58: Advances

58: Advances

If Daniel had to say something about Harleen's power, it would be... that it's strange.

"My hair is blue!" Harleen exclaimed, and at her command, all her previously platinum blonde hair turned into a bright blue from the roots.

"Is that the shade you had in mind?" Daniel asked curiously, making her look at him and take a strand of her hair between her fingers.

"Yes, it's just as I imagined it," she nodded, then frowned in confusion.

It had been about fifteen minutes since Harleen activated her power for the first time, and during that time, they had been experimenting a little in one of the training rooms of the fortress.

So far, they had managed to figure out some simple things, such as that Harleen needed to dictate "commands" for her power to take effect. At the same time, they realized that she couldn't make anything other than "herself" be affected by those commands.

How they found that out was both embarrassing for Harleen and entirely incidental, and both agreed never to mention it.

Leaving the awkward moment behind, Daniel thought it would be easy for her to gain more direct control over her powers now that they knew how they were activated... but they quickly realized that wasn't the case.

It was strange—sometimes the commands were fulfilled exactly as Harleen wanted them to, and other times they either worked in a weird way or didn't work at all.

"When you wanted to fly earlier, what exactly did you have in mind?" he asked, making her ponder for a moment before responding with slight hesitation.

"I suppose... I just wanted it to happen?" At that moment, she had only wished to float in the air without any worries.

"And when you wanted your hair to change color?"

"I thought about it changing color?" she answered again, not much more certain than before.

"Codex, I need you to analyze the biology of her hair pigmentation," he commanded, and at his order, the fortress's artificial intelligence began to work. Soon, a projected screen displaying the data he wanted appeared before him.

"Neither eumelanin nor pheomelanin—your power simply created a new variation of melanin never before seen in humans to fulfill your desire and make your hair blue… You literally changed your own genetic structure with just a few words."

That was… Maybe Harleen didn't know as much about genetics as Daniel, but she understood how astonishing it was. Still, she wasn't too surprised.

"It's incredible, but we already knew the X-gene can do the impossible."

Well, he couldn't argue with her on that point. If Daniel were more of a scientist, he'd probably be foaming at the mouth right now over how absurd this was, but his mindset was much more open, so he could accept it without questioning it too much.

"Why don't you try flying again? But this time, think about it much more—give it shape in your mind."

Maybe it was about visualization. If Harleen could form a clear and detailed mental image of what she was aiming for, then she should be able to make her power work without errors, right?

Upon hearing him, she nodded and closed her eyes, beginning to concentrate. At the same time, her blue hair returned to its original color.

That was another interesting thing to note about her powers—every time she wanted to give a new "command," the previous one was undone. Daniel didn't know if this was some kind of inherent limiter or if it was due to something else. Maybe Harleen was simply "turning it off" without realizing it? Or did it have to do with her concentration?

There were so many questions. Even so, he knew it wasn't his place to figure them all out. For now, he would settle for helping Harleen gain enough control and understanding of this ability so that she wouldn't have any kind of accident in her daily life and could reintegrate into society.

"Ummm, now that I think about it, how do you fly?" Harleen suddenly asked, opening her eyes and looking at him with curiosity.

She had been trying to imagine it, to give it shape just as he had said, but it was a bit more complicated than she thought. After all, as a human, the concept of "flying" was still strange to her. So she figured that maybe getting a description from someone who actually could fly would help her.

"Well, that… I suppose I do it by creating my own leverage in space. It's like a gravitational field of my own that surrounds my body and allows me to move without needing any kind of external force. And with it, I generate my own momentum," Daniel began explaining, trying to keep it simple but understandable.

The truth is that, at first, he hadn't fully understood it himself, and it wasn't until his fight with Graviton that he realized his flight actually affected gravity on a very deep level. That's when he also figured out that it was, in fact, a personal gravitational field that was generated around him.

That field could also extend to the things he touched, albeit to a lesser degree. That's why the large structures he sometimes carried didn't collapse under their own weight but instead remained stable, using him as the main point of "support."

That was also the reason why he still felt the weight of everything he carried.

At the same time, he could control this interaction both unconsciously and consciously, allowing him to decide when it should "extend" beyond himself.

Of course, it wasn't perfect—it wasn't like tactile telekinesis, even though it resembled it a little.

Once he finished explaining all of this as best as he could, Harleen nodded as if she understood.

"I see. I think I know what I did wrong," she said before closing her eyes again. Daniel wondered if she needed to do that every time or if she just did it for comfort.

"I can fly."

The command was the same as before, but this time, Daniel could feel a slight shift in the local gravity.

But this change was different from what he felt when Carol flew—this felt very familiar, almost like sensing himself.

Had she managed to mimic his ability to fly?

As if to confirm it, he watched her slowly lift off the ground. It was wobbly and unstable, but there was definitely a level of control she hadn't had in her first attempt.

"Be careful. Remember, your body is much more fragile than mine. If you make a sudden movement or fall from a great height, you could get hurt," he warned, recalling his own first attempts at flying.

"Sure, Dad," she rolled her eyes, still rising higher and higher.

"Come on, relax, what's the worst that could happen?" she said with a smile and a hint of mockery, but when she turned to look at him, she lost concentration, causing her body to spin and send her plummeting toward the ground.

Daniel watched her fall slowly, waiting until she was barely a centimeter from crashing before moving in to catch her.

"Ah!?" Harleen blinked in shock, her hair now disheveled from the sudden movement. Disoriented from being back on the ground so quickly, she swiftly leaned against Daniel to keep herself from stumbling.

"Your reaction speed is also much lower than mine. Losing focus for even a single moment, like you just did, is another risk."

"Ugh, now I see why you put a hole in your farm." Harleen then frowned—her dream of flying seemed to have hit some bumps. That sucked. She could do it, but at the same time, if she did, she could also get hurt.

'Maybe…' Looking at Daniel, an idea suddenly popped into her head.

'Wait, I need to think this through carefully.' But she didn't rush. Instead, she started forming a clear mental image of what she wanted.

Daniel raised an eyebrow as he saw her concentrating again, wondering what she was up to now.

"I'm like Defiant!" she exclaimed, and in a single second, everything changed.

The most noticeable thing was her outfit—the full-body white suit that Lara had given her was instantly replaced with a version strikingly similar to the costume Daniel had made for Carol.

Aside from that, her height had also increased, along with the definition of her physique. Not that she hadn't already had a noticeably attractive figure, of course, but now her build had gained a bit more muscle without looking overly exaggerated.

"You…" Daniel was left speechless for a moment.

"Whoa! Even my clothes changed!" Seeing herself, Harleen was surprised. Although the suit had been included in her mental image, she hadn't expected it to materialize out of nowhere.

"Codex, I want another analysis, a deeper one." Ignoring how Harleen was examining herself, Daniel focused all his attention on the real-time data displayed before him.

Upon seeing a completely naked projection of herself appear out of nowhere once again, Harleen was alarmed and at the same time embarrassed.

"Hey!"

Ignoring her discomfort, Daniel observed the changes in her biology.

'She's not a Viltrumite,' he quickly concluded, feeling somewhat disappointed.

'But she's more than human.'

Whatever her power had done to her had increased all her physical abilities in an attempt to emulate what he was capable of.

Pointing out everything that had changed in her body could take an entire day, but in summary, if the fortress's calculations were correct—and they always were—she was now at least 200 times 'stronger' than an average human.

He also analyzed the material of the suit. It wasn't Element V, but rather a fabric based on Kevlar's design that looked quite similar to Element V in appearance but had clearly inferior properties.

'Why?' Why, if she had been able to imitate his ability to fly so perfectly, when she tried to replicate other things, were they so far from the original?

"You're ignoring me?!" Daniel snapped out of his thoughts when he felt a finger start to poke his cheek.

"Wow, so this is how you see the world all the time? It's really strange… and incredible," Harleen said, looking intently at his face.

But she quickly shook her head and pointed at the projection of herself.

"Does it have to show something like that all the time? You know, if you want to see the real thing, you just have to ask," she said, winking at him.

It was good to see that she no longer seemed as depressed as before.

Dismissing the projection, he made a mental note to ask Lara or the Codex later to stop displaying people's indecent aspects when analyzing them.

"It seems we were wrong in assuming you couldn't change other things," he pointed out, grabbing a part of the cape flowing down her back.

"I'm not complaining! Now I'll be able to have all the clothes I want!" Just thinking about it made her even more excited.

"Hit me."

Daniel interrupted her suddenly, making her raise an eyebrow.

"I didn't expect you to be into those kinds of games, but... I'm not against trying new things~"

Now it was his turn to roll his eyes.

"I'm serious."

Seeing that he wasn't playing along, she sighed in disappointment. But even though she didn't understand what he wanted to achieve with this, she still obeyed and took a very basic fighting stance.

"Alright, clench your teeth because this is going to hurt!" she warned, then stepped forward and punched.

The air exploded, stirring the wind in the room. There was a scream, but it wasn't from Daniel.

"Shit! What the hell?!" Harleen looked at her fist with tears in her eyes. The glove covering her hand had shattered into pieces, and her knuckles were now red.

Daniel, for his part, hadn't moved even a millimeter from his spot.

"Did you have to aim for the face?" he asked, raising his hand to his cheek.

It hadn't hurt, of course, but that didn't matter—no one liked getting hit in the face.

The answer to his question was a direct kick to his crotch.

"Hey!"

"God! Are they made of titanium?!" Harleen screamed as she collapsed to the ground, feeling extreme pain in her leg.

At that moment, Daniel came to the conclusion that she must have lost a bit of her sanity as a result of gaining powers… Then again, thinking about it, she was probably already a little crazy to begin with.

Shaking his head, he let out a sigh before helping her to her feet. Looking closely at her hand, he realized that the damage to her knuckles wasn't much and was, in fact, already beginning to heal. It seemed her body still retained the ability to withstand her own strength when hitting things.

That was one of the reasons he had told her to hit him. On the other hand, he also wanted to experience firsthand what '200 times stronger' really meant.

Harleen sighed as she felt the pain in her hand and leg beginning to subside. Gaining so much power all of a sudden had gone to her head a little. She had never felt so strong, so invincible, so untouchable. So confident.

She felt like she could do anything, be anything.

She thought she had reached Daniel's level, which had given her much more confidence than before. But now she realized she had been wrong, making her feel like an idiot.

Seeing how her eyes lost some of their shine and she began to get discouraged, Daniel let go of her hand and gave her a small flick on the forehead, making her focus on him again.

"Don't get discouraged so fast. Your power is for much more than just trying to be me—remember that."

As he comforted her, Harleen wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes and told herself that he was right—her power was much more than just trying to copy things.

"I'm sorry," she then apologized, remembering her failed kick, but Daniel didn't pay much attention to it—after all, he had barely felt it.

'I wonder… maybe her power works better when she knows 'exactly' what she wants?' Daniel deduced, considering how she had been able to imitate his ability to fly but failed when trying to be as strong as him.

'And if that's the case, should I tell her about the smart atoms?' Now that was a thought that deserved serious consideration.

After taking a short pause for Harleen to heal completely, they ran a few more tests, but nothing truly spectacular.

Maybe the only important thing they discovered was that if Harleen wanted to give 'commands' or affect things other than herself—like her clothes—she needed to have close contact with them.

That's how Daniel saw his hero suit turned into a single set of black underwear, a little too short… and tight.

"This was the best you could come up with?" he asked in a flat voice, watching as Harleen looked him up and down with a strange smile.

"Hey! Unlike you, at least I covered the important parts!" she exclaimed, pointing at his crotch. Of course, she would get her revenge for the projection incident.

Shaking his head, he couldn't help but feel a little exposed. Well, at least it wasn't as bad as those times he had ended up completely naked in the middle of his practice flights.

"Alright, enough games. It's time to try something more important."

"I think this is pretty important."

Ignoring her words, he extended his hand toward her and seriously explained what he wanted her to do.

"Try to change something about me."

Harleen stopped smiling and furrowed her brows in doubt.

"You… you want me to give you a 'command'?"

He nodded. This, of course, was something they had already tried before without success—only that time, Harleen hadn't been touching him, which was likely the reason her power had failed. Or at least that's what Daniel thought, given everything they now knew about how it actually worked.

"Start with something simple and direct."

Seeing that there was no sign of doubt or distrust in his eyes, Harleen decided to go through with it. After all, if it really worked, she could give him any kind of command—she could be like that guy, Kilgrave, and manipulate him at will.

With such a risk, the fact that he was still willing to let her try spoke volumes about the trust between them.

"Alright, something simple…" Taking his hand, she began to think until she came up with something easy—something she had already managed to do with herself before.

"I want your hair to turn red."

As her voice fell, both of them felt something strange happening.

If Daniel had to put it into words, it would be like feeling their spirits colliding—if that even made sense.

He immediately knew that he could try to resist, fight to try to prevent Harleen's power from affecting him. At the same time, he sensed that she knew that she could also try to overcome him and force him to 'obey,' only that at this moment, neither of them tried to fight, leaving them in a strange state of calm where their wills seemed to touch but did nothing more.

'My core isn't reacting… Is it because her command only affects my body and not my mind?'

He then wondered what would happen if she tried to use her power in a way that compromised his mind.

He would probably be able to resist as well, while his core would activate as an additional, far more impenetrable defense—since protecting his mind was one of its primary functions.

'Whatever the case, let's see how it feels first,' he thought as he 'lowered' all his defenses, allowing Harleen's power to flood him.

It was like a warm current that traveled through his body until it reached his head, causing a tingling in his scalp—nothing uncomfortable, just strange.

"Looks like it worked," Harleen said, her eyes shining as she saw his new hair color.

Daniel reached up, easily plucking a few strands to examine them.

It really was a beautiful crimson red.

At the same time, he noticed that his suit hadn't returned to normal, despite Harleen having given another command.

"Seems like you can give more than one command at a time…"

When he pointed it out, Harleen blushed—but she didn't look away.

.

.

.

Somewhere in New York.

"Well, I think everything is ready," Reed Richards said, looking at his great 'project' in front of him.

"Are you sure? Because if this thing explodes here, I'll be in big trouble," Ben Grimm asked, eyeing the device Reed had installed in the middle of the place with some caution.

Both were in Ben's garage. Normally, Reed tested his inventions at home, but after the last accidental fire, his father had explicitly forbidden him from ever doing it again, leaving him with no choice but to turn to his good friend.

Fortunately, Ben's family was much more understanding… as long as they didn't find out what they were doing.

"Don't worry, I've made sure everything works and is properly assembled. Unless you throw yourself on top of it, nothing bad is going to happen," Reed assured him, patting his shoulder confidently.

Ben could only sigh and choose to believe him. Still, just in case, he made sure to bring two fire extinguishers—just as a precaution.

"Alright, I'll start the boot sequence. You place the test object on the platform."

At his command, Ben took the so-called 'test object,' which was really just an old basketball, and walked over to the machine, placing the ball inside. Not for the first time, Ben found himself staring in awe at the invention. He didn't have many words to describe it, not being as well-versed in science as his friend, but its design definitely looked like something out of a sci-fi movie.

"Everything okay?"

At Reed's question, Ben snapped out of his thoughts and nodded, quickly stepping back to stand by his side.

"Yeah, I was just taking a good look at it."

Reed smiled.

"If you think this is incredible, wait until you see the one I plan to build once I join the Baxter Foundation—it'll fill an entire room!" And it will pave the way for humanity to expand into other dimensions.

Soon, everything was ready. With both of them putting on a pair of dark goggles to protect their eyes, Reed began the countdown, holding the activator in his hand.

"One."

"Two."

Reed took a deep breath, feeling the sweat run down his forehead and the nerves creeping in, but this was no time for doubts. The Baxter Foundation's Scientific Innovation Expo was only two days away—if this didn't work now, everything would have been for nothing.

"Three," he said and pressed the button in his hand.

A tremor shook the place as an intense, nearly blinding blue light flashed for a brief moment.

Reed almost stumbled, but Ben helped him stay steady. When his vision cleared again, he noticed that the ball had disappeared from its spot.

"It's gone," Ben whispered in awe.

Reed nodded, but this wasn't the big moment—no, he had made things disappear before.

The real challenge was bringing them back.

"Beginning retrieval process, in three, two… one!"

Pressing the button again, another tremor of equal intensity struck as the same brilliant blue light flashed—only this time, it lasted a bit longer.

The ceiling above them shook, several objects on the garage shelves tumbled to the floor, some cables sparked, and the monitors Reed had brought to track his machine's data flickered several times before stabilizing.

Then everything went still, and smoke filled the air.

'Did I fail?' Reed felt his heart stop for a moment.

But as the smoke finally cleared, the basketball that had vanished was now back in its place.

"Dude! You did it!" Ben's excited shout snapped Reed out of his shock, and a huge grin spread across his face.

"I did it!" he exclaimed, and both of them started jumping with excitement.

"YES!"

.

.

.

Note:

New chapter! Sorry for the delay, I got sick unexpectedly, my schedule is a mess but I'm already recovering.

That said, I hope you enjoyed the chapter! As always, Don't forget to leave your comments—I'll be reading them. Also, if you spot any errors, I'd appreciate it if you pointed them out so I can correct them.

Remember that You can already find the next chapter of this story on Patreon ( patreon.com/EmmaCruzader ) All the support received is appreciated ;D