"God, when is this going to end? - August rolled over from one side to the other.
It had been two weeks since the events at the meatpacking plant. August's legs were still in the process of growing back. These days he was hungry almost every hour, he ate much more than usual and meat was the mainstay of his diet. His body needed building material, because regeneration could not come from nothing, it had to get its energy from somewhere. At least that's how his regeneration worked, maybe higher level regenerations were able to create something from nothing. But that was just a theory, how it actually worked was unknown. Perhaps beings with a high level of regeneration were beings of non-material level and drew their energy from dimensions inaccessible to ordinary people.
"How's my patient doing? I told you not to play games on your phone at night, look at the bruises under your eyes.
"Anita, cut the crap. Black eyes are just one of the symptoms of anaemia caused by regeneration of the lower limbs.
The red-haired girl smirked contentedly, holding a whiskey-filled Highball. A glass with a thick bottom and straight walls, slightly barrel-shaped. Anita's cheeks were slightly browned, the chocolatey scent of expensive alcohol emanating from her. Taking another sip, the girl crossed the threshold of the room and stepped inside, closing the door behind her.
Anita was dressed in a homely manner. At least that's what she thought of as homely. Black lacy lingerie encased her milky thighs and breasts, with a red terrycloth dressing gown over the top. The waistband of the dressing gown was not tied and it just hung off her body, revealing her taut breasts, her flat tummy with small cubes of muscle and an intriguing line between her thighs.
"How's your health, is it good? - Anita walked across the room and sat down on August's bed.
"I see you don't have anything else to do but bother me, right? - The mercenary put the phone aside and looked at Stark judgementally.
"Pahh," Stark grinned childishly, covering her face with the palm of her hand. - You're such a sweetheart. When you're angry, you're always too cute. It's like you're provoking me on purpose," Anita took her palm away from her face. - I thought you were bored lying here alone, so I thought I'd keep you company to brighten up your time.
"Believe me, I've got enough on the phone, I don't need you to visit me several times a day, you'd better mind your own business. What's going on with the August Fling? Were you able to settle everything?
"Don't worry about that," Anita took a sip from her glass. - The team I've assembled is already dealing with the problem...
After the terrorist attack on Stark fell on the indignation of the citizens of New York. They blamed the girl for her negligent attitude to the security of the exhibition. The media, receiving money from Anita's current business rivals, further fuelled the fire. Stark Industries' stock wobbled precariously, intending to plummet in value.
Seeing all this and realising that truth and sincerity alone would not get her far, Anita used her money and hired the best people from various fields. Among them was Bella Murdoch, New York's top lawyer. She was a black-haired, short woman in her thirties, athletic and attractive. She wore dark glasses over her eyes and held a white cane. She had lost her sight long ago as a child, and although she was blind, it did not interfere with her work. She was the best in her field. Sometimes watching Bella moving freely inside her assigned workspace, Anita even began to wonder if Murdoch was really blind.
"Bella Murdoch?
"You've heard of her? - Anita took another sip of whiskey.
"The internet is full of information about her.
Stark got a suspicious expression on her face and tried to catch August's gaze to see what he was thinking about.
Could Bella be the original Matt Murdock, the original Punisher on the minimates? August didn't really believe in coincidences due to his experience in this world. If Anita's case was handled by Daredevil, the best lawyer in Marvel Comics, Stark had nothing else to worry about. She'll be able to quietly dismiss the case and get away with it.
"So what are you thinking? - Anita moved forward, pressing her breasts against August's shoulder. The mercenary was now lying on the bed, Stark had been sitting on the edge, in fact when she moved forward, she lay beside him, resting her soft breasts on him. The smell of intoxicating alcohol mixed with shampoo and perfume hit the mercenary's nose, he turned towards Anita and the first thing that caught his eye was the girl's white breasts pressed against him. Ready to fall out of her sexy lingerie.
"Anita, don't be cheeky, I need peace.
"Peace, you say? I've been quiet for a fortnight, you've had that peace all this time. Now I want answers from you," the girl's thin eyebrows furrowed, she grabbed the man's chin with her hand and turned him imperiously towards her. - Who was that woman at the meat-packing plant? What relationship do you have with her?
"Anita, you're drunk now. Go sober up and come back tomorrow and we'll talk about it.
"No August, I may be drunk, but that doesn't stop me from getting answers from you. So answer me," Anita held August's chin in her hands and gently ran her thumb along the man's cheek, looking him straight in the eye. - I only want an answer to this question, and I understand that everyone must have their secrets, so I'm not asking you about your strange second eye or your behaviour with that Shield agent girl. Although the last one really pissed me off, you wouldn't let me within a metre of you, and you let some ridiculous stranger snuggle up to you like that.
"What would you do to that girl in the Shield if you were me? Would you have beaten her up? I saw how important your father's records were to you, so I tried to stay out of your way. You have to admit, confronting a Shield strike team captain in their headquarters isn't the smartest thing to do, right?
"A strike team captain?
"Well, she had a goal of recruiting me. She took me out of the room, made me an offer, I turned it down. That's all we had.
"Okay, I see you're getting off the point. You can't fool me, August," Anita smirked wickedly and pressed her warm palms against the mercenary's cheeks. - What's your connection with that girl at the meatpacking plant, and who is she anyway?
"She's an old acquaintance of mine, unfortunately I can't tell you anything else. Not every hero is as fearless as you, many hide their identities behind masks.
"An old acquaintance, you say? - and after these words Anita grabbed August by the back of his head, pulled him to her and kissed him passionately. Their hot kiss lasted more than two minutes, the girl clearly enjoyed it, in principle, and August was not against such a thing. - This is the punishment for lying.
Having committed the crime, Anita quickly left the mercenary's room. Forgetting even to pick up her unfinished glass of whiskey. Putting his palm to his lips, August wiped the smeared lipstick from his face and then reached for the whiskey glass on the bedside table.
"Gee, what a mess," the man finished the whiskey in one gulp. - It's obvious that Anita is not stupid. She's even more cunning and clever than I am, and I can't compete with her.
August pulled his body to the bed and took a sitting position. Pulling the blanket off his body, he examined his legs carefully. Outwardly, they were already completely intact. Regeneration had formed bones, flesh, and skin. The only thing was that the inside of the legs were still missing muscles and ligaments. It was impossible to walk, or even move them. So far, they were just ordinary meat offshoots, without any locomotor functions. But even August was happy about that. Comparing what he was a fortnight ago and now.
In fact, his natural regeneration should have taken much longer to produce such a result, but here Stark had helped him. With the help of some device she had assembled on her knees, she was able to stimulate the mercenary's regeneration, to make it work much faster. It was only thanks to Anita that he had such a result after only two weeks. Without her help, it would have taken him months to regenerate his limbs.
Pulling the blanket back over himself, Augustus looked at the small armoured case. This case had previously held his pistols. The mercenary picked up the case and typed in the password on the code lock. With a satisfying click, the white lid opened. In one of the recesses for a pistol instead of a weapon lay an ampoule with a yellowish liquid inside. His reward for completing the mission, a perfect serum of the extremis virus.
The name of this serum reminded the mercenary of canon events in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The fiery abilities of those fighters were similar to those of humans exposed to the extremis virus. That virus originated from the film Iron Man Three, with Aldrich Killian, the owner of AIM, as the main villain.
Could those terrorists have belonged to his company or not? Did he plan that terrorist attack? Aside from similar abilities to the virus from the canon of the film universe, there was no further evidence. All evidence was destroyed along with the exploding militants.
Why was August unsure of Killian's involvement in the attack? Although he seemed to have motives, a small feud with Stark based on old grudges? August just didn't believe in the canon of the film universe anymore. If you take comics, games, TV series, films, things weren't so clear cut. The most striking example was the comic book "The Perfect Iron Man", where Tony Stark became a villain. His brilliant mind was not limited by questions of morality and he created a perfect version of the virus "extremis 3.0". This virus gave immortality, improved physical abilities and changed the appearance of people, making them supermodels straight off the cover of Playboy.
"Well, fuck that. What are you supposed to do with yourself, you suspicious slime in a flask? Would you tear me in half if I injected you? You're silent, you're doing the right thing, if you were still talking, I'd have you thrown out at that mill.
August closed the armoured case and put it aside. It would be a good idea to show this virus to Anita so she could study it. The prefix perfect in the name made it clear that it was an unusual virus from Iron Man Three, there was an imperfect defective version, not yet perfected. But even then, when successfully inoculated, it gave unimaginable powers to the user. The powers varied from person to person, with each person inoculating the virus differently. Some exploded, some got superior regeneration, and some became fire mages with regeneration and physical enhancements.
August's phone on the bed vibrated. The mercenary picked it up and opened the text message that came in.
"Three million dollar reward for the rescue, helping Anita Stark neatly solve the problem for your silence. Port of New York, three o'clock in the afternoon. Come alone. V.F."
"Is the grease your fault? - Augustus asked jokingly, turning to the white case. - Trouble doesn't come alone, it trips you first and when you fall, calls for brotherly help and mobs you with its feet. First they deprived me of my legs, then they gave me a suspicious slurry, which I'm sorry to get rid of, but I'm afraid to inject, now Anita has gone off the leash and has started to get out of control, to show me her character and in the end I got a text message from Kingpin. By the way, why is her name Kingpin and not Quinpin? If you parse the word Kingpin, in English the closest meaning is "thief in law", then "lord", "boss" and so on... Why am I explaining this? - August fell silent in thought. - Exactly, I can legally refuse to meet with her. It's a pity to lose money, three million, I just now need money very badly, Viper's abilities have been fully learnt, now I need a new template for getting abilities. Preferably something more or less useful. At least on the level of Captain America and similar level heroes.
"My legs are still recovering. I won't be able to make it."
With a relieved smile on his face, Augustus hit the send text button and set the phone aside. Brushing non-existent sweat off his forehead, he leaned back comfortably on the pillow. The phone vibrated again.
"I'll send a man after you. Come out to the courtyard in half an hour. I know you can."
It was at this point that an unpleasant sensation ran through the mercenary's entire body. How does Kingpin know about his state of health? Could it be that she was keeping tabs on him? He was indeed able to move around on crutches at the moment, he also had his own wheelchair. But how would Fisk know that?
There shouldn't be bugs in his room, he'd checked, and there shouldn't be any in their villa either. An artificial intelligence tracking system wouldn't leave a sneaking spy undetected. Is there a surveillance station somewhere on the perimeter of the villa? It's entirely possible.
Stark didn't put up any elaborate defences there, the perimeter was the responsibility of rare security patrols. For a professional, patrols were no problem. He'd gone out to the back of the villa a couple of times with crutches to sit in the fresh air. That's where he could be sketched and a report sent straight to Kingpin's desk.
"Should I take her saying, "I know you can do it" as a threat or moral support? Oh, shit.
August dragged his body off the bed, picked up his crutches and waddled to the wardrobe. He picked up the business suit Stark had given him and put it on, which was hard enough. Then he went back to the bed, picked up the gun under the pillow and slipped it into the holster under his jacket. As he was about to go, his gaze came across an armoured briefcase. After standing like that for a couple of seconds and thinking, he opened it and took out a flask of the virus, slipping it into an inside pocket.
"Just in case of emergency.
At the allotted time, he walked out onto the courtyard lawn and sat down in a chair there. Waiting for a miracle. Good thing Anita wasn't at the villa right now, she was away on business. It would be less trouble, but it would not cancel further questions from Anita. And there will be. This insolent unfeeling machine, called artificial intelligence, was ordered by Stark to closely follow him. The girl even bragged a couple of times that all August's movements around the villa she sees live on her phone and always knows what he did all day. At such moments the mercenary wondered if Anita knew about the privacy law. That you can't spy on a person and tell them so directly.
The silence of the blue sky was diluted by a clapping mechanical sound. Looking up, the mercenary came across a civilian black helicopter. It flew up to the villa and began to slowly descend. An alarm went off in the villa and all entrances and exits were bricked up with impenetrable sheets. Defence turrets extended from the roof of the building.
"Attention - this is private property! Leave this area immediately! Attention - this is private... - mixed with howls of alarm, a robotic voice loudly warned the intruders.
"Joanna, hold your fire. They've come to give me a lift to a friend of mine, I'll be back in a couple of hours. Tell that to Anita Stark.
"'Mr August, Mistress Anita has forbidden me to let you go anywhere outside the villa,' replied the camera hanging on the wall.
"'Inform her of this, it concerns her settling the matter with August Beating. I'll head off to arrange for one person to help.
"Understood Mr Augustus, I will send a message to Mistress Stark. But that will not countermand Mistress Stark's past orders. You are forbidden to leave the villa grounds.
"Look, Joanna, how do I feel about this order from Anita? Can it be regarded as kidnapping and forcible confinement?
"Mr Augusta, you are dear to Mrs Anita, she only wants....
"Hey, Starkowski bastard, crawl over here! - an angry voice interrupted the conversation between Augusta and Joanna. A girl in a black suit jumped down from the almost landed helicopter.
"And you still can't calm down, it turns out that without the mask you are quite a beautiful Asian girl, - said the mercenary to the old acquaintance who was glowing with anger. He had met her for the first time at the meat-packing plant, when Vanessa had reprimanded her for being rude to him. Apparently the Asian woman's anger towards him still lingered.
"Shut your mouth, cripple, or I'll end your suffering, - expressing disgust on her face, Swordswoman grabbed August by the waist with both hands and roughly loaded him into the landed helicopter. Giving a command to the pilots, the pair took to the sky and flew away.
The artificial intelligence wouldn't shoot at them. It would have opened fire from the turrets only if there were recorded attempts to break into the villa or an attack on Augustus. Neither had been recorded. A report of what had happened was sent to Anita's phone.
The red-haired girl was now listening attentively to Bella Murdoch, who was telling about the next step their team had thought up to settle public opinion. Murdoch's speech was interrupted by the sound of Stark's phone alert.
***
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