Chapter 41 - A Good Sense of Humor

When things settled down a bit, and all who remained in the room were those without hidden hostilities – at least, none he could detect - Mirio finally had the time to observe his situation in more detail.

Lemillion first turned to the skinniest and tallest amongst the people he had briefly seen on the space station upon his arrival in this new universe.

'This is the genius of the group,' Mirio concluded.

The aura of Reed's was very distinct so even if The Hero didn't want to make assumptions in a completely new environment, it was impossible to ignore the parallels.

Reed gave off the atmosphere of someone Mirio was familiar with – Principal Nezu. If there was a difference, it would be the fact that Reed constantly seemed out of his element.

Though, it could also be because Lemillion was comparing an animal-human hybrid to an actual human. Such thoughts wouldn't have had to enter his mind had he been in his original universe, but now, such thoughts were necessary.

Even the smallest assumptions can have dire consequences later.

Sue – blonde-haired and presence-demanding as she is – reminded Mirio a bit of Nejire. However, Nejire was a chatterbox who expressed everything in words, while Sue's body spoke loudly in the place of her voice.

Every bit of Sue's movement was filled with piercing intention that screamed louder than any words could – and, from what Mirio could see, it was directed at the skinniest person in the room.

Mirio sighed and removed his eyes from the abnormally beautiful woman. Even without knowing anything, he could still tell that there was something mysterious about her.

Nobody spoke.

It was an awkward situation since the momentum of the previous conversation had dulled considerably, and now, Reed, Sue, Ben, and Johnny had to acknowledge that they indeed didn't know anything about Mirio's origins.

Reed was comforted by the fact no foreign contaminants were detected on Lemillion's body, but then again, there was always the question of how exactly he was able to bring Ben into the space station?

'Those things can keep out water molecules, much less a human!'

Mirio grew thankful when he noticed that the awkward situation was being rapidly replaced with an overall disappointment in Reed Richards.

Apparently, everyone was waiting for him to say something of substance.

'He is definitely the leader.' Mirio concluded.

Somehow, Reed seemed unaware that he was the center of attention, even more so than the alien on the hospital bed. Reed scrunched his brows as he observed Mirio.

Lemillion, on the other hand, had his thoughts drift over to the similarities between Sue and someone else he knew – Christine. His heart trembled and his eyes stung.

First love was always the hardest.

Mostly so because of everything that had happened up until now – it was hard to give up on your first love when Aliens attacked New York, you were tossed across countless dimensions, and had only experienced the embrace of one woman.

Missing the sex, alone, was torturous.

Mirio shook his head to rid himself of the almost-tangible images in his mind. It was embarrassing to imagine that Sue's eyes had reminded him of so much.

One had to note, that a distraction was the difference between saving someone or falling alongside them so Lemillion always kept peak concentration.

But while Lemillion had snapped out of it, Reed wasn't quite done admiring the specimen in front of him. Hence, everyone observed Mirio and Lemillion took the time to observe them back.

Ben gave the distinct impression of 'salt of the Earth'. He was a loud, rowdy, and weighty man with an even more weighty heart. The large man was a bit shorter than Mirio, but his physique seemed strangely powerful enough.

Mirio had the vague impression that he may have been standing in front of the Green Monster from The Battle of New York.

And finally, there was Johnny.

The moment Mirio got a really good look at Johnny, one name popped into his mind – 'Captain America?'…

Johnny was the spitting image of Steve, otherwise known as Captain America, from the Battle of New York. Although, much skinnier and with an infinitely less disciplined atmosphere.

In Mirio's mind, it was only a few hours ago that he was fighting alongside The Avengers led by Steve, but now, he was looking at a slimmer, more playful Steve.

His mind could not adjust to such an abrupt change.

Everything had to be questioned.

There were no more certainties – this could even be an elaborate joke.

While Reed was obsessing over the science, and Johnny was bickering with Ben, Sue acted and placed a gentle hand on Mirio's shoulder.

"You okay?" She asked, genuinely concerned.

"Is he Captain America?" Mirio asked unsurely. "I mean… is his name, Steve?"

"Captain America?" Sue snorted and giggled slightly. "Johnny washed out of NASA years ago, so I doubt anything as fancy as 'Captain' can describe him. You probably saw him on tv naked or something."

"What the hell is happening?" Mirio whispered, clutching his head in frustration and pain. "I thought I died… the Tesseract's energy ravaged my bod—"

"Wait!" Reed interrupted, noting something of substantial importance from the words Mirio had so carelessly tossed out of his mouth. "Did you just say Tesseract – as in a yellow cube of Infinite Power? And you also mentioned Captain America? I think I am starting to solidify my theory."

"It's more like a blue cosmic cube of infinite power, but yeah…" Mirio replied, sorting through the chaotic thoughts in his mind. "And Captain America looks a lot like Johnny but better in almost every way. Do you know about it? I am confused."

Johnny snorted. "I find it hard to believe that anyone could possibly look better than me."

"Reed?" Sue questioned since she could see the gears in Reed's head turning, drawing several conclusions already. "Is there something you know about Mirio that we don't? Something you would like to share?"

Reed ignored everything else and hurriedly tapped the tablet in his arms, disconnecting the device from the established network as he accessed files from his personal encrypted network.

It was rare that Reed would hide something even from Ben, but the Large Man's surprise just showed how important Reed's actions had become.

Reed proceeded to enter countless access codes, grabbing a research file from his encrypted network and displaying the information onto each tablet in the room.

In no time, Johnny, Sue, and Ben held a tablet in their hands. Mirio didn't find the need to touch anything as yet, but his eyesight was powerful enough to see whatever was on the screen.

"In the early 1930s…" Reed explained, highlighting several paragraphs from the secret files being displayed on the screens. "There were talks of Superhuman experiments conducted with a cube of yellow energy that held near-infinite power…"

"What does that have to do with the kid?" Ben questioned, not seeing the connection. "We found the kid in space, after all."

Sue frowned. "Are you saying the kid is a time traveler?"

"No… not anything as simple as time travel…" Reed remarked, switching documents to show a giant 'FAILED' stamped across the papers. "The energy source was too volatile, and a group of scientists noticed the dangers and destroyed the cube of Infinite Energy – preventing the Nazi army of the time from researching the material. A lot of important people died that day."

"But…" Mirio frowned, finally making sense of some of the connections Reed was drawing. "It succeeded…"

"Yes! Exactly!" Reed clapped, displaying complex equations and several branching tunnels on the computer screens. "In Mirio's mind, the experiment succeeded but here, it clearly failed! So, we are dealing with two different versions of reality – none truer than the next because they both occurred simultaneously."

"Wait…" Johnny paused Reed and laughed doubtfully. "You're saying Mirio is from an entirely different Universe – a universe where this cube of infinite energy was not destroyed?"

"Not different!" Reed corrected and walked closer to the group as he whispered. "Merely parallel… a single diverging point separates our Universe from his – perhaps, this very Superhuman experiment. In his Universe, it succeeded, but in our universe, it failed – hence, a point of divergence."

"And what are you basing this on?" Sue questioned with no small amount of blame in her tone. "You wouldn't spin a theory like this without being absolutely sure. The implications will echo far and wide."

"Well…" Reed stammered, not sure how to reply to such an accusation.

He knew what he was saying may be a stretch, but Reed also knew that without a hasty leap in logic, more terrifying changes to come would cause Sue and the others to lose hope.

What occurred on the Space Station was only now faintly showing in his recent tests, and Reed had an inkling that things would get worse before they get better.

"It was my blood wasn't it?" Mirio asked, but his tone demonstrated certainty. "You found traces of my Quirk in my blood? A mutation in the bones of my feet?"

Reed hummed for a while before spilling the beans. "Your body vibrates a bit differently from most, and your blood cannot exist outside your body… at least, not in this Universe. It is a strange phenomenon that only manifests under particular circumstances."

"You're saying my body is destroying itself?"

"No… Oh Gosh No!" Reed was worried Mirio would get strange ideas. "Your blood is highly irradiated so it begins to dissolve a couple of seconds after leaving your body… it is just a matter of establishing a proper containment unit."

"What is important is that nobody else finds out about our little friend here." Ben clarified, not understanding much besides Mirio might be in danger. "Right, Reed?"

"Exactly!" Reed agreed with unmatched enthusiasm. "Until we know more, we should keep a lid on this information… we don't know what the Government would do with confirmation about a Theory as miraculous as the Multiverse."

"I don't care much," Johnny admitted lazily and walked over to Mirio and placed an arm around his shoulder. "So… how about you tell me how this 'Steve' is better than me in every way?"

Sue rolled her eyes at the unanimous agreement of the males. "I am not so sure about this, guys…" She admitted, "Victor has resources and money, maybe we can get his help with this situation."

"No Victor." Mirio quickly dismissed Sue's thoughts. "I don't trust him… his eyes remind me of Overhaul's – a man who would do anything to achieve a goal he considers noble."

"But—"

"Even I agree not to tell Victor." Johnny, surprisingly, didn't agree with Sue's opinion. "Reed has a big heart, but Victor has a big mind… I don't like Ben but this kid saved him, and now, he gets to go home to his wife. It is only fair that the kid gets the chance to go home as well."

"If I didn't hate you, I would be touched right now." Ben joked.

"Have we ever thought about the possibility that maybe, just maybe, Mirio is delirious?" Sue asked, placing a lot of weight on this theory.

For a moment, Mirio's mind flicked back to a time when Christine had said the same thing… obviously, women think very much alike.

"Maybe some much-needed nourishment will do us some good," Reed suggested, and Mirio was the first to hop to his feet, showing he very much liked that idea.

"I am starving…" Mirio walked to the nearby locker in search of anything wearable besides a hospital gown. "Fighting Aliens for hours with several Superheroes at your side is very exhausting."

"Now I know that we need to hang out!" Johnny bustled, dragging a now fully-dressed Mirio out of the room and towards the cafeteria.

Ben, Sue, and Reed followed not long after, exasperated sighs escaping their rapidly weakening bodies.

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On their way to the cafeteria, Mirio used the time to learn more about this supposed New Universe.

"So, where are we?" He inquired.

"Resort near the mountains," Johnny replied.

"I know, but what mountains?"

"The cold kind?"

"Mount Samasa," Sue explained.

Mirio sighed. "I don't even know where that is."

"Haven't been around much?" Ben asked.

"Never been outside of Japan," Mirio replied, laughing a bit. "Now, I am in a new Universe… the second one at that!"

"There isn't a stamp for that!" Johnny joked, but nobody laughed since nobody got the joke.

Mirio patted Johnny on the back for comfort. "Don't worry fake version of Captain America… I have a great sense of humor so I will teach you how to tell jokes."

"HA HA HA HA!" Ben burst into laughter, and Reed and Sue giggled subtly, covering their mouths to not hurt Johnny's feelings.

But Johnny had a very thick skin, so he remained unbothered.

"Guess I have to license my name," He muttered, and Mirio patted his back with a wide smile, showing there were no hard feelings for the previous joke.

Internally, Mirio was a bit smug that no matter the Universe, his jokes were always funny.

'Guess it was only the kids in Aizawa's class that had no sense of humor…' He concluded.