Chapter 44: The Truth

Chapter 44: The Truth

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

Thaddeus comes clean, and everything works out for the best~

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As the sniping devolves into full on bickering, Thaddeus realizes he’s let this go on long enough. While it was fun stringing the three women on at first, especially since they weren’t being entirely truthful with him either, it had clearly escalated to a point where he’d stopped being comfortable.

It was time to come clean.

“Ladies...”

Of course, his first attempt at being heard falls on deaf ears. Janet has pulled away from his side to stalk up to Sue and Jennifer, and while the fashion designer is decidedly the shortest and most pixie-like of the trio, she’s nevertheless going bar for bar with the other two women as they argue back and forth. Groaning, Thaddeus rubs the bridge of his nose for a moment before trying again.

“Ladies!”

Again, his call falls on deaf ears. They’re really going at it by this point. This was a nice, abject lesson that Luck wasn’t everything, Thaddeus supposed. Just because he was now inherently Lucky didn’t account for the thoughts and feelings of others, he was realizing. They could still make decisions and choices of their own, and the chips could still fall in a way that he didn’t want.

Frowning, Thaddeus decides to take matters into his own hands... literally. Bringing his hands together, he claps hard enough to create a minor boom of sound. Not quite sonic, but still enough to cause the room to shake a little bit, and the three women to all stumble where they’re stood. THAT finally gets their attention, the trio spinning around to look at him with differing levels of outrage and disbelief.

Sighing, he runs a hand down his face and shakes his head.

“I think it’s time I came clean as well. I’m not exactly new to all of this. I already knew I was a mutant and what sex did for my powers.”

There’s a brief beat of silence at that, before Janet lets out a single, flat...

“What.”

Not really a question, more of a demand. Shrugging, Thaddeus scratches at his chin for a moment, before deciding he might as well explain all of the details regarding what led to this moment.

“... Yeah, so you know how I said I had a threesome last night? Well, do any of you know who Domino is?”

Janet and Jennifer’s eyes light up in recognition, while Sue tilts her head to the side, furrowing her brow in thought.

“The name sounds familiar...”

Leaning over, Jennifer nudges her blonde friend.

“Domino is a mutant mercenary with Luck Powers, Sue. She’s very good at what she does, incredibly talented and skilled... but most of all, she’s Lucky with a capital L. And she uses that Luck to sell her services to the highest bidder.”

As Susan’s eyes go wide with realization, Jennifer glances back at Thaddeus assessingly.

“So you fucked Domino and another woman all night long... and got Luck Powers, is that it?”

Smiling a wan smile, Thaddeus shrugs.

“Actually, I fucked Domino and another Domino all night long.”

Janet squawks at that.

“There are two of them now?!”

“Not quite. The other Domino came from another dimension and then went home this morning. One night for the three of us was apparently all the multiverse could take, or so she speculated.”

That gets thoughtful looks on all three heroines’ faces, before Sue finally speaks up.

“So you... fucked two versions of this Domino woman all night long and then... what, decided to go for us as well?”

Thaddeus is quick to shake his head at that.

“I didn’t decide anything, Sue. All I did was... decide to go for a walk when I left my hotel room this morning. I wanted to see what would happen if I just didn’t have any particular goals in mind. I’ll remind you; you guys invited me over to your table. And to be clear, I didn’t know who any of you were at first.”

At their slightly skeptical expressions, Thaddeus just smirks slightly.

“I figured it out before long, obviously... but to be fair, it wasn’t like you guys were intending on telling me anything, were you? We all decided at some point to lie to each other in order to keep having a good time. If I hadn’t forced your hands by making Jennifer hulk out, would you have ever told me?”

Furrowing his brow in confusion, Thaddeus tucks his phone away and follows the hooded figure walking down the street. He doesn’t bother to do it discretely, at least not where she’s concerned, though he also doesn’t call out her name, recognizing that she’s trying to move somewhat stealthily.

Instead, he creeps up on her carefully and slowly, and when she turns into an alley, he follows without reservation. A normal person might have stopped and reconsidered, might have thought that they were maybe mistaken about what they saw. But Thaddeus wasn’t normal. He saw what he saw... which is why he’s not that surprised when he turns the corner and almost gets Adamantium Claws to the face for his trouble.

Fortunately, Laura isn’t going for the kill immediately, and the moment she sees his face, she pulls her lethal blades back, blinking in surprise.

“Ah. Thaddeus.”

Stepping further into the alley so they’re both more hidden from the main street, Thaddeus gives Laura a curious smile.

“Hey Laura. Couldn’t help notice you were out and about and looked like you were up to something. What’s up?”

There’s a long pause as Laura hesitates for a moment, before finally shaking her head.

“... Nothing. Just... out for a walk.”

Wow. He knew she was socially stunted, but good lord did it make her a terrible liar. Rather than call her out on it directly however, Thaddeus goes for a different tack.

“Yeah, I was just out for a walk too. Maybe we could walk together?”

Just from the way Laura shifts from foot to foot uncomfortably, it’s obvious she doesn’t like that idea. Sighing, Thaddeus goes for the kill.

“... Does Kitty know you’re out here?”

She doesn’t blanch or get embarrassed or beg him to keep her nighttime excursion a secret. Instead, Laura goes expressionless, her face flat as she looks at him.

“No, she does not.”

Talking to Laura always felt a little bit like pulling teeth, but never more than right now. To be fair, usually they didn’t have to do a lot of talking for both of them to enjoy one another’s company. This didn’t seem like a good time for them to engage in hanky panky however, Thaddeus’ previous forays into semi-public sex notwithstanding.

“Laura... what’s up? Let me help.”

Laura’s gaze slides to the side for a moment, looking to the mouth of the alley before she looks back at him.

“Not for you. Not a hero.”

It takes him a second to parse that she means him with that second statement. And... fair, yeah. Thaddeus isn’t a hero, not by a long shot. He’s basically turned down every chance at being a hero that’s come up so far. But to be fair... this feels different. He’s not sure why. Maybe because Laura is clearly up to something dangerous, and he doesn’t want to just leave her to it?

“I thought you were supposed to be my moral compass, Laura. Now you’re telling me not to be a hero?”

He means it to be half-teasing, half-serious, but it’s clear from the way Laura grimaces that she takes it as all-serious. Averting her gaze again, the dark-haired mutant scowls for a moment.

“... Caught whispers of The Facility here in New York. Going to chase down the rumors and see if there’s any truth to it. If there is... I’m probably going to kill a lot of people, Thad. I was wrong. No place for you AND no place for heroes.”

Well damn, at least he’d made her introspective and therefore got some more out of her. But it seemed instead of getting her to let him onboard fully, he’d sent her further in the other direction.

The Facility... he could practically hear the capital letters. And it doesn’t take his enhanced brain meat long to connect the dots and comprehend that these were probably the fuckers behind making Laura the way she is. His mind goes to some of the things that Janet, Jennifer, and Susan had said earlier today. They’d been rather cavalier about it, hadn’t they? And yet, the words ran through his head again all the same.

Government programs.

Injected with strange substances.

Experimented on as a baby.

Jaw clenching, Thaddeus hesitates for a moment. Laura is right, he’s no hero... and she’s given him an out, making it clear she doesn’t expect him to help her with this. Not to mention, he’s already helped in one way... she’s much, much stronger than anyone is probably expecting her to be after how much they’ve fucked.

And yet... is he really going to let her go off on her own like this?

-x-X-x- The Vote: [ ] Let her go, she's probably strong enough to take on anything by herself at this point - 2%[ ] Stop her and sit on her until he can get Kitty here to talk her down from this foolishness - 7%

[X] Go with her. He may not be a hero, but he's not gonna leave a friend high and dry - 91%

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