CH 90: Timeline
“You... are a cruel man, Lex.”
Tora's voice carried an edge sharp enough to cut through the rumble of thunder still echoing across the New Mexico desert. She stood with Mjolnir in her hand, her long blonde hair whipping around her shoulders as the wind gradually began to settle. Lightning continued to flicker across the clouds overhead, but the fury that had accompanied her awakening was slowly subsiding, leaving behind a woman who looked as though she had just emerged from a battle far more exhausting than any physical fight.
For a moment, she looked ready to spit the word cruel at him again. Her fingers tightened around Mjolnir's handle, and her jaw clenched as she recalled the destruction she had witnessed, the helplessness of watching her family and her people vanish before her eyes. The grief had felt real. The terror had been real. Even now, the memory of it lingered in her mind with an intensity that made her want to lash out at the person responsible.
Yet Tora eventually released a slow breath, closing her eyes for a moment before looking back at Lex. The anger remained, but it was no longer alone. Beneath it lay an uncomfortable understanding of why he had chosen such a method, and beneath that, a gratitude she clearly wasn't entirely comfortable expressing.
“Yet you are a wise man, too,” she added at last.
Lex scratched the back of his head, his expression a little less carefree than usual. “Got to do what you got to do, I guess.”
It sounded casual, almost dismissive, but the truth was that he had been questioning his own decision ever since he'd watched Tora collapse inside the illusion. He had known False World was powerful, and Raphael had assured him that the approach would work, but knowing something intellectually and watching another person suffer through it were two very different things. For a few moments, he had genuinely considered ending the skill. He still wasn't entirely certain that putting Tora through such an experience had been the right choice, even if the outcome suggested otherwise.
Tora studied him briefly, perhaps recognizing more of his discomfort than his words revealed. She didn't offer forgiveness, nor did she thank him for the method he'd used. Instead, she gave a small nod, turned away, and began spinning Mjolnir in her hand. The movement quickly gathered momentum, and the wind around her rose in response. With a powerful sweep of the hammer, she lifted herself into the sky, her figure becoming a silhouette against the storm clouds before she called upon the Bifrost.
Light descended around her in a brilliant column, colours shifting through the air like a river of stars. For a moment, the desert was illuminated by the radiant bridge connecting Midgard to Asgard, and Tora stood at its centre with Mjolnir in hand, looking every bit the Goddess of Thunder she had reclaimed herself to be. Then the light swept upward, carrying her away.
Lex watched until the Bifrost disappeared, leaving only the fading thunder and the lingering scent of ozone behind.
“Damn... she didn't even ask if I wanted to visit Asgard.”
He waited for someone to respond, but nobody did.
Turning around, he finally noticed where Kara and Grayfia had gone. The two women were sitting with Agent Coulson near the edge of the secured area, looking remarkably comfortable considering that a moment ago they'd been standing beside a newly awakened Goddess of Thunder. A small container sat between them, and Grayfia was calmly offering cookies while Coulson accepted another with the enthusiasm of someone who had discovered an unexpected benefit to a very unusual day.
Lex blinked at the sight. “Are those...?”
“Grayfia's cookies,” Kara confirmed, already reaching for another. “Apparently, we had time for snacks.”
Grayfia gave him a pleasant smile, entirely unbothered by the fact that she'd just watched Tora summon the Bifrost and leave. Her space bag was usually stocked with food, after all. She had long ago learned that it was convenient to carry things that could be eaten whenever the opportunity arose, provided they wouldn't spoil during storage. Cookies were an obvious choice, and the fact that they could be shared with others was simply a bonus.
Lex walked over and picked one up for himself, only to pause halfway through taking a bite.
Something strange was happening around them.
At first, he thought it was a trick of the sunlight, but then another shape appeared in the air a short distance away. A thin, yellow outline traced the edges of what looked like a doorway, though there was no actual door attached to it. The shape stood upright in empty space, glowing faintly against the desert backdrop. Before Lex could finish examining it, the outline expanded, and a person stepped through.
Then another doorway appeared.
And another.
Within seconds, several yellow door-shaped openings had materialized around the secured area, their clean geometric outlines looking strangely artificial against the natural landscape. People in dark uniforms began pouring through them, carrying unfamiliar weapons and moving with the coordinated precision of a trained enforcement unit. Their arrival was so abrupt that the nearby SHIELD agents immediately abandoned their casual observation of Lex's group and reached for their own weapons.
One of the newcomers looked around, scanning the site with a device in her hand. Its surface flickered as she examined the area, and her expression grew increasingly troubled.
“There's a major variation here,” she announced, speaking to someone through her earpiece. “The variant cannot be identified.”
Her gaze settled on Lex.
She stepped forward, her face hardening into the sort of stern expression usually reserved for someone who had already been judged guilty. “On behalf of the Time Variance Authority, I hereby arrest you for crimes against the Sacred Timeline.”
Lex stared at her, cookie still in hand.
“What the heck are you talking about?”
The woman apparently took his confusion as an attempt to resist. She made a sharp gesture, and the other agents spread out around him, raising their weapons. Their movements were quick and practiced, each person taking up a position intended to prevent an escape. The SHIELD agents, however, were not about to stand idly by while an armed group of unknown origin attempted to arrest someone who had just been cooperating with them. Weapons came up on both sides, and within moments the entire site had become a tense standoff.
“Hands up!” the TVA agent ordered.
Lex looked at the weapons pointed toward him, then at the woman who seemed convinced that shouting would somehow improve the situation. His expression slowly shifted into a smile.
“Make me.”
The agent moved first.
She lunged toward him, weapon raised, but she barely managed a step before her body stopped responding. Her arm froze in mid-motion, her legs locked in place, and the expression on her face changed from aggression to startled disbelief. The same thing happened to the agents around her. One moment they were moving to restrain Lex, and the next they were frozen in whatever positions they'd occupied, unable to move so much as a finger.
Lex finished his cookie before brushing the crumbs from his hands.
“Now, that was rude,” he remarked, walking toward the woman who had announced his arrest.
He plucked the weapon from her hand and examined it with interest. Raphael immediately began analysing the device, identifying its components and the unfamiliar energy signatures running through its internal mechanisms. It was clearly not an ordinary firearm, and Lex had no intention of leaving behind technology that might be related to Time.
He searched the woman for identification and other equipment, then repeated the process with several nearby agents. Unfortunately, their belongings contained very little useful information about the organization itself. There were identification devices, strange weapons, and equipment designed for their unusual method of transportation, but nothing that offered a particularly satisfying explanation of who they were or how their authority worked.
Once he had finished collecting what he wanted, Lex relaxed his control over the woman just enough to let her speak. The telekinetic restraint remained firmly around her body, holding her in place, but he released her neck and head so she could turn toward him.
“What's this Time Variance Authority?” he asked.
The woman glared at him, though her expression had lost some of its certainty now that she was the one being questioned. “We are the guardians of reality, protectors of the Sacred Timeline.”
Lex considered that answer for a moment, then glanced back at Kara and Grayfia. Kara had abandoned her cookie and was watching the newcomers with a mixture of curiosity and suspicion, while Grayfia had quietly put the container away before the standoff could turn into an actual fight.
“I think we've just found a way to travel between different timelines,” Lex said.
Kara's expression brightened slightly. “That would explain the doors.”
“Probably.” Lex looked back toward the SHIELD agents, who were still holding their weapons on the immobilized TVA operatives. “You guys, SHIELD people, go ahead and arrest these guys. I've taken away all their weapons, so they're not much of a threat anymore. You can interrogate them and prove your sovereignty as a secret agency or whatever it is you people do.”
Agent Coulson, who had been watching the exchange with growing interest, approached as soon as it became clear that Lex had the situation under control. She glanced at the unfamiliar weapon in his hand, then at the devices he had collected from the other agents.
“Lex, if you don't mind, could we take a look at that equipment too?”
Lex gave her an amused look. “Just extract the information from these guys. Maybe some of them know how to make this stuff.”
Coulson opened her mouth, seemingly ready to negotiate, but Kara stepped closer to Lex and gave her a look that made the message clear enough. The equipment was Lex's discovery, and he wasn't about to hand it over simply because SHIELD had been present when the opportunity appeared. Grayfia, meanwhile, kept the cookies safely stored away, looking faintly disappointed that the interruption had ended their little snack break.
Coulson eventually accepted the answer, though the curiosity in her eyes hadn't diminished. If these people genuinely possessed technology capable of opening doorways through space—or something even stranger—then they represented an intelligence opportunity unlike anything SHIELD had encountered before. She gave orders for the captured agents to be secured and transported for interrogation, and the surrounding SHIELD personnel immediately began coordinating the operation.
Lex had already returned his attention to the equipment.
A small display had appeared as Raphael analysed the device, presenting a simplified representation of what it believed the mechanism was doing. Lex studied it, frowning as he compared the results with what he already knew about the multiverse.
“This thing is definitely faulty,” he muttered. “It's showing only a single timeline. But we're already from another timeline, so it's not like there are no alternatives.”
Raphael didn't immediately answer. She was still processing the data, examining the device's underlying principles and comparing them with the information available through the Player's Handbook. There was a great deal to learn from the TVA's technology, but one detail in particular stood out: the equipment seemed designed around an assumption that didn't match Lex's own experience. The reason for that discrepancy remained unclear, and Raphael continued investigating rather than offering a premature conclusion.
Lex was considering whether it would be better to wait for SHIELD's interrogation results or simply find the TVA's headquarters himself when the air around them changed again.
This time, the yellow doorways appeared in far greater numbers.
One formed near the perimeter, followed by another several metres away. Then a dozen more materialized across the site, their glowing outlines multiplying until the surrounding desert seemed dotted with unnatural entrances. Hundreds of TVA agents poured through them, moving with far less hesitation than the first group. Their weapons were already raised, and their formation spread outward to surround Lex, Kara, Grayfia, and the SHIELD personnel alike.
The second group had clearly been sent as reinforcements.
Before anyone could issue a warning, several agents activated their equipment simultaneously. A strange wave swept across the site, passing through the air with a faint distortion that Lex could feel against his skin. It was some sort of neutralizing field, designed to suppress mutant abilities and leave its targets vulnerable to capture. The agents moved with the confidence of people who believed they had already won, expecting the unfamiliar superhumans before them to be rendered helpless by the technology.
At the centre of the group stood a man wearing an orange suit rather than the standard uniform worn by the other agents. His outfit made him stand out immediately, and the way the surrounding personnel deferred to him suggested he held a senior position within the unit. He surveyed the scene with a stern expression, seemingly satisfied by the result of the wave.
“They appear to be unidentified, powerful mutants,” he announced. “This should be sufficient to neutralize them.”
Lex looked down at himself, then back at the man. He felt no difference whatsoever.
Neither Kara nor Grayfia seemed affected. Kara's posture remained relaxed, and Grayfia looked mildly inconvenienced by the interruption rather than weakened. Their blessings from Transcend Self offered protection against such attempts to suppress their abilities, while Lex's own protections made the wave entirely irrelevant.
Lex tilted his head toward the man in orange. “You look like a high-ranking guy. Especially since, unlike everyone else, you're not wearing the uniform. So why don't you tell me what this whole thing is about?”
The man watched Lex float toward him, his expression shifting from confidence to disbelief as it became clear that the mutation jammer had no effect whatsoever. His eyes narrowed, studying Lex as though he were trying to identify some flaw in the technology or some explanation for why it had failed.
“Immunity to mutation jammers...” he muttered, his grip tightening around his weapon. After a moment, he forced himself to relax and raised his free hand in a gesture of surrender. “Wait. I'll explain everything.”
Lex slowed to a stop in front of him, allowing the man to speak while keeping him under observation. The orange-suited leader seemed to take that as an opportunity. As Lex eased the telekinetic pressure enough to let him move more freely, the man abruptly raised his weapon and fired.
Lex reacted immediately, catching the weapon itself with telekinesis before it could complete its intended function. The device stopped in midair, suspended between them, but the man had already triggered it. A strange force seized Lex, attempting to pull him out of the world and transport him somewhere else.
For a fraction of a second, Lex felt the unnatural tug against his existence. Then Transcend Self rejected the interference automatically, and the force vanished without moving him an inch.
The orange-suited man's eyes widened. He stared at Lex, then at the weapon hanging motionless in the air, his earlier confidence crumbling as he struggled to process what had just happened.
“How... how can you not be pruned?”
Lex sighed.
He hated dealing with organizations. There was always another rank, another department, another person who claimed to be in charge, and never a clear answer about who actually knew what was going on. The first group had arrived to arrest him for crimes against a Sacred Timeline, and now this second group had shown up with more personnel and different equipment, yet neither had managed to explain what they wanted beyond enforcing their authority.
Should he just go to their base and ask whoever was running the place?
It was tempting, but there was a more immediate problem. He had come here to investigate dimensional travel, and the TVA had conveniently delivered the relevant technology straight into his hands. He didn't need to waste the rest of the day interrogating an entire organization if Raphael could reverse-engineer what he needed.
Besides, these people didn't seem capable of freely travelling between timelines in the way he wanted. Their equipment might be the key, but he didn't need to remain in this world simply to prove that point.
Lex made a small gesture.
Every TVA agent in the area was stripped of their equipment before they could react. Weapons, devices, and other unfamiliar tools vanished from their hands and belts, gathered under Lex's control before being absorbed into his Inventory for safekeeping. The agents themselves were then handed over to the local authorities, who were more than happy to take custody of the strangers and begin questioning them.
Coulson looked as though she'd just been handed the most interesting intelligence opportunity of her career. She immediately began coordinating with her people, making sure the captured agents were separated and secured while her specialists were ready to extract any information they could about this new technology. She still wanted to study the technology, but she had enough sense not to press Lex for it again so soon after he had effectively saved her people from being caught in the middle of a fight.
With the immediate situation resolved, Lex called Natasha and Gwen together. The two women had been investigating their respective leads, and he had promised them time to work before deciding whether the expedition should continue.
Natasha answered first, sounding distinctly unimpressed when she learned what had happened. “I haven't even started my mission, and you're telling me it's over?”
“Pretty much,” Lex replied. “I've got my hands on some new technology, and I'm pretty sure I can use it to access different timelines. Once we return to the Negative Zone, I should be able to build something that helps us reach Ultron.”
He spoke with confidence because Raphael had already confirmed that the technology could, in principle, be adapted for inter-timeline travel. The problem was that the TVA's equipment appeared to recognize only a single timeline, despite the evidence that other timelines existed. Raphael hadn't explained that discrepancy yet, preferring to continue analysing the data before giving Lex an incomplete answer.
Still, he had enough to proceed. The trip had produced exactly the sort of lead they had been hoping to find, and staying longer in this world would only delay their next step.
Gwen considered his explanation, then nodded. “I see. Then I'll trust you on that.”
Lex would have liked to spend more time exploring this gender-reversed world. There were still countless differences he was curious about, and he had barely scratched the surface of its society. But they were already behind schedule in their search for Ultron, and the new technology offered a much more direct path toward their objective. He decided to return to their own world rather than allow curiosity to distract him from the task at hand.
Before they left, however, Kara spoke up.
“Can I stay here? Just pick me up in a week or something.”
Lex looked at her, then at Grayfia, who had also appeared to be considering the idea.
“I would like to stay as well,” Grayfia added. “I'm quite fascinated by the reversed gender norms of this world.”
Neither of them had any urgent business waiting for them back home, and they had only just arrived. A week of exploring a different society sounded like a perfectly reasonable way to spend their time, especially when Lex could return to collect them whenever he wished.
“Sure,” Lex agreed without hesitation. “Just don't cause an international incident while I'm gone.”
Kara gave him an innocent smile that convinced him of absolutely nothing, while Grayfia merely inclined her head with her usual composure. The three of them waited for Natasha and Gwen to finish their preparations, with the TVA's captured agents now in SHIELD's hands.
For Lex, the next step was already clear. The Negative Zone was waiting, and with it, the possibility of finally finding a way to reach Ultron.