"Based on our analysis, the crystals seem to be formed from a compound that contains a form of Terrigen."

"How is that possible?"

The city-state of New Attilan was a new one. Before the fall of their old home, the great refuge had moved throughout the world. Now, stranded in the New York harbour, the Inhumans had been forced to deal with humanity in a way they hadn't since they had first secluded themselves.

One thing that had not changed however, was the dominance of the Inhumans royal family. Those who the old geneocracy had deemed greatest had been made kings and queens of Inhumanity and now Medusa, wife of Black Bolt, sat upon the throne as sole queen of Inhomo Supremis.

"Not exactly our own Terrigen my queen. The compounds that we analysed contain something similar that we are unable to completely qualify, though I am sorry for the confusion my queen. I misspoke."

"Then clarify Vinatos." The queen of Inhumans said testily. Her great mane of hair coiled and swayed in the air, a symptom of her emotions, most notably her annoyance.

"The crystals hold a chemical composition similar to that of Terrigen crystals, but differ somewhat it their formation. We found chemicals that corolate to the Isogen, Amphogen, Antigen and Exogen of our universal counterparts in the crystal's moecular structure."

"So it is some kind of Terrigen that effects the entirety of the inhuman race across our five species? Vinatos, how is that possible?"

"It is not my queen. Based on my research, it does not induce Terrigenesis or any of our kin's own seperate evolutions. After speaking with the subject who produced them we believe that they are meant to augment already existant Inhuman abilities as opposed to activating the Inhuman gene."

"He creates a crystal that enhances our abilities?" Medusa asked, more for confirmation than a lack of understanding

"The crystal produces a mist that enhances us, more than the crystal itself, but indeed my queen. The young Inhuman Dante Pertuz described a feeling of power when he inhaled the gas. He was also able to activate his powers to a much greater extent without losing control of them and causing damage to himself than he reports he can normally. We have also asked several other members of our science team with measureable abilities to test the effects of the crystal and its mist. In each case, they reported noticable and measureable enhancement to both the quality and scope of their abilities."

"This is an unforseen developement Vinatos. Do you believe he could be an agent of Lash, as Gorgon proposed."

"It is unlikely my queen. All of his records indicate that he had no ties that could have lead him to Lash, not to mention that he was a recently changed Inhuman according to the city's data."

"Tell me of him then. I wish to know more about who we will be welcoming into our city."

"Kurtis Leonard Chambers, born in the United States to British and South African parents. Education was varied due to consistent movement but attended further education at the University of Georgetown in Washington D.C. before moving to Washington State. His credentials are somewhat impressive."

"Good, we will need all the new minds we can gather in order to strengthen our position along with a good new set of powers." Gorgon said.

"We should not presume his cooperation Gorgon." Medusa said. "We did not give him the best first impression of ourselves when we brought him here. Many of the Nuhumans are not keen to leave their families and lives behind for New Attilan, and this man had what seems like a good life before we came into his and altered it."

"True enough my queen." Said Vinatos. "However, during my visits the youngling has shown a great curiosity about us, and about New Attilan. I believe with the right motivation, we will be able to convince him to stay. If nothing else we might be able to employ his non-terrigen related abilities."

"Those being?"

"His degree is in psychology my queen. Specifically, he is a grief councilor. We have no shortage of distraught and grieving Inhumans within our walls."

"An Inhuman who may both strengthen our position at arms and aid in healing our people. It seems that the Terrigen has not forsaken us."

"My queen?" Vinatos asked.

"Nothing Vinatos, just an erant thought. Leave us please. We will need to discuss this."

Vinatos bowed before leaving the conference room. Sitting down, Medusa looked around to the other occupants. Gorgon, Triton and Crystal were of course present. Her sister had only recently returned in the aftermath of her separation from her husband Ronan. She had spoken to Crystal quite recently about it, and had respected her sister's wishes that she be allowed to search for Inhumans by following the Eastern Terrigen Cloud over Europe and Asia. She was only present in hologram, but there all the same.

Elejea, her handmaiden, had also taken a place at the table. As a former member of the diplomatic corps of the Inhumans to the United Nations she was one of the premier members of the new delegation to the United States they had found themselves bordered with.

Finally, Auran had taken the seat of the head of Inhuman and New Attilan security. Some might have said it was due to the fact that she was one of the only members who had actually survived the fall of the old city, but Medusa knew that it was also because Auran was one of their best investigators even before the destruction of old Attilan.

"Auran. You have met our new guest, have you not?"

"I have my queen."

"And? What is your assessment?"

"Unhappy at being confined, even if it was comfortable. He seems to be most interested in researching the Inhuman genome." Auran's eyes flickered slightly to the side before continuing. "He does give odd compliments though."

"Oh? In what way?" Medusa actually smiled at that, not above taking her amusement where she could.

"He said the Inhuman genome activation within my auditory receptors was seamless. He called it 'perfect elegance' through Terrigenesis. Some of the other guards and personel who interacted with him have reported that he made mention of their own Terrigenesis born powers or features."

"Odd indeed. Though I believe he was complementing your ears Auran."

Auran turned her head, hand rising up to touch her large, fur covered ears extended up like the ears of a Caracal Cat.

Medusa rose from her seat, prompting the others to do the same as the queen made towards the door in order to leave.

"It seems that it is time we released our new guest."

"My queen." Triton said. "Surely you do not plan to do this yourself, your tme is far too valuable to devote so much of it to-"

"It was my decision to imprison him Triton, even if we did not use the word. It is therefore my responsibility to release him."

Medusa left the room, followed by Elejea as her handmaiden made sure to accompany her wherever she went. Gorgon and Triton watched as she left but ultimately did not follow. Instead they left to attend to their duties in the city.

"My queen." Elejea said, following closely behind Medusa.

"Yes Elejea." Medusa answered. "What is it?"

"I've done some research with Vinatos about this Kurtis Chambers. He has family in Europe and Africa. I believe it might be prudent to have Crystal or one of her team keep surveilence on them."

"A good idea Elejea, but we should not intrude ourselves on them unnecessarily, likely Mr Chambers will contact them once he has the chance."

"Of course my queen."

The two continued on until they came to a large metal door, the entrance to Kurtis Chambers' quarters. The slab of metal slid to the side, revealing moderately spacious quarters with a large bed, a desk, a table and a small bathroom attached. Scattered all over the room were papers and books, things that Medusa could see pertained to knowledge detailing Inhuman history and genetics.

The room's sole occupant was pacing in the centre of the room, circling around the table which had a small recording device on it. In his hands were various papers he routinely switched out with others that were scattered on the table.

"Initial inhuman genome mutation was based on primary x-gene expression in early hominids during initial divergence of homo antecessor species as it evolved from homo erectus between one million and point five million years ago. Historical records in human evolution presents Kree experiments as secondary augmentation of mutagenic genes introduced during unknown primary experimentation. Mutant genome refinement by the Kree into Inhuman genome provided a controled substance to activate otherwise randomised and chaotic mutations and expression of super-human powers."

The queen and her handmaiden watched him pace for a few more seconds, rambling on about genetic theory.

"Elejea." Medusa adressed her handmaiden.

"Yes my queen?"

"How much access did you and Vinatos provide to this Kurtis Chambers regarding our genetic data?"

"Nothing sensetive my queen, only the information available in our public records."

The queen nodded, stepping over the threshold into the room. As soon as Kurt rounded the corner of the table, facing the two women, he stopped his ramblings and stared at the two.

"Uh... hello?" He said. "You're not Vinatos."

"No. I am not." Medusa said with a slight upwards quirk of her lips.

"This is Queen Medusa." Elejea announced her queen. "Ruler of Inhumanity and the city-state of New Attilan, and your queen."

"Oh... Should I bow? I feel like I should bow but at the same time I don't really think I should bow."

"Do not worry about formality. You have my thanks for your patience as we sort out the events that brought you here."

"Thanks, I guess. Not like I had much of a choice though."

"Do not disrespect the queen." Elejea growled, taking a step forwards.

Medusa raised a hand, calming her handmaiden.

"Peace Elejea. We should not expect that those who were not raised Inhuman to adhere to all aspects of our society." She lowered her hand as Elejea calmed slightly. "If I may, may we speak?"

She gestured to the table and suddenly Kurt realised just how much of a mess his quarters had become.

"Of course. Sorry for the mess. I wasn't expecting royalty."

He swiftly picked up the recording device and turned it off before cleaning off a portion of the table, leaving the cool metal bare as Medusa sat down. Elejea stood just behind her queen. Kurt took a seat opposite to her. For a few moments, no one spoke, then Medusa reached across the table and picked up a sheet of paper.

"'Genetic variance in the expression of the Inhuman genome'? A rather advanced piece of research. I was under the impression that you're expertise was in psychology rather than genetics."

"It is. Ever since the cloud, I just... I can see people's genes. I understand it."

Medusa raised an eyebrow, making a gesture for him to continue.

"I saw it when I first met your retrieval team in Seattle. I saw them and I could just... not see in the normal way. I could understand their genes. I saw where the Inhuman genome was, how it functioned, how to fill in the gaps. That's where the Ampigen came in."

"Ampigen?" Medusa asked.

"It's what Vinatos and I named my red crystal and the mist. It amplifies Inhuman abilities, so we decided to call it Ampigen. It also sounds better than the other names we tried."

"Interesting." Medusa nodded along. "You have been cooperative with our investigations so far. Neither have you shown any connection to any rogue Inhuman elements. I came here to personally inform you that we will no longer be confining you to your quarters."

The door let out a beeping noise before it slid open.

"You are free to move about the city. Welcome to New Attilan Kurtis Chambers."

The queen stood up, followed closely by Elejea, who was herself followed by Kurt as together the three left the room and entered into a rather plain hallway. Kurt looked around, taking in the hallway he hadn't seen since he had first been placed in the room nearly three days ago.

"Elejea will show you around the city." Medusa said, begining to walk away. "She is one of our best, please do treat her with respect."

"My queen." Elejea protested. "I cannot simply leave you. It is my duty to protect you."

"Yes Elejea, and it is my duty to protect and care for all Inhumans, and that means ensuring that one of our own that we imprisoned without need is properly compensated." She smirked. "I believe a tour from one of our best diplomats is compensation enough. Do enjoy your time here Mr Chambers, though you might consider choosing a new name now that you are truly Inhuman."

The queen walked off, leaving Kurt and Elejea standing in the hallway. The silence that reigned between them was awkward and thick, and before long Kurt shuffled his feet and cleared his throat.

"Well, I guess we can split up?" He asked.

"I'm sorry?" Elejea turned her head.

"I mean, you shouldn't have to spend your time showing me around. I'm sure you've got more important stuff to do. I'll just look around and you can go off."

Elejea shook her head.

"No. My queen has tasked me with escorting you around New Attilan. It is my duty to see to it that her commands are met."

"Wow, you're really loyal to her huh?"

"I am her shield. I would give my life for her."

"Hardcore."

Elejea's lips twitched.

"Indeed. Now come, I will show you your new home."

Together the two of them headed off. After a few minutes the dull grey of the hallways gave way to a bright pavilion. All around it, Inhumans of all shapes and sizes mingled and went about their business.

"This is the main forum. Most of our citizens spend at least some of their leasure time here."

"It's incredible." Kurt said.

"It is quite interesting. The forum is also where we introduce many of the Nuhumans to our greater populace and where families seperated in the fall of old Attilan reunite. You may wish to mingle here for a time."

"No thanks. I'll come back some other time. Lead the way."

Elejea nodded, directing the two of them to a large series of elevators that took them down from the central tower and into the ever increasing bazaar that surrounded it. Out in the sunlight, seeing the massive grouping of people that wandered all across the area, Kurt was amazed.

"Amazing. Inhuman, Human, I even think I see a few mutant genes. This place is amazing."

"You can tell what they are just by looking at them?" Elejea asked.

"I can see the people's genes. Knowing what the Inhumans are, also means have an idea of what they aren't. It's harder to diffrentiate humans from mutants since they all have the latent potential for mutation, but activated x-genes are somewhat distinct."

Elejea nodded.

"Impressive. It seems that your powers are more nuanced than we initially believed."

"It's an entirely new world when I see people now. I guess there's some good and bad. I can tell what they inherited from who, how far back their last genetic mutation was. There's so much information that I could never have known before, but it's a bit overwhelming. I guess I just miss getting to know people the old fashioned way."

"Adjusting to Terrigenesis can be quite difficult in the first days. It will get better with time."

"I figured. Though considering your whole society if geared towards it you must have had a lot of support."

"We are quite adept at dealing with all manner of abilties awakened during the process."

"I'll bet. Still, being able to make forcefields must have been a big thing for you."

Elejea turned her head, obversing him with a look of mild surprise. Kurt caught the look and offered a shy smile.

"I can see your genes, you know. Figuring out your power was easy. I could read you your whole family's genetic history if you would like."

Elejea narrowed her eyes.

"Information like that is highly sensitive. Many families take pride in keeping their genetic lines a secret. I would advise you not to speak too much of that."

Kurt's smile fell and was replaced by a look of embarrasment.

"Sorry. All this is really just kind of new. I was supposed to see one of my clients today about her husband, and instead I'm being shown around a semi-alien city inhabited by a race of people I'm related to but have never met. It's just... a lot."

Elejea's face softened, and she ended up putting a hand on Kurt's shoulder.

"Of course. There is no need to apologise. There is no reason for you to understand everything about us."

"I-I need to call my family. If the cloud passes over them... they need to know."

"Of course. Follow me."


"Look O- Olivia. I know this is crazy... No they didn't poison me... Well, not exactly... I get it... tell Jake 'I'm sorry'... I've already called mom and dad... just tell everyone... no, I don't know which side of the family it's from... if I find out I'll tell you... Love you too, bye."

Kurt hung up the phone, leaning back on the wall and taking a deep breath.

"I trust everything went acceptably?" Elejea asked.

"As well as something like this can go I guess. My sister, she's just worried. She's got two kids, we don't really know how this whole thing's going. Hopefully they have some time to figure it all out before the cloud passes over them."

"If you wish we could bring them into New Attilan."

"No. I don't want to make that choice for them. I can't"

Kurt let out a sigh, covering his face with his hands.

"Does New Attilan come with a bar?"


"It's a crude elegance really." Said Kurt as he sipped a glass of rum.

"'Crude'?" Elejea asked, nursing her own drink. "In what way?"

"The Inhuman genome was built off of something far more elegant." Kurt explained. "Whatever it was that had it's way with hominid genetics the first time was leagues ahead of the Kree. The refinement that the Kree put us through to form the Inhuman Genome was almost crude in comparison, though by normal human standards the process must look like magic."

"I hope you don't mean that to be an insult to our race."

"Not at all. If anything, the terrigen process smoothed out a lot of the rough edges the Kree left over in our genes. I wonder what they were thinking when they decided to cut the program."

Elejea shrugged, looking down at her drink.

"Whatever it was. We have survived everything the universe has thrown at us."

"I read. Was Attilan really on the Moon?"

"Yes. We set the city up on the blue area of the moon after Earth's atmosphere became too toxic for us."

"That must have been something."

"It was. The Earth-rises were beautiful. I loved them very much."

"Then why come back? If you don't mind me asking."

"It was the command of our king. As he ordered, so did we obey."

"You didn't get a choice?"

"We did. Those of us who wished to could have remained with our universal counterparts... none of us did."

"Wow, I guess you really believed in Black Bolt huh?"

"We did, and now he is lost, vanished in the aftermath of Attilan's destruction. Our queen has searched for him tirelessly since then."

"What about everyone else?" Kurt asked, flagging down the bartender and signaling for a refill. "What about you? Did you lose anyone?"

Elejea just looked down at her glass, seeing her own face reflected back at her in the alcohol.

"I lost everyone. So many of our people are gone, and now they are so readily being replaced by these new Inhumans. Inhumans who have no idea what it is to be truly Inhuman."

"Present company included?" Kurt asked, tilting his refilled glass back to drink and offering a smile.

"Most definately." Elejea said, chuckling as she wiped a tear from her face. She cleared her throat softly and downed the last of her drink, schooling her expression back into one of stoicism.

"You know, it's not wrong to let yourself be vulnerable." Kurt said. "You, your queen, your entire community have been through an incredibly traumatic experience. It's ok to take some time and let yourself come to terms with it."

Elejea shook her head.

"I cannot. Our queen works tirelessly to protect us in this new situation. She has not sucumed to grief, and so neither will I."

"Grief isn't something you sucumb to. It's not a weakness." Kurt argue. "Mourning a loss and letting yourself feel and process the emotions that come with it are all natural and healthy things. You shouldn't feel ashamed to acknowledge them."

Elejea just sighed and took another sip of her drink before she paused.

"Are you trying to give me therapy?" She asked. "I understand you were a psychologist but I didn't think you'd try to psycho-analyse everyone you met.

Kurt's eyes widened slightly.

"No, I swear. I just mean that you're exhibiting symptoms of denial and repression in order to not confront and deal with a traumatic event. No, that's even worse. I... I'm just going to shut up now and try and stop making an ass of myself."

Elejea smiled slightly.

"If you want to help people deal with trauma, I assure you Attilan is rife with it. Your skills would be most useful." Her eyes shimmered slightly. "Just refrain from administering such counseling to your tour guide on your first day in our city."

Kurt looked out of the bar's window, which showed off a decent view of the bazaar forming at the base of New Attilan's tower.

"I don't know. I have a life back in Seattle. I have clients and people who rely on me to help them. I... what kind of counselor would I be if I just up and abandoned them."

"You would be able to help many others here." Elejea argued. "Your abilities would be appreciated here, far more than in a human city."

"It's not about appreciation." He said. "People rely on me. Some of them have real problems they need help dealing with."

"Are there other counselors in Seattle?" Elejea asked.

"Yes, but-"

"We lost so many in the fall of Attilan, and are only now beginning to find them. We lost many of our own counselors and psionics who aid people in psychological problems. You are a valuabe individual to our people, one who is needed, now more than ever."

Kurt just looked down at his drink, not noticing that he'd finished it quickly as he and Elejea had talked.

"I...I need to think about it. Is that allowed?"

Elejea put a hand on his shoulder.

"Take whatever time is necessary. The things I tell you, they coloured in a way as to convince you to stay, but that does not mean they are any less true."

She got up out of her chair, making her way over to the exit.

"Hey."

She turned back.

"This place, can I really help people? Really make a difference?"

Elejea nodded.

"Yes, and we would be thankful for it."

With that she left, leaving Kurt alone with his thoughts and his empty glass of rum.

"Another one please."


And chapter 2. With this we see some more of Kurts abilities and why he might be useful in the future. If you can guess, I think it's obvious but then again I'm writing this with all the forknowledge necessary to draw those conclusions. I will say again that Kurt will not be very instrumental in many of the events of the Marvel universe, so don't expect to see too many changes to the overall landscape of the universe. Though things might spiral from small changes.

Also, in regards to timelines. The time surrounding the 'Time Runs Out' and surrounding events is a little cooky. Like Captain America finds out about the Illuminati and Incursions when he isn't old, and the Illuminati go underground, but Tony is a public figure in 'AvX Axis' and 'Superior Ironman' which happen after Cap turns old and therefore should be hunting him. So there's a lot of leeway in when things happen and how time goes. In the end, basically, I'm going with the a personal timeline built from what I know about the Marvel landscape of the time and some personal touches when things get really murky.