Choices
A creature sat alone in a tiny room with only one mirror by his left. For the first time in his life, he was in the dark and for the first time he found an obstacle in the form of a collar around a neck that was supposed to be superfluous.
Then the only lame door opened and he was joined by two lesser creatures, carrying themselves with the highest pride only because they managed to beat him out of sheer luck.
“How are you doing, E.T.?” said the paler one and although he didn’t get the joke, he sensed the mocking tone.
“You shouldn’t speak like that to someone from Beyond.”
The other one, much more down to Earth and serious, caught onto that and enquired: “Let’s talk about that: what do you mean you’re ‘from beyond’?”
The human with facial hair chuckled and added: “I’m curious, too. Do you mean ‘to infinity and beyond’ or–”
“Oh, enough already! Take this seriously, Tony!" said his friend, for once pleasing the one from beyond… the table.
“There’s really no better way to explain where I’m from, then the simplest of all: Beyond.” the whole time he was looking at the one that took him most seriously until then.
But the other one rolled his eyes and retorted: “We’ve travelled to other universes in the past, just get it over with this mysterious charade.”
“I didn’t say I was from another universe.” He seemed to smirk and specified: “Or any universe for that matter.”
A moment of silence passed, both humans glaring coldly at him, then they simultaneously sat by the opposite side of the same table.
“Explain.” one simply uttered.
“Now.” added the other.
He gladly began to clear things up, like a broken tablet from ancient times, that is. “The confusion is completely understandable. I think it’s all because of the lacking terms we use. Take universe, for example: it’s supposed to mean ‘whole’, as in ‘everything in one’. But you know that’s not the case, there are many universes, a multiverse. Think about it, many ‘everythings’, whatever the plural means. That’s just absurd, to think there’s something even Beyond that…”
“How can you be from beyond the multiverse? How can there be anything beyond that?” said the more rational human while his partner tried to tuck all his emotions away.
“You must have wondered the same thing when discovering there were other versions of you, some living worse lives… and some being much happier, with friends.” he replied as smug as before, only this time he looked at the paler one.
He quickly sat up, propelled by his arms hitting the table and shouted: “I’ve had enough of these stupid games! Enough of these absurd mysteries and sass every time we discover something that just doesn’t make any fucking sense!”
“Tony, calm down and get back here.” his friend affirmed, though it was far from an order.
“No, Sam! I’m tired of this! I’m sick of the fucking multiverse! It was cool three years ago but now I just want to be left alone. Call Kitty Pryde for all I care. She leads those hip new Ultimates now, doesn’t she? She’ll find this fun, the first time.”
“I think she already had her own multiverse adventure…” Sam replied, though by his hesitation he seemed to know it wasn’t wise.
Tony just turned around and after a moment of disbelief spent staring at Sam he just begged: “Tell me you’re joking, Sam…”
But Sam’s expression didn’t falter and his sincerity just made Tony feel even older.
“Since you hate the thing so much, you should be glad we’re getting rid of it.”
Sam, surprised by his nonchalant tone, replied: “And so, you plead guilty. Our friend Sue said something about there being a firmament between universes… and that it was damaged.”
“When you want something done, use the simplest method. Of course, before doing that, we had to take care of those that would try to stop us.”
“Like the FF?” Tony wondered.
But the Beyonder promptly scoffed and answered: “As if we even took you into account. You’re inconsequential. I’m talking about abstract entities, forces infinitely higher than you…” His eyes darkened, a creepy smile forming on his face as he confessed: “Infinity, Eternity, The Living Tribunal are all dead and we killed them.”
The expressions he found on their faces weren’t as extreme as he expected. Sam was concentrated and Tony was confused, which was expected, but instead of seeing horror in their eyes he just caught a glimpse of curiosity.
“You– you don’t even know what I just said.” he stuttered as he realised just what he was dealing with, his evil eye being replaced by shock.
“No, no. Let’s just pretend that I totally know what ‘Living Tribunal’ even means.” Tony scoffed.
“It’s the closest thing you have to God.” he explained, as if he was talking to a baby.
“And you went all Nietzche on him?” Tony asked but the Beyonder was too tired to correct his inaccuracies.
“... why would you do that?” Sam enquired but this was no longer a scientist asking for knowledge. This was an interrogation and he just wanted to know the motive.
“We wanted to do an experiment.”
Sam never broke eye contact with the murderer while Tony glanced at the mirror on his side.
On the opposite side there was the man they were forced to return to, the only one that could think of a plan for this. But inside his only good eye, even he seemed at a loss.
—--------------------------------------------------------------
When Molly was born, Ben had to get used to a couple of weird things: for one there was how tiny she was. His mum would never stop talking about how huge he was for a newborn but, thankfully for Sue, their daughter was nothing like that.
The second thing was taking on this responsibility at such a young age, out of sheer necessity. When he was little, he wanted to settle down after achieving his dreams. Then there was the time when he thought he would never get to live that life, or live that much at all… And finally they had the baby with their whole lives ahead of them.
At least they would have been lively, present parents, able to help her whenever she needed it. Or at least that’s what he thought for the first ten seconds they knew her, then they realised how powerful she was and how little they could do to protect her. In a way, Ben never really felt like any other father, he never felt dread, knowing that his little girl didn’t need saving.
That was until the day before, when they met something that could ruin everything. Only then did Ben start feeling afraid for Molly and instead of sleeping he watched over her cradle.
“We’re safe here, Ben. Just go to sleep.” said a familiar voice, one that had no reason to scare him yet still did.
He replied: “That thing followed us. I got a right ta be afraid.”
“And he got his ass handed to him.”
“It was just luck.”
She promptly retorted: “There’s no such thing.”
He turned around and asked: “Oh, yeah? So, what ya think happened, smartypants?”
She wrapped her arms around him and then her mind drove off into her memories. “Remember how, when we met the guy out there, we felt stronger? My shields were tougher, I’m sure you felt different, too.”
Ben kept looking at the baby but he still answered: “Yeah… and Hothead seemed flashier than usual. The grey punk said somethin’ about ‘im bein’ ‘star level’, but that sounds like a load o’ bull ta me.”
Sue looked at Ben and, noticing that he was starting to catch on, she quickly said: “Right. I mean when has he ever done anything close to that? But out there he could do that because there was nothing holding him back.”
“Now, whatcha mean by that?”
“You said it yourself, yesterday. There are fundamental laws of the universe that we need to respect. We were free but it also works the other way around. That guy from beyond is an extra dimensional entity, wherever he comes from there are different rules but, when you come to our universe, you have to respect ours and that must have been…”
“Messed up, to put it shortly. Despite all the stupid crap we come across, our world still makes the tiniest bit o' sense, unlike all the others. When you come to our turf, you play by our rules”
Having finally calmed his heart, Sue calmed down as well and started looking at their baby with him. She seemed entirely serene, happy in her unawareness. It was such a soothing experience that eventually Ben recalled who made this possible in the first place and spoke up again.
“Didn’t Reed have somethin' to tell you?”
Sue almost rolled her eyes, thinking about the other day’s awkward interaction and simply replied: “I don’t really know about that…”
Ben carefully chose his words and uttered: “Maybe he can help. This thing we’re dealing with is way above our pay grade and, well…”
“I know what you want to say: we need all the help we can get; he helped in the past; he must know something useful. Problem is, he’s Reed.”
Ben had to wrestle with conflicting thoughts every time he spoke of him but in the end reason always won: “I understand you, Sue. We’ve already talked about this countless times. I doubt I’ll ever stop being angry at him and I don’t think things will ever go back to the way they were but there’s more than us at stake.”
And to that she quickly replied: “So what are we supposed to do? Put our differences aside?”
“Of course we can’t… but we’re talking about the universe…”
Susan started staring at her little baby the same way Ben was before. The thought of a compromise was nothing short of difficult but it wouldn’t have been the first time and… well, she just thought that deep down he just must have still cared.
—-------------------------------------------------------------
She only needed to go a few floors upstairs. Easier said than done, it seemed like after leaving the bedroom she stalled for an eternity, always finding some small thing to do before finally taking the elevator.
Reed’s floor was the one right below the top floor, the roof of which was still wide open and the pavement unfit for use.
Although she had second thoughts about talking to him, she knew well that even at that hour he would answer, the reason being that Reed just… didn’t sleep anymore.
When they first got their powers, when they were simultaneously confused and hopeful, she was the one studying how his anatomy changed and she discovered that he was barely still human.
The rays that made him elastic also removed several bodily functions and limitations. The only thing keeping him grounded was his will to remain normal.
Because of his lack of organs, he didn’t need to go to the bathroom after eating but he still went there regularly. He could have fixed his eyesight whenever he wanted and even stretched his vision far beyond any other person but he kept his glasses. He didn’t really need to sleep but he still rested.
After the “Creator” stunt he stopped pretending. When Sue rang at his door he promptly answered and didn’t seem at all bothered that it was the middle of the night. On top of that, after looking at his workplace, Sue figured that he wasn’t really working, he was waiting.
Some more time passed and she realised she had to say “Hi” first.
“Hi…” he answered, then said: “I’m sorry I got sassy yesterday.”
Sue just made a hand motion and said: “That’s fine. Don’t think about it.”
The waiting was getting increasingly embarrassing until Reed simply asked: “...how are things?”
Sue finally had enough of the situation and she ignored the cliche question saying: “You said we had to talk. You know more about this than us and we need all the info we can get.”
Reed silently nodded, standing up and he walked over to an unsuspecting side of the room, telling her to follow him.
On his face she could recognise some form of remorse, as if he knew he couldn’t back down now. Reed’s following words would confirm this.
“I wasn’t entirely honest with you. I kept some secrets.” he set foot on a platform and invited her to do the same.
The two disappeared from the room and Sue found herself in the darkness questioning: “Where are we?”
Before her light eyes could begin to adapt, the lights turned on revealing a huge room with advanced technology in every corner and a man in front of her covered in black and wearing a metal helmet who said: “Below Manhattan.”
That wasn’t the young man she once trusted, it was the one that killed millions. “Was it all a lie, Reed?”
The Maker seemed on the defensive and you could almost notice his eyes turning to desperation behind his light blue visor as he told her: “No, Sue, I still love you. I love you all and I’m doing this to protect you. There are some mysteries that just can’t be solved in any other way…”
Sue brushed that aside saying: “You’re wrong. If you loved us you wouldn’t return to your worst. If you loved us, you would have trusted us instead of keeping secrets!”
“Sue…” he hopelessly uttered. He could have gone on and on indefinitely but instead he talked about the problem at hand: “We need to talk about the doom looming over us.”
Sue listened but didn’t utter a word, she didn’t even look at him, choosing to glare at the silver machinery reminiscent of his City, almost certain that somewhere beneath New York he was also hiding its inhabitants. He said he regretted everything… he said that seeing that better world changed him… he helped her…
Reed just kept explaining: “I call them Incursions. The Beyonders secretly planted living bombs in each universe to destroy the ether between them, which I discovered is called Superflow… and, well, the universes destroy each other two at a time and Earth is the point of impact.”
“How long have you known?”
The question startled him but didn’t surprise him. He knew it was coming ever since he forced himself to open up and he dreaded it. Still he asked: “What…?”
Sue wasn’t just hurt, she was entirely mad as she reiterated: “How long have you known?!”
He finally admitted: “Eight months.”
“And how many Incursions happened during this time. Be honest, for once…” The request was followed by a moment of hesitation, then the frightening confession.
"Thirty Six"
She didn’t need to ask what he did to save their own Earth. It was obvious, seeing his modus operandi and the way he talked, not to mention how much he was stalling.
Thirty six Earths. That was thirty six variants of her daughter, of her brother, of her lover and even thirty six variants of the man standing in front of her. They were gone.
He must have noticed her eyes widening at the realisation, he extended his hand and helplessly begged her to stay calm: “It was the only way, Sue…”
“Don’t you dare talk to me!” she shouted, her eyes taking on a bright azure colour, capable of scaring even him. Then Sue thought of all the times they already fought, the time they spent trying to redeem him and all the chances they gave him. She calmed down, understanding that he was a waste of her energy.
After all that time of holding out hope, she had to admit there was none for him.
“Don’t come anywhere near my family…”
She backed away, returning to the platform they came from and disappeared from that cursed trap. Reed would stay alone… he chose.