She weighed at least a hundred kilograms, all muscle and bone, but she moved very quickly. Without cat-like reflexes, I wouldn't have been able to keep up with her punches, and I couldn't even dodge them, instead having to block them with my fists. I was a little stronger, but all my combat training consisted of occasional street fights. The guard wasn't a master of hand-to-hand combat either, but sometimes she used techniques I didn't expect at all. After five minutes of fighting, I started to get tired, and the flow of emotions from Mary and Snezhana weakened — apparently, they had more important things to worry about after someone started shooting at them. The legionnaire attempted a chokehold, and I grabbed her arm, which was squeezing my throat.
Suddenly, the super soldier's body became much lighter, and I broke free of her grip, sending her flying into the wall. Or rather, half of her did, while her legs landed with a thud behind me. Ghost stood in the passageway, looking at me through the black hair covering her face. I could clearly see her eyes and the pearl behind them. Wendy was furious, but she was very happy that I was unharmed.
"Get down to the basement. I'll signal the others.
"What the hell are you doing here?" I shouted after the fleeing sand.
The corridor was flooded with blood and littered with body parts, but I didn't see the headmistress's well-groomed head among them. The carnage had taken place in only one corridor; the rest of the wounded had been successfully evacuated, and I simply walked in the opposite direction of what I saw on the signs. Sure enough, I soon found a staircase leading down, ending in a locked door. It wasn't difficult to break the lock, and Wendy soon caught up with me. She wanted to immediately break down the thinnest wall and go underground, but I refused.
"Damn it, I told you I'd come back on my own! I could have found out so much more about Queenpin! And I still can..." I said, stopping in my tracks.
Wendy turned into a large ball and engulfed me, dragging me through the wall, but I decided to take a risk.
"Wendy, there's a prisoner here. I want to save her.
"Why?" she appeared inside the sand sphere in the form of a ghost.
"She's a very unusual mutant. I'm curious to get to know her better.
"Unusual?" Wendy didn't understand why it was important. I patted her on the shoulder and said:
"Let's sit down.
The sphere crumbled away, and we sat down on the sand as if on a beach, looking out at the endless stone sea. I put my arm around Ghost and began to tell her my story:
"Since we met, so much has happened in my life... We've had fun and risked our lives, we've fought and made love, we've seen a giant cat and watched the destruction of an American icon. We've had an eventful week, don't you think?
"Very eventful.
"And the five years before that? Did you live the same way?
"No. Ever since Aunt Erica betrayed my pride and I moved to the outskirts of Brooklyn... I left so I wouldn't see anyone, and in five years I saw three people.
"What happened to them?
"I didn't want to see them, so I ground them into dust."And what happened to them?
"But you didn't grind me up.
"You're a man. My body wants sex too, but it only becomes sensitive when you're around. Without you, toys and chemicals don't help me.
"But I'm not the only one who can arouse a stone, am I?" I joked.
"I don't need anyone else!
"I understand. I love you too, Wendy, but we're talking about something else. You slept with men before me, didn't you?
"Yes. And I was already like this. Why do you need this?
"I'm trying to show you how important 'unusualness' is in other people.
"You're just not scared. Everyone is afraid of me because I can cut off their heads... But Aunt Erica is stronger than me, and everyone loves her!
"You're just like a girl from a horror film...
"I can see their fear. They don't know why they're scared. With this appearance, I'm trying to explain to them that there's no need to be afraid, because it's all fake in the movies.
"That's what I thought when you were climbing out of the sink. 'It's too much like a movie to be dangerous,'" I lied. Actually, it was kind of scary, but at that point, I had nowhere to run.
"And then you seemed very unusual to me, and I wanted to get to know you better," I continued.
"Like a prisoner?
"That sounds harsh, but you were a captive too. Your home became a prison for you..."
"Asphalt superhero!" Wendy exclaimed with unexpected anger in her voice. "Since when did you start helping every woman in trouble? Why do you feel the same way about her as you do about me?"
"The same? Why doesn't it bother you that I love Mary? And even a little bit of Snezhana?
"You can drag every woman in the wasteland into our bed, and it'll only be more enjoyable. But saving someone? Making an effort and demanding the same from those around you? That's superheroism, Peter!
"Or supervillainy. I've been told for two hours that Vella Fisk is the new saviour of humanity, who will take our species into space and bring harmony to the galaxy.
"What does Fisk have to do with it? Are you as crazy as Mary?
"It's the corporation that bothers me, not its owner. They're turning children into super soldiers, can you imagine?
"Another superhero story!
"But if we don't stop Quinnpin, everyone, including you and me, will be forced to work for them one way or another. The whole world is one big corporation that exports war to other planets. And no one on Earth will be able to live the way they want anymore.
"And what does the captive have to do with this?
"This mutant, whose gender I don't know yet, is very important to the corporation. On the other hand, I'm sure he hates his captors, which means he could become our ally.
"Stop dragging me into a corporate war! I'll help you this time, but after that" – go ahead and do your dirty work for Queenpin without me. We should have figured out why we attacked the convoy in the first place.
"We really did attack the convoy for money and other valuables! The fact that it belonged to Queenpin was just a small bonus.
Wendy said nothing, recreated the sphere out of sand, and moved back to the infirmary basement. I saw a large empty space below the third floor and decided to start searching there. Even Wendy couldn't see what was going on inside; the place reminded me of the dark voids in her house. It turned out that this assembly hall had completely sterile, filtered air, devoid of the tiny particles that usually allow Wendy and me to see through walls. The ghost cut through the ventilation pipe and blew dust into the hall. The compressor burned out from the treatment, but we didn't care.
Something very strange was being assembled here. A biomechanical android, a faithful replica of a woman I didn't know, only five times larger, was being dressed in armour. Judging by the angle of the plates, it would be something like a Stark Industries walking tank, only with a giant android inside. In another part of the hangar, they were testing a cannon that was the right size for the android. It even seemed to have special mountings so that the giant could carry it on its forearm.
It fired some kind of energy, and each shot echoed in my head with pain, even though they were shooting at targets on the far side of the workshop. The targets simply ceased to exist after being hit, as did all the dust within a ten-metre radius. As a result, we saw the gun gather energy for a while, and then a beam drew a strip of darkness with a ball at the end, where the target had been before — for example, an obsolete tracked tank. And we saw no trace of the tank.
Wendy was the first to spot a small camera under the floor of the assembly hall, and in it, a captive chained to the wall. It was her copy, dressed in the armour of a walker. But it was very difficult to see, as there was ventilation there, so I decided to send Wendy to investigate. To do this, I had to move from the tunnel to the technical corridor, because I didn't have enough strength to keep the tunnel from collapsing, and the Ghost would be too far away. She made a hole in the ventilation pipe for me and slipped into the workshop, while I hurried to crawl into the building. Someone had helpfully placed a ladder under the pipe, which I used to climb down safely.Only when I heard approaching footsteps did I realise that there were no coincidences, and that the ladder had been left there by a worker who had been sent to repair a broken compressor, but instead, he or she, as is customary in this world, had heard Wendy and me and run off to raise the alarm. And judging by the footsteps, I was about to get a closer look at something heavy, like a cataphract. I climbed onto the ladder and crawled back into the narrow pipe. It took me a few seconds to calm down and focus, and then I directed the cloud of sand towards Wendy. The footsteps stopped, but the buzzing of the servo motors grew louder.
I couldn't help looking at the enemy that had come to kill me, even though it reduced the chances of my message getting through. The cataphract looked like a man covered in clay. There were no sharp corners or protrusions, and almost all of the armour was made of thick, solid sheets of metal curved so that bullets flying in from the front would slide off. No expense had been spared on weight; this fire platform had to withstand the recoil of any weapon, and if it couldn't run, so be it — let the enemies figure out how to escape it. The shoulder pads stood out, as if they were designed to withstand shells coming from above. Which makes sense, because if I were the enemy, I would prefer to throw myself at this thing from a distance of at least a kilometre. This cataphract was armed with a large thermal cannon, familiar to me from previous battles, only there it was a less powerful version. In corridor combat, there was simply nothing to oppose such a weapon.
A woman clad in heavy armour loudly and aptly cursed the engineers who had designed the massive shoulder pads that prevented her from raising her plasma gun higher. But there is no problem that an experienced soldier cannot solve. With a crash, the armour fell against the wall, and the gun was aimed straight at the hole, from which I was only able to crawl a metre away, blocked by the grate. I threw the cloud flying towards Wendy and, with my last ounce of strength, directed the sand into the muzzle of the plasma gun. There was no shot.
Now I could see no further than three metres, and the only thing I could look at was the cataphract rising to its full height, lowering its cannon, shaking drops of molten glass from it, and slamming it down again to fire. A fireball flew out of the barrel, but Wendy blocked it with her body. She exposed almost her entire body to the impact, and the sand melted. The pearl fell into a pool of molten glass right in front of my face, and I quickly grabbed it before it sank into the viscous mass. It was very hot, and I hurried to lick my fingers to cool them down.
The Ghost's vision returned, and I saw the cataphract hesitating between shooting the glass-oozing hole again or calling for the cleaners. It reminded me of my past intimacy with Wendy, when I licked the pearl with my rough cat tongue and put it in my mouth, earning a terrible burn on my tongue. But Wendy stopped radiating pain; on the contrary, she felt very pleased. My body lost its sensitivity as usual, and I quickly filled the hole with fresh sand, then pulled myself out of the pipe into the tunnel I had dug myself. The cataphract behind me fired at least three more shots, but I ran through the ground at full speed, and nothing could hurt me anymore. Well, except for the fact that I had no idea where to go.
***
Vella Fisk sat in her office at the top of the Queenpin Tower and watched as Scorpio and the Huntress attacked her corporation. The attack was obviously doomed to failure, which meant it was a diversion, and that made Vella nervous. How the hell did that redhead get so smart that she figured out to hire the Huntress?
And Kravina herself had become stupid if she agreed to work against her former employers! Fisk hated stupid people. The battle lasted exactly four minutes and twenty seconds, but before the tower was unlocked, the one whose name was written on the doorplate burst into the office. Sibyl Malcador. Vella felt relieved to see her mother safe, and it didn't even cross her mind that they shouldn't be together in case of danger, and that access to the body of the corporation's owner should be physically blocked.
"You did it after all," Fisk said grimly.
Sibyl's face contorted into a malicious grimace, and she walked over and slapped her daughter on the lips.
"The question should be phrased differently: why aren't you doing anything to solve Scorpius's problem? Especially now that her old friend is back with a squad of professional saboteurs.
"What can I do? I can't take thirty vigilantes off duty at once, and another seventy for rotation, and fewer forces can't handle it. How's Rilanor?
"Her aggression is out of control! She ruined my plan, she doesn't give a damn about orders! Stop messing around with that crazy girl, soon you'll have thousands like her.
"Ruined your plan? Where was that?
"In the infirmary.
Vella brought up the image from the relevant camera and watched as the legionnaire beat up a cheeky boy during the alarm.
"I don't see anything wrong with that."Vella, I taught you that a revolver and a kind word can achieve more than just a kind word, but you never understood that more doesn't necessarily mean better!
"Vella, I taught you that a revolver and a kind word can achieve more than just a kind word, but you never understood that more doesn't necessarily mean better! She killed a boy who hurt you, should we give her a medal? Don't you care that this boy gathered almost all of our enemies around him? With his death, they will scatter again. If they are picked up by saboteurs from the Flag Crushers, you won't be able to catch them even with a thousand vigilantes!
"Thanks for reminding me, we need to find his body and burn it to avoid any surprises.
Vella called on the internal communication system and didn't like the answer she got.
"She didn't kill him. Rilanor is dying again.
"At least the undisciplined soldier was good for something. The medics will get some practice.
"Let's see how it happened.
The fight in the physical therapy room went exactly as Vella had expected, until Rilanor was cut in half.
"A ghost," Sibyl commented on what she saw.
"That anomaly from the outskirts? According to my data, it doesn't leave its territory. I didn't want to disturb it at all, let it be a curiosity in the city.
"Our cargo is buried under that oddity, in case you didn't know.
"Well, fine, when an excavator becomes available," I'll send the legion, let them kill everyone and dig up our metal.
Sybil looked at her phone screen and returned to the original subject.
"The boy ran away.
"Would you want him to stay and apologise for his women?
"No, I just want him to run away.
"What happened?
"An incident on the Ordo Sinister project.
"Shit!
"But now we know that the Ghost is just a regular mutant, not some otherworldly entity. She controls sand and other tiny particles, can see them from a great distance and through obstacles, and can even disassemble and reassemble her sand body to fly through the air. Judging by everything, the boy is her student, but his abilities are weaker, and he uses them clumsily.
"What about Titan?
"Nothing serious, we'll have to wash and wipe all the contacts to remove the dust. The same with the cannon.
"And the captive?
"She's here. But she was talking to Ghost.
"Shit! How could you put such an important project at risk, Mum?
"It's not the most important project, it's the biggest hole in the budget! In four years, we haven't gotten any closer to putting Titan into service. But you see a big gun and your eyes light up. I hoped your unnatural modifications would calm you down.
"There is no defence against this cannon, you can't dodge or cover yourself, its shot will reach you even in the quantum world! And all you see in it is a penis or a hole.
"It's not an absolute weapon, Vella. Its range is very limited, its ammunition is negligible on a planetary scale, and most importantly, we can't build more than one of these guns, even if we solve all the other problems!
Mother and daughter could have argued for a long time, but they were interrupted by a breathless secretary who rushed into the office with an urgent report. Vella was pleased with what she read, while Sibyl grimaced.
"What are you unhappy about now? Ordo Sinister has been frozen, the hole has been closed. What's more, now we're sure to get EDIT.
"I strongly dislike individual number five. And I dislike even more that the experiment ended successfully immediately after the incident. It's as if the captive, after communicating with the Ghost, began her game.
"Patricia is no longer there. There is Quentilia, or the Fifth, if you don't like Latin.
"Now you're going to release her from her cage, but what if you're wrong? Patricia's potential cannot be overestimated.
"Only if we can change her personalities on command. And one day we'll have to test Quintilia in action, whether you like it or not.
========== Chapter 12: The Little Prince, Part 2 ==========
I couldn't get my bearings in the layer of underground sand and was forced to dig my way to the surface at the risk of my life. The situation was complicated by the fact that Wendy had fainted from pleasure, and I was using up a lot of energy to move underground. Once on the surface, I looked around and realised that I was somewhere in the restored part of Queens.
What do city dwellers do when they realise they are lost? They look at the navigator on their phone! Well, it seems it's time to use Karl's "gift." The phone turned on, caught a signal, determined my location, and plotted a route to my destination. The navigator had a surprisingly accurate map of Manhattan; apparently, satellites continue to photograph the surface and convert it into maps. Before setting off, I went into a shop and stole a can of juice, accompanied by surprised looks from the sales assistants. It wasn't that I was thirsty, I just needed a box to fill with sand to transport Wendy's core.
It's hard to believe that just a week ago, there were only ruins where this supermarket now stands. Under Fisk's rule, the city is rapidly coming back to life, but for some reason, I haven't seen or heard any children on the streets. It seemed like school should have been out...
The sand motorcycle was only enough to get me across the bridge, so I walked the rest of the way, avoiding the vigilantes, who were much more numerous in the wasteland. I would never have made it home before dark if Wendy hadn't woken up. She was in a very bad way, exhausted and irritable, and still experiencing constant phantom pain, but she managed to create a vehicle.
Mary and Snezhana were very happy to see us back, but my expression frightened them greatly. They had good reason to be afraid; I was very angry with them for their reckless behaviour. I had warned them that everything was under control! Together, we carried Wendy to her bedroom, calming her down and assuring her that everything would be fine and she would recover, but the Ghost's emotional state did not change despite our words and caresses. I'm not sure she even heard or felt anything, so in the end, I just left the sandball on the blanket and kicked everyone out of the room. I left too. It was my fault she was in so much pain. But not only mine!
The girls sat in the kitchen and stared at their cooling cups of coffee. They were silent.
"No, come on, Mary, she doesn't use her head most of the time. How could you agree to such madness?
"She suggested it," Mary said gloomily.
"Snezhana suggested attacking the main building of Queenpin in broad daylight, without a plan or preparation, with the strength of three mutants?
"That's right," Snezhana replied.
"But I warned you that I was leaving and would come back, that everything was fine!
"And you didn't come back! You promised to pet me and then you disappeared! Do you even realise that you're responsible for those you've tamed?" Snezhana crushed the mug in her paw and lunged at me, but I didn't let her get closer than an arm's length. She didn't press the attack, just curled up into a ball and cried.
"Let's go," Mary said to me.
Outside, she began to explain what had really happened. It turned out that Snezhana remembered that I had warned her I was going out, and Wendy had seen what I had flown away on. When Mary woke up and found out these two facts, she thought it was very strange and sent the cat to sniff around the area. It turned out that a man known to the Huntress as a telepath and a colleague in private investigation was riding in the headmistress's car. I didn't cross paths with this man, and judging by the tracks and the smell, he left for the mainland via the bridge. Snezhana doesn't know the exact characteristics of this telepath, but she knows that he is very cool. So the girls decided that I had been brainwashed and needed to be rescued urgently.
"Seriously? You think Fisk has a telepath who can take a person away from their home against their will, and she used him against me instead of you? It's amazing they even know I exist!
"But Peter, we were so scared!
"You realise that now we're all enemies of the corporation, and that our destruction is just a matter of them having enough manpower? What about Snezhana, why didn't she stop you?
"I don't know. She was probably scared too. She loves you, even if she doesn't show it openly.
"But why? She said I tamed her and that I have to answer for it.
"That's not like her. Maybe it's the herbal tea?
"Mary, to get the herbs to affect the brain, you have to smoke them, not brew them.
"Chamomile, valerian and catnip. She keeps it in her first aid kit, she swallowed a pill from there before the attack. The pill covered her whole body with fur and her claws became long, and after the tea only her ears remained.
"Her body changes as she becomes sexually aroused. I don't turn into a cat every time I get her abilities.
"What a pity!
"What should I do with you?
"Punish her.
"With a belt on your bottom?
"Yes!
"Maybe handcuff us to the bed and gag us?
"Yes, we deserve it!
"That's the problem, we deserve it. You're used to living under constant threat, but I need time to prepare. Now they won't give us any.
"I... I'm so sorry. And Wendy, was she hurt?
"She shielded me from a plasma gunshot, and her body melted.
"That's terrible. I'd better leave here, my revenge will destroy you all.
"I'm glad you realise that," I said harshly.
Mary looked me in the face and jumped far ahead. I jumped after her and caught her in mid-air. We fell together and rolled across the ground.
"I'm not done! Yes, your revenge will destroy us all. But just like that, you're going to leave? Especially after what happened? Don't you think that's too easy?
"I have to atone for my sins.
"I must. And we only have one option to fix this.
"What is it?
"Win. Four against the world, but there's no other way. For you, that means your enemy is no longer Vella Fisk personally, but her entire corporation. And you won't recklessly throw yourself into battle in the hope of finally dying and thus closing the book on revenge. You are now also responsible for those I have tamed.
I got to my feet and returned to the house, where I finally collapsed into bed.
***
Mary got up before everyone else and made breakfast, crispy toast with an omelette made from powdered eggs and milk, while Wendy was already waiting for her favourite reheated pizza under a lid to keep it warm. By morning, she had turned into a statue, which meant she was on the mend. I would never forgive myself if something had happened to her. Snezhana crawled to the table with a terrible hangover, nothing in her appearance betraying the cat girl. She glared at me and asked:
"Didn't your mum teach you not to get into a car with strange women?
"She did, but I'm not a little boy anymore, I'm the leader of a gang of wanted mutants. By the way, you ruined my reconnaissance mission.
"Reconnaissance? Well, report, leader, what did you find out?
"Curiosity killed the cat, Snezhana. Everything in its own time. Now go and tidy yourself up, you and Mary have combat training all day today.
While the Huntress was splashing around in the bathroom, the wind brought Wendy, but she had no intention of staying. She tried to grab the plate of pizza and fly away to her place. I asked her to stay, and she silently agreed. She felt quite normal, but something was bothering her; she felt guilty about what had happened yesterday. When everyone gathered at the table, I spoke up:
"It all started when they wanted to drop ten tons of concrete bombs on us...
With breaks to chew, I recounted all the events of the tour and the rescue operation. Wendy remembered our journey through the basement very vaguely and couldn't add anything about the captive.
"Vella Fisk can build a throne out of bayonets, but she won't be able to sit on it!" Kravinova expressed her opinion.
"She can. Her body is very strong," Mary replied.
"I think Snezhana means she won't be able to hold on to her power over the world."
"Exactly.
"But think about it, these islands are now supplied with almost more than before the Decimation. They already have supermarkets with fresh greens! It's obvious that the right people on the mainland, and indeed around the world, support the idea of creating a space corporation. She doesn't need to hold on to power because no one will take it from her.
"And this way, all the mutants can be kicked off the planet," Mary agreed.
"Not just mutants. It's like that joke, if Mexicans and Niggers don't like it in the United States, they'll be given a new planet in exchange for their miserable shacks, and anyone who's dissatisfied with anything risks being sent to conquer distant space.
"I don't want to go to war!" Wendy said again.
"You have no choice. You can change your appearance and move, but mutants are already being registered all over the world. Sooner or later, you'll be exposed, and then you'll be fighting not against the corporation, but for it.
"That's not right!
"Yes. People like us shouldn't have to fight the whole world.
There was a moment of silence. The hunter broke it first; she had known from the beginning that war was inevitable, but even she had no idea of the scale of the problem. To begin training, she needed to see what Mary was capable of in and out of her suit, so we went to the lawn behind the house. It turns out that Mary can put on the suit in four seconds if it's unfolded and she's naked. From the folded position, it takes almost a minute to unfold, and then twenty seconds to dissolve the clothing for more reliable contact with the skin. The only metals it cannot absorb are adamantium and vibranium.
But the most interesting thing is the tail. Like the rest of the suit, it connects directly to Mary's nerve endings, but it doesn't correspond to any human organ. The supergirl was embarrassed to explain where the tail was connected, she blushed and fidgeted, but in the end, I still found out that she had a very sensitive and well-developed butt.
Snezhana stared at the monster girl without looking away, her ears and tail betraying her emotions even to those who couldn't hear them directly. I left them to train alone and went to practise interacting with Wendy in the cave under her house. First, I needed to experiment with the pearl to know how to act in critical situations. And besides, it was so pleasant that I couldn't deny myself. Moreover, I was sure that the cat and the scorpion were doing roughly the same thing. Wendy didn't let me go in the evening, even though we couldn't touch each other without feeling sharp pain. In between, we learned to act simultaneously when Wendy didn't have her own body, although I had to put some sand in my mouth to do so. The next morning, I decided to practise acting in sync and see how great our combined strength would be.
During another "break," we were interrupted by a loud bang, and the girls and Magna's succubus appeared in the cave. I had forgotten that I had a date with her! Wendy was embarrassed and hid, leaving me alone and without trousers in front of three beauties.
"It's fun here, you're licking each other first thing in the morning, and you're not wasting any time either. Maybe you'll take me into your pride, otherwise Mystic is such a prude..."
Mary lowered her eyes, and Snezhana licked her nose and smiled.
"And the rest of the time we spend preparing for the war of annihilation against Queenpin Incorporated," I replied to the succubus.
"What, are they that angry over one truck?
"If only. It's a long story, you'll find out later," I said and put on my trousers. The succubus snapped her fingers, and the world around us changed.
An obsidian-coloured plain with a volcano erupting on the horizon, the smell of sulphur in the air, and the sky covered with low red clouds.
"Where are we?"
"In a parallel world, just like last time.
"It looked different then.
"Because we're jumping much further.
"What's that?" I pointed in horror at the dragon-like creature emerging from the clouds.
"Our death, of course!
"You talk about it so cheerfully and calmly.
"Watch and don't interfere, boy.
A small dragon dove at us, but the Devil pulled out a huge two-handed sword, taller than her, and sliced the reptile's neck diagonally. I looked around and saw three more of them approaching from different directions.
"Follow me!" the succubus commanded and ran towards one of the dragons. They were as tall as me, but their mouths were wide open as if ready to swallow me whole, and their paws ended in long, sharp claws, much more threatening than Snezhana's claws. The creature sat down on the ground and attacked the succubus from the ground, not exposing its neck to the blows of the two-handed sword. Dodging the fluttering rail in the demoness's hands, the dragon tried to grab her with its claws, but was struck in the chest with a fist, flew three metres away, and was almost immediately cut in half. The succubus threw the sword into the carcass, approached me, and kissed me on the lips. Before I had time to panic, we found ourselves in a gloomy forest.
"What was that?
"I don't move instantly, as it seems. The further we jump, the longer we have to wait in that world.
"We've been tumbling around there for eight hours!
"But we didn't move anywhere because I stopped time. Go, Erika is waiting.
I moved in the direction she indicated, and the dense forest quickly ended, and I came out into a clearing next to a hut. The queen of the mutants sat in a chair in front of the house, knitting something out of woolen threads with a bone hook. Dressed in simple home clothes, she still did not take off her helmet-crown.
"Don't you ever take that thing off your head?
"Hello, Peter.
"Oh, of course, where are my manners, did I forget them at home? No, that's right, I never had any!
"That explains a lot. For example, the rules of etiquette state that before meeting a telepath, you must take steps to protect your own mind.
"Does your helmet protect you from telepathy?
"Yes. Otherwise, I would have to use the services of a trusted telepath, and in my opinion, there are no such people.
"The chairman of the board of directors, Quinpin, would disagree with you.
"She just doesn't know much about telepathy.
"Unlike you. So there's a place where telepaths are trained?
"There's a whole school for mutant children with all kinds of abilities, but I really don't recommend going there. They train little superheroes." Erika spat at her feet.
"That sounded very personal.
"No one likes superheroes, especially after the Decimation.
"Are you really concerned about superheroes in general? Or do you think these kids would be more useful in your clan?
"Oh, you insufferable boy! Fine. I helped found that school, and at first no one wanted to raise costumed idiots there. It was a place where mutants could be themselves. But Charlie, the second founder... she always wanted more. More power, more authority, and before I knew it, our senior students and teachers were working for the government. And Charlie herself interrogates important suspects with the help of Cerebro. I gave up my pride for the school, and the school betrayed everything I believed in.
"Cerebro?
"A machine that amplifies telepaths. Charlie looked for unusual children and helped them when she could. Mystique grew up in her house, for example.
"So there's a way to amplify telepathy?
"You want to add that to your costume? It won't work, you're too weak for that.
"Why?
"The helmet and Cerebro have the same base, but the charge in the metal is different. You need a very powerful telepath to start the machine for the first time, but that doesn't matter: I won't let anyone bring powerful telepaths to my property.
"What if I get some charged metal?
"Are you going to rob the school? It's not some semi-legal corporation, you can't get a mouse in there.
"Not even a speck of dust?
"Strange question.
I copied Magna's crown out of sand and put it on my head.
"Because I'm a bit of a king too.
"No way...
"I have many talents.
"Are you stealing abilities from mutants?
"I wouldn't call it stealing, it's more like a symbiosis.
"Where's Wendy Baker?
"She calls herself Ghost now, and she hates you, Eric." I was slightly surprised by the sudden change of subject, but I didn't let it show.
"Wendy... I helped other children, but I couldn't help her. I thought she died with the rest of the pride.
"You abandoned them?
"She was so young, the first child in the pride. There were only three of us, William, Elsa and me. But I'm too different from humans for William and I to have children. When Elsa got pregnant, we were all so happy! But soon after that, my abilities manifested themselves. William was very frightened; he decided that I would scare away normal women from his pride. It was awful. Not a day went by without us arguing. And Wendy watched and didn't understand why this was happening. When Charlie suggested creating a school for people like us, I didn't hesitate for a second.
"How do you know about sand?
"The Bakers didn't want to see me, you could say they were hiding. But you can't hide from Cerebro! I was the first to make Charlie find someone for me. Back then, she didn't want to use her power for personal gain. I would show up near Wendy, pretending it was by accident, and one day, when she was older, I told her everything. After that, William showed up at the school and made a scene with Charlie. His daughter is a normal person, not a dirty mutant!
"How wrong he was.
"Her abilities manifested later. But by that time, Charlie and I had gone our separate ways, and I had just found out that the pride had rejected Wendy's application to the school. William's younger wives worked for the Osbornes, so security was now protecting them from me. But who would protect the security service when they started firing self-propelled artillery at them? Yes, right after the Decimation, there was a full-scale war here. I thought Wendy had died along with the rest of the Os-Corp employees.
"Her house was destroyed and her family was killed. Wendy herself nearly went mad with grief, and for some reason she blames you, not the corporation, for all her misfortunes.
"Do you love her?
"Yes.
"If you can help me get closer to Wendy, I...
"You already owe me.
"You can count on my help. You're planning a war, aren't you? But know that if anything happens to Wendy... I wasn't exaggerating when I called myself the strongest mutant on the planet. But enough about that, you're here on business, not to listen to my memories.
Finally, we discussed my armour project a little. I insisted on including a mini-Cerebro and a sand layer, which, together with the vibranium coating, will make me almost invulnerable. We also need to calculate the servo drives so that the suit's mechanical musculature can be completely disabled if I gain Mary's abilities, and the joints must be very flexible in case my speed and agility suddenly increase from Snezhana's abilities. We decided to design the weapons next time, when the prototype is ready.
The succubus was waiting in the forest, and we suddenly moved to another world again, this time to a swamp. The demoness knocked down a few spherical spores with her bow — "Where does she keep getting weapons from?" — and we arrived at our destination.
"Where did you bring me?!" I asked, looking around.
"Where I took you from," replied the succubus and disappeared.
It really was my house, but the door had been torn off and was lying crooked on one hinge, there was a large hole in the wall big enough for a person to crawl through, all the windows on the first floor had been blown out, and a metal tray with strange colours was stuck in the doorframe. Screams and sounds of fighting could be heard coming from inside the house. I couldn't hear the girls at all.
***
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