The Prize

"Warning! Warning! Self-destruct in 4 minutes..."

"Soooooooo..." Jake trailed off awkwardly as he rode down the elevator with his new queen. He couldn't shake the feeling that he had rushed into making her the most vital part of his team without really knowing her. But with a nuclear bomb set to explode below them, he didn't exactly have any time for a lengthy decision process. She was also the only one who knew where the bomb was located.

"It's okay if you're nervous about making me your queen without knowing me," Emma said. "I'm honestly surprised you went for it in the first place. From your memories, I know being somebody's queen piece is quite a big deal."

"It's true that I am a bit nervous," Jake replied, "but if you're as qualified as you say you are, then I'm sure it's going to work out fine between us."

Emma just gave him a laugh. "Oh, don't worry. I guarantee that it's going to work out more than fine."

"...Do you think I can read minds now?" Jake asked randomly. He had been wondering if he got her abilities.

Emma was also curious. "Can you hear my thoughts?" She asked as she temporarily lowered her mental barriers.

Jake concentrated on trying to hear them as he stared at Emma so intently she developed a small blush. Finally he let out a huff. "Nope nothing."

"Hmmm," Emma started. "It's probably because my mutant powers aren't magical. The most you got from my psychic attack was a very strong mental shield. Which is still very good." She said to him, "Also, reading minds isn't all it's cracked up to be."

"How so?"

"I would see some pretty messed up things in people's heads and then I'd have to carry on a normal conversation with them pretending i didnt." She explained to him. Jake agreed, that did not sound like a good experience.

*Ding*

Their conversation came to an end as the elevator reached the 20th floor. "Come on, it's this way," Emma said. Jake followed behind her through a series of hallways before they stopped at an office door. "It's behind here," Emma said. "The door is biometrically locked, so you're going to have to destroy it. Be careful because there are also machine gun turrets in the room." Emma knew the bullets wouldn't hurt him, but they would hurt her. She didn't know her exact new power level, but she knew she wasn't automatically high class and strength right off the bat after reincarnating.

"Warning! Warning! Self-destruct in 2 minutes. Self-destruct is in 2 minutes. Warning! Warning!"

Jake fired a small ball of Destruction at the center of the door, completely destroying the electronic lock before he kicked in the door and walked inside.

Immediately mounted turrets sprang from the walls before they unleashed a storm of led towards Jake! Emma quickly ducked back into the hallway in a panic to avoid any shrapnel.

PING PING PING PING

After 10 seconds of continuous fire, the machine gun turrets ran out of ammo before they stopped firing. Emma glanced back into the room once it was safe.

"Why didn't you just destroy the turrets?" She asked.

"I didn't want to accidently cast some magic and hit the bomb."

Emma nodded. "Smart thinking, come on it's over here," Jake followed her as she led him to a strange looking painting on the wall. "He keeps the bomb behind that giant painting of himself."

Jake looked over to the wall, and sure enough, there was a 10 ft by 5 ft painting of Mr. Sinister smiling viciously. Jake thought it was extremely corny of him to keep a picture of himself in his own office…

Emma yanked the gross portrait off the wall to reveal the bomb underneath. It was hidden in a cut out of the dry wall with its timer counting down rapidly.

"You know…it's smaller than I thought it would," Jake commented. "The whole bomb across is only about a foot wide."

"You can blame Hollywood for that." Emma laughed. "The average dirty bomb can fit in a backpack." She threw out that scary fact.

The bomb's timer had just passed the one minute mark. Jake took a second to sigh in relief that they made it in time. "Okay then," Jake asked Emma, "how exactly do we stop this thing?"

Emma just gave him a deadpan stare. "You're asking me how to disable a nuclear bomb? I don't know! Just vaporize it with your power of destruction or something." She was a business major, not a nuclear physicist…

"Is that safe?" Jake asked. He didn't want it to accidentally go off on him.

She just gave him a shrug. If not they'd all be dead instantly anyway… "It should be if you manage to vaporize the entire thing at once," she replied. The timer had just passed the 30-second marker, and Jake knew he didn't really have any time left for any other options.

He told Emma to stand back before he summoned a larger than necessary orb of Destruction. He figured it was better to be safe than sorry when it came to vaporizing a nuclear bomb about to go off in their faces. He hurled the entire orb at the bomb, and it was completely enveloped, along with a large chunk of the wall, being erased from existence almost instantly!

"Whew, that was a close one," Emma commented as she wiped the sweat from her brow. She was nervous that her brand new life as a devil had almost come to an end there. "So who exactly were you here to save? Because Sinister didn't exactly have a lot of prisoners right now." His prisoners didn't tend to last long from all the experiments he conducted…

Jake told her that he was here to save Prince Thor of Asgard.

Oh that guy?" Emma commented," Is he actually the prince of Asgard? I thought he was just some kind of Shakespearean actor to be honest." Emma had actually been the one sent out to kidnap Prince Thor from his ambulance. Sinister coldy told her to leave no witnesses behind, but she wasn't exactly a stone cold killer, so she simply erased the paramedics memories and sent them to the tavern. That still technically fell under his orders.

Jake asked her where Sinister was holding the prisoners, and she told him that it was on the 17th floor.

"Of course it was," Jake said out loud. "It had to be the floor just before the one where Sinister had set up a trap to ensnare me. That's exactly the kind of vengeful trick that guy would pull." The two of them headed back to the elevator and the 17th floor to rescue Thor.

...

"Doth my eyes deceive me?" Thor said from within his cell as he spotted Jake coming down the hall. "Jake Gremory, have you come to save us?" He spoke with hope in his voice.

'Us?' Jake wondered before he looked over and spotted a few other prisoners. They all looked pretty beaten down but they perked up hearing Thor's declaration.

"A rescue!?" A weary man from the cell across Thor's had a look of hope in his eyes.

"Oh, thank you, Lord! I knew my prayers would be answered! Thank you, Jesus!" Another prisoner called out.

Jake heard Emma snickering behind him. Jake found it a bit morbidly funny too. The guy didn't know he was being rescued by devils.

"I told you all help would come for me!" Thor bragged. "The mighty Thor is no one's prisoner for long!"

"We never doubted you for a second, Thor we believed in you the whole time!" The guy across from Thor's prison cell said. That was not true. They all thought he was insane the entire two days he was there…

"..."

Jake once again used his power of Destruction to destroy all the doors of the prison cells. He thought about how often he had been using this power today, finding it incredibly useful for breaking and entering. He couldn't help but snicker at the idea that the powerful ability of Destruction was being employed for such petty tasks. He wondered how King Bail would react if he ever found out that this was what his legacy was being used for. He'd probably try to have Jake killed for stealing the power in the first place though.

"Thank you so much for rescuing me, Jake Gremory. Now then, where is that Sinister man? I owe him a good thrashing!" Thor said while raising his fist in anger. His blood demanded vengeance. He had been kept in that room with nothing to do for two whole days, and the only food he was provided were canned beans!

"Hate to break it to you, Thor, but that guy was a robot, and he's already been reduced to scrap metal. It's time for us to leave."

Thor had a disappointed look on his face, hearing that the man he wanted to get his revenge on turned out to be nothing more than a robot. "Robots cursed beings– I absolutely loathe them. The Destroyer on Asgard has always given me the creeps." Thor said.

"I hate them too. Sinister sent his robot squad to abduct me in the middle of the night, and I wasn't able to sense any of their minds because they didn't have any. They caught me completely off guard!" Emma added on with some major irritation. She also found it strange that none of the guards assigned to her mansion reacted to a bunch of robots storming the place at midnight. That was something she would investigate later to see if someone in her family had set her up.

After Emma spoke,Thor noticed Jake wasn't alone. When he spotted who was with Jake, Thor took a defensive stance towards her. "Jake, be careful! That girl there was Sinister's right-hand woman." The other rescued prisoners also glanced at her wearily. They had also seen her constantly trailing behind Sinister.

Jake just waved Thor off. "Relax, man. You don't have to worry. She was under the control of Sinister too. She was actually the reason that I was able to stop the facility from exploding and save you guys in the first place." He said calming everyone down.

Thor gave Emma a thankful nod before apologizing to her. His mother had taught him better than to threaten a lady, after all...

"Now then," Jake said, "since I've succeeded in rescuing Thor, I guess I can teleport all of us out of here?" He questioned himself.

"You should be able to," Emma said. "You stuck to your end of the deal. Besides, we can't take the elevator and go outside. We don't have any other modes of transportation, and it's 120° outside. We'd all die of dehydration before we made it a few miles."

Thor himself felt saddened at the fact that he was now technically a mortal and could be done in by such a paltry thing as dehydration. As an Asgardian, he could go a week straight fighting without food or drink, not that any of them would ever choose to, but they could in an emergency.

"I'll take it from here, thank you, Jake," the bald woman's familiar voice called out from behind him. Jake spun around and saw one of her orange portals forming behind him. Jake just gave her a small glare. "Have you been watching the entire time?" He asked defensively.

"Indeed, I have," she nodded at him. "And I have to say, I was quite impressed with your performance. Also, you don't have to worry about those four clones. I managed to save them before that first Sinister robot exploded. No need for your small test to cost any lives, after all."

Jake's weariness towards her lessened after hearing that she wasn't just passively spectating the entire time. "So, does that mean I won the object?" He asked her.

"Indeed, you have impressed me enough that I shall hand it over to you. From now on, until the end of your life, it is yours. Follow me to my Sanctuary. Come along, everybody," she also waved to a confused Thor and the other prisoners Jake had freed. A spinning orange portal formed behind her and everyone followed her through.

...

Jake, Thor, Emma, and the woman were all sitting within a small tea room. "You don't have to worry about getting the other prisoners home. The people at this Sanctuary will see towards treating their physical and mental wounds before we send them on their way. Some of them may choose to stay and learn the Mystic Arts, even," she said as she took a sip of her tea. "Now then, I believe we have some business to attend to."

Emma, who had seen all of Jake's memories, knew exactly about the test he was currently undergoing, but Thor on the side was confused.

"Excuse me, miss...?" Thor asked for her name.

"How rude of me. I haven't introduced myself yet, have I? I am known as the Ancient One, the current Sorceress Supreme of Earth. It is nice to meet you, Prince Thor. My predecessor before me, I believe, had a few encounters with you as Asgardians."

Thor had no idea what she was talking about since he met so many people in his life, but he just nodded along so he wouldn't seem the fool… "It is great to meet your acquaintance, Ancient One, and I heard from Jake that you were the one who discovered my location. So, thank you for sending him after me. I am in your debt." Thor told her. She just told him it was no trouble and waved him off.

"Now then," the Ancient One said to Jake, "I suppose it's time I grant you your prize." She removed the large pendant from around her neck before some small spell circles formed on her hands, unlocking the seals. When a green glowing stone shone forth, everyone's eyes widened.

Thor's eyes, however, widened the most at what he was witnessing. His sister Loki thought him an unlearned fool, and maybe he was in some cases, but he could absolutely recognize one of the legendary Infinity Stones when it was right in front of his eyes!

Thor actually stuttered before he spoke. "Yo-you're giving that to Jake Gremory? Do you have any idea what that is? And you used it as part of a test of some kind for him!"

Jake and Emma looked curiously at the stone. Emma was wondering what was so special about it. It just seemed like a glowing rock to her. Jake, however, could feel a genuine connection forming between himself and the stone, even from a few feet away. It felt like a part of him that was always missing, and now it was suddenly right there, similar to how he felt when he met Blaze for the first time.

"Go ahead and take it, Jake. It's yours now," and with some minor telekinesis, the Ancient One sent the stone slowly through the air towards Jake's outstretched hand.

"Wait, Jake!" Thor tried to stop him. "You cannot touch an Infinity Stone with your bare hand!" His warning came too late, though, as Jake's hand was already enclosed around the stone. The moment it did, he felt a surge of power coursing through his body!

The raw power of time itself started coursing through his veins. His entire body started growing bright green as the stone started to change him at a fundamental level! He went completely still as his consciousness temporarily cut out, as his power went through an evolution.

...

It had been about 5 minutes since Jake had touched the stone and started glowing green. The Ancient One was standing over his unconscious body, examining him with her magic.

"Is he going to be okay?" Emma asked, concerned for her new king.

"Do you have any idea what you've handed him, woman? That wasn't some small trinket you give away in a bar room gamble… That was an Infinity Stone!" Thor exclaimed, still shocked at seeing one of those things for the first time in his 1500 years of life. He had heard of the Tesseract, but that had been lost on Midgard hundreds of years ago, and even then, it hadn't been opened up in thousands of years to glimpse the stone inside of it.

"Fascinating," the Ancient One said, ignoring Thor's comments as she continued to magically examine Jake. "The Infinity Stones are known to not work outside their physical dimension, so by fusing with Jake, it chose to sacrifice some of its power for the trade-off that he would be able to use the power of time when he leaves this dimension."

"Jake Gremory is from a different dimension?" Thor questioned in surprise.

Emma just glared at the Ancient One for spilling Jake's secret so openly. However, she did notice that the Infinity Stone that Jake was holding in his hand was slowly getting dimmer by the second. "Is that supposed to be happening to the stone?" she asked the Ancient One. The bald woman had a look of shock on her face before exclaiming that "no it was not!" …but there was nothing she could do about it.

A few breaths later, the Infinity Stone and Jake's hand actually went completely dim. It had finished transferring the last of its power to him before it crumbled and turned to dust! It had truly fused its being with Jake, granting him its eternal power over time, along with a massive magical power boost that had put his reserves well into the ultimate class!

Once the fusion was complete, Jake opened his eyes, which had a slight green glow to them before quickly fading away. He held up his hand in front of him, and with a thought, a green magical aura surfaced on his palm. He was wielding the power of time itself now… He felt unstoppable! He could feel the new power coursing through his veins! He could just imagine all the new amazing things he'd be able to do now and-

"Marvelous!" Thor bellowed aloud, interrupting Jake's thoughts and killing his power tripping moment. "I am most glad you are not dead Jake Gremory! Now let us go and feast to celebrate!"

Jake just sighed and shrugged before smiling. "Sure, food sounds pretty good right now. Let's go mooch off Tony!" He said before holding out his arms for Thor and Emma to grab onto. "Thanks for the magic rock Ancient One. Catch you later…"

The three of them vanished from her sanctuary and the Ancient One just mumbled to herself questioningly, "...Magic…rock?"

-#########-

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