Marvel's master of cosmic magic

Chapter 503

"Alright," Logan muttered.

Seeing Rowan Mercer stride ahead without hesitation, Logan followed. In his mind, no one was more reliable than the headmaster. And from Rowan’s calm expression, it was obvious he already had a way out.

"Easy there, little wolf. Hear me out," Wade said, jogging up behind Logan. "You’d be perfect as an anchor for our world. You’d be saving reality. Superhero stuff. Capes optional."

Logan answered him with a sudden over-the-shoulder throw.

"Call me that again," Logan growled, "and I’ll fold you into a human pretzel and make you inspect your own colon. I’m happy in my world. Not interested in yours. If you want to save it, find another Logan somewhere else."

"I’m not trying to save a world," Wade muttered from the ground, staring up at the dim sky. "I’m trying to save nine people. That’s my whole universe."

Rowan stopped beside him.

"Even if you dragged Logan back with you, he couldn’t replace your world’s Wolverine as an anchor. Reality doesn’t work that way. But if you want to save your family and friends... I can help."

Wade flipped to his feet and leaned in, eyes glittering with gossip.

"You just read my soul. So what are you, the secret love child of Magneto and Professor X? In your universe, which one’s the mom?"

Rowan raised a hand.

"Silence."

Wade’s mouth kept moving. No sound came out.

Logan burst into laughter. "Nice one, Headmaster. Peace at last."

Human Torch glanced back from the front of the group. "My energy’s coming back. I can fly again. If we keep walking, we’ll get caught. Can you keep up?"

"If Cassandra shows up herself," he added grimly, "we’re dead."

Rowan lifted his hand. Black metallic sand spilled from the ground, swirling into a cloud that lifted Logan, Wade, and Rowan into the air.

"Show-off," Human Torch said, giving him a thumbs-up. "You’re the strongest guy I’ve seen here besides Cassandra."

He ignited and shot forward in a streak of flame.

Rowan followed, riding the dark cloud.

Thirty minutes later, they hovered over a dense, ancient forest.

"There," Human Torch said, pointing at a stone house half-hidden among the trees. "That’s our base. There are only four of us left. I went out for supplies and ran into Cassandra’s hunting party."

Wade waved his hands in exaggerated disbelief.

"Yeah," Human Torch said quietly. "The others didn’t make it. If you hadn’t shown up, I probably wouldn’t have either."

Then he snapped back to his usual self, cursing Cassandra with creative enthusiasm.

"Let’s meet your friends first," Rowan said, cutting him off.

They landed. Three figures burst out of the house.

A woman in leather holding a sai.

A hard-faced man with mirrored sunglasses and a crossbow.

And a laid-back card-thrower already flicking a deck into his hand.

"Elektra. Eric. Remy," Human Torch shouted. "Stand down. They’re friends."

Relief washed over their faces.

"You disappear for two days," Eric said. "We thought you were done for."

"Almost was," Human Torch replied. "They saved me."

He told them what happened.

Rowan studied them quietly. Something didn’t add up. The resistance here was supposed to have five members. There should have been a young girl too. One with claws.

So she never made it here.

That meant her fate had changed.

Which meant his arrival had rewritten something fundamental.

In his original timeline, Logan had died. The girl had fled with other children. Most of them hadn’t survived. Maybe she alone had grown up... and been erased into this wasteland.

But not now.

Logan was alive.

The girl was still in school.

History had blinked.

And because Logan still lived here, Wade had been forced to search one extra universe for a Wolverine.

This universe’s anchor probably wasn’t Logan at all.

It was more likely Stephen Strange.

Everyone else had died. Strange hadn’t.

"We’re glad you’re here," Blade said, lowering his weapon. "Together, we can fight Cassandra and find a way home."

"If going home is what you want," Rowan said calmly, "I can do that for you."

Every face lit up.

"You can?" Human Torch asked.

Blade, Elektra, Remy. Even Wade, still mute, looked like a kid on Christmas morning.

Logan stayed calm. He’d known this answer before it was spoken.

Rowan didn’t show up unless there was a way out.

"Yes," Rowan said, shrugging. "If you want, I can send you back right now."

Four new universe coordinates.

Four exits.

And finally, a door.