Tony stepped onto his platform, letting metal plates and fabric unspool and wrap around him. Tiny thrusters pushed him into the air, spitting rocket fire from razor-thin openings across the dull grey hard surfaces of his reflective armor.
I whistled. "Looking good, Tony."
"I better," Tony laughed, slowly spreading his arms to better balance himself. "You have no idea how much R&D went into this little side-project." His voice came out filtered and processed through the speakers in his helmet.
"I can believe it," I chuckled. "So those thrusters are as fast as they look?"
"Wanna find out?" he asked, and I smirked.
Reality shimmered and fractured into a frothing whirlpool of blue, and at its center was a window into another place—a small hill overlooking a beach.
"Where is that exactly?" Tony asked, drifting closer.
"California," I answered. "Tons of vegetation to soften the blow for when you lose."
"Oh, you're on, devil boy!"
I shook my head. "Do you actually think you can win?" He knew about Mercury, about the demons, the Kree.
"I just might. If you only use your wings. No extra powers," he said.
"Now that's interesting." I raised a brow. It wasn't surprising that Tony had puzzled out how my powers work. It was fairly common knowledge that most of my strength came from compounding abilities and advantages.
It has technically been months since I've flown without using any technique or boost.
Still, my astral wings scaled off my Angel Energy stat and Dexterity. Considering the leaps Tony had made by studying Nova Corp tech, it might be closer than I thought. I guessed there was only one way to find out.
"Loser owes the winner a free piece of equipment," I said quickly.
"Deal!"
Tony zipped through the portal without warning, and I chased after him. Four incandescent wings of angelic energy burst from my back and stretched to their full size, nearly twenty feet wide.
Tony put up a respectable fight, honestly coming closer to winning than I expected.
He actually shattered the sound barrier in less than twenty seconds, believe it or not, and after we returned to his place, he handed me a small puck.
"Go on," he said, "Try it."
"Uh hello?"
"Hi Dante, my name is Karen, and I'm your personal Artificial Intelligence, designed to assist you in any way you need."
I blinked, looking up at Tony, mouth agape.
"What the fuck?"
Karen was an updated model of Jarvis built with Twilight Vibranium circuitry, designed from the ground up to interact with my brand of enchantments. His hope was that it would make building magitech enchantments moving forward seamless.
The present instantly gave me ideas.
"Oh, I know that l know that look."
"You've got ideas."
"Nothing concrete yet, but Karen certainly has me thinking about the possibilities..."
In return for his gift, I finished his suit per his request, adding a few life-support enchantments, weight regulators, Gravity, Fire, and Ice protocols, and a piece of Devourer biomatter, which was becoming rarer and rarer.
Before I left, I finally made the ask—a suite of combat suits designed to protect and enhance a team of elite fighters who would be storming Limbo.
The idea was to mix and match our strengths so that he could cover all the areas my enchantments didn't quite reach, and vice versa.
Piggybacking off that idea, I went down a separate direction with the armor programs.
AI-driven drones loyal to me. They'd make one hell of a mobile reservoir and backup compatible. They could help me with cooperative magic. Massive spells. Help me fight battles on multiple fronts.
Kind of my own Six Paths of Pain.
My trump cards. My last resort. My big fuck you button that I could happily use against the Asgardians, the Kree, the demons, the Eldritch, and just about anybody else.
I didn't share my vision with Tony for some reason, though I suspected I knew why. I didn't trust him. Or anyone outside of my larger circle. Not really. Not with Lauren snooping around.
Later that day, I swung by Magneto's place and got an update on the Mutant Nation project. He was moving faster than I'd like and had already approached the Island Nations again. Negotiations were starting next week.
He committed the Brotherhood's forces immediately when I told him about the Limbo operation.
It thought it was rather reckless, but then again, I didn't rule them.
—
Mystique's POV
"I don't understand why you're hung up on this," Frog said, his tongue flicking out. "Isn't this what you wanted?"
"I wanted security, strength, stability, not Magneto signing us up for a war we didn't choose," I whispered furiously, eyes darting around the small gathering.
Toad, Pyro, and Sabertooth sat with me around a fire, a psychic inhibitor humming softly between us.
I'd picked one up during the New York catastrophe and brought it back to our camp. We'd repurposed an old children's camp, complete with log cabins, facilities, and other essential amenities, and had remained unchallenged for nearly a month now—likely due to Magneto or Dante's influence.
Hard to tell the difference anymore with the way things were going.
"No part of?" Pyro squinted, looking up from the fire where he'd been conjuring shapes. "He said there are mutants down there—people we're supposed to protect and liberate. Isn't that the point of this club?"
It was hard to miss the bite in Pyro's voice. He hadn't chosen this life. Left to his own devices, he'd rather be a free agent, causing mayhem and lording over humanity with his gifts.
"Yes, but there's so much more we could be doing up here, right now. And don't get me started on their plan for a mutant nation in the middle of nowhere. That'd paint an even bigger target on our backs."
Frog rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Could be the only way out of this without a race war. I don't know if you've been watching the news, but the world is not really feeling us right now. Publicized awakenings, beta-trash terrorizing locals. We're running out of space at the camp. We can't just keep recruiting."
"Still, a nation?" I insisted. "I bet it wasn't even his idea or choice. Erik has been saying yes to that boy since the moment he met him. He pretends like he's just another Charles Xavier he can outsmart or banter with…" I trailed off.
He's the pawn of a sadistic and twisted god, if Wanda was to be believed.
"Don't beat around the bush, Mystique," Sabertooth grumbled. "Speak plainly."
I took a sharp breath. "I think Erik is compromised. Psychically, at the very least. And socially."
Toad made a dismissive noise, and Sabertooth just shook his head. "Wanda would know, and she hates him more than anyone. As for the social thing… You may have a point, but does it matter?"
I blinked, taken aback. "What do you mean? He destroyed your underground network."
Toad waved his hands. "And he replaced it with results. He stopped the mutang registration bill, rescued hundreds of our people, and is marching into hell for them. As far as devils go, he's pretty magnanimous."
"Plus, Magneto has been keeping his word about the upgrades," Pyro said. "He just got his. We might be next in line."
Toad had an amused look on his face, while Sabertooth chuffed.
I shook my head.
"You hear yourselves?" I snapped. "Magnanimous. Upgrades. You sound like the X-Men. We don't have leverage anymore. Dante Sparda can do whatever he wants—to any of us.
"The strongest rules," Sabertooth said. "They always have. We were safe when we were the strongest. Now we aren't. Now, we adapt or die."
"Well said, old friend," Toad said with a twisted smile, eyes flicking toward me. "He gets it. Surprisingly, you don't."
I bit my tongue, a scowl twisting my features. Opportunistic, myopic, fools.
They wouldn't realize the ground was gone until they were already falling.
I stood. "Before you hand over your freedom," I said quietly, meeting each of their eyes, "make sure you can live with the price."
I turned away.
"Because there always is."
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