"Are you ready?" Leonardo asked while he waited for Gwen to finish getting ready.
"Ready," Gwen answered with a radiant smile, appearing in front of him.
Gwen wore a white crew neck T-shirt and, over it, a short burgundy jacket with metal zippers set diagonally. Completing the outfit were straight-cut, high-waist jeans, snug at the waist but comfortable in the legs, and matte leather ankle boots with a block heel. To finish, details that stood out as part of her personality: a metal necklace shaped like a spiderweb and asymmetrical earrings, one shaped like a lightning bolt and the other round, plus a small black backpack with her belongings.
An outfit thought for the occasion, not too formal and not too casual, but true to her style.
"How do I look?" she asked.
"Beautiful as always," Leonardo replied without thinking.
"Alright then, let's go," Gwen said, and they set off.
They soon arrived at a hospital. Leonardo's expression showed concern.
"Come on, you don't have to worry so much," Gwen noted, "Besides, couldn't you just see this in the future?"
"I can't," Leonardo answered. "I saw myself telling me not to look for the rest of the day."
"Wait, a message from the future? Isn't that great? Also, if your future self doesn't want you to see something it must be because it's a nice surprise, right? He wouldn't want to ruin it for you."
Leonardo laughed, "I hope so. But it could also be for another reason: bad news, or he just wants to mess with me."
For the last few weeks Gwen had suffered nausea, vomiting, extreme sensitivity to certain smells and cravings. Could it be a pregnancy? Possible, but there are illnesses that share those symptoms, Leonardo did not allow himself the recklessness of assuming anything.
And yet, his future self had explicitly told him not to look that day. That didn't say much.
'Mess with yourself? Why would you do that?'
Leonardo smiled, "Wouldn't that be funny? Imagine: my past self doubting without understanding the meaning of my own actions."
'Well, that's you right now,' Gwen replied, shaking her head, 'You're still as childish as ever.'
'Childish me? Give me one example...' Leonardo began to say, but Gwen showed him an old video on her phone.
[Well... believe it or not, someone who'll study here...]
Leonardo's face filled with embarrassment, he tried to grab the phone back, but Gwen, with her reflexes, dodged him effortlessly.
"Ah! Okay, okay, I get it. Please, take that down," he surrendered.
Gwen laughed, "Heh, heh. Most people still think your speech at that time was part of some plan. How would they react if they knew you were just showing off?"
"I was young then, what's wrong with showing off a little?" Leonardo said, remembering those embarrassing moments.
They entered the waiting room of the private hospital. The doctor was still seeing the previous patient, so they had to sit. The room, high-end, did not envy a living room, sofas, TV, snacks, everything to pass the time comfortably.
The television was already on with the news. A red-haired reporter spoke from a helicopter, showing heavily escorted cars moving through the city. Leonardo and Gwen only caught half of the segment.
[Representatives from several countries are passing through the streets beneath us right now, heading to the United Nations headquarters. In fact, at this moment we are a few blocks from the place that, originally, would have collapsed in the future. Back then, the top officials of most countries refused to enter the country, saying they wouldn't even months later. But today, a little over a month after the crisis was resolved, they are here, which shows the world's confidence in the Avengers. Although, according to internal sources, many in the government trust more the information provided by Laplace's Demon, its ability to prevent attacks before they happen gives it credibility...]
"Weren't the bombs originally supposed to go off today?" Gwen asked, attentive to the report.
"That's right," Leonardo answered.
"So are you not going to look to see if everything goes well?"
"I already saw it the first time. With the situation resolved, there shouldn't be any reason for alarm. The bombs that were to be planted were recovered and destroyed. Also, if something really bad were to happen, my future self wouldn't stop me from seeing it, if he saw it and still told me not to keep watching, it was because he saw nothing dangerous would occur."
Gwen nodded, she trusted him completely.
At that moment someone came out of the consultation and waved with a drained expression, probably bad results. The doctor called Gwen and Leonardo in, and they went inside.
The tests were simple. The results appeared soon, dispelling Leonardo's fears.
Gwen was pregnant.
They hugged, crying and smiling while the doctor congratulated them. After saying goodbye and thanking her, they left the room, and when they were about to leave the waiting area a sound coming from the television stopped them.
"BOOM!"
It wasn't a nearby sound, it came from the live newscast. Leonardo and Gwen stared at the screen in disbelief.
The street where the representatives were traveling was in ruins, collapsed buildings, flames everywhere, columns of black smoke. The reporter narrated with a voice cracked by the emergency.
Leonardo's expression could only be described as shock, he didn't even say anything.
He leaned back on the sofa, closing his eyes to concentrate and think about what could have gone wrong. Why would his future self have warned him not to look today if this was going to happen? His mind sank even deeper as he began to use his abilities.
Before him, past time was a path, however the end of that path did not match the present reality.
He began to test variables in his mind, changing past events in simulations, it didn't matter what he altered, the real outcome refused to match, it was illogical, contrary to probability. Something didn't fit.
His thought rushed:
'Why did my future self keep me from seeing today if something like this was going to happen? Did my future self not know? No, that's impossible. Where did the bombs come from? It can't be coincidence that the place and the timing of the explosion match what I had seen and supposedly avoided. If it's not coincidence, it can only be intentional. Anyone smart could hide bombs at the same site, but to detonate them at the same time they were supposed to in my vision cannot be coincidence, it's a temporal concealment. The first time I saw it I thought the Hand was responsible so I wouldn't suspect there was something else behind it. So this was already planned back then. But how? For what purpose? Who does this affect?'
Soon the conclusion hit him hard.
'Me. My visions haven't failed in six years. People won't think I didn't foresee it, they'll think I let it happen. That's a problem. How did they make me not see it? Think about it, someone opposes me and trusts I won't stop them before they act. That implies they have a method. The best way to neutralize someone who sees the future? Change it. Yes, but to change it you have to see it, like I do.
A seer. They're using someone who sees the future against me. They hid the bombs at the same moment they were supposed to detonate originally, counting on me not seeing today. Then they must have altered the future after my future self told me not to look, so that that self wouldn't know, because originally it didn't happen.'
The possibilities multiplied in his head until a more concrete idea emerged.
'Someone is using a seer against me, maybe an organization or something bigger. They don't just want to eliminate me at the start, with this they've already undermined public confidence in my abilities.'
"...o...eo... Leo!" Gwen's voice pulled him out of the whirlpool of thoughts.
"Are you okay? What's wrong?"
"Yes," he answered in a thin voice, "I'm in trouble."
"How? Aren't you supposed to be able to see the future?" she asked, confused.
"Yes, but this time... the enemy can too."
"Another seer? So then we don't have the advantage?"
"Of course we do. Don't worry, I'll fix it," Leonardo said, but inside his mind he was already plotting another plan.
'Maybe years or months ago this would have been critical but not anymore. The enemies believe I have the advantage by seeing the future, so they got someone equal. But they don't know...' he looked at the panel in front of him, where five unique powers showed their unlocking, each one shaping itself to his desires, 'I... stopped only seeing the future a long time ago.'
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+15 chapters in advance on Patreon.
p-atreon.com/IAMME26
(just delete the hyphen)
80 power stones = 1 extra chapter (cumulative)