[A/N]: We hit 400 Powerstones, so here's the first bonus chapter! Next goal is 600 Powerstones. If you're enjoying the story, please vote, comment, and share!
After a long moment, she released him, stepped back and composed herself. The professional mask sliding back into place, though her eyes retained warmth.
"What about them?" She gestured toward the unconscious Braddock siblings. "They've been through significant trauma. Both physical and psychological."
"Oh. Right." Jay reached out with his new reality-warping power.
The process was simpler this time. He didn't need to resurrect anyone or rebuild from scratch, just return them to peak health. The corruption Selene had inflicted vanished. The psychological damage from being mind-controlled and forced to attack their sister healed. Even the exhaustion from fighting faded.
Brian Braddock's eyes snapped open first, then Jamie's and finally Betsy's.
All three sat up simultaneously, confusion written across their faces.
"What?... Where am...?" Betsy's voice trailed off as she saw her brothers. Both alive and free.
She leapt forward, wrapping both of them in a fierce hug. "Jamie... Brian... Bloody hell, you're okay. Thank God, you're okay."
Brian returned the embrace immediately, his protective instincts kicking in even before he fully understood the situation. "Bets. Easy. We're alright."
Jamie moved slower, groggily processing what had happened. "What... what happened? Where's Selene?"
Fragments of memory came back. The breakfast…Selene's entrance…Jamie's last-ditch reality warping to teleport Betsy to safety…the dark ritual binding their wills… Fighting their sister against their will… Being knocked unconscious by her friend's overwhelming power.
And now this.
Brian reached for his forehead. The pentagram that had been carved there was gone, and no trace remained, only for him to let out a shaky breath of relief.
Jamie did the same, then his instincts kicked in as he tried to reach out with his reality warping.
He got nothing.
The power was gone. His connection to the quantum strings was severed.
His eyes snapped to Jay. The Power Broker was here, of course; the man had taken his powers. That made perfect sense given what Jamie knew of him. Why wouldn't he steal the ability to reshape reality itself and remove any competition for the title of Monarch?
Jamie's hands clenched. The loss felt like losing a limb. Worse, because he'd only had the power for a short time. Just long enough to understand its potential.
Betsy pulled back from the hug, wiping tears from her face. She looked at Domino and Jay, gratitude overwhelming. She moved toward them, pulling Domino into another embrace. "Thank you. I can't... I don't know how to repay you for this."
"You don't have to thank us." Domino patted her back awkwardly. "Just glad we could help."
Jay produced the Amulet of Right and the broken pieces of the Sword of Might with a blue light. He handed them to Brian with an apologetic expression. "Sorry. I think I broke your weapons. The paranormal scrambling doesn't play well with mystical artifacts."
Brian took the pieces with trembling hands. His jaw tightened as he stared at the broken sword. Merlin himself had bestowed these artifacts on him as symbols of his role as Captain Britain. Now they lay in pieces. "I... I see." His voice was carefully neutral, but his knuckles whitened around the fragments.
The Ancient One's laugh was bright and genuine. "Don't worry. I'll ask Merlin himself to grant you new artifacts. Better ones, probably, knowing how he works."
Jay's head snapped toward her. "You know Merlin? The Merlin?"
"Know him?" The Ancient One's smile widened. "We're drinking buddies."
"Then why didn't you ask him for help?" Jay's voice carried genuine confusion. "He has the entire Captain Britain Corps as a multiversal police force. They could have dealt with your problems in minutes."
The Ancient One sighed, her expression shifting to long-suffering patience. "That old wizard is impossible. Every time we meet, he tries to dump his responsibilities on me. He doesn't trust Roma to maintain the balance of the multiverse properly, so he constantly attempts to make it my problem. Between Dormammu, the various dimensional threats, and maintaining Earth's mystical defenses, I have quite enough on my plate without adding multiversal oversight to the list."
Jay stared at her, flabbergasted. He'd known his teacher was powerful and connected, but drinking buddies with Merlin? Being asked to take over multiversal balance duties?
The depth of her influence was still something he was only beginning to grasp.
He shook himself out of his thoughts. There was still one more thing to handle. Jay turned toward Jamie, preparing to return his Quantum reality warping.
The Ancient One's hand shot out, stopping him. Her other hand touched his temple, establishing a telepathic connection.
Jay's Mind Shield perk blocked it automatically, but he consciously lowered the defense. Allowed her in.
'Young Jay. I must advise you against giving Jamie his powers back.'
Jay's mental voice carried confusion. 'Why? It's his ability. I only borrowed it to save you and deal with the situation.'
'Even though I can't see the future clearly anymore since you came to this world, I know a few things. And one of them is that Jamie Braddock's reality warping is the reason for the retroactive disappearance of mutants from this universe.' The Ancient One's mental presence was heavy with certainty.
'His power, once fully mastered, will be used to hide mutant-kind behind a veil of altered reality. It will seriously hamper Earth's power and defensive capabilities across the future disasters.'
Jay processed that information in seconds.
The MCU, Earth-199999. It always had a distinct lack of mutants compared to the comics. He'd always wondered why this universe was so different in that regard, aside from the obvious copyright issues back in his home reality. And now he had his answer.
Jamie Braddock. A reality warper who would eventually hide an entire subspecies of humanity. Whether intentionally or accidentally, the result would be the same. Mutants written out of history.
'Master, that's... that's a huge change to the timeline. If mutants aren't hidden, if they remain visible...'
'Earth becomes stronger. More prepared for what's coming. The Celestials. Thanos. Kang. All of it.'
Jay's mind raced through implications. A world with mutants and the X-Men visible and active. With that level of power integrated rather than hidden.
But that wasn't the only factor.
'Master, that may be true, but...'
Jamie's voice cut through the telepathic conversation, loud and petulant. "Oi! Power Broker! Stop with the bloody staring contest and give me my abilities back! I want them now!"
The telepathic link broke. Jay blinked as he was pulled back to normal reality.
Jamie stood in front of him, fists clenched, face red. His upper-class British accent somehow made the demand sound even more entitled.
And Jay finally saw it.
There was no gratitude for being saved, not even relief that his sisters were safe. Just anger over lost power.
Jamie cared about his siblings, sure. But right now, in this moment, his fury over losing his abilities trumped everything else.
Jay's expression shifted, became colder.
Betsy moved immediately. Trying to mediate between her brother and the man who could unmake him with a thought. "Jamie, please. He just saved us. Don't..."
"What power?" Jay's voice was flat. His expression became mocking. "I took that as my fee for helping two lost puppies out of a pinch. After hearing your sister's sob story, saving you seemed like the charitable thing to do."
Both the Ancient One and Domino sighed simultaneously. They recognized that smile. Jay was planning something and testing someone. This never ended well.
"What are you on about?!" Jamie's voice pitched higher, more nasal with indignation. "I didn't agree to any bloody thing! And no matter what you say, just freeing us from some decrepit witch isn't enough payment to take my power! The power that commands reality itself! Do you have any idea what you've stolen from me, you... you..."
Jamie's face twisted as he searched for words. His eyes tracked over Jay, taking in his features, his skin tone. Something ugly flickered across his expression.
"You're not even from here, are you? Probably some coolie's son playing at being a hero. And you dare take what belongs to a proper British bloodline? My family's been protecting this realm for generations while your lot were still... well." He waved a dismissive hand. "It doesn't matter. Just give it back."
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