In Marvel as Dante Chapter 210

Dante's POV

"Overpowered!" Rin crowed, shooting a sidelong look as I stood amid Lauren's dead, bleeding bodies, a small frown on my face. "I wasn't even sure we could win, even after you and Jean lit up."

Sothing about her clones set on edge. "Did you feel their energy levels?"

"It matched the original's," Jean nodded.

"If she was the original," I muttered.

I've seen cloning techniques like this before throughout fiction, all of them with drawbacks except one–the technique that DupliKate had.

It was theoretically limitless, only constrained by the amount of stamina or energy the user had. The clones made would have all of the knowledge, skills, and advantages the original did.

And that ant the next ti I ca face to face with Lauren, she could have a literal army behind her, all as fast, powerful, and smart as she was.

Why she hadn't co with an army from the start was beyond , but I supposed she hadn't needed to. Or maybe she had limits. Though I wouldn't put much stock in that.

Rin was right. Between the three of us, I wasn't even sure we could've taken out all 10 clones, especially if they could all teleport and had dark powers bestowed upon them by Shin.

The Ti Stone probably tipped the scales in my favor, supercharging TI STOP. I barely forced Lauren onto the defensive, but at great risk. If she wished, she could destroy the planet in days.

I was guessing the only thing keeping her hand was the commands of Shin. He was playing the long ga. I massaged my nose bridge, removing my helt. No wonder he was so confident when he offered the deal he did.

I might be strong, but in a real, all-out fight, I was no match for Lauren.

But I suppose that wasn't true anymore, was it? I was about to have two Infinity Stones.

Rin frowned. "We won, right? Why do you have one of your looks?"

"Lauren will not be an easy opponent to defeat," Jean revealed. "Her cloning technique and teleportation make her impossible to pin down, and if her copies are all as strong as the original, then we're all in trouble."

Rin lost so of the color in his cheeks. "Well. I suppose you don't beco an agent of a god without being broken in so way."

"You said it," I muttered, turning my attention to the safe and sending a ntal ssage to Jean and Rin, "this is as good a ti as any to get the Space Stone, before everybody else cos running."

They nodded in agreent. We hadn't exactly planned for this, but I wasn't about to look the gift horse in the mouth. Lauren just saved from a potential relationship-breaking negotiation with the head of Shield. I'd be sure to thank her before I run Kurogiri straight through her.

I closed my eyes and swept the safe with my telekinesis. Titanium body, adamantium fra—strong but not unbreakable. I sent wind and dinsion-shrouded spears into key points, neutralizing locks, and sent the weapons back into my Inventory. Then I pulled out the heavy door, stepped inside past strange artifacts and a tank with a dead Kree. I found a Vibranium box flooding the room with space energy. It humd at a frequency invisible to most. I gingerly levitated it and teleported it away, then appeared beside Jean. She was levitating rubble off Peter, who was unconscious.

She reached out to heal him, but I stopped her. "Allow . There's a technique I've been wanting to test for a while."

Jean gave an appraising look and pulled back. With a deep breath, I drew on Benevolent Touch, a sub-skill of Cosmic Prothean Body. Peter was bathed in a green vitality as the damage began to reverse itself. Wounds nded, bones snapped back into place, and color returned to the bits of his cheek peeking out of his mask.

Lauren did a real number on him. Heat rose in my chest, but I breathed it out. Jean rubbed my back, and I held her hand in appreciation.

The rest of the Avengers had begun to flood into the wreck of SHIELD HQ. And at the edge of my perception, I could sense Captain Arica, Tony Stark, and a few other SHIELD agents making the trip back. The Brotherhood wasn't far behind, though I could find no signs of Pietro. He was still with his sister in Kamar-Taj.

I might need to ask Jean to pop over and heal her. Maybe even finally get her the Extremis and Supersoldier upgrade combo, and maybe even extend that treatnt to the heavy hitters of SHIELD.

If there's one thing this tragedy taught , it's that we had a short supply of capable fighters. I couldn't afford to be stingy with my gift.

Earth needed protection, and if I didn't do it, I feared the extres Fury might go to.

–

I sat across from Fury in a small diner that he'd cleared out for our little impromptu chat. Only the chef and an older waiter remained, who slowly poured us black coffee and set down plates of apple pie.

Fury watched tear two sugar packets and empty them into my steaming cup before I took a deep sip and let out a satisfied sigh. "Thanks, Jody. It's a really good cup."

I heard her heartbeat skip as the woman turned to . "How did you–"

"It's the na tag," I pointed out. "If the coffee is this good, I can only imagine what the pie will taste like."

She gave a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes. "I'll tell Jed you said that. Been a while since we got newcors. Everyone who cos here is used to his miracles."

I chuckled.

"And what about you, Honey?" Need anything?" she asked Fury, who stared at her a touch too long before he spoke.

"Just the check."

She nodded and walked off. I turned to watch her go.

"You should give her a raise. I almost couldn't tell she was SHIELD."

"Undercover work is the bread and butter of any decent operative," Fury said. "Jody has been with us for nearly fifteen years. She's one of the best we have."

"So why is she serving pie?" I asked, then snapped my finger. "Kid or Husband or injury?"

"All three actually," he said, picking up a fork and cutting up a piece of his slice. He chewed slowly. "So, you asked for the eting. I figured there's sothing you want to say?"

I raised a brow. "Straight to business? No accusations about not reading your mind to find the answers, or about the double agent that wiped out a secret SHIELD prison?"

"My blood pressure is high enough as it already is; I don't need to make it worse by yelling at you. Besides, you just shut down the demon's operation worldwide. That has to buy you a normal conversation at a decent volu."

"So, just to be clear, you're still suspicious of ."

"Very," he said. "So?" Fury raised his mug to his lip and took a sip, and I gathered my thoughts.

"I know about your crazy experints with Banner's DNA and the Tesseract."

"And?"

"I think you should stop, or at the very least let fast-track it for you," I said.

Fury blinked, leaning back. "I'm sorry. Co again?"

"For the longest ti, I held off helping you because I was afraid. Afraid of you turning whatever I give you against . Afraid I'd give you the ans to destroy . Afraid of what will happen when you hand the world governnt the ans to print Super Soldiers that'll make Captain Arica look like a toddler."

I was thankful he didn't try to deny it. There was so honesty in that.

Fury took in a sharp breath, his voice lowering so. "What changed?"

"Well. Domina and Enrique happened. Then Lauren. We've only pulled through because I was doing the heavy lifting. You and the X-n helped, but SHIELD is barely keeping up, even though you're the most technically equipped to deal with this. If I had trusted you more, maybe we could've spared ourselves so of the destruction." I looked outside. The street was mostly clear, but it was hard to miss the fractures running through the asphalt. "We could use more heroes, and if that ans empowering the governnt, even in a lesser capacity, then so be it."

"What about those concerns you had earlier?" Fury asked, his single eye narrowing. "I won't let you control my agents like you do your Avengers or the Widows."

"I won't need to," I said, taking a asured sip from my cup. "You've seen what I can accomplish when I go all out. You'll be signing the death warrants of anybody you send after ."

Fury's grip tightened ever so slightly on his mug, and I watched him closely as he chose his next words.

"I can't say I was expecting this," he confessed, "but I won't deny that we need a new team, especially after Armando and Lauren."

"The Universe is a big and scary place," I nodded. "Pays to have protection. So, the ball's in your court. Put together a vetted team. Obviously, we'll need Banner and his lady doctor's help, and any other genius IQ specialist you can spare. Mutants aren't off the table either. If we're making a dream team, then we gotta do it right."

I finally took a bite of my pie and washed it down with Coffee. It wasn't half bad. Fury watched carefully.

"What do you get out of this?"

"Aside from everything I just told you?"

He raised an accusatory brow. We'd shared a transactional relationship so far. It was only right that he suspected I wanted sothing out of it.

"Money obviously. Peace of mind, and a greater care with handling mutants and the enhanced. Locking them down worked when there was a real threat of danger, but now that it has passed, there will be hearings and Lawsuits coming out the Wazoo. You don't want to over-correct and make enemies out of the most powerful faction on earth. Yeah?"

He gave an odd, calculating look.

"I'll keep that in mind."

"All I'm asking." I took another sip. Of course, there was another reason I didn't tell him.

I had to go after the Infinity Stones and couldn't always be around to save the Earth. Telepathy can only go so far. I could very well be half a galaxy away when tragedy strikes. I'd make it a point to touch base on Earth several tis a week, but finding the Soul and Power Stones had to be my primary focus.

Even hunting down Mordo ca secondary. Jean had helpfully agreed to take care of that for . My soul was on the line.

Still, it was a bit surprising that Fury never brought up the Space Stone. He hadn't even been suspicious. I'd checked his mind.

"I can't agree to anything right now," Fury said. "I'll have to bring it to the world council."

"Naturally," I said.

"We'll also have to discuss the enhancents you created," he said. "And Armor."

"It'll cost you swimming pool-sized pits of money."

"The governnt is interested, nevertheless."

I shrugged.

"I'll call to give you the answer in a few days. In the anti, I'd like to debrief you on everything that's happened."

"Of course."

He let out a short sigh and took another bite of pie.

"It's been quite a day."

"That it has," I said. "That it has."