Chương 22: F4, 3rdP POV.
Baxter Building. Post Shine Dragon Sighting.
After Aragorn portaled out of the building a heavy silence was left, the 5 not-so-normal humans were attempting to process what just happened.
First, one of their own went ballistic and activated the project that they had been working on for more than 2 years.
Second, their bodies are not what they used to be.
Third, the Devil is real.
Fourth, whatever the heck that being (Aragorn) was, was real.
Fifth, they almost died and bring the rest of the world down with them.
Other motives further exasperate their current decrease in sanity, motives that currently neither of them have the mental capability to process.
The silence was broken by the one that, ironically, has a better presence of mind. Normally that's not the case.
"So... Victor I just want to say that the only reason I haven't knocked out your teeth, is that I'm currently naked and on fire."- He said so with such a tone that any unsuspecting listener would think that nothing wrong was going on.
"Additionally I think that I speak for everyone when I say, WHAT THE FUCK DUDE!?"- His flames reacted to his sudden exclamation as if they were making themselves known by agreeing to the sentiment expressed by the human torch.
*Fwoosh*
"Whoa! Down Girl! I don't want to melt his annoying mug...yet."- Throwing logic out of the window, his words seemed to do the trick given that his flames 'agreed' to calm down.
Had a certain shine dragon been here to 'see' what just happened he would certainly have been surprised. These were not the cannon flames that he was promised by the comics he read.
Although not entirely accurate, these flames were closer to a symbiote, they didn't have a remarkable sapience of their own but they were sentient. The implications of this? Uncharted territory.
Luckily the responsibility fell in the capable hands of Johnny Storm!
"..."- Susan.
"..."- Reed.
"..."- Victor.
"..."- Ben.
"..."- Johnny.
The surprise at the apparently sentient flames was evident on their faces.
"... I know we just met and this might be some personal information, but... Are you a girl?"- Johnny was a man of priorities, a man who would make great friends with a certain cat of priorities.
Johnny was adamant about sharing his body with another man! At least if it's a girl it's acceptable!
His flames, through movements and changes in the heat, were able to convey the meaning of confusion to the rest, but to Johnny, he was able to feel its confusion.
"... This is weird, I feel your confusion about the question, somehow... It's normal to be confused, so don't worry I will help you during this time of identity crisis, we are one set after all!"- Surprisingly he seemed to be doing a better job than expected from someone who had just been told that he will be bonded for life with another entity. Unlike a certain emo-spider.
"Reed, Shouldn't we be worried about this?"- Susan asked while pointing at her brother. If they had been more observant, they would have noticed the trembling of her hands.
Which is not surprising considering what she just went through. She knows what her future could have been if Aragorn had not interfered.
"I... I don't know. All of this is new, something I had not taken into account."- The pride of possibly the most intelligent human is not something easily shaken, but when you meet the devil your entire life paradigm is shaken.
"Victor... Why don't you try using that thing that he gave you?!"- Ben Grimm said while trying to keep his wits about his appearance.
The only reason he was not beating the crap out of Victor was that, same as Susan, he was shaken by what they just experienced.
But make no mistake, his anger is almost overflowing. He is just holding by a thread, the possibility that their new acquaintance could do something about his body. He didn't want to be this... Thing.
Victor looked down at the green jewel left in his hand next to his mother's soul container, a bigger red jewel, and remembered the instruction left of tapping it.
*Tap*
"Hello Victor von Doom, My name is Spark, How can I help you?"- A voice followed by the hologram of Spark came out.
"Spark? Wasn't that what he said when stabilizing the portal?"- Reed asked.
"..."- Susan.
"..."- Reed.
"..."- Victor.
"..."- Ben.
They were all left waiting for an answer, well not all... Johnny was busy playing with his flames.
"Excuse me, Mr. Doom, this device is called a Personal Link, the personal stands for I only answer to you unless you instruct otherwise. Would you like me to temporarily grant them permission to make queries?"
"... Yes."
"Permission Granted. Mr. Richards to answer your question, yes it was me who took control of your building before."- This was something that brought a great surprise to the group since they knew how tight and 'impenetrable' the security was in here.
"What are you?"- Reed asked the question that was on their minds.
"My existence is a little difficult to define now, but I initially started as a very advanced A.I. Recently the Young Master confirmed that my soul has 'taken root' so I'm closer to a Soul Form, or an energy being, that mostly operates at the virtual level."- Though once Spark has his own body that designation will change.
"..."- Reed.
"..."- Susan.
"..."- Victor.
"..."- Ben.
"Do you know what's going on with Johnny's flames?"- Deciding to ignore the absurdity of Spark, Ben got back on track.
"Mr. Doom, Do I have permission to scan Mr. Storm?"
"Yes."
"Johnny! Stop playing with your... fire! Come here to get you checked!"- Susan.
"Sis! Don't say it like that! It sounds dirty!"- Maybe the wording was not as such, but considering that Johnny was playing with his flaming dick, It definitely sounds dirty.
Johnny came back to the group while keeping a safe distance from his sister, careful of his flames, but close to Victor, disregarding his safety.
A multicolored light came out of the P-Link, this was a techno-magical advancement that Spark developed after his soul took root and allowed him to cast magic.
"The flames possess sentience and the sapience of a newborn. They are linked to Mr. Storm's soul, not his body. The stronger soul, Mr. Storm's, influences the growing one. Further analysis is needed but... Congratulations! You're a father!"- The sense of humor brought surprise but it was overshadowed by the reality of Spark's statement.
"..."- Susan.
"..."- Reed.
"..."- Victor.
"..."- Ben.
"Is it a girl?"- A man of priorities.
"It doesn't have a gender as far as I could tell. Further analysis is needed, I recommend you contact the Young Master. He is better at biological analysis than me."
"Can we do that?"- Asked the worrying sister.
"Yes, I can make an appointment and have him come. He has to build a city but that should take less than 3 days. I will let the butler know to make a clearing in his schedule for you."- As if building a city was something so simple! That's what nobody said but everybody thought.
"Can you scan me?"- Said Ben Grimm with both hope and apprehension.
Another light showered Ben.
"You're healthy. All of your molecular makeup has been changed, and no soul changes so you should be able to shift back to your fleshy self, however, you can't on your own. You should ask the Young Master for some help. It is also possible that the changes are non-reversible, so even if you manage to shift, your true body will eventually reverse to your current appearance. Then again, this is not my area of expertise."- Spark answered the implied question of Ben Grimm.
"That's good. I can deal with that."- He said so but he was still reeling back from the shock of his life.
"Spark, scan the rest."- Doom ordered.
After another shower of light, the results were out.
"Mr. Doom, your soul has been changed, similar to Mr. Storm, you should have one of the highest affinities for dimensional energy from the sorcerers on my records, other than that, no abnormalities."
"Ms. Storm, your body makeup changed, similar to Mr. Grimm, you can bend light and your mind gained a psionic attribute, it's possible that you will develop some of the known psychokinetic traits, Further testing is needed."
"Mr. Richards, the bonds of your molecules can stretch without losing integrity."- Not much was said about his changes.
"Heheheh! Reed, you got the lamest power!"- Johnny didn't lose this opportunity to make fun of him.
"Shut It, Fire match! At least he gets to look human!"- Ben reprimanded him. It was apparent to everybody that he was concerned about his body.
"Don't sweat it, my man! The sparky dude said that you'll be fine. After that just imagine your future! Picture the fame that we will get!"- It may not be the most mature approach but if it works nobody can question it.
"*Sigh* Johnny, please let Ben be, and don't make fun of Reed's abilities."- Internally Susan was glad that he didn't get any reality-breaking powers, she was already failing at keeping Reed in line with only his superhuman intellect now imagine if he could twist reality.
"Fine, Sis! But I think it's time to address the elephant in the room. What are we going to do?"- Johnny asked while expertly deviating the conversation.
"..."- Susan.
"..."- Reed.
"..."- Victor.
"..."- Ben.
"..."- Johnny.
There was too much going on, they couldn't decide what to do about everything going on.
"If I may be bold enough to suggest... You should fake a lab accident first. Currently, the Young Master has a barrier absorbing the remaining energy in the room. The barrier will end its task in about 20 minutes, after that the lab assistants on the other side of the door will storm in."
"The best justification for your new attributes is a lab accident. You will possibly lose some investors but the portal was already completed, it was due to our interference that its activation was delayed, so you don't need more sponsorship."- No sponsor will back up a project that was failing before its official activation.
"...The security concerns?"
"Yes, Mr. Doom. The negative zone, the place you would have most likely arrived at, it's a dangerous place, we had a convoluted plan to stir the project to space warping, the safer approach. But you jumped the gun and opened a breach to Mephistopheles's realm, so the Young Master had to improvise."
"Why didn't you just say so? Instead going about in this way."- Reed. He was not pleased about how his project was manipulated by a third party.
"Would you have listened? How would we be able to explain the origin of our knowledge? The viability of such an approach was less than 30% in my prediction modules."- This silenced the bubbling complaints, they knew that they wouldn't have listened to such concerns.
Their predictions placed the Negative Zone as a dimension where no life could thrive, at least not the life that they were familiarized with.
"You should also find a way to safely explore your powers. We have facilities for that in our place but you will be under constant scrutiny for the following days, hence you can't be seen missing for long periods. People would get suspicious. So it's best to build your own training room."
"Hey, sparky dude. I've been meaning to ask, but, Who are you, people? And your master, Who is he? Or more like, What is he?"- Johnny said while tilting his head in intrigue, an action mimicked by the crest of his flames above his head.
"Johnny! Don't be rude!"- Susan stated, as she was afraid that Spark would take her brother's questions with hostility.
"What!? We don't even know his name!"- Johnny knew no restrain.
"You don't have to worry Ms. Storm, that's what I'm here for, to answer your questions."- Spark reassured the traumatized girl.
"The answer to that question has several parts. From a galactic stance, we are the owners of Earth, from a Terran approach, we are one of your sponsors."
"What is that dude? I didn't know that Earth had an owner!"- Johnny.
"Or that there was life outside of Earth."- Ben.
"Ah! Yes! That as well, I didn't know that aliens were real."- Johnny.
"Which sponsor?"- Asked Victor who was more involved in the economic part of the project.
"Yes, Earth has always had an owner. The young master recently acquired ownership by a right of existence that entities like him have. Aliens are very real, the outside is full of them."- This made some eyes turn to saucers.
The previous owner, Odin, the All-Father, was suffering from a severe headache while attempting to locate the bold dragon that had declared his territory as his own. Unfortunately, he was unable to locate the new player using his divine vision, so he was unable to identify the object of his grievances.
"And the Young Master's civilian identity is Aragorn Abner. I don't think you've met him, he normally sends his CEOs to your meetings, but you might be aware of The Light Enterprises and The Spiral CO, both of these sponsors are ours."
"The new energy and mining companies?"- Reed asked in recognition.
"That would explain how these new companies grew explosively in the past year. They had alien backing."- Susan stated after having concluded that Aragorn was alien.
"Technically, the Young Master can be called alien, so you are right Ms. Storm."- It is not entirely true, but following the definition that anything foreign to Earth is alien then she is right. Besides, the tech was gratefully donated by various alien galactic empires so she is right.
"Is he an Alien?"- Asked Victor, who by now was making thousands of plans against this seemingly overpowered race of Aliens whose members could treat Mephisto like a sandbag.
"Not in the meaning of him being part of an alien race, just on the part of him being foreign to this planet."- The underlying meaning that Aragorn was not part of a race was instantly picked up by Doom.
"Can you tell me what he wants from me? You were ostensibly keeping track of me."- Victor concluded.
"That is not entirely correct, we were also keeping an eye on this disaster to be. But I can answer, it is not a grand secret or something nefarious."
"We want to establish a centralized planetary government, we were lacking candidates for the leading role and we didn't want to give the responsibility to a council that could later on be corrupted. Your character, qualities, and upbringing were some of the reasons why you were considered."
"Holy Fire!"- Johnny, who decided not to curse in the presence of his new daughter.
"That's not possible, at least not peacefully, no one would agree to it, every government has different invested interests."- Reed concluded, because his genius only went as far as his interests went, politics was not one of those so he didn't think of a feasible way of accomplishing such endeavor.
"Is that why you're taking over different sectors of the global economy? I'm assuming that the recent birth of several well-funded baby companies is your doing."- Victor von Doom was different, he was a ruler.
"Yes! Excellent Mr. Doom, few have been able to spot a connection between our several enterprises. We are slowly taking over different markets and in about a decade or so we will control directly or indirectly the global economy."
"What will you do about Hydra?"- Someone as well informed about the reality of human society like Doom knew about some of the existing secret societies, Hydra among others.
"That's part of the battle that the Young Master was overseeing before this accident. He is creating a secret mutant country."- Spark said expectantly.
"... You plan to create another power to balance out their influence... but that's not enough... Oh! You'll distract them from the shadows while taking over from the light! But that won't hold for long, you still need a trigger or something else to drive global centralization forward."- Even with all of his genius, Doom won't expect an alien invasion with just these clues.
"Are you going to stage a common enemy like a planetary invasion?"-... Or maybe he will.
"You are as awesomely terrifying as the Young Master said, Mr. Doom! You got it mostly right! There will be a planetary invasion that we are secretly enabling, but the invasion would have happened even without our presence."- All the spectators were now giving their full undivided attention to the world-changing conversation.
"We will use it as a trigger, we will get the economy as our driving force to pressure the governments, we will get the support of the powerful 'newly-established' mutant country, and lastly we will round all of these 'unrelated' factors under a charismatic, competent, and neutral ruler of possibly a small country, who will play an important role safeguarding the planet, Victor von Doom, King of Latveria."- The gears started to shift even on the mind of the man of priorities.
"Not everything is accounted for, and changes are bound to happen but this is the rough sketch of the Young Master's plan."- Spark concluded.
"Oh, Hell Nah!"- Curses related to fire were allowed so Johnny was not concerned about his new fiery daughter listening to him.
"... That's terrifyingly possible."- Reed Richards added.
"You're entrusting world leadership to someone who almost just ended it?"- Susan said. She was possibly the one who was more affected by their recent experience, and a spark of resentment towards Victor was already well rooted in her heart.
Ignoring the hurtful but understanding expression of Victor, Spark answered:
"Yes, he still has some places to grow, this is why we want to have a friendly association with Mr. Doom, we have lots of resources in our place that will allow him to study, train, and experience character-growing situations related to his possible future occupation."
"With all due respect, Mr. Doom is not ready for the position, but the position is not going to be available for at least another decade."- Spark said while implying that there will be enough time for Doom to redeem himself with his friends.
God-Complex considered, Victor only recognized the people in this room as his friends, especially Reed and Susan.
"Well, as long as you don't mess with my sister, me, or my girl we are good, Victor. Now, on to more pressing matters, How do I even wear clothes from now on?"- The man of priorities asked.
"..."- Susan had a hard time understanding how her brother was taking everything so swimmingly.
"..."- Ben just wanted to have his human body back, but even he was surprised by Johnny's ease in the situation.
"You can have Mr. Richards create a Unstable Molecule Suit, or find a way to shut the flames off."- Spark provided a solution.
"I don't know what the first is, but... Girl, Can you go back inside my body, pretty please?"- Responding to his will the flames were absorbed inside Johnny.
"Now this is awkward, I was flamingly naked, but now I'm just plain naked."- Johnny commented as he walked to one of the closets in the room to get a lab coat.
"I won't be the puppet of anybody! I did all of this to free my mother's soul and to cut my strings, I don't plan on getting a new puppeteer!"- Doom said with finality.
"Mr. Doom, that is not the plan. If what we wanted was a puppet then there are about 8 billion candidates just among the Homo Sapiens. Even the companies that we will control at the time of your eventual crowning will eventually be passed on to capable hands."- And Spark was right, the CEOs of these companies were already tired of corporate life and were ready to move to a life under their sugar dragon in the Halo.
Another thing that Spark conveniently forgot to mention was that no one wanted to deal with the mess that Earth was. Everybody on Halo was properly informed about the responsibilities that stepping into this role entailed.
In cruder words, It was a dog poop, not even dogs want to step in dog poop.
In the end, Aragorn had to resort to external help, that's how the position became open for grabs.
Of course, Doom doesn't need to know this.
______________
The following days for the new mutates were hectic, to say the least.
Spark had to fake the evidence of a spontaneous malfunction to cover for the ambitious and failed overtaking that Doom had planned for Mephisto's realm.
As expected, they lost some of their sponsors and they were subjected to two full days of biological tests under the greedy eye of the military.
Talks about replicating the accident to creating their own brand of supersoldiers were hot among the elderly officials who remember 'the good old days' of Captain America.
Records of the accident were confiscated under the banner of national security and the project was indefinitely placed on hold. Not that anything will come out of fake data generated by Spark.
On the second day they were finally released from the biological sampling, and they were ordered not to leave the city.
At this time Doom was not the ruler of Latveria so he didn't count with full immunity. He still was considered a member of the noble class of Latveria so he was not considered a flight risk. USA had no right to consider him any sort of risk.
Richards spent most of his time creating a testing room capable of handling their powers, as was recommended by Spark.
Ben Grimm had the toughest time trying to understand his new body. For one, he still ate, abundantly at that, but he did not need to excrete.
He lost his sense of touch condemning him to a life of no pleasure. He weighed enough to crack the floor as he moved and he couldn't use any normal appliances. His quality of life was severely affected, put in more benign terms.
He is only breath of hope was that Spark confirmed that Aragorn was going to take a look at his condition.
Victor was playing a lot of backstage maneuvers to secure the safety of his teammates, out of the clutches of the military scientists, eventually that panned out successfully, as is evident by the almost free mutates.
It should be said that Victor has not experienced the possible events that led to his full-blown egomaniac self, something for which Spark and Aragorn were thankful.
Susan on the outside looked just fine, she was playing with her powers and was making progress with her skills. On the first day of confinement, she woke up floating over her bed.
That was how she discovered her forcefield, or barrier, generation power. Spark told her that she channels some of her internal energy through a conduit (Barrier) of psionic energy, resulting in the creation of her barriers.
She was happy to know that with enough control she should have a form of telekinesis available.
Sadly with everybody busy with their problems, none of her teammates knew that every night she cried herself to sleep and that she was not sleeping more than a couple of hours a day. She was having nightmares.
The outlier was Johnny who could be found constantly talking to his girl about life and the like. He spent his time watching American football and teaching his living flame about the rules and plays.
Although the control of his flame was surrendered to the living fire in him, one could argue that he had the best control of his skills among the mutates. Often Johnny was found playing with fireballs, shaped like footballs, or instructing his living fire about how to create flaming constructs.
A huge difference from his 'cannon' counterpart.
While dealing with the unseen and seen consequences of Victor's mistake the day of Aragorn's meeting arrived. And it started with a message through Spark.
"Good Morning! The young master is currently busy finishing the last buildings of the city. He asked me to inform you that if you don't mind waiting with him for an additional 30 minutes or so, he can take you to his lab afterward."
"I don't mind! How are we getting there?"- The eager human torch commented.
"I would rather go and wait for him to finish what he is doing instead of staying here a moment more."- Ben Grimm was tired of being cooped up in this 'prison'.
After getting confirmation from the others Spark warped them to Aragorn's.
Once they stepped out of the portal they found themselves walking in an invisible platform about 50 stories in the air next to a similarly floating Aragorn.
"Whoah!"
"What!"
There were several exclamations of surprise before they were distracted by the mystical view.
Aragorn was floating waving his hands in the air as if conducting a musical performance. Behind him and the mutates were several equally floating deposits of resources.
Steel, cement, water, sand, rock, glass, different metals, ceramics, wood, and many other unidentified satellites of resources orbited behind them.
Trails of said resources followed selected paths and then were mixed together in front of Aragorn as if solving a puzzle.
Buildings, and arcologies, were put together from below the ground up. Streets, subways, parks, and several other public properties were laid as if fast-forwarding at high speed a video of a city construction.
The conductor kept dancing his hands in the air as he said:
"Sorry for the delay. I had to do some last-minute modifications to the layout, so here I am. I already had your medical files ready but I wanted to finish this before moving on to other sectors of the country building."
"I gotta say though, we have never seen anything like the living flame inhabiting Mr. Storm, it's fascinating!"- Aragorn was truthful to his words. He concluded that this was part of the knowledge that he wasn't privy to.
"I'm almost done here, you can take a seat and enjoy the show while I'm done."
VIP cinema seats were materialized on the invisible floating platform for the guests of the ongoing show.
"Especially you, Susan Storm, your stress, trauma, and tiredness can be felt from here. Not that Mr. Grimm is any better, take a seat I made one specially for your new constitution."- As he said one of the seats was bigger than the others.
The gaping audience didn't fight the flow and took their places. A few minutes later a portal opened nearby and two maids walked out, Irina and Yelena.
"Hello, it is a pleasure to meet you. My name is Irina and this is Yelena, is there anything that you would like to have while you wait for the Young Master?"
Even though Johnny was firmly advised to be on his best behavior by his sister, he couldn't help it and asked:
"Excuse me, lovely miss. Are those ears real?"- He said while gesturing to the bunny and fox ears.
Before Susan could admonish him Yelena answered:
"Yes, Mr. Storm. These are real ears."
"Whoah! You must be a hit with those, aren't you?"- At least he didn't ask to touch them! This is what was going through Susan's mind.
"You could say that they are a hit among some of the other races, but not among your kind. Humans are not ready for this much fluff."- While Yelena said as much the corner of Aragorn's mouth twitched a little at how his maids no longer considered themselves any part of humanity.
'Damn! These girls grow more misanthropic as they go.'- Aragorn thought.
"Oh! I see, you're not a mutant! I thought you were a human mutant with bestial traits."- Johnny said.
"My lovely lady I just want to say that humanity may not be ready for this much fluff, but I am!"- Johnny said while winking at the fox. His flames came to live above his head as if supporting his wink.
"I must confess that this is a surprise. I thought only the Young Master shared this deviancy for beast girls."- Yelena said.
"Hey! Yelena! Why am I collateral damage?"- Aragorn exclaimed as he continued with his task.
"Mr. Storm, I will keep in mind your offer, but for the moment, Is there anything that you would like to eat? We quite literally have anything you want from Earth's cuisine."- Yelena ignored her master's concern.
"Please help me with some pepperoni pizza, my lady"- The man who found a new height to strive at said.
"I would like some as well, Miss!"- The pizza lover Grimm added.
After Irina took the requests of the rest of the group, the girls warped to the fabricators up on Halo, only to come back with the food floating behind.
"Please let us know if you need anything else, we will be making sure that the young master keeps his secret passages to a limit."- Yelena said as she laid the orders down.
"What!? Who told you about that?"- Asked Aragorn in alarm.
"The Young Lady sent us on a mission. She said, and I quote, 'Please stop my father from messing too much with my city! I don't want to have to keep track of a milliard secret passages!', please Young Master, don't give more work to the Young Lady"- Irina answered.
"Fine! But only because she called me father instead of creator."- This was a calculated move of Seraph.
After their impromptu 'breakfast' Reed Richard's curiosity overwhelmed his wariness and he approached Aragorn.
"Mr. Abner, Do you mind me asking about that building over there?"- He pointed at a spire that towered over everything in the city with a floating orb of light floating about 3 stories above its summit.
"No problem at all, just keep what you see to yourself, not like anyone is going to believe you anyway."- Aragorn chuckled to himself.
"That orb above the spire fulfills a similar mission to the Iron Dome that's being designed in Israel. It intercepts unwanted particle projectiles and wave emissions."
"Even energy?"- Reed asked in clarification.
"Yes, it works at concealing, protecting, tracking, and several other nice surprises."- He didn't say that it was also a space isolator, meaning that it could create a boundary-like barrier.
"That's incredible. I didn't know that there was technology like that available. I had theorized about the different ways of running energy wave interferences when I was designing the portal, but it was never applicable, I was missing a catalysis for energy wave emission, or something that could resonate with a frequency so that I could generate my own wave."
"Why didn't you try vibranium? When dealing with energy, vibranium is the to-go element. It's the natural shortcut for energy-based tech."- That's exactly how Wakanda got to its current level.
"Initially I didn't even know that it was an element part of the table, and when the military got involved I was introduced to it, but at $283,500 for an ounce of vibranium, I was not even allowed to study it. I couldn't even believe it when they told me that they used a vibranium-metal alloy for Captain America's shield."- Reed said in visible outrage.
"Hahahaha! I knew you would think something like that, an acquaintance of mine said: 'The most versatile substance on the planet, and they used it to make a frisbee'."
"I don't who that is but I bet that we would make great friends."- Reed.
'If only you knew.' -Aragorn thought as he imagined Ultron and Reed as friends.
"You mentioned before that Wakanda has some deposits of it."- Reed implied.
"Yes, I personally don't like them very much but I understand their concerns. Wakanda has approx 10,000 tons of it. They have a massive cloaking field covering their entire crown city, that's how they fool the world into believing that they are a third-world country instead of the most advanced modern country."
"That's... What!..."- Someone like Reed can understand the implications of Aragorn's remark.
A country that has had access to this miracle metal for centuries! If it was him, with just a decade of access, he would already be terraforming Mars or something similar.
"I guess I would hide myself as well if were them."- Reed finally commented.
"Me too, but they went beyond that. I don't have a problem with their isolationist customs, it's just that they do get benefits from the scientific community of the rest of the world but they don't contribute with anything. They even send their royal members to study outside and bring back benefits. On some occasions, they can even be linked to the very convenient disappearances of inventors that were designing something that could threaten their anonymity."
"They take but do not give back. If they kept to themselves without interfering in the rest of the world's affairs I would even go as far as to defend them but that is not the case. That is part of why I want you to mine the asteroid belt, if you start devaluing their precious wonder metal, What do you think they would do?"- Aragorn asked like a mischievous cat.
"They would either try to get rid of my tech and me or they would be forced to let the world move on if they couldn't."- Reed Responded after a second.
"Yeah, that's the aim. In the Negative Zone, you would also find rich deposits of the stuff, among other precious metals, but it's safer if you get it from space."- Plus he won't have to deal with a space insect hell-bent on conquest or destruction.
As they discussed several matters and Johnny tried to get a date out of Yelena, Aragorn finished his work and they finally warped to Halo.
"Holy Smoke! This place is dope!"- Johnny commented while taking care of not cursing. He wasn't the only one amazed by the fact that they were in space.
"You can take a tour later, let's go to my lab."- Aragorn brought them down to the reason behind the visit.
Aragorn walked them to his personal lab in the Crystal. Along the way, Johnny, or sometimes Reed, kept commenting and asking questions about the place.
"Why is everything so bright?"- Asked Johnny.
"I wanted a very bright and shiny house, it serves no purpose other than personal preference."
"I can respect a man that knows what he likes and goes for it."- Somehow the meaning went across but Johnny was looking at a certain fox maid.
"How is the structure standing? Wouldn't glass, or crystal, crack under its weight? This also doesn't look like quartz."- Susan commented as she admired the massive 'glass' panels that make up the walls.
"This is not glass, crystal, or quartz, it is a variant of diamond that holds its shape perfectly even under massive compression forces. It's more stable than normal materials."- Aragorn is also waiting for the completion of his rune system to enchant the place.
"... Diamond? As in what you use on a very special lady's ring finger?"- Johnny needed clarification.
The others almost stopped walking but soon they followed since Aragorn didn't.
"Yes, that type of diamond. Initially, I wanted another type of crystal but I didn't find a sample to replicate it."
"Talk about luxury!"- Johnny exclaimed.
"Ehmm, maybe from your point of view but from my point of view I only cared about the stability, clarity, clearness, and refraction index of the material. So it was not meant to be a luxury."
"Besides, we are technically a galactic empire, when you have virtually infinite resources, like a galactic empire does, luxury no longer becomes what it was at a planetary level."- That's not considering that Aragorn can create more resources if he is missing any.
But even other empires that are not blessed with a creation machine like Aragorn, also reach a point in which luxury has a different meaning.
"We are here!"- Aragorn continued ignoring the gaping faces behind him and shortly after they arrived at the lab's entrance.
"Let's start with the anxious guys first, Mr. Grimm please lay over the table while I take a look."
Aragorn signaled to the table that was morphing into the appropriate size.
Ben took his place while Aragorn started the analysis, after a few minutes under a multicolored shower of lights the results were out.
"The good news is that you can go back to your human body, the bad news is that unless you change bodies you will always revert to your mutated form. I personally don't recommend you to change bodies unless you die."- Aragorn said as he showed his findings to Susan and Reed.
Even though the tech on Halo was several eras ahead of Earth's, the information in the display was the same.
"I can kill you if you want, then I would have to wait for your soul to naturally leave your body, after that I just have to place you into another body. The downside is that body rejection is a thing and dying always has repercussions, what those repercussions are could go from short periods of depression to full-blown insanity."
"I can reduce the risks as low as realistically possible but I still recommend you keep your current body. The alternative is having to switch between forms every 12 to 18 hours, not so bad If I am honest."- Aragorn didn't mention that his wife could fix those side effects and that there were several other ways of removing the risks that he could think of on the spot, but he didn't want people to underappreciate the meaning of his girl, Death.
For without Death, there's no Life. He is a prime example of this, he can't be considered alive or dead, but the dealings of a void creature like him are different from the dealings of mortals like Ben Grimm.
"Also you have a natural lifespan of... no lifespan, in your living rock form. It's hard to measure it but technically you will live longer the more you stay in your rock form, or infinitely if you never assume your human form."- Aragorn said while tilting his head in confusion.
"I... I want to keep my body, shifting between forms is acceptable."
"Nice! That's the best choice, I personally think so at least."- In Aragorn's case, it is a matter of the Fantastic Four sounding better than the Fantastic Three.
However, his personal favorite from the team was always the Invisible Woman, for reasons better left unsaid.
"To give you the form-shifting ability I will have to make you a mutant. I will activate and change the rocky equivalent of your dormant X-Gene. You don't have to worry that much since basically every human has it, but since your makeup was already mutated I believe that you will feel discomfort when I start the modification. Do you want me to put you to sleep?"
"I prefer to be awake."
"Then let's start!"
Aragorn placed a hand in his chest and sent 2 pulses, one that created a mutation that allowed Ben to store his cosmic energy and a second one that ordered the cosmic energy to move to this new storage compartment.
He also attached a secondary mutation that granted him a more malleable molecular makeup, this way his cells wouldn't be torn apart due to excessive shifting.
"AGHH THIS IS NOT DISCOMFORT!"- The patient shouted.
"Hehehe! Don't be a baby Dude! You have to man up!"- Johnny didn't miss the chance to add his penny to the suffering of his friend.
But the results spoke for themselves, slowly, but gradually increasing in pace, his body returned to his original form.
"Done! You can take a look at yourself in the mirror on the ceiling."
A normal human being with oversized pants could be seen in the mirror. Tears of relief flooded Ben's eyes.
"You will need to practice some more to comprehend the way of shifting in an instinctual manner. You don't have to do the 12-18 hours in one shift, you can shift in shorter periods but you still need to release your cosmic energy within that timeframe. Otherwise, your body will forcibly do so for you."
"Thank you... Thank you very much!"- Ben said as he shook hands with Aragorn.
"Don't worry about it! It's part of my plan to ensure the future president's agreement with my plan."- And probably to make some male friends aside from Bucky. But he won't admit it.
"Next let's do you, Human Torch!"
"Nice, Man! I like the name."- Johnny said as he took Ben's previous spot.
"Your case is a little bit different, I don't have tech for seeing the soul, only to detect its changes, so I will use my eyes. You might feel an increasing pressure but that's a side effect of watching a soul so intently."
Aragorn focused his All-seeing eyes on the soul, or souls, of the mutate in front of him. A few minutes went by in this way.
"Mr. Storm, please ask your companion to light your head on fire."
"Girl, please do my head!"- An awful choice of words, but effective nonetheless.
Aragorn kept observing as the souls interacted with each other.
"Ok, that's enough." Johnny depowered.
"You're very lucky Mr. Storm. I have seen sentient energy similar to this before. It was a parasitic and viral energy that turned a whole universe into zombies. Soul bound like in your case."- Aragorn talked as he reminisced about his first mission and how he barely knew how to use his powers in anything else that was not a void beast.
In retrospect, he could have just blasted the planet with his telekinesis while encasing the stones in a psionic barrier. Maybe just Z-Sentry would have been a problem.
"I had to destroy that universe because there was no way to turn back the zombies."- A sharp breath was taken in by the crowd that was not expecting that level of abruptness.
"In your case, you both have a similar relationship to the one the Klyntar has with their hosts. Do any of you know what's a Klyntar?"- Aragorn looked at the alarmed and confused patient.
His sister wasn't doing any better. She just heard that her brother may have been zombified, that the doctor(?) in front of them is capable of destroying a universe, and that somehow her brother was lucky.
"No, never heard of them."
"The Klyntar are symbiotic beings that need a host to survive. It's a little bit more complicated than that, but the truth of the matter is that your fire friend can't live without your soul and you are bonding so perfectly with it that you can't separate from it. It will reach a point in which both of your souls will be supporting each other."
"It's a baby so make sure you treat it with care, I don't think you would lead a happy life with a bunkmate who you hate its guts. And lastly, and possibly the most interesting part, it needs a huge amount of heat energy in order to reproduce, besides reaching maturity, like a 0.01% of the total heat energy of a dwarf start."- Or Aragorn could supply the energy.
"Just saying, in case that it ever wants to create progeny. Ah! By the way, it doesn't have a gender but if you raise it as a girl your wish will come true and it will identify as a girl."- Aragorn was very careful about the way he referred to it, a habit from his past life he developed during the 'modern times'.
"And I think that it will be able to create an energy body to interact with the outside, but it needs more time to grow. All in all, I think that you got the best deal out of this accident."- Having an extra layer of protection in your soul was always welcomed in Aragorn's eyes.
"Thanks, man! My sister will sleep better at night knowing that I'm not going to have a Xeno bursting out of me!"- Johnny laughed in relief.
"You know, that movie was inspired by real events, the whole franchise was, maybe not the exact events of the movies but the Aliens in it are real. The Yautja are a race of aliens that enjoy the thrill of the hunt, the Xenomorphs are real as well."
"... What!?"
"Yeah, the Yautja have this weird blessing ceremony where they visit every new galactically recognized species and challenge an individual to a death match. They are quite problematic, they have tried a few times to locate this place to challenge my girls. I've been postponing it but I will eventually have to allow one of them to die under my girls' blades."- There were no doubts about the outcome of the future fight in Aragorn's head.
Several times they have sent a delegation to Nirn and demand a duel to the death of Emma. Luckily she had immunity but she promised that as soon as one of the other girls was available she was going to set up a match.
Aragorn and Emma are certain that none of the older girls will lose, but they want to delay the match to build a coliseum and use the whole occasion as a promotional celebration for their Empire.
"The more I know the weirder this gets. Are you gonna tell me that gods are real next?!"- Johnny was very surprised! Just not for the same reasons as the others, he was very surprised that his favorite franchise turned into a historical series like the ones from Animal Planet or History Channel.
"..."- Aragorn just gave him a mirthful smile, he was enjoying the reactions of Johnny.
"..."- Johnny.
"..."- Susan.
"..."- Ben.
"..."- Reed.
"..."- Victor at least had an idea of the answer, as someone learned in the mystical arts.
"Most are real, some are not. For example, by the raw definition of the word, I'm considered a god-like being. By the cosmic definition of it, I am above the divinity wielders known as Gods. There's also a goddess that lives with us up here, Gaea, you should have heard of her."
"Ehmm... The Mother Earth?"- Asked Susan.
"Yeah, that one. She is a friend of ours, she is doing me a favor so she is residing with us."- He said while concealing the truth, that she is going to be one of his baby's mothers.
"You can ask Spark for superficial information about this, you are cleared for level 1 information. You won't get detailed information but the general landscape should be enough."
Level 1 was information that could be considered eye-opening, but not information that you could make substantial use of.
What do you do with knowing that gods are real? What can you do about it? It was this level of information.
Level 2 was information that could be of use, like the existence of vibranium, or secret societies.
The levels above were where the possibly dangerous information was kept.
"Now, let's see. Mr. Richards, I bet that you want to study your body on your own, if you haven't done so already, and Mr. Doom, I bet you know how to study your own soul's upgrades. That leaves me with you, Ms. Storm."- Aragorn looked at the mess of a girl and said:
'Ms. Storm, Can you ask them to leave us alone? You will need some privacy for your case and they will take it better coming from you, who they trust, than me. It's about your emotional state. But if you don't mind discussing it in their presence let me know. You can just think hard about your answer and I will know.'
Aragorn didn't know how much they shared among themselves, but he could tell that she hadn't told any of them about her problems. Johnny seemed to have picked up that she was not sleeping enough but not anything below that.
"Can you guys give me some time with Mr. Abner? I have some private questions for him."- Susan answered Aragorn's questions with her actions.
"Irina and Yelena are outside the lab, you can ask them for help. They can also give you a tour around the facilities, just don't pick a fight with anybody here, not even the babies, those girls can fold you like a pretzel in under a minute."
After letting her fellows know that she was okay and that she would join them later, they left.
"Thanks, Mr. Abner."
"You're welcome, Ms. Storm. You can call me Aragorn, most people call me that or Young Master. Let's start with your body."
Susan laid under the shower of lights and the results were out a minute later.
"Your results are the same as what Spark said, your psionic abilities should grow the more you use them, like a muscle, so it's best to practice often with them. Your soul is fine but you have more energy than the others, this is not a problem, yet you should keep it in mind."- Aragorn thought that maybe this energy had something to do with her future cosmic babies.
"Thanks, Aragorn."
"You're welcome, Susan."- He petted the barely standing whole girl.
"The mind has very interesting ways of healing, trauma by repetition is one of them. It's the way that your mind forces you to relive the event that harmed you. It could be through nightmares, illusions, associations, and many other inventive ways."- He said while he kept petting her head, an action that he reflectively does after spending so much time with the beast girls.
"*Sob* I just can't sleep without seeing his eyes. *Sob*"- Susan confessed. She was crumbling and she knew it.
"The good news, Susan, is that I, and other telepaths, can help you. Telepaths are the perfect psychologists if done right. I know that the trust you have in me is very superficial so if you don't want a man in your mind I can get one of the other girls to help you."
Healing someone's scarred psyche is very different than the surface reading that Aragorn normally uses, it is very intimate. He knows because he experienced it with the girls from the red room.
It's part of the reasons that contributed to what made them feel closer to each other as fast and deeply as they did.
"Yes. *Sob* Thank you. Can you get a woman to help me?"
"No problem, give me a sec to call her."
Aragorn expanded his mind and located one of the other massive minds currently present in Halo.
'Hey Emma! Are you busy my fluff queen?'
'Hello, my responsibilities dispenser. I have about an hour, What do you need?'
'It's about Susan Storm, Did I tell you about her?'
'You mean the girl of the demonic summoning?'
'That's a very weird way of remembering her, but it's not entirely inaccurate. Yes her!'
'It sounds better than the girl who was present during the dimensional breach that brought an extra-dimensional devil into our reality.'
'Touché. Can you help her with the resulting trauma? I haven't dived in her but as far as I've seen she is not that bad, I bet you can do it in under 10 minutes.'
'Sure, give me a minute and I will portal there.'
"Okay, she is coming... I was not standing here like an idiot I was talking to her."
"*Hmph* Alright, thank you."- Susan chuckled acknowledging that Aragorn looked silly standing still.
Not long after Emma warped in. Aragorn teleported behind her and sank in her tails.
"*Sigh* This is why no one takes me seriously when you're around."- Emma said while shaking her head without getting rid of the tick now attached to her tails.
"Hello girl, you can excuse the idiot. My Name is Emma Fulgebunt Draconis. I, along with the idiot, am probably the best psychologist in the galaxy, so you are in capable hands."
"... Thank you for your help... Ehmm... Is that okay? Isn't it like some sort of sexual harassment?"- Susan asked while motioning to the dragon buried in the fox's tails.
"Mmmm... Maybe? Just not coming from him. I know he finds me physically attractive but that's not the reason behind this. His wife would also kill him if he made me uncomfortable in a sexual way. Besides, I know him very well, so I know that at this moment he is paying like 5% of his attention to this conversation and the remaining 95% to my tails. He doesn't have any room for lewdness."- She responded while swaying one of her tails over the stupefied face of Aragorn.
She already accepted that no one other than the manipulative dragon can give her the best finish to her tails, so she lets him do as he pleases.
A perfect win-win situation.
"One-"- To further support her claims, the dragon tried to say 'one percent', but thoughts of her tails prevented him from finishing the sentence.
Also, the fact that he didn't entirely care about what Susan thought aided his shamelessness.
"Case in point. Just ignore him, it's what I do when he gets like this. He has also been working for more than 72 hours straight so, in his words, he is suffering from 'keratin deficiency', this can be considered his reward."- Not unlike any other normal day when he passes his free time either experimenting or playing with tails and ears.
"Let's get you fixed, Susan. I will put my fingers on your temple, you won't be able to fight my intrusion but either way please don't try, it's for your own good. Time also moves differently from inside your mind so don't worry if you feel like we spent a long time in there."
Emma brought her hands to Susan's head and both closed their eyes. About 10 minutes later, both women 'resurfaced'.
"Your trauma was not as rooted as it could be since not much time had passed since then. I still recommend you talk to your loved ones if you ever have sequels. Based on what've seen, surprisingly, your man-child of a brother was the one that paid you attention, it could be because he is not as burdened as Mr. Grimm with his body changes."- Emma was correct in her assessment, under normal circumstances the first to notice that something was not right with Susan is Ben Grimm.
"The other two... Honestly, you can do better than them. One is married to his lab and the other almost got you killed with his one-objective-is-all-that-matters mentality. Trust me, I know enough about men like them. They get you with their impressive ways."- Emma remembered the professor she used to fan all over and later on in her life how she got tricked by Shaw's speeches and promises
"But on the other hand, I'm married to my empire so maybe don't take my word for it."
"... Thanks Ms. Fulgebunt, for the advice as well."
"You can call me Emma. As dirty as it may sound, you already had me in you, I think we are past honorifics."- Emma commented with a chuckle.
"Thank you very much Emma."- Susan gratefully said while smiling at Emma's joke.
"Aragorn! We are done here! Don't you have something else to do?"- Emma addressed the dragon in her tails.
Aragorn wanted to ignore her, but suddenly a thought passed through his mind and his eyes fully opened, accompanied by a slightly sadistic smile.
"Yes, my fluff queen. It's time to plan the 'lawful' confiscation of your clone and light the metaphorical ass of Hydra on fire."- Aragorn said as his canines popped out of his smile.
"Oh. It's that time! I thought that you were going to need more time with Krakoa."
"I thought so as well, but Seraph took command and things are working far better than expected."
Initially, Aragorn assumed that he was going to walk the mutants by hand through the initial stages of the founding.
But Seraph took control over the direction of the operation, a welcomed surprise for Aragorn.
The mutants decided to build 5 demographic centers or cities, the capital located in the center and the other four at the cardinal points.
Aragorn just finished the capital city and the remaining four will be left for when the main city is more populated.
Seraph then directed the mutants to the appropriate roles where their powers would maximize their impact, and, much to Aragorn's surprise, she was able to convince Xavier to bring some of his kids to help.
"Susan let's go and take you to your friends."- Emma said as she hurried the confused girl out.
Later when they met, Johnny was still pestering Yelena for a date, not much different than expected, and the rest had empty eyes, possibly because of all the reality-defying that they witnessed during their tour.
Even Victor was having a hard time keeping his composed persona up. Ben was in the background being used as a climbing wall by the Super Soldier Baby Maids.
{A/N:
I had some availability so I wrote this.
I won't be changing cannon so blatantly like with Johnny's powers in the future, but I have an idea that I will be pursuing.
3 days have passed since the last chapter but I will probably start the next one after the planning for the clone's appropriation is done, straight to the action XD, so the 1 week time skip will be completed.
The next chapter would be more about Aragorn, Emma, and Bucky. I've been leaving Bucky out of action for too long.
Just to clarify, I, personally, would support Wakanda's decision, but I want Aragorn to start with a bad first impression of them, not that what wrote is wild and improbable.
Probably we will have the chapter about Captain America after the next one, or by the end of the next one I would at least have an introduction of it.
I also made a mention of Franklin 'Baby Jesus' Richards, but we won't meet him until a few volumes later. Just light foreshadowing.
Lastly, I wrote this chapter, entirely, in an Omniscient Narrative (3rd PPOV). Let me know what you think, I usually have more fun writing with a First-Person Narrative Voice but sometimes it's easier to explain things with an Omniscient Narrative.
If you have a preference for the narrative voice let me know.
}
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