17: Gene M

March 30, 2007

Carol looked, for what was perhaps the hundredth time, at the wooden floor. It was shining, so shiny that her reflection was clear in it, almost like a mirror.

She dropped the cloth from her hand and looked around. Everything was clean, maybe too clean. She licked her lips. What was she supposed to do now?

With frustration, she sighed and lay down on the floor, staring at the ceiling in boredom.

Fourteen days. Fourteen days had passed, seven hours, fourteen minutes, and 8 seconds, nine, ten...

She shook her head. Counting how much time had passed only made her more frustrated. Since the "incident" as everyone in the town called it, things had been chaotic. School had been canceled for the time being, not just because of the murders, but also due to the damage from the earthquakes and Greg's screams, which had been significant.

Well, the whole town had suffered some amount of damage because of that. Everyone seemed quite busy fixing their own things, and Carol felt a bit guilty about that. She should have kept Greg away from the town more.

While everyone was busy, the town also saw a number of new faces every day. Carol could easily point out each of them. She kept herself as far away from those people as possible, observing their actions, of course, but not too closely. Daniel had told her to be careful, after all.

Besides that, she had helped with repairs on her parents' farm, which didn't take much time. She finished most of the heavy work in the blink of an eye, and when she realized it, she had absolutely nothing to do.

So, she had been going to Daniel's farm, waiting for his return. She also cleaned up a bit and fixed his windows... and his roof.

And she waited.

And waited.

And fourteen days had passed, seven hours, fifteen minutes, twenty seconds, twenty-one, twenty-two...

She gritted her teeth, stood up, and took the cloth again. There must be something else in this house she could clean.

She looked around, but no, not even the most insignificant speck of dust had been left. She sighed and let the cloth drop. What was she supposed to do now?

"He said he would come back. He said he would come by to see how things were"

Not that she didn't trust him, but she was certainly starting to worry a bit. Had something happened? Did he find something important? Or something dangerous? He had told her he would investigate the origin of the "monster" which she now also knew was called Greg. His identity couldn't be hidden in a small town like Smallville; people found out things quickly.

She hoped he would be successful in his search, but with no news on how he was doing, she could only stay still and wait. The worst part was that she couldn't use her abilities casually like she had before. Daniel was right that people would be paying a lot of attention to Smallville.

Carol had to be careful. She had noticed how the "visitors" in the town asked certain questions, probing, trying to find something. They were subtle, but not subtle enough to escape her eyes and ears.

So, she had been holding back and behaving like an ordinary country girl, helping on the farm and doing her chores, which was damn frustrating. After starting to use her powers freely, after finding her place in the world, now she had to go back and pretend to be the same person she had hated being.

Just being ordinary, and she absolutely hated it.

"I need to do something" She had waited long enough. It shouldn't be a problem if she just took a walk, right?

She could leave Smallville without alerting anyone. It was simple; she had already noticed the pattern the "visitors" followed. She knew the town better than anyone, knew how to leave it without being seen. With her speed, she could leave and return, and no one would notice anything.

"He said he would stay in New York...." A quick visit, just to make sure everything was in order.

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Daniel looked at the results in his hands. The analyses had been reviewed dozens of times and redone another dozen times. When he successfully found information about the X Gene and could deduce why it had awakened, he thought he had successfully found the origin of Greg's mutations. He was partially correct.

While the X Gene had awakened due to the special radiation that had somehow reached the boy's body, the reality was that this was only one of the factors that induced such a drastic change in Greg.

When he began to investigate the second anomalous Genome in Greg's DNA, he realized that the X Gene had only been secondary. It had been activated, yes, but it had not been the dominant mutation. It had simply been an unexpected side effect of something else, something that was beyond anything humanity had ever seen before.

Because whatever it was that he found was not human at all, it was monstrous. It made no sense. The data, the analyses, even seeing it through a microscope only revealed more clearly what Daniel already knew.

Its form was grotesque and nonsensical, a biological impossibility. It looked like a cell but at the same time something different. Daniel had been trying to find its origin, but so far, nothing even remotely resembled it.

This was not human.

Daniel sighed and reclined on the couch, admiring the ceiling of Harleen's apartment.

"Any progress?" the woman emerged from her room with wet hair after showering, looking at the mess Daniel had made in her living room and couldn't help but point it out.

"Do you want me to help you tidy all this up?" at her question, Daniel became blurry for a second, and Harleen felt the air whip her face and closed her eyes for a brief moment. When she opened them again, she found her living room completely tidy and clean.

Looking at the place, Harleen couldn't help but give Daniel a thumbs-up.

"You'd make an amazing husband, you know?"

Daniel chuckled, sat back on the couch, and looked at her.

"Don't you mean butler?"

"Isn't it the same thing?" as she said that, she came to his side and saw the neatly stacked pile of papers, which were the results of Daniel's latest research.

She had seen most of them before, even though she wasn't a superhuman with powers and a supermind, she was still a woman who had graduated early from college as one of the top students in her field, besides having valuable experience in other areas.

She had learned one or two things about genetics thanks to her interest in neurochemistry and hereditary disorders, so she could understand the results Daniel had obtained although with some difficulty. Thus, she was able to answer her own first question upon reading the last of the results on the stack of papers.

"So, it's that bad, eh?" she looked at him with concern, perhaps the only person on the planet who had been watching all his hard work these days was her. It was admirable, but also worrying; she had to intervene a few times to make sure he took a break now and then.

Daniel sighed at her concerned look and nodded in response.

"I don't know what this is, it's... horrible. I thought the X Gene had taken the potential of human DNA far enough, but this thing has surpassed even that. The human genome simply isn't designed to deform in this way. It's grotesque and nonsensical"

Harleen approached him and patted his back in a comforting manner.

"Hey, relax. This... Gene M? might be inexplicable for now, but I'm sure you'll find the answers you're looking for sooner or later. You're too stubborn not to"

Daniel smiled, he could hear the confidence in her voice, She was right; even if he was at a dead end now, he was sure he would figure out the origin of this mutation if he kept studying it.

"Gene M?" he asked, raising an eyebrow at the name Harleen had mentioned.

She blushed slightly.

"Well, you know, M for Monster. After all, it's how you describe it, right? Like something monstrous" She liked to give names to things; she couldn't help it, it was something she had done since she was a child.

Daniel nodded; it was a simple but fitting name. Gene M, it would do for now.

Harleen suddenly stood up; it was time to relax, and she knew how to do it. She cleared the papers from the coffee table to take them out of sight and pointed towards the kitchen.

"Come on, it's time for a break. Let's cook something"

Daniel raised an eyebrow.

"Don't you want to go to a restaurant this time? I was starting to think that kitchen was just for show" At his words, Harleen pouted.

"For your information, I'm pretty good at cooking. Besides, you should thank me. No guy before you has had the honor of eating something prepared personally by me" she said, puffing her chest out as if it were an extraordinary gift.

Daniel wasn't surprised by her words. While Harleen hadn't explicitly told him, according to his memories, she was a lesbian, or at least the version of her he remembered was. He wasn't exactly sure because there were still some gaps in those memories, but he did remember that Harley Queen had a girlfriend. He didn't know if this universe's Harleen followed exactly the same tendencies, and asking out of the blue would be strange, but this could be a good opportunity to find out once and for all.

"Really? I thought you would have taken advantage of the 'crazy' university days and had some dates"

Harleen lost some of her confidence upon hearing this; she scratched the back of her head and furrowed her brows.

"Ugh, let's not talk about that. The dating scene hasn't been very kind to me"

Recalling those days, Harleen almost grimaced. University had been very hectic, and she had been too focused on her career to the point where she barely had time for herself. There was no time for dating.

Until Pamela came along.

But remembering her first and most disastrous romantic relationship wasn't what she wanted right now.

Seeing her getting irritated, Daniel quickly reassured her.

"Okay, I don't want to make you remember old times. It's better to live in the present, right?"

Harleen nodded eagerly and quickly regained her smile and excitement as if nothing had happened. She could change her emotional state too quickly.

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

"Exactly! We need to focus on the now!"

She took his hand and began to drag him towards the kitchen.

"Come on, it's been a while since I made a full meal, but I'm still pretty good. You might learn a thing or two" her smile turned arrogant, and Daniel laughed, accepting the challenge.

"You know, I'm pretty good at cooking too..."

He followed her and decided to stop thinking about the Gene M for the moment. It didn't make sense to keep looking at the results; he didn't have enough information, so he would have to put this research on hold until he had a better laboratory and more to work with.

After all, Greg's body, or what was left of it, still had to be thoroughly dissected.

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Carol stood at the top of a building, looking down at the streets of New York and then at the map in her hand. Getting out of Smallville had been much easier than she thought—why hadn't she done it before?

Arriving in New York had also been easy. She had been to the city very few times, so she thought about getting a map. But when she started reading it, she realized it was useless. She didn't even know where the "apartment" of that "friend" Daniel mentioned was.

She only knew it was in New York, Manhattan.

It seemed like she had to use the old method. She hadn't wanted to use it until now because she didn't want Daniel to think she was weird. She had already confessed to spying on him once; doing it again might give him the wrong impression of her.

"I'm just doing it because I want to know if he's okay. He said he didn't mind the first time"

She closed her eyes and followed the direction of the familiar heartbeats. Fortunately, luck was on her side, as it seemed Daniel was in the city. She had been worried about making a trip in vain and not finding him.

She flew easily through the buildings, hiding her presence with her speed, and soon arrived at the top in front of what looked like an expensive apartment building. It had many floors and seemed quite decent, though she wouldn't say that out loud.

Carol looked at the place, unsure of what to do. She was here, so what should she do next? She couldn't just go and knock; what if there was someone else? Like that girl Daniel mentioned. She didn't want to reveal her identity out of nowhere, and she didn't know if that "friend" knew about Daniel and Defiant.

"Uh, I should have practiced more with this."

She closed her eyes, concentrating more deeply than before. Hearing Daniel's heartbeat was easy—it was loud, like thunder rumbling through the night

The other sounds? She had to strain to distinguish them from each other.

Soon she heard music—there were some laughs and the sound of a kitchen in action.

The chatter inside started to become clear.

Carol blinked, feeling a twitch in her left eye. Maybe she was hearing wrong; clearly, her handling of her superhearing was still clumsy. She shook her head and concentrated again.

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"Try this!" Harleen looked at the spoon extended towards her and quickly took a bite. An explosion of flavors assaulted her palate instantly—it was delicious!

"How? How do you know how to cook so well?!" When he had mentioned that she also knew a bit about cooking, she hadn't taken it seriously. She had been quite confident in her own skills, thinking she would easily impress him.

Who was surprised was her. Daniel smiled triumphantly, puffing out his chest, causing his pecs to flex against his loose shirt. Harleen took a quick glance, wondering what it would feel like to sleep on those.

She averted her gaze, feeling the blush on her face. 'Bad thoughts, go away!'

"My taste buds, like everything else in my body, are very different from those of ordinary people. I had to adapt in order to enjoy good meals."

Harleen pouted.

"That's cheating! I want superpowers too" But after she finished speaking, she processed what Daniel had said correctly.

"Wait, does that mean you can't eat just anything? Like, you can taste all the bad stuff in the food?"

"Something like that. I prefer not to think too much about it" Daniel blinked surprise as she moved extremely close to him; their eyes met almost directly, though of course, she needed to stretch to the maximum as he was taller.

"And yet you've been going out to eat with me all these days?"

Harleen, like many other people, knew that restaurants weren't exactly the places with the cleanest food preparation standards. No one talked about it because no one wanted to admit it, but it was the truth. The number of restaurants closed each year for health reasons wasn't for nothing.

Despite that, many people still went out to eat because as long as the food tasted good and looked good, no one cared how or where it was prepared. But if what Daniel said was true, and Harleen didn't doubt him, then all those things that humans could ignore, he could feel.

Just imagining it gave her a shiver down her spine.

"It's not so bad. You seem to enjoy it quite a bit, and I've started getting used to the bad flavors" he said, shrugging.

Since he had a secret identity, he had to make certain sacrifices to stay hidden. While it was difficult at first, he eventually adapted to the bad flavors. After all, he couldn't cook whenever he wanted, and he couldn't get the food that Carol made every day, so he had to take what he could. Perhaps it was something psychological, but despite knowing he could survive without eating, he couldn't stop doing it. It was an imaginary hunger that assaulted his mind from time to time when stress increased.

Harleen sighed but smiled. Doing things for others, even if you don't like them, is not something many people are willing to do. It had been a long time since someone had done something like that for her.

"I can't be mad at you for this, but maybe it's better if we use the kitchen from now on" While she couldn't cook at the same level as him, at least her kitchen was pretty clean.

"Are you saying that for my sake or because you want me to cook for you from now on?"

It seemed his hidden agenda had been discovered.

"I can help! I'm a pretty good assistant"

Daniel laughed, patting her head and ruffling her hair.

"Alright, don't worry, I can cook for both of us. You've been working hard too" Daniel reassured her. Harleen closed her eyes, feeling Daniel's palm on her head. It was warm and comforting

He was right, the whole matter with Killgrave's victims was still being resolved, but significant progress had already been made. She had found the perfect combination and dosage of medications that would help victims rid themselves of any lingering effects on their bodies and minds. She had also isolated the type of pheromones Killgrave produced and was studying their chemical composition and how they affected human neurochemical behavior.

It was still too early to say, but she was confident she could find a way to neutralize these effects. She could even use her research to improve existing medications or create new ones. Though her specialty was psychiatry, she had learned a lot about clinical pharmacology while at Star Lab. After all, psychopharmacology was a field that also intrigued her, and she had considered delving into it in the future. After all, she was still young; obtaining one or two more degrees was never out of the question.

"We both work hard, so we can both cook, right? It's fine that you want to be a gentleman, but if you try too hard, I'll really make you sign those marriage papers" she joked, winking at him.

Daniel looked her directly in the eyes, staying silent for a whole second before responding seriously.

"Doesn't sound like a bad idea"

Harleen recoiled with a red face.

"W-what do you mean by that?" Seeing her so nervous, Daniel smirked mischievously.

"Just kidding, let's keep cooking, or we'll end up having dinner at midnight" he smiled and pinched her cheek. Her nervous face was quite adorable.

"Hey! If you want to touch me first invite me to dinner" she exclaimed, rubbing her cheek once he let go.

"I recall I've taken you to the best restaurants in the country. Does that mean I can do whatever I want?" His voice became huskier towards the end as he leaned in until their noses almost touched. His hand rose, making some strange movements with his fingers that she could clearly see. She stammered a bit and stepped back, Daniel laughed heartily at her and stepped away, still having things on the stove he didn't want to burn.

Harleen took a deep breath to calm herself and furrowed her brows as she watched him start cooking again. She was supposed to be the one making jokes, not the other way around. She would get her revenge on this, somehow.

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The metal railing she had been holding shattered. Carol gritted her teeth and narrowed her eyes, which glowed in a fiery red, the scorching heat emanating from them almost seemed to want to burn a hole through the walls to see what was happening inside.

And in fact that started to happen?...? Carol blinked in confusion as things began to disappear out of thin air, leaving her with a clear view of the apartment where Daniel was.

What was this? Taken aback, she momentarily forgot her anger, blinking several times as she felt something strange with her vision. It was as if she had activated her heat vision but also different. It was a strange feeling she only paid attention to for a moment before realizing that she could now see Daniel through the walls.

Deciding to focus on what she was witnessing, she set aside her questions about the sudden development of a new ability for later. She had more important things to pay attention to right now.

She watched Daniel laughing and joking with a blonde girl who seemed to be in her twenties. She was beautiful and fit, with curves in all the right places and clear, glowing skin that only made the blush on her face more evident as she laughed with those disgustingly bright, white teeth. Anyone looking at her would think she was some kind of model or something.

Both of them seemed cheerful as they cooked together, joking and laughing, teasing each other.

"So, investigating huh......" Carol's eye twitched. Her expression began to shift, alternating between different types of grimaces. Her eyes glowed red again, and her expression began to calm.

The anger faded away, and her face turned into a cold expression, her teeth still gritting occasionally. She looked at Harleen in the distance with strange thoughts passing through her mind.

Suddenly, she realized she hated the color blonde.

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Later that night, Malibu, California.

"Okay, test number 7, one, two, three!" With the countdown finished, Tony took off, slowly rising from the ground. His balance remained steady, with only minor deviations that Jarvis quickly began to correct.

"Alright, it's stable, power output is perfect" Tony took a deep breath, feeling the excitement coursing through his body. Unable to help himself, he smiled, glancing at the data on his holographic interface inside the helmet and decided it was time for a ride.

"Jarvis, how's the weather?" At his query, his assistant quickly responded, displaying various meteorological data on the HUD interface of his armor.

"Clear skies, sir" Tony performed some movement tests in the air and asked for more information.

"And air traffic? Give me nearby flight routes and pay attention to ground control" After saying that, Tony turned towards the exit of his garage, perfect for takeoff.

"I understand, sir, but if I may ask, what are you going to do?"

"We're going for a ride, Jarvis. Gotta test this bad boy out!" With that said, Tony began to increase the energy in the suit's thrusters.

"WOAAA!" In a burst, the golden metallic suit shot out at high speed, covering the garage exit in moments and swiftly reaching the dark night sky.

"This is incredible!" Tony laughed out loud and accelerated even more, feeling the air resistance break and a sonic boom left behind as Mark 2 accelerated beyond the speed of sound, heading towards the clouds.

"Quick, Jarvis, what's the altitude record for that R-7?!"

"The altitude record is twenty-six thousand meters, sir" Tony saw the data on the HUD and grinned.

It was time to break a record.

The sound barrier was broken for the second time, then a third, ascending beyond the clouds, Tony saw the starry sky getting closer and closer.

Then he went beyond the atmosphere; Tony looked in awe at the landscape and couldn't help but glance back at the Earth.

It was an incredible sight.

Tony observed the celestial planet for several minutes, lost in his thoughts until Jarvis spoke.

"Main oxygen tank at 80% capacity, sir, I recommend you return to the planet. Mark 2 doesn't have sufficient oxygen supply for prolonged space travel."

Tony grunted, slightly furrowing his brow. He would have to improve that.

"How's our energy, Jarvis?"

"The main reactor is at 98%, sir, with the secondary reactor still at 100%"

Incredible. He had made a trip to space in record time and had barely used a fraction of his energy supply. Maybe adding that second reactor had been exaggerated? He would know once he measured his flight speed at maximum power against Defiant.

"Activating integrated heating, moderating internal temperature"

It seemed his choice of gold and titanium alloy had been correct; thanks to it, the suit could easily withstand extremely low temperatures. Of course, he also thought of the pilot, meaning himself, and installed an internal heating system to maintain his natural temperature.

This was done with the hypothetical case in mind, unlikely but not impossible, in which he had to fight Defiant. Of course, he also took into account other situations where he might have to face extreme cold, but Tony couldn't deny that initially he had done it to counter one of the hero's abilities.

Although he had criticized Rhodes, Tony also had certain concerns regarding Defiant. Of course, he didn't let his concerns blind him; he wasn't like the military. Still, preparing for any possible situation was never a bad idea.

He didn't want to fight Defiant, but if he had to, then he would be ready for it.

He looked at the Earth for a few more minutes. Since he had come out of that cave in Afghanistan, Tony knew what he had to do, the footprint he wanted to leave on this world, his legacy.

Now, seeing the world he wanted to protect before his eyes in this way, a broader perspective came to him. He realized the responsibility he had chosen to bear, and it felt real, much more real than before, imbuing it with a significantly greater weight that settled on his shoulders.

With determination, he gave it one last look before starting his return.

"Alright, let's head back"

He had a lot to work on.

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Note:

A bit of slice of life mixed with plot, information, and drama, because what would a good superhero comic be without a good dose of drama? What, this isn't a comic?! Well, imagine it is.

Originally, this was going to be two separate chapters, but I decided it was better to have it all in one. What do you think? Do you like long chapters (4000 to 6000 words) or do you prefer shorter chapters (2000 to 3000 words)?

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