10 Gains and The Dark World

Author's Note

So I thought I had included a line about what he did with the bugs, but my draft reset and I forgot to add it back in the last chapter, so I added a line saying he disabled them with his technopathy. Also, I know its Klaue in the MCU, but I preferred the comic version. Also, the next chapter will be much longer, as I cover the events in Asgard over the next few chapters.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Time passed as Rogue and I continued to work on our abilities. I spent most of my time training, but I also worked on making my house as technologically advanced as possible, adding things that would make training and my projects easier. Other than that, I had thought about how I wanted to go about leveling my skills.

'So far I've been spreading out which abilities I level, with some being higher than others but not by much. Being a jack of all trades master of none is good, and my ability lends itself to that, but I think I need at least one ability at a high level to make sure I can live long enough to level the rest.'

From there almost all of my time was devoted to getting the skill I thought had the most versatility and survivability, Super Speed, up as high a level as possible in the next month. I didn't ignore the rest of my abilities, but a majority of my time was spent on Super Speed, with the results speaking for themselves.

*Ding*

[Skill Leveled: Super Speed: The ability to move and think at superhuman speeds. Body is adapted to be able to take the strains of moving at those speeds. Current top speed: 800 mph. Lvl 4]

It seemed that the growth in speed for the skill was exponential as each subsequent level doubled the speed I could move at so far. I had exceeded Mach 1 and my speed was now one of my greatest assets.

I had tried to work on using all the different applications of speed like that of Barry Allen, such as vibrating my molecules, electrokinesis, or speed clones, but for some reason my ability wouldn't let me use them. It seemed that since Quicksilver's speed wasn't derived from the speed force, I couldn't use those.

I had also finally done something I had been somewhat dreading. Using my technopathy, I had built something similar to the Danger Room in my house. Using that room, I trained two skills I had been neglecting due to what I would have to do to level them.

I wanted my Pain Resistance and Healing Factor to level, so I stood without absorbing a material and allowed the room to pelt me with damage, leveling my skill quickly, but also having to deal with a lot of pain. My Pain Resistance started off at Lvl1, so I still felt most of the pain. My efforts did show progress, however.

*Ding*

[Skill Leveled: Healing Factor: Heals wounds greatly faster than normal rate, slows aging, and immune to poison. Healing rate increases with level. Lvl 4/10]

[Skill Leveled: Pain Resistance: General immunity to how much pain is felt. As level increases, pain felt is reduced. Toggleable, currently on. Lvl 4/10]

Other than that, I had made incremental progress on my other skills, but hadn't leveled up in any of them as of yet, other than a very interesting instance.

A lot of my time was devoted to working on my own abilities, but I still took the time to work with Rogue. It was during this time that I learned something incredibly interesting. Rogue had spent a lot of her time practicing with the Super Strength. I had a weight room with weights that could increase, so that someone with Super Strength would get a work out. I was watching as she was lifting weights when I got a notification.

*Ding*

[Skill Leveled: Super Strength: Strength greater than the average human. Current lifting strength: 600 pounds. Lvl 3/10]

'Holy shit. This means that Rogue can level my skills for me. Her working on the skills she likes improves the skill for me, basically halving the time it takes me to level all of my skills.'

With this revelation, I had a new avenue for skill growth. Rogue had spent a majority of her time with Super Strength, so it was the only skill she had leveled for me so far, but we had begun to work on other powers more frequently, so that wouldn't be true for long.

It was as this time passed that my birthday came up on us, without me even realizing.

When I woke up one morning I saw a screen in my face.

'I guess I slept through the alert.'

*Ding*

[Age changed to 17. Happy Birthday]

[Gift Received: Level boost x2: Increases any skill by a level]

'I get birthday presents from this? What do I use those level boosts on though? I could go with Phase-Shifting and increase my range, or continue boosting Super Speed. With how fast I'd be now, I would probably not have many problems to worry about most of the time.'

I thought about potentially using it on something like Cosmic Fire Manipulation, but so far all of my kinetic skills had required me to fine tune my control, with the level being an indication of how much power I could output. I'd prefer to work my way up, improving my control as I go along, instead of skipping it.

In the end I decided that just increasing my speed as much as possible for the moment was still the best option, so I put the one boost in Super Speed. I also wanted to increase my Phase-Shift range, so I put the other in Phase-Shifting.

*Ding*

[Skill Leveled: Super Speed: The ability to move and think at superhuman speeds. Body is adapted to be able to take the strains of moving at those speeds. Current top speed: 1600 mph. Lvl 5]

[Skill Leveled: Phase-Shifting: Through the action of shifting into another dimension for a brief moment, you are able to teleport somewhere in your line of sight or you have been before within a certain range. Current Range: 1.6 miles Lvl 4/10]

With my speed increased to this point, I decided it was finally time to make use of the information Fury had given me. Telling Rogue I would be out for a little while, I sped out of the house and ran all the way to the African Coast. The feeling of running at speeds this fast was something I would never get tired of. It was the thing I enjoyed the most since I had woken up here.

Arriving at the ship of Ulysses Klaw, I decided to just get this done with quickly. I sped in, moving faster than the normal humans inhabiting the boat could perceive and grabbed the most movable chunk of Vibrainium I could find. I didn't really care to take the rest of it since I could produce more on my own. With that taken, I sped my way back to my house.

Entering my room, I walked to a bookcase in my room, pulling on one of the books to open the hidden door to my lab. I knew it was cliched, but sometimes things are cliched for a reason.

Entering my lab, I went to a display case where I kept my materials and added Wakandan Vibrainium to the it. I would work on absorbing it and testing how the affects transferred to me, but I saw an alert on my display.

Looking at it, it seemed as though the devices I had created to alert me when the convergence was taking place had gone off.

'So Thor: The Dark World is starting. I want to go to Asgard, I doubt I'll get an opportunity to absorb Odin, but Thor is a must, plus it's a potential avenue for magic, since I don't really want to deal with the Ancient One. Now how do I get Thor to bring me there?'

Making my way out of my lab, I headed into the living room to find Rogue sitting on the couch watching TV.

"Hey Rogue, want to come with me to London?" I ask.

"Why are we going to London?" Rogue asked, already standing up.

"I had sensors set to detect any kind of cosmic disturbance. It just picked up one, with a big source in London, so we're heading there to check it out."

We made our way outside and I held my hand out to Rogue. She already knew what I wanted her to do, so she absorbed my Super Speed.

We both then took off, speeding across land and eventually running on water to make our way to London.

"You know, I understand why you like this ability so much. This feels great." Rogue cried out next to me.

I laughed and moved next to her.

"Tag your it." I said and took off, pushing my speed to its limit.

"Oh no you don't." Rogue said as she took off after me.

It was nice to take this opportunity to relax before I had to get back to work. It was a two hour run to London, so I took the opportunity to just have fun after devoting so much of my time to planning or working towards getting stronger.

Two hours later, Rogue and I arrived in London and made our way towards where Jane Foster would be. We arrived at an abandoned storage house, where a variety of portal were opened up. As we got there, Jane fell back out of a portal, her eyes glowing with red energy.

'She's already got the Aether. I don't know if I want to risk absorbing it, though.'

I walked forward with Rogue as Darcy, Jane, and Ian looked at us.

"Who are you?" Jane asked.

"I'm Kevin, this is Rogue. I detected a surge of cosmic energy and came to see what it was, it seems like you just experienced it." I say.

"You were monitoring it as well. Fascinating, I thought we were the only ones studying it." Jane said before she stumbled. I rushed forward, supporting her before she could fall.

"Are you alright?" I asked.

"Yeah, just a little disoriented from falling into that portal." Jane said.

We then heard sirens as the police arrived.

"You all are trespassing on private property." One of them said as he got out of his car.

Jane stepped forward to talk to him, but he says "None of that, you all are coming with me."

He steps forward to grab Jane's arm, but the Aether lashes out, sending him flying back.

A beam of rainbowed colored energy then arrives from the sky, striking the ground in front of us. From it, Thor emerges,

"Jane, it is good to see you again." Thor said walking towards her with his arms outstretched. Jane waits till he gets close and slaps him in his face.

"That's for taking two years to come visit me, especially since I know you were on Earth with the Avengers." Jane said.

"Well that's a greeting." Rogue said with a smirk.

"Don't get any ideas." I say to her.

"I won't I won't." Rogue responds, but the smirk is still in place.

"I'm sorry, I had to take my brother Loki back to Asgard for punishment." Thor said.

Jane stares at Thor for a few seconds and then gives him a hug, which he returns.

After they stop hugging, I speak up. "So are we going to talk about the fact that a guy just got sent flying when he touched her."

Thor turns to me and takes a moment to recognize me. "You are the man who stopped the Phoenix from emerging. It is good that you are here, my father wanted to meet you. Jane needs to come to Asgard to get whatever it is that's inside of her looked at."

"I'm going to Asgard." Jane says with an excited look on her face.

"Yes, whatever it is that has infected you is far beyond mortal means of dealing with. Let's be off."

"So the All Father himself wants to meet little old me. Can Rogue come as well, I don't want to leave her here." I say.

"Very well, but that is the limit I can bring to Asgard right now." Thor said.

Rogue and I make our way over to Thor and Jane, standing next to them.

The Bifrost hits us and we begin floating into the air, going through a portal with a myriad of colors. Seeing all the energy around me, I thought about trying to absorb it.

'I'll wait, I have to go back through the Bifrost to return to Earth, I can make my decision then.'

With that thought, I enjoy the ride, on my way to Asgard.