Canon Fodder

CHAPTER 435 FIXING PROBLEMS

I was back in the red room. A notification popped up in front of me. 

“Of course it fucking is,” I said, annoyed by the announcement. 

“Congratulations,” L said as he appeared at the Hall entrance.

“Why am I not surprised?” I asked. “You’re a freaking hall monitor. Always telling on me when I get to the good stuff.”

“Right you are,” the Moderator in the guise of L from Deathnote said. “More than you know.” He let out a tired sigh. “It really wasn’t a coincidence that future you showed up. He was getting the same quests you were, so he wrapped up his own fun and came back.” 

“Ah,” I said. “I thought the timing was a little too coincidental.” I studied him. “I get questions right? Will my future self and that timeline continue on?” 

“I cannot answer that,” he said. “Just picture that they don’t exist anymore. You’ll probably change crap and make it so that doesn’t happen now anyway. I hate time travel tropes. Always gumming up the real story.” He sighed again. “Well, you did the work. You were set to save quite a few mutants. Here are your rewards.” Another screen popped up. 

I whistled appreciatively. I read through them, but locked onto the Hall Door Fragment. “Will this item allow me to-”

“Reopen the Manga Hall? Yes. Or open a new hall. Really depends. Those are rare. Consider it a consolation prize for not getting any questions answered by future you,” L said.

“Fuck yeah,” I said. All the effort felt worth it this time, but I wanted to try to get more. “You sure this is it? That would have been a big opportunity to talk to future me.” 

“You’re greedy like the rest of you lot,” L said, bored. “But rules are rules. Most don’t want to waste the question asking for more, and since the opportunity for you was pretty good…” He looked at an invisible screen. “I can offer you an additional Tier 4 reward.” 

“What’s-” I almost asked, but left it since I didn’t want to waste a question. Nodding, another screen popped up. 

“Holy shit,” I said, reading through them. If Challenger Slots were a reward, that meant this was good. Most seemed obvious. Passive Skills were always the most valuable, but the Combination was exactly what I’d been looking for.

“Is the combination-”

“Yes, you pick two Skills and the System combines them,” L said. My heart rate increased. I had never seen such a reward. It was exactly what I had been trying to work toward, but I thought I’d need the Infinity Stones to do it. Since L hadn’t left I asked one more question.

“And the Erasure?”

“Those would erase a skill or bonus. Leaving it blank. Then canon would happen, and based off a quest you received you would get an option of one or two to pick from. Useful if you know what people you will fight.”

“I bet,” I said.

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Over a year into my five year break from challenges and I was 25% of the way into opening the Manga Hall again. Also 50% of the way to opening MHA World again. Finally an end in sight to getting back to Toru I looked around. I was tempted to open another world, but I had so many things to do in Marvel. I couldn’t forget any of them. I wanted to find out what the hell happened in Marvel to make it all go to shit. Taking a breath I stepped back into the 7 o’clock door with a smile. 

—

I blinked and Kitty was in front of me. Her arm still on my shoulder, I swooped and picked her up in a hug. She was young again, but just in case I wanted to make sure she could touch me and bring me back into the future if she needed. Though I felt like the Moderator may step in, I didn’t care. I wasn’t going to let a future like that happen. Feeling like Scrooge on Christmas morning, finally seeing a world that wasn’t ruined. I laughed as Kitty fought me. 

“What’s gotten into you?” She asked, blushing as I set her down.

“I’m just happy to see you,” I said, patting her head and giving future her another chance to pull me. Nothing happened.

“Well deal with the bullshit you caused,” she said in a huff. She eyed Anne Marie behind her. The girl had been angry before from me carrying Delilah. Delilah watching from the hall behind us, Storm grabbed her shoulder and dragged her away. 

“Sorry,” I said to Anne. She was young again. No longer a blazing inferno of Haki. Though I could picture her naked, I pushed the imagery out of my mind. This was a different girl. I tried to remember the clues she gave me. The only thing that stuck out was I had to stick with her. “H-how long have you been back at school?” I asked. 

“A uh…” she blinked, blushing as she looked down then back up. “Not long. A week or so.” She took a few tentative steps toward me. She was in jeans and a long-sleeve black shirt. Silver dangling earrings hanging down, the dark lipstick and eyeshadow went well with her nose ring. It looked like her style was turning more goth than repressed Christian girl like before. Her hair was still brown, and the gray streaks framed her face perfectly. 

“What’s it been? A month since we talked?” I asked. “What have you been up to?” 

“Not as much as you, apparently,” she mumbled. “Did you really figure out what caused your mutation?” 

“I did,” I said with a nod. It really had been a long time.

“You used to say you wanted to kill the guy that did it to you,” she whispered. Her fingers fidgeting, she clasped them together. A student walking by they were more than a little interested in our conversation. I waved Anne over and walked out the door. She hesitated but followed. 

The night air was cold, she put on a jacket and I began to walk toward the parking lot near the school. “I didn’t kill him,” I assured. “No, that guy’s life was worse than I could ever make it.” I side-eyed her. “He had no dick,” I stage-whispered. 

“No what?” 

“Dick, I heard he lost it during a roller coaster ride or explosion; they weren’t too clear on it,” I admitted. She didn’t have a reply to that. Some slight amusement in her, then sorry for Connors, her confusion was back up instantly. I could feel what she wanted to say, or at least I guessed what she wanted to say. 

Either she had found someone else, knew I had been with someone else, or was as lost about our situation as I was. One of those three scenarios was going through her mind. I wished it was the latter, but I doubted it.  

“Are you glad you went home?” I asked as we continued to walk. Dark outside, there were street lamps overhead that showed the path to the lot. 

Anne let out a sigh. “At first, no. It was awkward,” she admitted. “Then after a couple of days…yes. I got to hug my mom again. My little brothers. My dad even. Got to hang out with my cousins. Just kind of ignored this whole place for a while.”

“Good.” Putting off the real conversation I noted, “When did you start wearing makeup?” I asked. 

“You like?” She asked with a smile. Turning to flash her widest toothy grin between dark lipstick. 

“I do, seems more your style,” I said truthfully. “Decided on any more piercings?” 

She laughed, relaxing a little as she skipped once to dodge a crack in the sidewalk. “Where should I get it?” 

“Hmmm,” I said looking over her face. “Lip probably, no wait tongue. Yep, that’s you.” 

“Doesn’t that hurt?” She asked, skeptical. 

“No idea. You’ll never catch me purposefully piercing my body,” I said. With Magneto around, she was probably going to have to switch to plastic piercings or something. 

I shook my head. I needed to stop distracting myself. I’d known this day would come eventually. I was quickly removing the future from my mind. Though future Anne had given me some hints, each of the future people had been lacking on the details. I had to focus on the present, and the problems at hand. I tried to recall where she and I were last. 

Anne and my breakup had been very amicable and we left on great terms. Part of me knew she didn’t see it as a breakup. But I’d seriously tried to move on. With Hisako’s constant gossiping, I was sure something had gotten back to Anne. Yet I was too scared to hear the truth. I could face death but breaking the heart of a woman I cared for was beyond me. 

“I-“ we said at the same time. Then we stopped so the other could talk. 

“You first,” she said quickly. 

“I missed you,” I admitted, changing up what I was going to say. “I really did. Sorry, I didn’t call so much.”

“It’s okay,” she said. “I didn’t call you back.”

“True. Do you feel better? Less…in a cage?” I asked. 

“I never felt like I was in a cage,” she admitted, some sadness leaking into her. “I really didn’t. I simply thought my power sucks. But I’ll figure it out. Then you said that I was in prison, and to be honest, it was eye-opening. I was really locked away. A self-built prison to help keep people around me safe,” she said. 

“Of course. You’re selfless.”

“No, I wasn’t. Just scared. You should have seen me on the plane the next day. Shaking like a leaf because you weren’t there,” she said, wiping her eyes. “I thought I’d lose control or something. The plane was so cramped.”

I frowned. “I gave you more than enough money for 1st class.”

She laughed. “I didn’t know that at the time. But I got through it. You uh…you helped me so much.” Her hand moved over to mine, grabbing it. I was reluctant but squeezed her hand. She smiled wider, tears in her eyes. “You helped me get through it.”

“I told you. I’d do anything for you,” I said truthfully. I was tempted to pretend she was stealing my lifeforce but it didn’t feel right. No, that moment had to be perfect, so I would save it for another time. 

“I believe you,” she said. Her lips twisting from a smile to a frown, then back to a smile as her emotions became a sea of turmoil. 

“Want to go somewhere else and really talk? Or do you have to catch a plane?” I asked. 

“I’m here for good,” she said. “No plane.”

“Then come on,” I said, gesturing at a truck in the parking lot. “I’ll show you my place.”

She opened her mouth, hesitating, but ended up nodding. Getting into the X-Men truck we were on our way. The road from Xavier’s school for the mentally and physically gifted had a private road that joined onto a highway. It wasn’t terribly long until we were at the outskirts of New Haven. Anne sitting awkwardly, her hands in her lap, fidgeting all the while. I knew this night wasn’t going to be fun.