----
Dr. Connors handed over a vial of Susan's blood.
Nolan uncapped it and, to Wanda's visible shock, let a drop fall onto the back of his own hand. The moment it touched, his skin rippled absorbing it seamlessly.
"…Are you a vampire now?" Wanda asked, half-joking, half-disturbed.
"It's called self-evolution," Nolan replied dryly.
Under the influence of the [Spirit of Evolution], his cells began breaking down the genetic structure of Susan's blood, extracting and adapting its secrets.
He murmured to himself, "Physicalized mental energy? No… there's something else. A new energy dimension?"
His voice trailed as his consciousness dove inward. It felt like a hidden coordinate in his mind had just been lit up as an anchor point. With each shift of thought, his spiritual energy expanded, like tendrils feeling through cracks in space.
He was no longer bound to the material world.
He'd pierced into the arcane.
Then—contact.
His mind touched something new. A dormant realm.
A dimension he'd never sensed before.
Suddenly, his spiritual energy acted like a key, unlocking that place.
A strange force began flowing into him—merging with his mind.
From Wanda and Connors' perspective, Nolan vanished. Clothes and all.
"...He just disappeared!" Wanda gasped.
But a second later, he reappeared his eyes glowing.
"So that's what it is…" he murmured. "This... fusion of energy and thought coats Susan's body. That's what makes her invisible."
He conjured it again.
An impossibly smooth, reflective field manifested across his skin a layer with no friction, no edges. It reflected light so perfectly that even air molecules couldn't catch on its surface.
The core of Susan's power wasn't light manipulation.
It was this psionic energy. A fusion of willpower and dimensional resonance.
"Psionic fields…" Nolan muttered. "A whole psionic dimension."
In awe, Wanda blinked and realized Dr. Connors had vanished next.
"Wait—Connors? Where did you go?!"
A voice replied calmly from thin air, "Still here, Miss Wanda. Looks like the boss is testing a cloaking effect."
He shimmered back into view, as Nolan muttered, "Pure psionic constructs. Fully manipulable by thought. Adjustable particle structure. Viscosity. Density…"
Nolan had cracked it.
Unlike telekinesis, which converted thought into brute force in the physical realm, Susan's ability tapped into an unclaimed dimension, blending consciousness with energy. It was a new class of power versatile, subtle, and immense.
"A bit like the Green Lanterns," Nolan noted aloud. "Willpower + psychic projection = infinite forms."
"And if I can anchor the Vishanti's power into this… open this dimension fully…"
"…then I could potentially ascend to a single-universe-level entity."
His thoughts raced.
If Susan could access this dimension with no effort… it meant no one owned it.
And an unclaimed dimension?
That was unheard of.
Most realms, like the Dark Dimension, were ruled by ancient powers. Dormammu, for instance.
But here was a blank slate.
If Nolan could seize it, master it… he wouldn't just be a sorcerer or a scientist.
He'd be a Psionic Lord.
A new breed of magic-user. A new lineage.
Psionic Warlocks.
"I'll need to ask the Ancient One," he muttered. "If this can be done, it could change the magical order completely."
Wanda watched him with a mixture of amazement and concern.
Nolan's eyes gleamed with cosmic ambition.
"AI," he commanded, "did you log everything?"
"Yes, sir. Now calculating optimal usage protocols for Psionic Energy."
"Good."
---
Meanwhile, in a remote town…
"Alright," Max Dillon barked, his new armor humming with energy. "This is the first field mission assigned by the boss in weeks. Don't screw it up."
He was flanked by the hulking Rhino, Sandman, and a squad of armored enforcers known as the Steel Core.
"Our target: Sentinel Unit."
"Understood!"
Max's armor pulsed a reactor core embedded in his chest spinning steadily.
Across town, another team was on the move.
Logan led the charge, followed by Bobby (Iceman), Kitty Pryde, and Colossus.
"This is our first shot at capturing a Sentinel," Logan warned. "Stay sharp."
"Got it."
Elsewhere, inside a quiet suburban home, a terrified mother shielded her child as a towering Sentinel loomed over them.
"Step aside, ma'am," it said in a cold, mechanical voice. "Your child is a registered mutant. Please surrender him."
"He's my son!" she cried. "He's not a mutant! He's just he's just a boy!"
"Threat Level: Gamma-Class. Protocol: Terminate."
Its eyes flashed crimson.
From its shoulder, a rotary cannon began whirring to life, locking on past the mother, straight at the child.
She shut her eyes.
Clutching her son.
And then—
BOOM!
A living tank crashed through the wall.
Colossus.
The metal giant slammed into the Sentinel like a freight train, sending it flying down the street.
"Hostile contact detected."
"Subject: Colossus."
"Threat Level: 3."
"Ability: Organic Steel Conversion."
"Countermeasure: High-Temperature Surge."
In response, the Sentinel's body glowed, heat radiating from its limbs like a blast furnace.
"Bobby," Logan growled, "Cool him off!"
"I got it."
A blast of frost erupted from Iceman's hands, encasing the Sentinel in a sub-zero mist—
The battle had begun.
----
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