As Gwen's battle against Shang-Chi commenced, Alex was curiously looking at his own doppelgänger.
"So, can you do everything I can?" He asked. The doppelgänger didn't respond, so Alex continued, "What about the abilities I derive from my hosts? Like Chaos Magic."
Alex's questions didn't prompt any response from the doppelgänger as its form abruptly shifted into an amalgam mass of black that extended all around itself. Attacking multiple people, including Alex, as he showed a wince.
"I know that form would be more efficient, but come on, man," Alex extended his own tentacles out of his back that blocked the attacks of the doppelgänger. "Aesthetics are just as important."
The mass of black abruptly liquified and melded into the floor, shifting its density to become even thinner than water while also camouflaging itself.
"I can still see you," Alex smiled as four tentacles extended out of his back and formed the corners of a boundary around himself. A snarl came out of the floor itself as the doppelgänger gathered itself in front of him. The boundary prevented the doppelgänger from spreading any further. "I thought this would be more of a challenge, but you're just disappointing. No consciousness, not even my full arsenal of abilities; hell, you barely have a complete grasp over your combative instincts. I guess that's what I can expect from a fragment of the Reality Stone that isn't even being used completely."
As Alex shook his head, four more tentacles came out of his back and started suppressing the doppelgänger under Alex's command. Since it was a construct of the Reality Stone, Alex couldn't do anything to it without using the Mind Stone. It would just regenerate any damage that it sustained.
"I can see why the others are having such a difficult time with their respective opponents." Alex nodded as he focused outside the boundary he formed to block the doppelgänger.
Half of the building had already been destroyed as some of the heroes fought in mid-air while the rest took to the streets. Although they had already evacuated almost all of the people in the surroundings, the collateral damage wasn't anything to scoff at. As for the most important battle, Gwen and Cindy were fully engaged with Shang-Chi.
Unlike Gwen, who was holding her own against the esoteric abilities of the Mandarin's rings, Cindy was mostly being protected by her as Shang-Chi continued to focus his efforts on killing Cindy rather than beating Gwen.
[Alex, can't you give Cindy some extra defense or something? It's troublesome to protect her while dealing with this guy.]
[This is still his Reality Domain. He will escape if he realizes that he can't kill Cindy—]
[Stop fucking with me.] Gwen called him out on his cheap excuse for not helping her.
[Fine. But I'm not going to change anything. I want you to feel some pressure here. I want you to push yourself and surpass your limits.]
[Fine, goddamn it!]
Gwen's angry shout was followed by an explosion of bioelectricity from her form, forcing Shang-Chi to use the Lightning ring to resist the explosion. Still, it made him skid backward until he collided with a pillar. She didn't give him any respite and shot her webs at his sides to slingshot herself at him. Her action directly ripped out two chunks of the concrete wall that were attached to her webs.
Shang-Chi quickly shot a concussive force blast under him that propelled him up in the air, barely dodging Gwen's propelled kick.
[I just thought of something. I could incorporate this move of yours into a railgun. With multiple electromagnetic rings, your slingshot speed will be increased exponentially.]
[Thanks, but I'd like to keep my skin on my body when I land.]
Gwen broke through the pillar and was about to shoot out of the building due to her momentum, but she shot her web at a large piece of broken debris and swung it around, transferring all of her energy to the huge concrete slab that she threw at Shang-Chi.
Before it even reached the man, it was disintegrated by a disintegration beam shot from Spectral.
"It's really annoying to deal with these rings."
"Then retreat. I only wish to kill that bitch today." Shang-Chi snarled as he brought his focus back to Cindy, shooting her with a wave of intense cold from Zero.
"And waste all of the effort it took to get you here? Impossible."
Gwen's features exploded with lightning as her speed increased exponentially. Leaving multiple lightning outlines in her path, she appeared in between the beam and Cindy before blasting it with her lightning. The Absolute Zero beam exploded, instantly plummeting the temperature in the surroundings as the moisture in the air froze. It didn't impede Gwen in the slightest as she reached Shang-Chi once again, intent on taking him down.
"I've had enough of this." He growled at her and Gwen felt her Spider-Sense flare crazily. She was forced to step back as he tried to use the Mind Stone to attack her.
"I told you that you won't be able to cheat by using an Infinity Stone again, asshole," Gwen growled at him as a matching yellow glow dispelled the beam Shang-Chi attacked her with.
She immediately followed up with a lightning attack that overpowered Shang-Chi's defenses, sending him flying. By now, the exhaustion was getting to the man as he started making mistakes. With Gwen's undoubtedly stronger physique that was even further empowered by the newly upgraded ‹Lightning Divinity›, Shang-Chi was no longer a match for her. She was already able to hold her own against him in their previous battle and even come out on top, forcing him to use an Infinity Stone. Now, Alex had grown much stronger, which in turn made her much stronger as well.
As Gwen continued beating Shang-Chi up, the power of the Reality Stone started waning and it became difficult for him to continue to command the domain. Slowly, the doppelgängers stopped regenerating after being defeated, with each defeat weakening them further.
"Good work," Alex smiled as he exhausted his doppelgänger to death, making it disappear into the aether of the Reality Stone.
"She should be arriving soon…" Alex spoke to himself as Doctor Strange, with the help of Emma Frost, took care of his doppelgänger. Now that he was free, he made his way to Shang-Chi, quickly supporting Gwen in suppressing the man.
The situation had quickly been turned around. With the heroes being freed of their respective doppelgängers, they were able to support Gwen in taking down not only Shang-Chi but any backup forces that he had stationed around the Reality Domain as well. Even then, the man was extremely troublesome to deal with, taking the collective efforts of Doctor Strange, Gwen, Emma Frost, and Tony Stark to subdue.
"You don't know what you're doing," the man struggled from his bindings. "Not only are you protecting a murderer, but you're also inviting a terror upon your planet that you cannot even begin to fathom."
"We've already made a gamble on a different unfathomable terror," Tony spoke. "Now it's between the two of them to hash it out."
How tiresome.
An apathetic voice reverberated throughout the entire city, sending chills down the spines of anyone who heard it.
"There you are…" Alex smiled a wild smile as his figure got covered in Chaos Energy. He floated up as the morning sky started turning crimson. It was as if waves of Chaos were gathering from all over the planet and coalescing into clouds that were taking up darker shades of red.
Free him and surrender to his reign. I may yet allow your planet to survive my purge.
"This planet refuses, Miss Maximoff," Alex spoke calmly. "Now if you would please retreat, I may yet allow you to keep some dignity for yourself."
Apex.
The singular word contained myriad emotions, the predominant one being anger.
Do you think you can resist me?
"I guess we'll just have to see," Alex said as the crimson cloud in the sky compressed and formed into a human silhouette. Scarlet Angel slowly descended from the sky like an angel, as her blonde hair fluttered in the wind and her white dress with red accents made her seem like she was here to bring salvation to their planet.
"I will not offer peace a second time," the incarnation spoke.
"I would've considered it if it were the real you. But it's not."
"I could throw your words back at you."
"Unlike your incarnation, mine doesn't suffer from your weakness."
"You will regret this," following her words, Scarlet Angel exploded with a burst of a myriad of glows, the predominant one being red, followed by green, yellow, and blue.
Alex's face took on an expression of greed as he looked at the woman's display of power. He didn't bother channeling any of his Infinity Stone authorities. Not only was he already dangerously low on Bioenergy, but he wouldn't be able to contend against her authorities directly due to her having collected more stones than him.
"I've wanted to see the limits of my new Divinity for a while now," Alex said excitedly. His arcs of lightning appeared on his body. The formal suit he had adorned wasn't affected by his actions, but the red atmosphere conjured by Scarlet Angel's presence was dispelled. The clouds instantly turned dark as it started raining, with lightning crackling in the clouds above them.
"No wonder you've gotten so confident."
-x-X-x-
Moving from ‹Advanced Lightning Manipulation› to ‹Lightning Divinity› didn't introduce any new abilities to Alex's repertoire, but it was a qualitative change to the ability. The lightning Alex manipulated was no longer generated from a violent electric discharge. Nor did he need to use charged electrons to generate lightning. He could naturally create as much lightning as necessary.
The most visible change was that Gwen was constantly in a state of lightning empowerment without any need for ‹Atmospheric Burst›. Alex no longer needed the support of the clouds to generate the kind of lightning that was necessary for empowerment.
"I've already killed a Thor, Apex. If you're relying on just that, then this planet is mine," The blonde Wanda asked Alex.
"I'm offended that you would compare me to a Thor who isn't even able to call upon the Odinforce," Alex said as he used his
"You overestimate yourself," she scoffed and created hundreds of spikes composed of pure chaos energy. They shot forward and disappeared in a blue glow, appearing in front of Alex before he processed their creation.
"I don't like your underhanded tactics," Alex grunted and released a thick bolt of lightning that shot down to the ground. It split apart and intercepted the spikes that were racing for Gwen.
"Underhanded? Darling, I'm hurt," She shook her head with a demure laugh. "I don't plan to battle a clone that you can create endless copies of. I wonder what will happen if I destroy all of your Anchors."
"Nothing," Alex said. "I'll just create new ones."
"How practical," She spoke and their surroundings immediately changed to show a blank white space. "I wonder if you truly are that practical?"
A figure materialized in Alex's vision and he was subjected to the scene of Laura being impaled through the heart by a Murasama Blade that completely negated her healing factor. Somehow, new information came to the front of his mind. He knew that this was far stronger of a negation of her healing factor than anything else — directly targeting her genetic makeup to break her biology down.
"You know that I'm connected to all of my Hosts, right?" Alex shook his head, shaking off the uncomfortable feeling that came due to being unable to help Laura.
"Maybe," she smiled a knowing smile as Laura's body was mutilated even further, brutalizing her. Another figure appeared beside Laura's form— that of Gwen, similarly brutalized and hurt immensely.
Alex felt an internal urge to go on a rampage and destroy everything all around him. He wanted to give in to the rage and take it out on everything around him. He wanted to kill Wanda, who was trying to manipulate him. He wanted to kill the planetary inhabitants who were opposing his rule. He wanted to destroy the being who was playing this game with him as the center of this massive.
"Nice trick," Alex quickly calmed down. "But I also have the Mind Stone."
"I wonder if it would've had a better effect if I showed you your other hosts as well… How many do you have at this point?" Her rhetoric was dripping with schadenfreude.
"If we're done here…" Alex shook his head as four tentacles appeared behind him, but instead of his usual black mass, they were composed of pure lightning that was generated by his Divinity. The lightning whips extended in all four directions around him, releasing an aura that cracked the fabric of the reality that Wanda had created using the Reality Stone and her Chaos Magic. Within seconds, the white space shattered and the duo appeared back in their previous spots — floating above the ruins of the city block that had been decimated in the aftermath of Shang Chi's actions.
"I'm just getting started, Apex," Wanda spoke softly before waving her hand.
Her spell took effect and surviving buildings in the surrounding blocks morphed into some kind of an elastic structure that elongated and charged at him like huge snakes. Alex countered the approaching buildings with lightning, but the bolts seemed to meld into the structures as if being absorbed by them.
"I'll just go even further…" Alex said excitedly. He was having fun testing the limits of his lightning. He suddenly increased his output exponentially, making him glow like a white sun. The bolts of lightning he released this time tore through the spell Wanda had used on the buildings, destroying them. Just as he turned the buildings into debris, Wanda slammed into him with a huge amount of force. With his Cosmic Physique, it barely felt like the touch of a feather, but his flight was disrupted, throwing him across the street to collide with a surviving building.
She seemed to understand the extent of his physical prowess and quickly gave up on a physical confrontation, quickly gathering a large amount of Chaos Energy before sending a burst down at the heroes underneath them. Doctor Strange created a large barrier to block the encroaching energy, but it barely held up for a second before breaking, sending him flying from the backlash. The others made their attempts as well, but her attack directly tore through everything.
"Now that's just playing in bad faith," Alex spoke as similar red energy escaped Gwen's body, countering Wanda's attack. He materialized in front of Gwen before floating back up to Wanda.
[Keep holding on to Shang Chi for a while. I have the perfect present for her.]
[You have to tell me about your history with her. You said that you'd just encountered her in that Hydra Earth. When did you two get so familiar?]
[Long story, I'll tell you later.]
As Alex flew higher, Gwen noticed a familiar sensation. He was using her as a medium to pass some kind of energy into Shang Chi.
'Wouldn't she detect it?' She believed that Wanda would quickly detect Alex's trick with Chaos Energy.
Her guess was spot on.
"What are you trying, Apex?" Wanda asked as her previously soft and gentle voice took up a chilling tone.
"Won't you find out when I'm done?" Alex taunted, only to receive a huge burst of Chaos Energy in response. He shrugged it off, but Wanda was already ready with her next spell. A red aura burst out of her figure and blanketed the entire sky. As far as the eye could see, the previously blue sky was tinted red. The only patch that wasn't red was above Alex, influenced by his ‹Lightning Divinity›.
"Are you trying to suck out the life force of the entire state?"
"I'm merely borrowing a bit of it. They won't even notice. Of course, as long as I don't pull too much," her eyes had a gleam of madness.
"You think too little of me if you believe that a hostage situation would work against me," Alex shook his head as Wanda released a concentrated bolt of Chaos Lightning at him.
He intercepted it, but she continued throwing more and more bolts at him. Empowered by her spell, her attacks were enough to slowly push back against Alex's untrained ‹Lightning Divinity›. He wasn't yet able to utilize the ability to its full potential.
"You will kill everyone in the city," Alex spoke gravely.
"I thought you said that a hostage situation won't work on you," She chuckled victoriously. "Cease that spell and I may consider it." The only reason she went this route was that Alex kept blocking her attacks on Gwen
"It won't," Alex focused his mind and suddenly released a matching blanketing aura of Chaos from himself as the center. It didn't spread out but merely expanded enough to form a domain around himself and Wanda.
"Trying to take control of my spell? How cute. You're a few centuries too early to battle me in the mastery of my magic."
"As long as you think so," Alex's words had an underlying meaning that Wanda wasn't sure that she grasped.
While Alex wasn't able to take control of Wanda's spell, he slowed it down enough that she wouldn't be able to kill everyone in the state within seconds. The delay allowed Alex to charge the clouds just enough for him to summon an ‹Atmospheric Burst›.
As if delivering some kind of punishment from the heavens, the sky itself seemed to split open as a thick bolt of white lightning fell down from the sky, directly on top of Wanda's figure. The nature of the discharge forcefully pushed away all of the clouds in the area, leaving a perfectly clear sky above them while the rest of the city was still covered under the red sky.
Wanda screamed in pain as her concentration was disrupted just enough that Alex was able to dispel her spell.
"You hurt me," Wanda's angelic appearance was somewhat ruined in her disheveled state after enduring the lightning attack.
"Come on, I haven't even used my ultimate lightning ability yet," Alex chuckled.
"I'll show you," She grunted and gathered up even more Energy in her hands, ready to throw it at Alex.
"You won't have the chance anymore," Alex shook his head. Before Wanda could attack him, Shang Chi's scream disrupted her momentum. The man was wrapped in an orb of red that infiltrated into the deepest parts of his existence, penetrating his soul itself.
"No!" Wanda screamed as she realized that she'd forgotten about the spell that Alex was preparing.
Before she could take any further action, she felt that spell probing into her form as well. Not only the incarnation she was using but her actual body as well.
"Thanks for the Infinity Stones," Alex smirked at her as Wanda felt a pull on the Mind and Reality Stones that she'd allowed Shang Chi to use freely. With the spell already underway, she had no way to stop it despite her vast repertoire of knowledge. The two stones were a lost cause and she knew it.
"I'll make you pay, Apex. I'll destroy this planet if it's the last thing I do before this incarnation disperses," Wanda's tone was chilling, but the amount of Chaos Energy she released in her actions was enough to make Alex feel the pressure despite ‹Lightning Divinity›.
-x-X-x-
The moment Alex's spell on Shang Chi took effect, Wanda's wrath rained down upon the entire planet. Her baleful aura didn't take long to envelop the whole planet. The mere presence of that aura had already resulted in thousands of deaths all around the world.
Then, Wanda's spell took effect. Her Chaos energy took the form of lightning and descended everywhere. Alex just looked on impassively as her actions led to the death of millions all over the world, with the number exponentially rising.
"You still have a chance, Apex. Cancel the spell and I'll use the Time Stone to revive the dead. I'll even leave if you tell me where you got that spell."
Alex sighed and shook his head, "I told you before and I'll tell you again. You cannot possibly hope to contend against me, Wanda. You still have some use to me, otherwise, you would've long been taken care of."
Scarlet Angel's expression warped into one of endless fury before returning to her previous calm, "Then it's too late for regrets."
"Why don't you try to transfer your Darkhold to this incarnation?" Alex said with a taunting sincerity. "Maybe you can use it to deal with this spell."
She didn't respond verbally, but the intensity of her spell increased by multiple factors. Crimson storms ravaged the Earth, bringing about natural disasters everywhere. Within seconds, the loss of life had gone beyond a billion.
Alex didn't do anything to stop her and instead smiled, "I appreciate the support," He said. The mad gleam in his eyes made even Wanda falter for a moment. "Your indiscriminate slaughter will help me control this world better."
Unlike Farm and Research Earths, this planet had a very prominent presence of superheroes. A dictatorial rule similar to the other two planets would have been nigh impossible for Alex without a massive change. Wanda's actions would give him the perfect reason to establish a new regime that would take over the planet.
"For that, this world should exist in the first place," Wanda seemed to have guessed Alex's plans. Her forcefully calm expression warped into one of fury once again as the spell on Shang Chi took effect. Two Infinity Stones emerged from the man's figure, abruptly shooting toward Alex. With the conclusion of the spell, Shang Chi's figure vaporized into nothingness.
"Goodbye, Wanda," The incarnation's strength immediately decreased as she started fading away. Without the anchor that was Shang Chi, she couldn't maintain the incarnation anymore. "We'll meet again soon," Alex said as he made sure that the remnants of Wanda's spell were all dispelled. Calming down the worldwide disasters.
[Is it done?] Gwen asked as she noticed the disappearing figure of Alex's enemy.
Despite the destruction, the people who had come to ambush Shang Chi were all perfectly fine due to Alex's protection. They hadn't even realized that half of their planet had been massacred. To them, the earthquakes were merely localized occurrences due to the battle.
[Not yet.]
Alex's words made a frown appear on Gwen's face as she expected something to appear.
[You wanna see?] Alex asked. Gwen barely nodded before he descended and wrapped his arm around her waist.
"You all can move out, I need we need to do one last thing. In two hours, I want everyone to convene in the hall of Stark Tower," Alex's words were much more authoritative than before as if talking to people who had already subordinated themselves to him. The more capable people among the group all had an ominous premonition at his words and quickly moved to find out about the aftereffects of that battle.
At the same time, Alex and Gwen broke through the atmosphere and appeared outside their Earth. Before Gwen could marvel at the presence of such a large cluster of planets that all looked like Earth, Alex brought her attention to a direction.
"You see that?" He pointed in a direction and Gwen followed his line of sight, suddenly feeling cold sweats appearing on her back. Her Spider-Sense was flaring crazily, telling her just how hopeless any resistance she could mount would be completely useless. It was a beam of crimson energy, as big as the planets that it was passing that took a curved path. She could see that it was approaching her. Specifically, her planet.
"Alex, we have to save them…" Gwen clutched his shirt, trying to calm her trembling. She didn't even realize that they were clearly in space, but she could both breathe and speak without any issues. "Alex…"
"Of course," He chuckled. "I'm not planning to rule over debris. "Just watch."
As the planetary beam approached Gwen's Earth, her grip over Alex's shirt only got tighter, conveying that she was far from being calm.
"It's starting," Just as Alex said so, a matching sphere of red emerged from Gwen's planet. Above the Americas, it quickly grew to a matching size as the other beam before shooting out of the planet. The ensuing explosion sent multiple moons off orbit, including Earth-65's, either destroying them completely or sending them hurling into space.
"We've just killed multiple realities worth of mutants," Alex said.
"What?!"
"After all the persecution they dealt with, they ended up moving house and going to the moon. And looking at the four destroyed and eight that were sent hurling into space, five of them artificial, we've annihilated at least three planets worth of mutants. Of course, unless they have some kind of way to beam themselves back to this cluster."
"Can't we bring them back?" Gwen was horrified.
"I'm strong, but not strong enough to bring back a moon," Alex shrugged.
"That's a lie," Gwen caught on.
"Well, yes, but I don't want to yank a moon back to orbit with my physical strength. It's tiresome."
"So you're just going to let them die? You could instead take over them. Have them subordinate themselves to you."
"Please, one Emma Frost has been sucking on my Bioenergy reserves like a leech. I have no interest in dealing with a Xavier as well. Let alone three."
"But but…"
"Stop worrying so much. They won't die. At best, one of their Omega Classes will reluctantly decide that they want to actually use their powers. They won't end up dead."
After some more comfort from Alex, Gwen finally remembered her own planet's situation, "A lot of people died, didn't they?" She asked.
"Almost four billion," Alex told her. "Every single country was affected massively."
"Well, good for you, I guess," Gwen was clearly feeling melancholic. "You're going to establish control in the name of disaster relief, aren't you?"
"Something like that. But this was necessary. Otherwise, I wouldn't have been able to incorporate your planet into Gaia."
Gwen sighed, "Let's go back."
"There's still something left," Alex said. "Look," he pointed back at the Earth. From the same location that the previous sphere of light came a much thinner beam of crimson light emerged. It extended all the way up to the Stratosphere before forming the familiar hexagonal pattern shield that spread all across the planet. The only difference was that instead of the Blue of Farm and Research Earths, this one was Crimson.
"Hey, Alex. What's with all the reds? That beam was red, this shield is red, what's going on? Aren't Gaia's shields blue?" Gwen asked distractedly.
"Because I'm not siphoning the strength of the planet's core to run it. I'm using Wanda's source magic to power these things. Both the weapon and this shield are made of that. But there's no need to worry about all of that. Now, it's time to return home. Your father must be worried."
…
As Alex accompanied Gwen, he divided his attention to look inside his soul at the new addition.
Not to mention the second Mind Stone fragment, Alex also got a fragment of the Reality Stone. Both the Stones that Wanda had tethered to Shang Chi were yanked away from under her nose.
Alex first willed the Mind Stones to merge together, leaving a single orb of yellow whose glow matched that of the Soul Stone while the green of the Time Stone and red of the Reality Stone were slightly weaker.
With that, he focused on his current status.
«Skill Acquisition»
«EP/Bioenergy»:: 541 Units
«Cosmic Energy»:: 0.0000 Units
«Soul Energy»:: 1463 Units
«Manipulations»:: ‹Lightning Divinity› ‹Basic Blood Manipulation›
«Innate Abilities»:: ‹Biological Manipulation› ‹Host Enhancement› ‹Devour› ‹Copy›
«Derived Abilities»:: ‹Cosmic Physique Creation› ‹True Sixth Sense› ‹Inventory› ‹Advanced Camouflage› ‹Elemental Immunity› ‹Hypnosis›
«Magical Abilities»:: ‹High Magic Affinity› ‹High Chaos Affinity› ‹Host of the Scarlet Witch› ‹Soul Devour›
«Authorities»:: ‹Time (2.5%)› ‹Mind (5%)› ‹Soul (5%)› ‹Reality (2.5%)›
«Cosmic Abilities»:: ‹Low Cosmic Manipulation (Incomplete)›
Mind Authority was doubled, reaching 5%, while Reality Authority was added to his Authority column, with the same 2.5% as Time Authority.
'All right, two more stones have been acquired. Now I'm just missing the Space and the Power Stone to complete the Hexad. Once that is done, I'll be able to take care of the hidden danger of the Celestial inside this planet without making all of them my enemies. Unfortunately, the Power Stone is as elusive as ever…'
Alex had spent more than a month in space with Jane. Not to mention Morag, their subsequent leads had also yielded no concrete results until now. It would take him a while to find the Power Stone.
'Now to wait until Gaia comes closer to Earth-65 so that I can incorporate it into the cluster.'
-x-X-x-
Down in Earth-65, Alex reestablished Stacy Industries with Cindy as the CEO. The poor girl had received enough punishment for her actions regarding Shang-Chi, and it was now time to have her use her strengths in management. While irredeemable to most people, Alex couldn't be less concerned about her actions.
He had just indirectly allowed almost four billion people to die because of his own benefit. Cindy's actions were downright saintly in front of him.
The following days resulted in a period of rapid development and expansion as Stacy Industries quickly established a base of operations in every country to provide humanitarian aid. With the resources of two whole planets behind them, they had nothing to be afraid of and rapidly used their resources to win over the common people.
In smaller countries, the division heads were equivalent to literal kings with the influence they had. With the deterrent force of Apex and the surrender of the Illuminati, no governmental body could go against the rapid expansion of power and influence that the company was amassing. Including all of that, Alex decided to employ some help from the sorcerers of the mystic arts as well.
Having Doctor Strange deploy one of his sorcerers to each country with the division heads, Alex allowed the use of magical means to truly accelerate the development of the company. Within a week, every single country had a base of the company that was managed by a division head directly under Alex's hypnotic control.
Until he could develop his own trusted forces in terms of management, these people would be managing the planet for him.
Along with Stacy Industries, Alex had a second project that he was working on, The Apex Force. Not the supernatural cheap-copy-of-the-Odinforce kind — that would require not only all six of the Infinity Stones but also decades of research. The Apex Force on Earth-65 would be a simple task force of heroes that were under his direct employ.
Using the previous Neo Avengers, Alex gave the heroes an offer that they couldn't refuse. They would work under a special division of Stacy Industries that was essentially a private militia. They would be deployed all over the world with the division heads to maintain the peace of the situation. With the presence of a sorcerer and a trusted team of heroes, the divisions in different countries were able to develop unimpeded.
While not all of them accepted his offer, most of them did. No one other than Gwen was actually aware of whether Alex could prevent Wanda's actions or not. To them, he was a hero. The only one who was slightly suspicious was Doctor Strange, but he was a pragmatic man who knew when to accept the circumstances and adapt.
'Eventually, I will try to bring everything under a single name. Maybe Apex Empire or something… That would make things much easier to manage.'
With everything going smoothly — at least as much as possible — Alex was able to spend some much-needed quality time with his girlfriend.
"So your plans of world domination have finally come to fruition," Spider-Woman spoke to herself, perched on the top of the Empire State Building. She looked over the skyline of the previously glamorous city that was now a husk of its former self. Many chunks of the city seemed to have completely vaporized into nothingness while most of the other skyscrapers were also in tatters. This was one of the only scant few skyscrapers in the city that had survived.
[While this is a tragedy, in fifty or even twenty years, the revolution that this planet experiences will be enough to make the sacrifice worth it.]
"You know, Alex… I should hate you right now. Despise you even. To have chosen a path of such bloodshed to further your own goals. So, why is it that all I can think of is the next adventure that you will take me on?" She asked. "Every non-evil spider person I've met has been righteous to a nauseating degree. Shouldn't I be like that? Shouldn't I bust my ass trying to convince you to turn yourself in? To repent for what you've done… And still be too scared to ask for you to receive the death penalty." She looked up at the night sky and the myriad heavenly bodies that littered their sky. The red shield surrounding the planet didn't seem to have any effect on the view of the night sky. "We don't even have our moon anymore."
"Do you truly believe that every spider person out there is the same, Gwen?" Alex floated in the air beside her. "You don't need to follow some kind of template of goodness. I have a question for you. Do you help people because you like to do it, or is it because your power has come with that responsibility?"
"Can't it be both?" Gwen's voice came out as a little nasal.
"It can. Of course it can," Alex nodded. "But you know in your heart that the ones who do it for responsibility are the most miserable of all spider people. As for the ones who like to do it regardless, they eventually stop after a decade or so because it doesn't feel as good anymore. They settle down and pass on their mantle to a worthy successor. Is that not the case?"
"What of the one who believes it to be their responsibility and likes to do it regardless?" Gwen was stubborn.
"Well, you take that, and you have Peter Parker Prime. 616's Spider-Man. The one who has spent the majority of his life in poverty. Lost his first love to the Green Goblin. Lost his marriage because of a deal with the devil gone wrong, all to save his aunt May. Lost his body to Doctor Octopus at one point. Still lost his Aunt May while his marriage and relationship were still in shambles. Need I go on? Poor guy's life is the tragedy of all tragedies."
"And yet he always gets up," Gwen said. "He is the strongest of all spider people. You know that."
"Maybe. But so what? What does he have to live for after all this sacrifice? It is the responsibility that keeps him going. Boiling it down to the basics, he is the worst kind of workaholic."
"And what kind is that?"
"The kind you can't even admonish. Because if he ignores his work, people get hurt, or worse, die. He isn't strong enough to have that on his conscience. The end result of this weakness is that he sabotages his relationships and neglects those who care for him. There is no winning scenario in that situation."
"To me, Spider-Man is the best superhero of them all."
"And when you grow up, you will realize that he is the stupidest of them all."
"I'm not Spider-Man…" Gwen sighed, raising her arm up in the air. She shot a random web up at the sky. "I'm selfish and only do what I do because I have fun. Of course, your actions don't make me hate you… You protected everyone even remotely close to me. You made sure that it wouldn't have any actual impact on me personally."
"I knew," Alex nodded, "that you wouldn't resent me for it. That is why I took the most efficient course of action. If I stopped that spell, it would've been impossible for me to have such progress in a single week. I would've needed years, if not decades, to bring things under even a semblance of control."
"I'll forgive you," Gwen said with a scheming smile on her face.
"I didn't think you were mad at me."
"I am. Half of my planet is dead. But I shall be magnanimous and forgive you…"
"I'm listening."
"If you join my university as a fresher, I'm going to be in my sophomore year soon."
"You do know that your friends think of me as having some kind of business. Not to mention MJ, who knows so much more as a member of Apex Force."
"Come on," Gwen turned to him and shook his arm. "It's going to be amazing. I'll take you hazing with the girls and start a sorority. It's going to be amazing. I've lived my life as such a normal student. I want to get into the wild aspects of college life."
"And I'll be what? One of the sorority boy toys?" Alex chuckled.
"Of course not," Gwen shook her head. "You'll be our only sorority boy toy."
"I think you need a psych evaluation," Alex said. "Let's start with your name."
"Come on, call me mommy. It'll be so much fun," Gwen could see that while Alex was playing along, he was getting a little rattled and pushed further.
"I think you need to be reminded of our roles in this relationship once again… A weekend-long punishment should be sufficient, I think."
"Hmm," Gwen nodded with a serious pout that was hidden behind her mask. "I agree. If I'm going to dominate you from now on, I clearly need some practice. What size strap-on are you — ahn~"
"It seems that I need to tame an unruly spider," Alex's gaze was dark and sent shivers down Gwen's spine. Suddenly, her piercings suddenly started vibrating, making her feel the electrifying pleasure down to her core. She squirmed as Alex twisted her piercings, and it became difficult for her to maintain her balance.
"I — Mmf," Just as she opened her mouth to speak, a gag formed under her mask that went into her mouth, and her vision turned dark. The eyes of her mask had become opaque.
"Let me take you to a special place called my dungeon. I will spend at least a month there with you to fuck this unruliness out of you."
Gwen symbolically resisted as Alex grabbed her waist and put her on his shoulder, groaning through the gag while waving her arms and legs around.
-x-X-x-
When Gwen came to her senses, she immediately felt disoriented and realized that she was hanging upside down. Her arms were tied behind her back and held together in a box tie. She grunted, wiggling against the bonds that held her ankles together. She could feel a single boot-like object covering her feet and going up her ankles, halfway to her calves. It was attached to the ceiling.
"Alex, come on~" She moaned. "I wanna play the dom sometimes." Her aroused and playful tone was in direct contrast to the panic that her resistant actions were showcasing.
"You'd be a horrible dom," Alex said. Gwen found her mask being pulled off of her head as her vision finally cleared. The first thing she saw was Alex's bare stomach. He still had his trousers on, but his torso was bare.
Gwen whistled at the display before reluctantly turning her eyes away to see where she was.
"You really brought me to a dungeon…" Despite hanging upside down, she could easily make out the different apparatuses in the room. Looking at the varied restraints and devices, she gulped with some difficulty, "This place must've cost a fortune, no?"
"You have no idea. This place should've cost the government tens of millions of dollars throughout its lifetime. Welcome to the presidential sex dungeon. Of the three planets that I own, all three have this thing in common. Every White House has a sex dungeon."
"And you've inherited their kinky habits as the new owner of the planet?"
"What inherit? I've always been this way," Gwen saw Alex picking up some short whip with multiple tails.
"So, are you going to beat the unruliness out of me?" Gwen kept struggling, though the arousal in her voice was unmistakable.
"I'm going to flog it out of you. Before drowning you in pleasure as I bond with your organs," Gwen didn't even see Alex's arm moving before she felt a stinging sensation on her chest. It was followed by a slightly cold sensation as she saw in her peripheral vision that the whip had torn off the chest part of her outfit, leaving parts of her skin bare.
"That hurt…" Gwen pouted. "I'll blow you if you let me go right now."
"You play a cute brat," Alex was amused as he whipped her successively a few times, making Gwen squirm as she wiggled around helplessly.
"Stooop~" She moaned and folded her legs up just before Alex's whip hit her chest, dodging it completely.
"What a brat," Alex shook his head, "What if the whip hit your face, huh?"
Just as Gwen was about to respond, Alex pushed two fingers into her mouth, preventing her from responding.
"Let's see if you are going to dodge the whip again," He dropped the whip and hooked his fingers through a chain that had suddenly connected her nipple piercings.
Gwen's eyes widened in terror as she shook her head.
"Then you shouldn't be a brat, my love," Alex held her tongue between his fingers and gently pulled it out. As Gwen opened her mouth, he formed a gag that kept her mouth open. As for her tongue, the lower part of her piercing extended into a chain that Alex attached to the chain on her nipple piercings.
"Ahex~" Gwen's voice came out muffled as her drool escaped her lips and trailed up her face.
Connecting another chain, Alex attached it to the floor. If Gwen tried to dodge or even wiggle too much, her nipples and tongue would be yanked.
"Let's see how you're going to be a brat once again," The underlying darkness in Alex's tone sent shivers down Gwen's spine.
This time, Gwen's resistance was much weaker as Alex continued flogging her. She continued moaning in pain and pleasure as each strike left a stinging sensation that was followed by an arousing heat.
Alex flogged Gwen for what she felt were hours. Her face was covered in her drool as it dripped down her hair and onto the floor. Her outfit had long disappeared, leaving behind faint red marks on her milky white skin. Still, she was completely alert to her surroundings, every time the flogger made contact with her skin, the stinging sensation left her even more alert of its sting.
After having stopped resisting for a while, Gwen abruptly resisted violently again. It caused her nipples and tongue to get yanked, but she didn't seem to care.
"Calm down," Alex dropped the whip to the side and hugged Gwen, causing her face to get pressed against his stomach. She groaned through her gag as she realized that he'd detached the chain that connected her nipples and tongue to the ground. They were still connected to each other, forcing her to keep her tongue out of her mouth.
"That seems to be enough whipping for now," Alex didn't consider Gwen's resistance as real. She had all the chances to speak to him telepathically in case she wanted to say something. He pressed his nose against her lower abdomen, gently licking and sucking the area below her navel. She felt his arms running along her back before he cupped her ass, making her stiffen up. Her ass was specifically sensitive after all the whipping she'd endured. She slowly loosened up as Alex gently massaged her ass while making her feel all sorts of tingles by stimulating her abdomen.
Now squirming for a whole different reason, Gwen moaned through her gag as her drool fell on Alex's stomach, trailing down his abs. She felt even more aroused as she saw the slick liquid trailing down to his trousers.
"Ah!" She squealed in surprise as she was suddenly lowered. She found Alex's crotch right in front of her as she felt her tongue's piercing being freed from the chain. She wanted to pull her tongue back in, but the muscle was already overtaxed, making it hang helplessly out of her mouth. The sudden freedom made even more drool fall on Gwen's face, forcing her to close her eyes.
"Let me help you a little," Alex said, and Gwen saw him lowering his trousers and freeing his dick. Gwen instinctively moved forward and licked the tip, tasting the slightly salty precum.
[I want chocolate…] She spoke mentally while still licking his dick.
"You are really into the bratty role today, huh?" Alex shook his head with an amused smile before moving his head forward and licking Gwen's pussy. As for Gwen, he held the sides of her head and helped her a bit.
Continuing his actions for a few seconds, he felt her shivering in pleasure and stopped licking her.
"Since you want to play the brat, you only get to cum with me. I'll make sure of that," Gwen groaned in protest but was helpless in front of him. She could only obediently follow his pace as he moved her head back and forth.
He made sure to keep the pace of his licking slow, making sure that she wouldn't climax just yet. After a while, he freed one of his hands and brought it to her ass, giving her a spank. She reacted immediately with a pained groan as her throat tightened and her body shivered. The flogging had left her entire skin sensitive to any stimulus.
After massaging her ass for a while, he moved his hand to her other hole, roughly shoving his finger in. She responded with a pleasured groan as she took him in completely, making her nose press on his sack. Alex had spent months regularly teasing her puckered hole, and by now, Gwen's response toward anal stuff was very positive, albeit mixed with a little surprise.
As Alex continued fingering her ass while licking Gwen, she was getting closer and closer to her climax. She would've already cum multiple times if not for him suppressing her orgasm. The current situation, mixed in with the flogging, was far too stimulating for her not to have climaxed even once until now.
As she got closer and closer, Alex grabbed the back of her head and pulled her close, forcing her to take him in completely before he came inside her throat. Since she was upside down, most of it escaped from the sides of her mouth and nose, staining her face with his cum. However, she wasn't in a place to focus on this discomfort. Her body was currently being rocked by a climax that left her shivering and convulsing violently. She squirted in Alex's face as he eagerly continued licking her, lapping her juices up while also prolonging her orgasm for the peak of pleasure.
As Gwen was recovering from her almost violent orgasm, she was lowered to the ground as Alex freed her legs completely. He still left her arms restrained and grabbed them to pull her up to a doggy-style position while she was on her knees.
"Ahn~!" She groaned through her gag as she felt him entering her hypersensitive pussy, making her feel like she was being electrocuted directly in her uterus. She struggled futilely as he fucked her and made her moan helplessly with the pleasure ravaging her. After a few seconds, he pulled out, making her breathe out in relief, though that was short-lived as she felt his dick pressing against another hole.
She called out his name in panic, but it just came out as a panicked groan, only to be followed by a squeal as Alex spanked her ass.
"Don't worry, I'll make sure you like it," Alex squeezed her ass before pressing further as his tip entered her. At that moment, Gwen felt her heart beating unusually fast. Within seconds, she felt like her entire body was burning, and Alex's dick was the only thing that could cool down her arousal.
"Let's see how strong I can make you after bonding with your organs," Alex's words sent a shiver down Gwen's spine as he completely entered her ass. Gwen moaned through the gag and came just from being penetrated in her ass.
"What a slut," Alex spanked her ass before slowly moving his hips.
Gwen moaned in excitement.
-x-X-x-
Two weeks later, Alex had stabilized the Organ Bond with Gwen, providing a large boost to her physical abilities. Unfortunately, it still wasn't enough to breach the Cosmic threshold. Still, while she couldn't crush a planet with ease, she wasn't too far away from having the kind of strength necessary for such a feat.
{ «Status- Host #1»
«Name: Gwen Stacy (Ghost Spider) (Earth-65)»
«Bonding Rate: 70%»
«Bonding Level: 6»
«Powers: Low Cosmic Physique— Spider Sense— Wall Crawling— Bio-Electricity— Camouflage— Blood Berserker II»
}
Now that Alex was pretty much done with everything major on Gwen's Earth, he decided to take things slow and focus on consolidating his control over this planet. Once he found the Power and Space Stones, he would transfer the incubating celestial away and stabilize the presence of the planetary shield as well.
To indulge Gwen, Alex agreed to get an easy humanities degree from her university. He was more interested in enjoying college life with her than anything, so the course didn't matter to him as long as they spent sufficient time together.
In the meantime, unlike Gwen's planet, which, while still being a part of Gaia, was still not under the effects of Time Dilation, both of the other planets had already gone through a period of four years since Alex had landed. With his increased reserves of Bioenergy, Alex had even topped up the time dilation tech with more Time Authority to keep it going for as long as he needed.
Both planets had gone through many radical changes during this period of rapid growth and expansion. In Research Earth — Gwen's Earth, Alex had chosen to use the European Union as his main base of operations. Since Gwen was still going to complete her degree, it made sense to set up his base of operations where he was staying permanently.
As for Farm Earth, he had already established the center of his influence in the United States, having long taken over as the President even before establishing the planet shields or the Time Dilation tech.
While Earth-65 was under siege by Scarlet Angel and Alex was fighting a battle that scaled the entire city, he was doing something contrastingly mundane in Research Earth.
…
"Hi, Mrs. Stacy. My name is Alex."
"Hello, Alex. How are you? This meeting has been long overdue."
"Better late than never, right?" Alex glanced at Gwen at his side. "It took a ton of effort for me to get her to agree to this in the first place."
"How about we order first? I'm starving," Gwen interjected amidst the pleasantries.
"Sure," Alex agreed.
After ordering, Gwen's mother asked curiously, "Tell me, how did you guys meet? Gwen tells me you are a major investor in her research center."
"Oh, so you didn't tell her about our meeting during your flight."
"Come on, Alex…" Gwen mumbled, looking away. "It's embarrassing."
"Oh, you think mistaking another man for your boyfriend and directly jumping on their back in the middle of the plane aisle is embarrassing?" Alex asked.
She didn't respond and merely rolled her eyes.
Mrs. Stacy felt a little awkward about the mention of Gwen's ex. "Alex, Gwen told me that you're also into research. Are you working on something I might know of?"
"I'm working on creating a new kind of energy. Separate from electrical, nuclear, and more. If I can succeed, the entire world could be changed."
"I see… Do you have any successful patents? I'm curious how you were able to become one of the premier investors of the Apex Research Group. From what I've read about them, they just showed up recently and have facilities throughout the world, concentrated mostly in Europe. Expanding so rapidly in a period of merely three to four years is unheard of when it comes to a business."
"I can't say much, Mrs. Stacy, but we have a ton of political support. Most of the influential figures in the EU support the group wholeheartedly. With such a wide array of support, all that one needs is the determination and skillset dedicated toward expansion."
"It's really impressive," The woman sighed. "I wanted to ask… Is it you who is funding Gwen's master's degree, or is it the Apex group?"
"Mom!" Gwen was outraged at her mother, who just shot her a look.
"Mrs. Stacy, you don't have to worry about your daughter's qualifications. While she does receive special treatment because of me, that wouldn't be enough to garner her the respect that she has from the other scientists. She is truly a genius worth investing in. As for whether her sponsorship is my wish or the group's, it doesn't matter. I am the Apex group. Whatever I say goes. I would've taken her in even without that master's degree, but she insisted."
"Alex, you're being a pretentious douche," Gwen pointed out.
"I apologize," Alex raised his hands in defeat.
Soon, the food arrived, and the three of them continued talking. Though most of the time, it was Gwen's mother grilling Alex. Whenever she thought of Gwen's prolonged no-contact in the first six months after she'd just moved to England or how this was the first time her daughter had returned to see her family in the past four years, she felt that Alex had a big hand in the situation.
As the dinner progressed, the woman's impression of Alex skewed in a slightly positive direction despite some of the confusing things he spoke of. Whenever the woman thought she was losing track of the conversation, Gwen would interject and help Alex.
As far as first impressions go, Gwen's mother would say, 'Not bad'. She preferred Peter more than Alex, feeling that he was more caring toward her daughter, but she didn't have any issues with Alex. The duo's relationship seemed to be stable, at least on the surface. As for the kind of old-money vibe that she was getting from Alex, she didn't let it affect her view of the man. In her eyes, money was only a secondary factor in her daughter's happiness, the first being how her boyfriend treated her.
Soon, it was time for the dinner to conclude.
"So when's graduation, honey?" Gwen's mother asked.
"In a month. Would you like to come back with me to attend my graduation?" Gwen asked.
"I would love to, honey. You can finally show me around campus as well," Gwen's mother nodded.
"Yeah… Sorry. For never inviting you… or visiting. Or calling as much as I should've," There was genuine guilt on Gwen's face.
"At least you didn't completely estrange yourself from us," her mother said. "I was half expecting my daughter to have become a punk with tacky colored hair, tattoos, and an inappropriate dressing sense."
"You don't need to worry about that. You can head home. I'm going to show Alex around for a bit before coming home."
"You aren't staying with him tonight?" Her mother asked, making Gwen blush a little.
"No…" She looked away. "I'm staying at your place for the duration of my visit."
"All right."
Gwen's mother bid her farewell to both Alex and Gwen and made her way to her car before driving away.
As for Alex and Gwen, they were left on the sidewalk, hand-in-hand, until the woman's car turned a corner.
"Wasn't that awkward…" Alex commented.
"I should hate you, you know?" Gwen's tone was flat. "You are the reason I don't talk as much with my mother and brothers. You killed my boyfriend, manipulated my memories… essentially ruined my life."
"And if I had the choice, I would've done things differently," Alex responded. "But I didn't. You know that I wasn't in complete control of my actions during that time."
"What if I asked you to turn back time and change everything… Fix everything. Leave me, and don't ruin my life."
"No can do, Gwen," Alex shook his head. "Say whatever you want about me. My feelings for you are true. You, more than anyone, are well aware of that."
"That's why I agreed to this…" Gwen said. "I could've just separated from my fool of a second personality and let you two live your lives while I lived mine. Sadly, I just can't bring myself to abandon that innocent soul to your clutches."
"Yet, you are willing to give her the more dominant position between you two."
"I don't want her to be… I don't want to be miserable, Apex, hating you, yet unable to leave you. At least her love for you is real. And while I still hate you, I have accepted what happened and the fact that it can't be changed. That obsession I once held has largely dissipated by now. I don't particularly have much of a purpose left anymore."
"Don't say it like that," Alex sighed. "Despite your hatred of me, it has been more than three and a half years since we've known each other."
"Stop trying to be sentimental. How long will your preparations take?" She asked. "Since I've accepted it, there's no point in living a lie with my mother and brothers. The sooner I can merge with my other self, the sooner I can talk to them without a heavy heart. Do you know how difficult it was for me to keep a straight face in front of her?"
"Give me another week," Alex sighed. "We have been working on this in the backend for years now. Another week isn't a big deal. I want to be completely sure that everything will work."
"Don't delude yourself, Apex," She looked at him coldly. "The only reason you let me live was because my loss could cause problems for your Gwen. You aren't a good person, so stop trying to be one."
"I have feelings, you know."
"That doesn't make you empathetic. You are only selectively caring toward your hosts, leaving everyone else to serve the purpose of tools. The biggest example of this is that facility you established last year on that other Earth. Under the guise of using death row prisoners, you are using humans as cattle."
"I'm selectively empathetic," Alex shrugged. Unaffected by Gwen's words. What she spoke was the truth, after all. "I'm fighting for my survival here, Gwen. I am not going to let any moral boundary stop me from making sure I survive."
"That makes it all the more important that I merge with my other self. She's as meek as a puppy in front of you. She would never refuse you for anything. The only way to keep you in check is by using that selective empathy you're talking about."
"Go home, Gwen," Alex said. "I won't disturb you for a week. You can do whatever you want… Under certain limits, of course."
"Don't worry about it," She turned on her heel and walked away from him.
-x-X-x-
"Ready?" Alex asked.
"As ready as I can be…" The blonde in front of him nodded. "Do we have to do this at the White House?"
"The thrill is a part of it," he smiled. "Now come."
Gwen looked at the hand that was extended in front of her and took a breath before grabbing it. "Let's just get this over with…"
"Come closer," she stepped closer to him and allowed him to wrap his arm around her waist. He didn't say anything and walked through the main entrance of the monumental building.
Gwen instinctively squirmed as the duo walked through the building without being greeted by anyone, not even receiving so much as a single glance as they walked through the corridors of the building.
"Is this really fine…" Gwen's voice came out as a squeaky whisper. "This is… you know…"
"I never see you fidget like this," Alex shared his observation. "Is it because you've compartmentalized the information about me being the owner of this world?"
"It's a hard thing to wrap my head around…" Gwen said. "Looking at the owner of a world, I expect a dictatorial regime that oppresses their people, or at the very least, brings them all under the same banner. You've pretty much maintained the status quo among the countries and even stopped the ongoing wars… It's like you made the UN actually effective."
"You're flattering me," he chortled. "I do plan to bring everything under a single dictatorial regime. I'm thinking of calling it the Apex Empire or something along the lines. I've maintained the Status Quo because I don't want mass murder just yet. Once we find a way to harness Cosmic Energy, then I'm going to do that."
"The prospering and destruction of life…" Gwen mumbled. "I'm traumatized by your vague ass description. We have spent three years without a single lead in terms of this."
"Well, I do have a new lead that we can explore, but I'm going to work on it once we are done with this thing."
"Eager to get rid of me already?"
"I'm not getting rid of you… I'm just completing you. Just like I'm completing my Gwen. No need to feel bittersweet about the situation."
"Are you telling me that or yourself?" She smirked.
"A little bit of both. I have gotten used to your feistiness. It's a breath of fresh air."
"In that case, when we merge, I'll make sure to retain that."
"Please don't. You won't work well as the playful brat. If anything, your resistance is like that of a victim. Not exactly a turn-on."
"Oh, so you'd rather manipulate my memories to make me believe that you're my boyfriend?" She crossed her arms while still walking beside him.
Alex sighed. "I'm not trying to use it as an excuse, but you know that I wasn't in full control of my actions during that time. There are certain lines that I am never going to cross again, and that is one of them. Not to mention, I still feel horrible about it. To me, what I did at that time was worse than genociding a planet."
"Are you serious?" She raised her brow.
"Dead," he nodded. "At least, there would be some benefit involved in me genociding a planet, whether it be resources or Bioenergy. Manipulating your memories? That was the worst possible choice if I wanted you as my host."
"If… You could do things differently," she said. "What would you have done?"
"I've told you that before, Gwen. Multiple times."
"I want to hear again."
"Sigh… Logically, the patient game would've been to simply bond with you and lay low while waiting for Spider-Man to crash and burn his relationship with you once again, whether it was due to his past guilt or his Spider-Man duties. It doesn't matter. I would've done right by both you and Spider-Man. And if I didn't want to wait that long, that's even easier. You two were already done. I didn't need to use such a convoluted plot of pretending to be him. I just needed to bond with you and let things take their course."
"You can't manipulate time to fix things?" Gwen mumbled. "It would make things so much less complicated."
"I could… but do you want me to?" Alex asked. "You'd forget about everything that we had, and we could start over. It's not an impossible ask… I would just localize the time manipulation to this planet. I'd need to find a solution for the Farm's planet shield, though. Turning back time would affect that planet as well."
"Forget it. I'm just musing. We've been standing in front of this door for so long. Are you waiting to be invited in by the President?" Her expression suddenly shifted. "Or could it be that you're reluctant?"
Alex sighed, feeling that today was a day full of sighs. "Let's go. Gwen."
…
"Do you really have to do all this?" Gwen asked as she stood on a raised platform in the center of a room that could only be described as a sex dungeon. It was filled with restraints and devices that she was sure had a purpose rooted in sexual gratification. Not that she could recognize most of them.
"Full disclosure? No. I just want to," Alex said. "But," He raised a finger to stop her from interrupting him, "this will be beneficial when it comes to the merger. You see, short-term sensory deprivation has quite a few health benefits as it acts as a slightly extreme form of meditation for a person."
As Alex spoke, he held the hem of Gwen's top and pulled it up over her head. She obliged him and raised her arms, allowing him to take it off.
"Now, if someone takes it too far, your brain starts hallucinating," he unzipped her skirt and let it fall down from her waist, leaving her in just her underwear and the knee-high boots she was wearing. Both versions of Gwen were big fans of boots; over the three years, she'd filled an entire closet with boots. And that wasn't her dorm room's small closet. She'd moved out just as her first year ended, moving into a mansion with Alex. The closet that she'd filled was as large as a small bedroom.
"I know what sensory deprivation does for a person. And how it enhances pleasure," She interjected, feeling impatient. "Why do you want to use it here?"
Alex smiled at her and got rid of her underwear before kneeling in front of her to loosen her boots. "I want to take advantage of the meditative state that is achieved under sensory deprivation. My hypnosis techniques are going to be amplified when I use them on you in that state. By planting suggestions into your subconscious, I will be able to naturally push both of your personalities to merge into one." Alex raised her foot and pulled off her boot before doing the same for her other foot. "Give me your hands."
"You aren't going to use the Mind Stone?" She asked, presenting both her hands to him with her wrists held together.
Alex tapped his finger on her palms, and a black substance wrapped around her hands and wrists, forming a set of cuffed gloves that she wasn't getting free of anytime soon.
"I am," He stepped closer to her and brought her hands up above her head. "It will be used to make sure that my hypnotic techniques bypass your supernatural intelligence. Logically, you are too smart to be hypnotized by me without an external implement."
"And if I really didn't want to be deprived of my senses?" She asked as Alex attached her wrists to a set of chains before yanking them. Suddenly, the clanking of chain links got louder, and she felt the chain pulling her up off her feet. She was just high enough to lose her footing and come face-to-face with Alex.
Alex met her eyes. "Then I would simply use the Mind Stone to forcefully rewire your brain, which I don't recommend. It's an Infinity Stone, but that kind of forceful rewiring can have negative effects in the future. Using my method will ensure that you two merge without any issues."
"I won't resist, Alex," she spoke earnestly. "I've already accepted it."
"It's not that, honey," He cupped her cheek with a gentle smile. "I trust you, but when that feeling of mortal peril comes over one, there is an instinctive resistance. Even though you've accepted it, things need to be dealt with delicately. Using the Mind Stone would be equivalent to a brute-force method."
"Fine," she sighed. "Do as you wish, you kinky fucker. You could've used an actual sensory deprivation chamber, but no— it has to be this kind of BDSM setting."
Alex showed her a roguish smile that hid a hint of an embarrassed one behind it. That was the last thing Gwen saw before her vision went dark.
-x-X-x-
The week that passed was very eventful, as Alex healed Gwen's mind and used a mixture of hypnosis and Mind Authority to heal Gwen's fractured personality, finally making her whole again. The process also helped him increase his understanding of the connection between the soul and the mind. After fixing things with Gwen, he realized that the reason that he hadn't even thought of increasing the bond level beyond the skin bond with her was because of her fractured mind, which had also led to her soul being damaged.
Since her soul was damaged, Alex instinctively knew that deepening the bond with her wouldn't be the best decision due to the nature of his symbiotic relationship with her. As the level of the bond deepens, he receives a certain amount of feedback from the soul of his host, that is the main reason that the symbiotes need hosts despite their advantages. Having a host helps them better their souls.
He even received some understanding of the Bonding Rate that the status panel of each of his hosts always showed. It was essentially the degree of compatibility between his soul and his host's soul.
"Alex?" Gwen pulled him out of his inward musings as he looked down at her.
"When did you wake up?" He asked her, tightening his arms around her lithe frame.
"Just a bit ago," She answered. "You looked to be deep in thought."
"I was just thinking to myself," he said. "How about we go out? Sex is good and all, but I want to spend some time enjoying my healed girlfriend's company."
"Dress me up. Let's go," Gwen frowned after saying that. "Did you put some mental suggestions in my mind, Alex? I don't usually ask you to dress me like a doll."
"Do you really think I would put in such a tame suggestion? If I did implant a mental suggestion in your subconscious, it would be much wilder. Something like making you salivate whenever you see my cock. Or —" Gwen stopped Alex from speaking any further by putting her hands on his mouth. "Stop… Help me dress up, and we can go out."
"Sure," Alex nodded and freed Gwen from his arms before standing up from the bed in the dungeon. A set of fitting trousers and a shirt appeared on him before Gwen sat up.
"Stop ogling my tits and give me my dress," Gwen put her arm across her chest, hiding her chest from his gaze.
"Fine," Alex shook his head and snapped his fingers as a flowery sundress appeared on Gwen's body. "Happy now?"
"Now all that I'm missing is a countryside farm where I can frolic among a field of flowers."
"Then you tell me what you want," Alex sighed. "You asked, and I delivered."
"I don't mind the sundress; I mind the basic ass floral pattern you chose. First, turn it into a lighter shade of sky blue; it goes well with my hair. Then make it more form-fitting; I maintain my body very well and wouldn't mind showing off my curves for my man."
"Oh, you're the one who maintains your body?" Alex raised a brow. "Going by your usual eating habits and how little you work out, without me, you'd already be bloated."
"Are you trying to call me potentially fat?" She looked at him with a hostile expression.
"Come on. Let's go. A couple of hours of fucking will burn all those calories away."
Gwen looked at Alex's extended hand before looking at his face, "Yeah, let's go. Now that I'm off that sex high, this place is downright creepy."
"Understandable," Alex nodded. "This has too much of a dungeon vibe. I'm going to renovate this place to make it more appealing."
"I'd rather you don't," Gwen shook her head, pulling Alex toward the exit. "If you really want a sex dungeon vibe going, do it in our basement. I don't want to come all the way here just for that. And before you ask, no. I am not turned on by doing it in the White House… that much."
Alex laughed as the two of them left the building for their date.
…
"Do you want to come home with me?" Gwen offered, staring at Alex with unblinking eyes.
Alex had just bitten into a juicy ham sandwich when he froze.
"We're in Washington — ahem. We're in Washington. New York is still some distance away." He licked his thumb clean.
"Teleport," Gwen said dryly. "Mom's invited us for dinner. I want to go."
"Do I have to join?" Alex asked.
"What's wrong? You've already met."
"That was the most awkward interaction that I've ever had, Gwen," Alex said. "Your mom looked at me like I was the whole reason behind your estrangement."
"You were, Alex," she looked at him pointedly.
"Well, she doesn't know that," Alex said.
"Just come home with me? I'm going to invite her to come with me to my graduation ceremony, and it would be nice to have someone with me. You can try to win my brothers over as well."
"Are you trying to get me to join your family or something?"
"Some normalcy will do you good, Alex," Gwen said. "You have a habit of getting too detached from reality when you are working."
"You're one to talk, Miss 'I don't need food or water when I'm working in the lab,'" Alex jabbed. "You stay cooped up in your lab for weeks on end when working on something."
"Don't I have you to drag me out of there when I lose myself?" Gwen smiled. "I'm doing the same for you."
"Fine," Alex said. "Let me finish my sandwich; we can leave then."
…
"So, Gwen. Honey. Tell me something…" Gwen's mother spoke up.
"Sure thing, Mom," Gwen nodded while still focused on the fish that was on her plate.
"You didn't end up getting any… tattoos or anything, right?"
"Hm?" Gwen looked up with a questioning look. "Why do you ask?"
The older woman hesitated before taking a breath and speaking, "You're wearing darker clothes than you used to… not to mention that choker — which I am not against, just to be clear — are you being influenced by… gothic fashion?"
Even Alex stopped eating and looked at Gwen with a curious expression that said, 'Are you, Gwen?'
"You don't need to talk to me as if you're trying to dodge landmines, Mom," Gwen sighed. "And no, I did not get any tattoos. I wear sunny clothes all the time. But black is a little on the formal side, don't you think?"
Hearing her daughter's words seemed to remove a huge weight off of the woman's shoulders. "That's good… that's good. What about the choker?"
Gwen coughed and glanced at Alex for a moment before answering, "It's like a lucky charm…" Her words weren't fooling anyone.
"So you gifted a choker to my sister?" Phillip, the oldest of Gwen's three brothers, asked Alex with a confrontational tone. While younger than her, he was already an adult.
[A rock and a hard place…] Gwen's amused words perfectly captured Alex's situation at the moment.
"I've given her a lot of gifts over the years," Alex said, trying to smooth things over and move on from the topic of the choker. "That bracelet, for example."
[You should really grow out of this choker fetich, Alex. Once in a while is fine, but it is a bit of a bold fashion statement, don't you think?]
[I'll deal with you later, you scheming woman.]
Helen, Gwen's mother, seemed to be satisfied with Gwen's amusement and the uncomfortable situation that her son had put Alex in.
"These are real diamonds, son," Her address toward Alex shifted noticeably.
"It's no big deal," Alex shook his head.
Just as Helen thought he was being humble, Gwen interjected. "Really, Mom. It's nothing. He makes enough that this is barely worth pennies for him."
"It's not about —"
"Really? Then can you get me the new PS5?" The youngest of Gwen's brothers, Simon, shot his shot, interrupting his mother.
"I'll get you a prototype of the 6," Alex was showing off. "It's a restricted testing model that has Sony's entire library unlocked."
"Stop showing off to my family," Gwen lightly punched Alex's arm. "My mom already thinks that you're some kind of mafia man."
"You do, Mrs. Stacy?" Alex looked at her with wide eyes. "You don't need to worry about any of that. Everything I do is done above board and through the legal channels."
[Be clear, Alex. Tell her that you just bend the legal channels to allow you to do whatever you want.]
He ignored Gwen's words and looked at her brother again, "Just give me a call later, okay? I'll have it delivered here. Let me know if there are any issues." He subtly handed a business card to Simon.
Just like that, Alex had won over not only the youngest but Gwen's other two brothers as well.
"Mom…" As Alex was distracted, Gwen looked at her mother with an earnest expression, "Do you… um… mind coming to my graduation? It's in two weeks. I'll fly all four of you out to Oxford. You can stay at our place; we have more than enough rooms."
"Are you sure?" The woman seemed a little hesitant.
"Definitely," Gwen nodded. "I want you there. You missed a huge chunk of my university life… I want you to at least be a part of my graduation."
"Done," The woman seemed ready to tear up. "I'll definitely be there. I should call your brothers' schools. Simon and Howard will have to apply for leave… Phillip is still working on his applications for university —"
"Calm down, Mom," Gwen grabbed her mother's hand. "Let's finish dinner and we can deal with the rest after that."
-x-X-x-
As the days passed, Alex and Gwen spent a significant amount of time at Gwen's old home. She accompanied her widowed mother while Alex quickly established a good rapport with her brothers by literally bribing them. The youngest got access to more games than he could play in his lifetime. The middle one got multiple sets of tickets to concerts and shows that were already sold out — he was already leveraging them to establish his superiority in school. As for Gwen's eldest brother, he got his admission into the College of Law at Oxford approved; despite his strong resume and application, he wouldn't have been accepted by the University even after considering Gwen's alumni status. The program was far too competitive.
Ultimately, although the four years of estrangement had taken a toll on Gwen's relationship with her family, they didn't have any resentment. They were just happy to see her return and reestablish her relationship with them.
A week after the dinner, Gwen and Alex had to return to Oxford with an entourage of four in tow.
"Seriously, Alex? You got the jet?" Gwen looked frustrated.
"Dude, are you kidding, a private jet?" Howard, Gwen's middle brother, was the opposite.
"Of course," Alex smiled a wide smile as the pilot waved at him from the entrance of the plane, beckoning them up to the jet. "Let's go up."
"What about our ride?" Phillip, the oldest of Gwen's brothers, asked while gesturing to the minivan behind them. Alex had driven them straight from their home to the airport, where they reached the private jet without stopping even once.
"Someone will naturally come pick it up once they load our luggage onto the plane," he said. "You don't need to worry." He turned to Gwen with a wild grin; her hair was wildly flailing around in the wind as she tried to hold it down, the same as her mother.
She clicked her tongue at him and ignored the hand he'd stretched out for her to hold. She held her mother's hand and led her up the ramp stairs.
"I think she doesn't like it when you show off too much, dude," This comment was passed by Simon, the gaming nerd and Gwen's youngest brother.
"She's just embarrassed and doesn't want you guys to feel uncomfortable," Alex shook his head. "Tell me, are you intimidated that I have more money than I know what to do with?"
"You're planning to marry my sister, right?" Simon asked. "Then it's all fine. I'm going to freely ask you for whatever I want."
"Fair enough," Alex chuckled, messing up the young man's hair. As they boarded the jet, the three of them freely exclaimed about how luxurious the treatment they were receiving was.
As for Alex, he moved to the cockpit to discuss some things with the pilot before returning to the cabin. However, the only ones who were there were Gwen and her mother. Gwen had already grabbed a bottle of red wine and was sharing a drink with her mother.
"Your brothers hanging out in the game room?" Alex asked her.
"You went too far, Alex," Gwen frowned at him.
"What?" He raised his arms in defeat. "I agree that I'm in the wrong, but about what?"
"This," She gestured to her surroundings. "All of it."
Alex sat down on a seat opposite Gwen and her mother, "I'm not putting your family in economy while the two of us fly in first class, Gwen. And believe it or not, this is cheaper than six first-class tickets."
"You heard him, Mom," Gwen said, instantly turning her tone around. "I agree it would've been better to let you know first, but you can just treat it as a pleasant surprise and enjoy the amenities. Once we take off, you should go in the back; we have a jacuzzi there. It's a long flight, so relax, okay?"
"You've been here before?" Helen asked, suppressing the thoughts of the logistical issues of having a jacuzzi in a plane.
"I have," Gwen said. "I worked on the interior design with Alex when he bought it."
The older woman could only helplessly shake her head. "I'll go check up on your brothers," She downed the wine in her glass in one go and got up from her seat.
"You're going to break my mother if you keep surprising her like this," Gwen said, though the happiness in her voice was difficult to conceal. Her previous blaming was all pretend.
"Then you better prepare her," Alex said. "I've already prepared two maids to be at her beck and call at all times. She won't even have to lift a finger to do anything if she doesn't want to."
"Please don't," Gwen chuckled. "Just seeing the mansion is going to be enough of a shock for her."
"What are you talking about? It's a cozy place for just the two of us. Looking at the scale of usual mansions, it's barely medium-sized."
"Just don't shock her," Gwen said. "She's already acting cautiously and is being conscious of her surroundings. Ironically, despite how headstrong she usually is, you kind of intimidate her. See how she went back without so much as a thank you or goodbye to you?"
"And here I was thinking of how to win your mother over…" Alex said. "Are you sure she doesn't just hate me?"
"Of course not," she said. "Shouldn't you already know that, mister hypnotist? Reading microexpressions should come with the job, no?"
"Like you'd let that slide. I just don't want you to chew my ear out about using superpowers for everything."
"Well, this was a test. And you passed by actively working not to read my mother's body language."
"You are just looking for a reason to get mad at me, aren't you?"
Gwen coughed, "I wanted a foot massage. Being mad at you would give me a reason to force you to stay within certain bounds."
"Are you going to start being this convoluted all the time from now on? Just ask me to massage your foot. If I try to take things further, you can always refuse."
"Like it's easy to refuse when you're already aroused and dripping," she snapped at him.
"Fine, fine, wear your seatbelt first, we're about to take off. Then you can put your foot on my knee. I won't try to have sex with you when your mother and brothers are in the next room."
"Thanks, darling." Gwen's tone instantly shifted when Alex agreed to her request.
…
"Ale-Alex, stop. You promised~" Gwen squirmed in her seat, looking at him with grievances.
"I'll be quick, no one will even know," he said.
"No…" Gwen was reluctant and seemed like she was about to accept, but her glassy, aroused eyes seemed to find determination from somewhere. "Stop, stop…" She straightened her body and looked at Alex with disapproval. "I don't want to, okay?"
"Please don't tell me that you're going to start preaching restraint to me now…" Alex sighed. "I'm the kind of guy who would secretly penetrate you in the middle of dinner with your family. You can't tell me to start restraining myself."
"Some prudence is naturally necessary, Alex. I'm not a superhero with a skewed mental model who's affected by the great power they hold; I'm just a normal woman. I want more than just pleasure from our relationship. Do you understand?"
"They don't have to be mutually exclusive," Alex said. "You are trying to take it to the extreme."
"I'm not," Gwen said. "I'm not saying that I don't want to do it with you. I'm just conscious of my family being literally next door. And no, I don't want to treat it as a risqué adventure."
"So, no sex for the next two weeks, then. Got it."
"W-what? Why?" Gwen was startled. "It's just for this flight. Let's leave the kind of intense denial play you're imagining for later. Maybe in a couple of years. When I'm ready for it."
"I'm already imagining leaving you denied and edged for the months leading to our wedding," Alex chuckled. "The wedding night will be wild."
"Too far ahead, Alex," Gwen sighed helplessly. "We have to make a normal relationship work first. We may not be starting over from scratch, but in my mind, it's close enough."
"We already had a normal relationship."
"Please. It was toxic and damaging to both our minds, mine more than yours, and you know it. Most of our interactions boiled down to sexual stuff and very occasional dates that, more often than not, also boiled down to sex and the likes. As for my other part, I hated your guts and wished I could gut you. What part of that sounds like a healthy relationship to you?"
"Noted," Alex sighed. "And here, I was thinking about exploring the Bonding Rate further. Maybe I could finally try to take it beyond 75%."
"Can we not?" Gwen instantly shuddered. "I don't want to end up with another personality once again."
"You won't, Gwen. Not this time," Alex shook his head. "I made sure of it."
"Still…"
"Trust me. In all honesty, I want to experience being one with you once again. It felt… interesting."
"I won't deny that. But still…"
"Let's come back to it later if you're still apprehensive," Alex submitted in front of Gwen's cute, hesitant expression.
"Thank you, darling," Her smile momentarily dazzled Alex, showing no traces of her previous hesitation. "In return, I'll massage your foot. And I won't infuse your soles with an aphrodisiac either."
"It's not an aphrodisiac."
"You use it as one. Seriously, only you would be so bold as to use the purest form of life energy as a cheap aphrodisiac."