(Originally published in "The Many Adventures of the Avengers and Friends")
"No, no, you're missing the point. There is no throne. There is no version of this where you come out on top." - Tony Stark, "The Avengers"
Or is there?
Multiverses have the...
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°2018°
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"Well, it's nice." Arianna commented once they entered the new house. It was two stories with a spacious basement and pretty comfortable. There were some elements that could use a fix up, primarily some stains on the walls and a leaky faucet. Though, compared to some of the other places people had to live, it was extremely homey. On the long drive over, Maya couldn't help but notice the hastily constructed shacks out of sheet metal and old camping tents.
New York, once an epicenter for luxury and finances, had been reduced to a slum state with the Royal Palace in the center built upon the suffering of others.
"It could be worse." Maya said, voicing her thoughts compared to what she had seen on the long drive over.
"I call the basement." Daniel said, slinging his duffel bag over his shoulder and carrying a box of his clothes down the stairs. Maya rolled her eyes and pulled one of her boxes up the stairs, claiming the empty room to her immediate right. Arianna took the room across from Maya while their parents took the master bedroom on the main floor.
They spent most of that day assembling bed sets and cleaning the house up a bit. Maya's dad even managed to stop the constant dripping of the faucet.
"Well, the circumstances aren't great, but I really think we did a good job with this." He said as the family gathered in the small living room. Maya's mom passed everyone plates with piles of Ramen noodles for dinner.
"We'll go to the store soon." She said as Maya absentmindedly wove the noodles on the tines of her plastic fork. Daniel flipped the TV on as they all sat on the sofa and arm chair in relative silence. A local news station flashed on and so did a reporter with an almost too fake smile. It was almost as if someone was pointing a gun at her from behind the camera and threattened to shoot if she broke her facade.
Well, actually that wasn't that far off.
"...Twenty-seven traitors were executed this morning as a result of the failed assassination attempt." The reporter flipped to a new page of the papers in front of her. "Doctors Banner and Stark would like for it to be known to the general public that some of one of their experiments escaped. There's no need to be alarmed, but if you do find one of these radioactive spiders, proceed with caution and carefully catch it with a glass jar and contact the local authorities to have it returned. Should you get bit by one of them, it's reccomended that you go to the Palace immediately for evaluation. The side effects are unknown as of now, so be cautious. Now to Todd for the weather-"
"Alright, I think that's enough for now." Maya's mom switched the TV off. "Once you finish your dinners, I want you guys to get washed up for bed. You have school tomorrow."
