Chapter Text
Diary entry #2716
My latest project is complete. The first trial run will be done today. I am thinking about asking Johnny if he wants to come with me.
I will be bringing project IA just in case.
Alexei Kuznetsov told me my projects will never work. I ignored him.
~~~
Aaron
~~~
"I need some help," I said, sitting down across from Johnny.
"What do you need, Aaron?" He asked, I held up the Multiversal Bands for him to see.
"Multiversal transportation. We need to program what universe we need to go to, put them on, and then BOOM. We are there."
Johnny stared at me in shock. "And you want me? to come with you? Why not Reed? Or Sue?"
"Two reasons: Number 1) You owe me one. And Number 2) You said you would help me with an experiment," I said seriously. He nodded and gave a small smile. "Please, Johnny..."
"Today?" He asked. "Bobby and Peter are both coming around in a few hours."
"It will only take an hour and a half. I promise. Can I come to hang out when they arrive?"
"Fine. An hour and a half. Also, we're talking about superhero things but yeah, you can hang out with us."
"And bring that super-suit of yours. We might run into trouble."
He stood up and went to the kitchen I followed him in, Reed was there, making a few coffees and grabbing a few snacks. "You are so lucky you're cute."
"Johnny, don't flirt with my brother," Reed told Johnny, who in return stuck his tongue out at him.
"Reed, stop trying to limit others' human interaction," I said, glaring at him. He rolled his eyes and grabbed the coffees. "Not only is it rude and mean, but you will find that you will regret it if you do."
"Aaron, Johnny is a playboy. He doesn't care about you," Reed said on his way out, ignoring what I had said to him. "I don't want to see you getting your heart broken again."
"Again?" Johnny whispered.
"Long, long story. Do not ask."
"Give me fifteen minutes to get into uniform. We'll meet in your lab," Johnny said, I nodded and grabbed a banana out of the fruit basket.
~~~
It took Johnny half an hour to get to my lab. It gave me time to work on what Earth we were going to go to. Earth-11 seemed okay. So did Earth-33 and Earth-616. I definitely didn't want to go to Earth-811 or Earth-2149.
"Hey, sorry I'm late! Dad wanted to talk about my future," Johnny said when he came in. "He's really angry at me for saying I don't want to go to University. He's threatening to kick me out."
"If he kicks you out, I'm leaving too. He wouldn't want one of his best brains to leave," I said. "It's ready. Are you?"
"Yup. Let's go!"
"Put out your wrist. You'll need to wear this if you want to get between the two Earths," I said, I the band on his wrist. His was gold and mine was silver. "Don't worry, it can withstand your powers. It'll be fine. I've got backup, you know, for just in case."
My 'backup' was armour. It was like Iron Man's armour but 10× better. More advanced than what Antonio Stark could ever do. More advanced, more environmentally friendly and much, much lighter. I'd made it after Alexei Kuznetsov told me I would never be a genius. That I wasn't supposed to be here with the real geniuses. So I decided to prove him wrong by making something better than the biggest genius in the world.
Proving people wrong was one of my favourite hobbies.
"Backup?" Johnny asked nervously.
"I'll explain later. I hope we won't have to use it but to be honest, I'm not sure," I said. "I have no clue what is going on on that earth right now, all I know is that it's our Universes big sister."
He nodded thoughtfully. "That does sound like the kind of alternate Universe you would choose."
"Let's go."
~~~
Johnny
~~~
It happened so quickly. One second I was in Aaron's lab, the next I was in some kind of strange forest area. Aaron looked around curiously. It was nighttime here and I could hear music off in the distance. There seemed to be some kind of big party going on.
"This is Krakoa. Krakoa didn't exist until 2022," He said. "I tried to shoot for 2019 but I guess I overshot."
"We went to the future?" I asked. "Wow. I wonder if they have flying cars."
"The fantasti-car?" He pointed out.
"Destroyed, remember?"
"Only because Reed made it."
"Do you think you could make something better?" I asked him jokingly, he looked thoughtful and began to count on his fingers.
"Yes. I mean, maybe. If I had the right recourses," he finally said. He'd always been confident. He'd always known what he could and couldn't do. A lot of older scientists and doctors thought he was arrogant and conceited. He once asked Antonio Stark: 'but is it arrogance if you know what you know and are open about it?' "What are you thinking about?"
"The time Tony Stark called you arrogant."
"He wants me to doubt myself. He told me it's better to doubt myself than to act like I know everything," Aaron said, his tone suddenly going soft. "Self-doubt is a disease. A sickness that plagues the brain. One that a few too many suffer from. It's the reason so many people fail and why so many don't try."
"I agree with you," I said, I sat down on a rock and he sat down next to me.
I could hear people talking and footsteps heading towards us. I looked around, and a strong sense of dread washed over me. They were going to find us and then they would fight us.
"What's wrong?" Aaron asked.
"I hear people. And I have a really bad feeling about this."
He nodded, standing up. "Let's go then."
"Uncle Johnny? Is that you?" a voice called out from just outside the trees. I looked over panicked.
"Uhhh no?" I called back, Aaron was fiddling around with his wristband and he started cursing under his breath. "I'm-I'm Peter Drake!"
"Fuck! I think we're stuck," Aaron said, still cursing under his breath.
"What? You said we'd be fine, Aaron!"
"And I thought we would be, but I must have mixed up the calculations!" He said. He stood up and started pacing back and forwards. "We are so screwed. Dr Storm said I had only one chance left."
"Hey, it's okay. It'll be fine."
"Okay 'Peter Drake'," He mumbled.
"Sometimes I can't tell if you're being mean or you're being sarcastic," I said.
"That's your uncle's voice," a second voice said from behind the trees. "But he sounds young. Like really, really young."
"Should we go get my mom and dad?" The first voice asked.
"Eh. Probably just another mutant who's playing a prank. Let's go back to the party."
I sighed in relief and looked over at Aaron, who was still fiddling around with his wristband. "I set this for an hour on our earth," he finally said, looking worried. 'Who knows how much time will pass here while an hour passes there?"
"We're stuck here?" I asked.
"According to this, only two minutes have passed on our earth since we left," Aaron said, running one of his hands through his hair.
"Oh, God. What do we do?" I asked desperately. He shrugged and looked around again.
"We should try and go somewhere we know is safe. The Baxter Building?" He suggested, I shook my head. "Let's just see if we can find an abandoned building or something. Someplace safe that we know from our Earth."
"What did you say you heard, Franklin?" a voice from behind the trees said. I looked over at Aaron, who looked like he hadn't heard it.
"Uncle Johnny. But he's inside. Are you sure you don't have any mutants that mimick others' voices?" I recognised that voice as being the first voice from before.
"They're over here," another new voice said. They were walking towards us. "Two of them. One of them is Johnny, the other is some other teenage boy."
"Aaron, we have to leave. Now."
"Why?" He asked, looking slightly stunned.
"People are coming!" I whispered.
A small group of people wearing very fashionable clothes burst in, looking like they were ready to beat us to a pulp, I immediately stood up and moved in front of Aaron.
"Four minutes," Aaron said to himself. "This is very interesting."
I looked back over at the small group of people. "Okay, shapeshifter and weird science boy. Who are you?" One asked.
"Aaron Gary Richards and Jonathan Lowell Spencer Storm of Earth-1610," Aaron said, finally looking up. "Don't worry, we're not here to invade this Earth or to ask for multiverse help. There was just a science experiment that went wrong."
"We need to take you to the boneyard. To confirm that you are who you say you are," one of the people said. He had a large tattoo and long claws.
Aaron looked untroubled by that and kept glancing down at his wristband
~~~
Aaron
~~~
I am extremely ashamed to admit that I did not hear X-Factor Investigations (and Franklin Richards) come up to us.
The boneyard turned out to be the X-Factor headquarters, and all members of the team lived there, it was pretty exciting. And they were all nice but distracted. This place was so amazing. I wish they had an island like this at home, so then Mutants could live in peace and harmony. I wish I could have gotten more written down and documented before Johnny and I were taken here.
"This place is so awesome!" I babbled away to Northstar. "A living island. A. Living. Island. Fascinating! How does it work? Is it science, magic or both?"
"Krakoa is a mutant," Jean-Paul replied. "So it's science."
"Amazing," I whispered, Johnny gave me a look that I couldn't quite decipher.
"Aaron, we can't think about the awesome living island right now. We need to focus on getting home," Johnny said. I nodded in agreement.
"Yes. Right. Sorry."
I could focus on all of this at a later date; if I decided to come back to this Earth. Which I hoped would. I was almost 100% sure this place was a utopia. It was so different from our Universe.
"I got the results," Jeanne-Marie said from the doorway. "They are both from Earth-1610. They are both also in the database; which made things a whole lot easier for Hank."
"Database?" I asked, suddenly suspicious. "What database?"
She handed us the file and we both skimmed over it. It had basic information like our full names, our birthdays and other things but it also had things like daily schedule 'danger level'.
"'Danger level'...what the hell is that?" Johnny asked himself.
"Well, I assume it means how dangerous we are," I said, he poked me in my ribs.
"I know that, you smartass. I'm wondering why it's there."
Jean-paul chucked and rolled his eyes. "So, how long have you two been friends?"
"About seven years," Johnny said, slouching back in his seat.
"Seven years in two weeks," I corrected. "We met June 12th, 2013. It's May 29th."
"Okay, Mr pedantic."
"That would make it 2019," Jean-Paul said. "You guys came from 2019?"
"Yup."
"I am afraid so."
'I have to go talk to Hank. We might have messed a few things up," Jean-Paul said, one second he was here and the next he was gone