Canon Fodder

CHAPTER 453 STEAL THE FORCE

“Oh fuck,” the giant Ben Grimm groaned as Reed Richards was teleported to the stadium below. The nerdy leader of their small group looked about ready to shit himself as he stood among the rubble from Bruce Banner’s fight. The homeless doctor was currently in one of the back rooms having a very interesting conversation with his unknown daughter. Though I couldn’t hear what they were saying, it was easy to tell what was going on as Bruce Banner began to cry and clutch at Lyra. I left them to their moment as I turned to The Thing. 

“So uh…how screwed is he?” I asked. 

“Fucking fucked,” the man said, his voice like…gravel being poured on a new road. His Haki radiated worry as an Imperial Guard was teleported down in front of Reed. His opponent didn’t look like a native Shi’ar. They had pure white skin and no hair. 

“Can we submit?” Susan Storm asked, turning to face Carl Danvers behind us. 

“Submitting too soon will be a sign of weakness,” Carl said. “They might take their sweet time calling the fight if I step in immediately. But I will step in when it gets ugly.” 

“How do you step in?” I asked, curious how he seemed so aware of what needed to happen. We were all working on very little information, but Carl at least had some idea.

“I have a direct link to Garuda. The Shi’ar AI is the impartial judge of the fights. He will teleport me instantly to the arena when I want,” he said. “I’ve watched a few vids of these events from years past. Which was the only reason I knew to call for the Arin'n Haelar.”

“It’s not like taught in whatever Kree school you grew up in?” I asked. 

“No,” Carl said. “It’s recommended to know of all the races we could fight, the Shi’ar most of all. I became something of an expert since my patrol of the Kree territory brought me close to the Shi’ar worlds.” 

“Fuck, it’s starting,” Susan Storm said, her voice full of worry. I frowned since I doubted I would get my chance at another beautiful invisible girl. But to be honest she was no Toru, no one could compare to her. 

The fight below started by Reed’s opponent freezing the area around him with some ability. Reed began to stretch out, making his body thin as he danced around like a Wacky Wailing Waving Inflatable Arm Tube Man that danced outside of car dealerships to draw attention to them. 

“So…he can turn into rubber?” I asked, trying to distract Grimm as he stared down at the fight. 

“No, he can make his body highly malleable,” Susan Storm said.

“Ah…so rubber, cool,” I said. “You guys get caught in some weird science experiment or something?”

“Uh…we aren’t supposed to talk about it,” Johnny Storm said. 

“Oh…I’m a little psychic, let me guess, uh…you can turn into fire, you turn invisible, your body is covered in rock. And this all happened to you guys about…two or three months ago at the Baxter Building. Working with some weird machine that whirred and spewed out this green radiation. Everyone with you during the experiment was killed…and you were found…pulled away from the experimental equipment and woke up near a…sex shop? No wait, elevator,” I said, snapping my fingers as if it just came to me. 

I smiled wide as the trio stared at me. “Am I close?” I asked.

“Eerily,” Johnny Storm said.

“Cool, I still got it,” I said, smiling wide.

“Weston, here, of course is joking with you,” Xavier said. “He is the one that pulled you all to safety.”

“What?!” Johnny and Susan asked. 

“Fucking hell, Professor. I don’t give away your psychic tricks, why would you give away mine? Freakin narc, I’ll never make it in the circus if people find out I was actually just there.” 

“Sorry Weston, I have been meaning to bring this up to the four of them, but haven’t had the chance,” Xavier said. 

“I highly doubt you’re sorry,” I mumbled, facing the three. “Yes, I saved your lives. Ruined the whole damn surprise, so just know you all owe me one in the future.”

“Weston, we don’t work like that,” Xavier said. “Besides, they work for the same people we do now.”

“Ah, you’re government dogs now too, ay?” I asked, eyeing them. “Makes sense why you all have been away from the spotlight after blowing up a building in New York. You met Fury yet?”

“Uh…we just started,” Grimm said.

“Well be sure to ask about what’s under his eyepatch,” I said. “Trust me, not a missing eye. Pretty sure it’s another asshole he likes to have kissed.” My Observation Haki told me Reed was getting his ass kicked and I turned back to the fight to see him start to get frozen up. He had wrapped himself around his opponent like a Christmas gift, but it was easy to see he didn’t know what he was doing. His Haki said this was probably the first real fight he had ever been in. Luffy could have kicked his ass before he even became the captain of the Straw Hats. 

“Come on, Richards,” Grimm said, brought back to the fight as the Storm’s siblings were as well. His opponent began to drop the temperature, making a layer of frost cover everything. It was a foregone conclusion so I locked eyes with the woman that had been staring at me. 

Anne Marie’s eyes darted away as mine met hers. Then she thought better of it and looked back toward me. She was a mix of anger but mostly wonder. I nudged my head to where Lyra and Banner were still conversing. Making my way to the short hall I took the opposite room to theirs. It wasn’t long until Anne was following me inside. 

“Anne before-” I tried to say, but she cut me off. 

“I’m sorry,” she said immediately. Her anger shattered and she began to cry, her shoulders raising and lowering as she stood just inside the door. Unsure what to do, but wanting to at least get something off of her chest. “I’m so fucking sorry. You were right, I’ve been focusing on you and me too much, trying to forget this bullshit we are in. I should have focused on this, and I didn’t. I’m sorry for that. I’m sorry that you had to save me even though you were so pissed at me, and I’m just so…fucking sorry.”

Her voice cracked as she fought more sobs. For the first time I could see that she had actually pushed back our own issues. She was thoroughly scared now, as scared as she should have been days ago. I hadn’t seen it before, but she had been distracting herself with our own crap. Trying to latch onto something familiar in this shitstorm of a tournament.

“Fuck…” I said, and approached her. My own anger at her diminishing, my hands moved to her shoulders and I pulled her in for a hug. She let her true feelings out then. Clutching onto me she cried into my chest as she struggled to get out what she needed to. 

“What am I going to do? Weston, why am I here? I’m not strong. I don’t use my power anymore. It’s been so long, I’m not even sure I can. I-I-I don’t know what to do. I need you,” she cried. Her words quick and frantic; they were muffled by my chest as I pulled her in tighter. 

No matter how much I didn’t want to date anyone right now, I still had a lot of feelings for Anne. I hated her feeling such terror. I hated it far more than the drama she had put me through for days now. Kicking myself for forcing her to focus on this, I should really have played along, despite my future goals. Future Anne’s words proved true, I really should have just lied to her to get her through this. But what was done was done, and I was here to change this whole thing for the better, I hoped. 

“I was in the future,” I said. My voice didn’t lock up, like when I tried to talk about the challenges. So it was good to see I wasn’t forbidden to say anything. The words were actually nice to say. I never understood why people kept it a secret when they traveled in time. I had learned a few things to help me, there was no reason I could use that knowledge to help others. 

“A mutant from six years in the future pulled me to their timeline,” I said. Anne’s crying slowed as she looked up into my face, trying to gauge if I was telling the truth. I didn’t see any reason to tell on Kitty, since I hoped she didn’t need the time traveling skill this go around. “The future was honestly…hell. Normal people declared war on mutants. You all were hunted, enslaved, killed, or went into hiding.” 

I frowned, remembering all I had seen. “You were there, future you,” I said with a smirk. “Somehow hotter, maybe it was because you were so confident. Everyone looked to you to lead them. I was needed since I’m not a mutant and could get places without being noticed.” 

“Are you serious?” She asked. 

“Of course, you know I’m not good at lying to you,” I said truthfully. My hand rested on her lower back as hers rested on my shoulders. 

“Why are you telling me this?” 

“Because that version of you went through all this,” I said. “Probably this exact thing. She made it through this, so I know you can too.”

“You’re serious?!” She asked, actually excited now. “Like she said that?”

“She was alive,” I said. “I tried to pry information from her, but things kept happening. Which doesn’t really matter.” I didn’t think I should bring up sleeping with her in the future. “Either way, Anne, you were brought here for a reason. Maybe not your physical strength, but your mutant power. I think it’s stronger than you think.”

“How?”

“Think about it,” I said. “You steal lifeforce and powers. Whatever strength your opponent has, you can take.” 

“That’s not going to help me when these people actually know how to fight,” she said, a little frantic.

“I know, if you get teleported I need you to…borrow Carl Danvers power,” I said. “He is the only one that can get near you in the fight. And he has the Cosmic Force.”

“What does that have to do with anything?” She asked. “What is a force?”

“I’ll explain later, but basically it’s a power granted by the gods or something. You touch him, borrow it, and if it’s not enough it should make you strong enough to touch your opponent. Kill if you have to.” 

I didn’t want to tell her that I was fairly certain she did this exact thing in the future. I had seen Carl use his power earlier, and it was the exact glowing aura of attacks that future Anne had used. For whatever reason, she had taken his Force for good or copied it. Cementing her ability as potentially one of the strongest ever, at least based off the Prophecies of the Phoenix scroll. If she ever tried to steal Jean Grey’s Force, I didn’t want to think about how strong she would become, but she was on this planet for a reason. She was strong, she just didn’t know it yet. 

“I-I can’t kill,” she said. n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

“Then don’t,” I said. “But make sure your win is-”

“Weston!” Someone yelled in the other room. I frowned as Anne let me go. Stuck in her own thoughts, I walked around her to the main room where people were crowding around a very injured Reed Richards. His body looked like a popsicle; frozen up from his opponent's power, his Haki was weak. 

Cursing, I pushed through the less than fantabulous four. My hands glowing white as I channeled Nen-heavy Hoken into them. I shot the power into his body. His body shook as I began to force him to heal. My skill far more powerful than it used to be, it took less than a minute for him to get color back and his Haki to stabilize to a normal amount. 

“I’m guessing he lost?” I asked. 

“Yeah, Danvers stepped in,” Grimm said, pointing at the blonde man. I nodded at him, thankful for the assist. “They said you could heal…what kind of powers do you have?” 

“Should have been asking that days ago, man,” I said truthfully. They had been so standoffish, I wasn’t in the mood to throw them a bone and make friends. “Okay our fight is one win, one loss. How long until-” I stopped talking as Anne winked out of existence. I held my breath for a moment until she appeared on the tournament floor. “Fuck!” I cursed as I moved to the glass. 

Her fear had spiked to new heights as the crowd roared around her. I considered opening a Rift closer to her but turned to Carl. “Get down there,” I ordered.

“Do I need to forfeit for her?” He asked, concern on his face at seeing a young girl about to fight for her life. 

“Fuck no! Give her your power,” I said quickly.

“What?” He asked. 

I gritted my teeth, annoyed at my own phrasing. I didn’t want anyone else to know she might be able to keep them. “I mean, let her borrow your power,” I said. “She has a skill. If you touch her skin to skin, she will take some of your life-I mean energy. But also your mutant power.”

“I’m not a mutant,” he said. 

“Doesn’t matter. Your energy will do. It will make you weak for a bit, but you need to give her some extra strength,” I said. I didn’t think she would be called so quickly, so I was almost frantic as I spoke. I turned to see her opponent get teleported opposite her. “Fuck, that’s Shade.” 

“Who?” Gwen asked. 

“Shade, that fucking Shi’ar who helped kick my ass,” I said. She had been one of the dozen or so Shi’ar that I went up against. Able to move through shadows she had stabbed me quite a few times before I was able to notice when she jumped shadows. “Go down there, let Anne touch your hand. Before that, tell her that Shade taps her foot twice before she jumps shadows. That’s how she can see through the attack.”

“What the hell?” Peter asked. “She can jump through shadow?” But Carl Danvers was already gone. Having whispered something he turned red and immediately teleported to next to Anne.

“Oooh, will the humans give up already?” The lackey asked, acting like some terrible announcer from his high up perch. “The accused seems to think so. Let’s see what he does.” I watched in rapt attention as Carl moved closer to her. Talking as he did, he then reached out his hand. Anne hesitated, staring at it for a moment. She looked up to the platform we were in. 

“Do it,” I mouthed, doubtful she could see me. She hesitated another second then grabbed his hand. At first nothing happened, then I felt his lifeforce fill Anne instantly. Not only that but her body began to glow white as Carl was teleported away from her grasp. The AI having stepped in somehow, a coughing Carl appeared behind us, but I didn’t care. My eyes were on Anne.

For the first time I had met this version of her, she felt strong. Where her Haki was like any normal human before, instantly she became a Super Saiyan. Power filling her, body glowing white, she either stole all of the Cosmic Force from Danvers, or most. Either way she was far stronger than she was before. 

Staring down at her body she was no longer scared as she accessed a power she had never touched before. The lackey announcer began crying foul, but the AI, Garuda, instantly deemed what happened was within the parameters of the rules. As it did, the fight commenced. Immediately Shade tapped her foot and appeared directly behind Anne in her shadow. A long black blade appearing in Shade’s hand she stabbed but was blown back as Anne twisted to face her. 

A white beam of power shooting from her hands slammed directly into Shade, knocking her back. Causing Shade to curse, and Anne to laugh in glee. She was wearing the yellow and green ARMIS suit I had custom colored for her. No longer needing the strengthening effects of the suit she flew up in the air and did a somersault. Landing on nothing as her new power allowed her to float. Shade tapped her foot again.

This time she appeared behind some rubble just above Anne. Somehow condensing the shadow into projectiles they shot out at Anne, but were stopped again by the white aura around her. I found myself smiling wide as she too smiled. Happy to have a power that was actually useful. And it appeared to only be growing stronger in her. White energy leaking out of her made the shadows deepen as she flew up higher. 

Her hands glowing she charged an attack. Like some spirit bomb it grew and grew in her palms until she blasted it at Shade. Causing cheers and jeers to escape the crowd as the fight began to heat up.