Ed POV
A couple of days later…
Right now, I am in one of the medical facilities I fund, watching the Fantastic Four through a reinforced observation window.
Just like I expected, they'd been hit by cosmic rays. After their crash landing in the ocean, I immediately ordered a retrieval team to secure them and bring them here. It'd been a few days now, and somehow… nothing.
No mutations. No powers. No weird spikes or anomalies.
Ben was still completely normal.
That didn't mean it wouldn't happen, just that it hadn't yet. My guess? The changes were coming. Could be today. Could be tomorrow. Could even be next week. Cosmic stuff liked to play by its own rules.
The problem was, I couldn't keep them locked down here forever. They'd already been patient enough letting me run tests for a couple of days.
My thoughts were interrupted when I heard footsteps behind me.
Ashley came to a stop at my side.
"So," I said, not looking away from the glass. "What's the verdict?"
She handed me a tablet. I skimmed the scans, clean vitals, stable cellular structure, and only faint traces of cosmic radiation lingering in their systems. Not enough to cause damage. Not enough to justify keeping them here any longer.
Looks like that's that.
"Thanks, Ashley," I said, handing the tablet back.
She studied my face for a moment. "You don't look happy."
"I was hoping their skin would show more than just trace radiation," I admitted. "Thought I might be able to convince them to stay a few more days."
She sighed. "I figured. But we can't hold them much longer. Johnny already wants out. If Susan wasn't here, he probably would've tried breaking out on day one."
I chuckled under my breath. Yeah, that sounded like Johnny.
"Alright," I said, pushing off the console. "Let's go give them the good news."
Ashley and I left the observation room and headed down the hall toward the medical wing. When we stepped inside, Johnny and Susan were already talking quietly near the beds.
"How are my favorite astronauts?" I asked.
That got everyone's attention.
"Bored out of our minds, Ed," Johnny said immediately. "When can we leave this place?"
"Johnny," Susan snapped, shooting him a look. "He's just making sure the cosmic rays didn't do anything harmful. He's helping us."
"She's right," Reed added calmly. "We don't actually know what prolonged exposure to cosmic radiation can do to the human body. For all we know, it could cause dangerous mutations… or super cancers."
Johnny froze."What, oh God," he said, clutching his chest dramatically. "How long do we have?"
My smile slowly faded.
"Five," I said, dead serious.
Every face in the room changed instantly.
"Five what?" Johnny asked, panic slipping through his joking tone. "Five years? Five months?"
"Four," I continued.
"Four?" Ben repeated, confused.
"Three… two… one."
I paused just long enough to enjoy it.
"All of you are fine," I said, my smile snapping back. "I just wanted to mess with you."
They all let out a collective breath.
"Okay, okay, sorry," I added with a small laugh. "There are trace amounts of cosmic radiation in your systems, but nothing harmful. It'll clear out completely in a couple more days. You're free to leave today if you want."
"Yes!" Johnny shouted, throwing both hands in the air.
"But," I said, holding up a finger, "if anything happens, anything at all, if something feels off, strange, or wrong, you come straight to me."
They nodded.
"We understand," Susan said sincerely. "Thank you, Ed."
"Edwards," Reed called out.
I turned back toward him.
"I'm truly sorry about the mission," he said seriously. "The cosmic rays hit the ship directly. I'm fairly certain any recorded data is gone; every system would've been fried by the radiation. At this point, the cosmic rays are going and won't return to Earth for at least a couple of hundred years."
"Don't worry about it, Reed," I said easily. "I'm just glad everyone made it back. So what if I blew a couple of million on a rocket? No big deal when you're rich like me."
"It was six billion," Ashley said immediately.
"…What?"
Everyone said it at the same time.
"Six billion?" I blinked. "I thought it was four. I checked the numbers myself."
"That was the initial estimate," Ashley said. "But then came the delays, the upgraded tech, the last-minute modifications. And when the mission failed, we had to deploy multiple recovery teams and run full medical scans on all of them. It all adds up. Believe me, I was surprised too."
Susan frowned. "Wait… I thought it was only ten million. That's what I saw on the account."
I sighed. "Yeah, okay, that part was a lie."
Everyone looked at me.
"I didn't want you guys seeing the real number and deciding to do something stupid," I said. "Like pushing the mission even harder or risking your lives. So I… heavily bumped it down."
Johnny whistled. "Man, our kids are gonna be paying that off."
"Paying what off?" I shot back. "You don't owe me a dime."
"But we wasted six billion," Reed said. "There's no usable research data. You didn't make any kind of money at all."
"Reed," Johnny cut in, "shut up. He's letting us off the hook here."
I raised a hand. "Reed, it's fine. Seriously. You've all been cooped up in here for days. Go outside. Get some air. Relax."
I smiled slightly.
"We can talk business later."
He looked unsure for a moment, but eventually accepted my request. With that, Ashley and I left.
Sage POV
I was at Sanctuary, stationed in OverWatch, reading through the reports from Shadow Garden's first mission.
Honestly? It went better than I expected.
There were a lot of criminals involved, and I hadn't had much faith in the team going in, but they got the job done. Seven minutes flat. Clean extraction. No casualties. Right now, drones are already retrieving the Stark weapons and securing them in one of our many vaults.
Efficient.
I heard the door open behind me and turned around. Pietro stood there.
"Oh," I said, glancing back at the screen. "Is it that time already?"
I checked the clock.
12:00.
Lunch.
"Can you still come, or are you busy?" Pietro asked.
"I can come," I said, standing up. "I'll just bring a double portion of Steve's mission report with me."
He rolled his eyes lightly as we left Overwatch and headed toward the cafeteria.
As we walked, the conversation stayed light at first.
"So," Pietro said, "what's new with you?"
"Not much," I replied. "I got assigned as OverWatch for Shadow Garden. I'm helping Gamma train Underground and Shatter. And… I went on a date a couple of days ago, then—"
"Wait."
He grabbed my arm, stopping us mid-hallway.
"You and Shatter went on a date?" he asked.
He looked genuinely surprised.
"Yeah," I said. "But nothing came out of it. It was awkward. Kind of silent. We decided we're better off as friends. It was just… something I wanted to try."
He frowned. "But you don't even like Shatter like that."
"I don't," I agreed.
"Then why go on a date with him?"
"To prove that I have emotions."
He stared at me. "What?"
"A while ago," I said slowly, "Church and I were talking. He said something that bothered me. I don't think he meant it badly. I'm not even sure he realized it."
"What did he say?"
I hesitated, then answered.
"He said he used to be an AI… and that he showed more emotion than I. And that I should express myself more."
"Oh."
"You agree?" I asked.
"No, no, not at all," Pietro said quickly.
"Really? Because I think he's right," I admitted. "I don't show much emotion. Not even with Shatter. And he's one of my closest friends. People have a hard time reading me because I don't express anything outwardly. It took months for us to become friends. You weren't even sure if I liked you at first."
He sighed softly. "Okay, yes, maybe you're hard to read. But that doesn't mean you don't have emotions. You just suppress them instead of learning how to recognize them."
"What?" I asked.
He stopped walking and turned to face me.
"Every time you're nervous, your index finger taps against your thigh or the edge of a desk," he said. "When you're surprised, your eyes widen just a fraction. When you're happy, you soften your posture, your voice. And whenever something accidentally embarrassing happens, your ears turn slightly red."
I stared at him, feeling… strange.
"You have emotions, Sage," he said gently. "People just have to pay attention."
He started walking again.
I stayed where I was, watching her go, then hurried to follow, my thoughts louder than my footsteps.
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AN: Sorry for the late and short chapter. I just woke up a few minutes ago. Work was hard today, and I went to sleep as soon as I got home. I promise you this the next chapter, the arc will begin.