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….
That is, it is now possible, but the beauty and strength of the entire structure will leave much to be desired.
So it is here. Subjected to radiation and striving to survive, the body activates everything it can in an attempt to adapt to the aggressive radiation.
Moreover, the radiation itself actively helps it in this. But after the process stops… we get an invalid with an activated genome, but a cellular structure completely destroyed due to instant restructuring, which will strive to "fall apart from a single askance glance" on its own.
And if we consider that cell division processes in such a body are simply obligated to proceed with failures, then the further it goes, the more errors will accumulate in the organism until, ultimately, it safely falls apart into a lump of twisted mutated biomass.
Or the new genome might throw something out, incinerating, turning to dust/water/air and so on the "glitching" organism.
In general, the idea itself is very good, but the execution let us down and requires serious refinement.
If this process could be made smoother and stretched out over seven to ten years, so that the change in the organism occurred as a result of natural renewal, or, at worst, a mechanism of DNA variability could be attached, like, say, with the same animal molting… but here it turns out neither here nor there.
Also, the machine's downsides didn't end there, there was also a "backlash" hitting the operator.
Or rather, the device tried to "re-phase" the "donor" of the initial pseudo-magnetic fields along with the fields themselves.
As a result, the donor's organism experienced immense strain, and with prolonged exposure would also go haywire, giving the donor a non-illusory chance of kicking the bucket.
And herein lay the main irony of the situation.
Erik couldn't improve the machine so it wouldn't harm the operator, simply hitting the "tech ceiling," and also having no opportunity for proper statistical data collection, as he would have died long before gathering the necessary data to even initially grope for the direction in which to move the design.
And due to that same impossibility of collecting statistics without risking his own life, he couldn't find out that the mutants being created were literally the walking dead.
There had been only three field tests in total, and all three were on dregs of society whom Magneto himself liquidated as soon as he was convinced they manifested abilities.
So it turned out that, spurred by the threat of the Mutant Registration Act passing, the radical decided not to bother and simply find a suicide bomber with magnetic abilities to replace himself.
Or, even better, someone like Rogue, who could copy his ability and die in the name of the future of the entire species.
However, that wasn't important anymore. I memorized the blueprints for both this device and Cerebro, they'll come in handy on the farm.
And with the addition of Aesir capabilities, all the aforementioned shortcomings could be negated, opening up prospects simply beyond words.
Now all that remained was to wait for the prof and inquire what he intended to do with all this bedlam.
I awaited the X-Men's arrival while digging into the guts of Magneto's invention. Not that I needed to, since I literally saw every stage of its design and construction through the chief designer's eyes, but touching what I'd seen with my own hands was still interesting.
I wasn't worried about the prisoners, having put them into a deep magical sleep and left another illusion to keep watch.
The presence of three controlled phantoms occupied with independent tasks was starting to be felt, but my brain was handling the parallel distribution of attention for now.
About forty minutes later, a futuristic-looking dark gray VTOL jet flew up to the lonely island Erik used as a base.
After circling the rocky shore for a couple of minutes, it gently set down on the helipad next to the transport that brought me here, after which the long-awaited heroes descended from the opened ramp.
Jean stayed at the school to watch over the kids, Senator Kelly, and another phantom of mine created to monitor said senator's condition.
But the rest arrived in full force; even Logan showed curiosity and was now descending the ramp alongside everyone else, looking around with interest.
"Where is Erik?" Xavier asked first thing, as soon as the wheels of his chair touched the ground.
"In the helicopter," my illusion responded, following alongside. "I was too lazy to look for living quarters, so I laid him right on the seats. His assistants are there too."
"They won't run away?" Storm looked at me anxiously.
"I put them into a magical sleep, they won't wake up on their own."
"I must speak with him," Charles announced decisively, directing his chair toward the helicopter.
"I don't mind," my second illusion answered, the one guarding said helicopter, while the first dissipated so as not to strain my brain further.
"Only before that, I recommend finding out from me how everything here could have ended," I smiled. "Just in case you need arguments?"
The professor looked into the open door, verifying that his old friend lay in the helicopter cabin safe, sound, and even with some comfort, unlike Toad, who was dumped on the floor. Mystique was also afforded comfort, but the telepath cast only a fleeting glance at her.
"I'm listening," having calmed his darkest fears (even though I assured him I hadn't done anything to them), Charles turned to me.
"Well then, make yourselves comfortable, and I ask the particularly impressionable to sit down," I smiled into the mutants' faces and began my story…
….
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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