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*****
The woman who walked in was strikingly elegant, wearing a white floral dress with a small matching handbag. Phinney caught a faint scent of expensive perfume; she was meticulously put together from head to toe.
Seeing her, Phinney was slightly surprised. He hadn't expected her to drop by so coincidentally.
"Who told you to come in?"
Calvin Johnson asked, his voice thick with suppressed rage. If he weren't terrified of exploding in front of his daughter, he would have been screaming by now.
"I went to your house and couldn't find you!"
Raina glanced cautiously between Calvin, Phinney, and Skye. She possessed a keen intuition for social shifts and immediately sensed the atmosphere was "off." She quickly added, "I'll just head out then. I can come back later tonight."
"Wait a minute!"
The one who stopped her wasn't Calvin, but Phinney.
"You're Raina, right?" Phinney stepped forward, studying her with interest.
"And you are?" Raina looked at Phinney, certain they had never met. She had an eye for talent and beauty; if she had seen someone as striking as Phinney before, she wouldn't have forgotten him.
Phinney skipped the introductions and went straight to the point. "Do you know anything about Aldrich Killian?"
Raina's expression flickered. She instinctively looked toward Calvin. Her "job" under Calvin's direction involved investigating the Obelisk, super-powered individuals, and a specific missing girl.
Looking at Skye standing next to Calvin, a realization began to dawn in Raina's mind.
"Answer whatever he asks!" Calvin barked when he saw her hesitating. Raina was a pawn he had groomed; because his own chemical instability made field investigations difficult, he had adopted her as a child when he recognized her potential for manipulation and observation.
Raina turned back to Phinney, her gaze now tinged with curiosity. She shook her head and said softly, "Their labs are incredibly secretive. I know he's the head of Advanced Idea Mechanics, but I've never actually met the man."
"I see." Phinney nodded. It was a casual inquiry, so he wasn't disappointed.
From his intel, he knew Raina was currently embedded in the Centipede serum research tracks, while Killian focused on Extremis. Though the two projects shared some DNA and cooperation, their specific progress and personnel were distinct.
Phinney lost interest in Raina's current job. While she wasn't a "villain" in the traditional sense, she was far from innocent—a master manipulator who knew exactly how to play on human desires.
Seeing Phinney was done, Calvin looked at Raina and said firmly, "You don't need to come looking for me anymore. And that 'investigation'? Consider it closed."
Raina's shoulders trembled slightly. She took two steps forward, looking at Skye, and asked Calvin, "You found her? This is your daughter?"
"Yes." Calvin's voice softened as he looked at Skye, but it turned cold again as he addressed Raina. "From now on, you're free. Go do whatever you want."
"But you told me... you told me your daughter and I had a special gift," Raina whispered. Having survived in the shadows of HYDRA for so long, she knew the world was far stranger than most people realized. Especially after the recent alien invasion of New York, she craved to be something more than ordinary.
Skye looked at Raina in surprise, then turned to Phinney with a questioning gaze.
"She's a bit different," Phinney said casually, speaking as if Raina weren't standing right there. "Her genetic compatibility isn't as clean as yours. If she awakens, the results might be... unpleasant."
"Who are you?" Raina felt a surge of indignation at Phinney's dismissal. However, years of fearing Calvin kept her from lashing out. She wanted to know exactly what Phinney meant.
"You mean she's like me? She has that power inside her?" Skye asked, her trust in Phinney making her look at Raina with newfound interest.
Even Calvin was surprised. He'd already heard Skye's account of how Phinney helped her awaken her vibrational powers, so he knew Phinney's words carried weight.
"You... you succeeded!?" Raina gasped. She rushed toward Skye, her voice trembling with excitement. "How did you do it? What power did you get?"
"Uh..." Skye was startled by Raina's sudden intensity and took a step back.
This minor movement sent Calvin into a protective frenzy. "Raina!" he roared.
The shout immediately cowed her. Raina stood frozen, looking small and vulnerable.
Phinney looked at her—the woman who looked so "pathetic" now but would eventually become a major player—and asked, "Do you really want to awaken the power inside you?"
"You have a way?" Raina looked up, her eyes wide with hope.
"I do. But you heard what I said. Your genetics are 'noisy.' Gaining that power requires a heavy price."
Phinney didn't mind helping. He was planning to visit the Inhuman sanctuary anyway, and there would be plenty of Terrigen crystals there. Using one on Raina wouldn't be much trouble. He viewed it as an experiment: he wanted to see if her precognition could actually bypass the system's "future-shield."
"What price?" Raina asked, her eyes darting toward Skye.
"Don't look at her. She's a case of perfect compatibility," Phinney said, rolling his eyes. He wanted to make the stakes clear so she wouldn't come back and try to kill him later for "ruining" her.
Raina looked at Skye with a trace of envy. She took a deep breath. "What is the price?"
"Are you familiar with porcupines?" Phinney asked, trying to recall the details of her transformation.
"Yes?" Raina nodded, confused.
"After you awaken, your body might mutate. You might grow quills all over your skin, like a porcupine. In exchange, however, you'll gain the power to see the future."
Phinney laid out the defect and the ability. Whether to proceed was entirely up to her. If she walked away, he lost nothing; he didn't hold much hope that her visions could pierce through his system's protection anyway. If it were that easy, the Space Stone wouldn't have accidentally dumped him at the Soul Stone's doorstep.
Raina fell into a daze. On one hand, she craved transcendence and extraordinary power. On the other hand, for a woman who clearly valued her beauty, the idea of becoming a quill-covered mutant was a waking nightmare.
"Awakening can cause mutations?" Skye shivered, remembering her own brief time encased in stone. She grabbed Phinney's arm. "Phinney, I won't suddenly grow spikes, will I?"
"Relax, you're fine." Phinney looked at Skye. She had undergone her transformation under the watchful eye of the Ancient One; the process was as stable as it could get. If she were going to mutate, it would have happened months ago.
"Why?" Raina came back to her senses, looking at Skye then at Phinney. "Why is she perfectly fine while I...?"
"Phew." Phinney sighed. He knew she'd ask. "It comes down to why that power is in your blood in the first place."
"Your 'gift' is actually an ancient alien genetic marker. And with genetics, some lines are simply cleaner than others. Don't blame me; it's just your biological reality."
Phinney looked Raina in the eye. "And remember, the choice to take that power is yours. If you're not willing to pay the price, no one is going to force you."
(End of Chapter)