00146. Time out. (Patreon)

So this is a little shorter and I am not 100% if I will keep the chapter like this... Let me know what you think about it.

Kang stood slightly behind Janet as they watched the ship approach. He was surprised that this version of ant man was able to make it here. From what he could remember it was rare for them to come here. But then again his memory wasn't the best since every universe he visited seemed to blur together into one.

It didn't take long for the ship to touch down and before the door could fully open, Hank rushed out of it towards Janet. Janet for her part stood there stunned, Hank looked like he was a teenager again. As Hank pulled Janet into a hug he said, “I missed you.”

Janet embraced him back as she said, “I missed you too. But… Why do you look so young?”

“It’s a long story and we can talk about it at length when we get back.” Hank said.

When Hank finally released the hug, Peggy, Steve and the others joined them. Janet gasped as she saw Peggy and Steve who both looked like teenagers. Peggy smiled as she said, “Long time no see.”

Janet nodded as she asked, “Captain America?”

Steve smiled as he stepped forward with his hand out and said, “Just call me Steve. It’s nice to meet you, Hank’s told me a lot about you.”

As they shook hands Janet said, “I thought you were dead.”

“It’s a long story.” Steve said.

Janet turned towards Kang as she said, “Sorry. This is Kang, I’ve been helping him repair his ship. He was trapped here like me.”

Kang had a disarming smile as he said, “It’s nice to meet you all. I’m Kang.”

Minato glanced at the man for a moment before he said, “I kinda expected you to be taller.”

“You know me?” Kang cautiously asked.

Minato nodded as he said, “Nathaniel Richards, better known as Kang the Conqueror.”

Janet glanced at Minato as she asked, “How do you know him?”

Minato smirked as he said, “It’s a long story.”

Kang frowned slightly as he studied the blonde haired man. The man knew his name yet Kang had never heard of anyone named Minato before. Or even remembered seeing someone like him before.

“You have me at a loss. You know of me, but I have no idea who you are.” Kang said.

Minato bowed slightly with a flourish of his coat as Hank pulled his wife back towards the group before Minato said, “Minato Namikaze, former Yondaime Hokage of Konohagakure. But my enemies know me best as Konoha's Yellow Flash.”

As Minato stood up straight his right hand held a small Rasengan, while he held a three pronged kunai in his left hand which he flung at Kang. As Kang dodged out of the way Janet yelled out, “What the hell do you think you're doing?!”

A bright flash later and Minato was holding the kunai that flew past Kang before he slammed his right hand it’s the man’s back. Kang couldn’t even scream as he felt a truck hit him from behind. He was blasted off his feet as he flew over thirty feet away to ragdoll across the ground. After he stopped moving Minato asked, “I thought he was supposed to be tough?”

Janet, who just watched her friend get attacked, struggled in Hank’s overly strong grip as she said, “Let me go Hank! Your friend just tried to kill Kang!”

Janet glared at Minato as she struggled to get out of Hank’s grasp as she said, “Who the fuck do you think you are?!”

Tobirama flickered over to Kang’s body and checked on the man as Minato said, “I just told you…”

Tobirama glanced at Ashina as he said, “He’s still alive, but you’ll need to stabilize him.”

Janet finally broke free of Hank’s grasp and turned around to slap him. Hank caught her hand as he said, “I know you're upset, but that man is not who you think he is. We needed to make sure we attacked him with his guard down or there was a possibility he could have killed us all.”

Ashina joined Tobirama and started to set up special seals on Kang as Janet said, “What are you talking about? He’s just a guy who traveled the multiverse in his ship till he crashed here.”

Peggy moved next to Janet as she said, “You heard his name which he didn’t deny, Kang the Conqueror. He traveled the multiverse and wiped out the places he visited.”

Steve nodded as he said, “He is the reason we came here with your husband… Except he doesn’t seem that powerful compared to what we heard about him.”

Tobirama stood up as he said, “He didn’t have his armor or technology, so he is pretty much a normal person currently.”

Janet, still confused over what was going on, wanted to argue when she went limp and forced Hank to catch her. Hank glanced at his wife as Tobirama said, “I used a genjutsu to show her who Kang is.”

Hank nodded in understanding before he lifted her up and moved to the hut with her. As Hank went to take care of his wife Ashina walked over with Kang’s body floating in the air behind him as he said, “I stabilized Kang and locked him in status. He should be good till someone can heal him.”

Wong glanced at Kang as he asked, “Why exactly are we keeping him alive? Shouldn’t we just kill him?”

“Ezekiel wants to scan his mind for information and technology.” Minato said.

Peggy glanced at Kang before she said, “If that’s the case, you should have gone easier on him.”

Minato rubbed the back of his head as he said, “I didn’t realize he wasn’t in his armor.”

Wong glanced around for a few moments before he asked, “So now what? We should be done here right?”

“As far as I know.” Steve said.

Tobirama nodded in agreement before he said, “Let's wait for Janet to wake up. Plus we need to collect Kang’s ship and the Multiversal Engine Core.”

Once Janet woke up she apologized to everyone for her earlier outburst, before she showed them the Multiversal Engine Core. Hank used shrink discs on Kangs ship and also shrunk down their own ship before he redeployed the building they used as a base. As he did Wong asked, “Why are we setting up the base? Aren’t we done here?”

Hank nodded before he said, “We need to go through the scanners in the base first. I also wanna give the drones a command to keep mapping out the quantum realm.”

After everyone was back in the base and was cleared, even Janet and Kang. Wong used the bracelet he wore to contact Tao and within moments a silver lined portal opened up for them. Once everyone came back to Earth, they split off into different groups. Janet and Hank went to meet Hope, Steve and Peggy went to shower before they headed out on a date. Wong stayed with Tao to go over what happened, while Theo’s clone’s dropped off Kang at the medical base before they dispelled.

It was a good thing Theo fixed the way memory packets were delivered, otherwise it might have knocked him out from information overload. Theo was in the middle of playing board games with his family when it happened and once he skimmed over the packets he went to use the bathroom. After he switched with a shadow clone he changed into Ezekiel and portaled to the medical base.

Once there he sent out a message to Tao and Agatha and asked for them to join him at the medical base when they were free. Within half an hour they arrived at the base and joined him in the waiting room as they waited for Tsunade to finish fixing Kang up. As they sat there Ezekiel looked over the broken Multiversal Engine Core, while Tao and Agatha played a game on their phones.

Ezekiel glanced up from the Multiversal Engine Core after a while and said, “If I knew you were going to get addicted to that game I wouldn’t have made it.”

Tao glanced up as she said, “We’re not addicted, it’s just a nice time waster.”

As Agatha nodded in agreement Ezekiel said in a flat tone of voice, “Then why did you ask me to give you unlimited lives?”

“Because a disciple is supposed to give their master gifts to show appreciation.” Tao said matter of factly.

Ezekiel shook his head as the doors to the ER area flung open and Tsunade walked out with her team. She glanced at Ezekiel and said, “He’s healed and stable. Also the seals are still in place for keeping him asleep.”

Ezekiel stood up and carried the Multiversal Engine Core towards the room as Tao and Agatha joined him. Once inside the room Tao brought out a magic device and placed it on Kang’s head before she went to cast a spell. Just as she started, the heart rate monitor on Kang slowed down along with the other devices. Tao stopped her spell casting as time seemed to completely freeze.

A second later a starry rift opened above Kang and a voice said, “You are just as bad as your kids.”

Ezekiel, Tao and Agatha all froze at the familiar voice as a bunch of noodles reached through the rift and grabbed Kang along with the Multiversal Engine Core. As both Kang and the Multiversal Engine Core were getting pulled back towards the rift Ezekiel asked, “What do you mean? What did my kids do?”

“They figured out how to travel the multiverse.” The voice said.

“They did? Why is that bad?... Wait, are they coming here?!” Ezekiel asked in excitement.

As the rift started to close the voice said, “People traveling the multiverse always causes issues, so I normally restrict it. As for your kids, I put them in time out.”

“You put them in time out?!?!” Ezekiel asked as the rift closed fully and time went back to normal.

“HEY! WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY TIME OUT!?” Ezekiel yelled at the ceiling.