(⌒▽⌒)☞☜(⌒▽⌒)
===================
Embarrassment. That was Daisy's first reaction upon seeing the mess on the desk. What were all these messy things? Various reports, financial stamps, and documents. If someone didn't know better, they'd think she was an accountant! The only thing that she thought was alright on her desk was a selfie of Hill and herself in a frame.
Picking up one document, she remembered it vividly. It was a procurement plan for pressure relief valves, priced at $8,000 each, and she was prepared to report a price of $12,000...
The materials involved in the arc reactor were numerous. The one she made for Obediah was all about outsourcing both labor and materials, leaving her with few options where she could launder. In the end, she could only take away one finished product.
But it was completely different on SHIELD's side. Procurement, design, construction—all of it was her responsibility. The more intermediaries involved, the greater her involvement, and the more benefits she would reap.
Thoughts during the day turned into dreams at night. Some things she subconsciously contemplated during the day were now automatically projected into the mental world.
"What am I even doing? Working during the day, and even working in my sleep? I'm practically a model laborer for SHIELD!" Daisy scoffed at herself, watching as Dark Jean continued her performance. She then picked up various documents from the desk and started calculating.
"My previous estimate was too conservative. In fact, the quality of pressure relief valves varies. To reassure users, we tell them we're using the most expensive ones, but these valves from Andy Corp are also usable..." She calculated quickly on the paper, nodding as she did.
"We can also reduce the output power to make the equipment run smoother, so we can reduce the number of pressure relief valves by a fifth without affecting performance!"
For each valve, she estimated she could earn $6,000 herself. Satisfied!
She was working overtime in her mental world when Dark Jean herself got something on her nerves and was gradually drawn to someone who was focused on their work. She walked over, curious, and watched for a while but couldn't understand what she were doing.
"What are you doing?" Dark Jean asked Daisy from afar.
Seeing the other standing at the edge of her mental world, just one step away from entering, Daisy's heart suddenly tightened.
Dark Jean wanted to take another step, but the part of her original personality that was kind prevented her from doing so. Otherwise, relying on the power of the Phoenix, it would be completely possible. In the eyes of the phoenix, Daisy's mental barriers seemed nonexistent.
Daisy remained cautious, but Dark Jean didn't notice anything unusual, or perhaps didn't care.
After circling around, Dark Jean looked at Daisy's "work results." Even with Jean's memories as a reference, she still couldn't understand what Daisy was doing. Was she practicing arithmetic?
"What are you doing?" Dark Jean asked again, like a curious young girl.
"Work."
"What kind of work?"
"Um, a redistribution of wealth, or you can call it plunder of capital." Daisy didn't have much financial knowledge, so she made up nonsense.
Hearing "plundering," Dark Jean's eyes lit up. Killing, destruction, burning—these words were in line with her thoughts. Plundering seemed to be the same kind of vocabulary?
"How do you plunder? What's the process? Is it rebuilding on the basis of destruction?" Dark Jean's questions came one after another.
Daisy thought for a moment and said uncertainly, "You can think of it as rebuilding after destruction, but I prefer to call it an adjustment in social structure."
"That's how I see it..." Seeing Dark Jean's strong curiosity, Daisy didn't mind making up some nonsense. She thought the other couldn't harm her in her mind, but with the wrong judgment, she pushed the whole situation forward, turning this into a completely different outcome.
In a place she couldn't see, the rate of wall crumbling began to slow down, and the flames that were supposed to burn everything stopped their erosion. The power that was repairing finally maintained balance for the first time.
Daisy was completely unaware of all this. The small house between existence and non-existence surpassed her understanding. The human brain couldn't receive such supernatural messages across dimensions.
So, when she woke up, she completely forgot all about it. What excited her was that her mental power had increased slightly.
It's worth noting that humans have no way to develop mental powers. Several mutants with mental abilities gained them after the mutation, and whatever they had before, their total mental power remained the same until death.
This total varied with physical condition but didn't change much macroscopically. It could be said that the value was very stable, and significant increases or decreases were unlikely to occur easily.
Daisy woke up feeling a bit confused. However, she classified the slight abnormality as a natural growth under the stimulation of three days without sleep. After all, this kind of plot was quite common in novels!
"You seem different today," Sharon observed, watching her closely as they ate at headquarters.
"Where did I change?" Daisy gently put a piece of bread into her mouth and took a bite.
"Your demeanor."
"Has it improved or worsened?"
"It can't be described as good or bad. I feel you're more ladylike now; you were a bit wild before." Sharon felt it was her duty as a friend to remind her.
Seeing Daisy's disbelief, Sharon took out her phone and opened a video, "Look, this is how you used to eat, and now? Keep it up, I know you can do better!"
Daisy forcefully deleted the video from Sharon's phone. How could Sharon dare to keep her embarrassing history? Eating more was because her body was hungry, so it looked a bit unsightly. What was the big deal?
After finishing her meal and changing into her work clothes, she went back to supervise her subordinates in making the reactor.
On the other side, Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters.
When Jean woke up, she also felt something different. Her body felt a bit lighter, albeit only slightly, but she could sense it.
The shackles tightening around her neck seemed to pause in their descent into the abyss.
Unable to confide in others and seeing her situation deteriorate day by day, the pressure on Jean was simply unbearable. Keeping her distance from everyone was the only thing she could do.
But when she woke up this morning, she did feel something different.
Her mastery of mental power far surpassed Daisy's, but in the eyes of the phoenix, there was no difference between them.
Long-lasting nightmares made her resist dreams from the depths of her heart. She simply didn't want to recall what had happened in them.
Jean, who repaired the cracks in the mental world every night also didn't remember anything that happened in the unknown space.
She took a simple shower, changed her clothes, and walked out of the room feeling a bit jumpy.
Perhaps it was her parents in heaven or God's mercy, but she felt a little relieved today? The burden was still heavy, but today there was something different at work. She felt inexplicably happy.
Jean exuded a vibrant energy all over her body. She smiled and greeted a few students, then ran into Storm.
===================
(⌒▽⌒)☞ Send Power Stones and comment if you like the fic ☜(⌒▽⌒)
If you want to support:- https://ko-fi.com/daoistyuri