Marvel Reborn: Gems Of Infinite Potential

"...and so that's the story." I finished, having explained to the rest of the Covenant what we had learned about Elektra, Stick, and the Hand over the past twenty four hours.

There was suddenly a Hulk in the room and he roared in rage at the ceiling. Thankfully the Chi bombarding the room was quickly seeing our hearing repaired even as Betty laid a hand on his arm and said "It's ok Bruce, you'll get to play with those who harmed your friend in time but right now it's time to find those enemies and you know you do better at that when you are in your other form."

The Hulk visibly stilled and after a long moment shrunk back into his Bruce form, where he gritted out "Please tell me you don't have any other unpleasant news, because if so I really shouldn't be here right now."

"No, at least not to my knowledge," I answered with a headshake.

Maya was the next to respond with the simple, if eloquent, "F.u.c.k." headshake "Just F.u.c.k. And I thought my dad leaving my mom was a shitty childhood. We are going to make all of these bastards fry, right?"

"Yes, we are." I said emphatically.

Alkasha spoke up next "It appears I haven't been paying anywhere near enough attention to the Chi users over the past millennia, pity. If I had known five hundred years ago then I would have just brought the fire and brimstone before forcing all their souls into a hell dimension. Unfortunately doing something that public in this day and age isn't something I can justify right now, at least not until the age of gods has actually returned. What I can do is ensure that Stick won't be able to die."

Elektra spoke up then, a gleefully malicious note in her voice, "When you say that he won't be able to die, is that an absolute or do you just mean that he won't be able to kill himself?"

Alkasha had a truly nasty smile on her face "An absolute, I'll tie a little localized physical time reversion spell into a health detection ward and anchor it all onto him. The ward will detect the instant he is about to die and reverse time on his body back to when he was last healthy. He won't be able to die until I release it or I die."

We all looked at one another and shared a look that spoke volumes about how unpleasant Sticks life was about to become.

"That would be, grand, Alkasha but we still need a solution to the problem of Matt being his potential host. And a better understanding of what, if any, risks face Elektra because of being this potential Black Sky. Anyone have suggestions for either?" I said, glancing around.

"Would I be right in assuming that magic can't solve this? At least not any that we can safely use?" Bruce asked, looking at Alkasha and I.

She answered for the both of us, "You would. The solutions that I could, theoretically, provide carry risks and downsides that are only justifiable in the pursuit of our primary objectives."

Bruce only nodded, obviously having expected the answer, "Then the solution seems simple to me. We know that Elektra has the memories of two of the worlds oldest and most knowledgeable Chi users buried in her subconscious, we know that Stick can literally transfer his entire mind and soul from body to body. I would be very surprised if he doesn't know some relatively safe way for Elektra to consciously access those subconscious memories. Once that is done she would be best positioned to find a solution. We would also gain an invaluable insight into the Hand, Chi, and even general world history. Not to mention that if Elektra can fully harness her Chi then her threat level will skyrocket."

The rest of us looked at one another to see if anyone saw a flaw in his plan. No one did. 'it's nice to have a super genius around for planning. so much time saved.'

"Any objections?" I asked before looking around once more, receiving only negative head shakes. "Well then let's get about it, I want my turn on Stick torture and that can't happen until we have the knowledge extracted. Too much chance that he eventually finds a way to use his chi to get around Killgrave even with orders not to."

Unhelpfully for us, and unfortunately for Stick, he said it was just a matter of deep meditation and sinking into your own mind. On the plus side, both Alkasha and I knew how to do just that from learning magic, it being one of the steps to learning how to enter the Astral Plane, and so torture time could start sooner.

Bruce must really have been pissed because once we indicated that we had what we needed he went big and green in a split second and ripped Stick in half. Then when he reformed, took his limbs off one at a time. And for the next two hours treated Stick like his own personal punching bag before finally crushing him into a pulp with one hand and saying "Hulk done for now. You turn?" as he dropped Stick at Betty's feet.

After Torture Time(TM) was done for the day, and Stick was back on ice, I could be found sitting cross legged in the Chi Room with Elektra.

"I assume that you know how to meditate?" I asked, figuring that she had to have been taught at some point in her training.

"Yes, but I thought there was more to it than that?" she asked/answered.

"There is, but do you want to do it the fast way or the slow way?" I shot back.

She rolled her eyes "The fast way obviously, but since you are making it a question I assume that the fast way comes with some kind of catch."

"Yeah, it does. The slow way is me explaining the steps to you and you then spending probably weeks to months working on it day in, day out." I started, but she interrupted before I could continue.

"That's what I expected, what's the fast way Octavian?"

"The fast way is that I possess your body and enter the kind of trance you need while inside your body. Normally you could keep me out, or at least keep our minds separate, given your extreme chi levels but that defeats the purpose of doing this. The upside is that you will know exactly what to do and what it feels like, and with your chi, you will probably be able to get it done within a week or so. The downside is that I will be inside your mind and you will have little, if any, privacy." I explained.

"And why can't I just shield my memories then?" Elektra shot back.

"Do you know how to use your Chi to shield your memories?" I challenged , and when she winced I continued "Not that it would matter even if you did know. The whole point would be to show your mind how to do this and that requires me being in your mind. I would be shielding my consciousness both because I can and because it will give you a much clearer process of what I am doing in your mind but the reverse is impossible. And given that a trance like this is inherently one that reaches into the deepest, darkest, recesses of your mind you really aren't going to have any secrets from me. Or Alkasha, she would also be willing to do it the fast way. That's actually how I learned, too impatient for the slow way."

"What!? You let someone peruse all your memories?" she exclaimed in stunned surprise.

I shrugged and said "Elektra, she is the Sorcerer Supreme and the master of the Time Stone. I know it's been explained to you but you still just don't get it. Her working with us is her humoring us, she only joined our Covenant because I had the sheer brass balls to presume to ask her to. You're strong, Bruce is incredibly strong. But compared to her you are both equally ant like. If you went and listed every entity in all of existence from most to least powerful she would be one of the top 10. Time is, entirely, her bitch and she can look both backward and forwards in it with very few limits. Before she ever agreed to teach me, literally the instant I was born in fact, she already knew my entire life story with an extremely high degree of fidelity. Your past? She knew it before she ever met you. She pretends to experience time like the rest of us but that is mostly out of politeness and to prevent paradoxes.

"So yeah, I kept no secrets from her because keeping secrets from her was already effectively impossible and nothing that I will ever manage to do will make me even the slightest threat to her. Or to be more precise, she will be dead and her soul in all probability destroyed before I ever manage to become the slightest threat to her."

Elektra said, very quietly, "Oh. In that case, then, I think I would prefer her. It's not that I don't trust you but if I'm going to be that exposed to anyone it may as well be to the god that is so far beyond me that being exposed is meaningless. And no offense, but she is a woman who I haven't slept with."

I smiled, "Fully understandable."

Alkasha appeared, with perfect timing as always, and said: "Agreed."