{Chapter: 44 - Can I Absorb Aether?}
The unique synergy between the Pusher and Wiper abilities was nothing short of terrifying in the hands of someone like Aiden. A Pusher could manipulate thoughts, ideas, emotions even implant false memories—turning enemies into allies with a whisper. A Wiper, meanwhile, could erase those very memories, wipe a person's mind clean like chalk from a board. Combined, these two powers could rewrite a person's reality itself…
It was no surprise then, that Aiden didn't merely strip Kira of her autonomy or blank out her personality. Like a doll No—he was more surgical, more… refined. He erased what he called "unnecessary" memories—painful moments, conflicted loyalties, lingering ties to others. Then, gently but firmly, he instilled unwavering loyalty, deep-seated obedience, and above all, an almost divine trust in him.
But Kira wasn't just a servant. She was still herself—witty, calculating, dangerously beautiful. More importantly, she was a great Pusher in her own right. Her ability to manipulate minds remained intact, and that made her the perfect puppet master behind the curtains. With Aiden's guidance, she could now control the base of the Division in his absence, a queen in a hive that no longer remembered its former masters.
Per his instructions, Kira had scoured the facility, looting vaults and hidden stashes, until she brought back a duffle bag stuffed to the brim with cash. Crisp bills, bundled in bands of $10,000, stacked high.
"There's roughly thirty million here, Sir," she said, kneeling before him with the open bag.
Aiden barely raised a brow. "That's just pocket change for an organization like the Division."
And it was. The Division wasn't just a government black-ops group—it was a self-sustaining machine with deep financial arteries. Real estate portfolios, offshore accounts, secret stock holdings, crypto wallets, and payments from high-profile assassinations. The thirty million was merely liquid funds—emergency reserves.
Still, it wasn't nothing. Aiden just put the $30 million in his inventory.
He leaned back on the leather chair in the command room, savoring a glass of aged wine that Kira had brought him. The taste was bold and bitter, a reminder of the old world and luxuries lost to war. Kira stood behind him, kneading his shoulders, her fingers soft but firm. The tension in his back ebbed away under her care.
He had absorbed the ability of Nick and Cassie's Mother. So he could already feel that his body was now a bit saturated.
---
They stood in the command room beneath the Division's underground base, a place once crawling with hostility, now quiet under his reign. Screens displayed surveillance feeds, reports, and biometric readings of their agents. Kira, dressed in a custom black suit tailored to her elegance and lethality, She stood before him, massaging his shoulders with her soft hands.
Two days have passed like nothing.
As the hum of servers and security systems surrounded him, Aiden's thoughts wandered.
'System, when can I travel to the second Plane?' he asked silently, staring into the reflection of his wine.
A few seconds passed. Then the familiar synthetic voice of the System echoed in his mind.
[Host can travel to another Plane once the system undergoes its second upgrade. However, this process will require a substantial amount of high-grade special energy. Unless the host devours a very powerful ability which can provide a large amount of special energy, the upgrade process will be slow.]
Aiden frowned slightly.
"Define substantial. Are we talking about dozens of powerful mutants or… something more divine?"
He took another sip, then narrowed his eyes as a thought struck him.
"What about Aether—the Reality Stone? It's one of the Infinity Stones. Can I absorb its energy? And more importantly, can your inventory even store something like that?"
The System went quiet.
For the first time, it took time to answer.
Aiden's heart began to pound. Not out of fear—but anticipation.
He knew the Aether wasn't some simple magical rock. It was a primordial force of chaos and reality-warping matter. In its raw form, it sought a host—and devoured them from within if they weren't strong enough. Malekith, the Dark Elf, had once tried to wield it and nearly tore the worlds apart.
However, without the infinity gauntlet the aether required a host to be used.
But if Aiden could consume it…
He might become something the gods themselves would fear.
Eventually, the System responded, this time in a slower, almost… reverent tone.
[Aether contains energy of nearly infinite complexity. Absorption is possible but will take time. Inventory can store it.]
The words hit Aiden like thunderclaps.
He leaned forward, the wine forgotten.
His body could absorb a freaking Infinity Stone. His system could store it. That alone was insane—an achievement beyond human comprehension. Though it would take a large amount of time, it was still no small feat.
He could still remember when he first stumbled into this world, weak and aimless, struggling just to survive.
And now?
He was talking about devouring the essence of reality itself.
Aiden stood up. Kira looked at him, her hands still. "Sir?"
He smiled—not cruelly, but with a kind of joy that only gods and madmen understood.
If memory serves him right, the Aether—also known as the Reality Stone—first appeared in Thor: The Dark World. That marked the beginning of a critical timeline. Immediately after that came the collapse of S.H.I.E.L.D. in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, then the cosmic misadventures of the Guardians of the Galaxy, and not long after, Earth would be threatened again by the artificial intelligence robot known as Ultron in Avengers: Age of Ultron.
These weren't isolated events. They were dominoes, each one falling into the next—interconnected catastrophes that would shake the very fabric of the earth and even universe. And Aiden knew, more than anyone, that if he wanted to survive what was coming… if he wanted to thrive… he had to get stronger. Much stronger.
There was no room for error.
No time for hesitation.
And so, for the past two days, he had remained in the Push World—his temporary base of shadows—making full use of every precious second.
He didn't waste time devouring every agent in the Division like a mindless glutton. Instead, Aiden focused on mastery. He honed the powers he had already absorbed—telepathy, precognition, memory control, memory erasure, sonic scream. Like a blacksmith sharpening the edge of a blade, he practiced in silence, meditating until his mind was sharp as a scalpel. He built his resistance to fatigue, reinforced his willpower, and refined his aura control.
But amid all this… he couldn't shake a single thought:
Where the hell was Pop Girl?
She had escaped the Division, perhaps even left the country. Aiden had deployed Kira and the full resources of the Division to locate her, but despite scouring databases, hacking satellite grids, and sending psychic probes through informants—nothing.
It was as if she had simply vanished from existence.
He hated leaving loose ends, especially ones that were so connected to him so closely. But with his three-day time limit almost up, he was forced to accept a bitter truth: for now, she would have to wait.
Before leaving, Aiden told Kira for final orders.
"These are your orders," Aiden said, his voice calm but absolute. "First, improve the gene-potion formula. Make it more efficient. Reduce the failure rate. I want results, not corpses."
Kira bowed her head. "Understood."
"Second," he continued, "expand our financial arm. I want our net worth to double within the next six months. Real estate, cryptocurrencies, tech start-ups, offshore accounts—everything. If it's profitable, we're in."
Kira nodded again.
"And third…" He narrowed his eyes. "Keep searching for the girl. Use every resource. If she so much as breathes in this world, I want to know."
"It will be done," she said softly.
Aiden didn't offer praise. He turned his back to her and focused on the system interface floating before him.
[Time limit reached. Returning host to origin plane.]
And just like that, reality folded inward.
Aiden vanished in a shimmer of light.
---
When he opened his eyes again, he was no longer in the clean, metallic halls of the Division's base. The Push World was gone.
Instead, he found himself exactly where he'd been before crossing over: deep inside a hidden cave system on the outskirts of New Mexico. The cool, damp air tickled his senses, a stark contrast to the sterile, tech-drenched world he'd just left behind.
The cave was quiet, save for the occasional drip of water echoing from above. No alarms. No soldiers. No Kira.
Just him.
Aiden stood up, flexed his hands, and took a deep breath. Then with a thought, flames erupted across his body, wrapping around him like a fiery armor. With practiced ease, he lifted off the ground and soared through the narrow crevices until he burst out into the open sky.
The world of Marvel was still as chaotic as ever. The war drums of the future had not yet begun to beat, but Aiden could feel the tension in the air.
After flying several miles, he descended into a small town just beyond the desert. The streets bustled with life—tourists, diners, tired construction workers. The kind of place where no one asked questions, and everyone minded their own business.
He walked into a local fast food joint, ordered a sandwich combo, and casually pulled out a thick wad of bills from the Push World. They were in U.S. dollars—clean, untraceable, and apparently valid even in this universe.
He had half-expected the cashier to look at him funny. But the bills passed inspection. Aiden smiled as he took his change and sat by the window, watching the sun set over the quiet town.
He took a bite of his sandwich, still wary, still testing. It tasted… real. Delicious, even.
So the currency had transferred properly. That was good. Very good.
The money was real and usable even in the marvel world. Initially, Aiden was worried that the cash couldn't be used here, but his worries were unfounded.
But just as he was beginning to relax, his phone buzzed on the table.
"Ring… Ring…"
He picked it up and saw the caller ID: Phil Coulson.
He answered without hesitation.
"Where the hell have you been for the last three days?" Phil's voice was sharp, tired, and annoyed. "You vanished off the grid. No signals, no pings, not even a heartbeat trace."
Aiden chewed the last bite of his sandwich, wiped his fingers, and replied coolly, "Everyone's entitled to a little me time, Phil. Even government assets need a holiday."
"Yeah, well, your little vacation's over," Phil snapped. "Get back to base. We've got a mission. And it's big."
Aiden leaned back in his seat, the glow of the street lamps flickering in his eyes.
"Ok," he said.