Chereads / Iron Man: Nexus of Marvel Universes / Chapter 33 - Into the Fractured Infinity

Chapter 33 - Into the Fractured Infinity

The portal Strange conjured was unlike any they had passed through before. Its edges shimmered and flickered as though reality itself was struggling to maintain its coherence. Beyond the portal, only darkness stretched out—a deep, endless void punctuated by streaks of light, like the last remnants of a dying universe.

The team stepped through, one by one, and immediately the world felt different. The air was thick with a strange, oppressive energy, and time seemed to move in erratic pulses—sometimes fast, sometimes slow.

"This place is... wrong," Reed said, his voice tinged with concern. His instruments beeped wildly as they struggled to calibrate to the fluctuating environment. "It's like the laws of physics don't apply here the way they do in our reality."

Logan sniffed the air, his senses heightened. "Smells like death."

Tony, scanning the area with his suit, glanced around at the strange landscape. "I'm not even sure if this place is part of the multiverse. It's like… it's outside of everything."

Strange, who had stepped in last, closed the portal behind them and turned to the group. His expression was grim. "This is the Fractured Infinity—a place at the edge of all realities. It exists beyond time, beyond space. It's here that the final fragment of the Nexus lies, hidden from all but the most determined."

Jean's mind was buzzing with the chaotic energy of the place, making it hard to focus. "We need to be careful. This place could distort our thoughts, even our powers."

Peter nodded, sensing the weight of the situation. "So we're at the edge of the multiverse, standing in a place where reality doesn't make sense. No pressure, right?"

"Let's just hope we find this fragment and get out before anything else finds us," Johnny said, his flames dimming slightly as the strange atmosphere seemed to sap his energy.

As they ventured further, the ground beneath their feet shifted and changed, sometimes feeling solid and other times as though they were walking on air. The very fabric of existence seemed unstable, flickering between different realities. In the distance, they saw shapes—phantoms of alternate timelines, fragmented echoes of what might have been.

"What are those?" Peter asked, watching as the figures moved through the darkness, only to dissolve into nothingness.

"Possibilities," Strange replied. "These are the fractured remains of realities that never came to be. This place is filled with the detritus of failed timelines, alternate versions of the multiverse that collapsed in on themselves."

As they walked, Strange stopped suddenly, his eyes narrowing. "We're close. The fragment is near."

Suddenly, the ground beneath them rippled, and the space around them seemed to twist. A deep, booming voice echoed through the void, sending chills down their spines.

**"You should not have come here."**

The team froze, their eyes darting around, trying to locate the source of the voice. It was as though the very fabric of this place was speaking to them.

"Who are you?" Reed called out, his voice steady despite the oppressive atmosphere.

The voice laughed, a sound that seemed to come from every direction at once. **"I am the one who watches the edges. The guardian of what should not be. You have come to take what is mine."**

Before anyone could react, the ground split open, and a towering figure rose from the void. It was a being of pure energy, its form shifting and flickering like the unstable environment around them. It had no distinct features, but its presence was overwhelming—like the embodiment of the collapsing multiverse itself.

"That's not good," Peter muttered, his hands already shooting out webs to brace for whatever was coming.

Tony's suit whirred to life as he prepared for battle. "No kidding. Everyone, stay sharp!"

The figure's voice boomed again, this time filled with malice. **"You seek the final fragment of the Nexus, but you will not leave this place alive. I have been tasked with guarding this reality, and I will not let you take what belongs to the Fractured Infinity!"**

Without warning, the being lashed out with tendrils of energy, aiming straight for the team. Logan was the first to charge, his claws gleaming as he leaped toward the entity. But the tendrils wrapped around him, hurling him back before he could land a blow.

"Logan!" Jean shouted, her eyes glowing as she unleashed a telekinetic blast. But the energy seemed to twist in mid-air, redirected by the strange physics of this place.

Reed stretched out to try and grab Logan before he hit the ground, but the unpredictable environment made his movements sluggish. "We can't fight this thing like we normally would. Everything here is unstable!"

"Then we need to fight it on its terms," Tony said, firing repulsor blasts at the entity. The blasts hit the creature, but instead of damaging it, they seemed to strengthen it.

"Great," Johnny said, lighting up. "So what's the plan? Because right now, we're just feeding it."

Strange stepped forward, his hands glowing with arcane energy. "This being is tied to the fabric of the Fractured Infinity. We can't destroy it directly, but we can disrupt the connection it has to this place."

Reed nodded. "If we sever its link to this reality, it will destabilize."

"Then how do we do that?" Peter asked, dodging another tendril.

"We need to create an energy feedback loop," Reed said, already pulling up calculations on his device. "If we overload the entity with its own power, it will unravel."

Tony flew up, avoiding a blast of energy. "Tell us what we need to do."

Reed's fingers flew across his device. "Strange, you'll need to channel your magic into the core of the entity. The rest of us will create a perimeter and push the energy toward it. We have to overload it all at once."

"Understood," Strange said, already beginning to chant as arcane symbols swirled around him.

The team moved quickly, forming a circle around the entity. Johnny and Jean combined their powers, sending waves of flame and telekinetic force toward the creature, while Tony and Peter fired blasts of energy from different angles. Logan, despite the chaotic energy, managed to slice through the tendrils trying to break their formation.

Strange stepped forward, his hands glowing with an intense light as he reached the core of the entity. "Now!" he shouted, and the team unleashed their combined power.

The energy flowed into the entity, and for a moment, it seemed to grow stronger. But then, as the feedback loop took hold, the creature's form began to flicker and destabilize. Its booming voice turned to a howl of pain as it collapsed in on itself, sucked into the void.

As the last remnants of the entity disappeared, the oppressive energy of the Fractured Infinity began to fade. The landscape around them shifted back to something more stable.

Reed, panting from the effort, looked up. "Did it work?"

Strange, still holding the glowing arcane symbols in his hands, nodded. "Yes. The connection has been severed. The final fragment is ours."

In the center of where the entity had once stood, the third and final fragment of the Nexus appeared, hovering in the air. It pulsed with a deep, cosmic energy, more powerful than the previous fragments.

"That's it," Tony said, stepping forward and reaching for the fragment. "The last piece."

As he took the fragment in his hand, the air around them began to hum with energy. The three fragments resonated with each other, and suddenly, the team was engulfed in a bright light. Reality itself seemed to fold around them, and they were pulled back into the Nexus.

—————————-

*The Nexus*

The team landed in the center of the Nexus, the three fragments floating in a perfect triangle before them. Strange, looking weary but determined, stepped forward.

"The fragments are united," he said, his voice filled with awe. "We've done it."

Tony looked at the fragments, his mind already racing with possibilities. "So, what happens now?"

Strange closed his eyes, focusing on the energy of the Nexus. "Now, we restore balance to the multiverse."