According to Franklin, Reed and Susan had once been inevitable.
No matter the crisis, no matter the timeline, they always found their way back to each other. Their relationship had been one of those fixed points reality seemed determined to preserve.
Then Drex Valen appeared.
And suddenly, nothing was fixed anymore.
"Uncle Drex… you're different."
Franklin's distorted voice echoed through the ripple in space.
"Different enough that the universe itself changed around you. In this reality, destiny stopped behaving the way it was supposed to. Futures became unstable. People who were meant to follow a script… don't anymore."
Drex remained silent.
Franklin continued.
"You broke the pattern. Before you appeared, everyone's lives followed predictable trajectories. Cosmic entities, dimensional invasions, multiversal catastrophes… they all happened along paths that could be traced in advance."
"Even beings beyond the universe still moved according to those paths."
His tone darkened slightly.
"They thought they were free. Most of them probably never even realized it. But they were still following the script."
"And you aren't."
Drex narrowed his eyes.
That was… unexpectedly insightful coming from a child.
"You changed too many variables," Franklin said. "The moment you arrived, the future stopped being stable. This universe doesn't have a guaranteed destiny anymore."
Drex crossed his arms.
"Then by your own logic, even if I help your parents stay together, something else could still go wrong."
"No."
Franklin answered immediately.
"You're the center of the storm."
There was strange certainty in the boy's voice now.
"In Eastern philosophy, there's a concept called the First Cause. The origin from which all outcomes branch outward."
"That's you."
"If you decide something will happen… reality bends around it."
Drex almost laughed at that.
Almost.
Instead, he thought about the problem seriously.
Getting Reed Richards and Susan Storm back onto stable ground would not be easy. Reed's emotional intelligence was catastrophically underdeveloped.
The man could map higher-dimensional physics before breakfast but somehow still fail basic human conversation.
"Tell me where the Phoenix Force fragment is first," Drex said calmly.
Franklin hesitated.
Then he gave in.
"The Phoenix fragments scattered after Astra Feng shattered the Phoenix Force."
Drex's eyes sharpened instantly.
Astra Feng.
The Iron Fist who had once detonated the Phoenix Force itself with a strike empowered by Shou-Lao's dragon chi.
Even now, the idea sounded absurd.
But it had happened.
"When the Phoenix Force broke apart," Franklin explained, "some fragments stayed on Earth. Others fled into deep space searching for new hosts."
"In most universes, Jean Grey becomes the primary vessel."
"But this universe doesn't have Jean."
"So the fragments left."
The ripple in space flickered weakly as Franklin continued.
"The Phoenix Force prefers powerful psychic hosts. Jean Grey. Madelyne Pryor. Rachel Summers. Emma Frost. People like them."
Drex understood immediately.
"And you think it'll target me."
"It already would've," Franklin said. "If a fragment were nearby."
The Phoenix Force was ancient beyond comprehension.
One of the oldest primal forces in the multiverse.
Creation and destruction wrapped together in living cosmic fire.
Even Drex treated it cautiously.
Its raw power wasn't what interested him most.
It was what the Phoenix represented.
A counterbalance.
Something capable of resisting mystical corruption, soul-based attacks, psychic domination, and even several Infinity Stones.
Against threats tied to the Soul Stone, Mind Stone, or high-tier mystic entities, the Phoenix Force would be invaluable.
"Where is it now?" Drex asked.
Franklin sounded almost embarrassed.
"I… don't know."
Drex stared at him flatly.
"You came here to bargain without the actual location?"
"It's outside the galaxy," Franklin said quickly. "But future-you eventually attracted it."
That caught Drex's attention.
"How?"
"You fought someone."
Franklin's voice became more stable for a moment.
"A long fight. You used your psychic powers continuously during the battle."
"And eventually… the Phoenix noticed you."
Drex frowned.
Who could force him into a prolonged psychic battle?
There weren't many possibilities.
The Mind Stone was one.
Maybe a cosmic telepath.
Maybe something worse.
Before Drex could ask another question, the distortion began collapsing.
"Wait," Drex said. "You still haven't explained why you call me Uncle."
"...Some things are better discovered naturally," Franklin replied weakly.
Then the ripple vanished.
Silence returned to space.
Drex floated above the lunar surface, staring into the dark.
He didn't fully trust Franklin.
The kid was absurdly powerful, even as a child. Someone capable of manipulating reality itself could absolutely lie when necessary.
Still…
The information about the Phoenix Force felt believable.
Which meant there was no reason to rush into fixing Reed and Susan's relationship yet.
Not until Drex confirmed everything himself.
"If the method works differently," he muttered, "then I don't owe Franklin anything."
For now, he decided to let events unfold naturally.
Besides, his Dragon Force was still more than enough for anything on Earth.
The Phoenix could wait.
Even so, Drex immediately expanded his psychic abilities to their absolute limit.
Invisible waves spread outward from Earth.
Across continents.
Across oceans.
Past the atmosphere itself.
His telepathy extended more than a hundred meters into open space before stabilizing.
Professor Xavier amplified by Cerebro wouldn't even qualify as competition anymore. Drex's psychic power had already reached terrifying levels.
Strong enough that, in raw output alone, he could probably contend briefly with a rampaging Dark Phoenix.
Which made Franklin's warning far more concerning.
Whoever Drex fought in the future had forced him to rely heavily on psychic combat.
That meant the enemy was dangerous enough to threaten him directly.
"Good," Drex murmured.
"Now I know where my weakness might be."
Deep space.
Far beyond the Milky Way.
A blazing cosmic entity drifted silently through the void.
A fragment of the Phoenix Force.
One of the larger surviving shards.
After Astra Feng shattered the original Phoenix manifestation, scattered remnants had fled Earth in search of suitable hosts. Over time, this fragment had gathered smaller pieces into itself and escaped beyond the galaxy.
It had nearly succeeded.
Then it sensed something.
A psychic signal.
Massive.
Bright enough to pierce interstellar darkness like a beacon.
The Phoenix fragment hesitated.
Earth.
That planet still existed.
Which meant Astra Feng might still exist too.
The memory of that devastating punch remained burned into its cosmic instincts.
For ten full days, the fragment lingered in uncertainty.
Then Drex's psychic presence flared again.
Immense.
Dominant.
Irresistible.
At last, the Phoenix spread wings of living fire and turned back toward the Milky Way.
Meanwhile, on Earth, Drex had already begun analyzing every word Franklin had spoken.
Using his superbrain, he reconstructed vocal patterns, pauses, emotional shifts, and subconscious reactions, looping them repeatedly through predictive models.
At the same time, Black Queen monitored Reed Richards and Susan Storm continuously.
What Drex saw was… painful.
Reed truly was an elite-level disaster when it came to relationships.
Every conversation somehow became an argument.
Susan repeatedly looked ready to murder him.
Granted, Reed usually managed to smooth things over afterward.
But Drex could already see the cracks widening.
Women had limits.
And with destiny no longer forcing events back onto their original path…
There was a very real chance Susan Storm might eventually decide she'd had enough of Reed Richards forever.