Wendy was simply overwhelmed with embarrassment. Magna said something into the communicator, and we fell into a parallel world, only instead of Gambit, we were now with a succubus. She was very surprised by her boss's haste, but she threw us into the clearing where I had spoken with the Queen of the Enclave last time. Magna released several spinning blades from under her cloak to deal with the monsters, so no one even had time to get properly scared.
"Oh, how beautiful it is here! Let's go inside, Ghost needs some time alone," said Mary when we arrived.
The interior of the house was old-fashioned but cosy. Magna put the kettle on herself, took a porcelain tea set out of the cupboard and laid out some biscuits on a plate. It seemed like she was doing everything she could to avoid talking to me. Although I didn't know what to say to her either. The silence dragged on, and I decided to give her the records to break the awkwardness hanging over the table. Magna replied that the prototype was ready for testing and that she would come with the logistics guy to move all the cargo. Finally, Wendy came into the house, looking like a human being, with her hair tied back in a ponytail.
"Yes," she said, sitting down at the table and grabbing a cookie.
"Oh, I'm so glad..." began Erica.
"My name is Wendy Baker, I'm eighteen years old, and for the last six years my body has been made of sand, plaster, dust and coal. One day I saw a statue in a museum and became it. That's it."
"A ghost?" Mary asked in surprise.
"I want you to be my bridesmaids, but you don't know anything about me.
"Are you asking me to be your bridesmaid?" Snezhana said, frightened.
"How wonderful!" Mary hugged Wendy.
"Yes, that's wonderful. I'd like to apologise to you again, Wendy." Magna interrupted the outpouring of emotion.
"Don't. Peter said it all. Tell me how you're doing now. I've heard so many rumours about you on the radio...
"I no longer have a pride, but I have a whole clan. A secretary instead of a husband, money instead of love, and an island instead of a home. I'm happy, I guess.
"A secretary? What's he like?" Wendy asked curiously.
"Come on, girls, let's get some fresh air. They have a lot to catch up on.
Outside, we were met by Chert, and I asked him to take us back. The logistician handed us over to the care of the housekeeper, a woman from among the ordinary people, and she gave us a room with a huge bed, a jacuzzi and other amenities. Mary went to wash up and called us to join her, but I declined — I was too tired. Snezhana seemed to ignore the offer, just waving her tail. As soon as the water started running in the bathroom, the cat perked up.
"You have to talk Ghost out of dragging me into this wedding," she said in a tone that brooked no argument.
"Her name is Wendy, the Huntress. What's wrong with that? I remember how eagerly you used to ride me, and now you're not happy about my wedding?
"Don't mix sex and politics!
"Politics?
"Oh, yes, you're so young. Every pride sooner or later gets involved in politics, especially if it has power. You're at war with a megacorporation and you drink tea with the queen, I'm not even sure what this wedding is more about, love or profit!
"What nonsense, Snezhana? It all sounds logical, but it's completely irrelevant. You knew who I was before we even met, you came to rape and kill me, and then you stayed under the most plausible pretext. Am I supposed to see politics in that? You're rich too, and you have connections with the powerful.
"What are you talking about?" She hid her face behind her hands, and her ears shrank significantly.
"What are you really afraid of, Snezhana?" I heard the deepest fear from the most hidden layers of her psyche, it was not at all like a fleeting fright or a lingering fear of death in battle. This emotion is capable of overwhelming all others and driving you mad if you live with it long enough.
"Old age," she replied and burst into tears.
Wait, she's over a hundred years old... Oh. It's the opposite. Cats don't age, unlike those around them. And if she gets close to someone, one day they will grow old and die. Probably, if she hadn't been a soldier and seen her comrades die on the battlefield, she wouldn't have been able to communicate with people at all. But this way, a year with one, a year with another, and then jump into a house on wheels and pretend that after she leaves, everyone dies without ageing.
"What old age? She's a monument!" I joked.
"And you?" I asked through her sobs.
"I'm already dead.
"Don't say that. We'll win!" Mary interjected. Her serious expression didn't match the pink towel on her head and the complete absence of other clothing.
"Well! Why did you hurt my cat?" she advanced towards me with her chest thrust out. "You'll have to be punished!"
The playful tone of her voice couldn't fool me: Mary was really angry with me, and her sexual desire was even less than usual, which was what all the women around me felt. However, she definitely intended to fuck me. Damn... Pride doesn't officially exist yet, and already there are intrigues against me. Snezhana was right, as soon as I singled out one of my girlfriends, sex became a tool for achieving hidden goals.
On the other hand, as long as they were equal in status, there were no problems. Maybe I should make offers to Mary and Snezhana too? But the Huntress would most likely refuse, and if she didn't, it would be even worse — fear would drive her crazy. Maybe it's for the best? Right now, she's too normal compared to the rest, including me.
I stopped listening to my emotions and looked reproachfully at Mary, who had already climbed onto my bed. Without saying a word, I closed my eyes and fell onto the pillow, as if I didn't even have the strength to sit up. In fact, that was almost the case. My consciousness seemed to slip away from the heavy thoughts about the wedding and everything connected with it and switch to analysing what had happened.
I had definitely become stronger. Over the past day, I had endured a mental battle with one of the strongest telepaths and defeated her student. I had used Mary's strength and Snezhana's agility many times, and Gambit's abilities were still available to me. Without opening my eyes, I scanned the room with Wendy's sand vision and saw the cat preventing Mary from approaching me and whispering something in her ear. The hypersensitivity I had gained along with the other abilities of the Huntress didn't bother me as much as it used to, when I started hearing the rustling of grass outside the window and the smell of milk drove me crazy. But as soon as I wanted to eavesdrop on the whispering girls, my hearing sharpened, and I heard Snezhana licking Mary's ear, and then they came over to me and lay down on either side. The cat snuggled up behind me, and Mary hugged me from the front, but no one tried to "deepen" the contact.
And it was cosy, sleeping between two beautiful girls after a long and eventful day.
The warm feeling inside me intensified, coming into contact with what already was. But where did it come from? I had felt so bad for the last few minutes. I focused on this feeling and realised that I was feeling the same thing Wendy was feeling, but she was far away and hardly sandwiched between two beautiful women... Or handsome men? Had her aunt thrown her a bachelorette party? No, I'd had this feeling for a long time, I just hadn't noticed it. I dismissed the next thought like a mosquito buzzing around my head, until I was completely exhausted.
"This feeling is called love."
***
I woke up late, around six in the evening, but still before the girls. After petting them both, I remembered the pile of problems I had created for myself that morning, and to distract myself, I started thinking about my powers again, testing the abilities available to me. And apart from controlling sand, I discovered nothing. The feeling of joyful warmth faded a little, but it didn't go away. Wendy still loves me...
Switching to sand vision, I could see as far as I could only by connecting with Wendy, completely suppressing her consciousness with pleasure. This is so cool! Now I can always cut through steel bulkheads or walk through the ground, and I'm less sensitive to pain. I even bit my hand to check. Although my sensitivity during sex has also decreased! No big deal, I can compensate for that with Snezhana's abilities. But then I'll get ears and a tail as a bonus... Everyone loves cats, right? Never mind, I won't live to see my wedding night or any subsequent shagging if I don't figure out how to calm my future brides without proposing to them.
And I can't do that. Now, the only way to join my pride is through great and eternal love, since I draw strength from emotions and have a way to obtain a constant source of superpowers. Love is a complicated thing. Mary fell in love with me at first sight, but her abilities are not always with me, apparently it depends not only on her. Or does her thirst for revenge prevent her from focusing properly on her feelings? But Snezhana also fell in love with me as soon as she saw me, and her public denial of this fact means nothing at all. Her fear of getting attached to people didn't show either, but I don't have a constant emotional connection with her either.
Also, I didn't start treating Wendy differently after I proposed, and a day or two before that, there was no joyful warmth between us. So the phrase "I want you to be my wife" doesn't have any magical power! And my feelings aren't enough either. I need something... mutual? But the cat and the supergirl are great, I can't force myself to love them more than I do now.
No.
This kind of reasoning will lead me nowhere. I need to do something to understand the problem better. How does love usually happen? In real life, it usually starts with a boy courting a girl, and then... I need to figure out what happens next.
So, court them? Well, organising breakfast in bed is corny, and I've already tried that, and it didn't work. I need something more serious, like... fulfilling a long-held dream. Well, Mary dreams of killing Fisk, avenging her sister, and maybe reuniting with her sister, considering we saw her recently. Either way, everything revolves around his sister, but there's nothing I can do about that. As for Snezhana, she would like to appear on the Morbius show.
That's a great idea! We owe the vampire a favour, and she's nearby. I put on some fresh clothes I found in the wardrobe and went out the door. We were "guarded" by a female guard, or rather a prostitute, whom Morbius had dressed in armoured bras and armed with spears. The palace's real staff wore black uniforms and loose grey robes over them so as not to attract the attention of the mutants.
"Do you need anything, sir?" the guard stammered fearfully.
"Take me to Morbius.
The guard walked, swaying her hips and tapping her spear on the floor. Several times I saw grey shadows darting away from our path, alerted by the noise. Morbius probably protects his prostitutes, but the rest of the people on the island are completely unprotected. The vampire sat in a bright office lined with beige plastic panels, looking at something on her laptop and sipping a red liquid from a glass. When she saw me, she smiled, wide enough to show her fangs in all their glory.
"Hello, Peter. Would you like to discuss the terms under which I will receive exclusive rights to broadcast your wedding?
"What? Of course, what else would a vampire want but blood!" I said, cutting her glass off the stem, forming a cup out of sand around the bowl, and taking it for myself. Taking a sip, I immediately spat out the liquid, and only then did I realise that the glass had contained wine.
"Blood, huh? Well, okay. So you didn't come here to talk business? In that case, would you mind if there were three more guards in our bed?" She flapped her leather wings, which appeared behind her, three times, and three gorgeous women entered the room.
"No!" I waved them away.
"You're such a stickler.
"That's not what I meant!
"Girls, stay.
"Go away," I said emphatically.
"Speak up. What do you really want?" The vampire quickly approached me and looked into my eyes. Blue flames danced on her red eyeballs, which had black dots instead of irises and pupils.
"I want you to arrange a fight between the Huntress and the Arena Fighter.
"The Huntress? You mean the Russian Blue, the private detective?"
"Snezhana Kravinova, yes.
"Well, my friend, that won't be easy, you see, I already have a cat girl... But a favour for a favour, I think we can come to an agreement.
"I won't take revenge on your maniac.
"Who? Ah, that cute but silent one, right? That was awkward, he almost killed you... All right, that works for me.
"When?
"We'll have to rehearse, and remind me what she can do?
"She's very agile, faster and stronger than a man, and an excellent shot...
"What a bore. Look, see what's trending right now!" She pointed to the laptop screen. I walked over and Morbius started the video.
In the middle of an endless field, a village was filmed from a great height. The sun and clear sky did not foreshadow any trouble, but at the edge of the village, a high wave rose from a small lake, trees bent, and a grey-yellow cloud rose from the sandy beach. It covered the village, or rather the four houses that remained in the frame. The camera turned to show a tall woman in a yellow and green suit with an aquarium on her head, floating in the air. Her face was hidden by a purple haze, and her cloak fluttered beautifully behind her. The flying woman began to move in a wide arc, showering the dark sand cloud with green rays from her hands until it turned its attention to her. A beautiful face of an ancient statue formed in the cloud, and I recognised Wendy. I had long since realised that this was a video of the attack on our house, but now I had concrete proof.
The face screamed silently, clicked its teeth, and received several beams of light in response, then a piece of the house flew out of the cloud, which the lady with the aquarium on her head dodged at the last moment.
"I'd love to see that moment in a 3D cinema.
"You're on the ball, Peter! Yes, I would also draw a pebble with a nod to 'Aimax'.
"Have you noticed that this is staged?"
"Before the video started, actually. There are too many real documentary shots of fighting mutants these days.
We continued watching, the fight intensified, the camera focused on a flying figure, and the face attacked it almost continuously, but unsuccessfully. Green rays flashed in short bursts, and with each hit, the cloud shrank, and in the end, it launched a desperate attack on the flying woman. She rose higher and spread her arms wide, as if trying to embrace the whole world. Her palms turned towards the creature and the rays began to strike the cloud continuously, but it still caught up with her. Then she began to perform a combination of graceful movements, which ended with the rays crossing in the centre of the cloud and a bright green flash visible even through the dust. The woman tensed, the rays intensified, and the cloud burned with green fire. Then the victor dove down, performed a superhero landing, and fell exhausted.
"Mysterious superhero saves village," Morbius read the video title. "You can tell by the title that it's a cartoon.
"But it all looked very superhero-like.
"Um, well, yes, probably. But who needs superheroes these days?
"You said it was trendy!
"Advertising will push anything out there. But a character like that will never be popular. If I were promoting this bubble-headed girl, I would... well, first I would remove the bubble from her head, but second" — I would attach her to the Avengers. They're short-handed right now, and not all of the returned half of humanity understand who is to blame for their current troubles, so they continue to worship Tony Stark and his team.
"So you know how to make superheroes?
"Me? No, where did you get that idea? I'm a biochemist by training, and when I got the idea to cook up a superhero in the lab, this is what happened!" She shifted into her anthropomorphic bat battle form.
"Morbius, I'm serious. It's very important for me to know what this 'mysterious superhero' will do next.
"Mysterious... No, that doesn't sound right in English! Let's go with Mysterio, that's much better. And I told you" — she has to appear in the same frame as the Avengers.
"More details, please.
"So, of all the characters, only Spider-Man is left, and his next public appearance... He's performing at a charity event," she said, showing me the event page on the internet.
"A mysterious guest has been announced." I read on the poster.
"Let's take a look at the guest list... Tony Stark's maid, Harry Osborn, Spider-Man, and an entire class from Midtown Technology High School on evacuation? Well, there's no doubt about it, there's going to be trouble at this party, and Mysterio will save the day. And then he and Spider-Man will take pictures and sign autographs for a long time.
"Morbius, you're a miracle! Don't go anywhere, I'll be right back!" I ran out of the office and rushed to my apartment.
Mary was sitting on the bed, rubbing her eyes. She noticed me and smiled, then pulled the blanket off her chest with her foot. She did it much more sincerely than before she went to sleep, so I went over and picked her up.
"You're so sweet, Peter.
"Mary, I want to tell you something very important," I said with a mysterious smile.
"I agree!
"That's good, because you're going to have to work hard for it.
"Yes, I'm ready! Let's not delay!" She leaned in to kiss me, but I turned my nose away.
"So, here are the important words: I've figured out how to set you up with your sister!
***
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