Chapter 154
We met up shortly after each of our recruitment trips ended, we headed over to Fury's. He apparently needed to have a chat in person.
We split up shortly after we reached the building and were signed in. Jean wanted to check in on Piotr, Rin on Kurt, and his former mates, and I headed over to Fury's, where he was waiting on me with his usual stoic front, but I could tell the burdens of running SHIELD was weighing on him.
More than that, I also sensed that he was angry about the double-cross, but they were not the first words out of his mouth.
"I need you in Antarctica before the end of the week," he said.
I blinked. "I thought it was not that much of a priority?"
"It wasn't until it was," he said, then sighed.
"What aren't you telling me?" I frowned, scanning his mind, and was shocked by what I found. The preliminary scan of Antarctica produced results that I should've expected, but I still somehow did not foresee.
The explosion of gamma radiation created a fallout that changed the ecosystem of the North Pole. Strange luminescent stone structures rose from the ground, the temperature in the fallout zone trended warmer, and most odd of all, thousands of creatures caught in the fallout zone went into hibernation in strange crystalline cocoons.
Subsequent scans over the following weeks showed that they gained a notable gamma signature, much like the Hulk, who they noted had hidden himself in a system of underground caves to escape the scathing cold.
Fury and the Council were for once in agreement about what to do about the discovery—observe and analyze.
It was far away from any country, so it would not pose much of a problem if the situation developed negatively. Plus, if they had a resource that could help them potentially reverse-engineer super soldiers, they'd take it.
They became even more certain in their choice when the survey team they sent made discoveries over the subsequent weeks.
They found traces of Bruce Banner's DNA everywhere across the Fallout zone. It permeated the very air, giving them even more reasons to believe that the explosion mutated the surrounding animals.
Shortly after, they found a secondary mutagen source, and it was Vibranium.
After my little double-cross with T'Chaka, Fury had been considering cutting me loose from the expedition altogether until the survey team suddenly went radio silent. That was a day ago. They sent a secondary survey team escorted by an assault team over, but only a pilot made it back.
According to the pilot, some flying monstrosity ripped into them the moment they disembarked. If not for his quick handling of the onboard guns, they would've ripped the Quinjet apart. The beast hadn't gone down easily either.
The cameras of the Quinjet didn't get a clear picture of it, but it looked to be some Owl-fox hybrid.
And the entire situation had Fury nearly pulling out his hair. He thought they'd at least get a warning before the monsters came out of their chrysalis. Worse yet, he hadn't been expecting them to come out that strong or dangerous.
Beasts like that could easily cross over to Greenland via flight. They had weeks, if they were lucky, before they were fighting another major threat.
Fury was greedy, but not so much that he'd refused to cut his losses when the situation was spinning out of control.
He was ready to call in an airstrike to flatten the Fallout zone and make do with whatever they could recover, but Betty and the World Council stayed his hand.
The professor wanted Bruce back like Fury had promised for her help with his formula and creating Prometheans, and the World Council wanted to cut down the population and preserve the site so that they didn't lose a potential resource to combat the demon threat.
All that explained how I came to be in Fury's Chair.
He repeated most of what I already knew but was light on the details of the motivations of the various parties involved and the Vibranium.
He expected me to uncover the various players but wouldn't budge about the Vibranium. It was SHIELD's ticket to supremacy.
"I need someone with their eyes on the ground and the strength to handle whatever monstrosities Banner's blood and the gamma fallout created," he said. "I hope our survey team is still alive, but I doubt that. More than anything, I need you to cull the herd. We can't let those monsters leave the continent."
"Cull? Not exterminate? Don't tell me you want to experiment on those things?"
"It's out of my hands. The World council have spoken," he said. "You try telling Professor Ross we can't get her boyfriend back."
I hummed, crossing my legs.
"What you're asking is very different from what we agreed to," I said. "Mutated gamma monsters will not be easy to put down, even for us. And you said there could be potentially thousands of them."
"But you can do it?"
"Yes. Safely? Probably not." I was stronger than I've ever been in both of my lives and with my new weapons, I was one of the hardest hitters on the planet. Still, I was only at the second stage of energy control and wasn't all that durable either.
Bullets only began to reliably bounce off my skin, and I wouldn't risk a Sniper shot to any vital organ.
"I find that hard to believe," he said. "Between the new Vibranium body suit and your team mates, there are very few people you can't bring down."
"Very true," I conceded, "but we're up against a small army of gamma mutated monsters who probably have better regeneration than Wolverine and strength that rivals some of the strongest demons I've fought. Vibranium is durable, but it's not unbreakable. There are ways around the miracle metal. I need more time to make sure my team is protected regardless of how the miracle metal holds up."
"You have something stronger than Vibranium?" Fury asked with no small measure of surprise.
"You've seen it," I said. "Natasha has a pair on her wrist right now."
"Oh," he said, visibly deflating. "They're decent, but not Vibranium good."
"What about 10 layers of them?" I questioned. "Do you think that is Vibranium good?"
Fury leaned back in his chair in careful thought. It was better than any armor they currently had, and given how effective they were, he could see how his men could benefit from having at least a set for themselves.
"Time is the one thing we don't have. What would it take to get you ready before Friday?"
"Expending an irreplaceable resource I've been saving forever," I said mysteriously. I was talking about my upgrade token.
I planned to use it on my simulacrum skill to buy me a few extra days.
And yes, you read right. Days, not hours.
My Simulacrum skill has still not been activated since my rebirth and, thus, not received the affinity boost from having two of its major governing affinity rise several grades—Time, Space, and Mind.
Conservatively, I expected a 50% boost. If I was really lucky, I could get a day and change. Increasing the skill to Adept should net me two to three days of dilated time at the very least.
I had intended to use the upgrade token on my current Transcendent level skill or the two other skills I planned on creating but desperate time called for desperate measures.
The crafting one especially would've probably elevated me to a town-level threat in weeks, and the combat skill would've likely had the same outcome.
Still, I wasn't going to complain about getting a literal Hyperbolic time chamber. In the long run, this was probably better for me, but I wasn't going to let Fury know that.
I put on a somber face and looked him straight in the eye. "This is going to cost you, Fury, and I'm not talking about money. I'm going to need something just as irreplaceable for what I just lost. Privacy in all of my dealings with Tony Stark."
"Stark?" Fury said a little too quickly. "What do you want with him?"
"That's my business, now, isn't it?"
Fury frowned slightly. "Is that all?" He gave in a bit too quickly, and I instantly knew he planned to go back on his word, but I expected that much.
"Not even close. I want a quarter of the monster's bodies we recover from the mission."
Fury was genuinely concerned at this point.
"All of the fancy artefacts and weapons I make got to come from somewhere," I said. "You just found out were."
Fury had a complicated look. "So, you tear them apart and what…"
"Rediscover how their unique abilities work and see if I can replicate it with my weapons. Even if I fail, it'll help me better understand alien and human biology and make my next project that much better."
My revelation had Fury looking at me in a whole new light, and it wasn't very positive.
"Does this strange curiosity of yours extends to humans as well?"
"I've not filleted anybody in a back alley and turned their carcass into a weapon if that's what you're asking," I said. "I try not to kill people who don't deserve it, and monster parts are infinitely less creepy to work with."
Fury didn't comment, but it was clear he was skeptical about my repulsion. While we were still negotiating, I asked Fury to grant both Jean and Rin a personal favor each and finally capped things off by asking for three sets of Laser pistols and rifles I've seen SHIELD running around with lately.
I would've preferred to ask for the schematics, but I didn't want to tip Fury off. But I was sure Professor Hank could unravel it and learn how to make them given enough time. They were for my future team.
My desire to keep Fury on his current path was also why I didn't ask for the Tesseract.
Finally, we also ironed out the actual monetary cost of the mission, and it was nothing cheap. I expected to make close to $5 million for the mission, and I demanded that Rin and Jean get the same treatment. After everything they'd done for the country, it was high time they got paid as well.
Fury reluctantly concurred but emphasized I told no one else, especially not the mutant underground. Who knew what they'd ask for?
I chuckled, rising to my feet, and hurried over to Jean, who was visiting Piotr again.
"What's up with the radio silence," I asked. "I was beginning to think the Phoenix got to you again or—"
The words dried up in my throat as I came face to face with Piotr Rasputin.
He was standing beside Jean, who looked a bit winded, resting in a chair in the corner. Piotr's confused demeanor shifted to rage in microseconds, and he moved.
He closed the distance between us surprisingly quickly and swung. I, of course, dodged, causing him to lose balance and stumble, ramming shoulder-first into the wall.
"Long time no see, Piotr. Glad to see you on your feet."
"You tried to kill me!" he roared, swiping at me with a brutal backhand, which I stepped back to avoid.
"Well, you gave me a burn wound that was almost impossible to heal," I said. "Can't tell you how many times I almost died because of it."
"I was in a coma for months because of you!" he roared, glaring down at me as he advanced. The ground shook with each step. "You tormented me with fire."
"Would you believe me if I told you that wasn't me?"
He swung again, but this time, I blocked with my Demonic Aegis Shield. I heard footfalls coming from the door behind me. There was likely a nurse coming to check what the commotion was about.
The sound of the impact reverberated through the SHIELD and spread in every direction. The hit took 30 entire points off the SHIELD and had me worried that I might have to take the fight somewhat seriously.
Piotr cocked his fist back and let a second more vicious punch fly, but I stood immobile, mind racing with thought. I couldn't let him keep going. He was going to hurt somebody, and I wasn't going to be on the hook for that.
I pulled out my phone and yelled over to Jean. "You okay in there?"
No response came as I dialed Kurt. It went through almost immediately as a third thunderous punch came down. "I need you at in the infirmary. The metal guy is awake, and he's trying to take my head off."
"Stop hiding behind that SHIELD and face me, you monster!"
"Nah," I said. "I'm good."
Piotr roared again, pulling back his fist, but before it connected to my shield, two agents came running in with their guns raised.
"Stand down in the name of the United States Government and SHIELD," he said. "We won't ask again."
"Get a hold of yourself before you do real harm," the second one added in a more moderate tone.
"SHIELD, the government? Where did you drag me?" Piotr demanded.
"You really don't remember, do you?" I asked, prompting a confused but decidedly angry look from Piotr.
"Jean was overcome by an extradimensional entity who took you over and used you to test me," I said, slowly, certain before I even completed my speech, he wouldn't believe me. "That fire you see when you're asleep. It's the Phoenix's, not mine. You're as much as a victim of its whims as I am and Jean."
Piotr blinked, slowly shaking his head. "No…you were hitting me," he said.
"Yeah because you were trying to kill me with your fire. The X-mansion was caught up in our fight. You laid waste to the facility."
His eyes twitched. "I—I—don't believe you!" he roared and swung again at me. Several things happened in the span of a second. Kurt appeared across the hall, 10 feet from Piotr, and the more vocal of the agents opened fire. I activated Gust and Burst. I ran into the bullets flying, using my shield to absorb the damage, and grabbed hold of both of the agents before promptly rushing them out of the room.
When I reentered, Piotr was already swinging at Kurt, but the Teleporter was faster. He appeared behind the metal behemoth and poofed away with him.
Kurt remerged a few seconds later with a slightly panicked look on his face.
"Piotr is really something, isn't he?"
"What's wrong with him?" he asked.
"He just woke up from a few months in a coma after being stuck in a mental hell reliving the most traumatizing beatdown of his life. He'll pull himself together eventually."
Kurt and I chatted for a bit longer before he teleported back to the mutant barracks, where Rin was waiting for him. Now alone, I looked at Jean and wondered what got into her. We told each other everything…well, almost everything. And she hadn't warned me she wanted to try and wake him up.
To be fair to her, I just agreed to volunteer her services for a mission in the Arctic with an accelerated timeline. We were both in the wrong.
I felt for her temperature to make sure she was okay before shaking her a few times. She was out cold. I carried her in my arms, obviously not comfortable with leaving her in SHIELD.
Still, my heart fluttered just looking at her. The last time she was unconscious like this, The mansion came apart because of her mental tug-of-war with the Phoenix. I hoped this was just a regular bout of exhaustion that could be remedied with some sleep.
If it wasn't, I was not sure how we'd pull off the rest of the plan.
---
Getting to Yao's took a phone call and some patience. Jean was still in my arms, and I was debating feeding her a potion but held back. Buying potions from the store was becoming quite a crutch, and I wasn't ready to jump the gun yet without getting the opinion of an expert.
Yao confirmed my worst fears. Whatever Jean did sidelined her out for the moment. She didn't need healing. She needed rest. Thankfully, she'd be up and walking in a few days, so it wasn't that big of an issue.
"She can begin the compulsions once she wakes," Yao said as we strolled down a stone path leading up to the same underground chamber where I initially underwent my first full-body upgrade. "Perhaps it's better that this happened now. What you both have planned would've pushed her to her limit."
"I thought Jean was like me. Inexhaustible, unbreakable."
"That's not exactly true, now, is it? Don't you remember your burns?"
"How can I?" She gave them to me. I touched my chest. "They're confirmation that she should be better."
"Power like that does not come overnight."
"Yes," I admitted. "But this war needs it to. It's why I am here. I need to undergo another metamorphosis and get your opinion on an upgrade I'm trying to get."
I spelled out my plans to Yao, confirming my calculations. From everything she knew about affinities, she told me my guess was not too far off. As for my second Transcendent or Uber skill, it was to be my combat one.
The Simulacrum upgrade went off without a hitch. In fact, it turned out notably better than I expected.
(L)Paradise Simulacrum (Adept)
Visit a mental plane fashioned by the Legendary Dark Knight Sparda for an extended period of time, during which no time passes in the physical world. You can bring people in and out of your mental slice of Limbo at will.
Available for 96 hours every Two weeks.
I got four days instead of the three I predicted, but between all of my improved affinities, it wasn't that much of a surprise.
Where the Simulacrum skill improved what was already there, my new Transcendent skill remade me just like it did once.
I fed all of my weapon masteries, martial arts, acrobatics, parry, Devil Aura, Devil Eye, and meditation to create something better than the sum of its parts, and I got what I bargained for and more.