in the ocean.

It took him a couple of minutes to travel the fifty-something miles down through the lava before he finally found himself at one of the relays of the Dyson Core. The pillar extended further lower, stabbing itself into the core of the planet where the lava had been compressed to the point of forming back into a solid that was glowing with pure white light, giving an almost holy feel to the entire area. Examining the relay closest to himself, Alex noticed that it was the A01 relay. He recalled the map of the sphere before moving in a specific direction along the flat relays that captured most of the heat that was being expelled from the core of the Earth.

Quickly moving to his target destination, Alex pulled out the necessary materials from his inventory and got to work dismantling the D29 relay so that he could replace the necessary parts. Just as he pulled off the main blast shield that captured the heat, he was hit in the face with a wave of heat that was upwards of almost ten thousand degrees Fahrenheit. Considering that the temperature just outside the Dyson core was literally half that, Alex had practical proof that their design was extremely effective.

With their method of pulling back the utilized energy from the shield and recycling it, even though they were directly harnessing the power of the core of the earth, their system could easily work for thousands of years without any problems on the surface of the planet. As for the heat that they were capturing, causing the core of the planet to get colder, they were making sure to spread the head through the planet directly through their shields, making sure that the possible 'Ice Age' scenario wouldn't come to pass.

Not to mention that sooner or later, once Alex and Gwen found a way to gather Cosmic Energy, it would completely replace this. Both of them knew that using the planet itself to power anything was a bad idea and could cause untold damage to the foundation of the planet itself. The Dyson core was nothing more than a springboard to move on to the next big thing, at which point they would use it to stabilize the foundation of the planet further.

At the same time as Alex was working on Research Earth's Dyson core, he was also in the Control Room of Farm Earth's generator, working together with the scientists to do the exact same thing that Gwen was doing on Research Earth.

-x-X-x-

By the time the day passed, the modifications had all been completed and Alex was standing in the generator room that had a small sphere floating above the pillar that stabbed down to the core of the planet.

He raised his hand, his actions mirrored his other body that was all the way over in Farm Earth's generator room. Soon enough, a huge amount of Alex's EP started getting consumed as a green glow escaped his hand on both planets and started imbuing itself into both energy relay spheres.

Looking at the rapidly decreasing value of his preciously hoarded EP, Alex felt some heartache but didn't slow down. He kept imbuing Time Authority into the sphere.

If one looked at the planet from the outside, one would see that the sky-blue, almost translucent shield had gained a greenish hue along its surface as it started becoming opaque from the outside, hidden within the green glow.

When Alex was finally done, he sighed with a solemn expression while calmly standing in the raging inferno. He had just spent tens of thousands of EP to make this whole thing work, going down from more than fifty-five thousand down to around twenty-three thousand.

«EP: 23746»

He stood there for a long time before slowly turning around and walking through the raging inferno to the exit. As he pressed the button to open the door, he made an uncomfortable expression while slowly walking out of the room. He frowned before his hand moved at a superfast speed to close the door. It caused Alex to release a grunt filled with annoyance.

"What's wrong?" Gwen came up to him and asked after the door had closed. Although the temperature throughout the entire area was very uncomfortable, Gwen might as well not have felt the difference, considering Alex was shielding all parts of her body, even the visible ones, it was just that his presence was very subtle.

"I'm all disoriented," Alex spoke with a shifting tone, making it difficult for Gwen to understand. He saw her expression and transmitted his thoughts to her instead, [Back then I was at most dealing with a time dilation factor of plus-minus ten in reference to space days. Right now, we are fast enough that a single space day is the same as a year here. And taking into account some of the other planets, the pacing with them can easily reach up to ten years to one day.]

[That's an extreme scenario though.] Gwen said to him.

[True, just give me a minute, the abrupt change messed with me a little. I need to calibrate myself to match the pace of the planet.] He told her.

"You do your… thing, and I'll take care of everything. Send people away and all." Gwen said before stepping back and giving the people the orders to clear the place out.

As for Alex, it wasn't just this body that was acting weird, it was all of his bodies that were acting weird, and his girls could tell. And his answer to all of them was the same, [Just give me a minute.]

The only problem was that that single minute was different for Alex no matter who he told it to. If it was a single Gaia minute, it would be equivalent to somewhere around a thousandth of a minute in the MCU. At the same time, a minute for Jane on Asgardian Earth would be equivalent to almost three thousand Gaia minutes.

Time passed as Alex kept himself in a meditative state, calibrating himself according to the time of the Gaia Federation. As an hour passed by, Gwen was done with clearing everyone out of the control room, leaving just her and Alex as she approached him. Seeing that he was still in a meditative state, she frowned, [Do I have to wait for a space minute to pass?] She mumbled telepathically while pulling a chair and sitting in front of Alex with a bored expression.

[Maybe.] She felt Alex having composed himself much better, but the erratic feeling of his thoughts was still there as if they were disoriented, [I need a concrete reference point and it's proving harder than I thought to find.]

She leaned forward on the chair and rested her head in her hands while her elbows rested on her thighs. Looking up at Alex's focused face, Gwen decided to wait for him to take care of his issue before they both made their way out,'Six hours, give or take…' She compared how much a space minute was going to be and felt the boredom creeping in. Clearing everyone out had merely taken her less than an hour, which meant that she would be waiting for Alex here for the next five hours if she went by the one to three hundred and sixty-five-time dilation factor.

As the idle minutes went by, Gwen's boredom started catching up to her. Alex had been idly standing in the same spot for a while now and her gaze couldn't help but drop down to his crotch, [Hey, Alex…] She spoke telepathically since she knew that in his current state, direct speech wouldn't be very convenient for Alex.

[Hm?] He asked her distractedly.

[It wouldn't cause you any problems if I… say started blowing you, would it?] She asked.

[Not really. I might cum without warning though, so stay alert.] Alex said.

Gwen thought for a moment before shrugging and standing up from the chair. The thought of leaving Alex here and going back up by herself didn't even cross her mind as she knelt in front of him and unbuckled his belt. Unbuttoning his pants, she quickly pulled them down, revealing his cock that she promptly took into her mouth.

As she slowly moved her tongue around the limp shaft, she intimately felt his blood flow increasing as he started getting harder while in her mouth, giving rise to a sense of glee in her. As she felt the blood flowing through his shaft, she asked something that she'd been curious about, [Alex, your main body is a slime, right? Why do you use a human body as your template?]

Alex took a few seconds to answer as Gwen kept moving her head back and forth, soon bringing his shaft to full mast, [Makes sex more enjoyable. Also, I'm still mostly a slime, but I merely emulate certain parts of the anatomy of the human body.]

Gwen hummed as she continued sucking his shaft for the next minute or so. After thoroughly licking and sucking him and lightly scratching the itch that she had, she brought her hands up and grasped him while lightly pumping her hands. Bringing her face slightly lower, she took one of his balls into her mouth with a sucking action and started caressing it with her tongue. She could feel the light twitch of his shaft in her hands, telling her that he was very receptive to her actions.

She closed her eyes and switched to her other side, sucking the sack into her mouth before licking it all over. As she kept moving her hands along his shaft, she felt it twitch again. Thinking that it was just that he was really receptive to her actions, she kept going with even more gusto, giving her full attention to his sack.

Seconds later, as her hands continued pumping him, she felt him tightening up and pulled back her head to see his expression. That was when he spurted out his cum, right on her face, surprising her a little, but she remembered his warning. Even though it was a bit of a surprise, she didn't have any issues with the unprompted climax.

As his cum marked her face, ruining her light makeup and mascara, she took his tip in her mouth and lightly pumped him further as another small spurt of cum shot into her mouth. Using her tongue to make sure that there was none left, she thoroughly cleaned him off. When she pulled back from his shaft, she gave a long lick along his length, followed by light kisses all along his shaft as she brought her hands up to his sack, lightly fondling his balls.

As she continued her worship, she discretely glanced up, but seeing Alex's focused face made her feel a little disappointed, [I wish you would just grab my head and fuck my mouth…]

[That comes later.] Alex said, [Depending on your performance right now, I will decide on the number of orgasms that you will be allowed to have.] He knew what Gwen needed. She wasn't used to being the one in control and needed his voice and orders to feel the sense of satisfaction that she wanted.

She felt a shiver run along her spine at his words while suddenly feeling much more motivated to make him cum as many times as she could. Moaning happily, she quickly took him in her mouth once again. Using one hand to fondle his balls, she held his hip with the other for support before pulling herself forward and taking him fully into her throat.

She released a gurgling sound from her throat as her nose pressed against Alex's pelvis, but still didn't let go, wanting to go as long as she could without breathing. She was feeling extremely aroused at the moment but didn't even consider masturbating. She knew that Alex wasn't going to allow her to do that even while distracted. Instead of the reward that he promised, she would rather be punished if she decided to pleasure herself right now, and she didn't want that.

When the breathlessness became too much to handle, Gwen was forced to pull back while gasping for air. She still didn't let go, impaling herself on his dick as quickly as she could. She continued his actions until he finally spurted his load into her throat as it directly went into her stomach.

As his cum entered her system, she felt a warmth spreading all over her body that only increased her arousal further. As the spurts stopped, she continued her movements, wanting even more.

That was how the next five or so hours went by, with Gwen happily swallowing copious amounts of Alex's cum until her stomach felt bloated, but still continuing because of the constant releases of dopamine in her system whenever she made Alex cum.

When he finally woke up, he was greeted by Gwen's enthusiastic blowjob as she kneeled in front of him and kept bobbing her head back and forth. He could feel that she was almost completely lost in her arousal as she kept trying to suck out more and more of his cum, and it only made him want more.

"It's time for your reward, my Gwenny…" Alex commented with a smile as he grabbed her head and took control of her movements.

-x-X-x-

"Stop! Stop! Stop!" In the middle of their elevator ride up to the ground, Gwen started screaming while pushing him away as he roughly thrust himself into her.

"Not again," Alex gritted his teeth, tempted to gag her and keep going, but he didn't do that. He allowed her to push him away and stepped back from her as she hugged herself covering her body while shivering from the aftereffects of the situation, "Why have you started coming out when Gwen and I are having sex?" Alex asked as a hint of frustration escaped his tone, "The last time was still manageable since you came out in the middle of a little break, but now? Right in the middle of sex."

"Hey, it's not like I have any control over it." She snapped at him, "If it was up to me, I would be the one in control at all times and run as far away from you as possible."

"That's not up to you," Alex growled, "And don't forget that you're in a sealed metal box with me right now and we have more than five hours before we reach the top at the speed that we're going." It wasn't that they'd deliberately slowed down, but the ascent was undoubtedly much more difficult and took a lot more energy and time, due to having more resistance during travel.

Alter Gwen shrunk at Alex's words and stepped back into the corner, as far away from Alex as she could get. He just sighed before creating a couch for himself and sitting on it, deciding not to engage Alter Gwen.

The stuffy silence lasted for a couple of minutes before Alex heard Alter Gwen's voice, "This entire place smells of sex…"

"Yes," Alex agreed with her and went quiet again.

Seeing that he didn't even bother to offer to accelerate the ventilation, Alter Gwen gritted her teeth, "Can you please take care of the ventilation so that I don't have to smell this scent?" She asked him, "I don't know what passwords you guys set for the console."

"Oh?" Alex looked at her with a raised brow, "You should've asked," He said and Alter Gwen instantly felt the metal box getting windy as multiple gusts of wind eliminated the smell of their previous actions.

Alter Gwen shivered as her teeth started clattering from the cold feeling of the wind passing over her body, causing her to hug herself tighter as she realized that she was completely naked.

"Are you cold?" Alex asked innocently as if he had no hand in Alter Gwen feeling cold right now.

"Where are my clothes?" She asked with a frown as she looked around.

"Ask nicely," Alex said uncaringly.

The sound of her gritting her teeth was heard even through the air conditioners working at full power, "C-can you ple-ase give me clothes?" It took her a lot of effort to say those words.

"That wasn't so hard, was it?" Alex asked as he created a comfortable hoodie and shorts on her, still leaving her sexy legs bare until she asked for something.

Eventually, the wind died down as Alex brought the ventilators down to a normal level. Alter Gwen was just standing awkwardly in the corner as Alex leaned his head back on the couch and closed his eyes, ignoring her presence.

Just like that, an hour passed as Alter Gwen showed no signs of changing places, much to Alex's annoyance. But it also meant that she'd gotten tired of standing in the corner for the whole ride and her looks at the empty spot on the couch kept getting more and more frequent. If it wasn't that she had to sit with Alex, she would've been sitting in that spot an hour ago.

As more and more time passed, Alter Gwen seemed to grit her teeth once again and decisively stepped to the couch before sitting on it, instantly feeling a sense of relief in her legs. The reason that she was feeling like this despite her superhuman physique was that Alex had suppressed her. She was completely aware of the suppression, knowing that there was a sense of weight on her body that caused her to be weakened. She was just too stubborn to ask for Alex to stop doing that.

Having made up her mind, she sat on the couch as far away from Alex as she could, but that wasn't very effective considering that it was literally a couple's couch that had barely enough space for two people. She wasn't even leaning back and was just barely resting her butt on the cushion as she rested her legs.

'I'll just spend a few seconds to rest my feet,' She thought to herself while rubbing her calves. Sadly for her, she didn't realize how badly she'd exerted herself under Alex's suppression for the hour or so that she kept standing. Just as she stood up, she felt all the strength leave her legs as she wobbled back down on the couch.

"Fuck…" She cursed to herself while grabbing the armrest at the side before trying to pull herself up once again.

Meanwhile, Alex was just silently enjoying the show. All she had to do was to ask him to loosen the suppression, but her stubbornness had led her to this situation and he enjoyed every moment of her struggle.

As Alter Gwen kept trying to get up, she realized that she wouldn't be able to get up in the short term and had to keep sitting at this point.

"Oh, fuck it," She seemed just short of waving her arms around angrily as she puffed her cheeks and sat back while crossing her arms. At this point, it was too difficult for her to care about the slight contact she had with Alex's shoulder. She did her best to stay as far from Alex as possible, but the position still had her shoulder in contact with him, much to her dismay.

"You remind me of Gwen when you pout like that," Alex chuckled, startling her.

"That's because I am Gwen," She snapped at him, "I'm just stuck with an alter ego that's in an abusive relationship."

"Hey, we both love each other very much," Alex said with a tone that made him sound offended.

"Bullshit," She said, "Unlike her, I know that you have six other women. I felt it that day."

"I would rather get one of the problems taken care of first before dropping another bomb on her head," Alex said.

"Why not?" She said with a sarcastic tone, "It's too empty in here, why not add in a third personality."

"Should I just give her a separate body and call it quits…" Alex mumbled to himself, but Gwen clearly heard him.

"Do it," She said, her tone making a full one-eighty, "I will cooperate with you completely as long as you agree to give me another body and let me leave."

"Yeah, it's not that simple —" She interrupted Alex's words.

"It is," She said, "I can make a perfect clone of this body without a consciousness. As long as you can put my consciousness in that body, I can be off. You will never have to see me again." Her speech was quick enough that it was easy for Alex to her her desperation.

"I could probably do that," He said. Using the Mind Stone to do it would take him no more than a few seconds, "But I won't." His words made Alter Gwen turn to him.

She grabbed his arm, "Why?" She asked with a whiny tone, slipping into her real habits. Alex's proposal had clearly destabilized her defenses and she acted how she normally would.

"I think you know me more than any of my other girls, even Wanda," Alex said while looking into her eyes, "Ask yourself, do you really think that I would let you go? Ever?"

"Yes," She said with a surprisingly empathetic expression on her face, "Even now, I can feel it. You had a looming cloud over your soul back then. I don't know what it was or what its purpose was, but in that moment of merging with you, I remember all sorts of dark feelings and desires invading my entire being. They didn't come from you. They came from that cloud." She went quiet after that, waiting for Alex to respond.

He frowned as he kept looking at her quietly. He had an idea about what that 'cloud' she was talking about was. It was the very thing that turned him from a normal, bored-with-life programmer and Marvel fanboy into a genocidal symbiote who wouldn't hesitate to destroy entire planets. That external influence had disappeared completely ever since Alex got the ‹Low Cosmic Manipulation (Incomplete)› ability. It allowed him to examine himself and the foreign influence over him from a different perspective.

It wasn't just the messed up time that he'd ignored due to the external influence, this was also something that came from that same influence. In the back of his mind, there was this constant dilemma about the current state of everything around him. It wasn't that he would suddenly be afraid to kill anyone anymore. He had killed and even absorbed plenty of people even after getting rid of that influence. He had done those things and he had already come to terms with it.

'Argh, fuck!' Alex shook his head and cleared his thoughts, "I guess these couple of years that I have in Gaia are going to have me doing a lot of figuring shit out…"

"So?" Alter Gwen asked with a hopeful expression in her eyes, "What do you say?"

"I have to think about this," He said while shaking his head, "I have a whole load of confused feelings revolving all around my head and you ended up bringing them all to the front. I need time and peace…"

"I get it," Alter Gwen nodded, "As long as you're open to the option."

-x-X-x-

The rest of the elevator ride passed by in silence as Alex closed his eyes and rested his head back comfortably. He didn't want to think about his shitty morals right now and just wanted to enjoy his time with his beautiful and slutty scientist.

Sadly for him, that dream was going to stay a dream. With Alter Gwen being the one who was out, she kept flinching every time he so much as moved a muscle. She was still sitting beside him, despite her legs being recovered by now. Having lost the will to stand for hours and exerting herself for no real reason.

A few hours passed with Alex sitting in that position with his eyes closed before he heard Gwen speak to him, "Alex?" She shook his shoulder, "Are you up?"

"Mhm," He nodded without moving.

"What's wrong?" Gwen asked, grabbing his arm and pulling it around her neck. She leaned close to him and rested her head on him while pulling his hand on her shoulder.

"Nothing much," Alex said, lightly rubbing Gwen's shoulder as he felt her familiar warm and loving aura.

"Something's wrong," Gwen said, "Did Alter me say something? Or did the calibration process tire you out too much?" She asked him and grabbed his face, pulling him to meet her eyes.

"I'm not particularly thinking about anything, Gwen," Alex said with a smile.

"Fine then, don't tell me," She made an annoyed face and moved away from him.

"Don't be like that," Alex smiled, not minding coaxing her a little. He pulled her closer and asked her, "Where do you think that this Earth's Infinity Stones could be?"

"How am I supposed to know?" She asked with a frown, "You are the one familiar with this whole universal authority business."

"I know," Alex said, "But you work better with the technical stuff. You examined my Time Authority to make it compatible with the Dyson Core, it should've given you some kind of idea."

"You're going to put me to work making a detector for your Infinity Stones, aren't you?" She asked, dread creeping into her features.

"You are so understanding," Alex pretended that he did not notice her expression and showed his happiness with a tight hug, "I love you."

"No, Alex motherfucking Hunt," Gwen snapped, "I will not be worked to death by you. No way in hell!" She shook her head in denial, "You already have me working on your Cosmic Energy generator, I am not doing anything more! Do you have any idea how difficult it is to extract something as obscure as Cosmic Energy?" She continued her rant, "It's pretty much impossible with the current technology that we have. How the hell am I supposed to extract some kind of formless energy that is apparently generated from the goddamn prosperity of life? What the hell does the prosperity of life even entail? We have seven billion people on Earth. Do I need to double the number to generate a speck of Cosmic Energy? Do half of them need to die for that? Can it be a natural death? What if they die because of some sort of calamity? Argh!" She grabbed her hair in frustration as Alex smiled wryly at her endless ranting.

"Come here," He said with a wry expression, grabbing her and pulling her into his lap before wrapping an arm around her waist, "Shh…" Two tendrils wrapped around her arms and extended up to her hands, forcing her to free her hair as Alex held her head and gently caressed her hair, fixing it.

"I'm just…" Gwen mumbled, "So frustrated." She leaned into Alex's embrace, feeling comforted by his light caress.

"Sorry…" Alex smiled wryly, "I didn't think it was that big of a deal."

"You can work tirelessly like the immortal slime that you are, but I'm just a human. I still get tired, okay?" She said.

"I get it," Alex said still rubbing her head.

"No, you don't get it," She said, "You keep working, and that makes me feel guilty that I'm not helping you. You are just doing so goddamn much, while on the other hand, I'm whining about this when I'm barely working on one project."

"You don't have to match me in the effort department," Alex said, "As you said, I'm an immortal slime. You don't need to match my pace."

"You're the one who thinks that," Gwen said, "I can feel you working every fucking moment. Your mind is always busy and occupied. No matter what we're doing, even if I'm comfortably cuddled with you in bed, I can feel your mind working in so many directions that I cannot even fathom. It's- It's so hard for me to not feel like shit about being frustrated about one project when you are doing all that."

Alex gently kept rubbing her head and allowed her to let out all her emotions. By the end, Gwen was clutching his shirt while continuing her ranting with a breaking voice. He finally asked her, "Do you feel it now?"

"What?" She looked up at him with tear-filled eyes.

"Do you feel me working now?" He asked.

"Don't play with me, asshole," She snapped at him, "You just closed our connection. I feel even worse right now. I feel like someone has my heart in a fist and is clenching it."

Alex coughed awkwardly before releasing the block on the empathetic connection that he had with Gwen, "All right, my bad. But I have to be working, honey. I have to manage two planets, a multitude of hosts and so much more."

"But…" Gwen needed a whole lot more coaxing after bursting out like that. So much, in fact, that the rest of the elevator ride passed by with Alex lightly rubbing Gwen's head and back and comforting her as she kept spiraling down into a pit of meaningless self-loathing.

By the time the doors opened, Gwen was fast asleep in Alex's arms as he thought to himself, 'I thought I'd be getting sex, but then this shit comes up,' He shook his head tiredly as he got up from the couch with Gwen in his arms. He walked forward as a portal formed in front of him that he passed through, appearing inside Gwen's dorm room. He'd already left a clone of himself and one of Gwen to take care of the after-party and celebration for the scientists and engineers that were going to come up any time soon.

'She needs a break,' Alex decided, 'I've been overworking her for the longest time. Within the span of a month or so, we've made the Dyson Core and Planetary Shield, and even modified it to work with Time Authority, not to mention all the other smaller stuff that I had her work on…'

Now that they had the luxury of time, Alex could take some of it to finally relax with Gwen.

…

The next morning, Gwen woke up due to the sun shining on her eyes but just flipped to the other side while pulling the blanket and curling up.

"Morning, honey," Alex said from her side, having been deprived of the blanket completely.

"Sleep more," Gwen mumbled, not even bothering to open her eyes.

"As my lady wishes," Alex smiled before turning and spooning Gwen, wrapping one arm around her waist and slipping the other under her head, letting her use it as a pillow.

Gwen leaned back and accepted Alex's comfortable position, "You're pulling my hair..." She mumbled uncomfortably before feeling her hair being bunched up and slid to the side without even having to move, "Thanks," She mumbled before humming comfortably in Alex's warm arms.

As the minutes passed, Gwen felt herself unable to go to sleep, "I'm tired," She mumbled.

"I know. You desperately need a break," Alex said, "That's why I'm enforcing a month-long no-work policy for you. You are not going to enter that shitty lab for at least a month."

"That's not what I meant," Gwen chuckled helplessly, "I meant that I didn't want to get out of bed…"

"Well, it's already decided," Alex said nonchalantly, "And I'm not going back on my word. If you dare to even think about work, I have more than enough ways to make your mind go blank."

"No no no no…" Gwen shook her head as she turned around while still using Alex's arm as her pillow and looked at him, "I have so much to do. If I don't finish the cosmic energy scanner by the end of the week, the whole project will be delayed by at least a few months," She said hurriedly.

"Then let it," Alex said, "We have all the time in the world. You are taking a break, end of story. Now, I have an extremely important question for you," Alex took up a serious expression that made Gwen look at him attentively.

"Go on…" She raised her brow as if encouraging him to speak.

"Do you want to stay in bed for some late-morning sex, or go get brunch?" He asked her with the most serious expression he could muster.

Gwen scowled at his words and raised her fist to punch him, "I have to work, Alex," She said as a tentacle shot out of nowhere and grabbed her wrist mid-swing.

"I guess morning sex it is," Alex sighed before turning and getting on top of Gwen. Before she processed the situation, her hands were grasped by Alex's hands as he held them at her sides before using his knees to spread her legs apart.

"Alex, no…" Gwen resisted half-heartedly even though she was already feeling a sense of arousal rushing through her heart and spreading to her entire body.

"I did say that I have many ways to make your mind go blank. All of those ways are sexual in nature," Alex clarified with a chuckle as she pouted at him.

-x-X-x-

Alex and Gwen both spent the rest of the day in bed. Alex brought Gwen food in bed before they spent some time enjoying each other's company intimately. Then they ate again before repeating the process. It was a Saturday, so Gwen didn't have any classes either, which allowed her and Alex to peacefully spend their day lazing around.

By the time the next day rolled around, Gwen was feeling very refreshed and calm as she was able to peacefully spend time with her man without anything on her mind. It's not like she wasn't thinking about work, but Alex made well on his promise to make her forget about work whenever she spiraled down that hole.

"So, what are we going to do today?" Gwen asked Alex as she curled up beside him in the bed and looked into his eyes.

"We are going to go on a date in the mountains of Japan," Alex said with a light kiss on her lips.

"Why Japan?" She asked with a curious expression.

"I found a very nice hot spring resort there, something of a hidden gem with little popularity and amazing landscapes," Alex told her, "I'm sure that we'll have a lot of fun there."

"Hot springs, huh?" Gwen said with an interested expression, "I went to a couple of those when I traveled to the West Coast with my family. I remember one in Colorado was extremely crowded, not fun at all."

"Do you want to talk to your mom or brothers?" Alex asked casually, "It's been months since you came here from the US." He acted as if there was no eerie underlying problem with Gwen not having contacted her widowed mother or brothers for months.

"Maybe later," Gwen said before leaning forward and kissing Alex, "What hot spring do you have planned?"

"I think the city is called Beppu," Alex said, "It has the best hot springs in the country. One of my contacts from the Japanese diplomats recommended a secluded resort there."

"That sounds interesting," She said, "When do we leave?"

"Whenever you want," Alex said, "We just need to portal there. The resort doesn't have a lot of demand due to its prices, so we can just walk in and get a room for the night."

"No, we aren't portalling there," Gwen shook her head, "If you want to go there on a break, we are going there by plane, spending ten hours or however long it takes on a flight. If I'm going on a vacation, I want the full experience of a vacation."

"I don't mind," Alex said, "Do you want to fly economy or go full-on private jet?"

"Can't we do something in between? Like first class?" She asked, "A private jet just sounds so extra while economy class is… well not very comfortable."

"Entitled much?" Alex joked with a little laugh.

"You're one to talk, Mr. Private Jet," Gwen said.

"We'll do first class then." Alex laughed and kissed her nose, "There's a flight to Japan in a couple of hours, but it's going to depart from one of the further London airports, a two-hour drive."

"Well, then we should get ready," Gwen said without moving from the bed.

"You need to get out of bed for that," Alex chuckled.

"Just dress me up like usual," She said.

"I thought that you wanted to wear normal clothes for a while," Alex said before bringing his hand close to her face and pushing back a stray lock of her hair.

"I don't want to wear clothes by myself," She said as a cheeky smile appeared on her face, "If you would be so kind as to dress up your beloved girl, then I would be really happy."

"So that's what you were playing at, huh?" Alex understood, "All right, since you don't want me to use any special powers during our trip, we should get ready. Getting through customs will also take some time." He got out of bed and pulled off the blanket, revealing Gwen's naked body that was previously cuddled up with him.

"Dress me~" She extended her arms toward Alex, calling out to him.

"Once on vacation, she abruptly turns into a baby," Alex grumbled before grabbing both her hands and pulling her so that she could sit up.

"Yes~" She nodded vigorously, shaking her hair all around and prompting a chuckle out of Alex.

"How about a sundress?" Alex asked, "It should be comfortable enough for a plane," He pulled out a nice yellow-patterned sundress out of Gwen's closet.

"Sounds like a plan," Gwen agreed, "Plus, you just need to raise it up when we have sex and won't have to tear it off."

Alex looked at Gwen blankly before his gaze naturally drifted down to her chest which had been somewhat covered by Gwen's hair that fell down her shoulders and covered part of her breasts and nipples, making Alex think that a sexy angel was gracing him with her presence.

"Alex…" Gwen said with a flat tone.

"Yeah?" He focused back on her face.

"Footwear…" She looked at him with an amused smile and pointed to the other side of her closet that was filled with her footwear collection.

"Right," He nodded and started looking through her wide collection of boots. Moments later, he was in a dilemma, "Don't you have some strappy heels or something? I don't see any of these boots going well with a sundress."

"Nonsense," Gwen said, "I bought two pairs of boots that specifically go amazingly with sundresses. Get aside, let me see."

Alex shrugged and put Gwen's underwear and dress beside her on the bed as she looked through her shoes.

"That's one of them," She pointed at a pair of boots, "Those mid-length beige ones, they go very well with this dress."

Alex had doubts about her choice, but complied nonetheless, "You're going on a twelve-hour journey on a plane, are you sure that you want heels?" He asked as he pulled out the two boots that would barely go up to Gwen's calves.

"I can take them off," She said, "We're going in first class, right?"

"Fair enough," Alex nodded, "Now stand up, "I have to dress up my girlfriend like a doll."

"Start with this," She handed him her bra before smiling mischievously, "And I remember you being very much into latex. You sure you aren't having any thoughts of putting me inside a suitcase to save up on a ticket?"

"Maybe I could fulfill your fantasy on our next trip," He gave her a side-eyed look.

"Don't act like I'm the weird one here," She snapped at him, "You would totally do something like that."

"That wasn't even my suggestion," Alex raised his hands in defeat before grabbing the bra from her and pulling it through her arms before making it rest on her chest, "Fix the placement and the underwire," He said as he stood at her side and hooked the back.

"For how much of my clothes you make, you are awfully bad at actually helping me dress up," Gwen commented as she fixed the position of the bra.

"Working with a material that you have absolute control over is much easier than working with an actual bra. You should be happy I didn't end up squishing your chest," Alex said jokingly, making Gwen smile wryly.

A while later, "This took much more time than it would've if you had just done all this by yourself," Alex told Gwen as she looked into a mirror and fixed her dress.

"And miss out on you giving me an impromptu foot massage before helping me put on my boots? Not a chance." She said.

"Is the cab here?" Gwen asked.

"Why would we take a cab?" Alex asked her, "I'm going to be driving."

"But then the car…" Gwen trailed off questioningly.

"I can just leave it in the airport's parking lot, we'll barely be gone for three days," He told her, "Going as a foreign diplomat has certain benefits."

Gwen had metaphorical question marks floating above her head, "Did I miss something?" She asked him.

"Remember how I told you that a Japanese diplomat suggested the resort to me?" Alex asked. When Gwen nodded in agreement, he continued, "I'm going through him for all of this."

"Whatever you say," She said, "I won't think too deeply into this."

"And you don't need to," Alex said, "I can deal with the intricacies of these things. You just need to enjoy yourself."

Soon enough, Alex and Gwen came out of the building and found a Maybach parked in the lot. Gwen couldn't help but whistle when she noticed Alex walking toward that car, "You're playing all fancy, now."

"It's a company car," Alex said jokingly, "Our research center has very generous donors." He unlocked the car before opening the door for Gwen. She gave him a beautiful smile before entering the car and sitting in it.

As Alex moved to his side, he saw Gwen lean over to the driver's side and open the door from the inside for him. It brought a subtle smile to his face as he sat down before closing the door.

Alex pulled the car out of the parking lot and onto the road as Gwen made herself comfortable, slightly adjusting the seat to her preferences. She then asked him, "How long to the airport?"

"Around two hours," Alex said, "I could get us there in one, but since you said no superpowers, then no superpowers."

"Stop acting like a helpless baby," Gwen said playfully, "The kind of money that you've amassed with your superpowers is nothing short of another superpower."

-x-X-x-

Soon enough, Alex and Gwen were at the airport. Alex pulled out two empty backpacks from his ‹Inventory› and handed one to Gwen. He hung the other on his shoulder as they made their way to the First Class check-in. They showed their tickets and passports before moving to customs. Since they both had diplomatic Passports, they didn't need to apply for a visa for a tourist stay.

An hour or so later, they were both boarding through the first-class gate with two empty backpacks.

"I am never going to be fond of going through customs," Gwen complained.

"That's why we should use private jets," Alex said as they made their way through the tunnel.

"We would still have to go through customs," She said.

"Yeah, but the channels for private jet holders are much more lax and faster. Instead of taking us an hour, we would've been out in like five minutes." He told her.

"Well, my vote is going to us returning via private plane," She said, "This was more trouble than it should've been."

"You know what would be more convenient than that?" Alex said.

"I said no portals and no magic and I am going to stand my ground." Gwen gave him a fierce look.

"All right, hold back a bit, tigress," Alex patted her head.

Soon, they walked into the cabin as the hostess greeted them, to which Gwen responded with a polite nod before moving further into the cabin. "Now this is first class," Gwen took off her coat and hung it on the hanger behind her seat. She was left wearing just her sundress and her beige boots as she took a seat on the comfortable recliner.

"I've seen better," Alex said, "We didn't have a lot of time to book the flight, otherwise, I would've gotten us an entire cabin with two couches, even a shower."

"You just want to have shower sex on a plane, don't you?" Gwen saw through Alex's thoughts.

"On the return flight then," He said, "I'm going to make sure that the plane I arrange has everything we could ever need."

"Hold back a bit, tiger," Gwen suppressed a laugh and patted Alex's head, throwing his words back at him, "We don't need to live on that plane."

"I know," Alex said, "But nothing stops us from being on that plane for the rest of your vacation."

Gwen looked at him blankly, "I have three classes with professors who are stringent with their attendance requirements. I have to attend their classes."

"They won't even know that you aren't in class," Alex tried to convince her.

"Alex…" Gwen gave him a pointed look, "I'm on leave from work, I don't mind going to university."

"I know," Alex said with a smile, "I do not wish to see you completely isolated from your university either. When we return on Tuesday, you can resume classes as if you never disappeared."

"Thanks," Gwen smiled gently before leaning back on her seat as Alex sat on the seat beside her.

Seeing him lean back comfortably as he reclined the couch, Gwen had an urge. She fulfilled that urge by getting up from her seat and plopping down on Alex's lap, destroying his comfort, "You can't stay still, can you?" He asked her.

She giggled while wrapping her arms around his neck, "I want to cuddle with my boyfriend." Alex wrapped his arm around her waist and rested his palm on her thigh, right on the seam of her dress. He placed it such that half of his palm was resting on her bare skin and the other half on the dress.

As Alex stroked her thigh, Gwen told him, "I've been thinking…" She trailed off.

"Go on," Alex urged her, "I won't bite unless you're thinking of leaving me for another man. Then I'm going to definitely leave sexy marks all over your body before tying you up in my basement."

His words prompted a laugh out of Gwen, "You know that's not possible," She said, "I can feel you, Alex," She touched the side of his face, "The connection we have. The pleasure… It's impossible for anything else to even remotely compare."

"Yeah?" Alex asked, "I think I can one-up that too…" With his words, he slipped his hand under her sundress, directly stroking her thigh.

"Please," Gwen gasped as she put her hand over his, "Maybe once I get used to this level without getting overwhelmed."

Responding with a chuckle, Alex asked her, "What were you going to ask me?"

"Yeah…" Gwen recalled her previous words, "I was thinking that I should take up some kind of a hobby. My parents sent me to a lot of classes when I was a kid, but nothing stuck."

"You could take up dancing," Alex suggested.

"You just want to see me strip for you like a professional," Gwen called him out, "Next."

Alex was speechless, "I don't know. How about hiking?"

"So you can play out a lost in the woods fantasy with me and do weird things with me in the middle of nowhere?" Gwen snapped, "Next."

"I'm not playing this if you keep finding ulterior motives in all my suggestions," Alex said, "Now if I suggest painting, you'll assume that I want you to paint my nudes."

"I was thinking more along the lines of forcing me to paint my own nudes, but that's a very real possibility too," Gwen said with an entitled tone.

"I think you need some kind of a learning experience that helps you change your attitude…" Alex said with narrow eyes.

"Come on~" Gwen shook his arm while acting cute, "Suggest me more," She said with a pleading look.

"I don't know," Alex said, "Some kind of a sport?"

"No, dummy," Gwen said, "Try again."

"You clearly have something in mind, so why don't you just tell me about it instead of keeping me guessing?" Alex asked, "It's getting tiresome."

"No~" She whined, "Just keep suggesting things to me." Alex thought about reading her mind and being done with it, "And no peeking into my mind," Gwen said, as if already aware of his thoughts, "Or else, I'm going to be very mad."

"Fine, what about —"

"Madam, please take your seat and tie the seat belt, we are about to take off," The hostess approached Gwen and Alex and reminded them.

"Oh, I'm so sorry…" Gwen was embarrassed and quickly shuffled out of Alex's lap before burying herself in her seat as far as she could.

Looking at Gwen's embarrassed state, Alex chuckled, "Thanks for letting us know," Alex told the hostess as he clipped his belt.

"Allow me, sir," The woman moved even faster than Alex to grab the two belts and leaned forward, almost smothering Alex with her chest as she tied his belt. Alex raised his brow at the hostess's blatant flirting as the woman pulled back from him and gave him a flirty smile, "I hope that you have a pleasant flight."

[This skank!] Alex heard Gwen's voice in his head and barely suppressed his laugh as the woman turned around. He gave a brief glance at her tight yet supple-looking ass as she walked away from him while swaying her hips.

Alex then turned to Gwen, who was looking at him accusatorily, and said to her, "Someone's jealous of a random air hostess."

"It's definitely not me," Gwen said sarcastically, "Not even a little bit. And that random skank definitely didn't give me a look as she walked away."

Alex laughed at Gwen's words and extended his hand to her armrest, "Give me your hand." He said but Gwen pulled her arm away and tucked it within the seat. "Is that supposed to stop me?" Alex asked with a scoff before his arm elongated and he grabbed Gwen's hand, pulling it up.

"You cheated…" She whispered furiously to not let anyone hear her outrage.

"Yeah?" Alex asked, "What will you do about it?"

Gwen responded to his provocation with an annoyed glare as he started caressing her knuckles with his thumb, "I'm ignoring you," She said before turning her face away from Alex with a humph.

"Hey…" Alex said in a coaxing tone, "What's wrong? I can't stop people from hitting on me every once in a while."

"No one ever hits on me anymore…" Gwen mumbled with a pouty tone.

"Is that what you're mad about?" Alex asked with a surprised expression.

"Yeah, bite me," Gwen got aggressively defensive.

"I'm not making fun of you for it," Alex smiled, "I get it, everyone wants attention once in a while."

"Well, I'm not getting it, and it's lowering my self-esteem…" She said to him.

"Is my attention not enough?" Alex asked her with a laugh, "Why do you want random men to leer at you and clumsily flirt with you."

"Your flirting is also very clumsy," Gwen pointed at him.

"It's part of my charm," Alex waved her words off, "And have you ever thought that you're just intimidatingly beautiful and guys are just scared to talk to you?"

"W-what?" She was surprised and denied it, "No. I'm too girl-next-door type of beautiful, not the sexy intimidating kind."

"And how is that a bad thing?" Alex asked her, "Any man would be lucky to have a girl-next-door type of significant other such as yourself."

"I know," Gwen nodded, "I'm awesome and all, but there's a sense of vanity that I'm missing from my life. I want to mercilessly reject guys to their faces every once in a while too."

"I'll take you to a bar, okay?" Alex said lazily, "Sit alone with a drink in your hand for an hour or so, you'll naturally run back to me after being annoyed by the fifteen guys that you need to reject."

"You wouldn't care?" She asked.

"Of course, I would," Alex said, "I would deliberately control those fifteen guys to act as dumb as possible so that they have zero chances with you. Or better yet, I would just transform into fifteen different guys and hit on you until you get annoyed."

"You…" Gwen faked an expression of outrage but Alex could tell that she was pleased with his words. Still, she had to maintain a mask of anger and leaned on her seat, reclining it backward, "Do this one too…" She moved her other arm closer to his hand as well and asked him to rub that hand's knuckles too, leaving Alex speechless.

-x-X-x-

The ride to Japan was far from an uneventful experience. Once the plane had stabilized and the seatbelt sign had turned off, the first thing Alex did was unbuckle his seatbelt. He then grabbed Gwen who could barely yelp as she found herself being pulled toward the first-class cabin's restroom. A big chunk of their flight passed with the two of them spending time in that relatively spacious restroom, inconveniencing many people.

By the time the flight landed in Japan, Gwen had a beautiful glow on her face that overshadowed everything else.

The two of them got into a cab before giving the driver the address to their resort.

"When did you learn Japanese?" Gwen asked Alex as she leaned back on the seat.

"A while," Alex said, "It was around the time I started gathering resources for our research center."

"You ate someone to get their memories, didn't you?" She asked flatly, making Alex cough.

"We don't talk about that stuff here," Alex said with a choking voice, "I remember that you were talking about getting a hobby when we got on the plane, what was that about?" He asked her, forcefully changing the topic.

His hurried words got a light laugh out of Gwen, "I was talking about gaming, you dummy," She told him, "I remember back in high school, Flash had a hoard of different consoles and games to match. Now that I have so much free time, I thought I should try it out."

"I thought your hobby would be shopping and collecting shoes," Alex said.

"I don't have that many shoes…" Gwen blushed.

"Gwen, you have a dedicated closet just for shoes," Alex said, "Shoe collection is your hobby."

"Yeah, well I'm not into buying expensive shoes anymore," She snapped defensively, "I want to get a new hobby."

"I think you went shopping for shoes last week if I remember correctly," Alex said with a reminiscing tone, "It was just after I sprung that Time Authority project on you. You were stressed and decided to treat —" Alex's following words were muffled due to Gwen putting her hands on his face.

"A girl can have two hobbies, okay?" She said, "Stop shaming me for buying shoes."

"I'm not," Alex chuckled, "I'm just stating a fact."

"Yeah, but you're saying it in a way that makes me feel bad," Gwen said, "Don't do it."

"As my lady wishes," Alex said, "How about we stop by a shopping center —"

Gwen interrupted Alex, "Don't patronize me," She said with an annoyed expression.

Alex laughed, "It's fun to see you riled up like this," He said as Gwen looked away from him with a pout, "Take a dip in the hot spring, you are going to melt in that comfortable water."

"Can we go get a console after that?" She asked, "I'm not that familiar with games, but I think getting a console would be ideal since it requires the least amount of setup work."

"We can go browse stuff, I'm sure there are some places that will let us try it out for a while before we have to buy it," Alex said.

"You seem indecisive about buying a console..." Gwen observed, "Do you not like that I want to try gaming as a hobby?"

"It's not that," Alex said, "I just think that it would be better if we bought it when we get back to Oxford."

"Why?" She asked, "If we're getting a private plane as you say, there shouldn't be any problems. Even if we travel by a commercial flight, they should allow us to take it in our handbags."

"Think of it as waiting for a surprise until we get back home," Alex said.

"Ohh~" Gwen was excited, "I love surprises."

The cab ride would be a while, so Gwen just leaned on Alex's shoulder and hugged his arm, napping as Alex just looked out of the window, looking at the completely different architecture of the city than what he was used to seeing.

…

Soon enough, they reached their destination and got out of the cab. Alex paid the driver and offered him a hefty tip before being rudely rejected, much to Gwen's amusement.

She was still laughing as they got out of the car.

"How am I supposed to know that he would take offense to me telling him to keep the change…" Alex said with a dark expression.

"Japan doesn't have a tipping culture, Alex," Gwen said while wheezing due to having laughed so hard, "And you offered him like half the fare as a tip. He was obviously offended."

"I think you're swapping the word flattered with the word offended," Alex said, "I liked his service and decided to give him a bonus. Why chew me out for that?"

"All right, my big baby boo," Gwen squeezed Alex's cheeks, "Stop being so butthurt about this, and let's go in. I want to see what the deal with this special resort of yours is." She grabbed his hand and pulled him through the entrance gate that had a sign on top.

"The name roughly translates to Pear Tree," Alex told Gwen.

"So we're going to live in a pear tree?" She asked with a clueless tone. Alex gave her a derisive side-eye and let go of her hand. "Hey!" Gwen quickly grabbed his hand tightly, "What's wrong? It was just a bad attempt at a joke."

"I was just seeing if you were actually interested in staying here with me, or just pretending," Alex acted entitled.

"So that's how you want to play, huh?" Gwen decided to be extra petty and wrapped both arms around Alex's shoulders, stopping him in his tracks. She then forcefully climbed up on his back and wrapped her legs around his torso and her arms around his neck, "Giddy up, horsey!"

Alex helplessly held her thighs and said with a dark tone, "Never say that again,"

"What?" Gwen asked, "You don't like being called, horsey?"

"Just…" Alex cringed, "Can you not?"

"Why not?" Gwen asked, "After all, it's so much fun riling you up."

Her words made Alex sigh, "Touché."

Passing the main entrance, they walked through a cobblestone path that was surrounded by beautifully cut and well-maintained bushes. The first building they encountered was the reception. Alex walked up the three stairs and entered the traditional Japanese wooden architecture room before walking up to the reception desk, "Hi there…"

As Alex engaged the receptionist in checking into their room, Gwen's mind drifted off in a different direction as she rested her chin on Alex's shoulder and sighed. She looked around the room and felt the cozy atmosphere of the resort and felt a sense of appreciation toward the ambiance.

"Would you like some tea, sir, madam?" A server approached Alex and Gwen with a tray that had two cups of steaming hot tea in them. She spoke in accented English, but Gwen could tell that she was a practiced English speaker.

"Thank you," Gwen freed one of her arms from Alex's neck and grabbed the cup as Alex did the same and set his cup on the desk.

"Gwen, could you grab our IDs from the backpack?" Alex asked Gwen.

"Sure," She handed him her cup and moved her hand behind her back to grab the cards.

"Do you need to get off?" Alex offered.

"I got it," Gwen tightened her legs and the one arm that was wrapped around Alex's neck, telling him that she had no plans to move away from him. It took her a bit of effort, but she was able to grab both cards from the backpack's front pocket. She handed them to Alex before taking back her cup of tea.

A few minutes later, Alex was out of the reception and was walking along the cobblestone path toward their room while being guided by one of the staff members of the hotel.

"This place is beautiful," Gwen said as she looked around at all the natural yet maintained foliage all around. With her current position on Alex's back, she was able to see much better and had a very nice view of everything. Even though there were buildings like restaurants and relaxation areas, they didn't stand out. Multiple trees even seemed to have grown into those buildings, giving them a very natural look, as if they were a part of the natural flora.

Alex and Gwen had to walk for a while before they reached a row of cabins that were all at a significant distance from each other. "Which one's ours?" Gwen asked him as Alex turned to the path of the cabins.

"It should have a Japanese character on it followed by the number 4," Alex said, "There it is," He pointed at the fourth cabin.

Alex unlocked the room with the keycard before entering it, "Finally willing to get off of me?" Alex asked Gwen, "Or is this going to be our entire trip?"

Gwen sighed before hugging Alex, "I would love to stay on your back for the whole trip…" She mumbled while leaning her head on his shoulder, "But doing that would ruin the fun of the trip." Gwen decided to get down and had Alex let go of her legs as she stood on the ground behind him and let go of his neck.

She then took off her coat and hung it on the hanger at the side before slumping down sideways on the bed. Her dress got messed up a little and was pulled higher, revealing more of her thighs as she put one hand behind her head for support.

As Alex looked at her with amusement on his features, Gwen groaned while extending her hand toward her feet, "Alex~" She whined, full of anguish, "I can't reach my feet."

"I'll take off your damn boots…" Alex told her before taking a seat beside her on the bed. He pulled one of her feet to his lap and started loosening the laces of the boot.

"You're the best," Gwen smiled cheekily as she felt Alex loosening her boots. She got on her side and looked at him happily.

"I know, I know," Alex said, "Let's rest for a few minutes. Then we'll go to the hot spring. We only have tonight and tomorrow night here. We leave Tuesday morning."

"Done!" She nodded happily.

-x-X-x-

An hour or so later, after changing into two provided bathrobes, Alex and Gwen left their cabin and continued walking down the path, crossing cabins five through eight before seeing a different structure with bamboo architecture.

"This is the place," Alex said as he and Gwen entered through the door.

"Ahh," Gwen took a breath, "Sulpher and eggs. That's the smell of romance," She said with a light chuckle.

Alex coughed out a laugh, "Come on," He took off his robe, prompting Gwen to do the same. She also tied her flowing hair in a bun, making sure that it wouldn't dip in the hot water when she sat in the pool.

"Where are the showers?" Gwen looked around, but she only saw the single pool with rising steam.

"It's fine, we just showered in our rooms," Alex said, "This isn't a public bathhouse. It's shared between just the eight premium cabins."

"So we just take a dip?" She asked.

"Pretty much," Alex held her hand and led her to the naturally formed stairs into the pool.

Just as Gwen dipped her toe in the water, she hummed in comfort, "I think I can spend a while in here."

"Just don't let it get to your head," Alex said, "There are many things that I can do to your unconscious body."

"Honey, you can do those things to my conscious body too~" She whispered in his ear before stepping into the pool alongside him.

"So you wouldn't mind if I do a photo shoot of you dressed as a sexy clown?" Alex asked, making her frown.

"That's the best you can come up with?" She turned to look at him and saw a teasing grin on his face, "Whatever," She abruptly turned away, hitting Alex's face with her hair.

He laughed cheekily before catching up to her. They both found a comfortable corner. Alex naturally held Gwen's hand and helped her sit without having to grab the rocks at the sides.

"Thank you," She smiled as he sat beside her and then gave him a kiss on the cheek, "That's the most I can do in this sweaty and sulphery environment without feeling irked out."

"Hot springs are not intimate places," Alex said, "Unless, of course, you are nothing but a horny teenager."

"You aren't a horny teen?" Gwen acted surprised.

"All right, smartass," Alex gave her a side-eyed look before leaning back on the rock formation. He naturally spread his arms on the sides, resting one behind Gwen.

She let out a breath and leaned back, using Alex's arm as a pillow for her neck, "Your arm is sweaty," She said.

"Want me to move it away?" Alex asked.

"No…" She said, "Just wanted to complain."

Alex was left speechless at her words. He just shook his head and decided to relax for the next couple of minutes.

By the time twenty minutes had passed, Gwen grabbed his arm and stood up.

"What?" He asked, "Did someone come in?"

"No, she shook her head as she pulled Alex to his feet, "We should get out for a couple of minutes."

"I'm a slime, Gwen," Alex said, "And you have enough strength to shatter this entire spring, all the way down to the geyser's source. I don't think hyperthermia is something that either of us needs to be worried about."

Gwen gave him a look that made him surrender, "No powers, didn't I say that?" She asked.

"Fine, I give up," He said, "There are some showers at the back. I was just gaslighting you before."

"I noticed," She nodded, "It is nice to have the pool right at the entrance for aesthetics. It's an interesting design considering they tell us to shower before coming here."

They both made their way to the shower area before getting into one of the stalls, "Why are you in my stall?" Gwen asked him with a pointed look.

"This is my stall," Alex said, "I was here first."

"Were you now?" Gwen raised a brow as her hand made its way to Alex's naked cock.

"Maybe," He said as he brought his hand down to Gwen's slit, pushing two fingers in as they entered without any resistance.

"I was here first, Alex," Gwen said pointedly as she started stroking his shaft.

"I don't believe you," He said as he started moving his fingers and brought his other hand up to her chest, lightly kneading her breasts.

Gwen's expression got a little aroused, "I'll make you believe me!" She said aggressively as her stroking got faster and her other hand made its way down to his sack.

"Well see about that," Alex brought his face forward and captured Gwen's lips in a kiss as they continued pleasuring each other. When Alex tried to push his tongue into her mouth, he was met with fierce resistance as she attempted to do the same.

As they continued their playfully erotic moment, Alex let go of her chest and wrapped his arm around her waist before pulling her around, making her stand in front of the door while still facing him. He then turned the shower on while making sure that her hair didn't get wet. They were planning on going back into the spring and it wouldn't be very convenient for her to have a pound of water weight on her head.

As the warm water hit Alex's back and splashed onto Gwen, their actions got even more aggressive before eventually, Alex pulled away from Gwen's lips, "You give terrible handjobs," He said before grabbing her hand and pulling it away, "Your pussy is much better at making me cum."

"I did not need to be attacked like that…" Gwen pouted, but Alex wasn't listening. He turned her around and pushed her against the wall of the stall. Keeping one hand on her back, he brought the other hand between her legs and shoved his wet fingers into her ass.

"Ahn~" Gwen wiggled lightly under Alex's suppression as he forced her to push out her ass before removing his digits. Moments later, she felt his dick pressing against her pussy, "So rough~" She moaned out when she felt him lightly rub his shaft along her slit.

"Do you want it?" Alex asked while lightly teasing her, "Tell me," He got closer to her and started sucking her shoulder.

"Stop teasing me~" She wiggled and tried to push his cock inside her pussy by herself.

"Such a rude woman," Alex said, "You're lucky that I love you." He said before pushing himself inside, making Gwen moan with a pleasurable edge.

"Keep going~" She gasped out as she felt Alex's cock filling her up.

"I'll keep going, all right…" Alex grunted before bringing his hand to her ass and giving her a painful spank followed by a violent thrust.

"Yeah~" She let out a high-pitched squeal as she felt him going even harder. It was followed by a shudder when Alex invaded her ass at the same time, "Fuck~" With his cock stretching her pussy, a single finger in her ass felt like another cock to Gwen. When he added another, she almost lost control over herself.

"Don't hold back, honey…" Alex whispered in her ear before continuing to suck her neck, "We have more than enough time…" As Alex curled up his fingers within her ass, rubbing a rather sensitive spot, she lost control, reaching a climax as Alex continued thrusting inside her.

Instead of the shower lasting for a couple of minutes, it lasted for more than twenty. At that point, they returned to the hot spring to enjoy their time.

"You always take it one step too far," Gwen said while stretching her back as she leaned against the back of the rock formation, using Alex's arm as a pillow.

"You're barely a little sore. This spring will clear that all out," He said.

"So that you can go another round?" She asked.

"And do you not want to go for another round?" He asked.

"I didn't say that," Gwen looked away, blushing.

…

They spent the next four hours in the hot spring, taking momentary breaks that ended up lasting a tiny bit longer than planned. After that was done, they ended up lazing around in their hotel room for the rest of the day.

"I don't wanna go~" Gwen whined while wrapped up in the blanket and cuddled up against Alex, "Just order room service."

"I already booked the buffet, honey," Alex said while running his fingers through Gwen's hair, "We'll get to try so many different things if we go to the buffet. Ordering room service would be boring."

"I don't want to get out of bed…" She looked at Alex with pleading eyes, "We can go to the buffet tomorrow."

"You're like a child, you know that?" Alex shook his head, "Fine, we can stay in. But you are coming with me tomorrow."

"I always try to cum with you," She said, deliberately misinterpreting his words, "It's just that you take too long and make me cum multiple times before we share a climax."

"I was talking about coming with me to sightsee, but good to know your thoughts on that matter," Alex said dryly, eliciting a laugh out of Gwen as she snuggled even closer to him.

"Can we order?" She asked after a few seconds, "I'm hungry."

"Here's the menu," Alex grabbed the menu from the side table and handed it to her.

"What will you have?" Gwen asked him.

"No clue. You decide on your dish, then I'll see what I want." He told her.

-x-X-x-

As Alex was going through a therapeutic experience in the time-accelerated Gaia Federation, the rest of the cluster was moving at the same speed of time as usual. Which was all still incomprehensibly shuffled up.

In the Asgardian Earth.

Not a lot of time had passed since Jane's adventure to Earth-Z where she got her ass handed to herself by the two ‹Eldrich Leader Class› Abominations in quick succession.

At this point, as repayment to Alex for saving her at that time from that particular situation, she decided to help him locate the planet that he told her about. Morag.

"This place doesn't exist in any Asgardian databases," Jane told him after a thorough search. He had been standing right beside her through the process, so he knew.

"Which means that it's most likely inaccessible by the Bifrost as well. If the planet's data isn't there then it is most likely beyond Odin's domain," Alex said with a thoughtful frown.

"Anything else I can do to help?" She asked him.

"Help me locate Xandar," He said, "That's the home planet of the Nova Corps. It should be an easy find."

"It is," Jane nodded, "I've dealt with them before. They are one of the nicer intergalactic empires, very nice policies for their mixed-race citizens despite one race being a majority."

"That's cool," He said, "But we just need to get to their planet. I can get the rest of the information on my own and we can be gone within minutes. Sightseeing can come later."

"If you say so," Jane said before pressing her palm on the terminal once again. She then started searching for the relevant data before displaying it on a holographic screen.

"Do you need to make any preparations before we leave?" Alex asked her.

"Not in particular," She said, "I've left most of the things in Fury's hands along with the rest of the World Council. As for Loki and Hela… Those two are like problem children who can't be helped. My being here or not isn't going to matter if they truly decide to start another world war."

"Good enough, let's get going then," Alex said with a shrug. Jane nodded and grabbed Hofund's handle before pulling it out of its sheath. She held it with both hands and stabbed it into the ground before the rainbow bridge surrounded her and Alex. They both disappeared, leaving the Celtic Knot that represented Eternity in the place where they were previously standing.

Alex narrowed his eyes as he felt himself traveling through the Bifrost, "This is such an interesting design…" He said.

"It's one of the greatest inventions stemming from the culmination of Asgard's knowledge," Jane said with a mesmerized tone, "It's much more than interesting."

"If I had an empire that spanned multiple galaxies, I would try to make travel efficient too," He said, "It's a pity that it's only usable within the region of influence of the Odinforce. Because of that, a large chunk of the universe is inaccessible."

"You know an awful lot about Asgard's core knowledge," Jane looked at him, "I'm sure you didn't find this information in the database that we have on Earth. Knowledge of the Odinforce was never stored anywhere digitally."

"Good question," Alex couldn't exactly tell Jane the truth about the source of his information.

She didn't push him further and they waited for a few seconds as the Bifrost delivered them to the home planet of the Nova Corps, Xandar.

"Hm?" Jane frowned and within seconds, she and Alex felt a huge turbulence within the bridge that rocked them both around. Just as they were about to be yanked out of the Bifrost, the bridge disappeared and both of them collided with a hard floor. Jane groaned out before quickly standing up and wielding both her hammer and sword. Alex followed suit with an impassive expression.

"We're in trouble," Alex said as he faced a troop of a hundred guards, all decked out in some kind of modified Nova Corps battle armor that was filled with gold accents. They were all looking at the duo with hostility.

"Guess so," Jane said before twirling Mjolnir in her hand. She was planning to slam it onto the ground to let out a blast of electricity. It would have a nice intimidation factor. Unfortunately for her, before she could even completely raise the divine weapon, she groaned in pain before falling down on one knee.

Alex frowned as he looked at the platform that they had both appeared on. It was marked with the usual Eternity Celtic Knot of the Bifrost, but under that, he felt some sort of foreign power affecting both him and Jane. He couldn't yet recognize it, but he felt that it was an absolute suppressive force that he couldn't contend against. Just to test it out, he attempted to pull Chaos Energy from his reservoir so that he could cast a spell, but he felt a painful sensation run all across his soul that made him cease his actions.

"Halt, Asgardians." Soon, a gold-skinned woman, adorned in gold robes approached them, the soldiers parting to make way for her, "I am Nova Prime and you are trespassing on our planet."

Alex and Jane both shared a confused look, "You are the leader of the Sovereign," Jane spoke, her authority leaking out in her tone, "Why are you acting as the Nova Prime? And where is Irani Rael?"

"You seem to be under the assumption that you are the one in control here, Asgardian," The gold-skinned woman had a haughty expression on her face, "Your powers are useless here."

Alex looked at her and asked, "Answer her question. Xandar is an intergalactic trade planet. Entry and exit to and from the planet should have no restrictions, Asgardian or not."

[She's not going—] Jane's telepathic thought was interrupted.

"I am Ayesha, the Golden High Priestess of the Sovereign, I am also serving as the Nova Prime for the Nova Empire. The Sovereign has taken control of the Nova Empire" She answered, "As for Irani Rael, the previous Nova Prime, she has moved on to a better place."

At her words, Alex frowned, not even bothering to gloat to Jane about her not knowing his capabilities. It wasn't because of the contents of the woman's words, it was because of the amount of power he had been forced to channel from the Mind Stone to get her to speak in the first place.

[EP -2678]

«EP: 23746 -> 21068»

[We are being suppressed by an Infinity Stone.] Alex told Jane solemnly, [Most likely the Soul Stone from what I've been able to gather.]

It wasn't that Ayesha had impeccable mental defenses. The Mind Stone could steamroll through any mortal mind no matter how strong. What took most of his EP was fighting against the ‹Soul Authority› of the Soul Stone that was actively suppressing him and Jane at the moment.

She didn't respond but showed a frown, waiting for the leader of the Sovereign to speak.

Ayesha didn't feel anything wrong with her previous words and continued, "After the continuous mayhem caused by the multiple variants of Thor Odinson running around, we have decided to implement precautionary policies against all Asgardians and enhanced individuals that approach Xandar," She spoke, "For now, you are going to be sent to the containment unit until we can decide the further actions to be undertaken."

Moments later, two guards approached Alex and Jane. They had two pairs of metal cuffs in their hands that had multiple glowing green lines going across them, presumably a circuit that would suppress Asgardians.

Alex didn't really care about being imprisoned for now. He was more concerned about how he was going to snatch the Soul Stone from these people. He was going to play nice until he could get a viable plan going for him.

As for Jane, she showed a hostile expression as the two guards approached. Just as they entered the range of her movement, she swung both her hammer and sword with reckless abandon. A repeat of the previous events occurred as she groaned out in pain while falling down on one knee. The guards didn't react, acting as if they had expected the scene.

They separated and one of them went to cuff Alex while the other went to cuff Jane. As the guard approached Alex, the armored humanoid roughly grabbed his arms and held them behind his back before cuffing his wrists with the suppressing cuffs. Alex didn't miss the opportunity to send a sliver of himself into that guard so that he would be able to take control and put his plans in motion.

It was the same with Jane. The painful suppression, mixed with the guard's forceful actions forced her to drop both her weapons as she was also cuffed. Alex had half expected her to lose her Asgardian physique in this state, but surprisingly, it persisted even as the suppressing cuffs made their way onto her wrists. That was a testament to the true power that Mjolnir held and how Jane had barely accessed a fraction of it. Unless she willed it herself, she wouldn't turn back.

[Why are you just accepting this?] Jane asked Alex with a pained tone as she constantly felt the suppression of the Soul Stone.

[Patience.] Alex told her, [We are at a disadvantage right now. Let things settle before we do something.]

[We won't be able to escape if we let them capture us. If, as you say, they do have an Infinity Stone, then we'll be like sitting ducks once they put us in a cell.] She protested while trying her best to push back the guard who had a tight grip on her arm.

[Be my guest, keep trying.] Alex shook his head at his battle freak of a host. The guards, meanwhile, led both him and Jane through the hall as Ayesha, alongside the soldiers who were filling the hall, all departed.

'Oh, these guards are the Sovereign's remote control troops,' Alex thought to himself as he infiltrated the guard's gold armor, 'I can work with this too…'

Unlike explicit powers like Chaos Magic and Lightning Manipulation, Alex's passive abilities weren't affected by the suppression of the Soul Stone. One of which was the ability to naturally traverse cyberspaces.