[A/N]: New week, new goal! Let's kick things off with 150 power stones for a bonus chapter!
Teleporting felt like absolute shit.
Jay hit his sparse room at Kamar-Taj like a drunk teenager falling off a barstool, knees buckling the second he materialized. The stone floor rushed up to meet him as his inner ear screamed bloody murder about directions that shouldn't exist.
"My OAA," he groaned, palms pressed against his temples.
Being turned inside out, stretched across impossible distances, then snapped back like a rubber band. Every atom in his body was filing complaints.
The world kept spinning in ways that made no sense. His Adaptive Power Perk kicked in, slowly getting him used to this new ability. When he could finally sit up without puking, he closed his eyes and dove into his mental plane.
The familiar starry expanse greeted him, absorbed powers floating like constellations in the darkness. But something new made his breath catch. Inside a human silhouette, this power looked like a void filled with swirling galaxies. It stretched endlessly, reminding him of Mr. Door from that Lord of the Mysteries novel he'd binged during hospital breaks.
He reached out carefully, making contact.
Information flooded in. Spatial teleportation with near-limitless range, but it needed precise mental images of destinations. Gordon had lost his eyes because his brain couldn't handle normal vision plus the enhanced spatial awareness. Jay's eidetic memory and enhanced senses could handle it just fine.
He'd still need to visit places personally before teleporting there reliably. No shortcuts when it came to building his mental map of the world.
A violent shake yanked him back to reality.
"What exactly did you..."
The Ancient One stood there, eye twitching as a rolled newspaper materialized in her hand.
THWACK!
His reflexes kicked in automatically. He ducked sideways and the newspaper whistled past his ear.
They both froze.
Laughter bubbled out of him. "Guess you really did beat the teaching into my head!"
Her eye twitched harder. "What did I say about not raising alarms?"
"Okay, but what..."
"What happens when someone teleports onto these premises without a registered sling ring?"
Her voice climbed toward levels that could shatter glass.
"Do you have any idea how many mystical security protocols you just triggered?"
"Ah. Right. Sorry, Master." He rubbed his neck sheepishly. "I'll be more careful."
She took several deep breaths, visibly calming herself. "Did you at least find what you went looking for?"
He pulled out the Terrigen crystal and hard drive. "Yeah. Got these, plus I absorbed this teleportation ability from the Inhumans."
She studied the items, curiosity flickering across her face. "Why do you need Terrigen crystals? They're notoriously unstable and deadly to normal humans."
"Carl Creel absorbs Terrigen properties in the future I know. It lets him petrify nearby humans by breaking them. Basically an area kill move against anyone who isn't Inhuman."
Her expression hardened. "After everything I've taught you about the dangers of blindly chasing power..."
"That's just part one," he interrupted quickly. "When he absorbed those crystals, SHIELD used his blood to develop a cure for Terrigenosis. No more people turning to dust during failed transformations."
She went very still. "If you could produce such a cure... the Kingdom of Attilan would descend to honor you. They'd do anything you requested."
"Yeah, that too."
She sighed, looking every one of her centuries. "Since you've been, I prepared your departure gift."
A simple silver ring appeared in her outstretched hand.
"Master, you're beautiful, but you're way too old for me. Plus, I'm not really into bald chicks."
A dozen newspaper rolls materialized, battering him from every angle. He curled into a ball, yelping apologies until the assault stopped.
"This is an emergency beacon," she said sternly, adjusting her robes. "I personally enchanted it. It will call me from anywhere in the world if you encounter mysticism-related trouble. Use it only in life-or-death situations."
He slipped the ring on and bowed properly. "Thank you, Master. For everything."
His phone buzzed with a calendar reminder.
Seeing this, the Ancient One just said, "Now go, before I decide to test how well your new reflexes handle a staff to the head."
He closed his eyes, visualizing the old Queen's warehouse. Every detail from cracked concrete to rust stains on metal walls. Blue energy swirled as space folded.
Azure light flashed as he materialized in the warehouse. His danger sense exploded and he threw himself sideways as bullets whined through where his head had been.
"Bobby, it's me!"
The shooting stopped. "Jay? Kid, is that really you?"
Bobby emerged from behind a table, assault rifle still raised but finger off the trigger. His weathered face broke into a huge grin. "I'll be damned! Thought you were some kinda intruder!"
Before Jay could respond, one of Bobby's bone-crushing hugs wrapped around him. The warehouse door burst open and the rest of the inner circle poured in. Miranda with her worried expression, Linda looking like she'd rolled out of bed, Tom clutching his coffee mug, Max wiping flour-covered hands on his apron.
"Jay!" Linda shrieked, launching herself at him.
Soon they'd buried him in a pile, everyone talking at once.
Questions and explanations filled the next hour. He gave them a sanitized version of his travels. Japan, Korea, Nepal. Carefully avoiding his first kill.
"Actually, I'm still on vacation. Just had a side quest to handle. I need to be in New Orleans in about four hours."
Miranda frowned. "New Orleans? What's in Louisiana that can't wait?"
Jay just smiled mysteriously.
Morning in New Orleans hit different. The air hung thick and humid, carrying scents of coffee, beignets, and the Mississippi River. From a nearby rooftop, he watched the Roxxon oil rig dominating the horizon.
Like clockwork, the explosion came without warning. A massive fireball erupted from the drilling platform, sending shockwaves racing across the water. He was already moving before the sound reached him, teleporting directly into the chaos.
The work went fast. Pulling workers from wreckage, shielding civilians from falling debris. Two kids at the explosion's epicenter caught his attention though. Tandy Bowen and Tyrone Johnson.
When the smoke cleared, they lay unconscious near the platform's edge. Tandy glowed with soft white light while shadows writhed around Tyrone. Both were breathing, barely.
Just like he'd planned. A light force and dark force user were born, but Jay focused on Tandy. Dark force users were common enough, but light force users? You could count them on one hand.
Tandy's father, Nathan Bowen, appeared at his shoulder. Tears streamed down his soot-stained face. "Tandy! Oh God, my baby girl!"
He dropped to his knees beside his daughter, trying desperately to wake her.
Recognition rippled through the survivors. The Power Broker himself had come to their rescue. Some looked grateful, others uncertain about what his presence meant.
Nathan grabbed his arm. "Please, I know what you can do. I saw the news about the Castle family. Please, take her power away and heal her, just like you did for them!"
Both kids would be fine. They were just adapting to their new abilities, but he played along. Hands on both children, he activated his power theft ability. Light and shadows flowed into him like water finding its level.
His healing aura came next, green energy washing over both kids, repairing minor injuries from the explosion. Tandy's eyes fluttered open first, followed by Tyrone.
"Daddy?" Tandy whispered.
Nathan sobbed with relief, gathering his daughter into his arms. People in the crowd started clapping. Someone shouted, "I knew that Doom broadcast was bullshit! Thank you, Doctor!"
After helping Tyrone sit up, Jay caught Nathan's attention and pressed a business card into his hand.
"Leave Roxxon," he said quietly but firmly. "Take your family and move as far from this mess as possible. Call that number, mention the doctor gave it to you, explain everything Roxxon's been doing. He'll help you deal with this properly."
Nathan clutched the card like a lifeline. "Thank you. God, thank you so much."
While the crowd focused on the reunited families, he slipped away. In a nearby alley, he teleported back to New York.
"Is it done? Whatever you needed to do?"
He turned to find Maria standing there, worry lines creasing her face.
"Yeah. It's done. I'll call you guys from time to time, check in."
Linda interrupted, emerging from behind Maria. "At least get yourself a haircut before you disappear again. You look like some ascetic monk."
He laughed, running a hand through his admittedly shaggy hair. "You know what? Why don't we do it right now?"
An hour later, he stared at his bathroom mirror, marveling at Linda's handiwork. She'd given him a modern cut that made him look both younger and more mature. Professional but not stuffy.
"Damn, Linda. Maybe you missed your calling as a stylist."
He closed his eyes, entering his mental plane. Two new powers waited there. Perfect miniature versions of Cloak and Dagger, still child-sized but radiating pure potential. Four months of planning had led to this moment, ever since absorbing Marcus Daniels's darkforce abilities at the Fridge.
Using his original power theft as a catalyst, he began the delicate process of fusing the lightforce and darkforce powers. Tandy's light daggers and Tyrone's shadow teleportation slowly merged with his existing darkforce manipulation.
The results were beautiful.
Where three distinct powers had floated in his mental space, now stood a single pristine symbol. Almost like a yin-yang made of living light and shadow. When he connected with it, information flooded his consciousness.
This is what he'd been working toward all along. Power nearly identical to Mister Negative's abilities. Light and dark force energies bent to his will equally, but the real prize was the additional power to invert an object's or person's properties. This inversion ability had let Mister Negative create Anti-Venom and transform Cloak's dark powers into something resembling Dagger's light.
He opened his eyes, feeling more complete than he had in months. In a single day, two of his major goals were finally complete. Now the final one remains.
He gathered his gear. The leather jacket from his friends, modified tactical suit, Murasama in its newly-wrapped sheath. Everything he'd need for what came next.
The calendar on his nightstand read December 23rd.
Time to settle an old debt.
Eyes closed, he visualized his target location and teleported away in a swirl of blue energy, leaving New York behind.
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