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The XXX-Gene Ch. 44 (Marvel)
🕑 Added 2024-08-18 14:45:30 +0000 UTCA/N: Thaddeus comes clean, and everything works out for the best~
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As the sniping devolves into full on bickering, Thaddeus realizes he’s let this go on long enough. While it was fun stringing the three women on at first, especially since they weren’t being entirely truthful with him either, it had clearly escalated to a point where he’d stopped being comfortable.
It was time to come clean.
“Ladies…”
Of course, his first attempt at being heard falls on deaf ears. Janet has pulled away from his side to stalk up to Sue and Jennifer, and while the fashion designer is decidedly the shortest and most pixie-like of the trio, she’s nevertheless going bar for bar with the other two women as they argue back and forth. Groaning, Thaddeus rubs the bridge of his nose for a moment before trying again.
“Ladies!”
Again, his call falls on deaf ears. They’re really going at it by this point. This was a nice, abject lesson that Luck wasn’t everything, Thaddeus supposed. Just because he was now inherently Lucky didn’t account for the thoughts and feelings of others, he was realizing. They could still make decisions and choices of their own, and the chips could still fall in a way that he didn’t want.
Frowning, Thaddeus decides to take matters into his own hands… literally. Bringing his hands together, he claps hard enough to create a minor boom of sound. Not quite sonic, but still enough to cause the room to shake a little bit, and the three women to all stumble where they’re stood. THAT finally gets their attention, the trio spinning around to look at him with differing levels of outrage and disbelief.
Sighing, he runs a hand down his face and shakes his head.
“I think it’s time I came clean as well. I’m not exactly new to all of this. I already knew I was a mutant and what sex did for my powers.”
There’s a brief beat of silence at that, before Janet lets out a single, flat…
“What.”
Not really a question, more of a demand. Shrugging, Thaddeus scratches at his chin for a moment, before deciding he might as well explain all of the details regarding what led to this moment.
“… Yeah, so you know how I said I had a threesome last night? Well, do any of you know who Domino is?”
Janet and Jennifer’s eyes light up in recognition, while Sue tilts her head to the side, furrowing her brow in thought.
“The name sounds familiar…”
Leaning over, Jennifer nudges her blonde friend.
“Domino is a mutant mercenary with Luck Powers, Sue. She’s very good at what she does, incredibly talented and skilled… but most of all, she’s Lucky with a capital L. And she uses that Luck to sell her services to the highest bidder.”
As Susan’s eyes go wide with realization, Jennifer glances back at Thaddeus assessingly.
“So you fucked Domino and another woman all night long… and got Luck Powers, is that it?”
Smiling a wan smile, Thaddeus shrugs.
“Actually, I fucked Domino and another Domino all night long.”
Janet squawks at that.
“There are two of them now?!”
“Not quite. The other Domino came from another dimension and then went home this morning. One night for the three of us was apparently all the multiverse could take, or so she speculated.”
That gets thoughtful looks on all three heroines’ faces, before Sue finally speaks up.
“So you… fucked two versions of this Domino woman all night long and then… what, decided to go for us as well?”
Thaddeus is quick to shake his head at that.
“I didn’t decide anything, Sue. All I did was… decide to go for a walk when I left my hotel room this morning. I wanted to see what would happen if I just didn’t have any particular goals in mind. I’ll remind you; you guys invited me over to your table. And to be clear, I didn’t know who any of you were at first.”
At their slightly skeptical expressions, Thaddeus just smirks slightly.
“I figured it out before long, obviously… but to be fair, it wasn’t like you guys were intending on telling me anything, were you? We all decided at some point to lie to each other in order to keep having a good time. If I hadn’t forced your hands by making Jennifer hulk out, would you have ever told me?”
“Y-Yes! Of course!”
Sue is quick to pipe up, looking almost stricken by the idea. Of course, she and the others all realize the same thing… while it’s all well and good to say they WOULD have told him in the end, that wasn’t what had happened at all. And even if they had told him without him forcing the issue, they still would have been guilty of waiting until the end of their little foursome to do so, and that in and of itself was pretty scummy given what they’d realized about his powers.
There were no good guys and bad guys here. No heroes or villains. Just a group of people who, like Thaddeus said, decided to lie to each other in order to keep having fun. He can tell that the realization shakes the three women a little bit. That they really don’t have a moral high ground to judge him from.
Of course, that doesn’t stop Janet from huffing and crossing her arms over her chest.
“That was a mean trick you played on us all the same, Thaddeus. And you kept it going, even after we spilled the beans.”
Thaddeus shrugs, inclining his head in acknowledgment of that fact.
“Yeah, things got a little out of hand and I’ll accept my part in it.”
‘Just so long as you all accept yours’ goes unsaid, but not unheard judging by the looks on their faces. Smirking slightly, Thaddeus continues on.
“If nothing else, we all got what we wanted though, didn’t we?”
Jennifer suddenly growls, taking an aggressive step forward.
“Our powers? That’s what you were after?”
Rolling his eyes, Thaddeus shakes his head.
“I meant we all had a good time, Jennifer. And I imagine Sue isn’t nearly as broken up about her ex anymore either. As for your powers… I told you; I knew how my mutation worked already. Which means I know you all got just as much out of me as I got out of you.”
His eyes flicker to all of them, traces of his cum visible here and there with how… messy they’d gotten. The corner of Thaddeus’ mouth quirks up and he’s unable to keep himself from making the joke.
“In fact, I’d say you all got MORE out of me than I got out of you.”
To their credit, the three heroines only faintly blush at the innuendo, not so easily undone by light teasing. Still, it’s enough to break down the tense atmosphere a bit more, with Sue sounding more curious than accusatory with her next question.
“Just… how many powers do you have at this point, Thaddeus? Do none of them contradict one another? Nothing that cancels out the others… or worse?”
Thaddeus blinks, not really having thought of that as a possibility before this point. To be fair, it wasn’t like he’d fucked any elemental supers yet, so he couldn’t wind up with Fire and Ice powers that steadily killed him or something. Though, he suspected it wouldn’t work like that anyways.
“… Nothing has been detrimental yet, no. As for how many… I think the four of us aren’t quite close enough for that sort of thing if I’m being honest.”
His eyes glance to the window, and he hums a bit. Creeping up on midday, he’s pretty sure.
“Speaking of which, I’d say it’s time we all made a decision, ladies.”
There’s some general stiffening at that and exchanged looks. Finally, Jennifer crosses her arms over her chest and grunts.
“What sort of decision, exactly?”
Smiling disarmingly and spreading his arms wide to show he means no harm, Thaddeus shrugs.
“Well, the way I see it, we have three options. Number One, you all cuss me out, tell me you’ll be keeping an eye on me, and we part ways here. Number Two, we exchange numbers, promise to stay in touch, and also part ways here. Or, Number Three… we finish what we started.”
He keeps his tone carefree and casual for the first few sentences, but when he gets to ‘Number Three’, he deepens his voice and lets his intensity billow out, staring each of them down one by one as the words ‘we finish what we started’ slip from his mouth one after the other.
Janet, Jennifer, and Sue all stiffen up as his gaze falls on them, and this time they can’t quite keep the blushes light as they all exchange glances once more, seemingly assessing how the others are feeling at this point.
Thaddeus, meanwhile, just stands there in the buff and waits for them to make their decision. He’s pretty confident they won’t go for the first option, so at this point it’s no sweat, whichever of the second and third options they choose. Easy come, easy go…
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It’s dark out by the time Thaddeus leaves the hotel, a satisfied grin on his face and three new numbers in his phone. He’d wound up spending an entire day extra at that hotel then he’d originally intended… but it was a day well spent, in the end.
Not only had he gained considerable Luck Powers, and from two different versions of Domino at that, but he’d also wound up fucking the Wasp, She-Hulk, and the Invisible Woman enough that he could say he’d made considerable progress in improving all three of the powers he’d gotten from them… as well as improved their own powers in turn.
Still, he should probably contact Emma at this point. She hadn’t tried to call him yet, possibly because she was busy or because she didn’t want to seem like a busybody, but Thaddeus did want to check in with her and let her know how the day went. At the very least, his benefactor should know that he just put himself on the radar of three established superheroines if nothing else.
However, just as he’s taking his phone out to place the call, Thaddeus catches a glimpse of a familiar face. It’s only a glimpse, but his enhanced senses nevertheless pick it up.
… Laura?
Furrowing his brow in confusion, Thaddeus tucks his phone away and follows the hooded figure walking down the street. He doesn’t bother to do it discretely, at least not where she’s concerned, though he also doesn’t call out her name, recognizing that she’s trying to move somewhat stealthily.
Instead, he creeps up on her carefully and slowly, and when she turns into an alley, he follows without reservation. A normal person might have stopped and reconsidered, might have thought that they were maybe mistaken about what they saw. But Thaddeus wasn’t normal. He saw what he saw… which is why he’s not that surprised when he turns the corner and almost gets Adamantium Claws to the face for his trouble.
Fortunately, Laura isn’t going for the kill immediately, and the moment she sees his face, she pulls her lethal blades back, blinking in surprise.
“Ah. Thaddeus.”
Stepping further into the alley so they’re both more hidden from the main street, Thaddeus gives Laura a curious smile.
“Hey Laura. Couldn’t help notice you were out and about and looked like you were up to something. What’s up?”
There’s a long pause as Laura hesitates for a moment, before finally shaking her head.
“… Nothing. Just… out for a walk.”
Wow. He knew she was socially stunted, but good lord did it make her a terrible liar. Rather than call her out on it directly however, Thaddeus goes for a different tack.
“Yeah, I was just out for a walk too. Maybe we could walk together?”
Just from the way Laura shifts from foot to foot uncomfortably, it’s obvious she doesn’t like that idea. Sighing, Thaddeus goes for the kill.
“… Does Kitty know you’re out here?”
She doesn’t blanch or get embarrassed or beg him to keep her nighttime excursion a secret. Instead, Laura goes expressionless, her face flat as she looks at him.
“No, she does not.”
Talking to Laura always felt a little bit like pulling teeth, but never more than right now. To be fair, usually they didn’t have to do a lot of talking for both of them to enjoy one another’s company. This didn’t seem like a good time for them to engage in hanky panky however, Thaddeus’ previous forays into semi-public sex notwithstanding.
“Laura… what’s up? Let me help.”
Laura’s gaze slides to the side for a moment, looking to the mouth of the alley before she looks back at him.
“Not for you. Not a hero.”
It takes him a second to parse that she means him with that second statement. And… fair, yeah. Thaddeus isn’t a hero, not by a long shot. He’s basically turned down every chance at being a hero that’s come up so far. But to be fair… this feels different. He’s not sure why. Maybe because Laura is clearly up to something dangerous, and he doesn’t want to just leave her to it?
“I thought you were supposed to be my moral compass, Laura. Now you’re telling me not to be a hero?”
He means it to be half-teasing, half-serious, but it’s clear from the way Laura grimaces that she takes it as all-serious. Averting her gaze again, the dark-haired mutant scowls for a moment.
“… Caught whispers of The Facility here in New York. Going to chase down the rumors and see if there’s any truth to it. If there is… I’m probably going to kill a lot of people, Thad. I was wrong. No place for you AND no place for heroes.”
Well damn, at least he’d made her introspective and therefore got some more out of her. But it seemed instead of getting her to let him onboard fully, he’d sent her further in the other direction.
The Facility… he could practically hear the capital letters. And it doesn’t take his enhanced brain meat long to connect the dots and comprehend that these were probably the fuckers behind making Laura the way she is. His mind goes to some of the things that Janet, Jennifer, and Susan had said earlier today. They’d been rather cavalier about it, hadn’t they? And yet, the words ran through his head again all the same.
Government programs.
Injected with strange substances.
Experimented on as a baby.
Jaw clenching, Thaddeus hesitates for a moment. Laura is right, he’s no hero… and she’s given him an out, making it clear she doesn’t expect him to help her with this. Not to mention, he’s already helped in one way… she’s much, much stronger than anyone is probably expecting her to be after how much they’ve fucked.
And yet… is he really going to let her go off on her own like this?
Comments
Tamsus Karalius
He doesn't really need a mask since he has mystique powers? But yeah, help Laura out for sure
Monstermash
Call Emma and get a mask
Narsil
Let me ditto the others, insist on going with her but call some backup. And get a mask!
Collar Spider
Should probably grab a mask, need to keep a secret identity if you're gonna fight bad guys. He's not exactly that strong that he can deter anyone from attacking him in his off hours. Could also use his mystique powers to change his face. He might also want to stick to just showing off one set of powers. Showing off invisibility, walking through walls, diamond skin, and super strength might cause some waves and blow his and more importantly Emma's cover.
Luke Skywalker
Yeah no, it would be stupid as hell to just let her go or stop her with all the powers we have. Granted we'll probably have to deal with her homicidal self from the trigger scent since people in The Facility will probably use it as a distraction but with all the powers we have now we can deal with it. ...of course calling someone just in case to keep in touch in case things go wrong is also quite wise.
Nanaya7Nights
At the very least Emma might send someone to keep an eye on them. Hell she might end up hiring Domino to watch the duo and only intervene if necessary. Or she could hire someone else, if it could add to the plot. He could also ask Natalie (Natasha), if she has any knowledge of The Facility and it's presence in New York.
PieBoy4242
I'll echo several other people here. Probably best to let Emma know. From his POV, he's about to debut a new metahuman to the shadowy side of the world, something Emma has been trying to avoid. He could basically call with the intention of telling Emma "I'm doing this whether you like it or not. You can either help me, or risk your investment". Her answer might surprise him.
