"Caliban is showing them the way, and I've diverted some of the soldiers who were searching for them," a voice said from the curtain.
He emerged from them, appearing more beautiful to Calisto than much of what she had seen in the world.
"Evan, the choice of Healer will have consequences," he said.
"I agree, but they don't have to be mean, you should have told me how you felt about Todd's mom being here," Spike told her , coming up behind her.
One of its tentacles instinctively brushed against his cheek, pulling him a little closer.
"You wouldn't have agreed," she said.
"That doesn't mean I wouldn't help our leader," he replied.
She turned her head back, kissing him and smiling, something she only did for him.
"We have to protect them," he said.
He nodded, grabbing her tentacle as if touching her hand.
"It doesn't matter what ," he whispered .
Sven honestly felt bad about stealing from Luke Cage. Even if Cage had stolen from him first. Finding a computer in New York wouldn't be difficult, but finding one that would accept an old hard drive would be difficult. It turned out there was one closer to Hell's Kitchen , inside a church. The priest let people check their email there. Sven had something else to check, so the lie was another thing that troubled him. The disk loaded fairly quickly, displaying a window on the screen with a Word document and an Excel file. Sven opened both and encountered another frustrating problem: parts of both were crossed out.
"Redacted, redacted," Sven muttered and then read the lines that were available in the document.
'Project proposal [redacted] by [redacted]
The director of [ redacted ] and the financiers [ redacted ] and [ redacted ] are present. The proposal is as follows:
There are worlds beyond our own and between ours. Dimensions that have been referenced or inspired legends from ancient mythology, fantasy, and even biblical stories. This aspect of the [censored] project involves drawing and charging runes that could form bridges between two points.
Physicist and Scientific Advisor [redacted] refers to this method of travel as " Bifrost ." However, certain things are known to prevent the summoning of a Bifrost . One such example is the cell containing Subject Beta in [redacted]. By mastering and modernizing this method, we believe we will greatly improve defense spending on troop transport, the delivery of humanitarian aid, and the response time of emergency services. To better understand the runes and the method of summoning them, I believe it is necessary to interview Subject Beta. Failing that, [redacted] should be interviewed.
In addition to the short-term benefits, I believe this part of the project will prove vital to mass transportation...'
The rest of the document had been crossed out. Sven opened his email account, attached the files to a new email, and sent it to his contact.
"You need me to shed some light on the dark parts, find someone you trust to do it. Send it to a new address in a very late numbered sequel," and then hit send, knowing his contact would get the hint.
Once the email was sent, he deleted his Versus 13 account and removed the disc from the drive. Sven grabbed his jacket and looked over his shoulder. He doubted anyone was chasing him, but it was always better to be cautious. As his teacher had taught him, keep your eyes on the back of his head, but don't let it be obvious you're looking for something. Don't act nonchalant, but be casual; you can notice things when you're not looking, as long as you know what to look for. Sven noticed, or rather, he noticed her. He didn't give her a second glance, but he knew she had brown hair and was wearing a loose-fitting gray sweatshirt, just big enough to hide her hands. When you're being followed, it's important that the person following you not know you're being followed. Sven had no idea if she knew, but she did her best to make it look as if it wasn't obvious. He didn't know specific details of her face because he only glanced at her a couple of times. Glancing at her more than two or three times was a dead giveaway. But he knew enough details to know that someone specific could be following him. She'd been in Harlem and at the grocery store where Sven was having lunch. Twice was a coincidence, three times was forgivable. Sven just had to create a fourth instance to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that she was following him.
"How to do this? How to do this?" Sven wondered.
He left the café without turning to look at the newspaper stand she was staring at. After taking a few steps, he turned toward the alley. When the girl turned around, he was gone. She ran down the alley, thinking he had escaped. But somehow , he had disappeared into the crowd of New Yorkers walking by. She returned to the center of the alley, rubbing her forehead with her gloved fingers. Suddenly, there was a knock on the trash can behind her. Sven opened the lid and took a deep breath.
"Hi, thanks for agreeing with me and sorry about the smell," he said.
Gary looked at himself in the mirror. His body looked better than ever. It seemed as if the gods had forged it, and that made him proud and amazed in equal measure. But his mind had also expanded. Knowledge of the past and the future. He knew exactly who he could be; an image formed in his mind, and he smiled with absolute joy. Gary raised his arms and closed his eyes. The power within him surged, oozing from his pores. The once disgusting, bile-like substance was now golden and beautiful. It spread through his body, taking a form that would be beyond divine—a form of the future. When the girl in the floral dress walked into his room, she stared at him in awe.
"Go," he whispered. "I know what I know you can be!"
He opened the window and flew toward his destination. Behind the girl in the floral dress, another man watched with his hands in his pockets. He smirked, knowing full well what was in store for the boy. The girl turned to him, taking a flask out of her pocket.
"It's given us part of the puzzle," he said.
"Good, but it's not complete yet," he said.
"And what about him?"
The man smiled, still looking at the bottle, shaking the liquid inside.
"Let him have fun, we all know it won't end well for him!"
.
Hello everyone, what did you think of the chapter? Please let me know in the comments. If you want to download the full book, it's available on my KO-FI page. The link is here. 👉
🤩 ko-fi.com/winterstar01 🤩