The XXX-Gene (Marvel)(Mutant OC)

Chapter 52: Debriefing

A/N: Here's the new Chapter! Which also means the next four chapters are up on my Patreon for early access as well as the chance to vote on the direction of the story!

Wrapping things up, followed by a very necessary meeting.

-x-X-x-

“… Breaker? You good?”

He only realizes he’s been staring at his hands for an unknown length of time when She-Hulk’s concerned voice cuts through his thoughts. He’s fine, but he’s a little too slow to say something, prompting Mercury to speak up for him.

“He’s fine.”

Unfortunately, her assurances have the opposite effect on pretty much everyone else in the room. Probably because Cessily’s voice now has more of a weight to it than it had before. It’s… heavier, for lack of a better word.

Crossing her arms over her chest, She-Hulk raises an eyebrow as she looks up at where Thaddeus’ face should be.

“Now, don’t take this the wrong way… but you have to understand that I want to hear it from him. Breaker. Talk to me.”

Tension is thick in the air, and it really doesn’t have to be. Mercury bristles, but Thaddeus signals for her to calm down, even as he finally responds himself.

“Mercury is right, I’m fine. Just… caught up in the moment there for a second.”

Although, looking down at himself, he does see something of a challenge in his new circumstances. Draining Predator X has given both him and Mercury a lot more mass to work with. The combined weight and size of the two of them is no laughing matter, but even without Mercury covering him from head to toe, he’s pretty sure he’s big enough to be distinctly inhuman in appearance at this point. Gonna make it kind of hard to maintain his cover at ESU as a member of the football team going forward. … Unless?

“Give me a second.”

Focusing inward, Thaddeus reaches for Mystique and Janet’s powers. He’d fucked the shapeshifter enough to be able to transform into whoever he wanted, and then he’d fucked the fashion designer more than enough to be able to shrink or grow to his heart’s content. It was the shrinking that Thaddeus was focused on now, pulling himself in smaller and smaller.

It works too. His weight doesn’t really change, but he’s able to sacrifice height and size for density, until he’s finally back to ‘normal’, albeit still encased in a suit of armor made out of Mercury. Of course, his ‘normal’ is no longer really his default. His relaxed state is now huge and inhuman, but so long as he’s able to focus, he can still feign his old body without too much issue.

… He was going to need a bigger bed though. Thaddeus isn’t quite sure yet whether he can keep this transformation up while sleeping.

Seeing him shrink down, She-Hulk slowly nods, the tension in her shoulders finally dissipating for real.

“Alright then. Glad to see you came out the other side still you. Never know with these things. And Mercury? You feeling alright as well?”

“Better. I’m feeling… amazing.”

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She-Hulk’s brow climbs at that, but ultimately she just shakes her head.

“Ominous, but I’m going to let it slide. I think we’ve all had a long couple of days.”

Shit, she wasn’t wrong. Had it truly only been two days since he’d met with the two Dominos at the hotel for their evening rendezvous? It’d just been one thing after another ever since then, hadn’t it? He’d gone from fucking Domino White and Domino Black all night long to fucking Sue, Jen, and Jan all day long, into helping Laura with the first of two illegal labs, into fucking Cessily for several hours, into helping take down the second of two illegal labs.

“What happens now?”

Shadowcat is the one who voices that concern, her brow furrowed as she glances in his and Mercury’s direction in concern, before focusing her attention on She-Hulk. The big green beauty hums for a moment before nodding decisively.

“Now? You lot get out of here. Leave Sue and I to clean the rest of this up.”

Susan Storm looks up sharply at that but doesn’t gain say her friend’s words. On the other hand…

“What? Why?”

Talon doesn’t look very enthused by the prospect of leaving the job unfinished. But She-Hulk isn’t backing down.

“It’s like I said earlier, kids. Two wrongs don’t make a right, and just because these idiots weren’t meant to be here, doesn’t mean you’re allowed to be here anymore than they were. We call in the authorities right now and I can probably get you all off the hook based on my name and connections, but it’ll still put you on everyone’s radar and tie you to me as well. You want that?”

That was… a very good point. Given the way Talon backs off, she clearly agrees. Nodding as she sees no one is going to pipe up, She-Hulk continues on.

“I’m an Avenger. Sue here is a member of the Fantastic Four. Being part of established hero teams comes with a fair amount of leeway and legal grey area. Once you lot skedaddle, I’ll call in the rest of the Avengers to clean this place up. And this guy…”

She-Hulk nudges the still-unconscious Harkins with her foot.

“He’ll go away for a long, long time. I’ll make sure of it.”

Not everyone is happy about the outcome She-Hulk is describing. Thaddeus can tell that Talon and Mercury in particular would be happier with Harkins dead. But alas, part of calling in upstanding ladies with morals like Shadowcat and Spider-Woman, and then bonafide heroes like She-Hulk and Invisible Woman, was understanding that killing unconscious prisoners in cold-blood was decidedly off the menu.

So while not everyone was happy, nobody was going to say anything. They understood that this was the best they were going to get. Still, Thaddeus can’t help but worry. Not for any of them, but rather…

“And you’re sure that you two aren’t going to get in trouble for any of this?”

She-Hulk smiles at that and shakes his head.

“Nah. It’ll be fine, but I appreciate the concern Breaker. Like I said, being an Avenger gives me a lot of wiggle room. The other Avengers will be a little annoyed I went off half-cocked without alerting them earlier, but it’s not like it’s anything new where I’m concerned. And besides, once they learn about Sue’s current romantic woes, they’ll think they understand exactly why she and I went looking for trouble, just the two of us.”

That finally does get a squawk from Sue, who’s eyes widen as she whips around towards her opponent.

“H-Hey! They don’t need to know about that!”

The look She-Hulk gives her friend is largely pitying.

“Sue… darling. You and Reed are one of New York’s primary power couples, emphasis on the power. If not THE power couple. Unless you’re planning to go back to him… again, then there’s no world in which the news isn’t going to leak eventually. I’m not saying we have to be the ones to leak it, but ask yourself this… would you rather control the narrative, or let it happen naturally?”

Pausing, She-Hulk smirks a little bit.

“Unless of course you ARE thinking about going back to Reed after all…”

Despite that seemingly being what Sue had done many times before, it’s obvious from the tone of She-Hulk’s voice that she doesn’t think that option particularly likely this time around. And given the quick look that Sue throws Thaddeus’ way, he suspects he might be part of the reason why.

Still, the blonde does at least take a moment to really think about it before finally letting out an explosive breath.

“N-No… you’re right.”

With that, it’s settled. No one really has any other objections to She-Hulk’s plan on how to close out the night, which at this point has become early morning really. The sun is already up by the time they extract from the facility again, once more using Shadowcat’s ability to phase through walls and his ability to make sure the guards don’t register their existence.

As far as anyone was concerned, they were never there. The Facility hadn’t even had time to set up proper security cameras, given just how fast they’d been able to track them down to this new compound.

Those guards were going to be in for a bad time when She-Hulk called the Avengers down on their heads, but that really wasn’t Thaddeus’ problem, he decided. While they probably weren’t die hard supporters of The Facility’s ethos or anything like that, they had to have known what they were getting into, and that being part of a clandestine, questionably legal organization came with consequences.

Speaking of consequences, or at least aftershocks… the last thing She-Hulk had done before they’d left was let him know they’d be in touch. Thaddeus definitely owed her and Sue for coming out like this and helping them, and he got the impression that She-Hulk, or perhaps Jennifer Walters more accurately, aimed to collect.

But that was Future Thaddeus’ problem. Present Thaddeus, on the other hand, had a promise to keep. Fortunately, he didn’t need sleep anymore, so once he’d broken off from the others… well, there was only one place to go, wasn’t there?

-x-X-x-

“… Oh Thaddeus, what am I going to do with you?”

Sitting in Emma’s office, he can tell that the blonde telepath hasn’t gotten much sleep over the last couple of days. He feels rather guilty for the part that he played in that, but at the same time…

“Seems you’ve already done it, Emma.”

Her eyes flash for a moment at his rejoinder, but rather than get mad, she lets out a small laugh.

“You’re right. I can’t even be mad in the end, because all of this was initiated by my actions, wasn’t it? Those Luck Powers are certainly serving you well, aren’t they?”

Her tone is a distinct mixture of ruefulness and exasperation. Still, she’s not wrong. While all of Thaddeus’ decisions were still his own, he’s not sure he would have had half the opportunities he had over the last two days if it wasn’t for fucking the two Dominos all night long. From meeting with the three heroines in the hotel lobby, to catching a single glimpse of Laura before she could run off without him… everything could be said to have been prompted by Lady Luck, in a way.

“Of course, there’s still the elephant in the room, isn’t there? Care to introduce yourself, Mercury?”

There’s a pause at that. Thaddeus isn’t wearing the armor anymore. Instead, he’s dressed in a snazzy suit that fits him quite well, but at the same time does not in any way seem like something he would normally wear. For a brief moment, nothing happens… and then slowly, Mercury slides off of his body and into the empty chair next to his own.

Retaking the human form that Thaddeus had fucked into existence over the course of several hours, the red head pouts a bit as she crosses her arms over her chest and gives Thaddeus a betrayed glance.

“You told her about me.”

It’s not a question, but a statement of fact. Thaddeus inclines his head, and then answers the underlying question anyways.

“I did, Cessily. I don’t like keeping secrets, especially from Emma here. We’re partners. You insisted on coming with me, and I told you that you probably wouldn’t be able to just stay silent.”

Huffing, Cessily just pouts some more. Rather than get angrier with him though, she looks to Emma, her eyes narrowing as she studies the blonde seated behind her desk.

“… So you’re Thaddeus’ employer, is that it?”

Smiling thinly at the clear provocation, Emma tilts her head to the side.

“Officially, I’m Thaddeus’ handler. Unofficially, I’m his partner, just like he said. And you, my dear Cessily Kincaid, have decided to insert yourself into something… larger than yourself.”

Cessily’s eyes narrow further at that.

“Yeah? Well I don’t care. I’m not going anywhere, even if you try to run me off. Someone needs to make sure you don’t get Thaddeus killed.”

Emma raises an eyebrow at that, distinctly unimpressed.

“Me? I’m not the one who needed to be rescued, Ms. Kincaid. Nor am I the one who dragged Thaddeus into more danger just because I was upset over a missing nail.”

Growling, Cessily uncrosses her arms in order to grasp the arms of the chair, looking like she wants to fling herself at Emma.

“That’s-!”

But Emma isn’t done, though it’s obvious she waited for Cessily to start responding before cutting her off on purpose.

“Moreover, I’ve done more to protect Thaddeus from the powers that wish to do him harm than you can ever know, girl. You feel a debt of gratitude towards him right now, but how long will that feeling last? How long until you decide that you’ve paid him back and no longer owe him anything? How long before you abandon him to the wolves? Rest assured, when that time comes, I will still be there for Thaddeus, because our partnership extends beyond such simple, pedestrian things as gratitude.”

Whoa. Thaddeus blinks, a little taken aback by Emma’s words. He reaches out telepathically, just like he did to inform her of Cessily’s insistence on being present in the first place. This time, he’s asking her to maybe tone it down a little… but without even taking her eyes off of Cessily Kincaid, Emma sends him back a feeling to let her work a little longer. She’s building up to something, he can tell.

“Never.”

Cessily’s response, though quiet, is positively laden with emotion as she glares across the desk at Emma. The arms of the chair warp in her grasp, betraying her true anger.

“I will never abandon Thaddeus. You think my gratitude is so cheap? I owe him my life. Not just for saving me from those sick fuckers, but also for giving me back everything I lost. I won’t ever forget what he’s done for me, and I don’t intend on calling it one and done any time soon.”

Cessily turns to him, her eyes filled with raw vulnerability and deep emotion.

“Y-You’re stuck with me, alright? Unless you tell me right now, in no uncertain terms, that you want absolutely nothing to do with me… then you’re stuck with me. I’m not going to betray you to the X-Men or anyone else. I’ll turn my back on them in a second if that’s what it takes. All I want… is to be with you.”

Wow. This was… a lot. Before Thaddeus can even think up a proper response to that confession, Emma interjects.

“I think we should tell her, Thaddeus. Everything.”

Both his and Cessily’s heads whip back around at that, Thaddeus’ eyes widening as he looks at Emma and realizes this was all part of the plan. He’d have realized that even without feeling through their telepathic connection that this was precisely what she’d been aiming for. She wants to bring Cessily on board. Maybe that bit before was a test, or maybe she was just seeing how far Cessily would go.

Either way, she’s now thrown the ball into Thaddeus’ court, both to make it clear to Cessily that they truly are equal partners and Thaddeus has just as much say in things as she does, and also to help him score even more brownie points with the grateful mutant woman.

Devious. Diabolical, one might say. It was… a lot. Reading Cessily in on not just the Hellfire Club but also his and Emma’s plans for it was… well, it was a risk. And much like him, he doubted Emma could read Cessily’s mind to be absolutely sure of her intentions.

So that all said… was it worth the risk?

[ ] No, it's not worth the risk to Cessily. Better to cut her off now than draw her into their games - 3%