Bella ran her fingertips over the Eye of Agamotto, the Time Stone, and lingered there for a long while.
Now this was a real treasure. Without this artifact, killing Smaug would never have come so easily.
The best part was that there was no hidden cost. Every bit of backlash from using it was absorbed by the Stone's own immense energy.
Bella genuinely loved the Time Stone. That sense of being strong, of being able to do anything, was intoxicating. With this gem in her hand, no enemy frightened her.
But then she thought of the Arkenstone. She thought of a mountain heaped with treasure. She thought of Bilbo Baggins clutching the One Ring. So many living examples lay right in front of her, and in the end she reined her greed in.
However good the Time Stone was, if she leaned on it and let her own growth wither, that would be the real fall.
She had glimpsed several other time-related artifacts on the timeline, relics she could use as substitutes if she ever had to give the Time Stone back. The famous Sands of Time, for one. She had even prepared a few Persian-era robes, ready to slip through time herself, but in the end she let it go.
She was afraid the temptation would be too great, that it would push her down the wrong road.
Bella teleported out of Arendelle. First, she returned the Eye of Agamotto to Kamar-Taj. The Ancient One hadn't come back yet, so she checked in with Wong and then carried Smaug's corpse and severed head to Weyland's Clone Island.
"Can this thing be cloned?" she asked, gesturing at the dragon's body.
The twelve Weyland scientists, the Jackal among them, stood frozen, pinned in place by the faint pressure of the dragon's residual aura. What in the world was this? A dragon? They weren't hallucinating, were they?
A whole crowd of researchers spent the better part of a day going over the specimen, and in the end they all shook their heads in unison. The dragon's cells were too potent. It wasn't strictly impossible to clone, but at the current level of their science there was no chance. None whatsoever. Don't even think about it.
"Then modify him! I've handed you piles of alien tech, mountains of money and resources. Now I want you to dig out every crazy idea in your heads and put this thing back on its feet. Make him fight for me. That is my one and only requirement."
After sending the scientists off to start their research, Bella found herself genuinely looking forward to Mecha-Smaug.
Next, she went to see Dr. Harlow. The deranged doctor was one of the more important figures Bella had bent to her will through mind control, and she had quietly tasked him with a single experiment that had now run for over a year.
"You sent me an email saying your earlier research is complete?"
Harlow's moral compass had been twisted around by psionic force, but his personality remained as unhinged as ever.
He snapped his fingers. "You came to the right person. This is a genuine breakthrough in biology. Are you absolutely sure I can't publish the paper?"
Bella picked up a tablet and began reading through his report, answering offhand, "It's not like you care about peer recognition anyway."
Harlow shrugged. "Fair enough."
Long stretches of theory and procedure she skimmed past, focusing on the results. She wasn't a geneticist or a biologist, but as a modern person with a basic education, reading conclusions she could manage.
She read the data three times before she finally nodded. "Good work, Dr. Harlow."
The mad doctor grinned, a crooked, gleeful thing. "Reproduction is such a dreary exercise. Using science on that is honestly a waste. I've got a much better idea. Want to hear it?"
Bella didn't bother arguing. She picked up the tablet and left Clone Island.
...
Little Kitty's birth had planted a new kind of hope between Bella and Natasha.
Looking after the baby together, the two of them had started to toy with the idea of having a child of their own.
According to Natasha, in her exact words: women are changeable creatures, and two women together were even more so, so to keep their relationship from cracking apart somewhere down the line, having a child while things were at their best, as an emotional anchor, was a very necessary step.
But for the two of them to actually produce a child together was genuinely difficult.
With S.H.I.E.L.D.'s technology, Yashida Corporation's technology, Weyland's resources, and Dr. Harlow's experiments running for over a year, they finally had results.
"I don't really understand it myself. Here, you take a look." Bella handed Harlow's research over to Natasha.
This wasn't a project they could let outsiders in on. They were going to have to handle the "hands-on" part themselves.
Unlike Bella, who was spectacularly lopsided in her studies, Natasha's knowledge ranged wide. Designing original research might be beyond her; she hated repetitive experimental procedures and lacked the necessary flashes of genius. But reading someone else's methodology and conclusions? No problem at all.
Bella sat to one side drinking coffee. Natasha held the tablet and read every word.
For this experiment, Harlow had quietly recruited ten volunteers: women who had been assaulted by men and yet still wanted a child of their own.
The early results were excellent. The babies were healthy. No complications.
Natasha pulled out a pen and paper from time to time to make notes. Now and then she picked up the phone to call a familiar professor with a question.
When she reached the end, she asked, light as anything, "Have you decided? Will it be you, or me?"
Bella gave her a placating smile. "It'd be easier for you to get leave. You've already taken a break from school, and your... what's it called, the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division? They've got more elite operatives than they know what to do with. They won't miss one. Whereas I've got so much on my plate right now... so... heh heh heh, it kind of has to be you."
Natasha thought about it for a moment. "So you'll be the one providing?"
"Right. Don't worry, I'll provide the material, and then you put in the months of work..."
"The catch being that we can only have girls?"
Bella nodded vigorously. "Science really is all-powerful, but it looks like we can only have daughters."
...
The two of them moved fast. Once they understood the theory, they wasted no time getting started.
That same evening Bella was lying face-down on a surgery table, while Natasha, in full surgical gown and mask, looked very much like someone about to relieve another person of a kidney.
Natasha picked up a syringe that looked frankly terrifying and patted the muscle along Bella's spine. "Relax, darling husband. Your moment to contribute has come."
Then she drove the needle into Bella's back with the kind of force that could have paralyzed her.
"...W-wait, wait... that bastard Harlow never said anything about this! Why does it hurt so much?! It's killing me!"
"Nata, gently, gently! For God's sake, go easy! Slower! Ow ow ow!"
"Don't shout! It's only been a little while. Bear with it... we've still got at least three more samples to pull. Hehehe."
Bone marrow cells were extracted from Bella's body. In the lab, stem cells were isolated and cultured into artificial sperm carrying Bella's biological signature; finally, IVF technology would be used to get Natasha pregnant.
That was the fruit of Dr. Harlow's one year and two months of research.
The one drawback of the technique was the lack of a Y chromosome, which meant only daughters were possible.