Jump 13: The Last Avenger - Episode 8: The Way Back May Be Lost

One night, as I was sleeping in my bed after a day of training, I felt a familiar presence in my mind.

“Duke, wake up.”

My eyes shot open and I got out of bed, looking to see if Psyche was in my room.

“Get dressed and come outside. Don’t wake the others. They can’t know I’m here.”

I heard her instructions in my mind and did as she asked before making my way outside. She was standing, no, hovering slightly not too far from the door with the same orange glow surrounding her as when I last saw her.

“Are you back to being Psyche?”

“Yes, for now anyway. The Phoenix Force has taught me many things, namely a way to return to my own time.”

“Well with Genosha no longer under Apocalypse’s rule what’s keeping you here?”

“The Sentinels, mainly. Part of my wish to the Force was to not only stop Apocalypse, but to grant me power in helping to stop the Sentinels. But that’s not why I’m here right now.”

“So why have you stopped by without letting the others know? I know you know they’re here.”

“I came to help you get your memories back. There are some people that know who you are and have been looking for you this entire time.”

“Oh? That’s… I’m not quite sure how I should feel about that.”

“I understand. You’ve gotten along this far and done so much for Genosha without them, but you really need to get them back. Those people that know who you are, they’re a group calling themselves the New Avengers. With you as their leader, they took out both A.I.M. and Hydra. Two of the biggest organizations that were plunging the world into chaos. Something’s been keeping them from finding you here, so I’ve decided to take you to them myself.”

“I don’t suppose I can say ‘no’, can I?”

“You wouldn’t refuse anyway. Let’s get going. You’ve kept these people waiting long enough. Don’t worry, you’ll be able to come back here and see everyone again.”

“I suppose you’re right. I guess I won’t change much if I did all of that for the world.”

I was lifted into the air by Psyche’s powers and the two of us began to fly away from the base, from Genosha, to parts unknown to me. As we were leaving, I noticed the door had been opened and Karen and Sora were watching us ascend.

“I told you not to wake them…”

“But I didn’t make enough noise to.”

I saw a tear fall down her face that made me understand why she said that.

“I know…”

We would gradually speed up, but thanks to her powers I never felt the ill effects of going at such high speeds. We crossed the ocean, and most of a continent from what Psyche told me.  Arriving at the city where the people had a base, I was shocked to find multiple flying fortresses hovering around the city. We landed on the central one, and Psyche released me from her power. Without warning, several automated guns emerged from the floor and walls aimed right at us.

“Are you sure they’ve been searching for me?”

“Keep in mind we did just appear on their sensors out of nowhere. They do still have enemies to be warry of.”

As we stood waiting for someone to appear, two figures flew into view from another of the flying bases. One looked to be made up of some purple energy, and the other was on fire.

“I don’t know what rock you crawled out from but… King? Is that- It is! Simon, King came back!”

“Holy- I can’t believe it. King, where’ve you been all this time?”

The two landed next to us, and the one on fire… de-fired himself.

“Who’s your lady friend? You know, Alice might get real upset if you don’t have a good reason.”

“She’ll be upset regardless. She’s been trying to track him for months.”

“My name is Psyche Summers. X-Men member Marvel Girl.”

“X-Men? My dad worked with them a few times.”

“Who was your father?”

“Johnny Storm of the Fantastic Four. Better known as the Human Torch, a title I’ve taken for myself.”

“I see. The Four always did have good relations with Xavier and his teams…”

“What’s say after we get you both situated, the two of go out and light up the night sky.”

“Leo, now is not the time to try flirting with someone that doesn’t think you’re a hot head. King, Psyche follow us. We’ve got to let Frida and Alice know what you’ve been doing for the past three months.”

“Not cool Simon. Anyway, we don’t even know what you’ve been up to yet. You’ve been quieter than usual. Give us a little taste of where you’ve been hiding this entire time.”

“There’s no point in making him tell the same story twice back to back. We can all hear it at the same time.”

“Listen, both of you.”

“What’s up man?”

“Something the matter?”

“I don’t-”

“Where have you been you idiot?!”

I turned to see a woman walking out of a portal that promptly closed behind her, looking very upset at me. If I looked closely enough, I thought I could see tears in her eyes.

“You think you can pull a stupid stunt like that, disappear for months and just show up out of the blue? Do you have any idea how worried we were about you? How much we wanted to stop everything and go look for you without pause?”

She asked these questions as she stormed over to me. I expected her to hit me or start yelling again, but instead she pulled me into a hug.

“I thought you might have actually died you jerk. Why didn’t you come back sooner? We can’t be the New Avengers without our leader.”

“As you can see, Alice was the most worried out of all of us.”

“She spent so much of her free time trying to find you, but not even her orb could locate you.”

“Both of you need to shut up.”

Hearing all of this made my next actions all the harder to do, but I forced myself. Placing my hands on Alice’s shoulders, I gently pushed her away and sighed.

“Listen, all of you, this is important. I don’t remember anything past the last three months. I have this vague sense of déjà vu, but besides that, I don’t know who you are or what we’ve done in the past. I’m sorry.”

The three of them were shocked at my revelation, as I expected them to be. Before they could ask anything else, I explained how I even knew to come to this location and sought to restore my lost memories somehow. When all was said, it was Simon that spoke first.

“Let’s get to the conference room then. There are some other people who need to hear what you’ve been doing before we find a way to get your memory back. Alice, go get Frida and meet us there.”

She merely nodded and left through another portal she opened.

“Things just can’t be easy, can they Simon?”

“If they were easy we’d have taken out the last of Hydra by now. Go get the kid. He’s probably working on something in the main lab.”

“Sure thing. See you in the conference room.”

Leo ran off and disappeared inside the base as Simon led us to our destination. Varying scientist and soldiers all gave me looks of respect and said things like “Good to have you back sir” or “Nice to have you with us again”. It was strange to think that I had so much authority before I lost my memory. We were the first to arrive and took seats at the conference table while we waited. Simon asked Psyche a couple of inconsequential questions and the two of them engaged in idle chatter before the others arrived. Alice and a woman I assumed must be Frida, Leo and the “boy” Simon mentioned, and someone that looked like a head scientist.

“King really is ok. Sorry I doubted you Leo.”

“Don’t sweat it Shock. I’d hardly believe it myself if I hadn’t seen him with my own eyes. Now, I believe you two have a story to tell, right?”

When everyone was situated, Psyche and I told them what had happened in the past three months. We left out personal details, like what happened between myself and Karen, but essentially gave a complete account of what happened. They were obviously surprised that Genosha was now no longer under the rule of a genocidal tyrant, but then accepted that if I was there it was only a matter of time before he went down. The amount of confidence in my abilities they had left me without words.

“I didn’t know you were a magic user, a demon lord and a mutant. Guess you learn something new every day. I wonder if you’re anything else you haven’t told us yet.”

“I’m a demon lord? And I can use magic?”

“Yes on both accounts. The magic you employed was quite powerful, and derived from a different source than anything in this universe that I’m aware of. Although since you’re not from this universe, this makes sense, along with the other strange abilities you possess. Although, you never showed us what being a demon lord entails before you disappeared.”

My head was begging to spin at the sudden influx of information. Magic? Demon lord? Other universes? It was a bit much to wrap my head around.

“Being around mutants for a while I don’t think anything I can do would prove that magic indeed exists. Mutant powers are wide and various, often highly supernatural by nature.”

“I see… I believe you it’s just… a lot to take in at once.”

“I imagine so. But, now’s the time I get a look inside your head to see why you can’t remember anything. For mutant telepaths like Psyche, magic is something that they have a hard time dealing with. But as the acting Sorceress Supreme, I should be able to do something about it.”

Alice got up, went over to me and placed a hand on my forehead.

“Bear with me, ok?”

Within moments, I felt her enter my mind in a way not dissimilar to Psyche’s. When she reached the block that Psyche always encountered, I could feel her pushing against it, searching for a weak point. As I felt the oncoming signs of a headache, she broke through and I was flooded with my many, many memories returning all at once. It was so sudden that I lost consciousness as I shifted through my memories, remembering all that I went through. But there was something unfamiliar intertwined with my returning memories. A man, dressed in green and yellow with a sinister, mocking look on his face as he whispered something to me that I couldn’t make out, but knew had an effect on me.

When I opened my eyes everyone was staring at me in anticipation, but as I merged the new memories with the old I couldn’t help but sigh and vocalize my frustration with my actions.

“Man I’m stupid, aren’t I?”

That wasn’t the reaction anyone had been expecting, but it was how I felt. Really, how oblivious could I be to… That’s not important right now. I dismissed their worried looks and let them know I remembered who I was again. King, universal outsider, leader of the New Avengers and the man that caused the take down both A.I.M. and Hydra. At least, that’s all they really knew about me. I asked for an update on what I missed in my three month absence and learned some good things. Since I was MIA, they decided to focus the efforts of A.I.M. and the New Avengers on making sure Hydra couldn’t pull itself back together while searching for me. While Red Skull is still at large, a sizable portion of the remaining Hydra forces were captured in some capacity and their bases repurposed or destroyed. Hydra was in no way able to strike back at us anymore, which meant that I could focus all manpower into stopping another threat of my choice. Given my recent outing on Genosha, the choice had been decided before I regained my memories. The Sentinels had to be destroyed.

While I knew the Sentinels would be prepared for everything I could dish out, they probably couldn’t handle the combined might of A.I.M., my team of Avengers, and the X-Men. The base of Master Mold was somewhere in the Savage Land, but the exact location was a mystery. Despite the technology at our disposal, the Sentinels knew how to hide themselves well. Going to the Savage Land without a plan could spell disaster for everyone involved, so we would take the time to come up with a plan. Once all of our forces were accounted for, that is. I wouldn’t want to do this without giving the mutants a chance to help take down the robots that wished to hunt them to extinction. To do that, I’d need to formally request the assistance of the X-Men and Genosha.

As it stood, I was ready to immediately go back, but everyone kept telling me that it could wait until the next day, and that I needed to rest. I felt like the peace I experienced in Genosha was plenty of rest, but I acquiesced to their concerns and decided to spend the day checking on things around the base. Alice and Leo were quick to join me and give me some of the finer details about what I missed. Shock couldn’t contain his curiosity at Psyche’s powers and asked her if she would participate in some nonintrusive experiments. She either read his mind or decided to trust him, because she rather quickly agreed to it with a smile. Some things just wouldn’t seem to change as I got to experience a few arguments between Leo and Alice. It was like I was making up for lost time, and I can’t say I disliked the feeling. But, there were still heavy things looming on my mind.

While Apocalypse was potentially the most threatening force besides Loki and Galactus, the fact that I couldn’t even amass a force to defeat him without the Phoenix Force weighed on my mind. What could I possibly accomplish when it came down to face those other two? Something told me I couldn’t just use Psyche and the Force to defeat them all, so I was veritably concerned. I forced myself to push those thoughts away for now, as there were still three threats on Earth at that moment that needed to be dealt with. The time for worrying would come later.

The next day, I took Alice and Leo with me to Genosha to help handle negotiations. When we stepped through the portal in front of the X-Men base I was met with a blast of wind that put me on my back.

“Who gave you permission to just leave without saying anything Duke? You had Karen and me worried… Umm, who are you?”

I hadn’t expected to be seen so soon, nor that I would be attacked for my not saying anything. It took Sora a second to realize that there were other people besides me and she hastily stopped looking so angry as Alice and Leo answered her question.

“My name is Alice Strange; acting Sorceress Supreme and member of the New Avengers.”

“Leo Storm. I don’t have a fancy title to throw around like Alice, but I’m a New Avenger all the same.”

“Ah, I’m Sora Munroe. Current second in command of the X-Men seeing as how Duke up and left us.”

“Duke, right. Listen Sora, I’ve regained my memories.”

“Really? That would explain why you brought these two here. Glad you still remember me. We were afraid you’d forget us when your memories returned. So, what am I supposed to call you? I bet your name starts with an M or something.”

“King.”

She stared at me in what I hope was mock disbelief before laughing a bit at me.

“Ok then, “King”. If it’s all right with your majesty, I think I’ll keep calling you Duke.”

“That’s fine by me. Where’s Karen? There’s something I need to talk with you both about.”

“She’s in the city meeting with Wanda. And shouldn’t you be settling the awkwardness of your relationship in private? You know she can’t get over you the way things are, right?”

“You must be adept at drawing those you hold dear close to you regardless of the circumstances. And to think you’d cause a woman such distress with your memories gone. You really can be a jerk.”

“Hmm? What are trying to say Alice? I don’t think I’m- Oh, I get it. You’ve got a thing for Duke too and you’re jealous that with his memories gone he fell for another woman.”

Alice’s face turned a shade of red faster than I thought possible as she was attempting to formulate a response to Sora’s accusations.

“You’re pretty perceptive Sora. It took me weeks to start reading her properly.”

“Chalk it up to a woman’s intuition. Although it’s not often a guy can get a read on a girl’s emotions when she’s like Alice… I’ll say no more. There’s already enough embarrassment in the air now.”

“Both of you shut up already. Don’t we need to go find this Karen person?”

“Yes, we do. Arriving via portal might not be the best idea, so let’s fly there. Sora, do you mind carrying me?”

“Man, way to ignore all of that like you weren’t even here. It’s almost as if you enjoy toying with women’s hearts.”

“Now’s not the time for this Sora.”

“Fine, fine. I’ll carry you along with my power. I assume you two can fly on your own?”

“Yep.”

“Indeed.”

With that over and done with, we took to the skies on our way to the capital of Genosha. Sora was a bit shocked to see Leo’s body become engulfed in flames, but she got over it. During the flight, we filled her in a bit on what we had done before I washed up on the shores of Genosha. She was impressed, although she still found a way to poke fun at Alice. Seems like certain things just have to remain constant in my life.

We made it to the castle without incident, and Sora talked to the guards so that we could be let in. It wasn’t a long walk to the repurposed throne room, now used for meetings and the like. Karen and Wanda were discussing things with some of the other high ranking members of the Genoshan council.

“Hey Karen! Look who I brought with me.”

Unabashedly, Sora called out to her sister to get her attention. It was effective in getting the result she wanted, as the council members dispersed at a word from Karen and she motioned for us to come to her.

“I’m glad you decided to come back so soon. The kids were worried you’d not return. Introduce me to our guests Duke.”

“Don’t try and play it cool sis. It’s ok to tell him you were so worried that you cried yourself to sleep yesterday.”

“I was not crying and you know it. Stop trying to embarrass me.”

“Then lighten up! Duke’s got his memory back and these two are pretty cool.”

“Pretty cool?”

“I can understand Alice, but I’m only pretty cool?”

“See? So stop being so stiff.”

“Alright, you’ve made your point.”

“You siblings have the strangest relationship I’ve seen. To get introductions started I shall go first. My name is Wanda Maximoff. I am known as the Scarlet Witch, and have taken up the mantle as Genosha’s newest leader.”

“I’m Karen Munroe. Leader of the X-Men. You’ve already met my excitable sister. What brings you to Genosha?”

“Shouldn’t that be Wanda’s line? She is head of the country after all.”

“Do not worry about the formalities. Genosha would not be where it is if you all hadn’t risked your lives. A say in the politics is something that should not be kept from you. But why have you brought these two here? After they introduce themselves of course.”

“I am Alice Strange. Acting Sorceress Supreme and member of the New Avengers.”

“Leo Storm. I’m just an Avengers member, nothing too special.”

“And my real name King, Wanda. My memories have returned, which is why I’ve come with these two.”

I explained everything that happened and formally requested both Genosha’s and the X-Men’s aid in destroying the Sentinels.

“Of course the X-Men are ready to support you. Despite how it happened, without you Apocalypse wouldn’t have been stopped. We’ll help you whenever we can Duke- I mean King.”

“Thank you Karen. Don’t worry about my name. Call me whatever comes easiest to you.”

“While we can’t act as freely as the X-Men, the country of Genosha is with you all the way for this operation. The Sentinels must face retribution for their transgressions on all of mankind.”

“That’s good to hear. I’ll bring everyone over to begin planning in the next few days. Alice, Leo, we should get back to let everyone know we’re moving forward.”

“Umm, could you maybe stay for a while? The kids back at the base are all still worried about you. And… I’d like to have a chance to speak with you now that you have your memories.”

Before I could make up my mind, Leo glanced at Alice and then spoke up.

“We can let the others know the good news ourselves and come get you later tonight. Right Alice?”

“He’s correct. Go ahead and stay here. There are things you shouldn’t leave unfinished. I’ll come back for you later. Let’s leave, hot head.”

“How long are you going to keep calling me that?”

The two of them left through a portal that Alice opened up, leaving me on the island.

“I’m… going to go see the kids. We can talk when you’re finished with your meeting Karen. Sora, you’re coming with me.”

“What? Why am I going with you?”

“That’s probably for the best. I’ll see the two of you back at home then.”

I gave her a nod and before Sora could protest further, I put my hand on her shoulder and teleported us back to the base.

“Whoa! How’d you do that?”

“Mutant power. Let’s go.”

My brief explanation wasn’t enough to satisfy Sora, and she barraged me with more questions as we made our way to the kids. I decided to give them all a little demonstration of what I could do now that my memory was back. Nothing too intense, but they were amazed nonetheless. The time had passed by before I realized, and night had already fallen.

“Since you remembered how to teleport, why don’t you go pick Karen up? I’ll watch the kids. Not like they’d go anywhere, but you know. Go talk things out. I’d say it’s about time.”

“That it is Sora. I… probably won’t come back for this amount of time again. It-”

“It’ll make things harder for everyone when you have to leave for good, I know. Don’t look so surprised. I may not be a mind reader, but I’ve been around you enough to tell sometimes. Ever since you came back, I’ve had this sense that you’ll be gone for good one of these days. Karen’s probably feeling the same way, so don’t hurt her too bad.”

I nodded and before she could blink, I was back at the castle outside of the meeting room. I took a moment to sort out my thoughts and opened the door, finding Karen and Wanda talking to each other. No sign of the other council members. They both noticed me when I entered the room.

“See, it is as I said. He’s still the same man you’ve come to know. Now, I believe you have something to sort out, do you not? I can return to my home by myself.”

Karen said something to Wanda that I couldn’t make out before walking over to me.

“You didn’t have to come get me.”

“This makes it easier to go where I want us to talk.”

I held out my hand, waiting for her to grab it. She hesitated at first, but took hold in the end, allowing me to teleport us away to my desired location. We reappeared by one of Genosha’s cliffs overlooking the sea. With the time of night it was, the moon was in the perfect position for viewing as the sounds of the waves crashing came to our ears. I directed us to a safe portion of the cliff’s edge to sit and we sat in silence for a while, looking up at the sky. Karen was the one to break the silence.

“I don’t suppose that anything’s changed now that your memories are back, has it?”

“No, they haven’t.”

“I didn’t think they would. Duke, you said that I was the woman you fell in love with while I was still Famine. And before that, when we were about to kiss you… it felt like we really had a connection. I’m not just imaging that, am I? You did, no, still are in love with me, even know, aren’t you?”

“Nothing you’ve said is untrue. I did fall for you while my memories were gone, and those feelings haven’t left me. I love you so much it hurts but, there’s no way we can be together and… as much as I love you, there’s already someone else that has my heart. I didn’t even realize it until I almost kissed you. This isn’t the easiest thing to say, and I know how much this must be hurting you, but…”

“No, I understand. It isn’t the easiest thing to accept, but with time I’ll heal. I’m just-just sad that I couldn’t get to your heart first.”

I felt like my façade of calmness was going to break at any minute if we kept talking, but I knew that I had to see this through. Karen wasn’t even trying to mask the sadness in her own voice, which let me know that she could break down at any moment. Without warning, she pulled herself closer to me and buried her face into my chest.

“I know I’m being selfish right now, but let me stay like this for a while. I don’t want you to see me cry, and I want to stop being strong for a while.”

There was no way I could refuse her request, and I let her stay like that as long as she needed to. When she had regained some of her composure she released me and stood up.

“So, how long will it be before I won’t be able to see you again?”

“Maybe half a year. It all depends on how quickly we can put the world back on track.”

“Half a year… Okay, I can work with that. By then I’ll be able to say goodbye with a smile so… don’t avoid me for my sake. It might be more painful in the end and extremely selfish of me, but I still want to make more memories with you. You’re still someone I want to keep in my life.”

“Karen… Alright. I’ll-”

While I was talking, she had crouched down and kissed my cheek. I couldn’t finish my thought and she laughed a little at my shock.

“You’ve owed me that for a while now. Take me back home Duke. I’m sure Alice is waiting for you to come back by now.”

She gently took hold of my hand and gave me a smile that broke my heart and healed it at the same time. I teleported us to the base, finding both Sora and Alice waiting impatiently.

“If you wanted to spend the night here you should have said something. I’ve been waiting for around two hours.”

“I was starting to worry that the two of you had decided to run off and abandon your responsibilities.”

“Sora, you know I couldn’t leave you alone. Just thinking about all the trouble you’d get into scares me.”

“My apologies Alice.”

“I don’t want your apologies. Just come on. We’ve got days of planning ahead of us, and you’ll see these two again soon enough.”

“I’m not that bad Karen, give me some credit. Anyway, see you later Duke.”

“Goodbye for now. Make sure you get enough rest. I know you have a habit of staying up to think about things.”

“We’ll see you two later.”

Having said our farewells, Alice opened a portal and ushered me through it first. I arrived in my room on the main A.I.M. helicarrier and the portal closed behind me. I assumed Alice wanted to talk to Karen and Sora about something in private and paid it no further mind. Karen had a point about not getting proper sleep, so I decided to try and rest for the remainder of the night. The following week would be filled with strategizing and planning the attack on the Savage Land and hopeful defeat, of Master Mold.

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I don’t know exactly who or what has been making these past few updates, but I’d like to let you all know I’m back in control now. I have an idea but… It’s best that I don’t say. Just know that with the return of my memories, comes the return of my control over the posts… Thank you all for the support. I promise I’ll take down the person responsible for hijacking my updates when the chance arises. They clearly want a fight, and that’s exactly what I’m going to give them.