Chapter 164

Wanda

Our trek into the wilderness was slow and silent; all attention focused on the pair of newcomers to this mission. Kurt, I was familiar with, and so was Magneto by association. After the mission at the lab, he'd drilled me for information and knew almost everything I did about the teleporting boy.

I didn't know what Magneto was thinking, but from what I knew of him, it probably involved some scheme to pull him over to our side, and I wasn't necessarily against it either.

We were the true victims of this war with the demons. Even now, after the demons have stopped their assault, mutants are still disappearing. It started with the Morlocks under New York, but it had spread countrywide. People wanted somebody to blame for the incident in New York and other unexplainable things that have happened over the years.

The battle of New York, the bounty that Domina placed, and the video that surfaced of Dante's fight more or less pointed the finger at mutant kind.

We had people with monstrous features in our ranks.

SHIELD and the Thunderbolts helped some, but we spearheaded the fight. On Magneto's orders, Dante and Jean were left out of the fight for mixed reasons.

They were too recognizable for one, and they were frankly needed elsewhere. I've torn through dozens of mutant hate groups across the country and sent over ten people to SHIELD's protection camp, but we were still losing people in spades.

We were all desperate to put an end to the madness, which was why we were all so surprised when Pietro disappeared in the afternoon yesterday and returned several times faster and stronger than he already was.

Now, I didn't think even Magneto could stop him. Predictably, Magneto asked him to divulge his secrets, and surprisingly, he refused.

"Why?" demanded Magneto, standing up from his chair. He had to look up slightly at Pietro, who'd grown several inches taller.

"Because Dante asked me to," he said with a shrug.

"You would choose him over your kind?" Magneto's voice went dangerously low, but Pietro didn't blink. They'd actually never fought, but everyone who'd seen them in action knew Magneto would likely win. His electromagnetic barrier made him immune to all but the most powerful mutants, and while Pietro was fast. He couldn't move faster than the seasoned mutant could think. But now, I wasn't so sure.

"I CHOOSE to keep my promise to a friend who gave me a second chance when he didn't need to,” Pietro said.

"Dante Sparda didn't empower you out of the goodness of his heart," said Magneto. "There is always a price to pay."

"You don't hear me complaining, do you?" Pietro grinned. "I'll gladly answer when he calls. In the meantime, I'll be saving more lives and giving Wanda a break." He smiled at me. "Heavens knows she needs it."

Magneto spotted a deep frown for the rest of the day, and he nursed it well into the mission. His face changed for the first time when we ran into our first horde.

"A pack up ahead," I announced the moment the monsters entered my sphere of perception. It was magnitude larger than it'd been at the university, and reading the demon taught me a few tricks about dealing with inhuman minds.

I couldn't control them because of the distance, but I got a general feel for their minds. They were the half-snake-half-man monstrosities that Dante had spotted. He'd called them Lamias.

"Ten of them," I said. "They've spotted us."

"It's the heat in our bodies," I heard a voice say beside me. I nearly lost my balance. It was the sorcerer Mordo.

"When did you…" I started, but his hands were already moving. It blurred, and when they stopped, they were spread wide apart. A complicated Mandala of burning red energy manifested in front of him.

"Forgive me," he said. "They’re drawn to heat, and my heat regulation could use some work.." He closed his hand, and the Mandalas separated into five segments, each one smaller than the last like some magical magnifying glass.

"What are you doing?" I stammered out.

"A spell," he impassively answered. "Sun of Cinnibus," he announced, and a potent ray of heat energy erupted from his palms. The heat doubled in strength with each circle it passed through. It was almost white when it crossed the final mandala. With unnatural ease, Mordo snapped the ray to the right and promptly stopped the spell. Explosions went off in the distance, and a wave of heat and snow crashed into us.

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My mouth fell open, and so did the rest of the group. Their consciousness was gone. He'd killed them all with one spell.

"What the hell was that?" Kurt Wagner was the first to speak.

"Forgive me?" Mordo said. "The enhancements must've been more significant than I expected."

Magneto's eyes widened. "He enhanced you too, didn't he?"

---

Lauren

My eyes narrowed to slits and stayed that way all the while I watched Logan Howlett cut through a horde of overgrown seals. I had been initially wary of him when I noticed how different he was from the files Fury had passed around, but seeing him in action stumped even me.

He moved with serpentine grace, and his claws left cauterized wounds with every stroke. In the span of a few seconds, he'd cut through the first horde we encountered with a feral smile. One by one, the monsters all dropped to the floor, hearts and brains destroyed.

Every other member of the group oohed and aahed at his efficacy, and I could even hear Fury making comments over the intercom as an agent relayed what he'd just witnessed.

I believed the words were "unnatural."

He had no idea. My fist tightened. The boy was bolder than HIS majesty anticipated. He will not be pleased to hear of this.

Ever since Dante's deal with the phoenix, the master had been limited to only the boy's notification screen. His actions were only clear to him when Dante purchased something from the store, which rarely happens these days. The boy wised up, finally, it would seem, at the worst possible moment, and stopped using the store almost entirely. The master now mostly relied on me to gather intel for him, which, given my skills, wasn't that difficult.

Still, some things inevitably slip through the cracks.

Garret needs to hear about this. Taking Dante down just became much more difficult. We cannot let Prometheus keep going at its current pace.

---

Norman Osborn

"Are these figures right, Dr. Connors," I said, eyes glued on the tablet he handed me. "You've stabilized the formula."

Dr. Connors nodded. "Lizard DNA," he hummed. "Who would've thought. We'd had so much hope for wolves and spiders."

"You have no idea what this means for us," I spoke in a calm voice. I could finally treat my son and protect my family from the true dangers of the world. "This could open so many doors for us."

With this, I could auction of the formula to major governments and private entities worldwide.

Every major faction would have ample protection against the eventual demon invasion, and I'd be untouchable.

Who says you can't get rich off doing the right thing?

I'd be untouchable after this deal goes through. Not even the demons would dare cross me.

My lips began to part in a Cheshire grin.

"Sir?"

I handed the tablet back to Connors with a schooled expression. "Lock down the information. No one else can know about this. Take one of the sub labs and continue on with your work, Dr. Connors."

"Yes sir," he said with some hesitation, "but the work would go a lot faster if we had a bigger team. Some of our brightest are still testing Spider and Wolf DNA."

"Leave them," I said, looking at Connor's missing arm. "I know you're hungry for results, but it's still early days for the other teams. I'm curious to see what they'll come up with."

Why stop at one formula when you could have multiple?

The Doctor looked like he had much more to say, but I wasn't interested. "If that is all, Doctor."

Connors excited my office with a complicated look on his face, and I poured myself a drink from a decanter in the corner. I took my time savoring the smell before I swallowed a gulp of Bourbon.

"Celebrating?"

Electricity ran up my spine, and I nearly dropped the glass in my hand as a wave of panic and fear overwhelmed me.

Domina!

Shit.

I took a deep, steadying breath and spun around with a schooled expression.

"Just finally reaping the fruits of millions in R&D. Nothing concrete yet, but it's a step in the right direction."

I took another measured sip and stared at her. She was in a white business suit that accentuated her hair and flawless face.

How much did she know?

"Hmmm," she mused. "It wouldn't have anything to do with the formula, would it?"

Her question gave me my answer. She had likely been listening the entire time.

"It's not ready for use if that's what you're asking," I said. "It'll likely be months before we find a stable formula that might work, and then there's human testing…"

"Don't be modest," she waved. "Dr. Connors seemed confident in his readings. You could fast track this if you wanted to."

"Why would I?" I asked. "Hundreds of men before me have gotten it wrong? Bruce Banne was no different. Why would I rush the single most important human enhancement program in the history of the country?"

"Greed," Domina said. "Don't pretend like your company doesn't thrive because of it. How many malpractice lawsuits are you fighting again?"

"Too many," I defended, "which is why I have to do this right. I have too much riding on it."

"Because you plan to sell me out?" Domina asked without skipping a beat, and I matched her gaze with genuine outrage.

"Because my son needs it," I said. "He won't survive without the formula."

Domina had a leisurely smile tugging at the edge of her lips and stared at me for the longest time. It made even me uncomfortable. I wasn't usually at the receiving end of this sort of scrutiny.

"Who am I to question a father's love for his son," she finally said, getting up from her chair with a huff.

I let out a small sigh and swallowed another gulp, which turned bitter in my throat when Domina spun around.

"You know what, I'm so moved by your dedication to doing things right, I'm sending over some of my brightest minds. There's only so much your isolated team can accomplish They need sleep, rest. My men won't. It should help speed up the process. Get your son the help he needs sooner."

"You really don't have to," I said with a forced smile, but Domina wasn't having any of it. "Dr. Connors doesn't work well with others. Your intervention might actually end up costing us more time."

"Nonsense," she insisted. "They're there to help not ask questions, and they're familiar with most of the research."

"This is science," I said quickly. "I'm not sure there's much we can do to speed things up."

"Still, you will have the help if you need it," she said and vanished with a crackling sound. I almost threw my glass across the room but schooled myself in case she was still watching.

I swallowed the rest of the Alcohol. This was far from over. I still had two other divisions rapidly approaching stability. If just one of them created a working Serum, I could still go forward with my plan. I will not be trusting a lunatic with the future of my planet, no matter how nicely she threatens me.

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