23

The atmosphere is tense as Lilly and myself discuss the strange circumstances around "Natasha". The name of the other girl, Natalia "Natasha" Romanoff, hangs in the air between us. We verify her birth year, 1984, we marked her as an important figure in this world. But something does not add up - according to my knowledge from my other self, the older Natalia Alianovna was a character from comics, but in this reality, she exists and so does the one in the movies. Confusion and uncertainty annoyed us as we tried to make sense of it all.

Our conversation turns to the portal power that had brought the stranger here. It seemed to hold secrets about different universes, but did it also provide information about the one we now found ourselves in? As we are pondering this possibility, a notification arrives from S.H.I.E.L.D. regarding an attack on an agricultural laboratory by a powerful mutant terrorist. I quickly directed Lilly to update alerts and label any similar locations as "mutant research institutes" to shift public perception. we planned to gather evidence that would show even though mutants were victims, they still aided society in some way. 

Some day it might be a race against time to gather enough proof to defend ourselves, so best to get started now and not leave it for another day.

"Very well Lilly, in regards the Natalia ladies, track both for me, the older one I need a location on soon please."

I sigh deeply as I head to the lounge to relax, oh you are kidding me.

On the sofa Jean is watching Eve, who I never even knew could leave the Speed Force, playing games on MY TV. Behind them, I see a large furry humanoid lazing on the sofa in front of the panoramic window.

I just wanted a moment to rest, was that too much to ask?

"Oh, guests arrived, I told the two of them to wait here, since the other one was already playing games here before I realized she was in the house …"

Eve raises her hand distractedly and waves, "Hi!"

Jean smiles and stands, "I love your place, it's so relaxing."

'Yeah, it was.' I think to myself.

All I get from Felicia is a tail twitch, and I am not even sure if she meant that as a greeting or if she just twitched at the right time.

I collapse on the sofa near Eve and wait for her to finish, I did agree to decide after dealing with Lilly, I just never thought with my improved body I would be this tired.

Seeing me fall onto the sofa Jean sits back down and goes back to watching Eve.

I did not even feel realize I had fallen asleep, I opened my eyes and noticed I had a blanket on me, Eve was still playing games but Jean seemed to have left. Felicia is asleep on the sofa she was on before.

I hear Lilly's gentle voice next to my ear, "Jean covered you over, then went to find a room to sleep in. The little one has not budged at all."

I smirk at the idea of Eve being called "the little one"

"Okay Eve, let's do this. I agree."

Eve drops the controller and smiles brightly as she faces me.

"I will do the transfer at the same time, this will make it a lot less painful and faster, I will bring it to your Soul as well, and put an indicator for you on your right hand. That okay?"

Eve places her tiny hand palm down on the back of my hand.

I start to feel an itch, nothing as bad as before, more like a tattoo this time actually.

As it starts to feel warmer I can sense my power being slowly pulled away from me, a lot like a plaster being slowly pulled off.

Suddenly it all seems calm, I can feel energy once again gently flowing to my right hand.

Eve grins and lifts up her hand, showing me the "tattoo" below.

8 small circles are clustered together, they seem to either have a colour or a symbol in them. Above them, to the left and right are slightly bigger circles that have symbols within them.

The cluster contains green, red, black, and clear colour circles, the symbols are a foot, a fist, an anvil, and one containing the symbols for the 4 elements. 

The two larger ones on the left and right contain the symbols for Alpha and the other Omega.

At the moment they are all filling except the black one.

I look over at Eve, "You going to explain?"

Eve is smiling ear to ear, "Sure, you going to love this. So think of each circle as, Hm, like me I suppose, a source."

Think of them as full at level 7, but you see how none of yours are full except the two on the outside? It means there is room for improvement. Okay, you know The Gree, I mean the green circle is about 5/7th full? So you could call on any plant-related ability as long as it did not exceed a power rating of 5."

"Yeah, but what about the black one, that one's empty," I question with a hint of concern.

"Forget that one, honestly it's not a bad thing that one is empty, lets ignore it for now."

"So I seem to be 4 or 5 on most, but the Anvil is only 3."

"If you take some time trying to feel them, you will be able to tell what they are linked to. Now, as for the two on the outside. That is related to your ability to grant people powers, and the energy fed to those powers. Very few powers are all black or all white."

Eve seems to think of something and smiles, "Anyways much like before you are able to improve abilities or grant abilities. Now the power used for those abilities comes from the dimensions those two are linked to."

"Let's imagine you grant someone the ability to heal but it taxes the body, then most of the energy to use that would be from the Alpha, although you would still supply some from the Omega as it does some harm. Making sense?"

"So I can control how much I grant, and if I grant it?"

Eve's grin gets bigger, "Yes!"

The first thought going through my mind is I either need to learn how to make dimensional energy contracts or get my hands on some.

I look over at Felicia and focus on her aura for a moment, there is, faint red energy weaving in and out, and this verifies my thoughts, Animals, although if this is The Red, then more land animals! And now I know why she said that about the black circle, this is not the DC universe, Death energy is not a nice thing over here at all. Hmm, maybe find some undead. Clear I am unsure of, every time I try to connect I think I am sensing water, but that falls under elemental. I will give that one some time. 

Feet and fist, movement and Impact? I am guessing at the moment, as for the Anvil, maybe Metal although I feel I am missing something.

I smile at Eve, "Thank you, I really love this. I find it amazing you actually made something like this, I keep forgetting I am friends with someone on the level of a concept God."

"Ha, not yet I am not, but thank you for trying to butter me up," Eve giggles happily.

I need to get the attention of someone who can make dimensional energy contracts, the problem is I am no longer sure if it is him or her. If it is him this becomes complicated, because in his timeline Dr Strange is taken on a lot earlier and even kicked out for using dark magic, of course there is also the time the male ancient one had all his magical knowledge taken from him. If it is her things are a lot easier. She stopped relying on the time stone early on and left it hung up, only using it when something concerning happened. And honestly, she is a lot nicer than him.

"Thinking about contracts?"

"Yeah, if I can make them then I would not always have to run around myself to empower people."

"True, if it helps, this ancient one has boobs."

I just about choke and stare hard at Eve, what the hell.

Eve tilts her head and smirks, "Do you really think she is a old bald lady? Name one woman who has control over their image that would choose to look like that unless they want to hide something."

I think I just heard a loud thud as my jaw hit the floor.

I need to work out a way to use some kind of True vision ability, this is important!