Canon Fodder

“Try that button,” Nix said over my shoulder.

“I’m done pushing buttons,” I said. “We already ejected all the cargo and opened the windows for the garden. Wake up that guy there and rape his mind for answers.”

“Fine, but I’m driving,” she said, moving toward the guy.

“No, you can drive later,” I said. She laughed happily and picked up the shorter Shi’ar easily. He didn’t have the triangle cut, but he did have the pale yellow skin many of them had. Nix grabbed his head and he began to scream in pain from whatever psychic torture she put him through.

“What are you doing? I’m nobody,” he pleaded as she shook him like a ragdoll.

“Just explain how to start this thing and fly it. Or I’ll mind rape you,” Nix said. The redhead meaning every word.

“I don’t know-“

“Let me stop you there. I’m a powerful psychic,” she said. “Probably the next thing from the reincarnation of Miss Cleo herself. I know everything about your life already. I know you cheated all through flight school. And the only reason you’re on this ship is because your dad called in a few favors. So start explaining to this idiot how to fly this thing or I’ll start making you relive the worst moments of your life for eternity.”

The man gulped and looked my way. “That button. The yellow one. Flip it and hold it for two seconds. It will make sure all the airlocks are clear then shut them.”

“Very good,” she said, plopping him next to me.

“Remind me not to let you in my mind anymore,” I said to Nix.

“Oh, but it can be so fun,” she said, her gaze on the glass screen in front of us. I pushed the switch and the airlocks closed.

“Now flip that to detach from the-“ I pushed it and the ship began to drift as we disengaged from the mother ship. Growing excited, I felt the adrenaline begin again as I moved the joystick.

“No!” The Shi’ar yelled. “That is for small movements,” he said as the ship drifted down to the larger one. We began to rumble as we collided slightly and I moved the joystick the opposite way I expected.

Grinding metal echoed in the bridge until we were far enough away. “That one controls the engine. Twist for a higher strength then push-“ he stopped as I twisted the handle of the gear shifter and pushed forward. The ship lurched forward and Nix and I laughed with glee as the knocked out passengers slid backwards.

I had no idea what speed we were traveling but I knew where we needed to go. Turning it around by maneuvering the joystick, we slowly faced the planet again. I pushed the shifter forward again.

“What are you doing?!” The Shi’ar yelled.

“Landing,” I said.

“This wasn’t made to reenter the atmosphere. It was made off the planet!” He said.

“Oh well,” I said as we began to descend into the atmosphere. The hull of the ship was already glowing red from friction as we only got faster.

“What the fuck are you doing?!”

“I’m-“

“This ship has no brakes!” He said as I pulled back on the shifter. To my surprise we sped up instead of slowing down. I never thought of it before but like a ship on water there were no brakes used in space. You could only reverse. But the shifter sure as shit didn’t have a reverse button.

Guiding the ship toward the arena I did a sharp right with the joystick and the ship began to creak and groan loudly as it spun around. When we were facing the opposite way I began using the engines again to fight against gravity now.

The whole ship shaking like an unbroken bull, I held on for dear life as alarms flared to life and began cursing at me in different languages. Anne and the Shi’ar screaming, Nix began to laugh with glee until we stopped dropping. The engines floating us in the air, I breathed in and out heavily as my heart rate slowed.

“Did we land?” I asked.

“This has no landing gear,” the Shi’ar cursed. Pointing at a screen, I noticed a crude rendition of the ship and a flat plain below it. “We are just above the surface,” he said with a sigh.

“Perfect. How do I put this on cruise?” I asked. “We need to pick some people up.” After more threatening, the Shi’ar answered and we found a convenient hatch close by to let everyone in. The outside of the ship charred, and a few pieces were missing. I thought I did a pretty good job of landing us. The large ship was maintaining an altitude of about 50 feet above the arena stadium. Terrible in terms of parking, but in space terms I was a split second from killing us all. So about what I expected. I missed my mark of the stadium floor by quite a bit, but our ride was there.

Anne and I flew out the side hatch to see the pandemonium the stadium was in. Kallark was fighting quite a few Imperial Guards with Lilandra beside him. They were making a last stand on the Majestor’s platform. Mandor’s lifeless body still lay atop it as Shi’ar fired weapons at them. Since I felt like we had done our part, I left him to it.

At the fighting arena level, the humans were busy fighting the rest of the Imperial Guard. Tabi was right at the center of them, her full elephant size as she sprayed blue flame everywhere. Anne and I flew down to them, dodging laser shots fired from Shi’ar guards.

“Everyone on the ship! We are leaving!” I yelled, causing people to look up. The Imperial Guards pushed forward with the distraction. I dropped down to Tabi who understood. Her body expanding outward she turned into pure chakra and entered my body. I cast the biggest shadow clone jutsu yet, causing smoke to billow out of me as hundreds of me appeared around the other humans.

“Everyone not me! Ship! Now!” We yelled as one as my clones took over, pushing the Imperial Guards back. The aliens began using their special powers as shadows, roided-out tree roots, laser vision, and every power under the sun shot out at us. My clones disappeared with each attack, but they knew Haki, the majority of them made it to the attackers.

“How are you doing this?” Xavier asked. His eyes wide, I could tell he didn’t like not knowing how strong I actually was.

“Later!” I yelled. He frowned but his floating wheelchair began to ascend to the hatch on the floating ship. I started ferrying people up to it. A hulked out Bruce Banner and Lyra Talbot began to turn back into humans as I grabbed them. One at a time we dodged more attacks as the attackers began to focus on the ship.

“We need Wolverine!” Storm yelled at me as she floated up, looking for him. He had gone after Cain Marko, but apparently I was too fast at stealing space ships.

“I’ll find him!” I yelled and zipped off. Using my Observation Haki I spread it out as Tabi disconnected from me and rested on my shoulder. I began to fly toward the palace at breakneck speeds.

It didn’t take too long to find him. The furry-fury-filled-fella was a danger magnet as he carried the knocked-out Juggernaut. Like a kid giving an adult a piggyback ride, his face was red from exertion as he barreled toward the stadium. Flying over him I grabbed Juggernaut by the belt and lifted them up.

“I knew you would need saving!” I yelled down to Wolverine as he dangled from the ham-sized hand of Juggernaut.

“Up yours, Weston!” He yelled up, a smile cracking his lips. “Thanks for the save, though.”

“See, that’s all I need. A thank you. So many people refuse to give one,” I said to myself, shaking my head. I got us to the ship shortly and was pushing Juggernaut through the hatch. The large opening somehow small in comparison to the massive man. He was weak but alive, so I dropped him without healing him as I made my way to the bridge.

Everyone yelling all at once, I pushed through the crowded bridge. “We can’t go!” Anne yelled.

“I’m here. Let’s make like Sigourney and get the hell off this planet,” I said.

“Jean left!” Cyclops yelled from the helm. He was quickly familiarizing himself with the controls, but as we pointed straight up, I could see a fiery woman shooting red lasers of her own at the starships above.

“We will pick her up,” I assured. Chewing my lip I mentally did a count of everyone like a school teacher on a field trip as Cyclops cursed and shut the airlocks. Pushing the shifter up we shot to the heavens as people were thrown back. “You suck at this! Watch you’re driving,” I said as I held on.

“You have no right to speak,” Anne said, causing me to laugh. Smiling wide, we were in the atmosphere in a minute. Coming out into space, the starships were focused on the lone woman as she blasted her hands at them. Each red laser she shot at them caused an explosion to happen on the bad guy’s side.

Staring at her, I knew she was in her element. Fighting army’s on her own, causing havoc, and having a blast as she did it. A red aura of a phoenix surrounding her. I could almost see her laughing as she dodged attacks and shot her own. A big part of me wanted to go out there and have a little fun as well.

“How do we activate the warp drive?” Magneto asked Xavier. The bald man had his hands at his temples as he looked at my Shi’ar captive. Apparently getting mind raped was unavoidable.

“I am transferring the information to Scott,” Xavier said. I rolled my eyes, the boy scout was doing it the easy way. Though his Haki was all over the place, most likely from his fight or breakup with Jean, I decided to do what I needed to.

Moving out of the crowd, I made it to the airlock that the passed-out Juggernaut was sleeping near. Opening the inner door, I stepped into the airlock and closed it. Looking out the small window into space I felt my heart rate increase. Fighting in space almost felt like a threshold or bottleneck for me. A step I needed to reach along the way. Something that would have most likely been impossible—traveling to Manga or Manhwa, or even Book worlds.

My Viltrumite form proved invaluable as I was able to take my fights to the final frontier. Squeezing the fist of my new hand, I noticed it was turning pink rather quickly. Not as gray as it was before I pushed the override on the outer door as I held my breath. The air was sucked out and I jumped outside. The cool of space all around me, I saw Phoenix as she continued to fight the ships all on her own.

The ship we had stolen next to me began to fire it’s engines, skirting around the fight. I flew toward her, thinking loudly as I approached.

-Nix!- I mentally yelled.

-Weston! Isn’t this great?!- She psychically yelled back. -I’ve always wanted to do this- She laughed in my head with maniacal wonder as her hands came together and shot a high temp laser at the largest ship. I dodged another blast from the ship and came into her fiery aura that was somehow deflecting their attacks.

-You’ve always wanted to do an interstellar battle with ships about a million times bigger than you?- I asked.

-Of course, hasn’t everyone?- She gave me a wink as motes of light appeared in front of her. Learning her powers on the fly the motes of energy became large spheres. Shooting out at the city-sized ships, they caused more explosions. The ships slowly began to back away, one started to point at our own ship trying to sneak around.

-That’s great, Nix. But we gotta go- I said.

-No- She said, locking eyes with me. -I’m done with Earth. Done with the drama. Here is where I belong. Do you hear it?- I looked around, not hearing anything. -Exactly. No problems. No worries. It’s all a blank slate out here. Do what you want. Go where you feel like it. It’s what we are meant to do in life.-

I saw her point. It was peaceful out in space, but that was running away. Probably running away from quests too which I didn’t want to do. I needed quests to get stronger. With that thought I was brought back to my future self I saw a few days ago. He had been out in the wide universe for six years. Choosing to stay out here, rather than go back home. Was this something that the System or whatever controlled my path, was pushing me to do?

-I- My thought was cut off as a massive energy beam blasted against Phoenix’s fiery protection. I turned to see the largest ship was shooting a red beam straight at us. Far larger than any other, my immediate thought was that it was Garuda’s Arm that had destroyed Lilandra’s underground bunker.

Phoenix’s power increased as she held up her hands to stop the attack. But it overpowered her. Coating my body in Nen and Haki I grabbed her, flying her out of the way. My skin burning off from the power of the attack, I yelled out in surprise, letting out some air from my lungs. Pushing through, I got past the attack and began pushing Hoken into my body to force it to heal more quickly.

Skin regrowing, I looked to Phoenix in my arms. She had been knocked out. Her skin was no longer bright and glowing, but gray. She was dying. Internally cursing, I looked from her to the Shi’ar ship, then to the ship with the other humans. “Fuck,” I tried to say through gritted teeth then flew full speed at our ship. Making it to the airlock, I dropped her inside but stopped myself from shutting the door as I received another notification.

Current Role in Marvel World:

Avenging Hero

Possible Role Upgrade:

Galactic Hero

Requirements:

Stay behind

My eyes widening, I knew I had never seen a notification like this. The Avenging Hero role must have been assigned to me as I focused on getting revenge for my family’s death. This Galactic Hero role sounded a hell of a lot better. I gulped as I used Timeflow to think furiously.

So many scenarios playing out in my mind, I really wanted to go back to Earth. Figure out everything I had to do to keep the girls, but this must have been a unique opportunity. There was no guarantee I could leave Earth with a ship and some girls that wanted to go. Especially since Magneto hadn’t escaped the planet like he pretended to in the future. No, this ship would probably be damaged beyond repair if we got it back to Earth.

These worlds and quests were guided by the supposed gods of these worlds. My intervention must have been needed elsewhere. Gulping, I turned back to face the expanse of space and ships moving to point toward us. With a nod I pushed the airlock button, closing it with me on the outside. Slowly I began to drift away. Looking back one more time at the ship I flew away slightly and it winked out of existence.

One second it was there, and the next it was gone. Utilizing some warp or whatever drive to escape Shi’ar space instantly. I regretted making the decision at first. Left all alone again, I had only spent a few months in Marvel but a lot had happened. Sleeping with quite a few women, making relationships I hoped would survive me disappearing, I wanted to continue on, but Phoenix was right. This must be where I could be the most free. With that thought a notification appeared again.

Marvel World Quest 9: Complete

Win the Arin'n Haelar

Get Everyone Back to Earth

Assist Lilandra

Rewards:

Form Challenger Slot

Hall Door Key

My heart beat rapidly as I read the simple rewards. I wanted to yell out in glee, but couldn’t in the vacuum of space. Though this quest had been a pain in the ass, and I wasn’t sure if we actually won the Haelar, I felt like the rewards were well deserved. Especially the Form Challenger Slot. I hadn’t even thought about it, but now I could keep my epic body in other halls.

Without hesitation I thought, World Escape.

The space around me turned red as the red lights above the doors appeared. “Final-fucking-ly,” I said. Rushing out the exit I flew through to the Junction. Once there I didn’t even glance at the Manhwa and Book Hall Doors. Instead I reached out to the Manga Door, ready to open it with the Key.

Instead of receiving the notification I wanted, I received yet another new one.

Use Hall Door Key?

Yes/No

Warning: Recently locked Halls cannot be opened until the

next season

Time Remaining until the cooldown has been reached: Read full story at NoveI[F]ire.net

436 Days

“Fuck,” I said. All that work and I was back where I started.

“I’m sorry,” I said to the door, picturing all the girls still frozen in time. “At least I’m half done,” I said turning back to the Junction. I considered opening one of the other Halls, but to be honest the Hall Doors were rather rare. I didn’t want to risk not gaining another by the time I could reopen the Manga Hall.

“I have Challenges yet,” I said. Plenty left going on in the Comic Worlds, I needed to keep training for the coming fights. “Who knows? Maybe Mikhail is right; these next Challenges will be different than last time.” I walked back to the Comic Door, thinking about what my next move should be as I recalled where the other worlds were in their canon. It would be a long time until I finished the current worlds, years yet of drama to look forward to. I was only just scratching the surface.

I couldn’t help but get excited by that fact. Everything I had ever dreamed of was in these doors. Drama, intrigue, super powers, and the greatest thing of all, gorgeous women that needed protecting.

“Maybe I should check out DC,” I said with a nod. The smut-worthy chest of a certain superhero woman had been sorely missed. The me in that world hadn’t been laid in 20 years, maybe it was time to break his dry spell.