CHAPTER 90: RISKY BUSINESS

A/N: Here's the new Chapter! Which also means the next four chapters are up on for early access as well as the chance to vote on the direction of the story!

Thaddeus lets Jesus Lady Luck take the wheel~

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The moment Thaddeus pulls out of Natasha, the former Black Widow whips around and takes his cock in her mouth, prompting him to give the gorgeous red head a bemused look. For all that she was a femme fatale bombshell with years and years of experience as a super spy… it seemed she was tapping out when it came to giving advice.

Huffing in amusement, Thaddeus just cards a hand through Natasha's red locks and shakes his head as he looks over to Emma. The blonde psychic's eyes are a bit lidded as she's busy recovering from her own explosive orgasm upon Natasha's tongue. Still, she's watching Thaddeus carefully all the same, clearly waiting for him to make a decision.

Considering the options she's laid out for him; Thaddeus almost immediately discards the first option.

"We aren't taking the fight to her. Not right away anyways. I won't leave her looming over us as a threat forever, but its like you said, we don't know if we're ready to face her yet."

Emma simply inclines her head in silent acknowledgment of his words, while down below Natasha continues slurping and sucking away at his cock. Letting out a sigh, Thaddeus frowns deeply. The other two options are where he really gets hung up.

On the one hand, just sticking to what they were already doing was probably safest because it would result in making the smallest waves. On the other hand, what if it really wasn't enough? Selene Gallio was literally over seventeen thousand years old.

She wasn't just a psychic and energy drainer, surely. To have lived as long as she'd lived, there had to be more to it than that…

"We need more. Like you said, we should seek out more esoteric methods for handling the Black Queen."

Smiling, Emma nods… but then tilts her head to the side, playing Devil's Advocate all the same despite this clearly being her preference as well.

"It might be dangerous. If we deviate too much from what we've already be doing, we'll only heighten Selene's suspicions further."

… That was possible yes, but Thaddeus had an idea for how to hopefully get around that.

"Maybe not."

When Emma just raises an eyebrow in response, Thaddeus grins and shrugs.

"I'm supposed to be 'Super Lucky' right? And I've had damn good fortune letting Lady Luck take the wheel before. I'll just do that again. Let her guide me, while focusing on what I want out of life. I figure she'll take me where I need to go, even if it's not necessarily what I'm expecting."

Emma hums, even as she glances down at Natasha for a brief moment.

"… And what do you want out of life, Thaddeus?"

That… was a good question. Thaddeus blinks and opens his mouth to give an off the cuff answer, only to hesitate. What DID he want out of life? He wanted… he wanted to be happy, obviously. And free as well. And he wanted those same things for all the women he'd come to care about too. More than anything… he didn't want to be hunted anymore. Not by anyone. He wanted him and everyone he loved to be safe from Selene or anyone else who might decide to threaten them.

All of a sudden, two phones start ringing at once, while at the same time there's a knock at the door. Thaddeus gives Emma a wide eyed look, while she just sighs and shakes her head with a rueful smile.

"Only you, Thaddeus."

Down below, Natasha pulls off of his cock and raises her head.

"… One of those is mine."

A little bit baffled, they all finally pull apart. Thaddeus goes to his phone to see that Rogue is calling, while Natasha goes to pick up her own. Meanwhile, Emma rises from the bed and goes to answer the door, letting in… Sage of all people?

The triple agent looks uncomfortable, not from the sight of their nudity, but for some other reason that Thaddeus can't immediately discern. It'll have to wait though, unless he wants to let Rogue go to voicemail, which he doesn't.

Moving to the bathroom, Thaddeus closes the door behind him and answers the call on what might have been the very last ring.

"Rogue? Hello?"

"Thaddeus! I wasn't sure if you would pick up. I know how busy you are…"

Grinning slightly, Thaddeus shakes his head.

"I'll always try to make time for you Rogue. You know that."

There's a beat of silence and he can practically picture the goth coed blushing profusely on the other end of the line. Finally though, she coughs and continues on.

"Look… I wasn't actually calling for me, Thaddeus. Do you… do you remember Wanda Maximoff?"

Thaddeus stops and pulls the phone back for a moment to stare at it in sheer disbelief. He hadn't even fully committed to following Lady Luck's path... had he? Only when Rogue's tinny voice calling his name comes over the phone does he finally put it back against his ear.

"A-Ahem… yeah, I remember talking with you about Wanda. Last you told me she wasn't doing well. Needed time to grieve, I think you said."

Rogue sighs on the other end of the line.

"… Yeah, I might've been wrong about that. She came for a visit and clearly needed a friend, but I think she needs more than a friend. She asked me if I'd met any cute guys at the University and well… one thing led to another and I might have said I could get her a d-date with you?"

Okay, wow. Apparently Lady Luck had been working overtime way before Thaddeus had even made a 'decision' if she'd been setting this up. Still…

"Does she at least know I'm not exclusive? I don't want to lead her on or anything, Rogue."

"Y-Yes! I mean, uh… yeah. I was very, very clear about what sort of guy you are. The words 'man-whore' may have been thrown around, but I d-didn't mean it or anything! I just wanted to make sure she understood. She wants to see you anyways. I think she wants a one night stand, maybe."

Hm. A one-off wouldn't really give Thaddeus much of Wanda's powers, which from what he understood, were pretty damn esoteric and out there even if he didn't know much more. Then again, it also wouldn't make Wanda much more powerful than she currently was, which from what he'd heard before, might be a good thing.

"… Alright then, let's try for Saturday evening, around six or so. Make sure that works for her and I guess I'll pick her up from your dorm room?"

"Yep! Sounds great, I'll talk to her and confirm! Thanks Thaddeus!"

He's not sure why Rogue is thanking him, but she hangs up before he can ask. Shaking his head in bemusement, Thaddeus exits the bathroom, curious to see what else is going on. Sage, Emma, and Natasha are all waiting for him, Sage with that strange look still on her face, Emma smirking… and Natasha looking like she's seen a ghost.

"So uh… I have a date with Wanda Maximoff on Saturday now."

Emma's eyes light up, her smirk turning into a toothy grin.

"Well now. How interesting. These two also have interesting things to tell you. Which of you would like to go first~"

Sage glances at Natasha, who in turn is staring down at her phone with a pale face. Thaddeus raises an eyebrow, but when the silence stretches onward, he furrows his brow and frowns.

"… What's going on, ladies?"

Is it bad news? He was supposed to be super lucky and so far all of the things that had happened to him seemed to be the good form of luck. Could he even experience 'bad luck' or was the power he'd gotten from Domino and Domino completely and totally good fortune?

Sage looks at Natasha weirdly again and then looks back at Thaddeus and projects into his head.

I'm not sure you want me to talk about this around her, Thaddeus.

Oh, that explains her recalcitrance. Shaking his head, Thaddeus grins and gestures to Natasha.

"This is Natasha Romanoff, formerly a Black Widow, and also formerly a SHIELD Agent. I basically just bent SHIELD over a barrel and got them to hand me Natasha here as part of a new deal between us and them. She's one of us now, though I'll leave it up to you how much you want to tell her about yourself. Just know that I trust her completely."

Sage considers that for a long moment, even as Natasha looks up from her phone, blinking rapidly at being introduced. Finally, Sage just nods to the red head.

"My real name is Sage. I'm telepathic… among other things."

Then, Sage looks to Thaddeus, growing more serious.

"You said before that you didn't want a pawn, Thaddeus. You told me my power was my own and you said… you said you would be willing to find out what I can become… if I let you."

Thaddeus slowly nods, even as he recalls that conversation they'd had. Sage really had an incredibly low amount of self-esteem, to be honest. The men in her life had beaten her down and treated her like nothing for so long. Even Charles Xavier, the vaunted philanthropist and so-called champion of mutant rights had used Sage as little more than a tool for his own purposes.

It wasn't right. Honestly, it made Thaddeus glad that he'd not chosen to go with the X-Men back in the day. Even if Hellfire had criminal enterprises, even if Emma was a little shady… he really did feel like he'd made the right choice all the same.

"I remember. I stand by those words, even now."

Sage nods, determination crawling across her face.

"I've thought long and hard about that… and about what I can do and what I want to do. And I've decided… that what I want most is to help you."

That brings a fond smile to Thaddeus' face. Sure, maybe it wasn't the same thing as having Wanda Maximoff all but dropped into his lap, but he appreciated the sentiment all the same.

"Thank you, Sage. We're happy to have you and-!"

But Sage shakes her head and cuts him off.

"You don't understand, Thaddeus. My power… we both know what I can do. You're the one who taught me about it, after all. I can bring out the potential in people. I was able to give Madelyne the ability to heal with it. And I think… I think I see potential in you as well for me to unlock."

Thaddeus' eyes widen. The thought of Sage unlocking HIS potential… had completely skipped his mind. Maybe because… what sort of additional potential could he even have? He already had an utterly broken mutation after all. Literal endless power via copious amounts of sex. His potential was already sort of limitless, so what more was there to unlock?

Except, thinking about it for even a second, Thaddeus can already see a number of ways that his mutation might be improved with Sage's help. He was just too oblivious before to think about them, he supposed.

"I'm not sure I can do it yet though. I don't want to mess anything up… so I think we need to couple some more first, both to increase my power as well as increase your own so that you can help me."

… That made sense. Thaddeus slowly nods and seeing his approval, Sage reaches up to begin getting undressed. Before she can do more than pop a few buttons and reveal a lacy bra however, Emma clears her throat.

"Ahem… before all of that, perhaps we should let Natasha say her piece first? After all… priorities and what not."

Blinking, Thaddeus looks over to see Natasha biting her lower lip. She looks more uncertain than he's ever seen her before. What's going on here, exactly?

"Natasha? What was that call you got?"

"I… i-it was probably nothing. It was just some coordinates… and a short message at the end. Really, it's more than likely to be a trap than anything else."

Thaddeus narrows his eyes.

"A trap? Why would it be a trap, exactly?"

Looking down at her phone again, Natasha lets out a shaky breath.

"… Because the short message was an old bit of song… something that only ever had meaning to me and one other person. A fellow… a fellow Black Widow."

Before Thaddeus or the others can really react to this, Natasha is already shaking her head.

"It doesn't matter though. She's dead. Has to be. Which is why this is definitely a trap. So there's no point in worrying about it."

Frowning, Thaddeus takes a step forward.

"Isn't there?"

When Natasha gives him a surprised, owl-like look, he smiles crookedly. She really is more shaken than he's ever seen her before… even more than when he finally got her to admit her true desires to him.

"Maybe it is a trap. Maybe it isn't. But so what? This isn't like Selene… whoever is messing with you, do you really think they can possibly handle me, Emma, and Sage?"

Natasha's mouth opens… and then closes as she slowly looks between them all.

"… No. Even at the height of its power, the Red Room's greatest security was in obscurity. They didn't have anyone like you."

Thaddeus grins. He would never admit it, but part of him did chafe at the fact that they weren't going after Selene immediately. The greater part of him understood that trying to take the fight to her right now would be foolhardy though. Even still… they could do this much, couldn't they? They could find out what the fuck was going on with Natasha's past.

And given the coordinates had come right when he'd been discussing letting Lady Luck take over with Emma… well, it seemed more than a little likely that something good just might come of all of this in the end.

He just had to trust in 'Miss Fortune' to have his back and trip up his enemies.

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The Vote:

[ ] Stick with Thaddeus' POV - 16%

[ ] Switch to Natasha's POV - 17%

[X] Switch to Yelena's POV - 67%