Inside Reed Richards' lab, reality folded just enough to let Noah Vale step through like he owned the concept of distance.
Reed barely looked up before speaking.
"You dropped something on my table less than three minutes ago," he said, rubbing his temples. "And you're already asking for results?"
Noah leaned casually against a console.
"Well?"
Reed exhaled sharply.
"I haven't even activated it yet. For all I know, pressing the wrong thing could tear a hole in the room."
That only made Noah more interested.
"It's a multiversal device," he said. "Lets you cross between realities and suppresses rejection effects. Also connects to an organization that operates across multiple universes."
Reed froze.
Then slowly turned.
His eyes lit up.
"That's…" he started, then stopped himself. "You're serious."
Noah gave a small nod.
"I want it understood. Replicated."
A pause.
"How long?"
Reed stared at him.
"…Are you trying to kill me?"
Noah didn't answer.
Reed sighed, already doing the math in his head.
"Best case? A month. And that's with full focus."
He hesitated.
"…Unless you help."
Noah considered it briefly.
"A month," he repeated.
That was… acceptable.
Gwen's condition wasn't immediately fatal. She could hold out that long.
"Focus on the stabilization function first," Noah said. "Make it usable."
Reed nodded slowly.
"That part's critical anyway."
Noah turned to leave, then added over his shoulder:
"If you need time acceleration, have Stark take you to the Sanctum. The Sorcerer Supreme can help."
Reed blinked.
"The Sorcerer Supreme?"
But Noah was already gone.
Far beyond Earth, the universe was shifting.
A rare alignment approached.
Once every several thousand years, the Nine Realms would drift into perfect alignment, their boundaries thinning, their distances collapsing.
Doorways would open.
Barriers would weaken.
Worlds would touch.
On Earth, in London, something had already begun.
In an abandoned district, inside a half-collapsed building, space itself twisted.
Subtle.
Unstable.
But real.
The anomaly was detected quickly, flagged by monitoring systems.
Still, the response was… casual.
These days, strange readings weren't exactly rare.
Someone with powers probably caused it.
Still, protocol was protocol.
A small investigation team was dispatched.
Inside the building, a young recruit followed behind his senior officer, scanning the environment.
"Localized distortion," he muttered. "Could be a spatial manipulator. Range is impressive though…"
He moved deeper inside.
Then—
His foot missed the ground.
The world flipped.
Space folded in on itself.
And suddenly—
He wasn't in the building anymore.
Darkness.
Complete.
His equipment flickered.
Dead signal.
"Hello?" he called out, voice tight.
No response.
Then—
Something moved.
From within a stone-like structure nearby, a black, liquid-like substance seeped out.
Silent.
Slow.
It wrapped around him before he could react.
He tried to move—
Couldn't.
The darkness swallowed him whole.
Then everything went black.
Elsewhere, something ancient stirred.
A figure opened its eyes.
Malekith.
Leader of the Dark Elves.
"I can feel it…" he whispered.
"The Aether."
His voice carried centuries of hatred.
"The convergence approaches."
He stood slowly, gaze turning toward Asgard.
"They thought they buried us," he said. "Put us to sleep and called it victory."
His expression hardened.
"This time… we finish it."
Back on Earth—
The young recruit gasped.
He was back.
Same building.
Same floor.
Like nothing had happened.
Except—
Everything had changed.
Power surged through his body.
Endless.
Uncontrolled.
"What…?" he whispered.
His mind struggled to catch up.
It felt like he'd been gone for hours.
But—
"Where the hell were you?"
His senior officer rushed over, breathless.
"You disappeared for an hour."
The recruit blinked.
"…An hour?"
He didn't remember that.
Not clearly.
His thoughts were still catching up when—
A hand landed on his shoulder.
The reaction was instant.
A surge.
Black energy exploded outward.
The officer was thrown back like a ragdoll, slamming into the wall, coughing blood as he hit the ground.
The recruit froze.
"I—I didn't—"
His body tensed.
Reflex.
And that was enough.
The building detonated.
Not from an explosion.
From pressure.
Invisible force crushed outward in all directions.
Walls shattered.
Steel bent.
Concrete collapsed.
By the time the dust settled—
Nothing remained.
The recruit stood at the center of it all.
Unharmed.
Surrounded by ruin.
"…What just happened?"
He looked down at his hands.
They trembled.
Not from fear.
From power.
His ability had always been simple.
Convert energy into physical strength.
On paper?
Impressive.
In reality?
Disappointing.
The efficiency was terrible.
Even with massive energy input, his gains were minimal.
They'd tried everything.
Even feeding him controlled energy from advanced sources.
The result?
A few tons of strength.
Expensive.
Underwhelming.
He had been sidelined.
Written off.
And now—
This.
The power coursing through him was different.
Endless.
Overflowing.
Not something he needed to generate.
Something already there.
Something feeding him.
Constantly.
His strength multiplied.
Then multiplied again.
And again.
It didn't stop.
His breathing slowed.
A thought crept in.
Then another.
And another.
The more power he felt…
The more his mind shifted to match it.
Because strength didn't just change the body.
It changed perspective.
Far away, the storm was only beginning.