Dad finally decided to come home in the morning. It seemed to be some kind of holiday, probably a day without thoughts of world domination, otherwise it was unclear why he had come back. After all, he used to come back every 2-3 months and didn't spend more than a week at home. I wondered why he had called me to him, but I had not expected what I heard next.
«Come in, sit down.
«I can stand.
«I said sit down!
«All right, all right. What's the problem? Why are you shouting like that?
«Ryan, answer me honestly, are you a mutant?
«What are you talking about? - How does he know about mutants, is it definitely KVM? And if there are mutants in this world, who else would I be expecting? The Fantastic Four? Nemore? Blade? Thor's Frog?
«You don't have to deny it, I wanted to hear the truth from your lips, but I guess I'll have to do the talking.
«How did you know?
«Did you really think there were no cameras in the gym? Or do you think I don't get to see your workout results? At first, when I looked at the footage, I thought there was something wrong with the camera and the speed was off, but the footage of you sparring with Brooks was the same, except he wasn't moving any faster. Or did you think it could all be put down to a sudden awakening of fighting skills or, as you said, a "voice in your head," huh? Nothing to say?
All right, here's Skipper's tactic: smile and show your complete lack of education on the subject.
«I wanted to tell you, but I didn't know what had happened to me. It came up after that incident on the bus. - The look is unsure and a tear comes out.
He doesn't look believed, hell, the tear was unnecessary.
«Have you been contacted by a fraternity or a school before?
«By who? I don't know about any fraternity, and I take it you don't mean my school?
«Yeah, they're two very bad organisations. You see, what happened to you has happened to others. It all has to do with a gene that some people have. And that gene gives them abilities beyond human capacity. There are two societies that actively lure mutants to their side: the Brotherhood of Mutants and the school. The Brotherhood considers mutants a new stage of human evolution and seeks to destroy or enslave humanity. The School, on the other hand, is not much better: although they don't use drastic measures and pretend to seek co-operation, their real goal is to take over the government from within and spread mutants all over the planet. They don't even allow for the idea that social norms and legislative power will collapse in the same instant that every third person climbs on the heads of others, teleports into banks and takes whatever they want, or, on a bad day, can take down several neighbourhoods with an outburst of uncontrolled radiation. Believe me, they're all extremely dangerous individuals, which is why you should let me know immediately if any of them try to contact you. You're my son, Raine, which means you have clearance to the highest circles of politics, and while you're not fully grown and your point of view can be influenced, they'll use any speeches and lies to get inside your head. Do you understand me?
«Yes, Father. - Well, he's shifted his focus quite nicely.- Then I take it your mutation is speed-related?
«I can speed myself up, but it takes a toll on my stamina, but you must have seen how exhausted I was by the end of the sparring session. And if it wasn't for stealth, I probably would have lost again.
«You're lucky Brooks is reliable and knows how to keep secrets, but from now on I hope you don't use that ability in front of other people.
«I will. - Whew. Looks like he's not going to lock me up in some lab and experiment on me, son or no son, he's from Hydra for all I know. I mean, how could I have forgotten about the cameras? It's strange, after all these years of living in a house, not to remember these things. Maybe I'm not getting the treatment.
After our "most pleasant" conversation, I spent a few more hours practising my shooting and later in the afternoon I went into town. I needed to find something, and it would be weird if I, a person who doesn't know anything about mutants, started searching Xavier's school from my home PC right after meeting my father. Thankfully, I know enough computer clubs to find my bald friend's school. The funny thing is, it's really quite easy, there's even an address and coordinates. I really don't get it: with the level of difficulty in finding their location, why are they surprised that their mansion is destroyed every third Friday, huh? What I was happy to see was that the search results for the search terms: "Baxter building", "Reed Richards", "man in scaly swim trunks", "Atlantis" and "attack by unknown at sea" yielded nothing.
I went home with a bunch of thoughts about the phoenix, the Apocalypse, and Magneto and his fraternity.
Luckily, my next few days were pretty peaceful and all I did was train and sleep and check the news. And after 12 days of living like that, I finally saw the news that the famous billionaire, philanthropist and so on, well, Stark had been captured. What's funny is that the company's stock price didn't even drop 10% from the announcement that the chief inventor of all new weapons, Stark Industries, had been kidnapped. Looking at it, I think Obadiah purposely let the company's stock fall so much after Tony's announcement and if he had tried to stabilise it, 30% would have been their maximum loss. But for now I reckon it's time to meet another genius and make him my debtor.
Googling Darren Cross and the location of Pim Technology's head office, I went straight there, hoping that luck would be on my side and I would quickly see Hope, who would lead me to her father.
Two weeks later....
Well finally, I totally get it, but in the film she spent more time with her dad. And that's despite the fact that she was supposed to play the part of someone who doesn't care about him. I've been sitting under the main office door for a week, and then under her flat window for a week, and now she's visiting her father. It was the third time I'd tried the café's menu, and the coffee was making me sick.
After she's gone, I press the call button.
«Who are you and what do you want?
«Hi, my name is Ryan Pierce. And I'd like to talk to you.
«Well, I don't care what you want, kid! I'm not gonna talk to you! - Apparently, someone had a bad conversation with their daughter.
«The quantum dimension.
«What? How do you know about that? Who sent you, kid?
«Mr Pym, I can assure you that I am acting of my own free will and was not sent by anyone. I also want to tell you that I have some rather important information for you, and it would be better to give it in a more comfortable environment.
After standing under the door for a minute or two, I finally heard the words.
«All right, come in.
Pim looked the same as in the film - maybe younger, but that's understandable: the film takes place only six years later. He met me, by the way, wearing his ant control earpiece.
«So, what kind of information do you want to give me?
«First, I want to make a deal with you, and don't worry now - I don't need anything from you. But in the future... When you check the validity of what I tell you, I will need your skills and intelligence.
«How can you be sure I won't screw you when I get the information, hmm?
«I know what kind of person you are, and I don't think that once it's confirmed, no matter how much you want to, you won't be able to screw me over.
«Well, what is this valuable information?
«I think you'd better sit down. Your apprentice, Darren Cross, is trying to recreate your Pym particle formula and battle suit. He loves money and power, so if he succeeds, I think he'll quickly get in touch with a few not-so-good organisations who will immediately come running for your technology. I also think you can't have failed to notice how he's slowly starting to remove you from the company's affairs. Darren really doesn't like being in second place.
«How do you know about the suit?! That information is only known to the top level of the Shield.- I know a lot of things, Mr Pim, but let's not talk about that, because everyone has secrets.
«Cross won't succeed, he's a clever lad, but he doesn't have the skills to replicate my success.
«You never know. Maybe if he had the time and money, it wouldn't be such a problem for him. And once he gets your company, he'll have plenty of money. Now, I think we can move on to the second piece of news, and I think you and Hope will like it. Janet's alive.
If he'd reacted calmly to the information about Cross-though it wasn't every day you learned that your apprentice wanted to take over your company and copy your technology to sell to terrorists-the next news brought a whole range of emotions into his gaze: disbelief, fear, anger, hope. He even paused for about 20 seconds, thinking about what I had said.
«How do you know that?! Where is she?!
«Again, we all have secrets, Mr Pim. But I do know she's still in the quantum world. I won't tell you how to save her, but I can tell you how to crudely verify that information.
«And how would that be?
«Well, as I know you have a thing called a magnifying disc, right?
«Let's say, and?
«By shrinking down to a molecule and inserting it into your belt, you can leave the quantum dimension, but you have to do it in the first 3-5 minutes, because I can't guarantee your chances of returning. Therefore, for your wife's return you will have to build a quantum tunnel and a ship able to withstand this journey. By the way, don't worry, her life won't be in danger for another nine years, so you have plenty of time.
«Now I'm supposed to risk my life over some kid's words?!
«I think you can think of a safer way to verify what I'm saying. Well, I'll say goodbye and come back to collect when you can verify the truth of my words.
As I left Pim's, I was glad that all hell was finally over. I was beginning to worry. Even though I'd managed to squeeze in a couple more weeks off, my time was about to be eaten up by high school, and at the moment my skills didn't give me much confidence that I'd be able to execute my plan.
***
«Hey, Hank, hi. You haven't called in a while, so what's up now that you're thinking about me? - the man asked with amusement in his voice.
«I need help, Jim. I need you to run a trace on a Ryan Pierce, please.
«No problem.