Here is your extra chapter!!! ✨✨
Start of another goal, for an extra chapter: (129/250 Power Stones)
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Slumping into one of the swivel chairs in the laboratory I huffed as over 400 kyber crystals hung in mid-air, suspended like the original versions. The colour shifts were less poignant now, erratic in the way they displayed as Luke and I stepped away from them. By the time Luke sat down beside me they were but inert crystalline structures that were held up by the device below them.
"You better be fucking happy with that number... That shit is exhausting after a while." Luke frowned as he settled into his own swivel chair, his black sleeves riding up his arms slightly.
"From what Tony has told me, you have repaired an entire floating fortress and single-handedly returned a city to what it was once before; after purchasing a few buildings for yourself of course." Rolling my eyes I slumped even further backwards and tried to bury myself in the chair's comfortable embrace.
"Yeah, but generally speaking, that material isn't as complex. Most of the matter I handled in New York is in the double digits or below. Kyber Crystal is a quantum-responsive crystalline matrix material. It bends, folds, breaks, heals and warps in reaction to the force signature, or whatever, of the person it is near. The material itself has a memory, easily identifiable by yours truly as my mind interacts with the materials I am changing, making or destroying. This, in turn, makes it resonate uniquely in space-time... I had to create 400 new, completely blank, Kyber Crystals that all had similar but differing original shapes, no memories at all and still make it hum in the same way that the originals did; purely by splitting atoms to provide the energy required to tune subatomic processes to such a scale... And you're essentially saying: 'Hey, don't be so dramatic...' " I grouched at length.
Luke leaned back a little in shock. He didn't make the emotion obvious of course, but the slight raise of his brows and the slacking of his cheeks was all I needed to understand how much I'd just jolted him.
"You just explained Jedi mysticism with some science mumbo-jumbo... I'm impressed..." A teasing lilt in his tone made me want to punch him in the face but I held back seeing as how he was just trying to get me out of my tired funk.
"Heh, mysticism often has equivalents in science. Often enough, science is a mysticism all its own. We believe that something called the 'big-bang' created the universe but have almost no proof that the event happened in the first place. We hinge our belief on that theory upon a theoretical particle known as dark matter that is supposedly everywhere and nowhere at the same time... Tell me if that isn't faith and belief, why don't yah?"
The Jedi Grandmaster nodded along with a small smile on his face. "It's refreshing to hear from someone versed in the sciences that our teachings and abilities aren't all physics applied to biology or whatever." I nodded. I understood that magic, the force, psychic abilities and a bunch of other energies were their own thing, separate and yet tied together with the general rules of normal space.
Luke was one amongst many that should be frustrated by the obstinance of people like Tony and other scientists.
"So, want to scan my light saber?" I jumped to my feet and grinned mischievously.
"That was a dumb question! Let's go!" Luke chuckled as I rushed to the entrance of the room, urging him on with a wave of my hands.
"Fine, fine, just give me a moment, I'm not as young as I used to be..." My disbelief must have shown on my face because he guffawed at the expression I was shooting towards him. "Okay, maybe I'm not that old... I feel it though..." Shaking my head I stepped out and waited for the trolling Jedi; he must have learnt it from Obi Wan...
~~~
15 Minutes Later...
"You are not making a cooler light saber than me. I'm not allowing it." Luke crossed his arms as I held the laser sword in my hands.
I wasn't pouting, I wasn't! Just because I wanted my light saber to have Metallic Hydrogen for its hilt, a different resonance for the kyber crystal and a shield emitter on it, I was getting told no! Naturally I was going to ignore him, he wasn't my dad and even if he was, I'd still flip him the bird.
"Too bad. I'm gonna make mine look like ice and have it disintegrate matter with absolute zero, you know why?" He grimaced at the idea but asked anyway...
"Why?"
I grinned evilly. "Because fuck you that's why." The Jedi Grandmaster was standing there, his jaw dropped a touch and his eyes so thoroughly confused at the fact that I'd just sworn at him in his own temple on his own world, right next to a bunch of librarians; they were angry at me by the way, for causing the argument.
"Hahahaha!" A sharp and witty voice boomed out with laughter.
Turning to face the woman I was surprised to find a very beautiful red-head with emerald-green eyes and strong angular features. Her nose was pert but strong, her lips soft but set firmly, her eyes were the shade of forest greenery and yet had the same hardness as diamond... Mara Jade was laughing at her own husband, uproariously.
"He deserves to be put in his place sometimes." Her voice struck like a smith's hammer against and anvil, her controlled pace and posture being the heat that allowed the 'metal', or atmosphere, to bend around her.
Luke was blushing at her intrusion and the fact that he'd been caught by his own wife in such a childish argument, which I naturally took advantage of and wiggled my eyebrows at him. "So I see, he's way too rigid and stuck in his 'holier than thou' persona." Mara chuckled at first and noticed the scowl that Luke was sending his friend and barely held back a wheeze.
"Nice to meet you, I presume you are Drecarios Frost... The, 'diplomat'?" I looked away from Luke and grinned at her, making a mocking bow; hoping to get a reaction from Luke, it didn't work.
"At your service. Now, can I make a light saber here or do I have to make it on my own?" Mara shrugged, introducing herself before looking at her husband with a cocked eyebrow.
"Husband...?" Luke looked as if he were wanting to groan in mental agony but eventually looked towards the ground and nodded.
"Fine. Should have done it in your own time. I'm busy." I scoffed.
"So busy that you were able to guide me slowly through the dockyard, so busy that you went all mystical with the Kyber Crystals and so busy that you have wasted almost twenty minutes with me in arguing over who is allowed to have the coolest light saber." Each point made him wince and had Mara narrowing her eyes at him. Luke was so whipped it was hilarious.
"We'll speak on this later, Luke..." Said man closed his eyes as if in prayer before raising his head and meeting my gaze evenly.
"I will get you back for this." Mara huffed in frustration whilst I just stood there smiling.
Everyone was now awkwardly silent until a single librarian coughed out loud.
"Can you not do this in the libraries, grand master? The younglings are trying to learn..." Luke looked behind him and watched an entire cohort of younglings staring at the three adults with shock, awe and deep confusion. All of their book were lying forgotten in front of them and the teacher was face palming hard.
"Ahem. Yes. We will, adjourn this meeting to another space. Apologies grand librarian." The older man nodded with all the patience of a saint whilst Luke grabbed me by the shirt and dragged me away, his wife following with a flicker of joy in her eyes. They definitely didn't get friendly company often; not company that they could relax around anyway.
As he 'dragged' me away I scanned some books and holocrons that were around the librarians. I didn't really get to read any of them or understand them but I had them stored in my mind. Positives about being able to copy all forms of matter is that I can keep all the writing on the books as well.
Eventually he let me walk on my own, grumbling under his breath the entire way to their private rooms. Mara simply walked behind us, her gait confident and contained... Like a viper ready to sweep away a foe should it show itself or have any weaknesses. I scanned a few more things such as computer terminals, the atmospheric control centres that we passed by in a huff... Hell, I even copied a floating platform that was suspended with anti-gravity generators. Everything was useful to me.
Finally we all sat down inside the personal apartment of Luke and Mara, both of them getting drinks and beverages ready. Mara, being the thoughtful hostess that I never though her to be, sat down on a couch opposite me once she placed some cookies and chocolates, offered me some. I accepted and casually ate them as we waited for Luke, who was using something similar to a kettle to boil water for some sort of drink.
"How's everyone in the chat?" I almost dropped my cookie when Mara asked me but I managed to scoff it down; barely evading choking.
"I-" I coughed, "I'm sorry?" She rolled her eyes playfully and offered me a handkerchief.
"I asked how the chat is going." Sighing was all I was doing of late, a problem I noticed just now as I sighed once again.
"Doing well. Kinda just finished a mission." She bit into a cookie and gestured for me to continue... Which is where I then proceeded to tell her everything that happened including my own failings in not being able to save Coulson.
Luke had sat down by now and was sipping on his slightly milky beverage, dipping cookies into it every now and then and scarfing them down.
"Overconfidence, is something that everyone suffers from, from time to time. I once was overconfident and lost to my husband, turning away from doctrine and my sith codes, embracing the Jedi way; sort of." She paused, taking a moment to fix her thoughts.
"Coulson, would not blame you and neither should you blame yourself. You had requested aid, received said aid, asked them to handle a prisoner that should have been theirs from the start. You were busy with other matters and those that were entrusted to keep this 'Loki' imprisoned failed." She took a small bit out of her cookie before setting her cup down on a coaster.
"Would it have been possible to save this Coulson man... Perhaps. Yet, you understand that time itself bend and yawns, it can flex and change, but in some parts it is as solid as gravity itself." I licked my lips.
"I think your wife gives me too much credit Luke..." The man snickered into his cup before taking another drink.
She ignored my statement and refocussed on the matter at hand. "It wasn't your fault. You could ponder on 'what-ifs' all day and all night, forever. In the end, he died for a noble cause, he allowed you and these other 'heroes' to save an entire world." She looked up at me fully now, trying to pin me to my seat with her gaze.
"Would you sacrifice Earth for one single life? If you knew that it would take that level of sacrifice to bring back that supposed failure?" I looked down into the fresh cup of coffee that had been offered to me, my memoires taking me back to all the failures and changes in the timeline that had occurred because I had tried to be smart, tried to manipulate events to go the way I wished them to.
"No. I would do it again if I had to. One life measured against billions, is not a fair calculation." She smiled softly as I spoke. It was the first softening of her features I had ever seen.
"The needs of the many, outweigh the needs of the few. It is a saying that many say they follow but few ever act on. I, myself, would burn worlds for my husband and children. In the past I have done much worse for far less... In the future I could foresee myself dipping into murky depths that none have walked in millions of years... For my family. I could never follow those words..."
I stared at the table for a long while, both of them leaving me to contemplate. I spoke once again a few minutes later.
"I, I am not a good man." Both of them inclined their heads, their body language screaming at me to get it off my chest.
"Before I joined the Marvel Universe I was a wage slave, going day in, day out... For little pay." I paused for a breath and continued. "My job was torturous, my bills were never ending and ultimately my fiancé was unfaithful."
Mara grimaced as my emotions probably seeped out into the force or whatever.
I continued, "In the end I chose to end her lover, with extreme prejudice. I didn't explain it to her. I didn't attempt to bargain or sob or plead with her. I broke." A single tear dripped down my cheek but I maintained my composure despite it.
"Ten minutes later I died in a vehicle accident and woke up sputtering and throwing up in a bathroom stall. My previous life was over, that me was broken, and I was now Drecarios Frost. I merged with his memories, his soul, his psyche... We became indistinguishable from one another to such a point that my previous pain was like an ebbing stab wound that was forgotten as I basked in the familial love of my sisters." Both of them were silent as I explored my feelings.
"I ignored all my previous pain, still do... I can't process it and it feels as if I will be forever left with these scars on my soul... It's why I'm so, chaotic, I guess..." I churned the words over on my tongue before I exhaled in frustration and decided to air it all out.
"I use the chaos of my new universe and the craziness of the chat room to slowly balm my wound and fill it with new relationships and feelings. All in the hope that I can get over the fact that the woman I loved more than even myself betrayed me with my best friend and took his side when I ended him." I closed my eyes and simply existed for a time, Mara and Luke both staying silent, to let me relax.
It was ten minutes later that Mara tapped on the table in front of me, drawing my attention. I looked up at her eyes in response and she simply gave me a soft comforting smile.
"You are coming to therapy, every Sunday... No arguments. We'll sort all this out." I looked over to Luke and saw the grin stretch over his face.
'Oh no you don't! You fucker!!!'
"Perhaps the price could be in more Kyber Crystals?" I bonked my head onto the table and continued to do so as Mara just stared her husband down with a disapproving expression.
All the fucker did was laugh.
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