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Chapter 28: I Have Trust Issues
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Sure, he feels like he's handsome, genius, smart, exquisite, unique, special, and so on, but this is weird, right?
[Ok, duuude.]
[...]
[I'm speechless, his thought process is a movie.]
She explained, her words casual, "My power… It's like life is a series of impacts and trajectories. A new impact leads to a new trajectory, and then another, and another."
"I felt that my old trajectory was leading to a lot of pain and suffering. But following you?" A wide, genuine grin spread across her face. "That path leads to fun. Happiness. Challenges. Sure, there's some pain, but the fun kind of pain." She winked at him.
[Ok, she's flirting with him.]
[Come to think of it, her life is somewhat miserable despite her power.]
Jean, for some reason, felt weirdly uncomfortable. The description was too ambiguous; the last part was clearly hinting at something.
But also, do her words mean that staying by Adam's side is better than the School, a place she believes to be very safe and lovely?
Adam, however, was stroking his chin, his interest piqued. "Interesting." He understood instinctively.
Her power wasn't just "luck"; it was a subconscious, probabilistic telekinesis that manipulated quantum outcomes, subtly altering reality to skew odds in her favor.
She was a living, breathing cheat code for causality. And she had chosen him as the most favorable variable in her equation.
Then again, he remembers that she had experienced quite the unfortunate events, so her power is nowhere near absolute.
[So, Domino's power is basically seeing the timeline and choosing the fun one?]
[Eh, not really. She can't actually see anything. It must be just the instinct of her power.]
[Based.]
[This is the ultimate power couple. One breaks reality with curses, the other breaks it with luck.]
[Couple? I think the show is hinting at him having a relationship with Jean, so I don't think so.]
[It's called Triangle love, love Triangle, or something?]
[No way Domino can win. Marvel doesn't have skill-based matchmaking, so she was put up against Jean.]
[True, it's hopeless, unless Jean turns Emo mode.]
Well, it's useful having her around, Adam mused, his internal eye on the [Information] panel that had recently undergone a significant update.
[Information: Spendthrift, So Poor]
[Natural Traits]
Envy(B): Slow. Stupefy. Fade. Hollow. Recoil.
[Information Traits]
Cyberpathy(B). Mechanical Force(C)
The fallout from the Magneto incident had been a windfall of Influence and Information.
True to his nature, he'd spent it all immediately.
Upgrading Cyberpathy to B-rank had honed his connection to the digital world, evolving to what he assumes to be Beta level, but he wasn't sure.
But the new trait, Mechanical Force, was the real prize.
He was beginning to understand the mechanism: the traits he awakened were reflections of how he was perceived.
His reputation as a brilliant, if unorthodox, engineer and tech-wizard, cemented by his creations and his tutelage under Forge, had manifested this power.
It wasn't control over kinetic and potential energy as he'd first assumed.
It was an innate ability to augment and enhance mechanical creations, and some miraculous capabilities.
It synergized perfectly with his Cyberpathy, allowing his senses over machines enveloped by the mechanical force to be enhanced.
There were depths to it he was only starting to plumb.
This was why, even while his body healed over the past month, he had worked relentlessly in Forge's workshop, preparing for his next move.
His destination was a place that suited his new leveled-up Trickster proficiency: Hell's Kitchen.
There, he shall hopefully graduate from being a Novice Trickster.
The neighborhood was a character in its own right; a grimy, vibrant, and perpetually tense pocket of Manhattan where the air smelled of stale pizza, exhaust fumes, and desperation.
As Jean navigated the crowded streets, she couldn't hold back. "Why here, Adam? Of all the places in the world, why Hell's Kitchen? Are you avoiding or looking for trouble?"
"Don't be so harsh, this place may be ugly on the outside, but it has a nice personality, don't objectify it." He'd reply with a chuckle, having fun messing around with Jean, Domino letting out a laugh of her own.
They pulled into the garage of a surprisingly well-kept brownstone.
Adam had, through his connections that he somehow got from the comfort of the school, rented the entire place.
Jean helped him and Domino move his countless boxes of "Mechanical Shit" inside, her telekinesis making light work of the heavy lifting.
"How can you even afford this place?" Jean asked, looking around the spacious, if sparsely furnished, interior. "Please don't tell me it's more of the Professor's charity."
Adam sighed dramatically. "Charles is a failure of a sugar daddy. I had to find myself a sugar mommy instead." He grinned. "Emma is quite lovely."
Jean froze, a crate of server components hovering in mid-air. "What?! You're still in contact with Emma Frost? Adam, she's dangerous! You can't trust her! She'll stab you in the back the first chance she gets!"
He rolled his eyes. "Of course she will. My trust in her is in the negative hundreds. It's merely an exchange of interest." He saw the genuine frustration on Jean's face, and his expression eased.
He looked at her strangely, a faint, appreciative smile on his lips.
"What?" She asked, suddenly self-conscious.
"You're sweet, you'll be a great mom." He said, chuckling.
"She will, won't she." Domino nodded, agreeing with him, "She would be such a great mom that her hair would fall off."
[True! Jean has that mom energy in her.]
Was it a compliment or was he mocking her? Jean couldn't tell, ignoring Domino altogether.
Domino smiled at her confusion. She felt like he was not playing a dangerous game. He is the game. And he enjoys playing it.
Adam led them to the basement, which was less of a cellar and more of a reinforced concrete and steel bunker.
"There's a reason I chose this place," He explained cheerfully. "Just in case Hydra decides to bomb this entire street."
Jean's eye twitched. "The previous owner was a bit of a prepper," Adam continued, his tone dramatic and storytelling. "Feared nuclear war, alien invasion, the usual. He built bunkers in all his properties. A very smart man. This world isn't kind to civilians, you know."
[He's not wrong. Paranoia is just good sense in the Marvel Universe.]
[That is the most well-prepared NPC I've ever heard of.]
[Can't imagine living in New York in Marvel. Like, every world-destroying event happens there.]
[Housing is cheap, though.]
They finished setting up, Domino effortlessly slipping into the role of a girlfriend playfully teasing the "other woman," much to Jean's chagrin.
Adam just shrugged and moved to the kitchen, whipping up a surprisingly lovely breakfast of omelets and fresh coffee.
Jean joined him, the domestic normality of the scene a stark contrast to the conversation that had preceded it.
Adam felt like Domino was flirting with him a bit too much, acting like his girlfriend, and it seemed genuine... His trust in her has been lowered by a few more hundred.
[Tf is that thought process???????????]
[What does that mean?]
[What was his trust in her before?]
Adam categorizes his trust in others on a scale of -100 to 100. So far, everyone is in the negatives.
In fact, he was impressed by how everyone had broken through the -100 into the minus hundreds, truly a miracle. They, it's they that turned his scale useless.
[What? So he doesn't trust anyone at all?]
[Even Jean? Like, his trust in her is in the negative hundreds? Why?]
[Must be because of the dark phoenix, no?]
[Oh, makes sense... No, it doesn't, like negative hundreds, everyone?]
[It's times like this that I remember we're dealing with a broken man who has imaginary friends.]
The tranquility was shattered by the ring of Adam's secure phone. His eyes lit up as he saw the caller ID.
He answered, his voice bright and friendly.
"Frank, my friend! What do you need?"
Jean watched, her omelet forgotten, as Adam said. "You confirmed it already? Color me impressed."
He paused, listening to a growled question from the other end. "Why do I trust you to hold your end?" He chuckled, " I don't trust you, Frank. I trust my vision."
He hung up a moment later, a satisfied look on his face.
Jean put her face in her hands. "Adam… I… you promised you'd stay out of trouble. You promised!"
Domino laughed, a clear, delighted sound.
Adam gave Jean a patient smile. "This is a different kind of trouble, Jean. It's trouble for them, not for me."
[He's siccing the PUNISHER on someone!]
["It's trouble for them." CHILLS. ABSOLUTE CHILLS.]
[Ahh, The Punisher, does that mean we're about to see some more gore and blood, oh baaaaby.]
[...]
[Jean Grey is having the worst day of her life.]
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