Chapter Text
With Great Power One Must Go Further Beyond (Marvel/MHA alt power)
aka Power Plus Ultra (ARC 5)
By Scriviner
PART 52:
Peter Parker, better known to the world as Peter Alexander, even better known as the dashing Gentleman thief Dumas, was at a loss. The computer-like brain that the Crystal Palace granted him didn’t really help much when his big dumb mouth opened and would just say anything it wanted while bypassing all actual thought.
He’d shoved his foot in it now all the way up to mid-thigh.
The question burned in his mind. How did Jewel even know about Peter Parker? She’d always seemed vaguely familiar, but he could never say for sure why she did.
He forced himself to shut up as he held the still crying, but now slightly suspicious Jewel in his arms. This close, and this intimately, with her, for the first time, he finally made skin-to-skin contact with her, as her bare back pressed into his hands. He found it funny that even after all these years and encounters with her, this was the first time his skin had made contact with her and he hurriedly drained his stock of energy to snatch a snapshot of her mind and her power for the Infinite Library.
He needed more information and he needed it fast.
Her directed vectors power was interesting, but he’d touched it enough over the past few years that he could wait to really study the copy he’d taken til after the current crisis was done.
Assuming he was able to get away.
A part of his mind drew in the copy of Jewel’s mind and pulled it apart hurriedly for information. Finally, a mystery that had bothered him for a while now was cleared up almost immediately. She did know Peter Parker and he knew her. Or they knew each other in passing.
As a self-centered, teenager, Peter had been so heavily self-involved that his classmates had barely registered. Jewel– or Jessica Jones– had been a classmate of his before he’d run away. Some dim recess of his mind knew her as the first Coma Girl. That linked up with other knowledge and information from Jewel’s mind at the realization that Sting was the second Coma Girl… the one that had been his fault.
Weirder still, both of them knew his Aunt May and Uncle Ben… Well enough that they visited them regularly. He remember his accidental visit to Forrest Hills and the two college girls who had been visiting. That had been them.
His jaw hung open as he took all of this in. Friends of the family… they’d… inserted themselves into his Aunt and Uncle’s lives when he’d disappeared and they’d made sure they were okay.
They really were heroes. Not just in costume… Jewel and Sting… Jessica and Cindy… were bonafide good people.
It warmed him that his Aunt and Uncle had these people in their lives. He couldn’t help the smile that blossomed on his face. An expression that drew more confusion onto Jewel’s face. Now that he had a chance to look at her more closely, the pink hair and the way she wore it really did change the contours of her face enough to make Jessica unrecognizable as Jewel.
As a shapeshifter, he had a far easier time hiding his own identity.
Or he would, if he weren’t such an idiot.
There wasn’t any specific bullshit he could spew to get out of this. No excuse he could cook up quickly enough that would keep him from having to deal with the reality that Jessica Jones knew he was Peter Parker.
So… if he couldn’t escape, he did the best he could with what he had.
He would stall.
He glanced over Jewel’s shoulder, towards the crowd of costumed people who were watching the byplay with some degree of confusion and curiosity. Peter recognized most of the X-men team, including Professor X… that was going to be a problem, especially with the Sea of Thoughts running as shallow as it did at the moment. He couldn;t afford for the nosy old man to dig into his mind.
Besides the X-men were a group of Jessica’s fellow Avengers, including Iron Man, the new Captain Marvel in the white outfit, Captain America, Thor, Wasp and Hawkeye. The Hulk and the She-Hulk… and three of the Fantastic Four.
Peter knew that Ben at least recognized him. Most of the X-men who’d already met previously, such as Ororo, Kurt, and most especially Piotr all obviously recognized him.
He gave Jewel a small smile and shook his head. “Hey, um… this is a little awkward, so maybe we can talk about this more, later?” He glanced over her shoulder once more at the assembled heroes who were staring at them.
Jewel frowned and seemed prepared to argue the point, but Sting came up behind her and tapped her on the shoulder, inclining her head towards the gathering of heroes before adding.
“You’re kinda talking secret identity stuff, right now, Jewel.” Sting said softly, emphasizing the taller girl’s superhero name. “And… um… everyone’s staring.”
Jewel flushed slightly at that and finally let Peter go. She was obviously still curious but was willing to wait a bit for answers.
And Peter was prepared to stall and keep stalling til he could run.
Assuming there was anywhere he could even run to.
As Jewel pulled away, Sting looked Peter directly in the eyes and asked. “You were the ghost guy on top of the building that one time, weren’t you? A few months ago. The guy who looked like he was going to jump.”
He smiled at her and nodded. “Yeah, that was me. It’s nice to see you again.”
Sting looked curiously at him, then at Jewel who still seemed to be getting herself back under control. “The one who knew about power and responsibility.” She added softly.
Peter nodded.
At that point, Johnny Storm, unable to keep himself contained anymore blurted out, “Seems weird that this guy got pulled in. Everyone else here is a superhero–”
Peter cut him off gesturing broadly. “The guy in the wheelchair’s not in a costume either.”
That seemed to offend some of the X-men for whatever reason, but it wasn’t like what he’d said was inaccurate.
“So is the guy in the T-shirt and sweats a good guy too?” Hawkeye, a man in purple tights, with a quiver on his back and a bow in hand asked, jerking a thumb in Peter’s direction.
To Peter’s mild surprise, it was Ororo who spoke up. “I recognize this young man. He is Peter Alexander. He volunteers at a homeless shelter.” She gave Peter a look of mild amusement. “He is also close… to one of our members.”
Jessica and Cindy exchanged looks and Peter caught Cindy mouthing ‘Alexander?’ silently to herself. This was really going to need some kind of explanation, but Peter was still trying to think of one.
“Our sisters are friends.” Piotr piped up. “They have had play dates.”
Ben Grimm chimed in, “Yeah, I’ve met him too. The kid helps out with the local community and charity stuff at the local synagogue in the lower East Side.”
"So a good man, just without a costume?" Captain American spoke and Peter was struck by how sincere he sounded. "I wonder why a hero without any spandex was brought along."
There was a bit of good humor there, some self-deprecation. The man seemed genuinely pleased to have Peter there. Inside he withered a little as he realized that he was going to have to perpetuate this fraud somehow.
“Verily! I recognize him as well!” Thor, of all people, called out suddenly. “It was on television! The Wrestlefest from a few weeks ago, when you, Ben Grimm, and Thundra, participated!”
“Aw, fer cryin’ out loud.” Ben seemed to be embarrassed, covering his rocky face with an equally rocky hand, while Johnny Storm laughed.
Thor pointed at Peter. “You were one of the Two Peters fighting the androids in the audience!”
Among the X-men, Piotr Rasputin, in his metal form as Colossus covered his own face with a metal hand. “They did not actually call us that!”
“They definitely did.” Ben chuckled.
Peter, hoping to deflect some of the attention from him pointed to Colossus. “He was the other Peter.”
Colossus waved a hand at Peter, obviously embarrassed. “Let us not speak of that anymore.”
That got a few laughs from those who were familiar with the story and Peter noted that things did seem well and truly deflected now and allowed himself to relax momentarily.
He didn’t particularly like the speculative look that Xavier was giving him. He knew that the man must’ve been informed of the ELOI center and his presence there. They’d never outright admitted to his mutant status, but the center helped many mutants and that was something Xavier clearly wanted to have some part in, but despite the weeks and months of Kitty’s continued presence there, they’d made no actual attempt to contact him. Not even after the confrontation with Magneto.
He wasn’t sure if they had simply been too busy or Xavier had other priorities, but that was more thoughts for another time.
As Peter hung back and allowed the colorfully costumed heroes to discuss and speculate about their abduction, Xavier had apparently reached across to another construct like the one they were on, but rather one where the villains were located. Something that confused Peter immensely, since he seemed to have been lumped in with the heroes for whatever reason.
He glanced towards the other construct hanging in space and realized that it was in the direction opposite from the one he’d been staring at the stars in. He knew that whatever that vast, unfathomable, inhuman intelligence the Sea of Souls had touched, it had been over there. That was… terrifying.
From Xavier’s comments, the villains were introducing themselves to one another, but there was far more bickering among that lot than there had been here. He wondered how much worse the arguments would’ve been if everyone else here had realized they included Dumas among their number?
The rest of his musings were cut off by the sudden shift outside the constructs. His eyes widened as he cried out, “Look! Look!” He pointed out into the void. “The stars!”
Everyone turned in the direction that he pointed and they all saw what he was seeing. The stars outside winking out of existence, as though an immense sackcloth was being drawn across the sky, blotting out the stars in turn across a vast expanse.
But Peter knew, in his heart of hearts that they weren’t simply being hidden. They were being snuffed out.
Next to him, Jewel murmured in an awed whisper. “That– That entire galaxy–! It’s being destroyed.”
His attention shifted to what seemed like an immense spiral galaxy being snuffed out by the moving line of darkness. It passed over both constructs harmlessly, but the destruction continued past them, moving off into the distance until only the two constructs housing heroes and villains remained dangling in the void of space.
Peter’s enhanced senses could pick up on everyone’s fear and shock. Iron Man’s half-whispered, “Unbelievable…”
Even Thor, large and bombastic as he was, could only murmur softly, “Swept away… like dust before some giant unseen hand!”
As they all watched the sky be swept clean of stars, only a single star was left in close proximity. Around that star, a world began to form. It was… the only way Peter could describe it was a patchwork world, built seemingly of bits and pieces of immense tracts of land that were being drawn together into a single amalgamation. The world’s pieces were jammed together like uncomfortable puzzle pieces, with strange and varying biomes in an array of bright colors jammed together seemingly without a care.
They all watched the world draw itself together even as Xavier winced and gave a small noise of complaint. “It appears the villains on the other construct are… restless.”
Peter looked across the vast distance between their construct and theirs to find that he could just barely make out what appeared to be a brawl as blows and energy blasts were traded among the ones there. The massive humanoid figure with a distinctive hat seemed to quite literally be above it all.
He gasped as he recognized it and realized that it was probably what he’d been sensing as the worryingly powerful intelligence. It didn’t really look like a man in blue and purple with a tall hat that had angular headpieces growing out of it. That wasn’t its true form by any means. Simply how humans perceived a creature of such immense power. It was known as Galactus and it devoured worlds.
Years back, the Fantastic Four had… well, not ‘driven off’ exactly… somehow managed to persuade it to leave Earth. Peter remembered when it had happened.
Peter had thought perhaps this creature had been responsible for abducting them all, but the impression he was getting was that it had been taken, same as all of them. That just made whatever or whoever their abductor was all the more worrying for having such immense power.
Beyond the limits of the construct they were on was a star and the new world, but something else came to their attention. Peter wasn’t sure who was speaking as all of their attention was drawn to the only other thing in the void of space around them.
“Hey! Something’s happening out there! It’s as if a rift were opening in the void of space itself!”
So it was. Peter watched as the bleak, black vastness of space seemed to tear open, spilling light through the opening, in a beam that shone on the two constructs their groups were on.
Most of them winced and shaded their eyes and Peter recognized Captain Marvel complaining, “That light–! It makes the sun seem dim by comparison!”
More and more complaints and murmurs of curiosity broke out across the gathered heroes as the light swept over them, but it was Captain America who called out finally, “Quiet! Listen!”
There was a voice. That wasn’t a voice at the same time. Peter could feel it reverberate in his bones but at the same time the words didn’t seem to be the words he knew. He heard it simultaneously in the dozen languages he was fluent in all at once. A voice that seemed to speak in meaning rather than actual words.
I am from BEYOND. Slay your enemies and all that you desire shall be yours. Nothing you dream of is impossible for me to accomplish.
Peter and everyone else could feel the bone-deep certainty that this offer was true. There was no question that the voice could give them anything they desired. The thought was terrifying.
Before any further discussion could break out, Xavier winced once more and murmured. “Oh, no.”
As they all watched, the gigantic humanoid form of Galactus rose up and tore itself free of the force field skin that surrounded the construct they had been on. His arms were raised as he flew towards the rift, clearly intending to battle with whatever was on the other side. They saw another smaller form chase after Galactus and Peter realized he could see gray metal and a green cape even at this distance. Doctor Doom, no doubt.
Stop! You cannot approach me! The barriers will repulse you!
The voice declared even as the giant space god and the Eastern European dictator rocketed through space closing in with the rift. As they came close, they slammed into something that was initially unseen but seemed to cause the space around Galactus to flare with a nebula of colors, the pure white light from beyond seemingly smashing him back and sending him plummeting to the planet below. Doom didn’t even seem to directly interact with the energies, but the backwash of power that drove Galactus back ripped him out of the sky as well.
There was dead silence all around for a few seconds before Captain America gave voice to what everyone was thinking. “They were swatted back like flies.”
Xavier’s voice was hoarse as he replied, “To the Beyonder, even Galactus is less than a fly.”
The heroes as a group were somber as the construct platform began to move underneath them. Although there was no sensation of motion, Peter watched in fascination as the construct flew closer and closer to the newly constructed planet, sending them careening towards it at what seemed like reentry speeds.
A few moments later the construct itself vanished and all of them were suddenly on the planet. The sudden shift in position confused Peter’s enhanced senses for a moment, leaving him staggered. He felt a headache starting to come on, even as Captain America barked out orders to the others to form a circle.
From what Peter had seen on their way down, the villains had been sent further away from them, possibly to give the two sides some breathing room before they started in on the combat that this… Beyonder wanted.
Peter allowed his senses to unfurl from the well of his powers. He needed more information. His companions had already fallen into bickering over who would be leading them all while he sat himself down on a rock and tried to use the Crystal Palace to sort through the plethora of sensory information his powers were giving him.
He allowed the argument over leadership to simply occur in the background. To them, he was just a normal guy. Not one of the costumed crowd, he definitely didn’t expect anyone to suggest him for a leadership position. Come to that, he didn’t expect anyone to care to ask for his opinion. To all appearances, he wasn’t part of this elevated group of superheroes. He left part of himself listening to the argument as it happened while leaving the bulk of his mind tried to find out more about the world they’d been brought to.
The world was… new. It tasted new. It smelt of… strange alien things. He could feel it as a ragged patchwork of smashed-together complex biomes that normally would have no business being part of one another. It was more than he’d thought possible by allowing the full extent of Callisto’s Sensitivity to work in conjunction with the Sea of Souls for the first time.
Not having several billion other minds also in the mix probably helped.
The world itself wasn’t devoid of minds as he’d feared. There were thinking, living minds across this world… hundreds? No. Thousands, Several tens of thousands, but all in small fearful enclaves. Communal emotion running through them was terror at this strange alien world they’d found themselves in. Most were thinking in alien languages, the words and concepts flowing through the Crystal Palace being collated and studied to be put together into something he might possibly understand down the line, but there… there… in the distance. An entire area that was thinking in mostly American English and other Earth human languages. People were terrified, but those were unquestionably human.
There were places where Motorist, Sea of Souls and Sensitivity found more constructs like the ones that brought them here. Simple machine minds, but complex enough for the Sea to feel them. He suspected the Beyonder had dotted this Battleworld with fortresses and bastions where the chosen combatants could take shelter and find things they would need to kill one another.
The Sea spread out, filling the world and he felt his mind touch and recoil from Galactus’s immense alien intellect once more, filled to overflowing with hunger, but in the moment, possibly unconscious? Or some equivalent thereof.
He winced as he realized something else closer in. Another mind, fully aware of the Sea of Souls flow, touching against it lightly… the equivalent of a toe barely dipped into the water from the shore. Peter raised his head suddenly and found himself looking directly at Charles Xavier, the bald man’s expression was inscrutable, but he also realized that Jewel and Sting, both of whom had still been paying close attention to him had noticed the two of them looking at one another.
“And, what about you, Peter? Do you have an opinion on who should be leading?” Xavier asked, in a tone that sounded like butter wouldn’t melt in his mouth.
That startled Peter out of his contemplation of the world and he hurriedly reviewed the discussion up to that point. Interestingly, Xavier has immediately deferred leadership to Reed Richards of the Fantastic Four who, in his turn, turned it down immediately as he was too worried about being away from his wife and son. Peter could understand where the man was coming from. He had concerns about how the Morlocks would hold up without him, but he had to trust in the systems that he and the Lady put into place. It was better than Callisto’s old system if nothing else. Oddly enough, Richards had suggested the Hulk, who now had the intellect of his counterpart, but it was obvious no one else was willing to support that option. The Wasp, the current Avengers leader, to Peter’s recollection, had opted against taking the position, putting forth the only obvious candidate.
Captain America.
Cap himself asked Xavier once more if he was sure, given how his mind-reading powers would be handy in a leadership position… which was what led to Xavier’s strange decision to ask Peter for his opinion.
It took a fraction of a second to review all of that and Peter didn’t have to fake his surprise at the question. “Professor, I’m probably the last person you should be asking an opinion for on this matter. I’m just a regular guy.” Peter demurred.
Xavier quirked an eyebrow and gave Peter a knowing look. “If you’re in this company, surely there’s more to you than meets the eye, young man.”
This close, with his mind’s terrible lack of mental defenses, he knew Xavier had brushed up against the shallow Sea of Souls. He knew some telepaths could detect other mutants by their unique mental patterns. He had no doubt Xavier had already figured out his own status as a mutant, but why do this? Why draw him into the discussion… why…
The Crystal Palace churned with memories of tradecraft, politics, liars, and manipulators. Xavier was maneuvering him into a place. Forcing him to align with the X-men, no doubt. It was obvious in hindsight. Peter did not appreciate the attempt. He also didn’t appreciate finding himself the center of attention once more as Xavier drew everyone’s eyes to him with that statement.
He couldn’t keep his irritation from rising at the man’s blatant attempt to manipulate him. Despite himself, his temper got hold of his mouth and he replied in a cool, polite tone, “The mind reader hinting at other people’s secrets isn’t a good look for you, Professor. Do it again and maybe I might have some things of my own to say.”
The rest of the heroes around them were caught a bit off guard by his tone, but Peter noted the worry in Jess and Cindy’s expressions.
His statement seemed to take the older man off guard as he leaned back, as though struck and stammered out an apology.
The other man next to him, however, Wolverine, in the beige and brown outfit, had a massive flare of predatory anger that Peter almost instinctively leaped out of the way. The problem was that it would’ve given too much away. So he held his position as the short, hairy man snarled and lunged towards Peter, grabbing hold of the collar of his shirt threateningly. “Oh, yeah? What do you think you know, bub?!”
There were general noises of outrage from the group as Wolverine did this. After all, it looked like the violent mutant was about to harm the seemingly normal person in their midst.
Peter took the opportunity to put his hand on the bare skin on the man’s forearm, near the elbow, looking like he was simply trying to pull the man’s arm away from him. He burned energy and took a hurried snapshot of the man’s powers and mind and winced internally at the complete tangled mess that the man’s memories were in. He shoved the mind deep into the Library for later and simply spoke.
Something about Wolverine seemed to react in an almost primal way to Predator. Looking into the man’s eyes Peter knew that he and… Logan? Yes, that was his name… Logan, were coming to an understanding of who was the actual apex predator in this place. In this time.
“I know enough.” Peter said in a cold tone, facing Logan down.
Logan gave him a long stare back before he finally glanced away and released the younger man’s collar with a scoff.
Peter took a moment to straighten his shirt and glanced around, sighing as he obviously wasn’t going to get out of answering the question regardless. “You know what? I agree with Wasp. If anyone ought to lead us it should be Captain America.”
Wolverine for a moment looked like he was going to be mulish and complain, but Thor offered his own support for Captain America, with a grandiose proclamation, “I do not pledge my allegiance to many of mortal stature! This man I will follow through the gates of Hades!”
Jewel chimed in with her own note of support. “Sounds like that’s settled, then.”
Peter settled back, letting the limelight slide away from him once more as the discussion went from the choice of leadership to the more practical consideration of finding a place to shelter on this alien world. Earlier Reed Richards had stretched himself up higher to get the lay of the land and noted a few more construct citadels in the distance. Easily within a few hours walk at an easy pace, but most of their group had some means of flight.
He realized to his own giddy excitement that he actually now had a power that would give him actual flight, having finally gotten a copy of Jewel’s power… but his disappointment at not being able to play around with it at the moment was palpable.
The discussion was interrupted by an explosion in the distance. His enhanced senses ranged out, finding what seemed to be a damaged ship, floundering and falling out of the sky. Captain America called out. “It was a ship! A ship shot down!”
The group rapidly decided to go all together to check out what had happened. He wondered if that was normal. It would’ve made more sense to send a scout to check on matters while the rest of the group continued trying to get organized, but there was just something about this place that seemed to… invite precipitous action. He wondered if it was something the Beyonder had built into the world to force confrontations, but it almost seemed like everyone was eager to just… keep moving.
Peter didn’t have the heart to argue when Jewel scooped him up into a princess carry with a happy smile. Sting was sticking by her hands and feet to the woman’s back as she flew them to the crash site. For the other non-fliers in the group, Peter could see them making do. Storm used winds to lift and carry the rest of the X-men, none of whom actually had flight powers. The non-flight capable Avengers, such as She-hulk, Captain America and Hawkeye made do with being carried on a large flat slab of stone by Iron Man. Everyone else used their own powers to travel, with Richards taking massive strides on stretchy legs or the Hulk making miles-long leaps while carrying a complaining Ben Grimm.
The wreckage of the crash was still easily visible as they closed in. The debris was in flames and at the center of what had been a massive explosion lay a green cloaked figure in grey armor.
Doctor Doom.
He’d survived what had swatted down Galactus and he’d had time to acquire a ship, probably from one of the citadel bastions that dotted the battleworld, but he’d also managed to piss someone else off in the meantime.
Peter was beginning to suspect the villain side of the equation was not all sunshine and roses.
Doom was muttering to himself as they approached, “Richards… must speak with Richards. Only he… might comprehend… power so great it humbles us… we are bacteria… dust…”
Through those ramblings, Captain America was first to approach the man, offering a hand to help him up. The defenses on Doom’s armor had kept him intact through whatever had shot his ship down, but it was clear he’d taken a beating.
“Let me help you, Doom.” Cap offered, to the loud protestations and complaints of Johnny Storm and Wolverine, both of whom wanted to make sure the man was disarmed first.
Doom looked up and saw Cap’s outstretched hand. That seemed to solidify something in him. His tone hardened and he declared, “Doom… needs the aid… of no man,” before forcing himself to rise back to his feet.
Doom turned slowly and swept his gaze at the assembled heroes, taking in all the colorfully garbed crowd surrounding him.
For a moment, Doom’s eyes met Peter’s and there was a strange moment of unspoken acknowledgment, before the man’s resolve firmed and he snarled, “Is that pity I see in your eyes, Captain America? And yours Richards? Pity yourselves! I was a fool to think such as you might comprehend what only Doom can know!”
Peter felt the flare of Predatory attention from Doom as he thrust his hands forward. The experienced heroes realized what was about to happen as well, as Wolverine cried out, “Look out, he’s going to–!”
Blasts of golden energy lashed out from Doom’s gauntlets, shattering the ground beneath the group closest to him, which consisted of Johnny Storm, Cap and Wolverine. As he fired, he continued his unhinged rant.
“You will rue this moment! You, the others, the Beyonder… and the universe! Soon all will grovel at my feet!”
With those last words, Doom shot into the air, flying off faster than anyone else could react.
Unable to stop himself, Peter asked, “Was he… concussed?”
That earned a bark of laughter from Johnny Storm who reassured Peter, “Nah. He always sounds like that.”
This got a few more chuckles from the group, but Peter couldn’t help but notice the concerned expression on Reed Richards’s face.
He felt a stronger sensation of being Preyed upon closing in fast, even as Iron Man hurriedly called out, “Heads up! My radar’s picking up bogies coming in fast!”
Peter whirled in the direction of the sensation and where Iron Man was pointing towards, to find the group of villains running in. Most of them were armed with odd weapons and several of them were riding on a spindly three-legged mechanical device with a large gun.
Reed Richards called out unnecessarily, “We’re under attack!”
Just as the large gun on the tripod fired and Peter’s world was awash in noise and pure white.