Chapter 192: Revelations
9th March 2012, New York City
(Jasmine Sayre POV)
I nodded, “That doesn’t surprise me. As for what happened, it’s a long story. I ended up finding out a few unpleasant things. Future Wanda’s little reality breaking time travel attempt was planned out by someone, by our enemy. I found him, the being that has been trying to kill us for so long, the being that I’ve been fighting for so long. It’s bad, Selene, really bad. I don’t think I can beat him, especially when he used Wanda to travel back in time, to have another chance at beating me. He laid a trap, and he almost killed me. I was able to scavenge a draw out of our confrontation by tricking him. But this is beyond anything I ever faced before.”
Selene looked shocked by my proclamation, “What? Who is it?”
“Selene, we’re fighting a cosmic entity. More specifically, a cosmic entity called Entropy.”
As I told my story to Selene, I kept observing her face. She barely moved her muscles, but I could see it in her eyes that she was getting worried the moment I said any that our enemy is a cosmic entity.
Still, Selene stayed silent as I spoke about my time in the Canon Potter verse, my summoning of Fate, my resignation from Death’s employ, and my return to this dimension thanks to America Chavez. By the time I was done, she gave me a brilliant smile, “Sometimes, I forget how powerful and how intelligent you are.”
I smiled back at her, “So, that’s it. Now, what?”
She looked pensive, “First, you’ll need to see if Entropy is still imprisoned in this prison of yours.”
I nodded. It made sense, after all. While, technically, the rune should trap him for centuries, the magically starved environment of Nifleheim would drain the life force that I used to power the runes, shortening that amount dramatically. There’s a reason the Asgardians call that realm ‘the home of the dead’, every type of energy, even life force, is constantly absorbed by the planet itself, which means that even Asgardians feel weaker, slower, losing their energy the longer they stay there. A normal human would probably die in an hour, a mutant in a day, a wizard in a week.
Although the issue would be to get there. Teleporting myself to a different realm without the use of the Bifrost will be very draining. This meant that I was practically helpless the second I stepped foot in that place.
The best way to get there would be to use the Tesseract, that Thor is going to use in a few hours to get back home, “The only way to get there now is to use the Tesseract, Thor having destroyed the Bifrost a few years ago. I’ll need to talk to him before he leaves for Asgard. I’ll ask that we make a detour first, and I need to talk to Odin anyway. He’ll need to be informed about this. The man might be a bit of a control freak and an asshole, but we’ll need Asgard’s might if we’re going to stand a chance in this.”
She looked pensive, “We can’t do it from the shadows anymore, Morrigan. Especially with you being weakened, having stopped your association with Death.”
“Do you disagree with my choice? You know how much that role put me through, and it’s not like I had access to the cosmic energy with the universe being locked. Cosmic entities cannot interfere anymore.”
“And yet, the Phoenix Force Avatar can use her cosmic powers at will.”
I sighed, exasperated, “There’s difference between the Phoenix Force and Death, Selene. The Phoenix Force lives through its host, giving an actual shard of their power to their champions. That shard experiences life through them, evolves with them, and dies with them, rejoining the whole. Death, on the other hand, doesn’t care much for life. It uses me as a hunter. It points at a target, someone or something that has broken her rules, and gives me the tools to destroy them, nothing more nothing less. Without Death targeting someone explicitly, I cannot use her powers. Plus, you know as much as I do that her powers are horrifying. Even excluding the cosmic energy power up, the perks are too powerful, it makes killing too easy. I am better off without them.”
Selene exclaimed, “But you could have used it against Entropy, you could have weaponized it, somehow. Only you would give away power in a moment of need like this.”
“These powers are only good in one thing, and that’s killing anyone and anything. But cosmic entities are different. They’re concepts that were given sentience. Their existence is immaterial, and if somehow by some miracle we kill him, then Entropy itself will stop working and the universe will be destroyed shortly. Everything works on a fragile balance. We could win against Entropy and still lose everything else. We need to be very careful about this.”
She didn’t seem happy, but accepted my arguments, “I still don’t like it though.”
“I don’t want to be a slave anymore, Selene. If I die, I want to die a free woman.”
Her eyes softened, “I just don’t want to lose you.”
“I don’t want to lose you either. And don’t worry about me losing some of my strength; I have a few plans in mind to get stronger. My over-reliance on my magic was a mistake that Entropy exploited. I will not make the same mistake again.”
She chuckled at that, “You always have a plan, don’t you?” I gave her a smile and she returned it, “So, what now?”
I started to scry for Stark and figured out that the Avengers were talking to Fury about something, “I’m going to Stark tower for a bit, and I’ll probably go to Asgard to speak to Odin. Do tell the girls to come tomorrow. I should be back by then and I want to catch up with them.”
“Will do. Good luck, Morrigan.”
I smiled back, turned myself invisible and teleported to Stark Tower, or more specifically to the same room as the Avengers and Fury.
I watched, amused, as the director of SHIELD was deciding what to do with me, especially since I’m a complete unknown. It was nice to see the Avengers refusing to fight me. Even if Thor was just doing it because he was scared shitless of me. I didn’t expect Odin to make his people afraid of me to the point that they got scared at the mere mention of my name. I will admit that it’s flattering, that he thinks that they should be wary of me, but to think that he actually use me as the Asgardian equivalent of the bogeyman was a bit insulting. I don’t kill people indiscriminately, damn it.
Still, Thor’s position with Loki and the Tesseract impressed me. It was easy to forget that the man was a prince and was educated in politics, even if he mostly ignores those lessons. He always had a large potential. I hope that he’ll realize it this time.
Still, seeing Fury leave with practically nothing was cathartic. I didn’t particularly care for SHIELD anymore. The avengers have been assembled and that’s all that mattered. For now, HYDRA, SHIELD, whatever they like to call themselves, can go fuck themselves. The Avengers could handle them, but if they intrude in my business, I’ll deal with them myself.
I watched as Stark wanted to start a party to celebrate the Earth not being invaded, and Thor understanding what the billionaire was doing, ended up telling a funny story about Loki, since they all pretty much hate the guy.
I chuckled at his story and spoke up, making myself invisible once more, “Oh, that was a good one. I haven’t heard that one before. I’ll ask your father for a bit of dirt after we talk.”
Of course, everyone tensed and readied their weapons. I chuckled; they’re so cute like that. I can’t believe that Romanoff of all people thinks that she could kill me. The woman tensed and demanded, “Who are you? How did you get here?”
I gave her an amused smile, “We have met before, Natalia. As for how I got here, I got lost on the path of life, and found myself here. Quite the conundrum, isn’t it?”
Barton was startled, “Sayre? I thought you were dead. No one’s heard of you for years.”
Rogers was startled by the name and I chuckled, “I went on a vacation for a few years. It’s good for the bones.”
Thor stepped up, “I don’t know who you are, woman, but do not insult my allies. You will remove yourself or I will remove you.”
I raised an eyebrow, “You’re cute, kiddo.”
He didn’t seem to like that answer since he threw the hammer at me. I raised my hand and stopped it in the air. Then I started analyzing it, “Curious, very curious. Uru metal, enchanted by the dwarves, no, there’s something more. Oh, she has a conscience, limited it might be. She’s quite fond of you, godling. What’s that? Oh, isn’t that interesting. This has your father’s fingerprints all over it. This wasn’t made by the dwarves, well, not just them. Oh, Odin, you sneaky bastard, you’re still fighting, after all this time. I have to respect that…”
Thor looked startled, trying to call back the hammer which wouldn’t leave my grip, and I continue, “You have a formidable weapon here, Thor Odinson. I am happy to see you are worthy of it, even if you still haven’t unlocked its potential or yours for that matter.”
I let go and the hammer flew back to his hand. He inspected it for a few seconds and then glared at me, “Who are you?”
I chuckled, “Come on, Prince Thor, we just fought alongside each other a few hours ago. Did you forget already?”
He paled at that and stepped back, “Morrigan…”
I bow to him playfully, “At your service.”
Barton snorted, “You’re the Morrigan. SHIELD knew you were powerful, but this, I didn’t see coming.”
I shrugged, “I’m thousands of years old, kiddo, you get bored when everyone starts to worship you and asks you to solve all their problems. I stopped trying to get involved after the Olympus fiasco. I still get bored every couple of centuries and take an identity and see what happens. I just made up some names, but you wouldn’t believe the shit I had to go through sometimes.”
Stark was still staring at me, “You’re Evanshade, aren’t you?”
I smiled at him, “You’re a sharp one. Yes, I am. Although, I don’t change my features too much every lifetime. I see you’ve taken my words to heart and finally started emulating your mother. Good for you, Anthony, she would be proud of the man you’re becoming.”
The Black Widow looked startled, “Are you talking about Morgan Evanshade, the owner of Sayre industries, which is pretty much the biggest media company in the world, which makes you one of the richest women in the world.”
I chuckled, “Come on, I don’t see you fawning over Stark over there. I tend to take a few identities here and there. A lot of the time it amounts to nothing, but some did end up being very famous, and very influential in the future.”
Banner looked curious, “Like who?”
“Well, there’s the Morrigan, then there was Wadjet, I think. After that, it was Medusa, then, Hecate. I stayed as Hecate for a while to stabilize the Order of Sorcerers. But I got bored and left. I think there was Morgan Le Fey afterwards, then Helga Hufflepuff, oh, right, you don’t know about that. Oh, this one should be interesting, Leonardo Da Vinci. Those were some crazy few decades. Then I mostly stuck with the Sayre name.”
Rogers spoke up, “Like Margaret Sayre…”
I nodded, “It’s good to see you, Steve. It’s been a while. You look good for a seventy year old man.”
He was gaping at me. Of course, he was. I was technically a scientist or more specifically, Abraham Erskine’s assistant, who helped him stabilize the Super Soldier Serum after the failure that was the Red Skull. He, like the American Secret Service, had thought that she died, killed by Hydra since I knew the Super Soldier Formula and could end up building an army for the allies. I faked my death, of course, but I did meet Rogers a few times after Erskine had chosen him.
He murmured, “You died…”
I chuckled, “no, I didn’t. I just moved on. The world wasn’t ready for armies of super soldiers. So, after the doctor’s death, I chose to fake my own and lived as my own niece.”
They all stared at me. No one said anything for a couple of minutes, until Stark spoke up, “So, why are you here?”
I chuckled, “Don’t worry, I’m not here to fight any of you. I need to talk to Thor for a few minutes. I will leave with him to Asgard. I removed my protections against Heimdall’s scrying for now. I believe I have left him enough time to warn your father of my incoming visit.”
Thor looked at me nervously, “Are you planning on harming Asgard in any way?”
I shook my head, “All I need, is to have a conversation with your father. We will come to an agreement. A war with Asgard, especially now, will spread chaos across the universe. Trust me, the arrangement will be beneficial for both factions.”
He nodded, “Then, I, Thor son of Odin, Crown Prince of Asgard, accept your request.”
“So be it.”
Chapter 192: Revelations
9th March 2012, New York City
(Jasmine Sayre POV)
I nodded, “That doesn’t surprise me. As for what happened, it’s a long story. I ended up finding out a few unpleasant things. Future Wanda’s little reality breaking time travel attempt was planned out by someone, by our enemy. I found him, the being that has been trying to kill us for so long, the being that I’ve been fighting for so long. It’s bad, Selene, really bad. I don’t think I can beat him, especially when he used Wanda to travel back in time, to have another chance at beating me. He laid a trap, and he almost killed me. I was able to scavenge a draw out of our confrontation by tricking him. But this is beyond anything I ever faced before.”
Selene looked shocked by my proclamation, “What? Who is it?”
“Selene, we’re fighting a cosmic entity. More specifically, a cosmic entity called Entropy.”
As I told my story to Selene, I kept observing her face. She barely moved her muscles, but I could see it in her eyes that she was getting worried the moment I said any that our enemy is a cosmic entity.
Still, Selene stayed silent as I spoke about my time in the Canon Potter verse, my summoning of Fate, my resignation from Death’s employ, and my return to this dimension thanks to America Chavez. By the time I was done, she gave me a brilliant smile, “Sometimes, I forget how powerful and how intelligent you are.”
I smiled back at her, “So, that’s it. Now, what?”
She looked pensive, “First, you’ll need to see if Entropy is still imprisoned in this prison of yours.”
I nodded. It made sense, after all. While, technically, the rune should trap him for centuries, the magically starved environment of Nifleheim would drain the life force that I used to power the runes, shortening that amount dramatically. There’s a reason the Asgardians call that realm ‘the home of the dead’, every type of energy, even life force, is constantly absorbed by the planet itself, which means that even Asgardians feel weaker, slower, losing their energy the longer they stay there. A normal human would probably die in an hour, a mutant in a day, a wizard in a week.
Although the issue would be to get there. Teleporting myself to a different realm without the use of the Bifrost will be very draining. This meant that I was practically helpless the second I stepped foot in that place.
The best way to get there would be to use the Tesseract, that Thor is going to use in a few hours to get back home, “The only way to get there now is to use the Tesseract, Thor having destroyed the Bifrost a few years ago. I’ll need to talk to him before he leaves for Asgard. I’ll ask that we make a detour first, and I need to talk to Odin anyway. He’ll need to be informed about this. The man might be a bit of a control freak and an asshole, but we’ll need Asgard’s might if we’re going to stand a chance in this.”
She looked pensive, “We can’t do it from the shadows anymore, Morrigan. Especially with you being weakened, having stopped your association with Death.”
“Do you disagree with my choice? You know how much that role put me through, and it’s not like I had access to the cosmic energy with the universe being locked. Cosmic entities cannot interfere anymore.”
“And yet, the Phoenix Force Avatar can use her cosmic powers at will.”
I sighed, exasperated, “There’s difference between the Phoenix Force and Death, Selene. The Phoenix Force lives through its host, giving an actual shard of their power to their champions. That shard experiences life through them, evolves with them, and dies with them, rejoining the whole. Death, on the other hand, doesn’t care much for life. It uses me as a hunter. It points at a target, someone or something that has broken her rules, and gives me the tools to destroy them, nothing more nothing less. Without Death targeting someone explicitly, I cannot use her powers. Plus, you know as much as I do that her powers are horrifying. Even excluding the cosmic energy power up, the perks are too powerful, it makes killing too easy. I am better off without them.”
Selene exclaimed, “But you could have used it against Entropy, you could have weaponized it, somehow. Only you would give away power in a moment of need like this.”
“These powers are only good in one thing, and that’s killing anyone and anything. But cosmic entities are different. They’re concepts that were given sentience. Their existence is immaterial, and if somehow by some miracle we kill him, then Entropy itself will stop working and the universe will be destroyed shortly. Everything works on a fragile balance. We could win against Entropy and still lose everything else. We need to be very careful about this.”
She didn’t seem happy, but accepted my arguments, “I still don’t like it though.”
“I don’t want to be a slave anymore, Selene. If I die, I want to die a free woman.”
Her eyes softened, “I just don’t want to lose you.”
“I don’t want to lose you either. And don’t worry about me losing some of my strength; I have a few plans in mind to get stronger. My over-reliance on my magic was a mistake that Entropy exploited. I will not make the same mistake again.”
She chuckled at that, “You always have a plan, don’t you?” I gave her a smile and she returned it, “So, what now?”
I started to scry for Stark and figured out that the Avengers were talking to Fury about something, “I’m going to Stark tower for a bit, and I’ll probably go to Asgard to speak to Odin. Do tell the girls to come tomorrow. I should be back by then and I want to catch up with them.”
“Will do. Good luck, Morrigan.”
I smiled back, turned myself invisible and teleported to Stark Tower, or more specifically to the same room as the Avengers and Fury.
I watched, amused, as the director of SHIELD was deciding what to do with me, especially since I’m a complete unknown. It was nice to see the Avengers refusing to fight me. Even if Thor was just doing it because he was scared shitless of me. I didn’t expect Odin to make his people afraid of me to the point that they got scared at the mere mention of my name. I will admit that it’s flattering, that he thinks that they should be wary of me, but to think that he actually use me as the Asgardian equivalent of the bogeyman was a bit insulting. I don’t kill people indiscriminately, damn it.
Still, Thor’s position with Loki and the Tesseract impressed me. It was easy to forget that the man was a prince and was educated in politics, even if he mostly ignores those lessons. He always had a large potential. I hope that he’ll realize it this time.
Still, seeing Fury leave with practically nothing was cathartic. I didn’t particularly care for SHIELD anymore. The avengers have been assembled and that’s all that mattered. For now, HYDRA, SHIELD, whatever they like to call themselves, can go fuck themselves. The Avengers could handle them, but if they intrude in my business, I’ll deal with them myself.
I watched as Stark wanted to start a party to celebrate the Earth not being invaded, and Thor understanding what the billionaire was doing, ended up telling a funny story about Loki, since they all pretty much hate the guy.
I chuckled at his story and spoke up, making myself invisible once more, “Oh, that was a good one. I haven’t heard that one before. I’ll ask your father for a bit of dirt after we talk.”
Of course, everyone tensed and readied their weapons. I chuckled; they’re so cute like that. I can’t believe that Romanoff of all people thinks that she could kill me. The woman tensed and demanded, “Who are you? How did you get here?”
I gave her an amused smile, “We have met before, Natalia. As for how I got here, I got lost on the path of life, and found myself here. Quite the conundrum, isn’t it?”
Barton was startled, “Sayre? I thought you were dead. No one’s heard of you for years.”
Rogers was startled by the name and I chuckled, “I went on a vacation for a few years. It’s good for the bones.”
Thor stepped up, “I don’t know who you are, woman, but do not insult my allies. You will remove yourself or I will remove you.”
I raised an eyebrow, “You’re cute, kiddo.”
He didn’t seem to like that answer since he threw the hammer at me. I raised my hand and stopped it in the air. Then I started analyzing it, “Curious, very curious. Uru metal, enchanted by the dwarves, no, there’s something more. Oh, she has a conscience, limited it might be. She’s quite fond of you, godling. What’s that? Oh, isn’t that interesting. This has your father’s fingerprints all over it. This wasn’t made by the dwarves, well, not just them. Oh, Odin, you sneaky bastard, you’re still fighting, after all this time. I have to respect that…”
Thor looked startled, trying to call back the hammer which wouldn’t leave my grip, and I continue, “You have a formidable weapon here, Thor Odinson. I am happy to see you are worthy of it, even if you still haven’t unlocked its potential or yours for that matter.”
I let go and the hammer flew back to his hand. He inspected it for a few seconds and then glared at me, “Who are you?”
I chuckled, “Come on, Prince Thor, we just fought alongside each other a few hours ago. Did you forget already?”
He paled at that and stepped back, “Morrigan…”
I bow to him playfully, “At your service.”
Barton snorted, “You’re the Morrigan. SHIELD knew you were powerful, but this, I didn’t see coming.”
I shrugged, “I’m thousands of years old, kiddo, you get bored when everyone starts to worship you and asks you to solve all their problems. I stopped trying to get involved after the Olympus fiasco. I still get bored every couple of centuries and take an identity and see what happens. I just made up some names, but you wouldn’t believe the shit I had to go through sometimes.”
Stark was still staring at me, “You’re Evanshade, aren’t you?”
I smiled at him, “You’re a sharp one. Yes, I am. Although, I don’t change my features too much every lifetime. I see you’ve taken my words to heart and finally started emulating your mother. Good for you, Anthony, she would be proud of the man you’re becoming.”
The Black Widow looked startled, “Are you talking about Morgan Evanshade, the owner of Sayre industries, which is pretty much the biggest media company in the world, which makes you one of the richest women in the world.”
I chuckled, “Come on, I don’t see you fawning over Stark over there. I tend to take a few identities here and there. A lot of the time it amounts to nothing, but some did end up being very famous, and very influential in the future.”
Banner looked curious, “Like who?”
“Well, there’s the Morrigan, then there was Wadjet, I think. After that, it was Medusa, then, Hecate. I stayed as Hecate for a while to stabilize the Order of Sorcerers. But I got bored and left. I think there was Morgan Le Fey afterwards, then Helga Hufflepuff, oh, right, you don’t know about that. Oh, this one should be interesting, Leonardo Da Vinci. Those were some crazy few decades. Then I mostly stuck with the Sayre name.”
Rogers spoke up, “Like Margaret Sayre…”
I nodded, “It’s good to see you, Steve. It’s been a while. You look good for a seventy year old man.”
He was gaping at me. Of course, he was. I was technically a scientist or more specifically, Abraham Erskine’s assistant, who helped him stabilize the Super Soldier Serum after the failure that was the Red Skull. He, like the American Secret Service, had thought that she died, killed by Hydra since I knew the Super Soldier Formula and could end up building an army for the allies. I faked my death, of course, but I did meet Rogers a few times after Erskine had chosen him.
He murmured, “You died…”
I chuckled, “no, I didn’t. I just moved on. The world wasn’t ready for armies of super soldiers. So, after the doctor’s death, I chose to fake my own and lived as my own niece.”
They all stared at me. No one said anything for a couple of minutes, until Stark spoke up, “So, why are you here?”
I chuckled, “Don’t worry, I’m not here to fight any of you. I need to talk to Thor for a few minutes. I will leave with him to Asgard. I removed my protections against Heimdall’s scrying for now. I believe I have left him enough time to warn your father of my incoming visit.”
Thor looked at me nervously, “Are you planning on harming Asgard in any way?”
I shook my head, “All I need, is to have a conversation with your father. We will come to an agreement. A war with Asgard, especially now, will spread chaos across the universe. Trust me, the arrangement will be beneficial for both factions.”
He nodded, “Then, I, Thor son of Odin, Crown Prince of Asgard, accept your request.”
“So be it.”
