Max sat at the dining table, his young face unreadable in the dim light of the kitchen.
Alpha had delivered the report he wanted to hear.
The Shadowkhan had located the Rowley family in Mount Vernon, Ohio.
He knew exactly who the Rowley family was.
They were the undercover Russian sleeper cell consisting of Alexei Shostakov, Melina Vostokoff, and their two fake daughters, Natasha Romanoff and Yelena Belova.
Max recalled the timeline.
They would remain entrenched in that quiet suburban town until Alexei completed his mission to steal the Red Room’s desired mind control and super soldier research from the S.H.I.E.L.D.
North Institute.
Max did not intend to stop the theft.
Altering the geopolitical landscape of the Cold War remnants was not his goal.
His focus lay entirely on the two girls who would soon be thrust back into the meat grinder of the Red Room.
He stood up from his chair and let the shadows pool around his feet.
The darkness rose, swallowing him whole.
He stepped out of a dense shadow cast by a sprawling oak tree in Ohio.
The suburban street was quiet, lined with identical houses and manicured lawns.
Max walked up the driveway of the Rowley residence and phased through the locked front door using his connection to the Shadow Dimension.
The house was still.
He navigated the hallways, bypassing the master bedroom where the two Russian spies slept, and pushed open the door to the girls’ room.
Natasha and Yelena lay in their respective beds, breathing in the slow, rhythmic cadence of deep sleep.
Yelena was little more than a toddler, clutching a stuffed animal, while Natasha looked to be around eleven years old.
Max approached Natasha first.
He raised his hands, drawing on his vast reserves of mana.
A soft, golden light emanated from his palms, illuminating the dark room.
He activated his body modification abilities, diving into the complex biological makeup of the young assassin.
His first target was her olfactory system and the corresponding receptors in her brain stem.
In the future, the leader of the Red Room would use a pheromone lock to prevent the Widows from harming him.
Max rewrote the neural pathways in Natasha’s brain, severing the connection between scent and submissive neurological control.
Next, he altered her nervous system.
He adjusted her pain receptors, setting a strict threshold.
Her body would still recognize damage, sending data to her brain to inform her of a broken bone or a laceration, but the overwhelming, debilitating sensation of agony would not follow.
She would remain clear headed and functional no matter the injury.
Finally, he focused on her cellular regeneration.
Max wove the magic deep beneath the skin.
If Natasha sustained an injury, the surface wound would appear normal, bleeding and bruising as expected to avoid drawing suspicion from her handlers.
Beneath the surface, however, her cells would stitch together at an accelerated rate, repairing muscle tissue and bone structure in secret. This chapter was taken from novelping.com without permission.
Max repeated the exact same intricate procedure on the sleeping Yelena.
He let the golden light fade, leaving the room as quiet and undisturbed as he found it.
He stepped back into the shadows and returned to Louisiana.
The next morning, the Rambeau household smelled of bacon and coffee.
Max sat on the living room rug, playing with his wooden blocks.
He watched his mother walk between the kitchen counter and the stove.
Seeing her brought a stark reminder of the timeline.
In the original sequence of events, Maria Rambeau would found S.W.O.R.D.
and then succumb to cancer within a few short years.
Max refused to let that happen.
He needed to modify her body, but he wanted a plausible cover story for his family.
He stood up, walked over to the heavy, solid oak dining table, and grabbed one of the thick wooden legs.
Maria turned around holding a plate of eggs.
She stopped.
Max lifted the entire dining table off the floor with one hand.
He held it above his head, balancing the massive piece of furniture as if it were made of cardboard.
“Mom,” Max called out.
“Look what I can do.”
Maria dropped the plate.
It shattered against the linoleum.
Monica ran down the stairs, freezing in the doorway as she stared at her little brother holding hundreds of pounds of wood in the air.
Max set the table down.
The floorboards creaked under the weight.
“Max,” Maria said, her voice dropping to a harsh whisper.
“How did you do that?”
“I used the light,” Max explained, keeping his expression innocent.
“The healing light from the other night.
I played with it inside my tummy, and it made my muscles super strong.”
Monica ran over, her eyes wide with excitement.
“Can you do it to me?
Make me super strong too?”
Max nodded, reaching his hand out toward his sister. You are reading on novelping.com, the official source.
“I can do it to both of you.”
Maria stepped forward, putting herself between Max and Monica.
She shook her head, her expression rigid with a mixture of fear and protective instinct.
“No,” Maria stated.
“Nobody is getting super strength.”
“But Mom,” Monica protested.
“It would be so cool.”
“It would be dangerous,” Maria corrected.
She knelt down, looking Max in the eye.
“Listen to me.
Yesterday we had aliens and government spies in our backyard.
The last thing we need is to attract the attention of the people in power.
If S.H.I.E.L.D.
finds out you have more powers, they won’t leave us alone.
We have to fly under the radar.
No more changes.”
Max lowered his hand.
He gave a compliant nod and went back to his blocks.
He understood her reasoning.
She wanted to protect them from becoming lab rats or government weapons.
But Max also knew that staying normal meant remaining vulnerable to illness and the inevitable cosmic threats approaching Earth.
That night, Max waited for the house to fall asleep.
He stood in the hallway, letting his mana flow out in invisible, silent waves.
He directed the magic into Maria’s and Monica’s rooms.
He scoured Maria’s biology on a cellular level, eradicating any potential mutated cells and reinforcing her immune system against all forms of disease.
He then modified both of their bodies, enhancing their bone density, muscle fibers, and kinetic output.
To respect Maria’s wishes for normalcy, he placed a seal on the modifications.
The enhancements would remain entirely dormant.
They would not exhibit super strength or speed in their daily lives, avoiding any unwanted attention.
The powers would only trigger if their lives were in immediate physical danger, acting as an automatic, localized defense mechanism.
To ensure nothing slipped past his defenses, Max reached into the Shadow Dimension.
He summoned two elite Shadowkhan more powerful than his previously assigned ones as he personally modified them.
He assigned one to reside permanently in Maria’s shadow and the other in Monica’s.
They would act as silent, unseen guardians, ready to intervene if the world ever came for the Rambeau family.