Susan was surprised by the duo's sudden appearance, and even more so when Kamala identified Alex.
"Kamala, Laura," Alex smiled. "How've you two been?"
"It's been great… though I kinda miss the base, you know?" Kamala said.
"Good…" Laura said succinctly.
"It's good that you two are here. Once I'm done with Stark, we'll move on to the X-Men. I'm sure Laura is dying to meet her father, no?"
"W-whatever…" Laura looked away, blushing.
"Holy…" Kamala looked at her companion with wide eyes. "You're never this shy…"
"Shut up…" Laura glared at Kamala.
"It makes sense… You've been crushing on him for who knows how long."
With a metallic screech, Laura's claws extended from her knuckles as her eyes turned cold. "One more word."
"Heh," Kamala acted brave, but was deterred by the threat and backed down.
"They are Laura and Kamala," Alex introduced them to Susan. "They are from this planet itself. And you two, this is Susan. My…girlfriend."
"Thanks for the pause you put in there," Susan chided from the side.
"Would you rather I introduce you as my wife?" Alex's words immediately made her blush. [Or masochistic submissive? I think the third one is the most apt.]
[This is exactly what I was talking about…you couldn't stop at the first part?]
[Never.]
Amidst the mental exchange between the two, both Kamala and Laura seemed immensely surprised and suddenly looked a little disheartened. Despite hiding their thoughts, both of them were like an open book to Alex, but he had no immediate thoughts about comforting them. Ultimately, the two of them only possessed a tertiary bond with him, and he had no plans to change that.
"What's with the tether, you two?" Susan asked, gesturing toward the black string that connected the duo at their waists.
"Oh… We share Apex, you see. That tether allows both of us to access his powers."
"A tether, you say…" Susan looked at Alex with suspicion.
[It started out as an experiment, but these two seemed to enjoy it, so I just made it permanent.]
"You concern me sometimes," Susan looked at him empathetically.
"Sure," Alex chuckled. "Girls, mind getting Stark out of there? I don't want to startle the poor guy into erectile dysfunction."
Alex grabbed Susan's hand and pulled her over to the couch as Laura and Kamala shared a look before approaching the bedroom door.
"Are you sure about this?"
"What?"
"Those two. Their expressions make their thoughts clear as day."
"Tertiary bonds are tertiary bonds, Sue," Alex said. "I have a limit to how many women I can love and pamper. Though I'm surprised you'd mention this. I thought you were more on the possessive side."
"I am, naturally. I simply wanted to hear your thoughts," she said. "Tertiary bonds are like grassroots workers, secondaries are middle managers, and primaries are the executive suite, huh?"
"More like secondary bonds are like the executives. Primaries are more like board members. You stay with me and do your own thing. Responsibilities and roles conform to the rest."
"I feel privileged…" Susan said.
"You should," Alex said. "My primary bonds go beyond your value to me. Yes, my initial reason was that I'm fascinated by your powers, but a secondary bond would've sufficed if that was all. We formed a primary bond because I wanted you closer to me."
"Now you're going to mention something about how I'm getting wet by your words…" Susan said.
"You're just as bad as I am."
"How so?"
"I wasn't even planning to mention it. Otherwise, I would've mentioned it when I called you my wife. You're the one who brought it up."
"Fine, I'm hypocritical," she shrugged. "Deal with it."
"I'll deal with it just right," Alex said darkly.
Before Susan could react, she was pushed down with Alex on top of her as he pinned her arms above her head, holding them in place with one hand as the other slipped under her shirt. Before Susan could even respond, Alex lowered his head and captured her lips in a passionate kiss.
"Mmf…" She moaned into his mouth, feeling his tongue slip through her lips as his hand snaked along her stomach, approaching her chest.
Susan matched Alex's enthusiasm with gusto, raising her leg a little and directly rubbing his crotch with her thigh as his hand cupped her breast and squeezed the soft flesh, eliciting a muffled moan from her throat.
Before the two of them could go any further, the sound of a door opening startled Susan into opening her eyes wide as she pushed Alex away from her in panic. He didn't resist, leaving a final kiss on her wet lips and retreating, letting her sit up as well.
As footsteps sounded, approaching them, she gave Alex a dirty look and started fixing her hair. He seemed entirely unbothered and stood up, facing Tony, who seemed both frustrated and flustered.
"I take it by your expression that you just saw the message from the Fantastic Four?" Alex asked.
"What do you want?"
"Is that any way to greet your savior, Stark?" Alex asked. "Without me, you'd all be dead, with no resistance remaining to speak of. A guy that possesses both Mjolnir and a Symbiote? You couldn't beat him without me if there were a hundred of you."
"Wanna bet?" He asked, smirking.
"Sure, I'll use the Mind Stone to put you in an illusion. In the meantime, this planet's Susan will consolidate everything on this planet for its eventual merger into Gaia. What do you say?"
"…" Tony continued, looking at him impassively. "I don't know how you convinced them, but…"
"Let me stop you right there, Tony. I didn't convince them of anything. I gave them an ultimatum: Death or subjugation. They chose the latter."
"I don't believe it," Tony sneered. "You used the Mind Stone, didn't you?"
"Believe it or not, I didn't," Alex said. "That would be contrary to my plans. Susan," he heard the one beside him flinch and chuckled, "the one from this reality is going to be my proxy here. Since I was going to take over anyway, her position will allow her to do things her way. Plus, I revived her dead brother."
"…" Tony frowned. "I'm nothing if not pragmatic. Considering you could've used the Mind Stone to completely skip this conversation, I can only believe that those three were actually convinced by you."
"That makes things convenient," Alex said. "You don't need to do anything. All I need from you and your new subordinates is not to waste my time gathering a pointless resistance. All it's going to do is cause trouble for Susan. If anything, my presence will help stabilize things much faster after Hydra's higher-ups got murdered and left everything to their anarchic subordinates."
"There needs to be a guarantee—"
"Your guarantee is Susan Storm—"
"Goddamn it," Susan cursed from the side.
"—The one from this reality," Alex clarified. "She's going to be the one executing everything and representing me. Talk to her if you have any grievances. Preferably, work with her to help her stabilize everything."
"What about those two…" he asked, gesturing with his head to the two silent women standing on the side. "Laura and Kamala's situation is also your doing, I presume?"
"Naturally," Alex nodded. "Their path is inherently different from anyone on this planet. I will take them with me once I leave. You two don't mind, do you?"
"Not at all, Mr. Apex," Kamala said, sounding a little reserved. It seemed that Alex's previous girlfriend comment regarding Susan was still on her mind. Laura seemed the same.
"Fine…" Tony nodded. "It's not like I have a choice anyway."
"Great, two down, two to go. Hope those conversations are as easy as this."
"Good luck," Tony said, mockingly. "If Charles were still alive, it would be different, but since you killed him, Scott is nothing but a loose cannon. He's going to explode the moment you raise this offer."
"Then someone else will lead the X-Men," Alex said casually. "I don't need loose cannons, I need people who care about stabilizing the world."
"What's your end goal in all this?" Tony asked. "Consolidating all these different planets… taking them under your wing. You don't seem like the benevolent type."
"You're right, I'm not the benevolent type," Alex nodded. "You can figure out my end goal yourself, but I'll give you a hint. The prosperity of humanity is something that is very important for the success of my plans. If you can figure it all out, great."
Tony didn't say anything else as Alex gave him a faint smile before turning to Susan.
"Let's go, honey. We might even be able to take care of the X-Men before losing daylight," he said.
Raising his hand, he created a red portal to the X-Men's compound in front of Laura and Kamala.
"You two can go on ahead, we'll catch up in an hour or so."
With that, he picked Susan up in his arms.
"Hey!" She protested, blushing with embarrassment.
Without gracing her with any response, Alex took to the air, passing through the wall as if it didn't even exist.
The three people remaining in the room were left speechless, unable to understand the logic behind his actions.
***
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