I woke up feeling rested and inspired. Not only did we win the battle without a scratch, but we also managed to get away with the loot! I wonder if they have exoskeletons for men here? What about guns? What have the engineers of the world's most advanced weapons company come up with? I hope I find something cooler than a boring firearm!
I climbed over the sleeping Mary Jane and ran to the Ghost workshop. To be honest, I couldn't go underground on my own; my borrowed abilities were lasting longer, but not long enough to last the whole night. Besides, Wendy was sleeping in her room tonight. On the bed lay a marble statue that looked very much like Wendy, but was slightly different. Her face was more mature, her breasts were slightly smaller, and she was about ten centimetres shorter. Mother? Sister? Strange that these statues aren't everywhere; apparently, it's something too personal. I was going to kiss the statue like a princess from a fairy tale, but I changed my mind. This is a stranger to me; what if Wendy thinks I like this appearance better?
The statue woke up, turned its head and scattered, only to reassemble almost immediately in the form of a ghost at the table. Two clay mugs and a teapot appeared on the table, another pizza flew into the microwave, and a pot of tea flew from the top shelf straight into Wendy's hand. Leaves rose slowly above it and almost immediately dropped a few centimetres, while the Ghost itself looked as tense as if it were transporting a fifty-tonne trailer. Large particles were very difficult for her to control. The tea leaves crawled into the kettle and began to spin around at tremendous speed. As soon as the microwave announced that the pizza was ready, the teapot filled the mugs, and now breakfast for two was on the table.
"Cold tea and hot pizza," Wendy said proudly.
I took her by the shoulders and kissed her on the forehead.
"My favourite breakfast," I lied. In fact, I had never even considered such a combination for breakfast, but now I really liked it.
After a quick bite, we moved on to the main course — the container ship waiting for us. If it weren't for Wendy's diligence in cooking, I wouldn't even have had breakfast. Finally, the gangway opened and...
"What's that?" I was shocked by what I saw.
I was prepared for the suit to need some adjustments to fit me. I was prepared to see zinc boxes with cartridges and machine guns covered in factory grease. I would even have accepted a whole truckload of grenades and other explosives. But this...
Several tonnes of sheet metal, two pallets of ingots, blanks of unknown purpose, and nothing useful at all!
We dragged it underground for sixty hours without sleep and almost without rest. Wendy paved the way and held the load, while Mary pushed it, and I helped one or the other. Although I was mostly a burden: the air underground is very bad, and Mary can hold her breath for an hour in her armour without any consequences. Wendy breathes more out of habit than anything else; she doesn't have a body in the human sense. But I was suffocating as soon as we moved away from the air duct we had dug in the tunnel, so we had to drill not only forward but also upward. Being the most useless, I suffered the most, and all for the sake of raw materials?
"This is vibranium, this is adamantium, and this," Ghost cut off a corner of one of the sheets, "is just titanium. Rubbish, but there's not much of it here..."
Wendy looked interested. I could hear her excitement.
"Do you know what to do with this?"
"Yes." The ingot was enveloped in a cloud of sand, which swirled around it a little and then disappeared, and the ingot fell onto the tray with a dull thud.
"I can't cut vibranium, but adamantium..."
Wendy walked towards the exit with a satisfied look on her face.
"Important information, damn it! You better tell me what to do with it if you know!
"I experimented, what else could I do?"
"Great...
No, this is too much. My hopes have been crushed again, and my efforts have been wasted. I need to do something useful, like have sex.
I caught up with Wendy, took her by the hand and led her to my bedroom. Mary met us in the hallway.
"Why are you so sad? You didn't react like that to Ghost before.
"What does Wendy have to do with it..." — they almost sawed my arm off" — I mean, I wanted to say Ghost? I was just looking at the cargo we stole from Fisk.
"Is it that bad?
"It's even worse! Not only will I not be able to use it, but we've also angered the most dangerous predator in the wasteland!
"Really? I seem to be quite calm. Although if you keep talking in riddles..." "I'll definitely get angry.
"I'm talking about Fisk. The cargo is just metal and raw materials. It's valuable, but who would buy it? Everyone knows where it came from and who's after it.
"Hmm. No, I stopped being surprised by you a long time ago, Peter, but did you really hope to trade with someone?
"What's the big deal?
"You're a man. No one will take you seriously.
I sat down on the floor and covered my head with my hands. Why is this happening to me? I thought Mary would comfort me, but she just rubbed salt in the wound.
"In short. I'm going to the bedroom. Are you coming?
"No," Wendy replied. Mary said nothing and turned away, but I could sense her anger.
"Peter, don't treat us like meat. It's strange that I have to explain this to you," she emphasised the last word.
"What meat? Ghosts are made of sand and coloured dust," I tried to joke to lighten the mood.
"We all need to get out of here. Let's go shopping.
"I know a great warehouse, only fifteen kilometres outside the city," said Wendy. "A month ago, it was almost full, but I saved it for a special occasion.
"Come on, Peter, you'll love it. It's your first time," she said. "It's an unforgettable experience!"
"You're not talking about sex, are you?
"What sex? Shopping is much more fun! Especially the first time...
Wendy didn't wait for us, she scattered and flew out the window. When we came out, it wasn't a motorcycle waiting for us, but a family minivan. More precisely, a "pride mobile," as they call such things here. It drove just as fast, so I didn't blame Ghost for her choice of design. Probably, it reminded her of trips to the hypermarket with her parents.
Judging by everything, we had arrived at the distribution centre that supplied New York before Thanos snapped his fingers. During the trip, I had recharged a little from the girls' joy and anticipation, so now I could see what was in each box. I had been to many warehouses, so I knew where the workers usually hid the most interesting things. As soon as we entered the hangar, Mary immediately ran ahead with a squeal of "HOMYACHIM!" Wendy didn't linger either, just creating a trolley for her loot. Well, I went to check the hiding places.
Bags of some kind of powder, very similar to powdered milk, spilled out of the box, which I had just passed by. The bag had a picture of a woman in old-fashioned leather armour, standing in a heroic pose, her size B breasts thrust forward and her hands on her hips. The inscription read: "Brave Lesbian Mav." I sniffed the contents of the bag, and it smelled like powdered milk again. What was so special about it that it ended up in a hiding place? I had to ask Mary.
"Hey, what's this?" I asked, pointing to the bag.
"What? Where did you find that? They stopped making those before the Decimation!
"You have to know the right places.
"Throw it away anyway.
"They don't have an expiry date.
"Just throw it away. The only reason this junk isn't banned is because they stopped selling it themselves.
"What is this?
"It says it's for lesbians.
"How does it work?
"It causes intense sexual arousal in women.
"Only lesbians?
"No, all women. But it only interferes with normal women. We don't try to cheat nature, and it rewards us for that. But these unnatural man-haters eventually stop getting aroused by girls altogether, so they poison themselves with all kinds of chemicals.
"Why does it smell like dry milk?
"It's the main fetish among lesbians" — milk and lactation. Well, at least that's what they joke about most often.
"But you liked it when Ghost caressed you, didn't you? And she was delighted with you.
"What are you getting at?
"You say girls don't turn you on, but you're doing the opposite.
"No, that's not true! Girls don't interest me on their own, but when they're part of the pride..." – Mary stopped herself. "I wanted to say that when there's a handsome man nearby, it's completely different."
"I understand. Have you already decided what to name our children?"
"Martha and Benjamin." – Mary blurted out without thinking.
"Okay, I won't ruin your fantasies, but... I think it's better to say this straight up and not put it off. We won't bring up the subject of pride in our relationship until I'm ready to discuss it. That moment may never come.
Mary became sad and angry with me, and I just turned around and left. On the way, I grabbed a few packets of "Brave Lesbian" and ten kilograms of powdered milk. After wandering around a bit, I found a new mattress and some lumber to repair everything that had been destroyed in the house. Mary had stocked up on about a hundred kilograms of sugar, a large bag of all kinds of grains, two hundred kilograms of cocoa powder, flour, dried eggs, yeast...
"Can you cook?" I asked, looking at all this. This is rare among Americans; they prefer to buy ready-made food.
"No. I'll experiment!"
"Well, I hope Ghost found something more reliable, in terms of edibility.
"You didn't stock up much. Peter, everything here is free, and with delivery!
"I feel uncomfortable in places like this. My Vietnam flashbacks are tormenting me.
"A man with flashbacks to Vietnam. Sometimes you say things that make me wonder whether to laugh or cry.
A dozen carts came crashing around the corner, one skidded on the turn and knocked over a rack. Wendy led them in a line like a comet trailing a tail. Everything was packed with canned meat, fruit and vegetables. I also saw boxes full of all kinds of soda. Wendy's joy washed over me in waves of her abilities, and I received almost as much as I had before the attack on the convoy.
I packed our things into three large balls and lifted them off the ground, then offered my version of transportation: bicycles. Since speed doesn't depend on shape, why not have some fun? Just pull the string from the ball into your hand, and you're ready to go! Five minutes of fun cosplay, and we were back home. It took much longer to carry all our loot into the house.
As we were pulling up, I thought I sensed a new emotion, a mixture of attraction and hatred. I didn't have time to listen properly, the feeling quickly disappeared. But while we were carrying our things, I heard it continuously! Some girl wants to kill me. And fuck me. She hasn't decided in what order. And it's someone I don't know.
In the evening, Wendy treated us to peach compote. Mary raved about it and greedily ate the peaches one after another, but they seemed tasteless to me. I licked the sugar bowl and again felt nothing. But when I opened a can of tuna, I smelled something so delicious that I couldn't resist and ate all the fish with my hands. It's a funny combination when Mary's abilities make your skin super strong, you can clean it with a relatively weak stream of sand, almost like industrial sandblasting. Wendy didn't sense any strangers on her territory, but someone was definitely here. I went back to watch the sunset on the water tower so I could scatter the dust nets over the ruins. Now that I was alone, the uninvited guest had almost lost the desire to kill me, but how it boiled inside her!
Wendy covered everything she considered hers with a web of special dust that could only be disturbed by mechanical action. No human would notice that the dust had been disturbed, not even me, unless I concentrated on it. The Ghost checked her alarm several times an hour, and even that was difficult for her. My networks only showed me what was on the surface right now, but they had a very long range. In the third square, the net covered the figure of a slender girl with size C breasts, a beautiful butt, and... Was that a tail, or was she disguised by throwing rubbish on herself? She had definitely hidden her head under something large and flat, like a piece of a door or a tabletop.
Throwing the net a second time, I took this into account and covered the girl from all sides. A round face with a wide nose, high cheekbones, large round eyes... And cat ears on top of her head. And a tail below. A cute cat girl, but I had no illusions: this was a predator lying in wait. She clearly knows about the anomaly of this place and is afraid of it, but nevertheless waits for her moment. She has already seen what we are capable of, but she is confident that she can handle it. And I wouldn't be too surprised if she really did, because the further into this world we go, the more miraculous it becomes.
What should I do? I don't want to attack her, because this cat girl didn't show up out of love for me; she was sent by one of my new enemies. In that case, I am obliged to kill her so that they think twice before sending the next assassin. But only Wendy can get close to the cat unnoticed, and we're not on those terms yet. She hasn't offered to kill my neighbours who are keeping me awake yet. The cat will just run away from me or Mary Jane, and then come back better prepared, and there's no guarantee that I'll be able to find her again.
I need to lure it into an ambush. And I've already figured out how.
I went back into the house and poured myself a glass of milk. Mary had baked some chocolate cookies that were quite edible, although even the most optimistic person would not have said so based on their appearance. My heightened sense of smell detected the aroma of warm milk throughout the house. That was what I was aiming for. I also asked Wendy to spend the night with us, dressed as she was during the day. We played Uno until late, and then went to bed. I said that I wanted to be alone tonight, and the girls were very upset, but they agreed. I had no intention of sleeping, but I didn't notice when I passed out, and woke up only to the sound of a crash coming from downstairs.
I quickly ran to the sound and saw that the trap had worked even better than I had planned...
In the hallway next to the bathroom lay a huge smoky grey cat. Curled up in a ball, it blocked the entire hallway, and on top of it lay Mary Jane, pressing her whole body against the cat's fur and actively stroking the purring animal.
"Peter, look at this beauty!
"Mary, it's a dangerous mutant, not a cute little animal! Get away from it! Ghost, cut off the cat's head.
"No! I won't! What kind of monster are you? Look, she's cute! She's so big! She's so warm!
Wendy was in no hurry to obey my order, but she didn't try to pet the cat either.
"Can we keep her? I'll feed her and clean up after her myself!
"We haven't fixed all the damage you've done yet, Mary! And I'll say it again, she's actually a human being.
"Then she'll feed and clean herself.
"Wait, let me clarify something...
In some ways, Mary was right; this creature didn't look like the killer who had been watching us for half the day. I took her muzzle in my hands and lifted it to get her attention. The cat licked my hand, and I felt exactly the same emotions as before.
"She came to kill us all and fell into my trap. Now we'll kill her and send her body to whoever sent her.
"How do you know that?
"What do you think my superpower is?
"Symbiosis.
"No way. My main superpower is using my head. I figured her out a long time ago and planned everything.
"But she's cute!" Mary wouldn't give up. "How did you catch her anyway?
"I got some of her abilities and realised she couldn't walk past milk. But instead of regular milk, I left her some exciting stuff... I didn't expect that effect, though.
The cat finally opened its eyes, saw me, tried to get up, but felt Mary lying on top of it, looked back and dug its claws into her back, ripped her open to the middle, and then threw her body against the wall. The windows in the house opened, and a cloud of sand rushed at the cat, growing thicker with every second. Wendy rolled her into a ball, leaving only her head exposed. The cat twitched a few times and then froze with her head down. A few moments later, her head began to shrink, taking on human form, and eventually lost all its feline features. The girl looked at the Ghost and said,
"I give up, you win.
"Who sent you?
"It doesn't matter.
"It matters a lot. Answer me.
"My clients remain anonymous. All I can say is that I was sent for the cargo you stole from Fisk.
"I see. You've decided to take the long way around? Fine, let's start the interrogation from the beginning. What's your name?
"Snezhana Kravinova, Hunter.
***
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