-Years ago-
A young girl could be seen running. Her speed was normal for her age. She kept running as she finally reached her destination. Panting she took a sip from her water bottle.
She felt anger as no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't compare to Lydia. Nina looked up to her. After seeing the footage on the news, she aimed to become more like her. She remembers the scenes vividly. Lydia's fight in Egypt but the most memorable and her favorite would have to be the battle in New York. Nina had no idea what the Phoenix force was but knew that it was beyond powerful. The fact the Lydia stood in front of such opposing force and didn't flinch just shows how tough she is.
Her motivation made her enlist for the Genosha's security force. Her father and mother were against it but she kept pressing until they finally let her join. However, she is only doing tower watch. A boring post with nothing worth while happening. Her father insists on keeping her within arm's reach and low risk posts.
Nina walk casually into the town they had moved to. Lydia had convinced her father to move all the people from the island to her property here. It was a welcome change in weather to Nina. Along the way to her post, she was greeted by many of the residents living there. Lydia had robots make incredible structures to them to live. It was one of the many things Lydia had done for the Mutant population.
She finally reached her destination and started to climb up the tower. Honestly, this post was dumb. Lydia and Astrid had implemented all sorts of security measures to detect and prevent someone from entering. What's the point of this post? She thought.
"Hey Nina, early again huh" A man greeted her as she reached the top. He was old and had a patch over his eye. He would make for a terrible spotter Nina thought. This only made it seem like this post was a waste.
"Sure am. Go get some rest, okay? I got it from here" she smiled, and he let out a chuckle as he got up.
"Keep an eye out" He said as he left.
"Hilarious" she whispered. She looked at the sea of trees in front of her. The upside to the post is that it had a spectacular view. It would be a boring 4 hours of watching nothing.
Nina would practice her power by trying to get a bird that was far away come to her. Everyday she would try to extend her reach. It was hard for her to maintain control of an animal. Her emotions played a huge role in her powers. Her frustration with her post extended out towards the animals nearby making it harder for her to send commands. Breathing exercises and other techniques helped some bit but it was still hard for her.
She didn't particularly dislike her mutant ability, but it was not a great combat ability. She had entertained the idea of getting a tiger or a bear to follow her but was dismissed quickly. She would have to be in a perfect state of mind to maintain a connection that long. That and avoid any emotions from springing up which to her was an impossible task.
She sighed and continued her best.
Years went by and as she grew up, she found the gap separating her from Lydia increasing. She had seen new members join the security force and heard about a group of women who would join them. She found that that all of them were all trained to fight. Her hunger for more knowledge led her to ask them to help her. She was able to find a group of them that were willing to teach her.
These actions got her in trouble with her parents, but she was old enough to make her own decisions. Much to her surprise, it was her father that defended her. He respected her drive to become stronger. Nina had told them it was to become useful to Genosha and help protect its people. While it wasn't necessarily a lie, it wasn't the complete truth.
Her training was brutal. They showed no mercy when it came to showing her how to fight. There was no line they didn't cross when teaching her. Nina was a sponge absorbing everything they taught her. She would frequently arrive home with several bruises on her. She never stopped training. Her mutant powers seem to hit a wall in terms of distance, but her control is still somewhat the same.
Nina had reached a point where the combat training was more to keep her sense sharp. Training switched to different fields that day. Erik Lehnsherr, her father, had seen her progress. He was actually impressed with how dedicated she was. He was hesitant on enlisting her into Lydia's security forces. It was a decision that would end her personal life. The only purpose was to protect and complete missions for Genosha and Lydia. He left a datapad containing requirements to enter the higher echelon at her place.
Not surprisingly, she had signed and accepted the requirements the next day. She was beyond thrilled.
"Hello Ms.Nina, you are the last person today" Astrid said as she opened a door for Nina. She had been briefed on what requirements were needed. A group of other girls were here and one by one they were called in.
"No need to worry." Astrid gestured to the medical pod. Nina stripped off her clothes and entered the pod.
"I heard my father talking about another injection." She had seen documents that her father had left on his desk.
"…yes, it's still hasn't been tested yet."
"I would like to volunt-,"
"Does your father know about this?" Nina didn't have a response to her direct question. Her stare was enough to make Nina falter.
"No, ma'am" She spoke. Before she knew it, her body react like muscle memory. It was brutally beat into any member of the military forces to never disobey or lie.
Astrid sighed as she looked at her.
"Your father would not approve it anyways,"
"Respectfully ma'am, I am old enough to make my own decisions and accept their consequences. And you are the head of this operation meaning it is up to you or Ms. Howlett," Nina had mustered the courage to speak the last few words. It was an unspoken rule to not mention Lydia's name so casually.
"And if you die?"
"I will die knowing I help the cause. With the data, you could improve it and make it safer,"
"You've put a lot of thought into this" Astrid spoke and began to run multiple simulations. She wondered if Lydia were here, what would she do?
Astrid continue to stare at the naked woman in front of her. Analyzing her breathing, muscle movement, and eye dilation. She was calm and sure of herself. Astrid remembered Lydia had instructed her with training and trusted her judgement. And now, her judgement was that this was a perfect candidate.
"Very well," Nina's body could barely hold back her excitement on hearing her say that.
"You will receive the enhanced super solider serum, Lydia's healing serum, nanite skeletal structure injections, and the experimental Terrigen injection." Astrid began to type furiously on a projected keyboard with a monitor. "The healing serum and skeletal structure injections were personally made by Lydia. The healing serum will give you the ability to heal my serious wounds and the nanite injections will add metals to your bones. Greatly enhancing your strength and durability"
"I am honored to receive such a precious item," Nina knelt and gave her salute with the right arm across her chest and her left arm behind her back.
"The Terrigen injection will change your current mutation, trigger a second mutation, or trigger a new mutation gene. It could be any these or none. You are the first, thereby the benchmark" Astrid continued to type and glanced at her still kneeing.
"Enter the pod," Nina got up and enter the pod.
"I hope you survive," Astrid said as she commenced the procedure.
A mask covered Nina's nose and mouth. Multiple needles came out and slowly came closer to her. The pain wasn't so bad to Nina. The needles injected something into her body and retracted. She a numbing sensation all throughout her body and began to lose consciousness. The last thoughts she had were of Lydia.
Several hours passed as different injections occurred. Lydia continued to monitor Nina's vitals. She saw her vitals continue to drop when the nanite injections started. This was a predicted outcome. There were no drillings needed as the nanites themselves could drill into the bone structure. Lydia had made two extra doses of the adamantium and vibranium metals. It was only two due to the fact that Lydia had constantly complained about how incredibly difficult it was to right runes on each nanite.
Once her vitals stabilized, the final injection began. Astrid monitored closely and started every scanner and sensor. Once the injection finished, her body began to seize. Nina's heart stopped shortly after. The nanites inside her body monitored her organs and cellular structure. Medical nanites began to surround the heart and try to jump start it. The others released oxygen to blood cells to prevent further organ failure. Her heart started to beat again only to stop minutes later. This repeated several times over the course of hours.
Astrid continued to dart her eyes to every display monitor. She captured every byte of data. Everything happening was valuable to help for the next time. Live information from the nanites showed a new genetic structure trying to attach itself to Nina's DNA. It looks like whenever her heart stops the genetic structure was rejected. It occurred numerous times in sync with her heart stopping.
After roughly 8 hours of monitoring, a new alert captured Astrid's attention. The genetic structure had finally merged. It appeared to modify itself each time it was rejected until it found a compatible sequence for its new structure. Nina's immune system accepted the new change as well. Vitals were finally returning to normal.
…
Nina slowly open her eyes. Everything was blurry and her body felt extremely sore. She slowly tried to look at her surroundings. She was in a bed with several monitor panels to the side. A white sheet covered her body. A swishing sound brought her attention to a door opening. It was Astrid walking near her.
"Congratulations, you are the first mutant to have successfully awaken a second mutation" Astrid said as she smiled at her. Nina tried to speak but immediately stopped. Her voice sounded like she had a serious case of sore throat. "Take it slow. Your body is still healing." Astrid moved to look at the monitors next to her bed.
"You died a total number of 27 times. A total of 7 more medical nanites had to be injected in order to keep you stable. The end result is this…" Astrid waved her hand and the monitors moved closer to Nina. On display was a before and after of her DNA. Astrid had labeled where her x-gene was located, and the new Terrigen mutation were located.
"W-Why does-" Nina coughed as she tried to clear out her throat. "-it look smaller?" Nina located her x-gene and saw it had shrunk.
"The hypothesis is that the Terrigen tried its best to implement itself to your DNA but kept on failing. It looks like part of your x-gene decided to break away to merge with it and help with the process. The why is the question I am still searching for," Astrid waved her hand again and showed her the process of her DNA gradually changing. "So, how'd it feel to die?"
"I-I had a strange dream…" Nina paused to clear her throat once more. Astrid gave her a cup of water to help. "There was this thing…it said I shouldn't have done this." Nina furrowed her eyes trying to recall the dream. "It said something else, but I can't remember. I do remember it waving its hand and I suddenly found myself pushed. My surroundings began to distort as I kept being pushed back…"
"interesting, I'll log it. It could be your brain trying to ease you into your last moments. There isn't a lot of evidence here, but I'll continue to log everything down. Report every week with any new symptoms."
"Understood," Nina replied.
Nina stayed there for one more day until she felt better. Her body felt different. Astrid started her on a series of different tests and training. It helped Nina get used to her new body. Her strength had increased drastically. Her body felt lighter. Nina sustained several injuries, all which healed quickly. Once she felt she had better control, Nina was allowed to go back home. To her surprise, Astrid had informed her parents that she was doing a special training regiment that required days. A perfect excuse. Her mother would die hearing what she went through.
…
Several weeks passed by before finally learning her second mutation. She had obtained what Astrid called chlorokinesis or the ability to control plant life. Her animal control ability changed as well. She noticed that she could no longer control animals like she used to, but they do react to her emotions. Her range also decreased significantly.
Nina could only control grass at the moment. Making it grow taller and move on her command, however it drained her and needed the same amount of concentration when she tried to control animals from a far distance. Astrid had theorized that this ability could continue to evolve as she mastered her control.
Nina continued to train and as time passed by, she found that she was stronger than any of the other members of the military force. Ariki, one of her father's guards, tried to put her in her place. That ended as fast as it started.
Astrid had provided her with a new suit to familiarize herself with. It only took a few days to Nina to incorporate it with her fighting form. It had finally come time to show her abilities when she received an alert to arms. She ran as fast as she could to the meeting point. Her father had instructed the military forces to muster and get ready for deployment. Our destination was New York City.
They traveled down to the city and positioned where they were told. Nina joined her fathers guard and traveled with them. They landed and when they all saw who was there, they all knelt down.
Seeing Lydia in person. When Nina was younger, she would run to hug her. Now, she views her like a god. She could hear her speaking to her father. She stated that a portal would open soon right above the city. A swarm of aliens would descend and attack indiscriminately. Nina suddenly felt a strange sensation but did not look up. She had not been given an order to move.
"This is an order, protect the civilians at all cost! No one dies today!"
"As you command!" were their unified responses. All four members of the guard got up and prepared to launch. A blue beam suddenly launched from a building creating a portal just as Lydia said. Immediately Lydia and Nina's father took off. The four did not speak to each other as they knew their orders.
Nina went to the East side of the city and began to shout at people to leave the area. She noticed a swarm of aliens approaching and moved to intercept them.
Nina activated her suits thrusters and wreaked havoc on them. Every move she made was calculating and decisive. Her attacks were brutal and gave no chance for a counterattack. She shouted again for civilians to evacuate. She repeated this as she continued to assist. Her sector was clear of aliens and it appeared that all civilians were evacuated. She scanned her sector again when she detected a cry.
She noticed a little girl clutching a stuff animal near a collapsed building. A large whale looking alien was approaching where the little girl was hiding. Nina didn't hesitate and launch her suits concentrated laser beam from the palm of her hands. The lasers cut through the large alien like butter. It collapsed on the ground but continued to make its way towards the girl. Nina rushed to the girl and thought about her next move. Should she grab her and take off? No time. If she increased her speed, she could hurt her instead. She decided to increase her speed and slow the large alien instead. She rushed and tackled the carcass and tried to halt its movements. She managed to slow the body down, but the upper part torn off and continued behind her. She didn't have enough time to react.
Suddenly, multiple webs started to come out and slow down the object. There were so many webs that the object was stuck in midair. Nina rushed to see the girl was with another person helping her up. He had a suit with red and blue colors. A mask that covered his face and a webbing like pattern throughout the suit.
"Phew! That was a close one." Nina just stared at the newcomer. "…Hi…I'm Spider-man" He said as he extended his hand.
"Take her to safety, I'll continue to search for survivors," Nina spoke with her voice distorted. She noticed how the voice filter frighten the little girl. It might have been her fault in making her so scared.
"Ah wait! Who are you guys?" Spider-man spoke. Nina didn't respond and took off to look for survivors.
She scanned her area and was confident that all civilians here had been evacuated. She heard a loud roar and looked to the distance. An ape looking creature had slapped a green creature off. She stopped when a large energy wave cut through the ape in half. She could think of only one person who could do that.
'Regroup' her fathers voice came over from the comms link. Nina took off towards the coordinates. When she arrived, she noticed other people around Lydia. They all knelt when they landed next to her father.
Her father reported the status of the evacuation and asked to leave. She was surprised he was okay with leaving Lydia by herself. Lydia gave her approval and we took off. We all gained altitude and took off in supersonic speed.
They all checked in and began their debriefings at Genosha's new location in New York. They all watched replay footage of each other's to learn from mistakes. When it came for Nina's footage, Nina balled her hands into a fist out of frustration. The incident with the little girl could have been handled better. The footage review continued, and it showed the other enhanced individuals reported by the others. Their dossier contained all information on them.
The next day Nina was surprised to get new orders to help relocate everything to a new planet. Nina regrouped with her team and started right away. The process was relatively quick. The Pym Particles given to them by Astrid shrunk large objects down to the size of a toy. It was extremely useful in transporting some of the buildings.
A few days passed. Nina had been called to her father's office. When she arrived, she found him overlooking the construction of several buildings from the large window.
"Reporting as requested," Nina spoke and saluted. Her father still had his back facing her. "…She's done a lot for our people" Nina did not speak. She assumed he was referring to Lydia. "At ease," Nina relaxed as she continued to look at him.
"We are at war," He paused to let the words sink in. Nina was confused. At war with who? "Lydia is facing them alone. Carol is defending Earth from any other attacks. You have been nominated for a special mission" he quickly spoke and a datapad floated and stopped in front of her. Nina looked that the information. A life mission to infiltrate SHIELD and/or the Avengers.
"All resources have been allocated to here and ensure our citizens are safe. We can only afford one person to go and Lydia has requested the best to be sent," Nina's brain took a second to process his words. Her father would always be protective, and he has never recognized her for her combat abilities. For him to select her, it was a huge statement.
"When do I leave?" Nina asked.
"Today"
"Understood," Nina turned around and prepared to leave.
"Nina…" she stopped frozen when she heard her name. Ever since joining the military forces, no one would speak their names out loud.
"Please be careful," her father said quietly.
"Love you too," she replied and headed out. Her father had a hard time showing emotions sometimes, but she was used to that.
Nina went home and spoke with her mom. She was sad to see her only daughter leave, but proud she was selected for such an important mission. She said her goodbyes before reporting to Astrid.
"This is a new ship model. I took the liberty of naming it, Ares MK 1" Astrid spoke as she walked Nina to a hangar bay. "It'll be assigned to you for this mission but should only be used for emergencies. It has medical supplies and two emergency medical nano injections. It has enough power to take on several Kree warships in case they decided to attack," Astrid paused as she handed her a large briefcase. "This was made by Lydia. It contains armor and other items made from Uru material. I cannot stress enough the importance to safeguard them. Inside is a note from Lydia detailing the use of each item." Nina gulped as she grabbed the suitcase. It was made by Lydia herself…
"I updated the software and installed several upgrades to your suits. Everything is detailed inside. Remember your training and do not break our rules. Understood?"
"As you command," Nina knelt.
"Off you go then," Astrid said and took several steps back. Nina got onboard the Ares MK 1. It was a beautiful design inside. If it weren't for Astrid telling her that it could take on space warships, she would have never known it packed a nasty punch. The ship was roughly the size of a private jet in terms of length.
Nina carefully placed the briefcase on the lobby before getting on the pilot seat and starting the launch sequence. The ship gracefully took off and rapidly gained altitude. It had reached space in a matter of seconds. The jump counter started and plotted a course to Earth.
Nina walked to the lobby of the ship and stared at the briefcase. She mustered the nerve to finally open it. A projection of Lydia hovered above it.
"Hey Nina.," Nina instantly knelt. "I figured it was you who made Erik so fidgety when I asked for information on who he sent. Anyways, listen…" Lydia paused for a moment. "This mission… it'll demand a lot. It sounds easy on paper, but I know it'll be challenging. If you ever feel it's too much, there's no shame in asking to stop. We can figure something out"
"I've known you since you were little. I consider you like a little sister. So please, be careful." Nina stood up and smiled at the projection of Lydia. She turned serious because she now felt the severity the mission was. If Lydia said those words, then it was not as easy as she thought it was going to be.
"Inside, you'll find a necklace. It's been imbued with magical properties and runes. It's able to detect magic and act as a tracking device. Simply touch the necklace and touch the object or person you wish to track. The necklace, when worn, will tug slightly towards the direction of the person or object. To turn it off, just touch it again."
"I heard that you awaken another mutation! That's amazing! There's a ring inside. It's made with Uru. It should be able to help you with your ability."
"The next item is a set of daggers. I watched some of your combat videos and noticed your more of a close combat type of person. These daggers are essentially unbreakable. I'm sure you've seen Thor's hammer and some of his combat videos. Just one dagger is enough to stop a blow from his hammer. I mirrored the hammer's abilities into the daggers. It's able to channel lightning to your target. It's no where near the level of Thor, but its powerful. You can also throw it and it can come back to you."
"Put on the ring and tab it twice," Nina did as instructed and placed the ring on her right index finger. She was about to move to her thumb because it was too big when the ring shrunk and became a snug fit. When she tapped it twice, the daggers disappeared.
"The ring can also store the daggers. Tapping it twice again will make your daggers appear in your hands again."
"The last item is box that contains your Uru armor. It's been shrunk down with a Pym Particle to save space. Like your daggers, its basically indestructible. Same rules for storing it, just tap it three times. Once worn, the nanites will work with it."
"Anyways, I've talked enough. Be careful." Lydia's projection ended.
Nina opened the box to see a small suit inside. She activated her suit and reversed the particle on the suit. Once she did that, the suit automatically began to attach itself to her. It quickly latched itself. She was completely covered by the new armor. She looked like Black Panther without the ears. The armor closely hugged her figure. A short cape started to form and hang from her hips. She moved to a mirror and saw herself looking a lot like her father's suit except slimmer. Her helmet was like his except it covered her entire face. It did look a bit menacing. She wished it was more…friendly.
The helmet suddenly changed to uncover her face a bit. Now, it truly looked like her father's helmet. She chuckled at it. She can switch between them if she ever trusts someone enough to slightly uncover her face.