Anita Stark and Stefania Rogers
"You know, Steph, next time I'll pick a location, or we'll order food delivery to the tower," Anita grumbled as she climbed into the self-driving car of her own design that was supposed to take the two superheroines to Stark's apartment, which also served as the Avengers' headquarters.
"Well, I'm sorry, I didn't know so many people would show up! This wasn't the case at the last place." "The last place was much more presentable, and the customers were much more polite. And here, it's like I've had another impromptu meeting; I have enough of the official ones." The woman sighed, crossed her legs, and looked out the window, clearly pondering something. After a few minutes, she finally turned her gaze to her superhero friend. "You didn't find anything strange there.
Or rather, someone?" "Hm?" Stefania looked back questioningly.
"I don't think so, why?"
"Well, maybe nothing." Just that boy who sat at the table next to us. He just looked at us once and that was it. Although I was sure that immediately after our eyes met, he would sit down next to us. But then he didn't even try to talk to us, didn't hint at gifts or a nice dinner with wine in expensive restaurants, like those other men and boys today, and he didn't even try to get an autograph or take a photo.
"Well, yeah, I noticed," Rogers nodded, "but maybe he's already taken them and taken pictures with us at some point. I can't remember everyone I've signed something for or taken a photo with, let alone you.
Or maybe he's one of those… Well, gays, I mean," Captain America blushed.
"Maybe so," Stark nodded, "and he's taken pictures before, and we've given him an autograph, and he's one of those," Anita wrinkled her nose at this.
"There aren't enough men, and they're even having affairs with each other!"
"But even considering all that, isn't that a reason not to get another autograph or another photo to show off on your social media page?"
"Didn't want to draw attention to yourself?" the former military woman chuckled.
"And it turned out exactly the opposite?" Stark shrugged. "And what do you think about that? I seriously doubt anyone could have sent him. Usually, no one uses men for surveillance; they're too noticeable, and even if they did, he would definitely have tried to get to know us better. And no one could have known exactly where we were going, and when we entered that cafe, he was already there."
"Still, it's at least strange," Anita replied, looking out the window again, to which her friend nodded thoughtfully.
"What, you're not used to men not paying attention to you? Maybe not all of them want your money and body?" Stefania asked sarcastically, leaning forward. Well, Anita can't just tease her!
"You know, yes," Stark nodded, confirming her friend's words, to which she leaned back in her seat again.
"But if by some miracle we see each other again, and I recognize him, then believe me, he'll pay attention to me. At the very least. Or should I leave this shy boy to you? He probably doesn't even swear."
"Just the way you like it," Stark smiled predatorily.
"Oh, come on," Rogers replied sullenly, folding her arms under her chest and also peering out the window, letting her friend know that their conversation about the strange boy was over.
***
I used to think that cities slept at night along with the ordinary people who worked five days a week. Now I see the picture differently. Nightclubs, bars, and all sorts of people—from teenagers, petty gangsters, pushers, and outright criminals to superheroines and villains—appeared on the streets closer to nightfall.
At the moment, I was standing on the roof of a low skyscraper, about thirty stories high, on the southern edge of Manhattan, practicing, listening to music from one earbud, so as not to get as bored as last time (by the way, changing songs with the symbiote is quite convenient). Weapons for speed, using tentacles for both movement and attack, coordinating movement among all these buildings.
Now I just needed to find some gangsters or criminals and "practice" on them; I was still afraid to meet real supervillains, just in case.
But knowing my "luck," it was only a matter of time before I'd meet one of their sisterhood. An hour had already passed the time I'd allotted myself for today's training and searching for potential targets for the experiment, but I was in no hurry to return to the apartment, still hoping to run into someone.
And then, another twenty minutes later, just as I was about to head back to my apartment and quickly head deeper into Manhattan toward my neighborhood, I finally stumbled upon a crime scene. As if I were being given the long-awaited chance to test my powers, there wasn't a single superheroine or even a police car in sight.
"Okay, One, get into public form." "I ordered the symbiote, and it obediently grew what I needed. I felt a little ashamed and awkward again, but for business, it was worth it. The crime scene was a high-rise building, not quite a skyscraper, constructed of steel and glass like most of the local structures. Glass chips that had once been first-floor doors were scattered everywhere, the lights were on, and six people ran out of the building. They were dressed and armed far better than the previous criminals I had encountered.
Dark clothes, body armor, iron masks on their faces, and machine guns in their hands. From the bulges around their chests and their long hair, now pulled back into ponytails or buns, it was clear they were all women. The criminals fanned out along the steps of the building's wide porch, apparently shielding each other from potential threats. A direct contrast to the trio I had encountered. Apparently experienced criminals or former mercenaries. I jumped onto the building and began to slowly descend the glass, head down. I was in no hurry to attack—they were clearly waiting for something or someone.
They didn't leave right away, though in such matters every minute counts, and I didn't see any of them with anything remotely resembling prey. They wouldn't leave empty-handed! And my caution paid off, because just thirty seconds later, she emerged from the building, slowly and leisurely, stamping each step.
A black suit styled after the chitinous armor of an insect, long, bright red hair that hung loose, and a huge scorpion tail (nearly three meters long) that swayed gently behind its owner and currently held a simple duffel bag, wrapped once around its straps (surely containing loot, and something quite valuable, since a supervillain was involved in the raid).
Scorpia. Supervillain. And recently, a model for a semi-erotic magazine. How did she even decide to do this? Or was she somehow persuaded? Either way, her face and identity were well-known, but she never veered from the path of "evil." Here it was—the "long-awaited" meeting with the supervillain. A black, tinted, unmarked van emerged from around the corner of the robbed building and pulled up next to the gang, clearly their vehicle, with at least one other driver. I glanced around—the street was deserted. New Yorkers had clearly gotten used to quickly fleeing crime scenes and potential super-super showdowns.
"Okay, girls," Scorpia began in a very soft voice, "the job is done, your boss will be pleased, let's pack up and get out of here." The van's sliding door was opened by one of the six who had emerged from the building, and the entire criminal gang hurried into the car, only Scorpia continued to stroll leisurely. I hesitated. Oh, how I didn't want to meet the super-villains today, but apparently my plans weren't meant to go as I had planned.
On the other hand, this was a very convenient chance to test my strength in a real fight.There was only one villain here (normal humans don't count), and my combat experience would come in handy, since I'd mostly be encountering supers (it simply couldn't be otherwise, given my tendency to encounter them even while in civilian clothes). While I was pondering this, Scorpia was about to get into the car. I had to make a decision! It was now or never! The first one encouraged me with her confidence, and I jumped down.
The landing was relatively soft, it "merely" caused a slight network of cracks to form across the stone slabs. It didn't go unnoticed. Partly because it was noisy, partly because one of the female bandits kept watch over the building's entrance while the others climbed into the car. She even managed to raise her weapon and begin shouting a warning before I unleashed my tentacles. Four dark purple tentacles rushed toward their targets.
The first strikes the one who noticed me in the chest, not hard enough, just enough to knock the wind out of her lungs and throw her back. The second, like a whip, strikes to throw off the other criminals, fortunately, they were right next to each other near the entrance to the van.
And two rushed towards Scorpia – one, with far more force than I used on her accomplices, hits her right in the back, and the other wraps itself around the bag and yanks it towards me, breaking the straps that held it in place by the supervillain's tail. The whole thing took barely a couple of seconds, and the result exceeded my expectations.
The woman who spotted me was thrown five meters across the road, the other bandits were far to the right of the car (though none of them lost their weapons; they were attached to some straps on their bulletproof vests), I had the bag, and the supervillain herself flew straight through the open car door and slammed into the opposite wall with such force that the van slowly toppled over.
Yes! A surprise attack is ours! But my joy didn't last long; three seconds later, with a scream of rage, Scorpia leaped out of the toppled car and landed in front of the steps of the building I was standing on. Now I could examine her costume more closely.
First, she was wearing heels—not high ones, but still, how could anyone fight in heels? Her fingers and toes ended in claws reminiscent of mine. On her face was only a mask-like goggles, two bright yellow lenses. The suit itself was clearly modeled after the Iron Lady's, and perhaps even based on one of her stolen designs.
And while Scorpia herself was an ordinary human, certainly capable of fighting, her power armor made her a formidable opponent, at least for me even now. And her main weapon was her tail. As far as I knew from the internet, it could inject colossal amounts of deadly venom, spray extremely potent acid, lift tons of weight, and the blade-like stinger itself could either heat up or vibrate, so much so that she could cut through steel beams with it.
And in this suit, which clung tightly to her body, allowing me to see in detail her large breasts, slender waist, and graceful,With her smooth hips, she looked quite good. And her pretty face, which was now distorted with anger, was quite attractive. It was strange that she still doesn't have a husband (thanks again to the Internet for the information), or are the local men simply afraid of villains? Surely the latter.
"You again! You little flat-chested Spider!" the woman began, stamping her foot in anger and rage.
"How long are you going to continue to bother me!" Her angry tirade stopped abruptly, and her eyes first widened under the lenses, and then narrowed. "Hey! You're not that little raggedy girl.
Who are you? You know," the woman waved her hand, "I don't care. You shouldn't have gotten into trouble with me," with these words she attacked. Her tail, like a viper, struck in the blink of an eye, and if I hadn't had my superpowers, this attack would have been my first and last.
As it was, I jumped back and the blade pierced only air. Grinding her teeth in frustration, Scorpia crouched down and leaped toward me, pushing off with her arms and legs. Her four limbs, reinforced by her armor's servomotors, allowed her to leap quite far.
Once in the air, she spun herself around like a top using her tail and lashed out like a whip. I leaped in place, and the blade cut a deep furrow in the stone slabs of the porch.
As I leaped, I used my tentacles again, grabbing two of them like braces, and struck Scorpia again with the third. This time, the blow caught her in the stomach, but she didn't fly far; the tail blade acted as an emergency brake and, like a plow, tore through the stone slabs.
Small and large fragments of stone flew across several meters. Scorpia spun gracefully in mid-air with her tail, landing softly and, as soon as her feet touched the ground, lunged at me again, this time using her tail as a propelling force.
I was about to leap aside with my tentacles, this seemingly primitive attack, but once again her tail came to the villain's aid, plunging it into the ground.
She shifted mid-flight and kicked me in the chest with both feet. The sensation was far from pleasant. The supervillain's blow was even more painful than my subsequent impact with the wall of the building's lobby right behind the reception desk.
If I'd had any air in my lungs, it would have been knocked out of me, and I would have wasted precious seconds coughing and gulping down the necessary oxygen.
But thanks to the First, I couldn't breathe in the normal sense, so I jumped to my feet again, wincing slightly from the pain in my chest.
Apparently, Scorpia had decided the same, because she entered the recently robbed building with her usual swagger. "I don't know who you are, the new heroine or the villain, but I advise you to give me my bag immediately, and then maybe I won't even hit you.
Especially not hard." She said the last sentence with a smile, which immediately faded when she noticed that I had used my tentacles to rip the reception desk from its mountings and thrown it at her, then jumped after it.
As I had hoped, Scorpia didn't dodge.
She simply smashed the pillar to pieces with a flick of her tail, and was unable to defend herself from a return kick to the chest.
With a small cry, probably more from surprise than pain, the supervillain flew out into the street, where she again slammed into the car from which the driver had just escaped a second ago.
Since this time she landed not in the middle of the car, but somewhere under the driver's cabin, the van spun across the asphalt, causing a wild screeching sound and showers of sparks from beneath it.
After spinning around its axis three times, it stopped. I exited the building and looked around—the bandits were starting to come to their senses, and somewhere in the distance, police and ambulance sirens wailed; apparently, the nearby residents had finally made the call.
The noise of twisted metal distracted me—Scorpia lifted the van with both hands and threw it at me, too. I also decided not to dodge, but to slice the car launched at me with a huge blade. But guessing that the villain would also jump after the flying car, I prepared another tentacle to attack, trying to catch it.
The flesh blade sliced through metal like a knife through butter, and the two halves of the car crashed into the building's long-suffering lobby with a wild roar, bringing even more destruction with them. And yes, as I thought, I saw the figure of a woman flying toward me, her tail drawn back to strike.
The tentacle struck her in the chest, where it wrapped around her entire torso, causing her to hang in my grip.
"Watch out, Carrier!" the first one warned anxiously, and I felt her begin to move of her own accord. Another tentacle formed at my waist and intercepted the villain's tail, which was aimed at my back, causing Scorpia to click her tongue.
"Oh, thank you, First One!"
"You're welcome, Carrier-e-e-e-e!"
"Ah-ah!" Our screams merged as acid sprayed from the tail, hitting me squarely on my left shoulder blade and part of my back. Screaming wildly, I threw the supervillain as far away from me as I could.
She crashed into the stone wall of a building across the street, near the fifth floor. She didn't penetrate it, but left a noticeable dent, and then fell to the ground with a resounding thud. I fell to my knees in excruciating pain; it felt like I was being boiled alive!
My hands clenched in pain, my fingers digging deep into the stone. The acid hissed, the symbiote's flesh bubbled, and we continued to scream. Everything before my eyes was white with pain, the surrounding sounds faded into the background. I was about to use my hands to somehow remove the acid, not even considering that it could transfer to them, but the First beat me to it—she shed her own acid-affected flesh a couple of meters away from us, then regrown herself onto the bare patch of my body.
The shed flesh continued to hiss and bubble, as did the stone beneath it. A couple of minutes later, the acid wore off, completely destroying the symbiote's flesh, leaving a jagged black blotch in the stone that smelled disgustingly of chemicals.
"What a bitch!" I growled.
"The last time I felt this much pain was with the Whitecoats!" the symbiote echoed my growl.
"No one else dares treat us like this! Let's kill her and eat her brains! Let's eat everything!" Although I had no intention of killing, much less eating, Scorpia, at that moment I wasn't disgusted or afraid by the First's words. There was only our shared anger. We rose to our feet at the same time as the villain.
"Alive?" Scorpia asked in surprise and spat on the ground.
"That's fixable. Hey, idiots, what are you staring at? Shoot her!" The bandits, who had more or less recovered, followed the villain's command and simultaneously raised their machine guns and pulled the triggers. I transformed two tentacles into a semblance of a wall, which the bullets hit harmlessly, creating the visual effect of raindrops on water.
To the criminals' credit, they didn't empty the entire magazine, seeing that their efforts had no effect, but stopped firing.
"Cops!" one of them screamed, running up to the villain as a trio of police cars appeared from one side of the street.
"Then take care of them!" " she growled, and the bandits skillfully took up firing positions and opened fire on the approaching lawmen, who were forced to stop and start a firefight, simultaneously shouting orders to surrender and lay down their weapons.
"Well, I'll continue with you," the blade-stinger glowed faintly red. The villain became even more dangerous. For the next two or three minutes, we jumped and spun around, attacking and dodging each other. Scorpia used her power armor and tail, while I responded with tentacles that could appear anywhere on my body and the ability to jump much higher and stick to various surfaces.
The villain had to use the claws on her gloves and her tail to climb the walls, but she did it much more slowly than me. I took another hit (this time to the face, but I managed to hit the villain three times as well). My nose ached, but it definitely wasn't broken, and I flew back a couple of meters and immediately hissed in mild pain.
The symbiote, however, quite clearly growled in pain—the red-hot blade had managed to sever part of the tentacle with which I held the bag with the loot, which Scorpia had fought so fiercely for.
"Finally!" the woman cried triumphantly and reached for the bag, but then cried out indignantly, "Hey!" The thing was, the severed flesh of the symbiote quickly returned to me, bringing the bag back with it.
The sounds of gunfire were joined by another—the quiet hum of engines; something flying was clearly approaching us. Scorpia cursed softly and looked at me intently.
"Listen, why are you doing this? You're one of those, with the symbiotes, right?" I'm not hostile to these perverts, well, not particularly strongly, I mean. Who hired you? How much did you promise for this?
Listen, the one who hired me is a very serious woman, it's better not to cross her, but to be friends with her. Let's do this: you return the bag, and I'll put in a good word for you with her.
You're kind of new, right? I've never seen you before and haven't heard anything about you, so you definitely need connections, the villain tried to negotiate with me, and why did she start this now?
- Listen, there's money in the bag, take a few packs, but give me the rest,"Huh?" Scorpia tried to convince me again, but seeing that I wasn't reacting and remained silent, she grew angry. "
Why are you silent, idiot? Have you swallowed your tongue? Decide quickly, can't you hear a S.H.I.E.L.D. transport coming our way? We'll both be in trouble once they arrive!"
The villain stamped her foot again in frustration.
"Ah, so that's why she changed her strategy so abruptly. She doesn't want to meet with S.H.I.E.L.D. operatives. It's understandable; their people are far better armed than regular police officers and often have devices for fighting supervillains, and they'll most likely have some of the Avengers with them too. But before I could say or do anything, the soft hum of engines stopped right above us and illuminated us with searchlights that shone with a strange greenish light.
"It's S.H.I.E.L.D., surrender!" — the loudspeakers from the flying transport boomed. Oh, seriously? Has anyone ever followed that order? Especially villains?
— Make them do it, bitches!
— Scorpia yelled back, making an obscene gesture with her hands in the transport's direction.
— But why am I so unlucky! — the woman groaned, then turned her gaze to me.
— It's all your fault! This was supposed to be a piece of cake! And now I'm really angry!
— Scorpia leaped towards me again, simultaneously raising her tail for a side strike. But the villain was not destined to reach me; a slender figure in a red and blue suit landed on her back, literally smashing the woman into the asphalt so hard that cracks appeared, and then immediately jumped back in a somersault, and Scorpia's tail strike hit nothing.
— What, old woman, are you so starved for male attention that you're throwing yourself at everyone in sight? " my friend smirked, sitting on a nearby lamppost.
"You again, little one?!" Scorpia let out an angry growl.
"How many times do I have to tell you? I'm not an old woman, I'm barely thirty!" The villainess leaped to her feet in one motion and pointed her tail at her enemy, clearly intending to splatter her with acid, but she was distracted, and paid the price.
I had no intention of letting her spray the entire area with that horrific liquid, so I wrapped one of my tentacles around her tail and yanked her back. The woman fell on her butt with a soft cry, her tail preventing her from falling onto her back.
Spider-Girl looked at me in surprise (probably obscured by her mask). At that moment, S.H.I.E.L.D. operatives began descending from the flying transport on ropes, but one figure, who landed between me and the villain, didn't need a rope.
A form-fitting blue-and-white suit, a round shield with a star, and long blond hair with a pretty face. Captain America had arrived. She gave me a menacing glare but then turned to the villain.
"Scorpia, surrender peacefully," Rogers suggested.
"Fuck you!" she replied angrily and rose to her feet again, to which the Captain shook her head and waved her hand. Four S.H.I.E.L.D. operatives pointed strange-looking weapons in her direction.These agents looked quite futuristic—some kind of segmented full armor, a face shield, and weapons I'd never seen before.
They were probably geared for fighting, or at least supporting, supervillains. The operatives fired some kind of glowing balls at Scorpia, but she dodged them by simply jumping, only to be hit in the chest by a boomerang shield and a slash of webbing.
After the two heroines attacked, the villain fell to the ground, where she, this time, was hit by the balls, causing something like an overload in her power suit—tiny lightning flashed across it, and her tail hung limp.
I stood still, not wanting to provoke the heroines, who were seeing me for the first time (in a suit), and I was surrounded by four other S.H.I.E.L.D. agents.
"Get her," Rogers commanded, and the first four of her supporters ran up to the villain, one of them pulling out some kind of handcuffs, also futuristic, as they ran.
"Okay, now we'll deal with you," Captain America turned to me, and another superheroine landed nearby.
"First time seeing you, newbie?
What are you..." And then Scorpia did what only a clear villain could do.
"What are you waiting for, friend? Hit them and help me!" Every eye in the room first looked at her, then at me, and mine widened in surprise to the same extent as at Jessica's joke. This bitch, in a nutshell, just signed me up as a villain! And as an ally, at that! The heroines took up fighting stances.
"So you're a villain," Stefania confirmed, rather than asked, and shook her head sadly. "No, no, no," I waved my hands. The heroines and operatives tensed when I spoke, revealing my sharp teeth and long tongue.
"It's not like that at all. She..." I wasn't given the chance to finish.
The First One acted again, jumping up in place, and the people surrounding me fired simultaneously. She didn't let me suffer the same fate as the villain. Apparently, in that short time, she managed to reboot her suit's systems (or simply pretended it was overloaded), and one of her men flew into
Captain America's back, causing her to fall to the ground. Spider-Girl, as soon as she turned to face the villain, received a backhanded blow from her tail and was sent flying into another S.H.I.E.L.D. operative.
"You distracted them well," Scorpia said to me with an evil smile, thereby hammering another nail into the coffin of my reputation with the heroines. I only growled angrily in response. "Now let's run and meet at the appointed place!" she shouted, already running quite briskly, even though her tail practically dragged behind her.
All I could do was beat a hasty retreat, too. After being set up by the villain and losing her right under my nose, the superheroines were unlikely to listen to my explanations, especially after they saw my sharp little teeth.
"Spider-Girl—get Scorpia!" Rogers, meanwhile, had already stood up and started giving orders. "S.H.I.E.L.D. and I will deal with the new villain!"- another superheroine has already set off in pursuit of her enemy.
"I'm not a villain!" I shouted in my mind as I climbed the wall of the nearest building, away from the superheroine and her support team.