Rogue stared wide-eyed as Noah's hand passed straight through her sleeve like it wasn't even there.
"Is… is that your power?" she asked, barely able to process what she was seeing.
"I think so," Noah said, a hint of excitement in his voice. "Give me a second."
Before she could respond, his entire body flickered—
—and vanished.
When Noah's vision returned, he found himself somewhere else entirely.
Darkness.
Not just the absence of light—complete nothingness.
There was no sound. No air. No sense of up or down. It felt like floating in a vacuum, cut off from reality itself.
For a normal person, being here would be fatal in moments.
But Noah remained calm.
His body held together, his breathing steady despite the lack of air. He could endure this—for a while, at least.
He moved cautiously, testing his surroundings.
After a few moments, he figured it out.
The space wasn't infinite.
It was contained—roughly a cube, about three meters on each side.
"So this is what phasing really means," he murmured.
This wasn't just intangibility.
It was a separate space.
A pocket dimension.
Noah focused, experimenting with the boundaries of his ability.
A thought—
And suddenly, light spilled in.
Air followed.
The empty void began to change, becoming something… livable.
Not comfortable, not stable—but no longer completely hostile.
That was enough.
Understanding clicked into place.
He wasn't just phasing through objects—he was shifting between reality and this isolated space at will.
Which meant—
"I just gave myself an escape button," Noah said quietly.
If he stepped fully into this space, nothing in the outside world could touch him. Not physical attacks. Not telepathy. Nothing.
And when he wasn't using it?
It doubled as storage.
A private, inaccessible pocket he could carry anywhere.
After testing the limits a bit more, Noah shifted back.
Reality snapped into place around him.
But the moment he reappeared—
Pain.
A sharp tear ran across his back, splitting skin open in a jagged line.
Noah didn't flinch.
"Instability," he muttered.
The ability wasn't fully under control yet. Every use carried backlash—his body paying the price for something it hadn't fully adapted to.
Still, compared to what he'd already endured during training?
This barely registered.
His body had taken far worse.
The wound began closing almost immediately, healing at a visible pace.
Within minutes, it would be gone.
He turned back to Rogue and gave her a small nod. "Let's go. Time to make it official."
He took her gloved hand and led her out of the room.
Downstairs, Magneto and the others were already gathered.
The moment Noah entered, all eyes turned toward him.
"Well?" Magneto asked. "Did your ability manifest?"
Noah smiled faintly. "Yeah. Not bad, either. Phasing—probably puts me somewhere in the mid-tier range."
To demonstrate, he stepped forward—
—and walked straight through a solid chair as if it didn't exist.
The tension in the room eased instantly.
The hostility from earlier faded, replaced with something closer to acceptance.
Magneto nodded, clearly pleased. "Then welcome. You're one of us now."
"Of course," Noah said. "And like I said before—I'll make sure mutants don't have to live on the margins anymore."
Before anyone could respond—
A thin line suddenly split across his face, running from forehead to jaw.
Mystique reacted immediately, stepping forward to steady him. "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine," Noah said, waving it off. "Just the side effects I warned you about. My body needs time to stabilize."
Even as he spoke, the torn flesh was already knitting back together.
If you weren't looking closely, you'd miss it entirely.
Magneto exhaled slowly. "Then my plans will have to change."
He had intended to use the machine on world leaders—force evolution on a global scale.
But if the process was this unstable?
It wasn't a solution.
It was a massacre.
"No need to worry," Noah said. "I've already made a promise. Things will change—you just need a little patience."
Then he glanced around the room.
"But honestly? You all need to get stronger."
Magneto raised an eyebrow. "Stronger?"
"Yeah," Noah said plainly. "Get in touch with Wilson Fisk. Tell him I sent you."
That got a reaction.
"The Kingpin?" Magneto asked, surprised.
"The same one," Noah said. "You've got incredible control over metal—but physically? You're still just human. A handgun is enough to put you down. That's a problem."
Magneto didn't argue.
Because it wasn't wrong.
"If you're going to lead," Noah continued, "you need to cover your weaknesses. Fisk can help with that."
Magneto considered it for a moment, then nodded.
If it improved their chances—even slightly—it was worth pursuing.
"What about you?" Magneto asked. "What's your next move?"
Noah smiled. "I go back to training."
He glanced toward the exit.
"Give me a year or two," he added. "Once I'm done growing, everything changes."
Then his expression turned more serious.
"And one more thing—don't let the government know I'm a mutant. Not yet. No reason to invite trouble early."
No one objected.
Noah turned to Rogue. "Come on. You're staying with me from now on."
She nodded.
The next moment—
She vanished.
Stored safely within his pocket dimension.
Noah stretched slightly, then looked back at Magneto and the others.
"Good meeting," he said. "If anything comes up, you know how to reach me."
He stepped back, creating some distance.
Then—
He jumped.
The ground exploded beneath his feet as he launched upward, leaving behind a crater nearly two meters wide.
A second later, the ceiling above shattered, sunlight pouring through the hole he left behind.
By the time anyone looked up—
He was already gone.
Out over the ocean, Noah ran across the surface of the water itself, his movements fast enough to keep him from sinking.
Somewhere along the way, he'd already stored his car.
Now, with nothing holding him back—
He disappeared into the distance.