A while after performing my morning stretch, I wandered into the open kitchen following the appetizing smell that had been wafting through the hallways promising me delightful treats. Finding Irene making food at this hour was surprising although it wasn't new considering it was her. She had taken to cooking as a hobby a while after recovering her vision and she normally did a damn fantastic job so I wasn't going to complain as I got pampered to take my meals.
Giving her a greeting in passing, I proceeded to take a seat at the counter and enjoy some music while patiently waiting for the food to be ready. Some pop music was playing over the radio in the background making the area more vibrant but in all honesty, I like most other Gen Z missed all my music playlists on Spotify. Diving back into memory with Eve's help I managed to recover a few things here and there storing backup records in Eve's black servers while just letting the rest go as I had no other choice.
"Good Morning Ivy, How was your sleep?"
"Good morning to you too Irene. My sleep was surprisingly good after Eve decided to switch off my self-sustenance in the name of me getting some shuteye."
Irene's greeting got me out of my musings as she brought forth food to the table. I thankfully stared at the delicious portion of fried bacon, fried eggs, toasted ham sandwiches, a few slices of assorted fruits, and a cup of hot cocoa on the side waiting for her to settle down so we could enjoy the meal. Stanley bless her heart, Irene had taken care of my diet more times than I count and it always still brings a smile to my face seeing the amount of effort she put into the delicious foods. She chuckled as a female humanoid hard light construct of a pouting female generated a few feet away from us.
She was a cold caucasian beauty of 182cm tall with neat shoulder-length white hair and a damn delectable body with the right curves. Beautiful green eyes that looked more like twin gems and soft kissable pink lips that looked more cute with her pout. Yes, this was Eve's physical projection, her body. She's a knocker, beautiful enough to turn many heads and question their self-esteem me included most of the time but I shake it off knowing I still have time to grow into a similar beauty too. She managed to construct her avatar after days of looking through my memories and coming across anime, games, and a few rule34 pics before constructing a suitable avatar for herself from my fantasies so, she looked more like a serious strong female just my type.
"Hey, I told you more than three times to not spend more than two days without eating and sleeping. You're still growing you know."
Fuck, I just had to open my mouth and get myself into trouble as Eve just had to throw me under the bus. One quick glance at Irene confirmed my predicament considering her stern penetrating gaze focusing on me right now. Her mama bear instincts were showing and I didn't want to end up being banned like last time from visiting my labs for one week. That is unacceptable as there is nothing more interesting for me to do apart from hanging out with family and friends or going exploring and I prefer not dying of boredom or being forced to interact in a dick-measuring contest with some spoiled rich kids to boost their fragile egos ignoring the fact I will be forced to interact with them once more in my first social debut eventually. Therefore I just apologized to Eve to playcate the situation.
"Yeah, I know, sorry for getting lost in my work once more,"
I avoided making eye contact with Irene as beads of sweat ran down my back. Why was I afraid of her one may ask, after treatment and rejuvenation all those months ago, Irene started doting on both I and Nat as a loving elder sister and sometimes mother. The rest of the girls though had their lives back on their hands and had a choice of what they wanted to do so most of them were staying at the Massachusetts Academic Institute dormitories which was a very prestigious institution and only coming back to the orphanage for holidays. Therefore, they barely were around so I and Nat were almost practically inseparable. This helped me figure out a few things over time and I found her to be one of the only bearable people of my age I could hang around without all the teenage jazz flying around greatly affecting or influencing us. The girls though, are still too young and because I didn't want to force their allegiance, I didn't bother much and let Emma's carrot and stick tactic be used on them. Shower them with a safe comfortable environment to grow, make them feel special, and after buttering them up with all the luxury provided they naturally show and pay back your kindness with their hard work and loyalty.
On the other note, Irene's maternal instincts couldn't help but be ignited when dealing with me and Nat. What's worse is the fact you can't win a fight against a precog with Eve on her side most of the time. Sometimes I feel like I'm being betrayed here and leaving me at the mercy of overly dotting elderly siblings. When did I turn into the young sister? I don't know but I won't complain much as it helps absolve most of my stress as I am addicted to all the affection. The things I do for this beautiful women Sigh*, how the mighty have fallen, my poor life.
Eve's laughter broke the silence causing us to enter into a normal conversation over breakfast.
"That hit the spot. Thanks for the food, Irene. It seems your cooking has gotten better by the day."
I told her after finishing my portion of the meal. Following courtesy, I dapped my lips on a paper towel. Remembering all the fancy noble training I was given as a member of the Frost family still gives me chills.
"Happy you enjoyed it and thanks for the compliment. Either way, how have you been doing?"
"You know just as usual although I hit a bit of a problem in one of my projects."
"Why don't you ask Eve to help then, I'm pretty sure you have something to solve that problem in your database."
"Well theoretically, we got it right but the power source would still be too unstable for use and have potential drawbacks and health hazards so for now I'm just making a miniature cold fusion reactor as a standin. Plus this could be a good way to test myself for now to see how much I have improved after assimilating so much knowledge." I replied to Irene before turning to Eve and asking her a curious question of mine.
"By the way Eve, why don't you make yourself a synthetic or biological body to enjoy a meal with us for once?"
"No thanks, as much as I like the idea I will hold off for now as I am not ready to have a biological vessel. I'm delaying for now for a while as I prefer being able to surf through the digital realm without any obstructions. Why are you asking though, you planning on kicking me out after all this time?"
"Naah, I just prefer having another person to cuddle with at the end of the day."
"Don't we spend enough time already with each other, I thought you'd already be tired of me by now."
"You don't know the half of it." was my simple response followed by a chuckle as I lazily stretched before proceeding to clean up the kitchen.
"Where have Raven and Emma been by the way? The last time I remember I left them busy dealing with something." I inquired from Irene.
"Emma has been preoccupied with the company and business after you left a heavy workload with all the new technology advancements you guys released."
"...you know you can't blame me for advancing society a little but I'm surprised at the reception and improvement taking place in such a short time."
"As for Raven, she went back to Erik for a while to help out with the brotherhood."
I just facepalmed remembering the news articles on X-men and Brotherhood fighting a few weeks back happening on government property, or was it a few months back. That wasn't as simple as the news portrayed it to be, probably just the usual breaking out people from experiment centers or something but I didn't bother to read much knowing all the propaganda flying around. Sighing I turned to Irene and asked a simple question of my own.
"Are they still going around recruiting metahumans while fighting Xavier's group of kids and tarnishing our kind's reputation?" Yes, I hated the term Mutant by passion and it made us sound less human, more like a disease in society and I had to begin somewhere to change this Marvel fuckup. Therefore, I switched to the term metahuman similar to our counterparts from DC.
"...Pretty much, yeah. You know it can't be helped if the presumed heads of the metahuman concentration camps and labs are backed by key figures in the government, plus it isn't like we cut ties with Erik but were also trying to change his opinion on metahuman superiority more subtly."
I let out a sigh on hearing Irene's words knowing how true it was. Months of living outside of my little bubble alongside the other powered kids and running a few favors here and there helped me expand my view more. The world doesn't run on the shades of black and white only so I couldn't start pointing fingers, plus all my records and metaknowledge showed the presence of something more sinister going on in the back. Its like the fighting was all just a smoke screen although small for now and considered a myth in many circles, it would eventually rapidly grow before finally exploding in our faces.
"You know, Erik is right though about humans and metahumans. In the end, we all know deep down metahumans are superior hands down, cheats in the system if I say so myself. Only a single extra gene in the body and poof your superior, I know sounds ridiculous but humans would never accept this. Right now all we see are physical mutations, a few telepaths, and the unique cases of special individuals here and there. I'm sure you are preview to the fact that soon, in a few years or decades probably the veil shall slowly drop and gods amongst men shall walk upon the earth once more like the legends of old."
Finishing my statement, I got a nod of agreement from Irene and an amused look from Eve who was partially invested in the conversation.
"You know, it's surprising how I have come to understand some visions I saw back in the day in the last few months you've been around. It's always fascinating to see how mysterious the world works."
"I'm a lucky charm, I know right? Plus, trust me you haven't yet truly seen the madness that would descend." To my statement, I received chuckles of amusement from the two beautiful ladies across me along with some teasing.
"By the way, you haven't activated your X-gene yet, what are you still waiting for considering all the changes you've started to experience thanks to Eve here."
Finishing her statement, we both looked at Eve who had been comfortably munching on some popcorn light constructs while seamlessly multitasking participating in our conversation while partially immersing herself in some work on running multiple holographic work displays before her simultaneously. She briefly stopped and gave us a curious stare before seemingly shrugging and going back to work causing me to smile in amusement.
"I can't say I don't feel the changes but I'm holding off waiting for Eve to complete running simulations on one of our pet projects. If I'm lucky, both of my pet projects should be done by then for her to finish crunching the details and tests before I finally try my luck."
"You still unsure about taking that step?" To her question, I just nodded in confirmation and looked at my hands deep in thought.
"From your question, I guess you have already seen most of the possible outcomes. So presumably I would somehow succeed and somewhat figure it out, either way, but the same problem still remains"
"Don't worry much about it."
To her statement, I only nodded and pulled up a holographic display to continue working as time passed by. In the last few months, I figured out how Irene's powers work, you see she would be able to identify several possible futures. The more she concentrates, she can see the most probable future although the further she sees, the less accurate it becomes. In addition, she also has this uncanny ability like a sixth sense to aid her so her words aren't easily ignored. As for me, I was passively being radiated by energy off the central power battery in my pocket space somehow. It sounded like a far-off chance at first but due to my connection with Eve, my being was actively being influenced and altered, my cells were being invigorated and X-gene was being actively affected and influenced by the energy of the central power battery causing me to gain a few minor abilities for now with more changes being observed as time goes on. From records and scans, it seems I was slowly assimilating and getting connected with the emotional spectrum aspect of will through the power battery instead of outright dying due to the intensity of the energy. What's more unpredictable is the magic I was being exposed to.
After rediscovering how the star heart was originally made and the ludicrous amount of power my central power battery was carrying alongside the dangers of potentially leaving it in an unguarded area, I decided there was no way I was going to let it out of my pocket space any time soon. You see my central power battery is a combination of both the normal variant which harvests emotional energy by tapping into the emotional spectrum and harvesting raw cosmic emotional energy of will and the starheart which is a collection of ancient potent cosmic and magical energies from the dawn of the universe sealed away in the heart of a star that produces a constant unlimited stream of this energy. It had more than enough juice to power a planet for eons to come and also destroy a few star systems in case someone decided it was a good idea to fuck around and find out. Therefore in simpler terms, although the process was rather slow, I was slowly undergoing what I would term ascension somewhat similar to Volthoom the first ever lantern or more specifically gaining a direct link to the aspect of will of the emotional spectrum without my ring or the battery as a medium. The big difference is that I didn't have to embed a lantern into my chest and I can rush the process and potentially go mad due to the volatility of the cosmic energy but become a more powerful cosmic entity in one go considering I will also have magic as a part of my power but I choose to hold off this choice for desperate situations only. The more absurd I thought about how this is entirely, the more I wondered how I am not upsetting any cosmic balance or getting the attention and ire of beings like the living tribunal.
For now, I wanted to continue observing the changes and developing a boost to cover my weaknesses for my awakening making sure all goes well. I figured no matter my choice, it was only a matter of time until I trigger either way so there is no chance I could ever stay normal as Eve's soul would still influence me in some way. Considering I have developed empathic abilities and can subtly influence the emotions of people at this stage, this was going to become a big boon eventually although it threw me into a bigger loop of going back to ability mastery but Eve helps me regulate them for now through my ring.
What's more concerning is to avoid letting anyone else gain a similar connection to the spectrum similarly after all, this wasn't impossible in a bulshit universe but I wasn't going to be one to serve this out on a silver platter and that is one of the reasons I was currently thinking of substituting the power batteries for another energy source. Plus, the amount of magical energy being poured out wasn't being properly utilized by the current technology right now as I had very few records of magic in my database. The good thing is the change is only occurring to me thankfully as I wasn't willing to be going around potentially making my allies abstract entities of the emotional spectrum, undergo any unexpected changes from the emotional spectrum, and end up as constructs or handing out such power like a joke at this period. This wasn't going to be much of a problem empowering them for much longer as I was well aways developing a clean powerful energy source from a fictional universe back in the day that could potentially work as a backup and boost, make them stronger, immortal, or even lesser gods to some extent. The concept of harnessing and creating void energy from Warframe universe was very absurd at first but thanks to all the space smurf tech, we managed to make a breakthrough and catch a glimpse of the energy at first, just enough to identify a few of its properties and principals the way it interacts with natural laws was in all sense, scary and mindboggling. That was pure extradimensional energy not tainted with any will as far as I could tell as far as trying to explore other extra dimensions comes into play. With its sheer potential to bend natural laws of reality to its whims, I had to move the project to Mars before I made a foolish mistake as most containment means so far weren't holding up and I didn't want to potentially end up causing an unprecedented mess. In addition, I didn't try to mess with other known dangerous dimensions like the negative zone too avoid too many complications and cause dangers to this reality. Currently, I only had a relatively tiny amount of the energy safely contained in a sunstone we tried to replicate from the few records the guardians had on Kryptonian technology from records of past visits to the Ra system by Daxamite lanterns. Yap, the little blue shits were snakes and hoarders of knowledge, what's more, surprising is the fact they even had some of their genetic records and previously knew of the planet's doom by brainiac but decided to purposefully delay the deployment of the unit designated to their sector of the universe to make sure the Kryptonians were eradicated in the name of peace. Either way, this was presumably a free unclaimed dimension I just discovered but I had to take my time amassing enough knowledge before trying to claim it and its endless energy as my own. Locking down another research file into my black servers, I closed the display and addressed Irene speaking my mind out.
"You know, the sad part about this all is how much resistance and hate normal humans would show metahumans. Even if they are the next step of human evolution, most humans would better off be killing their kin than accepting the shift in balance peacefully. We are a greedy, selfish, destructive race in nature and when we feel our position is threatened is when people show their true colors."
"Sigh*, Sadly you are right and that's why no matter the method and goal both Charles and Erik are still working with a similar aim to make our kind prosper," Irene replied leaving us in rather peaceful silence to brew in our thoughts for a while before I finally continued.
"From everything I know, I would say although optimistic Xavier's goal is rather naive and Erik is a bit too heavy-handed in his means. I'm pretty sure he has a strong character and is different from how one might perceive him, he isn't stupid as many might claim his goal to be. Therefore, it would be a difficult task to convince him right?"
"Yeah, we know that's the case but he's been hands-off from the group lately. From Raven's discovery, he has a family now and I just hope he's happy and gets a break."
My eyes opened wide in surprise on hearing the news. Magneto has a family, an actual living family, and is currently happy. This is both the best and possibly worst time to appear and give him an offer as he might be just a simple man wanting his peace of mind right now or in the worst case turn more hostile after losing his family Stanely forbid. In every story I read, I know in no universe does he have a good life so let's try to change that in this world for a change. A potentially very powerful ally is welcome plus he has good leadership skills and is an honorable man. This would be a good start to my goals. Turning to Eve, we made brief eye contact and she gave me a nod of confirmation on receiving the mental commands I had given her. She'll straighten out the kinks and deliver it to Raven in case anything happens. I'll also send a drone in later to make sure his family has protection. Times like this I wish the widows were older so I had field agents ready. Relaxing back into my seat I looked up meeting Irene who had a small smile on her visage causing my lips to twitch in annoyance at what I realized just happened.
"...You know, wouldn't it be better to just tell me straight forward what you see and want me to do instead of subtle manipulation?"
"Although that's easy, where is the fun in that? There are just things I can't say in some cases plus, it's always entertaining to see your reactions." I just sighed in annoyance at hearing her statement. I wasn't going to have this similar talk once more with her knowing it would end like last time when I agreed life just won't be as fun if you knew everything. So I just went back to working for a while before Eve interrupted me with an alert.
"Ivy, the targets you were eying finally surfaced once more. I'm sending you the details." Following a ping on my tabs, I quickly perused the information on my display before bursting out in a fit of laughter.
"Finally, they surfaced after all these months. Eve give Nat a heads up that we are going for a quick flight and joyride in the next thirty minutes." Through the surveillance display on the side, I was able to spot her having a quick workout in the training area.
"This would spiral out you know," To Irene's statement I just shrugged in nonchalance because that wasn't my problem.
"I'll deal with it either way but I the opportunity is too good to pass," I replied finally getting off my lazy ass and giving her a quick hug telling her I'll be back soon. Receiving a stay safe in reply, I strode out to get a change of attire. This was going to be a fun surprise getting myself a few super soldiers field agents and bodyguards.