The successful acquisition of the Soul Stone was the first piece of good news.
And just the second week after Alex returned to Krakoa, a second piece of good news arrived, almost as if fate itself wanted to balance the scales.
"Alex, Danvers is back!" Raven's voice carried urgency as she strode into the lab where Alex and Hank were hunched over, studying the glittering glow of four Infinity Stones.
Alex's spirits lifted at once. The fatigue that had accumulated over countless late nights dissolved into a rush of energy. The corner of his mouth curled into a rare, unguarded smile.
If "Aunt" Danvers had returned, it could mean only one thing—she had successfully located the Orb.
"Let's go. We'll meet her at once!" Alex pushed back his chair with a brisk wave of his hand. The lab's sterile hum and faint metallic tang gave way to the livelier sounds of laughter and chatter as he entered the main hall. There, Captain Marvel was surrounded by the X-Men, trading stories with an ease that made the cavernous space feel almost like a family gathering.
"Alex, mission accomplished!" Danvers said the moment she saw him. Her smile was equal parts relief and triumph. She reached into a pouch at her side and produced a small, spherical object that pulsed faintly with hidden power. She placed it into Alex's waiting palm with reverence.
The Orb. Within it rested the Power Stone.
Alex's eyes brightened. "Danvers, I knew I could always count on you!" he said warmly. The weight of the sphere in his hand was not heavy, yet the power sealed within it sent a faint tremor up his arm, as though the universe itself acknowledged its significance. Satisfaction spread across his face like sunlight breaking through storm clouds.
Now, more than half the stones were his. The finish line was finally within sight. Only one piece of the puzzle remained.
The Time Stone.
But that last step was the most troublesome of all.
Unlike the other stones scattered across the cosmos, this one was guarded—zealously—by the Ancient One herself. Kamar-Taj was her domain, and the stone had been entrusted to her as the Sorcerer Supreme.
Even with Alex's current strength, which had grown to such heights that he could scarcely find a worthy opponent in the known universe, he wasn't confident of seizing the stone from her hands. Confronting her directly risked far more than he could afford.
The problem of the Time Stone had haunted every discussion they'd had for months. In the grand council chamber of Krakoa, the X-Men had debated fiercely, voices rising and falling like crashing waves.
The conclusion was always the same.
Abandon the Time Stone.
It wasn't that they didn't want it. It was that they had no viable path forward.
"Alex," Charles had told him during one of those tense meetings, his tone calm but heavy with conviction, "the Time Stone is different from the others. We can't go to war with Kamar-Taj over this. It would be unwise."
Even Erik, usually the most uncompromising of them all, had offered no rebuttal. For once, Magneto agreed with Xavier. The Ancient One's power—and the order she commanded—was too formidable. No one could deny that provoking such an enemy for the sake of one stone would be tantamount to courting disaster.
The cost simply outweighed the gain.
"Then shall we activate the contingency plan?" Hank had asked at last, lifting an eyebrow as his gaze swept the council.
Yes, they had a fallback.
The plan had been drafted early on, precisely for this scenario. If the Time Stone proved beyond their reach, they would turn instead to the Reality Stone. Reality itself could be rewritten. And at the root of Arishem's hostility was one simple fact: Alex's ability to absorb cosmic energy.
So what if reality were adjusted, altered so that this ability no longer existed—or at least appeared not to?
It was not a perfect solution. Everyone knew it was little more than delaying the inevitable. But a delay, even temporary, might be enough. With time, Alex would grow stronger still. Strong enough that even the Celestials would not be beyond his reach.
"Then let's forge the Infinity Gauntlet first," Alex had said after long thought, his voice steady as iron.
He hadn't abandoned the dream of the Time Stone—not yet. Perhaps it could not be taken from the Ancient One, but what of Doctor Strange? The man who would succeed her was still years from his awakening. Or perhaps there was another way.
Time travel.
If the direct path was blocked, perhaps the answer lay elsewhere. The Avengers of the future had meddled with time before—Hulk, Stark, Rogers. Alex knew the stories well. Knew the exact junctures in history where the Time Stone would appear, and in whose hands.
If he could not take it here, perhaps he could steal it there.
"Hank," Alex had said, eyes gleaming with resolve, "besides forging the gauntlet, I need you to develop the time machine. The burden will be heavy, but I'm counting on you."
"I will," Hank had replied without hesitation, his face lit with the fire of responsibility.
And so the work began.
Days blurred into nights. Nights into weeks. Weeks into years. The laboratories of Krakoa burned with constant light as Hank led his teams, pushing the limits of science and imagination. The faint smell of ozone lingered permanently in the air, and the clatter of tools mixed with the steady hum of generators. Mutant stamina kept the scientists alive where ordinary men would have long since collapsed.
Alex even enlisted Hank Pym himself, coaxing and cajoling him to lend his brilliance. Between the two Hanks—two of the greatest minds of their age—the impossible became possible.
And at last, after two and a half grueling years, success.
The Infinity Gauntlet gleamed like a crown of doom, its socketed spaces ready to hold the stones. And beside it, resting quietly yet radiating untold potential, stood the time machine.
By now, Stephen Strange was still only a man—a brilliant, arrogant surgeon at the peak of his career, yet far from the sorcerer he would one day become. The timeline said two more years remained before his transformation. Alex could not wait that long.
"Time to travel!" Alex announced, his voice brimming with certainty.
Inside the chamber, the machine thrummed to life. The walls shivered with vibrations as arcs of light snapped through the air. Hank's fingers danced over a panel of controls, his expression taut with focus.
"Five… four… three… two… one. Begin travel!"
Swish!
In a single blinding flash, Alex's body dissolved into streaks of light, his figure stretching into eternity before vanishing entirely from sight.
The world stilled.
So, where had Alex gone?
To the precise day in 1964 when Iron Man and Captain America traveled back from the year 2023 to retrieve the Infinity Stones. More accurately, it was that very moment.
Because Alex needed their time travel not only to reach a timeline where the Time Stone existed, but also to intercept it at its most vulnerable juncture.
There was no other option.
Too much had changed in this universe since his rebirth. Traveling directly to 2023 here would be useless—he had no idea what awaited him in this altered future.
But the 2023 of that other universe—the one written into the tapestry of the original MCU—Alex knew by heart.
And that was where his next step began.
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