Luke Cage
I stepped back, dodging the blisteringly fast hook, weathered through a series of jabs, and returned fire with a feint that kept Jessica rooted in place long enough for me to lash out with an uppercut.
Jessica took it in stride without so much as flinching and returned the favor, sending me flying through the air and crashing into the mat of the training room. Slowly, I climbed back to my feet, rubbing my jaw.
It hurt like hell, but the pain was already fading. One of the many, many runes covering the walls of the basement training room lit up, reversing the damage.
"Not bad, Lukie," Jessica said, smiling. "You lasted a whole minute longer than last time. And I'm starting to actually feel your punches. Now, if you were faster than a turtle, our fights would be actually interesting."
I shot her a look, which she ignored.
"Manny. Turn off speed suppression, please. It's starting to make my skin crawl," she said.
"Of course, Jessica," a mechanical voice came from a metal orb floating above us, making me wince.
Jessica caught my expression. "You've gotta get over your thing for Magitech."
There it was again. That word. Magitech. According to Jean, it was the term they'd taken to describing the magical artifact that Dante made. It wasn't quite magic, nor was it fully technology.
Hence Magitech.
And it looked as absurd as it sounded.
She rotated her ring, and a ball, not unlike the one that hovered in the middle of the sparring area, appeared beside her. It lit up with runes, and steam burst out of it. Jessica stepped out, smelling fresh.
"Call me old-fashioned, but I actually like cleaning my body," I said, picking up a towel from a rack and wiping my neck.
She shrugged. "I get that. But turning down the enhancements, though. What's that about?"
I frowned at her. "It's about not taking shortcuts."
"Well, those shortcuts keep you alive," she said as her clothes changed right in front of my eyes. One moment she was in training sweats, and the next, she was dressed in a casual shirt, jeans, and a leather jacket.
"You can't be an Avenger if you only use half the tools," she said, repeating the same arguments Jean had made almost a week ago. "Any day now, we'll be going down below to put an end to the demon threat once and for all. You need every advantage the boss man is offering if you hope to even survive."
"I already agreed to the armor," I said. And very reluctantly, too. There was just something about being wrapped up by all that liquid metal and magic that made my skin crawl. I was already feeling some type of way about being away from Harlem for so long.
Dante had one of his Sentinel drones watching the neighborhood while I was away. It gave me daily reports on what crimes it stopped and what incidents it intervened in.
If Matt was to be believed, it was just one of the many he had running around the planet. Apparently, one was masquerading as an Angel, teleporting throughout South America, Asia, and Africa, healing people, and a few were also on disaster watch, whatever that meant.
I was still fuzzy on the details. This saving-the-world thing was a lot more complicated and impersonal than I expected.
"Look, it's tempting to want to stick with what you know, but—" Jessica stopped talking and placed her hand on her ear. Slowly, her expression changed, as did her clothing. Leather and liquid metal poured out of the orb and wrapped around her body in a fraction of a moment.
"We got a priority emergency," she said, looking at me. "We need all hands on deck."
"What! Me? But Jean said I would have a month of training before—"
"That was before we had a mad sorcerer trying to sacrifice a million people in a blood ritual in Russia," she said, "and an unknown number of vampires raising hell across Europe."
My mouth fell open.
"You get used to the weirdness," she said. "Or at least that's what I tell myself. Take that shower you're going on about, and check your room. Your suit is already there. Ask Manny for any adjustments you might need and suit up. We jump to Russia in five minutes."
And then she was gone, winking out of the training room like she was never there. I let out a long exhale and steadied myself.
I'd said I wanted to make a difference, to make a change… Well. This was what that looked like.
Looking up, I spoke to the silvery orb floating contentedly at the center of the room.
"Manny. Take me to my room."
A light enveloped me, and I was gone.
Five minutes later, I was rushing down the hall to the hangar bay where Matt, Colleen, Jessica, two Widows, and one of Dante's more advanced drones waited for me.
He looked very human, but he was demonstrably not. His eyes were mechanical, his skin was reflective and covered in runes, and he was a shade too light. He wore basic combat clothes, but I got the sense he could take care of himself.
"You're finally here," he said without looking in my direction. His intonation was monotone and familiar. "We can begin with the mission briefing. If you all would activate your private telepathic channel, I will transfer what we know about the threat."
"Manny?" I asked slowly.
"Right, you don't know what he actually looks like," Jessica said as if it were the most normal thing in the world.
"B-but he's an AI," I said.
"Android," Jessica corrected. "If we're being technical."
"We'd wanted to introduce you to him earlier," Matt said carefully, "but you were having a hard enough time as is with the magic and the insanity that is Dante. We thought we had more time."
I stared at all three of them and the patient AI, trying not to take offense at the comment. I recognized that they were right, of course, on some level.
"Well…" I grunted. "No time like the present."
"Okay, then," Jessica said. "The telepathic channel is the first symbol on your left gauntlet. Activate it whenever you're ready."
I nodded and tapped into the channel reluctantly.
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