28

Five days later.

Tony stood on one edge of the range while a Railgun on a flattened elliptical repulsor platform aimed at him from the other. Just in case, Stark was wearing his armour - ability is ability, but a safety net is paramount.

- Jarvis, record experiment 138. Stopping a ten-gram, five-millimetre calibre bullet at 150 metres per second. On three. One, two, three!

The Railgun spat out an arrow resembling a small, unplumed flechette. It flew out almost silently due to its subsonic speed. Only the squeak of the supercapacitors was audible. After flying fifteen metres and missing Stark by a couple of centimetres, it lost all momentum and fell to the ground.

- Experiment 138 successful," Jarvis commented.

- All right, let's go to 200 metres...

Stark had already been training his abilities for five real days, or about three months subjectively for him. His initial assumption that it was energy absorption proved to be correct. However, as always, the devil hides in the details. To begin with, the same Shaw could not absorb energy without limit; he had his limit. Every mutant spends energy on any action; the more extensive the action, the more energy is used. And the energy, the growth of this energy and control, even if it increases with time, but still limited. Unless something extraordinary happens, like what happened to Jean Grey.

Stark's ability was the same, but since he was more of an inventor and scientist, he was trying to learn more about his powers. Tony didn't just absorb energy; he turned kinetic energy into potential energy. You can take spring as an example. While it's compressed, it's potential energy, and only by releasing it can you get real kinetic momentum. However, potential energy was not stored forever. It eventually began to recycle, turning into... mana of the appropriate type. Which, in turn, strengthened the body, as well as fuelled and renewed Stark's prana. It made sense why Shaw wasn't ageing. However, Tony's absorption was also fuelled by the ability to create a space-time cocoon. It was a surprisingly voracious ability, consuming more and more the greater the acceleration coefficient. It also made sense why Shaw would lose consciousness when overloaded - his body couldn't handle large amounts of potential energy, and his soul couldn't handle mana.

His abilities were a revived absolute of the philosophy of wushu and jiu-jitsu masters - use the opponent's strength against himself. However, nothing prevented him from amplifying his own punch. Magic and martial arts were more than adequate here. The first time Stark did that, he broke a column of vibranium. And when he used all the reinforcements he knew and the technique of the martial arts god Hayato, he bent a column of vibranium. However, this was still a flower, and he should gain experience in their use in time. Stark had already begun to absorb the reactor's energy directly, learning to use high-energy rays of different spectra and electrical discharges directly, without or with the suit as an intermediary. But even without that, the abilities were perfectly suited to Stark's needs.

However, his abilities had another disadvantage - the mandatory conscious use of them. Hence the vulnerability to telepathy. However, even that was diluted by mental magic, titan brain, mind spirit, Mercury acceleration, and mutant adaptive abilities. With the first four and so, everything is clear; all of them, to some extent, allowed to increase their thinking and reaction speed, but with the last, everything was not so simple.

For example, give an ordinary person Professor Xavier's ability; he would die of multiple strokes in a second. His mind would be banally unprepared for such a flood of information. And it's the same with any other mutant. Some divide mutations into physical, energetic and conceptual, but this doesn't seem right. Even wielders of conceptual powers change internally, their body, mind and soul adapting to their powers. Xavier can view a person's memories in a few minutes without harming himself. Magneto can pull incredibly large metal structures without destroying them or turning them into dust. And this adaptation has no effect on the actual cognitive abilities, so you can have a mutation-specific supercomputer in your head, allowing you to act with unreal speed and accuracy and yet be a complete fool in normal life.

- Experiment 141 was a success," Jarvis commented.

- Now, let's do a burst firing on the move.

- You asked me to tell you when Jean Grey wakes up, Mr Stark. Well, I'm telling you, she's awake, destroyed your house, and is currently fighting the X-Men.

- She woke up and pounced? - Stark immediately threw on some magical shields, activated his defence runes, grabbed a couple of dozen scaled-down suits under Jarvis' control and apparated to his invisible drone, watching the ongoing carnage behind the cliff.

Spotting these drones was, if not impossible, then extremely difficult. As they were made of non-metallic composites, they had optical and holographic cloaking devices, aversion, disillusionment, and several other spells blocking sounds, smells, and presence in space. In addition, they were reduced in size by a factor of ten with shrinking charms. Stark had placed such drones at his home, his competitors, many intelligence agencies, and in the offices of Pepper and her high-ranking subordinates. It had been found many times before that even trusted and loyal employees could be bribed or intimidated by competitors.

But Tony wasn't thinking about that at the moment; he was watching as red laser beams, lightning, gunshots, and who knows what else, which was hard to make out because of the dust clouds that were being wiped away by a downpour the Mojave Desert hadn't seen in fifty years.

- Before that, Professor Xavier had stopped by to see her. Play the videotape? - Jarvis continued, not at all embarrassed by the creator's disappearance. Besides, the connection was based on protean charms, making it instantaneous and impossible to block.

- Come on, - agreed Stark, seeing that the girl was trying to hold back as much as possible to not kill the mutants who attacked her. It is necessary to find out the reason for these events.

If Jin goes crazy, teleport her into space and send her at full speed towards the sun or outside the system. But we'll have to think if he didn't listen and did something wrong.

- Professor? - came the confused voice of Jean Grey, overheard by the drone. - Where are we? What am I doing here?

- Jean, how are you feeling? - Xavier's confident and friendly voice would give a head start to an experienced psychologist talking to a dear, in every sense, client.

- My head... hurts. Something is tearing me up inside... I... I remember! I'm the reason, Mum and Dad... No!" there was an explosion, a noise, some creaking.

- Gene, fight it, don't let it take over!

- It was you. You made me forget about it and put a block on it? - The woman's voice was angry now.

- It was necessary! You weren't in control of your powers! - Tony shook his head at this point.

He understood Xavier's logic, and he had the benefit of Vlad's knowledge. It's much easier to block memories and put a psychological block in place. That's true. But it's a temporary solution; usually, the blocks are slowly removed, helping you gradually get over the tragedy and learn to control a larger and larger pool of abilities. Charles, however, took the easy way out, probably thinking that leaving things as they were was better. Except it ain't. When the mental block is removed, all the unexperienced emotions hit the mind like a hammer. Then there are long-held-back abilities, additionally strengthened by the cosmic essence. A classic state of effect, flavoured with a fierce hatred for the one who had set the block. However, after the next words, Stark slammed his metal glove on the back of his head.

- Get out of my head!

Now Tony didn't understand how Jean hadn't killed everyone yet. Instead of calming down an already unstable student, Xavier had thought of nothing better to do than try to put up a block again? Marasmus or a professional deformity that forced him to brainwash himself in every obscure situation?

- Jarvis, send in the collection drones. All seriously injured or recently deceased to stasis, I'll deal with them when I get back," Tony ordered, releasing both the self-contained armour and the mini drones.

Was it risky to combat a monstrously powerful telekinetic amplified by a space entity larger than a planet? Insanely risky and foolish. However, even if it escaped to the other side of the Earth, it was far from certain that it would somehow prevent it from destroying it. Anti-material ammunition could be used, but where was the guarantee that it would definitely kill her? And if she survived, then a peaceful solution to the issue would be permanently closed, and only a battle to the death would remain. Stark had felt the entity's power, so he would not be surprised if it resurrected Jyn, even when splitting into atoms. In any case, he would be able to survive for a while due to the absorption, and then he would have to act according to the situation. It may be necessary to use an ultimatum spell transforming matter into anti-matter and then pray that the destruction is not global and it kills the enemy.

- You got it, Mr Stark.

- I never doubted you," Tony said thoughtfully, wondering where the local mages were and what the fuck they were doing.

Why did he have to clean up his own shit? No, there was a chance that the X-men would have coped in time, losing more than half of their personnel, or some other defender of the planet would have come. The man knew he was not alone, and there were special units of the same Shield or CIA with mutants, a certain programme of "guardians", and many other "superheroes". Oh, and the same Magneto was previously dealt with in the tie-in, but for some reason, from the moment he put on the suit, he's been getting piled on by one thing and another. Before, however, he didn't pay attention to all of it, leaving it to someone else. "Big power - big responsibility?" - A similar thought occurred to him, which made him laugh internally. However, just by going to the next level, his awareness and 'league', so to speak, had become higher. What would he be able to do to Grey without the mutants' powers? Unless he could blast a nuclear projectile from a distance with a railgun or try to fence her with spells or rituals without any guarantees. Telekinesis doesn't have the same disadvantages as metal control; it can stop anything and everything.

After that, Tony apparated right in front of the girl. He immediately felt himself being squeezed from all sides. That energy was absorbed by him without reaching the magical shields.

- What are you? A telekinetic? A telepath? - Jean misinterpreted the man's strength, believing he resisted her with telekinesis and telepathy of equal strength.

And the build-up of pressure was futile. Surprise broke through Miss Grey's armour of hatred and grief. Tony had spent three subjective months finally figuring out wand magic for a reason. Jarvis had also found the location of the KGB archives that contained the documentation for creating the Magneto helmet that had previously belonged to Shaw. So now this alloy, along with the mental defence runes, covered the helmet from the inside.

- "I have to admit, you have a great arse," Tony made his helmet 'transparent'. Though it was actually a holographic projection on top of it.

- Stark? - The surprise became completely genuine, and the woman briefly took control. - Are you a mutant? Never mind! Go away! I can't control myself!

- Why would you do that? Hit me as hard as you can," Stark grinned, approaching the girl.

Ten metres, nine. In a panic, she began throwing chunks of rock and blocks at him, many of them on the surface and underground. A real sandstorm was brewing. Hundreds of tonnes of sand raining down on a man walking calmly.

- That's weak. Is that the best you can do, Gene? Should you have been afraid of your own strength?

- I will crush you, destroy you!

Losing her head and completely out of control, she flew backwards, gathering all the rocks and sand into a ball of monstrous pressure, making it red-hot. Then she threw it at the man walking like a god. The orb flew towards him, touched the unbreakable barrier, and exploded because of the opposing forces operating within it. The part that touched Stark had lost energy, while the part farther away still had it.

- Go away, leave me, stay away! - the anger turned to fear.

The surrounding space was literally cracking from the forces affecting it. At an altitude of five hundred metres, the Shield's reconnaissance plane crumbled into dust. If X-Men had not promptly dived into the plane and Stark's drones had not collected the bodies, they would all be dead now. The already fine dust was pulverised into individual molecules and atoms and heated to thousands of degrees, and Tony couldn't care less. In fact, it was more complicated. Stark had to release energy by extreme acceleration or sending it into the projectiles flying at him. His body and soul were being overloaded.

Jin, however, briefly regained her composure, crying:

- Kill me so I can't hurt anyone else!

- What are you doing here? - Stark smiled and stroked the girl's head, completely blocking her abilities as she was within the range of his powers.

Yes, she was strong, but she was inexperienced in using that power. And secondly, she acted very roughly. It was enough for her to make a ball of dust around him and send him away. Or crush him to the point of unconsciousness. In which case, he'd teleport away, and one of Jarvis's drones would drop a 100-megaton anti-matter bomb on him.

- Why are you being so nice? I killed my parents! I attacked my friends!

- You're just a confused girl who got too much power simultaneously. Where's the confident woman who joked with me about her arse?

- Are you serious? We're in the middle of a massacre, and you're thinking about my arse? - Stark's words knocked her off her game. Which is exactly what he wanted, actually. - Are you out of your mind?

- It was just a little fight. Determining whether the ass or breasts are more important is a much more serious matter. Wise men have been arguing about it for centuries and still haven't decided," the man nodded seriously. - If I didn't have a fiancée, I'd come on to you. I have a fetish for redheads. By the way, will you come to my wedding with Pepper?

- Pfft, pfft, ah-ha-ha-ha-ha! - Jean laughed hysterically.

If Stark hadn't blocked her telekinesis, the whole desert would be shaking right now, so much power the girl put into her hysterics. But with it, she let out all the emotions she had accumulated. And Phoenix, though no one knew it, was just a force. He has no opinion; he only reinforces the emotions already there.

- You are inimitable, Mr Stark. Except I'm afraid, I'm going to kill everyone. I have no control over my powers; frankly, I don't understand how you block them.

- Oh, that's an interesting story. Could you change into something more civilised and have some tea, coffee or something stronger?

- And you're not afraid of me?

- I'm afraid I will get my head kicked in by Pepper for flirting with another girl. And control. Control is a matter of time. In the meantime, I suggest you stay close to me.

- Or what? - She bristled, indicating that trying to control her was now her trigger.

- Or you'll be drinking sand tea. Right now, I'm the only one who can contain the destructive manifestations of your powers. Without me, you can't even eat properly.

- Makes sense. But how are we gonna get to your place?

- Oh, you'd be surprised," Tony held out his hand to her, and after Jean hesitantly put hers in it, they disappeared.

All that was left was a trail of carnage for many hectares around them and atomic dust flying in all directions.

***

***

- So you're a teleporter too? How many powers do you have? - The girl recoiled from him in Stark's living room. - And you're not afraid of me destroying your house?

- Destroy as much as you want, we're on an island in Polynesia, and you won't hurt anyone;- Stark decided that since the girl was more or less adequate, having her as an ally instead of an enemy was much more advantageous.

Besides, the island was far away from inhabited areas. It protected, so here, if she wanted to, she could harm only fish and birds.

- You don't care about the money?

- I'm a mage," Stark shrugged, turning the table into a pig that made a circle before her eyes, smashing it into splinters and rebuilding it into a whole table.

- So you're not a mutant? - Jean squinted.

- And a mutant, a mage, and not human. Now be quiet for a while; I have to justify to my fiancée why I'll be going everywhere with you shortly;- Stark chose a contact with Pepper's photo on Starkphone - he caught her laughing and blowing her nose, then used it as an avatar.

This Starkphone was protean charms connected to an exact replica of the same one. So Tony could call from the other end of the galaxy without any problems.

- I can leave if I'm such a burden to you.

- And you'd destroy the Earth after that? No, thanks, I like it so far," after three beeps, the other side picked up the call. - Yeah, Pepper, it's me. Yeah, I know it's 4:00 in the morning in New York. I've got a problem looming, anyway. I'm in a bit of a fight, and I'm holding back an Omega-level mutant with a cosmic bitch inside who can't control himself... How did you know it was a girl? No, it's not my woman! Yeah, I love you too. Shall I take a picture of her? Jin, do you mind?

- Should I take my clothes off? - Grey chuckled at him.

- 'That'll do,' Stark sullenly snapped a picture of her on camera since his fiancée had heard everything, then returned to the conversation. - You approve of my taste? Okay, stop. I didn't have anything with her! All right, come on, I kiss you too!

- What's up? Did you talk? It sounded pretty sweet, and I'm scared to imagine who she is to keep a billionaire, an unclassifiable level mutant and a mage in her grip? A goddess?

- Half-titans, if you're wondering, and a mutant. But she became one because of me; before that, she was just a simple human and still wonderful.

- That's all interesting," the girl's words were at odds with her expression, saying she didn't care, "but what happened to me? You're right; everything around me will collapse once I go beyond your powers.

- If there's power, there has to be control... Your control. I can offer you restraining bracelets. They won't last long, even the adamantium ones, but as they break down, you can learn control.

- And then what?

- Then you do what you want, but if you start killing people and destroying things alone, I will come and kill you. Is that understood?

- More than clear," Strangely enough, the unlocked Jyn Stark personality liked him.

He wasn't lying to her; she could feel that. He was stronger, which made her see him as more than an equal. And he... He didn't want to control or subjugate her, and the restrictions he offered were only temporary. The new personality was not second but rather an amalgamation of a blocked part of her consciousness that included memories and the lion's share of abilities and repressed feelings. The new Grey was more impulsive and prone to emotion, but that had both minuses and pluses. And Stark attracted her with his strength, confidence, lack of fear, and bowing to her. Whether she would follow him or leave him was yet to be decided. There was a small chance of deception, but it was there.

- Then let's go to the workshop, it's underground. Jarvis, start calculating the chains of the most powerful magical and mental energy blockers based on Asker's bloody shackles made of adamantium and Magneto's helmet alloy.

- Beginning the calculation, Mr Stark," said a voice.

- Who's speaking? - the telepath enquired.

- My artificial intelligence.

- How interesting," the woman's eyes lit up with a yellowish flame.

Instincts literally blazed inside, urging him to pounce on the man, take him, suppress him, and make him her own, but the conscious part of the mind held back. All the more, the girl realised that Stark was stronger, and she would do nothing to him. However, this only fuelled the interest. A side effect of merging with Phoenix was that all vital functions were enhanced. Including hormonal balance went out of whack, and the usual attraction turned into an unbridled passion, anger - into an all-destroying rage, sadness - into unspeakable longing, and fear - into all-consuming horror. In addition, reproductive functions and sensitivity also appeared to be heightened.

It was as if the girl was constantly in a state of ovulation or, roughly speaking, behaving like a heat bitch. However, she couldn't give herself to some weakling, like her lover who had once started shooting energy beams at her, because it was contrary to her new feelings. By the way, it was the concentration on these feelings that not only prevented but also discouraged any desire to run away. And where would she run to? To the X-Men who tried to brainwash her, deceived, and attacked her? To the mutant brotherhood, where Magneto would surely try to use her for his own purposes? Or is it better to stay with the strongest man she's ever known, who wants to help her become even stronger? After all, uncontrolled power is dangerous, first and foremost, to the one using it. And the remnants of her critical thinking told her that if she subjugated all power to herself, she would have no equal... Well, maybe, except for Stark.

Stark's workshop resembled, as always, an amazing combination of junkyard and futuristic equipment. Activating the workbench, Tony displayed the holographic schematic Jarvis had calculated. Then he drew in a vibrantium dummy and, infusing it with his mana, began drawing it into two bracelets dotted with runes. Such delicate work surprised even a telekinetic. Grey was strong, especially now that she had broken the blocks and merged with a cosmic entity. Still, such precise manipulation was beyond her reach.

- May I? - gave Tony one last chance to back out.

- If it's a trap, I'll kill you," she held out her hand.

- I wouldn't need a trap if I wanted to kill you.

However, Stark wasn't sure how the entity would behave if he killed the host. If he could do it at all. If you can't fight it, lead it. The metal wrapped around the girl's hands as if mercury, taking the form of rather stylish wide bracelets. This was followed by two more bracelets on her legs and one each on her head, neck, and belt. Adding a little magic, Stark finally completed the transformation of vibrantium into adamantium and further strengthened it with enchantments. He then activated the artefact complex and finally stopped touching Jean.

- Doesn't it work? - The girl asked, lifting a coil of wire into the air.

- Naturally, I left you some of the powers. There's no point in learning to control yourself if there's nothing to control. As a telepath, do you know how to meditate and enter your mind?

- No, I wasn't taught that.

- Then what were you taught? - Stark was genuinely surprised.

Meditation is the first thing a mental mage or Legilimens learns.

- To read other people's thoughts and memories properly, telekinetic and telepathic control.

- The bill to Xavier grows ever larger," Stark reprimanded.

Immersion and cognition of one's mind is the primary foundation. Without a solid foundation, a mentalist runs the risk of going insane... Which is apparently what happened.

- No, I understand why he didn't teach you that, so you wouldn't remove the block yourself. But then, what's the point of all this? Shit, okay. Do you know how to take mental packets?

- Sure," Jin said with a squint, offended by the attitude.

The next moment, however, when she met the billionaire's gaze and received considerable information, her anger also spilt over to Charles. Stark had discounted her all the information on mental magic, Legilimenship, occlumency, and intuitive skills of mind-spirits that he knew. Strong telepaths should have a better grasp of their minds than anyone else. Up until this point, Tony had thought the same thing. But as it turned out, Jean was more focused on other people's thoughts than hers. The trivial trappings of the mind that even a simple person with an organised mind could do were unknown to her. No wonder she had leaked a bit of cuckoo after breaking through the mental block. She had trivially never been taught to organise her mind and cultivate her will, and now she would have to do it in a forceful mode.

- This... This... This... What is this? Where did this come from anyway? How do you know so much about telepathy? - Jean asked in shock, now feeling admiration not only for his strength but also for his knowledge.

- There are many worlds. And in one of them, mages don't have the luxury of mutants getting everything at once. They develop their powers gradually, passing them down from generation to generation and improving them over time. Roughly speaking, where you hit with a club, they're used to stabbing with an estoc. So if you master at least half of it, you won't have control problems. Start with occlumency and inner meditation, allowing you to enter your inner world.

- Thank you. I will definitely repay you for this," the girl's words sounded threatening, but she was grateful. Thanks to the artefacts at the moment, the power was not pressing on her mind, and she was at ease. - However, Prof... Xavier will be looking for me. He has Cerebro.

- Not with these artefacts," Stark's phone rang. - There he is, easy on the eyes," Tony put his finger to his lips, telling the girl to be quiet. The man activated the speakerphone.

- So you survived? I'm glad. I couldn't sense you, and I was worried. How did it end? - The older man's voice was really broken.

He may be an old jerk, but he worried about his pupils. Speaking of them.

- We fought for a bit, after which she kicked up a pile of dust and disappeared. I need to find out where she is. Maybe she split into atoms; maybe she flew away. I couldn't find any trace of her," Tony lied blatantly. - By the way, I was able to save your kids. I'll fly them up and drop them off later.

- That's wonderful news. Still, I'm sorry about Jean. It's my fault. If I could, I would have done things differently.

- Everybody makes mistakes, Charles. Only some get a chance to fix them. If you'll excuse me, I must treat your Boy Scouts.

- Thank you, I owe you a debt of gratitude," the call stopped.

- Can you really fix them? When I was... out of it, I didn't hold back.

- Am I a magician, or am I out for a walk? You have your task; I have mine. The sooner you're done, the sooner I have free time to sit in a bar with a friend and get on with my wedding.

Tony began enlarging the bodies in stasis, healing or resurrecting them if the damage was too extensive, then shrinking them back down. Jean kept one eye on everything that was going on because what was happening was more incredible than the most amazing mutant abilities. When Tony had grown the legs of her former lover, Scott, she had barely contained herself. What did the girl feel at that moment? Awe, for Stark? Shame for killing her ex, even though he had attacked her himself? Irrational terror? Amazement? Probably all of them at once. And strangely enough, it was Stark's practices that helped calm her down, and they were perfectly suited to her abilities. The girl was quite experienced; it was just that whereas before she'd had to climb into other people's heads, now she had to climb into her own.

After Tony was done, he transported the shrunken mutants to Xavier's mansion, where he dumped them out in a pile, leaving the serum ready for Xavier with instructions for them. After what had happened to Jean, Tony, who already had little love or purity for the telepath, didn't even want to meet him. Did he honour his promise? He did. Saved people? He did. His conscience is clear. All that's left is to train Grey and get him out of here.