Author's Note:- This Fic has completed Six months of publication! 🎉 That's huge, and I honestly couldn't have made it this far without you all. To celebrate, here's a bonus chapter as a thank-you for the constant support, comments, and love. Here's to many more chapters ahead! 💥🔥
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Tokyo, Shinjuku District
Sunfire had just finished destroying the remaining Sentinel when every screen in the district lit up simultaneously. Building-sized displays, phones in people's hands, even the emergency broadcast system.
Jay's face appeared, exhausted but determined.
"To everyone watching, and I know everyone's watching because I've hijacked literally every screen on the planet," Jay's voice carried through speakers and phones and emergency systems, "I guess most of you recognize me by now. For those who somehow don't, I'm Jay. Some call me the Power Broker, some call me the Lightbringer, some probably call me worse things in private. But today, titles don't matter. What matters is what happened."
Sunfire paused mid-flight, nuclear fire flickering around him as he listened.
Mumbai, Dharavi Slums
Krish had been pulling civilians from rubble for hours with bleeding hands and exhausted arms when someone thrust a cracked phone screen at him showing the broadcast.
"Today a great calamity befell humanity. Not just mutants or enhanced individuals, but everyone. Normal citizens caught in crossfire they didn't ask for, people just trying to live their lives who became casualties in a war they didn't start."
Around him, people huddled in destroyed buildings watched with desperate hope.
New York City, District X
The Morlocks gathered around the Bunker's main screen. Callisto's single eye fixed on Jay's image with fierce attention.
"But I've seen hope today. Normal people stepping up to save their families, their friends, even complete strangers. Fighting impossible enemies like Sentinels that even professional heroes struggle to handle. Ordinary people becoming extraordinary for just long enough to make a difference."
Sunder rumbled his agreement while his massive form shifted.
Around them more Morlocks nodded.
Kamar-Taj, Nepal
The Ancient One watched from her chambers, surrounded by students who'd never seen their teacher smile with such satisfaction.
"And in response to that courage, Mother Earth herself answered their call." Jay's expression softened. "She gave her children the chance they deserved to fight back. You saw the golden lights falling like rain and heard the voice offering power. That was Gaea herself, offering strength to noble souls willing to save others even at risk to themselves."
"So that explains the massive surge in mystic energy," Mordo whispered.
The Ancient One's smile deepened. "Jay's gambit paid off. The world now knows magic exists, whether they accept it or not. And Gaea has chosen to place her faith in mortals, risking the wrath of a Cosmic Abstracts for her children."
Xavier's School, Westchester
The broadcast reached even the besieged mansion where Xavier sat in his office, blood still crusting under his nose from hours of psychic coordination. His hands gripped his wheelchair's armrests.
"But I'm seeing people praise me, to which I say you are wrong." Jay's voice carried absolute conviction. "It wasn't me who gave you that power. The power you felt, the strength that let you save lives, that came from somewhere far more noble and far more worthy of your gratitude."
The screen shifted to show a live feed, and Xavier leaned forward.
A golden-skinned woman with wings that caught light, carrying injured civilians to safety. Her face, visible in close-up as she set down a child at a medical station, flushed red with embarrassment at suddenly being displayed on nearby screens.
"It was her. The Lifeguard." Jay's voice carried genuine respect. "She gave up her incredible powers, the abilities that made her unique and special, so that Gaea could redistribute that strength to normal citizens in their moment of need. She sacrificed her own capabilities so that millions could have the chance to save themselves and others. We are all truly indebted to you, Heather. Your selflessness made this miracle possible."
Medical personnel around Heather broke into spontaneous applause that echoed through the makeshift triage center, and patients joined in despite their injuries.
Heather's golden face turned practically crimson. "Oh God, Jay, you bloody drongo! Why'd you have to put me on the spot like this?"
But she was smiling despite the embarrassment, despite the loss of her original powers. She was smiling in a way that suggested she'd make the same choice again without hesitation.
Paris, Arc de Triomphe
Fantomex paused his rescue efforts to watch the broadcast on a commandeered tablet. His white costume was scorched, his usual smirk replaced with genuine interest.
"But we can't forget the tragedy that came with today's miracles." Jay's tone shifted, dropping into something heavier. "Those who died despite the power Gaea offered. Noble souls who accepted the golden light and fought to save people, who gave everything they had. Others were victims who never got the chance to say yes, who died too quickly for salvation to reach them."
Around the world, the mood darkened as people who'd watched temporary heroes fall, who'd seen civilians crushed despite intervention, felt the weight of those losses.
"People with powers granted by Gaea weren't invincible. They were heroes, and some paid the ultimate price. Their sacrifice matters. Their choice to stand and fight when they could have run matters. Every single life lost today matters."
The camera shifted again, and this time it showed Domino standing on the Helicarrier deck in her black mercenary suit, her hands pressed together in a prayer position that looked deeply uncharacteristic.
The Death Stone floated between her palms.
The Helicarrier
Domino felt every eye on Earth watching her through the screen, and the pressure was immense. One wrong move, one slip of concentration, and the Death Stone could fail catastrophically.
Jay used his Power Theft to enhance Domino's power to the peak he could manage.
Her quantum senses expanded outward while crimson strings materialized from her fingers like spider silk made of probability. They wrapped around the black stone with delicacy, and the moment they made contact, she felt it overwhelmingly.
Death.
Not the cruel ending Lady Death represented, but the gentle release that another kind of death had woven into the stone's nature: the peace at the end of suffering, the transition from one state of being to another.
The strings pulsed with black light mixed with crimson as the Death Stone's power flowed through her quantum manipulation like water through carefully constructed channels. Her probability powers guided each string with precision that bordered on precognition, ensuring they reached their destinations without error.
Across the Earth, the crimson strings extended invisibly, spreading through the quantum foam of reality to find their targets. They found bodies whole and vaporized, found battlefields and collapsed buildings, found every person who'd died as victims of Sentinels.
Each string touched a corpse with gentleness, and each corpse pulsed with dark violet light that seemed to hold both ending and beginning.
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