"I can do it!"
"I will definitely pull this off!"
America Chavez glanced at the examiners, then at Alex, and declared firmly.
And then—
Without hesitation, she threw a punch.
CRACK!
A sound like shattering glass echoed across the training ground.
A blue, star-shaped portal blossomed open in front of her.
WOOOOSH—
Waves roared.
Through the portal, everyone saw an endless expanse of open sea.
They couldn't confirm whether this truly was the universe America described—
a world where X-Men exist but the Avengers do not—
But the location was correct.
And the execution was clean and precise.
She opened the portal in a single punch.
Smooth. Natural. Proficient.
The senior X-Men exchanged glances.
Her control had reached the required level—no question.
White Queen stepped forward, ready to speak—
But suddenly, something went wrong.
The star-shaped portal flickered violently.
Its surface pixelated like a glitched-out TV screen.
"What the…?"
America's confident smile froze.
She stared at her own portal, confused and stunned.
"I—I don't know what this is.
I swear I've never seen this happen before."
She tried to explain—
But before she could finish, the portal burst open, spewing a storm of blinding, multicolored energy.
Not ordinary energy—
This was a prismatic, eye-searing quantum glow.
Alex was caught off guard.
The light flashed so intensely that even he felt momentarily blinded.
When his vision cleared—
WHOOM—!!
A tidal wave of cosmic energy erupted outward.
A powerful suction force surged behind it—
Dragging everything toward the vortex inside the portal.
"Not good!"
Alex instantly unleashed his telekinesis, forming an immense barrier to contain the surge.
But then—
Something shocking happened.
For the first time in a very, very long time…
Alex's telekinesis failed.
It didn't slow the energy wave at all.
It passed through as if his power and the energy were from two entirely different dimensions.
In the blink of an eye—
The vortex swallowed everything.
America had been closest—
She disappeared before Alex had even recovered from the flash.
White Queen, Wolverine, Cyclops, Raven—
All of them were snatched off their feet and dragged into the churning portal.
Even Alex—
He felt his entire body being pulled forward.
"What… is this?!"
Alex's expression twisted—
a rare sight.
His adrenaline surged.
A genuine, long-forgotten sense of danger crept up his spine.
But panic?
No.
At the critical moment, Alex detonated the power within his body.
He stamped down with explosive force—
BOOM!!
A sonic boom split the air.
His 25,000 m/s speed kicked in.
He tore himself free of the suction and flickered to the side.
But the moment he escaped—
The vortex abruptly collapsed.
The suction vanished.
The portal snapped shut.
Leaving the training ground silent and empty…
Everyone was gone.
White Queen.
Wolverine.
Cyclops.
Raven.
And America Chavez.
Completely—
utterly—
gone.
Alex's expression darkened.
He scanned the area with narrowed eyes.
"What exactly was that energy…?
And why did America's portal malfunction…?"
Something was deeply wrong.
He vanished in a burst of speed.
BOOM—
Moments later, he returned with Hank and Krakoa's top scientific team.
They worked quickly, combing through every trace of residual energy.
Hank's brows knitted tighter and tighter—
His expression grew heavier.
Finally, he turned toward Alex.
"Good news first—Raven and the others should still be alive," Hank said.
Alex exhaled slowly.
"And the bad news?"
Hank sighed.
"I detected a massive amount of quantum energy.
If my analysis is correct…
They were pulled into the Quantum Realm."
"The energy wave you saw was a quantum surge."
Quantum Realm.
Alex's face stiffened.
He had the urge to swear out loud.
Even with his current level of power—
the Quantum Realm was still a place that filled him with discomfort.
That realm obeyed different physics.
Different laws.
Different everything.
An alien world.
A place the normal universe could barely comprehend.
Even Hank Pym, the foremost quantum expert in the multiverse, one of the few who truly understood quantum physics, had been helpless before it.
Tony Stark himself couldn't match Hank in this domain.
And even then—
It took decades, countless failures, and a miracle for Hank to rescue Janet.
If Hank struggled this much…
Then how was Alex supposed to guarantee bringing everyone back safely?
Alex frowned.
"Hank…
America opened the portal to an ordinary ocean.
Why would a quantum surge happen?"
"Is someone conducting quantum experiments under the sea?"
That made no sense.
Alex clearly saw the other side of the portal—
the ocean was calm.
No disturbances.
No scientific installations.
No reason for quantum energy to appear.
Something far more complicated was at work.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
For 60 advanced chapters, visit my Patreon:
Patreon - Twilight_scribe1
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~