Chapter 0154: Unresolved Issues

'Okay, this is gonna take a while…' Alex realized as he tried to devour the Inhuman.

After examining the subdued Inhuman for a while, Alex understood the reason behind the devouring process being resisted. Cosmic Energy.

'It's always fucking Cosmic Energy…' He cursed. The Inhuman's entire body was coated with it and it was the one energy Alex couldn't directly absorb even after trying. Ultimately, he would have to slowly wear down the coating while keeping the Inhuman in an unconscious state.

Laura saw the mass of black that had enveloped and was devouring the Inhuman in front of her slowly get smaller and smaller as it compressed into nothingness.

Alex told her, [I haven't devoured this Inhuman yet, but suppressed them somewhere else. It will take me a while to wear down their defenses. Let's continue the original plan.]

He'd brought the Inhuman into his ‹Inventory›[1]. This also allowed him to test what happens if he brings a living person in there. He was happy to see that he could safely support a human's presence inside the ‹Inventory› that he'd created by utilizing a subspace within his own soul that resided inside the Klyntar Soul Dimension.

'If we're ever in a pinch, I can bring one of the girls here as a last resort…' He thought as he started grinding through the Inhuman's defenses.

As for Laura, the new berserk ability had no post-use weakness state, so Alex was easily able to bring her to top shape within seconds as she started moving again.

It didn't take long for her to take control of the facility after their main line of defense — Their last remaining Inhuman — was taken care of. The rest of their resistance was inconsequential to the repertoire of powers that Alex and Laura possessed.

Within an hour, she sent a signal to Logan to pick her up from this facility. Alex had found that little tidbit of information from the memories of the original Laura of this Earth. Logan had left her a specific frequency to send a message if she was ever in a dangerous situation.

When he told Laura about it, her reaction was a cute squeal, "My dad gave me the same frequency…" She murmured in a reminiscent tone.

[Don't get soft on me now…] Alex said, [We still need to infiltrate into Hydra to get information about their plans. You can reunite with your Earth's Wolverine sooner or later.]

Laura's mood quickly shifted and she gave him a careless, "Meh…" She didn't say anything more about it and sat in silence, waiting for Wolverine to arrive. Alex felt her complicated feelings when it came to her version of Wolverine and understood that it was a bit of a sore spot for her. It made sense. The man had essentially left her in that hell of a place called The Bastion for years.

It didn't take long before a jet hovered above the facility in broad daylight without any camouflage. Seeing that no hostiles attacked them, the jet descended into the landing bay in front of Laura who was already waiting.

The jet powered down and a minute or so later, the hatch opened, allowing Wolverine to walk out.

"Are you alone?" Laura asked Wolverine.

He grunted in response as Laura showed a reminiscent smile, "Let's—" She was interrupted by the metallic scraping sound of Wolverine's claws extending.

Laura instantly dodged to the left and backflipped before wrapping her leg around his neck, trying to pin him down. He ducked before Laura was able to make contact and stabbed toward her, forcing her to dodge as she punched in his direction again.

"You're not my daughter," Wolverine growled as he retracted his claws and engaged in a pure martial battle with her.

"I mean technically, I am," Laura said as she parried Wolverine's kick and swiped his legs, forcing him to skip over her leg.

"You might be using the fighting style I taught her, but you aren't her." He tried to elbow Laura's back after getting behind her, but she grabbed his shoulder and flipped herself around, landing on her feet.

"Boo, fucking hoo." Laura quipped with an undertone of annoyance as she tried to knee his leg, trying to mess with his balance, but he turned his leg and rendered her move meaningless before punching her, forcing her to step back to dodge.

"Where is she!" He growled as Laura went in between his legs and got behind him before kicking him in the back.

"I'm your fucking daughter!" Laura shouted as Wolverine was slammed into the wall in front of her.

Instead of saying something, he extended his claws, making Laura draw them too as he charged at her once again, crossing his claws with hers.

"Tell me where she is, or I'll kill you no matter what!" He threatened while stabbing her stomach with his claws, which she promptly blocked before kicking him with her clawed foot.

"Don't make me laugh, Dad!" Laura laughed in anger as clouds gathered in the sky, but Wolverine was too busy to notice it.

Laura's movements got more and more aggressive as she attacked Wolverine ferally, "Why did you leave me, huh?!"

Even at the cost of getting nicked by his claws, she kept stabbing toward Wolverine who narrowed his eyes after noticing that his claws failed to penetrate Laura's armor. He got defensive and kept fighting her as Laura got more agitated.

"Why!?" She screamed as lightning crackled in the sky, "I spent years in that hellhole!"

The lightning resonated with her mood as the crackling got even more furious as she forced Wolverine to be on the defensive.

Even with his superior combat skills, Laura had the upper hand due to her greater physical stats and her defenseless fighting style. Alex could easily tank any of his attacks while Wolverine had to constantly dodge her more dangerous attacks since his regeneration had limits.

"I hate you!" She screamed as a thick bolt of lightning finally fell from the sky and enveloped both Laura and Wolverine. As Laura got empowered in that mass of pure white, she sent Wolverine's smoking figure flying out of the radius of the blast as he collided with a wall and broke through the concrete, getting buried in the rubble.

As the dust settled, instead of Laura's empowered figure, what was revealed was her armorless figure as she appeared in casual clothes. She looked in Wolverine's direction with reddened eyes as she panted to catch her breath.

[Better?] Alex asked in her head.

She breathed heavily and gave him an annoyed yet throaty, "Meh… Not really."

…

"I seem to have abandoned you in your reality…" Wolverine looked at Laura's expressionless face.

"I'm over it." She said. [You are clearly not over it, honey. But don't worry, we'll work things out together.] Alex consoled her.

"Is she dead?" He asked.

"What?" Laura was confused.

"My Laura." He clarified, "Is she dead?" He asked.

"Not at all." Laura shook her head, "She's currently on the Earth from my reality." She answered.

"Can I see her?" He asked.

"Sure…" Laura said with gritted teeth, feeling a little sour inwardly. She pointed her hand in a direction and a black tentacle extended out of her palm, pointing at the empty space before a mystic arts portal opened. It showed the scene of Laura and Ms. Marvel walking through the wasteland.

They were both in their venomized outfits as Ms. Marvel spoke to Laura while the girl merely listened. There was a black tether that connected them both together at their waists, attached to their suits.

Seeing his daughter safe, some of the tension left Wolverine's shoulders. He then noticed the similarities between the outfits of the Laura in front of him and his Laura, "What's with that black goo outfit?" He asked, having realized that it wasn't a simple set of clothes, but something much more than that.

"My symbiote friend, Apex. You don't have to worry, he'll keep them safe." Her words had multiple implications for Wolverine.

"So this Apex can also kill them whenever he wants?" He asked.

"Why do you have to be so negative?" She rolled her eyes, "I'm just here to see what the deal with Hydra invading another planet is. Once we take care of things related to that, we'll leave. Then you can take care of your daughter all you want. But, for now, I'm going to play the part of your daughter."

"You're here to stop Rogers?" He asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yes." Laura nodded, "At the very least, I need to know his plans."

"If you're relying on that lightning ability, then I suggest that you give up." Wolverine said bluntly, "He wields Thor's hammer. I've seen him fight…" Wolverine had a reminiscent look that told Laura of the psychological impact that Captain America wielding Mjolnir would've had on him.

"He's like a god of lightning when he fights..." He looked back at Laura.

"Well, that hammer does belong to the god of lightning… Well, thunder, but whatever," Laura shrugged, "I'm not just going to give up like that."

"Just knowing his plans won't be enough for you either, is it?" Wolverine asked her.

Laura stayed quiet, her expression was enough to relay her answer to Wolverine.

"I'll start from the beginning then…" He sighed, deciding to support Laura. He was ultimately working against Hydra as an undercover agent. The more help the Underground could have, the better.

…

[1] ‹Inventory›:: A central storage present within the Klyntar Soul Dimension where anything can be stored. Whether it is matter or energy, it can be stored within this storage. As long as an item is placed within the inventory, no time will pass for that item and it will come out with the exact conditions that it came in. There is no limit to the materials that can be stored within the inventory as long as the consciousness can envelop the items.

***

If you want to support me, check out my Patréon.

I post 20 advanced chapters of the book on my Patrèon. Check it out!

I also do weekly polls there to decide which story I will be posting for the following week.

www.patrèon.com/addyctive

(Replace the è with e)