27

The cosmic entity didn't know when it appeared; in principle, it didn't know what "know" was. Only by receiving a host could she realise herself, and without that, she was in a kind of intuitive search for an avatar for herself. Few knew who or what she was; only the strongest of the gods of the multiverse knew that she was a future infinity stone. When a universe dies, collapses and is born again, only stones remain of the old one. Clots of some aspects contain information about the life of the universe. Each stone is responsible for a different aspect: power, soul, reality, space, time and mind. The essence was a billet for the stone of life, so its avatars could resurrect, heal and rise from the dead like a phoenix. This is why some people nicknamed the entity the Phoenix. Travelling through hundreds and thousands of light years, the Phoenix sought a vessel that could briefly withstand its power. And behind him, he carried both destruction and creation. Everything depended on the bearer; he could destroy his planet and bring it prosperity; the essence itself did not care. She only wished to live again, to think, to realise herself. And so she arrived at the next intelligent planet. She was drawn here by a sense of kinship as if the next vessel carried a piece of her.

The first creatures she encountered were bipeds on a metal, lifeless shell. Tentacles reached out to them, testing them for suitability while unleashing their maximum potential. The first biped started to smell like stone, no match. The second one burst into flames that looked like her, but it was a lifeless fire; it didn't taste like life. The third began to stretch like rubber, rubbish. The fourth began to smell like lightning and metals, strong but completely out of place. The fifth turned out to be a different biped that became invisible and weak. The feelings and thoughts, however, were just that if interpreted into human language. They were merely echoes of echoing feelings. However, the biped arriving at the first five on yet another shell first aroused something akin to curiosity in the Phoenix.

At first, the entity extended a tentacle to inspect it and didn't even notice the biped's attempt to defend itself. It was like trying to stop a category-five tornado with a house of cards. Then, infusing the energy, the entity experienced a slight surprise and joy. The vessel had a lot of untapped potential, so Phoenix poured, poured, and poured the energy in and out like a bottomless barrel. However, the entity soon experienced the primal emotion of all sentient beings. Fear. Normally, when pouring into a vessel, the essence would merge with it, but at the same time, it remained itself. The incomprehensible biped made its energy and absorbed it without a drop. It was not even a drop in the sea, but a drop in an almost endless ocean, but it was the first time. Trying to take the tentacle away, Phoenix realised he couldn't do it. And then more bipeds on the shell arrived, among them the one that had attracted her. A kindred vessel. Reaching for it, Phoenix escaped from the strange biped with a feeling similar to joy.

***

- Mr Cherkasov, don't you realise that cold fusion reactors are the future? I realise that your country is the main supplier of uranium and builder of classic nuclear power plants," Pepper, sitting in her office, spoke directly to the Russian president. Her words were automatically translated into Russian by Jarvis and with the same intonation and voice. - And that's why you must realise that if you become a pioneer in this field, you will get the biggest profit! Especially since you are already the leader in mining palladium, which is required for our reactors.

- So you need our palladium? - Cherkasov guessed.

- Exactly, and we are ready to discuss mutually beneficial arrangements with you. In addition to reactors, we can offer the whole range of our products from flyers to medicines.

- I didn't know you produced medicines," said a grey-haired, overweight man with a crooked nose.

The expensive jacket, the even more expensive watch and the luxurious, albeit old-fashioned office furnishings did not surprise Pepper. She was used to dealing with those with power and money. And she knew that the most important thing was not to put herself in a subordinate position like a beggar. After all, then you will be oppressed and tried to pressure, even if the deal is favourable to everyone. It's a kind of "etiquette" in these circles.

- We're just starting to do it. I've sent the entire price list to your secretaries.

- Well, I'll discuss it with the people in authority, and my secretaries will get back to you.

- Thank you, it's been a pleasure," said Pepper.

- You too, Miss Potts," Cherkasov smiled back. - I'll be glad to see you in person.

When the holoscreen faded, the woman rubbed her temples. Her super-body allowed her to sleep two hours a day without feeling tired, but she was mentally exhausted. Besides, beauty has both pros and cons. On the one hand, it became easier to negotiate with men. On the other hand, they started making lewd suggestions and generally staring at her quite frankly. Previously, the same men had behaved with more restraint. And thanks to the international market, there was not less work, but much more. If it weren't for the assistants and Jarvis, she'd be strung up by now.

- Miss Potts, Mr Stark is in trouble," one sentence, and the woman perked up immediately.

If Tony's in trouble, it means that neither Jarvis nor himself can handle it. And it's something serious.

- He was rescuing the Von Doom orbital station staff when he encountered some magical entity. No defence or emergency evacuation methods worked, and the armour and shuttle systems failed. Ten minutes after the X-Men's suborbital plane approached, the entity receded, and an emergency port key transferred Mr Stark's body into the Vita-emitter.

- So, he's all right, then? - Pepper asked hopefully.

- No, he's not fucking all right! - the always polite Jarvis turned to swearing. The AI was worried about its mate and creator. So he picked up a few words from him. - The emitter, despite its materials and enchantments, was glowing hot. I'm using the fire suppression system, but it won't last long! I'm sorry, Miss Potts, I don't have the authority and don't know what to do.

I don't know either, but I'll try to help! - replied firmly to the excited Pepper, twirling the ring on her finger, thus teleporting to the paired ring on Stark's hand.

As it turned out, Jarvis wasn't lying. Hot steam burned her throat, the heat unrelenting even for her changing body. Drones with hoses poured liquid helium into the capsule, which the lab had for electron microscopes. Stretching out her arm, she couldn't see it. The ventilation systems kicked in and drew out the condensate and helium, making the capsule visible as if engulfed in black and red flames. Not knowing what else to do, the girl put on her suit and tried to open the door, but as soon as she touched it, the "flames" licked her hands. Screaming, she threw off her gloves with bits of clinging skin left inside them. The next moment, however, she noticed new skin appearing quickly on her hands, covered in some black crust. Tony had told her about the X adaptation gene, but that one had been inactive earlier.

- Maybe it was all about that strange flame?

Gritting her teeth as hard as she could, the woman began to open the door with her bare hands. Her hands still burned but healed again faster and faster until, eventually, the black crust could not contain the flames without any pain or damage. However, the worry for her lover was far greater than the pain she had experienced before. Finally opening the door, she pulled out her naked fiancé.

- No way, you're not going to die on me! That's no way to get out of a wedding. - Pepper knew she was talking nonsense, but she was scared, and the screaming and accusations of Stark, who was once again in some shit, helped her a little.

Frantically searching her eyes for anything that might help, the girl saw obsidian orbs. Tony once said that one was great at absorbing magical energy, so she grabbed one and placed it on her lover's chest. At the same moment, the remnants of the flame began to be drawn into the ball, and when it began to crack, she changed it for another, third, fourth... Ultimately, it took as many as fifteen balls until Tony began to breathe calmly and evenly.

- Jarvis, I think I've done it!

- Thank you, Miss Potts; please put him on the scanners; I'll check Mr Stark's condition...

***

Tony had experienced many unpleasant awakenings in his life. Hangovers, waking up in a gutter or some weird place like a gay club or backstage at the circus. He'd even woken up in a filthy cave in Afghanistan after being shot with shrapnel and having a magnet inserted into his chest. And even the latter, he'd rate a nine and a half on a scale of bullshit out of ten. This was a ten out of ten. Because his very soul was aching. It was sandpapered, fried, and then sprinkled with Carolina Reaper salt and Pepper. And in contrast to that, the perfect state of his body, m'kay. Opening his eyes with difficulty, he realised that at least he was at home, lying on a bed, with a cardiograph hooked up and something warm and nice under his side. As he moved, the warm and cuddly thing shouted in Pepper's voice:

- Tony, you're awake. I was so worried! - The girl hugged him in a way that almost cracked his ribs.

- Quiet, quiet, ay, you'll kill it, - Stark grumbled.

- Are you hurt? Where? Jarvis said your body was fine! - the director of Stark Industries was frightened.

- For all my electronic friend's virtues, he doesn't know much about magic. My soul hurts," he continued, seeing Potts' sceptical look: - What, you're a Catholic, and you don't believe in the soul?

- Not when it is spoken of by such a cynic, materialist, and atheist to the core as you," she pointed her finger at him in an objectionable tone.

- Who did I choose to marry? You don't even believe your husband! - pathetically exclaimed the man offended in the best feelings.

- I do, I do. It was hard not to believe when you were all on fire, burning by yourself.

It became clear that Pepper was barely holding herself together. She hadn't worried this much even when she was certain of the company's future bankruptcy. The last time she felt anything like that was when Tony went missing in Afghanistan.

- Yeah? I don't remember a damn thing," Stark shook his head, which was a waste of time as it started to splinter even more. I don't think aspirin's going to help. - Jarvis, what the hell was that?

- Mr Stark, after you flew in...

After Tony's question, Jarvis paired up with Pepper to discuss how communication with him had become unavailable. The man himself remembered only that all his magic and power shields had been blown away as if they were thin shells and then a lapse in memory. As it turned out, the X-Men had flown in and done something because, after that, he had been transported to the Vita-emitter. When he reached the point where Jarvis told how heroically and in terrible pain Pepper had pulled him out, he hugged the girl:

- You're not in pain now? Nothing hurts? It would help if you had left me there... - Stark worried the event is as unlikely as it is unfamiliar. - Maybe iodine?

- Tony, haven't you heard? I've awakened the adaptation gene! I'm fine! - Showing her normal hand, the girl reassured Stark. She was glad to see him worrying about her, though. And she wasn't the only one in pain, was she?

- Yeah? All right, but don't risk yourself again," Tony kissed his fiancée on the top of her head and continued to listen to the story.

After draining him of excess energy, Stark fell asleep, and Pepper moved him into the bedroom, hooking up the cardiograph and other equipment as instructed by Jarvis. The AI flatly refused to take him to the hospital and persuaded the girl herself that they would not help him because he was completely healthy, but his blood test or a banal X-ray would be of interest to many people. That is if they can take or make at least one analysis. And Stark woke up six hours after the incident.

- Besides," Jarvis summarised, "your two X chromosomes have mutated, fused.

A hologram of two chromosomes joined at the ends, which, crossing in two places, resembled an eight drawn in two lines, appeared in the room.

- Clearly, everything needs to be clarified. We'll deal with it after I've recovered. Is the camera working? Are the emitter copies working? - Stark didn't even try to use magic, as he realised it would only worsen things for himself.

- There are three more in the warehouse.

- Pepper, can you help me move them and set them up?

- Why, Tony, you just came round, didn't you?

- That thing in the sky was truly monstrous and incredible. A tiny bit of its power nearly killed me. And it couldn't go anywhere. So either it's still near Earth or merged with one of the X-Men. I have to get back to my senses as soon as possible and get to the bottom of this.

- Didn't you tell Peter not to take this on himself?

- This isn't about that, dear. This is about all of us. And the sooner I recover, the sooner I get to the bottom of this, the better chance we'll have of celebrating the wedding in something other than post-apocalyptic ashes.

- Is it that bad?

- It's much worse.

- Is there anything I can do to help?

- I don't know if there's anything I can do," Tony admitted. - But I'm not going to hold you back. It's your choice. I hope you do what you do best or try to fight with me without training.

- You know how to change my mind," the girl bit her lip, sighing.

She was, if not useless in battle, then close to it. All that magic, martial arts, it's not her thing. She has her battle with shareholders, partners, customers, suppliers, journalists and reports.

- Especially since today's case has made it clear how important it is to have a solid backup.

- Then... Will you teach me magic? At least some healing magic, so I know what to do.

- Sure," Tony kissed Pepper, then dragged the emitter into the time acceleration chamber together.

It took another three hours to recover fully, or nearly a week, in accelerated space under constant exposure to Vita-rays. Once out of the chamber, the first thing Stark did was wean himself off, then changed into a new suit, since the old one had managed to burn, and teleported to Xavier's mansion. Oddly enough, the elderly telepath's voice didn't come up in his head, so he had to use the intercom at the gate:

- Good afternoon. This is Iron Man here about the incident in space.

- I'll tell Professor Xavier, hold on," came the voice of Scott Summers, that mutant with the red-lensed glasses.

- Iron Man? - came an elderly voice a few minutes later. - Have you improved your mental defences? You've become harder to read.

- Interesting... But that could be the result of the orbital accident," Tony said, thinking.

- Were you there? Come on in. You're not the only casualty.

The doors opened, and Stark stepped inside. The air defence cannons, camouflaged in lush shrubbery, finally stopped aiming at him, and the obnoxious beeping of guidance stopped. He was flying, though, because few people in this school could be surprised by such things. There was already a rather concerned Scott standing on the porch, who nodded to him:

- Hello, follow me.

Tony had met kids along the way, and he had underestimated his popularity in the Iron Man role. Here they seemed to have superpowers themselves, yet children are still children. Some ran up to him with a notebook to get an autograph, and some started to ask questions, but Scott himself besieged them. The rest of them followed him to the lift to the lab.

It was already crowded inside. Hank, known to Stark, had been cured of his mutation. A man with lush sideburns on his face and the power of super-fast regeneration - Wolverine. A guy who looks like a devil with blue skin, kangaroo-like legs and a tail - Night Snake, a mutant with teleportation powers. A short girl who can walk through walls is Kitty Pryde. A dark-skinned girl with white hair who can control the weather - Storm. Professor Xavier and, in fact, Jean Grey, who was now lying on the bed and, just as Stark had once done, releasing waves of strange flames around her. Only, unlike Tony, they weren't affecting the objects around them—instead, those hung in the air. Besides them, there were five other people here, among whom he recognised only Sue Storm, Reed Richards and Victor Von Doom. The young guy in his early twenties and the living stone-looking bulky man he didn't know.

- Iron Man? What's he doing here? - Reed wondered genuinely.

- 'Because I was there too,' Stark replied, pointing a finger and twisting his helmet. Since everyone who needed to know who he was already knew who he was, it wasn't useless to hide any further, but rather embarrassing. - As you can see, I've grown a bit.

- How marvellous! - exclaimed the young man. - Iron Man is Tony Stark!

- I'm not surprised," said Richards. - Only someone like you would put on a suit and pretend to be a hero.

- Well, at least I'm not an arsehole like you," Stark said.

- Quiet! You're our guest, and I won't tolerate any bickering. Does anyone have anything useful to say? Did you find out what kind of radiation changed you and put Jin in a coma? - Xavier was outraged.

He spoke quietly, but everyone was silent. Charles's telepathy crushed everyone, and Stark reminded himself to find a defence against this range of influences.

- Unfortunately, the detectors and computers were the first to fail. However, I can replicate the spectrum. Apart from the fact that we've all changed, I can't say anything else. It takes research and experimentation," Reed explained, turning away from Tony.

- In what way have you changed? - Stark was interested and whistled when Richards extended his arm five metres as if it were rubber, and the young man burst into flames, after which they had to extinguish his clothes.

And no one noticed, except Stark himself, that the fire hadn't touched him as if it had been absorbed. When this thought reached him, time seemed to stretch, and Tony fell into a world of stopped time. People froze like statues, and now Stark realised how his chromosomes had joined together. The energy he was absorbing was being used to accelerate and amplify. However, that would require experimentation.

- I can put up invisible barriers and become invisible," explained the beautiful, petite blonde.

- I think it's clear enough with me," the big stone man said in a rough voice as if he were rubbing stones against each other.

- I don't know yet," Victor shrugged.

- Preliminary analyses say that all of them have awakened X geth, - Hank explained.

- Why wasn't my blocker used? - Tony asked.

Talking and thinking simultaneously hadn't stopped him before, and now it didn't stop him.

- I am asking your permission, you produce it. Have you thought about mass production?

- Not yet. Until I develop an antidote to the drug, I won't produce it.

- Can you tell me the reason? - Professor Xavier asked. - Unless it's a secret.

- It's no secret. I have developed a serum to turn off the X geth for those who suffer from it. Whose abilities are uncontrollable, dangerous, cause deformities, pain or shortened life? However, if I mention my discovery to Hank and me, the instant the cure is turned into a weapon.

- The weapons maker is against that? - Reed wondered, emphasising the word "weapon".

- Not at all. Some mutant terrorists are quite difficult to take alive without it. And even harder to keep in special prisons with a constant risk of escape. However, what if the geth is turned off in an innocent person? If a government organisation adds the serum to the water supply and food?

- Are you in favour of mutants? Or against them? - asked a thoughtful Von Doom.

- I'm in favour of ordinary, honest people. A mutation is a tool like an ordinary table knife. You can cut a sausage with it, but you can cut a person. No one can violate his freedom of choice if a mutant doesn't break the law. And the antidote will allow him to make that choice. If you want to be a mutant, be a mutant; if you don't want to be a mutant, don't be a mutant. You can decide ten times a day.

- I wouldn't mind researching your cure," Reid said reluctantly, pushed by Sue.

- I take that back. You're not just an arsehole now; you're a rubber dick. Who raised you as a kid, gipsies? Where's that arrogance coming from?

- I'm begging you," Sue intervened, while Johnny laughed behind her and the big man laughed. - 'Help Ben.

- I'll pass five portions to Victor.

The man nodded gratefully, barely able to keep from laughing and suppressing a smile. Reed was an indispensable partner to him, but his nasty temper was a household name. So it was rather pleasant to see a proud asshole put down by someone not inferior to Richards in intellect or wealth.

- It's up to you. Drink it, pour it out, sell it. I'm not like some people.

- Speaking of which," Xavier said with a twitch of his lip. - What ability do you have, Mr Stark?

- I have my suspicions, but they're not going to stick. Time will tell.

- Time will tell," the professor nodded. - Do you think your medicine will help Jean?

- I don't think so," Tony shook his head. - The space entity I saw in orbit was monstrously huge and even more powerful. If it merged with Jin... Nothing will stop it.

- So what do you suggest?

- That depends on Jin herself. But I can tell you what I'd suggest you don't do - don't try to fight her or control her. She has to learn to control her power. Build a cabin in the desert, surround her with kindness, understanding and affection, and pray that she will get a handle on her power and really wake up.

- Hmm, do you have a cabin in the desert? I'd buy one.

- Oddly enough, I do.