MM: Chapter 59

I found myself back in the White Room in my mindscape, with the bed, armoire, and everything. Sighing, I dragged my hand across my face, at least the mental image of my face that I was projecting into my mindscape. I let out a great sigh as I realized what must have just happened. The last thing I remembered was trying to take down one of Ultron's Flying Fortresses during the assault on the Ultron Base in the scorched remnants of Vērmane Garden using my strongest Ferromantic Power. I put everything I had left into it, and it worked. My last real memory before things went fuzzy on me was of the Flying Fortress literally blowing itself in half as the entire right engine bank catastrophically malfunctioned. Then, I woke up here.

"I must have put too much power into that spell and overexerted myself." I muttered.

"You think?" Questioned that familiar, cocksure voice.

I turned to see the Jheri-curled Asshole of a Beyonder who seemed to thrive on making my life more complicated than it needed to be, standing in the doorway. He was leaning up against the doorframe to the White Room in my mindscape, arms crossed, with a shit-eating grin on his face as he nodded at me. I couldn't help but let out another groan at his appearance. Of course, he'd take the opportunity to show up now. Why wouldn't he take any chance he could get to complicate my life? If anything, my discomfort seemed to make his grin widen even more.

"One of these days, I'm gonna get enough power to punch you in that smirking mouth and get away with it, you know." I grumbled.

"You think so?" Queried the Beyonder.

"If not, I'll find a way." I insisted.

"That could be interesting. Good luck with that." Smirked the Beyonder.

"What do you want now?" I asked.

"Why do I have to want something from you? Couldn't I just pop in to say hello?" Questioned the Beyonder.

"That's not your style." I scoffed.

"It isn't? Maybe I brought you a power-up. Did you think of that?" Queried the Beyonder.

"Did you?" I asked.

"No." Admitted the Beyonder.

"Of course not. That would be far too easy." I growled.

"I did bring more information, though." Offered the Beyonder.

"Helpful information?" I questioned.

"Important information. Scott Summers is about to undergo a meltdown sometime in the next few months." Informed the Beyonder.

"Of course he is. Between limiting my Omniversal Travel and Ultron, you'd think I'd have enough on my plate right now, but apparently not." I grumbled.

"It's not looking good, either. The power he's been gaining is unstable. Apparently, the Beyond Corporation tinkered with his X-Gene in an experiment to see if they could push Mutants further in the evolutionary process than they already are. Of course, to hear the Other Beyonders talk about it, the Beyond Corporation was amateurish in how they did it. What should be a slow and stable transformation into a being of pure concussive force, a Conduit to the Punch Dimension, is actually extremely unstable." Continued the Beyonder.

"Great. Fantastic." I groused.

"That's not all. Within two to three months, Scott Summers will reach critical mass and try to expel as much of that energy that he's been accumulating in a giant rampage. It won't work, and if he's allowed to continue, he will quite literally explode with enough force to take out the entire state of New York, as well as parts of New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Vermont, and Ontario." Explained the Beyonder.

"So what are my options here?" I queried.

"The way I see it, you have three options. Either kill him, find some way to stabilize what the Beyond Corporation did to him, or find some way to take away or permanently reduce his powers." Answered the Beyonder.

"Any solution that doesn't involve killing him is going to require me to travel the Omniverse to find, isn't it?" I asked.

"I'm afraid so." Nodded the Beyonder.

"Why am I the one who always has to get stuck in the bullshit?" I questioned rhetorically.

"Do you want an answer to that?" Queried the Beyonder.

"No. I know it's because I can handle it." I sighed.

"Also because it amuses me." Grinned the Beyonder.

"I swear, one of these days." I griped.

"Yes, yes. If that happens, I might even let you do it." Scoffed the Beyonder.

So much shit was coming to a head. Idly, I wondered whether or not it was all happening because it was the End of the Millennium or something. I wasn't much for Doomsday Prophecies, mind you, but it sure as fuck felt like big shit kept trying to go down in my life lately. Either way, I suppose it fell on me to handle things. I couldn't help but shake my head at the consistent nonsense I was going through, though. It was a lot, after all. Big crossover events, the potential deaths of billions, and more personal stakes like maybe getting eaten by Baba Yaga. It felt like I was just shifting between one big clusterfuck to another without much in the way of rest in between. I needed a vacation. Unfortunately, I was pretty sure that wasn't going to be forthcoming any time soon.

"And here I thought Spider-Man had it rough." I muttered.

"Fortunately, I have a few leads for you to follow up on the issue." Pointed out the Beyonder.

"Let me have them." I nodded.

"The Plane of Ravnica has a specific type of Artifact called a Pithing Needle, which, when used on a powered being, can remove their natural abilities. There is also the Simic Combine, which, if you can gain access to their Bio-Magic, might just be able to fix the shoddy work the Beyond Corporation made of Scott's X-Gene. Both of those approaches are highly regulated by the local Guilds, though." Began the Beyonder.

"I know a little about Ravnica. I'll keep that in mind." I agreed.

"Next, there's Archeotech from a Universe that is currently in a Future that is fairly Grim and Dark. There is a world called Necromunda there, which has numerous giant Arcology Cities called Hives, most of which have in their sub-levels lost technology from a hyper-advanced Golden Age of Mankind. I was able to confirm that at least one such cache of lost technology contains advanced genetic modification technology of a kind that would take Reed Richards, Tony Stark, and a dozen other Super-Scientists Years of working together with a single vision to match. Using such technology, you could stabilize Scott's X-Gene or even remove his powers entirely. Unfortunately, the Galaxy as it stands in that Universe is quite Brutal and downright medieval in terms of attitudes." Continued the Beyonder.

"I'm familiar with Warhammer Forty-Thousand. We'll call that Plan B." I huffed.

"Finally, there is a way to reset Scott's Genetics back to how they were previously, but it requires a trip to a Universe where Mad Science, Randian Objectivism, and Hypercapitalism run rampant in a massive underwater city. You'll need to enter the City and retrieve the Schematics of something called a Vita-Chamber to do it. Unfortunately, the City is about to enter a brutal Civil War that will lead to a terminal spiral." Finished the Beyonder.

"I'm also familiar with Bioshock, that will probably be my first attempt, then Ravnica, then Warhammer Forty-Thousand." I confirmed.

"Right. Good luck with that. You'll need it. Personally, I think it'd just be easier if you killed him." Smirked the Beyonder.

"Scott Summers may be a dick, but he doesn't deserve to just be killed out of hand like that just because it'd be easier." I insisted.

"Right. Unfortunately, it seems you're about to wake up. I'm unsure when the next time we'll meet like this again is. I have a lead to follow on the Beyond Corporation's investigation into the Total Multiversal Collapse of the DC Universe. I could be some time, by your standards, at least." Warned the Beyonder.

"Whatever will I do without you?" I asked, snarkily.

Mercifully, before the Beyonder could say anything to clap back at me, I felt myself being tugged away from the White Room in my Mindscape. Things started to go fuzzy on me as my mental image of myself was yanked out of the room and away from whatever the Jheri-Curled Asshole might have said by way of retort. I was regaining consciousness. Hopefully, the Others managed to figure out things in the aftermath of the Vērmane Garden Assault without me.

If I woke up in the middle of a desolate battlefield or in some Ultron Lab as a Captive, I was going to have words for Colonel Kisziel and Niko both. . .

XXXX

I woke with a gasp, thankfully not stuck in an Ultron Lab or still laid out in the scorched remnants of Vērmane Garden. Instead, I found myself on a cot in the Order of the Hydra base that I'd commandeered and denazified for my small band. As I sat up, I frowned as I saw that I wasn't in the quarters I'd appropriated for myself, but in the small infirmary that the underground bunker had. As I looked around, my frown only deepened at the realization that I wasn't the only one in here. There were seven others in here as well, all with varying wounds, some of which were from among the folks we'd taken with us to attack the Ultron Base in the remains of Vērmane Garden, but a couple of them were completely unfamiliar to me.

"Good, you're up. You've been out for a day, and we've got a bit of an issue on our hands." Came Anna's Voice from the entrance to the Infirmary.

I looked over to see that my nominal third-in-command had a bandage across her left forearm that seemed to be soaked in some of the Mystical Healing Salves the Order of the Hydra had left behind in the infirmary. That stuff was effectively a topical healing potion combined with an antiseptic that neutralized infection. I vaguely recalled the Formula having been something the Order of the Hydra had looted from Norway during the War, along with some other Alchemical Oils and treatments that they had begun using to supe-up their weapons and make even their field dress shrapnel-resistant. I believe the Grimoire that the Norwegian Alchemy Stuff was in was one of the ones I had yet to look through from the remnants of the Base's Mystic Library.

"What happened there?" I questioned.

"While you were unconscious, I took a patrol out and we found a group of Ultron Drones chasing a small band of guerrilla survivors through the sewers under Riga Central Station. Apparently, they were being led by a Boatswain of the Slorenian Navy. A Boatswain Ackermann, who went AWOL while on leave in Riga, when news of the scrambling of the Navy and its destruction in the Gulf of Karnu reached him. He managed to get to his family's home just as the City came under attack. He picked up around fifteen guerrillas and refugees over the past two days." Began Anna.

"Ackermann? He's a Curonian?" I queried.

"With a Slorene Wife." Scowled Anna.

"That can't be popular." I mused.

"It's not, but we need the force he brought with him. Six of them are Veterans of the Chechen, Abkhazian, South Ossetian, and Transnistrian Wars. On loan to the Russians as part of treaty obligations. Meanwhile, on our end of things, Petor, Vasara, Franz, and Erich didn't make it out of the fighting of the past day or so. At least only five of his fifteen refugees and guerrillas are Slorenes. The rest are a mix of Dudeks, Curonians, and one Jew." Admitted Anna.

"All right, you might want to start at the beginning." I intoned.

"Of course, Boss." Agreed Anna.

The next half an hour or so contained a summary of everything that'd happened while I'd been out, starting with the Withdrawal from Vērmane Garden. Apparently, as soon as we'd made our way out of the immediate area, the place had begun swarming with Ultron Flying Assault Platforms, trying to scan the area to see what had happened to take out the Signal Jammer, Base, and one of the very few Flying Fortresses that Ultron still had. They took some fire escaping, and Petor and Erich were killed in a rear guard action, buying time for the rest of the group to escape. Meanwhile, the sudden lack of Radio Interference brought a resurgence of Radio Chatter as various Survivor Groups tried to link up or get to safety.

That second part was important, as Anna and Niko had been trying to link as many of the nearby survivor groups together as they could. It helped that before we'd pulled out of Vērmane Garden, Colonel Kisziel had apparently ordered a group of his men to collect any dropped Ultron Infantry Weapons they could grab before splitting them half and half with us. Apparently, most of our forces could now be seen sporting Pulse Laser Weapons, freeing up the Enchanted Order of the Hydra Weapons to be gifted to other groups. We were currently the central hub of a network of twelve survivor groups with an average of fifteen people per group. Currently, our band of freedom fighters has two hundred fifty-one people in it.

Forty percent of those were Dudeks, while another thirty percent were Curonians, twenty-five percent were Slorenes, and five percent were Jews, Latvians, Lithuanians, Poles, Russians, or other ethnicities. Of those, we could count on roughly a hundred of them to be good combatants, having enough experience with the military or weaponry to count as more or less regular troops, with the rest largely being noncombatants who could be pressed to fill militia or civilian labor roles if need be, at best.

"Colonel Kisziel has been in touch with more survivor groups than we have. From what he's said, there are maybe around six thousand survivors in the city, hiding in various places. He estimates that maybe seven thousand managed to escape into the Countryside or evacuate along with the remnants of the Second Mechanized Infantry Battalion fleeing from the City after the fall of Army Command." Informed Anna.

"Twelve thousand survivors out of a population of half a million people. Less than three percent of Riga seems to have survived Ultron so far. That's not great." I frowned.

"There's more, Boss." Pressed Anna.

"What else?" I asked.

"Apparently, the UN has tasked SHIELD with leading an intervention force. Word is that they've gathered around Ruhnu in the Gulf of Karnu, using the airfield there to shuttle troops and supplies to and from the staging area so they don't overburden SHIELD's flying aircraft carriers. Apparently, your teammates in the Avengers are there with them and have been launching hit-and-run attacks on Ultron's Forces for the past two days. It's the main reason why Ultron hasn't been able to really do much about us consolidating." Explained Anna.

"Finally. Looks like there's going to be an end to this after all." I muttered.

"There's one more thing." Added Anna.

"Which is?" I questioned.

"Niko seems to have awakened some kind of latent power." Frowned Anna.

"What kind of power?" I queried.

"He's been having flashes of insight. Hunches he calls them, only his hunches are constantly turning out to be correct." Informed Anna.

"And you think he might have awakened some kind of Psionic Mutant Power?" I asked.

"I don't know. You're the superhero." Shrugged Anna.

"Where is he. I'll go talk to him." I offered.

"Not here. He's currently doing a patrol of the sewer tunnels around the area along with Boatswain Ackermann." Answered Anna.

"Then I'll talk with him when he returns. In the meantime, I should be able to help out the wounded." I intoned.

"All right, Boss. I'll let him know you want to speak to him when he returns." Nodded Anna.

And with that, I got out of the Cot I'd been placed in and began to work on healing the wounded in the infirmary. Everyone got a dose of healing, either through potions or the Czech Healing Magic I'd only recently learned. It didn't matter whether they were from our original group or members of Ackermann's group, whether they were Slorene, Dudek, Curonian, or anything else. It didn't even matter whether they were combatants or non-combatants. Everyone got healed. By the time I was done and Anna checked everyone out to see if everything worked properly, another hour and ten minutes had passed. Twenty minutes after that, Niko and his Patrol made their way back into the Base.

And it was time for me to have a discussion about suddenly awakening superpowers with him. . .

XXXX

AN: All right, so here's the next chapter. It turns out, things with the Scenario Drawbacks that Jan picked for his CYOA Choices are coming to a head. Unfortunately, it looks like solving one of them might just lead into getting caught up in the other. After all, Baba Yaga is looking for anyone making Omniversal Hops to and from the Marvel Multiverse as a way to narrow down finding Jan, and fixing Scott so he doesn't blow up with enough pure concussive force to take out a massive chunk of the Northeastern US and Canada is going to require Jan to make multiversal jumps. Each time he does so, he'll have a one in four chance of Baba Yaga spotting him. Of course, first, he needs to finish out dealing with Ultron and the events of Ultron Unlimited.

Speaking of which, the next chapter will have Jan talking to Niko about his recently awakened Mutant Powers, meeting with Boatswain Ackermann, and also trying to get in contact with his teammates. Then we'll have an interlude showing what SHIELD and Ultron have been doing before returning to Jan's POV.

Stay tuned. . .