Soon, a full dossier on Leon Ragnell was on General Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross's desk.
A ghost identity.
Tony Stark had pulled strings to square away his paperwork.
But that wasn't the weird part.
From his speech and habits, Leon should've been from a certain Eastern superpower—yet after a deep dig, they found… nothing. No records at all.
Relative to this world, he was a complete ghost.
Then Ross received even more detailed intel.
They'd even gotten hold of Leon's cells.
S.H.I.E.L.D. had recovered a sample—but Leon's cells didn't die. They began reproducing. Dividing.
The more energy present, the faster the reproduction and division.
After careful study, Ross made a thrilling discovery: the cells could absorb external energy—
—but only if it was gentle.
Too violent, and the cells rejected the energy outright.
Second, the more energy they absorbed…
…the tougher the cells became.
If they could fully implant such cells—crack the DNA—then they could mass-produce humanoid weapons.
Which meant—
For Ross, the next question was how to capture Leon.
One thing was certain:
Leon was very strong.
This would require careful planning.
"Maybe we should test his limits," Ross rubbed his chin, eyes drifting to another monitor—the Hulk.
They already had Leon's cells here, self-replicating in culture.
Why not see how strong Leon truly was?
"Release the Abomination. And find a way to lead the Hulk to Leon. I want to know exactly how strong this Leon really is," Ross ordered.
…
Multiform.
Leon swept his arms outward; his body split into four.
He frowned.
All four were him—same mind, just three extra vantage points. But there was a snag:
Their power felt heavily diluted.
Right now, his battle power was 20,000.
A quarter each—
That was 5,000 per body.
Not even up to Nappa, he thought.
The view broadened; the soul stayed unified.
Unlike the original version, he didn't snap back into one body the instant a clone got hit.
But the power loss was real.
He hadn't reached Cell's level yet.
Leon wasn't in a rush.
What was his power now, really?
Cell was fighting at Super Saiyan 2-tier back then.
…
Leon was in a good mood. He took Natasha Romanoff out shopping.
Genetically speaking, maybe he was a monster. But Leon still felt human—normal wants, normal desires.
Natasha leaned against him.
Mixed feelings churned in her chest.
Over this stretch of time she'd adapted to Leon's presence—maybe even… looked forward to their nights.
S.H.I.E.L.D. had no new assignment; her current brief was to stay close to Leon. And in this time, she'd had a real taste of the lavish life of a billionaire's "heiress."
Money flowed; people competed to wait on her.
Not long ago, Leon brewed a new serum and injected it into Natasha—
—boosting her combat strength from 35 to 80.
Speed and power surged.
It wasn't harvested from Leon's genome; it was a Dragon Ball–world enhancement profile.
Great power needs a body that can handle it.
Android 17 and 18 had engineered bodies to harness the output of their infinite-energy reactors—gene-level changes were part of that.
Leon's serum for the Marvel world was only a basic version.
Higher tiers would come later.
But with current production constraints, the higher-end stuff wasn't feasible yet.
Natasha suspected Leon knew her true identity—and was pretending not to. She knew he was pretending; he knew she knew he was pretending.
Well…
For now, she'd enjoy this life.
At least, he was… very capable in that department. And he treated her well.
She wore couture today—a vivid red that traced out a perfect silhouette.
Leon admitted: he wanted to take her right then and there.
But in public?
Yeah—maybe not.
ROAR!
A terrible bellow split the air.
Leon blinked—then an olive-green giant loomed into view.
"The Hulk?" he murmured—then corrected himself, "Not Hulk. Abomination."
Abomination saw Leon and grinned, feral. "Leon!"
Leon's brow knit. "You know me."
Whump!
In an instant, Abomination's fist thundered at his face.
Snap!
Leon caught it one-handed—but the shockwave still shattered glass up and down the block.
"C'mon—" Leon sighed. "You're kinda weak."
(End of Chapter)
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