A Hero's Multiverse 10 Chapter 9: Loose Ends

Seeing the personification of a G.o.d enter the small bedroom, Tonja instinctively grabs the bed sheets to cover herself. Pointing her slender callused finger at him, she asks in a frightened but commanding manner. ''Who are you? The skull called you 'Champion'!''

Angry for not having been there when Tonja woke up, Ethen curses. ''Dam skull...''

Hearing the two reduce his ident.i.ty to his obvious appearance a certain head complains near tears. ''Hey! The 'SKULL' has a name! My name is Deadpool or Wade 'Cupcake' Wilson!''

Smiling Ethen tells Tonja. ''Just ignore him. If he weren't necessary to open the Multiverse Gate, I would have long since dumped him.''

Holding her head and rubbing her forehead, Tonja gets nauseous from only trying to make sense out of what the two people are telling her, so she asks about the last thing that stuck. ''Multiverse?!''

Half a day later, because he couldn't go full speed flying, while princess carrying Tonja, Ethen descents down to Stark Mansion at Malibu, California. Having seen the white beachfront/cliff side structure from high above with its advanced modern, elegant, circular shape, the whole place except for its coloring reminds him of his uncle's seaside manor.

Landing smoothly, Ethen places Tonja on her feet, holding on to the waist for just long enough as to get a good feel of her, but not so long as to be considered creepy. Feeling Ethen's warm muscular hands on her waist, Tonja can't stop herself from imagining his hands move all over her body.

Blus.h.i.+ng like a school girl facing her crush, Tonja reminds herself, that Ethen was not the first hot guy or girl she had met in her legendary status as a genius, billionaire, philanthropist. Feeling his warmth leave her midsection and seeing him take a step back away from her she wants to say something but she already hears a familiar voice.

''Tonja is that you?''

Turning around, Tonja comes face to faces with her red-haired a.s.sistant/lover Virginia 'Pepper' Potts. Blus.h.i.+ng once again, this time not because of being close to Ethen, but having Pepper see her with him, Tonja simply says. ''It's me. I am back!''

''Thank G.o.d you are back boss...'' Says Pepper, instantly hugging Tonja intimately, before she spots Ethen and the severed head behind her boss. ''... Who are you?''

Ending their hug, Tonja introduces her new friends to her lover and vice verse. ''Pepper these are my new friends Ethen Wayne and Wade Wilson. Ethen Wade this is Virginia 'Pepper' Potts. She is my...''

''... a.s.sistant!'' Introduces Pepper herself, wondering what is going on with her lover, since Tonja seemed to not want to tell Ethen about her being a lesbian.

Holding out his hand in greeting Ethen tells her with a charming smile. ''Nice to meet you...''

''Oh, I like this universe. She looks more like Emma Stone then Gwyneth Paltrow, I like!'' Comments Deadpool after seeing the s.e.xy red-haired beauty next to Tonja.

Smiling Ethen tells Pepper. ''... Just ignore him, he likes to talk trash.''

''Great. Now that everybody knows each other, let's get to business...'' Says Tonja, as she claps her hands and starts instructing her a.s.sistant. ''Pepper could you please keep my return under the radar of Obediah? Oh and did a man by the name of Agent Coulson contact you?''

Nodding repeatedly Pepper says. ''Can do and yes, I know Phil.''

Listening, but already walking downstairs, Tonja tells Pepper. ''Good. Contact him. I guess S.H.I.E.L.D. would like to know about Obediah's connection to the Ten Rings! Oh and give Ethen a new set of clothes. Sweatpants, bullet holes, and burn marks do not suit him.''

With this said Tonja leaves a stupified Pepper, an embarra.s.sed Ethen, and a certain skull behind.

Looking Ethen's very muscular build up and down, Pepper tells him with a frightening smile. ''So you need new clothes...''

What follows is the mentally most challenging experience of Ethen's life jet. Not only drags Pepper him through eight designer stores, each they leave empty handed no less, but the woman also forces him to wear a suit and gla.s.ses, when they finally find a tailor able to fulfill Peppers high demand for form, fabric, color, and craftsmans.h.i.+p.

Seeking refuge in one of the tailors fitting room, while Pepper is occupied with calling Coulson, Ethen takes out Deadpool from a linen sack Pepper gave him to store and transport the skull in public.

''What kind of fabric is that? It smells just like rotting sports socks in there!'' Complains Deadpool.

Having a serious expression on his face, Ethen asks him. ''Do you still think it was a good idea to tell Tonja about the different timelines?''

''Yes...'' The severed head tells him. ''... Also, why should we care about this universe! We already messed it up by saving Tonja in the desert. Seriously the only person here that counts is her! I have seen right through you lover boy!''

''That's not what I meant and you know it...'' Says Ethen, before realizing the first part of Wade's statement. ''... What do you mean already messed up?''

A few days have gone by since Ethen hab been tortured by Pepper, but Tonja is still working on her flight boosters. Standing in the middle of her laboratory, as she has Javis tape her next attempt to flee.

''Okay, let's do this...'' She announces, before saying seriously. ''... Day 11, test 37, configuration 2.0. For lack of a better option, Dummy is still on fire safety...''

Looking at the robot she says. ''... If you douse me again and I'm not on fire, I'm donating you to a city college...''

Turning her focus back to the center of the room, she says for the record. ''All right, nice and easy. Seriously, just gonna start off with 1% thrust capacity... And three, two, one...''

With a nearly silent hissing sound, the flight boosters propel her upwards, before turning off again.

''Okay...'' Tonja says, happy how that went down, but unhappy to discover that Dummy is following her. ''... Please don't follow me around with it, either, 'cause I feel like I'm gonna catch on fire spontaneously... Just stand down!...'' Returning her focus once more she says ''... If something happens, then come in... And again, let's bring it up to 2.5... Three, two, one.''

Once again after a short hissing sound, the flight boosters propel her upwards, but contrary to the last time, they don't turn off shortly after. Having do actually learn how to balance out herself to stay in one place, Tonja on her first try miserably fails to accomplish it.

''Okay, this is where I don't want to be!... Not the cars, not the cars!... Table!...'' She says, while not only flying directly over her luxury cars but also behind her workbench while commenting. ''... Could be worse! Could be worse!... We're fine! Okay!... s.h.i.+t! I wonder how Ethen does this!''

Before long she is able to return back to the center of the room before the boosters turn off again. -Yeah, I can fly.- She thinks before walking to the armor a.s.sembly station.

Having a silver armor a.s.semble around her, Tonja asks. ''Jarvis, are you there?''

(Jarvis)''At your service, miss.''

''Engage Heads Up Display... Import all preferences from home interface.''

(Jarvis) ''Will do, sir.''

Seeing the interface boot up, Tonja asks. ''All right, what do you say?''

(Jarvis) ''I have indeed been uploaded, sir. We're online and ready. Can we start the virtual walk-around?... Importing preferences and calibrating virtual environment.''

'' Yeah, well... Please do a check on control surfaces.''

(Jarvis) ''As you wish... Test complete. Preparing to power down and begin diagnostics.

''Yeah. Tell you what. Do a weather and ATC check... Start listening in on ground control.''

(Jarvis) ''Sir, there are still terabytes of calculations needed before an actual flight is...''

Not wanting to hear a voice of reason Tonja interrupts her AI by saying ''Jarvis! Sometimes you got to run before you can walk.''