[A/N]: We're only about 70 Power Stones away from hitting the goal! You guys are killing it, seriously. But you gotta hurry, the rankings reset soon, and I really wanna drop that fresh bonus chapter before they do. Let's make it happen!
The moment they stepped off the aircraft at Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport, Jay could already hear the commotion building outside the terminal. Even through the thick walls, the sound was unmistakable to his enhanced senses: a crowd forming, voices chanting his name with the fervor typically reserved for cricket matches or Bollywood premieres.
"Jay! Jay! Jay!" The rhythmic chanting grew louder as more people gathered, their excitement palpable even from a distance.
He sighed, running a hand through his hair as he caught glimpses of the scene through the terminal windows. Someone must have leaked their flight plan.
Politicians in crisp white kurtas were already positioning themselves strategically in front of news cameras, no doubt preparing to claim him as one of their own. After all, here was Jay, the Indian-American hero who'd healed an entire nation on live television. In a country where celebrities were worshipped like deities, where people touched the feet of movie stars and threw flower petals at cricket players, Jay represented the ultimate prize.
"They want something from you," Domino observed, her mismatched eyes taking in the crowd with the calculating gaze of someone who'd spent years avoiding unwanted attention. The enhanced mental processing from her new danger sense was still settling in, making her analysis of crowd dynamics sharper than before. "Either your healing touch or just the chance to say they met the famous Power Broker." The familiar weight of being hunted, even for positive reasons, made her stomach tighten.
Jay nodded grimly. "Indians have a long tradition of worshipping their heroes. Doesn't matter if you're an actor, athlete, politician, or apparently, a mutant healer. They'll build shrines if you let them."
When two unremarkable strangers emerged from the terminal instead of their expected celebrity, the disappointment washing over the crowd's faces was almost comical. Jay had bent light around them both, transforming his distinctive features into those of an average Indian man in his mid-twenties, while Domino now appeared as a typical Delhi girl with warm brown skin and long black hair. They moved through the dispersing crowd unnoticed, just another young couple among millions in the sprawling metropolis.
"Weird seeing you with green eyes," Domino said as they caught a taxi. "Your brown eyes were one of the first things I noticed about you."
Jay glanced at her. "And I noticed you checking out my ass during that first meeting."
"I was being professional," she protested, then smirked. "Besides, it's a nice ass."
Their first stop was the Red Fort, where Jay's knowledge came alive as he explained the Mughal architecture. Standing before the massive red sandstone walls, his voice carried the same cadence she'd heard when he talked about comic book storylines.
"This is where Shah Jahan held court," Jay explained, pointing out the intricate inlay work in the Diwan-i-Khas. "The same emperor who built the Taj Mahal for his wife. Every August 15th, the Prime Minister addresses the nation from those ramparts, continuing a tradition that connects modern India to its imperial past."
As they explored, a small commotion near the children's area caught Jay's attention. A young boy, maybe seven years old, was crying while his grandmother spoke rapidly in Hindi about his burned hand from accidentally touching a hot chai vendor's stall. Jay's eyes met Domino's, and she gave an almost imperceptible nod.
Minutes later, the boy's tears had stopped, his hand completely healed. The grandmother pressed her palms together in grateful prayer, whispering "Bhagwan ka ashirwad" as Jay disappeared back into the crowd. His technomorphing had already erased the incident from nearby security cameras.
They spent days exploring Delhi's treasures. The lotus-shaped Baháʼí House of Worship left them both speechless with its architectural beauty. In Old Delhi's Chandni Chowk, they navigated the chaotic maze of narrow lanes filled with spice vendors and jewellery merchants.
The food made Domino understand why Jay had been so particular about restaurants back home. At a small dhaba near Jama Masjid, she realized what real spice meant: Nihari so rich and complex it seemed each spoonful revealed new layers of flavor, naan bread that pillowed in her mouth, and chole that had been slow-cooked until the chickpeas practically melted on her tongue.
"Christ, no wonder you were never impressed with that Thai place Bobby loves," she said around a bite of kulfi. "If I'd known real Indian food could taste like this, I would have dragged you to more ethnic restaurants instead of letting me pick pizza every time."
Jay watched her navigate the unfamiliar flavors. "Wait until we get to Rajasthan. Their Thali recipes will make this seem mild."
As they settled into their hotel that night, Jay pulled out a lottery ticket he'd bought from a street vendor.
"Time to practice," he said, focusing on the transparent dice that floated in his mind's eye. Domino's probability manipulation felt like trying to tune a radio station that kept drifting in and out of clarity.
The ticket was a small winner, nothing dramatic, but enough to confirm the power was responding. "It's working, but barely," Jay admitted, frowning at the modest results. "Your power is like trying to conduct an orchestra where every musician is playing jazz improv."
"Welcome to my world," Domino said, settling against his chest with the kind of casual intimacy that had developed over months of shared danger. "Powers like that take years to master. I should know."
The next two weeks took them across India's diverse landscape. In Rajasthan's golden desert, they rode camels across sand dunes that shifted like frozen ocean waves. The Jaisalmer Fort rose from the desert like something from Arabian Nights, its honeyed sandstone walls seeming to glow from within as the setting sun painted everything amber.
In a small village outside Jaisalmer, they encountered a group of children suffering from severe dehydration after their well had been contaminated. Jay worked quietly in the pre-dawn hours, his healing touch restoring their health while Domino kept watch. By morning, the "miraculous recovery" was attributed to prayers and traditional medicine, just as they intended.
"It's called the Golden City for a reason," Jay explained as they watched the sunset from their camel's back, one arm around her waist to keep her steady while she leaned back against his chest. "During the day, the entire city looks like it's made of precious gold."
In Kerala's backwaters, they drifted on a traditional houseboat through emerald waterways. Domino sat cross-legged on the deck, cleaning her knives with the same meditative focus Jay used for his training, while he tried again with his probability manipulation, this time on a local lottery.
"Better," he murmured later, studying the lottery results. "Still frustrating, but there's definitely progress."
The breakthrough came unexpectedly in Kanyakumari, at the southern tip of India where three oceans meet. They were sharing fish curry that had Domino sweating through her shirt on the beach, watching the waves crash against the rocks where a massive statue of Thiruvalluvar stood sentinel over the waters.
"The danger sense you gave me," Domino said suddenly, watching the complex patterns of water movement with new clarity, "it's like seeing the world in slow motion sometimes. Every ripple, every bird's flight path, it all makes sense now in ways it never did before."
Jay smiled, understanding exactly what she meant. "Wait until you get used to the enhanced memory. You'll start remembering conversations from years ago like they happened yesterday."
Domino had been absent-mindedly testing her new tachyon field manipulation, applying it to a toothpick while Jay told her about the confluence of waters. "This is what happens when I get bored during lectures," she said, concentrating on the energy flow.
The enhanced toothpick slipped from her fingers, flying straight toward Jay's face with enough tachyon-enhanced speed to punch through steel. Without his danger sense active, his reflexes were a split second too slow. But something else intervened.
The probability manipulation responded instinctively, reality subtly shifting as a seagull dove down at precisely the right moment, deflecting the toothpick's trajectory by millimeters and sending it shooting harmlessly past Jay's ear to embed itself six inches deep in the stone nearby.
"Shit." Domino's face went pale as she stared at the perfectly round hole in the ancient rock. "I could have killed you."
"Dom, I got it." Jay's voice was steady, but she could see the adrenaline in the tightness around his eyes. "We know your power responds automatically when I am in real danger. So we can start making progress now."
"Don't you dare turn my fuck-up into a training exercise," she snapped, but her hands were shaking as the reality of what could have happened hit her.
Jay caught her hands, stilling their tremor. "Hey. I'm okay."
From that moment forward, the probability manipulation became increasingly responsive. Not dramatically, not enough to guarantee lottery jackpots, but enough to nudge odds in his favor. A lucky find of exact change, a taxi appearing just when needed, a hotel room becoming available at the last minute. Jay spent most of his free time testing the limits with scratch-offs and online betting.
"You're getting that look again," Domino warned as they boarded their flight to the Philippines, watching him calculate odds on his phone.
"What look?"
"The same one you get when you're planning something that's going to give me a headache." She tugged his ear hard enough to get his attention. "Don't turn into one of those assholes who thinks they can beat the house."
"Says the woman who convinced me to bet on three different horse races in Mumbai," Jay countered.
"That was field testing," she said primly. "This looks like you're enjoying it too much."
Throughout their travels, they heard whispers of Indian heroes that made Jay's mind itch with curiosity. Stories of Krrish, the flying hero who protected Mumbai. G-One, the guardian. Robot, the mechanical protector. And most intriguingly, HERO apparently powered by Goddess Durga herself.
"This world is bigger than I thought, at least Shaktiman was not here. This world really doesn't need another reality warper like Sentry," Jay mused as they watched a news report about HERO stopping a bank robbery with powers that seemed to defy physics.
'The Marvel universe I remembered definitely doesn't have these heroes.'
Domino noticed the way his jaw tightened when he was processing too much information. "You're not planning to investigate, are you? We're supposed to be on vacation."
"No," Jay said after a moment, his hand finding hers automatically. "Some rabbit holes are better left unexplored. We have our own story to write."
"Good," she said, squeezing his fingers. "Because I'm not ready to share you with another crusade just yet."
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