Random art
Dante jumped over the last platform with Felicia clinging to his back. Her arms wrapped around his neck, thighs locked at his waist. She was still in peak condition after the enhancements he had made to her body, more than capable of scaling this elevator shaft with her grappling hook. "A cat's gotta save energy" was her excuse to hitch a ride on his back. She probably needed some comforting warmth after 'abandoning' her father.
He didn't mind, honestly, even if the softness distracted him from time to time. The contact felt comforting after the tension-filled heist. Having someone trust him enough to cling to his back while they were hundreds of feet in the air wasn't a small thing.
When they reached the top, he saw Ava sitting cross-legged nearby in her white tiger suit. Her mystical suit was a bizarre contrast with her casual posture as she scrolled through her phone like a bored teenager killing time.
"That's her suit," Felicia whispered in awe. "Can I please steal it?"
Dante held back a laugh. "Only if you want to be cursed by the Tiger God."
"Hmm." Felicia's tone turned thoughtful. "I don't like white anyway. Easy to spot and easy to stain. Get me the Black Tiger suit instead."
"It's yours if I ever find one."
"Full of strange power." Venom's thoughts reached him, full of curiosity. "She'll make a fine host."
"Better than me?"
"Impossible." There was a deep fervor in Venom's tone. It was a far cry from the hostilie creature that had tried to possess him in the lab. "Your strength… extraordinary."
The symbiote wasn't lying or kissing his ass. It genuinely believed Dante was beyond anything it had ever encountered, which was satisfying and deeply unsettling at the same time.
Suddenly, Ava's head snapped up. Her mask's eye lenses narrowed to slits. "Who's there?"
Dante had to give her credit for sensing their presence by the faint air displacement caused by the force field's movement. She was always paying attention to her surroundings even when she looked relaxed. Such an instinctual awareness wasn't just achieved from her amulet; it came from living around knives and bullets long enough to expect them.
He loosened his grip on Felicia's thighs. She slid down his back and dropped silently to the floor. A quick thought dispelled the force field.
"Ava."
"Dante!" Her voice carried genuine surprise, then her lenses tracked to Felicia. "Felicia too. What were you both doing down there?"
The question was casual, but Dante could hear the underlying suspicion. Ava wasn't dumb. She knew something was going on between him and Felicia, and she wasn't going to just let it slide unless Silvija told her off.
"Just taking a quick tour of the facility," he answered vaguely since explaining everything would take too much time. "What's the status of our defense?"
Ava stared at him, wondering if she really heard the authoritative tone of a Vice-Commander, not the relaxed and composed tone of her sister's boyfriend.
She was weighing whether to push him for an answer or let it go.
With a sigh, she made her decision. "A lot of stuff happened, but we killed the enemy leader—Nobu. The rest retreated."
The news made him relieved. Nobu's death meant the Hand's assault was as good as done.
Ava stepped straight into his path and folded her arms. "Your turn. What are you hiding—" She paused as her lenses widened. "Why is your nose bleeding?!"
Dante blinked. He had forgotten about the nosebleed side effect of overusing Sue Storm's force field. The strain had been manageable, but his body was still paying the price.
He switched to Elixir's Resonance Link. Warmth flared inside his skull as the damaged vessels sealed and inflamed tissue calmed. The bleeding stopped, but the dried blood didn't magically vanish from his face.
He held out a hand to Felicia, but she closed his fingers in a fist.
"Where is it?"
She gave him a blank look, playing innocent. "Where's what?"
"What would I need to wipe this blood?"
"Oh, that." She shrugged, utterly shameless. "I threw it away."
"Felicia…"
"I'm not keeping a bloody cloth in my bag, alright." Her voice carried the usual defensiveness. She knew he had a point but refused to admit it. "It was gross."
"Fair." He gestured helplessly at his nose. "So what do I do about this?"
"Wipe it on your jacket or something," she said with a cheeky wink. "I'd offer mine if I wasn't wearing this sexy suit."
Ava tugged at the amulet around her neck, triggering her transformation in reverse. The white tiger suit dissolved, leaving her in casual clothes—a black longcoat over a white top paired with simple jeans. She looked younger in casual getup, less like a veteran warrior and more like the college student she technically still was.
She reached into her coat pocket, pulled out a neatly folded handkerchief, and shoved it against his chest.
"Thanks, I guess?" He took it, wiping the blood. It felt strange to have Ava offer something despite clearly being annoyed with him.
She crossed her arms again, the inquisitive glare back in place. The message in her posture was clear: 'we are not done talking.'
"I'll tell you everything later." He decided to throw out a bait to keep her away. "I'll also make you stronger. Part of our deal, remember?"
The aggression in her posture softened. Her eyes became fierce with ambition. "You better not be lying."
"How can I do such a thing to my lovely sister-in-law?"
A faint blush creeped across her cheeks before she scowled and looked away. "As if Sis is gonna marry you. You'll just be her first boyfriend."
Dante swallowed the urge to casually drop the bomb about Silvija wanting to have his child—not just date him—it could wait. Later, when he had time to properly relish Ava's meltdown.
Felicia pinched his ass, twisting the firm flesh hard enough to hurt. He barely managed not to yelp in pain.
"You had fun with mine too," she reminded him sweetly as her fingers caressed his backside. "Let's get going, Darling."
He tucked her handkerchief in his pocket. "See you later, Ava."
***
Dante didn't bother calling Silvija. He didn't have to. His enhanced hearing picked up the growl of her bike before he spotted her tearing through the zone like she missed an important appointment.
He glanced at Felicia, a grin tugging at his mouth. "Wanna see who reaches her first?"
"You're challenging me in speed? I guess you forgot how explosive my Pounce is."
He hadn't forgotten. If anything, he had been counting on it to make the race interesting. The gene trait he had unlocked in her—Pounce—had taken her already impressive agility and turbocharged it. The ability to cross ten-plus meters in a blink made her quite smug.
"That's why I'm challenging you. Easy victories aren't for me."
Felicia grabbed her duffel and casually hurled it at the first-floor window. The bag slipped cleanly through the opening without her even watching it land. "Alright, Gambler. What are we betting?"
"If I win, you'll try to be friends with Silvija."
Felicia had the habit of putting on the flirtatious, seductive mask, while Silvija was guilty of putting on the stoic, cold mask around everyone.
Underneath, though, both women were cut from the same cloth. Loyal to a fault and viciously protective. Both were willing to do anything—steal, kill, bleed—if it meant keeping their people safe. Strip away the rivalry about him, and they would probably get along disgustingly well.
"I'll try because you asked, Darling." Her tone softened at the edges before she covered it with a laugh. "As for my prize… I'll choose after we free my dad."
"No way. What if you ask for something ridiculous?"
She winked charmingly. "I know my limits. You should know that by now."
Felicia exploded forward in a blur, Pounce hurling her ahead. Dante pushed solar radiation into his muscles and sprinted after her. The world narrowed to the thud of his boots and the rhythm of her flashing figure as she kept blinking ahead.
She "teleported" again, another burst flinging her forward. She glanced back over her shoulder mid-stride and flashed him a mocking grin. "You're embarrassing Death with that mediocre performance, Sweetheart!"
He snorted and dragged his attention ahead. Piotr's towering steel form stood in the distance, maybe two hundred meters out.
"I should get serious."
He cranked his solar output to triple, power flooding his limbs. The ground vanished under his feet in longer, heavier strides. Within seconds, he sped past Felicia with only a hundred meters more to Piotr's back.
A quick glance back told him exactly stopped Felicia from catching up with him.
Her jaw clenched tight, sweat beading and sliding down her temple as she drove her legs forward on sheer stubbornness. Her rough state explained why she wasn't using her ability anymore. Still, she refused to slow down or give up the race.
'I should let her have it.'
Winning would be easy if he kept this pace. Felicia was trying too hard to not be rewarded. Besides, forcing her closer to Silvija by dangling victory in front of her was a stupid way to handle people he cared about.
Letting things grow naturally would be smoother for everyone.
That thought felt like a justification and a decision all at once.
He slowed down, then bent forward with his hands on his knees, sucking in exaggerated breaths like he had hit his limit. Felicia blasted past him in one final Pounce, closing the last ten meters to Piotr in a blur of black and white.
"I won!" she shouted, throwing both fists in the air. She would've gotten anything if not for the separate force field concealing her. She spun on her heel to face him with a pure joy on her face. "You lost."
He answered with a quiet thumbs-up, still hunched and "gasping."
She walked back slowly, eyes fixed on his face. Then she crossed her arms. "Stop pretending. I know you lost on purpose."
"What? I gave my hundred and ten percent—"
"You literally have the power to modify your body. As if someone like you will be 'out of breath'."
"..."
"Reading people is one of the necessary skills to be a legendary thief." She stepped closer as her eyes softened. "Thanks, though. I'll make real good use of the prize."
***
A cloth draped over someone's butchered remains. Psylocke stood a short distance away with her katana held low, posture loose but ready. The blood still wet on the blade told the rest of the story.
'Nobu. Has to be.'
Piotr was the second thing Dante noticed, standing in his full Colossus form, his organic steel body scored with claw marks. Some were shallow scratches, and plenty dug deep enough to gouge the metal. The reason for his damage sprawled on the ground nearby, soaked in blood from head to boots. Dante might have called Logan dead if he hadn't caught the almost invisible rise and fall of his chest. Of course the bastard was still breathing. Logan had survived worse than a brawl with Colossus.
Even Logan's presence wasn't the strangest thing here.
The most shocking sight was Emma Frost and Silvija Sablinova standing face-to-face, shaking hands. And Silvija was smiling. Not the tight, calculated smile used during negotiations, but a real friendly smile.
'Wow.'
He could guess the reason for Silvija's friendliness. Emma had arrived while he was underground playing symbiote thief, and she had kept the situation from spiraling into total disaster. She must have. Otherwise, Silvija wouldn't be showing this kind of warmth to a woman who had threatened her operation less than a week ago.
'It all ended well.'
Now they just had to make sure no symbiote left the facility, something Norman would fight tooth and nail to prevent unless he wanted the world knowing Oscorp was responsible for releasing alien parasites on New York.
Then he would crash in the bed for ten hours for some sweet, sweet sleep, preferably with his lover in his arms.
His calm expression shifted when the wind suddenly howled. Rotor blades chopped violently through the low clouds as a black helicopter descended. The SHIELD's eagle symbol on its slick body made him groan.
'Of course. No rest for the wicked.'
The chopper stabilized around fifty feet up, side door sliding open.
A rope dropped first, swinging lazily for a moment before a woman seized it and slid down. She hit the ground in the classic superhero pose. Her red hair flipped back over her shoulder as she lifted her gaze.
Her face was striking in a way that transcended simple beauty. High cheekbones carved elegant angles that made her look carved from marble. Soft enough to disarm, yet cold and professional enough to intimidate. A face fitting for an agent trained for espionage, seduction, and assassination.
He had seen her distinct features a thousand times in another life, on movie screens and posters, but never like this in front of him.
Scarlett Johansson.
Which meant—
'Natasha Romanoff. The Black Widow.'
In the MCU timeline, she should still be trying to prove her loyalty to SHIELD in 2008 by assassinating Dreykov. In this timeline, though, things had clearly gone differently.
Another figure appeared at the open helicopter door. This one didn't bother with the rope. She just stepped out into empty air and landed in a perfect crouch beside Natasha.
When she stood, Dante got a clear look.
Black hair framed a pale face, her sharp eyes taking in the battlefield. A dark, sleeveless vest hugged her torso and black fitting pants were tucked into combat boots. Every piece of her gear was built for speed and aggression, not for defense or protection.
She crossed her arms in an X, her fists half-closed. Two adamantium claws slid out, each one shorter than Logan.
'X-23.'
SHIELD must have detected two powerful mutants going all-out and sent their most efficient killing machine to handle cleanup. Still, pairing X-23 with Black Widow felt odd since Natasha was far better suited for espionage and infiltration than frontline combat.
His confusion evaporated in the next moment.
Natasha's face fractured. Glowing ember lines split her skin as liquid flame bled from her eyes. In seconds, her face was gone, replaced by a skull wreathed in red-orange flame.
The chain around her arm came alive as flames raced along its length.
Dante's eyes widened.
'Natasha is a Ghost Rider?'
She had somehow made a contract with a Spirit of Vengeance. This was a bigger shock than Piotr joining the Wild Pack or Gwen becoming Ghost Spider without Peter Parker existing yet. This Natasha was easily one of the most dangerous beings on the planet. He wasn't even sure his Death Resonance Link would work on the Ghost Rider; spirits of vengeance existed outside the natural life-and-death cycle. He could try to sever Natasha's life.
'Maybe my side will end it without a fight.'
She flexed her fingers and slammed the burning chain into the ground. "I'll take the telepaths. You tear up the steel giant."
Psylocke summoned a glowing psychic blade in her left hand, keeping her katana ready in her right. Her eyes tracked Natasha's flaming skull. "A dangerous Youkai."
Dante's tense mood disappeared when he saw Psylocke acting exactly like Sai from Marvel Rivals—the alternate version of Psylocke who classified every non-human entity as a Youkai.
Piotr stepped up beside her, rolling his massive steel shoulders until his neck popped with a grinding crunch. He slammed one fist into his open palm with a solid thunk.
"I'm a little dented, Comrades, but we still have more pieces on the board than they do."
Silvija's hands drifted toward her holstered Glocks, fingers brushing the grips. She didn't draw them yet, but the message was clear: she was ready to throw down alongside her team if SHIELD pushed.
'Silvija too. Okay, maybe Emma will be the voice of reason here.'
Emma Frost was the most pragmatic, level-headed person here. Surely she would recognize the insanity of picking a fight with a Ghost Rider and X-23. Colossus was injured, Psylocke and Emma's telepathy were useless against Ghost Rider, and Silvija's bullets would barely tickle both superhumans.
Emma showed a look of annoyance. "Another skullface immune to my telepathy. What a day to be alive."
There was no panic in her tone, just deep, exhausted annoyance. She seemed tired of facing people who were immune to her power. Considering how her Diamond Form came to be, telepathy was her only power at the moment.
Dante let out a sigh. Despite their different origins, loyalties, and incompatible personalities, they stood on the same side, ready to throw hands with a government agency. As the man who had brought them all together, he couldn't have been prouder. But still—
'What happened to solving arguments without violence?!'
***
You can read 20 more chapters on my Patreon!
Patreon.com/Lordheaven