Chapter 26 - CH 26: Enhancements

Also, check out the new auxiliary chapter, "Crisis's Abilities">

It hadn't been that long since the sun had risen, and now, Natasha and her Symbiote, Ali, were in the huge training room of the Avengers Tower.

"That was a nice workout." Steve Rogers AKA Captain America groaned gently as he picked up his bottle of water and towel before turning to Natasha :"Alright, I will see you in the living room, Natasha, Ali. Bye for now."

"Bye." The redheaded host called out as she drank from her bottle of water. As she set it aside, she asked :"Alright, Al, what did you want to test out? You said that you wanted to test something out when we were coming to the training room, right?"

A black and dark purple liquid gently came out of her shoulder before Ali and his horrifying face was revealed :"Mhm, I did. As for what it is, I want to test your limits. But, without me empowering you. I want to see how strong you were before I bonded with you."

Natasha raised an eyebrow :"Why is that? What are you planning to do?" And Ali shrugged with a neutral look :"You will find out. Now, get up.

I'm going to make a barbell with my own biomass, you're going to lift it, and I'm going to slowly make it heavier by increasing its density."

Natasha shrugged before she got up. As Ali took away all the enhancements, she couldn't help but frown at losing all the strength that she had gotten so used to having.

Ali had truly made her a lot more powerful than she could have ever imagined. When he took away all of that, she seriously felt like she had become disabled.

She raised her hand as she clenched it, sighing when she clearly felt the lack of strength :"Since you were always with me, I didn't really pay that much attention to how much stronger I felt.

But now that you took away the empowerment, I can clearly feel how weak I was before bonding with you. It's honestly sickening. Heh, I seriously may have become addicted to that power."

Ali chuckled in amusement as he shrugged :"Happy to know that you appreciate me. And well, getting you addicted was the plan all along. But enough of that, let's get to testing."

Natasha got serious as she took a deep breath and lowered herself before picking up the barbell. She was ready for it to be very heavy, but it was almost weightless in her hands.

But as she held it, it began to slowly get heavier. From nothing to 50 pounds (22.5 kg), to 100 pounds (45.3 kg), to 200 pounds (90.7 kg).

When it reached 500 pounds (226.7 kg), she finally began to struggle a little. At 600 pounds (272.1 kg), she was barely holding on. But she still gritted her teeth and persisted.

Finally, at about 650 pounds (295 kg), she couldn't hold it anymore and dropped it. But just before it could hit the ground, Ali decreased its density.

He didn't know if an object of around 300 kg could make a dent on the floor of a training room designed for superheroes, but he still didn't want to cause unnecessary damage. <... Motherfucker, aren't you the same guy who destroys properties for no reason?>

Ali hummed as Natasha looked at him :"About 650 pounds or 295 kg. Not bad, now onto another test. We can't really test out much, so we will only test your strength and speed."

Natasha nodded and walked towards a treadmill. All of the equipments in the room were designed for superheroes, so they could use them without much worry.

kph = kilometers per hour>

It started out slow and casual as it slowly rose from 1 mph (1.6 kph) to 5 mph (8 kph), to 10 mph (16.1 kph), to 20 mph (32.2 kph), to 30 mph (48.3 kph).

When it was about 32-36 mph (51.5-57.9 kph), she was finally beginning to struggle. She was almost at her limit, but she still wanted to push herself to her limit.

In the end, Ali finally turned off the treadmill when he thought that she had reached her limit, about 40 mph (64.4 kph). As she panted with some sweat forming on her body, Ali picked up the towel with a tendril and brought it to her.

"Thanks." Natasha thanked as she wiped away the sweat while frowning. Ali tilted his head with a confused look :"Why you looking like that? Turn that frown upside down please."

"..." Natasha was silent for a moment before sighing :"I'm just annoyed at how weak I am. I'm not complaining that I need you, but it's still annoying to realize just how weak I am without your empowerment..."

Normally, Ali would've calmly talked with her, try to comfort his host. However, he just smiled with a smug chuckle :"Well, my dear host, that's going to change! How? Just give me a minute or two."

Natasha looked at him with confusion, but didn't ask anything when he went back into her body. She just walked towards one of the benches and sat down.

She waited patiently for about a minute or two before Ali came out of her shoulder blade with a smirk :"So? How do you feel?"

Natasha raised a confused eyebrow as she shrugged :"Nothing? Just a little refreshed since I rested a bit... Hm... Now that I think about it, did you strengthen me a little bit?

I feel a little stronger. Not as strong as when you're completely empowering me, but still stronger than without your complete power."

Ali chuckled smugly again as he made a barbell again :"Well, why don't we check just how much faster you've become? We'll do it like before."

Natasha looked at him curiously, but gave up after a second with a sigh :"Alright, fine. Let's see what you've got." And she got up before grabbing the barbell again.

Just like before, the barbell's weight began to increase, from almost weightless to 50 kg (110 pounds), to 100 kg (220 pounds), to 200 kg (440 pounds).

Ali was actually telling her in her mind how much he was increasing the weight of the barbell, so she was a little surprised when the weight suddenly reached 500 kg (1102 pounds) and she wasn't affected at all.

But since she felt like Ali was checking if he could control how much he strengthened her, she didn't pay that much attention to it.

Gradually, the weight increased even more, to 1 ton (2204 pounds), then to 5 tons (11023 pounds), to 10 tons (22046 pounds). She began struggling once again when the weight reached 20 tons (44092 pounds).

And she gave up when it reached about 25 tons (55115 pounds). As Ali returned his biomass to himself like before, the sweaty Natasha looked at him :"So what are we doing exactly anyway?

Are you trying to see if you can control how much you're strengthening me or something? Is that why I was so much weaker than when you were using your full power?"

Ali smirked smugly as he wiggled his eyebrows :"Natasha, in case you didn't notice, I wasn't strengthening you one bit." Causing Natasha to get confused :"What??? Then how did I manage to lift 25 tons (55115 pounds)?"

With the smug smirk still on his face, Ali explained :"That's because I made you permanently stronger! Remember how I copied Silk's (Cindy Moon) abilities, I copied those abilities into your DNA just now!"

Natasha's eyes immediately went wide open :"Wait, what?! You did what now?! You can actually do that?!" Ali nodded with a now calm smile :"Yes, I can.

In fact, every Symbiote can. Other Symbiotes don't do it since they try their best to stick with only one host. It's called Parasitic Inheritance.

The Symbiotes can copy the powers and abilities of other beings by interfacing with their genetic code. We are also capable of recalling that information from previous hosts and imprinting it upon our current host.

However, since I can copy someone's powers and abilities in just a single contact, I don't have that problem. So now, you have all of Silk's powers and abilities. You're welcome."

Natasha looked down at her hands in amazement as she clenched her fists to get a better feel. Even though this power was nothing compared to Ali's, it was still amazing since it was her own.

Ali smirked smugly when Natasha suddenly grabbed his cheeks and pulled him into a hot, deep, passionate kiss. He was a little surprised, but he didn't fight back as he kissed her back.

However, it ended quickly as Natasha pulled away. He smiled lazily as he raised an eyebrow :"I'm not complaining, but what was that for?"

Natasha chuckled softly as she pecked his lips with a sweet smile :"Just thought that I should give you a little reward for such an amazing gift. I honestly didn't think you would do something like this."

Ali chuckled as he leaned into her touch :"Oh? You like it that much?" And Natasha chuckled back :"Yeah, a lot. Almost as much as that video where you put a Lego piece in Tony's shoe and recorded it."

Ali honestly had to try his best to hold in his laughter because he didn't want to ruin the sweet mood. But he did make a mental note to watch that video later.

He smiled mischievously as he raised an eyebrow :"I'm thankful for my little gift, but you don't think just that will make up for it, right~?"

Natasha gently bit her bottom lip as she looked at him seductively :"Of course not. But don't worry, I have an idea of what kind of reward you deserve for being such a good boy~."

Ali smirked hungrily as Natasha nodded towards the female locker room and shower :"Let's just go to a more private place to have our little... Fun."