..................…
Jean Grey
Jean can't help but shake her head with a fond smile while watching her friends twirl and pose with their new "super suits". Most of the girls from the X-Mansion came this time, even the ones in the secondary and tertiary X-Men teams. Luckily, Edna's place is big because it looks like a school excursion.
Edna finished everything much faster than she expected, when the woman had to work in two dozen costumes, and her own projects. Jean guesses she has technology on her side to help, and she didn't change a lot of the design, either.
It just made it better.
Jean can see the "X" of the X-Men here and there in each costume, sometimes hiding and merging very well with the design, sometimes a little more obvious. Edna even kept the yellow she detested so much in some costumes, but now they have a shiny luster that is surprisingly not tacky.
Jean's own costume is now shiny green, almost armor-like. The torso is of a light color, while the legs and arms are darker. The headpiece that frames her face is still there with a color similar to her torso. Edna showed that now it can create a small force-field around her face to protect her from environmental threats… poison, water, and even a bullet or two.
Rogue's costume also left behind the yellow, choosing black to go with the green.
Jean can point out the inspiration of this tight bodysuit and belt, but she will not say it loudly. She has a black jacket instead of a mantle, though.
Talking about jackets…
Jean once again focuses on Jubilee, showing off her yellow trench coat, much to Edna's chagrin. The black and pink bodysuit below surprisingly goes well with the yellow.
"Here… Put this too." Edna moans exaggeratedly while giving Jubilee a box.
"A gift?" Jubilee asks excitedly
"From Eidolon." Edna confirms, making Jubilee squeal.
"Let me see! Let me see!" She quickly opens it, "Oooh~ It's my glasses!" She pulls a copy of her pink square glasses that she loves so much.
"It is more than that, of course." Edna starts explaining "Put it on, and press your finger on the right side."
The short-haired teen obeys quickly and gasps loudly "Oh, this is like those Sci-fi movies!" She moves her hands in front of her like she is touching something. "Oh, there are your names!" She points to each and every one of us
"Is that a scanner?" Kitty asks curiously
"More than that, darling. It is an environmental analysis tool, as the standard. It shows the distances of anything your irises focus naturally, captures movements, heat, radiation, energy reading…" Edna starts listening. "It is very similar to the one Shadow uses. You can change the type of vision by pressing the left side."
Jubilee does just that and starts making sounds as her vision changes.
"Oh. Mn. Heh. Ah man… It doesn't have X-ray vision." She jokingly pouts
"Things are not that convenient." Jean rolled her eyes at her
"You are no better than a man." Paige shows a disgusted expression, but I bet she would do the same.
"Ah, c'mon, no evil intentions here. Just, you know… To check the market… the competition…" Jubilee tries to defend herself "Just to see if Colossus, Thor, and Eidolon are packing as much as they seem they are."
"Well, to be fair, the three shouldn't be having less than 8-inch destroyers." Paige agrees, nodding sagely even through the talk is crass.
"Big dick energy…" Kitty also enters the convo.
"Gross…" Illyana's upper lip trembles in contempt. Yeah, kinda strange to hear someone talking about her brother like that.
"I don't know the others, but Eidolon is indeed packing a lot of heat." Edna suddenly says from the side, like it's no big deal
"..." Everyone turns to her with wide eyes.
"What? I'm his designer. I obviously know all his measurements. And from everyone else, too, including yours." Edna points a small rolling index finger at all of us. That's true, she knows all of our cup sizes.
Paige gives her a sly smile. "So you know what the guy has hidden, huh?" She approaches Edna, even squatting to get to the size of the designer "Please, tell me some gossip~."
"Paige!!" Rogue almost shouts angrily
"What? Aren't you curious about the specifics? Life to which side bends…"
"Paige, shut up." Even Jean can't take anymore and passes a hand through her face…
The worst part is that, indeed, a lot of the girls around are getting curious about it and are having dirty thoughts, and she is receiving little of the feedback.
"Sorry, darling, professional has standards. If you wanna know about the monster hiding in his pants, you should do it the right way and adventure there yourself." Edna mocks "But I can throw you some crumbles and tell you all a funny story…" She chuckles.
Jean hates that she is paying attention like everyone else.
"While we are designing the supersuit he uses right now, he asked me to do something to make his… front and back, less protuberant. If you get what I mean." Edna whispers
"Gasp What a crime!" Kitty says exaggeratedly, even going as far as putting her hand in front of her mouth
"Wait! THAT is after you made it less apparent?" Paige asks shocked
"Paige…" Jean started
"Now what? Like you never stared…" Paige turns to her, annoyed
"..." Jean can't really argue with that. "It is not my fault… it looked at me first…" She replies weakly. The ass and bulge really…
Her joke deflected the scrutiny, making them all laugh.
"Right? Do you think he uses his powers to make it bigger?" Jubilee asks
"Hm, maybe… I mean, couldn't he do the same to make it smaller? Why go through all the trouble to put the burden in the suit design if you want to hide it?" Sometimes Jean forgets that Illyana is much more mature than her age shows. Surprisingly, she is the only one not being weird now.
"I did it once."
"!!!!!!!!!!!"
The sudden male voice sent a chill through everyone's neck, and the girls' bodies got immediately stiff like the new presence frozen their spines.
They turned their heads like robots with rusted necks, slow to delay reality, but the man is already there.
Tall and muscular, with white hair pulled back, his face half-covered, but his eyes are emotionless(at least he doesn't seem angry), and crossing his arms over his chest.
"Genitals are a common weakness for every male, so in the beginning, I decided to deal with this weak point and went like a Ken doll. With time, that region was rarely targeted, and I'm quick enough to dodge - it is very durable too - so my male ego won me over and I went back to normal." He explains very casually what they were discussing previously.
"Eh…" It shows that he is not angry, but it kinda makes it even more awkward because it looks like an adult giving a serious lesson to some kids.
"Ahm… Now that we are in this subject…" Hearing what Paige is starting to say, Jean winces and almost uses her telekinesis to shut her up, but she just braces herself for the cringe. "Did you ever make it bigger?"
"..." Jean was right.
"No… Again, male ego. I use the natural tools given to me by the universe." He shrugs "No one even needed to ask to make it bigger either."
"Ohhh". Paige nods in understanding.
"Well, your powers are kinda your natural tools, so I guess there is nothing wrong with using them." Kitty points out.
"It makes sense. Nothing wrong with some temporary… modifications." Eidolon agrees with her.
"Can we stop being weird?" Jean finally can't help and needs to intervene
"What? Eidolon is cool with that!" Paige retorts and goes to hug his waist with her arm. "That is what I like about you, dude. This confidence… I knew for a fact that it was big." She looks up to him with a big smile
"Thanks…" He replies slowly, but makes no moves to remove her. Jean remembers that Eidolon is very chill.
"Sorry about that, Eidolon." But even so, Jean feels that she has to apologize for her friend's behaviour
"It is okay. This does not even enter the top 5 weirdest conversations that I had this week." He chuckles before turning to admonish Edna playfully "And can you please uphold client confidentiality?"
"Please! What is the problem with some good advertisement?" Edna waves her wrist at him. "And they are all beautiful and nice girls, wouldn't it be nice to get to know them better?" She acts like an auntie setting up her nephew with some girls in the neighborhood.
Jean believes that at least half of them would accept Edna's wingwoman services. It hasn't escaped her eye that Laura slowly gravitated close to him when he arrived… She also remembers that dream that she got from the clone of Wolverine…
"Don't you like them?" In a very 'Auntie' fashion, Edna puts Eidolon in the spot with an awkward question to ask in front of us
"Huhu, they are indeed all beautiful… But I'm a horrible boyfriend." But he escapes from the trap with a shameless affirmation and a self-deprecating joke, easing the mood masterfully.
"Hmpf! Shut up, maybe you are right, and my girls here are too good for you!" Edna acts like a snobbed matchmaker and opens her arms to hug Rogue and Jean's legs, but really means everyone.
Eidolon doesn't look offended, just smiling with his eyes, gracefully
"They put models to shame! I was even thinking about inviting them to be my models in my next exhibition." Edna says
"Really???" Some of the girls' eyes light up, but others - like Jean, Rogue, and Illyana - don't look that into it
"Like, with pretty dresses, poses, and catwalks?? The whole package??" Kitty talks fast and with a big smile
"The whole package." Edna confirms
Some squeal in excitement. Illyana scoffs. "Count me out of it…"
"Why? You would be great! You have model proportions!" Kitty exclaims, but the praise doesn't land.
"Are you calling me a stick?" Illyan turns angrily
"Er… no…" Kitty recoils defensively
If Jean could be truthful, Illyana really has the body of an average model because she grew in height too fast, and the rest of her body hasn't caught up yet.
Puberty… That awkward time where things grow differently, she also went through it too.
Jean decides to help a little. "Well, Illyana… You are very tall for your age."
"Expected… knowing who your brothers are." Jubilee comments
"You just haven't filled your… womanly charms yet." Kitty tries to help, but again, it is not the right words because Illyana glares at her. "But eventually it will happen! Absolutely!" She corrects herself quickly
"Yeah, girl, relax~ Your brothers are all thicc. You absolutely will be drop-dead gorgeous when you grow up." Despite Paige's lack of tact while talking about her brothers, it seems her choice of worlds are more effective than Kitty's, because Illyana seems to give up on getting angry.
"Tch. Stop talking about them… Would you like it if anyone talked about your brothers?" Illyana turns to Paige, who has a lot of brothers and sisters
"Whatever, say whatever you want about them. I know I am the hot one, right, Melody?" She turns to her sister, who only rolls her eyes
"Whatever you say…" The teen with powers of flight is much quieter than Paige, her sister.
"See? You just need to hope that you have more in common with your brothers than I have with mine." Paige says before turning to Eidolon. "Do you have brothers, Eidolon? Are they hot like you? Can you introduce us? If you are not interested in me, of course…"
"No, only child." Eidolon is so chill that he doesn't care about revealing a little of his background
"Oh, too bad, but I guess it means you are an even rarer specimen~" She shamelessly flirts with him.
"Everyone is…" Eidolon answers with an even voice, not giving in to any of her advances.
Jean guesses Paige discovered that he will not get angry, so she will just take advantage of that and throw herself at him.
"I have to go." But it seems her time ended because Eidolon turned to Edna to say her goodbyes. "I just dropped by because I brought some souvenirs from a trip I made." Eidolon's hands come from beneath his cloak
"Trip?" Kitty asks curiously
"Out of planet… I needed to go there to stop Space Squid Hitler from being unsealed." He continues to talk in that casual tone of voice.
If it were any other person, Jean would believe that he was joking, but this is Eidolon.
"Seriously?" Kitty asks. Not doubting him, just asking for details.
"Yeah, discovered the plot while I was investigating another something. The guy, who is kind of a race supremacist, tried to manipulate our race's path of evolution to his liking in the past, so I couldn't let him get away with that." Eidolon explains "It was a small one-day trip, still in the Galaxy. Here, some rocks and metals." He makes some rocks float to Edna's table.
"Rocks? I knew that you were in the spectrum…" The diminutive woman comments while taking some to inspect
"I am not collecting them just for the fun of it… Well, that too. But they are absolutely useful." Eidolon sighs before explaining "The aliens that I helped have this whole culture around minerals, not that weird when you discover that a lot of minerals there have unique and special properties. And they are psychics, and perfected a method of processing those minerals to become susceptible to psionic energy. Here, try it, Jean." He makes a crystalline rock float to Jean slowly
"How do I do it?" She grabs with her telekinesis
"Just put your mind into it." He really doesn't explain, but she understood nonetheless.
After a furrow of her eyebrows, the crystal in her hands starts shining brightly like a strong LED lamp.
"Whoa."
"Argh, flashbanged!"
"Huhu, you really have strong psychic abilities." She hears Eidolon praise between the exclamations of surprise and even pain of her friends. "Convenient, huh? If you think they can activate lamps like those just with a flick of their mind, and even start rock engines as easily as flicking a switch, and power their homes. There are even some anti-gravity rocks."
"Like the Nth metal you use?" Edna turns to Eidolon, very interested.
"Yep."
"Nice. And they are so exotic and pretty." The small woman grabs some of the table. "This one looks like the surface of Jupiter."
"This one heats up if you put psionic energy." Eidolon explains
"Those light blue ones look like ice. I would love to make a dress with a million small pieces of it. A dress work of an Ice Queen!"
"I can arrange more pieces for you." Eidolon suggests "Experiment as much as you want, maybe you find uses that I couldn't think of. Send me any discoveries later… I have to go now." He then looks at Rogue "But before that, can I have a word with you in particular, Rogue?"
"Me?" The teen looks like a deer caught in headlights. She remained silent since Eidolon appeared, without a doubt feeling awkward after their last interaction.
"Yes, please." Eidolon nods
"Okay…" She complies weakly, and Eidolon opens a dark portal to them.
"I will borrow one of your models, Edna." He says jokingly, to ignore Kitty's teasing: 'Ooohh~'
"Just return my friend intact." Edna waves dismissively "I will continue helping the others with their super-suits."
"Did you tell them that you refused some of my ideas?" He says with some humor
"Horrible ideas! The day I listen to such a monochromatic hero, you can put me in an asylum!" Edna mocks
"Don't be like that. Kitty, she robbed you of having a hidden blade in your wrist."
"Edna!" Kitty exclaims horrorized and betrayed, but with a joking tone.
"Don't listen to him, deep down he is an emo boy. Do you know his armor has spikes? Yikes!"
While they are distracted, Eidolon and Rogue disappear in the portal.
........................
Rogue
Rogue nervously goes through the portal and looks around, noticing that it is just an empty room in Edna's house. She has been here before. In the back of her mind, she realizes he is being considerate not take her far away in case this talk go into a wrong direction.
She needs to stop herself from being so negative, though.
Turning around, she sees Eidolon emerging from the dark portal and looking at her with a friendly gaze.
"How have you been, Rogue?" He starts amicably
"Good… Good!" She responds a little too weakly at first, but she corrects herself to sound more convincing. She doesn't want him to think she is in the dumps because he rejected her.
"I'm glad." He said with such honesty that it made her heart skip a beat. "I know that is annoying to talk about this, but I think it's better to be direct instead of letting it hang on our minds… I want to ask if you are okay with me being around… I can understand that my presence can be a thorn in your side… If you want, I can avoid you, and don't worry, I will not get offended. I know that people deal with… this differently. So, if you want space-"
"No, no, no!" She answered a little too quickly. "Ahem Ya… Ya are not a bother… I mean, it is not a bother, really."
"I see, that is a relief…" Eidolon smiles with his eyes. "I like our friendship, and I wouldn't like losing it, but I would respect your time, and your space…"
"Ah… Ah also like ya friendship." She says slowly while staring at him deeply, blushing.
He also stares back. The eye contact and silence stretches for much longer than expected… Rogue starts fidgeting, but luckily for her, Eidolon is a master at cutting through awkward situations. Not afraid of being the first to say something.
"I'm glad we are on the same page, Rogue." He pats her head. "Because of the circumstances, I really shouldn't say much, but you are an amazing girl." She guesses he is afraid of leading her up if he starts saying compliments. "Just live your best life… Responsibly!" He adds the last part like the hero he is. Giving advice in the same tone he would use to a kid while saying 'eat your vegetables and listen to your parents'.
Rogue can't help but laugh a little. And when his hands leave the top of her head, in a moment of impulse, Rogue steps forward and hugs him. She regretted it halfway, but now she needs to commit.
Her nervousness only lasted till his arms wrapped around her and gave some light taps on her back. In hindsight, she should have known that he would reject a hug.
"Thank you…" Her voice, muffled by his chest, reaches his ears.
"Hm?" Rogue can feel the rumble of his voice because they are touching each other
"For being cool about it… Mature and all…" She stumbles on her words. Trying to be cool while being nice… it is not working. "Ah… I'm glad I have fallen for ya." She confesses, hiding her now tomato face on his chest
"Huhu, I'm honoured." His amused chuckle is not meant to make fun of her. She knows that.
As much as it feels good to be on his arms - making her wish that sometimes she can be as shameless as Paige and Kitty - eventually, she needs to push herself out.
"I need to go." He says, now at arm's length. "Just walk through the portal, and you will go back."
"Okay…" She nods bashfully, her hands lingering a little too much in his arms before she catches herself and pulls her limbs abruptly.
Eidolon only fondly smiles with his eyes, but her embarrassment is almost killing her.
"Erm… Bye." She starts walking to the portal. "Hrm, till next time… Visit whatever… And… ya know… no need to… Yeah…"
"Okay, Rogue. I'm gonna visit soon." he says, saving her from further embarrassing herself. "Tell Illyana that this weekend we are gonna do a small training trip, so she should be prepared."
"Fine. I will do it." She nods "Bye… Again…"
He waves, and she finally passes through the portal and ends her suffering.
'Ugh… I'm so… aaaaarrggghh!' While she is crying in her mind, all the eyes moved to her.
"So… what did you two do? Huh? Huh??" Kitty approaches Rogue with a conspiratory face, elbowing her in the ribs
"...that is between the two of us." Rogue says with a calm expression.
She will not deny that she feels a little good noticing some jealous looks from most of the girls.
"Now you are getting a big head?! From where this cheeky Rogue came from and what you did with timid Rogue?" But Kitty is different. Her friend snuck behind her and applied a chokehold. "Let me squeeze this arrogance out of you!"
Rogue released an unladylike wet sound from her throat as the two jokingly wrestled.
"Stop this, you psychopath!"
"You can't keep secrets from me!!"
.............................
Helena
Helena casually walks through Hector's home like it is her own. The place is empty, with the exception of some pets.
"Hello guys." She greets the rabbit and turtle while walking inside the kitschen "Where is everyone? Ah, yes, Isabella is taking care of Hector's daughters." She almost laughed loudly after saying that.
'Hector's daughters… Heh~' It is still strange sometimes.
"Well, my fridge was empty thanks to a severe case of me being too lazy to restock, so I came here to do some robbery." She turns to the pets and puts a finger in front of her lips. "Shh, don't rat me out. Especially you, Turtle. I know you have a loose mouth."
"..." None of the pets answers.
But despite looking like just some casual joke with the animals, she knows Hector can talk with them.
"At least Cathulhu is not here…" She opens the fridge. One of the two double-door fridges that Hector has.
The guy is frugal on a lot of things, but food is not one of them. Helena already developed the habit of coming here to take some food he makes just to keep his skills sharp.
"Hmm~, Home-made ice cream? Maybe… Ugh, I will never be able to eat panacotta in my life again…" She goes through everything, rows upon rows of food neatly stocked.
Her sweet tooth is craving some dessert, so she ignores anything else and starts opening pots to see what is inside.
She doesn't find THE thing she is craving, even though she doesn't know what she is(she is getting spoiled), but she still stuffs her mouth with some small sweets that she doesn't know the name of. Things that one would found a fancy wedding are just casually here, waiting for her.
"Look at this cake… A delicious war crime against any diet. I love not getting fat." She talks while eyeing a half-oreo, half-hazelnut chocolate cake. "But this tiramisu is calling me…"
She couldn't help herself, taking the whole platter and grabbing a big spoon before getting a handful in one scoop.
"Hmmmm~ Fuck! I could suck Hector's dick for this!"
"Hmmm, interesting proposal…"
"!!!!!"
Helena jumps, the platter of tiramisu going in the air whale she perfectly throws the spoon in her hand between Hector's eyes instinctively.
He easily catches the spoon, and Helena catches the platter before the dessert is damaged.
"Forget what you heard." She speaks with a small glare
"Heard what?" He smirks but plays along
"Hmpf!" She decides not to touch the subject and accepts the spoon offered back by him.
"You could have put a serving on a smaller plate." He comments while leaning on the counter to face her.
Helena puts the platter on the counter and goes back to eating. "I plan to eat the whole thing." She says with her mouth full.
"Huhu, you should control your gluttony. Hell is very real, I just been there."
"Whatever, you can just save me from there, right?"
"Yes." He nods without hesitation
It is very comforting when he has her back.
"So, what are you doing in hell that took so long?" She asks and scoops with a spoon before shoving it on his face.
"Hm." He eats what is offered before talking. "Very complicated situation that went in a strange route… I ended up having to go to an alien planet of squid-lamprey-psionic natives and stop their Hitler of resurrecting."
She stares at him "So just an average Thursday of hero work." She says ironically
"That is right." He chuckles "I just stopped by to take a bath to clean my mind and reset before going back to more hero work." She remembers he likes taking baths.
"Are you sure? The world will not end if you take the day off, you know?" She suggests, while eyeing him carefully, eating from the same spoon.
"Maybe… But Eidolon was away for some time already. Cassandra is covering for me, but I need to appear too."
"To put fear in their hearts, huh?" She laughs "Cassandra has been doing a good job."
"Yeah, I'm very proud of her." Hector smiles before his face gets a little helplessly "But I guess it is because she doesn't have many options of what to do… She doesn't want to have a social life or anything like that. I'm glad she is hanging out with the X-Girls, but beyond that is just with us and hero business."
"You are worried? You also don't have a social life." She pokes him
"..."
"Me neither. She is just doing what she wants."
"Yeah, yeah… But she lacks options. I will remind her that the world is her oyster."
"That is cool, but I think she is happy with her life now… Even if she doesn't show it with her expressionless face." Helena jokes
"Hey, she is much more expressive and talkative nowadays."
"True, but any improvement would be a big improvement compared with before."
"Heh~, that is true too." Hector stops leaning on the kitchen counter and starts walking. "I'm gonna take a bath before going out as Eidolon…"
After walking far enough, he turns with a teasing smile "Do you wanna join and repay me for the food~" The smile morphs into one full of innuendo.
Thwack
The spoon flew to his forehead again, and this time he didn't dodge. The thing just bounced off harmlessly back to her hand.
Unaffected, he says. "Put your money where your mouth is, woman." Then he teleports away.
"Ass."
.....................…..
Eidolon P.O.V
It's good to be back to some degree of routine. The most predictable occurrences that I can put under control quickly as a hero.
I'm still surprised that so many weak villains would still pop off and try their luck even when aware of my existence. I thought Eidolon would be a bigger deterrent to those guys, but I guess I underestimated how stupid they are.
Or evil… Maybe they are really evil.
On one side, the heroes that I met really proved themselves to be on the good side of the moral line(For now), with none of them being secretly evil in this universe in particular, or following their worst versions' footsteps… The same happens on the other side of the moral spectrum.
The villains that are evil… are evil. They really want and will do evil, unless I really do something…
Obviously, there are villains that are on top of the moral fence, like Emma. Or the ones that are smart enough not mess with me, like Dr. Octopus.
Well, at least, my presence is a great deterrent to most bad acts of villainy. Not all of them are retards that would mindlessly try to destroy a building or something like that. They know that I exist.
They just try to stay out of my sight, and do their thing quickly… mostly some robberies or acts of vengeance against specific individuals who wronged them before they acquired meta-powers.
Obviously, some crazy people walk dark paths even without powers, like this one guy right here…
"I was aware of your existence for some time, but as a courtesy, I tried to ignore your actions…" I say to the man in all white, paralyzed by my gravity powers. "But in broad daylight?" I look at him like a disappointed parent.
Scourge… This one in particular, because this is more complicated than it looks. Scourge is a codename passed through generations like "Robin" in DC. The Scourge Program was created by a World War II veteran who was unhappy with the prison system that allowed criminals to walk free eventually.
In a few words, it is a vigilant training program to kill criminals who escaped the chair.
"I am doing what needs to be done, Eidolon." Despite the skull mask, I can still feel a level of respect that came from him. His full buttoned coat and gloves are all white and cover all of his body. His hat has fallen to the ground together with his guns.
He doesn't have powers, so I'm not taking him seriously. Just a worse Punisher.
"You are going a little overboard." I reply with my voice cold. As much as I secretly approve of most of the actions of vigilantism, like the Punisher fucking up with predators, there are right ways to do that.
Most of those guys don't have my self-awareness and control, or even my means.
"Just doing my duty… Someone has to do it." Scourge replies with the certainty of a crusader on a Holy War. I know the type.
"Haah~ People like you need to understand that self-imposed duties are very flexible. You don't need to put a bullet in the head of every criminal you see before heroes or the police arrive." I argue "Have you noticed how much you deviated from the initial purpose? That is what happens when you are an extremist… It is never enough. You get more and more radical."
"..."
What? Don't have a better argument? I bet you want to repeat your oath or whatever, but you noticed that it would be dumb.
While I'm deciding what to do with him and the whole Project behind him, Cortana transmits some images directly to my brain. I then stretch my senses to check what is happening on my own.
'Someone is really fighting with Thor as an equal?' I'm in a little disbelief because I don't know the character, but this is not as surprising, as it would have been months ago.
The fight is happening in one of the many semi-arid areas of Nevada, so I don't need to rush to stop collateral damage from happening.
"You are lucky something came up…" I turn to Scourge, putting my face close to his. "I will find you later." I say ominous before taking flight with a little more aggressiveness than I would normally do, so that the wind hits him with some force.
..................…..
BamCrackBZZZzzzzzzT
I hover above the battlefield without interfering because I noticed something strange about this fierce battle.
It lacks bloodlust.
I mean, they are not really holding back, and the two combatants received blows strong enough to create craters on the ground and move the clouds away, attacks that can bruise even their strong bodies, and the shockwaves alone are changing the landscape.
I have no doubt that they can die, and that neither would hesitate about killing the other, but there is a certain something else… A familiarity… They know each other. They know each other's limits, know that the opponent can take their attacks… It is like a deadly spar, still mortal and unsafe… But they are not really expecting a conclusion to this fight to happen so early.
An old rival.
I look around, there is still some distance away from civilization, but if they continue like that, things can escalate till people's lives are affected.
I can respect a warrior's duel, but not if it will inconvenience innocent people. Especially humans, when this battle shouldn't be happening in Midgard.
Thor's opponent is obviously from one of the Nine Realms…
"A Rock Troll…" I recognize the main features froma book "Much stronger than normal." The guy must be the Captain America of his race. No, the Luke Cage of his race.
An average Rock Troll is weaker thana Frost Giant, and there is one right here fighting Thor with his fists. Well, he has some brass knuckles, but they are not on the same level as Mjolnir.
BoomBam
More punches that create earthquakes… Yeah… I will have to intervene.
Uncrossing my arms, I start moving forward. But the combatants are aware of my presence - I didn't hide myself - so Thor quickly turns to me.
"Don't intervene, friend!" He shouts after a little respite "This is an old squabble."
"It doesn't look like a squabble…" I comment while looking at the damage accumulating.
"Pay attention, Son of Odin!" The Rock Troll resumes the fight by warning of his next attack.
Thor quickly meets his fists with the Mjolnir, and a dome-like shockwave spreads for a hundred meters, sparks and electricity remaining in the air even after things quieted down.
"Yes, this is more like a feud." I comment
"Don't worry, Eidolon!" Thor shouts while exchanging blows "Ulik hasn't bested me in the past, and history will repeat today… and tomorrow!" He finishes his sentence witha fierce strike
"Word on the Realms that you matured, Son of Odin. But I see that you remain as arrogant as ever!!" The Rock Troll, now that I know that it is called Ulik, replies while returning the attacks fiercely.
"..." I roll my eyes and go sit on a rock nearby.
I will respect the 1v1 for a little longer, but I will also study this Ulik guy. From what I saw, his skin is unnaturally tougher… but what about his organs? I have many methods to make my attacks go through his defenses and devastate his insides.
I will just wait for the right moment and end this in one second.
..................…..
While I was observing the earth-shaking brawl from a boulder, I heard the sound of an object coming to me at high speed…
"Oh, it is just Stark." I watch him slowly descend at my side, wearing one of his armors. "You really need to make those repulsors less noisy." If he uses vibranium… Well, he doesn't even need vibranium, just calibrate to a frequency not heard by humans.
"I'm working on that, but there are more pressing issues to improve first." He says, his voice being transmitted from the speakers because his helmet is on.
"Yeah… You are really not the stealthy type." I say, not really a compliment.
"I know, right? My presence can't be hidden!" But he takes like one, opening his helmet to greet me
"If you consider this a good thing…" I shrug
"It is hard to find you, you know?"
"Not your fault, I was kinda inaccessible these days."
"Okay then. And what is happening here? Friend of Thor?" Tony looks at the fight with raised eyebrows
"No, it seems there is some rivalry between them. Something about that guy wanting the Mjolnir from what I heard during the battle."
"Oh…" He doesn't look that interested in it. "Anyway, I'm here to officially invite you to my Halloween party 30 of October!" He dramatically removes a zombified mini Iron Man helmet from somewhere and gives it to me. "This is the invitation."
"..." I take one look at it in the center of my palm and look at him. "This proximity trigger is for what?"
"Eh? Well, that is just to warn me that you arrived…"
"..." He thinks that he is a good liar. It is probably some prank… "Whatever… I hope that you are aware that when heroes gather, there is a high chance of things going wrong."
"Relax, the strongest people will be there. I will also increase the security a thousandfold. The villains will need to be retard to try anything."
"You would be surprised." Villains always think they can take the heroes before they really need to take the heroes.
BOOOOMKA-THOOOM
"Okay, things are starting to get out of hand…" I sigh while standing up like a tired old man. Time to stop the children from playing before anything hits someone's eye.
I heighten my senses, time slows down a little, and I wait…
The two fighters are not in top shape, and their focus is completely on the other. In a fight of this level, a small opening can be fatal.
I keep waiting for this opening… After a fierce exchange, where Ulik did not lose much of his balance as Thor, because he is on the ground while the God of Thunder is flying, the Rock Troll goes for a follow-up. When attacking, it is when most people reveal their openings. HunterxHunter was right.
An uppercut… uppercuts are very large swings…
Whoosh
I appear in front of him with my arms ready. Ulik noticed me and quickly changed stance to attack me; his huge arm swung in my direction instead of Thor.
Swish
And he hits an after-image. I predicted that he would be good enough to react to my appearance, which is why I'm already behind him, with no presence till the moment my palm touches his skin.
Boooom
The palm strike between his shoulder plates, my strike power travelling beyond his skin to create internal destruction. Ryuo is pretty useful against enemies like those.
"Gaah!" My attack removes all the air from his lungs and damages them.
It is impressive that this is not enough to take him down.
That is why my hand is already going intangible, entering his torso, closing his thoracic duct with the creation of some adamantium "corks" to block the path to his lungs. Now he will not receive any more air.
And this is still not enough! This guy is a troll, and trolls are famous for their durability and vitality. He is already turning around to attack me.
That is why it's my turn for an uppercut. A uppercut inside his body, my fist going straight to his brain, not to kill, just to give him a little electroshock-therapy.
With oxygen, his brain would eventually cease functioning. I will just speed up the process and make him fall asleep, instead of killing him.
"Ggggggg!" A drowned sound leaves his mouth as his body twitches, and finally, he falls forward, his eyes rolled behind his head.
As he falls, I quickly remove the adamantium blocking his airway so that he doesn't wake from the pain or die.
Thud
He falls forward so heavily that his legs raise up pretty high before settling on the ground with another loud sound.
"..." Wow… I'm pretty deadly when I use my powers, huh? Against a "Brute" with a "mortal body", I don't think I can lose.
I also got him with his pants down and tired, so I will not consider this a victory.
When Thor landed close to me, I turned to him.
"Sorry, Thor. You guys are getting pretty close to the city." I point to the small building on the horizon. "The shockwaves of your attacks are already hitting it."
Thor looks a little bashful.
"It is all well, my friend. I confess that I was not thinking too much about the collateral damage." He says while scratching his head with the Mjolnir "I confess that it was pretty incredible seeing you doing quick work of Ulik. He is a tenacious foe."
"You did most of the work. I just targeted him where it hurts. Not a fair fight." I shrug
"Hahaha! Then he will wake up irate!" Thor guffaws. "He will probably try to find you for a rematch to clean his honour."
"..." That is all I wanted… "Then put him on Asgardian jail and throw the key away. Unless you want me to take care of him…" I say with a cold voice. I already got his genetic material, I can very well throw him into the Sun.
Stark lands close to us in the next second. "Thor should take the big guy. I don't think the Raft can hold him."
Well, I have a prison… But I was thinking of a more… definitive solution.
"It was what I pretended to do." Thor nods
"By the way, don't forget about the party." Tony points at the God of Thunder
"Oh yes, can I bring more people with me?"
"Yes, but who? If it's your girlfriend, you don't even need to ask." Tony answers without hesitation
"There is Darcy too… And Sif and the Warriors Three… My brothers, but I will have to ask."
"That would be great! The more gods and heroes, the better!" Tony says "That will be THE party. It will have everything! I even got some pretty famous singers and bands… Heck, they practically begged to perform a song or two just to be invented." Tony looks smug. "Superheroes are the new rockstars, baby!"
"Hmm… You just gave me an idea." I finally say something "Tell me, Stark, it would be okay for me to arrange certain Metas singers to perform too? I know some who would love the opportunity."
"Trying to launch their carriers?" He gives me a look
"Yes. As a meta, you can imagine that they are a little hesitant about being famous."
"Are they good? Can you vouch for them?" He asks "I don't want school-level play to kill the mood…"
"They are good… One is a singer with the power to create light and sound. As she sings, she can be her own light show, and if she produces light, she can make her own background song."
"And she is still a good singer despite all that?" Tony looks impressed. "Or is she good because of her power?"
"That is one of those stances where two things combine perfectly. Like your money and your brain." Having a power that goes well with your hobbies or talent is a gift.
Obviously, many develop certain skills because of their powers, but the ones that have powers perfect for their natural talents… Those are the ones that won the life lottery.
"Then that it would be cool… I get what you are trying to do, but I don't care. If she can perform well, it will be the first. We will make history." Tony smiles "Talk with her and thencome talk with me. We can squeeze some time for her to sing two or three songs. Believe in me, there will be a lot of performances."
"Don't go overboard…" I comment. I'm really not the party type, and I just planned to go for a half hour before finding an excuse to leave, but now I can win a little from it…
If I remember well, Dazzler had a lot of problems in her career as a singer when people discovered that she was a mutant. Now she will have my and the Avengers' backing. Metas need to appear more around the world beyond being heroes and villains.
Tony scoffs at my words. "You sound like Pepper." The helmet lowers on his face, and his repulsors come to life. "Remember, boys, it is a costume party… And if you want, you guys can come as Iron Man, and be cool for once!"
Fwoosh
He then flies away with a laugh
"..." Thor and I look at each other before we start laughing.
"Clowns are popular fantasies in Halloween, anyway." I joke, and we laugh more.
......................
A.N.:Hello there.
Sorry for the delay, this week has been busy.
It was my birthday and a lot of other things happened.
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Till next time and stay good y'all.
Bye Bye~