Ethan was quiet for a moment.

Then a slow, genuine smile formed—one that carried both approval and quiet certainty. "We were thinking the same thing," he said. "I had the same idea for you."

He tilted his head slightly, giving her space even as he spoke.

"That said, you can choose any other core if you want," he continued, his tone calm but firm in its confidence. "This is still your decision."

A brief pause followed, his eyes sharpening just a fraction.

"But psionic force fields... and absolute dominion over ice and cold?" he added. "That combination is going to work in ways I don’t think anyone fully understands yet."

His smile deepened just a little. "I believe it’s going to surprise everyone... including you."

Sue looked pleased in the careful way she allowed herself to look pleased.

"Good," Ethan said, a note of finality settling into his voice. "Since everyone’s decided on the core they want, we’ll proceed with the transfers—properly."

He glanced around the room, making sure he had everyone’s attention before continuing.

"But not tonight," he added. "It’s already late, and this isn’t something to rush. You’ll need to be in your best mental state for what comes next."

"So we move tomorrow evening," he said. "Once everything is prepared... I’ll merge the core into each of you."

The conversation after that found its own level, drifting into lighter territory the way conversations did after something heavy had been resolved.

Someone made deserts. Anna told a story about something that had happened during the honeymoon that made Jean cover her face with her hand and Diana raise both eyebrows simultaneously.

Elizabeth laughed at something for the first time that evening, a genuine laugh, surprised out of her, and looked briefly startled by the sound of it.

Ethan sat in the middle of it and watched his family and felt the anger in his chest, which had not gone away, sit alongside the warmth of the room and exist simultaneously with it, the way two true things could occupy the same space without canceling each other out.

Jean’s hand found his arm. She did not look at him when she spoke, keeping her voice low and even.

"The weather outside is getting worse," she said. 𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

Ethan glanced toward the window. Through the glass, a long arc of blue lightning split the sky from one end of the visible horizon to the other.

"I know," he said.

Jean knew better than anyone in the room what Ethan was feeling. In many ways, she understood him more deeply than anyone else present.

Ethan knew that too. Ever since he had grown more powerful, his emotions had begun to affect the weather around him whenever they reached extreme levels—like now.

He tried to bring it under control, but his adaptation failed him this time, and he could not understand why.

So he stopped trying to suppress it, letting his emotions run their course as the storm outside reflected his unrest.

He had begun to notice something else too—it was becoming harder to keep his emotions from affecting the atmosphere as his power continued to grow.

He planned to do something about it, because the last thing he wanted was for the world to suffer just because he lost his temper.

Now, he finally understood what it felt like for someone overwhelmingly powerful to control their strength, so as not to accidentally destroy the world.

"There is only one thing that calms you down when you get like this." Jean looked at him then, direct and clear. "Go take a walk. Get some air. Do what you need to do."

Anna had been listening. She looked outside at the sky with the expression of someone reading a situation correctly. "She’s right, sugar. Go on. We will be here when you get back."

She paused. "But don’t take all night."

Elizabeth looked between them, genuinely confused. "Is Ethan-sama alright? He seemed fine. He was laughing just a moment ago."

Nobody in the room except Elizabeth needed the question explained.

The only reason he didn’t go after Mephisto immediately was because he felt he needed to be with his girls.

Susan had gone through a loss in the past few hours, and Diana had just returned from her journey, where she had fought demons across five different hell dimensions.

He knew he needed to be there for them right now.

That was the only reason he didn’t go after Mephisto right away and burn him with Genesis fire.

And that... was the only reason Mephisto was still alive.

But now, after spending some time with them and making sure they were alright, it seemed it was finally time to rid this universe of that red devil pest.

Didi looked at Elizabeth with a small, kind smile. "He is fine," she said. "He is simply also very, very angry. He is very good at having several emotions like that."

"Oh," Elizabeth said, not fully understanding but accepting the answer.

Ethan stood. He looked around the room once, at all of them, and something in his expression settled into a kind of quiet resolve.

"I will be back," he said.

He was three steps from the door when Didi rose from the couch and came to him. She took his face in both hands and kissed him, slow and deliberate, and when she pulled back her eyes were bright and certain.

"The prize from the gelato competition," she said. "I have not forgotten. Do not keep me waiting long, Dr. Carter."

Ethan’s expression, which had been carrying a great deal of weight all evening, shifted into something warmer. He pulled her close and kissed her again, his hands at her waist. "I will be back before you miss me," he said against her lips.

"I already miss you," she said simply.

He smiled. Then he let her go, and walked out the door.

...

[Carter Residence, Front Steps]

The wind hit him the moment he stepped outside, rolling hard down the street and carrying the particular electric smell of a storm that was not entirely natural.

The blue lightning overhead was continuous now, threading through the clouds in slow, branching arcs. Several neighbors’ windows were dark. The street was empty.

Ethan walked to the corner, stopped, and closed his eyes.

He opened his Genesis Awareness to its full extension, letting it reach outward across the city, across the country, across the continent, threading through dimensions and probabilities until it found what he was looking for. His Telepathy ran alongside it, a parallel search, precise and thorough.

Mephisto.

The demon lord who had sent a Spirit of Vengeance after Susan Storm. Who had appeared in person with a cane and a smile to offer her a deal while her brother was dying on the pavement in front of her. Who had calculated the exact moment of maximum vulnerability and walked into it with the confidence of something that had done this ten thousand times and never been made to regret it.

Ethan’s eyes opened. He had found him. The location was unexpected enough to make him pause for exactly one second. Then he decided it did not matter and opened a portal.

...

[Castle Doom, Latveria]

The throne room of Castle Doom was a large and deliberately imposing space, all dark stone and high ceilings and the particular architectural language of a man who had very specific opinions about how power should present itself to the world.

Banners hung from the walls. Torches burned in iron brackets. The throne itself was not ornate in the way that most thrones were ornate. It was simply large and solid and faced the room with the permanence of something that had never considered the possibility of being moved.

The man sitting in it wore grey armor and a green hood and cloak, and he was looking at the far wall with the posture of someone who had been waiting for a visitor and had known approximately when they would arrive.

Suddenly a portal opened and Ethan stepped through it and let it close behind him. He looked around the room with the mild interest of a man arriving somewhere he had not been for a while, then looked at the figure on the throne.

"Long time no see, Victor," he said, raising one hand in a casual wave. "Or do you prefer the other one?"

A small, easy smile appeared on his face. "Dr. Doom."