A/N - YO! Before this chapter starts, I wanna say thank y'all for enjoying this strange lil AU of mine.
I'm surprised all three of these silly stories of mine got any attention at all. I only wrote the first one because I wanted to give the Ghost v Shadow war a proper ending instead of it being abandoned.
Then it all turned into an alternative universe as I wanted to write more about my interpretations of the characters, such as Midas and Jones. (Honestly, Midas was my other main driving force for writing the first story.)
I think this 3rd story might be the last, as well as the shortest chapter wise, since I have no ideas whatsoever for anything related to Season's 6 and 7. The oneshots (that I STILL haven't fucking started 😂) will still hopefully happen. But for now, this 3rd one will be the end of my main story.
Okay, back to zero point go boom. And I don't feel right about cutting this into two chapters, so this is going to be a VERY LONG chapter. Maybe go get a snack or something.
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An hour later...
This was it.
This was the culmination of Agent Jones' mission.
Every hunter and agent on their side, including Marigold, Midas and Sophie, was ready to glide down towards the parade of Terminators and Aliens down below. And Jones himself was going to enter into the scene in the most badass way he knew:
Riding the top of the battle bus everyone was sitting in.
"Alright, everyone off! Our targets are straight below us." Midas shouts, opening the back doors of the bus and letting everyone through. "Be careful of other Loopers that may have gotten caught in the crossfires!"
Taking a glance at the imploding Zero Point through his binoculars, Jones hums. He still had a bad feeling he'd mess things up again, but Midas had faith in him and knew there was no way he'd fail. Suddenly, the speaker headset attached to his right ear begins buzzing as Slone tries contacting him.
"Ugh! What do you want now?! I'm busy doing your job!" He yells, putting his binoculars away.
"Jones just give it up! The Zero Point's imploding and we've lost control! So just save yourself or join your wife in death!" She yells back.
"You're not trying hard enough! So if you won't stop this, I WILL!! Or else it'll destroy all existence!"
"We've done all we can! You have your order, now stop playing the hero and GET OUT OF THERE."
"NO! I've let you control me long enough and I'm gonna do what we should've done from the very start: I'm going to The Seven."
"You're betraying EVERYTHING I.O has worked for, you idiot-"
The connection glitches out as Jones grabs his Rift Gun. Midas, carrying Sophie in his arms, joins him atop the flying bus.
"Alright, that's everybody gone. What are we doing?"
"Easy. We fly to the Zero Point, I'll do my thing and hopefully it'll bring one of The Seven to the island."
"Uh, guys?"
Jones and Midas turns to where Sophie is pointing, only for a blast of energy to explode from the Zero Point and send the bus in circles and throwing all 3 of them about. In the confusion, Jones accidentally looses grip on his Device and it tumbles down to the grass below.
"No!! I need that!"
Without a second thought, he jumps off and dives down after it with increasing speeds. Sophie holds onto Midas as he jumps down after him, a crash pad in his hand ready to throw and break their fall.
"C'mon! Get. Over. Here!!" Jones strains reaching out to the device, desperately hoping he could catch it. The handle spins in his direction and he gets a firm grip on it.
"Gotcha!! Haha!! ...oh SHOOT!!"
In all his panic to get his device back he hadn't realised he was falling straight onto the ground with no way of saving himself. He covers the Rift Gun with his arms and prepares himself for a very rough landing. Midas tosses down the crash pad and just as it inflates, he and Sophie land on it safely.
"Hang on Jones I've got you!" Midas shouts, ready to catch him. However instead of landing in his arms Jones lands directly on top of Midas, knocking both into a small bush. Sophie bursts into hysterical laughter before helping them both back onto their feet.
"Ugh, sorry Midas. Didn't mean to land directly on you." Jones chuckles, taking the twigs and leaves out of his already messy fluffy hair. Midas does the same with his.
"That's alright. I must've miscalculated my position when trying to catch you."
"What do we do now?" The girl asks.
Jones is about to reply, but the buzzing in his right ear returns as Slone tries talking to him a second time.
"They CANNOT be trusted! Do NOT GO TO THE SEVEN! Jones, Jones!! Come-"
"Ugh!! Enough!!"
Jones yanks the headset off his ear and throws it onto the ground, crushing it with his foot. His old shoes had seen a lot of damage and weren't really wearable anymore. So Midas offered him an old pair of boots he didn't wear much. He had to say, they were extremely comfortable.
"Alright. Looks like we'll have to just charge through the battlefield to get to the Zero Point." He says, already running ahead.
Midas and Sophie follow him as another beam of energy comes from the Zero Point, blasting its way through builds and structures alike. Fires were going everywhere as well as gunshots. Jones looks to his right and gasps as a Xenomorph leaps from a cliff and lands on top of him.
"Ugh! Get off me you stupid alien!"
It bares its second set of teeth, leaning closer to him, only for it to get shot from a side and dying. Jones smiles when he sees Sarah Connors holding a shotgun, giving him a nod before swiveling around and shooting another.
"Thanks! Haha."
"No time to stop! We need to keep going." Midas reminds him, helping him stand.
They turn around only to find a line of Terminators blocking the way they need to go. Just before Midas can ask what they can do now, a black semi truck bursts through the red bridge above them. Jones quickly moves him out the way as it stops, with Ellen Ripley kicking the door open and knocking down the robots.
"We'll cover you! Go!"
The trio make their way under the bridge sliding past Kratos, another hunter Jones had hired a while back. They find Chun Li and Meowscles teaming up to fight off some Predators that had joined in the brawl for the thrill of it. The cat did nearly come close to be vaporised by its laser on its mask after throwing a punch at one.
Even Peely had shown up, much to Jonesy's surprise and delight! He gives him a smile and a wave...
...Only for him to get obliterated by one of Ryu's 'Hadoukens' a few seconds later. Midas told him he'd be fine, as he was a Looper. But Jones couldn't help but worry. Shaking the moment away, as well as a whole lot of banana mixture, they continue to run, going past Master Chief and TriggerFish. But eventually, a huge crowd of robots and aliens surround them.
"What now?"
"Hang on Jones." Midas hums, putting a finger on his earpiece. "Skye, Jules, Marigold, TnTina. What's your status?"
"Me and Jules are fine bossman! Just getting a bit exhausted is all." Skye says, breathing heavily.
"I'm alright too." Marigold comes through.
"Hey boss. You and Jonesy down there look like you're in a bit of a bind. Need some assistance? I can come down with one of my explosives." Tina recommends.
"If you can aim it at the crowds of enemies, that will be a good idea." He agrees.
"Alright. Y'all better run!"
Midas looks up into the sky and sees Tina riding on one of her explosive rockets, giving him a wave of warning.
"Let's move."
The three begin running for their lives as Tina comes down and leaps off the rocket. Jones makes a bold move and front flips over it while Midas and Sophie run past it. As it explodes in the background, Jones lands on his knees and twists the top of his device, making the Zero Point fractures spin around rapidly.
"Well, here goes nothing."
Taking a running start, he throws the device into the Zero Point and waits as the fractured pieces begin to slightly reconnect with each other.
"Did that do anything?" Midas hums, taking his hand.
"Give it some time man."
Everything in that moment goes silent, except for the distant gunshots behind them. At this point, the trio were starting to get really worried. Had it work? Or was it all for nothing?
"Come on, come on."
Sophie borrows Jonesy's binoculars and takes a look around the skies. A round shape covered in flames was making its way in their direction, and FAST.
"Uh guys, something's coming. It's looks like a..."
"Meteor!"
Jones grabs the others and they all hide behind a broken Zero Point crystal as sand dunes fly everywhere with the meteor crashing down onto the island. They huddle together, closely holding onto each other. As it stops, Jones takes a peek and chuckles, highly surprised.
"Unbelievable. It ACTUALLY worked!"
He leaps over the crystal to greet the person coming out the meteor. Midas and Sophie follow him, the girl a little wary of him.
"Midas, who's that? Is it an alien?" Sophie asks, hugging his arm.
"No one knows who The Seven really are under the mask. But as far as I can tell, he seems like the leader of them all. The Founder is probably a better word to describe him."
The Foundation walks over to Jones, not uttering a word.
"Look. I know you have no reason whatsoever to trust me. But..."
He quickens his pace, ready to throw a few punches at Jones. He realises and panics slightly ready to dodge.
"Oh no. Hang on! Let's talk! WE CAN TALK ABOUT THIS!"
While he manages to dive out the way of 2 punches, The Foundation grabs him by his shoulders, headbutting him and kicking him in the chest plate and back to the broken crystal. He groans, flinching as blood runs from his nose. Midas steps up and raises an arm defensively.
"Wait. He's not with I.O anymore. You don't need to hurt him."
The Foundation shoves Midas out his way and raises his foot, ready to crush Jones under it. That is, until he shouts a single word he knew would stop The Foundation from attacking him;
"GENŌ!!"
He stands still, as do Midas and Sophie.
"I...I can get you to Genō."
He puts his foot back on the ground, lowering his arms.
"And the sisters?"
"I can get you all of them. But we need your help to fix that." Jones nods, pointing at the Zero Point.
He glances up at it, then turns back to Jones and holds out his hand. He takes it, being yanked up to his feet.
"You have a deal. For now."
"Oh that's very reassuring."
"Now, let's get to work."
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The Foundation turns to Jones and passes him back the Rift Gun.
"That's our ticket home. Don't make me regret this."
Jones nods, watching as he flies off in the sky and towards the Zero Point. He turns around to see Midas and Sophie still by his side.
"Alright. It seems like all Terminators and Aliens have been dealt with. All your hunters have returned to their respective dimensions, but their portals are still open." Midas informs him. "My agents will be watching us from a safe distance away from the Zero Point."
"What about Marigold? Is she returning home or staying here?"
"That, I'm not sure. It is her choice if she wishes to go home."
"Well...we can ask her about it later. For now, we gotta look sharp. Cos we're saving reality."
Midas and Sophie nods, confident in Jones and The Foundation. Glancing up into the sky they can see him hard at work, trying to untangle the mess inside the Zero Point.
"What did you do to the Zero Point?"
"It wasn't me! There was...an incident."
Jones sighs, knowing full well that his dimension hopping and abused use of the device is what caused the Zero Point to become so tangled up and broken in the first place. Perhaps it was Slone's plan all along?
"With this level of entanglement I don't know if I can fix it."
"Well we're not giving up!"
"Did I say anything about giving up? Just stand by." The Foundation grunts, the portal beams showing signs of breaking free. "Once the Zero Point starts to bloom there's no going-"
The portal beams explode from the Zero Point, blasting the trio backwards and onto the ground. The beams landing in many places on the island.
"We got portals! Not good!"
"Reality's breaking down Jones. What do you think we can do about it?" Midas asks.
Jones glances at his device and runs over to a nearby portal. He begins closing it off with it, zipping it up like a jacket.
"Right. That might of helped. But keep an eye open for reality waves." Jones huffs.
Midas nods.
"What are reality waves?" Sophie asks.
As the Zero Point begins to let out a reality wave, Jones quickly gives her a brief description.
"Reality waves can change anything in the blink of an-"
Just before Jones can finish, the reality wave washes over all three of them.
...
Sophie opens her eyes to find her appearance had changed. She seemed to be in the body of a guy with runes and purple glow across his skin. Jones and Midas had disappeared, most likely been changed into something else as well.
"Jonesy?! Midas?! Where are you?!" She cries out.
"Hey, Woah. Soph I'm right here."
She turns to where Jones once stood and finds a beautiful blue glowing rift butterfly flying next to her.
"Jonesy? Is that you?"
"Yyyyep. I'm a butterfly."
"So, what did Midas turn into?"
Sophie turns around to find a Midas flopper lying in the sand and she can't help but laugh, as well as Jones.
"This is humiliating." He mutters as she picks him up with her left hand. "Do not mention a word of this to anyone, please."
That's when she realizes something;
With Jones and Midas reduced to useless in their current forms, she was the only one who could help The Foundation repair the Zero Point.
"Welp, looks like me and M are out of commission. It's all riding on you now kid. You're gonna have to close those portals. Think you can handle it?" Jones chuckles lightly, feeling a bit bad about putting such a monumental task on her head.
"I'm sure she can." Midas hums. "Besides, this is the first chance she's been given in ages to prove herself. I'm confident she can handle it."
She nods with a confident grin and picks up the Rift Gun, immediately running towards the next portal. She pulls the trigger and watches as the portal begins getting closed off. As the beam returns, the shape of a flower is formed as it blooms from the Zero Point.
"Woah, that's beautiful..." Jones gasps in awe, staying close to Sophie's side.
"Good work down there, but we need more time. Keep going." The Foundation's voice echoes.
"Gotcha! I can see 3 more portals, but the next one's super far!" Jones shouts, sitting on Sophie's head.
"Why not try teleporting?" Midas suggests. "You're a Rift Butterfly after all. Might as well make use of its power."
"Y'know, I didn't think of that. Hang on a sec."
Sparks begin flying from the rift butterfly as Jones tries his hardest to teleport them. And miraculously, it works!!
"Yes! I did it! I can teleport us around the island!"
Another reality wave comes through, changing the scenery and Sophie's appearance a second time. The trees and grass turn a bright orange colour resembling the autumn season despite being in the middle of spring. As for Sophie, her body is changed into...
...a chicken, whilst Jones and Midas remain unchanged.
"Huh. You look good kiddo." Jones chuckles.
"Jonesy, we appreciate your sense of humour, but this is a serious situation." Midas reminds him, trying not to dampen his silly enthusiasm.
As Sophie closes off the next portal, Jones chuckles to himself.
"Hm? Something amusing you Jonesy?" Midas asks.
"No it's just...for my entire life I worked at I.O, I studied the Zero Point." He reminisces, while also teleporting the others to the next portal. "But I never saw it with my own eyes until now."
Sophie looks around and notices a pack of wolves on her left. A strike of lightning scares them away as Sophie runs forward into yet another reality wave.
"The wolves are new." Midas hums.
"It means alternate realities are breaking through- Oh oh!! Reality wave!"
Again, Jones and Midas remain unchanged, but Sophie is back in a more comfortable body. A female one, but still not her normal self yet.
"Woah, kid! You've got Lara Croft's body." Jones exclaims.
"Lara Croft?"
"A character from a video game called Tomb Raider. It's pretty cool actually." He explains, showing off his video game knowledge.
As Sophie closes off the 4th portal, the flower sprouting from the Zero Point begins to bloom bigger and glow brighter. The Foundation grunts, struggling to keep it together.
"Hang in there Foundation! We've nearly got all the portals closed off!" Sophie calls out to him, clutching Jones' device.
"Hey Jonesy? This device of yours has starting turning red. Is that a bad thing?" She asks the butterfly flying beside her.
"Uh, yeah. It's start to grow unstable with all the portals we... you've been closing. This next one should hopefully be the last though."
Jones teleports them to the final portal and Sophie makes quick work on closing it. One final reality wave charges through the island, returning Sophie to her normal self and Midas too. Jones however remains as a Rift Butterfly.
"Wow! Haha, uh... well done kid!"
Midas groans as he begins rubbing his head as he stands back up, glad he was back to his normal self.
"I must say Soph. I'm very impressed with you. Such a monumental task, and you took it on with no hesitation whatsoever." Midas compliments her. "Perhaps I was wrong. Maybe you really were worthy enough to become an agent back then. I was just the fool that became overprotective about you and didn't give you a chance."
"I think she is." Jones chirps in, flying over and landing on Midas' finger. "Also, you're lucky to be normal again! I'm still a butterfly!"
The two of them can't help but chuckle at Jones having a temper tantrum over still being a butterfly.
"Don't worry Jones. Perhaps if we get you close to the Zero Point that'll return you to normal-"
A rumble could be felt underneath their feet, cutting Midas off. They glance at the sky as it begins darkening with the flower blooming in the night turning red and disappearing as the Zero Point begins to pulsate rapidly, ready to explode any second.
"Oh jeez. Everything okay up there bud?" Jones asks.
"It's not enough. I can't stop it. But I might be able to contain the blast."
A huge tower begins forming in the sand, surrounding the Zero Point and closing itself around it. Midas quickly realises what he's doing.
"He's sealing himself in with it."
"C'mon Jonesy! He needs our help!" Sophie says, begging him to teleport them to the tower.
"Alright. Hang on."
With a flash of light, all are taken to just outside it. Sophie darts off ahead, Rift Gun in hand. Midas panics slightly about her safety, but shakes it away and follows her as does Jones. Round and round the spire they go all the way to the top where the Zero Point exploding was barely being held back by The Foundation. Following Midas' advice Jones flies directly into the Zero Point, only to get spat back out but back in his human form.
"Jones! We won't get another chance! You need to seal off the Zero Point and overload the device!"
"Overload the device?! I'll be trapped in the Loop!"
"What are you so worried for Jones? What else could be waiting for you outside the Loop?" Midas questions, the worsening wind threatening to blow them all off the spire.
Jones takes the Rift Gun back as Sophie passes it to him and begins reflecting on what Midas meant;
Up outside the Loop, no one would be there to greet him or make him happy. Janice was already dead, and Slone would probably give him the worse punishment possible.
But here on the island...
He had everything he ever wanted.
People who love him and care about him for who he was. He was safe from Slone's wrath. Sure, he'd be trapped here for the rest of his life...
But maybe living on the island didn't sound so bad with his situation...
"Jones. Don't give up. I'll find you. And you will tell me everything."
He turns to Midas and Sophie. They both give him a nod of approval. Jones then turns back to The Foundation.
"You have my word! Here. We. Go!!"
Clocking the device's power into overdrive, he shoves it into the Zero Point, giving The Foundation the power he needs to seal himself and the Zero Point away. It begins to become crystallized as everything goes white...
Then, all was quiet...
A/N - OH MY GOD THAT WAS LONG AF. Welp, time for a HUGE timeskip. Hope y'all enjoyed this extra long chapter. 💛