Chapter 53 - The Trouble Four

[June of 2012]

[New York City]

3rd PoV

Boom! Bang!

Numerous confettis were shot off in the air as a large amount of people happily and jovially ran towards the finish line with a smile on their faces.

Click Click!

Aldrich Killian is the one leading them as he effortlessly ran with ease along with the people while waving a hand with a smile to the cameras that is taking shots of him.

A few weeks after the invasion, Andrew and Aldrich came up with the idea of creating a fundraising event that will rake up money for the benefit of the city.

The two had this news announced and Aldrich even assembled a press conference saying that all the money that they will get from this event will be used for the reconstruction and development of the whole NYC, considering that many establishments were destroyed after the invasion and that equates to many people also losing their jobs.

Not only that, Aldrich also announced at that conference that the Celestial Industries will also contribute using their own money and add it to the money that the fundraising event were gonna make.

After that conference, many companies reached out to the Celestial Industry, asking if they can also join the event, to not only contribute but of course, to also build a good relationship to the said company.

This act of the company made the citizens look at the company with more appreciation and warmth as the company's trust level rose within their subconscious minds.

During all of this, Andrew was busy trying to absorb the cosmic energy from the mind gem and would sometimes go and torture Stryker and Trask. At this point, the two have already given up with their lives and would just always beg for the cold embrace of death whenever they see someone within their sight.

Currently, Andrew is now in his usual spot, which is in Mars.

The red planet has become his favorite place whenever he would absorb the energy of the mind stone as he thought that maybe here, the energy wouldn't spread out and be detected by some unknown powerful entity within the earth.

Andrew is in underground which he had already turned into his own personal space as the whole place looked like the usual large, expensive-looking room and one wouldn't be able to tell that this is in Mars if they don't go out and see for themselves.

He held the mind gem in his hand while his eyes are shut closed as he continously absorbed cosmic energy from the never ending infinity stone.

Swoosh!

The energy flowed from the stone and into the body of Andrew as the previous painful process of absorbing was no more, evident of Andrew's expression that did not even changed a bit through the process.

Swoop.

Andrew finally stopped absorbing as he held the mind gem that is still emitting a gentle glow. He looked at it for a moment and sighed. "Sigh.."

He had been trying for a while now but it has been the same.

He can't absorb anymore energy.

Well, not entirely right, he can still absorb the energy and use it to fill up his reserves but he cannot use it anymore to further increase his telekinesis and overall power.

He doesn't know if he is experiencing some kind of limitation or if the stone just had a fixed amount of what it can give but this is frustrating him a bit.

But he didn't let it get to his head as he finally gave up and stood up from the mattress he was sitting in meditative position on. He then reached out his hand to the air as a small rift in space opened.

He put his hand that was holding the mind stone and put the stone inside the rift and closed it with a thought after removing his hand.

After a few weeks of absorbing energy from the stone, Andrew's telekinesis have reached the molecular level and it also gave him a few abilities after it branched out.

As of right now, his new abilities include [Matter Manipulation] and many different kind of Kinesis like Aero, Photo, and Ergokinesis. As shown, he has also managed to touch the realms of space.

This is after he repeatedly used teleportion and managed to see how the ability interacts with the abstract thing known as space, and now he can somehow manipulate it but not quite freely and easily.

He can only create a portal and a personal space that he can store his things. Now, the only thing that is stopping him from getting more stronger was time and the inability of the mind gem to further help him.

After standing up, he went and took a shower and changed to a more formal attire but not too formal as he teleported to his house in New York, Earth.

Appearing inside, he then went to the garage and drove away using one of the cars that is just gathering dust there.

—-—

Stopping in front of the Celestial Industries' Headquarters, he went inside and went up to the office of Aldrich.

Opening the door, he was met with the appearance of Aldrich and a big man – Fisk.

"Fisk." Andrew nodded at the guy as he went to his favorite couch and sat while pulling a can of coke from the fridge using his telekinesis.

Celestial Industries and Fisk Industries have also become something like a sister company but in reality, behind the media, the latter is actually already under the former.

Fisk walked and sat in the chair beside the couch of Andrew while Aldrich went to the chair on the other side of Andrew.

They then talked for a while about the things concerning the company as Aldrich dutifully reported all there is to know about the current run of the company while Fisk talked from time to time and would sip from his glass of champagne.

One Hour Later

Fisk then left as he needs to attend a few things on his own while Aldrich then finished his report and then also relaxed by drinking.

"So, what's up with Maya nowadays? I seemed to not always see her around." Andrew asked as he sipped from the 23rd can of coke.

"Well, she's always in her house, relaxing." Aldrich replied.

"What about the two of you?" Andrew trailed off as his tone was suggesting something.

"What do you mean?" Aldrich feigned ignorance.

"Oh, don't act like that, for your information, I'm also an Empath, so you can't hide your emotions from me." Andrew crushed the can and tossed it into the trash as he pulled another one.

"W-well, I don't know if it's intentional or what but she is not noticing my obvious flowery words and advances.." Aldrich scratched his head in embarrassment as he spoke.

"Don't worry, she'll come around and your hard work will definitely pay off." Andrew said with a bit of motivating tone as looked at the Tv that is displaying something that caught his attention.

"The hell?" Aldrich muttered as he also looked at the Tv.

They saw four people that are fighting some kind of abnormally large rabbits in a bridge.

One of them is a guy that can stretch his bodies as he used that ability to not get hurt by the bite of the large rabbits.

The other is a flying flaming man that shoots fireballs out of his hands that quickly burned the rabbits to a crisp.

The other one is a large humanoid that stood at a height that rivaled that of the Hulk, he has different bodily features as his whole body is made up of rocks.

The last member was a beautiful woman with blonde hair, she repeatedly raised her hands in succession and conjured force-fields that caged the rabbits that were about to get away.

Andrew looked at the scene from the TV for a moment and then stretched his hand to the air and pulled something from the Rift. With a pull, a body came out as the Rift closed while Aldrich almost jumped in surprise after seeing a body coming out of a hole in air.

The body's features were neutral, it had pale skin and no genitals, while its face is blank as Andrew willed it to stand in front of him. He then pulled clothes from the Rift and dressed the body. He also waved his hand and made the body's took on the Psionix persona look.

After it was dressed, he connected his mind to it and he quickly felt his mind splitting and accommodating another body. It was a bit weird for Andrew as he saw his self in standing in front of the other but shrugged it off.

Bamf!

The clone then moved and disappeared in a cloud of black smoke while Aldrich sat on his chair, stunned and scared a bit after seeing what he assumed as a dead body suddenly moving on its own. But he quickly recovered as his genius mind managed to connect the pieces of what was actually going on.

Andrew then leaned forward and grabbed the bottle of champagne that Aldrich was drinking as he casually conjured a glass in his hand and poured the content in it. "Cheers?"

Aldrich was already getting used to the scene of Andrew using his diverse abilities as he also poured himself a drink and raised his glass to Andrew's

Clink.

"Cheers."

*****

A/N: I'm dead... Give stones...

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