Marvel: Karma

Dean walked through the quiet part of town, still shaken up from what happened with Marcus. His hands wouldn't stop trembling. He'd saved the mutant kid from that mob, but the way he'd done it—hiding Marcus's antennae, erasing part of what made him unique—still made him sick.

Was it worth it? The question kept spinning in his head.

The Tallus on his wrist pulsed red. Then the wind changed, bringing a weird metallic smell that made his skin crawl. Something was coming.

The sky ripped open like torn paper.

A massive portal split the air above the street, crackling with violent energy. Through it floated something that used to be human. Dean could tell she'd once been beautiful, but now she was a nightmare of flesh and metal fused together. Her huge hover-chair had grown into her body, cables snaking from her skull into the machine. Her face was stretched tight, like her brain had gotten too big for her head.

"I am the perfected version of Waynesboro," she said, her voice echoing like multiple people talking at once. "My emotions were excess. My humanity... trimmed."

Dean dove behind a car, his heart pounding. The Status screen flickered

[Karmic Battery: 2/100]

Two points. Against that thing.

Another portal opened—smaller, cleaner. A girl with bright pink hair stepped through, maybe nineteen, wearing combat gear that looked like it came from another world. Crystal daggers glowed in her hands.

"Katherine Waynesboro," the girl called out. "You're trespassing this dimension & I'm here to stop you."

"Clarice Ferguson," the monster replied, tilting her massive head. "Designation-Blink. You're far from home, child."

"Yeah, well, you're not my first MODOK variant." Blink spun her daggers. "This is your only warning."

The fight exploded.

Blink vanished in a flash of pink light, appearing right above the hover-chair. Her dagger came down fast, opening a glowing rift that should've cut the villain's head clean off. But the blade hit nothing—somehow the chair had shifted without moving.

"Attack patterns analyzed," the thing said. "You're predictable."

A wave of invisible force slammed into Blink's mind. Dean felt it too, like oil trying to seep into his thoughts. But for Blink, it was way worse. She dropped her daggers and stumbled, her face twisting in pain.

"No," she gasped. "Not again. Not Sabretooth—"

The psychic attack was making her relive her worst memories. Dean watched helplessly as tears streamed down her face.

"Victor..." she whispered. "I couldn't save you."

"Pain proves your programming is incomplete," the monster said, floating closer. Metal arms extended from her chair like spider legs. "Let me fix that."

But Blink was tougher than she looked. With a scream that seemed to tear the air, she broke free. Her daggers flew back to her hands as she teleported rapidly—appearing, striking, vanishing, appearing again. Each attack left glowing tears in space that made the villain's chair wobble.

"Adapting," the monster announced. New weapons sprouted from her chair—lasers, missiles, and more psychic amplifiers. Her next mental attack was different, more focused. Instead of showing Blink bad memories, she started creating fake ones.

Blink's teleporting went crazy. She appeared inside a wall, then upside-down in midair, clearly confused. "What—where am I? This isn't right—"

"Much better," the villain purred. "Now surrender."

"Surprise!" Blink's confusion vanished. She threw both daggers at once—not at the monster, but around her. The crystal weapons opened huge portals, trapping the hover-chair in a teleportation cage.

"I've been fighting mind-readers since I was twelve," Blink said with a cold smile.

The portals started closing, about to slice the chair in half. But metal tentacles shot out, grabbing the portal edges and forcing them to stay open.

"I've calculated seventeen thousand ways to beat you," the monster said. "Your chance of winning is zero."

"Yeah?" Blink caught her daggers as they flew back. "Well, I've survived way worse than you."

The street exploded. The hover-chair's weapons tore through pavement and building walls. Water pipes burst, shooting fountains everywhere. People screamed and ran as chunks of concrete rained down.

Dean pressed against the car, shaking. He wanted to help, but what could he do? He'd barely handled the crowd, and this was next-level crazy.

But watching Blink dodge another psychic blast, teleporting through falling debris like it was a dance, he realized something. She was protecting everyone here, including him.

Above him, the battle raged on—powers clashing, buildings shaking, reality itself bending under the strain. Blink teleported desperately, but she was getting tired. Ms. MODOK had her trapped in a corner, psychic interference scrambling her ability to teleport accurately.

Dean saw his chance.

He focused on his power, feeling his last two Karma points drain away. The power flowed through him as he spotted a loose brick from the damaged building above Ms. MODOK. With his limited influence, he gave it just enough of a push.

[Karmic Battery: 0/100]

The brick tumbled down, striking Ms. MODOK's hover-chair right in the sensor array. Sparks flew as her targeting system glitched.

"What—" Ms. MODOK's psychic hold on Blink wavered for just a moment.

That was all Blink needed. She teleported clear, landing solidly with both daggers ready.

"Structural failure calculated as 0.003% probability," Ms. MODOK muttered, her massive head swiveling as she searched for the source. Her enhanced eyes locked onto Dean crouched behind the car. "Interesting. A human with dimensional technology. How... curious."

Blink's eyes snapped to Dean's wrist, where the Tallus was still glowing faintly from reading the dimensional energy. Her expression shifted—surprise, then understanding.

"You're not from here," she called out between dodging laser blasts. "That's an Exile device!"

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