While Alex prematurely started the victory celebration with Ayesha, Gwen was still in the thick of the battle. Having destroyed the first command ship, her target had changed to the high-end ships among the fleet. That's because Alex had already taken over the remaining two command ships after killing the High Evolutionary.
Even though Gwen was in her enhanced Apex state, merged with Alex and possessing enough strength to wipe out entire planets with her physical strength alone, it still took two whole days of constant battle before the High Evolutionary's fleet was exhausted, leaving an endless quantity of debris all around the Sovereign's belt.
However, it wasn't due to a lack of strength, but more due to the fact that Alex wasn't using any clones to speed up the process. There was only a single Apex on the battlefield, which meant that the Sovereign's fleets also had to do quite a bit of heavy lifting.
Ultimately, however, when Alex separated from Gwen, he made an executive decision to slightly dull her memories of the events that had transpired over the two days. For no other reason than him not wanting to listen to her talk about murder and morals.
A righteous Spider-Person had just outright annihilated a fleet consisting of billions of living beings. Despite how much Alex had corrupted Gwen and made her indifferent to his murderous habits, there was a difference between him being the genocidal maniac and her doing the same thing. While merged, it was all fine since he was almost entirely in control of the Apexified state, but the aftermath needed to be handled gracefully, lest he be forced to deal with further issues.
With that in mind, he left most of the post-battle cleanup to Sovereign's forces and brought Gwen to Sovereign Prime, specifically, Ayesha's bedroom.
Inside, from the three-meter-tall monstrous creature that was enough to make any child cry, emerged a cute, little over a meter and a half tall woman without a single scrap of clothing on her as her eyes opened.
"Alex?" Gwen asked with a groggy look, as if she'd just woken up. She turned to look at the remains of her suit as it morphed into Alex's familiar figure.
"How do you feel?" He asked. "We've been in a True Merge state for over forty-eight hours now. Some disorientation is perfectly normal."
"Who am I?" She asked with a blank expression.
"Your name is Slave," Alex said with a gentle smile, raising his hand to cradle her cheek. "You belong to me."
As he raised his other hand to grasp one of Gwen's piercings, her blank expression suddenly warped as she scowled at him. "That's the best you could do?"
"Let's try again then," Alex said, holding Gwen's piercing with one hand and fiddling with it. "Your name is Gwen. And I'm your father. Now be good and call me Daddy."
"Why do I bother?" She huffed, putting her hand on her forehead. "My mind's all foggy… And not in the good, aroused way."
"That's because you've been almost entirely asleep for the past two days," he said. "I was in control of your body because I wanted to see how far I could push the True Merge state."
"No… we've done this before. It was never this foggy…" She said. "You did something."
"Damn you and your spider sense," Alex grumbled, turning away. "Yeah, but it's for your own good."
"It's fine, Alex," Gwen said. "I'm a big girl. I stood by you even as you allowed half of my planet's population to die. I won't start bawling over a few destroyed alien ships after going all that."
"Still, there's no point in letting you keep the details of all the blood and gore," Alex said. "I didn't modify your memories. The fogginess is because all of the things you are seeing are from my perspective."
"Isn't that the case anyway when we are in that True Merge state?"
"In that state, it is both of our perspectives. True Merge essentially makes two individual entities into a single one. But because of my specialty and the immense weight of my soul, I can take some liberties in that state. I simply took over the state entirely this time. The foggy memories that you see are entirely from my perspective."
"It's fine," Gwen said, shaking her head. "Is that why my head is throbbing?"
"A mix of both, I guess. Staying merged with me for such a long duration was bound to put significant strain on your soul. If it were just physical, I would've taken care of it by now."
"Yeah… I don't even remember when I last experienced this kind of migraine," she said. "When are you going to stop fiddling with my piercing?"
She lowered her eyes to Alex's hand as he continued playing with one of her piercings.
"Never," he said. "Plus, we've just gone through a long battle. I believe a victory celebration is in order, don't you think?"
"Once my headache subsides, please," Gwen stepped back, freeing herself. "I want to close my eyes for a while."
"I have a perfect solution to distract you," Alex said as Gwen quickly climbed onto the bed and closed her eyes, putting her arm across her eyes.
"No," She answered after a pause. "Nothing sexual, please…"
"I was talking about a massage," Alex said. "And you seem awfully casual about getting into a random bed. Do you know how much I've made Ayesha cum on it?"
"Ughh!" Gwen suddenly shot away from the bed, destroying the gold frame in the process while also cracking the floor. "I hate you, Alex… I'm not even wearing any clothes…"
Alex was surprised at Gwen's sudden reaction and started laughing.
"This is not funny. Disinfectant…I want disinfectant."
"Why are you acting as if she has some kind of disease?"
"Just because I occasionally enjoy the nasty stuff that you are into doesn't mean I am not affected by it," she said. "The fact that you let me lie down on someone else's bodily fluids is disgusting."
"The sheets were clean, Gwen," Alex said, chuckling. "Do you think the owner of this room isn't a neat freak? She gets new sheets every single day. The few times I did make her cum on her bed, she had the entire mattress replaced."
Gwen looked around the room with a suspicious expression, noticing the uncannily neat surroundings, with not a single thing looking out of place.
"Make me a new bed to rest," she said. "And some sleepwear. You've made me paranoid."
"Come here?" He offered, opening his arms for her.
"Humph," Gwen snorted, looking away from him and crossing her arms. Consequently, her actions, whether intentional or not, pushed her breasts up enticingly. From his initial plan to tease her further, Alex decided to coax her into a hug.
"Is my Gwenny mad?" He asked, stepping toward her. "Come here, I'll kiss all of the pain away."
"Cheesy…" Gwen mumbled, but didn't resist as he wrapped his arms around her.
Despite her demeanor, she practically melted in his arms the moment Alex kissed her forehead, sending a cool sensation through her otherwise aching skull.
"Better?"
"Mm…" She nodded, nestling her face in his chest. "More."
"Anything for my Gwenny."
"Stop that… It's weird to hear that name from you," she said.
"How about this, call me daddy a few times, and I promise to stop trying to get it out of you," Alex said.
"I was neither born yesterday, nor did I meet you yesterday," she snorted. "I know perfectly well what you do when someone gives you any liberties. The moment I give in even a little bit, you'll turn that into a precedent and start pushing my limits."
"But…"
"No buts," she said flatly.
"But, the more you resist it, the more I want you to say it…" Alex said in a needy, childish tone.
"Too bad," she said. "Hold me…"
"I already—" Before he could complete his words, Gwen's legs lost their strength as she fell asleep, her body falling limp. He quickly picked her up in his arms before she fell, looking at her peaceful face with a speechless expression.
"Either this is a talent that she developed to counter me, or it's a side effect of her soul being fatigued…" He was well aware which of the two it was. Gwen wasn't someone who would avoid something she didn't want to talk about. He'd pushed her to try plenty of things, and she always openly pushed back without the slightest hesitation if she didn't like it or wasn't interested in it. There was never any trace of wanting to avoid such talks in her personality.
Shaking his head, Alex chose to sit on a couch and gently cradled Gwen in his arms. He put his hand in her hair and gently massaged her skull while sending a controlled cool sensation through her head to calm the migraine affecting her.
As Gwen recovered, just a few storeys above her, Ayesha was in a special kind of bliss, exploring and thoroughly enjoying her latent sexuality that had been genetically suppressed for her entire race. For the entire two days, Alex had been the one handling Ayesha's duties, taking over her official duties as she spent her days training under his hardcore regimen to ready herself for the main event.
***
A few hours later, with Alex's methodical massage and Bioenergy infusion, Gwen's fatigued soul had completely recovered as she woke up, still held in Alex's arms as he continued massaging her skull and infusing Bioenergy into her.
"Fuuckk~" Gwen let out a loud groan as she shivered from the pure flood of dopamine that was induced by Alex's massage. It was so intense that she didn't even notice the side effects of Bioenergy having significantly aroused her over the past few hours.
"Alex…you…should…be…a…masseuse…" Gwen spoke between intermittent moans, bonelessly lying in his arms as he continued massaging her head.
"No thanks," he said with a smile, slowing down the massage. "I have better things to do."
"No…" Gwen moaned reluctantly. "More…"
He shook his head and stopped. "I wanted to make sure that you recovered without any issues. That's all."
"No please, you have to continue…" Gwen shifted, finding newfound strength as she straddled him on the couch, looking down at him and grabbing his hand to bring it up to her head. "I'll do anything, promise."
"Anything?" Alex asked as Gwen seductively swayed her breasts in his face.
"Anything…" She nodded, practically pressing her breasts against his face.
"Call me daddy," he said.
"D-d…" Gwen seemed to struggle immensely, but seemed extremely tempted, making Alex raise his brow. He hadn't expected this to work.
"Go on," he said expectantly, once again continuing the massage as she let out a moan.
"D-d… Don't even think about it," Gwen's words doused cold water all over Alex's expectations.
"Tsk," he clicked his tongue. "What a letdown…"
"Hehe…" She laughed cutely, wrapping her arms around his head and pulling his face between her breasts. "You used Bioenergy to heal me, didn't you?" She asked, swaying her hips. "Get rid of your damn clothes. Mama's horny."
"Say that again," Alex said, pulling back from her breasts. "Promise I'll really make you a mommy if you say it again today."
"Ahem… I'm good," Gwen said, feeling awkward as she quickly shifted to Alex. "At least marry me first, you pervert…"
"Soon," he said directly, wrapping his arms around her waist. "Shouldn't be too long."
"Come on, let's fuck," Gwen said, tugging at Alex's shirt, trying to tear it away inefficiently.
"Easy there," he said, smiling as he felt her rub her damp entrance against his crotch, clearly expressing her state.
"No ease to speak of here," she groaned. "I'm burning with arousal."
"Look there, we have a guest," he said, making Gwen pause and turn her head around. She saw a platform slowly lower from the ceiling, stationed on it was a familiar, yet unfamiliar golden-skinned figure.
Ayesha was on her knees, bound, yet swaying her hips seductively, without the slightest hint of her Queenly demeanor, seeming as if she'd given in to her most primal desires. Between her legs, was a raised triangular platform forced her frog-tied legs apart, pushing a vibrating protrusion against her entrance as she kept swaying her hips on it with a desperate need. Her moans were needy and muffled as she weakly wiggled her torso as if attempting to free herself from the golden ropes that bound her arms behind her back and compressed her modest chest with a harness. The set was completed with a sensory deprivation set of gag, headphones, and a blindfold, truly leaving her helpless and unable to do anything but plead for more pleasure.
"Woah…" Gwen's eyes widened at the sight. "How long has she been on that sybian?"
"Roughly two days now," Alex said. "Hasn't cum once."
"You had to take it that far?" Gwen asked as her gaze turned concerned, quickly getting off of Alex.
"The first day, she didn't even want to cum," he said, looking at Gwen impatiently waiting for the platform to lower itself completely and the barrier surrounding it to dissipate. "I simply took my time slowly modifying her body on a genetic level to make it that she actually enjoys penetration."
"She wouldn't otherwise?" Gwen asked. "Even with how much of a cheat you are?"
"Not that simple. Their race has been generically engineered by the High Evolutionary to reduce dependency on natural births, hence sex is a horrible experience for either sex. All pleasure is, really. Instead of dopamine, it releases a depressant hormone."
"Weird guy that High Evolutionary," Gwen said as the platform finally lowered completely, and the force field dissipated. She quickly stepped forward and got rid of Ayesha's blindfold and headphones, leaving the gag in. "Hi…" She said gently.
"Mm…" Ayesha responded with a weak moan, still a little dazed as her eyes squinted, getting used to the light.
"You okay?"
"She's fine," Alex said casually as he approached Gwen. "Let's get the show started, my Queenie here is horny as hell and I'm going to give her a nice appetizer before she gets the real thing."
Before Gwen could do anything, Alex wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her away from the gagged Queen.
"You just wanted to find an excuse to show me off to your new toy, didn't you?" Gwen asked.
"She's more than a toy, she's a resource," Alex said. "Keeping her happy is only going to benefit me later."
"Are you hearing this?" Gwen looked at Ayesha with hints of disbelief.
"Mafter~" Ayesha, full of desire, continued grinding against the sybian's vibrator, longingly looking at Alex.
"She is well aware of her position and relationship with me," Alex said. "And as you can see, she isn't dissatisfied with it in the slightest."
"Whatever… I'm too horny to care," Gwen rolled her eyes as he pushed Gwen down on the couch, making her push her ass out. "You've ruined me, you know?"
"How so?"
"The fact that she's looking… the Queen of this multi-planet empire…It only arouses me further…" Gwen gasped as Alex plunged himself into her depths, taking her roughly from behind.
Ayesha was too stunned by the animalistic display and looked on with wide eyes, though her hips continued moving, seemingly with a mind of their own as she tried to bring herself to a climax with the clearly insufficient stimulation. As the minutes passed, she clearly heard and saw Gwen's moans and expressions intensify multifold as the woman lost herself in the pleasure, squirting multiple times and spraying her liquids all over the couch and floor. The neat freak of the Queen had no mind to even be disgusted by the scene, too captivated by the display.
Soon, she heard her master groan as he slowed down, eventually pulling out of Gwen as his release dripped from her behind. She was left slumped on the couch as he turned around, making eye contact with her.
She immediately felt self-conscious, squirming and looking away. He didn't say anything and only stopped when he was right in front of her face.
"Clean it," he commanded, waving his dick right in front of her face. The musky scent on Alex's cock and the sexual pheromones seemed to assault her brain, leaving her with no mind to be disgusted as she leaned forward and pressed her gagged lips on the wet shaft, groaning with need. The gag momentarily morphed and turned hollow, leaving a ring that kept her mouth open. It allowed her to directly extend her tongue and lick the shaft, obediently performing her cleaning services before she took him into her mouth without any issues. While not having touched her pussy, he had spent the past few weeks thoroughly training her throat.
Soon, the only thing on his cock was Ayesha's saliva as he stepped back, prompting the alien woman to lean forward in an attempt to continue sucking him off as she groaned pressingly.
"Time for the main event, my lovely, Queenie," Alex said with a smile. "Would you like to cum?"
"I wud~" Ayesha nodded with shining eyes, uncaring of her drool covering her chin and chest.
Without a word, Alex bent down and wrapped an arm around her waist, picking her up as he brought her to the bed. Before she realized it, she was on her back, with her restrained legs spread apart on her knees as her master stood in front of her, poised to fuck her. She kept her eyes fixed on the cock that had been inside her mouth just moments ago as it drew closer to her and soon entered her.
A loud, pleasurable moan escaped her parted lips as Alex slowly moved forward and fully entered her. To ease things, he even infused a few units of Bioenergy into her body, both enhancing her pleasure and strengthening her further.
Before long, he got into a solid rhythm as Ayesha's moans grew louder and louder, eventually coalescing into a loud scream that was followed by her body shivering from the intense orgasm that coursed through her entire being. Naturally, Alex seemed to have no plans to stop despite how tightly Ayesha was squeezing him, almost as if her body instinctively desired to milk him.
Still, his endurance was far from low and he kept the pace for another half an hour.
"Damn, you're tight," he grunted while thrusting into Ayesha. "I guess it was a good idea to slowly modify your body. This tightness is genetic."
Her moans had already turned incoherent as her mind filled with the pleasure, leaving her without any response to his words. As much as her pussy tried to squeeze his cum out of him, it still took long enough that her bound limbs had lost all strength and her moans had turned hoarse before he finally came, filling her insides with his semen.
Before he even separated, a pair of slender arms wrapped around his neck as he felt a pair of soft breasts press against his back, with two cold metal piercings sending a cool sensation through him.
"Let's go for another round," Gwen whispered in his ear as Alex pulled out of Ayesha, letting his release gush out of her swollen snatch.
***
Alex was in Ayesha's bed, with Gwen on his left side and Ayesha on his right, both women using him as their pillows as they recovered after the intense experience. Especially Ayesha. Unlike Gwen, she'd not only lost her virginity, but he'd been toying with her body for the past two days. The Queen was completely tuckered out after everything.
Gwen, on the other hand, quickly woke up after a short rest lasting half an hour.
"Another round?" She asked the moment she opened her eyes. Before even getting his answer, she'd turned around and climbed on top of him and started grinding against his cock in an attempt to get him hard.
Seeing Gwen's breasts move around with a mind of their own in front of his face, Alex couldn't help but exhale as a calm feeling overtook him. He didn't do anything, allowing Gwen to get him hard as she penetrated herself on him, slowly riding him.
"Ahn," She moaned. "I can never get enough of this…"
"I can never get enough of you either," Alex said, a gentle expression on his face. "Come here." He extended his arms toward her and she quickly fell into his arms with a giggle, hugging him as her hips continued moving with a mind of their own, slowly taking him in and out of her.
Neither of them paid any attention to Ayesha sleeping beside them, letting the tired Queen rest freely.
"What are we doing next?" Gwen asked Alex, humming as she felt him trace his fingers along her spike with a gentle touch.
"Good question," Alex said. "You can either help me move the Sovereign's five remaining planets into Gaia, transporting them to our Solar System…"
"How do I help with that? Are you going to tie ropes around the planets and drag them out of orbit? I don't think that's a very good idea."
"Heh," Alex chuckled. "No, I'm not doing that. I'll probably use the stones. But you're right, there's little for you to do in that."
"What are the other options?"
"We could look for Infinity Stones," Alex said. "The radar is about complete…I should have it in my hands in a few minutes. If you're up for it, we can go on an interstellar cruise and collect the stones."
"That sounds fun," Gwen nodded, smiling. "Just the two of us, drifting around in space…Sounds both terrifying and romantic."
"If it sounds anything but terrifying, then something's terribly wrong with you," Alex said. "Drifting around in space with no means to get home is the most unromantic thing ever."
"Oh? Don't you think dying together, in the void of space, is romantic?"
"No!" Alex sounded outraged. "There is nothing romantic about dying. Together or otherwise. Don't speak such ominous things to immortal people. They don't take it well."
"Speaking of romantic… Any other options?"
"Well…" Alex paused. "There is this one thing that I was planning to do."
"How would you like for me to propose to you in front of the whole population of the Sovereign? We are planning on getting married, but I never even made my big romantic gesture to you."
Immediately, Alex felt Gwen tighten up immensely around his cock as she stopped moving, almost trembling.
"I'm guessing by your reaction that you'd rather prioritize looking for the stones…" Alex said.
"No…" Gwen whispered, once again moving her hips, but with an even slower pace.
"No?"
"No," she repeated with more assurance.
Freeing herself from his arms, she once again sat up, taking his full length inside her and moaning shakily.
"I wanna get married…" She whispered as she put her hands on Alex's chest for support and picked up the pace. "I want us to get married…"
"Heh," Alex felt a morbid joke rise up inside him. "To think we're having this talk with a third woman right beside me…"
"Ugh… Ruined my whole mood…" Gwen groaned, looking at Ayesha with disgust. "Even if I have nothing against her, you are going to make me hate her."
"She's going to be crucial in making my big romantic proposal a reality," Alex said. "Don't start hating on her just yet."
"You've made plenty of big romantic gestures for me over the years."
"They were romantic, sure, but I don't think any of them were big… Unless you think occasionally getting you flowers is a big gesture."
"The whole sorority thing was pretty big. You set up a whole separate Greek society and made me the President."
"It was big, yes, but it was definitely not romantic," Alex said. "It was a means for me to further push you into depravity. Furthermore, it was a means for me to fuck more women."
"I guess that's right… You've never made any big romantic gestures for me," Gwen said, slowing her movements down completely and sitting down with his full length inside her as she looked at him with a frown.
"What?"
"Ten."
"What?"
"If you want to marry me, I want ten big romantic gestures," she said flatly. "And every single one has to come with a new ring. Propose to me ten times. Only then can you even think about marrying me."
"Ten?" Alex asked, instantly looking exhausted. "Do you know how difficult that is?"
"It's your fault for making me realize that you've never actually made any big romantic gestures for me," she said.
"I…No…I have…"
"Doesn't matter, Alex," Gwen shook her head, smiling gleefully. "Ten proposals, each a big romantic gesture. Only on the tenth will I accept."
"Yeah, then we're definitely going hunting for Infinity Stones," Alex said. "Big romantic gestures need both time and opportunities."
"Fine," she said. "Ten gestures. I'm waiting."
"Since you want me to work so hard for you, you'd better do your best to motivate me well," Alex said.
Before Gwen could say anything, she felt a tugging sensation on her tongue, and it was forced out of her mouth. She saw a string extend from her piercing, along with her nipple piercings, as they all appeared in Alex's hand, taut and pulling both her nipples.
"Keep going, I want to see you drool all over yourself as you ride me." Alex's words made Gwen roll her eyes.
"I fot yv frgokn…" Alex tugged the strings, making her yelp in pain.
"Pick up the pace, honey…"
"Ugh…" Gwen groaned and increased the pace of her movements. [My poor tongue… I'd been thinking about having you get rid of this piercing…]
"I'm never getting rid of any of your piercings," Alex said. "Beyond the fact that they are an integral part of your rebellious past, I personally pierced your nipples. If you think about it, they can even be considered our first engagement rings."
"Heh…" Gwen scoffed at him, but didn't slow down, not wanting him to increase the already stinging pressure on her nipples and tongue.
[If you dare to give me rings made of your body, then it won't count. I don't care if the rings you give me are plain iron. They have to be preservable.]
"I'm the most preservable—" Seeing her look, Alex stopped. "Fine. The rings I make will all be made of nothing but uru."
Gwen seemed pleased by his answer, further picking up her pace as moans started escaping her mouth along with her drool as it trailed down her chin and dripped over her breasts.
Alex didn't do anything, for once, making Gwen do all of the work as he used the strings connected to her piercings as a means of motivation. Whenever she slowed down, he would tug them as she once again picked up her pace.
It didn't take long, under the intense exercise, for Gwen to cum. Groaning loudly, she shivered, tightening once again as if attempting to milk him. With that, she seemed to lose all her strength and collapsed, unable to move a muscle.
"What a baby," Alex said, freeing her piercings. "Couldn't even make me cum."
"It's a lot of work, okay?" She whined. "You're the man in the relationship… This is your job."
"That's why you can only ever submit to me when it comes to kinky sex," Alex said admonishingly. "Then again, it's not like you'd ever get the chance to be the top, even if you had that kind of personality."
"You'd probably break up with that kind of woman," she said. "Remember Jane?"
"I guess."
"Are you not going to continue?" Gwen asked pitifully. "I'm tired, but that doesn't mean I'm done…"
Alex shook his head helplessly and chuckled immediately, wrapping his arms around her and turning around, pulling her under him.
The victory celebration was bound to last a lot longer.
***
Back in the Earth Cluster, just as Gwen and Alex left for the Sovereign, Susan and Alex landed on one of the Earths, in the middle of a destitute forest that had been razed to the ground, with mechanical parts all around.
"This looks like the aftermath of a pretty high-tech battlefield," she said. "And more…"
"This is Hydra Earth," Alex said. "That's what I dubbed it after understanding the situation here."
"Hydra?"
"Remnants of the Nazis after World War Two," Alex said. "Their goal is world domination. In this reality, Captain America, the first super soldier, had his history cosmically altered and became the leader of Hydra, taking over the world."
"What do you mean, cosmically altered?" Susan asked.
"There's an artifact called the Cosmic Cube that has the power to alter reality from the ground up. I have one of them."
"You just have one lying around?"
"It's not lying around, per se," he said. "I want to turn it into a controllable artifact. That requires a lot of R&D. The real deal is sentient and all, and really troublesome to utilize."
"Have you thought of befriending it?" Susan said. "Instead of, I don't know, killing it…"
"Doesn't work like that," he said. "I don't make friends with such entities. Either I absolutely control them, or at the very least, I destroy them. Can't take a risk and get myself written out of existence."
"How….pragmatic," Susan said. "So—" Before she could continue, the sound of plasma thrusters startled her as she jumped toward Alex. Moments later, an Iron Man suit landed right beside them.
"Greetings," a mechanical voice spoke.
"H-hi…" Susan smiled cautiously.
"You must be guests from another planet," the voice continued. "Would you mind following me?"
Susan glanced at Alex.
"Sure," he said. "I'm curious to see what became of the Underground's base after the decisive battle."
"Please, hold my arms," the robot spoke.
"No need," Alex said. "We can fly. Sue?"
"Do I have to?"
"It won't work if you don't try."
"Fine. Catch me if I fall," Susan said, immediately releasing her force fields under her and propelling herself up.
"Go on, we'll keep up. She's still a little rough with her flight," he said, gracefully taking to the air with a final crimson glow surrounding him. Unlike Susan's erratic movements in the air, his were perfectly stable, as if he were truly floating up without any external means.
"Understood," the suit nodded, taking to the air as Alex followed suit, catching up with Susan.
"Did you do something to it?" She immediately asked, despite her erratic movements in the air, constantly moving higher and lower, unable to stabilize herself completely.
"Of course," Alex nodded. "Gaia infiltrated this planet's internet just before we landed. The suit acted all docile because of her."
"Gaia sounds cool," she said. "I wish I could have my own personal assistant AI…"
"I'll get you one of the admin bracelets later," he said. "It has a direct interface to Gaia's main body within my subconscious. I could let you go directly through me, but I want to maintain a distinction."
Susan immediately halted, looking at him incredulously. "What?" Before falling down entirely.
"Of course…" Alex shook his head, immediately lowering himself and catching her in his arms. "What would you do without me?"
"Probably fall to my death," she said gleefully, wrapping her arms around his neck and kissing his cheek. "What did you mean by within your subconscious?"
"It's complicated. I'll explain some other time. But it means what it means. Gaia's true body is my subconscious. You can even say that Gaia, while still being an AI, is an extension of my thoughts."
"I'm going to need details explaining how that is even possible," Susan said. "But I understand. I'll pick your brain later."
Soon, the two of them followed the robot to the bunker.
The entrance was still completely wrecked after being blown open by Captain America as he declared war against the Underground. The insides were just as dilapidated and ruined, with signs of an intense battle marring every surface. As they moved further inside, the presence of the Iron Legion became more prominent, with more and more suits making an appearance.
"Ask away, I know you're curious," Alex said.
"What are all these robots doing?" She asked. "And if you already guessed my curiosity, why did you have to make me ask?"
"Because it's fun," Alex said. "These guys are part of the Iron Legion. A set of cleanup robots whose purpose is to clean up the wrecks left behind by superheroes. Whether they be the Avengers, X-Men, or Inhumans, or even some other party."
"I'm guessing these are teams of superheroes?"
"The Avengers, yes. The X-Men are a specific subset of humans that have unlocked a specialized mutation gene. Termed the X-gene. They are also called mutants because, while at their base, they are humans, they possess supernatural powers. The Inhumans, on the other hand, are products of alien research from a long time ago. Conservatively, at least a few centuries, maybe even a millennium or two. They experimented on humans and gave them powers. These humans propagated all over the world, and a subset of the population has these powers in a latent form which can be activated through a special catalyst called the Terrigen."
"Thanks for the general knowledge lesson," Sue said, unsure why he was telling her so much.
"Keep these things in mind. We will be rounding up both the X-Men and the Inhumans in this quest of ours. Once we subdue the prominent remnants of the Underground."
"Another superhero organization?" She asked.
"A resistance group that banded together to rebel against Hydra's rule," he said.
By now, the robot stopped in front of a door, prompting Alex to stop as well.
"Any plans to let me down?" Susan asked, realizing they were about to have company. "Much as I enjoy this… We have other things to consider."
"True," he nodded, putting her down on the ground just as the metal door slid open.
"Hm?" Inside, Ben was the first to be startled by the sudden opening of the door and quickly stood up. Reed and Susan weren't any different and were quickly alerted, turning away from the large monitoring console to the door. The three of them ignored the robot as Reed addressed Alex.
"Who are you?"
[Oh? You didn't even let them know we arrived?]
[I thought this would be a more fun introduction.]
[So the whole welcome visitors from another planet thing was just for me?]
[Naturally. Wanna take the lead? They are clearly focused on you.]
[What, no! You do it.]
[I'm right by you. Go on. Be friendly. Tell them gently that we are here to conquer their planet.]
Susan's eye twitched from frustration as she reluctantly stepped forward.
"Hi, there," she said awkwardly. "I'm Susan," glancing at her counterpart, she corrected herself, "from a different Earth."
"We gathered that much…" The slightly older Susan Storm spoke with a mix of motherly gentleness and caution. "What brings you here?"
Susan sighed, glancing at Alex one last time with a look that said, 'Do I have to?'
Not getting any response from him, she once again turned to her older counterpart.
"We'll be taking over this planet in a few days," she blurted out flatly.
A few seconds passed by without any response before the older Susan burst out with a chortle.
"You've got to be kidding me," she shook her head. "Go home, honey. This is no place to be joking about such things."
"She's not joking," Alex finally interjected. "My next visits will be to whatever remains of the Underground, the X-Men, and the Inhumans. This planet is now going to be managed by me."
"I didn't catch your name," the older Susan said, a hostile edge in her tone.
"There's no need for any hostilities. How much of your powers can you even use at this point?" Alex said. "You may refer to me as Apex."
That single word elicited a gasp from all three of the remnants of the Fantastic Four.
"It's you…" Reed spoke, a complicated look crossing his face.
"What, you abandoned your previous host because she wasn't good enough?" Susan asked with a hint of goading.
"I thought you'd be flattered that I chose to bond with a version of you. After all, the powers you possess, even you have barely tapped into them after so many years."
"Why did you come back?" Reed asked before things devolved further. "Didn't you kill Rogers and get the Infinity Stone? Why return?"
"To save your civilization, of course," Alex said. "And for the record, I did not get that Infinity Stone; someone else took it. I am yet to retrieve it."
"We will fight you," Reed said, measured yet coldly. "Whether we have our powers or not. We will not be subjugated without a fight."
"Admirable resolve," Orion nodded. "But there really is no need, you see. I'm neither threatening you nor giving you an offer. This is merely something that I'm informing you about so that you don't annoy me later. Gaia."
Alex's words immediately made every single screen in the room go dark for a second. Moments later, every screen showed a plain blue backdrop, with a horizontal black line passing by.
"I have already taken over this planet's systems, master," a pleasant voice spoke through the speakers as the black line stirred, moving in tandem with Gaia's voice.
"See?" Alex smiled. "My lovely AI has already taken over the internet. In a few hours, even isolated networks, like terminals for nuclear warheads, will be under her control," he said. "Rejoice, for I will single-handedly bring permanent peace to your planet. No more wars. No more bloodshed."
Reed and the older Susan shared a look for only a moment before Reed's arm stretched toward Alex, about to punch him.
***
Before Reed's stretched fist was even halfway there, it collided with an invisible barrier that seemed to morph from his force, warping the air. The warping force-field quickly wrapped around Reed's fist, before extending forward as Susan clenched her outstretched hand. The force field immediately sped up and wrapped around Reed completely, enveloping the man inside a bubble as he floated up.
Before the older Susan could make any moves, Alex had already shot a black blur at her, impacting her head as it wrapped around her head. Through his intimate familiarity with Susan, he only needed a moment to take over this reality's Susan's powers, entirely disabling them as a black mask appeared on her face, sealing away all of her senses as she started trying to rip it away in futility.
That only left the charging Ben, who was about to slam into Susan, but found himself facing Alex instead as the man instantly swapped places with Susan through ‹Inventory›. It was as if the rock man had slammed into a thick steel wall. Granted, he could break through a thick steel wall if he tried hard enough, but Alex's physique could no longer be measured in terms of materials. With a punch, he could shatter this entire planet. Taking the Thing's charge was the same as a fly trying to ram into him—completely meaningless.
The rock man staggered back, only for Susan to envelop him in a force-field bubble as he floated up, powerless to resist.
"See?" Alex said gently. "Your resistance was completely futile. If I wanted, I could've killed the three of you within a second. But I didn't, because I don't have any plans to pointlessly kill my new subjects."
"You can imprison us, kill us…it won't matter," Reed spoke, worriedly glancing at his wife's struggling form before composing himself and turning to Alex with a look of defiance. "Someone will rise up against you."
"I know someone will rise up against me," Alex nodded. "That's why I will neither imprison you nor kill you. You will be my adjudicators."
"Hmph," the Thing snorted.
"Don't believe me?" Alex asked, smiling at him before he turned to the older Susan, who was now kneeling on the ground.
[Block their voices.] He mentally told his Susan as she quickly modified the bubbles.
The woman was still weakly struggling against the black mask that had covered her entire face, trying to rip it away. Amidst her attempts, it stirred, slowly freeing her face as it shrank down to her throat. She gasped desperately for air as the black mask formed a simple choker that stuck itself to the middle of her neck. She was on all fours, desperately gasping for air as it filled her lungs, slowly recovering.
"How does induced choking feel?" Alex asked.
"H-horrible… It's like my lungs were forcefully shriveled. And those… things that entered my orifices…" She continued gasping, not even looking up at Alex.
"Best part? I can put you in that state for hours while making sure you don't die as I manually infuse the necessary oxygen into your blood. Even without any lasting effects, your mind will be completely scarred from just the pain and panic," he said.
"W-what do you want?" Susan asked, finally recovering a little as she glanced at Reed and Ben floating in their isolated bubbles. She could see them moving their mouths, but no sounds reached her. "They'll suffocate…"
"Will they?" Susan asked her older self. "I only blocked the sound waves from passing through."
"That blocks the microscopic holes that allowed sound waves, and by extension, air, to pass through," the older Susan said. "I learnt that the hard way…"
"Oh… Thanks," Susan nodded, frowning in focus as she tried to further modify the bubbles as per her needs.
"Will you be my herald, Susan?" Alex asked, getting both Susans to look at him. "The older one." He clarified. "This one's got a more important role," he patted his host's butt, making her scowl at him.
The older Susan looked at him with a frown.
"What makes you think I'll accept?" she asked.
"You wouldn't want little Franklin's to grow up without his parents, would you?" he asked gently. The older Susan's eyes widened in panic as she gasped.
"H-he's hidden," she said, almost as if comforting herself. "You can't get to him."
"I'm not threatening you," Alex said, clarifying himself. "Johnny's dead, isn't he?"
Susan sat silent at his words, giving him a stiff nod.
"The cosmic storm linked the four of you that you can't even begin to imagine. If any one of you dies, the rest of them follow suit. It's the same with your powers. They are already waning, aren't they? It took you longer to activate your powers than hers. And she's barely had them for a month."
"…" She paused. "Reed's been looking into it… There's no solution."
"The smartest being on the planet can't figure it out?" Alex asked mockingly. "Does that mean there's no solution, or that his perspective just isn't broad enough?"
"Are you offering a solution?"
"I am," he nodded. "A simple one, actually."
"What?"
"Resurrection."
Both Susans looked at him with wide eyes, unable to believe his words.
"If this is a joke…" the older woman's voice had a tremble in it.
"Not a joke," he said. "Infinity Stones can make anything happen within the bounds of the universe. Reviving a single person from the dead is nothing. My only condition: you will be my herald on this planet."
"Are you like Galactus?" she frowned.
"No," he said. "I'm far more dangerous. He simply hungers. I devour as a means of conquest. Then again, I'm nowhere near strong enough to contend with his Power Cosmic."
"What would you expect of me?"
"You, and by extension, your family, will serve as my adjudicators on this planet. You will be responsible for executing my will, maintaining the stability of the Gaia Federation when things move beyond Gaia's means."
"Gaia Federation?"
"Yes," she nodded. "It's a collective of different planets, all under my authority. And yes, it is a federation. You will have a voice in it when I consolidate everyone."
"I need some time to talk to my family," she said.
"By all means. You may join them inside," Alex said, glancing at his Susan as she nodded and merged the two individual bubbles that Reed and Ben were floating in.
The older Susan nodded and leaped up, phasing into the two bubbles as if the force field didn't even exist.
"Whoa…" Susan said. "I didn't even feel her interfere with my force-fields…"
"That comes with experience. Something you don't have," Alex said. "Don't be disheartened, though, even I wouldn't be able to replicate her actions as effortlessly as she. My methods to tap into the potential of your powers rely entirely on brute forcing through my super brain. I would probably try to resonate with the frequency of that bubble and modify my own body accordingly.
"But she modified the frequency of my force-field directly," Susan said, with a realization. "Whatever she touched resonated with her and allowed her to pass through unimpeded."
"Yep," Alex nodded. "She's experienced, that's for fucking sure. Then again, she's almost fifteen years older than you."
"She's in her late thirties?"
"Doesn't look like it, does she?"
"Early thirties, at most," she said.
"Even that's because of the pressure and stress of losing her Johnny," he said. "She'd barely look a year or two older than you, otherwise."
"Johnny… I haven't seen him in a while." She said.
"He hasn't seen you in like six months or so—that's how long it's been since we left," Alex said. "I don't think he even remembers you by now."
"Typical," she said. "He's still on my Earth?"
"Yeah, he's living his hero life, getting all the girls," Alex nodded. "There are times I get jealous of such a carefree person."
"Do you, really?" She asked. "You not only get far more girls, but you keep them permanently, generally doing the equivalent of enslaving them through various overt and covert means."
"Enslaving is a strong word."
"It's close enough. You want absolute control over them. Hell, look at the offer you gave my counterpart. She's practically going to be enslaved as well once she accepts. She even has a collar around her throat."
"Strong argument," Alex agreed, seemingly having no plans to refute her words.
"What about Reed and Ben?" She asked. "How long have they been working?"
"Half a decade," he said. "Give or take. They've been busy."
"Fuck…" Susan said. "What's it been for us? Two weeks? Three?"
"Something like that," Alex nodded. "Your planet's time was naturally faster than quite a few of the others. When I took Reed and Ben away, it was around three days to a year. Here, half a day will equate to a year inside Gaia."
"Such a messed-up situation, don't you think?" She asked him. "Something as primal…raw as time itself is all jumbled up throughout this cluster."
"There's a lot more wrong with this cluster than just the messed-up time," he said. "But there's no point in delving into all that right now."
With his words, the remaining three members of the Fantastic Four seemed to be done talking and silently looked at the two of them as the older Susan grasped Reed and Ben's shoulders, phasing them through the force field as the three of them dropped to the ground.
"Made your decision?" Alex asked with a playful smile.
"We'll do it," Reed said. "But we have—"
"Tu tut tut…" Alex raised a finger. "My offer was extended to your wife. The two of you are, at best, collateral. She's the real powerhouse that I want serving under me."
Reed swallowed his words, glancing at Susan, who was sporting a helpless expression on her face.
"What's with this collar-thingy?" She asked him before hooking her finger through the choker and tugging it for emphasis.
"Monitoring method," Alex said. "And a privileged access to Gaia's systems on this planet. She doesn't have a neural interface, so you will have to talk to her normally."
"Do they also get it?" She asked, refraining from testing things right now.
"Naturally, no. You will be the sole authority here, supervised by Gaia, of course. They will have what authority you give them through Gaia. But only once we have things under control."
"As Reed said, there are conditions to my acceptance," Susan said.
"Do you truly think you are in any place to make demands of me?" Alex asked. "Do you think it will be difficult for me to choose the next person I see and give them your position?"
"Be as it may," she said. "If you want me to sincerely work for you, certain demands must be met."
Alex didn't respond for a few seconds, looking at her with a somewhat scrutinizing look. Despite the intimidation factor from before, she didn't back down and continued looking at him with a hint of defiance in her eyes.
"Fine," Alex decided to relent. An obedient superhero, especially one as smart as Susan, was far better than a vengeful one.
The best proof of that was the current state of Earth-65. After Alex's somewhat coercive acquisition, due to his placing the right people in positions of power, the rest naturally fell in line. No brewing resistance forces were planning to act against him, nor were there any vocal voices of discontent among the heroes regarding his rule. After almost half a decade on Earth-65, they had all come to accept the new situation. Despite some disgruntled voices, due to Alex's choice of leaders, namely Cindy, Emma Frost, and Luna Maximoff, there was no real discontent within any major group. If anything, the support for his regimen was only increasing as time went on, and the three competent women worked with Gaia's support to bring everything under control.
"You have to let me use Gaia's resources to quell the global unrest. The primary forces of Hydra have died, but there are plenty of their remnants planning covert means of vengeance."
"Way ahead of you," Alex said. "Gaia is already locating all of their remnants. Global stability is in my best interests as well."
"You cannot directly assassinate world leaders…" She said. "We have to follow a gradual process to get people in line."
"Sure," Alex shrugged. "Before you continue, let me stop you. I'm not going to do anything here. You are."
"I don't follow."
"Once you accept, you will be the one with the highest authority on this planet. I will communicate with you through Gaia and have you implement my policies through her directives. I have no plans to be a hands-on boss." His words made Susan pause as she started pondering her following words.
"…Can I appeal?" She asked.
"Appeal to who? I'm the highest authority."
"What if I don't agree with Gaia's means of implementation? What stops her from acting contrary to my commands?"
"Gaia is going to follow your commands here. Period," Alex said. "The only time that won't happen is if those directives come directly from me. If you don't agree to something of that sort, you may appeal to Gaia, and I will talk to you directly."
"What if I decide not to consolidate the world at all?" Susan asked, frowning as she realized the freedom that she possessed.
"Then I'll take matters into my own hands," Alex said. "Massacre, coercion, genocide. Nothing is off the table when I take over things. Ask Gaia about my historical means of conquest later."
"What about the X-Men and Inhuman nation?" She asked. "Moreover, the other heroes. If I suddenly rise to this kind of power, they won't stand still."
"That much, I'll be taking care of. We'll be paying all of the major factions a visit after this. If you are interested, you may join us."
"I believe that this time would be better spent strategizing," she said. "I can't exactly drop into the White House and declare myself the next President, can I?"
"Considering that almost all of the Cabinet comprises Hydra, half of whom died a few days ago, I think you might as well waltz into the White House. Talking to Stark first would be a better option. His influence should definitely help in stabilizing things."
"Can't Reed be President?" Susan asked. "Let alone the world, I doubt I can even run the country successfully."
"Sure," Alex shrugged. "I don't care. Gaia's directives will be made directly to you. If you want to delegate, feel free."
"There's no need, Sue," the man said. "I believe that you will be able to handle everything very well. I'm just the scientist here. You are the true mind behind our group."
"…"
"By the way," Alex said, suddenly turning stern. "Among the things I implement, there will naturally be stuff that you might be unwilling to see. Things like transporting prisoners off-world. Or a lower bar for the death penalty. While you can appeal to me, if you aren't able to convince me of a better solution, you will have to implement my policies. Whether you like it or not."
His words prompted her to think deeply, pressing her lips together.
"So? Interested?" Alex asked after a few seconds.
"Do I even have a choice?"
"Your choices are between accepting my offer, dying, or obediently standing at the side as I take care of everything myself. For the third one, I will suppress your powers, and you can be on your way after wearing Gaia bracelets that will monitor you. Your brother's resurrection is based on the condition of you serving as my herald on this planet. Which means you'll be dead sooner or later anyway."
"…" Susan fell deep in her thoughts for a while, flinching a little when she felt Reed slip his hand into hers. Without even looking at him, a determined look appeared on her face. "I accept," she said. "For our family."
"Good enough for me," Alex treated her solemn declaration indifferently and shrugged. "Once I revive Johnny, there's no going back. You will be bound to my ship. Permanently."
"I won't go back on my words," she said.
"For your own good, I hope that's true," Alex said solemnly. "Step back."
"Is this really fine?" The woman asked, half in disbelief.
"Getting cold feet?" Alex asked.
"To revive someone from the dead… that violates so many taboos of existence itself."
"Violating reality isn't the big deal. It's who comes after you revive someone from the dead that is an issue."
"Meaning?"
"Dead people are all encompassed under the authority of Death herself—the cosmic manifestation of the concept of death. Many higher beings rely on Death's aspects to empower themselves, setting up specialized versions of the afterlife. Hell, Valhalla, Tartarus, Elysium, and countless others," he said. "Defying Death is far from enough. Once you bring someone back, you will incur the wrath of the Dimensional Lord that had authority over that person's soul, causing endless trouble. Luckily for us, these Dimensional Lords are all in a deep slumber. Whatever brought about this conjunction of Earths from across the multiverse also put these beings of untold power to sleep."
"How do these things compare to Galactus?" Reed asked.
"Incomparable," Alex said flatly. "Galactus is an entity that operates on a completely separate scale. Running into any one of these Dimensional Lords, a single thought would be enough to extinguish their entire existence. But Galactus doesn't act out of malice or desire. To Galactus, hunger is all that matters. These beings, however… Need I continue?"
"So we're good for now, but when these entities inevitably wake up…" Susan didn't complete her words.
"They will come after Johnny," Alex nodded. "Your options are to either get strong enough yourself or rely on someone who already possesses the confidence to stand against them."
"I understand," Susan left her doubts unsaid, accepting Alex's words at face value.
They didn't exchange any further words as Alex hummed and tapped into both the Soul and the Time Stones. Bringing them together within his soul, he cycled both their authorities together, conjoining them as the two stones worked in tandem to enhance each other.
Alex quickly searched for Johnny's soul inside the Soul Stone. Through his blood connection to the older Susan in front of him, it didn't take much longer for him to pinpoint it. What followed was the activation of the Time Stone to locate his remains and reanimate his body.
As the seconds passed, Alex burned through almost twenty thousand units of Bioenergy to mitigate the backlash of using the stones.
…
In New York City, within what used to be the Baxter Building before it was acquired by Hydra, there was a secret underground chamber that hadn't been touched. Inside was a coffin that had tens of tubes connected to it, pumping in an unknown fluid.
Inside the chamber, lay a body, frozen in a temperature that approached absolute zero. Yet inside, the scene was an odd one as the body started to gain a healthy flush, which shouldn't have been possible in such a cold environment. It was as if time itself was rewinding for the body, reversing all of the effects of being frozen in such a state for so long.
Suddenly, the dead body's eyes opened as it gasped, immediately panicking as the body was set on fire after inhaling the pure cold all around.
A blonde man quickly burst out of the coffin, immediately taking a powerful breath as his body temperature rose higher, slowly melting his surroundings.
***
Inside the bunker, the main screen once again lit up as the video of a flaming man breaking through the Baxter building's entrance appeared, observing as he flew at breakneck speed in a certain direction.
"All right, I've fulfilled my promise," Alex said. "Now it's all on you. Start communicating with Gaia and work with her to establish yourself. I want to see you as the president by the time I'm done with this planet."
Not only Susan, but even Reed and Ben were emotionally looking at the screen, almost as if unable to believe the scene in front of them.
"U-understood," the older Susan agreed, turning to Alex with glistening eyes. "I shall work with Gaia to reestablish the corrupt government structure left behind by Hydra. Thank you…Apex."
"Don't sweat it," he waved his palm. "Just work for me wholeheartedly, and I'll make sure to keep you and your family safe. Toodles."
With that, Alex turned around, grabbing Susan's hand as the two of them walked out of the facility without the slightest impediment.
"What do you make of him?" Reed asked Susan.
"Not sure…" The blonde responded. "He's weird, that's for sure. But if that tri-planet cluster is indeed Gaia. Joining them might not be that bad an idea. After Hydra…we're vulnerable, prone to being invaded. If not this…Apex person, then another character will try to take us in. Better a known dictator than an unknown conqueror. At least he cares enough to maintain a facade under the name of a Federation."
"So we're joining them?" Reed asked.
"That's the best choice we have available," Susan said. "You saw the way that Rogers was handled in the battle. With that kind of power, even without the Infinity Stones, Apex is a force to be reckoned with. As long as he doesn't hurt any of us or cross our bottom lines, I'm willing to serve him wholeheartedly."
"Are you just saying that because he can probably monitor you through that choker?" Reed asked.
"A little bit," she smiled. "But the decision stands. No point in resisting things meaninglessly. If I do things right, I might even be able to bring about a peaceful resolution to even his more violent requests. For now… I want to meet my brother."
"We don't know where he flew off..."
"Gaia?" Susan smiled. "Can you pinpoint my brother's location?"
[His current flight trajectory puts him en route to the Antarctic. Likely destination: Franklin Richard's safehouse.]
Gaia's words immediately made Susan stiffen.
"He knows?" She whispered.
"What's wrong?"
[Naturally. Nothing is hidden from Apex. Miss Susan.]
Gaia's feminine voice, while having a mechanical touch to it, possessed a faint presence of emotion that agitated Susan further, making her take a few deep breaths.
"Nothing," she answered Reed's question. "She can talk in my head. I was surprised."
…
"Where to next?" Susan asked Alex just as they stepped out of the broken bunker.
"New Avengers Tower," he said. "We need to meet Stark and pick up two helpers."
"Got it," she nodded before extending her arms toward him.
"What?"
"Pick me up," she said as a matter of fact. "We're going to fly there, right? I need more practice before I can fly freely."
"I'll just teleport us there," Alex said with a teasing smile, raising his hand as the air distorted with a red glow. Before the portal could form, however, Susan grabbed his arm, looking at him coldly.
"I said, pick me up."
"Not like that, honey," Alex said, smiling knowingly as the blonde's chest area started squirming. "Say it like you mean it."
"Mm…" She suppressed a moan as Alex sucked and pinched her nipples at the same time. "You're an ass."
Her aggrieved expression did nothing to change Alex's mind and even turned him on a little.
Realizing the futility, she sighed, suppressing another moan as he continued stimulating her nipples.
"I want to fly in your arms… I enjoyed it a lot," she said with a cute, puppy-eyed look that Alex had come to adore, reminding him of Wanda, yet possessing a slightly mature charm unique to Susan.
"That's my girl," he smiled and stopped teasing her breasts before picking her up in his arms. "All you had to do was ask."
She wrapped her arms around his neck and made herself comfortable in his embrace as he took to the air.
"If you weren't such a sadist, you could've simply taken the hint and made this a romantic moment..." Susan mumbled with a sigh as she took in the view.
"I think you're plenty wet right now," Alex said. "How about we take a little detour and have a quickie?"
"One, your quickies last no less than an hour," she pointed out. "And two, arousal doesn't mean romance. Sure, I was turned on by how you made me bare my desires like that, but a little vanilla romance every once in a while would be nice."
"I do plenty of vanilla romance stuff," Alex said. "Just the other day, I even brought you flowers."
"Yeah, but it's always in kinky circumstances…" she said. "You put me in that accursed chastity belt and denied me all forms of pleasure. How am I supposed to care about shitty flowers when I'm too horny to even think clearly? It's never an isolated instance of romance with you. You feel me?"
"I guess you aren't completely wrong," Alex nodded. "I'll keep it in mind. So, quickie?"
"No…" She trailed off with a sigh. "Let me enjoy the view."
"I get your point, okay?" Alex said, squeezing her thigh. "I'll be more considerate to keep things balanced between romance and kinks."
"That's all I want," she smiled again. "We can fulfill each other's kinky fantasies all we want, but an emotional connection is also necessary."
"Once we're done with this planet, I'll take you back to Gaia. We'll spend plenty of time enjoying each other's company. I'll do all the romantic stuff you want, and then you'll do all the kinky stuff I want. Deal?"
"Hey, I have kinky things I want to do as well," she said. "Have you ever tried pet play? I want to try role-playing as a moody and pampered house cat. Maybe then you'll stop teasing me all the time."
Alex paused, looking at Susan with a half-amused and half-impressed look. "I think out of all my hosts, you are the most sexually compatible with me."
"I'd take that as a compliment if you weren't talking about other women in that same sentence," she said, looking at him with frustration. "I want to know something…"
"Anything."
"What do you mean by Gaia being your subconscious?" She asked. "How can an artificial intelligence even become something like that?"
"Not naturally, that's for sure," Alex said. "It took a weirdly lucky situation and a lot of Mind and Soul Authority that wiped out all of my Bioenergy reserves at that time."
"What kind of situation?" She asked.
"It started a while ago, actually. About two months ago in actual time…though considering everything that's happened, it feels like it happened ages ago. There's this wasteland post-World War Three version of Earth…"
Alex spent the rest of the journey telling Susan about his early experience on Earth-Z and naively falling under Ultron's scheme before thwarting it recently and merging it into Gaia.
Before either of them realized it, half an hour had passed, and they had reached New York, home of the Avengers Tower.
Without bothering to waste any time, Alex directly entered the building, taking control of Susan's powers and turning intangible to pass through their myriad defenses and the reinforced concrete walls. They directly appeared on the top floor penthouse living room.
Susan immediately perked up, raising a brow as she heard faint moans from behind one of the doors.
"Those are two distinct moans, right?"
"Honestly, I'm surprised it took me this long to run into an actual manslut variant of Stark," Alex said. "The only ones I've bothered communicating with are either committed or too traumatized to think about anything beyond their suits."
"Iron Man, huh?" she said. "To be able to build something like Ultron… an infinitely evolving artificial general intelligence. He's competent. Some negative habits seem to come with the description."
"It varies from reality to reality. The one from 199999 relied on the Mind Stone."
"Are we going to wait for him to finish?"
"Of course," Alex nodded. "Why cockblock the man after all that he's been through? No need to mention what he's going to go through."
"That's unlike you," she said, looking at him with suspicion. "Are you stalling for something?"
"Guilty as charged," Alex raised his hands. "And here they are."
Just as he finished, the doors swung open as two young women, barely appearing twenty, entered the room. One with a reserved, yet suppressed, feral expression, and the other, with a boisterous expression as her eyes honed in on Alex and Susan.
"Are you Apex?" Kamala asked with shining eyes as Laura's expression changed as well; both women looked at him expectantly.
***
Susan was surprised by the duo's sudden appearance, and even more so when Kamala identified Alex.
"Kamala, Laura," Alex smiled. "How've you two been?"
"It's been great… though I kinda miss the base, you know?" Kamala said.
"Good…" Laura said succinctly.
"It's good that you two are here. Once I'm done with Stark, we'll move on to the X-Men. I'm sure Laura is dying to meet her father, no?"
"W-whatever…" Laura looked away, blushing.
"Holy…" Kamala looked at her companion with wide eyes. "You're never this shy…"
"Shut up…" Laura glared at Kamala.
"It makes sense… You've been crushing on him for who knows how long."
With a metallic screech, Laura's claws extended from her knuckles as her eyes turned cold. "One more word."
"Heh," Kamala acted brave, but was deterred by the threat and backed down.
"They are Laura and Kamala," Alex introduced them to Susan. "They are from this planet itself. And you two, this is Susan. My…girlfriend."
"Thanks for the pause you put in there," Susan chided from the side.
"Would you rather I introduce you as my wife?" Alex's words immediately made her blush. [Or masochistic submissive? I think the third one is the most apt.]
[This is exactly what I was talking about…you couldn't stop at the first part?]
[Never.]
Amidst the mental exchange between the two, both Kamala and Laura seemed immensely surprised and suddenly looked a little disheartened. Despite hiding their thoughts, both of them were like an open book to Alex, but he had no immediate thoughts about comforting them. Ultimately, the two of them only possessed a tertiary bond with him, and he had no plans to change that.
"What's with the tether, you two?" Susan asked, gesturing toward the black string that connected the duo at their waists.
"Oh… We share Apex, you see. That tether allows both of us to access his powers."
"A tether, you say…" Susan looked at Alex with suspicion.
[It started out as an experiment, but these two seemed to enjoy it, so I just made it permanent.]
"You concern me sometimes," Susan looked at him empathetically.
"Sure," Alex chuckled. "Girls, mind getting Stark out of there? I don't want to startle the poor guy into erectile dysfunction."
Alex grabbed Susan's hand and pulled her over to the couch as Laura and Kamala shared a look before approaching the bedroom door.
"Are you sure about this?"
"What?"
"Those two. Their expressions make their thoughts clear as day."
"Tertiary bonds are tertiary bonds, Sue," Alex said. "I have a limit to how many women I can love and pamper. Though I'm surprised you'd mention this. I thought you were more on the possessive side."
"I am, naturally. I simply wanted to hear your thoughts," she said. "Tertiary bonds are like grassroots workers, secondaries are middle managers, and primaries are the executive suite, huh?"
"More like secondary bonds are like the executives. Primaries are more like board members. You stay with me and do your own thing. Responsibilities and roles conform to the rest."
"I feel privileged…" Susan said.
"You should," Alex said. "My primary bonds go beyond your value to me. Yes, my initial reason was that I'm fascinated by your powers, but a secondary bond would've sufficed if that was all. We formed a primary bond because I wanted you closer to me."
"Now you're going to mention something about how I'm getting wet by your words…" Susan said.
"You're just as bad as I am."
"How so?"
"I wasn't even planning to mention it. Otherwise, I would've mentioned it when I called you my wife. You're the one who brought it up."
"Fine, I'm hypocritical," she shrugged. "Deal with it."
"I'll deal with it just right," Alex said darkly.
Before Susan could react, she was pushed down with Alex on top of her as he pinned her arms above her head, holding them in place with one hand as the other slipped under her shirt. Before Susan could even respond, Alex lowered his head and captured her lips in a passionate kiss.
"Mmf…" She moaned into his mouth, feeling his tongue slip through her lips as his hand snaked along her stomach, approaching her chest.
Susan matched Alex's enthusiasm with gusto, raising her leg a little and directly rubbing his crotch with her thigh as his hand cupped her breast and squeezed the soft flesh, eliciting a muffled moan from her throat.
Before the two of them could go any further, the sound of a door opening startled Susan into opening her eyes wide as she pushed Alex away from her in panic. He didn't resist, leaving a final kiss on her wet lips and retreating, letting her sit up as well.
As footsteps sounded, approaching them, she gave Alex a dirty look and started fixing her hair. He seemed entirely unbothered and stood up, facing Tony, who seemed both frustrated and flustered.
"I take it by your expression that you just saw the message from the Fantastic Four?" Alex asked.
"What do you want?"
"Is that any way to greet your savior, Stark?" Alex asked. "Without me, you'd all be dead, with no resistance remaining to speak of. A guy that possesses both Mjolnir and a Symbiote? You couldn't beat him without me if there were a hundred of you."
"Wanna bet?" He asked, smirking.
"Sure, I'll use the Mind Stone to put you in an illusion. In the meantime, this planet's Susan will consolidate everything on this planet for its eventual merger into Gaia. What do you say?"
"…" Tony continued, looking at him impassively. "I don't know how you convinced them, but…"
"Let me stop you right there, Tony. I didn't convince them of anything. I gave them an ultimatum: Death or subjugation. They chose the latter."
"I don't believe it," Tony sneered. "You used the Mind Stone, didn't you?"
"Believe it or not, I didn't," Alex said. "That would be contrary to my plans. Susan," he heard the one beside him flinch and chuckled, "the one from this reality is going to be my proxy here. Since I was going to take over anyway, her position will allow her to do things her way. Plus, I revived her dead brother."
"…" Tony frowned. "I'm nothing if not pragmatic. Considering you could've used the Mind Stone to completely skip this conversation, I can only believe that those three were actually convinced by you."
"That makes things convenient," Alex said. "You don't need to do anything. All I need from you and your new subordinates is not to waste my time gathering a pointless resistance. All it's going to do is cause trouble for Susan. If anything, my presence will help stabilize things much faster after Hydra's higher-ups got murdered and left everything to their anarchic subordinates."
"There needs to be a guarantee—"
"Your guarantee is Susan Storm—"
"Goddamn it," Susan cursed from the side.
"—The one from this reality," Alex clarified. "She's going to be the one executing everything and representing me. Talk to her if you have any grievances. Preferably, work with her to help her stabilize everything."
"What about those two…" he asked, gesturing with his head to the two silent women standing on the side. "Laura and Kamala's situation is also your doing, I presume?"
"Naturally," Alex nodded. "Their path is inherently different from anyone on this planet. I will take them with me once I leave. You two don't mind, do you?"
"Not at all, Mr. Apex," Kamala said, sounding a little reserved. It seemed that Alex's previous girlfriend comment regarding Susan was still on her mind. Laura seemed the same.
"Fine…" Tony nodded. "It's not like I have a choice anyway."
"Great, two down, two to go. Hope those conversations are as easy as this."
"Good luck," Tony said, mockingly. "If Charles were still alive, it would be different, but since you killed him, Scott is nothing but a loose cannon. He's going to explode the moment you raise this offer."
"Then someone else will lead the X-Men," Alex said casually. "I don't need loose cannons, I need people who care about stabilizing the world."
"What's your end goal in all this?" Tony asked. "Consolidating all these different planets… taking them under your wing. You don't seem like the benevolent type."
"You're right, I'm not the benevolent type," Alex nodded. "You can figure out my end goal yourself, but I'll give you a hint. The prosperity of humanity is something that is very important for the success of my plans. If you can figure it all out, great."
Tony didn't say anything else as Alex gave him a faint smile before turning to Susan.
"Let's go, honey. We might even be able to take care of the X-Men before losing daylight," he said.
Raising his hand, he created a red portal to the X-Men's compound in front of Laura and Kamala.
"You two can go on ahead, we'll catch up in an hour or so."
With that, he picked Susan up in his arms.
"Hey!" She protested, blushing with embarrassment.
Without gracing her with any response, Alex took to the air, passing through the wall as if it didn't even exist.
The three people remaining in the room were left speechless, unable to understand the logic behind his actions.
***
"Hey…" Susan asked Alex as they flew through the air.
"What is it?"
"What is your ultimate goal with these planets?" She asked. "You don't seem like the power-hungry authority kind of guy. Control-freak, yes. But not the kind that would motivate someone to do what you are doing."
"My goal with these planets isn't anything too complicated, Sue," Alex said. "There is a certain resource that can be produced by life. I want to harvest that resource. The more people, the greater the prosperity, the more of that resource I can acquire."
"That does sound more like you," she nodded. "You told me that gods exist before… Beings like Thor, Zeus, and the like. Is this resource something like faith? Is faith even a tangible resource?"
"You're close, but also not," Alex said. "What I want to collect is Cosmic Energy. That has nothing to do with people's faith in me. Instead, it is a special form of energy that is harnessed by the creators of life as we know it. Not the fake ones that clone beings and call it a day. True creators. The Celestials. They sow seeds of life on planets that eventually evolve over billions of years into conscious living beings."
"Celestials… Cosmic energy…" Susan grew thoughtful at Alex's revelation.
"No skepticism?" Alex asked her.
"I don't think you'd lie to me about something like this…" She said. "Plus, this whole cosmic energy business sounds an awful lot like it might have to do with the cosmic storm that gave me my powers."
"You aren't far off," Alex said. "In reality, the other three really got the short end of the stick when it comes to the mutations that storm induced. Your powers vastly eclipse Reed, Ben, and Johnny. Whether it be in potential or raw power, you outclass all of them."
"So my powers also originate from this Cosmic Energy?"
"That's very likely. Exposure to any form of volatile energy, be it radioactive gamma or cosmic rays, can induce random mutations in living tissue. Cosmic energy is especially effective in this case."
"How do you plan to collect it?"
"No idea," Alex shrugged. "That's one of the reasons I kidnapped your planet's Reed and took him to work in my lab. He's smart, maybe I'll be surprised. Cosmic energy is the most mysterious form of energy that I've ever encountered to date. The few times I've gotten a taste of it, I've tried to analyze and study it, but it's just too complex."
"How do you know its production requires people?"
"That's because of the way Celestials are born," Alex said. "Every once in a while, a planet is seeded by their kind. Not in the initiating life kind of way, but literally burying a seed in the center of the planet that uses the planet itself as an incubator. Now, this could be done with any old planet, but it isn't. The only planets that are seeded in this fashion are planets with life. Over a span of millions of years, the incubating Celestial absorbs the cosmic energy that is produced by the cycle of life and death of a civilization. Each era is symbolized by a large amount of death and destruction before another era eventually comes by, prospers, and declines all the same. Over millions of years, this cycle provides the infant Celestial with enough Cosmic energy to be born."
"That… is a lot to take in," Susan said.
"Take your time," Alex said. "I know this kind of information is a bombshell for anyone. And I'm not expecting you to do anything with it either. My plans are already in motion regarding the collection of Cosmic energy. For us, our priorities are this planet, and then spending time with each other on your planet."
"I guess…" It was clear that Alex's words were still on Susan's mind.
The rest of their journey passed by in silence as Susan moved closer to Alex for some warmth as he flew through the air, deep in her thoughts.
…
Soon, they reached the somewhat dilapidated Xavier's School for the Gifted and landed right at the gate. As for why Alex didn't simply phase into the mansion. Most of the occupants were already outside, awaiting their arrival.
"Am I crashing a party here?" Alex asked, looking at the solemn expression of Scott Summers, the current leader of the X-Men, following the untimely departure of their leader, Charles Xavier.
Not getting an immediate response, Alex looked around, noticing quite a few familiar faces, including that of Jean Gray, Ororo Monroe, and even Emma Frost, who was part of the lineup, though she seemed a little distant from the rest.
Curious. I don't recall seeing her during the battle…
Alex's gaze then went to Wolverine, who, after Charles' death, seemed to have rejoined the school. Laura and Kamala were standing beside him. While Wolverine looked at Alex solemnly, Laura and Kamala were much more casual, aware of his means and the way he operated. Beside them was a familiar figure that he hadn't expected to see today.
"I didn't expect to see you here, Wiccan," Alex said. "How's your mother?"
"She's recovering," he said. "Hasn't regained consciousness yet, but she's out of danger."
"That's good. Want me to fix all her trauma?"
"You'd do that?"
"You're strong," Alex said. "Your help would be invaluable to maintain worldwide stability in these trying times."
"I–I'll be grateful if that's possible," the man outright bowed to Alex.
"What the hell?" Scott's sudden outburst made both Alex and William turn to look at him. "Not only did he kill the professor, but he also kidnapped Laura for who knows how long. For god's sake, she looks like she's grown by more than a year in these few days."
"How about I bring Charles back to life? Will that satisfy you?" Alex offered with a teasing smile on his face.
Not only Scott, but Wolverine, Jean, and Ororo behind him all stiffened at his words.
"I can do it. You should've seen the information about the Human Torch coming back to life."
"You'd do that?" Scott asked, despite the visor covering his eyes, his desperate expression was fully conveyed from his tone.
"Fuck no," Alex sneered. "Dickhead tried to read my mind. It's good he died quickly. Otherwise, I would've tortured him to death. Now I'll give you all a choice. This planet's digital landscape is already under my control. Soon, my people will start stabilizing the unrest left by Hydra and clean up their remnants. I'll give you all a choice: surrender or die."
"I've fucking had it with you!" Scott lost his temper completely as his visor automatically fell off, releasing two beams of light directly at Alex. At the same time, Ororo and Jean also acted, the former controlling the weather to release a thunderous bolt of lightning down at Alex and the latter using her telekinesis to immobilize Alex in place and yank away the blonde woman beside him who hadn't spoken a word since their arrival.
All of that happened within an instant as Alex only responded with a light smile, grabbing Susan's hand and holding her in place as Scott's eye beams struck his torso, and Ororo's lightning struck his head, coursing through his body.
Seeing the rest of the members standing at the side without any intentions to act, Alex got an idea of their plans. If the three of their strongest and most experienced members won, well and good; if they lost, the others won't be held accountable.
A solid backup plan…
"Honey, how about you take them? I want to see if all that training I put you through bore any fruit."
Susan gave him an exasperated look that perfectly clarified that she had very little interest in being a combatant.
"I'm being blasted by rays of scorching light, and all you can afford is that look? Where's the concern? The love?"
"I can tickle you and that would be more effective than whatever those two are doing. Tell me their powers…"
"Ahh!" Scott growled loudly, intensifying the beams further, but Alex seemed entirely unaffected despite taking it all on directly. Moments later, a force field appeared in front of Alex, blocking the beams from reaching him and revealing his pristine state. Even his clothes weren't affected by the light as Susan started pushing it back.
Realizing the futility of their actions, Ororo intensified her efforts as it started raining thunderously, drenching everyone in the field. Soon, multiple bolts of lightning struck down, some targeting Alex and some targeting Susan. Jean once again acted, trying to infiltrate Susan's mind to make her lower her defenses, but it was of no use. She couldn't even form a psionic connection with Susan.
That was because there was a force field around her as well, blocking any mental probes from affecting her. Alex had already told her about their respective powers, and she'd taken the respective measures to not be affected. She formed another force field above her and Alex that blocked all of the lightning bolts that attempted to strike them.
Moving further ahead, she pushed Scott's light beams further back, soon reaching the halfway mark. The other two's efforts continued intensifying, but to no avail. Alex simply stood back, letting Susan take care of them as he observed the remaining X-Men, who also stood back, without any intention to act. Though he knew that the moment he threatened any of their lives, all of them would come at him together, screaming bloody murder.
Should I just kill them all and be done with it?
***