Canon Fodder

CHAPTER 440 ANOTHER FIGHT

In the end a lot of people split up. Xavier and Scott stayed to work on Car-Ell. Hopefully the old man could use his psychic powers to get the blonde’s backstory. Storm and Beast went off to check the surrounding area. I had heard rumors that they were dating, but this was the first hint I got of it. I decided to keep an eye on them. 

The Less-than-Fantastic Four ran off to talk with one another, the giant Ben Grimm stomping behind them angrily. Magneto and his kids ran off somewhere. Wolverine made himself scarce, probably to find out what he could about the area. That left me with the kids…my people. 

“Alright,” I said. “I am not holding any one’s hands. Except you, Anne. If you really want to, we can.” I gave her a wink and she gave me a deathglare. I felt her Haki spike with anger, still remembering our fight. I guessed being sent to some far off planet to fight to the death wasn’t going to fix everything between us. Which was a bummer. 

“What I would like to do is try to figure out how this sol currency works. What these people consider valuable, and of course souvenirs,” I said.

“Souvenirs?” Lyra asked. The red head was one of the most lost of us. Most everyone had their own friend, including the spider duo, she and Jessica were the only ones that were on their own. I needed to make sure she stayed out of trouble. Jessica was strong, but Lyra was a little erratic with her power. I wasn’t sure what exactly she could handle since the demons in Limbo had been so easy to beat. Though her green form was strong, I didn’t think it was strong enough to warrant her coming there. Then again, it was a Hulk form; maybe she hadn’t tapped into the true power yet. Anne was there, and she was easily the weakest physically. I wasn’t sure how exactly the Shi’ar had picked us. 

“Of course,” I said. I eyed Gwen. She didn’t seem to understand either. I let out a disappointed sigh. “We are billions of miles away from home with literal spaceships overhead. These people are so far advanced it’s not even funny. I personally think we should buy every technology we can find and-”

“Oh my god,” Gwen said. “Sell it?”

“No, smash it to relieve some stress,” I said. “Of course, sell it. This place is a gold mine.”

“I don’t know about you, but I didn’t exactly get brought here with any money,” Peter said. He pulled at his shirt, showing that it was in fact pajamas with dinosaurs printed on it. I looked at the others, they were in similar attire. Gwen in a short shirt that showed off her belly and sweatpants, Lyra in a dark red nightgown, only Anne and I had real clothes on since we had been in the middle of a heated fight before the teleportation. 

“Right,” I said. “Clothes first then. Let’s see if these birds have a mall.”

“Yes,” Gwen said excitedly. Finally accepting that maybe this was a nice vacation for us. It wasn’t long until we raided the chest of sols on the table. Taking about a quarter of the discs, we walked out of the prison villa to find our guide. 

“Polree, we wish to see your fine city,” I announced. The short-bird woman nodded and pointed at the very ship we had arrived in.

“Of course. Is there anything specific you would like to do?” She asked. Closer to the woman now I got a better look at her, mainly the hair. 

Before, I thought they all had afros, but I could see now that it was really thin feathers for hair. Wolverine was right, they were very bird-like. Faces slightly scrunched toward the nose for beaks, angular features, thin arms and legs, bright colors for clothes, they were a little off, but appeared mostly human. All were a little too thin for my taste though, so I wasn’t overly attracted to the woman. 

“A mall,” Gwen said.

“What-” 

“A collection of stores located in the same general area,” I translated.

“Ah the bazaar,” Polree said with a nod. We were quickly on our way on the open-top ship. 

It was actually a lot like an airship in my mind. Flat wood deck, it achieved flight by a whirring engine underneath. Not so much a propeller or jet engine, the vehicle actually floated. The driver appeared bored as he handled the controls. As I watched him more I realized there were only two sticks that mattered. One on the left that raised and lowered it, and one on the right that turned starboard and port. 

As we continued to fly, the buildings in the distance became more numerous. Some of them easily the height of or higher than skyscrapers at home, they had sleek metal exteriors and shined in the dim light of the sun. Starships still far overhead. Large trees around us, it wasn’t that long ago that I was on a planet other than Earth, but this was my best experience thus far. Tournament or not. 

The girls were quickly getting to know one another. Though it was the middle of the night for us we were all too wired to sleep. This planet seemed to be getting close to dusk, but for all I knew they had a couple of suns. I studied those around me. Anne, Gwen, and Lyra talking, I noticed Jean behind them. She had gotten on the ship without talking and I hadn’t noticed her there. 

“Why did you come?” I asked Jean Grey. 

“The Professor said I should keep an eye on you,” the red head said. She and I hadn’t talked much since we found Delilah. Sinister putting her to sleep with a phrase had made her question a lot about what she knew. And I had redirected my attention to the funny clone. A part of me missed her and hoped Delilah was safe in my absence. 

I shook my head, surprised by how quickly I had gotten attached to her. I drew my thoughts back to the present. “He just wants you to keep an eye on me, or the others?” I asked. 

“I think you know the answer to that,” Jean said. I frowned but nodded. I had a warning about this happening thanks to Kitty pulling me to the future. Which allowed me to recover more quickly than the others. I was honestly tempted to tell the professor about it, but I wasn’t sure if I had already screwed up some of what was supposed to happen. Instead I tried to think of what had to happen over the next few days. 

“What do we need?” I asked as I leaned against the side railing of the ship. 

“What do you mean?” Peter asked. He wasn’t wearing his glasses anymore, but he still radiated such a nerdy attitude that I was tempted to pants him. Poor kid probably had a tough life of bullies before that radioactive spider, and with how nerdy he was, I was sure he still had trouble with them. 

“We need to prepare,” I said, drawing the others' eyes. “We need to train. Get gear…Polree, do your people use weapons to fight?” I asked.

“Of course. We have the best tech-”

“Sorry, I mean in the Haelar thing. Are weapons allowed?” I asked. 

“Melee weapons only,” she said with a nod.

“See, we will need weapons and gear,” I said. “Maybe to research these people as well. Maybe there is a way out of this, or something we need to watch out for. Is there a library we can use?”

“Of course. There is the capital’s library, which is ahead. They will have the best source for all literature,” Polree said. She didn’t seem to really care what we found out, which was a nice change of pace. It was good to go to a world where they were so open with their knowledge. 

“Hey, uh, how are you speaking English?” Gwen asked.

“I am not, of course,” Polree said. “Many of our people use translation tools for those less…technologically advanced.”

“Can we get some?” Gwen asked excitedly.

“Of course,” Polree said. “But you will have to purchase them.”

“Then let’s get some major shopping going on,” Gwen said. I felt like she was ready to spend all of the money on tech. I would have to watch her.

“We need priorities first,” I said. “First, gear to stay alive. Then, knowledge.”

“Why can’t we use your suits?” Gwen asked. 

“You could,” I said with a nod. “I have a few. Umm what about your web shooters?” I asked. “You didn’t happen to hide those in a prison pocket did you?”

“Prison pocket?” Gwen asked.

“I’ll take that as a no,” I said as Peter barked a laugh. “You two would probably be better off trying to remake those web shooters for your fights.”

“Oh my god,” Gwen said. “Maybe we can finally find what we are lacking in ingredients.”

“Maybe they have some technology to 3-D print what we need,” Peter said. They quickly began huddling as they talked about the different parts they needed made. I eyed Anne. She had slowly drifted over to me. The brown and gray haired girl was struggling. Half with our fight and half with the situation. I had to take care of one.

“I need you to ignore it,” I said, turning around to face the scenery as we leaned against the rails. 

“Ignore being on a new planet?” She asked, a smirk on the side of her mouth. 

“You know what I’m talking about,” I said. I let out a tired sigh. “Anne, I’m sorry for what I said. Honestly…I don’t remember half of what I did. My feelings are all in a jumble and I’m working through my own stuff. Please, do me a favor. Push through for now. Ignore the trouble you and I are having. I need you focused on this. I can’t have you worrying about us and the fight coming up. Please focus on one. If you get picked to fight, I can’t have you distracted.”

“And what happens if I do fight?” She asked. Fear was soaked into her Haki, slowly peeking it’s head out as her voice cracked. I finally noticed how close she was to crying and losing her shit. I wrapped my arm around her shoulder. She leaned into me, happy for some comfort as she slowly got ahold of herself. 

“Then you kick their asses,” I whispered. “You fucking rip their throats out with your teeth if you have to. You do whatever it takes. And if it still looks like you’re going to lose, then I will do whatever it takes to save you.”

She was quiet for a moment. Her head lulled, resting on my shoulder. “I’m so fucking pissed at you,” she whispered. “But I’m also so thankful that you grabbed me. Thank you for coming here.”

“I deserved to be pissed at,” I said with a nod. My head pushing into hers. “But I would do anything to protect you from danger, Anne. You have to know that.”

“I know,” she mumbled. Sniffing, she pulled away. “Let’s get through this. Then we are having that conversation.” If there was ever a death flag, it was that statement. But I nodded and she pushed back some of her anger at me. Forgetting it for the moment she hugged me. Wrapping her arms around my neck I put my hand at the small of her back.

“Did you know he had a girlfriend?” Gwen whispered to Lyra and Jessica.

“No. He was always hitting on my friend, Morgan,” Lyra said.

I opened my mouth but Anne’s anger was back. “Who the hell is Morgan?!” She yelled as she pulled away. n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

“I…” Did not have a good answer for that. 

—

“How the hell do you know so many fucking people?!” Anne yelled. “I’ve been gone for what? Less than two months? You seem to know every single fucking person zapped here on an alien planet a zillion miles away?! Who else have you been fucking?!”

“What the shit does it matter to you?!” I yelled back. I had tried to stay calm and collected at the beginning of our fight but it quickly degraded into a yelling match. It was getting so bad I could feel myself getting stronger through my Berserker mode. “WE BROKE UP!” I yelled between cupped hands to make sure she heard me this time.

“For this exact fucking reason too. I-I knew this was going to happen. I could see it a mile fucking away, and yet, still, here I am, having this fucking fight,” I said. I turned away from her, pacing on the deck of the ship. “You see Anne? This is why we wouldn’t have worked out. This exact reason? So what if I like to meet people? So what if I hit on women or go on adventures? This is why I tried to be clear with you. I don’t like to lie. I don’t like to feel like I’m the bad guy by keeping secrets. So I don’t keep secrets. Then I try to tell you the truth and you get all fucking pissed at me.” 

“What truth?! What fucking truth?” She asked, her haki a white burning rage even she wasn’t sure what she was saying. 

“That I’m more than this,” I said. “This fight right here, going on between you and me.” I pointed at us. “This is a blip on the fucking radar to what is going on out here. Our entire fucking world is probably at risk from one alien invasion after another, or hell, even attacks from home. I don’t know. And I plan to be there for all of it. Right there in the middle of the fucking fighting, laughing my head off as people try to fuck our shit up. And through all that, what gets me through it, is knowing I have women I care for around me.” 

“I don’t even know what the fuck you’re saying?!” She yelled. “Who are you? You aren’t the Weston I know. That’s for damn sure. Women? Multiple? What are you, some kind of sex addict now?” 

“You’re right, I’m not the Weston you knew. The kid that was unable to touch anyone or anything. I’m not him. I haven’t been him for a long time, and I’m glad you’re starting to see it,” I said. This was the problem of having relationships before the Memory Meld. Who knew what kind of forgetful promises he had made for me. “Anne, I’m done with this bullshit. I asked you to ignore it for now. You obviously cannot, so I’m just done.” I said with a nod. “From now on, we don’t exist. You and I were never a thing. That way, hopefully, you can get your head out of your ass! You can maybe see that we are on a fucking alien planet and about to go through a fight for our lives! And there are more important things going on than bringing up this load of bullshit! That way we can hopefully focus on what’s really fucking important. Fighting for our damn lives!” 

I breathed in out heavily through my nostrils as I caught my breath. She did the same. Frustrated tears at the corner of her eyes she was considering what to say next. The love and want I had felt from Future Anne was not there anymore. This girl in front of me was still pissed off and needed time to calm down, as did I. 

“So you want to go back to the villa?” The Shi’ar driver of the floating gondola asked. Anne and I turned to see him still there. I about laughed, having not noticed he was there through all the fighting. Looking around, the ship had landed and the others had left. 

Before Anne could say anything I nodded. Then shook my head. “No,” I said firmly, staring at her. “No, no, no, I don’t care how pissed off we are. We need to learn about the people here and upgrade our gear. Can you please,” I pleaded. “Please just ignore all our bullshit and focus on this, Anne? Just for three days?” 

Anne chewed her lip, keeping her mouth from distorting as she struggled not to cry. Closing her eyes for a moment she exhaled a deep breath and her haki began to calm rapidly. “I don’t have a problem with you,” she said. “Like you said. We were never a thing.” She turned toward the ladder from the deck of the gondola to the platform below.

“Fuck you! Fucking gray ass bitch! I hope you choke on your ruffishpashit!” I said voicelessly at her back as I flipped her off. She turned around to begin descending the stairs and I put my stoic look back on. Struggling with my own anger I considered flying away, but this was an alien planet that no one should travel around alone. 

“Just hang out here for a while,” I told the driver as I followed Anne. As she got off the ladder I jumped down to walk beside her. Her Haki spiked with anger as I got close but we walked in step away from the landing platform. I forced my thoughts away from her as I looked around to the new city we were in. 

We had apparently arrived near a city. Instead of the wide spread out buildings near our prison/villa, it was jam packed with giant buildings. All futuristic and made of metal, I could feel a lot of people in the general area. With the sense of their Haki it was pretty obvious that we were near residences and a shopping area. The aura of people around me was just like I had experienced on Earth. 

Each person was at ease. Going about their day to day on a planet with millions of other people doing the same. I walked away from the platform to a staircase that led down to the main street. People streamed this way and that. All with the afro-like bird hair. None that I could see had the triangle style hair that their Majestor and his lackeys had, setting them as a lower class at least. 

Not feeling really any danger we ventured out into the crowd as I thought. Both of us fuming from our long argument, no words spoken between us. I was growing more and more pissed off at this Anne. Future Anne had said to lie to her, but I still couldn’t bring myself to do it. I had to bring her to me with the truth or not at all. A part of me was leaning toward not at all, maybe it was time I took a break from relationships for a while. 

As we walked I thought of the past. I couldn’t tell you the last time I had such a heated argument. Nothing like this had happened in any of the other worlds. Even my most recent 300 world had less drama, and I had a wife there. Granted she and I had been childhood sweethearts and Spartan fidelity at war was a gray area, but still. How was a girlfriend I had known for less than six months such a problem for me?

I knew the reason of course, I really did love her. Back in my original life, the person I hated and loved the most was my wife. We had two kids together, and spent so much time with one another that we knew how to press one another’s buttons. You would mostly love one another then you would piss each other off and it would take a few days to cool down. Granted there had been no drama like cheating or anything with her. Back then I was a normal guy with a normal libido. 

Now though I was changed, and honestly I preferred it. I wasn’t some simp that treated these women like god’s gift to me. I was the one with the skills. I was the one with the strength. I was the one that risked my life day in and out to make sure everyone was safe around me. I felt like I deserved to not have to deal with this drama. I had enough drama from the canon to deal with.

In an ideal world everyone would be like Toru. But that would have made her and my connection less special. She was a diamond in the rough and I wasn’t lucky enough to find a girl like her in every world. She wanted me to chase women, hell she got off on it, and was so uncomplicated that I couldn’t understand why I didn’t save my Companion item for her. 

But I knew the answer. She was also innocent. I didn’t want her to be corrupted by what these worlds could do to someone. Forced to go to a world where killing was the only solution. She would have loved it of course, and I hoped some day to fix that mistake when I was stronger in all of my Halls. For now though I had to be happy knowing she was safe in My Hero Academia world. 

No, I had to make lives in all these worlds. Live in them. Make choices that I would have to live with for the rest of my life. But despite what I felt for her, I was coming to grips that Anne might not be with me in this life. Which I would get over. This Marvel world had no clear cut path for me, and plenty of women in it. Besides, Delilah was back home, and I wanted to find out more about her. Maybe this was all a blessing in disguise. Maybe Anne and I were never meant to be, and I would get over that. 

With a nod I pushed back my doubts and continued to walk beside her. Step by step my anger at her was fading. I had said my piece. If she wanted to raise a stink about it, that was on her. I would continue to hit on the women around me and if something came of it, great. If not, then so be it. I had enough drama with getting stronger and figuring out my quests. 

A smile on my face, I began to look for the others I had left the prison/villa with. I needed to buy some futuristic stuff to make myself a trillionaire someday in Marvel. Women could be worried about later. Money was always king.