Taking part

"What's wrong, Brad?"

Logan poked his head out, looking puzzled at Brad, who still hadn't boarded the plane.

Brad looked back. "Nothing. Just saw something interesting."

"Oh? What was it?"

Logan moved closer to Brad, then suddenly lunged, reaching for the still-burning cigar in Brad's hand with lightning speed.

"None of your damn business."

Brad raised his hand, twisted at the waist, and knocked Logan back into the cabin with a bump of his hip.

Then he boarded the plane at his leisure.

The Blackbird cut across the sky. On the ground, a middle-aged man lay prone, not daring to move a muscle, terrified that the Blackbird might suddenly stop right above him.

He was a member of the Hellfire Club, and his actual strength far surpassed that of the fat idiot who had been manipulating gravity earlier.

It was just that every position on the Hellfire Club's chessboard was occupied, leaving him stuck as a reserve member.

But being a reserve member gave him more freedom to act, so he had secretly followed the former Black Bishop out.

With his mutant ability at work, no one could detect him.

His original goal had been to quietly kill the Black Bishop. That would leave a piece vacant on the Hellfire Club's chessboard, giving him an opportunity to rise through the ranks.

That was one of the Hellfire Club's unwritten rules. Of course, if you were weaker than your target, you might instead become a stepping stone for that piece to establish a reputation and assert their power.

Take the recently promoted Black King, Sebastian Shaw, for example.

Supposedly, four or five people had tried to assassinate him in secret, only to have their heads cut off and hung from the tallest building in the city.

The Black King, Sebastian Shaw, was gaining more and more prominence within the organization.

That had made him impatient too. He wanted to kill the Black Bishop and take his place.

But he had never expected this.

That man among the X-Men, the one who had appeared out of nowhere and wasn't in their files at all!

That guy! He had seen through his camouflage at a glance!

He had been a full three kilometers from the battlefield!

That gaze had locked onto him as though the man might charge over and crush his skull at any moment!

His ability was by no means simple invisibility. He could alter reality to a certain extent, and his invisibility was achieved by changing the angles at which light reflected.

That man was terrifying. He had even spoken to him, telling him to hurry back and report to his organization?

The middle-aged man shuddered a few times and decided to return to the organization immediately to report the existence of this terrifying half-machine man.

As for the target in the Prisoner Transport Van?

Forget it. If they had sent that fat bastard, the former Black Bishop, the organization probably hadn't placed much importance on the mutant in the Prisoner Transport Van anyway.

He probably wasn't all that powerful, right?

After the middle-aged man dropped his invisibility and hurried away, a full twenty-four T-1001 Ultimate Nullifiers also disengaged their optical camouflage around the spot where he had been hiding.

Then they began withdrawing at Brad's signal.

Meanwhile, aboard the Blackbird carrying the X-Men home, Moonstar was comforting Ahmed, whose experiences were similar to her own.

One was Native American, the other Egyptian, and their skin tones were quite similar.

Brad, meanwhile, stared up at the ceiling of the aircraft. For the moment, his mind wasn't on Ahmed either.

He had received a message from Obadiah.

(The man Howard had promoted to help manage Stark Industries-a talented man, yes, in a certain sense. The Iron Monger who wanted to kill Iron Man.)

This young man, who had yet to reveal much of his ambition, had recently begun taking on some of the duties and responsibilities Howard Stark had assigned him, giving him a little more say in things.

As a result, he had grown considerably bolder, bypassing Howard to establish closer private contact with Brad.

Howard, meanwhile, had begun thinking about retiring from the Strategic Scientific Reserve.

As more and more young people rose through the ranks, Peggy was also beginning to feel stretched thin and had recently started considering retirement.

After all, at first glance, things were looking excellent.

Director Peggy had recently been evaluating a man named Nick Fury.

He had once been injected with an inferior version of the super-soldier serum, so he looked somewhat younger than his actual age and was considerably steadier and more dependable than others who had joined around the same time.

Once Nick Fury had accumulated a few more years of experience, Director Peggy intended to start promoting him.

Yes, even Peggy's thoughts of retirement were relative.

She still wanted to devote at least another eight or ten years to her work.

That gave Brad something of a headache, since he was determined to get Peggy to go home and rest.

For certain rather personal reasons, Brad had no desire to kill this woman, even though Peggy lacked the research talent he valued.

Forcing her to retire would be enough. Brad's lifespan extended well beyond a thousand years. He could wait her out.

But none of that was the main point.

The main point was the message Obadiah had sent.

With Skynet implanted in his brain, Brad had no need for something like a phone.

The message said Howard intended to visit soon, hoping to make Brad the godfather of his son, Arno Stark.

Brad pinched the bridge of his nose. He had indeed stationed a highly intelligent Ultimate Nullifier at the base, one that looked exactly like him before his modifications, to maintain the illusion that he was still in Canada.

But he felt that something as significant as becoming the godfather of Howard's son...

Wouldn't feel right unless he experienced it in person.

So he simply considered his wording, replied to Obadiah, then sent Howard another message saying he planned to visit New York soon.

He could report to the Strategic Scientific Reserve while he was there.

Howard replied quickly, expressing a warm welcome for Brad's upcoming visit. He also told Brad, who had been rather quiet lately, about something else.

Following internal discussions within the Strategic Scientific Reserve, Director Peggy had approved the proposal and sought authorization from her superiors.

The Strategic Scientific Reserve would be renamed that Christmas.

S.H.I.E.L.D.

Its full name would be the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division.

Howard said Director Peggy had also been planning to contact him recently, hoping to hear his opinion.

"No, there's no need. Go with that. It sounds pretty good."

Brad stared at the message, looking a little dazed.

Suddenly, he felt an inexplicable sense of involvement.

A feeling that he had witnessed history.

He leaned back in his seat and burst out laughing, startling the others aboard the Blackbird.

His laughter was wild and unrestrained, and a hint of moisture seemed to glisten at the corner of his left eye, the only one that still retained its human structure.

Only Brad knew why.

He was no longer an insignificant nobody.

He had taken part in a step that was vitally important in Marvel's history, in every universe.

At the same time, a certain concept within the multiverse began to stir.

The universes where Brad had already died changed little.

But in those newly born universes, where Brad had yet to be born or had already grown a little older, the destinies of Brad-Bradley-began to change.

Their destinies would intersect more closely with Skynet, now a force native to Marvel.

They would play a greater part in the history of their own universes.

Above the multiverse, countless gazes turned toward it.

Many powerful beings had actually observed that blood-red bubble back then.

But they had more important matters to attend to, and a large portion of them had little interest in changes to the multiverse.

So they had not become involved.

Today, however, they all knew that new matter and history had now become fully integrated into this multiverse.

The Watcher frowned.

"Why can an ant stripped of knowledge still disturb history?"

But the Watcher soon regained his usual lofty demeanor.

He merely observed, making no attempt to interfere with Brad's development.

Then he turned his gaze toward a higher dimension.

Two new names came into view.

Skynet, Hemen.

They were two technological powerhouses who would emerge within the multiverse in the future, for Marvel had already been indelibly marked by their presence.

"No, Skynet has Brad's help, but what's going on with this Hemen? Who is Hemen?!"

The Watcher's eyes widened. He had only plotted against Brad in the first place because he had detected traces of Skynet's attempt to modify Brad's memories.

But this Hemen had hidden himself even deeper.