Astrid and I fixed the error on the suit and made sure it was good to go. I was getting nervous. My heart rate shot up. I've never really entered combat without my powers backing me up.
"Dr. Howlett, are you okay? Your heart rate has increased," Astrid said.
"Yes, just nervous," I responded.
I pictured in my head the location of the lab where the stone was located. It was deep underground the camp. I had a clear picture in my hand and took my sling ring out. I waited until night to avoid encountering more people. I used my sling ring and opened the portal. I stepped through with my armor's stealth activated.
I looked around and my HUD didn't detect anyone here. I asked Astrid to analyze any container that was emitting strange energy readings. She immediately marked one and I made my way to the container. I placed a small magnetic device that stuck to the container and I asked Astrid to see if there was any security around it. She disabled the alarm system and I opened it to reveal the Tesseract. I didn't have to concentrate to feel the energy being emitted by it. I grabbed it and placed it in the container. The Tesseract glowed and the cylinder started to shine as it was storing the energy. So far so good. This suit made it all easy so far. I still wanted to get something else from here, but it might involve fighting. The Pym Particles would be a huge help with the suit, and it could be applied to buildings too. I could shrink my whole lab and take it with me. I made my way to the elevator. I looked up and started scanning each floor to see if I could detect it. Astrid was able to detect an anomaly and She marked the location inside my display. I saw that it was several floors above me. I took a deep breath and deactivated the stealth system.
"Astrid, deploy drones. Scan this entire lab" I said to Astrid.
"Deploying," Astrid said. From my shoulders dozens of small drones started to fly in all sorts of directions. They were scanning and uploading all the data back to me. I was also looking to see any information SHIELD might have on the super soldier serum. Even if it's the skeleton of the formula, I can still work with that. I knew that Tony's father was working on the formula, but I didn't know if he had started on or if SHIELD had any records of it. I walked slowly to the elevator doors and stood in front of it. I stood there and waited for the drones to finish and attach themselves back to the suit. I looked up and my HUD displayed how many floors I needed to take. I shook off my nerves and rotated my shoulders to relax my body.
"Show time," I said in a low voice. My thrusters activated and I launched into the ceiling bursting through the floors. I noticed some guards on the floors as I went through each floor. I stopped at the floor that Astrid marked. There were guards posted in the floor and they started to fire at me with different types of weapons. All the bullets were being deflected as they hit me. I used my thrusters to rush at them and knocked them out. I stopped at the door of the lab and forced it open. The alarms started to sound as I entered the room.
"Astrid, scan the entire lab," I said and the same drones launched again and scanned the lab.
I made my way to the glass container that housed Pym's greatest work. Inside were 8 vials. I smashed through the glass. I grabbed 4 vials and placed them inside my pocket dimension. They were too precious to risk a bullet hitting them. I didn't want to take any chances. As I finished, I felt bullets hit me on my back. I turned and saw 5 soldiers opening fire on me. I ran at them and knocked them out. The alarms kept on blaring in the building and I proceeded to create my portal. I saw cameras so I asked Astrid to release a small EMP burst from the suit to disable the cameras. The armor around my hand retracted enough for me to put my sling ring on again. I began to open the portal back to my lab. I struggled to maintain it from the lack of concentration but stabilized it and walked through it.
I breathed a sigh of relief. I got a lot of the space stone energy and I can have Astrid study the Pym Particle and any information she scanned. I exited the suit and began to study the Tesseract energy before absorbing. I wanted to see if I could make a duplicate. My plan was similar to the time heist event. There would be two stones in Earth I could get my hands on. I can swap the real Tesseract with a fake one and I could snatch the mind stone. I could get the reality stone too, but I don't know how that will go. I know it eventually goes to the Collector, but I would need to be able to travel to his location. I knew the time stone was out of the question. The Ancient One wouldn't even think about giving it to me. I also didn't want to steal it and battle with her. I don't know if I could take her on if she went full power on me. I wondered if I could even handle that much power from the stones. It was something I would have to test later for now I wanted to absorb the energy I captured. I closed my eyes and focused on the aura on myself. I held my hand to the container and absorbed the energy. I could tell I absorbed something before I passed out. I woke up tired and my arms felt sore.
"Astrid…how long was I out?" I asked curiously.
"12 hours. There were severe burns on your arm but healed after some time." Astrid responded. Well I guess that answers my question on handling the stones. If I got burned from the radiation of the energy alone, then it would be worse if I had the actual stone. Shaw could handle the power from a nuclear reactor but it's different when it comes to the power of the infinity stones. Its more than likely the cosmic energy that they emit. I would have to see how Thanos was able to handle that much power. It would most likely have to be the gauntlet he used. It was designed by the dwarfs so I would have to somehow obtain their knowledge. Maybe Thor can help me with that. That's way down the line so I better focus on what I can do right now.
I didn't want to test my abilities just yet. I concentrated on my energy and saw that there was an improvement. It also became a dark blue color now. I focused on my aura again and tried to absorb the energy from the Tesseract. I didn't pass out immediately this time. I saw how pulses of energy flowed through me as I channeled Shaw's power. I felt incredible as I absorbed the energy. It was an incredible sense of bliss. I was interrupted from feeling when the energy started to burn my hands. I looked down and saw the burns making their way up fast. I grunted from the pain and stopped absorbing. The burns didn't heal fast. In fact, they continued to spread further up to my neck. As it spread, the pain grew. I fell to my knees and held my screams from escaping. Once the spread stopped, I released the air I was holding. The burns created a pulsating pain. I stayed still waiting for my healing to kick in.
"Astrid…take…readings" I said slowly. I wanted to make sure everything was documented. It would prove valuable data to understand what was happening.
"Recording" Astrid said as multiple drones started to scan my body and the area around me.
I felt at ease once I saw that the burns started to recede. Astrid said it took a total of 30 minutes before my healing kicked in from the initial start of absorbing the energy. That's insane. If I had stolen the Tesseract and tried to absorb the energy I would have died for sure. The potency of the space stone is like the power stone with the exception that you could hold it without getting burnt as long as you didn't mess with the energy. I would have to find a way to channel the energy safely later. There was still a little less than half of the energy left in the container. I could tell I was a lot better though. The fact that I didn't pass out was a good sign.
"Astrid," I said. She already knew what I wanted to know.
"Readings show a large amount of gamma and beta radiation entering your body. An unknown energy was also detected. The burns were caused by the radiation entering your body. Scans show damage down to a cellular level. I would not recommend absorbing that energy for too long," Astrid explained.
"No kidding. Thank you, Astrid. Save the readings into a private folder" I asked. I wanted to test out my energy and abilities. I knew just the way. I walked outside. The sun was still out, and I could see James and Victor fighting.
"Hey sis," James said noticing me. Victor stopped attacking as he turned to look at me.
"You're looking better," Victor said.
"I feel better," I said.
"Wanna fight?" I said grinning. James and Victor looked at each other.
"One on one?" James asked.
"Two on one," I said. James just raised his eyebrow.
"If that's what you want," Victor said smiling.
"But none of those cheap mental attacks," Victor said as he took a stance.
"I wasn't planning on doing that anyways," I said. I was feeling excited as both took a stance.
"Don't hold back. Go all out," I said as I put my hands on my sides and opened my palms. James took out his claws and Victor extended his nails. Both began to run at me.
I didn't want to win quickly. I knew I could, but I wanted to see how much I could use my powers for. As Victor leaped to impale me, I stopped him midair and flung him to the side. What surprised me was the blueish particles that formed in my hand and around Victor. It was very similar to the Scarlet Witch's red glow. I guess by absorbing the energy, I had something similar now. It wasn't as intense as the Scarlet Witch, but you could still see faint dark blue particles. James came close to me and tried to slash me with his claws. I created a partial force field to stop his attack. He couldn't continue to bring his claw down as the force field stopped his momentum. The force field was also a dark blue color. He had a shocked expression as he couldn't force his claws down. I flung him to the side as I felt Victor coming close. I let him come closer as he leaped again to try and impale me. I channeled energy into my aura and let Victor impale me, but it never punctured. I could feel I absorbed the kinetic energy he generated. I noticed that my whole body glowed slightly as I did that. I used the kinetic force I absorbed and punched him in the stomach. The force sent him flying off. I could hear him grunt from the force I used. James got up and started to do his classic scream and charged to attack me. I focused on the ground and used my matter manipulation to grip his feet with the ground and stopped him from charging. He faceplanted on the ground from the sudden grip on his feet. I used my magnetic powers to fly upwards to gain height. I was about 10 feet off the ground and extended my hand towards a tree and threw it towards Victor who was climbing a nearby tree to jump to me. I could hear him curse as the tree approached. I turned to James who was slashing at the ground to free his feet. Once his claws succeeded, he looked up to me and retracted his claws.
"Pretty sure we lose this one," James said as he sighed. I could hear Victor grunt as he slashed at the tree on him.
"It was a good fight," I said as I was descending. I still had a good amount of energy so that was a good sign. I calculated I could go all out for a good few minutes before starting to feel the drain. If I activated all my abilities at maximum power at the same time, I could probably hold it for a couple seconds before losing consciousness.
"Extremely one sided," James said as he crossed his arms.
"We wouldn't last this long if you had used your mental abilities," Victor said as he came up next to James.
"So, what's our next move?" Victor asked.
"A lot of planning…" I said while thinking. They waited for me to continue talking. I looked at them before speaking.
"I do have something you guys can do but I don't know how you guys would feel about it," I paused while looking at them.
"Out with it," Victor said.
"Assassination and reconnaissance missions," I said carefully. They didn't seem to flinch when I said assassinations and continued speaking.
"There are some targets we can get rid of before they become a danger in the future," I said.
"Just tell us where to go," James said. I smiled at them. They probably knew I would eventually ask them since they saw the visions.
"I need to make some things before we do that," I said thinking again. I wanted to make sure they had all the tools they needed to succeed.
"I'll be in the lab. I'll let you know when everything is done," I finished.
I went to my lab and started working. I wanted to create a similar way of equipping the suit like the nano suit Tony Stark made and the one Black Panther wore around his neck. Both were very similar in design. I asked Astrid to help me with the work. Having her help made things a lot easier. With our combined efforts, we managed to progress far. I also worked on recreating the communication beads. I made a ring out of adamantium and vibranium which was capable of long-distance communications. It was also a mini supercomputer. Astrid was able to monitor the rings and connect through them when someone wearing the ring asked for something. The ring was capable of a lot of things from hacking to video recording.
Astrid and I designed a suit filled with advanced communication equipment and launched it into space. We encountered a temperature issue at first, but we quickly fixed it. What we launched was essentially a suit except it transformed into a small satellite. It used stealth technology and had more cores to help support the energy demands. Since it was small too, it wouldn't be picked up on radar when we launched it. We launched multiple satellites to basically cover the entire Earth. It would enable us to have eyes everywhere. Astrid would be able to monitor activities and link all the satellites to increase communication ranges of the rings I designed. They maintained a low orbit and had advance sensor to make adjustments and avoid debris from space.
I also upgraded the hospital. It was mostly surveillance upgrades to allow Astrid to monitor activities, but I also made improvements to the medical equipment. Our equipment was now extremely sought after. Some people attempted to steal them but that didn't go so well for them. Since everything was handled by our company, everything was a secret. Not even the CEO knew the transport routes or where they came from. The transport vehicles themselves were heavy armored and equipped with weapons. Astrid and I created automated programs to drive the vehicles to their destinations. We purchased even more acres around our house in order to support manufacturing everything. Now that I had more energy, I could do all the building myself. Howlett Enterprise quickly became a large corporation
Astrid and I were able to finally achieve nano technology after tirelessly working and placed them in an emblem design. The emblem was a black Spartan helmet in black with the helmet having two slashes across the left side. It honestly could have been any design, but I just liked that icon. The emblem could stick to the skin and merge with the body without causing any damage. It was crucial for that to happen since for my brothers and I, it would mean that our bodies would constantly fight and try to regenerate the intrusion on the body. The emblem was the size of a typical wallet and was inside a white hexagon background. It looked more like a tattoo than a piece of metal when attached to the skin. Astrid and I made it so we could continue to add features to it as our technology advanced. The nanites were made out of mostly vibranium with some adamantium mixed in. Astrid and I also made an earpiece that would act as a mic and speaker that only the wearer could hear. It rested behind the ear so it wouldn't be spotted right away. It could be mistaken as a mole on inspection. After I created 3 spartan emblems, I was running low on adamantium. The amount I had was the size of a car now. I had to be very picky on what projects I would use it on. I also used it to create 3 large nanite containers. Two of them were construction nanites that could make essentially anything. They would be installed with Pym Particles once we perfect it. The other container would be used for medical purposes and also installed with Pym Particles.
"James! Victor!" I yelled as I entered the house.
"Over here!" Victor said from the living room. I walked towards the living room and saw them watching tv sitting on the couch. I didn't have to say anything as they made room for me to sit in the middle.
"What are you guys watching?" I asked as I turned to look at the tv.
"News about the war," James said in a low voice. I had talked them out of joining when they told me. While I knew they were different I still didn't want to risk them being exposed to the war.
"Here, I made these for you guys," I said as I handed them each an emblem, earpiece, and a ring.
"Is this what you've been working on all this time?" Victor asked.
"Yeah, I wanted to make sure everything was perfect, you know me" I said smiling.
"Yeah, that's for sure" James said.
"What do they do?" Victor said.
"Put the emblem on your chest, the ring you can put on any finger, and the earpiece can go behind either ear," I explained. Both did as I said and put the objects on. I could see their surprised faces as Astrid greeted them.
"Who is that?" James asked as he heard Astrid greet him.
"That's Astrid!" I said smiling. They both looked at me weird.
"She's been helping me with all this. She's an AI," I finished speaking.
"AI?" Victor asked.
"Artificial intelligence. She's self-aware and is constantly learning," I explained.
"Is that safe?" Victor asked.
"Yes, she has decided to stay with me and help," I said. Years ago, Astrid one day asked me why she was created. I answered carefully and told her that her purpose is whatever she wanted it to be. I told her she could leave if she wanted to but before she did, I told her about myself and what I was preparing for. I even told her about Sir. She stayed quiet for a long time probably computing everything I told her. She ended up deciding to help me. Ever since that happened, I was very open to her and she did the same.
"Is that who you sometimes talk to?" James said. I couldn't hide my shocked expression.
"How did you-" I asked but Victor interrupted me.
"We could hear you sometimes, we just didn't know who it was. Honestly I'm glad you weren't going crazy and started talking to yourself" Victor said chuckling.
"Well its good you at least talk to someone. We've been concerned about you since you never talk," James said.
"I talk-" I said but they both gave me a look knowing I was about to make an excuse.
"Whatever, Astrid activate the suits please," I said as I crossed my arms. James' emblem glowed and started to expand from his chest to surround him. I took inspiration from my memories and designed the suit a lot like his suit from the x-men comics except it was mostly black with less yellow. His mask was very similar too. He had the pointy ears kind of like Black Panther except a bit longer. Victor's suit was also much like the comics except without that fur surrounding his neck. The brown areas of his comic book suit were now black, and his mask was like James'. Once the suits were fully engaged, they were looking at their hands and looking around the room.
"Holy shit!" Victor exclaim.
"Cool right?" I said as I sat down on the couch.
"Astrid will help you with getting used to them. Have fun!" I said as I got up and started to go back to the lab.
"Astrid, make sure to record all flights. I can't wait to blackmail them with it," I said smiling.
"Yes, Dr. Howlett" Astrid spoke in my earpiece.
"Can you create a new identity for me Astrid?" I asked.
"Certainly Dr. Howlett. What would you like to be named?" Astrid asked. I hummed as I thought about a new name.
"Let's just go with Jennifer Howlett. Make it seem like I'm the daughter of someone from the Howlett family. Put some of the degrees I've earned in there too," I said. I had earned more degrees and studied theorical physics and other science fields.
"Right away Dr. Howlett" Astrid said.
I went to the lab and continued working on projects. A couple days passed until Astrid told me that my brothers were now fully capable of using the suits. I asked to see the videos. I laughed so hard I started to cry. Victor had a rough start but quickly got used to flying. James on the other hand had the most trouble. He was working on his fear of flying slowly so he could take flight without trashing on manual mode. Astrid would have to take control in order to allow him to fly and land safely. I stored those files in a safe place. I was in my lab finishing up the information I wanted to give to James and Victor.
"Astrid, can you contact James and Victor to come to the lab please," I asked Astrid.
"Right away Dr Howlett," Astrid said. While I waited for them, I went to the station nearby and a projected keyboard lit up. I started typing and pulled the files I needed to show them.
"Lydia!" I heard Victor yell.
"Hey guys! How are the suits?" I asked smiling. James was smoking his cigar as he came behind Victor. I sighed at him. I guess I'm not surprised he picked up that habit. He wouldn't be the Wolverine without his signature smoking habit.
"Its amazing, but you know who still can't get the hang of it," Victor said pointing behind him.
"Whatever," James said as he crossed his arms. I chuckled.
"Listen, these are the files that you'll need for your missions," I said turning serious.
"Missions?" James asked looking at me.
"Yeah, there are a lot of things that need to be done" I said as I swipe all the files to their direction.
"Astrid will help with them. You're first target is a man by the name of Werner Reinhardt a.k.a Daniel Whitehall. He is one of the leaders of the organization HYDRA" I explained.
"Those guys are still active?" James asked with an eyebrow raised. I remember James and Captain America fought together in the war, so it makes sense that James encountered HYDRA in one of those missions.
"Yeah and they are in hiding right now. For now, just track Werner down and tail him. Put a tracker on him without him knowing. What we need, is the information he has on an object he calls the Obelisk. Once that's done you can get rid of him. He may be in prison, but I am not sure." I showed them an image of the device in the hologram projector.
"It is actually called the Diviner and they were made by an alien race. It contains something called Terrigen Crystals that are supposed to activate special powers when someone with the right genetic structure absorbs the mist it generates. Someone without that, however, would suffer a horrible death. It's a stupid way of achieving that but I want it to study exactly how it works" I finished explaining.
"The other thing is to find information on an object called the Monolith. It's a large black structure that has the ability to transport people to a different planet. I want to study it too but please be careful. Under no circumstance approach it. On the other side there's a very powerful enemy who thinks his sole purpose is to rule Earth and kill all humans," I said. I wanted to know the science behind it. If Astrid and I could solve it, we can essentially travel to other worlds instantly.
"Well, it's about time we got to do something," Victor said, and James agreed.
"You can head out anytime you want, just keep in touch" I said. They didn't waste time as I saw their suits activate and they walked out. I smiled at them. They were getting anxious not doing anything. They hated doing things for the business, so this was a welcome change.