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….
In short, as the Prof promised, there were no problems with Dr. Grey. Though what problems could there be? We both knew perfectly well the girl wouldn't have any complaints, and my "request for help" was just a tribute to politeness and a notification of intentions, as always, clad in a semi-joking form.
Cyclops, naturally, didn't object either. To get rid of the glasses that he was sick to death of, or the cumbersome "combat visor," he was ready for sacrifices much more serious than a simple head shaving and roleplaying a bowling ball.
But honestly… Logan would have appreciated a bald Scott, especially with a strip of runic script on his skull…
Huh? What? Why the camera? It's a scientific study, we need to record the progress of the experiment! Where did the Hitler mustache and then the Cossack forelock come from on Cyclops's photo?
That's all your primitive Earth equipment! It has such terrible glitches when capturing an image, just terrible… Do you really not believe me? No? Strange…
But the creative streak of a humble God did not live by Scott Summers alone. I got carried away. I understood this myself, but I couldn't stop my playful hands.
And frankly, I didn't want to. It wasn't hard for me, and the kids were genuinely happy, so why not?
Take Pyro, for example. The guy could control fire and amplify it quite well, blowing a candle flame up to the level of a jet flamethrower was no problem for him, but creating fire, even at the level of that very candle, was impossible for him.
My delicate spiritual organization suffered truly terrible torments because we had a pyromancer here unable to access matches. So I simply couldn't, had no right to walk past!
But pride didn't allow me to repeat myself and slap a stylish tattoo on the fire-user's hands. As a result, the guy's hands acquired small ceramic implants over the bones.
I didn't even cut anything, I embedded the material with magic and formed the artifact structure right under the flesh.
There was nothing complicated there either; just a snap of the fingers, and a small, thin tongue of magical flame would flare up above the palm, which Pyro himself could then inflate to any size.
There was so much happiness… But Bobby, the Iceman, was sad for some reason, I don't even know why… Joke. The guy was happy for his friend.
I also worked with Rogue.
I dismissed the options of a micron-thick "force" barrier immediately, too complex and energy-intensive.
She simply wouldn't have the strength to maintain such a barrier constantly; even I wouldn't have the strength here.
Of course, that's if we're talking about a durable barrier, not a fiction that would tear at the first drop of sweat or movement of a hair.
Teaching her to cast protection herself at the right moment was also unrealistic, if only because the level of such a barrier was beyond a neophyte, and spending a decade mastering the discipline, without even a guarantee of success… long and inefficient.
But if one path is blocked, we take another. Since "defensive" configurations clearly didn't suit the girl, why not try "prison" ones?
It just so happened that methods of neutralizing mages and beings with special abilities were quite well developed in Asgard… well, due to vital necessity generated by constant wars with all sorts of mythical beasts.
This development, in particular, took the form of suppressor shackles, a couple of which any Asgardian warrior carries when going on a military campaign.
Loki carried such things in his pocket dimension too, seeing nothing shameful in binding an enemy sorcerer first instead of a quick death, and then thoughtfully interrogating him to exchange experience. In the sense that the sorcerer exchanges his experience for extra minutes of life.
In short, I had a working method, a reliable tool, and a person to whom all this needed to be adapted.
As far as I knew, such devices, mutant power suppression collars, figured in Marvel lore, and even seemed to exist in the cinematic universe, but I couldn't say where or, more importantly, when they appeared.
In the cinematic universe, it was shown within the framework of Deadpool's story, but… Wade's entire timeline looks like total nonsense and idiocy even against the background of a black guy running S.H.I.E.L.D.
Nevertheless, the direction was clear, so I moved.
The hardest part was determining Rogue's "absorption" spectrum… Of course, using a term that defines the color of an object when light hits it fits here poorly, to put it mildly, but for lack of a better term, let it be this one.
So, having determined the method of influence and isolated it from the main spectrum, I only had to "rewire" the shackles for the necessary direction.
And, removing everything unnecessary, turn them into elegant bracelets.
Also not the most trivial task, but after all the song and dance (sometimes literally) I'd already had to perform around the girl, this was nothing serious.
And the "mutual dislike" between Jubilee and any household appliance more complex than a toaster I solved completely in passing while tinkering with Marie, there, too, all I needed to do was eliminate the unconscious "leakage" of her energy.
A simple absorber pendant, and the problem was solved.
In general, I fully earned the title of "Best Friend to Mutants," and I even had to fend off Rogue, who, having gained the ability to touch all humans "with impunity," desired to vent all her delight and thirst for affection simultaneously on one charming God.
And personally, I had nothing against such an approach, but… if only she were prettier… sigh.
In short, I handed her off to Iceman and fled to the workshop, locking myself in.
What can you do? Don't hate the player, hate the game!
And anyway, I'm terribly busy, I still have to… uh, right, solder a holo-projector on the local elemental base to fit the dimensions of a wristwatch so that it projects a hologram of a normal human for those mutants whose appearance got warped.
Yes, yes, this is a very complex and painstaking process for a master of illusions; please do not disturb and leave the premises!
That's how my weekdays passed in the hospitable mutant community.
Quite fun, and such "socially useful" deeds earned me a couple of points in the eyes of the sultry mulatto woman, but it didn't solve the problem of finding mages, nor did it bring me closer to a way to leave this sad world, which was a bit depressing.
However, I wasn't allowed to indulge in this feeling for long, because the opening of the Stark Expo took place…
….
Bonus Chapter on every 500 power stones;
If you want to read ahead by 20+ chapters from here you can visit my Patre-on.
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[email protected]/Yggdrasil_Loki