The sunset turned everything on Mars into this crazy red-orange mess, mixing with the rust-colored dirt until it all just looked like one big red blur. Elric sat there in the dust, his chest moving up and down—not because he actually needed to breathe anymore, but because old habits die hard. The workout he'd just done left him tired, though he knew his body would bounce back way faster than he could tire himself.
He stared at his hands, turning them over slowly. These hands could literally reshape matter, had enough strength to move moons around. Just one night. That's all it took. One night of sleep and everything changed.
He didn't need oxygen—his lungs still worked if he felt like using them, but they were basically optional now. Food was just something he did for fun rather than survival. Sleep was more of a suggestion his body made sometimes that he could totally ignore.
With just raw strength, he could grab a moon and mess with its orbit. Physically speaking, he'd left his humanity way behind.
He tried to keep his cool, tried to act like he had his shit together. But underneath all that? He was still just a teen. A teen who'd died and gotten reborn in this messed-up place.
The fear was always there. Every single moment, it whispered at him. Could he even make it to tomorrow? And if he did survive, then what? What happens to someone like him in a universe where some beings just casually destroy entire realities as easily as waking up from a nap? Actually, thinking about it, it is easier than waking up from a nap.
But after getting this power, his mind had found some peace. Not much, barely anything really, but it was something. A start.
His power testing gave him a rough idea of where he stood. Based on what he knew about this universe, he figured he was around awakened Thor with Stormbreaker level. The Thor at his absolute peak. That put him solidly above regular Thanos. In a straight fight, he could take down the Mad Titan pretty easily.
But Thanos with even one Infinity Stone? Yeah, he should barely be there.
The thought was both a reality check and motivating at the same time. He couldn't get comfortable. He couldn't just assume some stronger version of himself from another universe would show up to save his ass. He needed to build his own strength. In Marvel, there were too many opportunities; how could he waste them?
His eyes drifted to the blue planet hanging in the Martian sky. Earth looked even more beautiful through the red atmosphere—like a sapphire just floating in space. Without thinking, Elric reached out his hand, fingers spreading as he could actually grab that distant world.
The gesture made his thoughts click into place. What did Earth even mean to him now?
He had no family there. No friends. Nothing connects him to that world emotionally. Logically, the smart play would be to leave. Find some quiet corner of the universe far from Earth's constant bullshit. Because Earth was basically the centre of everything wrong with this universe. A Celestial was sleeping in its core, waiting to be born in an event that would literally crack the planet apart. Demons tried to invade every other day. Alien invasions, mad titans, reality-warping nonsense—Earth attracted disaster like crazy.
He used to think anyone wanting to rule Earth was an idiot. Ruling Earth sounded like the worst job ever, something only a crazy person would sign up for. The planet was just problems stacked on more problems, with a side of apocalyptic disasters.
But he finally got it.
He wanted to take over Sokovia. The place he grew up in, the place he died in, the place he absolutely hated for what it stood for—war, suffering, being treated like garbage by the rest of the world. He wanted to make Sokovia so powerful that everyone would be forced to respect a place they once used as a playground for their political games.
It wasn't logical. No matter how he looked at it, the same answer came from somewhere deeper than logic: Screw logic. He'd become the exact type of person he used to mock.
......
Being emotional about this didn't mean being stupid about it. He wasn't going to pick fights with everyone like an idiot. Setting aside the Ancient One—easily the scariest person on Earth—there was the simple problem that nobody in Sokovia even knew who he was. If he went around flexing his power and forcing people to bow down, he'd just become another supervillain. Another threat that needed to be taken out.
And he genuinely didn't want to kill innocent people for this. He grew up in war. He saw firsthand how terrible it was, how it destroyed lives and futures. He lived through that nightmare, and he wasn't about to put others through it. There had to be a better way.
Actually, it shouldn't be that hard. This universe was different from his old world in one major way: Earth faced world-ending threats all the time. Risk of destruction every other week wasn't an exaggeration—it was just facts.
The rough outline of a plan started forming. He'd protect Earth. Simple as that. He'd make sure everyone knew he was protecting them, that he stood between humanity and all the nightmare stuff trying to kill them. Build up a reputation, build trust, and become someone they need.
Stop hero groups like the Avengers from forming.
Then one day, when the timing was right, the governments would inevitably turn on him. They always did—that was just human nature, the fear of power they couldn't control. When they started fighting him, tried to regulate or take him down, he'd make his announcement: from that point on, he'd only protect Sokovia.
For most reasonable people, the choice would be obvious. Stay in your country that had became hell hole, or join Sokovia and get protection from the guy who'd saved the world multiple times. And when enough people from a certain country joined Sokovia, wasn't that country already basically under Sokovian control?
It was just a rough idea, still taking shape. But it had potential.
Before any of that could happen, though, he needed overwhelming strength—not just enough to beat threats, but enough to convince people he was basically invincible, that betting on him was the safe choice. And he needed to build a strong army for Sokovia, loyal people who could help him keep things running smoothly.
Elric lowered his hand. That blue marble of Earth still hung in the sky above him. The red Martian dust swirled around his feet.
...
Looking at the broken marks and traces he'd left around, Elric figured scientist would probably discover this place eventually. The signs weren't exactly subtle.
But hey, it was 2007. And Earth had already made contact with aliens—well, sort of. The whole thing with the Destroyer in New Mexico would happen soon, and SHIELD already knew about extraterrestrial threats. So nobody was paying particular attention to Mars specifically, and even if some organisation happened to be looking at this exact spot at this exact time, he honestly didn't care.
Mainly because there was nobody in this world who cared about him, and there was nobody he particularly cared about either. No family, no friends, no connections. He was completely free in that sense.
So he wasn't really worried about his identity getting leaked or discovered. It wasn't some huge secret he needed to protect with his life.
And besides, in his long-term plans, he'd have to show himself to the world eventually anyway. Building up his influence—all of that needed a public presence at some point. It was going to happen sooner or later, whether he wanted it to or not.
And mainly, even if they found out who he really was, what could they actually do about it? Cry to their moms? File a complaint with the UN?
Because honestly, he didn't give a fuck what the world thought about him. If his current identity became a problem, he could just create a completely new one.
Anyway, the people who could actually kill him—like the Ancient One or Odin—hadn't come looking for him yet. That was the important part.
And the Ancient One's complete lack of interest in what he was doing had actually made his theory about why there was no TVA in this universe way more solid.
Yeah, if he was going to control the future Earth in this timeline, then there was no reason Kang would ever get access to time-travel tech in the far future. The chain of events that led to Kang's rise and the TVA getting created just wouldn't have happened if he had changed things enough.
It actually made sense when he thought about it. Time travel shenanigans only mattered if the original timeline played out as "intended." But he had zero intention of letting that happen.
As long as he wasn't threatening reality's immediate stability or messing with the fundamental laws of magic and time, she'd leave him alone. Live and let live, as long as the universe doesn't break.
Anyway, after thinking way too much about multiversal theory and timeline manipulation, his brain definitely needed some sugar.
He really hadn't eaten anything sweet in forever. Living alone in the forest and hunting for food was fine for staying in shape, but man, he missed desserts. Cake, ice cream, chocolate—the good stuff that made life worth living.
No, maybe not the ice-cream.
Maybe he should make a quick trip to the nearest town and grab some snacks before heading back.