Chapter 189
"Hey, Fury," Dante's insufferably chipper voice said over the phone. "This is a courtesy call. We're moving ahead with the plan. I've set up something with the 10 rings. They should be making a threat tomorrow that should elicit some kind of reaction out of Domina. We can't predict what, but I have a pretty good idea where she'd turn up."
I sat up from my chair, yelling into the phone.
"That was you and the 10 rings at Oscorp? The United States of America does not negotiate or collaborate with terrorists!"
"The CIA would beg to differ," he said off-handedly, and I gritted my teeth, knowing he was partly right.
"SHIELD is not the CIA."
"And we're dealing with a world-ending crisis. If we can't bend the rules now, there'll be no rules left to bend, and besides, you know why Oscrop had to go."
Shit. It was no secret that the Demoness was working with Oscorp, likely on some kind of third-generation supersoldier serum.
"You could've handled the situation better!"
"There was no stopping Wenwu when he got angry," he said casually. "Apparently, Shaw and his Cronies were responsible for his wife's death. He wants their head on a spike, and I'm obliged to see him mount it. Besides, drawing her out is easier than facing her at the Teleportation stations."
"I don't like it," he said.
"Of course, you don't," he said, "but it's what you agreed to. Tell your Thunderbolts to stand by, find your mechs some pilots, and get the Alien parts into your Adamantium vault. You can't let them get their hands on it."
I gritted my teeth. Of course, he knew what the Vault was made of. I dug my hand into my coat pocket and produced THE pager. I'd sworn I'd never call her unless I really needed to, but this had gone on long enough.
The terrorists, the demons, the lies.
I am experimenting with Alien DNA, for Christ's sake.
I hit the call button. She would not approve of the many lengths I've gone to keep us safe, but that was the price of power in this new world.
Professor Ross's research proceeded well above schedule, and she was certain she'd managed to find a way to create super soldiers without risking exposing them to alien DNA. She wasn't certain how it worked yet. Still, all of the animals she's injected with the combination of the formula derived from Banner's Unique DNA and Armando's genetic material have all stabilized.
They came out ridiculously strong and seemed to climb in strength up to a certain limit before stagnating and dropping off.
We were weeks from human trials because Ross was understandably skeptical of how well the formula worked. As far as she and every other scientist could tell, Armando's DNA was a mystery of modern science. Ambrosia, as it were, and a ridiculously potent one at that.
Betsy even theorized that the formula could awaken secondary mutations in some mutants. It was another reason why she wanted more time to prepare… But with how things were going, we might be out of options. It didn't help that the World Council was breathing down my neck.
My Thunderbolts, while effective, couldn't be everywhere, and Stark's Iron Men, while powerful, were not yet ready for a massive rollout. After a few factories, then maybe.
"You still there, Fury?" he asked.
"Yeah. I read you loud and clear. We'll make the preparations, and the Thunderbolts will be waiting for your word. I'm trusting you against my better judgment, Kid. Don't screw me."
"Come on. Have I ever?"
I slammed the phone in his ear. Cheeky little shit.
--
Domina.
I stood at the center of a decimated lab with crushed equipment, torn-up tiles, and metals twisted impossibly harshly.
Lumos's adoptive mother stood beside me, draped in her signature pristine silver armor. Her black horn glistened in the artificial light, and her porcelain skin and hair gave her an almost human feel—if her eight-foot frame didn't shatter that illusion. She towered over most humans and demons.
"He was here," she proclaimed.
"I don't sense a lick of demon magic," I said, not necessarily disagreeing with her. This was the kind of misdirection I would've pulled, and that's how I knew Dante did it. I wanted to hear her thought process, though.
"I smell him," she said. "His stench was on Lumos's body when you brought him home." Her pitch-black eyes pinned me down.
"He was the strongest of us," I said. "We would've only been in the way."
"He has your scientists, your formulas, and killed the head of your puppet corporation. What do you intend to do?"
She would be unsatisfied with any answer that did not include disemboweling him. So, I told her what she wanted to hear. "I will cripple his allies, tarnish whatever is left of his good name, and make the humans suffer before I kill him. But first, we must find our scientist."
--
Dante
"You all know why you're here," I said to the small crowd gathered in the lobby of my mansion. "We've put up with these demons long enough. I say it's time we ended it."
The next few days were some of the most agonizing of my life. I was constantly in Devil and Angel Trigger, enhancing everyone, but I was more or less happy with the final result. Synthesizing the various formulas on hand was a breeze for Hanson now with copious access to Enhanced DNA, especially Logan's.
Extremis was perfected, and the various SuperSolider alternative formulas laid the groundwork for the newly enhanced.
All of the Widows except Yelena got the Wolf version of the Supersoldier Serum plus Extremis. It gave them superhuman strength, enough to put their physical strength, speed, and senses in the low to mid-hundreds like mine used to be. Their fire manipulation was not as potent as Mordo or Logan's, but in exchange, they got slightly faster healing.
The five Sorcerers chosen got the Lizard and extremis combo. It was potent and granted them strength, reflexes, and regeneration I'd expected Dr. Connors to gain when he ingested the Lizard Serum.
All of the X-Men got the regular Supersoldier and Extremis set-up. But just to make sure they were extra-durable, I added some Vibranium to make their skin tougher, as Jean had insisted.
Jessica Jones, Matt Murdock, and Collen Wing also got the wolf and Extremis mix topped up with a sprinkle of vibranium, but only Peter Parker and Yelena received the spider venom from the mutated spider that I stole from Oscorp.
After I'd collected it, I'd enhanced it, pumping it full of demonic energy, Angel Energy, and Vibranium.
They emerged from a 24-hour coma slightly taller, bursting stats in the high hundreds, and webs and skin with the toughness of vibranium. Finally, they had stingers they could eject and use to deliver poison. Adding Extremis to their bodies pushed them well over the 200-stat milestone.
After that, I crashed while Jean and the rest of the X-men organized the newly enhanced and helped them get a handle on their body. When I got out of bed a day later, I worked on armor for everybody on the team.
It was nothing fancy—just Vibranium body suits and light armor paired with a dagger and a larger weapon of choice. Most chose long swords and arming swords, while DareDevil forewent the dagger and stuck with a collapsible staff.
The work took me well over 48 hours, and we spent the last day sparring. I was in for a surprise all around.
The Widows performed better than I hoped. Their coordination and skills had me on the backfoot more than once, even with my Transcendent fighting skills. I could only keep track of so many moving objects in my perception sphere. Once they realized that, they tried overstimulating me in hopes of creating an opening, and it worked. I got my ass handed to me for the first time in a long time, and I spent several hours practicing with them, improving my hand-to-hand skills and swordplay.
The X-Men were also a pleasant surprise. Considering their already robust base, it came as no surprise that turbo-charging them put them all in a different stratosphere.
Kitty was blurry, flying and phasing so fast that nothing could touch her. Bobby flash-froze the entire platform the second our fight started and proceeded to nuke it with an explosion of fire.
And Colossus—well, he was just a ball of metal and rage itching to get his hands on me. He failed miserably, of course, but it might've been a different story if I didn't have a dozen tools in my back pocket.
Scott got the most out of his enhancement. He went from being able to only channel energy from his eyes to emitting the stuff out of every orifice on command. His eyes glowed red, matching mine, and his new status gave me some pause.
Scott Summers
The leader of the New Generation of X-Men and blessed with the leadership skills and confidence of the former leader, Charles Xavier.
His mutation kinetic optical blasts have undergone a massive transformation because of their flexible genetic makeup and the Extremis formula.
Strength: Improved Superhuman physiology, extreme heat and kinetic generation, manipulation, and conductivity.
Weaknesses: None
I shot Jean a look as if to say, look at what you've up and done.
He charged at me with the ferocity of a bull and lashed out with an explosive, energy-soaked punch. I parried it easily with a slap of my hand and retaliated with an elbow to the liver, which he tanked and clamped down on. I twisted before he could react, legs snaking around his head, and pulled downward, throwing him into the dirt. His body whipped around like a coiled spring, lashing out with a kick as I landed, and I spun around, parrying his kick with one of my own.
Frustrated, he rose in the air, gathering kinetic energy before he let a rip. I parried the beam of energy with my bare hands, the sheer power pushing me back several feet. I had to twist my body, directing the beam back at him to get him to stop. It sniped him in the shoulder, sending him spinning, and he struggled to wrestle back control.
"Not bad," I called to him. "You went a bit hard, but that was impressive."
He shot me a furious glare and darted away.
"What crawled up his ass?" I asked. "I just pushed this asshole into upper Alpha-level status."
"He knows, boss," Rin said from the sidelines.
"Knows about what?" I asked, trying to play it off.
"Come on," Kitty laughed. "The way both of you have been ogling each other. She looked in Jean's direction. "You might've been able to play it off, but she can't."
"Oh boy," I muttered, massaging my brow. "Just what I need a few hours before D-Day."