Breakfast and Conversation

"Walter! Hahaha! It's in your nose! Hahaha!"

Jen grinned laughing as she wiped the food off his face.

She wasn't sure what she'd been expecting when she'd come down to the kitchen. Coffee and a serious conversation perhaps? And they'd talked about some surprising serious things. Things she was still thinking about... but the atmosphere she'd walked into hadn't quite matched the serious topics. Walt playing old music, cooking up a storm, singing, dancing and feeding a very happy toddler.

Walt had found Shogo waking up when he'd checked on him so, since he was up, he'd taken him with him and let his mother rest. Jen had been nervous at first. She didn't want to scare the kid but Walt had reassured her, showed her how to hold him, feed him and Shogo... Shogo had been delightful. He'd been exposed to so many different mutants and people that he loved the unusual. Jen was just a big green lady to him. No stranger then someone who was blue, hairy, shiny or any number of different folks.

The silliness somehow helped lessen the shock of the seriousness of some of the subjects. She'd already decided no matter how bad the things Walt was about to tell her, she'd give him the benefit of the doubt. And while some of it stretched that trust... it was hard to see him seriously as a villain while a little kid decided to share his breakfast with him by lovingly mashing it into his beard making a mess.

Which brought them to where they were now with all of them laughing as Jen wiped oatmeal off of Walt's face. Shogo was settling back down in Walts arms as he rocked him back and forth. "He likes me so he wants to share," he chuckled softly setting the spoon and bowl aside. "Especially if he has had enough. You'll want to be careful of that if it looks like had enough. He likes being held, having contact. He doesn't particularly like the chair. Other than that though he's a good kid. Pretty well behaved. Not too fussy. Good eater and sleeper. Right?"

"G'nite-nite," Shogo said eyelids starting to droop.

"See?" Walt said and carried him over to lay him down in his pen.

Jen smiled and handed him a tissue to clean his nose. "I see that Mama Wahwah. Here blow your nose to get the oatmeal out."

Walt chuckled and blew his nose. "I been called worse... and it's not like the kid has had a single consistent father figure. He associates being loved with his mother, so people he loves are "mama". And Walter's a mouthful at that age. My buddies kids struggled with it too, then heard everyone else calling me Boss and the hands saying Hoss so I became "Unky Hoss". It stuck and I'm still "Uncle Hoss". Honestly... I love it."

"You're good with children," she said smiling. "Obviously."

Walt smiled too and refilled their coffee. "Kids are easy like that. They're pretty honest about what they need, want and how they're feeling. Adults not so much..." He started refilling his plate. "I tend to be popular with the young and the elderly for some reason... it's everyone in-between that's a crap shoot."

Jen smiled and nodded. "Speaking of... I'm honestly not sure how I'm feeling. It's a big shock... but I like how up front you're being. Is there more?"

Walt crunched on some bacon and nodded. He chewed and swallowed before answering. "There is... but like I said I'll make you the same deal I made Gwen. You're my responsibility more than ever now and I need to live up to that. And if you choose to stay here you'll retain most of your "freedom". The only things I'm not telling you are the things that'll make it difficult to go back to living your old life. If, like Jubes, you decide at any point that you want to come with me for whatever your reasons, I'll fill in the rest... and truthfully you already know everything you need to know now. I know how arrogant that sounds... but I know. There are things you learn that you can't unlearn."

He picked up another piece of bacon and pointed at her with it. "Knowing what I know about you you can probably make some pretty accurate guesses already." He popped the bacon in his mouth.

Jen nodded. If what he said was true... and with her experience of interacting with the "fourth wall(s)" was what he was referring to then yes, she could guess. He came from somewhere like "out there". She looked at the fourth wall. "Your reality is like it or beyond... Just how far does it go?"

Walt sipped his coffee. "Honestly? I have no idea. I limit myself from thinking about it too much. It's a good way to get into trouble. My perception and awareness is different from yours, gained through years of traveling different realities and time soent around the few characters like yourself who are actively aware of it... and my interactions work differently and is very limited compared to yours. I don't have the abilities you and others do. I know it exists in places and have my theories that it exists everywhere... and so every once in awhile I like to give it a piece of my mind."

Jen shook her head. "Different strokes for different folks. Makes sense. So it exists for you and your people as well?"

Walt cleared his throat. "Hang on. Gotta get the official line out. Here goes. *Ahem* "There is no absolute proof of a fourth wall on Prime"... but personally I would add "Yet" to that statement. I don't know the exact specifics of how we make the portals to realites like yours work and I've been working around the tech for years. It's nonsense and impossible from my own personal contemplations and calculations on the secret... the only thing that makes sense to me is if we're some how "passing through the 4th wall" to reach alternate realities."

Jen nodded. "So let me guess... in your world I'm in a comicbook, aren't I?"

Walt pointedly said nothing but tapped his nose and pointed at her. Jen chuckled and nodded.

"Disappointed?" He asked.

She shook her head. "Relieved actually... it means I'm not crazy. I've literally torn through pages sometimes and crushed the dialog boxes and other nonsensical things. I'm like you too... I try not to think about it because it's maddening." She pokes at her potatoes some thinking. "So your people what? Travel to my reality and universe- sorry, multiverse and do whatever you want?"

Walt sighed. "Yes and no. There's a lot more to it than that but some of it won't do you any good knowing that knowledge. Like I said..."

Jen nodded. "Better off not knowing for now. Gotcha... but as far as this goes I'm not far off of the mark?"

Walt nodded. "There are a countless number of copies of your multiversal reality that we call "instances" and we can access them. I was one of the first wildly successful explorers and agents to do so. I infiltrated, studied and lived in this particular instance for many years. This made slight minor changes to it despite my trying not to and so it was placed in a "protected" status where no one but myself was supposed to tamper with it. That became the standard for agents and their explored instances. A lot of "deep cover" agents and explorers find they become a bit "linked" to particular instances for various reasons after extreme extended exposure. It protected them and the agents involved. There are quite a few untouched versions that are given the same status in an effort to "preserve the original storylines" but..." he sighed. "What I didn't know was how that was going to change things and how they'd use that ability and the knowledge we had gleaned and things we'd discovered. Again my fault. I didn't think about the consequences of my "success"... I was too blinded by my own search and quest... and I used to partly blame myself and feel guilty for my part in that until I realized how foolish that was."

Jrn blinked. "How is that?"

Walt shrugged. "It's foolish because if I hadn't done it someone else eventually would have! Sure, my successes and experiences made it work. The things I discovered let me practically write the book on how to do it successfully, safely and efficiently... but someone would have sooner or later. I just lessened the steep learning curve. Before me they lost a lot of explorers, agents and researchers. They'd go in and everything was fine and then *snap* They'd disappear. Or wham! They'd all be dead."

Jen smiled grimly. "Yeah, I can see how that could happen. Wrong time, wrong place and kaboom everything blows up in their faces. So what they needed was highly trained, extremely capable survivors who were expendable but highly motivated for a possible "suicide" mission which is a short list... and then they found you?"

Walt nodded. "Pretty much. I ticked all those boxes... and one extra that they didn't know they needed yet that was essential too."

Jen paused lifting her coffee and asked before taking a sip, "Oh? What box was that?"

Walt chuckled. "Obvious really... They needed geeky superfans like me!"

Jen choked on her coffee and Walt passed her a napkin. "Seriously? *Cough* you're a fanboy?"

Walt laughed. "I was. I knew what battles and wars were about to take place where and when. Which buildings were about to get demolished during a fight. Where the "safe" zone would be and what to expect. Who to watch, where and when and how to blend into the background or the crowd. I also studied everything else. How the food tasted here, how the weather worked, popular trends and fashions and how they changed under eighty years give or take and how similar and different they were to-"

"Whoa!" Jen said. "Hold up! Did you just say you lived here for close to eighty years? How?"

Walt blinked then laughs. "There's inherently a time distortion between this one and mine... and thanks to the funky way time works in here my aging was greatly reduced, which creates some problems I don't mind telling you. I mean look at you-"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Jen growled.

Walt had stepped close to the landmine but he'd done it intentionally. "Nothing Jen," he said quickly. "You look great for hardly a day over 31! Was it your 31st birthday yesterday? Because that's exactly how old you look! The Immortal She-Hulk! Forever 31 and-"

"Ok," Jen sighed. "NOW, I believe you're a fanboy... geez, you saw all that?"

Walt chuckled nodding. "I did and I read it in your comics too. But Jen I'm not kidding. You look almost exactly the same. You've barely aged at all. Some of that's easily explainable as the Gamma/Hulk stuff... but that's also how it works here. Jubes for instance she's 22 now and I literally watched her grow up from the time she was in her early teens."

"Ok," Jen said. "You watched her grow up for a decade or so. What's your point?"

Walt nodded. "That's my point. That was over 30 years ago."

Jen's eyes widened. "Oh shit you noticed it too! It's freaky right? Some people just like barely age!"

Walt nodded. "It's the inconsistency of the whole comicbook thing and other similar realities. Some of it can be explained away in retcons, revisions, restarts and resurrections but it's still silly. That stuff only makes sense-"

"In a workd like a comicbook," Jen finished. "Gotta appeal to the younger demographic. Stretch out the longevity of their IP. Makes sense from a business stand point..." she laughed. "Oh, man. I can't believe you made me swear not to tell! You have any idea how much this would blow Reed's or Sue's minds!"

Walt chuckled. "And that's exactly why!"

Jen smirked. "Okay... I get that and I believe you. That's too wild to make up! Soooo... how old are you Walt? No wait. Let me guess! 31?"

They both laughed at that but Walt shook his head. "Let's just say I'm a bit older than that! But thank you, young lady." He winked.

Jen grinned. "You're welcome, "young" man!" They laughed some more for awhile before Jen said, "I'm still... processing it all. It's weird. I trust you... you've shown me that you can be trusted. And I like you... a-as a person, that is! But being "owned"... I don't know how to feel about being your personal property just yet, you know?"

Walt smiled sadly. "Understandable but if it helps you I technically own you wether you're collared or not. As of about 6 hours ago this instances time I became it's legal owner as far as my reality is concerned." Walt shrugged. "Even with the discount for it being "damaged and used goods" it wasn't cheap. It's an extremely low number instance and some people put stock in such things as being "collectable"." He snorted derisively. "As if an exact copy from any other instance with 9 digits or more is any less valuable than one with 7 or 4 or 2 digits. Nonsense. But that's how the market is. Still it's only money and-"

"You OWN my reality?" Jen said incredulously. "Like what... like god or something?"

Walt laughed hard. "Oh no hohoho... Ahahaha! Jen you! Hahaha! The look on your- Eh hehehe! Like legaly, Jen! Ahahaha... so funny! I own the rights to- hohoho - this multiverse as far as my world is concerned. Woooo... oh wow, that was funny!"

Jen flushed. "So you could what? Collar all the women you want as your concubines? Enslave all the others and sell them off? Strip the worlds of their resources and make a profit? And in your world that's your right because you purchased it? It and all it contains are yours?"

Walt nodded wiping at his eyes he'd laughed so hard. "Yeah. That's exactly what it means. I can do anything I want to this multiversal reality seeing as it's my personal property, as far as my reality is concerned. 'Course to do any of that I'd have to subjugate it but I own armies capable of doing just that. Wouldn't take them too long at all. As for the "higher powers" here I'd probably have to duke it out with them or work out a "deal" or "arrangement" but I can do that too... but it's all hypothetical as that'll never happen. I bought it to preserve it and protect it. When I'm done with my investgation I'll have it's access keyed to a gate and moved to a secure location where those same personal armies will protect it in one of the most secure installations ever constructed. Then I'll try to recover what was taken from here, restore them, fix, nurture and heal this reality and leave it be. "

Jen blinked. "Why?"

Walt blinked. "Why wouldn't I? I just told you... I lived here for almost 80 years! Granted I had a hard time coming back and seeing some of its changes the writers made but this place was my home for that long. I'm more than fond of it. I love it!" He clenched his fist. "Seeing how those jerks broke in and trashed it? Hurt people who were friends and neighbors? Robbed it? A place I tried so hard not to interfere with and protect in my own way? That more than pisses me off... it enrages me! It's personal."

He paused and took a deep breath. "But anger doesn't help things heal. That's what this place needs. To heal and recover and be protected while that happens and while I try to undo the damage. It'll never be the same... but maybe that's not all bad either? Maybe it can be better. I and the company that was protecting it failed at preserving it... so maybe once it's better I'll do something else with it and try to change it for the better too." He shrugged. "Either way I have to be extra careful with it. The road to hell is paved in good intentions."

Jen stared at him shocked. He was... really different. More incredible than she'd suspected. What kind of a person would be able to do those kinds of things... then choose to not do some of them? Apparently this man had that kind of power, wealth and resources at his disposal... and yet he still managed to think like that. If absolute power corrupted absolutely... the simple man eating breakfast with crumbs in his beard, who wanted to tend to her reality like he did little Shogo, would beg to differ. If power had corrupted him it barely showed except for his crazy thinking. *Responsibility again,* she thought. *He was doing his best to be as responsible with that power as possible... and it seemed like he was doing pretty well. But-*

"Morning, Gwen," he said swallowing and wiping at his mouth. "Breakfast?"

Jen looked up at Gwen who came around the corner and was leaning against the doorway.

[Walter Stark Penny Polendina F.R.I.D.A.Y Neopolitan Pyrrha Nikos Nora Valkyrie Yang Xiao Long Blake Belladonna Kali Belladonna Sienna Khan Willow Schnee Glynda Goodwitch Zwei Ahnassi Lifts-Her-Tail Senko Sayoko Shinozaki Roberta Cisneros Haruna Sasha Blouse Ilulu Rachel "Raven" Roth Manami "La Brava" Aiba Tsuyu "Froppy" Asui Haruhime Sanjouno Anastasia "The Baroness" Cisarovna/DeCobray Demona Mystique Pirotess Lydia Aela the Huntress Serana Mission Vao Curie Ada PAM KL-E-O Merida Gwen "Gwenom" Stacy Jubilation "Jubilee" Lee and Jennifer "She-Hulk" Walters

Will Return In

Breakfast and Conversation Pt 2

Coming Soon]