I had finished putting my clothing back on and so had Lady Death. I was preparing to head back home. I had quite a few things to take care of and I begrudgingly couldn't stay with my latest lover in bed all day.
Lady Death also lamented that she had to get back to work herself. Her millions of avatars didn't mean she was free from her own responsibilities either.
Before I left though, I asked her about any evil versions of Issei.
"You wish to know the dimensional coordinates of an 'evil Hyoudou Issei' who possesses the Boosted Gear? So you can steal it?"
I nodded innocently. "If you can tell me, that would be great!" My mind was already wandering to all the awesome things I could do with my future Rinnegan!
I was surprised though when Lady Death looked hesitant to tell me.
Lady Death explained her hesitation to me. She had, borderline, broken a few rules when she gave me such a blatant power up back in the Zombie Universe. This situation wasn't exactly the same as then, but she was still a bit hesitant to give me the information. Lady Death feared that I might end up catching the attention of "that being." According to her, It was a borderline miracle that he had not already noticed me.
[Or maybe he has and just doesn't care.]
"You can't tell me?" I asked with a small pout. I used my [Acting] to bring forth a few tears to my eyes. "Please…" I could tell they worked when Lady Death wavered.
Lady Death sighed at me. "I know you're trying to manipulate me by acting cute and innocent and it worked. I suppose I can tell you. Just this once, though!"
"Alright!" I cheered.
"This is still a gray area as far as the rules go, but there are technically no rules I would be breaking by simply giving you some 'random' dimensional coordinates." Lady Death said.
"I can work with that."
"Are you planning on fusing that Gear to your soul? I would recommend that you do not. Your soul already has three things fused to it. That creates an artificial yet stable trinity. Adding a fourth would throw you out of balance." Lady Death said with concern.
It would? That was good to know. I told her that I simply wanted to use the Gear for a trade.
Lady Death nodded at that. "That's better. I'm not helping you get more powerful, I'm simply aiding you in a trade with a third party whose identity I do not know…"
With that said, she ended up giving me the coordinates before I portaled myself back home. Not before giving her one last passionate kiss though. Something to remember me by.
I opened a portal directly back to my bedroom. When I stepped through, I saw that the sun was already rising. It looked like I had spent the whole night in Death's domain.
…
I was sitting at my kitchen table enjoying some leftovers from the night before. Was it weird to eat pizza and BBQ ribs for breakfast? Yes. Did I care? No.
A woman who I wasn't expecting to see groggily walked into the kitchen. I took another bite as I watched the woman sway back and forth. "Hey, Andrea. How are you feeling? You slept for a long time." I said. It looked like she was finally awake!
Andrea Stark massaged her aching head. Her stomach was also fiercely grumbling. "I feel like I haven't eaten in forever! How long was I out? And what happened?"
"What's the last thing you remember?" I asked.
The last thing Andrea remembered was we were in the middle of robbing Asgard… and then nothing.
"Well, you ate an Apple of Idun to become an Asgardian before Sif could warn you about the process. The process isn't instantaneous and you took a week long sabbatical while your body underwent the changes. Congratulations! You'll now live over 5000 years and you have super strength and durability." I said. "Also, we're back in my home universe and you have a brother now." I added as an afterthought.
Andrea paused for a moment to process everything I just said. She shrugged and sat down at the table next to me. She was absolutely starving at Ribs and Pizza sounded fantastic to her! She'd been eating nothing but canned food for months in her bunker. That sounded dreadful to me whose pretty much been eating nothing but gourmet food ever since I came into all my money.
[And by 'came into,' you mean stole…]
I pulled out my phone and sent a quick text to Tony to let him know that his 'sister' was awake and at my place. I also wanted to talk to him about getting some identities set up for Heather, Asia, and Akeno. Andrea would have been included in that too, but her own Jarvis could probably take care of that no problem once he was plugged into the internet.
"...Why am I still hungry!?" Andrea exclaimed after eating a full rack of ribs and a large pepperoni pizza!
"Asgardian naturally eat more food than humans. They literally have to throw entire feasts every night just to sustain themselves." I explained. It can be off putting to people who aren't prepared for it to watch Asgardians eat. Last night, I watched Sif eat more than everyone else combined and the woman still wanted them to call in some desert.
We did end up calling it in of course…
Andrea whined. "Are there any other downsides to being an Asgardian I should know about?" Andrea was thankful that she was rich at least and could afford it. Well, she wasn't rich in this reality yet but I figured it was only a matter of time. It was never hard for a Stark to make money.
THUNK!
"I think that's your brother, Tony." I said when heard something heavy land on my penthouse roof. I then heard the door to the roof open and someone proceeded to walk down the stairs. "WE'RE IN THE KITCHEN!" I called out.
He came down the stairs a moment later. "I've never been here, Layla. I don't know where your kitchen even is."
I shrugged. He seemed to find it just fine anyway…
Tony Stark walked in carrying a briefcase that was not so secretly his Iron Man suit. He set it down on the couch. "Anyways, Layla, I'm glad you're back! I also heard that you had quite the adventure and even got yourself a genuine harem! I am so incredibly jealous. And who is this woman next to you?" Tony asked but I could tell he recognized the resemblance to himself in Andrea. Both of them were awkwardly staring at each other…
I decided to speed things up for them. "Tony this is Andrea and Andrea this is Tony. Andrea is from a universe where zombies overran the planet and she was the only survivor. Tony is from here and he's a recovering alcoholic. There you go! You've both been introduced to each other! I'm gonna go see if my girls are awake yet." I said as I walked out of the room to give both of them some space.
Tony and Andrea were left alone together. Tony scratched the back of his head as he looked at his new 'sister.'
"So…zombies huh?"
XXX
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