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Two days in the Savage Land changed everything.
The sun rose over impossible geography, painting the sky in shades that belonged to Earth's distant past. Jay stood on the edge of what would become their base, watching pterodactyls wheel against clouds that had never known pollution.
Behind him, Domino was still asleep in their temporary shelter.
Two days since he'd told her the truth. Two days of uneasy questions and discoveries.
"You know," Domino said from behind him, voice rough with sleep, "normal couples go to Hawaii for extended vacations. We're living with dinosaurs and you're up at dawn like you've got a construction deadline."
Jay turned, smiling at the sight of her wrapped in a thermal blanket. A habit from her old life despite the tropical heat. "Found the location."
That got her moving.
She was beside him in seconds, following his pointing finger to where a waterfall cascaded down ancient rock into a crystal-clear pool. The cliff face behind it was honeycombed with natural caves, and the surrounding jungle provided perfect concealment while still offering strategic sightlines.
"It's perfect." Domino's voice held wonder, then suspicion crept in. "Wait. How did you find this? We've been searching for days."
Jay held up a stick, grinning. "I let it fall in random directions and followed where your luck took us."
"You used my powers as a GPS?"
"Your newly upgraded powers," Jay corrected. His fingertips glowed as he reached out and kissed her. "Speaking of which..."
The probability manipulation flowed back into Domino, and she gasped.
This time, it was different. Controlled. Conscious. Where before it had been a wild ocean responding to danger, now it felt like a river she could direct.
"Holy shit," she whispered. She could feel the field of probability spreading out from her. "This is..."
"What you always deserved. Full conscious control over your own ability. No more waiting for death to come knocking before your powers activate."
Domino flexed her fingers as Jay took back his danger sense. The world dimmed slightly. "Man, it's weird. Like going from 4K to 1080p. My senses just downgraded."
"Temporarily. I've got my eye on something better for you. Trust me."
"I always do." She kissed him back, then pulled back with that sharp grin he loved. "So when do we start building your secret supervillain lair?"
"It's not a lair. It's a strategic base of operations."
"Tomato, tomahto."
Time passed their happy domestic life like a breeze.
The construction process would have taken a normal team years.
Jay and Domino did it in two months.
Jay had spent the first week after acquiring Taskmaster's powers in a learning frenzy. He'd teleported to construction sites across the world, watching master architects, designers, masons, carpenters, electricians, plumbers and engineers work. His photographic reflexes captured every detail. His adaptive muscle memory meant his body could replicate their movements perfectly after a single viewing.
Combined with Sage's computational abilities, Jay absorbed years of construction knowledge in days. Structural engineering, electrical systems, plumbing, ventilation, materials science.
All of it catalogued and internalized.
The base took shape behind the waterfall.
The main structure was carved directly into the cliff face, hidden completely from outside view. Floor-to-ceiling windows of reinforced transparent glass looked out through the waterfall's curtain, turning the cascading water into living art. The interior was all artificial and natural materials, wood and stone working together in ways that felt both modern and ancient.
"You're showing off," Domino observed, watching Jay install a Stark-issued security system with the casual expertise of someone who'd done it a thousand times.
"I'm being thorough," Jay corrected, but his grin admitted she was right.
They'd furnished it with pieces teleported from around the world. A massive bed with sheets that cost more than most cars. A kitchen that would make Gordon Ramsay weep. A training room with equipment that could handle superhuman workouts. A workshop where Jay could tinker with the Antarctic Vibranium they'd found. A control room with screens and computers that would let them monitor global events from their prehistoric paradise.
The Anti-Metal had been Domino's find. Her conscious control over probability had led them to an undiscovered deposit in the first week.
They'd pushed through ferns that towered three times their height, past a nesting site for small therapods that chittered warnings as they passed, until they found a crack in the cliff face barely wide enough to squeeze through.
Inside, the cave opened up into a cathedral of stone.
And there, in a chamber that sparkled with bioluminescent fungi, sat a vein of purple-tinted metal that seemed to pulse with absorbed energy.
"Holy shit," Jay breathed. "That's it. That's Antarctic Vibranium."
"The metal that kills other metals?"
"Anti-Metal. It breaks down molecular bonds in other metals just through proximity." He'd approached it carefully, already running calculations on how to extract it without causing a cave-in.
Most of the large deposits were claimed by the various tribes, but this one had been overlooked. Just a few kilograms, but more than enough for Jay's purposes.
Now the real challenge was figuring out how to process and refine it without the technology of Wakanda.
During their adventure to find the Anti-Metal, the Savage Land revealed itself in layers.
They'd encountered tribes of early humans who'd been isolated here for millions of years, developing cultures completely separate from the outside world. Beast-men who were neither fully human nor fully animal. Human-dinosaur hybrids that defied biological logic but clearly existed anyway, intelligent and organized into their own societies.
Jay had kept them at a distance, observing but not interfering. The Prime Directive from Star Trek felt appropriate here.
They'd watch the Fall People from concealment, seeing how they worked together to bring down a young ankylosaur for food. How they celebrated with rhythmic drumming that echoed through the valleys. How they taught their children to read the jungle, to survive in a world where humanity wasn't the apex predator.
"It's beautiful," Domino whispered during one observation session. "Brutal, but beautiful."
The human-dinosaur hybrids were harder to classify. They'd encountered a group near the southern marshes, beings that walked upright like humans but had scaled skin and elongated skulls that suggested reptilian ancestry. They'd been harvesting plants from the marsh with tools that showed surprising sophistication.
"How is that even possible?" Domino had asked. "Humans and dinosaurs are separated by like, sixty-five million years."
"Genetic engineering, maybe," Jay speculated. "Or magic. Or both. The Savage Land doesn't follow normal rules. That's kind of its whole deal."
"Your comics explain this?"
"Sort of. There are a bunch of different origin stories. Ancient technology, alien intervention, mystical forces. Take your pick."
"I hate that multiple options make sense here."
Domino asked questions constantly, and Jay answered them when they were alone in their base with all his security measures active.
"Okay, so in your world," Domino said one night, sprawled across their bed with a glass of wine, "was there a Deadpool movie?"
"Three of them when I left."
"And?"
"Ryan Reynolds played him. It was basically Wade breaking the fourth wall for two hours straight. Massive hit."
"Did I show up?"
Jay paused. "You were in the second one."
"And?"
"They... didn't quite get you right. You were a side character, kind of one-dimensional. The fans complained about it a lot, but your powers were cool though."
Domino processed this, then grinned. "So I'm better in person than in your movies? I'll take that as a compliment."
"You should."
"Wait," Domino sat up, wine sloshing slightly in her glass. "If Wade breaks the fourth wall in the movies, and Wade here keeps making weird meta jokes about readers and authors and narratives... does he know?"
Jay's expression turned troubled. "I've wondered about that. Him and Slapstick both. They say things that are too specific, too aware. But if they actually know this world is fictional in another universe..." He shook his head. "I don't know how to process that. Are they characters who gained awareness? Are they something else entirely?"
"That's going to keep you up at night, isn't it?"
"It already has been."
"Well, stop it." Domino poked his chest. "Wade's Wade. Slapstick is Slapstick. Whether they know the cosmic joke or not doesn't change who they are right now. Let it go."
"You're right."
"I usually am."
Another night, while they cooked dinner together: "What about music? Did we have the same music?"
"Mostly, yeah. Though some artists probably went different directions here. I've noticed some songs don't exist, others are completely different."
"Weird. What about..." She hummed a few bars.
"That's 'Tubthumping' by Chumbawamba. Same in both worlds. Also apparently your favorite song, which I find hilarious."
"It's catchy! Don't judge me."
"I'm judging you so hard right now."
She threw a dish towel at his face.
Their conversations ranged from profound to absurd, often in the same breath.
"So in these Avengers movies," Domino asked while they mapped the southern regions, "was I in those?"
"No. The main team was Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, Hulk, Black Widow, and Hawkeye. The big six."
"No mutants at all?"
"Complicated rights issues in my world. Different studios owned different Marvel properties. Fox had X-Men, Sony had Spider-Man for a while, Disney had the Avengers. They couldn't cross over until much later."
"That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard."
"Capitalism ruins everything."
Another time she asked, "What about me personally? Was I married in any version? Did I have kids?"
"You were a widow actually." Jay said grimly.
Domino's eyes widened. She set down her wine glass. "Tell me."
"His name was Milo. Uncannily good at numbers and statistics. Could predict sporting events, even generate encryption codes. The government enlisted him to work for them. That's where he met the other you. She was his guard."
She gave him her full attention. "And?"
"They fell in love. Crazy for each other, apparently. But eventually she left to follow some greater path." Jay's voice softened. "Years later, Milo was abducted by Donald Pierce, who wanted to turn him into a cyborg in a Weapon X facility. That Domino arrived in time to stop it, but..."
"But?"
"The cyborg process was 60% complete. Milo told her his chances of survival were slim. He died in the explosion that destroyed the facility."
Domino stared out at the jungle. The silence stretched between them, weighted but not uncomfortable. A pterodactyl's cry echoed in the distance.
"That version of me," she said slowly, "she lost someone she loved because she chose the mission over staying. Over commitment."
"That's one way to read it."
"And now here I am, doing the exact opposite." She laughed, but it sounded brittle. "Building a secret love nest with my boyfriend instead of taking jobs. That version of me would probably think I've gone soft."
The vulnerability in her voice made Jay pull her close. He could feel the tension in her shoulders, the fear she rarely let show. This thing between them, this life they were building, felt too good. Too stable.
And Domino had learned early that good things didn't last.
"Or that version of you would be jealous," Jay said quietly. "Because she never got to have this. The choice to stay."
Domino was quiet for a long moment. When she spoke again, her voice was smaller. "What if I'm not built for this? What if I mess it up?"
"Then we'll figure it out together." He pressed his forehead against hers. "Dom, I'm not going anywhere. And neither are you. We're allowed to have this."
She let out a shaky breath, then grinned. "Look at us, communicating and shit. We're basically a functional couple."
"We're a goddamn miracle."
Late April arrived with surprising speed.
Jay stood in their workshop, a small ingot of unprocessed Antarctic Vibranium sitting on his workbench, when he felt the familiar weight of future knowledge pressing against his present.
The Battle of New York was coming. Next month, if the timeline held. Loki would arrive with the Chitauri army, and the Avengers would assemble for the first time to face an alien invasion in the heart of Manhattan.
Domino found him there, recognizing the expression he wore when he was processing too many variables at once.
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing's wrong. Just... thinking about what's coming."
"The alien invasion you mentioned?"
Jay nodded. He'd told her about the broad strokes, preparing her for what the world would face soon. "Fury's been using the Tesseract to develop weapons. Trying to prepare for threats from space by making threats of his own. It's going to blow up in his face."
"And you're not going to stop it."
It wasn't a question. Domino knew him well enough now to read the calculation in his eyes.
"I could," Jay admitted. "I could teleport to the SHIELD facility, shut down the Tesseract research, prevent the whole thing. But..."
"But?"
"But the world needs this. Not the invasion itself, but what comes after. The recognition that threats exist beyond our planet. The push for heroes to work together officially, instead of operating in the shadows. The proof that mutants and humans can fight side by side to protect Earth."
He turned to face her fully. "I've had Bobby laying groundwork for mass evacuations in New York. Taskmaster's been training the Morlocks specifically for urban combat scenarios. When the Chitauri come through that portal, the news cameras are going to catch footage of Morlocks defending human civilians from alien invaders. That image alone will do more for mutant acceptance than a hundred speeches."
"You're using an alien invasion as a PR opportunity."
"I'm turning a crisis into progress." Jay's voice hardened slightly. "And I'm not going to feel bad about it. Fury's hubris got us into this mess. The least we can do is make sure something good comes from it."
Domino studied his face, then nodded slowly. "Plus you want the Infinity Stones."
"Plus I want the Infinity Stones," Jay agreed. "The Mind Stone will be in Loki's scepter. The Space Stone is the Tesseract itself. If I time things right, I can acquire both while still ensuring the Avengers succeed."
"That's a lot of variables."
"That's why I have you." He pulled her close, pressing his forehead against hers. "Your luck will help me find the right moment. The perfect window where I can act without disrupting the timeline too much."
"And the time travellers? The TVA?"
"Will be interesting to deal with if they show up. But from what I've been told, I seriously doubt that."
Domino laughed, the sound warm in their workshop. "You really do think of everything, don't you?"
"I try."
That's when the central computer started beeping.
Jay checked it, and his expression shifted.
"What is it?" Domino asked. "Another batch of anti-metal?"
"No. Something worse." The fury in his voice made her straighten immediately. "Get your gear ready."
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