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At the uninhabitable Island.
Jessica Jones slumped against a cracked slab of concrete, her face bloodless.
The other half of the Aether inside her was raging, sensing its missing piece returning.
"Ugh…" She spat bloody foam, vision blurring.
"Still with us, Queen?"
A familiar voice.
Homelander landed in front of her, the faint stink of sulfur clinging to his cape.
"Almost. Give me two more minutes." Jessica tugged the corner of her mouth weakly.
"Where's the ugly bastard?"
"Turned to volcano dust."
He crouched, studying her.
"Now for your problem."
"It'll feel weird—tough it out."
He slid the Infinity Gauntlet onto his right hand and pressed his left palm to her chest.
"Out."
With a thought, the half-Aether inside him streamed down his arm into the gauntlet.
That spark made the gauntlet yank like a vacuum.
'Aaaargh—!!!'
Jessica's head snapped back in a raw scream.
Crimson threads tore through her skin, sucked into his palm.
The two Aether halves met above the gauntlet, twining, fusing.
The fluid hardened.
Red light bled everywhere.
Sixty seconds later the glare collapsed.
A jagged, dark-red gem sat in the gauntlet's ring-finger socket.
The Reality Stone, home at last.
Homelander stared at the ruby set in gold, feeling its terrifying power, wild laughter roaring inside him.
"Hahaha… Reality Stone's mine."
"Thanos, let's see you snap now."
"No more fifty-fifty roulette."
"Uh…"
Jessica folded, about to drop.
Years as host had hollowed her; removing the Aether pushed her body to the brink.
"Don't sleep."
He caught her, then slowly lifted the gauntleted hand.
Snap.
A flash—red energy wrapped Jessica.
Ruined tissue vanished; new cells bloomed from nothing.
More than repair.
The Aether's long erosion had left a strange mutation.
Jessica's eyes snapped open, gulping air.
She felt better than ever—power surging, senses razor-sharp.
She tried to stand—her feet left the ground.
"I… I'm flying?" she gaped at her shoes.
"Call it back-rent from the parasite."
Homelander flicked his wrist; the Reality Stone dimmed.
Even he had felt a flicker of loss as reality bent—life siphoned away.
Seconds later a warm pulse from the earth refilled him; the "God-on-Earth" buff erased the cost.
'As expected… the Stones have no ceiling—only the user's body sets the limit.'
'Tony's Ultron shell—vibranium plus the Cradle—was practically tailor-made for them.'
'No wonder six-stone Ultron became Marvel's harshest dad.'
'Still…'
He glanced at his gauntlet and smirked.
'…this body's no slouch either.'
'Let's go.'
He grabbed Jessica's hand; they shot skyward.
Less than a minute after they left, Volcano—stressed by the earlier "feeding" and seismic shocks—finally gave way.
BOOM—!!!
A column of ash and lava lit area's night blood-red…
Over Manhattan's ruins, smoke mingled with scorched wiring.
Homelander looked around, brows lifted.
Worse than he'd pictured.
Besides Bruce and Thor, the others lay strewn across Times Square's rubble.
Not heroic corpses—more like frat boys after an all-night rager.
Pietro hung halfway off a billboard frame, one foot still twitching;
Scarlet Angela's leather catsuit shredded, sprawled on the curb;
Speedball Robbie curled foaming, a busted bounce-ball.
Wade Wilson took the prize.
The red pervert lay bare-assed in the intersection, clutching a broken blade, mumbling "rosebud, rosebud" or some crap.
At the battle's center sat a heap of black, gooey unnameable mush.
Homelander caught its stench—curse-fighter Algrim.
Jessica hovered half a meter up, arms crossed.
She scanned the wreckage, landing last on Wade's bare butt.
"Hey, Wade." She wrinkled her nose.
"Looks like the dark elves ran a train on you guys."
Wade lifted his head, flipping her the bird.
"If only. I'd've enjoyed the ride…"
Steve Rogers, still catching his breath, rolled his eyes.
"Ugh…"
He braced on his shield, sitting up.
"Anthony's cocktail was too strong. Side effect no one mentioned—"
"—it cranks your rage to max. Last twenty minutes? We were rabid dogs."
Groaning, they helped each other up, giddy to be alive.
Until Tony squinted, finger drawing a circle in the air.
"Hold up… am I high, or is Jones flying?"
Silence.
Every eye snapped to Jessica.
No thrusters, no wings.
She just hung there, physics be damned.
She blinked, looked down, shrugged.
"Guess so. Mutation thing, maybe."
"Ha!"
Tony perked up, devilish grin ping-ponging between her and Homelander.
"Knew it! Not a mutation."
"Jess, confession time." He leered.
"Did you sleep with Captain Flag-Overcompensating?"
Jessica's face darkened. "Stark, want a death wish?"
"Don't deny it! Must be super-STDs—fly-herpes or something."
Wade sprang upright, eyes starved-wolf wide.
He shrieked at Homelander:
"Daddy Homelander, I don't care—top, bottom, front, back—just let me fly! Ruin me!! Come on, wreck me raw!!!"