Current Sources of the Protagonist's Abilities:
Laser Vision: Cyclops and Genetic modifications.
Super Breath: Iceman, Storm
Super Strength: Spider-man, Jessica Jones, Super Soldier Serum
Super Reflexes: Daredevil, Spider-Man
Super Regeneration: Wolverine
Super Speed: Jessica Jones
Super Durability: Jessica Jones
Flight: Jessica Jones
Special Powers: Power of the Dragon Shou-Lao, Meditation Technique
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Start of the chapter!
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Nolan ended his Hyper Breath. The roaring winds faded. The towering cyclone dissolved into the sky. Dark clouds scattered, and sunlight broke through, painting Nolan in a radiant glow like a god descending to Earth.
Behind him, Aleksei and Max stood frozen in awe.
"Some of your lung cells have rejected the healing factor due to interference from the electric-charged cells," Nolan murmured, slipping into a deep meditative state. "Regeneration in that area has weakened."
Max's electric cells were fiercely exclusive unlike the flexible coexistence seen in mutant X-genes. These cells demanded complete dominance. Any other power source disrupted the delicate bioelectrical balance.
But to Nolan, it was barely an inconvenience. Anyone strong enough to penetrate his defense, bypass his enhanced physiology, resist his constant regeneration, and still damage his lung tissue? That kind of opponent was rare. The minor reduction in healing ability was functionally irrelevant.
"Boss, what the hell was that just now?!" Max blurted, still breathless.
He'd felt that the storm Nolan unleashed could've swept entire buildings into the sky. Max knew if he had been caught in it, he wouldn't have even stayed on the ground.
"Just testing a little technique," Nolan replied nonchalantly.
His sheer physical strength allowed him to generate a magnetic field far greater than most. Combined with his mastery of focused meditation and energy control, his body was a finely tuned force of nature.
That single outburst rivaled Storm's best efforts. She needed time to charge her abilities her neural magnetic field amplified by thought and concentration. Without practice, it took time.
But Nolan? He just adjusted his breathing, accelerated with his monstrous speed, and let out a single burst of air. A point-blank atmospheric kill shot.
"Just a technique…"
Max went quiet. He thought being able to control electricity was cool until his boss casually altered the weather like a walking natural disaster.
To Nolan, though, it was just another step in his evolution. Max hadn't seen the training, the experiments, the months of painful refinement it took to earn that power.
"So… why are you two up here?" Nolan asked, amused.
"Uh… just catching the breeze," Max said awkwardly.
"Second boss said to check out the rooftop," Aleksei added.
The two spoke in unison. Aleksei gave Max a sideways glance wasn't the plan just to look around?
Nolan chuckled. Max must've seen him ascend and assumed there was danger. "Relax. No enemies. If something serious happens, I'll call for you. Oh, and Max Otto's building you a multi-source power core."
"You mean… I won't need to find an outlet every time I fight?"
"Exactly."
Max exhaled, visibly relieved. That was a huge deal. He always had to be fully charged before combat. If a fight dragged on and he ran out of energy, he'd become just an ordinary man. Worse—his own electric attacks slightly drained him with every use.
Now Nolan had already solved it.
"If I could just get access to Tony's arc reactor tech… even a glimpse of that synthetic element, I could replicate near-limitless energy," Nolan mused aloud.
Max blinked. "Huh?"
Nolan was referring to the element Tony Stark synthesized an isomorphic derivative of residual Space Stone radiation. It cured his palladium poisoning and powered the second-generation arc reactor.
Nolan already knew its atomic structure. Howard Stark had encoded it into the blueprint of the original Stark Expo layout as a riddle for his son.
After Tony solved it, he redesigned the entire complex and erased all old schematics from public records. Not even photos remained online.
"Want me to break in?" Max offered.
"No need. Stark's not someone to cross lightly."
If Electro got caught sneaking around Stark Tower, Tony would figure out his weaknesses in minutes.
"Got it."
The three of them reached the elevator just as Norman called in.
"Boss, the X-Men are here. Wolverine, Professor X, Magneto, and Beast."
Nolan's personal copy of the mutant genome archive painstakingly assembled during his experiments with X-genes contained detailed profiles of all known mutants. Powers. Traits. Battle data.
"I'll be right there."
The big game required big bait. His display of power had clearly rattled the right nerves.
But Norman wasn't finished. "Iron Man showed up, too."
"…Tony?"
That was unexpected.
Then again, Tony's intel network would've uncovered recent events quickly. He was probably acting independently by now split from Cap's faction.
If they'd already had a falling out, that was even better.
"Have them all wait in the conference room," Nolan ordered.
He hung up and summoned Otto. "Bring the prototype gear. We're not assuming these 'senior mutants' are harmless."
Even if it was just a chat he came prepared.
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Inside the Osborn Tower conference room:
"Mr. Osborn, is Dr. Nolan here yet?" Tony asked, adjusting his collar.
"He'll be here shortly."
"Right…"
Tony shifted uncomfortably. Across from him sat three mutants and one very large beast.
Literally.
Beast sat calmly, blue fur flowing, glasses perched on his nose, observing Tony like a science experiment.
Professor X smiled politely. He knew all about Tony even if they'd never met. Charles had been active since World War II. Of course, he knew Howard's son.
Tony felt a chill. The bald man was giving him a strange look way too familiar.
"Mr. Stark," Charles said with a chuckle, "your thoughts are… impolite."
Though Charles hadn't fully regained his telepathic strength, catching the surface thoughts of someone like Tony wasn't hard.
"You—! You're a mind reader?"
Before Tony could finish, Charles and Erik both turned to the door.
"He's here," they said simultaneously.
Charles sensed a massive psychic force approaching. Magneto, a titanic biological magnetic field.
They didn't know the how only that whoever was coming…
…wasn't human.
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