Xandar - Nova Corps Command
The hologram showed Manhattan from orbit. The portal. The Chitauri invasion. And then a human wreathed in rainbow light who simply decided the invasion should end.
And it did.
Irani Rael, Nova Prime, stood at the head of the table. Her expression was carved from ice. Around her, senior Nova Corps members watched with disbelief.
"Replay the resurrection sequence," Rael commanded.
The hologram obliged. Twelve hundred humans who'd been confirmed dead by Nova sensors suddenly weren't. As if Causality became a suggestion.
"This is impossible," one officer said. "This requires a Time or Soul Stone. Humans don't have either."
"They do now," Rael replied quietly as her fingers drummed once against the table, then stilled.
Another section of footage played. Jay holding two Infinity Stones like loose change. Juggling them, tossing them up, catching them and pocketing them like spare change.
"The Worldmind's assessment?" Rael asked.
A synthetic voice filled the chamber. [The individual designated 'Jay' or 'Power Broker' or 'The Doctor' exhibits capabilities beyond classification. His demonstrated abilities include spontaneous matter creation, timeline alteration, mass resurrection, power bestowal, and dimensional manipulation. He demonstrates immunity to Mind Stone influence and comfortable manipulation of Space Stone's energy.]
"Threat assessment?"
[Incalculable. If hostile, he could theoretically rewrite Xandar's entire population to serve him or simply erase Xandar from existence. If allied, he represents a deterrent to any conventional military force in the known universe.]
Silence filled the chamber.
"And the stones are in his possession," another officer noted. "Two of the six Infinity Stones. Just in his pocket."
"Along with an Asgardian prince," Rael added. "Transformed into a playing card. I didn't know that was possible."
"Ma'am, what are our orders regarding Earth?"
Rael studied Jay's frozen image. His white suit without a wrinkle. Rainbow light cascading from his body like he'd swallowed a star.
"Earth is now classified as a Protected Zone," she said finally. "No Nova vessels approach without explicit authorization from Nova Prime. We do not initiate any trade agreements or diplomatic overtures. We watch from a distance and we do not interfere."
"That's rather extreme..."
"That human brought back the dead and imprisoned a god as a party trick." Rael's voice cut like a blade. "He could do the same to us without breaking a sweat. We maintain distance, and we pray he's content staying on his little blue planet."
No one argued.
?Hala - Supreme Intelligence Chamber
The Kree homeworld's command center hummed with data streams as every surface glowed with tactical readouts. At the center, suspended in a tank of green liquid, the New Supreme Intelligence pulsed with thoughts much faster than its failed predecessor.
Multiple screens showed different angles of Manhattan's battle and the Supreme Intelligence absorbed them simultaneously.
[Hypothesis: Human designated Jay is a mutant exhibiting unprecedented power levels. Analysis indicates capabilities beyond documented Omega-class mutants. Probability of latent Celestial influence: 37%. Probability of external power source: 51%. Probability of natural mutation reaching this threshold: 12%.]
Ronan the Accuser stood before the tank,
[Processing...]
More footage played. The Mind Stone's influence failing to control Jay, the Space Stone submitting to his will and reality-bending at his command.
[Recommendation: Immediate cessation of all Kree interest in Earth. This planet has proven problematic before. The warrior designated Carol Danvers, now known as Captain Marvel, previously destroyed our Supreme Intelligence iteration and crippled our homeworld. She demonstrated Kree-hybrid capabilities and cosmic energy manipulation. This Power Broker exhibits abilities that dwarf hers. Combined with confirmed Asgardian protection and emerging Inhuman populations, Earth creates an unacceptable risk/reward ratio.]
"You're suggesting we abandon our seeding program? The Inhumans represent centuries of genetic research."
[Affirmative. Earth has become a graveyard for Kree ambitions. The Psyche-Magnitron incident. The destruction of our previous Supreme Intelligence even humiliation of our Kree officers by primitive defenders. Now, this Power Broker who manipulates reality itself. The potential gains from Inhuman acquisition do not outweigh the risk of conflict with an entity capable of rewriting cause and effect. Earth's strategic value has decreased too negligible. Their defenders and heroes' danger value has increased beyond calculation.]
Ronan's hammer struck the floor, cracking it as the sound echoed through the chamber. "The Kree Empire does not flee from primitives."
[The Kree Empire has survived for millennia by understanding when to advance and when to consolidate. This is a consolidation moment. We have lost too much to Earth already. Accept this and adapt.]
Silence was the only response as Ronan's jaw worked beneath his hood.
"I will relay your recommendation to the Council."
[Additional directive: Flag the Power Broker for continuous monitoring. If he leaves Earth, if he demonstrates hostile intentions beyond planetary defense, reassess. But until then, maintain distance.]
Ronan turned to leave, then paused. "What of the stones in his possession?"
[The stones are lost to us. Accept this and move forward.]
The Supreme Intelligence rippled through its tank, already shifting focus to more manageable concerns. Earth had claimed another piece of Kree pride. Better to cut losses than compound them.
?Chandilar - Shi'ar Throneroom
Empress Lilandra Neramani sat upon the throne, feathered crest rising from her head in the traditional triangular pattern. Around her, the Imperial Guard stood at attention.
Gladiator, her champion, watched the footage with particular interest.
"Your assessment, Gladiator?" Lilandra asked.
"They fight with courage Majestrix,
"Could you defeat him?"
Silence stretched. Gladiator, whose confidence was legendary, whose strength had shattered planets, did not answer immediately.
"Unknown," he finally admitted. "If he can truly manipulate reality as the footage suggests, my strength would be irrelevant. He would simply decide I was weaker, and I would be."
Lilandra absorbed this. Her champion was uncertain. That alone spoke volumes.
"The mutants," she mused. "Thousands of them with such varied powers. The potential for incorporating their genetics into our own..."
"Would require invading Earth," Gladiator finished. "Through Asgardian protection and past this Power Broker. Majestrix, I advise against it."
"As do I," Oracle added, stepping forward, her expression troubled. "I attempted a cursory scan of the Power Broker during his broadcast. What I felt..." She shuddered. "It was like trying to read a sun. I pulled back before it noticed me."
Lilandra's fingers drummed on her throne's armrest. Her mind turning over possibilities, the temptation was real. But the cost...
"Pause the footage," she commanded. The hologram froze on a brown-haired man firing some kind of energy beam. Lilandra leaned forward, her eyes narrowing. "Oracle. That one. The man with the visor. Enhance his image."
The hologram zoomed in, and the man's face became clear.
Lilandra's breath caught, recognising the sharp features.
"That face," she whispered. Her hand gripped the armrest. "I know that face. The Summers bloodline."
Gladiator turned. "Majestrix?"
"The human is … Oracle, search our genetic databases. Cross-reference with the Summers' genetic markers. The bloodline that produced Vulcan, who murdered Emperor D'Ken and tried to usurp the throne. And his infernal biological father, Corsair, who leads the Starjammers against us."
Oracle's eyes glowed as she was processing this. Then her expression shifted, "Majestrix, preliminary analysis suggests... this could be a Summers descendant. Possibly another descendant of Christopher Summers before our scouts captured him and his wife."
Lilandra finally understood the story, and her crest flared. "The Summers bloodline has been a plague upon our empire. Vulcan tried to seize our throne through murder. Christopher Summers, Corsair, led pirates against our fleets. Now we find there's more of them on Earth, of all places."
She turned back to the broader footage. The Power Broker and thousands of humans empowered by him.
"And now Earth spawns more of them, more potential threats and more bloodlines that could spawn enemies like Vulcan."
"Then we strike now," one of the Imperial Guard suggested. "Before they grow stronger."
"No." Lilandra sat back down; her decision had been made. "We will not pursue Earth. Not from mercy but pragmatism. The Power Broker alone represents an extinction-level threat. Add Asgardian protection, the Summers' mutations, and whatever other horrors that planet breeds, we would be gambling our empire on a war we are not certain the outcome of."
She gestured at the frozen image of Scott.
Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.
"The Summers line brought us Vulcan, who nearly destroyed our empire from within. If Earth produces more like him, more like this Power Broker, then distance is our only defense. Inform the council: Earth is off-limits to all imperial forces. Any violation will be treated as treason against the throne."
The guards saluted and dispersed as a human man in a tattered red suit entered, escorted by two Shi'ar soldiers.
Lilandra remained on her throne, staring at Jay's frozen image. Then at Scott, as the ghost of Vulcan's rampage was still fresh in imperial memory.
Earth had become too dangerous.
Better to watch from afar than become another cautionary tale.
?Sanctuary - Thanos's Throne Room
Silence reigned in the Sanctuary. The Black Order stood at attention. Their postures were rigid and their eyes nervous. Even Corvus Glaive's usual swagger had evaporated.
At the center, Thanos sat upon his throne, watching the same footage for the seventeenth time.
Black Dwarf's head, severed, held aloft by the Hulk. His most physically powerful warrior, was dead.
The Mad Titan's expression remained impassive, but his children knew him well. The way his jaw muscles tensed and the barely perceptible tightening of his fists represented stillness that preceded violence.
He was furious.
"The Chitauri are gone," Proxima Midnight said carefully. "Even the mothership was destroyed. Loki has failed and is now imprisoned by this Power Broker."
"Loki was always going to fail," Thanos replied, but his voice carried no emotion. "He was a tool that served its purpose. The test was not whether he could conquer Earth. The test was seeing who would rise to defend it."
He gestured at the hologram. Jay's rainbow light filled the throne room.
"This human. This Power Broker." Thanos leaned forward slightly. "He possesses two stones now. Mind and Space, yet he wields them without corruption. He resurrects the dead and awakens thousands of enhanced humans with a thought. Not to mention, he can bend reality itself to his will."
"He is a threat," Ebony Maw said smoothly. "One that grows with each passing moment. We should move against him now, before he grows stronger."
"Stronger?" Thanos laughed, though the sound carried no warmth. "Maw, this human just demonstrated power that rivals the stones themselves. He doesn't need them. They're trophies to him. Collectables at best if can truly maintain that level of power."
He stood as his massive form cast shadows across the chamber.
"We planned to gather the stones before any force could stop us. We assumed Earth would be an easy target. Unable to mount coordinated resistance." Thanos gestured at the hologram. "We were wrong."
"Then what do we do?" Corvus Glaive asked.
"We adapt, plan and prepare." Thanos turned to Gamora. "Gamora. My daughter. My most trusted."
She stepped forward. Her expression was carefully neutral, though her mind raced.
"You will go to Morag," Thanos commanded. "You will retrieve the Power Stone before it falls into the wrong hands. And while you search, you will use every resource and every piece of intelligence to find the Soul Stone."
"The Soul Stone's location is unknown, Father."
"Then make it known." Thanos's eyes bored into her. "I need those stones, Gamora. Without them, this Power Broker is an obstacle I cannot overcome. With them, I can complete my sacred mission. I can bring balance to this universe."
"And Earth?"
"Earth will burn last." Thanos returned to his throne. "After I have the other stones. After I have the power to face this human on equal footing. Then, and only then, will we return to claim what Loki failed to take."
The Black Order bowed and began to disperse. Only Gamora remained, studying her adoptive father's face.
She saw fear there. Carefully hidden beneath layers of cold determination. The Mad Titan, afraid.
She'd never seen this before.
Knowhere - Collector's Sanctum
The Grandmaster lounged in his chair, grinning ear to ear.
"Brother! Did you see that human? Tossing Infinity Stones around like they were party favors! Magnificent! My Contest of Champions would explode with him in it!"
The Collector didn't flinch. "Entertainment aside, he's a threat. With stones in his possession and powers beyond comprehension. This isn't a game anymore."
The Grandmaster laughed, leaning back. "Oh, come on! Chaos is fun! I haven't had a proper thrill in millennia. I to get him into my Contest… eventually."
"Your amusement is irrelevant," the Collector said coolly. "I need to know what he wants. Every being, even a reality warper, has desires. Once we know that… we act."
"Patience, dear brother!" The Grandmaster waved a hand dramatically. "The suspense is the best part. Good things come to those who wait!"
And with a flash of golden light, he was gone.
The Collector remained, staring at the empty chair.
"Everyone wants something," he murmured.
High Evolutionary's Laboratory
The High Evolutionary stood before multiple holographic displays, his hand trembling and breathing quickly, "Magnificent," he managed.
The displays showed the broadcast. Thousands of mutants and inhumans simultaneously teleported across the globe. Each one a unique expression of human evolution.
But it was Jay who truly captured his attention.
"He's impossibility made flesh," the High Evolutionary mused, fingers dancing across holographic controls. "Human genetic structure with capabilities that defy anything we know."
"The pinnacle of human evolution," the High Evolutionary said with reverence. "No, beyond human. Trans-human maybe? Post-human even. A bridge between mortal limitation and cosmic power."
He'd spent centuries trying to create perfect beings. His New Men, his Counter-Earth, his countless experiments in forced evolution. All of them pale shadows compared to what Jay had become.
"But how?" His fingers flew across controls. "The adaptation is too perfect and too precise. This isn't a natural mutation. This is..."
He paused, realization dawning.
"Accumulated powers." The High Evolutionary's voice rose with excitement. "He's building himself! Each power carefully selected to be perfectly merged! Evolution through acquisition rather than natural selection!"
The concept was revolutionary. Evolution didn't need to wait for random mutation and selective pressure. It could be directed, chosen and optimized by the subject itself.
"If I could replicate this..." He turned to a new section of his laboratory, where a golden cocoon sat in a stasis chamber. "Yes. Yes, this could work."
His hands moved with purpose now, pulling up genetic templates, power matrices, evolutionary algorithms. The cocoon pulsed with contained potential.
"I will create something perfect," he declared. "A being who can choose its own evolution, optimize itself for any threat, become the ultimate expression of what life can achieve."
The cocoon's pulsing intensified as he began inputting new parameters.
"I shall call you Adam, after their first Man", the High Evolutionary said softly. "Adam Warlock. And you will be my masterpiece."
Asgard - Royal Palace
The golden halls of Asgard echoed with the uproar of nobles shouting and worries pounding their fists on tables.
"YOU MUST ACT!" one advisor bellowed. His face was red with indignation. "That mortal dared to threaten the Allfather himself! Called you pathetic! Demanded you come to Earth like some common supplicant!"
Odin Borson sat upon his throne. Gungnir held loosely in one hand. His remaining eye half-closed. Around him, the court churned with the chaos of nobles demanding action and warriors calling for war.
Frigga stood beside the throne. Her expression serene despite the chaos.
"The mortal has imprisoned our son," another noble added. "Transformed him into a playing card! The indignity of it! Loki is a prince of Asgard! He deserves to be tried here, under our laws!"
"Loki committed war crimes, and worse, submitted to the Mad Titan." Odin said quietly.
The room fell silent.
"He invaded a realm under our protection using forces from Thanos. He killed mortals. He attempted to enslave an entire planet."
"He is your son!"
"Which is why this is so shameful." Odin's voice carried the weight of ages. "My son chose conquest over honor. Chose servitude to the Mad Titan over loyalty to his realm. The mortal's anger is justified."
"But he is still our son!" Frigga's voice cracked. Not the serene queen now. A mother. Desperate. Afraid. "Our child, Odin. I raised him. I taught him his first spell, sang him his first lullaby, held him when he had nightmares about being different." Tears streamed down her face. "He made terrible choices. He committed terrible crimes. But he is my son. My baby. And I cannot... I will not abandon him to whatever fate the mortals decide."
The raw emotion silenced the entire court. Even the most warlike nobles looked away.
"Please," Frigga whispered, as the word held millennia of love and pain. "Bring him home. However, we must. Whatever it costs, just bring our son home."
Heimdall's voice echoed through the chamber. "Allfather, if I may speak?"
"Speak."
"I have watched the mortal realm. I have seen what Thor has accomplished there, the bonds he has formed. The Power Broker Jay, the one who imprisoned Loki, is known to Thor. They are not enemies. Perhaps, instead of demanding or threatening, we could negotiate."
"Negotiate?" A warrior spat the word. "Asgard does not negotiate with mortals!"
"Asgard," Thor's voice rang out, and suddenly his image appeared in the center of the throne room, projected through Heimdall's all-seeing eyes. The gatekeeper's power made Thor seem to stand among them despite being in Midgard. "Asgard will do what is wise, not what is proud."
Every head turned as they saw their prince's expression was serious.
"Son," Frigga breathed, reaching toward his projection.
"I have fought alongside Earth's heroes," Thor said. "I have seen their strength, their courage, their determination. And I have witnessed Jay's capabilities firsthand. Father, if you go to Earth demanding Loki's release, it will end in war. A war we cannot win."
"You dare suggest Asgard would lose to mortals?"
"I suggest," Thor said carefully, "that the Power Broker demonstrated abilities that rival your own in your prime, Father. He brought back the dead. He awakened thousands of warriors with a thought. He imprisoned Loki in a way that even our greatest sorcerers might struggle to undo." He met Odin's gaze. "And he did it all with just a snap of his finger."
The throne room fell silent.
Odin studied his son. Thor had truly grown. The arrogant boy who'd been banished to Midgard had returned a man who understood when to fight and when to think.
"What would you suggest?" Odin asked.
"Let me negotiate Loki's return through diplomacy rather than demands." Thor's grip tightened on Mjolnir. "And if negotiation fails, then we consider other options. But we start with words, not threats."
Frigga looked at her husband pleadingly. Odin's jaw worked. Pride warring with wisdom.
Finally, he nodded.
"Very well, but Thor," Odin's voice hardened, "if they refuse, if they mock our request, then Asgard's honor must be satisfied. One way or another."
Thor bowed. "I understand, Father."
His projection faded, leaving only Heimdall's golden light.
Odin settled back into his throne. Suddenly feeling every one of his millennia of age.'
Earth
The internet had lost its collective mind.
#AlienInvasion trended alongside #NorseGodsAreReal, #MiracleDoctor and #PowerBrokerSavesTheDay. Videos of the battle played on loop. Each angle analyzed frame by frame. Conspiracy theories spawned faster than they could be debunked.
But it was the resurrections that truly broke people's brains.
Interviews flooded news stations. People who'd been confirmed dead, who had death certificates being processed, who'd been in body bags, were now walking around alive and healthy.
"I remember dying," one woman said on CNN. Her hands shook as she clutched a coffee cup. "I was crushed by debris. I even felt my ribs break, and felt drowning as my lungs filled with blood. And then... then I was somewhere else. It was so peaceful, warm, and there was this light, and my grandmother was there. She'd been dead for ten years, but she was there, and she smiled at me and said, 'Not yet, honey. Not yet.'"
Her voice cracked. "Then I blinked, and I was standing three meters away from where I died. The building that crushed me was still there. But I was fine, like it never happened. Except I remember it did happen."
But not all testimonies were peaceful.
"I saw hell," a man said on Fox News. His eyes were haunted. "I know how that sounds. But I'm telling you, I died, and I went somewhere dark and hot. And there were things there, ravenously hungry." He shuddered violently now sobbing. "Then I was back here alive. But I remember. I know what's waiting for me."
On MSNBC, a woman described something different. "There was nothing. Just... void. No light, or darkness, not even any sensation. Just nothing. I was conscious, but there was nothing to be conscious of. No time was passing, nor any space to occupy. Just existence without anything to exist in." She was crying. "It was the most terrifying thing I've ever experienced. And now I'm back, and I don't know if I'm grateful or horrified because now I know I'll be punished for not believing in the Heavenly Ghost."
On BBC World, an elderly man spoke calmly. "I saw the wheel. The great wheel of dharma, turning eternally. I saw my past lives. All of them. Every choice, every consequence, every moment of suffering and joy spiraling outward forever. I was about to merge with it, to become part of the cycle again, when something pulled me back. Ripped me from enlightenment and threw me back into this meat prison we call a body." He smiled sadly. "I'm alive. But I'm not sure that's a mercy."
Similar stories flooded in from across the city. Twelve hundred people were now twelve hundred impossible returns.
And every single one of them reported seeing something after death.
Christians saw Jesus or angels, and Muslims saw gardens of paradise, but on the other hand, Hindus described Yama's court, while Buddhists felt the wheel of dharma pause.
Reddit's r/Afterlife exploded overnight from a small community to millions of subscribers. Religious subreddits crashed from traffic overload. Philosophy departments worldwide received unprecedented funding requests.
Proof of an afterlife. Actual, documented and repeatable proof.
"We need to study this," one researcher said on a talk show. "These people were dead for varying amounts of time, from minutes to hours. Their brains showed no activity. And yet they have coherent, detailed memories of experiences during that period. This challenges everything we understand about consciousness, about death, about the nature of existence itself!"
But the problems started when the numbers didn't add up.
"We counted twelve hundred confirmed dead," a SHIELD agent told reporters. Their face were deliberately obscured. "But we can only account for eleven hundred and eighty-eight returned. Twelve are still missing."
"Missing how?" the reporter pressed.
"They just vanished from morgues, shelters and hospitals. One moment they were there, returned and alive. The next gone as if some other power collected them."
The conspiracy theories that spawned from that information made the previous ones look tame.
Government experiments. Alien abductions. Secret organizations harvesting people with resurrection experience.
But one theory gained more traction than the rest:
"What if they didn't want to come back?" a Reddit post asked. "What if some of them saw paradise, saw loved ones and peace, but the Power Broker brought them back anyway? What if twelve of them found a way to return to death? To go back to whatever waited for them?"
The post went viral with millions of upvotes and thousands of comments debating the ethics of resurrection without consent.
And underneath it all, a new question: If someone wants to die after experiencing death, is that suicide or just going home?