AN: New week. Big chapter. 3.5k Words. Gimme those powerstones.
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[Wilson Estate] [Family Lounge] [Later That Afternoon]
By the time Alex gathered everyone in the family lounge, Caroline had already spoiled half the surprise.
She stood near the fireplace with her arms folded, watching the two identical Alexes enter behind the original like she was waiting for the rest of the women to experience the same mental malfunction she had suffered beside the pool.
Max was sitting comfortably across the largest couch with pillows supporting her back. Their daughter slept against her chest while their son rested in a nearby bassinet. Halle sat beside her with Asher on her lap, gently stopping him from grabbing the necklace hanging around her neck.
Scarlett sat on one of the armchairs with a cup of coffee balanced against her knee. Angelina sat beside Evangeline on the opposite couch, while Chloe had taken the chair nearest the windows.
Rachel stood near the center table.
Alex walked into the room first.
Clone One followed him.
Clone Two came in next, carrying the production folders Alex had ordered him to organize.
Everyone looked up.
There was silence for approximately four seconds.
Scarlett slowly lowered her coffee cup. "There are three Alexes standing in the room, and somehow this doesn't even make the top five strangest things I've seen since moving into this house."
Angelina studied all three versions of him before resting her chin against one hand. "I'm trying to decide whether I should be concerned that my first thought was about how much more work Titan can get done now."
Rachel glanced toward her. "That was also my first thought."
Max stared at the clones for a few seconds before shifting their sleeping daughter carefully against her chest. "My first thought was that Moneybags finally figured out how to lose arguments three times faster."
Alex looked toward her. "You could at least pretend to be impressed."
Max smiled sweetly. "Honey, I've watched you create money out of thin air, dodge things with eyes closed, edit entire movies faster than normal people order pizza and then there's that talking golden spatula into our kitchen that sexually harasses everyone while a magical cookbook disappears whenever it gets bored. Two extra copies of your face aren't exactly breaking my worldview anymore."
Halle laughed softly while bouncing Asher against her knee. "She's got a point. A year ago, I would've needed several hours and probably a very strong drink to process this."
Evangeline leaned forward slightly, studying Clone One. "Can they think independently?"
Alex shook his head as he moved toward the couch. "They can perform complex tasks, but they don't have their own desires, emotions, ambitions, or personalities. The System can run them based on my habits and instructions, and I can take direct control whenever I want."
Chloe's detective instincts immediately took over as she looked between Alex and his copies. "How direct are we talking? Can you see through their eyes?"
"I can see through both of them, hear what they hear, share their senses, and control their bodies directly," Alex replied as he sat beside Max. "When they disappear, I receive everything they experienced as memory."
Chloe's eyebrows lifted. "That's actually incredible for security work."
Rachel nodded while looking toward the clones with growing professional interest. "It also means he can attend private production meetings, oversee editing, review classified Titan operations, and monitor multiple facilities without physically leaving the estate."
Caroline pointed toward Rachel with immediate annoyance. "Really? All you can think about is work? I was thinking dates and shopping trips, and you turned magical cloning into corporate logistics within thirty seconds."
Rachel gave her a calm look. "Your priorities remain deeply inspiring."
Caroline placed one hand against her chest. "Thank you for finally recognizing my contribution."
Scarlett looked toward Clone Two, who still held several folders against his chest. "How long do they stay?"
"Twelve hours maximum," Alex replied. "I can cancel them whenever I want."
Angelina's eyes widened slightly at that detail. "So you have three bodies available whenever you need them."
Alex nodded. "That's the idea. One can handle paperwork, one can direct, and I can stay home whenever possible. If something important happens on set, I can take over the directing clone directly."
Halle's expression softened as she understood what that meant beyond business. "You won't have to disappear for fourteen-hour shooting days as often."
"That was my first serious thought after testing them," Alex replied as he glanced toward Asher and then toward the twins. "I've spent years telling myself I'd slow down eventually, then another movie, company, or crisis showed up. This lets me keep working without missing everything happening here."
Max watched his face for a moment before reaching across and taking his hand. "Okay, that part makes the creepy identical boyfriend army more attractive."
Alex smiled at her. "I'm glad I've received official approval."
Max narrowed her eyes playfully. "Temporary approval, Moneybags. If I ever catch one of those things pretending to be you while you're somewhere else eating cake, we're having problems."
Clone One turned toward her automatically. Alex controlled it just for fun.
Max immediately pointed at him. "And stop looking at me like that, Copybags. You're making this weird."
Alex laughed.
Evangeline watched the change with fascination. "Can you make them act exactly like you?"
"Pretty close," Alex replied. "The default System control copies my speech patterns, work habits, decision-making preferences, and normal behavior. Somebody who knows me extremely well might notice something slightly off if they spend enough time around a clone."
Rachel's expression became smug. "I'd notice within five minutes."
Scarlett looked toward her. "Five minutes sounds generous."
Rachel glanced at Alex before answering. "Three minutes if he tries flirting."
Caroline laughed as she dropped into the empty chair beside Scarlett. "Rachel probably has an internal spreadsheet tracking how often Alex blinks during meetings."
Rachel's mouth curved faintly. "I don't need a spreadsheet for information that obvious."
Alex shook his head before looking around the room. "Anyway, clones aren't actually the main reason I called everyone together."
That got their attention immediately.
Max's eyes narrowed. "There's something stranger than three Alexes?"
Alex leaned back against the couch and looked toward the ceiling as if reconsidering whether the next part was worth the trouble. "Depends on your definition of strange."
Scarlett set her coffee down on the table. "Whenever you begin a sentence like that, somebody usually learns reality has another secret compartment."
Alex rubbed his palms together once. "You all know I've mentioned the System before."
Several heads nodded.
They knew there was something behind his abilities, even if Alex had never explained every menu, quest, reward, or strange notification that appeared before his eyes.
Halle had heard him describe it as something like an interface that rewarded achievements. Rachel understood more than most because Alex occasionally mentioned specific abilities or restrictions while dealing with security issues. Max mostly referred to it as Alex's magical cheating menu.
None of them had ever seen it.
Angelina looked toward him more carefully. "You can show it to us?"
Alex focused on the System.
"Open the System interface and enable family visibility for everyone currently in this room."
For a moment, nothing happened.
Then a soft blue glow appeared in the air above the center table.
Every conversation stopped.
A translucent screen unfolded slowly, widening until it hovered several feet across. Symbols, menus, notification icons, achievement tabs, and glowing text appeared across its surface with impossible clarity.
Scarlett leaned forward immediately. "Okay, seeing it is much stranger than hearing about it."
Halle's eyes moved across the floating menus. "You've been seeing this since when?"
"A very long time," Alex replied.
Max stared at the enormous unread notification count near the top corner. "Ninety-three unread notifications?"
Alex cleared his throat. "Don't worry about that. Those are all achievement notifications. Nothing useful."
Chloe slowly stood and walked closer, though she stopped before touching the interface. "Can we interact with it?"
"Only if I authorize it," Alex said. "Otherwise, you can see what I show you."
Rachel looked through several headings visible along the edge. "Quests, achievements, rewards, modules, archives, abilities, security protocols, technology development." She slowly turned toward him. "How much have you been hiding?"
Alex smiled carefully. "Hiding feels negative. I didn't know I could show you this until a few days ago."
Rachel stared at him long enough that Caroline started laughing again.
Max adjusted the baby against her chest and pointed toward the screen. "Show us the clone thing first because I want proof that those two handsome zombies aren't secretly planning to replace you."
Alex opened the completed milestone.
The clone description appeared across the screen.
Everyone read it silently.
When they reached the twelve-hour duration and memory transfer sections, Chloe gave a thoughtful nod while Angelina looked increasingly impressed.
Halle focused on the absence of independent emotion and seemed relieved by it.
Max reached the line confirming only two clones could exist simultaneously and looked disappointed.
Alex noticed. "Why do you look upset?"
Max answered while still reading. "Because five Alexes would've been funnier."
Caroline immediately looked toward Max with suspicion. "Funniest isn't the word you were actually thinking."
Max smiled innocently. "I recently gave birth and therefore cannot be held responsible for my imagination."
Alex quickly closed the clone reward before the conversation moved somewhere dangerous.
"There's another reason I wanted to show you this," he said.
The screen changed.
A new quest filled the center of the display.
..
[ACTIVE LONG-TERM QUEST: A HOUSE FULL OF TOMORROW]
Objective: Protect the family you are building without losing yourself in the process.
Current Progress: 40%
Next Milestone: Add two more girls to your harem and make 1 girl pregnant
Reward: Unknown
..
Nobody spoke.
Alex watched every face in the room while the words remained suspended between them.
Caroline blinked once.
Scarlett slowly picked her coffee back up, then apparently decided caffeine wasn't going to help and put it down again.
Angelina's eyes moved from the quest toward Alex.
Halle reread the milestone carefully as though she expected different wording on the second attempt.
Evangeline pressed her lips together.
Chloe stared at the word harem with the exhausted expression of a detective discovering that supernatural reality had officially adopted Max's vocabulary.
Max was the first person to recover.
She pointed toward the floating display. "Ha! The universe called it a harem. I win."
Chloe immediately looked toward her. "That's your first concern?"
Max shifted carefully against her pillows. "I've been calling it a harem for ages while everyone kept giving me that judgmental little family arrangement face. Now the magic universe computer agrees with me, which means history has officially vindicated Max Black."
Caroline groaned and covered her face. "We're never going to hear the end of this."
Max smiled proudly. "Absolutely never."
Rachel stepped closer to the System screen, ignoring Max's victory celebration. "Unknown reward."
Alex nodded. "That's what it says."
Rachel's eyes narrowed. "Why doesn't it tell you what you'll receive?"
"I don't know."
Everyone turned toward him.
Alex pointed toward the screen. "That's genuinely all I've got. Some rewards are visible before completion, while others remain hidden."
Scarlett leaned back and crossed her legs. "So an invisible cosmic system wants you to expand the relationship by two people and have another child, but it won't tell you what prize sits at the end."
"When you phrase it like that, it sounds questionable," Alex admitted.
Scarlett gave him a look. "There's another way to phrase it?"
Angelina stayed thoughtful for several seconds before asking the question that had clearly been bothering everyone. "Does the System force you to complete quests?"
"No," Alex replied immediately. "There's no penalty, deadline, punishment, or mind control involved. I can ignore this forever if I want."
Halle visibly relaxed.
Chloe nodded slowly. "That's the first thing I wanted clarified."
Evangeline looked toward the objective again. "Does it choose specific people?"
"Nope," Alex said. "There aren't names listed anywhere."
Max pointed toward the milestone again. "Then let's get to the important part. Who are the two girls?"
Every woman in the room looked toward Alex.
Alex glanced around at the collective attention suddenly focused on him.
"This feels like an interrogation."
Rachel folded her arms. "You're surrounded by eight women after displaying a magical instruction telling you to bring home two more. What atmosphere were you expecting?"
Caroline leaned forward eagerly. "Exactly. Names, Moneybags."
"That nickname belongs to Max."
Caroline waved the objection away. "We're sharing terminology during the emergency."
Max gave her an approving nod. "I'll allow temporary licensing."
Alex rubbed the back of his neck and looked toward the quest. "I haven't picked anyone."
Scarlett's expression became skeptical. "You haven't thought of anyone?"
"Thinking and deciding are different things," Alex replied.
Angelina tilted her head slightly. "Which means you've thought about possibilities."
Alex looked at her. "Of course I have. The System dropped this thing on me two days after I finalized twelve projects for the year."
Halle's expression held more curiosity than jealousy. "Would you even want to bring two more people into this family right now? Things are already crowded emotionally, even if the estate itself is enormous."
Alex's expression softened as he looked around the room. "That's why I haven't decided anything. I'm not dragging random women into our lives because a quest says I'll get a mystery reward. If anything ever changes, it has to happen naturally, and everyone involved has to genuinely want it."
Chloe rested back against her chair, visibly approving of the answer. "That matters more than whatever the System wants."
"It matters more to me too," Alex replied. "I love what we have. I'm not risking that because a progress bar wants sixty percent instead of forty."
Max stared at him for a few seconds before smiling. "That was disgustingly sweet, and I hate that my hormones are still broken enough to appreciate it."
Halle gently rubbed Max's shoulder. "Your hormones aren't broken."
Max looked down at the sleeping baby against her. "Tell that to the commercial that made me cry because a puppy couldn't find its blanket yesterday."
Evangeline smiled before looking back toward Alex. "If you haven't decided on the two women, then we can leave that part alone for now."
Scarlett raised one finger. "There's still the other half of that milestone."
The room became quiet again.
Scarlett looked toward the glowing text.
"Make one girl pregnant."
Max immediately turned toward Rachel.
Caroline followed her gaze.
Then Halle.
Then Evangeline.
Angelina.
Chloe.
Scarlett finally looked too.
Rachel remained perfectly composed while seven women stared directly at her.
Alex glanced around and sighed. "You're all terrifyingly synchronized."
Max's grin widened. "Rachel's next."
Rachel looked toward her without changing expression. "You sound far too excited about my reproductive schedule."
Max carefully shifted the baby against her and smiled. "Honey, I've survived pregnancy, twins, labor, swollen ankles, cravings, mood swings, and people telling me to rest every twelve seconds. Now it's your turn to experience the miracle."
Rachel's gaze became colder. "You're enjoying the revenge portion more than the miracle."
"Both can be true."
Caroline looked toward Alex. "Wait, was Rachel already next before this quest?"
Alex nodded. "Yes."
Rachel answered with the same calm certainty. "We'd already discussed it."
That surprised Chloe more than the others.
"You didn't even tell us? C'mon, we don't keep secrets."
Rachel glanced toward her. "I wanted it to be a surprise."
Halle smiled softly. "Are you ready?"
Rachel's usual controlled expression shifted by the smallest amount. She glanced toward Asher on Halle's lap, then toward the bassinet and the newborn girl sleeping against Max.
"When I look at them, I'm more certain than I used to be," Rachel admitted. "I've spent most of my life preparing for threats, preventing disasters, and making sure everyone else survives the day. Having something that's mine to protect for the rest of my life doesn't sound frightening anymore."
Max's face softened immediately.
Rachel noticed and pointed toward her. "Don't cry."
Max's eyes were already shining. "I wasn't going to cry." She was crying.
"You're crying right now."
"I'm postpartum. It's legally different."
Alex smiled and reached toward Rachel.
She walked closer, and he took her hand.
"The quest doesn't change anything between us," Alex said while looking up at her. "If we have a baby, it's because we want one, not because the System expects one."
Rachel squeezed his hand lightly. "Good, because I'm not letting a floating blue menu decide when you get me pregnant."
Caroline's eyebrows rose.
Scarlett immediately looked toward the ceiling.
Angelina hid a smile behind her hand.
Max whispered loudly, "That sounded way hotter than she intended."
Rachel looked toward Max. "I intended exactly what I said."
Max stared at her for one beat before slowly nodding. "Respect."
Halle laughed and covered Asher's ears even though he clearly understood none of the conversation.
Chloe turned back toward the System screen. "I still want to know why the reward is hidden."
Alex looked toward the glowing word.
Unknown.
"That's bothering me too," he admitted.
Evangeline leaned slightly toward the screen. "Can you ask it?"
Alex considered the suggestion.
He had recently unlocked System Dialogue Tier I, which allowed one personal question every thirty days, although wasting such a rare question on a reward description seemed foolish.
Still, normal System commands didn't carry the same limitation.
Alex looked directly at the interface. "System, what's the reward?"
For several seconds, the screen remained unchanged.
Then new text appeared beneath the quest.
[REWARD CLASSIFICATION LOCKED]
[REASON: REWARD FUNCTION IS DEPENDENT ON USER CONDITIONS AT TIME OF COMPLETION.]
Every woman leaned forward.
Alex narrowed his eyes. "Explain further."
The System responded.
[FINAL REWARD FORM WILL ADAPT TO THE USER'S FAMILY STRUCTURE, CURRENT NEEDS, ACTIVE RISKS, AND DEVELOPMENT PATH AT THE TIME THE MILESTONE IS COMPLETED.]
Rachel read the message twice. "So the reward hasn't technically been decided yet."
[PARTIALLY CORRECT.]
Caroline stared at the screen. "It talks back when other people are watching."
Max pointed excitedly. "Ask it if I'm its favorite."
Alex looked toward her. "I'm not asking reality's magic interface whether you're its favorite."
Max settled back smugly. "You're scared of the answer."
Alex ignored her and focused on the System. "Does completing the milestone create any risk to the women involved or any future child?"
The answer appeared instantly.
[NEGATIVE.]
[SYSTEM QUESTS MAY RECOGNIZE OR REWARD USER CHOICES. THEY DO NOT REQUIRE HARM, COERCION, OR LOSS OF FREE WILL. ALL THIS INFORMATION IS AVAILABLE IN THE SYSTEM'S MANUAL. READ IT.]
Chloe visibly relaxed further.
"Good," she said while looking toward Alex. "That needed to be clear."
Alex nodded. "Agreed."
Angelina folded her hands together thoughtfully. "The wording is interesting. It says protect the family you're building without losing yourself in the process. The relationship expansion might only be one milestone inside a much larger objective."
Rachel glanced toward the progress indicator. "Forty percent means we're probably nowhere near finishing the full quest."
Scarlett gave a small laugh. "Wonderful. The cosmic family expansion program has multiple stages."
Max immediately pointed toward the System. "Maybe seventy percent says all the girls in his harem will get eternal youth."
"Maybe. Anything is possible," Alex replied.
"If someone new ever becomes part of this family, she needs to understand what she's entering," Halle continued gently. "The children, all of us, your work, the strange parts of your life, the powers, the security, everything. Nobody should enter because she's dazzled by Alex Wilson and discovers later that the reality is much more complicated."
Angelina nodded immediately. "I agree."
Evangeline followed with a quiet nod. "So do I."
Scarlett leaned back. "Same."
Chloe smiled faintly. "Definitely."
Caroline raised her hand. "Agreed, although I'm reserving the right to judge their shoes."
Max raised her own hand from the couch. "And boobs."
Halle stared at her.
Max shrugged carefully. "What? I'm still me."
Rachel looked toward Alex. "And I get background checks."
Alex sighed. "Of course you do."
Rachel's expression remained perfectly serious. "Deep ones."
Caroline pointed toward her. "See, that's why nobody can casually date Alex. First you meet the billionaire, then Rachel performs an intelligence operation on your childhood dentist."
Rachel considered that. "Dental records wouldn't normally be relevant."
Caroline stared at her. "Normally?"
Alex laughed and closed the quest window before the conversation became even more ridiculous.
The larger System interface remained visible, however, and everyone immediately noticed dozens of tabs they hadn't explored.
Max's eyes moved toward one glowing category.
"Wait, what's Family Archive?"
And so, they spent their entire noon talking about it...
...
[A few days later...] [Iron-Man set. LA]
The clone Alex sat behind the screen as the camera crew was fixing the camera position...
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--[AN: Updates will be slow this week. I'm on a work trip, so you might not get 5 chs like last week.]
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