From The Ashes - 010 (Patreon)

[A/N: Took the day off yesterday to get some rest. But I am back and hope you all enjoyed your weekend so far!]

Chapter 010 – Gratitude

[2012]

Reappearing in the sky above a high-rise building on top of which lay a massive alien carcass, a coat of blue-glowing energy keeping me afloat, I raised my hand as I channeled the Space Stone's energy to follow my intentions.

I could feel the cosmic ingot pulse with power as the giant dead alien beast was lifted into the air before vanishing in a cloud of blue smoke.

Controlling the powers of the stone was unfamiliar but not particularly difficult due to the mental connection that I had with it.

I was just limited in the amount of energy that I could draw from it currently since my body could only take so much without crumbling while my fine control over this particular cosmic force was a bit lacking.

Still, levitating myself using the power of space and moving the dead alien bodies into a different layer of space wasn't too great of a challenge.

The moment that I had forged a connection with the stone, my understanding of space changed drastically as my senses seemed to have expanded and allowed me to feel the intricacies of this fundamental building block of reality.

Space wasn't just a three-dimensional construct in which our Universe existed, in fact, it had nearly an uncountable number of layers and deeper dimensions that were all interconnected under the uniting force of existence.

Some of these 'layers' were secondary dimensions or realms that were inhabited by other lifeforms while some of those layers were filled with chaotic cosmic forces or existed in an unstable time, which made them uninhabitable.

There also existed countless 'empty' layers that contained nothing besides raw space and time. In a way, those layers were like seeds for secondary dimension, taking millions and billions of years to sprout and grow into stable spaces where life could exist.

It was into one of those 'empty' layers where I moved all the bodies to, and since they were already dead, there was no risk attached to such an action. Not to mention that there probably existed very very few beings that could access that space.

It was a comparatively easy thing to do as it didn't require much fine control, and just depended on my ability to temporarily connect those spaces through a gateway.

Naturally, this had something to do with the fact that I had already surpassed the limits of a normal human after gaining Marco's powers, so my starting point when wielding an Infinity Stone was just higher than it would be for any normal human.

In the future, even Strange could only use the Time Stone through the Eye Of Agamotto and using sorcery to channel its energy into a spell, directly controlling the Infinity Stone was pretty much impossible for him. Or at least, it would have some very unpleasant consequences.

Alternatively, I could have opened an independent pocket dimension for myself but that wasn't a task that I was confident in completing without any accidents so soon after gaining control over the Space Stone.

Having taken away the alien body, I lifted up the broken slabs of concrete and freed those that had been buried beneath, letting some of my blue flames rain down on the injured people to either heal or stabilize their wounds before levitating the debris down to the street, making sure it wouldn't come in the way of rescue vehicles.

I didn't take the people to a hospital as I had no idea where the nearest one was since I was unfamiliar with the city.

Teleporting to another location, I continued to take away any Chitauri corpses that I came across, as well as their weapons, while using my Observation Haki to locate any survivors in the collapsed buildings.

It was demanding work but the taming of an Infinity Stone had strengthened my body and mind quite a bit, so I hadn't yet reached the limit of my healing capabilities or Haki.

The reason that I took away the bodies of the Chitauri was naturally that I needed some capital now that I had arrived in this world and I was sure that SHIELD would pay an adequate amount of money for them, as would many others.

This might seem rather immoral but I saw no reason to let someone else benefit from this disaster when I had risked my life and spent a considerable amount of effort while battling, to only end up without a dime to my name.

I wasn't greedy for money but seeing as I didn't even possess a set of intact clothes, I knew that I needed some money simply to get by. And I didn't fancy selling my services to SHIELD in exchange for a measly salary.

Becoming an Avenger or not, I didn't want to be forced to work for SHIELD just so that I wouldn't go hungry.

Saving the buried victims of this invasion, on the other hand, was something that I did to ease the burden on my conscience since I was technically profiting from their suffering.

So expanding some effort to help them where I could was certainly time well spent, even if I wasn't at fault for what had happened to them since I certainly didn't let an army of Chitauri enter Earth through a portal and lay waste to the city, nor did I fight like the Hulk, leaving behind destruction wherever I was going.

At least, I thought so, even though my moral compass was somewhat blurry after over a decade in the Army.

'Doing the right thing' and 'fighting to protect one's homeland', those phrases had long since lost their lustrous image after all the senseless deaths that I had seen during my time in the military.

Towards the end of my service, after I had lost her, if someone had asked me if I thought that the many overseas missions that I had been sent to had been necessary, I would have been unable to answer them honestly with anything definitive.

Having gone into such hostile environments again and again, I hadn't felt as if we had been there to help anyone. I had felt more like we had been sent as invaders, which had been a horrible feeling.

If this was the truth or not, I didn't know though.

But what I knew was that the lines between right and wrong, virtue and sin, morality and immorality had been blurred during that time when my survival had often been uncertain, tension and anxiety constant companions.

It was why we had planned to quit our service together and leave the Army to live a different, more meaningful life, something her death had made impossible.

As such, I also knew with certainty that I would never fight and kill on someone else's order again. Nor would I be compelled to act in any way because someone else told me that it was the right thing to do.

If I couldn't see the truth of the matter for myself and decide what was right and wrong, I would only trust my own instincts and not someone else's.

…

Landing on the ground, my breathing a bit labored, I still kept my focus as I placed down a few tons of steel and concrete, the blue fire around my form receding as I stopped the healing flame from spreading any further than necessary.

I had been at this for more than two hours and my exhaustion was catching up to me as I felt drained physically, but even more so mentally.

As such, I took a few moments to close my eyes and take a few deep breaths, instead of directly teleporting to the next precarious location, where they may need my help.

To that end, I was keeping my Observation Haki active around me, which was fortunately not that much of a burden on my spiritual energy reserves, making hardly a dent when compared to even the most basic use of Armament Haki.

Naturally, the consumption of energy would rise depending on how much focus I put into my perception, which included the sensing range, perceiving the strength and emotional state of those around me, or even the advanced form of Observation, which was Precognition/Future Sight.

As Whitebeard's First Commander, Marco naturally had some skill in the advanced techniques of Haki, and while his Internal Destruction seemed a bit lacking, his Future Sight was rather well developed.

Still, all that aside, it meant that even with my eyes closed for a moment, I sensed it when a group of normal people slowly congregated around me.

“You alright, son?”, a gruff voice suddenly spoke up amongst the whispers.

Opening my eyes, I saw an elderly man addressing me, and by his side, many other people that looked at me with curiosity and awe, as well as faint traces of fear.

“I am, thank you.”, I nodded while replying politely.

“Hmm.”, the older man hummed critically as he looked at my rather poor state. By his gaze and posture alone, I could tell that he had some military background.

Still only wearing a ripped pair of jeans, while the right side of my chest was smeared with obvious traces of dried blood, I wasn't making a good argument. Not to mention that the exhaustion on my face couldn't be hidden.

Naturally, 'exhaustion' was a rather subjective term as I could still topple a skyscraper with a solid kick even while exhausted.

"Stubborn fellow, ain't ya?", the elderly man remarked while throwing me a sweater to cover myself, "Don't overdo it, son.”

Nodding gratefully, I was just about to teleport away to avoid getting swarmed by questions and bothersome inquiries when another much quieter voice made me turn my attention to the side.

"Thank you, for saving us from them.", a young woman with a small girl in her arms spoke up, sincere gratitude in her watery eyes, "Thank you."

Her words were echoed by a few others, and slowly but surely, I was drowned in a chorus of appreciation as these normal people thanked me.

It was a strange and unfamiliar situation, and I didn't really know what to do in response, so I just rose back into the air with the Space Stone's help before turning into my phoenix form and teleporting away, leaving behind a rain of blue fire.