April , 1945
Boston, Massachusetts
Three months later, the world had moved on.
But onto a different grief all together. Because on 4th March 1945 the disappearance of Steve Rogers a.k.a Captain America is publicly revealed.
Sure the war in Europe was nearing its bloody end. But they had lost Captain America for that win.
But that did not affect me as I already knew he was alive and return in future.
My focus was on Frost Family.
Winston Frost—the man who once commanded boardrooms and brokered deals —was no longer a threat to anyone and had become a thing of the past.
He was rotting.
Sentenced to life in Walpole State Prison without the possibility of parole.
The trial had been quick by wartime standards. The evidence we provided—leaked carefully through the right channels—had been overwhelming: war profiteering, human experimentation, treason, conspiracy, and the murders of Dante Morales and countless others.
The judges barely needed to deliberate.
Life.
Not even a last speech from Winston. No grandstanding. No final grasp at dignity.
Just a broken man in chains, his empire parceled out , as planned, into Emma's waiting hands.
I stood by the window of the penthouse, gazing out over the city as the news came through.
"It's done," the voice on the phone said.
"The prisoners got the message. He'll live... but he won't wish he had."
I thanked the contact—an associate, one with influence inside the walls of Walpole—and hung up.
I didn't smile.
Not exactly.
But there was a satisfaction in the weight of it.
Poetic justice.
Winston Frost, who murdered his own son's lover to erase what he called "the shame," now violated and broken by the very thing he had hated his entire life.
Left defenseless among men he once considered beneath him, now tasting a punishment of falling soap each day.
Not a quick ending.
A slow, grinding one.
The kind he had earned.
I turned as Emma entered the room, a slim stack of finalized documents in hand.
She wore white again—like the snow on the day we toppled him—but now it wasn't a funeral shroud.
It was a coronation robe.
"Is it done?" she asked, voice cool but hungry beneath the surface.
I nodded once. "He'll live. But he's being... educated. By men with reasons to hate people like him."
Emma processed that in silence. Then, for the first time in months, she smiled.
Not a cold smile.
A real one. Small one.
"Good," she said simply. "Let him rot."
She placed the documents on the table between us.
"I now control all of his shares in Frost Industries," she announced, voice laced with triumph.
I glanced over the paperwork.
She had just inherited her father's company and take what belonged to her.
"And Meridian Enterprises?" I asked.
Emma's smile widened slightly.
"Adrienne is CEO now," she said. "Fully independent. But we've partnered—exclusive contracts, joint ventures. Meridian will act as Frost Industries' more... flexible sister company."
"Flexible," I repeated, amused.
She gave me a knowing look. "Sometimes the things you can't do publicly still need to get done."
I chuckled under my breath.
Adrienne Frost—sharp, ruthless Adrienne—was thriving.
Freed from Winston's thumb, she had turned her talents loose.
Where Frost Industries would handle the public face—manufacturing, trade, post-war reconstruction—Meridian would move in the shadows.
Private security. Intelligence gathering.
Black market acquisitions where necessary.
A two-pronged empire.
One face in the light. One hidden in the dark.
And Cordelia?
"She's assisting me directly," Emma added. "Executive management. Public relations. Expansion planning. She's not quite as ruthless as Adrienne, but she's good."
I could see it.
The once-broken Frost sisters, slowly repairing themselves.
Emma stepped closer, her voice dropping.
"You gave me everything I asked for," she said. "Justice. Freedom. Power."
"You earned it," I said simply.
She studied me for a long moment.
"Thank you, Magnus," she said, quietly but fiercely. "For everything."
I gave her a nod, accepting it without ceremony.
We both knew this was only the beginning.
Later that night, as I stood on the rooftop once more, feeling the cold spring wind on my face, I looked out over the city and thought about the months ahead.
Winston Frost was out of the game.
Frost Industries was ours now—Emma at the helm, Adrienne and Cordelia flanking her, would soon make a powerful force in this world. And he would make sure that it belonged to him.
I just had to make sure that Emma belonged to me. Forever. And that was going to be easy.
After all I had fulfilled my end of the deal and now it was Emma's turn to fulfill hers. Soon she would become mine.
She had already opened her mind to me. And soon her body was going to be open to me too.
I maybe a playboy but I am like Tony Stark. I would taste things here and there but ultimately they were just flings at the end there would only be Pepper Potts.
But in my case it would be just slightly different.
I would have a couple of Pepper Potts not just one.
And the first one would be Emma Frost.
With that sorted out I checked the system for the time it was required for all the abilities I had copied to become fully mine.
***
[From Charles Xavier]
[Ability: Telepathy (X-Gene)]
[Conditions: Strong Mind(fulfilled)]
[ETA: 1 Month]
[From Adrienne Frost]
[Ability: Psychometry (X-Gene)]
[Conditions: Strong Mind(fulfilled)]
[ETA: 3 Month]
[From Cordelia Frost]
[Ability: Astral Projection (X-Gene)]
[Conditions: Strong Mind(fulfilled)]
[ETA: 3 Month]
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