Chapter 181

"Seems like the alone time has done your attitude some good," I said casually, and he snorted at me.

"Just get me out of here," Colossus snapped, and I shrugged, using Dimensional jump to transport us back to the mansion. I left immediately again, heading over to Jean's.

She was still asleep, but her mind wasn't.

She wrapped me up in a tight hug.

"Oh my god! You figured it out!"

"At death's door, but yeah!" I chuckled at the memory.

"And that's not all that's different about you. You're now like me. A full psychic. Telepathy and Telekinesis." She jabbed her finger at my chest playfully. "Trying to replace me?"

"Come on," I laughed. "I'll need a few more years of serious practice before that can happen."

"Hey!"

She slapped my shoulder playfully and suddenly twisted her lips, sensing my inner turmoil.

"What happened?"

I shook my head. Of course, she figured it out immediately.

"They know," I said, telling her everything. I didn't hold back about the isekai thing, either. I wasn't expecting her reaction.

She laughed and then laughed some more at my surprise.

 "Of course, I knew. The Phoenix told me. I'm still a bit hurt that you didn't trust me enough. But to be fair, it isn't something you can just casually bring up."

I nodded. "I can't exactly tell the girl I like that her world and her friends are fiction in mine."

Jean's face lit up.

"So. You finally admit it. You do like me?"

"I just called your world fiction, and that's what you choose to focus on?"

"The Phoenix said our lives are all fiction in some universes, and vice versa," she said. "The Multiverse is infinite."

"Huh. That makes sense. And it's kinda cool that you have a multiverse-spanning entity whispering in your ear."

Jean's smile waned a bit. "It certainly takes some getting used to, but yeah. Me and her are closer than ever."

"Well, I'm happy for you," I smiled. "Kind of wished I had the same deal with Shin, but we'd sooner rip each other souls out before we see eye to eye on something."

"I wish I could help you kick him out somehow," she said.

"You already are," I said. "The Phoenix promised me a favor. I just have to wait until she's satisfied with my performance. Any update on that, by the way?"

"She's warming up to you," Jean teased. "We both are."

"Would a date in, say, France help at all?"

"Oh yeah." She wrapped her hand around my waist. "There's this pastry place I read about last week. It'd be perfect for our first date."

"It has to be after we take care of Domina and Enrique," I said.

"What about Lumos?"

"Oh. He's dead," I said a little bit too casually. She slapped me on the shoulder. "Cut his head off after my power-up.

"Way to bury the lead," she laughed. "Was it intense, drawn out, exhilarating!"

"No… not really," I said. "A lot's happened since we last talked. Let me show you."

I opened my mind to her for the first time without fear of judgment or criticism, and she poured over every memory since we departed up until this very second.

"Wow. You've been busy," she said.

"I had to recalibrate, take several arrows out of Fury's quiver, and draw the attention to me," I said. "It will make the changes you and Rin are going through all more surprising."

Jean hummed. "Telling him about the soul contract was a gamble, but I think it was the right choice. It should make them really rethink their positions. Talking about the deal you made should help you draw in Magneto as you planned. That should make a dent in your soul debt," she said grimly, and I nodded.

While I would've preferred to have the Phoenix bail me out, that ship sailed when I made a deal with Shin. The Phoenix agreed to no interventions, so that meant I had to hand over basically everything I promised.

The planetary level souls—Belasco's first Born and Magneto were my picks—three infinity stones, a hell dimension, and murder Belasco.

The favor I was planning to ask the Phoenix for was to strip Shin's agents of all power and ban them from this dimension.

But that could only happen after my debt was settled.

"So, you don't feel some type of way about me sacrificing him," I double-checked with her, looking deep into her eyes.

"I'm more worried about how Rin is handling all of this," she said.

"He's been a bit distant," I admitted, "but I'm not overly worried. I'm sure talking to you might help a bit."

"It might. Or maybe giving him a break from all of this would be smarter. He's only fifteen still."

"Better yet, I should just ask him what he wants."

Betty

I looked up from my charts, and the door to my lab hissed open to reveal Natasha. She was a knockout beauty with a stunning figure and a perpetual smirk on her face as if she knew some secret the rest of us were missing.

Only something was different about her today.

There was a certain look in her eyes, and her smirk wasn't quite as wide.

"What's wrong?" I asked with more panic than I intended. "Did something happen to Bruce?"

"No," she smiled, popping back to her former self. "He's still decompressing in the desert. The Sorcerer Supreme says he'll need a few more days before he's back to his old self."

I shook my head. "I still can't get used to the fact that magic is real…With the DNA I'm studying, I suppose it's not that far of a stretch considering what it came from."

"You'll get used to it," Natasha said. "It's part of being a high-ranking SHIELD agent. You see it all. The good and bad."

My brows furrowed.

"Now I know something is really wrong. This is the first time I've ever heard you been remotely critical of SHIELD."

Natasha's smile grew tighter. "I didn't exactly bad mouth the company. I was just being honest."

"Exactly," I said, and Natasha's lips curved.

"Quite the lip on you, doctor," she teased.

"Thanks," I said. "So, do you want to talk about it?"

"I received some…news."

"That bad, huh?"

"Not necessarily… It's complicated," she said in a tone that made it clear she was done with the topic.

"So, what brings you down here?"

"Fury approved the research," Natasha answered, suddenly businesslike. "We are to begin immediately."

"Oh," I said, suddenly sullen. It was the news I'd been hoping to hear. After everything that happened with Dad, Bruce, the North Pole, and the bodies of the soldiers we recovered from the incident, it was clearer than ever that we needed some type of effective response team against the strange and supernatural. Still, the lengths we've had to go to was worrying.

Nobody had been hurt yet. But experimenting with Alien DNA, Gamma Radiation, and Armando…it sounded like the formula for a Frankenstein's monster. Yet, I could not stop.

"Are you okay?" Natasha asked.

"Hmm. Fine. I'm just thinking about how hard the next round of tissue collection will be on Armando. He takes it all with a smile," I said. "It's…concerning."

"Would you rather he not?" she asked.

"I suppose not," I mumbled.

Armando was in the training room when we found him sparring with Kurt. His evolutions had gotten more pronounced and stable over time. He could instantly remember Adaptations that his body has enacted whenever he's faced with a similar challenge, and Kurt Wagner's teleportation was something he was very familiar with.

He sprouted several eyes that appeared all over his body, and his skin gained a bluish-wispy coloration. They were supposed to interfere with Kurt's teleportation once they were in contact, but they did nothing to protect him from the sword Kurt had picked up.

With an explosion of neon, Scott appeared behind him with his blade drawn, striking at his Achilles heel. Armando hopped over it, his skin warping from the waist down into biological metal. He descended with a kick that Kurt barely dodged, whipping out with his tail and holding a knife at his midsection. Armando leaned away from the hit, his fist wrapping up Kurt's tail and yanking him close. Kurt tackled him, dagger in his free hand, cutting a line down Armando hand. More of his body reacted, turning to Bio-metal, giving Kurt the opening he needed. He teleported them into the air, then teleported himself to safety.

Armando hit the floor with a loud crash, and he stood up, fully erect, body shimmering with bio-metal.

Clint, who I'd barely noticed, clapped as he came to the center of the room.

"Good start, both of you," he said. "Kurt. You need to work on being less obvious. And Armando, your switches have improved, but you need to get them faster. They're your greatest strengths. Lean into it."

Armando had a serene look on his face and bowed. "Thank you for the instruction."

"I'm just glad I got you this time," Kurt said, sheathing two of his daggers and his sword. "Now. I'll have to cook up with something new."

"And yet you manage each time," he said.

"Doesn't make it any easier," Kurt quipped. "Luckily, I'll have some time before our next round. The Doctor is here."

Armando turned to me, unblinking. "Is it time, Doctor?"

"Yes…" I said slowly.

Armando followed us back into the lab, and we sat him down in a chair with dozens of high-speed lasers, high-frequency blades, and needles.

The collection process, as you'd imagine, was horrifically difficult for both of us. Armando adapted to the different collection vectors far too quickly, so we had to learn to overload his mutation so that we could collect samples from him with any measure of success.

Armando claims to barely feel any of the pain, but do something enough times, and it does chip at you.

"I'll try to make this process as quickly as possible."

He nodded from his spot in the chair. "What changed?" he asked suddenly. He wasn't one for small talk.

I blinked, looking in Natasha's direction.

"We recently collected DNA that we suspect will allow us to complete our project."

"How much do you need?" he asked.

"A lot," I answered truthfully. "It's new territory. We don't know what we'll find."

He nodded. "Then take as much as you need. I can handle it."

"No…this is—we can't abuse your generosity, Armando."

"I knew what I was signing up for when I agreed to the experiments," he said. "It's what she would've wanted."

My heart ached. He spoke of her often. He lost an old girlfriend to Stryker's schemes and missions. She was apparently the life of the group. All the Thunderbolts I've questioned loved her.

"A new generation must rise if the Thunderbolts and other mutants will ever chance at a normal life," he said. "I'm only doing my part."

"That's brave of you," Natasha said resolutely. My thanks didn't come so easily. Words hung in my throat. The necessity of it all didn't make any of this easier.