"What…?" I slowly ask, my eyes as wide as they'll go, staring at Jessica who is looking at me with her chin held high, though her own eyes betray her fear.
"I'm pregnant." She states again, as if to convince herself of it as well.
"But… but that… how is that even possible?" I ask numbly, feeling faintly as if there's a steel vice slowly tightening around my lungs.
I mean yeah, sure I know how it is possible, I had the same brids and the bees talk that everybody else did, and it wasn't as if conventional anti-conception methods would work for us, so we hadn't bothered with those either...
Still, the whole reason why I didn't ask my Think Tank to create a superpower-proof condom (beside the obvious mortification of actually doing something like that) was because there shouldn't be any need for it. My genetic template was fucked up enough that one could have a serious argument over whether or not I still classified as 'human' at this point, and honestly, Jessica wasn't all that far behind.
Jessica struggles to answer my hollow question, so Sterns takes a half step forwards, drawing my gaze to him as he explains how on Earth this could've happened.
"If merely science were involved in this, then I would've put the odds of either one of you being capable of conceiving at all, let alone with each other, so astronomically low as to be virtually non-existent. Except, we're not dealing with merely science here. Othrys has become so magically attuned due to all of the spells being performed here, not to mention how closely Phineas' soul is tied to it, that we're currently standing in the second most magically charged building on the North American continent. The only location more magically attuned is the Sanctum here in New York. And of course, there's your own Chi, Michael. It is a potent enough energy that it was capable of keeping Phineas away from death. Apparently, it can also aid in the creation of life."
That steel vice around my lungs? Yeah, pretty sure it's made out of Vibranium at this point. My head is spinning and I can feel how my breath is coming out in short shallow gasps.
"I… I'm not ready for this…"
As I slowly sink back down into my chair, resting my head in both my hands, I try to understand why I'm reacting this badly. I'm not having a panic attack (I think), but the very thought of suddenly becoming a father, in a universe not of my own, on a quest to become the most powerful being in existence...
How could I possibly have a child?
... Did I even want a child?
The concept of becoming a parent wasn't something new to me, to be honest. I had been thinking about having kids even back in my old universe, now more than twenty years ago. And during my second childhood in this one, I had also given the concept some thought. But in this universe, there had been absolutely no doubt.
I would not- no, I could not have any children.
It would take too much time and attention to care for, and it would distract me from pursuing my ultimate goal.
It's quite difficult to become omnipotent when you're stuck changing diapers.
With my decision made back when I had yet to even hit puberty for the second time (don't ask, it was horrible for everyone involved and at this point I'd like to pretend it never even happened at all), and with all the changes to my body making me practically infertile, the dilemma of having kids became a non-issue, and so I had pushed it to the back of my mind, completely forgetting about it over time.
Of course, my thoughts briefly returned to it once I had begun sleeping with Jessica, but like Sterns had said, the odds of her actually becoming pregnant were just about non-existent.
I forgot to account for the fact that Magic doesn't really give two shits about probability however.
So… now what?
I had decided early on that I couldn't have kids if I ever wished to achieve my goal. But I had never said anything about not wanting kids. The idea of having a son or daughter was absolutely mind-numbingly terrifying, and I just kept coming up with reasons why having any children at all could only end in disaster.
And yet, despite all that, the idea of having a little baby boy or girl… I couldn't help but acknowledge that some part of me wished to have that.
I had already become attached to the people of this universe, what was one attachment more, whispered that part of my mind to me. The plan of keeping myself emotionally distant from everybody else in order to focus solely on becoming Omnipotent flew out of the window the moment that I stopped seeing them as characters, but as actual persons instead. I had already become tied down to this universe when I started making friends, and even more so when I started a relationship.
So, why not pursue this? Wasn't that an equally fulfilling dream? To start a family, becoming the Parr-equivalent of the MCU. Why not? I had sacrificed so much for the concept of power, became a person most would either label a criminal or a mad-man in pursuit of it. A never-ending mad scramble for that next power-up, that next increase to my strength, that next addition to my vast arsenal.
Why not kick back for a bit? Why not slow it down, get a little me-time? Wasn't power merely for power's sake a hollow pursuit in the end? Was adding a little mundaness, something worthwile like a family, to the insanity that had become my life really so bad?
But even as that part of me was advocating the idea of having children, the rest of me had a single word ready to shut that line of thinking down hard.
Thanos.
The man who set me on this path to begin with. I woke up in a universe with the knowledge that my life could end at the behest of a madman's warped vision for the galaxy. Everything that had happened up till now had been in light of making sure that that could never happen.
A family didn't change that. It merely broadened the scope from what I needed to protect (gazing at Sterns from the corner of my eye, I realized that my scope had been broadened sometime ago, without me even noticing it).
As long as he lived, whatever family I would end up having would always be in danger. I could protect them from any threats on Earth itself, or from outer space. Even interdimensional entities like Dormammu could be stopped.
But against something like the Snap?
The only thing that I could do to protect me and mine from it, was to make sure that there wouldn't be a Snap in the first place. Until the threat of Thanos had been removed, I could never settle down, no matter if part of me started liking the prospect of that more and more.
Of course, I could agonize all I wanted over having kids, but starting a family takes two. With my breaths now coming more easily than before (though that damn Vibranium vice remained stubbornly in place) I looked up at Jessica, who was looking at me with her arms crossed in front of her chest.
I could tell that she was disappointed in my reaction to the news. Not that she was to blame for that. When you tell your man that you're pregnant with his child, no matter your own feelings on the matter of having kids, you don't really want to see him look as if you told him you just ran over his dog or something.
"Do… do you know what it'll be?" I ask, switching to another question before I even get the second word out.
Jessica picks up on it of course, but answers nonetheless, apparently relieved to stay away from that topic just a little bit longer as well.
"No. It's early days, I haven't even missed my period yet, though it should've come soon. The only reason we found out so soon was because I went in for a scheduled check-up, and Maya noticed an anomaly in the hormone levels in my blood." Jessica says, gripping her arms slightly tighter as she probably remembers the shock when Hansen told her that she was pregnant.
Routine physical check-ups (I had yet to find the time to start the hiring progress for a therapist, I really should just send Phineas a memo about it or something) were mandatory in Othrys, and considering the exotic and often hazardous material we worked with (my mind flashes to the veritable treasure trove of alien bodies and technology in my basement) everybody agreed with that regulation. In almost all cases Phineas handled the exams, but since some of the women felt uncomfortable being examined by a man who technically wasn't a medical professional (Phineas had applied to several med schools though, but while he was acing every single exam, there were still mandatory sections to the curriculum he couldn't test out of, so progress was inhibited) Hansen had offered herself as an alternative.
Jessica mostly switched over to Hansen because the two were friends and took those check-ups as opportunities to simply hang out more than anything else though.
"I… see." I slowly say, before I try to swallow, my mouth feeling like a particularly sandy desert in an annoyingly sunny summer.
"Do you… do you want to…. keep it?" I haltingly ask, though I manage to keep looking Jessica in the eye.
For a moment, the silence in my labs becomes almost deafening, a nearly physical presence to it, like a cloying blanket constricting us.
"Yes." Jessica finally says and I can tell from her tone of voice that this is something that she has been endlessly debating with herself for what's likely to be days now.
She's scared out of her wits, but also determined as hell. There's not a doubt in my mind that if I were to push for abortion, she'd try to put me through the nearest wall.
"Jess…"
"Look, don't say it, okay? Everything you wanna say to me, I've said a hundred times myself. Maya said it to me when I cried in her lab that day. Neither one of us are ready for kids, Michael. We're too young, too busy and nowhere near nice enough to raise children. Fuck Michael, you're a ruthless asshole and I'm a pushy bitch! We're not parent material! Fuck, we aren't even Aunt and Uncle material!" Jessica quickly blurts out, and I can hear her breathing picking up as her tone rises in pitch.
Seeing her glowing eyes becoming wet, I abandon all of my own fears and doubts as I rise from my chair, crossing the distance between me and Jessica with a few quick steps, engulfing her in my beefy arms as I draw her in close to my broad chest, feeling her entire frame tremble.
Resting my chin on her head, I slowly rock back and forth, patiently waiting for her to find her composure again, slowly rubbing circles into her back. Out of the corner of my eye, I can see a faint smile come on Stern's face as he looks on with a relieved expression.
"But?" I slowly rumble as I feel Jessica take a deep breath.
"But… I want to be parent material. I want to be the type a person a little boy or girl could point at with pride and say 'look! That's my Mom!'. I want that Michael. Maybe not while I was still this young, but… what if I can't get pregnant a second time? We both know that this is a miracle Michael. An actual, literalmiracle. I don't want to throw away my chance at being a mom because I was scared and wanted to try again later only to find out that I blew my one shot already."
I nod at her answer, hesitating slightly before voicing the question that has been plaguing my mind for the past few minutes.
"And… me? How do I fit into that?"
The unasked question of whether or not I featured at all was clearly understood, Jessica pulling slightly away in order to look up into my eyes with a searching gaze, though she didn't break the hug.
"Michael… we aren't parent material. Nowhere near close. A child... a child shouldn't have a drunk as a Mom. Just take a look at how fucked up Triss and me turned out, we should know. But... a child shouldn't have a... a warlord who condones death on a massive scale as a Dad either. But that can change. We can change. I'm… I'm quitting alcohol. Completely. Forever, and considering how my body has changed, that might not even be a metaphor. It doesn't affect me much these days, but I don't want to risk anything happening to the baby and I don't ever want to risk backsliding to how I was when... when you met me. So, I'm going to… to join a couple of AA meetings each week. Trish could use the support as well."
Jessica trails off, looking up at me with a raised eyebrow. It's clear that, having told me her own self-improvement plan, she wants to hear mine as well. Wants to hear me say that I'll tone things down. In her mind, the battle has been won and Othrys is standing at the top of the foodchain. She wants me to tell her that it's good enough for me, for us, that I'll stop killing my way to even more power.
Unfortunately, the one thing that she wants of me, I cannot give her.
I can tell from her expression that she knows what I'm going to say even before I open my mouth, since she breaks the hug, not even bothering to hide her disappointment or sadness from me as she crosses her arms in front of her chest again, though thankfully she doesn't try to walk away this time.
There's nothing to it.
I'll have to reveal my trump card: Thanos.
I had wanted to keep my knowledge of Thanos a secret. Partly because most people (outside of Othrys) would have trouble comprehending that there was an alien warlord on the other end of the galaxy who would kill half of all life in the universe with just a snap of his fingers. Partly because telling people about his plans would inevitably reveal large parts of my own plans as well. And partly because in my Plan, I had always seen Thanos as the Final Boss of a video game, as part of my fight and nobody else's business. There were other dangers along the way as I tried to gain more power, Bosses in their own right, and I would have to beat them if I wanted to see any progress.
But the win condition was me killing Thanos.
He was the guy that I would have to beat if I ever wanted to consider my rise to power truly finished, my story come to a satisfactory end. Otherwise, I would always keep looking over my shoulder, fear of turning to dust a constant companion through my millennia long life.
Still, I feel the need to make Jessica understand why I won't, why I can't be the man she wants as a father for her child.
Not yet, at least.
"Jessica. The aliens that attacked Earth… they were sent here. There are objects of great power on Earth, and an alien warlord got wind of them. His name is Thanos, the Mad Titan, and he wanted to conquer Earth and take these objects for himself. If he had been successful, then there would not be a single force in the known Universe capable of stopping him. He would've gone and completed his own quest for power. Something that must never be allowed to happen. If Thanos accomplishes his goal, he'll be powerful enough to kill half of all life in the universe… with just a snap of his finger. Half of all life Jess. That includes you… and the baby as well. I can't let that happen. Thanos needs to die." I explain, and I can tell that the both of them pick up on the grave tone of voice that I'm using, clearly believing me immediately, unlike last year with the whole Hand-debacle.
They have been around me long enough to not doubt my threat assessments anymore.
"So… that's it then. You're not going to stop killing." Jessica says, though her voice lacks any of its former heat with the threat of Thanos now planted firmly inside her mind.
She doesn't like the idea of me contuining unabated down this path, even now that I'm told I'm going to have a child. But the fact that if I don't, said child, her child might be in danger shakes her conviction and saps her anger. Instead, there's a considering gleam in her eyes now.
"I can't Jess. Thanos needs to die for either one of us to ever settle down. There's nobody else in the universe I would trust with that task. I'm the only one who knows the threat he represents. The only one with the will to act against him. Until his corpse lies at my feet… I'll continue fighting for power. Enough power to kill a fellow Titan."
Turns out he was right.
The hardest choiced do indeed require the hardest wills.
For a moment, Jessica keeps looking into my eyes, her hurt clear for me to see. Then slowly, her gaze hardens, her eyes furrowing as she lifts her chin. The thought of anyone harming her baby lights a fire within her, and I can see her gripping her arms with enough strength to crush cars.
"But you're not going to kill just Thanos, are you? You said it yourself, you need enough power to kill a Titan."
For a moment, my mouth almost refuses to work, to form the words that I know I need to say, no matter how they may change things between us for the worse.
"No. There are armies between me and him, Jess. There are other factions that pose a threat to Earth, to you and the baby. There are ancient, immensly mighty beings out there whose power I need in order to face Thanos. And I'm going to kill them all."
Silence meets my declaration of war (for as much as it counts as one, considering, you know, the guy I'm declaring war on doesn't even know I exist), and I can see Jessica warring with herself. She's struggling with her two main whishes: to start a (relatively) normal, happy family with me, a family in which the father isn't actively cutting a swath of death through the universe, and securing the safety of said potential family.
As it turns out, she can't have both.
Eventually, she has come to a decision, a deep, tired sigh escaping her.
"I can't help you Michael. I want to. If he's a threat like you say he is, then I want to see this Thanos fucker dead as much as you do. But I'm not risking anything happening to the baby. I can't do this anymore. And considering it would be akward as fuck to live in the same building as my boss, who I don't work for anymore, as well as my boyfriend, who can't quit being a ruthless bastard for his family because if he does then there might not be a family... I'm moving out of Othrys for a while. I know that it might put me in danger, but I'll take Trish and go somewhere deep into the Midwest, under false names and disguises. I'll keep in touch so you guys can portal over to me at the drop of a hat, and when I'm far enough along that my pregnancy becomes clearly visible, I'll return and have the baby here. There's no other place safe enough for it. By the time I return, I expect my man to be ready to become a father to his child. Thanos dies."
I can tell that nothing I'll say at this point will change her mind, so instead I slowly give her a nod.
"Thanos dies."
Nodding back at me, Jessica briefly shuffles in place, clearly feeling somewhat uncomfortable now, since it's a bit unclear where the two of us stand with each other at the moment (one the one hand, she's moving out, on the other hand, she wants to return eventually and continue our relationship... oh god, is this what Ross from Friends felt?). Then she seems to make a snap decision, quickly approaching me and planting a chaste kiss on my lips.
And then she's gone, her leather duster snapping behind her as she stalks out of my labs, quickly rubbing an arm across her eyes as she goes.
For a moment, I watch her leave, before I glance at Sterns out of the corner of my eyes. He's calmly looking back at me, clearly not intending to leave any time soon, so I turn to face him fully, motioning for him to speak.
"So…. A time traveler, huh?" Sterns asks me with a raised eyebrow and a slight smile on his lips.
"In a matter of speaking. You got a gun in that pocket that can kill me?" I ask in return, glancing at where he has still has his wrapped his hand around something hidden.
Sterns' smile widens a bit as he follows my look.
"In a manner of speaking."
For a moment, the both of us just look at each other, before the tension bleeds away as I shoot him a thankful grin.
"Thanks for being here for her Sam. It means a lot to me. You're a good friend."
Sterns simply shrugs his shoulders, though his stance loosens.
"You're the boss-man. Making Jessica the boss-lady. Figured that she could use a third party to mediate between the two of you. God knows that between your stubbornness and her pushiness, the two of you are capable of getting into arguments that can last for days on end. It's a miracle that that hasn't happened yet, to be honest. I figured that at this point, we'd have to rebuilt Othrys up from the ground twice by now." Sterns says with a grin, prompting one from me in return.
"Oh, just shut up Sam. We're not that bad."
Sterns merely grins wider, so instead I decide to smoothly and subtly change the subject.
"We're you really going to shoot me with… whatever you've got in that pocket of yours?" I wonder (like I said, smooth as all hell).
If Sterns thought that whatever little thing he had there was capable of stopping me, then it was very dangerous indeed. My mind immediately flashes to my own one-hit kill weapon: the Goo Gun (I had one incorporated into my armor, but I didn't want to risk firing it at a Chitauri and missing the alien only to accidentally shrink a sky-scraper or something). I wonder what happened between Sterns and Jessica that would create such a bond that his loyalty had shifted to the point that he was willing to kill me in defense of her.
Clearly picking up on my thoughts (maybe even literally. At this point, I don't think there's a single human alive, Phineas included, who can truly grasp just how powerful Sterns' brain is, other than Sterns himself), the scientist waves away my worries as he reveals the… stick?
Wait, that's not a stick…
"Sterns?"
"Yes Michael?"
"Why do you have a Sonic Screwdriver?"
"Oh, Michael, don't be silly. This merely looks like a Sonic Screwdriver!"
"Oh thank God-"
"No, this thing is far more powerful!"
"…what."
"Yes, you see, by studying the Pym Particle theory regarding the Quantum Realm and then applying it to the Cross Particle technology, I have now not only harnessed a small part of the potential of Quantum Energy, but have also made a foray into unraveling the M-Theory, which as you know deals with the very fabric of reality as discovered through various string theories!"
"Sam, no."
"So, after finding a way to interact with the very building blocks of the Macro-universe by channeling Quantum energy into the strings that make up quarks, and thus, all matter, I went back into my research of the Quantum Realm, and tried to use my new control to even further increase my mastery over it and I have discovered something really neat!"
"Sam, stop."
"I have been able to start interacting with Worldlines! It's not complete time-travel yet, but I have been capable of exerting a little bit influence on the fourth-dimensional presence of organisms and objects, which I can direct through my stick!"
"Oh God."
"So, what I would've done was simply point my wand at you, and insert my rough influence over your Worldline, meaning that you would still occupy the same Space, but no longer move through Time. Essentially, I'd freeze you in time in order to put you in a literal time-out until you manage to cool off. Cool huh!?"
"…."
"That's the non-lethal version! It's an extremely heavy-handed approach to interact with Worldlines, not even remotely refined as I wished for it to be. But even just advancing to that point things have malfunctioned spectacularly, with disastrous concequences. But, I took a page out of your book! I thought back to how you saw the malfunctioning of the unfinished Cross Particles when interacting with biomatter not as a bug in the system, but as a feature! So, I took that same mindset to the horrific accidents that can happen when Quantum energy is not properly applied, and I have decided to simply call it a weapon instead! I can now make someone occupy different Spaces at the same Time, essentially turning them into Cosmic dust stretching backwards towards the Big Bang and to the heat death of the universe, simultaneously! And now whenever I do it, I can say I did so on purpose!"
"…"
"…"
"We're all doomed. Doomed I say. Where's my limoncello, I need a drink."
"Michael! Michael wait! I haven't even shown you the function where I create my own pocket dimension! It's really cool, I even made sure that the LED's I taped to the stick light up when I press the button, so it looks like an actual Sonic Screwdriver! Isn't that neat! Of course it's not a real pocket dimension, it's simply space that's folded in on itself and then the outside of it has been shrunk while the inside has been enlarged, so really, it's more like a portable miniature black hole, but that's semantics at this point... Michael? Michael?! Michael, come back!"
Fun Fact (not so fun, to be honest, more just a fact): In Marvel's mainstream comic's continuity, Pepper Potts conceives a child with Happy Hogan, but she suffers a miscarriage after being assaulted by Iron Man's enemies.
AN: Surprise! I said Monday evening, but I figured I could cut off the chapter here and publish it a bit before schedule. So, again a short chapter, but I had a little time between sobering up and going to classes (I have to go right about now or I'm late) but I really wanted to get this out of my head and to you guys, especially since the cliffhanger of the last chapter got some rather mixed responses. This was planned from the moment I decided to make Jessica pregnant, I hope most of you, if not like, then at least tolerate what I've done with them. I don't intend to simply put Jessica on a bus and only bring her back at the end of the story, but her presence in the story will certainly be a lot less than before. Anyways, I'm running late, I hope you enjoyed the chapter, let me know your thoughts!
EDIT: Sooooo, yeah... The previous version sucked. I was looking at it through rose-colored glasses when I wrote the first draft (that should've warned me, to be honest, since I never upload a chapter before rewriting it once or twice) but I was just so eager to surprise you all with an update ahead of schedule for once (an anomaly in my history as a writer) that I uploaded it nevertheless. Looking back, I should've simply taken the time to write it properly, and say screw you to the deadline. In the words of Shigeru Miyamoto: a delayed game is eventually good, but a rushed game is forever bad. It would've sucked to not be able to keep my promise to you guys, but it sucked way more to see quite a few people drop this story. Which is a shame, since not only do I feel the chapter itself is better now, but this is also the start of a new arc. The people who disliked Jessica's (and the baby's) role in the story should be sticking around instead of leaving, since they are now in the background and Michael will spend the next chapters going back to his murder-happy munchkinry ways, though emotionally now much more mature than before (which was my main motivation for deciding to allow him to have a relationship and eventually a kid in the first place). Oh well, the damage has been done, I suppose. To the readers that are still enjoying this story, thanks for sticking with me even through the parts that you don't like. Without you guys, there wouldn't be a story in the first place, so yeah... thanks.
As awlays, major shout out to my amazing Patrons, AndrewDC_MAC2, Miu, justlovereadin, Carn Krauss, ReapeScythe, Thordur hrafn, Daniel Dorfman and Samuel Carson! Thanks for your support! I cannot thank you guys enough for willing to support me as you do, so thanks again!