That night, in the quiet, shared room, a sudden tension disturbed the stillness. Lying on his bed, Amon's eyes snapped open, and for a fleeting moment, intricate, illusory doorways flickered within their depths before vanishing. He instinctively adjusted the crystal monocle that had materialized over his right eye and fixed his gaze on Ilyana's small bed across the room.
"Something is wrong," he thought, his heightened senses screaming a warning. "Someone is attempting to teleport Ilyana away!"
Amon was off his bed in an instant, moving silently to Ilyana's side. The little girl was still asleep, but her expression was twisted into a grimace as if caught in a terrible nightmare. A faint, unsettling blue light flickered around her small frame.
Amon felt a wave of relief wash over him. "It's a good thing she was so close to me," he mused. "It allowed me to interfere with the teleportation in time. Otherwise, Ilyana would have simply disappeared."
"Ilyana, wake up. It's time to wake up," Amon said gently, shaking her shoulder.
Ilyana jolted awake with a gasp, her eyes wide with panic as she looked around the dark room. Seeing Amon standing by her bed, she immediately threw herself at him, burying her face in his shirt and crying, "Amon! A devil was trying to catch me! It was big and ugly and covered in fire! It scared me so much!"
"Don't worry, I'm here. It can't harm while I am here," Amon comforted the trembling girl, the monocle over his right eye glowing with a soft, imperceptible light. He was already processing the event.
"Through a rapid analysis of the residual energy, I can confirm this power originates from another dimension," he concluded internally. "If my assumptions are correct, this is the work of Belasco, the Lord of Limbo."
Belasco, the cruel ruler of the extra-dimensional realm of Limbo, was a known entity. In the comics Amon remembered, Belasco had captured a young Ilyana because her burgeoning mutant ability was intrinsically linked to Limbo. He had sought to use her to better control his own domain, but she eventually defeated him, claiming Limbo as her own.
"Alright, Ilyana, there's no need to cry anymore," Amon said softly. "I'll give you something, and with it, you won't have to fear that devil trying to catch you ever again."
As he spoke, Amon's hand seemed to phase magically into his own chest, and he pulled out a translucent, strangely styled key that shimmered in the dim moonlight.
Amon smiled and placed the peculiar key in Ilyana's small hand. "As long as you wear this, you won't have to be afraid of any devils. Your brother will always protect you."
Amon found a simple string, threaded it through the eye of the key, and carefully hung the new necklace around Ilyana's neck.
"Thank you, Amon!" Ilyana whispered, her fear already lessening as she clutched the key. "But I'm still the older sister."
Amon just smiled, choosing not to argue the point.
What he had given her was a Beyonder characteristic from a Sequence 3 Wanderer of the Door Pathway. With this artifact in her possession, Ilyana would be almost completely immune to any spatial abilities, and she would no longer have to worry about being abducted by Belasco. Moreover, with his own expert manipulation, the negative effects of this powerful Beyonder characteristic were rendered almost nonexistent.
Amon had long since discovered that besides the Uniquenesses of the Error, Fool, and Door pathways, his very being also contained a vast number of Beyonder characteristics from these three pathways, particularly those below the Sequence 2 Angel level. These enriched characteristics provided a minor enhancement to Amon's overall abilities, but only by a very small margin. Parting with a single characteristic that didn't even reach the Angel level had no noticeable effect on him.
"Alright, go back to sleep now."
"Amon, you should sleep too," the little girl said, her voice heavy with exhaustion. She then lay back on her bed and quickly drifted back into her dreams.
Amon moved to the window and spotted a pigeon perched on a bare tree in the yard. Birds like pigeons were surprisingly resilient, their strong survival instincts allowing them to endure even the brutal Siberian winter without migrating south.
Amon adjusted the monocle on his right eye, and in perfect synchronization, the pigeon on the tree branch also mysteriously produced a monocle from the void and placed it over its own right eye.
The pigeon flapped its wings twice and launched into the night, heading toward the Russian Federal Space Agency. An ordinary bird would have taken at least three days to cover such a distance, but the very fabric of space before this pigeon seemed to compress and fold, stolen away by an unseen force. In the blink of an eye, it had traversed more than ten kilometers. At this incredible speed, it would reach its destination in just a few minutes.
"I want to see exactly what the government is hiding," Amon thought to himself. He then returned to his bed and settled back into a feigned sleep.
The pigeon outside the window was now a clone, created by Amon using the parasitizing abilities of the Error Pathway. It was currently en route to the Russian Federal Space Agency. The 'parasitism' ability was proving to be remarkably useful. Under Amon's control, this pigeon-clone not only possessed the abilities of the Error Pathway but also those of the Fool and Door pathways, making it an incredibly versatile operative.
Arriving outside the Russian Federal Space Agency, the pigeon-Amon had already reached its destination. It casually found a lone security guard and subtly stole his memories, instantly understanding the layout of the entire facility. With its new knowledge, it flew directly toward the command center.
The pigeon-Amon reached the exterior of the command center building, looked around to ensure it was unobserved, and then simply phased through the solid wall into the interior. By weaving a simple illusion, it remained completely undetectable to the staff working inside.
Finding a man who appeared to hold the highest position of authority, the pigeon-Amon directly stole his relevant memories. Soon, it had found the information related to Mikhail.
"Secret Lunar Orbit" project. Exploration of the far side of the Moon. Spacecraft lost contact, all four cosmonauts missing. HYDRA resurgence suspected. Top Secret.
"What a hassle. They actually went all the way to the Moon," the pigeon-Amon muttered to itself. "And this is somehow related to HYDRA."
The entire situation was peculiar. In this version of the Marvel universe, Russia's aerospace technology far exceeded that of the real world Amon knew, even surpassing the level it was at before his transmigration. It was highly unlikely that the loss of contact was due to a simple technical failure; it was almost certainly the result of deliberate, man-made interference.
To be on the safe side, the pigeon-Amon performed a shallow-level parasitism on the aerospace agency executive, leaving a Worm of Time inside him. However, because the pigeon-clone was not carrying a full complement of Beyonder characteristics, the clone it left behind only reached the power of a weak Sequence 4.
The pigeon-Amon left the Aerospace Agency, having clarified all the information he needed. He looked up at the night sky, where the bright, full Moon was reflected in his monocle. Layers of intricate door patterns appeared within the lens. The pigeon-Amon then activated the 'Wanderer' ability, left the Earth's atmosphere, and instantly arrived on the Moon.
"Time for a little lunar exploration trip," the pigeon-Amon quipped to the silent void.
"Goodbye, Dad, brother!"
"Goodbye!"
"Stay safe, Nikolai, Piotr!"
Early the next morning, Alexandra stood with Amon and Ilyana, bidding farewell to Nikolai and Piotr . The father and son were setting off for Irkutsk today to inquire with the relevant departments about Mikhail's mission, hoping to at least find out what he was doing when the accident occurred.
After the father and son drove away in their pickup truck, a small, gray pigeon silently followed them, a tiny monocle glinting over its right eye.
Amon had sent another clone to follow them, just to prevent any unforeseen accidents. Piotr had already awakened his mutant abilities, making him a potential target and greatly increasing the likelihood of trouble. Currently, the relationship between mutants and various governments was extremely tense. Government agencies would seize any opportunity to arrest mutants, often branding them as terrorists, especially lone mutants without protection.
If Piotr were to reveal his steel body in public, the Russian government would almost certainly arrest him. Amon did not want to see that happen, as resolving such a situation would be incredibly troublesome.
Back in their room, Amon was having a quiet word with Ilyana.
"Ilyana, you must not tell anyone about what happened last night."
Ilyana clutched the key-shaped necklace hanging around her neck and asked with wide eyes, "Not even Dad, Mom, or Piotr ?"
"Of course not," Amon said seriously. "You can't tell anyone at all. This is our secret."
"Our secret!" Ilyana's eyes lit up with excitement. "I will definitely keep our secret safe!"