Chapter 113: Touchy Interaction
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The afternoon sun painted Genosha's ruins in shades of gold and shadow. From the balcony, I could see the reconstruction efforts in full swing.
Mutants with various powers worked alongside human volunteers, lifting beams with telekinesis, welding with controlled flame, and growing temporary shelters from seeds that bloomed into living wood.
It was beautiful in its own broken way.
This balcony had been the first thing Magneto rebuilt. Pure metal construction, it had taken him less than an hour to restore it to its original glory. The same balcony where Anna Marie and I had talked that first night, where she'd shared her loneliness and I'd promised things I wasn't sure I could deliver.
"Penny for your thoughts?"
I didn't turn at the voice, recognizing that Southern drawl immediately. Anna Marie's footsteps were barely audible as she approached, that assassin's grace she'd learned from Mystique serving her even in casual moments.
"Wondering if they sell pennies here," I replied, earning a soft laugh.
She settled against the railing beside me, close enough that I could smell her shampoo but far enough that we couldn't accidentally touch. Always that careful distance, that invisible wall her powers created.
"So," she said after a moment, fidgeting with the fingers of her gloves. "Quite the meeting this morning. Heard Emma was all over you."
"News travels fast."
"Sugar, everything travels fast here. We're a small island full of telepaths, empaths, and people with super hearing. Privacy's about as real as unicorns."
"Unicorns are real though. I've seen them on other planets."
She blinked. "You're messing with me."
"Completely," I admitted, and her laugh was worth the lie. Though knowing this universe, unicorns probably did exist somewhere.
We stood in comfortable silence, watching the city rebuild itself. A young girl with crystalline skin was helping clear rubble, her body refracting light into rainbow patterns. An older man grew vines that carefully extracted survivors' belongings from collapsed buildings. Everyone working together, united by shared trauma and hope.
"The reconstruction's going well," I offered, trying to fill the silence that had stretched too long.
"Yeah," Anna agreed, but her fingers kept twisting, pulling at the leather of her gloves like she wanted to tear them off. "Ben, can I ask you something?"
"Any time."
She turned to face me fully, and I saw the nervousness she was trying to hide behind bravado. "That alien form yesterday. That's the one you talked about before, right? Feedback? He was quite the performer… You said he could absorb energy."
"Yeah?"
"And I can absorb life force, powers, memories." She took a breath. "Do you think... would it work? Could I actually touch you in that form without hurting you?"
The hope in her voice was devastating. It'd already worked mid fighting, and now she was wondering if it'd work now too. Here was someone who'd been denied the most basic human contact, asking if maybe, possibly, there might be an exception to her curse.
I thought about it seriously, cycling through what I knew about Feedback's abilities. The energy absorption, the conversion of various forces into electricity, the feedback loop we'd created during the fight with Cassandra.
"One way to find out," I said, already reaching for the Omnitrix.
"Wait, you don't have to..."
"Anna." I met her eyes. "When's the last time someone held your hand? Really held it, without fear or pain or stolen memories?"
Her silence was answer enough.
The transformation washed over me in a wave of electric sensation. My body shifted, flesh becoming something between organic and energy, my skeleton restructuring into the distinctive Conductoid form. The world looked different through Feedback's eye, everything outlined in electrical fields and potential energy.
Anna stared at me, hands trembling as she slowly, carefully pulled off one glove. Her bare fingers shook as she extended them toward me.
"You're sure?"
"Trust me," I said, my voice carrying that electrical buzz that came with the form.
Our fingers touched.
The sensation was immediate and intense. Her power activated instinctively, trying to drain my life force, but Feedback's nature created something unprecedented.
She pulled at my electrical energy, and I pulled it right back, creating a perfect circuit between us. Energy flowed from me to her and back again, neither gaining nor losing, just cycling in an endless loop.
"Oh my God," she murmured, and then her fingers interlaced with mine, holding on like I might disappear. "Oh my God, I can feel you. No way, I can feel you..."
Despite looking slick and electric, Feedback's skin wasn't metal or energy. It was soft, warm, alien but undeniably alive. She squeezed my hand experimentally, marveling at the simple sensation of touch without consequence.
"It doesn't hurt," she whispered, and I realized she was crying. "Ben, it doesn't hurt at all."
"Good," I said softly, squeezing back. "That's good."
She pulled off her other glove with her teeth, then grabbed my hand with both of hers, running her fingers over my palms, my wrists, mapping the strange anatomy of Feedback's form with the wonder of someone discovering touch for the first time.
"Your skin," she murmured. "It's so soft. I expected it to feel like metal or static, but it's..."
"Weird alien biology," I offered, and she laughed through her tears.
Then, with a boldness that surprised us both, she stepped forward and wrapped her arms around me, pressing her face against my chest. I froze for a moment, then carefully, gently, returned the embrace. My antennas wrapped around her.
She sobbed against me, years of isolation and loneliness pouring out in shuddering breaths. I held her through it, one hand stroking her hair while she clung to me as if I were the only solid thing in a drowning world.
"Thank you," she whispered against my chest. "I… this feels so unreal..."
"It's alright," I replied, meaning it.
She pulled back slightly, looking up at me with those green eyes that held so much pain and hope. Her hands came up to frame my face, thumbs tracing the alien contours of Feedback's features.
"You have no idea what this means," she said. "To touch someone without fear. To be held without death... You've given me something I thought I'd never have."
The moment stretched between us, heavy with possibility. Her face tilted up, lips parting slightly, and I knew if I leaned down...
"How touching."
We jumped apart like guilty teenagers as Magneto materialized from the stairway, his expression unreadable. Anna quickly shoved her gloves back on, face burning red.
"Erik," she said, trying for casual and failing spectacularly.
"Anna. Benjamin." He nodded to each of us, then studied the way we'd positioned ourselves, close but not touching. "I sensed the electrical disturbance. Quite powerful. I came to investigate."
"Just testing if Feedback's energy absorption could counteract Anna's power," I explained, the half-truth coming easily.
"And it worked," Anna added quickly. "I could touch him without draining him."
"Fascinating," Magneto said in a tone that suggested he found it anything but. He moved to the railing, looking out over his broken kingdom with the air of someone about to make a proclamation.
"You know, Anna," he said conversationally, "I've come to think of you as a daughter. The closest thing to family I have in this world."
Anna shifted uncomfortably. "Erik..."
"And as such, I want what's best for you." He turned to face us, and there was something calculating in his eyes. "Benjamin, are you aware that I formally adopted Anna years ago? Legally, she's royalty here. The Princess of Genosha, if you will."
"What?" Anna's voice pitched high. "Erik, what are you doing?"
"Simply noting facts," he said with perfect innocence. "And perhaps observing that a union between the Savior of Genosha and its powerful Princess would be politically advantageous. Your combined powers, your shared experiences, the symbol it would create for our people..."
"Oh my God," Anna buried her face in her hands. "Are you seriously trying to arrange a marriage right now?"
"Hey dude, marriage?!" I shouted, and my voice actually cracked despite being in alien form. "We were just holding hands!"
"Of course," Magneto agreed pleasantly. "Hand holding. Nothing more. Though I should note that Emma Frost has been quite persistent in her interest. A woman of her experience and power might seem appealing, but I wonder if someone closer to your own age, someone who understands isolation and the burden of dangerous gifts..."
"I'm going to die," Anna muttered. "I'm going to die of embarrassment right here."
"Erik," I said firmly, transforming back to human form in a flash of green light. "With all due respect, you can't just auction off your daughter like some political commodity."
His eyes flashed dangerously. "I would never. I'm simply noting that you two seem compatible. Both powerful, both touched by destiny, both carrying burdens that few others could understand."
"We're f-friends," Anna said firmly, though her cheeks were still burning. "That's all."
"Of course," Magneto agreed with a smile that said he didn't believe a word. "Friends who embrace on balconies while the sun sets. Tale as old as time."
He turned to leave, then paused at the doorway. "Oh, Benjamin? Emma asked me to tell you she'll be in the eastern gardens after dinner. Something about continuing your discussion from this morning. I'm sure it's purely professional."
The way he said 'professional' made it clear he thought it was anything but. When his footsteps faded, Anna and I stood in awkward silence for a long moment.
"So," she said finally. "That happened."
"Princess of Genosha?" I asked, trying to lighten the mood.
"God, don't start. He's never pulled that card before. I think he's trying to claim you before Emma sinks her perfect nails in."
"Nobody's claiming anybody," I said firmly. "I'm not some prize to be won."
She studied me for a long moment, then smiled, soft and sad. "No, you're not. You're something better. You're hope."
Before I could respond, she pulled her gloves back on with practiced efficiency.
"Thank you," she said quietly. "For the touch. It made me feel like I'm more than just my curse. It was fun."
"Anna..."
"I should go," she interrupted, already backing toward the door. "People will talk if we're up here too long. And God knows this island loves its gossip."
She paused at the doorway, looking back with an expression I couldn't quite read.
"And Ben… I'll change Erik's offer a little. If you ever need to talk to someone who understands carrying power you didn't ask for, I'm here."
Then she was gone, leaving me alone on the balcony with the setting sun and the weight of too many expectations.
Below, Genosha continued rebuilding, and I noticed Emma Frost in those eastern gardens Magneto had mentioned, her white outfit impossible to miss among the greenery. She seemed to sense my gaze, looking up and offering a small wave.
I waved back, then turned away, exhaustion suddenly hitting like a sledgehammer.
The Hero of Genosha.
The Savior of Mutantkind. The Machine God. The Boy with the Watch.
So many titles, so many expectations, so many people wanting pieces of me I wasn't sure I had to give.
Tomorrow, I decided. I'll figure it all out tomorrow.
For now, I just wanted to watch the sun set over a broken paradise that was slowly, impossibly, learning how to heal.
The universe could wait one more day for Benjamin Tennyson to figure out what the hell he was supposed to do next.
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