Chapter 346: Chapter 346: Rebuilding
[Third person POV]
Aria’s gemstone emitted a soft, steady glow as she deepened her ntal link to Lizzy.. The world before Lizzy’s eyes began to shift, her vision reshaping itself into sothing far beyond human comprehension.
Lines of qgraphs stretched outward in all directions, weaving an intricate web that mapped the entire terrain with surgical precision. The sh of light wrapped neatly around the scattered remnants of the old military base, tracing the jagged outlines of its collapsed architecture. In her mind’s eye, she watched it all being rebuilt, piece by piece, as though invisible hands were stacking blocks on an infinite blueprint. New lines were drawn, new shapes filled in, new structures ford.
"Woah..." Lizzy muttered under her breath, a smirk tugging at her lips. "That is so trippy..."
It wasn’t just the layout she could see—she could read the exact asurents of every wall, the density of each material, even the chemical composition down to the smallest molecule.
"First things first," Aria’s voice cut in, smooth yet edged with a faint chanical distortion, "we stabilize the foundation. All this work will be aningless if the ground is weak. The slightest quake and it all crumbles. Without a stable base, everything else becos unstable."
Lizzy looked down, and the glowing grid bent and folded beneath her gaze, stretching downward into the yawning sinkhole below. Thin digital asurent markers ran along the periter like precise annotations on a technical diagram.
She raised her right arm. The atomic rings encircling her wrist began to spin faster and faster until they blurred into streaks of light. A concentrated beam of energy erupted from her palm, surging downward into the ground with a sharp hum.
From the sidelines, everyone watched intently as the sinkhole began to fill—first with a rumble, then a steady compaction until the ground rose flush with the surrounding earth. A mont later, tiny blades of grass sprouted and spread, covering the patch in a seamless green carpet.
"Good work," Aria said, her tone asured and slightly robotic. "Now focus on the buildings. Take your ti—there’s no need to rush. Every bolt, every screw, every weld matters. Even a single flaw can bring the entire structure down."
"Don’t worry, I got this!" Lizzy replied, flashing a grin before she launched herself forward. She dove toward the highlighted zones Aria had marked, her movents sharp and deliberate.
Sweeping her hands across the ground, steel plating unfurled like silver fabric, snapping into place to form a solid floor. Trails of fire rippled outward from her fingertips like tidal waves, scorching across the earth. When the flas receded, they left fully ford structures standing where nothing had been seconds before.
With a sharp upward gesture, she summoned more flas. They rose in roaring columns, only to harden and cool into perfectly symtrical support pillars.
"Oh yeah," Peter muttered from the sidelines, crossing his arms, "she’s definitely working unpaid overti."
Wave after wave of fire followed, each burst adding another layer to the growing base.
"Okay, I know I’m making this look easy," Firestar’s voice echoed telepathically into their minds, "but trust —it’s way harder than it seems. If it wasn’t for Aria keeping
in check, I’d have ssed up a thousand tis by now." Her physical form was nearly invisible, seen only as a rotating vortex of fla.
Peter glanced over at Harry with a grin. "You know, we really should start making a list of all the insane stuff we’ve pulled off."
"Oh? I like that idea," Harry replied with a curious tilt of his head. "Shall we start now?"
"Who should we start with?" Peter asked, his grin widening.
"Oooh! ! !" Felicia shot her hand into the air eagerly.
Peter raised a finger, opened his mouth—then paused, placing a thoughtful hand under his chin. "Hmmm..."
Felicia’s lips twitched. "What’s that supposed to an, huh?"
"I an... what have you actually done?" Peter asked, tilting his head in faux confusion. "I think your most impressive mont was turning into a cat."
Felicia’s claws flexed as she narrowed her eyes. "Want to try that again?"
The rest of the group snickered, making her glare at them. "Laugh it up now, but I’d love to hear what you’ve done that’s so amazing."
"Well, Red over here," Peter started, jerking his thumb toward her, "handled an entire prison break almost solo—with an army of spiders. Ghost rediscovered the Super Soldier Serum, improved it, stopped two buildings from collapsing at the sa ti, and froze literal lightning. Firestar just restarted the Hulk and rebuilt a whole military base—"
"Alright, alright, I get it..." Felicia groaned, crouching down and dragging her claw in a circle in the dirt. "Everybody’s better than ..." she muttered, sulking.
Peter reached over and gave Felicia’s shoulder a firm but friendly pat, his expression softening into a warm smile.
"You just do a really good job at working as support always boosting those around you to do better"
"You an it?" Felicia asked, lips pouting as she gave him the biggest, most exaggerated watery eyes she could muster.
Peter chuckled and gave her a thumbs up, patting her shoulder again. "Absolutely. And hey, even if it wasn’t your intention, you did help us find Captain Arica. That’s a big win in my book."
While the two bantered, Lizzy continued her work inside the half-rebuilt base. Her flas flashed in precise bursts, repairing damaged vehicles in seconds, welding broken parts together seamlessly. Where doors and walls had once been reduced to twisted rubble, they now reappeared in smooth, intact form with each flicker of fire. The green glow that had been radiating faintly from her skin began to fade, its light dimming until her normal tone returned.
Once the last section was restored, she pointed her fingers toward a bare wall and traced a glowing rectangle in the air. A passageway roared to life within the outline, carving itself into a door. It swung open with a hiss of heat, revealing the outside world. Lizzy floated through, and the fiery fra snapped shut behind her, leaving the wall perfectly solid again.
Descending to the ground, Lizzy landed softly hunched over, her hands on her knees. The faint aura of fla clinging to her body evaporated in curling wisps. She was breathing hard, sweat glistening on her forehead.
Harry appeared beside her in an instant, moving so fast the air around him stirred. "You okay?" he asked quietly, crouching to et her eye level.
"I’m fine..." Lizzy muttered between breaths. "Just... exhausted. ntally, physically—ugh, okay, scratch that, I’ve definitely got a headache." She pressed a hand to her temple, wincing. "Pretty sure I can feel my brain throbbing."
"My apologies," Aria’s voice artificial, like she had turned off all of her emotions and focused entirely on calculations. "I failed to calculate the ntal energy required for such a task. Allow
to correct that."
A wave of relief washed over Lizzy so suddenly that her shoulders sagged. "Ahhhh... Oh my God... It’s like I’ve been wandering in a desert my whole life and soone just handed
the coldest glass of water in existence."
She exhaled heavily, then added, "Still tired, though." Leaning against Harry for support, she let her eyes close for a brief mont.
"That is expected," Aria replied. "To command such a degree of ntal strength to manipulate atoms and molecules demands significant physical endurance. You are fortunate to be an enhanced being. Without that, this feat would be nearly impossible."
Peter glanced upward and cupped his hands around his mouth. "Okay, Aria, tone it down with the monotone—you’re starting to freak out your father here."
"Request denied," she said in an emotionless monotone. "A.I. ARACHNID is no longer in control of this vessel. Only the consciousness of the Mind Stone remains."
The words landed like a weight.
"...What?" they all said in unison, their expressions dropping along with their hearts.
Peter pinched the bridge of his nose, muttering under his breath before finally letting it out in full. "Motherf—... great. Just fucking great. One problem after another, all in the Sa. Fucking. Damn. Day."
A short, muffled "phtt" broke the tension.
Peter’s head snapped to the side to see Aria’s cheeks tinged pink, her lips twitching as she tried to stifle a laugh.
He stared at her with a deadpan expression. "You’re grounded."
"Phtt—hah! Wait... grounded?!" Aria burst out, caught completely off guard.
"You heard ," Peter said with mock severity. "Grounded. For... Until college."
"For until college!?"
"For Until College!!"
Peter narrowed his eyes at her. "Maybe by the ti you grow up, you’ll learn not to pull stunts like that on !"
"It was a joke! You’re telling
that’s not sothing you would do? I’m innocent here!" Aria shot back, hands thrown up in protest.
"Don’t you yell back at , young lady!" Peter countered, jabbing a finger toward her.
"You yelled first!"
"I’m the father—I have the privilege to yell! You, on the other hand, have the privilege to listen when you’re being yelled at!" Peter snarled.
The rest of the group exchanged glances, all thinking the exact sa thing: ’Oh yeah... he’s definitely a dad.’
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