Photo.
Zoey, Trixie, and Cassie.
Topless.
In her pool.
Skimpy bikini bottoms barely clinging to their hips, water glistening off their bodies like some softcore Cinemax fantasy. Trixie had one hand cupping her chest like a fake attempt at modesty. Cassie was leaning back against the edge of the pool, one leg raised just enough to tease. Zoey was front and center, nipples censored with two emojis, tongue out, fingers in a peace sign.
Caption, "You can still make it."
I chuckled. Slid the phone back into my pocket.
Fucking knew it.
Girls had sorority like that. One taste, and the rest lined up like it was free Botox day at a stripper convention. By Monday, they were already fighting over cafeteria seats. By Tuesday, they would group texting like I was a limited-time coupon for orgasms.
I entered the cafe. Darcy and Jane were seated at the corner, huddled over a notebook and a laptop like they were hiding the recipe to disappointment. They picked a booth near the back, far from public eye. Jane wore sunglasses indoors. Darcy had her hair tied up, pen in mouth, typing one-handed on her laptop.
Darcy noticed me first. She waved me over, knocking over her juice glass in the process. Jane didn't look up. Probably regretting everything from breakfast to bringing Darcy to Earth.
"Wow, you actually came," Darcy said, surprised like I was supposed to be ghosting her.
"You called me twice. That is harassment."
"You showed up. So it worked."
I dropped into the seat across from them. Jane gave me a small nod, which in her language meant Thanks for saving our lives. Darcy flipped her notebook toward me. Pages filled with notes, some diagrams, and what looked like a penis with a cape.
"Ignore the doodle," she said. "I got bored."
"What is this?"
"Everything that happened that night. Read it."
I skimmed the pages. Jane had annotated most of it with actual science. Darcy added color-coded post-its shaped like cats. Between them, it looked like a conspiracy theory board designed by a sorority dropout.
"This one," Jane said, tapping her nail on a jagged spike across a frequency graph, "is some sort of cosmic energy beam. It isn't natural. It tore a hole in space. Wormhole-level energy."
I shut the notebook, hard. "Nope. Why the fuck are you showing me these? I thought you called to thank me. Maybe a decent meal. A milkshake. Hell, even a cookie. But no, you dropped more cosmic problems on my plate."
Darcy scratched her neck. "Well, technically, I did say something weird happened."
"You said something, not oh hey the universe farted a black hole in Brooklyn."
I leaned back in the booth. The fake leather squeaked. I stared at both of them. Jane had that scientist-staring-into-doom expression. Darcy looked like she was about to explain a sex joke to a priest.
"You dragged me across town," I said, grabbing her untouched cheesecake and pulling them toward me, "to show me alien Wi-Fi signals and possible rips in reality?"
Darcy blinked. "Well, yeah. That and we think something came through it."
"Let me guess. Tentacle? Goo? Giant space dog with daddy issues?"
Jane finally looked up. "Not exactly. We don't have visual confirmation. But there were echoes."
Darcy grinned at me, "Erik said there was a blond man inside the cell next to his. Claiming he is Thor, Son of Odin."
I scooped a bite of cheescake, and shoved it in my mouth. "And? No one tased him?"
Jane flipped through her notes. "Erik said the man looked... well, not human. Tall. Muscular. Spoke like a Shakespeare dropout."
Darcy nodded. "Also kept calling everyone 'mortal' and 'Midgardian.'"
I deadpaned them, "A lunatic who thinks he is a Norse God, so? You think he walked out of that wormhole and got caught by those bitch-ass men?"
Jane glared like I had just insulted her academic crush. "I am certain something or someone arrived with that cosmic beam."
I sighed, grabbed Darcy's straw, and stole a sip of her soda. "Still don't care. Why am I here?"
Darcy held my hand. "Please. Peter. You helped so much. Aren't you curious?"
"Nope. Not at all."
She didn't let go. "We can solve this mystery. And we might need that hacker friend of yours."
I pulled my hand free. "Still not interested."
Jane sighed, voice flat. "Darcy. He does not want to be involved."
Darcy gave me those big, watery puppy eyes. "Please?"
I scoffed. "You can look like a soggy raccoon in a rom-com all you want. Still no."
Jane rubbed her forehead. "Darcy, you cannot just drag him into this. It is risky. This isn't your college internship report."
Darcy leaned forward. "You are the only person we can trust. We cannot talk to the police. Not anyone. Just you."
I leaned back in the booth. "Sounds like a personal problem."
She dropped her pen, face pinched. "Come on. At least think about it?"
"I did. For one second. Still no."
Jane closed the notebook. "He made his choice."
Darcy slumped against the booth wall like a kid who just got told recess was canceled.
I finished the cheesecake. "Thanks for the snack."
Darcy folded her arms. "Fine. But if we die, I am haunting you. Naked."
"Joke's on you. That sounds hot."
Jane stood. "I am leaving."
Darcy followed, still grumbling. She pulled her coat tighter. Jane held the cafe door open, waiting. Darcy paused by the table.
"You ever change your mind, you know where to find us."
"I really don't," I said.
They walked out. The waiter walked in with the check like he just caught me stealing free Wi-Fi.
"Sir, here is your check."
I looked down at the cheesecake plate, their empty cups, and the slip.
"Motherfuckers." I cursed. "It is their check. I just sat."
The waiter stared at me, then looked at the fork still in my hand.
"Fuck." I cursed again and handed him the cash. "Darcy is gonna pay for this."
As I was about to leave, I heard a commotion outside. People were screaming. I rushed to the door, shoved past a man fumbling with his wallet, and saw chaos spilling into the street.
A car got crushed like a soda can. Dust flew. Something metallic moved through the smoke. Tall. Shiny. Walking straight through traffic like it hated capitalism. I squinted.
"Isn't this the Destroyer?" I cursed, jaw tight.
Darcy and Jane were in the open, standing across the street, heads turned toward the growing noise. Jane was already pulling Darcy back, but too slow. The metal freak stepped onto the crosswalk like it was about to run for mayor. The chest opened. Light pulsed.
[System]: Quest Activated - "Gods Clash, Mortals Burn"
Main Objective: Neutralize the Destroyer.
Sub Objective: Prevent civilian casualties.
Bonus Objective: Retrieve core shard from inner chamber.
Risk Level: 8/10.
Time Limit: Until the street is ash and bones.
Reward: Rare Item: Uru Residue (can be reforged or analyzed), +50 Reputation with Civilians (Hidden: Hero Persona Seed), Unique Skill: "Phantom Exit" - Auto-leaves a fake visual trail when escaping unseen.
[System]: Warning: You are currently in civilian form. Engaging publicly will trigger "Reckless Reveal" trait. -40 Reputation, +100 Suspicion.
[System]: But if you pull this off without anyone catching your face? Oh baby, I will unlock a surprise that makes threesomes look like warm-up stretches.
I slipped out the café door, stepped into the alley beside the bakery, and activated camo. My form shimmered, body disappearing into the air like fog. One twist of the wrist and the suit wrapped over me from palm to jaw.
I jumped up the wall, clung to the fire escape, and scanned the chaos. The Destroyer had stomped a taxi. Its head rotated slowly, eye slits glowing bright orange. The chest core was pulsing. I fired a double line at Jane and Darcy. One line each, hit their backs, pulled them sideways. They screamed, lifted off their feet. A second later, the blast shot forward. White-hot beam sliced through where they had been. Pavement exploded. Glass shattered. A lamppost bent like that Yoga instructor.
I dropped from the fire escape, landed on the back of the nearest SUV, then bounced toward the machine. Midair, I fired three webs, two to anchor, one to swing. The force snapped me sideways, letting me kick off a light pole and launch straight toward its head.
I landed on the Destroyer's shoulder. Metal hissed under my weight. I jabbed a magnetic node against the collar plate. Nothing. No feedback. I tried again. Still nothing.
[System]: That isn't tech, sugar. That is god-forged metal. Anti-hack. No signal. No port. No cookies.
"Then I guess we punch it."
The shoulder plate moved. I dove forward as the entire upper body twisted. It tried to grab me. I rolled along the upper back, kicked off its spine, and fired a line straight to its knee. Swung low. Shot another at its foot. Yanked hard.
Again, nothing at all. Fuck, this thing was a monster.
The Destroyer yanked its leg back, nearly flinging me off. I launched a web to the nearest light pole and swung out of reach. Its chest was still pulsing, humming like a damn engine on steroids. People were screaming behind me. Cars screeched. Some jackass had the nerve to keep filming from the sidewalk like he was auditioning for Darwin Awards Live.
[System]: Street's heating up, sugar. That beam will melt everything but your sass. Tick-tock.
I hit the roof of a delivery van, knees bending. Landed a webshot at its elbow joint. Nothing. Not even a glitch. It turned, slowly, like it heard a mosquito and was just annoyed enough to kill it with a nuke.
"Come on, big guy. Show me some weak points," I muttered, lunging forward again. A flip, a twist. I was on its arm. Pried open the panel at the bicep, shoved in another charge.
Still nothing.
Great. So, no tech angle. No EMP trick. No override. Just raw force. And me with the upper body strength of a gym rat on creatine withdrawal.
The Destroyer swung an arm again. I ducked, slid down its back, kicked off the spine, then zipped behind a bus stop as its beam carved through another car.
I fired a web straight at its elbow joint. The line stuck for half a second. Then the Destroyer grabbed it, yanked me out of the air like I was a fly on a string, and slammed its fist into my chest.
The hit cracked through my ribs like I had just gotten tagged by a vending machine with anger issues. My body flew backward, straight across the street, slammed through a van's windshield, then crashed through a construction barricade. The impact tossed me like a ragdoll, rolling into the open field behind the blast zone.
The world spun. Metal clanged. My mask flickered. I groaned, tried to sit up.
[SYSTEM]: Impact velocity detected. Rib status... questionable. Location redirect: You landed in a restricted SHIELD parameter. Congratulations, baby. You broke into Area Dumbass.
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You can read up to Chapter 95...
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