Marvel: The Awakened One

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Right now, Reed Richards had only one thought running through his mind.

He had to put his big brain to work, solve the mysteries of the multiverse, figure out how to travel through it, and get Gwen out of here as soon as possible. She was basically a disaster waiting to happen.

The bottom line was simple. It didn’t matter if he could really send her home or not—he just needed her gone from this Earth.

Gwen could read exactly what Reed was thinking just by looking at his face.

After all... the smarter the man, the more insanely arrogant he tended to be. Tony was exactly like that. And Reed Richards was cut from the exact same cloth.

Smart and arrogant. Guys like that never bothered to hide their true feelings—at least, not until reality punched them in the teeth.

Tony was actually a bit better than Reed in that regard. Mostly because Tony had been punched in the teeth. He had learned to change his tune since then.

But... Gwen didn’t really care what Reed thought of her, as long as he could figure out the multiverse.

She was a biologist by trade. Sure, she knew her way around physics, but her grasp of multiversal theory probably wasn’t even as good as Peter’s. That was exactly why she had sought out Reed. If you couldn’t do the math yourself, you hired a professional. There was no shame in that.

As for worrying about potential danger?

She wasn’t an idiot. Plus, she had deep pockets. There was a reason she had waited until now to approach Reed Richards. She had spent a small fortune hiring multiple private investigative firms to run a comprehensive background check on the guy.

It boiled down to one sentence: Reed Richards was a Tony Stark-esque superhero. Brilliant. Arrogant. But ultimately a decent guy.

Alongside his wife, his brother-in-law, and The Thing, the Fantastic Four had averted numerous global crises. They had earned their stellar reputation in this world.

Only after confirming all that did Gwen finally make her move.

Part of her really wanted to test the waters—to see if putting herself in mortal danger would magically summon Hawk to save her like he always did.

But... she couldn’t risk it.

Because she wasn’t just one person anymore. Now, she was three.

Under Reed’s arrangements, Gwen moved into a luxurious, thousand-square-foot penthouse apartment on the upper floors of the Baxter Building. She took a slow look around the room, then lowered her gaze to her belly, which was already showing a three-month bump.

”This place isn’t too bad,” she smiled. ”I bet you guys like it too.”

Susan Storm, the Invisible Woman, who was giving Gwen the grand tour, blinked in surprise as she watched Gwen stroke her stomach. Then, it clicked.

”Dr. Phoenix...”

”Just call me Gwen,” she said, looking up with a warm smile.

Susan nodded. ”Gwen, are you... pregnant?”

”I am.”

Susan drew in a sharp breath. She looked completely stunned for a moment before offering a genuine smile. ”Congratulations.”

Gwen beamed and thanked her, then tilted her head. ”Before I came here, I read up on your team online. I know you and Dr. Richards are married. Are you two planning on having kids anytime soon?”

Susan’s expression suddenly changed.

Gwen noticed the shift immediately. ”I’m sorry. If you don’t want to talk about it, you don’t have to—”

”No, it’s fine,” Susan interrupted, shaking her head with a strained smile. ”We were all exposed to a massive cosmic radiation storm. The doctors told us the chances of us conceiving are... very slim.”

Calling the chances slim was being generous. In reality, they were almost zero.

Gwen blinked, processing the information. ”Could you let me look at your medical files?”

”Um...” Susan looked up, caught off guard.

Gwen shrugged. ”The only thing I’ve released here is the Regenerative Serum. But back home, I studied with Dr. Helen Cho, who’s known as one of the smartest people on the planet. And since I’m from a different reality, I might have a way to help you.”

Susan’s eyes instantly lit up. ”Are you serious, Gwen?”

”I can certainly try.”

”I’ll go get the files right now.” Suddenly unable to sit still, Susan was already spinning around and heading for the door before she even finished her sentence.

Gwen watched Susan hurry out and chuckled softly. She looked down and gently stroked her stomach, feeling the life growing inside her.

”I forgot to make your daddy pick out names before we left,” she murmured. ”Let’s hope we find a way home before you two make your debut.”

But that was a pipe dream.

Even if Reed Richards was the smartest man alive, they were still dealing with the multiverse. Keep in mind, before Gwen had slammed a literal diamond planet onto his desk, Reed hadn’t bought a single word of her interdimensional backstory.

And Gwen was already three months along.

So... fast forward six months, and even the smartest man in the world had to admit defeat. Dr. Richards finally conceded that cracking the code of the multiverse wasn’t going to happen overnight.

It wasn’t all bad news, though.

The good news: Reed had crunched a mountain of data and successfully theorized the existence of the Quantum Realm, a dimension that could theoretically bridge the infinite multiverse.

The bad news: figuring out how to actually enter the Quantum Realm was going to take an insane amount of time.

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Reed had planned to spend the day in his lab, digging into quantum research. But then the United Earth Government called. They’d found some strange anomalies out in deep space.

”About eight months ago, we observed several new celestial bodies out in the cosmos,” the government official explained over the comms. ”They appeared completely out of nowhere. Like they simply blinked into existence. They were incredibly far away, but about an hour ago, the Voyager probe captured this image.”

Reed stared at the image on his main screen, frowning. He compared it to a photo of the same area from a month earlier. The older picture didn’t show this new galaxy at all.

”An entire galaxy just... popped into existence?”

”Correct.”

”But this is the truly shocking part,” the government science officer said, switching to the next slide. ”Based on our current telemetry, those newly formed celestial bodies appear to be emerging from this.”

Reed went dead silent.

He stared at the image, then looked at the science officer, hoping this was all some kind of joke.

But the officer’s face was completely serious. He met Reed’s eyes and gave a grim nod.

Reed was absolutely floored. ”That’s scientifically impossible.”

”It’s already happening, Dr. Richards,” the officer replied grimly. ”Fortunately, whatever it is, it’s a significant distance away. Which means we still have a window to figure this out. Or at least, I hope we have time to figure out what the hell is going on.”

Reed’s voice dropped an octave. ”How far away are we talking?”

”5.8 billion light-years.”

Reed went completely silent again.

He looked at the man, still hoping for a punchline that never came. He was disappointed again.

Eight months ago.

5.8 billion light-years.

A spontaneously generating galaxy.

With the classified intel from the United Earth Government, Reed stepped into the elevator, his mind racing. He felt like he had all the pieces, but couldn’t quite put them together.

——————————

Just then.

Ding! The elevator doors slid open.

”Reed!”

”Hey, Sue—”

”Gwen’s going into labor.”

Reed stepped out, starting to greet her, but his wife ignored him and hurried past, heading straight for Gwen’s apartment down the hall.

Gwen had decided not to give birth in a regular hospital. Instead, she chose to deliver right here in the Baxter Building. A top medical team, selected and vetted by Gwen a month earlier, was already on site and ready to help. So safety wasn’t an issue.

Why did she avoid the hospital? The answer was simple.

Gwen was cautious. She couldn’t pinpoint exactly what she was worried about, but she remembered what Hawk always said: Better safe than sorry. It’s not the odds that get you; it’s the variables.

Compared to some random, unfamiliar hospital in this bizarre dimension, the Baxter Building—the fortified headquarters of the Fantastic Four—felt infinitely safer. Whatever else they were, they were still the squeaky-clean, world-saving superheroes of this reality.

Helen Stacy was also inside the delivery room.

Like Gwen, she still had all her memories. She remembered Hawk.

Helen had handled the whole multiverse situation pretty well. With Gwen paying for everything, Helen spent the last few months treating this new version of New York like a vacation. Every night, she’d sit with George, who also remembered everything, and they’d chat about all the strange differences between this city and their own.

George was dealing with it pretty well, too.

Other than joking about unloading a whole crate of ammo into Hawk as soon as they got back, he was staying calm. He’d even gotten a job with this universe’s NYPD.

A cop is a cop, no matter the dimension. Plus, staying active on the force meant he wouldn’t get rusty—ensuring his aim would be dead-on when he finally got the chance to shoot his son-in-law.

By the time Susan arrived, George was pacing anxiously back and forth in the living room, right in front of the massive floor-to-ceiling windows.

Outside the window, the distant horizon looked like it was on fire. A deep, unnatural red spread across the sky, almost like an inferno.

Right then!

A piercing scream echoed from the bedroom.

”Ahhh!”

”I changed my mind! I’m not doing this!”

”Damn you, Hawk! Did you know it was going to hurt this much?! Is that why you aren’t here?! I’m going to kill you!”

”Push! Keep pushing!”

”It hurts!”

”Push harder!”

”I’m done! I quit! Ahhh!”

Lying in the hospital bed, Gwen screamed at the top of her lungs, glaring at her mother who was standing right by her side. ”When we get back, I am going to beat Hawk to a pulp! This was his idea! He wanted kids, and now he’s not even—Ahhh!”

Mid-rant, Gwen arched her back uncontrollably, letting out one final, agonizing wail.

A second later.

”Waaaaaaaaah!”

...

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